Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.

A/N: Hey sorry I've taken so long to post this, but sometimes real life sucks. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Season's Greetings! Thanks to: victim of reality, lackinglime123, IloveJoeL., Sweetestdream2182, sarah, Gilmoregirl7878, just hidden, Emily, sandy, KeitaWolf, Love23, riotgirllina (thanks for adding me to your C2), princetongirl, tickle582, spinaround, BumpyRider, GGluvr1987, Jersey Jae and finnlover. Woah 16 reviews in one day I was so happy! Thanks everyone!

Thanks to Kelly, my betta, for doing a fantastic job!

Lost In You

Chapter 9: This Time You Messed Up

As the sun rose, Rory looked out her window to see a glorious morning spilling into her bedroom. Unfortunately, she herself did not feel as glorious. She had been up all night and the fatigue was starting to set in. She had been determined not to fall asleep, because she had to go see Tristan. It may be only a slight attempt to make up for her absence last night, but she also knew that he would not have been able to sleep either. It didn't feel right to give her self the satisfaction of a few hours rest while he was lying in a hospital all alone.

As Rory sat on her bed, she stared out her bedroom window wondering how Tristan was feeling. As if through some divine intervention, her cell began to ring, displaying Tristan's name on the screen. Rory answered immediately.

"Where are you?" She asked in an urgent voice.

"Well good morning to you too." Answered Tristan with a faint laugh. Rory could hear the tiredness in his voice.

"Good morning, where are you?" Rory answered sounding almost insistent.

Laughing, he answered "I'm at St. Francis Care."

"I'll be there soon." Rory said hurriedly, hanging up the phone before Tristan could respond.

Rory took a shower to freshen up and made her way down the stairs to grab her morning coffee before she left. As she walked past the front door, she heard an unexpected knock at the door. She frowned at the obtrusion and opened the door where she was greeted with thin air, until she looked down at the step and saw a single red rose. Rory smiled, noticing whose trademark present it was.

"Hey." Logan said.

Rory jumped and let out a slight scream.

"Where did you come from?" Rory asked startled to see him.

Logan smirked and pointed towards her front lawn. "I was standing behind the tree over there waiting to see your reaction." He smiled a rare genuine smile and walk towards Rory.

"Well it was a very lovely surprise" Rory smiled, as she looked up into his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Almost shyly, he answered, "I was hoping you'd wanna come and see a movie with me?"

"At 7 o'clock in the morning?" She laughed.

Logan returned her laugh and moved closer to her. He bent his head and slowly kissed her passionately on the lips.

"How about now?" He smiled at her.

"But I'm supposed…" Rory started.

"To say you want me to kiss you again" He finished the sentence for her, and then leaned in for another kiss, seductive smile in place.

"Logan, I …." Rory began again. Logan, however would not let up. He flashed her his best puppy dog eyes and continued with his mission.

"Please Rory?" Logan insisted "It'll be my treat." He said, trying to entice her. "Movie, lunch, and then maybe some coffee?"

"Well…" Rory was torn. Logan had become so appreciative towards and she always had fun with him. But there was Tristan to consider. How would he feel? An even bigger question: what would he do in her place? He never passed up on a chance to have some fun. Deciding to be impulsive, Rory agreed to go out with Logan, pushing all her guilty thoughts aside.

Sweetly, she said "We have to be back by eleven, I promised Tristan I would see him today, okay?"

"Sure thing." Logan grinned and grabbed her hand. "C'mon lets get going" Rory smiled as they made their way to Logan's car.

Meanwhile, Tristan sat in his hospital bed, tired from lack of sleep, but restless from the pain that coursed through his body. It was almost nine o'clock and Rory had not shown up yet. What was going to be her excuse this time? No, he said to himself. I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason; I just have to be open minded about this. After all we're starting over, so giving her the benefit of the doubt is definitely a necessity. With this thought in mind, Tristan tried to relax into the hard mattress.

A few minutes later, the nurse poked her head through the door. "Everything alright in here?"

"Yeah, thanks." Tristan replied thoughtlessly. His mind was on Rory; he couldn't help himself.

She nodded and said "Oh, by the way, the doctor said you can go home this afternoon."

"Great." replied Tristan, with a faint smile.

Rory and Logan walked into a little café and took a seat in a booth near the door.

"So, did you like the movie?" Logan asked smiling at Rory.

"Considering that Tim Burton's Corpse Bride was all that was on at 7.30 in the morning, yeah it was great," She teased.

"Hey, I thought it was good." Logan replied defiantly.

"You or your inner child?"

They both laughed as a waiter headed for the table. Rory glanced down at her watch and gasped at the time.

"Logan it's almost eleven, I have to go." Rory stood up from her seat, and moved out of the booth.

"Ace, he'll be fine."

"No, I told you that I had to be back by eleven." Logan looked at the waiter who was standing to the side of the table and said to him, "Can you give us a minute?"

The waiter walked off and Logan stood up from the table and put his hand on Rory's waist.

"Logan, please don't persuade me again,"

Logan looked down at her with puppy-dog eyes and she couldn't help but laugh.

Deciding to bargain with him, she said, "We'll do something tonight."

Logan smiled and waved his finger at her. "I'll hold you to that."

Rory simply smiled, kissed him on the cheek and exited the café. She was already much later than she had planned and couldn't wait to see Tristan.

After reaching St. Francis Care in record time, she walked in and headed for the reception counter.

"Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me what room Tristan DuGrey is in?"

"Hold on I'll just check." The nurse moved to the side and started entering data into a nearby computer.

"I'm sorry Miss he was discharged about ten minutes ago."

Rory silently kicked herself, "Are you sure?"

"Positive, he's signed out here. I'm sorry," The nurse smiled apologetically and began talking to a nearby nurse.

Rory sighed and made her way out of the hospital and towards her car. Once inside, Rory flipped open her cell and dialed the familiar number. The phone rang and rang until Tristan's voice mail clicked in, "Hello you've reached Tristan, leave a message."

"Tristan it's Ror, call me back. I'm sorry" Rory sighed and hung up the phone as she started the car.

Tristan walked into the empty house and made his way into the nearby lounge room. He slowly sat down on a couch and groaned from pain as he did so. He pulled his cell from out of the pocket on his jeans and checked who the call had been from. Just as he had expected, it was Rory. Just as he turned on the television there was a persistent knocking on the front door.

"Tristan! I know you're in there!"

Tristan continued to watch the television and attempted to ignore Rory's voice.

"I'm coming in." She warned and then he heard the opening of the front door. Annoyed, he turned the television up louder as he heard Rory walking towards the lounge room.

"Tristan, I'm sorry. Please let me explain." She sat down next to him, and he gave his best attempt to move further away.

Tristan was still looking at the television when Rory got up and stood in front of his view.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." She said in a pleading voice doubled with her puppy dog pout.

"Yeah, I bet. Let me take one guess, you were with Logan weren't you?"

Rory remained silent as Tristan rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe you. The one time I need you, for god's sake and you couldn't even leave your boyfriend to pick up your friend from the hospital. That's fucking low Rory." Tristan looked up at Rory with pure anger in his eyes; a look that Rory had never seen from her best friend.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Rory defended herself.

"Look, I don't really give a shit what he is. Leave." He returned his glance to the television, acting as if she wasn't even there.

"Tristan, please stop I can make it up to you." Rory sat next to him and tried to grab his hand. He pulled away as if her touch burned him.

"How Rory?" Tristan looked questioningly into her eyes. He was desperate to find some sort of answer to make everything like it had been.

Rory looked down at her lap and sighed heavily. After a few more moments of silence, Tristan sighed bitterly.

"Yeah Rory, nothing. That's real good. Fantastic idea, really."

Rory took a hold of Tristan's hand, not letting him escape. " Come on smartass, just let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain, let go and leave." Tristan attempted to let go of Rory's hand but she held on tighter.

"There's nothing here for you Rory." He didn't even try to hide the hurt in his voice.

Rory let go of his hand and stood from the couch. Dejectedly, she made her way to the door, where she was stopped by Tristan's voice.

"We can't be friends, not after everything. This time I'm serious Ror, don't come back." Tristan looked back at the television as Rory continued to stand still. She felt ridiculous, but she wasn't ready to give up and leave just yet.

"Tristan you're really hurting me." Rory looked towards Tristan with tears forming in her eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because Ror, this time you messed up. You wanted the whole casual sex thing to be over and now you're the one who's just being a god damn bitch about it. I thought we really might have had something, it wasn't just sex to me, you should know that. And this whole friend thing was a chance to make it up to you, and then I kept trying that's why I wanted you to see me in the hospital, but no you went off with Logan. He's the dick who started all this stuff, without him we'd be fine but you chose him Ror and that's it." Tristan was having a hard time controlling both the anger and guilt he was feeling towards Rory. He was having a hard enough time looking at her without wanting to wrap her in his arms.

"Tristan I shouldn't have to choose, you two are friends, we're all friends." She was openly crying now and wasn't even trying to hide it.

"But you do because you being with him and being with me isn't going to work. I'm not hanging around while he plays you like a fiddle and then I'm the one who has to pick up the pieces and be the caring affectionate friend at the end of it all."

"Tris-" Rory started.

Not being able to take it anymore, he said, "Ror, just leave I'm not feeling well."

Rory silently nodded and finally made her way through the door. On her way to the front door, she noticed a brightly wrapped box sitting on the table with her name. How could she have forgotten about Christmas? With everything going on, she hadn't even realized that Christmas was just days away. Sobbing even more, she ran to her car and sped away.

A/N: Hey all, maybe not the greatest chapter but I hope everyone likes it, I love a little drama. Also I apoligize for the swearing, but I thought it was needed, hope I didn't offend anyone. Lots of reviews are always a good thing (hint hint) and I'm getting more and more every chapter thanks so much everyone. Thanks for reading!