Passenger
Author - Chantelle
Pairing - Rory/Tristan AU
Rating - PG-13
Disclaimer - I don't own it.
Author's notes - Wow, thank you for all the reviews. I got this part out as soon as I could because of them. This is my first Gilmore Girls fanfic, so I was a bit wary about sending it out. However I'm glad that you all like it so far. So, anyway, here we go.
CHAPTER TWO THE BLACK SPOT AND A MARY
Tristan had been waiting at Rory's locker for a little over half an hour but there was still no sight of her. This was the second day in a row that he had waited for her and he was a little worried. He knew that it was an irrational worry, but Rory Gilmore had gotten under his skin and he couldn't shake her. He decided he had to do something about it, so he stood up straight and questioned the first person he saw.
"Hey, Dan, have you seen Mary?"
"No man."
"Emma, have you seen Rory?"
"No." She ran a finger down his chest. "Tristan, what are you doing this Friday?"
"Not now..." He pushed her away and she walked off, angrily. 'I'm being stupid, she's probably just got a cold or something,' he thought. But something in his gut told him it was more than that. He ran his hand through his hair and began pacing up and down the main hallway of Chilton, asking everyone he saw if they had seen Rory. He was now beginning to get some strange looks.
"Tristan."
"Mmmm..." He turned around, a little preoccupied with his thoughts, to face Paris.
"Tristan, are you listening to me?"
"Yeah, what? Did you say something?" Paris scowled at that but continued anyway.
"I said I know where she is," she said through gritted teeth when Tristan's eyes lit up.
"Where is she, Paris?"
"Well, according to my mother, who heard it from the maid, who heard it from..." Tristan was getting impatient with her useless rambling.
"Hurry up and just get to the point." Paris huffily crossed her arms in front of her.
"As I was saying, my mother told me that Rory was mugged or something. She is in the hospital." Tristan's eyes widened. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and started to jog towards the front doors of Chilton.
"Which hospital?" He shouted to Paris behind his back.
"Hartford County. But it's not that serious..." She began to say, but Tristan had already disappeared out of the door. Paris stared at where he had been for a few minutes, then spun around and stomped off in the other direction.
***
There were many thoughts spinning wildly around in his head as he drove towards the hospital. They ranged from the reasonable to the implausible. He decided he needed to get them organised before going in to see Rory.
'Paris said Rory was mugged? Is she okay? How bad is she hurt? What kind of bastard would want to hurt Rory?" Tristan's hands gripped the steering wheel harder at the thought of Rory being in pain. His knuckles turned white, and they remained that way until he had reached the hospital and hastily pulled up in the parking lot. He got out and ran into the building.
"Rory Gilmore's room, please," he said to the nurse at the reception desk. She looked at his face and could see the worry in the poor boy's eyes. She gave him a small smile. 'That girl sure has a lot of visitors.'
"Alright, son. Just over there." She pointed to a door that was slightly ajar. There was a scruffy looking man in flannel standing outside of the room with a pained look on his face. He was listening intently to the words being spoken by Rory in her room.
Tristan stood beside the man and looked through the glass partition to see two police officers talking to Rory. Another person was also present, who Tristan assumed was her mother. His eyes finally drifted to Rory and his fists clenched tightly when he saw the huge bruise on the side of her face.
'If I could get my hands on whoever did this...' But Tristan's vengeful thoughts were interrupted when he realised that Rory was conveying to all in the room what had happened to her. He decided to listen carefully.
"I remember him running his finger down my neck..." Both Luke and Tristan clenched their fists and scowled. "...but I don't remember much after that. The last thing I can clearly recall is watching Luke cleaning a table."
The man beside Tristan let out a pained sigh and walked off. 'So, that must be Luke,' he thought. Lorelai looked up to also see that Luke had left. The policemen were finishing up.
"And that's the Luke that came with you in the ambulance, right?" Rory nodded. She had gotten tired of repeating her story for what felt like the hundredth time. She looked up at the door and her eyes widened when she saw Tristan standing there. He gave her a little wave.
"Well, that's all we need for now. Thank you, Rory. We hope you're feeling better." The taller officer turned to Lorelai. "Ms. Gilmore, can we talk to you outside for a minute?" Lorelai slowly stood up, kissed Rory on the forehead and made her way to the door. Tristan backed up a little as the three adults came out.
"Ms. Gilmore, I really hate to tell you this, but with no witnesses to the crime, and Rory not being able to give us any information, we really have nothing to go on." Lorelai nodded her head in resignation. After listening to Rory's story many times, she knew that the guy would never be caught.
Tristan tuned out the rest of the conversation as he looked back at Rory. She was staring at him with a questioning look in her eyes. He, unconsciously, ran his hand through his hair and shrugged his shoulders.
"And who, may I ask, are you that is staring at my daughter?" Tristan hadn't noticed that the police had left, leaving Lorelai to focus all of her attention on him. He was a little scared and nervous, and she sensed that. Lorelai gave him a small smile and he relaxed enough to be able to speak.
"My name is Tristan DuGrey. I go to Chil..."
"I think I can see from your clothes that you go to school with Rory. So, you're Bible Boy, huh?" She looked him up and down. "Rory left out some very important details, which doesn't surprise me in the least." Tristan blushed and was taken aback that she knew who he was. Then he realised that she probably didn't get a very good impression of him from Rory. Lorelai decided to end his torture.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to bite you. You're the only Chiltonite to come and visit my daughter, so I like you by default." Tristan smiled at that.
"However, if you annoy or hurt Rory in any way, you have the wrath of Lorelai Gilmore the Second to contend with. Not to mention a baseball-cap- wearing man in flannel. Which reminds me that I should really go and find Luke." Tristan wasn't exactly sure how to proceed after that little tirade, so he just mumbled out a "Yes, ma'am." He watched as she walked in the direction that Luke had gone a few minutes before.
Tristan's eyes turned back to Rory. He took a deep breath and headed into her room.
***
"Hey, Mary. You knew that I wanted to see you in bed, but the ever overachieving Rory Gilmore had to go just that little bit further." He gave her a smirk as he pulled a chair closer to her bed and sat down.
"Tristan, you are the last person I would have expected to come and visit me."
"Well, hello to you to."
"Sorry, hello. But aren't you supposed to be in school right now?" Rory was surprised by the visit, but she was also happy to see a different face.
"Aah, Mary. Worried about my education. I didn't know you cared so much."
"I didn't think you did either." They stared at each other, both waiting for the other one to speak. Tristan gave in and a serious look appeared on his face.
"Really, though, are you okay?" He said this so sincerely and tenderly that Rory's eyes widened slightly. They widened even further as Tristan gingerly reached out to touch her swollen face. Her breath caught as the tips of his fingers barely brushed her cheek. When he realised what he was doing, he quickly retracted his hand and suddenly found his feet extremely interesting. Rory, however, was touched by this side of Tristan. 'Maybe I shouldn't give up on him just yet,' she thought.
"So, you are okay, right?" Tristan decided to break the lull in the conversation.
"Yeah, just a few cuts and bruises. I should be out of here by tomorrow."
"Well...if you need...anything...you know...well...you know I'm here right." He decided to lighten the mood a little. "I mean if you need something kissed better..."
"I'll put you at the end of my list." She was relieved that they had slipped back into their familiar banter. Anything else would be unfamiliar territory, and she wasn't sure that she was ready for it, yet. While she was thinking, Tristan put his hand over his heart.
"Oh, you wound me, Mary. Is this how you treat people who walk out of Chilton to come and visit you?"
"Only the one's who make my life there a living hell." As she watched Tristan cringe, Rory regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. She wanted to apologise.
"Look I'm sorry. I didn't really..."
"No, you're right. I certainly haven't been Mr. Perfect towards you at school. I'm not really sure why I act that way."
"I don't want Mr. Perfect, I just want a friend, or at least someone who doesn't feel the need to crush my self-esteem to the size a grape." Tristan fidgeted with his jacket as he listened to Rory's words, but he couldn't bring himself to look into her eyes. He took a deep breath to strengthen himself before he looked up and spoke.
"About that...I was thinking...maybe we could start over. You know...try the friends thing. I mean...if you don't want to, I understand completely. I really do not deserve a second chance. I just thought..." As he was talking, Tristan kept running his hand through his hair. Rory had never noticed that habit, but now she seemed to find it endearing.
"Tristan, you can stop now. I agree, we should try again. I need at least one friend at Chilton for the rest of my time there. You may as well be it."
"Thanks. You really know how to make a guy feel needed."
"I've been told that by many people." They sat together in an easy silence, smiling at each other every now and then.
"Well, I should probably be getting back..."
"Yeah, I don't want you to get into any trouble on account of me."
"I wouldn't let you forget about it either if I did." Tristan rose from his seat, unsure of how to make his departure. As a last thought, he leaned down and placed a feather-light kiss on her cheek.
"Seeya, my new friend Rory," he whispered softly into her ear. Tristan straightened up and reluctantly walked out of her room and headed back to his car.
Rory was shocked. Many thoughts were racing through her head as she reached up and touched the place where his lips had been only seconds before. 'That boy is full of surprises. This year is certainly going to be interesting.' With that last thought, Rory reclined back onto her bed and decided to rest before the imminent return of her mother.
***
While the new found friendship between Tristan and Rory was being formed, Lorelai had been looking for Luke. She found him sitting outside on the ground, with his back leaning against the hospital building.
"Hey, Mr. Grumpy. You do realise that there are seats inside that you could've being sitting on to wait for us? Actually, I think they've devoted whole rooms to that sort of thing. I'm not sure, but I think that they call them waiting rooms. Who would've thought?"
"Lorelai, I'm not in the mood." He turned to look at her. "Anyway, how can you be so cheery right now? It's your daughter lying in that hospital bed in there." Lorelai didn't know how to read this side of Luke. She had never seen him like this before.
"Luke, I'm well aware where Rory is. And I also know that she is going to be okay."
"Yeah, with no help from me." He turned back away from her and Lorelai began to guess what was bothering him.
"You can't have done anything more than what you did, Luke. I, for one, am forever thankful that you were there. You do realise now, that you are an honorary Gilmore. That includes the craziness and more. And now that we are related, I think that it's fitting that I get more coffee." She hoped her words would help diminish his guilt, but Luke just kept looking in the opposite direction.
"I'm not a fool, Lorelai. You heard what she said to the police just as well as I did. While Rory was getting hurt, she was watching me cleaning a fucking table?" His voice rose towards the end as he lowered his head into his hands.
Lorelai was taken aback as she absorbed his words. She couldn't believe the depths of Luke's guilt. She pulled away his hands from his face and forced him to look at her.
"Neither me or Rory, especially, blame you for anything. And at least we know now that you are hygenic. We had always wondered about it." His eyes still wouldn't meet hers.
"Look at me. You can't keep avoiding Rory because of the guilt you feel. Luke, you haven't even been into her hospital room yet. She thinks that you don't want to see her." Luke became alert after hearing that.
"How could she even think that. I love her like a daughter." Lorelai's heart warmed at hearing those words. She had always suspected that he felt like a surrogate father to Rory, but she wasn't totally sure until now.
"So do I." She gave him a slight smile. "However, you don't show your love for people by avoiding them." Luke let out a deep sigh.
"It worked in high school. But as much as I hate to admit it...you're right," he said as he started to rise. "I think I'm ready to see her now." Luke was confused when he felt Lorelai grab his arm and pull him back down again.
"What the hell?! You're the one who said that I should go and see her." Luke was puzzled.
"Yes, but not right this minute. She has a visitor."
"A visitor? Who?"
"It's a boy." Luke went to get up again, but Lorelai kept a tight grip on him.
"Boy? What boy?"
"Oh, listen to you. You're three minutes off from buying a loaded shotgun and chasing the poor boy through the streets yelling, "I'm gonna getcha!" Lorelai smiled at the visual while Lorelai grimaced.
"Lorelai..."
"Okay, it's a boy from Chilton. His name is Tristan DuGrey. I, for one, am happy that someone from that god awful school has come to visit her."
"Tristan DuGrey. That name doesn't sound familiar." Lorelai braced herself as she spoke her next words.
"Well, that's because you may only know him as...Bible Boy."
"No, no, no, no, no Lorelai," he said as he finally succeeded in standing up. "Not the Bible Boy that has made her life a waking nightmare at that school. She's in the hospital for god's sake. How could you let him go in there?!" Lorelai stood up to try and stop him from barging into Rory's hospital room and killing Tristan.
"Get a grip, Luke. I don't think that mortal enemies go to the trouble of visiting each other."
"The black spot, Lorelai." She stifled a laugh at the seriousness in his voice.
"Come on. He doesn't exactly look like a pirate. Although, what does a pirate really look like? Anyway, I think he actually likes her."
"Oh. That makes me feel a hell of a lot better. We are going in there now!" He started to pull Lorelai towards the front entrance, as Tristan walked out and headed towards his car.
"Look, you don't have to worry. There he is. And, wow, there's no black ink stains on his hands." She couldn't help giggling as Luke scowled.
"That pretty boy over there is Bible Boy. Why don't you tell Rory I'll be there in a minute? I have something to do first."
"Oh, no you don't Mr. King of Subtlety. You are not going to go over there and have some macho, testosterone charged punch-up in the hospital parking lot with a high-school student. You will come and see Rory now!" She dragged him through the doors towards Rory's room.
"You know I'm going to meet him eventually. I could take him."
"Of course you could. Now here we are, go and talk to Rory." Luke tore his eyes away from the hospital entrance and realised that he was outside of Rory's room. Tristan was forgotten as his nerves set in.
"Hurry up, go." With those last words, Lorelai pushed him into the room.
***
Rory was interrupted from her thoughts of Tristan when Luke was pushed into her room. She was more surprised by the fact that this was the first time he was visiting her than she was about him being forced in to see her.
"Hey, Luke."
"Hey, Rory." Luke just stood staring at her without taking a step forward.
"You can sit down, you know." He chose the chair furtherest away from her.
"Luke, sit over here." She motioned to the chair that Tristan had been sitting in. He slowly made his way to the seat and sat down. Rory looked at him as he seemed to be finding her bedsheet extremely fascinating.
"I understand why you haven't come to visit me." Luke nodded slightly but remained silent. He still could not meet her eyes.
"I mean, I can see why you would be disappointed." Luke's eyes shot up.
"Disappointed?"
"Yeah. How could I have been so stupid as to not even look at his face. All I had to do was yell out. You were right there in front of me and..."
"Stop." Luke took a deep breath before he continued. "Rory, Rory, Rory. You have it all wrong, honey. God, I'm not disappointed in you. How could you even think that?" Rory looked down and picked at the loose threads of her hospital gown.
"Well, you hadn't come to see me and I just thought..." Luke stilled her fidgeting fingers by placing his hands over hers.
"I haven't come to see you because I've been disappointed in myself. I was right there..."
"Geez, aren't we a sorry pair. We could be characters straight out of a midday movie," Rory said with a slight smile. "Seeing you there helped me get through it. I felt like nothing bad could happen..."
"But it did."
" Just some temporary injuries and the loss of a couple of dollars, Luke. If you hadn't gotten to me so quickly..." She squeezed his hand. Luke flashed back to the ambulance and a tear slid down his cheek. He squeezed her hand back in reply.
"So, I don't want you to blame yourself, okay. I'm happy you're here now, Luke."
"Me too. Now, I feel like an idiot. But do me a favour. Don't tell your mother she was right. She's already heard it from me once today and one more time will probably give her a god complex or something." Rory smiled and they looked at each other for a few awkward moments.
"Oh...come here, kiddo." Luke pulled Rory into a firm hug as they both shed a few more tears.
"I won't let anything or anyone hurt you ever again," Luke solemnly vowed. He spoke it so softly, however, that Rory didn't hear it.
Outside the room, Lorelai watched the two with tears in her own eyes and a smile on her face. 'Maybe everything will be alright,' she thought. 'Now I really need some coffee.' She left the pair to continue talking, while she went in search of her sacred beverage.
To be continued in Chapter Three - Literature and a Chariot Means No Friends
Author - Chantelle
Pairing - Rory/Tristan AU
Rating - PG-13
Disclaimer - I don't own it.
Author's notes - Wow, thank you for all the reviews. I got this part out as soon as I could because of them. This is my first Gilmore Girls fanfic, so I was a bit wary about sending it out. However I'm glad that you all like it so far. So, anyway, here we go.
CHAPTER TWO THE BLACK SPOT AND A MARY
Tristan had been waiting at Rory's locker for a little over half an hour but there was still no sight of her. This was the second day in a row that he had waited for her and he was a little worried. He knew that it was an irrational worry, but Rory Gilmore had gotten under his skin and he couldn't shake her. He decided he had to do something about it, so he stood up straight and questioned the first person he saw.
"Hey, Dan, have you seen Mary?"
"No man."
"Emma, have you seen Rory?"
"No." She ran a finger down his chest. "Tristan, what are you doing this Friday?"
"Not now..." He pushed her away and she walked off, angrily. 'I'm being stupid, she's probably just got a cold or something,' he thought. But something in his gut told him it was more than that. He ran his hand through his hair and began pacing up and down the main hallway of Chilton, asking everyone he saw if they had seen Rory. He was now beginning to get some strange looks.
"Tristan."
"Mmmm..." He turned around, a little preoccupied with his thoughts, to face Paris.
"Tristan, are you listening to me?"
"Yeah, what? Did you say something?" Paris scowled at that but continued anyway.
"I said I know where she is," she said through gritted teeth when Tristan's eyes lit up.
"Where is she, Paris?"
"Well, according to my mother, who heard it from the maid, who heard it from..." Tristan was getting impatient with her useless rambling.
"Hurry up and just get to the point." Paris huffily crossed her arms in front of her.
"As I was saying, my mother told me that Rory was mugged or something. She is in the hospital." Tristan's eyes widened. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and started to jog towards the front doors of Chilton.
"Which hospital?" He shouted to Paris behind his back.
"Hartford County. But it's not that serious..." She began to say, but Tristan had already disappeared out of the door. Paris stared at where he had been for a few minutes, then spun around and stomped off in the other direction.
***
There were many thoughts spinning wildly around in his head as he drove towards the hospital. They ranged from the reasonable to the implausible. He decided he needed to get them organised before going in to see Rory.
'Paris said Rory was mugged? Is she okay? How bad is she hurt? What kind of bastard would want to hurt Rory?" Tristan's hands gripped the steering wheel harder at the thought of Rory being in pain. His knuckles turned white, and they remained that way until he had reached the hospital and hastily pulled up in the parking lot. He got out and ran into the building.
"Rory Gilmore's room, please," he said to the nurse at the reception desk. She looked at his face and could see the worry in the poor boy's eyes. She gave him a small smile. 'That girl sure has a lot of visitors.'
"Alright, son. Just over there." She pointed to a door that was slightly ajar. There was a scruffy looking man in flannel standing outside of the room with a pained look on his face. He was listening intently to the words being spoken by Rory in her room.
Tristan stood beside the man and looked through the glass partition to see two police officers talking to Rory. Another person was also present, who Tristan assumed was her mother. His eyes finally drifted to Rory and his fists clenched tightly when he saw the huge bruise on the side of her face.
'If I could get my hands on whoever did this...' But Tristan's vengeful thoughts were interrupted when he realised that Rory was conveying to all in the room what had happened to her. He decided to listen carefully.
"I remember him running his finger down my neck..." Both Luke and Tristan clenched their fists and scowled. "...but I don't remember much after that. The last thing I can clearly recall is watching Luke cleaning a table."
The man beside Tristan let out a pained sigh and walked off. 'So, that must be Luke,' he thought. Lorelai looked up to also see that Luke had left. The policemen were finishing up.
"And that's the Luke that came with you in the ambulance, right?" Rory nodded. She had gotten tired of repeating her story for what felt like the hundredth time. She looked up at the door and her eyes widened when she saw Tristan standing there. He gave her a little wave.
"Well, that's all we need for now. Thank you, Rory. We hope you're feeling better." The taller officer turned to Lorelai. "Ms. Gilmore, can we talk to you outside for a minute?" Lorelai slowly stood up, kissed Rory on the forehead and made her way to the door. Tristan backed up a little as the three adults came out.
"Ms. Gilmore, I really hate to tell you this, but with no witnesses to the crime, and Rory not being able to give us any information, we really have nothing to go on." Lorelai nodded her head in resignation. After listening to Rory's story many times, she knew that the guy would never be caught.
Tristan tuned out the rest of the conversation as he looked back at Rory. She was staring at him with a questioning look in her eyes. He, unconsciously, ran his hand through his hair and shrugged his shoulders.
"And who, may I ask, are you that is staring at my daughter?" Tristan hadn't noticed that the police had left, leaving Lorelai to focus all of her attention on him. He was a little scared and nervous, and she sensed that. Lorelai gave him a small smile and he relaxed enough to be able to speak.
"My name is Tristan DuGrey. I go to Chil..."
"I think I can see from your clothes that you go to school with Rory. So, you're Bible Boy, huh?" She looked him up and down. "Rory left out some very important details, which doesn't surprise me in the least." Tristan blushed and was taken aback that she knew who he was. Then he realised that she probably didn't get a very good impression of him from Rory. Lorelai decided to end his torture.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to bite you. You're the only Chiltonite to come and visit my daughter, so I like you by default." Tristan smiled at that.
"However, if you annoy or hurt Rory in any way, you have the wrath of Lorelai Gilmore the Second to contend with. Not to mention a baseball-cap- wearing man in flannel. Which reminds me that I should really go and find Luke." Tristan wasn't exactly sure how to proceed after that little tirade, so he just mumbled out a "Yes, ma'am." He watched as she walked in the direction that Luke had gone a few minutes before.
Tristan's eyes turned back to Rory. He took a deep breath and headed into her room.
***
"Hey, Mary. You knew that I wanted to see you in bed, but the ever overachieving Rory Gilmore had to go just that little bit further." He gave her a smirk as he pulled a chair closer to her bed and sat down.
"Tristan, you are the last person I would have expected to come and visit me."
"Well, hello to you to."
"Sorry, hello. But aren't you supposed to be in school right now?" Rory was surprised by the visit, but she was also happy to see a different face.
"Aah, Mary. Worried about my education. I didn't know you cared so much."
"I didn't think you did either." They stared at each other, both waiting for the other one to speak. Tristan gave in and a serious look appeared on his face.
"Really, though, are you okay?" He said this so sincerely and tenderly that Rory's eyes widened slightly. They widened even further as Tristan gingerly reached out to touch her swollen face. Her breath caught as the tips of his fingers barely brushed her cheek. When he realised what he was doing, he quickly retracted his hand and suddenly found his feet extremely interesting. Rory, however, was touched by this side of Tristan. 'Maybe I shouldn't give up on him just yet,' she thought.
"So, you are okay, right?" Tristan decided to break the lull in the conversation.
"Yeah, just a few cuts and bruises. I should be out of here by tomorrow."
"Well...if you need...anything...you know...well...you know I'm here right." He decided to lighten the mood a little. "I mean if you need something kissed better..."
"I'll put you at the end of my list." She was relieved that they had slipped back into their familiar banter. Anything else would be unfamiliar territory, and she wasn't sure that she was ready for it, yet. While she was thinking, Tristan put his hand over his heart.
"Oh, you wound me, Mary. Is this how you treat people who walk out of Chilton to come and visit you?"
"Only the one's who make my life there a living hell." As she watched Tristan cringe, Rory regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. She wanted to apologise.
"Look I'm sorry. I didn't really..."
"No, you're right. I certainly haven't been Mr. Perfect towards you at school. I'm not really sure why I act that way."
"I don't want Mr. Perfect, I just want a friend, or at least someone who doesn't feel the need to crush my self-esteem to the size a grape." Tristan fidgeted with his jacket as he listened to Rory's words, but he couldn't bring himself to look into her eyes. He took a deep breath to strengthen himself before he looked up and spoke.
"About that...I was thinking...maybe we could start over. You know...try the friends thing. I mean...if you don't want to, I understand completely. I really do not deserve a second chance. I just thought..." As he was talking, Tristan kept running his hand through his hair. Rory had never noticed that habit, but now she seemed to find it endearing.
"Tristan, you can stop now. I agree, we should try again. I need at least one friend at Chilton for the rest of my time there. You may as well be it."
"Thanks. You really know how to make a guy feel needed."
"I've been told that by many people." They sat together in an easy silence, smiling at each other every now and then.
"Well, I should probably be getting back..."
"Yeah, I don't want you to get into any trouble on account of me."
"I wouldn't let you forget about it either if I did." Tristan rose from his seat, unsure of how to make his departure. As a last thought, he leaned down and placed a feather-light kiss on her cheek.
"Seeya, my new friend Rory," he whispered softly into her ear. Tristan straightened up and reluctantly walked out of her room and headed back to his car.
Rory was shocked. Many thoughts were racing through her head as she reached up and touched the place where his lips had been only seconds before. 'That boy is full of surprises. This year is certainly going to be interesting.' With that last thought, Rory reclined back onto her bed and decided to rest before the imminent return of her mother.
***
While the new found friendship between Tristan and Rory was being formed, Lorelai had been looking for Luke. She found him sitting outside on the ground, with his back leaning against the hospital building.
"Hey, Mr. Grumpy. You do realise that there are seats inside that you could've being sitting on to wait for us? Actually, I think they've devoted whole rooms to that sort of thing. I'm not sure, but I think that they call them waiting rooms. Who would've thought?"
"Lorelai, I'm not in the mood." He turned to look at her. "Anyway, how can you be so cheery right now? It's your daughter lying in that hospital bed in there." Lorelai didn't know how to read this side of Luke. She had never seen him like this before.
"Luke, I'm well aware where Rory is. And I also know that she is going to be okay."
"Yeah, with no help from me." He turned back away from her and Lorelai began to guess what was bothering him.
"You can't have done anything more than what you did, Luke. I, for one, am forever thankful that you were there. You do realise now, that you are an honorary Gilmore. That includes the craziness and more. And now that we are related, I think that it's fitting that I get more coffee." She hoped her words would help diminish his guilt, but Luke just kept looking in the opposite direction.
"I'm not a fool, Lorelai. You heard what she said to the police just as well as I did. While Rory was getting hurt, she was watching me cleaning a fucking table?" His voice rose towards the end as he lowered his head into his hands.
Lorelai was taken aback as she absorbed his words. She couldn't believe the depths of Luke's guilt. She pulled away his hands from his face and forced him to look at her.
"Neither me or Rory, especially, blame you for anything. And at least we know now that you are hygenic. We had always wondered about it." His eyes still wouldn't meet hers.
"Look at me. You can't keep avoiding Rory because of the guilt you feel. Luke, you haven't even been into her hospital room yet. She thinks that you don't want to see her." Luke became alert after hearing that.
"How could she even think that. I love her like a daughter." Lorelai's heart warmed at hearing those words. She had always suspected that he felt like a surrogate father to Rory, but she wasn't totally sure until now.
"So do I." She gave him a slight smile. "However, you don't show your love for people by avoiding them." Luke let out a deep sigh.
"It worked in high school. But as much as I hate to admit it...you're right," he said as he started to rise. "I think I'm ready to see her now." Luke was confused when he felt Lorelai grab his arm and pull him back down again.
"What the hell?! You're the one who said that I should go and see her." Luke was puzzled.
"Yes, but not right this minute. She has a visitor."
"A visitor? Who?"
"It's a boy." Luke went to get up again, but Lorelai kept a tight grip on him.
"Boy? What boy?"
"Oh, listen to you. You're three minutes off from buying a loaded shotgun and chasing the poor boy through the streets yelling, "I'm gonna getcha!" Lorelai smiled at the visual while Lorelai grimaced.
"Lorelai..."
"Okay, it's a boy from Chilton. His name is Tristan DuGrey. I, for one, am happy that someone from that god awful school has come to visit her."
"Tristan DuGrey. That name doesn't sound familiar." Lorelai braced herself as she spoke her next words.
"Well, that's because you may only know him as...Bible Boy."
"No, no, no, no, no Lorelai," he said as he finally succeeded in standing up. "Not the Bible Boy that has made her life a waking nightmare at that school. She's in the hospital for god's sake. How could you let him go in there?!" Lorelai stood up to try and stop him from barging into Rory's hospital room and killing Tristan.
"Get a grip, Luke. I don't think that mortal enemies go to the trouble of visiting each other."
"The black spot, Lorelai." She stifled a laugh at the seriousness in his voice.
"Come on. He doesn't exactly look like a pirate. Although, what does a pirate really look like? Anyway, I think he actually likes her."
"Oh. That makes me feel a hell of a lot better. We are going in there now!" He started to pull Lorelai towards the front entrance, as Tristan walked out and headed towards his car.
"Look, you don't have to worry. There he is. And, wow, there's no black ink stains on his hands." She couldn't help giggling as Luke scowled.
"That pretty boy over there is Bible Boy. Why don't you tell Rory I'll be there in a minute? I have something to do first."
"Oh, no you don't Mr. King of Subtlety. You are not going to go over there and have some macho, testosterone charged punch-up in the hospital parking lot with a high-school student. You will come and see Rory now!" She dragged him through the doors towards Rory's room.
"You know I'm going to meet him eventually. I could take him."
"Of course you could. Now here we are, go and talk to Rory." Luke tore his eyes away from the hospital entrance and realised that he was outside of Rory's room. Tristan was forgotten as his nerves set in.
"Hurry up, go." With those last words, Lorelai pushed him into the room.
***
Rory was interrupted from her thoughts of Tristan when Luke was pushed into her room. She was more surprised by the fact that this was the first time he was visiting her than she was about him being forced in to see her.
"Hey, Luke."
"Hey, Rory." Luke just stood staring at her without taking a step forward.
"You can sit down, you know." He chose the chair furtherest away from her.
"Luke, sit over here." She motioned to the chair that Tristan had been sitting in. He slowly made his way to the seat and sat down. Rory looked at him as he seemed to be finding her bedsheet extremely fascinating.
"I understand why you haven't come to visit me." Luke nodded slightly but remained silent. He still could not meet her eyes.
"I mean, I can see why you would be disappointed." Luke's eyes shot up.
"Disappointed?"
"Yeah. How could I have been so stupid as to not even look at his face. All I had to do was yell out. You were right there in front of me and..."
"Stop." Luke took a deep breath before he continued. "Rory, Rory, Rory. You have it all wrong, honey. God, I'm not disappointed in you. How could you even think that?" Rory looked down and picked at the loose threads of her hospital gown.
"Well, you hadn't come to see me and I just thought..." Luke stilled her fidgeting fingers by placing his hands over hers.
"I haven't come to see you because I've been disappointed in myself. I was right there..."
"Geez, aren't we a sorry pair. We could be characters straight out of a midday movie," Rory said with a slight smile. "Seeing you there helped me get through it. I felt like nothing bad could happen..."
"But it did."
" Just some temporary injuries and the loss of a couple of dollars, Luke. If you hadn't gotten to me so quickly..." She squeezed his hand. Luke flashed back to the ambulance and a tear slid down his cheek. He squeezed her hand back in reply.
"So, I don't want you to blame yourself, okay. I'm happy you're here now, Luke."
"Me too. Now, I feel like an idiot. But do me a favour. Don't tell your mother she was right. She's already heard it from me once today and one more time will probably give her a god complex or something." Rory smiled and they looked at each other for a few awkward moments.
"Oh...come here, kiddo." Luke pulled Rory into a firm hug as they both shed a few more tears.
"I won't let anything or anyone hurt you ever again," Luke solemnly vowed. He spoke it so softly, however, that Rory didn't hear it.
Outside the room, Lorelai watched the two with tears in her own eyes and a smile on her face. 'Maybe everything will be alright,' she thought. 'Now I really need some coffee.' She left the pair to continue talking, while she went in search of her sacred beverage.
To be continued in Chapter Three - Literature and a Chariot Means No Friends