AN: Sorry this wasn't up yesterday! I got sidetracked while writing it. Anyways, to everyone who celebrates Easter, happy late Easter!
"Tris! It's cold! What are we doing out here?" Twenty three year old Rory Gilmore questioned her boyfriend of the past year as she followed him outside to the DuGrey family's vast lawn.
"Come on Mary, you'll see." Tristan told her, smiling at her.
It was Easter Sunday, 2008. Rory and Tristan had run into each other at a party in Hartford the summer of 2006, and quickly became friends. Their friendship filled with flirting banter naturally escalated, and now they were happy together. They both took jobs in Boston after graduation, and were now happily dating and living in the same city.
"It's really cold." She reiterated, getting annoyed at her boyfriend. She didn't see what they needed to do outside that they couldn't do in the nice, warm mansion.
"I promise, it will be worth it." Tristan promised her, flashing her a charming smile. "Besides, we can't do this inside. We wouldn't want to disturb the guests."
She sent him a withering glare. "Tristan DuGrey! I am not having sex with you outside!"
He bit back a chuckle, his blue eyes shining with laughter. "I didn't think you were going to, Mary."
With that being said, he led her to a bench where he handed her a small Easter basket. "Happy hunting."
"Huh?" She looked between him and the basket he was offering her, confused.
"Start hunting, Mary." He told her, smiling as she began to laugh.
"Tris, I haven't done this since, wow, it's been several years."
"Get started. You never know what you might find." He leaned over, kissing her, and pointed her towards the path leading to the gardens.
Rory shook her head, laughing as she ambled down the path. This was so like Tristan. He was always planning sweet, special events for her. Unlike Logan, he didn't flaunt his money at her. Instead, he picked sweet, sentimental things to woo her. And it worked. Oh, how it worked. She was completely, totally, absolutely without a doubt head over heels for Tristan DuGrey. The best thing was he was just as crazy for her.
She looked to her right, and saw a small plastic blue pastel egg sitting under a bush. "Yay!" She cheered quietly, hurrying over to place her find in her basket.
"Hmmm." She frowned, seeing 'Open Me' written on the egg in silver. She complied, pulling out a pastel blue slip of paper.
'Congratulations Mary, you found the first egg. There are ten eggs hidden here somewhere. You have nine more to go. Open them in their numbered order.'
Rory smiled at her boyfriend's romantic nature. Who would have ever guessed that Tristan DuGrey, the former bane of her existence, would be the perfect boyfriend?
She began to walk towards the gazebo, where they always escaped to at boring parties his parents would throw. She walked up the stairs and stood in the center, looking around for any eggs she might spot. She glanced up, and on the inside ledge of the gazebo roof was a pale yellow egg.
She sighed. Of course he wouldn't make this too easy for her. Rory placed the basket down and stood on the bench that went around most of the gazebo, following the ledge and stopping only for the opening. On her tip toes she could just barely reach it.
"Yes." She cheered, refraining from doing a happy dance. Ha! She would show him. She would get each and every one of those eggs, no matter where he tried to hide them.
This egg had a 3 on it, in gold on the outside. Sighing, she placed it in the basket. All that work and she wasn't even able to open it yet!
She continued down the path, walking slowly so she wouldn't miss any eggs. She reached a small simulated water fall that Ashley DuGrey, Tristan's mother, had installed the previous summer by one end of the pool. Rory and Tristan had enjoyed a picnic lunch together on a sunny summer afternoon.
Rory spotted the light green egg setting on the edge, perfectly wedged between rocks so it wouldn't fall into the pond. The water was not running, since it was still cold. It would be another month or so before Ashley had it turned back on.
She picked the egg up, seeing a number 4 written in white on the side. Sighing, she placed it in the basket with the others. She was anxious to find the number 2.
She continued down the path, picking up eggs as she found them. Numbers 6, 7, and 8 were not difficult to find. She spotted number 6 lying on one side of the path, and number 7 was setting on a low tree branch. To get it she had to jump slightly, and then grabbed at it quickly.
Egg number 8 was setting on a bench, just waiting for her. She picked it up and added it to the others in the basket. She sat down, pondering where the others were.
She only needed to find two more eggs, the number 2 and the number 9. She had already been through most of the yard, and was quickly getting frustrated.
She racked her brain, unable to think of where another egg would be. Rory was quickly getting annoyed, and wondered where Tristan was.
She stayed on the bench for a few more minutes, pouting. As she started to stand up, she noticed Tristan walking towards her.
"You!" She accused, placing her hands on her hips.
He bit back a grin. "Me?"
"You hid them!"
He nodded slowly. "Yes, Mary. You see, an Easter egg hunt is usually the most fun when eggs are hidden."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Tristan, you hid them hard."
Tristan laughed at her. "I was watching you, and I noticed you had a little trouble finding one of them. The number 2?"
He reached into his pocket and handed her a light orange egg, with the number 2 written on the side in gold.
"You had it! This whole time?"
"No. I noticed you weren't opening your eggs, so I realized you didn't see the 2." He told her, smiling at her. His blue eyes were sparkling at her.
"Where was it?" She asked him, holding the egg in her hand.
He bit back a laugh. "On the side of the stairs to the gazebo."
"It was there? Right there?"
He nodded.
"Come on, let's let you open these."
Tristan led her to the gazebo, where he led her to the bench.
She beamed at him, opening the 2.
Inside, was a ticket. It was a PJ Harvey concert ticket.
"Tris?" She questioned, noticing the date. "You never went?"
He shook his head. "No. I only wanted to go with you."
He had never told her that the tickets were never used. She always assumed he took someone else.
Tristan reached into the basket, handing her the 3.
Rory took the pale yellow egg from him, and carefully opened it.
'13' Was written on a slip of pale yellow paper.
"What is this?" She asked him, shooting him a confused look.
"Thirteen is the number of times I read Romeo and Juliet in military school." He informed her, watching as her face lit up in a smile.
"Thus with a kiss I die." He murmured, leaning over and pressing his lips to hers. "I always regretted not being able to do that. Talk about bad timing for being sent away."
She kissed him back, and then said, "Well, you can do that any time you want to know."
He smirked. "Oh, I know. I take full advantage of that, too."
He reached over and handed her the number 4. She took it, her fingers brushing his. Opening it, she pulled out a small piece of paper.
It was a movie stub, for Silent Hill.
She smiled at him. Silent Hill was the first movie they saw together. Nothing else was playing at the late show, so they went and saw that together the summer of 2006.
She reached into the basket, grabbing the number 5. Opening it, a sprig of green fell into her lap.
She lifted it up, laughing when she realized what it was.
"Mistletoe?" She questioned, still laughing.
"Our first kiss… well, since high school. Remember?"
She nodded. "Of course. It was the Gilmore's Christmas Gala. Grandma wanted me to have a date, so you went with me. We were under mistletoe, and well…" She trailed off, remembering the night.
Tristan began to laugh. "And your grandfather had to clear his throat to get us to stop?"
Her face turned red. "That was embarrassing!"
Tristan smiled at her. "Our families loved it."
She shot him a look, grabbing the number 6 egg. "Of course they did. After all, we both found someone our families thought was acceptable."
Rory opened the number 6 egg. Inside, was a key.
"What's this?" She asked him, holding up the normal looking silver key.
"Open the rest of your eggs, then I'll tell you."
She glanced at him curiously, but complied. Pulling out the number 7 egg and opening it, she found a slip of paper.
"Aww!" She said, reading what he had written.
'Angeleno's' was written on the paper.
"Our first real date." She whispered, remembering how in January the year before he finally asked her out, and they went to dinner together at Angeleno's in Hartford.
Tristan nodded, now anxious.
"Ohhh… last one." She teased, grabbing the number 8 egg.
Inside was another slip of paper, this one simply said, 'I love you.'
Rory looked up at him. "I love you, too."
Tristan smiled at her, walking over to the stairs and picking something up from behind a bush.
"Here you go."
She looked at the large Easter basket in his hands. It had a lot of candy, and a large solid chocolate bunny. In the center, was a small egg. This one was different than the others. It was a sapphire blue jeweled metal egg.
"Open it." Tristan whispered.
Rory reached over, looking at it oddly. It really was a beautiful egg. Opening it, she gasped. Tears clouded her eyes. She looked over at Tristan, only to see him down on one knee.
"Rory, I love you. I was hoping you would remember all the wonderful times we've had together. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
She nodded, throwing her arms around him. Tristan held her tightly, relieved.
"Yes, yes yes yes!" She told him, tears escaping.
Tristan took the little egg from her and lifted the brilliantly sparkling diamond ring out. He slipped it on her finger.
Rory smiled at him, kissing him.
Once they broke apart, a thought struck her. "Hey, what was with the key?"
He smiled at her, and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Well, we can't very well live in separate places once we're married, now can we?"
"What did you do?" She asked him, leaning into his embrace as he wrapped his arms around her.
He shrugged. "Nothing much. Just bought us a townhouse."
She laughed. "Nothing much, huh?"
"Nope. Nothing much. Happy Easter, Mary."
"Happy Easter, Tristan." She whispered back to him, leaning in to kiss him once more.