AN: Wow! I'm really overwhelmed by everbody's support over the past couple of days. Thank you so much! You've all really picked me up and dusted me off I was worried after I posted that that everyone would be pissed off but you're all awesomely amazing instead. As you could probably tell, I was late with this update. I'm really hoping it does't become habit and it's nothing to do with the story, I know exactly where I'm taking it. It's purely a time mangement conflict, namely with the essay about Nazi Skinhead Culture and how it's affected the Far Right since 1945 - thrilling huh? - that's 5 weeks overdu! There's too many people to thank and I have to go and get an essay ready for tomorrow, so I'll be brief:

I love you all!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything -especially GG

They had been making out for what seemed like hours, his soft lips working against hers, when the voice in Rory's mind started screaming. What are you doing? It cried from its position on the moral high ground. She squirmed beneath him, not wanting to pull away from his lips but knowing, in some far corner, that for her own sanity she had to. She finally placed her tiny hands against her chest, pushing him back. He shrank away from her, drawing into a tight ball at the end of the bed, his face unreadable after the few second of raw emotion that flashed across it.

"Why did you say that?" She asked quietly as she pulled further away from him.

He looked at her miserably, pulling himself to his knees.

"I'm so sorry Mary," He whispered, rocking slightly. "I'm so sorry".

From her position at the end of the bed she stared at him. She found herself doing that a lot lately. Before she'd known him she'd just glanced at people, face value was enough, but now, now she understood. He looked so pitiful, his face flushed, drawn as small as he could make himself, his eyes stormy and busy as they flicked restlessly around the room, hovering anywhere but on her. She slowly moved to put her arms around him but he shrank back again.

"You believe me though," He whispered, as though he couldn't comprehend it, "for a moment you believed me".

She knelt across from him, her rational mind wanting to scream that he had grabbed her by the throat! Threatened her! But she could never say things like that, not anymore.

"How could they believe that about me?" He asked her, for the first time, meeting her eyes.

How could he do this? How could she feel this, so meaningless and helpless? Completely without any answers to soothe or sedate. He looked up at her expectantly.

"Don't look at me like that," She pleaded with him, "I can't tell you anything, I can't make you feel better. I can't…" Tears filled her eyes.

He touched her hand softly where it lay on the bed next to her.

"You really care," It wasn't a question, not much of a statement.

She met his gaze defiantly, as if daring him to challenge why she should.

They spent the rest of the night in silence. They had sat on the bed in an awkward silence that was somehow comfortable, at least it was something they shared.

"We should go to bed," Rory finally said, "We've got to get to Albany tomorrow"

He had just accepted her, as though she was his mother. As she lay in her bed in the dark, trying to ignore the memories of those lips, she realised he hadn't answered her question. Why had he said it? Why had he said he 'loved' Liz, and not the he still 'loves' her?

She had watched him closely since they left. Each day he was becoming more and more withdrawn, ferreting away other facets of himself, of the guy he'd been before Liz. Rory smiled bitterly to herself in the darkness. All these weeks her mother had been warning her away from Tristan because she thought he was dangerous. She had been right; he was, but not in the way Lorelai had assumed. No, Rory knew that the spiral she had more than willingly followed him down into was far more dangerous than any physical threat.


Jay found his mother sitting in the coffee shop near Chilton the next morning. She had had another meeting with the detective's, but nothing had turned up about Rory's car although police in all the bordering states were looking out for it. It was relatively common knowledge around the school now that Rory and Tristan had run away, although all the whispering was done behind hands. Lorelai was bent over the table, looked haggard as she gripped her coffee mug tightly.

"I'm not even angry," She told Jay and Louise, who'd come with him. Lorelai laughed strangely. Her voice was calm, monotonous. "Not at all…I just want her home, I want things back to normal"

Louise's eyes were round and sad; they seemed to be that way a lot these days. She knew how Lorelai felt, but she didn't think things were ever going back to normal.

When the cell phone rang on the table none of them noticed it at first, all lost in their own thoughts. Lorelai laughed nervously when she realised it was hers.

"Hello"

"Mom?"

"Baby?" She cried, causing half the occupants of the coffee shop to jump.


Rory laughed nervously on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, it's me"

"Where are you?" Her mother cried in anguish. Rory sighed, what could it hurt?

"We're in New York…the state, not the city. We're going to see someone Liz and Tristan knew who could clear his name, get him out of trouble"

"And what about you?"

"What?" Rory asked.

"Oh Rory…" Her mother's last words came out as a pained whisper, and Rory's eyes burned with unspilled tears "What about the trouble you're in?"

Rory didn't say anything.

"Rory you've cut school, Janlen and I have spent the last couple of days pleading for them to keep you in…we've had t report you missing to the police…they're looking for your car…"

"Mom, mom…" Rory broke in, feeling the panic rise in her. "I have to go" Without waiting to hear anything else, she hung up.


In the coffee shop, Lorelai stared at the phone as though it were a snake that had bitten her.


They reached Albany around mid-day and found Justin's house.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Rory asked as they climbed out of the car. It was a tiny, run-down Californian bungalow. Tristan smirked at her and rolled his eyes.

"I never said Justin was society," He told her, "Hartford does have a middle class you know"

She blushed as they approached the door.

"Liz was his uptown girl," He said in a growl and Rory looks over at him. As Tristan was about to knock on the door Rory panicked and grabbed his arm.

"What if he did do it?" She asked him, "He'd be dangerous"

"He'd want to be" Tristan replied menacingly.

A girl answered it; she must have been about fourteen or fifteen.

"Yeah?" She asked sullenly.

"Is Justin home?" Tristan asked.

The girl laughed then shook head.

"No, he's not, he took off a few weeks ago. I don't know where, but mom said he'll show up when he gets hungry, like a dog" With that she looked Rory up and down and slammed the door.

Rory looked warily at Tristan, worried he'd lose his temper, but instead he just looked defeated.

"So this is it?" She asked.

Tristan slowly shook his head.

"It can't be…it all fit"

Rory touched his shoulder and slowly they started to walk away from the house. Rory heard the screen door open and slap closed again but she didn't turn until she heard the male voice.

"What're you doing here DuGrey?"

Tristan froze-mid-step. Slowly, he spun on his heel to confront Justin Bellevue who stood on his front porch in a sweatshirt and jeans.

"The girl said you'd taken off," Tristan said.

Justin shrugged and lit a cigarette. Rory studied him, he was cute, she could understand what Liz had seen in him, she had had good taste. His hair was medium brown and longish. It was an out-dated hairstyle, the type high school boys sported when Hanson and the Backstreet Boys were popular, but on him it suited. He looked; she cocked her head, a little like the guy from the O.C, the one that got drunk and died…what was his name…Johnny! That was it.

"My sister," He explained, "that's what I tell her to tell people" He started slowly down the steps of the porch, Tristan sort of nodded. "So? What are you doing here DuGrey?" His eyes flicked to Rory and she looked at the ground. "You and Liz break up?"

Rory felt Tristan tense beside her.

"No…it's about Liz that I'm here"

Justin's face clouded over.

"What's wrong? Is she okay?"

Tristan laughed ruefully.

"She's dead," He said simply and Rory started at the finality of that statement.

Justin didn't say anything, just drew back on his cigarette and stubbed it out.

"I need a drink" He announced.


There was a bar no far from his house. Obviously he was a regular, they weren't ID'd and he greeted the guy behind the bar with familiarity. While they waited for their drinks Tristan told him quietly what had happened. Justin lit another cigarette.

"Why are you here?" Justin finally asked, he'd be silent until then. "You think I did it?" Tristan just stared at him. Rory jumped as Justin's pounded his fist on the table they'd sat down at. But as quickly as it had flared the anger died and clarity shone in his grey eyes. "They think it's you don't they?" A look of won crossed his face while Tristan's stayed like stone. Justin laughed cruelly and smirked at Rory who narrowed her eyes at him.

"So what, you thought you'd come here, get me to confess and drag me back to Babylon?" Justin asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Give me a fucking break" with that he walked off in the other direction, leaving his drink unfinished. Rory looked over at Tristan, he looked gutted.

"I'm going to the bathroom," She said quietly, not waiting for a response.

The toilets were down a hallway and when she entered it she saw Justin, leaning with his head against the rough stones wall. He turned when he heard her and tried to smile but his red eyes betrayed him. He could be as cocky as he liked back in the bar but not here, now.

"That must've been hard for you," She said.

"Yea it was"

"Tristan's taken it hard"

"I'll bet…has he told you about Liz and I?"

Rory nodded slowly.

"God, I thought she was perfect," He sad, turning to lean his back against the wall now. "We met at a party and she was…incredible…until she started to tell the lies"

"Lies?" Roy asked.

"Tristan didn't tell you? About how I "attacked" her" He pushed back his hair and showed her the deep scar on his forehead. "That's what he did when she told him. It was at a party, her precious Tristan wasn't supposed to be there. We were upstairs and Sum came up to tell her Tristan had shown up. We fought, I told her she had to choose and right in front of me she bangs her head against the wall and rips her shi. She turned around to look at me and she was crying then she ran off. Next thing I know he's flipped and smashed the beer mug on my face." He took a deep breath, "You know the most pathetic thing"?

Rory shook her head and he laughed.

"Seventeen stitches later I was still in love with her"

Rory was looking at him in horror.

"She lied about that?"

"Liz lied about a lot of things" His nonchalance was returning and he shrugged.

"Like what?"

"Like where she was when she wasn't with him. We didn't break up that night," He told her, "she showed up at my place the next day in tears. She was sorry, and we saw each other behind his back until a couple of months ago when I moved here."

Rory gasped.

"Oh God"

"Yeah"

"You know how that looks don't you?"

"Of course I do…does Tristan know?"

"He hasn't said anything to me"

"Will you tell him"

How could she? She shook her head.

When she got back to the table Justin and Tristan were waiting for her.

"Are you ready to go?" Tristan asked.

She nodded. They walk back to Justin's house. When they got there Justin looked Tristan in the eye.

"I'm really sorry man"

Tristan nodded.

"It was nice to meet you Rory,"

She smiled at him and he made his way inside while they climbed into the car.

"You didn't accuse him," Rory said as she started the car.

Tristan turned to her.

"I didn't have to, I knew as soon as I saw him…he's me"


They drove through Albany and back the way they'd come. They would stay in Echuca again and then be home the next day. Rory had been sitting, trying to read a magazine for ages. Tristan had gone for a walk, but that had been forty ms before. She shrugged her coat on. She found him on the small jetty of the lake the motel back onto. He stood at the very edge just staring out at the water. She walked up behind him, he didn't move but she knew that he could feel her there.

"I couldn't protect her," His voice cracked and his shoulders heaved as he spoke the words, "and now I can't get justice for her"

"This was never about Justin Bellevue was it?" Rory asked quietly, thrusting her balled fists into her coat. "You just wanted it to be him, to be able to solve it for her…" It was a statement, not a question. He didn't say anything.

"Tristan it's time to move on and I think you're going to have to accept that we may never know who killed her…I'm gonna go get something for dinner…" She waited a few seconds, giving him a chance to say something. Sighing inwardly, she turned to go, yet turning stayed when she heard his voice for what felt like the first time in weeks.

"I'll come with you" She smiled and offered her hand. He smiled back and took it.

AN: So there it is, the latest chapter, stay tuned for a break-through in the murder case in Chapter 15, as well those crazy kids' return to Chilton! Oh and a GOLD star to anybody who can pick up on myFitzgerald moment in the last scene. (I say a "Fitzgerald moment" because of the way he alluded to other people's poetry in his writings!). R&R

Ciao