AN: Woo! Coming towards some semblence of an ending now, powering on! I can't believe people are still reading! It's awese though. A littel bad news though, I'm going away forthe weekend to the country where they look at you like you're an alien if you ask where teh nearest internet cafe is. My cousins and I go every year to a town called Rutherglen where they do the annual "Winery Walkabout". Basically, we hire a mini-bus, a designated driver, and visit 29 wineries between Saturday and Monday. We come home completely sloshed but we love it! So you probably won't see an update until Monday night, jsut wanted to wanr you so you don't think I abandoned you.

"What happened between Tristan and Summer?" Rory asked as she lay on her stomach on her bed that night. Louise didn't answer straight away and Rory looked up, it was unlike her not to want to gossip. Louise sighed.

"Um…they were together, for a while…probably each other's first boyfriend and girlfriend. About the time that Mike and I were together"

Rory was shocked, she hadn't seen that coming. Tristan had been with Liz's best friends before her.

"So what happened?"

Louise half-shrugged.

"Well Summer sure hates him now…did he cheat on her?"

"Not exactly"

"Well what then?"

"I don't know the whole story…it's only rumours"

Rory snorted.

"Since when do you not know the whole story"

"I really think this is something you should talk to Tristan about"

Rory snorted again.

"Yeah, good luck with that, he hates me"


Tristan drew back against the cigarette, it was an old habit he'd taken up again. It was cold outside on the edge of the woods where he stood. They all used to go down there to smoke when they were younger, into the woods, deep into them where there was a rotting, overturned log filled with stubbed-out cigarette butts from that time. He doubted that anybody would be going back into the woods to smoke any time soon. There wasn't a student in the school who didn't know exactly where Liz's body had been found. The police tape had flapped at the entrance of the woods exactly between Debalar and DuGrey, Liz had been lying just inside the woods. He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to think about other things.

He had been given the role of John Proctor in place of Jay, and Summer was now Liz's Abigail. It was somehow fitting. He thought about his lines earlier that day,

Because it's my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!…I have give you my soul; leave me my name!

He had been speaking those lines to Summer, he knew, she knew it, hell the whole class had known it. Summer had tried to take his name after they broke up, and she had tried to take it again over Liz. It was her revenge, her payback. He had invoked John Proctor, but he had been speaking for himself…I have given you my soul; leave me my name. Was that true? Did he give Summer his soul when he was fifteen? Or had she wrenched it from him. He shook his head, this line of thinking wasn't much of an improvement on his last. He had been trying not to let his mind wander down this track for nearly three years, but today had brought it all back up.

"This is a pretty morbid place to come and think,"

Tristan winced when he heard that voice.


Rory stood behind him, saying the words that Finn had said to her the week before. She watched as he finished his cigarette and crushed it beneath his boot. Slowly, so slowly she held her breath, he turn to face her. His face was haggard, he looked tired, tired and…deflated, that was it. He looked as though something so heavy was weighing him down.

"What are you doing here?"

"Tristan, please…don't turn away, let me…" She began, knowing that he would probably shut down again, walk away. He held up his hand to silence her.

"It's not safe out here"

"Oh…I thought…" She trailed off.

"You thought I was going to ignore you, say something cruel?"

She didn't answer his question, instead she took a step closer to him, praying silently he would take a step back. He didn't move. His arms hung lifelessly by his side, his hands balled into loose fists. He turned his eyes to the ground, an almost wistful look came over his features, making him look a little more peaceful.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Just thinking" He replied.

"You were great today…in Theatre"

He shrugged.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't difficult to play that part." He said ruefully.

"Because of people accusing you?" She asked quietly, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket. It was cold and her breath came out in little white puffs. She resisted the urge to purse her lips and pretend she was smoking like she used to when she was younger. She had looked away, into the woods, but out of the corner of her eye she saw him nod gently.

"That…"
"And? It's something to do with Summer…what happened between you two?"

"I did something terrible"

"It couldn't have been that bad"

He laughed coldly and threw his head back. Rory just stared at him until suddenly he closed the gap between them. Leaning over her, his breath hot in contrast to the cold air he whispered,

"You don't know me"

Rory narrowed her eyes.

"Then tell me! Tell me instead of going back into this shell Tristan! I want to know you! I old you that he night I went to your house!" She put her hands on his chest and pushed him y from her.

"You're such an asshole! Do you just want to be mysterious? Is that it? You want to be tortured and angsty?" Her voice was shrill.

He was staring at her as though transfixed and she narrowed her eyes.

"I wanted to be your friend but I can't be when you just shut down like this! When you push me away!"

He grabbed her arm and she jumped as he began to drag her away from the woods. Tripping over her own feet as he stormed off she managed t get out:

"What are you doing?"

"We're not having this conversation here," he told her quietly, his voice hard. He led her to Debalar, the housemother was at her desk. He sighed heavily and turned to her.

"If you want answers, go to my dorm window and I'll let you in," He said before entering the building and greeting Mrs. Schmidt.


Did she want the answers he promised her? Now that it was a reality she wasn't so sure. Her confidence of a few moments ago dissipated as she dawdled to his window. Finally she stood outside it. Tristan stood on the other side, he had thrown the window open.

"Well?" He demanded curtly.

She swallowed. Sighing she hoisted herself up to the window sill an climbed in, at least he was talking to her.

"I'm not a nice person Rory…at least, I haven't been," He was sprawled on his back on his bed, she sitting cross-legged on Matt's bed. "I was with Summer when we were fourteen…we broke up when I was fifteen. She'd been cheating on me with every guy in town the fucking bitch."

Somehow, Rory wasn't surprised. He shifted so that his hands were under his head. He looked almost carefree as he told the story.

"After we broke up, she hounded me, called me all the time, wrote letters, waited outside classes. I ignored everything, wouldn't have anything to do with her. Then, one day her father showed up at my house. Turns out his little darling was pregnant,"

Rory gasped and Tristan looked over at her, a knowing smile playing on his lips.

"Oh wait," He said with a laughed, "…it gets so much better. She claimed it was mine. Of course, she would, none of the other guys she was sleeping with had a surname that could match DuGrey," He was struggling to keep the bitterness out his voice. "I denied it, I denied it as loudly as I could. I mean, I knew it wasn't my kid…right?"

Rory was slowly shaking her head and he laughed.

"So her daddy starts legal proceedings, DNA tests namely. She was a few weeks by then. Of course, the DNA tests...well, I was wrong, amazingly, she managed to get pregnant to me.""

Without noticing, Roy was biting her thumbnail over and over, wishing she'd never started this ball rolling. His eyes were sparkling, but not in the way they did when he genuinely smiled, instead they looked glassy, malicious.

"Her father started making demands, money first and foremost, the business side of things. And then they came up with the idea we stay together. Of course they couldn't marry us off, but they could send us away together...get us out of Hartford until we were old enough to be irresponsible in the eyes of society. Her dad was talking about us going to London where not so many people would know us, we could raise the kid, marry, come back…sure people w still know but it'd more respectable somehow in his eyes. I couldn't let that happen Rory, I couldn't" He suddenly sat up to face her, leaning forward to make his point.

"I didn't even like her that much when we were together and there was no way I could do what her father wanted…"

"Tristan…" Rory began quietly, "…what did you do?"

He hung his head and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I got her alone at school, told her we could get back together…she was so happy. A few days later I lay on this bed with her and convinced her to get an abortion. She cried at first and refused. I don't know whether it was because she really wanted the baby or if it was because she wanted to do what her father said. But I pushed on, I insisted, I was fifteen for fuck's sake. I was terrified and I was beginning to fall for Liz. I didn't want a baby and I didn't see any other way. My father was agreeing with hers and I knew it would be the end of my life if that happened. In the end I drove her to the clinic, paid and waited for her to come out. I told her parent's she lost the baby…Liz backed that up, I don't know if she knew the real story, she hadn't known Summer was pregnant. Summer stayed away from school for a long time. By the time she came back if she hadn't figured out I didn't want her, she would have…I was with another girl…you know Cassie? From theatre?" He looked up to see tears streaming down Rory's face.

"Remember that night you asked if Summer hated me enough to go to the police?"

Rory nodded, her hands covering her face.

"Well now you understand why…you see? I'm not a nice person. Try justifying what I've done in my life. The only thing I did right was Liz and me, and even that got fucked up" He stood up. "Well Rory? Are you happy now you know a little more about me?"

She was silently sobbing on the bed. He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet.

"How do you feel about that? Are you going to tell me I was just a kid? That it wasn't my fault?"

She looked up at him.

"How dare you question my morality" She whispered and he laughed.

"Don't take the high-ground with me"

She reached up to slap him but he grabbed her hand, turned her so that her back was against the wall. Holding her hands above her with one of his, he pinned her there, lowering his face to hers. Her heart started to race and he smirked.

"So what's your dirty little secret Mary?"

She swallowed dryly and he crushed his lips to hers. She wanted to b disgusted, wanted to be able to push him away, to slap him but in stead she found herself kissing him back as he ran his left hand to the small of her back, pulling her violently against him. He trailed his kisses to her throat and she groaned.

"What's your secret?" He whispered.

She arched her back and he raised his eyebrow and readjusted his grip on her hands, running his other hand down to the waistband of her jeans, in what seemed like mere seconds Rory realised somewhere in her mind that the buttons were undone and he was touching her. Her eyes widened and he smirked against her lips. He kissed her again and bit down on her bottom lip as his finger entered her, she moaned in pain and pleasure.

Matt couldn't believe what he saw when he opened the door…it was happening all over again. He brought his hands to his temples.

"You slut!" He roared.

Tristan and Rory both jumped, brought back to earth by Matt framed in the doorway. Tristan glared at him and let Rory's hands go. He stood in front of her, bearing the brunt of Matt's anger and she quickly did up her pants, her face flushed. She wondered why she wasn't as horrified as she should have been but her mind still wasn't working properly. She drew her finger up to her lip, it came back with blood on it from where Tristan had bitten her. She licked it away.

"Get over it Matt" Tristan said simply, crossing his arms over his chest.

Matt advanced into the room, slamming the door after him, he glared at Rory where she stood behind Tristan,

"I thought you were different!" He cried.

She stared at him, shocked at the pain in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Matt…I"

He clutched his fists to his temples.

"Matt calm down, you're turning into a queen" Tristan said menacingly.

Matt shoved him and Tristan jostled Rory who jumped out of the way as Tristan launched himself on Matt. He grabbed Matt's shoulders and shoved him back. Matt threw a punch but Tristan blocked it.

"Stop it!" Rory screamed. Tristan turned to look at her but when he did Mat threw a left hook. Tristan clutched his eye.

"You fucking crazy asshole!" He cried at Matt who shook his fist. Tristan let go of his eye, the entire area was pink. Matt ignored him and turned to Rory.

"You're nothing but a cheap slut like the rest of them," He hissed at her and she recoiled.

Suddenly the memory of what Louise had told her that day popped into her head.

"It's like he's bi-polar," Louise concluded, "You never known what you're going to get with him. One moment he's your best friend, the next he's turned on you. And once he turns on you, he never backs down."

"Leave Rory," Tristan said simply.

She took another glance at he guys and climbed out of the window.

AN: Finally! Some TRORY action! I know tristan's being a real ass and some people might be pretty pissed about his character in this ut on se subconscious level he's simultaneously blaming himself over Summer and trying to push Rory away. If anybody was confused, when he was thinking about having given Summer his soul, he was meaning that Summer is always going to have some power over him because of his guilt over what he did to her. He'll never be able to let go of it, or, to some extent, her. Remeber to R&R and please don't hate me.