Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Rory woke up from the best sleep she had ever had. She was sleeping on her side and Tristan had pulled her in close, wrapped his arms around her, and held her all night. She could feel his breath against her neck. She could stay like this forever and never move. She needed him in her life, not just a voice on the phone or in a letter. She needed the smell of him, the way he smirked, and the feel of his arms around her. If she had learned anything from coming down here, it was that. Everything was perfect. She felt him stir and she giggled as he kissed the back of her neck.

"Mornin'." He mumbled as he snuggled in closer to her. She removed his arm from around her waist and turned to look at him. His eyes were closed and he looked so content.

"Afternoon." She said as she glanced at the clock. He opened his eyes to see the clock read 12:17.

"No wonder I feel rested." He stretched and yawned. "Do you need something?" He asked when he noticed she was staring at him. She smiled and shook her head.

"I was just…thinking." She shrugged.

"Well stop. It's bad for you. I thought we learned that lesson yesterday." He turned over and pushed his pillow back into place.

"You going back to sleep?" She asked.

"Yep." He said matter of factly.

"Well then, I'll be in the shower." She said as she threw the covers off.

"Is that a statement or an invitation?" He asked as she made her way to the bathroom.

"You're a smart guy, you can figure it out." She shouted back to him. Tristan groaned as he shook his head and got out of bed.

"The death of me, Mary. The death of me."

Tristan drove Rory to the airport in silence. This is getting to be a tradition, he thought. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what would make it any easier.

"I had a good time. I'm so glad you came down here." He smiled her way

"Me too." She looked his way and smiled half-heartedly. She looked like she was going to cry.

"Mary." He said, his heart breaking.

"Don't. I'll be fine." She said kissing him. "No Goodbyes. I'll see you in a couple weeks." With that she walked away. She didn't look back but she heard a faint goodbye behind her.

Tristan watched her as she walked farther away from him. "Goodbye." He muttered.

Rory came running into her apartment that she shared with Paris. She threw her book bag on the chair and went for the ringing phone.

"Hello!" She yelled, slightly out of breath.

"Rory?" Emily asked uncertain.

"Yeah, Grandma, it's me. Sorry. I was unlocking the door so I had to run inside before you hung up."

"Oh well, I'm calling to make sure that you are coming to the Garden party next week." Rory slapped her forehead. She had completely forgotten about it.

"Yeah Grandma, I'll be there."

"Excellent. Make sure you bring a date, we may have trouble filling chairs. I have to run. Bye!"

"Grandma I…" Rory hung up the phone. Great, not only did she have to go to her Grandma's party but she needed to find someone to drag with her. Just then she had a brilliant idea. She picked up her cell phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?" She had missed the sound of his voice, she hadn't seen him since she broke up with Logan.

"Finn, it's Rory. I need a major favor."

"Of course love, anything."

"I need a date for my Grandma's Garden party next weekend."

"Did I say anything? I meant almost anything." He joked.

"Please! I promise it will only be an hour tops. Then you can escape to bigger and better things. I miss you Finn. I feel like I don't get to see you anymore."

"I miss you too darling. Fine." He said defeatedly. " But we don't tell Logan or Tristan. I don't want to mess up either friendship. After an hour, then I'm gone." She smiled

"Deal! Pick me up around 8?"

"Ok. We really should see each other outside of society parties though."

"You are absolutely right. I owe you Finn!" She said as she hung up the phone. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad party after all. Tristan was planning on coming up that next Monday and she was so excited, she hardly minded spending time at a party, especially if it was with Finn.

Finn knocked on her door at 8:05. He knew her too well. She smiled as she put on her last earring and walked to the door. She stopped in the mirror. She looked good if she did say so herself. She opened the door.

"Sweet Mary, mother of God." Finn said as his jaw dropped. She spun around. She was wearing a light blue sundress that hugged all of her curves perfectly and only brought out her eyes even more. Her hair was wrapped and she had silver jewelry.

"Hey Finn." She laughed at his reaction.

"You look amazing love. If it doesn't work out with Tristan, I'm next in line ok?" She laughed as she nodded.

"Thanks for doing this Finn. Really, it's above and beyond the call of duty."

"No worries. I'm happy to get to spend time with you again."

"I know, we should do it more often." He pulled up in front of her Grandparent's house and helped her out of the car. They didn't notice, but behind them a blonde man stepped out of a limo and followed them in.

As they made their way into the backyard, small white lights were hung up everywhere. It looked magically.

"Wow." Rory said as she stepped into the crowd. Finn brought back two glasses of champagne and Rory walked up to greet her Grandparents.

"Hi Grandpa, Grandma."

"You made it. How wonderful! Richard isn't it wonderful?" Emily said

"Yes it is." He said as he walked over to meet some business friends.

"It's a beautiful party Mrs. Gilmore." Finn said

"Why thank you." She looked over their shoulder. "Sorry, Rory, must run. Sheila!" Rory laughed.

"Would you like to dance Miss Gilmore?" Finn said as he stretched out his hand.

"I would love to," she said sticking her nose in the air. She took his hand and he led her to the floor. They were laughing and looked really cute together. She wrapped her arms around him and put her head on his shoulder. Logan looked up from his conversation with a business associate of his father's. She was making all the rounds with his friends, he thought bitterly. He didn't want to admit it, but he was hurt. Finn had told him that he had a date, but he didn't expect it to be her. She was supposed to be with Tristan. Soon he found himself walking over to them.

"Can I cut in?" He asked. Rory tensed at immediately hearing his voice.

"Logan. Let me explain." Finn tried to come up with a reason he was here.

"Finn. Don't." Logan said forcefully. "Just give me one dance." He looked at Rory and she nodded. Finn backed out and Logan took his place. Rory immediately backed up and started dancing much more formally.

"He was just doing me a favor. Don't get mad at him. He bailed me out." She said matter of factly

"Are you still seeing Tristan?" He asked, more out of necessity than wanting to know.

"Yeah." She smiled at his name. "I am."

"He's a good guy. One of the best, actually. You deserve someone who treats you right." He said. "He does treat you right, right?"

"He treats me like a princess." She said. "He's coming back, you know. On Monday." She hinted. "If you wanted to talk to him, you could." He laughed and spun her around.

"Ace I don't think that would be such a good idea." When she got back into his arms, she looked over his shoulder and saw Tristan standing farther away in a crowd. He looked pissed. Rory immediately let go of Logan. "Rory?" Logan was staring at her.

"Tristan." She said running towards him. "What are you doing here!" She was so happy to see him.

"I don't want to interrupt your dance, Ace." He spit out the name like a dirty word and walked away.

"Tristan, stop. You're being ridiculous. It was just a dance." He didn't turn around. "Tristan!" she kicked off her heels and Finn picked them up. She caught up with him and spun him around. "Look at me. Do you have no trust in me at all?" She asked. He looked down at the ground. "Do you think that I would cheat on you?" She asked him trying to make eye contact.

"Rory, look at it from my perspective. I show up a few days early to surprise you and I find you at a party with your Ex, looking gorgeous. And you're dancing and laughing like nothing had changed between the two of you. Don't you think that's just a little suspect?"

"I needed a date. Finn helped me out. Logan was here with his parents and he saw Finn and me. He wanted to make things right, and he did owe me an apology." Tristan gave her a look. "Do you know what we were talking about when you showed up? He said that you and I deserve each other, that you are one of the best guys he knows." Tristan glanced behind her where Finn and Logan were standing on the front step. Finn held up her heels in his hand. Tristan wanted to laugh at the picture, but he was still trying to figure things out.

"But if you are going to jump to conclusions, I don't want to have this conversation with you. I did the whole jealousy thing with Dean, I'm not doing it again with you." She turned to walk away.

"Mary," he grabbed her wrist. "Don't ever, ever, compare me to Bagboy." He said disgusted as he kissed her. It was full of passion, When he pulled away, her eyes were still closed.

"You think you can just kiss me and make it ok?" She asked as she opened her eyes.

"I think that I've got a whole summer to make it ok." She looked up at him like he was crazy.

"What do you mean? What about your internship?" He smiled.

"Turns out the company was bought out by someone from New York. They heard that I was from the area and they sent me back north. I'm going to be living in the city."

"Wait, so you and I are going to be living within an hour of each other?" She said as it all computed in her mind.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that." He couldn't contain his smile. "I talked to Paris and she gave me a file of your writings. I submitted them to the Times and they were more than eager to talk to you about an internship."

"What?" She was in shock. She couldn't even formulate more than a word.

"If you want to stay in Stamford, that's cool too. It's completely up to you, I just thought I would throw it out there." She started to smile.

"This is crazy. Two seconds ago I was trying to convince you from walking out the door, now you want us to live together?"

"Two seconds ago I thought that I had made a really big mistake. That's why I reacted the way I did. I'm sorry by the way." He said as he toyed with her hand.

"You're forgiven, but you better come up with a way to make it up to me." She winked.

"I can think of a few off the top of my head." He smirked and kissed her forehead. She went over to Finn and collected her shoes.

"Thanks buddy." She said smiling.

"Anytime love, anytime." He said with a wink. "Let me walk you to Tristan's car." Logan and Tristan looked at each other. This was awkward.

"You used to be so charming." Logan smiled. "What the Hell happened?" Tristan laughed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"I'm sorry, but when it comes to her," he stopped, not sure exactly how to put what he felt into words.

"I get it man. It's ok." He walked past him, but turned around and pointed a finger at him. "Just don't let it happen again."