Disclaimer: I am not ASP

A/N: Sorry this took so long, I have the entire second half written, but I just am struggling to get from here to there. When I finally had this written was being stupid so that's also why it's taken me so long to update. I'm almost done with the next chapter so it shouldn't take so long this time! Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy.

On the way home from dinner, Rory stopped to gaze at a sleeping baby in the park. The mother was sitting on a park bench reading while the infant lay peacefully sleeping in its stroller.

"Oh, what an adorable baby." She whispered.

"Thanks, this is the only way I can get her to sleep. You'd think with all the noise she'd want to be inside, but I have to walk her out here to get her asleep." Rory grinned and kept watching the baby. "Do you have any children?"

"No, someday." She replied. "Good luck."

"Thanks." She answered as Rory and Tristan kept walking.

"So how many do you want to have?" Tristan asked curiously.

"What?" Rory said breaking her trance-like state.

"You said you wanted kids, how many?"

"I don't know. I hated being an only child, so definitely more than one. What about you? Where do you stand on the children issue?" She asked him almost mockingly.

"I don't know. I'm an only child too, but in my case, I'm glad no one else had to survive my family. I guess I never really thought about it."

"Really? Well I'm sure if you were to have kids, you would want sons, am I correct?"

"Of course, I'm a guy, and I don't even want to think about my daughter being with someone like I uh…used to be." He said, quickly recovering.

"Nice save." She said rolling her eyes. "And I wouldn't want my daughter going out with someone like you 'used to be' either. What about if your son was like you 'used to be'?"

"It would never happen. I would teach my son how to treat a woman properly."

"Oh really? And how exactly do you do that?"

"By always buying her dinner before you take her home." He said with a wink. She opened her mouth shocked. "Did you forget that tonight is the final night of the bet?" He asked her knowingly.

"Doesn't matter, I am appalled by that answer."

"Oh don't act all offended. I know that you miss me." He smirked. They came to their building and walked into the elevator. Tristan hit the button to take them up. Rory watched as the numbers climbed higher until half way up the elevator stopped with a shudder.

"What the…" she glanced at Tristan who was staring at the numbers too.

"Well I guess we are stuck here."

"For how long?" she asked as he hit the emergency button.

"I don't know." He watched her face. "You aren't claustrophobic are you?"

"No, I just don't like being stuck in something being held up by wire cables." She said sitting down. "Just perfect." He joined her on the floor.

"What can I do to take your mind off of the fact that you are hovering in a metal box?" He paused. "How about a game. Twenty questions? Truth or Dare? I spy?" She laughed at him and he smiled back.

"If I had to be stuck in an elevator with anyone, I'm glad it's with you."

"Me too." He smiled and wrapped his arm around her.

"I have a question for you." She said.

"Shoot." He said still staring at the elevator door.

"How many girls have you dated?"

"What?" He turned to stare at her. The question had completely caught him off guard.

"Rough estimate, how many girls have you dated?"

"Why, does it matter?" he asked.

"I'm just curious. I'm not going to get mad at you or anything."

"What do you consider dating? Like more than once?"

"I'm talking about a moment in time when you had a specific girl who you called your girlfriend."

"Before you?"

"Yes not counting me." He paused as he went back in time. She watched his eyes scan the ceiling.

"Three." He answered. "At least that I can remember off the top of my head."

"How many of those were at Chilton?"

"One, Summer."

"Ok, now how many girls did you sleep with at Chilton?"

"Rory."

"No, I'm serious. I want to know."

"Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Because I've got you stuck in an elevator and I know you can't avoid me." He laughed at her, partly for her honesty but mostly to alleviate the tension in the elevator. "I'm serious, you know that I won't get mad. It's not like I haven't heard the stories."

"What stories?" He asked curiously, truly having no idea what she was talking about.

"From other girls, about you."

"There are stories?"

"Of course there are stories. You were the most wanted man at Chilton; it was actually disgusting how much people wanted to be you, or be with you."

"Were they good stories?"

"Enough about the stories, I want to know the answer." He looked at her once more before thinking again.

"I've never been interrogated in an elevator before. On second thought, there's something else I've never done in an elevator before."

"Tristan, please?'' The look in her eyes made his defenses crumble. He couldn't say no to her.

"Eight." He said after a long pause. "That I can remember. And I know that there were times when I woke up and I was pretty sure that I had done something the night before, but I couldn't remember." She glanced at him before looking down at the carpet. "Look, I'm not proud of what I've done. And I know that there's no excuse for my past behavior but I love you. And I have never loved anyone but you, and I never will. You were always it for me. You have to believe that."

"How many girls since you've been in North Carolina?" He just looked at the floor. "Tristan."

"Two. The girls I dated, and they were both brunettes with blue eyes." He said as the elevator started moving again. Silence reigned for the rest of the trip. When the doors opened, he walked out. He unlocked the door and let Rory in first.

"Thank you." She said quietly as she passed him. She went in and turned around.

"For what?" he asked as he took off his jacket.

"For your honesty. It means a lot to me."

"Ror, are you upset?" He wanted to touch her, but he figured that wasn't the best move.

"No. I'm not. Tristan, I've dated three guys before you, and I've slept with two. One of which was married and the other was Logan, need I say more. I just, I want to know where I stand with you. I need to know where I stand with you."

"You don't know where you stand with me?" he said, completely taken aback by her words. "Mary, come here." He said as he reached for her. She walked towards him and he wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear. "If you don't know without a doubt that I can't live without you, I haven't been doing my job. You should never have to question how I feel about you."

"It's not that. I know you love me, I do." She said nodding. "But sometimes I need to hear about your past. This way my imagination doesn't get away from me, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my entire life at Chilton, all I heard about was you. And if I never have any real numbers, it's easy to believe that your exploits were bigger and worse than they really were. I just need to know for my own sanity. You know all about my past relationships and I know nothing of yours."

"That's because they're not important." He said showing his frustration. "I love you, that's all you need to know."

"But…"

"Rory, I don't want to talk about this anymore." He snapped at her.

"Ok." She said quietly, caught off guard by his anger. "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean anything by it." Tristan put his hands in his hair as she left the room. After a few minutes of cooling off, Tristan walked into the bedroom where Rory was watching TV. He leaned against the doorframe and watched her for awhile. She was wearing his UNC T-shirt that she claimed smelled like him, even though he hadn't worn it since they started dating.

"You're forgiven." She said without taking her eyes off the screen.

"Who said I was apologizing?" He said with a smirk as he entered the room. She patted the bed and he sat down next to her.

"I really hit a nerve there, didn't I?"

"I guess so." He said looking at the carpet. "Look, I know you didn't mean for it to come across as judgmental but in my mind, that's what I heard. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"It happens. I'm sure I'll return the favor someday." He smiled a true smile that was reserved only for her eyes to see.

"I love you." He said as he slipped underneath the covers.

"Even the reporter in me?" she asked with a sly grin.

"Even the reporter." He said as he kissed her nose.

"Good, because I think it's going to get worse as the summer goes on." She gave him a guilty looking glance. He threw a pillow at her and turned over to go to sleep. "You got me the job, you can't complain."

"About you? Never." He mumbled. She kissed his cheek before turning off the TV and going to sleep.

OOOOO

Rory was going crazy. Her day had been incredibly stressful and she needed to take a break. She got up from the desk and decided to do what she always did when she was stressed, get a cup of coffee. As she was walking out of the building, she felt like someone was watching her. She turned around and no one even looked up at her. 'You've completely lost it', she thought to herself as she walked down the street to the nearest coffee shop. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling like someone was following her. She walked up to the counter and ordered, and while she was waiting, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She jumped a mile and turned around.

"I thought it was you."

"Jess! You scared the Hell out of me, what are you doing here?" She said as she gave him a hug.

"I'm in town for business, what are you doing here?"

"I live here, well, for the summer anyway. I'm interning at the Times for the summer."

"Really? Well, good for you. So are you out here all alone?"

"No," she said as a huge grin spread across her face. "I live with my boyfriend, we actually went to Chilton together, and everything is wonderful." Jess watched her reaction to the question in amazement. He had never seen her look this happy before. She turned around and grabbed her coffee and continued the conversation.

"Serious?"

"Very." Her face and tone both turned grave but she couldn't hold the moment for long before she was smiling again.

"Engaged?" He said as he looked down at her finger. She paused as if to ponder that question.

"I'd say more along the lines of promised. He lives in North Carolina and goes to UNC and I live up here so we both have to finish a year of school. It's more like a waiting game. But yes, I'd say that we were that serious."

"Wow. I really have to call Luke more often." She smiled. "It's all happened relatively quickly. We've only been dating since March. Enough about me. What are you up too?"

"Well, I'm still in Philly, the store is the same."

"Dating?" She interrupted.

"Yes, nothing quite as serious as you of course, but I'm currently seeing someone on a regular basis."

"You're happy?" Her question caught him and he looked up at her.

"Yeah, I am." She smiled. That was all she needed to know.

"Good." She replied. "I'm proud of you Jess. The world is finally getting to see what I always saw." He didn't know how to react to that. "That's a good thing." He smiled and glanced at his watch.

"I really have to go. I'm going to be late." He said.

"I'll walk you out." She walked out into the busy New York street and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You have to keep in touch better. Here's my new phone number if you ever are in town again, give me a call." She wrote out her number on the back of a card.

"I will," he said.

"Promise?" She pointed the pen at him.

"I promise." He gave her another kiss on the cheek and started to walk away. "Bye." Little did they know that across the street someone was watching this entire scene play out.

Jess wasn't the one who was following her. Stay tuned to find out who it was.