Thanks to all of my reviews and my beta, Lourenda.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Military school?"
"The police are letting our parents handle it, and in my case that means military school in North Carolina ."
"I don't know what to say."
"Well, I imagine you're overwhelmed with the relief in knowing that soon I will be gone."
"I'm so sorry."
"Well, I'm a big boy. I can handle it."
"There's nothing you can…"
"Tristan, come on."
"I gotta go. So, I might kiss you goodbye but, uh, your boyfriend's watching. Take care of yourself, Mary."
Rory's eyes flew open and her breathing was slightly labored, it was only a dream. She wasn't reliving anything or having some strange déjà vu moment. Her head resting on top of Tristan's chest was proof that it was only a dream, he wasn't leaving.
"You ok?" A husky voice said from above her.
"Yeah, just a bad dream. Sorry I woke you up."
"Don't worry about it." He said as he became more awake, "What was it about?"
"Nothing." She mumbled, not wanting to sound silly but explaining her dream.
"No murders, kidnappings or snails chasing you?"
"Snails chasing me?"
"When we were in military school Eric used to wake up screaming because he'd have a dream that snails were chasing him." Tristan explained with a laugh.
"I am so going to make fun of him."
"He won't even go to restaurants that serve escargot."
"Aw poor Eric."
"Poor Eric? Poor me! He did it for like a week straight every month."
Rory laughed and snuggled further into him "What inspired his fear of snails?"
"I have no idea." Tristan shrugged as a comfortable silence overtook them, "You think you can sleep now?"
Rory looked at the clock noticing they could still sleep for another three hours. "Yeah," she nodded laying back down.
Tristan followed her lead, "I'll protect you from the scary monsters." He whispered in her ear as he pulled her closer.
She didn't want to tell him her dream wasn't so much scary, but rather made her relive a day, that unbeknownst to him, broke her heart. "Thanks," she muttered before they both fell back into a peaceful sleep.
----------------------------
"Wake up." Rory heard a voice in the distance whisper in her ear; she figured if she ignored it that it would go away but she was wrong, "Come on, Mare. Wake up." Rory opened her eyes slightly to see Tristan smiling at her, "Rise and shine sleeping beauty."
"No, go away." She mumbled burrowing herself back into her pillow.
"If you're going to have time to shower you've gotta wake up."
Lifting her head up she looked at a wide awake Tristan, who was already showered and dressed, "When did you get up?"
"About two hours ago." He said sorting through a drawer to find socks.
"Two hours?"
"Yep, I went for a quick run, took a shower and got dressed all while you slept peacefully. Now get up!"
Scowling Rory pushed the covers off and sat up, "I hate morning people."
"The bathroom is down the hall to the right, you can use Breelynn's shampoo and body wash because all mine smell like a guy, towels are in the cupboard next to the sink, extra tooth brushes are on the shelf below the towels." Tristan told her.
"You have extra tooth brushes?"
"When I go to the dentist they give me a tooth brush and even though I don't use that kind I keep them for situations like this."
"For when you have a girl stay over?"
"My cousins, Eric, other friends from school."
"Aw, you and Eric have slumber parties! Do you prank call each other's ex's and look through fashion magazines to laugh at the styles that no one would ever consider wearing?"
"Every other weekend." He said seriously before pulling her up off the bed and giving her a quick peck on the lips, "Now, scoot."
"You just told me to scoot."
"It's a lot nicer than get your ass up and shower."
Rory nodded appreciatively as she left the bedroom, "True."
"Ror?" Tristan called standing in the doorway.
"Yeah?"
"I washed your clothes from yesterday and put them in the bathroom."
"Mom was right men really do live a whole other life while we sleep."
"Hurry, we've got about forty five minutes."
Rory mock saluted, "Yes, sir."
----------------------------
Rory and Tristan were in the car about five minutes away from the camp, Rory was staring out the window while Tristan listened to the sports report on the radio.
She couldn't believe how natural it felt to wake up at Tristan's place. There was no awkwardness when she woke up of not knowing what to do. No weirdness of getting ready at his place then driving to work with him and unlike at Logan 's place there was always a chance of Finn trying to catch her in the shower.
They fell into the couple act so easily, she didn't know if it was because they had known each other before hand or because they just felt comfortable with one another. She didn't mind, she liked not having to be awkward with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, Tristan was now her boyfriend, god she loved the sound of that.
"So, how is this going to work? Are we just going to walk in and announce we're a couple or are we gonna send a memo?"
"We'll act normal, Ror. This isn't a big deal, I mean it's a big deal to me because I finally got to sleep with the girl that has been the object of my affection since the 10th grade, but to everyone else it's not that big of a deal."
"We didn't sleep together."
"We slept in the same bed, that's constitutes as sleeping together. Get your mind out of the gutter, Gilmore."
"It's usually you throwing the innuendos."
"I guess I'm rubbing off on you."
Rory snickered, "Dirty."
Tristan shook his head as the pulled into the camp parking lot.
----------------------------
Rory and Tristan had managed to get in and out of the camp office unscathed. After they walked in Eric had announced to the entire office that they were officially a couple and to pony up his cash. All the girls awed at how cute it was and all the guy just mumbled finally and went on with their business.
They were sitting on the bench, waiting for the campers, talking when Casey walked up to them and looked at them closely. They were sitting closer than usual; his arm was behind her back as she leaned slightly against his shoulder. She might be fourteen and not exactly on the best terms with love at the moment but if she had to guess…Rory and Tristan were… "Together!" she shouted out loud gaining the two counselors attention.
"Huh?" Rory questioned looking at her as if she were insane.
"You two are together!" She said jumping up and down excitedly; she knew her plan would work.
"We aren't allowed to discuss our relationship with our campers." Rory said, with the straightest face possible. In all reality there really was a rule stating that they weren't supposed to date co-workers, but they figured if they had Wendy's blessing they weren't doing anything wrong. Though, Wendy had said to try and keep it on the down low around the campers.
"Liar!"
"No, that's actually true." Tristan added.
Casey glanced at him with a look that clearly said 'who was asking you?' Then back at Rory, "You mean you are going to deprive your loving campers of details!?"
"Yep." Rory nodded.
"Fine, but then I am going to have to do something I really don't wanna."
"Like what?"
"It's still war week, you are fraternizing with the enemy."
Rory's eyes widened at what she was implying, "You wouldn't."
"I so would." Casey shot back, grinning.
Tristan had to laugh at the exchange; Rory was being blackmailed by her camper for details about their relationship. His laughter ceased when he felt a whack upside his head "Ow!" He said rubbing the spot that was just hit "What was that for?"
"This is not funny!" She said gesturing to the now three fourteen year old girls standing in front of them expectantly.
"First of all, it's a little funny." He said carefully stepping away from Rory in order to not get hit again. "Second of all, I think I should go take my attendance. Later."
"Some boyfriend you are!" She called after him.
He just turned around and blew her a kiss, his eyes still laughing at her and got a dirty look in response.
Rory turned back to her campers which had suddenly doubled, "Where did you all come from?"
"Home." Darla and Danielle said simultaneously.
"You wouldn't really do that, right Casey?" Rory asked.
"Not if you tell us what we want to know."
"I think what you want to know, hasn't happened yet and even if it has…I'm not discussing it with a bunch of fourteen year olds!"
"But I've been there, done that."
"Yeah and look how that ended up."
"Low blow." Casey shook her head.
"Sorry." Rory apologized feeling guilty for using that against her.
"Apology accepted…If you tell us what happened!"
"Tristan and I talked. We mutually decided to give the relationship thing a try. That's it, I didn't make a deal with an evil mermaid to be with him, he didn't kiss me so I'd wake up, there was no magic genie to help us get together, he didn't find my shoe at a ball…Did I miss one?"
"Did you share a plate of spaghetti and your noses touch?" Shannon laughed.
"No."
"You two are boring." Tori told Rory "Unless you are leaving something out."
"Nothing is being left out, now if I'm not mistaken I heard the bell ring so you should all be getting to class." Rory said dismissing the group of girls.
"Rory?"
"Yes, Kiah."
"Uncle Finn explained to me the kisses you give Tristan are different then the ones you give him and Uncle Logan."
"That's good." Rory was slightly nervous of how exactly Finn had explained that to her.
"Yeah, he said the kisses you give Tristan are ones that show him that you love him and the ones you give Uncle Finn are ones to show that you care."
"Exactly, your uncles are very good friends of mine and I care about them lots."
"You love Tristan…right?" Kiah questioned, she wanted to make sure her uncle was giving her correct information. She hadn't really been sure ever since the tooth fairy incident two years ago.
Rory didn't know how to answer that. She wasn't in love with Tristan or at least not yet. She was sure if you gave her a couple of months, weeks even, there was almost a hundred percent chance of it, "I will."
Kiah seemed content with that answer as she nodded and ran towards her class in the arts and crafts room.
Rory watched Kiah run away and her thoughts drifted back to her question. Did she love Tristan? She could, that was for sure. He was so different from what she had anticipated Tristan DuGrey would ever be. She never took the time to get to know him at Chilton. She just assumed he was going to ride the coattails of being good looking and rich all his life. She was wrong and if there was one thing Gilmore's hated to do, it was admit they were wrong.
She felt arms wrap around her waist and she instinctively leaned back against him "Hey."
"Hey." He said kissing the top of her head.
"You know by doing this I am committing treason."
"That makes two of us."
"The lengths we go to for each other."
"We should have a movie made about us."
"You'd make a hot soldier."
"I think my mom has some pictures of me in my uniform from military school. I can have her dig them up if you'd like."
"That would just ruin all my fantasies that involve you in uniform. Don't take those away from me."
"I'd never." He laughed unconsciously tightening his grip around her waist.
"We should probably go to our first class."
"Why?"
"Well…We are the counselors. We can't just skip it."
"We could."
"And do what?"
"I've got it on good authority that behind the equipment shed is an excellent place to make out."
Rory pulled away and turned to face him, "Not a chance." She told him before she placed a kiss on his lips, then walked away towards the creative writing room for their first class.
----------------------------
The war week activities didn't take place until the second half of the day and it was a battle of who knew more useless information than the other.
"This was the event my mother has been prepping me for since birth." Rory told Sammie as the girls got into a line.
"Really?"
"Oh yeah!" Rory nodded, "My mom could care less about how much I know about Algebra as long as I know how many James Bond movies there are and who played James Bond in each of them."
Sammie just laughed, she heard so many stories from Rory about her mom that it was easy to see where Rory got her quirks from. Sammie hadn't even seen Rory and Lorelai together but she envied their relationship, she was guessing a lot of people did.
Wendy stood up and announced the rules of the game. "Each time there will be a girl and a boy competing against each other. I will read the question and each team has to send up a new member each time to ring the buzzer until they run out of members. If they repeat before everyone has answered they lose points. The first team with 30 points wins. Counselors may help campers with the answers, but they are not allowed to walk up and submit an answer. Any questions?" No one said anything. "Let the game begin! The first question is: What is the name of the girl Popeye the sailor man loves?"
"It's Olive Oyl." Rory whispered to Darla who was first to go up.
Kiah ran up and hit the buzzer right before the boys team did, "Olive Oyl!" Darla shouted making sure everyone heard her.
"One point for the girls' team!" Wendy announced. "Next question: What was the name of the original red power ranger?"
"I know this one." Dan Ridge told Tristan as he ran up and hit the buzzer. "Jason Lee Scott"
"The game is tied! Boys have one, girls have one." Wendy announced.
"What loser remembers what the original red power ranger's name was?" Shannon questioned.
"Do you remember the pink power ranger's name?" Rory questioned.
"Kimberly Hart."
"Exactly."
"No! The pink one was so much cooler than the red."
"It's because she was pink and anything that is pink is better." Rory smiled. "Now the answer to the next question is Gullah Gullah Island game was for the majority of it was a close call but the boys won by winning the final question: What was Arnold 's, in Hey Arnold, last name? Unfortunately for the girls' team they didn't know it was a trick question and that Arnold 's last name had never been revealed.
----------------------------
The day was over and the campers had all left, Rory was sitting in the office finishing up her paperwork when Tristan walked over to her. "What are your plans for the afternoon?"
"I was going to go home and convince mom not to disown me because I didn't know that Arnold 's last name has never been told."
"It was an honest mistake."
"Not in the eyes of Lorelai Gilmore." Rory told him putting her paperwork in the bin and gathering her belongings. "Plus I will probably lose major points for not calling her and telling her we are a couple."
"You are just batting zero today, aren't you."
"Tell me about it."
"I'll walk you to your car."
"You just wanna kiss!" Eric called across the room, noticing that Tristan wasn't ready to leave yet, but was walking out with Rory anyway.
"Shut it, Eric! I have stories that will make Breelynn dump your ass!"
Eric's eyes widened, "As you were."
Rory and Tristan laughed as they walked hand in hand out to her car, "What stories?"
"Too many to name."
They got to her car and Rory put her things in the backseat then leaned up against the car while she let the air run in the car for a few moments before she got in. "So.."
"So…"
"We seem to do the 'so' thing a lot."
"We could say um instead."
"Or we could actually say what we want to say to each other." Rory suggested.
"Where's the fun in that?" Tristan laughed as her pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
Rory felt like she was on cloud nine every time she kissed him, his lips had a way of making nothing else seem important at the moment except for them. Breaking away she looked up at him, "I'll call you tonight."
"Cell or apartment?"
"Does it matter?"
"I might be out."
"With who?"
"My other girlfriend."
"Sheila?"
"How'd you know?"
"I saw a picture of the two of you on your nightstand, she's pretty."
"But not as pretty as you."
"Good answer." Rory smiled and kissing him lightly on the lips. "So seriously, what should I call you on?"
"Depends on the time."
"A straight answer would be nice."
"How about you call my cell that way I'll answer either way."
"What if you are watching the game at your apartment and you leave your cell phone in your car? Then you won't hear your cell phone ring to know I called and you will assume I didn't call. Then you will break up with me and I'll be sad." Rory said in one breath.
"I never leave my cell in my car and I won't break up with you over a missed phone call. It took me to damn long to get you to go out with me in the first place; I wouldn't dump you for not calling. I might dump you for getting angry about Sheila though, you know how I feel about her."
"I'd never come between you two," she smiled. "Now, I should go."
"I don't want you to."
"I'll call you tonight and you'll see me tomorrow bright and early. It'll be like we never parted."
"Promise?" Tristan asked his lips hovering over hers once again.
"Pinky swear." She mumbled before closing the gap between them. After a few moments Rory broke apart and without another word she got in her car and waved as she drove away, already looking forward to their phone call tonight.
There it is, the next chapter. I hope you all liked it, please review!
I'd also like to point out an error I've made: In earlier chapters I say Finn's last name is Morgan and in the past one I say it's Rothschild. Sorry about that.