...And Return As A Man
A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.
Thanks to xshynenstarx, MiguelCC51 and merdarkandtwisty for your reviews.
By the time you have read this sentence, you should have figured out who the mystery 'groom' is.
Rory Gilmore was running late for her double date and consequently, was in a mad panic. Her colleague, Liz Parker had convinced her to double date with her boyfriend Charlie, and his younger brother, who had flown out a day earlier from Stanford California, and when Charlie had called to cancel, Liz had instead roped Rory into double dating.
She only had 30 minutes to get ready as she did her make-up in the bathroom. Her dress was laying out on the bed of her apartment ready to wear and go. Her love life, since she had started her job at International News after her successful stint on the Obama campaign had amounted to almost zero, and so when the opportunity to date, just for one night came up, she had agreed to Liz's wheedling.
Once her make-up was done, she grabbed her dress, put it on, then her shoes, and keys and purse and left the apartment, making her way to the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria where they wee meeting for dinner at the Hotel's restaurant. Locking the door behind her, she made her way into a cab for the short ride to the hotel from her apartment in New York that Richard and Emily had gifted to her for her use when she had landed the permanent job.
Mercifully, the ride was short and after paying, she made her way into the hotel lobby and then to the restaurant. The maitre'd approached her as she went into the restaurant, and Rory greeted him and said, "reservations for four at seven, under the name of Parker."
The maitre'd replied, "of course, please follow me." Rory followed him towards the lounge where pre-dinner drinks were being served. Approaching the small table and lounge, she saw two glasses on the table, one red wine, the other a champagne flute. A man on a Blackberry seated, head down, typing, his golden locks cut in a shaggy haircut, a wavy golden mane, covering his head. She took in the man's looks as he sat there, in a suit that fit nicely on his lithe body. As his eyes turned upwards to meet hers, she saw his joyful, clear blue eyes meet hers.
She saw him smile a genuine smile, as he pocketed his Blackberry and he got up from the lounge where he was seated and held out his hand for her to shake. "Hi, I'm Charlie, Liz's boyfriend." Charlie said, a smile crossing his face after he saw the young lady who was undoubtedly TJ's date for tonight. He saw the girl's eyes drop slightly, seemingly disappointed. I've still got it, Charlie mused to himself.
Rory shook the hand that was proffered, and something clicked in her mind, the man before her looked familiar. "I'm Rory," she answered. As the gears in her mind clicked, she remembered where she had seen him. "Wait," she said, "I remember you from college. You're Charlie Todd. You played at the Rich Man's Shoe. Open Mic Night."
"You're a Yale graduate," Charlie said, "aren't you." Charlie Todd had been his stage name that he had used when he played at Yale.
"I remember, all the girls on the floor in Freshman Year loved to go Open Mic night and hear you sing," Rory said.
A sheepish smile crossed Charlie's face, "Yeah, it was a good time." Charlie smiled at the memory of his time at Yale. Open Mic night at the Rich Man's Shoe had been his release, where he had learned to let go of his feelings, his own escape after the big fight he had had with TJ at the end of senior year.
As they both took a seat, the waiter came across and asked Rory what she wanted to order. After she gave her answer she turned back to Charlie. "I remember," she said, "seeing you play once. That song, Brokenhearted. I loved that song."
"Oh," a startled look flashed across Charlie's face, "that's the one that TJ and I wrote together." TJ had written the lyrics, whilst Charlie had written the chords, back before their big fight at the end of Charlie's senior year at Duke. Charlie replied, "glad you liked it. You should tell TJ when he gets back. He'll be glad that people like the song."
"So what do you do?" Rory asked.
"Lawyer, at Blackwood and Whitestone," Charlie replied, "though eventually I'll go back to work at the family company once I get more experience." Blackwood and Whitestone was one of the top legal firms on Wall Street. Charlie said, "do you work with Liz?"
Rory said, "yes, just as a junior reporter, on the foreign correspondence desk, only started about 6 months ago." She continued, "so how's TJ like?"
Charlie smiled. "I'll leave TJ to tell you about himself," Charlie replied, his smile curling into a slight smirk. "He should be back soon. Suffice to say he thinks that he's a hotter, younger version of me," his tone was amused. He saw Rory perk up slightly when he had said that TJ thought he was a younger, hotter version of himself. "Of course, in my opinion he's wrong." Rory's drink arrived at that moment, an Charlie took another sip of his red wine. He saw TJ come back in and approach the table whilst Rory's back was to TJ. Rory took a sip of her drink as they waited at the table in comfortable silence.
"Teej," Charlie said, as he and Rory got up. Rory turned around and looked straight at the twenty four year old man approaching her. As their blue eyes met, she gasped in recognition. "Tristin," she breathed out. A couple of thoughts crossed her mind simultaneously. The song, Brokenhearted, her favourite song of Charlie's was about her. When she heard the song, it had been about a girl Mary who had broken heart of the boy who was the subject of the song. All the girls had loved the melancholic minor key and had thought that the song must have been about Charlie's ex-girlfriend who everyone, including Rory herself concluded must have been a cold-hearted minx. But now, she realised that Tristin and Charlie had written Brokenhearted about the girl who had broken Tristin's heart...and that when she had agreed that the girl from the song Mary, had been a cold-hearted minx, she was actually passing judgement on herself.
The second thing she realised was, that in her mind, Tristin was a younger, hotter version of his older brother. The third, she had no idea how he would react to her, but she knew she couldn't run any more, she had grown up too much while on the campaign trail away from Lorelai and the comfort of Stars Hollow. She wasn't that sixteen year old Chilton girl any more.
Tristin Dugray had just finished his phone conversation with his friend, Eddy Crossman, who was back in California. The filming for the TV series Superspies, on which he was a recurring character, had finished a day earlier and he had been able to catch an earlier flight out to New York to meet Charlie before they would go up to the Hamptons for a camping weekend with their oldest brother Lucas.
Of course, he hadn't been so enthusiastic about being dragged out on a double date with Charlie and his girlfriend Liz, but Charlie had always, since the end of his junior year in High School been protective of TJ. He had come back into the hotel lounge after finishing his call and had made his way back towards his older brother. As he approached the table, he saw that a woman was sitting at the lounge with Charlie, her back to him. She was a brunette and wore a simple black dress that hugged her figure, accentuating the right places. Definitely not Liz, who was taller. He supposed that this was his date.
When TJ had rung his brother to say that he was coming out earlier than expected, Charlie had immediately stated that he was going to cancel his date with Liz, and that the two of them would hang out at the pub. But then Liz had convinced Charlie to drag TJ on a double date with her female co-worker. And so, TJ had relented, knowing his brother worked long hours and hardly spared time for dates.
He got to the lounge and he saw the woman, rise and turn towards him. As their eyes met, he instantly recognised the woman, even after the intervening years, the girl that had had such an effect on him, all those years ago at Chilton. He saw her gasp as recognition passed through both their clear blue eyes. "Mary," the name, unbidden crossed his lips before he could help himself. He saw his brother's eyes flash in recognition of the girl from Chilton as soon as he breathed the name. The name of the girl who had stolen his heart without knowing it and broken it.
Charlie heard his brother's soft voice say that fateful name. The name of the girl that his brother TJ had been hung up on throughout high school. The girl who had in Charlie's opinion, caused TJ to be sent to military school. The girl who had hurt him in an unimaginable way. In a twisted kind of way, if it hadn't been for her, the three Dugray brothers would not have been so close as they were now, but he was afraid that TJ would be hurt once more by this girl. For now, he would observe and step in if needed.
The Tristin Dugray that stood before Rory now was no longer the lost little boy that had been shipped off to military school. His muscles were more defined, a body that Rory could tell was well looked after. Unlike Charlie, TJ's hair was worn in a short cut, she surmised that it had not changed much since military school.
As ever, his features looked like it could belong on the big screen of a Hollywood blockbuster. However, what had changed most was his eyes, no longer leering, or arrogant, they were the eyes of a self-assured man, a man who knew who he was, and his place in the world, at ease with whatever his circumstances could be.
She could feel her own emotions welling up inside her, Charlie had been right, TJ was a younger, hotter version of Charlie himself, at least in her estimation. She finally found her voice, "well, how are you Tristin," she said, smiling, "long time no see."
Tristin quickly gathered himself together, it had been years since he had seen his 'Mary', since junior year in high school at Chilton. A long time had passed since then, and he had changed, been through a lot of life changing experiences. He gave her a genuine smile, and said, "It's nice to see you also. It's been so long." As the trademark Dugray smirk made its way across his face he said, "I gather you're my surprise date tonight."
He walked over to her, and gave her a hug and a chaste kiss on the cheek. He could see Charlie, in the corner of his eyes, worried, because he knew how much his high school 'Mary', who had broken his heart, had done to him, what had happened at military school. He gave Charlie a silent nod, indicating he was okay. Charlie returned a smile indicating he understood. Charlie turned to Liz, who had just arrived, as the waiter came over, and bought them towards their table.
Rory whispered to Liz as they excused themselves to go to the bathroom as they headed to the dinner table, "you didn't tell me that your boyfriend was a Dugray." Charlie Todd from Yale's Open Mic Night, was a Dugray. "I knew your boyfriend from Yale, he called himself Charlie Todd at Yale."
Liz replied, "yeah, that was his stage name when he played music, Todd's his middle name," as they entered the bathroom door, "so what if my boyfriend's a Dugray?" she asked. Liz believed that she dated a person for who they were, not for their last name.
"I went to Chilton with Charlie's brother," Rory answered. "my surprise date."
"So then you two must have known each other," Liz said. "At least it won't be totally awkward. You'll have a lot to talk about."
Rory sighed as she checked her make up in the mirror, washing her hands, "except for the fact that he and I never got along at Chilton, and that he tried to get me to date him by pestering me incessantly. You know, he dubbed me Mary, after the Virgin Mary," She turned off the tap and continued, "but, he does seem to be a lot more mature now. I could see it in his eyes." And he is a piece of eye candy, she added to herself.
Liz laughed, "Charlie told me about those biblical insults thrown around at private school," as she finished checking her make-up as well, "you know, maybe things will be different this time, as you said, he's probably changed. You owe it to yourself to see, to have some fun, Lord knows you haven't dated much since you started the job." The two ladies exited the bathroom together, making their way to the dinner table.
As they rejoined the two men at the table, menus were passed around and they ordered the food. After the waiter had taken their orders the four broke off into conversation.
Rory asked Tristin what had happened after he had left Chilton. Military school he said, was hard, but he had met some of his closest friends there, some of them who had gone on to join the army. After that he had graduated from Cedar Pines, he had gone to Stanford for college, full time for the first year where he had made lots of new friends, but then part time since then, after he had relocated to LA after he had been been discovered by some Hollywood director whilst he was staying with his friend Eddy Crossman in LA, and had been cast on the TV show, Superspies, on ABC, where he played a recurring character who was sometime romantic interest and rival of the main character, Alexis Graham. Rory said she loved the show, especially the French spy, he was so mockable for the accent, and adorable at the same time. Tristin laughed, "I knew you couldn't resist me, Mary," and said that was the character that he played on the show. Rory's face turned beet red after that comment. The show had just finished shooting and had broken up for the season. Every so often he would help out with the family business working for his older brother Lucas. Consequently, he was still in his final year of College though he was close to finishing.
Rory talked about Chilton after he had left, leaving out her dating Dean and Jess, how she and Paris had formed a friendship at Chilton after he had left, being room mates with Paris at Yale even though both of them had dreamed of going to Harvard, they laughed about Paris's breakdown on national TV where she blamed sex for not getting into Harvard. She talked about Logan, Colin and Finn as her friends at Yale, and then how she had worked as a reporter on the Obama campaign trail for the primaries against Clinton, and then had landed a job at International News in New York, keeping the topics away from her romantic life like he had. To her it was just like two old friends, who could possibly be something more, reconnecting after a long time away from each other.
The food came soon after, and dinner was followed by post-dinner drinks. As Tristin kissed Rory good-bye, she slipped him her business card, telling him to call her, so that we can catch up in more detail she said, she slipped into the cab. Tristin smiled, as he shut the door behind her, and watched the cab drive off. Turning around, he and Charlie took another cab back to Charlie's New York apartment where they would have to pack for the weekend camping trip.
A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.
A/N2: Just in case you missed it - the groom was the French Spy on the TV show, Superspies that Rory was watching in the last one-shot, and the blonde head in the car that picked Liz up from the office was the person who was important to the groom.
A/N3: The next two one-shots focus do not focus on Rory though she will be mentioned in both of them.