Two Family Dinners

A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.

Thanks to JJsMommy27 and Kate for their encouraging reviews.

A/N2: As you can see, this one is titled Two Family Dinners - one in Stars Hollow with Luke and Lorelai, and the other in Hartford with Tristin's family. Hope that you like the one-shot. Hope you liked my characterisation of Tristin's family. Feedback is very much appreciated.

Rory Gilmore stood outside her childhood home, having driven down from New York with Tristin for the weekend with Lorelei, Luke and the rest of Stars Hollow. The annual fall fair was happening in Stars Hollow this weekend, so Rory had decided to come home to visit her mother, and had dragged Tristin into coming for the weekend, whilst he was on break from filming. Tristin had landed a role on a movie, This I Promise You, which was filming on the East Coast so he had stayed in New York, in between flying out to filming locations, taking a distance education course from Stanford in his spare time, which wasn't much.

They hadn't told anyone else that they were anywhere in Connecticut. She parked her small Prius outside the house that she had grown up in and exited the driver's seat. Tristin got out of the passenger's side, and together they looked at the house in front of them. Tristin had never been to Rory's house, although he had been in Stars Hollow before back when they had been assigned that Shakespeare play right before he had left military school.

On the drive over, it had been remarkable how little Stars Hollow had changed from what he remembered. As he and Rory held hands, they walked up the stairs onto the front porch, now painted white. They walked together to the front door, and Rory opened the door. Hearing a voice from the kitchen, Rory and Tristin headed towards that direction.

She was sure that Babette and Maury had started to spread the word around town that she had returned to Stars Hollow, with a man in tow. Tristin himself was nervous, this was the first time he would be meeting Rory's mother and Luke. Lorelai Gilmore was a revered figure amongst the younger generation in Hartford. She was the one that had managed to escape the Hartford life and make something of herself, all without the help of her parents. For that alone, even though she had gotten pregnant at sixteen, she was revered by many Hartford teenagers. Certainly in the rebellious years of youth, many had talked about pulling a 'Lorelai Gilmore' though none had been brave enough to go through with it.

Rory had told him the rules about meeting her mother, coffee was the standard present to bring when visiting along with danish it possible, she was always Lorelai, not Ms Gilmore or ma'am as that made her sound old. Tristin followed behind Rory, as they both entered the kitchen.

"Hi mum," Rory greeted her mother.

"Rory," Lorelai replied, "you're here. And who have you brought with you?" She knew full well that Rory had brought her boyfriend with her.

"Mum," Rory stated, "this is Tristin Dugray, my boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you Lorelai," Tristin interjected. He offered her the coffee that he had carried and bought on their way over.

"Rory," Lorelai said, as she accepted the coffee from Tristin, "you brought Bible Boy?" She was going to tease Rory for all it was worth for bringing her High School nemesis back home as her new boyfriend.

"Bible Boy," Tristin echoed wondering why he had a nickname.

"Mum," Rory stated, her tone warning, but Lorelai was having too much fun at her daughter's expense to stop teasing.

"Nice to meet you, Spawn of Satan," Lorelai replied, "You should be honoured," Lorelai continued, as she drank the coffee, "you have three nicknames in the Gilmore household."

"And what's the third," Tristin asked.

"ET," Lorelai answered, "you don't need to guess what that stands for."

Tristin laughed, "I guess that I was a major topic of conversation between the two of you, back then as well wasn't I Mare?" A smile crossed his face. Meeting Lorelai Gilmore was definitely something fun. "I told you, you liked me back then, you were just too scared to admit it."

"No I wasn't," Rory argued, "I didn't like you in a romantic way back then. You were annoying with all of your innuendo," she huffed.

A look of fake hurt crossed Tristin's face, "I was not annoying," he said, "I just had trouble expressing what I felt for you."

"Yes," Rory replied, "you had your foot in your mouth every time you attempted to flirt with me."

"Come on," Lorelai said, "enough to the banter, we need to got get dinner at the house of the coffee God."

"You mean Luke's?" Rory interjected, in a deadpan tone.

"Yes, mini-me and Bible Boy," Lorelai said, "we are going to Luke's." With that Lorelai waltzed out the door of the Gilmore house and Tristin and Rory were forced to follow her as they made their way to Luke's.

Once at the diner, Lorelai walked up to the counter and said, "coffee please." Luke looked up just in time to see Lorelai at the counter begging for coffee, and Rory and a tall, young, blonde-haired man walk into the diner. This he supposed was her boyfriend, Tristin Dugray.

Pouring Lorelai a cup of coffee, and setting another cup of coffee aside for Rory, Luke saw Lorelai and Tristin and Rory take a seat at one of the tables, with one spare seat, he knew, for him. "the usual please," Lorelai and Rory both said in unison as he came to take the order.

Tristin looked at the menu, and decided to order the cheeseburger and fries and have a drink of orange juice. As Luke took down the order, he retreated behind the counter to prepare the food.

"That's Luke, I gather," Tristin said.

"Yes," Lorelai replied, "he's Luke, the provider of coffee, and my boyfriend."

"He's like a father to me," Rory interjected. "He looked after both my mum and I when I was little. He was sort of the man about our house when we needed a man around."

Tristin nodded, gathering that Luke was like a father to Rory. He protected her and looked after her. Tristin sometimes wished his father was like that, particularly when he was younger but he knew now, it was not going to happen.

When the food came, Luke came to sit down and join them. Luke and Lorelai fell into an easy conversation about the day, before Luke turned to Tristin, "so what do you do for a living?"

Let the interrogation begin, Tristin thought, "I'm studying part-time at Stanford University, but currently, I'm based in New York, living with my older brother Charlie whilst I'm acting in a film. Acting's sort of my career for now, but when I finish that, I'll be joining the family business, Dugray Global Industries. So I will be able to take good care of Rory."

When Tristin said that he acted, Lorelai stretched her mind, trying to guess what show Tristin was on. Certainly, there was no one by the name of Tristin Dugray in the shows that she watched, and she watched plenty of TV shows, being conversant in pop culture.

Luke thought that acting was a tough business, but he knew that Tristin was studying at Stanford, which meant he was smart and would be able to hopefully get a job to support Rory when she needed it. Plus he knew, that Tristin was a Hartford socialite with a lot of money. But most importantly, he could see that Tristin would support Rory through everything that she went through, be there for her, that he could see in Tristin's eyes. He was not a man that would run. He could see that Tristin was what he, himself was for Lorelai.

Lorelai jumped up and shouted jolting Luke out of his reverie. "You're the suave and sexy but totally mockable French spy-guy Pierre Rochefort on Superspies."

Rory laughed, "yes, mum, Tristin plays Pierre on Superspies, though he does look quite different in the show."

Tristin smiled, taking a sip of his drank, "It's a hard, but rewarding job. Get to be around a lot of cool people too. But when I retire from acting, I'll be going to work at Dugray Global." It was expected that Tristin would eventually go to work at Dugray Global full-time. Currently, he was just doing a bit of work here and then in the holidays for Dugray Global Industries, working with his brother, Lucas.

As dinner was finished, Lorelai invited Tristin and Luke for a movie night. Of course, Rory and Lorelai insisted on buying the candy from Doose's market, and also picking the movies to watch, of which one would be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the Oompa Loompas.

As Lorelai and Rory went off to stock up for a movie night, Luke cornered Tristin and had a private conversation with him. "Rory's like a daughter to me, don't hurt her." The implication that Luke, and most likely Lorelai would kill him if he did was clear from the message.

Tristin replied, "I have no intention of hurting Rory."

"That's good," Luke said, and that was the end of the conversation.

Heading over to the Gilmore household with Luke, Rory and Lorelai, Tristin reflected on the loving environment that the Gilmore house was, so unlike what he had when he was in his teenage years.

As Lorelai handed out cups of coffee and they settled down with the copious amounts of junk food, and the first movie was put into the DVD player, and Rory sat next to Tristin on the couch, half snuggled together, Rory felt comfortable, more safe in a relationship then she ever had in a long time. She could tell by the way Tristin held her that she was safe in his arms.

It was the week of Thanksgiving, and the Dugray family were holding a formal dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving. It had been a while since Tristin and Rory had been in Hartford. Tristin himself rarely stayed in Hartford for more than one day at a time, preferring to be back on the West Coast or in New York when either Charlie or Lucas or both of them were there to celebrate holidays with.

However, since his two older brothers were going up to Hartford along with their respective partners, Tristin was obliged to go. His father had called with a summons, and then his mother had called to confirm numbers. Not wanting to spend a holiday weekend away from Rory, he had dragged her along. Luckily, she was used to dealing with Hartford society, being a Gilmore, and having dated a Huntzberger. She sympathised with Liz, who was from a middle-class family.

She and Tristin were driving up together, and they planned to attend the dinner, sleep one night and then move to Stars Hollow to visit Luke and Lorelai. When they arrived in Hartford, Tristin drove down a large street, towards the end, and Rory saw the Dugray mansion, in all of its imposing glory. As they made their way past the imposing gates and up the long drive, Rory commented, "the mansion looks so large and imposing."

"Yes," Tristin replied, "it's the way that my parents like it, to scream wealth and style," there was a slight bitter tinge, "but I like your mother's home a lot better. There's just something about your mother's home that makes me feel good."

Rory answered, "I'm sure it will be immaculate." She phrased this as diplomatically as she could, knowing that Tristin didn't have the happiest of teenage years. As Tristin parked the car at the end of the driveway, they made their way up the front stairs to the door which was under an arched alcove of white pillars.

Tristin pressed the doorbell, and it was promptly answered by the maid. The butler then took both Tristin and Rory's coats, and they followed the maid into the living room, where pre-dinner drinks were being served. Tristin saw that his father had not arrived yet, but his mother Emma, sat with both Lucas and Serena and their son, Matthew.

Emma Dugray rose up from her seat, and greeted Tristin and asked, "and who is this young lady with you?" Rory could already feel the fake politeness ooze out of Tristin's mother. He had warned her that his mother was one of those socialites who oozed fake manners.

"Mother," Tristin replied, "this is Rory Gilmore, my girlfriend." Rory politely greeted Mrs Dugray. Tristin had also warned her that his mother would not like her once she found out that Rory was related to Emily Gilmore. As her grandmother was one of the leading ladies of the DAR, Rory would not be beholden to his mother for patronage within the circle of socialite ladies of Hartford.

As Rory took a drink of coffee and sat down to converse with Serena and Emma, Charlie entered the room with Liz, his face looking inscrutable, followed by his father, Jason Dugray would looked livid. Liz herself, Rory saw, had a poker face on, but obviously this affected her too.

The dinner bell rung not soon after, and the family were taken by the maid into the dining room, where the meal was served. Rory looked down at the soup that the cook had made, and took a tentative sip of the soup. It was a very nice pumpkin soup. As she looked up she could see the angry look pass Tristin's father's face. It seemed as if today, he was angry with Charlie.

Emma Dugray asked her husband how his day was, even though she could tell it had not been a good day. She rarely paid attention to her husband's moods though. Jason Dugray looked pointedly over at Charlie, before uttering in a low, dangerous tone, "I found out today that Charlie has a four and a half year old son in North Carolina."

A spoon clattered onto the ground, as everyone stopped what they were doing. Tristin knew that Charlie had been going out with a girl back when his brother was at Duke and Tristin was at Cedar Pines, but could never have guessed that there was a child in this.

Rory could see Liz's face pale at the announcement. Charlie's face turned furious as he stared straight back at his father, "Yes, father, I have a son, Colton, from my ex-girlfriend in North Carolina." He had just found out today that the DNA results had matched, and that his ex-girlfriend had left him sole custody of his son after her death in a car accident. He had never known that Anna had been pregnant. Charlie's eyes were like ice chips as he continued to speak, "He's coming to live with me in New York after his mother died."

Tristin knew that his brother didn't want the information revealed in this manner. He was certain that Charlie would want to handle this delicately rather than have it announced at Thanksgiving Dinner in front of guests.

Emma Dugray was already scheming in her mind as to how this would be handled with the other ladies in Hartford society. Surely, this would be a large scandal for the Dugray's that would dent her standing amongst the DAR. Jason was busily forming some sort of business strategy to handle this issue. "Are you sure it's yours," Emma asked.

His teeth clenched, "Yes, mother, you think father didn't already have the tests done and paid for?" Charlie replied.

"Emma, shut up, no one asked for your opinion," Jason Dugray interjected, his tone derisive, "I'm already taking care of it. You just go and preen with your lady friends like you usually do, and gush about your gorgeous new grandson." That was all in his mind Emma was good for, to bear sons, she had succeeded in that at least, having birthed Lucas, Charles, and Tristin, and to organise the requisite parties and look good on his arm when needed, which made her tolerable to him. Sometimes, when she wasn't needed, he wished he could just switch her off like one would do with a phone or computer. Any love he had for her when they first married had long faded.

Liz, having recovered her complexion somewhat turned back to the food to try to calm herself. Although she had been forewarned of the news by Charlie, she hadn't expected it to turn into a bitter fight within the family. Certainly, if something like this happened in her family, they would have closed ranks to support each other rather than divide and fight.

"You had better not take any reduced work hours at Blackwood and Whitestone. I expect that you work even harder now that you have a son," Jason answered, "you have another mouth to feed now." He was busily working out the implications of the extra cost of a grandchild on Dugray Global. He would just have to make cuts to family expenses somewhere, probably Emma's allowance would have to be reduced. Maybe they would sponsor one less charity or DAR event. He took another sip of his soup, signalling to everyone that this discussion was over.

Lucas and Serena recovered quickly enough from the revelation, voicing their support for Charlie and his son. Rory, who was seated next to Liz, offered her some words of comfort. After the soup was done, the maid came in with the main course. However, the tension in the dining room could be visibly felt by Rory.

She could see Tristin's father's barely disguised disgust, Charlie's angry quivering, Liz's controlled distress, Serena and Lucas's worry. Tristin's mother seemed like she gave nothing away on her facial expression, but Rory had seen enough of Shira Huntzberger whilst she had dated Logan to know the disguised contempt underneath the veneer.

Tristin himself was shocked, he remembered meeting Anna, once or twice, on holidays from Cedar Pines, when he and Charlie had been living in North Carolina. They had pretended that they were two orphaned brothers sometimes, because that was exactly what it had been like for Charlie and Tristin back then. Only their really close friends from North Carolina really knew the truth about Charlie and Tristin's family in Hartford, Connecticut. Tristin knew that Anna and Charlie weren't going to last though, because Charlie had been headed to Yale Law School, as part of the deal that Charlie had done with his father to allow Charlie move to North Carolina to be with Tristin. Anna, he knew had her life in North Carolina.

He knew though, that Charlie would make a great father to his son, because Charlie had almost single-handedly taken care of all of Tristin's parental needs in those tempestuous year or so at Cedar Pines. There was no need to worry about his nephew's welfare.

Dinner was soon followed by dessert. Jason Dugray left for the privacy of his study. More business everyone presumed. Liz was taken by Charlie to one of the guest bedrooms where she wanted to lie down and prepare to sleep. Serena took Matthew upstairs to put the boy to bed. Emma Dugray left the room as well, leaving Lucas and Tristin and Rory who headed towards the library. As Charlie returned downstairs, the butler entered saying that Tristin was required by his father in the study, leaving Rory with Charlie and Lucas in the library, which was filled from floor to ceiling with books in bookshelves. The door closed behind Tristin and the butler. Charlie and Lucas both took a seat in two chairs across from where Rory was sitting, having picked one of the books off the bookshelf.

Rory could sort of guess that this was where Charlie and Lucas would ask her not to hurt Tristin and that she would be given a warning. After all, she was sure that Luke and Lorelai had done the same for Tristin, and knowing how close that the three Dugray brothers were now, she expected something like that from his two older brothers.

Rory saw Lucas address her, his face looking contemplative, "Despite what it looks like on the surface, Tristin has always felt everything deeply, so don't hurt him," Lucas said.

"Don't hurt him again," Charlie stated, interjecting from where he was seated, "Tristin's been through a lot, especially when he first knew you. He really likes you a lot, has done so for a while."

"That's all we ask of you, Rory, I can see you're a good person, so I hope that we can trust you to look after Tristin," Lucas concluded.

Before they could go any further, the door opened and Tristin walked back into the library. Taking the seat next to Rory, he gave her a quick hug. "What were you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing much," Rory replied, "just having a chat with your brothers."

"I'd better go check on Liz," Charlie said, as he got up and left the room. Lucas left to check on his wife and child not long after.

Once the door closed, Tristin said to Rory, "now, what did Lucas and Charlie really say. They didn't threaten you did they?"

Rory looked back at Tristin, "what do you think they did," she shot back. Tristin saw the twinkle in her eye, and he knew that Lucas and Charlie had had some words with Rory. "They're just looking out for you, their brother. I don't begrudge them anything. I'm sure Luke put you through worse when we went to Stars Hollow for the first time."

Tristin winced, recalling the memory of his first visit to Stars Hollow. Like his older brothers looked out for him, Luke, as Rory's surrogate father figure looked out for her. He couldn't begrudge his brothers for caring, after all they had been through quite a bit together, especially Charlie and Tristin himself, so he let the topic drop.

"You now know why I don't like coming home that often," Tristin said. "And why I would much rather hang out with Luke and Lorelai in Stars Hollow then my parents here." Rory nodded, agreeing, after one dinner with Jason and Emma Dugray she was ready to not have to come to this Dugray household for dinner for another year.

A quiet yawn escaped from his mouth, and he dragged Rory away from the library, up towards the bedrooms where they settled down for the night. Giving Rory a goodnight kiss, Tristin slipped back into his childhood bedroom for a night of rest. Tomorrow, they would head to the elder Gilmore's and then to Stars Hollow for time with Luke and Lorelai, and the rest of that quaint little town, full of life and of love.

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.