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Chapter 18

"Why did you have to drag me to this?" Luke said as him, Lorelai, Katie and LJ were stood in the hall at Chilton waiting for Rory's group to perform Romeo and Juliet.

"Because it's your daughter's school performance. It's important to her grade. I thought you'd want to come and see her." Lorelai said.

"But she's Juliet and Tristan's Romeo!" Luke exclaimed.

Lorelai smirked. "Oh come on Luke, they're just going to have one kiss in the performance. You've seen them kiss before." She said. "Plus Jess is in it as well. Don't you want to see him try and act all cool around Paris?"

Luke did smirk at that. "So you think he likes her too?"

"Oh it's obvious there's something there. I just think it might take a while for them to admit it." Lorelai said.

"I never thought Paris would be his type." Luke mused.

"I never thought I'd be your type. And you probably thought the same." Lorelai shrugged.

"True." Luke said.

Just then they were interrupted by Rory rushing up to them. "Have you seen Tristan?" She asked desperately.

"No, I thought he was backstage with all you lot." Lorelai frowned.

"He hasn't turned up yet and Paris is going crazy." Rory exclaimed. "I've tried texting and calling but he's not answering. I don't know what to do. What if something bad has happened?" She said worried.

"Hon calm down, I'm sure there'll be an explanation." Lorelai reassured her.

"Rory, he's here." Luke suddenly said, gesturing to where Tristan was entering the hall.

"Oh thank god!" Rory said relieved and ran up to him. "Tristan! Where have you been?" She said.

"Got held up and then there was traffic." Tristan said sullenly.

"Are you ok?" Rory asked noticing his tone.

"I'm fine. Let's just do this." He said.

"I was worried." She said quietly. "You were answering my calls or texts. I was scared something bad had happened."

Tristan looked at her concerned face and immediately felt bad. "Sorry." He said sincerely. "I didn't mean to worry you. I had a fight with my dad which held me up and then my phone was at the bottom of my bag so I couldn't get to it."

"But you're ok? Really?" Rory asked.

"I'm ok." He said. "Come on, this is actually one of the school projects I've been looking forward to."

Rory nodded and went off to find Paris with him.

"Now you can't say that wasn't sweet." Lorelai turned to Luke after Rory's group had taken their bows.

"Yeah ok. It was good." Luke grudgingly agreed.

Lorelai grinned. "They're so getting an A for that."

"A*." Luke said defiantly.

Lorelai smirked. "Knew you enjoyed it."

Just then Rory's group came up to them. "How was it?" Rory grinned.

"Aw you were great hon! The best acting of being dead I've ever seen." Lorelai grinned at her daughter.

Rory laughed. "Thanks mom!"

"Tristan!" A big booming voice suddenly echoed through the hall.

Everyone turned round to see a stern looking man standing at the doorway to the hallway. "Great." Tristan muttered.

"Is that your dad?" Rory asked.

"Yep." Tristan said bitterly. He then sighed. "Sorry, I should go talk to him. He won't leave if I don't. You can all leave if you want."

"No it's ok. We're having a celebratory meal at the diner. We'll wait." Rory said.

Tristan nodded and walked over to his dad and disappeared from view as they went down the hallway.

Before long, they heard shouting. "Oh no..." Rory said concerned, rushing over to the hallway with her family and Paris following close behind.

"I will not have you defy me, Tristan. I'm your father and I deserve your respect. I have had enough of your attitude. I have spoken to the military school in California and you're to transfer next week." He said.

"I'm not going! You can't make me! I've got friends here and a girlfriend! I'm not going to leave them and you can't force me. Why should I respect you when you're a crappy father? Why do you think I'm never home? It's because I can't stand to be there! You do nothing but get me down and I'm not taking it anymore! I'm nearly 18 and you can't make my choices for me anymore. So I'm not going!" Tristan shouted. "You're nothing but a nasty, selfish man and I hate you!"

It felt so good to finally get it off his chest that Tristan didn't realise what had happened until he felt a stinging on his cheek. He realised his own father had just slapped him.

Rory gasped and began rushing towards him but she was surprised when her dad beat her to it after telling Lorelai to get the kids to the car. "Hey, that's enough!" Luke said. "You can't treat your son like this."

"And what business is it of yours?" Tristan's father said angrily.

Luke glanced back at Tristan who Rory was trying to comfort. He looked in shock. "Because he's part of our family now and I won't let you treat him like this." He said.

"He's my son and I decide what's best for him." He said. "Maybe you should take a look at your daughter? Ever since my son has become involved with her, his grades have been slipping and his attitude has changed."

"That's how well you know me!" Tristan exclaimed angrily. "My grades are fine. They've actually improved since I've been with Rory!"

"Then why does the headmaster want to talk to me?" His father said.

"How should I know?" Tristan exclaimed. "But it's nothing to do with my grades!"

"I think we should all calm down a bit." Luke said.

"You're right." Tristan's father said. "Tristan, let's go home and discuss this. Maybe I can postpone your transfer to the military school?"

Tristan shook his head. "I'm not coming home." He said adamantly.

His father laughed. "What do you mean you're not coming home? Of course you are!"

"You think I'm going to come home after this?" Tristan exclaimed gesturing to his cheek. "I hate you!"

"Tristan, I'm not asking you." His father narrowed his eyes, getting angry again.

"Well I'm telling you. I meant what I said. I've had enough of you and mom not giving a crap about me and when you do, constantly getting me down." Tristan said adamantly. "I'm not coming home and you can't make me."

"And where exactly are you going to go? And do? We'll cut off your money and then you'll have nothing." His father said thinking that would persuade him.

"I don't care about your stupid money. And I don't know what I'll do but I'll figure it out. I'm nearly 18 now. I can make my own choices." He said.

"Tristan will come back with us. We have a spare flat. Tristan can stay there for as long as he wants." Luke interrupted having had enough of Tristan's father's obvious neglect of his son.

Tristan, Rory and Tristan's father all stared at Luke in shock. "Excuse me?" Tristan's father said.

"Tristan can come with us." Luke repeated. "You may not care about your son but I do. If he needs money, we'll help him. Like I said before, he's part of the family now. Now I suggest you leave or I may just report what you've done to your son." Luke said deadly seriously.

Tristan's father stared at him angrily but knew if this all came out, his business would get screwed. "Fine." He said. "You're welcome to him. He's nothing but a waste of space though, I warn you." He looked at his son. "You're not to contact us or return to the house. From now on, you're not my son and I don't want you telling anyone you are." He said coldly before walking off.

Luke let out a big breath and glanced at Tristan. He knew Tristan didn't have a good relationship with his parents but he never expected this. "Are you ok?" He asked.

Tristan just nodded.

Luke sighed, noticing how broken the boy looked and felt sorry for him and what he's obviously had to go through for years. "Come on, let's go. You should get some ice on that." He said softly, before starting to walk off towards the car park.

"Thanks." Tristan said quietly.

Luke looked back at him. "You don't need to thank me. Come on, we should get going." He said.

Tristan nodded and reached for Rory's hand before following Luke.

"Are you sure you'll be ok here by yourself?" Rory asked for the hundredth time as she helped get the apartment bed ready for Tristan.

"I'll be fine." Tristan assured her. "Trust me. Anywhere's better than home." He said.

Rory looked at his cheek which was still red but the swelling had gone down a bit. "I'm so sorry." She said quietly. "What your dad did and what he said. It was horrible."

"It's fine." Tristan said quietly.

"But..." Rory said.

"Rory, I have everything I need. Everyone I need. I'm finally free from them." He reassured her.

"I know. I'm glad you're here too, that you're away from them but what he did..." Rory said glancing at his cheek.

Tristan sighed. "I guess I never thought it would come to this. Him actually hitting me. But in a way, it helped. It got me out of there and I will be forever grateful to you and your family for that." He said. "So stop worrying."

Rory sighed. "Sorry. I just...that's what I do. I just want to make sure you're ok. You mean so much to me, Tristan."

"I know. But I'm fine. Honestly." He assured her. "Come here." He said holding his arms out.

Rory went into his embrace and held him tightly. "I love you."

"I love you too." He said.

Meanwhile, back at the Crapshack, Luke and Lorelai had gotten the kids to bed and had just collapsed onto the sofa waiting for Rory to come back from helping getting Tristan settled.

"Eventful day." Lorelai said.

"You could say that." Luke said.

"I knew Tristan's relationship with his parents were bad but this...this was just another level." She said. "How could a parent hit their own child? I don't understand." She said quietly.

Luke sighed. "I don't know but no one deserves what Tristan's obviously been through."

Lorelai looked over at her husband. "I'm glad you got him out of there. It's good to know he'll be safe now. And probably a hell of a lot happier. Rory will worry less as well. I know she's been concerned about his home life." She said.

"I couldn't do nothing. He...He's a good kid. He doesn't deserve all that." Luke admitted.

Lorelai smiled at him. She knew he cared about Tristan deep down even though he didn't admit it sometimes. "I love you." She said leaning over to give him a kiss. "And you're right. He's a good kid. Rory's lucky to have found him."

Luke nodded, silently agreeing. He turned to her. "I love you too by the way." He said.

"Good to know." Lorelai joked.

Luke finally gave her a smile and gave her another kiss. "Let's just hope things will get better for Tristan now."

"Oh they will. He's out of that house so they definitely will." Lorelai said. "Plus he has Rory. And us, right?"

"Right." Luke nodded.

Lorelai smiled and leant her head on her husband's shoulder, both waiting for Rory to return home.

So quite an eventful chapter! Hope you liked it! Please keep the reviews coming as I love reading them so thank you! :)