Disclaimer: I own nothing
Just as Rory had feared, once they had gotten back to Hartford, their busy lives started up again. One night, after Rory had gotten home from a late work meeting, she found three missed calls from Tristan. Thinking something was seriously wrong, she picked up the phone to return his call.
"Hey, how are you?" He asked, the tone in his voice clearly letting her know that he had something to say.
"I'm fine, what's up?" She asked back.
"I have a little something to ask of you. And if you don't want to do it, I completely understand."
"Do you have a body you need moved?" She joked.
"My mother has invited us over for dinner on Saturday night."
"Okay, and…"
"Nothing, that's it." She smiled.
"So why do you sound like the world might just end."
"I don't sound like that, do I?" He asked. Rory just grinned.
"Kinda, yeah." She heard him sigh. "Dinner on Saturday sounds fine. Unless,"
"Unless what?"
"Unless you don't want to go." She suggested.
"No, I mean, it will be fine. It is fine." He stressed the word is so much she almost thought he would hurt himself. She had never heard him be this flustered before. There could only be one reason.
"Tristan, is this the first time you've done this?" She asked him slowly. There was a long pause.
"Maybe?" She laughed.
"Don't worry. It's going to be fine. I'm great with parents, they love me."
"No offense, Mare. But it's not exactly you that I'm worried about here."
"The only thing you need to worry about is picking me up, I'll cover you from there."
OOOOO
Rory answered the door expecting the worst. She knew that he was nervous so she was going to try and make this comfortable for him.
"Hi." She said.
"Hi…wow, you look beautiful." He said, clearly distracted by her attire.
"Thank you." She smiled. "Are you doing okay? Do you want to come in and sit down for a minute?" She asked.
"I'm fine." He said, although she didn't believe him for a second. "I just want to get there and get this over with."
"Tris, what's the worst that could happen?" She asked.
"You really shouldn't ask me that. I've been running over scenarios all day and I've come up with some very interesting ideas."
"Would it help if I told you that as soon as the dinner ends, we'll go back to your place and I'll help you…" she chose her words carefully "unwind, from this stressful day?" He thought about it.
"Couldn't hurt." She reached out and fixed his tie. Brushing off the shoulder of his suit jacket, she smiled.
"Okay then, let's do this."
OOOOO
The rain was pouring down around them as they stood underneath the front entrance of Tristan's family home. Tristan took a deep breath and glanced one more time at Rory. She seemed okay with being here, not nervous at all. Why wasn't she nervous? He was certainly nervous. Not nervous nervous…just sort of nervous. He had never done this before, with any of his previous girlfriends that is, and…
"Do you want me to do it?" She asked, interrupting his stream of consciousness. "Or would you rather we wait until one of us gets pneumonia?" She smiled sweetly.
"You can't get pneumonia from the rain." Tristan said.
"Okay, Dr. DuGray." She said as she hit the button for him. Within a few seconds, a maid was answering the door.
"Mr. DuGray." She nodded to him. "Your mother is in the living room."
"Thank you." Rory smiled as the maid took her coat.
"Here goes nothing." He muttered as his mother came to greet them.
"Tristan! Oh, you look so tan since I last saw you!" She said as she gave him a hug.
"We went to North Carolina for a little vacation." He explained.
"And the surfing?" She asked with a knowing eye.
"Very sufficient." He smiled. "Mom, this is Rory Gilmore. Rory, my mother, Evelyn DuGray."
"The infamous girlfriend. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." She smiled as she shook her hand warmly.
"You too."
"I've heard so much about you." Rory smiled and glanced at Tristan. He was clearly very uncomfortable with the whole situation so he was just keeping quiet. "Well, come in, what can we get you to drink?" She asked. "Tristan, the usual?"
"I'll get it." He said. He needed something to do with his hands.
"Alright, I'll have a martini. Rory?"
"A martini sounds great, Evelyn."
"Two martinis coming up." Tristan said as he walked over to the bar.
"So Rory, Tristan tells me that you write for the Hartford paper?"
"I do." Rory nodded. "Foreign news pieces usually, once and a while a column or editorial, but I like to stick to the facts." Evelyn smiled.
"Here you are." Tristan said as he handed each of his martinis to their rightful owner.
"Thank you." Rory smiled as he sat down next to her.
"Well, I look forward to reading some of your pieces in the future." Evelyn said as she took a sip of her drink. "So, you went on a little trip?" She asked Tristan. "I didn't know you were planning a trip to North Carolina."
"Yeah, well, it was kind of spur of the moment." He said, putting it delicately.
"He decided it would be a good idea and we left the next day." Rory smiled.
"That sounds about right." She said. "You were always so impulsive."
"Well, we've both been working pretty hard so I figured a weekend getaway would do us both some good."
"And I'm betting that you spent the entire time in the ocean and left this poor girl on the beach." Evelyn said.
"This 'poor girl' would only come along if I promised to leave her alone on the beach." Tristan said.
"It's true. I sat on the beach, got a tan, and read my book. It was heaven on earth."
"I'm impressed that you found the time. You work so hard for someone who is so young."
"I'm twenty-eight Mom." He pointed out with a grin.
"Tristan has always been very driven, he got that from his father, rest his soul." She explained to Rory. "Of course, it hasn't always been an asset to his character. Especially when, for years, his main goal in life was to annoy his father." She glanced over at him.
"Mom, please." Tristan said.
"It's true," Rory said. "We were all there for your high school years Tris. You can't deny it." Tristan shot her a look that screamed "Judas!" She just smiled, wrapped her arm around his and patted his shoulder.
"Don't get me wrong, I love that you have put all that ambition to good use, but you need to stop and appreciate this time in your life because before you know it, it's gone." She said.
"Here, here." Rory said.
OOOOO
"I'll get our coats." Tristan said as he left the room. Once he had left the room, Evelyn and Rory stood up and walked to the foyer together.
"Rory," She said with an honest smile. "It's been a pleasure finally meeting you."
"Thank you for having me. This was great."
"I think you are going to be a wonderful influence on my son." She shook her head. "He needs someone to keep him in line." Rory laughed.
"Trust me, he's the only reason I'm still in one piece. I don't know what I would have done without him these past couple of weeks."
"He really loves you. A mother knows." Evelyn said with a quick wink. Rory smiled and nodded.
"Are you ready to go?" Tristan asked, handing her her jacket.
"Uh-huh." She said as she slipped it on.
"Thanks for dinner." He said as he kissed his mom's cheek. She nodded.
"We'll have to do it again sometime." Rory suggested.
"That sounds lovely." Evelyn said. After a brief wave, Tristan and Rory walked out to the car.
"Well that went well." Rory said as he started the car.
"Yeah, it did." He said, sounding surprised. "I don't know how I feel about the two of you getting along so well. It makes me…"
"Nervous?" Rory smiled, thinking it was an appropriate word choice given the theme of the night.
"Cautious to do it again. I have the feeling that I would end up getting played."
"Yes well, now you know how I felt when you met my mom. I love you for it though." He smiled. "Not very many people could go head to head with Lorelei."
"That's different, your mom is cool. It's easy to get along with her." Rory laughed.
"You are the first boyfriend in the history of the world to say that to me."
"Really?" She nodded.
"Oh yeah, in the past, my mom and the men in my life have not gotten along. At all." She said. "Which is why I appreciate the fact that you two get along, however scary it might be."
"Well, I have yet to meet Luke, and I have a feeling that he's going to be harder to please."
"He's one of those guys that once you prove yourself, he likes you for life. He might be a little protective of me at first, but that's only because he's known me my entire life. Even before they started dating, Luke was always the father figure in my life. Now, it's only a matter of time before they get married and he makes it official."
"That's nice." Tristan said. "That you were able to have that." Rory nodded.
"Yeah, it is." Her mind wandered off for a minute and Tristan didn't say anything, letting her process whatever she was thinking so intently about.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just, it wasn't until very recently that I even started to get to know my real dad, and things are pretty good right now between us. I mean, I went with Gigi to her appointment so that's got to mean something." She said as he nodded. "But I haven't really thought about how my relationship with my dad is going to play out with my relationship with Luke. They've never really been around each other. I mean, my entire life it's been me and my Mom. First and foremost."
"Right."
"And now, I don't know, I guess we've found different lives. Her life with Luke, while it contains me, of course, is also separate. My life with my dad has nothing to do with my Mom. I mean, she wants me to have a good relationship with him, but they don't have a good relationship. What about Christmas? He's going to want me to spend it with him, Mom and Luke will have one, the grandparents always have a big Christmas party."
"Oh yeah, my grandpa used to steal some apple tarts and bring them back for me." He smiled. "Those were some amazing apple tarts."
"I know." She said.
"Sorry, go on." He said, realizing he had interrupted her. She paused to gather her thoughts.
"I haven't quite found a way to reconcile the two families yet. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah, absolutely. You're going through what every divorced kid across America is going through."
"I guess. But I mean, take for example, my wedding. Who's going to walk me down the aisle? The man who I barely know but is biologically my father, or the man who has always been like my father? No matter who I ask, I'm going to be insulting the other."
"Are you hinting at something Mare?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood. She looked over at him.
"No! God no, that's not the point. I just…I want it to work out." She said.
"I know you do." He ran his hand over her knee. "It will, you just have to let it work itself out." He said as he pulled into his driveway.
"All of this conversation about family is driving me crazy."
"Come on, let's go inside. I'll make you some coffee and we can relax." He smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back.