Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.

AN: Someone said that this story was severely lacking Tristan and Rory interaction as of late. They were right, so here is a whole chapter of nothing but Trory.

With Lorelai gone back to Stars Hollow at Rory's persistence everyone seemed to wonder if they could handle things on their own. Aiden was going through a colic phase wouldn't let Rory or Tristan put him down for longer than a few minutes at a time. He wasn't sleeping through the night and Jake had decided that if he and his brother weren't going to sleep than no one was. After three nights of no sleep Maddie had offered to let Jake sleep in her room with her so that Jake wouldn't be woken up by Rory and Tristan when they went to get the baby.

Rory wasn't getting any work done. Tristan had made the decision to work from home while they adjusted to things so not as much fell on her, but he still needed at least six hours at night to get work done. They were both close to pulling their hair out when Megan called Tristan the Friday after Lorelai left.

"You want to take Jake and Maddie for the weekend?" he asked, touched that his sister would even offer.

"I'd offer to take Aiden too; but it seems like having a baby brother has lost its appeal to Jake. You all need a break Trist," Megan rationalized.

"When can you come and get them?"

"You aren't even going to talk to Rory about it?"

"Hold on, hey, Rory?" he called.

"Yeah?" she asked coming in with the baby cradled in her arms.

"Can we pawn off Maddie and Jake on Megan for the weekend?"

"Does she want to?"

"She's practically begging me to let her have them," he said with a teasing smile.

"I say we let her keep them forever," she teased back.

"I'll be by to get them before dinner," Megan promised.

Tristan hung up the phone before standing from his desk. He crossed the room to stand in front of Rory. He looked down at the baby sleeping in her arms endearingly as he slid an arm around her waist. She leaned against him, resting her head against his chest. He tightened his grip on her, knowing that they wouldn't have long before Jake woke up from his nap. They were getting better at finding a few stolen moments together during the day.

They stayed that way until Jake came out of his room a few minutes later. He latched onto each of their legs before looking up at them. They were going to need to sit him down and talk to him in a way that the four year old would be able to understand that they couldn't devote all of their attention anymore. It wasn't a talk that they were looking forward to.

Neither of them knew what he was going through. They had never had to fight for their parent's attention because a younger sibling monopolized it. Tristan had been the youngest in his family and his mother had given Megan just as much attention as she had to him. Lorelai had been a good mother; loving, doting, supportive, giving praise when it was called for; Rory couldn't have asked for a better mother.

Tristan pulled away from Rory to scoop Jake up into his arms. The little boy smiled broadly at his father, reminding Rory again how much the two resembled each other. Tristan carried him back to his room and the sounds of the closet opening and drawers being opened could be heard.

Rory went into the living room, placing Aiden gently in his bouncy seat before picking up the information about the candidates that she had picked up the other day. She herself was a Democrat, but she thought that she could do the article justice. She bounced the seat lightly with her foot to keep the baby content while she read a pamphlet about Mitt Romney. She thought that he didn't have a prayer in winning the election, but he was one of the speakers that would be at the conference so she had to research him even if she didn't like him.

Tristan went into the kitchen and Jake followed suit a few minutes later. Tristan came out with a plate and cup and Jake climbed into his seat at the dining table. He ate quietly while Tristan went back into the kitchen. He came into the living room a few minutes later and set a small bowl of salad on the coffee table along with a bottled water. Rory looked up at him, smiling her thanks before going back to reading.

Maddie came in half an hour later as Rory was finishing her lunch. The baby had woken up after she had finished reading and was playing in his bouncy seat contently. Maddie unstrapped him and carried her with him to her room. She was really great at taking over once she got home. Rory hadn't expected her to but it was nice that she had offered without being asked to.

Megan showed up while Rory was giving the baby a bath. Jake came in and quickly kissed her before running from the room again. Tristan came to stand at the bathroom door once the kids had left. When Rory was done Tristan took the baby from her so that she could get dinner started.

The apartment was quiet and Rory wasn't used to it. She had come to thrive off of the chaos that Jake caused throughout the day. What was she going to do for two days without him? Worse, what was she going to do when he started Pre-Kindergarten in the fall? She was already dreading it and yet it wouldn't happen for another five months. Lorelai had warned her that she might have separation anxiety; but she hadn't expected it to feel like this.

Tristan came in with Aiden and sat at the island watching her. The baby was fussy and Tristan was trying everything he could think of to calm him down.

"You take over. I'll take him," Rory said as she crossed the room.

"I've got him," Tristan said with a curt shake of his head.

"He needs to be fed, so unless you've somehow managed to start producing milk I can do it," she said as calmly as she could manage.

Tristan let out a ragged sigh as she took the baby from him. Aiden latched onto her nipple greedily as soon as she made it available to him. Tristan could be heard moving around the kitchen, banging pots and pots in his wake. She didn't know what he was mad about, but she was going to get to the bottom of it.

XXXX

Rory was working on her laptop in bed when Tristan came to bed that night. It was after midnight and they were both exhausted. He was silent as he stripped down to his boxers before going into the bathroom.

She had closed her laptop by the time he came out of the bathroom after finishing his nightly routine. She watched him cautiously, knowing that he was ready to tell her what was bothering him.

"What's going on?" she prodded.

"I'm just tired," he said with a sigh.

"Tell me the trust Tristan," she said evenly.

"Don't you think that you're doing too much?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know that you want to be there for the boys and Maddie as much as possible, I do too; but you can't do everything on your own."

"I don't do everything on my own," she mumbled, knowing exactly what he meant. She had trouble letting other people take the reins when things got to be too much to handle. She should have known that this was what was bothering him.

"Really? Do you think that I can't bathe Aiden? Or get him ready for bed?"

"I know that you can," she said, silently pleading with him to drop the subject.

"I know not to bring up the subject that we should hire a Nanny, but why don't we enroll Jake in daycare?"

"Absolutely not," she said vehemently while shaking her head.

"Just because your mom didn't do it that doesn't mean that you shouldn't. Megs and I went to daycare, Maddie went to daycare and the three of us turned out okay," he said in desperation.

"I became a work from home parent so that I could take care of the kids. I am not going to put Jake through that."

"Just try it for a month, and if he says that he doesn't like it then we'll go back to way things are now," he bargained.

"Let me think about it," she said with a defeated sigh.

"That's all I am asking," he said as he got into bed.

He turned to face her, watching her as she got situated against her pillows. He never liked confronting her about things that she didn't want to do. She could be stubborn as a mule when she wanted to be. He was glad that she hadn't fought him on the matter. She turned to face him after burrowing underneath the covers. Aiden slept in his bassinet next to her side of the bed soundly. Tristan reached over to take her hands in his. He squeezed them lightly before bridging the gap between them.

He brushed his lips to hers lightly as she leaned against him. He draped his free arm over her waist so that she could have more room. She pulled her hands from his then threaded them through his hair. He moaned into her mouth when she started massaging his scalp. She pulled away a few inches, placing her forehead to his.

"You're going to have to quiet if you want things to go any farther," she said sternly.

"Let me go put him in his crib," he said, pulling away from her.

"You are going to be the one to get him if he wakes up," she warned.

He was back less than thirty seconds later. Rory pulled her cami over her head while he crossed the room while pushing down his boxers. They hadn't made love in nearly a month and it was time that they finally got out of their rut. Tristan leaned over her, taking her body in. Even though she had recently had a baby, her body had bounced back quickly. His fingers traveled down her side slowly before pushing her underwear down her hips. She turned out the light as he bridged the gap between them once more. It was about time that they got a little time for themselves. They were going to take advantage of it while they could.