A/N: Wow. I am so sorry I haven't posted in ages! I was on holiday so I didn't have an opportunity to write, and I only got back into the swing of things yesterday. I was as quick as possible, honestly. Anyway, I wanna say thanks for all the great feedback I got, and I hope you enjoy this installment. I own nothing except the plot. Unfortunately, not even the title is mine – it belongs to Simon and Garfunkel.

As per instructions, Tristan returned to the newsroom at six o clock sharp, and was just in time to see Rory hitting Send with satisfaction. She glanced up and grinned when she noticed him leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe.

"I'm heading out, Doyle." She called out to her editor, as she picked up her bag and jacket.

"Have you emailed me your article, Gilmore?" He asked.

"And there's a hard copy on my desk if you need it. See you around." She grabbed Tristan's arm and pulled him into the corridor. "Doyle is a bit…intense when it comes to the paper." She explained, as he gave her a questioning look, referring to her hasty exit. "And when it's just us he always insists on lecturing me on how we're going to keep our relationship 'professional'." She mimed quotation marks, mockingly as she said this. "It's pretty hard to keep any relationship professional once you've encountered your editor in a pink bathrobe and slippers."

"I'm sorry, what?" Tristan was more than slightly confused by Rory's words.

"Oh. He's dating Paris." She explained. "I keep running into him in the mornings wearing her nightwear. It's downright creepy." Her tangent had got them all the way to Tristan's car, and she now looked at him curiously. "Where were you planning on convincing me to go then?"

"How about back to the pad, for some coffee." He suggested. Her eyes lit up at the mention of coffee, and he chuckled deeply. "I'm guessing that sounds good to you, Mary."

"It sounds perfect. Colin has the most amazing coffee maker, I nearly stole it the last time Logan left me alone in your kitchen." Rory said, as she slid into the passenger seat of Tristan's Porsche.

"You spend a lot of time with Logan and the guys?" He kept his voice casual, but Tristan was positively aching for an answer.

"They've been spending quite a lot of time amusing me at New Haven society events and such." She told him, honestly. "My grandma has been…exhibiting me a lot lately, and they're good fun, and I guess I've been spending more time with them since we started hanging at parties. What with Logan always flirting with me, and Finn being Finn, and Colin trying to convince me to help him ask out Stephanie, they've sort of wormed their way into my daily routine, you know?"

Tristan did know. He'd been friends with Logan and Colin since kindergarten, and with Finn since he'd come to the US in the seventh grade. They too had all met at boring society dos, and started using eachother for entertainment. The four of them had originally only been friends at these events; a friendship of convenience only, but since they'd hit puberty the four of them had realised how similar they all were, and how well they understood eachother. Tristan now couldn't imagine his life without Logan, Colin and Finn, which was why he was being so careful with the Rory situation. Normally he would have dived in with his usual confidence and done some serious flirting, tried to get into Rory's pants ASAP, but with the added factor of his best friend, Tristan realised that he had to take things slowly. Work on Rory subtly. First though, he had to establish just how much Rory liked Logan, as he wasn't sure just how reliable Paris was when it came to the psychoanalysis of her friend.

"Yeah, I get it." He grinned, as she started flicking through the preset channels on his radio. "Just pick a wavelength already! Does Logan put up with this?"

"I haven't let him drive me anywhere." She confided. "Seems to much akin to being one of his dates; he drives them all over the place."

"Wait, so Logan's hitting on you and going on other dates at the same time?" Tristan was quite surprised at his friend's lack of tact.

"Sound familiar, Bible Boy?" She grinned at him.

"A little," he admitted, "But I've matured a lot since Chilton, you know."

"I'll believe that when I see it." She laughed, as they pulled up to Tristan's building, and he opened the door for her. "Very chivalrous of you."

He opened the front door and led her in, but she bowled past him and into the kitchen.

"Gonna make me some coffee?" She asked, batting her eyelashes at him. "I take it black." Tristan sighed, he never could refuse Rory when she brought out the big blues. He put on the kettle as she settled herself on the wooden countertop and began flicking through the books and magazines strewn about. "So what was it like in North Carolina?"

"Tough." He said. No one had ever really asked about his experiences in military school, preferring to dwell on the times he had been a model Dugray son. "But an amazing experience, actually."

"Well, that's not what I expected to hear. Complaints about how you weren't treated with the respect that your name merits, sure, but 'it was an amazing experience'; never." She said, honestly, as he passed her a steaming mug. She took an enormous gulp. "Mm, your coffee is almost as good as Luke's."

"Ah, the famous Luke. Who is he, again?" Tristan asked, sipping his own coffee, and pulling up a kitchen chair.

"My mom's fiancee, owner of the diner in Stars Hollow, and uncle of Jess, the ex boyfriend Paris was telling you about earlier." She told him.

They were still chatting easily when Logan and Finn came back from the pub, around eleven. They'd caught up with eachother, and Rory realised that she actually enjoyed spending time with her former tormentor, and that he was great company. Logan and Finn burst through the door tipsily, singing loudly to a Bruce Springsteen song.

"Hey guys, have you been in the pub since you left the news room?" Tristan called from the kitchen.

"Nah, mate, we went to a strip club for a bit." Finn replied, bowling into the kitchen and sitting on the table. He grinned at Rory. "You must be psychic, love, to realise that I didn't bring a girl home with me tonight. It was meant to be, I say."

"Or I was just catching up with an old, not quite friend, and was planning on being out of here before you came back and started hitting on me." Rory told Finn, as he mimed being heartbroken.

"Logan, your conquest has a harsh tongue!" He whined, as Logan came in with a glass of whiskey. "Is that the good stuff or the shit stuff?"

"The good stuff." Logan replied absently, as his eyes narrowed at the sight in front of him. Somewhere along the line, Rory's socked feet had ended up in Tristan's lap, and his chair was pulled right up to the counter. He was massaging her feet gently, and she paused in the act of ruffling up his hair in retaliation to a comment he'd made as Logan entered. "You two look very…cosy."

"Yeah, Mary and I have been catching up, getting to know eachother better." Tristan said, recognising the jealous looks he was getting from his friend, and honestly not caring.

Rory, oblivious as ever merely said, "Yeah, I got to know that Tris makes amazing coffee." She grinned widely and looked at her watch. "But, I really have to go now." She stretched out the word 'really' and frowned as she removed her feet from Tristan's grasp and slid off the counter. "I'm surprised I didn't get an angry phonecall from Paris an hour ago. She must be off doing Doyle." She pulled on her shoes and reached for her coat. "Thanks for a great evening, Tris." She waved at Finn and Logan before bending down and planting a soft kiss on Tristan's cheek. "Bye, guys."

She wandered out of the apartment, leaving the three boys in a tense silence.

"I saw her first, man, you know the rules." Logan growled, taking a slug of his whiskey.

Tristan sighed. Did Logan really still refer to the 'friendship rules' the four of them had made up at the age of thirteen? Alongside the 'the one who saw her first has automatic dibs' rule, there were several about Nintendo precedence, and who got the first go with each of the two handheld consoles. Tristan's personal favourite had always been the one about who got the last cupcake : 'the person who's birthday is happening in the next six month period after the specific cupcake incident gets to eat it as an early birthday present'. Classic. But the fact that Logan was trying to justify his jealousy with the bored musings of a group of thirteen year old boys was quite sad really. Ah well, Tristan thought, nothing for it but to beat him at his own game.

"Actually, dude, I saw her first. At Chilton. Three years ago. Therefore I can act however I want around her, because I wouldn't be muscling in on your action." He grinned, flashing white teeth at his friend, before exiting the kitchen and going to bed.

"Well, he's got you fucked there, mate, good and proper." Finn remarked, pouring himself another whiskey.

*

Rory walked back across campus to her dorm, and was met at the door by an anxious Paris.

"What the hell did you think you were doing walking home alone in the dark like that?" She yelled, dragging Rory into the common room and sitting her down on the couch for a long lecture. "It was so dangerous and irresponsible! You could have been raped or murdered! Someone could have attacked you! Why did you act so stupid?!"

"Paris, Paris, stop!" Rory shouted, laughing slightly at her friend's concern. "I know, it was stupid, but Tristan gave me a lift to his place and I didn't think about the fact that I had no car until I was too far to make it worthwhile going back." She explained.

Paris flopped back into an armchair. "Promise me you'll never do that again. If Tristan kidnaps you again, make sure that he takes you home again, too."

"I promise, okay?" Rory took off her coat and took a jelly-cup out of the fridge.

"Okay. So how was your date with Dugray?" Paris actually looked interested, which surprised Rory – she had always been the more involved half of the friendship. She was so shocked that she hardly even registered that she'd just been asked about a 'date'.

"Woah, woah, it wasn't a date!" She said, hurriedly. "It was just two not-quite friends catching up, and turning into friends." Paris looked at her knowingly. "That's all! It was fun, sure, but we're just friends."

"Sure, Gilmore, 'just friends'. That's why Tristan stayed behind specifically instead of going out drinking with his friends. That's why Logan's been extra flirtatious lately. You may think I don't notice these things, but I'm more observant than you give me credit for." She gloated.

"Well, for the record, I think you're totally wrong about everything you just said." Rory replied, as she went into her bedroom and shut the door. She was, however, feeling a lot less certain than she sounded. Tristan didn't fancy her, did he? And what about how she felt for him? Rory couldn't deny that it'd felt amazing and completely natural at the same time to be hanging out with him, and when he'd started massaging her feet and legs she'd felt…something. Electricity? No matter, there was absolutely nothing between her and Tristan. And there never would be.

Right?