A/N: I haven't written in a ridiculously long time. I'm not gonna give you my very legitimate excuse, because honestly you don't really care. Anyway, here's the one you've all been waiting for.

"So where is this road trip actually gonna take us?" Rory asked, as she put her feet up on the dashboard of Tristan's car.

"I was thinking it would be a round trip, so basically take us back to campus." He said, unwilling to admit that he had no idea where they were going to go.

"So you have no idea?" She asked, sceptically. He sighed. That girl could read him better than anyone, and he couldn't help but like that about her. "How about we just, you know, go with the flow...be spontaneous."

"Sounds great, Mary." He replied, grinning at her.

"Eyes on the road, my friend, I don't wanna be in another car accident." Rory giggled, as she plugged in Tristan's iPod for some on the road music. "Mind if I make you a new playlist of road trip songs?"

"Sure, that sounds cool." He replied, absently. "When were you in a car accident?"

"A while after you left. Jess, my ex boyfriend, took me out for ice cream and he swerved to avoid an animal. Unfortunately he wrapped the car around a tree." She replied, nonchalantly.

"Your boyfriend drove a car into a tree? And you stayed with him?" He asked, incredulously.

"We weren't dating then, and that wasn't even the worst he did." She replied.

"That wasn't the worst? Man, Rory, I thought you didn't like the whole bad boy thing, but I guess it's just me you don't like, not my image." He sighed.

"Come on, Tris, I like you despite your bad boy image!" She cried out, anxious to comfort the boy that she was starting to see as more than a friend.

"Well, I'm certainly glad to hear that. Do you think of me more as a sex slave then?" He asked, mischievously.

"You wish, DuGray." She replied, after a moment's hesitation.

Tristan paused, slightly stunned. "Did you just make a comeback to my dirty joke?" He asked, shocked.

"I may have, yeah." Rory said, grinning despite herself. "Oh my God! Take the next right!"

"Why? What did I miss?" Tristan questioned.

"There's a fair going on in that field over there!"

*

Tristan and Rory slid into a booth at the pub opposite Logan and Colin at nine o clock. Logan had been waiting impatiently for over an hour, and was on his fourth scotch on the rocks. He looked up at the happy pair, frowning. Tristan had traces of tiger stripes on his cheeks and around his eyes, while Rory had a ladybird painted on her cheeks. They were both carrying novelty fair prizes, including a purple octopus that Tristan had won for Rory on the air rifles stand.

"Where the fuck have you two been? What happened to eight o clock?" Logan grumbled.

"We were on our road trip!" Rory giggled. "And I did say I'd call when we got back to campus, not that we'd be here at eight o clock."

"Well then why didn't you call?" He asked, aggrieved.

"My cell ran out of battery, and Tristan lost his on the Waltzer." She replied, as if it was obvious.

"The Waltzer?"

"This awesome ride that spins you round and round and round and gives you whiplash." Tristan told him.

"That sounds amazing." Logan replied, sarcastically. It sounded like hell to him.

"It was brilliant!" Rory enthused. She hadn't caught the sarcasm in Logan's tone, and soon she and Tristan were reliving the entire funfair.

"Do you want a drink, Ace?" Logan interjected, as they started rapturing about the ring toss.

"A gin martini would be great, thanks Logan, and a scotch neat for Tristan?" Both guys were shocked that Rory already knew Tristan's drink of choice after having only been out drinking with him once.

Logan frowned slightly, but wandered off towards the bar to fill in the Gilmore girl's order. Tristan shifted in the booth to look at her.

"You know my favourite drink." He stated softly. She nodded, and blushed lightly. "You prefer your martinis with vodka not gin, but feel bad about telling Logan that he always gets it wrong."

"How..." She trailed off and stared at the man in front of her, blue eyes wide.

This was it, Tristan thought, now or never. "I know because I care about you, Rory, I care deeply." He told her. "I've cared about you practically since you told me and Summer to stop making out in front of your locker, and you haunted my mind all through the time we were apart. And I'm not shy about saying it, because the whole scotch neat thing has shown me that you care about me too."

Rory was speechless for a couple of seconds. "I...I guess I do care, Tristan. Deeply." She smiled at him shyly.

The pair were wrapped up in each other's eyes when Logan returned with the drinks.

"Did I miss something here?" The media mogul's son asked.

"Nothing at all, man, me and Mary are just winding down after a day out." Tristan replied, not tearing his gaze away from Rory's. "Actually, I think I'm gonna walk her back to her dorm."

He stood, and offered Rory his hand, which she took as she stood as well. They walked out of the bar, but not before Logan saw Tristan place his arm around Rory's waist, and Rory put her head on his shoulder. Logan sat down with a sigh, three full drinks in front of him, and resigned himself to losing the girl.

*

Rory and Tristan walked back to her dorm in silence, but when they got to her door, they stopped, suddenly more awkward. Tristan shuffled his feet and glanced at her lips. Rory looked away bashfully, and shifted her weight from side to side.

"This is stupid." Tristan burst out. "I've never been shy around girls, and I've definitely never been shy around you, so I'm just gonna take the plunge."

Before Rory could reply, or even open her mouth, his lips were on hers in a kiss that he had waited three years for. It was everything either of them had imagined, and Rory swore she could see fireworks going off behind her now closed lids. She didn't think it could get any better before Tristan softly slid his tongue into her mouth and deepened the kiss.

They broke away when neither had any oxygen left, and Rory leant against the door to steady herself. "Wow. That was some kiss." She giggled.

"Best I've ever had." Tristan admitted, seriously. "You really aren't much of a Mary anymore, are you, Rore?"

"No, I guess not. But I think I'd be sad if you stopped calling me that."