Thanks so much for your continued support! I'm working on the second chapter of Lost at Home but in the meantime here's an update for this one! :)

Chapter 14

"And finally...ending the tour, this is my apartment." Rory said starting to unlock the door.

"Nice." April nodded.

It was Spring Break and April was staying with Luke and Lorelai for a week as Anna had gone to visit her mother. Rory had offered to show April around Yale for a day and then they were both heading back to Stars Hollow that evening.

"So I say we order some pizza and then head back about 8ish. That way we'll miss all the bad traffic." Rory said leading April into the apartment.

"Sounds good." April smiled collapsing onto the couch.

"So how do you like Yale?" Rory smiled collapsing down next to her.

"Oh my god, it's amazing!" April enthused. "I loved it. The science labs were so big and that library, well I could spend hours there."

Rory laughed. "You're talking to someone who has spent hours in there." She joked.

April turned to her. "Thanks for inviting me." She said.

"Hey no problem. I've enjoyed it!" Rory smiled. "What are sisters for eh?"

April smiled. "Right." She said.

"So are you looking forward to spending a week in Stars Hollow?" Rory grinned.

April laughed. "Absolutely! I want to see Kirk rollerblade."

Rory grinned. "There's every opportunity you will."

"So...seeing as you invited me here, I think it's only fair I order the pizza." She said getting up pulling out her mobile.

"Well you don't see me arguing." Rory joked. "Paris! Do you want some pizza?" She called.

"No thanks. I'm heading to Doyle's and then we're going to his tomorrow." Paris said appearing from her bedroom.

"Ok. Have fun!" Rory smiled.

"Thanks. You too." Paris smiled. "Bye! Bye April."

"Bye Paris." April waved. "Right I'll call them, what do you want?" She asked Rory after Paris had left.

"Something with everything on." Rory said. "You might want to go downstairs though. The signal's touch and go here and there's nothing more annoying than the phone cutting off in the middle of a pizza order."

April laughed. "Ok. Be back in a bit." She said leaving the apartment.

Rory smiled and headed to her room to pack the last few things she needed for her break at home. It had been a really fun day and she had enjoyed spending more time with April. They had so much in common and it was nice to share Yale with someone. She had just zipped up her bag when there was a knock on the front door. She headed out of her room and went over to the door and opened it. "April, you don't need to knock. Just come..." Rory was laughing when she stopped in her tracks. "What the...You're not April!" She said.

"Well I'm glad you're able to tell the difference." Tristan chuckled. "Surprise!"

"What the...What are you doing here? Oh my god!" Rory exclaimed giving him a hug.

"Happy to see me?" He smirked.

Rory grinned and gave him a kiss. "Does that answer your question?"

"Perfectly." Tristan smirked.

"It's been a month!" Rory exclaimed.

"It has." He nodded.

"Oh my god! I can't believe you're here!" Rory grinned giving him another hug.

Tristan chuckled. "If I knew this would be my welcome every time I come and see you, I'll make it more often." He joked.

Rory laughed. "Ah the novelty will wear off, don't worry!"

"Good to know." He said sarcastically.

"It's good to see you..." Rory started to say when suddenly there was an ear-piercing scream. Her eyes widened. "Oh my god, April!" She exclaimed.

"April's here?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah!" Rory exclaimed rushing to the stairs with Tristan in hot pursuit. She raced down and her eyes widened when she saw a terrified April cornered against the wall with three guys who she recognised as part of the Du Wop gang leering over her. "April!" She exclaimed rushing forward but Tristan beat her to it.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He exclaimed dragging the guys off April. "She's 12! How sick can you get?!" He said angrily.

"She's up for it, aren't you darling?" One of the guys slurred.

Rory rushed to April's side pulling her into a hug. "Are you ok?" She asked concerned.

"I..I think so." She said clearly shaken.

"Oh come on, make someone very happy today. You're a beautiful..." The same guy was slurring but was interrupted by a punch to the face.

"I'm warning you, you don't leave now and I'll make sure none of you are walking." Tristan threatened.

Rory let out a relieved breath when the guys took a hint and slinked off. "Are you ok?" She asked April again.

April just nodded.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let you go down alone, especially at this time." Rory said feeling awful.

"It's not your fault." April said quietly.

"Yes it is. It is my fault! If I had gone with you then..." Rory started.

"Then it could have been both of you those perverts were leering over." Tristan said.

"He's right. There were three of them, Rory. We would have still been outnumbered and we don't know if there were any more around." April said. She glanced at Tristan. "Uh..thanks." She said shyly. She didn't know Tristan that well but she knew it was thanks to him, she was standing there and she was ok. Well, physically ok anyway.

"You don't need to thank me." Tristan waved her off. "I'm just glad you're ok. You are, right?"

"I think so." April nodded.

"Good." Tristan gave her a smile.

April turned to Rory. "Do you think...uh...do you think maybe we could just go home now?" She asked hesitantly. "I know there will be traffic but..."

"Not at all. I'll go grab my bag and then we can head off." Rory said.

"You're heading back to Stars Hollow?" Tristan asked as he followed them back up to the apartment.

"Yeah it's Spring Break and April's spending the week with us so I figured I'd head back to." Rory said. "Wait, how are you here? Don't you have classes?" She asked Tristan.

"You just said it's Spring Break." Tristan smirked. "You know, we do have that at Princeton at all."

"Oh...yeah..sorry." Rory said distracted as they entered the apartment.

"Are you ok?" Tristan asked.

"What?" Rory asked turning to him.

"Those guys won't bother you again." He said softly.

Rory sighed. She watched April disappear into the bathroom. "God, what if something had happened to her? Luke would never have forgiven me." Rory said.

"Hey, relax. She's fine. A bit shaken, sure, but she'll be ok." Tristan said softly.

"I was supposed to be looking after her..."

"This isn't your fault." He said. "Rory, look at me."

Rory sighed and looked at him.

"It isn't your fault." He repeated. "Ok?"

"Ok." Rory said quietly. She gave him a hug. "Thank you for being here."

"You don't need to thank me." Tristan said again.

"Hey, why don't you come back with us to Stars Hollow?" She suggested.

"What?" He said surprised.

"You've got a week off right?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Then why don't you come back with us? You can stay at ours. You'll have to sleep on the couch but I'm sure mom and Luke won't mind." Rory said.

"Luke still hates me." Tristan pointed out.

"He won't when he hears what you did for April." Rory said.

"Rory, I did nothing..."

"Please?" Rory asked looking up at him. "You've only just got here. It will be nice to spend some time with you."

Tristan smiled. "Yeah that would be nice." He said.

Rory smiled. "So is that a yes?"

"Yes ok! I'll come but if Luke kills me..."

"I promise to give you a proper funeral and not just dump you under the porch." Rory said smirking slightly.

Tristan chuckled, glad to see old Rory back. "Thanks." He said dryly.


An hour and a half later, Rory drove into the driveway of the Crap Shack. She saw her mom and Luke sat on the porch swing. She saw April get out of the car and rush over to the porch.

"Dad!" April exclaimed.

"April!" Luke smiled happily, getting up and holding his arms out pulling April into a hug.

"Were we expecting you this early?" Lorelai smiled.

"Uh..no..not really. It's ok though right?" April asked quietly, still hugging Luke.

"Of course!" Lorelai said exchanging a look with Luke.

"Are you ok?" Luke asked.

"Um...I..I don't know." April said quietly.

Luke felt her shaking a bit and suddenly got concerned. He looked up to see Rory hesitantly approaching them. "What's happened?" He asked.

"We had a...uh..there was kind of an incident..." Rory said hesitantly.

"What sort of incident?" Lorelai asked concerned. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm ok. These guys in that apartment downstairs...uh...they kind of...made a move on April..." Rory said. "She went out to order pizza. I should have gone with her. I was so stupid..."

"It wasn't her fault." April said quickly. "I offered to go and order the pizza and then I was heading back in and came across these guys and tried to get past them but they were drunk and I was cornered. They..uh..they tried..."

"Tried what?" Luke exclaimed. "Did they...I swear if they touched you..."

"They didn't." April assured her. "I screamed and Rory heard and her and Tristan rushed down." She said.

"Wait, Tristan?" Lorelai asked confused.

"Yeah Tristan sort of sprung a surprise visit on me." Rory said giving her mom a small smile. She glanced back to see Tristan nervously approaching them carrying their bags.

"Sure he did." Luke said looking over at Tristan. "It's full here. If you're hanging around, you'll have to find somewhere to stay."

"Luke!" Rory exclaimed.

"Dad, no! It's thanks to Tristan that those guys didn't do anything." April interrupted them.

"What?" Luke said turning back to April.

"Yeah he has quite the right hook." April said, giving Tristan a grateful smile.

"You punched them?" Lorelai asked him surprised.

"Only way to get them to back off. I had to do something." He shrugged.

"I said Tristan can stay on the couch. Is that ok?" Rory asked Lorelai.

"Of course." Lorelai nodded.

"Of course? Lorelai!" Luke said.

"Luke, you can argue with me all night but this person here is the reason we're not paying our daughters a visit in hospital right now. Are you really going to send him elsewhere?" She said looking at him questioningly.

Luke ducked his head, a bit ashamed. "No..I guess the couch is fine."

"Good." Lorelai nodded. "Come on, let's all head inside." She said sending Tristan a warm smile as she did.


"Do you think they're ok?" Luke asked Lorelai.

Lorelai smiled at him across the kitchen table. "For the hundredth time, I think they're fine. They said they wanted an early night but that was probably code for them wanting to read about twenty books before falling asleep with them surrounding them."

Luke did smile at that. "Yeah..."

"I know you're worried. I am too." Lorelai said. "But they seem ok. April looked better as well. It was obviously a shock and it scared her but she'll be ok. Let's just be grateful nothing really bad happened."

"Yeah, you're right." Luke sighed rubbing his hands over his face. "I just...I can't help but worry."

"That's what being a parent does to you." Lorelai smiled sympathetically. "You always worry."

"Rory should move." Luke said.

"What?" Lorelai asked confused by the sudden change of subject.

"That apartment's obviously not safe. She shouldn't be living there. Something like this could happen again." Luke said.

"Let's talk about this tomorrow yeah?" Lorelai said softly. "I'm not disagreeing. I just..it's late."

"Yeah ok." Luke nodded.

They headed through to the living room to head upstairs, passing Tristan who was getting ready to go to sleep too.

"Night Tristan." Lorelai smiled at him.

"Night." He nodded.

"Hey..uh..I'll meet you up there." Luke said to Lorelai. "I want to check everything's locked."

"Ok." Lorelai smiled and headed upstairs.

Luke went and locked the front door and then walked back into the living room. He watched Tristan for a moment before awkwardly walking towards him. "Hey..uh..I just wanted to say...I overreacted earlier." He said gruffly. "I'm sorry."

Tristan looked up in surprise. "Oh..uh..it's ok." He said.

Luke sighed. "I get really protective. I know it's crazy with Rory because biologically she's not even mine but sometimes...well sometimes she feels like mine. And April's new, well new to me and I just..." He sighed again, rubbing his hands through his hair. "I'm just sorry. And thanks. For being there for them. For April." He said.

"I'd do it again if I had to." Tristan said. He glanced at Luke. "And I want you to know I'll always be there for them. April's Rory's family and that makes her sort of my family. And you protect family. And Rory, well I love her." He shrugged. "I haven't told her yet but I do. I've loved her since Chilton. Not really stopped. Sad, I know, but sometimes you can't help how you feel."

"Yeah...I know." Luke nodded thinking about Lorelai.

Tristan looked at her. "I'm not going to hurt Rory. And if I do, I give you permission to kill me." He said.

Luke smirked slightly. He looked at Tristan for a moment and could see he was being sincere. "Ok." He said.

"Ok?" Tristan asked nervously.

"Ok." Luke repeated. "I'm going to head up. Do you need anything before I do?" He asked.

"Oh..uh..no I don't think so. I'm fine." He said surprised.

"Ok. Night." He said heading upstairs.

"Night." Tristan said. He shook his head in surprise. Had he just got Luke's approval? Was that even approval? He let out a breath, glanced towards Rory's room and then lay down on the couch. He'd had a long journey and was pretty tired so soon he was dozing off.

So I hope you liked it! A bit of drama in this chapter but I hope it wasn't too unrealistic! :S Please let me know what you think! Thanks again for all your support, you have no idea how much I appreciate it! :)