Disclaimer: How many different ways can I say that this show doesn't belong to me? I'm just a poor high school student trying to somehow find a way to pay for college. Do you really think I can afford an entire television show? I don't think so.

A/N and Thanks: Sorry this has taken almost a year to get finished. I hit MAJOR writer's block and I had given up. But thanks to my loyal reviewers I decided to continue this story, because it's something I've put a lot of time and effort into. So this chapter goes out to everyone who loves this story!

Rating: PG-13

Chapter 9: The Saga Continues

Tristan met the strange man's gaze as he attempted to intimidate him. Years of fighting with his cold father had prepared him to deal with whoever this guy was. The most important thing was not to show fear or weakness, so Tristan kept his eyes locked onto the diner man's.

"Are you Tristan?" Luke asked, threateningly.

"Why yes I am. I didn't realize I had become a celebrity," Tristan replied, hiding any initial surprise he had in regards to the diner man knowing his name.

Luke couldn't believe the nerve of this kid. He could tell just by the way he spoke that this boy was an arrogant little prick. He wanted to tear him apart for what he did to Rory. This guy obviously tricked her. That little girl would have never, ever done, well what she did with this guy unless he had hoodwinked her.

"You better shut that smart ass mouth of yours and listen up. If you EVER hurt Rory again, I swear I will hunt you down and kick your ass. The only thing keeping me from doing that now is that there's a room full of people in there that are just waiting for me to take a swing at you."

"Whoa. What did I do that put me on this town's hit list?" Tristan asked, faking ignorance.

Apparently, the diner guy knew Rory well. This was a very small town, but he wasn't expecting to get threatened. The truth was, Tristan felt like shit already, and he didn't need this clown making him feel any worse. He needed to talk to Rory, and the diner guy was getting in his way.

"You know what you did, you good for nothing-" Luke started, but was cut off by a small voice.

"It's okay, Luke."

"Okay, well are you ready to face the town?" Lorelai asked Rory after their laughter had subsided.

"Do I have to?" Rory whined, with a grin.

Her mother always had a way of making her feel better. They linked arms, and walked down the stairs. Rory prepared to be stared at, but instead she noticed most of the people were watching the street. She gasped when she saw Luke and Tristan arguing. She had to stop it and quickly. Letting go of her mom's arm, Rory rushed towards the door and opened it up just in time to hear Luke start in on Tristan. He obviously had showed his obnoxious side to Luke. Tristan definitely needed to learn when obnoxiousness was appropriate, and when it was uncalled for.

"It's okay, Luke," Rory stopped him.

Tristan looked up, and Rory could see guilt all over his face. He tried to mask it with cockiness, but she could see it. He felt horrible about the night before, and Luke wasn't making it any better.

"Are you sure, Rory?" he asked her, protectively.

Then he saw how her eyes were locked on the boy. Luke noticed the change immediately. Instead of the steely gaze he had held just moments ago, his eyes were on the ground. He was slouched over and he kept biting his lip. Luke was surprised at how quickly his arrogance had vanished.

"Yeah. I think we need to talk, Tristan."

Tristan just nodded, and Luke could barely believe how ashamed this guy looked. That still didn't make him like the kid, but he was glad to see Rory hadn't chosen a complete dumbass.

Lorelai stared as the two teens walked away. She felt a sense of loss as Rory began to get farther away from her. Her baby girl was growing up. Soon, she wouldn't need her. Not really. Sure they would still talk, but it wouldn't be like it was when she was little and needed Lorelai for everything. Her baby girl wasn't a baby anymore. She was becoming a woman, and that realization hit Lorelai, hard.

"Thanks for everything, Luke. I think I'm going to go home," she told him.

"Lorelai," Luke called, as she began to walk away.

He could see how fallen she looked over the whole horrible situation. Luke had always loved Lorelai. It wasn't something he could control, or even something that he wanted to control. It was just a fact of his life. Lorelai was a big part of it, even if she didn't know it.

"Yeah," she said, softly.

"Are you okay."

She smiled at him. "No, but I will be."

Luke sighed, and watched her walk away. The day had definitely taken an unexpected turn.

Rory and Tristan sat on the ground in a wooded area of Stars Hollow, just staring at their hands. That's what they had been doing for the past 10 minutes. Neither of them had said a word. What do you say after the awkwardness that had transpired in the last few days?

"I'm sorry," Rory finally said, when the silence had gotten too loud.

"For what?" Tristan asked her, incredulously.

"For leaving this morning. Last night was amazing. I mean, uh, thank you. You know. For what you did. I mean, wow. I just woke up this morning, and I realized that we didn't use a condom, or anything. I flipped out…"

Tristan didn't hear anything else Rory said. He felt his heart drop into his stomach, and his throat closed. He thought she ran because of the sex, not because they didn't use protection.

He decided to interrupt her. "We didn't use protection?"

"No, we didn't. Wait, I thought you knew that," Rory said, confused.

"No, I thought you ran because you weren't ready to have sex. I can't believe I forgot. I'm so sorry. Oh my God."

"Hey, I should have remembered."

"No, I'm the guy, it's my responsibility. God, you don't think your… you know. Do you?"

Rory sighed, "I don't think so. I did the math, and I don't think it fits."

Tristan exhaled deeply. He was glad they worked it out; this was the girl he wanted to be with. She was special, and amazing, and beautiful, and funny, and sweet, and great in bed. Tristan stood up and walked towards his girlfriend.

"So, do you still want me to be your boyfriend."

"Of course," Rory answered, automatically.

Rory took a deep breath as Tristan leaned towards her and placed a kiss on her lips. In that instant, all her pain and disappointment evaporated into thin air. He wrapped his arms around her waist and just held her as they shared soft butterfly kisses. Rory had never felt as connected to anyone in her entire life. Although this all happened very quickly, she already knew that she loved him. There was no way she would tell him that, but just knowing it made her feel warm and tingly all over. They finally pulled their lips apart, and Tristan leaned his forehead against Rory's so that their noses touched.

"Are you ready to go back?" he asked her, quietly.

"Not yet. Can't we just lay here for a while?"

Tristan smiled, "Of course."

The couple leaned back in the soft grass, surrounded by trees and just enjoyed each other's company. No words needed saying, they could just be. To them, at that moment, they were the only two in the whole world. Their connection ran deeper than any either one of them had ever had. Tristan knew this was love, but he didn't want to scare Rory off, so he kept his mouth shut. He smiled as he said to himself, "I'm in love with Rory Gilmore."

The rest of the day passed by fairly quickly. Tristan spent the afternoon with Rory and Lorelai, and although tensions remained between them it wasn't as excruciating as Tristan thought it would be. When he had to go back to Hartford, he gave Rory a deep loving kiss before he left. Neither one of them felt Lorelai's eyes on them as they said their good-byes. Just by watching the way they held each other, Lorelai knew they were in love. Neither one of them was willing to say it, but their body language screamed the truth. Lorelai was happy for Rory, and Tristan wasn't as bad as she thought. All in all, the weekend ended on a good note.

Sure there was still gossip around Stars Hollow, but Rory was so happy that Tristan was all hers that she didn't even care. Her nerves did get the better of her on Monday morning, though. Rory took the bus to school, as usual, but she had no idea how Tristan was going to act around her. She wasn't exactly "Ms. Popular" and he was the King of Chilton. Her worries were soon whisked away because she was barely on school grounds when Tristan and some of his guy friends approached her.

"Hey Mary," Tristan said with a grin, and he greeted her with a kiss.

Rory internally rolled her eyes at his little joke. At Chilton, they were the only two who knew her Mary status had turned from Virgin to Magdalene. The other guys made some jokes about the dance and how she sure told her date off. They all knew Tristan had a thing for Rory, even if he didn't verbalize it. Each one of them had caught him staring at her at some point. They were very glad the two were finally together, although the goo-goo eyes probably wouldn't quit.

At lunch, Rory was going to sit by herself as usual, but Tristan came over and sat next to her.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked him.

"Eating lunch with my girlfriend. Why? Is that so weird?"

Rory sighed. "I guess you can eat here. Just don't bother me."

She loved that he wanted to sit with her. Rory didn't know why she had been so nervous about how Tristan would act with his friends. Her insecurities had a habit of showing up around boys, but now she felt completely comfortable around Tristan and they spent their entire lunch talking and joking about movies and how crazy everything was. Tristan kissed Rory as the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. Then they parted ways for the rest of the day.

After school, Rory walked towards the bus as usual, but Tristan ran up behind her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To the bus. That's how I get home."

"Not anymore," Tristan said with a wink.

Rory smiled and Tristan grabbed her hand and pulled her towards his BMW. All of a sudden Rory thought about something.

"Didn't you have a Lexus, yesterday?"

"Oh yeah," Tristan replied. "That was my mother's car. Mine needed an oil change."

"Oh okay. I just thought you got another new car," she teased.

"I admit my family has money, but we don't spend it that carelessly," Tristan said with a laugh.

As soon as they got into the car, Rory quickly pulled out a Blondie CD, and put it in. They drove to Stars Hollow without talking until Tristan thought about something strange that Rory hadn't explained.

"Wait a second. Why did that diner guy… uh Luke try to beat me up, yesterday?"

Rory turned about four different shades of red as she recalled her outburst in the diner. She sighed when she realized there was no way around telling Tristan. If their relationship was going to work, she had to be completely honest with him.

"Well, that's kind of a funny story. Not so much funny ha-ha as it is the unbelievable kind of funny. You see, I was in the diner with my mom after well you know, and I had a bit of a meltdown. I basically announced to the entire diner that you deflowered me."

"What?" Tristan screamed.

Suddenly it all made sense. Everywhere they went all day yesterday they were stared and whispered at. He had just chalked it up to him being a stranger in a very small town. Obviously there was more to it than that.

"I know. I started crying and ran upstairs to Luke's apartment where I proceeded to throw up. That was probably around the time you came into the diner."

Tristan could not believe all the awful things that happened to Rory. It was sort of funny, in a very sick way. He started to laugh and Rory joined in. They knew there was nothing they could do to stop what had happened, so the couple just accepted it and moved on. Tristan and Rory were so happy that they weren't going to let anything get them down. Unfortunately, it wouldn't stay like that for long.

A/N: Dun dun dun……. What did you think? Did you like it? Please Review!