I am so sorry for the delay! I was ill for the past two weeks and am only finally starting to feel better with the help of antibiotics so I haven't really felt like writing much. But I'm getting better now and I wanted to get something up for you guys. So I hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 17

Charlotte came out of the bedroom where she had been doing some last minute things to some of her illustrations and stopped in the hallway as she smiled at the sight in front of her in the living room. Jess was currently lying on the couch with Jack on one side of him and Doula on the other, both engrossed in the book that Jess was reading to them. She thought about what it would be like with two new arrivals snuggled in their with them and she smiled before walking into the living room.

"Ernest Hemingway? Really?" Charlotte laughed. "They're 5 and 6!"

"Well, I want them to know what good books to get into when they're older. I just want to lead the way slightly for Jack and Doula, well I doubt it if Liz or TJ read any books to her at all." Jess said.

"TJ does!" Doula said.

"He does?" Jess smirked. "What, Dr Seuss?"

"No. He reads your books to me!" Doula smiled.

"My books?" Jess said surprised.

"Yeah, he keeps going on about how amazing a writer you are and how I should think about following my dreams one day." She said before shrugging. "He gets overdramatic sometimes."

"Well it's good that he's telling you to follow your dreams." Charlotte smiled. "Isn't it Jess?"

"Uh..yeah. Yeah it is." Jess said, slightly surprised but also finding himself respecting TJ a bit for obviously caring a lot about his sister's future. He smiled down at Doula. "You should listen to him. You always follow your dreams ok? You can do anything with your life. Anything you want. I didn't have very many people in my life telling me that but you do apparently. So listen to them ok?" He said.

Doula nodded. "Can we finish the book now?" She asked snuggling back down next to her big brother.

"Yeah, can we daddy? Please!" Jack said.

"See, they like Hemingway." Jess smirked at Charlotte.

"Just wait until I tell Rory about this." She smirked.

Rory got up from her laptop when she heard a knock at the door and went and opened it. "Hi..." She said surprised.

"Hey Mary..." Tristan said sheepishly.

"Wha...What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I know you said no to the meal but it's my last night here and...well...I just had to see you again. That's all. Call me pathetic." Tristan shrugged.

Rory smirked slightly. "Pathetic."

"Thanks." He smirked. "Look, I'll go if you want or..uh..if you're working..." He said spotting her laptop open.

"No." Rory said quickly. She sighed. "I mean, no you don't need to leave. I'm nearly done with my work anyway. And I was kind of regretting saying no to that meal." She admitted.

"You were?" Tristan said surprised.

"Well...I guess at the cafe, it didn't really seem like a goodbye thing. Plus, I haven't exactly made many friends here yet so I could do with an evening out. You'll be protecting me from getting a loner status." Rory joked.

"Well we can't have that now, can we?" He smirked. "Although I don't really think there's such a thing as a loner status."

"There was at Chilton." Rory said, going to grab her jacket.

"What?" Tristan laughed.

"Yep. I was told to stop being antisocial and a loner and that Harvard would think badly of it. So I joined a table at lunch, a random table, and I ended up being puffed." Rory rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah I heard about that!" He smirked. "And apparently you stood up to Charleston as well."

"Oh god, the school heard about that?" She cringed.

"Only me. Paris was actually secretly quite impressed." Tristan said.

"That's so embarrassing." Rory shook her head. "Right let's go!" She smiled going towards the door and opening it. She froze as she opened it though as she found another very familiar person standing on the other side, his hand raised to knock on it. "Sam?" She said shocked.

"Hi..." Sam said slowly as he glanced between her and Tristan.

"Oh my god!" Rory exclaimed, her face suddenly breaking into the biggest grin ever. "Oh my god! What are you doing here?" She exclaimed excitedly, launching herself at him, giving him a hug.

"Surprise..." Sam said reciprocating the hug but glancing at Tristan again. "Did I..uh..catch you at a bad time?" He said hesitantly, pulling away slowly and looking between them.

"What?" Rory said but then suddenly realised the situation before them. "Oh, no, Tristan and I were just going to grab some food. It's his last night here so we..uh..we were going to just...well, grab some food..." She said suddenly feeling awkward.

"Oh..right.." Sam said.

"It's no problem. You've obviously got someone to spend the evening with now. Defend your loner status." Tristan joked. "I'll get off. Leave you two to it."

"Tristan..." Rory said.

"It's cool." Tristan smiled reassuredly. "Take care yeah?" He said softly.

"Uh..yeah. You too." Rory said.

Tristan glanced at Sam. "Look after her yeah? She's a special one." He said.

"I know that." Sam nodded.

"Well, have a nice evening." He said, giving Rory one last smile before leaving.

Rory stood there for a moment, glancing at Sam. "I'll be right back..." She said quickly.

"Rory!" Sam called after her but sighed as the door shut behind her as she followed Tristan out. He looked round the apartment and put his suitcase down and also the bunch of flowers he had yet to give her. This wasn't how he imagined this reunion would be like.

"Tristan wait!" Rory said catching up with Tristan in the hallway. "I'm sorry. I didn't know he was going to turn up out of the blue." She apologised.

"I think that was sort of the point of his surprise visit." Tristan chuckled.

Rory smiled slightly. "I know. But...we were going to go out. Have our last...goodbye." She said softly.

Tristan smiled softly. "We don't need a last goodbye." He said. "We have our memories. Lots of good ones, I hope." He smirked slightly.

"Lots of good ones." She smiled softly at him.

"That's enough for me." He said. "It's not like one of us is dying. We can still keep in touch. We can be friends." He pointed out.

"Yeah. Yeah I guess you're right." She said.

"I think right now though, you should be in there with your fiance who's flown 8 hours to see you." Tristan smiled. "Because I think you've missed him."

"What?" She said confused.

"That big grin and hug when you realised who it was sort of told me that." Tristan chuckled. "You really love him, don't you?" He said softly.

Rory blushed slightly but smiled. "Yeah. I really do." She said softly.

"Then go be with him. I mean it though, I want emails ok? I want us to be friends." He smiled.

"Well then I want postcards then." She smirked.

"Deal." Tristan smirked. He smiled and gave her a hug. "Enjoy your time with him, Mary. You deserve every happiness."

"Thanks Tristan." Rory said softly, reciprocating his action. "Enjoy your travels!" She called after him as he started to walk off. She grinned as he turned round, gave her a mock salute and then disappeared from view. She let out a breath and walked back to the apartment. She took a deep breath before going back in. "Can we do this again?" She asked as she went in.

"Do what?" Sam said confused.

"You being at the door, me answering, you saying surprise and me being surprised!" She said pushing him towards the door. "It was all wrong and I'm so sorry! You flew all the way here to surprise me and finding me with Tristan must have been...weird." She said.

"Rory..." He tried.

"But it was innocent, I swear!" Rory continued quickly. "It was his last night and he offered to take me out. I haven't had an evening out since I got here and it was nice that someone was inviting me out. I know it's weird because it was him but I swear we were just doing it as friends!"

"Rory..." Sam tried again.

"But you planned this surprise romantic visit and I ruined it so please can we do it again? Tristan's gone and I promise my reaction will be better!" She begged.

"Well, your reaction was actually pretty good." Sam said, his lips twitching slightly.

"Please?" Rory said, pushing him out of the door.

"Ok fine!" Sam couldn't help but laugh.

"Ok good! You need to knock though!" Rory said before shutting the door. She opened the door when Sam obediently knocked again. "Oh my god!" Rory mock exclaimed. "I can't believe you're here! What are you doing here?" She grinned giving him a hug.

"Surprise!" Sam smirked.

"It's so good to see you!" Rory grinned, leaning in to finally give her fiance a hello kiss.

Sam smiled at that. "Yeah, it's good to see you too." He said sincerely.

Rory smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry I ruined it." She said. "I honestly didn't know Tristan would turn up..."

"It's fine." He assured.

"Really?"

"I won't lie. It did take me by surprise seeing the two of you laughing and chatting again but...like you said, it was innocent. I trust you." He said.

Rory relaxed. "I love you." She said softly, kissing him again.

"I love you too." He smiled. "I've missed you."

"Oh god, I've missed you so much as well!" Rory exclaimed. "Seriously." She added.

"Here." Sam smiled handing over the flowers he bought her.

"They're beautiful. Thank you." She smiled softly. "So how long are you here for?" She asked excitedly as she found a vase for the flowers.

"Just the weekend." He said. "But the weather's meant to be great and I've got stuff planned." He smiled.

"Researched London, did you?" She teased.

"Maybe." He smirked.

"There. Perfect." Rory smiled putting the flowers in a vase. "So...want to see the bedroom? To put your bags in there of course..." She grinned.

"Oh of course." Sam smirked, following her through to the bedroom.

"Was she good?" Liz asked as Doula ran into the house when Jess dropped her back. "Come on in." She smiled at her son.

Jess reluctantly followed her in but nodded. "She was good." He said.

"Good." Liz smiled.

"TJ." Jess nodded at his step-dad.

"Jess." TJ nodded. "Hope this one didn't wear you out too much."

"She was fine." Jess said.

"We read books with Jack!" Doula smiled.

"You did huh?" TJ smiled.

"Yeah and then we went to the park with Auntie Charlotte and Jack!" She said excitedly.

"Sounds like you had a great day." Liz smiled fondly at her daughter, stroking her hair. "Now go hug your brother goodbye, you need to get ready for bed."

Doula rushed to Jess and wrapped her small arms round his waist. "Can we do it again soon?" She asked.

Jess smiled and bent down to kiss the top of his sister's head. "Of course. Anytime you want." He said.

"Thanks again for having her, son." Liz smiled at Jess before going off to help Doula get ready for bed.

"No problem." Jess said. He glanced at TJ awkwardly. "So...I should probably get going..."

"Sure." TJ said. "It was nice of you and Charlotte to have her for the day. She really loves seeing you." He said.

"Likewise." Jess nodded. He glanced at the front door before glancing back at TJ. "I think it's cool that you're telling her to go after her dreams." He said surprising himself and TJ.

"The kid's bright. She deserves to do anything she wants. I know she can do it. You know, I bet she got the brains from you." He pointed out.

"Doubt it." Jess snorted.

"Come on, someone who had to resit his final year but has gone on to write real novels which are still selling nationwide. That tells me you didn't really need to resit that final year. It tells me you probably could have aced it the first time. I know you've had some hard times. Your mom hasn't gone into details with me and I wouldn't want her to because that's personal to you but I know you've had it tough. But I think if Doula turns out anything like you, I'd be pretty happy." He shrugged. "You put yourself down too much. You shouldn't."

Jess looked at him for a moment before nodding. "Thanks." He said gruffly. He started to leave before he turned round hesitantly. "You know, I'm glad you married my mom. You're good for her." He said awkwardly, rubbing his hand through his hair.

"Thanks." TJ nodded. "That means a lot from you."

Jess nodded at him, gave him a small smile before turning back round and finally leaving.

So I hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think by reviewing and I promise I'll try and make updates more regular now! :) Thanks for all your continued support. It means so much! :)