As soon as he unlocked the door it flung open, someone had obviously been pushing it at the same time as Tristan pulled it open.

"Sorry about that," Tristan said, raising his hands in apology as Rory and he moved aside.

"No problem man, I don't know my own strength," came the reply from a voice Rory thought she recognised, prompting her to look up.

"Logan!"

"Ace!?"

"Umm Logan, hi, long time no see. We will just move out of your way," Rory said, before hastily pushing Tristan out the door and dragging him over to the bar, where she proceeded to pour herself a strong glass of tequila.

"Was that-" Tristan began the question only for Rory to immediately interrupt him with the answer.

"Yep."

"And did you know he-"

"Was going to be here? Nope. As far as I knew he was in London. I really thought Colin or Finn would have told me if he was coming, just a little heads up." Rory poured herself another drink, not quite as strong this time. "You're driving home right?" she asked before taking a sip.

"Yes. Are you okay?" Tristan asked, looking at her carefully, trying to work out if it was just shock or something more causing this reaction.

Rory looked up, suddenly realizing how this reaction could seem to her current partner. She moved closer to Tristan, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"I'm sorry, it was just a shock, too big of a swing in emotions in such a short time. The jump, to the bathroom, to seeing him. I don't want you to think it's because I have any feelings left there, cause there isn't, but that also doesn't mean that I meant to rub it in his face by having public sex at an event he is also at."

"It's okay, I know you aren't vindictive like that." Tristan said, leaning down and brushing his lips against hers in a chaste kiss. "Most of the time, anyway," he said, dodging her hand as it came up to give him a gentle slap.

"Where have you two been?" Poppy asked, sidling up beside them, glass of champagne in hand.

"Bathroom," they answered in unison, as Poppy looked at them suspiciously.

"Rory just needed to splash some water on her face after all of that adrenaline wore off, I went with her to check that she was okay," Tristan said innocently.

"Did she bang her neck off the tap?" Poppy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Rory asked, quickly raising her hand to her neck while Tristan looked, only to realize he had indeed given her a hickey without realizing.

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't there when we left the hotel this morning," Poppy said in a sing-song tone, laughing at the couple as they tried to decide what way to play it off before they just gave up and laughed too.

"Did I hear mention of a new hickey?" Finn asked, appearing beside the couple as if from nowhere. "Would this be connected to whatever Logan is currently ranting at Colin about?" Finn said, pointing at the angry blonde currently aggressively gesturing at Colin.

"Oh who's that?" Poppy asked, leaning around Finn to look. "He looks a bit like Tristan."

Rory spat the drink that was in her mouth across the floor, while Finn started to laugh.

"That, Poppy, is Rory's college ex. Logan Huntzberger."

"Like Huntzberger publishing?"

"One and that same."

"That's who you dated in college?" Poppy asked, looking at Rory incredulously. "A publishing mogul?"

"Well, his son. But yes," Rory answered. "Not my kind of publishing though."

"Was at the time love," Finn said with a cheeky grin.

"He means, I wanted to stay in journalism back then," Rory said, placing a hand on Tristan's arm.

"Did I?" Finn retorted.

"You did." Rory stated firmly.

"We got off track there, so do you happen to know why there is an angry blonde shouting?"

"Tristan and I, may or may not have been working off some adrenaline in the bathroom, and Logan may or may not have been waiting outside the bathroom when we exited." Rory said, working hard to keep her tone even.

Poppy did not make the same effort, shrieking, "I know it! I knew you had sex in the bathroom!" Everyone within hearing distance stopped, and turned to see who she was talking about before a raucous cheer went up.

Rory's face flushed with color as she tried to bury it in Tristan's chest to hide.

"Go Gilmore, didn't know you had it in you!" Finn exclaimed, laughing.

"That's not all she had in her."

"POPPY!"

"What! It's true."

"Maybe but not everyone needs to know that."

"Come on Rory, don't turn boring now. We still have New York to hit on this tour. And I plan on having more fun."

"Interesting, maybe I can help you with that," Finn interjected looking at Poppy with a lecherous grin.

"Finn, stop hitting on my friend."

"But Rory, I think she likes it!"

"She definitely does," Poppy said, intertwining her arm with Finn's. "Finn, could you get me an introduction to Tristan 2.0, I'm interested to see how far the similarities go."

"Of course, right this way darling!" Finn said with a flourish before leading her towards where Colin and Logan were still whisper fighting.

"What do we do?" Rory asked, looking at Tristan.

"I think it's time to be a grown up and go face the music, and also protect Poppy from Finn. At least while you are meant to be in charge of her. After the tour she can go crazy with the Australian and you won't get blamed." Tristan said, following Finn.

"Colin, Logan," Finn interrupted the two flustered looking men. "Can I introduce you to my friend Poppy here?"

"Hey again Poppy," Colin said with a sigh.

"Finn, I don't have time to meet your flavor of the week." Logan said angrily.

"Hey! I resent the insinuation that I could only keep Finn for a week, if I wanted to I could keep him for good!" Poppy stated, earning looks of surprise from all the guys, including Finn.

"Well done Poppy, I don't think anyone has ever managed to silence all three of them at the same time," Rory stated, as her and Tristan joined the group, while others in the hangar pretended not to be watching what would happen when Logan's only actual ex met him again.

"Rory, Tristan, how was your jump?" Colin asked, looking flustered.

"It was good, great even. How did everyone's go?" Rory asked, looking at the group. "Logan," she said, feeling his eyes burning into her.

"Good to see you Ace, it's been a while. A little unexpected though if I'm honest."

"Well Poppy and I bumped into Finn and Colin in Austin last week, one thing led to another over drinks, and the next thing I know I'm agreeing to skydive."

"And who is this?" Logan gestured stiffly at Tristan.

"This is my boyfriend Tristan DuGray, Tristan I'd like you to meet Logan Huntzberger. Everyone else here you have already been introduced to." Rory stated, awkwardly making the introductions, she watched as Tristan held his hand out to Logan, while keeping his other arm wrapped around her waist.

"Nice to meet you, I've heard quite a bit about you," Tristan said, looking pointedly at Logan.

"Nice to meet you too," Logan stated through gritted teeth. "How long have you and Ace here been together?"

"A while now. I've known her forever though."

"Forever? I don't recall your name ever coming up?" Logan asked, trying to get a dig in.

"Well since we were what? Fifteen?" Tristan asked Rory, pretending not to know.

"You were at my sixteenth birthday party idiot, you know it was fifteen. We went to Chilton together," Rory finished, trying to avoid anything turning into a pissing contest.

"Interesting. Did you go to Yale Tristan? I don't remember seeing you around."

"I actually went to Columbia. I lost touch with Rory for a while but I bumped into her one night in Junior year, she was out in Manhattan, alone. Her plans had been ruined and she was pretty upset. We reconnected quickly. But I think she was just using me for muscle, she got me to help her move the next day, talk about taking advantage dont talk for years then she makes me carry boxes twenty four hours after re establishing contact." Tristan said, watching Logan's face as he spoke, knowing that he would quickly realize when he was talking about.

"That was pretty cheeky, Rory," Poppy said, missing the subtext entirely. " Good job!"

"Junior year? Our senior year? Oh was that when- oomph! What was that for?" Finn exclaimed, as Colin hit the back of his head to stop him from dropping his foot in it.

"Just stopping you from making an awkward situation even more awkward," Colin muttered to Finn.

"And you have been together ever since? That explains a lot," Logan said bitterly.

"No, we have only been a couple the past eight months or so." Rory said sharply, knowing what he had been trying to imply.

"It seems that there is a whole conversation going on here that we are not included in Finn. Come and make me a drink," Poppy said, pulling him away to at least give the others the illusion of privacy.

"So are you still in London?" Rory asked, trying to be polite.

"Yes, I am hoping to come back stateside soon, maybe the west coast instead of here though. What about you? You mustn't have gone into journalism, I never hear about any of your work."

"Publishing actually, amongst other things. Poppy is one of my authors, we are actually just finishing up a tour of her most recent release," Rory added.

"And Tristan, what do you do?"

"I'm an architect, based in Boston at the moment."

"I wouldn't have thought an architect would have much in common with Ace here."

"We have plenty in common, why don't you worry about your own playboy relationships," Tristan hissed out.

"Colin, I am going to go and retrieve Poppy and then we are going to head out," Rory said, trying to recapture control of the situation.

"No problem Rory," Colin said leaning over and bussing his lips across her cheek. "I'll maybe see you in New York later this week, it looks like Finn is getting attached to your friend."

"Yes it does, I'll be in touch. Logan." Rory walked away, pulling Tristan along with her.

"Tristan, this isn't the place to start anything."

"Sorry, when he tried to make that dig, all I could think about was you that night I met you again, how upset you were about the whole thing and it just made me so angry."

"I know you were trying to defend me, and I love you for that but it was unnecessary," Rory said as they caught up to Poppy and Finn at the makeshift bar. She only realized what she had said after they had joined them, leaving her wondering if Tristan had caught her usage of the L word.

He had. He just wasn't sure if she meant it, or just meant the expression at the time.