Rory stood outside the front door of Tristan’s house. It had been two days since their courtyard encounter. So much had happened then. It seemed like ages since that meeting, and yet sometimes it seemed as if it had happened only a few moments ago. Rory had spent the whole bus ride back home thinking about how she would tell Lorelai what had happened. Lying had never been a option, but she was dreading the look on her mother’s face when she told her what had happened. When she arrived home she sat her mother down on the sofa and proceeded to tell her the whole story of what had happened. Rory was relieved when her mother let her ramble on about the incident without interrupting. But the prolonged silence that occurred after her explanation scared her a little. Rory was waiting for the outburst of anger and the punishment. She wanted her mother to yell and scream and send her to her room without dinner. But that never happened. Lorelai simply set her coffee mug down on the table, leaned forward and took her daughter’s shaking hands in her own, and said one thing. “What are you going to say to Dean?” *** After leaving Rory alone in the parking lot Tristan had driven around the block a few times. He felt bad for abandoning Rory, but he couldn’t bring himself to see her face. Tristan was afraid that Rory would change her mind and yell and scream at him like he thought she would from the very beginning. But his morals won out in the end. He could not in good conscience leave a teenage girl alone in an empty parking lot, even if it was in a safe area. Tristan raced back to the school intent on giving Rory a ride home, but when he arrived he saw her settling into her spot on the bus. What happened next was unexplainable. He saw that she was safe but an overwhelming feeling of protectiveness clouded his mind. Tristan proceeded to follow the bus all the way back to Stars Hollow. When Rory was dropped off in the town square he parked the car, and watched her walk back to her house, following just a few yards behind her at all times. When he saw that she was safe in her house and let out a sigh and slowly meandered back to his car. He had no desire to go home so he spent most of the evening driving around Hartford aimlessly. When Tristan did decide to return home, the ever understanding Patrick DuGrey didn’t ask where he was. One look at his son’s face said it all. His boy was falling for a girl, and falling hard. His heart was aching and there was no cure. The day wouldn’t start until Tristan saw her, and every moment she was away was painstakingly long. Each moment was an instant memory, and every harsh word stung the soul. Mr. DuGrey himself had the same feelings when he first meet Tristan’s mother. But Patrick had to wait and just had to be there when Tristan needed him. *** Tristan threw his shirt over his head and down his sculpted body as he walked down the stairs. Rory had rung the doorbell moments before as he was changing from his Chilton uniform into something more comfortable. This was to be the first time Rory and Tristan would spend alone together since that night where their whole “relationship” had been altered. Tristan took a deep breath before he opened to door to greet Rory. “Hey.” He motioned for her to come in. She followed her eyes surveying the open foyer. “Beautiful house.” She smiled at him quickly before looking at her shoes. “Thank you.” Tristan noticed that she too had shed her Chilton uniform, she must have done so at school before coming here. “This way, I’ve got the perfect place for us to work.” Rory followed him down the hallway, her eyes still scanning the walls of his home. Pictures were everywhere, on the walls, on tables, no place was bare. Rory had never seen Tristan’s parents before, he never even spoke of them, but she could tell he was loved. It was rare to see a functional family in their society today, and she was glad that he was an exception. Tristan led her into a glass sun room at the back of the house. The rays of the setting sun streamed into the room and highlighted the white furniture. At one end of the room was a table surround by for chairs. Rory saw a carafe of coffee sitting upon the table top and knew immediately where they were headed. Tristan poured her a cup and she smiled at the kind gesture. The atmosphere was tense as they began to discuss how to go about the project, but not from arguments about the work. There was a forced feeling of kindness that made the room overly stuffy. They were seated at the table now, papers, books, and other materials strewn about before them. The pair had been brainstorming for about half an hour with no real progress. “We could present the project with a computer power point, I know the school has projectors that we can use.” Tristan said, his eyes scanning over the days newspaper. “That’s a great idea, but I think we need a topic first.” Rory smiled coyly as she pointed out the major flaw in his plan. Tristan chuckled at the oversight. “Of course you’re right. I simply meant that we could do the power point, when we have a topic.” He smirked right back at her. *** Rory groaned out loud. They had been perusing the papers for a few hours now, and still were at a dead end. They had passed topic ideas back and forth but each was rejected for a number of reasons. To easy, to hard, not enough information, not feasible, too mundane, sure to be covered by another group, not within the requirements, or just plain stupid. “Ok we need an idea and we need it now.” The aura of tenseness disappeared as each became more embroiled in the project. “You think I don’t know that.” Rory tossed the newspaper in front of her to Tristan, and it flopped open in front of him. “Ok, let’s just try this.” Tristan stared at her as an idea formed in his head. “Yeah.” She waved her hand for him to go on. “What do you love to do more than anything?” He inquired. “Drink coffee.” Rory smiled to herself at the thought. “Besides that.” The corners of Tristan’s mouth twitched up. “Read.” She raised an eyebrow waiting to see where this was going. “Exactly, and what do I do have fun doing?” “Women.” Rory bit her lip at Tristan’s annoyed look. “No. Surfing the Internet.” “I didn’t know that.” Rory smiled at him appreciatively. “But what does your love of surfing the net, and my love of reading have to do with anything?” “We could do our project on how the Internet has influenced the way people buy and sell books, and the influence that effect has had on society.” Rory’s jaw fell open as she thought about his idea. “That’s brilliant. How did you think of it?” Tristan leaned back in his chair and plastered a cocky smile on his face. “I’m just a genius like that.” Rory tipped her head to the side and smiled with amusement. “Actually,” Tristan smiled as he leaned forward, “I saw this article in the paper you tossed my way.” He held up the page for her to see, and indeed the headline about used books and the Internet was sure to have sparked his idea. Rory threw one more smile his way before the became enraptured in the project. *** It was 10 p.m. before either one of them noticed how late it was. Tristan’s father had popped his head in around 6 to say hi, but they never stopped working. A pizza was ordered and consumed, and yet the work did not stop. But now they were both exhausted, mentally and physically. Rory’s head was pounding from all the ideas that were bouncing around in her head, but she was in the zone. Nothing could stop her brain cells from firing when she was in the zone. It was a state of complete knowledge and gave her an absolute high. Nothing else mattered to her, not even when she knew something else, perhaps something more important, was being forgotten. “Rory, I think we had better call it a night. You need to get home, and I don’t want you falling asleep at the wheel.” “You’re probably right.” She closed the book in front of her, and packed some papers into her bag. Before she could sling it over her shoulder Tristan grabbed it from her and placed it on his own shoulder. They pair walked towards the door in silence. Rory’s head was dropped towards the floor, her hands in her pockets, while Tristan kept trying to sneak a look at her. Tristan opened to front door and walked Rory to her car. When her bag was deposited in the passenger seat Rory said a simple thanks and Tristan nodded in acknowledgment. Rory went to open the car door, but found that Tristan’s hand had found its way on top of hers. The heat that passed through her body at the contact was quite a shock to her system. Rory took a deep breath before pulling her hand back. Tristan covered his slip by opening the door for her. “Oh, thank you.” Rory stated as she climbed in. “Don’t mention it.” He clasped his hands together and rocked on his heels. “See you tomorrow.” “Yeah.” With that Rory pulled out of the driveway and headed home. Tristan watched her car leave with a simple way before heading back into the house. *** Rory was smiling as she dropped her bag by the front door before heading into the leaving room. Her hand still tingled from Tristan’s touch and for some odd reason, she enjoyed the sensation that coursed through her body. “Mom I’m ho...... Dean!” Rory jumped back a little when she saw that Dean was sitting on her couch. An indescribable look was upon his face. “Um... hey.” “Hello Rory.” “Not that I don’t mind seeing you, but why are you here?” “Dinner.” His one word answer was released harshly. “Why would my mom invite you to dinner when I’m not here?” “Your mom didn’t invite me.... you did... last week... remember?” Rory’s jaw dropped as she remembered their conversation. “I’m so sorry Dean I forgot.” “Kinda like you forgot every date we were suppose to have since last Sunday.” “Dean I...” Dean stood when he saw her begin to shake. “What’s wrong Rory?” He enveloped her into a hug. Usually she returned the gesture, but tonight her arms lay limp at her sides. When he realized that his embrace was never going to be returned he cupped her cheeks in his hands and looked her in the eyes. “You can tell me anything.” “Not this Dean, not yet.” Tears began to well up in her eyes. “I’m sorry I’ve been so forgetful. Just give me a few days.... give me some space. Let me think things over.” “Rory.... are you trying to break up with me?” Dean stepped back and regarded her posture critically. “No... not at all.” Her answer came almost too quickly. “I love you Dean. I just need some time to think.” “All right Rory. I’m going to give you your space, you know where to find me when you want to talk... unless of course you forget again.” Dean turned away from her and stalked at the door. The tears began to roll down Rory’s cheeks. *** Rory sat, broken, on the couch once again. The immediate pain she felt at Dean's exit had dulled itself out, but it was still there, gnawing at her emotions. She should feel as if her world had just fallen apart. Granted Dean and her were technically still together, but for some reason she felt as if their relationship headed out the door with him. Rory was once again perplexed by her lack of emotion. Sure the pain had hurt, and in some ways it still hurt. Dean had left her... he had left angry, and now it seemed like she didn't care. It was up to her to go to Dean and fixed what was broken, but oddly enough, she felt no during desire to do so. Suddenly a thought popped up into Rory's mind. She raced around the room, her final tears vanishing with her search for the phone. Once found she quickly dialed the number and prayed that he was home. After five rings Rory's heart began to sink. Just as she was about to disconnect the line he picked up. "Hello?" Rory's heart fluttered nervously. "Tristan... it's Rory." "Oh, hey... did you forget something?" "No... sorry about the late hour, I just had to talk to you." There was a long pause. Tristan never thought he would hear those words come out of her mouth, in reference to him. But then again, he never thought he and Rory would ever do 'anything' behind closed doors. "Ok, what can I do for ya?" Tristan said as he leaned back against the headboard of his bed, drawing the covers up to his bare shoulders wardird off room's night time chill. "Can I ask you a question? A personal question." Rory slid down the wall, and sat on the bottom step of the staircase. Tristan's eyebrows furrowed together in thought. 'Where was she going with this?' "Sure, shoot." "It's about us..." "Us!" Tristan was shocked. "Well... what we did... and the ... umm... some complications have arisen... with Dean." "Oh Dean... right." Whatever flicker of elation he felt melted away the moment her boyfriend's name left her lips. "You see, the thing is, I haven't told him what happened between us last weekend. I've kind of been avoiding the subject, well truthfully, I've been avoiding him all together." Rory waited for Tristan to say something, but when he was silent she pressed on. "Anyways, the reason I'm calling is that I need your advice." "My advice?" "Yeah, I know that is not like me, but hell I wasn't me last week so let's just continue with the trend. Though I'm not really sure I like the idea of turning to anyone who is not my mother or local coffee supplier Luke, but I guess desperate times call for desperate mea...." "Rory, you're rambling." Tristan smiled at her state in spite of himself. "Yeah... sorry..." Rory let out a deep breath. "Back to the matter at hand. The advice. I don't know what to do." "About what?" Tristan's stared at the ceiling, waiting for her to get to the point, annoyed at her for waking him up, and yet loving every minute of it. "Dean, I don't know what to do about Dean." Rory brushed a piece of imaginary lint of her jeans. Tristan shut his eyes and tried to make the pain he felt everytime he heard that man's voice to go away. "You mean you don't know what to tell Dean." "Yeah, I guess I was beating around the bush there." "You were beating around the whole forest." "Yeah, well... can you help me?" Rory pleaded with him. Tristan slunk down in bed at the tone. Rory had no clue, but when she used that level of emotion in her voice, he could just see her puppy dog eyes, and, even over the phone, he couldn't resist. "Rory, as much as it pains me to say this, you have to tell him the truth. You don't have to give him all the gory details, just enough so he knows what you did. You have to tell him exactly what you felt then, and how you feel now. You're dating Dean, he even said he loved you, I think the man deserves to know what you did with me. Granted he may come and beat me to a pulp, but better me than you right?" The rhetorical question hung in the air between them. The static of the phone the only noise. "You make it sound so easy." Rory finally spoke and broke the tension. "It won't be." Tristan sighed. "I know. Thank you Tristan." "You're welcome. But what more thing..." "Yeah." Rory's voice was nothing more than a weak whisper. "It wouldn't hurt to add an apology when you talk to him. When he know's that you're sorry for your actions he is much more likely to take it in a somewhat calm manner. So an 'I'm sorry' is always a good thing." There was silence on the other end of the line. Tristan wondered if Rory had already hung up, then came her answer. "What if I'm not sorry?"