Title: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Laura
Rating: PG
Summary: Rory Gilmore thinks she finally has it figured out. She's back with Dean and is looking forward to a fun-filled summer with him and her best friend, Lane, in Stars Hollow. But when Tristan DuGray shows up and intrudes upon her life, she immediately thinks that her summer is ruined. But life proves otherwise.
Disclaimer: Based on the characters, settings and situations created by Amy Sherman-Palladino.

Chapter Eight: Shaky First Steps

Rory stares at her mother helplessly, at a complete loss for words. Her hand self-consciously covers her neck, though not knowing if she's succeeding in hiding any mark Tristan may have left. His lips had traveled over her neck time and time again and Rory blushes in embarrassment at the very thought of the evidence he obviously left behind.

Lorelai stares right back at her daughter, the words "seventeen years old" and "sex" flashing before her eyes at a rapid fire pace. Images of her innocent Rory spending the night with Tristan stung harshly, the anger boiling up within her. She wills Rory to say something before she explodes.

"Nothing happened," Rory says hurriedly. The words seemed like an outright lie to them both the second they hit the air. Lorelai rolls her eyes and walks toward Rory.

"Yeah right, nothing happened. You expect me to believe that?" Lorelai responds, on the verge of hysteria. "You sneak off in the middle of the night to Tristan's house - in my car, might I add - and come back hours later with a hickey challenging Asia as the largest continent and your shirt ripped and you say nothing happened?" Rory glances down at her shirt and realizes for the first time that there is a tear in the bottom hem. It only went up about an inch or so, but it might as well have been torn apart completely and held together by string.

"It got caught in the car door," she quickly states, that being the first thing that came to her head. She has absolutely no recollection of how it had happened; it could've been the car door, for all she knew.

Lorelai stops for a moment, trying to gather her wits.

"You..." She stops again, closing her eyes. "I can't believe..." Lorelai sits down at the kitchen table. "You, sit down." Rory doesn't catch what her mother said and her hesitation to comply only adds fuel to Lorelai's fire. "Sit. Now."

"Sitting," Rory takes a seat quickly. As soon as Rory does so, Lorelai stands up, frustrated.

"What were you thinking? Doing that?"

"I-"

"Are you crazy?"

"No, I-"

"I was worried sick! I woke up to the sound of the car pulling out of the driveway at like, 3am and I go downstairs, thinking I must be hearing crazy things because you know, I'm crazy...but you're not there! No idea where you are. And I'm sitting here, and I'm sitting here...I called Luke and woke him up and I called Sookie and woke her up...I even called Mrs. Kim! Do you know what it's like to wake *that* woman up at 4 in the morning because I can't find my daughter? She's never going to let you see Lane again, I hope you realize that."

"Mom-"

"I almost called Dean-"

"You didn't," Rory cringes and Lorelai holds up her hand.

"I thought maybe you'd had some kind of second thoughts about things, wanted to talk to him...fine...but then I came to my senses and realized...no...she's probably in Hartford having sex with Tristan!" She shrieks. Rory screws up her face in confusion.

"You did not think that," she retorts, knowing Lorelai would’ve never jumped automatically to such a conclusion.

"No, no...but I'm thinking it now. And am I wrong?"

"Yes, you are," Rory replies strongly, meeting Lorelai's eyes.

"I am." Lorelai doesn’t believe her at all.

"We didn't do anything."

"That's exactly what you said the last time this happened. Which, as I recall, led to you swearing to me it'd never happen again. But lo and behold...!"

"Nothing did happen that time with Dean and you know it."

"I know that. This is different."

"How is this different?" Rory cries out.

"Because. It is."

"Why?"

"Because Dean isn't Tristan DuGrey, that's why. With Dean, you read a book, fall asleep, wake up the next morning and run home. You telling me that's what you did last night?"

"No, I'm not," Rory replies, then pauses, trying to think of the best way to handle the situation. "Look, I'm really sorry I went out without telling you. I shouldn't have done that, no matter what. But Tristan and I didn't do anything."

"That's a load of crap, Rory, and if you think I'm believing it, you have absolutely no respect for me at all," Lorelai states, folding her arms in front of her chest and arching an eyebrow at her. Rory avoids her gaze, knowing she's right. She fidgets with her hands for a few moments before giving in.

"So maybe we did *something* but we didn't do...*it*," Rory informs her mother, still not looking at her. Lorelai sighs, running her hands through her hair.

"You can't do this, Ror, you can't. You can't be running off to some guy's house in the middle of the night to make out or whatever the hell you did..."

"I know that, Mom, I do...I just..."

"Just what?"

"I had to talk to Tristan about some things."

"What things."

"Dean things. Us things."

"So there's definitely an 'us' now, huh?" Lorelai asks flatly, not too thrilled with the prospect. Rory nods.

"There is. There's a big us."

"A big us? Great." The sarcasm stings.

"Mom-"

"Really, a little us would've been fine. In fact, midget us would've been perfect. Actually, no. Microscopic us would be the best." Lorelai turns away from her daughter, still clearly wavering between freaking out and calming down. Rory watches her mother's knuckles turn white as she clutches anxiously onto a dish towel, twisting it in her grasp.

"Just because Tristan and I are together doesn't mean I'm going to get pregnant, Mom. I'm not going to have sex with him."

"You say that now..."

"I know what that costs...I'm not going to throw away everything you've given me," Rory tells her earnestly, standing up. "Don't you know that? You have to know that."

Lorelai turns back, her face softening at Rory's plea.

"I know that you wouldn't throw it away intentionally, honey, I...I've seen the way you look at him, Rory. And the way he looks at you. It scares the hell out of me. Because one night he's going to look at you like that and you're going to look right back and you're going to think, 'as long as we're safe,' and then it's going to be trouble. Trouble, trouble, trouble."

"I'm not going to do that."

"You're a teenage girl in love with a charming, incredibly handsome boy, Rory. You want to guarantee me that you won't?" Lorelai asks and Rory falls silent.

"I won't," Rory replies after a moment, her voice cracking. In that second after her voice fades off, she knows. Lorelai knows. There are some promises that shouldn't be made. Lorelai crosses the kitchen and stops in front of Rory, tears stinging her eyes. She reaches out and runs her hand through Rory's long brown hair. Her eyes move over her daughter's young, innocent face, her wide blue eyes searching for some kind of forgiveness for her late-night mistake. Looking at Rory like that broke her heart. The thought of that innocence disappearing made her heart break.

Biting her lip, Lorelai shakes her head and steps back.

"Mom..." Rory starts and Lorelai shakes her head again.

"I have to go to Luke's for a little while, Rory. I just...we'll talk more later..." Lorelai grabs her purse and heads for the door, ignoring Rory's pleas for her to stay. Rory follows her off of the porch before giving up, letting Lorelai run away. It was no use to try and stop her.

Distraught, Rory goes back inside and heads to her bedroom, curling up underneath her familiar bedcovers, still unmade from her tossing and turning the night prior. Pulling her extra pillow close and hugging it tightly, she lets tears of frustration and pain flow, feeling somehow things would not be the same between her and her mother when she came home.

After ten minutes of staring at her ceiling through her tears and wishing that Lorelai would walk back through the door, Rory rolls over and grabs the phone from her nightstand, dialing Lane's number without even thinking.

Mrs. Kim picks up and for a second Rory almost hangs up on her.

"Hello, Mrs. Kim, this is Rory. Is Lane home?" Her voice is still choked up from crying but Mrs. Lane is too busy judging her to notice.

"Lane? Yes of course she is home. She does not run off in middle of the night like you. She always tell her mother where she is. She is good girl."

"May I please speak with her?" Rory asks politely, trying to ignore Mrs. Kim's harsh comments. She sits up straight in her bed, coughing once slightly and rubbing her eyes clear of tears.

"If I want my daughter to become harlot, I send her to your house. I do not want harlot. Therefore you will not speak with her."

"It's really very important, Mrs. Kim. If I could just talk to her for a minute...?" Rory pleads. She can envision Mrs. Kim on the other end of the line, giving her a disapproving scowl and preparing to hang up.

"No. You can not." Click. Though Rory expected it, the sound of the dial tone hurts more than it usually does when Mrs. Kim decided that Rory’s a bad influence. Knowing that it probably wasn't the best idea at the moment, Rory dials Tristan's number anyway, needing to hear his voice.

"Hello?" He's groggy, his words muffled. Rory sinks back into her pillows.

"Hey..." she says softly, as if fearing speaking too loud would hurt him, like he had a hangover.

"Hey..." Tristan immediately sounds more alert. "I figured you'd be catching up on some sleep."

"Sounds like you were," Rory responds.

"You get home okay?"

"My mom was up when I got back," she informs him, her own voice betraying her instantly.

"Oh god..." Tristan is quiet for a moment. "Was she mad?"

"Steaming."

"I'm so sorry, Ror."

"It's not your fault," Rory shakes her head into the phone receiver. "It was my choice to come over, not yours."

"But I begged you to stay."

"You didn't have to beg, I wanted to," Rory tells him honestly. "I wanted to do everything that we did last night," she continues, her words heavy with meaning.

"So did I," Tristan replies softly, his thoughts drifting back to a mere few hours earlier, when Rory had been in his arms. "What did you tell Lorelai?"

"That we talked. We made out a little. That's all. I don't know if she believes me."

"That's really all we did," Tristan says.

"That's not all we did, Tristan," Rory responds defensively, as if worried that he's not going to acknowledge the hugeness of what really went on.

"I know that's not all..." his voice shifts slightly deeper, slipping into that particular husky teasing whisper that always sent a tingle down Rory's spine. "But in essence..."

"In essence we did everything but..." Rory corrects him shyly, glancing around her room like she's worried someone will hear her.

"In essence, I still have your taste in my mouth," Tristan finally takes the plunge, his words lilting with desire. Rory blushes as deep a red as she ever has, not believing those words just came out of his mouth. About her. She'd always expected to feel dirty at a time like this...instead she felt beautiful, happy.

"I can't tell her about things like that." Rory tugs at the corner of her pillow. "I've never...I mean, there's been things I've been hesitant to tell my mom before, things I've hidden...but there's never been anything that I eventually couldn't talk about with her, Tristan. And this..." Rory sighs. "What am I supposed to say to her? I can't tell her about what we did."

"Ror, would you even want to? There's some things you simply don't share...unless you're on Sex and the City. I know sharing everything is kind of the way you two live your lives but...there comes a point when you simply...can't. I mean, you're not in Say Anything. That girl told her dad everything and that was creepy. Personally, I wouldn't want you to give your mom the details if we were having sex."

"I don't want to tell her the *details*, Tristan," Rory rolls her eyes into the phone, though she knows that him bringing up the movie was an attempt to lighten her up. "I'm not going to sit there and tell her where your hands went or how you kissed, I just want to be able to...not lie to her."

"You didn't lie, Rory," Tristan reminds her and she sighs. There is a pause and Rory can almost hear the teasing smile creep across his face. "So...how do I kiss?"

"What?" Rory asks.

"Do I do it all right?" He inquires and Rory outright laughs. "What?"

"It's just you...asking if you kiss all right. I would assume you've had enough experience with that, Tristan," Rory replies, still giggling. "You seeking reassurance for something you know you do quite well is blatantly silly."

"Practice makes perfect and I haven't had much practice kissing you," Tristan retorts. "It's different."

"Yeah, it is," Rory acknowledges, looking down at her bedspread and splaying her fingers along the patterns in the fabric. Her continued silence makes Tristan think she's doubting him.

"It is different, Ror. And it always will be. You know that, right?"

"I know that," Rory states, nodding into the phone, knowing why he said that. "That wasn't what I was thinking about."

"Then what were you thinking about?"

"I was thinking that I really want to see you," she admits, bringing her hand to her face. Her cheeks color slightly. "And I was thinking about last night and..."

"And?" Tristan prompts gently, his voice low.

"And...I guess I was thinking about doing it all again. Soon."

"That's the great thing about being together, Rory. We can. Anytime we want to." Tristan's voice comes over the line and washes over her body like a warm caress, his intimate tone causing Rory to close her eyes. She can almost imagine him whispering it right into her ear, his body close to hers.

"I hate the fact that you have me looking forward to school tomorrow," Rory murmurs and he laughs again. "It seems wrong on so many levels."

"You mean you don't love going to Chilton, Mary?" Tristan taunts. "I know I do."

"We have to work on the next issue of The Beat. We're seriously behind. Last week was too much work without you there."

"Well I'll be there this time."

"It's good have things back to normal," Rory states, inwardly thinking that this wasn't "normal," per se. If it was what she once considered normal, she'd be with Dean and trying desperately to deny her feelings for Tristan.

"This is better than normal," Tristan corrects her before she can do so herself. She smiles as he takes the words right out of her mouth.

"We can work on it after school."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"I better get going. If my mom comes back and I'm on the phone with you, it's only going to make things worse," Rory explains and Tristan sighs.

"Can I call later and see how things went?"

"I should probably just talk to you tomorrow morning. After I get off the bus."

"I can't pick you up?"

"We should give her time to cool down."

"I think maybe I should let her yell at me and get it done with," Tristan responds. "I don't want to end up sneaking around because your mom hates me. And I certainly don't plan on never making out with you again so that solution is out of the question."

"Okay, she can yell at you," Rory agrees. "But just not tomorrow, okay? She's still going to be really angry."

"I feel like a dick for not being able to help you out after I got you in trouble."

"*I* got me in trouble. And you're not a dick. Arrogant and immature, maybe. But not a dick."

"Where'd the love go?' Tristan jokes.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Judas."

"Bye, Mar."

The click of the phone and the sound of the dial tone leaves Rory alone in her room once more, feeling slightly better than a few minutes before. She listens for the sound of the front door opening, hoping her mom will walk in, but the sound never comes.

*******

Rory steps out of Tristan's car in front of the Stars Hollow public library, glancing around the town square apprehensively. Tristan watches her, wondering what she's doing.

"Are you trying to spot secret agents?" Tristan whispers in her ear as she steps up onto the curb next to him.

"Yes," She replies seriously, looking around again. "I told my mom that we'd be going to the library today after school to meet Lane. I'm sure she has Kirk sitting across the park watching or Taylor Doose radioing her updates every few minutes on our progress."

"Ror, she wouldn't do that," Mary remarks as she finishes dragging her heavy bookbag out of the backseat, finally joining the conversation. Rory shoots her a look.

"She wouldn't let us work at my house because she wouldn't be there. Even when you and Lane were there. But she wouldn't let me stay in Hartford. And we can't go to Lane's because Mrs. Kim now thinks I'm a prostitute. So, here we are, the public library. And while my mom agreed that this was an adequate locale, that doesn't mean she doesn't have backup plans installed and ready to go."

"You make Lorelai sound like she’s the CIA," Lane responds as she walks up to them, having been waiting on the steps.

"She's getting there."

"My mom is CIA headquarters, Rory. Your mom is Austin Powers compared to her."

"It took me three days to convince her to let me get together with you guys for this," Rory points out and Lane waffles.

"She's just being overprotective. It's Tristan's fault," Lane smirks at him. "If he could keep his cute little paws off you for two seconds-"

"Hey, it's not like Rory hasn't been partaking in some pawing of her own," Tristan defends himself, smiling. Rory rolls her eyes at him, re-adjusting her packed book bag on her shoulder. Tristan takes it from her without asking and she snatches after it. Tristan waves her off. "It's just a backpack, Ror, not the decline of feminine power."

"And so sweet and chivalrous too," Mary teases and Tristan groans.

"I think we need another guy on the staff, I am starting to feel seriously outnumbered here."

"You know you like it," Rory responds, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek playfully. He looks around immediately, mock suspicious.

"What about the spies?" He asks, joking. Rory elbows him and walks toward the main entrance of the library.

"Work time," she states. Lane and Mary hurry after her. Tristan, shaking his head, follows more slowly. Creepily, he does in fact feel someone's eyes boring into his back. Glancing over his shoulder, he is in time to see Kirk duck behind a bush. He walks into the library with Kirk's cries of pain echoing around him, the poor man having the unfortunate accident of discovering the bush was indeed a prickly one.

*******

"So, you heard anything on the library yet?" Luke asks Lorelai, interrupting her entrancement with her cell phone. She glances up.

"No. Not a word. Is that a good sign?"

"You know, I was only kidding," Luke says, putting his hands on the counter and looking at her skeptically. Lorelai gives him a fake smile.

"Oh yeah. Me too." He eyes her suspiciously and she continues. "Really."

"Sure..." Luke nods, then looks down to his notepad as he offhandedly says: "Too bad about Kirk and that bush. You hear about that?"

"What happened?" Lorelai pleads innocent. "Kirk ran into a bush?"

"You shouldn't be spying on her," Luke warns. Lorelai snorts and takes a sip of her coffee. "I don't know how you think that's going to solve anything."

"I am not *spying*, Luke. I am merely periodically checking up on her."

"Yeah, you and your minions."

"What minions? I have no minions."

"Your evil minions."

"How am I evil?"

"You want a chart or a bulleted list?"

" You know, I seem to recall you flipping out Sunday morning when I told you where Rory had been all night. I believe the words 'kill' and 'Tristan' were in fact used in the same sentence," Lorelai points a finger at him, narrowing her eyes.

"Did I say I wasn't upset?" Luke responds. "I'm just sayin' that this is probably not the best way of going about it."

"You have a better idea?"

"Lorelai, you trust Rory, don't you?"

"Yes..." Lorelai replies warily.

"Then what's the problem here?"

"6 foot tall blonde lover boy, that's the problem. I'd trust Rory with my life, my soul, my chinese take-out menu...but I don't trust her to know that pretty faces don't lead to pretty things all the time."

"I think she knows that. You've instilled your twisted logic into her."

"How is my logic twisted?" Lorelai asks, offended. Luke puts his hands up, signaling that she needed to let him explain what he means.

"Lookit...the idea of Rory with this guy...I'm scared. And I'm not even her dad, all right? It's scary because it is scary."

"And *I* have twisted logic?"

"What I mean is...it's natural for us to worry, and to be scared that she's gonna slip up."

"What makes you think she won't? She's not Wonder Woman, after all. I doubt she has will of steel."

"You don't need that much willpower to make the right choice here."

"Excuse me, have you seen Tristan?" Lorelai asks, confounded. "I mean, have you *looked* at this boy? At all?"

"Yes, I've seen the kid."

"Then you should know that no one, not even Rory, has that much willpower."

"I would hope you would, considering this kid is seventeen."

"Must you be so difficult?" Lorelai rolls her eyes. "You know what I meant. And besides, I think that fact that I had Rory at 16 proves very well that I don't."

"Which is exactly why you shouldn't be worrying. Rory has grown up very well aware of what *that* mistake does, Lorelai. She *is* that mistake. But she's a teenager. Let her be one."

"It's funny...you telling me to let her be a teenager. I was the ultimate teenager. That's what I'm afraid of!"

"I did things in high school too, you know. Nothing happened to me."

"What did *you* do in high school, Star Trek boy?" Lorelai inquires and Luke shoots her a glare.

"More than you would think," Luke responds, tucks his pencil over his ear and walks away. Lorelai watches him go, trying not to let it show that her interest is a bit piqued. She is about to get up and follow him into the backroom when she comes face to face with Kirk. His sweater has catch marks all over it, his hands and face covered in thin, tiny red scratches.

"Yikes, what happened to you?" She says and is met with an unamused expression on his face.

"You know what happened to me, Lorelai."

"I haven't got a clue, sorry," Lorelai backs away.

"I'm sending you the doctor's bill," he tells her as she grabs her jacket and slips it on.

"Occupational hazard, Kirk," Lorelai shrugs and dashes out the door. A cry of "Workman's Compensation!" follows her down the street.

*******

Tristan stares at Rory from across the table. He was supposed to be re-reading the last issue of Rolling Stone for his critique on their utter lack of competence in discovering bands before the rest of the world already did, but delving into journalistic bandwagoning is the furthest thing from his mind.

Mary nudges him warningly and he quickly averts his gaze from Rory's face, so perfectly furrowed in deep concentration. Lane leans over and whispers something into Rory's ear and she turns a faint shade of pink. He figures Lane has just blown him in entirely.

"You do realize you've been reading an Absolut ad for fifteen minutes?" Lane murmurs to Rory and she turns the page, embarrassed.

"It was interesting," she whispers back.

"It had two words on it," Lane retorts and goes back to scribbling notes on the importance of Paul Westerberg.

Rory reads the first few lines of the latest article about the newly re-trendy David Bowie - she corrects herself immediately in her head, knowing Lane would say he's never been not in style. Lane preached the gospel of Bowie like no other. Leaving Bowie behind, she sneaks a peek at Tristan. His gaze is focused intently on the magazine in front of him. Repressing the urge to reach across the table, grab and kiss him, Rory instead glances around self-consciously and then slowly moves her foot across the floor under the table. Letting her shoe fall off, her stockinged foot comes in contact with Tristan's leg. He shifts, his eyes fleeting up to meet hers momentarily. Daringly, she moves upward toward his lap; she can tell he's trying desperately not to let on what she's doing to the others around the table. Lane catches Rory looking at Tristan again and Rory sheepishly appears to go back to work, not moving her foot away from Tristan's body.

Both Lane and Mary are completely aware of the lack of hormonal control happening next to them.

"Rory, your shoe?" Mary bends down and picks up Rory's stray shoe, which had fallen next to her chair. Rory pulls her foot away from Tristan so fast that she hits the table with her knee. Wincing, she reaches across the table and takes the shoe from Mary quickly.

"Thanks. Those things are so damn uncomfortable...hard to keep 'em on," she mutters, her face flushing. Tristan coughs, embarrassed, and shifts in his seat again. Lane and Mary stifle their laughter at their friends' situation, finding their behavior to be hilarious. A few minutes pass before Tristan coughs again, slapping his magazine shut with a frustrated sigh.

"You know, this issue really has nothing of use in it. I'm going to try to find a different one."

"I'll come help you look," Rory jumps up, following him away from the table.

"My, I wonder what that was about," Lane says to Mary, pretending to be confused. Mary shrugs.

"I couldn't even imagine," she laughs.

"I mean, could they be any more transparent?" Lane asks, rolling her eyes.

"I don't think so," Mary agrees, then pauses. "Though it's kind of cute, in a way."

"They're going to be gone a little while, I assume. You want to go get something to eat at vending?"

"Good idea." Mary grabs some change from her purse and follows Lane toward the vending machines at the front end of the library.

Meanwhile, Rory is following Tristan toward the back of the library, down a tall, long aisle full of old stacks of National Geographics and such. Finding no one there, Tristan leads her down it and, sure that they're out of sight, pulls her close to him.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Rory protests. "My mom is going to find out."

"She won't," Tristan assures her. "No one is around."

"We're going to get caught. I really shouldn't..." Rory responds, nevertheless moving her face towards his.

"Then why'd you follow me?" Tristan asks and Rory knows he's got her there. She meets his kisses welcomingly, letting him pull her body tight against his as she ropes her arms around his neck.

"We're supposed to be working," Rory points out as Tristan's mouth moves downward. "Don't, Tristan, it's finally fading. My mom will know." In response he undoes the top button of her Chilton blouse and shifts her collar slightly right, kissing her collarbone and shoulder instead.

"She won't see anything there," Tristan murmurs. Rory starts to respond when he finds exactly the perfect spot and she changes her mind.

"No, she won't," she allows. Hearing someone faintly whistling, Rory jumps away from Tristan just in time. Mr. Holloway, a teacher from Stars Hollow, strolls down the aisle, humming and whistling under his breath. Rory pretends to be looking for something on the shelf, as does Tristan.

She holds up the first magazine she comes across and gestures to Tristan.

"Is this it?"

"No, it's a different one," he responds, moving next to her. He glances over at Mr. Halloway to make sure he's not looking, then reaches across to the shelf, purposely moving his arm to brush against her body as he picks up another one. Rory takes a deep breath, glancing over at the teacher self-consciously. " This one," Tristan hands it to her. Rory accepts it, her eyes not moving from his lips.

"Oh," She flips through it slowly, acting like she's trying to recall something. "And then what else did we need?"

"I don't remember."

"Oh yeah, it was this one," Rory moves in front of him, bending down and standing back up slowly. The fact that she intended to move against him was not lost on Tristan, or Mr. Holloway. Picking up a magazine with a faint, amused smile, he heads out of the aisle. Tristan and Rory don't notice his amusement, they're just glad he's gone.

"You're cruel," Tristan says to her, turning her to face him.

"And you're not?" She shoots back. "He probably noticed."

"He probably didn't," Tristan shrugs, rubbing his hands up and down her arms slowly. "I can't go back there and work, Ror. I can't do anything but think about kissing you."

"I think we're going to have serious problems," Rory states as he dips his head and catches her lips with his again.

"That we are," he breathes into her ear. They're right back up to par with where they were moments before, eagerly exploring one another. It still felt like the very first time they had kissed, the sensation of his lips on hers so new and exciting. Rory didn't know what it was about doing this, here, in public, but it was thrilling. Her pulse is racing a mile a minute; she feels like she's breaking the law. And she can't get enough of it.

One of Tristan's hands move to touch her breast through her shirt and the impulse to tell him not to surprisingly doesn't come. Rory tugs on the collar of his shirt, wishing that it wasn't there, in the way of her skin touching his. Wishing that there was nothing between them at all. They kiss violently, passionately; heads moving, tongues twisting, hands everywhere. Completely lost in one another, they do not notice when they go from being alone to being watched.

A sudden cough causes them to jump away from one another, startled. Rory quickly adjusts her shirt, skirt, hair, face, all at once in a flurry of embarrassment. Tristan self-consciously wipes his mouth, trying to wipe off any lipstick Rory may have left as he looks to see who has interrupted.

Dean stares at Rory, the shock and hurt plain as day in his blue eyes. He looks from her to Tristan, taking it all in. They are both disheveled, clothes twisted, hair mussed, breathless. Rory's soft lips still look freshly kissed, her beautiful eyes looking different than he'd ever seen them before. He'd only been standing there for a mere moment before he had let them know of his presence, but that moment was emblazoned in his mind. Certain images burned his vision, like pieces of a bigger puzzle. Tristan's hand on her chest. Rory moving her mouth against his. Her left hand tangled in his hair. Her right pulling harshly on his collar. Her tongue darting out to lick his lips. Their legs pressed tightly together. Her mouth opening as a small groan escaped her throat. Tristan's hands on Rory's back, pulling her close.

The idea of Rory being with Tristan had already been too much to think about. He'd imagined her kissing Tristan many a time in his head, jealous and hurt. But his own imagination could not even muster the fire with which Rory had touched Tristan, her need and desire for him so evident that it almost made the air crackle with electricity. Dean knew there were no comfortable, chaste kisses between them, no quaint hugs or sweet hand holding. No innocence, no taking it slow. Rory wanted Tristan. Wanted him.

"It's the girl scout," Clara whispers very loudly to Dean, to make up for the distance between her mouth and his ear. Rory's panicked eyes dart down to his younger sister, then to Dean. He continues to stare at her, not able to react.

"Uh...hi, Clara," Rory manages to squeak out, crossing her arms self-consciously over her chest. Tristan moves toward Rory protectively. Dean shakes his head, turning to his sister. He ignores Rory, his attention on Clara completely.

"What did you need, Clar? A picture of a blue whale?" Dean asks her, turning her toward the shelf. Taking Rory's hand, Tristan tentatively slips past Rory's ex-boyfriend. They leave without saying a word.

"I thought the girl scout liked you?" Rory can hear Clara ask Dean as she and Tristan walk away. Tristan sees the pain move clearly across Rory's face and he squeezes her hand reassuringly.

"She doesn't," Dean tells Clara, not looking at her. "I think this will have good pictures. Why don't you check?" He hands her an issue of National Geographic and then continues looking.

"But don't you like her?" Clara is persistent.

"Not anymore, Clara. Look through the magazine," he instructs her sternly and she obeys, knowing what that tone coming from her older brother meant.

Rory and Tristan make their way back to the table, which is now vacant. Not asking where Lane and Mary could've gone, Rory sits down. Tristan sits next to her.

"I think that pretty much rules out making out in public places," Rory says, closing her eyes. "I can't believe I was so idiotic."

"You have to admit, it was good until that point, wasn't it?" Tristan inquires, trying to lighten up the situation. Rory turns to him.

"It was. And it shouldn't have been. How could I have been so stupid?"

"You're not stupid, Ror," Tristan tells her, then hesitates. "Do you think that Dean's going to say anything to your mom?"

"No," Rory replies, and she knows he won't. "He wouldn't do anything like that."

"It figures that of all people it had to be him."

"Of course it did," Rory sighs, then looks up at him. "You know, this is twice, Tristan."

"Twice, what?" He asks, not sure what she means but not liking the sound of it.

"Twice that you've made me lose complete control of my sanity. How do you do it?"

"I'm gifted, I guess," Tristan says, taking Rory's hand in his, glad that a small smile is dancing across her lips despite herself. He gives her a small kiss on the lips and then leans his forehead against hers. "You make me go crazy too, if it makes you feel any better."

"It kind of does," she responds. "Seriously though...we can't do anything like that ever again. That was a one time only thing."

"Of course," Tristan says and Rory hits his arm.

"You don't think I'm serious."

"Yes I do."

"Then stop smiling."

"I can't stop. I just made out with you in a library."

"Tristan-"

"Do you know how long I've wanted to do that?"

"Make out in a library? You have strange fantasies."

"No, do that with you. Anywhere. The fact that this is actually happening still hasn't hit me yet."

"It scares the hell outta me, that's for sure," Rory tells him and he doesn't have to ask to know exactly what she means.

"Me too." He picks up her hand and kisses it gently. "I'm sorry about what happened with Dean."

"Oh, no you're not," Rory laughs lightly. He shakes his head.

"I am. Granted, I'm glad that you're with me...but I pity the guy who ever loses you."

A gagging noise is heard from behind the pair and they whirl around to see Lane and Mary standing there with chips and pop.

"You two done being insipidly cutesy now? We have work to do," Lane plops down.

"I can't wait for the honeymoon period to be over." Mary states. Lane looks at Rory and Tristan as they settle down to work.

"It's going to take freakin' forever!"

*******

Lorelai races into the Crap Shack, purse flailing as she dashes to catch the phone before the machine picks it up. Kicking off one of her shoes that had already been trying to come off, she gets to it just in time.

"Hello?"

"You sound terrible, Lorelai, are you all right?"

"Mom. Hi," Lorelai's face falls. She frowns as she tries to catch her breath. "I'm fine. Just running to get the phone."

"Perhaps if you kept it in the right place, you wouldn't have any problem getting to it," Emily points out and Lorelai rolls her eyes.

"It actually was in the right place, but I was just coming home from work and-" Lorelai stops, knowing it's pointless to try and argue the point. "So, what's up?"

"Nothing really. I just wanted to call and see how my girls were doing, that's all."

"We're good..." Lorelai replies suspiciously, finangling about to get her other shoe off while not dropping the phone. "Uh, how are you?"

"I'm delightful, thank you. Anything new in your lives this week?"

"Not much has happened since Friday, Ma," Lorelai shrugs.

"Oh, well. I just thought that perhaps you might want to invite a third guest to our dinner this week. Or rather, that Rory would."

A realization dawns on Lorelai and she groans.

"Who did you hear it from?"

"Pardon me?"

"About Rory and Tristan. Who did you hear it from? And how? It just happened."

"Oh, so it is true. May Hathaway mentioned that her daughter June had been telling one of her friends that Rory was dating Tristan DuGrey so May called me right up to see if it was true. Of course, since I'm not quite in the loop, I didn't know if it was in fact the case. I'm so glad to hear that it is."

"Excuse me, but whose name is May Hathaway? It rhymes, for chrissake. And her daughter's name is June? It's so cruel."

"Lorelai..."

"Yes, Mom, Rory and Tristan are dating now. I'm sorry I didn't call you and fill you in the second the decision was made, but I didn't think it was so important that it couldn't wait until Friday night. I apologize for my lack of vision."

"Apology accepted."

Lorelai holds the phone back and looks at the receiver in dismay, clearly not believing that her mother is really serious.

"Now, about Friday night. I really think Rory should invite Tristan over. It would be polite, considering our families are such good friends."

"I've never met Tristan's parents. Or anyone from his family, for that matter."

"Well, I'll have to arrange something then. His grandfather truly is a wonderful man. Richard used to do business with him on a regular basis."

"That I did know," Lorelai says, unamused.

"So, is it a plan, then?"

"I don't think it's a good idea, Mom. They only just got together, you might scare him and his family away," Lorelai half-kids.

"He's already met us, Lorelai. For goodness sakes, he has been friends with Rory for awhile, hasn't he?"

"It just seems pre-emptory."

"I thought it would be a nice gesture."

"Let's at least give it a week and then we can gesture all we want, how about that? We will gesticulate until we go crazy with joy."

"I truly-"

"Mom."

"Oh all right. I'm sorry for taking an active interest in my granddaughter's life. Forgive me."

"Oh dear god," Lorelai brings her hand to her forehead, frustrated.

"I really should know better by now. What ever was I thinking of?"

"I'm not saying that you can't take an interest in Rory, Mom. Did those words ever come out of my mouth?"

"They might as well have, Lorelai. I'm an intelligent woman, I can read between the lines."

"All I am trying to say if that Rory has just broken up with Dean. She has rushed headlong into this thing with Tristan and now might not be the best time to be throwing a celebratory dinner, all right?" Lorelai explains and the silence on the other end of the line warns her that the response is going to be even worse than before.

"What, don't you like Tristan?"

"Tristan's fine, Mom."

"I've only heard good things about him. And so charming too. He's going to go far. Exactly what Rory needs."

"Yeah, he certainly is a charmer," Lorelai replies, biting back the urge to say that her mother might not think Tristan DuGrey is what Rory needs at all, if she knew exactly how "charming" he really is.

"Rory and he looked so perfect together the last time I saw them. Quite the society couple, really. People are already abuzz," Emily tells her daughter excitedly. Lorelai is anything but thrilled at the prospect.

"You know, Ma, I think I smell something burning. I better go check and see if everything's all right," Lorelai tells her mother, her voice tired. She closes her eyes, praying to god that Emily will just give up.

"Fine, Lorelai. We'll wait on dinner with the DuGreys, if that's what you really want. We'll have further discussion about this later."

"All right. Gotta go. See you Friday, Mom," Lorelai clicks off the phone as soon as her mother says good-bye and then tosses it across the room onto the couch. "Arrrrrggggghhhh!"

"What'd the phone ever do to you?" Luke's voice comes from behind her. She whirls around, glaring.

"It's a tool of evil, that's what! It was the vessel through which my mother talked to me and therefore deserves a lot more than a toss across the room," Lorelai snipes, then sighs, frustrated. "What are you doing here? I thought you were working late tonight."

"Got Caesar to close up for me. It was slow," Luke explains, walking in through the open door and then pushing it closed behind him. "What did your mom want?"

"She already found out about Rory and Tristan. Wanted to throw them an engagement party immediately. Celebrate! A Gilmore finally has snagged a society snob!" Lorelai groans. "It irks me that she's happy about this. I almost wanted to tell her that Rory's so hot for this kid that she's been acting like me. That would've shut her up."

"Or given her a heart attack," Luke grunts. A devilish glint appears in Lorelai's eye and Luke shakes his head.

"Aw, I was only kinda thinking about it," Lorelai waves him off. She goes to the couch and plops down, kicking the phone to the floor in anger. Luke walks over to her, standing a few feet away.

"This Tristan kid...he isn't really a, what was it? A society snob?"

Lorelai looks up at Luke, shrugging. She thinks for a while.

"I guess he's not," Lorelai tugs on her hair. "I mean, he's not...really. In all fairness, I liked him until a few days ago."

"Just try and remember that," Luke states. Lorelai gives him a pouty face and tugs on his sleeve.

"This week has sucked, Luke. Make it better," Lorelai pleads, moving in close to him. He obligingly wraps his arms around her and pulls her close to his chest. She breathes in his familiar scent and immediately finds herself relaxing into his embrace.

"This better?" He murmurs, kissing the top of her head gently. Lorelai closes her eyes and nods, smiling into the plaid flannel fabric.

"Hugging you is like hugging my bed sheets. Except my bed sheets with a man underneath them," she tells him. She pauses after that, looking up at him as if a great idea has struck them. "In fact..." She jumps up and grabs his hand, then tugs him toward the stairs.

"Lorelai..." Luke shakes his head at her. She smiles at him.

"Rory's at the library," Lorelai assures him. "It's all cool."

"What if she comes home?"

"I'll shove you in the closet," Lorelai jokes. "Seriously Luke, she's not freaked out about it. I mean, it's not like she doesn't know that we're shacking up," she states as she nudges him toward the stairs. Luke chuckles.

"Shacking up, huh? Is that what we're doing?" Luke asks, letting himself be led up the stairs toward Lorelai's bedroom. He raises an eyebrow at her and she grins widely at him, amused.

"What you don't like that? Cause I can come up with at least a dozen other terms right now if you don't," Lorelai teases. Luke shakes his head.

"I'm sure you could, but really, no need."

"Because there's the straightforward ones, i.e. the technical terms for what we're doing, then there's the cautious ones, such as 'sharing a bed," or we could get all biblical and say we're 'laying together' but I always thought that sounded stupid, so-"

"Shacking up is fine, Lorelai."

"Are you sure? Cause there are millions of euphemisms out there just waiting to be discovered. I would love to be the one to find them. I’d be the Christopher Columbus of sexual innuendo."

"You know Columbus isn’t a person I’d aspire to be like, if I were you."

"Why ever not? He was Italian,we love Italians."

"Yes, and he also murdered countless numbers of natives, stole their land and precious resources and then spent hundreds of years being called the discoverer of America when in reality he thought he’d reached India? I mean, come on."

"You sure know how to kill a mood," Lorelai screws up her face and sticks her tongue out at him. "Maybe I should have picked a sexier explorer."

"I don’t think any explorer could possibly be sexy," Luke retorts.

"What about Jacques Cartier? I mean...Cartier...expensive jewelry, watches, hello? Romance? What could be more sexy than a 400 dollar watch?"

"I can think of about a million things right off the top of my head."

"Name one."

"You."

"Damn, you’re good. When did you get so suave?" Lorelai looks at him suspiciously. "All that time, all those grunts...there was an undercover James Bond there. 00-Smooth..."

"Yeah...*really* undercover," Luke snorts. "Deep, deep, deep down."

"But he’s there. Somewhere," Lorelai replies. "Maybe if you wear a tux..." Luke rolls his eyes. "What? You look so dashing in a tux."

"Dashing, eh?"

"Well, Bond is British. I don’t think Octopussy is going to go up to him and say, ‘Wow, you’re hot’."

"You know, if I’m wearing a tux, I think you have to wear that orange bikini..."

"Luke Danes, you’re getting a little forward these days. It’s my job to be the bold one."

"We all have our daring days," Luke states. "Are we goin’ up or down here?" Luke gestures to the stairs, on which they have been standing for the past few minutes.

"Oh, up, right," Lorelai laughs and turns to continue. "Let’s go." She takes one step up and then the phone rings. Groaning, she tramps back down. "Did you happen to see where that dang phone landed?"

"Somewhere in that direction..." Luke gestures vaguely toward the windows. "Just go in the direction of the ringing."

"Cause naturally I would go the other way," Lorelai smirks at him and starts tossing pillows aside, checking the couch. Luke goes over toward the table and gets down on his hands and knees.

"I just had the worst feeling of de ja vu," he comments.

"Well, it’s not really, cause this actually has happened before. We were just looking for a different thing."

"Ah ha!" Luke holds up the phone and hands it to her.

"And without breaking any furniture." Lorelai clicks it on quickly just before the machine picks up. "Hello?"

"Hi, Lorelai."

"Lane? All this work and it’s not even for me. Not fun."

"Searching for the phone?"

"It took a small trip and had to be reeled ba-" Lorelai stops, looking at the phone out of the corner of her eye. "Wait. Aren’t you at the library with Rory?"

"No, we’re done. I’m at home and I just realized I took one of Rory’s notebooks and she’s going to freak."

"Yes, that she would. Now...how long have you been at home?"

"About twenty minutes?" Lane replies, unsure. "I figured Rory would be home by now."

"She’s not," Lorelai tells her, her smile becoming very tight. "I’ll make sure to give her the message about the notes."

"Thanks..." Lane says, knowing from Lorelai’s voice that she might have just gotten Rory into trouble. Lorelai hangs up the phone and turns to Luke.

"I don’t want to turn into my mother but I just know she’s making out with him somewhere and I doubt it’s decent," Lorelai whines. Seeing the confused look on Luke’s face, she explains as she puts the phone back in its rightful place. "Lane. Been home from the library for twenty minutes already. While Rory and Tristan...?"

"And your spies didn’t alert you?"

"Hardy har har," Lorelai rolls her eyes. "Forgive me for being concerned."

"There’s a difference between concerned and crazy."

"Luke, please put this picture in your head and don’t forget it. Tristan is walking down the hallway at Chilton. Every single girl in the hallway has already been with him or is dreaming about being with him. He’s cocky, he’s swaggering, and he stops at Rory’s locker. Rory dreamily looks up at him and is carried away by his charms, and they retreat to the janitor’s closet for some mid-afternoon fun."

"Everyone does that."

"And then maybe to his house after school. His dad works late, his mom’s out with her illicit lover, the maid is cleaning in an entirely different wing...the whole huge mansion to themselves. Just Rory and him." Luke’s expression gets darker and Lorelai knows she’s getting through.

"Then let me remind you that four days ago she went out in the middle of the night to go to his house and didn’t come back for hours? I dare you to call me crazy again for worrying."

"It’s only been twenty minutes, Lor," Luke points out, relieved at the thought of it. "It’s ten minutes from the library. Keep things in perspective." Lorelai sighs, knowing he’s right.

"Yeah...I know." She walks to the window and peers out casually. She turns back to him almost immediately and gestures outside. "They’re apparently saying good-bye." Luke walks over to the window as she leaves it, almost triumphant. "And they drove back here. That’s like, three minutes. Leaving 17 for that."

Luke moves the curtains and sees Rory and Tristan standing on the curb. She has him pressed back against the side of his silver Camaro, kissing him good-bye and doing it thoroughly. Almost as if knowing they had been found out, Tristan breaks away and whispers something to her. She nods, and with another short kiss, Tristan circles the car and gets into the driver’s side. Giving him a small wave good-bye, Rory watches as he drives away and then turns to go back inside.

The second the front door opens she is met with Lorelai.

"What?" She asks, knowing what’s on the tip of her mother’s tongue. "I’m not even allowed to kiss my boyfriend good-bye now either?" Lorelai bites back her words and looks up toward the ceiling for a moment.

"Uh...no...I just...think fifteen minutes is more than a kiss."

"I’ll set the timer next time." Rory brushes past Lorelai and goes to her bedroom. Lorelai starts to follow her but Rory closes the door. Hurt, Lorelai turns to Luke. There is a moment of silence before Lorelai walks back to Luke.

"I am my mother. I’ve officially done it. I’ve gone to the dark side." Luke envelopes her in his arms and pats her back.

"No you haven’t."

"I’m Darth Vader. No...I’m the Emperor. I should paint my face all white and pasty and make myself a big shroud."

"You just gotta calm down, Lorelai, that’s all."

"I know..." Lorelai pulls away and looks up at Luke sadly. "I just...I can’t handle this. It was hard when she first got together with Dean...the first boyfriend and all, she was growing up so fast. And now...with this...it’s so fast it’s just a big blur. It went from worrying about her getting her homework done in time to go out with Dean to worrying about whether or not she’s going completely hormonal with Tristan. I don’t know how to deal."

"You’re not supposed to know."

"Yes I am! I’ve always known, and even if I didn’t, I could at least fake it!"

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Lorelai stops in the midst of her freak-out and stares at Luke as if he’d offered her his second kidney.

"Excuse me?"

"You want me to talk to her?"

"What would you say?"

"I dunno. But it’s worth a shot." Lorelai pauses. And pauses some more. The concept was alien to her. Luke waits patiently, and then impatiently. "It’s not going to alter world policy."

"It might."

"Lorelai."

"Oh, okay. Go."

"I’ll be back." He goes to Rory’s door and knocks lightly as Lorelai watches him wearily. "Ror?" A few seconds pass before Rory opens the door. Luke goes inside and the door is closed. Lorelai sits down on the couch and fidgets nervously. She sits on her hands but that doesn’t help her stop.

"Listen, Rory...your mom is freaking out," Luke states bluntly. Rory nods adamantly.

"I know."

"And you know why." Rory relents slightly in her annoyance.

"Yes, I do...and I understand, but she won’t let up even a little." She sits down at her desk chair and gives Luke a plaintive look. "Can’t you talk to her?"

"I have been. And she’s just trying to look out for you. She’s worried that Tristan might be..." Luke searches for a delicate way to put it. "Too much for you at once." His eyebrow furrows and he looks away from her. Sex wasn’t really something he wanted to talk with Rory about, really.

"He’s not. Tristan isn’t forcing me to do anything I want to do," Rory tells him honestly. "She says she trusts me, and I don’t see why that’s not enough." Luke is quiet and he takes a deep breath.

"All right. The fact is, your mom is going crazy just thinking about all the things you two could possibly be doing every single second you’re alone. And there’s no way to stop her from doing that unless she chaperones you constantly." Rory’s eyes bulge. "We know that ain’t gonna happen."

"No."

"So...maybe you could placate her just a little for a few weeks? Cut down on the PDAs, have Tristan over a couple of times to hang out with you and her...let her know him as something more than the potential..." Luke stumbles, looking sheepish. "You know."

"You really think that just forcing her to spend time with Tristan is really going to do it?"

"Well...yeah. It might." Luke replies.

"So simple. Simplicity is never really a good thing with my mother."

"I’m simple."

"Point taken," Rory replies. "It’s just that she knows Tristan already. And she’s apparently decided he’s nothing but a guy gunning to strip me of my virginity." Luke looks away, blushing faintly.

"She knows he’s not. She just needs to be reminded of it. Why don’t you invite him over for dinner tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I’ll make something, we can all sit together and talk and crap like that...it’ll be good."

"Are you sure?"

"Your kitchen will probably go into shock from having its appliances used, but other than that, I’m sure."

"Should I go clear this with Mom?"

"I’ll take care of it, don’t worry about a thing." Rory eyes Luke warily, not quite confident that this is the best plan she’s ever heard.

"Can you just do me a favor and not make anything we need sharp knives for?"

"You got it." Luke nods. "It’ll all work out, Ror. Don’t worry."

"I’ll try not to," she smiles at him and he pats her knee before getting up and leaving. "Thanks, Luke."

"No problem." He leaves her room and goes upstairs to Lorelai’s room, where she is waiting.

"How’d it go?" She asks.

"Well, I think." He sits down next to her on the bed. "We’re going to have Tristan over for dinner tomorrow night."

"Excuse me?"

"He’s comin’ over. We’re going to sit down and have a nice meal together, and everything will feel 100% better."

"Making him more a part of this family isn’t going to make me feel better, Luke, it’s going to make me feel worse," Lorelai gets up, frustrated. "What I want is for him to just back off, not get closer."

"Well that’s not going to happen. The best you can do is have him get closer of your own volition, on your own terms. At least that way you have some control."

"Control is an illusion, I’m beginning to think."

"If Tristan feels any kind of obligation to you, Lorelai, any kind of respect, you won’t have to worry about him crossing the line with Rory. Dean respected you, you just have to treat this the same way."

"Christopher respected my parents," Lorelai responds. Luke raises an eyebrow.

"I doubt that," Luke states and Lorelai rolls her eyes.

"Okay, so maybe not as much as he pretended he did."

"Well there ya go." Lorelai sticks out her tongue at him and then pouts. "You know I’m right."

"Yeah. So?" Lorelai snaps. Luke puts his arm around her and Lorelai shrugs him off. "I hate it when you’re right."

"Get used to it, it’s bound to happen often," Luke replies.

*******

"Why are you so nervous?" Lane inquires, her eyes following Rory as she paces about her bedroom. She glances back down at the magazine in her lap and then back to Rory. Rory stops for a mere second to check her hair for about the millionth time in the mirror, and then continues her pacing.

"If things don’t go well tonight, Lane, that’s it. Tristan will have had it in my mother’s mind. I don’t know what I’ll do if that happens," she smoothes her floral skirt of wrinkles. "God, why am I wearing this? I feel like I’m fifty."

"How does that make you fifty?"

"Floral makes fifty," Rory groans. "I feel so frumpy. Tristan’s going to wonder why he’s even putting up with this."

"Putting up with what? A dinner with your mom?" Lane asks. "And considering that the whole point of this evening is to convince your mom that you’re not going to jump each other, maybe it’s better not to look too gorgeous."

"You’re right," Rory whirls around and rushes to her closet. "Maybe I should put on a baggy sweater."

"What you’re wearing is fine."

"Five minutes ago you were telling me I looked stunning. And now I’m just fine? Which time did you lie?" Rory points a finger at her best friend and Lane grimaces.

"The second time... " Rory turns back to the closet and Lane jumps up and stops her. "But you shouldn’t change. You’ve changed like, forty-seven times already. You’ve got to get a grip."

"I’m gripping."

"No, you’re not. No one would even think you have opposable thumbs," Lane informs her. "I’m going to have to hit you over the head with this just to maintain my own sanity." She holds up the magazine and Rory snorts.

"I doubt a Cosmo will do much damage," she states. "A Vanity Fair, maybe. GQ...but not that."

"Anything can do damage if you want it to," Lane retorts. "It’s all about follow-through."

"Time to cut back on The Sopranos, maybe?"

"Yeah, maybe." Lane shrugs. The doorbell rings and Rory freezes in place, like a deer in headlights. "Gonna get that?"

"He’s early."

"Well if he’s trying to make a good impression on your mom, that’s a good way to start."

"He’s undoing the impression she already has," Rory corrects off-handedly as she turns around in a full circle, looking for something. Lane hands her her purse and Rory nods in thanks. She stops then and takes a deep breath. "Okay."

"Yep."

"I should go get the door."

"Yep."

"Are you sure you can’t come along tonight?" Rory pleads and Lane shakes her head no.

"Mama is having bible study at the house at eight. You know I can’t escape." She puts her hands on Rory’s back and shoves her lightly toward the door. "Let’s go."

"I’m going..." Rory heads toward the foyer reluctantly, glancing up the stairs to her mother’s bedroom and wondering why her mother hadn’t come down. Lane grabs her jacket from a chair in the kitchen and follows Rory.

"Hey," Tristan greets her, almost shyly. He peers around her, looking for Lorelai. Not seeing anyone he pulls Rory out onto the porch gently.

"Hey," Rory replies.

"Can I kiss you now before your mom comes down?" He asks and Rory simply nods before letting her lips touch his. They only have a moment to kiss before Lane opens the front door. Tristan jumps away from Rory like a criminal and turns toward Lane, sighing with relief when he sees it’s not Lorelai.

"Hey, Lane," Tristan greets her sheepishly and she smiles.

"Hey, Tristan," she walks past the pair and down the steps. "Call me tonight," she mouths to Rory, who nods. Tristan takes her hand and they go inside together.

"So, where’s your mom?" Tristan asks her, looking around.

"She’s upstairs," Rory tells him.

"These are for you," he hands her one of the two bouquets of flowers that he’s holding.

"You didn’t have to do this Tristan...they’re beautiful."

"Well, you look beautiful."

"I was actually kind of hoping I didn’t," Rory remarks, laughing lightly. "You look really nice too."

"I was going for upright young man nice. Does it work?" He inquires, smoothing his hair down. Rory gives him the once over again.

"You look like a polite, courteous young gentleman, yes."

"Does it make me look more...safe?" He adjusts his tie nervously and Rory smiles faintly at his nervousness.

"Safe? Sure."

"Really?"

"Yes." Rory’s blush undermines her words, however, letting Tristan know he’s not anymore safe now than he was before. The sound of Lorelai’s bedroom door opening and Luke’s voice send both pairs of blue eyes toward the staircase expectantly.

"Hello," Lorelai greets Tristan cordially. "When did you get here?"

"Only about a minute ago, Lorelai," Tristan’s voice almost cracks. "How are you tonight?"

"I’m lovely, Tristan, how are you?" Lorelai bites back a smirk, an awful part in her delighting in watching him squirm.

"I’m wonderful," he responds. "These are for you."

"Flowers, how sweet," she takes them from him. "A little kiss-ass, but sweet."

"Mom," Rory says warningly and Lorelai smiles.

"I was just kidding! Thank you very much, Tristan."

"You’re welcome. Hello, Luke," Tristan nods as Luke comes down behind Lorelai. Even he is dressed nicely, dress shirt, tie and all. He looks very unamused.

"Hello, Tristan," he replies gruffly, yanking on his tie.

"It’s good to see you again," Tristan states.

"Yeah, same here," he waves him off, his mind occupied with other matters. "Lorelai, do I have to wear this?"

"You can take it off the second we get out of the restaurant, Luke, but not until then. It’s not a jeans and plaid shirt kind of establishment."

"I don’t see why I couldn’t have just made dinner here like I originally planned."

"Because you cook all day. We’re going out."

"We’re going to Carbone’s Ristorante," Rory explains to Tristan as she re-enters from setting her and her mother’s flowers on the kitchen table.

"Great, I love Italian," Tristan replies.

"Who doesn’t?" Lorelai asks.

"I’m sure there’s someone somewhere who doesn’t," Luke says and Lorelai shakes her head no.

"Naw, I think just about everyone likes some kind of Italian. It’s impossible not to." Luke is about to disagree when Lorelai looks at her watch. "We should get going. Our reservations are for seven o’clock."

"Should we meet you there?" Rory asks, hoping that she and Tristan would at least get a few minutes of alone time to talk. Lorelai raises an eyebrow at her daughter.

"No, we can all fit in the jeep. It should be fine."

"Okay." She picks up her jacket to put it on but Tristan takes it from her, holding it up and helping her put it on. Lorelai watches the scene before putting on her own jacket, noticing that Tristan’s hair is considerably more tame than usual, groomed and styled very conservatively. He takes her daughter’s hand and holds open the front door with the other so Lorelai and Luke can walk out first.

"Man, he is trying *so* hard," Lorelai whispers to Luke as they head toward the car. Luke gives her a warning look. "It’s sweet, I’m not making fun," she assures him and he just rolls his eyes.

*******

"So how did it go?"

"It went horribly." Rory states, wincing.

"Horribly? Oh no..."

"It went horribly and it went wonderfully. I’m not sure which."

"You’re going to have to explain that one."

Lorelai turns back and looks at the pair in the back seat inquisitively, not being able to see both of them clearly in the side view mirror. Rory shifts in her seat, wishing that Luke hadn’t offered to drive. Now Lorelai has complete ability to pay attention to every single thing going on.

"So, Tristan. You have a mighty nice car. How much does a Camaro run these days?"

"My parents gave it to me as a gift, I don’t know exactly how much it costs," Tristan replies honestly.

"Insurance?" Lorelai asks. "Your parents take care of that too?"

"It’s cheaper for me to be on their insurance than have my own at this point."

"True," Lorelai concedes. "What do your parents do for a living?"

"My father is a lawyer...corporate law. My mother was a doctor but she gave up practice when my older brother was born."

"You have a brother?"

"I didn’t know your mom was a doctor," Rory says, and Tristan shrugs.

"She hasn’t been working for so long, I don’t really think to talk about it," he explains to her first, then addresses Lorelai. "My older brother, Elliott, is 25 and is in graduate school in England, at Oxford. He’s studying for his doctorate in English."

"He wants to teach when he finishes, right?" Rory asks, trying to help him out a little, make her mother ease off.

"Yes, he’s hoping to get a professorship at Dartmouth, actually. Much to my father’s chagrin."

"Princeton man?"

"Yale man. But my mother went to Dartmouth so the blow is considerably lessened." Rory sneaks her hand into his and squeezes it gently, knowing that he absolutely hates talking about his family.

"You plan on going to Yale?"

"That’s the tentative plan, yes. Study law, like my dad."

"Uh-huh," Lorelai nods, a look passing over her face that Tristan is sure can’t be good. She opens her mouth to say something else but Luke thankfully interrupts.

"It’s a left here?" He gestures in that direction.

"No, right," Lorelai’s attention is diverted toward the road temporarily and Tristan lets out a breath of relief. Rory looks up at him, wishing that she could kiss him. He smiles at her lightly, thinking the same thing.

"Did the interrogation ever stop?"

"It eased off a little during coffee and dessert," Rory tells Lane, who groans.

"How did Tristan handle it?"

"Amazingly well. I think it was what he expected."

"So Lorelai was adequately impressed by him? Thinks he has the honor not to do the nasty with you?"

"You make it sound so romantic..."

"Was she?"

"I think so. He paid for dinner."

"Well, that ought to have won major points with Luke, at least."

"Astoundingly, Luke seems to think that I’m trustworthy enough on my own."

"So what was the horrible part? This all sounds like it went really well."

"My mom invited Tristan to Friday night dinner."

"Oh no."

"I know."

"But don’t your grandparents like him? He’s a DuGrey."

"It doesn’t matter. They think they like him but then they’re going to think about my mom like they always do and freak out. This can’t be good."

"You’re right." Lane sighs. "Anything I can do?"

"Get me out of Friday night dinner?"

"I could fake a near-death experience."

"Could you?"

"I doubt your grandma would believe it."

"She might," Rory says hopefully, then sighs. "I guess I’ll just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best."

"Too bad I found out now, I could’ve prayed for you during bible study."

"How was that?"

"Excruciating as always. Though my mother did mention that she wants to invite Henry to our next one."

"That’s good...I think."

"Good for me, bad for him. He has no idea what he’s getting into if he says yes."

"You should warn him."

"I will. Oh great. Mama’s calling me, I have to go. Call me tomorrow?"

"Sure thing."

"Bye, Rory," Lane hangs up quickly, doubtedly not supposed to have been on the phone late at night. Rory sets the phone down on her nightstand and picks up her book. It only takes a few minutes of reading to send her off to a deep sleep, her dreams filled with thoughts of Tristan.

*******

Luke sits down next to Lorelai on the porch swing, wrapping his arm around her. His tie is off and his collar undone, and he looks much more comfortable.

"I think tonight went pretty well," he says, looking to her for response. She sighs, playing with the hem of his shirt. "What, you don’t think so?"

"It did. He was very polite, very nice, barely touched Rory at all...it was great." She sighs again.

"Then what’s the problem?"

"Oh, just that she’s absolutely crazy about him. Absolutely nuts." Lorelai shakes her head, then laughs despite herself. "It’s so weird to see her so...I mean, she’s such a teenager around him." She laughs again, this time more fully.

"I don’t quite follow."

"It’s just I’ve always viewed Rory as this 17 year old going on 40. With Tristan she’s 17 going on 18. Such a girl. Looking at him like he’s the end all be all or something."

"Weren’t you freaking out about this same exact thing earlier?"

"Yeah," she giggles, putting her hand on his leg. "Now I’m somewhat reassured and looking very much forward to seeing the look on my mother’s face when Rory can’t help herself from touching Tristan whenever she can. If Tristan didn’t crack tonight, he’ll crack then."

"He’s not going to crack at all, I don’t think."

"If he doesn’t, then he has my blessing," Lorelai smiles. She snakes her hand through his. "As for you...you’re coming on Friday, right?"

"Am I? Oh....no."

"If Tristan can do it, you can..." Lorelai says. "With him there, the attention will be away from us. It’s the perfect opportunity." Luke eyes her suspiciously and she nods. "Trust me."

"If you say so."

"I do..." She leans toward him and kisses him gently, running her hands through his short brown hair. "It’s weird when you’re so clean-shaven," she murmurs, rubbing her hand on his cheek.

"Weird in a good way?"

"Yeah," Lorelai says and they kiss again. Luke pulls her closer, turning his body toward hers to kiss her more fully. "Have I ever told you how much I like doing this?"

"I like it too, so I think we’re set," Luke mumbles between kisses. Lorelai loses herself in him, forgetting about her worries over Rory for a few moments and just enjoying being with the man she loves. It felt wonderful to have him want her, so comforting to feel his embrace, so titillating that his kisses still sent shivers all the way up and down her spine. She moves even closer to him, almost into his lap, and the swing moves violently. They break apart, laughing. They’re still laughing when an awkward cough comes from a few feet away.

Lorelai looks up and her face falls, paling with shock.

"Christopher?"

To be continued...

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