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Fic: Skies Are Blue (13/?) *Gilmore Girls* (12A/PG-13)
Skies Are Blue
By Kyizi
Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls and all related items do not belong to me. Only the Story and its related original ideas and characters are mine. No copyright infringement intended.
Rating: 12A/PG-13
Spoilers: Season One. This takes place at the end of the summer after the season one finale.
Notes: Okay, so, yeah, thanks so much for the reviews. I’m glad that so many of you have stuck around, despite the huge delay in updates. I know a lot of you weren’t too chuffed with the all Max/Lorelai, where is Tristan chapter, but it really was necessary. Lorelai/Max is a huge part of the storyline and it needed to be addressed in true Lorelai fashion. Hopefully this chapter will make it up to you all!
Previous Chapters
| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 |
~x~x~x~x~x~
Part Thirteen: Thunderbolts and Lightning
~x~x~x~x~x~
Rory frowned and wrapped her arms tighter around her body. She was wearing warm enough clothes, but somehow she felt as if she needed the protection. Taking one last deep breath, she picked up a small stone and threw it at Dean’s window. She missed entirely.
“Damn it,” she muttered, picking up a few more stones and throwing them one at a time. When she realised that she wasn’t really getting anywhere, she eyed the tree warily and decided to chance her luck and just climb it. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all.
When she reached the top, she debated climbing back down. Suddenly what she was about to do seemed so much scarier when she was perched at the top of a tree with no easy escape route. Bracing herself, she tapped the window. A moment later she heard the volume of Dean’s television go down and lightly tapped again.
When he pulled back the curtain, he didn’t smile. Instead he frowned and looked past her down to the street, as if he was looking for something. Seeming satisfied, he opened the window, but didn’t invite her in.
“You didn’t bring the accountant this time?” he asked icily.
This really wasn’t going the way she’d hoped.
“Tristan and I aren’t talking at the moment and even if we were I wouldn’t bring him here.”
“Rory, you brought him here last night.”
“No,” she said frowning. “He dropped me off last night after an awful day in New York, where we spent the entire time arguing. Dean, I didn’t come here to talk about Tristan.”
“Then why did you come, Rory?” he asked, sighing. “Because it seems to me that all we do now is talk about him.”
“You mean argue?”
Dean smiled a little. “Yeah, okay, argue.”
“Tristan seems to be the only thing we argue about anymore.” Rory waited to see if he would get what she was talking about.
“What does that mean?”
“Dean, I just…we never have friendly arguments anymore. We don’t fight about what movies to see, or what food we want to eat, or even pizza toppings,” she said, trying not to let her mind wander to the last argument she’d had about that very thing.
“And that’s my fault?”
“No, Dean, it’s not your fault. I just…why is it so different? Why can’t things go back to the way they were?”
Dean sighed and leaned against the window ledge. “I don’t know, Rory. I’ve only ever wanted to make you happy.”
She smiled. “I know that. I like that. But couples are supposed to fight about silly things and we don’t anymore. It’s like we’re both too scared to upset each other and I just…I don’t want a Stepford boyfriend, Dean.”
“Right.” Dean stood up and let out a breath. “I get where this is going.”
“Dean-”
“No, Rory, it’s fine. You did what you came to do. You successfully broke up with me again. That’s fine.”
“You broke up with me the last time!”
“Because I told you I loved you and you just sat there!”
“I didn’t know what to do!”
Dean nodded. “I guess that really should have been answer enough. I should never have come to Chilton that day, should I?”
Rory sniffed and looked down, trying not to let him see the tears that were streaming down her face. “I think I’m going to go.”
“I think you should.”
She turned to climb down the tree again, pausing when she heard him let out a breath and felt his hand grip her arm. She turned around to find him regarding her with and almost-smile.
“Rory, I…I don’t want this to be like last time. I’m angry just now, because, whether you want to admit it or not, this has something to do with Tristan. But I don’t want to ignore you and I don’t want you hiding from me. I just…give me some time and then maybe we could try being friends? Who knows, maybe one day we could try again.”
Rory smiled and swiped the tears from her cheeks. “I’d like that. I like being friends with you.”
“Just give me some time.”
“I will.”
Dean nodded and turned to glance at the door. “I think there’s someone coming.”
“Okay, bye.”
She climbed slowly down the tree as Dean closed the window behind her. When she made it down to the street again, she glanced up to see his light snap off. There were shadows flitting across his curtains from the television, but Rory didn’t stand around watching for much longer.
She had another person she needed to speak to.
Hurrying through the almost empty streets of Stars Hollow, Rory quickened her pace the closer she got to home. When she jogged up the steps to her house, she wasn’t surprised to see her mother and Max sitting on the porch swing, making out like teenagers.
“Oh my God, you owe me so much therapy!” she called as she entered the house. She couldn’t make out what her mother shouted back, but smiled as she picked up the telephone and made her way into her room.
She kicked the door closed and walked over to lie on her bed, dialling his number as she went. After a few rings, there was a cheery voice answering at the other end.
“Hey Ellie, it’s Rory, Tristan’s friend. What are you doing up at this time?”
“Hi Rory! Mom and Daddy are away and Jason’s in the study pretending to be Daddy. I’m hiding from Anya!”
Rory smiled, knowing that Anya (the maid who was in charge of Ellie) was likely running around in a flap. “Maybe you should let Anya know where you are, Ellie, it’s late.”
“You sound like Tris.”
“Speaking of your brother, do you know where he is?”
“Yeah, he’s in his room with Summer.”
Rory felt her heart plummet. He was with Summer and she had just dumped her boyfriend. She was truly alone. She hadn’t planned to start dating Tristan, no matter what anyone else thought, but she truly loved having him as a friend and, with Summer back in the picture, there was no way Rory was going to be kept around.
Ellie was still talking to her and Rory had barely realised that the phone was being handed to Tristan when she muttered, “sorry,” and hung up.
She curled into a ball and threw the phone across the room, tucking her head under the pillow and ignoring the world. No matter what else had happened, she had dumped her boyfriend. She deserved a little time to wallow.
~x~x~x~x~x~
Rory’s eyes fluttered open when she registered a dip in the bed beside her. Her face felt puffy and her eyes were crusted shut in the corners. Basically, she felt like death warmed up and she didn’t want to talk to anyone. Seeing Lorelai’s concerned face, however, she took a deep breath and smiled wanly.
“I broke up with Dean.”
“Oh, sweetie, how are you holding up?”
Rubbing away the sleep from her eyes, Rory took a moment to think and, when she realised that the boy her thoughts were resting on wasn’t Dean, she sighed.
“I’m okay. We’re going to try to be friends when he’s not angry anymore. I really hurt him.”
“I think you both hurt each other. Rory, he wanted more than you were willing to offer and I bet if he was being honest, he’d admit that he already knew that.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Now, do you want to tell me why Greek Boy is currently doing the fandango in our living room, because it is very, very frightening me.”
“Tristan’s here?”
“Came hurtling through the night like a bat out of hell.”
“Oh, boy, are you done yet?”
“As soon as you can tell me why Greek Boy decided to run to the hills.”
Rory groaned. “Stop.”
“Tell me why he’s here.”
“He’s out there waiting.”
Lorelai smiled. “Then be quick.”
She sighed. “I wanted to apologise for being so snippy and to tell him that I wanted to go back to being friends. And…I though I should tell him that I’d broken up with Dean.”
“So you really broke up with Dean,” Lorelai said, squeezing her knee.
“Yeah.”
“How’d that go? Really.”
Rory shrugged. “Okay. I think he’s more angry because he thinks it has something to do with Tristan.”
“Hon, I think he might be right.”
“Mom, not now, please?”
“Okay,” Lorelai said, nodding. “So you came back to call Tristan and tell him you’d broken up with Dean, even though he apparently had nothing to do with it.”
“Mom.”
“Sorry. And?”
“Ellie answered the phone. She told me he was in his bedroom with Summer.”
“That stupid bint who dumped him last year and threatened you last week.”
“Bint? Mom, you have got to stop watching Buffy.”
“But Spike has that hot British accent and he gets to use cool words like ‘wanker’.”
“Which just sound silly unless you’re British.” Rory frowned. “Is Max with him?”
“With Spike? Oh, Rory, do I have to give you the ‘TV isn’t real’ talk again?”
“I gave you that talk. You tried to tell me it was real. For years.”
“I’m a cool mom.”
“Yes, you’re a cool mom,” Rory said smiling. “Is Max with Tristan?”
“Yeah, I left him with the caged animal. I hope he doesn’t get cat scratch fever.”
“Oh God, I’m going,” Rory said, standing up and heading to the door. “Just stop with the songs.”
“Wait, I didn’t work tush in yet!” Lorelai called after her.
Rory felt nervous as she walked into the living room. She instantly caught sight of Tristan, who was pacing the floor like a caged animal. She smiled briefly at Max, but wasn’t given the chance to say anything as Tristan spotted her.
”Rory, Summer wasn’t in my house.”
Rory blinked. She glanced at Max, who smiled and walked past her to the kitchen, squeezing her shoulder on the way. She smiled at him gratefully as she heard her mother calling him.
Turning her attention back to Tristan, she realised that he looked rather untidy. His shirt was un-tucked, his hair was wet and messy and he had a frantic edge to him that she wasn’t sure she had ever seen before.
“Rory,” he said again. “I swear, Summer wasn’t in my house. Ellie heard me talking to her on the phone earlier. She asked if she could come ‘round and I said no. I just got out of the shower when Ellie came in with the phone.”
“Oh.” Rory cleared her throat. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
Her lips quirked briefly into a smile and she nodded. “Okay.”
Tristan’s whole demeanour changed. His shoulders relaxed and he let out a breath, closing his eyes. Sighing, he flopped back onto the couch and shifted slightly to make room for her. He held out his hand and she took it, letting him pull her onto the couch next to him. They were pressed against each other up her entire left side and she felt utterly content to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. She hadn’t felt this at ease with him since that first weekend and she had missed it. Which, she supposed, was slightly odd since their friendship had only really been in place for a few weeks.
“I broke up with Dean,” she said softly, a few minutes later. She felt him tense and saw him open his eyes to glance at her.
“Oh. You okay?” he asked softly, squeezing her hand.
She hadn’t even realised they were still holding hands. She squeezed back and nodded, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. “I’m okay. We’re going to try to be friends. After he stops being angry and upset.”
“Are you angry and upset?” Tristan asked warily.
“No…just sad. We were together for a long time and he’s a good friend. I know you don’t like him, but I do and I’ll miss him being here.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“Rory?”
“Yeah?”
Tristan cleared his throat. “Why d’you hang up when you thought Summer was there?”
She sighed and leaned into him a little more. “Not now, Tris, please.”
“Okay. But-”
“Soon, just…not now.”
He leaned against her head and she felt him smile into her hair. “Okay.”
They sat in silence for a while, hearing only the murmur of voices from the kitchen. It was strange to her that she could feel so relaxed and content after what had happened that night and it wasn’t that she didn’t feel anything, because she did. It didn’t matter that Tristan and his friends didn’t really like Dean and it didn’t matter if she no longer thought Dean was the guy for her. He was her friend, he had been a huge part of her life and he was truly one of the nicest guys she’d ever met. Her mother was right. He’d been the perfect first boyfriend for her and she didn’t want to let that go. Even though she already had. She knew she’d had to, because she wasn’t being fair to him, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with.
Sitting as she was with Tristan, however, made things a little better. She wasn’t ready to analyse things with him just yet, but she was more than happy to admit that she wanted him in her life. She wanted to banter and argue with him and she wanted to be able to sit in contended silence on her couch with nothing else to worry about.
“Can things stay like this?” she murmured.
“Sure,” he said softly. “I might need to petition to take my keys out my back pocket at some point, though,” he said and she chuckled.
“Nope. I’m happy like this.”
“Yeah, me t-”
There was a sudden ringing and Rory jumped. Tristan grunted when her head connected with his eye. She gasped and he chuckled, letting go of her hand to rub at his eye. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and groaned before answering.
“Jason,” he said, resignedly. Rory watched as he shifted and pulled his keys out of his back pocket, listening to everything his brother was ranting about at the other end of the phone.
“Fine,” Tristan said, rolling his eyes. “Put her on. No, I won’t tell y-” he trailed off again, listening, and Rory turned as Max and Lorelai entered the room.
‘You okay,’ her mother mouthed and Rory nodded and smiled at Max, who was looking concerned.
“-then just put her on!” Tristan growled, attracting their attention again. “Fine, just put her on.” There was a moment silence before Tristan visibly relaxed, his shoulders dropping as he smiled. “Hey, Ellie-belle,” he said softly. “No, I’m not mad at you, I promise. I’m sorry I ran out. I told you to go to bed, didn’t I?” There was a pause and Tristan shifted when he realised that Rory was grinning at him. “I promise. No, Rory’s not mad at you either.”
“Can I talk to her?” Rory whispered and he nodded.
“I promise she’s not. Do you want to speak to her? Okay, but you have to be quick, because it’s way past bed time.”
Grinning, Rory took the phone off him and settled against his side again. “Hey Ellie.”
“Hi Rory,” the girl said softly and Rory could tell that she’d been crying.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Are you mad at me, ‘cause I was wrong when I said Summer was here?”
“No,” Rory said, cringing, “I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry.”
“’Cause Tris was real upset when you didn’t speak to him. He wanted to know everything you said and everything I said and I didn’t know, because I thought she came over when I heard him talking to her and I didn’t know he was on the phone and-”
“Ellie, it’s okay! I promise it’s okay. I’m not mad and neither is your brother.”
“That one might not be,” Ellie said softly, “but this one is. Can we swap?”
Rory snickered when she heard Jason chastising his sister. “I think I’ll keep this one, sorry.”
“Only if you keep me, too,” Ellie replied and Rory laughed.
“It’s a deal. But you have to go to bed now. You have school tomorrow and it’s really late.”
“Are you going to bed, too?”
“Yes,” Rory said. “I am.”
“Okay, good night, Rory. Don’t let the bug beds bite!”
Rory frowned. “You mean the bed bugs?”
“Nope!” the girl replied and Rory frowned as Tristan chuckled. She didn’t think he could hear Ellie, but he could clearly tell what they were talking about.
“Okay, good night, Ellie.”
“Can I say night to Tris?”
“Sure you can. Bye.”
Rory handed the phone back to Tristan and waited as he said good night to his little sister. A moment later, she could tell he was speaking to his brother. There was a short, heated exchange before Tristan hung up.
“Everything okay?” Lorelai asked in the silence that followed.
“Yeah, I didn’t realise I’d scared Ellie when I left. I told her to go to bed, but I didn’t realise she hadn’t done it. She told Jason to shut up and go away, because she wasn’t moving from the front door until I got back.”
Rory snickered. “I’ll be he loved that.”
“Spitting bullets, Mary.”
“Bug beds?” Rory asked.
“Sorry, it’s a brother sister thing,” he said with a wink and Rory pouted.
“Well, as much as I hate to interrupt, it’s late and we all have to be up early tomorrow,” Max said, as Lorelai yawned.
It was at that point that Rory noticed they were both ready for bed. She frowned and looked at her watch, her eyes widening. She turned around and smacked Tristan hard on the arm.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“Look at the time! No wonder Ellie and Jason were worried sick.”
“It wasn’t this late when I left,” he said, rubbing his arm. “There was an accident on the road, so I was delayed a bit coming over.”
“He’s also been here about an hour, Rory,” Lorelai pointed out. “You guys have been in here a while.”
Rory frowned. She knew they’d been sitting for some time, but it hadn’t seemed liked that long to her.
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” Tristan said with a frown. “You wanna kiss it better?” he asked, holding his arm out and winking.
“No thanks, I think you should suffer.”
“You wound me, Mary…no, really, you have.”
“Okay, before you guys get started,” Max interrupted. “It’s time to say good night.” As if in response, Rory yawned, setting them all off one at a time.
“See,” Lorelai said, pointing at her Rory. “Contagious!”
Tristan chuckled and got to his feet. “Okay,” he said, picking up his keys and heading for the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said to Max and Rory. “Good night.”
“God, Tristan,” Lorelai said, stopping him in his tracks. “It’s 2am and you’re exhausted. The only directions you’re taking are full turn at the doorway followed by a head on collision with the couch.”
Tristan frowned. “Are you sure?”
“We’re sure,” Max said, going to get blanket from the cupboard.
“I’ll call your brother and let him know,” Lorelai said, holding out her hands. He threw his cell phone to her and she headed for the kitchen.
“I didn’t mean to put you all out,” Tristan said feebly as Max returned with pillows and blankets.
“You’re not,” Rory replied and Max nodded.
“You’re practically part of the décor,” his English teacher said with a smile. “We’ll see you in the morning. Do you have a uniform with you?”
“There’s a spare one in my car for emergencies,” Tristan said, rubbing his eyes. “Lucky I keep one, really,” he said, aiming his statement to Rory.
“That wasn’t my fault!” she cried. “Brian was the one who threw it at you!”
“And I’m sure Brian was the one who had the idea, as well. And I’m sure he was the one who knew what to mix together to make that smell and colour.”
Rory frowned. “Chemistry is Brian’s best subject. He already knew it before I mentioned-” Tristan smirked. “You rat!”
“You just admitted your guilt, Mary, and I have a witness.”
“Who is easily bribed by my charming smile and pleasant nature,” Rory responded, grinning at Max.
“Wow, your brother is a regular Melvin Udall,” Lorelai said as she returned, handing Tristan his phone back.
“More like the Grinch,” he replied, grinning.
“Who’s Melvin Udall?” Max asked, frowning.
“As Good as it Gets?” Lorelai asked, but he shook his head. “We have got to educate this man, Rory.”
“Well, not tonight,” Max said, steering Lorelai towards the stairs. “Both of you get to sleep,” he finished with a smile.
“We will.” Rory smiled. “Good night.”
“Good night, Rory, Tristan.”
“Night,” Tristan called.
Rory smiled as he turned towards her and she impulsively hugged him, “Good night,” she whispered and turned quickly, running into her room.
“Good night, Mary,” he called after her.
She shook her head and took a deep breath, changing and quickly climbing into bed.
A few moments later she heard Lorelai laughing upstairs and it was followed by a loud, “Good night, John Boy!”
Rory chuckled, grinning as she heard Tristan’s laughter floating in from the living room. Her night hadn’t started off well, in fact her whole day had pretty much sucked, however, the evening had finished off better than she could have imagined. It was the first time in a while, she’d fallen asleep smiling.
~x~x~x~x~x~
“Is it always like this?” Tristan asked as he helped himself to some pancakes.
“Every day,” Rory said with a smile as they heard Lorelai and Max mock arguing about breakfast. “He tried to make different things, but we wore him down to pancakes every day. We don’t even have to ask anymore,” she finished with a smile. “But Mom still likes to pretend that he got it wrong and he still plays along until he admits he made pancakes.”
“You eat pancakes every day?” Tristan asked, frowning. “Don’t you get sick of them?”
“He makes different kinds and I think we’ll change our minds next week. We’ll wake up to pancakes and ask for something different. It’s our way.”
Tristan laughed. “Well, I think you’re lucky.” He helped himself to more pancakes and Rory turned as Max came into the room.
“Her highness will be down in a minute.”
Rory grinned. “We’re almost done. Tristan offered to drive me into school.”
“So naturally, you took him up on the offer so you wouldn’t be seen with me this morning,” Max asked, grinning cheekily.
“Well, it doesn’t do much for my coolness factor arrive with my dad every day. Makes me look like a looser.” Rory grinned and took an extra pancake, watching Max out of the corner of her eyes.
She’d worded that statement purposefully. She wanted to see if she could see what everyone else did. She knew that Max appreciated that she thought so much of him and, no, he wasn’t her dad. She already had a dad, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have two and she wanted Max to know that. She’d never call him dad, but she could refer to him as one and she wanted him to act like one, because Christopher couldn’t be there for her. Christopher wasn’t there for her every day. And at that moment, as she surreptitiously studied him, she finally understood what it meant to Max that she let him fill in that role, she could see what everyone else saw, what Tristan had seen. And it made her smile.
“You ready, Tris?” she asked and the boy nodded, not unaware of what had taken place. “See you at school, Max,” she said, nipping into her room and picking up her bag. When she came out, Tristan had already gone to get the rest of his things and Max was still staring at her. Grinning, she hugged him and headed to the door. “Bye.”
“Yeah,” he said softly, still smiling. “See you at school, Rory, Tristan.”
Smiling to herself, Rory took a deep breath and followed Tristan to the door. “See you later, Mom!” she called, shaking her head at Lorelai’s sudden rush down the stairs.
“You were just going to leave?” her mother asked. “Without seeing your only mother? Without talking to her and telling her to have a good day and-”
“Oh, boy,” Rory shook her head and smiled. “Good morning, I’m going to school.”
“Okay, fine.” Lorelai smiled. “Good morning, Greek Boy. See you both later. Bye, babe.”
“Bye.”
They hurried out the door and into Tristan’s car and Rory yawned. “Today is going to be long.”
“Yeah, I think I might nap during geography,” Tristan said with a wry smile, snapping his seatbelt on and starting the engine. “Mrs C. likes me.”
“Not enough to let you sleep.”
“It’s worth a try,” he said, shrugging and pulling out onto the road.
“Is it worth a suspension?”
~x~x~x~x~x~
“What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?”
“No, Madeline, sound affronted, not clueless,” Rory said, trying to ignore the smirk Tristan was sending her way.
“Sorry, I thought that was right. The line was right, though, wasn’t it?”
Rory smiled. “It was great.”
“But it doesn’t feel natural.” Madeline frowned. “Wouldn’t it work better if we were talking like we are now? I mean, isn’t that the point? I thought that was the point. Sorry.”
“No, you’re right.” Rory sighed, glancing at her notes again. They’d been working on the scene every waking moment that wasn’t spent in school. They’d spent weeks trying to get everything to fit together, but, even now that they had edited the script and decided what they wanted to do with it, nothing was coming together the way any of them saw it in their heads.
“Look, I really don’t want to start a fight,” Tristan said, already holding up his hands in a sign of surrender.
“Starting a conversation that way is just asking for one,” Rory pointed out.
“Fair enough, but,” he continued, “it seems to me that Madeline is the one who has the whole picture in her head.”
“I don’t mean to keep interrupting,” the girl said. “I just thought-”
“No, it’s not that,” Tristan assured her. “I Just think that maybe…”
“You think Madeline should direct,” Rory finished and he nodded. “It’s okay, I agree. I’m just not that enamoured with the idea of acting.”
“You want me to direct?” Madeline asked.
“Yeah, I think you know what to do already. You can see it and you know what to do to make it seem more like its modern day.”
“We could change it,” the brunette suggested.
“No, I like the modern day thing, I think it’s a fresh idea. I mean, fresh in that it’s not fishnets and fish tanks and drugs,” Rory finished, shuddering at the idea of redoing the on-screen version. She liked it well enough, it just wasn’t what she had in mind.
“If you’re sure…”
Tristan nodded. “I think we’re sure. If we can get Mary to relax, then we’ll be great.”
Rory mock glared at him. “Maybe it’s just my co star,” she said, making sure to keep her voice light, so as not to touch on the one topic they had avoided in the two weeks since her break up with Dean.
“Mary, you wound me.”
“Okay, I’ll direct.” Madeline nodded and smiled at them, before ushering Rory to take her place and sitting on Rory’s bed with her script. She picked up Rory’s discarded pencil and began to write notes on her script.
“Something tells me we’ve created a monster,” Rory commented and Tristan nodded, pretending to be terrified.
Madeline just grinned. “Okay, so, start again. Rory, sit by the window with your book.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
As they took their places, Rory stared out the window, trying not to think about the fact that she would have to pretend she was in love with Tristan in front of the entire school. She picked up the book Madeline had left there and pretended to leaf through it.
The words seemed to come at the right time, they’d gone through the script often enough that they all knew their version off by heart, and she felt less nervous every time she looked into Tristan’s eyes. Madeline interrupted with comments such as, ‘Rory, try not to move like you’re doing it because I told you to’, ‘make it natural’, ‘I don’t believe you’ and (Rory’s personal favourite) ‘Tristan, if you tap your finger against your arm one more time, I’m going to cut it off’.
They worked through the script so many times, that it almost did feel natural to follow his lead, or to lead him, to pick up her cell phone (well, Tristan’s) when Madeline rang it, and the small almost-arguments felt most natural of all. When they’d finished the script for the fifth time, they mutually agreed to stop.
“Luke’s?” Rory asked and they both nodded in assent. Madeline had been to her house enough that Luke’s was familiar, but not enough that she felt entirely comfortable sitting at the kitchen table with her English teacher. It made Rory appreciate Tristan’s almost instant acceptance of Max all the more.
“We’re going to Luke’s,” Rory called as they entered the living room. Max was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting impatiently for Lorelai.
“Okay. If you could hurry your mother up first, I’d appreciate it.”
“In my sixteen years of life, I have never been able to make Lorelai Gilmore move at any pace other than her own,” Rory said with a smile. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Max said, chuckling. “Do you need money?”
“No, I have change from yesterday.”
“Okay, don’t be too late. Lorelai! You’re going to miss your flight.”
“I’m coming!” Lorelai came hurtling down the stairs, with two suits over her arm. “We’ve been invaded by teenagers again. Max, didn’t I tell you to lock the door?”
“I did,” he replied, taking the suits and putting them in the open case by his feet. “They had a key.”
“Darn, should’ve remembered that one. Hey Tristan, hey Madeline.”
“Hi Lorelai,” they replied in unison.
“Oh, look, some of the Brady bunch came to visit.”
“The Brady bunch?” Tristan winced. “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than The Waltons.”
“Pipe down, John Boy.”
Rory glared at her mother. It didn’t matter that Tristan didn’t get the joke, she wasn’t amused.
Lorelai winked. “Okay, am I ready to go?”
“You’re ready to go,” Max clarified.
“Right. You guys will be okay?” she asked.
“We’ll be fine, right, Rory?”
“Right.”
“Okay,” Lorelai said. “If you’re sure.”
“We’re sure, Mom.”
“Because I can cancel. It’s not like Mia gave me much warning. Stupid convention thing. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing and I have to give a talk? Why me?”
“Because you’re pretty,” Rory said, nodding sagely.
“Well, as long as that’s being recognised, I guess I can go. But I had better hear stories of wild parties and strippers.” She frowned and turned to Max. “But only from Rory, not you. You should be preparing to become a married man.”
“I’m preparing.”
“Good. Now moosh!”
Shaking his head, Max picked up her bags and headed to the door. “Rory, make sure you lock up and don’t be too late.”
“I won’t.” Rory turned to her mother and was instantly wrapped up in a hug.
“Be good, kid.”
“I will.”
“Don’t forget about me.”
Rory frowned. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
Lorelai gasped. “Mean!”
“I’ll see you in three days, Mom.”
“See you soon. Bye Tristan, by Madeline. Bye, babe.” Lorelai ran out the door.
Rory grinned and picked something up from the table. “Five, four, three, two…”
“Shoot!” Lorelai came running back into the house and grabbed her bag from Rory. “Thanks, bye!”
~x~x~x~x~x~
“So you think it’s working?”
“I think it’s working, Madeline,” Rory assured her and Tristan snorted.
“Trust me, you’re a natural. Have you been taking lessons from Paris?”
“Nope,” Madeline grinned. “This is all me.”
“You should think about a career in directing,” Rory said, quickly thanking Luke as he gave them their food.
“I thought you were directing,” Luke asked, frowning.
“I was, but we let Madeline have a go. She’s better.” She turned to her friends. “Luke is a Shakespeare buff.”
“I am not a Shakespeare buff! You know what, I’m leaving, that’s what I’m doing.” Luke turned and walked away as they all laughed.
“So, not long until the dance,” Madeline said, excited. “You’re going together, right?”
“Yeah,” Rory said, trying to ignore the feeling she was getting at the thought of being Tristan’s date for the evening. It was a feeling that had been growing a lot over the last few weeks.
“Who are you going with?” Tristan asked, grinning
“Adam Green,” Madeline said rolling her eyes. “I was supposed to be going with James Clark, but he has glandular fever. It was last minute.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fun.”
There was a sudden cry of “Freedom!” and they all turned to the door, watching bemusedly as Lane ran to the table to join them. She looked around them wide-eyed.
“I’m free,” she said, almost as if she didn’t quite believe it.
“Lane, does your mom know you’re here, or is this a prison break? Should we expect the police at any moment?” Tristan asked.
“No, Mama knows I’m here. She also knows that I’m going to the Chilton dance in two weeks and that I’m dating a potential Korean doctor…and, so far, she hasn’t mentioned wedding bells.”
“That’s great, Lane!” Rory said, leaning over to hug her friend.
“Oh, food!” Lane started to steal food from Rory’s plate and, in turn, Rory stole some from Tristan. When Tristan looked over at Madeline, however, the girl shook her head.
“Don’t even think about it,” she said with a smile.
“I guess I’m going to order more food then,” he said, shaking his head and heading for the counter.
“Hey Madeline,” Lane said with a smile. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. It’s nice to talk to you without Tristan standing guard.”
“It is nice, isn’t it?” Lane said gleefully. “I’m free. Don’t worry, I met Tristan that way, too.”
Madeline frowned. “You mean you didn’t meet Tristan last year?”
“What?” Lane furrowed her brow.
Rory frowned. “That’s right, you already saw Tristan. You already knew what he looked like.”
“When did I meet Tristan before the day he sold his soul to my mother?”
“At Madeline’s party. Remember?” Rory said and Madeline nodded. “He had a huge fight with Summer in the middle of the room.”
“Oh, yeah.” Lane nodded. “You know, all I really remember from that night is Henry.”
“That’s so cute I think I might gag,” Rory said sighing.
“Yes, just don’t tell my mother it’s cute, or there will be wedding bells.”
“Noted.”
Madeline frowned and Lane and Rory followed her gaze. “Rory, I think you might want to go save Tristan.”
“Yeah,” Rory said sighing. “Wish me luck.”
Taking a deep breath, Rory stood up and headed to the counter, all the time trying to figure out what one earth she was going to say to Dean. It would be the first time she’d really spoken to him since that night and she had no idea what she was going to do.
~x~x~x~x~x~
End of Part Thirteen: Thunderbolts and Lightning
~x~x~x~x~x~
Wow, okay, so I got this written in one morning, aren’t you proud? *g* This part was much easier to write now that I’m back in the swing of things. I hope you enjoy and I hope there was enough Tristan to make up for his absence in the previous chapter.
Feel free to leave a wee review ;)
~x~x~x~x~x~
By Kyizi
Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls and all related items do not belong to me. Only the Story and its related original ideas and characters are mine. No copyright infringement intended.
Rating: 12A/PG-13
Spoilers: Season One. This takes place at the end of the summer after the season one finale.
Notes: Okay, so, yeah, thanks so much for the reviews. I’m glad that so many of you have stuck around, despite the huge delay in updates. I know a lot of you weren’t too chuffed with the all Max/Lorelai, where is Tristan chapter, but it really was necessary. Lorelai/Max is a huge part of the storyline and it needed to be addressed in true Lorelai fashion. Hopefully this chapter will make it up to you all!
Previous Chapters
| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 |
~x~x~x~x~x~
Part Thirteen: Thunderbolts and Lightning
~x~x~x~x~x~
Rory frowned and wrapped her arms tighter around her body. She was wearing warm enough clothes, but somehow she felt as if she needed the protection. Taking one last deep breath, she picked up a small stone and threw it at Dean’s window. She missed entirely.
“Damn it,” she muttered, picking up a few more stones and throwing them one at a time. When she realised that she wasn’t really getting anywhere, she eyed the tree warily and decided to chance her luck and just climb it. It wouldn’t be the first time, after all.
When she reached the top, she debated climbing back down. Suddenly what she was about to do seemed so much scarier when she was perched at the top of a tree with no easy escape route. Bracing herself, she tapped the window. A moment later she heard the volume of Dean’s television go down and lightly tapped again.
When he pulled back the curtain, he didn’t smile. Instead he frowned and looked past her down to the street, as if he was looking for something. Seeming satisfied, he opened the window, but didn’t invite her in.
“You didn’t bring the accountant this time?” he asked icily.
This really wasn’t going the way she’d hoped.
“Tristan and I aren’t talking at the moment and even if we were I wouldn’t bring him here.”
“Rory, you brought him here last night.”
“No,” she said frowning. “He dropped me off last night after an awful day in New York, where we spent the entire time arguing. Dean, I didn’t come here to talk about Tristan.”
“Then why did you come, Rory?” he asked, sighing. “Because it seems to me that all we do now is talk about him.”
“You mean argue?”
Dean smiled a little. “Yeah, okay, argue.”
“Tristan seems to be the only thing we argue about anymore.” Rory waited to see if he would get what she was talking about.
“What does that mean?”
“Dean, I just…we never have friendly arguments anymore. We don’t fight about what movies to see, or what food we want to eat, or even pizza toppings,” she said, trying not to let her mind wander to the last argument she’d had about that very thing.
“And that’s my fault?”
“No, Dean, it’s not your fault. I just…why is it so different? Why can’t things go back to the way they were?”
Dean sighed and leaned against the window ledge. “I don’t know, Rory. I’ve only ever wanted to make you happy.”
She smiled. “I know that. I like that. But couples are supposed to fight about silly things and we don’t anymore. It’s like we’re both too scared to upset each other and I just…I don’t want a Stepford boyfriend, Dean.”
“Right.” Dean stood up and let out a breath. “I get where this is going.”
“Dean-”
“No, Rory, it’s fine. You did what you came to do. You successfully broke up with me again. That’s fine.”
“You broke up with me the last time!”
“Because I told you I loved you and you just sat there!”
“I didn’t know what to do!”
Dean nodded. “I guess that really should have been answer enough. I should never have come to Chilton that day, should I?”
Rory sniffed and looked down, trying not to let him see the tears that were streaming down her face. “I think I’m going to go.”
“I think you should.”
She turned to climb down the tree again, pausing when she heard him let out a breath and felt his hand grip her arm. She turned around to find him regarding her with and almost-smile.
“Rory, I…I don’t want this to be like last time. I’m angry just now, because, whether you want to admit it or not, this has something to do with Tristan. But I don’t want to ignore you and I don’t want you hiding from me. I just…give me some time and then maybe we could try being friends? Who knows, maybe one day we could try again.”
Rory smiled and swiped the tears from her cheeks. “I’d like that. I like being friends with you.”
“Just give me some time.”
“I will.”
Dean nodded and turned to glance at the door. “I think there’s someone coming.”
“Okay, bye.”
She climbed slowly down the tree as Dean closed the window behind her. When she made it down to the street again, she glanced up to see his light snap off. There were shadows flitting across his curtains from the television, but Rory didn’t stand around watching for much longer.
She had another person she needed to speak to.
Hurrying through the almost empty streets of Stars Hollow, Rory quickened her pace the closer she got to home. When she jogged up the steps to her house, she wasn’t surprised to see her mother and Max sitting on the porch swing, making out like teenagers.
“Oh my God, you owe me so much therapy!” she called as she entered the house. She couldn’t make out what her mother shouted back, but smiled as she picked up the telephone and made her way into her room.
She kicked the door closed and walked over to lie on her bed, dialling his number as she went. After a few rings, there was a cheery voice answering at the other end.
“Hey Ellie, it’s Rory, Tristan’s friend. What are you doing up at this time?”
“Hi Rory! Mom and Daddy are away and Jason’s in the study pretending to be Daddy. I’m hiding from Anya!”
Rory smiled, knowing that Anya (the maid who was in charge of Ellie) was likely running around in a flap. “Maybe you should let Anya know where you are, Ellie, it’s late.”
“You sound like Tris.”
“Speaking of your brother, do you know where he is?”
“Yeah, he’s in his room with Summer.”
Rory felt her heart plummet. He was with Summer and she had just dumped her boyfriend. She was truly alone. She hadn’t planned to start dating Tristan, no matter what anyone else thought, but she truly loved having him as a friend and, with Summer back in the picture, there was no way Rory was going to be kept around.
Ellie was still talking to her and Rory had barely realised that the phone was being handed to Tristan when she muttered, “sorry,” and hung up.
She curled into a ball and threw the phone across the room, tucking her head under the pillow and ignoring the world. No matter what else had happened, she had dumped her boyfriend. She deserved a little time to wallow.
~x~x~x~x~x~
Rory’s eyes fluttered open when she registered a dip in the bed beside her. Her face felt puffy and her eyes were crusted shut in the corners. Basically, she felt like death warmed up and she didn’t want to talk to anyone. Seeing Lorelai’s concerned face, however, she took a deep breath and smiled wanly.
“I broke up with Dean.”
“Oh, sweetie, how are you holding up?”
Rubbing away the sleep from her eyes, Rory took a moment to think and, when she realised that the boy her thoughts were resting on wasn’t Dean, she sighed.
“I’m okay. We’re going to try to be friends when he’s not angry anymore. I really hurt him.”
“I think you both hurt each other. Rory, he wanted more than you were willing to offer and I bet if he was being honest, he’d admit that he already knew that.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Now, do you want to tell me why Greek Boy is currently doing the fandango in our living room, because it is very, very frightening me.”
“Tristan’s here?”
“Came hurtling through the night like a bat out of hell.”
“Oh, boy, are you done yet?”
“As soon as you can tell me why Greek Boy decided to run to the hills.”
Rory groaned. “Stop.”
“Tell me why he’s here.”
“He’s out there waiting.”
Lorelai smiled. “Then be quick.”
She sighed. “I wanted to apologise for being so snippy and to tell him that I wanted to go back to being friends. And…I though I should tell him that I’d broken up with Dean.”
“So you really broke up with Dean,” Lorelai said, squeezing her knee.
“Yeah.”
“How’d that go? Really.”
Rory shrugged. “Okay. I think he’s more angry because he thinks it has something to do with Tristan.”
“Hon, I think he might be right.”
“Mom, not now, please?”
“Okay,” Lorelai said, nodding. “So you came back to call Tristan and tell him you’d broken up with Dean, even though he apparently had nothing to do with it.”
“Mom.”
“Sorry. And?”
“Ellie answered the phone. She told me he was in his bedroom with Summer.”
“That stupid bint who dumped him last year and threatened you last week.”
“Bint? Mom, you have got to stop watching Buffy.”
“But Spike has that hot British accent and he gets to use cool words like ‘wanker’.”
“Which just sound silly unless you’re British.” Rory frowned. “Is Max with him?”
“With Spike? Oh, Rory, do I have to give you the ‘TV isn’t real’ talk again?”
“I gave you that talk. You tried to tell me it was real. For years.”
“I’m a cool mom.”
“Yes, you’re a cool mom,” Rory said smiling. “Is Max with Tristan?”
“Yeah, I left him with the caged animal. I hope he doesn’t get cat scratch fever.”
“Oh God, I’m going,” Rory said, standing up and heading to the door. “Just stop with the songs.”
“Wait, I didn’t work tush in yet!” Lorelai called after her.
Rory felt nervous as she walked into the living room. She instantly caught sight of Tristan, who was pacing the floor like a caged animal. She smiled briefly at Max, but wasn’t given the chance to say anything as Tristan spotted her.
”Rory, Summer wasn’t in my house.”
Rory blinked. She glanced at Max, who smiled and walked past her to the kitchen, squeezing her shoulder on the way. She smiled at him gratefully as she heard her mother calling him.
Turning her attention back to Tristan, she realised that he looked rather untidy. His shirt was un-tucked, his hair was wet and messy and he had a frantic edge to him that she wasn’t sure she had ever seen before.
“Rory,” he said again. “I swear, Summer wasn’t in my house. Ellie heard me talking to her on the phone earlier. She asked if she could come ‘round and I said no. I just got out of the shower when Ellie came in with the phone.”
“Oh.” Rory cleared her throat. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
Her lips quirked briefly into a smile and she nodded. “Okay.”
Tristan’s whole demeanour changed. His shoulders relaxed and he let out a breath, closing his eyes. Sighing, he flopped back onto the couch and shifted slightly to make room for her. He held out his hand and she took it, letting him pull her onto the couch next to him. They were pressed against each other up her entire left side and she felt utterly content to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. She hadn’t felt this at ease with him since that first weekend and she had missed it. Which, she supposed, was slightly odd since their friendship had only really been in place for a few weeks.
“I broke up with Dean,” she said softly, a few minutes later. She felt him tense and saw him open his eyes to glance at her.
“Oh. You okay?” he asked softly, squeezing her hand.
She hadn’t even realised they were still holding hands. She squeezed back and nodded, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. “I’m okay. We’re going to try to be friends. After he stops being angry and upset.”
“Are you angry and upset?” Tristan asked warily.
“No…just sad. We were together for a long time and he’s a good friend. I know you don’t like him, but I do and I’ll miss him being here.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“Rory?”
“Yeah?”
Tristan cleared his throat. “Why d’you hang up when you thought Summer was there?”
She sighed and leaned into him a little more. “Not now, Tris, please.”
“Okay. But-”
“Soon, just…not now.”
He leaned against her head and she felt him smile into her hair. “Okay.”
They sat in silence for a while, hearing only the murmur of voices from the kitchen. It was strange to her that she could feel so relaxed and content after what had happened that night and it wasn’t that she didn’t feel anything, because she did. It didn’t matter that Tristan and his friends didn’t really like Dean and it didn’t matter if she no longer thought Dean was the guy for her. He was her friend, he had been a huge part of her life and he was truly one of the nicest guys she’d ever met. Her mother was right. He’d been the perfect first boyfriend for her and she didn’t want to let that go. Even though she already had. She knew she’d had to, because she wasn’t being fair to him, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with.
Sitting as she was with Tristan, however, made things a little better. She wasn’t ready to analyse things with him just yet, but she was more than happy to admit that she wanted him in her life. She wanted to banter and argue with him and she wanted to be able to sit in contended silence on her couch with nothing else to worry about.
“Can things stay like this?” she murmured.
“Sure,” he said softly. “I might need to petition to take my keys out my back pocket at some point, though,” he said and she chuckled.
“Nope. I’m happy like this.”
“Yeah, me t-”
There was a sudden ringing and Rory jumped. Tristan grunted when her head connected with his eye. She gasped and he chuckled, letting go of her hand to rub at his eye. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and groaned before answering.
“Jason,” he said, resignedly. Rory watched as he shifted and pulled his keys out of his back pocket, listening to everything his brother was ranting about at the other end of the phone.
“Fine,” Tristan said, rolling his eyes. “Put her on. No, I won’t tell y-” he trailed off again, listening, and Rory turned as Max and Lorelai entered the room.
‘You okay,’ her mother mouthed and Rory nodded and smiled at Max, who was looking concerned.
“-then just put her on!” Tristan growled, attracting their attention again. “Fine, just put her on.” There was a moment silence before Tristan visibly relaxed, his shoulders dropping as he smiled. “Hey, Ellie-belle,” he said softly. “No, I’m not mad at you, I promise. I’m sorry I ran out. I told you to go to bed, didn’t I?” There was a pause and Tristan shifted when he realised that Rory was grinning at him. “I promise. No, Rory’s not mad at you either.”
“Can I talk to her?” Rory whispered and he nodded.
“I promise she’s not. Do you want to speak to her? Okay, but you have to be quick, because it’s way past bed time.”
Grinning, Rory took the phone off him and settled against his side again. “Hey Ellie.”
“Hi Rory,” the girl said softly and Rory could tell that she’d been crying.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Are you mad at me, ‘cause I was wrong when I said Summer was here?”
“No,” Rory said, cringing, “I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry.”
“’Cause Tris was real upset when you didn’t speak to him. He wanted to know everything you said and everything I said and I didn’t know, because I thought she came over when I heard him talking to her and I didn’t know he was on the phone and-”
“Ellie, it’s okay! I promise it’s okay. I’m not mad and neither is your brother.”
“That one might not be,” Ellie said softly, “but this one is. Can we swap?”
Rory snickered when she heard Jason chastising his sister. “I think I’ll keep this one, sorry.”
“Only if you keep me, too,” Ellie replied and Rory laughed.
“It’s a deal. But you have to go to bed now. You have school tomorrow and it’s really late.”
“Are you going to bed, too?”
“Yes,” Rory said. “I am.”
“Okay, good night, Rory. Don’t let the bug beds bite!”
Rory frowned. “You mean the bed bugs?”
“Nope!” the girl replied and Rory frowned as Tristan chuckled. She didn’t think he could hear Ellie, but he could clearly tell what they were talking about.
“Okay, good night, Ellie.”
“Can I say night to Tris?”
“Sure you can. Bye.”
Rory handed the phone back to Tristan and waited as he said good night to his little sister. A moment later, she could tell he was speaking to his brother. There was a short, heated exchange before Tristan hung up.
“Everything okay?” Lorelai asked in the silence that followed.
“Yeah, I didn’t realise I’d scared Ellie when I left. I told her to go to bed, but I didn’t realise she hadn’t done it. She told Jason to shut up and go away, because she wasn’t moving from the front door until I got back.”
Rory snickered. “I’ll be he loved that.”
“Spitting bullets, Mary.”
“Bug beds?” Rory asked.
“Sorry, it’s a brother sister thing,” he said with a wink and Rory pouted.
“Well, as much as I hate to interrupt, it’s late and we all have to be up early tomorrow,” Max said, as Lorelai yawned.
It was at that point that Rory noticed they were both ready for bed. She frowned and looked at her watch, her eyes widening. She turned around and smacked Tristan hard on the arm.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“Look at the time! No wonder Ellie and Jason were worried sick.”
“It wasn’t this late when I left,” he said, rubbing his arm. “There was an accident on the road, so I was delayed a bit coming over.”
“He’s also been here about an hour, Rory,” Lorelai pointed out. “You guys have been in here a while.”
Rory frowned. She knew they’d been sitting for some time, but it hadn’t seemed liked that long to her.
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” Tristan said with a frown. “You wanna kiss it better?” he asked, holding his arm out and winking.
“No thanks, I think you should suffer.”
“You wound me, Mary…no, really, you have.”
“Okay, before you guys get started,” Max interrupted. “It’s time to say good night.” As if in response, Rory yawned, setting them all off one at a time.
“See,” Lorelai said, pointing at her Rory. “Contagious!”
Tristan chuckled and got to his feet. “Okay,” he said, picking up his keys and heading for the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said to Max and Rory. “Good night.”
“God, Tristan,” Lorelai said, stopping him in his tracks. “It’s 2am and you’re exhausted. The only directions you’re taking are full turn at the doorway followed by a head on collision with the couch.”
Tristan frowned. “Are you sure?”
“We’re sure,” Max said, going to get blanket from the cupboard.
“I’ll call your brother and let him know,” Lorelai said, holding out her hands. He threw his cell phone to her and she headed for the kitchen.
“I didn’t mean to put you all out,” Tristan said feebly as Max returned with pillows and blankets.
“You’re not,” Rory replied and Max nodded.
“You’re practically part of the décor,” his English teacher said with a smile. “We’ll see you in the morning. Do you have a uniform with you?”
“There’s a spare one in my car for emergencies,” Tristan said, rubbing his eyes. “Lucky I keep one, really,” he said, aiming his statement to Rory.
“That wasn’t my fault!” she cried. “Brian was the one who threw it at you!”
“And I’m sure Brian was the one who had the idea, as well. And I’m sure he was the one who knew what to mix together to make that smell and colour.”
Rory frowned. “Chemistry is Brian’s best subject. He already knew it before I mentioned-” Tristan smirked. “You rat!”
“You just admitted your guilt, Mary, and I have a witness.”
“Who is easily bribed by my charming smile and pleasant nature,” Rory responded, grinning at Max.
“Wow, your brother is a regular Melvin Udall,” Lorelai said as she returned, handing Tristan his phone back.
“More like the Grinch,” he replied, grinning.
“Who’s Melvin Udall?” Max asked, frowning.
“As Good as it Gets?” Lorelai asked, but he shook his head. “We have got to educate this man, Rory.”
“Well, not tonight,” Max said, steering Lorelai towards the stairs. “Both of you get to sleep,” he finished with a smile.
“We will.” Rory smiled. “Good night.”
“Good night, Rory, Tristan.”
“Night,” Tristan called.
Rory smiled as he turned towards her and she impulsively hugged him, “Good night,” she whispered and turned quickly, running into her room.
“Good night, Mary,” he called after her.
She shook her head and took a deep breath, changing and quickly climbing into bed.
A few moments later she heard Lorelai laughing upstairs and it was followed by a loud, “Good night, John Boy!”
Rory chuckled, grinning as she heard Tristan’s laughter floating in from the living room. Her night hadn’t started off well, in fact her whole day had pretty much sucked, however, the evening had finished off better than she could have imagined. It was the first time in a while, she’d fallen asleep smiling.
~x~x~x~x~x~
“Is it always like this?” Tristan asked as he helped himself to some pancakes.
“Every day,” Rory said with a smile as they heard Lorelai and Max mock arguing about breakfast. “He tried to make different things, but we wore him down to pancakes every day. We don’t even have to ask anymore,” she finished with a smile. “But Mom still likes to pretend that he got it wrong and he still plays along until he admits he made pancakes.”
“You eat pancakes every day?” Tristan asked, frowning. “Don’t you get sick of them?”
“He makes different kinds and I think we’ll change our minds next week. We’ll wake up to pancakes and ask for something different. It’s our way.”
Tristan laughed. “Well, I think you’re lucky.” He helped himself to more pancakes and Rory turned as Max came into the room.
“Her highness will be down in a minute.”
Rory grinned. “We’re almost done. Tristan offered to drive me into school.”
“So naturally, you took him up on the offer so you wouldn’t be seen with me this morning,” Max asked, grinning cheekily.
“Well, it doesn’t do much for my coolness factor arrive with my dad every day. Makes me look like a looser.” Rory grinned and took an extra pancake, watching Max out of the corner of her eyes.
She’d worded that statement purposefully. She wanted to see if she could see what everyone else did. She knew that Max appreciated that she thought so much of him and, no, he wasn’t her dad. She already had a dad, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have two and she wanted Max to know that. She’d never call him dad, but she could refer to him as one and she wanted him to act like one, because Christopher couldn’t be there for her. Christopher wasn’t there for her every day. And at that moment, as she surreptitiously studied him, she finally understood what it meant to Max that she let him fill in that role, she could see what everyone else saw, what Tristan had seen. And it made her smile.
“You ready, Tris?” she asked and the boy nodded, not unaware of what had taken place. “See you at school, Max,” she said, nipping into her room and picking up her bag. When she came out, Tristan had already gone to get the rest of his things and Max was still staring at her. Grinning, she hugged him and headed to the door. “Bye.”
“Yeah,” he said softly, still smiling. “See you at school, Rory, Tristan.”
Smiling to herself, Rory took a deep breath and followed Tristan to the door. “See you later, Mom!” she called, shaking her head at Lorelai’s sudden rush down the stairs.
“You were just going to leave?” her mother asked. “Without seeing your only mother? Without talking to her and telling her to have a good day and-”
“Oh, boy,” Rory shook her head and smiled. “Good morning, I’m going to school.”
“Okay, fine.” Lorelai smiled. “Good morning, Greek Boy. See you both later. Bye, babe.”
“Bye.”
They hurried out the door and into Tristan’s car and Rory yawned. “Today is going to be long.”
“Yeah, I think I might nap during geography,” Tristan said with a wry smile, snapping his seatbelt on and starting the engine. “Mrs C. likes me.”
“Not enough to let you sleep.”
“It’s worth a try,” he said, shrugging and pulling out onto the road.
“Is it worth a suspension?”
~x~x~x~x~x~
“What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?”
“No, Madeline, sound affronted, not clueless,” Rory said, trying to ignore the smirk Tristan was sending her way.
“Sorry, I thought that was right. The line was right, though, wasn’t it?”
Rory smiled. “It was great.”
“But it doesn’t feel natural.” Madeline frowned. “Wouldn’t it work better if we were talking like we are now? I mean, isn’t that the point? I thought that was the point. Sorry.”
“No, you’re right.” Rory sighed, glancing at her notes again. They’d been working on the scene every waking moment that wasn’t spent in school. They’d spent weeks trying to get everything to fit together, but, even now that they had edited the script and decided what they wanted to do with it, nothing was coming together the way any of them saw it in their heads.
“Look, I really don’t want to start a fight,” Tristan said, already holding up his hands in a sign of surrender.
“Starting a conversation that way is just asking for one,” Rory pointed out.
“Fair enough, but,” he continued, “it seems to me that Madeline is the one who has the whole picture in her head.”
“I don’t mean to keep interrupting,” the girl said. “I just thought-”
“No, it’s not that,” Tristan assured her. “I Just think that maybe…”
“You think Madeline should direct,” Rory finished and he nodded. “It’s okay, I agree. I’m just not that enamoured with the idea of acting.”
“You want me to direct?” Madeline asked.
“Yeah, I think you know what to do already. You can see it and you know what to do to make it seem more like its modern day.”
“We could change it,” the brunette suggested.
“No, I like the modern day thing, I think it’s a fresh idea. I mean, fresh in that it’s not fishnets and fish tanks and drugs,” Rory finished, shuddering at the idea of redoing the on-screen version. She liked it well enough, it just wasn’t what she had in mind.
“If you’re sure…”
Tristan nodded. “I think we’re sure. If we can get Mary to relax, then we’ll be great.”
Rory mock glared at him. “Maybe it’s just my co star,” she said, making sure to keep her voice light, so as not to touch on the one topic they had avoided in the two weeks since her break up with Dean.
“Mary, you wound me.”
“Okay, I’ll direct.” Madeline nodded and smiled at them, before ushering Rory to take her place and sitting on Rory’s bed with her script. She picked up Rory’s discarded pencil and began to write notes on her script.
“Something tells me we’ve created a monster,” Rory commented and Tristan nodded, pretending to be terrified.
Madeline just grinned. “Okay, so, start again. Rory, sit by the window with your book.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
As they took their places, Rory stared out the window, trying not to think about the fact that she would have to pretend she was in love with Tristan in front of the entire school. She picked up the book Madeline had left there and pretended to leaf through it.
The words seemed to come at the right time, they’d gone through the script often enough that they all knew their version off by heart, and she felt less nervous every time she looked into Tristan’s eyes. Madeline interrupted with comments such as, ‘Rory, try not to move like you’re doing it because I told you to’, ‘make it natural’, ‘I don’t believe you’ and (Rory’s personal favourite) ‘Tristan, if you tap your finger against your arm one more time, I’m going to cut it off’.
They worked through the script so many times, that it almost did feel natural to follow his lead, or to lead him, to pick up her cell phone (well, Tristan’s) when Madeline rang it, and the small almost-arguments felt most natural of all. When they’d finished the script for the fifth time, they mutually agreed to stop.
“Luke’s?” Rory asked and they both nodded in assent. Madeline had been to her house enough that Luke’s was familiar, but not enough that she felt entirely comfortable sitting at the kitchen table with her English teacher. It made Rory appreciate Tristan’s almost instant acceptance of Max all the more.
“We’re going to Luke’s,” Rory called as they entered the living room. Max was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting impatiently for Lorelai.
“Okay. If you could hurry your mother up first, I’d appreciate it.”
“In my sixteen years of life, I have never been able to make Lorelai Gilmore move at any pace other than her own,” Rory said with a smile. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Max said, chuckling. “Do you need money?”
“No, I have change from yesterday.”
“Okay, don’t be too late. Lorelai! You’re going to miss your flight.”
“I’m coming!” Lorelai came hurtling down the stairs, with two suits over her arm. “We’ve been invaded by teenagers again. Max, didn’t I tell you to lock the door?”
“I did,” he replied, taking the suits and putting them in the open case by his feet. “They had a key.”
“Darn, should’ve remembered that one. Hey Tristan, hey Madeline.”
“Hi Lorelai,” they replied in unison.
“Oh, look, some of the Brady bunch came to visit.”
“The Brady bunch?” Tristan winced. “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than The Waltons.”
“Pipe down, John Boy.”
Rory glared at her mother. It didn’t matter that Tristan didn’t get the joke, she wasn’t amused.
Lorelai winked. “Okay, am I ready to go?”
“You’re ready to go,” Max clarified.
“Right. You guys will be okay?” she asked.
“We’ll be fine, right, Rory?”
“Right.”
“Okay,” Lorelai said. “If you’re sure.”
“We’re sure, Mom.”
“Because I can cancel. It’s not like Mia gave me much warning. Stupid convention thing. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be doing and I have to give a talk? Why me?”
“Because you’re pretty,” Rory said, nodding sagely.
“Well, as long as that’s being recognised, I guess I can go. But I had better hear stories of wild parties and strippers.” She frowned and turned to Max. “But only from Rory, not you. You should be preparing to become a married man.”
“I’m preparing.”
“Good. Now moosh!”
Shaking his head, Max picked up her bags and headed to the door. “Rory, make sure you lock up and don’t be too late.”
“I won’t.” Rory turned to her mother and was instantly wrapped up in a hug.
“Be good, kid.”
“I will.”
“Don’t forget about me.”
Rory frowned. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
Lorelai gasped. “Mean!”
“I’ll see you in three days, Mom.”
“See you soon. Bye Tristan, by Madeline. Bye, babe.” Lorelai ran out the door.
Rory grinned and picked something up from the table. “Five, four, three, two…”
“Shoot!” Lorelai came running back into the house and grabbed her bag from Rory. “Thanks, bye!”
~x~x~x~x~x~
“So you think it’s working?”
“I think it’s working, Madeline,” Rory assured her and Tristan snorted.
“Trust me, you’re a natural. Have you been taking lessons from Paris?”
“Nope,” Madeline grinned. “This is all me.”
“You should think about a career in directing,” Rory said, quickly thanking Luke as he gave them their food.
“I thought you were directing,” Luke asked, frowning.
“I was, but we let Madeline have a go. She’s better.” She turned to her friends. “Luke is a Shakespeare buff.”
“I am not a Shakespeare buff! You know what, I’m leaving, that’s what I’m doing.” Luke turned and walked away as they all laughed.
“So, not long until the dance,” Madeline said, excited. “You’re going together, right?”
“Yeah,” Rory said, trying to ignore the feeling she was getting at the thought of being Tristan’s date for the evening. It was a feeling that had been growing a lot over the last few weeks.
“Who are you going with?” Tristan asked, grinning
“Adam Green,” Madeline said rolling her eyes. “I was supposed to be going with James Clark, but he has glandular fever. It was last minute.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fun.”
There was a sudden cry of “Freedom!” and they all turned to the door, watching bemusedly as Lane ran to the table to join them. She looked around them wide-eyed.
“I’m free,” she said, almost as if she didn’t quite believe it.
“Lane, does your mom know you’re here, or is this a prison break? Should we expect the police at any moment?” Tristan asked.
“No, Mama knows I’m here. She also knows that I’m going to the Chilton dance in two weeks and that I’m dating a potential Korean doctor…and, so far, she hasn’t mentioned wedding bells.”
“That’s great, Lane!” Rory said, leaning over to hug her friend.
“Oh, food!” Lane started to steal food from Rory’s plate and, in turn, Rory stole some from Tristan. When Tristan looked over at Madeline, however, the girl shook her head.
“Don’t even think about it,” she said with a smile.
“I guess I’m going to order more food then,” he said, shaking his head and heading for the counter.
“Hey Madeline,” Lane said with a smile. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. It’s nice to talk to you without Tristan standing guard.”
“It is nice, isn’t it?” Lane said gleefully. “I’m free. Don’t worry, I met Tristan that way, too.”
Madeline frowned. “You mean you didn’t meet Tristan last year?”
“What?” Lane furrowed her brow.
Rory frowned. “That’s right, you already saw Tristan. You already knew what he looked like.”
“When did I meet Tristan before the day he sold his soul to my mother?”
“At Madeline’s party. Remember?” Rory said and Madeline nodded. “He had a huge fight with Summer in the middle of the room.”
“Oh, yeah.” Lane nodded. “You know, all I really remember from that night is Henry.”
“That’s so cute I think I might gag,” Rory said sighing.
“Yes, just don’t tell my mother it’s cute, or there will be wedding bells.”
“Noted.”
Madeline frowned and Lane and Rory followed her gaze. “Rory, I think you might want to go save Tristan.”
“Yeah,” Rory said sighing. “Wish me luck.”
Taking a deep breath, Rory stood up and headed to the counter, all the time trying to figure out what one earth she was going to say to Dean. It would be the first time she’d really spoken to him since that night and she had no idea what she was going to do.
~x~x~x~x~x~
End of Part Thirteen: Thunderbolts and Lightning
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Wow, okay, so I got this written in one morning, aren’t you proud? *g* This part was much easier to write now that I’m back in the swing of things. I hope you enjoy and I hope there was enough Tristan to make up for his absence in the previous chapter.
Feel free to leave a wee review ;)
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