Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.

Five Years Later

Five years had passed since Tristan and Rory had moved to North Carolina. They had lived within five miles of Olivia in Wilmington their first two years. After Olivia retired and moved to Ohio to be closer to Callen they settled down in Raleigh. The kids loved living so close to the beach and Rory had been able to find work fairly easily after staying home with their daughter Lilly for three years.

Maddie was days away from graduating high school and had recently been accepted to Vassar. Tristan couldn't believe that he had been a father for eighteen years. It seemed like just yesterday that he was comforting Maddie after having a nightmare. The days of chasing monsters from her closest with a flashlight were gone but now he had fourteen years of child rearing to get through.

Jake and Aiden had taken to the idea of having a little sister pretty easily. Lilly was a curious little girl like her older brothers and they were happy to indulge her and give her whatever she wanted. Lorelai marveled at how much Lilly reminded her of Rory and she was glad to know that there was not a Lorelai Dugray in the world; three Lorelai's in one family was enough.

Lorelai had sold her half of the Inn to Michele not long after Rory left for North Carolina. She and Luke live on Wrightsville Beach where Luke has opened another Luke's. With the boys out of the house and finding their own paths Loerlai and Luke now had time to focus on themselves; which was a change for them

Emily had died the year before of pancreatic cancer. Jess, Casey, Skylar, and Sean still lived in Stars Hallow where Jess and Casey ran the original Luke's. Skylar had had a cancer relapse at fifteen and was finally starting to feel like herself again. Jess and Casey want to keep her close to New York because that was where they felt the best doctors to help her were.

Tristan had opened his own law office and had a few partners. He wanted to keep things small so that he could spend more time at home. Rory worked for the largest newspaper in both of the Carolina's as a lifestyles reporter. They were both doing what they loved and felt like leaving New York was the right decision for their family.

The whole family was planning on attending Maddie's graduation. Rachel's mom and sister were driving down and planned to stay with Jonathan and Jess, Casey, and the kids were staying with Luke and Lorelai. Tristan and Rory were planning a suprise party for Maddie so Lorelai and Luke were going to take Maddie out to lunch while everyone else got everything ready.

On the day of Maddie's graduation the sky was so dark that it was almost black. Since it was an outdoor ceremony everyone was worried that it would be moved inside at the last minute. Maddie worried that it was a bad omen.

"You didn't know? It means that you're going to flunk out of college and you'll be stuck living with Dad and Mom for the rest of your life. You'll be a cat lady," Jake chided her.

"Dad!" Maddie said exasperatingly.

"Jake, come on; leave your sister alone. Give her a break," Tristan called from the other end of the house.

The ten year old ran down the hall laughing manically. Maddie scoffed before turning on her heel to go back to her room then slammed the door.

"It's another day in the Dugray house, nothing major," Tristan said to Rory as she stepped out of their bathroom.

"Who's tormenting who this time?"

"The usual suspect has taken aim at his older sister. Some days I want to buy that kid a shock collar," he said with a sigh.

"There is someone else we know who was twice as bad at that age," she reminded him.

Tristan scoffed as he pulled a tie from the closet. Rory took the tie from him and tied it for him before pressing her lips to his gently. She may not have known him as a child but she Megan, Bill, and his mom had told her horror stories of Tristan sneaking out, getting caught smoking and being brought home by the cops all before he was fifteen. He would make damn sure that Jake didn't end up like him.

XXXX

Tristan aimed his camera at Maddie as she stood in line waiting her turn to walk across the stage to get her diploma. The family was down in front so there was no chance that Maddie wouldn't see them as she got closer. Maddie crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue just as Tristan pressed the button to take the picture. He shook his head with a smile then showed the picture to Rory. She giggled before waving at Maddie who was passing them. Lilly reached a hand out for her from Lorelai's arms and Maddie touched hands with her, smiling sentimentally.

Less than a minute later Maddie was at the bottom of the stairs and the person ahead of her was walking across the stage.

"Madalynne Genevieve Dugray," the principle called.

Maddie walked across the stage slowly so that everyone could get pictures while Jake, Aiden, and Lilly made more noise than humanly possible. She held up her diploma to show them and Tristan quickly snapped a picture so that she wouldn't hold up the line. Since there were only one hundred and twenty five students graduating that year the ceremony only took an hour.

The dark clouds had passed through and the sun shone making for a beautiful afternoon. Maddie posed for pictures with her siblings then her parents and finally Olivia, Lorelai, and Luke before begging off to see her friends.

"Meet us at the car in half an hour," Lorelai instructed her.

"I will," she called over her shoulder as she ran, her open gown billowing behind her.

"You guys go ahead, you've got a lot to do," Luke said to Rory and Tristan.

Casey and Sean went with them while Jess and Skylar decided to go to lunch with the others. At the house Casey helped Rory decorate while Tristan went to pick up the cake. Rory was wrapping twinkle lights around the light posts that lined the driveway when Tristan pulled up. She had already hung the banner that she had designed herself on the porch. There was laughter and shouting from the back yard where the kids were playing with their dog Louie.

"Do you need any help?" he asked once he was out of the car.

"No, I'm almost done. Let me see the cake," she said brushing her hands together to wipe dirt off of them.

He flipped the lid and she nodded in approval.

"Did you get her favorite ice cream?"

"Coffee flavored Haggen-Daz," he said up a bag for her to see.

She kissed his cheek as he passed her to walk up the stairs to the house. Out back the boys were playing on the trampoline while Lilly played with the dog. Casey had strung streamers from the gate and tealight candles floated in the pool. There were fresh flowers on the table and balloons had been hung from the umbrella.

"Nice work Case," he said in approval.

"You don't the balloons are too much?"

"No."

Rory came out the sliding door to stand behind him. She slippped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his arm. He placed his hands on top of hers before turning his head to brush his lips to hers.

"Eww, Daddy!" Lilly said with a giggle.

"Remind yourself that she won't be this small forever. In ten years from now she'll probably be coming to tell us about her first kiss," Rory said softly.

"And then I'll have to buy another gun," he said flatly.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Rory protested.

"I love you," he said tenderly.

"I love you too."

They watched the kids play knowing that it would onlly be the five of them soon. Tristan was apprehensive about letting Maddie go so far away for college. He knew that she was responsible and that he needed to trust her. She had a good head on her shoulders and rarely ever gave them trouble. She would be just fine.

XXXX

Maddie sat surrounded by her family and friends as her graduation party wound down. She had been surprised to find the brand new car with a ribbon and a giant name tag with her name attatched to it in the driveway when she got home. After taking her friends then her brothers and sister for a drive she finally remembered to thank her parents. The Ford Focus was a sensible, practicle, and reliable car that they felt would last her through college.

Lorelai and Luke had carried on the Gilmore tradition and had given her a string of pearls. Jess and Casey had given her money to go towards her trip to Florida with friends at the end of the summer.

Guests left in groups of two and three until the only people left were Lorelai, Luke, and Olivia. Maddie helped her mom and Lorelai clean up while Tristan, Olivia, and Luke sat on the patio. Tristan watched Maddie as she raked the yard free of debris, trying to remember where the time had gone.

"Watching your first graduate is always the hardest. Just don't do what I did," Olivia warned him.

"What did you do?" Luke asked.

"She uprooted her entire family and moved them here to be closer to John," Tristan said with a chuckle.

"You're not originally from North Carolina?"

"Lord no, I was a California girl until my son told me that he wanted to play basketball for UNC," she said with an exagerated eye roll.

"Was he any good?"

"He played for one season then decided that his heart wasn't in it. Luckily, we had the money to keep him there."

Maddie came to stand in between Tristan and Olivia and they both looked up at her lovingly. She sild into Tristan's lap like she had done so many times before as a child. She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek before resting her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks, Dad," she said.

"For what?"

"For giving me everything that I needed, for knowing when to back away and when to listen."

"You're welcome Mads."

What she had said had given him the reassurance that he needed. After eighteen years of being a parent he finally felt that he was starting to get the hang of things. It wasn't how much money or attention you showered on your children that mattered. It was a culmination of little things that mattered most and they were the things that a child remembered and would pass on to their children. That was something worth remembering.