Friday Morning

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Tristan untangled himself from Rory and rolled towards his nightstand to silence his phone. 6:30.

"Rory, it's time to get up," he whispered as he gently shook her shoulder.

"Five more minutes..." she mumbled.

He smiled. "How about I wake you up when I get back from my run?"

"Yes please." She rolled over and snuggled deeper into the blankets. He considered snuggling up with her and foregoing his run, but his sneakers were calling for him.

The fog was palpable as he ran. He supposed that meant it was actually a mist, and not a fog. The cool weather coupled with the scent of the ocean air helped to clear his head and wake him up. There was no better way to start a work day than with a run along the beach. He'd lived in the neighborhood for long enough that no one noticed him when he was running. If they did, they didn't bother to stop him, they just left him to his thoughts. This morning, those thoughts ran to Rory.

They'd been married almost two full weeks, and they were beginning to find their groove. Especially since she was working on his project. He woke up at 6:30 for his run, and Rory had the intentions of getting up, but some how never made it out of bed. When he got back from his run, he'd make coffee and take her a cup to get her out of bed. She'd gratefully thank him, and drink her coffee while he showered.

She'd shower and he'd get ready for his day, talking to her about the scenes that were coming up or ask her about technique. She'd offer advice if she had any, or encouragement if she didn't. After her shower was finished, he would go check his email while she got dressed. Despite her seeming to take forever to get ready, they were always out the door by 8:00 so they could be to the studio by 9:00.

It didn't matter if they had different call times, Rory would run lines with him or read in his dressing room when she had down time, and he would watch her scenes, making sure none of his coworkers got too fresh when he had downtime.

She was definitely different than he expected on set. She told him she wasn't a prima donna, but he didn't really believe her. Monday, when they'd gotten to the set, Jerry was nervously apologetic to tell Rory that her dressing room wasn't ready. She shrugged and told him not to worry about it, "I'll just share Tristan's." So many people much less successful that she was would have thrown a tantrum about it, or said it was fine but mean the exact opposite. Not Rory, she truly didn't care.

Tristan asked her about it, "you really don't care that your dressing room isn't ready?"

"Why do I need my own dressing room? I have a small part, and we're newlyweds. I'm pretty sure everyone expects us to be glued together. Why waste the space?"

After a day or two, he fully expected her to insist on her own space. The following day, Jerry informed her that her dressing room was ready, and she thanked him politely but told him she didn't need it.

They had spent 95 percent of their time together in the last week, and hadn't exploded. This isn't to say everything was perfect. Of course it wasn't. They bickered. They always had, and likely always would. After a particularly trying scene, Tristan had offered some less than constructive criticism, and she'd stopped speaking to him for the remainder of the afternoon. That wasn't anything that didn't usually happen on a film set. But everything was progressing rather smoothly. They worked during the day, and at night they'd either go out to eat or eat something that Mandy had left for them in the refrigerator. Rory still didn't cook, but at least she was learning her way around the kitchen, and knew how to set a table.

This weekend would be different though. Tristan ran a little faster to try and work off the nervous energy. Her father was coming in to town tonight, and they were hosting a dinner party on Saturday night. She'd invited Marty, Paris, and Lane and Zach, along with her father. He was going to be seriously outnumbered, and at this point he was just grateful Jess wasn't going to be in town. Tristan had a feeling he would be under the microscope for the next 48 hours.

He ran just a little bit faster.

When he reached the gate back into his yard he practically collapsed into the sand trying to catch his breath. A quick glance at his watch told him he'd shaved several minutes off his time. Tristan usually ran at a steady pace - not trying to win a race or exhaust himself, he tended run about a 10 minute mile. This morning he'd run three miles in less than 25 minutes. He grasped the gate to pull himself upright and continued to pant.

HOMH-HOMH-HOMH-HOMH

Rory had rolled over to go back to sleep when Tristan slid out of bed, but some reason, this morning sleep was eluding her. Her father would be touching down in less than 12 hours. She and Tristan had been doing pretty well for the last week, and had grown quite comfortable in each others presence, but she wasn't sure it would stand up to parental scrutiny. Let alone her dad and all of their co-conspirators. Maybe this dinner party was a bad idea. Once the drinks began to flow, someone was bound to slip up and spill the beans. She squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. Rory Gilmore had a very bad feeling about this weekend.

HOMH-HOMH-HOMH-HOMH

Tristan toed off his sandy sneakers and headed into the kitchen to pour Rory a cup of coffee. He added her preferred amount of cream and sugar and climbed the stairs to the bedroom. A smile played on his lips as he passed the door to Rory's room. She hadn't slept there in a week. She hadn't made any mention of moving her stuff into his room, but he didn't really have enough closet space for it anyhow.

When he nudged the bedroom door open, he was surprised to find the bed empty and hear the shower running. "Rory?" he called out. Receiving no response, he set the cup of coffee on the closest nightstand and went into the bathroom.

The mirrors were foggy, so the shower had been running for a while. "Rory?" he repeated.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"Why are you up so early?" His surprise was evident in his tone.

She sighed deeply. "Couldn't sleep."

"Nervous about this weekend?"

"Yes! Maybe this dinner party was a bad idea. Why didn't you try and talk me out of it?"

This time it was Tristan's turn to sigh. "I did try and talk you out of it. Remember? I just wasn't successful."

"Hhrmph. You should have tried harder. You're an actor - you should be more persuasive."

This earned a chuckle. "You're better at your job than I am dear. Your powers of persuasion are much stronger than mine." Before she could respond he continued, "you almost done in there? Your coffee is getting cold, and I don't want you to hog all my hot water."

"You don't want to join me?" she asked.

"As tempting as the invitation is, we have other things to do today."

He heard her exhale sharply as she flicked the lever controlling the water flow into the off position. "Fine."

Tristan put a towel into her hand the moment the shower door slid open.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she pulled the towel into the shower to dry her face and twist her hair up into it.

The silence grew as Rory dried off and Tristan waited impatiently for his chance at the shower.

Finally he cracked, "Are we picking your dad up at the airport tonight?"

"Actually, my car is ready today, and I thought you could drop me off to get it, then I would go pick up my dad."

"Ashamed of me?" he asked, trying to mask his actual annoyance with over the top snark.

She chuckled. "No. I thought I'd be doing you a favor by giving you a couple hours to yourself. We've been practically glued together since, well, the wedding. I figured you'd be ready for a break."

"Is this so you can have a break?" He wasn't sure why the notion of some alone time was bothering him. In any other relationship he'd ever been in, anything more than a long weekend together had him itching for some peace and quiet, but now, it wasn't that he didn't want some time alone, that would be okay, it was the thought that Rory wanted it that was bugging him. They were meant to drive each other crazy, and yet somehow after only two weeks she was no longer the biggest thorn in his side. The thought that he could still be driving her crazy made him uncomfortable.

"... earth to Tristan!" Her voice broke him out of his thoughts.

He looked up at her, "I'm sorry what?"

She rolled her eyes, "I said I didn't need a break, but I figured it would be nice not to subject you to twenty questions with my dad. Plus I kind of miss driving my car," she added as an after thought.

"Your dad won't think it's weird if you pick him up by yourself?"

"Not to my knowledge. Logan never went with me, he always said he was giving me some 'Daddy-Daughter' time. I'm sure he just didn't want to deal with sitting in traffic and making small talk, but I kind of got used to it. Dad and I could talk about family stuff and my work stuff, and not bore Logan with it."

He pondered her words for a few moments. He absolutely didn't want to be like Logan, but he wanted to respect her if she really did want the private time with her dad. "Well, if you want to go alone, that's fine with me. But don't feel like you have to go alone so you don't bore me with your conversation. I'm not so self absorbed that I can't stand not being the center of attention for a few hours."

Rory laughed. "Well I suppose we can go pick up my dad together, and if I feel the need for some quality time with him, I can take him back to the airport myself on Sunday."

"Okay, whatever," he replied quickly, trying not to let her know that he was pleased with this turn of events.

Rory grabbed a second towel and wrapped it around herself, climbing out of the shower and pecking Tristan on the cheek. "Thanks for bringing me coffee, by the way."

"I learned my lesson," he quipped as he pulled his shirt up over his head.

The door closed behind Rory, and he reached in to turn on the shower. Friday was going to be a long day.

HOMH-HOMH-HOMH-HOMH

They were barely three hours into the shoot and Tristan's day was just getting worse. He was already anxious based on Christopher's visit, but then the dealership called and said Rory's car wouldn't be ready for a few more days. He wanted to go with her to pick Christopher up from the airport, but the fact that he now HAD to go along just rubbed him the wrong way. Then once they were at work, a review of the call sheet indicated that today Rory was shooting one of the scenes that involved her kissing someone. They were actors. He KNEW it was only acting, but still, he didn't want to watch his wife make out with someone else. He considered staying in his dressing room, but then reconsidered when he realized who she would be kissing. Trevor Davis was one of the biggest pricks Tristan knew, and that included Logan. Trevor thought he was Gods gift to women, despite the fact that he was only a B List actor. He had some modest success as a ladies man in a frat-house comedy, and was convinced that he was now a star.

As Rory was preparing for the scene Tristan grabbed his script and pulled up a chair next to Jerry. "What are you doing out here DuGrey?" Jerry inquired curiously.

"Just watching the scene unfold," he replied nonchalantly.

This caused Jerry to snort with laughter. "Yeah, sure. In all the time we've been working on this project I have never seen you pay attention to someone else's scenes."

Tristan shrugged in response.

"I get that you're newlyweds," Jerry told him, "but Rory's a pro."

"I know that!" Tristan hissed. "I just don't like Trevor," he finally admitted.

At this remark Jerry started laughing so hard he doubled over. He grabbed the arm of his chair to keep from falling down all together. "You do realize that Trevor is you 5 years ago, right?"

"No way!" he scoffed in response. "I have thought quite highly of myself in the past - but never that I was Gods gift to women!"

"Yeah, probably because you had Rory Gilmore to knock you down a peg or two in your early days."

Was that it? Had Rory somehow managed to keep him in check without even trying? She was in love with him when they were teens, everyone knew that. That should have only fed his ego. The thought that Tristan was somehow deeper than even he realized took him by surprise. However, instead of sharing that insight, he shrugged again, and focused his attention on the set.

"If you want to watch, that's fine. But not a word from you Tristan. I mean it," Jerry warned.

He looked over at Jerry, rolled his eyes, and made the motion of locking his mouth shut.

HOMH-HOMH-HOMH-HOMH

Rory was sitting off to the right of the set letting Ella fix her hair and Marie make last minute adjustments to her costume to make sure it fit just right. She glanced up when she heard Jerry laugh, surprised to find Tristan sitting next to him.

"Ella, Marie, is Rory ready?" Jerry called out.

Ella was putting on a final coat of lip gloss, but Marie stood up and backed away. "She's ready."

"What about Trevor? Is he ready?"

Rory looked around the room for her costar, only to find him lounging on a couch in the middle of the set.

"Ready and waiting," Trevor drawled, moving out of his reclined position. He gave Rory an exaggerated wink, and it took more control than she expected not to roll her eyes at him. She smiled and stood up to make her way to the center of the set. Having run the lines with Tristan, she thought she had a pretty good handle on the dialogue and the tenor of the scene.

"Alright, let's get this done. Lights," Jerry started, and instantly, the lighting in the room shifted. It no longer looked like the inside of a warehouse in the middle of the day, but instead, like a doctor's lounge, late a night. "Cameras ready!" The camera men took the necessary actions to prepare to shoot. "Rory, you ready?"

"Yep," she answered quickly, as she blotted her lipstick one more time.

Jerry nodded, "Trevor, are you ready?"

"I was born ready."

Rory heard a snort that was quickly stifled, and glanced over to see Tristan burying his face in his hands.

Jerry shot him a sharp look, but quickly returned focus to Rory and Trevor. "Okay then, don't forget, you two are colleagues trying to decompress enough to get through a tough shift." They both nodded in response. "Places... annnnnnnd action."

Rory began pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"It looks like it's going to be another long night. Any chance there's enough coffee there for two?" Jeffrey asked.

"Oui," Eva responded, "Would you like me to pour you a cup?"

"Merci."

Jeffrey sidled up beside Eva to take the cup she had offered. He moved to add cream and sugar to make it more to his liking.

"You Americans and your sucre... sugar," Eva corrected.

Jeffrey nudged Eva in a teasing manner, "Well if you French had better coffee, maybe we wouldn't need the 'sucre'." he emphasized the french word. "Are you scheduled for the late shift?" he asked.

"Oui, just taking a petite break before getting back to patients. Vous?"

His brow scrunched in concentration for moment before he responded, "Moi aussi."

Eva giggled.

"My accent is that bad, huh?"

"Non... well, you just sound très American."

Rory could swear she heard Tristan snicker at her French accent, but she didn't break focus. Eva took her coffee over to the couch and sat down, leaning back and closing her eyes.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Jeffrey asked.

"Mais oui," Eva responded without opening her eyes, using her free hand to gesture to the empty space next to her on the couch.

Jeffrey settled in next to her. "So if you weren't here, where would you be?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"If there was no war, I mean. Would you still be a nurse? What would you be doing with your Saturday night?"

Eva sighed. "Je ne sais pas. I'd like to think I'd have a boyfriend or a husband, maybe starting a petite famille of my own. What about you? What would you be doing if you were home right now."

"I'd like to think I'd be out dancing with a pretty girl." Jeffrey reached out and tugged lightly on one of Eva's curls in a playful yet flirtatious manner. "Or maybe taking in a baseball game with my friends."

"Those sound like much nicer things than war," Eva admitted. She paused for a moment and then continued, "Sometimes, when I close my eyes, and it's quiet enough, I try and convince myself that this is all just a bad dream and not really my life."

"Me too."

Eva felt Jeffrey shift his position next to her. Soon she could feel his breath on her cheek, and then his lips met with hers.

"I just want to feel normal for a moment," he whispered. She nodded and returned his kiss.

"And CUT!" Jerry shouted.

Despite having heard Jerry yell 'cut', Trevor's lips were still pressed to Rory's, and still moving. She jerked backwards and elbowed him in the ribs. He backed up with a smarmy grin and immediately looked at Tristan. To try and defuse the situation, Rory made a show of wiping at her mouth. "Can I get a towel here?"

"Trevor, you don't have to try and eat her face to show that you're kissing," Jerry told him. This comment caused Tristan to smile widely, and the smarmy grin to disappear completely from Trevor's face.

"Ella, can you come re-do Rory's lipstick? We're going to go again in a minute."

"And please bring her a towel!" Tristan chimed in. Rory smiled, but Jerry gave him a sharp scowl. "Sorry," he said contritely.

Ella came running out carrying the lipstick, and the towel. Rory wiped her mouth gently, not wanting to smear the remaining lipstick, and then looked to Ella for her to reapply. "Any chance I could get a mint?" she asked quietly. Ella smiled and produced a small spray bottle of Binaca. "Thanks." She took the proffered bottle and spritzed it into her mouth twice.

"Making sure you taste nice and minty for me?" Trevor asked in a lascivious tone.

Rory shrugged, "or getting the taste of you out of my mouth."

This caused her husband to laugh again.

"Alright, let's pick it up at 'sometimes when I close my eyes'," Jerry instructed.

Rory and Trevor resumed their places, and picked up the scene from where they were instructed. This time, they got through the kiss.

"I don't think that this is normal," Eva said as she broke away from Jeffrey's kiss.

Jeffrey reached out to touch her face, bringing her close to him again. "Sitting on a couch, kissing a pretty girl, without a care in the world. That sounds like bliss to me." He put his lips to hers again.

"Doctor! Come quick!" The door to the lounge was flung open, and an officer strode in with a nurse on his heels. "You're needed immediately."

Jeffrey and Eva sprang apart, knocking one of the coffee cups to the floor. "Right away Sir!" Jeffrey exclaimed.

"You, nurse - clean that up and then join us in the emergency room. I have a feeling we're going to need every available set of hands we've got!" the officer demanded.

Jeffrey followed them out the door, and Eva turned a delicate shade of red as she grabbed a towel and knelt to clean up the coffee.

"Cut!" Jerry called out. "Much better with the kissing this time Trevor. With enough practice, it'll start to come naturally."

Trevor glared at the director, but Rory remained in a kneeling position to clean up the coffee that was still on the floor. This allowed her to hide her smile at the directors jibe, and not burst out laughing. She was sure Tristan was going to start laughing any moment.

Sure enough, a moment later, she heard him chuckle. "You're not much better DuGrey. How many takes did you have to do the other day?" Jerry said reminding him of the earlier scene with Maddy. "Rory honey, you can get up. You don't need to clean up that mess, they're going to strike the set in a minute anyhow."

Rory stood up and looked around, waiting to find out what was going to happen next.

"Let's make this lunch. We can pick up with Tristan's scene in an hour."

HOMH-HOMH-HOMH-HOMH

Lunch meant grabbing something from the Kraft Services cart and eating it in the dressing rooms. Tristan was fine with this, after watching Trevor maul his wife, he had a very strong urge to wrap himself around her and kiss her until she couldn't remember her own name. He walked over to the set and grabbed Rory's hand, pulling her behind him as he headed for food.

"Chad, you're about to pull my arm off here," Rory teased as she struggled to keep up.

"Walk faster Molly dear," he said, not slowing his pace. "What do you want today?" he asked as they approached the cart.

"How about the Caprese sandwich?" she suggested.

Tristan stared at her. "But that has tomatoes and basil on it... two veggie type things."

"And melted cheese. Don't forget about the melted cheese."

He nodded in understanding, and when it was their turn to order, he said, "A Caprese sandwich, and a steak salad - vinaigrette dressing." He tossed a couple bucks in the tip jar and pulled Rory behind him after he grabbed the food, heading for the dressing room.

"What the hell Tristan!" she exclaimed as he tugged her into the room and kicked the door shut behind him.

He dropped the food on the counter and pulled her into a kiss, preventing her from asking any further questions. "I've been wanting to do that for hours," he admitted when they stopped to catch their breath.

"I'm not sure why, but I'll go with it." She pushed herself up onto her toes to kiss him again.

After another few moments, Tristan's stomach grumbled, and Rory broke the kiss in giggles. "I guess we'd better actually eat lunch. We wouldn't want your stomach to be grumbling in your scenes this afternoon," she teased.

Tristan pouted, but just as she'd suggested, he grabbed the salad from the counter and sat down to eat it.

HOMH-HOMH-HOMH-HOMH

The afternoon scenes seemed to move quicker than the morning ones, and soon it was 4:00. Rory had long-since finished her scenes for the day, and Jerry had just dismissed Tristan from the last shot of the day.

He jumped off the stage to find Rory standing next to Jerry, coat on, purse in hand. "I've checked the status on my dad's flight, and it's looking like he's going to be on time, if not a few minutes early. Are you ready to go?" she asked.

"Can I have 5 minutes to get out this costume? I don't think Marie would appreciate me wearing it home," he replied, trying to keep the tartness from his voice.

Rory shook her head. "Duh, sorry about that. I guess I'm just anxious about my dad visiting."

All week she'd been cool as a cucumber, showing no hints of anxiety when it came to her father's impending visit, and now it had to come up? Tristan cringed slightly. He was counting on her confidence to get him through this visit. "Maybe we should cancel the dinner party tomorrow," he suggested hopefully. Limiting the number of people who could give away their secret to just the two of them seemed like a really good idea.

"We can't do that! Lane and Zach are in town pretty much just for this, and Paris and Marty are both coming too! If we decide not to have a dinner party, we'll just have to find some other way to entertain my dad," she reminded him.

"There are so many things that could go wrong," he said.

She smiled and rested her hand on his arm. "And they probably will. I mean, you know my luck." He did know her luck. While it was pretty amazing in the realm of show business, the more he got to know her, the he realized she really was kind of klutzy and awkward in every day situations. "Now hurry up and change so we can go pick up my dad!"

HOMH-HOMH-HOMH-HOMH

Traffic was surprisingly light as Tristan drove to the airport. Rory was on her phone, making lists of stuff that needed to be done before the dinner party, when a text popped up on her screen. Just landed. I didn't check a bag, so I'll just meet you at the arrivals pick up.

"Dad's here," she told Tristan. "But we just have to pick him up in the arrivals lanes. We won't have to park and go in, so hopefully it'll be less of a spectacle."

"Which airline?"

"He usually flies United, so probably that, but I'll check." She quickly texted her dad, then returned to making lists as she waited for a response.

United. Still waiting for the plane to get to the gate. Are you here already?

"United," she confirmed. "How far out are we?"

"Assuming traffic holds, about 10 minutes. Is your dad standing outside waiting already?"

"No plane is still taxiing, he wanted to make sure we weren't waiting already." She texted her father We're about 10 minutes out.

"We'll be there in time," Tristan reassured her. "I promise we won't leave your dad standing outside to deal with the press."

Rory reached over and squeezed his hand. "Thanks Tristan. I know this weekend is going to be rough but in case I forget to say it later, I really appreciate your efforts."

He merely nodded his head in acknowledgement. Rory let her focus drift out the window and watched traffic as Tristan took the exit for the airport.

Here goes nothing, she thought.

AN: It's been EONS. I am so sorry about that. I really appreciate all the reviews that keep coming in, even though I never update. The next bit will be Christopher's visit and the dinner party. I am going to try and get that pushed out in way less than the 2 years that it took to get this chapter out.

If anyone is still reading - drop me a line and let me know what you think.

S