A/N: Song Playlist: I lived it by Blake Shelton; Homesick by Kane Brown; Fall in the Fall by Jelly Roll & Struggle Jennings; Call it what you want by Taylor Swift

Chapter 8: Rory POV

It was Friday night and I was in my bedroom getting ready for dinner when Tris walked in. "Hey babe." He said.

"Hi baby. Are you coming with me tonight?" I asked him. Grandma had called me earlier in the week and asked me if Tristan would be joining me tonight. I hadn't brought up all week cause it had been such a hectic week. We still hadn't talked about the merger. Maybe we after dinner Sunday night.

He nodded. "Yeah. I just gotta change shirts. Thought I'd lose the jacket and just wear a polo shirt." He said.

"Sounds good." I said with a smile. As I finished getting ready for dinner, I thought about a time when I almost thought that things were perfect with Tristan. A time when I thought that he was going to propose.

***FLASHBACK***

Princeton… 3 1/2 years ago…Tristan's apartment…

"Rory, have you thought anymore about moving out here to New Jersey?" Tristan asked me.

Honestly, I had thought about it…but my whole life was in Hartford, not to mention my family. "A little. Honestly Tris, I have thought about it but I need to know where we stand. I need to know how secure we are." I said, standing up and walking to the kitchen to get coffee.

"Ror, I love you…" Tris said. "I mean what are you talking about? What do you want something life-changing?"

"I don't know Tris. We're talking about me moving away from everything that I know."

"I'm not asking anything that Logan didn't."

Seriously? Did he really just bring up Logan in the midst of us trying to talk about me moving here? "Seriously?" I said. I was pissed. I grabbed my keys and walked out the door. I walked around the Princeton campus until I found a pub that reminded of Rich Man's Shoe. It reminded me of the good times that me, Logan and all of us used to have. All before everything changed. In a way, Tris was right he wasn't asking anything that Logan hadn't already asked…except for one thing. Logan had proposed marriage. I was sitting in a booth when Tris finally found me. He sat down across from me, waiting…

"Ror, I'm sorry for what I said. I shouldn't have brought Logan up." Tristan said.

I took a drink of my Martini. "You were right about one thing. You weren't asking anything that Logan hadn't…except for one thing…Logan had proposed marriage." I said, finishing off my Martini.

Tristan looked surprised that I said this. "Ror…is that something that you want?" He asked.

***FLASHBACK ENDS***

That was the weekend that I knew that I was in love with Tristan but that was also the weekend that we broke up because I realized that I couldn't move to New Jersey. I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard Tristan. "Ror, you ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's get this over with." I said. I decided to let Tris drive because I had too much on my mind to focus on driving. When we pulled up at Grandma's Mom was as usual waiting out front. "Why didn't you go inside?" I asked, getting out of the car.

"Duh…waiting for you. You know that I hate to be alone with her." Mom said.

"Where's the baby?" I asked.

"At home. She crashed while I was getting dressed."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on." I said and the three of us walked up to the door and I rang the doorbell. The door opened and there stood the maid, Maria. I think that she had been with Grandma the longest. She actually learned our names. "Hi Maria." I said, handing her my purse.

"Good evening Miss Rory, Miss Lorelai." Maria said. "Mrs. Gilmore is in the living room."

We nodded and made our way to the living room. "Hi Grandma." I said.

"Hello girls." Grandma said, looking up from her book. "Oh, Tristan. I didn't know that you were coming."

"Sorry Grandma it was last minute." I said.

"It's alright dear." Grandma said, as she got up to fix us all drinks. "Tristan, how's Janlan doing?" Grandma asked.

"Not too well, I'm afraid. He now has a nurse living at the house full time. He's handed over his firm to me." Tris told Grandma.

"So sad." She said, handing me and Mom martini's and handing Tris a scotch. "You'll let me know if there's anything that I can do? Janlan and Richard were good friends for many years."

"Of course Emily." Tris said.

Grandma went back and sat in her spot. "Lorelai?"

"Yes mother." Mom said.

"Where's my youngest granddaughter?" Grandma asked.

"At home with her father asleep." Mom said.

"Well then." Grandma said.

It was a long night at the Gilmore's that night. Grandma asked questions and of course we answered them. She told us that she was planning on making a trip to the cemetery to put some new flowers on Grandpa's grave and asked if me or Mom would go with her. I told her that I was starting a new job so I couldn't. I hated to break Grandma's heart. Mom agreed. Told her she'd even bring the baby and that they could get lunch afterward. When Tris and I got back to my house, I found Logan and the boys in my living room with copious amounts of alcohol. "What's this?" I asked, a little irritated.

"Mother!" Colin, Finn and Robert came stumbling toward me and encircled me into a giant group hug.

When they had let me go. "Hello boys. Now what are you all doing in my house?" I asked.

"We missed you mother." Finn said.

"I missed you too Finn." I said. "Not that I'm not happy to see you guys but I'm really tired and I want to go to bed. I have a guest room upstairs and then there's one down here across from my office at the end of the hall. And then there's the couch. So the three of you can decided where you will sleep. Just know that if you wake me up…Finn, Colin it will be a repeat of the unspoken night. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

Finn and Colin nodded. "Of course mother." Colin said.

I nodded and Tris and I made our way upstairs to my bedroom. I was exhausted. I had spent the day at the printers getting some things accomplished and then in the afternoon I had gone to Chilton to meet with my Franklin students. I noticed some similarities between me and one of the girls. The only difference was that she had been at Chilton since Kindergarten. She was like a combination between me and Paris put into one student. Then you add the very long Friday night dinner to it and I was exhausted. I definitely ready for bed.

When we got upstairs, Tristan shut my bedroom door behind him. I walked over to my jewelry box and started getting taking my jewelry off. "Can we talk?" He said.

"Sure." I said, taking my necklace off. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"The merger."

"Oh. So you wanna talk about the elephant in the room." I said.

Tristan sat on the edge of my bed. "Your Dad's the one that approached me about the merger." He said, as I walked over to the bathroom and changed into my shorts and t-shirt. When I came back out he grabbed my hand, "I wanted to talk to you about it."

"Tris, here's the thing. Let's say you and my go through with this merger. From what he told me, I would be the Chairman of the Board." I told him. "And the more that I think about the merger, the more I wonder if I should have taken this job at Chilton." I say and Tris nods. "Tris, back at Princeton you asked once asked me to move in with you and I couldn't because of my life here. And you asked me if I wanted something life-changing. Tris, this is life changing. By merging the two law firms, it's basically my family's way of saying that they want to merge the three families. And if that's something that someday you don't want or see happening then I…I wouldn't do the merger." I said.

Tris pulled me into his lap. "Ror, if that wasn't something that I wanted I wouldn't have come back and told you that I wanted you back. Ror, the merger doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is you and me. If you don't want me to do this merger then I won't. The only thing that I care about is making sure that we're okay." Tris said.

I wrapped my arms around his neck. I leaned down and kissed him. "I love you." I said.

"I love you too. Now let's go to bed I'm tired." Tris said and I nodded.

The next morning, when I woke up I noticed that Tris wasn't beside me. I figured that he had gone for his run. I got up and got dressed. I threw on a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt that had a monkey on it. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and then headed downstairs to make coffee. When I walked into my kitchen, I found Logan sitting there with his laptop and a cup of coffee already. "Morning." I said.

"Morning Ror. Sleep well?" Logan said.

"Yeah. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum still asleep?" I asked, walking over to the coffee pot and pouring myself a cup.

"Yeah, they both passed out on the couch. So listen, I know that we were all supposed to get together for dinner tonight, but I have to head back to London this afternoon." Logan said.

"Yeah sure. It's fine. We'll do it next time." I said.

"Rory, I gotta tell you something." Logan said as I turned around with my coffee. "There's something that I didn't tell you before I came out here."

"Okay, tell me now."

"I'm moving back." He said.

"That's great Logan. New York or Hartford?"

"New York. It seems that's where I'm needed at the moment."

"That's great Logan. Listen, I gotta head out but make sure that yall lock up before yall leave." I said, sitting my cup in the sink. I grabbed my phone, keys and purse and headed out. I needed to find a killer dress to wear to dinner the following night.

Challenge Accepted.

A/N: Okay guys that's Chapter 8. Next up: Dinner with Francine