Title: The safe haven

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Takes place after this years season finale. Rory runs away from her grandparents house and runs into a face from the past. Trory.

Chapter One

That Dejavu feeling

Rory Gilmore bit down on her lip, and looked around. She was in a place unfamiliar. It was Beaufort, a small town near the ocean, so small it wasn't even on the map. Located in North Carolina, Rory had come there to get away. At first, living with her grandparents had seemed like a good idea. She would go there for a while, cool off, find some direction, a purpose. But the life wasn't for her. It was too demanding, too stressfull.

So she had run. She had run far, much like her Mother had, and stopped at the first place her gut told her to. Beaufort, for whatever the reason, was that place.

Rory hadn't told anyone but Logan where she was. She'd broken up with him, too. When she'd explained her reasoning, he'd understood. There'd been no big fights, no I'm sorrys, just a short, bittersweet goodbye, one last 'I love you' and then she was off.

Now, after a few weeks straight of driving, Rory had stopped here, in this town. It was hotter then sin out and there were rocks covered in moss, people out fishing day in and day out, and the area was surrounded by dogwoods and azelas.

As she stepped out of her car, Rory noted how different it was then Stars Hollow, and yet she still managed to find similarities between her town and this one. People who were most likely locals stared and whispered as she walked down the street.

She knew that within ten minutes, her arrival would be all over the entire place. Not listening intently, she managed to catch whispers of "tourist". Rory smiled and shook her head. Somehow, she didn't think that she was going to be a tourist here. Instinct told her she'd be there for a long time.

Deciding that she needed food, Rory looked around for the closest place to eat. Upon spotting a small diner, she walked in, heard the tinkling of the bell, was reminded vaguely of Luke's for a second and then pushed that thought a way.

She caught a wiff of something good and smiled. The one thought that came to mind was that she hoped they had coffee. Rory noted the name of the place, Mary's Diner. Dejavu hit her, and she remembered a long ago tucked away memory.

It was her first day at Chilton and she had been having a horrible time. She'd broken someones project, one of the girls already hated her, and the teachers seemed hell bent on making her work more then she ever had in her entire life.

Now, to add to the preasure of being the new girl, she now had to study for a test and ask one of her peers for notes. That was going to be such an easy task because she was becoming so popular; NOT!

She let out a groan and then heard someone calling. But certainly it couldn't be her, because her name wasn't Mary.

"Hey, Mary," an attractive blonde boy called.

Not sure if he meant her or not, Rory asked, "Me?"

He smirked,"Yeah, you."

"My name is Rory," she introduced herself, and correcting his use of the wrong name.

"I'm Tristin," he introduced himself.

"Hi," she greeted.

"So," he said, "you new?"

"Yeah, first day," she answered.

"Remmy's class is rough," he informed her.

"Yeah, it seemed very intense," she remarked.

"I could loan you my notes," he offered, "if that would help."

"Really?" she said, enthused. "That would be great."

"Yeah?" he said, his voice suddenly lower, and his body inching closer to her,pushing her up against the wall, "How great?"

"I don't know," Rory said, getting confused and slightly nervous, "Mr. Remmy said that getting someone elses notes would be..."

"I could even help you study," he offered, smirking, "if you want."

"Uh, I kind of view studying as a solitary activity," she said, getting weirded out by this guy, "but thanks."

"Bye Mary," Tristin said and walked off.

"It's Rory!" she called after him.

Rory frowned slightly at the memory. God she'd hated him. He'd been so annoying. She knew that had he been able to stop being a jerk for five minutes they would have been good friends but he hadn't been able to. That was just how he was.

He was just plain Tristin.

She wondered about him sometimes, like what had happened after military school, where he was now. Rory sighed and stretched. This place would be good for her. Something told her that it would.

"So, are you just going to sit there all day, or are you going to order something?" a male voice asked and she looked up to see a tall guy there, with messy blonde hair that looked as though it had been cut a while ago and was growing back.

He was well built, with broad shoulders, and...

Blue eyes met blue eyes, and dejavu hit her senses once again. A memory from her past was staring her straight in the face. Tristin Dugrey was as shocked as she, slack jawed.

"Mary," he'd breathed.

"Dugrey," she'd breathed.

Then there was an awkward silence.

A/N: What do you think? It's my 3rd trory chapter fic. For the record, I spelled Tristin the way I did because in the Gilmore Girls books, that's how they spell his name. I thought I'd mention that because in my first trory fic I got like a hundred reviews with people saying that I'd spelled his name wrong.