A/N

Thank you to everyone who's stuck with me, and my annoyingly slow pace. As always I beg for your reviews. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!! Alright now that I've lost the faint bit of respect you still held for me lets get on with the story...

"Come in, I put the coffee on when you called." Tristan said, handing her a cup, as she entered the door.

Rory smiled appreciatively, holding the cup up to her face feeling the steam. "Thanks," She said sitting down on the couch, tucking her feet beneath her. Tristan was one of the lucky few to get a single, which meant of course slightly smaller dorm, but it was all his own. The place was cozy filled with pictures and odds and ends of a part of him she was just barely beginning to know. Definitely masculine, though not overly so, the dorm seemed as full of contradictions as its owner was.

He walked into the kitchenette and poured himself a cup. Studying her drawn face and tired eyes, he contemplated the reason for her coming. Before he sat on the chair, that was placed on the left side of the couch Rory now occupied. Recognizing instinctively that the last thing she needed then was him trying to come on to her. "So you wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"Talk about what?" Rory asked feigning confusion, yet refusing to look him in the eyes. Choosing instead to focus on the cup in front of her as though it held all the answers she didn't want to share.

"Whatever it is that's giving you that drained, Michelle Branch song kind of look." He replied simply, smiling.

She looked at him over the brim of her cup, glad that he was the one she had chosen to go to. Rory wasn't sure why but something about him just radiated strength and understanding. Like even when things were going completely to shit, he'd still be there with a joke and a shoulder to lean on. You've only known the boy what, two days? But strangely though that thought was an undeniable fact it didn't seem to matter like it should've. "I had a talk with Logan tonight."

Oh, boy! Wonder what Romeo did. Tristan thought cynically. "What happened?" He asked in his best concerned friend voice. Trying his best to ignore the anger that held a vice grip around his throat from the moment Logan's name had been spoken.

Rory sighed, still not exactly sure what had occurred just an hour ago. "We planned to go out tonight, but when he got to my place to pick me up...Things were so...weird."

"You mean to tell me that you've been going to Yale for two years now and the only adjective you can come up with is weird?' Tristan asked teasingly.

She grinned and threw a pillow at him. "Shut up, you wanna hear my story or not?"

He caught the flying projectile and place it in his lap. Then held his hands up in submission. "I'll behave."

"Okay then. He came in all apologetic and sweet. Hell he even brought me flowers! Saying he was sorry for last night, and how he gets so jealous sometimes..." Rory said. Tristan bit back a smile knowingly, ahhh so he's smart enough to know he screwed up with his possessive act, good for him.

"and then he asked me if I would be his girlfriend." Well played, instead of fighting me for Rory he removed the objective. Well played, he couldn't help but thinkTristan felt as though he'd been punch in the gut. The air in his lungs simply vanished, as his mind began to work in hyper drive. He felt like he was running down the long corridors of his brain in a blind panic. Wondering vaguely if he was showing any sign of the pain he was now feeling.

Rory searched his carefully blank face for emotion. Though she wasn't sure why she felt like it was criticalthat she know what he was feeling. After what seemed an eternity she said "I told him no, not yet. I said that if he really wanted me he could wait for me to figure things out. And make sure he was legit"

Tristan smiled visibly relieved "Why'd you do that?" he asked knowing that answer was vitally important.

"Well we both know that the only reason he asked me was because he saw you as a threat."She said as she brushed a strand of hair back from her face. He was proud of her for seeing through Logan in a way that so many girls seemed incapable of doing. She had seen his ploy for what it was, and moreover she had called him on it.

"Rory," Tristan said after a few beats of silence, knowing that this wasn't the best time for what he was about to say. But it might be the only time.

"Yes Tristan?" Rory said mocking Tristan's too serious tone. Trying mightily to lighten his suddenly sober mood. She wasn't entirely certain why but the tone of his voice was unnerving.

"Logan has every right to see me as a threat." Tristan started, "This isn't exactly the most idyllic time for this I'm sure. But what once was a seemingly vast window of opportunity is shrinking rapidly." He paused, uncertain, unsteady, "And so I was wondering if maybe you would like to go out on a date with me?" He said the last part so softly it was almost inaudible.

Rory smiled shocked at the timing, though not altogether surprised by the declaration itself. Had she been a third party in this conversation his words would seem comical. Here he was Tristan Dugrey former big man on campus desperate for a date. "Sure, I'd like that." She said finally.

"Ha I knew it was only a matter of time till you succumbed to my charms!" Tristan said grinning, recovering quickly from his dazed state. Feeling as though a crisis had been narrowly but not entirely averted.

"I guess you could say that. If you consider being utterly pathetic charming." Rory replied easily.

"It worked, didn't it?" Tristan said.

"Touche." Rory replied conceding. She loved this easy repartee that they feel into so easily. The quickness in which he was able to divert attention from an awkward situation was spellbinding.

"How about tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sounds good." Rory asked, "So what now?" she asked after a few beats of silence.

"Well we do have the place all to ourselves." Tristan said grinning lecherously, starting toward her.

Rory batted him away playfully, "You're not that charming!"

"Or there's always TV." he stated feigning disappointment and dejection.

"Only if there's popcorn." Rory said.

The couple set in for a night of watching bad made for TV movies. They took turns commenting on the actors horrific attempts at being dramatic and ripping apart the cheesy lines. It was by no means a remarkable way to pass the night, and felt to both of them as the calm before the storm.

Both of them knew that what was about occur was going to be epic and heady. In the next few days everything was going to change, that though unavoidable was disconcerting. So they took advantage of the night, pushing all the scary little thoughts that were bound to surface eventually out of their minds, at least for a while.