AN: Well guys it has been fun! This was my first story and it has finally come to an end. Enjoy and for the last time (for this story) review!!!

Chapter 16

FLASHBACK

"Tristan," she answered her front door shocked, "What are you doing here?" she never thought he would be there, standing with both of his hands buried deep in his jean pockets and shoulders slumped.

"Hey, Rory," he said quietly with a small sad smile.

"What's wrong?" she asked worried; she hadn't spoken to him in weeks, "What happened?"

"Can we talk?" was all he said.

"Yeah, sure," she said concerned. Stepping outside on her porch, she quietly shut the door behind her and followed Tristan as he went and took a seat on the porch steps, "Are you okay?"

"I think," he shook his head, "And if I'm not, I will be…eventually."

To Rory, he's not making any sense, which worries her even more, "Tristan," she places a gentle hand on his arm, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry," he tells her completely out of the blue.

Thinking that he's apologizing for their fight that they had a little over two weeks ago, she said, "Don't be, it wasn't your fault, I was overreacting and--"

He cut her off, "I'm not talking about the fight, Rory."

"Then what are you talking about?"

He remained silent.

"Come one Tristan, tell me," she nudged him playfully trying to lighten up the mood, but it didn't work.

"I'm sorry I wasn't good enough for you," he says dropping a bomb on her.

"What--"

"After our fight I went over everything that was said--"

"We both said things that we didn't mean, Tris," she told him feeling guilty; she did say things that she wished that she could take back.

"Even if that is true, Rory, and we didn't mean anything that we said, it doesn't mean that they weren't true."

She opens her mouth to argue with him, but he doesn't allow her to.

"I know I wasn't good enough for you. Hell, I honestly believe that no one is good enough for you, and in the end you'll probably end up settling. But I felt that I could give you what you needed. I felt that I could make you happy."

After his confession, he looked away from her and focused his attention on her gravel driveway.

"Why are you speaking in past tense?" she asked worried.

He turned and faced her with a wry smile.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"Well, me and the guys--"

"Duncan and Bowman?" she asked disapprovingly.

He nodded his head in confirmation, "Well you see, we were just going through Bowman's dad's safe--"

"You broke into a safe!"

"You see, why do you and the police assume that we broke into the safe; we had a key. You know what they say about assuming," Tristan told her knowingly. And it was as if for a split second they were back to their old normal-selves, but only for a split second.

"Yeah, that you're the ass," she tells him angrily. "Why the hell would you break into the safe?"

"We had a key," he continued to argue, "And as for why, well that's something I can ponder about in military school."

There was a pause in the conversation and the tension had thickened.

"No," she says not wanting to believe him.

"Yes," he says, "It was suppose to be no big deal; we had a key--"

"Would you forget about that damn key!"

"We would have pulled it off if that crazy silent alarm didn't kick in – Technology nowadays is amazing," he stated truly amazed.

"Were you cut off?" she asked him.

"Huh?"

"Before you broke into the safe with the key," she mentioned the stupid key because she knew that if she didn't, he sure as hell would, "did your dad cut you off?"

"No."

"Is his job in jeopardy?"

"No," he replied quietly knowing exactly where she was going with this.

"So why would you do it, Tris?" she asked him with her big blue eyes that were slowly being filled up with tears, "It's not like you needed the money."

"It was thrilling," was his lame reply.

"You're ridiculous."

"Well now James Dean will have nothing to worry about because I won't be in the picture," he tells her bitterly.

"I'm not in the picture either," she tells him quietly, once he faces her for further explanation, she continued, "There was nothing there with Jess. I mean, yeah, we could talk endlessly about some book, but we didn't connect like…" she trailed off hesitating, "like, um, like we did," she said quietly and shyly.

Tristan groaned and buried his head in his hands.

"What?" she asked with a small smile.

"Me getting my ass shipped of to military school is what it took for you to finally realize that you wanted me," he playfully told her.

"Life works in the strangest ways," she tells him as she likes her arms to one of his and rests her head on his shoulders.

"This sucks even more now, Rory," he groaned again.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he tells her, "Now at least I know that there's hope."

"How long are you going to be away?"

"I don't know, Mary, I don't know," he sadly tells her.

A comfortable silence surrounded them.

"Stop," he tells her.

"Stop what?"

"Stop thinking so much."

She smiles; he knows her so well.

"I'm not telling you to wait for me," he tells her in a serious tone, "But just know that we will be together…eventually."

"Eventually?" she asked lifting her head off his shoulder and looking him in the eyes.

"Eventually," he confirms as he wipes a lone tear.

"In the end?"

"In the end, Mary."

END FLASHBACK

"Look! It's Willy Wonka and his Oompa Loompas!" Tristan pointed excitedly jumping up and down; he practically fell off the couch.

"Are you mental?" Rory asks laughing at her boyfriend.

"You went into la la land," he defended his actions, "So the only way to get you out was to say something outrageous."

"I spaced out?"

"Completely," he told her, he then asked her with a smirk, "Were you thinking about me?"

"Actually, I was," she told him, "but not sexually."

"Damn," he cursed.

"Don't you want to know what I was thinking about?"

"If I say no, are you going to tell me anyway?"

"Yes."

"You mind as well just tell me then," he pretended as if he was annoyed, but by the smile on his face, Rory knew that he was kidding.

"Remember that night when you came to my house?"

"Be more specific, Mary, I came to your house quite a few times," he chuckled.

"That night when you broke into Bowman's dad safe," she clarified.

"I did not break into that safe, we had a key!" he still argued after all these years.

"Get over it," she rolled her eyes, "Do you remember now what night I'm talking about?" she asked him again.

"Yeah."

"When you told me that we were going to be together in the end, did you really believe that?" she asked.

"Of course I did."

"Why, how?"

"Where is this coming from?" he sat up.

"Nowhere, I was just curious."

"Because I loved you," he told her as he looked into her eyes, "And I still do."

Rory wasn't sure, but she thinks that Tristan just took her breath away.

Her silence allowed for him to continue, "Back in high school, what I felt for you, I never felt for anyone else," he told her, "What I said back then was true, I wasn't good enough for you, and I still don't think I am--"

"You are."

He looked at her, really looked at. She wasn't lying to him, but it was now his turn to ask questions.

"How do you figure?"

Rory smiled as she scooted closer to her man, "The Almighty Tristan, insecure."

"No," he corrected her, "Not insecure, just curious," he said using her word.

"Because you make me happy," she tells him. She then adds, "Because I love you."

"Yeah?" he asked with the biggest smile on his face; he resembled a little boy on Christmas.

"Yeah," she assured him with a kiss on the lips, "I feel weird," she told him as she broke away from the kiss. Seeing him raise his eyebrows in confusion, "A good weird though."

"Horny?"

"No…yes, but that's not it; I feel good – complete," she tells him, "Does that makes any sense?"

"It scares me to say this, but it does; I completely understand what you mean," he tells her, "I feel the same way."

"That's good," she says with a happy smile.

"I was thinking," he tells her.

"Uh-oh, that can't be good."

"Relax, it is – Anyways I was thinking that we just hop on a plane and go somewhere."

"Mr. Spontaneous are we?"

"Maybe, I'm feeling a bit frisky," he smirks.

"Where do you plan we go?"

"Anywhere, everywhere," he tells her.

"Some place cold, I want to be cold so that--"

"I can warm you up," he finished for her.

It's now her turn to smirk, "You know me so well."

"So we're doing it?" he asks.

"We are so gonna do it," she smirks again.

"Dirty."

"Shut up – so we're not gonna do it?"

"Oh no, we are doing it," he said with determination.

"You're confusing me. Are we talking about our trip or sex?"

"Both."

"Alrighty then," she said sounding like Ace Ventura.

A comfortable silence slowly begins to settle around them, but before it can fully settle Rory speaks up.

"Hey Tris?"

"Yeah Mare?"

"Can you just admit that you broke into that stupid safe?"

"Never; we had the key," he wasn't going to give in.

"You're so damn stubborn," she huffed.

"You shouldn't be talking," he tells her.

"Whatever," she rolls her eyes, "At least I wasn't the one who broke into a safe."

"We had a key!"