Disclaimer: I own nothing. AND I am graduating this year and thus, have a huge senior capstone project so my writing on this might be sparse, but I can't stop writing or I die, so as soon as I finish a project, I start another one, which leads me to procrastinate on the rest of my life but... (Takes deep breath) At any rate, here you go! Enjoy!
A/N: For my purpose, Gigi is 8 years old. It's not the same as the show but whatever. It's Fanfiction!
"Don't worry, Gig. Rory's going to be right here with you the whole time okay?" Chris said as he kissed his two daughters. Rory was helping out because Chris had to run to the office for a meeting. She was sitting in a pediatric hospital waiting room. Gigi was getting a cast off of her arm that she had acquired 6 weeks ago from falling out of a neighbor's tree house. Chris was reluctant to leave his baby girl, but Rory had volunteered to go with her since she had previous cast removal experience. "And when you are done, we'll go get ice cream." He winked at Rory.
"Georgia Hayden?" The nurse called them back.
"That's us." Rory said as she waved her hand at the nurse. Gigi and Rory walked back and were placed in a room with a small hand saw, but it was all that Gigi needed to get freaked out.
"Is that the saw?" She asked quietly.
"Yep." Rory nodded.
"It looks sharp." Next came the quivering chin.
"Don't worry, your doctor uses it every day. And he's never cut anyone."
"How do you know?" She shot Rory a dirty look.
"Because they don't let doctors cut arms off unless we have a parent's permission first." The doctor said as he came into the room. He winked at the scared little girl on his examining table. She smiled, although briefly. "I'm Dr. DuGray." He said as he glanced at Rory. She paused to examine him, no pun intended. He looked good, sure of himself.
"Rory Gilmore. This little daredevil is my half-sister Gigi Hayden." At the sound of her name, his head snapped up. He had been so preoccupied reading the chart that he hadn't actually looked at the brunette in the corner.
"Hi." He said, trying to get his senses back. "This is the last place in the world I expected to see you. Not that I expected to see you anywhere." She laughed at his fumblings. At least he seemed sure of himself up until now. He decided to stop while he was behind and turned his attention to his patient. "Gigi huh?" He asked, changing the subject.
"That's my nickname. My full name is Georgia Grace Hayden. Two G's." She explained as she held up two fingers.
"And what did you do to deserve this lovely pink cast?" He asked.
"I fell out of a tree house."
"Hmm, sounds painful. Are you ready to free that arm of yours?" She nodded. "Alright, let's do it." Gigi reached out for Rory's hand as Tristan started the saw.
"Close your eyes." Rory suggested. Gigi shook her head. Rory kept an eye on both Tristan's focused face and Gigi's determinedly brave face. "All done!" Rory said as he turned off the saw.
"See, and I even let you keep the arm." He smiled at Rory who mouthed a thank you. He nodded. "Okay Gigi, give 'er a twist." She moved her wrist and fingers as Tristan placed his hand on her arm and watched for something. Apparently satisfied with the results, he opened a drawer filled to the brim with candy.
"Wow." Gigi said. "That's a lot of candy."
"It's my secret stash. I keep it for my particularly brave patients. I think that you fall under that category. Go ahead."
"Really?" She asked, looking at Rory to see if it was okay.
"Really." He laughed. "Does your sister want some too?" He asked Rory.
"Why thank you Dr. DuGray." She said, taking a sucker but keeping their eyes locked. "Gigi, what do you say?"
"Thank you Dr. DuGray."
"You're very welcome. Did you learn a lesson about falling out of tree houses?" She nodded readily. "Good! Okay, now get out of here." She hopped down and ran out of the room.
"You trying to keep the business running?" She guessed. He shook his head.
"College roommate became a dentist." She smiled and bit her lip.
"Bye Dr. DuGray." Rory said as she winked at Tristan on the way out the door.
"Bye Mary." He said. Rory inwardly squealed but never turned around, preferring to let him watch her walk away.
OOOOO
"So do you think he's going to call?" Lorelei asked as she set down her coffee mug. Rory had made a quick trip to Stars Hollow to visit her mother for the weekend.
"I don't know why he would. It's not like I gave him my number."
"But you want him to?" Rory just smiled and took a sip of her coffee.
"Maybe? It was just so weird. I haven't seen him since the Romeo and Juliet play and now, all of a sudden, he just appears and we have this instantaneous chemistry."
"Chemistry?"
"Talking with him was like…playing tennis. Everything I served him with came back just as strong." Lorelei looked skeptical.
"Have you ever played tennis?" She asked.
"Beside the point." Rory said as she rolled her eyes. "It's like he knew what I was going to say before I said it."
"Well, maybe you should call him." She suggested.
"What?"
"You don't find a hot, rich, pediatrician very often." Lorelei smiled as Luke came by the table.
"What are you smiling at?" He asked as he refilled their cups.
"Rory found the perfect man but she's too scared to call him." Luke immediately walked away without a word, clearly not wanting to know anything else. Rory scoffed.
"I am not too scared to call him. I just don't have his number!"
"You could get his number." Lorelei said.
"How?"
"Leave a number for him at work, you've been there. You could drop by again." Rory rolled her eyes.
"I'm not going to stalk him at his work. I barely know him."
"You could call my mother." Lorelei suggested. "She knows everyone in Hartford."
"I'd rather not."
"What about Paris, isn't she a doctor in Hartford?" Rory nodded. "She has to know his number."
"If Paris knew Tristan was back in Hartford, I would have heard his name before."
"Not necessarily. Wasn't she really hell-bent on keeping the two of you apart back at Chilton? Maybe she's still harboring secret feelings for him."
"She's married." Lorelei shrugged, preferring her own idea better.
"Can't it be one of those 'If it's meant to be, it will be' kind of things where we run into each other again at the supermarket or something."
"Isn't that what you would call running into him at the hospital after years of not seeing him?" Rory sighed. "Just think about it." She asked.
"I will."
OOOOO
Tristan strolled down the street, briefcase in hand and a lot on his mind. Well, actually, only one thing was on his mind. He had never expected to see Rory Gilmore set foot in his office, let alone for her to still be in Hartford. In his mind, and yes, he had admittedly thought about her from time to time, she was doing something fantastic somewhere. Saving the world, or maybe just reporting about it, in some far off country. It was no secret that she wanted two things in high school: to be a Harvard grad and to be a foreign correspondent. He had only wanted two things as well: sex and attention, usually from two different people.
When he had agreed to finish his residency in Hartford, it was so he could see his mom more. His father had died from a heart attack last year and Tristan didn't mind coming home anymore. He knew that his mom would want him closer now that she was alone. He never thought about the chances of running into people that he used to know. Walking into the apartment he now called home, Tristan pushed the answering machine button and shifted through the bills in his hand.
"Tristan, this is your mother. I ran into…" Tristan didn't hear any more before he zoned out. In his hand was the invitation for Chilton's ten-year high school reunion. He figured he wouldn't get an invite because he didn't actually graduate from Chilton. It was signed Paris Gellar and Rory Gilmore. Apparently they had become friends after he left, or at least tolerated each other enough to rule the school together. That meant that Rory was going to be there. Smiling, he was suddenly very thankful that his mother gave out his address.
OOOOO
"Paris, where is the RSVP list for the reunion?" Rory asked as she sat down on the couch in the Gellar-McMaster household.
"On the coffee table. I had everything organized but Doyle decided to 'clean' the house, whatever the Hell that means." She said as she sat down.
"Have you heard from everyone?" Rory asked as she read the almost complete list.
"Just about everyone. Even Tristan DuGray sent in his RSVP." Rory nearly choked.
"I didn't send an invitation to Tristan." She pointed out.
"I know, which is why I went over the list that you gave me and sent invitations to everyone you forgot."
"He didn't graduate with us! Why is he coming to a reunion of a class he wasn't actually in?"
"Seriously Gilmore, I expected more from you." Rory would have rolled her eyes but she was too shocked. "Why do you look green?"
"I didn't tell you, but I kind of ran into Tristan a couple weeks ago." Paris stopped.
"Really?"
"Yeah, he took the cast off of Gigi's arm."
"He's in Peds?"
"Apparently."
"That's sad. I always pictured him being a jock, you know, like a surgeon or something."
"He seemed pretty happy with his decision."
"So did he ask you out?" Paris asked.
"No, we didn't even talk that much. He was a little busy doing his job." Rory excused it.
"Oh come on, he was so obsessed with you in high school, you can't tell me that there wasn't anything there. No flirting or anything?"
"Maybe a little covert flirting." She said. "But nothing ever came from it."
"Well, maybe he's attending so he can make something come of it." Paris was being overtly dirty.
"You're worse than he is." Rory said with a cringe.
OOOOO
"Wow, you look pretty!" Lorelei said as she caught Rory leaving her apartment.
"Thanks. What are you doing here?"
"I was just wanted to tell you that you are beautiful, you are successful, and there is nothing wrong with you." Rory looked at her mother like she was crazy.
"Okay?" She said as she got in her car.
"Trust me, you're about to go in the big scary building with all the super successful students. It's going to be like your first day all over again. Everyone is going to be telling all these fabulous stories about that trip to Bermuda and that Porsche in the garage, most of which is complete bullshit by the way, and you're going to feel like you've failed at life. But you haven't. You're wonderful."
"Thanks." Rory said as she fixed her lipgloss in the side view mirror. "Is that all?"
"Uh-huh. Oh and I brought you this…" It was her old Chilton uniform.
"Why?"
"Just in case things end up working out with the Pediatrician." She said with a wink.
"Gotta go, can't be late." She said as she started her car. She loved her mom, but sometimes…she was just too much. She was halfway to Chilton when her mother's words started to sink in. It was bad enough that she was going to have to be surrounded by her high school peers, but they all knew her history with Tristan, or lack thereof. The pressure was definitely on. What were people going to think when he started hitting on her again…what if he didn't hit on her at all? What if he brought a wife? She had thought about that a lot these past two weeks. It was very possible that he was seeing someone and that was why he never called her. Maybe he just wasn't interested. Her mind was racing as she pulled into the parking lot. Taking a deep breath, she opened her car door and stepped out into the warm July air. It was particularly humid tonight, making the tension in the air that much more palpable. She had barely made it through the doors when she heard a familiar voice.
"Rory!" Louise was waving her over to one of the tables.
"Louise!"
"I haven't seen you since Spring Break! How are you?"
"Fantastic."
"We are at a great table where we can see just about everyone and everyone can see us. Thank you for that." Rory laughed.
"Paris actually spent a lot of time making the seating arrangements for everyone, so thank her for the lovely table."
"Madelyn!" She yelled over Rory's shoulder. Once the greeting had ended, Maddie and Louise sat down at the table.
"Madelyn, you, me, Paris, who's the sixth?" She said, noticing the empty chair next to Rory. Before she could answer, a voice came from behind her.
"That would be me."