Bad Timing

AN: I just want to say thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers and followers. It's literally been years, but I'm happy that I decided to continue this story and I'm even more happy that some of you decided to read it =] . I hope that you will follow my other stories from here on out. I promise to actually keep up with them and finish all of them promptly! Thank you and here goes the final chapter…

Tristan

Xx

I have a profound interest in the ripple effect. A drop of water falls into an ocean and something occurs. In small increments the ripple grows and something amazing happens; something so small becomes something so big.

It has been a week …

She hasn't returned any of my emails or phone calls. I searched for her…went by her favorite coffee shop, and a nearby library that she spent all of her free time at. All roads led to a dead end until I decided to swing by her apartment on a day that I knew Logan was out of town. Avery answered my questions with sad eyes. He told me that Rory went away with her mother to a small town called Stars Hallow. He brashly informed me that he missed her, but he couldn't say anymore about the situation.

And as I sit on a plane, hoping that she is okay, my stomach is in knots.

Xx

Rory

xx

People often say a life without love is no life at all…

As I unpack boxes, loaded with dozens of novels on epic romances and tragedies, my heart pangs with sorrow. Real life isn't a fairy tale…

I often wonder where I went wrong on my path to self-discovery. I believe that it was my collision with blind love that built the foundation for the person who I had become. There's no time in this life for regrets, and what if's so I try with all of my might to shake off this gloom. It's time for rejuvenation, for restoration of the person who I once was. It's time to allow for discovery of my self-worth, and for positive growth to finally occur. I have another chance to make my life the way I have envisioned it.

And it would be the perfect ending to my type of fairy tale if I had him by my side.

But like I said- fairy tales don't exist. I try to forget about him, and try to believe that all of the harsh things that he said to me were true; it would be easier if they were. I try to move on, but my heart just isn't ready to relinquish the fact that he looked me in my eyes and told me he was in love with me.

Everyday I try to tell myself that even if the harsh words that left his lips weren't true, it no longer mattered. He is a married man now…

And I need to let him go…for my own sake in my new journey to self- love.

"Rory," I hear my mothers voice call from downstairs and I smile. It feels good to be home, in Stars Hallow, surrounded by family and loved ones.

As I make my way down the stairs I notice a manila folder sitting on top of the table.

My mothers stares at me cautiously, careful with her words. "The papers have arrived baby, but we don't have to look over them right now."

I think about this for sometime, tears glistening in my eyes. "Yes we do." My reply is with certainty, and I know that this is the first major step to starting my new life… "I'm ready."

My mom nods, "well then…let's sign us some divorce papers."

Xx

Rory ran her fingers through the green grass under her, gazing up at the night sky. She lit a cigarette, studying it for a couple of seconds the way Tristan always did. It was captivating to see the paper slowly being burned. The way it fit in her fingers and felt against her lips. Inhale…the fire burned the paper. Exhale…the smoke clouded around her.

"Excuse me miss," a voice came from behind, startling her, "did anyone ever tell you how extremely bad those are for you?"

Her heart fluttered in her chest as she turned around to match the voice with a face. And when their eyes met her breath hitched in her throat. He smiled slowly, carefully sitting on the grass beside her.

Her cheeks flushed, and she spoke softly. "Tristan…what are you doing here?"

He shrugged, snatching the cigarette from her fingers. He stared at it for a couple of seconds, a silence creeping around them, and suddenly he put it out and tossed it. "We are done with those."

"Hey!" She furrowed her eyebrows, and a pout adorned her lips, "that is definitely littering." She couldn't bring her self to question his action or his words.

He rolled his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

His question caught her off guard. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that he was actually sitting beside her. He was sharing the same fresh air as her just a foot away, and yet he thought her being here was questionable. "Excuse me, but I believe you should be the one answering that question."

"I needed to speak with you." His voice was even, but he scratched his head nervously. "Your mother told me where I could find you."

"You tracked me down and booked a flight just to speak with me?" Rory couldn't hide her incredulous tone. She wrapped her arms around herself in a tight hug. Suddenly memories of their last conversation made her feel uneasy, and hurt. "Are you here to clear the air while the wounds are still fresh?"

Tristan winced at her words. "Rory I'm So-"

"Listen," Rory interrupted him, shaking her head and forcing a smile, "you don't need to apologize for anything. I reacted in a haste manner. I should have never come to you on the day of your wedding confessing my love for you…that was unfair of me and rather embarrassing. It completely went over my head that you telling me you loved me had to be some kind of confusion or cold feet on your end because if you loved me you wouldn't have been getting married. I mean you kind of dropped a bomb on me only a few days before your wedding, and I kind of made a fool of myself in front of you and to Logan…but you don't have to apologize. Some good came out of it: you decided that you were making the right decision by marriage Courtney and I… I just signed my divorce papers." Her face was a blushing red by the time she was done rambling, and she looked away shyly.

He let out a breath of air he didn't realize he was holding, and tried to calm his rapidly beating heart. "You're getting divorced?"

She bit her bottom lip, thinking carefully of what to say next. "This is not about you Tristan, my relationship with Logan was over long ago. I was just too blind to see it. And too stubborn to accept it, but honestly, I haven't felt more free than I feel now."

After a couple of seconds he offered a stiff smirk. "Good. I'm glad you are getting a divorce." His reply was brash and his smirk was taunting.

Anger rose in Rory, she scowled. "You don't get to be glad that I'm ending my marriage! Who even says that?" Her tone of voice only caused an eruption of laughter from Tristan. "Oh nice, now I'm being laughed at. What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be off on a honey moon somewhere?"

After his bout of laughter passed, he locked eyes with her. He ignored her questions. "I thought that I would need to come here and fight for you. I was prepared to steal you from Logan one way or another."

"What?" Rory was baffled at best. She couldn't believe the crazy things that this man said. As if what they had already been through wasn't bad enough. Now he must have been holding on to his sanity by a thread and thought really low of her. "Tristan, what is going on with you? You are married for goodness sake. Please stop this!"

He felt a pang in his heart at the sound of her breaking voice. "What's going on with me is that you love me…and I am completely, ridiculously in love with you Lorelai Leigh Gilmore…crazy in love with you."

Tears flooded her eyes as she inhaled sharply at his words. "But-"

"Rory, I didn't get married." His deadpan left her railing.

She took a deep breath, and steadied herself on the ground. Thank goodness she wasn't standing… A smile formed on his face that made its way to the blue of his eyes. "You…you didn't?"

He moved closer to her, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. When she closed his eyes at his touch he smiled. "No, I didn't marry her. I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone but you, and I still cant. I hope you feel the same."

All of her bitterness and hurt melted away. She smiled through flowing tears. And after catching her breath answered, "Yes…Yes, I feel the same."

"Can I kiss you now?"

"Please." She gasped when he pulled her in, and as their lips met it was almost like something out of a fairy tale. They stayed like that all night… wrapped in each other's arms, sharing kisses and promises.

It was the perfect timing for their story to begin.

_END_

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