A/N: Okay…I'm officially doing it. I'm writing AU. I tried so hard to fit this story into canon, but when it positively refused to squeeze into the possible timeline, I decided to take advantage of the fact and possibly take a few different directions than the show actually did. I don't have the whole thing planned out, and in case my lovely readers haven't noticed, I've been having a terrible time with follow-through. But I will faithfully promise to keep writing. If I am able to write more chapters of either "Pay the Piper" or "EverFixed Mark," they will take precedence over this fic…because I owe that to my faithful readers who have been begging me to finish them for longer than I care to think about. Please never give up on me.
Just to be clear, in this story, everything that precedes it (The Pilot through "I Get a Sidekick Out of You") happened exactly as it did in canon.
Also…since I'm not exactly sure where this story is going, I'm not sure if the title will work for the whole story. We'll just have to see.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls in any way. If I did, I would have hocked everything I owned to bribe Milo Ventimiglia into staying on throughout all of seasons 6 &7.
On with the story. Chapter one is very short.
Chapter I - The Masked Intruder
When he got there the night before, he used the key above the door and tried to figure out how to go upstairs without scaring Luke half to death. Not that it mattered. The apartment was empty. His bed was still there in the same place it had been since the day after he first arrived in Stars Hollow. Luke would either be there in the morning, or he wouldn't.
Turned out, he wasn't. Caesar arrived bright and early and it was him Jess ended up scaring almost out of his wits. It seemed Luke wasn't back yet and Caesar had the run of the place. Jess lent a hand and Caesar did his best not to seem annoyed by the help…so Jess tried to primarily stay out of his way.
"Lemme know if you need me." He found a corner and pulled his book out of his back pocket.
He expected to see Lorelai, but she definitely didn't expect to see him. The jumping shudder and loud "Oh!" that escaped the frightened circle of her mouth proved that.
"Sorry, I forgot to take my Halloween mask off," he said, rolling his eyes and wondering how many more people he'd end up frightening over the course of the day…and beginning to wonder if he should have just stayed in bed.
"No! It's…um…" Lorelai nodded through her stumbled speech, "…you…look different."
Jess quirked an eyebrow and gave himself a once-over before looking back at her. "So do you."
Her expression shifted a shade colder despite her obvious effort to conceal the fact.
"I'm not trying to bait you or insult you. You've changed your hair. It looks nice."
She was clearly surprised that he'd grown a tongue in his absence…and a polite one. Strangely, she seemed to have lost hers. She hadn't managed to find a reply before Caesar came out of the kitchen like a beam of sunshine.
"Lorelai! I've got your coffee right here…"
Lorelai's tongue grew back and she bantered with Caesar about coffee and breakfast, though Jess couldn't help but notice it was forced. He buried himself back into his book, but was aware that when Lorelai was about to leave, she stopped and turned, trying to figure out how to ask him what he was doing there, but again, couldn't find the words, and the door chimed as her heels clicked going through it.
A/N: I'm a little uncomfortable in my skin at this point, writing…from a distance, if that makes any sense. I'm used to being firmly in my characters' heads. Right now, I'm more peeking through a keyhole. Don't know if that explains anything. I know there's not a whole lot of material here to review, but I'd appreciate it if you'd give me some kind of feedback anyway, just as an incentive to keep going. Thanks.