AN: Ever since I posted my story, Little Visit, fourteen years ago, and got such favourable reviews, I've had four sequels to this universe kicking around in my head and partially written. (I can't believe it's really been that long!) I held back posting any of these stories, however, because I'm a perfectionist to a fault and they "just weren't ready." Well, this past weekend I reread Little Visit. Right there in its first chapter were two typos I had posted for all the world to see! (I really should have caught them! Egad!) Besides that, I was decidedly ho-hum reading Little Visit this time around. Parts I loved; parts I didn't. Anyway, then I reread the first two chapters of this story, Late Nights, and decided that, incomplete though the story may be, it was better than its predecessor and I wanted to share it with you. So here is the first chapter! You can read Little Visit, if you want, for the back-story to this alternate universe, however, this story should stand by itself. This story is rated M for content. The other stories in the eventual series will not be rated so restrictively.

I don't own these characters, I just love them! Also, I mean no disrespect to the memory of Gary Coleman or to his family.

FRIDAY EVENING

An excited Rory padded down the hallway of her New Haven apartment building, her boots making the familiar thumping sound that echoed like sonar as she neared number 304. She smiled as her heart executed a little flip-flop. Within just a couple of days, or even in as little as a few hours, her future could be forever changed.

It had started a day like any other, she thought, but then Professor LaFavre spoke with her after class, and now the day brimmed with possibility! She couldn't wait to share the news with Jess. He would be arriving today for another visit, and she just couldn't wait!

Rory pulled one mitten off with her teeth and fumbled in her coat pocket for her keys. While, in her other hand, she balanced a bag of books and a Venti coffee, as she did most every day, Rory stuck her key in the lock and jiggled it. As usual the lock resisted her, but today it didn't dampen her spirit.

Before she could win her struggle with the lock, however, the door swung open from the inside, ripping the keys from her hand and leaving them dangling. She grabbed the mitt from her teeth. "Jess!" she cried, happily surprised. "You're here early!"

"No," he replied calmly. "I caught the same bus I always do." She stuffed the loose mitt in her pocket and switched her coffee to her free hand so he could whisk the heavy book bag from her wrist.

Rory looked down at her watch. It was 6:00. "Oh!" she exclaimed, apologetic. "I'm late!"

"Always worth the wait." Jess smirked wryly, leaning in to kiss her lips easily. Then he stepped back into her apartment and let her pass through. Jess retrieved her key-chain from the lock before he closed the door.

"Cheesy, Jess. So cheesy." But though her statement admonished him, she was secretly pleased.

"I know. But admit it. Girls love cheese."

After Rory set her coffee cup on the counter beside the door, she quickly peeled her hat from her head and stuffed it, along with her other mitt, into her coat pockets. "I love you. Are you cheese?"

"I'm no Kraft product but I have my moments."

"Theirs is the cheesiest," she mock-consoled playfully while setting about unbuttoning her coat.

"It does set a high bar," he agreed.

As Rory finally freed her body of its winter encumbrances – hanging her coat on the hook and kicking her boots off – Jess stepped closer. Her gaze was drawn to the tempting mess of waves and curls set dashingly at the top of his head. She smiled. No one could modernize the pompadour like Jess could. "You're all punked out today."

"Mmm. You like it?"

Rory ran her fingers through the faintly waxy waves above his ear towards the delicate fronds at the nape of his warm neck, as Jess earnestly gathered her up into his arms at last. "Mmm-hmmm…" Their next kiss was warmer and slightly searching and it left her breathless and so happy to be in his arms again after their week-long separation.

"So what has you so distracted that you lose track of time and forget that your boyfriend is coming to visit?" he asked.

"I didn't forget," she insisted, though momentarily at a loss. For a few soulful beats of her heart, her distraction was all Jess. It took her a minute or two to even think of her good news and then a minute more to truly care about it. But when she did, and her excitement for it returned, she smiled and asked, "You remember that internship that I told you about?"

When Jess indicated his agreement, she went on. "The Selection Committee has narrowed their choices down to 5 possibilities. Guess who made their short list?"

"Gary Coleman?" he teased, while expertly sprinkling a few more welcome kisses along her jawbone.

"No," she chided, amused. "Me."

"What? Was Gary already busy?"

"Not since 1986."

"Needs a better agent."

Rory giggled breathily, enjoying the tender tickle of Jess's trespass along her jaw. Then the kisses slowed to a stop and Jess softly groaned against her neck, as though coming to grips with his own desire. It was a sexy, wistful sound which aroused her more than she cared to admit.

"You hungry?" he asked. "I brought Chinese food." He held her still, though at a slight distance so he could observe her face.

Though she longed to pull his body against hers again, at the mention of food her mouth instantly watered. "I'm starved," she admitted. "The only thing I had all afternoon was a little bag of Cheetos which I snuck into the library and wolfed down in between Kierkegaard and Fallaci."

Jess nodded conspiratorially. "You literally ate while hiding behind the books, didn't you?"

"It's against the rules to bring food into the library," she explained, not for the first time.

"So you've said. And yet you did it anyway?" Jess tisk-tisked her.

"Yes."

"You really are a rebel, aren't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Not when compared to certain other people in this relationship, but I hold my own."

"I'll hold yours for you…" He tilted his head with a smirk. "If you like."

"Dirty!" she chimed in, giggling, as she held him in her arms and the quality and tone of his back melted her hands in more ways than one.

"Huh. I'll have to bathe you later."

"Oooh," she joked, and blushed at the idea. They'd never done that before.

"Seriously," he said, not seriously at all. "I want to help. Let me get that for you."

"Well aren't you a sexy boy scout?"

"I could get my Tongue Bath badge at camp on Monday. If only I could lend someone a hand."

"Or a tongue."

He rumbled appreciatively, with a twinkle in his eyes. Then Jess visibly reined in his playful flirtations and grew sincere. "I'm happy for you," he said simply, gulping. "About the short list, I mean."

"Thanks." She smiled warmly.

Jess cleared his throat and released her from his arms. "Well as far as this food is concerned, you're lucky you got here when you did. I was just about to put it in the fridge. In a few minutes, it would've congealed into one solid mass, but as for right now, it should still be appealing enough to eat."

Jess stepped around the counter into the tiny kitchenette and began pulling cartons out of a brown paper bag. "You done your homework for the weekend?" he asked calmly without a hint of expectation in his voice. His question sparked a peal of laughter.

"Are you kidding?" Rory asked in disbelief as she pulled a couple plates off her cupboard shelf. Rory was taking so many courses her head spun, and each class demanded a lot of her free time. "When do I ever not bring homework home? I've got at least a few hours' worth to do." Catching the smile on his lips, she amended, "Oh. You are kidding."

Jess dished out one of the cartons and Rory opened another. The contents were still steamy and she gathered Jess had only arrived a short time before her.

"My mistake," he said. "You know, if you're not careful you'll tarnish your bad-girl reputation. You're such a closet keener."

Rory, also dishing, stopped what she was doing and slowly turned to look at his animated face. Jess was casually kissing Sweet and Sour sauce off his thumb and his dancing, playful eyes were focused on her.

"That's not an insult, you know."

"It wasn't meant to be," he said, smiling. "I don't understand your predisposition, but I find it fascinating." He turned back to the cartons and she did the same.

When their plates were full, Jess followed Rory into the living room, which, really, was only distinguishable from the rest of the one-room apartment by the fact that the couch was located there and the counter-top wasn't. And even that distinction was impermanent as, at night, the couch folded out flat and the living room became her bedroom. They set their plates on the living room coffee table and sat down on the floor, side by side.

"Is it boring for you to come all this way just to watch me study? Be honest." Since they'd begun their relationship a few months before, Jess had spent many a weekend holed up in her tiny apartment, firmly planted on her couch.

"I'm not here just watching you study. I've got my Tobias Wolff."

"Wolff this week." She nodded. "Old School?"

"Yeah."

"Which you've read, like, a million times..."

"Yeah and if I were at home, I'd be reading it again anyway. May as well do it here."

"Right." Rory wasn't entirely convinced.

"I look forward to reading on my days off. Sue me."

"Yeah…" Rory considered his statement and concurred. He'd never complained once about their pattern; the voracity with which he read was truly impressive. Finally she accepted this, as it occurred to her that there'd been a number of times when he'd arrived and practically gone straight to his latest read, leaving her little choice but to crack her own books. "OK."

"Besides, I love our study breaks." With a feather-light touch that contradicted the crackling heat in his eyes, Jess brushed a strand of her shoulder length hair behind her ear and, his fingers nestling into the nape of her neck, eased her head towards him. He leaned forward and kissed her temple.

Rory demurely purred, "As do I."

"Never learned me so much about anatomy!"

Rory smiled, thinking of their 'study breaks'. They'd come a long way from their first shy encounter, the weekend after they'd crossed the threshold from being just friends to becoming a couple. In the months since then, Jess had shown her a desire within herself that transcended self-consciousness. "It may well be my favourite class."

"Agreed."

Jess turned to the plate in front of him and speared some Moo Goo Gai Pan. "Not sure I'm gonna pass though," he said, as though offhandedly. The breath caught in her throat as he tried a new tactic in their verbal adventure. "I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to take this class again. Take it over and over again," he teased in a quiet voice.

She smiled, open-mouthed, at his audaciousness, until Jess muttered, "What no 'dirty'? That comment deserved a 'dirty'."

Rory's heart throbbed a mile a minute. If only he knew how much she thought about it. She was so beyond dirty. When she caught her breath, she whispered, "Maybe you'd benefit from a tutor."

"Only if it's you, Teach."

"'Teach'," she repeated softly, as warm feelings of nostalgia suddenly swirled through her. "You haven't called me that since the car accident that broke my wrist."

Jess shook his head wryly. "And the mood is effectively killed."

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, knowing she'd digressed from the conversation he'd led into a territory that made him uncomfortable. But what he didn't realize was that, for her, the digression was just as amorous as their intimate allusions.

"You felt the mood just now, right? I mean, I was there. I thought you were there," he teased.

"I was there."

"With your come-hither eyes and licking of lips…"

Rory smiled. "I worded that wrong. I meant since the night I did tutor you. I only mentioned the accident because it was the most specific descriptor of that night but the accident really wasn't the defining moment."

The look he gave her was mildly askant. "Still killed the mood."

She sighed, aggravated. "I'm sorry I mentioned it! For the twentieth time, Jess, the car accident wasn't your fault and I didn't mean to sound like I was blaming you. It was just that word… Teach. It made me think of that night. I was just remembering our history."

"Oh?"

"You know it's been two and half years since then? Almost three."

Lowering his fork to his plate, he turned to face her, propping his elbow on the couch cushion behind them and draping his brow on his knuckles. With studied allure, yet a demeanour fluent in sincerity, he spoke, "You and I had history back then?"

"Yeah," she ducked under his gaze and dug into her Sweet and Sour Pork.

"I could've sworn you'd said we were just friends back then. I remember it distinctly. Like a Chatty-Cathy doll with the same platonic phrase stuck on repeat."

"I had at least one other phrase in my repertoire that night. You may recall, I was the one who said to turn right."

"And look what that got us: your broken wrist and my eviction. I'd wished we'd just gone back to studying."

"But it's all the more proof that we have a history."

"Explain."

Rory took a deep breath. "You excited me even then. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. And even though the thing that happened next really sucked, when it happened – when we had the car accident – I got to see you in a whole different light."

Jess was watching her closely and she struggled slightly to go on. "It– it was pretty obvious that you cared, with the way you got me to the hospital and called the tow-truck and stayed with me until I phoned my mom. I wanted you to stay and you wanted to be there. That proves there was something between us, I think. Then, the biggest proof of all was how I felt when I found out you'd left town."

"And how was that?"

"Just really, really sad that you'd gone."

Jess caught her eyes in a laden gaze. They remained that way for a while before he nodded.

"Anyway, that night… was really confusing to a girl who thought she just wanted to be friends."

"I see."

"So you see, I wasn't trying to kill the mood. I was just thinking about… how much more than superficial this is. It's mood-enhancing for me."

"Strange things turn you on," he joked wryly.

"Yes. Yes, you do," she volleyed, mussing up further his bed-head hair.

Jess smiled and looked down at his plate, the perfect picture of boyish delight.

After a moment he asked, "So what do you want to do tonight? Go to a movie? There's nothing good playing this week; we can make out in the back."

She laughed. "Sounds great, but perhaps not."

"In the front then? Well OK, Rory, if you insist."

"Exhibitionist much?"

"The people did pay to see a show."

"And a show they'd get!"

"Wouldn't want to disappoint them."

"Actually, I'm expecting a phone call from Professor LaFavre, about the internship."

"He can leave a message, can't he?"

"Yeah, but I'd rather talk to him personally. How about we just make out here?"

"Even better."

AN: Please review! I'd really appreciate it!