A/N: I decided to start this fanfic to set things right between Rory & Jess. I think it's a shame that they decided to cut their relationship to shreds like they did. When Jess made his final plea to Rory and she broke his heart... I felt that it was a travesty. As a fanfic writer, this is my first venture into Gilmore territory, so if it's horrible you have to let me know ASAP otherwise I continue to write. I take criticism very well and I appreciate all feedback that is left for me... heck I practically live for it.

This takes place at the end of "This Weeks Tights, Last Weeks Fights".

"Why won't you leave me alone? You won't go away."

"Rory."

"What do you want?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to see you, talk to you. I just..."

"What?"

"Come with me."

"What?"

"Come with me". He repeated.

"Where?" I asked out of pure curiosity.

"I don't know...away!"

"Are you crazy?" I asked.

"Probably. Do it. Come with me. Don't think about it."

"I can't do that." I said as I opened the door to my dorm room and stepped inside.

He followed my lead and entered the dark room. "You don't think you can do it but you can. You can do whatever you want."

"It's not what I want."

"It is. I know you." He argued.

"You don't know me!" I screamed back.

"Look, we'll go to New York. We'll work, we'll live together, we'll be together. It's what I want. It's what you want, too."

"No!" I screamed in protest.

"I want to be with you, but not here. Not this place, not Stars Hollow. We have to start new."

"There's nothing to start!"

"You're packed. Your stuff is all in boxes. It's perfect. You're ready. And I'm ready. I'm ready for this. You can count on me now. I know you couldn't count on me before, but you can now. You can."

"No!"

"Look, you know we're supposed to be together. I knew it the first time I saw you two years ago, and you know it, too. I know you do."

"No, no, no, no, no!" My voice lets out. My brain responded to him... not my heart. If my heart had the words would have been dramatically different.

"Don't say 'no' just to make me stop talking or make me go away. Only say "no" if you really don't want to be with me."

"No!" I scream one last time. Praying that he will take my answer at face value and not look into my eyes and see how much I wanted to give him the opposite answer.

Jess backed away as quickly as he could all the while trying to stay close. Hoping beyond all hope. Praying that she would change her mind. He finally saw he was standing in the hallway. He looked at her one last time and lowered his head as he rushed out of building. Distraught that he never got what he came for. Her.

I sat down on one of the many boxes in the room after Jess disappeared from my door frame. I caught my breath and placed my head in my hands as a single tear, which had been forming in the corner of my eye since I began to close myself off to him again, rolled slowly down my cheek. I was terrified of getting hurt for the second time. I left my secure life to be with him once and I wasn't prepared to jeopardize my heart again. It hurt too much the first time he left and taking off with him... traveling into places unknown... and risk him leaving her in a far-off place alone. I could not allow myself to take the unnecessary risk of letting my heart out to be broken.

I sat alone, finding an empty solace in the darkness of the room, trying to sort through all the thoughts that were rushing through my psyche. The bewilderment. The entangled emotions. The back and forth. The push and pull. Jess. Dean. Jess. Dean. I wiped the remaining tear from my cheek. Then focused my intense stare through the open door frame and onto the white wall across from me. He was no longer standing there. Not that I expected him to come back or anything... perhaps I was being optimistic that he would still be the same Jess that jumped onto the moving sleigh just to sit with me. The same Jess that made sure I could withstand the utter humiliation of being crowned citizen of the month by switching the video tapes and their cases. The same Jess that challenged me. The same Jess that made me feel alive for the first time in my entire life.

I felt like I had become one of the main characters in the short lived primetime drama 'Dawson's Creek'. Except the tiny details... Jess and Dean were the farthest thing from best friends. There was no creek or ladders or open windows. Just me. Left in my constant state of indecision. Keeping Dean in my life is a necessity. No that's not it. Having Dean in my life is an obligation. No that's not it either. Having Dean in my life is a commitment. That's it a commitment. He is the link to my purity and his presence in my life will always remind me of that. His constant friendship and boy-next-door status in my life is important to me. It always has been. I love Dean. I will always love Dean. The love that exists between us is the most uncontaminated and innocent kind of love that could exist between someone of the opposite sex.

Words like that could never describe my love for Jess. Pure. Childlike. Eternally innocent. Ordinary. They were the exact opposite of words I would use to describe my love for him. Illustrious. Passionate. Unexpected. Life altering. Those were definitely words I would use to describe my love for Jess. The ironic thing was that I thought I buried my love for him deep within my being. I thought I had tucked it safely away beneath the sorrow and heartache. I was wrong. My love for him was right there for everyone to see. I was certain that he saw it too but instead of fighting me... he swallowed his pride and let me be. Irritating. That was what it was infuriating.

Suddenly every aggravating/unbelievably sexy thing he ever said or did came flashing before my eyes. "What am I doing?" I asked myself. Hearing my voice echo through the vast emptiness that Steinbeck described as loneliness in the Chinaman's eye in his novel Cannery Row. I pushed myself off the box I was sitting on and started to run.

Moments later I stopped dead in my tracks. The silence of the night was the only thing that accompanied me. The air was dense and humid. The wind was non existent. The clouds above me were thick and lustrous in the light of the full moon. There I was standing alone in the courtyard. There was no sign of him ever being present or near. Maybe I made the entire confrontation up in my consciousness. No. I could still smell the intoxicating fragrance of his cologne. He was there with me. He was standing right in front of me pleading with me to take the chance and leave with him. And I refused. "How could I just let him go?" I questioned myself as I searched around myself for someone... something... anything... anyone to give me an answer.

Realizing I was alone... again. I fell into the bench in the far corner of the courtyard under the large maple tree. Just a few months ago, the branches were naked and unhidden from the harsh winters that came to New England. Exposed and unprotected from the icy weather that was bestowed upon them. Yet they stood strong and survived. As they always had. Here it was the nearing the end of spring and the branches were rich with full green leaves. Small pink flowers were nearing their point of full bloom. I imagined the sapling that the strong, wise tree once was... desperate to survive its first winter and succeeding. If a tiny sapling could over some all misfortunes and all the obstacles the almost doomed the piece of nature to fail, to trounce all those things and become a resilient, adept tree... wouldn't similar qualities apply to people?

When I first met him... he seemed tainted... damaged. A broken spirit that needed to be restored like the original painting of the Mona Lisa or Starry Night only his spirit would help him live again. Conditions tore at their beauty causing visible wear and tear. With the help of a restoration expert they were repaired and whole again. Jess needed someone to complete him... someone to love him unconditionally... someone to drive him to be better and someone who would inspire him to change. He finally had. He came with open arms... vulnerable and free... ready to have the relationship we both dreamed of. Instead of restoring him, I exposed him to the elements and let them proceed to tear at him relentlessly. I should have gone when he asked me the first time... even the second time he pleaded. I shouldn't have tore him down to nothing and sent him away. I love him. I am still in love with him. I have to find him. I need to be with him.