Disclaimer: The characters, as well as almost all of the dialogue in this chapter, were created by and belong to Amy-Sherman Palladino… so please don't sue me:)

I was unsatisfied with the ending of season 4. This starts near the end of "Last Week Fights, This Week Tights," during Rory's ill-fated date with Graham.

…

Rory sighed. How did she let herself get caught up in this mess? Her mother had warned her. For years, really. She had told Rory that her grandparents were sly and conniving; that they wanted to control the lives of everyone around. She had even tossed around the nickname "puppetmaster" with much frequency. Previously, Rory had thought that her mom was just being overdramatic and silly, as she tended to be more often than not.

But now that she sat stranded at a table in a bar, she cursed herself for not fully comprehending the seriousness of her mother's admonition. The herd of drunk hooligans, one of whom Rory's grandmother had tried to set her up with, had gone, and she had no way to get home. She hated feeling helpless like this.

"Excuse me," Rory called out to a nearby waitress, "is there an ATM here?"

"A few blocks down," the girl answered, "I wouldn't walk, though. Gets dicey at night."

Great, Rory thought. Now I have to ask someone to come to my rescue. Mentally, she went through a list of her friends in her head. Her mother was the most obvious choice, but she had sounded so excited when describing her plans of attending Liz's wedding that Rory didn't want to interrupt her evening. Lane didn't have a car, and Paris was probably off with the old professor – something she even more desperately didn't want to interrupt.

Dean. His name popped into her mind from somewhere in her subconscious. They were friends again, right? Certainly it was worth a try; she didn't have much of an option at this point.

She pulled her cell phone out of her purse, found his name in the directory, then pressed the phone up to her ear. "Hey, it's me. I'm kind of stuck, and I… well, I didn't know who else to call."

"What's wrong?" He sounded concerned. "Do you need help?"

She briefly explained her jam, and Dean offered to drive her home. "It's no problem at all," he argued when she insisted that she didn't want to trouble him. "I just finished up a shift for Tom at the inn; I'll be there as soon as I can."

Of course he would. He was Dean; he was always there when she needed him.

After the two of them finished off an impressive amount of greasy bar food (at the expense of her absent date, who had stupidly left his tab open at the bar), Dean drove her back to the dorm, and they walked around for a little while, enjoying the quiet campus.

"This campus is amazing," Dean remarked, in awe.

"And you're seeing it at a weird time, because we're probably the last two people left," she said. Conversing with Dean was easy, comfortable. It almost felt like old times, when things were good between them, but she couldn't quite ignore the fact that it wasn't the old days. Things had changed, and because of these things, tension hung between them. So many questions needed answers, but Rory was careful not to offend him after he had been nice enough to come her and rescue him.

"Man, it's good to get out. It's good to laugh. I laughed tonight," Dean said. "You're funny."

"I can be funny," Rory agreed, offhand, fiddling with her keys.

"That's what I just said."

"Yeah, but you said it like I never am."

"You're funny," he bantered.

"Yeah, well. This is my room." Rory stuck the keys in the lock.

"I know."

Memories of an ill-fated bookshelf delivery came to her. "Oh, right, you've been here before."

"Yeah."

Rory pushed the door open. Awkwardly, she tried to find a way to end the evening. "Thanks for saving me tonight," she said again.

"Yeah. Anytime."

There was a pregnant pause. Finally, Rory decided she could hold her tongue no longer. "Dean, how is it you can be out like this… here… with me? Or with anyone, for that matter," she added quickly. "Where does Lindsey think you are?"

"She thinks I'm out," he shrugged coolly.

"Out where?" she continued, gently.

"Doesn't matter." He laughed uncomfortably.

"What's going on with you?"

Dean's mouth opened, but before words could come out, the dorm's silence was broken by the sound of a door crashing open. Rory's head turned. There, standing in the doorway, clad in black from head to toe, was Jess.

"What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, incredulous.

Jess either didn't notice how surprised she was, or didn't care. He strode towards her, his face serious and intense. "I need to talk to you," he said.

"Jess-" Dean snarled.

"I need to talk to you," Jess persisted, ignoring Dean.

"What's going on?" Dean demanded.

"What are you doing here?" Rory asked. What more could Jess possibly want from her?

"Rory, please," Jess pleaded.

"Rory?" Dean raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to speak.

Here they were, again. The two men she been through so much with, once again vying for her attention. She couldn't deal with both of them at once. She wasn't sure she even had the strength argue with Jess again, but the look on his face told her that he was desperate. She at least wanted to hear what he had to say, and she couldn't do that with both of them here. So she turned to Dean, and said, "Go. Go home."

"No!" he shouted, clearly angry that once again, it was Jess over him.

She felt bad turning him away, after he was gracious enough to come save her and all, but she really had no choice. "Yes. Go. You should go."

With a final scowl, Dean sulked away. Rory could now address the issue at hand. She turned to Jess. "Why won't you leave me alone? You won't go away!"

"Rory-" he sighed.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"I- I don't know," he faltered. "I just wanted… to see you, talk to you." His eyes glowed with the same desperate hope that had been there on that horrible, heart-wrenching night when he had told her that he loved her, then abruptly fled the scene, leaving Rory alone to sort through her emotions. "I just…"

"What?" She wasn't going to just stand here. She couldn't.

"Come with me," he announced.

This took Rory completely by surprise. "What?" She couldn't meet his eye.

"Come with me," he said, his voice more confident and his resolve stronger.

"Where?"

"I don't know. Away!"

She furrowed her brow, not believing what she was hearing. "Are you crazy?"

"Probably. Do it, come with me, don't think about it." He stood, so sure of himself that it frightened her a little.

"I can't do that!" Rory couldn't look at him. She turned and barreled into her room. She meant it. She couldn't go away. And most of all, she couldn't give her heart away. Not to him, not again, not after everything he'd put her through.

"You don't think you can do it, but you can. You can to anything you want," Jess spoke quickly, following her in. Why did he have to badger her like this? Why couldn't he understand that?"

"It's not what I want!"

"It is, I know you," he exclaimed, exasperated.

"You don't know me."

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

"No," she continued to protest. He had to stop. Sooner or later he had to, before she couldn't resist him anymore.

"Look, I want to be with you, but… not here, not this place, not Stars Hollow," he said with disdain. "We have to start new."

"There's nothing to start!" she shouted, walking away from him again. She was scared because didn't quite believe the words coming out of her mouth. But she couldn't bend.

"You're packed, your stuff is all in boxes." He gestured toward the boxes of her posessions stacked in the bare common room. "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!" she maintained. How was it any different now? What reassurance could she possibly have that Jess had changed? There was none, and she couldn't throw her life away on someone unreliable. Yes, she had loved Jess. And standing here in this room, yes, she still felt something. But moving to New York? It was a step she couldn't take.

"Look, you know we're supposed to be together." He grabbed her arm and stared earnestly into her eyes. "I knew it the first time I saw you, two years ago. And you know it too. I know you do."

Rory averted her eyes, unable to connect with his intense gaze. It hurt too much. "No," she muttered, losing steam. "No, no, no-"

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

She opened her mouth to protest one last time. But when she looked into his dark, stormy eyes, eyes filled with passion for her, the words caught in her throat. "I-" she stumbled, trailing off. She became acutely aware of the silence in the room. Say no, her mind screamed. Just say no, and he will go away. But her lips could not form the word. Tears stung at the corners of her eyes.

"Rory?" he whispered softly, his stony expression melting. He reached out a hand. "What do you say?"

Rory shoved it away. "I can't do this, Jess," she finally choked out.

"Okay," was all he said in response. With a knowing nod, he turned and walked out of the room.

Rory sunk down on one of the boxes and buried her face in her hands. She had thought she was completely over Jess, but seeing him tonight brought back all of the turbulent emotions that had tugged at her heart since he had first come to town.

She remembered the night. She remembered strolling with him, in the moonlit Stars Hollow square, joking about how he was "too cool for school." She remembered the smile that had crept across her face, against her will, upon seeing his playful crooked smirk.

He had pulled one of her books out of his jacket, the one he'd refused to borrow as he told her, "I don't read much." As he showed her the notes he had penciled in the margins, and explained that he'd read it about forty times, he countered her surprised face with a mysterious shrug and the words, "Well, what is much?" With that michevious smile again he'd said, "Goonight, Rory."

"Night, Dodger," she rolled her eyes, throwing out a reference to the thief in one of her favorite novels.

"Dodger?" he asked, stopping.

"Figure it out," she threw back playfully.

As she walked away, to her surprise and delight, she heard him call out, "Oliver Twist." She grinned secretly, not wanting to give this delinquent the satisfaction of knowing she was pleased, but at the same time feeling something inside her flutter upon realizing that there may finally be someone in that small town who could truly be a part of her world.

Looking back on it years later, Rory realized that, though she struggled for a year to keep things going with Dean and to deny her attraction to Jess, that moment was where it all began. She mulled over what Jess had just told her. It was true that, for a long time, she too had believed that they were meant to be together. Through their long, often arduous relationship, though, that feeling had dwindled. Now she wasn't sure what she believed. Jess had opened the whole horrendous mess up again. And of course, there was Dean to think about, too. He was the one, after all, who had driven all the way to New Haven to help her out. And there was a moment – well, there was almost a moment, before Jess had come in and interrupted them. What was Dean going to say? What was going on with Lindsey, and how did Rory fit into it all?

Rory sighed. She had no idea what to do. There was one person, though, who she could always count on to help her work through tough boy dilemmas. Rory resolved that, once she arrived back in Stars Hollow, she would head over to her best friend's apartment for some serious girl talk.