Life: 2.0

Chapter 1: A New Home

Author: knowhere

Rating: Pg-13/R-ish. This first chapter straddles the line between Pg-13 and R. Later, when it becomes a R (or M) rating, I'll change it.

Disclaimer: Nothing.

AN: New story! Woo. No, I haven't given up on finishing Lux, but I just had this idea and I wanted to write it.

Summary: Literati. Life doesn't always turn out like you expect. Jess and Rory meet as adults when their lives are at a transition period. Life, love, and everything else: Version 2.0. AU.

"Are you going to give the ring back?"

Rory looked down at the three-carat pear shaped diamond, glittering on its chic platinum setting. Goddamn monstrosity. It was so big; it swallowed her left ring finger, making it look much shorter on her already small hands. "No."

"Isn't that the rule?"

"Who cares?" Rory shook her head and tossed in another blouse, hanger and all, into the open cardboard box. "I think there's something in the rules about not dumping your fiancée two weeks before the wedding. So if he can break that rule, I'm breaking this one and keeping the ring."

"I say pawn it. Get some money out of it."

Rory glanced down at it; in truth, she wanted nothing more than to get rid of it but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. And in part, she knew it was because she just wasn't over him. She was angry. At him. At herself. What self-respecting woman doesn't automatically hate her boyfriend after he cheats on her? This one apparently. "Yeah, maybe."

"I knew something was up when I saw them together. They never made eye contact whenever they were in the same room. And that one time he handed her the potatoes, he practically dropped it in her lap to avoid touching her. They made too much of an effort to not attract attention that they lighted up like a football stadium instead."

"He said he tried." Rory mumbled. "Tried not to be attracted to her. But he just couldn't help it. And he said that if I could understand that kind of attraction, then I wouldn't blame him."

"What a jerk!"

Rory smiled sadly but shook her head. She turned and looked at her friend Bram, who was dressed impeccably like he always was. Tall, tawny-haired, he had perfect cheekbones and soulful dark eyes that reminded her of sultry nights spent with a man amid messy bed sheets with a couple goblets of wine left on the nightstand. He was a perfect specimen of the male variety. Having met in college, and best friends ever since then, Rory would've married Bram and had a passel of kids by now if only they didn't share one giant thing in common: they both preferred men.

"No, I think he's right." Bram turned and looked sharply at Rory as she continued. "I don't think I've ever been attracted to someone like he is to Margaret. But," Rory sat down in defeat, "I don't think I'm over him yet. Does that make me insane?"

"No it doesn't." Bram wrapped his long arms around Rory and hugged her tight. "It's normal. Come on," Bram released her and patted her lightly on the butt, "let's finish up packing up your stuff, go to my place, get wasted on margaritas, and watch movies all night."

Rory sighed and straightened her spine and walked to grab the rest of her shirts out of the closet. "Okay, sounds like a plan."

10 months later…

Rory went up her driveway with the mail tucked under her arm and her purse hanging halfway off her shoulder. Today had been exhausting. Nothing had gone right. Her honors freshman class had been uncontrollable and she had to practically force them to participate in reading chunks of Romeo and Juliet. She also had piles of papers to grade from her junior class and speeches to prepare and assign tomorrow. Sighing, she trudged up the steps and bent to pick up a few stray leaves that had blown into her sunny yellow daisies by her front door.

A frantic clawing against the door perked her up. A moment later, a yapping bark filled the silence and a furry white head popped up between the front window and the curtain. Rory smiled brightly at the sight of her loyal West Highland terrier, Wesley. She had adopted him shortly after buying this house and she loved him to distraction. And by the happy barking and the small stubby tail that she knew would be wagging, Wesley loved her right back.

"Hey Wesley-baby. Mommy's home."

Wesley jumped up and down as Rory crossed the threshold. Before Rory could bend down to pet his little head, he bounded away and ran around the coffee table, hopped up on the couch, hopped off, ran into the kitchen, his nails clicking on the tiles, and then back again to sit at her feet. "How was your day today?" Wesley ran out of the room and came back a moment later, a white gym sock in his mouth. His tail wagged back and forth and he cocked his head when Rory didn't reach for the sock as if saying, I brought you a present. Take it! Take it!

Rory laughed and bent down to retrieve the dingy sock. "Thanks sir." Examining it in the light, she turned it over and her brows furrowed. "Where did you get this? It looks like a guy's sock."

When Wesley barked again, she gave it back to him and he happily trotted at her heels as she went into the kitchen. Dropping her keys into the bowl, she started to sort through her mail. Electric company, gas bill, cell phone, a monthly newsletter from college, and some sort of formal looking invitation from her grandmother, complete with calligraphy writing printed on expensive non-recyclable paper with a watermark. Rory scowled and dropped it on top of the bills without even opening it. "Great, another Emily Gilmore event."

Wesley yapped in solidarity and Rory smiled down at him. "Let's go take our walk, okay? And then home for dinner." Wesley agreed.

Rory grabbed his leash and clipped it into place. When she started out of the kitchen, Wesley paused and collected his new treasure and went to the door, sitting with the sock in his mouth. "So this is going to be your new friend, huh? Okay, let's get going. I have to come back and make spaghetti and the sauce. Oh and meatballs." Wesley's ears pricked at the sound of 'meatballs.'

Closing the door behind her, she noticed that the house next door had a car in the driveway. Old Lady Zanders had been Rory's neighbor since she had moved in but Mrs. Zanders had a massive heart attack a month ago. The house had been emptied by the family and sold. It looked like Rory had a new neighbor. As Wesley obediently walked by Rory's side, she made a mental note to say hi to her new neighbor tomorrow.

They walked down to the small park at the end of the street, the one adjacent to the elementary school around the corner. Rory walked around to Wesley's favorite tree and watched him sniff around and eventually lift his leg up, marking his territory. When he circled around two more times, he squatted down and when he was finished, he looked up at Rory with his satisfied face, signaling that he was done for now. Rory bent down and cleaned it up with her little baggie and tugged on the leash.

They meandered their way back home, pausing to note the new wildflowers on the hill leading up to the elementary school and the new picket fence that their neighbor had put up across the street. Rory paused to examine it. She had thought about putting one in her own front lawn for a while now so that Wesley could roam around safely in the front and the back yard. Maybe tomorrow after she introduced herself to her new neighbor she could go over and ask the Wilsons who did their fence. She already had the cute little cottage house; Rory wanted the picket fence to go with it.

When they got back home, Rory went into the kitchen to fix dinner and Wesley watched from his mat by the back door, his squat legs extended straight out making it look like he was flattened. She mixed in some hamburger meat into his regular cup of kibble, feeling bad that she was enjoying large meatballs with her spaghetti while Wesley's dinner looked so dry and bland. He had happily wolfed it down and then they crashed in front of the television watching the Discovery channel.

A high-pitched squealing sound jarred Rory out of sleep. She popped up in bed, the covers sliding down and reached over to snatch up the alarm clock on the nightstand. "Seven a.m.?!"

Wesley got up and shook his little body, coming up to Rory's chest and wiggling his way under the covers, his way of asking what was wrong. He whined and licked Rory's cheek as she frantically reached over the bed to pull on a pair of boxers. Grabbing the thin cotton robe that hung on the back of a chair, she threw it on over her tank top and whirled down the stairs, Wesley hot on her heels. "What the hell is happening?"

The sound was coming from her new neighbor and from the sound of things, the noise was coming from some sort of electrical saw. Rory ran across her lawn and banged on the door. "Hey!" No answer. Her hair flapped loose behind her as she spied wood dust flying from the backyard and she opened the side gate and went in uninvited. She spied a dark head bent over a skilsaw and charged. Did this loser not know that it was a freaking Saturday morning? "Hey! Mister!"

He looked up and turned off the saw. Rory saw him straighten up and pull the safety goggles off his eyes and perched them on top of his head. He gave her a quizzical look and pulled off the heavy working gloves. "Can I help you?"

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Well, my watch says seven."

Rory scoffed and raised an angry brow. "Yeah. So why the heck are you making so much noise?"

"Because wood doesn't cut itself."

"It's way too early!"

He smirked. "Sun's been shining for about an hour and a half now."

Rory made a frustrated growling noise that sounded a lot like Wesley. "Don't you have the decency to keep the noise down until at least ten or eleven?"

"Look, miss," he looked down at her condescendingly, "This house isn't going to fix itself and I can't help it if you sleep in until noon, but I've got work to do."

"Ugh. Do something else until a more reasonable hour at least. People have to sleep around here." Rory whirled around without another word and left, Wesley trailing obediently in her wake.

When she was out of sight, Jess let his grin spread across his face. His new neighbor was something. He had been surprised to find someone yelling and failing her arms so close to his saw when he stopped, but he was even more pleasantly surprised to note the appearance of the stranger. She had obviously been asleep and thrown on whatever she had handy. Her white tank top had been so sheer that he could see the outline of her nipples and breast clearly without looking too hard. She wasn't well endowed but Jess had noticed that her nipples were a pale pink and the morning breeze had hardened them into delectable nubs. Her hips flared out generously which intrigued him. It would give him something to hold onto when he entered from behind.

Wait. Jess shook his head to dislodge that thought. He didn't need another relationship and certainly not when he was trying to start fresh with his new home. But still, his new neighbor looked very interesting.

"Who was that?"

Jess turned to see his younger brother rubbing his eyes sleepily, boxers hanging so low they looked to be falling off at any moment. "Our new neighbor."

"Was she yelling at you?"

Jess chuckled. "She took offense to me using the skilsaw at seven in the morning."

"I'll say." Gabe scoffed and rubbed his bare arms, padding over to sit on one of their lawn chairs.

"Woke up you too, huh?" Jess watched Gabe squint in the morning light.

"Yeah. But that's fine." Gabe stretched his arms over his head. "You're taking me shopping today, right?"

Jess nodded. "Of course. Promised I would. Plus you start school on Monday. We have to get you all that stuff. Binders, pens, lunchbox, clothes."

"Jess, no one uses a lunchbox in high school." Gabe rolled his eyes.

"Oh, right. Forgot. You can paper bag it then. We'll make sure to buy some of those." Jess ran his hand through his messy hair and took a good look at his younger brother.

He had assumed full custody of him three years ago when their parents had died in a headlong collision with a drunk driver. Being seventeen years older than Gabe, Jess hadn't grown up with his younger brother. Their parents had called Gabriel their unannounced blessing and though Jess had been embarrassed having a mom who was pregnant when he was a high school senior, he had grown to love the little tyke who would toddle after him whenever he came home from college to visit.

But three years ago, their lives had been turned upside down with the unexpected death of their parents. When Jess heard the news, he was devastated and immediately concerned about Gabe. He had flown across the county to California, his home state, and collected Gabe. His brother was a scrawny twelve year old, unable to control his grief and scared out of his mind. Jess had done his best to make a smooth transition for his brother, but he didn't know what to do other than to take him to New York.

Gabe had been silent for the first three months and Jess had given him as much space as possible to let his brother sort through the feelings of loss. But Jess was dealing with a lot himself at the same time. At twenty-nine, he knew nothing about taking care of a boy who was becoming a teenager. He moved Gabe into his loft apartment, giving him his office to use as a bedroom. But Gabe had been difficult and had a hard time transitioning from their spacious and sunny suburban home in Southern California to Jess's small New York City apartment.

When Jess enrolled Gabe into a local junior high, Gabe would come home looking more depressed with each passing day. His grades dropped and while Jess knew his brother was bright with a curious mind, the teachers at the school were growing concerned with Gabe's lack of participation.

The teachers suggested that they go to a family therapist. Jess took Gabe to see one that specialized in grief and they each had sessions, sometimes going together and others by themselves. Both Jess and Gabe started to finally open up about their feelings about their parents. They weren't the best of friends but at least Gabe finally acknowledged that he still missed Mom, especially during the holidays and sometimes when he couldn't sleep at night.

After hearing that from one of their joint sessions, Jess had gone back alone the next day and expressed his concern and his feelings of inadequacy at taking care of a teenager. The therapist had suggested to Jess that perhaps the city environment wasn't the best for Gabe and that Jess should consider taking him out of it and back into a more familiar setting.

So, after Jess spoke to his editor they were able to pull some strings and Jess transferred a local paper writing a daily column. It didn't pay as well as his other job back in New York, but the standard of living was lower in Connecticut and the therapist had assured Jess that the environment would be healthier for Gabe's emotional well being. Plus, at least Jess was fairly certain he wouldn't have to worry about Gabe being influenced by the wrong crowd now that they were out of the city. Well, at least not worry as much. Jess remembered what he had been like as a teenager and dreaded having to go through that in the coming years. He sighed just thinking about having to survive puberty, dating, and sex. Jess shuddered.

Gabe got up and started to go back into the house. "I'm going to heat up some Pop-Tarts. Want some?"

"Yeah. Two."

"Okay."

Jess watched Gabe disappear into the kitchen. It wasn't easy taking responsibility for his brother but they were getting into a groove. Jess still made mistakes and sometimes he would think that things would be so much simpler if he didn't have Gabe, but he was his brother, and no matter what, Jess had promised he would be there for him.

"I like these." Gabe held up a pair of jeans up.

Jess took them, examining the fit. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Well," Jess tried to find the right words. "They look kinda…"

Gabe narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"Geeky."

Gabe snarled. "What do you know? You're old."

Jess couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Kid, I might be thirty-two but I still know what's cool. And these are not cool." He threw them back onto the pile and was shocked to look up and see that Gabe's face had mottled with a red fury and tears seemed to be swimming in his big hazel eyes. "Gabe—" Jess reached out for his brother, but Gabe ducked.

"You don't know anything!" He ran out of the store.

Jess scowled. What the hell was that? Teenage mood swings? He went out of the department store and couldn't find Gabe anywhere. He ducked into the nearest music store and wandered up and down the aisles but didn't catch sight of his brother. From the music store, he went into a shoe place, and then into an electronics store where he saw Gabe in front of a video game display, his fingers flying back and forth on the controller. "Hey."

Gabe didn't look at him.

"Look, I'm sorry I said the jeans were dorky. They're fine. If you like them, we'll buy them. No big."

Gabe still didn't spare him a glance.

Jess ducked his head and bumped Gabe's shoulder. "Come on. I'll buy you a pair in all the colors, okay? And we'll go for pizza afterwards. We still have to get pens and binders. You love doing that."

"I don't want the stupid jeans."

Jess raised his brows. "Okay. We'll look for different ones. How about American Eagle, or that Abercrombie place? Or maybe just some standard Levis?"

Gabe whirled around, almost knocking Jess away. "I don't want the damn jeans!"

"Jesus, Gabe! Fine. Whatever!" Jess lost finally lost his temper. There were times that dealing with his younger brother really grated on his nerves and this was one of those times. He just didn't understand what the hell Gabe wanted sometime. "But don't come crying to me when you don't have anything to wear to school come Monday because I'm not going to drive you to the mall again, all right? So pick your damn pants and let's get out of here!"

"That's what it is with you, isn't it? Always on your timing?"

"What the hell do you want from me, Gabe? In case you haven't noticed, I have to work full time to earn enough money to buy that house you're living in, the food you're eating, and the clothes on your back. So hell yeah, we're doing things on my timing! You don't have a say."

"That's just it!"

"What?"

Jess was astonished to see a fresh glaze of angry tears wash across Gabe's eyes. "Money! I know it's hard on you. And good jeans are too expensive!"

Jess lost his angry in an amazingly fast rush. Oh Gabe. There were times where Jess forgot just how sensitive his brother could get. Under that prickly exterior existed a teenager who was finding his own way into the world and was riddled with insecurities as all kids his age were. "Gabe," Jess began softly, "money's not a big deal, okay? I make enough to keep the both of us and to buy you new school clothes. It's all right, kid. I didn't mean what I said."

"Mom never let me buy those cool jeans so I'm used to those cheapie ones." Gabe looked down at his grubby sneakers when he said that.

Jess suddenly realized that this was the first time they really went shopping for clothes. Since Gabe had moved in with him, he'd been wearing his wardrobe that he had back in California. However, in the last month, he had unexpectedly hit a growth spurt and his clothes hadn't fit his lanky frame anymore. But Jess remembered that his parents had been in their later years when Gabe was growing up and their dad had struggled a bit to finance the family when they should have been thinking towards retirement. Jess realized that Gabe would have been used to their parent's frugal ways and money would be a concern.

"Gabe, you can get what you need for school, okay? Really. I mean it. If it were a financial problem, I'd tell you, okay?"

Gabe sniffled and ducked his head in embarrassment. "Okay."

Jess smiled. "Okay. Come on, kid. Let's get out of here. People are probably wondering why we were yelling at each other." Jess pulled Gabe into a fast one-armed hug and let him go before he could protest. "Let's get some pizza."

"Yeah. I'm starving."

Jess snorted. "You're always hungry."

Gabe smirked. "I'm a growing boy."

They got out of the SUV, their arms laden with shopping bags when Jess noticed his neighbor's small white dog running across the yard, barking at them.

The small ball of fur attached himself to Jess's shoe, his small sharp teeth sinking into the leather. "Hey!"

"Wesley, come back!"

He got a glimpse of his neighbor running down her driveway, fully clothed this time, Jess noted. When he felt the little dog's teeth pierce into his skin, Jess yelled. "Ouch! What the hell?"

Gabe had come around the car and couldn't control his laughing. He was doubled over with his shopping bags dropping carelessly as he laughed like a hyena.

"Stop laughing idiot. Help me get him off." Jess shook his foot back and forth but the dog was firmly connected to him.

"Wesley, stop!"

"Yeah, Wes, stop." Jess bent down to grip the scruff of the dog's neck and he lifted, finally dislodging the teeth.

"Sorry." She stopped right in front of them, grimacing at the way Jess held her dog suspended in mid-air.

"You again."

She scowled. "Hey, do you have to hold him like that? You might hurt him."

Jess rolled his eyes. "Tell that to my bleeding foot." He handed her the dog. "Here."

She cradled the dog to her chest and petted the head. "Sorry about that. He gets weary about strangers."

"I'm not a stranger anymore." Jess extended his hand to pet the dog but drew it sharply back when it snapped its tiny jaws at him. "Feisty."

"He's probably still angry at you for waking him up this morning."

Jess chuckled. "And by that do you mean you're angry at me for waking you up?"

"Yeah." She smiled and Jess noticed that he had a very pretty smile. The kind that lit up an entire face from the inside out. And for the second time in one day, Jess's body stood up to attention at the sight of this woman who was obviously not a morning person.

She stuck out her hand. "I'm Rory Gilmore."

"Jess Mariano." He took her hand and wrapped his larger fingers around hers. He noticed that her palm was soft and feminine with small fingers that were completely engulfed by his. "Your new neighbor."

She looked around him and her eyes caught. "Oh, hi. I'm Rory."

Jess looked back and saw his brother nod. "That's Gabe, my brother."

Gabe waved but glanced down at his shoes. "I'm going to get these inside," he mumbled.

"I meant to introduce myself today."

"I think you made quite an impression in your jammies this morning."

Jess watched in delight as a blush spread across her entire face and halfway down her neck. "Right, well, I don't wake up early on the weekends."

"Yeah, I got that."

She laughed. "Well, try not to use any power tools before nine if you can help it."

Jess smiled. "Sure, I'll try but no promises."

Her eyes lit up momentarily with a mischievous look. "Do your best, all right?" For a second, it looked like she was flirting but it disappeared before Jess could latch onto it. "Okay, well I've got to go. It was nice to meet you."

"See you around." Jess watched her walk back to her house, his gaze lingering on her swaying backside, a lascivious grin lighting his face. He shook his head and turned before his thoughts deteriorate further into the gutter.

He picked up one of the bags stuffed with t-shirts and went into the house. He found Gabe in the kitchen heating up a can of soup on the stove. Gabe looked up. "She's hot."

Jess cracked a laugh. "Maybe a little old for you though."

AN: Well, what do you think? Come on people, please read and review!