The Shimmering Stories of Stars Hallow

Author's Note: This story takes place around Season Three. Literati & Possible JavaJunkie, Enjoy. ♥

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls; things would be different if I did, although the show is still awesome.

To the story…

The days continued to get colder as winter approached the small town of Stars Hallow, Connecticut. So cold, in fact, that a seventeen year old Rory Gilmore woke up by the sound of some chirping birds and found herself being embraced by her boyfriend on a small bridge in town.

"Oh, God." She first said to herself, unintentionally waking Jess by the realization of a familiar predicament. It had happened about two years ago, although with Dean. Staying out all night in that case, of course by accident, got her in enough trouble—and that was with good ol' predictable, reliable, trustable Dean. When her mother found out that she, once again accidentally, stayed out all night—this time with the town hoodlum, the bad seed, the one who stole her heart from, at least in her mother's eyes, 'Perfect' Dean, hell would break loose. "Oh, God." She repeated, louder this time, realizing the amount of trouble she was in.

"What?" Jess asked groggily, still not realizing where he was. Although, realization quickly settled in as he remembered last night. Rory and him snuck out in the middle of the night to meet on the bridge, the one place in Stars Hallow he actually liked. They just sat there, enjoying the feeling of each other's presences in silence as he attempted to read Rand again, and she Hemmingway. His book was sitting peacefully on the planks of the bridge, while hers was missing for the time being. "Where's your book?" he asked, his mind stuck on his curiosity.

"I don't know! Why are you even worrying about that? We've been out all night. What time is it?" She rambled on, fast-paced, and attribute she got from her mother. "I can't believe this! She's going to kill m—well, actually, most-likely you."

Jess let out a small yawn, closing his eyes. When he re-opened them, he glanced down at his black, leather strapped, watch. As he yawned again, he announced that it was almost five in the morning. "Stop worrying, no way Lorelai's up this early." He looked directly at her, giving her a reassuring figment-of-a-smile, before leaning in to give her a small peck on the lips. He heard the beat of her heart slow considerably as she put her head on his shoulder and as he pulled her in closer, tugging at her waist.

"Yeah, you're right." She simply stated. They began sitting in silence for a few moments, just enjoying each other's company. They hadn't been together as a couple for long, although it had been a long time coming. Rory's eyes squinted as she saw something floating in the lake. Wanting to know what it was without having to break the peaceful silence, she began to lean forward, causing Jess to giver her an unnoticed glare. She leaned in a little too far, causing her to fall in the lake, pulling an attached Jess in with her.

"What the hell?" A surprised and very wet Jess asked as he emerged from the water. Rory just laughed slightly, giving him a short-lived glance before swimming toward the object that had her so distracted. He gave her yet another glare as he lifted himself out of the water and back on to the bridge. "Rory, whatever that is will probably kill you, you best not touch it!" He advised as she was nearing the object.

She grabbed the soggy object and made a sour face when she observed what it was. "Eww! You're right!" She said disgustingly, turning towards him, trying her best at attempting to throw it his way. Of course, her lack of athletic ability didn't help much in the matter as the object landed half way between Rory and Jess who were only about ten feet away. She scowled as she swam back towards the bridge, picking up the object once again and lifting herself out of the water—a spectacle Jess couldn't help but smirk at. She shoved the soaking wet book in his arms and laughed at his distorted expression. "See! You were right. Touching a Hemmingway will kill me—by boring me to death." Rory laughed. "…and you said I shouldn't touch it, which means I now don't have to read it!" She proudly rambled on again.

"I just said not to touch this thing." Jess waved the dismantled novel in front of her face a few times for throwing it into the lake. He smirked. "Now you don't, but I am gladly going to buy you a new copy." He smirked again as her proud expression faded and she dropped her head, exaggerating her disappointment. He took his hands and cupped her face to lift her chin, revealing an irresistible smile. She reached around his waist, pulling him closer to her as they began to share a passionate kiss.

"Oh, God." She stated for the third time that day, pulling away from the enjoyable kiss.

"I thought we were done saying that for the day." Jess rolled his eyes in annoyance as he looked into her worrying blue eyes, searching for an answer to what was wrong this time.

"What time is it?" she asked, scurrying to pick up her purse she had brought with her the night before.

Jess apprehensively looked at his watch again; still oblivious to what was wrong now. "It's five-thirty. Why? What's wrong?" He asked.

Rory let out a heavy sigh before speaking. "My mom may not have been awake, but Luke should have been—and when he got up he would've noticed you weren't there," she took a breath, "and he would've called my mom to ask if she had seen you," she took another breath, reaching in her purse to get her cell phone and turning it on, "she would then go downstairs to look for me and…" She stopped rambling as they both knew what would've happened after that.

"Shit." Jess simply stated. They both stood shivering from still being wet and outside in the near-winter weather. Rory looked down at her phone which indicated she had fourteen new messages. They both looked at each other with worried expressions about what would happen next.

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Earlier that morning…

Lorelai had awoken that morning to an annoying ringing sound. Immediately assuming it was her alarm, she reached over to turn it off, quickly glancing at it, noticing that it was four-thirty in the morning. Soon, she realized that she had never in her life set her alarm to that particular time and that the incessant noise was coming from the phone. "I hate you." She crankily answered.

"Lorelai?" The voice of the man on the other end of the phone asked.

"Luke? If this is you, you totally owe me a life time supply of coffee for waking me up this early." Even in her zombie-like state her mind was on her daily source of caffeine. It was an addiction after all. "I swear, this better be important..."

"Uh, yeah it's me... um, I was just, uh, just wondering if you've seen Jess?" He stuttered. "He was here when I went to bed and now he's not here… it's really not like him to be up early…" Luke trailed off.

"Um, no, I haven't seen him." She paused, "but maybe Rory knows where he is, just a second, I'll go wake her up." Lorelai walked towards Rory's bedroom door and opened it. She found it to be extremely cold in there and noticed was no where to be seen and her window was slightly opened. "Oh, god." She stated into the phone as the Gilmore's had more than one thing in common.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, slightly more panicked now. "What'd she say?"

"She's not here." Lorelai stated, hanging up the phone without any sign of a good-bye. She grabbed her coat and walked out the door. A baffled Luke stood behind the counter of the diner, hanging up the phone, wondering where Lorelai went.

Minutes later, Lorelai came bursting through the door of the diner, leaving the bell on the door to chime violently for a few seconds. She sat on a stool, attempting to call Rory, always getting her voice mail and leaving a message. Luke had heard the door slam shut and came downstairs to find Lorelai leaving a message, hanging up, and calling again. He decided not to say anything about the 'No Cell Phones' rule and instead starting brewing some coffee. He gave her a sympathetic look as he handed her a mug of fresh coffee and she mouthed 'bless you', apparently listening to Rory's voice mail, awaiting the chance to leave another message.

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Rory and Jess still stood there, like they had been for the past minute, contemplating what to do. Rory's cell phone rang, she apprehensively answered it. "Hello?" She shyly asked, knowing it was her mother. There was silence as Lorelai was speaking on the other end. "Okay," her weak voice stated. There was another pause. "I'm sorry… yeah, we're coming." She hung up, looking like she was about to cry. "They're at the diner. We should probably get there." Rory told Jess sadly, trying to avoid eye-contact.

"Okay." Jess said softly, embracing her in a huge hug before they walked towards Luke's.