In Company

Chapter One
Vanishing Dot on a Map

The apartment was nearly silent. It was always like that during the mid-afternoon. The clamoring of keys on the wireless keyboard was the only thing that was usually making a noise. It was the perfect time to do his work—at least that was what Jess thought. His keyboard could simply sit on his lap as he lounged, nothing but his thoughts flowing through his fingertips. No wires to tie him down. There were no distractions as everyone was off doing who knows what and the hustle and bustle of the city was nonexistent.

Jess stared at the dark screened monitor. It helped his writing that way. He simply turned it off so that he could just type out what he felt. There was no worrying about any grammar or spelling mistakes. That would come later; it was his editor's job after all. This technique also helped when people were over. He couldn't necessarily see what he was typing, but any certain person who just happened to be attempting to read over his shoulder had nothing to be looking at as well. It was a win-win situation in his opinion. He found it less distracting then his former method of using the yellow lined paper from his legal pad and that blue ink pen that failed to work more than half of the time.

He hadn't gotten very far today though. He hadn't known how long he had been just staring at the black screen without typing a single word. However, the monotonous sounds of the ticking clock could have hinted at the answer to that unasked question, had he bothered to count each tock. He pushed off the wall under his desk with his feet, forcing his swiveling office chair to tilt back slightly. He had seriously attained a major case of writers block. Where was his muse when he needed her?

As if on cue, a shuffling of keys could be heard outside of the apartment door. The rattling continued for quite a while, and it seemed like she was having a bit of a problem. He smirked slowly, curiously wondering what the hold up was. Removing his feet from the wall, he sat up straight in his chair and placed his keyboard on the unorganized desk that sat before him. He walked over to the apartment's entrance and looked through the door's equipped peek-hole. His smirk turned into a grin when he saw a disfigured-looking Rory Gilmore juggling a box while trying to grab the correct key.

Taking a step away from the door, he reached out to undo the dead bolt and opened the door for her.

"Hey." He greeted her casually.

Rory was not as kind with the pleasantries as she took the box she was holding and shoved it into his arms exasperating the word "Heavy!" as she did so.

Not expecting it to be so heavy, even with her blunt warning, he dropped the box, gravity pulling it quickly towards the ground, reaching his right foot with a rather loud 'thud'. "Ow." Jess stated slightly sarcastically, then adding, "What the hell are you carrying around a box of bricks for?"

Rory blushed slightly. "Sorry." She tried to sound sympathetic, but the giggle emerging from her apology showed through her façade and brought out her amusement. She bent over to retrieve her box which Jess, ever so swiftly, removed from laying haphazardly on him by sliding his foot from under it as he winced in pain. "It's not that heavy. I carried it all the way here."

Jess' brow furrowed. "I just wasn't expecting it, that's all." He followed her towards the kitchen where she sat the box on the granite countertop.

"Do you want some ice?" Rory laughed mockingly.

"Mean." He flashed a pout, before curiosity once again took the best of him as he approached the counter where the box now lay. Rory was in the midst of opening it. "So, what's actually in there? Not really bricks I hope, because if it is, I will seriously believe you did that on purpose."

"Nope, not bricks. Much better." Jess hovered over Rory's shoulder as she attempted to open it. "Do you mind?" She jokingly questioned.

"You hurt me. I have rights." He smirked as she rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the box.

"Fine. I was going to repay you for all this guilt in another way, but I guess you already picked your prize." Rory teased as the final flap of the box was opened.

Jess gently pushed Rory aside to get a better view of what was in the box. His expression changed from a look of excitement to mock boredom. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Because the book shelf is new, and empty, and you'd know I'd want to fill it?" Rory came in between the box and Jess, grabbing him around the neck.

Reciprocating the gesture around her waist, Jess took a step forward, closing the gap, as he did so. "I don't think that's it."

"Oh." Rory faked a puzzled look on her face. "Because I just know how much you love books and I thought I would be really nice and buy you some new ones?"

"Hmm…I don't think that's it either." Jess smiled.

"Really? Oh, well is it because I'm a huge sucker for books?" She smiled back at him.

"Maybe that's it." His smile grew before leaning in. Their lips hovered in front of each others, partially touching every so often. Jess watched as Rory closed her eyes before he did the same and deepened the kiss.

Their lips soon parted and although the kiss wasn't long, it was filled with something more than infatuation. "So, how was your day?" Rory asked him as she grabbed his right hand with her left, leading him to the red sofa so they could talk.

"Boring. I didn't get anything done. I can't write in these conditions." He joined her on the couch where she then went about placing her head on his shoulder.

"What conditions?" Rory titled her head to gaze into the chocolate-colored eyes that were staring down at her.

"The ones where you're not here with me." Jess tried to remain serious although his signature smirk quickly showed through.

Rory glared at him and playfully slapped him on the thigh. "Quite the line, Mariano."

"Don't I get something for the effort?" His smirk remained firmly planted on his face.

"No. You're just mocking me for what I told you last night." Rory crossed her arms across her chest and looked down towards her feet which were resting on the oak coffee table.

"Am I? What did you tell me last night? Were we naked at the time? Because if we were naked I probably wasn't listening." His face now showed a rather large grin.

"You are such a jerk!" A casual look of surprise laced her features.

"Well, I try." Jess shrugged as if it was some sort of accomplishment.

"I don't know why I stay with you sometimes." She placed her head back on to his right shoulder as he put his right arm around her pulling her closer.

"Because you love me." He smiled placing a single kiss on the top of her head.

"Oh, that." She rolled her eyes before heading towards his lips once more and gently kissed him on the corner of his mouth before retreating back to her previous location.

Silence approached the apartment, this time with no other distractions besides the ticking of the clock that drove both of them crazy.

"How was your day?" Jess asked after a while.

"Oh you know, packing up boxes, trying to shove them all in my tiny, little, car." She sighed heavily. "Hard labor, you know."

"I wish I could have helped. You had to make me stay here all day where I accomplished absolutely nothing."

"I would have loved your help too, but you have a deadline to make in less than a week and I'll be damned if you miss it and get fired because of me."

"I'm not going to get fired. I worked with the guys at Truncheon for over two years before I left. They won't fire me. Hell, they're afraid of me."

Rory smiled. "Well, it's the principle of the thing."

"What is that exactly?" Jess looked over at Rory.

"Quality bonding time with Mom."

"Ahh…I was wondering why it took you four hours to go three streets over to get what I'm assuming is that box of books and whatever else is in your car."

"Thank you." Rory replied, out of the blue.

"For what?"

"Agreeing to move back here…to Stars Hollow. It means a lot that you'd do that for me."

"Who said that I moved back here for you?"

"You just don't know how to take a compliment, do you?"

"I'll work on it."

Once again the room was filled with silence. Both Jess and Rory looked out their first-story apartment window watching the citizens of Stars Hollow walk by.