-1AN : Snow days are quite boring. Am I the only one whose noticed there are a lot of fan fictions where Jess gets shot? Oh, and you should join my best friends forrum..why? Because it's a literati! …smiles… the link is in the profile

1. Lorelai never hated Jess, they got along fine.

2. Luke and Lorelai are already together

3. Jess did leave at the end of season 3, but he's visiting

4. This takes place in the episode where Rory sleeps with Dean. I don't know what it's called, nor do I care really…smiles…

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Lorelai had been staring at the clock for awhile now. Rory had run home to grab some CD's , and she still hadn't returned. Luke's voice brought her back to reality.

"Earth to Lorelai," He said as he waved his hand in front of her face.

"Huh? Oh, hi Luke."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just…Rory went to get some CD's half an hour ago."

"I'm sure she's fine, I mean this is Stars Hollow."

"Yeah. I thought you said Jess was coming with you?"

"He's in the dining room..."

"Getting harassed by Miss Patty."

Luke nodded as Jess walked into the room.

"I'm going to kill you."

"You can't kill Luke, who will make me coffee?"

"Thanks," Luke's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Aw, you know I love you." Lorelai kissed him sweetly.

"I think I'm blind," Jess replied dramatically covering his eyes.

"Shut it, you."

"So, Jess, how's New York?"

"Fine. I got a job at a bookstore, pays good."

"That's great."

"Yeah."

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Jess was sitting in one of the green lobby chairs and reading, Hemingway of course. He hadn't been sitting there long, maybe ten minutes?

"Jess, just the person I was looking for."

"And why's that?"

"Um, well you see…"

"Spit it out, Lorelai."

"Rory went to go get CD's awhile ago and she hasn't come back, so I was thinking…"

"No." Jess cut her off.

"You didn't even let me finish!"

"Fine, go ahead."

"Would you go see what's taking her so long?"

Jess pretended to think about it for a minute, "No."

"Why not?"

Jess stared at her as in she'd grown a another head.

"Oh, oh. You're still in love with her."

"Ding, ding, ding we have a winner."

"Would you do it for a first edition Hemingway?"

"Deal."

Lorelai lunged forward and gave him a hug.

"You're the best." And with that she disappeared into the kitchen.

"Jeez," Jess whispered as he begrudgingly stood up.

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The walk to the Gilmore home gave Jess time to think. Every moment he spent with Rory was running through his head. He was on his way to see the ex he still loved, what the hell was he going to say to her?

Before he knew it, Jess was standing in the middle of the front yard. He counted to ten as he tried to calm his nerves as he crossed the yard. He took a deep breath before knocking. There was no answer. He knocked again, but she still didn't answer. Jess took a step back and noticed the light in her room was on.

He tried the door, but it was locked. Jess couldn't remember where they kept the spare key. He walked around to the backyard. Luckily, the backdoor was unlocked. He opened the door as quietly as he could and slipped inside. The door closed behind him with a soft thud. Jess walked further into the kitchen. His heartbeat faster with every step he took closer to her room. There was gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Jess stopped dead in his tracks when he heard voices coming from Rory's room, one of which he recognized as Dean's.

"We should have a song." He heard Rory say.

"Why?"

"All couples have songs."

Jess continued walking towards her room. He was not prepared for what he saw. Rory and Dean were tangled in a mess of limbs and pink sheets. Tears stung his eyes and threatened to fall. The gnawing feeling was growing stronger with every moment he watched the pair. He could feel his heart breaking and his legs felt like jell-O.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Dean's voice echoed in Jess' ears.

"Lorelai sent me to see what was taking Rory so long to get some CD's." Jess' voice was cold and his face was expressionless. He shot Rory a look of disgust before turning on his heel and leaving. Jess heard Rory calling his name, but the whole situation was too much for him.

He pulled out a cigarette and with shaking hands lit it. Jess couldn't get the picture of Dean and Rory together out of his head.

"This wasn't worth a god damn book," he mumbled to himself.

Lorelai was sitting on the inn's steps. She jumped up and walked towards him. Lorelai reached up and took the cigarette out of his mouth and through it on the ground. She put it out with the heel of her boot.

"Smoking is bad for your health."

Jess shrugged in response.

"Where is she?" Lorelai asked.

Jess smiled sadly and wiped his left eye with his shirtsleeve.

"Your daughter just became Stars Hollow's first home wrecking whore."

Lorelai knitted her eyebrows together. His voice sounded distant and it sounded like it belonged to a broken man, which it definitely did.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"I walked in on Rory and Dean."

Lorelai's hand flew to her mouth and her eyes widened in shock.

"I'm so sorry, Jess."

"It's… not like you knew."

She enveloped him in an awkward hug that he gratefully reciprocated.

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Lorelai sat on the bottom step with her head in her hands. Her head snapped up when she heard the door creak open, it was Rory.

Rory knew her mother knew about her and Dean, her mothers cold eyes

gave her away.

" I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it first. I know I promised I would, but I swear, I didn't know that this was going to happen. I mean, I didn't know he was going to show up tonight, and it just happened. It's awful for you to find out like this, I know, but everything's okay. I'm okay, and we were, you know, safe. So all those Trojan man jokes all these years really apparently stuck. And I'm lucky, too, because Dean, he's -- well, aren't you glad that it happened with someone who's good and really loves me?" Rory said.

"But he's married."

"You don't understand the situation."

"Is he still married?" Lorelai asked, the anger evident in her voice.

"Yes, but -"

"Then I understand the situation. "

"It's not working out between them. They're not happy."

"Oh, Rory."

"He tried the best he could, but it didn't work. It's over."

Lorelai sighed, "He told you that?"

"Yes."

"He told you he's leaving her?"

"Well -"

"He told you he's moving out, they're getting divorced, he's got a lawyer, they've divided up the monster-truck season tickets?"

"We didn't get around to discussing everything."

"You didn't get around to discussing everything?" Lorelai's voice raised another octave.

"It was a crazy night."

"You, of all people -- the girl who thinks everything through, the list maker -- you didn't bother to discuss those things before jumping into bed with a married guy?"

"He's not a married guy. He's Dean -- my Dean."

"He's not your Dean. He's Lindsay's Dean. You're the other woman."

"I told you, it's over."

"It's not over until he's out of the house with the ring off."

"He took the ring off."

"Oh, my God, I don't believe this."

"He's in love with me, not Lindsay."

"Does Lindsay know that?"

"She's not good for him, okay? She lets him quit school and work himself to death and -"

"No, Rory, uh-uh, you can't be one of those girls who blames the wife for forcing the husband to cheat." Lorelai exclaimed.

"He wasn't cheating."

"He was cheating, Rory. He was cheating, and you were cheating with him. There's no other way to spin that, kid."

"I'm not spinning it, and I'm not a kid. I'm 19."

"This is your first time. It's just not the way your first time was supposed to be."

"Oh, and how was my first time supposed to be?"

"Well, first of all, it was supposed to be in a retirement home. And secondly, ideally, it was supposed to be with someone single."

"My first time was with someone sweet and kind who loves me."

"I didn't raise you to be like this. I didn't raise you to be the kind of girl who sleeps with someone else's husband."

"You slept with dad when he was with Sherry."

"He wasn't married to Sherry."

"He was engaged, and she was pregnant."

"So, this is all my fault? I set one crappy example for you, and you have no choice but to follow in my footsteps? Rory, what are you going to do now? Huh? Is there a plan?"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"I just want what's best for you, that's all!"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"I just don't want you to get hurt, Rory. What if he doesn't leave her? Now you're all emotionally involved."

"You're just mad because I didn't come running to you to discuss whether or not I was ready for this step. I decided it on my own." Rory nearly shouted.

"Well, obviously, you weren't ready for this step. The very fact that you chose another girl's guy to sleep with proves that!"

"He was my boyfriend first!"

"But you dumped him! You rejected him! You picked someone else!"

"Stop it!"

"Fine. I'm going to bed."

Rory was shocked, she's never heard her mother's voice so cold.

"Where's Jess?" Rory asked Lorelai's retreating form.

"Leave him out of this. You've done all the damage you're going to there."

"He hurt me first!"

Lorelai turned to look at her daughter, "This isn't a competition. He may have hurt you first, but you hurt him far worse."
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It was three o'clock in the morning, and Rory always loved this time of day. It allowed her to think in peace. Without realizing it, she had walked to the bridge. She saw him sitting there and froze. Jess' head snapped up. The bridge creaked under her weight. Rory took a seat beside him.

"I thought you'd be asleep." She replied to the unasked question.

"You shouldn't assume things, it makes an ass out of you and me." Jess' words were slurred.

"And you're drunk." Rory said out loud.

"You know what's a funny word? Muffin. Muffin. Mu-ff-in."

"Yeah…"

"Tonight really sucked. On the suckyness scale, tonight was a thirty-five. Want to know why? The girl I'm in-love with slept with another guy. Married, the guy was married. He had a wife…I've never met her. Her name's Lana…no that's not it, Lucy?"

"Lindsey."

"Yeah, that's it! Anyways, the girl I'm in-love with…her name is Rory. God, she's gorgeous. Her eyes are the color of the sky and her hair is the color of chestnuts. I ran away and broke her heart. I didn't mean to, it's just what us Mariano men do. When the Mariano gets going, it's because hard the time was."

Tears made their way down Rory's face. Jess was in-love with her. The words sounded foreign on her tongue. A small sob escaped her throat when she realized she was still in-love with him too. Dean was a moment of weakness, a moment of stupidity.

"Come on." Rory demanded as she stood up.

Jess stood up shakily and she realized just how drunk he was. Rory slid one arm around his waist and the duo started walking back to the inn.

Rory got Jess up the stairs with great difficulty.

"Room 3, 4, 5." She stopped in front of room 5 and knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal a sleepy looking Luke. His eyes went wide when he realized who it was.

"Luke! Look, it's Luke! Luke. Luke. Luke," Jess turned to face Rory, " that's another funny word. Luke…muffin."

"Is he okay?" Luke asked with raised eyebrows.

"Alcohol can make the smartest of men, sound like idiots." she replied as she handed the inebriated man to his uncle.
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Jess woke up with a massive headache. He noticed there was a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of water on the nightstand. There was a sticky note attached to his forehead. He pulled it off and read it:

Take two and meet me at the bridge.

It was undoubtedly Rory, he could recognize her handwriting anywhere. He did as he was told and got up to change out of yesterday's clothes.

Jess found her sitting on the bridge, reading a book.

"Is there a point to this?"

She winced at how distant his voice sounded.

"No interruptions, okay?"

"Girl scout honor," He held up four fingers.

" I'm in-love with you too. I forgive you for leaving senior year and for the thing in Kyle's room. I love that you love to read. I love how you can tell how I'm feeling without asking. I love your sarcasm and when you smirk. I love how you only use full sentences with me and you're Mr. Monosyllabic man to everyone else. I miss calling you my boyfriend."

"You know this is going to take time, right?" He asked with a small smile.

Jess gathered her into his arms and she snaked her arms around his neck.

"I know," She replied, "and I've got nothing but time."
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See the pretty button? Press it and leave a review! Oh and btw, I don't know how I drunk person sounds..cept my sister who one time went off about muffins when she was drunk…which is why muffins are mentioned…smiles…