S4 AU where Rory goes with Jess instead of sending him away. Some chapters will be from Jess's perspective as well as Rory's. Warning that this fic will be heavy on angst! Hope you enjoy it!

Rory can't believe this is happening. She's finally got Dean to leave, after having a kind of moment with him, and Jess is here. He's here, out of nowhere as is his style, and Rory can't handle it. She can't deal with this and Jess simply says, "Rory." His voice is pleading.

"What do you want?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to see you, talk to you. I just..."

"What?" Rory demands and stares when Jess says " Come with me."

"What?" This has to be a joke.

"Come with me," Jess repeats. Rory doesn't know what to say.

"Where?"

"I don't know...away!"

Jess can't be serious. " Are you crazy?" Rory demands and Jess retorts, " Probably. Do it. Come with me. Don't think about it."

"I can't do that," Rory says in disbelief. She walks back into her dorm room and Jess follows.

"You don't think you can do it but you can. You can do whatever you want."

Can she? Rory isn't so sure on that. This is wild, impossible.

"It's not what I want."

"It is. I know you."

That hurts. Jess just walked out on her with hardly a word since, except to say that loves her, and Rory exclaims, "You don't know me!"

Jess is desperate, manic.

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

"No!" Rory says blindly. She can't do that. Jess follows her around the room, insisting, "I want to be with you, but not here. Not this place, not Stars Hollow. We have to start new.

"There's nothing to start!"

"You're packed. Your stuff is all in boxes. 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!"

Rory can't look Jess in the eye. She's on the edge of tears and knows they're ready to break. She turns away but Jess moves to meet her.

"Look, you know we're supposed to be together. I knew it the first time I saw you two years ago, and you know it, too. I know you do."

This can't be happening. She can't be hearing this.

"No, no, no, no, no!"

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

This is what gives her pause. Rory can't say she doesn't. She stares at Jess, her heart thudding at a painful beat, and the world is a roar around her. She loves him. Rory knows she loves him, despite it all. She loves how he sees her as more than the good girl from Stars Hollow who fulfilled her family's dreams of Yale, became what her mother should have been - though Rory doesn't think Lorelai would have had to drop some courses. That still stings. Rory is so tired of this weight on her shoulders. She was fine at Chilton, after the first shaky month, but Yale doesn't seem to have settled. Rory feels a step behind, and not only that, she knows she's pitied for being so lonely all year. It seems that she wound up the odd one in the dorm. And while she's excited to go home for summer, she'll get those looks there too. Stars Hollow can be stifling, in a way Rory hadn't noticed before. And all summer Rory knows she'll be wondering what was, and feeling that weight, and pretending it to be happy. Jess never looks at her in that way and maybe that's why Rory finds herself saying, "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Jess asks, his voice hitching. "You don't know if you want to go or if you don't want to be with me?"

Rory doesn't answer and Jess takes a tentative step closer. "I love you," he says, gazing into her eyes. "Please - Rory, I won't leave now. I promise."

"How long are you saying we should go for?"

"I don't know - how long it takes us," Jess says. "But you're done for the year. I want to start over."

"I want to start over too," Rory says quietly. "But I don't know if I can."

"We can - it's easy, just come with me. We'll be somewhere new, someplace away from all of here."

"Jess..."

"I'm sorry," Jess says, taking her hands. "I'm sorry I left without saying anything and not taking you to prom and not calling."

"You did."

"What?"

"You did call me. You called over and over at graduation."

"I didn't say anything."

"You still called."

Rory looks away as Jess nods, and then looks back as he takes a deep breath. "Can we try?" he asks. "I'm ready - you're ready, I know you are. We've got an entire summer."

Rory feels electricity shoot through her. Summer. A whole summer with Jess. She is dazed with uncertainty and hope and she whispers, "I love you too."

Jess gulps and Rory adds, "I tried not to love you, because I was so mad at you. But I still love you."

Jess's eyes are bright as he asks once more, "Will you go with me?"

"Yes," Rory whispers, and then more clearly, "Yes."

Jess hesitates for the briefest of moments and then he's kissing her. Rory kisses him back, closing her eyes. There it is again, that rush, the weakness in her knees she thought she'd forgotten. Rory breathes in Jess's scent and, stopping for breath, they kiss again until Rory's mouth is almost sore. When they finally break apart Jess's eyes are shining.

"I guess we should go."

"Yeah." Rory looks around her and uncertainly picks up a box. Jess picks up one too and walks towards the door. "I'm parked right out front."

"Okay." Rory watches him walk away and notices his box is full of her books. She holds back, staring around her dorm full of darkness. The shadows are gleaming and it's time to leave.