Authors note: Hi! This is my very first fic! I'm not sure where it could end up going, so it's just a one-shot for now, unless reviewers are interested in more. I just recently watched this Truncheon scene from "The Real Paul Anka". It breaks my heart everytime. :\ I found myself wondering what would've happened if Rory had stayed... So I wrote it!

Disclaimer: I do not own "Gilmore Girls", nor am I affiliated with it, the creators, the writers, the actors/actresses, the directors, or the producers in any way. I am just a fan.

This doesn't have to be goodbye.

"You know, you don't have to read it again."

He walked the short distance to where Rory sat, pulling up a stool to sit across from her. His two coworkers – who just so happened to also be his roommates and closest friends – had just invited him to a bar for a bit of a celebration after their somewhat successful open house at Truncheon Publishing House. He'd passed on it, though. His mind had been fixated solely on Rory, and the promise of the evening that was thick in the air.

Rory looked up at him, closing the book she held in her hands and setting it in her lap. "I know I don't," she said with a grin.

He looked down at his book. The Subsect. He'd been so proud of it at the time, but now he merely scoffed at it. "God, there are so many things I would change in it."

Surprise enveloped Rory's features. "Like what?" she asked, turning in her seat towards him.

"I'd keep the back cover. Everything else goes," he said, sweeping his hand through the air as if he were brushing something away.

"You know why I love your book?"

"Why?"

"It doesn't remind me of anything. It's not a rip-off. It's just you." And that was the truth. When she'd read it, the words had rolled off her tongue so smoothly, as if they were her own. As if they had been there all along, ready and waiting for her to let them out. And when she read it, she could almost hear Jess – sitting close beside her, speaking it into her ear, his voice barely above a whisper. It gave her a warm, nostalgic, bittersweet feeling that she'd reveled in.

He couldn't help but smile. "High praise, miss Yale editor," he said, playfully punching her in the knee. He wouldn't admit it without her prying it from him painfully, but he'd written The Subsect only for her. Of course, the pieces probably weren't too hard to put together – he had dedicated his book to her, after all – but she was really the only person whose critique he honestly cared about. The only person whose approval mattered to him greatly.

Rory shrugged. "Yeah, well, I don't get to write as much as I would like. I'm mostly assigning and motivating; hand-holding and rewriting," she said shyly.

He nodded and smiled knowingly. "Yeah, and you love it! Every minute of it. C'mon, tell me you don't." He rested his elbow on is knee, effectively leaning closer towards her.

She smiled at the revelation that he still knew her so well. Even better than she remembered. "I do. I do love it," Rory nodded. "It's exciting."

"Yeah, you look happier than when I saw you last," he noted.

"I am."

"So you fixed everything?" And by "everything", he meant everything. Living with her grandparents, being in the D.A.R., not speaking to her mother, not attending Yale. And, most importantly, dating that spiky-headed punk.

She nodded, not quite taking his question to its fullest, literal meaning. " Yeah, everything's fixed."

"I'm glad you're here," he said, now resting both elbows on his knees, purposely leaning in once more.

"Yeah," she nodded, unable to contain her smile. "Me too."

Then Jess leaned in again, this time further and more slowly. Rory just watched him, not trying to stop him, and not wanting him to stop. Then their lips met, softly and gently.

He leaned in closer, pulling her into him as the kiss grew more passionately. He wanted this. He wanted her. He'd wanted this for so long. It was so right…

And then she pulled back.

No. No, no, no! "What? What is it? What's wrong?"

She impulsively stood, backing away from him. "I'm sorry, Jess. I'm so sorry…"

"For what? For this? No, don't be sorry…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say. He just wanted this to work out for once. She was all he wanted, all he ever wanted. Jess stood up, walking towards her.

She shook her head, looking down in shame. "I can't even cheat on him like he cheated on me."

"Oh." Realization struck him suddenly, like a knife. He could feel the wall coming back up. The tough exterior that he'd built long ago and had used to keep everyone out, even his parents. Because in his experience, no one could be trusted. No one. They had to prove themselves before he'd even let an inch of it down. But Rory… Rory had seen through it instantly, and had broken it down in a matter of weeks. She was the only one who knew him for who he really was. She saw his soul, bare and naked and trembling. So, it was now when, with the pain, came the wall. "Him." The word came spewing out in a hiss, tasting like poison. "God… I knew I didn't like him for a reason."

Rory relaxed when she realized that Jess had become angry with Logan and not her. "Yeah, and it gets better."

"What, did he dress up as a disgruntled ghost of a bride murdered by her groom on the first night of their honeymoon and haunt the town, breaking into their houses in the wee hours of the night and writing profanities on their mirrors in lipstick?"

Rory couldn't help but grin at his quick ode to every lame horror movie ever made. "Close. He slept with all three of his sister's bridesmaids."

Jess was baffled. "You're kidding." And just like that, the wall came down again out of sympathy for the girl he loved. He couldn't stand to see her hurting.

"I wish," was Rory's simple reply.

"I thought you said everything was fixed?"

Sigh. "Everything but him."

"Are you alright?" Jess took a step closer to her, reaching out for her slightly, but not closing the gap. His arm lingered there in the space between them. Rory just shrugged, not making eye contact with him. He dropped his arm back down to his side. "You don't wanna talk about it." It was a statement. Not a question. He definitely knew her well.

Rory looked up at him with a pout. "The verbal thing comes and goes," she said, quoting him from a very long time ago. A time when things were simpler.

Jess smirked hearing his words repeated back to him. Those were definitely better days. Thinking back on those days, he immediately remembered the romance, the passion. More specifically, how warm she was when he held her… her small, petite form… the way she tasted… Which brought him back to the present. He'd kissed her, and she'd kissed him back. And she was still with him. The wall began to creep back up.

He looked into her big, sad, crystal blue eyes and wanted answers. "Why did you come here, Rory?"

She hesitated, then answered, "I don't know. I mean, I got your invitation in the mail. And I wanted to see the place, and what you do, and Logan was out of town, and…"

Jess interrupted her. "This is just like that time you skipped school and came to see me in New York, isn't it? Just because I didn't say goodbye? God, Rory! How much torturous closure do we need? Don't you think we've suffered enough because of each other?"

"I… I just wanted to see you," she half insisted, half pleaded innocently.

"Well, then. Go to Luke's; get my mom's address. Write her; ask her to send you a picture of me. Sure, it might be a little outdated. I might have acne on my forehead and metal in my mouth. But, hey, it's still the same friendly neighborhood hoodlum that you've always known."

"Jess, I…"

"Save it, Rory. Just do what you came to do. Just say goodbye, and then go back to your perfect little life, with your perfect little boyfriend and his perfect little porsche, in the perfect little apartment I'm sure you both share."

She felt the tears coming. He was so… so… right. About it all. She'd conjured up several different scenarios in her mind of how tonight could end up. But this? This was not one of them. "This doesn't have to be goodbye." Jess sighed, and Rory could see that the worst was over. She didn't want their saga to end this way. She took a step closer to him. "Do you want this to be goodbye?"

Jess knew he was angry with her. He knew she shouldn't be here. But he also knew that he loved her and he'd never really gotten over her. He couldn't help himself, especially when she was being all vulnerable and needy like this. He took a step closer to her, but lingered about a foot away from her face, closely watching her reaction. She didn't back away. She just looked up at him with those wet eyes, the tears making them look even bluer (if that was even possible.) She looked scared, but steady, somehow.

Jess cupped her face in his hands gingerly. "You know I don't."

Rory's cheeks tingled like electricity at his touch. She recalled a time similar to this, when Jess was sad, and she had cradled his face in her hand. "Sad boy, what's wrong?" She closed her eyes as his face inched closer and closer to hers. She was ready.

A/n: So, what did you think? Sound off in the reviews! =]