This is my first Lit fic, but I've recently fallen in love with them after finally getting up to date with Gilmore Girls, so I may write more. This is a one-shot alternative to the final scene in "Last Week Fights, This Week Tights". I know there are a lot out there but I had to write my own because I hate how that last scene turned out. Some of the dialogue is from the original scene – I don't claim to own it. Hope you like this.
The Moments That Last
He knew it wasn't fair of him to do this. To come back after so long, after already coming back once before only to leave again. But this time it was different. He was ready. He was ready to admit that he needed her. And it may be crazy and it may hurt. She would most likely reject him, but it didn't matter because he was ready to tell her how much he cared and didn't fear her rejection.
He had been running for the last year, away from her and his feelings. But he couldn't escape them. She wouldn't let him escape them. She was it for him. He knew it the first time he saw her, almost three years ago. He was too bitter to notice it that first time in her room, but later that day, when she aptly named him "Dodger", he knew that she was the only person who would make Stars Hollow okay for him.
But he hadn't been ready for all that came with a real relationship, especially with someone like Rory. He tried, he really did, but he was so used to being alone, so used to no one caring that it was almost unreal to him that someone like Rory actually cared for him.
He knew he had messed up. He tried to take care of everything by himself. He couldn't admit when he needed help. He didn't want to admit it, not to her. She was so perfect, she deserved perfection, and he was far from it.
But that didn't matter anymore, because he knew that she was the only one who understood him, and he understood her, better than she thought.
It was a kick in the stomach when he got there only to find her with Dean. He stopped for a second, trying to make the choice, run or stay? But it was too late anyway, she noticed him.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
She could hardly believe he was standing there, entering her life as if he'd never left it. As if he hadn't just admitted to loving her and then driven off before she could say another word.
But part of her wasn't surprised. Or maybe part of her had hoped for this. She had tried not to think about him being there in Stars Hollow ever since her mother had told her, but she couldn't deny the fluttering in her stomach, the wish that somehow he would come back to her.
"I need to talk to you," he said, his voice determined. He chose not to even look at Dean who was no doubt looking about ready to kill him. Dean didn't matter. He hadn't been a factor in their relationship ever since he and Rory broke up. The only one that mattered was Rory.
"Jess..." Dean said, his tone clearly trying at threatening. Jess didn't care.
"I need to talk to you," Jess repeated, focusing all his attention on Rory.
"What's going on?" Dean asked, getting angrier.
"What are you doing here?" Rory asked Jess, finally finding her voice.
"Rory, please," Jess pleaded, although he wasn't sure what exactly he was asking.
"Rory?" Dean asked in question.
She felt trapped, not knowing what to do or say. A part of her had hoped to see him again, almost every day for the past year. No one would ever think it, even her mother thought she was over him, but she couldn't be, she wasn't sure she ever would be. How do you get over the first guy who ever made you fall in love…really fall in love?
She couldn't.
"Go…" she said, looking at Dean. "Go home."
"No," Dean refused.
Rory sighed. She couldn't deal with them both. Not at the same time.
"Yes, go. You should go."
She knew he wasn't going to be happy about it, but he turned and walked away.
"Why won't you leave me alone?" She asked, turning her attention back to the boy in front of her. "You won't go away."
Every time she thought she was starting to move on, starting to forget all the mistakes they'd made, starting to forget the way he made her feel…he would walk back into her life and she'd be back in that place again.
"Rory…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I don't know. I just wanted to see you, talk to you. I just..." He didn't know what he wanted exactly; he just knew he needed her.
"What?"
"Come with me," he said suddenly.
"What?" Rory asked, sure she had heard wrong.
"Come with me."
"Where?"
"I don't know...away!" He didn't know what he was thinking. All he knew was that he and Rory belonged together. They needed to be together, away from everyone else.
"Are you crazy?" she asked. She knew he was. It was crazy to think she could just leave with him.
"Probably. Do it. Come with me. Don't think about it." He knew asking her not to think was probably his first mistake, but this just felt right.
"I can't do that."
She turned and opened her door, walking back into her room. She needed to put some space between them. Being close to him was too dangerous because for a second she had actually considered going with him.
"You don't think you can do it but you can," he tried to convince her. "You can do whatever you want."
"I can't," she said, realizing she was half convincing herself.
"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."
He knew he sounded insane, but he was desperate now. He needed her. She was all that mattered.
"No!" she said again, more determined this time. This was crazy. Too crazy. She couldn't do it, even if a part of her wanted to so badly.
"I want to be with you, but not here. Not this place, not Stars Hollow. We have to start new."
"Jess…"
"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."
He was so determined, desperate even, and Rory knew he was telling the truth. Some time between the last time she saw him, driving away after his admission of love, and this moment, standing here, pleading in her dorm room, he had changed.
There were moments of silence as he waited for her answer, waited for her to say something.
She didn't know what to do; she didn't know how to do this. Why was being in love so messy?
The moment stretched out in front of them, the silence of the empty building loud in their ears.
And then Rory did the last thing either of them expected. She moved into his embrace, her hands coming around his waist as her lips found his. Much like their first ever kiss Jess was shocked at first but quickly pulled her body closer to his, his mouth relearning the feel and taste of her in his arms.
She melded against him. Not thinking. Not letting herself think. Nothing else mattered in this moment except being as close to him as possible.
The past year had done nothing to decrease the passion and desire that had always existed between them.
Her hands moved desperately, opening the zip of his leather jacket and pushing it off his body. They moved carelessly backwards, into Rory's darkened bedroom.
"Rory…" Jess mumbled, trying to catch up with her. He wanted her. He had wanted her ever since he met her, but this was crazy.
She fell back onto her bed, pulling him down on top of her.
"Rory," he said again.
She leaned up and kissed him again. "Let's not talk anymore," she whispered quietly.
He didn't need any further encouragement.
-&-
It was early in the morning when her eyes first opened, the sun wasn't up and her room was still bathed in darkness. The room was empty, her first year of college boxed up in cardboard as if it never existed.
Much like her relationship with the boy lying asleep beside her, his arm draped casually over her waist, as if he belonged there.
But he didn't. Their relationship was just a memory, a little box in her heart full of all the days they'd spent together. All the moments they'd shared. All the mistakes they'd made.
And however much she wanted to open that box again. However much she wanted to open her heart to him again, she knew that this was it for them.
Maybe this was the closure they needed.
She had always imagined him to be her first lover. She had never considered anyone else, not even Dean. And it didn't matter that he would leave her in the morning, because she had given him something she couldn't ever forget. She wouldn't ever forget.
He must have sensed her awake because his eyes slowly fluttered open, the realization that he was actually here, in Rory's bed shocking him for a moment.
"Hey," he whispered.
She turned on her side, facing him. "Hi."
"Are you…"
"I'm good," she answered, before he asked.
"Good."
There was silence again. He didn't know how to do this. He didn't know how to be in love. He just knew he was.
"I love you," Rory said finally, filling the silence. She leaned forward and kissed him, allowing herself the happiness of this perfect moment.
He allowed himself to get caught up in her. In the only girl who had ever had his heart, and who actually loved him back.
"I love you too, Rory," he told her as his lips left hers.
She smiled, knowing that despite everything that had happened, he really did love her. She turned to lie against him, taking his arm and putting it around her waist again. They lay like that for a few minutes, just content in the silence.
"You're not coming with me, are you?" he asked finally.
"I can't."
"Can't or won't?" he asked, his voice void of any accusation.
"Can't," she repeated.
"It was crazy to ask."
"Maybe," she agreed. "But you've always been a little crazy."
"I should probably go," he said, not even trying to move.
"Not yet," she said, pulling him closer. She wasn't ready to let go yet.
He nodded against her, letting her have this moment because it was all they had left.
The moment stretched out and she fell asleep in his arms. When she woke up a few hours later the sun was shining and he was gone.
But this time it didn't hurt quite as much.
THE END!
I know, bittersweet endings are so sad. But incase you're wondering I decided to have Jess leave because I was writing this as a "What should have happened" type scene, where Milo still had to leave the show thus Jess still had to go.