A/N: Here it is, the sequel to "Dear Rory". It would have been possible to continue it within the Letters-story, but as this will not have the same "format" I thought it was best to make it a sequel instead. If you have any wishes about what you'd like to see in this story, then mention it in your reviews or PM me, and I'll take it under consideration. So, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I, the author of this story, do not own any of the characthers associated with Gilmore Girls. That honor belongs to the wonderful Amy Sherman-Palladino. I have no intention of making any money on this (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm losing money over it...).

Chapter 1: The Christmas Card Affair

Philadelphia was quiet. When Rory parked outside Truncheon Books it was only four thirty in the morning, and the sun wasn't even up yet. She was tired, she had driven all night, only stopping for petrol and coffee. After Bridgeport she turned down the thermostat in her car to keep her from feeling so drowsy (despite the three coffees she had already gulped down), and to keep the drowsiness even more off hand she had taken to making a pro-con list about her impromptu trip that kept her busy until she hit the outskirts of New York (15 pros, and 16 cons, one points difference wasn't enough to turn back home). The closer she came to Philadelphia the more nervous she got. Every time she stopped for coffee and an occasional stale bagel, she took out the Christmas card and looked at the four simple lines:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
My four previous attempts to write you a letter boiled down to this.
I'm sorry, for this and everything else.

Jess.

She let her fingers follow his words, feeling where he had pressed the pen a bit harder against the card. Everytime, she was gripped by the feeling that she was completely out of her mind, going to Philadelphia because of one silly Christmas card. To think that 29 words had made her leave in the middle of the night, it was not like her. But then again, it hadn't been like her to steal a yacht, or going to Philadelphia the last time either. "No," Rory thought. "Things were different then, I'm not going because of Logan. I'm going because…" But she couldn't put her finger on why she had left home in the middle of the night. For the first time in god knows how long, she was at loss of words. It made her frustrated, and all the more determined to get to Philadelphia so she could get the whole thing over with.

Drowsiness fell over her the minute she let the car stop. She needed a coffee fix, but everything nearby was closed, and she had a good parking space, and she needed to get out and wake Jess and ask him about the card. She hesitantly looked at her watch. Four thirty-five. The chanses of Jess being awake now was slim to none, and she had no idea how to get in. She knew that him and two others lived upstairs from the bookstore, and that they presumably used the door to the bookstore to get in and out. She had no idea what window was his, or if he even had a room with windows facing the street. Rory didn't need to make a pro-con list to know that it was futile to try and wake Jess up at this ungodly hour. She crawled over to the back seat, took off her coat and lied down, using the coat as a blanket. She could afford a couple of hours worth of sleep. She set the alarm clock on her phone for nine thirty, there would be plenty of time to get to the bottom of the Christmas card- business. She would have time to see Jess. At that moment, the memory of the kiss at Truncheon came back. It was the last thing she remembered before floating off to dreamland.

Above the bookstore, Jess was tossing and turning uneasily in his bed. He hadn't been able to sleep more than an hour or so at a time. He had heard how Philadelphia had fallen silent outside his window, the darkness of night had crept closer and closer to his bed, and it had become harder and harder to see the outline of his room. He reckoned it must be morning now, a car had clearly drove past or even parked outside the building. He turned over, reached out into the darkness until he found his alarm clock. Four thirtynine. In a couple of hours he'd leave his warm sanctuary to go out and buy coffee from the coffeeshop around the corner and then he'd spend the rest of his day working in the bookstore, as it was the only place where Matt and Chris didn't ambush him as much. He could concentrate on more important matters, like why the hell he sent that stupid card.

He had been restless ever since he had finally made himself mail it. It was so stupid, first of all it was a Christmas card! He was about as festive as Luke, and he wasn't sure if Luke had ever sent a Christmas card to anyone. Second, what he wrote on the card didn't at all come out like he had wanted to, but Jess figured that if he wanted something he could actually send to Rory, he had to cut all the crap and just stay neutral. The holiday greeting was easy. Scribbling down the two following lines weren't that hard either. Signing the damn thing was perhaps the easiest part of it all. Mailing it hadn't been a problem until he realized that he had actually crossed the line and sent it. By then it was too late to do anything, he couldn't reach into the mailbox and dig until he found it (he would most likely get stuck with his arm in the stupid box and look like an idiot), and waiting around for the mailman to empty the box was out of the question.

Jess stared out into the darkness of his room. It was still too dark to see anything, but he knew what he was looking at. He had three bookshelves in his room. In the middle one, second shelf, hidden between the pages of Hemingway's The sun also rises (a pocket version he had bought for Rory, meant for her 19th birthday), were the three last letters he had tried to send her. He had wanted to throw them away, but somehow he hadn't been able to. Now, it seemed, when he had succeeded in sending her something, they were just mocking him. He'd throw them away later today. They weren't any good anymore.

Once again, he turned around in his bed, pulling his blanket over him. He hadn't slept this uneasy in years. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and went back to his uneasy sleep. His alarm would go off in three hours or so, and he had a feeling he'd need all the sleep he could get.

A/N: I've had a shitty day at school, so cheer me up with a review, please?