He watched them dancing from a distance. It was awkward at first, but soon enough the two friends who had always been a little more, settled in to a comfortable rhythm, moving to the music in their own time.

Good. They looked good like that. Together. He turned away. Partly because he was satisfied and happy for them. And partly because he just could not stand it. He could tell that they had the beginnings of what he had always wanted.

It was time to go, he realised, looking around at the rest of the town square.

Time to go and make his move.

Luke did it. Luke had stood up and had done something with his feelings, and now, Jess realised it was time for him to do the same

Lorelai may not have known exactly what Luke had been asking when she accepted his invitation to Liz's wedding, but it didn't matter. She would catch up.

Jess couldn't wait for that though. He needed to go and be painfully direct.

The whole drive to New Haven he rehearsed what he would say.

The speech would begin with three words he had said only once before, and continue from there.

She would say yes. He was certain. She had to say yes.

He needed her to say yes, and refused to think of any other possible answer.

Luke hadn't been too happy about giving him Rory's address, but in the end, he'd known it was what needed to be done.

Jess needed to see her and now was the time. His hands shook slightly as he put his keys in his pocket.

Derfey hall, first floor, suite five, was where he had to go. Derfey hall, first floor, suit five, was where his future was waiting.

Derfey hall, he stood before the door and took a deep breathe.

Then he saw her. He opened the main door of the building and she stood at the door of her suite with Dean. Dean? Why was it always Dean? He was always there!

"What are you doing here?" Rory was asking him a question.

"I need to talk to you." he replied. Why not just get right to the point?

"Jess..." God, he was always trying to keep them apart.

"I need to talk to you." Jess repeated, ignoring Dean.

"What's going on?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Rory, please." he didn't want to have to beg, not in front of Dean, but if that's what it took...

"Rory?"

"Go - go home." That wasn't directed at him, it made it a little easier to breathe.

"No."

"Yes, go. You should go." She replied, speaking to her tall ex boyfriend. "Why won't you leave me alone? You won't go away." And now she was yelling at him, because Dean was gone.

"Rory..."

"What do you want?"

What did he want? That was the sixty-four million dollar question. What did Jess Mariano want out of life? What did he want in this very moment?

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

"What?" she was losing patience with him and the speech he had planned was all gone. It followed Dean out of the building like a puppy dog.

"Come with me." new words spilled from his lips before he even had a chance to think them over.

"What?"

"Come with me." It was not a simple request. Three small words arranged just so, that really were a bigger deal than they sounded. Three small words that meant a lot.

"Where?"

"I don't know..." He hadn't gotten that far, "away!"

"Are you crazy?"

"Probably." No. Not anymore. He wanted to say. I finally have it all figured out. "Do it. Come with me. Don't think about it."

"I can't do that." She opened her door and went inside as if to get away from him, but she left it open, an unconscious invitation to follow.

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

"It's not what I want." her voice seemed to be faltering, it was what made him so sure that he was right.

"It is. I know you."

"You don't know me!" Nope, there it was, she was back.

"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." With every word, he was praying that he hadn't made a mistake by coming. He needed her to want him too.

He needed her.

"No!"

"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."

She didn't say anything as he poured his heart on the floor. She was silent, so he continued.

"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."

"No, no, no, no, no." she was looking away, trying to pretend this wasn't happening, muttering under her breathe.

"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." She didn't say 'no' again. She didn't say anything, just stood, looking at him.

Her jaw was set, but her lips quivered slightly as if there was something inside of her, trying to bubble its way out. She needed to get something out.

"Rory, I love you. I love you. You know that I do. I need you in my life. Please... Just, please do this with me." He rushed to finish saying what he needed to say before she pushed him away again. At the very least, if she had heard everything he would always know that he had given it everything he had.

"Rory?"

"You left me." It started as a whisper. "You abandoned me. More than once. I can't handle that again. It hurts too much."

She was trying to stay strong. He could see the tears in her eyes that she was trying to hide from him.

"I know. I know it hurts. But it won't happen again. I know what I did wrong and I'm not going to let it happen again. I won't leave you."

After an eternity, her voice connected with his ears. "Not New York."

"What?"

"You said somewhere new. New York doesn't count." He blinked, trying to decide if he as dreaming these words. "Not Yale, not Stars Hollow, and not New York."

"Where do you want to go?"

Jess stood alone in a tiny apartment in Boston. They'd done it. They'd left their lives alone and taken that first big step into their lives together.

Boston was good. Boston worked. It was still on the coast that the both of them liked the most and it wasn't too far away from the people that they needed in their lives. But it was far enough.

It was too close.

Life in Stars Hollow kept calling out to Rory. Her friends, her family, they wanted her back and she wanted them.

Her dad was close by, but that didn't matter because she'd never been close with him.

Home.

She was home sick. Jess could tell. She was trying to hide it, but he could see it as clear as day.

Aside from her first year at college, Rory had never been away from her mother and the separation was killing her. Jess was fine. He hadn't lived with his mother in years and didn't think he could ever again.

But Rory needed that closeness.

Then of course, there was the issue of money. They both had jobs and they worked all day and spent all night together. They didn't go out, they stayed in and saved what little money wasn't taken by the bills and rent.

Jess was in heaven.

For two months, he lived in heaven with the angel his seventeen-year-old self had fallen in love with.

But it had to end sometime.

Lane. Lorelai. Yale. Stars Hollow.

Friends. Family. College. Home.

Rory tried to pretend she didn't mind not finishing her college education, but every time she thought about it, her face would twist in pain and she would have to stop whatever she was doing, take slow deep breathes and then push it out of her mind.

Finally, having had enough of being pushed away again, by the second generation, Richard Gilmore showed up and demanded that Rory return home.

She tried to argue that she was where she wanted to be, and she was an adult and he couldn't control her.

But there was the tiniest wisp of relief in her face as he ordered her to pack. Jess didn't want to watch her leave. That was too painful.

He went for a walk as she loaded her things into the rental car her grandfather was driving, and then he stood, frozen on the sidewalk and watched them drive away.

It was only fair. After all the times he had left her, she deserved to walk out on him. Level the playing field.

Maybe they could try again.

Maybe when she was done learning stuff they could give it another go, he mused, looking around the empty room.

He couldn't live there anymore.

Not without her.

So Jess returned to New York and awaited the day that she would call him and announce; 'I'm ready now! Let's try again."

It would take a long time, but that was all he had. He had an all kinds of time.