Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or any of the show's characters. They're the property of the CW network.

Summary: Yale. Rory's graduation day. She finally knows what she wants to be.

AN: This story takes place in the episode 7.21. but it assumes Rory and Logan broke up in the sixth season and that Rory and Jess got back together after she went to visit him to Philadelphia. I wrote this in two hours and didn't have time to check it for grammar mistakes more carefully so apology for that in advance. Enjoy!

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Now that we're here,
it's so far away
all the struggle we thought was in vain
all the mistakes, one life contained
they all finally start to go away
now that we're here it's so far away
and I feel like I can face the day

I can forgive
and I'm not ashamed

to be the person that I am today...

So far away - Staind

She's standing by the stage, in a long line of students, waiting for her name to be called out, resisting the urge to ask if anyone maybe has a peace of paper, as ridiculous as that sounds. She hasn't slept much the previous night, if at all because she was thinking whether or not she should accept a certain proposition, but she was no closer to an answer now then she was yesterday evening, so she came to a very sane conclusion that there was only one way to solve this particular problem – pro/con list. Yeah, that would most definitely help.

She was always that kind of girl who liked to have things in control, who planned every step of her life ahead, ever since she was a little girl. She just couldn't imagine her life without planning and that feeling of safety that lingered in her chest because of the knowledge that she had it all figured out, and without those pro-con lists. She must've made hundreds of those by now. Lorelei always teased her about it but as the time passed she became used to it even though she considered it a 'complete and utter waste of time' as she so gently put it once.

And looking back she can't help but think how ironic it is. The way things tend to turn out so differently from the way you plan them to. It's like every single event in her life turned out a complete opposite from the way she imagined, hoped, wanted it to.

Like, for example, when she was in kindergarten she wanted her parents to get back together so they could be a normal family and so her dad could come to pick her up at school every day after work just like all the other dads did. But then her dad married Sherry and her mom finally married Luke few years later.

When she first started dating Dean back in high school she thought they'll stay together forever, get married and have that whole package, a house with a white fence, a dog and 2.5 children. A year later, they broke up and Dean soon married Lindsay.

When she graduated from Chilton she planned on going to Harvard because that has been her dream ever since the time she could pronounce the word Harvard. There was no other option; she was going to Harvard to become a journalist, to be an overseas correspondent, the next Christiane Amapour. But then the money issue appeared and some other things as she found herself talking with her grandparents and before she could pull herself together she was going to Yale.

And when she moved into her dorm at Yale she made a new plan. Graduating on time and studying as much as she could to get the best grades and maybe even be a valedictorian student. But then a year later she dropped out of Yale deciding to take a year off just because someone told her that everything she ever dreamed about and thought about was a lie, that she didn't have what it takes to be a journalist. So she quit and moved to her grandmas' pool house to figure out her life and what she wanted to do, where she stayed for almost one entire year.

But that wasn't all. She did a couple of more things that she definitely didn't plan on doing, things Rory Gilmore, the Stars Hollow princess would never do. She ditched school for a one whole day to go to New York, stole a boat, stopped talking to her mom for almost a year, had sex with a married guy, ended up in jail and had to do two-handed hours of community service that were anything but fun.

So it was safe to say that her every plan was a huge and utter failure. And yet here she was, standing here with a smile on her face, minutes away from getting her diploma as a journalist. So maybe, just maybe all she needed to do was have some faith and take a chance. And make that jump without a plan in hand. Because even when you fall you learn something, maybe even more then when you succeed. Cause, thinking about it now, the best things that happened to her were those she didn't plan. Really, who would've thought Rory Gilmore would date (again), for more than a year now, a town's…

Finally, she hears her name, snapping back to the present, and walks up to the stage to take her diploma, wide smile on her face as she looks at her mom standing up proudly, applauding together with Luke as her dad joins her and she can feel her eyes watering at the sight even though she was never that kind of person. She looks further through the audience; her smile fading with each row she passes. Guess there was no need to worry about that pro/con list after all.

He wasn't here. Again.

She steps down as Lorelai, Luke and Chris come to congratulate her and all she can do is check her cell phone for the hundredth time in the last five minutes, hoping it would ring. All this feels like a bad repeat of the past and she's not sure if she can survive that scenario once again. But even after ten minutes her phone remains silent and she can't believe she was that foolish yet again.

Her grandparents come to join them as Emily pushes them all few feet further saying that it was time to snap a few photographs and mentioning something about how the ceremony could've been much better organized but she wasn't really paying attention at all feeling almost like a robot or a doll as Emily moved her to a desired place for some particular photo. This was supposed to be her day, a day she worked for hard for four years and yet he managed to make it about him all over again.

But then she felt that familiar tingling at the back of her neck and she looked up, her lips automatically turning into a barely seeable smile as she sees him in the distance walking up to her casually with one hand in his pocket, and she feels like she got into some kind of a flashback of that day at Sookie's wedding. That's how unreal it is to her to see him here, really here at her graduation day. So she almost doesn't notice him taking her hand in his bigger one and planting a light kiss on her lips, his face a mixture of content from seeing here, being with her and that ever present indifference that always marked his personality.

He's standing there and somehow for the first time ever she's not afraid one of them will take that step back and run; something that seemed like the only constant of their relationship. No matter what he did she couldn't deny the fact that he was the main reason, if not the only, for her standing here with that silly hat as her grandparents argue few feet away about camera with Lorelai stuck in the middle begging for Luke to save her.

She tries to look away from him, angry that he made her feel like that again, angry for him not being there on the most important day of her young life. She wants to yell at him, tell him how she hates him for doing that to her over and over again but then she looks at his dark chocolate brown eyes and finds herself at the complete loss of words, not being able to say anything remotely worthy of a Yale graduate.

Instead, she hears herself simply saying "You came."

He smiles, "Of course I did. We agreed I'd meet you here."

"Yeah, but you…you're late."

"Late? You mean I missed the entire graduation? But you said it was at 11." he asks and she lets out a sigh of relief not believing how stupid she was.

"Right, I did. But I forgot to tell you they moved it to half 11 yesterday." She says; a slight feeling of guilt for thinking he actually left again making her cheeks turn red. "My bad then."

"Yeah, I don't know if I could stand half hour of sitting with your grandparents anyway." He says trying to make her feel better.

"What matters is that you're here now."

"Yeah." he agrees. "You look nice." He added and she couldn't resist smiling at the compliment, especially the one coming from him.

"You do too. I never saw you so dressed up before. And the hair…"she said looking at him carefully.

"I was scared I'd get seriously hurt by you if I came in my usual jeans-any-clean-T-shirt-I-have look."

"Haha, you are soo not funny."

"I wasn't trying to be." He said planting a kiss on her lips.

"Well, now that we cleared that up, I got to worn you about my grandma. She has just discovered the wonders of digital photography so if she starts dragging you into that please remember that I love you and try not to break up with me later please." She says, half jokingly.

"What? I'd never do such thing. In fact…" he says carefully "Have you thought about my proposition?"

"You could say so…"

"And?"

"Well, you know about that job they offered me at the newspaper in Connecticut…"

"Yeah?"

"I refused it. I decided to go with you to Philadelphia and be unemployed. I mean who knows what the future holds, right? I may find a better job there. Besides it'd be kinda nice to take it easy for a while, sleeping till 12, eating breakfast in bed and all that." She explained half jokingly.

"You got me worried there for a moment, you know?"

"Oh, yeah?" she says smiling as she leans to kiss him.

"Yeah."

"I told you I like to watch you squirm. It's quite entertaining."

"You are aware that I'm the one who is employed in this relationship so comments like this could get you in a lot of trouble."

"I'll manage."

She had no more than 100 bucks in her pocket, no job or apartment to live in, or any plan what to do next…She had nothing but that feeling in her stomach and a goofy smile plastered on her face. Old Rory Gilmore would pretty much be panicking by now, but she would also never fall in love in Stars Hallows very own bad boy.

"Rory?"

"Hm?" she mumbled.

"I have something for you." He said offering her a small bag.

"You didn't have to buy me anything."

"Fine, I'll just return it." He said taking the bag back.

"Who am I kidding?" she said "Give it to me."

She took a bag and looked what was inside.

I know you. I know you better than anyone.

"I saw it in the bookstore window and I thought of you." He explained as she examined the book. It was War and peace by Tolstoy. She smiled at the title. The past couple of days she had been arguing with him about this particular book. She has read Ana Karenina more than once (the pages were barely sticking together) and considered the book as one of her all time favorite classic literature masterpieces but never got around to read War and peace. Jess teased her about it, saying that that book was just too much of a challenge for her since it was much more complex, both in plot and characters but she refused to agree saying it just wasn't her type of book.

Then he added "Plus it's a sort of bribery for you to say yes to my other proposition."

"Well, you should know that this is certainly not the right book to bribe me with…" she started pulling another one from the bag. Ana Karenina. "But this might get you somewhere…"she said playfully, just then paying attention to his words "What proposition?" she asked as she saw that there was something else in the bag. A small black box. She picked it up knowing immediately what it was. But it couldn't be.

"Well, I thought you were being unfair about a book. So maybe you could give it another chance. And maybe give one to me too?" he asked as she opened the box's.

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.

"What can I say, I love challenges." She said after a few seconds of silence that seemed to last for an eternity.

"Is that a yes or no?"

No!

"Yes." She finally said, words slipping from her mouth with such ease like he just asked her should they go grocery shopping latter or something.

He smiled at her, a thought of taking her in his arms and spinning her around the yard crossed his mind but he dismissed it quickly thinking it was far too cheesy for his taste. Instead he settled for a kiss as he felt her hands tangle up with his.

"You're a brave woman Rory Gilmore." He finally said.

"I've been called many things before but that was never one of them." She added with a smile, as he pulled her closer kissing her one more time.

Lorelai cleared her throat making them both step away from each other in one fluent move looking like two teenagers who just got caught by their parents.

"Hon, can you please postpone your make out session for later and come save your only mother from your grandma?"

"We weren't…" Rory started only to be cut of by Lorelai.

"No time for explanations now. I need you with me. And if you leave me for five more minutes alone with Emily I might have to shoot myself." She said dramatically pulling Rory with her by the hand towards Richard and Emily.

"But mom I have to tell you something about…"

"Not now, let's just get these pictures so I can go home and get drunk, forget all about this traumatic experience and about my only daughter making out with her boyfriend right in front of me."

Rory rolled her eyes at the comment as Emily smiled seeing the two of them as poor Jess walked behind trying to stay unnoticed. Unfortunately that was not a possibility when Emily Gilmore was there. So moments latter they were all snagged together tightly so they could fit on one photo as Rory tried unsuccessfully to talk to Lorelai.

"Mom I…"

"Not now honey, smile for the camera." Lorelai cut her of once again looking straight forward.

"But I…" she said raising her hand up and finally getting Lorelei's full, undivided attention.

"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore!" she exclaimed, as Rory heard her name being called out for the second time today only this time it wasn't a good thing. Lorelai looked at her, horrified look on her face as Emily snapped a picture.

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Few days latter she sat with her mom at Luke's going through her graduation photos. She held up one photo of her and Jess and then looked at the small ring on her finger and smiled.

Yeah, after graduation she planned on getting a job at some well known newspapers, maybe even renting her own apartment. And yeah, she hopped to meat some cute, intelligent, nice guy who'd sweep her of her feet. But then she ended up getting engaged to Jess Mariano and she couldn't seem to stop smiling like she just won a lottery or something.

Yeah, things definitely don't always turn out the way you want them to. Like your graduation photos, especially the one with Emily holding Rory's left hand (Lane laughed for twenty minutes after she'd seen it).

But who said that was a bad thing?

THE END.