A/N: Hey guys, so this is a rough first chapter for my first Gilmore Girls fanfic. This idea has actually been rolling around in my mind for quite awhile and with the announcement of the series coming back, I decided to finally get it written down.

Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls. I wish I did, but we can't all get what we want, right?

"Well, thanks for saving me." I tell Dean as an attempt to relieve the thick tension that's been built. We're standing in the chilly, dimly lit hallway outside my dorm room door. He's looking down at me with a funny smirk on his face; obviously not noticing the discomfort I'm feeling with every fibre at that moment.

"Yeah, anytime." He looks like he is about to saying something more to me, but isn't able.

We stand without talking in the hallway once again for what feels to me like hours, rather than just a few seconds. I look down at my shoes as if they are incredibly interesting, while he shifts around in his spot.

"Dean," I pause, trying to find the right words to voice the thoughts running through my overactive mind. "How is it that you can be out like this, here with me, or with anyone else for that matter?" I glance up at him and am not surprised to see the confused expression. I try to clarify, "Where does Lindsay think you are?"

His mouth twitches, and I notice the shame and guilt overshadowing any other emotions that he might have been previously feeling. I almost wince when I notice him refusing to look me in the eye. He opens his mouth a few times, trying to find the words—some sort of excuse—that will make the situation okay in my mind.

"She thinks I'm out." He finally says in a low, gravelly tone.

"Out where?"

"Doesn't matter."

"What's going on with you?" I'm about to say more, to ask him more, when both my train of thought and line of questioning are interrupted.

The entrance to the building opens loudly, giving a much needed interruption to our uncomfortable talk. I look away from Dean's troubled face and see Jess treading down the hallway towards me door. "What are you doing here?" I ask him more out of surprise than actual want for an answer. I can hear Dean shifting his position around and sighing in frustration at Jess' intrusion.

"I need to talk to you." Jess explains simply.

"Jess…" Dean trails off as he struggles with what to say that would make his old rival go away.

Jess looks at me, pointedly ignoring anything Dean might have been about to say.

"I need to talk to you." He repeats the request to me more forcefully this time.

"What are you doing here?" I respond with my own question again, hoping that he'll answer despite my ignoring his own request.

Jess groans just loud enough for it to echo down the nearly empty hallway.

"Rory, please." I notice that his hands are shaking and realise that he's really struggling with reigning in his temper while Dean is present.

I look between my two ex-boyfriends, hoping that the answer to the problem I'd suddenly found myself in the middle of would appear on one of their faces. I look once more at Dean and bite my lip. His face falls as he realises what I'm about to say.

"Rory?" he says my name like he can't believe that I'm picking Jess over him again.

"Go—" I gulp down the frog in my throat. "Go home."

Dean scoffs and tries to take a step towards me. "No"

"Yes, go." I give him my sternest 'Lorelai Gilmore' look, trying to remind him that he shouldn't even be here with my in the first place. "You should go home." To your wife, I want to say.

He frowns, but starts to leave anyway. A couple of steps later and he's standing at the door Jess had just entered through. He offers me one more glance; one more chance to stop him from leaving. I stay silent and let him leave in anger, heavy wooden door slamming and leaves blowing in his wake.

Jess looks at me expectantly. He opens his mouth to speak, but I beat him to the punch.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" I cross my arms over my chest. "You won't go away."

"Rory-" Jess pleads and I try to ignore the way my heart starts rushing when I hear him say my name.

"What do you want?" I cut him off, trying to sound more aggressive with every word, but something tells me I wasn't quite hitting the mark.

"I don't know," he runs his wet hand through is damp hair and I realise it must be raining. I can see the struggle on his face. "I just wanted to see you; talk to you. I just…"

"What?"

"Come with me."

"What?" I repeat again. This time in disbelief.

"Come with me." I resist the urge to roll my eyes at our constant repeating of ourselves.

"Where?"

"I don't know," he glances around the hallway as he runs through his mind the different things he could say to convince me. "Away!"

"Are you crazy?" I question him as I root around in my pocket for my keys. I dig them out and change that had gotten caught falls out of the floor. The sound of metal hitting marble wasn't enough to break the Jess induced fog I was enveloped in.

"Probably." He walks towards me. "Do it. Come with me." He tries to grab my hand, but I pull it out of his reach. "Don't think about it."

I turn away from him and back towards my door. I can't meet his eyes with mine. I can't look into the tear soaked iris' that would bore into mine. He couldn't see the want that I'd been storing ever since the first time he'd left; and especially since he'd told me he was in love with me.

"I can't do that." I shove my key into the lock and twist the handle to open the door. He follows me into my dorm room and I try to ignore the irrational happiness I feel at him being here—with me.

"You don't think you can do it, but you can." The door shuts behind him as his voice starts straining. "You can do whatever you want."

"It's not what I want." At this point I know I'm saying the words to convince myself more than to convince him.

"It is; I know you." His voice is raising louder now, and I want nothing more than to go him and tell him that I was wrong.

"You don't know me!" he rolls his eyes and I regret even attempting to make those words sound plausible.

"Look, we'll go to New York." He takes a half step closer, holding his hand out as if reaching for me across the room. "We'll work, we'll live together, we'll be together. It's what I want. It's what you want, too."

"No!"

"I want to be with you, but not here. Not this place, not Stars Hollow. We have to start new."

I think of telling him no again. My gut instinct is to tell him to go away forever. Tell him there is nothing left to repair. Nothing to start anymore. His pleading eyes bore into mine and I swear I see a tear run down his cheek as he awaits my reply. I open my mouth to speak, but no words escape. My mind completely draws a blank. I don't know what to say.

"You're packed." He waves his hand over the common room floor as if I hadn't previously noticed the Berlin Wall replica that was gracing the area. "Your stuff is all in boxes. It's perfect. You're ready. And I'm ready. I'm ready for this." When I still don't say anything his voice gets even louder; he's almost yelling now. "You can count on me now! I know you couldn't count on me before, but you can now! You can!"

I search my mind for anything. A rejection. An acceptance. Anything but the utter silence that was consuming the space now.

"No." I try to make it sound final, but even I couldn't make myself believe it.

"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!" I wave my hands around and try to ward of the falling tears the best I can manage. Jess takes the last couple of feet separating us and grasps both of my hands into one of his, stopping the waving movement mid-air.

"Don't say 'no' just to make me stop talking or make me go away," he lowers our hands and intertwines the fingers of his hand with mine. "Only say 'no' if you really don't want to be with me."

I'm waiting for another 'no' to come out. Another one should have already made its way out over my tongue and past my suddenly very dry lips, into the tense air that was filling the space between his mouth and mine. I looked at our joined hands. His fingers fit perfectly between mine and I couldn't help but smile when I saw them tighten their grip on my hand. I shook my head and sniffed before looking up at him again. Determined to get my wishes truly across—to make him understand.

"I have school," I tell him dumbly; as if that wasn't information he'd had already. I shuffle through the piles of references and jokes stacked in my brain like the boxes on my floor. "I can't just up and leave school, Jess. I can't just give up on my dreams. You can't seriously be asking me to give up on that."

He looks like he's about to object to my words. Wants to tell me that he didn't mean for his words to hold that meaning. To tell me once again that us running away is still the best plan—the only plan. That to be together we can't be here. I can see the cogs turning around in his head, forming words.

"What if I stayed for now?" he finally suggested. His tone was more clam and thoughtful than it was a less than a full minute previous. He reached his hand up towards my hair, and wrapped a piece around his finger. "I'll find something to do during the days. You can keep going to classes. Finish school. I'll stay and work."

"We'll be together." I finish his thought before he had the chance.

He smirks and presses his forehead against mine. The contact between us feels like air finally being let into my lungs for the first time in over a year. I hadn't realised how much it was hurting to not have him this close for so long. I bite the side of my bottom lip and disguise my smile from his watchful eyes. Luckily, he can't stop his own smile that has brightened his whole face. Even in the dark, his smile has the ability to make my stomach do flips.

I shift my body closer to his and finally wrap my arms around his body. He returns the gesture and kisses my head as it rests on his shoulder. I close my eyes as we stand there in place. In the dark. In my dorm room. Holding onto each other tightly, listening to the sounds of our breathing and our blood rushing through our veins and past our ears. I chuckle against his warm shoulder as he whispers softly:

"Lorelai and Luke are going to kill me."

Comments, suggestions? Anything is welcome! :)