I own nothing!


"Jess?" Rory said into the phone. She knew that it was him, but she wanted him to say it. He didn't, so she lit into him. "Why did you leave, Jess? Why? If you were having trouble, you should have told me. Or Luke. Or my mom, even. You shouldn't have run off, Jess."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" he shouted. "You were having trouble with Paris, and your mom is preoccupied with the inn, and Luke is always busy with the diner, so..."

"So any of us would have taken time out of our lives for you, Jess." Rory pointed out gently.

"I didn't want to dump my problems on you." he said, and Rory could hear him crying. It was true. Jess Mariano, resident bad boy of Stars Hollow, was crying.

"Jess, I am so sorry." Rory began to cry, too. "I am so sorry that I wasn't paying attention to you."

"It's okay." Jess tried to stop crying, but he couldn't.

"No, it's not. I want you to come home right now. Right now. Just tell your dad that you're going to go back to Stars Hollow to put your life back together." Jess responded by hanging up.

That night, at midnight, there was a tap on Rory's window. She had cried herself into a restless sleep, trying to keep her heart from totally shattering. She opened the curtains, and Jess was standing there!

"Jess!" she whispered, opening the window. "You came back!"

"I had to." he said, smiling through tears. "I had to put my life back together. And that happens to include you, Rory Gilmore." He leaned forward and kissed her. And she kissed him back.