Chapter Two
Of Holding Hands & Red Bouquets

It was still dark out when his eyes flickered opened. However, it wasn't like those times when your body naturally wakes. Pigs would be flying circles around his head had he actually woken up by choice before the sun had neared the center of the sky. It was the noise she was making as she scampered frantically looking for something unknown to him.

Begrudgingly he threw the thin blanket off from over him and walked to the threshold of the bedroom door. The apartment was small, containing no hallways. So, as he leaned against the door's opening, he could clearly see into the kitchen where Rory was frantically looking for something.

"Lose something?" Jess' voice was still laced with sleep, it sounded groggy.

Rory jumped slightly, unaware that he had been watching her for quite some time now. Turning around, she faced him. "Is there any reason there is no coffee here? I mean none, not one bean!"

Jess smirked as he made his way to the kitchen…more accurately the small counter that stood next to all of the undersized kitchen equipment. Placing both his hands on her shoulders, he stared straight into the mesmerizing blue eyes she had inherited from her mother. "Is there any reason why you're looking for coffee so early in the morning?" He removed his hands from their previous position and looped his arms around her waist. "Come back to bed."

"But I need coffee to wake up…" Both were standing close now and Jess began to fervently attack her neck with his lips.

"You're already awake." He stated between kisses.

"Yeah, but I woke up…Jess!" He bit her neck softly before retreating to look straight at her once more; she continued talking. "I woke up wondering if I had bought any coffee…and so I got up to look and that's when you came in…and I really want some coffee right now."

"You're insane."

"Yes…well, blame my mother." She smiled. After a moment of comfortable silence, Jess let go of Rory and went to the coat hanger to retrieve his jacket. "Where are you going?"

"You mean 'Where are we going?'" He grabbed her jacket and threw it at her.

The jacket fell on the floor since Rory had not been expecting any sort of object to be hurled at her. She bent over and began to pull it around her. "Okay, where are we going?"

"To get coffee." Jess held out his right hand and Rory grabbed it with her left.

As they stepped outside, the star filled navy sky was in a battle with the rising sun. The dark of the night's sky was clashing with the orange hues of the morning. The streets were bare of sound except for the various callings of birds.

The pair walked right next to each other; there were no gaps between both of their forms. Jess' right arm was wrapped around Rory's lower back; her left hand swooped across her body holding on to his right hand tightly. Their pace was monotonous, blending into the sounds of nature, except for every third step when Rory insisted with her motions that their stride be longer—that way as to not step on the cracks of the sidewalk. She didn't consider herself superstitious—Step on a crack and break you mother's back. Of course, it never hurt anyone to be a little hesitant.

Rory lazily laid her head on Jess' right shoulder. "It's pretty."

"What is?" They stopped walking in front of Doose's Market, which regretfully, they found to be closed. Jess pulled her away from the store. "We can come back later." They kept walking.

"The town…it's pretty." She continued their conversation after the brief interruption.

"It's Stars Hollow." No sarcasm. Just pointing out the obvious.

"Do you have a problem with Stars Hollow?"

"Did I say I had a problem?"

"No, it just seems like you were insinuating something."

The gap widened as they both took a step from each other, arguing now, ruining the peacefulness of the morning.

-----

Two Years Ago…

"What are you doing here?"

"I missed the last one, figured I owed you." Rory looked at him in disbelief. "If you don't want me here, I can go."

"No…I mean, it's great that you're here. I'm actually really happy that you're here…it's just, after what happened last year I kind of figured I'd never see you again."

Jess smirked. "You can't get rid of me that easy."

"How'd you get a ticket to get in here?"

"I have my ways."

Rory smiled, "Same old Jess."

"Never claimed to be different." Silence emerged briefly.

"Did I ever say I was sorry?"

"About what?"

"What happened, you know, the last time we saw each other."

"Don't worry about it."

"Jess…I need to tell you how sorry I am. I mean I shouldn't have…it was just stupid."

"It's okay. It's in the past."

"I still feel bad about it."

"Fine. How about you make it up to me?"

"What?"

"I thought you said that you wanted to tell me you were sorry."

"Yeah…"

"So, make it up to me."

"Alright."

"You don't even know what you're agreeing to."

"I don't care. Anything. I'll do anything."

"Anything?" His face played a suggestive smirk.

"Jerk." Her forehead scrunched together as she gave him a playful slap.

"Kidding. How 'bout coffee?"

"I'd love to…it's just Mom and Luke were going to take me out to eat. You know, celebration thing."

"Right. Maybe some other time then."

"You can come."

"Excuse me?"

"Come to eat. It'll be fun. Free food, endless conversations, good times."

"I don't know…"

"C'mon Jess, please. What if there's not another time? What if I never see you again? Please? Please, come."

Jess absorbed a deep breath and sighed. "Okay." His tone was low, almost in a whisper.

Rory's frantic features quickly dissipated into a large ear-to-ear grin. Impulsively she jumped into Jess' arms and hugged him tightly.

Surprised at her sudden action, Jess took a moment to register what was happening before he hugged her back.

"I guess I should find a seat then." Jess stated as he and Rory pulled away from their embrace.

"You should go find Mom and Luke. I'm sure they'll both be happy to see you."

"Luke, maybe, but Lorelai? I'm sure she's still the president of the 'I Hate Jess Fan Club'."

"Don't be so sure of that, I'm pretty sure she loves you now."

"Why's that?"

"I told her you were the one who got me thinking straight about Yale."

"Huh." He smirked, just as he had always done back when they were dating. "I guess I'll go find them then."

They went their separate ways, Jess towards the rows and rows of chairs, Rory towards the rest of her class. As she was looking for her place to stand in line among the "G's", someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around and saw Logan, dressed in what seemed to be a rather expensive suit, smiling at her with a bouquet of red roses. "Hey, Ace." He smiled at her and handed her the flowers.

"Logan! Hi! What are you doing here? I thought you had to do something for business or something…"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of line. "Come with me for a second."

"Logan, the ceremony is going to start any minute!"

"It'll only be a minute, I promise."

"Okay, fine."

Logan pulled Rory away from her classmates to an area near a deserted tree. "So, what did you—" She stopped speaking as Logan bent down on one knee and pulled a black velvet box out of his suit pocket.

"I'm going to risk being really, really cliché about this, but I just want it to be perfect, because you're perfect and… well," He opened the box revealing an elegant but abnormally oversized ring, "Rory Gilmore, will you marry me?"

Her mind was racing; as soon as he had popped the question Jess' face appeared in her mind. 'No, he can NOT be the reason I say no. We're over; we've been over for a long time…' Rory thought to herself. Then she pictured what married life with Logan would be like. She pictured them in some sort of mansion, where she was busy party planning and talking about things like the D.A.R. She thought of what her life would be like…identical to the one her grandmother was living now… 'No. No. No…'

As her mind raced, she watched Logan's face go from exuberantly happy to almost angry.

"Why not?" His voice snapped her out of her trance and she looked back at him, her features showing confusion. 'Oh.' She thought as it had registered that she had already said 'No' out loud.

"Logan…I…" In the distance there was a squeal from the speakers as the microphone was being adjusted on the stage. "I…I…I have to go." She quickly turned around and attempted to run back to the line. Logan didn't follow her, he just stood there, dumbfounded.

Rory returned back to her spot in line behind Paris. "Gilmore, are you okay? You're crying."

"I'm fine, Paris. It's just a little sad; you know…we're going to be leaving Yale after this."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

-----

"You agreed to move here, I thought you were okay with living here!"

"I moved here for you…it's not a big secret that I'm not a big fan of the town, nor is the town a fan of me."

"You hate it here, don't you?" Rory looked down to the ground, her voice laced with sadness now, not anger.

Jess stepped toward her and lifted her chin up so she would look at him. "It's not about me and the town; it's about me and you."

Rory smiled sadly and pecked him on the lips. "I'm sorry I overreacted. We don't have to live here if you don't want to. We can go elope and move to New York or Philadelphia or Seattle, or wherever. I don't mind, if it's what you want, I'll go."

He smirked. "Rory Gilmore, did you just ask me to marry you?"

"What? No! Where'd you get that idea?"

"You said elope."

"Did I? Well, it's a figure of speech. Besides, you're going to be the one proposing, Mister. I'll be damned if you're too stubborn to ask."

"So, do you want to…?"

"You better not be asking me like that…or right now. It's too soon."

"You didn't let me finish. Do you want to get that coffee?"

"Oh." A slight blush rose in her cheeks. "Yeah."

-----

The conversation had lulled and every one was trying to figure out the next thing to say. Jess cleared his throat. "Thanks for letting me to come to dinner; it's nice to see all of you again."

Lorelai leaned into Luke who was sitting on her left and whispered. "He's seems different."

Luke matched her tone. "I told you…he's a good kid…man. He's a good man."

"So, Jess. I never got to thank you for bringing my Rory home to me." Lorelai looked across the table at Rory to whom she smiled at.

Jess had been in the middle of sipping some of his water. He gulped. "Oh, I can't take credit for that. She was ready to go home."

Lorelai leaned back towards Luke. "No…seriously. He's really different. I actually like him."

"So, Rory, uh, where's Logan? I didn't see him at the ceremony." Lorelai asked her daughter. Jess looked away, attempting to hide the fact that he was not comfortable with the subject of Rory's boyfriend.

"He was there…we just decided that it wasn't working anymore." Jess' attention returned to the people he was sitting with. It had just gotten interesting.

"Oh, Sweetie! What happened? If you don't want to tell me now, you can always tell me at home…you don't have to tell me at all if you don't want to…"

"It's okay…I'll tell you now. He asked me a question, I didn't have the right answer, and we're done. No big deal." Rory shrugged her shoulders as if it was so.

Luke and Jess stayed quiet through the whole interaction. Neither knew what to say.

"That had to have been one serious question if you broke up becau—Oh my God…he prop—" Lorelai quickly covered her own mouth with her hands.

"It's okay Mom, you can say it…"

"He proposed? You were together for over two years…why'd you say no?"

Rory subconsciously looked at Jess. "It just didn't feel right, that's all."

-----

Jess and Rory walked back towards Doose's. Taylor was just unlocking the door as they approached.

"Oh, hey Rory! You're up bright and early today." Taylor greeted, "Jess…" Jess smirked as Taylor rolled his eyes.

The three of them entered the market and Taylor walked off to grab his green apron. "We're not, by the way." Jess whispered in Rory's ear.

"Not what?"

"We're not going to move; not unless you want to. And I have a feeling you're not going to want to for a while."

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Let's go get that coffee."