Disclaimer, I do NOT own anything, even though I wish I did. Characters and plot are loosely based on Gilmore Girls, and the song Don't Stop Believing by Journey.

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Rory watched the passing scenery with her forehead plastered against the glass of the slow moving train. She started to doodle some pictures in the condensation that had formed on the windows during the journey. She sure hoped they were getting close, she was exhausted and hadn't had any coffee in the past hour or so. Rory jumped as she felt her cell phone vibrating in the pocket of her trench coat.

She sighed at sight of the familiar number, "Hello?"

"Hi, offspring of mine, did your train get in yet?"

"No, it was about 20 minutes late. I'm still not quite in New York yet. Why are you calling this late, I told you I would call you tomorrow morning."

"Well, after I dropped you off at the train station, I went back to Luke's and was explaining to him the differences between the original Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swazey and the new one with those random people who will never be as good. Their names aren't even as interesting, I mean Katie as opposed to Baby? It's ridiculous! And..."

"Mom"

"Oh yea, so I think Luke was maybe a little bored, so he asked me why I hadn't waited at the station with you. So I told him you were a big girl and could take care of yourself. Plus it was cold and he wouldn't want his lovely girlfriend to get sick. But then I started thinking, what if you got raped, or mugged, or worse yet met up with an ex-boyfriend!"

"Mom, I'm not going to meet up with an ex on the midnight train coming from Connecticut."

"Well, you did mention that Logan was going to be in the city this weekend, and I really don't want him to ruin this for you. These interviews are a really good thing, and you just got over him. We're finally talking again and he was out of the picture. You know my hate for him runs deep."

"Almost as deep as your hate for Jess? Or how about Dean?"

"First of all, I never hated Dean. You guys just didn't work out. And as for Jess...well I can't dislike him anymore, he might be my nephew in-law one day."

"Ha ha," grumbled Rory. "But Mom, believe me I'm not going to see anyone. I have an almost completely booked day tomorrow and Logan is flying in from JFK and going back to England in a few days. I only know about this trip of his because if we HAD stayed together I was supposed to have gone back to England with him for a week. Anyways, the city is so big, what are the chances?"

"Alright, I just am being an overprotective mom. As soon as you get off that train you go out and get drunk and get that feeling out of your system"

"Sure Mom," laughed Rory. While she had been talking, she hadn't noticed that the train had come to a halt at Grand Central Station. "Oh my god, I have to go, I just got to New York. I'll call you later."

"Sure Hon, don't forget about your poor, old, Mo-," Rory heard the last strands of Lorelai's voice as she snapped shut the phone and started gathering up her baggage. Her Mom would be driving out with Luke the next weekend to drop off the rest of her clothes and things, however she had needed a fairly large suitcase to carry the clothes she needed for the week. Rory also had her laptop and her purse. She struggled with balancing and carrying everything, including the book balanced precariously on top of a box of donuts and cookies from Luke's, which was supposed to be her breakfast until she discovered a good local coffee shop. Rory blundered off the train and slowly began walking through the station. "Great," she thought, "How can I possible get up the stairs, let alone hail a cab. I am definitely a small town kind of girl." Rory stopped to take out the directions to her friends apartment that she had printed up. She would be staying there until she could find a steady job and her own living arrangements. She started off again this time trying to hold the directions in front of her face so she could read them at the same time. She didn't want to sound like a complete idiot when she told the cab driver where she needed to go. In her haste, Rory ran straight into someone, or something.

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Jess grunted as he ran straight into this poor girl, who was carrying way more than her thin frame could handle. He felt kind of guilty as all her stuff slid across the floor in opposite directions. "I should stop trying to walk and read at the same time," he thought to himself as he grabbed a book and a semi-crushed box of donuts off the floor.

"I'm really sorry -," he started to say when he noticed the giant 'Luke's Diner' emblem on the top of the box and quickly looked at the thin girl who was still desperately trying to gather up her scattered papers. "It can't be," he thought to himself as he studied the very frazzled and obviously exhausted young woman, who had not yet even acknowledged his presence.

"Listen, it was my fault, I should have been looking where I was going instead of reading these ridiculous directions. I feel like such a tourist right now, haha," Rory said dryly as she continued gathering up her belongings. She still hadn't noticed that it was Jess standing there somewhat shocked. As she rambled on Jess took some time to study the vast changes that Rory had undergone in the past year or so since he had last seen her. She was definitely much thinner, and her hair had been cut shorter and layered, maybe even highlighted, but it wasn't like Jess knew much about those things. While her entire appearance was more mature, Jess couldn't help but think that she had lost some of her innocence. Her clothes still held a somewhat preppy appearance, but her shirt was cut much lower and her jeans hugged her hips and were a pretty tight fit. She was wearing tons of makeup, including dark lipstick and heavy eyeliner. As she stood up still laughing and rambling about one thing or another she finally caught Jess' eye. He stared at her and noted to himself that her pupils dilated the second her eyes caught his. She was shocked. Jess couldn't help but notice how tired and weak Rory looked, and how her once bright blue eyes seemed dull and sunken in. Nonetheless, she was still just as beautiful as he had remembered.

"Wow...Jess?," Rory stuttered, obviously unsure of how to act or what to say. "It's uh...good to see you."

"Yea, you too," Jess replied smoothly. "What brings you to the city anyways, did Stars Hollow get a little too boring?"

Rory quickly got over the initial shock of Jess and regained her composure. "Actually I'm moving here," She replied rather bluntly.

"Oh wow, that's a big change," said Jess, "Do you need help finding a hotel or something. I mean like you were saying before you don't want to look like a tourist or anything."

"I'm not staying at a hotel, and that's really ok. I should really get going anyway, you know how it is, things to do, places to see...," rambled Rory as she took the box of donuts out of Jess' hands.

"Are you sure? I mean places to see at 1:15 am on a Saturday morning are few and far between, and I mean I don't think there's really that many things that you would be interested in doing right now either. Why don't you just let me walk you, or drive you to wherever you need to go?,"questioned Jess.

"It's really okay, I mean I can probably find my way, or just grab a cab..," she mumbled as Jess raised his eyebrows and gave her a somewhat skeptical look.

"Alright," conceded Rory. "I guess I could use the help with figuring out my ways around the city anyhow." She handed him her packet of papers complete with detailed directions to her friends apartment.

"Wow this is actually pretty close to where I live," said Jess as he glanced at the address. "Are you going to be staying here?"

"No"

"Oh well, I bet we could have gone to get coffee and caught up or something. It's probably best if we take a cab since its kind of cold outside."

"Whatever you say," replied Rory cooly. The two made their way up and out of Penn station and Jess hailed a cab for the two of them. Within 15 minutes Rory found herself staring at the entrance of an apartment building in the middle of manhattan.

"Thanks Jess," Rory finally said as she shut the door of the cab. "It was really helpful that you hailed the cab and got us here so fast. I feel like I have no idea when it comes to the city. And it really was nice to see you."

"Don't mention it," replied Jess, who was in a surprisingly upbeat mood. "I guess I'll see you around." He rolled up the window of the cab and Rory watched as the cab slowly drove away. "What a surreal night I'm having" she thought to herself.

Later, after having settled into her room in her friend Blair's apartment Rory had time to reflect on Jess. She couldn't help but remember her mother's words from earlier. So much for never running into an ex.

A/N Chapter 2 done...comments? Concerns? Keep me posted and I'll try to keep up new posts with the story, thanks again- jeweles