Title: Falling In Love In a Coffee Shop

Author: DoYouCareEnough

Rating: T for language, and maybe some sexual themes. (Ha! It makes it sounds like it's a movie or something!)

Summary: Five years after Rory turns down Logan's proposal and graduates from Yale University, she's faced with the man she once loved, lost, turned down once, and turned down again. Is it love again, or has too much damage been done?

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls. Nor do I own the lyrics to "Falling In Love In a Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg.

A/N: Here's Chapter Two. Are you ready for this?

Chapter Two

Willing To

*****

It was almost as if the world came to a complete standstill. As though the barista stopped crushing ice for a frappacino, the browsers stopped reading jacket covers, and the cashiers stopped punching in codes to their computers. I, myself, felt like I couldn't move. I was stuck. I didn't know what to say or what to do next. This was one weird way to tell someone you loved them. What if I hadn't read the Acknowledgments? I swear to God, sometimes Jess doesn't think things through very well.

But, one thing about this, I fell in love again as I read the Acknowledgments once again. If I hadn't been in love with Jess before, I sure as hell was now. My heart swelled with just, affection and adoration and just plain love.

Shutting the book and sticking it in my purse, I pondered what to do next. The most obvious answer was to just go straight to Philadelphia. Catch a train, sleep on the way, all that jazz. Fling myself into his arms and then we can plan our life. But, no. It couldn't be like that. We weren't teenagers. This wasn't an epic love story. We were two grown adults and, apparently, he was a father. We couldn't afford to be reckless this time around. We couldn't just fling ourselves into this. We had to talk it out, figure out why we didn't work in the first place, all of that stuff.

I hated thinking things through. Honestly. Though I used to live for pro/con lists, now they make me sick. Somehow, over the year, I've started to love spur-of-the-moment-ness, started to live by not thinking things through, just jumping in. It's reckless, it's stupid, but it's fun.

Driving home seemed like the best option right now. There I could look at my calendar, see what was coming up, see what obligations I had.

As I did drive home, I began to think about his daughter. Paige. Cute name. Definitely a name that Jess would pick out. Or did the mother? Whatever. I wondered what Paige looked like. I imagined her with dark, dark brown hair with Jess' brown eyes and mouth. Olive skin, maybe some freckles. And then I realized that I was imagining what mine and Jess' daughter would look like. Who knew what Paige's mom looked like? She could be African-American, or Asian, and then Paige would look nothing like him.

My calendar was truly hopeless. There was a dentist appointment in two weeks, and my annual mammogram in three. Nothing for work. No social obligations, which wasn't a surprise since I left that life behind the same time I left Logan behind.

Though I was not planning to, I ended up dialing Jess' cell phone number on my own cell phone. I listened to the ringing for what seemed like an eternity, when I heard an answering machine pick it up.

"Hello, this is the Mariano residence! We're not home right now so if you can leave your name and number we might just call you back!" A chirpy, very cute little girl's voice sang out. I smiled, imagining the look on Jess' face every time he heard her speak. I didn't even know the girl and I could imagine just how adorable she is. I waited until the beep, and then I realized that I didn't know exactly what to say. Uh… Shit.

"Um, hi, Jess. Well, I read the book. And the Acknowledgments. So can you call me?" I told him my home and cell phone number, and then hung up.

Fifteen minutes later, I was basically twiddling my thumbs when the phone rang. I jumped when Muse's "Hysteria" began to play out, and then realized, "Hey, that's your ringtone, dumb one." I pressed answer on my Voyager, and greeted, "Hello."

"Rory?" the oh-so familiar voice said softly.

"Jess. Hi," I said, sounding a lot more at ease than I was. This is Jess. You're talking to Jess, I thought. It seemed like a dream. How many times had I imagined our first conversation in years? I'd never gotten far, never much past the greeting. I'd erased and re-started many times, making it better and more elaborate and romantic each time.

"You read the book?" he said as a question, not a statement. Didn't you listen to the message?

"Yep. Good stuff," I said awkwardly. "Okay, are we going to talk about this or are we going to just chitchat?" I heard Jess sigh, and then take a deep breath.

"I have a daughter. Her name is Paige."

"So I read."

"Her mom left when Paige was a year old. Went back to Las Vegas. Decided that her career was more important. She's a casino host, you know. That's how I met her. A few of us guys from Truncheon took a vacation when we reach fifty-thousand books printed, and I met her. One-night stand, she got pregnant. She came out to Philly to stay with me, and then left. And here we are." Oh, geez. What a crappy mom.

"Wow. Just… wow," was all I could say.

"I moved to Florida. Pensacola, actually."

"Why?" I asked, curious.

"Don't know. Wanted a change of pace. I was tired of Truncheon and Philadelphia, I didn't want to go back to New York or especially Stars Hollow." I could practically hear his grin through the phone. "Are you living in the Hollow?"

"God, you make it sound like it's gang territory or something. But, no. I moved away a few years ago. I moved to Phoenix, actually."

"Phoenix? Holy shit, you moved far away."

"Yep. Like you said, I wanted a change of pace."

"Fight with your mom?" he asked, right on the dot. It's annoying how Jess can just pick up exactly what I'm feeling from the tone of my voice. But granted, he's Jess. He's always been able to do that. Always understood me better than most other people.

"She didn't marry Luke."

"Yeah, I know."

"She's afraid, still. My father keeps trying to win her back, and I was tired of all that and wanted to get out of Connecticut. Away from her. Away from my grandparents. Away from that God-forsaken town. I don't know why all of a sudden all things Stars Hollow are repulsive."

"What are the chances of you being able to come down here?"

"Um, possibly very big. The paper I look at lets me work from home, so as long as you have Wi-Fi I should be good. Let me call my boss and I'll get back to you ASAP. Okay?" He agrees, and we hang up. Then, after only five minutes of talking to my boss—who's always liked me, I guess because I work hard and don't piss him off on a regular basis like most of the other journalists on staff—I got permission to work from my computer for a couple weeks.

I called Jess after that and let him know the news, and he offered to pay for my airplane ticket. When I declined, he said that he wasn't taking no for an answer because, "Paige's mom is rich. Rich means she pays a lot of child support. A lot. And you know what, how about I pay for your hotel room, too?"

"Jess, no," I'd said.

"Oh, well, if you insist, I can pay for a suite instead."

"Jess, no," I repeated.

"God, Rory. You're really stretching me thin but if you absolutely must have the room with the Jacuzzi then, well, I guess I have no choice."

"Jess! Stop!" I laughed. "If you really want to then you can pay."

"Alright, then. Was that so hard?"

*****

It took me a few minutes to truly and completely realize what had just happened. I'd just agreed to go completely across the country to a very unfamiliar place, and see my old boyfriend who I hadn't seen in over five years and his daughter whose mother I didn't know. What the hell am I thinking? I practically screamed at myself.

Yeah, this is Jess. Yeah, this is the guy that I love. The guy that understands me and makes me better and makes me whole. The only guy that I can say that life truly isn't as good without.

I've never been a fan of darkness or night. If it was possible, I'd go to sleep before sunset and get up after dawn. That way I could just pretend like it was never dark. I think the reason that I don't like the dark is because you never know what it holds. When you walk into your apartment late at night after a long day of work and you just want to sleep, you never know if there's someone right around the corner ready to put a gun to your head, or if an old friend has decided to surprise you and is sitting on your couch, waiting. Whereas an intruder is just as terrifying and a visitor is just as exciting in the light, the darkness makes it unknown. The darkness is full of surprises, like when you think there's one more step in a flight of stairs and there's that one split second that your foot fall and you're not expecting it. You brace yourself on the railing, thinking you're going to fall, when you realize that everything is okay, that you just misjudged.

In a way, Jess is like that. Though I don't like to say he's "dark" or anything like that, he has some of the same attributes. I don't know what to expect with him. He keeps me full of surprises and just a little anxious for what is going to happen next, which can be both a blessing and a curse.

Did I want to go? Truly and honestly, did I want to go? Was I willing to risk it all? Heartbreak, stability, a chance at love once again? How much was I really willing to give up for Jess? If things went well, would I be willing to have a long-distance relationship? Willing to give up a job? Would I be willing to move down to Florida? Would I be okay with the fact that he might not want to uproot his daughter's life and move across the country for me?

How much would I let go for a guy? Was there anything that I was not going to give up? Anything that had to stay the same?

Going back to Jess could ruin a lot of things, could burn some bridges. Jess is a heart breaker, and I know all-to well exactly what it feels like to have my heart shattered into a million pieces over him. Was I willing to go through that… again?

Though I hadn't talked to my mother in a very long time, was I willing to risk what she thinks of me? Me getting back together with Jess would more than likely not sit well with her. She'd have a hard time accepting that he has a daughter with another woman, would have a hard time accepting the fact that the mother could come back at anytime.

Emotionally investing myself in someone is hard. I've learned that time and time again, mostly with boyfriends: Dean, Jess, Logan. But I've learned it with people that are expected to be stable, people that are expected to have your best interests in heart and give it all up for you: my father, my grandparents. So was I willing to be disappointed again? To take that risk that you always have to take when you put your trust in someone, and just… jump? Was I willing to jump?

I almost have my decision and I don't have my decision at all. One minute my mind is made and then I'm not so sure and then my mind is made up again. But, honestly, did I want to always be wishing and wondering, hoping and dreaming? Thirty years from now when I'm either in a crappy marriage, or still single, did I want to be sitting there thinking, what if I'd gone to Jess?

No, I wouldn't. Not at all.

And so, I guess, my decision was made.

A/N: Dun, dun, duhhhhhn! Hope you liked Chapter Two. I'll be posting Chapter Three in exactly one week (and I know this for a fact because it's already written and sitting in my Document Manager right this very second!)

Please read and review! I'm already so pleased with the reaction to this story... It's already looking like it's going to be my most popular story yet! I especially liked that I have a mostly new audience with this story than my other GG stories, but I still have some of my old favorite reviewers (Curley-Q, Vera Cobb, kylielink)