name: Heather
email: heather@hella-good.org
spoilers: Anything in season 2, especially "A-Tisket, A-Tasket", "Teach Me Tonight", "Lorelai's Graduation Day" and "I Can't Get Started"
summary: Rory returns home from her summer away in D.C., both nervous and excited at the prospect of the year ahead.
rating: PG-13
pairing: Rory and Jess!
disclaimer: Absolutely nothing is mine. Everything in all it's Gilmore glory belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and all that jazz. I don't even own the computer on which I type this ;)
a/n: This story was inspired by a challenge at The Chilton Library. First off, I'm a huge, huge Jory gal and secondly, this is the first fic I've written for GG and the first fic I've written in over four years, so be kind...but be honest. Thanks!
Part 2 - Welcome Home
"So...I know you want to ask, so ask."
Rory looked at her mother and said, "It's really creepy how you do that."
"Well, I am your mother, it is my job to be creepy."
"Have you seen him lately?"
"Well, he's back from Chicago. He's back to working at the market and he won't even look at me, let alone speak to me."
"Oh, that's not good," Rory said, even more nervous than she was. "I probably won't be able to go into the market now. I probably will have to time when I take a walk, I'll have to make sure he's not having lunch at Luke's-"
"No worries there, my friend," Lorelai interrupted. "He's been back for a week and he hasn't stepped foot in the place. He walks on the other side of the street. He pretty much just goes to work and goes home."
"See? That's not good."
"But if he's in the ignoring everyone stage, that might not be so bad. You won't have to worry about any nasty confrontations. Unless..." Lorelai trailed off.
"Unless what?"
"Unless you start traipsing around town with Jess, which if you are planning on doing that...then we need to talk." She glanced at Rory and saw by her daughter's face that it wasn't the time for that particular discussion. "But that's an issue for another day." She patted Rory on the knee.
"Thanks, I just want to go home, take a shower, and get organized. There's not much time before school starts."
"Ah, yes, let the annual buying of every pen, pencil, notebook, folder, highlighter and binder in Stars Hollow begin. Unless you want to shoot for the moon and go down to Hartford and see how fast we can clean them out?"
"I'm not explaining to you again that it is extremely important to be prepar...oh my god!"
Lorelai was laughing as they drove into the center of Stars Hollow and saw what Rory saw. She looked at her daughter, whose mouth was hanging open.
"Everyone really missed you, kid."
"I can't believe you kept this a secret. You of all people kept this a secret," Rory said, shaking her head in disbelief. Everyone was out in the street. There was music and food, dancing and running, and Kirk with another megaphone. "This is unbelievable."
"I think it's you whom everyone thinks is unbelievable."
Lorelai parked the Jeep in front of Luke's and said, "Why don't you go in and get coffee. I'll get everyone lined up for the traditional kissing of the hand."
Rory quickly looked in the side view mirror and made a face. She knew Jess wasn't going to be there, but maybe with the party, the plan had changed. Still, she had a plan and none of this was in it.
Luke's door jingled as she opened it. Rory looked around and she was not surprised to see no one there. Luke came from the back and saw Rory standing in the center of the diner, looking unsure of what to do.
"Hey, there," Luke said, making Rory jump a bit.
"Hey! We need coffee. Well, I need coffee before going out there," Rory said, laughing.
"Here you go, four coffees...on the house. Glad you're back?" Luke asked with a smile.
"I'll let you know how I feel about being back after all this is done." Rory looked around the diner once more and her heart sank a little.
"He's not here. He said he had someplace to be. Sorry."
"Oh, really?" Rory asked, her voice going up a few octaves at the end which completely gave her away. Luke noticed it and the big smile. He nodded for her to go and she left the diner with a wave.
"Here we go..." Luke mumbled to himself as he wiped the counter.
**************
"Ooh, four coffees? Boy, am I glad Luke and I made up."
"I think the whole world is happy that you two made up," Rory said, handing her mother two of the four cups.
"Well, that's because I news wired it to CNN."
Rory looked a the crowd, who were all having a grand time and she wondered if anyone would notice if she snuck off for a couple of minutes.
"Rory, honey!" She heard Babette shrill from across the park.
"Hi, darling!" She heard Miss Patty drawl. Now she was trapped. No escape for at least a half hour. Her and Lorelai walked over to the two women. Each enveloped Rory in a hug that she was sure would either suffocate her or break her back.
"So how was your trip, darling?" Miss Patty asked.
"It was fine. Interesting. Learned lots of stuff," Rory said with a smile that she hoped covered up the fact that she didn't want to talk about any of it right now. She had something else she wanted to do.
"That's our girl! Now tell us everything, sugar," Babette urged. "What did you do? What did you see?"
"Did you meet any men?" Miss Patty leered.
"Ladies, ladies, we all want to know about every movement Rory made over the summer but right now, it's more a glad you're home kind of deal, right?" Lorelai looked sternly at the two women who nodded.
"We're so happy to see you, hon," Babette said. She and Miss Patty exchanged a look and walked to the beverage table.
"Oh, you so owe me," Lorelai said, hip-checking Rory.
"I know I do," Rory said, looking around.
"I don't think he's here."
"Huh?"
"Well, I don't think either one is here."
"I'm looking for Lane, Miss Know-It-All. Did she say she was coming? I thought she was coming back two days ago."
"Oh, honey, I meant to tell you that she called the other day and she won't be back until Friday." Lorelai rubbed her daughter's shoulder in sympathy.
"It's okay. I'm surprised she got to a phone."
"Well...that's an interesting story that I'll let her tell you about when she gets back from that Stepford camp."
"Mom, it's Bible Camp..."
"Same difference. You want to go, don't you?"
"No...yes...I smell, I have things I want to do. I wasn't expecting all this craziness," Rory said, still looking amazed by the big production.
"You know this town...anything for a party." Lorelai grabbed Rory's hand, a smile plastered across her face, "I have the best idea! How about I go to Luke's and get burgers and fries, get sundae stuff from the market and a video, something extremely horrible like, Mission to Mars and we'll veg out?"
"Ooh, Mission to Mars? It hasn't been nearly long enough." Rory smiled. "It sounds like a great plan, but, I, uh..."
"What?"
"Well, unless you have objections, I'd like to walk home. I just want to see what I've been missing."
"No objections. This is your Rory gets to do whatever she wants day, so I'll see you back at the house in an hour?"
"It won't take me that long"
"It could take me that long. We're talking massive amounts of junk food to get, bad movies to be rented...Oh, this is what I live for."
"I thought you lived for me."
"Sorry, hon, but nothing comes between me and my junk food."
*******************
Rory walked quickly to the bridge where they had had lunch so many months ago. Rory thought it was funny that they had planned to meet when she got home and yet neither of them said where. They both just knew. When she arrived, Jess was nowhere to be seen. She walked down the small bridge and back again.
"Damn," Rory muttered to herself.
"I usually get that reaction."
Rory spun around and there he was in all his Jess form. She forgot how much she missed those crazy shirts, the baggy pants, and that hair...oh the hair drove her crazy.
They walked towards each other, their eyes never leaving the other until they were standing no more than 5 inches apart.
"Looks like you picked up a new vocabulary down in Washington," Jess teased.
She smiled, a great big Rory kind of smile and his stomach did a flip-flop. He hadn't forgotten those beautiful blue eyes, the shiny hair and the innocence that came off of her in waves.
"Hi," Rory said, still smiling. She wasn't able to stop smiling. She kept telling herself to stop but she just couldn't do it. He continued to stare at her and it was beginning to unnerve her a bit. She was already far too nervous as it was, so the look wasn't helping. She took one step forward and there was no part of their bodies that weren't touching. She lifted her arms and hugged him. Jess wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder, taking in the flowery smell of her hair. He decided right then that this is what he wanted for the rest of his life. If he could hold her, smell her, even to just look at her, he would be content forever.
"So, the town went crazy when you were gone," Jess said, not letting go of Rory.
"Went?" Rory asked, laughing.
"You'd think the President was coming to town."
"Well, I am Vice President..." And at that they both let go of each other at the same time. Neither really wanted to, but it had to be done eventually.
"So..." Rory trailed off, not knowing what to say.
"Yeah..." Jess looked at Rory, who was staring at something imaginary on her shoe. He put his hand on her cheek and pulled her to his lips. Although not as awkward as their first kiss, there was still much nervousness for both of them. Jess began to pull away and Rory put her hand in his hair and pulled him and gave him a short, sweet kiss that made his knees buckle a bit. They were both flushed from the kisses and neither of them knew what to say or even how to begin to say anything.
"Am I still not supposed to tell anyone?" Jess asked, whispering.
Rory looked up with a slight smile. "Jess, things are..."
"Let's have that discussion at another time, okay?" He turned, began to walk away, stopped and turned half-way. He looked at Rory with a smirk on his face and said, "Oh, welcome home."
And with that, he left and Rory ran home with a 1000-watt smile on her face.
side note: I will get into why L/L made up...but this is a R/J fic so it will be short and sweet. Just to give background. But it will be coming.