VI

They were clomping up the stairs in the dark. Jess had switched off the light in the kitchen before Rory could turn on the one in the hallway and then refused to go back.

"If I accidentally spill this on you, you'll regret it," Rory had singsonged.

"Please." Rory hadn't been able to see him, but it had felt like Jess was rolling his eyes. "Weren't you born with a cup of coffee in your hand? Don't even try those empty threats on me."

"Well then I might spill it not accidentally."

"Guess that means I'm going up first," Jess had quickly replied, putting a hand on Rory's back to locate her, then slipping around her to start up the stairs.

On the landing, he remembered he had given the key to Rory.

"Cough it up, Gilmore."

"Are you the Gatekeeper?" she replied dramatically.

"I'm no Sigourney Weaver, but yeah, hand it over, Keymaster."

"No can do. My hands are full."

Jess felt for her in the dark, plucking the mug from her grip.

"Hey!"

The cup felt light and Jess rocked it gently from side to side. No slosh. "Is this empty?"

"I drank it."

"Then it was just an excuse. Predictable." Jess bent and set the mug next to the doorway where it wouldn't be kicked over. When he straightened up, he was feeling playful. And it served Rory right for not handing the key over when she had a chance. Jess stepped up to her quickly and thrust a hand into the pocket of Rory's coat. Unfortunately, Rory's hand was already in there and she let out a yelp that turned into a laugh.

"Alright, where's the key?"

Rory straightened up. "That guy in Mission Impossible knew where the enveloped was moved to. I hold you to the same standard."

"I think that coffee's gone straight to your head." Jess drew his hand back. "You really want to start this?"

"I know, we could be here quite a while," she replied with false sadness.

"Are you implying that I lack the requisite key-finding skills?"

He heard the rasp of Rory's coat as she shrugged her shoulders.

Jess gasped. "The audacity." He weaseled his hand into the other pocket of Rory's coat. No dice. He took a deep breath. It was just a game. She was forcing him to do it. Jess's hands met over Rory's rib cage, sliding along until he could feel a button.

"You know," she said, "I think Ethan Hunt was a little more subtle about it."

"Didn't realize I was being groomed for MI6," Jess muttered, undoing the button.

"Hmm?"

"I said, 'Like this?'" Jess slipped his flattened palm into Rory's coat, grazing it along the fabric of her sweater to reach her waist.

"Yes, that's much better." Her voice was soft.

Jess's heart was racing and he left his hand resting against her, going back to work on the remaining buttons with his free hand.

"I also think Ethan was a little faster." Rory shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

Jess was relieved by her lightening the mood. He stepped behind Rory and tugged her now unfastened coat from her shoulders. He gave it a thorough shake so that it snapped like a fresh sheet coming off a laundry line, but didn't hear the jingle of a key falling out onto the floor.

Rory turned to face Jess, reaching a hand out to halt his movements. "Careful!" Her hand came in contact with his abdomen rather than his forearm. Rory breathed in sharply through her nose. "I—I haven't used this coat in a while and I don't know if I left anything in the pockets."

Jess dropped it carefully to the ground at his side. "Well, you definitely didn't leave anything helpful in them for this particular situation. So the question remains: where is the key?"

At any point, Rory could have fished the key out and strode triumphantly to the door of the apartment, unlocking it and gaining a victory for allowing it to remain safely in her hands until she could return it to Luke. She could even have smugly handed it over to Jess and still had the sense that she had won… whatever it was she was trying to win. Instead, Rory surreptitiously inched the key into the front pocket of her jeans. It had been clenched in her closed fist.

"Nothing in the right or left jacket pockets?"

"Remind me to never reference another movie unless I want to give you something to punish me with."

"But if I wanted to punish you, then why would I remind—"

"Am I going to have to check your shoes next? God, I feel like I'm working at airport security. This must be just a regular night for a jetsetter like you."

"Technically, you never finished checking my pockets, so you better stick to your day job." Rory absentmindedly slid her hands into her back pockets.

"So you have the Swiss army knife of coats and there's some secret pocket in there you've been waiting to use that's just the right size to hide the key that we now need to get into Luke's apartment?"

"No, that coat just has the two pockets."

"Huh," Jess said, but it wasn't a puzzled sound, it was just the opposite. He'd just realized the game Rory was really playing and was now wondering if he had the balls to play it too. Or are you just going to hang onto the memory of spying on her half-naked in her own window?

At least it was dark. It was easier, in the dark, not to back down.

Jess reached out for Rory, laying a hand on her upper arm and trailing it down to her elbow, then her wrist, which protruded from her back pocket. He felt around for her other arm and found it was positioned just the same. Jess stepped in close, held Rory gently by the wrists, and pulled her hands from her pockets. She let them fall to her sides.

He breathed in.

He breathed out.

Jess slipped his own hands in to replace Rory's, forced to press against the shape of her ass as he explored the pocket with his fingertips. Rory let out a breath that Jess felt on his neck. Blood drained to his dick and it gave a sharp lunge.

"There's nothing—"

Now Rory grabbed Jess by the wrist, cutting him off and extracting his hand. She brought it to rest with the palm flat against her lower abdomen, just inside the wall of her hip bone. Jess's hand covered the pocket containing the apartment key, but suddenly all he could think of was what he could touch if Rory's jeans were off and his hand was an inch or two lower. Even better, he had a feeling this was exactly what Rory was wanting him to be thinking. The blood pulsed and his dick stiffened.

Nonetheless, it was her game and Jess would let Rory be the one to call it. He dragged his palm up, finding the edge of Rory's front pocket, and maneuvered his fingers inside. Now there was nothing but the soft cotton pocket between his hand and her skin. Jess let his hot hand warm Rory for a few moments, let her get used to it, before he drew it out, the key pinched between his index and middle fingers.

Feeling the heat of his hand draw away, Rory broke, no longer able to contain the feelings Jess had revived in her now, at the gazebo, when she'd seen his face outside her bedroom window, and earlier, at her house this afternoon, her office at lunchtime. She couldn't stand it.

Rory leaned into Jess, her hands stroking up the back of his neck, and kissed him firmly, moving her mouth against his until his moved back against hers. Until Rory felt that maybe she hadn't gone so far and it hadn't been so long after all. Not if they could come back to each other like this.

References in this chapter:

Ghostbusters directed by Ivan Reitman