A/N: Shitty update. But I haven't had one in a while so I figured I had to get something posted. I guess this is mostly a filler. The end of the quarter is this week and I'm in Hawaii for Spring Break so updates might not happen for a while. But expect things to start heating up between our favorite couple shortly. Again, sorry for the lack of updates and the poor quality of them as well.

Ignore /typos. I didn't read over this before submitting it.

As always, thank you for your reviews/support. It's greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I clam nothing as my own.


"Are there even going to be any drugstores open now?" It was nearly one in the morning and the time had totally been eluded by Jess. All he had been focusing on was a way to keep Rory from locking herself away, preventing him from guiding her back to reality. She was doing okay, though. Better than he had expected.

"There's got to be a 24-hour Walgreens around here somewhere," he replied, emotionless and ignoring the unease rising in the pit of his stomach. He had to keep his cool for both of their sakes.

"There," Rory stated, indicating with her finger the Walgreens she spotted on the corner of one of the main streets. Jess pulled the car into one of the parking spaces and took the keys out of the ignition, silently dreading making this next purchase.

As he stepped out of the car, he noticed that she had yet to make a move. He placed his hand on the hood of the car to balance himself and bent down to investigate what was stalling her. "Rory?" he called out.

But she was just staring blankly ahead, seemingly mesmerized by the white cinder block walls of the drugstore. "People are going to stare." She wasn't used to being the center of attention. While she was often applauded for her academic achievements, her sexual advances had always been kept to a minimum. Knowing that people would look at her with disgust and pity terrified her. She didn't want people thinking she was just some whore that got knocked up during a one night stand.

"So? It's like almost two in the morning. Nobody's going to be in there," Jess spoke, pulling Rory from her thoughts. He could see the gears in her mind working in overdrive, most likely creating a scenario that was well passed overdramatic. "C'mon."

Walking towards the entrance, he heard her door slam shut behind him. He slowed his pace so she could catch up and smirked internally as she fell into place beside him. They walked into the store silently, neither of them knowing what to say to the other.

Approaching the aisle at which her desired product was located, Jess reached for her hand in a moment of what he'd call weakness. He was never one to make it obvious of his affinity for her, but he felt like now was an appropriate time to disregard the rules. He never played by them anyway.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, unsure of how to gauge her current emotion. She, herself, wasn't even completely aware of how she was feeling. Instead of waiting for the dread to creep through her system, she quickened her pace, grabbed what she needed (a package with three tests instead of one), and made her way to the checkout.

Her hands were shaking as Jess untangled their clasped fingers. He grabbed her elbow, silently asking her to look at him. "Go. Wait in the car," he told her, grabbing the item of choice from her hands. "I got it covered."

Without saying a word, she looked at him for a moment praying that her eyes portrayed her gratitude sufficiently. He understood. She knew he did, and once she was sure of it she walked back to the car, patiently awaiting his return.


Twenty minutes later and Jess was still pacing nervously on the other side of the bathroom door. "How you holding up in there?," he said a little louder than usual in an attempt to be heard through the closed door.

"Jess…" Her voice was small and immediately his stomach plummeted.

"Can I come in?," he questioned, but his hand was already twisting the doorknob, allowing him entrance.

She was sitting in the bathtub with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She reminded him of a small child, innocent and confused. He wasn't sure whether or not it was okay for him to ask about, dare he say it, the results but his curiosity was consuming him.

"On the sink," she mumbled before he even had a chance to speak. She rested her forehead on her knees, her arms still wrapped tightly around her legs. Jess took a tentative step towards the bathroom sink and glanced down to see the three tests splayed out before him.

Relief flooded over him and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Thee blue dashes looked back at him, their negativity soothing him entirely. But Rory was still off her game and he wasn't entirely sure why. Shouldn't she be just as pleased as he was?

"Everything okay?" he questioned slowly, unsure of whether or not it was his place to ask. With every hour that passed in her presence, it got harder and harder for him to ignore his want for her. It scared him, needless to say, seeing as that he generally shied away from the emotional part of his relationships and focused more on the physical aspects. As he was all so well aware, this was new to him.

"I think so," she told him, picking her forehead up from her knees and placing her chin there instead.

"Convincing," he retorted. He slipped off his shoes and stepped into the tub on the opposite end of her. It was a tight squeeze, but he had just enough room to rest his back against the tile wall and bend his knees at a comfortable angle. "What's wrong, Gilmore?" He spoke quietly, knowing that she'd talk if she was ready and if she wasn't, she'd let him know.

It must have been an odd picture had anyone been watching them; her, confining herself to a small space with him semi-sprawled out…just sitting in a bathtub together.

She let out a sigh and stated innocently, "Does this mean we need to go back there now?"

"Do you want to go back?" he countered.

"Does it really matter what I want?"

"Should it matter?"

"Do you always answer a question with another question?" She wasn't annoyed. She just…wanted to know what happened next now that they knew her previous fear was diminished. But just because one had been dissolved didn't mean that others weren't surfacing.

Now it was Jess's turn to let out a sigh. "I wouldn't be surprised if Luke told Lorelei where we were." He wanted to make sure she understood what he was getting at. "If we stay here much longer, someone's going to show up for you eventually. I wouldn't be surprised if you mom was on her way right now."

"I don't want to face everyone," she said, sensing that it was an appropriate time to get her worries out in the open.

"I know," was his simple response.

She didn't say anything. She wasn't sure of the words to make him understand what she was feeling. She knew Jess wasn't stupid, but he wasn't exactly one for many emotions either.

"You can't hide forever though, Ror."

"Deans' going to wonder why I was with you," she spoke absentmindedly. "He'll probably get mad."

"Why'd you let him do it?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he shouldn't have said them.

"You think I let him do this to me? I told you I said no," she shot back at him.

"Did you really say, 'No,' or did you just imply that he was taking it too far?" Sure, Jess was just short of hating the guy, but he saw the way Dean looked at Rory. While it was often with desire, it was never forcefully so. Jess, more often than not, found himself growing jealous of the fact that he could stare at Rory like that while he, himself, could not. That 'lovestruck' look would not only have been unacceptable, but it was not a look he prided himself on showing. Stoic was more his forte.

"I-I…" She couldn't think of a decent response. She hadn't flat out said no, but she'd warned him that he was rushing things; that she wasn't ready. "He was supposed to know. He guilted me into it. It wasn't my fault!" Her voice got louder with every sentence, threatening another breakdown to occur.

"I know. I know," he told her, honestly understanding. While she hadn't voiced to Dean that she had no desire to take things further, he had already made the decision for her. Either way he tossed it, the taller boy was still in the wrong and Jess knew that. He just wanted to make Rory see that she could prevent it from happening again, God forbid Jess ever let Dean touch her again. "We don't have to go back yet if you don't want to."

"I don't," she said quickly.

"But we can't stay here," he continued.

"Then where?"

Jess thought for moment, truly at a loss for what to do. That is, until he remembered a friend owed him a favor.

"New York. We're almost at state lines anyway."

"Okay," was all she could bring herself to speak out loud. She was nervous. This was so out of character for her. Somewhere in the pit of her stomach, she was enthralled by this behavior.

"Let me make a phone call and we can go," he said calmly.

He got up slowly, careful not to accidentally kick her in their close proximity. Thankful to be out of the cramped space, he stretched revealing a thin strip of olive skin right about his waistline. Rory had to remind herself to breathe as she noticed the 'V' his muscles created beneath his clothes. She gulped silently as he slipped out of the doorframe, wondering what the hell she'd just gotten herself into.