Rory ran outside, breathing hard. It was snowing again, big billowy puffs. It was late. There were still a few stragglers at the reception. Kirk and Lulu were dancing sleepily when she'd passed through to check.

She finally found him at the bridge, feet dangling over the water. She stopped when she saw him, almost nervous. He looked up. After a moment of recognition, he stood. She ran towards him.

"I take it you read it," he said, tossing a pebble into the water.

"I did," she smiled up at him. He wouldn't meet her eye though. She pulled the envelope out of her coat and looked down at it. "Interesting ending. I don't know if Matthew will sign off on it," she smiled. "But I loved what's there."

She handed the envelope to him. He took it without a word.


Miles knew it was her. She looked different, even with the blindfold on, but it was her. He paced around the room for a moment. Everyone was waiting outside, so they were alone. She looked scared.

"First, I have to clear something up." He said.

She moved her head, searching for the direction his voice was coming from.

"I left. It was a long time ago. I don't regret it. They were slowly killing me. They wouldn't let me move. But it changed everything. So I also regret it more than anything."

He could see the recognition dawn on her face.

"You saw me leave," he kept going. "I couldn't say anything. I tried so hard. I tried telling you why I couldn't survive there. But you were too caught up in the deception to hear me."

He paced more. She wasn't saying anything. It made him nervous.

"I came back. I came back because it was just as hard surviving without you. I thought I could do it, but I was wrong. But this time you couldn't see me. Life was impossible after that, but I survived. I hoped I'd get another chance."

She pursed her lips.

"Say something," he pleaded. "Do you remember any of this?"

Laurie squared her shoulders, managing to look defiant even while strapped to a chair like a prisoner. "Take off my blindfold," she whispered.


"Jess?" Rory said. He turned away from her. "What is it? I understand now, and I forgive you. Why won't you look at me?" her smile was fading.

"Because that's not enough," he said, trying hard to not look at her.

"What do you mean it's not enough?" she was confused. Her giddy fuzzy feeling was starting to wear off.

"What about me? How do you know I've forgiven you yet?" Jess spat, arms crossed over his chest.

Rory opened her mouth to respond angrily, but stopped. "Oh," she looked down. She hadn't even thought of this, though she supposed it made perfect sense. "I didn't even-"

"Ya, well that's pretty obvious."


He walked carefully over to her and slowly untied the fabric around her eyes.

"I thought so." She said darkly, finally able to see his face. "And it's just you? Where are the others?"

"What others?"

"You rarely come alone. Leave alone, sure, but it's never just you. Don't you have some rival sitting in the corner I should wait for you to deal with first?"

"Why don't you tell me? They were always your rivals I dealt with in the first place," he said, remembering all the others he'd had to fight with for her.

"I never needed to be protected!" She yelled.

"That's obvious. Must be why you're the one in the chair right now," he laughed cruelly.

"Tell me why I'm here," she demanded.

He glared at her, not sure what to say.


"I was just so caught up in everything." Rory sighed. "I've been busy for so long, I didn't even consider," she pulled a hand through her hair self-consciously. "Well that was stupid of me," she laughed bitterly. "I'm so sorry Jess."

"For?"

"For..." she considered. "Well, for yelling at you like an idiot earlier, for starters." She sat down at the side of the bridge. "That was completely uncalled for. I should have asked first but I didn't. The whole cheating area is a bit of a sore point. I've had experience on both sides of that coin, and it's not pretty either way. I just really didn't want to be involved with it ever again, and I jumped to a conclusion. I'm sorry about that."

"I kind of get it," Jess said, sitting next to her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rory asked him. "About Allie, I mean. We were emailing each other back and forth, even talking on the phone for months. You never mentioned it."

"I dunno," Jess shrugged. "I didn't really want your opinion. Or your pity. It was nice just talking to you again. I didn't want to rock the boat in case things got weird." He put his hands in his pockets.

"And that's it?"


"You do realize she's gone, right?" Miles said carefully.

Laurie stopped. She hadn't realized. She didn't hear him before.

"What do you mean, gone?" she asked.

"She left. Months ago. When she realized I was still looking for you, she disappeared. She said it wasn't worth her effort to get pulled back into danger."

She looked down, "You've been looking for me all this time?"

He nodded. "It was hard, but I never could stop."

"But I deceived you before... why?"

He shrugged. "That wasn't really you. I hoped it would be worth it in the end."

"Do you still think it was worth it?" she asked, blushing.

He walked towards her chair slowly.


"I guess I was still kind of pissed at you for before," Jess admitted.

"What before?" Rory asked, then realized. "The open house? That was years ago."

"Call me crazy, but you have to admit that was a pretty messed up night."

Rory sighed, "I guess it was. I should apologize for that one too."

Jess looked at her sideways.

"Oh, you're gonna make me spell all of these out, is that it? Well fine," she sighed. "I was stupid then too, and selfish and confused." She folded her hands in her lap, remembering. "I really didn't know what I was thinking back then. I had a boyfriend that I really did care for and cared about me, but was pulling lots of crap. I was angry. Your invite came at a good time and I wanted to get back at him, but... I couldn't. Not with you. Maybe if it had been someone else... I don't know. I've never felt like a bigger idiot about anything, if that makes you feel better."

"A little bit, actually." Jess smiled to himself, still not looking at her. "I just don't understand why you went back to him."

Rory looked down. "He wasn't all bad. He could be a really great boyfriend when he tried. And a little after that night he got in an accident. It sort of gave me some perspective." Rory bit her lip, remembering. "You know, he even proposed after graduation."

"I heard about that one," Jess muttered bitterly. "You turned him down."

"I did," she nodded. "I wasn't ready. And when it came down to it, he wasn't right for me. Not forever. We had different goals; we came from very different places. It was just... not the right time. Who knows what I'd have said if he'd asked later, though," she shrugged. She pulled her jacket tighter, realizing that almost a year and a half later, she still wasn't ready to say yes to Logan if he'd asked now. She could never have been a Huntzburger wife.

She glanced over at Jess, who looked pained.

"I'm sorry, this is turning into a sucky apology," Rory murmured.

Jess shrugged.


"You've changed," he whispered into her ear. "You're darker."

She didn't say anything.

"If I let you go, I can't be sure you won't turn me back in, or try to kill me," he said.

She looked up at him hard. They locked eyes.


"You have to understand," Rory said into her hands. "When you yelled at me about dropping out of Yale, I was very out of it. I didn't know who I was any more. I thought I wasn't good enough to do anything I'd been planning my whole life to do. I made some really... odd choices. And it took me a really long time to get out of that. Maybe I still am. It's hard to tell," she shrugged. "But you started to bring me back. No one else could get through to me, and believe me, they tried." Rory laughed bitterly. "I'm just- I'm a very different person now I think."

Jess sighed. "You're not so different," he met her eye.

"You've changed a lot though," she said, and he nodded his agreement. "You can't be the only one."

"I guess you do have more of an edge to you than when you were the censorship mascot," Jess winked.

She smacked him on the arm lightly, but laughed. "A good edge?"

"A new edge." He grinned lopsidedly. "It's not unwelcome, it's just... different."

Rory nodded, smiling to herself. "And you've got a more settled feeling to you."

"Do I?" he asked.

She nodded, "Yeah. Who do you remind me of? Oh I know..."

"What?" He lowered his eyes playfully.

"A little old man!"

"Geez," he rolled his eyes. "At least you didn't say a puppy dog or something."

"Of course not," Rory laughed. "You're still far too surly to be a puppy." Jess shook his head at her, and she grinned, glad that the tension was slowly lifting.


"But," he said, carefully untying her hands, "I see enough of the old you in there. We could just as easily find somewhere in the middle to land together. I know I want to."

She stood up when the last tie was loose. She squared off at him angrily, hands clutched in fists. She was glad to be free, finally. He knew the feeling. He froze, afraid of what she might do. But then she stopped, relaxed, and a smile flicked across her face.

"Ready to find out?" She asked.

... end ...


"So," Rory motioned to the envelope. "Those characters of yours have a pretty interesting story, don't they?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Jess said.

"I always thought that Laurie character should get another chance. Even if she did become a bit of a bitch in the middle."

Jess laughed, "Oh you did? Interesting."

"You left it on a bit of a cliff-hanger, though. Are you planning on writing more, or is it one of those open ended conclusions?"

Jess leaned back on his elbows and looked out over the lake. "I don't know yet. It depends."

Rory nodded. She looked over the lake too, watching the fluffy snow melt silently into the water. She let out a deep breath and watched the air puff out like a cloud of smoke. She closed her eyes. "Jess?"

"Mmhmm?" He mumbled.

"I love you."

The wind blew softly. The snowflakes collected in their hair. Everything was still and silent, like nothing had changed. He slowly turned toward her. His heart had skipped a beat. He wasn't sure if he'd heard her right.

"I'm sorry?"

"I love you," she smiled. "I love your smile. I love your snarky remarks. I love that you wrote a book! I love that you keep looking for me when not even I can find me. I love that you support me through everything, even if it hurts you and you have to wait for me. You're my best friend, Jess, and no matter where we are or what we do, I love you."

He could only stare at her, his mouth slightly open.

His silence started to make her uncomfortable. "I, uh, just thought you should know." She shuffled a little, turning red. "I'm sorry. I know it doesn't change anything, and it's been a long time and you probably hate me now, especially since I-"

He lifted his hand to her cheek. "Will you stop talking?" She stopped and looked up at him, eyes large and vulnerable. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear that," he grinned and leaned in. "I love you too."

Their lips touched. It was like fireworks going off. They pulled each other closer and relaxed in the other's arms. Finally alone, together, at the right time and the right place. They pulled apart and smiled at each other.

"So now what?" Rory asked, feeling a little dizzy.

He put his arm around her and pulled her into his shoulder. "Now," he said, lifting the envelope with his free hand. He tossed it into the lake.

Rory sat up quickly. "Hey!"

"What? Matthew wouldn't have signed off on it anyways!" He chuckled.

"I wrote notes in the margin for you!" Rory protested.

"So tell me what you said," Jess whispered into her ear.

"Well I can't remember now. It was all very-" he started nibbling on her ear, "specific... grammatical... will you stop that?"

He smiled, "Why?"

"You have a chapter to save! Go get it!"

"It's too cold. I'll write you another one."

"But-" she pouted "I wanted to find out what happened."

"Well," Jess sighed, then stood. He pulled her up next to him so they were both standing on the bridge together. "I guess," he grabbed her around the waist, "we'll just have to find out together, won't we?"

He kissed her.

"That's a nice line," she said, coming up for air. She pointed to the water, "but I still want-" He cut her off with another kiss.

"But I-" she squirmed.

"Sh!"

And finally, happily, she gave in.


The End.


A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading! It's been a great first experience here, and your support has been eye opening and overwhelming for me :) THANK YOU THANK YOU!