Disclaimer: I own a couple of minor characters you'll see, but that's it. Jess, Rory, and the rest of the regulars are definitely not mine.

A/N: BLAME ADELE. This new story is completely because her new album is incredible and inspired a short story from me. The timeline will go from 2008-Present. Just hang with me ;)

THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! :)

Chapter Rating: PG-13

I find it funny
That you're the only
One I never looked for
There is something in your lovin'
That tears down my walls

I wasn't ready then
I'm ready now
I'm heading straight for you
You will only be eternally
The one that I belong to

April 14, 2015 at 4:32 p.m.

The car rolled to a stop next to diner and Jess looked over at the town square that was crowded with the townspeople setting up for the party. He waited a moment before taking a deep breath and getting out of the car. It's not that he didn't like the town, it was just that his mother could be quite overwhelming at times.

Jess' eyes went from one side of the street to the other before he crossed the road and casually walked up to the group of people who were staring at Jackson and Maury as they hung up the birthday banner.

"It's a little crooked," he commented, dryly, as he walked up behind Kirk and they all groaned in annoyance.

"Why did you have to say that?" Gypsy all but screeched as her hands gestured to the two men in front of them. "They've been going at it for hours! Patty says too far right, Taylor says too far left, and it's been a big tug-o-war since 2!"

Jess chuckled some to himself and shrugged a shoulder with a smirk. "I thought I was helping, my apologies," he commented before looking at Kirk who was staring at his arms. "What's your deal, Kirk?"

"We were waiting on you to get here. We need someone with arm strength to carry the ice chest of beer from Luke's to here," Kirk said, looking back at him. "I would, but I worked out last night and my muscles are a little sensitive."

Jess looked back at him with an incredulous stare before Kirk glanced down and cleared his throat.

"Okay, I just can't lift it."

"That's what I thought," Jess said with a smirk before turning to go towards the diner. He didn't fully face the diner before he saw her across the square. Her back was facing him and she was in mid-conversation with the two loudest women in Stars Hollow. He loved to watch the way she moved, she wasn't graceful by any means, but she was so animated in the way she told stories.

Without a second thought, he made his way over to her. As soon as he approached her, he slid his arm around her waist, making her jump in surprise.

"Oh!" She said as soon as she felt a hand rest on her hip. She turned to face Jess and grinned, placing a hand on his cheek before kissing him, her excited smile still in place. "I didn't think you'd come!" She said with a laugh, placing her arms around his neck as she turned away from Babette and Patty. "You said you wouldn't be able to make it."

"I wanted to surprise you," Jess said, leaning forward and kissing her briefly. "I can't miss Luke's birthday."

"You only turn fifty once," Rory replied, looking up at him with that childlike grin that always made him instantly happy. He lived to put that smile on her face.

"Exactly," Jess said with a wink, pushing some hair behind her ear. "Want to watch me bring an ice chest of beer to the town square?"

"Nothing would make me swoon more," Rory teased, dramatically, as she held onto his arm.

"Hi Jess," Miss Patty said in a sing-song voice with a flirtatious smirk, "don't you look more and more like your uncle every day?"

Jess let a light laugh escape his lips and shook his head. He usually heard that he looked like Jimmy—not Luke. "Hey Miss Patty. I've honestly never heard that, but thank you I guess."

"Luke is a handsome man, sugar," Babette piped up, gesturing towards the diner as if he were in there.

"Oh yeah," Jess agreed, awkwardly, glancing down at Rory for help. "Very handsome. Look, I've actually got to go get a few things so we can finish setting up before he gets back." He still had his arm around Rory when he turned away from the women who were already waving goodbye.

Rory was beaming, unable to help herself. Babette and Patty always knew how to make a situation awkward, whether they meant to or not. As they walked towards the diner, their fingers intertwined, she kept her blue eyes glued to his face. "So," she began, staring him down with that smile that wasn't fading. "You're here. You came here. I'm so happy to see you!"

"You mentioned probably around ten different times on the phone that you were going to Stars Hollow for Luke's fiftieth birthday party," he replied, walking up to the door and using the key resting on top to get inside. "I thought it was a hint that I better be here."

"Well," she led on with a laugh as she followed him inside. "I just figured since the weekends were when we got to see each other then you would probably like to come see me here. And see your uncle."

He gave her a look over his shoulder as he bent down to pick up the chest and laughed a little at her statement. "You weren't as subtle as you tried to be."

"Subtleness is not my forte," Rory replied, leaning back against the door, watching him. When he walked back towards her, she opened the door for him and closed it behind him.

"No," Jess replied, sarcastically, grinning some at her as she caught up to fall into step with him. "So, how did you guys get Luke out of town?"

"Mom and James went fishing with him," Rory replied with another laugh, mostly at thinking about her mom in her fishing hat this morning.

Jess smirked some at that and made it to the gazebo where he dropped the ice chest and turned back to Rory, placing his hands on her hips before tugging her closer to him. "Do you think we have like an hour we can steal?"

"Oh? And why would we need an hour?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as she reached up slightly on her toes before planting a kiss on his lips.

"I'm insulted," Jess mumbled against her lips.

"Back to the diner?"

With a quick nod, Jess pulled back and grabbed her hand, pulling her with him as he walked back towards Luke's.

April 14, 2015 at 8:13 p.m.

"I've never had a surprise birthday party before," Luke said with a smile as he leaned back against the bench on the gazebo, beer in hand. "Did you have something to do with this?"

"Well," Jess began, looking around the party. "I brought out that ice chest, hung up those lights over there, picked up all of the food, and set out the chairs. But, I didn't plan it. That was your wife."

"I have no doubt," he said, looking over at Lorelai as she 'pinned the hat on the Luke.' "She's something. And so is Rory."

Jess smiled more at that and took another sip of his beer as he glanced at Rory who was standing beside her mom. "She is."

"I'm happy for you two."

"Thank you," Jess replied, smiling a little more as he looked back to Luke. "It was a long time coming."

"There was a time and a place for you and Rory. I think you both needed to," Luke paused, trying to think of the right word before looking back at Jess. "Grow."

"And we did. Now, we get to do that together."

July 12, 2015 at 7:36 p.m.

"I have to go," Jess whispered in the living room, holding her close to him as their eyes were fixed on the screen in front of them. Catch Me If You Can. Tom Hanks was always Jess' favorite actor—anything with him in it would keep him glued to the television until the end.

Rory groaned, burying her face into his side with an annoyed huff. "No," she whined, pouting as she lifted her head to look up at him. "Do you have to?"

His fingers grazed her cheek and he leaned down to capture her lips with his own. It was a brief, soft kiss, but so much passion behind it. "I have a two hour drive," he said, looking into her eyes. "And I have work in the morning."

"You can always get up at six and drive in," she suggested with a smile, knowing that it was almost impossible to get him to wake up earlier than his normal routine.

With a laugh, he looked back at her before kissing her forehead softly. These moments were rare so Rory usually took full advantage of them. She laid her head on his chest after he pulled back and inhaled deeply, wrapping her arm around his midriff. "I know, I know," she said, "you'll be worthless tomorrow if you stay longer."

"You know I won't leave the bed if I waited until morning to go," he replied, rubbing her arm as he glanced up at the television screen again. After a few moments, Rory slowly looked up at him and placed her hand on his cheek to get his attention. He glanced down at her with a smile and tilted his head to the side, questioning the serious look in her eye. "What is it?" He asked, his heart beating a little faster, nervous by the look on her face.

"I love you," she breathed out, almost without thinking, even though she had been thinking about telling him that for weeks.

His smile lit up his entire face and he stared down at her before leaning in and kissing her once more. "I love you, too," he replied, glancing up into her eyes before pressing his lips to hers again.

When she finally pulled herself away from him, she smiled some and glanced down at her lap, unsure of how to say this next part. "Which is why I think we need to talk about the growth of our relationship."

With a raised eyebrow, Jess sat up on the couch and turned to face her, clearing his throat a little. "The growth of our relationship? What does that mean?"

"I mean," Rory began, sitting up a little to look back at him. "We're kind of stuck in the same place. We see each other on weekends. You still live in Philadelphia and I still live here in Baltimore. I feel like we need to discuss how we progress from here."

"There isn't much we can do, Ror," Jess clarified, rather bluntly. "I have a job, you have a job. We can't just drop our careers. We aren't that far apart, and we won't be doing it forever."

"Well, that sounds final," Rory mumbled, pushing off of the couch to stand up.

"Oh come on," Jess began, reaching to grab her hand so she couldn't walk away. "It's not final, but there is just so much we can do right now. We both knew it would be like this for a while. What are we supposed to do?"

"I can transfer to Philly."

"No way in hell would I let you do that," Jess said, meeting her eyes with a serious look in his. "You have worked your ass off to get where you are and you can't just throw that away."

Rory broke eye contact with him and stared at a crooked picture frame on the wall ahead of her. "So you're perfectly content with long distance," she stated, not a hint of a question in her voice.

"Of course I'm not," he replied, finally standing up in front of her. He placed his hands on her arms and tried to catch her eyes, but she was fixated on the wall behind him. With a sigh, he placed his hands on her face and made her look at him. "Rory, I wish that I could see you every morning when I wake up for work, and every evening when I come home. Every day that goes by is another day closer to Friday when I get to see you in person. I plan on being in this for the long run, and I have no doubt that when the time is right we will end up in the same place."

Her eyes stayed fixated on his face and she slowly smiled back at him before leaning her forehead against his. "I'm just scared that you're going to want all or nothing."

"Just because we aren't in the same place doesn't mean I don't think I have it all. I have you," Jess replied, lacing his fingers with hers. "That is all for me."

September 3, 2015 at 6:23 p.m.

Jess set his whiskey down on the table and smiled across at the beautiful girl in front of him. She cut her bangs again and the way they fell over her eyes made those blue irises glisten even brighter than usual. He loved when she grew her hair out, not that her short locks weren't just as attractive. It was something about those long waves that made him absolutely crazy. He couldn't wait to get her back to his house.

"Have you decided what you're ordering?" Jess asked her, laughing a little at the abnormal time it was taking her to figure out her meal.

Rory looked back at him and smiled some at the humor he found in her ordering process. "There's just so many choices, and we rarely come here so I'm trying to make the right one."

"I'm getting the steak," he responded, knowing she could mark that off of her list since she would just take a few bites of his. "So, that narrows it down some, right?"

"Definitely," she responded with a girlish grin as she set the menu down. "I'll have the peppercorn chicken." She bit her lip some as she looked over at Jess and pushed her hair behind her ear. "So, are you going to tell me why we are here tonight?"

His famous smirk graced his features. "You have no patience."

"I have no patience," she repeated, laughing as her nerves got the best of her. He wanted to take her to her favorite place in the middle of the week. He never made trips like this, and kept telling her how important it was. It had to be the night he was going to propose, right? At least that's what she told herself when he showed up in a suit. A SUIT.

"Alright," he said, his face showing pure excitement at what he was about to say. He took a deep breath and reached across the table to take her hand. "I wanted to wait for this until I knew it was a for sure thing, but now it is. So, Matt and I put in a bid on another publishing company to expand Truncheon."

At first, her face was red from anxiety at his next few words. Then, when he began to speak, the bright features on her face fell and the smile that was painted on was less than enthused. "I'm sorry," she said, clearing her throat a little. "You are expanding the company?"

"Yes!" Jess exclaimed, grinning at the notion and not yet noticing how taken back his girlfriend was.

Rory stared back at him for a moment and shook her head a little, unable to grasp what she was hearing. "You put in a bid on another publishing house without talking to me about it? About our future? This sounds pretty permanent, Jess. I guess we have decided Philadelphia is our end game?"

"I—I don't know what you're getting at here, I thought you would be excited."

"Excited? That you made this huge commitment without telling me? What about us? I'm still in Baltimore, Jess. I didn't think we decided that we would end up in Philadelphia. You are being so incredibly selfish here!"

"Selfish? I am doing this for our future, Rory. This is a big step and could be huge for business," Jess replied, starting to get angry at her reaction. Why couldn't she be happy for his successes like he was hers? "I didn't make this big of a deal when you got promoted."

"You told me to take the promotion! I at least talked to you about it before I did it," Rory seethed, pushing her chair out from the table to leave. She was not about to make a scene in a public place. Without waiting for him, she grabbed her coat and left the room.

It didn't take him a second before he was out of his chair and following her outside. "What is wrong with you? I didn't want to tell you until I knew it was certain."

"This is what you do! You do things for yourself and then expect everyone to fall in line with your decisions!"

"That is not true or fair, Rory," Jess replied, his voice growing deeper in his anger. "I have always put you first."

She stared back at him, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "I thought you were going to propose! But instead, we take one step back. What happened to you fighting for me? Where is that Jess?"

"I thought I won that fight. I thought you and I were in this together no matter what, and I thought you would be happy and proud of the business decisions I was making. I did this so we could be secure, so that I could propose to you. What was I supposed to do?" He finished, defeated at the way this argument was going. "Give up that opportunity and stay in one place?"

Rory looked down, her hair falling in her face as she did. "You were supposed to talk to me about it."

After a moment of silence where Jess was trying to calm his anger, he finally looked up at her with a ragged breath. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know."

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