Author's Note: Ummm... wow, I don't actually have anything to say here. Allllrighty, go ahead and start reading!
"We should like... press charges, or something," Jess said. It was the next day, and they were walking around town, going in a winding loop to the bridge.
"Press charges? Against what? He came, he kissed me, you punched him, he left," Rory said. She sighed. They'd been having the same conversation- with different variations- the whole afternoon.
"But what if- what if I hadn't come when I did? What if he had hurt you," his voice cracked, as if he was imagining the scenario. He shuddered.
"What?" Rory said.
They were at the bridge at this point. "Sometimes- it scares me, Rory."
"What scares you?" they sat down.
"How much I love you," he said, simply, gravely.
"How could that scare you?" she asked, unsure whether to be flattered or hurt.
He leaned over and kissed her forehead softly. "Because-" Pause. Kiss. "The thought of losing you," another kiss, on the cheek. "Kills me, And-" his lips, like feathers against her skin, "the thought of you being hurt," another kiss, right on the corner of her mouth... "terrifies me more than anything else." He put his hands on either side of her face and let his lips hover over hers.
Rory, her lips tingling in anticipation, felt salty tears slipping down her cheeks. He lifted his face quickly and kissed them away. Rory shuddered. He had no idea how sweet he was being.
Rory, impatient, placed her hands on the side of his face and kissed him, hard. He moaned, and Rory loved knowing she had that effect on him.
"God, I love you," Jess said, before deepening the kiss, effectively cutting off all chance of response from Rory.
"Duncan!" Tristan called out across the cafeteria.
"Dugrey, come with me," the deep voice of his 'friend' called back.
Tristan followed him out the back door to the cafeteria and into a back corner by the dumpsters.
"Ok, so we'll meet tonight, right? The same place?" Tristan said. He was ridiculously nervous for this night's stunt, and was made even more so my Duncan's apparent nonchalance about the whole thing.
"Yeah. Bowman bailed, so it's just you and me, bro."
"Wait, why is Bowman out?" Tristan said, trying not to show his obvious panic.
"Aw, he freaked out over nothing. We're not going to get caught," Duncan said.
Right. Everything was going to be fine.
That night, he met Duncan in a back alley near the school. "So... what now?" he asked.
"Well... I was thinking we knock over that huge house on 5th? I hear that the owners are out of town," Duncan responded, grinning evilly.
"Um... yeah, sure, cool."
In the distance, a dog barked. The sound made Tristan ridiculously jumpy, and rightfully so. A few seconds later, a gun shot rang loud and clear. Alarmed, Tristan turned to Duncan.
"What was that?!" he asked.
"Duncan!" a very angry voice sounded around the corner.
"Aw, crap," Duncan said, turning and running in the opposite direction. Tristan followed.
"Who is that guy?" he asked, drawing level to Duncan.
"He- well, I sort of- borrowed his car. Without asking." a slight pause. "And then crashed it."
"Idiot," Tristan mumbled. The gun sounded again, and suddenly, Tristan was pinned against the wall of the alley, someone holding his arms behind him.
"Whoa, whoa, let me go!" he called out, trying not to let hysteria creep into his voice.
"Give us the money, Duncan, or I'll shoot your friend," the guy with the gun swiveled it to point directly at Tristan's head, and the one holding him captive tightened his grip.
"Michael, put the gun down. I'll get you the money," Duncan said, and Tristan marvelled at how calm he was being about this whole ordeal. Then again, he wasn't the one with a gun shoved in his face.
"Next week, or it's over." And with that, the two men were gone.
Tristan gawked. "Holy sh...
"What are you thinking about?" Rory asked Jess as they ate dinner at Luke's. Their conversation had fallen into a comfortable lull, but Jess looked like he was thinking about something very intently, and she became curious.
"You," he responded. Rory waited for him to say more, because that obviously wasn't all. "And... this thing with Tristan."
"Jess," Rory groaned. "Not that again. I told you to stop worrying about it!" It was a week since the incident, and Jess still refused to drop it. Rory thought it would be best to not tell him that Tristan was still following her around at school, and that yesterday she had seen him in Doose's Market.
"I can't just stop worrying about it! What if he tries to kiss you again?" he said, grimacing at the thought.
"Well, then I give you permission to punch him again. And this time I won't hold you back when you want to continue," she said, smiling. She really had no idea if Tristan would attempt coming near her again, but she didn't want to admit to Jess how scared she was of the possibility.
"I appreciate that," Jess said. "Let's get out of here."
"Yeah," she said, standing up. Jess took her hand as the exited the diner and Rory smiled at the familiarity of the feeling. Things with Jess were so... natural and free-flowing, she couldn't begin to fathom why they had waited so long to get together.
They made their way back to Rory's house where they curled up on the couch and put in a movie.
"Rory?" Jess asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah?"
"You'll- tell me, if he talks to you again, right?" Jess said. Rory shifted slightly on the couch so they were face-to-face.
"Of course I will," she said, kissing him lightly. A slight amount of guilt nestled its way into her stomach. She knew that what he meant was to tell him if anything else happened with Tristan, and that would include seeing him around town. But she couldn't tell him that. She didn't want to show him how weak she was.
"Good," he said, tucking her head underneath his chin and turning back to the movie.
"Hey, Mary."
Rory froze. Was he seriously going to talk to her now? It was the middle of October and Tristan had all but completely faded out of her mind. She still noticed him following her at school, but he hadn't been in Stars Hollow recently at all. Things with Jess were going great: the Tristan topic hadn't come up at all this past week, and they were both moving on. Figures he had to choose this particular moment to swoop in and shatter the peace that they had built.
"Mary, wait up," Tristan continued as Rory walked down the hall way away from her.
"Leave me alone, Tristan."
"Hold up," he said, grabbing her arm. Rory grimaced and pulled it away from him.
"Don't you dare touch me," she said, trying not to raise her voice. The last thing she needed was an audience.
"Aw, come on."
"No, Tristan. Stay away from me."
"You, know, Mare, I remember what happened! Between you and me? The other night? I want you to know that I meant what I said," he said. Rory was a considerable distance from him now, and he had raised his voice to tell this to her. No sooner has Rory turned the corner to escape him did Paris grab her arm and drag her into an empty class room.
"What happened between you and Tristan?" she demanded.
"He came to my house drunk, and then told me he loved me, kissed me, Jess punched him, and he left," she said quickly, trying to escape from Paris's questioning. It was a lost cause.
"He did?" Paris exclaimed. "Wow, that's just... so like him. Sorry you have to deal with that, Gilmore." she said. Rory rolled her eyes. She certainly didn't sound very sorry.
"Right. Ok, Paris, I should get to class."
"How was school?" Jess asked later that day.
"Fine. Well, actually..." Rory hesitated.
"What?" Jess asked. He stopped wiping down the counter at the diner and immediately focused all of his attention on her.
"Tristan talked to me today," Rory said meekly. Jess's eyes narrowed.
"What did he say?" he managed to choke out.
"He told me that he remembered what had happened from before, and that he meant what he said."
"What did he say?" Jess said, confusion becoming the dominant expression on his face, after anger. Rory closed her eyes in defeat. She hadn't told him the full account of what had happened that night.
"He told me that he loved me, but I just chalked it up to him being drunk," Rory started. "But he remembered, and he said he meant it. What if he does?" She said, the thought just occuring to her.
Jess hesitated. "When you were together, did you ever... tell him..." he trailed off.
"No," she said quickly, wanting the look of hurt gracing his features to disappear. She quickly stepped to the other side of the counter, placing her hands on either side of his face. "No. I never loved him, and I never will. You are the only person I've ever said that to. Outside of family," she added as an afterthought, although she was fairly certain Jess knew what she meant.
"Good," he said, smiling slightly and kissing her.
Suddenly, Rory thought of something. "What about you?" she said.
Jess knew what she meant immediately, but he hoped he was wrong. "What about me?" he asked.
"Shane. Did you ever tell her you-"
"Definetely not," he quickly interrupted her. Rory nodded, satisfied.
"Tristan!" a voice rang out, loud and clear across the hall. It was Duncan, coming toward him quickly.
Tristan sighed and closed his eyes, preparing for the onslaught. "What?" he said, his voice harsher than intended.
"What's with you? Why'd you run off like that?" Tristan raised his eyebrows. He couldn't seriously be asking him that. Since the gun incident, Tristan had been avoiding Duncan. It had been a few weeks since it had happened, and so far he had been successful. Sighing, he responded to his friend, or whatever he was.
"I had a gun pointed at my head," he said, his voice monotone.
"Whatever," was Duncan's response.
"Whatever?!" Tristan said, his voice rising slightly. "I could have died!"
"Jeez, do you have to say it so loud?" Duncan said. "It doesn't matter, anyways. You can go ahead and get all scared over nothing. If you don't show up, I just get more of the take. It's fine with me."
"Fine. I'm out."
"Jess? Rory? You in there?" Luke said, knocking on the door of the appartment.
They pulled apart quickly, breathing heavily.
"Hey, looks like your uncle is a little smarter than my mother. She actually knocked first," Rory said, giggling.
Jess smirked. "Come in, Luke."
He opened the door and saw his nephew and his nephew's girlfriend on the couch, too close for comfort in his personal opinion. He didn't like thinking about what they were probably doing when he knocked on the door.
"Hey, guys. Just wondering if you wanted some food, Lorelai's downstairs," he said.
"Right, we'll be down in a few," Jess said, and Luke closed the door.
"Hey, guess what tomorrow is?" Rory said, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal.
"What?" Jess said. He, of course, knew exactly what tomorrow was, but he liked messing with Rory's mind.
"It's... you don't know?" Rory said, shocked and a little hurt.
"What, I don't know that tomorrow's Friday? I don't know that tomorrow is the 29th of October? I don't know that tomorrow is... oh, let's say... our two-month anniversary?" he said, smirking.
"You remembered?" Rory said, grinning.
"Well, how am I supposed to forget the best day of my life?" Jess said. He stated it like a joke, but they both knew he was being serious.
"Come here," Rory said, pulling him closer on the couch.
"What about dinner?" Jess said.
"My mom can wait," she said, and she kissed him.
Author's Note: This is a little shorter than I would have liked it to be, but I'm letting you know right now that something HUGE is going to happen in the next chapter. I'm sorry for the limited amount of Jess/Rory in there, I know you probably don't care about Tristan's problems in the least. But in order for a future event in the story to make sense, I needed to put that in there. So, yeah. Please review, or I'll withhold the next chapter! Mwahahahahahahahahaha!!