Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Author's Note: Rory's POV. Their "confrontation". Can you even remember their fight over whether Rory should leave?

Disclaimer: The author of this story (me) does not own the respective characters. She intends no copyright infringement.

Let's give them something to talk about
Let's give them something to talk about
Let's give them something to talk about
How about love?

-Bonnie Raitt "Something to Talk About"

"I just wanted to, Mom," Rory argues as she steps back into the house. Jess is no longer a doormat. Rory moves into the kitchen; he's not there either. Lily and April sit at the table eating pop-tarts. "Hey, girls," she greets them.

"Hey," Lily turns to her, "what did you do to Jess?"

"Nothing, he was asleep when I went outside to talk to my mom. Why? Where did he go?" Rory hopes her voice does not sound too desperate.

Lily shrugs, "No idea. He said something about a walk." Instantly, Rory knows where he will be. She rushes out the door grabbing onto her jacket as she goes. She struggles to slip it on as she runs and has to stop to get her arms through the holes. She is making the turn toward the lake when she runs into someone.

He's too tall to be Jess she notes, before looking up. Dean. "Whoa, Rory," he grabs her and steadies her, "are you okay? What's wrong?"

Rory brushes past him and continues her run. She slows again when she sees him on the bridge. He's slumped over, defeated. "Jess," she's out of breath and her voice rasps; she's trying to suck in air.

"Rory! Are you okay?" Jess is on his feet, pulling her against his warm body. She allows herself to slump into his heat, her head against his chest. "Just breathe," he commands. Slowly, she catches her breath; without thinking her arms have moved to circle his waist, he matches her position. "Why did you run all the way over here, Rory?"

She swallows and takes another few breaths before she can answer, "I wanted to talk to you. I needed to talk to you. …I took the job in LA."

He frowns and moves away from her, back to sitting on the bridge. "I know," he replies. "The cheer-up-Jess-Rory-and so on Movie Night? I think that's great."

"You do?" she can't keep the surprise out of her voice. "You didn't want me to leave!"

"I want you to be happy." He adds, "This is a good job for you. It'll give you more opportunities than being the owner of a small town paper. I know that was on your pro/con list, Rory. Was it number one or two?"

"Three," but she has to laugh, because he knows her that well. She sits beside him, her side lining up with his.

"See? I know you. You need to do this, Rory," he says. "Even if to just prove you can." She nods. He seems to understand that there is more. But he does know her. "What?"

"I…They agreed to a trial. That's why I'm going earlier," she explains. "And the job here will still be open if I decide I can't work that far away. You know I hated being away from my family."

He brushes her hair out of her eyes and cups her cheek, "I know. You're very close to Lorelai. You'll be fine. Phone, e-mail, Facebook? It will be like you haven't gone anywhere."

"I promised to help you with the bookstore."

He smiles, "Well, then, we should make the best of these last few days."

"Why do you have to be so understanding?"

He shrugs, but his arms wrap around her and he pulls her closer. He kisses her and she kisses him back. There is more she wants to say, but she doesn't know how to start. She senses he has more to say too; but he doesn't say any more. They kiss and kiss for what feels like forever. Finally, she pulls away. "Aren't I supposed to help you with your new bookstore?" He smiles and gives her a peck before standing and pulling her to her feet.

His arm slides naturally around her waist as they walk through the deserted streets. "I didn't realize how early it still is," the girl comments.

"All the better to sneak into my new bookstore with you, my dear," his evil snarl needs work, but it's cute that he builds on fairytale quotes. He unlocks the door and holds it for her to enter first; he locks it once they are both through.

She glances around. Really the store just needs a good dusting and some paint and it could be operational. But with a nice, comfy sofa and chairs, maybe new shelves… Rory makes a walk through. All the books have been taken off the shelves. Any left in inventory are probably in the back room. Jess follows as she walks through a door labeled "Staff Only, Please" into the inventory room and office. A desk sits on one side surrounded by locked cases and crowded bookcases. Stairs across from the desk lead up, but there is a door under them Rory doesn't remember from her time working here.

Jess opens the mysterious door for her and they both head down. Jess, in the lead, catches all of the cobwebs. A door at the bottom open to revel a cellar, lined with bookshelves. These bookshelves are covered with books. "Whoa," they gasp.

Deciding the first thing to do is check inventory; they clear the entire store and the apartment above of books. They take everything into the basement which they plan to turn into the storeroom. "We can bring the old shelves down here for more space and bring the locked cabinets too, for rare books," Rory plans. "You'll need paint and new shelves for upstairs. The old storage room will better fit the things for movie nights…or are you doing away with those?"

"Please. Movie nights will pay for all the upgrades you'll want to make," Jess scoffs.

"Right. So you can make a little reading corner upstairs and…coffee! You should offer coffee…mmm, I love coffee."

Jess nods as he continues sorting the books, "Yes, I know." They will shelve all the books they found upstairs down here to make inventorying them go faster. "So, reading corner and coffee, new shelves, and paint. What about the apartment?"

Rory can't decide if he really wants her opinion or if he's humoring her. She answers him anyway, her ideas flowing, "You need furniture. A sectional for the living room to separate it more from the dining area. Dark brown. A sofa-table for lighting and storage. Light brown is a nice neutral color. You could paint a different colored stripe in the dining room. I think blue would look nice. Then, you paint the kitchen the same blue color…" she tapers off imagining the room and house she will probably never see completed.

Jess sits on the floor, surrounded by books, simply smiling at her. "What?" self-consciously, she brushes her hair away from her face.

He shakes his head, that same look on his face, "Nothing."

"Really, Jess, what is it?"

He shakes his head again, "It's nothing, Ror. You want me to go pick up something from Luke's for lunch?"

He's changing the subject. Rory lets him get away with it this time. "Yeah, that sounds good."

When he arrives home an hour later, Rory has shelved most of the books. He hands her a bag of food and coffee cup. She drinks the coffee before she even opens the bag. Fries and a burger, the same thing she always orders. He knows this from years of taking her order at Luke's and watching her eat. He's already finished his own burger and is working on a slice of pie.

"Did you get me pie?" she demands.

He chuckles and opens a second bag to revel her own piece of the pie. "It's pumpkin with whipped cream." She reaches for the bag and he moves it far out of her reach. At the offended noise that eeps out of her mouth he explains, "You have to finish your burger first."

She grumbles, but can't help the smile that spreads across her lips. Lips he quickly seals with a kiss. The kiss becomes more and more heated. After minutes of an intense make-out session, Rory pulls away. "We can't do that down here."

Jess groans, but he does nod. After lunch, the two continue sorting and shelving the books.

For dinner, Rory leaves to get more food. Because they just had Luke's for lunch, she decides to go somewhere different. She walks to Al's. Already a line has formed. Babette is in front of her. "Rory, doll! How are ya?"

"I'm fine, Babette. How are you?" Rory replies.

"Good, good. Ya know, I heard you an' your mom talkin' this mornin'," Babette starts the conversation. "How was he?"

"How was who at what?" Rory doesn't realize that Babette heard that fight with her mom this morning. If she knew, she would have started denying.

"Jess," Babette's whispering now; Rory suddenly remembers the conversation on the porch, "How was he in bed? I'm bettin' he was just..."

Luckily, it is now Babette's turn to order and Rory does not have to answer that question or hear what Babette thinks of Jess in bed. She doesn't want the town to know this. "Hey, Babette, you haven't told anyone, have you?"

"Nope. I figure there's more ta this story, doll." She picks up her bag of food, "I'm tryin' to figure out what it is."

Rory steps to the counter and orders.

She brings in the Al's Pancake World bag. Jess tenses because you never know what you might find at Al's. Rory chuckles and opens the bag. She pulls out two containers and opens them.

Breakfast sits in there. Pancakes and bacon…eggs. "Well, that's just," he searches for a word. "Weird. What happened to Chinese?"

"Do you really care?"

"No," he admits taking the offered box. Rory wants to bring that expression he had on his face earlier up, but she refrains. They've had a good day. Talking and working with a little kissing thrown in. She does not want to ruin this comfortable silence. She should tell him about Babette knowing. They do eat in silence; they always eat in silence. When she finishes, she looks up; he is also done, but that look is back on his face.

She ignores it, but she does feel he should know about Babette. "Hey, Jess."

"What is it?" he focuses on her now, he can tell something is wrong.

"I was talking to my mom this morning," his expression is blank, calm, "and she asked about us. She asked if we had sex. I couldn't lie to her face…I admitted we did, but I only mentioned that first night. No detail, she doesn't want to know and…"

He interrupts, "I don't mind that you told your mom, Rory. You guys are close; you tell each other a lot of things. I never wanted you to lie to her face."

She grimaces, "Unfortunately, there's more. See, it turns out Babette was outside this morning. She heard the conversation. I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter. This is a small town," he reminds her, "someone was bound to notice something. Is she going to tell anyone?"

"Well, no. She won't tell anyone," she explains. "She thinks there's more to the story and she wants to know what that more is. She did ask how you were in bed."

His smirk is back, "And you replied…"

Rory blushes, but not because of the answer. It's that damn smirk. "I never got a chance to answer her."

He moves closer: invading her personal space, his hand high on her waist. He kisses her mouth, moves down her neck. Rory bites back a moan. "I wonder what you would have said," Jess works the first few buttons on her shirt.

"It's none of her business." She can no longer hold back the moan, "Jess, upstairs."

He laughs as he picks her up and carries her to what will be his living room.

He walks her home later that evening. Gives her a kiss at the back door, but he still follows her in. Lily and April are in Rory's room, lounging on the bed. "Hey, Rory," April greets them, "Jess." Lily nods her head in acknowledgement.

"Hey, Lil," Jess leans on the doorway to her room, but does not cross the threshold. "You ready to go?"

Lily does not verbally respond; however, she gets off the bed and slips on her shoes. She leads him out of the house. Rory locks the door behind them.

A/N: So, Rory and Jess partially resolved. Did anyone pick up on Lily's secret?

ladybug1115