A/N: So after spending ages trying to figure out where I was going with this chapter, I sat down today and after a very helpful comment from Djux (thanks Djux!!) the ideas suddenly wouldn't stop. Hope you find them satisfactory and remember: reviews are very much appreciated.

~VC

**********

Previously:

Half an hour later, drugged, caffeinated, and with her purchase safely hidden in a paper bag, Rory meandered her way to the book store and quickly lost herself in the books, headache forgotten.

'Hey.' She jumped in surprise as Jess snaked his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek.

'Jeez, give a girl some warning. I almost puked up my liver!'

Chapter 10: Unexpected Twists

Rory wasn't expecting the hand that flew out and grabbed her as she was making her way to the gym for fencing lessons. (Only at a ridiculously expensive school like Chilton, could you learn such a completely useless sport.)

'Ow! Francie? Get off me!' Rory staggered into the bathroom and pried herself out of the redhead's grasp. She glared at her fiercely, mentally telling herself not to be intimidated.

'What did you do with them?'

'Do with what?'

Francie crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at Rory as if she was a bug. 'Don't play innocent; I know you took them.'

'Well if there's a test, I guess you'll beat me, 'cos I wasn't aware I'd taken anything.'

Francie's body jerked involuntarily, as if she were going to stamp her foot, but stopped herself at the last moment. Rory noticed this and smirked.

'Whatever. Just know that this isn't over. You and Paris are going down. I have plans for this government and I'm not letting you get in the way.'

'Francie, this is high school! We're not in the White House. Quit it with the espionage games.'

Rory watched as her nemesis narrowed her eyes and curled her lips in a sneer. 'Oh, Rory. These aren't games. If you don't start backing me during student council, I'll make you wish you were in the White House. Believe me: those guys are nicer.'

'You're threatening me now?' Rory shook her head in disbelief. 'Am I going to wake up with a horse's head in my bed? Or will you just kidnap family members and hold them for ransom?'

'Try me and you'll find out,' Francie hissed, leaning in closer.

Rory rolled her eyes, still refusing to be intimidated. 'What happened to being friends?' she asked wryly.

'Oh please! We were never going to be friends. You destroyed the Puffs! I was grounded for a month! You messed up our election campaign; Schatzi was supposed to be president this year, with me as her VP. You sabotaged my blood drive. And you stole the pictures.'

'I what?' Rory gasped in mock surprise. She got the feeling Francie was definitely losing it right now. Seriously, the girl needed her head checked. 'Wow! I must be a really, awful person to do all those awful things. You ever wonder what happens to you when you mess with awful people?' She headed for the bathroom door, turning back at the last second to smile pleasantly at Francie over her shoulder. 'Awful things.'

As soon as Rory was out of the bathroom, she put her hand to her face, trying to cool the burning that she could feel there. It didn't work. Her hand was warm as well. She had to admit though, she felt exhilarated. Jess was going to have a field day when she told him about this.

Realising her bathroom conversation had interrupted her schedule, she had to jog quickly to the gym and only just made it in on time.

'Cutting it close aren't we Gilmore?' Paris asked, securing her mask.

'Something came up,' Rory responded. She unsheathed her foil and settled into the starting position.

'I nearly ended up paired with Mia Cook! Don't be late again.'

Rory rolled her eyes behind her mask, not able to stop the smirk. 'Aw, Paris. You love me!'

'En garde, Gilmore!'

It was a couple of hours later that Rory remembered Francie's words and wondered for the first time, what had happened to the photos? She also realised that although she might have managed to walk away from Francie today, she was still going to have to talk to Paris. They needed to shut this crazy bitch down before things got anymore out of hand.

*****

'Lorelai!'

'Oh, hi Luke. Where are you going? Your diner is that way.'

'I was actually heading over to see you.'

'Oh?' Lorelai stopped in the town square, somewhat intrigued. What would Luke want to see her about?

'Yeah. I kind of need a favour.' He ducked his head and looked almost embarrassed.

'Oh. Okay, sure. What do you need?'

'I wondered if I could borrow your jeep? Just for an hour or so. I really need to get out to Woodbridge to pick up some supplies. I got it into my head that it was a good idea to let Jess do the ordering this week – it wasn't! Anyway, he took my truck to get to work, so I'm kind of desperate.'

Lorelai's eyes widened in glee. 'Don't go saying that too loudly or you'll have Miss Patty all over you.'

She snickered as Luke flushed an interesting shade of pink, then she tried to tell herself that it didn't matter to her what colour Luke was. Instead she turned her attention to her handbag. 'Of course you can borrow the jeep. Gas tank should be full...Ugh! Where are the keys?'

Luke peered at her bag, his expression contorted in horror. 'What the hell do you have in there?'

She threw a defensive glance at Luke, before resuming her search. 'Stuff! Essential stuff.'

'Lorelai! That's a container of Pringles.'

Grinning at the green container in her hand, she nodded proudly. 'Yep. And it's almost in date! Want one?'

'Definitely not.'

'But Luke, they're delicious!' As if to prove her point she popped the lid and began to munch on a handful. Moments later she was trying to hide the grimace on her face.

Luke sniggered. 'Delicious?'

Plastering a fake smile on, Lorelai nodded. 'Delicious...Even when soggy,' she added with a sigh. Unable to maintain the charade, she replaced the lid and dropped the Pringles back in to her bag, much to Luke's consternation.

'Why did you put them back in?'

'What?'

He was staring at her in complete confusion. 'You just put the disgusting Pringles back in your bag! Why didn't you throw them out?'

'I might need them one day.'

'But you couldn't eat them.'

'Not now I couldn't, but one day I might get trapped in a cave, cut off from everything. When that happens, the Pringles could be my only means of survival.'

'So buy more. Fresh ones.'

Lorelai shook her head, disappointed. 'You just don't get it.' She resumed her search for keys. 'You'd be singing a different tune if you get trapped in the cave with me.'

'Yeah, I'd be singing for a psych team,' Luke muttered dryly.

Finally uncovering her keys, Lorelai stared at him open mouthed. 'I'm not sure if I want to lend you my jeep now.'

'Free coffee for the rest of the week.'

'The jeep is at the house, here you go, have a good trip!'

Luke took the keys with a chuckle. 'Thanks. I'll have it back in an hour.'

Lorelai watched him walk away before resuming her trip towards the diner. Twenty seconds later she came to an abrupt halt. 'Shoot! Luke's not there. Now how am I going to get my coffee?' Figuring she'd have to settle for Caesar's brew, she grumbled under her breath and set off again.

She was halfway through her second cup (the one redeeming element of being served by Caesar being that he didn't care how much she drank), when the thought occurred to her that when Luke was around she almost never paid for coffee anyway. As she started her third cup, she wondered why that was.

*****

'Hey working boy!' Rory grinned as Jess gave her a quick peck, before sliding into the seat across from her and grabbing a fry from her plate.

'Don't call me that.'

'Would you prefer I call you working girl?' she asked, her expression deadly serious.

'I'd rather you call me Jess.'

Rory tilted her head and stared wide eyed at her boyfriend. 'Tess?'

She grinned as he grunted in frustration. 'You are getting more and more like your mom.'

'Thank you.'

Before Jess could respond, Rory began interrogating him about his first day of work.

'Wasn't that exciting. I made coffee; typed corrections; made photocopies; answered the phone. Oh, at one point I did actually staple something. That was exciting.'

She chuckled. 'You're a secretary! Hey, secretary!'

Jess scowled. 'So...You wanted to call me working boy?'

*****

'Miss, I have a problem.' Francie burst into the room, moments before student council was to be brought to session.

Rory sighed and held back an eye roll, although for once she agreed with Francie; the girl definitely had a problem.

'Someone broke in to my locker.'

There was a murmur from the other students as they looked at each other in surprise. Theft at Chilton was unheard of. No need to steal when you had Daddy's credit card.

'Do you know what was taken?'

Rory watched as Francie trembled her bottom lip (on purpose, she was sure). 'My palm pilot.'

Ms. Pinkton frowned in concern, but then eyed Francie closely. 'Are you sure you had it today?'

'Definitely. I always know what should be in my locker.'

Rory straightened in her seat as Francie's eyes met hers. So that's what this was about: Francie still believed Rory had stolen her damn photographs. She shifted feeling suddenly nervous. Was this a frame job? She really wished she'd made the effort to talk to Paris yesterday. She eyed the school President and considered dragging her away to talk now, while Ms. Pinkton was dealing with Francie's over dramatic theatrics.

But of course, as soon as she made to stand and gestured to Paris, Francie decided it was time to calm down. 'I'm sorry Ms. Pinkton. I'll be okay now.'

'Okay, take a seat. We'll speak to Headmaster Charleston about this tomorrow.'

The students once again settled down and Paris stood so she could start the meeting. Before she could begin however, Francie had one last comment to make: 'I just hope it doesn't turn out that someone in here has my palm pilot. I couldn't bare it if someone elected to be on the Student Council had done something so...awful.'

Rory pursed her lips and gripped tighter to her pen. She knew the game now. Message received loud and clear.

******
From her seat in the gazebo, Rory grinned as her and Jess climbed out of Luke's truck. She was definitely pleased with the way their (her?) relationship was progressing. She assumed Jess had picked her up from her Student Council meeting after his shift.

She was less pleased by the look on her own face however. She watched as Jess draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his side. That move was surely guaranteed to make any girl weak at the knees, but teenage Rory seemed distracted.

Too far away to hear the conversation between the teenagers, Rory resigned herself to just watching.

'You make me nervous.'

Startled, she whipped her head away from the scene in front of the diner and looked back at Kirk.

'Um...what?'

'I told everyone I think you're stalking me, but they told me I was crazy.'

'I'm not stalking you Kirk.'

The awkward young man stiffened and glared at Rory. 'Then how do you know my name?' he asked, accusingly.

Rory mentally kicked herself before replying, 'Jess told me.' She held back a smile and added, 'He says you're his favourite customer.'

'Oh.' There was a moment's pause as Kirk considered this, then brightened up. 'Oh!' Apparently distracted from his paranoia, he made his way up the gazebo steps and took a seat next to Rory who was still trying to watch herself and Jess.

'Did he say anything else about me?'

Trying to cover her annoyance, Rory glanced over at Kirk. 'He always enjoys his hours in the diner more when you're there.'

He was beaming now, and Rory had to wonder if this was going to cause problems for his ego further down the track. Better not go too far.

'So if you're not stalking me, what are you doing?'

'Oh I...people watching, I guess. I like the small town antics. The diner always seems like a good place to see things.'

Kirk nodded slowly. 'That makes sense. Can you lip read?'

Rory looked at Kirk in surprise. 'No.'

'Shame. It would be an invaluable skill to have for someone with your interests. I myself am a skilled lip reader. I'd be happy to teach you, for a small fee of course.'

Rory bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself laughing. 'Um, no I think I'm okay, thanks.'

'Really? I am very good.' Kirk gestured to where Jess and Rory were still standing. 'Like them. I can tell you right now what they're discussing.'

'Oh really?' Rory knew better than to believe anything that Kirk told her, yet somehow was mildly interested in what he would make of the scene.

'Yes. See, Jess has just told Rory that he likes capers. Rory is his girlfriend, by the way. She's very smart.'

'Of course,' Rory nodded.

'Now she's telling him that capers are nothing unless you can shower them in limestone.'

'What?!'

Kirk frowned, but then shook his head. 'It's possible she said brimstone, but I doubt it in this context.'

Context? Kirk thought this conversation had context?!

'They're planning to learn to dance. Jess isn't sure that it's a good idea but Rory says if he does, she'll buy him a carriage. I'll recommend they go see Miss Patty later. She's the best dance teacher in town. The only one, actually, but that doesn't make any difference.'

Not entirely sure that she could form a response to this, Rory remained silent.

'Of course, Jess is going to have to dance really well if he wants to keep Rory.'

What?! 'What?'

Kirk nodded at the teenagers. 'Rory's pretty incredible. Everybody wants her. I myself once courted her mother.'

Rory coughed at this comment, choking on the laugh that had threatened to burst out. Kirk patted her back gently.

'Deep breaths. It'll pass.'

Regaining her composure, Rory tried to get the conversation back on track. 'What do you mean, everybody wants her?'

Kirk gave a small, secretive smile and leaned in closer. 'Have you met Dean?'

She nodded. 'Yeah, he was in my class.'

'He's her ex-boyfriend. He wants her back.'

Rory frowned. She knew Dean had been hung up on her, but had assumed that by now, he would be focusing his attentions on Lindsay. 'How do you know that?'

'I've seen him. You're not the only one that people watches. He comes into the diner a lot and picks on Jess. And on Thanksgiving, Mother sent me out for a walk - said I needed exercise - and I saw them out behind the diner. Dean was trying to get Jess to fight him. He didn't.'

Rory bit her lip as she tried to digest this. Dean had been messing with Jess as far back as Thanksgiving? Meaning, he'd been causing trouble even before she'd started interfering with things.

Kirk took Rory's distressed expression as interest. 'Dean likes to keep reminding Jess that he was there first, and that eventually Rory will realise that he isn't good enough for her. He's always making a point of the fact that he's now friends with Rory, just like Jess was. It's an interesting story actually. See, when Jess first came to town-'

As Kirk launched in to his much edited and not completely accurate retelling of the Rory/Dean/Jess triangle, Rory tuned him out and contemplated this new information. Her mind went back (forwards?) to the night of Kyle's keg party and the way Dean had come to her 'rescue,' fighting Jess and effectively destroying what was left of their relationship. In the years following that night, she'd spent a lot of time analysing her actions and regretting most of them, and now, hearing what Dean had been doing behind her back, she felt her heart break all over again.

'Not this time,' she mumbled to herself.

Kirk paused in his story. 'What?'

'Oh, sorry, nothing. Um, listen I really have to go. Thanks for the story Kirk.'

'No problem. I enjoyed our conversation. Very few people like to sit with me these days. I think they're intimidated by my presence.'

'Yes I'm sure that's it.'

After bidding Kirk goodbye, she looked over at the diner one last time and realised that Jess and Rory were gone. She'd have to solve the mystery of her miserable face later. Right now she needed to go and punch a wall, while she pretended it was Dean's head.

********

'Free coffee tastes good,' Rory observed.

Lorelai nodded in agreement. 'I was thinking the same thing. We should do favours for Luke more often.'

'Dirty!'

Lorelai's grin faded and she actually flushed. 'It..no it wasn't.'

Rory looked at her mom in surprise. 'Yeah, it kind of was...'

Before the two could debate the dirty merits of Lorelai's comment, Jess was standing at the table with their meals.

He looked at Lorelai. 'Luke says to tell you that this stuff will kill you.' He turned to Rory. 'And he says he can always sneak you some extra carrot in the burger if you're just eating this because she wants you to.'

Both Gilmore girls looked affronted. 'I can't believe he'd say that! And after I let him use my jeep. No good son of a-'

'Is she going to swear in front of me?' Jess interjected, looking at Rory.

'Possibly. She's turning colours.'

Lorelai was indeed turning colours, but instead of finishing her sentence, she started hacking at her burger.

'Okay, well, enjoy.' Jess dropped a quick kiss on Rory's temple before heading back to the counter, where Luke was emerging from the kitchen.

Lorelai watched as her daughter smiled after him. 'You like him!'

Rory turned her gaze back to her mother and pushed her hair over her shoulder. 'I think that's already been pretty well established.'

'Have you, um...talked to him about...'

Immediately, Rory dropped her head down to stare at her plate as she mumbled her response. 'Yes.'

Lorelai didn't hear her straight away. 'I mean, because you really should discuss it with him before stuff happens. There are ground rules to- Oh. You have?'

Nodding her head, Rory took a large bite of her burger, hoping to stop the conversation there.

It didn't work. 'So do you have...a plan? Or something? I mean, what about...you know...latex? You'll need the little Trojan men and I don't think I have any right-'

'It's taken care of,' she sputtered around her burger.

'It's taken- oh! Wow. You really have talked about this then. Wow. That's... that's good. Responsible.'

'Refill?'

To Rory's eyes, Luke had never looked as wonderful as he did at that moment, standing by their table, coffee pot in hand. And for once, it wasn't even his coffee that she was focused on; just his presence that would effectively end this conversation and give her an excuse to start another one.

'So I'm being used as a political pawn,' she announced casually as Luke filled their mugs.

'Francie again?'

Rory nodded and carried on to tell her mother the story of Francie and the apparently missing palm pilot. Luke listened curiously.

'What kind of school creates kids like that?' he asked, perplexed.

'Chilton,' Lorelai answered with a scowl.

'I just don't know what to do. If I tell Paris about it she's going to flip, 'cos she'll know that I've been voting for the wrong side of stuff. But if I don't then I have to play Francie's game and keep supporting her and her stupid proposals.'

'Otherwise the psycho is going to frame you?' Luke asked, still trying to wrap his head around the concept.

'Pretty much, yeah.'

'Honey, I think you need to speak to Headmaster Charleston.'

'But if I do that Francie is going to play innocent and I'll look like some sort of crazy rat.'

Both Luke and Lorelai were quiet for a moment as they mused Rory's predicament.

'Jess says I should just, and I quote, throw down with the bitch.'

Lorelai snorted at this, while Luke's expression became even more concerned.

'Of course that's what the hoodlum would suggest. Hey, the guy might have a point. Francie wouldn't like a pretty little black eye would she?'

Rory rolled her eyes at her mom. 'No, but I don't think Headmaster Charleston would like it either.'

'Good point. Ah, I'm so glad I had a sensible kid.'

Jess chose this point in the conversation to wander over to their table. Luke turned on his nephew at once. 'Did you tell Rory to beat up the girl at school?'

'Yep,' he answered.

'Jeez Jess!'

'Hey, I wasn't being serious.'

'Oh.'

Uncle and nephew faced off for a moment before Luke nodded his head. 'Good.'

Jess turned to Rory. 'Hey, you want to come to the bookstore?'

Rory grinned and shot a look at Lorelai who nodded her consent, before heading out the door with Jess.

Once the teenagers were gone, Luke sank down into Rory's empty seat. 'Poor kid.'

Lorelai's heart warmed at seeing how upset Luke got over her kid's problems.

'Yeah. It's not the friendliest school, but she'll figure it out. She's got to learn some time that the rest of the world isn't quite as nice as Stars Hollow.'

'I just...can't you do something? Can I do something? We could talk to that Headmaster for her. Or you could talk to the French kid. You're good at talking. You can talk anyone into anything.'

Lorelai chuckled. 'You mean Francie? I don't think she'd take too well to that.'

Luke huffed. 'Maybe Jess has the right idea then. But, Rory can't do it, 'cos she's Rory. Maybe I should?'

'You want to beat up Francie?'

'Ah...okay well when you put it like that, no...but I could intimidate her...Uh! I just feel like there has to be something we can do. You shouldn't have to put up with crap like this. Rory's worked so hard to be in that school. And you've worked hard to get her there. Some rotten little trust fund kid shouldn't be able to ruin that for the two of you.'

Lorelai suddenly felt tears prickling behind her eyes as she listened to Luke babble. Why was it that this amazing guy cared so much about her and her daughter? She suddenly realised that she never felt safer than when Luke was around.

'Luke, I-'

'Order's up!' Caesar's voice called across the diner.

'Ah, I better get back to work. Hang on – wasn't Jess supposed to be here?'

Lorelai laughed. 'I think he just went to the bookstore with my daughter,' she reminded him gently.

'Little punk,' Luke muttered as he stood up. 'Anyway, I'll let you know if I think of anything that could help.'

Lorelai was about to thank him, when he spoke again.

'Oh, and you might need to get the tire pressure checked. I think they're over-inflated.'

'What?'

'The jeep. It was bouncy.'

Lorelai scowled. 'Well maybe I like a bouncy ride!'

*****

After a decidedly sleepless night, Lorelai managed to arrive at the Inn nearly fifteen minutes before her usual time. Today, she was a woman with a purpose.

'Morning Michel.'

'Lorelai.' The Frenchman didn't look up from his work. Lorelai shook her head in amusement and continued past him to the kitchen.

'Sookie? Sookie?!'

'In here!'

'Where?'

'Fridge.'

Lorelai finally spotted her friend hunched over with her head in the bottom of the fridge. She walked over to her.

'What are you doing?'

Sookie straightened up and looked at Lorelai helplessly.

'The apples. They're stuck. Well not stuck, but they're in a place I can't reach. See, there was this tray and I thought well, I'll stick it on the bottom shelf, but I forgot that I'd put the-'

Sookie's ramble came to a halt as Lorelai bent over and reached the apples that had fallen down to the back of the shelf. The chef gazed at her in admiration.

'It must be so nice to have long arms like that.'

'I thank my parents for them every day,' Lorelai quipped, before heading to the coffee machine.

'So what's up? You came in here sounding like you needed something.'

Clasping her coffee cup tightly in her hands, Lorelai turned to face her friend. She took a deep breath before speaking.

'I think I like, like Luke.'

At the check-in desk, Michel jumped as he heard a high pitched squeal and the sound of something shattering.

*************

Rory looked up in surprise as she heard a footfall on the bridge. Jess stood there frowning at her and looking quite uncomfortable. Shit. He wasn't supposed to catch her here.

Both were staring at each other awkwardly, neither sure what to say.

Finally Rory began. 'Shouldn't you be in school?'

After a moment's pause, she got her usual shrug from him and then, 'Shouldn't you?'

Remembering that Jess thought she was a teacher, Rory quickly defended herself. 'I'm a substitute. I have a day off.'

He was still staring at her, a weird expression on his face that she found quite unsettling.

'So why aren't you in school?'

He was looking at her book as he answered, 'Better things to do.'

At that moment, Rory imagined herself strangling Jess and possibly pushing him into the lake. No matter what she did for him in regard to his jobs and his writing and fixing the Dean situation, it wasn't going to help anything if the moron still didn't go to school.

'Better things?' she asked him, a scathing tone in her voice. 'Like what? Reading on a bridge?'

His head whipped up at that, eyes staring directly into hers, accusingly. 'Why would you think that?'

Shit. Shitshitshit. She looked away from him, across the water, trying to keep an impassive expression. 'Just a guess?' she offered. 'I've seen how much you read. This seems like a good place to do that.' She could tell Jess was still staring at her so she kept her gaze on the water, not feeling brave enough to look back at him.

But before the situation could get any more uncomfortable, Jess suddenly sat himself down next to her. 'You're reading Mark Twain,' he observed. 'That book is about time travel.'

'Um, yeah. I know.' Jeez, could she have picked a more inappropriate book to be caught reading?

'You like time travel?'

Tread carefully, her brain screamed. 'It's a fun concept. Hank makes a bit of a mess though,' she replied, referring back to the book.

'Think it'll be possible one day?'

Yup. 'No!'

'You sure?' Jess had turned his head towards her, one eyebrow raised. 'Physicists are always trying to do stuff like that.'

Change the subject. 'What would you know about physics? You don't even go to school.' She wanted to congratulate herself for the stern tone.

As expected, Jess was becoming sullen again and his head dropped. This time it was him staring at the water. 'I go enough.'

Feeling like she was back in control, Rory turned to him, keeping a stern look in her eye. 'Enough? What's enough?' When Jess didn't answer, she kept going. 'If you miss more than twenty days of school, you know they won't let you graduate?'

His head snapped up in surprise at this. He really hadn't known, Rory realised. There was a beat before he looked at her. 'How do you know?'

She laughed lightly. 'Um, teacher, remember?'

Jess started to nod slowly. 'Oh. Yeah.'

'How much school have you missed?'

She could imagine the wheels turning in his head as he tried to count the days. 'A couple of weeks I guess.'

Trying to cover a sigh, Rory stood up, quickly reminding herself not to put her book in her back pocket. 'Try not to miss anymore, Jess.'

He was scowling up at her from the bridge, a frustrated expression on his face. 'But it's so stupid. I don't learn anything in there that I don't already know.'

Rory looked at him sadly. She could relate. Chilton had been hard for her and there were times that she'd wanted to give up and go back to Stars Hollow High; she couldn't deny that. But she'd always been stopped by memories of classes spent going over the same maths problem again and again; re-learning verb tenses for the hundredth time; or having to listen to a summary of a novel because the other students hadn't done the reading. It was boring.

'Maybe you could use the time for something else,' she suggested, not entirely sure that it was the right idea, but figuring that she had to try something.

'What?'

'Show up, do the work, then spend the rest of the time writing or something.'

'Huh. Principal Merton would kick your ass for giving me that kind of advice.'

'Maybe. But at least you'll graduate.' She started to walk away, but was stopped when Jess called after her.

'Why do you care so much?'

She smiled as she spun back to face him. 'I told you: To Sir, With Love!'

Jess snickered at this, but seemed to accept the answer, so Rory set off walking again. This time she was stopped when she felt his hand on her shoulder. She jumped in surprise.

'Jeez, give a girl some warning next time! I almost puked up my liver! What do you want?'

She looked at Jess expectantly, waiting for an answer, but he seemed to have frozen at her words. He was just staring, mouth hanging slightly agape, but on the whole, looking very kissable. Ugh, stop thinking like that Mrs Robinson!

'Jess?' She reached out and poked his arm, trying to get his attention. 'What did you want?'

'Why do you always wear sunglasses?'

'My eyes are really sensitive to light. Like Bono,' she explained quickly.

A moment later, Jess seemed to be shaking his head at his own thoughts, whatever they were. Rory was still waiting curiously to see what he really wanted.

Finally, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a notebook. He stared at it uncertainly for a few seconds before pressing it into her hand.

'Some of my writing...thought maybe you could look at it?'

Rory's breath caught in her throat as she gingerly held the book. She couldn't really believe that he'd given her this. 'You...you really want me to...'

Jess nodded. 'It's not much. Just short stories. Stuff. You can tell me if it's crap.'

Still staring at the book and holding it like you might hold an original Shakespeare manuscript, if there was one in existence, Rory finally asked in a shaky voice, 'Why me?'

Jess didn't answer until Rory raised her eyes back to his. 'I don't know.' He added a shrug, (just to stay in character) and then turned on his heel and strode away quickly. She was sure there was something else she could have said to him (should have said to him), but he was gone before she'd recovered her senses.

Rory took her seat back on the bridge and opened up the notebook.

*****