A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. It really means a lot. I'm jumping right back into some fluffy lit. to show my appreciation.

Disclaimer: I wish.

Ch. 11- On the Road Again

Jess returned to Philly only to find a very excited group of co-workers waiting to surprise him. At first he had been shocked by what they had to say and didn't even argue when they insisted on taking him out to celebrate. He had to rush home in order to call Rory at the appointed time. It was slightly upsetting that they had to schedule their phone conversations, but Rory's schedule was so crazy reporting for all of the primaries. Typically one candidate was already chosen as the front-runner by this point in the campaign, but the democrats this year were torn, making Rory's job incredibly busy. Once he did get her on the phone, he had a lot to report.

"Jess. Hey, did you make it home safe? How's Truncheon?" Rory asked, knowing already who it was without even checking the caller id.

"Apparently a lot happened while I was away. Somehow a critic managed to get a hold of my book and gave it a raving review. They've called for a re-print. Several of the major chain bookstores want copies in their inventory" Jess informed her stoically.

"Jess, that's amazing!" Rory practically screamed into the phone.

"Yeah, but what I want to know is how in the world someone important actually heard of my novel" he said with a hint of accusation in his voice.

"You're acting like this is a bad thing. You're book is going to be re-printed. You're actually going to make money from your writing. Most writers would kill for this!"

"I know that. And it is a good thing. But I'm doing fine without anyone else's help" he replied pointedly.

"Wait a minute. You think I did this? Jess, I don't even know the guy who wrote that review. I think my boss does and it probably was him that tipped the reviewer off on your book, but I didn't tell him to. I didn't even tell him I knew you. That praise was all deserved and not biased at all!" Rory said, exasperated at Jess' attitude.

"So you did show it to somebody, then" Jess responded with vindication.

"I didn't really show it to him. I was just reading it again during some down time when I first started the job and he asked me what was so great about this book that I couldn't put it down. He asked me to borrow it, so I lent him my clean copy. I didn't even know if he liked it or not. He just gave it back a few days later and thanked me for letting him borrow it" she defended herself.

"Clean copy?" Jess asked, amused by her defensive ramble. He couldn't stay upset with her.

"Umm… yeah. I decided to buy a new copy because I wrote in the margins of the one you gave me. I figured you would appreciate that" she said, glad for once that he couldn't see her, as her face was slowly turning bright red at the admission.

"I can't believe you desecrated my book like that" he teased..

"Payback for what you did to my copy of Howl" she teased back, the momentary happiness from a moment before being replaced by longing to see his face again.

"So when did you find the time to buy this 'clean copy' of my book? You've been on the road for ten months now."

"Oh. I bought it before I left for the campaign" she admitted quickly.

"Huh" was all he could manage as a reply.

"This sucks" Rory pouted.

"What?" Jess asked confused.

"I miss you already and I just saw you this morning. I don't think I can do this anymore."

"Can't do what anymore?" Jess asked, worried this time.

"This stupid job. I miss everybody and all I want to do is see you and I don't want to sleep in crappy cramped hotel rooms anymore!" she said, melting down in true Rory fashion.

"Rory," Jess sighed feeling relieved, but agreeing with her sentiments, "you love your job. You're just emotional after a long weekend. Your mom just got married and you found out Lane is pregnant again and you're going to potentially miss most of it. I get it, but you can't break down on me. If you get depressed, then I'll get depressed and everything will be much harder. At the latest, this will all be over in November and we can be together again. We can make it until then. I love you."

"I love you, too. And you're right. I'm being silly. I don't know what's wrong with me. I just miss you, that's all."

"And I miss you. But we'll see each other soon enough" he assured her.

"What do you have planned?" Rory questioned, her mood lifting noticeably.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"What are you planning?" she demanded again.

"You still owe me an egg roll, you know" he answered, recalling a bribe made so many years ago.

A few weeks later, Rory was feeling much better because she finally realized what had been making her such a basket case. She was once again enjoying her busy schedule and was excited that Jess' book was about to be reprinted and distributed to several major bookstores. Jess, on the other hand, was slightly freaked out that there was sudden interest in his book. Chris had told him that he needed to write a dedication for it, because apparently all real books have dedications, and he was having trouble actually writing what he wanted to say down on paper. He decided that he wasn't going to tell Rory about the dedication because he felt less nervous that way. That meant it was his turn to act a little weird.

"So what have you been doing all day?" asked Rory brightly.

"Not much. Reading, writing, publishing" he responded blandly.

"What's wrong? You sound a bit down. Are you nervous about the reprint? You shouldn't be. Your book is awesome and people are going to love it!"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. I just miss you, that's all. But you seem to be in a good mood. Did you finally stop missing me so much you can't think of anything else?" he teased, trying not to sound like he was hiding something.

"Oh, I still miss you, trust me. But I'm not panicking anymore, so that's good."

"So what happened to make you so zen?" Jess asked, curious to hear the answer.

"I just realized what had really been upsetting me, but it's nothing. It was so stupid of me."

"It wasn't nothing. Tell me what was really wrong."

"Well, it was really silly. I think I was afraid after talking to Lane and finding out that she's having another baby and then completely ignoring her warning that very night that I might be, too. But I didn't even realize that I was worried about it until today when I realized that there was no way I was pregnant and I felt so relieved and I don't know, it just clicked. I don't know why I didn't think of it before" she began rambling.

"Wow. So you thought you were pregnant? And you didn't tell me?" Jess asked, shocked by the revelation.

"Well, that's the thing. I didn't think I was pregnant. Not consciously anyway. I was just freaked out and couldn't figure out why. I would have told you if I thought that. Trust me, you would have been the first to know" Rory said soothingly, realizing he was upset at the thought.

"Huh. So you've been that upset at the thought of having a baby with me? Is it that horrible to think about?" he asked, only partly teasing.

"You want to have a baby?" Rory asked incredulously.

"Well not right now, but someday maybe. Do you not want kids? Or just not my kids?"

"Someday, but certainly not now. Can you imagine me trying to squeeze a fat pregnant belly onto this tiny little bus everyday? And as for who I want to have kids with, there's no one else but you I would even consider it with" she ended completely serious.

"Well now that we've got that cleared up… we can both stop acting like five year olds. So I guess I should mention that Chris is demanding I write a dedication for the reprint of my book." Jess said tentatively, wondering if changing his mind was a good idea.

"Really? And who are you dedicating it to?" Rory asked innocently.

"Actually, I'm writing two. One to Luke and the other to the future mother of my children" he said with a smirk.

"I'm going to kill Lane for putting me through this. Now you have yet another thing to hold over my head forever. I shouldn't have even told you" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me" Jess said indignantly.

"You can't even see me! How do you know if I rolled my eyes or not? Accusing me for no reason, you ought to be ashamed!"

"Ha! You forget that I know you and I can hear it in your voice. Besides, you always get defensive when you know I'm right."

"Yeah, well, I know where you sleep, mister" Rory threatened with a laugh.

"Do your worst" Jess replied seductively.

"Just you wait until I see you again. You're going to get it!"

"Don't tease me, it's just mean."

"And just when do I get to see you again?"

"Oh, now you wanna play nice; when you want information. Well that's for me to know and you to find out."

"You're killing me here, Mariano."

"Yeah, and you love me for it."

"I really do."