A/N: I'm sure this has been done before and in various forms, but whatever, I wanted to do it my way ;)

12. A Christmas Spy
'Verse: canon
Timeline: Season 2, The Bracebridge Dinner
Date: December 2001

Something woke Rory with a start. Since her mom was fast asleep, and everything else appeared silent and still, she couldn't imagine what had happened. Then there was another sound, footsteps by the door.

"Grandma?" she whispered in the dark, unable to guess who else would be there.

Getting up out of bed, Rory threw on a dressing gown and put her feet into her shoes, creeping over to the door and peeking out. Just as she looked, a figure in black disappeared around the corner. With a frown on her face, Rory followed, not even thinking about any danger. They were safe in the inn, it could only be one of the guests creeping around, and now her interest was piqued.

The figure headed down the stairs and Rory followed in silent steps. From the bottom of the steps, she watched the figure move towards the door, then wrap himself up in a coat she recognised. Suddenly the figure took shape, a young man she knew very well.

"Jess," she whispered to herself, immediately clamping her hand over her mouth when she realised he might hear - he didn't.

When he headed out the front door, Rory considered going back to bed for all of a second, before deciding to give chase. Hurrying after Jess, she couldn't say why she was doing such a thing, except for curiousity when it came to the new guy in town. He intrigued her more than a bit, rightly or wrongly, and she really did want to know what he was up to.

Outside, Rory found she couldn't figure out where Jess had gone, then she heard a clattering from the old potting shed. The next moment, he was heading back towards her, and Rory put her back flat against the wall so he wouldn't see her. It was dumb, she could've spoken up, asked what he was doing, but somehow Rory didn't want to be so brazen. She liked the idea of just following him around, seeing Jess as he was when he was by himself, not the front she was sure he put on for everybody else.

She continued to stalk him, ducking behind trees and telephone poles and the sides of buildings as she followed him all the way to the town square. Rory was shocked they walked so far without her feeling the cold, but the whole situation seemed weirdly exhilarating, and the thrill of it all easily kept her warm.

From far enough away not to be noticed, she watched Jess heft a shovel in his hands, wondering what on earth he was about to do. She realised his plan just a second before it was set in motion, and almost yelled at him to stop. Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to do it as the power-buffed ringer snowman exploded in a cloud of white, once, twice, three times, until there was nothing left but a messy pile of snow.

Seemingly satisfied with the job he had done, Jess walked away, stopping briefly by the snowwoman built by the Gilmore Girls. There was a horrible moment when Rory thought he was about to destroy all the snow people, when suddenly he raised his hand in a kind of salute and then turned to walk away.

The next morning, Rory acted like she had no idea what happened, and looked as surprised as Lorelai when they saw the crushed winning snowman, knowing they would now be the winners of the competition. Of course, she knew the truth. Only she knew Jess had fulfilled one of her Christmas wishes, and some day Rory planned on paying him back for that kindness somehow.