A/N: Skipping ahead a bit, because it's my story and I'll skip if I want to! Oh, and be forewarned, there's a bit of mild language in this one. Not that I think anyone will mind, but just in case…

Disclaimer: No pertenece a mi.

Ch. 14- Feels Like Home

November 5th was dragging on for Jess. He had stayed up all night waiting to hear from Rory once she got back to her hotel in Chicago after the victory speech and didn't see the point in trying to sleep for the 2 hours he had left after hanging up with her until he had to open Truncheon. Not that he could have slept through the people celebrating in the streets until sunrise. He knew Rory hadn't slept at all either, because she had to turn in her last article by 6am. Of course, once she turned in her article she was free to sleep all she wanted. He, however, had to work all day and was dead tired. There was one good thing, though. He would get to see Rory again in a few days. She had obviously promised her mom she would come home right away and Jess couldn't leave Philly until the weekend. He was going to surprise her by showing up late Friday night at the Crapshack and tapping on her bedroom window, the way he used to when they were teenagers. His lie that he wouldn't be able to make it until some time on Saturday made him smirk when he thought about her reaction. He couldn't actually see her face when he told her, but he knew it fell for approximately three seconds before recovering and being replaced by her "brave face" as he liked to call it. His pride over his own deviousness made him slightly more approachable throughout the day as he mentally began the countdown to Friday night, but only slightly. Several customers still had to be intercepted by Matthew before Jess could completely lose it and scream at them for their ignorance.

Contrary to Jess' belief, Rory was not sleeping that same fateful day. She had worked furiously to get her article in on time and as much as she wanted to be sleeping when it was done, she wasn't. She was packing. Her time on the road had come to and end and it was bittersweet. She was immensely glad to be going home, but this job had been so much fun and she had actually made a few new friends. Now she was jobless (until the inauguration, which she was going to get to go to and submit an article for!) and had to be out of her hotel by noon. She was also meeting Amanda for coffee before their flights left; it was going to be a very emotional day. She called her mom to let her know the final plan for the day and stuffed the last of her stuff into her bag and headed out into the busy streets of Chicago to meet her friend.

Jess was closing up Truncheon when he heard a knock at the front door. Exhausted, he ignored the annoying sound and continued picking up stray books to return them to the shelves. The knock became louder and more insistent. He took a deep breath and once again ignored it. Apparently whoever was outside was illiterate or didn't know what the word closed meant. At the third round of knocking he started getting angry.

"We're closed!" he yelled, not bothering to look outside, figuring if the lunatic outside caught him looking it would only encourage him.

The knocking stopped and he breathed a sigh of relief. That was, until he heard the office phone ringing. He made a growling noise unintentionally. What was it with people tonight? He supposed people were still in celebration mode from last night, but all he wanted was to fall into bed and sleep for the next two days. He picked up the phone and slammed it back down without bothering to listen to whoever it was on the other end. As he left the office he heard the godforsaken knocking again. He marched angrily toward the door, determined to curse the asshole out. When he opened the door, all intelligent speech flew right out of his head.

"You cut your hair" was all he could spit out.

"Oh, umm, yeah. Amanda saw a picture of me when I had my hair short before and she really liked it and convinced me to cut it again. We found this cute little place and… oh no, you hate it, don't you?" she asked nervously.

"No, it just surprised me, that's all. You surprised me. I thought you were some crazed lunatic. I almost called the cops on you" he said, finally finding his voice.

"Oh, well, it's good to see you, too" she joked as she moved closer to him.

Jess noticed Rory inching closer to him and he pulled her into the bookstore and closed the door behind them. She smiled shyly at him and self consciously ran her fingers through her considerably shorter hair. He kissed the top of her head reassuringly and pulled her into a tight embrace. It was a flattering haircut, not exactly the same as last time he saw it short, but a little more funky and textured. It was actually quite sexy. She must have felt his body tense at the thought, because she pulled away just enough so she could see his face and the gleam in his eyes before kissing him. He had questions for her, mainly what she was doing here, but that could wait until later. Right now, they had better things to do with their mouths than talk. They ambled toward the bookshelves while still entwined with each other. It was just like when they were teenagers, only there was no danger of being run over by a car in here, just of possibly running into one of the shelves and being buried under a mountain of books. The danger made it that much more enjoyable. When they reached the couch hidden behind the bookshelves, they happily collapsed upon it. Jess felt his exhaustion melting away just by being in close proximity to Rory. Once she was finished with him; however, the feeling returned ten-fold and he fell asleep on the couch cuddled up to the woman he loved.

The chime of a bell brought Jess out of his delightful dream. Groaning at being ripped away from the dream and realizing just how cramped his muscles felt, he opened his eyes slowly. It took him a second to remember where he was and why he could barely move his neck without yelping in pain. When he did remember, he smiled and felt as though all the pain in the world was worth it. He looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms, ignoring the fact that the left one was completely asleep by now, and sighed contentedly. A confused voice greeted him and startled Rory awake as well.

"Jess? You still here, man?" Chris called tentatively.

"Yeah, I'm here," he called before turning to Rory and adding in a quieter voice, "I'll be right back, you stay here."

Jess headed toward the office to explain things to his friend and co-worker. Rory laid back on the couch, reveling in the fact that her plan had worked so well. In truth, she had gotten a little worried when he hung the phone up on her the night before, she had thought he was never going to answer the door and she'd be stuck outside all night. She wondered where he had left his cell phone that he couldn't hear it when she tried calling after he hollered that they were closed. She realized that he must have been just as tired as she had been before reaching his doorstep. She had managed to sleep a little on the plane, but then the little kid behind her had gotten bored and decided kicking the back of her chair was his new favorite past time. It had been a long flight, not to mention it had been delayed, resulting in her having to wait for two hours in the airport with nothing to do but buy Cinnabons and massive amounts of coffee. She imagined his day hadn't gone much smoother by the way he passed out instantly after she kissed him goodnight. He returned a few minutes later and gestured for her to follow him. She obliged and found herself following him out the front door and to his car.

"I got the day off" he smirked as they headed down the road.

"How'd you manage that?" she asked with a grin.

"Well, when you find your friend passed out on the job with an extremely hot girl, it's only fair to assume he had a long night and is in no shape to deal with the public. Besides, I was in such a foul mood yesterday, they were probably going to suggest that I take the day off and sleep anyway. They would have sent me home yesterday, but we were slammed with people who skipped work to celebrate" he explained.

"I was exhausted yesterday, too. A five year old sat behind me on the plane."

"Ugh, no need to say more. Been there, done that. Well, more often on buses than planes, but the concept still applies."

"I have had enough of buses and planes to last me a lifetime! I never thought that I would get sick of traveling, but it does have it's drawbacks" she said.

"You know you loved it. But I'm sure glad it's over."

"I missed you, too, you know. Where are we going by the way?" she asked, realizing that they were not headed in the direction of Jess' apartment.

"I'm taking you to breakfast. There's this great diner in town I think you'll like. It's almost as good as Luke's, but don't tell him I said that."

After breakfast, the couple spent the day together, enjoying each other's company. They were so busy having fun together that Jess completely forgot that he wanted to ask her about her decision to visit him first instead of her mother and her beloved Stars Hollow. They were sitting on his couch eating pizza and watching movies when he finally remembered that he had no idea why she was sitting on his couch with her head resting on his shoulder, munching on a slice of pizza.

"I'm not complaining or anything, but why are you here?" he asked casually.

"I couldn't wait to see you" she replied just as casually.

"Isn't your mom going to be upset?"

"I called her. We're still going up there this weekend. At least, that's what I promised her. You will still be able to come up Saturday, right?"

"Of course. I was actually planning to surprise you Friday night, but you beat me to the punch" he revealed to her.

"Aww… you're such a romantic when you want to be" she teased.

"Don't spread that around, you'll ruin my street cred" he warned.

"I wouldn't dare" she replied, trying to keep a straight face.

"I'm still surprised you came here right away. I thought you wanted to go home first."

"Feels like home to me" she said, snuggling closer to him.

"Huh" was the only word he could utter before he lifted her chin and crashed his lips into hers.

Yep, he thought, this certainly feels like home.

A/N: This turned out longer than I thought it would. Yay me! I'm not sure, but this might be the end. It feels like it could be a good stopping place, but you never know when the muses will send another idea out of the blue. If I can think of something good, I'll write another Stars Hollow chapter. Maybe some review love will help make up my mind… yes, I have no shame, I'm well aware.