A/N: I've gotten requests for a Jess chapter. How does two sound? Here's the first one. It's short, but *shrug* I hope you like it. I do.

Leaving Philadelphia, he took the interstate, driving by instinct, by memory. His conscious mind couldn't stick to the road. It kept drifting to thoughts that made him want to bash his head in. Radio…good way to drown out the screaming thoughts, right? He flicked the thing on.

"…another bruise to try and hide, another alibi to write, another lonely highway in the black of night…"

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" he shouted aloud to the dashboard, quickly reaching to change the station. He actually laughed at the painful irony as the next station's DJ rambled inanely about something inconsequential before the next song began. The music was tinkling, like a music box. He tried to place the intro. A feeling in his gut told him that…

"You could be happy and I won't know. But you weren't happy the day I watched you go…"

"Seriously? Not any better!" he griped loudly, as if the radio should have known, and was just trying to torture him. Switched stations a second time.

"Even though we're not together there's a part of me that's never gonna change, that's still burning with the flame, even though it's not the same as it was…It's still love, to me…"

"Now, you're just…" he trailed off bitterly, reaching for the dial again. "Forget it!" He turned the thing off, debating for a moment whether to switch to one of the audio books he'd loaded onto the crazy electronic thingamajiggy Liz had thought was the "perfect gift" for him. It wasn't the same as holding a book in your hand and putting your own inflections and voices…the ones in your head, the ones that are supposed to be there…into the words. But, he'd been doing a lot of driving lately, and the thoughts in his head were still often a place he didn't want to be. Unfortunately, at the moment, it was a choice between the beginning of David Copperfield and the beginning of Great Expectations. So much for that.

Stupid Snow Patrol song was stuck in his head. "And all the things that I wished I had not said. Are played in loops 'till it's madness in my head."

"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!" he said, smacking his hand against the steering wheel as if that would somehow help matters. It was too true. He couldn't stop playing back that entire evening, and it was driving him completely insane! Why couldn't he see it? Why? It was stinkin' RIGHT! THERE! IN FRONT! OF MY FACE!

From the moment he'd looked up and saw her sitting there at the table. He knew something was wrong. He knew. Rory didn't dress like that! Rory didn't wear make-up like that! Rory didn't have…that look in her eye! Even if there'd been nothing else - not another sign - that should've been enough. He knew that look. He stinkin' knew that look when he was six years old! And, now Trevor would know that look until his dying day. He shook his head at the sadness of it. The aching, unchangeable, unpreventable sadness. Even if he had known, what could he have done? If she was already hiding behind make-up…already had bruises she had to hide from the world, the damage had already been done. Could he have warned her somehow, before that? He knew the guy was a jerk. He knew it from square one, but… He'd tried to warn her. He'd tried to tell her that. It didn't do any good. He should have known!

If he hadn't known from the look on Rory's face, then he certainly should have recognized it in Trevor. The accusing look he'd given him when he saw Rory crying and clutching her eye like that… the way he'd flinched back, as if Jess might hit him. Had he really laughed? Thoughts froze in his mind there, making room for a pain as sharp and throbbing as frostbite. Had he really laughed?

"You go out there looking like that and somebody's gonna think I hit you." The words punched him in the gut. Had he really said that to her? How could he possibly, ever, ever joke like that? To anybody? Much less, Rory. Much less… He breathed deeply, trying to dull the pain, trying to…

"Could you teach me too? 'Cause, seriously, whenever I do it, it looks like somebody punched me in both eyes." Oh, April! Seriously! Talk about the wrong thing to say! He shook his head, realizing. She hadn't even been able to speak. She couldn't. She. Couldn't. Say. Anything… Rory… Rory Gilmore. Had been in too much pain to utter a word. Was it any wonder when she started talking again she tried to distract everybody by babbling about stuffing? Sure, he hadn't fallen for it. He knew something was wrong. Lorelai knew something was wrong. But they didn't know what, and the rest of the room was completely oblivious!

Again, it was right from the beginning, though. From the moment he stepped in the door, the signs were there! She didn't want him looking at her. He paid her a compliment, and she knew that he knew something was wrong. So, she made him focus on himself…take a turn… let me look at you… nice jacket… you should let your hair grow… I miss your curls… How was the book tour?…Where's your book?… Let me read it… Let me bury myself in your book, and get lost in it, so I don't have to think about everything that I have to hide. I don't have to think about the pain. I can sit here, and you can sit there, and you there, and we're all reading, we're all the same, I'm just Rory Gilmore who reads books with people who love to read books, I'm not a victim, my husband doesn't drink, and he doesn't beat me, and I don't have bruises buried underneath these layers and layers of makeup, and I'm not trying to distract you with my flashy clothes, don't be ridiculous! Give me that book! I need something to hide behind!

Sitting out there on the porch, had he really thought that because things were finally okay between them, that things were actually Okay? Oh, Rory!

And, all that talk at the dinner table about her poor, poor husband! Everything he was going through… Send the poor guy a care package. He deserves everybody's sympathy. SEND HIM A BOTTLE OF TEQUILA? That recollection almost sent him swerving off the road. Headlights. I need headlights, it's raining. Um, don't you mean, windshield wipers? That kinda comes before the headlights thing. Shut up!

And, the pie. I dished up plate after plate after plate of that BLASTED pie to MAKE HIM FEEL BETTER! Did I actually tell her I was SORRY he wasn't able to make it? Okay, so she knew it was just out of courtesy, but still.

I could have sworn she knew what I meant. It was there in the air. She saw it. She felt it. She KNEW I was telling her that all she had to do was call! ANYTIME about ANYTHING! Why didn't she call? I know. I know she couldn't. She couldn't… But…

He'd long passed the Hartford exit. He knew where he was going, even if his mind hadn't given him permission to go there. There was simply no other place that he could be right now.

The car door banged shut behind him. He walked up onto the porch, and knocked.

Lorelai came to the door.

"Jess?"

A/N: Not much to say, except to repeat my unending request for more, more, more happy, beautiful, exquisite reviews! OH, how I love them!