Disclaimer: Nothing's mine.

A/N: Happy 2018, everyone! Finally (finally!), some Rory/Jess - centered scenes :) Thanks to all who requested more Lit for the story, hope you enjoy :)

WARNING: This chapter contains some non-explicit yet rather mature scenes. Feel free to skip if feeling offended.

'Hey,' Dr Gilmore encircled her boyfriend's scrubs-clad torso from behind.

Dr Mariano put his tray down and turned to put an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.

She smiled up at him and the smile lit up her whole face. He left a kiss at the top of her head before he spoke.

'How's your 24?'

'Rather slow so far,' Rory shrugged. 'Which left me time to think of ways I'd like to spend these Easter holidays,' she murmured, nuzzling his neck.

Jess groaned, the amusement in his eyes momentarily giving way to annoyance.

'I'm not going there.'

Rory drew back to give him a puzzled look.

'Where?' she asked incredulously, deciding to play the dumb card. Poor Jess was such a cry baby when it came to visiting Stars Hollow.

'You know where,' Jess rolled his eyes, not buying her puzzlement.

'Oh come on,' she rubbed a palm against his abs, leaning into him. 'The Easter Egg Hunt will be fun.'

'Sure it will. I'll just read the blurb in Fun Is Us later on.'

'Oh come on, you should come.'

'Nope.'

'Why?'

He gave her a look. Okay, plan B - cut the groveling, go straight into manipulation.

'What if I'm willing to make it worth it?' she asked slyly.

Jess rose an eyebrow, challenging her to continue.

Nonchalantly, she moved the tray along as the line moved forward and put a plate of fries in it. She thought for a moment and then piled another plate on the tray.

Jess stopped to give her a look.

'Really?'

Rory shrugged, well aware he wasn't referring to her lunch choice but to the potentially luscious offer a minute ago.

Her lips melted into a wicked smile.

'Try me.'

Jess bit the inside of his cheek, looking around. He exhaled through his nose, then looked down at her.

'You're willing to sex bribe me into coming to Freaktown with you?' he asked in a low, excited yet clearly disbelieving voice. She could see the muscles over his jaw twitching. He was struggling to keep his composure. Men were so predictable. She lifted herself on her toes to whisper,

'How much PDA are you ready to handle?' she asked in his ear, brushing her lips against the lobe. 'Because I can start here.'

For a moment he stopped breathing.

Then, lazily, she sneaked a look in the general direction of the break room.

'Then we can move on to there.'

His breath went out in a huff. Yep. She had him right where she wanted.

'Shit.'

He rubbed his hand across his jaw.

'You have to stop saying things like that while we're at work. One of these days I'm gonna cut the wrong gut because I can't concentrate.'

'Are you complaining?' she asked, amused.

'Like hell I am.'

She smirked and gave a nod to no one in particular.

'Good.'

They continued along the line of people. She put some broccoli into his plate and he took a plate of fish and fries for her.

'Wanna do something after work?' she asked as they reached the cash desk.

He gave her a look. She let out a small chuckle.

'Beyond that.'

'Sure,' he shrugged halfheartedly. 'Have something in mind?'

'There's this alternative band playing at Seven Eight tonight. Thought we may check it out,' she smiled up at him as both pulled out a bill to pay for their lunch.

'Consider what happens after a demo of what can happen next week,' she chimed, taking the tray and heading for a free table while he was standing holding the bills between his fingers. The cashier lady cleared her throat, giving a pointed look at the growing line behind Jess' back.

He swallowed, snapping back to reality and left the bills on the desk.

Okay. Two could play that game.

He put both hands on her waist and leaned into her, navigating her until her back was pressed against the column. She tipped her chin up, enjoying the view of his face this close to hers, his eyes intent and searching. He lifted his hands to tangle his fingers into her hair. He loved to dishevel her updo only to let the loose bangs spill free, feeling them tangle between his fingers. He moved forward so that his mouth was a mere inch from hers. She parted her lips, waiting. However, instead of moving further, Jess let a slow smirk spread across his lips and leaned to the side to whisper against her ear.

'You think you're the only one who can tease?' his fingers slid down her nape, tracing her spine. Rory shivered, closing her eyes briefly. His voice was hoarse, indicating he was just as affected by her proximity as she was.

He stepped forward, aligning their bodies together, letting his warmth seep into her. He always felt warm, she thought. And steady. Regardless outside temperature, it was as if he had that inner energy that radiated off of him and onto her.

'Do you have any idea how outstandingly beautiful you look right now?,' he drew an inch back to give her a look, smoothing the hair back from her face. 'Just being around you is intoxicating,' he sighed, 'it annihilates my mind.'

She bit on her lower lip. Was he still teasing? Was this merely a continuation of the game she had initiated? Her mind was getting blurry and all she could see was him. All she could process was feeling wrapped into his presence, his words.

He placed a chaste kiss against her jaw. Then one over her cheekbone.

'The more I get the more I want of you.'

He kissed her forehead. Then the tip of her nose.

'I wanna be the one who lights your face up every day.' His thumbs caressed the sides of her face. His eyes were burning. Or maybe it was her cheeks. She felt breathless yet all she wanted was to be here in this exact moment and live it over and over.

His eyes sparkled with understanding as his look raked over her face. His words were getting to her and he knew it.

'I wanna make you insanely happy.'

'You are,' she breathed, her voice coming out scratchy. 'You're perfect.'

Unconsciously she rose on her tiptoes so that she was closer to his lips. He took a breath and leaned down.

'Later,' he said in her ear and then he was pulling back, leaving her lips waiting.

What. The. Hell.

Rory blinked. Suddenly the details of their surroundings started registering on her senses. The band playing somewhere at the other end of the bar. The darkness of the narrow corridor they were currently standing in. Her erratic heartbeat. Jess was standing a couple of feet away, one arm outstretched, waiting for her. She was torn between slapping the smug smirk off his face and kissing the hell out of him. He was so gonna pay for this. But she had a gut feeling he would enjoy every second of it.

'Damn,' Tristan watched Jess with an incredulous look that bore a mix of awe and surprise. They were in the common kitchen, Tristan sipping a smoothie as Jess had just come in to prepare some tea.

Jess stopped to give Tristan an annoyed look. Tristan didn't give up.

'You got laid didn't you? You were smiling like a goofball, it makes your face creepy,' he shrugged from his place at the table. 'Damn, it must have been good.'

Jess rolled his eyes and continued making tea, pouring boiling water into his mug.

Tristan slurped some more of the smoothie. Waiting.

And waiting.

'You aren't going to tell me to fuck off?' he asked doubtfully.

'Nope,' Jess said, popping the 'p'. Then took his mug and turned towards Tristan, giving him a smug smirk on his way out.

Tristan leaned over his bottle, eyebrows arched up.

'That good?' he asked, the awe unmistakable in his voice. Leave it to Tristan Dugray to be impressed by other people's sex life.

Jess smirked even wider and gave him the finger right before going out.

Tristan shook his head. That's why guys got girlfriends - it was the free sex that got them to look like smitten goofballs. What more could you want from life?

'She's 65, works in a ranch, previous history of arterial hypertension and endoscopic holecystectomy six years ago.'

Rory walked beside Jess reading aloud from the patient's file while he put on his white coat over his scrubs. She found him in the lockers room five minutes ago and asked him for help on one of her cases but they were running late for rounds so she was briefing him on the case in stride.

They reached the nurse's station where Jess gathered his patients' files in a pile, casting a look at the surgical schedule every now and then.

'I think it's a cyst. Look,' Rory passed the CT scan of her patient on to him and Jess looked at it, giving her a nod.

'Looks like a cyst. What does the Chief say?'

She sighed and put the CT back into the patient's file.

'He thinks it depends on the surgeon who'll take up on the case. Said it's a rather long shot but could be done with some divine help and hard praying.'

'Always the optimist.'

'What do you think?'

'Resecting a hydatid cyst this big means taking the risk of poking it open and getting your ranch granny straight into anaphylactic shock.'

'Yeah.'

'If it stays there, it's gonna compress the vena cava and block the venous outflow of her abdomen, causing trouble anyway. Sooner or later she'll have to have the surgery.'

He sighed, giving a quick look at the wall clock above them.

'Let me think about it. I'm late, I'll check up with you at lunch, okay?'

'Yeah. Thank you.'

He gave her a wink.

'You can thank me later.'

'Mrs Stanford, I have to warn you that there is a pretty good chance we might run into a complication,' Rory explained to the elderly woman who was lying on the bed with her grandson by her side.

'What complication?' the young man asked, his voice defiant as he covered his grandmother's hand with his.

'Noah,' the woman tapped his hand with hers, 'Dr Gilmore is doing her best to help me, please watch your tongue dear.'

Noah gave Rory a stern look but when he turned towards his grandmother, his eyes softened.

'I'm just trying to watch out for you, grandma,' he explained, his voice calm and deep. 'The way you've been watching out for me.'

'Then let the doctors do their job, dear. It's the only way to help me.'

Noah worked his jaw but gave a curt nod.

Elizabeth Stanford turned towards Rory and smiled apologetically.

'Please excuse my grandson, doctor,' she said. 'I've raised him since he was six years old and lost his parents. He's very attached to me and sometimes lets his emotions take over him.'

Rory gave them a nod, feeling Noah's doubtful look on her temple.

'What complications?' he asked straightforwardly. No nonsense.

Rory tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. If the cysts pokes open, your grandmother is gonna die. How do you say that?

'Echinococcus cysts grow in the host's body for years, getting larger and larger with time,' she started. 'At first there are no symptoms, but as the cyst gets big enough and starts compressing neighboring structures...'

'Cut the bullshit and answer the damn question,' Noah snapped.

'Noah!' Mrs Stanford gasped. 'I'll ask you to leave the room,' she turned to him, her voice polite but firm. Seemed like it wasn't unusual for them to have this conversation. If the guy lost his parents at the age of six it was no wonder why he would be protective of the only family he had left. However, there was something... unbridled about Noah's demeanor that Rory couldn't place but felt nonetheless.

'Grandma,' Noah turned to Mrs Stanford but she slipped her palm from under his and lifted it to show him the door.

'Noah, I have to ask you to leave the room.' She gave him a pleading look. 'Please.'

There it was, Rory thought. They had been through this, she could tell for sure. She imagined Noah as a troubled teenager, getting into fights, struggling through his loss, at the same time trying to hold on to what he did have left. It couldn't have been easy on either of them.

'We're doing our best for your grandma,' Rory said gently. Noah looked at her and his green eyes were troubled green, the green of a restless sea before a storm. Rory's breath hitched at the weight of this look. It bore so much hope and despair. He didn't say anything as he passed her by on his way out.

When he closed the door after himself Elizabeth Stanford sighed and suddenly looked tired and a couple of years older.

'He was so young when he lost his parents,' she sighed. 'He's still so young. Finished military school two years ago. He always dreamed to enroll in the army but didn't want to leave me alone with the ranch. After my husband passed away four years ago it's been only Noah and me. He lost his parents to malaria. They were tour guides and traveled around Africa. They got ill during one of their trips to Kenya. The doctors did their best but couldn't save them, and Noah never got over it. He lost his fate in medicine. You should've seen him when I had to get my gallbladder removed,' she shook her head. 'He was like a lion in a cage. He's a good boy but he's very protective.'

'Look, Mrs Stanford,' Rory said, 'we're really doing our best. If the surgery could be spared, we would.'

'I know, dear,' Mrs Stanford smiled understandingly. 'It's spilled milk.'

'Sorry?'

'Spilled milk,' she explained. 'That's what my mom used to say when a situation went bad. It's already bad, don't beat yourself up for not being able to make it okay. Do what you need to do. Where do I sign the informed consent papers?'

'The grandson is giving me chills,' Rory shook her head. They were sitting in a seminar room, discussing the case. There were a couple of more doctors and two scrub nurses, including Helen.

'I suspect he had some serious anger management issues and that's why he'd been sent to military school,' Rory reasoned.

Jess rose an eyebrow.

'I know someone who's been to military school and the only anger management issues I have to deal with around him are my own.'

Helen chuckled. Rory smiled absently.

'This guy is different,' she sighed. 'You didn't see him. There's this... he's got this wild eye thing about him. You don't know what he's gonna do next.'

Jess rubbed his knuckles against his lips, thinking. It had to be an open surgery. A cyst of this proportion couldn't be dissected laparoscopically. If they left it inside her liver, it would continue pressing the patient's vital organs.

He looked up at Rory.

'You trust me?'

'I trust you.'

He gave her a nod.

Then, keeping his eyes on hers, he turned in Helen's direction.

'Helen, call the senior scrub nurse, tell her I need a team for resecting the Alien at Fourth.'

Her eyes were pooling with tears. He swallowed hard, taking the seat next to her.

'I'm sorry,' he said, his voice gravelly with exhaustion.

She turned to look at him. Her eyes were sparkling.

'I know.'

He held his breath. They'd lost patients before. But this felt different. Elizabeth Stanford's case was the first patient they'd both been so personally involved with. At the back of his mind he was asking himself if Rory would blame him for not being able to save the woman.

Rory put her head to rest on his shoulder, squeezing his arm affectionately .

'I love you. So much.'

He let out a relieved sigh and put a hand around her, combing through her hair with his fingers in slow, calming strokes. She rested further into him and he put a kiss on her forehead. She wasn't blaming him. She was thanking him for being there.

'Come on,' he said in her hair. 'Let's go home.'

They stood up from the bench and started walking through the common waiting area when something in Rory's peripheral vision moved. Something shiny. She turned to see Noah Stanford standing a couple of feet away, holding a gun. The young man's handsome face was pale and grief-stricken, but his eyes were wild. He rose the gun.

'Noah, no!' Rory tried to say but before she could get the words out something smacked onto her, tumbling her down. Jess. There was the sound of a shot, loud and clear, and then everything blurred into muffled screams and voices as her ears zinged with the shrill sound. And then she felt something warm spill down her neck. She tried to move but Jess' weight was squashing her down.

'Jess?' she heard someone say. It must have been her. She wasn't sure. Then, louder, with more apprehension. 'Jess!'

Something warm drizzled down her neck. A sweet metallic scent. Blood.

She tried to shake him but he wouldn't move. Muffled voices blurred around them and suddenly she stopped feeling Jess' weight over her as someone pulled him off her, moving him onto a stretcher. She felt hands supporting her head as she was moved onto a gurney herself. She tried to catch sight of Jess but someone flashed a light into her eyes. She thought she heard the words head shot but couldn't say for sure. Her head was spinning. Her stomach felt sick. The sweet metallic scent filled her nostrils with each labored breath as panic began to strike.

She tried to sit but was pushed back.

'Jess...' she mumbled. 'I have to see Jess...'

She felt something prickle her skin and dizziness started to take over. Everything went black.

TBC