A/N: I'm late with updating again, I know, but this time I have a really god excuse: I had the chapter almost finished and was going to post it during the weekend when Winter Vomiting Disease decided to make a visit. I don't know if that's the correct term in English, but I think you get the picture anyways.

The upside is: I'm feeling pretty good, but as I might still be contagious they won't let me back at work for another 48 hours – and for that same reason none of my friends want to socialize with me. So, for the next 48 hours I'm gonna do my best to update as many of my stories as possible and also publish a oneshot that's already made-up in my head and only needs to be put on paper.

Seeing as the last chapter ended in the middle of a conversation, I thought it would be wise to include a little recap in the beginning of this chapter, so you won't have to go back to see what the conversation was about. Enjoy!


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Recap:

That was it. She gets up from the stool she was seated in and heads for the door. "Hey!" She shouts as she opens the door and spots him standing on the street a few feet away with a lighted cigarette in his hand.

Chris' head darts up to see who the voice belongs to. When he sees Rory standing on the top of the stairs outside Truncheon he goes back to staring out into the street.

Rory walks up to him, now severely agitated by Chris' treatment of her and her own bad conscience for hurting Logan. "I don't know what your problem with me is, if it's something personal or if Paris was right, but either way: I'm not leaving this spot until you tell me what the problem is and how we're going to solve it!"

"Well then, looks like you have a long night on the streets ahead of you as I'm planning to head back in as soon as I'm done with this" Chris holds his cigarette up towards her as to clarify.

"I–I…" Rory's courage falters as she looks into Chris' smirking face. "Look…" she says in a tired voice. "…I don't know what your problem is, but it looks like we're going to be living together for some time, I'm not saying we have to become best friends…but can't we at least establish a truce of some kind?"

"A truce?" He asks, neither his face nor his voice revealing what his thoughts on the subject might be.

"Yeah" Rory nods, getting some of her courage back when realizing he wasn't shooting her proposition down. "A truce"

Chris takes a long look at her and then sighs. "Sure"

"Okay" Rory looks down at her feet and then up at Chris again. "Okay" She repeats and gives him a half-hearted smile.


.


The sound of Jess' alarm clock going off forces Rory out of her dreams and into the real world. She grunts at the alarm and slowly opens her eyes. She feels the warmth from Jess' body against her back and the weight of his arm across her waist, even in his sleep he's holding her close. She smiles. Not even the annoying sound of the alarm clock could diminish the extent of happiness she feels from waking up like this; close to Jess.

Jess reaches over towards the nightstand and turns the alarm off before going back to his position behind her. He wraps his arm around her again and kisses the nape of her neck.

"Sorry for waking you up" He whispers, his voice still a bit hoarse from sleep.

Rory turns around to face him and strokes her hand softly along his jaw line. "It's okay" She says as she leans in to kiss him. A smile plays on her lips when she pulls back from the kiss. "I like waking up like this"

"Yeah" He leans forward to give her a drowsy kiss. "Me too" He lies down on his back and pulls her with him, landing her head on his chest. He strokes a few strands of hair behind her ears and pulls the covers tighter around them.

"I thought you didn't have to get to work until later today?" She asks as she watches her hand drawing circles on his chest, next to her head.

"I don't" He answers and leans down to press his lips at the top of her head. "But I have something else I need to do?"

"Like what?" She raises her head slightly.

"Oh, nothing" He answers, trying to sound casual. "I just have a favor I need to call in"

"Does this have something to do with your plan to get on the good side with the town?"

"Maybe" Rory can almost hear the smirk on his lips.

"Oh, it does!" She gets up from her position on his chest and looks at him with eager eyes. "What is it?"

"I told you I'll let you know when it's time" This time she can actually see the smirk on his lips.

"But, when is it time?" She asks and pouts. "We're leaving in two days"

"Guess you'll have to wait and see" He says and pulls her head down towards his and kisses her to make her questioning stop.

"But..." She protests, but he doesn't let her finish her protest before he presses his lips to hers again.

She pulls her head back with laughter shining through her eyes. "What if…" Jess shakes his head and with one swift move he turns them both around so that she lies on her back with his body hovering above her. He leans down to kiss her yet again, more passionate this time.

"Jess" She protests when he lets go of her lips and instead attacks her neck with kisses. "Jess" She whispers again a while later, her protest turned into a moan when his hands start traveling over her body, finding all the right places.

He smirks as he watches her body tremble when he touches her.


.


"I would ask you to join me in the shower, but I think that would make me seriously late for my meeting" Jess says as he leans over and kisses Rory's forehead before getting out of bed.

She smiles. "I don't think I could muster up the energy to even stand up"

He smirks. "You're inflating my ego, Gilmore"

She rolls over to her side and looks at him while biting her lower lip.

"What is it?" He asks, recognizing the gesture all too well.

"I…" Her cheeks turn red and she shifts her eyes' focus from him to the sheets in the bed. "You didn't let me return the favor" She says quickly without looking up from the sheets.

He smiles and leans down to kiss her again. "There'll be plenty of time for that later, and believe me when I say that I would be happy to do that every day of my life without ever asking for anything in return"

She smiles back at him, the blush still making her cheeks red. "Besides…" He continues with a smirk on his lips as he stands back up. "…it was an effective way of stopping your interrogation, wasn't it?"

Rory snorts and throws a pillow in his direction. He laughs as he walks backwards towards the bathroom. "I think I smell coffee in the kitchen" He says and adds before closing the bathroom door behind him. "If you can muster up the energy that is"

Rory rolls over to lie on her back again and she can't help to let a giggle escape her throat. She can't remember the last time she felt this happy, this content with her life.

Being with Jess was everything she ever dreamed it would be. That – and more. It was so different from last time they dated. This wasn't two teenagers madly in love with each other. This was two mature, grown-up persons starting to build a life together.

Finally, after all this time, they were on the same page.

The smell of coffee coming from the kitchen reminds her of her other addiction. Yeah, that was probably the right way to put it. Jess had become an addiction to her. The more time she spent with him, the more time she wanted to spend with him.

She crawls out of bed and finds a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt on the floor and throws them on before exiting the room and walking towards the smell of coffee.

She hesitates shortly in the doorway when she sees Chris standing in the kitchen, suddenly reminded of what happened in the kitchen the morning before. But they had established a truce now, right? That meant he had to act civil towards her.

She swallows the lump in her throat and walks into the kitchen and greets him with a smile on her lips. He returns her greet with a short nod. At least that's better than mean words, Rory thinks as she walks up to him and the coffeemaker.

"Coffee?" Chris asks and holds a mug full of it out towards Rory as she approaches.

"Yeah" Rory says, looking rather confused. "Thanks" She takes the mug and resists the urge to sniff at its contents to see if it really is coffee. Maybe this truce thing was really working. She smiles tentatively at Chris, but he has already turned his back towards her and is heading out of the kitchen.

She takes her mug and sits down at the table, not knowing what to make out of what just happened.


.


Rory walks along one of the shelves in at Truncheon, running her finger along the spines of the books in it. She casts a glance at Jess, standing by the counter, engaged in a phone call with someone. She thinks it might be one of the printers the guys worked with, but she wasn't sure. She smiles to herself as she watches him.

It was amazing what he had done. How he had turned his life around and created all of this. Well, he hadn't done it on his own – but he was a part of it.

"You look annoyingly happy" Rory stirs as Vanessa comes up behind her with a smile on her lips.

"Yeah" She answers and tears her eyes away from Jess to look at Vanessa instead. "I think I am" She can't stop smiling. "It's…it's just so amazing, everything he's done"

Vanessa smiles as well. "Listen…" She says and puts her hand on Rory's arm. "Jess told me that you were looking for some kind of a reporting job"

"Yeah" Rory bites her lip. "I would like to work. I know you work at a newspaper, but I don't want to get any favors, I mean I would love to get a job, but I wouldn't want to get one only because I'm your friend. Not that I know if you would consider me a friend, but I mean–"

"Calm down" Vanessa laughs and interrupts her rant. "First of all: I would like to consider you as a friend. Second of all: There is a position opening up at the local department, one of the reporters is going on maternity leaf in two weeks from now. This is very last minute, seeing as she decided to keep her pregnancy a secret for as long as possible. I don't know what kind of influence you think I have, but I'm not in a position to give you the job, I am however in the position to tell my boss about you and maybe set up a meeting.

"Really?" Rory's face is beaming with happiness.

"It's nothing fancy, but at least you'll get to do some writing"

"I-I would love to get to do some actual writing"

"Great. I'll arrange the meeting sometime next week then" Vanessa smiles and with a quick look at her watch she adds: "I'm glad I got a chance to talk to you, but now I have to get back to work – my lunch breaks tends to get longer and longer each day and I don't think that's a good thing if I'm going to talk my boss into giving you the job"

Rory opens her mouth to protest, but Vanessa cuts her off before she has a chance. "Don't worry. I was joking. My boss wouldn't hire anyone if she didn't think they were qualified for the job"

"Thank you"

"Don't worry about it, and with your resume as the editor of the Yale Daily news, I think the job is as good as yours, if you want it" Vanessa says before she excuses herself again and leaves.

Rory looks back at Jess, standing behind the counter, still engaged in the phone call, and finds him looking at her, smiling. She smiles back at him and for the first time in a very long time she feels that her life is heading in the right direction.


.


"That's your plan? Are you sure?" Rory asks and locks eyes with Jess as she folds her pants and places them on a chair next to the bed.

He shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah. I think it's the easiest way to do it. Why? Don't you think it's a good idea?"

"I think it's a great idea, I just wasn't sure you'd want that…"

"Well, if you're going to date the town princess it'd be a lot easier to have the town on your side." He smirks. "I've tried it the other way around, you know – and as much as I loved the 'bad boy' label I think it would be easier if I didn't have them rooting against me"

"Don't call me that"

He smirks. "Why? It's true"

"Yeah, no need to remind me…" She cringes at the memory. "Taylor actually crowned me, but I think that was queen and not princess"

"Did you get an actual crown?"

"Yeah, there was an actual crown, and Taylor had Kirk put up posters everywhere with my picture on it, naming me the 'Stars Hollow Ice Cream Queen'" She looks over at Jess, who's standing next to the bed with his eyes closed. "What are you doing?"

He opens his eyes and looks at her with a smirk. "I'm picturing it"

"Stop it!" She slaps his arm and he laughs and catches her hand and draws her closer.

"You're looking pretty damn hot in that crown" He wraps his arms around her and kisses her.

"I didn't! I never even wore the crown or the cape – did I tell you he rented a cape as well? He never even asked me if I wanted to be crowned queen, he just told me to wear a 'sage-colored floor-length dress' and he would take care of the rest. Then he–"

"No…" Jess interrupts her, mumbling against her neck, with his eyes closed again. "In my fantasy you're not wearing a floor-length dress. In fact…in my fantasy – there's nothing but the crown. Maybe the cape as well, but definitely no dress"

"Jess!" She laughs and slaps his chest.

"Sschh" He says and puts his index-finger across her lips. "That's not very queen-like" He covers her lips with his.

After a while Rory pulls back with a serious look on her face. "I love you Jess" She says as she strokes his cheek.

"I love you too" He answers with the same serious look on his face.


Two days later


"All packed and ready to go" Chris announces as he puts the last of the boxes in the trunk of the car.

Rory smiles towards him and he returns the smile. He had been acting very nice around her these last couple of days. It seemed as if this truce thing was really going to work. Although, at times it was very obvious that his smiles wasn't sincere or that the nice words coming out of his mouth were rather forced - but at least it was a start.

"Great, let's hit the road then" Vanessa says as she closes the trunk.

"Just a thought…" Matt asks as he looks from the trunk, crammed with boxes, to Jess and back again. "…with all those boxes, how are we going to fit any of Rory's stuff into the car when we're going back?"

"The boxes aren't coming back with us" Rory says and smiles. "They're part of Jess' plan"

"Jess' plan?" Matt looks intrigued. "Tell me about this plan"

"Get in the car and I'll tell you on the way" Rory says and smiles as she takes the front-seat next to Jess.

"Don't leave out the part where Taylor crowned you Ice-cream Queen" Jess says and smirks as he starts the engine up.

"Ice Cream Queen? That's a job I would like" Matt says with a smile.

"Oh, not with Taylor as the mayor, you wouldn't" Rory says and smiles back at him as the car starts rolling towards Stars Hollow.