A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews, peops. Some of you have guessed where we're going next, and some of you probably realise that, as we head to the end of the season, the story is almost over. Never say never when it comes to sequels, but we are definitely in the final stages of this story as it stands. That said, there's still some good stuff to happen. Enjoy! ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 36

Rory Gilmore was bored. Most teens probably longed for the freedom of nothing to do and nobody to please, but trapped in her father's apartment, in a city she didn't know, with no friends to call on or real cash to spend, she was just bored.

Boston was okay on the weekend when Christopher was showing her the sights, taking her out to dinner, and buying her whatever gifts might cheer her up a little.

Being alone in the apartment all day while he worked was okay when she had her school assignments to keep up with and music blaring in the background as loud and long as the neighbours would tolerate.

Unfortunately, the school stuff was pretty much done, the neighbours had complained one too many times, and Rory was lonely. There was too much time for her mind to wander, for her to contemplate her life, her past, her future. She thought too much about Lorelai and Stars Hollow and all that had happened in the last few months. She had way too much time to think about Jess and to miss him like she never missed anybody before.

Closing her eyes against the picture of her boyfriend that so clearly appeared in her mind's eye unbidden, Rory tried to think of anything else, anything but the moment he told her loved her, anything but the way it felt to be close to him, anything but the pain in his eyes and the blisters on his skin after the fire.

Forcing earbuds into her ears, she cranked the volume on the stereo and lost herself in the screaming of some classic punk for a while, until her ears felt fit to bleed and she had no more tears left to cry. It was her own kind of therapy, a far cry from the various attempts professionals made, but it helped, for a little while.

In the bathroom, a while later, she removed the ruined make up from her face a piece at a time, not bothering to reapply for a while. Christopher wouldn't be home for hours yet and nobody else was going to see her anyway. Rory took a moment to stare at her own face in the mirror, blotchy from crying and from removing her make-up, slowly fading back to paler than pale.

Rory turned away from her reflexion and headed back to her room. She had her hand on the doorknob when she heard a knocking. Rory frowned and turned her head towards the front door of the apartment. Nobody could get into the building without invitation. You had to push a button outside and wait to be buzzed in, but she knew as well as anyone that there were ways around that kind of thing.

She could ignore it, she probably should in fact. It wasn't as if whoever was there could really expect anyone to be in. If she had never come to visit, Christopher would always be out at this time on a weekday and the person knocking would get no reply. Still, something made Rory curious. Maybe she was just looking to break the boredom as she moved towards the door and cautiously prised it open. Her jaw dropped with surprise when she saw who waited on the other side.

"Jess."

"Rory."

Her name came out with some kind of sigh (perhaps of relief that he had the right apartment) and a smile that made her heart skip a beat in a way she still hadn't entirely become accustomed to, even after all this time.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" she asked, snapping from a momentary daze. "How did you even know...?"

"Never underestimate the powers of Paris Geller," said Jess, smiling still. "God knows why she wanted to help me out. Best guess is she knew I'd skip out on school to come here, maybe give her a better shot at finishing first in the ranking when Junior year ends."

Rory nodded absently, still a little over-awed to realise he was actually there, in Boston, just to see her. Her eyes ran over his body then and she realised he was wearing his Chilton uniform, though he had removed the tie at some point and popped the top two buttons on his shirt.

"You skipped school," she said, shaking her head. "You... you drove to Boston?"

"Pretty much." Jess nodded, looking strangely nervous then. "Please tell me this conversation isn't going to end with a door in my face."

Rory laughed, one strangled burst, before she pushed forward and put her arms around Jess, pulling him close enough to kiss. She knew she missed him, she hoped he missed her, but when their lips met and they became a tangle of limbs in the doorway, the emotion between them was palpable. It was more than just plain old 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' stuff. This was the real thing and Rory had never been more sure of it, at least until she felt Jess flinch away from her, a muffled yelp escaping his lips as he disentangled himself. She watched him step back, biting his lip and hissing in pain, his arm held out at a strange angle.

"It's okay," Jess assured her, alerting Rory to the fact that she must have been looking as guilty as she felt. "Most of the time, I forget about it too," he said of his burned arm.

Rory crossed her own arms over her chest and backed up a little more.

"So, it's still bad?" she asked awkwardly.

"It is what it is." Jess shrugged, picking his bag up from where he dropped it in their moment of passion and moving it closer to the couch where it was less likely to get tripped over. "It hurt before, still does sometimes, but not so much. Showering isn't fun, you know, it's a lot of Saran wrap and stuff, but it's healing."

Rory was sure he was just trying to make her feel better, but it wasn't working. The guilt of that night just haunted her, along with a bunch of other things. She was the one who got Jess smoking. It was her who distracted him so he dropped the lit cigarette in the kitchen. She caused him harm, she destroyed part of Luke's house, she gave Lorelai a reason to look at her like a disappointment, again.

"Hey," said Jess then, moving back into Rory's personal space. "I told you already, none of this was your fault," he promised, fingers under her chin making her look at him even when she seemed determined not to. "Rory, no-one is blaming you for anything. Not Luke, not Lorelai. Especially, not me."

She looked up into his eyes then, looking for something she didn't really expect to find, and yet, it was still there. He told her once that he loved her and for maybe the first time in her life, Rory was so sure that the person saying those words to her meant them sincerely. She believed Jess still felt that way about her, even if she could never understand why.

"Why did you come here?" she asked, her voice too soft to her own ears.

"Because..." Jess began, hand moving to tuck her hair behind her ear. "I missed you and I needed you to know that nobody blames you for what happened. I was also hoping, if I could actually see you, maybe I could convince you to come home."

Rory smiled slightly. "Home. That's such a weird concept," she mused. "It's meant to be a place, but supposedly, wise people will tell you it's people."

"I guess it can be both." Jess shrugged. "Depends on the place, depends on the people."

"I guess." Rory nodded, moving in a little closer, encouraging Jess' uninjured arm around her. "But when you find the right person, and the right place, it feels pretty good."

Jess smiled down at her and then leaned in for a kiss. He thought once before she had been trying to tell him how she really felt, but couldn't really be sure. Right in that moment, as Rory literally put herself in his hands and called him her home, he knew it was her way of telling him she loved him. The words didn't matter so much. As obsessed as they both could be with books and writing, when it came to feelings, sometimes actions still said more.

As they stumbled towards what could only be Rory's bedroom door, fingers working buttons and fasteners, lips leaving trails of kisses on skin, neither Jess nor Rory spoke a word of what they were doing or what it was going to mean for either of them. All they knew was what they felt for each other and the fact it was overwhelming them both, but they were ready for it now, and nothing was going to stop them seeing it through.

Luke slammed the phone back into the cradle and forced a calming breath through his lungs. There were too many customers downstairs for him to be gone long, he needed to get back to work. He wouldn't have taken the call if he hadn't absolutely had to, but when he realised it was a woman from the administration office at Chilton, he didn't really feel as if he had a choice. He had it re-routed to the phone upstairs for privacy's sake and found out from there that Jess hadn't shown up for school today.

Running back down the stairs now, he hoped rather than believed that he looked normal so no-one would ask if anything was wrong. No such luck apparently.

"Hey," Lorelai greeted him with a smile that faded way too fast. "Ooh, something's wrong. Oh, my God, is it Jess? Is it his arm?"

Luke shook his head and adjusted his hat for good measure. Grabbing a large cup, he filled it up with coffee and placed it in front of Lorelai.

"I'll be a while clearing the rush, but then I need to talk to you," he told her fast, before throwing himself into his work.

Twenty minutes later, he returned to find that Lorelai's cup was empty, as he knew it would be. Luke gave her a refill, then moved back towards the curtain that hid the stairs and gestured for her to go with him. Lorelai didn't argue, even though she looked understandably confused.

"Luke, you're scaring me now," she admitted as they faced each other in the storeroom/office. "Is something wrong with Jess?"

"Yes and no," he admitted, sighing heavily. "Jess didn't show up at school today. When they called me up a half hour ago to ask why, I said he was sick, which was probably stupid since he's not, but I panicked. The last thing I wanted to do was admit that I didn't know for sure where he actually was."

"Oh," said Lorelai, eyes dipping to her coffee cup for a beat too long. "You think he...?"

"Went to see Rory?" Luke finished for her. "It seems like the obvious choice."

"But he doesn't even know where she is." Lorelai shook her head. "She made me swear not to give him the address and I kept my promise, dumb as I thought it was."

"Well, somehow, he found out," said Luke, trying not to let his frustration out on Lorelai since none of this was really her fault. "He never did anything like this before, it's the only place he would go. He just... I don't know, he loves her, I guess."

"He does." Lorelai nodded her agreement. "For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure she feels the same way. I don't think she could possibly have felt so guilty about what happened to him if she didn't."

"Well, that's just dumb," Luke insisted. "You told her it was dumb, right? Because, trust me, I told Jess how stupid he was, trying to fight that fire when he could've just got out. A kitchen can be fixed, it's just wood and metal parts, all replaceable. His getting hurt was his fault, and when I think that Rory could've been injured too..." he trailed off, shaking his head.

"Come on, Luke, now you're making it sound as if it was your fault somehow," Lorelai told him, her hand on his arm. "It's really not. They're seventeen years old and no matter what we do or don't do, they have minds of their own. They're going to make mistakes. Heck, I'm over thirty and I still make plenty."

Luke sighed. "I know. I know that this is just what happens with kids and people and... I just feel like these last few months, everywhere I turn, I'm drowning. I am so out of my depth, I can't even see my own hat."

Lorelai smirked at the attempt at humour, she couldn't help it, but was serious again in a second.

"Luke, if you think you're not waving but drowning, imagine how I feel," she told him honestly. "This whole thing with me suddenly getting to really feel like Rory's mom, it has been... well, I'd say a rollercoaster, but the Cyclone got nothing on parenting. I do not know what I'm doing, and given what's happened lately, I can't exactly congratulate myself on a job well done."

"You've been doing your best," Luke insisted. "I know things have been tough, but Rory, she's changed since she came here. You're making a difference to her, Lorelai."

"I hoped I was, but then she ran to Chris."

"Because she got scared, not because she doesn't love you."

Lorelai smiled even as her eyes filled with tears that were equal parts happy and sad. At some point her hands had got into Luke's own and they had drifted to the point of standing toe to toe. She looked up at him, into those beautiful kind eyes and felt his warm hands comfortingly holding her own.

"Thank you, Luke," she told him, swallowing hard. "I don't know how I'd've dealt with all the Rory stuff without you."

"Hey, you've helped me too," he said definitely. "With Jess, with all kinds of things. I mean, you know... you know what you mean to me, right?"

"Not exactly," Lorelai admitted, biting her lip. "You think maybe you wanna tell me?"

Luke tugged her ever closer, his hands slipping from hers so that his arms could wind around her waist and he leaned down and kissed her. They were lost in the moment for quite a while, but when they finally surfaced, Lorelai was left in no doubt of Luke's feelings for her.

"Strong answer," she said giddily. "Coming through loud and clear there, my friend," she joked, unsure what else to say in the circumstances. "And for the record, me too."

"Yeah, I got that," said Luke, smiling back at her, basking for a moment in the reaffirming of what was between them, but only for a moment. "Unfortunately, as much as talking about us is great, I think we probably need to do something about those kids of ours?"

"Good point," Lorelai agreed, huffing out a disappointed breath as she stepped back out of the circle of his arms and reached for her cell. "Best I can do is try. I'm guessing it if you call Jess, he'll just screen you until he's ready to talk, but Rory might answer, not knowing that I know."

"Thank you, Lorelai," Luke told her sincerely. "I really appreciate it."

"I like appreciation," she said saucily, "but maybe save it for later," she suggested, dialling Rory's cell and putting the phone to her ear, waiting for an answer she wasn't sure was going to get.

Rory glanced across at Jess lying beside her in the bed. She almost wanted to ask him if he was okay, but knew that might just crush his masculinity or something, even if most of her concern was for his injured arm. He looked okay, better than that, in fact. What just happened was pretty amazing, even for Rory. She had plenty of experience when it came to sex, but what just happened here, it was special, and she knew it was only because it was him.

"So..." said Jess, finally turning his head to look at her.

"So..." she echoed back, smiling because she couldn't help it. "I'm just kind of wondering what you were so worried about all this time."

"Yeah, me too," he agreed, shifting closer, his hand at her cheek as he kissed her sweetly. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"I don't know. Being you."

"You have to be the only person in the world who would thank me for being me." Rory smiled, leaning into his touch. "Most people wish I was different."

"I don't," he promised her. "You're something else, Rory Gilmore. You're... you're everything for me."

She wasn't sure why her throat suddenly felt so thick that she could barely swallow, why her vision started to blur, or maybe she knew exactly and just didn't want to admit it to herself. At the very least, she ought to tell him. After what just happened here, it seemed like the right thing to do.

"Jess..."

"What?" he prompted when her voice faltered.

Rory had her lips parted ready to try again when suddenly the raucous crashing sound of a downloaded ringtone tore asunder whatever perfect moment might have been occurring. Rory took the easy out, diving from the bed to retrieve her cell. When she saw it was Lorelai calling, she suddenly felt very weird about being naked and with a guy in this moment, even if it was Jess. Maybe especially because it was Jess.

"Rory?" he said from the bed.

"You should get dressed," she said, grabbing for her own clothes, without even glancing his way. "I'm pretty sure this is the call that summons you home."

To Be Continued...