Jess held Rory's hand tightly in his the entire way to the bridge. After she'd brushed off the discussion of Christmas so quickly the unsettled feeling he'd been harbouring had suddenly taken over and he was afraid to speak in case his voice gave him away. They stopped midway but neither of them spoke for a long while, each just staring out across the water, remembering all the other times they'd spent together here. Jess remained stubbornly silent, Rory was the one who wanted to talk so she had to be the one to start this.

"I can't do this anymore!" her voice finally broke through the silence like a shouted whisper.

Jess felt his heart shatter and looked at her unable to speak but the silence was quickly filled again by Rory continuing her outburst.

"I'm sick of living out of a suitcase and not feeling like I have a home and I can't stand the thought of going back out there again and getting on that stupid bus and listening to the same address over and over again. I want a real job in a real office with my own desk that I can keep photographs on and maybe I'd even get a plant or some plastic flowers or something, anything that would be mine and permanent and I wouldn't have to pack into another stupid suitcase at the end of another stupid day. Just because I had a plan that I could do this traveling journalist thing when I was 16 years old doesn't mean I have to keep on trucking when it's making me miserable. Plans can change, right? I've changed and being back here with you, with my family, I know that I don't want to do this anymore. I can't do this anymore."

Jess was still speechless but his heart seemed to have returned to working order and his pulse rate was settling back down to a relatively normal pace. She was quitting? What did that mean? Was she moving back to Stars Hollow? Was she going to come and live in Philadelphia?

"Do you have a new plan?" Jess dared to ask her.

"Do you know what I told Christiane Amanpour when she asked me what kind of journalist I wanted to be? I told her I wanted to work for a major daily! I think that's my new plan. I have until Monday to decide."

"Monday?" None of this was making any sense to him, yet.

"The editor at the Providence Journal called me last week to offer me the position I turned down back in May. The woman who took the job is due to go on maternity leave at the end of January and they offered me a contract. It would only be for as long as she's away but it would mean an office and a desk and..."

"Picture frames, a dead plant. I get it Rory. So, Providence huh?" Jess could feel the band around his chest loosening.

"It's only 4 hours by train." Rory met his eyes for the first time.

"Look Rory, if this is what you want to do then I guess I just have to support you. If you really think this will make you happy then I think you should accept." He told her sincerely, still mulling it over in his own mind. It wasn't exactly what he'd been hoping she'd tell him but it was a far cry from his worst case scenario.

"It might only be for 7 months, a year at most. We can take turns travelling to each other or we can find somewhere and meet in the middle. I'll keep applying for jobs in Philadelphia..."

"Or maybe I could move to Providence..."

"I can't ask you to do that Jess! I can't ask you to leave Truncheon! You've worked so hard helping build it up, I can't be the reason you walk away from it."

"Rory? The Light and The Dark is doing surprisingly well and these days I spend more time writing than actually helping in the store anyway. I can still go in for events and stocktake and any other time the guys need a hand and they can stop hassling me about when I'll have the next book written which will happen a lot quicker if my muse and I are living under the same roof. Besides, I hear it's only 4 hours by train, what's 4 hours?" He leaned closer to Rory, kissing her to convince her he was speaking the truth.

"So maybe you could move to Providence." she repeated his words thoughtfully.

"As long as you're sure you want me to." Jess searched her eyes for assurance.

"How can you even ask me that?"

He pulled Rory into his arms and hugged her into his chest. They both stood there in silence as the cold evening air swirled around them. Suddenly Rory began to laugh. Jess loosened his grip on her so he could look into her face and make sure she wasn't hysterical and gave her a quizzical look.

"It's snowing Jess! If my mother was here she'd say it was a sign!"

"A sign that we should get back inside before we freeze?"

"No silly, a sign that everything is good and right and as it should be," she explained.

"Huh, I never knew snow could be so informative," Jess mocked.

Rory just slapped him playfully on the shoulder before grabbing his hand and dragging her across the bridge in the direction of her childhood home.

"Come on, let's go share our news," his Rory was back. His happy, vibrant, self assured Rory was back and he knew in that moment moving to Providence was a small price to pay to keep her from disappearing again.

They entered the Gilmore house, leaving their coats and boots in the hall before continuing into the kitchen where Lorelai and Luke were sitting at the table, deep in conversation, their dinner waiting in brown paper bags on the bench.

"Hey kid, what's that smile for? Actually, I take that back, I don't want to know," Lorelai looked from her daughter to him and back again.

"Actually, I think you will want to know this Mom, we've got some news." Jess squeezed her hand in encouragement as she spoke.

"Oh my gosh are you pregnant?" Lorelai squealed.

"No," Rory cut her off.

"Engaged?" Lorelai continued.

"No," Rory shook her head this time.

"Should we keep this guessing game going or should I just let you tell me?"

"You're the one that started it. You could've been celebrating by now if you'd just let me tell you."

Jess has been watching Luke following this conversation and smiled to himself. He wondered if he seemed as happy to Luke as Luke looked to be to him.

"Celebrating? So I take it this is good news then? Something I'll be happy to hear?" she looked sceptically at Jess. She'd come a long way in accepting him as a fixture in Rory's life but he could tell she was still a little wary of him and he couldn't blame her for that.

"Mom?"

"Okay Rory, I'm ready. Tell me your news."

"We're moving to Providence,"

"We as in you and Jess?"

"Yes."

"Random but okay..."

"Remember the job I turned down back in May when I was still hoping to get the Reston?" Rory began to explain.

"The Pro Jo?"

"Yes, The Providence Journal. Turns out the woman who took the job is pregnant and they need someone to cover her maternity leave and the editor called me to see if there was any chance I was still looking for a job. I have to let her know by Monday but we've talked, Jess and I have talked, and I'm going to take it," Rory looked at him as she finished and he smiled at her, nodding in agreement.

"But your job is in Philadelphia?" Lorelai turned Jess.

He could see the confusion in her face dissipate as he explained the rest of the details, as far as they'd figured them out anyway.

"Obviously we've got a few technicalities to sort out in the meantime but we've got 2 months to sort out the little details," he shrugged.

"Okay Rory, I believe you now, he can speak full sentences and use big words." Lorelai turned back to Jess. "This is a pretty big sacrifice you'd be making for my daughter."

"It doesn't seem that big to me. Seems I've got a lot to gain actually," Jess told her sincerely.

"Well I think this is just great! I always knew you two would figure this out. I knew it," Luke shook his head and smiled at his nephew, his eyes full of pride.

"I think this calls for cake!" Lorelai went the fridge and returned with a cake Jess could only assume Luke had brought over for dessert.

"Or maybe a nice healthy salad first? How can you possibly...oh never mind, who wants coffee?" Luke stood up and went about fixing two large cups of coffee for the two Gilmore women who were busy working their way through the cake as Jess watched on in amusement. Luke served up some dinner for himself and Jess and they too sat down to eat. He recalled the time Luke had told him that Rory came with her whole family and suddenly he felt lucky that she did and hopeful that he might one day be a permanent part of it.

A/N thank you to all the guest reviewers who've found and commented on my story. I hope you're still following and enjoying it.