Disclaimer: All of these super awesome characters, their quirky characteristics, and their charming little town, belong to the ever wonderful WB network, not me : )

~This is my first attempt so I would love feedback, good or bad~

Chapter One: Nightime Discoveries

It was late, probably around 2:00 in the morning.  Jess Mariano was lying awake in his bed, he couldn't sleep.  He couldn't help but notice the way the light of the moon made the shadows flicker across the wall.  The way the wind blew outside, and the distinct smell of snow that danced in the air.  He knew if he looked out the window he would see thousands of dazzling stars twinking in the clear sky.  He had to shake his head at his own thoughts.  A year ago he never would have noticed such fanciful details.  A year ago he would have been too busy worrying about where he was gonna get the money to pay back some kid for a bag of weed, or whether or not his Mother was just passed out in the living room or in real danger, to notice things like moonlight and shadows.  A lot had happened in the last year though . . . a year ago he hadn't known her.  Jess found his first smile.

Rory Gilmore.

She was so innocent and pure, so sweet, so smart.  So beautiful inside and out.  She was the exact opposite of Jess in every way.  She represented all the things he thought he could never have.  Maybe that was why he was so drawn to her in the first place.   Jess had known she was special the first time he had seen her, but what he hadn't counted on was her dancing her way right into his heart, his mind, his very soul.  He had tried everything to forget her, move own.  He told himself that she wasn't his type. He told himself that she was half-neurotic and completely impossible.  He told himself he wasn't good enough for her, that she deserved better.  Most importantly, he told himself that she was taken, that she was already in love, that she could and would never be his.  But now she was.

Jess smiled for the second time that night.  Rory had the effect on him, she could make him smile when she wasn't even around.  Jess still had trouble believing that Rory and her long-time boyfriend, bag-boy Dean, had finally broken up.  He had an even harder time believing that the reason they broke up was that Rory wanted to be with him instead.  It didn't matter though.  She was his now and that was all that mattered.  He could hold her, kiss her, smile at her, spend as much time with her as he wanted to now.  He liked that, he liked that a lot.  He liked everything about Rory.  Her soft hair, that always smelled like dewy flowers on a spring morning, her crystalline blue eyes that reflected the very pureness of her soul, her laugh that always sounded like the clear ringing of bells.  Rory made his world make sense, something that Jess hadn't realized was possible until he had met her.  He loved her.  That realization shocked him.  It scared the hell out of him too.  Jess shook his head, and with a whole mass of confused thoughts rambling about inside his head, he finally fell into a fitful sleep.

* * * * *

Rory Gilmore padded out into her mother's room still wearing her fuzzy slippers that were two sizes to small for her feet. She was dressed and almost ready to go but her slippers were so warm she had decided to keep them on for just a tad longer. She brushed a stray strand of her silky brown hair out of her eyes and groaned in frustration.  She really was getting tired of her mother borrowing her things without asking.  She was 250% positive that the last time she had worn her blue coat she had hung it up, where it rightfully belonged, in her closet.  Yet here it was, draped over her mother's desk chair.  She grabbed the jacket and headed back downstairs in no particular hurry.  It was a bright Sunday morning and she just felt like taking her time and enjoying it.  Rory's thoughts drifted to the first annual Stars Hollow Chinese auction that evening.  Rory had never been to a Chinese auction, but apparently everyone bought and gift, stuck it in a paper bag, and then the bag got auctioned off.  Rory thought it was pointless to spend money on something and not know what you were getting, but she was excited about the auction nonetheless.  Last night she and her mother had discussed what they were going to put in their bag.  Lorelai, her mother, had decided it didn't matter what was in the bag, as long as the bag itself was decorated perfectly.

"We can dress it up like Elvis!" she had squealed excitedly.

"We still have to put something inside it," Rory had pointed out.

"We'll just stick some coffee packets in there, it's the perfect gift!" Her mother had reasoned.

Rory had rolled her eyes at that comment, "Mom we need something special, unique, something that truly represents the Gilmore spirit!" she had said dramatically.

"What represents that Gilmore spirit better that coffee?!"

Rory laughed remembering the conversation.  She had won, but now she wished she hadn't bothered.  She and her mother had decided to spend the day searching for just the right gift, but at the last minute she had had to back out.  Michel, an employee at the Inn that her mother worked at, had called and informed Lorelai that there was some sort of emergency regarding the computer files and she really needed to come in.  Rory was left to figure out what to put in the stupid bag on her own.  Suddenly she had a thought, and quickly slipping on her coat, she rushed out the door.