A/N: Okay. I'm going on vacation for a bit, so I won't be updating. I've got an idea for a fanfic that very well might get me stoned to death, but I swear, I'll make it good! Um, this is the sequel to "The Beginning" and I hope you see where I'm going with the titles…Eventually, I'll consolidate all this series into one document with "The Beginning" "The Middle" and "The End" as the chapters. Um, PG for the same *little* language. I don't own these characters, that is the sole right of someone much luckier than I. Anyway, enjoy!

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Good Dreams and Fate Bites

It was an unfamiliar sensation for Rory…not being obligated to be anywhere for someone else. It had been a while since she didn't feel guilty about wanting to stay home and do laundry, have a movie marathon with her mother, or hang out with Lane. Or Jess. Dean had hated Jess from the moment he came to town, and made it plain he hated that Rory liked Jess.

Rory enjoyed her month of time for her. But by the end of the month, she was ready to do stuff outside the house again, minus the Friday dinners of course.

Rory left her room that Monday morning before school, smiling.

"Look at you," her mother remarked between sips of coffee. "Aren't we cheery this morning? And even without coffee. What's happening today?"

"Nothing special," Rory said.

"Then why the toothpaste-ad smile?"

"Weird dreams. Good, but weird dreams."

"Tell."

"Well, okay. Everyone from Stars Hollow was on this huge airplane. And suddenly, everyone realized that there was no pilot flying the plane. So, everyone started volunteering me to go and fly it." Rory shook her head. "I didn't want to, and I kept asking everyone to help me. You were too busy arguing with Luke over which was worse—coffee or tea, oddly enough, you were defending tea—and Lane was with the cheerleaders practicing. I still kept asking everyone, when Dean showed up in a stewardess outfit."

Her mother nearly snorted her coffee. She coughed for a minute, laughing at the same time, but finally got herself under control. "Sorry. I just got a bad mental picture. Continue."

Rory was fighting the urge to laugh herself. "Well, he began passing out three-foot-long licorice whips in black, red, and polka-dots. I didn't want one, so I headed to the front of the plane, resigned to flying it by myself. I got up to the cockpit, and Jess is sitting there in one of the seats. He turns when I come in and says, 'Hey, co-pilot. Wanna help me fly?' I smiled at him, and we flew the plane back to Stars Hollow. It was just weird."

Rory took her first swallow of coffee and grinned. "Yea, this day is going to be good, I can tell."

"Never jinx anything like that," Lorelai told Rory scoldingly. "What have I told you about tempting fate to bite you on your ass?"

"Um, don't do it?"

"Precisely," Lorelai said. "Come on, it's time for breakfast. And Heaven in a mug." She nearly danced out their house. Rory sighed and shouldered her bag for school, following her dippy mother.

At the diner, Jess was just waking up. As soon as he glanced at the calendar, he broke into a grin. His personal deadline was up. He could begin pursuit of Rory. He'd start with coffee at the bus stop that afternoon. Sure, Dean had done it, but it had worked for him, and he wouldn't screw up whatever he had with Rory by liking someone else.

He got up, got dressed, and did his hair. When he got downstairs, he saw Lorelai and Rory sitting at the counter, Lorelai and Luke engaged in their usual morning argument about how coffee would kill the Gilmores someday, and how everyone was going to die someday, and at least with coffee they would die happily.

"Not much chance of dying peacefully in your sleep with blood in your coffee stream," Luke said dryly.

"What's the fun of dying in your sleep? You'd never know you were dying."

"You want to know when you're going to die?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, don't you? I mean, if you don't, you just stop existing. You might become a ghost. You'd never know you died until you look at the paper one morning and see yourself listed under the obituaries."

"It scares me to think about what goes on in your mother's mind," Jess said to Rory as he reached behind Luke to get the coffee pot. He poured some into Rory's to-go cup, and waited for Lorelai to ask him.

"You're a traitor to health," Luke said, pointing at Jess. "You're letting their bodies deteriorate slowly. You should be more concerned for their health."

"Luke," Lorelai said jokingly. "I didn't know you cared." Luke blushed a bright red very quickly, and Rory and Jess exchanged frustrated looks.

"Fine," Luke said shortly. "Destroy your nervous system. See if I care."

With that he went into the kitchen to make them their breakfast. "What's wrong with him?" Lorelai demanded.

"You're both blind," Jess commented. Then he glanced at his watch. "I gotta get to school."

"So early?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, well, I got detention a while ago and I'm serving it in the morning."

"For what?"

Jess mumbled something. "What was that?" Lorelai asked, grinning.

"I got detention for reading during PE," Jess said.

"Really?"

"Well, I also had a few choice words to the teacher when he tried to take the book away from me to force me to participate." Rory fought a smile.

"Then, by all means, we wouldn't want you to miss detention. See you later."

Jess exited the diner mumbling about stupid gym teachers. Rory and Lorelai wisely stifled their laughter until the door had closed behind him.

"What are you two laughing about?" Luke demanded.

"Your nephew," Lorelai said. "Ooh, breakfast. Better eat fast, kiddo," she added to Rory. "Your bus should be here soon."

Rory bolted her food, kissed her mother on the cheek, said bye to Luke, and still almost missed the bus. Looked like Fate had decided to come and bite her ass that day after all.

She tottered off the bus that afternoon, afraid that she would tip over from her overfull backpack. Chilton teachers piled on homework at every opportunity, but today had been especially bad, especially with the end of the semester nearing.

Rory stood at the bus stop for a long moment, torn between going home and dumping her backpack somewhere, and going to Luke's for coffee. In the end, caffeine won out over future back problems, and she turned towards the diner.

And almost plowed into Jess, carry two cups of coffee.

Rory quickly backed up a few steps, overbalanced, and fell. She sat on the ground awkwardly for a moment before glaring up at Jess. "I hear one sound that sounds like humor, and you won't live to regret it." Jess didn't even so much as smirk as he set the coffee down and pulled her to her feet.

Gratefully, she walked to a bench and dropped her backpack onto it. She would have sworn she heard wood crack.

"Here," Jess said. He shoved the coffee into her hands, and lifted the backpack from the bench. "Oh, my god," he gasped. "What do you have in here?"

"It would scare you to find out," she said darkly after draining half the first cup. "And you don't know how good this coffee tastes after a day at Hell."

"Come on," Jess said. He began to lift the backpack onto his own shoulders, inwardly whimpering.

Rory caught herself staring at his arms as he lifted the pack. It was so heavy, and he lifted it like it was nothing. Then she flushed, feeling uncomfortably like Miss Patty, indiscriminately ogling men.

"You do know that chivalry is dead, right?" Rory asked, getting off the bench and walking beside Jess towards her house. "I mean, not that I don't appreciate it. My back is going to kill me when I'm older."

"Chivalry is dead. I'm just being nice."

"Thank you," Rory said. "For the coffee, and the carrying. It's really sweet of you."

Jess stopped in his tracks and demanded, "Did you just call me sweet?" He was secretly very pleased, but acted offended. "Oh, god, don't ever tell anyone you said that. My reputation as a hoodlum will be utterly ruined."

"You've never been a hoodlum," Rory scoffed.

They began walking again. "How do you know?"

"Because you're like Tom Sawyer."

Jess looked at her now, eyebrow raised, looking amazingly similar to Luke. "How on earth do you figure that? Since when did I con anyone into painting a fence?"

"Not like that," she said. "I mean, Tom Sawyer was always playing pranks, but he never meant any harm, and was a good person all things considered. You're the same way."

"Thank you. First I'm Doger, now I'm Tom Sawyer. Who else are you going to compare me to?"

"I'm sure more will come to me, sometime," Rory said.

They climbed the steps to her house, and Jess gratefully dropped her bag just inside the door.

"Wanna come in?" Rory asked, leaning against the door.

"Can't," he said with real regret. "I was just taking a break. I've gotta get back to the diner."

"Oh," Rory said, inexplicably disappointed. "Okay. See you later?"

"Probably for dinner," he said.

"Yeah, probably," Rory replied, smiling. "See you later."

"You said that already."

"Bye."

"Later."