Disclaimers and such in part 1.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 3: Aftermath

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Luke saw Jess leaning on Rory across the street. That concerned him. When they both walked in, covered in blood and soaking wet. He was beyond worried.

"Jess. What happened?" Luke asked, taking Jess off Rory and sitting him in a chair.

Jess just closed his eyes to try and ignore the pain.

Kirk, who was sitting and eating a sandwich saw the blood on Jess and was immediately disgusted. He left mumbling something about keeping your blood inside your body.

"Jess? Rory?" Luke asked, hoping they were both okay.

Rory decided to tell Luke what happened. "We were on the bridge, reading, and Dean came. I told him it was over, and I didn't deny the fact that I was leaving him for Jess. And he freaked out and hit Jess. Jess hit him back. Then Dean shoved him into the lake and Jess hit his head on the bridge when he fell in."

"I'm going to go get some aspirin and band aids," Luke said, heading upstairs.

The familiar jingle of the door sounded and the two left at the table looked up to see who it was.

Lorelai ran in when she saw the blood all over Rory. "OhmyGod! Rory!" She cried, hugging her daughter. Afraid that she was hurt, again.

"Mom! I'm ok. It's not my blood. It's Jess's," Rory said, then went on to explain what had happened.

"Dean? Your Dean?" Lorelai asked, it didn't sound like something Dean would do.

"He's not my Dean," Rory said.

"Your former Dean?" Lorelai clarified.

"Yes, my former Dean," Rory replied.

"Are you sure? It doesn't seem like Dean to nearly kill Jess," Lorelai said. Rory gave her a look. "Okay, fine, maybe it does sound a little like Dean when he's jealous, but-"

"Mom, it was Dean. I was there, it was Dean," Rory said, frustrated. "End of conversation."

"Ok," Lorelai said, finally seeing that it was Dean who hurt Jess.

Luke came back down with band aids and aspirin for Jess. The three of them bandaged him up as best they could.

"What if he needs stitches?" Lorelai asked, admiring their handy work.

"I'll take him to the Doctor's," Rory offered.

"We'll all go," Luke said, flipping the open sign to closed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Is he going to be ok?" Rory asked, as soon as she saw the doctor come out of Jess's room.

"Yes, he'll be fine. We put in five stitches to close the wound. It was a clean cut so there shouldn't be any extensive damage. Jess is aware of this, but if he feels funny, especially around the cut, please inform us right away. I recommend that you bring him back in a few weeks for a check up, and so we can remove the stitches."

"Great, thank you, Doctor," Luke said, shaking his hand.

"No problem. Jess's head should hurt for a while, so I left him with some painkillers. Side effects are minimal. Don't use with alcohol, drugs, etc. And as a warning, the pills may make him a little drowsy, so I don't suggest he operate heavy machinery while on them," he joked.

"Thank you very much," Lorelai said. "Can we take him home?"

The Doctor nodded and wished them a good day before going to attend to other patients.

Jess crawled out of the room, looking a little out of it.

"How do you feel?" Rory asked, helping him to the car.

"No pain. But tired," Jess said.

"Understandable," Rory nodded.

Jess stifled a yawn. "Can we go home?"

Rory nodded yes, and whispered comforting things in his ear the whole way home.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Can I stay with Jess?" Rory asked as her mom was heading out the door.

Lorelai looked at her daughter. She still didn't trust Jess. No matter how much she wanted to.

"I don't know, Rory."

"Mom. Look at him, it's not like we'll be doing anything bad," Rory stated her case.

"Rory," Lorelai cautioned.

"Please?" Rory gave the baby eyes.

"Fine. But you can't sleep with him, sleep on the couch, or the floor, or with Luke," Lorelai said, and then realized the last part was wrong. "Ewww! Don't sleep with Luke. For the love of God, please don't sleep with Luke!"

"Don't worry, mom," Rory smiled. "No sleeping with Luke. Check." Rory then turned and winked suggestively at Luke.

"That's my girl." Lorelai hugged her daughter goodbye, and promised to drop her clothes off in a half hour.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Rory went up stairs while she was waiting for her mother to drop off her stuff.

"Rory?" Jess asked, when she stepped in the room.

Rory sat down on the edge of the bed. "Yeah?"

"Did you really break up with Dean for me?" Jess wondered. He wanted to know if he had any influence in her decision. He hoped he did. He wanted her to be with him. He wanted to be with her.

Rory let out a small laugh. "The kiss on the bridge, that was definitely the deciding factor. Mostly, I did break up with Dean for you. But the other part of it was, that he was boring. I was bored of my own boyfriend."

"You won't get bored of me," Jess assured.

"I hope not," Rory smiled, and kissed him on the forehead. "Get some sleep, I'll be here when you wake up."

"You stayin' over?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, mom's bringing my clothes. I need to get out of these cold, wet ones," Rory shivered, feeling the cold. Her clothes weren't soaking wet, but the damp clothes mixed with the air-conditioning made her very cold.

Jess rubbed her arms to keep her warm. "Hey, there's a big black shirt on that chair, get out of your clothes and put it on. If you want some shorts, I have some boxers you can use," Jess said.

"Thanks," Rory said, taking the shirt and boxers and getting changed.

"Better?" Jess asked, drowsy, when Rory walked back in.

"Yup," she said, lying down next to him.

"Warmer?"

Rory nodded, but the shiver gave her away.

Jess lifted the covers. "Get in."

Rory looked unsure.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to try anything. Blankets, warm. You, cold," Jess said.

Rory looked at him once more before getting under. She rested her head on his shoulder.

Being together was a dream come true for both of them. Jess had waited so long to be with Rory. And now that he finally was, nothing could make him feel better. Rory on the other hand, recently discovered her feeling for Jess. And with every passing day, she found herself liking him, maybe even loving him, more and more.

"Does this hurt?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Jess wondered, half asleep.

"Me lying on you. Does it hurt you?" Rory asked, more clearly this time.

"No," Jess smiled and wrapped his arms around her, before drifting asleep.

Rory, who was more tired than she expected, found herself falling asleep with Jess. All promises to her mother, forgotten.

Luke came upstairs to drop off Rory's bag. He found the two snuggled up in Jess's bed. He shook his head, knowing that Lorelai wouldn't be happy with this. But he let the two be, and left Rory's bag at the door, before closing it.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Luke saw Lorelai crossing the street. He quickly poured a cup of coffee for her.

"Hey, Luke." Lorelai sat down. "Rory up?"

"Nah, I think she's still sleeping," Luke replied, handing her the coffee.

Lorelai gulped it down. "I'm going to check on Rory," she said, heading for the stairs.

Luke let her go till he remembered where Rory was. In Jess's bed. With Jess.

"Lorelai!" He called, running up after her.

Lorelai checked the living room, Luke's room, even the bathroom. No Rory. Only one place left to check, Jess's room. Lorelai slowly opened the door, afraid of what she'd find.

Her worst nightmare had come true, Rory was in bed with Jess.

Lorelai opened her mouth to yell 'Rory!' but Luke covered her mouth before she could wake the sleeping teens up.

Luke closed the door and dragged Lorelai to the sofa.

"Luke!" Lorelai whispered, loudly.

"I know. I know what you're thinking. But it was totally innocent," Luke started.

"Innocent? How do you know that? Did you have a spy cam in there?" Lorelai questioned.

"No. Rory was only alone with him for 10 minutes, nothing could have happened. And you know Rory, she would never let Jess do anything to her. She's a good kid, Lorelai, you know that more than anyone," Luke said, his hands rubbing up and down her arms.

"But Luke. Look at them. They're together. In bed. If this isn't bad, then I don't know what is," Lorelai argued. Afraid that her daughter would make the same mistakes she did. Rory had such dreams, Harvard and everything. She didn't want those dreams thrown away on account of some boy.

"Lorelai. Whatever problems you have with Jess, is not Rory's problems. Rory likes him. She doesn't care if you approve. Jess is a good kid. Maybe you don't see it. Maybe the town doesn't see it. But Rory sees it. Don't you trust her?" Luke asked, already knowing the answer.

"You know I do," Lorelai sighed. "But I still don't like Jess."

"No one said you had to, but if Rory and Jess become something. I think you're going to have to start to warm up to the idea," Luke said.

"What if I don't want to?" Lorelai pouted.

Luke shrugged. "Let's go get you something to eat," he said, ushering her downstairs.