Title: Interviews, Memories, and Everything Else
Author: Alysinomo (alysinomo@hotmail.com)
Rating: PG
Archived: 9/25/2002
Spoilers: None.
Summary: Rory has grown up and is now a successful, 28-year-old journalist for the New York Times. She gets the surprise of her life (and one of her biggest career hurdles!) when she is assigned to interview a brilliant new author, Jess Mariano. What will come of Rory and Jess? Will old memories and feelings resurface?
* * *
Lorelai flounced back into the apartment, her hand slapped firmly over her eyes.
"HELLO?! Just to let you know, I'm home! Is it safe? Can I open my eyes?"
Rory groaned and rolled closer to Jess, "Tell her to go away," she mumbled, "My mother has officially worn out her welcome."
"Is this because you want to spend more time alone with me?" Jess grinned.
"Yes, don't flatter yourself. Now, what are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing." Jess smirked.
"What?? Come on, just kick her out, it's easy."
"No can do, she's your mom. Besides, if it's so easy, why aren't you doing it?"
"Because if I try to tell her to go home, she'll get hyper sensitive and grumpy. It could have major repercussions on our relationship and that of any offspring I may choose to bring into the world."
"I highly doubt that. Lorelai would probably go crazy with boredom and loneliness after 2 weeks of not talking to you."
"She has Luke." Rory quipped, regretting her words as soon as she saw Jess grimace. "Sorry."
"No," he replied, "It's ok. I'm still gonna hear about him right? After all, I'm probably going to spending more time with you."
"True." Rory smiled softly, "Now if you excuse me, I have to go deal with the crazy."
Rory climbed out of bed, pulling on a t-shirt and sweatpants. Wandering into the living room, she saw her mother sitting on the couch, waiting impatiently for someone to talk to her.
"Hey mom."
"Hi sweetie," replied Lorelai, giving her a mischievous grin. "Is everything hunky dory between you and Jess?"
Rory grinned stupidly, and as if right on cue, Jess appeared in the living room.
"Lorelai, how are the pigeons?"
"Dandy!"
"I think everything's good mom," said Rory sweetly.
"Bravo." replied Lorelai, looking pleased for her daughter. Addressing both Jess and Rory she asked, "So, which one of you is buying me dinner?"
"I will." interjected Jess.
"Ohh...and he steps up to the plate!" exclaimed Lorelai, "one point for Jess!"
"The best way to earn my mother's approval is through her stomach."
"Yeah, I kinda picked that up over the years."
"Can we go now? I want Thai!"
"Thai?" asked Jess incredulously, "It's practically all vegetables. I believe ingesting vegetables goes against the strict Gilmore diet regime."
"I don't actually eat the vegetables, I just poke at them and eat the noodles." replied Lorelai, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh good. I was beginning to lose faith for a second there."
* * *
Rory, Jess, and Lorelai had been sitting in the restaurant "Young Thailand," for about 15 minutes, browsing over their menus. Lorelai, turns out, had come to the conclusion that she didn't like anything. Rory, miraculously, liked everything. Jess, wholeheartedly, was trying to stay neutral.
"What's Asian pork taste like?" Lorelai asked bluntly, clearly upset that she didn't have any idea of what the food was like.
"It's probably just marinated pork. They'll probably use hoisin sauce, garlic, ginger or something." replied Rory.
"Wow! So Yale taught you to read Thai? I was beginning to wonder if you learned anything..."
"Umm...no, actually. Mom, if you look on the back of the pink, colourful, menu, you'll see a green menu. This special green menu is in English."
Lorelai feigned shock, "Dear daughter! Obviously Yale has taught you to have no respect for your elders!"
"I had a professor who didn't believe in grandparents." Shot back Rory playfully, "He thought we should perform that creepy ceremony from The Giver - remember me reading that in grade 3?"
"Gross! Wasn't that the book where they had like "Family Units" and they gave people lethal injections-"
"When they got too old?" finished Rory, "Yeah, that's the one. Professor MacIver, my morals and ethics in journalism instructor, believed that The Giver is a fine example of how the world should work."
"Oh god!" replied Lorelai, "Your morals and ethics professor? What loser let him teach that?"
"Well, the dean of Yale thought it would be good to give students and alternate perspective."
During all this talking, Lorelai and Rory hadn't done much in the way of looking at their menus. Inconveniently, the waiter came by.
"Are you ready to order?"
"No, not quite," said Jess with a smirk, "Lorelai hasn't quite gotten to the English side of the menu yet."
Lorelai shot Jess a dirty look, "Actually," she said, "I'm ready. I'll have your Asian pork please. And a coffee."
"Are you trying to spite me?" asked Jess.
"Yes, yes I am!" replied Lorelai beaming.
* * *
The next 6 months passed fairly uneventfully. When Lorelai finally did go home, she and Rory still had their regular phone calls, and Jess still wasn't ready to talk to Luke. As for Rory and Jess, their relationship strengthened and grew. They saw each other frequently, and were constant pillars of support and love for one another. Rory's article came out, and was a rousing success! People loved it, Jess loved it. He believed it was honest, intelligent, and very good for promotion. ;) Rory's journalism career continued to grow, and Jess continued to make far more money than anyone would have believed he was capable of.
One fresh April morning, Rory was hard at work on a piece for the Times. Jess was relaxing on the couch, watching the morning news. The phone rang.
"Jess," Rory asked distractedly, "Can you grab that?"
"Yeah. Sure." He ambled off the couch to the phone on the kitchen wall. "Hello?"
Lorelai's voice came over the line. "Hi, yes, this is Sears calling. We'd like to confirm a couch ordered for Rory Gilmore, under the credit card name Jess Mariano?"
Jess grinned, "Hey Lorelai."
"Hey Jess, how's life?"
"Not too bad, what about you?"
"Same old, same old. Listen, could you put my daughter on the phone? I'm about to beg for her to come for the weekend."
"Yeah, sure thing." Jess set the phone gently on the counter and walked over to Rory. Kissing her softly on the ear, "Your mom's on the phone. She's about to beg for you to come visit, just a head's up."
Rory smiled. "Thanks." She walked over to the phone, picking it up. "Hey mom!"
"Offspring!"
"The band?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"I missed you, hon."
"Me too. New York has lost some of it's excitement since you left."
"Aw, really? I appreciate that. New York clearly needs more of Lorelai Gilmore."
"Well they already have one; another Lorelai Gilmore probably wouldn't kill it."
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Reminded Lorelai.
"Yes, those are clearly words to live by." Replied Rory.
"So."
"So."
"When are you coming home?"
"Are you about to bribe me with coffee, ice cream and a Rocky Horror Picture Show extravaganza?"
"Yes."
"No one knows me like my mother."
"Clearly. So, you coming anytime soon? Everyone misses you. They want to see what the big, bad Rory Gilmore is up to."
"I'll see." Replied Rory.
"I'll see?? What, do you not have time for your crazy mother and the small, quaint, but crazy town you grew up in?"
"Well, it's just I have this article due for next week. It's pretty good, it's kinda like one of those 'career-defining' things."
"Do you have all your research?"
"Yeah."
"Then what the hell are you waiting for, babe? Come visit me! You can finish it here, and if you really have to, you can always just use your laptop to e-mail it to your boss."
"I guess I could…"
"Of course you could!" Rory stuck her head out of the kitchen, looking to see what Jess was up to. He looked pretty absorbed in the television, not really paying attention to what Rory was doing. But just to be safe, she lowered her voice,
"But what am I going to do about Jess?"
"Oh. Well, he can come too."
"Are you crazy?"
"Slightly."
"Mom, you know Jess is kind of awkward about the whole talking-to-Luke thing. He needs time."
"What he needs is to get over it and face his fears."
"I know, but I can't force him to do that. He has to make his own decisions."
"Well he's going to have to face it sooner or later. I mean, seriously. He hurt Luke's feelings. Luke thought everything was starting to look up in there relationship, they were actually have conversations lasting more than 5 words! Then Jess had to go run off to Miami in the middle of the night! Taking Luke's money no less, to get there."
"I know, Mom! I know. Trust me, I've tried to talk to him. But he feels embarrassed and really bad about what he did. I know I'm not Freud, but I think he did it because he wasn't used to having a real father figure in his life. Once Luke really started to be one to him, he freaked out and ran away. I guess he figured he was better off on his own."
"He's crazy."
"He's Jess."
"So are you going to come visit your dear old mother?"
"Ok."
"Really??"
"Yeah, really mom." Rory responded with a grin.
"You're serious? 'Cause honestly, I thought I was going to have to drag out the heavy artillery, you know, the bribery and false promises."
"No, I think you can save those for another day."
"Yay! So are you going to bring Jess?"
"I don't think so. He's totally welcome to come, but I don't think he will want to. It'll be just you and me…and Luke. Maybe I can talk to him."
"I think you should, hon. But just be careful. It's a sensitive subject."
"I will. So, when will I see you?"
"Friday?"
"Good idea, how about Friday to Monday?" asked Rory.
"Daughter, you are welcome as long as you like."
"Thanks."
"No prob. See ya Friday, sexy."
"Bye mom." Rory laughed and hung up the phone.
See walked slowly over to the couch from the kitchen. Rory was a little nervous telling Jess she was going to Stars Hollow for a visit. She had no real reason to be, she just felt like she was betraying Jess somehow. Logically, it was pretty stupid to think something like that, but Rory couldn't help it.
"Jess?"
Jess turned around on the sofa, looking up at Rory, "How's your mom?"
"Good. She's good."
"That's good."
"Umm...listen. I'm going to Stars Hollow for a couple of days."
"Yeah I heard."
"You did?"
"Yeah, try as you might, you're not a very quiet whisperer."
Rory laughed, "Are you ok with it?"
"Of course. You and your mom are best friends, you need to see each other every once in awhile to keep the sanity in check."
Rory smiled. "I'm leaving Friday and coming back Monday, would you like to come?"
"I think I'll pass this time."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. And don't worry Rory, I'll get out there some day. I just have to figure out how the hell to explain myself first."
"Ok."
"Don't feel bad, it's not your fault." Jess said quietly.
"I don't. I'm going to go call my boss ok, let him know well ahead of time that I won't be coming in Friday or Monday."
* * *
A/N: And here we are, another installment of the saga. Thank you to all of you who have reviewed, you guys are awesome! I've never gotten so many reviews for my work in my life before! There will only be about 2 more chapters of this story, there isn't a lot else for me to sum up. I am planning on writing another Rory-Jess fic when I'm done this one, but I'm also considering trying my hand at a Lane-Dave. The only problem is that we don't have enough information about their relationship, so I'll have to get really creative and try very hard to stay in character. Before I close this author's note, I'd also like to give my voice of appreciation to those writing machines out there! I have noticed that on ff.net there are some fantastic writers, no doubt about it. But what really impresses me is the people who can write fic after fic after fic and never run out of ideas and always come up with such good material. I consider myself to be a fairly good writer, but I need at least 2 weeks after each chapter to figure out what the hell I'm going to do with my story next! So congratulations to all of you out there who write like that – you are my hero! Teach me your tricks! That's all for now.
P.S. – Young Thailand is actually a Thai restaurant in Toronto. I've been there, très fab.