Thanks for all the reviews :) Especially Alexis Leigh Mariano. I can't believe you were late to school because of me! Well, I appreciate your dedication, lol. And also a special thanks to angeleyez. I love your stories so it means a lot that you're reviewing mine!

Recap: Last chapter Luke caught Jess and Rory kissing. The next day Dean and Rory had lunch at Luke's and Jess decided to make his presence known. Rory pulled him outside to avoid making a scene, and Jess took the opportunity to steal another kiss. At the present, Jess has reentered the diner, and Rory is still standing outside, a bit stunned.

Rory reentered the diner nervously, flinching a little as the bell above the door jingled. She didn't want to see Dean right now. Not right after Jess just… well… never mind. She had to just put that out of her thoughts. Dean looked so pathetic sitting all alone at the corner table, head in his hands. She felt truly sorry for him. There he was, still desperately in love with her and she was…

Woah.

Was she about to think what she thought she was about to think?

'I'm falling out of love with him,'

This silent affirmation of what she had known all along shocked her. She didn't love him anymore. It was wonderful in the beginning, but whatever it was that made her love him before… it just wasn't there. And all she could think about was Jess.

She scolded herself for falling into the typical teenage girl pattern. She wanted the bad boy. There was a perfectly wonderful boy who loved her sitting in front of her, and she wanted the kid that everyone in town had warned her about. What was wrong with her?

Then she saw him. He was leaving the kitchen and retreating back up to his bedroom with a soda.

'He's probably going up there to read a book. A smart book,' she thought. She directed her attention back to Dean. 'I have to beg him to read. We have nothing to talk about anymore.'

'Okay,' she assured herself, 'I'm not just one of those girls who wants a bad boy. My bad boy is intelligent and introspective and cares about me. Wait, *my* bad boy? He's not mine.'

Her inner monologue was cut short as Dean looked up and noticed her. He looked at her questioningly and she moved back to the table, taking a seat next to him.

"What was that?" he asked angrily.

"Jess was just, you know, being himself."

"I don't like that guy."

"I know."

"Why did you have to talk to him alone?"

"Come on Dean, you know that if I didn't take him outside you two would have made a scene."

Dean sighed and sipped his soda distractedly.

Just then two younger girls entered the diner. They whispered to each other and one of them noticed Rory. The girl squealed and began whispering more franticly to her friend. Then they both giggled and ran back outside.

"What the—"

'How can word travel that fast? Damn you Miss Patty,' Rory thought nervously.

Then she stood up quickly and asked Dean if they could leave. Dean threw some money down on the table and Rory practically dragged him out of the diner.

As they walked down the street Rory noticed many people staring and whispering. Dean seemed oblivious at first, but he quickly caught on.

"What are they whispering about?"

"Beats me. Maybe Kirk was caught dancing with the mannequin from the costume shop again."

"I doubt it. Well actually, I don't doubt it, but I doubt that that's why everyone is whispering. They're pointing at us. Wait a minute, is that Taylor crying over there?"

Rory looked to where Dean was gesturing and saw Taylor in front of the market talking to Kirk in near hysterics.

"I don't understand it! They made such a wonderful couple! Moral, respectable, adorable!" he sobbed loudly.

"Who is he talking about?" Dean asked, a little weirded out at the sight.

"Dean, lets just go home and we can talk about it. There's something I need to tell you, but not here in front of the whole town."

"What is it?"

"Come on, we're almost to my house."

They walked in silence until they reached the Gilmore driveway.

"Now what's this big important thing you have to tell me?" Dean asked impatiently.

"Let's go inside and sit down."

"Rory, just tell me already!"

"I'd really rather go inside," Rory said, aware that Babette was standing about 20 yards away with binoculars.

"Well too bad Rory. You're making me nervous. Just say it."

Rory took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"I did something horrible, and I'm very, very sorry. I will understand if you decide to hate me forever after this."

Dean's looked concerned and he took Rory's hand, pulling her closer. "I could never hate you."

"I have feelings for Jess and we've kissed."

Dean froze and dropped Rory's hand.

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

Dean looked down and tried to regain his composure. He took several deep breaths and tried to stop the anger and hurt that was rising up in him.

"I'm really sorry Dean."

He couldn't look at her. He was reeling from the shock of it all. He thought they were in love.

"I have to go," he said numbly. He could feel a knot beginning to form in his throat.

"Dean, I'm sorry!" Rory said, tears streaming down her face. She tried to grab onto his arm, but he pulled away, still refusing to look at her.

"It doesn't matter," he said angrily.

"Wait, we have to talk about this!" Rory called after him.

He stopped walking and finally looked up at her. His eyes were glossy and his face was slightly red.

"No we don't. It doesn't matter anymore Rory. You don't love me, and I love you. It's pretty simple. God, I feel like such an idiot! I thought things were fine."

"I should have told you. I should have said something before anything happened with Jess—"

"DON'T!" Dean yelled suddenly. He took a deep breath. "Don't say his name right now."

"I'm sorry. I should have been clearer. I should have told you how I felt and ended this before you got hurt."

"It doesn't matter," Dean repeated. "I don't care anymore. I'm sorry for annoying you so much that you had to cheat on me. I'm sorry for making you suffer through months of a relationship you hated. I'm leaving now."

"Dean, I don't want it to end like this!"

"Too bad Rory," he said bitterly, walking away.

Rory closed her eyes and wiped the tears from her face, but fresh ones replaced them. She sobbed and retreated into her house.

The initially shock had faded and now Dean was just angry. Very angry. Yes, he and Rory had been having some problems, but they could have worked things out. They could have, but HE had to ruin everything. He had to show up with his sarcasm and holier-than-thou-'cause-hey-I-read-a-lot! attitude and steal Rory away from him.

And then he saw him. There he was, smoking a cigarette by a garbage dumpster next to Luke's. And Dean just couldn't contain his anger anymore.

"Rory?" Lorelai called from upstairs. She thought she had heard someone enter the house.

She ran downstairs to find her daughter sitting at the kitchen table, staring blankly into space. It was obvious from her red nose and wet cheeks that she had been crying.

"Rory, what's wrong?"

Rory slowly turned to face her mother.

"He broke up with me."

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry. What happened?" Lorelai said, taking a seat next to Rory.

"I just told him the truth. About how I was feeling about him, about our relationship… about Jess."

Lorelai's eyes widened for a second.

"He probably didn't take it too well I'm guessing?"

"Give the woman a prize," Rory muttered.

"Well did he scream, cry, storm off?"

"All three actually."

"Where was he going?"

"How should I know? Probably to carve 'Dean hates Rory' into all of the trees in Stars Hollow," Rory said with a sniffle.

"Are you sure he wasn't going to pay Jess a little visit?"

"Again, how should I— Oh no," Rory said, suddenly panicked.

"Come on, we'll try to find him before somebody gets hurt."

"JESS!" Dean yelled loudly.

Jess looked up from his cigarette and lazily puffed out some more smoke.

"What do you want?"

Dean was rapidly approaching. He didn't answer Jess as he closed in.

"What's your deal?" Jess said, confused and annoyed.

Dean reached Jess and without saying a word, he pulled back a fist and let it fly. There was a loud crack as Jess's snapped to the side.

Jess cried out and tried to move back but Dean came forward again, jaw clenched, seething.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jess yelled right before Dean shoved him hard against the dumpster.

"You just couldn't leave her alone, could you?"

And then things started to make sense. Rory must have told Dean about the kiss. Which meant he was in big trouble.

"No, I'm sorry, I think that was you," Jess retorted. "Weren't you the one called her ten times a day just to check in? She had to get away from you, you idiot."

Dean swung again, but Jess successfully dodged the punch and moved to the side.

"Don't act like you know how things were between us! You have no idea! We could have been happy if you hadn't messed with Rory's head!"

When Dean pulled back this time, Jess grabbed his arms and swung him around so that Dean's back was against the dumpster.

"Do you think Rory's just some brainless twit who I, in all my evil genius, was able to manipulate? Do you even know her? She wants me and she doesn't want you. Deal with it!"

Jess shoved Dean into the dumpster forcefully and turned to go.

"We would have been fine!" Dean screamed. "We would have worked everything out. You were just a distraction for her. Do you actually think that you meant anything to her Jess?"

Jess turned around again, clenching his fists.

"News flash Dean—You wouldn't have been fine! Rory was always trying to tell you what a jerk you were being, and you didn't hear her! Every time she started to tell you, you tried to make her feel bad by acting like a victim. How much longer do you think she would have stuck around for that? You're fucking delusional. You and Rory were over before I even got here."

"Shut up!" Dean hollered, running towards Jess again.

Soon there was nothing but a flurry of fists and occasional curses.

"Woah! Break it up! What the hell is going on here?!"

The fighting didn't even pause.

Luke had left the diner to see what the commotion he heard was. He was shocked to see… well, he wasn't shocked to see Jess in a fight, but the fact that it was Dean he was fighting surprised him.

"Come on, break it up! Jess, get off him!" Luke shouted, trying to step between the two boys.

But the fighting still continued.

"Stop it!!"

It was a different voice. The fighting stopped as both boys froze and turned to face Rory, who was standing next to her mother looking completely distraught.

Luke to advantage of this pause to separate the two boys. He pulled Jess back towards the diner with him saying, "You and me and going to have a talk."

Dean stood in front of Rory. He had a bloody nose and a very swollen eye that would no doubt be a lovely shade of blue the next morning. He had made out only a little better than Jess, who in addition to a bloody nose and black eye, also split his lip and had a large bruise on his cheek from Dean's first punch.

"What were you doing?!" Rory yelled at Dean, shaking slightly.

"It's all his fault," Dean said quietly.

Rory sighed and put her hand on Dean's shoulder. Dean leaned into her touch. Lorelai sensed that her presence was not needed, and quietly went into the diner.

"Dean, it's not his fault. It's nobody's fault. We—we were just growing apart. It happens. I had let it go on for too long already. I wasn't being fair to you." She paused. "I don't love you anymore."

"Because of him!" Dean yelled angrily.

"No! Not because of Jess. Dean, we just weren't working anymore. It wasn't fun for me, and I can't imagine that it was too fun for you. It was just time to let go."

Dean looked down at his feet. "I don't want to let go."

"I know you don't. But you have to. And that means you can't go around fighting any guy I look at. You don't have the right."

"I love you Rory."

"I know."

Dean nodded and took deep breath. He wiped some of the blood from his nose with his sleeve and walked away.

Rory hugged her arms around herself and walked into the diner.

"Why not?" Lorelai asked, pouting.

"You can't even stop thinking about coffee now? My nephew is up there with several nasty looking injuries, and your mind is on coffee," Luke said with annoyance.

"Coffee is my comfort food. I always drink it when I'm upset."

"Or when you're happy or surprised or tired or bored or scared or—"

"Now you understand!" Lorelai said, grinning.

Luke sighed and poured Lorelai a cup of coffee. He looked up as Rory entered the diner.

"He's in his room," he said simply.

"Thanks," Rory replied, heading upstairs.

"More please."

"What?" Luke asked.

"Coffee."

"Already?"

"Please sir, I'd like some more!" Lorelai said, doing her best Oliver impression.

"You chugged your coffee?"

"Mmmhmmm."

"You are a biological wonder."

"Thank you!" Lorelai replied, holding up her cup.

Rory stood in front of Jess's door nervously, hesitating a little before knocking.

"Luke, I'm FINE! I don't need any Band-Aids, and I already have the stupid icepack on my eye. Go away!"

"It's me," Rory said quietly.

"Oh. Come in."

Rory pushed the door open and gasped. Jess was lying on the couch with the icepack covering part of his face, but the parts she could see looked pretty bad.

"Oh God, Jess, are you okay?"

"Fantastic. I'm thinking of participating in a triathlon later today. Care to join me?"

"I'm serious. Did he break your nose or anything?"

Jess sighed and sat up slowly.


"It looks a hell of a lot worse than it really is. I'll be fine, I just might not look quite so dreamy for the next few days."

Rory gave him a small smile and took a seat next to him on the couch.

"Listen, Jess, I'm really sorry about Dean. I told him about us and he just sort of flipped. The thought that he might come after you never occurred to me."

"You told him about *us*?" Jess asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rory blushed. "I mean, I told him that we kissed and I told him how I felt about everything and—"

"You did it though, right? You broke up with him?" Jess asked hopefully.

"Well, he broke up with me, but yeah, we're through."

"Great!" he said quickly, smiling at her with his swollen lips.

"It's not 'great.' I don't feel great about it."

"Rory, it's great, because now I get to do this," Jess said, leaning in.

He was about to brush his lips over hers, when she pulled back stiffly.

"No. It's not that easy. I can't just break up with the guy I've been dating for over a year, and then start a new relationship the very same night. I need to think about this. It's not great. I feel horrible for what I did to Dean."

Jess sighed. "Rory, you didn't do anything wrong. He was a prick."

"I cheated on him! That was wrong! I can't just be all, 'Yay, I broke the heart of a guy that I care about, let's kiss!' It doesn't work that way."

"Rory, just forget about him," Jess said, leaning in again.

"You don't understand! I can't do this right now!" She said, raising her voice and standing up. She walked quickly out of the room and down the stairs, quietly asking Lorelai if they could leave.

When she got home she went upstairs and curled up in bed. She took out her headphones and turned on her CD player, trying to calm herself down. Unfortunately the first song to come on was "Ice, Ice Baby." She quickly turned the music off. Then, a moment later, she turned it back on. She closed her eyes and thought about the night before and how sweet Jess was.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Rory called from her bed.

Lorelai opened the door.

"You have a visitor," she said, allowing another person to enter.

"Lane!" Rory said as her friend walked in and sat at the foot of her bed.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine," Rory said, faking a smile. Lane looked unconvinced. "Okay, everything's sort of craptastic right now."

"I'm familiar with the feeling. I have another arranged date tonight."

"Ooh, who is it this time?"

"A future Korean ophthalmologist."

"Well, I can see pluses to that. I mean, say you get stabbed in the eye with a fork or something, you have an ophthalmologist right in your own home to heal you."

"Why am I getting stabbed in the eye with a fork?"

"Do you have any enemies in the food service sector?"

"Not that I know of."

"Hmm… then I guess I see no perks."

"Now we're on the same page," Lane concluded.

"So things are craptastic for both of us."

"I heard about Jess and Dean."

"The fight?"

"Yup."

"It was bad."

"So I heard. And you and Dean broke up?"

"Yes."

"So what are you feeling right now?" Lane asked, concerned.

"I don't know. I guess I feel guilty about the whole Dean thing, and I feel scared about the whole Jess thing."

"Can I offer you some advice? I mean, I've never gone on an *actual* date, but I like to think that my opinion counts for something."

"Delusions are fun, aren't they?"

Lane smirked, "Ooh, you're witty when you're distraught."

"It's a well-honed defense mechanism. Anyway, go ahead."

"Okay, first, leave things with Dean alone for a while. He'll come around. He's a great guy."

"I know," Rory said glumly.

"Now, Jess likes you, correct?"

"Yes."

"And you like him, yes?"

"Yes."

"So what's holding you back?"

"It's just… it seems really crazy right now. Everything sort of happened all at once."

Lane nodded. "I get that. But I don't want to see you push Jess away because you're scared. This could be a good thing, right? Isn't it what you wanted?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Well then, I think you should---Wait, what time is it?"

"Um… 5:00, why?"

"Ugh, I'm late. For my date."

"You're late for a very important date?"

"The Alice in Wonderland references are always enjoyable, but I really have to go," Lane said, standing up and straightening her shirt.

"Okay, see you. Thanks for the advice."

"Good luck," Lane said with a smile as she left the room.

Jess couldn't rest. Luke had basically ordered him to stay in bed, but all he could think about was Rory. He finally had a chance with her, and he might lose her again. He couldn't let that happen. He made his decision and went downstairs.

"I'm going out," he called to Luke as he left.

"Woah, no you're not!"

"Sorry, gotta go."

"Where are you going?"

"There's something I've got to do."

"Lane had to go?" Lorelai asked.

"Yup, she had a future ophthalmologist to date."

"Ophthalmologist… that's ears?"

"Eyes, but close."

"Right…" She paused. "So what's up?"

"Not my self-confidence."

Lorelai smiled comfortingly.

"What's wrong?"

"He's just so different from Dean."

"I assume you mean Jess."

"Of course."

"Well, I don't know. You could have meant the Pillsbury Dough Boy, the description would fit him too."

"That's true. I'm sorry, you're not at all insane."

"Thank you," Lorelai said. She paused, and then, "You know Rory, they don't make them all like Dean."

"I know."

"That's what makes dating so exciting."

"I guess."

"I'm not saying you should go jump into his arms and start picking out china patterns, but don't dismiss him outright because you're afraid."

Rory smirked. "So now even you want us to get together?"

"Want is such a strong word."

"What would you prefer?"

"Well, I'd say that maybe I've accepted that you dating Jess wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. There could be worse things."

"You don't say," Rory said, feigning disbelief.

"Nuclear war, Bush getting reelected, a world without coffee."

"All three much worse than me and Jess."

"Yes."

"I think I'm going to go talk to him."

"Jess?"

"No, the Pillsbury Dough Boy."

"Okay, well, when you find him, be sure to tell him I love his oven-baked rolls."

"Will do," Rory said, walking out of her room and towards the door.

"Rory?"

"Yeah?"

"Just… don't rush things, okay?"

"I won't," Rory said, smiling.

"Good, because rushing can be bad."

"Gotcha," Rory said, walking out the front door.

She didn't get halfway down the driveway before she saw him. She walked up to him and looked into his eyes. He was looking at her apologetically. He wasn't sure what to say.

It turned out he didn't have to say anything. The next second Rory was kissing him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her entire body against his, trying to feel closer to him. Stunned at first, he quickly regained some sense of reality and started to kiss her back with equal fervor. He rested his hands on her waist at first, but soon began running them up and down her sides as he deepened the kiss.

Lorelai sighed. She watched her daughter as she kissed Jess. Then she walked away from the window and went into the kitchen to make some coffee.

"Well, at least she didn't rush," she said, shaking her head.

The End! (Yup, I decided to stop here folks. Thanks for those who encouraged me to continue. This just felt right though. I'll write something new for you J )