Chapter Three
** It was her graduation day. To everyone else, she seemed sweet and demure, ever modest over her accomplishments. He could see past that, though, to the glint of pride and determination in her clear eyes. She was now one step closer to achieving her dreams. She had a goal in life, and nothing would stop her.
He stood to the side, letting her bask in the glory that she deserved. Admiring her beauty, inside and out, yet again. For the moment, he was content just to call her "his"**
*****
"Rory?!" Lorelai called, running to the door for the second time that day. It was much later in the evening, and Rory had left several hours ago for the airport. Lorelai quickly opened the door, wishing with all her heart that she would see her daughter there, that she had come to her senses and returned home, where she belonged.
Lorelai opened the door, and felt her hopes fall when she realized it wasn't Rory after all. It was a handsome young man, who looked like he was in his upper twenties. He was dressed nicely, and he seemed incredibly familiar. Lorelai narrowed her eyes, trying to place the man, and suddenly felt like someone had punched her in the gut, as realization finally kicked in. She immediately closed the door.
"Lorelai!" Jess called from outside the door. He patiently waited, knowing that in a few minutes she would come to her senses and let him in. He almost smiled, as the situation seemed so similar to back when he was a teenager. Lorelai had hated him back then. It wouldn't have surprised him at all if she would have slammed a door in his face. His thoughts quickly darkened though, the past saddening him. Things had been so simple back then.
The door slowly reopened, and he soon found himself staring face to face with Lorelai Gilmore, who surprisingly had tears in her eyes. He had never seen Lorelai cry, and he honestly didn't like it.
"Man," he said, trying to lighten the mood, "Why do people keep doing that?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, blinking to clear her eyes.
"Luke slammed the door in my face, too."
"Good," she said, but then after a few moments smiled, "You deserved it."
"I know," he consented.
"Well, I guess you should come in," she said, rather reluctantly.
"So are you back to hating me, then?" he asked with a smirk, following her into the living room.
"What are you talking about kid, I never liked you."
Jess smiled, relieved that the old Lorelai was back. "My mistake."
"God Jess," she sighed suddenly, running her hands through her hair, "Where have you been? What are you doing here?"
"Where have I been? I've been in a small town in Florida, hiding from my life. Why am I here? I'm here in Stars Hollow because I recently realized that hiding from my problems wasn't the way to solve them, and I needed to come back and face my past. I'm here in your house because I needed to find out if it's true," he answered softly, with a meaningful look in Lorelai's direction after the last statement.
Lorelai stared at Jess, knowing that he wanted to know if Rory was really still alive. She suddenly felt angry. God, what he had put them all through by running away like that! What he had put Rory through . . . because of him, her daughter hardly ever even spoke to her, hardly ever even -
"When was this taken?" Jess asked suddenly, breaking into Lorelai's thoughts. He was holding up a picture of Rory and Hayden Clarke, the man she had just broken up with. Lorelai had only met Hayden once, about a year ago when she had driven to Cambridge to see Rory, because Rory refused to come see her. She had taken the picture then.
"A year ago," she said softly.
"So it's true," he answered, his voice strained. Rory was still alive, and she had apparently moved on. How could be blame her? It had been four years, after all. It still hurt like hell to see her with another man.
"He asked her to marry him, you know," Lorelai said, still angry.
"Is that so?" Jess said, turning away. But not before Lorelai saw the anguish in his eyes. She suddenly felt bad for being so harsh to him. She reluctantly allowed herself to see his side of the story. He had thought Rory was dead. She remembered only too well how she had behaved for that brief period of time when she had thought her daughter was dead. She had cut herself off from everybody. Hell, she had considered running away herself. She shook her head, slowing forgiving him. At least he was finally back now.
"Jess," she said softly.
"Yeah," he said, still not looking at her.
"She said no, and broke things off with him. She couldn't marry another man when she was still in love with you. After he asked her, well, she made up her mind to start searching for you again. She- Oh God."
"What?" Jess said, looking back at Lorelai.
"Where's the phone, we have to call her, now!"
"Wait, no! I'm not ready, I need some -"
"Jess you don't understand . . . God, why can't I ever find the phone?!"
"Because you never clean up!" he exclaimed irritably,"Why do we have to call her now?"
"Oh God, and she was just here! Talk about shitty timing!"
"What do you mean she was just here? I thought she lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts? Luke said you don't hear from her much."
"Yeah, thanks to -" she was about to say 'you' but quickly changed her mind, "She just came home today. She said she wanted to try and fix things, get them back to the way they used to be. She also told me she was going to start looking for you again."
"Okay, but I still don't understand why -"
"Aha! The phone!" Lorelai exclaimed, pulling the phone out from beneath a couch pillow and rapidly dialing.
"Lorelai, where is Rory," Jess asked, suddenly smelling a rat.
"On her way to London."
******
Rory opened the door to the cab and quickly climbed inside. "Are there any hotels around here?" she asked.
"Depends what kind of budget you're on," the cabbie said. Rory had to smile at his thick British accent.
She chewed her lip thoughtfully, contemplating. She really would only need a hotel for one night, if her friend came through. She was praying he would, because if not, she wasn't sure what she would do. "Money's not an issue," she said, making her decision.
"Alright then." And then they were off.
Rory fell back in her seat, more than just a little tired. It would have been 2 in the morning back home, but it was only 8:00 in London because of the time difference. She couldn't wait to get some sleep. She was too tired to even pay attention to all of the amazing sites on the London streets. Under other circumstances, her head would have been hanging out the window.
"How does this look?" The man asked, pulling up to a nice looking hotel.
"This will be fine, thank-you." She quickly paid the man and headed in side.
Little less than 15 minutes later, Rory opened the door to her room and collapsed on the bed. She suddenly sat up, remember her promise to call her Mother when she got in. She dug around in her bag in an attempt to find her cell phone. After several minutes with no luck, she sat back thinking. She had packed it, right? Wait, no she hadn't. She sighed, remembering that she had put it on the charger in her old room before she had left. It was still sitting there.
Muttering to herself, she walked over to the phone in her room. After several minutes of reading the surprisingly confusing instructions, she finally figured out how to use it. She dialed the familiar number, and sat down on the bed when she heard it ring. After several rings the answering machine picked up, she sighed, and left a message. 'Oh well,' she thought. It was 2 a.m. in the morning, after all. She hadn't really expected an answer. Rory lay back on her bed, and without bothering to take off her clothes or makeup, quickly fell asleep.
*****
Lorelai, Luke, and Jess all entered the dark Gilmore house. It was probably around 2:30 in the morning, but none of them had any hope of sleep. They had all been in the diner all night, talking about this and that over numerous cups of coffee, and trying Rory's cell every five minutes. Eventually Lorelai had remembered that she had told Rory to call and check in when she had arrived in London, and there was probably a message on the machine. She had told Luke and Jess she would call if there was, but they had both insisted on coming home with her to see for themselves.
Sure enough, when they entered the living room, the light was blinking on the machine. Lorelai glanced at the two men, took a breath and pressed the button.
"Hi, Mom? It's me. Sorry I called so late but with the time difference and all, and well you did say to call you. Anyway I got here safe, obviously. Oh yeah, don't bother calling my cell phone. I left it in my old room on the charger. I would give you the number to the hotel, but I'm only planning on being here for one night. I'll probably have already checked out by the time you wake up and get this message. I'll check in eventually. It might be a while, though, I'm not sure what I'll be doing in the near future. Oh well, bye Mom, Love You." BEEP, and the room fell silent.
Jess was in a state of shock. At the sound of her voice, the fullness of what he had discovered that day hit him hard.
"God," he whispered hoarsely, "She really is still alive."
Luke and Lorelai looked at him. "It's not that I didn't believe you," he whispered, "It's just wow . . . when I heard her voice I guess I finally comprehended it."
"Hey, it's okay," Lorelai said, "You spent the past four years thinking she was dead. The idea of her being alive is going to take some getting used to."
Jess nodded, but there was new feeling were suddenly rushing through him. Rory, his Rory, was still alive! The wish he had dreamed about ever since he had received that phone call so many years ago, had finally come true. He suddenly felt like the luckiest man on the earth. Rory had come back to him. Well, not quite, he realized with a frown.
"Well, this is just great," Lorelai was saying, "We now have no way of knowing of to contact her!"
"She's all alone in England, for God's sakes, Lorelai, what were you thinking, how could you let her go?" Luke said irritably.
"How could I let her go? How could I stop her? She's 26, not 16. I can't tell her what to do!"
"Guys!" Jess said, interrupting their argument, "I have to go."
"Go? Go where," Luke asked impatiently.
"To Europe."
A/N: Well guys I had planned on putting a lot more in this chapter, unfortunately it started to get way too long, so I had to break it up. Which, unfortunately means that all of the more interesting stuff will be in the next chapter. Oh well, hope this one didn't stink too much : ) Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you're feedback is really helpful.
Also, in response to what one reviewer said, about Rory's survival being all over the news? Well, I hadn't thought about it, but I'm sure you're exactly right. Oh well, I guess we'll just say that Jess was so devastated after the crash that he didn't watch any TV, listen to the radio, or read the newspaper for a few months. Sound too crazy? It probably is, but then again, I'm crazy, so what can I say : )
