A/N: This chapter is definitely R rated, so beware if you're not interested in that!

Part 4 One Last Bridge to Cross







I am hanging on every word you say

And even if you don't want to speak tonight That's all right, all right with me Cuz I want nothing more than To sit outside heaven's door and Listen to you breathing That's where I wanna be...



Rory had never liked Lifehouse before. She always thought of them as a far too mellow, pop rock band with sappy lyrics. But in the dim light of the dance floor, dancing with Jess... suddenly that particular song didn't seem so bad.

Their literary discussion with Paris had lasted a good 45 minutes, and it was really good. Jess actually seemed really interested, and as much as Rory wanted to actively partake in the conversation, she found herself really distracted by him. She really just wanted to sit and watch him talk. She loved it when he got passionate about something.

She saw several of the Chilton girls eyeing him from across the room. She'd known they would; he was gorgeous, and that was all any of these girls cared about. But they all knew they didn't have a chance; even though he was completely engrossed in his discussion with Paris about The Stranger and Camus' version of existentialism, he left his arm around her shoulder, and everyone knew he was only interested in her.

After a while, Paris was stolen away by a boy named Brian who wanted to dance with her, and Rory and Jess finally had a chance to be alone. They spent a while just sitting and talking, drinking their punch, but eventually got up to dance, without any complaints from Jess. It was turning out to be much less awkward and much more fun than either of them had expected.

The song ended and a fast paced song by some wannabe punk band blared over the speakers. Jess rolled his eyes and looked sadly at the DJ, who was head banging to the music.

"They just HAD to play a fast song, didn't they?" he groaned.

Rory lifted her head off his shoulder and tentatively said, "So. you wanna go? Or did you have your heart set on finding out who's prom queen?"

Jess smiled. "You wanna go already? It's only been like an hour."

Rory nodded. "I know. I just... I'm only here cuz my Grandma made me come. I'm more looking forward to the Stars Hollow High prom." She paused. "So... you wanna get going?"

"Well gee I dunno," Jess said sarcastically. "I'd hate to miss more Good Charlotte." Rory giggled. His hands left her waist. "I'll go get the coats. Be right back."

Rory couldn't help but smile as she watched him walk away.

"I think Brian might like me."

Rory turned and saw an excited Paris in front of her. She smiled. "Well that's a good thing, right?"

Paris nodded. "I think so. He likes politics. He said I'd make a good politician."

"And that was a compliment in this case?"

"I think so, yes."

"Well good then," Rory glanced at him. "He's cute."

"Isn't he?" Paris turned and shot him a smile. "Hey where's Jess?"

"Uh, he's getting our coats."

"You guys are leaving? It's barely 9 o'clock. What's the rush?"

Rory didn't know what to say. "Um... strict uncle. He- has to be back by 10 or he'll - get grounded."

Paris sighed. "You're lying. I can tell."

Rory sighed, frustrated. "Why is everyone so easily able to tell when I'm lying? Does my nose grow or something?"

"You're eyes. They always shift first."

Rory sighed. "We just have other stuff planned, that's all. We're going for coffee in town."

"Oh..." Paris seemed a little disappointed. "Well um... tell him I say bye."

"Paris what's wrong?"

Paris sighed. "I just. I'm having fun with Brian and all. But you're the only couple here who's not too busy playing tonsil hockey to talk to other people."

Rory felt a little sorry. "Well ok... valid point. But hey, you and Brian are having a good time. You can use this time to get to know each other better. ."

"Yeah. Sure."

Rory paused. "Hey... how about sometime soon, you and me and Jess and Brian could all go somewhere together? Like... a movie, or out for a bite?"

Paris smiled gratefully. "Yeah sure." She paused. "He's pretty great, you know?"

"Who, Brian?"

"Well yeah, him too. But I meant Jess. He's nice. And a lot less brain dead than most guys our age."

Rory smiled. "Yeah. He's really smart."

"You guys make a cute couple."

"So do you and Brian."

Jess walked over with their coats. "Hey Paris."

Paris smiled. "Hey Jess."

Jess turned to Rory. "So. You ready?"

"Sure. Bye Paris."

"Bye."

They started to walk towards the door, and once out of Paris' earshot, Rory leaned in with an amused smile and whispered to him, "I think somebody's got a crush on you."

"What?" Jess asked confused. "Who? Don't say Bunny."

Rory giggled. "A certain Paris Gellar happens to think very highly of you."

"Oh please." Jess tried to play it off as no big deal.

"I'm serious. She thinks you're "pretty great." She told me so herself."

Jess chuckled. "Whatever. Let's go get some coffee."



***************************************



The car ride into town was mostly silent; but it was a comfortable silence. Since it was pretty warm, Rory rolled her window down and looked up at the sky; she rarely got a chance to look at the stars in Hartford that late at night, and they were beautiful. Jess glanced at her.

"Trying to find all those nifty constellations you learned about in Astronomy class?" He asked with a sly smile.

Rory turned to him and smiled. "Nope. Just looking." She shifted her eyes back to the sky. "It's really beautiful."

Jess sighed. "Might be more beautiful after we've got coffee."

"What do you mean?"

Jess didn't look at her. He was not good at this whole romantic thing. In fact, it embarrassed him, even when they were alone. "We could maybe. you know, get the coffee, come back out here and." he chuckled as he added the last words, unable to contain his amusement at the thought. "We could stargaze."

Rory snickered. "Stargaze? Never thought I'd hear that word come voluntarily out of your mouth."

Jess laughed, feeling his cheeks flushed. "Whatever. Do you want to?"

Rory contemplated. "Coffee and stargazing?" she paused, and smiled at Jess. "Sounds kinda perfect."



************************************



Look at the Stars

Look how they shine for you And every thing you do Yeah they were all yellow... I came along I wrote a song for you And all the things you do And it was called Yellow...



"Who is this band?" Jess asked softly. Rory could feel his breath in her ear and it tickled a little.

She thought for a moment, listening to the music emanating from the car below them. "I think it's Coldplay."

"Oh yeah..." Jess said. "Do you like them?"

"Not really," Rory said. She turned her head towards him with a smile. "But right now it's not so bad." He chuckled a little and kissed her cheek before turning his attention back to the sky. The two of them had gotten coffee and several chocolate chip cookies from a little café in Hartford, and had come back to a nice secluded spot by the side of the road just to look at the stars. They'd sat on the hood of the car, leaning on the windshield, and initially Rory had tried to point out some constellations to him... or at least all the ones she could find, but after a few loving cracks from Jess about being a science nerd, the conversation virtually stopped. It was just really nice, being there together, leaning on each other and eating cookies. The music could have used some improvement; Jess' car radio only picked up a few stations, and since they couldn't find a tape, they had to leave it on an easy listening station. But it wasn't so bad... and yet then again, Rory admitted to herself, they could have had polka music playing, and it wouldn't have been able to distract her from how perfect things were.

"What time is it?" Rory asked sleepily.

Jess checked his watch. "Only 9:40. We've got a while." he smiled slyly and added, "Why, worried you're not gonna get home in time to catch your mom before she falls asleep so you can tell her EVERYTHING?"

"More like worried that I'M gonna fall asleep." She sighed. "Mmmm... your arm is really comfortable. It's like this perfect mixture of muscle and.... Well, more muscle. But seriously. When you die, I think I'll make a pillow out of it."

"Well," Jess laughed, "It's good to know you'll be able to see the positive aspects of my death."

"Hey, the glass is always half full in my view. That's why they call me optimistic Rory. Well they don't actually. But they could, and they wouldn't be lying. That's the point."

"I could call you Optimistic Rory if you want."

"Good plan. Then it could catch on, and everyone could call me that. I'd be known for it. Like, someone new could come to town and the person showing them around could say, 'There's crazy Taylor, and Scruffy Luke, and Musical Morey, and Optimistic Rory.'"

"Good job. You rhymed."

Rory laughed. "But now I have to find a nick name for you."

"Oh, great," Jess rolled his eyes.

"Hmm. decisions, decisions. OK, do you see yourself as more of a Silly Pony or a Monkey boy?" Rory's lips curled up in an irrepressible smile.

Jess tried hard not to let his laughter out, and leaned in towards her, saying, "You're gonna pay for that."

Rory lowered her voice, and chanted with a sly smile, "Silly Pony, Silly Pony, Silly-"

He cut her off with a kiss. Although Rory had something to say, she couldn't bring herself to pull away, and it was only a matter of seconds into the kiss that she'd completely forgotten what she'd meant to tell him. They both sank completely into the kiss, and it lasted quite a while before Jess rolled back and Rory leaned over him.

"Ow!" she said, sitting up.

"What?" Jess asked, confused. "Did I hurt you or something?"

"No, I just rolled on top of something..." she felt in his jacket pocket something hard and smiled in amusement. "What? Are you packing heat now or something?"

Jess sighed with reluctance. "I guess now's the time to do this, huh?" he sat up. Rory followed suit.

"Now's the time to do what? What are you talking about?" Rory asked, confused. Jess wasn't even looking at her. He just pulled a little box out of his pocket; it wasn't wrapped and it didn't look like a present. But he handed it to her.

"This is for you," he muttered, visibly embarrassed. Rory took it, completely unsure of what it could have been. To her surprise, inside it was a key.

"It's-a key," she exclaimed, puzzled. Jess nodded.

"Yeah it's the key to my trunk."

Rory grinned. "I really hope you mean the trunk of your car, cuz otherwise I think that might be dirty."

Jess chuckled. "Yeah, little miss mind-in-the-gutter. There are different locks on the car doors and the trunk. Cheap craftsmanship on the builder's part, if you ask me-"

"You're giving me the key to your trunk?" she repeated.

Jess scratched his head nervously. "Well, yeah."

Rory giggled. "How romantic. The gift of storage space. I knew there was a reason I loved you."

Jess rolled his eyes and got off the hood of the car. "Just go open the trunk, huh?"

Rory hopped off the hood and Jess followed her around to the back. He stood a couple feet behind her, his arms folded, wishing the earth would open up and swallow him. Jess' nervous behaior made Rory feel anxious and uncomfortable, and she unlocked the trunk with caution; but as soon as it opened, a huge grin spread on her lips.

"You got me a coffee maker!"

She didn't take her eyes off the coffee maker to look at Jess, and he was grateful for this. He was running out of things to look at in order to avoid her eyes. He really wasn't good at all this romantic sappy stuff. "Yeah," he said. "It's for your dorm at Yale. Even though you'll probably be spending most of your free time around Stars Hollow and at home... you may need it. You never know."

Rory turned to him, making it impossible for him not to look at her. "I LOVE it. It's perfect, really."

Jess blushed a little, in spite of his efforts to remain cool, calm, and collected. "Yeah well I figured I might as well get that in case you didn't like the other gift."

Rory's eyes widened in disbelief. "The other gift? You mean there's MORE? You're kidding."

Jess gestured to the open trunk. "Look again."

Rory turned back to the car and her eyes settled upon yet another small box, but this one was wrapped in a light pink paper and silver bow. She picked it up. "What did you do?" she asked, suspicious.

"Hey, I didn't wrap it. The lady at the place did; I'm no Martha Stewart, I mean, if I'd had to wrap it, you would've been holding a crumpled paper bag right now. Or at least some kind of wrapping paper that wasn't just so pink." Rory slowly unwrapped the box as Jess kept rambling. "I mean, I tried to tell the lady at the place that you weren't an incredibly pink person, but she said all they had was pink paper or this weird plaid paper, and I think we can both agree that plaid doesn't really scream 'Rory'. Oh, well except for the fact that you wear it every day for Chilton. But that's your uniform, you didn't pick it out, some old fogey with way too much money who probably thinks plaid is stylish picked it out, it's not your choice-"

"Oh my god."

Rory had opened the box, and found inside it a beautiful silver pendant on a chain. "Jess." she said under her breath.

"Turn it over," he said. "There's something on the back." On the back of the pendant was an engraved quote;

If I know what love is, It is because of you.

-Herman Hesse

"Wow," Rory whispered. She couldn't even take her eyes off of it; half of her didn't even believe she was really looking at it. It was so unlike him.

Meanwhile, the silence was killing him. He felt so embarrassed. He'd been looking for over a month for a gift for Rory, something she'd REALLY like. He'd finally settled on the idea of a necklace, but every time he came across a little diamond solitaire, or a string of little pearls, it just didn't seem like her. Rory wasn't into jewels and expensive things from Tiffany's. She liked stuff that MEANT something to her. So he'd finally decided on getting a quote; but finding one was much easier said than done. "The quote's kind of cheesy," he began. "Ok, REALLY cheesy. But it was the only one I could find that seemed.... RIGHT. I mean, it's kinda stupid. But hey, at least it's on the back of the pendant so no one ever even has to see it."

Rory turned to him. "You don't like the quote?"

"Well..." Jess put his hands in his pockets. "It's pretty sappy, you gotta admit."

Rory nodded.

"But just cuz I think it sounds sappy..." Jess paused and looked at the ground. "It doesn't mean that I don't mean it."

Rory walked over to him. "I love you," she said with a smile. Jess smirked.

"Stop it, you'll make me blush."

She put her hands on his cheeks and kissed him. "Here, help me put it on." She handed it to him.

"You wanna wear it?" Jess asked.

Rory smiled. "Well isn't that why you gave it to me? Or did you want me to put it on a key chain along with the key to your trunk?"

Jess smiled and put the necklace around her neck. "Smart ass."

"Sappy Romantic," Rory teased back.

"You really like it?" Jess asked, disbelieving.

"Of course I do! It's gorgeous and it means SO much. I couldn't have picked something better myself."

"You're just saying that cuz you know how embarrassed I am."

"I am not, I'm saying it cuz it's true. That, and you get this really cute smirk whenever I compliment you that I'm really enjoying."

Jess laughed, putting his arms around Rory's waist. "Ok, now you're just taking advantage of my vulnerability, and I gotta tell ya', I really don't appreciate it." He chuckled, but Rory's face was completely serious. "What? What's the matter? You were really happy a couple seconds ago and now you're pulling a bipolar thing on me."

Rory played anxiously with the lapels of his jacket. "Thank you for this. I mean, thank you for the necklace and the coffee maker... and also just for coming here with me. I know you didn't want to come-"

"Yeah well, I was an idiot," Jess interrupted. "I should have known it wouldn't be bad. I mean, we got to talk books with a third party, we didn't have to waltz or talk to anybody named Bunny or Muffy or Cookie-"

Rory giggled. "I told you there's no Muffy!"

Jess continued. "And I didn't even mind the crappy music so much. Ya' know, it was cool cuz you were there, and that's really all that mattered....."

Rory smiled. "You're really good at that."

"At what?"

Rory put her arms around his neck and giggled. "Talking pretty."

Jess laughed. "You think I talk pretty huh?" Rory nodded. "Well," Jess continued, "That's... masculine....."

Rory giggled. "Ok, shut up now please."

"Now that's just offensive. A guy could get the feeling he's getting used-" Rory cut him off with a kiss. But the kiss that started off playful ended up much more serious. Rory pulled away and kept her eyes to the ground. She took a deep breath, and said determinedly, "Ok, let's go now."

"What?" Jess asked confused.

"Come on. Let's get in the car and go before I talk myself out of it." She strolled to the car and got in the front seat. Jess followed reluctantly and got into the drivers seat and started the ignition.

"Before I go, could you at least clue me in as to why you suddenly just want to go home?"

Rory looked at Jess and said meekly, "I don't wanna go home." She waited to see the look in his eyes that told her he knew what she meant, and then quickly looked away. But Jess still didn't hit the gas.

"So we could go find a motel or something," he said awkwardly. "Just to be alone for a while, no pressure. We don't have to do anything."

Rory smiled at him gratefully, leaned over and kissed him quickly. "Let's go."

Jess smiled. "As you wish," he said as they drove back to the road.





"I come bearing enchiladas!!!!" Sookie called, letting herself into the Gilmore household. Lorelai jumped up from her seat on the couch.

"Oh, Sookie, you are a Goddess!" She cooed, peering inside the paper bags. "Mmmm smells like heaven. If I married you, would you cook for me EVERY day?"

"Well, yeah, except that 1) two women can't marry in the states, and 2) already kinda married."

Lorelai pouted. "Oh yeah. Damn that Jackson. He stole my woman."

Sookie started walking back to the couch. "Come on, let's eat while they're still hot."

Lorelai sat on the couch, twirling a strand of her hair in her fingers, staring into space. "You think I'll ever find a husband who can cook?"

Sookie smirked. "Well, if you ever wake up, you could find one who can at least make a decent burger."

Lorelai squinted with suspicion. "That was a pointed comment, and I'm aware, but I just have no energy to dispute the whole me and Luke thing right now, so let's just move on."

Sookie handed her a plate with a sympathetic look. "How are you holding up?"

Lorelai smiled. "I'm fine, Sookie."

Sookie handed her a napkin. "How are you REALLY?"

Lorelai caved. "Kind of a wreck," she admitted, viciously taking a bite out of her enchilada. "Am I crazy, Sookie? I mean, Rory's just going to her prom, it's not a big deal really. But I don't know I just feel like tonight is this monumental, hugely symbolic evening, like her real ascension from being my cute little girl to being RORY GILMORE, a... well, a WOMAN." Lorelai sighed. "I AM crazy."

"You're not crazy," Sookie argued. "You and Rory are best friends. Most girls get to spend their proms with their best friends. Or at least they should. And especially since you never went to your prom, you probably just really want to be able to share this with her. That's totally normal."

"Really?" Lorelai said, surprised. "My behavior is normal? Wow, that's so uncharacteristic of me."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Sookie said. "I'm not even related to Rory, and I wish I were there with her."

Lorelai laughed. "Yeah. Although I guess it's probably a good thing we're not there. She's there with Jess and we all know what that means."

"Aha. Sucking face. I get it."

Lorelai looked at Sookie with her face all scrunched up in disgust. "Ew, Sookie, gross!"

"Sorry. One of my friends from summer camp used to call it that and I guess it stuck with me."

"Oh, well do you happen to remember her name? Cuz I'd like to track her down and ask her to reimburse me for my lost appetite." Lorelai put her plate down.

"So things must be going well between her and Jess, huh?" Sookie said. "I mean, since things have lasted this long. Plus, he's going to CHILTON for her. That would be quite a sacrifice for a relationship that isn't going anywhere."

Lorelai sighed. "Yeah, they're sorta serious. And by sorta, I mean immensely." Lorelai sighed, and picked up her plate again, unable to resist the temptation. "I talked to Luke a while ago and he said Jess has been saving up for over a month to get Rory something for tonight."

Sookie gasped. "Oh! You think it's an engagement ring?"

Lorelai stared at her blankly. "No but I DO think you almost just gave me a heart attack."

Sookie laughed. "I'm sorry. I guess that's pretty unlikely, huh? You know, since they're both still in high school and they've only been together a few months. no wait, 7 months now isn't it? Oh my gosh! They've been together for 7 months. They must act like an old married couple by now."

Lorelai snickered. "Yeah if old married men listened to the Misfits and stole garden gnome's from their neighbor's gardens."

Sookie sighed. "Right. Jess probably isn't the 'Old married couple' type huh?"

Lorelai shook her head. "He sure isn't. And I think Rory appreciates that. As much as I hate to admit it, that quality of Dean's always did make me wonder how Rory kept from getting bored."

As Lorelai took another bite of her food, the phone rang. "Hold on a sec, Sookie, that might be Rory," Lorelai said, trying not to seem to eager to talk to her as she answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Lorelai," Emily said on the other end enthusiastically. "Is she there?"

Lorelai pretended not to know what she meant. "Is who where, mom?"

Emily tried to contain her frustration with her daughter. "Rory, Lorelai. Is she at the prom?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes to Sookie. "Oh gosh was that tonight? Rory quick, get out of the tub and get your dress on! I'll call Jess!!!"

"Lorelai!!!" Emily exclaimed. "I don't believe you would do such a-" she stopped short. "You're not very funny, Lorelai, do you know that?"

Lorelai smiled. "Really mom? Cuz Sookie's sure laughing a lot."

"Do you insist on making jokes at my expense no matter what I say?"

Lorelai contemplated. "Hmm. Pretty much, yeah."

Emily shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder if Rory's exposure to so many ill- mannered people might ruin her manners."

"Don't worry mom. She'll always be the Gilmore family angel, no matter how much time she spends with Jess and me."

"You say that now, Lorelai," Emily argued. "But you yourself weren't always the woman you are now."

"Of course I wasn't mom," Lorelai retorted. "It would have been pretty bizarre if I'd been born a full sized woman with my vocabulary and knowledge of pop culture trivia. A medical marvel, but labor would probably have been pretty painful for you."

Emily sighed. "You're very crude."

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah well I try my best mom."

"I've had nightmares about Rory growing up and saying some of the things that come out of your mouth sometimes."

Lorelai finally gave up the sarcastic comments. "Really mom, don't worry. Rory's pure as Aquafina, and she's gonna stay that way. I promise."



**************************

"Wow," Rory said, looking around the motel room, her eyes resting on the TV and cable box. "Pretty swanky place, huh? Cable and everything for just 40 bucks a night." She giggled nervously. Jess returned an awkward smile from across the room.

"Yeah, sorry we couldn't go someplace nicer. This is the only place close."

Rory smiled. "No this is-great, really..." she trailed off and sat on the edge of the bed. "So um... I'll pay you back 20 the next time I see you."

Jess looked confused. "What are you talking about? You don't owe me 20 dollars. I'm not a paid escort; believe it or not, I went to Chilton with you tonight of my own accord."

"I know," Rory said. "I meant the room. It was 40 for the night, so I figured since we're both here, we could split it even."

Jess laughed. "Yeah nice try. You're not paying me for this. I'm the one working 2 jobs, remember? You save your money up. I don't have anything better to spend my money on anyways."

"Thanks," Rory said. She stared at the floor space between them. "So maybe at some point we should both be on the same side of the room, huh?"

Jess nodded. "Yeah that might be a good idea." He paused for a second before sitting on the bed, being sure to leave a couple feet between them. Rory looked at him anxiously.

"Hey," she offered. "Maybe we could turn on the TV for a while. You know, to break the ice a little."

Jess grabbed the remote. "Good idea." He turned the tv on, but stopped himself and handed the remote to Rory. "Here, you can choose what to watch."

Rory took the remote. "You know, you don't have to be extra polite and generous to me. In fact, I would prefer it if you didn't force yourself to be. It's really unlike you and it's kinda freaking me out."

Jess nodded. "Ok. Nix the perfect gentleman thing. Got it." He sighed. "Actually that's kind of a relief." He paused. "You can keep the remote, though."

Rory sighed and started flipping through the channels. She stopped, seeing Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy on the screen.

"Oooh!" she said, excitedly, suddenly forgetting the awkwardness of the situation. "The breakfast club!"

"Yay!" Jess said sarcastically, chuckling at Rory's enthusiasm.

"Stop," she said, elbowing him softly. "I love this movie. I used to want to be Claire in this movie when I was little."

Jess raised his eyebrow. "Lorelai let you watch this when you were little?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah, mom wasn't exactly the best judge of what were acceptable movies for her 8 year old to watch. But we still used to watch it together and she'd try for the first 20 minutes or so to cover my ears whenever they swore. But by the scene when they all get high, she'd always have given up."

Jess laughed. "You wanted to be Claire? Which one's she?"

Rory smiled. "Molly Ringwald. She's the misunderstood prom queen who ends up with the bad boy rebel by the time detention's over, Remember?"

Jess snickered. "Yeah. Good role model."

"Yeah well at least mine was better than my mom's. She wanted to be Ally Sheedy."

Jess raised his eyebrows. "Isn't she the nut case? The pathological liar who has random outbursts and apparently serious dandruff problems?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah. But I think it was more the ending-up-with-Emilio- Estevez part that appealed to Lorelai most."

"I see," Jess said. "I guess that makes sense."

They watched in silence for a few minutes. The movie was almost over already. But Rory's plan had worked well. The movie had broken the ice pretty well, and by the time the credits started rolling, they were both leaning on the backboard of the bed, Rory's head on Jess's shoulder, his arm around her back. Jess sighed.

"You know, come to think of it, I really liked that movie too."

Rory looked at him skeptically. "Yeah I bet."

"No really," he replied. "I did. I really liked Bender. I mean everyone thought he was such an ass hole, acting the way he did... and I guess he was. But he had a reason, you know? He wasn't just acting up for the hell of it." Jess paused. "Plus he had an impressively wide vocabulary of insults."

Rory laughed. "Yeah. I always used to like him too. My mom thought he was an ass hole, but I thought he was just misunderstood." Rory readjusted her head on Jess' shoulder, still watching the credits roll. But Jess stared at the wall, trying really hard not to let his trademark way-too-cool attitude prevent him from just being honest with her.

"I love that you just said that," he said quietly. He didn't have to say anything more; Rory could tell from his tone that he didn't just appreciate her understanding of the character. They could have been talking about Jess himself. Rory didn't say a thing. She just slowly picked up the remote and turned the TV off. Neither one of them moved for a few moments. They just sat there, staring into space, both knowing what was going to happen. The room was mostly dark except for the stream of dim light entering the room through the cracked open bathroom door. Rory gently intertwined her fingers with Jess'. They both looked at their interlaced hands.

"Are you really sure about this?" Jess asked softly.

Rory looked at him. "Yeah. I'm really sure." She looked down again. "You should probably kiss me now before this silence gets any more awkward."

Jess smiled. "Don't have to tell me twice." He leaned in and kissed her softly, his hand resting lightly on her hip. Rory ran her fingers through his hair, wondering why she'd ever been so nervous about this. She knew it would be fine. She felt safer in his hands than anyone else's.

Within a few minutes, they were completely horizontal on the bed, although still completely dressed. One of the straps of Rory's dress slipped off her shoulder, and out of habit, Jess reached up to put it back into place. Mid- kiss, Rory chuckled. Jess stopped kissing her, confused. "What's so funny?"

Rory smiled. "Nothing. Just..." she gestured to the strap. "You didn't really have to do that."

Jess paused. "Right," he said, laughing at himself. "That would make sense, wouldn't it?"

Rory nodded, giggling a little. They stayed there, just looking at each other for a moment, before Rory sat up spontaneously. She stood, her back towards him. Jess sat up, confused, and tried not to sound too disappointed.

"You changed your mind?" he asked.

Rory couldn't look at him as she said, "Could you help me with the zipper?"

Jess swallowed hard. "Oh... uh yeah, sure." He stood awkwardly and unzipped her dress slowly; he felt weird, seeing the blue fabric of her strapless bra.

Rory sighed. "Here goes nothing," she said under her breath, and slipped the dress off, placing it gently on a nearby chair, not once looking at Jess. She took a deep breath and turned toward him, being really grateful to see his eyes only on her face.

His lips curled up a little. "I keep having this weird image in my head, that if I look at you, your mom's gonna come bursting in here and start beating me with her handbag."

Rory smiled. "Yeah well it might be easier for both of us if we kept our eyes on each others faces. At least for a while, you know?"

Jess nodded. "I agree... is it just me or does this situation remind you of the day we first got together, when Luke burst in on us?"

"More than slightly," Rory replied.

Jess paused. "Can I kiss you?"

Rory sighed. "That would be a good first step." She took a step toward him, and he took both of her hands in his, just as he had the day they'd had their first attempted kiss as a real couple.

"Hi," Jess said with a boyish grin. Rory returned the smile.

"Hi."

He kissed her, and she felt the same butterflies in her stomach she had the first time they'd kissed; GOOD butterflies. She wasn't even embarrassed at her near nudity. His hands rested lightly on her hips, which gave her room to pull his jacket off of him and unbutton his shirt. His skin was so smooth, and his hands felt amazing on her bare skin; she was like putty in his hands, completely at his mercy.

Their lips never leaving each other, they stumbled back toward the bed and, rather ungracefully, fell upon it. Rory laughed a little as they fell, and Jess chuckled too, kissing her neck. She loved how serious he could be, and yet playful and fun at the same time. After he moved the covers aside to allow them both to crawl under them, she kissed his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "I love you."

"I love you too," he answered her, and he kissed her. They lay back on the bed, and crossed the one bridge that can never be uncrossed.





A/N: More comes soon guys I promise. It'll be a lot easier to write now that I got the love scene out of the way!!! Hehehe.

I thought at first that I would try to respond to all the reviews you guys give me by email.but I just don't have time. So just know that I am sooooooooooo grateful to you guys for your reviews. They've been so nice and incredibly helpful. Please keep reviewing!!! Thanks!

~Emaline