Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially the Gilmore Girls.



A/N: Ok last chapter at the end I said please update! LoL I meant please REVIEW!! please please please. Let me know if it is good or terrible. Okay, and the story continues....



{recap}



Rory: "Jess? What are you thinking about right now?" Jess blinked, to get himself out of the daze but he noticed Rory still hadn't noticed he was staring at her She still stared blankly into the water almost like she was asleep with her eyes open.

Jess: "You." He continued to look at her.

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Rory's head shot up at the sound of that word. 'You?. What does he mean by that?' Rory wondered. She started panicking and she blushed furiously.



Rory: "Oh...um...well....that's, that's ..." She stuttered like an idiot but stopped when she noticed Jess laughing, slightly.



Jess: "Relax Ror. I'm not some obsessed stalker." Rory relaxed at his comment and laughed nervously. Jess continued. "I was thinking about how you have seemed so different recently." Jess was nervous. He didn't want to say something that made her mad, he wanted her to stay and talk, so he had to be careful with his words. "Is something, uh, going on with you?" He fidgeted with his hands and stared into the water. Rory had gone back to "shut down" mode and just continued to stare. She knew she couldn't tell Jess. He would kill Dean, and Dean would punish Rory. She sat in silence for what seemed like forever to Jess.



Rory: "I'm tired Jess. I'm tired of a lot of things, and I don't have to give you details, its not like you actually care. I'm fine and nothing is wrong but everyone still keeps asking me 'oh, Rory, what's wrong? You seem upset, or different or not perfect today!' I'm tired of having to be "perfect Rory" just to please this stupid town." When she noticed her tone and realized she probably upset Jess she finally looked at him. Her eyes apologized to him and he noticed. "Look, I should go Jess, thanks for talking to me. I'll...uh... see you around." She hurriedly got up and started walking away.



Jess: "Rory!" he called, still looking into the water. He heard her stop walking and turned to face her. "I do care. If you know anything about me, you should know that. Okay? And I'm always here for you. Know that too." He gave her a weak smile, knowing, somehow, that she needed it. She smiled back and reluctantly turned to walk away. Jess let out a long sigh and placed his hands over his face. She wanted help and he wanted to give it to her.





{The next morning}



Jess stood wiping down the counter in the diner when he heard the bell over the door ring. He looked up and saw Rory and Lorelai walking towards him. Well, Lorelai was skipping and Rory laughed and rolled her eyes.



Lorelai: "Hey there you studly hunk of a man." She leaned on the counter and winked at him. Jess, at first shocked, realized what she was doing.



Jess: "Ya know, I'm not Luke, you don't have to suck up to me just to get coffee." He poured their cups and set them on the counter. "You want food with that?" Lorelai looked at Rory and they both laughed. "Right, I shouldn't even have to ask." he placed his hands on the counter and raised his eyebrows at them. "What will it be?"



Rory: "Just a bagel for me and a refill." she held up her cup and shook it a little. Lorelai looked at her daughter with an appalled look on her face. "What?"



Lorelai: "Oh, just a bagel for me" She said mockingly, batting her eyelashes. A mock disgusted look came over her face. "Have I taught you nothing? Just a bagel? Please be joking! Hey! Rebel Without a Clue, while you're back there making 'just a bagel' throw in some pancakes and bacon and just put chocolate syrup over everything! My daughters on a sugar low. I think her brain stopped functioning! Ya gotta save her!" Lorelai laughed to herself and went back to drinking her coffee.



Rory: "Mom, you're impossible." Rory rolled her eyes. "Jess, cancel the 'death breakfast' my psycho mother ordered please? Thank you."



Lorelai: "No, don't cancel it!"



Rory: "Mom, no one in their right mind would ever eat that, I doubt Jess will even make it!"



Jess: "Oh, I'm up for anything that will keep this banter going. Very entertaining I must say." he called from the back.



Lorelai: "Rory, I am the mother here, daughters can not overrule mothers. Especially ones as beautiful as me! Keep the 'death breakfast' and make it snappy!" Rory laughed and rolled her eyes.



Rory: "Well, while you sit here and eat that nasty food, I will be off to school educating myself along with many snobby, stuck-up Chiltonites. I am taking my BAGEL and leaving. Bye mom, bye Jess!" Lorelai smiled and watched her walk out.



Lorelai: "Bye babe! Have a good day!" Jess came out of the back with her food and sighed as he watched Rory walk away. Lorelai noticed and gave him a suspicious look. "Something wrong, lover boy?" she smirked.

Jess: "Lover boy? You don't know what you're talking about." he turned around and began cleaning up around the coffee machine. As he went to give Lorelai a refill he contemplated talking to her about Rory. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and try to have a conversation with you. Do you find that at all possible?" he asked her, slightly annoyed already, like he knew what was coming. Lorelai looked around nervously. She was going to come back with an insult but decided against it when she saw Jess' face.



Lorelai: "Uh..yah sure. What's up?"



Jess: "Have you noticed Rory..." he didn't know how to put it, "she's been... different, sadder and more withdrawn...don't get me wrong.."



Lorelai: "Jess, I know exactly what you are talking about. I notice it too." Lorelai's face was overcome with sadness. "Even though sometimes she is normal, happy Rory, a lot of the times she is sad or quiet or distant. I wish I knew why. But I'm afraid to say something to her. She used to tell me everything, I'm not used to asking." The bell over the door jingled and Luke walked in with his arms full of groceries. Jess quickly got back to work and Lorelai sighed.



Luke: "Hey Lorelai, don't you have work today?"



Lorelai: "Yes, I do, pretty soon actually why?"



Luke: "Taylor was on his way to the Inn to find you, he was raving about something or other and he was looking for you." he chuckled as he set down the bags.



Lorelai: "Uh-oh, sounds like a sick day for me. I better be going, thanks for the food Jess." Luke walked into the back. "And thanks for noticing about Rory, and caring." He just shrugged and she gave him a smile on her way out.



{later that afternoon}



The bus ride home seemed shorter than usual to Rory. Maybe it was because she didn't really feel like going home today, putting on her 'I'm okay' mask and acting like nothing is wrong. In the bus she thought of what would happen if she did tell Jess about Dean. What would she tell him. She tried to have the conversation in her mind, to see how it would turn out. 'Hey Jess, wanna know what's really wrong with me? Well, ya know that guy, I have been with forever and everyone claims he is so perfect? Yah he abuses me, mostly yelling or putdowns but he has hit me before. Yah, sometimes its over big things but most the time its little things, like, talking to you, or any other guy for that matter, or even if I don't feel like hanging out. So, yah, that's my problem, what should I do?' She laughed bitterly inside, partly because she knew she would never say it like that and partly because she knew she would never say it. She felt stuck, trapped.



The bus stopped and Rory gathered her things. As she stepped off she saw Dean standing there waiting for her.



Rory: "Dean, hey! What are you doing here?" He looked angry already.



Dean: "We need to talk Rory, go get in my car." he took her bags away from her and she uickly got into the passenger seat, already knowing what was coming.



A/N: Okay please review, let me know how I'm doing and if I should continue. Thanks!