Title: What Sam Says

Chapter 8: The Second Mention of Sleep

Disclaimer: Nope. Sorry. Not mine. Although that's probably a good thing, cause this will never happen. Although it probably wouldn't happen if I did own it. You know what? I just don't own it.

A/N: I'm back. Better than ever. Succumbing to sticking songs in this chapter, along with more of Mark and probably Tristan and definitely Jess, and maybe even the dad! Yes, you still don't know who the dad is. I don't care if you think you do—I know, but you don't. I might even change my preliminary thoughts about the father, so you really don't know.

If you notice any grammatical/spelling errors, don't hesitate to point them out to me, cause I know that I can't stand them when I'm reading, yet I am human and do make mistakes when I'm writing, but you can totally point 'em out for me, and I'll fix 'em immediately. (Words like "'em" don't count)

And—StephieM! Another new soul mate, brought together through Gilmore Girls fanfics. Loved your review! Loved it very much! Made my day!!

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Rory and Jess had gone to a Wal-Mart on their way out of New York, and when Rory had realized that she didn't have any money to pay for her clothes, Jess graciously offered to pay, refusing all pleas of re-compensation Rory uttered, insisting that he had "more money than he knew what to do with" and "that's what friends do, right?"

Rory grudgingly half-agreed and allowed him to pay, but continued grumbling that he was going to find some way to hold it against her all the way up to Maine, while he just laughed.

She stopped grumbling, however, as soon as they pulled up to their cabin in the middle the woods. Normally, the whole "middle of the woods" thing would have turned her off immediately, but this was a fabulous spot. The cabin was all wood—with central heating, Jess assured her multiple times—and nestled in a grove of pine trees and other evergreens. The trees, along with the cabin, were sprinkled with just the right amount of snow—enough to make it look pretty, not enough to make it freezing cold. Rory fell in love immediately, and fell in love again when she saw the cozy interior—two bedrooms, one living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen.

"I never run away to the middle of nowhere until I'm sure it's up to date," Jess explained. "At least, with a microwave, a toaster, and indoor plumbing."

Rory smiled and hugged him again. "This is fabulous."

"Don't say that yet," Jess admonished, before leading her into the bigger bedroom and sitting her on the bed. "By the way, this is your room," he explained as he opened the large trunk at the end of the bed to reveal lots and lots of books.

"Oh, my God! This rivals both of our collections together," Rory said, noticing the way the books were packed in so tightly that a gnat might have a hard time pushing his way to the bottom.

"That's not all." Jess' eyes twinkled as he led her to the other bedroom, where a slightly smaller trunk stood at the end of the bed. He pulled it open to reveal almost as many books, packed just as tightly.

"Where did you find this place?" Rory asked.

"It's Baylor's," Jess answered, blushing slightly and averting his gaze to the floor. He'd told Rory the entire story of his newfound fame, and that included Baylor and Perry. Baylor was Jess' best friend in California, and she'd been an aspiring actress for as long as anyone could remember. After one particularly devastating audition, she'd found Jess sitting on the boardwalk, scribbling about something, and she'd implored him to write a movie for her, and after some pleading, he'd obliged. In order to get it on tape, though, they needed someone with connections, and Perry, a film student at UCLA, was just that. After filming the first half of it, Perry's teacher, who had some major connections himself, had shown it to a major studio, who'd offered Perry, Baylor, and Jess millions of dollars to finish the film in time to bring it to theaters, summer 2008. The only thing Jess hadn't fully explained was his real relationship with Baylor. Rory got the idea that they were more than friends, but she couldn't get much beyond that.

"Oh." Rory said softly, and then she pepped up. "Food! We need food!"

Jess laughed. "We just ate an hour ago."

Rory rolled her eyes. "That was an hour ago. Now you get your diner workin' butt into the kitchen and cook up some food!"

Jess laughed again and mock-bowed. "Yes, madam."

Rory grinned. "That's the kind of service I like."

Jess continued laughing as he walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Before long, Rory heard the unmistakable sound of someone cooking. Or, the sound of someone banging pots and pans around. She couldn't tell the difference. Either way, Jess was doing something, so she walked back into the larger bedroom and picked the first book out of the trunk, obviously the last read.

Howl, by Allen Ginsberg. Rory grinned and started reading.

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Lorelai felt like she was in a movie or a television show of some kind, with some slow piano laden song playing on the soundtrack. Something like Jewel's "Hands". Of course, the longer Lorelai searched without finding Rory, there was only one phrase that really jumped out at her from the song. Over and over again.

I will get down on my knees,

And I will pray.

I will get down on my knees,

And I will pray.

I will get down on my knees,

And I will pray.

Lorelai was praying, praying like she'd only prayed at those few key moments in her life—finding out about Rory, having Rory, moving away from her parents, money for school for Rory, money for school for Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory…Rory and baby.

A wave of adrenaline hit Lorelai, the kind of adrenaline that hits mothers who believe their children are in danger, and she walked faster, not feeling the rain, not feeling the cold, and suddenly she was there. On the bridge. She mentally smacked herself for not realizing that this was where Rory went to find refuge, and then cautiously walked to the edge of the bridge. She closed her umbrella and set it to the side, and then wrapped Rory in the spare raincoat as she sat down next to her daughter.

"Hi," Lorelai said, not really speaking at or to Rory, just gazing over the water.

"Hi," Rory answered, gazing at her hands playing in her lap.

"You cold?"

"Kinda."

"We should go home. Get warm."

Rory nodded, and when she didn't say anything, Lorelai looked over. Rory nodded again.

"Okay. We'll go. You'll maybe explain your freak-out. Mark. Jess. Tristan. The father. Etcetera, etcetera."

"Okay, Yul Brynner in The King And I."

"Good to know you haven't completely lost your sense of humor," Lorelai smiled, and then stood up. Rory glanced helplessly up to her mother, who understood immediately and held out her hands. "Oof!" she exclaimed as Rory stood up. "Heavy already?"

"I'm not that bad. The sweater's weighing me down," Rory explained defensively, gesturing to the large wet clump of wool that clung to her like a shirt.

"I understand, I'm just teasin' you," Lorelai said, throwing one arm around her daughter's shoulder and using the other to hold the umbrella over the two of them.

"Not much use now, is it?" Rory asked, gesturing to the umbrella. Lorelai shrugged and closed it.

"Guess not."

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"Weird," Jess muttered an hour later. They'd just finished eating breakfast, and Rory had told Jess her entire story, starting at six o'clock the morning before. Rory could hardly believe that it was only a little over twenty-four hours ago that Mark had woken her up and hurried her out the door…and then it struck her that she'd only slept a total of twenty minutes in the last twenty-four hours, and she yawned.

"You know what I think," Jess said suddenly, not noticing Rory yawning, "I think that you should convince him that you're cheating on him. Like, really cheating on him. And as soon as he finds that out, he's not gonna want to cart you around the country anymore."

"That's actually a good idea. But, if I told him, he wouldn't believe me, and I can't tell him anyway, cause that'd sound…like I was trying to get him to break up with me."

"Hmmm." Jess stared into his post-breakfast coffee, as if waiting for an answer. When he finally got one, he looked up at Rory, opened his mouth, and blushed.

"What? What is it?"

"Well, I got an idea, but I gotta know something that's kind of, well, very personal."

"What? Whatever it is, Jess, you probably already know. And if you don't, I see no reason you can't."

"Okay," Jess said hesitantly. "Uh, have you and Mark…had…sex?" he whispered the last word, and blushed furiously. Rory ducked her head, her cheeks flaming also. Finally she looked up, directly into his eyes.

"No."

"Uh, good." Jess cleared his throat about three times. "Uh, so my idea is this. Since you haven't had sex, the only real way he'd know you're cheating on him is to…get pregnant. By someone who is not him."

Rory nodded slowly, and then stopped. "I can't just fake a test. I can't just bribe a doctor to say I'm pregnant. He's gonna need proof."

"Uh, okay. Uh…fake the test, bribe the doctor to fake the test, and then run. Run like hell. Chop your hair off, use a fake name, and move every month or so, never allowing him to find you. Don't use banks. Rent, don't own. Don't have a telephone or an electric bill—nothing that they can use to trace you."

"You speak like you know this."

Jess shrugged. "Just knowledgeable, I guess."

"About very interesting subjects." Rory raised her eyebrows.

"It's gonna be of help to you, isn't it?" Jess asked. Rory nodded. "So I wouldn't worry about it."

"Okay. I just hope I can handle it."

"You can handle anything, I'm sure of it." Jess smiled.

Rory groaned. "Cheesy—not good. Ugh, I think I'm gonna barf, with all these cheese."

Jess tore a little piece off of his bread and threw it at Rory, who ducked and laughed.

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Mother and daughter walked back into the house, soaked but a little happier, five minutes later. Rory immediately started coffee—decaf—and Lorelai got towels for the both of them. They eventually changed into dry clothes and toweled off, and then sat back down at the kitchen table, coffee in hand, to hopefully get a little more of the story. Rory explained all the way through Jess' suggestion, when Lorelai popped in with comments.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I think I see where this is going. So Jess suggested you cheat on Mark—what, with him? Did he then suggest that you and he have sex right there, multiple times so as to insure pregnation? Did I just make up a word?"

"No, no, and yes," Rory nodded.

"Wait. What?"

"Jess didn't suggest I have sex with him multiple times, and yes, pregnation is a brand-new word made up by you."

"Webster wishes he was me," Lorelai grinned. "But, back to the story."

"Back to the story," Rory nodded.

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"Well, I've got to get some sleep," Rory announced. "I've slept a total of twenty minutes over the last day."

Jess nodded. "I understand. See you later."

"Wake me up by nine tomorrow morning."

Jess nodded again. Rory walked out of the kitchen and back to the larger bedroom. She closed the door, slipped out of her shoes and jeans, and crawled into bed.

"Rory. Rory. Wake up, Rory," Jess was saying into her face seconds later.

"What?" she asked groggily, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Ten thirty. Look, I'm sorry to wake you up, but someone's on the phone for you."

"What?" Rory sat up completely and noticed it was dark outside the window. Oh, so it was ten thirty at night. Rory had been asleep for almost fourteen hours, but she was still a little tired. "The phone? I thought this place didn't have a phone."

"They're on my cell-phone. Are you giving out my number?"

"What? No. Lemme have the phone."

Jess wordlessly handed her the phone.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Tsk, tsk." Tristan clicked his tongue at her. Rory hated the fact that she knew that it was Tristan's tongue clicking. "I tell you you aren't allowed to call anyone—especially not your mother—and you see this as an invitation to both call your mother and sneak out of the hotel room?"

"Tristan, how the hell did you get this number?"

"Oh, I didn't get this number. Mark did."

"Wipe that smug-ass look off your face and shut up."

"Well, then, how will we communicate? We're on the phone, Mary, you should know better than that."

Rory sighed. "What do you want?"

"Mark's worried about you."

"Well, then, Mark should call."

"Mark can't call."

"Why the hell not?"

"He's busy."

"Doing what?"

"What he's doing."

"Stop it."

"Never."

"I hate you."

"Right back at ya."

"Tristan."

"Mary."

"It's 'Rory'."

"I know."

"Then say it."

"Never."

"Stop it!"

"Never."

Rory sighed and handed Jess the phone. "You handle it. I'm going back to bed." And she fell back into bed and immediately was fast asleep. When she woke up eleven hours later, only one thought was in her head—how did Tristan know that Rory had called Lorelai?

She got out of bed and dressed and walked into the kitchen, where Jess was leaning against the counter and drinking a beer, a stack of pancakes behind him.

"A little early to be drinking," Rory observed as she grabbed a plate and piled pancakes on it.

"A little late for you to be high-and-mighty," Jess shot back, taking another sip.

"What?" Rory paused, wondering if she'd heard right.

"Nothing." Jess half-groaned. "Eat, and then we're heading back to the city."

"What? Why? Less than a day of scandal isn't gonna do you any good."

"Look, Rory, I don't care if you're Mark's spy, but you need to tell me these things and don't lie to me, and especially don't let me hear it from some smug bastard on my cell phone."

"What?" Rory was completely confused now.

"Don't give me that innocent shit. Be ready to leave in twenty minutes." Jess pushed himself from the counter and walked out of the room, leaving a stunned Rory behind him.

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A/N: Okay, so most of the story is going to be told in flashbacks for a very long time. And, once again, no one is what they seem. Everyone's personality and demeanor during the flashbacks will probably change up till the very end.