Title: What Sam Says   

Chapter 9: The Second, Third, Fourth Roadblocks

A/N: Hey, no Author's Note this time!!!

Oh, wait…

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Rory practically threw her plate on the counter and stalked after Jess.

"What the hell are you talking about? I told you everything last night—everything." Rory raised her eyebrows meaningfully. "And now I wake up and you immediately jump on me and don't explain? What's going on?"

"Look, you can't act all high and mighty after the way you used me last night."

"I never used you!"

"Bullshit!"

Rory glared. Jess glared.

A stand-off.

"You tell me what the hell Tristan told you yesterday."

"Just your secret."

"I don't have any secrets!"

"Oh, really? Well, this 'Tristan' guy seems to think that you're spying on me for Mark. Apparently, Mark works in Hollywood, for a rival studio, and his studio's heard about my movie, and now you're here to steal it."

"Dammit, Jess, I don't even know the stupid plot of your movie! I have asked no questions about your movie, and I don't know what the hell is going on with Mark. He's freaking me out with this secrecy crap, and Tristan showed up, and I hated him six years ago, and I hate him now, and he's being even more annoying than he's ever been before, and somehow they know that I called Mom, and everyone's mad at me, and I can't call my mother, and now you're yelling at me…" Rory trailed off as the tears started coming. Jess hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. "And now I have to run away and pretend to be pregnant to get away from everything and I can't do it, I can't do any of it, I'm not strong enough, and—"

"Shhhh, shhhh," Jess tried to comfort Rory. She buried her head in his shoulder and he patted her back as she basically drenched his right sleeve. "You can do it."

"Not by myself," Rory protested.

"No, not by yourself," Jess agreed, gently pushing Rory away from him so he could see her face. "With me." Jess used his thumb to wipe the trails of tears off her face. "Okay?"

She nodded, slightly.

"Okay," he whispered, and she leaned her head back onto his shoulder.

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"Aw. That's sweet."

"I agree," Rory smiled.

"And you're telling me he's not the father?"

"He's not the father," Rory insisted.

"Okay. He's not the father. Who is?"

"It's in the story."

Lorelai sighed. "I have to know the entire story just to know who the father is?"

"Uh…yeah."

"You just like being the center of attention, don't you?" Lorelai grinned.

"Maybe," Rory grinned back.

"Okay. I can relate. Continue."

"Thank you."

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"Let's go. We've still got to get back."

"We have to?" Rory asked. Jess nodded.

"Yup. Keep up appearances for just a little longer, and then we can…run. 'Kay?"

Rory nodded, and allowed herself to be led to the car and practically placed into the passenger seat. Then Jess disappeared for a second and reappeared with both of their bags. He threw them in the trunk, and they were off.

An hour into the six and a half hour trip, Jess was firm in his decision that he was going to help Rory get rid of Mark for good. Rory had calmed down a little, and agreed that Jess was probably her best bet. But she still wanted to call her mom, if only to check in, give her a better happy birthday, and apologize for the last eight months, last September, since Rory had met Mark.

"Can I borrow your cell-phone again?" Rory asked as Jess paused in his heated disapproval of both Mark and Tristan.

"We're still out of range," Jess said even as he nodded.

"Thank you," she said, pulling the phone from the glove compartment and dialing her mother's number.

"We're sorry. The person you are trying to reach is out of range. Please hang up and try again later," the most annoying male voice in the world grated in her ear. Wait, it wasn't Tristan. The second most annoying male voice in the world.

She sighed. "You're right again. I hate that."

Jess laughed. "Don't worry, we'll be in range before long. Just…wait."

"Easy for you to say," Rory grumbled, crossing her arms and leaving the phone on her lap.

When they drove through Boston, Rory tried again. Same results. Desperately, she started calling the second they crossed the Connecticut State Line, and continued every two minutes until they passed through Hartford, and she thought something might be up.

"I think Mark's tapped your phone," she said to Jess.

"Bastard." Jess pulled the car to a stop on the side of the road and grabbed the phone from Rory. He dialed Lorelai's number—unavailable. He asked Rory's grandparents' number, and tried that—unavailable. He tried her number at the dorm in New Haven—unavailable. Finally, as a last resort, he called Baylor, who was over two hours away at this point.

"Hey, stud," she answered, knowing from the caller ID that it was his phone.

"Baylor, hi. Uh, I'm probably gonna be home soon. Don't ask why—it's a long story. Try to keep Perry off my back for a while, cause I'm gonna be a little busy."

"Okay," she agreed without any questions. Jess grinned.

"Great. That's why I love ya, babe. Talk to ya later." He hung up the phone to find Rory staring at him. "What?" he asked, almost defensively, as he started the car and eased back onto the highway.

"Nothing," Rory answered, looking away from him. "Oh, do you think we could stop by my grandparents' house?"

"Sure. Which way?"

Rory pointed out the route, and within ten minutes, they were pulling up to a gate outside a formidable home.

"Whoa. People live here?" Jess asked. "It's almost like the New York Public Library."

"Yeah. You know, my grandparents have never closed this gate." Rory climbed from the car and walked up to the gate. There was a brand-new, state of the art lock on it, and on one of the columns, was an intercom box. She walked over to it and pressed the "ENTER" button. Static came back to her, and then a crackly voice.

"Mary, what'd I tell you about contacting your family? I thought you'd know better by now."

Rory jumped back from the gate and ran back to the car. She jumped in and said to a very confused Jess, "Drive. We're going to Stars Hollow."

"Wha—"

"Just drive," she interrupted him. He obliged, and half an hour later they were pulling up to Luke's.

"Closed," Jess stated simply.

"No duh, Einstein."

Jess walked backwards, into the street, and looked up at the windows of the apartment. "No lights. Nothing moving. Hey, uh, he and Lorelai haven't—"

"Gotten together? No. At least, I don't think so."

"God, this guy was a horrible influence on you."

"Thanks. I know that now."

"That's good."

"This whole town seems all weird."

"It's always been weird."

"No, I mean—there's no one here. Doose's is closed at two in the afternoon. All of the houses are deserted. There's no one on the streets. Miss Patty's is empty. There's something wrong."

"We need to get back to New York. Like, as soon as possible."

"Okay." Rory headed back to the car; Jess cast one more look around the town square and the inside of the diner, and then followed Rory.

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"Oh, you did come to visit me!"

"Yeah, I tried."

"When was this? What was I doing?"

"It was right after your birthday."

"Oh. Oh! That's when that group of guys announced they were throwing a humongo party in the Inn for the whole town."

"All 9, 973 of them?"

"All 9, 975." Lorelai corrected.

"Five?" Rory asked.

"Kelsey Schwartzmann had twins."

"Kelsey had twins?"

"Yeah, I know, everyone else was shocked too. Especially when she announced Kirk was the dad."

"What?!"

"He wasn't really, but he'd paid her fifty bucks to say that to improve his street cred."

"His words or yours?"

"His."

"Ah."

"But, continue, story, baby's father, let's go."

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Jess dropped Rory off in front of her hotel exactly two hours after they'd left Stars Hollow. She grabbed her bag and ran up the stairs, entering the same room she'd exited just a day before. She tried not to make any noise as she crept into her room and lifted the phone to her ear, intending to dial her mother.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mary," Tristan warned, walking up from behind her.

"God, Tristan, you scared me."

"Sorry."

"Good. Now go the hell away."

"That hurts, Mary."

"Tristan."

He just smirked, walked over to Rory and leaned in close. She recoiled, and he whispered, "Mark's waiting for you in Room eleven-eleven. He expects to see you there in ten minutes, no excuses." Tristan turned and walked away. Rory waited until she'd heard the door slam, and then she ran to the drawer where she'd left her cell-phone. She searched through all of her clothes, not finding it, and threw all of her clothes on the floor.

Written on the bottom of the drawer, in black permanent marker, were the words, "No phone calls to Mommy allowed."

Rory slammed the drawer shut and walked back over to the hotel phone. Even if she couldn't talk to her mother, she had an appointment to make. Here in New York.

And then she'd keep up appearances for a week, before dropping her bomb and making a run for it.