Title: What Sam Says

Chapter 18: The Endings…Of A Few Things

A/N: Okay, so I wrote this the same day that I wrote chapter 17, but FF.Net was really really mean to me, and so it's taken me this long to stick this up. I'm sorry.

I think this is a good chapter to stop at, number wise. It will be longer than the other chapters, and will wrap things up nicely…well, kind of nicely, as I will hopefully be doing a sequel soon, called Back in Stars Hollow, I think.

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"So, do you think your dad'll like me?" Rory asked Jess. He nodded.

"He might think you're insane for loving Ayn Rand and hating Ernest Hemingway, but he'll like you all the same."

Rory tried to hit Jess, but she didn't have any free hands, as one was holding a hot dog and the other was being gripped in a death hold by Jess, so she bumped him softly with the side of her body. He grinned, and they stopped at a bench outside a bookstore, as Jimmy was sitting there, reading.

"Jimmy," Jess said as a greeting. Jimmy nodded without looking up from his book.

"Jess."

"There's someone I want you to meet."

Jimmy looked up. "Hey!" He jumped up and offered his hand to Rory. "I'm guessing you're—" he stopped himself, as he noticed her stomach. "Pregnant." He finished.

"It's not mine," Jess said quickly.

"It's not his," Rory said at the same time.

"Okay. It's not Jess'. Yet your hands are glued together. Reason?"

"The father's a deadbeat," Jess offered.

"Jess!" Rory scolded. "We don't know that. I was artificially inseminated."

"Okay. Any particular reason?"

"I wanted to get away from my spy boyfriend."

"Ah. And you're from what soap opera?"

Rory laughed. "I know it sounds unbelievable, but, believe me. It's true."

"Okay. Anyway, you're Rory."

Rory looked at Jess with a surprised look on her face and nodded. "And you're Jimmy."

"Right in one. So. What are you doing here?"

"Taking Jess back to Stars Hollow with me."

"Uh-huh. And you're going?"

Jess glanced at Rory, and then nodded. "Yep."

"That's good. How?"

"Plane," Rory said automatically.

"Yeah. She's got my car."

"Okay. So when're you planning on taking this plane across the country?"

"I don't know," Jess said, glancing at Rory. "Whaddya think?"

"I was thinking," Rory started slowly. "That we'd buy the tickets for as soon as possible, because Mom's kind of impatient."

"Lorelai? Impatient? Impossible."

"Personally, I think it's one of her better qualities."

"Really?"

"No. But, she's not here to defend herself, so I'll do it."

"You're a good daughter."

"Thank you."

"Okay, hi!" Jimmy yelled, breaking into the couple's conversation. "It's getting dark. If you want to leave as soon as possible, you should probably get tickets as soon as possible. And then you have to figure out where you're going to stay until you use said tickets."

"My place?" Jess asked.

"What about Baylor?" Jimmy pointed out.

Jess shook his head. "She's got a new girlfriend, and she's been hanging out with her almost every night."

"I'm sure you use the term 'hanging out' loosely."

"Very," Jess nodded.

"Well, looks like you've got everything figured out."

"Yep," Jess smiled at Rory, who smiled back.

Jimmy glanced at his watch. "Well, I've gotta get back to the Inferno. Tell Luke hi for me, and call Sasha when you get there, cause I know she's gonna get mad at me if I don't say that."

"Of course."

"Okay. Bye." Jimmy walked off. Rory turned to Jess.

"Baylor's got a girlfriend?"

"Oh, didn't I mention that?" Jess grinned.

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"Lukey," Lorelai whined into the phone.

"Don't call me that!" Luke hissed.

"Where is she? She hasn't called me in forever."

"She called you at the diner. I was here. It was four hours ago."

"Yeah. Four whole hours!"

"Stop whining."

"Never. Admit it. You're worried, too."

"I'm not worried," Luke said defensively.

"Yes, you are." Lorelai's voice started to take on a teasing tone. "You are worried, cause you know that Rory's three thousand miles away…with Jess…probably alo—"

"Stop!" Luke commanded.

"Hah! I knew it! You know how I knew it? Cause I'm smart. So very smart, so very very smart—"

"Lorelai," Luke interrupted, "do you have call waiting?"

"Uh…no?"

"Well, how do you know that Rory isn't trying to call you right now?"

"Uh, uh, uh," Lorelai stalled.

"So you should hang up. In case she's calling."

"But, but, but," Lorelai stammered.

"Goodbye, Lorelai." Luke grinned and hung up, knowing that he'd caught her in a corner. He was standing up from his kitchen table when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Come over here and keep me company! I don't know when she's going to call, and I'm lonely."

Luke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose; he had a headache, and her name was Lorelai.

"Please?"

Luke could hear her pouting across the phone. He sighed again. "Fine. But I can't promise that I won't be boring."

"Yay!" Lorelai yelled, ignoring his second sentence. "Bring coffee, and doughnuts."

When Luke sighed again, Lorelai hung up and grinned.

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Rory was curled up underneath Jess' covers, in his bed, trying to sleep. She'd been trying to sleep for over an hour, but had yet to actually drift off. The door was ajar, and soft yellow light was spilling into the room, distracting her.

Finally, she threw the covers aside and fell out of bed—gracefully, somehow. She wondered at the new weight her stomach was starting to add to her, and shuffled into Jess' living room.

Jess was sprawled on the couch, one arm thrown back behind his head, over the couch arm, and his other arm trailing on the floor. A reading lamp was on behind his head, and a book was laid on his chest. He was snoring.

Rory grinned, remembering when Lorelai had told her that Jess snored, and then walked over to the couch. Jess looked far from cold, wearing a sweater and jeans, so she didn't get the chance to cover him with a blanket, like she'd seen in so many movies. Instead, she lowered her head to kiss him softly on the lips, while reaching to turn the lamp off.

She must have miscalculated, because the next thing she knew, she was lying half on the couch, half on the floor, her arm thrown up much like Jess', and her chin resting in the middle of his chest.

Jess awoke with a shock.

"Rory!" he said, surprised.

"Hi," she said sheepishly, trying to push herself off of the floor, and not succeeding. Jess put one of his hands on each of her arms and lifted her off of the floor and him at the same time.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sitting up and scooting over, so she could settle onto the couch next to him.

"I can't sleep," she explained, leaning her head onto his shoulder. He moved, slightly, and she dropped her head into his lap, and then swung her feet over the arm of the couch. "Excited, I guess," she said, looking up into Jess' face.

"Oh, really? About what?" He smirked.

"'Bout our flight, I suppose."

"Yeah. You know, you should really try to get some sleep; you've got to wake up in three hours."

"Mm-hmm," Rory nodded sleepily, closing her eyes. "We leave at ten."

"That's right. And we should be at the airport at eight."

Rory murmured in affirmation, half-asleep now.

"And we can't be late," Jess whispered.

"You rhymed," Rory pointed out, before yawning and turning over on her side.

"Rory? You can't go to sleep here."

"Yes, I can."

"Argumentative even while asleep."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah-huh." Jess tried to sit Rory up, so he could stand. "Come on. Let's get you to bed."

"Are you trying to take advantage of me?" she asked, standing next to him and leaning into his body.

"Of course not," Jess said as he led Rory to his room.

"Good."

"Good." Jess settled Rory into his bed, and she snuggled his arm against the pillow. He tried to move. "Uh, Rory?"

"Stay," she whispered.

"I can't. I have to go…sleep on the couch."

"Mm-mm." Rory shook her head. "Stay."

Jess sighed.

"Lay down!" Rory commanded as sharply as she could in half-sleep, and pulled Jess down. He fell to his knees on the floor. "Stay," she said, opening her eyes to look directly into his. He slipped off his shoes and slid under the covers with her. "Good," she grinned and snuggled up next to him. He wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you," he murmured.

"Don't snore," she commanded.

Jess sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

"And I love you, too."

Jess grinned.

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Luke jerked awake. He didn't realize where he was at first, but then noticed that Lorelai was leaning on his shoulder. They were sitting on the floor in front of her couch; the coffee table was covered with the remains of Lorelai's junk food binge; the TV was blaring something about an "Ultra AbBuster Rolling Machine!!" way too loudly. And sun was pouring in through the living room windows. Luke checked the clock on the VCR. 9:30.

"Lorelai. Lorelai!" Luke started to shake her.

"But I wanted the white chocolate," she whined.

"God, she even whines about food in her sleep." Luke said to himself.

"I do not," Lorelai protested.

"Lorelai! You're up! It's after nine, and we're both late for work."

"It's after nine?" Lorelai checked the VCR clock. "Shit! It's after nine!" Lorelai jumped up from the floor and sprinted upstairs. "Just let yourself out! But first, brew coffee!" she yelled from her room.

"You don't need it!" Luke yelled back, before exiting the house, leaving Lorelai to argue with herself about whether or not she needed coffee.

Luke practically ran into an unfamiliar guy as he ran down Lorelai's front walk. "Sorry," he yelled, jumping into his truck and starting it before he even closed the door.

Tom shook his head at the strange man exiting his girlfriend's house at nine in the morning, and rang her doorbell.

"What? Did you come back to yell at me about coff—" Lorelai pulled the door open and broke off, realizing that Tom was standing in front of her, instead of Luke. "Tom! Hi!"

"Hi. Who was—"

Lorelai sighed, cutting him off. The truth was, she didn't like Tom that much anymore. He didn't live in Stars Hollow, and she didn't see any reason why she couldn't lie. "I don't want to lie to you, Tom, but I hate the fact that you found out like this."

"Okay." Tom said hesitantly.

Lorelai sighed again, milking this for all it was worth. "The truth is…that man…is my," Lorelai paused dramatically for a few beats; apparently a few beats too long, because Tom started yelling "Who? Who? Who?" sounding like a goddamn owl in Lorelai's opinion.

"My husband," she finally snapped, and then congratulated herself silently on a job well done. "And…we have an open marriage," she said after a moment's thought, remembering a Dawson's Creek episode in which that happened.

"Well. I'm not sure I want an open relationship," Tom protested. Lorelai nodded, slowly, as if thinking it over, while really thinking about how clingy Tom was. She hated that.

"Right. Well, I don't think this relationship's gonna work. So, I'm sorry, but I'll see ya later. You know, I think I'll give him a nice surprise tonight." Lorelai thought out loud. When Tom cleared his throat, she pretended to come back to earth with a jump. "Oh! I forgot you were there. Well, bye." Lorelai slammed the door in Tom's face, feeling a little sorry about the look on it, but actually not caring either way. The man was clingy, a bore, and used air quotes way too much.

The phone rang, and Lorelai jumped to answer it.

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Jess made sure Rory was comfortable, and had all of her books, before standing up in the aisle of the airplane to shove both of their bags into the overhead storage bin. He then sat back in his seat and reached out his hand, to get his book from Rory. She just shook her head, already reading it. Jess sighed and reached to grab it. She shielded it from him with her body.

"Rory," he complained.

She shushed him and handed him one of her books.

"Rory, I was really looking forward to that book."

"Well, now I'm reading it. So too bad." Rory turned and stuck her tongue out at him. He sighed and opened her book. She grinned when she noticed him reading her book, and then leaned her back into his shoulder. He let her keep for position for only a minute before he grabbed his book from her hands. "Hey!" she exclaimed.

"I'll read A Walk to Remember another time." Then he stuck his tongue out at her.

She laughed and opened the book, admitting defeat.

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A/N: Okay, so I lied. It's not longer. It's not even a slightly neat ending. But it's a good place to stop. It's a good place to start a new story. And it's a fabulous time to stop, because this is my second chapter, of my two promised chapters, for today, and it is now 11:50 pm. So there. I made my deadline.

And I sincerely love you all. Your reviews have kept me going these entire eighteen chapters, and the sequel, Back in Stars Hollow, is just for you.

It has taken me days to get both this and the first chapter of the sequel up. I'm sorry, people, but I've tried my hardest!! Now go check out the sequel.