Chapter 3 The Bridge

Author's Note:  If only I owned it all….  This chapter gets into the Rory/Jess bit a little more! Enjoy and review!

Jess and Amber walk arm in arm down the sidewalk, "And that's pretty much it." Jess said, concluding his tour.

"No it's not."

"What?"

"This town cannot possibly be that small."

"Well, it is."

"Nope" Amber insisted.

Jess smirked, "Why? What did I forget?"

"Your place." Amber said matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" Jess asked, pretending to not know what she was talking about.

"The quiet place hidden somewhere, that everyone knows about but they never visit.  The place you go to sit and think about that girl."

"What girl?"

"So you're not denying the place exists?"

"Of course not.  It exists.  What girl?"

Amber's smile widened, Jess gave her a blank stare, "Come on Jess, the girlfriend?  I'm sure you can recall… real pretty, dark hair, blue eyes, her face attatched to yours. What's her name?"

Jess laughed to himself. "It's Rory."

"Rory! Right." Amber took Jess's arm again, "Now. Show me to this place of yours and you can tell me how wonderful she is."

Jess smirked, and lead his sister to the bridge.  When they got there, he and Amber say on the edge, with their feet dangling in the water. They talked for a long time.  Amber loved hearing about Rory and how Jess felt about her, and Jess loved being able to admit it out loud.

At Chilton:

Rory and Paris are standing outside discussing a project when Rory sees a too familiar man with a baby coming towards them.

"Oh no." she gasped instinctively.

"What?" Paris snapped, "You suddenly have a problem with this?"

"No. Not the homework. Hide me."

"What? Why?"

"My father." Rory pointed him out to Paris.

"You don't want to see him?"

"No." With that, Rory ran off to the student parking lot, jumped into her car, and sped off.

"Hello, I'm Paris." Paris shook Christopher's hand, "You're Rory's father?"

"Uh, yeah. Wasn't she just here?"

"Oh. Yes, but I'm afraid she had to leave."

"You know where she went?"

"No sir."

"Oh well, thanks anyway."

Christopher left, and Paris retreated to class.

"I skipped school." Rory scolded herself, "I just SKIPPED school to avoid my father! What was he doing there anyway?" she wondered aloud.  She parked her car [new one, not the one Dean built and Jess wrecked] in front of Luke's and went inside.

"Why aren't you at school?" Luke asked.

"Coffee?"

"Not when you're supposed to be at school!"

"Please Luke?" she had tears forming in her eyes.  Luke couldn't stand it, so he poured her a cup, and sat down on the stool next to her.

"What happened?"

Rory took a deep breath, tears now rolling down her cheek.  Luke handed her a tissue.

"My dad's back."

"What?"

"He showed up at Chilton."

"What did he say?"

"I ran off before he said anything."

"You just left?"

"I know… I know… I'll have to get Mom to say I was sick or something."

"Rory I'm sorry." Luke said rubbing her back a little. He'd always felt like a father to Rory, and he hated that Christopher always just went in and out of her life as he pleased.

"How come you came here?"

"I don't know." Rory said honestly, "I was going to go see Mom, but I guess I'll just tell her tonight."

Luke nodded.

"Jess went to school?"

"Uh, no.  He and Amber went off for a little bit."

"You let him skip?"

"Hey- you skipped!"

Rory laughed.

"Listen, why don't you go home and change, and then go find him.  I bet he's at the bridge."

Rory smiled and stood, "Okay. Thanks Luke."

"Anytime." He turned back to the counter and Rory left.

She went home and changed clothes, still fuming over her dad.  Then, she left the house on foot, heading to the bridge.

"Jess?" she called when she got close.

"It's Rory…" Jess explained to Amber as they both got up.

Rory appeared at the end of the bridge.  Jess saw she was hurt.  She was angry and had been crying, he could tell.  And she wasn't at school. "This is serious…" Jess thought, "What could have happened?" 

"Hey" Jess said out loud.

"Hi. Luke said I could probably find you here."

They stood in silence for a moment.

Amber, suddenly uncomfortable, spoke up, "I think I'll wander on back there and see if I can give Luke a hand.  Bye Jess. It was good to see you again Rory."  Amber left, knowing that her little brother would fill her in later.

Jess instinctively took Rory into his arms and held her tightly, "Ror, what is it?"

She began to cry.  He pulled her closer, "Hey, it's okay.  Tell me what happened." Jess coaxed, stroking Rory's hair.

Rory looked up at him sadly, "It's my dad."

Jess became very upset.  He knew what all Chris had done to Rory and Lorelai.  Rory had told him everything.  "How dare he come back here and hurt her?" Jess thought, then decided not to be angry.  Rory needed him to stay calm, so that's what he'd do.  He held her tightly as she cried.