NOTE: I really wish these Gilmore Girls people belong to me but, sadly, they don't. I will have the power one day, though.
A/N: Sadly, this story will be ending soon. Don't be sad or anything, OK? I'll miss it, too. Well, enjoy this chapter.
CHAPTER 13
Rosa gripping tightly onto the bridge, feeling her shoes fill up with cold water. Fear ran through her blood. Courtney and Tina hung back, both afraid. Davey finally walked up, even though he looked frightened as well.
"Rosa, it's OK," the boy assured her. "It's not that deep."
"I can't swim," Rosa screamed.
"Oh, no," Courtney shrieked.
"She's in trouble," Tina said.
"I'll go," Courtney volunteered. "I'll get her daddy." She raced off the bridge, determined to find Jess.
Rory and Jess walked through a block on Stars Hollow, heading for Rory's place. Rory held a large ice cream cone in her hand, chocolate and orange sherbet ice cream on top of it. Jess held a smaller chocolate one in his hand.
"Can you believe Taylor was selling these things?" Rory asked, licking the orange area of her cone. "It's so... Halloween-y."
"Halloween-y? Don't they teach you real words at Yale?" Jess asked.
"Can you think of a better word than Halloween-y?"
"Point taken," Jess admitted as they continued to walk.
"Hey!" Rory and Jess both turned around to see a little girl dressed as a fairy tale princess running up. "Hey!" Courtney called again.
"Isn't that one of the kids Rosa went trick-or-treating with?" Rory whispered to Jess.
"Yeah," he replied.
Courtney panted as she finally reached them. "Y-you're Rosa's dad, right?" Jess nodded, wondering what was up. "She's in trouble. Big trouble."
Rory and Jess exchanged a confused and worried expression.
Rosa felt herself slip more and more closer into the water, as it was getting harder to hold onto the part of the bridge that had fallen through. Davey and Tina stayed still, waiting on a grown up to show up.
"I'm scared," Rosa whimpered.
"It's OK, Rosa," Davey said to her, obviously worried himself. "You gotta hang on."
The area of the bridge that Rosa held onto snapped a little and she was now deeper in, up to her small ankles in water. Tina gasped, now more scared than she had been before. Davey reached out for Rosa.
"No!" Rosa shrieked. "I'm scared. Don't touch me!"
Davey quickly withdrew his hand, a pout forming on his face.
"Rosa!" The brown haired child glanced up to see Jess and Rory. Jess had called her name.
"Help me, please!" Rosa cried out to the two of them.
"Hang on!" Jess shouted, immediately going out to the bridge.
"Be careful," Rory called after him. "That water's not too deep for you but she can't fall in it."
Jess, careful not to break the bridge any farther, reached his hand out to his daughter, telling her to grab on. Rosa slowly extended her hand to grab onto his. As she did it, the bridge she held onto cracked a little more and Rosa felt herself splash into the lake below.
"She can't swim," Davey shouted.
Jess, panicking and with his parental side taking over, simply dived into the water.
Rory, her cell phone in hand, began to dial with it.
Soon Jess, soaking wet, re-emerged with a shivering Rosa in his arms. Rory had to beam at the scene. Jess looked like such a superhero at the moment. The twenty-four-year-old walked out towards Rory, holding his child gently.
"Is she OK?" Rory asked, deeply concerned.
"She'll be fine," Jess replied, glad he could breath again. Rosa gasped, spitting up a little water. "It's OK. I've got you," her dad comforted her.
Soon a small crowd including Sookie, Jackson, Miss Patty, and a few other people from the town began to rush over, all wanting to know what was going on.
"Rory, I got your message," Sookie said. "What happened here?"
"Mom, Dad!" Davey cried out to his parents, rushing into Jackson's arms, as the events of the night still had him shaken.
"What happened?" Jackson asked, repeating his wife's question, holding his son.
"There was an accident with the bridge," Rory explained. "Rosa and the kids, they were playing, and then it suddenly started to collapse. Rosa fell into it."
"Taylor," Miss Patty grumbled. "He has to do something about this bridge now." She headed back to the town, wanting to have a "word" with Taylor.
"Is everything OK?" Sookie asked with concern, seeing how wet both Jess and Rosa were.
"They're fine," Rory assured her, still a little shaken herself.
"What I want to know is what these kids were doing out here in the first place," said Jackson.
"It was just supposed to be fun," Davey whispered.
"Davey," Sookie sighed in frustration. "You could have gotten hurt out here."
"I know. I'm sorry," Davey apologized sincerely.
"Me, too," Rosa said, still cold and shivering.
"Let's head back," Jess said to Rory.
She nodded and they headed back towards the diner.
When the bell above the diner went off, signaling that Jess, Rory, who held Rosa's thing of trick-or-treat candy, and Rosa had just entered, the three of them saw that the entire place was empty. The sign on the door had read closed, even though it was early for closing time.
"Where's Luke?" Rory wondered.
"Don't know," Jess shrugged. He carried Rosa up the stairs. "I've gotta get her changed."
"OK."
Behind the counter, unknown to Jess or Rory, Luke and Lorelai held each other, kissing all too passionately. They had been that way for a while.
Upstairs, Rosa quickly changed out of her wet Halloween clothes and into her pink pajama's. She sat on Luke's bed, wringing her still wet hair out. Jess sat in a chair nearby.
"You OK?" he asked for what seemed like the millionth time.
"Uh huh," Rosa replied. "That was scary, though."
"I bet." Jess sighed, his voice turning into aggravation. "What were you thinking?"
"I don't know," Rosa replied weakly, surprised by the question.
"You heard them talking about that bridge at the town meeting. Rosa..." Jess trailed off, frustration replaced with anger in his voice. "You can't even swim. You could have hurt."
"I know," Rosa whispered, hating the fact that Jess was scolding her, as he had never done it before.
"Now... I have to go all parental and make with the punishing," Jess stated, clearly hating the last word in the sentence.
Rosa whimpered, "I'm sorry. I won't do it anymore. I'll never do anything bad again. Please, I promise." She sounded completely terrified, taking Jess by surprise.
"Rosa?" Jess asked sympathetically. "What do you think I'm gonna do?" Rosa just looked at him, tears in her eyes. Jess quickly went over and pulled her into his lap, holding her tightly. "Shush. It's OK. I won't... I... I'm not like Shane." Rosa cried into his chest lightly. "I'll never do anything to hurt you. Rosa, look at me for a sec."
Rosa's shining brown eyes flashed up at him.
"I love you, babe," Jess began. "When I say I have to punish you, I'm not gonna hurt you, never. Not the way Shane did."
"OK," Rosa said, still crying lightly.
Jess continued to hold her until she soon fell asleep in his arms. He figured that whatever punishment he had planned out could wait for later. Until then Jess was just glad his daughter was all right and safely in his arms.
A/N: I realize I cut this shorter than I wanted it to be. I'm stuck in the area of punishment so I'll let you guys decide what Jess should do with Rosa. By the way, Happy Halloween, everybody! Trick-or-treat night! Yay!