Disclaimer: I own nuthin.
Summary: sort of a filler chapter...sorta not....
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The next morning, Jess woke Tara up with much difficulty. She kicked and called down curses upon him. When he was finally successful, Tara glared at him and foud some clothes. "You know, I could have slept for a WHOLE hour more if you hadn't woken me up!!" She went into the bathroom and slammed the door. "Ow..." She held her head and from outside, she could hear Jess' muffled laughter. "Jerk." She muttered.
She coame out of the bathroom, clad in jeans and a sweatshirt. "Your hang over gone?" Jess asked, almost scaring her half to death.
"No." She moaned as she plopped down on the couch.
"Good." The smile disappeared from his face and he came and towered over her. "Listen, I don't really care what YOU do anymore, but what were you thinkin takin Rory with you! Are you insane!! She and her boyfriend just got back together and he saw her last night!"
"Did she kiss you?" She asked suddenly.
"What?"
"Well, when you're drunk, normally you do crazy things so..." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Did she?"
"That's not the point!"
"HA! I knew it!" She continued giggling.
"Tara, stop it!!" He yelled, finally getting her attention. She held her head.
"Don't be so loud...." She groaned.
"I'll be as loud as I want and you can't do anything about it!" She got up to leave, but he grabbed her arm. "You're going to listen to me, ok! Things could be ruined between Rory and Dean when he finds out she went out and went crazy again, no thanks to you!!" She got in his face.
"Like you would have a problem with that." She scoffed.
"Tara! You did this on purpose!!" She smirked at him.
"Do you have a problem with that?....seriously and truthfully?" She seemed pleased with herself and she DID have a point. He really wished Rory and Dean weren't together....
"Well...Tara you've been a lot of trouble lately...and you've been getting a lot of people in trouble too." She lowered her head.
"I was just trying to get some of the these people to loosen up a little."
"But Rory's perfect life is no longer perfect and now everybody knows it and it's all YOUR fault!!!" He yelled as he stormed out of the diner. He knew Rory was going to be given a hard time about this whole thing and it was going to upset her...a lot....and he just wanted her to be happy...
He saw the two Gilmore girls walking towards the diner and unhappily for him, they had decided to take the bridge route...that they hardly ever took. He was dangling his feet over the water when they reached him. "Jess." Lorelai greeted.
"Lorelai." He said without looking up, for fear he would find Rory's eyes.
"Mom, I'll be there in a sec, ok?" Rory whispered. Her mother nodded quietly and left. Rory sat down next to Jess without looking at him. "I'm...I mean, thanks for...taking me home last night. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably been stranded in some alley somewhere and at the mercy of Kirk."
"It's no problem. I'm used to it....you know with Tara and everything." She nodded slowly and looked down at her hands that were rested in her lap.
"Look, about...what happened."
"You were drunk. No need to explain." He got up and began to walk away but he felt her grab his arm.
"But...I DO need to explain, Jess." She pleaded. He turned to look at her with a pained expression.
"Please don't."
"Are you mad at me?" She peeked out from under her eylashes. *she's so beautiful...* Jess thought. *I can't be mad at her. It's almost impossible.*
"No..." He turned and looked out at the water. "I'm guessing you thought it was a mistake." She nodded sullenly.
"I didn't mean to hurt you." She whispered.
"Hurt me? Is that what you think you did?" He laughed, but it came out bitter. "Come on, we're friends, Rory. It's not like it meant anything. It was a...spur of the moment kind of thing." He pulled out a cigarette, which he tended to do when he was upset or nervous. "I get it." He said, while lighting up and then taking a drag.
"Jess-"
"It's fine, Rory. Leave it alone."
"I just wish we could forget that it happened." He took another drag before throwing it into the water, seeing that it bothered Rory.
"Then consider it done." She looked at him surprised and smiled.
"Really? Because I don't want things to be awkward between us."
"Course not." He smirked at her and casually draped an arm over her shoulders. "Now, how 'bout some coffee. I can see that you need it, especially after last night. Hang over?" She looked at him.
"The worst one I've ever had."
"Ever had? You've only been drunk twice." He mused.
"This is the worst of the two, therefore the worst one I've ever had." He chuckled, realizing that he would never understand the Gilmore's. They started walking towards the diner when a male voice was heard behind them.
"Rory." The two turned around, Jess' arm still draped over Rory's shoulders. As soon as he saw it was Dean, his rebellious attitude kicked in and he snuggled her closer to himself. Jess almost laughed out loud at the contorted, disgusted look on Dean's face.
"Yes?" Jess was surprised that she didn't make him let go of her.
"Can we talk." It was more of a demand than a question and Rory knew that he had seen her the night before. Just hopefully not with Jess....Jess...he wouldn't have acted this way towards seeing her drunk if he was her boyfriend. *whoa, Gilmore, don't start thinking about that again. He probably doesn't even like you like that anymore like he did ten years ago...I mean, look at him, he's like this freakin hot god and your just this plain, small town girl. What could he see in you?*
"Um..I really need coffee."
"I'll bet you do." His voice was harsh. "I thought-" he stared at Jess. "Could you leave? We're trying to have a conversation here." Rory silently pleaded with him to go and not make a big fuss over it.
"Sure. See you later, Rory." He smirked and walked into the diner. Rory smiled at him then looked back at Dean who had a large frown on his face.
"We need to talk."
"I know." She walked in step with him as they headed towards her house.
"You...got drunk..again...and you promised-"
"I know...and I'm sorry. I just..I didn't mean to. I-"
"How can you not mean to go out and party and get drunk! I saw you get off that bus with Tara and I'm guessing you guys weren't shopping!" She cowered away from him as he yelled. "You promised me, Rory!"
"I know! I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking! Tara and I just wanted to have a little fun, but I swear that I didn't dance with any guys or flirt with them, I swear!!" But of course that was a lie, she kissed Jess for goodness sakes! Dean looked at her skeptically but then sighed and put an arm around her.
"Just..please tell me when you decide to have one of your crazy nights....ok?" She wondered why he would want to know because he obviously gets upset about it...
"Uh...sure. But it's not going to happen again." She replied with a determined look on her face.
"And I don't like you hanging out with that Jess guy." She frowned.
"Dean...he's a nice guy."
"Yeah and he was a real nerd back a long time ago, but now he's...."
"Different?" She offered.
"Yeah....he's not exactly a dork anymore..or weird looking" Rory almost blushed, but did her best to hold it in. "I just don't like you hanging out with him."
"Dean, he's my friend and I can hang out with him if I want to....he's a good guy, I swear."
"Fine...but I don't have to like him right?"
"No, you don't have to." He smiled and leaned down. Their lips met in a quick kiss before Rory pulled away and went into her house. Her hang over was still there minorly, but enough for it to be rather painful, so she went into her room and laid down. She would have gone to get coffee, but didn't really want to run into Dean again. The phone rang. "No...." She swung her legs back over the bed and tried to find the phone. "Hello?" She held her breath for fear that Dean was 'checking' up on her as usual.
"Rory?"
"Tara, how are you?"
"I'm fine...umm you feeling better?"
"Yeah, I am."
"Jess told me about Dean today. I'm really sorry." There was a silence.
"Yeah. It's ok....so why'd you call?"
"Oh...I just thought you might need some coffee after last night, so....you wanna come on over to the diner." Rory hesitated.
"Well..I really don't want to run into Dean again....but I guess I will."
"Ok. See you in a few. Bye."
"Bye." They hung up and Rory got her coat and left.
LATER THAT NIGHT
Jess had promised Luke that he would close up tonight so he could go do something in Hartford, so he was all alone downstairs cleaning. He went in the back to put the bottles of ketchup and mustard away, but he heard a rustling comming from outside the room. He peered out and saw Tara...with a bag. He sprung out and almost gave her another heart attack. "JESS!" She screamed.
"What are you doing? Leaving without a word to anyone?" He eyed her closely as she gathered her bag onto her shoulder again.
"Yes, well, I have a great model to follow and look at this! He's standing right in front of me!" She laughed slightly, but he stared her down.
"You were going to leave without telling me."
"Jess, I thought you were mad at me and that you wouldn't care."
"Wouldn't care! Are you serious!?" She looked away, ashamed.
"I'm sorry....I mean, I know I've caused a lot of trouble here...and I think it's probably about time for me to head back to the big city." He mumbled something inaudibly. "What was that?"
"I don't want you to go." He said more clearly. She threw her bag off her shoulder and ran around the counter, throwing her arms around his neck. He encircled her waist with his arms and they stood there for awhile just holding one another. She finally backed away and he could have sworn he saw her wipe a tear away.
"Yes you do. You want me to go...deep down you do and that's fine. Really it is! I mean, I'm a pest and I'm troublesome and Luke's threatening to kick me out anyway."
"I want you to stay...just for a little while...." He pleaded, his eyes looking hopeful. She hadn't seen his eyes like that since the day Jimmy was about to leave....
~FLASHBACK~
"Liz, I can't take care of two kids, ok?"
"Fine, you take him, and I'll take her." Liz said, pointing to Tara who was in Jimmy's arms.
"No, I want to take Tara..."
"But, you love Jess more than I do."
"Yeah...but I want to take Tara. I don't have a reason....I just am."
"Fine..." She mumbled. Jimmy sat Tara down to go and say goodbye to her mother and he went over to Jess who was reading quietly in the corner on his favorite chair.
"Hey..." Jess looked up, fixed his glasses upon his nose better, and smiled at his father.
"Hey, D-dad!"
"Listen, Jess..."
"Hey, can we go to a-a Yankees game th-this weekend? I've been r-really wanting to go a-and-"
"Jess." Jimmy laid on a hand on his son's arms gently to get him to stop talking. Jess looked up with questioning eyes. "I'm leaving."
"What?"
"I'm taking Tara with me...."
"How long will y-you be g-gone?" Jess asked, standing up. Jimmy's hand fell from Jess' arm as he stood up, towering over his son. He turned around.
"Forever." He whispered, but loud enough for Jess to hear it. Jess ran in front of his dad.
"W-why?" He questioned, his bottom lip quivering and panic in his voice.
"Because I don't love your mother anymore." He replied simply.
"Dad, n-no! You c-can't leave! P-please s-stay!!" Jimmy looked into Jess' hopeful eyes and almost changed his mind for his son's sake. He hated leaving him here with this woman who didn't even care for him and said that her own son embarrassed her, but he had no choice. He pushed past Jess and left him staring after him and his little sister.
Jimmy became depressed a couple of years later after he lost his job and his girlfriend that he actually cared about broke up with him. He starting hitting Tara and losing control of himself. If only he had taken Jess with him as well, maybe someone could have helped him. He and Jess had always had some kind of understanding even though he was little...
~END OF FLASHBACK~
"I'm sorry, Jess." He nodded in understanding.
"Are you crying, young lady?" He mocked as he saw her wipe a tear from her face.
"Never." She puffed out her chest and picked up her bag. "I love you, Mariano."
"I love you too, Mariano" she smiled at him before turning around and walked out the door. Jess had been mad at her, but then all of a sudden, he wasn't. He could never be mad a girl who had nothing but love and dedication for him. He sighed quietly and went back to wiping down tables.
NEXT DAY
Rory and Lorelai walked into the diner, Rory very carefully trying to avoid the route that would lead them past Doosie's. A very hard route indeed.... "Rory!" But nonetheless it didn't seem to work.
"Dean!" She greeted as he kissed her quickly.
"Hey, Lorelai." He smiled brightly.
"You seem happy." Lorelai observed. "Anything happy happen?"
"No, just really happy to see my girlfriend today." She forced a smile for him.
"So, you working today?"
"Nope, I'm all yours." His grin was actually getting very annoying.
"Oh..um we were just going to get some coffee-"
"You want to join us?" Lorelai chimed in even though she didn't know that Rory wasn't going to invite him to have coffee.
"Of course!" He took Rory's hand in his and they walked to the diner. "Wow, they're busy today." Lorelai and Rory nodded in agreement. After they waited for about twenty minutes Lorelai yelled for Luke to come over, but he was too busy.
"Maybe, I should just go up to the counter or something."
"YES! And get me coffeee!! Go child, do your duty." Rory laughed and went over to where Jess was at the counter. He looked up and smirked.
"I see you and Mr. Bean Pole are ok again?"
"Yes, we're fine and dandy." She looked around. "Hey can you get Tara down here?" He got two cups and poured coffee in each of them without looking up. When he finally did, he met her confused eyes. He sighed.
"I can't."
"Why?" She questioned.
"Because she's gone." Rory almost fell off of the stool that she was sitting on.
"What do you mean she's gone? She wouldn't leave without saying goodbye..." She thought for a moment. "Unless she's more like you than I think she is."
"She didn't think she should stay here anymore after all the trouble she caused."
"Trouble! She didn't cause trouble!" Jess gave her 'the look'. "Ok, so maybe she wasn't the best example...but....I'm gonna miss her."
"Yeah me too." They both sighed.
"Can you come and take our order?" He nodded and followed her over to their table. Both were unaware at the constant glaring by Dean while they had been talking at the counter.
~LATER THAT EVENING~
"Sure, Mom, that'd be wonderful!" Rory walked in as she heard her mother talking on the phone. "Whoa, you're going too?" Rory came in and sat on the couch next to Lorelai. "All right...I guess all I go...bye." Lorelai hung up the phone and looked at her daughter. "I'm going to a spa with my mother." Rory's mouth almost dropped to the ground.
"With grandma? That's hardly believable."
"I know! But she kind of just sucked me into it....into Emily World...." She stared off into space to make a dramatic effect.
"Mom.....mom!" Rory snapped her fingers in front of Lorelai's face.
"Whoa! Sorry!"
"So you're really going?" Lorelai shrugged.
"I guess so...it'll be awful, but I'll be at a spa...and don't they MAKE you be quiet there or something?"
"Something like that." Rory laughed and turned on the T.V.
"Will and Grace!" Lorelai squealed. They watched for awhile and then Lorelai looked over at her daughter who had a odd look on her face. "Hey, babe, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Why?"
"You just....look upset...that's all..."
"Well, I'm not."
"Are you sure? Because sometimes you SAY that but then I can tell you are lying to me and I hate it when you lie to me because then things get all awkward because I KNOW you lied to me but you don't know that I know that you lied to me which makes it even more awkward-"
"Tara's gone." Rory said sadly. Lorelai looked lovingly upon her daughter.
"I'm sorry babe." Rory looked away. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah..." Lorelai looked at her with a non-believing face. "I will be. I'm just gonna miss her is all. We had gotten to be good friends..."
"Well, we all knew she was going to leave at some time or another." Rory nodded once again.
"I think Jess is upset too."
"I wouldn't doubt it."
"He loves her, ya know?" She put her arms across her chest and hugged herself tightly.
"Yeah, babe, I know." Lorelai enveloped Rory into a hug and they sat there quietly until Rory fell asleep. "He loves you too..." Lorelai whispered before slowly getting out from Rory's grasp and laying her daughter's head gently down on the couch. She covered her with a blanket and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, sweetie..."
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A/N: Sorry if Jess is a little OOC, but I'm trying to make him a little different than he is in the show, like the whole caring whether or not Dean and Rory are "ok" because he only wants Rory to be happy thing because he's suppose to have a more visible sweet side to him...in my story.
I keep trying to update sooner but it never works, because I always have so much freakin homework to do! And as this school year comes to a close, I'm beginning to realize that I'm not doing all that great is some certain subjects....so I'm flipping out. But I will try and update sooner next time! Oh and by the way, don't forget that close to the end of this story, something drastic will happen and it's most likely not what you think it is *winks*, so keep reading and you'll find out :) PLEASE REVIEW!!!!
Comming up: Lorelai goes to the spa and Jess brings a care package....can you say: scenes from There's the Rub?
Summary: sort of a filler chapter...sorta not....
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The next morning, Jess woke Tara up with much difficulty. She kicked and called down curses upon him. When he was finally successful, Tara glared at him and foud some clothes. "You know, I could have slept for a WHOLE hour more if you hadn't woken me up!!" She went into the bathroom and slammed the door. "Ow..." She held her head and from outside, she could hear Jess' muffled laughter. "Jerk." She muttered.
She coame out of the bathroom, clad in jeans and a sweatshirt. "Your hang over gone?" Jess asked, almost scaring her half to death.
"No." She moaned as she plopped down on the couch.
"Good." The smile disappeared from his face and he came and towered over her. "Listen, I don't really care what YOU do anymore, but what were you thinkin takin Rory with you! Are you insane!! She and her boyfriend just got back together and he saw her last night!"
"Did she kiss you?" She asked suddenly.
"What?"
"Well, when you're drunk, normally you do crazy things so..." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Did she?"
"That's not the point!"
"HA! I knew it!" She continued giggling.
"Tara, stop it!!" He yelled, finally getting her attention. She held her head.
"Don't be so loud...." She groaned.
"I'll be as loud as I want and you can't do anything about it!" She got up to leave, but he grabbed her arm. "You're going to listen to me, ok! Things could be ruined between Rory and Dean when he finds out she went out and went crazy again, no thanks to you!!" She got in his face.
"Like you would have a problem with that." She scoffed.
"Tara! You did this on purpose!!" She smirked at him.
"Do you have a problem with that?....seriously and truthfully?" She seemed pleased with herself and she DID have a point. He really wished Rory and Dean weren't together....
"Well...Tara you've been a lot of trouble lately...and you've been getting a lot of people in trouble too." She lowered her head.
"I was just trying to get some of the these people to loosen up a little."
"But Rory's perfect life is no longer perfect and now everybody knows it and it's all YOUR fault!!!" He yelled as he stormed out of the diner. He knew Rory was going to be given a hard time about this whole thing and it was going to upset her...a lot....and he just wanted her to be happy...
He saw the two Gilmore girls walking towards the diner and unhappily for him, they had decided to take the bridge route...that they hardly ever took. He was dangling his feet over the water when they reached him. "Jess." Lorelai greeted.
"Lorelai." He said without looking up, for fear he would find Rory's eyes.
"Mom, I'll be there in a sec, ok?" Rory whispered. Her mother nodded quietly and left. Rory sat down next to Jess without looking at him. "I'm...I mean, thanks for...taking me home last night. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably been stranded in some alley somewhere and at the mercy of Kirk."
"It's no problem. I'm used to it....you know with Tara and everything." She nodded slowly and looked down at her hands that were rested in her lap.
"Look, about...what happened."
"You were drunk. No need to explain." He got up and began to walk away but he felt her grab his arm.
"But...I DO need to explain, Jess." She pleaded. He turned to look at her with a pained expression.
"Please don't."
"Are you mad at me?" She peeked out from under her eylashes. *she's so beautiful...* Jess thought. *I can't be mad at her. It's almost impossible.*
"No..." He turned and looked out at the water. "I'm guessing you thought it was a mistake." She nodded sullenly.
"I didn't mean to hurt you." She whispered.
"Hurt me? Is that what you think you did?" He laughed, but it came out bitter. "Come on, we're friends, Rory. It's not like it meant anything. It was a...spur of the moment kind of thing." He pulled out a cigarette, which he tended to do when he was upset or nervous. "I get it." He said, while lighting up and then taking a drag.
"Jess-"
"It's fine, Rory. Leave it alone."
"I just wish we could forget that it happened." He took another drag before throwing it into the water, seeing that it bothered Rory.
"Then consider it done." She looked at him surprised and smiled.
"Really? Because I don't want things to be awkward between us."
"Course not." He smirked at her and casually draped an arm over her shoulders. "Now, how 'bout some coffee. I can see that you need it, especially after last night. Hang over?" She looked at him.
"The worst one I've ever had."
"Ever had? You've only been drunk twice." He mused.
"This is the worst of the two, therefore the worst one I've ever had." He chuckled, realizing that he would never understand the Gilmore's. They started walking towards the diner when a male voice was heard behind them.
"Rory." The two turned around, Jess' arm still draped over Rory's shoulders. As soon as he saw it was Dean, his rebellious attitude kicked in and he snuggled her closer to himself. Jess almost laughed out loud at the contorted, disgusted look on Dean's face.
"Yes?" Jess was surprised that she didn't make him let go of her.
"Can we talk." It was more of a demand than a question and Rory knew that he had seen her the night before. Just hopefully not with Jess....Jess...he wouldn't have acted this way towards seeing her drunk if he was her boyfriend. *whoa, Gilmore, don't start thinking about that again. He probably doesn't even like you like that anymore like he did ten years ago...I mean, look at him, he's like this freakin hot god and your just this plain, small town girl. What could he see in you?*
"Um..I really need coffee."
"I'll bet you do." His voice was harsh. "I thought-" he stared at Jess. "Could you leave? We're trying to have a conversation here." Rory silently pleaded with him to go and not make a big fuss over it.
"Sure. See you later, Rory." He smirked and walked into the diner. Rory smiled at him then looked back at Dean who had a large frown on his face.
"We need to talk."
"I know." She walked in step with him as they headed towards her house.
"You...got drunk..again...and you promised-"
"I know...and I'm sorry. I just..I didn't mean to. I-"
"How can you not mean to go out and party and get drunk! I saw you get off that bus with Tara and I'm guessing you guys weren't shopping!" She cowered away from him as he yelled. "You promised me, Rory!"
"I know! I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking! Tara and I just wanted to have a little fun, but I swear that I didn't dance with any guys or flirt with them, I swear!!" But of course that was a lie, she kissed Jess for goodness sakes! Dean looked at her skeptically but then sighed and put an arm around her.
"Just..please tell me when you decide to have one of your crazy nights....ok?" She wondered why he would want to know because he obviously gets upset about it...
"Uh...sure. But it's not going to happen again." She replied with a determined look on her face.
"And I don't like you hanging out with that Jess guy." She frowned.
"Dean...he's a nice guy."
"Yeah and he was a real nerd back a long time ago, but now he's...."
"Different?" She offered.
"Yeah....he's not exactly a dork anymore..or weird looking" Rory almost blushed, but did her best to hold it in. "I just don't like you hanging out with him."
"Dean, he's my friend and I can hang out with him if I want to....he's a good guy, I swear."
"Fine...but I don't have to like him right?"
"No, you don't have to." He smiled and leaned down. Their lips met in a quick kiss before Rory pulled away and went into her house. Her hang over was still there minorly, but enough for it to be rather painful, so she went into her room and laid down. She would have gone to get coffee, but didn't really want to run into Dean again. The phone rang. "No...." She swung her legs back over the bed and tried to find the phone. "Hello?" She held her breath for fear that Dean was 'checking' up on her as usual.
"Rory?"
"Tara, how are you?"
"I'm fine...umm you feeling better?"
"Yeah, I am."
"Jess told me about Dean today. I'm really sorry." There was a silence.
"Yeah. It's ok....so why'd you call?"
"Oh...I just thought you might need some coffee after last night, so....you wanna come on over to the diner." Rory hesitated.
"Well..I really don't want to run into Dean again....but I guess I will."
"Ok. See you in a few. Bye."
"Bye." They hung up and Rory got her coat and left.
LATER THAT NIGHT
Jess had promised Luke that he would close up tonight so he could go do something in Hartford, so he was all alone downstairs cleaning. He went in the back to put the bottles of ketchup and mustard away, but he heard a rustling comming from outside the room. He peered out and saw Tara...with a bag. He sprung out and almost gave her another heart attack. "JESS!" She screamed.
"What are you doing? Leaving without a word to anyone?" He eyed her closely as she gathered her bag onto her shoulder again.
"Yes, well, I have a great model to follow and look at this! He's standing right in front of me!" She laughed slightly, but he stared her down.
"You were going to leave without telling me."
"Jess, I thought you were mad at me and that you wouldn't care."
"Wouldn't care! Are you serious!?" She looked away, ashamed.
"I'm sorry....I mean, I know I've caused a lot of trouble here...and I think it's probably about time for me to head back to the big city." He mumbled something inaudibly. "What was that?"
"I don't want you to go." He said more clearly. She threw her bag off her shoulder and ran around the counter, throwing her arms around his neck. He encircled her waist with his arms and they stood there for awhile just holding one another. She finally backed away and he could have sworn he saw her wipe a tear away.
"Yes you do. You want me to go...deep down you do and that's fine. Really it is! I mean, I'm a pest and I'm troublesome and Luke's threatening to kick me out anyway."
"I want you to stay...just for a little while...." He pleaded, his eyes looking hopeful. She hadn't seen his eyes like that since the day Jimmy was about to leave....
~FLASHBACK~
"Liz, I can't take care of two kids, ok?"
"Fine, you take him, and I'll take her." Liz said, pointing to Tara who was in Jimmy's arms.
"No, I want to take Tara..."
"But, you love Jess more than I do."
"Yeah...but I want to take Tara. I don't have a reason....I just am."
"Fine..." She mumbled. Jimmy sat Tara down to go and say goodbye to her mother and he went over to Jess who was reading quietly in the corner on his favorite chair.
"Hey..." Jess looked up, fixed his glasses upon his nose better, and smiled at his father.
"Hey, D-dad!"
"Listen, Jess..."
"Hey, can we go to a-a Yankees game th-this weekend? I've been r-really wanting to go a-and-"
"Jess." Jimmy laid on a hand on his son's arms gently to get him to stop talking. Jess looked up with questioning eyes. "I'm leaving."
"What?"
"I'm taking Tara with me...."
"How long will y-you be g-gone?" Jess asked, standing up. Jimmy's hand fell from Jess' arm as he stood up, towering over his son. He turned around.
"Forever." He whispered, but loud enough for Jess to hear it. Jess ran in front of his dad.
"W-why?" He questioned, his bottom lip quivering and panic in his voice.
"Because I don't love your mother anymore." He replied simply.
"Dad, n-no! You c-can't leave! P-please s-stay!!" Jimmy looked into Jess' hopeful eyes and almost changed his mind for his son's sake. He hated leaving him here with this woman who didn't even care for him and said that her own son embarrassed her, but he had no choice. He pushed past Jess and left him staring after him and his little sister.
Jimmy became depressed a couple of years later after he lost his job and his girlfriend that he actually cared about broke up with him. He starting hitting Tara and losing control of himself. If only he had taken Jess with him as well, maybe someone could have helped him. He and Jess had always had some kind of understanding even though he was little...
~END OF FLASHBACK~
"I'm sorry, Jess." He nodded in understanding.
"Are you crying, young lady?" He mocked as he saw her wipe a tear from her face.
"Never." She puffed out her chest and picked up her bag. "I love you, Mariano."
"I love you too, Mariano" she smiled at him before turning around and walked out the door. Jess had been mad at her, but then all of a sudden, he wasn't. He could never be mad a girl who had nothing but love and dedication for him. He sighed quietly and went back to wiping down tables.
NEXT DAY
Rory and Lorelai walked into the diner, Rory very carefully trying to avoid the route that would lead them past Doosie's. A very hard route indeed.... "Rory!" But nonetheless it didn't seem to work.
"Dean!" She greeted as he kissed her quickly.
"Hey, Lorelai." He smiled brightly.
"You seem happy." Lorelai observed. "Anything happy happen?"
"No, just really happy to see my girlfriend today." She forced a smile for him.
"So, you working today?"
"Nope, I'm all yours." His grin was actually getting very annoying.
"Oh..um we were just going to get some coffee-"
"You want to join us?" Lorelai chimed in even though she didn't know that Rory wasn't going to invite him to have coffee.
"Of course!" He took Rory's hand in his and they walked to the diner. "Wow, they're busy today." Lorelai and Rory nodded in agreement. After they waited for about twenty minutes Lorelai yelled for Luke to come over, but he was too busy.
"Maybe, I should just go up to the counter or something."
"YES! And get me coffeee!! Go child, do your duty." Rory laughed and went over to where Jess was at the counter. He looked up and smirked.
"I see you and Mr. Bean Pole are ok again?"
"Yes, we're fine and dandy." She looked around. "Hey can you get Tara down here?" He got two cups and poured coffee in each of them without looking up. When he finally did, he met her confused eyes. He sighed.
"I can't."
"Why?" She questioned.
"Because she's gone." Rory almost fell off of the stool that she was sitting on.
"What do you mean she's gone? She wouldn't leave without saying goodbye..." She thought for a moment. "Unless she's more like you than I think she is."
"She didn't think she should stay here anymore after all the trouble she caused."
"Trouble! She didn't cause trouble!" Jess gave her 'the look'. "Ok, so maybe she wasn't the best example...but....I'm gonna miss her."
"Yeah me too." They both sighed.
"Can you come and take our order?" He nodded and followed her over to their table. Both were unaware at the constant glaring by Dean while they had been talking at the counter.
~LATER THAT EVENING~
"Sure, Mom, that'd be wonderful!" Rory walked in as she heard her mother talking on the phone. "Whoa, you're going too?" Rory came in and sat on the couch next to Lorelai. "All right...I guess all I go...bye." Lorelai hung up the phone and looked at her daughter. "I'm going to a spa with my mother." Rory's mouth almost dropped to the ground.
"With grandma? That's hardly believable."
"I know! But she kind of just sucked me into it....into Emily World...." She stared off into space to make a dramatic effect.
"Mom.....mom!" Rory snapped her fingers in front of Lorelai's face.
"Whoa! Sorry!"
"So you're really going?" Lorelai shrugged.
"I guess so...it'll be awful, but I'll be at a spa...and don't they MAKE you be quiet there or something?"
"Something like that." Rory laughed and turned on the T.V.
"Will and Grace!" Lorelai squealed. They watched for awhile and then Lorelai looked over at her daughter who had a odd look on her face. "Hey, babe, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Why?"
"You just....look upset...that's all..."
"Well, I'm not."
"Are you sure? Because sometimes you SAY that but then I can tell you are lying to me and I hate it when you lie to me because then things get all awkward because I KNOW you lied to me but you don't know that I know that you lied to me which makes it even more awkward-"
"Tara's gone." Rory said sadly. Lorelai looked lovingly upon her daughter.
"I'm sorry babe." Rory looked away. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah..." Lorelai looked at her with a non-believing face. "I will be. I'm just gonna miss her is all. We had gotten to be good friends..."
"Well, we all knew she was going to leave at some time or another." Rory nodded once again.
"I think Jess is upset too."
"I wouldn't doubt it."
"He loves her, ya know?" She put her arms across her chest and hugged herself tightly.
"Yeah, babe, I know." Lorelai enveloped Rory into a hug and they sat there quietly until Rory fell asleep. "He loves you too..." Lorelai whispered before slowly getting out from Rory's grasp and laying her daughter's head gently down on the couch. She covered her with a blanket and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, sweetie..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Sorry if Jess is a little OOC, but I'm trying to make him a little different than he is in the show, like the whole caring whether or not Dean and Rory are "ok" because he only wants Rory to be happy thing because he's suppose to have a more visible sweet side to him...in my story.
I keep trying to update sooner but it never works, because I always have so much freakin homework to do! And as this school year comes to a close, I'm beginning to realize that I'm not doing all that great is some certain subjects....so I'm flipping out. But I will try and update sooner next time! Oh and by the way, don't forget that close to the end of this story, something drastic will happen and it's most likely not what you think it is *winks*, so keep reading and you'll find out :) PLEASE REVIEW!!!!
Comming up: Lorelai goes to the spa and Jess brings a care package....can you say: scenes from There's the Rub?