Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

A/N: Just read and review.  Please?  Set after Jess leaves.  Future.  Everything we're all watching now on Gilmore Girls has happened.  Literati.

Chapter 1: It Was Just My Imagination Once again

Oh that poor Ms. Baker.  Her husband died a few days ago and at the thinning age of 72, Ms. Baker has made the decision to leave her home.  Oh, and there's Jay (Ms. Baker's black cat).  Aw, I'm gonna miss that cat.  I mean it was the meanest cat ever- you couldn't even pretend to like the damn feline.  But all the same, just the thought that the cat is going too, is sad. 

I push my glasses back up to my eyes and look over to the laptop balanced on my stomach.  I really don't need the glasses, but my doctor said that I do need them for reading.  I'm supposed to finish this article for tomorrow, but all I can do is think about who is going to live across the street from me now.  I mean every morning when I wake up, there's old Ms. Baker sitting in her rocking chair on her patio eating a slice of buttered toast.  She always smiled and waved to me every morning when I woke up.  Now who's gonna smile and wave to me?

Okay!  That's it!  I know I'm not focusing on the growing population in New York anymore, so I may as well just call it a night and hit the sack.  So I turn off my computer and sigh.  It's such a beautiful night.  I look up at the stars from my patio and smile.  Laying on my tiny but big enough hammock that's on my patio, the wind hums a little and rocks me to a calm comfort.  I should have brought a blanket, it's freezing out here.  I look into my living room and see a nice comfy quilt hanging on the side of the couch and suddenly, I wish I had magical powers. 

Making a great effort, I get up and grab the quilt.  And while I'm at it, I grab my pink fuzzy slippers that have coffee queen etched in gold thread on them.  My mom got them for me and when she saw me put them on, she immediately wanted them for herself.  She tried to force them off my feet and I nearly bit her hand away.  On her birthday, along with another gift, I got her the same pink fuzzy slippers.  She was eternally grateful, or so she said. 

Now I'm comfortable.  I ease into the hammock and cover myself with the quilt.  With one last look up at the stars, I close my eyes and wonder if he's looking up at them too.  If he's feeling morose- because I am.  I wish he were here.  I wish…I wish…I don't know what I wish.  I don't know what I want anymore.  I hate how I start thinking about him at the most random moments.  Or I how he reminds me of him and his stupid smile whenever I see a book he owned or has tried to make me read. 

Oh-oh!  Yep, that's sleep takin' over me now….

Of all the nights he's asked me to meet him out here on the bridge, it had to be tonight.  It's so cold I feel like my fingers are gonna fall off.  But how would I know, I can't feel my fingers.  I keep looking at my watch.  I should just take it off and throw it in the lake so I don't feel tempted to look at it.  Any minute now, Jess will come clobbering down the bridge and take me out of the cold.  Any minute now.  [Looks at watch] damn it!  That's it!  I throw the watch into the icy water and suddenly wish I hadn't.  Where the hell is he?!  I feel myself jittering in place, shivering and if you listen carefully, you can hear my teeth clattering like a maniac. 

"For the love of god!" I shout out loud.

And then he finally comes.  I hear his heavy shoes beating against the old wood.  I turn to face him, scowl in place.

"You're late!" I remind him.

"No, you're early," he says with a smirk.

I scrunch up my face and murmur, "What time is it?"

"Never mind about the time, you ready?"

"Actually no, I wanted to stand out here for a few more minutes.  Ya know, just to see if I can lose the feeling in my feet now!" I inform him as I sarcastically smile. 

"You sure?  Cause I got some other stuff I could do.  So if you wanna sit out here"-

"No!  Lets just go, okay?"

He nods and I can see the corners of his mouth curving into a goddamn cheeky smirk.  I almost want to slap it off.  But I don't.  Instead he leads me to his car.  His car!

"Why couldn't you just pick me up at my house?" I ask him.

He starts the car and says, "I just wanted you to meet me half way," as if it were nothing.

"Half way?!" I incredulously shout.  "The diner is down the street! I had to walk quite some distance in the cold, need I remind you, to 'meet you half way'!"

He chuckles and shakes his head.  I turn the heater on and wait a few seconds before I ask him where we're headed.

"Surprise," he answers.

I roll my eyes and say, "Aw come on, you hate surprises!"

"Yeah but you love 'em."

"Not particularly at the moment."

"Bear with me."

"Oh all right."

I realize that I'm being a snotty girlfriend and say, "Sorry for being such a brat."

He shrugs and says, "It's okay."

I shake my head dismissively and say, "No, I mean you're going through all this just to make me happy."

"Who says I'm doing this to make you happy?" he says smiling.

"Well…then why are you doing this?"

"Because I want to make you happy."

I sigh in aggravation and he laughs.  I push him slightly and he hollers at me, "I'm driving here!"

"Really?  I hadn't noticed.  But what I did notice were those horns on your forehead and that pointy tail coming out behind you, what is that?  Some really good concealer?"

"The best of the best."

It's now my turn to laugh.

Ten more minutes of driving down the road and he finally stops the car.  We're in a parking lot for something.  I stare around and glance at the other cars.

In an excited voice I say, "Are you gonna teach me how to steal a car?"

He laughs lightly and says, "There'll be plenty of time for that, later."

"Then what're we doing here?" I ask him.

He only smiles and gets out of the car.  He comes to my side and opens the door.  We go around a building and I can hear music.  I see a light flickering against the buildings and wonder where he's taken me.  We move around the buildings to a courtyard. 

"Happy Birthday!" shouts a crowd of people.  Jess smiles triumphantly and leads me over to my mom.

"Hey birthday girl!"

My smile is so big my cheeks start to hurt.

"Mom!" I laugh wholeheartedly.

I can't believe this!  Everyone's here.  The whole town is here.  My grandparents are here!  This is so unreal!

"Who planned all this?" I asked her as she leads me to a table of Sookie's wonderful food.

"Believe it or not, Jess."

If it is at all possible, I smile even more.

"You're joking!"

"Absolutely not!"

I laugh and Jess comes up behind me.  He wraps an arm around my waist and whispers hoarsely, "Happy Birthday."

I seriously get chills when he says this and I grin. I turn to look at him.  He smiles and my heart literally jumps 10 beats too fast.  I give him a PG-13 kiss (saving the R rated one for later) and he wraps his other arm around me. 

Then I remember everyone is here and watching me, so I slowly pull away.  I lean on him and whisper into his ear, "Thank you." And I am suddenly whisked away by my grandparents.

I give Jess one last smile and mouth "I'll see you later," with a wink and turn to talk to my grandparents.

At the end of the night, I feel giddy and have a sudden urge to want to fly.  Did someone slip some unauthorized contents into the punch?  Possibly.  I lean on Jess and slur something along the lines of, "Dumbo is the coolest elephant ever and even though he has those huge ears"… I pause and think…oh yea, "He's still cool."

I hear Jess Laugh as he leads me to his car.  I hope he didn't have too much of that oh-so-special punch.  We get into the car and I find myself leaning against the window.  Jess turns around and I hear a shuffling of stuff behind the seats.  I groan and put my hand to my head. 

When he comes back to the front of the seat, he presents me with a dark blue velvet box.  And suddenly, my headache doesn't exist.  It's long, long enough for a- "Oh Jess," I breathe, "It's beautiful!"

He shrugs as I turn to let him put the beautiful blue diamond necklace around my neck.

"Well, I know you're not really big on jewelry"-

"Excuse me!  Every girl loves jewelry!"

"Never mind," he said laughing, "But I saw this and was completely memorized by how blue it was and thought that you might like it, ya know seeing as turning eighteen has some kind of importance." (A/N: Okay, so I'm not sure what age she was when he left, but I'm gonna make it so that he left after she was 18 and if that's the case the woo hoo go me for getting it right!)

"Of course!"

We both laugh.  He leans over the consol that sits in between us and kisses me.  Now, I suppose, is the correct time for that R rated kiss.  But I find myself kissing him softly.  It's hard to kiss over a stupid consol that's in between you, but you try to make the best of it.  Tonight was one of the best nights ever.  And it is at this moment, I feel so lucky that I have someone who cares for me this much.

Ouch!!  I knew I should have slept in my bed!  Well, falling off the hammock is most definitely not a good way to wake up in the morning.  As I pull myself to stand, I see that there are already movers placing new stuff in Ms. Bakers house!  I squint my eyes and say, "forget it!" 

So I just grab my glasses and a pair of binoculars as I inconspicuously stare nosily at my new neighbor.  A woman wearing a cute pink sundress walks into the apartment, lugging a brown leather suitcase.  I'm about to let it go and accept the fact that I have a new neighbor who won't, by the looks of it, smile or wave at me in the morning but I see another person come into the apartment.  I can't quite see who it is. 

I knew these binoculars were too cheap!  I lean over the railing, but I realize no matter how much I lean over the railing, I'm still never gonna see who this mystery person is.  Damn my eyes!  Can't see a thing!  As I discard the binoculars, I can tell that this person is a man.  Jeans and a plain white shirt. 

Maybe I can sneak a peek somehow.  Oh!  Oh!  Pretend that I got their mail! I'll just say, "Oh I think I got your mail," when I 'accidentally' bump into them at their building lobby.  And they'll say, "Thank you for giving it back," but they'll realize that it isn't their address and tell me so and I'll say, "Really?" as I pull out my glasses and check the address and laugh lightly and say, "I'm terribly sorry!  My eyes aren't what they used to be!" It's completely brilliant!  I have it all planned out! I knew Yale was good for something!  So, now all I have to do is bump into them by mistake, give them my mail and ta-da!  Wait- wait!  All this just so I can see what they look like up close?  This plan seems to be a little elaborate just to get a glimpse.  Oh well, maybe we'll become friends… Who knows?…