*Disclaimer: I don't own the series Gilmore Girls or the original characters. All I own is my imagination and the plot.
*A/N: Hey! :-) It took me a little longer than usual to write this chapter, but since this is actually the first story that I'm remotely satisfied with, I didn't want to ruin it with a chapter that was written in a rushed matter and was therefor not as good as the others. So, thanks for your patience and the interest that is shown in this story. I hope this is to your satisfaction. :-)
*~*~*:-)*~*~*Bye, smile :-)
~And if your heart is spoken for, then condemned am I forever more~
Rory's eyes were fixed on the window, taking in the small shops and the handful of inadequate landmarks as Joey's car crept through the main street of Stars Hollow, although in Rory's eyes he was still going too fast. Her eyes seemed to fly from sight to sight, as she tried to compare the picture in her head with the actual building, trying to see if any changes had been made since she left, but Stars Hollow never made any changes that might bring them too close to becoming commercial and impersonal. One of those towns where there were more stores than people and where neighbours didn't take the time to talk to one and other.
In this town everyone knew everyone and that was what Rory had missed the most. Hartford was so different from Stars Hollow, it wasn't as colorful or as personal, but she had realized that part of her life was indeed there. Joey had been born and raised in one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in Hartford and she had a successful job there, one that automatically came with a handful of co-workers, whom she got along with just fine and sometimes even considered her friends. But nothing could ever compare with Stars Hollow, simply because it was her town, and although she had tried to stop holding on to it so tightly, it still was.
Rory smiled when she saw a few heads in front of Doose's turn when the car drove by. Only people who had lived a small town life all their life, would be curious about one single car and maybe even a little impressed, since only about a dozen people here even owned a car. As they disappeared around a corner, Taylor Doose himself came out off the store to see what had caused the temporary lack of attention. Of course no one took the time to answer and went back to their daily shopping routine, something he didn't question, cause he was in the business to make money instead of friends, which he kept proving over and over with the useless projects he kept coming up with.
When Joey drove up the Gilmore driveway, he felt Rory's excitement build with every inch that they left behind them. Her smile widened and her eyes were fixed on the place she was used to calling home, while her hands pulled at the seat belt she was wearing. He couldn't help but smile at her restlessness, which probably also consisted of nervousness, since she hadn't been here for a while. He never got trusted with the reason, but he suspected that it had something to do with feeling it as her duty to spent as much time with him as possible, especially since they had gotten married only a short while ago.
Before he had even fully stopped the car, Rory was out of her seat belt and had opened her door. While he turned the engine off, she got out off the car and headed up to the front steps, already anticipating her mom's reaction. One that she would probably copy with just as much excitement. Joey joined her when she had already rang the doorbell for the third time. He could tell, because of the slight frown on her face.
''She's not home,'' Rory stated, as the frowning lines on her forehead deepened themselves.
''Are you sure? Maybe she didn't hear the bell.''
''I rang it three times,'' Rory said, as she held up three fingers, adding unimportant proof to her words.
Joey shrugged. ''Maybe she unscrewed it or something.''
Rory looked at Joey for a couple of seconds without saying anything, as if she was weighing the probability of his words. Finally she nodded and brushed passed him. Joey looked over his shoulder just in time to see her lift up a flowerpot, which held nothing but earth, and snatch a key from underneath, before lowering it back down onto the floor.
''Do you always have keys lying around like that?'' Joey asked, amused by the choice of hiding spot.
Rory shrugged, as she walked over to the door. ''It's only meant to be used for emergencies and me forgetting my key and my mom not answering the door counts as one.''
''What if someone finds it?''
''They won't. My mom hides it somewhere else every day, just in case,'' Rory explained.
''Then how do you know where it was?'' Joey asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.
''My mom and I have a system,'' Rory said, as she turned the key and opened the door.
''Sounds complicated.''
''Not really, we have an usual order. We have been using it ever since we moved here.''
''I feel left out,'' Joey playfully said, while following Rory into the house, silently reminding himself that their bags were still in the car.
''It's weird that she locked the door though,'' Rory commented.
''Yeah,'' Joey agreed. ''Strange that she would prefer her stuff to actually be here when she comes back from work or something.''
Rory ignored his remark, as she headed towards the kitchen in search of her mother. While Rory did this, Joey decided that now would be a good time to do something useful and close the door. It took him only a few seconds, but by the time he was back in the living room, so was Rory, looking even more worried than before.
''No one's here.''
''Well, I closed the door, so even if she's temporarily invisible, she couldn't have gotten the chance to leave the house.''
Rory glared at her husband, not appreciating his comments right now. Joey noticed and cleared his throat before making another attempt to be helpful. ''Shall we start our own search party?''
Rory rolled her eyes at his never ending humor, before heading over to the couch, remembering another agreement she and her mom used to have. It took her only a few quick seconds to locate the phone, which had been jammed between its cushions. She smiled triumphantly when she found it and looked over at Joey, who was just staring at her, amazed by what she had been doing and also slightly amused at her reaction to finding the phone.
''Let me guess, another part of this crazy, but probably logical system in your eyes?''
Rory smiled, knowing that she didn't have to nod to let him know that he was right. It was indeed another part of the system she and her mom had come up with, but it didn't seem to bother Joey at all and that was another thing she loved about him. He didn't necessarily had to understand every little thing about her life and he never once told her how he wanted to be a part of everything she did or thought. He gave her the privacy she needed, although the trip to Stars Hollow was kind of an invasion of that. Not that Joey hadn't been to Stars Hollow before, but he had never shown the same amount of interest in it as she did with his home, not until he realized that Jess also lived here and was a part of her past. A past she was quite secretive about, although she had no trouble writing about it. Probably because she could be more open while writing then when she was talking face to face with someone, she always had been. Of course there were certain people she had no trouble talking to.....
*Flashback*
Jess looked up when there was a soft knock on the door, barely loud enough for him to hear it. He knew of only one person who could have such a feather light touch, a person who seemed graced with feathers of her own sometimes, simply because she could be so kind to people and understanding, even with him, when he knew that he wasn't always as easy on her as he should be.
''Yeah,'' he said, not getting up from the bed, because he didn't want to seem anything but his normal self in her eyes, knowing that she would be able to read his feelings for her in his foreign movements and eyes, that were clouded with forced carelessness. He watched as the door slowly opened until it was far enough for her to step into the room and notice him lying on his bed.
''Hey,'' she greeted, her eyes lowered towards the ground, while her fingers were softly tapping against the door, as if she was nervous.
Jess nodded. ''Hey.''
''Are you busy?''
''Nope, just reading,'' he answered.
''Would you mind any company?'' Rory asked, before carefully bringing her eyes up to meet his.
Jess shook his head, studying her movements, as she closed the door, without making any sound and turning back around so that she was facing him. Her eyes went around the room and he could tell by the way her eyes were lingering on the chairs, which were covered with clothes and books, that she was looking for a place to sit. Not finding one, she awkwardly clasped her hands in front of her and looked at him, not knowing what to do.
''Yeah, we use the chairs as closets. There's enough room on the bed though,'' Jess said, as he moved himself more towards the direction of the wall, creating more than enough room for Rory.
She shyly looked from him to the bed and back again, before taking a few steps towards him and sitting down on the edge of the bed, uncomfortable with the situation.
''No dinner with the grandparents today?'' Jess asked, not because he was interested, but because he wanted to prevent a silence that would be even more awkward than their current situation.
''We went,'' Rory answered, unaware of Jess's eyes as they focused themselves on her face.
''You're back early.''
Rory shrugged. ''My mom decided to leave early.''
''Reason?'' Jess asked, as he saw the red rims underneath her eyes.
Rory sighed and ran a hand through her hair before answering. ''My mom and grandparents had a fight.''
''Serious?''
Rory nodded. ''It involved my future and finances.''
''Ah, a dilemma every teen deals with daily,'' Jess remarked, not being rewarded by even so much as the beginning of a smile. ''Care to elaborate?''
Rory threw him half a smile, thankful for his concern. ''It was about the Harvard/Yale thing again?''
''Harvard/Yale thing?''
''Yeah, see, I really want to go to Harvard,'' Rory started.
''Hence the shrine you have in your bedroom.''
Rory nodded. ''Yeah, but my grandfather wants me to go to Yale, cause he went there. We always fight about this, but this time my grandfather threatened to stop the financing of Chilton, which would mean that I wouldn't even get into Harvard if I wanted to, I mean, not finishing high school isn't going to look good on my applications and then my mom did her duty as mom and got enraged.........''
''Enraged huh?'' Jess asked.
''Yeah, and after that we just left, without settling things, I mean, I don't want to go to school on Monday and discover that I'm actually not enrolled there anymore.''
''Your grandparents would never do that, not to you,'' Jess said.
''I hope not,'' Rory softly said, on the verge of tears again, because if her grandparents did decide to go through with their threat, then she wouldn't get the chance to achieve all the goals she had set for herself. She knew that her mom didn't have enough money to pay for Harvard or Yale, but that wouldn't matter, not even a scholarship would help, not when they would stop paying for Chilton.
''I probably should have just said that I would go to Yale if that's what they really wanted.'' Rory briefly paused and pulled at her lower lip with her teeth, not wanting to cry over something that her mom would probably have solved before tomorrow night. ''I'm just a burden to both my mom and grandparents.''
''I don't think they see you that way,'' Jess said, trying to stop her from looking like she did. So sad. On the verge of tears. Hopeless.
Rory nodded. ''Yeah, probably not.'' She sat there for a few more seconds, before she got up. ''I should get home, see how my mom's doing.''
''Probably doing some phone battling with your grandparents.''
Rory smiled at his words. ''It's freakish how close to right you can be sometimes.''
''I have the gift.''
''Thanks for listening.''
Jess smirked. ''Not so hard when someone else is doing the talking.''
Rory tucked a strand of hair behind her ears, while she took a few steps back towards the door. ''I'll see you tomorrow.''
''Probably.''
And with a small smile in his direction Rory left the apartment, the weight on her shoulders slightly lighter and the weight on her heart slightly heavier.
*End of Flashback*
A wave of relief went through her, glad that it had been this memory that she had subconsciously selected. Reieved because it hadn't been one of their more passionate conversations, although the images that had been going through her mind when she had closed the door behind her, had been and had left her with a feeling she couldn't seem to put into words. It felt as if she had been walking on clouds, storm clouds, which were a signal of the tumultuous walk ahead of her, and with Joey there was nothing but a blue sky to accompany the white clouds. And although blue was indeed her favorite color, it's appeal was starting to fade and she was afraid that one of these days she would wake up and realize that the clouds weren't there anymore.....
Rory grabbed the phone and dialed the number of their answering machine, knowing that the answering machine was only a couple of steps away from her. When she heard that there was one message waiting for her, she quickly hung up and walked over to the answering machine.
Joey crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. ''What are you doing?''
''There's a message on the machine,'' Rory answered simply, knowing fully well that logic was nowhere to be found.
''So, the reason you called..........?''
''To see if there were any messages on the machine.''
''And you couldn't have walked over to the machine?'' Joey asked, already smiling at an answer he hadn't even heard yet.
Rory shrugged. ''I could have, but that would have spoiled my fun and that look of confusion on your face.'' She sweetly smiled at Joey, before pushing the button on the answering machine to listen to the message.
''Hey, sweets, sorry I'm not there to welcome you and your husband..........''
''She still can't seem to get over that small fact, huh?''
Rory rolled her eyes, although a twinkle of amusement found its place in them, as she listened to the rest of the message.
''........, but I have an excuse. You two were pretty vague about the time of your supposed arrival, I mean, all you gave me was Friday..... Besides, I was dehydrated and since I can't make a decent cup of coffee myself, I went to Luke's. You're free to come and find me, unless you and your husband wanna do something that can be responded to with a dirty. So, unless you're doing.....that, I'll see you two soon. Love ya, both.''
''Did you hear that?'' Joey asked, uncrossing his arms. ''Your mom loves me, just as much as she loves you.''
Rory turned around to look at him. ''Don't put words in her mouth, she was just being nice, you know she really hates you.''
''How am I putting words in her mouth when you heard her say it?'' Joey playfully asked.
Rory shook her head, as she approached him, trying to hide a smile. ''I thought you were too mature for these kind of games?''
Joey shrugged. ''I was just pointing out a fact.''
Rory's lips twitched and within a few seconds a smile spilled itself onto her face. ''Let's go to Luke's, Mr. Pharmacist.''
*~*~*
When Rory and Joey entered the diner, they were immediately greeted with a loud screech, which expressed Lorelai's delight when she spotted the two coming into Luke's. Lorelai got up and threw her arms around Rory before she even knew what was happening. It was a spectacle that had the entire diner in awe, for they knew how long Lorelai had waited for her daughter to show her face in Stars Hollow again. When the two girls let go of each other a pair of smiles was exchanged between the two.
''So, you're still with Joey?''
''Happily married,'' Rory responded, as she subconsciously ran her thumb over her wedding ring.
''Which means that you two are still making googly eyes at each other when you think no one is looking,'' Lorelai stated, while looking over at Joey, who confirmed it by nodding. ''Every chance I get.''
''That's always good in a wedding. Are you guys still acting like newlyweds too? You know, reliving your honeymoon every chance you get?''
''Mom,'' Rory said, slightly embarrassed by her mom's question.
Joey just seductively raised an eyebrow, which only caused Rory's blush to deepen itself to an even darker shade of red.
''I guess that's my answer,'' Lorelai teasingly said, while meeting Rory's eyes. ''How come it took you so long to visit anyway?''
Rory shrugged. ''We were busy, I guess.''
Lorelai nodded. ''Well I missed you, both.''
''See,'' Joey said.
Rory rolled her eyes at his comment and missed the confusion that went through her mom's eyes, followed by something that could be defined as jealousy. After all, Lorelai hadn't seen her daughter for a while, while Joey got to see her every hour of the day, something Lorelai had missed.
''And Luke missed you too,'' Lorelai said, aiming the remark at the both of them, although she purposely kept her gaze on Rory.
''And I missed his coffee, although Joey's isn't that far behind.''
''He can make coffee? You can make coffee?'' Lorelai asked, shifting her gaze from Rory to Joey, who just shrugged. ''You're like Einstein, only you have a smaller head.''
Rory rolled her eyes once more, as she started to head over to the counter, her mom and Joey closely following. She sat down at the counter, waiting for Luke to notice her, who was busy scribbling something down on a note. She cleared her throat, which caused Luke to look up, annoyed with the gesture.
''Does it say 'Swift n' Hasty' on the door............ Rory, you're here......''
''Hm, you get more observant with every day,'' Lorelai commented.''
''..........and you're here too,'' Luke said, as he turned his head to look at Joey, who was also sitting at the counter.
''I'm impressed,'' Lorelai interrupted again, this time earning herself a glare from Luke.
''How was your trip?'' Luke asked, while he started to pour them some coffee, quickly adding a third cup when he spotted Lorelai looking at him out of the corner of his eyes.
Rory shrugged. ''Normal, there was a lot of sitting involved and a lot of staring at the lack of traffic in front of us.''
''Of course I couldn't stare, cause I actually had to pay attention to the road despite of the lack of traffic,'' Joey said, while taking his cup of coffee from Luke.
Luke nodded and wanted to say something else, but was distracted by Lorelai. ''Hey, Luke, did you grow overnight?''
''What?''
''Well, you're tall, taller than yesterday. Something's different.''
''He finally decided to put on those stiletto heels that I found in his closet,'' Jess said, as he chose this exact moment to make his well awaited appearance and entered the diner through the curtains, which hid the stairs from the rest of the diner.
Rory's heart skipped a beat when he so casually joined them, but she kept her expression neutral, not wanting Joey to notice the slight change in her behavior. Her hands gripped the coffee cup tighter and her eyes couldn't seem to focus on anything, they were automatically drawn to him, to the person who had decided to step out of the picture on the day she had married Joey. Her eyes quickly found their way to his eyes, which were, disappointingly enough, not looking at her. Instead they were lowered to one of his books, one Rory hadn't noticed until now.
Meanwhile Jess had already seen that she was indeed here, but unfortunately enough she hadn't decided to come alone..... For some reason he felt angry about this understandable action and he wanted her to know that by pretending that he could care less if she was here or not. Of course, the question was, how long would his facade hold.....
''Hey, Jess, right?'' Joey said, interrupting the thoughts and worries that ran through both Jess and Rory's mind. Rory was immediately reminded of the reason why they were here in the first place, why Joey had decided to take this weekend off instead of the next one. She took a sip of coffee, just to cool her nerves down, while she raised her eyes up to see what Jess's reaction would be.
But Jess did quite the opposite of what she expected him to do. No sarcastic comments were made, as he closed his book and met Joey's suspecting eyes, making Rory feel a little hurt, cause it seemed as if he was looking straight through her.
''We met at the wedding,'' Joey said, reminding Jess of the first time they had met.
Jess nodded. ''Right, the wedding, of course. How are you?''
Joey shot him an appreciative smile, although he still didn't see in him what Rory did, and he probably never would.
*~*~*
The wind was forcefully howling, which caused the leaves to rustle, as if they had enough of shading her from the dark figure, which had comfortably settled himself on the wooden boards of the bridge. His face remained hidden from the pair of peering eyes, which had been following his every move since she had gotten here. She was fascinated by the way the wind kept playing with his hair, rearranging it with every blow and she seemed mesmerized by the way he sat, with his elbows resting on his knees, as if he was leaning forward so he could intensely look at the water. Pieces of scattered memory were rapidly forming themselves into a reality she hadn't been a part of for such a long time.
Rory hesitantly took a step forward, brushing the leaves aside as she did this, the sudden rustling blending in with the wind without a trace. Her eyes were fixed on his figure,as she started to approach him, stepping onto what had most likely become his territory. Unsure of how to make her presence know, she simply kept on walking, the boards creaking underneath her weight with every step she took. But she knew that he had been aware of her all this time. She couldn't seem to hide from him, he would never let her.
She looked at him for a few moments, wondering if he was going to acknowledge her. When he didn't, Rory was instantly reminded of how stubborn he could be and how he was able to change moods like a chameleon could change colors. He could choose to shut everybody out just as easily as he could be civil to people he didn't really like, like Joey. Rory wasn't blind, she had noticed how forced his smile had been and how his eyes had seemed to darken whenever Joey would glance at her. Just like Joey's eyes seemed to narrow every time Rory said even so much as a word to Jess. They both disliked each other, which made Rory realize that they would probably never get along, no matter how hard Joey tried and how much Jess wanted it.
Finally she just decided to sit down next to him, reminding him of how stubborn she could be. She left a fair amount of space between, enough to keep their distance and allow them to breathe, but at the same time it was the closest they had been in a while. Memories raced through their minds while the wind raced through the air around them, causing both Rory and Jess to shiver. The familiarity of this night was tempting them both and eventually Jess was the first to break and gave in.
''So, he wants to get to know me?'' Jess asked, referring to none other than Joey. He glanced over at Rory. ''Does he need a new friend to play with?''
''Don't do this,'' Rory started, stubbornly refusing to meet his eyes. ''I didn't come here to fight.''
''Then why did you come here?''
''To see my mom,'' Rory quickly answered, not completely lying to him.
Jess nodded, considering the honesty of her answer. ''I thought that now wasn't such a great time for you?''
Rory shrugged. ''Guess I was wrong.''
A silence fell between them, giving Jess an opportunity to look at her, refreshing the image he had of her in his mind. He noticed the frown on her face, which wasn't supposed to be there, and the way she was pulling at her lower lip with her teeth. He had mastered the reading of her body language only a week after they had met. It was an easy trick to learn and it always left her in awe.
''What's the other reason you're here?''
Rory shrugged again, knowing that this question was coming. ''Joey hasn't been to Stars Hollow that often and he wanted to spent the weekend here.''
''I'm sure he did.''
''What do you mean?'' Rory asked, tilting her head slightly, so she could look at him from the corner of her eyes.
Jess made a clicking noise with his tongue before continuing. ''I never thought you were that naive.''
Rory shook her head, as she lowered her eyes to the water once more. ''Whatever you're thinking, you're wrong. I didn't come here so you could pick a fight with me.''
''Well, what did you expect me to do? Play all nice with your husband?''
''I thought............ I mean, you sounded, different on the phone,'' Rory said, not knowing if Jess was simply jealous of her and Joey or just mad at her for showing up here, at their spot, expecting everything to be okay between them again. ''I should go, it's late, Joey doesn't know I'm here.''
As if sensing that she was planning on getting up and leaving, Jess grabbed her elbow and prevented her from doing just that. His touch wasn't gentle like she remembered, but rough, demanding her to stay. She turned her head to look at him, meeting a pair of unreadable eyes.
''Are you happy?''
''Wh.....what?'' Rory asked, not knowing were he was about to go next.
''Are you happy? With him?''
Rory swallowed the lump in her throat, while she nodded. ''Yeah.''
Jess nodded and released her arm. ''Then I think you should go.''
''But........''
''Rory, go,'' Jess said, slightly raising his voice, which startled Rory and made her get up and leave without looking back, not understanding why Jess was acting so differently than he had sounded on the phone. But Jess hadn't meant to get frustrated with her, she was just tempting him, bringing him closer to the edge than he had intended.
*~*~*
When Rory softly closed the door behind her, she glanced over at Joey, whom's eyes were still shut. She let out a sigh of relief, glad that he hadn't noticed her temporarily disappearance. She carefully took off her jacket, making as less noise as possible and revealed her PJ's. When she crept back into bed she snuggled up against Joey, feeling guilty about sneaking out to see Jess, although their conversation hadn't exactly gone the way she had wanted. As she closed her eyes and drifted into a restless sleep, Joey opened his eyes, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get any more sleep this night.
*R*E*V*I*E*W*! Please? :-) Well, this was it. I know that the story line is moving at a pretty slow pace, but I want Joey's suspicion to grow with every chapter. And I didn't want Jess or Rory yo give in to tempatation immediately. So, hope you're still interested in reading this. Thanks again for the kind reviews. :-)