Chapter 12

A/N: Hey, I'm wrapping up soon, so you won't have to put up with too much more of my drivel!

Thanks for sticking with the story, even though it hasn't been quite what you've wanted!

Disclaimer: Thanks Amy!

Eleven o clock. Only two hours until Rory would be Mrs Ben Marris And despite yesterday, she was happier than ever. Her dress was beautiful. It wasn't quite as extravagant as the one her mother had worn when she married Luke, but it was beautiful nonetheless. It flowed simply down her body leaving a short train behind her. It was an off the shoulder gown, with small daisies embroidered around the hem. Rory had worn lovely dresses before, but this one put all the others to shame. It made her feel, loved and cared for and adult. It made her want to marry Ben even more.

"Rory? RORY!!" Screamed Lorelai from the front door of their house.

"Mom?" Rory screamed back.

"No, Diane Lane, of course Mom! There's something you should know." She told her daughter.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" Through Rory's head, screened every imaginable bad thing that could happen today.

"I just thought you should know, that you look beautiful and I'm so proud of you. And I love you very, very much."

"Mom! I thought you were gonna tell me, Ben got cold feet or something! But thankyou and I love you too." She replied.

There could not have been a worse day to have an accident on the motorway. Jess had overslept until nine leaving him about ten minutes to catch the nine-fifteen bus to Stars Hollow. Then, making it onto the bus by the skin of his teeth, he was only to find, three minutes into the trip that there had been an accident and there could be up to a four hour delay. Maybe fate was testing him. Or maybe it was trying to tell him something. Maybe it was telling him to leave Rory be. He'd already broken her heart on more than one occasion. Maybe it was time to let her marry whatshisname and move on. But on the other hand, she didn't love whatshisname. Not like she loved Jess. And he knew that. He knew that because she told him. He had nothing to lose. He'd already lost Jemima, he'd quite probably lost his job after failing not to call today and he would lose Rory forever too if he didn't get to Stars Hollow before the wedding. Without thinking, he got off the bus and made a run for it. If he was lucky, it would only take him a couple of hours to walk there. And at this stage he really had no other option. Before he stepped off the bus, the bus driver stopped him.

"Hey, Buddy. What's the hurry? I can't give you your money back."

"Keep it. I'm late for a wedding." He said, again going to step off the bus driver stopped him.

"Hey. There's a car rental joint right next to the bus station. You could probably rent a motorbike or something and skip right past the accident."

With that Jess ran the ten minute trip back to Hartford and found the rental place. However the only rental "motorbike" they had available, was a green scooter. He almost turned it down, but not before realising that he couldn't really afford to be picky. Handing over his cash, he took the scooter and motored it in the direction of Stars Hollow.

Instead of the more traditional "Wedding March", Rory and Ben had decided to go with Dream a Little Dream of Me for their wedding song. As Luke escorted Rory up the aisle to that song, Ben stood at the altar, looking like the proudest and happiest man alive. Tears coated Rory's eyes as she walked past her mom, who was undoubtedly crying. She reached Ben (finally) and handed her flowers to Lane, who was standing proudly at her side. Ben took a hold of Rory's hand. It wasn't until then, that she realised how nervous he was. His palm was sweaty and he was shaking ever so slightly. She took hold of his hand, with both of hers to comfort him. Nothing was going to separate them. Not now, not ever. The crowd that had gathered for their wedding, sat down and the minister stepped up to the altar.

"We all have been gathered here today, to witness the joining in holy matrimony of Rory and Ben. If anyone has any reason as to why we shouldn't continue, please. Speak now, or forever hold your peace."

On instinct, Rory looked towards the back of the group. But there was no one there. Lane touched her lightly on the shoulder, as if to say, 'I know what you're think and he's not here'. No one having said a word, the minister continued.

"Do you Benjamin Marris take Lorelai Gilmore to be your wife? To have and to hold from this day forward. To honour and to cherish, in good times and in bad. In sickness and in health, 'til death do you part?" Without hesitating, Ben answered.

"Yes. I definitely do." His grip on Rory's hand tightened. The minister continued.

"And do you Lorelai Gilmore take Benjamin Marris to be your husband? To have and to hold from this day forward. To honour and to cherish, in good times and in bad. In sickness and in health, 'til death do you part?"

Jess approached the town centre, where the town's princess was getting married to the wrong prince. For a second, he considered turning and going back. Then hearing the minister's next question to Rory he decided against it and paused at the back of the group of wedding goers.

"…To have and to hold from this day forward. To honour and to cherish, in good times and in bad. In sickness and in health, 'til death do you part?" Without think Jess stepped into the aisle and walked towards Rory.

"Wait." Jess called out. Everyone in the square turned to look at him. "Don't marry him… Marry me."

"What? No. Jess, you can't do this." Rory looked madder than Jess had ever seen her.

"C'mon, Rory. It's perfect. All your friends and family are here, do it. Marry me!" Jess pleaded.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Rory cried, reminiscent of past experiences.

"And don't say no, when what you really want to say is yes!" He begged her. He too had learnt from past experiences and this time he was not giving up without a fight.

Rory turned to Jess's uncle. "Luke, will you get him outta here?" She ordered. Standing up, Luke took Jess gruffly by the arm, "C'mon Jess. It's better for everyone this way."

In a last attempt to reach the part of Rory's heart that he occupied, Jess started talking. "Look. We could be doing this for the rest of our lives! You'll tell me no, I'll walk away, you'll come to your senses two years later and realise that you really do love me and we could be running this circuit for the rest of our lives, is that what you want?"

"Yeah Rory. Is that what you want?" After being silent throughout this whole scene, Ben made his simple plea. Rory looked from Jess to Ben and back to Jess again.

"No. It's not what I want." She replied simply.

Nobody knew if it was a 'no' in Jess's favour, or a 'no' in Ben's favour, but either way, somebody was going to be left heartbroken.

"Please, just go. You made your choice. I'm marrying Ben. Go away." Rory told him.

Jess almost let Luke lead him away from the ceremony. And then he decided to give it one last shot. "Rory, listen to yourself. You're telling me to go away, so you can marry someone you don't love. You came to me yesterday and told me you hadn't moved on and you're still marrying him." He begged, gesturing to Ben.

"I can't listen to myself, I'm too busy listening to you, which, I'd like to add, you should be doing! You turned me down. Told me to leave and get on with my life. So I did, I am! I moved on and I do love Ben! I'm marrying Ben and there's nothing you can do or say that will change my mind! Now leave!" Rory yelled.

That was it. Jess had sunk to the lowest of lows. He'd humiliated himself in front of the whole town and then some. He been rejected in front of the whole town and then some. He wasn't going to give it anymore. As Kirk once said, "It died. Build a coffin for it, put some pennies for it's eyes coz that stuff ain't breathin'." And although Jess never thought he'd rely on Kirk, or anyone for advice, that's exactly what he was going to do. Build a coffin for it and get over it. He'd have some coffee at Luke's and then he'd head back to New York. Maybe Jemima would take him back. But then, he'd never really been one to beg, until Rory. He and Luke walked back to the diner in silence. Once there, without a word, Luke pulled out a cup and poured a coffee and handed it to Jess. Then, understanding Luke walked right out the door and in burst angry/irritable Luke.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" Luke demanded. When Jess didn't answer, he just got madder. "Well?" He asked again.

"Whatever, I don't have to deal with this." He muttered. He then got up to leave and Luke blocked the exit. "What the… Move. You don't want me here, I don't wanna be here, so just get outta my way. It's a win-win situation." Jess remarked.

"You actually thought you would get Rory back after all these years of nothing? Or was it just a game? 'How much of a bad memory can I make Rory's wedding day.' You're twenty-two years old now Jess. I thought you'd moved on. You were marrying whatsherface, things were moving on! What happened?" Luke demanded again. He was damn well going to get some answers out of this kid, if it was the last thing he did.

"Don't you have a wedding to be going back to?" Jess asked simply.

"Damnit Jess! I want answers!"

"You want answers? Fine! Rory came to me! Rory came to my apartment in New York and told me she hadn't moved on and that she still loved me. She. Came. To. Me." He said enunciating each word. "Not quite the princess you thought, is she? Why did I come here? Because I, like every other human on this planet, made a mistake! It was a case of "you-don't-know-what-you've-got-til-it's-gone" okay? Does that explain it all? Now I'm leaving!" Without another word, Jess stepped around Luke and left the diner.

What a waste of damn time! This was mistake of gigantic proportions. Life didn't get much worse than this. He almost contemplated going back, just to see Rory happy. In all the commotion, he Jess never really got a proper look at her dress. She looked gorgeous on a normal day, so he was sure she'd have looked breath-taking on her wedding day. Lost in his thoughts, Jess didn't hear his name being called as he reached the outskirts of town.

"JESS!" He turned around and his breath caught in his throat.

"What are you doin' here? Don't you have a father-daughter dance or something cheesy like that to be getting on with?" He tried to keep all emotion from escaping through his voice.

"I would if I hadn't done something cheesy like cancel the wedding half way through and run off, searching for the guy who interrupted my wedding proclaiming his love for me." She replied.

"So, you're not married?" Jess asked gingerly.

"Nope, not married."

"Because of me?"

"Because of you. So, I know it's been a while but I'm going to kiss you now okay?" Instead of insulting her with a reply, her grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him. The instant their lips met, Jess felt complete. Something he hadn't felt for a very long time. God, it had been so long. How had he ever survived without this? Why had he even tried? Nothing was better than this. Jess deepened the kiss. He'd never be able to get enough of her. For as long as they lived, Jess felt that forever together just wouldn't be enough. An involuntary groan escaped his lips when she shoved him away from her.

"I want you to say it." She announced, glaring into his eyes.

"Rory, I've had enough of the games." He was tired of having to fight for her, he wanted to grab hold of her and never let go.

"I want you to say the words. None of this 'I haven't moved on business.'" She proclaimed. When Jess, just met her stare, obviously not having caught on, Rory elaborated. "I want words. Think three."

Did she think he wouldn't be able to do it? Did she think that he had to think about it at all? He grasped her hips again and pulled her to him.

"I love you. I've always loved you. Is that what you were looking for?"

"Yeah." Came her simple reply. Their lips met once again and this time it was Jess who broke the kiss.

"Okay, now I want the words. It's all good and well for me to have come all this way to break up your wedding and have you standing here with me now, but how do I know you won't run back to him in the morning?" He queried.

"Jess, I love you. I'm not going anywhere this time. This time it's gonna take a five thousand strong army and tanker to get me to leave. Now you stop with the talking and let me kiss you." With that Rory and Jess had cemented their relationship. Jess felt like the luckiest guy on the planet right now. Of course he felt a little bad for the guy Rory had ditched at the altar, but in the long run, he'd really done him a favour. So, this was it. Rory was Jess's, Jess was Rory's and that was the way it was meant to be.

A/N: OK guys just one more chapter to wrap up and then I'm done!