Whoa…I was going through some of the older fics on the site, and I found a story that used the exact same penname for Jess, and almost the same one for Rory (they hyphenated the last name so it was Gilmore-Hayden). Freaky… Now I feel bad because they had the names first. 'Neways, onwards and forwards.

JediPirateElfyDude:glomps: My 100th review! WOOT WOOT!

Everyone else: I'm beyond elated that there's any interest in my story at all, much less this much. You guys make my day every time there's a review alert in my mailbox.

So here we go; our two favorite characters are on their way to the sunny state!

The entire population of Star's Hollow, it seemed, had stood in the square to watch the bus go by. Rory remembered a few faces standing out in the crowd. Dean had practically been shaking as Lindsey tried to calm him down, using obviously soothing words and gestures.

Luke had looked like a little lost kid. Jess may not have been his favorite person, but he loved the kid like his own son. He'd taken him in when no one else wanted him, he'd busted his ass over and over trying to convince him that he deserved so much better than a life working for Wal-mart, and he'd never gotten to say goodbye to Jess. Seeing his nephew board that bus brought him back to seven years ago, right after he'd thrown Jess out. He held his jaw stiffly as it disappeared in the distance.

Lorelai stood next to Luke, rubbing his back. She was still confused as to WHY. Why had Jess just shown up, why had Rory gone with him, and why she wasn't more disturbed. She should have dragged her off that bus herself, but then she'd watched Jess pick up Rory's bags and motion for her to go first. He'd been the perfect gentleman. He'd been like Luke. And that comforted her to the point where she almost trusted the twerp with her daughter.

After Rory had seen her town and her friends get smaller and smaller and then too far away to see, they'd spent the first half hour of their trip arguing over what book to read. The other riders moved down a few seats so as to get further away from the violent intellectual bickering, and by the time they'd picked Slaughterhouse Five, they were all but alone.

Jess read aloud as Rory rested her head on his shoulder, listening to him. She faced the seatback in front of her, but her attention did not waver from his voice. After a few hours, he closed the book and looked at the girl next to him. Rory had fallen asleep just as Billy Pilgrim had entered Dresden dressed in his toga and silver boots. He'd felt her sink into him and known she was sleeping, but he kept reading lest she wake up and find him studying her face. He was sure she was deep enough submerged in whatever Rory Gilmore dreamed about by now that he could freely stare at her.

She hadn't changed much. Her hair was about as short as it had been when they first met, and she was curling it now. He liked it. Her face and body were, if different, more defined. Her style had changed as well. She used to favor more traditional clothes. Button-down shirts, lose jeans, and sweaters. She'd never shown her belly, let alone any of her fashionably smaller chest.

She wasn't dressing skanky now at all. But she was wearing a skirt that ended far above her knees, and red tights. Her top was tighter than she'd worn in high school. She was a woman now, and a damn beautiful one at that. Jess could only hope he'd changed enough for her to consider her a man.

He still didn't know what he'd been thinking. Every time he asked himself that question on the way to Star's Hollow, he'd just shushed the voice in his head with an 'I'm insane', and acted like that was all the reasoning he needed. They'd been getting along, when the stupid small town freaks had to walk in on them. And he'd asked her to come with him. If that wasn't proof that he really was insane, nothing was.

The even more insane thing was that she'd said yes. Jess recalled a quote from some piece reading that crazy people will always find each other. She'd said yes in front of her mother and all her friends, so they were proving it true.

Jess had no idea what to do from here on out. He'd bring her home, show her around, introduce her to his family only after threatening Sasha with misery and woe if she embarrassed him or Rory. He could bring her to his favorite public beach in the morning before the crowds arrived, and he could let her play on his tiny strip of private beach that had come with the house. He even had a small guest room she could stay in. It wasn't much, but it had a bed.

He had worked everything out in his head while mindlessly reading. All the details and fine points would work out. He was certain that Rory would have a great time. They'd catch up and have fun whilst.

The only problem was that Rory was not the kind of girl he could just be friends with. She fit into her own category, one that Jess had failed to notice until it was too late. He'd fallen for her when he suspected that there was no chance of ever getting her. And as much as he didn't want to toy with Rory's emotions, he needed to know how she felt about him. His feelings hadn't changed much. You'd think they would, but seeing her in New York, and in the gazebo, was as thrilling as it had been. They had no relationship anymore, but the feelings that could be built upon were still there, at least on his side. So he approached California with absolutely no idea what lay in store for them. And, he realized, he couldn't control it. So he sat back and let Rory sleep on him.

Rory awoke sometime later, her head in Jess's lap. His eyes above were closed, but his fingers slowly moved throughout her hair, playing with it. She tried to be as still as possible as she enjoyed her position for a moment. She was lying flat on her back, with her head on Jess's thigh. It felt very solid, for lack of better adjective.

"You awake?" he asked, still not opening his eyes.

"Finally. I had the weirdest dream that Jess Mariano came to Star's Hollow and convinced me to run away to California with him. Oh look, it wasn't a dream. Hi Jess."

"Hi Rory. Did you sleep okay?" He finally opened his eyes and looked at the girl in his lap.

"Fine. Why am I down here?"

"You fell when the bus hit a bump, and I was trying to help you up, but you pushed my hand away and made yourself comfortable." She blushed, but smiled at him. He started to move his legs, so she quickly pulled herself up.

"Well, thanks for being my pillow."

"Any time." Another of those weirdly comfortable silences descended upon them.

"So, where do I get to stay in California?"

"I have a guest room."

"No!" she feigned surprise.

"It has a bed and a chair."

"You Suzy homemaker, you!" she accused jokingly. He rolled his eyes.

"I think I liked you better asleep."

They changed buses and continued reading. Jess finished Slaughterhouse Five, and Rory began reading The Namesake. He copied her by resting his head on her shoulder as she read, and felt her tense as she felt the weight. He waited a few minutes. She grew accustomed to it, and finally relaxed so that they were both comfortable. Jess ran through this information in his head. She was jumpy around him. She could be afraid of him, or she could be keyed up. For the love of all that was holy, Jess hoped for the second one.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. They read to each other, slept in shifts, listened to Rory's walkman until the batteries ran out, ate horrible rest stop junk food, and talked. They talked about Star's Hollow (for an entire eight minutes before Jess was bored), their careers and the books each was writing now, good old times before Jimmy had shown up in Star's Hollow, and what they were going to do in California. Certain necessary questions, though weighing heavily on each one's mind, were not ventured. Questions like were they involved on any level. The farthest they'd dived into the topic of romance was to inquire whether each had a significant other. Neither did, interestingly enough. At the moment, they'd moved on to the topic of Dean.

"So wait, you and Dean?"

"…dated while he was married to Lindsey. Dumb, I know. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Just dated?"

"Excuse me, that's a little personal."

"I want to know if Dean was a big enough slime ball to cheat on his wife."

"That would imply me being a slime ball too."

"But you look good in slime." Rory smiled and changed the subject to one they had been discussing earlier: Remember when.

"Oooh, remember when Luke or Lorelai or Caesar came upstairs every ten minutes to check on us and claim they had to get something?" Thankfully, he caught on. She didn't want to answer him. He wouldn't make her.

"Yea, and we finally got that old dinging timer out so we'd know when they were coming up. Ten minutes, on the dot." They both laughed, reminiscing.

"I think we're here." The bus had pulled up near the boardwalk, and Jess stood. Rory followed his lead, and they collected her luggage and got off the bus.

"Where to now?" she asked. He shrugged. "You're already a bad guide."

"Want to drop your stuff off first? Then we can go get some real food, and when I say real food, I mean hot dogs." She nodded, taking in the atmosphere. It was big and busy and beautiful. The noise assaulted her pleasantly, and everything seemed to smell delicious whether it was edible or not.

They headed off towards Jess's house as the sky slowly changed colors in the background. They'd gotten there just before sunset.

"It's beautiful," Rory breathed. Jess agreed, while looking sideways at her. They walked on quietly until she broke the silence.

"Me and Dean didn't just date."

"Huh."

"Is that all you can say?"

"Do you want me to reprimand you?"

"Everyone treated me like the town whore for months. I figured you'd at least shake your finger at me." He did just that, to humor her.

"Oh, you're cute."

"I know. I'm surprised, though. I didn't think you had it in you."

"I'm braver now," she said, turning and walking sideways so she could look directly at him. He just smiled and stared at the path ahead. It was a few miles walk from the bus stop to his house.

By the time they reached his house, it was getting dark. And miss Rory was complaining.

"Why couldn't you live closer to town?"

"I just live a few miles up the coast, it's not that far." She stuck her tongue out at him and crossed her arms across her stomach. He was carrying not only her bags, but her shoes as well, and he wasn't wining.

"Okay, do you have a car?"

"Yes."

"Does it run?"

"Yes."

"Then we're taking it back to get hot dogs. No buts."

"No one drives around here. We'll look like tourists."

"My feet are going to fall off."

"Drama queen."

"A queen shouldn't have to walk." He sighed loudly and exaggeratedly.

"Fine. We will drive." She gave him a quick, friendly hug as they reached his house and she looked around, open-mouthed.

"Wow." It wasn't much. A simple, decent-sized, white, one-story beach house with sand instead of grass. He led the way along a stone path partially hidden by the sand, to the back of the house. Rory gasped openly now. The ocean rolled up the small beach, closed in by a jetty on both sides.

"It's private," he commented nonchalantly, seeing her staring at the water. The house was small, but the property was beautiful. He walked past his hammock to the back door, and took the key from above the door. Opening it quickly, he pushed the door with his foot, and they entered his living room. She stopped to brush sand off her feet, and he shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. The only one who minds is my step-mom." She smiled and finished the task anyway, and walked fully into the house. He set her bags down on the couch as she wandered around, taking everything in. The furniture was light-colored and seemingly temporary. Nothing was really filled in, to best describe it, but consisted mostly of frames and cushions. She knew it was permanent, and it looked used, but it gave the whole place a carefree look.

He moved down a hallway and she followed him, still looking around. There were some charcoal sketches, beaches of course, on the walls.

"My friend Danielle makes them," he commented, seeing what she was looking at. He led her into a small room at the end of the hallway with a light grey futon and a glide rocker.

"Not much. If you need anything, I'm across the hall."

"Okay." Neither said anything, just looked around the room. Rory observed her new home for the next few days, while Jess looked at it with a new perspective. Why the hell was he putting Rory here? There wasn't even a mirror. No dresser. Nothing.

"Uh, there's only one bathroom, mine. But it has a mirror, and running water, and all that good stuff."

"Very high-class," she commented, smiling to herself as she watched him squirm and realize his guest room wasn't very hospitable. She'd always enjoyed that, seeing him squirm. It was probably because he had so much self-confidence, even when he was wrong. It humbled him when he was forced to squirm.

"I'll go get your stuff," he said, and exited the room quickly. As soon as he was gone, she tiptoed across the hallway to check out the bathroom. She made it in the door of his room, and stopped. Jess's ROOM. She'd gathered that in the back of her mind when he said his bathroom, but she'd have to walk through Jess's bedroom every day to get to the bathroom. She'd have to walk past his bed every day, and be reminded of that night at Kyle's party…

"Get lost?" came his voice from behind her. So close behind her, actually, she could feel the words warm on her neck. She momentarily froze. It wasn't just the party flashback that was making her wig out. Jess was pretty much the only guy she'd been in an actual relationship with and not slept with. In her mind, that was completely backwards and wrong. He was they guy she'd wanted to be her first. She took one last look at his double bed- white, as was pretty much everything in the beach house, and smartly made-up (Sasha's doing)-before walking into the room.

"Where's the bathroom? I don't want to accidentally walk into a closet." She seemed to have miraculously found her voice. He indicated with a jerk of his head, and she went in to examine it. A shower stall, big bath tub, sink, toilet, all the essentials.

"Up to par?" he asked, coming in behind her. She grinned at him.

"Of course. Can we eat now?" He nodded and she excused herself to go change before they drove to the boardwalk. She slipped into jeans and a red tank-top that read 'Smart girl' across the chest, and brushed her curly brown hair. Wanting to hold her own with any cute California girls they came across, she slid a tube of lip gloss over her lips and refreshed her mused mascara.

"Coming?"

"I'm making myself beautiful," she joked. A red headband and she was set. She walked out of the room and Jess looked immediately away.

"Of course, I was joking about the beautiful part," she hesitantly encouraged. Wait, what was she doing? She'd just gotten there; it was too soon for that.

He didn't deny it, just grabbed his keys from a bowl on the counter. She followed him outside and to his black Chevy convertible, making another 'high class' comment which he rolled his eyes at, and they were off. Rory anticipated just an evening with him, but Jess couldn't take being alone with her just yet. So he was taking her to the place where they'd NEVER be alone. Jimmy's hot dog stand. And Sasha Mariano was working tonight.

I feel so bad begging for reviews...but you guys know I love 'em!

I really can't wait to write the next few chappies, I've got some good ideas...including a you-know-what scene...so stay tuned!