Sigma Bond: What can I say? Your 'comment' not only stimulated my brain outside of school hours, it made me almost fall out of my swively chair laughing. Thank you for clearing that up ;-)

Lorelai put on a brave face for Rory as they walked through the airport, arms around each other's waists. Rory had sent two boxes filled with clothes and books the other day, so the only baggage she had was her carry-on messenger's bag, which was currently clunking against her hip next to Lorelai's hand.

The outing wasn't limited to only mother and daughter, though. Her flight time had leaked out through the Star's Hollow grapevine, and at least thirty people had driven themselves to Hartford, and were standing as close to the gate as the suspicious police had allowed them. In their midst were Taylor, Luke, Patty, Babette, and Dean, to name a few.

"So Jess is picking you up?"

"Correct."

"And you will call to tell me when he does so?"

"Correcter."

"And you will leave out the part about the happy reunion?"

"Correctest."

"Then I guess all that's left for us to do is wait, and pretend we don't know them." She motioned towards the group of friends, and they waved excitedly in return.

The two took seats near the gate, and quietly flipped through the magazine Lorelai had bought a few minutes ago.

"Jean jackets are back in," Rory commented.

"I'll take ten."

"Zebra is out."

"Guess I gotta go naked tomorrow."

"And last but not least, Britney's back in rehab."

"I keep losing money on that girl." Rory lifted her eyes from the glossed pages to smile at her mother. Lorelai smiled back, feeling the sadness bubble up inside her stomach again. Turning back to the high-class rag in front of them, they waited for Rory's flight to be called.

As much as Lorelai silently prayed that it had been delayed, or crashed, or simply couldn't leave because California had finally fallen off the face of the earth and the pilots no longer knew the coordinates, her number appeared on the giant black-and-green screen across from them. Seeing it, the two Lorelai's stood up simultaneously and Lorelai the mother tucked the magazine into Lorelai the daughter's bag.

"Plane reading." Nodding, although fully intending on reading Lord of the Flies, Rory watched the screen and waited for them to be loading. As she did this, she scanned the other flights that were scheduled to depart, and had recently arrived. She noticed a plane had landed only minutes ago from LA, her destination, and focused on her own flight once again.

Her phone rang, startling both of them out of their trance. Rory opened it, and smiled when she saw "His cell" light up on the screen. She'd played with it just this morning, as she stood in front of her mirror and hyperventilated. But then she'd pulled her Jess-box out from the back of her closet, and sifted through it. A few books that contained intimate notes (Howl he could read and just leave interesting thoughts and comparisons in the margin. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, he could not. She still blushed when she read them.) A picnic basket. A Clash shirt. The dress she'd worn at Sookie's wedding. The dress she'd worn at the dance marathon. Distillers tickets. A CD by The Shaggs.

And, just like that, her nervousness had evaporated. She'd closed the box and put the address on it, before carrying it to the still-closed post office. Leaving money and a note, she left it by the door. No one would disturb it. It was Star's Hollow, after all.

She'd returned to the house and debated calling Jess, but it was 3am in CA. So instead, she'd played with her address book. She'd cried when she changed 'home' to 'Lorelai and Luke', and she'd smiled insanely when she changed 'Jess Mariano' to 'home'.

"Hello?" she asked playfully, pretending she didn't know who was on the other end.

"Are you on the plane yet?" he asked exasperatedly.

"No, they're not boarding yet. Why, do you miss me?" Lorelai pretended to make a face at Rory's teasing tone, and was poked in retaliation.

"Not at all," he breathed, feeling relief wash over him. He'd been afraid he would miss her. "For curiosity's sake, what are you wearing now?" Her eyes widened slightly as she giggled, nearly forgetting her mother's presence.

"I promise I'll be home soon," she stated, a silly grin still on her lips.

"Blue shirt, grey skirt?" She looked down at herself, and to her surprise, was wearing those colors.

"Yea…what are you up to?" Suspicion overcame her, making her stomach flutter and her heart thump giddily.

"I think I just saw your mom drop something…you'd best bend over and pick it up before airport security sees and tries to arrest the both of you." She shrieked and spun around, searching behind her near the incoming gates.

He was leaning up against a red and blue wall, smirking as he hung up. She dropped her bag at a startled Lorelai's feet, and began running and pushing past people. Reaching him, she jumped, literally, into his arms, and he spun her around a full 360 degrees before remembering to act uninterested and unfazed in public. He put her back down, smirking, and she leaned in for a short, sweet kiss.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in amusement, as he put his arm around her and began to walk her back to her bag.

"Couldn't concentrate."

"That still doesn't explain how you ended up on the wrong side of the continent yet again."

"Just keeps happening."

"I'm so glad you're powerless to stop it." She leaned her head on his shoulder and grinned up at him. He returned it, before facing Lorelai.

"You don't have the best sense of direction, do you?" she asked, now holding Rory's bag.

"Lorelai."

"Jess."

"Are you aware that half the population of Star's Hollow is here?"

"Yea, they're trying to keep a respectful distance. Um, why exactly are you here? You're going to see her in a few hours anyway."

"I was very bored," he explained, trying to look serious.

"Uh-huh."

"And I thought to myself-" he was cut off as Rory stepped lightly on his foot. Whatever sarcastic remark he had been about to make, he kept to himself. Impressed, Lorelai looked over at the townie bunch.

Babette had tears in her eyes. That was to be expected after the whole twirly-thing. Dean was clenching and unclenching his fists, as Lindsay regretted agreeing to come today. Luke stood there, shocked at his nephew's sudden appearance, and even more shocked at his tender reception of Rory.

At that moment, the plane that would take Rory (and now Jess) back to California was announced. Jess disentangled himself and Rory to allow her to jump into her mother's arms as Lorelai let loose a large sob.

"You REALLY want this, right?" mother asked daughter, holding her tightly.

"More than anything," daughter replied to mother, reassuring them both in their moment of sorrow. Rory gave one last squeeze, and let go of her mother before it became too hard. She stepped back against Jess, her teary blue eyes an exact replica of her mother's.

"Call when you get home."

"'Course." Jess took her hand and led her away as she waved back to her mother. Lorelai smiled at the two of them, choking back her tears, and felt Luke's presence as he approached.

"What was that about?"

"He came across the country to see her a few hours earlier." She stopped waving as the two turned a corner, and were out of sight.

"That was dumb."

"That was adorable," Lorelai corrected. Luke rolled his eyes as he reached for her hand, and led her in the opposite direction.

Rory pulled on the back of Jess's neck, and he moved closer to accommodate her. She smiled into the kiss as they walked down the nearly-deserted boardwalk, recreating their Star's Hollow days. From a bench nearby, Lily looked up and saw the two approaching. She thought to wave, but decided against it. They wouldn't have noticed it anyway. They were in their own little world. Shaking her head and mumbling something about PDA to herself, she returned to her book.

They wandered around until kissing and walking became too hard to do in combination, and then collapsed on a nearby beach.

"Pretty water," Rory muttered, too emotional for complete thoughts.

"Pretty Rory."

"Pretty Jess."

"I'm stopping before this gets dumb." Rory snuggled up against her guy, staring out at the setting sun.

"This is really nice."

"I agree."

"I feel like we should…promise something, or confess something."

"And you feel this way because?"

"I don't know. It'd be fun?"

"Will this be a passing urge, or do we have to go and get emo?"

"Nope. One promise, one confession each." He stared at her for a minute before quietly agreeing.

"You first."

"Okay. I promise I will always be there for you to talk to when you're scared or hurt or confused. Your turn."

"I promise I will always trust you with whatever I'm going through. I won't try to deal with it by myself. And I'll always be here for you likewise."

"I…don't know what to confess," she admitted with a laugh, breaking the silence that had settled after their informal vows.

"This was your idea."

"I know, but I can't think of anything you don't already know. Help me."

"When did you first realize you were into me?" She stared at him skeptically, squinting.

"That's your idea of a confession?"

"I wanted to know." Simple and honest.

"Okay then. What do you want, when I first realized you were special, or the moment of truth when the angels started singing hymns of 'Rory Gilmore likes the bad boy'?"

"Both."

"That's not fair, that's two confessions!"

"I'll reimburse you, two from me too."

"Fine. When you drew the chalk-outline." He looked a little confused as to how that would elevate him in her eyes, when she explained. "I was standing there with Dean, and I looked up and saw you leaning against a light post, completely out-of-sync with the entire town, with this adorable smirk on your first. You were so different from the crowd standing around me, from my boyfriend next to me. You were new, and somewhat dangerous. You were brave. You were what I wanted to be. And you looked really good in the light outside." He burst into laughter as she finished.

"That's when I realized you were intriguing, and that I wanted to get to know you! Don't laugh!" He smirked at her, making her smile. "Fine, but you owe me another confession."

"First you finish."

"Well then, when I figured out that I 'was into you', as you so eloquently put it, I was in school. Calculus, I believe, and I was extremely bored, and my mind started wandering. And it went to you and when you came downstairs to the diner in Luke's old hat and shirt."

"Go any further?"

"I was just thinking about how funny it was, which led to thinking about how funny you were, which led to more leading and more thinking about you. And then it kinda hit me full force, that I wasn't thinking about you in a friendly way. And then it did a U-ie, zoomed back and hit me the other way that I didn't think of you in a friendly way. But now it's your turn, and you owe me three confessions."

"Bracebridge. Where I first realized I liked you as more than the beautiful, shy bookworm. Swan. What beaked me and gave me a black eye right before I met your Grandmother. Me. Who stole the bracelet Dean gave to you."

"YOU stole my bracelet?" She looked taken-aback, never having suspected him.

"You were fiddling with it at the auction picnic and left it on the bridge. I didn't know it had anything to do with him, so I borrowed it for a little while."

"Why?"

"Because it was yours." He didn't seem to feel the need to elaborate, and after she thought about it, she didn't either.

"Heh. A swan." He sighed, realizing the weight of the ammunition he had given her. But she didn't say anything else in that moment, just listened to the harmonious sounds of their breathing, and a yawn which one of them started, and then (as all yawns do) was echoed by the other, and then the first, and then the second, and on and on.

"Thank you," she said after awhile.

"For what?"

"For being you, for telling me that stuff, for coming to pick me up at the airport, for coming to Star's Hollow in the first place, for inviting me to stay here…"

"All in a day's work."

"I love you."

"I know this. I love you too."

"Know what we should do?"

"Huh?"

"We should get married." Jess looked at the tiring girl beside him, not sure if it was the salty air and warm sand making her say that.

"Should we?"

"Why not? I'm here, you're here, and we both plan on being here for quite some time."

"Yea, but that doesn't mean we have to make it legal yet."

"If we already know we love each other, it's just a piece of paper, and some nice words, right?" Salty air and warm sand aside, this was her speaking.

"Yea."

"I'm not saying tonight, Jess. I'm saying soon."

"Soon sounds good." It was her turn to look at him, judging how serious he was.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"So…are we engaged now?"

"If you want to be."

"And we're getting married sometime in the near future?"

"That's the consensus."

"Can we get married on the beach?"

"That goes without saying."

"Can we invite Mom and Luke?"

"Only if Luke wears a suit."

"Are you going to wear one?"

"No. I said if Luke wears one."

"Can I wear white?"

"I'm not going to stop you."

"Can we have a baby?"

"We'll see. Any more questions?"

"Can I kiss you now?"

"Maybe." He was cut off by Rory's lips on his own. He discovered, as her face brushed his lovingly, that her cheeks were damp. "Are you crying again?" She gave a short laugh.

"I've been having a very emo day." He pulled her back to him with one movement of his arm, and silenced her tears- tears of sadness, joy, hope, and everything in between.

A/N: I didn't know exactly when to end this, so I finally decided that Rory and Jess planning their humble wedding on a beach was the perfect way. However, the story is not over. Look for a super-long upcoming chapter, the epilogue, which takes place as vignettes several years in the future. I'll post it as the twenty-sixth chapter, just to wrap this thing up. It'll be in vignette form, just because I have a lot I want to do with it.