1"Will you come away with me?" the tears almost blind her.
"Hey, Ace, you wanna get out of here now? Please?" He asked her, snapping her out of her reverie again.
"You go ahead, I'll just pick up a few things."
"Okay." he nodded, looking surreptitiously at Taylor before bolting as fast as he could without being obvious. She watches him until she's sure he's gone, then walks up to Dean.
"Hi."
"Oh, hey."
"I'm sorry, is this a bad time?"
"No, I'm just about done, and Taylor's getting ready to head to the candy shop, so I really don't have anything to do."
"So this is the perfect time for me to come talk to you?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Well, good."
"Yeah."
"Anyways, I just wanted to thank you...for taking care of me like that."
"Oh, well, of course I did. I mean, why wouldn't I?"
"I didn't mean that I was surprised that you would do something like that. Because I wasn't. It's exactly the kind of thing you would do. It's so nice, and wonderful, and...perfect. And just like you. I just wanted to thank you anyways. Because you don't get enough recognition. And you deserve major recognition. Because you're so great."
"Wow. That was some major babbling right there."
"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. But I meant every word. All of it. It's all true. You're perfect, for everything you do, and no one notices. And I'd forgotten. And I can't believe I forgot. And I don't know why. And I hate that I forgot that. But I'm glad I remembered. Because people need to know. How special, and wonderful, and perfect you are."
"Rory, if you don't stop you're going to give me a huge ego. Why are you so nervous?" she chewed her lip, staring at him, before pulling his face down to hers, kissing him gently. She felt every familiar crease on his lips, the familiar soft stubble of his cheek, the familiar way she rose on her toes. He pulled away, looking at her inquiringly. She let her head drop onto his chest. He was just the right height that her head rested comfortably. Whenever she tried to do that with Logan, searching for this familiar comfort her neck hurt from bending too low. Her arms encircled her neck, and his crept around her waist, his nose buried in her hair. She didn't know how long they stood there like that, not moving, only that it wasn't long enough. One simple gesture had never made her feel so alive, while letting her forget that there was a world outside his arms.