Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls, Kit Kat, or Hello Kitty. I only own my mind.

A/N: Thanks again for the reviews. I know my writing isn't great, so I appreciate you bearing with me while I work out the kinks. Since it's summer vacation and I love to write, I'm going to try to write a chapter a day, at least for a while. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Please R&R because reviews make the writer's world go round: )

Chapter Three: Thank God for Thunder

The thunder that had been rolling in the distance was growing steadily louder by the minute. Rory sat in the same chair by the wall, silently sipping her coffee and trying to ignore it. She knew Jess was still wide awake. He was just pretending to be asleep. She knew this because every time the lightning flashed, it lit up the room enough for her to see him just lying there on his back, with his eyes closed. Nobody could possibly sleep that still.

He knew he should sleep, but his mind wouldn't allow him to. It was racing with thoughts about her. Every now and then he would steal a look at her. He could faintly see her outline sitting in the chair with her cup of coffee. She was fidgeting, trying to find a comfortable position and her eyes were glued to the window.

Ever since she could remember, Rory had loved rainstorms. She loved the way they made the air smell, and how it made everything seem cleaner somehow after the raindrops had stopped falling from the sky. But thunder was another thing entirely. She thought it was loud and obnoxious, and a bit scary as well. She knew it was a childish fear to have, but she couldn't help it. Every time light flashed through the sky, she waited and counted the seconds until the thunder rolled. The storm seemed to be getting closer; too close for Rory's taste.

He opened his eyes to take another look at her and was surprised to see that she was standing up and walking towards him. She reached the side of his bed and silently slipped under the covers and pulled herself close to him. He looked at her, asking her with his eyes.

"I hate thunder," was her only explanation.

She laid her head down on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. He remembered thinking how well she seemed to fit to his body as he finally drifted off to sleep. Together, they slept until late the next morning.

-xxxxx-

It was early in Stars Hollow, very early. According to the Hello Kitty alarm clock sitting on top of Lorelai's cluttered bedside table, it was exactly 4:27 in the morning. She hadn't been able to sleep. All she kept thinking was, Rory didn't call. Rory didn't call. Why didn't she call? She was supposed to call! I would call her, but of course, her cell phone's off. Why is her cell phone off? Why didn't she call?

Knowing sleep was a battle she was going to lose, she got up and went to take a shower thinking the warm water might be able to calm her down. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Maybe she just forgot…no, Rory wouldn't forget something like that. Would she? I don't think she would unless something happened and now she can't call me. Oh my God, she's pregnant! She's pregnant! She had sex with Jess and now she's pregnant and she's too afraid to call home. Stop, Lorelai! She's not pregnant, that's crazy. So why didn't she call?

She stepped out of the shower and quickly dried herself off with a soft towel. Not bothering to dry her hair, she threw on the jeans that had been lying on the bathroom floor and a tank top and flew downstairs. Forgetting to grab her keys and her purse, she raced out the door and to Luke's. She reached the door to the diner in less than five minutes, very out of breath, her hair in wet tangles. She started banging on the door, hoping Luke would hear it and come down to let her in.

"Luke!" she called through the glass in the door. She sighed with relief as she saw Luke descend down the stairs and walk over to the door. He unlocked it and let her in, looking at her like she was crazy.

"What are you doing?" he asked, a bit grumpy from being woken up an hour early.

"She didn't call!" was her shaky reply.

"What? Who didn't call?" Luke asked, his voice starting to soften.

"Rory! My daughter! Otherwise known as the dependable one! She didn't call!" she was on the verge of tears now, and very close to hysteria.

"Ok, calm down. I'll make you some coffee, ok?" he said as he pulled her to the counter and forced her to sit down.

"Why didn't she call, Luke?"

"Maybe her cell phone didn't have a signal and she wasn't able to call," he tried to rationalize with her.

"Oh, and Superman has the only working phone booth left in America hidden in his closet?" she retorted.

"Ok, then, maybe she didn't get a chance to call."

"You mean she didn't get a chance to call between the sitting in the car doing nothing while Jess drives and the sitting in the car doing nothing as Jess gets gas?"

Desperate to find an answer that would calm her down he tried again, "Maybe she just forgot. It happens, you know."

Sighing, she said, "I don't know, maybe. I don't know why I'm so freaked about this whole trip. I mean, Rory's smart, right? She wouldn't do anything stupid. And Jess…well, he's Jess. And even though he's not the most reliable guy in the world, lately he's been trying."

Deciding it was probably best to let her work this out on her own, Luke stayed quiet.

"I'm sure she's fine. She'll call later for sure," seeing Luke smiling at her she suddenly realized she still had wet hair and dirty clothes on. Feeling self conscious, she added, "Anyway, sorry to barge in like this. I should probably get going. Thanks for the coffee. See you later."

"See ya," he called as she turned and walked out the door.

-xxxxx-

Rory woke up with a start, leaping out of bed, and searching frantically for something.

"Oh no. Oh no! Oh no, no, no, no!" she moaned as she got on her knees to look under the bed.

Feeling the empty space beside him, Jess woke up. Watching her run around the room, looking under tables and chairs, he asked incredulously, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Looking for my cell phone!" was her frantic answer.

"Why?" Jess asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Because I forgot to call my mom!"

"Uh oh."

"Yeah, uh oh. Big uh oh. Huge uh oh. Now can you help me look, please?"

"Have you checked in the car?"

"The car! Where are your keys?"

He pointed to the pair of jeans he had been wearing the previous night that were in a heap on the bathroom floor. She ran over to them, dug in the pockets until she found what she was looking for and then darted out the door, leaving Jess with an amused look on his face. She returned a minute later wearing a triumphant smile and holding a cell phone in her hand. "Found it," she stated the obvious.

Dialing as she walked, she sat down on the bed next to Jess and waited to hear the familiar voice pick up the phone.

"Dragonfly Inn, Lorelai speaking, how may I help you?" Lorelai had made it home, cleaned up, and gone to work, trying to act as if nothing was wrong.

Smiling at the sound of her mother's voice Rory said mockingly, "My, don't we sound professional today."

There was a pause at the other end of the line. Lorelai was trying to decide if this was actually her daughter, or a fifty year old man her subconscious had turned into her daughter. When Lorelai didn't reply, she asked, "Mom? Are you there?"

Deciding it was a daughter with a little sigh of relief Lorelai spoke, "Rory? Hey! I'm glad you finally called."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was just really tired and completely forgot. I'm sorry. I hope you didn't worry too much."

"Who, me? Worry? Nah. So, how is your trip going?" Lorelai smiled to herself, thinking of the near breakdown she had almost had this morning.

"Great. We're in a little motel right now. It's nothing special, but the beds were comfortable."

"Beds? As in two, right? Two different beds with two different people in them?" Lorelai asked cautiously, scared what the answer might be.

"Yeah, exactly," Rory replied, figuring she'd rather tell a white lie than listen to her mother have a heart attack at the truth.

Hearing the relief in her voice, Lorelai said, "Oh good. I mean, not that I don't trust you or anything. I just know how you hate to share your bed with people, so I'm glad you got to have a bed to yourself. They say nothing's better than a good night's sleep, so that's great. I'm happy for you."

Trying to save her mother from any more awkward rambling, Rory quickly changed the subject. "So, anything new in the Hollow?"

"Nothing so far, but you'll be the first to know if there is."

"Well now I can sleep easy. Listen, I should probably go. We slept a little later than we meant to so we're behind schedule now. I'll call you tomorrow. I love you. Bye."

"I love you too, kid. Don't forget to call this time." They both hung up, glad to have talked to each other. Rory looked around the room, noticing that Jess was no longer sitting next to her. Hearing water running and steam coming out of the bathroom door solved the mystery and she lay back on the bed, closing her eyes.

When Jess appeared through the bathroom door looking clean and fresh, he saw that Rory had fallen fast asleep on top of the bed. He watched her sleep, noticing how peaceful and innocent she looked. Not having the heart to wake her up, he quietly left the room, locking the door behind him, and walked to the lobby from the previous night. There was a short line of people checking in and checking out. He got at the back and patiently waited for his turn. When he got to the front, he noticed there was a different person behind the counter. It was a husky woman, most likely in her late thirties. She had short blonde hair and bright green eyes. "What can I do for you, sweetie?" she asked with a false smile on her face.

"I just need to pay for the room I had last night," he told her, pulling his wallet out from the back pocket of his jeans.

"Ok, which room was it?" she asked, casually flipping through a date book.

"Um, 12," he said. When she didn't reply he quickly added, "Next to the vending machines."

"$30.14 please," she said after a few moments of silent counting in her head.

Jess opened his wallet and gave her the money telling her, "Keep the change," as he walked out the door.

He walked back to the room stopping at the vending machine to get a Kit Kat bar for her and a bag of chips for himself. He unlocked the door and went in, not bothering to knock. She was sitting on the edge of the bed. She was brushing her hair and struggling to pull it back into a ponytail. She broke into a smile when she saw him enter the room. "Hey. You ready to go?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

Together, they walked hand in hand to the car. For once in his life Jess felt like everything was going to be okay from now on. Unfortunately, a lot can happen in two months.

A/N: I'm back again. Just want to apologize for any mistakes there may have been. I hope you liked it. Please R&R. : )