Rory wasn't hungry anymore. That's all, really. Well...no. She needed to get out of the diner and away from her mother and her rants about Jess' return, away from the prying eyes. She was an adult now, she could handle her own problems her own way. Her mother needn't attack her ex-boyfriend for her, though he did deserve the verbal beating.

She walked over to the bridge, now somewhat hoping Jess would be there. She didn't know why there was this sudden change of feeling; perhaps it was because her mother wasn't with her. Perhaps it was because he didn't seem so intimidating in her mind after she heard the hurt tone in his voice as he left the diner.

He was there, sitting, his feet swaying over the edge of the wooden bridge. Taylor had collected enough money to restore the bridge and now it not only had lights lining the sides, but new wooden planks and a water resistant sealer on the surface.

She watched him sit there, smoking a cigarette and staring out into the water, occasionally bundling himself up more in his denim jacket that was too light for winter weather. She debated about whether or not to approach him; the reality of actually having a conversation with him seemed intimidating now. But he looked up just as she was about to walk away, and now that he saw her, she had no choice but to approach him. She wasn't about to let him believe she was running away.

She sat down next to him as he continued to stare out to the water. He extinguished the cigarette on the wood, creating a burn spot on the near-perfect surface.

"Taylor will kill you for that," Rory said.

Jess smiled inwardly that she was trying to actually have a conversation with him instead of giving him a Mini-Me version of the telling off he had received from her mother.

He shrugged. "Nothing I didn't already know."

"I thought you had quit," Rory commented, alluding to the cigarettes.

"I thought so too. But something about being yelled at by a mom makes me a bit edgy, you know?"

Rory sighed. "I'm not going to apologize for her."

"Didn't ask you to."

"I mean, she was mean about it, but you did do all of the things she said you did. And I guess she could have been nicer but..."

"Rory," Jess said, cutting her off. He looked directly at her, and she couldn't help but return the gaze. "It's okay," he added softly.

She nodded, blushing slightly from the tone of voice he used. It was the same one he had used when they were here almost a year ago after the dance marathon and he had told her that Dean was right about them being attracted to each other.

"So...why aren't you at the diner eating?" Jess asked, breaking Rory's internal reverie.

Rory shrugged. "I'm not hungry."

Jess snorted and a small grin spread across his face. Since when was Rory Gilmore not hungry? He savored the idea that she was out here to just spend time with him.

"What?" she asked him, slightly flustered that he found this so amusing.

He shook his head. "Nothing." he replied, his serious expression reappearing. "What?" she repeated, getting annoyed now.

He turned to face her. "Nothing," he replied. His eyes had a momentary spark of something Rory could not name. Memories, perhaps?

Instantly she remembered the night he came over with all that food while Paris was there and the three of them had one of the best literary discussions Rory could have ever hoped for while eating mac and cheese and French fries. Good food, good conversation, and good company...very good company.

She never had a conversation quite like that at Yale. This bothered her because wasn't part of college the passionate debates at coffee shops between members of the opposite sexes that mingled intellect with sexual tension? Though Rory didn't experience any of that at Yale, she had a lot of it before...with Jess. She sighed so quietly that it could have been interpreted as deep breathing.

Jess' ears picked up on the sigh, however, knowing full well that she was thinking about their past; it was all he could think of these days.

She had missed him, no matter how much he had hurt her, she had still missed him. Did that make her a loser?

She shrugged as her eyes met Jess' momentarily before both returned their stare to the water. They must have sat there in silence for an hour or so, neither one knowing what exactly to say though not wanting to leave the other's company.

Suddenly, Rory's stomach grumbled loudly. "You really should get something to eat," Jess suggested quietly.

Rory was hungry now, really hungry. "Okay. I'll see you around, Jess."

Jess nodded slightly and watched her leave. He had missed her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke was filling up the pepper shakers when Jess came in much later that day, as in eleven o'clock at night.

"Do I hafta ask where you've been?" Luke asked, tired.

"I think you know the response you'll get," Jess replied, hanging up his jacket.

Luke smirked. "You're just lucky it wasn't busy today."

"Sorry 'bout that."

"It's alright. But she still comes in here everyday and if you can't take her dirty looks and snide comments...well, you just better start taking them cuz you're working here as long as you're staying," Luke replied.

"Gosh darn, I was so looking forward to returning to Wal-Mart," Jess replied sarcastically as he took the salt and helped his uncle by filling up the salt shakers.

Luke chuckled. "I'll send you over there if you aren't careful."

"Fair enough."

"Does anything around here look any different?" Luke asked Jess a few minutes later.

"Uh, your new wardrobe?" Jess guessed. Luke's wardrobe was exactly the same.

"No, check out the Specials menu," Luke said, pointing up.

Jess looked up and his eyes bulged. "You didn't."

"I did. Didn't I say I would?" Luke asked, enjoying watching his nephew's reaction.

"Ah, jeez!" Jess sighed, fidgeting around. "Can't you take it down?" he pled.

"Nope, it stays up there. Forever. So whenever someone looks at the Specials, it'll be there, staring at them in the face," Luke teased.

Jess furrowed his eyebrows and frowned, but continued working nonetheless.

"So, it was quite a show I missed earlier, eh?" Luke asked.

"You could say that," Jess replied uneasily, still pouring salt into the shakers. Who knew people used so much salt? It was probably all Kirk.

"I should have told her you were back, I knew she would react that way."

"Don't worry about it. It's over. I'm still in one piece...for now," Jess replied. "Besides, it wasn't like she was off the mark."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean, she did say she loves you after all," Jess replied, watching Luke's reaction carefully. It was a little revenge for that stupid thing next to the Specials menu.

Luke fumbled with the uncapped pepper shaker causing half of the contents to splatter all over the counter. "What?" he asked, regaining his composure.

"Well, Lorelai went on and on about how she could take me being a jerk to her but not to the people she loved. Rory and you were the only people she was talking about," Jess explained.

"Oh, well, we're friends, she said it to be nice," Luke replied, trying to devise some sort of rational explanation for all of it.

"Or it was a Freudian slip," Jess said casually.

"Jess," Luke warned sternly.

"Hey, she said it," Jess countered quietly.

Luke was silent, though the red tinge on his ears didn't go away for the entire night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews and for all the opinions regarding Milo Ventimiglia's canceled spin-off. In my heart of hearts, I really want Jess to return to GG (somewhat resembling how I'm writing it), but I just don't know if it's even possible.

The reason why I made the Rory/Jess interaction so brief and rather light (yet deep in the sense that they stayed together for over an hour) was because I don't see them having a real meaningful conversation early on simply because they are just trying to get accustomed to each other again. So, I hope that combination of a connection without words was believable.

Let me know what you think! Please review!