Author's Note: This is another scene that would probably never happen on the show. Everyone who loves Jess, and even those who don't, know that he's not one for showing emotion. Probably the most he's ever shown was telling Rory he loved her. A lot of this is just fluff. Stuff that I always thought Jess was keeping behind his big, tough exterior, and had always wanted to say. What can I say? I love him and I wish he were in love with me, not Rory. Enjoy.

Chapter Twelve: Fight For Your Right To Love Me

Jess waited in the car, not knowing if Rory and Logan were still talking. He wanted to go back into the yard and talk to her, but she asked for privacy and he respected that. It felt like he was sitting there for hours, he wanted to leave. He was, no doubt, mad at Rory for lying to him. He felt like he was in the exact situation that he was two years ago. The boyfriend may be different, not as tall, but it was still a boyfriend. Why did she lie to him? He couldn't understand it. He told her that he loved her, and meant it, of course. She asked for him to assure her that he did. So maybe it was his turn to ask now. He had to fight for her again. But little did he know, that behind that large, intimidating, stone house of the Gilmores, she was eliminating his competetor.

Minutes later, Jess saw Rory appear from behind the house in tears. She was walking slow and not looking in his direction, she looked almost zombie-like. He got out of the car and went over to her. "Can you help me move my things now? Logan's gone."

"We need to talk," he said before he moved an inch.

"We can do it in the pool house." Rory walked back to the yard, not waiting for Jess. He stood there looking after her as she moved toward the pool house, he didn't know where to begin.

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The two stood there packing things up in silence. Jess wanted to talk about what had just happened, but felt it should be Rory's responsibility to bring it up. He watched her bend down and retrieve three cardboard boxes from the floor. She took them over to the bed and began to wrap up her picture frames in tissue paper, gently placing them in the boxes. Jess noticed the frame that contained the picture of her with Logan. Jealousy shot up his spine. He knew very well that he hadn't been there for her when she needed him, but he didn't want her to be with anyone else. He hoped, as cruel as it was, that Rory had just sat and pined for him after he left. He knew this probably wasn't the case, seeing as she'd turned him down when he asked her to go back to New York with him. It was a dream he'd always had, and now reality had shattered it.

Rory finished putting the frames in the boxes and pulled out a picture album. She opened it up and flipped through the pages, smiling at certain ones. Jess caught a glimpse of a picture of the two of them. She had kept pictures of them all of these years. Maybe she had missed him.

"I'm sorry." Rory said softly, still looking down at the photo album, afraid yet hopeful of Jess's response. "I am."

"Rory, you lied to me," he paused, "Why?" Jess's voice was low and calm, but Rory knew what was coming.

"I didn't lie to you, exactly." she said, hoping to get some clearance.

"Oh, really? Then what do you call telling me that you love me and then almost sleeping with me, while you have a boyfriend?" There it was, the volume she'd been expecting.

"I did not almost sleep with you!" she said to her defense. She wasn't quite sure why she was even trying to win this.

"So you mean to tell me that if your mother hadn't walked into Luke's apartment when she did, nothing would have happened?" Rory didn't answer. "Huh?"

"I..." she hesitated, trying to hold back tears again, "I don't know."

Jess walked over to the door and leaned his back against it, closed his eyes, and breathed out a long, frustrated breath. He didn't want the relationship him and Rory were now building to be gone. It had been, though short, absolutely wonderful. He really did love her, and he wanted to make her see that. He wanted to make her see that he was reliable this time and that he wouldn't leave her like he had before. As odd as it sounds, when he was away from her and trying to get over her, his love for Rory had just grown stronger. He knew that somewhere in her heart, she had to still love him. He knew it because he had the kind of love a person has for another, where if it goes unrequited, it could kill him. He knew that they were meant to be together, but somehow they lost it all. They lost it all because of the way he treated her, the way he left her all alone, to blame herself for what had happened between them. She needed to know all of this. He needed to tell her, so he did.

"Listen, let me talk for a minute." he said, his tone had returned to a regular volume and Rory was glad for that. "When I told you that I loved you, I meant it. I know I already told you this, but I think you may need to hear it again. I love you so much. I never stopped loving you. To this day I still cannot figure out why I left you all alone. I know the reasons that I left Stars Hollow, but I don't understand why I didn't tell you that I loved you before I did. I don't understand why I felt obligated to be a tumbleweed blowing in the dust with no sign of goodbye. I should have told you that I still loved you and that you weren't the reason I left. When I was gone, I tried like my life depended on it to forget you." he paused and looked down at the floor. "It didn't work." he said, looking up at her again. "Like I told you before, I didn't come here to see you. I didn't think I would be able to take you turning me down again."

Jess noticed Rory's face, as if she were saying 'I'm sorry for breaking your heart.' "But I can't blame you for turning me down, I would have turned me down too. I was a world class jerk when it came to the way that I treated you. It wasn't that I didn't want to be with you, it was everything else. Everything in my life was going wrong at that point in time except for you. I thought that I didn't deserve you and that you were wasting your time with me, so I yelled at you and took my problems out on you."

"I never hated Dean for who he was. If I had met him somewhere else not those under certain circumstances, I probably would have gotten along with him just fine. I hated him because he had you. I never in my life met a girl that had so much power over me that she could make me fall in love with her over and over again everyday. Then I met you. You're the only person I ever loved, and I mean that. I don't know about this Logan guy. He may love you, but I can promise you that he will never even come close to loving you as much as I do." he stopped and built up his courage to ask her his next question. "This afternoon you asked me if I really loved you. I didn't ask you because I thought I could be sure. Now I'm rethinking it. So now I need for you to tell me. Did you mean it when you said you loved me?"

Rory sat looking at Jess, overwhelmed by his confession. If she had told him that she'd broken up with Logan before, she probably would never have heard those words leave his mouth. He was never one for showing emotion, but she could always just feel his love when she was with him. Now that he had said it, she was sure she had done the right thing by ending things with Logan. "Yes. I love you so much."

Jess felt relief sweep over his body and mind. He walked over to where Rory had taken a seat on the bed while she was listening to him ramble on about his feelings for her. He bent down and kissed her. He kissed her long and hard. He felt a tingle in his whole body, from his head to his toes. He broke the kiss and looked at her, making sure it was okay. She opened her eyes slowly and told him to close the blinds. He walked over and did what he was told. Rory stood and at the edge of the bed, moving the boxes of her things to the floor. She took off her shoes and set them down next to the boxes. She walked over to Jess and put her arms around his torso, feeling the warmth of his body pressed against her. She kissed him again, and lead him over to the bed, brushing her hands through his hair. Jess laid her against the soft cotton sheets of the unmade bed and watched as she took off her shirt skillfully. She's beautiful, he thought, absolutely beautiful. Rory reached up and pulled off Jess's black t-shirt. His hands ran over her bare skin gently, making himself anxious. He was nervous. He'd been with a few girls before, but none of them had ever made him nervous. They were never this amazing, that's why, he thought. Never like her.

But they hadn't locked the door. This time they heard it. The door knob being jingled and squeaking open. Caught again.