Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Don't let them hurt me! Haha.

They sat quietly, side by side, his arm propped against the rough wood of her seat, her eyes unblinking staring straight ahead.

"Did Luke tell you to meet me at the station?" She asked quietly. The wind had picked up slightly, and was ruffling her hair softly, giving her a halo of little brown curls. Jess looked down at her, contemplating what answer to give. The honest, well yes Rory, he did, and guess what, the whole reason that you're even sitting on this bench talking to me is because of a fabrication that Luke and I cooked up so you could come home and mend fences with your mother over a fight that neither of us understands. Yeah, that would go over real well. So he went for the slightly less truthful,

"Nope." Simple, easy, direct. Jess had learned the hard way that if you needed to lie, it was best to do it in a way that was easy to remember. He sighed, remembering past scrapes that he wished he could forget, and Rory looked up at him with a question in her eyes. When he didn't respond, she bit her lip and fell back against the bench.

"Is that all you're going to say? A non-committal "nope" and then a sigh? That sure makes me believe you." He looked down at her, festering with indignation, and frowned so he could hide his smile.

"Hey, I've never lied to you-" His mind flashed to the "Swan" conflict of their senior year. He decided to keep that to himself. "Why would I lie about this?" The less she knew yet, the better off she'd be.

"So you don't know anything about my mom?" She asked, tilting her head to the side, and licking her lips. Jess swallowed, and looked straight ahead. Even after all these years, she was the only woman he'd ever…you'd ever what Jess, he asked himself, ignoring her question. "Jess?" She asked softly, and even though every cell in his body screamed to turn and look her, he forced himself not to.

"All I know is that there've been days where Luke hasn't even called," he paused slightly. At least that was true. Luke frequently didn't call him. It wasn't needed because he lived only a half block away. "And that's pretty worrisome." He finished lamely, and she nodded up at him solemnly.

"So you don't…" She trailed off, searching for the right words, her hands starting to shake lightly. She shoved them under her thighs, and looking up at Jess she caught an unguarded look in his eye. I guess we both have secrets… she mused, averting her eyes and gazing ahead. It was all she could do.

Author's Note: I really like this chapter. I feel like this chapter is really me grabbing back hold of the story. Trying to get it back into place. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed writing it.