A/N: Hey guys, I'm back from vacation! I was in Crete and it was just…amazing. Like, wow! I wish I could live there instead of this stupid rainy, crowded town I live in now…Yeah…well…
Anyway, sorry for letting you wait a week longer than said before…I was just being my lazy-assed-self…

Thank you soooooooo much for the reviews! I know I don't really thank you enough for them, but I'm always so happy with them! I love reviews, it lets me know my work is being appreciated, so Thanks!

Disclaimer: Yeah, I own nothing, sadly.

Chapter Nine

After getting a cup of coffee from Luke's coffee stand, Lorelai and Rory, both looking like women of the 40's, move to the dance floor. Lorelai excuses herself as she goes to talk to Sookie and Jackson. Rory looks around a bit, and she spots Dean and Lindsay. Rory smiles a little amused at the sight Dean's hair gelled tightly to his head for the occasion. She hesitates, but then decides to walk over. "Hey Dean, hi Lindsay." She says, trying to sound as nice as possible.

"Oh, hi." Dean says when he sees her, and smiles awkwardly.

"Hi Rory, uhm, how are you?" Lindsay asks, smiling as awkward as Dean.

"I'm good, a little tired from the getting up at four in the morning, but I'm good…you?"

"Oh, I'm fine."

"Good."

"Uhm, I'm going to see if the coffee is ready." Lindsay says to Dean after an uncomfortable silence. "Bye Rory." And she leaves, leaving Rory and Dean standing there awkwardly.

"So…uh, Lindsay's your girlfriend?" Rory asks.

"Uh, yeah, I guess, we've been going out for two weeks." Dean answers with a nod.

"Good, that's good. I'm glad you've got someone."

"Yeah, Lindsay's great."

Rory nods, and another uncomfortable silence follows.
"Uh, so, I didn't know you were the dancing type." Rory finally says.

"Oh I'm not, but Lindsay really wanted to participate, so…"

"Oh."

Then Taylor announces that the dancing begins in one minute.

"Well, I'd better go find my mom." Rory says.

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

Rory walks to her mother, who was just looking for her.

"Oh there you are!" Lorelai says, and she takes Rory's hands.

They all start counting down from ten to one, and as soon as the clock hits six o' clock, Taylor blows his horn, and the band starts playing and everyone starts dancing, doing funny flips and lifting each other Grease style.

Around 2 in the afternoon Jess comes in, walking straight through the dance floor, ignoring Taylor's "Unauthorized person on the dance floor!" Through his megaphone.
He stops at Lorelai and Rory, who are still dancing somewhat energetic. "Hey there." He says, and both girls look at him.

"Hey." Rory says with a big smile.

"Hey Jess." Lorelai says with a polite smile. After the whole possible pregnancy fiasco she'd wanted to kill Jess and make sure Rory stayed away from him, but Rory had made her promise to be nice to Jess. Or at least, remotely polite.

"Hi." Jess says with a nod to Lorelai. "So how's it going?"

"We're having a great time!" Rory says excitedly. "Although my feet are starting to get sore."

"Already? We still have a long way to go missy! And there's no way I'm letting Kirk win this time!" Lorelai says.

"I know, I know."

"Okay, well you dance, I'll be over there." Jess points with his thumb to the benches.

"Okay see ya." Rory smiles.

After the horrible run-around the break started, and Rory and Lorelai part ways, so Rory walks over to Jess, and drops down next to him. She stretches her legs and let's out an exhausted sigh. "My feet are dead, and we're only halfway through! How did I ever let my mom talk me into this?"

"Yeah, uh, speaking of mother's…" Jess starts without looking at Rory.

Rory sits straight and looks at him. "What about 'em?"

"My mom called, saying that she wants me to move back, that she wants us to try to be 'a family'." He says with an annoyed tone.

"And what did you say?" Rory asks with a little worry in her voice.

"Well nothing, because she was on the machine, but she said to think about it. But there's nothing to think about, coz I'm not going."

"You're not?"

"Nah, I mean, she says she wants to try again, but after a week or so it doesn't seem to be working out the way she wants and she gives up. It's happened too many times. I mean, I do miss the city sometimes, but there's too much keeping me here."

"Oh yeah, like what?" Rory asks with a knowing smile.

"Well like uh…well mostly, just you." Jess says, and finally looks her in the eyes.

Rory chuckles, and leans closer to kiss him. Then she grabs his hand, "Come on." She says while tiredly getting up. "Let's get something to eat."
They walk to Lane and her mom's stand with the sandwiches in Miss Patty's, and come across Dean.
"Hey Dean, I thought you and Lindsay were out?"

"Yeah we were, but we decided to come back to see who ends up winning." Dean answers, just as Lindsay comes up behind him. She sees Rory and Jess, and apparently she remembered why she was supposed to hate Rory, and she gives them a dirty look.

"Come on Dean, let's get a soda." She says, dragging Dean away with her.

Jess looks at Rory, who has a confused look on her face. "Who was that?" He asks with a frown.

"Uh, Dean's new girlfriend, Lindsay. I don't get it, she was nice before."

Before Jess can say something, Lane comes from behind the sandwich-stand, and drags Rory away to where she thinks they're out of earshot from Jess. "Lindsay is Dean's girlfriend?" She asks.

"Yeah." Rory nods.

"And…you're okay with this?"

"Sure…"

Lane hears Rory's unsure tone, and frowns skeptically. "Are you really, coz somehow I'm not convinced."

Rory sighs. "I guess I should be, I mean, it would be hypocritical of me to not be, but I just…I guess I just never thought of Dean moving on, or, so soon at least."

"So basically you just expected him to pine away over you forever."

"Well, not forever…I just never thought about it, I'm just a little surprised that's all."

"You're not jealous are you? I mean, you don't still have feelings for Dean, right?"

"What? No! No, no, no way, I have Jess!"

"Okay, just checking." Lane smiles.

"Well I'd better be getting back, the break's almost over." Rory says, and she waves at Lane, and walks back to Jess, who looks pensive.
He'd heard the entire conversation, and the worried thoughts he had about Rory still loving Dean, just got worse.

"What's wrong?" Rory asks.

"Huh? Oh, nothing, let's go."

Rory grabs two sandwiches, and they go back to the dance floor to meet with Lorelai.

It's hour 23, and Jess still there, as well as Dean and Lindsay. Jess hadn't missed Rory's frequent glances towards them, and he was getting more and more sure of Rory still loving Dean. He was beginning to think that he maybe he should just go back to New York, and leave them to get back together without him standing in the way, or having to witness it. But he couldn't do that, he loved Rory. But still…did she love him back?
He stares at Rory and Lorelai "dancing" half asleep. He sees Lorelai stumbling, and saying something about her heel breaking, but it doesn't register with him until she looks over at him and calls him. He puts his book away and slowly walks over. "Is there a problem?"

"Here." Lorelai says, and puts Rory's arms around Jess' shoulders. "Whatever you do, keep her moving and don't let her fall down! I have to fix my shoe, I'll be back in ten minutes!" And she hurries off to find Luke to fix her shoe.

Jess wraps his arms tightly around Rory, pulling her closer. "Hey." He says.

Rory, suddenly more awake in Jess' arms, looks up and smiles. "Hey, you're still here. Aren't you bored?"

He shrugs. "Nah, I got my book, so I'm set."

"Good." Rory leans closer, and they kiss. Then Rory rests her head on Jess' should, as they move to the music as slowly as possible.
She looks at Dean and Lindsay, sitting on a bench, and laughing over something. She sighs. What was Dean doing with her? She didn't seem like his type at all. Not like she saw herself as his type, or, maybe she did, but he wasn't her own type, that's for sure. She preferred her men a little more intelligent…a little rough on the edges…like say, Jess? But still, it somehow bothered her seeing Dean with this new girl. "They're still here."

"Who?" Jess asks, already knowing the answer.

"Dean and Lindsay. Why would they still be here? This marathon isn't that interesting."

"I'm still here too, remember?"

"Yeah but-"

"-Rory…" Jess sighs. "Just don't pay attention to them."

"Right." She stay silent for a second, looking a bit sour. "Do you think she's pretty?"

"What?" Jess asks incredulously.

"I mean, she's got this whole Barbie look going on, she doesn't seem his type."

"Right, unlike you."

"Huh?" Rory looks at Jess confused. "What do you mean?"

"Come on Rory, all day you've been staring at them, it's like you're jealous!"

"I'm not…why would I be jealous?"

He sighs. "Can we talk over there?" Jess asks, pointing towards a more private spot, not wanting to make a scene.

"What about the contest?"

"Forget the stupid contest!" Jess says a little too loudly, starting to really get annoyed.

Rory nods, a little taken aback bye Jess' outburst, which caused a few people (including Dean) to look up, and follows him off the dance floor, causing Taylor to protest and yelling something through his megaphone, but she doesn't listen.
"What's wrong?" She asks worriedly.

"I think you know." Jess says, about to burst.

"Not really, enlighten me."

"Don't play dumb Rory, it's so obvious, I don't know why you even went out with me in the first place!"

"What's obvious!" Rory asks, already knowing where this conversation is going, and really getting agitated by it.

"Oh come on, you're acting all jealous over Barbie there, you keep staring, and you always talk about 'still caring about him', you're obviously still in love with Dean!" Jess says, raising his voice.

"What? I cannot believe you just said that!" Rory starts yelling too.

"Why, coz it's true?"

"You are seriously nowhere near the truth!"

"You know what, fine! Keep denying it! I'm not going to wait around 'til you run back into his arms, I might as well move back to New York!"

"You are so unbelievable! Fine, go! Run away, see if I care!"

"Fine!" And with that, they both storm off in the opposite direction.

Damn him, damn him, damn him! Why was he being so…so…Dean-ish! How could he ever even think she was still in love with Dean? Okay, yeah, there was some staring, and that stuff about Lindsay certainly didn't help much, but wasn't she allowed to be a little thrown by her ex-boyfriend having a new girlfriend? Then again, before tonight, there also had been some stuff that could've looked like something…but no, Jess should know better. He should trust her. And what was that stuff about going back to New York about anyway, he wasn't seriously thinking about moving back, right?
Suddenly Rory hears her feet stomping over wooden planks, and she notices she's at the bridge. Frustrated with the whole situation she sits down and throws her feet over the edge.
So what, did they break up just now? She wasn't sure what exactly happened. He was jealous, making assumptions, and all of the sudden, he was moving? Right…
She hears footsteps approaching, and immediately thinks it's Jess, and she deliberately doesn't look up.

"Hey."

She looks up surprised to hear Dean's voice. "Hey…what are you doing here?"

"I uh, I followed you…I saw –and heard- what happened in there, and I just thought you might wanted to…I don't know, talk? Are you okay?" Dean asks, sitting down next to her.

A little surprised at Dean's sudden interest in her, she shrugs. "I don't know. I'm still processing what exactly happened…"

Dean nods, and they stay silent for a while.

"You know, earlier, I was thinking…" Dean starts, and they both look up. "Does your offer on being friends still stand?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Rory says surprised.

"Good, coz I was thinking on taking you up on it." Dean says with a smile.

"Oh, okay good…so we're friends?" Rory asks. She had the feeling that somehow her fight with Jess, and him having a new girlfriend had something to do with this.

Dean nods, smiling. "Yeah."

After walking aimlessly around town for a while, calming down, Jess was starting to think that maybe he overreacted a little. Shit, he was acting just like Dean. All jealous and obnoxious. Maybe hearing Rory's side of this whole thing out was a better idea than jumping to conclusions. But still…he was so sure he was right about this. For one thing, Dean definitely still loved Rory.
Jess sighs, and decides to look for Rory. He goes to the first place he can think of, the bridge.
But before he steps onto the wood, he sees Rory sitting there with Dean, removing all doubts Jess had about them before. Figures. "That is it." Jess inaudibly mumbles to himself, and turns around and walks away.

When he arrives at the diner, he right away starts packing his duffel bag with some clothes, cd's and books. He looks around to see if there's anything more he needs. He glances at the clock. Already 5:30. The Dance would be over soon, and he didn't feel like confronting Luke, so he just scribbled down a note saying "Moved back to Liz. Check the answering machine." That last part so that he'd hear Liz's message from earlier.
Then he walks outside, to the bus stop, hoping there would be a bus that came this early. He sits down on the bench, and grabs his book from his back pocket and starts reading.

Fifteen minutes later, the bus to New York arrives, screeching to a halt. Jess gets up, hesitating only a second, before getting on.

Lorelai has her arm around Rory as they walk home. When Lorelai came back, having fixed her shoe, she saw no Rory, and Kirk screaming about winning. She asked Patty about what happened, but just then Rory came running into her arms, obviously upset about something.

"Are you okay babe?" Lorelai asks.

"I'm not sure…maybe. No. I'm not okay." Rory sighs deeply.

"Are you going to fill me in on what happened, or do I have to hear about it from some hitchhiker, who by accident came in this town but got caught in the gossip-chain just the same."

Another sigh. "Jess and I got into the most horrible fight of my life and we both just stormed off and now I'm not sure whether we broke up or not or of he's moving back or not or-"

"Whoa, slow down honey, start with the beginning."

"Well okay, I was just a little thrown because of Dean's new girlfriend,"

"Understandable."

"Right, I thought so too, but then when I was dancing with Jess after you left, I guess I sorta went off about her against Jess."

"Ai, bad idea." Lorelai says with a scowl.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know how Dean is Jess' only weakness. You know, because of the whole, you refusing to break up with him, even though there was clearly something going on between you and Jess, and that kiss at Sookie's wedding didn't really help and –"

"- okay I get it, thank you." Rory rolls her eyes. "Anyway, so he said we had to talk, and then he said I still love Dean which is clearly not true and-"

"- is it?"

"You have to stop interrupting me if you want to hear the rest of the story!"

"I just mean, how are you so sure if it's clearly not true for Jess." Lorelai reasons.

"Moving on, then we just started yelling at each other, and then he said he was going to move back to New York because he didn't want to see me and Dean get back together and that's about when we both took off."

"Uh oh, not good."

Rory sighs. "I know." They enter the house. "So, how bad do you think it is?"

"Well, there seems to be a lot of damage done…but I strongly suggest talking to him, sort it all out."

"You don't think he'll really move away do you?" Rory asks scared.

"I don't know…again I say, talk to him."

Rory yawns. "Okay."

"You're right, yawn, let's sleep, tiredness suddenly taking over me…" Lorelai says tiredly.

"Good idea, sleep, lots and lots of sleep…"

They head for their bedrooms. "Nighty night."

A/N: Okay so, first of all, DON'T KILL ME! I was just trying to spice things up a bit with the drama!
Second, just so you know, this well definitely, definitely NOT become a narco, coz Dean's just…ew…that's just wrong, those two together…Ack, bad mental image! Ew, get it out!

Okay, so I really hope you'll stick around with me for the next few chapters coz there may be some stuff you won't like…you know, like this chapter…