Eek! I am sooo sorry for letting you wait this long! I apologize from the bottom of my soul and heart! But, I was on vacation…again…but I'm back now, and I'll try to update a little sooner next time!

But hey, thank you soooooooooo much for all your reviews! I can't believe I crossed that 100 line! Wooohooo! I'm completely jazzed! What about you mister potato? "I'm completely Jazzed too." Exactly my friends…Ahem…anyway, Thank you for reviewing, and please keep it going because I love it!

Disclaimer: After all this time, no, I still do not own a thing!

Chapter Ten

"Oh my god! Thank you!" Lorelai cries as she stumbles to a chair in the diner and sits down. It was the Monday after the dance marathon, and she and Rory just got up for work and school, after sleeping the entire day to recover from the contest.

"I never realized Luke's was a hundred miles away." Rory complains, while she sits down on a chair at a different table from Lorelai's, not noticing she sat there, because she's too busy looking around frantically for Jess.

"We're lucky it wasn't snowing. It would've been the Donner Party all over again, but only with slightly better hair." Lorelai hangs her coat over the back of her chair. Then she notices where Rory's sitting, and laughs a little. "Why are you sitting over there?"

"Where?" Rory asks, still not realizing where she sits while fidgeting nervously with her sleeve. She had to talk to Jess. She had to know where they stood, because right now, she wasn't sure whether they broke up or if it was just a big fight.

"At that table."

"Huh." Rory says, finally snapping back to reality. "How did I get here?"

"You sat there." Lorelai explains matter-of-factly.

"Well, this chair is very close to that chair, so you understand how I could've made the mistake."

"Move over here with me."

"Why don't you move over here with me?"

"Because I'm not the one who sat in the wrong chair." Lorelai says like it's the most logical thing in the world.

"I think it's a little presumptuous to assume that my chair is the wrong chair when my chair could just as easily be the right chair.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I'm the leader of the clan, the provider of the household, the alpha male, and the one who's feet just fell asleep so there's absolutely no chance of movement." Lorelai says and points to the chair at her table while making clicking noises.

"Fine." Rory gives, and moves over to Lorelai's table.

"Thank you." Lorelai says in a sing-song voice. "See, it's nice sitting at the grown-up table, isn't it?"

"Uhuh." Rory says, but she's not really paying attention to what Lorelai said, and also doesn't notice when Kirk enters and starts bragging about his trophy he won at the Dance Marathon. She's worried about Jess. Why hadn't he come down yet? After all, he had to go to school too. Of course, he was always late, but still…shouldn't he be down already? …He wasn't gone, was he? Rory shakes that thought out of her head, knowing he wouldn't do that. She hears Lorelai ask something about getting pancakes and eggs, and glances at her watch. "I can't, I have to go." Rory says.

"What are you talking about? It's-" Lorelai gasps when she sees the time on Rory's watch. "It took us thirty minutes to get here?" She asks incredulously.

"Lot's of limping."

"Wow, shoot! Well, at least, grabs a donut before you go." Lorelai says, and they get up, and stumble tiredly to the counter. "Hey, unh, Luke, uh, we need a couple of donuts, and, uh, some of those extra legs Heather Mills is sending over to Croatia."

"Coming right up." Luke says, and gets them a donut.

Rory looks at the curtain leading to the staircase, expecting Jess to come out any second.
"Luke?" She asks.

"Yeah?"

"Is uhm, Jess upstairs?" She asks.

Luke's face falls. "Ah jeez, he didn't tell you, did he! I'm gonna kill him!"

"What?" Rory asks timidly. She wasn't gonna like this.

Luke shifts uncomfortably. "Rory, he uh, he –aw man, how do I say this…Rory, he moved back to New York." He says with an apologetic look in his eyes.

Rory stares blankly at Luke, processing what was said, feeling her body go numb. "He –he moved?" She asks softly.

Lorelai looks from Rory at Luke. "He moved? He moved to New York? Back with Liz, your sister, to live there?"

"Yes."

"As in, forever?"

"I don't know."

"Why?"

"Again, I don't know. I came back from the Dance Marathon last morning, and I found a note on my fridge, saying that he moved back with his mom, and I should check the maching, where I found a message from Liz saying she wanted to try again with him, and that she changed!" Luke practically yells, his anger rising.

"Wow…" Lorelai turns to Rory, who is on the verge of tears. "And he didn't tell you?"

Rory slightly shakes her head. "I…I – I have to go to school." She says, and starts moving.

"Rory, maybe you should stay home, just for today." Lorelai says, but Rory's already out the door. She looks at her daughters retreating back with a sad look on her face. She turns back to Luke. "You really don't know why?"

"If I did, don't you think I would tell you?"

"Ohh!" Lorelai says like she realized something. "It's because of their fight!"

"What fight?"

"Rory and Jess had a huge fight about Dean."

"About Dean? When did this happen?"

"At the dance."

"Man, that's tough. So…they broke up?"

Lorelai shrugs. "Maybe Jess thinks they did."

Luke stares in space in shock before saying, "I'll try calling him."

Rory walks though the street, almost missing the bus stop because the tears make her eye-sight blurry. She drops down on the bench, still feeling numb. He moved. He left. He's gone, away, missing, lost, MIA…Is he really gone? Why is he gone? Why? Why? Yeah, so, they had a fight, he said he'd leave, but she never thought he really meant it, or act upon it right away. So it's over. It's over? Are they broken up? How could they be when she loved him so much? Did he not love her?
Feeling her heart break, Rory furiously wipes away the tears on her face, but they keep coming.

She hears a bus stopping and looks up. The bus to New York. Oh the temptation of getting on that bus to New York and bring Jess back…
No. Not this time. She won't come after him again. They pain and humiliation of begging and getting rejected – He probably would reject her after all this- would be too much to handle. No.
She sits deeper into the bench, and clamps her hands to the edge to stop herself from getting on that damn bus. If he doesn't think it's worth it, then neither does she.
She knows that's a lie when she sees the bus driving off, and feels the regret of not getting on.

But then she makes a decision. She will not go after Jess. Or call him. No matter how much she wants to talk to him, and find out why he left. No matter how much she wants him to come back. She won't be the weaker one this time.
Her bus for school stops in front of her, and she wipes the remaining tears away, and gets on.

Around 10, Jess wakes up with the smell of pancakes and coffee, and for a split second he thinks he's back at the diner, with Luke and Rory waiting just downstairs. But then he takes in the surroundings of his tiny room in New York. Feeling the disappointment wash over him, he gets out of bed and enters the small living room/kitchen, stuffed with furniture, and he sees his mother busy making breakfast.
It's a strange sight. She didn't use to do this, but since he entered the house yesterday morning, feeling horribly depressed, Liz had been motherly and domestic. Well, she tried to be, anyway. She had been so happy he came 'home'; she hugged him and promised it'd be better from now on.
She'd even cooked dinner that night. Mac & Cheese, but dinner no less.

"Morning." Lez greets him with a cheery tone he holds as false, just because he's used to her being groggy and annoyed all the time. "Breakfast?" She asks.

"Sure." He says, and sits down at the table. She walks over with two plates of pancakes and puts them on the table next to the cups of fresh coffee, that tastes an awfully lot like Luke's.

Liz sits down in front of him, and eyes him suspiciously, as he quickly digs in.
"Okay, I didn't asks yesterday, because you just got back, but why are you here?"

"Because you asked me to." Jess lies without looking up from his plate.

"No, try again."

Because his girlfriend was still in love with her ex. "I just hated that place." He says instead, trying to keep his face empty from emotions.

"Then why'd to go back there before?"

Jess shrugs, and turns his attention back to his plate.

"Jess-"

"-Look I don't wanna talk about it, okay!" He snaps.

Liz sees the hurt in his eyes, even though he tries to hide it, and decides she'd talk to him about it later. "Okay." She says softly.

Jess lowers his head, and looks at the coffee mug in front of him. It reminds him of Rory, like almost everything seems to do. She loves coffee. She and her mother. Everyday they'd come in the diner and demand 'their elixir of life', as they call it. Damn her. She and Dean were probably already back together, happy he was out of the way. She won't miss him. He won't miss her either. That was a lie. He will miss her. So fucking much. But it's better than having to see her go back to him, breaking his heart and running it over with a bulldozer in the process. Actually, he's heartbroken already, but he'll never admit it. Not even to himself.

School had gone over in a daze, and when the last bell rang, Rory had no idea what classes she went to, or what they were about.
Paris walks up to her, followed by Madeline and Louise as usual, and starts talking to her about some kind of meeting or what not. But when Paris stops walking, expecting Rory to do the same, she just keeps on walking, ignoring –or just not noticing- Paris' objecting yells that contain sentences like "Hey don't you walk away from me!" and, "I know where you live, Gilmore!"
Getting off the bus, Rory looks at Luke's diner, and fresh tears start to well up, but she bites them back like she'd done all day. She starts heading home, but turns around when she hears someone calling her name.
She doesn't see anybody.

"Rory!" It's coming from the bushes, which can only mean one thing. Lane.

Rory walks over. "Hey Lane."

Lane reaches out and pulls her into the bushes.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not supposed to leave the house, God knows why, so I can't be seen."

"Oh."

"Oh Rory, I just heard! I mean, I knew about the fight since that happened pretty publicly so how can you not know in Stars Hallow, but I can't believe he left!"

One tear manages to get through as Rory lowers her head.

Lane pulls her into a hug. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine." Rory says very unconvincingly as more tears fall.

Lane glances at her house. "Okay, I gotta get back before Mama Kim starts her every 20 minute check-up, and I have to climb the tree, then the gutters, and hope I don't fall down before getting a chance to cling onto the window." She rambles apologetically.

Rory nods sadly.

"But I promise, when I'm allowed back out, we're gonna do some major wallowing!"

Rory gives her a tiny smile, and Lane hugs her again before stealthily sneaking out of the bushes.

"Rory is that you?" Lorelai calls as Rory enters the house. She hurries to the hall and sees Rory standing there with tears slowly rolling down her face. "I wanted to be here when you came back, so I took the rest of the day off."

Rory sobs, and Lorelai quickly takes her in her arms. "Oh, Rory." She says, stroking her back softly. "Should I get ice cream and more comfort food for a serious wallow-fest?"

"No, I just – want to be alone right now." Rory gets out in between sobs, and she releases herself from Lorelai's embrace.

"Are you sure?" Lorelai asks worriedly.

Rory nods, and goes to her room.

"Luke! I'm in serious need of coffee!" Lorelai says as she dramatically throws herself on a stool at the counter, followed by Rory, who's looking slightly nervous.

Luke comes up to them, right away noticing Rory's presence, and he pours them boths a cup of coffee. "Hi Rory." He says.

Rory, who is desperately trying not to stare at the curtain by staring into her coffee instead, looks up. "Oh, hi Luke."

"Uh, how are you?" He asks carefully.

"Fine, just – fine." Rory says, and she turns back to staring in her coffee.

Lorelai had been observing Rory, and now declares their 'conversation' as over, and decides to break the awkward silence. "So you'll never believe the day I've had!" She pauses to see of she's got their attention. "First Michel is all over me 'coz I was two minutes late and he had to answer the phone himself, even though that's his job. Then Sookie's not paying attention and almost sets half the kitchen on fire, and to top it all off, while trying to put the fire out, I burned my favorite Betty Boop oven mittens!"

"Yes, that is a tragedy." Luke deadpans.

"What were your oven mittens doing at the Inn?" Rory asks.

"Well I brought them in one day to cheer Lenny, one of Sookie's assistants, up. Did you know, he shares my love for Betty and he can cook? Sometimes I really wish he wasn't gay." Lorelai sighs and leans her head in her hands.

Rory chuckles. "But who knows, maybe he'll change his ways for you!"

"Hm, yeah you're right! I'll put on my special Gilmore charm next time."

"Well, I'd better get home; I've got a ton of homework to do." Rory says, getting up. "I'll see you later." She kisses Lorelai's head and heads for the door.

"Yeah, have fun, sweets!" Lorelai calls after her, and turns to Luke.

"So, how's she doing?" Luke asks, the concern evident in his voice.

"Better, I guess. I mean, she's not spending so much alone time in her room anymore, I think she's slowly starting to move on."

"Well, good. At least she finally came back to the diner."

Lorelai nods. "Yeah, she was trying to get out of it again, but I said to her: 'Rory, it's been a week, enough is enough, those extra coffee's to-go are getting heavy to carry!' And she came with me, just like that."

Luke frowns. "Really?"

"Yup."

"You actually confronted her about it?" He asks skeptically.

"That's right."

Luke stares blankly at her.

"Fine, it was her idea to go, whatever, it's just the same! Jeez, you don't have to look that unbelieving at me. You make it seem like I'm a bad mother!"

"No, I would never doubt your parenting skills!" Luke says sarcastically.

Lorelai just glares at him and takes another sip of her coffee. "So Lukey, how 'bout your parenting skills? Did you get in touch with the nephew you were responsible for yet?" She asks in a sugarcoated tone.

"Don't call me that, and, no I didn't." Luke sighs. "I already left two messages, and I spoke to Liz a couple of times, but she keeps saying he doesn't want to talk."

Lorelai sighs. "Man that kid really gets to me sometimes. I mean, why would he ever think that Rory would still want Dean after everything she did for him? How stupid can you be, really!"

"Well, I guess when you love someone as much as he did, you can't really think straight. And apparently that's not always for the better."

Lorelai stays silent for a while. "I guess…you really think he loves her that much?" She asks, looking him in the eyes.

"Yeah, you can just see it in the way he looks at her, acts around her…"

They stare at each other for a moment, before Lorelai snaps out of it. "I uh, I'd better go back to the Inn." She says.

Luke nods, and she's out.

Jess wanders down the street. It has been a week since he came back, and he still couldn't get reacquainted with how alive the city still was at night. He passes a payphone, as he'd done many times before, and again he considers calling Rory.
Not that he knew what to say to her if she actually answers. He just wants to hear her voice. But most of all, he just wants some kind of proof that he was right about all of this. That he didn't leave her over nothing. During the past week he had gotten doubtful. Maybe he should have talked to her.

He turns around, and looks at the payphone. Call her. He walks over, and picks up the horn. He throws in some quarters and starts dialing the digits. But he doesn't get further than the third number before he hangs up. He takes his change back and walks away, only to return again moments later. He takes a deep breath. He wouldn't say anything anyway, so what's the big deal…right? Right. He repeats his previous actions, only this time completing dialing the entire number. He waits as the phone rings.

Rory hears the phone rings, and gets up from the couch. Just as she answers the phone, the doorbell rings. "Hello, uhm, whoever you are, hold on just one second." She says and she walks over to the door with the phone in her hand.

On the other side Jess' heart had made a jump and started beating faster as soon as he'd heard her voice. Now he was waiting. At her side he heard her opening the door, and a voice greeting her. "Oh, hey Dean." He heard her say. "Can I come in?" He asks. "Sure, come in. Wait just a second I'm on the phone."
Jess just listened in disbelief. So it actually was true! He'd left just a week ago and she was back with Dean. He didn't know why he felt the pain inside all over again, he knew it was going to happen. But having it confirmed like this was painful just the same.

"Hello?" Rory asks on the other side, returning her attention to the caller, but all she hears is the dial tone. For some reason her thoughts go straight to Jess. That wasn't him…was it? She didn't know why she thought it was Jess. It could've been anyone. But still…No, she just had to forget about him. He was not coming back. She put the phone on it's place and went to the living room, where Dean was waiting on the couch. "Hi." She says forcing a smile.

"Hi." He says, standing up.

"What uh, what are you doing here?" She asks, crossing her arms uncomfortably.

"I just, you know, wanting to see how you were doing. I haven't exactly seen you this week, and as a friend," He said, emphasizing the word as to make sure that they were friends. "I was just concerned, after…you know."

Rory nods. "Yeah…I'm…I'm fine, you know. I'm just –" She sighs, and looks pleading at Dean. "I'm sorry, this is just a little, uncomfortable you know, to be talking about this with you."

Dean nods. "Hey, I understand…actually I know exactly how you feel, but I just wanted to…I don't know, do the friend thing and see how you were. But, I'll go." He says, walking towards the door.

"Oh, you don't have to go, I mean –"

"- no it's fine, I have to meet Lindsay later anyway…I guess I can be early." He smiles, and opens the door.

"Well, okay. See you later."

"Yeah, bye."

Jess deliberately slams the door shut when he enters the apartment. He couldn't believe this! He was right! He knew he was before, he was sure of it, but now it was really true. He sighs as he falls down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He's glad Liz isn't home to give him the third degree about where he's been all day. He just couldn't handle that right now.

After a week, Liz's mother act had starting to slip already. She'd been drinking more again, and the cheery tone that she pretended was real was starting to fade also. But he didn't care. He wasn't back to do the family bonding thing with his mother anyway. She could never come home and he wouldn't care. He just wanted to get away from Rory and Dean.
Well, at least now it was official…He was not going back.

A/N: So there it is. Hope you enjoyed it…sort of…okay, I hope I didn't anger/depress you even more after having to wait so long and you still don't get a Rory/Jess make up! But now that school is starting again next week, I'll still have nothing to do, but less time to be lazy, so I can probably update more frequently than last time, and I promise you it'll get better soon...and again, No this will not become a Narco, Ew! So sorry about, again!
Also, please review! I love it when you do -bats with eyelashes-!