literatiever – Perhaps not that bad…no Rory afros…

vanityblaze- Thank you for the ladles of lovely reviews. I was wondering what fandom you write for, because I too have had the problem of FFN not supporting some of my categories.

Emo- The sandwiches are for the dancers. One of my favorite episodes.

Jess didn't look for her around one. By 1:15, Lorelai was ready to leave, and offered to take Rory home if Jess didn't turn up sooner or later.

"I might have to take you up on that, I have no idea where he is. He's not in the club, I've been all over the place, and the crowd is thinning anyway. I can't see him."

"That little jerk, he can't even follow your well-thought-out plan."

"Give me five more minutes, ten tops, and then we'll motor."

"Hurry up, I'm getting sleepy."

Rory walked around in an exasperated huff, wondering where he had gone. He wasn't at the bar, the DJ booth, on the dance floor, by the wall, or near the door.

"Louise, have you seen Jess?"

"Jess?" A confused look crossed the blonde's face as she grabbed a nearby chair to keep her upright. Rory sighed.

"Never mind, you're no help."

"No wait, I saw him! He went that way. Or was it that way?" She pointed to either side of her, utilizing both hands, as she spoke.

"Louise, how are you getting home?"

"I made a call, to my guy, he's going to pick me up just sometime after two." She fell to the ground as her arms were too busy pointing to hold her up.

"Okay, just try to…stay conscious till then." Louise saluted from the floor, and Rory walked off to continue her search.

"Where would I be if I was Jess?" she asked herself. Her eyes fell on the bar. Approaching it, she sat down directly in front of the man whipping out glasses.

"What can I get for you, miss?"

"Actually, I need to know if a man was here earlier. He has dark hair, was wearing a maroon shirt, he was probably pitching tent here most of the night."

"Jess?"

"That's him. How do you know his name?"

"As soon as he walked in the door he came over here, shook my hand, introduced himself, and said we were going to be best friends tonight."

"That's definitely him," she responded wryly.

"Are you looking for him or something?"

"Unfortunately, he's my ride home. But now it sounds like I'd better take the keys from him."

"He seemed like a good guy, we talked for a while about an hour back. He got on my good side, so I didn't tell nobody when he went in the office back there."

"Where'd he go?"

"A buncha kids that come in here try to sneak into the manager's office and go at it, but he was alone, and like I said he seemed ok, so I looked the other way. I haven't seen him come out, though it's not like I've been staring at the door all night."

"Thanks very much." Walking towards the direction he had pointed, she caught Lorelai's eye and waved to her to get going.

'You sure?' she mouthed back. Rory nodded, and slowly opened the door.

Jess was sitting in a desk chair, his feet propped up on a filing cabinet. He appeared to be engrossed in a book, and hadn't noticed her entry. She closed the door quietly and stood directly behind the chair.

"What's that?" she asked softly, bending over his shoulder and looking at the tiny words on the page. He started and whipped his head around to face her.

"What are you doing in here?"

"The bartender told me you'd gone in here. I thought we were going to meet at one." He looked down at his wrist, squinting to read the watch numbers in the dark. The only light in the entire room came from a little green indicator light on a computer.

"Sorry, I kinda lost track of the time." He closed the book and stood up, stretching.

"What are you reading?" He flipped the book up to show her the title. "I never pegged you for a Jane Austen fan. Do you like it so far?"

"I just started it this afternoon. It's not really my thing, but it's not bad. Marianne sure has it coming."

"Oh yea, with the 'I require so much!' speech."

"Ah, so you've read it too."

"It's a classic, I've read it several times. I love Austen, she's such an artist."

"Too many commas."

"I agree, but she's still one of the greatest writers to ever live."

"Don't you spoil the ending now, Gilmore." He grinned at her, the tiny green bulb illuminating only half his face.

"Have you been reading by this light the entire time?"

"I guess. I've managed in worse."

"You're gonna be blind as a bat."

"At least I'll be well-informed."

"Come on, let's go. It's late, and I'm tired, and we have to be at the studio tomorrow afternoon." Tucking his book into his back pocket, he draped an arm around her as the exited the room.

"Bye Max," Rory waved to the tired-looking director who was helping Louise to her feet.

"Rory, Jess. I see your plan is working well so far." He had a bit of an amused look on his face as he said this.

As several hours had passed, Rory expected the number of reporters to be significantly decreased. Instead, more swelled their ranks as they walked outside. "When did this happen?" Jess asked, echoing her mind.

"I think they're waiting for us, now that we made it 'official'," she realized, comprehension dawning as the mob began to shout and snap pictures.

"Rory! Jess! Rory! Jess! Rory! Jess!"

"And now we ignore them." Grateful for his suggestion, she rested her head on his shoulder as he walked them to the car. By the time the valet had brought it around, she was barely able to keep walking.

"Don't fall asleep on me here."

"I can't help it, it was loud and bright in there, and now it's dark and hot and nighty night." He helped her in the car delicately, and she was asleep by the time he climbed in the driver's side.

He found himself trying to breathe quieter as to not disturb her rest, but by the time they were nearing her apartment, the car's movements and the lights of New York had awoken her once more.

"Sleep well?"

"Why'd you let me fall asleep?"

"I LET you fall asleep? I practically carried you the last few feet to the car, so now is not when you get to accuse me of anything."

"Mm hmm, can you get my purse? It's under your seat."

"Why didn't you just put it under your own seat?" he asked as he fished for it with his spare hand, looking like an idiot bent-over while driving.

"Because it's generally accepted in our society that the guy drives and the girl sits pretty next to him, so thieves expect the purse to be under her seat."

"Where'd you get this information?"

"I read it in the paper."

"Okay, not to discredit you, but-" he pulled the tiny, sparkly bag out triumphantly "that's crap."

"That was discrediting if I've ever heard it before. Thanks."

"Damn, that little thing is heavy. What's in it?"

"Compact, wallet, lipstick, keys, and a book."

"You brought a book?"

"I take one everywhere. You had one too."

"But I didn't leave mine in the car."

"Where was I supposed to stash it, my bra?"

"That would have been quite a site. You do know you could have brought the whole purse inside."

"Well, we were having problems communicating on the drive here, so I was looking for just anything to say, and I asked you if I could leave my purse in here."

"Yes, that headed off quite a conversation, didn't it?"

"It went better in my head. Am I almost home?"

"Assuming my sense of direction is on, yes. Don't you recognize anything?"

"I didn't look. Oh yea, it's just a few more blocks."

"So, did you have fun tonight?"

"I did, despite the fact that Paris is too immature to talk to the guy she likes, and I wasted about half an hour of my time trying to convince her to go over to him."

"Who does she like?"

"Tristin."

"Poor guy."

"Paris isn't that bad. I rather think she deserves someone, and that someone just might be Tristin."

"I hate to break it to you, but I share a trailer with the guy, and I think he's scared of her."

"Well, so am I, and I'm probably the closest thing she has to a friend."

"So are you Little Miss Matchmaker now? Should I tell Tristin to head for the hills?"

"No, Paris has to initiate contact on her own. It's the only way she'll conquer her fear."

"I dunno, I think it's to us normal people's advantage to know the one thing she fears. Tristin could save us all."

"Be nice, I consider her my friend also. That's my building." Jess pulled off from the main stream of traffic, cruising along the curb until he got as close to the entrance as he could without moving onto the sidewalk.

"So, I guess this is goodnight, Miss Gilmore." He leaned over and gave her a light kiss on the lips before she could process, then returned to his former position and unlocked the car.

"You taste like alcohol," she accused as she unbuckled, unsure if she should be mad or not. She'd forgotten what the bartender had said.

"I assure you, the mind is as clear as ever." When she glared at him, he shrugged. "Reading helps sober me up. I wouldn't have put you in my car if I didn't think I could get you home safely." She rolled her eyes and climbed out of the car, closing the door smartly behind her. A few yards away, however, she stopped and remembered something. She swiveled back to facing the black car about to pull away, and jogged a few paces towards it. He furrowed his brow and looked out at her, as she pulled a book from her purse. Sense and Sensibility. They smiled at each other as he drove off, the solidity of the identical book resting is his back pocket very noticeable against the buttery leather seat.