Title: Another Round
Chapter 10
Authors: This is a combined effort of two Fanfiction writers, myself, DarkAngl2025 and swimchic2.
A/N: Thank you soo much for reviewing! You guys are great! Please continue to let us know what you think of our story. We love feedback!
Pairings: Lorelai/Luke, Rory/Jess
Spoilers: Through the November 22nd episode.

"Rory," he swallowed, "I didn't mean that. I just meant, if you're only saying dinner in order to break up with me just do it now. I don't want to go to a restaurant I like and then never be able to eat there again because that would be the restaurant that you broke up with me in." He paused. Please say that's not it he mentally begged her.

Lorelai was digging in her purse for her cell phone. "Shit." she cursed quietly. She dumped the entire thing on the table and found it, she picked it up and started to dial, but held up the phone so Rory could see it. It read "no service". "I'll call from the inn phone," she whispered and headed toward the front desk.

"I..." Rory paused. "I think I'm getting another call, hang on for a second, okay?" She clicked over to the other line. "Thank god!" She yelled to her mother. "Help me! He thinks I'm going to break up with him. I can't break up with him on the phone. What do I say!"

"Um," Lorelai wasn't sure what to say, "Don't ruin his favorite restaurant." She paused, "Are you sure this is what you want?" She asked.

Logan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face. "Break, my ass," he muttered. She's going to leave me and there is nothing I can do, or is there? He thought

Rory thought about it. "You just don't want me to be talking to Jess!" She exclaimed. "That's it, huh? You never liked him..." She trailed off, and realized she was acting crazy. "Ugh, i'm sorry. I don't know what to do though. I really don't want to hurt him... I don't want to ruin his favorite restaurant...maybe his least favorite restaurant? Maybe we could meet in a park somewhere?"

"Aww hun," Lorelai felt bad for her daughter, she didn't want her to suffer like this. "Do what you think is right. I'm hanging up now, I'll be in here when you're off the phone, ok?"

"Oh dear, okay, I guess," Rory said and clicked back over to Logan. "I'm back, sorry about that, it was my mom, there was an emergency at the Inn, something about a pizza exploding in the oven, or something..."

"Exploding pizzas can be quite dangerous, because of the cheese factor," Logan deadpanned. "So another life lesson my dad taught me is to cut the losses," he paused, "so I think instead of letting you call the shots and play this out in a polite, passive-aggressive manner I should simply throw in the towel. I was a little insane earlier to put up such a fight. You win, Rory, we're done."

Rory's jaw dropped. "I don't know what to say. I'm quite possibly floored," Rory said quietly.

"Yeah," Logan had expected an argument or tears or something, not complete shock though, "I've gotta go. See ya around." He clicked his phone closed and sat back. "What the hell did you just do Huntzberger?" he cursed himself.

Rory set her phone down and stared blankly at the wall. "Thus continues my streak of never breaking up with a guy," she said, not realizing she was talking out loud.

Lorelai unable to take the suspense any longer had wandered back into the dining room. "Rory?" She asked as she knelt next to her daughter. "Are you okay?"

"He broke up with me," She said emotionlessly.

Lorelai stroked her hair, "okay, help me out here, am I suppose to throw confetti or grab a tub of ice cream and two spoons?"

"Hmm, maybe grab the confetti ice cream?" Rory shrugged. "I don't know..."

"We'll pick some up on the way home," Lorelai said resolutely, "so do you want to take off, get out of here?" she asked knowing Sookie would be popping out soon with something for them to eat or taste or talk about.

"Yeah," Rory stood up slowly. "Let's go," She picked up her purse and looked inside. "Wait! Where is it! He took it!" She accidentally announced these things, and realized it. "He took his coffee cup!"

"Who?" Lorelai asked completely confused.

"Jess," She said, regaining calmness. "He walked out of here with his coffee cup, but I guess that's okay, because he is staying here after all." Rory nodded. He took my book! Well... I guess we're both getting a chance to read the margins.

"No he didn't," Lorelai said looking confused, he wasn't holding a cup when he left, we're the ones who left a cup in the bookstore, remember? I'm beginning to worry about you babe." Lorelai paused, "Let's go."

"Oh, maybe you're right," Rory fake laughed. "I'm losing my mind." She walked towards the door. "Let's go."

"Sookie, I'll call you later." Lorelai called into the kitchen as they walked out. And then she turned to Rory, "Why are all these guys coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden? I mean Jess disappears for over a year and then BAM. I wonder why he's back."

"Maybe you should have asked him instead of glaring at him?" Rory suggested. "And what do you mean 'all of these guys'?"

"Well, there was...Jess...and Bob...and Mike...and Steve...and Zane...and Dopey...Sleepy and Bashful." Lorelai paused, "and you mustn't forget Dasher and Dancer and Prancer."

"Donner and Dixon, too?" Rory laughed. They walked towards the store. "So you get the ice cream, and I'll get the movies?"

"Dixon? I didn't think that was a reindeer, get Rudolph while you're at the movie store. I'll bet you a coffee that Dixon is not a reindeer." Lorelai said as she opened the door to Doosie's. "Meet you back at the crap shack...or the building formerly known as the crap shack. And if you see Paul Anka remember not to approach him or make direct eye contact or let him sniff the movies if they are rated Pg-13 or R."

"Okay!" Rory walked to the movie store, opened the door, and turned around and walked back to grocery store and opened the door. "It's Vixen!" Rory yelled to her mom. "Right? Vixen?"

Lorelai turned around, "You owe me a coffee missy. And since you're here, do you want anything else besides ice cream?"

"Not really," Rory paused. "Well, maybe chips, and popcorn... and pickles... and mashed potatoes. Is that possible? With gravy? Ooooh, but other than that no." She walked back to the door. "What genre are we in the mood for?"

"Tons of food, got it." Lorelai said as she started grabbing random items off the shelf. "Ooh cookie dough!" She exclaimed as she went to the fridge unit and pulled it out. "And it's up to you, but no Old Yeller, or Homeward Bound, it makes Paul Anka sad."

Rory laughed. "Okay, no dog movies. I'll meet you at home!" Rory walked out the door and over to the movie store. She walked down the isles. "Hmm, action?" She grabbed The Fast and the Furious off the rack, along with Stealth, War of the Worlds, and Dot Kill. She took them to the front of the store and told the cashier just to put it on their monthly bill.

Lorelai finished filling up her shopping basket and paid for the food and decided to stop at the diner to get coffee for them. "Luke." she called as she lugged the three plastic bags into the diner. "I need coffee in a large thermos to go." she called to him as she walked behind the counter, dropping her bags in the floor on the corner and dragging him into the kitchen, "and I want to know why Jess is in Stars Hollow."

Luke looked flabbergasted. "I have no idea why he's here, Lorelai," He found a thermos and started to pour coffee into it.

Rory walked out of the store and decided to take the long way home. She didn't really expect him to be there, but it was just a hunch. She walked towards the bridge, and smiled.

"Well he's here. And she broke up with Logan, and I don't know, I think she did it for him. If he breaks her heart again I'm going to remove his head with a pair of pliers, even if he is your nephew. Oh god, when we get married he's going to be my nephew." Lorelai looked at Luke, "I need that coffee now."

On the bridge...
"Hunting me down in order to get this back?" Jess asked without looking up from reading the comments she wrote.

"Is that weird? Would that be really weird? What if they got like married? How weird would that be?" Luke asked, freaking out, as he handed her the thermos.

"Maybe," She said and sat down next to him. She pulled out the newspaper and turned to her article. They sat there in silence while they both read.

"Married!" Lorelai screamed. "Don't say that. Ohmygod, married, are you out of your mind? She just broke up with her boyfriend, she's not going to marry some other guy just like that." Lorelai was pacing. "Married...married?...married!"

Jess smirked as he continued flipping through the book, and finally he put it down. "You read all of this in a day?" he asked her.

"I'm just going to have to have a talk with him about this," Luke said firmly. "The next time I see him I'll just tell him to cancel whatever plans he's forming about the matter."

Rory blushed. "Night..." She sat down the newspaper next to the book.

"Oh no, you can't do that." Lorelai said, "we don't want to lose Rory again, which means she needs space, and that means that we have to not interfere, and that includes with Jess." she sighed. "You don't really think they are going to get back together do you? That would be insane."

Jess nodded, "Huh." he waited for her to comment on it.

Luke nodded. "That would be completely insane. Nah, it won't happen."

Rory grinned at him. "I know what you want... well, you're not going to get it yet..." She paused and looked at the water. "Logan and I have broken up."

Lorelai nodded. "Right, so stop trying to give me a heart attack." She took the thermos from him and walked back to the bags and put it in one of them. She gave him a quick kiss. "Dinner tonight?" she asked.

Jess was stunned. "You broke up?" He paused. "I'm...you deserve better." he said.

"Yeah, dinner, um, just us, or Rory too?" Luke questioned as he walked to the front of the Diner with her.

"I know," She nodded. "This is really deja vu-ish. Don't you think? Shouldn't you stand up and ask if we're broken up for good or something? For old times sake?" Rory rambled before even thinking about it. Her hand flew to her mouth, and she couldn't look at him.

"All of us, you, me, Rory, Paul Anka." Lorelai nodded, "and can you make something special?" She gave Luke the sad puppy dog look.

Jess looked at her and could tell she was avoiding eye contact, he wasn't sure how to react, or what to say so he finally decided on the truth, "Was it because of the things I said in here?" he asked tapping the book. "Or was it because I showed up and said a lot of things that I probably shouldn't have said to you?"

"What do you consider 'special', Lorelai?" He asked her.

"Uh, maybe, possibly, a little bit of the second one," She shrugged her shoulders and threw a stick into the water.

"Anything you cook is special, Butch," Lorelai said playfully as she walked out of the diner.

"I'm sorry." Jess said, not sure what else to say. "I didn't mean to mess up whatever the hell it was that you had going, but I couldn't stand by and see you like that."

Rory laughed half-heartedly. "Don't worry, you didn't mess up anything. You gave me the reality check that I needed. You know what? My mom and I weren't even on speaking terms yesterday. We hadn't been for weeks. You...fixed things."

"Huh," Jess said, "well glad to be of service." He noticed the bag of movies she had. "Movie night?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, it is." She looked up at him. "It's good," she said simply.

He nodded. "Ok." he swallowed unsure of what to say or do at this point, there were so many things he wanted to say to her, to talk to her about, to hear from her. "So..." he paused. "Still want to get together as old friends one night and catch up?" he asked.

"Yes, I do. You name the place and time and I'll be there," She started to stand up. "I better get going before mom goes home and finds me missing..." She looked at the book and newspaper. "Do you want to switch back, or wait til we meet up again?"

"Til next time," Jess said as he watched her gather her things, he pulled a pen from his pocket and wrote his cell number on the paper and handed it to her, "in case you didn't want to call the inn. They gave me a phone, I think they were afraid I'd skip out of them." he said simply.

"Til next time," She said with a nod. "Would you like me to write my cell number in your book?"

"I've already got it," he said looking down, hoping she wouldn't ask how.

"Ooh, I've always wanted a stalker," she said with a grin, and wondered if he'd explain himself.

"Yeah?" he smirked. "Glad I could be of assistance."

She shrugged. "Okay, so who's going to call who? I think you should call me."

Jess looked up at her, "when?" he asked.

"Uh, whenever you want." Rory could not believe that she was on the bridge with Jess. Deja-vu, indeed.

"Ok," Jess said looking at the book, "goodbye Rory."

"That sounds so final," Rory said, as she started to walk off the bridge. "See you later, sounds much more like it will actually happen."

Jess remembered that day on the bus and his stomach did a sickening flip. "See you, soon." he said.

Rory walked home quickly, and sat down on the couch. She thought about everything, and didn't know what to think. Jess was back, so to speak, and things were good, and Logan was gone. Her mom walked in the door within minutes.