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"Rory! Rory!" Lorelai called as she burst into the front door of her house determined to tell her daughter about Jess. "Mommy has something very important to tell you and...well it's pretty big." She continued walking towards the kitchen. "This may require some serious ice cream." She walked to the fridge and opened the freezer pulling out a carton of Rocky Road ice cream then moved to grab two spoons from the dishwasher. "I hope you're sitting down." Lorelai yelled, as she entered Rory's room to find emptiness. "And I'm talking to someone who isn't here."

Lorelai sighed and tossed one of the spoons on the table then took her ice cream to the living room. Taking a seat with her legs crossed beneath her on the couch, she flipped on the tv and began to eat. "I'll just sit here and wait. She has to come back sometime." She told herself out load then shrugged. "Talking to myself now."

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Meanwhile, Rory was walking home from the lake when she was hit with the sudden urge for a pile of french fries and a huge slice of pie. Comfort food. Her stomach grumbled and she made a right towards Luke's which was just barely in her sight. Licking her lips she imaged the goodness that was Luke's food, but just as she came closer something, or rather someone, forced her to stop in her tracks.

Was that Jess that just walked into the diner? It couldn't be. Jess was gone. He had left her without saying goodbye. She narrowed her eyes and saw the figure slid behind the counter and threw a towel over his shoulder. It was Jess. Why would he come back to Stars Hollow? Was he back for her? Most of all, why should that even matter to her at this point? She didn't know, but for some reason it did.

She had a choice. She could run home and hide under the covers or she could go into that diner and be an adult about the situation. Taking a deep breath, she turned and race home as quickly as she could.

"Mom!" Rory yelled rushing into the house and slamming the door behind her.

Lorelai was about half way through her ice cream by now. "In here sweets." Entering the living room, Rory threw herself on the couch and buried her face in the cushions. "So I guess you went to Luke's?"

Rory nodded and lifted her head. " I saw him walk in and I panicked...I ran."

"You ran away from him?"

"No...I didn't go in. He didn't see me." She explained.

Lorelai titled her head sympathetically. "So what do you think you're gonna do?"

"I don't know. I'm gonna have to see him eventually right?" She sighed, crossing her arms.

"Yeah. There's plenty of things that will force you do see him at some point."

"Like what?"

"Well...like if they do an experiment on Luke's coffee and discover that it had some sort of magic solution that keeps you young forever then you'll want to go there." Lorelai made up some outlandish excuse.

Rory frowned. "Maybe I should just go talk to him and get it over with."

"It could be the key to your immorality." Her mother joked with a nod.

"Okay, I'm gonna go then." She decided, standing up and fixing her clothes. "Do I look good?"

"Do you need to look good?" Lorelai questioned with a lifted eyebrow, she knew that her daughter still had feels for Jess even if she didn't want to admit it. "You look good."

"Alight. Here I go." Rory sighed, not moving.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Yes. But don't. It's better if it's just me." She replied.

"K babe. Call if you need me." Lorelai yelled as Rory left.

A few minutes later, Rory was standing outside the door of Luke's diner. She glanced inside and saw Jess leaning against the counter with a book in his hands reading. Sensing someone's eyes on him he looked up and met her stare. Holding it for second longer, Rory pulled open the door and walked straight up to the counter, taking a seat on a stool. She was daring him to make a move.

Clearing his throat, Jess closed his book and approached her. "You want some coffee?"

Rory glared at him. "That's all you have to say?"

"Help me out here Rory. What do you want me to say?" He groaned, bracing the counter with both hands an looking directly into her eyes.

"How about you're sorry?" She suggested with an attitude.

Jess rolled his eyes, pushing himself off of the counter. "Oh here we go." He sighed, walking away and then back.

"Yeah. Here we go!" Rory retorted, letting him know that he wasn't getting off that easily. "How could you just leave and not even say goodbye to me. I was on the bus with you Jess...you had every opportunity to tell me. But you didn't. You didn't even call like you said would."

"Yes I did. I called."

"And you didn't say anything!" She yelled. The three costumers in the diner were now watching them intently.

Jess frowned. "It's not like you missed me anyway. That's obvious." He growled, remembering Dean and Rory at the lake.

"What are you talking about I didn't miss you? Do you wanna ask my mother how depressed I've been since you left?"

"Yeah that's exactly who I want to talk to right now. Your mom. We can catch up on the good times." His sarcasm as not escaped him in his absence.

Rory was fuming. "I can't believe you have the nerve to be a jerk to me after everything you've done." She shook her head. "I thought you were better then that...I know you're better then that. In fact, I'm the only one who ever took the time to see that...now I can see why no one else bothered trying." With that, Rory stormed out of the diner.

"What are you looking at?" He grunted at Kirk who quickly went back to eating his food.

"What's all the yelling down here?" Luke questioned as he appeared from the upstairs apartment.

"It's nothing." Jess retorted, grabbing his book from the counter. "I'm done working."

"What? Jess you're supposed to be here for another 20 minutes." Luke called after him but he was already gone.

Back at Home

"He said that!" Lorelai shrieked with disbelief. "That little shit..I knew I didn't like him."

"No there must be something more to this. He never talked to me like that."

"He talks to everyone else like that hun." Lorelai pointed out. "And the only reason he didn't talk to you like that is because he liked you...but you guys are over now. I hate to say it but I think you're finally see the real Jess."

"This sucks."

"Well. Yeah. It has to do with a boy." Lorelai nodded, wrapping her arm around Rory's shoulder.

"I could go for some Rocky Road is cream."

"Uhhh small problem." Lorleai grinned, having finished off the ice cream earlier. "I ate it all."

"What? Mom!"

"Chill out. I'll go get you some."

"Really? I knew I loved you." Rory grinned resting her head on her mother's shoulder.

"Aww I like to buy your affection with ice cream and sweets." Lorelai smiled.

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Back at Luke's about 10 minutes later

"OK where is he?" Lorelai burst into the diner on a mission.

"Jess?"

"No Tommy Lee." She sighed, exasperated. "Yes Jess!"

"Tommy Lee?" Luke lifted an eyebrow.

"Don't question me right now." She ordered, obviously not in a joking mood.

"He's not here. He took his book and went...somewhere."

"Way to keep the authority." Lorelai complimented. "Did you hear what happened?"

"No. What?"

"There was a huge scene.. Jess was a total jerk to Rory and he's never been like that to her." Lorelai explained.

"Well, he loves her." Luke shrugged.

"Excuse me? Is this how the men in your family show love? Because if so that would mean that you have a secret crush on Taylor."

"Funny."

"No. No. It all makes sense now. All of that conflict...it's not fighting, it's sexual tension." She continued, slapping her forehead. "How could I have been so blind?"

"Enough." Luke frowned, just as the diner door swung open. It was Jess.

"Ahh" She huffed, when she saw who it was. "If you're looking to hurt my daughter anymore...you'll have to wait until tomorrow morning, she's not here."

"Okay." He sighed, walking to the kitchen door. He didn't want to play any of Lorelai's games right now. "Caesar can I get a burger with fries?"

"Oh man...I never thought I'd see the day when you treated Rory like crap. But I guess since you got what you wanted you don't need to be nice to her anymore right?"

"You don't know what your talking about. So why don't you mind your own business for once." Jess retorted.

"This is my business. She's my daughter and you broke her heart."

"Yeah she looked really broken hearted with Dean this afternoon." He grumbled, as Caesar's rang the bell signaling

"What are you talking about? Rory isn't with Dean. He's engaged."

"What?" He narrowed his eyes, confused. "But I saw them together today talking."

"Well, wow they were talking! That screams hot, steamy romance to me." Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." Jess rolled his eyes and then stood with his arms crossed for a second. Then he glanced at Luke and quickly said, "I'll be back." Before rushing out of the diner.

Rory rolled on her side hanging her arm off of the couch and clicking through the channels. There was nothing good on. She let out a breath and let her eyes close slowly. Just as she drifted off there was a huge rapping on the front door.

She sat up and looked around, confused and wondering if she had really just heard a knock on the door. Then it happened again. The knock was loud and forceful. "What the?" Rory groaned and shuffled to the door. "Mom did you forget your key again?" She called as she opened the door, but found Jess instead.

"Jess? What are you doing here?" She narrowed her eyes. He looked annoyed and worked up.

"Can I talk to you?"

"I think we talked enough before. I'm not really in the mood for this right now." She replied, going to shut the door.

Not willing to let the issue go, Jess placed his hand on the door to keep her from closing it. "It involves an apology."

Rory tilted her head, intrigued. "Talk."

"Can we go for a walk or something." He asked, not wanting to be around when Lorelai came home.

Rory sighed. "Fine. I'm gonna go get my keys." Jess stood in the door waiting for a minute before Rory returned. "Let's go."

They had been walking in silence all the way to the center of town. Rory had her hand tucked in her pockets as if they provided some sort of comfort or protection. "Rory. I'm not good at...talking and feelings."

"Could have fooled me."

"Don't." He sighed, stopping suddenly. "Don't think that this was about you. It wasn't about you Rory."

"I know Jess. It was about you...that's the point." She frowned. "It was about how you needed to get away. It was about how you didn't want to admit to everyone that you screwed up."

"Not everyone! I don't care about the people in this stupid town" He paused and looked down that shifted his eyes up to her. "Just you. I didn't like knowing that I let you down Rory."

"I should have been the one you could talk to. Not the one you ran away from because..." She stopped, wondering how much she should say, but decided to go for it any way. "I loved you."

Jess frowned. She 'loved' him. Past tense. "I did love you." He stared into her eyes, never looking away. It took a lot for him to do that. "And I haven't stopped."

"Thank you for telling me that." She nodded sadly, then added. "I needed to know that."

"That why I like books." He paused. "You can always go back and reread the good parts."

"Or skip past the bad parts to the happy ending." Rory added with a grin.

Jess shrugged. "They're not so bad, they give the happy ending more meaning."

Rory smiled, staring up at him. She felt a little bit of hope and excitement. She knew it was stupid to get wrapped up in Jess again but something was always pulling her back to him. "Jess.." She began, on the verge of telling him that she still loved him, but she stopped. She couldn't bring herself to do it. And something told her that she needed to wait...she would feel stupid if she just feel back into his arms. She wasn't going to be one of those girls. "Do you wanna get me that coffee now?"

Jess smirked. Then, feeling the urge to reach out to her, he took her hand in his. Even when they were dating they hadn't walked hand in her. He never did like it because he thought it was corny, but he would do it if that was the only way he could be close to her. "Come on. I'll refuel you."

"You know me too well." She grinned, as they began to walk towards Luke's. "Jess." She stopped him. "Let's get coffee somewhere else. I don't feel like dealing with everyone right now."

"Works for me." He nodded, as they walked hand in hand in a different direction and began conversation as if he had never left.

"So read any good books lately?"