Disclaimer: I don't own it.

A/N: I have been working on this chapter for so long I know, so if it is short, that is b/c I decided not to make u guys wait for so long so you can see this chapter. Yea, review please.

Soph: I am totally going to do that, that is a great idea!

Others, well, that was pure luck of mine having everything end up like that, it wasn't planned so lets all applause for that…clap clap clap….if you clapped along you get a gold star. I will try to have the chapters long, but I highly doubt that. It's so hard to write long chapters, I have new sympathy for the people who do write that long. I think my first story had a couple long chapters, so go to that if you want long chapters, how does that sound?

Italics: Flashbacks or whatever you want to call them. What happened at an earlier point.

Rory is walking around her house, looking for Jess who left 5 minutes ago to find something eatable. She is leaving tomorrow morning, early, and does not want to waste anytime with Jess. She finds him on the back porch, taking a drag of his cigarette.

"I thought we got you off these," She says, taking it and putting it out with her foot.

"Now don't make fun of my cheesiness, I'm only doing it because I just got back, but you did when you gave me a reason not to die. Then when I left, my reason went away. So, now since I'm back, I shall stop," Jess says, "now, those words cannot be repeated, ever."

"I would kiss you know, but breath, smoky," Rory laughs.

"Yea, and that's another reason."

"That's more like the Jess I know and love."

"Aren't you glad you can use that expression without putting much thought to it?"

"Yea, that's the reason why I love you by the way, so doesn't take it too seriously." Rory laughed.

"Glad we got all that out in the open." Jess said, they were both leaning on the banister around the porch looking over everything. The party was dying down.

Rory looked at her watch, it read 12:00. "Only 6 more hours."

"We can do a lot in 6 hours," Jess said, trying to forget she is leaving.

"Like what?"

"Drive to New York, buy a book, and come back."

"Too much work."

"Play a game of monopoly"

"I have an attention span of a goldfish, remember."

"Have a debate on said book."

"Done too many times."

"Well, what do you want to do Rory Gilmore?"

"Not be away from you for any time longer." Rory looked at a blade of grass in front of her.

"Now Rory, I can't go with you to Europe and you have to go. You've been looking forward to this since I've met you, well, more like since you've planned it. You and your mother will have a lot of fun."

"Sounds like you want me gone." Rory let out a small laugh.

"I don't want to be away from you for even more than a minute." Jess said, staring a blade of grass just as Rory did a few moments ago.

"Ha! Yes! I got that recorded on my phone!" Lorelei exclaimed, walking up from the backyard with Luke trailing behind her.

Jess just glared at her and Rory said, "What? Where? What?"

"We came out to talk a while ago." Luke said. "Just talk."

"Hey Lorelei, look, a UFO." Jess said pointing to the sky. Lorelei looked and he grabbed her phone and deleted the evidence.

"Damn it, I was going to use that as a ringtone." Lorelei said sadly, "Say it again!" She shoved the phone in his face.

"Mom!" Rory warned.

"Fine, jeeze. We're going inside anyway. Go off talking your gushy talk and making out and everything you guys do." Lorelei said, opening the door to her house.

"She's five." Jess smirked.

"I know that." Rory said.

"So, I promised I will explain to you why I left?" Jess asked, knowing she wants to hear this.

"Yes you did." Rory said, looking behind her. "Tell me on the way to the bridge." She said, not trusting anyone that could hear them.

"Good idea," Jess laughed.

They pushed off the banister and started walking in the direction of the bridge. They subconsciously closed all gaps between them so even their feet touched, well not really but almost.

Jess took a deep breath, "I…in retrospect this sounds really stupid and ambiguous, but I did not want to lose you, and I knew that I was. Everything about me not telling you anything, it was tearing us apart. Rory, I was failing out of High School. I couldn't take you to that prom you wanted to go to. I couldn't graduate. I was afraid if I told you all this, you would get mad." Jess exhaled and tightly closed his eyes, "I loved you too much to put you through the misery I was going through."

"I don't think I have ever heard you say that many words in that much time," Rory laughed. Jess smirked, knowing very well that she was trying to make this heavy subject much lighter. "Wow, what…where did you go?"

"California. That guy that was pissing me off; well, that was my dad. He came just to look at me and run I guess. You were the first thing constant in my life and," Jess took a breath, and sat down since they arrived at their destination, "well, that scared me. I wanted to know what my father was like because, well, you know my mother; you can fill in the gaps. So, I don't know, all this doesn't sound like a good enough reason and it is all contradictory, but I guess it makes some sense if you think about it," Jess stared at Rory's reflection in the water.

"I just don't want you to ever feel bad about putting me through your misery, because you're never going to put me through any misery unless you leave me again," Rory said.

Jess smiled at Rory's remark. Kissed her and said, "Wouldn't dare to."

"Are you going back to school? Are you going to stay in Stars Hollow? What are you going to do?" Rory asked, worried.

"Well, I've been thinking about this. Trying to steer away from my 'whatever whenever' answer. I've decided this. I don't want to be in Stars Hollow and I don't want to go back to school. I do want to write and I do want to stay near you," Jess looked at Rory.

Rory smiled, "Much better than 'whatever whenever.'"

"Yea"

"So, you've got to get a job and an apartment near either Stars Hollow or New Haven, and then you have to just start writing."

"Yea, I guess so." Jess said.

"Where are you going to stay until then?"

"I don't want to go running back to Luke because he will want me to go back to school and I really don't want to stay in Stars Hollow, but it looks like I don't have any other choice," Jess shrugged.

"Yea, I guess so." Rory mirrored Jess's recent remarks. They both sat in silence for a little bit, enjoying each other's company. Rory laughed and said, "It's ironic, I thought things would get easier after I graduated until Yale started."

"Things will be easier, we just figured everything out."

"You really have changed." Rory stated looking straight at him.

Jess smirked and said the typical, "Huh."

"I don't wanna go to Europe." Rory whined as she leaned onto Jess.

"Then don't"

"But I want to go."

"Then go."

"But I don't wanna go."

"Then don't"

"But I want to go."

"Rory…" Jess warned, burying his face in her hair, then started to kiss her neck.

"I don't want to go because then I will have to leave you and mom will be leaving Luke, but I want to go 'cause it's Europe, who wouldn't want to go?"

"mmmhmm" Jess nodded.

"Mom will be whining about leaving Luke and will be 'what have I've done?' then she will start asking questions about you and it will get too far."

"mmmhmmm"

"But, maybe she won't. Well, she will, but only for a little bit. I've been looking forward to this for so long." Rory stated.

"Rory, I'm trying to match up with my best work and you're talking right on through it!" Jess exclaimed.

"Never mind, I take that back, you really haven't changed." Rory smiled.

"Hey, I'll be careful about what you say; there is water right underneath us."

"Now I really do want to go to Europe, screw the thing about leaving you!" Rory kidded.

"5 hours and 45 minutes, Rory. That just took away the going to New York idea," Jess smirked.

"I didn't want to go to New York in the first place!"

"Sure you didn't"

Luke and Lorelei at Lorelei's house cleaning up:

"So, that was fun," Lorelei said.

"What the party or what we did before it or the entirety of the day?" Luke asked.

"Entirety of the day, especially what we did before the party," Lorelei smiled.

Lorelei has walked into Luke's after her talk with Rory about seeing Jess there. She looks a little nervous as she peers around the room. Luke wasn't in the diner part, so she guessed he was upstairs.

"Cesar, can I get a coffee?" Lorelei asked for coffee so she could calm herself a bit. She sat down at the counter and placed her jacket on the stool next to her. Cesar handed her coffee. Lorelei kept peering at the stairs. She took a deep breath and abandoned her coffee and jacket in the diner part and crossed the archway into the stair well. She paced herself up the stairs and got to the top and barged in. Luke was asleep on a chair, he bounced up, "Lorelei?"

"Don't go." Lorelei stated.

"What?" Luke asked confused.

"Just…just don't go okay? Promise me you won't go." Lorelei demanded.

"Okay," Luke nodded hearing the tone of emotion in her voice. Lorelei turned to walk out. Luke's head struck up like an idea just came to him. "Wait!" He demanded.

"What?" Luke took one step towards her, she breathed, "what are you doing?"

"Will you just hold still?" Luke demanded as he kissed her. They separated and Lorelei took one step towards Luke, "What are you doing?" he mirrored.

"Will you just hold still?" Lorelei said softly and kissed him.

Back to current time with Lorelei and Luke.

"So, this surprise party was a bust," Lorelei said.

"Did you even plan any of it?" Luke said.

"Yea!" Lorelei stated offended. Luke glared at her. "I did plan on giving my keys to Babette so she could decorate while we were at the ceremony," Lorelei said. Luke laughed. They cleaned up most the mess by now. Lorelei plopped down on the couch and Luke followed this action.

"So do you think anyone suspected anything?" Luke asked.

"I doubt it, even though we did leave together and you offered to stay and help clean up. Ms. Patty was really off her game today." Lorelei responded.

"Of course Ms. Patty was off her game, she was drunk!" Luke laughed.

"I don't really care if they find out." Lorelei stated.

"I do! You will be gone the whole crazy period. I will be stuck here, cupped up in my diner where they always come, and dying to get them to quit with the comments and the whispering.

"Oh, yea, I didn't think of that. Well, no one can find out anything, I'm leaving in 5 and a half hours. Unless Jess spills anything, which I highly doubt, we are good."

"Good," Luke smiled.

Lorelei snuggled a bit closer and kissed him, "You wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure." Luke nodded, still smiling. He got what he was waiting for for 7 years.

"What do you want to watch?"

"Whatever."

"You're no help, what have you seen?"

"Nothing."

"Luke, what have you seen?" Lorelei said getting a bit annoyed.

"Nothing, seriously. I don't have time for movies. Well, I do, but I don't enjoy them."

"You are not serious."

"Yes I am!"

"Well, we are watching Casablanca because that is a classic."

"Fine."

"Then, when I get back, we are going to watch a movie every night to get you caught up," Lorelei said getting up to put a movie in.

"Fine," Luke said watching her every move. He still had a big goofy grin on his face.

It was 3 in the morning when Rory walked into the house. She had 3 more hours until Lorelei and she had to leave for the airport. "I guess you can't have the couch," she said to Jess who was following right behind her as they both saw Luke and Lorelei asleep on the couch with the TV still on, but just blue.

"It's fine, I will just grab Luke's hidden key and go up to the apartment," Jess said.

"Uh, I was looking forward to waking you up at 6 when we leave!" Rory pouted.

"We won't go to sleep yet then, and then you can pretend to wake me up at 6, even though I will already be awake."

"Fine."

Jess started going towards Rory's room, "So, do you have any new books you will want to lend me?"

"Take whatever isn't packed yet," Rory said, following him into her room, "I need to have Luke build me another shelf because I have gone back to staking them underneath my bed."

"How can you read so much in so little time?"

"Study breaks and many sleepless nights," Rory said, lying down on the bed.

"Don Quixote, that isn't a light reading for night," Jess said, taking it down.

"Mmm," Rory groaned, slowly falling asleep.

Jess looked over at her and grinned. He put a blanket over her, sat up next to her on the bed, and started to read the book he randomly selected.

Rory felt him sit next to her and she moved to get her head on his shoulder, "I love you," she said delicately as she drifted off to sleep.

"I love you, too." Jess said quietly as he planted a kiss on her forehead.

Luke's internal clock woke him up at 5:00. It took him a while to get situated and realize where he was. He successfully got up without waking Lorelei up and quietly walked over to the Kitchen to make coffee because he knew he had to wake up Lorelei for her to catch her plane, but that would not work successfully unless he had coffee made. He peered in Rory's door as he walked by. Rory and Jess were safely asleep, he thought to himself, wait! He took two steps back. Rory and Jess were safely asleep fully clothed, he corrected himself.

The smell of coffee was strong enough to wake Lorelei up. Within 5 minutes she was on her 2nd cup. "I was smart to come to my senses last night because now I get woken up with coffee instead of just getting up groggily and having to make my own!" Lorelei smiled a Luke.

"Did you happen to peer into your daughter's room yet?" Luke asked.

"Nope, why? Is she alright? Is she even home?" Lorelei asked worriedly.

"Oh, no she's fine and she's home. Just get up and see for yourself."

Lorelei got up and saw Rory asleep in Jess's arms, "Whoa…"

"Yup."

"And you didn't break this up when you saw this, this morning?"

"Would you have?"

"No, but you would, Mr. Couch-Chair rule."

Luke just glared at her.

"Well we got to wake her up because we leave in an hour," Lorelei said.

"Its fine, the coffee is strong enough to get you up, she should be up soon."

"Alrighty," Lorelei said, going back to her seat and drinking more coffee, "Did I mention how lucky I am to have come to my senses last night?"

"Yes, twice."

"Well, let's go for number three!"

Meanwhile, Rory's nose caught a pleasant, strong scent. Is it coffee? Smelling this good in her own house? Her eyes opened wide remembering Luke fell asleep on the couch. She felt a weight around her waste. She turned around to look at two big brown eyes looking back at her. "Good morning," she smiled. She could get used to waking up like this.

"Morning," Jess smiled back.