Summary: Rory calls Jess after Mitchum crushed her dreams. Can he make a difference? Does Rory still need to steal that yacht? Literati, hints of Rogan.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, ASP does. If only I'd own Gilmore Girls… Rory would have never slept with Dean, and Jess and Tristan would not have left. And of course, Luke and Lorelai would have been together from the beginning.
AN: Yeah, another chapter coming right up. I'm loving the response.
Desert Fox: Rory became stupid because of Dean? I agree… I hate Dean… Gah! That's why there's JESS!
Here's the chapter…
Chapter two: Back to the HollowAfter her last final, Rory was glad she was done with college for a while. Even though she didn't want it, Jess was in her head the whole time. Their conversation from the night before was playing through her head, over and over again, like it had a repeat button.
Her mother didn't know she called Jess. Lorelai was mad and stressed enough already, but mostly very mad. She had wanted to call Mitchum and threaten him with anything to stop hurting 'her baby', as Lorelai called her. Rory couldn't help but smile at that.
"Hey Ace, what's up," she suddenly heard Logan saying, surprising Rory quite a bit. What would she say? She knew 'Your father is a jerk, he crushed my dreams of being a journalist so I called my ex and he gave me my dreams back' wouldn't be right.
"Hi Logan," Rory said, deciding not to say a lot. "Just had my last final. I am so glad that is over. I just want to go home, to my mom and Luke."
And she wanted to call Jess again, but she was not going to tell that to Logan. He was pretty upset when she went to Finn's party with Robert, and she didn't even like him. Wait a second, did that just imply she liked Jess? Rory was getting confused, and she didn't even have to start lying to Logan yet. Did she have to lie to him? This was even more confusing.
"I have a surprise for you Ace," Logan said, while handing her a bag. "Here you are."
Rory opened the bag and looked at the three cups of to-go-coffee it contained. It was a sweet gesture to make, and she knew she had to smile and say thanks to him. She would trade anything for it to be Jess in front of her right now, Jess giving her coffee and smiling his rare smile at her, just to her.
"Thanks Logan," she said, trying to sound convincing. "That's really sweet of you."
And she kissed him, just a little, as innocent as possible kiss. Rory knew Logan wanted and expected more, but she couldn't put herself to giving him a passionate kiss. It would feel like she was cheating on Jess, which was completely weird, because she was with Logan and not with Jess. She only wished she was with Jess. Rory sighed.
"Just for you Ace," Logan said, with his playboy smile, showing no emotion. "Now, you should pack and go home. I'll call you as soon as possible. Probably after we land. If you happen to see either Finn or Colin, tell them I'm packing, okay?"
Yeah, she got to be messenger girl, Rory thought, sarcastically in a Jess kind of way. He couldn't be rubbing off on her that soon, right? Well, she didn't knew. It was strange that Logan didn't insist on spending some time together before he left to Europe with Colin and Finn, but Rory didn't gave that a second thought. She was going home!
"Sure, I will," Rory responded, smiling a sincere smile at the thought of going home, and calling Jess of course. "Have fun in Europe Logan!"
She gave him a little kiss again, and left, on the way to her room to pack the last of her stuff, so she could finally go home. To her mom, who she missed way too much, and Luke, who she missed a lot too. And Luke's coffee, which she missed about as much as her mom and surrogate dad. The best coffee in the world, Rory thought, and smiled.
When she bumped into someone, Rory snapped out of her Luke's coffee induced trance. She should pay attention to where she was going, she told herself and sighed.
"Hello love," a slightly drunk sounding Finn said. Rory always wondered how the heck he got so drunk all the time, mostly in the early hours already, but she never asked.
"Hi Finn," Rory said instead, smiling at her crazy friend. "Logan told me to tell you he was packing. But how's the hunt for the redheads coming?"
Finn and his love for any girl redheaded was famous around campus, Rory thought, and smiled. The guy was crazy, but Rory thought he was a great friend.
"I will see Logan later," Finn responded. "I haven't been able to find any redheads around here lately. Have you ever thought about being a redhead, love?"
Rory laughed out loud at that comment. It was kind of their inside joke. Someone who didn't knew them would have thought they were both crazy, which they were, a bit, but that wasn't the point. Nobody would get their redhead comments, but their group of friends.
"I like being a brunette, thank you Finn," Rory said, repeating the same line she said about every time he asked her that question.
"That's a pity," Finn said. "But I'm going to Logan's now, and I bet you want to go home, to your crazy coffee addict mother in that lunatic town."
She laughed out loud again. Finn knew some stories about Lorelai, mostly the things Rory told him about her. He also knew about the town, about Kirk and Taylor mostly.
"You'd fit right in," Rory called out to him as he left.
--
"My favorite daughter," Lorelai called out to Rory as she entered the house.
"You say that to all your daughters," Rory responded, speaking another inside joke line.
"But I only mean it with you," Lorelai said, smiling at the sight of her daughter. She was so glad Rory was home, after the incident at the internship. She was glad her daughter called her after that, because it meant Rory and her were still best friends. She didn't keep things from her. Lorelai would have freaked if Rory wouldn't have called her, and went to Logan and stole a yacht with him, or whatever he would have encouraged her daughter to do.
"Let's go to Luke and get the greatest coffee on earth," Rory then said. "I need that coffee. I already had about five cups today, but none of it was as great as Luke's."
Lorelai was so proud of Rory. She had gotten her coffee addicted, sure, but that wasn't a bad thing according to her. Nope, it was nice to have a 'mini-me'.
"I taught you well my child," Lorelai said, smiling proudly at her daughter.
--
"Coffee, coffee, coffee," Rory yelled when she entered the diner, in a perfect imitation of her mother without her daily coffee fix. The people in the diner didn't even look up at them, probably because they were used to Lorelai and Rory by now.
"Your liquid death is coming right up Rory," Luke said, trying to sound grumpy, but failing when he saw the love of his life and her daughter entering his diner.
"What about me Lukey Pooh," Lorelai pouted. "What about my coffee? I want it too. Dirty! You wouldn't deny your pretty girlfriend the elixir of life, right?"
Rory couldn't help but laugh. The routine had started again. Luke would always do this to them, denying them their precious coffee, until he caved in at the sight of the Gilmore pout Lorelai would do. The only reason he gave Rory her coffee immediately, was probably that she hadn't been around a lot lately. This was Luke slang for: "I missed you" and Rory knew it. She loved her hopefully soon to be step dad.
"Fine Lorelai, I'll give you a cup too," Luke said, pouring a cup for the both of them.
"Luke can I order something now," Kirk suddenly asked, surprising Rory. She had not seen the crazy man yet, but there he was, wearing a Big bird sweater, of all things.
"I'll be right up Kirk," Luke said. "You told me your mother told you that you had to wait an hour until you would eat something, right? You promised her."
Rory looked at her mother, and the two girls started giggling, while Luke walked to Kirk muttering something seeming a lot like 'lunatic'. Kirk should really move out of his mother's house for good. He tried it once, but it didn't work out apparently.
"Mom, check Kirk's sweater," Rory giggled. "It has Big Bird on it. What's next, pajamas with the Teletubbies on them?"
Lorelai laughed when Rory pointed out the Big Bird shirt to her, but she stopped laughing immediately after Rory mentioned the word pajamas.
"Kirk doesn't wear pajamas, he sleeps in the nude," Lorelai exclaimed, while Rory started laughing. "You think that that's funny? It absolutely isn't. You never had to witness Kirk with nothing then a strategically placed pillow. I am scarred for life after that Rory! Don't look at me like that! Luke, tell Rory that we experienced Kirk doesn't wear pajamas!"
The entire diner fell silent and looked at Lorelai and Rory, then turned to Luke, probably expecting some explanation for this interesting fact Lorelai just brought up. Kirk looked like he was going to cry any second, and Rory almost couldn't contain her laughter.
"You remember the test run of the inn, right," Luke said, as Rory stopped laughing at the memory of her stupid actions that night. "When Lorelai and I were standing outside, suddenly Kirk came running outside, with nothing but a pillow. That's the story."
Oh, that story, Rory thought. She remembered it now. Lorelai had told her this before, because it happened just after her first kiss with Luke. That was it, she thought.
"Do I want to know what you and mom were doing outside," Rory teased Luke.
"Dirty," the Gilmore Girls exclaimed, as Luke started blushing a bit.
"Ah jeez," Luke said. "I'll never live this down, won't I?"
Not when the two of them were around, Rory thought and smiled. This was going to be a good day. But she still had to call Jess. She couldn't wait.
--
When it was later that day, Rory finally found some private time to call Jess. She hated to exclude Lorelai from something, but Rory knew her mother wouldn't like it if she knew Rory was in contact with Jess again. However, if she told her Jess was the one who made sure she didn't do anything stupid after Mitchum's comments… She could do that later.
"Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up," Rory repeated her new mantra, while waiting for Jess to pick up the phone. "Come on Jess, just pick up."
Oops, someone picked up before Rory said that last line. If it was someone else than Jess, Rory would die out of embarrassment. What if it was his girlfriend? Rory wouldn't be able to handle that. She would hate it if he had a girlfriend. Rory wanted Jess back.
"I picked up Rory, don't worry," Jess said, a smirk almost audible. "I'm glad you called. You know, I almost thought you wouldn't call anymore. I almost called Luke to take your coffee away from you. That wouldn't be pretty."
Glad it was Jess who picked up, Rory smiled. But then she realized what Jess had said.
"Blasphemy," she said. "You can't take coffee away from a Gilmore girl!"
Jess started laughing out loud at that, making Rory less mad at him. His laugh had that effect on her, every single time she saw or heard it.
"Yes I can, Rory Gilmore," Jess then responded. "I have connections. But since you've been a good girl and called me, I will let you keep your precious coffee."
Good, he dropped the fake threat of making Luke take her coffee away. Rory knew it was all a joke, but she knew Jess would have tried to do it anyway. Dirty! She was sounding like her mother now.
"Thanks Jess, it means a lot to me," Rory just said.
"I'm sure it does," Jess said teasingly. "Now, on to the more serious stuff. What did Lorelai say when you told her about what Mitchum said? How did she react? Did she call him? Did she want to kill him? I guess she said something like that. Was she going to castrate Logan until you stopped her? What did she do?"
Since when did Jess become so talkative, Rory wondered. Sure, he wasn't monosyllabic man anymore, he could form nice and full sentences now, but he never asked this much questions in this short amount of time.
"Easy Jess, don't forget to breathe," Rory teased. "I'll tell you the answers to all of your thousand questions, if you just breathe. Anyway, Lorelai was mad at Mitchum when I told her, very mad. She wanted to call him, yell at him and threaten to kill him, but I stopped her in time. She told me never to marry Logan, which is about the opposite of what grandma is doing, but that's not the point. It was actually quite heavy."
Rory remembered it quite well. Lorelai wasn't mad very often, but when she was really mad, it wasn't pretty. Every person who hurt Rory had a problem, a very big problem. They'd get a crazy, coffee-hyper, and very mad Lorelai after them.
"I can only imagine," Jess said. "You should have watched her coffee intake before you told her… Just kidding Rory! You didn't tell her about me, did you? She would freak out even more then, am I right?"
The insecurity in his voice made Rory feel guilty. He sounded like he wasn't sure if she wanted him back in her life. Rory didn't want him to feel that way; she wanted Jess in her life. She just wasn't sure how her mother would react to this news, just after she heard Logan's father crushed her dreams. So Rory decided to wait.
"Listen to me Jess," Rory said. "I will tell my mother about you when she's less mad at everyone who ever hurt me. I can tell her when she comes back home tonight. I will tell her tonight. You hear me Jess? I promise I will tell her tonight. Don't you ever think that I am pushing you away!"
A slow exhale was audible, and Rory smiled. She hoped it meant that Jess believed her, and he wanted to be a part of her life. She really hoped so.
"Thanks Rory, I needed that," Jess admitted. "I really needed that. I can understand now, why you didn't tell Lorelai about me just yet. She was probably way too upset for you to tell. But what are you going to do with that boyfriend of yours? Are you going to tell him?"
Rory Gilmore just experienced the sweet and sensible side of Jess Mariano. That was a rare experience. He didn't show this side of him that often, and she was glad he opened up to her.
"I don't know what's been up with Logan lately," Rory confessed. "He has been a bit distant the last few days. Weeks actually. I don't think we'll be together much longer. I don't think I'm in love with him anymore. Maybe I'm still in love with you."
Dang, did she actually confessed all that to Jess? Rory hoped his sweet and sensible side would stay a bit longer. She kind of hoped Jess was still in love with her.
"I know you want to take it back now Rory," Jess said. "You don't have to. I don't know if I'm still in love with you. I might be…"
The doorbell started ringing, and Rory had to go and see who was there, because she was the only one home at the moment. She didn't want to stop talking to Jess.
"Jess, I need to check who's at the door now," Rory said.
"Just take the phone with you Rory," Jess said. "You can't hang up on me now, you know. I just said I might be in love with you."
That last line was spoken in a soap opera drama voice, and Rory started laughing, while she was on her way to the door. She would hate it if Dean was at the door, or someone stupid like him. She would have to hang up on Jess then. She didn't want to do that.
"Okay, hold on Jess," Rory said. "I'm going to open the door now."
Trying to open the door while carrying a phone was a bit difficult, so Rory grasped the phone between her left shoulder and her head and neck. Now she could open the door.
When she succeeded in opening the door, she gasped. It wasn't Dean at the door, or her mother. It wasn't Lane, or Sookie, or a crazy townie. It wasn't Logan, or Paris, or anyone else she knew from Yale. It wasn't someone she knew from Chilton. It was a very familiar person, a familiar hoodlum.
There, outside, in front of her door, stood Jess, holding his cell phone in his hand, smiling.
AN: Yeah, I am leaving it there. I wanted to let you all know who was at the door, but you have to wait a little longer for Rory's reaction to everybody's favorite hoodlum.
I'm terribly sorry if Logan is out of character. I have never written him before, and just don't get him sometimes. However, I love Finn because of his craziness.
I'm pretty upset, because the stupid network that broadcasts Gilmore Girls here in Holland, decided to do a GG hiatus till SEPTEMBER! And they stopped after 'Welcome to the Doll House'! I was already counting days till Jess would be back! GAH!
Anyway, I hope you all like the chapter. Leave a review, and let me know if you liked it!