A/N: Hello and happy whatever-day-it-is-when-you-read-this! It's finally time for Rory to get out of Gilmore Mansion, a task that should go flawlessly... Right?

Read, review, and enjoy if you wish!

Chapter 4

Rory and Jess talked briefly on Tuesday to iron out all the details of her move. Emily and Richard would both be out of the house until late Wednesday night for a function with Richard's work, and Emily had conveniently fired the current maid after dinner Tuesday night and had yet to hire a new one. There would be no one there to witness her escape, no one to tattle on her when she left. Jess would show up early Wednesday evening and he and Rory would pile her belongings into their cars and make their way to Stars Hollow.

Wednesday morning came around and Rory spent more time picking out what to wear than she thought she should. She finally decided on her favorite jeans and a flattering dark blue sweater. Comfortable enough to carry boxes in, but it made her feel good about herself. She shook her head at herself, not wanting to give much thought as to why she cared so much about how she looked that day. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and put together the final boxes of personal items. She went about her day with a nervous energy, packing a few last-minute things and counting the minutes to when Jess was supposed to show up. When the time finally came and she heard the doorbell ring, she jumped out of her skin and almost tripped down the stairs trying to get to the door.

She opened the door just to have Jess lightly toss a book in her direction. She caught it clumsily, blushing at her bumble.

"What's this?" she asked, examining the cover.

Jess shrugged. "Just something I found in one of the bookstores I went to. Thought you might like it."

Rory grinned. "Wow, thank you! And here I don't have anything for you but boxes of my junk for you to transport."

"I have a feeling you'll find a way to pay me back," he said teasingly.

She blushed again and avoided looking directly at him. What was happening here? She reminded herself that they were old friends. Teasing and banter was just what they did.

"So… I love the doorway, it's great, but I'm not how well we'll be able to move all those boxes you mentioned if we stay here," he said with a smirk.

She suddenly realized that they were still standing in the doorway.

"Oh! Sorry, jeez, where is my brain today. Yes, please, come in." She stepped out of the doorway and gestured inside. He stepped in, taking in the foyer of the large house. She really looked at him for the first time since she'd opened the door. He was wearing black jeans and a gray long-sleeve button down under his jean jacket. His hair fell a little more naturally than it used to, seeming to be less full of product than it was when they were in high school. It looked great like that, kind of loose and floppy. She caught herself staring and quickly looked away, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"Can I get you anything to drink before we get to work? Coffee? Tea?" she offered, desperate to do something other than stand around but not wanting to jump straight into moving.

"Coffee would be great, thanks."

"Sure! Coffee's in the kitchen, follow me." She led the way through the foyer, the front room, the dining room, the hallway, and finally into the large kitchen.

"Jeez, I knew this place was huge, but I didn't realize just how huge it was," he said in amazement.

She laughed lightly. "Yeah, well, it's felt pretty small ever since they forced me out of the pool house and into here." She handed him a cup of coffee and poured one for herself.

"You were living in the pool house?" He had heard small snippets of the story from Luke, but his uncle had been hesitant to tell a story that wasn't his to tell.

"Yeah, I moved in there at the beginning of all this. But when they found out—" she stopped herself, not wanting to make things even more awkward by telling the story of how her grandparents found out she and Logan were having sex and forced her to move under their roof. "Well, it's a long story, but they weren't pleased with the fact that I hadn't found my way back to school yet or something and filled the pool house with storage supplies, giving me the only option to move into the room they had for me here in the main house." She took a drink of her coffee, savoring its ability to stop her from rambling for the moment.

Jess stood across from her, leaning against the counter and taking in the woman standing in front of him. She was as beautiful as ever and she had a little more light in her stunning blue eyes than she had the night at the bar. She never failed to make his heartrate increase the tiniest bit. He had so many questions but decided to start with the one most connected to his reason for being there.

"So, can I ask what spurred this? Moving and everything? You sounded pretty urgent on the phone the other day," he asked delicately.

She knew he was going to ask. She just hadn't quite figured out how to explain everything that had led to her decision. Especially since he was the one that had sparked her life turn around.

"Just, things have been especially tense with my grandma lately, then we had a fight at a luncheon on Saturday, and I just needed out. It was time, for a lot of things." She offered a partial truth and took a breath, saving the full truth for a later time. Thankfully, he seemed to accept it.

Jess nodded and finished his coffee, deciding now was not the time to tease her about her "luncheon", and set aside his cup. "Well, knowing you and your books, I'm sure we've got plenty of boxes to move. Shall we?"

Rory placed their mugs in the dishwasher. "We shall." She led him up the stairs to her room where she had her things in boxes, bags, and suitcases.

"God, how the hell did you keep this hidden from your grandmother? Based on how sneaky you had to be last time I was here I would've thought she'd have found you out by now, especially considering the sheer number of boxes you have."

Rory laughed. "To be honest, I lock the door whenever I'm home, and I've made sure to be home as much as possible in the past couple days. Then, for when I'm not home, I practiced some tricks I learned from Lane growing up and hid things. The closet, under the bed, even in the fireplace." She took a small box from behind the unburned wood in the fireplace and placed it on the floor. "It also helps that this room was furnished and decorated like someone was living here before I even moved in, so my things slowly disappearing wasn't super obvious." They both looked around the room with a grimace, knowing that the pink frills and boyband posters were far from Rory's taste.

"Well, we don't want to be moving things when they get home. No offense to your grandparents, but I'm pretty sure they don't like me I don't feel like chitchatting with them today of all days." Jess said as he picked up the first box.

"None taken, I'm right there with you." Rory followed suit and picked up another box, and they headed down the stairs, starting the next chapter of Rory's life.

After a few trips up and down the stairs for the two, light conversation flowing easily between them, they had just about everything packed into their cars. They worked diligently taking few breaks until before they knew it, two hours had passed and it was 5:30. Rory had to be at Lane's by 6:00 so as be done transferring her things from one place to the next before Lane's band practice started, but there were a few things still left in the room. Jess offered to grab them and put them in his car and meet her at Lane's, so Rory thanked him profusely for the hundredth time and got in her car and left. Jess went up to Rory's old room and picked up the final box only to have the bottom release, dumping books all over the floor. "Dammit, c'mon…" he mumbled as he knelt down to clean up. As he was putting the box back together and refilling it, he heard the front door open. Assuming it was Rory coming back to grab something she had forgotten, Jess continued to refill the box without apprehension. That is, until he heard a deep voice calling through the house. Jess's stomach dropped. Rory's grandfather was home early and had no idea of his granddaughter's planned disappearance or the help she was getting from Jess. Jess had never met Richard Gilmore, but he had met Emily. That evening had not gone well, and Jess regretted the negative impression he left on Rory's grandmother and, by extension, her grandfather. Thankfully, Richard would not recognize Jess's face, so hoping Emily was still absent, Jess picked up the box and walked downstairs to face the music.

"… and Emily, I'm writing the check for the gardener. He's overcharging us for the simple task of pruning the bushes and cleaning up the patio after the dirt he laid down got everywhere, but I couldn't talk him down. Something to do with a sick cousin he needed money for. His old beater of a car is still in the driveway, too, disgusting thing. He must be living in it, it's full of boxes. Anyway—" Richard heard footsteps coming down the stairs behind him and turned to talk to his wife, only to find a young man in torn jeans coming down the stairs carrying a box.

"Who the hell are you?! And what are you doing in my house?!" Richard stood abruptly and looked at Jess, his face full of bewilderment.

Jess was already irked by this man. He needed to get through this interaction with minimal confrontation, for Rory's sake as well as his own. He avoided eye contact and continued to move toward the door as quickly as he could without running. "Friend of Rory's. Helping her with something" he said shortly. He continued to move past Richard but was stopped by the man stepping directly in front of him. Man, he was tall, annoyingly so.

"Explain yourself young man! What is your name and what on earth are you helping Rory with?!"

"None of your business, now if you'd excuse me…" He tried and failed to step around Richard.

"No, I will not excuse you! This is my house and Rory is my granddaughter and I demand to know what's going on!" Richard looked down at Jess, furious.

Jess looked Richard in the eye for the first time as his face gave way to the slightest sneer. "Look, I'm just here to help her out with something, not answer questions. Now, she's waiting for me, and I need to go, so please. Excuse me." Jess sidestepped around Richard and made his way out the door and into his car. He released a breath he wasn't previously aware he had been holding before putting his key in the ignition and leaving the driveway as quickly as was safe, leaving Richard standing in the door with a face as red as his bowtie.

Jess felt a little bad about being rude to Richard, only because he knew Rory would have to deal with the aftermath. But he laughed to himself as he pictured Richard's complete and utter shock at seeing Jess come down the stairs. He pressed on the gas pedal as he took the exit towards Stars Hollow. He wasn't exactly thrilled to be going back to that freak show of a town, but it had been a safe space for him while he lived there and appreciated a chance to see his Uncle Luke. A little part of him also looked forward to the look on Rory's face when he told her that he had finally met her grandfather.