A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter 11! This one ended up being way longer than intended, but I'm not upset about it. Let's just say it makes up for how short chapter 3 was. Anyway, I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I hope you enjoy reading it!

Chapter 11

Since the beginning of the semester, it was obvious to Rory that things at the paper were far from good. Paris's leadership was less leading and more governing, and her coworkers were scared, terrified, to even breathe wrong when Paris was in the room, and the only time Paris wasn't in the room was when she was in her makeshift roofed cubicle, which was also in the room. She was in there during office hours, she was in there after dark, and she was in there the night all hell broke loose.

Paris's control had led almost everyone at the Daily News to quit. This, of course, happened the night the paper was supposed to go out. But, after finding out what was going on, Rory managed to rally the troops. Thanks to her, everyone came back to the paper, they got an extension on their print time, and managed to get the paper out on time. Unfortunately, Paris's involvement in the resignation of the entire staff led to the unanimous vote that she should be ousted. Even more unfortunately, it fell upon Rory to deliver the news.

Rory walked to the door of Paris's office (if you could call it an office) and knocked.

"Paris?" she called weakly.

"Come in."

Rory opened the door and ducked down to walk in. Inside, she saw Paris sitting at her desk cooking a can of soup on a hotplate. She had bypassed a pan and was instead cooking the soup in the can itself.

"Whoa…"

"Rory. Hi," she said, not looking up from her soup.

"Paris… I have some, um…" she hesitated, clearing her throat. "I have some bad news."

Paris stopped stirring her soup. "I'm out, aren't I?"

Rory's shoulders drooped. "Yes... Paris, I am so sorry."

"No it's… it's not like I didn't see this coming, especially after the other night."

"Still, it sucks. I'm sorry."

Paris looked up with a sad smile on her face. "Thank you, Rory. You're a good friend."

Rory reached over and gave Paris's arm a reassuring squeeze. "Now, should we face the music?"

"Yes, I guess we should" she sighed. "Let's get this over with."

Paris and Rory exited the office after turning off the hotplate. Paris gave a speech, thanking the staff for their time and hard work and claiming she was stepping down from her role as editor. Rory shot a glare at everyone who tried to cheer when Paris left the room.

The next day, that fateful Thursday in which Rory was due to be driving to Philadelphia to finally see Jess in person, there was a meeting in the newsroom. The staff was now left without an editor in chief and a new one needed to be elected. Unfortunately, after an hour of voting, they had reached nothing even close to consensus, and their strategy of shouting names of random staff members into the crowd proved fruitless. That is, until one final name was mentioned.

"Hey, what about Gilmore?"

Rory's head shot up from where she had been leaning on her desk. "Huh?!"

The rest of the room started to brighten. "Hey, I like that name," one chimed in. "Me too!" offered another.

"Whoa, guys, hold on, that's my name." Rory was frantically trying to get them to slow down.

"Rory, without you, there probably wouldn't be a Daily News anymore. Not if we hadn't released the paper the other night. That was all you." Rory's coworker, Sheila, was insistent.

"Well, I mean, it wasn't just me…"

"Don't be so humble, it was mostly you!"

"Well, I don't know…" The more she thought about it, she realized that being editor actually sounded kind of amazing. Still, she didn't want to jump to conclusions.

But, before Rory could object further, they voted. Unanimously, Rory was chosen as the new editor of the Yale Daily News. As her staff (her staff!) congratulated her and went on their way, a grin spread across her face. She went about her day, floating on a high. Life was good. She was leaving that afternoon to see Jess, she was editor of the Yale Daily News, and she was thriving in her schoolwork. But it all came crashing down when she arrived at her apartment to see all her belongings in the hallway outside the door.

"What the…"

She went to the door to unlock it, only to find that none of her keys worked any more. She pounded on the door and yelled Paris's name. The door opened as far as the chain would let it, revealing a livid Paris.

"You!" Paris growled through the crack in the door.

"Me?!"

"Judas!"

"What?!"

"Traitor!"

"Paris, what the hell is going on?"

"So, was all that just a game to you? Being nice to me, breaking the news about me being fired and then supporting me? Was that all just a lie?"

"What? No!"

"You just couldn't wait to swoop in and take the empty seat! My empty seat, Ms. Editor in Chief!"

"Oh… oh no…" Rory's stomach sunk.

"Oh no is right, Gilmore. We're through."

"Paris, just listen to me! It wasn't my choice! They voted me in!"

"Did you say no?"

"Well, no…"

"Then ultimately, it was your choice!"

"Paris, I have nowhere to go! You're just kicking me out?"

"You better believe it!"

"But- "

"No! I can't believe I thought you were my friend. My best friend! All this time, you were just using me." Paris's voice broke as she spoke.

"I'm sorry! Paris!" Rory yelled as Paris slammed the door in her face. She turned around, her grin having vanished from her face. Life was no longer so good.

Rory spent the next hour sitting on the floor in the grungy hallway outside the apartment she had previously called her own, choosing to not give any thought to how disgusting said floor may be. She had found a paper and was searching the classifieds for people who needed roommates, only to have no such luck. She was giving up hope when her phone rang, brightening slightly when she saw Jess's name on the display.

"I'm homeless!" she answered.

"Hello to you, too. Also, what?"

"Paris kicked me out. I'm homeless! Destitute! Displaced! Rejected!"

"Okay, human thesaurus, slow down. Why did Paris kick you out?"

"Well, it started with me getting elected as the new chief at the paper."

"What?! Rory, that's amazing!"

"It was! It was so great! But, Paris used to be the editor."

"Uh oh."

"And she was fired this week."

"Oh."

"And I broke the news to her, only to be elected the next day."

"Huh."

"Yup. As soon as she found out, she moved all of my stuff into the hall."

"She moved everything on her own? Wow… I have to admit, I'm impressed. Terrified, but impressed. Wait, so where are you now?"

"Sitting in the hall. Surrounded by my belongings. My books look sad, can books look sad?" Rory swore she heard Jess stifle a laugh. "Hey! This is not funny, your girlfriend is without a place to live."

"First of all, I was not laughing, I just… I coughed."

Rory was unconvinced. "Uh huh. Sure."

"Second, I've heard about that apartment and its so-called 'do-wop group' and I don't like the idea of you sitting there all alone."

"Aw, I like the protective side of you."

"Hey, I just don't want to find out from Paris that you were beaten to death with your own sad-looking books."

"Probably wouldn't be the best way to go. Still, I like when your sensitive side comes out."

"Third, you're already coming here tonight, why don't you stay the weekend? Give yourself some time to scour the paper for a new place."

Rory's heart skipped a beat. "Wait, really? Jess, I couldn't ask you to house me for the weekend, I don't want to put you out."

"Hey, you're not asking, I'm offering. Plus, you're welcome company. I don't get to see you enough as it is, it'd be nice to spend some time together. Even if it's spent pouring over newspaper and internet ads posted by lunatics begging for roommates."

Rory's grin returned. "Well, if you're sure I'm not imposing, then yeah, I'd love to."

"Then it's settled. Do you have somewhere to keep your stuff?"

"I think I might be able to bribe Doyle into getting him to convince Paris to let me store it in my old room for the weekend."

"Good. Then as soon as that gets worked out, get yourself out of that nasty hallway and on the road."

Rory's smile returned. "So, I'll see you tonight then?"

"See you, tonight."

Rory hung up the phone and called Doyle, whom she bribed with a prime story in the following week's paper and who got Paris to agree to let Rory store her things over the weekend. Though Paris glared at her the entire time she singlehandedly moved her things back into the apartment, before long Rory was packed for the weekend and on the road to Philadelphia.

Rory spent much of her drive on the phone with Lorelai brainstorming living situations. They decided that if worst came to worst, Rory would move back home temporarily. Though the commute from Stars Hollow to New Haven wasn't exactly thrilling, living at home was better than nothing. After her conversation, Rory turned on some music and settled in for the last leg of her drive.

An hour later, she pulled into the parking lot of Truncheon Books, stomach full of excited butterflies. She climbed out of her car as Jess stepped outside into the late winter drizzle. A smile lit up her face as their eyes met for the first time since Christmas. His hair lay naturally, sans hair product, parted on the side, and his stubble had grown out the slightest bit. He wore a blazer over a t-shirt with dark pants and sneakers. All of it together gave him an air of maturity. She admired how grown up and professional he looked, simultaneously appreciating how his blazer hugged his arms and shoulders and how these pants fit snugger than his jeans typically did. She bit her lip, wishing she looked a little less like she had spent the day in meetings, moved all her belongings into an apartment by herself, and then driven three hours without time for a shower.

But Jess didn't see any of that. He saw those beautiful, bright blue eyes that made his heart skip a beat whenever they met his. He saw how beautiful she somehow looked, even after the rollercoaster of a day she had had, hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. Her bangs had grown out since he had last seen her and they framed her face perfectly now, and Jess couldn't help but notice how her simple jeans and t-shirt combo hugged her curves. He grinned and stepped towards her before grabbing her waist and pulling her into a firm kiss, dipping her dramatically and making her laugh. The kiss sent a warmth coursing through her that masked the chill in the air. He stood them both back up and drew back slightly, just enough to rest his forehead against hers. "Hi," he whispered. "Hi," she whispered back.

Suddenly, loud whooping and cheering emanated from the doorway. They startled and pulled apart, looking for the origin of the sound. "Ah, jeez…" Jess groaned as he looked down at his shoes in embarrassment, a pink tinge on his cheeks. There, just outside Truncheon, were his roommates slash coworkers, Matthew and Chris, applauding Rory and Jess's greeting. Rory blushed and bit her lip as she giggled quietly, embarrassed that this was her first encounter with them.

"Very nice, Mariano! I'd give it a 9/10!" shouted Matthew.

"Shut up, asshole." Jess shouted back, doing his best to sound annoyed but simultaneously smirking.

"Hey, where's the love?" The two men jeered and hassled for a minute longer before giving up and going back inside.

"So those are…" Rory began, trying to stifle her giggling.

"Yep, that's Matt and Chris. Just ignore them." Rory could almost swear that Jess was blushing. It was adorable.

"Aw, they're just teasing."

"They're jerks." He avoided eye contact, still suppressing the smile that was trying to escape.

Rory placed her hand on Jess's cheek. "Hi."

He looked into her eyes. "Hi."

"I think we've been here before."

"Many times."

"At least we're aware of it."

Jess smiled and kissed her tenderly, savoring the moment.

The drizzle began to turn into rain and Jess ushered Rory inside, grabbing her bag from her car. Once inside, Rory gazed around in awe, eyes wide. The space was a large room, its walls lined with bookshelves and paintings. Stairs off to one side led up to what Rory assumed to be the apartment that Jess shared with Matthew and Chris. Jess followed her inside, amused at the stunned admiration on her face.

"Jess, this place is amazing!"

"Ah, it's nothing special."

"Stop," she said, playfully smacking Jess's arm. "I'm serious. It's incredible. It makes me instantly want to create something! Give me a pen, give me a paintbrush!"

He leaned against the staircase and gazed at her lovingly as she explored the room, picking up books and examining the art around her. It was like he was seeing the space for the first time, through her eyes, and it made him appreciate it more than he ever had. After a few minutes, Jess wandered over to where Rory was reading the back cover of a novel she'd found on a display table.

"Want a tour of the apartment?"

"Wow, Jess, so forward," she said, feigning disapproval. "But, if you insist…" she started to walk towards the stairs before Jess caught her hand, chuckling.

"I meant, do you want to see where the guys and I live and where you'll be living for the next three days? Nothing dirty implied there."

Rory laughed. "Fine, let's see the apartment."

Once upstairs, Jess gave her the tour. The door opened into the living room, which housed a couple mismatched couches, an old coffee table, and a TV. Behind that was a dining table adjacent to the kitchen. To the right of the living room was a door that Jess told Rory was Matt and Chris's room and no, she did not want to see that, and another door that led to the bathroom. To the left of the living room was a door that led to his room. Jess opened said door and led her in, carrying her overnight bag in one hand and holding her hand in the other. As they entered, Rory's jaw dropped. It was a small bedroom, consisting of a dresser under the window, a full-size bed across from it, and walls of bookshelves everywhere else. Every shelf was full, books tucked tightly in next to each other and leaving no room for more.

"You've been holding out on me!" she said in awe as she walked from shelf to shelf, taking in their contents and secretly trying to figure out his organizational system.

"Yeah, well, you can get acquainted with my books this weekend. C'mere." He sat down on the bed and grabbed her hand, pulling her into his lap and kissing her. Rory leaned into it, returning the kiss fervently before Jess pulled away, his hand caressing her cheek and tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I missed you," he said softly.

Rory smiled. "I missed you, too." She moved to kiss him again, only to be interrupted by Jess's name being shouted from downstairs in a less-than-pleased tone of voice.

Jess winced and hung his head, leaning against Rory's collarbone. "Crap. I have to get down there, people are going to start showing up soon."

Rory pouted. "Is it already that late?" Jess showed Rory his watch. The open house was due to start in less than an hour. "Shoot, I need to shower and change still." Her stomach growled as she realized she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. "And eat, apparently."

Jess chuckled and sat up. "Shower's all yours, the guys and I have to finish setting things up downstairs. I'll make you a sandwich or something real quick. Go shower, eat, and I'll see you downstairs when you're done."

Rory grinned, standing up to get her clothes out of her bag. "Hey, you're nice!"

"That's why you keep me around," Jess said, walking out the door. Rory grabbed his hand before he could leave and kissed him passionately. "Thanks again for letting me stay here this weekend." She kissed him on the cheek and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door and leaving Jess standing in his doorway feeling blissfully dazed.

Rory walked downstairs and into Truncheon an hour later in a V-neck burgundy sweater, a black corduroy skirt, sheer black tights, and black boots, her hair down and softly curled, smiling at the group of reporters, writers, artists, and guests already milling about the space. She spent most of the open house tucked away in a corner, switching back and forth between reading and proudly watching Jess at work. She spent some of her time chatting casually with April and Luke who were in town for an event with April's class. Rory watched amusedly as Luke tried to decipher the various pieces of modern art around the place and enjoyed helping April find some new reading content. But her happiest place was standing out of the way, beaming at Jess. Every so often, he would turn away from a conversation looking slightly drained and catch her eye. She'd offer him an encouraging smile, knowing this sort of event wasn't exactly his forte, and he would perk up the tiniest bit. Later, as things dialed down, people left, and the event came to an end, Jess found Rory in a chair rereading his book, The Subsect.

"God, you so do not have to read that again."

Rory looked up at him smiling. "This happens to be one of my favorite books, I'll read it as many times as I want to."

"I would change so much of it," he said with a grimace, sitting down across from her, his knees touching hers.

"Really? Like what?"

He moved his hand as if he were waving away the pages he wanted to discard. "I'd keep the cover, that's about it."

"Aw, come on!" She looked down, leafing through the book once more until she felt a hand on her chin, lifting her eyes to his. She smiled slightly and leaned forward, her lips meeting Jess's.

"Thank you for coming tonight. It means a lot." Jess spoke softly.

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," she whispered back.

Jess kissed her again, a little more passionately than before. He spoke, his voice low. "I ordered Chinese"

"A man after my own heart," she murmured, a smile dancing across her lips.

"The guys are going to the bar across the street," Jess said, kissing Rory's neck.

"So that means…" she muttered, becoming less interested in food by the second.

"Apartment to ourselves." His kisses continued down her neck, sending tingles down her spine.

"Hmm…" she moaned thoughtfully. "Interesting."

There was a knock at the door.

"Food's here," Jess said quietly.

"Food can wait." Rory whispered, looking into Jess's eyes intentionally.

Jess chuckled. "Yeah, but the delivery guy probably doesn't want to."

Rory chuckled, realizing. "Oh, right."

They stood up as Jess pulled Rory tightly into another passionate kiss. "Go on up, I'll get the food."

Rory ran up the stairs to the apartment. As she entered, she suddenly felt awkward and nervous. She didn't know what to do with her hands, whether she should sit or stand, where she should wait in the bedroom or in the living room. There were too many options and none of them felt right. So, she stood awkwardly in the neutral territory between living room and dining table, arms folded. She felt like an idiot for being so nervous. It wasn't like anything they were planning on doing that night was new to her. But it was new to them, and Rory had been anticipating it for longer than she cared to admit, and the fact that it was finally happening was making her feel like she was 16 all over again. Jess came in carrying bags of takeout and chuckled. "You okay?"

"Ugh, I feel so stupid!"

"What? Why?" Jess asked, looking less amused and more concerned.

"I came up here and suddenly forgot how to be a normal, fully functioning human being and decided to just stand here stupidly. I literally decided to just stand here. I feel like I'm back in high school. It's not like I've never done this before! But I've never done this with you, and I really, really want to! But you're standing there looking all perfect and sexy and businessy and you make me nervous and now I'm standing here babbling at you." She hid her face in her hands.

Jess stifled a laugh. "I look sexy and 'businessy'?"

"Yes! You look amazing and you smell fantastic and I'm babbling like a moron about it because that's what I am now, apparently, a moron."

Jess set down the bags on the coffee table and walked over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Rory. Breathe. Now, I appreciate the compliments, I'll make sure to dress business-sexy around you more often. But take comfort in knowing you are not the only one that's nervous."

She looked up at him. "I'm not?"

"God, no. When you came downstairs earlier, looking like," he gestured vaguely to her entire being, "that, Rory… I felt like I couldn't breathe."

"Really?" Her voice was small.

"Yes, really. Rory…" He brushed her hair out of her face, closing the gap between them. "You're beautiful."

"Wow, you authors sure have a way with words," she whispered.

"Yeah, well, that's why they pay us the big bucks." He kissed her once, slowly, savoring the moment. Then again, sinking into it. He felt Rory's hands run through his hair, sending a shiver down his back that made the hairs on his arms stand on end. He trailed kisses down her neck, onto her collarbone, pulling her sweater down and kissing her shoulder. Rory shuddered at the contact, a smile dancing onto her lips. As Jess worked his way back up her neck, she wrapped her arms around his neck, fearing her wobbly legs would give out at any second. She pulled him in, kissing him deeply, intensely. As they became more entranced in one another, losing themselves in thrill and anticipation, he picked her up, Rory's legs wrapping themselves around Jess's waist, his hands under her thighs, as Jess walked them both into his room, shutting and locking the door behind them.

Rory lay in Jess's arms, his hand stroking her arm gently, bedsheets strewn haphazardly on and around them. She sighed contentedly, her hand resting on his chest.

"That was…" she began.

"No kidding." Jess replied, sounding a little dazed.

Rory laughed softly. "As long as it took us to get here, it was worth the wait." Jess didn't respond. Rory looked up at him and saw his brow had furrowed. She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's… nothing, I'm fine."

Rory propped herself up on her elbow. "Jess, it's obviously not nothing. Tell me."

"I… I'm sorry."

"What? For what?" Rory's brow furrowed.

"It's my fault it took us so long to get here," he said, avoiding eye contact. His voice was a whisper.

"Oh, Jess, come on…"

"No, it is. I ran. Multiple times. And I hurt you. I know I apologized, that we talked about all this, I just... I hate that I hurt you. You didn't deserve it, Rory. I wasn't… I wasn't the boyfriend you deserved. You were the best thing that ever happened to me. Still are. I'm just sorry I took so long to realize it. I'm sorry for all of it." His voice cracked on the last word.

Tears had welled up in Rory's eyes. Even after so much time had passed, how different they had become, how much they had grown, he was still beating himself up over the choices he made at 18. "Jess… It wasn't just you. I'm far from blameless for everything that happened between us in high school. I didn't fight for you, I didn't trust you like I should have. And that night you came to Yale… I really wanted to leave with you. You scared me, the idea scared me, and the fact that I wanted to go with you scared me, and I reacted by yelling in your face and refusing to leave. I saw how much that hurt you, and I'm sorry for that."

"You don't need to apologize for that, I was an idiot back then."

"We both were." He looked her in the eye. "It's only been a few years, but we were such different people then than we are now. Our relationship back then was so very far from perfect." Jess looked away again. "But now…" She put her hand on his face, making him meet her eyes. "We weren't ready then. We are now."

He gazed at her before placing his hand over hers. He placed a small kiss on her palm and let it rest on his face.

This was it. This was the moment. Jess knew it in his bones, just as he'd known that he felt it since the first day he met her. He sat up a little straighter and looked her in the eyes.

"Rory…" he faltered before regaining his courage. "I love you."

Rory's breath caught in her throat as she blinked back the tears stinging her eyes.

"Don't think you need to say it back yet, or anything. I just… I needed to tell you the right way this time. I'm not going anywhere, not now or ever," he whispered, his eyes searching her face.

A smile slowly spread across Rory's face. Her thumb stroked Jess's cheek.

"I love you, too, Jess," she said softly.

Jess's face broke out in a crooked grin at Rory's words. He leaned down and kissed her softly before laying back down and pulling her close to him. Rory tucked her head under Jess's chin and snuggled into him, closing her eyes and smiling softly. Jess placed a small kiss on the top of her head before closing his own eyes.

"Goodnight, Dodger," Rory whispered.

Jess's grin only grew wider.

"Goodnight, Rory."