Drip, drip, drip.

An anxious breath escaped Jess's lungs as he realized that he had been standing frozen in the exact same spot for almost ten minutes. A few light rain drops had begun to fall, andit wasswiftlyturning into a steady downpour,but he didn't take much notice. He just stood there, alternating between staring at the lace covering her window and his shoes.

She could be sitting on the other side of that window right now...just curled up on her bed reading. I should just do it. Yeah, I should just tap on her window and say – say – say what? That I'm sorry that I've been such a dumb ass? Sorry that I jilted you years ago and then proceeded to reappear in your life sporadically over the next few years...that sounds real great, there Jess. No wonder she turned you down at Yale. You're such a great catch; the drifter who no one can rely on. What the hell am I doing here? I gotta go.

At the end of his internal dialog he slowly turned on his heel and started walking away.

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"Hey, Rory, hun? Can you grab your mommy your pink fuzzy kitties?"

"The Hello Kitty queen ones?"

"Ooo, yeah! Puh-leaasse?" Lorelai bounced up and down on the couch excitedly.

"Sure mom. I'll use my third arm to get that, along with the soda, pizza, cookies, and Mala mars that I'm already bringing from the kitchen."

"Boy, are you a grouch."

"I'm grouchy because it's been too darn sunny lately. I mean, come on, where's the rain and snow that we should be having? Has Sean Connery been messing with that dang weather machine again?"

"Oh, I hope so! Then, Ralph Fiennes would have to come over and save the day...I wouldn't mind him saving my day. Haha, if you know what I mean..." she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and her daughter rolled her eyes.

"Ralph is nice, but I'd take Joe over him any day."

Rory deposited her mother's requested items down on the coffee table and then turned into her room to retrieve the slippers. She was about to grab them and go when a splattering sound on her window caught her attention.

"Finally! We get the rain that we should have gotten days ago!" she called out of the room. She rushed to the window to assess the weather when a lone figure retreating in the misty distance caught her eye. "Jess?" she whispered to herself. Panic and excitement filled her as she hurried out of the room, making her way toward the front door.

"Where are you going?"

Rory stopped in her tracks and muttered, "Oh, uh, I forgot this thing. Outside. Yep, forgot this thing outside."

"Ok, animal, mineral, or vegetable?"

"Very funny. I'll be right back." She rushed out of the door before any more questioning followed her. She walked briskly toward the man in front of her, all the while trying to convince herself that it couldn't really be Jess. It had to just be her imagination playing tricks on her, after all it's not the first time that she had fooled herself into thinking that she saw him somewhere and it turned out not to be him. Must just be the rain playing tricks on her, rain does do funny things to people. That's what this must be...one of those freaky weird sci-fi rain deals, that alters people's perceptions. Oh, this is silly. I'm not gonna keep following him, I'm just gonna catch up to him and call out his name. Then, when he turns around and it is obviously not him I just say sorry and turn around and walk away. I really need to get over all of this nonsense anyway.

She jogged up to the man and called out "Jess?"

The man halted and paused a moment before turning around. He spun to face her, water glistening in his black hair and dripping down the contours of his handsome face. His expression was unreadable and she had trouble catching her breath. She felt her teeth start to chatter and she unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself to fend off the impending chill.

"Here, take this," he shrugged out of his denim jacket offering it to her.

"Thanks," she barely glanced up as she put it on. "What were you doing?"

"Thought I'd stop by. Say hi."

"That usually works best when you actually let the person know that you're there."

"Hey, I told you that I was a professional driveway stalker," he gave her a slight smile.

"You did, didn't you?" There was a brief spell of silence. Her face suddenly split into a smile and she excitedly said, "I read your book. It's really really good, Jess!"

He tried to bite back the huge smile that was threatening to erupt over his face. "Aw, you just have to say that to be nice."

"No, really! It's great stuff! It's an insightful commentary on the human condition."

"You're making me blush," he replied sarcastically, though obviously reveling in the compliment. He looked up at the ever increasing blanket of gray above them. "Hey, do you want to maybe go sit down somewhere for coffee? Preferably somewhere with a roof?"

"Yeah, I would love to." The two started walking in quiet, each stealing nervous glances at each other.

"This is weird, huh?"

"Yeah, kinda." she continued looking ahead of her. "Not really, though. You always knew me the best, Jess..." she was interrupted by 'Moonlight Sonata' wafting through the air.

"Aren't you gonna answer that?" Jess quirked an eyebrow in her direction.

"Oh, well, no, I don't really feel like talking on the phone right now. It's funny, cuz I almost always have it on me, in my pocket, but I sometimes harbour this secret desire to not be accessible. You know, to say 'to hell with him' and just throw it away and hide forever."

"Who's him?"

"What?"

"You said 'to hell with him'"

"Oh, well, I meant to say 'them', you know, like Paris, the staff at the paper, all of that," she sighed.

"Huh."

She tilted her head toward him, the pair never breaking their stride. "Good to know some things never do change." At his questioning look she continued, "the monosyllabic responses."

He gave her a lopsided half smile. "Al's Pancake World?"

She nodded. "That would be good. Oh, today is the Thai food special."

"Should be interesting." He ushered her inside.

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So, what do you guys think! Please review, that would be totally awesome!