Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did own them, Jess and Rory would have lived happily ever after the first time.

A/N: Wow, thanks for the great response to the first chapter! Here's the second chapter. Please review it! And please go read Bend and Not Break and review that too::end of shameless pleading:

Dos

"Gilmore. Conference Room. Now." Her boss, Mr. O'Brien barked at her. He didn't even stop walking as he ordered her to follow him.

Rory raised her eyebrows in curiosity. Mr. O'Brien had never requested to speak to her alone before. She stood, smoothed the front of her black skirt, and pushed her desk chair in. She walked quickly into the conference room where her boss was already sitting at the head of the long table.

"Sit, Gilmore." He commanded, not looking up from the papers he was reading.

Rory did as she was told, taking a seat to the left of her very large, intimidating boss. They sat in silence for a few moments as her boss continued to read. Finally, he spoke.

"How long you been working for Rand Florin Publishing, Gilmore?" Mr. O'Brien asked.

"I came in as a copy editor about 2 years ago. I was promoted to assistant editor last year." Rory responded.

Mr. O'Brien nodded. "You usually work with Johnson or Ritter, correct?"

"Yes, sir." Rory said, nodding.

"You've never had an author to yourself though?" Mr. O'Brien asked.

"No, sir." Rory said, trying to quell her excitement. Could she finally be getting her first solo assignment?

"You ready to take one on?" Mr. O'Brien demanded.

"Oh, yes sir!" Rory said, her excitement surfacing despite her efforts to silence it. "I'm definitely ready."

Mr. O'Brien nodded. "I've got an author coming in today that I want you to meet. We signed him last week. Bright boy around your age. Good writer, possibly a great writer. Shouldn't be too many issues with the actual work, but he's sloppy. Deadlines, drafts, chapters, excerpts, things like that. Johnson and Ritter agreed that you excel in those areas. They said you'd be perfect for this guy."

Rory nodded eagerly. "Absolutely. I can definitely handle this. Thank you so much, Mr. O'Brien."

Mr. O'Brien waved off her thanks and slid some folders to her. "This is everything you need to know about him. Writes under the name J.F. York. His contract is in there. So are his deadlines. When I said he was sloppy, I meant it. His first draft was written on receipts and napkins."

"You're kidding!" Rory said, both amused and amazed.

"Actually, a good part of chapter 14 was written on a pizza box. The grease spots added a challenge." A familiar voice said from behind her. Rory turned around slowly. Jess was standing in the doorway, leaning against it casually with his arms crossed across his chest. He was smiling slightly, and his smile stayed in place even after locking eyes with Rory.

"Ah, Mr. York." Mr. O'Brien said. "Come in, sit."

"It's Jess." Jess responded, taking a seat across from Rory.

"Right, right." Mr. O'Brien said, standing. "Jess, this is Ms. Gilmore. She's the editor in charge of your book."

Jess looked at Rory with a smirk. "Ms. Gilmore." He said in acknowledgement, reaching across the table to shake Rory's hand.

Rory had to smile at the strange situation. She met Jess's hand with her own and the shook as if they'd never met before. "Mr. York, it's a pleasure."

Mr. O'Brien nodded. "OK, I'll leave you two to it then. If either of you has any questions, feel free to see me." He walked out of the room quickly before either could respond.

As soon as he was gone, Rory and Jess met each other's eyes again.

"So," Rory said awkwardly, "You're a writer."

"Yup." Jess said, leaning back and swinging his legs onto the conference table. He tucked his hands behind his head and said, "You're an editor."

Rory nodded and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yeah."

They looked at each other again and Jess's lips began to twitch. Then, all of a sudden, he was laughing loudly.

"Why are you laughing?" Rory asked nervously.

"This!" Jess motioned to himself, to Rory, and then to the room. "The whole situation. You don't think it's funny?" He asked, still laughing.

"No." Rory said, frowning. Slowly, as Jess kept laughing, that frown turned into a smile. "OK, yeah. A little."

Jess finally stopped laughing, and awkward silence filled the room. Each time Jess tried to meet Rory's eyes, she quickly looked in another direction.

"So," Rory began as she looked down at the files she had before her, "I haven't gotten to read a draft of your book yet, but…"

"I'm not mad at you." Jess said quickly.

"What?" Rory asked, her head shooting up to look at him.

"I figured I might as well say it now in hopes of avoiding any more of this awkward, uncomfortable feeling. Well, avoiding as much awkwardness as possible, anyway. I'm not mad."

"Good." Rory said. "You don't really have a right to be."

Jess smirked, "Well, neither do you. So, here we are."

"Yes. Here we are." Rory said. "And I think it's better for both of us if we keep this completely professional."

Jess nodded. "Fine. Professional. Agreed."

"Good." Rory said. "Now, as I was saying, I haven't had the opportunity to read a draft of your book yet, as I was just given this assignment today. However, I-."

"Christiane Amapour was never an editor, was she?" Jess demanded.

Rory looked at him blankly. "What?"

"You heard me. You wanted to be an overseas correspondent. What are you doing at a publishing house?"

Rory sighed. "What happened to keeping it professional?"

"We are." Jess said with a shrug. "We're talking about profession, aren't we?"

Rory had to smile at the way he was twisting logic. Some things didn't change.

"I decided journalism wasn't right for me." Rory said.

Jess raised his eyebrows. "It's all you ever wanted to do, and you were good at it."

"It wasn't for me, OK?" Rory said, getting defensive. "I decided it wasn't for me and that I was much better suited for publishing. It's what I decided to do because it's what was right for me."

"Whoa." Jess said, holding his hands up. "I didn't mean to get you all upset. Sorry."

"I'm not upset." Rory said harshly.

"You seem a little upset." Jess said, smirking.

"Well, I'm not." Rory replied quickly. "Can we please continue?"

"Sure." Jess said, curious about what had caused that outburst. "Sorry. Go ahead."

"Thank you." Rory said. "Now, I haven't read your draft yet, but according to these deadlines, your next draft is due in two weeks. Is that right?"

Jess nodded.

"OK, well I'll have my suggestions and corrections to you in about two days. Will that be enough time for you to work them into that draft?"

Jess nodded again.

"Good." Rory said. "What's your book about?"

Jess didn't answer. He just looked at her silently.

"Well?" Rory asked, impatiently.

Jess continued to sit there quietly.

Rory dropped her head in her hands. "Are you going to say anything?" She demanded, frustrated.

"Everything I say seems to be making you mad so I thought I'd try not talking. That seems to be making you mad too though. You need to make up your mind." Jess said, still smirking.

Rory sighed. "This isn't going to work."

"Don't say that. I'm just messing around. You know me." Jess said.

No. She didn't. Rory didn't know Jess anymore. They hadn't known each other since they were 18. Some aspects of his personality had changed. The old Jess would've been mad and would've refused to work with her. Hell, the old Jess wouldn't have written a book. Yet, he seemed to have the same sarcastic, nonchalant nature that he'd always possessed.

"Look. I'll behave." Jess said. "OK? I'll be good. You asked what my book was about? It's a novel about a 14-year-old Italian boy who moves to America with his parents. They die and he's thrown into the system. He gets tossed around to different orphanages and foster homes until he's 18, when he's thrown out into the streets of America for pretty much the first time. He struggles to make something of himself, but he ends up killing himself by throwing himself in front of a bus."

"Wow." Rory said. "That's morbid."

Jess shrugged. "That's life."

"I guess." Rory said. "Well, it sounds great. Did you do research on the department of children and family services?"

Jess nodded. "I spent 6 months tailing social workers and asking them questions. I learned a lot."

"Impressive." Rory said, nodding. "I can't wait to read it. I mean, you're getting it published so it can't be terrible."

Jess laughed. "Please, Rory. You work in publishing. You should know that getting a book published means nothing."

Rory was going to argue, but instead she allowed herself to snicker. "Yeah, you're right. Even if your book sucks though, I have to pretend to like it."

"Oh?" Jess asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Rory nodded seriously. "It's in your contract."

The two shared a smile before Rory looked away and said, "OK, so anyway, what major revisions are you working on right now?"


Rory's eyes snapped open and she looked around in confusion. Where was she? What happened? Why did her clothes feel so big?

"Oh, yeah." Rory whispered. For a moment, she had forgotten where she was and why she was there. Logan had called off the wedding. She was in Jess's apartment.

Jess's apartment. She thought, amazed. What had possessed her to come here? Oh yes. Fear of how everyone else was going to react. Fear that facing everyone was going to make the situation ten times more painful than it already was. Jess though…she knew that he wasn't going to judge her or blame her for this. She knew that he'd let her cry and cope and not try to push her into feeling any particular way about the situation. She knew that he'd take care of her and more importantly, let her take care of herself without doting or freaking out. Rory knew that he'd be her friend through this.

"Morning." Jess called from his small kitchen.

"Morning?" Rory asked, confused.

"Yup." Jess said, not turning his attention away from the eggs he was making. "You've been asleep since yesterday afternoon."

"Huh." Rory said, sitting up.

"Hey, that's my line." Jess said jokingly, sliding the scrambled eggs onto a plate. He buttered some toast and put that on the plate as well. He picked up a fork, placed it on top of the plate, grabbed a full coffee mug and brought it all over to Rory. He placed the meal on the coffee table and said, "You must be starving. This is the only stuff I had in the apartment, so…"

"It's fine." Rory cut him off. "It's more than fine. Thank you."

Rory dug into her eggs and sighed as she chewed them. She devoured them quickly, the toast soon following. She washed it all down by swallowing her coffee in no more than four gulps.

Jess stood smirking with his arms folded across his chest as he watched her eat.

"Why are staring at me like that?" Rory asked, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

Jess laughed and said, "Because you just ate a whole meal in under four minutes. I think that's a new record."

Rory swallowed the last of her coffee. "I haven't eaten since the day before yesterday." She said in a small voice.

"Hey, I'm not judging." Jess said, putting his hands up defensively.

Rory allowed a small smile to form. "I know."

She was smiling. Jess noticed immediately, but didn't want to say anything. He knew that she didn't want him to draw any attention to her circumstances. That's why she'd come to him in the first place.

Rory's smile faded as she began to toy with her engagement ring. "I guess I should get back to the hotel."

Jess shrugged. "I'm not kicking you out." He said simply. He took the plate from in front of Rory and brought it over to the sink, where he rinsed it off and left it for later. He turned back to Rory and asked, "Are you ready to face everybody? If you are, then leave. If not, you don't have to leave."

"I know that I'm not ready." Rory whispered. "I can't go back there."

Jess shrugged. "You don't have to. Spend the rest of the day with me."

Rory looked at Jess. "I don't have any clothes."

Jess shrugged yet again. "So just wear more of mine. The white-trash look works for you."

Rory smiled weakly. "Can I take a shower?"

"No. You have to smell." Jess said, rolling his eyes. "Of course you can shower. Go right ahead. Grab some more of my clothes from the room. Towels are in the bathroom already."

Rory nodded and stood up. "Thanks, Jess." She said, quietly.

"Welcome." Jess mumbled, watching her shuffle slowly into the other room with a shake of his head. This was absolutely the most bizarre situation of his life.


"I loved your book." Rory gushed as Jess walked up to her desk.

Jess smirked. "The unconditional praise is by far my favorite part of my contract." He sat down in the chair facing the desk.

"I'm serious!" Rory said. "My God, I was ready to cry by the end of it. I seriously think that you broke my heart."

Awkward, deafening silence followed the statement. Rory looked at Jess with embarrassment flushing her face. "I mean…"

Jess waved it off. "I know what you meant." He said, but his eyes were on his lap as he said it. "I'm glad you liked it."

"I did." Rory said, toying with her ring. "It was wonderful. I really think that it's going to be the best book Rand Florin has ever published."

Jess smiled proudly. "Really?" He asked nervously. "You really think so?"

Rory nodded. "It's great, Jess. Really, it is. I was floored. I couldn't put it down. I…I didn't know you could write like that."

Once, in a rare moment of complete openness, Jess had shyly admitted that he liked to write. He'd never let her read anything that he wrote, but she knew that he had good ideas from the way he wrote in the margins of books. His writing wasn't good, though. It was amazing.

"Neither did I." Jess said honestly. "But once I started writing it, I couldn't keep it in me. I just had to get it all out on paper as soon as possible."

"Hence your first draft being written on scraps of paper." Rory said, nodding.

"Exactly." Jess said. "Then I let my girlfriend read it. Well, actually, she stole it and read it. She convinced me to try to publish it. I sent it out a couple places and Rand Florin gave me the best offer."

"That's really great." Rory said with a smile. She was afraid that knowing Jess had moved on was going to make her jealous or uncomfortable. It didn't though. It actually relieved her. She was glad he was moving on. She was glad that those feelings didn't exist for him anymore because they were certainly gone for her. Rory smiled down at her ring as she thought of Logan. "What's your girlfriend's name?"

"Now this isn't professional conversation at all, Ms. Gilmore." Jess said teasingly.

Rory laughed and shrugged. "So, I'm breaking my own rule."

"Her name is Paige." Jess said. "Who gave you the iceberg that sank the Titanic?"

"What?" Rory asked, confused.

"The engagement ring." Jess said, nodding at her hand.

"Oh." Rory said, her smile turning from confused to dreamy. "His name is Logan Huntzberger."

Jess's eyebrows raised up at the name. "As in the Huntzberger family who owns all those newspapers?"

It was Rory's turn to be surprised. She looked at Jess confusedly, wondering how he knew that.

"What?" Jess asked, mock-defensively. "I know things."

Rory laughed lightly. "Yes. Logan's father is the newspaper magnate."

"Wow, look at you, marrying Richie Rich. Do you love him?" Jess asked curiously.

"Yeah." Rory said, smiling brightly. "I really do."

"That's cool." Jess said sincerely. "Congrats."

"Thank you." Rory said. The two looked at each other, smiling comfortably.

"So," Jess said after a moment, "Do you have your revisions and recommendations for me?"

"Of course I do." Rory said, picking up the thick manuscript in front of her. She handed it to Jess. "I expect to have them all incorporated into your next draft. If there's anything you want to argue, we can certainly do that."

Jess smirked. "You're, like, my boss."

Rory laughed. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Weird." Jess said, standing. "OK, I'll talk to you in a day or two. Thanks, Rory."

Rory watched him turn to leave thoughtfully before she said, "Hey, Jess?"

Jess turned around to look at her and she continued, "Do you want to get some coffee later on today or something? You know, catch up and stuff?"

Jess smiled. "Sure. I'll meet you here at…"

"Five." Rory said.

"Five." Jess agreed. "See ya then, boss."