A/N: I just looked at my stats and a LOT of people had at least visited. Thank you! It's inspiration! I'm trying to make this a long one (I have a feeling I'm going to say that every time, and yet never get there).

Disclaimer: You don't know Jack! I mean, I don't own nothin'!

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"I hate you," Rory grumbled into the phone. There was no sunlight coming through the windows, it was way too early for a phone call.

"No you don't baby," Lorelai said apologetically. "Did I wake you?"

Rory rubbed the sleep from her eyes and didn't even try to think of something witty, "Ya huh."

"Well wake up, I've got news."

"News?" Rory sat up, slightly intrigued.

"There's my little reporter," Lorelai said and laughed. "You won't believe who just showed up in town."

Rory sighed and feel back into bed. "Just? He left hours ago."

"What are you talking about Ror?"

"Jess," Rory said, wanting to crawl into a hole. "Jess left HOURS ago. How did he just get there?"

"How could you not tell me!"

"Mom, I'm tired. I've obviously had the day from HELL; can I just talk to you tomorrow? When it's daylight?"

"You didn't tell me!"

"I promise I will Mom. Promise. Just let me get some sleep first. I don't have enough strength to do this right now. I'll call you as soon as I wake up, I swear."

"I believe you," Lorelai said with a sigh. "Go back to sleep."

"I love you Mom."

"I love you too," Lorelai said and hung up.

Rory rolled over and plugged her phone back into the charger. The clock on her bed stand informed her that she was wrong. It wasn't early; it was late…Late at night. It was close to two in the morning. After her bath, Rory had gone straight to bed. It took a while for Logan to give up on calling, and she finally fell asleep.

It wasn't so easy to sleep this time. Lorelai had stirred up the drama again. It wasn't her fault, but it still affected Rory. She lied in bed thinking. She couldn't get her mind off of Jess. Sleep wasn't going to come again; she was doomed to be up all night.

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Lorelai opened her phone and before she could even say hello, Rory started talking. "He just showed up. He was gone forever and he just showed up. He wrote his number on my door and I met him at the coffee stand. I showed him the library and made him smell Nietzsche and….and he's jealous of Logan. I yelled and I cried and I kicked him out." She finally took a breath. "He looked sad."

"Oh honey," Lorelai said, hearing her cry again. "Shh…It'll be ok."

"How Mom?"

"We both know he'll be here long enough to amp up the drama, and then he'll get bored and take off again," Lorelai felt she had to be upfront about the situation before Rory got in over her head again. "It's Jess…It's what he does."

"But…"

"Oh Rory," Lorelai said, starting to understand. "Don't do this to yourself. You can't change him."

"I don't want to change him; I think he's already changed. He didn't argue with me, he just let me yell and cry. That wouldn't have happened before."

"So how do you know he hasn't changed his feelings for you? How do you know that he still wants you?"

"It's Jess. I know," Rory said with finality.

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Jess sat in his car again, outside of the Gilmore's house. He had to smoke and he needed to get away from Lorelai's prying eyes. Luke went crazy when he showed up. Luke took him aside to talk, not to listen. He didn't want to know anything about Jess, or at least he didn't ask.

Lorelai and Luke were engaged. They were living together in her house. They'd been together for a while. Jess had to fight the urge to say, "I told you so." He could see their blatant attraction for each other before he left. If they finally made it together, maybe we could. He thought about the situation with Rory. They had been through so much, maybe the time apart could help.

The only thing that was really bugging him was that Logan guy. Rory was really touchy when Jess brought him up. Was Logan another Dean? Was he some guy who was jealous and controlling? Did he deserve her? He took a break from asking impossible questions and looked at the clock on his dashboard.

3:30. If he left then, it'd take an hour to get to Yale and she wouldn't even be up for another 4 hours after that at least. Jess didn't know when her classes were…or even if she was still planning on being a journalist. He finished his cigarette and turned the car off. He hoped Luke and Lorelai had gone back to sleep.

Jess let himself back into the house and went to an all-too-familiar room. It was still the same bed, the same bookshelves, desk, and dresser. He knew Rory didn't like change, but this was crazy. He stood in front of the bookshelves, glad to see that one thing had changed. The books had gotten thicker and more complex. A smile came to his face when he saw Oliver Twist. That book would never be the same again.

Jess took the book and lied down on her bed. He started from the beginning, coaxing himself to sleep in the room of the woman he still loved.

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When Lorelai went down to her kitchen in the morning, she half expected Jess to be at the table, enjoying a Pop Tart or something. She heard him come in last night after she had gotten off the phone with Rory. What she wasn't expecting though was to walk into the kitchen, glance into Rory's room, and see Jess asleep on her bed clutching a book.

Lorelai stood at the door, leaning against the frame. Apparently her daughter was right. Rory was the only one that understood Jess and that's probably the way it would always be. Jess grunted and rolled over, knocking Lorelai out of her trance. She left the doorframe and started a pot of coffee.

The toaster dinged, signaling that her toaster strudel was ready. Lorelai finished her coffee, got up, and saw Jess standing against the doorframe, exactly where she stood while watching him. "Did I wake you up?"

"No," Jess mumbled. He sat down at the table and rested his head on his hands. Lorelai placed the toaster strudel in front of him and put another one in for her. She sat down and studied him as he focused intently on his food. "Icing?" he asked once he realized what it was.

"A-ha," Lorelai laughed, "You are about to learn a trick of the trade. Eat, then learn." She took her strudel out and savored the sweet taste. "I said eat," she repeated when he hesitated. Lorelai grabbed two icing packets out of the box and handed him one. "Now's the time for icing."

Jess raised his eyebrow questioningly. He always knew Rory got her craziness from her mother but this was insane. Lorelai squeezed the icing right onto her tongue, like you would do with a whipped cream container. "No wonder it took so long for you and Luke to get together, with a mouth like that." Lorelai just stuck her tongue out at him, icing and all. He flinched and handed her his icing. "I'll learn the trick later."

"Your loss is my gain," she said and squeezed the other packet in. "This should last me at least until I get to work." Lorelai looked at her watch. "Which I actually have to get going to. You're welcome to stay…" she offered.

"I've got some..uh..stuff to do," Jess said hesitantly. "I'll be back though."

Lorelai studied him before she headed to the back door. "Noon to four."

"What?"

"She's got class 12-3 and spends at least an hour at the Yale Daily News."

"Oh…"

"I'll see you for dinner," Lorelai said and left. Apparently Rory was never wrong.

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It wasn't until she was coming back from breakfast when Rory read the not on the door. She was thinking about the combination of Fruit Loops and Fruity Pebbles that she had when she looked up and saw the writing. It was less of a shock than the first time he left his number but it was still a shock. I should have seen it coming. He signed it "Dodger." I can't believe he remembers that…that was four years ago.

Rory left the note on the door and let herself in. Paris was in the common room with Doyle watching the morning news. Paris had been spending less time with Rory recently, but then again Rory was spending almost all of her time with Logan and his friends. She felt as if they had lost base, she needed her friend back, a friend that wasn't a Logan fan.

"Hey," she said as she opened the door to her bedroom. Rory gasped and started to back up.

"Logan's here," Paris said around 10 seconds too late.

"Hey Ace," Logan said as he stood up. "You ignored me all night, care to talk?"

"There's not enough time," Rory said and pushed past him into her room.

"You don't have class until noon, it's only ten. There's plenty of time," Logan said, grabbing her arms. She didn't struggle to get away from him but she wouldn't look into his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I'm going to spend some time at the paper before my class. I didn't get to work on my article at all last night." Logan let go of her and she packed up her things for class. "I've got to go."

"What's wrong? What happened last night?"

"I have to go," Rory replied, avoiding his questions.

His hands were back on her arms, not letting her out of the room. "Tell me," Logan demanded.

"Just forget about it, I'll call you later," she said and looked down at his hands. "Now let me go, I have an article I need to do."

Logan shook his head and let her go, watching as she sashayed out of the dorm.

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Rory hadn't originally planned on spending time at the YDN before her classes. She had forgotten most of the material for her article back in her dorm, but she couldn't go back there now. How was she supposed to know if Logan was still there or not?

With a sigh, Rory sat at her desk and wasted two hours before her classes. She thought about Jess the whole time. She thought about them for the majority of her class time as well, and then felt guilty because she wasn't paying attention to her professors and because of Logan. How was she supposed to tell Logan what was going on when she didn't know herself?

Rory got coffee and ice cream for lunch, not the smartest choice for Connecticut's fall weather. She didn't have an appetite for real food, but she had to fill at least two of the Gilmore Girl's food groups. She drank the coffee first so it wouldn't get cold, and then ate the ice cream on the way back to her dorm. At least I don't have to worry about it melting, she thought. I just wish I could feel my tongue.

By the time Rory reached the outside of Branford Hall, she was seriously regretting the choice of ice cream. She pushed her way inside, fighting the cold and other students. She jumped a few feet into the air when she saw her door. "I'm going to have a heart attack if I get any more surprises today," she said louder than she meant to.

"You're back early," he said behind a copy of Oliver's Twist. "I wasn't expecting you for another forty-five minutes."

It really did turn out longer this time! Yippy! I hope everyone likes it! Review please; tell me what you wanna see. I'll try to get it in (if you want to see something small, I will do my absolute best. I need those little bits of inspiration).