Disclaimer: None of it mine.

A/N: Woot! This is the final chapter, with the epilogue to follow shortly. This was a fun little thing for me to write, and I hope y'all enjoyed it. Reviews are fab!

Chasing Fate--Chapter 8

Rory dropped her pencil with a sigh as she began to sort through a pile of books in search for the one she needed. As she did, her eyes involuntarily scanned the piece of paper she'd pushed to the back of her desk.

Rory,

The moment I can give you any sort of answer, I will.

There will be a next time,

Jess

The thing that always frustrated her about Jess was his refusal to promise anything. It hurt her that he wasn't willing to commit to anything. Then the one guarantee he'd ever made, I'll call you,was a guarantee that he had never been able to deliver. It was no wonder that she was afraid to equate the word promise with the word Jess.

This letter, though, was definitively a promise that he was making to her. The moment I can give you any sort of answer, I will. If he had just left it at that, the meaning would've been completely different. It wouldn't have been Jess, promising her that this wasn't over. It would've been Jess, blowing her off and subtly telling her to leave him alone.

That closing though, that play on her own words, that was so…him. It was a way to say something without actually having to express some sort of sentiment. It was a promise in the only way Jess could make one. It was a small sign of all the things she knew (or at least hoped) existed within him.

There will be a next time. Rory touched the words with her index finger, following the path of his sprawled, slightly slanted script. What did it mean? Was he changing for the better? Was he genuinely interested in reconnecting with her? Or did he just want to make amends and put her behind him. She knew that she was getting her hopes up over nothing, and that the odds where she'd never see Jess again. She wasn't quite ready to handle that though, and she much preferred the thought that fate was going to push them back together again when she least expected it.

Rory sighed and grabbed the book she'd originally been looking for. She was so stupid, and she knew she was just relying so heavily on this because her love life was so pathetic. Each first date she went on was worse than the one before, and she didn't want to have to go weeding out the wrong guys to find the right one. She didn't want anymore first dates. She wanted twenty-fifth dates and fiftieth dates. She wasn't necessarily positive that she wanted them to be with Jess, but she was thinking about it more than she should have.

He'd hurt her. He'd lied to her and he was insensitive and he had so much going on in his head that there was too little room for her in his heart. But there'd always been something more than that to her. It always seemed like, maybe, even though she couldn't see it, he was trying to change. Sometimes she thought that he genuinely loved her, and she wasn't ready to admit that she was wrong about that.

"Rory!" Paris's sharp voice called from the common room of their suite. "Is it safe to come in there?"

"Umm, I'm not naked if that's what you mean." Rory said, confused.

"Well that's all well and good, but I'm referring to THAT!" Paris said as she entered the room. Rory looked up and saw that she was pointing directly at the piece of paper in her hands.

"What are you talking about?" Rory asked sheepishly, dropping the letter.

"You've been staring at that letter like it's the solution to fixing the flawed Electoral College for three days now." Paris said, putting her hands on her hips.

"You're exaggerating, Paris." Rory turned crimson red and opened her book.

"God, just tell the Unwashed Beatnik to get lost, will ya? After his great disappearing act, you're still making eyes at that pathetic excuse for a letter."

Rory sighed. "It is much more complicated than that, Paris."

"You dated. He ran. Where is complicated? Two succinct sentences." Paris walked over to her desk and started milling through her own papers.

"You don't think love is a little more complicated than that?" Rory asked, turning to look at Paris.

Paris wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ugh, love? With Bukowski?"

Rory shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. Do you believe in fate, Paris?"

Paris stared at Rory and said, "Are you serious? Our love lives predestined so we get one person who loves us unconditionally forever? Yeah. I believe in fate. I also believe that tiny little leprechauns are going to show up with a pot of gold and offer to carry me to my next class."

"But-." Rory started.

"No buts! You made a bad choice in guys, Gilmore. Don't go blaming it on some unknown force." Paris exclaimed, standing as someone knocked on the door to the suite. She walked out to the common room but continued to yell back to Rory. "Just move on already and save us all the sad puppy faces! Get a new boyfriend or at least get yourself someone to sleep with!"

Paris threw open the door, revealing Jess standing there with his hands jammed in the pockets of his leather jacket. "Paris." He said with an awkward nod.

Paris looked back and forth from Jess to the door to Rory's room a few times before asking, "Did you guys rehearse?"

"What?" Jess asked, shaking his head at her in confusion.

"Because you really have a sense of timing. You should take the act on the road." Paris said, acting as though he hadn't spoken.

Rory leaned sideways in her chair and peeked her head out the door, "Who is…Jess." She finished, tipping over and bracing herself with her arm before she could fall to the ground.

Jess was tempted to smile at the sight of her, shocked and short-haired and falling out of her seat, but he settled for a small smirk instead. "Hey."

Rory scrambled to get back into standing position and threw herself into the common room with great force. "Hey." She said. With one appraising glance she took in his leather jacket, his skinny frame, and the crazy hair she liked so much. The corners of her mouth tugged up in a smile that she mercilessly fought against.

Paris looked at them both again before shaking her head. "I'm going to the library. Things still make sense there." She collected her stuff and was out the door before either noticed.

"Jess…what…?" Rory said, unable to form a complete thought.

"I was in Massachusetts. Jimmy and I, we came to see my great aunt. Man, you think Mrs. Kim is scary…" He trailed off. Since when did he babble?

"And you…came here." Rory crossed her arms across her chest, feeling extremely awkward.

Jess nodded. "Yeah."

"You came here." Rory repeated, extremely aware of her mouth and how strange she felt.

"Jimmy and Victoria had all this legal stuff to do. This seemed like a better use of time." Jess said.

"Oh." Rory said, looking at her feet. "So…do you wanna…sit?" The sentence seemed to talk a very long time for her to form.

Jess tried not to look too shocked by her offer. Part of him was expecting her to throw him out without listening to anything. Even though she had written him, he was still approaching this situation with extreme caution. He didn't know how she was going to react to him just showing up, and he didn't like not knowing. He didn't answer her question, but instead walked over to the couch and sat on it.

"Nice couch." He said casually.

Rory nodded. "My grandma bought it for me." She looked down at her shaking hands and tried to stop their movements. She went and sat on the couch, as far away from him as possible.

Jess leaned towards her and said, "This is weird."

Rory nodded her agreement. "How's California?"

Jess shrugged. "Warm. OK. It's not home, but it's good."

It's not home. Rory looked at him and asked, "Where is home?"

Jess shrugged. "Who knows? How's Yale?"

"Big." Rory said. "Hard. Great. I love it."

Jess watched her mouth curve into an easy smile as she tucked her short hair behind her ears. He wanted to run his hand through her hair and pull her to him and kiss her smiling mouth. He wasn't allowed to do that anymore though. It was no longer acceptable for him to share in her happiness via kissing her senseless.

"I got your letter." Rory blurted out after a moment of tense silence.

"Then you obviously know I got yours." Jess said. "Thanks."

"For what?" Rory asked, confused. She uncomfortably crossed her legs at the knee and put her hands in her lap, trying desperately not to look him in the eye. She had made the mistake of catching his eye when she first saw him, and it resulted in her falling out of her chair. She knew that if she met his eyes again, she was going to want to kiss him and that would be highly inappropriate.

Jess shrugged. "For not hating me, I guess."

"I do hate you." Rory said, her voice unintentionally taking on an edge. "Sometimes."

"Ok." Jess said with a nod. "I hate me sometimes too."

"God, I pictured you coming back so many times. None of my scenarios were this awkward." Rory said, laughing uncomfortably.

Jess smirked a little, but didn't say that he felt the same way. He'd pictured this two ways. In the first, she fell into his arms without word or question. The second, and admittedly more likely scenario, involved a lot of profanity and him being thrown out in under five minutes.

From the corner of her eye, Rory saw him smirking and her heart stopped. Now that he was here, there seemed to be no question in her mind that she'd missed him as much as she thought she had.

"What am I doing here?" Jess pondered aloud.

"I don't know." Rory said. "But I'm not entirely upset that you're here."

"A little though." Jess said.

"Yeah, a little. Part of me wants to hit you."

"You can." Jess said with a shrug. "Probably deserve it."

"No probably about it." It wasn't bitter though, just factual.

"Your letter…the questions." Jess said.

"Yeah." Rory said, her hair falling in front of her face and hiding her from his view. "I didn't think you'd be able to answer them."

"I can't." Jess agreed. "But, I know you. I know the one you really wanted to ask." He sighed. He could feel his chest constricting at the thought of saying what he was about to say.

Rory stiffened. He was seriously bringing it up. She had a feeling that he'd notice the unasked question, but she couldn't believe he was going to answer it.

"I left because I'm an asshole." He said. "I panicked and I didn't want you to get hurt by me anymore. So, I ran."

Rory shook her head. "That was something you never got."

"What's that?" He asked.

Rory turned her body and her head to face him. She waited patiently until he met her eyes before saying, "It hurt so much more when you were gone."

Jess could feel himself drowning in her eyes and he murmured, "Sorry."

Rory sighed. "I don't want an apology. I-I don't know what I want."

"Me neither." Jess conceded. Now that they were looking at each other, he found it impossible to turn away from her stare. "Maybe I shouldn't have come here."

He stood and ducked his head so he wouldn't have to look at her as he walked towards the door.

"Do you believe in fate, Jess?" Her voice came from right behind him and her hand was on his shoulder. He had to resist the urge not to spin around and kiss her.

"Do you?" He demanded, not turning around.

She released his shoulder. "No." She said, and the honesty in her voice shocked the both of them. Jess went to take another step, but Rory quickly stepped in his way to stop him.

"But I do believe in you." She said quietly, bringing a hand up to softly stroke his cheek.

"Why?" Jess asked. He covered her hand with his and let it linger for a second too long before removing her hand and letting it fall.

"Because you came here." Rory said firmly. "Because even though you had no idea what was going to happen or what you were going to say, you came here."

Her eyes filled with tears and she whispered, "You really have changed."

Jess shifted uncomfortably. "A little."

"I was beginning to think that…I was wrong about you. I wasn't." She smiled as a tear spilled over. "I wasn't."

"Rory…" Jess started, but he was cut off when Rory closed the gap between them and kissed him. First she kissed his cheek solemnly, stunning him into silence. Then, she dropped a kiss on his jaw line, causing him to tense up. Finally, she brought her hand back up to his cheek and caressed his skin softly as she gently found his lips with her own.

Jess responded hesitantly, his confusion overwhelming his desire to pull her closer. He placed a tentative hand on her waist and kissed her back before pulling away.

"Hi." He whispered.

"Hi." She parroted. "Welcome back."

The next kiss was on the other end of the spectrum. Rory brought her hands around Jess's neck and pulled her towards him. His hands found the small of her back as he backed her gently against the door. She moaned a little as his mouth found her neck, and she was delighted that he remembered the things his tongue did to her as he used it to lightly trace her collarbone.

"Jess." She whimpered. As though the sound of his own name freed Jess from a trance, he pulled himself away from Rory.

"What are we doing?" He demanded hoarsely, taking a few steps back.

Rory shook her head and ran her hands through her hair. "I don't know." She tried to clear her mind, even though the only thing she wanted to do was have Jess press himself against her again. "We broke up for a reason."

"Right." Jess nodded. "Because I was a fucking moron." He smirked tightly. "And that hasn't changed."

Rory knew just by looking at him that the statement wasn't completely accurate. However, there were subjects that needed to be addressed. "And you're in California now."

Jess nodded. "Not forever, but right now, yeah."

"And I'm here."

Jess nodded again.

"And you don't have a reason to come back."

Jess looked at Rory seriously and said, "Do you believe that or are you looking for a compliment?"

Rory turned a little red and said, "You're not going back to Stars Hollow."

Jess laughed a little. "No, no I'm not. But I'm not cut out for the West coast either."

"What are we doing?" Rory asked, mimicking Jess.

Jess shook his head. "I don't know. It doesn't feel wrong though."

"No, I'd call this the exact opposite of wrong." Rory agreed.

"It doesn't make sense though." Jess said, frustrated.

Rory stepped towards Jess and asked, "When have we ever?"

She wrapped her arms around him and continued, "I-I think I missed you."

Jess was silent for a moment. He couldn't let this go on. Nothing had been resolved, and he couldn't pretend that something had changed. He reluctantly stepped away from her and then said, "Yeah, me too."

"I love you." Rory blurted.

Jess's eyes grew wide and he shook his head. "Rory, no."

"You don't have to say it back, and it's not some ploy to get you to stay. You can go back to California and pretend that I never said it. I've been mulling over it for a while now and there it is. Fate, no fate, destiny or not, yeah, I love you." Rory released a long breath after her small speech.

Jess shook his head again. His chest was constricting again and he had to remind himself that breathing was a requirement. "Rory, no. Nothing has changed."

"I'm not asking it to." Rory said.

"Yes, you are." Jess insisted.

"No!" Rory exclaimed, growing angry. "I'm not asking you for anything! You can walk out right now and never see me again. Do what you want."

"Do what I want." Jess repeated.

"Yeah." Rory said, turning her head away so he couldn't see her growing upset.

Jess closed the gap between himself and Rory and took her face in his hands. He lowered his mouth to hers and she responded immediately, parting her lips slightly and deepening the kiss. Her hands found his hair, and she was amazed that it felt exactly the same as she remembered.

Jess pulled away breathlessly and said, "I love you too."

"Huh." Rory said quietly.

"What?" Jess asked, reaching down to take her hand.

"It really does change everything." Rory responded with a smile, leaning in to kiss him again.