Chapter Seven

The reviews I'm getting are absolutely lovely! Thank you so much!

This chapter is just fluff!

Lorelai closed the door behind Luke and Jess after movie night had ended, and let out a sigh. Luke had been a little weird around her tonight, and she couldn't figure out why. It had seemed like he was dancing around her, whenever they were alone, Luke would make an excuse and leave the room. She buried her face in her hands and took a deep breath. Lorelai had no idea what she was feeling- it couldn't be jealousy. Luke was her friend, and only her friend. That's why she wanted to set him up with that English teacher at Stars Hollow High. On the plus side, Jess wasn't so bad. He was polite, respectful, and he didn't make fun of the movies that they watched. Lorelai had to admit, Jess was growing on her. She didn't particularly enjoy the idea of him dating her daughter, but he wasn't as horrible as his first impression on her. Lorelai sent Rory to bed, and started cleaning up the plates and pizza boxes. Lorelai quietly hummed to herself as she worked, trying to forget about the weirdness with Luke. It took her a little while to tidy up the living room, and when she was done, she put the leftover pizza in the fridge, and went to bed.

Meanwhile, Rory was laying in bed, thinking about the night, how nice Lorelai and Jess were being to each other. She got a weird vibe between Luke and Lorelai though; Jess told her that they were in love with each other and neither of them knew it. Rory then told him of the dream her mother had where she and Luke were married and having twins. Jess had laughed, telling Rory that he knew they were destined to be together. Rory drifted off to sleep.

"Dean, go away!" Rory told him. She couldn't remember what she was going to do, but it was important. Dean wouldn't stop following her, nagging her to spend time with him. "We broke up, remember?" Rory said.

Dean just laughed. "We didn't break up. Silly Rory. We'll be together forever!"

"What do you mean?" Rory said incredulously. "I'm dating Jess, your sworn enemy!"
"Jess moved away, Rory. He was here for like, two weeks."
Rory's head started to hurt. "No, he moved to New York, then came back…"

She heard a noise behind her, and whirled around. It was her mother. "Good news Rory! Dean asked for your hand in marriage! Isn't that great?"
"No!" Rory cried. "Luke will help me!"

Lorelai's face hardened. "We don't speak his name anymore Rory. I mean it. Let it go, he's probably happy with the teacher floozy. I thought I found someone better, your father. He promised that we would be a family again. But he lied. Christopher's a liar, Rory." At this point, Rory's head was starting to spin.

"Rory, what's wrong sweetie? Why don't you remember any of this? Do we need to take you to the hospital?"

Suddenly, there was a bright white flash of light. Rory tried moving her arms, but they were locked in a straightjacket. But overtop of the straightjacket was a wedding dress. And she was standing in front of Dean, who was looking at her expectantly. "Well? What do you say Rory?" Dean said angrily. "I'm a saint for agreeing to still marry you after you had your nervous breakdown. Just say yes!"

Rory jolted awake in a cold sweat. Dean's voice was still ringing in her ears, and Rory shivered. She wrapped her arms around herself, and took a deep breath. It was just a nightmare, she told herself, over and over again. Rory tried to fall back asleep, but she couldn't, not after that. Her heart was still racing, so she got up, and paced the floor for a little while. Rory stopped in front of her door, and stared at it, before coming to a decision. She carefully opened her door, and crept through the kitchen towards the front door. She tugged on a light jacket, and slipped out the door. Rory jogged through town, before stopping at Luke's Diner. She hunted for a pebble she could use to throw against the window. She found a few that would do the job well. She prayed that her arm would be strong enough to make it, and after a few attempts, she heard a clink. Jess didn't come out though, so she had to try again. Rory heard the window slide open, and in that split second, she realized she hadn't thought of what to do if it was Luke. Rory tried to hide, even though she was standing in the middle of the road. Luckily, Jess poked his head out of the window. It was almost comical how fast his face lit up when he saw her. He gestured for her to wait, and five minutes later Jess was carefully closing the door to the diner behind him. He was holding a takeout bag and a thermos, and Rory smiled at him gratefully.

"It's hot chocolate, not coffee, but I hope you'll still like it," Jess said.

"Thank you so much! What's in the bag?" Rory asked hopefully.

"Leftover donuts," Jess replied, handing her the bag and thermos. The two of them set off, walking aimlessly through town silently. Jess was waiting for her to tell him what was wrong, and she was trying to get up the courage to tell him. She didn't think he'd be mad, but after her relationship with Dean, if she told him she'd dreamt about Jess, he'd flip. Rory realized they were walking towards the bridge they had their first 'date' on. Rory pulled Jess down, until they were sitting side by side, legs hanging over the bridge.

"I had a bad dream," Rory blurted out.

Jess raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What was it about?"

"It's kinda blurry, but you have to promise you won't talk until I finish the story." Rory said forcefully.

"Deal," Jess shrugged.

"The first part was that I was still dating Dean. I told him that we broke up, and that I'm dating you now, but he said that you had only been in Stars Hollow for two weeks. Then my mom showed up, and she said that Dean asked her if he could marry me. Mom said yes, then I started dream freaking out? I think I said something about Luke helping me out, then she got mad for some reason. She then started talking about my dad, and that he was a liar. I don't really know how I got there, but then I was in a hospital wearing a straightjacket and a wedding dress, and Dean was yelling at me to say yes. Then I woke up." Rory finished quietly. She shivered, her jacket not really protecting her from the cool September night.

Jess draped an arm over her shoulders, and thought for a moment. "Maybe… you said you had a fight with your dad?"

"Yeah," Rory confirmed.

"Maybe the dream was just manifesting your anger towards him. I don't know what was going on between Lorelai and Luke. But maybe the wedding in the straightjacket meant that you felt trapped in that relationship." Jess said.

"Wow." Rory stopped and thought for a moment. "That makes a lot of sense."
"And as for me not staying in Stars Hollow… maybe you're worried about me not being committed to this relationship, or worried that I'm going to leave at the drop of a hat. I'm not. I'm definitely committed to this relationship, and to you. You don't have to worry about me leaving either. Because I have a reason to stay." Jess kissed her forehead.

Rory's face had slowly begun to brighten during Jess's heartwarming speech.

"That's… thank you, Jess." She leaned over, and kissed him.

Jess pulled her closer, almost onto his lap. They stayed like that for a good ten minutes, with Rory eventually pulling away. She wiped her mouth, and said, "I should probably get home. Don't want the one time my mom comes into my room at night to be when I'm not there."
"Yeah, she might forbid us from seeing each other," Jess teased.

"Haha. I wouldn't put it past her. Or my grandmother. You're going to have to meet her one day." Rory said.

"I'll deal with it for you. C'mon, up you get," Jess stood, and pulled Rory up by her hands. "I'll walk you home."

Rory slipped her hand into Jess' as they began to walk towards home. "Were you asleep when I threw the rocks?" Rory asked curiously.

"Nope. Luke was sound asleep though. What were you going to do if Luke came out instead of me?" He asked her with a smile.

"I have no idea. I didn't think about it until I heard the window open." Rory laughed.

"You know, you're paying for such a fancy school, you'd think they'd teach you how to think ahead." Jess nudged her with his hip.

Rory made a face at him, which made him laugh. They reached the driveway where they stopped.

"You probably shouldn't come closer. But thank you for the talk. It really helped. You're a lot better at this boyfriend stuff than you think you are," Rory said.

"I try," Jess conceded. "Come here." He kissed her, lingering for a little longer than was probably necessary, but Rory wasn't complaining. Jess rested his forehead against Rory's, just breathing each other in for a little bit. Eventually, Rory yawned, waved good night, and disappeared through the door.

Jess watched her go, and made a promise to himself that he wouldn't let her go.

A little short, but I figured this was a good spot to end it. Reviews are always welcome! The next chapter will be a bit of a time skip- it'll probably be around the Thanksgiving episode, and that chapter should be the longest one yet. Thank you for reading!