A/N- Long chapter to make up for shorter ones while I was gone. Hope you enjoy! I'm sick again so that's the explanation for the shorter author's note with less charm than usual. Please keep reading and reviewing and recommending if you're so inclined (I love reading reviews, especially from all the new readers. Thank you all!). Also I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of its characters or concepts, though I would totally be best friends with ASP if I could. What a mind...


Chapter 42

An hour and three glasses of water later (living with Liz had made Jess a bit paranoid about drinking, so he'd rather be safe than sorry), Jess was on the road again.

He was grateful that things with Matt were worked out, at least for now. He understood that Rory needed to be in Philadelphia, as much as she loved Stars Hollow, and that she needed to be surrounded by people who at least didn't openly hate her. Give it some time, he thought, as he drove towards Connecticut. Everything would work itself out.

Rory, however, was in a less calm state. She had only been at the town meeting for ten minutes before Taylor had to mention her. In front of everyone. And ask what brought her to town and how long she'd been here and how was the career in journalism going and why didn't she come in for Thanksgiving to be a pilgrim. At that one even Miss Patty rolled her eyes. Rory had tried to quietly deflect, but Stars Hollow wasn't a town known for its subtlety, so instead she flat out lied. Work is great, only here for a week of vacation to catch up with mom, I was overseas on Thanksgiving and planned to come back but my flight was delayed, and no I did not know that that old hoodlum that I used to date was skulking around here. Her mom turned to her, wide-eyed, after these responses were finished, but Rory just shrugged, her eyes filled with defeat. She couldn't disappoint all of them. It was hard enough to come clean to Jess, who would always respect her, no matter what choices she made. But to tell the people that had known her since she was born that she wasn't the person they thought…it would crush them. And they'd done so much for her. There was no way she was ready to be honest with them, especially since she wasn't even able to fully come to terms with what was going on herself yet.

Her mom had, when they had more privacy, asked about her job, and her friends in New York, and what was going on in her life. Rory had just shrugged and answered that her boss was kind enough to understand she was having a crisis and provide her flexibility, and that she never really had any time to make friends in New York, since she was always traveling or working. And nothing was going on with her life, and absolutely nothing was going on with Jess (she answered the question her mom was clearly trying not to ask). Though yes, she was living with him. Yes, indefinitely. And to all of this Lorelai just nodded, understanding how different it was from the time that her daughter had run away to live in Hartford with her grandparents and how good this all was for her, even though she seemed and clearly felt like a trainwreck.

At about 8:30 PM, she headed from her Mom's house over to the diner, grabbing an overnight bag and saying she'd probably crash on the couch. Lorelai had accepted that too, without question, and had called Luke and told him he could stay. It confused Rory at first how calm and open-minded her mom had been, but then she realized that of course Jess must have spoken with her. Jess, the most calming, stabilizing force in her life, must have cared enough to convince her mother to act rationally while she figured herself out. The thought made Rory's heart pang with a melancholy hope. She knew she was screwed up and still screwing up and would need to actually deal with whatever the problem was eventually, but Jess was there, creating a buffer zone, a sanctuary for her to do so in her own time, whenever she was ready.

Jess pulled up to the diner at 8:50 sharp, expecting to be able to unpack his things before Rory arrived. Of course he should've known better. She was sitting there in the empty diner, at a center table, just staring out the window. The book in front of her was closed and she had a bag on the seat. He smiled at that before grabbing his own bag out of the seat beside him and walking inside.

"How'd you get in? The place is closed," Jess smirked, walking behind the bar and turning on the coffee pot. She smiled at him.

"I've known where that key was since I was ten and realized Luke kept leftover pie upstairs," Rory explained, her eyes brightening at the memory. Jess raised his eyebrows.

"You stole pie from Luke's apartment?"

"No, mom did," Rory giggled, "I just took notes in case I ever decided to have a rebellious phase."

"Does that mean you want to go steal some pie now?" Jess teased her, and she laughed out loud, a full, cheerful laugh that warmed Jess from head to toe.

"Well it's better than demolishing a snowman," she nodded, and they both walked upstairs, taking their belongings with them. One of the best things about the relationship between them, in Rory's opinion, was that they never had to say a word to be on the same page about those kind of things. He knew she was staying, she knew he wanted her to. It was simple.

"So, quite a coincidence Luke needs you to work this weekend," Rory said casually, setting her bag on the bed.

"And that he wanted to spend tonight at Lorelai's," Jess replied. Rory smirked.

"Jess Mariano, are you implying that you orchestrated this entire scheme to get me to sleep with you?"

Jess looked at her with mock outrage. "Of course not! That's preposterous," he answered, "It was obviously your goal all along and I'm just now catching onto the ways of your womanly wiles."

"What's the matter, Jess? Can't sleep without me?" Rory grinned and Jess blushed furiously. This drew a hearty laugh from Rory. Then suddenly Jess was about four inches away from her.

"Maybe I just don't want to," he breathed. A pink flush crept onto Rory's cheeks, and she couldn't look away from Jess' eyes, which were smiling as clearly as she had been a moment ago.

Suddenly, Rory's phone started to buzz. She turned around immediately and crashed into the table, causing Jess to crack up. She turned to glare at him as she answered the call.

"Hello? Oh, hi Nathaniel. Yes, thank you. No, not next week. I really don't know…" her voice trailed off, "Look, it's late here. Can I call you back tomorrow? Great. Talk to you then."

She hung up and Jess looked at her curiously.

"My boss," she sighed, "It's been an intense few days."

"Really?" he asked, slowly, trying not to push her.

"I was demoted," Rory answered, softly, "And I'm not even upset about it."

Jess looked at her in confusion.

"But…"

"Yeah. I have no idea," she admitted, "In fact, when I heard I just felt…relieved. Like at the end of a Hemingway novel." She smirked as Jess rolled his eyes.

"Funny," he deadpanned, "What does the demotion actually mean for you?"

"My salary's cut. No more frequent travel, and I'm no longer responsible for covering D.C.," she explained, "The salary cut is frustrating but I've never minded living frugally, I can do it if I need to, and it's not like I have expenses right now. By the way, remind me to start paying you rent."

Jess sighed. "Rory, you're working for Truncheon for free right now. Consider room and board your salary. Now get back to the point."

"Okay," Rory answered, too exhausted emotionally to argue with him about it, "Thanks. But honestly I'm just tired. D.C. was so draining. I'd just sit there, filing story after story, getting edit after edit, fixing the story, sending the same story back, and for what? A byline? On one topic that is, true, interesting and hugely important, but where I have no creative control over what I'm doing. At least before I got to choose what I wrote about, or at least my position on it, but the real world isn't like that. And since these are new projects, they require so much extra time and effort to get them off the ground, which is fine, but….I'm just…I'm tired, Jess. I was happy about being demoted. I love working and being in the newsroom but I just can't do it right now. I wish I could explain it better. I can't go to work, I can't stay in Stars Hollow, I can't be in New York…"

"That's why you have Philadelphia," Jess finished.

"But I can't stay there forever," Rory sighed, and Jess looked down, not meeting her eyes. Yes, she could. They both knew that.

"It sounds like you just need to relax and figure things out," Jess said, "But for this weekend enjoy your time home with your mom and everyone. Have you seen Lane yet?"

"Going over there tomorrow," Rory replied, going over to her bag and picking out a shirt, "She's been really busy this week because Zak's out of town but he gets in tonight so he's taking the kids while we hang out."

"Did I meet Zak?" Jess inquired.

"I think for about ten seconds," Rory responded, "You got along better with Dave?"

"What happened to him?"

"Moved to California. Last time anyone heard he was dating some blonde."

"Lane must've been thrilled."

"Lane couldn't care less. She's gotten a lot better since high school," Rory admitted, "Though I'm not sure how she'll take it when I tell her I'm staying with you."

"I can see it now! 'Lane, Jess and I are living together.' Cue fireworks, explosions and shootings, followed by an immediately enacted plan to catch me with a giant butterfly neck and stick me in a room with Kirk until I go insane."

"Who'd lead the charge?"

"Well now that your mom's out, I'd have to say Taylor. My money's on him never coming around to me."

"You'd be rich then," Rory smirked.

"Yes, and then I could buy myself a mansion and a mail order bride and everything I've ever wanted," Jess replied sarcastically, "Or a Porche."

"I liked your shitty old car better," Rory said quietly, smiling as she walked into the bathroom to change. Jess grinned to himself as he went to his bag, quickly getting ready for bed himself.

A couple minutes later Rory emerged in his old Metallica tee shirt. Jess looked at her and instantaneously began to laugh more loudly than he had in years.

"What's so funny?" Rory crossed her arms across her chest, and Jess grinned broadly.

"It's just…it's like if Pippi Longstocking went to a Marilyn Manson concert," he answered before dissolving into laughter again. And after that comment, Rory couldn't help but crack up as well.

"It's your shirt," Rory replied accusingly as she climbed into bed.

"Yeah, it is," Jess responded, before the realization hit him, "Hey. You're home."

"Yeah…" Rory looked at him questioningly.

"In Stars Hollow. Where you have clothing. Of your own." He looked at her meaningfully. She blushed.

"It's just…comfortable," Rory bit her lower lip, "I can give it back to you tomorrow if you want."

"My closet is your closet," Jess smiled, "I told you, you look better in my clothes than I do. Even the ones that are vaguely horrifying."

"Thank you?" Rory smirked, "Now shut up, stop looking at my clothes and focus on your book."

Jess picked up his book as she did, but started flipping through the pages, not once looking at the book and staring at her, smirking. When Rory noticed she couldn't hide her grin, but quickly shot him a glare of false disgust before returning to her reading.

About an hour later, Rory turned off the light, rolling on her side contentedly. "Goodnight, Dodger."

"Goodnight, Rory," Jess called back, lying back comfortably. And a good night it was.