Hello lovely readers! Yes, I have returned. If you haven't already done so, please read my last two announcements (I'll be taking them down eventually, but figured I'd give explanation and let everyone catch up on that first). Short version is I'm back and I'm sorry for the long wait. This chapter has been a while coming and I hope you all enjoy it. There's tons of Paris coming up, by the way, if anyone's a Paris fan. If not, well...I'm sorry, I'm not sure I speak your language ;) Also a bit of JavaJunkie leading into some really romantic Lit, so I hope that's enough for you all to look forward to!

Please keep reading and reviewing. I really hope you all will in spite of this delay. It really does mean a lot to me to have all of your support and interest. By the way, thanks to those who have already messaged me or reviewed about my announcements/etc. Your support is overwhelming and I couldn't be more grateful. I wish I had all of you as my friends in real life and that we could bake a cake filled with movie nights and Hemingway references and Luke's donuts and eat it and just be happy. (Lo and behold, the earlier draft of the infamous Mean Girls scene). As always, I do not own Gilmore Girls, but I do own books and candy and that's a start.


Chapter 96

"So explain to me why we're watching Moulin Rouge."

"Well, watching someone cough up blood for two and a half hours always makes your problems seem just a little bit less grave."

"But we hate blood."

"True."

"And Nicole Kidman."

"Mostly true."

"And we really hate musicals."

"Not true!" Lorelai argued, sitting up to reach her hand back into the second popcorn bowl, "You hate musicals. I love them. Don't you remember when I took that trip to New York, specifically to see a musical?"

"That you said sucked."

"You're just jaded because that ballerina scarred you for life. You're anti-fine-arts."

"She did not scar me!" Rory protested as she grabbed the bowl from her mother and proceeded to shovel the mixture of popcorn and Moose Tracks into her mouth.

"So those phone calls about those recurring nightmares involving a tutu and a very large fork…"

"Don't even get me started on dreams. You're the queen of crazy dreams. Especially since the one you had about Kirk and the…"

"We said we'd never speak of it!"

Rory giggled and dodged the Red Vine Lorelai had just thrown at her. "You could never wear those boots again…"

"That's it, I'm officially going back in time and sending you to a convent. Or military school. Whichever one has uglier uniforms," Lorelai glared. Rory opened her mouth to say something but suddenly they heard a knock at the door.

"Who could it…"

"I have a pretty good guess," Lorelai rolled her eyes, gesturing toward the door. Rory walked over and opened it to find Luke and Jess.

"You two, talk," Luke grunted, "Lorelai and I are going out to get ice cream."

"But we have…"

"Frosting."

"But we…"

"Cake for underneath the frosting."

"Well now that just seems superfluous," Lorelai smirked, grabbing her purse and coat from by the door, "Hello Jess. You should inflict severe emotional damage on my daughter more often. It bodes well for our unhealthy level of attachment to one another."

Luke glared at Lorelai as Rory tried not to smirk.

"Um, I guess I'm going now," Lorelai finished, "If you need anything hun, call me."

"Okay," Rory nodded, "Thanks, Luke."

"Don't thank me yet," he muttered before slamming the door behind them. Jess sighed and looked at Rory.

"Mind if I…"

"Please," Rory gestured to the couch, "Sorry it's a mess. We decided to do a classic marathon with all the trimmings."

"Is that Moulin Rouge?"

"Don't ask," Rory rolled her eyes at the screen. They sat there uncomfortably for a moment before Rory exhaled deeply.

"Jess..."

"Alright," he nodded, turning to look at her, "I can't lie to you and say that I didn't mean what I said. About it upsetting me. You limiting yourself because of me. I don't like it. But it's not because I don't love you or because I don't want to spend every waking moment with you. I want to live with you, be with you…you know how much. The last few days...I hate being away. You know all of this." Rory nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"But Rory, I trust you, completely. And more than anything I want you to be happy. And it was wrong of me to try to control that, and to doubt you. You know what you want better than anybody. And if I'm lucky enough to be that guy, and if you want to prioritize me, I need to shut up and thank my lucky stars that the fates have dropped that anvil on your head in my favor."

"Jess…"

"Rory, stop. You won't change my mind on that," he said firmly, "I will always believe you're crazy for thinking I'm worthy of all of that. But I'm just going to be grateful that you do, because nothing makes me happier than being with you, and I'm more than happy to live with you in whatever drug-addled mania makes you think that I'm good enough for you."

"Why don't you believe me when I say you are? You saved me, Jess. Twice now. You brought me back from the edge of the precipice when I was falling over or hell, jumping off. And you know I was on that cliff, you've seen me there, you know I'm scraped and bruised. You know what I am and that it's not perfect or unscathed. So why can't you see that I'm flawed? And that you're the one who saves me from the biggest ones, and that means that not only are you good enough for me, but you might be…"

"Don't even go there," Jess cut her off, "I disagree with you, and you know it, but we'll have to agree to disagree. And yes, you're flawed and yes, I was there for you, but I didn't save you, Rory. You're not the kind of girl where a guy needs to save her, or even does save her. I was just there, helping you figure it out for yourself. You opened the door, I just helped you pick the lock. Don't sell yourself short. What you've done, what you're doing…it's one of the strongest things I've ever seen someone do. So you're gonna have to forgive me when I go a little crazy and overprotective, and knock some sense into my head so I remember that almost every goddamn time, you're right. And even when you're not, it's your right to be wrong."

"Right to be wrong?" Rory giggled, unable to stop herself. Jess smirked.

"And now that you've killed the moment…" he rolled his eyes, leaning in and kissing her softly. She pulled him closer to her for a long, lingering kiss. After a few moments they separated and Rory smiled at him.

"Well, whatever else happens between us, at least we know that part works." Jess laughed out loud and shook his head.

"And they say I'm the smartass."

"Guess it's contagious."