Not Dreaming


A/N: Yes, I'm updating. It took a while longer than usual. I got hung up on a lot of other stuff. And I sort of have been writing two chapters at the same time. It gets confusing. Anyway, here's a new chapter.


Chapter 8. Pleasant Surprises


It was a spur of the moment thing. Something that came to her mind suddenly and wouldn't go away no matter how hard se tried. She knew it made her seem pathetic, but she really didn't care that much. It wasn't like she was missing a lot of work anyway. She hadn't been able to concentrate on her schoolwork for the last couple of days and she didn't have to be at work until Monday

She moved again, trying in vain to find a better position on the floor, or at least a less uncomfortable one. Sighing she closed the book in her hands and put it back in her purse. It was no use anyway. She had been sitting there for almost an hour now and she had read half a page at the most. Shifting again she looked at her watch for what seemed like the tenth time in the last minute.

Why couldn't she have waited to take a later bus? Why had she insisted on going at once? It wasn't like she was in a hurry. In fact she would probably have to sit here for another hour or so. She closed her eyes, trying to stop her mind from wandering. Her stomach started growling slightly and she sighed again, angry at herself for forgetting to eat something on her way.

That was how he found her forty minutes later when he got home from work. Except he didn't know it was her. From New York he was used to strange people sleeping in the corridors, but so far he hadn't come across anyone here. Until today that is. A bit cautiously he drew closer to the figure on the floor, a bit puzzled and wondering why it was sitting outside his door.

Getting closer he got a strange feeling of recognition and looked a bit closer. Suddenly a smile crept onto his face and he shook his head in wonderment. What was she doing here? Outside his door, asleep, on a Thursday afternoon? Carefully stooping down in font of her he smoothed the hair out of her face and traced his fingers over her cheek.

Startled by the touch she jumped slightly in her place, jerking her head up to see what had woken her. Still a bit confused and not quite awake yet it took a few seconds for her eyes to focus and process the information. When she did her face broke out in a gigantic smile and she flung her arms around him, almost making them both fall over on the floor.

Hugging her back he slowly pulled her up with him to a standing position to avoid any more close calls of toppling over. "What are you doing here?" he asked, still confused.

She didn't answer at first, only took his face in her hands and kissed him, leaning back against the wall. Breathless she pulled away after a couple minutes, still pressed against the wall by his body. "I missed you," she mumbled, looking up in his eyes.

"Huh," he smirked before claiming her mouth again. Holding her with one arm he searched his pocket for the keys. Finally finding them he located the key hole beside them and struggled for a second before fitting the key in and unlocking the door. Once opened they stumbled inside, still kissing. After closing the door he pressed her up against it, his hands wandering over her body and his mouth finding its way down her throat.

It wasn't long before her purse was discarded on the floor, closely followed by both of their coats and, after some struggling, two pairs of shoes. Almost tripping over a pile of books on the living room floor they made their way over to the bedroom, pulling clothes out of the way as they went. With a thump they finally landed on the bed.


"I missed you too," he whispered an hour later, holding her in his arms and listening to her breathing gradually slowing down. He smiled at the unintelligible mumble he got in response and tightened his hold of her.

She snuggled closer, too comfortable to even think about moving. Her stomach had other plans though as it soon started growling at her. She sighed and tried to ignore it, but after almost eight hours without food that was a lot easier said than done. Groaning she buried her head in his neck.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked, holding back a laugh and disentangling his hand from her hair.

"Ten," she mumbled, still holding onto him, not wanting to let go. Her answer was almost drowned out by another loud growl.

"And you're still alive?" he inquired amazed, earning an offended grunt. Laughing at her reaction he kissed her temple gently and slowly pulled one of his arms out of their cocoon. Rolling over to his back he reached for the cordless phone that was conveniently placed at the bedside table after their conversation last night. "What do you want?" he asked, looking over at her questioningly.

"Whatever gets here fastest," she answered, smiling brightly at him. When he just kept looking at her she sighed and glared back. "Pizza," she answered after a second and looked pointedly at the phone when he didn't dial immediately.

"Okay then," he said before dialing a number and ordering two large pizzas with everything. "They'll be here in fifteen minutes," he said as he put the phone down and turned back to her.

"Too long," she complained in mock horror. "I'll starve before that," she whined and pouted pathetically at him.

"You'll have to survive for fifteen more minutes," he said and shook his head at her. "I wasn't exactly expecting company and I have absolutely nothing eatable at home." Pouting more she tried to hit him on the arm, but he caught her hand and pinned her down on the bed. "What did I tell you about practice?" he asked, laughing at her fruitless attempts to break lose. Giving up she smiled sweetly at him and raised her head high enough to kiss him.

They were both startled by the door bell that rung almost exactly at the promised time. Reluctantly he got up and searched the room for his boxers. Pulling them on he smirked down at her, laying on the bed, half covered with a sheet, looking up at him. Looking around again he found his jeans just outside the doorway. Pulling them on too he made his way over to the front door, dragging a hand through his hair in an attempt to make it look less disheveled.

Before he got there the door bell rung again and he hurriedly opened it to keep the delivery guy from leaving. Casting a quick eye out the door he saw a guy around 17 with two pizza boxes, headphones on and an impatient expression. "I'm just gonna find my wallet," he said and caught the raised eyebrow before stooping down and retrieving his coat from the floor.

By the time he had gotten the money out the delivery guy had taken in his appearance and the clothes strewn behind him and was smirking suggestively at him. He gave him the money and took the boxes, ignoring the look and raised an eyebrow, silently asking if there was something else, before closing the door.

Shaking his head he made his way back to the bedroom, smiling to himself. Returning he found her sitting on the bed, wearing one of his T-shirts, and looking over at him expectantly. He climbed onto the bed beside her and almost didn't have time to sit down before she had grabbed one of the pizza boxes and dug into the first slice. Putting the other box down he watched how she downed it in less than a minute.

"Should I order more?" he asked when the first box was empty and she was still gulping them down. He had eaten one slice so far, the rest of the time he had watched her in amazement. He had seen her hungry before, but never to this extent. Shaking his head he reached for the next box.

When there was one slice left she fell back on the bed and closed her eyes, finally unable to eat any more. Smiling down at her he moved the boxes to the floor and lay down beside her. Soon he heard her breathing even out, signaling that she was drifting off to sleep. Resting his head on his arm he watched her slumber peacefully.

She didn't sleep for more than ten minutes and when she woke up they took a shower, spraying almost the whole bathroom with water in the process. Emerging from the bathroom she suddenly realized what she had forgotten before she hopped on the bus. Smiling sheepishly at him she asked if he had any clothes she could use, since she didn't have anything other than what she had on when she got there.

"You are tiny," she stated when she had put on the clothes he had taken out for her. "These could be mine," she said, gesturing down at herself and the clothes that fit almost too well. He didn't answer, only looked her over and smirked at how good she looked in his clothes.


"So, what caused this rather surprising visit?" he asked when they a while later were sitting snuggled together on the couch with a cup of coffee each. "Not that I'm complaining, just the opposite in fact, but shouldn't you be in school getting some of that extra work done?"

"I told you, I missed you," she mumbled half into her coffee. Sensing his still inquiring eyes on her she looked up at him. "I couldn't concentrate," she said. "I tried really hard, but I just can't concentrate on anything. I can't even remember what I was supposed to be studying this week. So, instead of sitting alone at my desk in a more or less deserted dorm and staring at a book I decided to do something about it."

"And coming here will help your studying how?" he asked, tilting her head up to his with two fingers and kissing her, careful not to spill the coffee. When she didn't show any tendencies to answer the question he pulled back and smirked at her.

"I don't know?" she offered, half stating, half questioning and looked at him, taking a big gulp of her coffee.

"How long were you planning on staying then?" he inquired next.

"I don't know," she answered again, this time more of a statement than a question and looked at him as if searching for an answer.

"There hasn't been that much studying going on so far. Did you even bring any books by the way?"

"Um, yes…I think it's in my purse," she said, sounding far from convinced. "I was going to the library to see if I could get more done there. I don't even know if it would have worked 'cause I never got that far. I jumped on a bus here instead. Hence the lack of packing."

"I was a bit curious about that," he said. "You do know I have to go to work tomorrow, right?" he asked then, sounding a bit regretful.

"I could come with you," she suggested almost instantly, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of seeing where he worked and with whom. After downing her coffee she put the cup down on the table and looked back at him with expectance shining from her.

"You want to come with me to work?" he asked, surprised at her obvious excitement at the idea. "You actually want to follow me to work and sit there while I try to edit a script from a guy who, although writes like a god, has no idea how to spell?" As her smile only grew wider at his questioning he gave up. "You do know I will get even less done with you there, right?" he asked as a last try to get out of it.

Not that the idea of spending tomorrow with her wasn't appealing, but he wasn't exactly sure it would be a good idea to bring her to work. So far he had managed to keep the others more or less out of his private life. If he brought her with him there would be no chance of keeping anything to himself anymore.

Putting down his coffee cup on the table he sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. It only took her a second to realize he had given in and fling her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. If possible he was even more perplexed at her reaction this time, not really sure why she was so exited about this. Nevertheless he hugged her back, happy to have been able to make her happy, even if he didn't really know how.

"Just so you know, I start at seven," he whispered into her ear.


She was in fact already awake when the alarm went off the next morning. It was very rare that her internal clock actually worked in the mornings, and even less usual that she listened to it, but this morning was a special occasion. And it was worth waking up a couple minutes early to watch him sleep beside her. They hadn't spent that many nights together, but it already felt completely natural. That was one thing she had missed the most in the few days since their stay in New York.

She smiled as he groaned when the alarm started beeping and watched with amusement as he reached out an arm and expertly hit the irritating clock. She continued to smile as he snuggled back under the covers and drew her closer to him again, almost without waking up. She liked that his mind automatically knew she was there. Snuggling closer to him she waited for the alarm to go off again. It took two more times before he finally opened his eyes.

"Why did you keep me awake so late last night?" he groaned, his voice raspy with sleep. "And why are you awake?" he asked, suddenly noticing her far from sleepy appearance.

"Good morning to you too," she said, smiling happily and kissed him on the cheek before getting out of bed and heading for the bathroom.


Emerging after a quick shower she found him in the kitchen drinking coffee, surprisingly awake considering how he looked ten minutes earlier. Gratefully accepting the coffee cup he held out to her she looked down at her clothes, the same she had worn last night. "Can I go like this?" she asked a bit uncertain.

"Of course you can," he said, looking her over again, the dark blue T-shirt and black pants held up by a belt. "There might be some questions as to why you're wearing my clothes, but they will disappear in all the others." He smirked at the look she gave him. "You'll feel just like you're home," he reassured her.

She just kept looking at him as he smiled at her and went to take a shower, wondering what this day would actually be like. The prospect of getting the third degree from his co-workers really wasn't that appealing, but she couldn't very well back out now. And it couldn't be that bad, could it? She was used to Stars Hollow after all and there couldn't be many people in the world that was nosier than that town.


Walking into the small, cramped office at exactly seven after grabbing a sandwich each at the corner shop she instantly started to reevaluate that statement. She had Jess' arm around her and she could feel him tense beside her as they neared the door. Looking over at him curiously she saw him take a deep breath and closing his eyes for a second before opening the door. Five seconds later she knew why.

She wasn't even sure they had moved, but suddenly there were four guys, all of them somewhere around 25, standing in front of them, looking curiously at her. Before she had any time to breathe or even say hi they were bombarded with questions. They came so fast there was no chance to catch them all.

After a while they seemed to realize they weren't getting any answers and stopped firing away just as abruptly as they had started. Looking over them once more they obviously decided to start at the beginning. Soon she knew their names and was presented to them as Jess' girlfriend, at which they seemed curiously delighted.

"So, you're the one that's responsible for all the girls we know cursing his name before they go to sleep every night?" the one called Eric asked her, sending Jess a meaningful look. At her inquiring glance he just shook his head and glared at Eric, who only smiled back, looking pleased with himself.

Eric seemed to be the one in charge, although she was far from sure of that. He also appeared to be the oldest, if only by a year or so. He was by far the nosiest guy she had ever met, even worse than Taylor.

Mike was the youngest of the four, only a couple months older than Jess, and he was the one that Jess had initially brought up his book to.

Then there was Jacob, the father of two kids, Sarah five and Daniel two years old. Pictures of the two were hanging over his desk, almost covering the whole wall.

Last there was Kevin, the owner of the apartment Jess was living in. He was apparently the joker in the group and she soon found out that he made sure there was never a dull moment.

When she had answered, or avoided answering, all of their questions as to who she was, what she was doing and everything else they could come up with, including why she was wearing Jess' clothes she felt exhausted. She apparently got their approval though and they gradually went to work with whatever they were doing at the moment.

Grateful that the inquiring was finally over she followed Jess over to a desk, completely covered in stacks of paper, in the far off corner. After clearing a small space in the middle of it he sat down in the chair and, with a deep sigh, put his head down on the desk. She couldn't help but laugh, at which he raised his head slightly and glared up at her, before laying his head down again.

"Hey Rory!" she heard Mike call out just as she was about to ask what all the papers were. "You don't happen to know anything about the new book?" he continued, sounding both curious and hopeful.

Feeling bewildered as to what book he was referring to she was about to ask when she heard Jess muttering curses under his breath beside her. She looked down at him and found him looking back at her, almost pleading, mouthing a 'no'. Instantly curious to know what this was all about she nodded at him and smiled a little.

"Um…no," she said, turning to the others, shaking her head. "Nothing at all," she added and shrugged before turning back to Jess, looking at him questioningly. He mouthed a 'thank you' and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over her palm gently, silently promising to tell her later.


She actually got some reading done that day, in between watching Jess as he sat scribbling in a notebook while reading a script that obviously made him both happy and infuriated. At one point she snatched one of the sheets he had gone through and knew why. It was handwritten to begin with, the writing was chaotic to say the least and quite a few times you had to guess the word. But at the same time she almost fell in love with the story from reading that short page. She couldn't wait to read the whole story, without all the corrections and red marks littering it.

At lunch they all went to a small restaurant around the corner and she got to meet Kevin's girlfriend Megan, who worked in a music store nearby. She instantly liked her and was relieved when she didn't get a second degree that day. That is until she saw the silent exchange between her and Kevin. Not that she was surprised though, and despite the prospect of half of Philadelphia knowing everything about her by the next day she really had a good time that day.


"So, what is this I hear about a new book?" she asked as soon as they entered the apartment, finally not able to hold in her curiosity anymore.

Sighing he gave her a glare and went into the bedroom where he pulled out a notebook from under a pile of books on the desk before slumping down on the bed. He motioned for her to come sit beside him and opened the notebook to somewhere in the middle before giving in to her. Looking down at it she knew right away that she had seen it before. It was the same notebook she had found in the bookshelf on her first visit.

After a quick glance at him she looked down at the open page again and smiled at the familiar handwriting. It didn't take long to see that what she was looking at seemed to be some sort of outline of a story. Her curiosity growing she glanced up at him again and when he nodded at her she turned the page. What she found was bits and pieces of text, put together in no apparent order. After reading through two pages she hastily went through the rest of the pages, finding that almost the whole notebook was filled with similar fragments.

"It's how I work," she heard him say beside her and startled at the unexpected sound of his voice.

"You're writing a new book?" she asked and looked over at him, a gigantic smile on her face.

"Trying to," he clarified, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, more curious than anything else.

"I…I didn't want to say anything before I knew if it was going anywhere. I guess I didn't want to disappoint you if it didn't," he said, laying down on the bed and closing his eyes.

"So, what's it really about?" she asked after a second's thought, smiling down at him. He opened his eyes and smirked at her and she barely had time to react before he had pulled her down beside him.


She ended up staying the weekend and by the time she went home she had read, and actually understood most of, the confusing draft. He hadn't allowed her do comment on it though, saying something about wanting it to be intelligible first. On her inquiring about the supposedly heartbroken girls he had also told her a rather cynical version of his co-workers tries to set him up. She almost felt bad for the poor girls, almost being the key word.

Megan had taken her out to buy new clothes and she now had quite a few new things to take home. She had also been introduced to the nightlife in Philadelphia after both she and Jess had been dragged out of the apartment by Mike and Kevin on Saturday night. And she had spent many comfortable hours lying in Jess' arms, just enjoying being close to him.

All in all it had been a really good couple of days and as she sat on the bus back to New Haven on Sunday night she felt confident that she would be able to do some actual work. Looking out over the landscape flashing by she smiled to herself and pulled out a pen and paper. Settling back in her seat she started making a plan for her studying over the coming weeks.