A/N: Seems like y'all enjoyed the previous chapter, especially Jess and Lorelai getting along. Thanks for the all feedback, peops. Now, how about a whole chapter of nothing but Jess & Rory. Sound good? I hope so, 'cause that's what I wrote ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 23

Jess could not stop smiling. He was laid on his bed with a book in his hand, but his eyes were not really focusing on the pages. He was happy here, happier than he ever thought he could be in some place that didn't contain Jimmy, Sasha, and Lilly. Stars Hollow had become home, and he felt as much a part of Luke and Lorelai's family as he did with the folks in California. Of course, what had him grinning quite so much today was thoughts of seeing those he left behind very soon. Christmas break was just a couple of weeks away now, and alongside being thrilled to see his own home and his family again, Jess also loved knowing that he got to take Rory with him.

It would be the best of both worlds for Jess, and there was no bad in that. When he first asked Lorelai if she would mind, she said it was fine, but he half expected her to have reservations later. She never did. Then he worried what Luke would think, and even to a degree, if Rory would want to go. Jess never doubted that she loved him, but asking her if she wanted to give up Christmas with her family to spend it with his, and on the other side of the country no less, it was kind of a big ask. Jess hadn't looked at it like that until he actually came to the point of mentioning it to Rory. It was amazing to him when she said yes. She seemed really excited about it too.

As if on cue, Jess' cell phone buzzed on the nightstand, and he picked it up to find Rory was calling.

"Hey."

"Hey," she replied in kind, but said no more.

"You okay?" Jess checked.

"Yeah. I, er... Can I come over?"

"Always," he agreed, wondering why she sounded so strange. "Now?"

"I... I'm actually at the diner door."

Jess' eyes widened at that, but he didn't think twice about getting up, shoving his feet into his shoes, and pelting down the stairs. He found Rory with her face practically pressed to the glass of the door and quickly unlocked it to let her in.

"Hi," she said, with what looked like a forced smile.

"Hi," Jess replied, pulling her into his arms. "Geez, Rory, you're freezing."

"I'm fine," she told him, even as she shivered in his grasp. "Although I could use a coffee, maybe."

"Sure," said Jess, nodding in agreement.

He locked the door back up and then went to put the coffee on, but he was frowning the whole time. Something was not right here. He had a horrible feeling that for all the joy he had been feeling about Rory joining him in California for Christmas, maybe now she had come to tell him it was all off.

Before he knew it, the coffee was ready and he turned to find Rory staring unseeing into a table top. That was not a good sign either.

"Let's go up," he suggested, grabbing the coffee pot and two mugs, and gesturing to the stairs, "it's warmer."

Rory nodded and followed him up to the apartment. They sat together on the edge of the bed with a cup of coffee each, sipping their hot drinks. Jess didn't want to ask again what was wrong, he waited for Rory to spit it out and tell him. After barely five minutes of that, he couldn't stand it anymore.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Uh-huh," she said, nodding as she reached to put her coffee mug down on the nightstand. "So, I was talking with my mom, about Christmas."

"Great." Jess sighed, putting his cup down beside hers. "She's not gonna let you go now, right?"

"No, no. She's fine with me going," Rory insisted. "I'm fine with me going. Everybody's fine with it," she promised, smiling wide. "I'm excited actually, I think it'll be fun."

"I hope so." Jess nodded, wishing he felt better about this situation, unfortunately, something still seemed to be wrong. "Rory..." he tried, but the moment he turned his head, she pushed herself into arms and started kissing him.

They were lost in each other for almost five minutes, before it occurred to Jess that if he was going to be the better person, he should really find out why Rory was acting so weird, before he accidentally took advantage of the situation.

"Not that I'm complaining about this," he said, pulling away just enough to bring her into focus, "but are you sure you're okay?"

"Very okay," she promised, smiling a little more like she meant it this time. "See, Mom and me didn't just talk about Christmas. We talked a lot about you, in general. She really likes you," she said, sitting close and picking up his hand in her own.

"That's cool." Jess nodded, entwining their fingers. "I like her too. Sometimes she reminds me of Sash."

"I guess there would be similarities," Rory considered.

"You'd think there'd be more between Liz and Lorelai, but there's not," he said thoughtfully, looking down at their joined hands still. "You got really lucky with your mom."

"I think so," Rory agreed happily, her free hand going to his face and making him look at her again. "I think I got really lucky with you too," she said, meeting his eyes. "I mean, it was crazy the way we met, and you being Luke's nephew and everything, but I wouldn't change one thing about our trip to California. If I did, then we might not be here. You might not be here, and... and that would be bad."

"Oh, yeah?" asked Jess smirking a little.

Rory smiled and nodded, pushing forward again to initiate another deep kiss. Jess was drowning in her and happy to do so. She moved ever closer, not stopping him when he pushed his luck a little. If anything, she seemed to be encouraging him. That was new.

"Rory..." he whispered, aware of the fact that he was starting to lose his bearings now they were laying down together, and she sure wasn't pulling away at all.

"It's okay," she promised between kisses. "Actually, it's more than okay."

Jess had his hands at her shoulders, moving her away just a little and meeting her eyes with a purpose.

"Really?"

She nodded, her hair falling in his face, which she quickly moved away.

"I told Mom and Luke that... that I might not come home tonight," she explained, looking just a little nervous about it. "So, if you wanted me to stay..." she trailed off, as he took a turn at pushing that unruly piece of hair back behind her ear.

"You have no idea," he told her.

"Pretty sure I do," she said, blushing in spite of herself. "I love you, Jess," she told him seriously, leaning into his touch.

"I love you too," he promised, drawing her closer again, kissing her deeply.

Even though she had invited him to make the next move, Jess still half-expected Rory to change her mind when things got more serious. She wasn't a tease or anything, and he wouldn't accuse her of that, but this was a big step for anyone, and particularly for girls somehow. This wasn't just Rory's first time with Jess, it was her first time ever. That was a lot of pressure in some ways, and yet, it didn't feel like it right now. Of course, it was a big deal, it should be, Jess thought, but it was also supposed to be a good thing, special, meaningful, about just the two of them and how much they loved each other. That's exactly what it proved to be.

"You okay?" asked Jess, his arm around Rory's shoulders as they lay in his bed together.

"Well, I'm not cold anymore," she admitted, blushing all over again despite what they just did.

Jess leant down to kiss her softly on the lips.

"But you're okay?" he checked again.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she promised, curling further into his side. "Better than okay. Are you okay?" she asked then, glancing up.

There must have been a certain look on his face, Jess supposed, given the way Rory was now staring back at him with such concern.

"Yeah, sure," he told her, shifting around in the bed. "I'm... I'm fine."

He knew he had done the wrong thing when suddenly Rory was sitting up, clutching the covers to her body and looking distressed.

"Oh, was it not...?" she asked, with a clearly pained expression. "Was I not...?"

"Rory, stop," he said quickly, sitting up with her, his hands at her shoulders. "You're beautiful and amazing, and what just happened was great," he swore to her. "Better than great, I swear."

There was a horrible moment when she didn't look like she believed him. Jess felt like such a heel for making her doubt herself, or their relationship. She really was not the problem here, not at all.

"Okay," she said eventually, relaxing in his grip. "So, why do I get the feeling something is not right here?"

Jess sighed and looked away, his hands falling from her arms.

"I just... I can't believe how embarrassing this is," he muttered, running a hand over his face. "After that, I should be able to tell you anything and it should be fine."

"So, tell me," Rory urged him, moving to try and see his face.

Shaking his head a moment, Jess made himself look at her, wondering why this was so tough to say to her. She just gave herself to him, her first time with anyone. She trusted him that much and it really had been amazing. He could tell her anything, Jess knew that, so he just had to spit it out.

"I never slept with anyone before."

Rory frowned hard. "But you said-"

"I said I'd had sex before, and I have, but..." he faltered, "but I never slept with anyone before," he told her with a look.

"Oh," she said suddenly getting it apparently. "Oh, well, me neither actually. Not with a guy anyway. I mean, you know, I've slept in a bed with a person, like my mom, or top and tail with Lane, you know?"

"I know," he agreed, nodding his head.

"So, a first for both of us," said Rory, moving to lie down again with a smile on her lips.

"Apparently," Jess agreed, curling down beneath the covers beside her.

"I think that's a good thing," she said, encouraging his arm back around her.

Jess smiled and kissed her hair.

"Agreed," he said, suddenly feeling very comfortable and very sleepy.

It was Jess who woke up first in the morning, which was not entirely surprising. He was used to early starts back home, and here in Stars Hollow, the noise of the diner usually startled him awake if he didn't come to naturally. This morning, the sun was still making its way over the horizon when Jess opened his eyes to the world, smiling at the feeling of Rory in his arms, her head pillowed against his shoulder.

He lay there watching her sleep a little while, and then it was just too much effort not to be kissing her. His lips on hers gently kissed her awake, a smile appearing on her face as she opened her eyes and looked at him in the dim light.

"Hmm, that's a nice way to wake up," she said softly, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair and keep him close yet.

"Glad you think so," said Jess, allowing himself to be pulled into another kiss. "You want breakfast? Or, more importantly, you want coffee?" he asked then.

"You're the best," she declared happily, making Jess grin.

"I know, you told me last night," he reminded her, "and for the record, you're the best too," he promised, planting one last kiss on her cheek before hopping out of bed and into his pants.

"To be fair," Rory mused, "I have no frame of reference."

"Yeah, well," said Jess, his back to her as he busied himself in the kitchen area. "For what it's worth, my list of conquests is not exactly huge either."

"Really?"

Jess wasn't sure whether to be insulted by her surprise or not. He chose not. Rory would never want to hurt him, any more than he would set out to hurt her. After what they just did together last night, they ought to trust each other with anything.

"I know, guys are supposed to be cool and have all this experience," he said, only prepared to keep talking for as long as he could keep his back to her.

"You seemed to know what you were doing."

Her words did make him turn to find her blushing, red as a tomato. Honestly, Jess would be surprised if he didn't look much the same. There was no way he ever would've told Rory how nervous she made him, but last night had been all kinds of pressure on him too. He really did not want to screw up with her of all people, and his other adventures in that kind of physical contact hadn't exactly been stellar.

Before he knew it, Jess was telling Rory all about it, as he put on coffee, and made eggs and toast for breakfast.

"You know, my first time, I was fourteen. Her name was Christy Morgan. Her mom worked at Dante's for a while, and Christy and me used to run around the boardwalk together, just blowing off steam. One day, we swung by her place so she could change her shirt after she spilled a drink all over herself. One minute, I was trying to remember to be a gentleman and not look through the crack in the door, the next she was pulling me into her room and was pretty much on top of me."

"Wow," said Rory from the bed.

"Yeah. So, it happened, and... and it was awkward and weird," Jess admitted, shaking his head, "and after, she cried all over me about some other guy who she was supposedly completely in love with."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. Not the greatest day of my life," he declared, bringing Rory her coffee, and unable to keep from smiling at the sight of her curled up under his covers still. "Er, so, the second time was kind of a false start, or a false finish?" he considered. "Her name was Jessica."

"Jess and Jess?" said Rory, an amused smile peeking out over her coffee cup.

"Because nobody ever made that joke," said Jess, rolling his eyes as he returned to the stove. "Anyway, we were kind of dating, I guess, or we probably would've got as far as dating, if her father didn't suddenly decide to move the family away. Jessica came over to my house, nobody else was home, and I just thought it was now or never. We were kind of in the middle when Jimmy walked in."

"Yikes!" Rory declared, clearly picturing how embarrassed she would be in that kind of situation.

"Yup." Jess knew first hand it was in no way fun. "Here endeth the embarrassing sex list of Jess Mariano," he said, turning back to hand Rory a plate of eggs and a fork.

"Thank you," she said, accepting her breakfast. "And hey, it's not embarrassing, or it shouldn't be," she assured him, moving over so he could get back into bed for a while. "A lot of people don't have a perfect first time. I'm just lucky," she declared with a grin.

"Perfect, huh?" said Jess, sure he looked about as proud as he felt, but trying not to - arrogance wasn't altogether sexy or appealing as far as he knew.

"I'm not denying that I could've used a little less pain and a little more knowing what the heck I was doing," said Rory, practically hiding in her breakfast when she said it, "but you were so wonderful, Jess, and... and it was always going to be perfect, because it was you," she said, meeting his eyes one more time.

"Yeah," he said, leaning over to kiss her lips. "I know what you mean."

To Be Continued...