Author's Note: First, I would like to thank all of the wonderful people who reviewed; it made me want to write better and more quickly. And a special thanks to Andra-ggfan, who reminded me about the card. It is important to this story, but I had almost forgotten about it, in the rush of new ideas.

As I warned, this chapter contains a twist. And not a good one, at that. But it also touches on some basic stuff that has happened in the past year of Rory's life, and the last 4 years of Jess' life. This is a filler chapter, right up until the end.

I was also very unhappy that I decided not to include parts of Jess' conversation with Eric and Carson, so I'm going to flashback to parts of that.

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Jess sat at the kitchen table, pondering over everything that had happened recently. More particularly, last week. When Carson and Eric had persisted and pried, and gotten Jess to speak about Rory. Eric was so damn philosophical, and he always got Jess thinking. Carson always tried to lighten the mood, but in this certain case, it was nearly impossible.

"Why do you like her so much?" The question had seemed simple enough. Eric had asked it off-hand, as filler.

"I don't know. At first, she started out as someone I just wanted to date, looks probably. But then, she read, she was smart. She was clever and smart and was not afraid to speak her mind. She was so different from most girls I knew. She was…Rory."

Eric had nodded. He had paused before the next question. "What…went wrong?"
"What do you mean?" Jess knew exactly what he meant. He wouldn't admit it though.

"I know you dated her. But what went wrong? Jess, I know you too well to know that this was not good for you."

Jess had sighed, taken a sip of beer, and began a horribly painful story. "I finally, much to my surprise, had her hooked. I came home, she kissed me. And then, after a bit of a story which I don't really feel is necessary, we began to date. But when we began to date, everything else started going wrong. I was flunking out of high school, my mom was turning into even more of a flake, and I tried to not show all this to Rory. I just wanted everything to work out for her. But, I instead pushed her away. I would still talk to her, but I was always distant. It wasn't the same as when we were friends. Everything was screwed up and different. I was horrible to her. I ran away at the end. Then, a year later, I came back, and told her I loved her."

Carson whistled softly.

"Exactly. And I asked her to run away with me to New York. Wherever. I knew she wouldn't say yes, I had a horrible track record, and she was at Yale, for God's sake. But I still wished. She said no, and then that was the last I saw of her for about a year and a half. Do you guys remember around two and a half years ago when I left mysteriously?"

Eric and Carson nodded.

"Well, I went to go see her. To tell her I wrote a book. And she didn't hate me. And then she came to the book showing that April…I don't know if you remember. But after, we kissed. But she ran back to the blonde dick, saying even though he cheated on her with like five different girls when they were "broken up" she still loved him. I have never been so crushed in my life, I want you to know. That he was better than me, it made me feel horrible, a "how bad was I then" sort of deal. But then again, I've screwed up so much with Rory. I've treated her like a piece of trash…worse than that. Just when I had her, I was such a damn idiot. I've never forgiven myself for that year we dated. Or anything after."

"But she's giving you another chance."

"I don't know that, Carson, I don't know that. She came to the bookstore, yes, but still. It doesn't mean anything."

"Do you want her back?"

Jess had not answered that question when it came that night, but it had been on his mind since then. Yes, he did. He did with every fiber in his body. Ever since he had left that night at Yale, he had missed Rory. He had gone on to Philadelphia, and started to work at a small company, publishing little known books. This was where he met Eric and Carson. They had worked with him, and soon the three were inseparable. They knew him inside and out, and Eric especially understood having a runaway father. Carson had been kicked out of his house, for reasons he had yet to reveal. They were all in somewhat of the same boat. They rented an apartment together. He started penning his own works. One day, Eric found it, and had given it to their boss, as a sort of joke. He loved it, and wanted to publish it. Initially, Jess had been furious, but Carson had gotten him back on track. He had written Diction right after seeing Rory at the book showing, she had been the inspiration for the work. And since then, he had had a steady job, a little bit of extra cash. He had moved back to New York the previous fall, and hadn't stopped thinking about Rory during the entire time. He had fallen for her harder and faster than he had ever fallen for anyone else. And now that he had the chance, he'd be damned if he messed it up again.

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Rory got back to work the next day and glanced at the headlines so familiar. "Obama Pulls out of Presidential Race".This was a few months too late. Well, for the general public, it was fine, but Rory had known for months.

Barack Obama stood in front of the team of journalists, family, friends, and other people following his campaign trail. He took a deep breath, and spoke in a deep, soothing voice.

"Journalists, reporters, friends, among many hours of pondering, I have come to a conclusion. It has been my decision to pull out of this presidential race."

He had continued speaking, but that is all most people heard. He had later informed them that he would officially announce it in about six months, and it would be vital to their status as respected news people not to leak the story.

Rory had arrived back in Stars Hollow by December. She had made quite a bit of money off of her job, and experience, but she was now jobless.

It had been her grandparents who had encouraged her to try for the fellowship again.

Rory had at first been skeptical of the idea. She didn't know if they fellowship would still accept her, as she was now 23, and a year out of college, but she still applied. She worked on a small Hartford newspaper until she got the results. This time, they had been positive. Rory had packed up her bags, and left almost immediately. Lorelai hadn't been as sad this time around, as Rory was only a few hours away.

Rory had gotten an apartment from her grandparents, who insisted. She hadn't really made any friends at her job, but she had only been there for about five weeks. She and Ellen talked, but Ellen had grown up here, gone to college at Columbia, and now worked here. She had a lot of friends from her childhood. Rory and Lane still talked, but their lives were so incredibly different, and besides, Lane lived three hours away.

Rory hadn't seen Paris in almost a year. They e-mailed semi-regularly, but not enough to say anything. Paris claimed to be working her ass off, which Rory didn't doubt for a second.

Lorelai was always there, but she was not a work friend. She was a unique friend, her best friend at that, but not someone in New York, not someone her age, no matter how many times Rory forgot.

Given those situations, Rory worked, and slept. She ate whenever possible. She rarely went out, if she did, it was to the bookstore. Her life was a bit boring, but it was in a routine, which Rory appreciated.

She and Logan had not spoken since her graduation day last year. She had regretted the marriage proposal a few times, but then she reminded herself that she wouldn't be where she was now if she had married him. She would probably be sitting at her Californian house under the avocado tree with a bouncing baby Huntzburger. And frankly, Rory didn't want that.

And then, now, here was Jess. A blast from the past. Rory didn't know her emotions, nor did she trust them. Her brain would tell her one thing, but her emotion would tell her another. She had given Jess her card, but so far, he had not called. She had gone into his bookstore. Maybe he didn't want her anymore. But did she? That was what she had yet to figure out.

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"Really? Mariano?"
"Yep. We want Jess."

"Why the hell Jess?"
"We like his edge."

"Well, I'll send him along, but I still think you're a bunch of asses. Pardon the French. Jess is a good writer, but we have better ones."

"Maybe, in your opinion. We want Mariano."

"Bye." Edward Grey hung up the phone and yelled back into the storeroom. Jess came in a few seconds later, looking confused.

"Mariano, guess who was just on the phone?"

Jess gave his boss a look. For as little as Ed had seen Jess, he knew that look meant something along the lines of, "Why the hell do you think I would guess?"
"Fine. That was Truley Associated."

Jess kept staring at his boss.

"The company."

"I know."

"They want you to go to Seattle to talk about your book."

"When?"

"Next week, it'd be a month you were there."

"Why?"

"They love your book. They would take you to a bunch of libraries and bookstores all around Seattle to talk about it, what inspired you, all that jazz."

"Do they know it's an autobiography?"

"Yes."

"Then…I can't really have inspiration."

"Jess, just go. I don't know anyone with half a mind who would pass this up. It could jumpstart your career."

"Fine. I'll go. Do I need money?"

"All of your hotels, food, and travel expenses are taken care of. Any spending money though, for tourist attractions, must be found elsewhere."

"So do I need money?"

Ed sighed. "No, Jess, you don't need money."

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"Well well well. Our little author is going on tour." Carson slapped Jess on the back and pretended to wipe a tear away from his eye. "Write a postcard, don't forget us."

Jess smirked. "I'll be sure to not forget you. A month is so long."

"Well, Seattle has good coffee," Eric remarked.

"Damn good coffee at that." Carson grinned.

"And it's all over."

"It is. On almost every corner."

"Would you two shut the hell up?"

"Have you ever had one from a place called Joey's? It was on the corner of Fourth and State." Eric acted as if Jess hadn't spoken.

"Nope. Is it good?"

"Phenomenal. You haven't had coffee until you have Joey's."
Jess interjected. "For the love of God, shut the hell up."

Eric laughed. "Fine, but I want you to bring me back some coffee."

"Alright, I'll bring you back the damn coffee, now stop talking about it."

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 Author's Note: Short. And dull. For the record, though, I wrote this chapter about four times, because I was having a hard time figuring out how to get Jess out there. I didn't want to waste space talking about Jess getting ready, so the next chapter will start a few days after he's already left. Maybe I put Jess a little OOC because I don't know if he would go on a tour, but he is.

I had to have Obama pull out of the Presidential race; it seemed to be the only logical way for Rory to be at the New York Times. And I don't know if she could have the fellowship, but she does, alright?

Next Chapter: The card shows up, a little too late, Rory finds out he left, and Jess arrives in Seattle.