-Wednesday Night, The Gilmore's House-

2:30 am

Rory sighed as she rolled back over in bed. It was now Thursday morning, which met in one day she would be leaving with her mom to go visit Jess. A smile crept onto her face just thinking about it. Rory rolled back over but quickly realized she was not going to fall asleep anytime soon. So instead, she popped out of bed and grabbed her cell phone. He is going to kill me. She dialed his number. I'm dead.

"Are you serious?" Came an obviously pissed off Jess from the other line.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't sleep and I thought maybe we could just talk for a while."

"Are you aware that's it 2 in the morning?"

"Very aware and don't act so happy to hear my voice!" Rory said cheerfully

There was a long silence and Rory was beginning to think he fell asleep on her, "Jess? You there?"

"Uh? Oh sorry, yeah I'm here. I just went to grab a pop out of the fridge."

Rory found this a little odd. Why would he get up and get a pop during the middle of a phone conversation? She was too tired to worry about it though. "Um, okay. So, are you guys getting set up for Friday?"

"Yeah, well sort of anyways. Everyone else refuses to help me set up because I owe them."

"Why do you owe them?"

"Our last open house I conveniently was out of town for the set up and they were pretty pissed about it. That leads me to the present, where I have to set up all by my lonesome self."

"Poor little boy."

"Yeah it pretty much sucks. Hey, I forgot to tell you. Luke's coming to the open house also."

"Oh yay!"

"Did you just say 'yay'?"

"I think so. God what am I? A sugar educed four year old?"

"Well…"

Rory rolled her eyes, "Answer that and you die!"

"Fair enough. You know, you really didn't wake me up. I was awake as well."

"Well then why such the chipper greeting?"

"Because you shouldn't be awake still!"

"Well I am and there's nothing you can do about it."

"That's it. We are over Rory Gilmore."

"Ha! You couldn't break up with me even if you wanted to!"

Jess huffed, "And why not?"

"You don't have the guts."

Jess sounded offended, "I do too! What the crap are you talking about? Watch, I'll do it right now. Rory, we're through."

"You suck at breaking up. Is that why you never broke up with me? Instead you just fled?"

"No, I never broke up with you because…"

Rory leaned in a little and held the phone tighter to her ear, "Because why Jess?" No answer. Rory's mouth fell open, "Because you didn't have the guts! Admit it!"

"Wow Rory, did you see the time? I should get going."

"Jess!"

"Goodbye Rory!"

Rory rolled her eyes once again at Jess and suddenly, something hit her. "Wait Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too." No hesitation, no second thoughts, he didn't even need time to think about it. It was one thing he has always known and one thing that would never change. He loved Rory.

She smiled. Rory had known it for quite sometime now but she was always scared that she just thought she loved him. Although, Rory's whole attitude changed in that one silly conversation they had. Somewhere between their childish banter, Rory realized that she really did love him.

"Okay, glad we established that. Well have a good rest of the night Jess."

"You too, I'll see you Friday."

"Yup. See you Friday. Bye."

Jess hung up and laid back down in bed. He didn't close his eyes though. He wanted to but he way too much to think about. Memories of the other night flashed through his head.

A dead silence fell over him as he stared at the person before him. After a few moments of shock, Jess whispered, "Tessa."

Tessa gave him a weak smile, "Hey Jess."

Jess couldn't do anything but just stare at her, "Uh... what? What are you doing here?"

"Look, I know we ended this but ever since we did, I've regretted it."

Jess shut his eyes. Of course she had to come now, when everything was going so good with him and Rory. "Tessa" he said with his eyes still shut.

"No Jess, I get it. I get that you will always feel something for Rory and at first, I wasn't okay with that but the more I thought about it the more I realized I could live with it. I can get past it!"

"Tessa no! Don't you get it? We are over!"

Tessa walked closer to Jess and put her hand on his shoulder, "Why do we have to be?"

Jess shook off her hand and let out a deep breath, "Because I'm with Rory now."

Tessa's face turned ghostly white. She didn't say anything for a while. The silence finally got to her though, "Oh" was all managed to get out.

Jess ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm sorry Tessa."

She looked towards the ground but then back up at Jess. She now had tears in her eyes, "How do you know? How do you know that you were supposed to choose her over me?"

Jess kicked the door railing out of frustration, "God because I don't feel anything when I look at you Tessa!" It came out louder and harsher than Jess had intended.

She wiped at a tear, "And what do you feel when you look at her?"

He shrugged, "Everything."

Tessa nodded, "I've really lost you haven't I?"

Jess shook his head and looked into her eyes, "You didn't lose me, you just never really had me."

"It's just; I can't picture myself with anyone but you."

"Well then, you're not trying hard enough." Jess walked back to his bedroom knowing that she would show herself out the door.

Jess groaned has he buried his head into his pillow. He thought all his Tessa drama was over with but she just had to come crawling back. Jess hadn't seen or talked to her since the other night and Jess just hoped it would stay that way.

-Thursday Morning, Luke's Diner-

"So, what time are we leaving tomorrow for Jess's?" Rory asked as she took a bite of her pancake.

Lorelai sipped her coffee before answering, "Um, I think we should start getting ready at quarter to never, be in the car by not going, and get there around not ganna happen."

Rory glared at her mom, "I can tell already that this is going to be a fun trip tomorrow isn't it?"

Lorelai smiled, "Very Fun! We should play Eye spy on the way up there! That will make it even better."

"Why are so bummed about going to see him?"

"Aw honey I'm not bummed! I'm just playing around, seriously."

Rory shrugged, "You better be or I'll throw my pancake at you!"

"What a threat!"

"Hey so Jess told me Luke's coming! Are we riding with him?"

Lorelai gasped, "Great Idea honey! There's nothing more annoying to him then the two of us in his itty bitty truck for a long period of time!"

Rory nodded in agreement, "We must plan before hand what we are going to say, let's make this the most irritating encounter he has ever had with us!"

Lorelai stood up and put her coffee cup in the sink, "Oooh! We should make a list of annoying things to do while in the car with him tomorrow!"

"You are my hero!" Rory said as she raced to get a pad of paper and a pen.

-Thursday night, Jess's bookstore, Philadelphia-

Jess sat down and looked around. It actually looked pretty clean. He nodded with pride before grabbing a beer out of the fridge. Jess then grabbed his cell phone to call Rory but instead, he found himself staring at his phone's wallpaper. It was a picture of him and Rory that she forced him to take. They were sitting at Luke's diner and Rory's chair was pushed up next to his. Rory had her hand resting on his shoulder and was flashing a beautiful smile while Jess wore his little grin. Jess smiled at the picture and decided to look through the rest of them.

As he flipped through picture after picture, he realized something he hadn't noticed before. Rory was smiling in every picture, not always with her mouth. Sometimes she was smiling with her eyes and others her whole face. He had never believed Rory when said he made her truly happy. Not until that moment anyways. It was then that Jess saw it too. He saw what everyone else had noticed, he made her happy.

He put the phone down and laughed to himself. He made her happy? If only she knew how she made him feel.

-Friday Morning, Luke's Diner-

Rory and Loreali leaned against his wall as they waited for Luke. He finally came out of the diner with his keys, "Alright lets go. Why do we all to ride in my truck again?" He asked with slight annoyance.

Lorelai smiled, "To save gas money, duh."

"Don't you mean so you can save gas money?"

Lorelai climbed into the truck and rolled her eyes, "Same thing." Rory got in afterwards and after minutes of uncomfortable shifting, they all were ready to go.

Luke started up the car and began to drive through stars hollow, "Uh... you guys can turn on the radio if you want."

Lorelai smacked her head, "Oh crap! Rory, we forgot to put the radio on our list!"

Luke turned confused, "Uh... what list?"

"Curse our idiotic brains mom! Curse um!"

Luke sighed, "What list are you talking about?"

Lorelai smiled at him sweetly, "What was that?"

"You were talking about a list."

"Uh?"

"What?" Luke asked puzzled

"Uh?"

"Stop that!"

"Stop what?"

"Uh?"

"What?"

Luke threw his hands up in the air in defeat, "I give up." he mumbled to himself

Rory smiled and whispered into Lorelai's ear, "Cross off puzzling conversation number one."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay but when do you do puzzling conversation number two?"

"After the first rest stop, which is about right now." Rory smiled deceitfully and leaned forward so she could see Luke, "Hey Luke, we need to stop."

"What do you mean we need to stop? We just starting driving!"

"I need to use the bathroom."

"You went before we left, which was less than a minute ago. How could you possibly have to go again?"

"Uh?"

"What?"

"Excuse me?"

Luke shook his head, "Alright there's a new rule for this little road trip. Nobody can talk!"

Lorelai stuck her tongue out at him before crossing off a few things from their list.

Luke's truck pulled up to the bookstore and Rory was the first one out of the vehicle. She didn't even bother to knock, she barged right in. "Jess!" Rory called out spotting him in his kitchen. She ran up to him and kissed his lips passionately as she wrapped her arms around his neck. They pulled away and and Rory immediately began talking, "Okay, so I have to tell you all about my ride up here. I don't even know where to start! It was just…" Rory's voice trailed off. Jess wasn't paying attention; he wasn't even looking at her. Jess was looking right past her. Rory turned around to see what had his attention and her heart about stopped.

Standing less than four feet in front of her was Tessa. This can't be happening. Rory groaned and turned back to him but kept her eye on Tessa, "Jess?" she said quietly.

He quickly put his hand on her shoulder, "It's okay Rory, and I'll handle this." Jess approached Tessa, "What are you doing here? I thought…"

Tessa crossed her hands over her chest, "You thought the other night was it? That it was the last of me?"

Rory eyed Jess, "The other night? Jess what is she talking about?"

"Oh you didn't tell her Jess?" He looked at Rory helplessly and than back at Tessa. "You didn't tell her that I stopped by the other night?"

Rory took a deep breath. How could the weekend she had been so excited for quickly become such a nightmare?

Jess shook his head, "Tessa, why are you here?"

"I heard some guys talking about your open house earlier so I thought I would stop by. I have a right to be here."

"Yeah you do have that right but I also have a right to ignore you." Jess grabbed Rory's hand and walked away from Tessa. They left the room completely and Rory turned to face Jess, "So you saw her the other night?"

"Rory, I'm sorry I didn't tell you it's just, I didn't want you to get worked up for nothing. She came by again to try to get me back. I told her I was with you now and after some arguing, I just walked away and she left. I thought it over, I thought she would get it by now but I guess now."

"I think she gets it but now it's just about screwing up our relationship. Are you sure she's 21? I mean, people get the ages 21 and 13 mixed up all the time!"

Jess sighed, "I can't believe she's here. Look, I'll be right back. I need to go see Luke for a minute." Rory nodded as he left. She found herself a place on his sofa and pulled a book off the coffee counter next to her. Rory was just about to open it when she felt someone take the seat next to her on couch.

Rory turned to see it was Tessa. Tessa smiled, "Before you say anything, I just need you to know that I'm not here to steal Jess... I'm not even here for him. I'm here for you." Rory didn't say anything she just cocked her head a bit in confusion. Tessa continued, "I'm sorry about that little thing in the kitchen, I'm still working on getting over it all ya know? I just came here to tell you that, you need to hold on to him. You need to hold onto Jess because.." Tessa's took a deep breath, "Because he wants nothing more than to hold on to you."

Rory nodded, "I will, I'm not going anywhere. Well, unless he's going with me. You seriously showed up here to tell me that?"

Tessa laughed, "Yes and no. I also came here to tell you that, I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I've ever come off as a jerk to you. I'll admit it, I was jealous. I was jealous of the way Jess acted when he was around you. I'm sorry Rory."

Rory gave her a small smile, "It's okay but thank you, I really appreciated it." Tessa returned the smile and got up.

"Well, it's been a short but interesting journey Rory Gilmore. Remember what I said." Tessa walked away and Rory knew that this time, she was walking away for good.

A/N: Holy crap I haven't updating in MONTHS... here is my pathetic little excuse, I had a honors English speech due followed by teachers cramming test into the end of the year followed by exams. I am done with school though for the summer so I will post more. This story only has a few chapters left guys!

So, Tessa is gone and it is for good. I completely changed my mind about her and what I was going to do with her character. I had originally planned for a one-sided kiss between her and Jess that Rory would've seen but then I realized how incredibly cliché and boring that was. So, I took a whole new route and kinda turned her into a good girl at heart.

Thanks for your amazing reviews, without you guys, I would NOT update.

So keep them up