Ok Chapter 5!! Here goes…

When Lorelai Gilmore burst through the door of Luke's Diner, he immediately knew that something was wrong. She ran up to the counter and stared directly into his eyes.

"She's gone."

"What? Who?"

"Rory! Rory's gone!"

Luke hesitated, was it just sinking in now?

"Um Lorelai… she has been… she.."

Lorelai didn't let him finish, "No Luke. My mother called and she left yesterday and hasn't been back since. She's not answering her phone and Logan's been calling all day so she's not with him and she had this DAR thing today… that's not Rory, if she made a commitment then she'd be there. Luke she's not here. She's gone…"

Just as the tears began to stream down her face, TJ burst through the door.

Luke, half glancing at TJ warned him almost automatically, "TJ now's not a good time…"

Normally, TJ was used to Luke shrugging him off but today he was determined. "Jimmy's dead."

"What?" Luke looked at him in shock.

"Yeah, Jess called this morning. Liz is upset, she's packing to go to New York. Apparently she feels she needs to be at the funeral. I thought you should know… maybe you could help calm her before she leaves. She didn't want me to come here because she said you wouldn't want her to go."

All of a sudden everything clicked. Luke and Lorelai exchanged glances and in that moment they both knew exactly where Rory was.

****

Liz had called Jess back when they were finishing up breakfast (which by this time was really lunch) and told him that Jimmy's mother would be handling the funeral arrangements. He was reassured of this when he returned to the police station and was told that some woman named Linda Callese had contacted them.

When they were finally able to leave the police station, this time for good, it was time for Jess to ask the question he had been dreading.

"So when are you heading home?" Jess had been surprised how much easier that her presence made all of this to handle, however, her phone had been ringing incessantly and he knew that she had a totally separate life to get back to.

"Why, are you trying to get rid of me?" Rory said with a smile. In reality she was torn. She knew it was crazy to be here. She couldn't just drop everything and run around New York with Jess. Isn't this the same guy who broke her heart? Didn't he already offer her all of this and didn't she turn him down? Then why did this feel so right?

Rory's expression fell. What if he didn't want her here anymore?

Jess, always able to read her expressions reassured her. "Rory you can stay as long as you want. I just thought- it seems as though people are missing you."

"I'll just stay through the funeral. I don't want you to be alone. Those are never pleasant and I get the feeling that this one is going to be a little tougher than most."

Jess nodded. "Then I guess it's back to my apartment for now."

***

He lived in a small one bedroom apartment that appeared even smaller because it was filled with boxes. Full boxes. Taped shut and labeled.

Rory inhaled sharply at the realization. "You're moving"

Jess looked around the apartment as though he had completely forgotten. "Yeah… um… I was supposed to be moving today. I guess that's not going to happen yet. Good thing I paid the full month's rent."

Rory's eyes filled with tears. She knew it was completely illogical. She lived in Connecticut, it wasn't as though he was leaving her. Why did it feel that way?

Jess started walking further into the apartment and she grabbed his arm. She immediately let go, remembering that contact can be dangerous.

"Jess you're moving! Again! Where are you going? Were you going to tell me?" She knew her questions were irrational but she didn't care. In the past few days she had felt alive. She wasn't going to let that slip away and go back to her life of money and privilege.

Jess reached out and held her hand. "Until yesterday I didn't think you would ever talk to me again. To be honest, since this all happened I totally forgot I was moving. None of this seems real to me. I got a job and I'm supposed to be there tonight. I need to call them."

"Where?" Rory's voice came out small. She knew she was losing her control and that it wasn't fair.

"Philly."

"Wow." Rory took her hand back and looked around. She was at a loss for words so she said all that she could think of.

"Can I take a shower?"

Jess laughed and showed her to the bathroom. He opened a box of clothes and dug out some that could possible come close to fitting her. She smiled gratefully and without a word went to shower.

Jess took advantage of this time to make two phone calls. The first call was to let his new job know that he wouldn't make it until after the funeral. The second was to Luke.

"Luke's Diner"

"Hey Luke."

"Jess…"

"Um I just wanted to let you know that Rory's here. It doesn't seem like she's letting anyone know and I don't want to force her to but I think Lorelai would like to know she's alive."

"Yeah that's sort of where we figured she was. Are you ok? You're mom.. well TJ.. told me."

"Yeah I'm fine. I mean what do I care right?"

Luke sighed. "Jess.."

"Look I have to go, Rory's in the shower and I don't want her to know I called."

"Alright, look thanks for calling. If you need anything…"

"I'm fine. Take care of Liz."

"Ok. Bye."

**

When Rory emerged from the shower she was feeling much better. She had calmed down and realized that he had been right the night before. They really just needed to be there for each other right now and whatever happened later would be determined later.

Jess was sitting on the floor propped against a box reading. When she sat down next to him, he looked up.

"So tell me about this job."

Jess sighed. He knew he had to tell her and he wanted to, but now it made him extremely nervous. He opens another box, pulls out a book and hands it to her.

Confused, she begins to examine the book. "The Subsect, by…Jess MARIANO!!! JESS!!!! YOU WROTE A BOOK"

He laughed a little. It was as though she was telling him because he didn't know. He nodded slightly.

"You wrote a book."

"I knew it. I knew you could do this. I always knew it. You wrote a book."

"That job I got, it's at a small press… my manuscript found its way to them and for some reason they liked it. They liked it so much that they wanted to print it and to hire me. They have this little apartment with four guys that I can stay in. After I move I'm going to try to distribute it to some independent bookstores. Then I go back and work at the press."

"I'm so proud of you."

"Yeah, I mean it sounds like my kind of job."

"It does. Can I read it? Now?"

Jess laughed. "You might not be so anxious once you start. That copy's yours though. Read at your own risk."