Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls and all it's characters and situations are property of Amy Sherman-Palladino and The WB/The CW. I do not own anything and will not make any profit from this story.

A/N: This chapter is kinda' short and filler, but it's needed in the story.

A/N: Voiceovers are in bold.

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews!

Rory sat on the couch. She was making a list. She always made lists. Usually they were on paper, tonight the list was in her head. She was home alone. And no, she hadn't felt the sudden urge to put booby traps all around the house should someone decide to break in.

Jess was still working. Luke had called him into the diner due to an insane, unforeseen mad rush. So Jess had gone. Because that's the man he had become now. Rory smiled to herself. He didn't run anymore. He didn't hide.

"You could have told me you were failing school. You could've told me your dad came to see you. But you didn't! You ran away. You left, Jess! You left me! You just took off without a word! And it hurt!"

"Can you put yourself in my shoes for one minute?! Can you manage that, Rory?!"

"You could have come to me!"

"When will you start seeing that I couldn't?! I was so screwed up, Rory. I always felt inferior to Dean, always! I was lost, and after that party, it felt like everything was going wrong. I could not come to you!"

Back to the lists, she was making a list of all the things she could've possibly done different in her and Jess' relationship. She shook the memory from her mind. Ever since her little trip down memory lane the night before, she kept on remembering parts from their most memorable fight. I think it even made the Stars Hallow Gazette even though it happened in Philly.

She didn't want to think about it anymore. Logan wasn't here to cause trouble anymore, she had Jess, everything was fine. She smiled to herself when she thought just how domesticated she and Jess had become. She had been incredibly surprised when Jess suggested settling down together, even more surprised when he had suggested Stars Hollow. He had said that it was because her job was at the SH Gazette and her commuting from Philly just seemed stupid. She had told him that her SH gig was just temporary. He had recanted by saying he could work from here. The business would work well under Chris and Matthew and he could write from here. Finally, she had caved, and he had promised her that when she gets a job at a bigger newspaper, she would move in a heartbeat and he would follow her.

Rory stood up to get some pie from the kitchen. She loved how he had said when you get a bigger job, Ror. He had faith in her, which was a hell of a lot more than she had in herself sometimes.

"Okay, Gilmore, stop fretting and thinking. Pie and Willy Wonka." She gave herself a pep talk as she scanned the fridge for her pie. She found a dish of cherry pie with the knife still on it and pulled it out. She carefully cut herself a slice, put the knife back on the pie and made to put it back in the fridge. She saw the knife wobble and before she knew what was happening it fell. Her reflex was to stick out her foot. The knife landed painfully in her foot before clattering to the floor.

"Shit!" Rory cursed out loud. She quickly closed the fridge and took some kitchen towels, putting pressure on her foot. Hopping around like an idiot she quickly hopped up the stairs, leaving the knife and blood to be cleaned up after she had tended to her foot.

"Stupid, stupid reflexes." She thought as she hopped up the stairs, blowing an erratic piece of hair from her face.

--

Jess wearily unlocked the door to his house before shutting it quietly. He saw that it was dark and figured that maybe Rory had gone to bed early. "Or maybe she's in the kitchen." He thought when he saw the light was still on. He walked in. "Ror?"

Their kitchen was huge and well-lit. There were plenty of things to notice in the kitchen. Pictures, books, a Hello Kitty toaster. But the only thing Jess saw was a huge kitchen knife on the floor, surrounded by blood. If you thought that you knew what it felt like to have the wind knocked out of you, don't think it anymore. Because you don't. You don't know how it feels, not until you find your house empty and see blood and a 5-inch knife on the floor.

He heard a thump come from upstairs.

"Rory?!" He yelled as he ran up the stairs. He rushed into their bedroom and saw light from the adjoining bathroom. She was leaning against the doorway. It took him only two strides to reach her and pull her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Hey, babe." She greeted. Somewhat surprised at his greeting. She'd heard him call her name and had tried hopping to the door, not getting further than the bathroom door before he was upstairs. "Okay, Jess, I can't breathe. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Rory, I come home to a semi-dark house and find a 5-inch kitchen knife on the floor, surrounded by blood. That's what's wrong. What happened?"

He let go of her and she hopped to the bed, motioning for him to follow her.

"Well, I was sitting in the living room, bored, thinking. And then I had the sudden urge for pie. Now, you know me, I love pie. I remember once, my mom-" Jess smiled at her rambling "-made me wake up at like 6 a.m. all for the sake of pie. Anyways, I went to the kitchen, cut a slice, and put the pie back. The knife fell and as a reflex, I stuck out my foot."

She pointed at her now bandaged foot. "Airgo, hole in foot and me unable to walk properly."

She looked over at Jess, a little bit embarrassed. He looked considerably less pale and more calm now then he did when he first sprinted into the bedroom.

"You stuck out your foot?" Jess smiled.

"It was a reflex." Rory protested, defending her actions. "It's not like I thought, hey, let me jam a knife in my foot." Jess continued suppressing a smile, but Rory could tell he was doing his best not to laugh.

"You're mocking me!" She chastised him. He threw up his hands. "I'm not, I swear."

She tried to stand up, grabbing his shoulder to gain her balance. "Well, you got beaked by a swan, that's not much better."

"I can't believe you are now using that against me." He pretended to be hurt.

"Oh, please," she scoffed, "you're "hurt" little face won't work now."

"Says the Queen of the little "hurt" face."

"Whatever. Can you please carry me down?"

Jess got down on one knee. "Oooh, I love piggy back rides." She smiled.

He chuckled. "I know you do."

"Fly, Dumbo, fly."

"Don't make me regret this." He grumbled as she continued giggling.

"You what?"

"I got a cripple foot." Rory repeated into the phone to her best friend, Lane.

"How on earth did that happen? Too much foot sex?"

"Ew, Lane, no. A knife fell and I stuck my foot out as a reflex."

"You've got some weird reflexes." Lane said, laughing at her friend's stupidity.

"I know, I know. Spare me the lecture, I already got it from Jess."

"Speaking of, is he still okay with inviting Dean to the wedding?"

"He seems to be. I mean, it's weird, he suggested it, so maybe he doesn't want to fall back on his own idea, I don't know. But when I asked him this morning if he was still okay with it, he replied with an 'of course'."

"Huh, going back to monosyllables. Interesting."

"You think it means something?"

"Well, I've never been one to decode Jess' feelings, that was always more your forte, however, I think that if Jess really wasn't okay with it, he would do something about it. And he definitely wouldn't suggest inviting the guy. Unless he was hoping for a fistfight or something."

"I hope that's not the case."

"Rory, I was kidding, it's not. Stop stressing. If the guy wants Dean there, then the guy wants Dean there. All you can do is hope for the best. And hope that you can walk soon."

"Yeah…"

"Okay?"

"Thanks, Lane."

"Hey, what are best friends for?"

"Jess, its fine. I can walk." Rory protested as he pulled up at Luke's Diner.

Jess snorted. "Fine, I can limp." She grumbled.

"Rory, just lean on me, okay. I promise I won't carry you."

"I just don't wanna make it look worse than it is." She hooked an arm around Jess' neck and hopped up the Diner steps before hopping all the way to the counter by herself while Jess closed the door, shaking his head at her antics.

"What happened to you?" Luke asked, pouring her a cup of coffee as Jess got behind the counter to get his own drink.

"She stabbed her foot." Jess said before Rory could reply.

"It was a reflex!"

Jess shot her a smile. "Sure, it was."

"It was!"

Luke looked like he was trying his best not to laugh.

"You know, I once had a similar occurrence." Kirk chimed in.

"Oh, boy." Luke said, heading off to dole out more coffee.

Jess and Rory exchanged amused looks as Kirk launched into his story.

"It was 1996, the winter carnival. Taylor had put me in charge, naturally. It was cold, I had almost given up hope. You see, the Montgomery kids had-"

"What happened, Kirk?" Jess asked in an attempt to hurry up the conversation.

"One of the spotlights got too heated up, shards of glass fell and I stuck my head out to catch them, as a reflex."

"A ha!" Rory said, "See, as a reflex."

"You do realize you just compared your logic to that of Kirk, right?" Jess whispered in her ear

Rory sighed. "It's the post-traumatic stress."

Emily could only think of one other occasion that she had needed to swallow her pride and come to Stars Hollow to make an apology to a man she really didn't want to apologize to. It was for the happiness of her daughter. This time it was for the happiness of her granddaughter, but the situation was very much the same.

She knocked on the door of the Mariano household. She knew Jess was home because his car was in the driveway, and well, he was a writer, he worked from home.

"Kirk, we do not have any salt you can borrow, for the fifth time." Jess said as he opened the door. "You're not Kirk."

"No, I'm not."

He continued to stare at her.

"Can I come in?" Emily asked.

Jess opened the door further and motioned for her to enter.

She took a seat on the couch and Jess sat down opposite her. "Would you like something to drink?" He asked politely, wondering what on earth Emily Gilmore was doing here.

"No, thank you. I just came to talk."

"Well, Rory's not home, but I can call her if you want."

Emily shook her head. "That won't be necessary. I'm here to talk to you."

"To talk to me?"

"To apologize." She added, seeing his confused look.

"Ah."

"Yes."

Jess' face turned serious.

Emily cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I love Rory, I want the best for her, and sometimes I can get a bit overprotective of her."

"I know the feeling." Jess said.

Emily nodded. "I may not always understand this, and her, but I do love her, and I want her to be happy. And when she's with you or talks about you, she's happy. And I accept it and I'm sorry for the way I treated you at dinner and for the things I said. I hope that that dinner will not keep you from attending other dinners in the future."

"Apology accepted. And I'll try my best to come as much as possible. It's kind of hard with commuting and all."

"Commuting?"

"Yeah, I work from here, but sometimes I'm desperately needed at the bookstore or publishing house and then I need to go to Philadelphia."

"That's very impressive."

"Thank you."

Emily stood up. "Well, Jess, I think it's time I be off. Have a nice day. And I'll see you at the next dinner?"

"You'll see me there, Emily."

"Unless you're in Philadelphia of course."

"Unless I'm in Philly."

"Okay, see you then."

"See you. Oh, and give Richard my regards."

"I will."

Rory agreed with Kirk on something and Emily Gilmore apologized to me. Jess shook his head. "I need to get out of the house more."

That whole foot incident actually happened to me. But before you mock, it really was just a reflex.

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