Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Well, I'm feeling better. Thanks to those who expressed concern! Chapter 3 came pretty quickly too, as is chapter 4. I'm predicting a total of 7 chapters, but we'll see. My muse/illness may have other plans. Thanks for the reviews! I kinda love you all!

Chapter 3

"How's she doing?" Luke asked Jess as he walked down the stairs into the diner. He diligently wrote down an order as he waited for a response.

"She's asleep again." Jess said simply, walking behind the counter and grabbing the telephone. "Their number still the same?"

"What are you doing?" Luke asked, turning to look at Jess.

"Calling Lorelai so she knows where her daughter is." Jess said it slowly, as though Luke had suddenly lost most of his IQ points.

"You're gonna call Lorelai." Luke stated, dumbfounded.

Jess raised an eyebrow and extended the phone. "You wanna do it?"

"No." Luke said quickly, ripping the order off his pad and handing it to Cesar. "No." He repeated, as though Jess hadn't heard him the first time.

"OK then." Jess said, rolling his eyes. "Geez." He muttered with a shake of his head as he dialed the number. He still knew it by heart, which was funny because he hadn't utilized it that much when he'd had an opportunity.

The phone rang a few times and then the call connected, but there were a few moments of silence before Lorelai started breathing heavily into the phone. "I stubbed my toe trying to answer in time. Make it good."

Jess took a deep breath. "Lorelai, this is Jess."

"Jess." Lorelai repeated.

"Jess. Mariano."

"Jess Mariano." Lorelai parroted, still sounding baffled.

"Luke's nephew?" Jess said, wondering if she actually didn't know who he was.

"I haven't had a lobotomy, I'm just confused." Lorelai responded. "What year is it? I haven't traveled back in time, have I? Because I totally would've picked a better year than 2002. Early 1960s maybe, I would be so cute in a British mod dress."

Jess was silent for a moment, and then asked, "Are you done?"

"I suppose, though I've got plenty more time travel humor I could utilize."

"I'm calling because of Rory. She's sick."

"Sick?" Lorelai asked, panicked. "What do you mean 'sick'?"

"She's got a bad fever. She fainted in the diner." Jess responded. "She's asleep in Luke's apartment now."

"Luke's apartment." Lorelai said dumbly. She took in a shaky breath and said, "I'll be right over."

Jess threw a protective glance at Luke, who was serving a couple by the window. He didn't want any sort of confrontation between the two, especially not with Rory in the state she was.

"You don't have to." Jess said. "She's just sleeping. I'll bring her home when her fever breaks and she feels a little better."

"No." Lorelai said. "When Rory gets sick, she needs to be taken care of a certain way. She needs-."

"Fruit. Did that already. Oranges and pineapple. We didn't have any grapes." Jess cut her off coolly, smirking.

"O-oh." Lorelai stammered, surprised. "But she's going to want-."

"Mashed potatoes. That's done too. She ate them all, then went back to sleep." Jess felt a strange sense of pride in his ability to take care of Rory.

"But there's other things!" Lorelai insisted. "She likes-."

"To be read to. I did that already. Cold water but no ice cubes. Herbal tea with lemon. A few games of gin rummy if she wants company, solitaire if she doesn't. I know." Jess listed quickly.

"Yeah." Lorelai said quietly. "I guess you do. Alright. Get her home safe as soon as you can."

"I will." Jess promised.

"And if you do anything funny, you're gonna be the one with a lobotomy." Lorelai threatened before hanging up the phone.

Jess hung up the phone with a smirk.

"She coming to get her?" Luke demanded from behind him.

Jess jumped and then sighed. "Geez, you definitely have a career in covert ops. Make a noise or something next time. No, I told her I'd bring Rory home when she was feeling better."

"Oh." Luke said uncomfortably. "Thanks."

Jess shrugged. "No big deal. I'll help you close early, and we'll have dinner with Liz and TJ down here instead of upstairs. That way she can rest."

"And you can be here if she needs you." Luke finished with a smirk.

"She's got a 105 degree fever." Jess responded. "We can't leave her alone."

Luke shook his head. "If it wasn't her, you wouldn't be doing any of this."

Jess opened his mouth to respond, and then just shrugged. "You're not wrong." Then he smirked and said, "It is what it is."

Luke looked confused, then said, "That doesn't even make sense."

"Trust me, Uncle Luke. I know." Jess said, more amused than he should've been.

There was no sequential order of events. There was no scenery or props. There wasn't even any color. Just faces. Not floating heads like The Wizard of Oz or anything, just…faces. Two faces to be exact. Logan's mostly, blonde, smiling, mouthing the word 'Ace' over and over. At least that's what she assumed he was mouthing, she couldn't hear him and she couldn't read his lips.

Intermittently though, Jess was there in every form she recognized. From his younger days, that scowl firmly in place to the pathetic, long-haired version of himself from when he'd asked her to run away to the soft-eyed, sarcastic yet gentle man who'd come back into her life a little less than a year earlier. Sometimes his form spoke to her; sometimes it just looked at her with those eyes she knew so well.

His whisper was faint, but it was audible, "So much feeling that you think you're going to burst." Then he was gone again, and Logan had reclaimed his rightful position in her mind's eye.

Rory's eyes popped open. She shot up on the couch, breathing a little heavier than she should've been. She could feel sweat at her hairline and all over her forehead.

"Hey, you OK?" Jess asked. Rory's head quickly turned to Luke's extra bed, the bed that used to be his, where he was currently laying. His shoes were off and his legs were crossed at the ankle. He put down the novel he was reading and got off the bed.

"Fever dreams." Rory said weakly, falling back down onto the couch. "You're still here."

"You keep saying that." Jess responded, walking over to her. He looked down at her thoughtfully and said, "You're sweating. Did your fever break?"

Rory shrugged helplessly. "I don't know."

Jess touched her forehead with two fingers and said, "You're not as warm." He picked the thermometer up and said, "Mouth."

Rory let him place the thermometer under her tongue while she looked up at him with big eyes. Every time she'd woken up, he'd been there ready to take care of her. It was a nice feeling, having him there so consistently.

Jess could feel her eyes, but he didn't meet them. He took the thermometer out of her mouth and studied the red bar. He looked at her with a smirk. "99. It broke."

Rory nodded. "Good." She murmured, still thinking about the dream she'd had while asleep. "What time is it?"

"A little after nine."

Rory moaned and pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. "I've been here all day. Where's Luke?"

"Downstairs with TJ and Liz. We had dinner down there. I came up here to "check on you" when TJ broke out the Etch-A-Sketch." Jess shuddered visibly as he said it.

Rory laughed a little and sat back up. "Is there more Tylenol? My head still hurts a little."

Jess nodded and grabbed the bottle. He gave her the pills and her cold water. She smiled thoughtfully, "No ice." She whispered.

"Nope." Jess agreed, smiling back at her knowingly.

"How's your mom?"

"Good." Jess said, sitting down. "Fat."

"Jess!" Rory said with a laugh.

"Well she is." Jess said with a shrug. "She's happy. It's…not bad. Weird, but not bad."

"Do you talk to other people like you talk to me?" Rory demanded suddenly, looking at his thoughtful expression.

"What?" Jess tilted his head as he looked at her in confusion.

"I was just wondering…" Rory started, and then trailed off. "If…"

"Chris and Matthew. I mean, we talk. They know about my mom and Stars Hollow and stuff." He thought for a moment. "Luke, I guess, about some things. I don't like talking to most people."

"Oh." Rory said quietly, not upset but just thoughtful about his response. "You still consider me a friend, Jess? After everything I did…"

Jess sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I've fucked up too, Rory. It's not like you've got a monopoly on it or something. I mean, it's not like that night in Philadelphia left me doing cartwheels, but it was one night. There were a million other nights that ended well between us."

Rory smiled weakly. "I wouldn't say a million."

"So I exaggerate." Jess said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Part of my charm."

"It just…doesn't make sense to me I guess, that we can wreck each other like we do and then laugh together afterwards." Rory said honestly.

"Do you remember what you said before?" Jess asked.

Rory blushed, thinking he meant the memory about them under the blanket. Instead, he said,

"You said, 'you were my friend first' and you're not wrong about that. Maybe I couldn't tell you about stuff that was happening in my head, but you knew me. You knew my past, my present, and if I'd thought I'd had a future then you would've known that too." Jess said.

Rory closed her eyes and pulled the blanket up higher. She said, "I don't talk to anyone the way I talk to you. My mom's a close second, but it's not the same. What do you think that means?"

Jess sighed. He didn't know why she was doing this, but it was never going to end in any way but her going back to wait for Logan's phone calls. He closed his eyes and said, "It means whatever you want it to mean."

Rory opened her eyes, amused until she saw his closed eyes and his slightly pained expression.

"That's worse than 'it is what it is'" She said weakly, still looking at him. This hurt him. Talking to her like this was hurting him, no matter what he said.

Jess shrugged. "It's just as true though." He opened his eyes and found himself lost in her bright blue stare. He turned his attention down to his hands. Nothing good could come from looking at her.

"I told your mom I'd get you home as soon as I could." Jess said.

Rory's eyes widened at that. "You talked to my mom?"

Jess nodded. "She was confused, but I convinced her I can take care of you."

Rory's eyes turned wistful at his phrasing and she remembered the conversation they'd had before. He could take care of her. He was amazing at taking care of her. He wasn't Logan though. She loved Logan.

Logan in London. Logan who didn't know she hated The Twilight Zone. Logan who didn't know about pineapples or mashed potatoes or that she couldn't tie her shoes until she was eight or the ticklish spot behind her knees. What was she doing? Why was she questioning the way she felt about Logan? She loved him. Just because he didn't know those things about her didn't mean it wasn't love.

She didn't know them about him either. It occurred to her suddenly, an epiphany of sorts. She didn't know about Logan's childhood injuries or influential events or random cravings for his comfort foods. Did he even need comfort foods? Jess liked apple pie and crunchy peanut butter on wheat toast.

But she loved Logan. She picked Logan. Because she loved him. Right? Wasn't that what had happened?

"Do you think you can make it downstairs?" Jess demanded, shattering through all thoughts of Logan. "I'll drive you home."

Rory nodded slowly. He was shutting down; she could hear it in his voice. This was uncomfortable for him and he was shutting himself off from her. She couldn't even blame him. She had no idea what was going on herself. She pushed the blanket off herself. "Yeah. I guess it's time to go."