Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Last chapter, my loves! Thanks for reading and reviewing. Epilogue will be up immediately following. I hope you enjoy! Reviews are love, and BOYS LIKE GIRLS is my band recommendation of the moment. For serious, they rock.

Chapter 7

"Gimme a piece of pizza." Lorelai commanded.

Rory looked at the box and shook her head. "We ate it all. Chinese?"

Lorelai frowned but nodded, accepting the takeout container from Rory. The two were sitting on the couch watching movies in their pajamas. Neither had showered in a couple days and they'd consumed massive amounts of junk food, even for them. They were successfully wallowing away their failed relationships.

"I know I did the right thing." Lorelai said between bites of garlic chicken.

Rory raised an eyebrow. "Are we at the discussion phase of wallowing already?"

Lorelai nodded. Rory turned towards her mother and crossed her legs underneath her, grabbing a handful of M&Ms. "Go."

"I'm not really upset that it ended, because I know I had to do it, ya know? I mean, Chris has been so good to me but it wasn't right."

Rory didn't say anything as she waited for her mother to continue.

"It's more that I'm upset because I don't know what to do now." Lorelai finished, putting down the now-empty container.

Rory nodded eagerly in her understanding. "I really know what you mean. That's exactly how I feel about Logan. I know I had to do it, but it's always so hard, adjusting to life in the post-boyfriend stage."

Lorelai nodded solemnly and reached for the Twizzlers. "Exactly! I mean, what ever happened to a transition period? We're just expected to go from taken to single in an instant? How unfair is that?"

"Majorly unfair." Rory agreed.

"What are you going to about Jess?" Lorelai asked. "Are you going to try to start something there?"

Rory deflated and fell back against the couch. "I don't know. I don't even know if he'd want to try at this point. And really, am I strong enough to jump from one long-distance relationship to another? I have no idea. I mean, maybe I'm not meant for long-distance relationships at all. Maybe it wasn't just Logan."

"Philly's a lot closer than London." Lorelai pointed out, her mouth full of candy.

"Yeah, but it's still distance! I hate distance." Rory said. "It probably doesn't even matter though. I doubt he even wants me at this point. After everything that's happened and me hanging up on him when we talked."

Lorelai rolled her eyes at that last point. "If you call him back and explain why you hung up, I'm sure he'll understand."

"I guess." Rory agreed, sighing and closing her eyes. She opened them again and asked, "Are you gonna try to get Luke back?"

It was Lorelai's turn to sigh. "I…I don't know. I miss him so much, kid. So much. But everything got so messed up. On both sides. And then he tried to fix it and I messed it up even more."

Rory frowned and crawled over to her mother's side of the couch. She put her head on Lorelai's shoulder. "Are you going to try?"

"I don't know." Lorelai retorted. "Are you?"

Rory opened her mouth, then closed it again. "I don't know." She said at last.

"The important thing is that we have a plan." Lorelai said as she wrapped an arm around her daughter.

A week had passed and the Gilmore girls had officially ended their wallowing period and were attempting to get their lives back to some semblance of normalcy. Lorelai was slowly building up her courage, finally breaking down and walking by Luke's again. One day soon, she might even end up going inside.

Rory, on the other had, was refusing to call Jess again. She wanted to; she almost did a few times. Something kept holding her back though, and she could never go through it.

Rory was sitting at the table, studying for an exam and, more accurately, staring at her cell phone. The more she thought about it, the more annoying it seemed to her that he hadn't tried to call her at all. Why should she have to call him? Oh right, because she had hung up on him without an explanation.

Rory sighed, still feeling at a standstill, and looked back at her book. The door slammed and she saw her mother, pressed up against it and breathing heavily with a to-go coffee cup in her hand.

"Mom, what's the…is that a Luke's to-go cup?" Rory demanded, eyes wide.

Lorelai held up the objection in question with a proud nod. "I went in." She whispered, still shocked over the bravery of her actions.

"That's huge!" Rory said, standing up and hugging her mother. "Did you talk to Luke?"

Lorelai nodded again. "I said 'hey.' And then he said 'Hey. Coffee?' And I said 'yeah.'"

"It's a start." Rory said, smiling at her mom. "How did he look."

"Good." Lorelai said with a smile. "And surprised. And then maybe kinda happy. That might have just been my imagination. Oh my God." She said, suddenly upset. "What if the whole thing was my imagination? What if it never happened?"

"You've got the coffee, don't you?" Rory asked with a smile.

"What if Cesar served me?" Lorelai demanded, frowning deeply. "Oh, I need to sit down."

"Mom, you did not imagine talking to Luke." Rory said as the two sat down at the table.

"How do you know? You weren't there!" Lorelai exclaimed.

Rory gently took the coffee cup away. "I don't think you need any caffeine right now."

"Traitor!" Lorelai said. She followed Rory's eyes to her cell phone and asked, "You haven't called him yet?"

Rory shook her head quietly and Lorelai nudged the phone towards her hand. "It's a day for bravery."

Rory smiled shakily and took the phone. Lorelai stood and kissed her on the forehead before snatching her coffee back and walking into the living room.

Rory stared at her phone for a long moment before scrolling through her contacts list and dialing Truncheon's number before she could talk herself out of it.

It rang a few times before someone answered. "Truncheon Books, this is Matthew. Make it good."

"No more Empire Records references?" Rory asked.

"Wise one!" Matthew exclaimed, and Rory was pleased he remembered their exchange from the week before.

"Is Jess there?" Rory asked.

"Nope, Old Sourpuss is out of town for a while. Sorry, wise one." For some reason, he really did sound sorry.

"OK." Rory said quietly, disappointed. "Could you just tell him Rory called whenever he does get back into town ?"

"Sure thing!" Matthew said brightly. "Have a nice day!"

Rory laughed lightly at him and hung up the phone. Jess certainly had some interesting colleagues.

Rory walked into the living room, where her mother was sitting and staring at her to-go cup with a small smile.

Rory offered a weak smile of her own as Lorelai looked up inquisitively. "Jess is out of town for a while, and I don't have his cell number, so…"

Lorelai took a sip of her coffee and shrugged. "Well you tried, kiddo. Maybe he'll call you back now."

"Yeah." Rory said, sitting down next to her mother. She wasn't sure if Jess would call her back or not. She wanted him to, and she was sure that he was wondering about their cut-off conversation, but she also knew how stubborn he could be and she didn't know which side would win.

There was a soft knock on the door and Rory's head shot up and her heart started to race. It was silly to think it was him, but that knock sent something through her. Could she really still identify him by his knock? Rory stood and walked over to the door. She opened it and, just as she had predicted, Jess was leaning against the door with a small smirk on his face.

"Hi, friend." He said, still smirking and Rory could hear the trace of sarcasm in his voice.

"Jess!" Rory exclaimed, tempted to throw her arms around him. "What are you doing here?"

"Standing in your doorway." Jess responded, looking at her seriously.

Rory laughed nervously and stepped aside. "Come in."

Jess stepped into the house and looked over at the couch. He gave a small wave and said, "Lorelai."

"Hey, Jess." Lorelai said, offering him a slightly uncomfortable smile. "How are you?"

"Vital organs are in intact." Jess said, but his sarcasm was obviously good-natured.

"Way to keep things in perspective." Lorelai said, standing. She looked over at Rory, who was standing uncomfortably as she waited for her mother to leave.

"I'm gonna go over to Sookie's and show her my cup." She kissed Rory on the head and nodded to Jess. "Good to see you, Jess."

"You too." Jess agreed, stepping aside so Lorelai could get to the door.

"Do you want to sit down? Do you want something to drink?" Rory asked. "What are you doing here?" She demanded before he could answer any of her questions.

Jess chuckled, but it was obviously slightly nervous. "Seat, yes. Drink, no." He answered the first two questions as he walked over to the sofa and sat on it.

Rory walked over and sat down next to him, waiting for him to answer her third question.

"Liz was supposed to give birth last week, but the baby won't come out." Rory's eyes widened in worry, prompting him to continue, "It's fine. Apparently it happens sometimes. So they've arranged a C-section for tomorrow and she asked me to come down for it."

"That's nice of you." Rory said thoughtfully. Jess just shrugged in response, looking down at his shoes awkwardly.

"I just called Truncheon, talked to Matthew again. He's funny." Rory said.

"A regular laugh riot." Jess responded sarcastically. Then he said, "He's a good guy."

"I'm so sorry I hung up on you the other day." Rory said, holding back her smile about his casual praise about his friend.

"Yeah, what was that?" Jess demanded, turning and looking at her for the first time since she opened the door. Hazel eyes met blue and Rory wasn't sure if the sharp intake of breath was hers of his.

"My mom came home, and she'd just broken up with my dad and…" Rory sighed and finished, "We needed to take care of each other."

"Huh." Jess said, nodding in acceptance of her reason. "So you and your mom are both single at the same time. Does that happen often?"

"Not really." Rory said, shaking her head. "Not since…well, since my freshman year of Yale I guess. I don't know how long it'll last though."

"Oh?" Jess asked, setting his jaw and raising an eyebrow.

Rory blushed. She should've known he was going to think she was talking about him. "I think mom's gonna try to fix things with Luke." She explained.

"Yeah?" Jess asked with an approving nod. "Good."

Rory frowned. He was being very monosyllabic, which she knew meant he was uncomfortable. She hated to admit it, but she was uncomfortable too. She felt extremely tense and part of her just wanted to kiss him and get it over with, but that was one situation she didn't know how he'd react in and she didn't want to do it unless she was sure he wanted her to.

"Do you want to go for a walk or something?" Jess asked suddenly, pushing himself off the couch. "I can't just sit here feeling like an idiot."

He offered a hand to pull Rory off the couch and she took it with a nod. "Yeah, OK."

Jess released Rory's hand the moment she was standing and the action stung more than she wanted to admit. They walked out of the house and started heading quietly towards the town square. Rory looked over at Jess thoughtfully. He was looking straight ahead, and she could see even in profile that he was biting his lip. Rory looked down at where his hand was swinging at his side and she impulsively took it and tried to lace their fingers together.

Jess stiffened at the touch, but didn't pull away immediately. Instead, Rory could feel him folding his hand over on itself so she couldn't touch his fingers. Then, as Rory looked down with a frown, he finally pulled his hand away.

"Why did you call to tell me about Logan?" Jess asked, glancing at Rory.

Rory was looking down at her hand as though he'd burned her. She looked up at the sound of his voice and said, "I didn't break up with him for you."

Jess smirked. "I didn't say you did."

Rory's cheeks burned as she realized he was right. He hadn't even suggested that.

"You were thinking it though." She challenged, fairly certain that he had been.

"Nope." Jess disagreed with a shake of his head. He glanced over at Rory again and said, "I wouldn't let myself think it. I hate getting my hopes up over nothing. It's really not my style."

"Oh." Rory said, lowering her gaze to her shoes. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Jess asked, confused.

"That I made you think it was nothing." Rory said honestly.

Jess tensed at her words and sighed. "Rory…"

"No." Rory interjected, stopping. She put a hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her. Behind him, she could see the lake and was almost amused that this was where they'd ended up. He hesitantly met her eyes and she could see something almost vulnerable there. She almost enjoyed seeing that vulnerability, because she knew she was the only one capable of putting it there.

"Let me say this." Rory continued. "No one knows me like you do. It's weird to think about, but it's true. No matter how much time goes by or whatever passes between us, we can always connect. I don't understand it, and I don't know what it means. But it made me realize, maybe I did love Logan, but I never could connect with him. Not the way I connect with you."

On the surface, Jess seemed unaffected by her words. Rory, however, could tell by the way his posture lost its stiffness that he was at least slightly moved or intrigued by her babbling speech.

"So, I didn't break up with him so I could fall into your arms." Rory said firmly. "But you made me realize that it wasn't right with him."

Jess sighed at those words and took a step back from Rory. "So where does that leave me? Damn it, Rory, you're still messing with my head!"

"I'm not trying to!" Rory said, shaking her head furiously. "I'm trying to tell you…"

"Tell me what?" Jess demanded, squeezing the bridge of his nose with two fingers and closing his eyes. He opened them again and Rory was staring at him. "Tell me what?" He asked again, annoyance in his voice.

Rory crossed over to him and put a hand on his face. Before Jess could respond to that, she leaned in and kissed him gently on the mouth. The stiffness left Jess's body and he felt like he was going to fall over. He responded tentatively to the kiss for a moment before pulling back.

"What was that?" Jess demanded. Rory was still leaning into him and he delicately put his hands on her waist.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you." Rory said with a nervous smile. "I don't know what we are, Jess. I don't know what 'it is what it is' really means, I don't know if I'm strong enough for another long distance relationship, and I don't know if you even want one. But I do know that I don't want to be just your friend."

"Huh." Jess said, looking down at his hands where they sat on her waist. He started making small circles with his thumbs as he thought. "Are you sure?"

"No." Rory said laughingly, shaking her head. "I'm not sure about anything except that fact that I want to kiss you again."

Jess smirked at that and said, "Well let's start there."

Rory's mouth met Jess's with a fervent passion that possessed a familiarity that neither had ever really forgotten. His hands pulled her closer and he slipped a hand into the back pocket of her jeans. Rory moaned a little and wrapped an arm around his neck.

Jess pulled away, breathless. His smirk transformed into a genuine smile. "That part still works."

Rory nodded as she tried to regain her senses. She ran her hands through her hair and then placed them on Jess's chest. "Not a bad start."

"It was just a start then?" Jess asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rory nodded. "For me. I don't know what you want…"

"Oh, I think you know me well enough to know what I want." Jess said seductively, pulling Rory closer to him.

Rory laughed, but knew that he was right. She knew this was what he wanted.

"This might not work." Rory said seriously, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I can't promise that it will. I might just suck at distance."

Jess shrugged and shook his head. He cupped her face with his hands. "I'm not looking for promises, Ror."

"No? Then what are you looking for?" Rory asked, caressing his hand with her own.

"You." He said simply, and Rory had to smile. She had known that would be his response when she asked the question.

"So you want to try this?" Rory asked nervously. "Knowing me as well as you do, you want to try?"

Jess smiled at her nervousness. "I could ask you the same thing." He brushed her bangs out her eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. "I'm still not perfect."

Rory smiled as she leaned into him. "I'm not asking you to be."

"Then what are you asking for?" Jess demanded, brushing a kiss against her temple.

"I'm asking for mashed potatoes." Rory said solemnly, kissing him briefly. "And reading me to sleep." Her mouth met his for another kiss, this one a little longer. "And warm hands." They kissed again, their tongues brushing briefly before she pulled away. "I'm just asking for you to be you."

Jess smirked in response. "If you're sure that's what you want…I think I can handle that."

Jess pulled Rory into a tight hug and she leaned against his chest, listening to the pounding of his heart. It was so familiar to her that she brought her hand up to his chest in amazement. She traced a heart over the area where his own was beating loudly. He smiled at her and took both her hands in his own, interlacing their fingers.

"So, I guess this is what 'it is what it is' means, huh?" Rory asked quietly.

Jess laughed at her and, instead of answering, leaned in and kissed her again.