A/N: This chapter is exceptionally long, over ten pages longer than any of my previous chapters… thanks to my need to get this part of the plot over and done with. I also wrote it at about three in the morning, and was too tired to beta read the entire thing, so there's probably going to be quite a few mistakes (such as the replacement of the word 'foot' for 'shoe'). They should be fairly obvious, or at least that's what I'm hoping. I'll attempt to read it through after I get home tomorrow.
"Mom! We have to go!" Rory shouted from her room. She was dragging a large package containing a white dress that would be apart of her 'Coming Out' ball tonight. Somehow she'd been roped into going, despite her mother's and her own objections.
"Dean isn't here yet!" shouted Lorelei. They'd managed to start getting along ever since Rory had gone back to her normal schedule of schooling and Dean dating.
Rory spent every Friday and Saturday with Jess. She'd go during school to see him on Friday and get the notes from Paris on Monday. Saturdays she begged off with the help of Lane and her constant prayer rallies. Fortunately, Mrs. Kim still had no idea of her involvement in the entire ordeal.
"It doesn't matter, he can drive himself!" Rory shouted, excited about this party. It would be the first time Jess and her would be anywhere in public. Unfortunately, they had to do it in secret.
"Okay, let's go!" Lorelei shouted, and the two of them rushed out of the door, dragging ten tons of pantyhose, gloves and other junk behind them and into the jeep.
The trip to the ball was made in absolute silence. Not because there was nothing to say, but because Rory had started to like it that way. Since her and Jess had gotten together, they spent a lot of time in silence, just enjoying each other's presence. Her mother didn't really understand why her daughter's personality had changed so incredibly, but it wasn't really in her job description to understand.
When they got there, Rory was out of the car before it had even stopped. By the time her mother got to the trunk with her, she'd already dragged out over half of the clothes and was struggling to the building.
"My, aren't we excited," Lorelei taunted, watching her daughter in awe.
"I can't wait to put on this dress," Rory said, and the excitement was real. Jess hadn't actually seen it. Thanks to his being out in New York, they weren't together as much as she would have generally liked them to be. Thus, he wasn't there to help her pick out her dress, and she hadn't been able to broadcast it for him.
"Huh," Lorelei said after noticing that Rory had spaced out again.
During the entire process of getting ready, Rory didn't notice a single person. They all ignored her and she ignored them. They were all so excited over the entire situation of being 'brought out' into society, whereas she was just excited at the chance of seeing Jess in a public place. It was a strange turn of events between them. It almost seemed as though he was starting to get content just being with just her, and she was starting to want to be with him in public.
"Hey, Rory," called a voice from behind her, it was Dean. She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek, she never kissed him anywhere else when she would be seeing Jess. Normally guys weren't allowed in the changing room, she wasn't sure how he'd gotten past security, but it didn't really matter.
"Hi," she said. The excitement was obvious in her voice.
"I never thought that you would be so excited over a ball," he told her honestly and shrugged his shoulders awkwardly.
"Well… I just have a good feeling about tonight," she told him, then kissed him on the cheek again and smiled. "I have to go get ready, I'll see you tonight."
When she went back to her mirror there was a note there for her. She frowned at it and looked around. There was no one out of place. Taking it off, she opened it and a white petal whispered onto her skirt. It was barely definable. She picked it up and read the note. It was from Jess, telling her to meet him on the balcony when all the rest of the bullshit was finished. She'd only 'just' gotten him to come to the engagement.
Smiling to herself, she kissed the petal and placed it back in the note, which she placed in her purse. It took another half an hour to get herself ready and presentable for the ball. All the while she was looking for him, hoping that he'd appear with another note so that she could stop him and hug him, or kiss him… or anything. She'd have settled for even a glimpse of him at that moment.
Taking a deep breath, she went out into the line-up with the rest of the girls. For the most part, the night was completely uneventful. The ritualistic tendencies of the festivities took up an hour of her life. As for the last tradition, she was supposed to dance with her partner. But when Dean touched her, she felt like yanking away.
The upper-class DAR members stared in horror as a boy, no older than seventeen, walked onto the dance floor in the middle of the dancing couples. He walked with a purpose, directly for a couple near the center. Unlike the rest of the escorts, the white on his 'costume' was red, including the gloves, and his tux didn't have the normal tails. When he reached where his prey and her 'mate' were dancing, he waited for a turn and grabbed her hand right out from under the other boy's, and took her dancing across the floor.
"Jess?" Rory asked, barely recognizing her boyfriend in the clothes that he'd decided to wear. She'd never even seen him in something unwrinkled, let alone a tux.
"Shh," he told her and took her through the last motions of the dance.
At the beginning of the second dance, which could be joined by anyone, Dean stormed over to them.
"Who the hell are you?" Dean yelled at Jess, towering over him and shoving Rory protectively behind his back.
Rory looked out from behind Dean and blew Jess a kiss. Jess saw the motion and looked up at the bigger man with a rather large smirk on his face.
"I'm no one," he said with a shrug, and then promptly walked off the floor and to the balcony. Rory watched him, memorizing his every movement.
"Rory, do you know who that was?" Dean asked her, while turning around to face her. Rory had about two seconds to school her expression into one of confusion.
"I don't know… he just grabbed me," she said, sounding a little distressed for the sake of the situation.
"Who does he think he is?" Dean fumed, and started marching toward the balcony.
"Hey, Dean! I'm thirsty, could you get me something to drink?" she asked him, and when he was officially out of sight, she darted over to the balcony.
"Jess?" she called.
"A lady, alone on such a night?" Jess taunted from behind her, and she turned to see him standing in line with a pillar. It was the perfect hiding place. People wouldn't see him until they turned around.
"Alone? No," she said, and tip-toed over to him. She kissed him softly, not wanting to smear her make-up.
"Tell me when you want to bail," he told her, and nodded towards the ground.
"What? You want me to crawl down the balcony?" she asked him, her eyebrows rather high.
"Nah, you can leave out the front door, I'll jump down the balcony," he told her, and kissed her again, this time with passion in it.
"But where's the fun in that?" she asked him between kisses and grabbed his hand. "Come on."
"Bailing so soon? I think I've been a bad influence on you," he teased, and helped her get over the rail. Once she was over, she jumped onto a semi that was parked underneath, making a delivery.
Jess was about to turn jump down as well when he heard a noise. He turned around to see Dean standing there. From the look on his face, he was still looking for Rory, but then his eyes settled on Jess instead.
"You," Dean snarled.
He put the drinks down and marched towards his target. Jess looked around and then down to Rory. He really didn't want to have to beat the shit out of her 'boyfriend' on their first meeting, but it didn't look like he was going to have any other choice. Dean reached out as though to grab him and Jess shoved his hand away.
"Don't touch me," he scoffed, turning around so that the fight would at least take place away from the balcony, so that his adversary wouldn't accidentally see Rory attempting to scale her way down the semi.
"Who the hell are you?" Dean repeated, continuing to advance on the smaller man.
"I told you, I'm no one. Do I need to break down the words for you?" Jess asked, keeping himself moving. If he got this dispute back into the ballroom, chances were that Dean wouldn't attack and he might be able to take a running leap onto the truck, getting away.
"Why did you cut in?" Dean demanded, pointing a finger at him.
"Because you dance like shit, and she needed someone who could actually carry her on the floor," Jess said honestly, stopping his movement once they were in full view of everyone at the party. Now, if Dean was going to attack, he would have to do it with everyone watching.
"Why Rory?" Dean asked, not realizing that he was in the ball room now.
Although he couldn't see behind him, he was almost positive that they'd attracted quite the crowd. His smirk stayed place on his face, taunting his would-be attacker.
"I don't know, maybe it was her eyes," Jess told him, motioning to his own eyes, which couldn't compare to hers.
"Stay away from her!" Dean raged, and now everyone was staring at them.
"Dean?" called Lorelei from out of the crowd. Jess turned around, hearing this voice that he'd only heard in passing, sneaking around Rory's house.
Lorelei was gorgeous. He could understand where Rory got it from. Smirking again he walked past Dean to the balcony. He saluted the tall boy and jumped off the ledge onto the semi. To anyone who didn't know that the semi was there, it probably would have looked like he'd pulled an 'Aladdin'.
It only took him a few seconds to get down. He didn't mind getting a little dirty. Rory was waiting for him. When he hit the ground, she turned him around and kissed him, shoving him against the truck.
"Missed me?" he asked her, then took her hand and pulled her under the balcony, where people couldn't see them.
"Let's get out of here?" Rory suggested, and Jess smiled at her, holding up a set of keys. She looked at them and then to her boyfriend.
"You stole my car?" she asked him in mock-outrage.
"Only a little bit," he told her, kissing her again and taking her off to where it was parked. It was in a private lot, one that was only for the people who were putting on the ball. Fortunately, it also wasn't patrolled, and the car looked perfectly in place.
"I'll drive," Jess said, twirling the keys around his fingers. He opened her door respectively, allowing her entrance, and then went back over to his side, where he opened his door and slid in. "Where to, my lady?"
"Wherever," she told him with a smile.
"What time do you need to be home?" he asked her again.
"Whenever," she said with a large, mischievous smile.
"Wherever, whenever? You're starting to sound like me," he said, kissing her and putting the car in reverse.
Just as they were leaving, the people from the party started pouring around, looking for where their debutant had mysteriously disappeared to. There was a large choice of places around Connecticut to be made. They could go anywhere with a car at their fingertips.
"How about we go to California?" he asked her, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
"I want to graduate first," she told him, placing her hand over his on the shifter.
"Another two years?" he asked as though it was the longest time he'd ever pondered in his life.
"Yup, until then, we're Connecticut-bound," she told him as they laced their fingers together.
"Alright, no California… how about we go up to Canada?" he asked her. "We could be back my Monday."
"Canada? I've never gone," she said honestly. "But we'd have to stop at my house first."
"Sure," he said, turning an abrupt U-turn in the middle of the street and blazing back towards Stars Hollow.
When they got there, Lorelei was already there, waiting apparently. Rory frowned as they past and looked over at Jess. He'd noticed her too.
"How about I just buy you some new clothes when we get there?" he asked her, turning around in his seat.
"Sure," she said with a cheerful nod. "I'll even model some of it for you."
"Oh really?" he said, an eyebrow rose at the very idea.
"Uh… hey Jess?" she asked, a frown passing over her features.
"Yeah?" he asked her, his mind still drenched in ideas of 'shopping'.
"Where do you get all this money?" she asked him, crossing her arms across her waist in the seat.
"Around," he told her with a shrug.
"You don't… steal it, do you?" she asked him, looking at him to mark his sincerity. She was pretty sure that he'd never lied to her before, but he was also very good at half-truths.
"I work for my money," he said, his voice almost seeming cold.
"Jess, I'm sorry, I just… you spend a lot of money on me," she said, rubbing his hand with her thumb.
"You deserve it. I make my money and I get to spend it however I want," he told her with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Alright," she said, kicking off her shoes and curling them beneath her legs. "So… Canada?"
"Canada," Jess said with a nod.
"Wait, Jess, I don't have any ID!" she told him when they were barely an hour out of Stars Hollow.
Jess looked down at the gas tank, shook his head while smirking and U-turned the car again.
"You are a difficult woman to take anywhere," he told her with a small laugh.
"Well… this wasn't exactly planned," she griped, sinking down into her seat.
"Where are they? Your house or the party?" he asked. If they were at the party, he could probably go in and get them without being detected. If they were at her house, however, it would be hell.
"I know I brought my purse to the party… but I don't know if they were in it," she admitted guiltily.
"Shit," he said with a nod and blazed towards the party, the lesser of two evils.
About half a mile away, he pulled into a side road that wasn't visible from the main highway and parked. He leaned over and kissed Rory firmly.
"Don't leave," he told her, then unbuckled and started running for the party.
Rory sat in the car, okay for the first few minutes, but after ten she started to get antsy. She didn't have her purse, so she couldn't even call anyone. Finally deciding that she had to do something, she got out of the car and walked along the road for a few minutes, then turned around and started back. Unfortunately, on her way back, she noticed that there was a shadow lurking around the car. The shadow was too tall to be Jess. She could only come to one conclusion, that shadow was Dean.
Darting behind a tree, she thought quickly about what she could do to get out of this. She would have to warn Jess or he would go directly to the car. Panicking, she kicked off her dress, leaving her in her undershirt and a slip. It was easier to walk around in and not quite as eye catching. Being careful not to attract any attention, she inched in the direction that she thought was the mansion. On her way, she noticed that Dean was going towards where her dress was lying. This brought another piece of panic to her mind. If he found her dress… he was going to think that she was abducted. Suddenly she wished that she would have just stayed in the car.
"Rory, what are you doing?" a voice asked from behind her, and an arm snaked around her waist to pull her flush along her 'abductor's' body.
"Jess, Dean's out there, and he's going to find my dress," she told him, looking up as though getting ready for a scolding.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. I found your purse, call Lorelei and tell her you're fine. When they ask why your dress was here, tell them that you were having car problems and you decided to take it off instead of ruining it," he whispered to her and kissed the back of her neck.
"Okay, but how are we going to get out of here?" she asked him, turning around to look at him.
"I think our trip to Canada's been cancelled," he told her, his face serious and considering the situation.
"Let's get to the other side of the road. You can start walking towards Stars Hollow, people will think you got stranded," he told her, then grabbed her hand and moved stealthily through the brush until he was able to see where Dean was. The giant was busy talking on his cell phone, so Jess kissed Rory 'goodbye' and sent her running across the road. Once she was there, she brushed through the forest until she got to the road and started trudging towards home, hoping that someone would find her before she got sick.
Fortunately for her, someone managed to pick her up within five minutes. Even more to her fortune, that person was her grandmother. When asked, she then dissolved into tears about how she hadn't been able to get the car restarted and had to abandon her dress so that she wouldn't lose it. Emily, of course, understood completely about the need to not ruin a dress and stepped in on Rory's behalf during the argument that came about with her and her mother.
"Lorelei, she didn't want to ruin her dress, so she took it off! It's common sense!" Emily scolded.
"Why was she out there in the first place, mother? Did you ask her that?" Lorelei shouted.
"I was getting a headache. I was just going home to grab some aspirin," Rory told them when they both looked at her. "I didn't want to miss the ball, but I guess I did anyway." She had no idea where the tears were coming from, but they just kept flowing. After an hour of shrieking, she was sent to her room, grounded. Her mother had been attempting to ground her a lot lately, but it hadn't really worked.
As Rory slammed into her room, she was about to lie down on her bed when she noticed another note, with another white flower petal on it. She padded over to it and picked it up, on the note it stated to meet her in the city's square at eleven. A quick look at the clock showed that it was quarter to. Re-dressing quickly, she jumped out of her window and off the porch. Her mother and grandmother were still shouting, so she doubted that anyone would be there to see her.
When headlights turned around the corner, she jumped behind her garage. Dean came out of her car and looked around. She watched him frown and look over by where she'd been standing, before he proceeded to go inside. Letting out a breath of relief, she ran around the edges of town until she saw the square. Jess was no where in site.
Inching out of her hiding spot, she managed to make it to the town square without anyone noticing her. Looking around, she finally noted that there was an irregular shape perched in the gazebo. Walking quickly, she went to examine it. Lying on his back, book in front of his face, was Jess. He looked over as he heard her footsteps on the ground and smirked.
"You're late," he told her, looking down at his watch.
"Dean came, I had to take the long way," she told him with a shrug and walked over to him.
He sat up as she got nearer, so she sat down beside him. He folded his book and shoved it into his back pocket. That was the reason why every single book she got from him was always oddly bent. A book from Jess was a book well read.
"So… how'd Lorelei take it?" Jess asked, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her tight against him.
"Not well. She grounded me," Rory said with a small smile.
"Grounded, huh?" he inquired, smirking with her.
"Yup, for a month. I'm not even allowed to see Dean," Rory said, her eyes wide and shocked, as though this was a bad thing.
"No Dean for a month? Sounds like my kind of month," Jess replied and kissed her.
Rory forgot about words and just focused on kissing him. After a few seconds, they were vertical on the bench. Jess pulled back and climbed off. He flicked his hands a little bit and ran them through is hair.
"Jess?" Rory asked, not quite understanding his fleeing motions.
"Not on a park bench, Rory," he told her and grabbed a cigarette out of the ever-present carton in his back pocket.
Rory rose from the bench and drifted over to him, swaying with the wind. She watched as his eyes followed her every movement and she grinned.
"Wow, I didn't know I could do that," she told him.
"Huh?" he asked her, having completely gotten lost in the moment.
Instead of answering, Rory pressed herself against him and kissed him again. She grabbed the cigarette out of his hand and flicked it away. She then reached behind him and grabbed the full carton, which she threw out as well.
"Hey, that's a lot of money you just threw out," he complained, but there was no real effort in it. He was too preoccupied kissing her.
The kissing continued for another few minutes, until there was the sound of a twig snapping somewhere near them. Jess was gone in an instant. She barely even saw him move. Rory stepped off of the gazebo and looked around. Not seeing anyone, she moved behind the gazebo. Luke was standing there, looking at her in shock.
"Was that Dean?" he asked, pointing up at the gazebo.
"Uh…" she replied, too stunned to come up with an actual word.
"He was too short to be Dean. Who was that, Rory?" he demanded, and Rory looked back at the gazebo as tears started to well in her eyes. Someone else knew about them now.
"He's my boyfriend," she told him pathetically, angry at herself for not being able to think up a better response.
"So it was Dean?" Luke asked, frowning as though calculating the height difference in his head.
Rory didn't respond, she was looking to see if she could find Jess anywhere. He seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet.
"I thought that you were missing?" Luke further prodded, attempting to get the girl to speak.
"I was, my car broke down but my grandma found me and drove me home… So I'm home now," she said, able to get out a weak smile. She blinked back her tears of shame at being caught.
"Why are you out here?" he asked her, frowning.
"I don't know. Why are you?" Rory snapped at him, then turned and marched away.
"Rory! Where are you going?" Luke demanded. He was not used to the, normally well-behaved, teenager being angry, let alone snapping at anyone.
"I'm going home, Luke," she shouted at him, not bothering to turn around. Instead of going home, however, she was headed towards the bus stop.
"Your house is the other way," he informed her, speed walking until he was a meter behind her. "Does Lorelei know you're here?"
"Sure she does," Rory told him after a moment's hesitation.
"Why don't you come back to the diner? I'll get you some coffee and you can order dinner," he suggested.
"No, thank you. I'm going to wait here," she told him, sitting on the bus stop.
"For what?" he asked.
"The bus," she explained slowly, as though talking to a very old person.
"To go where? It's almost midnight," he asked, checking his watch.
Rory looked over to the street where the bus normally came from. Jess probably needed to catch this bus, but he couldn't do it with Luke here, because then Luke would know who it was. This posed a dilemma. Feeling very annoyed with the situation, she stood up and marched over to Luke's diner. She wouldn't be kissing Jess 'goodbye' tonight.
"I'll call your mom and you can go home," Luke told her as they neared his building. Rory rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her waist. Her eyes flicked over to the bus stop, but he wasn't there. Frowning, she turned around and went into the diner.
"Who were you looking for?" Luke asked her when he saw her checking over her shoulder.
"No one," she told him and sulked. One quick scan of the store told her that there was only one other person in the store, and a double take told her that the person was Jess. He was staring at the menu, a blatant frown on his face.
"Hey, are you the owner?" he demanded.
"Yeah, who're you?" Luke asked back, his voice gruff and a bit offended.
"Danes… Luke Danes?" Jess asked, ignoring the other man's question.
"Yeah, so what?" Luke asked, confused by this outburst.
"Nothing," Jess said with a shrug, although there was tension running high through his body. Rory could read him like a book.
"Can I get you anything?" Luke asked the strange kid.
"I'm fine," the kid said, then walked out of the restaurant. There was a very, very subtle moment when his and Rory's hands touched, their 'goodbye'.
Rory watched him go, very confused at why the kid was asking so much about names. She looked back at Luke, who was also looking at the kid, and then attempted to plot her getaway.
"I'll call your mother," Luke said, coming out of his stupor.
Rory watched him until he turned his back. When he was dialing the number, she pressed against the door and made a run for it. She heard the 'jingle' of the door and was already over halfway to the woods. When she got there, she dove in a roll and hid behind a tree. Jess was there too, he was smirking at her.
"You could swear you were being mugged," he told her.
"Why the hell were you in there?" she demanded of him, angry and confused still from his little episode from before.
"He's my uncle, Rory. My mom's last name is Danes," Jess told her. It was weird for him to not run around in circles, but she could understand that he was probably just as shocked as she was hearing it.
"Uncle?" Rory asked again, blinking and looking back at the diner, where Luke was busy attempting to figure out where she'd gone.
"Yeah," Jess said, and there was a 'look' in his eye that she didn't like.
"What are you planning?" she asked him suspiciously.
"Nothing," he told her, but the Cheshire-cat smile told otherwise.
"Your bus is here," Rory told him, seeing the headlights rolling around the corner.
"Come with me?" he asked her.
"I don't have my purse," she protested, although it was a very weak protest.
"Come on," he said, getting to his feet and offering her a hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. They then proceeded to the bus stop hand in hand. When they were sure that Luke wouldn't see them, they rushed forward and caught the bus driver's attention. Fortunately the driver was used to these kinds of antics from the two teenagers.
"Hiding again?" he asked them, and was about to close the door when Luke appeared around the corner. Rory, stunned by his appearance for the second time that night, froze, allowing Jess time to hide under some seats. The bus driver noted this strange appearance and voted to stay quiet. Rory and Jess were one of the happiest couples he'd ever seen. He didn't want to ruin their relationship.
"Rory, what are you doing?" Luke fumed, and Rory looked desperately at the driver.
"Close the door, please," she asked him, and his eyes flickered from her to Luke.
"If you close this door, I'll call you in for kidnapping," Luke threatened and marched into the bus. He grabbed Rory's arm and dragged her out, then to the diner.
Jess jerked up in his seat, looking at Rory being taken away. He then looked at the bus driver, and took off out of the bus again. There would be another one in four hours, he could catch it then.
Rory started fighting when she saw her mother's jeep turning around the corner, and saw both her mom and Dean in the front seat. A small ball on panic spread through her, and as much as she tried to fight it, it wasn't going away.
"Luke, please," she begged, trying to get away.
"I don't know what you think you're doing, but you need to go home," he told her, pulling her the rest of the way into the diner and sitting her down at a table.
Rory then started crying. They had been so close, seconds away from making it, when Luke had ruined it all for the second time that night. This thought brought animosity that she'd never felt towards anyone to the surface.
"Lorelei!" Luke greeted when she came into the diner, and Rory proceeded to tune him out after that.
"Rory!" she heard whispered from the back and she turned to see Jess crouching there.
Her eyes darted to the three people arguing about her 'safety', and then back to Jess's 'come here' motions. She removed her shoes, because they were heels and slid out of her chair. When she didn't attract any attention, she scuttled to the back of the diner and into the back alley where Jess was waiting.
"Why didn't you catch that bus?" she hissed at him, but kissed him anyway.
"I couldn't leave you with that," Jess told her, then picked her up, as the alley was covered in glass, and carried her to the cover of the trees.
"Thank you, Jess," she told him, laying her head on his chest.
"Don't thank me yet, that's the fourth time tonight we've been caught," he reminded her, and then turned around to make sure they weren't being followed. There weren't any searchlights, which he considered a good sign.
"What now?" Rory asked. She was conflicted by choices. One option was to go with Jess, have the time of her life over the weekend and come home after school on Monday, or she could go home and be screamed and yelled at.
"That's up to you," he told her honestly, taking the last few steps that would lead them to the freeway.
"There's a motel a few miles down the road?" she suggested, and he nodded.
"Alright," he told her and they started walking, in the trees, away from the road, so that they wouldn't get caught a fifth time.
Two days later, Monday to be exact, Rory caught the bus home from school and walked home, ignoring the stares of almost every townsperson. She walked a little faster by Luke's, not wanting him to catch her and yell at her for running away. By the time she got to her driveway, she was feeling rather good about having evaded them.
"Rory Leigh Gilmore, get in there this instant!" screamed someone from the porch, and her eyes rose to see her grandma standing on the porch.
Deciding that she this was precisely what she deserved, she marched confidently up to the house and inside. She then sat down on the couch and waited for people to yell at her.
"Where have you been all weekend?" her grandma demanded.
"Out?" Rory stated, as though it was the plainest thing in the world.
"And where is 'out'?" she further questioned, and Rory decided that she was in an interrogation.
"I was around. I went to Hartford and New York, just… around," she said with a shrug as her arms settled into their favorite position, hugging her waist.
"Everyone has been worried sick about you, don't you care?" Emily demanded, and Rory looked up at her, considering.
"Do I care? Yeah, of course I care. But I want freedom too!" she told her, the words bitter.
"Freedom is one thing, but this is ridiculous!" her grandmother shouted and went into the kitchen.
Rory debated taking off, but decided that it would only lead to worse things. Thus, she walked directly past all the people waiting for her in the kitchen and into her room. She slammed the door and crawled onto her bed. Being with Jess, she hadn't gotten much sleep. They were lucky if they scraped together three hours a night, but that's what happened when you were dragged to parties and kid-bars, as Jess called them.
"Rory?" called a voice from the door. She looked up to see Dean there. He looked concerned and hurt, like the kicked puppy dog he was.
"What?" she asked him.
"Why are you doing this?" he begged.
"I'm doing it because I want to," she told him, and put her head back down on the pillow.
The movement officially ended the conversation. Over the next two hours, everyone from Patty to Luke to Taylor came in to give her their piece, and not one of them seemed to get through her shell. When ten rolled around, she decided to turn in early in favor of actually being able to function at school the next day.
This 'turning in early' continued throughout the week, but she always went to New York on Fridays and then Jess would come out to Hartford on Saturdays. Two months after the Debutante-fiasco, as it had been named, Rory was allowed out of her house-arrest in order to attend the Basket Festival. Her mother thought that it would be good for her to get out and 'stretch'. She figured that a day out with Dean would be good. Rory thought that it would be torture.
The week previous she'd told Jess that they would have to call off their Saturday meeting because of the festival, he was not amused. She wasn't that happy either, but there wasn't much they could do about it.
In favor of building the basket for Dean, she'd just packed random things that could be easily cleaned out. Everyone knew the Gilmores couldn't cook. Thus, it was just accepted that they would be taken out to lunch instead of picnicking.
"You ready to go?" Lorelei asked, stopping at Rory's door.
Rory was putting the finishing touches on her basket, which was small and jam packed with random non-edible things.
"Yup," she said with a sigh and hauled the basket onto one of her arms.
The two made their way in silence. What little reparations that had happened before the ball were all crushed. They were back to not talking. She could count on one had the amount of words she'd said to her mother in the past four weeks. When they got to the festival, Rory delivered both their baskets and went to wait on the sidelines, away from everyone.
She already knew the outcome of the bidding. Dean had gotten her basket the year before too, though at that time she'd at least been able to stand him. When the bidding started, she was upset to see that she'd put her basket on the wrong end. It would end up being one of the last ones chosen, which meant more time waiting and more time with Dean. Sighing, she looked out over the crowd, seeing the exact same faces as she'd seen every other year.
When her basket finally arrived on the scene, she stood up and went to wait with the rest of the crowd, closer to Dean so that she would be there to congratulate him and pretend to care.
"Let's start the bidding at… three dollars!" Taylor shouted to the crowd.
Rory was a bit ruffled at the idea of being sold so cheap, but Dean shouted out "Five," and actually gained some merit in her books. Then, much to her surprise, a "Ten," was shouted out of the back, and the same person increased their bet to twenty a few seconds after. Her blood ran cold when she heard the voice, it was Jess. She pushed through the crowd in an attempt to find him, but only found the same people as always. Finally she found someone wearing a low-brim hat. She frowned at the person, as they were also wearing a fairly long coat. The bidding war had reached ninety dollars, as called by the man in the coat, and Dean backed down.
Rory frowned as the man went up to claim his basket. She looked at Dean as he glared evilly at the man with the basket. Rory followed said man as he funneled out of the crowd and to a less populated area of the square. Unfortunately, Dean also found it necessary to follow.
"Who is that?" he fumed, marching towards the guy. When he got there, he tapped twice on the guy's shoulder before pulling him around so they were facing each other. The hat still covered his face.
"Who are you?" Dean yelled at the place that would have been the face, was there not a hat blocking it.
"I'm no one," the voice answered before Dean went flying backwards.
The guy grabbed Rory, and Rory pretended to struggle as he 'dragged' her off. After they were out of Dean's site, Rory turned around and ripped Jess's hat off. He was laughing beneath it, and after a few seconds, she joined in.
"I'm going to kill you," she told him between laughs.
"Not if 'Dean' gets to me first," Jess said, getting his laughter under control and dropping the basket on the ground. "I'm going to guess that there's nothing edible in there, is there?"
"Not a thing," Rory replied and kissed. While kissing him, she unbuttoned his jacket and pushed it off his shoulders, leaving the coat lying on the ground beside the basket and the hat.
"Have anywhere you want to go?" Jess asked her when he had enough air to speak.
"Anywhere," she told him. "Just remember, I'm your captive."
Jess smirked at her, took her hand, and led her to the edge of town, where there was a bridge across a creek. He took her into the middle and they sat down.
"We should do this more often," he suggested, still amused with Dean's reaction to his shove. It had been obvious that the taller man wasn't expecting to be hit right off the first word.
"But you can't keep coming into Stars Hollow, Jess…" she warned him, and he sighed, moving away from her a bit.
"Why can't you tell them? Rory, it's been six months, if you don't tell them, I will," he told her honestly, running a hand down her cheek.
"I know, I just don't know how to tell her," Rory admitted.
"It doesn't matter right now. Come here," he told her, and kissed her again. Rory wrapped her arms around him and allowed him to carry her off to the place that they could only reach when they were with each other. In six months, she still hadn't slept with him. She knew that it was frustrating to him, but there just didn't seem to be a 'right' time to do it.
The day was spent kissing and sneaking around the town. Jess even went so far as to have a pizza delivered to the bridge, putting the money for it out in the open for the deliveryman to obtain. When it was getting close to eight o'clock, Jess walked her home.
"This was… nice," she said, kissing him again.
"Yeah," he admitted, and kissed her again.
"I'm going to miss you," she told him, placing a hand on one side of his face.
"Me too," he further admitted and then pushed away. "You need to go, Dean's probably worried sick about his little princess."
"Okay," she said before kissing him again and walking across the backyard to the porch door.
When she got inside, her mother was waiting for her, as she usually was. There were deep lines of worthy on her face that Rory had never seen before. She frowned and wondered if she'd caused those.
"Hi, mom," she greeted as she walked past her.
"Rory, where were you today?" she asked, although she didn't expect an answer.
"I was out," Rory told her with a shrug and slipped in to her room.
Lorelei continued to sit at the table for another hour, drinking cold coffee until there was none left. Finally, after deciding that this couldn't go on any longer, she opened her daughter's door with a 'slam' and walked over to the computer, where she was probably writing some important article for the Franklin.
"Rory, I have been very, very lenient. I have let you get away with so much, but I can't do it anymore. You have this entire secret life that no one knows about, and I can't take it anymore. If you are not home every single day by four, I am going to send you to live with your dad in Boston," she explained, on the verge of tears the entire time.
"You can't do that!" Rory shouted, turning around in her chair. "I have to go to Chilton!"
"Why? So you can skip classes and flunk out?" Lorelei snapped.
"I'm still the top student in my year," Rory protested.
"How? All I ever see you doing is writing articles, talking on the phone and hoping out windows. Where do you go?" Lorelei begged.
"What does it matter to you? You did the same thing when you were my age," Rory grumbled.
"Yeah, so that you wouldn't have to, because I thought I'd raised you better than my parents raised me," she admitted. "But I guess that I was wrong, wasn't I? So if I can't raise you, then your father will."
"No, I'm not going to dad's house. If you try to send me there, you won't be able to find me in the morning," Rory threatened, and she knew the words to be true. If her mother did try to send her away, she'd go to Jess and live with him. They'd make it. She'd have to put her Harvard dreams on hold, to get a job, but they'd make it.
"Rory, can't you see what you're doing to yourself?" Lorelei demanded, walking to her daughter and motioning to her body.
"I'm happy, you should be happy for me too," Rory hissed, and then grabbed her coat and purse. "I'm going out."
"Where?" her mother demanded, marching after her as she'd taken to doing over the past few months.
"Just out," Rory fumed. She tore open the door and slammed it behind her, then ran out onto the driveway. She pulled her jacket on as she went and made it to the bus stop in time to catch the twelve o'clock bus.
"Hey," she greeted the driver.
"Hey Rory," he greeted and allowed her to slip to the back of the bus before he started on his way.
The trip out to New York was, as was normal, boring. She'd already finished the bus manual, and she'd even read some of his textbooks. He was taking security courses during the day and driving at night.
When they reached New York, she jumped off the bus and instantly headed for Jess's place. She made it without incident, which wasn't unusual. Despite her clothing, she was very rarely ever talked to when she was on her own. When she was with Jess, quite a few guys tried for her, probably thinking that Jess was her 'catch' for the night.
After climbing up all fifteen stories of stairs, she almost ran to the door and knocked on it loudly. "One minute," Jess called from inside, and opened the door without a shirt on and his pants hanging halfway off.
"Rory?" he asked, and she kissed him. She pushed him into the house and into his room.
"I want… I want it to be tonight, Jess," she told him on the way. He allowed her to push him as far as the bed before he took control and turned them over. He kissed her solidly and for a minute before pulling back.
"Why tonight?" he asked, keeping himself as far away from her as possible.
"My mom told me that she's going to send me to Boston to live with my dad if I keep coming to see you," she told him, bitterness and anger in her tone.
"Boston?" he asked, calculating that they'd never be able to keep up the nice little set up they had if she moved to Boston.
"I think I can do something," he told her, shuffling off of her and dragging her onto his lap instead.
"What?" she asked him, but was interrupted by the sounds of smashing from the kitchen.
"By doing something I've wanted to do for months," he told her, his tone almost making her flinch. She hated it when he talked like that.
At first she heard talking, and then she heard the sounds of a fight. She emerged from his room to find him and Brent locked in a wrestling match on the ground. Brent had the upper hand, beating the living crap out of Jess. Rory wanted to help, but she knew that she'd only get in the way. After another hit, Jess grappled the bigger man, smashing him into the wall behind her. She ran to the other side of the room, beside the window, and curled up, trying to avoid the fight.
Once Jess had the upper hand, he didn't stop. He went over and proceeded to punch the man until his face was a bloody mask.
"Jess! Stop!" she screamed, hiding her face from the gore that her boyfriend was causing.
Jess stopped when he heard her voice and pulled away, completely unremorseful. A few minutes later, Liz managed to stagger out of her room and saw Brent on the ground.
"Jess! You little asshole! Look what you did!" she shrieked, the pitch of her voice hurting all the ears in the room.
"Yeah, I did something that I've wanted to do for months. This guy kicks the shit out of you, and me, and you just let him. He overpowers you and forced you to do things that you don't want, and you let him. Did you ever think about whether or not they're actually good for us?!" he shouted. Rory had never really seen this side of Jess before. This was the old Jess, the Jess that had probably been there before she'd ever met him. He still cared what his mother thought about him and wanted her to approve of him, something that Rory had learnt she never did.
"I love him!" Liz protested, the words seeming to bounce right off her.
"What about me?" Jess shouted.
"What about you!? I'm sending you to live with your father in the morning!" she screamed.
"You don't even know where my father lives," Jess replied bitterly.
"Then I'll send you to live with your uncle, I don't want to see you around here ever again," she told him, staggering over to him and smacking him across the face.
Rory instantly jerked to her feet and stormed over to Liz. She punched her in the stomach and was about to do it again when Jess grabbed her, holding her back.
"Don't you ever touch him! He's trying to help you! Why can't you see that?!" Rory screamed in fury.
"It doesn't matter, Rory," Jess told her, but she could hear the sadness of rejection in his voice.
"You bitch!" Liz cried, holding her stomach. She then proceeded to throw up all over the floor. It was not a pretty sight. Rory turned and hid her face in Jess's shoulder.
"Get me the phone!" Liz demanded of Jess, and Jess did it.
"This is the last thing I'm ever doing for you," he told her, and his words sounded just angry enough to be true.
"Fine," she spat at him, and dialed Luke's number by heart, it was the same number that she'd used to get a hold of her father twenty years ago, so she hadn't managed to forget it.
"Luke?" she cried, and there was the sound of concern on the other line.
"Luke…" Rory whispered, finally realizing what Jess was doing. She looked up at him from her hiding place in his shoulder. "Luke?"
Jess didn't reply. The only inclination that he ever heard what she said was the flickering of his eyes down to hers and the slight twitch of a smile on his face.
"I need you to take Jess. Yeah, your nephew. The little asshole just tried to kill Brent and then his bitch of a girlfriend punched me," she screamed, and for a few seconds there was shouting back.
"No, I need you to take him now!" she demanded, and Rory felt herself being tugged into his room again.
"Here," he said, tossing her a large green bag. Rory opened it and started shoving clothes into it. Jess started packing a bunch of boxes he had in his closet. He'd been planning on taking off for some time now, so the boxes were just convenience if something like this ever actually happened.
"Jess?!" screamed his mother again, and she staggered to the door, leaning on the door frame.
"I'm out," Jess told her, carrying two boxes in his arms and the green bag over his shoulder. Rory had another two boxes; effectively emptying his room with the exception of some CD's that he stated he could live without.
"And don't come back!" she told them, following them to the door as though her very presence was threatening them away.
When they hit the stairs, they took them quickly, almost running. They would have to get to the bus stop in ten minutes in order to get there with enough time to load his stuff onto it.
Neither of them said anything on their sprint, and they ended up making it in just enough time to catch it as it was attempting to leave the station. They shoved his stuff on board and then hoped on themselves.
"Taking a trip?" the driver asked, curious about the boxes.
"I'm moving to Stars Hollow," Jess told the driver with a shrug.
"Moving?" the driver asked, his expression shocked.
"Yeah, moving," Jess said with a small smile. He was glad to be out of that hellhole. Stars Hollow wasn't exactly his ideal place either, but at least it had something that he couldn't live without.
Rory and Jess moved to the back of the bus, as they normally did, and cuddled together until she fell asleep against his chest again. Jess stayed awake the entire time, wondering if this was too impulsive. He normally wasn't scared of taking impulsive steps, but he also didn't want to be thrown out into the streets. He knew that he had a father somewhere, but he didn't know where, and no matter where that 'where' was, it was going to be away from Rory, and he wouldn't be able to take that.
When the bus reached Hartford, he woke up Rory and the two of them both pondered what they were going to do. The suns rays were sneaking over the horizon when Rory finally picked up her cell phone.
"I'm calling my mom," she told him, and kissed him. He got the idea and kissed her back.
Flipping open the phone, she sped dialed number one and pressed the phone to her ear. After a couple of rings, a voice that she could barely recognize as her mother's answered the phone.
"Mom?" Rory asked, wondering if she'd programmed in the wrong number.
"Rory? Where are you?" she asked, although her voice sounded like she didn't expect an answer.
"Meet us at Luke's in ten minutes," Rory said, not offering more than that.
"Us?" Lorelei asked, and Rory smiled at Jess, who was also smiling. He was eavesdropping on the conversation and liked the sound of the word 'us'. She grabbed his hand and focused back on the conversation.
"Yeah… us," she reaffirmed. She was happy that she would finally be able to tell the truth.
"Alright," her mother responded, sounding confused.
Rory hung up the phone and watched as Stars Hollow appeared. The driver stopped outside of Luke's instead of at the normal bus stop so that they would be able to carry Jess's boxes easier. As they were about to leave, Rory turned back and gave him a hug.
"Thank you, so much…" she offered as a 'farewell', and then took her boxes again and went into Luke's with Jess.
Luke was standing, waiting for this mysterious nephew of his. He hadn't seen Jess Mariano since the boy had been in diapers and his father had abandoned them.
"Hey Rory, what are you doing here… and why do you have boxes?" Luke asked, not putting two and two together.
"Luke, this is Jess… Jess Mariano," Rory said, introducing his nephew to him after putting her boxes down on one of the tables.
"Jess?" Luke asked, looking at the strange kid who'd come in and ordered nothing a couple months previous.
"You? You're my nephew?" Luke asked, looking frustrated.
"Yeah," Jess said with a shrug, and Rory walked over to him. She grabbed his hand and led him to a four-person table.
"My mom's going to be here in a few minutes," Rory told him, snuggling against Jess's side.
"Wait… the gazebo?" Luke asked, fixing together the puzzle pieces. "He's why you've been catching so many buses?"
Rory nodded and Jess gave Luke a 'look' that told him to be quiet until Lorelei came. Luke didn't particularly get the 'look', but he did walk over to the table and sit down.
Lorelei arrived as Luke was busy staring at Jess, as though measuring him. Jess didn't enjoy being stared at, so he proceeded to ignore his uncle and stood up jerkily when Lorelei came into the room. Rory rose as well, although slower. This would be the first time that Jess would actually meet her mother.
"Hi, mom," Rory said with a small wave. "You might want to come over and sit down."
The two teenagers watched as Lorelei took in every inch of the situation, from the rumpled clothing to the boxes and then to their hands. An expression of sudden understanding was on her face and she seemed to drift over to the table unconsciously.
"Mom… this is Jess Mariano, he's Luke's nephew… and he's my boyfriend," Rory told her, feeling the support of Jess's hand on hers.
"Boyfriend?" Lorelei asked as more pieces were falling into place.
"Yeah… boyfriend," Luke echoed to himself.
"We met last year at that field trip to New York…" she admitted. If it was one thing she knew about her boyfriend, it was that he didn't like talking, so she was trying to do it all for him.
"Last year? During that musical field trip? This is the guy you've been sneaking off to see?" Lorelei asked, angrily.
"Yeah, he is," Rory said, her anger was just as real.
"And it took you until now to tell me? What did you think I was going to do?" Lorelei demanded, her hands turning white-knuckled on the table.
"If you knew that I was going to see a boy in New York, would you have ever let me go… alone?" Rory asked. It was the simple question that had guided their hidden relationship for all these months.
"No, of course not," Lorelei snapped, and then rounded on Jess. "How dare you!"
"It wasn't him, mom," Rory shouted, squeezing Jess's hand and trying to keep herself from standing up to scream.
"So you and Dean…?" Lorelei asked, and then glared deeper at Jess when Rory shook her head.
"I'm still a virgin, mom. We haven't done anything," Rory told her, unflinchingly.
"Right, like I'm going to believe that," Lorelei fumed.
"So… Jess, what was it that you did that brought you here?" Luke asked, completely changing the subject. It was not on his 'to do list' to hear teenage girls rant about their innocence.
"I made sure that 'Brent' isn't going to be hurting Liz for a long time," Jess said with a shrug.
"Who's Brent?" Luke asked, obviously behind on his sister's love life.
"Her husband," Jess said, shifting a little bit in his chair.
"You fought with your step-father?" Lorelei yelled.
"Yeah, and I punched his mother. Stop trying to blame him for things that we did together!" Rory shouted, standing up to yell at her mother and letting go of Jess's hand.
"No, it was you!" Lorelei cried, pointing at Jess. "You stole my daughter from me!"
Jess said nothing, but he didn't back down. He just stared at her as she accused him of things. He knew better than to make an enemy out of the woman who was in charge of the woman he loved. He blinked once as the word 'love' popped into his mind, but he forced it away for another time.
"He didn't take anything that I wasn't willing to give," Rory screamed, slapping her mother's hand away.
"Rory, go home," Lorelei shouted.
"Fine," Rory hissed, and Jess rose as well.
"No, you stay here," Lorelei told him, and Jess looked at her like she was insane.
"Lady, you just accuse me of stealing your daughter from you, and pretty much telling me that I'm the lowest form of creature… and you want me to listen to 'anything' you have to say?" he asked her, before taking Rory's hand again and allowing her to lead him out.
When they got outside, Jess shook his head. "That's the reason, huh?" he asked Rory, and she smiled at him, tears leaking out of her eyes.
He hugged her to him, kissing the top of her head and holding her. "It's alright, I'll make good with her when she calms down. Let's go back to your place," he suggested, and she nodded against his chest.
He turned her around and led her down the stairs. They were about halfway across the square when there was a shout from the general gazebo area. Dean came marching around the corner and over to where they were walking.
"What the hell is this?" he demanded, and Rory couldn't help but feel annoyed with all the shouting that was being done.
"Dean-," she began, but was cut off by Jess.
"No, I want to do this," he told her, and gently pushed her to the side. "Hi Dean."
"You!" Dean shouted, and advanced no him. "Who are you?"
"My name's Jess, and Rory's been 'my' girlfriend for the past ten months, and she'll be my girlfriend for a hell of a lot longer than that. I'd suggest that you stay away from her," Jess told him, and was expecting the hit when it came at him.
He deflected it and shoved his elbow into Dean's chest, knocking the wind out of him. He then smashed his fists, joined, on his adversary's back, knocking him down to the ground.
"Don't ever touch her, or talk to her, or, hell, even look at her again," Jess roared, glad to finally be having this conversation.
Unfortunately, in his amusement, he had misjudged Dean's abilities and the tall man jerked his body up, slamming into Jess and sending him sailing through the air. He smashed into the gazebo and sunk to the ground, attempting to get his wind back. Dean came over to him and proceeded to punch him twice in the face and once in the stomach. He hauled him to his feet and smashed him again in the nose.
Jess was pretty sure that his nose was broken, but that would be the least of his worries if he didn't get out of this position. He threw his body weight into the larger man's mid-section. Dean wasn't able to catch his balance and fell backwards. Jess got out from around him and went over to where Rory was waiting. She had a piece of her shirt torn off, from her stomach, and ran over to him, mopping up the blood coming from his nose.
"Why did you do that?" she asked him, shaking her head at his stupidity.
"I don't know," Jess was able to say before he was rammed into from behind. Dean took both him and Rory down, and then, in a blind rage, started kicking them. Jess tried to shelter Rory as much as he could until she was able to get to her feet.
"Dean!" she screamed, holding her arm against her body.
Jess crawled to his knees when the kicks stopped for a second, only to get booted again. He fell to his side and got back up again. Dean was still angry at him and he swung his fist again. Despite being slower, thanks to all of his injuries, Jess still dodged the swing and punched him back in the face, knocking him backwards a few paces.
"Rory! Are you okay?" Jess asked, trying to get over to her.
"Don't touch her!" Dean shouted, and lunged at them again. Jess reached over and grabbed Rory as Dean caught her, misjudging his distance. He only managed to hold on for a second until Dean took all of them down to the ground. Jess picked up a large, heavy, rock and smashed his adversary over the head, not really caring if he did too much damage.
"Jess?" Rory asked from underneath her ex-boyfriend's unconscious body.
"I'm here," he told her, grabbing one of her hands.
"The world is fuzzy," she informed him before she fell unconscious. By this time they'd attracted the entire morning crowd, and someone had gone over to get Lorelei. Kirk was there, claiming that he'd seen everything. Dean attacked first, he claimed as Lorelei came running.
Jess reached over and grabbed her cell phone. He called an ambulance for Rory before sinking down to the ground himself. He grabbed his side. It was painful to breathe all of a sudden. The adrenaline was wearing off.
"Jess?" Luke asked, and Jess briefly registered his uncle coming to his rescue when the same 'fuzziness' that took Rory took him as well.