Thanks for all of the great reviews…keep them coming! "Accidents Happen" is based on the wonderful "Gilmore Girls" television series and the amazing characters created by…not me!

Accidents Happen

Chapter Eleven Road Trip

Rory and Jess headed off to Philadelphia for their first weekend alone together. As planned, Jess picked Rory up after work and they headed for Philly first thing the next morning. They were on the road before breakfast and were midway through their first of many heated discussions before they were on the highway.

"I still can't believe you packed so much," Jess commented with a sideways glance to Rory from the driver's seat.

"I know, I did pack a lot, but I need plenty of options."

"Come on, Rory. There is a ton of luggage in my trunk right now. I don't think there is that much stuff in my entire apartment. How many options do you need? What are you, moving in?"

"What if it gets warm? Or cold? I need to have choices of what to wear."

"You are such a girl."

"Good thing. Otherwise, we would be in a very different relationship."

"Well, why don't you?"

"Why don't I what?"

"Move in. With me."

"What?"

"Think about it," Jess said. "We'll talk about it later."

"Think about it?"

"Just think about it, Rory. Keep an open mind. We're in a relationship now."

"I don't know," Rory said thoughtfully. "I think we're back in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, again, but does that mean that we're ready to move in together?"

"I agree with you about the boyfriend-girlfriend thing, but, what if we're in more of a relationship than that?"

"And where would we live? There isn't really a middle of the road between Philadelphia and Stars Hollow."

"Rory, it's just a thought. Keep an open mind. We'll talk about it more later, I promise."

"Okay," Rory said quietly, thinking of something to talk about. "So, what's on the agenda for this weekend? Our weekend."

"I'm sorry, but I need to do a little work tomorrow morning," Jess told Rory. "Just for a few hours, I promise. You can either come to work with me or you can hang out at my place."

"I think it would be fun to come to work with you. You know, see what you do when you're at work. Meet the guys again, for real, you know. Besides, this weekend is about you and me spending time together, so we need to be together. Period."

"It's up to you, Rory."

"I want to come with you."

"Okay, then," Jess said, picking up Rory's hand and kissing it softly. "I'm glad. I am very, very glad."

"Me, too. Okay. Well, what about the rest of the weekend?"

"Well, I was thinking of doing a totally Philadelphia day on Saturday. You know, check out the Liberty Bell, all the Ben Franklin stuff, the Mint, and eat lots and lots of cheese steaks."

"That sounds great, Jess. Can we go to Independence Hall on one of those tour things? I've never been, but the one in the movie National Treasure looked pretty cool."

"Of course. It's our day, so we can do anything that we'd like. Dinner, I thought we'd go to this little place, Then, after dinner, I thought we could have a Rocky movie marathon, an honorable tribute to Philadelphia's favorite, albeit fictional, son. I've already rented Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, and the newest, Rocky Balboa and I've stocked up on plenty of popcorn."

"Oh, sounds great! I love Rocky! I haven't seen Rocky Balboa yet, but the guy who plays Rocky, Jr., Milo Ventimiglia, is pretty cute."

"Yeah, I think so, too. That's why I rented it!"

"I'm serious, Jess. I think he's a pretty good actor. He's on that TV show, Heroes. It's pretty good."

"I agree."

"You've finally watched it?"

"You've only talked about it constantly for the past few weeks, so I decided the check out the marathon on the Sci-Fi Network."

"Okay, back to our weekend. What else did you have planned for us?"

"On Sunday, I thought we could sleep in and then make our own version of Rocky and I could tape you running up the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art with Gonna Fly Now playing in the background. You could even kiss the Rocky statue, too, if you want."

"You want to tape me running up the Rocky steps? Jess, I'm still walking with a cane."

"Well, then you can tape me while I run up the steps, but I'm not kissing the statue. I might agree that Milo's a good looking guy, but kissing a statue is taking it too far, right? Besides, I thought that the cane would add an interesting twist. I could try to run with the cane."

They kept talking throughout their trip to Philadelphia, but both of their thoughts remained on the pink elephant sitting in the backseat: Jess' idea that they live together. Jess had been thinking about it for weeks. He had done research on ways to continue doing his job over the internet until he found someone to take over and until he found something else. He hoped that Rory would want to move to Philadelphia, but he also was looking at the alternative, which was him moving back to Stars Hollow or moving with her wherever she found a job worthy of her.

Rory couldn't get over Jess' suggestion that they move in together. It was such a random suggestion and yet it was so expected. Rory knew from their few and far between visits and conversations that Jess still loved her, always had and always would. What she hadn't realized was that she loved Jess, always had and always would. Her second time around with Dean was a rebound from Jess. Logan was an alternative bad boy, but he was never Jess. The real reason she turned down Logan's proposal was thinking back at how he had treated Jess. Logan had been such a jerk, so arrogant. She knew he was jealous, but the way he treated Jess, and how he had treated Marty, was the way she knew he would always treat good people that weren't wealthy.

"Rory," Jess called, breaking her out of an intense daydream.

"What?"

"We're here."

"We're here?"

"Yeah, we just crossed the city line. Welcome to Philadelphia."

They drove the rest of the way in relative silence because Rory was watching the scenery out the car window.

"You've been here before, Rory."

"I know, but I was driving then. I couldn't look out the window at the scenery when I was watching for street signs."

"Well, you've never been here before," Jess said, pulling into a parking lot in a nice residential neighborhood.

"Where are we?"

"Manning Street," Jess said. "My street."

"I thought you lived above the publishing house," Rory said. "In an apartment above Truncheon with those other guys. That's not on this street."

"I used to, but I moved into my own place. I wanted the space. And the privacy."

"When? When did you move?"

"Two weeks ago," Jess confessed. "Can you carry your backpack and train case? It's just a couple of blocks."

"Sure," Rory said, slinging her trusty yellow backpack from high school over her shoulders and with her train case in one hand, she was able to balance with her cane. "But can you carry everything else?" Rory asked, referring to Jess' duffle bag, and her luggage.

"I can get the rest of this. Come on. Let's go home."