Chapter 3

Jess was in her bedroom. After months of writing, Jess, Jess, was right in front of her looking almost exactly as he remembered. It's not like she'd expected him to dramatically morph into some other being, it was just that after such a long time relating Jess to written words on a page seeing in-the-flesh-Jess was a little disconcerting. And he was in her bedroom.

"So…" she managed to say, all too distracted by the flash of collarbone showing at the neck of his shirt. His smile was smaller now but his eyes were still grinning at her and she felt her own smile widen under his gaze.

"Rory." Jess stepped towards her and, ridiculously, she felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

"Jess." She reached up to his face, holding her hand about a centimetre from where a stray hair had come untucked from behind his ear. He took her hand and moved it down to hold it gently in both of his, shaking his head as he broke away from her gaze.

"What?" Rory asked, a little concerned. Jess pulled his head back up again, like it was an effort, but looked at her again, right in the eye.

"This, Rory. This is what I've wanted for…" He shook his head again, infuriatingly. "I just can't believe we're here Ror."

She could hear a roughness in his voice, like maybe he too was fighting back tears. Rory moved into him then, leaning her forehead on his shoulder and he moved his hands to hold her.

"But we are Jess," she whispered, slightly incredulous and tearful herself. "We're here."

She felt him move his hand slowly up and down her back and she moved even closer into him. They stood like that for a while until Rory moved her head to look at him seriously.

"I've missed you Jess."

"I know, Rory. Me too."

"I didn't even know how much I missed you until now."

He just looked at her then with a look she recognised. He wanted to kiss her; when Jess couldn't voice his emotions, he was always very good at putting them into kissing form. She looked away from him then, replacing her head on his shoulder.

"I can't bear the idea of being away from you again." Her voice was quiet but clear and for a moment the only sound was the wind that tugged at the still-open window.

"Don't think about that yet, Rory. I know I can't." He nudged at her head, indicating that he wanted to look at her to which she obliged. "Let's just be for a while, okay? C'mon, we're both tired and I don't think I'm in a fit state to think about leaving you when I've only just got here. Let's just, I don't know, lie down, get some sleep and be together for now. Yeah?" His eyes were searching hers, pleading. That didn't actually sound too bad, having Jess holding her, close to her, so that when she woke in the night she'd be able to find that her dream was in fact her reality.

/

When Lorelai opened Rory's door the next morning, having knocked gently a few times, she was surprised how unsurprised she was to see Jess lying next to her daughter on the twin bed, fully clothed, one arm around her shoulders, Rory's face buried in his t-shirt. She smiled, closing the door quietly as she backed out of the room and into a waiting Luke.

"I thought you were going to get Rory?"

"She has a guest and I feel like they have some catching up to do."

She watched as realisation dawned over Luke's features.

"Shouldn't we…?"

"They're just sleeping, Luke. And they're not teenagers anymore."

Lorelai took his hand, dragged him towards the stove and pecked him on the lips.

"You could still start on those pancakes though."