Author's Note: Thanks to all who continue to suscribe/review. I would especially like to thank Literatiandnaleyforever who has continued to be faithful in reviewing lol. This is another filler chapter before we jump to the actually story which will have much longer chapters, it's just kinda frustrating me, having to set up the story before I actually get to it. But I will try to be more prompt with updates.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything as usual.

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Jess slumped uncomfortably in the bus seat and shifted his position as if to get a better view of Oscar's words sprawled out in front of him. But he couldn't concentrate, not when he had left them both hanging in the balance, left her again. He stared out the window at the darkening skyline and the approaching city of neverending streetlights and crumbling sidewalks. He wanted to be back in Stars Hollow, which was ironic because he knew it would kill him. He wanted to see her and explain everything, tell her what his problem was if he even didn't know what it was himself. But it was too late for that. That ship had sailed and he was left alone again. Just like she was. He wondered about her often, mostly during nights with his 3 A.M. cigarette, staring at the metal sculptures of the fire escapes outside Tom's apartment. But it was stupid. Moving on would have been easy for him. It had always been easy for him. Pick up his broken pieces and bail whenever he felt like it. She hadn't let him. She wouldn't let him. Somehow he knew that Rory would always be in the back of his head, curled up with a book.

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"Mom."

"That's my name," Lorelai retorted, snatching a handful of Fritos and jellybeans and shoving them into her mouth.

"Where's the Snuggle?"

Lorelai sat up from the couch. "What makes you think I would buy that creepy teddy bear's laundry detergent?"

Rory shrugged, "He hypnotized you into getting some."

"No way. This is prime anti-Houdini tricks Gilmore brain here," Lorelai shook her head and began poking around in the bowl of assorted junk food in front of her.

"Obviously not," Rory said, lifting the container from the back of the shelf.

Lorelai half-tripped off the couch into the kitchen. "That's impossible. I don't remember buying that."

Rory smiled, "Well, obviously you did."

Lorelai wrinkled her nose, "What's with you and the obvious? Wait, what if he's inside my brain, controlling my every thought, motion. I've been living a lie!" She knocked the container out of her daughter's hands. "Don't touch it. It's evil!" Stooping to pick up the bottle, Rory started to smirk. An idea was forming in her head. Lorelai sensed something was off. "What are you thinking?"

"Oh, nothing just what to get you for Christmas," Rory continued smirking at her idea.

"What?" Lorelai questioned, raising one of her eyebrows.

"A reproduction of that bear in the commercial." Lorelai threw up her hands in mock terror.

"If you do, I will kill you with my cooking skills."

"Too late. Hey, have you seen my book?" Rory begin glancing around the kitchen, trying to disperse that nagging feeling of something missing in the back of her mind.

"Nope. You always read too many to keep track of. I think you should get one of those GPS systems to find your books so that…" Lorelai hinted at her oncoming, trademark rambling speech that had been inherited through the Gilmore family through generations

"Nevermind," Rory cut her mother off, "So we're doing Dancing in the Rain tonight right?"

"Gene Kelly, you're my hero!" Lorelai ushered her into the living room.

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Jess quietly shut the chipped door of the apartment behind him and flung his pack on his bed. Tom shifted in his sleep and murmured. The rest of the guys all had night shifts so it was no surprise to him that Tom and only Tom was there. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he had actually seen Tom awake. Shifting through a pile of papers in the corner, most hand-written scribbles of notes only he could understand, Jess yanked out a job application and stared absent-mindedly at the blanks in the page. If he was going turn his life around, it was going to be for her and only her. Rory Gilmore. That goddamn conscience in the back of his head personified. He knew if she had never been in his life, he would have died a long time ago, simply given up and dropped dead in the gutter. Sighing, Jess pulled a pen from beneath his mattress and began to fill out the application.

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