Author's note: Here's another chapter...we've jumped two years ahead in time...hope you enjoy and thanks to all that continue to read and review. I haven't watched GG in a while because our reception has been screwing up so I apologize if anything's too OOC.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything...but I would like a cup of coffee from Luke's.

2 Years Later...

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"Don't say no just to make me stop or to make me go away. Just say no if you really don't wanna be with me."

"No!"

Rory Gilmore woke up to a perfectly smooth ceiling. It was the antithesis of her crumbled, dot-ridden surface at her mother's house. It had character, a comfortable, familiar feeling; this was blank, smooth, devoid of emotion. Rory sighed and lay there, her hair curling around her head like a halo of brunette leaves. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Losing herself in thoughts of nothingness, just a pool of empty white. Dreams rarely came to her at night now despite their free-flowing nature at Yale. If they did choose visit her in this Rapunzel's tower, they were nightmares of regret and nostalgia, staying subconsciously in the back of her mind until she drowned out the white noise with booze or Logan, or some odd combination of the two. But she had chosen this life; that's what hurt the most.

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Jess Mariano stared dizzily ahead at the repeating snippets of white line that ran parallel to his rear view mirror. An early frost had began to ebb the life out of the stretched trees of Connecticut, periodically causing a whirlwind of leaves to sweep past Jess' glaring vision. He blinked suddenly, waking from his staring slumber and focused his eyes on the approaching sign. Stars Hollow. He was coming back to see Luke…and her. But the latter, he pushed back in the confines of his brain as not to jinx the whole situation. Time had passed, he hoped, so everything was water under the bridge. But damn it, it didn't help anything if he had sat on that same bridge with her.

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"Rory?" Emily shifted in the antique velvet chair and formally faced her grand-daughter, "I was wondering how the planning for that upcoming D.A.R. event is coming along."

Rory met her gaze, "Fine, grandma. I talked to the caterers yesterday and they said they'd bring by some samples this afternoon." Emily nodded and continued to sip robotically from her cup. Rory just stared at the plain white ceiling.

"Have you planned the guest list?" Emily focused her stare towards Rory once again. Rory blinked, attempting to break the trance and process exactly what her grandmother had just said.

"I'm sorry; what did you say?" She stumbled over the words, her tongue feeling foreign to her mouth, "I mean I was just making a mental check-list to make sure I remembered everything. Thank you again for reminding me." Rory added the last couple sentences on a whim, hoping to give the appearance that she had been paying attention. She didn't want to imagine Emily's wrath otherwise.

Emily nodded, "Hmn, yes. Well, it's almost about time for lunch so I will go check and see what is taking Sarah so long. This is the third maid this week. No good help in Hartford anymore as I've been saying for years already."

Rory smiled faintly and stood from her chair as her grandmother left the room. Wrapping her arms around her thin frame, she wandered around the living room as if to further wake herself up. But she still felt numb; the white ceiling could swallow her thoughts up again at any time. Rory found herself by the fireplace, staring at a photo of her and Lorelai taken years ago. They were both laughing at something beyond the camera, but Rory couldn't remember anything about the incident. She felt strange not talking to her mother for, what was it, three months now. She wondered if this was how normal kids felt all the time, minimal contact with their parents, immersed in school. Well the last part wasn't true. At least, about her anyways. Rory touched the side of the silver frame with her finger, hoping for some faded memory to reappear. Nothing did.

"Rory?" Her grandmother sung from the dining room, "Lunch is ready."

"Coming… Grandma." Rory turned, lingering at the mantle for a second before heading towards the dining room. She vowed not to look up at the ceiling.

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Jess pulled into the spot behind Luke's, stopping to take a moment to just sit. Nostalgia had always accompanied this place, which tortured and enticed him. He knew the true meaning of "bittersweet" and had known for what seemed like an eternity. Letting out his bottled air, he flipped the ignition off and cracked the car door. A faded grumbling added itself to the silence until a metal door came flying open.

"I told you, Caesar; Do not separate the trash into paper and the plastic ….No, I do not care what Taylor said, if he wants it done so badly he can do it himself," Luke angrily heaved a garbage bag into the dumpster.

"Need some help there?" Jess spoke up, now leaning against the sidedoor, head cocked with interest. Luke jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Jesus, you scared me," Luke faced his nephew, "So what brings you here? You sounded good on the phone last month."

"Yeah, well, I thought I'd come up and visit for a day. That's what nephews do, right? Leech off their uncles?" Jess smirked at his uncle who grinned back at him.

"It's no problem. Come on in; the place is basically empty." Luke gestured to the door. Jess nodded and shifted the strap of his bag on his shoulder. He followed Luke through a tiny hallway through the kitchen and into the diner. Jess stopped short behind the counter and paused. Damn, this place was exactly the same. He halfway expected Lorelai and Rory in the corner, Rory with her blue eyes playfully glancing at him.

"This place still looks the same," Jess stated, not sarcastic, but not pleased either.

"Yeah, well Lorelai is trying to convince me to get matching chairs or something," Luke said, fiddling with objects under the counter.

"She's still got you whipped, huh?" Luke sputtered at his nephew's comment and turned slightly red.

"No… just you know how she is," he muttered and stood up, wiping his hands on his jeans.

"Huh," Jess commented. Luke gritted his teeth at the awkward situation and attempted to change the conversation.

"So, have you talked to Rory lately? She still asks about you." Luke almost kicked himself for bringing up that subject. He tensed, unsure of Jess' reaction.

"Nope. It's pretty much still crash and burn with us," Jess said quickly. He moved to open his bag. "But the real reason why –"The diner door tinkled and swung open and Lorelai appeared.

"Luke, coffee now!" She sang to the world, grinning until slowly turning solemn at the sight of Jess.

"No more today. You'll kill your liver." Luke said to her, not noticing her obvious change in expression.

Quick as a whip, Lorelai turned back to him, "What does caffeine have to do with the liver?" Luke sighed and opened his mouth when Caesar's shouts interrupted him.

"He's going through our garbage again," an exasperated Caesar appeared from the kitchen.

"Damn it, Taylor," Luke grumbled, "Um, Jess can you cover for two seconds? I'm heading out again" And with that, he vanished out the door towards the dumpster.

Jess opened his mouth to reply and then shut it quickly. He lifted the strap over his shoulder and laid the bag on the linolenum floor, feeling Lorelai's stare on him the whole time. He grabbed the coffee pot off the counter, flipped a cup right-side up in front of Lorelai and filled the mug. "Quick service…I'm impressed; Are you going to succeed Luke in the reign of diner-kings?" Lorelai quipped.

"Well, I would, but being the dark, mysterious rebelling Robin Hood sounds much more interesting," Jess countered. He leaned uneasily back against the counter, pressing his palms flat against the surface. "Do you want anything else?"

"Nope," Lorelai piped and swung her legs awkwardly over the stool to face Jess. He inhaled sharply and let the air out lazily. Lorelai oddly didn't intimidate him anymore and he suddenly felt at ease under her presence, but the silence didn't help anything.

"So I see that dating my uncle has caused you to inherit the Danes' dreaded monosyllabic disease?" Jess asked, raising one eyebrow and facing her head-on.

"Well, yes….I think it was sexually transmitted." Jess grimaced and closed his eyes.

"And thank you for that wonderfully painted picture," he muttered.

"Just call me the next Picasso." Lorelai grinned, and then went back to staring at her feet. Jess relaxed back into his previous position as Lorelai periodically fiddled with her purse. The awkward silence was becoming unbearable to the point that Jess wanted to say anything, which was rare, even for him.

"Look…" Jess began just as Lorelai blurted out, "Uhh…" They both stopped and stared at each other.

"You first…" Lorelai gestured. Jess rolled his eyes and cleared his throat nervously.

"Look…I know I'm not your favorite person…" Lorelai coughed. "Okay, fine your least favorite person. The point is you're engaged to my uncle, which means I'm going to have to come the wedding…if I'm invited, and I'm not some punk trying to break Rory's heart anymore so can we just kind of leave all that shit in the past?" Lorelai raised her eyebrow to which Jess shrugged, "Okay, fine… 'stuff' in the past?"

"Okay, I won't try to kill you anymore; I'll just try to break a couple of bones," Lorelai said, and pushed her cup towards him, "Now more coffee?"

Jess rolled his eyes once again, "Fine; but if Luke asks who gave you coffee, say Caesar."

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Thanks for reading!!!