A/N: You are all absolutely AMAZING. Thank you so much for the reviews (and compliments!) on the last chapter! I can't even put into words how happy I get when I not only see there is a new review but when I read it as well. I couldn't have asked for better readers, really.

"So you found my apartment okay?" Jess asked as he and Rory walked down the Philadelphia streets.

Her arm was linked with his, curled back to help hold her jacket shut. She nodded to answer his question. "Yeah. I found it more than okay."

He watched her curiously. "You asked for directions, didn't you?"

"What? No," Rory gasped then pouted. "Okay. Fine, I asked directions."

"At least you're honest about it," he laughed and kissed her hair.

"Shush," she laughed. "I got there, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," he grinned. The grin faded slightly as their destination came into place. "We're here."

"Already?" She asked and looked ahead. She didn't want to point out how she didn't remember the stores around Truncheon that well from last time. "Wow."

"So a few warnings," Jess untangled his arm from Rory's and stopped walking. "Chris and Matt, who you've met, are there right now. They're my co-partners. Chris is the better of the two."

"Got it," she nodded seriously.

"And Matt," he made a face which made her laugh. "I'd stay try to avoid being alone with him as much as possible. And then Drea. She's cool, you'll like her."

"Should I be jealous?" She teased.

"Well, she is madly in love with me..." Jess answered.

Rory hit him lightly on the stomach. "Don't mock."

"Fine," he said. "Look, you'll be fine. Just stick close to me, okay?"

Rory pretended to think for a moment. "I guess I can do that."

"Now who's mocking?" He smirked.

"Come on," she said with a smile and took his hand in hers. Jess followed behind as slow as he could.

The door opened to Truncheon and she was surprised to see just how the same it looked. He watched her take it in and then she walked over to the bookshelves, leaving him in the doorway.

Jess walked in, his hands now shoved into his pockets. He noticed Chris in the corner, talking to a customer who had just walked away. Chris looked up when he saw him. "Hey. Didn't expect you here now."

"I kind of got a surprise," he grinned.

"Uh-huh," he nodded. "You're smiling. I'm suspicious."

"Why don't you look over there and see?" Jess nodded towards a direction behind him and he watched as Chris' gaze followed.

He gasped as he noticed the familiar person in front of him. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yep," Jess smirked.

"You brought her here?" He asked and Jess shook his head. "You mean you didn't tell her to come because of the book?"

"Nope," he shook his head and still had the smirk on his face as he turned to look over at his girlfriend. "She came all on her own."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" He urged. "Come on."

Chris was already on his way to Rory before Jess had even moved his feet. He moved to catch up to his friend and Rory turned at the sound of footsteps. She smiled at Jess when she saw him, not minding the distraction from the books.

Jess went to stand beside her, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her towards him. "Rory, I'd like you to officially meet Chris. Chris, this is Rory."

"Very nice to meet you finally for real," Chris said and reached out his hand which made Jess snicker.

Rory smiled back at him and took his hand. "Nice to meet you, too."

"So you're the woman keeping our Jess on the right side of the tracks," his friend said.

"I guess so," she laughed. "I don't think he's been on the wrong side since high school, though."

"That's right!" Chris exclaimed. "You knew him in high school! I want stories."

"If there's stories, I will deny," Jess said.

She laughed. "But I can tell Chris how you much you bid for my basket."

"Is that some dirty metaphor?" Chris asked.

"It'd exactly what it sounds like," she answered with another laugh.

"All right," Jess said. "Maybe I'll be safer with the customers than over here right now."

He unwrapped his arm from around Rory and kissed her quickly on the lips. She shouted after him, "Bring me something to eat!"

He rolled his eyes as he walked away, a smile on his face. Chris looked over at Rory proudly. "I think he smiled more in the past two minutes than all the years I've known him."

Rory blushed. "Is that a compliment or a comment?"

"Both, I think," he replied.

She nodded. "He makes me smile probably more than I do for him."

"You don't know the impression you make on the guy, do you?" He asked surprised. It wasn't a judgement but an observation. "You make him happy."

"He makes me happy, too," she said back. "Even being here, coming down to his work. I'm happy."

"And you work in New York City?" He asked.

Rory nodded. "The New York Times, actually."

"Holy shit," he gasped. "If I had a drink right now, I'd have spit it out."

"That'd be one way to break the ice," she laughed.

"Sorry," he laughed, too, though. They really did need something to break the ice, he realized.

"Its okay," she waved it off. "Jess actually warned me about you guys anyway."

"Really?" He asked curiously. "And what did he say about me?"

"That you were better than Matt," she answered.

Now Chris laughed. "Sounds about right."

"You know," she said. "Jess never told me how you guys met."

"He met Matt first, actually," he replied. "Though why he'd want to meet any of his friends after that I have no idea."

"Do you have any funny Jess stories?" She asked. "Maybe we can trade off."

"Oh, I have a bunch," he grinned.

...

Jess watched suspiciously as his girlfriend and friend talked together and laughed. He knew they had to be talking about him but he wondered exactly about what. Suddenly, he was very glad she didn't know about the swan.

Matt's voice sounded in his direction and he looked over. His other friend was smiling as he walked over. "So?"

"So what?" Jess asked.

"Did she get it yet?" He sighed impatiently. "Is that why you're here?"

"She got it," he nodded. "And its part of why I'm here."

"Well, what's the other part?" Matt wondered.

"She's here," Jess said.

His mouth opened and closed before responding. "Where?"

"Over there with Chris," he pointed and Matt looked over. Jess watched his friend's head click with remembrance of that open house night. "I want to talk to you first."

"Okay," he shrugged and the two of them walked up the stairs.

Jess stopped walking first once they were in the apartment's kitchen. He turned to face Matt. "I wanna set some rules before I introduce you."

Another shrug. "Okay. What are they?"

"No bringing up Philadelphia," he said first. "I don't want you mentioning what happened or how I reacted, got it?"

"Got it," he replied dryly. "What else?"

"Don't tell her what you told me after you found out we were back together," he pointed his finger at him. "Any mention of how we're gonna break up or how it'll be her fault and we're done."

"Okay," Matt put his hands up in surrender. "Next?"

Jess sighed and looked toward the stairway, as if he could see Rory from where he stood. "No sarcastic comments. No snark. No pre-judging. She's important to me so I don't want to hear you be some kind of asshole."

Matt actually laughed. "You say this like I was planning on being a world class jerk to her."

"Maybe you are," Jess shrugged but had a smirk in place.

"Maybe," he replied back with a look on his own face. "But you also forget I know boundaries."

"So you're not gonna show your dislike of her?" He asked seriously. "You're gonna actually give her a chance?"

"I told you I don't hate her," Matt answered. "Sure, I may have had my own judgment of her but that was before she was standing in my place of work while one of my best friends lectured me on how to treat her."

Jess narrowed his eyes. "So what does that mean exactly?"

"It means I'll be nice," he told him. "I'll talk to her, give her a chance. Maybe I'll even like her."

The teasing tone was back to Jess' voice when he next spoke. "As long as you don't fall in love with her."

"Oh, come on," he laughed. "I'm not gonna take your girl."

"Better not," He laughed too as they walked back down the stairs and into Truncheon books.

Rory and Chris both were nowhere to be seen. Jess had remembered seeing her before he had gone upstairs. Matt looked around too, wondering. "Where'd she go?"

"I don't know," he said as he continued to look. He saw a door open and that door was never open during store hours.

Jess walked straight over to it and Matt followed behind him. The door squeaked slightly as he pushed it open to reveal Chris grabbing Polaroids and handing them to Rory, who sat in a chair.

"Hey," Jess said. "What's going on here?"

"Chris is showing me these pictures he got before his Polaroid officially died," Rory explained.

"Its nothing bad," Chris explained.

Jess didn't believe him and raised and eyebrow. "What pictures?"

Rory held one out towards him. It was of Jess after they had put green hair dye in his gel somehow. He swore under his breath and Matt laughed. "Oh, man. That was hilarious."

Jess grabbed the pictures from Rory and shuffled through them. "What planet do these not qualify as bad?"

"The kind where they're funny," Chris replied.

Rory looked between the two of them. "He was just telling me stories and mentioned he had a few pictures."

"Uh-huh," he nodded.

"She's the one who asked to see them," Chris pointed at her.

Rory gasped. "Only because you never really let me take pictures of you! I wanted to see them."

"I'll let you take pictures later then," he told her.

Matt almost snickered. "Sounds dirty."

Jess elbowed him in the stomach and he shushed. Rory smiled at him. "Promise?"

"Promise," he told her.

"Deal," she nodded and took the pictures out of his hand. "I keep these until I get my own."

"Fine," Jess agreed. "But I burn them after."

"Whoa, whoa whoa," Chris interrupted. "You can't burn our memories."

"Sure I can," Jess shrugged. "Just lit a match and throw it on them."

"No," Matt shook his head. "Rory keeps the pictures now and then we get them back. Otherwise, she can keep them because they're not getting burnt."

Chris nodded in agreement. "That's the deal. Take it or leave it."

While the three of them waited, Jess gritted his teeth. "Fine. Deal."

Rory grinned and held the pictures to her chest. "Mine. For now."

Matt stepped forward and reached out his hand. "And to change subjects, we haven't officially met. I'm Matt."

"Ooh, Matt," she said. "I've heard a lot, a lot about you."

"Define a lot that it needed to be said twice," he replied.

She shook her head. "Just things."

"That doesn't help," he pouted.

"Good," Jess hit him on the back. He turned back to Rory. "What do you think?"

"I want to live here," she decided.

"Its not as nice to live here as you'd think," Chris teased.

Jess laughed. "Been there, done that."

"Well, I like it," she smiled. "Its homey."

"Not the upstairs," Matt laughed. "That part's a mess."

"I've seen upstairs," she commented. "It wasn't that bad."

"Its bad now," Matt corrected then turned again to the only female in the room. "I have a question for you."

Jess glared at him and Rory nodded. "What's that?"

"You read his new novel, correct?" She nodded again. "What did you think?"

She stole a glance at her boyfriend, a smile creeped on her face. "It was amazing. I couldn't put it down. And whenever I had to, I didn't want to."

"What is it about?" Chris asked her.

"Us," she looked at Jess. "Its about us."

Jess smiled back at her. "Its not some cheesy novel, right? I didn't completely throw my reputation out, did I?"

"No," she shook her head once.

"When can we read it?" Matt wondered out loud.

"Soon," Jess told them. "I'll send you it later."

"Do we get it by mail or email?" Chris asked with a smirk of his own.

Jess pointed at him then to Matt. "Quit it or you won't read it at all."

Matt pouted. "Okay. Fine."

Jess nodded proudly and reached out for Rory's hand. "Okay, now I have more books to show my girlfriend so if you don't mind..."

She smiled at the thoughts of books and Jess and they walked out of the room together. Matt and Chris stood there and gave each other looks. "I wonder if that's foreplay for them."

"As long as they don't do anything in the store..." Matt said as they trailed out of the room, too.

...

The phone rang and rang until finally there was an answer. Luke's voice came on the line and it almost made Rory worry. "Hello?"

"Luke?" She asked. "You're answering mom's phone?"

"She's in the bathroom," he told her and she exhaled in relief. "Shouted at me how if its anyone but her mother, to answer it."

"Like you would answer for Grandma willingly," she pointed out.

"Do you want me to tell her a message or wait for her...?" He trailed off. Luke had never been good with small talk.

"If that's okay," she replied.

"That's more than okay," he assured her. "So what's the plan? You're coming for Thanksgiving still, right?"

"Yes, I am," she smiled towards the buildings across the street. "Don't worry. I'm not canceling."

"Good," Luke said. "Your mom would be crushed."

"No crushing," she laughed. "But I do have something to tell her."

"Good news?" He wondered.

"Good," she nodded. "Very good."

Just then she heard her mother on the other end, shouting, "I'm here! I'm here!"

"I guess its my time to go off," Luke said. "Bye, Rory."

"Bye, Luke," she said and he was gone. She heard them switch the phone and her mother called out to her. "Hey, mom."

"So you have news," Lorelai said. "Does this have anything to do with an impromptu trip to Philly?"

"Yes," she smiled again. Rory was finding it hard to atop smiling, actually. "It does."

"Tell me everything," Lorelai gushed. "Well, almost everything. Leave out the mushy parts."

"Remember Jess sent me his novel?" She asked her mother.

Lorelai must have nodded as she answered. "Yes. Yes, I do."

"Well, I finished it yesterday," she continued. "And as I put it back in the envelope, I found this letter. This beautiful paragraphs long letter from Jess."

"And?" Lorelai extended the word at the end.

"And I had to see him," she explained. "The book alone is like a love letter to me. It doesn't specify us or even have our story in it but its us and me and him. He'd never write our actual story but the way he wrote it is us."

"Oh, sweets," Lorelai gushed. "What about the actual letter?"

"The actual letter was personal," she commented and if they had been together, Rory would have squinted her eyes to tell Lorelai she's not going fully into detail. "But he apologized in it. For everything."

"Everything?" She asked.

"Everything," she echoed. "It was the most beautiful thing I ever read."

"And then what happened?" Lorelai questioned. "You got there and talked or did you go right to the dirty stuff?"

"Mom," she blushed, thankful she couldn't see her face. "The latter."

"I knew it!" She laughed. "So was make-up sex better than regular sex?"

"You're really wondering about your daughter's sex life with your husband's nephew?" She raised an eyebrow.

"No, gross," Lorelai shuddered. "Not when you put it like that."

"Well, I'm not telling you anything," Rory said defiantly. "Not about that especially."

"Okay, fine," Lorelai said. "Tell me this at least. Are you happy?"

Rory looked at the window to Truncheon and smiled as she saw Jess through the glass. "Yeah, mom. I'm happy."

"Good," she could hear the smile in her mother's voice as she answered. "I'm happy it worked out for you, hun."

"Me, too," Rory agreed.

...

"What do you wear for drinks with the guts anyway?" Rory asked Jess as she examined the clothes on his bed.

He walked into the bedroom and leaned on the doorway. "If it was just me, I'd say keep wearing that."

"Ha, ha," she stuck her tongue out and he laughed. "No, really. What should I wear?"

He walked further into the room to see her choices. "Not that."

She looked at the red dress he pointed to. "What's wrong with that?"

"Have you seen it?" Jess asked. "You wear that around Matt and he will steal you from me."

"I'd have to want to be stolen," she teased.

"Nonetheless, don't wear that," he said.

Rory tossed the dress into a pillow near the pillows. "Okay, any other opinions?"

"Its just drinks," he shrugged. "Dress casual."

"Okay," she bit her lip then took off her robe. Jess whistled and she blushed as she quickly pulled on jeans and a sweater.

"Yoy know, it you're gonna take your clothes off, you could tell me," he teased. "We could make it fun."

She rolled her eyes and buttoned her jeans at the same time. "I didn't take my clothes off, you perv. You're just standing in the same room as I change."

"Which is taking your clothes off," he finished.

"Which is taking my robe off," Rory corrected with a laugh. "You need to get your mind out of the gutter."

He gave her a 'who, me?' look. "I can't help it if my hot girlfriend in her underwear makes me think in the gutter."

"Well, I hope you got a good look because its the most you're getting for the next few days," she said as she walked out of the bedroom.

"What?" He followed her out.

"Tonight we're going for drinks," she answered. "Which, as much fun as drunken sex sounds, we're going to Stars Hollow tomorrow."

"So?" He shrugged and smirked. "Its not like we never had sex in Stars Hollow before."

"That may be true," she nodded. "But it's a holiday. And we're going to be awake early and I'm helping mom and Sookie..."

"Whoa, wait, hold on," he put a hand out in front of him. "The two Lorelai's are helping with Thanksgiving dinner? God help us all."

"Shut up," she laughed. "No making fun."

"I'm not making fun," Jess defended. "But we should have 911 on speed dial just in case, right?"

"That's making fun," Rory replied in a sing-song like voice.

"Come on, though," he laughed and walked closer to her. "Since when do you and your mom help cook?"

"Since last Thanksgiving," she sighed in his arms once he reached her.

"What happened last Thanksgiving?" Jess asked.

"Nothing," she sighed. "Logan stuff."

He was surprised by that answer. "I thought you were already divorced by then -"

"We were," she explained. "But the papers officially came the day before and Sookie and Mom were trying to cheer me up. It was what they came up with."

"Oh," he said quietly. "I didn't know."

"Its okay," she gave him a small smile. "Its just - it brought up everything. The baby, the accident...I was so stuck in my head and pretending to be okay."

"You don't have to pretend anything," he kissed her forehead. "Not with me."

"Thank you," she sighed. "Really. Its nice, having someone to tell this to."

"I'm glad you told me," Jess said. "I can't even begin to imagine how hard that was but thank you."

Rory closed her eyes and leaned into him. When she finally opened them, she spoke again. "Its the hardest thing I've ever had to say."

"I'm sorry," he said. "That you went through all of it. Any of it. Whichever."

Rory turned in his arms to face him. "I think I'm going to finally tell my mom."

He nodded thoughtfully, knowing this was her decision and her decision alone to make. "When?"

"After Thanksgiving," she admitted. "I don't want to get in the way of the holiday but I think I'm finally ready to do this."

"What brought this on?" He questioned.

"You," she simply replied. "You're the first person I ever told about any of it. I think opening up to you about it and getting it out made me realize that the pain is there whether I talk about it. And my mom deserves to know, you know?"

"Right," Jess agreed and wrapped his arms tighter around her. "I'm proud of you."

"You are?" She gave him a look.

"Yes, silly," he kissed her nose. "You're brave. And I want you to know I'm with you on this, whatever you need."

She smiled at him, not as sad as before. "I love you, Jess."

"I love you, too." This time he kissed her lips lightly and leaned his forehead to hers after he pulled apart.

"We're gonna be late," she whispered.

"So what?" He said.

"Jess," she smiled. "Let's go."

"Its just Matt and Chris," he said as Rory pulled on his hand and he unwrapped himself from her. "They'll understand."

"We're leaving tomorrow," she said. "Humor me."

"Fine," Jess warned. "But when we come back, I at least want second base."

"That can be arranged," she laughed.

He shrugged as if no big deal. "Then you got a deal."

She just laughed again and kissed him again. Then when the kiss ended, Rory led Jess out the door for their last night in Philly before heading to Stars Hollow the next day.