Disclaimer: Lit and Gilmore in general are not mine but the plot of this particular story is all mine, or so I hope.
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Jess was driving like a maniac through the dark streets of Philadelphia toward Rory.
We were done. He thought as his foot pressed down harder on the accelerator. It's been over two years since he last saw her; this was crazy; he was acting as if he was seventeen again. Jess shook his head, disappointed at himself of letting her get to him this way. He was suppose to have moved on by now, have a girlfriend, one that he didn't have such a complicated past with. But of course, he didn't. Why was it so hard for him to move on from her? She was just a small town girl, a high school sweetheart right?
Wrong.
She was something much more. She was something completely impossible and unexpected, something that he could have never imagined. She changed him, made him believe he could do more with his life.
A sharp left turn quickly brought him out of his lovesick thoughts as he gripped the steering wheel harder.
He was starting to sound a lot like Luke, he thought, pining after a girl he knew he could never have, someone who was too good for him.
"Just drive Mariono", Jess grumbled to himself, focusing his eyes on the road and not his thought on Rory's roll in his life. He was beginning to regret coming out here to get her, she always brought out his most foreign thoughts and memories, ones he would rather forget.
But she asked you to come, his conscience seemed to scream at him. She's in trouble and she wants you.
He ignored the little annoying nagging voice in his head, he was pathetic and he knew it.
As if to prove to himself that he truly was whipped; his heart skipped a beat as the sign for Diamond St. was illuminated by the headlights of his car.
Then he saw her.
She was standing underneath a light pole, facing a figure. It appeared to be male and seemed to be advancing closer to her.
Jess suddenly felt extremely protective and fear stronger then ever before for Rory. He barreled his car right up to the side of the curb where the two were standing. The male turned his head to look at the car, Rory's eyes flooded with relief. Not even bothering to turn his car off, Jess yanked open the door.
He ran over to Rory without shutting the door, so fast it he didn't give the attacker time to blink. His eyes were cold and tight as they landed on the male facing his Rory.
The guy was about five ten, less muscular then Jess, with blond hair, and a sick, drunken look on his face and he reminded Jess of the Yale dick she was dating. Was she still with him? He wondered, but then quickly realized this was not the time to be thinking about that.
"Jess." Rory said, relief evident in her voice when she saw him running over to them.
He put his arms over Rory protectively as she buried her head in his chest and squeezed him back, his dark coffee colored eyes never leaving the man standing about five feet away from them.
"Hey man!" the drunk guy shouted, stepping closer to Jess. "She was mine first! Go find your own girl."
Jess grabbed Rory's arm and pulled her behind him to protect her from anything that might happen. Her blue eyes were wide with fear as she looked over Jess's shoulder at her almost-attacker.
Thank God for Jess. She told herself
"I'd stay away from her if I were you." Jess told him, his voice was dark, and demanding, he wasn't kidding. If he found out this guy hurt Rory in any way, shape, or form he had no problem killing him with his bare hands, it wouldn't be the first time. He decided to himself that it wasn't a good idea to say that in front of Rory though.
"This is none of your business buddy, so just go back to where you came from." The guy slurred so it sounded a lot less intimidating then it was suppose to.
Jess was definitely not in the mood to listen to this, he was missing some much needed sleep.
"Rory, get in the car." He told her calmly, his eyes still not leaving the man as he tried to assess if he was any threat, i.e. if he was armed.
She started to walk to the car and got to the door before she heard a shout, "Where do you think you're going girlie?!" she froze in fear, her hand still outstretched for the handle.
Jess glanced at her and noticed she wasn't making any attempt to move.
What the hell is she doing, why did she stop? Jess thought. He didn't need to be worrying about her right now.
"Rory, get in the damn car, now!" Jess shouted at her, this time much more forcefully. She didn't need to be told twice, Rory grabbed the handle and threw herself in; locking her door behind her the second it clicked shut.
Now that she was safe…
Jess whipped his arm around and grabbed the scum standing in front of him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the light post.
"Hey listen buddy, I was just messing around." The guy said nervously, trying to act innocent and laugh it off. Jess could tell he was only moments away from pissing his pants in fear.
"If I ever see you near her again I won't hesitate to kill you, do you hear me?" Jess told him, his voice unfaltering as he looked right into the man's terrified eyes and pushed his strong hand into the man's scrawny windpipe in warning.
"Okay, okay, I got it." he managed choke out.
"Good" Jess said as he released him and the man took off running into the dark streets. Once Jess couldn't see him anymore he turned to the car and saw Rory staring at him with saucer eyes, looking shocked as well as terrified.
He shifted his gaze to the ground feeling uncomfortable looking into her blue judgmental eyes as he walked to the driver's side of the running car, getting in and slamming the door behind him before throwing the gear into drive.
"Jess-" Rory started, but he cut her off.
"Don't." his voice was dark, and sent unwanted shivers down her spine.
She ignored him and tired again. "You didn't have to-"
"I said don't Rory." his voice was clipped and hard, not wanting her to press any further.
She got the message and didn't say anything this time and they sat in silence as he drove them in the darkness.
They stayed like that for a while until he asked her, "What hotel are you staying at?" but this time his voice was the monotone she was used to and it annoyed her that she couldn't decipher it as well as she use to be able to.
He waited for her answer but when it didn't come for a good sixty seconds he spoke again, this time more softly.
"Are you okay Ror?" he even let himself use the old nickname he used to call her way back when.
She nodded to him, but didn't look at him; instead she stared out to the dark streets of Philadelphia.
"Which hotel are you staying at?" Jess asked her again.
He heard her let out a shaky breath before she answered him quietly.
"I'm not exactly sure." He wasn't sure what she sounded, shocked, confused, disappointed maybe?
Jess let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in. "Are you serious?" he asked lightly, the old smirk that she loved was now creeping onto his face.
"Yes." She said shyly.
He shook his head, "You haven't changed."
"I can say the same for you Mr. tough-guy-Mariono", she risked a glance at him only to discover that he was looking back at her out of the corner of his eye.
They both quickly averted their eyes back to the road, Jess tried not to let it faze him, but it didn't work out.
The two ex-lovers fell into another uncomfortable silence. His hands strangling the crap out of the wheel and hers were twisted together in her lap.
Jess cleared his throat. "So, uh, where to then?"
She could always call someone from work and just ask them, even though they were sleeping, even her boss might not mind answer his phone if he were to discovered that one of his employees were missing. But Rory being Rory didn't want to wake them up. Why didn't she keep that list of stops they made with her at all times like Blake had suggested? What ever happened to the map she was carrying? She didn't remember putting it down.
Jess figured she was thinking and didn't want to interrupt her but…
"Ror… I'm wasting gas driving around in a circle." He stated quickly, glancing at her then looking back to the road.
"Oh right, sorry." He heard her say from the seat next to him.
"So…"he said; there were a lot of hotels in Philly and he didn't want to, nor could he spend the time, stopping at every one of them for her to check.
"I guess you could just bring me back to your place for the night…" she said quietly, not believing she just said that but continued on anyway, "I mean if you don't mind. I could always call my friend later when he's awake and ask which hotel we're staying at. But if it's too much too ask… considering everything, then I guess I could wake him up now. I mean it is a lot on your part, for me to just barge in and sleep in your house…" She finished, pulling out her cell phone and laying it in her lap.
Jess couldn't help but notice that when Rory said the friend was a he not a she that a small blaze of jealousy erupted in his stomach. Which was stupid because that's all they were, friends, if that even. But he still couldn't ignore the warm tingly feeling he had gotten when she threw her arms around him and put her head on his chest when he had come to her rescue. The feeling had been bittersweet, laced with the memory of times spent above Luke's dinner.
Why was everything with Rory always so complicated?
Jess sighed and would have closed his eyes if not for the fact that he was driving, he really didn't need to get her into another car accident. Lorelai probably wouldn't appreciate that.
She took his sigh as a no, "I guess I'll call him now then." She said reluctantly, and opened her phone, searching for Blake's number.
"No, don't, you can stay in my apartment, I mean it's just for one night, right, what can it hurt?" he seemed to ask the last part more to himself then her.
"Oh thank you Jess, thank you so much. You're right, it's just one night I promise, and I'll never ask for anything like this from you ever again." her tone was overjoyed as she thanked.
But Jess shook his head in disbelief, "Now why don't I believe you?" he joked.
"Haha, very funny." She said sarcastically while rolling her eyes in the dark.
Jess chuckled in a way that she hadn't heard in years; it almost sounded sincere and made her small smile grow.
He slowed the car down to the curb, put it in park, and turned it off. "Well, we're here", Jess stated as he opened his door and got out, she followed suit.
He began to walk to the door but stopped when he didn't hear footsteps behind him, panicking he quickly turned around, only to find that Rory was perfectly safe; staring wide eyed, with her mouth hanging open at his car.
He smirked again, "Your face will freeze that way."
"You got a new car." She stated dumbly.
"Very good Rory, do you want a cookie?" he asked like he was talking to a two year old, and approached her, he took her arm pulled her away. Rory however didn't want any part in that and shook out of his grip, still looking at the car; Jess wasn't even sure if she had blinked.
"Oh my God! I thought you said you would never get rid of that rusty piece of crap, you said it had too much character!" at this point she jumping up and down on the curb while pointing at the vehicle.
"You didn't really expect me to be successful and make money like a normal person while still driving that death trap do you?" he asked looking at her with a smile as she worked her self up to the point where Jess thought she would fall down from excitement.
"Wow, and I thought you loved Mr. Scary", she said, using the name she gave it back in high school. "How very cruel of you Mariono." She said sarcastically, this time allowing him to pull her toward the house when he took her arm.
"It's what I get for being a writer, and I meant to tell you along time ago that 'Mr. Scary' was not the most original name you could have come up with." He answered playfully while pulling her across the empty road.
She ignored the jab and continued to let herself be pulled along by Jess.
They reached the door and Jess unlocked it for her, allowing her to go in first.
"Such a gentlemen." She said, loving the fact that it was so easy to fall back into their normal banter, one of the things she loved- liked, she corrected herself, was that he was so easy for her to be around. Well, whenever he actually talked that is.
"Thank you, I try." He said with a soft, smirk that made her heart flutter.
"Wait… is this…Truncheon?" Rory asked.
Looked around the room she noticed it looked slightly different from the last time she saw it, a lot messier, but then again she had figure they had cleaned it up for the open house. Three extremely cluttered desks were place about ten feet apart from each other on the left side of the room and book shelves lining the right. With many odd looking paintings hanging from all the walls.
Yep. It was defiantly Truncheon.
"Yeah, remember how I said a few of us lived upstairs? Well two of them have their own apartments and now only one loser lives here, and that's me." He said and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
Rory giggled. "At least you have your own place." She tried to help.
Jess rolled his eyes, "Come on, you must be tired." He waved his hand for her to follow him as he climbed up the stairs.
Reaching the top Jess twisted the doorknob and led her in and allowed to Rory take in the sight that's Jess's apartment.
Rory thought she had died and gone to heaven.
There were two floor-to-ceiling bookcases lined with books and more scattered across the living room floor. Two seven foot tall rotating CD holders were filled and placed on either side of a blue couch that didn't really match the green rug under the coffee table in front of it. Pizza boxes and food rappers lay on top of the coffee table and overflowed on to the floor.
There was no TV that Rory could see but a huge stereo system took up a good portion of the small dinning room that could be seen from the living room. Besides that there was a small table with four chairs in the middle of the room and a door that seemed to lead into the kitchen from the dinning room.
Rory smiled at the Jess-ness of the place.
"If I knew I would be having someone over at three in the morning I would have picked up." Jess said, but Rory didn't answer for a while and he wondered if he offended her but didn't bother apologizing, Jess wasn't usually one to say 'sorry'.
"This place is amazing." Was all she said after a few more minutes of taking it in.
"Thanks." It's really not that much." He shouted from some other room and it was only then that Rory realized that he had left.
Jess came back with a quilt and a pillow and laid them on the couch.
"Thank you", she said sincerely and walked over to lie down, only to have her arm yanked back up the moment she sat down.
"What do you think you're doing?" Jess asked her as he dragged her to another room.
Rory was getting slightly sick of being pulled around by her arm and snatched it back from his strong, get gentle grip. "I was going to bed, I've had a long and eventful night and I want to sleep." She snapped at him, the lack of sleep beginning to take its toll on her.
He sighed "I understand, but why don't you sleep in an actual bed?" Jess asked and opened the door to a room with a messy bed sitting in the middle with clothes and books thrown haphazardly around the floor.
"Jess." She stated while letting out a breath, "This is your room, I can't take it from you, after everything I put you through tonight? It wouldn't be fair to you."
"Yes you can. You are a guest and should get the bed; in fact you are getting the bed Rory, end of discussion." he argued.
She chose to ignore him though, one of the things she did best. "Jess no. It's your house and you've been more then kind enough to me for one night, there's no reason to go out of your way."
"Well it's too late for that isn't it?" Jess grumbled under his breath so she couldn't hear.
"What was that?" Rory asked.
"Nothing, Rory, listen I'm tired too, so can we just not fight about this? You have to work early tomorrow where I can be down there anytime I want and could even take the day off if I really needed too. Chris and Matt won't die without me. But you have a news team counting on you. So please, just take the bed." It almost sounded like he was begging, but it could have just been the lack of sleep, right?
Jess Mariono doesn't beg, Rory told herself.
"Fine." She stated tightly crossing her arms over her chest and pouting, she would take the bed but she wouldn't be happy about it.
"Thank you", he sounded exhausted and he turned around to go back to the couch. "Oh Rory", he said not bothering to turning around and stop.
"Yeah?"
"I put some sweats and a shirt out of you on the bed, if you want them." He said before falling onto the couch letting his tired body relax.
Sighing, Rory shook her head and walked into Jess's room. She shrugged out of her clothes from the previous day and pulled on the sweats and band T that he had left on the bed, sick of being in jeans and dressy shirt. The clothes smelled like him, that familiar Jess smell; a mix of cigarettes, cologne, and hair gel, a scent she didn't realize she missed so much. Rory smiled in spite of herself, and then crawled into his big queen sized bed.
The scent of Jess grew even stronger as she pulled the sheets up to her chin and closed her eyes.
Rory quickly drifted off to sleep with her hands tucked under her cheek, rapped in Jess's blankets, a big smile plastered to her face.
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First I would like to say thank you so much for all my reviews, as I stated before, they are love!
Second I'm happy to announce that this is no longer just a Two-shot! I like where this is going so much I plan on continuing for at least one more chapter, maybe two depending on how the Lit works itself out.
So please, until next time, keep the reviews coming!