Thank you for the reviews, enjoy.

Jess stood up to follow Rory to the counter, but she shooed him away. "I'll get the coffee, you sit with your friends." She instructed.

"What if I don't want to sit with my friends? What If I want to hang out here with my girlfriend?"

"Well, your girlfriend is busy being a model employee while you slack off and hang out with the many girls that are vying for your attention. And Tristan. So go, enjoy." Rory told him with a smile, and they both looked back to the table where the three other teens sat.

After publicly dumping Dean at school, Lindsey had met up with Rory and Lane for lunch, just as they'd planned and since then, the three old friends had been practically inseparable, much the way they'd been before Dean came onto the scene Luke had observed, when he saw them all together again.

"Ok, but don't do too good a job, or Luke'll fire me."

"I don't think so; you've got seniority over me. And nepotism has to count for something right?"

"Let's just not risk it ok?" Jess replied before planting a quick kiss on Rory's lips and turning back to head for the table.

"I thought I told you two not to do that down here." A gruff voice announced behind Rory and she turned to find Luke, standing in the kitchen doorway, looking not very happy.

"You said no canoodling, or making it difficult for the customers to swallow. But what we just did there was totally harmless. No one saw, so their swallowing capabilities are all still very much in tact. Meaning we did nothing wrong."

"You still broke one of my rules."

"Well it's a good thing Jess has already moved out then, huh? Now there are no changes that you have to make."

"Just get back to whatever you were doing."

"Thanks." Rory grinned, picked up a pot of coffee and returned to the table that Jess sat at with his friends. She sat down beside him, and pulled him towards her, to kiss him.

"Hey!" Luke called out, stomping over.

Rory looked up at him, all doe-eyed and innocent. "You said to get back to what I was doing. This is what I was doing. Did you mean something else?"

"Get to work before I think of a change that you don't want." The older man warned before moving off to another customer.

"Well, I'm glad to see that nothing's changed around here." Lindsey commented, smiling at the scene before her. "Luke is most definitely still very Luke-like."

"He's improved I think." Lane replied, "gotten more entertaining since Rory arrived."

"Well, on behalf of all of us, Rory, I must extend my gratitude."

"You're all very welcome." The brunette nodded, smiling. "I didn't really do anything, just made Luke realize what he would have had to look forward to if I had actually grown up here. Although, come to think of it, he'd probably be even more compelling to watch had he seen me grow up. God, wouldn't that be fun?"

"No." Jess replied and everyone turned to look at him, puzzled. "If you'd grown up here, I would think of you the same way I think of these two," he explained, pointing to the other two girls at the table. "And I do not like that idea."

"Ok, fine. We won't go back in time and change the events of my childhood. We'll just enjoy all the present torture we can inflict on Luke. But for now, I must return to the salt mines. My boss is such a hard ass!" Rory added, loud enough for Luke to hear.

"Get out!" he yelled from the kitchen, causing her to laugh and move to greet Miss Patty who had just come in.

Rory walked into her room and moved a few things around on her desk, looking for her chemistry textbook. She had an exam to study for as well as believing that when she arrived in history tomorrow a pop quiz would be announced. The teachers at Stars Hollow high were horrible at hiding those sorts of things, where as Jess would return from school and grumble for twenty minutes straight about how four of his teachers had sprung things on them with no warning at all.

Rory had a sneaking suspicion that in order to get a job at Chilton, one had to spend a few months working with the FBI or CIA first.

"He stole my book," she muttered, coming up with nothing. She had already searched the living room and asked Luke, but he hadn't seen the book. "He stole my textbook, the little sneak." About to give up the search, Rory lifted the edge of her bed spread and found a notebook, partially hidden under the bed.

Kneeling down to look at it, Rory distantly heard the phone ring and Luke answer it. As she flipped through the first few pages, recognizing Jess' hand writing, Luke appeared in the door, phone in hand.

"Rory, you haven't found Jess' book anywhere have you?" he asked, looking around the room. "It's a notebook, black and blue striped cover,"

"This one here?" she asked, holding it up.

"Uh, yeah. Jess, it's here, you wanna come get it or wait till the morning?" Luke held a hand out and Rory reluctantly handed it over. "Ok, I'll see you in a bit."

"Ask him where he hid my chem book." Rory called out as Luke left the room. But she heard him hang up the phone, without doing so, and she grabbed her work book, hoping that her notes would make enough sense to get her through till Jess arrived and she could ask him herself.

Jess let himself into the apartment and saw his book sitting on the coffee table, right in front of where Rory was sitting.

"You didn't read that, did you?" he asked, coming over and picking it up, nervously twisting it in his hands.

"No, I didn't get a chance. Luke came in and took it off me as soon as I found it. But I wanted to ask you, where did you put my chemistry textbook? I haven't been able to find anything since you left and I have to study."

"It's in your room." He replied, filled with relief.

"No. No, it's not. I looked in there. I looked everywhere, but I couldn't see it."

"I put some of your stuff away when I was packing up. It's in the book shelf, see?" he indicated where he had left the book as she followed him into the bedroom.

"I looked there. I think."

"Maybe you just missed it so you could get me over here and have me help you look." He replied, sitting down on the bed.

"Maybe. Although there is one hole in that nifty little theory of yours." Rory replied, coming over to join him. "You were the one that called and had to come over to rescue your little diary there from prying eyes."

"It's not a diary." Jess replied, a little defensively.

"No?"

"No."

"So then, does that mean I can have a look at it?" Rory asked, smiling sweetly. She could see how hard Jess was holding on to it; it was clearly important.

"No."

"Why not? Are you re-writing the Anarchists cookbook? Because I promise, I won't tell as long as you let me join in on the fun."

"I'm not re-writing the Anarchists cookbook. It's just… Something private." He stood up and moved over to the desk, inspecting some of the books Rory had piled there during her search.

"Okay. That's fine; I'll get it out of you later. I have my ways, you know?"

"Like the infamous Lorelai method?"

"Yes. That's right, and I haven't used that one in a while. But look out mister, when you're least expecting it, I'll get-"

"Can you please just leave it?" Jess interrupted, and Rory looked at him, shocked. He'd never raised his voice at her before. "I'm sorry, I just… I'm not ready to share what's in here, ok? Can we just forget about it for now? Please?"

"Ok, sure. If you want,"

"I should probably be getting home. Mom said that she and TJ want to talk to me."

"Have you made a decision yet? About her getting married, I mean." Rory switched the subject that she was hoping Jess wasn't quite as sensitive about.

"Well, I know she said that she wouldn't go ahead unless I was happy about it, but how fair would it be for me to deny her this?"

"Not very. Although, I'm sure she wouldn't have said that to you unless she was serious. So you really should think long and hard about it."

"I already have. TJ's a nice guy, I guess. You were right about that. And if he makes Mom happy then I'm not going to stand in the way."

"That is very mature of you. I can't imagine that I would have the same opinion if my mom were to ask me if she could get married, but still, that's nice." She stood and moved to join him as he gave up the pretense of looking through her things.

"Well, I try. And I actually like my mom."

"Hey. I-" Rory stopped, thinking about what she'd been about to say, what Jess had almost tricked her into admitting out loud. "You can't do that! That's very sneaky." She told him, hitting him lightly on the chest.

"Just trying to help you realize that your mom's a good person; faults and all."

"Trust me that's the last thing you want. I discover that she's nice and I like her, means that I go home to live with her and you never see me again. You sure you still want to lead me down this path?"

"Well, if that's the only way I'm going to get rid of you, then… Do you know what Lorelai did yesterday? She rescued five orphans and their kittens from a burning building. I also heard that she'd been reading to the blind, and offered her apartment to some homeless people. And there was a dolphin that needed a tissue, guess who was there to-"

"God, she's not a saint. I know, ok? Lorelai Gilmore is a nice person; she isn't as evil as I make out. But we weren't talking about my mother. We were talking about yours, and her impending marriage. So you're vote is for yes?"

"I guess. I'll deal with it, and on the bright side, I can always stay here if things there get too much for me, or I decide that I truly hate TJ."

"As long as you don't mind sleeping on the couch next time. Coz there's no way I'm giving up my bed for an extended period of time, again."

"Your bed, huh?"

"Yes, my bed. In case you haven't noticed, I put my decorative stamp on this room, which includes the new duvet cover on my bed." Rory explained, sweeping an arm around to indicate the small changes she had made since first arriving. Nothing major, just a couple of little things, like putting up some dark curtains and integrating her own CD's in where Jess kept a few of his own. Her birthday present from Luke hung on the wall where she could see it, first thing in the morning when she opened her eyes.

"Well, I should go and have 'the talk' with Mom. Let you get back to your studying and enjoying your room."

"Do you have to?"

"Kind of, yeah. She made me promise I wouldn't be long."

"But what happens if, in the time it took for you to get here, your book mysteriously went missing?"

"Then, I guess we would have to spend a little time looking for it, wouldn't we?"

"I guess so." Jess dropped the note pad on the floor and moved in closer to Rory. He brought a hand up to cup her face and they kissed, moving to sit on the bed again. "Oh dear,"

Hours or (probably more likely) minutes later, they were still in the same position when there was a loud crash from the living room and they both jumped.

"He's really getting good at that." Jess muttered, looking towards the open doorway.

"Does Luke have insurance?" Rory asked, grinning.

"I don't know, but maybe you should have him talk to your grandfather. If he's going to accidently knock something over or break something every time we kiss, he'll definitely need it."

"Hmm."

"Alright, I have to go."

"You said that earlier," Rory nodded, trying to pull him back for another kiss.

"I've got my book, I'm all set. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm sure there will be celebrations."

"Tell your mom congratulations for me, ok?"

"Sure."

"Bye." With a last quick kiss, Jess slipped out the door, and nodded to his uncle who was standing in the living room, over a pile of books on the floor.

"Night Uncle Luke."

"Mmhmm." The older man just nodded and then stooped down to pick up the books as Jess descended the steps.

"He did not do that!" Rory objected. "Tell me you're kidding."

"Mm, no." Lindsey shook her head. "I'm serious,"

"Jess tried to convince Babette that her cat was the Cheshire cat?"

"He was so sure that it looked like the one in the Disney movie, he actually cat-napped it for a day. He was right, of course, in the right light it was pretty similar, all that was missing was the big grin. So he drew a picture and sticky taped it on, before carrying it up into a tree out in the back yard. As soon as they got up there the cat jumped down, but Jess got stuck. So, really it wasn't a whole day, just about an hour, he was up there for ages though."

"I can't believe he-" Rory stopped as she and Lindsey exited the school building to find Jess standing out the front, holding a cardboard tray of coffees. "You are adorable!" she told him, accepting the drink he held out for her.

Jess narrowed his eyes at the two girls before focusing more on Lindsey. "What did you do?"

"Nothing. Alice." She grinned back at him and he growled in frustration.

"Why? Why would you tell her that- I was six, ok?" he turned to Rory, to explain. "And if you had seen this cat, it was all stripped and had yellow eyes. It looked just like the Cheshire cat."

"But the Cheshire cat was purple," Rory pointed out.

"In the right light… didn't you tell her about the light?" he asked, Lindsey, who was yet to stop giggling at him.

"I did, yes. That was mentioned."

"Alright then, if you say so, I guess I have no choice but to believe you cat-napped the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland." Rory conceded, failing to stop herself from grinning.

"I hate you. You really suck!" Jess told his blonde friend. "I don't know why I ever thought I missed you, you're pure evil."

"Hey, that's not nice." Rory warned him. "All Lindsey is doing, and hopefully Lane too, if I can get to her first, is informing me on things about you that you're less than willing to share."

"Lane won't say a word. She's a much more loyal friend. Plus I have the power to ruin her life, with one simple conversation with Mrs. Kim."

"I'll tell her you said that," Lindsey threatened and Jess poked his tongue out at her.

"I wasn't here, so I don't know what your childhood was like." Rory continued. "I just wanna know everything, embarrassing stories and all."

"In that case, who can I call to find out your sordid past?"

"No one. I had everyone killed."

"I bet Lorelai would have a few anecdotes she could share."

"No. No, she doesn't. See, what none of you know, is that I also had Lorelai 'taken care of'. That woman that pops up occasionally is her clone. But she has none of my mother's memories."

"So how does she know Luke? Sookie? This town?"

"Did I say none of her memories? I meant none from New York. Everything after Stars Hollow was wiped from her mind. So, I'm sorry, but there's no one who can help you."

"Sorry, sure you are."

"Ok, as much fun as it is to watch you guys be all cute and pretend to get mad at each other, it's starting to depress me, so I'm going to go." Lindsey interrupted. "But, Rory, I'll think up a little more dirt on Jess, so call me later and I should have something to report. And Jess, say hey to the White Rabbit for me, 'k?"

"Dead! Do you hear me, Lister? You're dead!"

"Good to know. Bye." She waved as she walked away and Jess turned back to where Rory stood, smiling at him.

"Don't say it. Please, just don't."

"Where you planning to have tea up there, and invite over the Mad Hatter?"

"Come on, Rory. I was just a little kid. You can't seriously tell me you never did anything stupid like that, can you?"

"Well, when I was eight… Nope, I can't think of a thing. I did break into a library and get arrested though, does that count?"

"As a stupid thing? Well, considering where you ended up afterwards, I'd have to say no."

"You're right. It was incredibly smart of me, wasn't it?"

"Incredibly." He kissed her and threaded an arm around her shoulders as they walked along the street, headed towards his house.

Just a few cute little moments, I hope you liked them, coz they were fun to write. Let me know, k?