A/N: I feel like I've been neglecting this baby, but writing Cedar Park is just so much fun. It helps to have a brilliant collaborator, so huzzah for Kassandra27! Anyway, back again to SH with Rory, Jess and Cammie. And Chris and Matt, wherever they are. And they're still there, they haven't been sucked in a wormhole and sent to… well, the Lost-island or something. Okay, I'm rambling. Enjoy chapter 16!

Disclaimer: I, the author of this story, do not own any of the characthers associated with Gilmore Girls. That honor belongs to the wonderful Amy Sherman-Palladino. I have no intention of making any money on this (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm losing money over it...).

16. Lost..?

"I can't believe it, you lost them?" Jess told Cammie accusingly.

"Hey, as far as I know, we lost them. I never volunteered for babysitting duty," Cammie replied pointedly.

"You know you have them wrapped around your pinky, one bat with your eyelashes and Matt follows you like a lost puppydog, and Chris will follow Matt just to see what happens, your default position is babysitter."

"I take great offense to that, Jess. It's not my fault your friends are a little thick in the head sometimes."

They looked sternly at each other, Cammie clearly offended by being crowned 'default babysitter' and Jess irritated that his co-workers were gone.

"Guys…" Rory tried, again having to play peacemaker. "It's Stars Hollow. Like Jess said, turn right three times and you're back where you started. They can't be far away."

"It's because it's Stars Hollow that they can be absolutely anywhere and gotten themselves into all kinds of trouble. God, Taylor's going to have a field day when this comes out! He'll probably cancel my banishment and go straight for public flagellation or hanging. After that, this town will get it's first APB, and I'll be the one they blame, so they'll revive me just so they can flagellate or hang me again for the fun of it," Jess ranted sourly.

"They banished you?" Cammie asked confused.

"They tried to," Rory explained. "Jess didn't really make a great impact on the ruling forces of Stars Hollow back in the days…"

"I thought my fake murder was hilarious," Jess pointed out. "And so did you, Rory, admit it."

Cammie laughed and Rory shot Jess a pointed glance before continuing:

"So Taylor, that's our town selectman, tried to banish him the other day with some stupid supplement of an even more morose bylaw that basically gave him power to banish any citizen of Stars Hollow, but didn't think about the fact that Jess doesn't live here."

"That, and Rory yelled at him," Jess added smugly.

"You yelled at your town selectman, and got away with it from what I understand?"

"Town princess, I can swing a lot of things. I even saved my mom from not getting to be the Renoir girl when we had the Festival of Living Art a couple of years ago."

"This town is so weird…" Cammie told Jess.

"Finally, she gets it," Jess sighed with a content smile.

"I like it!" Cammie then added.

"And the glimmer of hope is gone…"

"Okay, you," Rory said, turning to Jess."Take a breath and stop ranting. They're here somewhere, I'm sure of it. Now, we'll do another walk around the square, keep your eyes open, and if Taylor comes… Act casual."

"Or what?" Cammie asked.

"Or Jess might actually get flagellated."

They began walking slowly around the square, looking through the window of every establishment. They met Babbette and Miss Patty, and though Rory considered asking the two women if they'd seen Chris and Matt, she decided against it, not wanting to be the one responsible for any bodily harm Miss Patty could cause the guys if she literally got her hands on them. But since Miss Patty didn't make any surprise statement about having found husband number x, Chris and Matt must've avoided them.

"I don't get it, why can't we just ask anyone?" Cammie asked when Babbette and Miss Patty was out of earshot.

"Because this town has a certain system… Plus a gossip mill that would give the big time tabloids a run for their money. You do not want the wrong people to know you've lost something, or in this case someone, in this town. It's enough Taylor keeps pushing for things like killing birds and deer, missing persons in Stars Hollow would… well, it wouldn't be pretty. Trust me, you'd need to live here to get it," Rory tried to explain.

"Don't give her ideas!" Jess protested, eyeing Cammie intently.

"What? You mean I wouldn't fit into this town?" Cammie asked, mock-offended.

"I feel like I'm walking into a trap here, but what the heck… No, I'm sure you'd fit it, Stars Hollow wouldn't have much choice."

"So you mean you're concerned?"

"What?" Jess asked confused.

"You're concerned about this town that you supposedly detest. That could possibly be the cutest thing I've gotten out of you," Cammie proclaimed.

"I am not concerned, I merely stated facts. And I'm not cute, either."

"I think you're cute," Rory told him, and pouted.

"Yeah, but you're special. You havea special permission that says you can tell me I'm cute,"

"I want one too!" Cammie said in a childish tone.

"No."

"Please..?"

"No! You can't tell me I'm cute, it would be wrong on so many levels to hear it from you."

"This is so unfair."

"Get yourself a girlfriend, and knock yourself out," Jess sighed.

"That was so dirty, I'm surprised it came from you, Mariano."

"I can't help it," Jess said and shrugged his shoulders. "I just said it, you translated it into dirty."

"You keep telling yourself that, slugger," Rory joked. "Oh, act normal, Doose's market coming up!"

"Rory, you may have noted that Cammie has pink hair. According to Taylor's standards that's not normal," Jess pointed out.

"So..?" Cammie asked, looking from Jess to Rory.

"We're more or less doomed," Rory replied, glancing over towards Doose's market.

Not three seconds after they had passed the store, they could hear the door open.

"Ten says it's Taylor," Jess ventured.

"Fifteen says he won't be able to decide whether to bark at you or Cammie," Rory added.

"Twenty says he'll choose Mariano here," Cammie said, smiling devilishly.

"I fold," Jess said hastily.

"You can't fold! The bets are in, no more withdrawing."

"Cammie, this is not pokernight at your place. This is evasive actions in Stars Hollow," Jess tried.

"Doesn't matter. A bet's a bet's a bet. Rule of Cammie number 3."

"She has rules?" Rory whispered to Jess.

"Don't induldge her," Jess warned her.

"Excuse me!" came Taylor's voice from behind them.

All three of them turned around to see Taylor coming at them with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" he asked, looking at them. "Bringing in the seedy crowd, are we?"

"I'm not seedy!" Cammie protested loudly, making Taylor jump.

"You, miss, should know that you are associating with a known again, for all I know you could be in kahoots with him, with that hair you could be anything."

"Hey, I'm just his friend, I'm not 'in kahoots' with him. That'd be Rory. They're en…"

"Entranced by your hair, Cammie!" Rory hastened to say before Cammie could reveal the big secret.

They had told Cammie, Matt and Chris about the engagement in the car, but hadn't figured there would be need for them to know they couldn't tell anyone in Stars Hollow about it.

Cammie looked at Rory confused.

"What?"

"We're… very entranced by your hair, Cammie. Makes us real dizzy," Jess said, giving his red-haired friend a knowing look.

"Oh… Oh, I see…" Cammie finally said. "Yes, my hair is very… entrancing. Very inspiring too, I've heard. People have done crazy things."

Taylor eyed the three of them suspiciously.

"What are you up to?" he asked them.

"Oh, we're just walking around, Taylor, reminiscing. It was such a long time since Jess was here."

"He was here a couple of days ago," Taylor pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Well, we didn't really have time to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane," Rory tried.

"Exactly," Jess hedged. "I just told Cammie about the fake murder outside your fine establishment. Quite the drama, wasn't it?"

"That was you, young man, and you know it," Taylor said and pointed at him.

"Did a criminal investigation come to that conclusion?" Jess asked.

"No."

"Was there an investigation?"

"Well…"

"No, there wasn't Taylor, because the cops left once they had everyone accounted for."

"But..!" Taylor began.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Taylor. That's how it works in the real world." Jess said with a smirk.

Taylor looked sourly at him, before turning to walk back to the store, huffing as he went. Jess was still smirking when Taylor entered.

"You're pretty satisfied with yourself now, aren't you?" Rory asked him.

"Of course."

"Guys, lost idiots ahoy!" Cammie suddenly yelled.

"Where?" Jess asked, turning to Cammie.

"There! I saw them! Or well, I saw Chris' hair, but that's a pretty good giveaway," she said and pointed.

Jess and Rory looked towards the house at which Cammie was pointed.

"Figures…" Jess said, cursing under his breath, as he began walking. "I should've told them Andrew was some sort of psycho."

"Jess, they found the bookstore, not the mole people," Rory scolded him.

"Same thing, if not worse," Jess countered. "This can so not be good…"

"Or it's just peachy," Cammie offered behind him.

Jess didn't bother to answer, instead he opened the door to the bookstore and entered.

"Matt, Chris!" he yelled.

"Jess, why didn't you tell us about this place?" Matt said. "So much potential, and Andrew here is way cool. He's even offered to…"

"I don't care," Jess cut him off, turning to Andrew. "Sorry to bother you Andrew, these two weren't supposed to be here."

"Jess, quit being so cranky and turn your frown upside down." Chris told Jess. "We made a deal with Andrew."

"A deal?"

A/N: Yes, a deal! The question is: what sort of deal? Drop a review with your suggestion, and the best one makes it into the next chapter!