A/N: Thank you for the reviews.

After three I'm under the table

Walking back in the room a few minutes later, the now full cups in his hands, Jess took his seat again. "Any more memories flash back while I was gone?"

"I'm going through the night chronologically."

"Did you get to any of the good parts yet?"

"I assume you don't mean you being an idiot when it comes to Palahniuk, do you?"

"Not really."

"I remember bits and pieces of everything else, I just…wish it was less fuzzy."

"I can fill you in on the details."

"I'm good." She smiled, sipping from the coffee cup. "I'll get there."

"I can make food if you think that'll help the process."

"Food always helps."

"Ok then. Any preferences?"

"Anything. My body is seriously hating you for the hangover right now, you need to make it up to me."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Can I grab a shower while you cook?"

"Sure." Jess looked at the door, drinking some more coffee. "The bathroom is outside however and you may have to face the other two hungover stooges."

"I'll take my chances."

"Hey, I had to warn you." Standing up, he opened the dresser, picking up a towel. "I think this is clean."

"Reassuring."

"It's generally a pretty safe bet that anything in here is clean." Throwing the towel next to her, careful not to hit the coffee cup, he smirked. "You do have to stand up if you want to shower."

"I'm trying." Rory pushed herself up, still holding the coffee in one hand. "Not as bad as I thought it would be."

"Come on." He smiled, waiting for her to grab the towel and walk out of the room before following. Placing his hand on the small of her back, he guided her towards a door, pointing with his coffee cup at it. "Over there. You should find everything easily. There are some spare toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet."

"I'd mock you for that, but I'm too busy being grateful." She smiled at him.

"Go. I'll have food ready when you're done."

"Matt, you owe me twenty dollars!" Chris called as he walked in the room, smiling at Rory. "Good morning."

Blushing, she looked away from him, mumbling something and Jess glared at him, trying to keep him quiet.

"Go." He smiled at Rory quickly and she nodded, rushing in the room.

The night before.

"His work has given rise to an adjective and you're criticising him?" Rory stared at him in disbelief.

"What does that have to do with anything? I'm just saying Millennium People was terrible."

"And I'm just saying you're insane. Not his best book by a long shot, but still not deserving your insults."

"Coming from an Ayn Rand worshipper, I'm not too worried about my judgement."

"I cannot believe you brought that up."

"Really? 'Cause to me it sounds like the kind of thing I'd say." Jess laughed, picking up their empty glasses. "Fuel to defend your insanity?"

"Sure." She nodded quickly, still angered. "Also, there is no way in hell you're getting off that easily. What is wrong with Rand?"

"How long have you got?" Jess shot back, standing up and heading for the table again, only to find the ice melted. "This doesn't look promising."

"What's the matter?"

"Ice's unfortunate habit of turning into water."

"Oh."

"There's more upstairs." He shrugged, turning around to look at her.

"There's an upstairs?"

"Did you think the stairs are here for décor?"

"Just…" She stammered, blushing. "…Don't know, figured there are offices or something."

"I took notes from Luke, I live above my workplace. Makes for an awesome commute." He shrugged, picking up the ice bucket. "I'll go bring more."

"Oh, can I come?" Rory asked enthusiastically and he looked at her again, confused.

"You think it's a two person job?"

"No, I just want to look at your book collection. I've always wondered what it looked like."

"It's flattering to know you spend your time thinking about me." He replied, smirking as he motioned for her to follow him up the stairs.

"Not you, your books." She shot back as she started following him, the alcohol making her head buzz slightly. Reaching the apartment, she stopped, looking around at the small but cosy living room. "Not what I expected."

"You had us pegged for the black light poster kind of people?"

"It's just very clean."

"Matthew has his moments. Usually when he's avoiding work. We let it slide." Jess smirked, pointing at a door. "My books are through there. Warning, that place doesn't get cleaned often."

"Often?"

"Ever." He admitted with a smile, heading for the kitchen. "Go ahead, I'll be in in a second."

"Ok." Happy with his offer, Rory opened the door, her eyes immediately settling on the bookshelves covering one of the walls and the stacks of books under the window. Ignoring the clothes strewn all over the floor, she walked to one of the piles, running her fingers over them before picking a book up, leafing through the pages rapidly.

"I think I may have died and gone to heaven." She announced a few minutes later, hearing Jess fake cough behind her.

"Nice to know my bedroom's heaven, that's got to be a good pick up line."

"Only if you die and wind up in the 70s."

"Stranger things have happened." He smirked, handing her a glass. "Does it get your approval?"

"Approval? I'm thinking of killing you and telling everyone you've left the country and I'm your replacement."

"You'd have to work on it, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard." He looked her up from head to toe. "How are the acting skills? Because if you're good, you may even pass for me. Matt and Chris tend to be either drunk or hungover often, it shouldn't be too much of a challenge."

"And you're not?"

"We own a bar, it's part of the job to keep encouraging people to drink. Usually by drinking with them." He shrugged, laughing as he looked at the glass in his hand.

"Is that what you're doing?"

"Yes. I'll start charging you after this one."

"Better make it last then." She smiled back at him, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear with her hand.

"I'm sure I can be convinced to give you some kind of old friends deal."

"Good to know. Could you also be convinced to tell me why you of all people have a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets?"

"Some random person gave it to me. For some reason people hear books, they think Shakespeare."

"And you kept it because…?"

"Random person kept coming over and she would have made it a big deal out of it not being here any more."

"Right." She nodded, understanding what he was trying to say.

"I never got around to giving it away after she stopped visiting."

"Ok." She nodded again, her smile reappearing on her lips before she sipped from her drink, turning around to look at the books again. "Seriously though, your books are amazing."

"You can borrow anything you want."

"Don't tempt me, I'm leaving in a week."

"So? I'll just get them back at Luke and Lorelai's wedding."

"How about I take a couple and return them to you before I skip town? I'll see if you're still this generous without alcohol in your system." She giggled, turning to look at him again.

"Careful, I might think you're trying to devise some sort of plan to see me again."

"And if I was…?" She asked with a teasing edge to her voice and he smiled, taking a small step towards her.

"I'd probably be curious why."

"Because it's nice to have a discussion about literature with someone who knows what they're talking about, even if they have horrible taste."

"I'm hurt."

"You have to admit, the number of books we agree on is much smaller than the ones we disagree on."

"I'm not arguing the sentiment, just wondering why that means I'm the one with horrible taste."

"It just does." She laughed, making him smirk. "Do we have a deal on the books issue?"

"We have a deal. Take whatever you want."

"You should not have said that."

"I'll take my chances." Jess smiled, drinking from his glass.

"Flaubert?" She made a face, turning around to look at him after a few minutes and he shrugged in reply.

"Random person."

"Same random person?" Rory asked, picking up another book.

"No." Jess shook his head as he sat down on a chair, holding the glass in his hands. "I'm not sure what's with everyone's obsession with the classics."

"Maybe you strike random people as a classics fan."

"That's just mean."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you." Rory laughed, picking up another book and putting it on top of the small pile. "This is better than Christmas."

"When you come back to return those, remind me to show you all the piles downstairs."

"More books?"

"It is a bookshop of sorts. Having books is the prerequisite."

"More than the ones I saw?"

"No, but if you get here on a normal weekend, you can browse in peace."

"Is that your attempt at drumming up business?"

"Hey, I'm not going to not take the chance to double our quarterly sales. I can even be convinced to point out my favorites."

"Aren't you supposed to like all of them?"

"No." Jess shook his head. "We fight for days over what we publish. Don't get me wrong, they're all really good books but some are better than others."

"Ok. I'll buy you coffee in exchange for you playing favorites, is that payment enough?"

"Probably." He smirked.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Have you written anything new? I'm waiting for the next book."

"Me too." He pointed to a trashcan filled with crumpled paper. "I'm mostly doing short stories these days."

"I've read a few." Rory admitted, biting her lip. "Google and all that."

"Huh."

"They were good."

"Thanks." Jess smiled, uncomfortable with the conversation. "It's something to do."

"Well…keep doing it. Or whatever the appropriate thing to say is." She laughed.

"That works." Jess stood up, looking through the stack of books she had selected. "Sometimes, you show so much potential when it comes to your taste in books."

"You want to start that fight again?"

"Always." He smirked.

"I missed talking books with you." Rory admitted, blushing as soon as she finished the sentence.

"Yeah, me too." He nodded, shrugging.

"You work with books all the time. How can you not have anyone to talk to?"

"I was focusing more on the 'with you' part of that sentence." He acknowledged, smirking as he sipped from his glass again. "I don't know any other Rand fans."

"I wouldn't think that would be a bad thing for you."

"I don't know, being able to stand forty page monologues without hurling the book at a wall is still an impressive trait."

"She's not that bad, Jess." She smiled, stepping closer to him. "You really should…"

"Give her another chance? Somehow I feel like we've had this conversation before."

"Hey, I've changed my mind on Hemingway, nothing is impossible."

"How did that happen?"

"I did The Sun also Rises in college. You should have made me read that instead of For whom the Bell Tolls."

"I'll keep that in mind in the future, in case I ever try to convince anyone else to give him a try." He smirked, moving a bit more towards her and pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, without thinking about it. Reacting at the contact, she finished her drink in one gulp, looking for some courage.

"You know, you never did tell me if you have a girlfriend."

"You didn't ask."

"Oh, come on, I gave you the perfect opportunity to say something." She smiled, teeth biting her lip as he inched even closer to her. "I mean, you RSVPed for one to the wedding and everything but…"

"You think if I was dating anyone, I'd bring her to that town? Under these circumstances?"

"I…uh…probably not." Rory laughed, shaking her head. "So I should take the hypothetical at the beginning of that as…?"

"There are no random people around at the moment." He confirmed, trying to find a place for his glass on the desk next to them. "Do you have any new or old jerks attached? And by that I do mean dating, seeing, sleeping with or whatever else kids are calling it these days, since I feel like I need to spell it out to you to prevent any misunderstanding. I heard the blonde dick's no longer an issue, but I of all people should really know of your penchant for exes."

"No jerks." She giggled again, twisting her hand and dropping the glass on the shelf behind her, hoping it wouldn't fall.

"You sure?"

"Yes. No one." She confirmed again, trying to stop herself from laughing.

"Ok." Jess nodded, the faint memory of him saying the same word late one night many years before echoing through both their heads at the same time.

"So…what now?"

"This." He smiled as he closed the gap between them, his mouth covering hers as both his hands cupped her face. Wrapping his arms around his waist, she smiled through the kiss, moving her body closer, taking in as much of him as she could.

"Nice to know that part still works." Jess whispered when he pulled back, resting his forehead against hers.

"Yeah, we were always good with that." She placed another kiss on his lips, smiling. "The rest though?"

"Not so much." He acknowledged, not opening his eyes. "This it the point where you run away, isn't it?"

"You're bitter."

"We've been here before."

"One too many times." Rory shrugged before kissing him again, sneaking her hand under his shirt and running her fingers across his skin. "I'm wearing heels, I couldn't run even if I wanted to." She placed a playful kiss on his lips, trying to get a smile out of him. "And I don't want to."

"Ok." He smirked before pressing her back against the bookshelf, his fingers playing in her hair.

"This part's new." Rory whispered as she tried to catch her breath when he pulled away, making him laugh. "I like it."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah." She grinned back, pulling his lip between her teeth as his hands slipped under her shirt.