A/N: So happy to know folks are finding, reading, and enjoying this, even though the alerts don't seem to be going out to let you know when I update. It's always on a Wednesday for this story, if that helps you out at all :) Anyway, thanks so much for reading and most especially if you're leaving reviews - means a lot! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 4

The waiting was killing him. Jess had thought it was bad enough when Rory was away in Europe, but at least then, he knew she didn't have a choice about not seeing him, not talking to him. There was no way to make contact. He never expected her to rush back for his sake. She couldn't have even considered it, since she didn't know he was back in the Hollow then. Either which way, it was much worse in the last few of days.

When he asked her if they could talk sometime soon and she agreed, he believed that she meant it. One thing he knew for sure was that Rory Gilmore didn't lie, not on purpose. So, he waited, all of that first day, and then the second day, and part of the third day. Nothing. No call, not even a visit to the diner for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. He started to suspect it was deliberate, that she was suddenly very serious about avoiding him. It was then he found out the truth from Luke.

"She wrote the date down wrong."

"What?"

"Rory, she had the start date for Yale written down wrong in her planner. Lorelai just called in a total panic and told me all about it. She thought she had more than a week of summer vacation left, but now she has less than two days to finish getting all her stuff together for school and... well, in Lorelai's words, she's 'having the world's biggest meltdown.'"

Jess hadn't wasted any time at all. Hearing Rory was in distress had him eager to leap into action. His shift was more-or-less over anyway. He cast a look at Luke and watched his uncle sigh.

"Go," he told him without pause, "but if she says she doesn't need your help, you come right back. I don't want Rory any more stressed out than she already is."

"Me either," Jess assured him, then practically ran out of the door.

It wasn't as if he really knew how he could help, what offer he was going to make. In fact, at least four times between the diner and the house, he considered turning back, not even bothering to try. It was then Jess recalled how that had been most of his problem in the first place. Thinking he couldn't or shouldn't make an effort, telling himself that wasn't what Rory wanted or needed, that it wasn't the kind of boyfriend he wanted to be. Look where that behaviour had gotten him!

Eventually, he found himself on the doorstep of what was affectionately referred to as 'The Crap Shack' and knocked quickly, before he could change his mind. He was only mildly surprised when Lorelai answered rather than Rory, and he tried his best not to squirm under her surprised yet intense gaze.

"Hey. I, uh... I heard that Rory was melting down about Yale and everything. I just thought maybe I could help?"

It sounded so stupid coming out of his mouth, Jess was well aware. He stood fully prepared to have Lorelai laugh in his face, send him away, anything but welcome him in or thank him for his offer. That was why it came as such a shock when she yelled out to Rory and encouraged her to come see who had come calling.

"Mom, I can't just..." she was saying as she came into view, a piece of paper in one hand, a block of sticky notes in the other, and a more than harassed expression on her face. "Jess, hi."

"Hi," he replied in kind, hands shoved in his pockets as he faced her. "So, if I'm just in the way, I can go, it's no problem..."

"But he actually offered to help," Lorelai said for him, side-eyeing him a little as she elaborated. "Seems he heard we were sinking and he came running on over to help bail out the SS Gilmore, which is pretty cool, right?"

Jess was genuinely astounded. He was sure Lorelai Gilmore had never once had a good word to say for him. The fact she was giving him an in with Rory, after everything, it was nothing less than amazing.

"Oh, well, sure," Rory said then, leafing through her notes. "Um, I'm not really certain how to do all this. We have so many stores to hit, I've been separating out the lists a little. You know, divide and conquer?"

"Sounds like a plan, babe," said Lorelai, offering to take the notes from Rory's hands and going over them herself. "Okay, so weird as you are about your markers and all, I think the stationery store is definitely one you have to hit yourself," she decided, handing that list back, "and the beauty supply store, that seems like more of a me thing, which would leave Jess with the more miscellaneous items..."

"But you don't have to..." Rory started to protest, even as Lorelai proffered the various notes in his direction.

"It's fine," he insisted, even before he started reading, and when he did, he was even more certain in what he was saying. "This is not hard, Rory. I think I know your taste well enough by now to pick out a waste paper basket that you won't hate," he said, smirking just a little.

"I'm sure that you do," she agreed, smiling suddenly and putting a warm glow in his chest that had been missing too long. "Thank you, Jess, and Mom, obviously," she added, shaking her head and refocusing on Lorelai. "We really all need to be moving already."

"We're on it, sweets" her mom agreed, "but seriously, if you're hitting the street, might I suggest shoes?"

"Right, shoes!" Rory exclaimed, literally running off back to her room.

Jess hadn't realised that he was staring after her, not until suddenly Lorelai waved a hand in front of his face and got his attention.

"Sorry, and you know, thanks, for not slamming the door in my face or anything."

"Don't get any ideas, Mariano," she said with a look. "I haven't forgiven you for your behaviour last spring, but Rory says she has, and Luke has made it clear that it would be easier on him if I don't hate you. More than that right now, my kid needs all the help she can get, and you're offering - you get points for that at least."

"Thanks," he told her once again, before turning around and heading back the way he came.

After all, it seemed he had a whole bunch of random stores to hit for a whole bunch of pretty random items. Not that he minded at all. Jess had come over to help because it was Rory and he wanted to do anything he could to make her life easier. Lorelai wasn't exactly wrong to be mad at him for his previous behaviour, when he was making Rory's life more difficult instead. He wished they had a chance to talk about that since she had been home, but at least now he knew she wasn't avoiding him in particular. She just got crazy busy, that was all.

Jess was so busy arranging the pieces of paper in his hands into some kind of order, he almost missed Luke calling to him as he passed by the diner on his way to complete some of Rory's shopping errands.

"Seriously, did you go deaf between the Gilmore house and here?" his uncle asked, when he finally turned to see him hanging out of the doorway.

"I'm sorry, what?" Jess smirked terribly, feeling no less amused when Luke rolled his eyes.

"Get in here," he grumbled. "Rory is on the phone."

"I literally just left her house."

"Well, she needs to talk to you, now, apparently."

There was a frown on Jess' face as he hurried into the diner and grabbed the phone that Luke had left lying on the counter.

"Rory, what's going on? You need me to add something to the list?"

"The list? Oh, no, the list is fine. I just... I didn't get a chance to tell you when you were here, but I wanted you to know that I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to talk properly yet. I really did mean for it to happen. I'm not avoiding you or the conversation, I swear. I want us to talk, it's just when I realised I wrote the date down wrong-"

"Hey, it's fine, I get it," he assured her, turning his back when he noticed Luke was trying to listen in, albeit he was also trying to make it look as if he wasn't. "This whole Yale thing is a big deal, priority one. Why do you think I'm helping?"

Rory sighed, presumably with something akin to relief on knowing he wasn't mad at her.

"I think you're helping because you're a much nicer guy than you like people to think," she told him, an answer to what he had meant to be a rhetorical question. "And I also wanted to thank you, again, not just for your help today, but for understanding how important Yale is to me. I just need you to know that... that you're important too, Jess, and we will talk. I want to hear what you have to say, I promise."

Jess had to clear his throat before he could get out a response to that. "I believe you... and thanks."

There were a few points in the two-day run up to leaving for Yale that Rory was sure she would never get everything done. If not for her mom and Jess pitching in like they had, she was sure she never would have made it. In the end, she had bags of supplies piled up in her room that just needed packing up the next morning before they left for her to go to college. In the meantime, she had found a couple of spare hours for The Godfather highlights and good food with her mom. It was a perfect last evening at home.

"Get some good sleep now, hon. Tomorrow's the big day," said Lorelai, when the hour was growing late and the last of the biscotti was gone.

Rory hugged her mom and took herself off to bed, at least, that was the plan. Unfortunately, she just wasn't tired enough to sleep yet and the bags of partially-sorted supplies were calling her name. Rory figured she could just spend an hour double-checking she had everything, giving her the chance to maybe pick up anything she might have missed on the way to New Haven in the morning.

Emptying out her bags from the stationery store, she was unsurprised to find she had everything she needed, not least because she had done that particular part of the shopping herself. Next was the bag from the beauty supply store. Her mom had made excellent choices, which she really appreciated, and she smiled as she put each item into a tote, ready for the off tomorrow.

Then she came to the impressive pile of bags that Jess had accumulated in his own shopping trip. There were a lot, though most were small and contained only one or two items. He had done a great job, she couldn't deny, picking out the exact styles, designs, and colours that she was sure she would've chosen for herself if she was there. He really did know her that well.

She was gathering up the empty bags when suddenly something small and thin fell out onto the floor. Rory frowned as she stooped to retrieve what turned out to be an envelope bearing her name. She knew the handwriting very well, from occasional love notes, and an awful lot of marginalia.

"Jess," she said to herself, opening up the envelope and pulling out an impressive number of pages from within.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed, Rory began to read.

Dear Rory,

I feel kind of stupid doing this, but I have all this stuff running around in my head that I need to say to you, and you're so busy and heading off to Yale soon, I thought maybe it was better just to get it all down on paper, then you can read it when you have the time. Now, I'll understand if you just throw this in the trash and don't even bother. It's within your rights to do that, but I hope you'll at least do me the courtesy of reading it all first.

Sorry, I realise I'm coming off a little Mr Darcy right now, which is so not me and you know it. I guess we do have one thing in common though. It's easier for us to put things down in writing than to say it out loud. I like to think that, if we ever found some time to talk, I could say all this to your face, but let's be honest, I'd probably struggle.

"The verbal thing, it comes and goes." Rory smiled to herself as she recalled the phrase he had used, more than a year ago now - it certainly was accurate for him, there was no denying.

Anyway, I guess a lot of what I wanted to say is about us. You probably figured out that I was going to apologise. Yes, I know, I did that already, a couple of times, but the more I think about the way I treated you when we were together, and before we were together, the more stuff I find that really needs an apology. It's a long list, I don't need to tell you that, but I hope that maybe, on some level, you understand why I acted the way I did.

Before you, I never had a girlfriend. I know, you think of me of this really experienced-in-dating guy, and obviously, I have dated. I've been with other girls. You're not stupid, Rory, I know you know this, but like I said, I never had an actual girlfriend. I never had anybody in my life, in any capacity, just care about me like you did. I just couldn't figure out how I deserved that. I was pretty sure that I didn't, and apparently, I decided to go out of my way to prove it too. It all seems really stupid now, but hey, even the smartest people have their dumb moments, right?

I guess I just wanted you to know that I regret screwing up like I did, and that I'm not trying to make excuses for my behaviour, but I did have reasons for it, however stupid. I know you'll understand, like you always do, and I hope that maybe we can go back to being friends now.

Trust me, despite the fact there was never an official breaking up, I get that we can't be together anymore. I'm pretty sure the incident at Kyle's party - which I am also so sorry about - followed by my fleeing the state put paid to whatever was between us in that way. I don't like it, but I get it, so like I said, I would like to think we can be friends again, if that's not too weird for you.

Either way, I want you to know that I think you're incredible and I know you're going to do amazing things at Yale. Next time you're around the Hollow, maybe you could swing by the diner and say hi, or if you're just sitting in your dorm room with nothing better to do, maybe you could give me a call? If not, I promise I'll understand and I won't blame you.

Jess.

There were tears in her eyes when she was finally done reading and, without even caring how late it was or considering what might happen if Luke were to pick up, Rory grabbed her phone and dialled the number for the diner.

"Hello?"

She smiled at the sound of his voice, dragging one hand across her face, on realising her cheeks felt damp.

"Hi, Jess. It's me," she told him, clearing her throat hard before she could go on. "So, I was just sitting in my room, at home, obviously, and I had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd call my friend Jess. Is that cool?"

She swore she heard him sigh with relief and just as clearly smile before he answered;

"Yeah, that's cool."

To Be Continued...

A/N2: Please note, the next chapter will be posted on Wednesday 5th June, because next week, I'm on holiday/vacation :)