A/N: Yay for all the lovely people who write the lovely reviews! :) Also, if you guessed that Rory would still get nervous on her first night at Yale and need to call someone (Jess!) in the absence of Lorelai, then you win a virtual cookie ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 6

"Hello?"

Rory felt stupid as soon as she heard his voice. He sounded pissed, like maybe she interrupted him from reading or something. She would hate it if somebody did that to her, especially when they hadn't the right to. It wasn't fair to need him like that. They weren't dating anymore, and though they had agreed to be friends again, that didn't excuse her interrupting his solitude or ruining his evening or whatever it was she was doing.

"Hello?"

Now he was really starting to sound angry and Rory so didn't want that. She also really didn't want him to hang up.

"Jess? It's Rory."

"Rory? Oh, hey. What's up?"

"Not much."

Lie. Huge, ridiculous lie of all lies and she knew it. Rory wasn't even sure why she said that. She had called him because something was very much up, but now that he was asking her, she just didn't know how to say it. She felt so stupid, she really did. A lesser woman would have cried. Rory was starting to think maybe she was less strong than she ever thought possible, as her vision grew blurry and a rapid blink sent streams of salt water cascading down her cheeks.

"Rory? You still there?" Jess asked her urgently. "Okay, either this is a really bad line or something is seriously wrong. Rory?"

"Still here," she promised, hating that she was causing him to worry like that. "And I'm okay. I mean, I'm not bleeding or in danger or anything," she assured him, sure those were the very things he must be thinking right now. "Oh, God, I am so pathetic! What is even wrong with me? How can I be calling you like this? You, of all people, after everything, and just because... just because..."

"Just because?" he prompted, when she failed to finish the sentence twice.

He didn't even sound mad anymore. Rory wasn't entirely sure how he sounded, but it wasn't mad. It might have been understanding, it probably was, but her mind was racing too much to be sure.

"Just because my mom has left me here and I feel... I feel so alone and unprepared and out of my depth. I can't do this, Jess. I don't know how to do this!"

She was starting to hyperventilate, she was sure, and sobbing like a child, and she just felt so very stupid.

"Okay, first of all, breathe," Jess told her urgently. "Come on, Rory, please, just breathe already."

It took some effort, but knowing how much she was scaring him, as well as herself by now, Rory made a point of taking a large audible breath, and then another for good measure. It did help. Apparently, all those people who advised deep breathing for panic, nausea, and a bunch of other things were not just saying it for the sake of saying anything at all. It really did work.

"Now, second," Jess continued, when finally she was breathing more evenly, "you need to calm down. Just stop and think for a second. You're not alone," he reminded her. "I mean, you have room-mates there, right? I'm guessing Yale didn't just magic you up a private room."

"I have dorm-mates," Rory confirmed, sniffling a little even now, "and a room-mate, actually. Would you believe, I'm sharing with Paris?"

"Huh. Well, if that's not a reason to be freaking out..."

At that, Rory laughed, which she supposed was probably Jess' intention. For a guy who was known around town for just how sullen and sulky he could be sometimes, he always knew how to make her laugh, how to cheer her up when she was down. If she told anyone, they doubtless wouldn't believe her, but Jess actually had a wicked sense of humour. It was one of so many things she liked about him, and she really needed that right now.

"So, you're okay now?" he asked after a while.

"I'm... better," she said uncertainly, holding the phone tighter against her ear, almost afraid she would lose him somehow if she didn't. "I'm still breathing, but I'm also... Jess, why did I think I could do this?" she asked, trying and failing to keep the desperation out of her voice. "Why did I ever think I could go out on my own and be independent and go to Yale and... It's too much. It's way too much, all at once," she told him, shaking her head at herself, realising what a fool she truly must be. "One minute, it seemed fine, but then, Mom left to go get ready for her date with Luke, and I was so happy for her, I really was. I am, I swear. I want this to work for them, so much," she swore faithfully, "but I still almost called her. I actually had the phone in my hand, my finger on the button to call and beg her to come back here, to literally hold my hand, because... because I can't do this. I can't."

She sounded so dramatic, Rory was sure she did, but she couldn't bring herself to apologise for it. She meant every word she said, and the more she thought about it, the more she was sure it was true. She was in over her head already, on Day One. Rory just did not know how to be college girl, she just didn't.

Not that any of this was Jess' problem, something she was sure he must be thinking now her latest panicked ramble was done. He said nothing, was probably wondering if he could hang up on her and pretend the phone died or something, so he didn't have to deal with any more of her drama. Just as she was about to tell him she was sorry that she disturbed his evening, she heard him sigh.

"You want me to come over there?"

"Oh." The question caught her unawares and Rory just didn't have an answer to hand. "Um, no," she said eventually, before reconsidering. "Well... no. You really don't have to do that," she settled on eventually.

Tempted as she was, she knew she really could not ask her ex-boyfriend to drive more than twenty miles in the half-dark, to hold her hand and tell her she was totally capable of dealing with living away from home for the first time in her life. Not that she was asking. He did just offer, completely without prompting. Maybe a little inadvertent hinting, but absolutely no prompting.

"Rory, come on," he said softly in her ear, a tone of voice she was sure he only saved especially for her, since she never heard it at any other time, only when they were alone together or on a private call like this. "If you need somebody... Do you need somebody?"

Jess wasn't sure when he became such a sap, but he had a feeling it started a couple of years ago, right around the time he met Rory Gilmore. No other person in his life could make him feel the way she could. Nobody could make him act in the foolish ways that she could either. How else could he explain spending a Saturday night driving from Stars Hollow to New Haven, to comfort his ex-girlfriend who wasn't sure she could handle life at Yale, after being there all of a few hours?

"The power of Rory Gilmore," he muttered to himself, exiting the car and slamming the door closed.

Shoving the keys in his pocket, he looked around at the buildings, checked the piece of paper in his pocket where he had scrawled the name of Rory's residence, then headed in what he hoped was the right direction. No doubt if he got caught going into a female dorm building in the dark, there would be trouble, but then, Jess knew the answer to that was not to get caught.

Thankfully, his timing was good. Two girls were exiting the main doors just as he got there. Hanging back in the shadows until they passed, he then moved quickly, getting his hand around the door before it fully closed and slipping inside the building. Checking one door and then the next, he soon found the right dorm and raised his fist to knock.

He faltered just before his knuckles made contact with the door. He had to be an idiot, going over there like he had, but he already told Rory on the phone that he would, if she needed him to. She started off saying no, and actually, had never got as far as yes. They left it pretty vague, but Jess knew better than to think Rory's, 'I'll be fine,' was at all true. She was a horrible liar. Weirdly, it was one of the things he loved most about her.

Taking a deep breath, he raised his hand again and knocked before he could change his mind. The door opened thirty seconds later, and there she was, the most beautiful smile on her lips that reached right up to her blue eyes, which were sparkling as she met his gaze.

"You actually came."

"I told you that I would." He shrugged like it was no big deal, but after everything, he supposed he couldn't really blame her for doubting his word.

"I'm sorry." Rory sighed heavily, smile slipping some. "I'm so sorry, Jess. I didn't mean for you to drive so far."

"It's not far," he reminded her, shaking his head. "Just twenty-two-point-eight-miles."

"I think I heard that somewhere."

She smiled when she said it, letting him know that she remembered the very same moment he was thinking of himself. Things had been so different then, when she told him she was sure about Yale as her choice of college, when he had to admit he had searched on Yahoo and found out the exact distance they would be apart when she left Stars Hollow to live on campus. He hadn't realised then all the crap that would happen in-between. How much he would screw up, how much further the distance between them would be, both literally and figuratively, from then to now.

There were a million things he wanted to say, even more than he had managed to put across in the letter he gave Rory the week before. When he looked at her then, Jess had a feeling there were things she wanted to say too, but it seemed neither one of them was going to be given the chance.

"Gilmore, what are you...? Oh, it's you."

"Oh, um, Jess, you remember Paris."

"Who could forget?" he said, nodding once at Rory's friend.

"Ah, the elusive ex-boyfriend" Paris folded her arms across her chest and stared hard at him - if looks could kill, Jess knew he would've been gasping on the ground in a second. "You know you've got some nerve-"

"Paris, don't!" Rory snapped at her, surprising everyone concerned apparently, even herself. "I just... Jess is here because I called him, and because he's a good friend, and... and just don't, okay?"

Paris looked momentarily stunned, but that was all. She was the type that recovered fast, Jess could tell. She looked between Rory and him for a few seconds and then huffed out a sigh.

"Fine, but I'm going back to our room, so if this is some kind of booty call-"

"Just go, Paris!" Rory told her crossly.

To her credit, she did, though she was muttering all the way. Jess had trouble keeping the smirk off his lips, feeling the need to bring his hand up to cover his face for a minute until he could gain some self-control.

A booty call. Him and Rory. Maybe in some alternate universe where he hadn't been such an idiot, where they were still dating, where he had given Rory more reasons to trust him, to the point where their relationship actually went somewhere and lasted too.

"I'm sorry about Paris," said Rory, shifting awkwardly in place. "Sometimes I think I should have a sign painted. 'Sorry about Paris.' It feels like it would save time."

"Probably." Jess nodded in agreement, leaning against the doorjamb and wondering what was supposed to happen next.

Rory must have realised she was keeping him hanging on the doorstep and it clearly bothered her when she heard other people coming down the hall. After all, a guy in the women's sleeping quarters probably was a little sketchy at this hour, just as Jess had thought when he first arrived.

"Oh, do you wanna come inside?"

"Sure," he agreed then, finally stepping over the threshold.

Almost as soon as Rory closed the door behind him, another door opened across the way. A tiny mouse of a girl peeked out, looking like someone's stowaway kid sister rather than a college student.

"Hey, Tanna. You wanna come meet a friend of mine?"

Jess did his best not to wince so much at being called a friend. He and Rory were friends now, he had said that they should be, yet somehow, every time she said it, it felt like blades in his chest. He tried to ignore it, but it didn't come easy. Not that he needed to wonder why, he knew all too well, but that was not a conversation for tonight, or any time soon.

"Jess, this is Tanna, another dorm-mate," Rory was introducing then. "Tanna, this is Jess. He's a friend of mine, from Stars Hollow."

"Jess?" the smaller girl said, shaking his hand and staring up at him as if he were a science project. "Is that short for something?"

"Nope," he told her succinctly, deciding that he didn't dare to say any more - he really hated the discussions his name almost always triggered with strangers.

"The most common name for boys born in America in 1984 was Michael," Tanna told him then, a grin on her face a mile wide. "You were born in 1984, right?"

"Yes, we both were," Rory confirmed, since Tanna was now looking at her anyway. "Not that we've known each other that long."

"Friendship isn't based on time." Tanna shook her head. "Aristotle said that friends must enjoy each other's company, they must be useful to one another, and they must share a common commitment to the good."

"Huh." Jess had no more than that to say and, apparently, it was enough.

Two seconds later, Tanna was bidding him farewell and scampering off back to her room. He watched her go, still trying to figure out what the hell just happened when Rory gave in and explained it to him.

"She's only fifteen. Honestly, she's very sweet but, I admit, also kind of strange. I think we'll get along though. I just feel so dumb, getting as stressed out as I did about being a half-hour from home, when she's so young and so much further away from her family."

As she said it, Rory moved over to the couch and sat down heavily, both hands pushed back into her hair, holding it back from her face. "Be honest, you think I'm a freak, don't you?"

"No more today than I did before," he told her, deliberately seriously, though it was impossible not to smile when her eyes went wider than wide.

"Bad person," she muttered, laughing in spite of herself as he dropped down onto the couch beside her. "Seriously though, am I crazy? I felt crazy when I called you before. Oh, I mean, not because I called you, just for getting so upset about this whole thing."

"Hey, it's fine," he promised her, hands in his pockets yet, because honestly, the urge to touch her was way too strong. "You needed a friend, and that's what we are now, right?"

"Right," she agreed, nodding her head, looking at him as if she was trying to figure something out, but Jess didn't dare ask what it was, mostly because she might just tell him. "Did I say thank you for coming over? I really meant to."

"Pretty sure you did."

"I actually also wanted to thank you for what happened with Taylor the other day," she told him then, shifting in her seat to better face him. "My mom told me, about the whole ice-cream queen and how you stood up for me."

"The guy's an ass," Jess said, shaking his head, making it no big deal because it was just easier that way. "God knows how Luke didn't punch him out years ago. He drives everybody crazy."

"I know." Rory smiled, in spite of the subject at hand. "And trust me, the next time I see him, I will be telling him how unimpressed I am with what he did. My mom will too, I'm sure. Still, I really appreciate what you did. I mean, not that I would doubt that you would be on my side in something like that, especially against Taylor, but I also know how much you would have hated all the attention you got for doing it, so thank you, again."

"You're welcome, again," he told her, smiling too much, his voice too soft to his own ears.

This was what happened with Jess when he was around Rory too much, when they got the chance to be alone, when he let himself just bask in her presence. She was something else. He had never been able to fully describe what it was about her that attracted him, that kept him coming back for more, even back in the days when he knew she was somebody else's girlfriend.

She was like nobody else he ever met before in his whole life, and as far as he could understand what love was, Jess loved Rory. Worse than the urge to reach out and touch her was the one to tell her exactly how he felt about her, how he was pretty sure he had always felt and always would, forever.

"Are you okay?" she asked after a while, letting him know he must be looking at her way too intensely.

"Sure," he said, shaking his head, clearing his throat, making a point of turning away and looking at anything but her. "So, nice place you have here."

When she started talking about her new living arrangements, Paris' craft corner, and the elusive fourth dorm-mate that didn't show up yet, it got easier. Jess could kid himself that they really were just indifferent friends, at least for a little while. For as long as it took to make sure that Rory really was going to be okay here and probably wasn't going to have another fit of hysteria when the time came for him to leave again.

"I am looking forward to the classes," she was telling him then, "and the people I've met so far all seem nice enough."

"That's cool." Jess smiled across at her. "You know, maybe instead of bringing in friends from home, you could just make some new ones here?" he suggested then. "And yes, I know, I'm the last one to be telling people to make nice with the neighbours and mingle with strangers," he said before she could, "but it's different with you. People like you. I swear you give off some invisible waves that just make people want to be your friend, from the second you say hello."

He rolled his eyes when he said it, like it was the most tiresome thing about her. If she were anybody else, that would probably be true, but she was Rory, so nothing about her really bugged him all that much. More stuff he probably should have told her when they were dating, or even before. Now, it all seemed far too late, far too deep for a light, friendly conversation.

"You make me sound like a character from Sesame Street," she said, making a face. "But I guess I probably could stand to meet some of the girls in the building, try to be social and everything," she admitted, heaving a sigh. "It's going to be a long year with just Paris and Tanna for company."

"And how," Jess agreed very strongly, just as his watch beeped on the hour.

"Wow, it's late" Rory realised, checking her own watch. "I guess you should..."

"Yep," he agreed, before she was even done suggesting he might want to go.

Back at the door, Jess made his exit, turning around to tell her something, though the second his eyes met hers, he couldn't quite remember what it was. Any kind of farewell would probably kill him right now, even though he wasn't going far and would doubtless be seeing her again within the week. The fact he couldn't kiss her goodbye just made it so much worse.

"So..."

"So..." he echoed back to her. "You sure you'll be okay now?"

"I'm sure." Rory nodded, trying for brave and actually succeeding. "But thank you, again, for coming over. It helped, you know, just talking things through, having somebody here. Having you here," she clarified, clearly realising she had made it sound like anybody would have done, when apparently, she hadn't meant to.

"No problem," he told her, knowing he should go but still not knowing how to end this properly, not knowing what the words were, as the verbal thing began to fail him one more time. "So, I guess I'll see you sometime soon?"

"I'm sure you will," she agreed with a bright smile that made him feel much better about leaving her behind, if only for a little while. "Jess?" she called him back, the very second he turned away.

"What?" he asked, when no more words came.

She shook her head just slightly, like she didn't know herself, then suddenly she stepped forward, planting a very quick kiss on his cheek and withdrawing twice as fast as she had moved in. "Thank you," she said softly, one more time, "for... everything."

"Anytime," he told her, just as quietly, and then he left fast, before he did something really, really stupid.

To Be Continued...