After a long day at Chilton, Rory walks to Luke's in hopes of seeing a certain someone. She rushes into the little coffee shop, pulling her jacket up to shield her from the cold. Once inside, she scans the room hoping to see Jess, but instead she is greeted by Luke.

"Rory!" Luke calls from behind the counter. "How was school?" He asks while wiping down a coffee mug.

"Oh, fine." She replied still looking around quite obviously searching for Jess.

Luke smiles down at the mug and says quietly, "He's upstairs."

"Thank you," She says awkwardly, turning a bright shade of red and running behind the curtain and up the stairs. She stops outside the door at the top of the stairs, unsure of whether or not to knock or just walk in.

She knocks. "Jess! Can I come in?" She asks.

The door opens and Jess is standing there with a smirk on his face.

"Hey." He says, continuing to smirk.

"Hey." She says back.

"You can come in, ya know." He says STILL SMIRKING.

"Oh, yeah, alright." She says, a light shade of red creeping across her cheeks.

Jess backs up to let her in, closing the door behind her and walking over to the fridge where he takes out one of Luke's beers and offers it to her.

"No, thanks, you shouldn't be drinking that you know."

"Who's gonna stop me?"

"I am?" She says, uncertainly.

"Oh yeah?" Jess says while walking slowly towards her, the look superiority replaced with one of desire.

"Y-yeah." Rory stutters, backing away.

Her back hits the wall. He puts the drink on the counter and steps toward her. Her breath quickens. Jess' smirk is softer now but his expression is intense. She looks up at him and he takes her chin in his hands and-

The door flies open. Luke rushes in. The two pull apart like the parting of the Red Sea.

"You guys ok in here?" He asks suspiciously.

Rory nods quickly, color flushing her whole face. Jess gives him a look of frustration.

"Well, I came here to tell you guys, it's looking pretty bad out there. I think you should stay here with us Rory."

Rory looks over at Jess. The smirk is back.

"So Rory, you can sleep there, you got your pillows and clean sheets…" Luke says as he spreads a blanket out over the couch.

"Thank you Luke."

"Yup, I'm gonna just close up the diner and stuff…. Don't stand too close to each other… Jess, just… Stay on your side of the room." He says awkwardly. He heads towards the door but turns around before he's about to leave. "I don't wanna walk in on anything… read your books,"

Rory nods, blushing and Jess just raises his eyebrow and opens a book, but as soon as the door closes he puts it down.

"So, where were we?" He asks, moving to sit next to Rory on the air mattress that used to be his.

"W-well…" she stammers hoping to eventually get some words out.

"Well...how about…" He says, glancing at her lips between words.

The door opens again.

"Oh come on!" Jess shouts in exasperation.

"I thought I told you to stay on your side!" Luke roars. "Keep it up and you'll be sleeping in the closet pal."

Jess dramatically gets up and walks back over to his mattress, exaggerating each step.

"That's right. Now you stay there."

"Just go tend to your diner," Jess grumbles and Luke leaves hesitantly, keeping his eyes suspiciously on Jess.

"Luke can really be a buzzkill, huh?" Jess says.

"I mean, I guess. He's just looking out for us." Rory replies politely, even though she's also frustrated.

"I could lock the door…" Jess says with a wink.

"Jess, you can't lock your uncle out of his own apartment just because you want to kiss me." Rory says but then realizes what exactly she said and becomes embarrassed. "I mean I don't know if you wanted to kiss me, it just seemed like from the way you were acting and you kept getting really close and-" Jess cuts her off. His lips are on hers. Rory's mind goes blank except for the one thought that Jess smelled like a bookstore and she liked it. A lot.

Then suddenly The door is thrown open and Luke is standing in the doorway, spatula in hand.

"No. Off of her. Get back to your bed. Jess. I warned you. I knew this would happen. I could feel it. You two were not on your own sides of the room!" Luke says, frantically waving his spatula around, gesturing to Jess then to Rory then shooing Jess back to his own mattress with it.

"What would Lorelai think of this." He mutters to himself as he puts down the spatula and heads into the bathroom.

"See, real buzzkill."

"Jess, he just cares about us."

"Yeah well… Buzzkill."

"I can hear you!" Luke calls from the bathroom.

"That's the point!" Jess calls back, picking up his book as Luke comes out of the bathroom.

"Bedtime. Both of you." Luke says angrily.

"You gonna read us a bedtime story Uncle Luke?" Jess asks mockery written all over his face.

"You will get on that bed, and you will get on it now, or there will be consequences." Luke says, pushing Jess to his side.

"No fair! I didn't get my warm milk and cookies yet." Jess pouts, but lays down nonetheless. Rory is too stunned to move and when Luke tries to guide her to her own bed she flinches dramatically.

"Sorry Luke." She mutters, embarrassed.

"I know it wasn't your fault Rory." He says walking to his own area, preparing to turn off the lights. "Stay on your side, Jess." Luke says warningly.

From his side, Jess throws his hands up in surrender.

"Whatever."

Rory awakes to a tapping on her shoulders. She opens her eyes and finds Jess standing over her with a finger to his lips.

"What?" She says annoyedly.

"Come on."

"Come on where?"

"Surprise. Just follow me."

"What time is it?" Rory looks around for a clock, pushing herself into a sitting position.

"Doesn't matter, come on, we don't want to wake up Luke."

"Jess it's late and I was sleeping."

"And it's a friday and nice outside." Jess argues.

"It's snowing."

"Nice."

"Cold."

"You can have my coat."

"Fine."

Rory gets up as quietly as she can and follows Jess to the door. The two of them sneaking downstairs to the diner. Jess, it seems had been planning this, because he had a cup of coffee prepared which he hands to Rory then he offers her his jacket as he pulls on his hoodie.

"I have my own coat."

"Well if you change your mind… " He says, pulling the jacket on too.

Rory sips the coffee and Jess looks through the drawers behind the counter and pulls out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, shoving them into his pocket. "Just in case" he says to her critical look.

"Jess, where are we going?" Rory asks again sipping the coffee.

"You really don't understand the meaning of the word 'surprise', do you?" He teases. "C'mon." He takes her hand and leads her out the door. He pulls her behind him, the snow fluttering all around them making for a very romantic scene. Jess knew this of course, which is probably why he decided to take her out in the first place.

"This way." He says as they cross the street to the gazebo.

"How is this a special surprise?" Asks Rory.

"Hey, I never said it was special." Jess replies.

"Well why are we here?" She asks, tired and fed up with his antics, although they could be so cute.

"Because Luke isn't." He says, the smirk returning once again.

"And what are you expecting to get out of this endeavor?" Rory teases.

"Hmm, maybe this.." He stops talking and pulls her closer and kisses her once again. It was freeing to be away from the prying eyes of Luke and everyone else in Stars Hollow. But just when they thought everything was perfect…

"JESS MARIANO WHAT THE HELL DID I TELL YOU?!"

Fin.