I deleted this story a little while ago for personal reasons but have decided to share it again. Apologies if you thought I'd finally written something new but you've already read this story. I still have sequels for FT and ISWAT in the back of my mind but have not found the thread yet to start either. One day :)

A/N this idea came to me and I decided to see how it plays out.

The time frame doesn't really matter except that this is post finale and everything that happened in the show happened and Lorelai and Luke got married at some point between then and now. This idea may seem completely implausible but I can imagine it from their perspectives and fiction is about exploring other worlds or choices or experiences you would likely never venture into yourself.

Anyway, enough from me and on with the story.

Loose Ends

"So we're really doing this then?" Rory asked, her arms wrapped around her soon to be husband's shoulders.

"Yes. We're really doing this. We want to start our life together with no regrets right? That's what we agreed," her fiancé affirmed, tightening his grip around her waist and leaning down to kiss her. "Two weeks to tie up loose ends, no questions asked."

This arrangement may have seemed odd to outsiders but the idea had been discussed and debated and detailed and decided over the last month following a massive fight between the couple. It had been Adam's suggestion and Rory could see the merit in it. They had met at a time when they were both still finding their path and had each made their share of sacrifices for each other. Commitment wasn't the issue here, they loved each other and they were looking forward to starting their life together as husband and wife a month from now but they were also open enough with each other to know there were facets of their old lives they needed to say goodbye to. For Adam that meant heading home, back to Vancouver and everything he'd left behind there two years ago when he moved to New York for a job. Rory had less distance to travel but further to go to tie up her loose end.

"So I'll pick you up here on the 27th?" Rory kissed him again, still wrapped in his embrace.

"2pm," he deepened the kiss, uncaring about the crowds of people milling around them.

"And we're really doing this?" Rory asked him again, doubt beginning to gnaw at her insides.

"One month from now I'll be all yours and you'll be all mine and there will be no doubt in either of our minds that it was the right decision. We need to do this Rory. You know we do. We rarely fight over anything but when we do these are the scars we rip open. This is about finally healing those scars so we don't spend the rest of our lives together tearing them open and patching them up. I know you better than anyone Rory. You know how much I love you. I know how much you love me. You go put your past to bed and I'll do the same with mine," Adam assured her.

He looked over his shoulder to check the time until his flight then looked back at Rory, searching for reassurance in her eyes. If he was being completely honest with her he wouldn't be leaving her but he knew she had unfinished business with someone she called her cousin and he'd be damned if he spent the rest of his life worrying over the hold the brooding writer had on her. He remembered the saying about setting the one you love free and seeing if they come back to you- this was his only way of knowing she was truly his.

"You'd better get going mister, can't have you missing your flight," Rory teased, attempting to lighten the mood but quickly becoming serious again. "I love you Adam."

"I love you Rory. I'll see you in two weeks," he placed a final kiss on her forehead before lifting his satchel back over his head to rest at his hip, the strap across his chest.

Rory allowed him to let her go and watched as he walked away from her, disappearing amid the crowd.

Rory let out a heavy sigh and tried to calm the nerves that were quickly overtaking her body, spreading from the inside out. She walked back to where she'd parked her car earlier that morning with her own bags packed, ready, in the back seat. She sat in the driver's seat but rather than pulling her keys out from her purse she retrieved her phone instead.

"Um, hi, it's me Rory," she stammered down the line once the call connected and she heard the "hello?" on the other end.

"Hey, you on the road yet?" he asked her, as if it were any other ordinary day and this was any other ordinary conversation. Of course, to him it was, Rory hadn't told him the real reason she was coming to visit, she'd cross that bridge if and when she needed to.

"Just about to leave, I should be there in a couple of hours," she confirmed.

"Well, I'll make sure to have a vat of coffee ready for you when you arrive. Remind me again what time your thing is tonight?" he asked her.

"Oh, actually, I decided not to go to that after all," Rory chewed on her bottom lip while she waited for him to respond.

"Huh, okay. Wasn't that why you were coming to Philly in the first place?" he probed.

"Well, that and the cheese steaks," Rory really needed to end this line of enquiry now.

"Okay," Rory could hear the curiosity in his voice but chose to misinterpret it for now.

"I can still stay with you, right?" she asked.

"Sure, of course. How you choose to spend your time here is up to you," he reassured her.

"Okay, well thanks. I'll see you in a couple of hours," she felt like she was repeating herself now and that was a sure sign she needed to wrap things up.

"I'll be right where you last left me," he answered, somewhat cryptically.

She put her phone back into her bag and took her keys out instead, pressing the bulky black headed one into the ignition and turning it. She fastened her seatbelt and turned up the radio and made her way out of the carpark. Jess's words echoed in her mind as she drove: how you choose to spend your time here is up to you. She had two hours to think about how exactly she would choose to spend her time but he was wrong about one thing, it wasn't up to her at all, he had a part to play here too he just didn't know it yet.

A/N please share your thoughts if you feel inclined :)