Jess burst through the door and stopped. Dean was there.

"What are you doing here?" she asks. Ouch. Well, she has a right to be upset, he thinks. She'll warm up eventually, once he explains.

He pushes forward, knowing he has to say what he has to say. What the book said is still pressed in his mind. He has to do this now. He's ready. He's read the book, he knows what he has to do, so why not just do it? He pretends Dean isn't there.

"I need to talk to you."

"Jess-" the hulk of a man starts

"I need" he glares at Dean, "to talk to you," he finishes, looking at Rory.

"What's going on?" Jess rolls his eyes. Go away dean, this isn't your business.

"What are you doing here?" Rory asks again. He tries to pretend her tone of voice is warmer.

"Rory, please." She was much calmer when he pictured this on the way over.

"Rory?" Dean looks at Rory cautiously. She freezes for a moment, not knowing what the best thing to do here is. But of course, the two of them starting a fight right there in the hallway won't help anything.

She looks at Dean a little defeated. "Go. Go home."

"No." Dean says with a sneer to Jess.

"Yes! Go. You should go." She looks pleadingly at him.

Jess holds his breath, wishing the whole situation would go in his favour. Dean finally leaves. Rory watches him go, and Jess throws him a menacing glance over his shoulder, then turns back to Rory.

"Why won't you leave me alone? You won't go away!"

"Rory..."

"What do you want?"

"I don't know, I just... wanted to... see you, talk to you. Just-"

"What?" she looks uneasy.

He takes a breath. He knows it sounds silly, but he's come this far. "Come with me."

She looks away, not sure she heard him properly. "What?"

"Come with me." He says more urgently.

"Where?" She's starting to think this sounds silly. He hasn't thought this through.

"I don't know! Away!" He's on the defensive. Of course it sounds crazy. That's not the point here!

"Are you crazy?" she asks, partly trying to push him away, partly concerned.

"Probably! Do it, come with me. Don't think about it." He speaks fast, trying to get her to understand what's made so much sense to him the whole way over here.

"I can't do that!" She turns and walks into her room.

"You don't think you can do it, but you can. You can do whatever you want!"

"It's not what I want!" She pleads.

"It is, I know you."

"You don't know me!"

He tries to grab her as she turns away, speaking over her so she won't start on a rant.

"Look, we'll go to New York. We'll work, we'll live together, we'll be together. It's what I want, it's what you want too!"

"No!"

"I wanna be with you, but not here. Not this place. Not in Stars Hollow. We have to start new."

"There's nothing to start!"

"But you're packed! Your stuff is all in boxes! It's perfect, you're ready. And I'm ready. I'm ready for this. You can count on me now. I know you couldn't count on me before, but you can now, you can. "

"No!" She moves away again. He's saying the things she's always wanted him to say. Why now? Why so late? Everything he's saying hurts because it's too late. He follows her.

"You know we're supposed to be together. I knew it the first time I saw you two years ago. And you know it too. I know you do."

"No! No, no no, no," she feels cornered and can't breathe.

"Don't say no just to make me stop talking, or make me go away. Only say no if you really don't want to be with me."

Rory looks at him defiantly, but can't say anything. She needs time to think, to process, and he won't let her. He just burst through with his crazy ideas and constant talking. What's happening? She opens her mouth. No is on the tip of her tongue, but she knows it's only there to shut him up, just like he said.

"I-" She starts, but she can't think of what to say. He waits, staring at her intently. She breaks her eyes away from his before... before what? The gaze was just too much.

"Jess, stop. You're not thinking straight. What are you even asking me to do? Run away with you? You know I couldn't do that. I've got school, I've got my mom. My home. This is all crazy, you know that."

"Well then, just for a little. Come with me now, we'll figure out the rest later."

"No, Jess. I can't trust you. You say I can, but I can't. You always show up being all – you, and then I turn around again, and you're gone. That's not fair to me."

"I know it's not fair. I've changed now. Will you listen to me?"

"How? How have you changed? The last I saw of you was your back, again, after you show up out of the blue to tell me-" she suddenly looks down, realizing what she almost said. She ducks away to the door, holding it open for him, to cover her mistake.

"After what, Rory?"

"You know what. Jess," she's about to tell him to leave, but he won't let her.

"I told you I love you."

She can't meet his eyes.

"Rory, I told you I love you. And you just stood there."

"Well what did you expect me to say?"

"The obvious would have been nice, but I guess that was expecting a bit much," he smirks.

"I hadn't seen you in almost a year. You come back saying things like that, without warning. And before I can gather my thoughts, you're gone again! Jess, you always run."

He stops. Instead of retorting, he looks at her. He knows there's truth to what she's saying. What did the book say? He looks down, a little overcome. His mind is racing, and he can barely keep track.

"What would you have said?" he mumbles.

"To what?" She's still irritated, still ready to fight. She hasn't noticed his change to calm yet.

"If I'd waited, what would you have said?"

She stops, unsure. "I-I don't know. Does it even matter right now?"

He raises his head and looks her in the eyes. Yes. It does matter.

"Jess..." Her eyes are confused and sad. He can't put a name on what he sees there, but it definitely scares him. He turns away, breaking their gaze abruptly.

"It was a mistake to come here like this. I'm sorry, Rory." He turns and begins to walk towards the door. Rory, realizing the spell is about to break, panics.

"Wait, Jess!" She grabs his coat sleeve and holds onto his arm, not sure what to say, but terrified he's about to leave with things unsettled again. He pauses, turning defiantly to the arm she's holding prisoner, ready to make a smart remark.

She pulls herself toward him, and without thinking or speaking, presses her lips to his.

At first he's shocked. He was ready to storm out, and suddenly... He lets the warmth of her spread through him. He holds her arms, bringing her closer. And then he finally lets go, digging his hands into her hair. He pushes against her, trying to get closer, and she brings their bodies around, pushing her back against the door to close it. They pull apart with their foreheads together, his hands holding her face gently, breathless. He's afraid to open his eyes to find this is all just a dream.

Jess silently laughs at himself, and then opens his eyes. Rory's are inches away, big blue crystals. She lets out a small laugh too. His breath catches as his mouth turns into a lopsided grin. He slowly begins to drop his hands. "I forgot how easy that part was." She smiles shyly in reply. He swallows loudly, almost afraid to ask. "So does this mean-?"

Rory lifts her head quickly and puts a finger to his lips to stop him. "Shush," she scolds. "You'll ruin it."

Jess' eyes light up at her challenge and he kisses her with abandon. Pulling her closely, their hands moving restlessly around each other, making up for lost time, reacquainting themselves with familiar territory. It just felt right. All thoughts but those of each other in the moment consumed them.

Jess, feeling the weight of his bag on his shoulder, smoothly slinks it to the floor, trying not to disturb the moment. Without thinking, Rory pushes his jacket off as well, enjoying the closer heat that the removed layer brings. He lifts his hands back to her, ducking beneath her shirt to feel the smooth warmth of her stomach and back. She pushes him backwards, through the room. As they stumble, he brings his hands up, bringing her shirt over her head. She tosses it to the ground without a second thought and keeps pushing him, removing his shirt in the process.

His back hits a wall, which he realizes is the door frame of a bedroom. He catches a glimpse of a bed further inside, but continues kissing her. He realizes his hands are at the edge of her belt, and he pauses, afraid to let himself go further. They both stand there for a moment in the doorway, clutching each other, feeling the other's heart beating against their chests like angry drums. He turns his head and carefully kisses her jaw. She breaths and nudges him forward with her body. She whispers in his ear, "Jess, please."

It's all he needs. It's all they both need. They slowly sink down onto the bed, feeling right together, happy if even for the moment. Everything else can wait until later.

Neither could stop smiling as they fought off sleep, tangled with each other. Suddenly they were remembering old times again, laughing at Luke, Lorelai and the characters of Stars Hollow.

"I can't believe she did that!"

"You can't say your mother ever really warmed to me," Jess laughed bitterly.

"Hey, she had her moments. I was bringing her around!"

"That would have taken an army. I was the bad boy tainting the saintly Rory Gilmore, remember? The whole town wasn't really sad to see me go, and you can't deny that." He grinned to himself. Rory's smile slipped a little.

"Not everyone." She had to say it. She didn't want to ruin the moment, but she just had to say it. Jess stopped, realizing his mistake.

"Rory..." he began, but she kissed him quickly on the lips.

"I mean Luke had a really hard time replacing you. Kirk nearly made a run for the position before he came to his senses." She smiled carefully, turning away on her side. Jess looked down at her.

"Did he now? That must have been terrible." He slid down as she nodded, fitting his body to her back, slipping an arm around her and hugging her to him closely.

"Like I said, Luke came to his senses."

She turned back towards him. Their eyes locked, dark and full of things unsaid. He softly brushed the hair away from her face. She nestled closer to him. "You won't run away again, will you?" She knew she sounded too vulnerable, despite her attempt to hide it. He smiled a soft, lopsided smile, and pulled her close. He kissed her deeply, hoping that would answer her question better than anything he could say. They both drifted off to sleep, content in each other's arms.

A car engine woke Rory with a start. Cautiously opening her eyes to the harsh sun, she began to remember the previous night. So much had happened. Too much that it must have been a dream. Slowly stretching, she realized it had definitely happened. He was definitely back, and sleeping beside her safely, her Jess. She smiled widely and turned to kiss him good morning.

The bed was empty beside her.

No, she thought, though alarm bells started blaring in her head. No, no, no. She sat up, looking around. Nothing. Everything was silent. This can't be right! Terrified, she called out his name, just in case she was missing something. In case he was playing a terrible joke. Nothing. She pulled a shirt over her head and looked around the room frantically. His clothes were gone. He must have left a note! She fought panic as she realized that the only things in the room were herself, her few remaining boxes, and what little pride she'd had left from the night before.

Reality seeped through her skin like poison. She had fallen for it again. He was gone. They'd had a wonderful night, and he was gone. Again. How could she let herself go through this? She knew what he was like, she knew he wasn't worth the pain that followed. She felt her breath start to come out like gasping sobs and she bent over, trying to breathe.

She stopped herself. Not again. Not this time. All she had left to do was get home. She would leave and forget this ever happened, and life would go on as normal. She was stronger now.

Silently, she held her breath and dressed. She quickly packed her boxes into her car and left her dorm room behind. It was easy to leave a place she knew she would never see again.

Jess knocked on the door, but found it had been left unlocked. He grinned to himself, trying to balance his things.

"Yale doesn't mess around when they shut down campus." He turned the knob with his finger and pushed against the door with his back. "Do you know how long it took me to find a decent coffee place in town?" He nearly tipped one of the cups before regaining its balance in his hands. He was a few steps into the room when he gathered his surroundings. Jess froze.

All the boxes that filled the room the night before were gone. He didn't need to go any further to know that the bedroom was empty too. He stood alone in a bare white room, clutching his coffee cups. Like a fool.

His face fell to a dark scowl and he nodded to himself. It's not like he deserved any less. He turned and left the room, leaving the door open as he threw the coffee cups into the garbage and he stormed off as fast as his legs could carry him.

Jess got in his car, and he drove.