Summary: Rory and Jess are stuck in the storage room of the diner for 6 hours, just after their fight in Doose's in 3x02. Cue bitter banter, frustration and, eventually, reconciliation.

A/N: This is just an idea I've had floating around in my head for a while, and it's been a lot of fun to write, so I hope you like it. If you're a reader of my other fic (There's The Rub) then I just want to say sorry quickly for the huge hiatus, I've been swamped with GCSEs lately, and I'll try my best to update over the summer.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except maybe a malfunctioning door.

In retrospect, Rory blamed technology. And doors. If doors carried out their primary function one hundred percent of the time, she would never have got into her current situation.

After finishing the ridiculous amount of food that it had become routine to consume in the Gilmore household, her mother eventually dragged herself upstairs in order to sleep after various complaints of having eaten too much to ever move again, and Rory was about to go to bed herself, when she realised her pager was missing. This meant she couldn't reply to Dean's daily 'goodnight' page which, in light of the recent turbulent patch that their relationship had hit, was likely to cause, if not a fight, then at least some friction between them.

Whilst trying hard not to wonder how their relationship had gotten to the point where a missing page could upset its balance (mainly because she already knew what, or rather who, had caused that), she searched fruitlessly for the offending item. After a while searching, having found various pieces of change, an old pen and an alarming amount of discarded/forgotten snacks all in various stages of decay, but still no pager, Rory realised where she must have left it, and with that realisation came a sense of dread.

She'd had her pager in her coat pocket, which she must have left in the diner, meaning she had two options: leave it there and risk upsetting her boyfriend, or fetch it and risk bumping into the person she'd just had a yelling match with in Doose's Market. Stupid technology, no one ever left a carrier pigeon in their coat pocket...

She checked the time – 10.45pm, the diner would be closed, meaning Jess was probably either upstairs, or – and she felt slightly sick at the option – downstairs with Shane. After a while weighing up the options and making a quick mental pro/con list, she decided to risk it, partly because she still felt guilty towards Dean after the events of Sookie's wedding. She snuck out quietly, half nervous about who she might run into, half defiant after the earlier events of the evening.

Hour 1

Grabbing the spare key from above the door, she opened the door as quietly as she could, relieved to find the darkened room empty. She darted to the booth that she and her mother had occupied earlier, about to grab her coat when there was a crash from the storage room. Her eyes went straight to the staircase, hoping it hadn't woken Luke or Jess, before advancing slowly towards the back of the store, arming herself against whoever had made the noise with the nearest object off the counter, a ladle.

She tentatively opened the door, continuing her slow steps forward, and let out a small scream as Jess suddenly emerged out of the shadows, yelling, "Don't close the -" the door slammed shut, "- door."

Rory turned back around, confused, trying the handle to no avail; the door was jammed shut.

"What's going on?" She asked, afraid she already knew the answer.

"The door won't open from this side, I've been stuck here for the last half hour." Jess replied, annoyed, retreating to the desk he'd been sitting at when she'd come in, pulling out a book to read by the light of the lamp set up there.

"What about Luke?"

"He's staying in Hartford for the night to pick up a shipment."

"And you haven't tried shouting for help?"

Jess rolled his eyes, "Of course I have, but God forbid anyone in Pleasantville be out of bed after 10." He paused, noticing the ladle in her hand, "What were you going to do, stir me to death?"

Rory narrowed her eyes, "Watch it, I still haven't ruled out using this..."

"You dent that, you'll have one very angry Luke on your hands."

"It'd be worth it."

"Whatever." Jess replied, rolling his eyes.

Rory gave up talking to him, taking a seat by the door. This was going to be a long night.

Hour 2

"Someone let us out! We're trapped in here!" Rory shouted, banging on the door.

Jess put his book down in frustration, unable to concentrate, "Will you be quiet? No one's coming, save your breath."

Rory responded by increasing her efforts.

"On second thought, keep yelling, I'm sure Dean could pick up on the scream of his beloved from miles away and come running."

Rory glared at him, "Why don't you just use your power of attracting brainless blondes to summon all the Shanes of Stars Hollow to come to our rescue?"

"So, you just assume that she's brainless; bitter much?"

"Excuse me for assuming that it doesn't take a girl of the highest intellectual calibre to plaster her face to yours." She sneered back.

"You didn't seem to mind at Sookie's Wedding..." He muttered, annoyed.

Rory responded by turning her back on him, silently counting how many different ways she'd like to kill the smug hoodlum behind her.

"Oh, so you're ignoring me now?"

"If I'm going to get through this night without being arrested for murder by way of ladle, I think ignoring you is the best option." Rory replied, over her shoulder.

Jess just rolled his eyes and returned to his book.

Hour 3

Rory let out a sigh as she tried to make herself comfortable on the cold floor. She blamed her mother, she'd spoilt her by giving her the softest mattress and pillows that could be found in their small town, it had left her completely unprepared for sleeping on the floor of a storage room.

It also didn't help that that smug, arrogant, extremely attractive ass was on the other side of the room, turning the pages of his book obnoxiously loudly, in Rory's opinion. Why was it that the only time that she didn't bring a book with her somewhere was the one time when she needed one the most? Of course Jess had a book, damn hoodlum...

After a while more of useless efforts to sleep, Rory gave up, sitting up. She glanced over at Jess, still ensconced in 'Player Piano' by Kurt Vonnegut. She stood up slowly, and took a few tentative steps forwards. As she expected, he remained stubbornly focussed on his book, ignoring her. She walked forward more quickly, taking a seat behind him on the counter, reading over his shoulder.

Jess, who'd been following her movements out of the corner of his eye, tried to concentrate on his book, though it was becoming increasingly difficult with her soft breath on the back of his neck.

"Turn." She commanded.

"What?" Jess said, not looking up.

"Turn the page."

"I'm not done yet."

"Then read faster."

At this point, Jess gave up and turned to face her, "It's a bit hard with you breathing down my neck. Get your own book."

"I don't have a book; I didn't exactly plan for this situation."

"Well then, now you know to be more prepared for the next time you're trapped in a food storage utility."

Rory sighed in frustration, slipping off the counter and going back towards her spot on the floor.

Hour 4

After drifting in and out of sleep for about half an hour, the room had gotten decidedly colder, so Rory was now having an even harder time trying to drift into unconsciousness. She really wished she'd grabbed her coat before investigating the crash, mainly because then she could have used her pager to get help, but also because then she wouldn't be as freezing.

Her body began to shiver against the icy floor, as she tried to empty her mind of all thoughts of how cold it was. Her eyes snapped open when she heard a muted thud as an object collided with the floor next to her. Lying a couple of feet in front of her was the Jess' jacket; she glanced over at him to see him still reading, sans jacket, as if nothing had just happened.

Defiant, instead of grabbing the warm piece of clothing, she turned onto her other side, facing away from the offending object.

"Are you really that stubborn?"

Rory glared into the darkness, not giving any response.

"So you'd rather freeze to death?"

"It probably reeks of cheap perfume, anyway." Rory snapped back, relenting.

Jess just rolled his eyes and carried on reading. After a few minutes he heard a rustle from the other side of the room and glanced at Rory, who was pulling on the garment, reluctantly. Jess smirked down at his book.

After another few minutes of silence, Rory's voice broke through the darkness.

"Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Hour 5

A vague peace had been struck after "the jacket incident", as Rory referred to it in her head. She'd given up on sleep and he'd given up trying to concentrate on his book, which he always found hard with her around and, before they'd fully realised it, they'd dissolved into their usual easy conversation, ignoring the topics that were prone to start arguments.

"So, we can be expecting the apocalypse any day now." Jess replied, in response to Rory's story about Paris and Jamie.

"Don't be mean, she'd not that bad." Rory defended, through laughter.

"She accused Luke of keeping a brothel in his apartment."

"Well, you know Luke, he just oozes immorality..."

"That is true..." Jess chuckled, "So who is the lucky guy?"

"He's called Jamie, he's really nice; if there's anyone able to deal with the entity that is Paris, it'd probably be him."

"Poor, poor Jamie." Jess replied, shaking his head in commiseration with the guy.

Rory gave him a light smack on the shoulder, before asking, "So, how was your summer? Discounting all hilarious snow cone anecdotes."

"Pretty mundane. I worked, Luke yelled at me, I read, Luke yelled at me, I broke the snow cone machine, Taylor yelled at everyone."

"It was you?"

"I was bored, Taylor was annoying."

"And you couldn't do it when I was around to see?" Rory asked, laughing as she imagined Taylor's horror, "You're going to end up in prison one of these days, you do know that."

"Oh yeah, breaking a snow cone machine, that's enough to get me on the 'Ten Most Wanted' list." He replied, sarcastically.

"You may joke, but Taylor has connections in the police force..."

"In that case, I'm terrified."

"As you should be." She paused for a minute, "I missed you this summer."

There was a pause as Rory blushed, wishing she had more control over the words that came out of her mouth when he was around.

"Yeah, I missed you, too."

Hour 6

After some begging, and a small debate over reading paces, Jess had let Rory sit next to him and share his book. After about a half hour of this, Rory had fallen asleep against his shoulder, at which Jess had smirked, and continued to read, sneaking occasion glances at her sleeping face.

After finishing his book, Jess lent back against the counter, listening to her steady, soft breathing, and half hoping that Luke wouldn't be back from Hartford for quite a while.

Without warning, Rory jolted awake, causing Jess to turn to face her, not realising their faces' proximity to each other. Rory, still feeling a bit vague from having just woken up, tried to remember why there was suddenly about an inch between her face and Jess'. Almost without realising it, she leant in, all thoughts of Dean replaced with those of the eyes in front of her, darkening with anticipation.

When their lips finally connected, she was surprised by the passion with which he returned her kiss, and was just as surprised by her own want, the result of a summer of separation. As the kiss deepened, her arms wound their way around his neck, as he grabbed her waist, pulling her as close as possible. Dean and Shane didn't enter into either of their minds; at that moment, they belonged to each other.

They sprung apart in shock as the door burst open, revealing a bewildered looking Luke.

After briefly explaining to Luke what had happened, all three of them ignoring the event he'd just walked in on, Jess followed Rory outside of the diner, into the light of the early morning.

Jess broke the silence, eventually, "You gonna run away again?"

Rory shook her head, a slight smile playing on her lips, "I think I'm done running."

"Glad to hear it." Jess replied, trying hard not to let on as to how much that statement meant to him.

"Glad to tell you." Rory responded, smirking as she echoed their former argument in the market, before adding reluctantly, "I better be going, it's –" she checked her watch, "5:15, and I think I may need some sleep before what's going to be a difficult conversation with Dean." She allowed some of her guilt to slip into the last part of the sentence, as she remembered the boy she'd just realised she'd been stringing along for too long now.

Jess nodded, before pulling her in for one last kiss, gentler than the one before. When the need for air pulled them apart Jess looked at her for a minute before asking, "No running?"

"No running." Rory affirmed with a grin, before turning to leave, calling, "See you later!" over her shoulder.

Luke watched the exchange with a small amount of satisfaction. After travelling to Hartfodrd, he'd been informed that his delivery had been cancelled, and drove back, grumpily, arriving back at the diner at around 11.15pm. He'd heard the two arguing and, instead of opening the door straight away, he'd decided to let them argue it out in the hopes that they'd figure it out so that his nephew would stop sulking around his diner and actually do some work.

Although his plan had worked, he failed to take into account the result. Over the next few weeks, Luke watched in frustration as, rather than working, Jess was either out meeting Rory, locked in conversation with her at the counter, or upstairs with her, not only not doing his job, but causing Luke to go up and interrupt them every 10 minutes in case they ended up doing something that would cause Lorelai to yell at him.

It was a hard life for the diner owner.

A/N: Okay, that's it, I've got to go and do a Maths GCSE, hope you enjoyed it, please review!