"I wasn't expecting you to show. With finals and everything," Jess spoke softly, coming to a stop next to her.

"I was sitting in my room looking through notes and I felt guilty, for bailing on you. I couldn't take it any more, so here I am," she explained, looking around at Truncheon books. "This place is amazing, Jess."

"Have you met Matt and Chris?" Rory shook her head. Jess took her hand, his fingers curling around her's. She had arrived when everyone else was already leaving. A few people lingered around. She felt bad that she had missed it. This was a big day for Jess and she pretty much wrote him off. She couldn't stand herself. "It's ok, I know you have a lot going on with finals. This is your last year at Yale. I'm glad you made it, that's what counts. You still made it." She smiled hearing his words. She had made it. Jess still knew her after all this time. Did she still know Jess, the way he knew her?

"Chris, think about it. Opening a bar would be perfect."

"How soon before we close? Because we have no customers, with the bars that are around here. Better yet where do we get money to open and run a bar, when we need all our man power here?"

"You suck the fun out of life. Jess, I can't work with him. Well hello." His annoyance quickly turned into charming.

"Uh, hi," Rory greeted. "Jess you didn't tell me that you were going to open a bar too."

"That's because we're not. No matter what Matt says. Rory this is Matt and Chris."

"The famous Rory Gilmore," Matt smirked, causing her cheeks to blush.

"You'll have to ignore him. Even the doctors don't know what he has. It's nice to be able to actually put a face to your name."

"You didn't tell them lies did you?" She asked turning to look at Jess.

"Never, Gilmore."

"There is no way she can out eat us. Look at her!" Matt exclaimed pointing to Rory, in near hysterics.

"Why thank you for such a wonderful compliment, Matt. Now point me in the nearest place that's still open and we shall see who can out eat who," Rory challenged.

"You are so on, sister."

"My money is on Rory," Jess piped up following them out the door.

"100 bucks says Matt has this in the bag," Chris challenged.

"This is going to be the easiest money I have ever won," Jess smirked. "You are on." They shook hands, walking to an all night all you can get buffet.

Jess and Chris sat back, feeling sick watching them put plate after plate of food away. Matt was starting to slow down, but there was no quit in Rory.

"Come on slugger, you're falling behind. You give up yet?" Rory asked, eating a bite of pie.

"Jess was right, I can't out eat you. How the hell do you do it?" Matt asked tossing his fork on the table.

"Years and years of practice, my friend." Jess rolled his eyes watching her finish the pie that was on her plate.

"Fork it over, Chris," Jess smirked, holding his hand out.

"You best hope you don't get car sick on your way back to New Haven," Chris told her bitterly.

"Crap," Rory muttered. Paris had told her if she wasn't back by 1 don't come home at all. She could always stop in Stars Hollow, but she didn't want to risk waking her brother up, knowing how hard it is to get him to go back to sleep in the middle of the night.

"What's wrong?" Jess asked, seeing she was fighting with herself about something.

"I should really get back, it's a long drive."

"I would hate for something to happen, stay, get some sleep and you can leave in the morning." That actually would work out. Her first class tomorrow, didn't start until 11. "What time is class tomorrow?" He asked walking into the cool air of the night, with Rory beside him.

"11, so it would be nice to be on the road by at least 6, 7 at the latest."

"I'll even send you off with a healthy and nutritious breakfast of wild berry pop tarts and coffee."

"My kind of breakfast," she smiled. It had been some time since she was able to actually spend time with Jess like this. She had missed it. After she graduated, she wasn't sure when she would have the time to do it again, either.

Neither one had found it awkward to share a bed together for the night. Sleep had came easy for the two of them.

Morning came fast and Rory was out the door, saying her byes to Matt and Chris on the way out. Jess had walked her to her car. Rory stood on her tippy toes pressing her lips against his. Jess placed a hand on her hip, his free hand going to her hair. Rory's hands circled around his neck, playing with the hair on the nape of his neck. Jess deepened the kiss. It felt like their first kiss all over again.

It was months later and she was still trying to process what that one little kiss had meant. When they did talk Jess never brought it up, she lost her nerve every time. She wanted more with him, but it frustrated her not knowing what he was thinking. She looked down at the blank piece of paper, where her essay was waiting to be written. She was free to write about any topic she wanted. She was drawing a blank. Jess, Philly and her sweet innocent kiss plagued her mind.

With her last final over with, she breathed a sigh of relief. She had finally wrote about books and how huge of an impact books could be on the human brain. She stood in the apartment spackling. Paris wanted the place to be better than when they had moved in. Which wasn't that hard to do. But Rory bit her tongue and did as told. They still had two more weeks on the lease.

Between the apartment and the hospital in Hartford, Rory's mind was blank. Thoughts just weren't possible. Her grandfather had a heart attack. She didn't even know what to think. Everything around her was a blur. He had to be ok, he just had to be. He couldn't die now. life was short but he still had a lot to live for.

"Grandpa," Rory smiled, rushing to his side. Everything that took place in the waiting room with her Mom, Luke and her Grandma, didn't even register in her mind.

"Are you okay, dad? I mean how are you feeling, considering everything? You look okay." How was her Mom able to stay calm and cool through this whole thing? She couldn't even get her brain to function right.

"Well all in all, I think I'd rather be in Philadelphia." It was like everyone was mocking her with that city. That's where she wanted to be as well.

"Ronald Reagan," Rory answered with a small chuckle, coming back to reality. She needed to be here with her grandpa.

"Quoting W.C. Fields."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"It would be great now." Her Mom was even getting in on the action. She needed to go. "The Liberty Bell and the cream cheese. That's all I got on Philadelphia." Whatever else her Mom had said, she hadn't paid any attention to it.

"Grandpa, it's good to see that you're going to be fine, but I have somewhere I need to be."

"The cheese steaks, Philly has them." Rory rolled her eyes hugging her grandpa making a mad dash out of the hospital room.

The whole way to Philly her heart raced, her mind was freaking out on her. Jess could have a girlfriend, what if the kiss meant something different to him? She had felt like turning around countless times, but with her grandpa's heart attack, it showed her that she didn't have time to waste. Her summer with her Mom on the roller coasters wasn't going anywhere. She couldn't bail this time though. She just needed to know what the future held for her and Jess.

"I think I can take you this time," Matt smirked seeing Rory enter the bookstore.

"I've been living off of vending machine food all day. I would eat you under the table. Where's Jess?" She asked, looking around.

"Upstairs," Chris responded. Rory gave him a smile and headed up. The door was ajar so she pushed it open. She wasn't expecting to see Jess roaming around in his boxers.

"Now that's a sight to make any woman stay." Jess looked up from what he had been reading, a smirk firmly in place.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, losing the papers.

"What are we? Can there still be something between us? Can we possibly work if we try again?" Rory asked, slowly stepping closer to him, making the huge gap shrink.

"It's going to be hard, Rory. I still want you to do everything you want to do. I don't want you to give anything up for me. If you can do that, we can try. It'll be hard, but I've waited this long, I can wait longer." She considered his words. She could wait longer, she just didn't want to. It would be hard, extremely hard, but it was a challenge she was ready to dive into head first. Her lips melted against his.

"We can make it work," she whispered pressing her lips against his lips. The future was their's. Problems would arise, but together they could over come them. He wouldn't let her settle, he'd be there by her side. She had faith they could make it through anything.

Thank you to everyone that has read, alerted, add it to their favorites and left a review. Sadly this is the end.