(same disclaimer applies)
~~~~~~~~
When Rory woke up for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, she found Jess in a chair at her side, thumbing through a hardback.
"Cold!" She dragged several blankets back up from their position at her feet.
"Yeah, that's because you kept kicking the covers off, then you'd shiver and I'd put them back on, then you'd kick them off again five minutes later. It was a vicious cycle."
She looked closer at the book in his hands, identifying it as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. "You can borrow that," she offered.
"No thanks," said Jess without looking up. "Not much of a Twain man."
Rory wracked her brains for a suitable follow-up, preferably one of Twain's own lines, but none seemed to apply. So she settled for saying, "Boo."
Jess glanced up from the book and cocked an eyebrow. "Color me chastised." He laid Twain down and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Feeling better, princess?"
Rory glared feebly at him. "If you chase that with a reference to my porcelain kingdom, I will maim you with pointy objects."
"Much more effective come-back.'"
Sitting up, Rory yawned. She did feel better, actually. The radio was playing softly in the background, tuned to a classic rock station. As she stretched, an Allman Brothers tune segued into Zeppelin's "Black Dog."
"You want something to eat?"
Now that he mentioned it, she was starving. "Yes, please." She had started to summon the willpower to move from her warm nest when Jess unexpectedly leaned down and pressed his lips to her brow, letting them linger. Rory's hand went automatically to his shoulder and she moved her head up to offer a more suitable target, but he stood up and pulled out of her grasp.
"Yup, fever's gone down," he said, winking at her.
She stared at him, face fallen like a child denied her favorite candy, and said thickly, "You're a *tease*."
"Thank you for that analysis, Pot." Rory had the grace to blush at that. "C'mon, I'll set you up on the couch and put the soup on."
~~~~~~~~
Rory could count on one hand the number of times she'd stayed home sick in the past four years. Therefore, she had rarely been in a position to ascertain the entertainment value of daytime television. After only ten minutes in front of the TV, she felt that she could safely define it as "sucky."
Wrapping Lorelai's favorite quilt around her shoulders, she got up and went into the kitchen, where Jess was keeping an eye on the soup and making tea. The whole place smelled wonderful, and Rory found herself captivated by the sight of Jess's lean form next to *her* stove, in *her* kitchen. She knew now what her mother had meant by "There's a boy in my room," that night Max had stayed over. It was a weirdness that was not at all unpleasant, just . . . weird. She told herself that she was being ridiculous; Dean, after all, had been in her kitchen many times, and had even prepared food for her. But Jess had a sort of authority about him and the kitchen, like he lived there too. Maybe it was because of the diner.
*Okay*, she admonished herself sternly, *too much thinking for a brain that's slept for twenty of the past twenty-six hours.*
Jess cast a glance over his shoulder and said, "Hi. Bored already?"
"Yeah." *Stop thinking, Rory. Don't think about the messiness. Don't think about mapping alternate routes around town so Dean will never have to see you with him. Don't think about what Mom will say when you actually go out on a date with this boy -- or God forbid, if she finds out about today. Don't think about anything at all.*
So she didn't think. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her cheek on his shoulder. *Oh, perfect. This not-thinking thing is working.*
Jess was surprised by the sudden display of affection, but he didn't pause his stirring. He freed one hand to grip both of the small hands clasped at his midsection.
"You couldn't just put it in the microwave," Rory remarked.
"Of course not. It heats more evenly this way." She snuggled closer and Jess sucked in a breath. And Lorelai called *him* dangerous. She ought to be her daughter's victim sometime . . . and that lead into a mental place that he was determined to avoid, so he focused on the soup again. "Okay, let go so I can feed you."
Rory reluctantly turned him loose and sat down at the table. A bowl of beautiful soup was placed before her -- the real stuff, chock-full of fat egg noodles, chunks of chicken, and bits of carrots -- with saltines on the side. When Jess added a fragrant, steaming mug of tea, Rory actually grabbed his face and kissed him. He touched his lips as she dug into her food.
"Wow," said Jess, sounding somewhat rattled. "If I'd known about *that*, I would've warmed up soup for you months ago."
Rory grinned around a mouthful of noodles. "I missed you, you know," she said after she'd swallowed. She had decided to attack the issue at hand by going back as far as she could. "Over the summer and . . . and recently. I know I didn't write, or call, or give any other indication that I still remembered your name, but . . . that kiss at Sookie's wedding really confused me."
"Confused *you*?" Jess was leaning back in his chair, his own meal untouched.
"I'm sorry," she said in a rush. "I'm sorry -- not because I kissed you, because I wanted to and I still want to and it felt right but it shouldn't have happened right then because I was still with Dean and it was unfair to him and I never -- "
"Whoa, whoa!" Jess held up a hand, looking alarmed. "Calm down. It's okay."
Rory stared at him. "It . . . is?"
Tilting the chair back on two legs, he considered this before answering, "Yeah. I think I'm ready to forgive. And I know I didn't exactly make it any easier for you."
She smiled. "No. No, you really didn't."
They were silent for a few minutes as they covered their slight embarrassment by tearing into the food.
Then Rory said abruptly, "Were you sleeping with Shane?"
Jess froze, his eyes locked on hers. Very slowly, the saltine he was holding dropped back to the table.
*Oh shit. I decide not to think and look what pops out of my mouth. Smart, Rory.*
She dropped her gaze quickly and said quietly, "I don't know why I said that, it was incredibly rude. Please ignore me."
"But I want to answer it."
Rory's eyes rocketed back to his. "What?" she said, shocked.
"One," Jess replied softly, "and feel free to file this knowledge away for further perusing -- I am not a virgin."
Her cheeks went a lovely shade of pink. "I didn't -- "
"Two," he continued calmly, never breaking eye contact, "I didn't sleep with Shane. Ever."
Letting go of the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, Rory said meekly, "Oh." After a pause, she followed with, "Aren't you going to ask -- "
"Don't need to ask you," Jess interjected. "I can tell."
"You can*not* tell!" Rory said hotly. "How could you *possibly* tell?" She glanced at her reflection in the glass door of the stove. *Could* he tell?
When she looked back at Jess again, he was smirking. "Even if I hadn't known -- and I did -- that would've been a dead giveaway." She threw a cracker at him and hit him square on the jaw. He took it like a man, and didn't even throw anything back. Rory was laughing a little nervously, just a tad hysterically. Because of the circumstances of her birth, the topic of sex was extremely touchy. Dean had known that, and they'd agreed to wait until they were both ready.
Although she and Jess said no more on the subject as they laughed and joked and talked Faulkner, she knew he wouldn't push her either -- but she began to wonder if maybe she'd be ready a lot sooner than she had once thought.
~~~~~~~~
While Rory was contemplating sins of the flesh with a boy condemned by her entire town, her mother was trying to find time to call home and check in.
Finally Lorelai succumbed to the inevitable and asked Michel to make the call, promising that she'd be on the phone in two seconds -- just as soon as she finished discussing the bill for the new tablecloths with the Inn's supplier. Michel had known his boss long enough to have a very strong opinion on that likelihood, and it was not positive. The linen man, after all, was cute.
Jess and Rory had camped out on the sofa, he sitting and she curled up with her feet in his lap. They'd agreed upon an "All in the Family" on TVLand, but Rory had fallen back to sleep halfway through the episode and Jess had switched to "Jerry Springer."
The phone rang and Jess, accustomed to answering it automatically, reached for the receiver. Luckily it woke Rory up and her hand shot out to stop him. Jumping guiltily into a sitting position, she sat and looked at him for a few minutes, letting the ringing continue. Jess fiddled with the remote while she tried to decide whether or not to answer.
Michel had just decided to hang up when Rory caved in and said "Hello?" in a breathless voice. Jess muted the TV for her and stood up, glancing around the room to see if there was anything entertaining in sight.
"Your muzzah was very eensistant that I coll," Michel told her, sounding like Lorelai had asked him to run a 5K marathon.
Rory perked up immediately. Oh, if only she didn't have to talk to her mother! "Where is she?"
"'Ow should I know? Ze last time I saw hur, she was heeting on a bristly man in flan-el. She jost wanted me to coll and check on you. You are steel uhlive, yees?"
"Um," said Rory, "yeah. Actually I'm feeling a lot better."
"Good, parhaps now Lorelai will seve my flogging for anuzzah dey," he said, voice dripping sarcasm. Rory grinned. She was much too used to Michel's temperament to be offended by his apparent lack of concern.
Jess, meanwhile, had dug into the coat closet and dug out a green feather boa, the knit golfing hat from Richard, and a pink wool peacoat that Lorelai had bought at a flea market two years ago. Donning all three of the items, he strutted across the room, clacking imaginary high heels and puffing on an French cigarette (in actuality, part of a broken clothes hanger). She threw a pillow at him, causing him to look exceedingly offended and begin gesticulating wildly at her with the 'cigarette.'
Covering the mouthpiece with one hand, she hissed, "Save it, Coco! I could get into real trouble here!"
Abandoning his toys, Jess came to sit beside her. Waggling his eyebrows up and down, he started to stroke her knee like it was a fine angora sweater. Rory smacked him and tried to hold in the bubbling laughter.
"Rhory? Are you steel there?"
"Yes, Michel," she gasped, "I'm still here."
"Probably," Michel continued, "she will wont to coll you ageen latur. Her roy-el self, zees time, one 'opes."
Rory sat up straight. "No!" Lowering her voice, she amended, "Um, I mean, I'll probably be going back to sleep soon, for the rest of the day, you know -- tired, I'm really tired. The whole lying around watching TV has gotten to me."
She could almost see his eyes roll as he responded, "What-evair."
"Tell her I'll be asleep! Tell her there's no need to call again!" Concealing the truth from Michel was one thing; lying to Lorelai directly, with Jess there, was quite another.
"All right, dun't shout at me!"
"Sorry. Goodbye, Michel. Thanks for calling."
"Goodbye, Rhory," said Michel with grudging affection.
She put the phone down with a great sigh of relief. Jess was leaning against the back of the couch, very close, his head resting on one hand. "You," he accused her, "are turning into a regular badass."
Rory pouted. "I am not."
"Don't be upset. It's cute." With that, he kissed her. Slow and deep and burning, it was much better than all the short frustrated exchanges of the day. When they came up for air, Rory fanned herself with the discarded hat.
"Woooo. There goes that damned fever again."
"Now that is something a guy likes to hear."
~~~~~~~~
Once again, thanks so much for all the great reviews! I'm having such fun writing this fic, thanks in part to you guys :)
Oh, and I know the end of this chapter is a little abrupt. But there's more coming up!
Sidenote: my God, last night's episode was FANTASTIC! Alexis and Milo had amazing chemistry together ::dies from the cuteness::
So I guess this is technically a slight AU now . . .
~~~~~~~~
When Rory woke up for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, she found Jess in a chair at her side, thumbing through a hardback.
"Cold!" She dragged several blankets back up from their position at her feet.
"Yeah, that's because you kept kicking the covers off, then you'd shiver and I'd put them back on, then you'd kick them off again five minutes later. It was a vicious cycle."
She looked closer at the book in his hands, identifying it as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. "You can borrow that," she offered.
"No thanks," said Jess without looking up. "Not much of a Twain man."
Rory wracked her brains for a suitable follow-up, preferably one of Twain's own lines, but none seemed to apply. So she settled for saying, "Boo."
Jess glanced up from the book and cocked an eyebrow. "Color me chastised." He laid Twain down and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Feeling better, princess?"
Rory glared feebly at him. "If you chase that with a reference to my porcelain kingdom, I will maim you with pointy objects."
"Much more effective come-back.'"
Sitting up, Rory yawned. She did feel better, actually. The radio was playing softly in the background, tuned to a classic rock station. As she stretched, an Allman Brothers tune segued into Zeppelin's "Black Dog."
"You want something to eat?"
Now that he mentioned it, she was starving. "Yes, please." She had started to summon the willpower to move from her warm nest when Jess unexpectedly leaned down and pressed his lips to her brow, letting them linger. Rory's hand went automatically to his shoulder and she moved her head up to offer a more suitable target, but he stood up and pulled out of her grasp.
"Yup, fever's gone down," he said, winking at her.
She stared at him, face fallen like a child denied her favorite candy, and said thickly, "You're a *tease*."
"Thank you for that analysis, Pot." Rory had the grace to blush at that. "C'mon, I'll set you up on the couch and put the soup on."
~~~~~~~~
Rory could count on one hand the number of times she'd stayed home sick in the past four years. Therefore, she had rarely been in a position to ascertain the entertainment value of daytime television. After only ten minutes in front of the TV, she felt that she could safely define it as "sucky."
Wrapping Lorelai's favorite quilt around her shoulders, she got up and went into the kitchen, where Jess was keeping an eye on the soup and making tea. The whole place smelled wonderful, and Rory found herself captivated by the sight of Jess's lean form next to *her* stove, in *her* kitchen. She knew now what her mother had meant by "There's a boy in my room," that night Max had stayed over. It was a weirdness that was not at all unpleasant, just . . . weird. She told herself that she was being ridiculous; Dean, after all, had been in her kitchen many times, and had even prepared food for her. But Jess had a sort of authority about him and the kitchen, like he lived there too. Maybe it was because of the diner.
*Okay*, she admonished herself sternly, *too much thinking for a brain that's slept for twenty of the past twenty-six hours.*
Jess cast a glance over his shoulder and said, "Hi. Bored already?"
"Yeah." *Stop thinking, Rory. Don't think about the messiness. Don't think about mapping alternate routes around town so Dean will never have to see you with him. Don't think about what Mom will say when you actually go out on a date with this boy -- or God forbid, if she finds out about today. Don't think about anything at all.*
So she didn't think. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her cheek on his shoulder. *Oh, perfect. This not-thinking thing is working.*
Jess was surprised by the sudden display of affection, but he didn't pause his stirring. He freed one hand to grip both of the small hands clasped at his midsection.
"You couldn't just put it in the microwave," Rory remarked.
"Of course not. It heats more evenly this way." She snuggled closer and Jess sucked in a breath. And Lorelai called *him* dangerous. She ought to be her daughter's victim sometime . . . and that lead into a mental place that he was determined to avoid, so he focused on the soup again. "Okay, let go so I can feed you."
Rory reluctantly turned him loose and sat down at the table. A bowl of beautiful soup was placed before her -- the real stuff, chock-full of fat egg noodles, chunks of chicken, and bits of carrots -- with saltines on the side. When Jess added a fragrant, steaming mug of tea, Rory actually grabbed his face and kissed him. He touched his lips as she dug into her food.
"Wow," said Jess, sounding somewhat rattled. "If I'd known about *that*, I would've warmed up soup for you months ago."
Rory grinned around a mouthful of noodles. "I missed you, you know," she said after she'd swallowed. She had decided to attack the issue at hand by going back as far as she could. "Over the summer and . . . and recently. I know I didn't write, or call, or give any other indication that I still remembered your name, but . . . that kiss at Sookie's wedding really confused me."
"Confused *you*?" Jess was leaning back in his chair, his own meal untouched.
"I'm sorry," she said in a rush. "I'm sorry -- not because I kissed you, because I wanted to and I still want to and it felt right but it shouldn't have happened right then because I was still with Dean and it was unfair to him and I never -- "
"Whoa, whoa!" Jess held up a hand, looking alarmed. "Calm down. It's okay."
Rory stared at him. "It . . . is?"
Tilting the chair back on two legs, he considered this before answering, "Yeah. I think I'm ready to forgive. And I know I didn't exactly make it any easier for you."
She smiled. "No. No, you really didn't."
They were silent for a few minutes as they covered their slight embarrassment by tearing into the food.
Then Rory said abruptly, "Were you sleeping with Shane?"
Jess froze, his eyes locked on hers. Very slowly, the saltine he was holding dropped back to the table.
*Oh shit. I decide not to think and look what pops out of my mouth. Smart, Rory.*
She dropped her gaze quickly and said quietly, "I don't know why I said that, it was incredibly rude. Please ignore me."
"But I want to answer it."
Rory's eyes rocketed back to his. "What?" she said, shocked.
"One," Jess replied softly, "and feel free to file this knowledge away for further perusing -- I am not a virgin."
Her cheeks went a lovely shade of pink. "I didn't -- "
"Two," he continued calmly, never breaking eye contact, "I didn't sleep with Shane. Ever."
Letting go of the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, Rory said meekly, "Oh." After a pause, she followed with, "Aren't you going to ask -- "
"Don't need to ask you," Jess interjected. "I can tell."
"You can*not* tell!" Rory said hotly. "How could you *possibly* tell?" She glanced at her reflection in the glass door of the stove. *Could* he tell?
When she looked back at Jess again, he was smirking. "Even if I hadn't known -- and I did -- that would've been a dead giveaway." She threw a cracker at him and hit him square on the jaw. He took it like a man, and didn't even throw anything back. Rory was laughing a little nervously, just a tad hysterically. Because of the circumstances of her birth, the topic of sex was extremely touchy. Dean had known that, and they'd agreed to wait until they were both ready.
Although she and Jess said no more on the subject as they laughed and joked and talked Faulkner, she knew he wouldn't push her either -- but she began to wonder if maybe she'd be ready a lot sooner than she had once thought.
~~~~~~~~
While Rory was contemplating sins of the flesh with a boy condemned by her entire town, her mother was trying to find time to call home and check in.
Finally Lorelai succumbed to the inevitable and asked Michel to make the call, promising that she'd be on the phone in two seconds -- just as soon as she finished discussing the bill for the new tablecloths with the Inn's supplier. Michel had known his boss long enough to have a very strong opinion on that likelihood, and it was not positive. The linen man, after all, was cute.
Jess and Rory had camped out on the sofa, he sitting and she curled up with her feet in his lap. They'd agreed upon an "All in the Family" on TVLand, but Rory had fallen back to sleep halfway through the episode and Jess had switched to "Jerry Springer."
The phone rang and Jess, accustomed to answering it automatically, reached for the receiver. Luckily it woke Rory up and her hand shot out to stop him. Jumping guiltily into a sitting position, she sat and looked at him for a few minutes, letting the ringing continue. Jess fiddled with the remote while she tried to decide whether or not to answer.
Michel had just decided to hang up when Rory caved in and said "Hello?" in a breathless voice. Jess muted the TV for her and stood up, glancing around the room to see if there was anything entertaining in sight.
"Your muzzah was very eensistant that I coll," Michel told her, sounding like Lorelai had asked him to run a 5K marathon.
Rory perked up immediately. Oh, if only she didn't have to talk to her mother! "Where is she?"
"'Ow should I know? Ze last time I saw hur, she was heeting on a bristly man in flan-el. She jost wanted me to coll and check on you. You are steel uhlive, yees?"
"Um," said Rory, "yeah. Actually I'm feeling a lot better."
"Good, parhaps now Lorelai will seve my flogging for anuzzah dey," he said, voice dripping sarcasm. Rory grinned. She was much too used to Michel's temperament to be offended by his apparent lack of concern.
Jess, meanwhile, had dug into the coat closet and dug out a green feather boa, the knit golfing hat from Richard, and a pink wool peacoat that Lorelai had bought at a flea market two years ago. Donning all three of the items, he strutted across the room, clacking imaginary high heels and puffing on an French cigarette (in actuality, part of a broken clothes hanger). She threw a pillow at him, causing him to look exceedingly offended and begin gesticulating wildly at her with the 'cigarette.'
Covering the mouthpiece with one hand, she hissed, "Save it, Coco! I could get into real trouble here!"
Abandoning his toys, Jess came to sit beside her. Waggling his eyebrows up and down, he started to stroke her knee like it was a fine angora sweater. Rory smacked him and tried to hold in the bubbling laughter.
"Rhory? Are you steel there?"
"Yes, Michel," she gasped, "I'm still here."
"Probably," Michel continued, "she will wont to coll you ageen latur. Her roy-el self, zees time, one 'opes."
Rory sat up straight. "No!" Lowering her voice, she amended, "Um, I mean, I'll probably be going back to sleep soon, for the rest of the day, you know -- tired, I'm really tired. The whole lying around watching TV has gotten to me."
She could almost see his eyes roll as he responded, "What-evair."
"Tell her I'll be asleep! Tell her there's no need to call again!" Concealing the truth from Michel was one thing; lying to Lorelai directly, with Jess there, was quite another.
"All right, dun't shout at me!"
"Sorry. Goodbye, Michel. Thanks for calling."
"Goodbye, Rhory," said Michel with grudging affection.
She put the phone down with a great sigh of relief. Jess was leaning against the back of the couch, very close, his head resting on one hand. "You," he accused her, "are turning into a regular badass."
Rory pouted. "I am not."
"Don't be upset. It's cute." With that, he kissed her. Slow and deep and burning, it was much better than all the short frustrated exchanges of the day. When they came up for air, Rory fanned herself with the discarded hat.
"Woooo. There goes that damned fever again."
"Now that is something a guy likes to hear."
~~~~~~~~
Once again, thanks so much for all the great reviews! I'm having such fun writing this fic, thanks in part to you guys :)
Oh, and I know the end of this chapter is a little abrupt. But there's more coming up!
Sidenote: my God, last night's episode was FANTASTIC! Alexis and Milo had amazing chemistry together ::dies from the cuteness::
So I guess this is technically a slight AU now . . .