"Come with me!"

"I can't!" Rory cried in frustration.

"Yes, you can!"

"No," she bellowed, "I can't. I have Yale a life and-"

"We belong together Rory, it took me a while to figure that out, but I love you and I know you love me-"

"No I don't," Rory said, feeling herself get red in the face with all the fighting.

"Don't say that unless you really mean it!"

For a moment it looked as though Rory might say no, but she gave him a helpless, caught look and lowered her eyes, unable to stare at him any longer.

"Come with me," he repeated softer. "Let's just go somewhere, anywhere for the summer, just get out of here for now. We don't need to tell anyone where we'll be going or anything. Just let's go. You and me."

"I-"

"Don't say you can't Rory Gilmore because you can, I know you want to, I see it. Just come with me for a week, two weeks tops. Let's just get away from Yale and Dean and you mother and Stars Hollow."

"Jess, I don't know…" Rory said, defeat gliding into her voice. Jess tried not to smile as he realized he had already convinced her to come with him, just be not giving up.

"I'll get you back in time for your mother's opening," he promised, taking her hand. Rory looked up at him for maybe the first time since he got here and shook her head.

"I can't Jess. I want you to go."

"Rory-"

"I said get out Jess! Just leave me alone!" she cried, rushing into her bedroom and slamming the door. She leaned against it and let herself cry because she had almost caved. She had almost slipped right back where she had been a year before. It wasn't hard to see, she still loved him. She would always love him. It was Jess.

Sure, she had loved Dean but she never thought of sleeping with him, she never want that with him. She couldn't stop thinking about it with Jess, however. It consumed her thoughts sometimes. What would he look like without a shirt on? What would his skin feel like against her own? These thoughts, though embarrassing to think about during the day, haunted her, in class, on the bus, when she was at Friday night dinners, during the quiet of the Gilmore home. But most of all, they came out when she was near him. It would take all of her self control not to rip off her clothes and just do it already, to see what it would be like.

No, Jess was no Dean, but maybe that was why she loved him so much. He wasn't the best boyfriend in the world, and had made a considerable amount of mistakes, but she loved him. She imagined a life with him, a library full of books, dark haired, blued eyed children that got her wit and his smarts. That was what she wanted.

She wanted Jess and she was about to lose him.

The door to her dorm shut quietly as Jess left, feeling as though his entire body weighed more than it actually did. For one wild moment he was sure he had gotten to her, he was sure she was going to give up her life here and go away with him. For one wild moment he was sure everything would be perfect. Maybe he was foolish for thinking such things. He slowly trudged back to his car, leaning against it for a moment.

Rory looked around her room. "What am I doing?" she asked her aloud, her voice echoing. "What am I DOING?" She took a deep breath and then something inside of her snapped. "I need to get him!" She grabbed her duffle bag, stuffed with clothes that had been packed for easy access and ran out her room, scribbling a barely readable note for Paris and ran out of the apartment.

"Jess!" she cried. Looking around wildly, feeling her heart begin to beat out of control. "Jess!"

Jess hit his head against the back of his seat and reached into his pocket for the car keys. With one last pause he placed the key into the ignition. Just as he was about to turn it, he heard a tapping on the passenger side window. He turned wildly and there she was, standing there looking awkward and flushed.

Rory had seen his car under the streetlamp and ran there with all her speed, thinking of all the horrible things that could happen at that moment. That he could drive away and she would never see him again. As she approached his car she felt a whoosh of excitement as she realized what she was about to do. She was about to reintroduce him into her life, let him back into the same spot he had broken only a year before.

"Can I get in?" she asked, pointing at the seat next to him.

Jess looked up at her, afraid to blink and have her disappear. She shifted the bag over her arm and waited for him to reply.

"Yeah," he said, trying to keep the quiver out of his voice. He reached over and unlocked the door, watching without breathing as she slipped in and threw the bag into the back of the seat. Without smiling she looked back over at him.

"Where are we going?" she asked, placing some loose hair behind her ear.

"I was thinking New York for a bit. Maybe the Grand Canyon?"

"Sounds good," she said, looking down at her hands. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah. You?"

She finally looked at him, her eyes telling him everything her mouth wouldn't. He could see she was petrified to be sitting with him and that she was so afraid of what he might do to her again, of what might happen if she allowed him back. He mentally cursed himself for making her think so.

"Rory, I am so sorry," he said softly. "You have to believe me when I say that. I was stupid and foolish and so damn angry at everything that I ran away. It was stupid and I hate myself for hurting you."

"Uh, huh," she said vaguely, staring out the window again. "If we want to get to the Grand Canyon by Monday we need to start driving."

Jess felt a dull sense of hurt prick him but pushed it away quickly. She's here, he reminded himself, at least that's something. "Right," he said, starting the car and pulling out of the lot. They drove through the rest of Connecticut easily enough, stopping in Rhode Island for a bathroom break and some food.

"Cheetos?" Jess asked, loading up his arms with everything he thought Rory might like. She nodded and headed to the back of the store to the bathrooms, which were in dyer need of cleaning. He almost laughed at the look of disgust that crossed her face as she opened the door and stepped in.

She still isn't comfortable around me, Jess thought to himself as he paid for everything he had picked up. She still doesn't trust herself…or me, he thought as an afterthought.

"That comes to forty-nine, seventy-seven."

"Jesus," Jess said in surprise looking down. He paid and was handed three bags of goods, all weighing more than him. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," the girl behind the register said sarcastically before picking up her magazine and reading again. He glared at her and walked over to the door waiting for Rory. After ten minutes when she didn't come out, he walked over to the bathroom.

"Rory?" he called, knocking on the door.

Rory jumped and tore here eyes away from the mirror.

"Sorry, I'll be out in a second."

"Alright."

He worried about me, she thought to herself. He thinks I'm not alright with this.

Rory thought over the events that had happened in the last hour. She had been saved by her disastrous date, set up by Emily, by Dean. She had been thinking that maybe it was a mistake for Dean to not to go to school, to stay married. Then the next moment she was faced with Jess and all of her tepid feelings for Dean flew straight out of her mind as her scorching feelings for Jess came back. It didn't matter how much she thought she still cared for Dean, it was nothing compared to Jess.

She opened the door and found herself staring straight into Jess's eyes. It told her everything she ever needed to know. "I didn't believe you when you said you were fine." "I know how scared you are right now and you don't have to be." "Please, forgive me." "I am so sorry." "I love you." It was all she needed. It was what kept her standing with him, ready to leave with him. If his eyes weren't so blatantly telling her all of these things, she would never have stayed with him.

For the first time that night she gave Jess a smile.

"Alright," she said, wiping her damp hands on her skirt, "let's get out of here."

Jess nodded and walked to the door, stepping back and holding it out for her. A little shocked Rory stepped out into the warming air and looked around at the quaint streets.

"I like it here," she said to Jess.

"Where?"

"Here, Rhode Island," Rory said. "My grandparents take me into Newport sometimes and it's nice here. Small, but nice."

Jess looked around with a new view on it. The houses, which he thought seemed small and corny, now seemed a little bigger and filled with history.

"I think you're right," he finally said.

"I know." She smiled at him again and walked back over to the car, sliding into the seat and reaching into the paper bag, grabbing some gummy bears. "So, Grand Canyon, huh?"

"Or New York," Jess reminded her. '

"Definitely New York," Rory said, nodding her head. "So much closer and lots of places to go and to see."

They drove in silence for most of the ride into the city. It wasn't until they had reached the New York border that he finally worked up the courage to say something, anything to break her uneasy silence.

"Are you regretting coming with me?" he asked. "I could bring you back-"

"No," she answered quickly, a little too quickly in her opinion and felt her body soften. "I'm just thinking…"

"About?"

"You. When you left. Whether or not I can ever truly trust you with my heart again."

"Rory-"

"No, Jess, let me speak."

"Alright," he said, noticing a park they could go to. He slowed down and turned in. Rory, noticing what he was doing, waited for him to pay the three dollar entrance fee and drive through the trees until they were in relative solitude. Then she turned towards him.

"Jess…" she trailed off, not sure of where to start. "I love you. I still love you, despite everything that you've done to me, I still love you more than you could ever imagine. But…" she trailed off again. " but you broke me. I mean you really broke me. I felt like crap for the longest time. I second guessed myself constantly, wondering what I did wrong to make you hate me so much. It didn't matter that no matter what I did I still loved you still. And I do love, but I think I hate you more than any other person in the world. You made me fall in love with you, you kept hanging around, making it impossible for me to shake my feelings of you. You basically sabotaged my relationship with Dean and then you treated me like crap. I mean you really treated me just badly." She took a deep shuddering breath.

"I would have stayed with you forever, Jess. I would have married you one day. I would have gone wherever you wanted me to go. I would have been there with you, supported you through anything that you were going through. It hurt for me to realize that you couldn't come to me with your problems, that you felt I wouldn't understand. You could have told me about the prom, I would have understood. I would have understood about school. I would have understood everything, Jess.

"What I can not understand is how you can come to the conclusion that simply bailing on me, embarrassing me, proving my mother and the rest of the town right , would have been the right thing to do. I figured I meant more to you and that you would have treated me better than you did. Our relationship deserved more respect than you just leaving. I deserved better than that.

"I keep replaying that day when I saw you on the bus. I wonder what would have happened if I had stayed on the bus with you. Would I have gone with you? Would I convince you to stay? Would you lose your nerve? WHAT would have happened. Maybe we'd still be together, I don't know. What I do know is that you left and I was forced to come to terms with that. I did.

"I was just getting over you, Jess. I had just started healing and feeling better about myself and you come back and I realized…I realized…" she trailed off, looking at him. "I realized that no matter how much space and how much time you put in between us, it isn't going to work. I love you Jess Mariano, no matter how much you tug me around. You could leave me again, I could marry someone else, and it wouldn't matter in the least bit because the second you show up I'd fall in love again.

"I've come to the conclusion, after much speculation, that I'll never get over you. We're one of those couples who are meant to be together forever. You could hurt me in every possible way and I'll still love with you, it's as simple as that."

Jess stopped staring straight ahead and slowly turned towards Rory and where she was sitting, staring at her hands. She raised her head at almost the same moment Jess turned his back to hers and their eyes clicked, sending a jolt of familiarity straight through him, making his hand clench on the staring wheel.

"I'm helplessly in love with you. And it scares me, Jess, because I know you've hurt me before and you can do it again and I'm afraid I won't be able to pick myself up this time. If you were to leave again, I have no idea what will happen to me."

Jess was on top of her before she could say anything else. He tugged her close to him, kissing her hard on the lips like he wanted to do since he first saw her that day in Stars Hollow. She seemed rigid at first and he pulled back, ready to stop when she pushed his head back down to her.

"Say you love me, Jess Mariano," Rory whispered against his lips.

"I love you, Rory Gilmore," he said without hesitation. "I have and will always love you. Please believe I will never hurt you ever again. I'm back for good…if you're willing to have me. I just need you to trust me again."

"If I didn't trust you do you think I'd be here with you?" Rory asked, looking into his eyes and feeling a pang in her stomach. "Maybe before, maybe even tonight, I didn't trust you, but now I do. I really think you've changed. You don't have to convince me, I can see it in your eyes. They're more exposed than usual. It's almost as though I can see straight through to your soul…" She giggled. "How corny was that?"

"Incredibly," Jess murmured, shifting in discomfort. "Do you want to…"

"Let's take this into the backseat," Rory said, getting desperate as he unknowingly wiggled against her one to many times. He hesitated. He hadn't known what Rory was up to lately but he didn't want to do anything she would later regret with a passion.

"Are you sure-" he began and looked into her eyes. She stared back at him steadily and nodded firmly.

"I am," she replied, nodding her head.

Jess looked at her and shook his head once.

"I can't."

"Oh," Rory said, trying to dissect her current emotions. "Do you mean you can't emotionally or are you impotent or something-"

"Rory, I don't want to do this in the back of my car next to an empty pizza container and a pair of old shoes," Jess snapped. "You were right. You deserve better than that."

And that was how Rory knew Jess had really changed.

"I think I saw a hotel about a mile back," she said vaguely. Jess turned towards her, thinking she had probably changed her mind. "It's late and you shouldn't drive so much. We should take a break."

"Ok," Jess said and drove out of the park, hotel bound.

A/N Please read and review.