Time After Time - A Gilmore Girls Fanfic #1

Chapter 16

He sat down on the other side of the bench, eyes still on her. "You feeling sentimental tonight, Gilmore?" he asked as she handed him a plastic container and fork.

"A little," she said with a sheepish smile. She filled her mouth with a big bite of pasta to keep from saying more and giving away her hand.

"Well, this tastes much better than whatever it was you fed me back then," he said, his cheek bulging with food. "What was that anyway? I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for a week."

"I don't remember. It was just a blended mix of leftovers from the fridge. Oh, and couscous," she said. "I was impressed you didn't die from that."

"Thank the gods for an iron stomach," he said with a chuckle.

Then they sat in silence for a while, both looking out over the town, mired in their thoughts.

After they finished their food, Rory turned to Jess and held out her hand. "Phone, please."

Jess narrowed his eyes but handed it over. "What are you doing?"

"You'll see," she said, messing with his phone. When she was done, she stood up and extended her other hand.

"I have no more phones to give you," he said with eyebrows raised.

"Come on," she said, just as the opening notes of a song began to play on his phone.

He pushed up off his knees and stood before her, their bodies so close but still so far. "You know I don't dance."

"Then we'll stand," she said, slipping his phone back inside his jacket. Then she reached up and wound her arms around his neck.

He followed her lead and set his hands on her hips and there they stayed for a long while, not moving, bodies touching, eyes locked, while a soft melody floated around them.

"Rory."

The way he said her name, the depth he infused into those two syllables, made her stomach tighten. "Yeah?"

"I don't need reminding when it comes to the past," he said, reaching up to brush hair away from her face. "I remember everything."

"Me too," she whispered, finding it hard to breathe from his close proximity. He was all around her—his scent drifting up to her nose, his solid body under her hands, his voice murmuring in her ear.

"But this—you, me, the baby—it's complicated."

She lifted her chin. "Is it?"

His eyebrows drew together. "Yeah."

"Jess, do you want to be with me?"

He took in a ragged breath and said, "You know I do."

"Then be with me. Right here, in this moment." She swallowed, her heart thudding painfully in her chest. "And if, in the future, you change your mind, then go. I won't hold you back."

His jaw muscles ticked as his eyes flew all over her face. With a deep breath, he brought both hands up to her face and cradled her cheeks. Rory closed her eyes and nuzzled into his palm, relishing his strength and his warmth.

"After you came to Philadelphia all those years ago, I stopped hoping for you," he said. "I tucked the memory of us away and lived my life. And it's been a good life, with the press and my writing and my friends. I think I've done better than anyone could've expected from a punk kid who couldn't even graduate high school."

She shook her head. "Except for me. I always knew you were capable of more."

"Except you," he said, a smile touching his lips. "But I did it. I moved on. I had my share of relationships. I loved and was loved in return."

"As you deserve," she said, her voice breaking at the end.

He nodded, pausing for a long, heart wrenching moment. "But my relationships always ended because something was always missing. This element, this unidentifiable thing, that always kept me from making a commitment. It took me a long time to realize it wasn't a something but a someone."

She held her breath, too anxious to speak, too scared hope.

"And now that someone is standing in front of me, asking me to love her in the present." He let out a soft snicker, shaking his head. "How the hell do I say no to that?"

Tears blurred her vision as she tilted her head back. At that same moment, he dipped his head, and their lips met somewhere in between. They kissed for a long while, holding each other like wanderers who had been lost and alone through the years and, now, inside this twinkling gazebo, were finally found.