Time After Time - A Gilmore Girls Fanfic #1

Chapter 19

"No. Not yet. But we're not expecting him for another hour or so."

"Has he called to check in?"

"No."

"Okay. Can you please tell him Rory called? Thank you." After she hung up, she sank down on the chair, staring off into space.

"I'm sure he's fine," Luke said again.

"Is it hot in here?" Rory asked, pushing her sweater sleeves up.

"No. It's cold up here actually." He turned to the thermostat on the wall. "No wonder. It's set to sixty-eight."

"What about the air? Is the oxygen levels dangerously low? How about the carbon monoxide?" she asked, sucking in air as her eyes flew around the room. "We need a carbon monoxide detector up here."

Luke nodded, his eyes fixed on her face. From a faraway place she could hear him saying something over and over, and it wasn't until the sixth repetition that she realized he was saying her name.

"What?" she asked, blinking up at him.

"Your phone," he said, pointing at the desk. "It's vibrating."

Her heart stopped when she saw Jess' name show up on the screen. "Hello? Jess?"

"Hey."

The vice around her lungs loosened the moment she heard his deep voice. "Hi," she said on a breath.

"You okay?" he asked.

"No, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Wait, you're not okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm okay." She stopped and took a deep breath. "I just heard about the accident on the interstate and was worried."

"So that explains why I've been sitting in traffic for almost an hour." The next time he spoke, she could almost hear the smile in his voice. "You were worried about me?"

"Well, you do have a track record for crashing cars," she said, trying to sound lighthearted even as her eyes watered.

He chuckled. "Crash a car one time..." He paused. When he next spoke, his voice had taken on a more somber tone. "I'll be back, Rory. Nothing is going to keep me from making my way back to you."

It was close to six o'clock by the time Jess arrived in Philadelphia. What should have been a four hour drive turned into six. He'd sat in the car, gripping the hell out of the steering wheel and generally cursing at the world, angry for the wasted time spent in traffic when he could have been back in Stars Hollow with Rory instead.

By the time he made it to Truncheon Books, he was pissed off and even more determined to get the job done.

"Is Em in?" he asked the admin, Mark, as he strode into the front office.

Mark jumped up from his seat. "Yes. She's on a call with Penguin," he said, handing Jess a stack of phone messages as he passed by. "We were expecting you a few hours ago."

"Funny, so was I," he grumbled under his breath, going straight into his office and turning on the lights. As he shrugged his jacket off, he flipped through the slips of paper, frowning when he saw Rory's name on one of the messages. He paused, realizing she'd been more worried than she'd let on. Before he exited his office, he texted her a quick message. 

Made it to Philly. Gonna get this job done.

Jess exited and made an immediate left to Emmeline's office. He knocked softly on the door before peering inside, finding his business partner at her desk with a phone up to her ear.