Chapter Five - Books, Girls, Gilmore Dinners, and Sicknesses

Disclaimer - I don't own anything!

Summary - Rory works for the NY Times and one of her assignments take her to a very familiar place (R/J eventually)

A/N - Just so you know - Rory's 25, Jess is 26 and Sam is 23 (just incase I didn't mention it earlier!!!)

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(Previously)

"Hi Sam, I'm Jess, it's nice to meet you." Jess, even though feeling a little hurt that Rory and this guy might have a 'thing' going, returned the favor and shook his hand.

********

(Chapter 4)

"So how do you know Jess?" Sam asked as they walked home.

"Oh, we were friends back in the day. He's Luke's nephew actually. Everybody always seemed to hate him but I was the only one that could get through to him."

"Well, he seems like a nice guy."

"He really is, once you get past his rebel-ish looks."

"So, what do we have planned for today?" Sam wondered, considering that Rory knew everything about the town.

"Well, I've got to make some phone calls and whatnot right now but I'm sure we'll be able to find something to do after that.

Back at the apartment, Rory immediately rushed to the phone. She had meant to call Lane the first day she got there but with all the confusion, she had to put it off.

"Hey, is Lane there?" Rory asked the man on the other end.

. . .

"Hello," Lane said when she picked up the receiver.

"Hey Lane!! It's Rory. You'll never guess where the sent me!"

"Umm, Arizona?" Lane guessed.

Rory laughed. "Close, but they sent me to the one and only Stars Hollow!!"

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Not one bit. I had no idea that I'd be here and well here I am. It's really weird to see everybody and I'm not even living in my own house, they got me an apartment on Peach Street."

"Ha, that's so cool Rory. Doing a story on the town that you used to live in, that's pretty interesting."

"I guess, but please don't tell anyone that I'm here. Or at least what I am doing here. I don't want the people to know that I'm doing a story on them."

"Oh, that's gotta be rough. So have you run into anyone yet?"

"Miss Patty and Jess, that's pretty much it."

"Jess is back?"

"Yeah, it's a long story but here he is, back in Stars Hollow."

"He's probably back for you." Lane said nonchalantly.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. The only reason he came back to Stars Hollow is because he likes you. You're the only person that saw the good in him. Don't doubt me on this Rory."

"I think I'll have to for now. I've gotta run, I have to start the day."

"Call me if anything good happens!"

"Bye Lane."

Rory hung up the phone. That comment that Lane made was lingering in her mind. Did Jess really like her back? Sure, when she was 17 she thought there was something between them but did he still like her?

Next Rory called the boss, Mr. Williams. She had to tell him that this was her home town.

"New York Times, Mr. Williams speaking."

"Mr. Williams, its Rory Gilmore. I needed to ask you a favor."

"Oh Rory, it's good to hear from you. I wanted to know what you were up to."

"It turns out, sir, that the town you have sent Sam and me to is my hometown. Stars Hollow is where I grew up."

Rory heard him laugh. "Well, let's just hope that makes the story better."

"You're not going to relocate us?"

"No, absolutely not. This will be perfect."

"I have one more question. Since I'm so familiar with Stars Hollow, I think I'll be able to have a story in a month unless something comes up, it might be longer, but you could expect us back sooner."

"However long it takes. I trust your work, remember. Keep it up Rory."

As soon as Rory set down the phone the second time it immediately rung.

That's funny, Rory thought, nobody knows this number.

"Hello, this is Rory."

"Hey Rory, its Jess."

A smile formed on Rory's face. "How'd you get this number?"

"I called Taylor and asked him."

"Ah, good thinking. So what's up?"

"I wanted to know if you'd like to go into Hartford with me this afternoon. This new bookstore opened up and it's supposed to be amazing. You interested?"

"Count me in!" Rory hadn't been to a good bookstore in ages and this sounded perfect.

"Great, I'll pick you up at 2?"

"I'll be waiting." Rory hung up and went to make herself some lunch.

********

"Sam! I'm going now. Sorry to leave you like this, but we'll do something tomorrow."

"Don't worry about it. I'll probably just go hang out around town. Have fun!"

Rory took her key and went outside to wait. At precisely 2 o'clock, Jess arrived in a spiffy silver Jeep.

"Nice car," Rory pointed out as she got in.

"I just hope Jim doesn't notice that it's gone." Jess joked.

"Very funny. So, where is this place we're going?"

"It's called something like 'Books Galore' or something corny like that but it's should be good."

**

When they arrived at the bookstore it was fairly quiet. The first thing they did when the got in was bought some coffee at the Café counter.

"Well, where should we start? Floor 1, 2 or 3?" Jess asked Rory.

"Three floors? That's amazing. This is my new heaven."

"Oh yeah, and what was your old one?"

"That, my friend, I do not know. I think we should start on 1 and move up. Sound good?"

"I'll take these 6 aisles and you take the other 6 and we'll meet in the middle with the best books? How's does that sound?"

"I'll see you in 6 rows." Rory smiled and headed to the first row and Jess went all the way to the opposite side and started browsing.

Their little system of finding books worked rather well even though it was the first time they ever did it. Rory loved how she and Jess had the same taste in books. It made this whole process a lot easier. She would never have been able to conquer 3 floors all by herself.

When they finally met up at the third floor with 2 bagfuls of books, they decided to sit on the couches to sort through which ones to buy or not.

"So, let's see what you got." Rory handed her bag over to Jess.

For the next hour, they sat skimming all 55 of their books, debating over which were worthy of buying. Finally they narrowed everything down to 15.

"I wish we could buy all these books," Rory noted.

"One day you will Rory. And I'll own the other half and our collection will be beyond belief."

"Keep dreaming big guy." Rory looked at her watch. "Oh wow, it's already 5:30."

"Book finding does consume time."

"I have an idea, would you mind eating dinner at my grandparents tonight? They live about 10 minutes away."

"The evil grandparents that your mom can't stand?"

"Yes, them, but I think you'll like them, and they'll like you. If it gets bad we can leave. Promise."

"Alright. If you want."

"Thanks, I'm just going to call them. I'll be right back."

****Meanwhile back in Stars Hollow****

After Rory left, Sam quickly became bored. He was a little upset that Rory left him by himself when he knew nobody else. However, instead of moping around about it, he decided to go out and meet some people. It seemed easy enough in a town like this.

Rory's habit of coffee caught onto Sam and he first headed to Luke's to get some. After getting coffee and having no luck in finding anyone to talk to there, he headed out into the center of town. He knew he wanted to go to the bridge but he forgot the route so he was wandering around aimlessly.

"Can I help you? You seem a bit lost." A voice came from behind Sam.

Sam spun around and came face to face with an brunette who was relatively attractive.

"Oh, yeah, I'm looking for the bridge."

"I can show you if you'd like."

"That'd be great, thanks." Sam accepted the offer.

Sam decided to take it up himself to get to know this woman.

"I'm Sam Robbins. I just moved here."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Allyson Forester, but everyone calls me Ally."

"So are you from around here?"

"I used to live here when I was 13 but my family moved back to Chicago when my brother went to college and since I'm 22 now, my parents decided to give me the house so I'm back."

"Does your family ever come back to visit?"

"Sometimes, during holidays mostly. It depends really."

"Sounds like a lot of people really like this place."

"Yeah, it really is a great place. Everybody's so different, it just makes life that much more interesting. Well, here's the bridge."

Ally led Sam onto the bridge. "Well, I've got to get back. It was nice meeting you Sam."

"Thanks. It's was nice meeting you too." As Ally turned to leave, he decided to take a chance with Ally.

"Hey, wait up for a second."

She spun around.

"I was wondering if maybe you'd like to get coffee with me sometime."

"Sure, I'd like that. I'm free tomorrow for lunch if that's good with you."

"It sounds great. I'll meet you here?"

"See you tomorrow."

Sam turned and went to sit on the bridge. Now he knew how Rory felt. They were supposed to be 'a couple', Sam and Rory, but he really liked Ally and didn't want her to know anything either. Oh well, he just wouldn't tell anyone and neither would Rory. He figured that she didn't want anyone to know because of her friend Jess.

****Back in Hartford****

Rory came back from using the phone and met up with Jess in the check out line. "Alright, it's done. We're having dinner with them. They're expecting us in 30 minutes."

"You're sure they'll like me?" Jess asked.

"Trust me; with all you're knowledge, they'll love you. Just go easy with the jokes. I learned that the hard way."

Once they had paid a hefty sum of $75 on their books they made their way back to Jess' house and on their way to the Gilmore's.

**

"This place is a mansion," Jess remarked as they pulled up to the Gilmore residence.

"This is what they call Hartford High Class Society."

"I can see. You think they will like this wine we picked up?"

"I hope so; it's the least we could do." Rory led him to the door. "You ready?"

"As much as I'll ever be."

Rory rung the door bell and they waited patiently for someone to open the door.

"Oh Rory darling, look at you! It's so good to see you." Emily exclaimed as the opened the door. "And you must be Jess."

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Gilmore. Rory speaks very highly of you."

"Well please come in. I'm so glad you called. I haven't seen you in ages." Emily took their coats and led them to the living room. "Richard, Rory's here, please come join us!"

"Here Grandma, we picked up this wine for you."

"Oh it looks wonderful, shall we open it?"

"It's up to you."

"Oh, I think we should, it's a special occasion." Emily took the bottle over to the bar and prepared the drinks.

"Hello Rory, Jess. It's good to see you," Richard said as he entered the room.

"So Jess, tell us a little about yourself." He asked as he sat down with Emily.

"Well sir, I grew up in New York and moved to Stars Hollow when I was 17 to live with my uncle, and there I met Rory, and now I'm a writer."

"What do you write?" Richard asked curiously.

"I enjoy suspense the most. I've already had 2 books published."

"Well that's fantastic. Rory here is quite the reader."

"I learned that the first day I met her."

"When you stole my Oliver Twist," Rory added.

Jess blushed for a second, "Not steal exactly, I simply borrowed it, and keep in mind that I did give it back."

Jess gave Rory a 'why did you say that look,' but Emily and Richard found it amusing and laughed which made Jess feel better.

"So Rory, what are you doing back in Stars Hollow?"

"I'm just taking a little break from work. I just turned in a big article that I'd been working on for months so my boss let me have a break. I'm happy to be back. I miss Stars Hollow so much."

One of the many servants Emily had hired over the years came in.

"Excuse me, dinner is ready."

Emily led the crowd into dinner. Jess, being as polite as he could, pulled out Rory's chair for her and pushed it in before he took his own seat.

"So tell us about your books, Jess." Emily said as dinner was being served.

********

"That went well," Rory commented as they got back in the car. "I can tell that they like you a lot."

"Is that good?"

"It couldn't be better. They are very hard to please people but you seemed to charm your way past them."

"Well I do have that charm don't I?" Jess batted his eyelashes.

Rory just laughed. "Oh crap! Can I use your cell phone, I completely forgot to call Sam and tell him I'd be out for dinner."

"Yeah, but don't worry about it, I'm sure he realized you were gone, after all it is 9."

"Right, we'll be home soon anyways."

"So how do you know Sam anyways?" Jess was curious to find out about Sam.

This was the last question Rory wanted to hear from Jess. She quickly came up with something. "Well, he's on break too and I asked him if he'd like to come with me."

"So you're dating?"

"No, no dating involved." Ugh, this was horrible! Lying to Jess was the last thing to do.

"So you two were both on break and came to Stars Hollow?"

"That's pretty much it." Rory began to stare out the window and watch the lines on the road.

"Okay."

When Jess finally pulled up to Rory's place, he opened her door and they walked inside together, they still had to split up the books.

"You can just put them on the kitchen table," Rory said as they got inside. "Hey Sam, we're back."

"Thanks for calling; I had no idea when you'd be back." Sam came out of his room.

"Sorry, we were at the bookstore for a while then went to my grandparents for dinner. I completely forgot to tell you. I promise we'll do something tomorrow. So what have you been up to?"

"Well I met some one."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"Her name is Ally, she's from around here. Ever heard of her?"

"The name rings a bell but I can't place it right now."

"Alright, well I'm going to sleep. I'll see ya in the morning."

Rory turned back to Jess who had laid all the books on the table. "Well I think we've got ourselves quite the collection, if I do say so myself."

"So who gets what?"

"I can take half for now and when we're done we can swap."

"Alright, I'll pick one and you pick one so it's fair," Rory decided.

Jess had to let out a small laugh. "We sound like 5 year olds."

"There's no shame in still being young."

"I never said there was." Jess picked the first book and it went on like that until they were all out.

"Alright, I better be getting back, I have to work morning shift tomorrow."

Rory walked him to the door. "Thanks for taking me to the bookstore. It was a lot of fun. We'll have to go back."

"Definitely. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I'll be the one begging for coffee." Rory gave Jess a coy grin.

"I'll be waiting. See you later, Rory."

"Bye Jess." Rory closed the door behind him and sat down with her back again the door.

What am I getting myself into! she thought. Am I really falling for him?

********

The next morning when Rory woke up, it was quiet. She took a shower and headed for Luke's. Sam wasn't home so she figured he was probably already there for breakfast.

When she walked in the door her eyes immediately began looking for Jess. It had become more of habit nowadays. She knew that he was working morning shift so she was slightly worried when she didn't see him. She figured he was in the back getting something.

"Rory, over here!" Rory turned around to find Sam at a table reading the newspaper and eating.

"Hey Sam," Rory said as she took off her coat and sat down. "Have you seen Jess?"

"Not yet this morning, why?"

"Oh, I just had a question I needed to ask him. I'll be right back; I'm gonna go find him. If Jim comes could you order me some pancakes?"

"Sure."

Rory ignored Jim and ran upstairs and knocked on the door only to find that it was partially opened.

"Jess, are you here?"

"I'm in my room." Rory followed his voice. When she found him, he had a worried look on his face.

"Jess what's wrong?"

"Get your coat; we're going to the airport."

"What's going on?" Rory started getting concerned.

"Luke called in the middle of last night. Lorelai got sick or something so they are flying back as soon as they could. He just called this morning and they have already landed. I gotta go pick them up. You coming or not?"

"I'm right behind you."

Rory ran down the stairs behind Jess.

"Sam, sorry I gotta run, Jess got a call last night and my mom's flying in from Europe because she's sick or something. I'll be back later. Sorry to leave you again."

"Don't worry about it. I hope you're mom's okay. I'll see you later I guess."

Rory flew out the door behind Jess and got into the Jeep and they headed to the Hartford Airport.

"Did Luke say what was wrong?" Rory was on the verge of tears.

"You know Luke, he's not much of the verbal type so he never really said what was wrong but he did say that the hospitals there thought she should be back in the States." Jess saw a tear roll down Rory's face. He took her hand a squeezed it to let her know that everything would be okay.


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