Chapter 7: Fighting and Retreating

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Chapter 7: Fighting and Retreating

(Previously)

"Not an engagement vacation or something? RORY! Why didn't you tell me you were getting married to him?" Lorelai was practically screaming at this point.

"Married, huh? Well congratulations." Jess glared at Rory as he passed her. He began to run down the road.

"JESS! Wait!" Rory yelled after him but it was useless.

"Great! Thanks Mom. Thanks a lot." Rory said as tears started flowing. She turned around and ran.

********

(Chapter Seven)

Rory ran and ran. Everything was ruined. Everything. She kept running until she ended up on the bridge, luckily no one was there. Rory sat on the bridge and stared at her reflection while the tears dropped into the water. What would ever make her mother think that she was getting married? No one knew. *I've got to get out of here.* Rory thought. She took one of the back routes to her place so she could avoid any contact with people.

"Rory, what's wrong?" Sam asked when he saw Rory's tear-streaked face.

"Everything is ruined!! I wish I never took this stupid assignment."

"Whoa, calm down, tell me what happened."

"I was walking down the road to my house and my mom comes up behind me and starts yelling at me for not telling her that I was engaged and then of course Jess heard everything we said and he stormed off. I have no idea who told her about all this, you didn't, did you?"

"Of course not, we decided not to tell anyone."

"Oh, shit, you told Miss Patty the first day didn't you?"

Sam looked down guiltily. "Yeah, I did, but remember I told her not to tell anyone?" "It's Miss Patty! She'll tell the whole world if she could. She must have figured my mom knew and mentioned something about it."

"Oh God, Rory, I feel awful."

"Don't worry it's not your fault. I just wish Jess didn't hear. We were getting along so well too. Listen Sam, I'm sorry, but I have to go back to New York. I can't stay here with all this. It's too much. Just from what happened today I think I have a story."

"I'll go back with you. It's pointless for me to be here anyways."

"What about Ally?"

"I was gonna have to leave her anyways. I just wanna make sure you're okay. I'll call that limo guy tonight and he can take us back tomorrow. How does that sound?"

"Thanks so much Sam, this means a lot."

The phone rang. *Oh great, it's probably mom.* Rory immediately thought.

"Hello?" Rory picked up.

"Rory, it's me."

"I know who you are, what do you want?"

"Honey, listen, I'm so sorry, I overreacted."

"Mom, you don't understand, you just ruined one of the most important relationships I had going right now."

"Why didn't you tell me that you and Sam were getting married? I wouldn't have been mad; I think he's a great kid."

"We're not getting married mom, it was just a set up."

"A set up? For what?" Lorelai didn't understand what on earth Rory was doing.

"I'll tell you some other time. I'm going back to New York tomorrow."

"Please Rory, forgive me. I'm so sorry, I feel awful right now."

"If I can straighten things out, I'll get back to you but for now, I'm leaving."

"Bye Rory." Lorelai hung up; it was useless trying to fight with her. Rory would eventually forgive her - she hoped.

Rory put the phone down. "I've got to try and clear some stuff up, I'll hopefully be back soon. Do you want me to pick up anything from Luke's?"

"I'll take care of dinner; you do what you have to do."

Rory grabbed her coat and left. Sam was being so sweet to her and Rory couldn't help but feel a little guilty that she'd been treating him badly.

Rory headed to the bridge in hopes to find Jess, and not much to her surprise, he was sitting there reading.

"Jess, can we talk?" Rory said as she stepped on the bridge.

Jess didn't look up. He just stared at his reflection. He wanted to forgive her so badly but it didn't feel right.

"Jess, please, you have to listen."

"Look Rory, I think I've heard enough."

"No Jess, you haven't that's the point."

Jess stood up and walked to Rory. "How could you do this to me, Rory? Lead me on like this; make me feel like a fool! God Rory, I thought we had something going that could last for once and here you are, going to get married to that Sam guy which by the way I barely see you with anyways! Please, just leave me alone." Jess turned and left.

"Jess, please, don't leave." Rory's eyes watered up.

"What's done is done, Rory. There's nothing more to say." Jess turned once more and was out of sight.

"Right, except the fact that I think I love you," Rory whispered to herself.

********

Jess stormed back to the diner right past Luke and up to this room. He laid in his bed a thought about everything. Why had Rory done this to him? He loved her more than anything and now she was off with someone else. He wanted to forgive her so badly but he couldn't bring himself to do that just yet. She hurt him, badly.

Luke came running up the stairs after Jess and went into his room.

"Look Jess, I know you're 26 and you can deal with these problems yourself, but you wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"Why don't you ask Lorelai, she knows everything."

"Jess is this about Rory?"

"Luke, you said it yourself, I'm 26, I can handle this, please, just leave me alone."

"Alright. I'm around if you wanna talk."

"I'll be fine thanks."

Luke turned around and went back to the diner. Of course, there was Lorelai. He expected her to be begging for coffee, but instead she was crying.

Luke poured her a cup. "No one seems to be happy right now, what's wrong?"

"Rory, my own daughter now officially hates me."

"What happened?"

"I ruined her thing with Jess, blew her 'cover' and just about everything else."

"What are you talking about?"

Lorelai downed the rest of her coffee before she could begin. "I was walking here and Miss Patty tells me that Rory and Sam are getting married and I'm think 'what the hell, that's not true' so I find Rory walking towards our house and I start yelling at her about everything and then of course Jess hears everything, he says something to Rory, she yells at me then runs after him. Okay so then I call Rory and apologize and she says something about how I blew her cover, she and Sam aren't getting married and now she's going back to the city." Lorelai took a deep breath.

"Well that explains why Jess isn't talking. Look, we'll find out what happened. Trust me, everything will be okay." Luke kissed Lorelai's hair and held her tight.

********

The next day Rory and Sam arrived back at the building around lunch and were escorted directly to Mr. Williams.

"We're really gonna get it," Rory said as they walked. "It's all my fault; I'll lose my job, not to mention yours. This sucks."

"Don't say that Rory, we'll get everything straightened out. If anything, we can maybe to go a town where we don't know anyone."

Rory knocked on Mr. William's door and they entered.

"I didn't expect to see you back so soon. I hear we had some problems."

"Let me explain, please." Rory began. "At first I thought that being back in my town would work and I could get a great story, but then everything bad happened. A friend of mine from high school was still there and we became good friends and then my mom, who was in Europe, came back early and then some one in the town told her about Sam and I getting married and my friend heard, and I flipped and I had to leave."

"Rory, you are a professional writer for the New York Times. This should not be happening."

"Please sir, I know I messed up and I beg for your forgiveness. Please just give me two weeks and I promise that I will have an article for you. Give me a second chance, I won't let you down."

The boss stared at Rory and saw how deeply she wanted to do this and he understood it meant a lot.

"Two weeks Rory and I want that article sitting on my desk."

Rory finally smiled, "Thank you sir, I won't let you down."

As they left, Sam asked, "You got a story?"

"I think so; it's more of a personal piece I guess you'd call it. I think I'm gonna go home and get some rest. Thanks again for everything Sam. You've been a great friend."

"Good luck with your story. I know it'll be great."

*********

Jess sat at the counter reading one of the books he and Rory had bought when she first got here. He remembered it was the first time they hung out since high school and how they had so much fun.

Lorelai walked in the door for her usual coffee. The fact that Rory was gone and not speaking to her hut her badly but she was trying to get by. She'd called Rory twice but no answer.

"Hey Luke, coffee please."

Luke got some coffee for her.

"So, you really miss Rory?" Lorelai asked Jess.

"Yeah," Jess said without looking up from his book.

"Me too, I don't know why Miss Patty said they were getting married. Remind me to never believe anything anybody in this town says."

"What are you talking about?" Jess looked up. For all he knew, Rory was getting married and he hadn't heard anything to the contrary yet.

"Rory and Sam, they aren't getting married. It was all a set up for something. You know she's really upset about hurting you. She said your relationship with her right now was the most important thing to her."

Jess thought for a second. It was the most important relationship to him ever. So, Sam and Rory weren't getting married, that made him let out a big breath, but what was the set up? Jess knew he had to forgive Rory; he would eventually, just not yet.

********

Rory went home and unpacked. She'd only be gone about two weeks - 2 weeks she wished had never happened. They had though, and she had to deal with it. She felt awful about hurting Jess and wished he could forgive her.

Once she had everything back to normal she headed with her writing materials and went to her local coffee shop. It wasn't as good as Luke's, nothing ever was but it would have to do.

Her first thought was to write about how things get around to much in small towns. She jotted down what came to mind, things she remembered that happened when she was younger but her story line wasn't intriguing, she had to do better for Mr. Williams, for herself, for everyone.

Then it clicked. Rory began writing like a maniac. She went through 5 cups of coffee in the process of getting ideas down. She had it, she had her first story. It wasn't so much undercover but it would do, it came from the heart.

********

During Rory's writing process which took the full 2 weeks, things went back to normal a little. Rory and Lorelai were on friendly speaking terms so Rory let her know when to expect the article. Rory tried calling Jess and vice-versa but neither could ever reach each other.

***

2 weeks later, Luke stepped out into the brisk Stars Hollow morning to get the daily newspaper. He knew that Rory mentioned her article and today was the day. Rory's first big undercover feature was published nationally. Everybody could hear her story.

Luke flipped frantically through the pages and read it, engrossed in every word she said. A smile spread across Luke's face. He ran upstairs and placed the article, open to the page on Jess' bed so he'd notice it when he got out of the shower.

Jess saw it immediately when he walked into his room. He'd heard Lorelai and Luke talking about it. He tried desperately to avoid reading it but he couldn't. It was like the paper was reeling him in. He picked it up and read the title; his heart stood still for a second, it was addressed to him personally. It wasn't an ordinary title, this one was different, it was special.

"TO JESS, LOVE RORY"

Jess sat down and began to read.

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