That Burning Feeling, Post 6.18 R/J fic.

[syd & vaughn 4ever 47]

i think u ahve done a great job!

[JessRules]

thanks!

[syd & vaughn 4ever 47]

yeha no prob. can't wait for the next one!

[JessRules]

That Burning Feeling

"What the hell are you doing there?"

"Jess?"

"Yes, Sherlock, what the hell are you doing at Anna's place?"

"This really isn't the time."

"Rory knows you're there, so soon Lorelai will, so explain yourself."

"How did Rory know?"

"She was the one who thought you'd be here."

"How'd she know I'd be here?"

"Never mind, just get back, Lorelai's mid-meltdown and Rory's really, really mad, you can expect to get shouted at when you get back."

"Perfect."

"Hey, you're not allowed to be sarcastic, that's my job."

"Fine, I'll be serious if you will."

"Whatever."

"Real mature."

"Says the man who goes running to his ex after a fight with his fiance. You still haven't explained why you're there."

"That's because it's none of your business."

"Oh, it is, if Rory comes in here one more time in one of her tempers, I think she's ready to kill and if you're away, then I'll be the first male she sees."

"Then she'll be doing me a favour."

"Funny."

"Was there really any point to this call?"

"Luke, I'm warning you, get your ass down here!"

"Wow, who's the grown up here?"

"Shut up."

"Am I grounded?"

"Shut up before I get Rory on the phone."

"Fine, I'll shut up."

"Now tell me what you're doing there."

"Fine, I'm just taking are of something."

"Could you be more cryptic?"

"Goodbye, Jess."

"Bye, idiot." Jess said before hanging up.

'Okay,' He thought 'I've tried, now Rory can deal with him.' and went back to serving the customers.



Rory and Lorelai ate in silence, Lorelai barely touching her food. Scrambled thoughts kept racing through Rory’s mind as she ate, chewing slowly, watching Lorelai. ‘I’ve never seen her like this before’ was the first thing that popped into her mind. ‘I’m gonna kill Luke’ raced through, a close second. ‘How can he have this affect on her?’ ‘Why doesn’t she want to talk about it?’ ‘Why’s Jess trying to get involved?’ ‘Why on earth didn’t I order the custard pie?’, at this, she realised if she kept on going like this, she’d make herself crazy, so she cleared her head and turned back to Lorelai.

“What did he do to you to make you like, like-“

“Like what?”

“Like this!” she cried, gesturing towards her mother, “This isn’t you, this isn’t the sparkling, colourful, caffeinated woman I’m used to, he’s turned you into a wreck and you won’t even admit it.”

“Wow, you really come down hard on a person, don’t ya?”

“Sorry, you’re not a wreck, it’s just, you’re so- This is so- You’re supposed to be happy. You and Luke were supposed to live happily ever after and everyone was supposed to feel happy for you and Liz wasn’t supposed to get pregnant and Jess wasn’t supposed to come back and- and- and I’m not supposed to even be here!”

“I don’t think this is about me anymore, is there anything you’ve been hiding?”

“I’m supposed to be looking after my injured boyfriend right now, but something’s making me stay here, and the worst part is, I don’t even feel guilty.”

“Someone, not something.”

“What?”

“Someone’s holding you back.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her cell phone goes off. She looks at the caller ID and stands up, “I have to take this.”

“Go ahead, I’ll be here.” Lorelai replied, before Rory walked outside.

“Is he there?” Rory said, answering the phone.

“Yes, and he’s being particularly stubborn.” Jess replied, rolling his eyes at the idiocy of his uncle.

“Do I have permission to bite his head off yet?”

“He’s all yours.”

“Good, ‘cos he has some nerve to go to Anna’s right about now.”

“I know, that’s what I told him.”

“Okay, I gotta get back to my mom now, I’ll deal with him later.”

“Alright, bye.”

“Bye.”

Rory hung up and looked through the window at her mom, just sitting there, taking bite after bite of her slice of red velvet cake, looking distant and anything but happy. She sighed, sadly, and went back in.

[syd & vaughn 4ever 47]

that was great!

[JessRules]

That Burning Feeling

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

After going to Weston’s, Rory gave up on trying to cheer Lorelai up and drove her home. She didn’t want to give up that easily, so she suggested a movie night to her mom which, after a bit of persuasion, she agreed to.

Rory walked down to the video store, task in hand, she’d planned a horror marathon – The Shining, Misery, House of Wax, The Blaire Witch Project, Single White Female, Hide and Seek, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Final Destinations 1, 2 and 3. She figured that if her mom couldn’t laugh, cry, or talk in full sentences, then at least she could scream.

She rolled her eyes when she saw that Luke’s truck still wasn’t parked outside the diner, she knew where he was and she didn’t dare tell her mom.

She walked into the video store and budged past “The Rory Curtain” to get to her movie selection. Wait, what was “The Rory Curtain” doing back??? ‘Perfect’ Rory thought as she stormed towards the front desk ‘What else could go wrong today?’.

“Hello mam, can I help you?” Kirk greeted as Rory walked up.

“You don’t have to call me “mam”, Kirk; you’ve known me since I was 2.”

“But you have to say that to a customer, it was the first thing I learned in orientation.”

“But that would be for a stranger, whereas, you know- Never mind, Kirk, I have a question for you.”

“All questions are welcome, mam.”

Rory rolled her eyes, “What is that curtain doing back here?”

“Taylor re-instated it, since the video swapping tragedy of ’02, everything’s been fine, so Taylor thought it should be good to bring “The Rory Curtain” back.”

“Why’s it still called “The Rory Curtain”?”

“Because you were the one who thought of it.”

“I didn’t think of it! I never wanted a curtain! I just thought that it was wrong for a couple of eight year olds to be looking at a picture of a half naked woman!”

“Exactly, so now we’ve eliminated that possibility.”

“Why don’t you eliminate the elimination of the possibility because I don’t want to be recognised as the person behind this thing?”

“So you don’t want to take credit for the curtain?”

“No!”

“I’m sorry, you’re already involved, you can’t back out now.”

“Why- You- Can’t- Kirk!”

“Please keep your voice down.”

Rory gave a sigh of frustration and walked back to her curtain, grudgingly, but found her path was obstructed by a very amused Jess.

“How much of that did you hear?”

“I think I came in round about the ‘eliminate the elimination of the possibility’ part.”

“Great.” Rory deadpanned as she started to track down her desired movies.

“You know, I hear they’re tracking down that old picture of you to put at the front of the store again.”

“You haven’t changed a bit, have you?”

“I think you’re a little quick to judge.”

“Huh.”

“Hey, that’s my line.”

“Whatever.”

“Someone’s mad.”

“Can you do that video swap that you did a while ago?”

“Now, Rory, I think I’ve been setting a bad example for you.”

“Whatever.”

“Twice in one conversation, wow.”

“Will you just go away?”

“Sorry, it’s either stay here and bug you, or go back and serve Patty and Babette, so you’re stuck with me.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I guess you’ll just have to bug someone else, I’ve gotta get back home.”

“Too bad.”

“Bye Jess.” She said as she made her way over to the counter.


Jess turned in the direction of the bridge as he stepped out of the video store. He had know idea how he could be so calm around Rory when inside he was going crazy. It amazed him how he could always sink into a comfortable rhythm of conversation with her at the times when he felt uncomfortable, the comebacks and sarcastic comments just came naturally to him, no matter what his feelings were.

Luke still wasn’t back and he was having to run the diner by himself (he didn’t count Caesar as help). Well, as a pathetic way to get back at Luke, Jess decided to leave Caesar in charge and, for the heck of it, he’d approved Caesar’s cold pie and even said that he could once again serve his cold banana.

Jess reached the bridge and pulled out a cigarette. He liked that he didn’t have to feel guilty about smoking anymore, in fact, he was actually quite proud of himself for spending this much time in Stars Hollow without resorting to his old nicotine-d friends.

As he reached the end of the cigarette, he put it out on the bridge and threw the stub into the lake. He smirked, thinking of what Taylor would do if he saw him doing this.

He lit another cigarette and puffed away, enjoying the shapes that the smoke made in the air. He wasn’t sure where he stood with Rory, he knew he was still in love with her, that had always been a given, but he didn’t know how she stood with him. They never exactly had proper conversations, it was always light and funny, neither of them ever dared to delve deeper than that.

She’s probably still in love with that spoilt idiot. he thought, bitterly, as he drew out yet another cigarette.

Before he knew it, he’d gotten through the whole pack and he didn’t feel any better for it. [i]Liz better be back soon[i/] he thought, for she was the reason he came here in the first place and, so far, he hadn’t seen any of her.

He sighed and headed back to the diner.

[syd & vaughn 4ever 47]

that was one of the best!