You Jump, I Jump | A Gilmore Girls Fanfiction

Chapter Six

Rory stood in the middle of the living room of a for sale house and made an unsure face, "I don't know. It's nice, but it just doesn't scream home. You know?" It was the third house she'd looked at that day, none of which she had liked. Being 32, with Logan, and a baby on the way, living in her childhood home wasn't realistic. She wanted a house that felt like home that she could raise her child in, but none of them seemed to be perfect.

"You want your house to scream at you?" Lane replied. She was there for moral support and to aid in the decision making process.

"Lane! I just want it to feel right. I'm sorry it's taking so long, but I've only looked at three houses. It's not an easy thing to choose."

"I know, you're right. And I know three houses isn't very many, but do you maybe think even just a little bit that the reason they don't feel like home is because you still think of Lorelai's place as home? You've lived in that house your whole life and maybe you're just not quite ready for it to not be your home."

Rory sighed, taking in Lane's words, which actually made quite a bit of sense. She wasn't ready to let go of her mom's house, the home she had grown up, the place that contained all her childhood memories. She realized she wasn't ready to take on the title of mother either. She wanted kids, and although she was 32, Rory didn't feel ready to become a mother to a tiny baby and be responsible for their childhood and upbringing. As she thought about it more, Rory realized that although she was moving out and finding a new life with Logan and their child, her mom's house would always be there, and more importantly Lorelai would always be there. She definitely wasn't going anywhere.

"I just want to look at a few more houses I have on my list," Rory said, holding up the paper which contained her potential house listings, "But you can go if you're busy. I've taken a lot of your day already. I can look at these next few by myself."

"Are you kidding? Steve and Quan have been driving me nuts. They never run out of energy. Trust me, you're doing me a favor," Lane said, laughing, but only sort of joking.

Rory smiled back at her and headed towards the front door to move on to the next house. Out the window she noticed a familiar car and a more familiar person packing a suitcase into the trunk. "Jess..." Rory said and without hesitation swung the door open and rushed across the street. "Jess!" She called.

Jess stopped for a minute, looking for who had called his name and saw Rory.

"Look--" Jess began, putting his hand out, as if to stop Rory from getting any closer, "You're with him, you're having a baby together, you have no interest in me. And I'm fine with it. I don't need you to give me a big apology or say something that's going to want to make me stay," he replied, exasperated. After a moment of silence, he sighed and smiled, but pain shown in his eyes, "But I really am happy you're happy Rory."

"Jess-- I--" stammered Rory, unsure of what to say, "I know you don't want an apology, but I have to say this. I didn't mean to hurt you. It wasn't fair to just spring it on you like that. I didn't even know that you were still in town, or even knew about the pregnancy... or expected you to want to be more than friends. I love being your friend, Jess and I'm so proud of who you've become and who you've helped me become, but the timing never worked out for us." Rory moved closer to Jess, who didn't fight it. "I really care about you Jess. I do. I want you to be happy. I hope that you can be. I'm just not sure if I'm a part of that happiness," Rory said, a part of her hurting to admit that.

"You are. You always have been," Jess said, looking up at Rory. "I've just gotta get out of here. I can't stay here forever. I've got to go home."

Rory nodded and turned to leave, but stopped herself, "Jess?" Jess pulled his head out of the backseat of his car and looked at Rory. "Goodbye," Rory smiled.