Swan Song Alternative

Jess woke up at 5:00 am, first cursing the fact that Luke had him on this
too-damn-early-wakeup schedule, then startled because he wasn’t sure where he
was. He felt a warm body next to him and spotted Coloniel Clucker at the end
of the bed and suddenly realized where he was and what had happened last night.
He rolled over to put an arm around Rory and met a bare back. **When did she
do THAT?** he thought to himself. **Damn, this girl is going to break my
resolve** he smirked. He ran his hand over the smooth skin of her back,
brushing aside her hair and kissed her neck gently. She stirred and rolled
over onto her back, her eyes opening sleepily. She reached her hands around
his neck. “Jess,” she said in a whisper.

“You’re beautiful,” he said back, kissing her lips. She let out a soft moan,
still half-asleep. Jess was in a quandary. **Why would she do this if she
didn’t want me to touch them? She’s half asleep, this would be taking
advantage of her. I don’t want her to suddenly wake up and freak out.**
“Rory,” Jess said a little louder, running his index finger along her cheek.
Her eyes focused a little more and she smiled.

“I want you, Jess,” she stated simply. His eyes searched hers to be sure. She
ran her hand across his chest, grazing his nipple with her thumb, sending
electric shocks all through him. He leaned in for a deep kiss as her hands
went around his neck and played with his hair. He kissed along her neck and
th
e hollow of her shoulder and she fell back in thelow low arching her back to
him. His hand gently grazed her breast and teased her now-hard nipple. She
let out another moan at the action, somewhat startling Jess. He moved his
fingers to the other breast and kissed down until he took her nipple in lip lips gently. She groaned even louder. **I would have never thought that she
would be a loud lover** Jess thought to himself. He let his tongue swirl
around her nipple and then the other as she writhed in delight, running her
hands through his hair and moaning. He came back up to her lips and she kissed
him hard, obviously caught up in the moment. When Jess pulled away, she pouted
and reached out for him.

“Rory, we’d better stop. I’ve got to get to the diner, and listen, if we don’t
stop here I don’t think I’ll be able to stop,” Jess said defeatedly. Rory
glanced over and saw his jockey shorts and could see what he meant. He swung
his legs over the bedside and sat up. Rory sat up behind him with her arms
around him, teasing his nipples. “Rory, I mean it,” he said and she giggled.
She ran her hands down his flat stomach and her pinky grazed the tip of his
erection. “Rory, I mean it,” he said standing up. She gave him a pouty face
and held her arms out. Jess snorted and laughed out load. “You’re impossible,
Gilmore,” he shook his head and reached for his pants on the floor, pulling
them back on.

“And you’re a tease, Mariano,” she said, fig heg her t-shirt and slipping it
back over her head. Jess shot her a look with one raised eyebrow and went into
the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and splashed some water on
his face. **Oh, yeah, right, I’M the tease!** he thought to himself. He tried
to do something with his hair but decided he’d just wait and take a shower when
he got back to the diner.

Jess came out of the bathroom and found Rory making coffee in the kitchen.
“Can you stay for coffee?” she asked, shuffling over to him in her oversized
bathrobe.

“Sorry, I’ve got to get to the diner,” he said, putting his arms around his
waist. She put her arms around his neck. “Why don’t you come by for breakfast
later, though,” he said giving her a long kiss.

“Okay,” she said back giving him another kiss. “Keep thinking what you’re
thinking,” she winked.

“I don’t have a choice,” he bantered back, giving her a quick kiss on the lips
then he went out the back door.

Rory sighed. **Oh god, what a night. I have to tell someone! Lane! Well,
it’s too early, but I’ll have to fill her in.**

Rory knew what she had to do next. Talk to her mom. Tell her what happened.
And ask about birth control.

Rory drank her coffee sitting at her desk with a textbook in front of her. She
couldn’t seem to focus - her eyes kept getting drawn back to her unmade bed,
and the events of the previous night and early morning. She sighed and smiled.
**God, I love him** she thought then caught herself. “Oh my god!” she
screamed to no one in particular, standing up and knocking her chair over.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” she squealed, picking up clothes and rushing
into the bathroom to take a shower. She quickly showered and dressed and
rushed out the door, barely having time to put her coat on.

She ran up to the Kim residence and rang the bell. Lane’s mother answered.

“It’s very early, why are you here so very early?” Mrs. Kim announced loudly.

“Oh, I need to talk to Lane if that’s okay, Mrs. Kim, it’s kind of important,”
Rory said out of breath.

“You in trouble?” Mrs. Kim asked, squinting her eyes at Rory.

“Oh no, no, no, just some good news I need to share,” she said pleadingly.

“Okay, five minutes,” Mrs. Kim allowed her into the house. Rory ran up the
stairs to Lane’s room and knocked loudly. Lane opened it and Rory rushed her
back into her room and closed the door.

“I love Jess!” Rory announced excitedly.

“What?” Lane asked in confusion.

“Oh my god, I was sitting there with my coffee, and thinking of what happened
when we woke up together this morning, and ….” Rory was pacing and flailing her
arms wildly, ranting.

“What?!” Lane asked again excitedly, interrupting the rant. “Wait, you slept
together?! Does Lorelai know????”

“No! No, I mean yes, I mean, we slept together as in sleeping, not as in, you
know, SLEPT, and no, my mom is in New York with Alex” Rory tried to explain.

“So you slept in the same bed and then he told you he loves you?” Lane asked
clasping her hands together in excitement.

“No, he didn’t actually say it, but you should have seen him last night at my
grandmother’s. He was so polite and friendly to her. He really made a great
impression. And he told her that he’s already applied to both Uconn and So
Conn State to study creative writing and will go to whichever one is closest to
the school that I pick!”

“Wait, are you sure he was Jess?” Lane asked. “I mean did you ever see
‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’? Should we go look for pods? Because that
does NOT sound like the Jess we know.”

“I know, I know, but he did it for me, he was so wonderful, then we came home
and my mom is in New York and Luke was staying over Nicole’s, and we just
decided to stay together, and although we didn’t do IT, it was so nice, just
being in his arms, and waking up with him, except for the morning breath thing,
but I’m not sure you can really get around that…” Rory started to rant again.

“Wow! So go back to the ‘I love Jess’ part”

“Well, I don’t know. I was just sitting there thinking about all the things
that have happened, and I just thought, ‘God, I love that guy’ and then I
freaked! I mean, I never just had that thought with Dean, not like, okay,
that’s how I feel now. So what do I do about it? Should I tell him?”

“Ooh, I don’t know if you should tell him…I mean, what if he isn’t ready for
that? What if he freaks out and breaks up with you? I don’t know if Jess is
prepared…” Lane said cautiously. Rory sulked a little.

“Yeah, you may be right. I guess I’ll wait until he says it,” Rory said
dejectedly, wondering how long it would be until that happened, IF it would
EVER happen.

“Hey, don’t get upset, he’ll say it when he’s ready, he will, SOON,” Lane tried
to reassure her, but knew that her wheels were spinning and she’d be thinking
about it for a while.

“So what are you going to tell your mom?” Lane asked trying to change the
subject (a little).

“I’m not sure, but I have to tell her he spent the night, I mean, I’m sure half
of Stars Hollow was watching the house to see when he dropped me off and when
he got home, you know how nosey everybody is around here,” Rory stated and Lane
nodded her agreement.

“Time’s up!” Mrs. Kim yelled up the stairs. Both Lane and Rory jumped.

“Gotta go! Thanks for letting me rant!” Rory said, giving Lane a quick hug and
ran down the stairs and out the door.

Rory walked across the street, thinking of the things that Lane had said.
Before she even realized it, she was at the door to Luke’s. She came in and
sat at the counter. Jess brought over a mug and filled it. “Good morning,
sunshine!” he said a little more enthusiastically than usual, leaning across
the counter for a kiss. Most of the townspeople in the diner turned and looked
at him when he said it.

“He “Hey,” she answered, still lost in thought.

“So, do you know what you want?” Jess asked, pulling out his order book.

“Huh? What I want?” Rory stammered, not thinking about breakfast, but about
him, about his body, about his love and affection.

“You know, breakfast? Pancakes? French toast?” Jess said with a laugh.

“Oh, I’ll just have a muffin and a coffee to go, I’ve got a lot of studying to
do before my mom gets home, so I need to go,” she stammered.

“Okey dokey,” Jess said with a puzzled look, putting a muffin in a bag and
filling up a to-go container.

Luke said out of breath as he rushed into the diner from the apartment, still
buttoning his flannel shirt. “Oh, hey Rory, how’s it going?”

“It’s going just fine, Uncle Luke!” Jess said with a smile as he took the
coffee pot and went to dto do refills. He hesitated briefly to swat Luke on
the arm in a ‘hey-pal’ sort of way.

“What’s wrong with him?” Luke asked Rory.

“Um, beats me, well, gotta go,” Rory said in a rush, trying not to blush too
deeply for Luke to notice. “Bye Jess!” she said as she ran out the door with
her muffin and coffee.

He looked up from the cup he was pouring. “Bye.” He wondered why she was
acting to strange. In the back of his mind, he wondered if she was regretting
what had happened this morning, maybe that’s why she’s so skittish.

“What’s wrong with Rory?” Luke asked as Jess came back around the counter.

“Beats me,” Jess shrugged.

“Come on,” Luke growled, dragging Jess into the storeroom and closing the door.

“Spill it, what did you do to her?” Luke was pissed.

“Nothing! Geesh, why would you think that her mood is my fault?” Jess threw
his hands up in disgust.

“Jess…” Luke growled.

“Look, we spent the night together last night - but NOTHING happened,” Jess
emphasized the last two words.

“What?! Jess! Geez, you can’t be doing this! Lorelai is going to freak out
again, and it’ll be all MY FAULT!” Luke threw his hands up too.

“Look, can we just drop this? I don’t like the idea of discussing my sex life
with you…” Jess said irritated.

Luke narrowed his eyes. “I don’t want to HEAR you talking about having a sex
life with Rory!”

“Geez, Luke, I’m not going to hurt her. I love her too much to do anything
that she isn’t ready for, so let’s just drop it, okay?” Jess said with finality.

“What? What did you say? Did you say that you love her? Have you told her
that?” Luke said in complete surprise.

“Huh? Oh…well, no, I haven’t said that yet, I mean, it’s not something you
just blurt out, like ‘hey, nice weather we’re having, oh by the way I love
you’,” Jess stammered.

Luke crossed his arms. “Jess, listen, if you wait until the PERFECT time to
tell her, you might miss the chance to ever do it, believe me…”

“Like you did with Lorelai?” Jess raised an eyebrow.

Luke sigh“Yea“Yeah, like me, I had a couple chances and never did it….”

“You still can, you know, you should tell her how you feel about her,” Jess
said sympathetically.

Luke cleared his throat. “Look, we’re not here to talk about my problems, you
need to talk to Rory, let her know how you feel.”

“Okay, I’ll go over after my shift is over and talk to her about it,” Jess
said, giving in.

“Good. Let’s get back to work,” Luke said and they left the storeroom.

Meanwhile, Rory spent most of the morning in her room, doing homework. She did
her best to keep her mind on the subject at hand, but Jess kept creeping back.
She eventually moved all of her books into the living room, since she couldn’t
concentrate with the bed right in front of her.

“Lucy, I’m home! And you got some ‘splaining to do!” Lorelai roared as she
came in the door.

“Huh?” Rory asked, wondering if Babette had seen Jess leave this morning and
had already cornered Lorelai to tell her.

“Oh nothing, I just need coffee, and you know how the ‘I Love Lucy’ references
just pop out of my mouth when I need coffee,” she said dropping all of her
luggage.

“Where’s Alex?” Rory asked, peeking up from behind

“He had to go pick up his kids for the week, so he had to leave right away.
So, how about that coffee? Luke’s?” she said flopping down on the couch next
to Rory, causing half of her books to fly off the couch. “Oops,” she said
trying to pick the books up in some order.

“Hey mom, can we, um, talk first?” Rory asked tentatively.

“Sure hun, what about?” Lorelai asked, obviously not thinking about her curt
warning to Rory the day before.

“Well, I wanted to tell you about last night…” she started.

“Oh!!! The dinner with Emily! Oh my god, how did it go? Was Jess a jerk?
Was Emily a witch? Oh! Tell me, tell me everything!” she squealed while
bouncing up and down on the couch, spilling even more books.

“First, you need to calm down! Second, Jess was great. He got there late, but
it was because of traffic. And he was all dressed up nice, and he was very
polite to grandma, and I found out that he’s applied to two colleges to be near
me, and he wants to take creative writing and become a writer and… he was just
so wonderful and…” she hesitated and started to cry a little.

“What’s wrong? Oh my god, did he hurt you? Did he start a fight or something?
I’ll kill him!” Lorelai started to freak out.

“No!!! Nothing like that!! He was perfect. Grandma loved him, she even asked
him to come back when Grandpa is back in town,” she tried to calm down.

“So what’s the problem, sweets? It sounds like things are going great!”
Lorelai was confused.

Rory cleared her throat. “Well, things are going really, really great. I
mean, really great. And I know you’re going to be mad…but he slept over last
night…”

“What?!! Rory! I’m so disappointed in you! I told you this would happen!”
she stood up flailing her arms.

“Mom! Nothing happened! I mean, not nothing, but not THAT,” Rory pleaded.

“Okay, so THAT didn’t happen. What DID happen?” Lorelai sat down and put her
hands in her face. Rory sat there, wringing her hands in her lap.

“Well…we slept in my bed together. But I had my pajamas on and he had his
boxers on. Well, I took my top off, but it wasn’t his idea for me to do that,
he was sleeping when I did that, oh geez, that really makes me sound like a
slut, doesn’t it? Oh geez, I was the one who wanted to go further and he said
no, and he stopped me, he said that I was moving too fast and that my first
time should be special because it wasn’t special when he did it for the first
time and he regrets it, and then he said something about there should be
flowers and candles and music…”

“Okay, okay, take a breath, sweets,” Lorelai said, her eyes sympathetic to
Rory’s rant.

Rory caught her breath. “…And then this morning, he woke up and saw that I
wasn’t wearing my top and…”

“Okay, stop there…” Lorelai interrupted holding out her hand in a ‘stop’
motion. “I can figure out what happened. But all other clothing stayed on,
right?”

“Yes. Second base stuff only,” Rory said with a nod.

“Okay, then. I guess we need to talk about the future. Things that will
eventually happen. I’ll make an appointment for the doctor and we’ll get you
on…birth control,” Lorelai stammered on those last two words. “Oh, my baby,
going on birth control, agh!” she threw her hands up.

“Um, yeah, I guess that would be a good idea,” Rory paused, not sure if she
should say it or not. “Mom, I love Jess,”

“You love him. Oh. Hmmm. And he loves you?” Lorelai was also trying to calm
down, but the subject matter wasn’t helping.

“Well, he hasn’t said so, but I’m pretty sure he feels that way, I don’t know,
I’ve been so confused since this morning, and I talked to Lane and she said
that I shouldn’t say it first because he might not want to hear it, then I saw
him at the diner and I could barely say a word to him, and then LUKE! I saw
Luke and totally freaked and ran out of there…” Rory put her face in her hands.
“God, why I do I keep screwing everything up?” she moaned, fighting back tears.

Lorelai smoothed her hair. “Hey, you haven’t screwed up anything. Talk to him
later. And if it feels right, say it, don’t worry that he hasn’t said it
first, just say it. And if he doesn’t want to hear it, well then, that’s his
loss. You might be surprised. I would hate to see you not say it and then
regret having the chance to,” Lorelai said thoughtfully.

Rory studied her mother. “Is there someone you wished to you said it to, but
didn’t?”

“Well…naw! Forget it, it’ll never happen,” sai said quietly.

“Is it Luke?” Rory asked quietly back.

“Yeah,” Lorelai stated and got up to bring her luggage up the stairs to her
room. Rory heard her close her bedroom door gently and flop on the bed. Rory
just sighed. She would not let this go. She had to tell him.


Rory and Lorelai were both sitting on the couch in the living room watching
television around 2:30 that afternoon when the doorbell rang. They looked at
each other with wide eyes.

“Mailman?” Lorelai asked.

“No. Don’t they always ring twice?” Rory answered.

“Pizza?” she asked.

“Not unless Pete is telepathic - we didn’t order pizza,” Rory answered.

“Mass murderer?” she mused.

“Then YOU need to answer the door!” Rory barked.

“Boyfriend?” Lorelai teased. She never got tired of the banter.

“Looks that way,” Rory said getting up to finally answer the door.

“Hey,” Jess said, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“Hey,” Rory answered, giving him a quick kiss.

“So do you have some time?” Jess asked, a little meekly. Rory studied him.

“Um, sure, do you want to come in?”

“Sure,” Jess said looking around.

“Oh, hey Jess! Wow, Rory, look at the time, I am totally late for that
appointment!” Lorelai looked at her wrist even though she wasn’t wearing a
watch.

“What appointment?” Rory asked.

“You know, the one where I have to leave the house for a hour foshe she
remarked, giving Rory a wink as she walked by. “So I’ll see you in about an
hour, bye!” Lorelai said, grabbing her keys, purse and jacket and walking out
the door. They heard the Jeep start up and head out of the driveway.

“So,” Rory said quietly. “Let’s sit,” she motioned to the couch.

“Sit, yeah,” Jess said as they awkwardly sat down together. Jess turned
towards Rory and slipped his arms around her waist.

“So, you know what I’ve been thinking about all day?” Jess smirked.

“Well, I’ve got a pretty good idea,” Rory answered, putting her arms around his
neck.

“Oh yeah?” he kissed her softly.

“Yeah,” she replied softly, kissing him.

“I bet you don’t,” he teased.

“I bet I do,” she teased back.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t,” he teased back.

“Jess!” she wasn’t sure how to answer that.

“Well…” he hesitated, tracing the outline of her face with his index finger.
“I’ve been thinking about how lucky I am to be with you, that you’re the
kindest person I’ve ever met, we share so many of the same interests, we can
talk about anything or nothing, your so smart and so beautiful…”

Rory was blushing furiously. “Jess,” she interrupted. “What is all this
about? I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you talk before!” she smiled.
“Not that I’m complaining, I mean, but I could easily say all of the same
things about you, you know,” she traced her index finger along his face like he
had done.

“Rory,” he said a little louder than he wanted to, interrupting her. “What I’m
trying so hard to say is….well, geesh, I never thought it was be this hard,”
Jess sighed.

Rory wrinkled her forehead, confused. “Jess, you’re not breaking up with me,
are you?” she said with a little cry in her voice.

“No! Oh God, no! I’m trying to tell you that I love you!” He shouted, then
let out a huge sign of relief. **Thank God, I finally said it, it’s out
there** he thought to himself. He looked into her eyes as he said it, trying
to read her reaction.

“Oh, Jess, I love you too!” She gushed, hugging him tightly.

“Really?” he asked, releasing himself from her so he could look at her. He
broke into a real smile, mirroring hers.

“Yes, really! I’ve been thinking about that since this morning! And I didn’t
know if I should say it first, and Lane said I shouldn’t tell you in case you
didn’t feel that way or you might be scared, but my Mom said that I should say
it anyway because she regrets not saying it to Lu…” she stopped short in her
rant.

“Luke?” Jess finished. Rory nodded.

“Yeah,” Rory answered. Jess laughed out loud. “What?”

“Well, after you ran out of the diner this morning, Luke dragged me in the
storeroom to lecture me on how to behave around you, basically flipping out
when I told him I spent the night with you. I told him I would never hurt you
because I love you too much, and he flipped out about THAT. Then he went all
Dr. Phil on me and told me that I should tell you right away and not wait for a
special moment, because if you wait, you may never get that moment. And he
admitted that he was talking about Lorelai!” Jess and Rory both laughed,
shaking their heads.

“How on earth are we going to get those two together?” Rory asked, running her
hands through his hair.

“Don’t know,” Jess answered, again slipping his hands around her waist as he
started kissing her neck. Roryned ned her head back, enjoying it. “Did your
mom say she’d be gone for an hour?” he whispered between kisses.

“Yeah, what do you have in mind?” Rory said seductively.

“I think you know…” Jess answered.



**THE END**