Time After Time - A Gilmore Girls Fanfic #1

Chapter 3

Rory rubbed her eyes and blinked at Jess with a box full of Luke's Diner food in his arms and an insolent grin on his face. The entire situation was surreal, like a scene straight out of the past. "Excuse me, have I stumbled back into 2001?" she asked.

Without waiting for an invitation, Jess entered the house and headed straight for the living room, setting the box on the coffee table. Rory followed him, running her fingers through her tangled hair. "What are you doing here?"

"They sent me to bring you sustenance," Jess said.

"That's what you said back then too," she pointed out. "But, as it turned out, you were only using that as an excuse to come see me."

He flashed her a grin over his shoulder. "This time it's the truth. Sort of. Your mom asked me to come over and bring you food. She thought you might be hungry."

"My mom?" Rory asked incredulously. "My mother, Lorelai Gilmore, asked you to come to her house and bring her daughter food? Alone? With her daughter? My mom?"

He shrugged, unperturbed. "Lorelai Gilmore didn't, but Lorelai Danes did. What can I say? People change when they get married." He sat down on the couch and started unpacking the sacks, taking out container after container of food.

Rory's stomach grumbled at the sight of the feast. Jess had brought practically everything from the diner—hamburgers, mac and cheese, sandwiches. She might have even spied some donuts in there. "There's enough here to feed—"

"Twelve people," he said with a nod. "But I've seen you eat."

"Fine. Six." She stood back, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You okay?"

"Just deja vu," she said.

He looked her over, his eyes catching on her pajamas. "If it helps, you look sixteen again."

She looked down at her clothes, hoping her cheeks weren't turning red. Here she was, a thirty-two year old Yale graduate who still wore pajamas from high school. Well, at least she still fit in them. For the next few months, anyway.

She sat beside him and opened a container full of french fries then held it out to Jess. He took two and stuffed both in his mouth.

Rory looked over the spread, trying to decide what her stomach wanted more. She picked the burger but as soon as she opened the lid, she got a whiff of the red onion and dropped it back onto the table. She went for the mac and cheese instead but found the flavor of the cheese off-putting. She tried something else but that too didn't seem to agree with her taste buds. All the while Jess chewed quietly, watching her play food whack-a-mole.

"Stomach still bothering you?" he asked after some time. "You've never had a problem eating before. Usually you start at one end and hoover your way through."

Rory let out a surprised laugh. "Yeah. I feel like I'm having a bit of an identity crisis."

He looked through the sacks and pulled out one more container. "How about this?" he asked and handed it over.

Her nose wrinkled. "What is it? It's just leaves and more leaves and some other stuff."

"I think it's called a salad."

"Is it a palate cleanser, like when dogs eat grass when they have an upset stomach?" she asked with a teasing glint in her eyes.

He shook his head and handed over a plastic fork. "Just try it."

Eventually she accepted the container, opening it and giving the contents a careful sniff. Nothing. Her stomach didn't want to turn inside out. In fact, the sight of the tomatoes and boiled egg looked downright appetizing, which had never, ever happened before.