Recently find out that I love to write! I'm addicted to One Chicago, Arrow and a lot more... Eternal fan of OTH and GG! Jesse Lee Soffer and similar awesome man usually apear here!
how many celebrities turning out to be majorly disappointing will it take for people to stop investing all their hopes for social justice in individual millionaires from the entertainment industry. just wondering
In the middle of the night, Jess heard her going to the bathroom. Minutes later he heard her trying the fridge and drinking something. Probably water. Clearly, she was having problems sleeping. She came back to bed but he could hear her tossing and turning. He fought the urge to ask her if she was ok. Instead he turned his back on her and tried to sleep. Minutes later he heard her get up again. Silently she crossed the room and went to the bookcase, he could hear her picking out a book. Smiling Jess sat up and rubbed his face asking her in a husky tone: "Are you ok?"
She jumped in surprise. "Sorry I... I can't sleep! I'm sorry that I woke you!"
"It's ok! Can I help you with something?" She looked sleepy but still beautiful like she always looked to him.
"No Jess it's ok, I just... Well, I probably will read a bit and then I will end up falling asleep," She said, turning her back and heading to bed.
"Hey! Come here!" He called.
"What?" She asked surprised.
"Come here. I will help you sleep."
"Oh, Jess..." She said casting her head down.
He laughed. "Not like that Rory! Just come here ok!" He opened his arms to her.
She blushed with how dirty her mind was but ended up leaving the book on her bed and walked to his bed and lay down close to him. It was a single bed after all, not much free space. He hugged her around her waist and pulled her even closer to him. They moved and cuddled until they found a comfortable position for both of them. She fell asleep almost immediately.
The morning came quickly and Jess cursed himself because he totally forgot to close the blinds that were now letting the morning sun enter, waking them up. But apparently, Rory was not affected by the sunlight because she was still in a deep sleep. Raising his head to watch her, trying not to feel weird about watching her sleep like that, his night thoughts came to his mind again. He fell for Rory for her head not her looks, but she was indeed beautiful and facing her like this with her messy hair and that angelical face he just breathed in and whispered amazingly beautiful to himself. He had to fight the urge to caress her face, and just in that moment he noticed that they had their hands internewed making him smile to himself and enjoying that little moment for a bit more before he had to wake her up.
This was totally new to them, cuddling like this in the bed, holding hands and sleeping next to each other. They never did that, their relationship didn't get that far. But he had to confess he was a bit nervous to be so close to her. Feeling her body so close to him, it was amazing but scary, they had never been together as adults but here and now he was certain that everything he thought he had put behind him with his feelings for her was not behind him after all. The truth was nine years had passed since the last time they kissed. And it was a kiss that shouldn’t count because she was in love with another guy.
He felt her move under his arms and tried to get mentally ready for the awkward moment that would come next.
Rory turned her head quickly to acknowledge where she was but she didn’t take her hand out of his, looking at him and with a relaxed smile. "Good Morning!" She greeted him.
He smiled shyly at her. "So... did you had a good nights sleep?"
"Well, apparently you are a good pillow, because I slept like I haven’t for a long time." She replied with her smile still dancing in her eyes.
"Glad to hear that!" He said caressing her hair.
His gesture was spontaneous and all this was very different but all very normal too. Surprisingly nothing felt awkward. Even though they were two almost strangers that hadn’t seen each other for nine years or more and were in the same small bed with a minimal amount of clothes on. This was the most intimate moment they actually had. Body to body, skin to skin, like they had never been because after all, they were just teens when they were actually boyfriend and girlfriend and although their story seems long they didn't date for a long period.
Jess lay his gaze on her and tried to keep this new comfortable for them going. “So should I go get something to eat? It's almost 9 am."
"That's too early for me!" She said smirking and cuddling on the bed.
"So we hang out here or do you want to go back to sleep?" The smile on his face showed her how happy he was to be there with her and she couldn't feel any better either.
"Well if you don't mind being my pillow for a while longer we could cuddle here a bit yes!" She said trying to read his reaction and wondering to herself what was she doing.
"So... You are using me? Ok than! Good to know." He joked.
"Yes, basically I am!" She said, laying on his chest. "You are cozy and we fit perfectly like this!" She thought again to herself that she was playing with fire but she was enjoying this new normal so much that she wasn't ready to leave the bed for now. It was too good there.
He laughed into her hair. " Ok let's cuddle here a little more than. I know you will be hungry soon so...” He finished his sentence with a kiss on the top of her head and an arm slug around her back.
"This does feel good doesn't it?" She asked caressing his arm.
"Yes, it does!" He muttered softly.
She raised her head and faced him, pausing before she spoke. "What are we doing Jess?" She asked, looking at him straight in the eyes.
"What? This?" He asked before he gently grabbing her chin and kissing her slowly. He deepened the kiss feeling her respond to him. Putting her hands around his neck she managed to push herself closer to him to feel him better.
When they finally fell apart, still with their foreheads resting on each other, Jess thought back to their first kiss. "I believe it's called kissing and surprisingly we still are pretty good at it! That part still works." He said with a smirk.
She smiled against his mouth as she also thought back to their real first kiss too. This time she is the one who kisses him, pulling him closer to her once again.
They both started at each other in silence after the laugh. For sure Luke was right, this really felt like dejá vu.
Jess was the one who broke the silence. After no one really noticed how long, Jess spoke and that make Rory shiver. "Do you want a cup of coffee?"
Still recovering from hearing his voice and from the effect that it had on her, she smiled and accepted. "Yes, that's a good idea. Maybe we should sit?"
"Ok far away from the window then. You know how Stars Hallow works..." Jess said with a smirk and headed to a table close to the corner that no one ever used.
Rory was still surprised with her reaction to him. She never thought that seeing him would have this effect on her. Once again he was the one who broke the silence. That was something that proved that Jess was really a different guy from the grumpy teenager all full of himself that he used to be. And that too made Rory want more of this Jess. She really wanted to get to know him again.
"So you're back then?" Jess asked. He was really curious about this change in her life. He kept up to date with her work and she was an excellent writer and he always liked what she wrote. Apparently she was doing a great job in DC. He really was surprised to see her here. But for sure it was a good surprise, the kind of surprise that put a stupid smile on his face and he couldn't it take it off as much as he tried. He was more than happy to see her and he didn't know that seeing her would make such an impression on him. For a moment he traveled back to their first meeting and that feeling of "I like this girl" that he felt the first time they saw each other and kept feeling for months until they finally hooked up.
Rory noticed Jess was analyzing her, trying to understand if this coming back thing was good or bad. “Yeah apparently I'm back."
"Are you on vacation?" Jess asked, already knowing that was not very accurate because if she was on vacation she would be at her mother's house. This seemed a lit bit more permanent.
"You could call it that. But I was forced into it." She added, smiling.
"Forced? How so?"
She kept her smile. She was not ready for this conversation at all. But he was here in front of her and he was not going to back off until she told him what happened. She knew him too well and for that too, it was hard to show him that she had failed. She knew that he would not judge her for sure but it was hard to admit your failures, especially to someone that always looked at her as a role model.
"Well, I'm without work for now. I got fired!" Rory concentrated on the coffee that Luke had brought right before she spoke. She didn't want to face him but she ended up checking his reaction. He looked shocked. She didn't understand if he was disappointed with her or not. But for sure he was surprised. But he didn't give his game away and calmly asked her, "What happened?"
"Budget issues. I was the youngest and they had to let go of someone so I was the one who had to leave."
"Oh that does not really seem fair on their part. You are a much better journalist than some of your older colleagues." He noticed her surprised look. "And yes I read almost everything you wrote and some of what your colleagues write too."
She gave a teasing smile.
"What? It's a good newspaper!" He added, smiling too and trying to not give to much meaning to his actions.
Rory knew he read her work, especially online, because of his comments from time to time. Not with his real name, but with his nickname. Just she could notice that Dodger was Jess Mariano, that was something between them. Dodger and Book Tease were their nicknames since the beginning and both of them never stopped using it online. It was their thing and neither her nor him thought about changing it. They fit perfectly.
They keep up the small talk for awhile. They shared mostly stuff from their professional life. Rory told him about how she felt when she realized that she was the one who was leaving. The struggle with the decisions ahead. The hard decision of coming back home, the job hunt and feeling like a loser when she entered her mother’s house with all of her stuff again. He told her about the books and Truncheon and how he was struggling too to write the new book and the pressure that he still felt to be good after all this time. He confessed to her that he still felt like a loser sometimes too. He told her that he ended up finishing school and went to community college to get a degree, a revelation that made her jump from her chair and hug him. Because that was something that she always had wanted for him. She was surprised Luke didn't tell her that and Jess told her he asked Luke to not tell anyone. Not because it was a secret but just because he didn't want, as always, to make a big thing about it.
Time passed without them even noticing. Luke kept bringing them coffee and food from time to time and watched them with a big smile on his face from behind the counter. He was really happy to witness this encounter and seeing both so into each other made him thrilled inside. Secretly he had always wished that they ended up together. He never believed that it would really happen one day but seeing them today like this was really enjoyable.
When they finally notice that the time had passed they looked to the window that separated Taylor’s crazy shop from Luke’s and there they were. Kirk and Babbet sat on a chair watching them like they were watching some tv show. Rory and Jess broke out laughing.
How long have those two been standing there?" Jess asked Luke.
"I believe they have been watching you two for more than an hour. Taylor already brought them popcorn's and soda like in the movies," he said laughing and shaking his head while he cleaned the counter.
"Well now you know that this town is still the same. How come we decided that here was a good place to come back again?" Rory asked smiling.
After all this Jess encounter ended up being pretty natural. They kept talking like they had seen each other two weeks ago and that felt really good.
She felt relieved to talk all of her frustrations and insecurities out and he was just the listener that she needed. He always looked at her like she was way better than him and showing him how her career just went from ten to zero kind of let her breathe again. She could fail and could lose and he was the only one that looked at her totally knowing how a person could feel when she lost. He always thought that he was a failure and he was not good enough for her. She always showed him the contrary and it was her that made him believe that he could write. And he did and now he was an almost famous author. He had told her that himself, so sharing her defeat with him was a relief. She always felt a little uncomfortable with the expectations that he, and manly her mother and Luke, put on her. Now it was more like they were related because they had lived the same feeling of defeat that takes you down and rips your dreams apart. And now he, the one that already lived this, would help her raise her head up and get back in the fight again. It was great to meet him here after all. Now she finally felt that she had direction.
He looked at her smile and thought back to the day they meet at her house. The day, that for some reason he couldn't tell at the time, he knew that Stars Hallow could be a good place to be. She was the only thing that kept him from running from this town and the one who without saying a word dared him to give a new begging in his life a chance. He regretted a lot about that time, mostly things related to her. His failures had repercussions in their lives, in their life together. They had something good going on and he through it all away. But for her, he turned his life around and made himself a respectful man. He would not confess that she was the main reason, but he was pretty sure everybody knew that she was a major influence on him becoming a published author. He knew he had played an important role in her life too. He knew that their conversation about her dropping out of Yale triggered something in her that made her turn her life around.
He open a big smile and once again broke the silence between them. "So that means that you are living upstairs right?"
She turned her gaze from the window to look at him. Her eyes were still smiling but her face was more serious now. "I was unpacking when you arrived. But if you need the apartment for some reason I could leave. For real Jess, it's your uncle's house."
He smiled at her. The smile that was almost just a smirk, the smile that among many other things made her fall for him when they were young.
"No Rory. I will not do that to you. I, better that anyone else, knows how you must feel right now. But I was planning to staying the night and if you don't mind and if I remember right, there are two beds so we could both use the apartment... "
"Oh!" Her expression closed down a little. Clearly, she was not expecting this situation.
"… It's just for the night... and if that it's a problem with you I totally understand." The smirk was gone and he started rubbing his hands on his pants. Clearly, he had crossed some line here and maybe he should not have suggested this arrangement. "Look it's ok! I can manage myself.”
“No... Jess! It's ok. Of course we could sleep one night in the same apartment. There are two beds and we are adults. It's ok really!" She said in a low tone and with a shy smile. And with that she got up. "And if we intent to sleep this night at all I need to finish unpacking and organize all that mess that I created upstairs."
Jess watched her leave and go straight to the door behind the counter. He stayed at the table for bit processing all that they had talked about. Today they would sleep in the same space. He had never been so close to her during the night. He never thought that this, her, seeing her again could affect him so much. The last time he saw her was that day she was in Philly for his book launch. He sent her an invitation to his other book launches but she was always working in places far from Philly. She always answered him and supported him but they ended up never meeting in person. They from time to time exchanged messages but not more than that, just keeping in touch.
"So what was the arrangement?" Luke asked taking Jess from his memories.
"What? Oh! Yeah, she... she said it was ok and I will use my old bed and she will use yours." Jess answered without looking at his uncle, focusing on the movement outside.
"And what do you think Amber will think about that?" Luke asked again.
"Oh, Amber... She probably doesn't mind because she left two months ago."
Luke stared at him surprised. This girl was his second real girlfriend that he knew of but Jess seemed very into to this relation. They had been living together for more than a year. "What happen?"
Jess smiled at his uncle. He really couldn't explain what had happened. They just apparently grew apart. "Well, you know... it just stopped making sense. She felt I was distant and I probably was. I liked her a lot but after a while, we stopped talking and for no reason we just started to be two separate people sharing an apartment and not a couple and one day she decided it was time to leave... and when I got home she was gone." He still focused his gaze outside.
"And did you talk after that?"
"Yes, I called her to try and understand what had happened. I probably should have put up a fight but I didn't. You know me... I... Well, there is no more Amber. I'm living solo again."
Luke smirked. "That's convenient!"
Jess looked at him. "Don't be like that. We are adults, not two horny teenagers anymore and a lot of things have happened since then. We are in a good place and I don't intent to ruin that."
Luke smiled to himself, turning his back on Jess and got back to his work mumbling, “ok.”
Jess went back to the counter, picked his bag from where he had left it and asked Luke. "Do you think I should go upstairs and help her out?"
Luke made a face. "She made a mess upstairs. You know the Gilmore's and maybe you should give her some time to put her things in place... don't you think?"
Jess nodded. "You're right. I'm going to the bridge, maybe I can write a little." And with that Jess left without waiting for Luke's answer.
Rory checked the window and saw Jess heading down the sidewalk. For a beat she wondered where he could be going but she found out pretty quick when he turned in the direction of the river. He was heading to the bridge. Their bridge. Jess always liked that spot and he used to hide there a lot. If she made a bet he was probably going to write. Knowing all that without even asking him made her smile. She turned to her mess and hurried to arrange all her stuff. She didn’t want him to see all her stuff laying around. They would be sharing the apartment and she wanted him to feel at home and not like he was a burden or an intruder in here.
As soon as Jess got to the bridge a bunch of memories came to him. Uncle Luke bringing him to the river, Rory’s picnic basket, his lone walks to that place, Rory meeting him there when he disappeared. She always knew where he was when he vanished! And that was always one of the many things that made him love her. With a smile on his face, he pulled the tablet from his messenger bag and started writing. This place has a really good energy, he should come here more often, he thought to himself. He didn't notice the time passing and he just stopped writing because he noticed the light was fading. He decided to head back, Luke was probably worried about him at this time.
"He’s probably at the bridge, Luke!" Rory said still arranging some space for her last bit of clothes in one of the drawers that Luke pointed out as free for her to use.
"He usually doesn't stay there for so long!" Luke said worriedly.
"He said he was struggling to write the next book, maybe the bridge did the trick for him!" Rory suggested.
"You think?" Luke asked while looking around at her progress. Luke had brought her another cup of coffee. Today she had lost count of the amount of coffee she had drank.
Lorelai had passed through the diner when she was on her way home, to check on her and give Luke a kiss. Rory promised her mother that she would have dinner with her and Lorelai left the diner straight to Doozies to pick some pop tarts.
Rory nor Luke told Lorelai about Jess and the apartment sharing arrangement. Neither one knew how she would react if she knew so even without talking about it they both omitted the subject of Jess and she didn't notice his truck outside so she didn’t know that he was even in Stars Hallow. They almost bumped into each other but Lorelai was so distracted about what dinner she should order that she didn't even notice him coming from the bridge and entering the diner seconds after she left.
"Well finally!" Luke said relieved.
"Hey! I was on the bridge. Writing!"
"Yes, Rory suggested that," Luke informed him, smiling again. It was really not just a smile, it was more a smirk like a teasing smile.
Jess stayed quiet for a moment. Then smiled to himself and mumbled, "apparently she still knows my habits!"
Luke continued his cleaning process while Jess sat at the table he and Rory used before and started reading what he had written so far. It wasn't bad but he was not sure if that was what he wanted.
"Can I bring you something?" Luke asked.
Jess turned his attention from the tablet to focus on his uncle. "Do you think it's ok for me to go upstairs?"
Luke smiled at Jess’ insecurities. In the end, he would always be his shy and insecure nephew. "I think it's not a problem, no."
"Maybe I should bring dinner, don't you think?"
Luke smiled again, he was very happy to assist with this reconnection. "That's an excellent idea. Do you want something in particular? Or burger and fries are enough for you?"
" Yes, that's good. And put cheddar on Rory's and a side of bacon. You know she loves bacon… And what pie do you have? Blueberry pie, do you have?" Jess asked in excitement.
Luke laughed at him. "Yes, I have blueberry pie and don't worry I still know how Rory likes her burger."
Jess cast his gaze down and smirked at himself, going back to his table and to his reading. "I will be waiting here."
Luke fixed their dinner and put on Jess’ table a to go bag. "Here it is! Enjoy!"
Jess looked at him, smiled, put his tablet in his messenger bag, picked his duffel bag and the dinner up and headed straight for the stairs. Without looking at his uncle and in a low tone of voice Jess warned, "Uncle Luke please don't read too much into this. We are just good friends. "
Luke didn't answer him, just nodded his head in agreement with a satisfied look on his face.
Rory had almost everything in place. There were still two boxes of books that she really didn’t know where to put so she decided that she could leave them in the boxes for awhile until she decided what to do with them. She was putting some clothes in the cabinet when she heard the knock.
"Yes? Come in!"
Jess entered with the "to go bag" with Luke's symbol on it which made Rory break into a big smile.
"Luke thought you could eat something." Jess said, putting the food on the table.
Rory looked at him and once again traveled back in time, to that one night when Jess appeared at her front porch, with one of those" to go bags" from Luke's with dinner for her and Paris claiming that it was Luke who had to sent him. The next day she found out that the food was all Jess’ idea and not Luke’s. Maybe she was wrong but this time it seemed the same. "So did you even tell Luke that you had brought this up here?"
He smiled but didn't face her. "He was the one who prepared the food."
"So you brought me dinner right?" She said, teasing him.
"You have to eat. I just brought the food up. Nothing much," he said still not facing her and organizing the table.
"You brought me dinner... Thank you!" She teased again.
"Oh come on is just food!" He finally looked at her. They both started at each other. "A little déjà vu again right?" He asked.
She nodded . "Yes and a good one."
"I was just a cocky kid at that time."
"Yes you were, but you always were good for me, and in the end your intentions were good."
"Too bad you and Luke were the only ones who noticed that." Jess said with some regret.
"You didn't make it easy for any one to like you, did you?"
"Yeah. Like I said, cocky kid!" Jess said picking up his burger. "Let's eat?"
"Oh yes! Let's eat. I'm starving!" Rory took a bite of her burger and rolled her eyes in pleasure. "God I missed Luke's food!"
Jess laughed at her reaction and kept eating. When he looked at her again she was making an awkward face, making him question the quality of the food, did he forget something that she didn't like. "What? Not good?"
"My mother!" She says in a worried tone.
Jess kept staring at her clueless about what she meant.
"I promised my mother that I’d have dinner with her. Bummer! She will get upset with me. She is pretty overprotective this days."
"I'm sure Luke will tell her something about this."
"But I have to caller anyway,” she said trying to find her phone. She called her and waited for her to answer. "Mom? I'm sorry!"
"No problem kid, Luke told me about your unexpected visitor." Lorelai said.
But Rory noticed she was not so relaxed about it as she wanted to sound.
"Mom are you really ok with this?" Rory asked already knowing the answer.
"Yes, Rory it's ok. Just … Well, can we have dinner tomorrow instead?"
"Yes, mom of course." This was unexpected but good. "I promise that tomorrow we can dinner together. Bye, mom!"
"Bye sweetie!"
"Ok these days I think Luke understands my decisions and my position better than my mom. I don't get it how she doesn't see that I need my time to put my head together." Rory said, almost losing her breath.
"Luke is always ready to fight for a lost cause,” Jess said smiling, already knowing she was going to fight with him about this.
"Hey, I'm not a lost cause." Rory said, pretending to pouted.
"No! I was and he believed that I could turn into something good as an adult. He get's you because he loves you like a daughter, but unlike your mother, he knows life can be a bitch sometimes. Lorelai is not used to seeing you fail so she really doesn't know what to do with that. Luke knows how to deal with failure." Jess was clearly talking about himself.
Luke was and always had been her father figure. Yes, Cristopher was her father but Luke was always the one who was around and she felt really comfortable debating her insecurities with him. Luke was a really good friend that was helping her right now more than she realized.
"No cream?" Rory asked when she realized the blueberry pie was without cream.
Jess reached into the bag and pulled out the cream with a smirk. "Do you really think I’d have forgotten about something so important like that?"
"You know what? I'm really glad that you still know me so well. It's really... comfortable I think." Rory said eating her pie with a look of lust on her face.
Jess got up from the table and started to snoop around her books. He found a box on the ground and peeked inside. He recognized the books that were on top. They were his books. The ones he had written. He looked at her. She was still almost flirting with the pie. Her look made him laugh. "Tell me something. Why do you have more than one copy of my books."
She looked at him surprised and blushed. "So you found the box... Ha... Well, the truth is when I find an edition that I like I buy it. I have three copies from the first and two from the second. Please don't laugh at me. I wrote in all the margins in the first one so I decided to buy a new one when I found it in some bookstore. And then it became a habit. When the margins are full I buy another edition."
Jess put on his sweetest smile. The smile that he usually saved for the people that really matter to him. "How many times did you read them?"
"I lost count," She said looking at the floor. She came close to him. He was sitting on the floor and she sat in front of him. She took the book from his hands. "I'm really proud of what you become Jess and I always believed that you could do magic tricks. Your books are like that, magic tricks."
He leaned close to her and she got close to him too. For a moment they locked their gaze on each other. The desire between them was almost palpable. He caressed her face and she let him do it, tilting her head to the side. Their faces were pretty close when someone knocked on the door interrupting their almost kiss, again.
Rory got up and opened the door. "Hi Luke, thank you for the food." She said smiling and letting him enter the room.
"It was Jess idea. No problem with your mother?" Luke asked.
"No! We talked, it's all ok, no worries." Rory informed him.
"Great. Look I just came to tell you guys I'm leaving home. Cesar will close up tonight, but if you two need something from downstairs feel free to pick it up."
"Ok Uncle Luke. Thank you! See you tomorrow." Jess, that was already close to them, added.
"Bye guys!"
"Goodnight Luke. And thank you for everything!" Rory said giving Luke a hug. Luke was not good with this kind of situation but it was Rory and he hugged her back. "Good night guys!"
"Ok, I'm tired! I think I have to sleep." Rory informed Jess and headed to the bathroom. When she got out she was wearing one of Luke's t-shirt and some gym shorts. Jess smiled at her figure. She laughed at him. "I didn't bring anything appropriate to sleep with company." She smiled shyly as she headed to bed.
It was Jess turn to use the bathroom and no more than two minutes later he was out with just his boxers on. "Sorry I don't really have nothing to sleep in and you used Luke's last shirt.
Rory didn't say a word, just smiled and got into her bed.
This is my short story about Rory and Jess revival. Enjoy ;)
read on wattpad, ao3 and ff.net
Nine years had passed and there she was again back in Stars Hollow… It was not good but it was not bad either. She didn’t know how to feel really… Being with her mother all the time was really nice, but the feeling that she failed somehow in her propose of being a real life journalist… she couldn’t get that idea out of her head.
The most understanding of her feelings was Luke, he noticed her frustration when people spoke to her, letting her know that it was a good thing she was back. He offered her the apartment above the diner, for her to live in, he understood how demeaning it could be for a young supposedly successful woman to come back to her mother’s house.
She said that she would think about it. She had got to Stars Hallow two days ago and she was still deciding what to do with her life and since Luke was living with her mother the apartment was sitting empty. She needed to figure out what to do next with her life, her work on Washington Post was a good reference letter, especially because she was let go because of budget issues not because of her ability or lack of professionalism, but after the Obama campaign it all seems so promising, the opportunities just keep falling in her lap, and she was not prepared for being out of a job in a blink of an eye, not at all…
She entered Luke’s diner with all that stuff in her head and sat at the counter.
“What can I get you?” Luke asked but got no response. “Rory? What can I get you? Rory? Are you here?"
Rory finally noticed that Luke was saying something to her. “What? Sorry Luke, yes I’m here and I will have coffee, of course, a large one please and a blueberry muffin.”
“Ok… are you feeling good? … You have a strange look on your face.”
“Well all of this is new and I need to figure out what to do with my life you know…” In all these years her relationship with Luke was getting really good. In the beginning he was like her father who wasn’t really around but when she left he seemed to get closer to her. It seemed like he understood her better than her mother. Her frustrations and expectations were more simple for him to sense and he got her very quickly, before she noticed he grew from kind of a father to kind of a friend and that was very nice.
One thing he really understood too and her mother didn’t even talk about was Jess. Jess visited Luke from time to time, he still lived in Filly and worked in Truncheon Books and had written two more books. Rory secretly bought every different copy of Jess’ books every time she found one. They spoke from time to time, when he released one book or when she wrote some article that hit too many tweets, but nothing more than that, mostly Rory knew about Jess by Luke. And she liked to know about him, she really didn’t know how things between them could be labeled but Luke always made her smile when he told her that Jess paid a visit or called him to say that something good had happened in the publishing house.
Rory thought Luke secretly always wanted Rory and Jess together and sometimes she thought that’s what she always wanted too… But life got in the middle and they never had the opportunity to do anything about that. They were not friends because friends spoke to each other more often than they did but they had some kind of connection because he always knew the right moment to call her.
Since Logan, she only had been with two guys, Jerry and Dean, not Dean Dean, another Dean, and none of them got her where she was supposes to be. Meaning none of them made her really fall in love. She almost got married to the new Dean but sometime along the way they fell apart, they grew distant and simply broke up, knowing that marriage wasn´t a good fit for them. How tricky the universe could be that put in your path a man that has the same name as your first love. For some time she really believed that they were meant to be. Fortunately, they didn’t start planning, he just asked her and she said yes and the wall between them began to grow, she knew it was her fault and deep inside she knew that she didn't love him like he loved her and she was the one who began to construct the wall.
After analyzing her life and her choices she decided to stay single for a while. She thought that some time alone would bring some new light on her life. All these years she never admitted to herself that she compared all the men’s she dated to Jess, even Logan. And all these years she never admitted to anyone that she sometimes dreamed about having a family with Jess.
She didn’t even admit that to herself but here and now she recognized that she missed Jess in her life. He probably was the only one that could have her starting to think about having a life beyond work and friends. Here and now she truly missed Jess and sometimes Luke seemed to know that…
“Mom I need o talk to you,” Rory announced, entering the living room.
Luke came out from the kitchen, he already knew what the conversation was going to be about. She had accepted his offer and had decided to live in the diner apartment. Lorelai was not gonna be happy about it so Luke came to the living room to give Rory some support.
Rory spoke low, rubbing her hands over her pants. “I’m going to live in Luke’s apartment above the diner, ok?”
Lorelai looked astonished. “What? Why? Why on earth do you want to get far away from me when you have just arrived?”
Rory was already prepared for the drama. She knew her mother too well.
“Rory tell me why?” Lorelai sounded upset or maybe sad.
Luke came closer to Lorelai and hugged her from behind speaking close to her hair. “Let her be Lorelai, she needs space.”
Lorelai turned to face Luke and now she looked mad. “From her mother?”
Rory breathed deeply and started speaking without stopping. “Mom I’m just gonna explain this to you once. You know me and you know us, so please try to be normal and understand what I am feeling right now. Think like if this was with you. I just returned home, after being on my own for nine years. By this, I’m accepting my failures and my defeat. I lost my job and for now, I don’t really know what to do with my life. I need my space, my privacy and need time to figure out what to do with my life and my time and basically, I need to find me again and for that, I need to be alone for a while and we both know that that is impossible here. So just let me be. OK?”
Lorelai listened in silence with her arms crossed over her chest with some kind of childish attitude. When Rory finished, she opened her mouth to speak but she closed it again. She kept her eyes on her and finally said, “OK! But we see each other every day.”
Rory nodded in agreement. She knew that she was going to be mad at her for a while but eventually her mother would accept the circumstances.
They turned their backs on each other and Rory left to pick up her stuff. Luke had said to her that he would take her stuff to the apartment but she needed to collect everything. She didn’t unpack almost anything so it would be a pretty easy task.
The apartment looked exactly the same. And suddenly a big storm of emotions and memories hit her right in the chest. Jess’ face, Jess’ smell, Jess’ bed, Jess’ couch and some of Jess’ stuff. It was all there and she could almost sense him there. Suddenly she missed everything about him. Maybe this decision of living in Luke’s apartment was not such a good idea after all. She could see Jess here trying to offering her a soda and begging her to accept avoiding him, making a fool of himself.
She smiled to herself. This place gave her very good memories.
Luckily she was alone and no one saw the goofy smile on her face. She sat on the couch and traveled back to that time. They were just two messed up teenagers that actually loved each other and couldn’t handle that.
She never found anyone that she felt connected to like she felt with Jess. They simply spoke the same language and unfortunately for her that was too hard to find. And being here, now, in this place, made all the feeling and memories come back to haunt her.
She started to unpack, first the book box of course. She started to pull them out and place them randomly on Luke’s bookcase. When she got to Jess’ books she stopped again. Sitting on the floor she started to read one of her favorite passages. She forced herself to close the book and keep unpacking, leaving the book on the floor next to her. But she still kept staring at it for a second. How their lives turned so much. How was Jess a published author of three short novels now and she was out of a job and back in Stars Hollow again? She was alone and living by favor where she and Jess shared so many good moments. Life was a bitch!
Luke came to check on her and offered her some help and coffee of course. He noticed Jess’ book on the floor and she noticed that he was looking at it but both kept their silence about that. He showed her some drawers that were empty and that she could use and freed up some more space on the bookcase when he realized the amount of books that she had bring with her. He showed her where the linens were and the bathroom towels and tried to show her the kitchen supplies but she just smiled at him, telling him that she would not need that and that she trusts that she could find enough food in the diner downstairs.
Luke finally picked up the book from the ground and noticed all the notes that were written in the margins. “Jess does this to books too, I don’t get it…”
“I really caught the habit from him. We write our thoughts about the story in the margins. It was a big problem when I started returning the library books full of notes.” She said with a smirk.
“I never thought that Jess could influence you on anything,” Luke said looking through the window.
“More than you think really.” Rory blushed a little and Luke noticed.
“He comes here often?” Rory could not believe that she was really asking this but her curiosity took over her and she was feeling strange and nostalgic since she entered the apartment.
“Now and then yes. Avoiding all important dates… You know Jess. But don’t worry I believe that he will not pay a visit soon. Last time we spoke he was swamped with work.”
“And when was that?” Rory was unstoppable really.
Luke looked at her smiling then he approached the window. “Last week I think… don’t worry Rory he probably will not be here for more than a month.” Luke said looking closer through the window. “Or not…” And just like that Jess was parking downstairs next to the dinner. Luke went mute.
“Or not what?” Rory asked but Luke didn’t answer and kept looking through the window making Rory get up from the place she was placing books and go check what was so fascinating outside.
Luke just pointed to the black Ford pickup that had parked near the diner making Rory question him again. “What?” and then Jess got out of the truck making Rory’s heart beat so fast that she could feel it in her head. “Oh!”
Luke looked at her, she was blushing. “Yeah… Oh!”
Rory and Luke keep looking through the window observing Jess’ movements.
Luke looked at Rory. “Do you want me to tell him to go?”
She tore her gaze away from the window and from Jess and focused on Luke. “Not at all Luke, no way…”
It was hard to focus on anything but the young awesome man that was picking a small duffel bag from the black Ford pickup outside, but she would never ask Luke for something like that. He was his nephew and this was his place too. But she had to confess she was not at all prepared to meet Jess today. She looked around and realized that she had no place to go so if he came upstairs she would have no option then to talk to him and be in the same room with him and be close to him. She started to feel really nervous and her heart started to pump in her ears.
"Maybe I should go downstairs and meet him," Luke said waiting for Rory to sort of allow him to.
She smiled at his concern. This man was really amazing, he really cared about her. She always knew, but seeing his abashment around this situation made her almost laugh inside. For a bit, it seemed he was more nervous than her for them to meet. Luke always was pretty supportive of Rory and Jess. She thought he loved the idea that Jess could end up with someone that he valued and respected so much. She knew that for Luke she always was a role model, even before his daughter came and turned out to be a pretty smart girl, he always cheered for all Rory’s victories and always looked at her with pride, that kind of father-daughter pride and that always made her feel close to him.
"Maybe you should Luke." He turned his back and headed straight to the door. "And Luke?" He turned to look at her, waiting for what she was about to say. "Thank you. And please don't drive him away. I can handle it OK?"
He smiled at her. In the end, she seemed happy to know he was downstairs. "You're welcome and I will not. Actually, maybe it's good for you two to talk. Don't you think?"
She just nodded in agreement and got back to her unpacking. Luke left the room and closed the door behind him. When he got to the diner Jess was already at the counter. "Hey.”
Jess smiled and nodded. “Hey."
"That's a surprise. What brings you here?" Luke asked dying to tell him that Rory was upstairs. But this situation didn't belong to him to tell.
Jess gave a small smile. "So apparently you are not very happy to see me."
"Of course I am happy! Just surprised. Last time you were here you spoke about coming back after Christmas and now here you are." Luke said serving Jess some coffee.
"I was nearby because of the editor and decided to spend the night if it's ok with you. After all, the apartment is empty and I was not in the mood to go back to Philly tonight." Jess informed Luke with his eyes on the coffee cup. The truth was he missed Luke and the diner lately. He really didn't know why but from time to time he felt lost and needed to come "home.” Well not home because this wasn't his real home but in the end, Luke was the only family that he really considered family. As much as he struggled with the feeling that he had to try to get along with his mother and father the truth was he just couldn’t look at them the same way that he looked at Luke. He was Jess’ refuge. He always felt safe with his uncle, as much as they fought, the truth was Luke was always the only one that really cared about him. And for a troubled teenager with zero expectations about life, meeting someone that was willing to help him to be a better person was overwhelming. Yes, he never really knew how to handle all this feelings and support but he recognized all that and when he decided to stop being that cocky dumb kid he told that to Luke. Jess had tried to pay him back all he could and he was very happy with the fact that after all these years he has a place to go that felt like home to him.
"Yes, Jess it's ok. Just a small thing. The apartment is occupied now but I think you two could share it without problems." Luke informed Jess with a smirk.
"Occupied? By who?" Jess’ poker face was priceless. He for sure was not expecting this.
Meanwhile, Rory was upstairs feeling nervous and circling around the room looking at the mess she had made with all of the bags and boxes as she tried to figure out where to put everything. The floor was complete chaos and she didn't even know where to start. Looking at the door she felt her heart beat fast again. Jess was downstairs and she didn't quite knew why she was so nervous about that but in that moment she decided that she needed to take it out of her chest and go downstairs and face him and hope she felt better after that.
In a blink of an eye, she was downstairs. When she saw him he was with his back to her. Her heart raced again, she could feel it everywhere.
When he turned back and faced her she blushed and he was so surprised that he almost fell off the stool.
"Hi," He said, smiling.
"Hi," She said, facing him with her whole body shaking. She really hoped that he didn't notice. Then she turned to Luke and added, “Hi.”
"Hi! Oh my, I think I'm having déjà vu." And with that the three of them broke into a big laugh.
Thank you for reading and thank you so much for this @justkillingtimewhileiwait you are awsome.
Food in the Basket - CPD One Shot - Between Season 3 and 4
read in ao3, ff.net or wattpad
So this was wrote to field the space between Season 3 and Season 4. Enjoy
It had been ages since Jay and Mouse spend some quality time together out of the Precinct. And Jay was glad to be in Mouse’s company tonight but when Erin said that she preferred to be alone he felt frustrated. As always she was shutting down, closing herself alone in her shell and trying to solve Voight’s messed up vendetta. He felt like they were heading backwards again. And he just hoped she could admit that she needed him to help her get through one more pitfall in her life. Yes her life had been full of them but now she had him to rely on, but as always she forgot about that.
“Yeah I won again!” Mouse shouted with a jump from the couch.
“Since when are you any good at Black Ops?” Jay asked, stunned how his friend had managed to win him three times in a row.
“It’s a computer game man, I’m a computer technician! Don’t fell bad, I’m just good, You know?” Mouse said mocking his friend.
“Stop boasting! Do you want a beer?” Jay asked, preparing to get up but Mouse beat him on that and went to the kitchen.
“I’ll get it!” Mouse informed him.
“You feel very comfy in my home. Have you been spending time here when I’m out?” Jay asked.
Mouse looked at him with a closed face.
“What? You use to do that!” Jay said.
“Not since I got my life back.” Mouse answered still staring at Jay. But Jay didn’t seem convinced. “What? Yeah Jay all I wanted to do is come to this bunker of yours and cuddle on the couch alone, thinking about the time we spend together.” Mouse said making a snort.
Jay snorted back. “I know we use to spend more time together… I’m sorry but she prefers to stay at her place and I prefer that too. So we end up to going to her place and I don’t fell comfortable inviting you in there… sorry!”
“No sweat man. It’s ok for me and I’m really happy that you found someone. It’s good for you… But just why do you prefer to stay there, you are always so picky about your stuff?” Mouse asked.
“Exactly for that… She makes a mess in my bathroom and you know how I like stuff clean and organized.” Jay said, kind of embarrassed.
“Yes I know Jay Halstead “The Cleaning Lady”!" Mouse added, breaking out in a big laugh making Jay laugh too until they heard the knock.
Erin was at Jay’s door fluctuating between knocking or not. She was home alone and for a moment she put her life in perspective. Voight was the only man that she could call a father, but was she ready to fight the world to protect him? Did she agree with his actions? Did he even kill that guy anyway? What was she doing at home by herself? She had someone in her life now, someone that she could trust and could help her decide what to do with all that she didn’t know about that night?
She could not close herself in her shell again. Jay would not forgive her this time. He was always reminding her that he was there and she could not go to down rabbit hole again.
“What are you doing girl?” She thought to herself.
“Are you expecting someone?” Mouse asked.
Jay smile to himself, he already knew who it was. “No I’m not! But it’s very good that she came!”
“She? How you know who it is?” Mouse asked as Jay got up to open the door. When he saw Erin at the door, he added, smiling to himself, “Never mind…”
Jay gave her space to enter and smoothly speak to her trying to not trigger any regret on her by coming to him. “I thought you wanted to stay alone?”
She smiled at him. She noticed his insecurity, he knew her too damn well and knew how this was really thin ice for her. “I just thought that I should not fall into old habits.”
Jay’ face lit in big smile and he hugged her, kissing her quickly on her lips. “That was an excellent decision!”
She felt uncomfortable with the kiss, because Mouse was just right there. “Jay!!!” She said waving at Mouse.
“What? Is just Mouse come on…” He added but she wasn’t convinced. “Hey! Mouse knows all about us ok!”
She nodded“Ok!”
Mouse looked at them. “Maybe I should go!” And picked his jacket from the back of the couch.
“No Mouse! It’s ok. I came here and overran your evening… you should stay. I need some distraction for sure and I guess you could tell me some juicy stories about Jay in the army, no?”
“No!No!No! No stories about Jay!” Jay said waving his hands in disagreement and making Mouse break out laughing again.
Erin and Mouse sat on the couch leaving no room for Jay. He looked at them and felt a little relief. It was important for him that Mouse feel comfortable around Erin and vice versa. And the most important part of this evening was that Erin was at his house chit chatting with the two of them with no worries that he noticed.
Jay ended up sitting on the floor near them. "You know that I will kill you if you tell something that could embarrassed me for any reason. Don't you?" Jay said facing Mouse trying to make an upset face.
Erin laughed. “And I will pay you with a big dinner at the Fat Pig if you tell me something juicy about him."
Mouse rub his hands in discomfort.
"Erin stop with that you are making Mouse uncomfortable!"
"No she is not!" Mouse said.
"Ok but I don't want to hear about my funny stories. I already know them all."
Erin gave an understanding smile and placed a soft kiss on Jay's lips caressing his hair distractedly not noticing that she was doing it in front of Mouse. Jay noticed how comfortable she was. Yes Jay was Mouse best friend and yes they were alone in there but she was never so intimate with him in front of other people. But he was enjoying this change of behavior on her and he was not going to complain about it, but that was no reason to let Erin dig out of Mouse some shady story about how he broke his front tooth in some stupid prank and had to replace it overseas by some shady doctor with everybody making fun of him because first he looked like an old man and than the replaced tooth had a totally different color compare to the rest. Or about that time when he lost his ID and his commander ordered him to clean the bathrooms for a week.
But Mouse surprised him by telling the story of how they both end up in a detention room in some small town with two mad guards that really didn't know how do their work.
" You know Halstead is a really Dun Juan right?" Mouse asked teasing.
Jay just shook his head smiling to himself and knowing that he had lost this battle.
"So we were in some small city walking around at a small street market and a girl came after Jay to sell him some food in a basket. Jay always managed to make the girls come after him. Can't really understand why." He said smiling.
His comment made Erin smile at her man. He was for sure really handsome and she knew she was a lucky girl. With that in her mind she kept caressing his hair.
“So the girl insists he has to by some local vegetables or something. Jay argued with her that he didn't wanted nothing from her basket so she offered him herself, making Jay almost choke himself in surprise when she showed him her naked breasts." Mouse said already laughing remembering Jay's face when the girl tried to get closer to him. "He try to run from the situation, but some local police was passing by and caught Jay pushing the girl away from him. So the four of us that was there, were taken to some shady police station to be interrogate. Of course when we got there we were put in a small interrogation room and had to wait for more than an hour for someone to come and ask for our ids. And than Jay pull up his gallons and we left with some wise advise about not messing around with the locals and with a very shy Jay. As you can imagine this was motive for mocking him for months.
"So you tried to full around with the locals and ended up in jail. Very responsible of you Jay." Erin said jokingly.
"Hey it was the girl who came to me and I was just trying to get rid of her." Jay said in his defense.
They laughed at him and Mouse got up preparing to leave. "Well I'm leaving guys. It's late!"
"Already?" Jay asked.
"I'm tired and you two need your privacy. I can't imagine how your life is, working together and be profissional and all that," Mouse said smiling.
Erin smiled and squeezed Jay's shoulder.
Before he left Mouse turned back and spoke, his eyes cast to the floor. "Could you two come with me tomorrow to Molly's after shift?"
Erin and Jay looked at each other and smiled. Jay questioned Erin without talking and she nod in agreement. Jay rubbed her leg and smiling she asked. "Of course man, but why?"
Mouse still couldn’t face them. "I kind of have a date!"
"And you want us to chaperon?" Jay asked laughing.
"Hey don't be like that!" Erin said taping her boyfriend’s head. "Of course we will go with you Mouse, if that makes you more confident!"
"It will and it will not look like a real date, so I think it will be better." Mouse said finally facing them. "And Erin understands me better than you, you ass!" Mouse said to Jay.
"Hey! I got it, I was just messing around!" Jay said, getting up and saying goodbye to his friend.
"So... Do you want to talk about it?" Jay asked slowly when they finally were alone and comfortably arranged in the couch, with her legs on top of his lap.
"I know you are here for me and I will not shut you down, but I need time to process ok?" She asked and kissed him slowly on his mouth.
He nodded, hugging her to him. "I'm here! For all!" Once again he thought about asking her to move in with him and once again he thought that it was not a good time. He could feel how insecure she was. She asked him for time to handle Voight and he would give her time. But he needed to face her and ask her soon. She really needed him now and he really wanted to be there for her. He loved her for God sake, why was it so hard to ask her this.
It's hard because you know her and know how something like this could make her run away, you really don't want to cage her. She needs to feel safe. He thought. Soon Jay! Soon! And clearing his head from all this, he kissed her deeply and let her use his chest as pillow as she usually like to do.
Let me know what you think ;) and thank you so much for reading.
Thank you so much my friend @justkillingtimewhileiwait
✨💛 This is the Amazing Person Award! Once you are given this award you are supposed to paste it in the ask of eight different people, who, in your opinion, deserve it. If you break the chain nothing will happen, but it's sweet to know someone thinks you're amazing inside and outside 💛✨
Thank you so much for this my sweet. You’re amazing too. Big hug
So I’m back, I decided to finish this story. Us Being Us will end with season 4 and Erin leaving. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts.
Thank you so much @justkillingtimewhileiwait!
It’s All Gone - CPD One Shot 3x23
Read in ao3, fanfic.net and wattpad
He tried her phone again but she didn't answer and suddenly he had a "deja vu" sensation and Erin shutting down and hiding from him and all the "sabbatical time" that she took came to his mind. His heart started to race and he knew that he needed to find her. He would not let her dig that hole again.
"Hi, Antonio? I have to leave man. Can you cover for me?"
"Yeah, of course, it's nothing here any way you can go. But what's up?"
Jay hesitated between tell him or not but he ended up confessing his concerns. "Erin is not picking up and all of this with Justin... they were like siblings and now if Voight did something... you know... wrong... I'm already seeing Erin running again and... well I think I have to go..."
"Go, man. It's ok here."
Jay nodded in agreement and turned his back on the team. When he was almost at the door Al reached for him. "Hey man if you need something... some help just call me ok?"
Jay looked at Al and thought how this man had a big heart. He put a hand on Al's shoulder and thank him for his gesture. "Thank you, man! Really!"
He drove to Erin's house without noticing the time it took or the route that he followed, basically, he drove in auto pilot mode. He was just picturing scenarios that he didn't want to picture. He remembered how he felt when she started to shut him down and it was not a good sensation. He could not lose her again and not like this.
Jay got to her apartment at an almost nonhuman speed and as he always did, knocked first.
She heard the knock on the door but she didn't even bother to get up from the bed. She felt overwhelmed and completely broken. She didn't know what to do, what to feel or what to think. How things were going to go from here was her main thought. Hank had killed that guy. What know? What about their unit, the unit that was her family, what about now? She was completely lost. When she heard the shot something broke inside her. Hank's position on the force was gone that's for sure.
She heard the knock again and then she heard the door opening and him calling her name.
"Erin? Are you home?"
She heard him dropping his keys on the kitchen counter and his footsteps through the room. She felt conflicted. She really needed him, needed his hug, his touch, and his presence. But she didn't want him to see her like this, totally broken and devastated. She had been crying for she didn't know how long and her face must be a mess.
She heard him enter the room trying to not make noise.
"Erin? Are you ok?"
All he heard was her sobs. He noticed that she closed herself more in a fetal position. He stayed there thinking what to do. Should he go to her or should he leave her alone? He couldn't leave her like that crying alone in the dark.
Carefully he sat on the bed and waited for her reaction. She didn't move but the sobs kept going. A while later he lay next to her. He felt her reaction. She adjusted her position and lay her body closer to him. He put his arms around her hugging her from behind. Her hands looked for his hands, intertwining their fingers. Her sobs started to calm down. Minutes later he noticed that her breathing was calm and quiet. She fell asleep. Apparently, he managed to calm her down.
He heard his phone ringing in the living room and fought with himself about getting up from the bed or not. Eventually, he decided to get up. When he got to the living room the ringing had stopped and he picked it up the phone to check who it was and when he saw Antonio’s name on the caller ID. He returned the call.
Antonio picked up on the first ring. "Hey, man so how is she?"
"Finally asleep"
"What did she tell you?"
"Nothing really and I didn't ask either. She was completely devastated and I didn't have the courage to ask her anything."
"Do you think he killed him?"
“Oh man, I really don't know. I think yes. I have been fighting with myself about if I would do it or not if it was me. It's hard man."
“You know that he protected us right? By telling me to stay in the precinct when you were after the half-brother and when he sent us to the wrong address. We are off the hook. But if he killed him… well, he just ruined his life."
"What do you think will happen with the unit?"
"Who knows… Let's just sleep and tomorrow we will try to find out what to do. Take care of Erin… See you, man."
“Yeah see you tomorrow!"
He went back to the bedroom and lay on the bed next to her again. But she was awake and moved herself to sit on the bed. She rearranged her hair making a ponytail, rubbed her face and asked him. "Who was it on the phone?"
"Antonio."
She nodded. "And?"
Jay picked a tress of her hair that had fallen from the ponytail and arranged it behind her ear. She could read his concern for her written on his face. "He just wanted to know how you were."
"What did you tell him?"
"I just told him that you were asleep.”
She laid down again covering her eyes with her hands. "What's going to happen now, Jay? What about the unit?"
Jay turned his face to the wall, he couldn’t face her. He really didn’t know how he felt right now. He was mad at Voight but he couldn't say that he thought that Voight was wrong. He felt very conflicted with all this and didn't really know how to face Erin in all of this. "Did you know what happened? Did he do it?" He asked.
She sat on the bed rubbing her face again. "I assume he did. I heard a shot so..."
Jay kept quiet and passed his index finger across his forehead like he usually did when he is preoccupied.
"Don't judge him, Jay!" She said, snapping on him.
"Hey I'm not judging ok, I'm just... I spend all this case putting myself in his shoes and... I really don't know what I would have done if it was with me and... I don’t know Erin... you know that I don't agree with his methods..."
"That guy left his son, my foster brother, to die in that trunk Jay!" She said almost yelling and cutting him off.
He grabbed her hand. "Erin calm down you didn't let me finish... I was saying that I usually don’t agree with his methods and these days were crazy, we definitely crossed all the barriers that we could cross but it was his son. I get it... I don't approve but I get it. That's why I was with him every step of the way, at least every step that he let us be with him."
They both stayed in silence for a while. They both felt lost now. Hank Voight was the commander of their ship and now they lost him for sure. They didn't know if they even have a ship anymore.
She finally broke off their awkward silence. "What did Antonio say about all this mess?"
"He didn't know if Voight had killed the guy or not and he said that Voight had protected us from all of this by sending us to the wrong address so we are all off the hook about this situation."
"Maybe he could take the lead of the unit now?"
He looked at her. She looked a little more relaxed now. "Yeah maybe... We should get some sleep don't you think? Tomorrow we will try to figure out what to do. Maybe we should talk to Al, he is always wise in these situations."
She nodded in agreement and lay on the bed.
"Don't you prefer to change into something more comfortable than jeans?" He asked to remind her that she was still in her street clothes and boots on the bed.
"You are right." She said getting up and picking up some sweat pants, then she opened the drawer that was designated for his clothes and picked one of his police academy t-shirts. He had gone to the bathroom during her process of picking and changing clothes and when he came back he noticed her choice.
"Is there a special reason for that t-shirt?" He asked with a grin on his face.
"I like it... it's cozy." She said smiling and turned her head to the side.
"Ok if it makes you feel good, you can use it all the time." He said hugging her and kissing the top of her head. "Let’s go to sleep?"
"Yes, I really need to rest. Tomorrow I need to try to see Hank... He... I'm the only... Justin was like my brother, I grew up with him, we took care of each other...He already lost so much Jay,” She said starting to cry again.
He sat her on the bed and hugged her. "Shhh Shhh... It's ok Erin we will figure this out. We will be here for him. He still has you and his grandson. We will get through this. He will get through this."
"You know Justin never... he never was bad to me even if sometimes Hank was not fair to him about me. He never turned me down, he always defended me. I know he put Hank through a lot and he was on the wrong path for a while but he was such a good kid... he had a big heart Jay you didn't know him like I did and... he covered for me so much... we hid a lot from Hank and made Camile's life a living hell sometimes but he... oh Jay he was always good for me and he was a good son too..."
"I believe in you, Erin... I do and I feel your and Voight's lost. I just... I can't imagine what is like... " He shook his head trying to clear it because it was too painful to imagine losing someone like that, his brother for example, so he cleared his dark thoughts. "I'm here for you ok. Don't run this time..."
She just nodded and laid down on the bed and waited for him to lay down close to her and once back in his embrace she cried until she fell asleep.
Suddenly she woke up and sat on the bed. "Olive... Jay, I forgot about Olive!" She tried to get up but he stopped her. "It's taken care of Erin. Al called Sargent Platt to be with her at Voight."
"This unit really is a family..." She said more to herself than for him to her. "And Hank probably found a way to ruin it..."
"What do you mean?" Jay looked at her already knowing what she was talking about.
"If he really killed that scumbag... our unit... I really don't know what the Ivy tower is going to do with us..."
They both laid on the bed again hugging each other and thinking about what's next to come until they fell asleep.
vaporwave
yousharknotpass
blakekathryn
titsay
