You were very kind about my last story, so I thought I'd give it some back story. Let me know what you think :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or anything to do with Gilmore Girls goodbye

He was three days into the intense state of seclusion that always accompanied the brainstorming stage of starting a new book, typing absently and considering leaving his room in search of a cigarette when his phone rang. He huffed, frustrated, and pulled the cell from the back pocket of his jeans.

"Hello?" He didn't even register the caller ID, figuring it would be one of his friends inquiring when he would be leaving hibernation and coming out for a drink with them. Or maybe that girl from the Italian restaurant who occasionally dragged him back to her apartment when he and his friends were dining late. He really shouldn't have given her his number.

"Jess? It's Luke."

"Oh." The gruff voice of his uncle was the last thing he was expecting. "Hey, Uncle Luke. What's up?"

"Where have you been?" Luke ignored his greeting. "I tried this number at least 4 times yesterday."

"Why didn't you leave a message?"

"I don't leave messages." He sounded horribly uncomfortable. "Plus, I needed to speak to you properly."

"What's up?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"Whatever, Luke. What's up?"

"I, um. Don't freak out okay?" This had to be bad. "So, I proposed to Lorelai. Again. But you already knew that, right? Yeah you did, you came down that weekend."

"Spit it out, Luke."

"Right. Well she's keen to get married as soon as possible. In two weeks, actually."

"Woah, did you knock her up or something?"

"No, shut up." A pause. "You have to be my best man."

"What?!" The younger man cut in immediately.

"Come on Jess, you really owe me."

"N-"

"It's you or TJ. Help me out."

"Luke-"

"Thank you so much Jess, I really appreciate it."

"Wait, Luke!"

"I've got to go. I'll let you know the details. And keep your phone on!"

Jess held the phone to his ear long after the line went dead, his eyes following the bouncing graphic of his laptop's screensaver.

"Shit."

The message tone on his phone made him start.

"No bachelor party required but you have to give a speech, Lorelai's orders. I'll let you skip the tux."

"Shit."

The prospect of seeing her again didn't even dawn on him until he was driving into Stars Hollow a day before the wedding, conceding to his best man role with the promise of grossly inflated pay at the diner and Luke's empty apartment to hide in whenever necessary. He hung out of his teenage bedroom window, smoking and surveying the busy streets below as they were transformed for tomorrow's event. It seemed that half of the town had been deployed to help arrange flowers or set up dining chairs and one quarter of square was transformed into a raised, wooden dance floor. At one point he even spotted Dean Forester arguing with Kirk whilst unloading tables and felt so eighteen again that he had to reach for another cigarette out of his jacket pocket.

He cursed himself for still being so highly tuned in to his high school ex-girlfriend as his eyes instantly snapped onto her a few moments later. Speakers had been set up and honorary DJ Lane was blasting an old Bruce Springsteen song as Rory danced across the road, dressed in a white sun dress and silver sandals. She held a ring binder under one arm and her mother's laced through the other, their raucous laughter filling the small town square.

They had shared one phone call and a long chain of text messages since she'd walked out of his open house six months ago and although the air was effectively cleared, there was still a little pain and bitterness on his end. There was also a tinge of something else in his stomach every time her name appeared on his phone.

As she skipped her way towards the diner he thought that for now it was best to stay upstairs.

They were forced together at the rehearsal dinner, for which he switched his old tshirt for a white dress shirt and fresh jeans, planning to make the most of the open bar and hide behind the book he had shoved in his back pocket on his way out the door. The plan was working perfectly for fifteen minutes before his paper back was suddenly whipped out of his hands.

"Hey." Rory exhaled, flopping into the seat next to him which had been mercifully left vacated until this point. "Your step dad is a little intense. Mind if I sit?"

"It's a little late to say no", He deadpanned, eyeing her as she got comfortable, his gaze raking over the short, lavender dress that wrapped around her lissom flame. Her shoes were higher and more sparkly than anything he'd seen her wear before, making her petite legs look miles long. "And yeah, the first time I met TJ I lasted like, 4 minutes before walking out."

She just smiled at him, combing fingers through glossy hair.

"I passed him on to Luke as quickly as possible."

Jess surveyed his uncle who was looking disdainfully at his brother-in-law, watching as Rory accepted a huge glass of white wine from one of Kirk's bartenders.

"How's life?" She asked.

"Fine." He replied. This was the moment when he decided whether he wanted to be friendly or cool and callous like his better judgement was begging him too. He knew that with her, however, that never really worked out. He continued, "It's good, actually. I've started writing again."

"Really?" The way her eyes lit up made his pulse jump, "That's so exciting, Jess! You know I read the first one 600 times?"

"Only 600? I think Matt and Chris have read it like 601 times each, so.."

"601 when I take it with me on the flight to Paris next month", she grinned cheekily. "I love it, it's so good."

"Yeah, you mentioned that once or twice." He let his eyes roam the cosy dining room of the Dragonfly, deflecting the praise as a comfortable silence fell between them. He wanted to ask.

After a few minutes, he worked up some courage.

"So, uh, where's the boyfriend tonight?"

"Oh, no. No boyfriend. We broke up, a little after I saw you last." She cleared her throat, looking down at her manicured nails and then back at him as he silently probed with his eyes, "He asked me to marry him. I said no."

He didn't push anymore, trying to quash the alarming surge of elation that rose in his chest. She picked up the tattered book she had placed on the table.

"Charles Dickens?" She laughed lightly at his shrug, "Some things never change."

He leaned back slightly and let himself observe her openly whilst she was distracted, waving at her arriving grandparents.

"Yeah, some things never change."

It was intense for a second, blue eyes meeting brown in the romantically lit evening, he almost felt himself leaning towards her. He cleared his throat and broke the gaze, rerolling the sleeve of his shirt that was hanging loosely.

"So- uh- you mentioned Paris?"

He provided his service as best man with reluctance but success, protecting Luke's cuff links from loss or harm, providing him with beers and making sure his tie was straight. Stars Hollow church was decorated in true Lorelai style, bursting with foamy white streamers, paper bunting and pink ribbons that spilled out onto the town square.

Rory's speech, two pages long and delivered like a true high school valedictorian, recalled her favourite moments from the turbulent journey that was Lorelai and Luke, making the crowd laugh and her mother cry. Jess was having trouble controlling his shaking hands by the time it came to his turn. He chugged the glass of red wine that he was gripping and stood, dragging a finger under his collar which suddenly felt too tight.

"I'm not even going to try and compete with that and, um, I'm more of a writer than a speaker but Luke, I definitely speak on the behalf of several people here when I say that I truly don't know where I would today be if I didn't have you around to kick my ass from time to time." A bubble of laughter came from the crowd, "You're so consistently selfless and I think it's about time you got something so...good." His eyes briefly rested on the glowing woman hanging on his uncle's right arm, "Call it, like, karma or fate whatever but I'm glad you two have finally got it together. Congratulations." He ducked his head and sat back down quickly, trying to hide the fact that he was blushing in embarrassment from the murmur of applause and clinking glasses coming from the square. He couldn't hide it from Rory.

"That was nice." Her smile was dreamy, probably a result of the half empty champagne glass that hung loosely from her fingers. "You should write speeches for Obama."

"Ha-ha", he turned to face the crowd, "I'm just glad my job is over."

"I'm so happy", she leaned back precariously in her chair, "Aren't you so happy, Jess?"

"You're so drunk", he corrected straightforwardly, his hand automatically going to her back to steady her. Her dress was golden and floaty and fanned out behind her when she moved. Her shoulders were left uncovered and he tried not to take in too much marble skin with greedy eyes. He continued, "and I'm- I don't know. I'm fine. I'm thinking about how I'm going to have to open the diner with a sore head tomorrow."

"I am not, drunk! You are happy and you still have one more obligation." He eyed her curiously. "Dance with the maid of honour?"

"Isn't the guy supposed to ask the girl to dance?"

"Yeah well I'm a modern woman." She shook off the hand that was still lingering on her shoulder blade, slightly deflated, "And I know you well enough to know that would never happen."

He sighed, setting his drink down on the table and stood, offering her his hand.

"Dance with me."

"Is that a question or an order?" She couldn't hide her smile.

"It's going to be a nothing if you don't stand up within five seconds."

Stars Hollow, with it's self inflicted 9pm curfew and town mayor who should probably be in a religious cult, apparently knew how to throw quite the party. The bride and groom had cut early to make their flights to Glasgow shortly after the speeches were over, drunken guests reigning confetti over Luke's truck as they drove away from the party. Lorelai had watched Jess and Rory rotate on the dance floor, laughing and pressing close to one another with an equal mix of amusement and alarm. She was pulled away by Luke before she could interrogate her daughter further.

As Lane became sufficiently inebriated and the romantic, slow music morphed into classic rock and 80s pop, Rory and Jess returned to their seats at the empty top table, people watching and catching up on the past six months with their heads bent dangerously close together. She told him about her job at the New Haven paper and he found himself obsessed with the way her blue eyes, pink lips and white teeth looked in the golden light of the evening, how she gesticulated wildly and smiled with her whole face when she was giddy on champagne and the atmosphere. She also enjoyed how much he talked now he was grown up, still sarcastic and shy but calmer somehow, his countenance easy and rid of heavy, teenage anger. He spoke about his friends and their work and shocked her when he admitted his abhorrence for Philly cheese steaks. Sparks danced across her skin as he brushed his hand up her arm during a story or placed his suit jacket over her chilly, bare shoulders as the sun went down.

By midnight she was sober and when she caught his eyes flickering down to her mouth for the tenth time in two minutes she could no longer kid herself that it was just the alcohol.

"Hey", she grabbed his hand with a surge of confidence, "Do you want to get out of here?"

He was to stunned to voice his absolute support for the idea but she was already pulling him away from the party before he could form a coherent thought. He trailed her closely, eyes fixated on the movement of her dress with their ten fingers twined, until they came to a halt in front of the diner. They held eye contact for a loaded ten seconds before she went up on her tiptoes and kissed him, her palms resting on his shoulders. Her eyes were closed when he pulled away, swaying slightly on the balls of her feet.

"Are you drunk?" He whispered, his voice strained.

"No."

"And there's really no boyfriend?"

"No boyfriend."

He kissed her again, harder, hungrily, the way he had wanted to all evening with his hands bunching the material of her dress at her waist. Her arms hooked around his neck and it was a mutual decision, a sigh of relief, when he pulled her into the darkened diner and up the stairs, never disconnecting his mouth from her skin.