THE TRUTH IN WHAT SHE KEPT

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story; if I did Dean would have moved away after the Dance marathon.

AN: I decided I might try my hand at another chapter story. I warn you this took me a week to write and rewrite updates will probably be slow.

Setting: Diner Apartment (three years after the last episode)

"Sorry for the clutter" Luke said as he helped his nephew bring up the last of his luggage. He had to step around a stack of boxes stacked near the door. Similar stacks were scattered throughout the apartment.

"It's fine"

"It's just with the place being empty most of the time we've been storing things here" Luke explained as he grabbed a box off the couch and moved it against a far wall.

"Luke its fine, you had no idea I would be coming. I'm just thankful I don't have to stay with Liz and TJ."

Jess still cringed at the thought. His mother had called him frantic two days before begging him to come. She was pregnant again and TJ was in a full body cast. Why she insisted on breeding with a man who thought it was a good idea to clean their chimney by attaching brillo pads to himself he would never know. TJ didn't even make it further than the ladder leading onto the roof before he plummeted back down to the ground. If the fall wasn't' bad enough apparently the brillo pads caused their own complications. Needless to say his mother needed the extra help and he; wanting to prove he really was a better man, agreed.

Luke smirked remembering the panicked look on Jess's face just a half hour before. Liz had insisted since she didn't have a spare room that he should sleep in the nursery with his little sister and get to know her better. Of course his sister failed to take into consideration that Dula was going through her "shy faze" as Liz liked to call it and screamed her head off whenever Jess, or anyone for that matter, came near her. So Luke decided since Jess was trying to do what was right he would take pity on him. Just the fact that he had shown up when his mother called proved how much he had grown. So he offered to let him stay in the diner apartment reminding his sister that Jess was a grown man and needed his privacy plus the diner was close by and he would still be there whenever she needed him.

"Well aside from the boxes the rest of the place has been kept ready for guests. Rory stays here when she comes home, Lorelai doesn't like it, but Rory insists that we need our privacy especially after...." Jess couldn't help but notice that his uncle had turned a bright shade of red as he trailed off from his sentence.

"After" Jess prompted drawing out the word. Any twinge he got at the mention of Rory was instantly out weighed by glee at his uncle's obvious embarrassment.

"She might have walked in on something once or twice." Luke mumbled

"Oh my god she didn't" Jess barked out. His mind was caught between amusement and horror at what Rory must have seen. The horror won out as he shuddered. Luke was the closest thing he had to a father and that was just something you didn't want to think about, much less see your dad do. Poor Rory!

"Oh man she must be scarred for life"

"Hey, she came home unexpected and….. and it's my deranged wife's fault for thinking a man cooking is so irresistible."

"Ahh man! Not the kitchen! Although…" Jess said staring off as if lost in thought " a Gilmore getting turned on by food is not that surprising…"

"Hey" Luke said warningly

"I'm just saying…." Jess said giving him a pointed look "Just know that I won't be excepting any dinner invitations….ever."

"Yeah Rory refused to step foot into the kitchen for a week afterward and she still won't sit at the table." Luke said playing with his hat.

"Gross Luke!! I don't need the details!!!!" disgusted he made a mental note to never touch said table.

Luke just shrugged.

"So what is all this" Jess asked as he set his bag down on what used to be his bed.

"Most of it is Rory's actually. She gave up her room for the baby."

"Doesn't she need it?" Jess asked while eying the boxes. He couldn't help but notice the sheer volume of stuff she left behind.

"No most of this are things Lorelai kept from her childhood or stuff Rory couldn't fit in her apartment. She only has a one bedroom."

"Huh" Now that he knew that the boxes were Rory's and that she herself often stayed here, he couldn't stop himself from wondering what could be in them, or what she did while she was here, which bed she slept in……. He eyed his own bed trying to imagine her curled up there, a book in her hand (his own book of course) contently reading. Unfortunately that peaceful image was shattered by the thought of someone else sharing the bed with her. Jess wasn't stupid he knew Rory probably had someone in her life even if she wasn't with the Yale Dick anymore. He couldn't help but wonder if she only stayed at the diner apartment for Luke and her mother's privacy. Damn now he didn't know if he could sleep in that bed anymore.

Luke must have read something into Jess's silence. Or maybe it was just tension in the air all of the sudden.

"She's doing really well you know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, she's working as an editor for an online magazine. Right now she's living in Manhattan but she's always traveling. I doubt she spends more than a week at a time in her apartment most months. She's just really happy…." Luke said beaming with pride

"Good" Jess nodded shuffling his feet back and forth. He didn't know how else to respond. He refused to ask any questions. He was glad she was happy but he didn't want to know the intimate details of her life. It took him a long time to give up on Rory Gilmore and he was proud of himself for doing it. Admittedly he still felt something for her and probably always would, but he no longer allowed himself to hope. Their last encounter made him finally realize that although Rory might have thought she loved him once, she never felt for him what he felt for her.

"So a baby huh? He says deciding to change the subject "have to admit I'm a little surprised. What ever happened to your famous rants about jam hands?"

AN: okay that's it for now. I am working on the next chapter it will be posted as soon as it's done.