So I've been wanting to start a new story for a while now but I wanted a really good original idea that I hadn't done before. I'd like to thank AJ Granger for helping me with some ideas! :) Obviously I will be continuing with This is Life as well so I hope you keep following that as well. :)

Anyway, this story is going to focus more on Jess and Luke's relationship and their lives. This will start during the revival and I'll hopefully fill in the gaps since Jess was last on the scene. Rory and Lorelai will be in this as well but I want it mainly focused on Luke and Jess. Some of the things that happened in the revival will be in here but I may change others. So I hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 1

"Do you really have to do that every time you see me?" Luke grumbled as he retrieved his cap that Jess had thrown from the pavement ahead of them.

"Well, Uncle Luke, what can I say? I like being predictable." Jess smirked.

Luke just shook his head. He glanced over at him. It had been over a year since he'd last seen his nephew. They'd spoken a lot on the phone but Jess had been so busy that he hadn't had time to visit much. "It's good to see you." He said.

"You too." Jess said.

"How was it with Rory?" He asked, glancing at him curiously.

"Fine." He shrugged. "We just caught up. It was nice."

"Nice?" Luke questioned.

Jess smirked slightly. "That's ancient history, ok? We're friends now. Nothing else." He said.

"Ok." Luke said. He glanced over at him. "So is there anyone else then?"

"Nope."

"Really?" Luke asked.

"What, do you know something I don't?" Jess joked.

"Well you've got a roommate, haven't you? A roommate you've been very secretive about may I add. She works with you at Truncheon right?" He said.

"Right." Jess nodded. "And like you said, she's a roommate and a colleague. Nothing to tell."

"Ok." Luke shrugged as they entered the diner.

Jess glanced at him. "Any progress on my personal life, you'll be the first to know." He said smirking slightly.

"Good to know." Luke said smirking slightly.

"So let's talk about this cult my crazy mother seems to have gotten her and TJ into." Jess said.

"Urgh do we have to?" Luke groaned.

Later that day, Jess was about to leave Luke's when he got something out of his bag. "Oh I nearly forgot. Thought you might like a copy." He said handing Luke a book.

"Oh is this your new one?" Luke said. "I was going to buy this so you got the money."

"Don't worry. There's always free ones for family." Jess said. "And I specifically wanted you to have a copy of this one."

"Why?"

"Check the front." Jess said.

Luke opened it up. "Where am I meant to be looking?"

"The dedication." Jess said.

Luke went to the dedication page and was surprised to read what Jess had put. To the one man in my life who never gave up on me. To the one man in my life who really made me believe I could do anything I wanted. To the one man in my life who was there for me through everything. Thank you, Uncle Luke. For everything. Luke's face softened. "Jess..." He said touched.

"I thought it was about time I dedicated a book to you." Jess said.

"You didn't have to." Luke said.

"I did. I know I've said it before but I really appreciate everything you've done for me. I wanted to show you that." Jess said.

"Well, thank you." Luke said softly, glancing back down at the dedication. "Why the hell did you put uncle in it?" He said, smirking slightly.

"Well I just knew how much you love it when I call you Uncle Luke. I couldn't resist." Jess smirked.

"Smart ass." Luke smirked.

"I better get going. I said I'd be back at Truncheon by this evening." He said.

"Oh yeah sure. You'll visit again soon right?"

"Well I told Doula I'd come and see her next weekend so I'll be around then." He nodded. "And don't worry. I'm sure things will work out with Lorelai. Just promise me you'll talk to her. Tell her how you're feeling."

"Yeah I promise." He sighed.

"It'll be fine." Jess assured him.

"I hope so." Luke said. "You need any money?"

"No, I'm good." Jess said. "See you around. Uncle Luke." He smirked.

"Get out of here." Luke smirked.

Jess grinned and then turned to leave. He started walking down the street to his car when he heard a familiar voice call him. "Lorelai." He nodded as his uncle's girlfriend approached him.

"One day and you're already trying to ruin people's lives!" She exclaimed. "What, do you just enjoy doing it?"

"I'm sorry. Have I accidentally stepped back into 2004?" Jess said dryly.

"What?" Lorelai said.

"I seem to remember you storming up to me in a rage when I came back in 2004 to retrieve my car." Jess said. "I thought we'd moved past all of that. Remember, we came to a truce once you got back with Luke? Or did you only mean that so long as I stay away from your beloved daughter?" He said sarcastically.

"Stop being smart!" Lorelai said angrily. "You knew I'd hate the idea so why would you suggest it to her?"

"Suggest what to who?" Jess said confused.

"You told Rory to write a book about mine and her life! Why would you do that?" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Because I thought it was a good idea. Rory's a great writer." Jess said.

"No, I'll tell you why you did it! You thought if you came back, acted like her saviour when she was down, she'd remember how much she loved you and you'd win her back? Screw anyone else's feelings about the idea!" She said angrily.

"Ok whoa, slow down!" Jess frowned. "I'm not here to get Rory back or whatever."

"Then why did you go and see her?"

"Because I hadn't seen her for four years! I wanted to catch up! She was upset about not knowing what she was going to do next so I just suggested writing a book. It was just a suggestion. I'm sorry you got so upset about it. Believe it or not, that wasn't my aim." Jess said.

"Well I wish you'd just keep your opinions to yourself." She muttered.

"Yeah well maybe you should focus more on your life than Rory's." Jess retorted.

"What?" She said taken aback.

"Luke! He's miserable! He says you're not communicating again. He's worried because he didn't take you up on your offer of helping to pay for April to go to Germany, that you will start to pull away again. He's worried that because he doesn't want kids, you will leave him." Jess said. "So maybe you should focus on the man who loves you rather than taking out everything on his nephew who thought he was helping your daughter."

"He told you all of that?" Lorelai said quietly.

Jess sighed. "Yes. Look, I swear to you, I didn't suggest the book to Rory to upset you. I didn't realise it would upset you so I'm sorry. But it was only a suggestion. I wasn't even sure Rory would even think about it."

Lorelai sighed. "No. I'm sorry, Jess. It's just...been a weird few days, that's all. I found out this week that Michel wants to leave The Dragonfly and then today we got my dad a new headstone and then Rory brought up the book. My emotions are all over the place at the moment." She said. She glanced at him sheepishly. "I guess you were an easy target. Sorry."

"It's fine." Jess said. "Just fix things with Luke. He loves you."

"Yeah I know." Lorelai said quietly. "I will."

"Good." Jess said. "I better get going."

"You're heading back to Philadelphia today?" She asked.

"Yep. It was only a flying visit." Jess nodded. "See you around, Lorelai."

"Hey Jess?" She said as he started walking away.

"Yeah?" He said turning back.

"That truce...You still want it right?" She said sheepishly.

Jess smirked slightly. "We're ok. Bye Lorelai."

"Bye Jess." She smiled.

Jess shook his head as he started walking off. Once he'd heard Luke was back with Lorelai, he was happy for his uncle. As much as he and Lorelai never got on, he knew she made him really happy and that was all that mattered. He came and visited over Christmas, the first year they'd gotten back together, and to say it was awkward was an understatement. He and Lorelai didn't really know what to say to each other so one day, he knew he had to make the first move. He apologised for being an ass to her when he first came to the town and he told her that he was happy that she and Luke had reconciled. He also suggested having a truce for Luke's sake. He knew Luke wanted them to get along and now he'd grown up, he realised he sort of wanted that too. He didn't want to lose the relationship with Luke that he had formed and if they kept it up, he would need to be around Lorelai as well. To his surprise, Lorelai agreed and even she apologised for being too judgemental when he first arrived. From then on, it wasn't as awkward and the visits that came from then on went smoothly, even when he actually stayed with them for six months while he was writing his new book.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't look where he was going and he bumped right into someone. "Sorry." He apologised.

"No, I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." A familiar voice said.

Jess froze as he realised just who he had bumped into. "Dean.." He said.

"Hi.." Dean said awkwardly, just as surprised.

"Well...this is awkward..." Jess said dryly.

Dean chuckled slightly. "Just a bit." He admitted.

"I thought you moved away." Jess said.

"I did. I'm just back for the weekend, visiting my parents." Dean said glancing down at his feet. "Uh...are you visiting Luke?" He asked trying to ease the awkwardness slightly.

"Yup." Jess nodded.

"Cool. That's...cool." Dean said cringing as he heard how uncomfortable he sounded.

"I guess we were going to bump into each other at some point." Jess said, just as awkward.

"I guess so." Dean said. "I..uh..I should get going..."

"Me too." Jess said, pleased to have a reason to stop the awkwardness, starting to pass him but then he thought about how he managed to bury the hatchet with Lorelai. Maybe it was time to do that with others as well. "Dean, wait..." He said turning round.

"What?" Dean said surprised that Jess had stopped him.

"This is stupid." Jess said. "What happened between us was so long ago. Is there really a need to keep a grudge from when we were kids?"

"I..uh..I guess not." Dean said uncomfortably, scuffing the pavement with his shoes slightly.

"I'm sorry. I was a jerk to you. I was in a bad place and I thought if I got Rory, I would be happier." Jess admitted. "I guess I screwed that up as well though."

"Well..uh.." Dean said not really knowing what to say. He never thought he'd hear an apology come out of Jess Mariano's mouth.

"We've both moved on right? I mean I heard that you're married now and have kids?"

"Yeah. Jenny." Dean said. "We have three kids and we're expecting another."

Jess nodded. "Well I'm glad."

"How about you? Are you with anyone?" He asked slowly.

"Nope. Not at the moment." Jess said.

"Oh."

Jess glanced at him for a moment and then slowly held out his hand. "Truce?" He offered.

Dean looked at him for a moment before slowly shaking his hand. "A truce would be nice." He said.

"Good. Thanks." Jess said letting out a breath. "Hey, who would have thought we'd actually have a nice conversation for once?" He smirked.

Dean chuckled, the awkwardness leaving slightly. "Yeah. I certainly never thought I'd see the day." He admitted. "I never knew you knew how to apologise."

Jess smirked. "Oh I knew. I just wanted to annoy you as much as I could."

"Right." Dean chuckled. He glanced at his ex nemesis. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry too. I should have accepted that Rory chose you and stayed out of it. I guess, well I guess I wanted to make you feel how you made me feel. It was pathetic really." He said.

"No I get it. I probably would have felt the same." Jess shrugged. "And hey, that sucker punch at Kyle's party must have made you feel better." He smirked.

Dean laughed. "At the time, yeah it did." He admitted.

"Never thought you had it in you." Jess said.

"Well...I guess you didn't really know everything about me."

"I guess not." Jess said.

"So...we're cool?" Dean said.

"We're cool." Jess nodded. "I should get going but if you're around when I'm next here, we could go grab a beer or something? If you want."

Dean glanced at him and smiled. "That would be nice." He said.

Jess nodded before turning round and starting to walk towards his car again. Well this visit to Stars Hollow had certainly been more eventful than he had expected.

Jess opened the door to his apartment and immediately smiled as he saw his roommate pacing around on the phone. "Hey." He said to his other two roommates who were lounging on the couch.

"She's been like this for about an hour. Apparently the main article wasn't up to scratch and now the person who wrote is has gone away on holiday." Matt told him.

"Oh dear..." Jess chuckled.

"Yeah. I wouldn't want to be that writer right now!" Chris chuckled.

"No! No I don't care if she's bronzing herself on the beach. You go and tell her that her holiday can start when she rewrites this article! I don't care that it will take her hours! This magazine has to go out tomorrow so if she wants a job still when she gets back from holiday, she will get her ass off that beach and do what's expected of her!" She was ranting into the phone before hanging up.

"Good day?" Jess asked her.

"Shut up." She retorted. "I'm glad my upset is entertaining you."

"Oh it's not your upset. It's how you let it get to you. I certainly wouldn't want to be on the bad side of you." Jess smirked.

"You love baiting me." She frowned, crossing her arms against her chest with a huff.

"Paris, relax!" He chuckled. "I'm sure everything will work out."

"Easy for you to say, Mariano! You're not in charge of putting this magazine out every week. We haven't missed an issue for the last three years. I'm not about to start now." Paris snapped.

"And I repeat, it will be fine." Jess said, grabbing a beer out the fridge. "Here, sit and relax for a bit. If you're able to, that is." He smirked.

Paris huffed but took the beer and sat down with them. She glanced over at him. "So did you see Rory? She mentioned she was back in Stars Hollow for a bit."

"Yeah she's working the local gazette there now." Jess nodded. "She's good. Bit nervous about what the future holds for her but she's good."

"Good." Paris said. "And she...still doesn't know?"

"About you working with me? No." He said. He glanced at her. "I don't get why we can't just tell her though."

"It just...weird." Paris said. "It's like if she decided to work with Doyle. It would be weird."

"Well, she doesn't know so don't worry. No one does." Jess said.

"I don't see why it would be weird." Matt butted in. "It would only be weird if you were dating." He smirked.

"And you two are far too stubborn to admit you have feelings for each other." Chris teased them.

"Because we don't." Jess said.

"Absolutely not." Paris glared at them.

"Right. Sure you don't." Matt smirked.

"So what are we watching tonight?" Jess changed the topic. He zoned out as they started talking about the movie they were going to watch that evening. He glanced over at Paris and smiled slightly at the annoyed expression on her face that he loved annoying her about. He thought back to when Paris joined their team at Truncheon. They wanted to start a weekly magazine, advertising the books they were selling that week but also having interesting articles in it as well. None of them wanted to be the one in charge of it though so they started to look for another person to join them. When Paris arrived for the interview, he was surprised. He hadn't seen her since that time in Stars Hollow when they debated books over Rory's kitchen table. He remembered how annoyed he was when Rory had insisted she join them that evening but he remembered how he had actually enjoyed debating with Paris. She was smart like Rory and knew her books. He found out how she was on the paper with Rory at Yale and how she was editor for a bit. He knew she could do the job but they both felt a bit awkward about what Rory would think about them working together. Matt and Chris had told him he was crazy of course as she was the first good person they had interviewed the whole week. He knew they were right so agreed to have her do a trial. Paris impressed them all immediately and before he knew it, she was properly part of the team. Since they had an extra room at their apartment, it felt obvious to offer it to her. Jess had been surprised when she had accepted it and wasn't sure how weird it would be actually living with his ex's best friend but Paris fit in straight away. Matt and Chris loved winding Paris up but he knew they respected her. She saw them as her annoying big brothers but she respected them too. Now he and Paris were a different story. Their friendship had started off cautiously but soon they realised they had a lot in common and they started opening up about things. Paris had told him personal things that she hadn't told Matt and Chris and Jess had told her things he hadn't shared with his best friends either. Jess enjoyed the banter he exchanged with her as well. It reminded him of how Luke and Lorelai were before they got together. As they grew closer over the years, Matt and Chris started teasing them about just how close they had become. Nothing had happened like that of note between them but it didn't stop the teasing. He liked Paris. She had become one of his closest friends but there was still that elephant in the room. Rory. He'd moved on from her years ago but he just knew if something did happen between him and Paris, it would end his friendship with Rory permanently and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that yet. He glanced over at Paris who just happened to glance in his direction at the same time.

"Are you seriously watching me watch the movie?" She raised her eyebrows.

"No." He said. Honestly, he hadn't even realised the movie had started.

"Weirdo." Paris retorted

"Freak." Jess retorted.

"Smart ass." Paris countered.

"Dictator." Jess smirked.

"Hey, can you two stop the flirting now please? There's people who actually want to watch the movie." Chris said.

Jess caught Paris' eyes and they both smirked before returning their gaze back to the tv.

So I hope you like it! Please let me know what you think and whether you'd want more of this! :) Thank youuu! :)