Rory was entwined with Jess on the old sofa in Luke's apartment, far too distracted by each other to hear her mother coming up the stairs.

"Rory, are we-" she stopped abruptly as they sprang apart, her daughter blushing profusely as a small smirk grew upon Jess's face.

"Mom, we were just looking for my... bracelet," she began "it must have fallen down the cushions earlier." Jess reached down to lightly touch her fingertips as she spoke, Lorelai raising her eyebrows at the action.

Ever since Rory had chosen him at the dance marathon, he had become even fonder of the fascinating girl. The girl that had picked him over Dean, and although he would strongly deny it in public, he simply craved her touch. It made him feel more alive than he had ever known with the public intimacies of Shane.

Jess smiled at Rory as her mother led her toward Luke's stairs, not stopping until the last flick of her hair had moved through the door. He ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled heavily, still confused by the way that she made him feel. It all looked so simple for her – she had had this with Dean after all – but Jess had never truly felt a connection to another like this before.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Lorelai didn't say another word until they were outside of Doose's market, when she stopped abruptly, turning to look Rory in the eye.

"Is he... pressuring you?" She asked it with a slightly pained expression, as though she didn't really want to know the answer. Untrustworthy boyfriends were a new territory for her; used to the calmness of hanging out with Dean. Rory simply looked at her mother in shock, narrowing her eyes as she simply answered "No. Not at all!" She couldn't quite believe the question, did her mom really have this low an opinion of the boy she was seeing?

"It's just that you were never like that with Dean and I never had to worry that you might become like... become like me." She hung her head slightly toward the end, as if she sensed the embarrassment in Rory's mind. It was true that things with Dean had never been quite so passionate; everything was appropriate for Lorelai since the three of them were together so frequently.

Rory shook her head slightly, noticing that her mom's bottom lip began to quiver in wait of a response. "You don't need to worry about it, it's not how you think. You know how much time we spend sat talking about books in our kitchen – I seem to remember you telling us only last week to get with the 21st century? Well this is my version of growing up Mom, Jess is exactly what I want and you'll grow to like him eventually. It's unfair on Luke too, you know how much it hurts him that you can't stand to be around Jess." She took her mother's hand, squeezed it a little and they continued to walk home in the evening light.

Hope you like my first chapter - i've never published anything before and eek. I will probably cry with joy if someone review this (even if it's bad) because people will have read it! xx