A/N: Just when I thought I was overloaded with GG fic to write, I rewatched one of my favourite episodes (There's the Rub) and I got this idea that just wouldn't go away, so here it is! Basic premise - what if Rory (and Jess) made a choice to tell the truth in one very key scene? This is what happens ;)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and dialogue from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other folks who aren't me.

Truth Be Told

Rory was so frustrated by the time she got off the phone. She loved Dean, of course she did - though lately she seemed to have to spend a lot of time telling herself that - but there were times when he was so annoying. She didn't want him to come over tonight. Rory knew she definitely told him that, repeatedly, and as disappointed as he was, she at least thought Dean had got the message by the end of the conversation. Apparently not, and now he was on his way over, despite her protesting it, again!

Huffing out a sigh, she dumped the phone down and stomped into the kitchen. Jess couldn't be here when Dean showed up. It would only end badly, so he was going to have to go. It sucked because they'd been having a really nice time, but Rory could only stand so much destruction tonight. Of course, the evening was pretty much ruined anyway if she had to turf out Jess (and Paris too) just to please Dean.

"Who was on the phone?" asked Jess, staring up at Rory's pouty expression - whoever it was, they clearly hadn't left her feeling too happy.

"It was Dean," she confessed, with a significant look that Jess knew all too well.

"Ah, he wouldn't happen to be heading over here now, would he?"

"What's going on?" asked Paris, noticing the strange looks passing between her two friends.

She tried not to grin just realising she genuinely had two friends at this table, eating dinner with her, talking about literature. If only every Friday night was just like this.

"Dean's on his way over and Rory doesn't want him to find me here," Jess explained.

Of course, Paris had to ask why and Rory knew she should explain, especially when Jess joined the 'why' train too. She had her reasons and they were good ones, but somehow saying them out loud seemed impossible. Rory still wasn't sure when the truth had become so complicated.

"Jess, I'm asking you as a friend," she told him straight, "just please leave now."

His eyes were locked on hers when he answered.

"You really want me to go?"

"I... I really wanna avoid a fight with Dean."

Jess smirked, hard.

"That's not the same thing."

"Jess, please," Rory groaned. "Not now."

"Not now, what? I'm just asking a question?" he told her, shrugging his shoulders. "Do you really want me to leave?"

It was way too much. Rory was just done fighting with Dean, with Jess, with herself. The truth shouldn't be complicated. It ought to be the simplest most straightforward thing in the world. Just speak the truth. Just do it.

"No," she said very suddenly and loudly, so much so that she noticed Paris jump in her seat. "No, I don't want you to leave. I don't want either of you to leave right now. We were having fun. This is probably the most fun I've had in a long time, actually, and I want it to continue."

"So, call Dean back, tell him not to come over," said Paris easily.

"I tried telling him that. He's not very attentive to what I say lately" said Rory crossly, folding her arms across her chest. "I just wanted to be alone tonight, I told him that. I told you that," she said to Paris then. "Does nobody listen to me?"

"I can go if you don't want me here," she replied coolly.

"No, Paris, I don't... I told you, I don't want you or Jess to leave," Rory insisted. "Yes, I would've liked you to pay attention when I told you that you couldn't stay before, but I'm glad you did, and I'm glad you came over," she told Jess, smiling in spite of herself. "I don't want to have to choose between my friends all of the time. It's exhausting!"

She looked so frustrated and upset by now that Jess was giving actual consideration to leaving. If he slipped out the back door, Forester never had to know he was here for more than a few seconds, just dropping off the food. As fun as it was to screw with the dumb giant, Jess didn't want Rory getting any more upset tonight.

"I'll go," he said, getting up from his seat.

"No, you'll stay," Rory insisted, hand on his arm pushing him back down. "Please?"

"Rory..."

The doorbell rang and it was pretty much too late anyway. Dean was on the front porch, waiting to come in, and Rory had to face him. Taking a deep breath, she came out of the kitchen and moved quickly to the door, pulling it open with a force.

"Hi." Dean smiled. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" asked Rory. "What's wrong is that you didn't listen to me when I said I didn't want you to come over right now," she told him crossly. "I thought you understood about tonight."

"Rory, come on," her boyfriend complained, moving past her into the hallway. "I just-" he stopped speaking very abruptly when he heard movement in the kitchen and a voice that was definitely not Paris.

One-minute Dean was standing there beside her and the next thing Rory knew he was rushing toward the kitchen. She took off after him and reached the scene to find Dean glaring at Jess who had his jacket half-on, half-off, with Paris looking between them like she was watching a ping pong tournament.

"Dean, Jess just came by to bring me some food," said Rory evenly, after all, it was the truth.

"From Luke's," Jess confirmed, pulling his jacket all the way on now.

"He wanted to make sure I ate."

"Luke did."

"Right, Luke did."

"Personally, I could care less if she eats."

"Yeah, true, he could care less."

Rory said the words but she hoped it wasn't true. When she looked at Jess she knew for sure they were both lying, again. Rory really hated that. Once again, Dean was glowering, mostly at Jess, and Rory felt a headache coming on. God, she was so sick of this whole stupid situation. When Jess started teasing Dean about the 'tiny little ice cream package just big enough for two,' that he had brought along, of course Dean retaliated in his usual caveman way of towering over his shorter opponent and scowling as if he were Frankenstein's monster. It was more than a person could take!

"Guys, really?" said Rory, cutting in between them. "Why do we always have to do this?"

"What the hell is going on, Rory?" Dean asked her angrily, turning some so he could see the table laden with half-eaten food. "It doesn't look to me like Jess was just dropping this off. I know you eat fast, but this is a lot of food to put away that quickly, even on your best day."

"He didn't just drop it off, but-"

"You told me you were doing laundry tonight and now you are here with Jess."

"And Paris," Rory cut in, as embarrassed as she was angry now because this was happening in front of her friends, "but it just happened."

"How does that just happen? You totally lied to me!"

"I didn't!"

"Turn the situation around, Rory! How's it looking?"

"It's looking complicated and I'm trying to explain it to you!" she said, looking from him to Paris to Jess and around again.

There was no good explanation unless she told the whole truth but Rory wasn't entirely sure where to start. Somebody was going to get hurt if she was completely honest here and she had a horrible feeling it might be her as much as anyone.

"It's my fault," said Paris suddenly, all eyes turning to look at her at the same moment. "It's my fault that Jess is here."

Jess looked more stunned by that than anyone, like he really wished he wasn't here at all now, for any reason. Rory hated that too. Of all the people present, he was the one she most wanted to stay, and the feeling of it overwhelmed her in that moment.

"No!" she said, too loudly into the silence. "Paris, thank you, but it's okay. Dean, it is not her fault," she insisted, getting her boyfriend's attention back in a second. "She had nothing to do with this. You want the truth? Fine, here's the truth. I was doing laundry tonight, when Paris showed up begging me to study, so I did, for one hour. Just when we were done, Jess showed up with the care package. I didn't want to be rude, and quite frankly, I like his company, so I asked him to stay, and I asked Paris to stay also, and we were having a really great time until you showed up!"

Dean's expression was something to behold as it melted faster than the ice-cream he had come in carrying. He was so confused. Jess couldn't help thinking of the word 'bewildered' as he stared at the guy. If Dean was anybody else, Jess might even have felt bad for him. As it was, he just felt really proud of Rory for finally standing up to the doofus she'd been dating too long.

"What's happening to you, Rory?" asked Dean at last. "You used to be different."

"No, I didn't," she insisted, "or if I did, then I'm glad I've changed. Dean, these last few months I feel like... like we've been pulling in different directions. We don't seem to want to do the same things or go to the same places or anything anymore."

"Since he showed up," he countered, tilting his head toward Jess.

"No, since before Jess got here," Rory insisted. "It's not that I don't care about you, Dean, because I do. You know I do, but you've changed too. You don't seem to like it if I want to do anything without you or be my own person at all."

"She has mentioned that before," said Paris, at least until Dean glared at her. "Hey, I'm just saying!" she said, hands held up in mock-surrender.

Jess hid a smirk behind his own hand, glad nobody was looking at him anymore. It was actually more fun to watch this unfold from a couple of paces outside the angry circle.

"Dean, we're different people now from when we started dating. You have to admit it's not working anymore."

His shoulders slumped as he did indeed admit defeat. Dean had to know Rory's words were true. Jess had a feeling that was the worst part for the guy. There was no argument to make, no way to fight against it. These two had finally figured out what Jess had been sure of from the first moment he met Dean Forester - Rory deserved better.

"Okay," he said eventually, nodding his head. "So, I guess that's it."

"I guess it is," Rory agreed.

"I'm gonna get going."

He turned to leave then, and though Jess would never admit to actively avoiding a fight with Dean, he did back up against the counter so as not to antagonise the guy. Desperate men did desperate things. As much as Jess was sure he could take him, he would prefer not to have to, especially not in Rory's house where things could get broken.

"Wow," said Paris when Dean was finally gone. "When I came over tonight, I was not expecting dinner and a show."

Rory didn't react, didn't speak, didn't move at all. She stood in stunned silence for a long time, until finally Jess felt like he ought to check she was okay.

"Rory?" he said carefully, approaching her like an unexploded bomb, his hand barely touching her arm.

She nodded, even as her hands flew up to her face and covered it. There was a kind of a stifled scream in there somewhere, and then she emerged, breathing a sigh of what seemed to be relief.

"That was some speech," said Paris, pushing yet another fry with hot sauce into her mouth whilst the going was good. "Seemed like it had been building for a while too."

"It just came out," said Rory, shaking her head. "I've been putting it off for so long, trying to pretend... but it needed to happen. Dean deserved the truth. I think we all deserve that much," she said, looking at Jess then.

Even Paris couldn't fail to realise she was in the wrong place at the wrong time right now. She pushed back her chair, making a terrible noise on the linoleum, then got up to go.

"You leaving?" asked Jess, even though it was pretty obvious that she was.

Honestly, he just wanted something to say that was guaranteed not to make this situation worse. Jess had a horrible feeling he was more than capable of it right now. Messing with Dean, trying to get Rory to choose him over the boyfriend, it had been fun, entertaining, a great challenge. Now it almost seemed as if he was about to get what he wanted from the start and Jess was actually a little nervous about it.

"You don't need a chaperone, do you, Holden Caulfield?" asked Paris with a smirk that Jess would've been proud of himself and they both knew it. "Rory, thank you for the study help and the food. I'll see you at school."

"Paris, you don't have to-" Rory's protests fell on deaf ears, her friend was already gone. "Okay, bye!" she called pointlessly, eyes everywhere but on Jess at this point.

They seemed to be unable to say a word to each other, at least until the front door slammed in Paris' wake.

Now they were alone, Jess and Rory, nobody else. Neither attached to another person in any way at all. The question then became, of course, did they plan on being attached to each other?

"So..." said Rory eventually, meeting Jess' eyes for all of a second before looking away fast and towards the table still half-filled with food. "Since reheated French fries definitely do suck, I think we're gonna have to throw these out," she said, moving to do just that.

Jess hovered behind her still, jacket on but not quite willing to leave. He had no idea what he was supposed to say, but apparently, he had to say something. Rory had been so honest with Dean tonight, he never saw that coming. Jess had been hoping she would crack for weeks and just admit that she and the boyfriend didn't belong together, but he never quite expected it to happen, especially not like that. Maybe there was some power in honesty.

"Luke didn't send the care package," he blurted out, watching as Rory spun around to face him. "I brought it. I wanted to come over," he admitted, shifting awkwardly, but trying not to look as nervous and dumb as he felt.

"You wanted to escape the construction zone," she recalled from their earlier exchange.

Jess shook his head. "I wanted to come over," he repeated, knowing his meaning ought to be extremely clear by now. "Rory, come on. You know why I came here."

"And you know why I wanted you to stay, right?" she replied, too quietly.

"Right," he agreed, nodding this time.

There was about five feet of linoleum between them, then three, then barely one as they both shifted forward into each other's personal space. His hand reached out to her cheek and guided her closer, her arms went up around his neck as they finally kissed.

They had to be insane, at least Rory thought so, unaware that Jess was seriously considering the same thing. She just broke up with Dean, literally ten minutes ago, and rebound relationships were just asking for trouble, but that wasn't what this was, and they both knew that too.

In all but name, Rory and Jess had been in a kind of relationship from the first day they met. They had just been waiting to make it official and now here was the moment. All it took was a dose of good old-fashioned truth.