This is going to be a three parter.

By the way, if anyone has any suggestions for this series, drop me a line. I have a few key things I'm going to cover, so I can't make any promises, but chances are I'll add it.

Jess comes to consciousness slowly after one of the most restful sleeps of his life.

"Comfy?" He feels more than he hears.

Humming in the affirmative, he lifts his head up a little, resting his chin on Oliver's chest. "Hi."

"Hi." Oliver starts to chuckle when Jess won't stop staring with a dopey grin. "What?"

"I'm just making sure this isn't a dream."

"Oh, you dream about me often, Mr. Mariano?" Oliver says teasingly.

"Oh, heavens no, Mr. Stone. See, I'm just an innocent young man from a small town. If my eyes aren't deceiving me, you're the one that crawled into my bed."

Oliver snorts. "Innocent? I have it on good authority that you are the resident bad boy of Stars Hollow. Everything from garden gnomes to street corners became at risk ever since you showed up."

Jess sits up a little, his weight shifting to his elbows. "Hey, they never proved it was me that made the fake crime scene."

"And the gnome?"

"Pierpont has been safely residing in his yard for the past year now."

"Oh, well, in that case…" Oliver reaches up, capturing Jess' lips in his own. A moment later he pulls back slowly and smiles. "Hi." He says again.

"Hi." Jess says before lying back down with a yawn. "I could stay here forever."

"It's two in the afternoon."

Closing his eyes, Jess shrugs. "Yes, your point being?"

"We should get up." Jess groans. "I know, but it's like jet lag, you have to fight through the sleepiness."

"Why are you so insistent on this? Scared Luke is going to walk in or something?" He waits a beat, but no answer comes. Lifting his head, he stares at Oliver in disbelief. "Oh my god, you're scared of Luke, aren't you?"

"What? No, of course not. Why would I- I mean- Look, just because I may have pretended to still be asleep earlier when he came in to grab something does not mean-" Jess raises a brow, amused. Oliver sighs. "Okay, fine, I find him scary, but that's only because he's basically your dad, and he seems like the kind of guy that would be cleaning the biggest gun he owns when I come by while casually inferring he knows six different ways of hiding my body where no one would ever find me again."

Jess scoffs. "That's ridiculous. Luke doesn't own any guns, he hates them. And he wouldn't need to infer it, it's common knowledge that he's friends with Jackson, of course they wouldn't find your body, but the squash will be especially chatty that year."

"Jess!"

"I'm kidding, jeez! Lighten up a little, would ya?"

"You're a jerk." Oliver is smirking when he says it, so Jess knows he's not mad.

"A jerk who's a great kisser."

"Well, at least you're modest." They kiss again. "But, unfortunately, I was serious about getting up. I need to head home and work on this article for the seventy-five anniversary edition of the Franklin."

Jess pouts, wrapping his arm more securely around his waist. "Just do it from here." He mummers into his neck. "You can stay another night, I still have your extra uniform in my closet from before and I know Rory wouldn't say no to a ride to Chilton tomorrow."

Oliver sits up anyway, prying Jess off him. "Yes, because me trying to work on an article here last time worked out so well." He says sarcastically. "Look, I promise Monday after school I will come straight here, okay?"

Jess sighs. "Fine," He watches Oliver lace up his shoes. "But I get to pick the movie."

"Deal." Oliver stands, shrugging his coat on. "Kiss?"

Jess smirks, leaning up. "You don't have to tell me twice." He closes his eyes, shocked at how familiar this is already. "Call me tonight?"

"Will do. Bye, and don't sleep much more."

Jess rolls his eyes, lying back down. "Okay, Mom."

He closes his eyes after the door shuts, burying his face in his pillow that still smells of Oliver. His door opens again soon after. "Hey."

… And Luke effectively ruined the moment.

Opening his eyes, he sits up again, watching Luke hover in the doorway. "Hey."

"So, um," He closes the door, meandering in. "You look happy."

Jess can't fight the grin that grows on his face. "I am." He says sincerely.

His uncle grins back. "Good, I'm glad." He grin vanishes as he takes off his hat and scrubs at his hair. "Look, this is awkward, so I'm just gonna come out with it. Did you two, um, you know…" He waves his hands back and forth.

"What? Have sex?" He asks as a joke. When Luke doesn't laugh he realizes that's really what he meant. "Wait, you think- Luke, I had been awake for over twenty-four hours. I was out before I even reached the bed. We were both too exhausted to even change our clothes, let alone do what you're thinking. Trust me, when we do I'll be sure to hang a sock on the door."

That snaps Luke out of whatever haze he was in. "Hey! There will be no hanging of socks under my roof!"

"Alright, chill, it was a joke. That's what the back seat of a car is for."

"Jess!"

"Okay, I'm done. You need to learn to take a joke."

Luke huffs. "How about you just work on a better routine there, Lenny Bruce. And since we're on the topic of rules, there are gonna be a few new ones. See this door? From now on, when the two of you are up here, it stay open."

"Okay." Jess agrees, humoring him.

"And the bed sharing, that was a one time thing. You know I don't mind him staying over, but when he does, one of you will be on the bed and the other will be on the couch. Are we clear?"

"Just one question. If we ever go to some dance, do you want us to leave room for Jesus too there, Reverend Luke?" Luke shakes his head, not dignifying that with a response as he heads back downstairs.

000000000000000000000000000

There was surprisingly little fanfare around town once Jess started going out with Oliver, like suspiciously little fanfare. None of the usual gossips mentioned anything to him. Miss Patty, Babette, even East Side Tillie were all radio silent. Someone so much as litters in this four block science experiment and they're gabbing about it, but him? They don't so much as mention it in passing. He doesn't get it. He knows they know, he hasn't exactly been subtle about his new relationship status, so why aren't they making a bigger deal about it?

Jess leans against the counter, chewing the end of the pencil as he watches Miss Patty and Babette chat outside the dance school.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Luke asks as he finishes replacing the coffee filter. "And stop chewing on that." He bats his hand away.

Jess tosses the pencil down. "They have some nerve, you know that?"

"Who? Is someone giving you a bad time? Because if they are I told you to send them my way."

"No, I'm talking about the chatty hens over there." Jess nods his head across the street.

Luke looks where he gestured to. "Who? Babette and Miss Patty? Did they say something about you and Oliver?"

"No, the opposite. It's been a week and they haven't said a damn thing. Last spring when I kissed Chuck I couldn't get them off my back for months, but now that I'm actually dating a guy they've been as quiet as church mice. I just don't get it."

Luke crosses his arms and fights down a grin. "Let me get this straight, you're annoyed that they aren't bothering you?"

Jess shifts. "Well, when you say it like that…"

"It sounds crazy?" He finishes his sentence. "Because it is. Jess, I thought you of all people would be glad they aren't gossiping about you. What has you so paranoid?"

"Hey, just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me. And what if they're talking about me behind my back again like they did when I first got here. For all we know, they could be talking about the Jess Situation: Part Deux right this second."

Luke can't help but laugh. "Jess, do you even hear yourself? They are not plotting against you."

"That you know of."

Luke shakes his head, giving up on trying to talk sense. "Let me know when you arrive back on planet Earth." He heads to the back.

0000000000000000000

Jess waits impatiently as Luke finishes locking up. "You're not going to find anything."

"That's what you thought before, and yet you did." Luke stuffs his hands in his pockets as they head for the dance studio, shaking his head.

"Hey, Jess! This is a nice surprise." Lorelai and Rory catch up with them. "Where's the other half? Isn't he usually the one that drags you to town meetings?"

"Oliver is in Florida visiting his grandparents. I'm coming to find out what the others are really saying about me behind my back."

Luke sighs. "He's paranoid they're holding another secret meeting, the 'Jess Situation: Part Deux' as he called it."

"Well, you know what they say, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you." Lorelai points out.

Luke throws his hands into the air. "Great, there's two of you now, you guys should go out and get matching tin hats."

"Mine's all polished and ready to go. You?" Lorelai turns to Jess.

He snaps his fingers. "Damn, left it next to my ham radio. Call next time, we'll coordinate."

Luke falls back next to Rory. "Why do we put up with them?" He mutters.

She shrugs. "They're family, what could ya do?"

They make their way inside, Luke making a 'I told you so' face to Jess when, surprise surprise, they find no 'secret meeting' taking place.

"The night's still young." He mutters back as they take their seats.

0000000000000000000

Jess spends the whole meeting waiting for the other shoe to drop. He sits through the usual nonsense, forcing himself to pay attention so he doesn't miss a thing. An hour passes and nothing happens. Taylor doesn't even look in his direction.

The town selectman bangs his gavel. "Seeing as how it's getting late, I say we wrap this up and be on our way. Goodnight, everyone." With one final knock, Jess looks around in disbelief as everyone starts packing up.

Luke pats him on the back. "Sorry, kid. Guess you were paranoid for nothing."

Jess ignores him, standing up. "Alright, very funny. You guys really had me going for a minute."

Luke crosses his arms, using one hand to rub his temples. "Ah, jeez."

Everyone stops and turns to him. Taylor has an irritated look on his face as he quits talking to Miss Patty next to him and leans forward on his podium. "The meeting is over, young man. If you had an issue to bring up, you should have spoken up while we were still taking concerns. I've ended this session already, meaning you'll just have to wait until next week."

Jess scoffs. "Seriously? Come on, man. Just give it up already. I know about the secret meeting you're all off to now."

Taylor cocks his head to the side. "What secret meeting? Luke, is he having some sort of fit? What is he talking about?"

Luke just continues to hide behind his hand as he shakes his head, wanting to have no part in this.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?"

Taylor clicks his tongue. "Well…"

"The meeting! The secret meetings you all seem to love so much! The ones where everyone gets together and gossips about me like bored housewives!"

Taylor sighs. "You really think we have nothing better to do with our time than get together and talk about you? And what, pray tell, would we even talk about?"

"Me and Oliver. How us starting to date last week doesn't mesh with the nineteen-fifties aesthetic this town has going or some bull like that."

"Last week?" Taylor turns to Miss Patty. "But you said they became an item months ago."

"That's what Babette told me." She points at Babette.

"It's true! Jess was takin' him around the town, introducin' him to everyone! Then afterwards, Morey an' I were takin' our afternoon stroll when we saw them havin' a secluded lunch together by the lake! All very romantic like. Right, Morey?" She nudges her husband's side.

"Very romantic spot." Morey nods.

"Didn't they come together to the town meeting that day too?" Andrew points out.

"How could we forget?" Gypsy cuts in. "Lover boy here was practically drooling over him the whole time. It was extremely distracting."

Jess flushes. "Wha- I wasn't- That wasn't a date!"

"But Babette just said it was." Taylor points his gavel at Babette.

"And I'm saying it wasn't!" He honestly can't believe he's actually having this argument right now.

"Now, now, no need to raise your voice, young man, we are not howler monkeys. How about this, everyone in favor of the lunch in question being a date, raise your hand."

Jess watches in disbelief as everyone except him and Luke raise their hands. "Even you two?" He groans at Lorelai and Rory.

They both shrug. "Sorry." Rory apologizes.

"They are making a pretty good argument." Lorelai explains.

"Everyone opposed?" Taylor asks, to which Jess is the only one to raise his hand. He bangs the gavel. "Then it's decided that the lunch was, in fact, a date. Now, if that is all, I think everyone would like to get home."

All Jess can do is sputter as everyone gets up and leaves for good. Luke stands up next to him. "You wanted your relationship debated in a public forum? Congratulations, you just got it." He pats him on the back, knocking him out of the daze he was in.

"Yeah, and thanks for all the support there, Uncle Luke." He spits out. "I could really feel the love as you hid behind your hand the entire time. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go call my boyfriend and inform him that, apparently, the two of us have been dating for the past two months without either of us knowing it." Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he storms out of the dance hall to get away from all the nut jobs in town.

He makes it as far as across the street before Rory yells for him to wait up. Against his better judgment, he slows down his pace to give her a chance to catch up. "Wow, you are fast when you wanna be."

"Yeah, spite's a great motivator. Thanks for the back up by the way."

"Would you calm down, grumpy gills? It was just a joke."

Jess lets out a sharp laugh. "And yet I don't remember laughing." He speeds up, causing her to speed up too.

"Listen, could you stop? I'm not in the right shoes here to pull a Forest Gump." He makes a dead stop, making her stumble so she doesn't run into him. "Oh, thank you."

"What'd ya want, Rory?" He wishes she would just get to the point.

"Well, I was thinking, since Oliver is out of town and you obviously don't wanna be around Stars Hollow, that you would want to go on this road trip to visit Yale with me and my mom and my grandparents tomorrow."

He sighs. "Rory, we've talked about this. I'm not interested in going to college, let alone some fancy Ivy league like Yale."

"I know, and I promise this isn't me trying to get you to change your mind. Grandpa told me last week that he's meeting some acapella group that he had gone to school with and thought he'd make a trip out of it, show off where he had gone to school, and then when he's at the dinner we can do some fun things. You know Yale has like, fifteen libraries, and he said he can get us a day pass for all of them."

He bites his bite, more than a little tempted by the promise of seeing some of the rare editions he's heard of Yale having. "Jeez, I don't know, Rory. This sounds like more of a family thing between you guys and your grandparents."

She holds up her hands to stop him. "No, it'll be fine. Grandpa actually invited you too. He wants you there, believe me."

"I guess. If you're sure I won't be crashing."

She gives him a wide grin. "He actually insisted that you come too. Although, between the two of us, I think it's because he likes having another guy there. First my mom, and then me, he likes at least the illusion of having a grandson."

"Well, us Gilmore guys have to stick together, being a rare breed and all."

Jess lets Rory wrap her arm around his as she jumps up and down in excitement. He'd stop her, seeing as how they're in public, but he's learned the quickest way to get her to stop is to just let her get it all out of her system at once. "I'm so excited! This is going to be so much fun!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be sure to bring my sparklers with me." He says sarcastically as they start walking again, Rory still not loosening her grip. At least she stopped jumping.

"Oh! And don't worry about telling Luke, Mom's telling him now as we speak."

Jess thinks about that for a second. "Wait. How can Lorelai being telling Luke? I just agreed to go."

"Oh, well, I may have told her last week that you had already agreed to go so that she would agree to go."

"So you used me."

"I wouldn't say used. More like… assumed you would say yes so she would come too."

"So you used me." He repeats.

"Ugh, fine, I used you. Happy?"

"Ecstatic." He says in a deadpan tone. "But you know how you can really make it up to me?" He smirks. "Helping me explain to Oliver how the entire town thinks we've been dating this whole time."

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?"

"Nope."

0000000000000000000

Jess is fuming as he jumps out of the cab, not even waiting for it to make a complete stop. He doesn't wait for Lorelai or Rory as they get out at a slower pace, he just wants to be as far from people as he can, preferably in his room with his music at a deafening level.

"Whoa, kid, slow down. I know you're pissed, trust me, I'm not exactly Miss Sunshine myself, but we're not the ones to be mad at." Lorelai places a hand on his shoulder.

He shrugs her off, spinning around to face her. "You know how I feel about college! How could you just let that happen! And you!" He turns his attention to Rory. "You gave me your word! You promised me!"

Rory looks up from the sidewalk for the first time, crossing her arms tighter around herself. "I didn't know he was going to trap us like that, I swear!"

Jess scoffs. "Bullshit."

"Hey!" Lorelai jumps in, yelling just as loud as him now. He masks his shock behind his anger. He's only heard Lorelai this pissed a handful of times, but never directed at him. Not even that time she caught him stealing a beer from her fridge. "You can be mad at me, you can be mad at my father, but you will not talk to Rory like that again. Do you understand me?"

He continues scowling at Lorelai, but the moment his eyes land on Rory his face softens. She really was just as surprised as him when Richard led them in to meet the Dean of Admissions who 'just so happened' to be an old friend. He gives her a half shrug as his eyes shift around everywhere but on her. "Sorry." He mumbles, feeling his temper melt away.

She gives him a reassuring smile, although it doesn't reach her eyes. "It's fine. You're mad, I get it, I'm pretty upset myself." They start heading for Luke's again, this time at a slower pace. "I wish Grandpa would have given us a little bit of a heads up, I would have dressed way better than this and I could have brought my transcripts. I was in no way prepared."

"It was kinda funny when he asked what you wanted to major in and you just stood there for a full minute before blurting out CNN." Jess chuckles at the memory.

"That's it, no more college talk for at least forty-eight hours." Rory declares. "And at least I didn't do an impression of a statue." She adds after the fact.

"Hey, I've told you before. The verbal thing-"

"Comes and goes." She finishes, rolling her eyes. "It was like I was doing the interview for the both of us."

"And a very good interpreter you made."

0000000000000000

Luke finishes wiping off a table after the dinner rush when he hears yelling outside. He peers out the window and is surprised to see the fighting coming from Jess and Lorelai. Those two have been getting along great for months now, he really hopes this isn't the start of another repeat from last year when the two fought like cats and dogs. It's been peaceful having his nephew and friend getting along, maybe a little annoying when one encourages the other to keep going with whatever joke or bit they're doing, but certainly better for his blood pressure.

Just when he's about to run out and play referee, they seem to calm down and start heading his way. Not wanting to be caught spying, he heads over to the counter and makes it just as they walk in.

"Hey, how'd it go?" He asks like he's been standing there the whole time.

"Fan-freakin'-tastic. I'm gonna go eat upstairs. Later." Jess takes one of the bags of Hector's Tacos (which, what?) and breezes past him.

"Bye, sweetie, and sorry again about today." Lorelai says as her and Rory sit at a table with their own bags.

Jess waves in acknowledgment before running upstairs.

"Actually, Mom, I'm going to take my food and go see Dean, tell him about what happened. Is that okay?"

Lorelai nods, taking a few tacos out and handing the rest of the bag to Rory. "Yeah, of course, hon. I'll see you at home later."

"Thanks. Bye, Luke."

Luke barely gets his own goodbye out before Rory is gone too. "And then there were two." Lorelai says, giving him a smile as she rests her arms on the table. "Taco?"

"Um, no thanks. See, this is a diner, I serve food here. Most people don't come quite as prepared as you do."

"Huh, you're loss. They are supposedly the best tacos in New Haven." She unwraps one, digging in.

Unsure of himself, Luke sets down the coffee pot on the table and takes a seat. "Speaking of New Haven, how, um, how'd that go? I heard you and Jess yelling, and the kids don't seem to be in a great mood."

Lorelai groans, putting down her taco with a little more force than necessary. "Well, to quote Jess, fan-freakin'-tastic. My father, the puppet master, struck again. This whole trip was one elaborate plan to get Jess and Rory to meet the Dean of Admissions at Yale."

"Seriously?" Luke is understanding the teenagers' moods a lot better now. For as long as he can remember, Harvard is the only school Rory has ever talked about going to. And as for Jess, from the very limited number of conversations they've had about college, Jess has made his opinion on post high school education very clear.

"Unfortunately."

Luke shakes his head as he stands. "I'm gonna go check on Jess then, just double check everything's okay."

"Good idea. Look at you, getting the hang of this parenting gig."

Luke pokes his head into the kitchen to let Caesar know he'll be upstairs, then gives Lorelai a quick shrug as he passes again. "It's still hit and miss. We fight about how he hogs the bathroom nearly every morning still."

"You know, we really should have seen the whole boyfriend thing coming, just by how much time he spends on his hair alone." Lorelai jokes.

"You know what they say about hindsight."

Upstairs, Luke's not too sure what he's going to find, but he's taking it as a good sign that he can't hear any of Jess' so-called 'music' blasting. Opening the door, Jess is lounging on the couch with his own bag of tacos, sock-clad feet up on the coffee table as he watches tv.

Luke makes his way over and joins his nephew on the couch, shucking off his own shoes and putting his feet up on the coffee table too. "Lorelai told me what happened."

Jess sighs, resting his head back against the couch. "Luke, I really don't wanna talk about it."

He shrugs. "Fine by me."

Jess lifts his head back up and eyes him. "Really?" He asks sceptically. "You're seriously not gonna make me do some stupid Nick at Nite, heart-to-heart with you?"

"Nope. It's a college conversation and we agreed I wouldn't get on you about college things until December. Last I checked, it's still November."

"Oh. Cool."

"I just have one question though, then I'll drop this for good."

Jess groans as he slouches, setting his taco down in the wrapper on his lap. "Knew this was too good to be true." He mutters under his breath.

"Why you?" Jess looks at him, not quite following. "I just mean, I get why Richard would want Rory to go to Yale, he had gone there and wants his granddaughter to follow in his footsteps no doubt, but why insist you go to that interview too?"

Jess shrugs, picking at his dinner. "When I asked him the same thing he just said Lorelai had passed going to college and he didn't want to see another person throw away their potential. I guess Rory told him I wasn't into the whole college route after high school and he just got carried away." He trails off after that, clearly embarrassed by the whole thing.

Luke can't believe he's even thinking it, but he agrees with Richard on this one. The guy has obviously caught on to the fact that Jess is smart, and he's absolutely right. With barely any effort, the kid is already brought his GPA up to a four point oh, and that's counting all the honors classes he's taking this year. Hell, had he been trying from the beginning, Luke has no doubt that he could have gotten into Chilton. He's seen him help both Oliver and Rory out with their homework from that school without breaking a sweat. He could only imagine how great Jess could be if he went to a big school like Yale or Harvard where he would actually be challenged for once. But with no motivation to even try, Luke knows there's no point bringing any of this up with Jess, and if he does try to push right now, Jess will only push back twice as hard. Maybe in December, when they finally do have that college chat together he'll voice his opinions, but for now it's best to just let the topic sit on the back burner.

"So," Luke says, figuring Jess wants a change in conversation. "Lorelai was saying those are apparently the best tacos in New Haven. They living up to the hype?"

"They're alright, but it's New Haven, so bar was already set pretty low." Jess digs in again, visibly relaxing. "Wanna try one?" He pulls one out from his bag.

"Ah, why not. I haven't had dinner yet anyway." He takes the offered food and unwraps it. He takes a bite and nods approvingly. "Now tell me, what the hell are we watching?"

"Scrubs." He says with a mouthful.

"Seems pretty stupid to me."

"I don't know, I have a good feeling about it." They sit in a comfortable silence for a while, focusing on the show in front of them. Luke is surprised when Jess mutes the tv once the commercials come on. He patiently waits for Jess to find his words. "Had he been up front about the dumb interview to start with, I probably would have done it."

"Yeah?" Luke asks, trying not to sound too eager.

"I mean, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else, but what really pissed me off was how he went about it. He lied to me and Rory, decided to plan out our futures without even considering how we might feel about it. Adults have been making decisions about my life for as long as I can remember, would it really be too much to ask for them to just take two minutes and ask me what I think?"

Luke nods, guilt spiking in his gut when he realizes he's done just that. "You're right. You're absolutely right."

0000000000000000000000

That night, Jess waits for the snores from Luke signaling he's asleep. Clicking his lamp on, he grabs his book off the nightstand and opens it to where he had slipped the Yale brochure in when no one was looking. He's not sure what possessed him to keep it instead of crumbling it up and throwing it in the trash. It's probably like he told Luke, just plain old morbid curiosity. Besides, even if he was interested and by some miracle did get accepted, there's no way in hell he could afford it. Mommy dearest doesn't have that kind of money laying around and asking Luke for that kind of cash is out of the question too. The guy took him in without any complaint and bought a freaking building just so he could have his own room, he's not about to ask him to pay for what amounts to a scrap of paper and an extra line to add to his resume. Looking down at the tuition fees alone, it makes that building Luke bought look like chump change.

Shaking his head, Jess slips the brochure back between the pages and sets his book back on the nightstand, switching off his lamp afterwards.

0000000000000000000000

Weeks pass without any sort of drama as Thanksgiving draws near. There's a lull in the diner, so Jess uses the break to chat with Oliver. That is, until he gets fed up from Kirk staring at him.

"What is it this time, Kirk?" He sighs. "I already gave you your Tuesday usual, turkey and swiss in the shape of stars and apple juice. What else could you possibly want with me?"

"I don't need anything. I'm just trying to figure out which one of you is the girl."

Jess manages to keep a straight face, but not as much could be said for Oliver, who snorts at the question. "Neither of us, Kirk. That's kinda the whole point of the word boy in boyfriends."

Kirk shakes his head. "I don't get it."

"There are no girls in the equation. I'm his boyfriend and he's my boyfriend. Nowhere in that sentence is the word girl." Jess tries again.

"I still don't get it."

Jess hangs his head with another sigh as Oliver keeps snickering. "Would you like to take a crack at this?"

He shakes his head. "No, you seem to be handling this fine on your own."

"Traitor."

"How about I make it up to you?"

Jess leans forward on the counter. "And how do you propose you do that?"

"Like this." Jess closes his eyes as Oliver kisses him, disappointed when he pulls back all too soon. "Better?"

Jess smirks. "I'm not sure. Maybe you should try again, just to be safe."

"Yeah?"

Jess nods in mock seriousness. "Of course. You wouldn't want me secretly resenting you for this."

Oliver pretends to think it over. "Well, we can't have that." They both lean across the counter, lips meeting in the middle.

"Is this gonna be a regular thing? Because this has to be the fifth time this week that I've walked into the diner to find you two joined at the face." Lorelai bursts in with a sheepish Rory tailing her, taking a seat at the counter between Oliver and Kirk. Kirk seems to have lost interest, thank god, and is back to eating his lunch.

Jess pulls back reluctantly, sending Oliver a look of apology. "And how are you this fine day, Miss Gilmore?" He says in a sarcastic tone.

"I'd be doing better if I had my coffee." He pours her a mug, then wordlessly gesturing with the pot to see if Rory wants some too.

"I'm good, thanks. I was just wondering if I left some notes upstairs last time I was here. I've already checked my place and Lane's, so this is my last stop."

Jess places the pot back in the holder, thinking about it. "I think I saw them on the coffee table. C'mon, I'll show you."

He leads her upstairs, finding the notes right where he thought they would be. Snatching them up, he holds them back as he thinks back to what Rory said earlier. "So, I gotta ask, why did you leave off Dean's place?"

"What?" She asks back a little too quickly, trying to grab her papers from him. "I don't know what you're talking about. Will you give me back my stuff?"

He just holds them higher above his head where she can't reach. "Wow, you are a really bad liar. And a really bad jumper." He tacks on. "Seriously, I'm only a few inches taller than you, how are you having this hard a time?"

Rory gives up, choosing to glare at him and pout with her arms crossed. "You're a jerk."

"So I've been told. Now what's going on between you two? Are you guys in a fight?"

"It's not a fight, we just had a-"

"I swear, if you say disagreement, I am throwing these papers out the window." He is so done with people and their 'disagreements'.

"Fine, we're fighting about where I'm going to college! Happy?"

Jess lowers his arm, not expecting that. "What do you mean? Everyone knows you're going to Harvard." All the fight leaves Rory as she collapses on the couch. Jess sits on the edge of the coffee table and tosses down the forgotten notes. "Hey, what happened?" He asks softly, trying to meet her gaze.

"Stupid Yale, that's what." She spits out.

Jess sighs. "Ah, jeez, that school is nothing but trouble."

"You can say that again. A few weeks ago, I had told Dean what happened with Grandpa and when I asked him what he thought, he agreed with Grandpa that I should go to Yale instead."

Jess shakes his head. She has to be mistaken. "Why would he say that? He's seen all the Harvard crap in your room, you could practically open a store."

"Because then I would be living nearby. We've talked about how hard it would be to stay together with me in Boston and him here in Stars Hollow, so when I mentioned Yale, he thought it was the perfect solution. 'They're both Ivy league schools, Rory. How different can they really be?' he said! Can you believe it?!"

He's always thought Ivy league schools were basically the same, but he'd never in a million years say that to Rory. Instead, he sends her a reassuring smile as he pats her on the knee. He freezes when she falls forward, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Not sure what to do, he rubs a hand up and down her back, hoping to calm her down. "There, there, I'm sure he didn't really mean that. He knows Harvard is your dream, everyone does. And if he doesn't get on board, then I'll beat him up." She snickers against his chest, her hair tickling under his chin as she shifts a little. "What's so funny?"

She pulls back, wiping a few stray tears from her eyes. She has a smile on her face though, so he's not too worried. "This. Us. A year ago, you probably would have been thrilled with me and Dean fighting. Now…"

"I'm defending him and have a boyfriend of my own?" He finishes her thought. "Yeah, life's funny like that."

"Thanks for letting me vent like that. God, I'm a mess, I'm sorry, I've just- I've had that weighing on my mind for a while, and normally I would've gone to my mom, but the whole topic about Yale has been a bit of a sore subject, so just… thanks."

"It's no problem, take all the time you need. I'll always be here." He stands and hesitates before dropping a quick kiss on the top of her head. "I'm gonna get you a glass of water."

"So," She starts after a quick thanks for the water. "You'd really beat up Dean for me?"

"Like I said before, it's all part of the big brother duties. Right there on the first page of the handbook, it says, 'Any boys that hurt your feelings are to answer to my fist.' Now personally, I think that's a little extreme, but hey," He shrugs. "Rules are rules."

"Wow, too bad you weren't around when I was ten. Jimmy Mores stole my pudding cup at lunch."

"Now that's just unforgivable. Next time you see him around town, you send him my way. He'll think twice before stealing another pudding cup."

She gives a more genuine laugh this time. "Seriously, thank you, Jess."

"Pudding cup stealing is a serious offence. We can't have people coming up and stealing your pudding cup whenever they feel like it."

"Well, thank you. For defending my pudding cup."

0000000000000000000

Lorelai watches as the two run upstairs, struck by how weird it is that she's completely comfortable leaving Rory alone with Jess. He's come a long way from, if she's being completely honest, that angry, sarcastic, little shit that he was when he first arrived.

"So, Oliver, we haven't had the chance to really talk, have we?" She turns to him, shrugging off her coat.

She holds back a laugh as he jumps in place, suddenly looking like a deer caught in the headlights as he chokes on his coke. "No, I, uh, I guess we haven't. But if you're worried about me hurting Jess, you don't have to. I'd never do anything to hurt him, I swear-"

Feeling bad for the squirming kid in front of her, she decides to give him a break. "Whoa, slow down there, skippy. Relax, I'm not about to pull a Godfather here. Although, now that you mention it, I've kinda taken a liking to him, so if you do hurt him, you'll be sleepin' with da fishes."

"Right, of course, ma'am. I totally understand."

Lorelai cringes. "Little word of advise? Never call me ma'am, got it?"

"Yes, ma- I mean Miss… Gilmore."

She waves him off. "Lorelai's fine, kid. And I just meant chat, get to know one another. The extent of my knowledge on you is that you go to Rory's school, and I only know that from Rory herself."

He chuckles, still on edge, but not to the extent he was a minute ago. "So Jess hasn't ever been the chatty type, huh?"

"Most of the time you need a thought bubble for what's going on in that kid's head. But what about you? Like… what do you wanna do after high school?"

"My dad wants me to take over his business someday. He owns hotels all over the place, that's why him and my mom travel so much." He answers in a way that reminds Lorelai of how she used to answer that question at his age. Like reading from a script.

"That's nice, but I asked what you wanted to do."

He shrugs. "It doesn't matter. That's been the plan since before I was born. First it was my grandfather's business, who passed it on to my father, and now it's expected that I take over someday."

"Screw plans. You know I was born and bred in Hartford, right? To the great Emily and Richard Gilmore." She asks.

"Yeah, Rory and Jess have both mentioned that." He answers, not sure where she's going with this.

"Well, when I was growing up, The Plan for me was that I would go to college where I would meet a nice young man who would later become my husband. A couple years down the road I'd pop out a kid or two, and then spend the rest of my life hosting events for whatever organization my mom would've made me join. Obviously, that plan didn't happen do to me gaining a hundred pounds, some stretch marks, and fat ankles. So, the next Plan my parents made was that me and Christopher, Rory's father, would get married as soon as we turned eighteen. Chris would go work for my dad's firm, and I would stay at home raising Rory. I'm assuming you can see where I'm going with this?"

He nods slowly, Lorelai practically able to see the gears turning in his head. "I want to write for the New York Times. Maybe even be the editor some day, I don't know. I just know I don't want my life to be insignificant."

She smiles. There's that spark she was looking for. "I think that's a great goal."

"Really? When I brought it up once with my dad he said it was a frivolous waste of time."

"Then prove him wrong. Be what you want to be, not what he wants."

He gives her a hesitant smile. "Yeah?"

She nods reassuringly. "Oh, yeah."

Jess and Rory appear from the behind the curtain, Rory with her notes in hand. Jess freezes at the sight of the two grinning at each other. "And what were you two chatting about?"

"Oh, you know," Lorelai jumps in right away, winking at Oliver. "I was just telling him about how cute you were after you got your appendix out and you were super out of it from the morphine. I would brush your hair out of your face and you would do that cute little sigh-"

"Stop it!" He hisses, face beet red. "I can see Luke on his way back from the bank, let's go." He takes an amused Oliver's hand, dragging him to the door.

"What? No kiss goodbye for Mommy?" Lorelai teases.

Jess is ignoring her now as he pushes past a confused Luke. "She's your problem now."

Rory gives her a disappointed look. "Was that really necessary?"

"I'm starved for entertainment. I've already told Dean all of the embarrassing stories about you, and I've got about seventeen years worth of embarrassment I have to make up for with Jess."

Rory rolls her eyes. "Oh, boy."

00000000000000000

Luke spends Thanksgiving split between cooking and serving. Caesar is out of town visiting his own family and Luke never wants to force any of his employees to be away from their families for the holidays. Besides, he thought he was going to have the help of Jess, but that ended up falling through by the arrival of Oliver that morning with nowhere to go since his parents' flight got delayed and they aren't due to home until later tonight. He is a sweet kid though, he'll give him that. Since he showed up unannounced, he offered to help out but Luke waved him off, telling him to relax. He doesn't tell Jess to relax, but he seems to have taken the offer to include him as well, only going as far as refilling coffees every once in a while.

Luke gets him back though, taking a page out of Lorelai's book and embarrassing him to no end by hanging up a cork board next to his 'No Cellphones' sign full of photos, ranging from his parents' wedding photo, him and Liz when they were kids, even a few of people from around town. And if a majority of the photos happen to be of Jess when he was a baby, then that's purely by accident. Luke calmly explains to him that it was a compromise him and Taylor reached so he wouldn't have to hang up a paper turkey or have stupid pilgrim salt and pepper shakers. Jess only glares, not believing him, but also not pushing the topic any further.

Jess really seems to have mellowed out lately, the past month or so especially, so after the traditional fight over flowers and vases with Lorelai, he tries to subtly gesture to her to come speak to him privately for a minute.

"Wh- what are you doing? Are you having a stroke?" She asks.

"Just- may I speak to you for a minute? In the back room?" He mutters, getting frustrated.

"O...Kay. But just to warn you, if you're taking me to the back where there are no witnesses to you murdering me, I will be missed. There'll be a huge manhunt and everything, and then you'll be on dateline twenty years from now explaining how you almost got away with my murder if it weren't for Rory, who never gives up on finding my killer, uncovers-"

"I wasn't going to kill you, but now I'm on the fence about it." He says, leading her to the back.

"Well, it would get me out of dinner with Stalin tonight." She muses. "So, what's up? What do you have to say that you couldn't mention out there?"

Luke takes a deep breath, fiddling with his hands. "I'm gonna tell Jess tonight."

"That you are taking creeper classes? Because let me tell you, they are really paying off, my friend."

"Can you be serious? I'm talking about," he makes sure they are alone one more time, then lowers his voice for good measure. "My adopting him."

"Really?" She asks, not joking around anymore. "Luke, that's great. You know I've been against you keeping this a secret from the beginning, so I'm glad you're finally going to be honest with him."

"You think so? Because I have a plan. I'm gonna wait until after we close and then sit him down upstairs, calmly explain everything that went down, then get out all the papers so he can look through them himself. Did I mention staying calm? Because I'm definitely going to do that. I'll let him react however he wants, within reason of course, and make sure that I treat him like an adult who can make his own decisions." He's getting nervous just thinking about it.

"That's perfect."

"Yeah?"

She nods. "Yeah."

0000000000000000000

Jess shakes his head in amusement as Luke and Lorelai head to the back. "So, what stops have you made so far?" He asks Rory.

"We hit the Kims' first, then Sookie and Jackson's. After this we are off to my grandparents' where we plan to spend exactly two hours, and then we'll be done." Jess doesn't hide his displeasure of their last stop as well as he thought, because Rory slaps his arm. "Hey, he was only trying to do us a favor, in his own convoluted way, so be nice."

Jess rolls his eyes, not wanting to rehash that whole debacle again. "Whatever. And what about you and Dean? Any progress there?"

"We talked. Well, about as well as one could over the phone, but we're doing better. We're gonna talk more when he gets back from Chicago."

"When is that again?"

"Saturday. But, onto a more cheery subject, I see Oliver made it. I thought he was going to be in Hartford with his parents."

Jess looks over where Oliver is talking with Kirk about the man's new cat. "Their flight got delayed, so turns out they aren't getting in until tonight. Hey, Ollie," He gets his attention. "Where'd you say they're coming from?"

"Um… Dubai. No, wait, I think it's London. Or it could be Tokyo. Yeah, no, I'm pretty sure it's Tokyo." He finally decides on.

"How can you mix up those places? None of them are even on the same continent." He points out with a laugh.

He only shrugs. "I stopped keeping track a long time ago."

Jess shakes his head, focusing back on Rory. "There you go. They are possibly in Dubai, London, or Tokyo."

"Who's possibly in Dubai, London, or Tokyo?" Lorelai asks as her and Luke come back out from the backroom.

"My parents." Oliver answers as he joins the others at the counter.

"But all those cities are on different continents."

Oliver turns to Jess. "Okay, that is scary how the two of you always do that. Are you sure you're not related?"

"I wonder that myself." Luke mutters, delivering Kirk's plate.

"No, we aren't." Jess stresses.

"Huh, if that's how you feel. Luke, I have another picture to add to your board here." Lorelai smirks at Jess as she digs in her purse, pulling out a photo and handing it to Luke, who snorts.

"What? What is it?" Jess cranes his neck. Luke pins it up, blocking Jess' view until he moves. "No. No way."

"Ha!" Rory laughs. "See, Jess, I told you you were grinning! Now we have photographic proof!" The 'proof' as she said, is that someone had gotten a picture of Jess and Lorelai during the first song at the stupid dance marathon. And, unfortunately, he does look like he's having fun. He'll still deny it until he's blue in the face though.

"You never did find that hat again, did you?" Oliver pouts. "I liked that hat. It made you look all 'mysterious stranger' in it."

Jess pulls him close with a smirk. "Did I?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Well, then, looks like I'm going shopping sometime soon. Know any places that sell hats?"

"I might know a few. I'll get back to you on that."

"Alright, give it a rest already." Luke interrupts them. "Jess, help me bring the plates to the table." Jess suppresses a sigh, resting his forehead on Oliver's shoulder.

Oliver chuckles, pulling Jess' hands off him. "C'mon, I know you're starving. Luke hasn't let us eat all day."

"Fine, but only because the sooner we eat," He whispers the next part. "the sooner we can head upstairs."

Oliver elbows him, trying to stay serious, but failing miserably. "Go get our food."

"As you wish." He winks before turning around.

000000000000000000

Oliver stays a few hours after dinner, but unfortunately heads out all too soon so he can be home to greet his parents. Jess walks him out to his car hand in hand, trying to talk him into staying.

"It's late, just crash here and drive home in the morning. Please?" He does his best puppy dog face he picked up from Rory.

"I would if I could, but I said I'd be home. I have to be there." They stop at his car, Jess looping his arms around his neck in a last ditch effort to get him to stay. Oliver finds his hands around his waist instinctively.

"They're probably so tired from traveling they won't even notice you're gone. C'mon, I'll wake you up in the morning so you won't be late."

Oliver raises a brow. "So you want me to sneak in? What is this, every teen romcom ever?"

"Well, it is a cliche for a reason." Jess smirks, going in to kiss his neck, earning him a moan.

"Jess… Jess, I really need to go." Jess keeps going, gripping the small of his back. "Jess, stop." He says more firmly, pushing Jess back by the shoulders. "I told you, you can't leave a mark where they might see."

"I thought your parents knew you were dating. What? They think you're gonna be a nun the whole time?" Jess leans forward once more, only to get pushed back again.

"They know I'm dating."

"Then what's the big deal?"

Oliver shifts, eyes darting around before they settle on their linked hands. "They, um… just don't know about us. That I have a boyfriend."

"Wait. I thought you said you knew you were gay since you were, like, thirteen?"

"I have." He answers right away. "I just," He shrugs. "Never told anyone. When I mentioned I was dating someone, they assumed it was a girl, and I didn't have the courage to correct them." Jess stays silent as he processes everything, not wanting to say the wrong thing. "Are you mad? Please don't say you're mad."

"What? No, of course not. Just curious I guess. I mean, why haven't you told them?"

Oliver shrugs again. "Just nervous how they'd react I guess. The term 'old money, old values' comes to mind a lot." He scoffs. "We can't all have cool parents like Luke and Lorelai."

Jess laughs out loud at that. "The only time the words 'cool' and 'Luke' are in the same sentence is if you're talking about the movie starring Paul Newman."

"You don't give him enough credit. He's been super supportive of you. Didn't you catch him reading all those books from the library after we got together?" Jess nods, for once with no snappy comeback. "See, he hates reading and yet he did all that research on being bi for you so you can go to him. The only people I have are Rory and Paris."

"Paris knows?" He cuts in.

"She figured it out. It works out because I know about Jamie so we have, and I quote, 'Mutually assured destruction.'."

Jess rolls his eyes. Good old Paris. "Okay." He says softly, giving in. "Talk to you later?"

"Of course." Jess closes his eyes as Oliver kisses him goodbye. He watches him leave, heading back to the diner after the car is out of sight.

Inside, there are only a few customers left sipping their coffee and finishing up their pie. Watching Luke go from the kitchen to the coffee pot, he thinks over what Oliver said. He really is lucky having someone like Luke around to talk to. Had he still been living with Liz, he never would have told her about his first kiss with Oliver. Hell, he still hasn't told her he's bi. Although, that's more to do with the fact that he hasn't even spoken to her since he was in the hospital, and even then they only talked for about a minute before Jess feigned sleep and handed the phone back to Luke.

With his mind made up, he meets Luke halfway and takes the coffee pot from him. "I got this."

"Really?" He sounds pleasantly surprised.

"It's just pouring coffee into a mug, there's not much skill involved." He deflects, going around topping everyone off. "Seriously, it's literally the least I can do, now stop staring at me."

Luke shakes his head. "Yeah, okay. I'm just gonna go up and change then."

Jess replaces the pot, pulling a book out of his back pocket to read as he leans forward on the counter. "Whatever." Luke stands there for another minute before scoffing and finally heading up.

The bell above the door rings, and Jess watches as a guy walks in slowly, looking around. "You lost?" He asks when the guy doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

He jumps, spinning around. "Uh, no. Just passing through. Mary Shelley?" He points at the book in Jess' hand.

"Yeah, she was a badass."

"No argument from me." The guy sits at the counter on the edge of his seat.

"Well, the kitchen's closed, but we have coffee and some leftover peach pie. But between you and me, I'd just stick with the coffee. There's a reason that's the only one left."

"I'll just take the coffee then, thanks."

"Good choice." Putting his book down, he grabs a clean mug and pours him some. "Luke makes a lot of good things, but peach pie is not one of them."

"He your dad?" The guy asks as he takes a sip.

"Luke? No, he's my uncle."

"Sorry, I just assumed from all the photos." He nods to the board behind Jess. He glances back himself, noticing that more people from around town have added on to it. Great, that means Luke is probably going to keep it up for the foreseeable future.

Jess shakes his head. "Yeah, he's pretty big into family."

Jess watches as the guy studies the board, taking in every picture. "Boyfriend?" He asks, pointing to the one from the dance. Someone had taken a picture of him and Oliver together after Lorelai's heel broke, with his eyes closed as he rests his head on Oliver's shoulder and Oliver himself looking down at Jess with a smile. Huh, no wonder most of the town thought they were together way before they actually were. He should figure out how to get a copy of that without Luke finding out unless he wants to be teased endlessly about it.

"Yeah," Jess glances at him, crossing his arms. "Problem?"

He holds his hands up. "None from me. I say live and let live. Plus, I'm from California so it might be a little hypocritical of me to say otherwise." He chuckles awkwardly. "What's his name?"

"Oliver." The guy nods, but doesn't say anything more. The last few customers come up to pay their bills, leaving only Kirk and the chatty guy left. "Long ways from home." Jess says to keep the conversation from lagging. Luke is always getting on him about not conversing well with the customers.

"Visiting my son for Thanksgiving. He lives out here on the east coast."

"Huh. How'd that go?"

"Not quite sure yet. I'll have to get back to you on that." He finishes off his coffee. "Thanks for the chat. Keep the change." He pulls out his wallet, setting a twenty on the counter before taking off.

"Huh. That was weird." Jess says to himself.

"What was weird?" Luke asks behind him, fiddling with the cuff on his shirt.

"The guy that was just in. He orders one coffee, asks me a bunch of questions about my life, then left a nineteen dollar tip."

"Maybe you have a stalker." Luke jokes.

"That's not funny, dude was seriously cracked."

Luke claps him on the back. "Well, it's a holiday. The only people out are the crazy ones since all the sane people are home with their families. Speaking of, Kirk, time to go. We're closing."

Jess starts taking all the trash out back as Luke ushers Kirk out. "We're outta space." He says, coming back into the diner with the last bag.

"Find somewhere else to dump it then." Luke says as he counts out the register.

"Where? The convenient landfill around the corner?"

Luke sighs. "Jess, just go put it in someone else's can." He leads the way, opening the door for his nephew.

"You should get more trash cans." Jess complains as he follows him out.

"I don't need more." Luke starts looking around, probably trying to figure out who's out of town and won't notice the extra bag.

"Better than you making me run around town for a place to dump this."

"Just dump it in one of Taylor's bins. It gets it out of here, and it'll drive Taylor crazy. It's a win-win."

"Hey, guys!" Lorelai breezes past. Great, at this rate they're never gonna close.

"We're out of food!" Luke calls out at her.

"Except for the peach pie. Still got plenty of that." Jess adds, causing Luke to glare at him.

"Please, we're not eating for a year."

"Or at least 'til tomorrow morning." Rory jumps in.

"Whichever comes first." Lorelai finishes. Jess finishes tying off the trash bag, hauling it over his shoulder so he can lug it to Taylor's. "Hi, Saint Nick!"

"Tell him he needs to get more trash cans." Jess pleads, hoping Lorelai can talk some sense into him.

"Just go!" Luke points towards Taylor's.

"God, fine. But if I get caught illegally dumping this and get arrested, then you're paying my bail."

"I'll be anxiously waiting by the phone for Coop's call." Luke fires back, closing the door after Lorelai and Rory.

He makes it to Doose's without anyone around, hoping Taylor wasn't paranoid enough to set up security by his trash cans. He dumps the bag with no hassle, brushing his hands off as he crosses the street. He runs into Lorelai and Rory going the other way, bag of rolls in hand. "I thought you two swore off food." He yells back at them as he walks backwards.

"Please, have you met us?" Lorelai yells back, not turning around.

Shaking his head with a chuckle, sure he'll get the full story from Rory later, he turns back around only to stop with a jump. "Jeez, man. Lurking much?"

"Sorry."

The guy from the diner again? Jeez, maybe Luke wasn't too far off with the whole stalker theory. "Yeah, well, live and let live right? I gotta get back now, so-" Jess tries to brush past him, but he blocks his path.

"Wait! Just- give me a sec here."

"Dude, seriously, let me by." Jess tries to get past again, but this time the guy actually grabs his arm to keep him from leaving, growing more frantic. Fight or flight kicking in, he yanks his arm back. "Don't touch me!"

The guy backs off right away, pulling his arms back. "Sorry, I didn't mean- I just wanna talk."

"Too bad I don't wanna talk to you, now get los-"

"I'm your father." The guy blurts out.

Mind racing a mile a minute, all Jess can manage is a quiet, "What?"

"I'm your father." He repeats, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, I heard you the first time. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Jess didn't know what to expect when it came to Jimmy Mariano, but the way Luke always talks about him, he always pictured more of a street bum with a needle sticking out of his arm, or drunk in a gutter at the very least. This Jimmy seems a lot more put together, less street bum and more your average Joe. He could have walked right past him and wouldn't have suspected a thing. Hell, he has done that nearly twice now. "Listen, Luke probably mentioned to you that I don't have any rights to you anymore, hell he probably framed that document and hung it over his bed, but I just wanted to see you. I mean, you're over eighteen now right? You're not a minor so I can see you without breaking any rules or whatever."

"Whoa, slow down, what document?" His head is swimming with so many discoveries, he feels like he should get out a pad and paper so he could jot them all down.

"The document. The abandonment form Liz sent at the beginning of summer for me to sign so Luke could adopt you." Luke and Liz knew about this? Liz he could understand not saying anything to him, she never cared to before, why start now? But Luke. Why would Luke adopt him and not tell him? Luke always gets on him about talking things out and not keeping secrets, but then he goes and keeps something like this from him? "...And I'm guessing by the staring and frowning thing you're doing that you had no idea about any of this. God, this was a mistake, I'm sorry. Just… Sorry." Before Jess can react, Jimmy turns and leaves, jumping into a car that was parked across the street and driving away.

Jess bites his lip as he tries to fight back the feeling of another panic attack. He needs to talk to Luke about this adoption rumor, because there's just no way he would do something like that without clueing Jess in too. Maybe that guy was lying. That it was all just some sick joke at his expense. But there's a little voice in the back of his head that keeps insisting the guy was legit.

He knew his mom's name.

Sure, Jess had mentioned Luke's name in the diner, but he never told him his mother's name is Liz. The only way he could have known that…

He needs to talk to Luke. Get this whole mess straightened out once and for all.

00000000000000000000

After the horrendous dinner at her parents' that was Thanksgiving, Lorelai just wants to erase the last two hours from her mind forever.

At least she got rolls from Luke. That makes up for some of the upset from earlier.

She also can't help but wonder how Luke's doing. He should have closed right after they left, meaning he's probably coming clean to Jess at this very moment. Despite how confident she sounded to Luke, she has a really bad feeling about how this is going to turn out. She's trying to stay optimistic though, Jess really has gotten better these past nine months, his temper much more manageable now. Although, she still can't get that one moment out of her mind not that long ago, how mad he was after the ambush at Yale. She did talk him down, and Luke said later that he was easy to talk to afterwards, but for just a moment, she saw a flash of the old Jess, the one that was still new here and stealing beer out of her fridge.

Shaking her head to dispel that thought, she focuses on the clear night in front of her, probably one of the last mild ones for a while. Not wanting to miss it, her and Rory decided to enjoy the rolls on the porch steps. It also has the added benefit of being away from the phone inside, which has been ringing non-stop for the past two minutes.

"Are you sure we shouldn't get that? It must be important since they aren't giving up." Rory pulls apart her roll, glancing back at the house.

"Nah, it's most likely my mother, wanting to scold me more for how I left the table in the middle of dinner. 'Honestly, Lorelai, we had guests. Leaving in the middle of the meal is terribly rude to the guests and embarrassing to your father and I.'" She mocks with her best Emily impression.

Rory giggles, nibbling on the roll, until she stops and squints at something. "Mom, is that Jess?" She whispers.

Lorelai's heart drops, looks like her worst fear is coming true.

Jess has his duffle bag with him.

As he gets closer, the worse he looks. He barely looks like he's being held together with duct tape and paper clips. He stops a few feet away, scrubbing at his face. "Can I stay here? I don't wanna go home now." His voice is hoarse, like he's been yelling. Luke's is probably just as bad.

"Yeah, of course, sweetie. Come here." She holds an arm out, inviting him to come sit.

He lets his bag slide off his shoulder, landing on the grass with a muted thump. His face scrunches up as he all but collapses into her, burying his face into her shoulder like he had in the hospital waiting room back in September. She sighs, wrapping her arm around him. Glancing at Rory, her daughter looks distraught and confused. 'Later.' She mouths to Rory before turning her attention back to Jess, rocking him gently when she feels his breathing becomes labored and he starts clawing at her coat sleeve. He must be having one of his panic attacks Luke had told her about. Remembering what he told her to do, she slows down her own breathing while whispering for him to do the same.

"Everything's gonna be okay, kid. I promise."