Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls.

When Lorelai left the Dragonfly for dinner at her house, Jess still hadn't arisen from his nap. While Jess had become more reliable since his teen years, Lorelai didn't see him getting up anytime soon.

But fifteen minutes after she arrived back home, Jess knocked on the door. Lorelai opened it.

"Sorry, I'm late," he said, walking inside to the kitchen. "I didn't hear my phone go off I was so tired."

"Late night partying?" Lorelai asked humorously.

"Lorelai…," Luke warned.

"The guys from my publishing house and I threw a little shindig last night and they wouldn't let me go. I got about six hours of sleep after a long, hard day yesterday and then drove up here," Jess said.

"What's going on?" Rory said, coming out of her room. She stopped when she saw Jess.

"Hey," he said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Hi," Rory replied.

There was an awkward silence.

"I'm gonna let you guys talk," Lorelai said, going into the kitchen to help Luke cook, even though she knew she couldn't help at all.

Rory motioned for Jess to sit down on the couch. He did and she followed.

"We haven't talked in a while," she noted.

"I know. Lives get busy, especially yours." Jess nodded to her bedroom. "How's the motherly life?"

"Hard," Rory said. "Most of the time I don't know whether I'm a good mom or not."

"Hey." Jess put his hand on Rory's knee. "I'm sure you're doing a great job. I'm sure your mom felt the same way when she was raising you. You have a great team behind you, helping you in any way that they can."

Rory looked down and smiled.

Same old Jess.

"Madeline's a fine name. You never told me her name," he said. "Named after the book character, no less."

"Oh, like you wouldn't name your child the same way," Rory laughed.

"Probably. But children don't seem in the future."

"Career?"

"No one to share a life with."

A silence fell over the two. Once upon a time, Rory thought that they might work. That the two same-yet-different people would be together for a long time.

But things change, no one knew that better than Rory.

"You'll find her someday," she said after a moment. "Anybody would be lucky to have you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Then why didn't you? Jess thought.

"Dinner!" Lorelai called from the kitchen into the living room.

"Great," Jess said, getting up quickly and turning towards the kitchen, "what are we having?"

"Chicken parmesean," Luke replied as Rory joined the three in the kitchen. Luke was readying everybody's plates.

"Luke, I honestly don't know how we survived without you cooking in the house every night," Rory told her step-father.

"Honestly, me neither."

Jess laughed a little at that as he sat down to dinner. The baby girl he had seen sitting in the carrier earlier today was now in a high chair, baby food all over her face.

"Oh Madeline!" Rory said, but laughed. "Maddie, this is Mommy's friend, Jess. Jess, this is Maddie. Maddie, can you wave?"

Madeline waved at Jess and Jess smiled back.

"Want anything to drink?" Rory asked him.

"Water's fine," he said.

Rory grabbed him a glass of water and then sat down to dinner with Luke and her mom.

"So, how's the Inn doing, Lorelai?" Jess asked. "From what I saw earlier, business is booming."

"It's good," Lorelai said. "Running a business with just a few people at the helm is tough. Nobody should know that more than you."

Jess nodded, grateful that Lorelai understood.

"But as long as you enjoy what you're doing, it's not bad," Jess said.

"No, it's not."

"You should go horseback riding at the Inn. It's completely cool," Rory suggested.

"I'll look into it," Jess said.

"Mommy," Madeline said, reaching towards her mother who sat to her right while Jess sat to her left. "Mommy."

"Yes, Maddie, Mommy," Rory agreed.

"Daddy," Madeline said, pointing to Jess.

And suddenly, everybody but Madeline blanched and the room fell in awkward silence. Now, Logan didn't visit that much. He had a wife, another baby on the way, and he lived in another country running a business, so it wasn't like he could just jump on a flight anytime he wanted to see his daughter. They spoke plenty on Skype, but Madeline had never once called somebody else but Logan "Daddy."

Jess started stuffing his face with food, then.

"Mmm, this is great, Uncle Luke. Really great," he said, trying to break the silence.

"Well, thanks, Jess," Luke said, also trying to break the awkward silent that had fallen over the room.

"Daddy," Madeline cried again. "Up, up."

Rory picked her up instead, bringing her into her bedroom and putting her in her crib.

"I-I should probably go," Jess said.

"I think that would be for the best," Lorelai said.

"Mom," Rory said at the same time that Luke said, "Lorelai!"

"No, no, it's fine," Jess protested. "I didn't know how dinner was going to go anyway. I got about half a chicken eaten and some water which is enough for me. If I get hungry later I'll just drive down to the closest fast food place."

"Jess, wait, don't go," Rory said.

"I'll see you all later."

Jess left, which made Madeline cry, and dinner was even more awkward than before.

"Mom, you were completely out of line," Rory told her mother.

"No, I wasn't. I was just saying that Jess leaving was for the best. She obviously misses Logan, and calling Jess 'Daddy' isn't good for her," Lorelai said.

"Lorelai, you could've let him stay," Luke said.

But Lorelai stood her ground. She knew that Jess had become a better man after fifteen years. She knew that he grew up, that he matured, that he had turned into a good guy. He might've changed into somebody that Lorelai might let her daughter date if Lorelai hadn't known Jess since before he broke Rory's heart all those years ago.

It's not like she didn't know Rory and Jess kept in touch. She did, but whenever she asked how Jess was out of politeness to her daughter and husband, they both replied with "He's fine" just to make her happy. They both knew she wasn't his biggest fan by far and they both knew that by bringing him up, she'd be opening up a can of worms that she didn't want opened.

"You don't like Jess, you've never liked Jess. You just didn't want him in the house or the Inn, and Madeline accidentally calling him her father was just icing on the cake!" Rory shouted.

"You're right, I've never been his biggest fan, but I don't believe Jess being here while Madeline wants Logan is going to be good," Lorelai replied.

"So my daughter makes one mistake and you throw out one of my best friends?"

"No, Lane is one of your best friends. Paris is one of your best friends. Jess is not your best friend. He is a guy that you once thought you were in love with and when he crushed your heart you two decided you two could be pals."

"Guys, it's been a long day and what just happened was an accident," Luke interjected, trying to play peace-maker between the mother-daughter duo. "I think we just need to take a breather, maybe eat a little, and then discuss this like the adults we are later."

"Fine, but I'm eating in my room with my daughter who made a mistake." Rory took her plate and fork inside her room, but said before she closed the door, "You know, it's not like Logan can just fly over whenever he feels like it. Madeline rarely sees her father not through a screen. Forgive her for hoping that for a second her father was here and not in another country with another woman."

The door closed behind Rory and Lorelai stared at Luke.

"Don't say anything," she said.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Luke said as the two finished dinner in silence.

Jess went back to the Inn that night, but not before grabbing some snacks at his old Walmart work place from his teens. He was hungry. Scarfing down half of dinner wasn't good.

He laid in bed that night eating, thinking about all the scenarios that might have happened if he had been a better man all those years ago.

A man that Rory had deserved.

Maybe then Madeline could be his. Maybe then the word "Daddy" coming out of an mouth that was an exact replica of Rory's wouldn't have made his heart sink, but his heart float in the air.

But he couldn't change time, no matter how much he wanted to. He still loved Rory, even after all these years.

"You and I are supposed to be together. I've known it since the first moment I met you two years ago."

He had said the words to her back in her Yale days, and never once regretted them. He thought of them often, the words, the memories of him and Rory, the past.

He wondered if she remembered them, too. She probably didn't, considering how she had said she didn't want to be with him at the time. She didn't want him, not then and not now.

There was no text or email from her that night, but she still stayed on his mind throughout the night and into his dreams.

Update, yay!

FYI: Yes, Lorelai's going to be a bit terrible to Jess for a while, but you've got to understand, we don't know how much of Jess's changes Lorelai knows of. We don't know how many times she's seen or heard about him from Luke or Rory in those years between the series finale and the revival (Rory really never talked about him to Lorelai after the breakup), so this is my take on her relationship with Jess right now.

While the story will be about Jess and Rory's way back to each other, it will also be about Lorelai understanding more about Jess. Bye!