A/N: Thanks for everyone who is reading and reviewing! I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to me.

Chapter Six

Jess straightened out his shirt and smoothed his hair down a bit. As he raised his fist to knock on the door in front of him, he hoped he wasn't about to make matters worse in the entire situation involving Rory, himself and the fact that they were living together. He heard footsteps walking closer to the door and he let out a breath. Why was he so nervous?

The door opened and Lorelai stood before him, her eyes wide and her hair hanging around her shoulders, looking unwashed and straggly. She looked exhausted. Jess guessed that her concern for Rory was keeping her from getting a good night's sleep.

"Jess." she said, her voice sharp like a blade.

"Lorelai…uh, can we talk?"

At first it didn't look like Lorelai was going to let Jess inside but she moved aside and allowed Jess to enter her home.

"Is everything alright with Rory?" asked Lorelai, following him into the living room.

"Yes and no," answered Jess truthfully, sitting down on the couch.

Lorelai sat next to him and turned to face him. "Well?" she asked.

"Rory told me that your parents are not going to be paying for Yale anymore if she doesn't move out of our apartment."

Lorelai squirmed a bit at the mention of 'our apartment' but tried to remain composed. "That's right."

"Well that can't happen…"

"It is happening, Jess. You're ruining my daughter's life!"

"Let's calm down the dramatics for a minute," snapped Jess. "I don't want this to happen any more than you do."

"Oh please." Lorelai scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. "You probably love that Rory is becoming another one of your brainless girlfriends. You've never cared about Rory's feelings! Why else would you have moved across the country without even telling her!"

Jess shook his head. "You're never going to forgive me for my past mistakes, are you?"

Lorelai didn't say anything.

"Listen, I love your daughter. I'm sorry if you don't like that but it's true. I've loved her since I met her and I know she loves me too."

"If you loved her at all you wouldn't be okay with the idea of her leaving Yale." said Lorelai, her voice clogging with emotion.

"Exactly." said Jess slowly.

Lorelai arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"I don't want her to leave Yale…I don't want her to not pursue her dreams. I don't want to be the reason for her to never speak with you again."

"Well…good…as long as we agree on that..."

"Is there any way you can speak to your parents? Make them change their minds?"

"Jess, I don't think so. They don't want Rory living with you and neither do I. She's too young to be living with her boyfriend and she's too young to be willing to give up everything for her boyfriend. You may love her Jess, but who's to say that won't change in a few months?"

Jess shook his head. "It hasn't changed for two years. I don't think it's going to change anytime soon. I do plan on spending the rest of my life with Rory." Lorelai stiffened and Jess smirked slightly. "Don't worry; I'm not going to propose anytime soon."

"Good," said Lorelai, obviously relieved. "Listen Jess, I'm happy my daughter has found love in her life and that she is so passionate about it. For awhile there, I was afraid that she was going to end up like me…not trusting men and afraid to express her love. I'm happy she turned out different than me in that respect but she cannot live with you, not yet anyway. I'm sorry but I won't change my mind on that."

Jess sighed. "I don't know what to do."

Lorelai placed her hand gently on his and smiled gently at him. "I think you do."

"I want what's best for her." said Jess. "But what if she doesn't understand that?"

"Rory is a smart girl. She might not see it right away but she will…eventually."

Both Jess and Lorelai remained silent for a few moments before Jess cleared his throat. "So, is um…Luke still with my mom and TJ?"

Lorelai nodded. "He's due back tomorrow, actually."

Jess couldn't ignore the small smile that appeared on Lorelai's face at the mention of his uncle.

"It's good that you two are finally together."

"How did you…"

"I just figured…you know…the dance at the wedding. You two looked pretty close."

Lorelai smirked. "He's a great man, your uncle."

Jess nodded. "I know."

The two stood from the couch and walked towards the front door.

"Jess," started Lorelai, staring at the young man who was about to leave her house. "I do believe that you love my daughter."

"Good," he said, twisting the knob. "I hope she does too."

Jess returned to his apartment thirty minutes later and found Rory sitting at the kitchen table, reading. She looked up when he walked in and smiled.

"Hey, where did you run off to?" she asked, closing her book.

"I just took a drive…" he said. "Rory…I need to talk to you about something."

Rory stood up and walked towards him. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Jess sighed. "You have to go back to Yale,"

"Jess…"

"Hear me out…" started Jess, holding his hand up to silence her. "I love you so much Rory…more than I even thought I was capable of…but I can't be the reason for you to not continue going to Yale."

Rory shook her head. "I don't understand what you're saying…"

"Maybe…maybe you should move back in with your mother and stay in the dorms at Yale when school starts."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"I never thought that you would be dropping out of Yale when I asked you to go away with me. If I would have known that I wouldn't…"He paused and shook his head. "I know you're happy now but you won't be when September comes and you're not sitting in a classroom analyzing Faulkner or writing for the paper."

"Do you not like living with me?" asked Rory. Tears were staring to fall down her cheeks and her head felt like it was going to explode. She couldn't believe that Jess was saying this.

He stepped closer to her but she backed away. "Rory, no, I love living with you…these past few weeks have been amazing. I'm only thinking about you."

"You said that I could count on you now!" yelled Rory. "You said that you weren't going to leave me!"

"I'm not leaving you!" said Jess, raising his voice slightly. "Rory, I know you don't want to leave Yale, I'm just trying to…"

"Of course I don't want to leave Yale!" she bellowed, her voice cracking. "I've worked my ass off my entire life to get into an Ivy League college, Jess! But you're more important to me than Yale!"

Jess sighed and walked closer to her. "Today I might be, but I know that's not true and it shouldn't be true."

"So what, when you said that I could count on you and that we're supposed to be together…was that all bullshit?"

"God damn it, Rory! Of course it wasn't!" yelled Jess. "I've wanted to be with you since the moment I saw you but I don't think we're going about this the right way!"

Rory shook her head. "I can't believe this is happening." Before Jess could say anything, Rory grabbed her purse and stormed out of the apartment.

"Rory!" yelled Jess, following her down the hallway.

"Don't follow me." ordered Rory.

Jess stood, paralyzed in his spot as he watched Rory retreat down the stairwell.

Lorelai stuffed another marshmallow in her mouth as she flipped aimlessly through the channels. She halfheartedly stopped on 'I Love Lucy' and stared blankly at the screen in front of her. Lucy was dancing around the living room in a crazy outfit with Ethel, while Ricky watched on in horror as the movie studio producer was surely not going to sign him now after this display. The episode would normally have Lorelai laughing in fits but it wasn't the same. Nothing was the same with Rory not in her life. She sighed and flipped off the television, closing the marshmallow bag with a clip. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head, glancing nonchalantly out the window. She did a double take. There, parked in her driveway, was Rory's car.

"Rory," she breathed, before rushing out of the house and towards her daughter's vehicle. She stopped a few feet back when she saw that her daughter was crying into her hands. She was still buckled in and the car was still running. It broke Lorelai's heart.

"Hun?" she asked, walking closer.

Rory jumped slightly at the sound of her mother's voice and looked up.

"Aw babe, what happened?"

"You got what you wanted," said Rory, her voice clogged with tears. "Jess said that I should move back in with you."

Lorelai sighed. "It's for the best, sweetie."

"Maybe for you, but I love him. I want to be with him."

Lorelai leaned down and through the open window, brushed Rory's hair away from her damp face. "Why don't you come inside? I'll make you some coffee."

Rory was hesitant at first but she turned off her car and unbuckled herself. Lorelai led her daughter into the house and sat with her down on the couch.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" asked Lorelai gently.

"He said that he doesn't want to be the reason for me not going back to Yale."

Lorelai smiled. "That was very gallant of him."

Rory glanced at her mother. "I screwed everything up,"

"Honey, Jess…."

"Not just with Jess," Rory interrupted quickly. "I put you through so much with this whole situation and grandma and grandpa too. I'm been lashing out at everything, even Lane, because I didn't want to admit that you were all right."

Lorelai let out a sigh and wrapped her arm around Rory's shoulders. "You know Jess is doing the right thing."

Rory nodded. "I do. It was really nice living with him though," she added quietly.

"I know sweets but…well, what was going to happen? You move in together at nineteen, get engaged by twenty-one, married by twenty-two and expecting a baby at twenty-four?"

Rory stared at her mother. "We had no plans on getting married…"

"You should know that things happen regardless of what plans you have or not," she bumped her shoulder to Rory's and the two of them shared a grin.

"I really went off on Jess. I knew everything he was saying was right but I couldn't admit it."

"If there's one thing you got from me it's my stubbornness." said Lorelai.

"And your love of bad movies,"

"Not to mention coffee."

"Which by the way, I'm still waiting for," Rory joked lightly.

Lorelai smiled and kissed the side of Rory's forehead. "Honey, you're doing the right thing." she said before standing up.

Rory sighed and followed her mother into the kitchen. "What about grandma and grandpa? They're probably furious with me."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, they're pretty upset. But I'm sure once you tell that that you're moving back home, they'll be very happy. Happy enough to open their checkbooks and give you money to continue your education, anyway."

Rory sat down in a chair at the table and leaned her head in the palm of their hand. "Do you think Jess hates me for choosing Yale over him?"

Lorelai stopped pouring coffee grounds in the machine and turned to face her daughter. "Honey, he's the one who wants you to go back to Yale."

"I know but maybe he wanted me to fight for us more…"

Placing the coffee down on the counter, Lorelai pulled out a chair and sat across from her daughter. "Jess came by to see me this morning."

Rory sat up straight. "What?"

"He wanted to see if there was any way your grandparents would pay for Yale with you still living with him. I told him that would probably never happen…he didn't want to do this Rory but he knows its right. As much as I hate to say it, Jess loves you. If he didn't love you, he would just be thinking about himself."

Rory watched her mother continue making the coffee and leaned back in her chair. She needed to talk to Jess and explain everything to him. She needed to tell him that she was sorry for accusing him of lying to her about his genuine feelings but she couldn't bring herself to call him. Her eyes were heavy with sleep and her head still hurt from her meltdown in the car.

"You look tired, babe." Lorelai noted, placing a coffee mug in front of her daughter.

"I am," said Rory, taking a long sip of the steaming liquid.

"Why don't you take a nap? I'll call your grandparents if you'd like…"

Rory nodded. "Yeah, thanks." Gripping her coffee mug, she stood and moved towards her bedroom but paused at the door. Her sheets were still unmade from when her and Jess…

Rory turned to look at her mother. "Can I sleep in your bed?" she asked, not wanting to think about Jess right now. All she wanted to do was clear her mind and get some sleep.

Lorelai nodded. "Of course," She watched her daughter walk slowly away and let out a sigh before picking up the telephone and calling her parents.

A/N: The next chapter, Luke comes back! Just wanted to give y'all a heads up. Thanks again for the reviews and for reading. Summer has been really busy and my job is crazy but I will find time to update ASAP.