Hey everybody! Sorry it took me so long to finally get this one out! I've been way busy with school. XP From here, the chapters begin to have a different approach. Rory and Jess' perspectives are in one chapter now. I guess it kind of symbolizes them getting more intuned to the other or something ^.^ I hope you enjoy!!!

Chapter Seven: Finally Getting Married

Rory had to blink back the tears that threatened to fall. She smiled.

"You look beautiful…" she whispered past the catch in her throat.

Lorelai turned away from the floor length mirror to face her daughter, a tender smile gracing her lips.

"Thanks, hun," she said. She took a deep breath, looking blissfully overwhelmed. "I never thought I would ever feel this happy," she told her, pure joy in every feature. "I never thought I would get to experience this."

Rory crossed the room, embracing her mother tightly. Her mom's happiness meant the world to her and it took all her focus to keep her emotions at bay.

"You deserve all of this," Rory told her earnestly.

Rory heard the beginnings of a sniffle from Lorelai and pulled back immediately, wagging a finger in her face.

"No," she said strictly, seeing the glistening of tears in her mother's professionally made-up eyes. "No crying."

Lorelai laughed, blinking away the unwelcome tears. "No crying," she repeated thickly. "Almost forgot."

Rory smiled again, gazing at Lorelai's striking appearance.

Her hair was perfectly curled with a simple, elegant tiara in place. The dress was truly stunning; a strapless bodice with intricate beaded designs that flowed into a full skirt. But what completed the vision was Lorelai's glowing face. She looked like something out of a fairy tale.

"Are you ready?" Rory asked.

Lorelai took a long breath. "I am," she said sincerely. "This feels righter than anything I've ever done in my life."

Rory squeezed her mother's hand. "Good."

Lorelai's heartfelt face turned playful, all signs of tears vanishing.

"You don't look too bad yourself," she said. "You can't expect to ever live up to the stunning image of your creator, but you make a nice second."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks, mom."

"Jealousy's not a good look for you."

"And spite gives you frown lines," she countered.

"Thus man gives you Botox."

"And then you become Pamela Anderson."

Lorelai grimaced. "Ooh, good point."

Rory went to the mirror, applying a touch of gloss to her lips. She adjusted the strap and straightened the skirt of her wine colored dress. The silky material stopped just above her knees and the neckline was low enough to be flattering while still retaining modesty. She saw Lorelai watching her from the corner of her eye. Her mother wore an odd expression.

Rory turned. "What?" she inquired suspiciously.

"Nothing," Lorelai replied.

Rory was unconvinced. It was never 'nothing' with Lorelai Gilmore.

"Right…" she said, not exactly wanting to know what her mother was thinking. She turned back to the mirror.

After a minute of silence, Lorelai spoke.

"So," she began, obviously trying to sound casual. "I'll bet Jess is happy Logan won't be at the wedding."

The make-up brush froze in Rory's hand. She arranged an innocent look on her face as she continued the motion. "Why should he be?" she hedged.

"Well, he hated the guy, right?"

Rory bristled a little, very uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation. "I don't know about hate…"

"Well he clearly didn't like him."

"How would you know?"

Lorelai placed a hand on her cocked hip. "Okay, what is with you?"

"Nothing…" Rory denied, trying to shrug it off. Lorelai stared her down. Rory shifted her eyes to the door, wishing she was far away. She absentmindedly began picking at the bouquet on the table.

"You're fiddling!" Lorelai exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger.

"I'm what?"

"Fiddling!"

"As in 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia'?"

"No, as in employing-your-hands-in-pointless-activities! You always fiddle when you're lying!"

Glancing down at her agitated fingers plucking out peddles, Rory immediately halted her hand.

"I do not!" she denied.

"Remember the time I asked you where my green cashmere sweater was and you told me that I had sold it in our last garage sale? Well your hands were going to town brushing off imaginary guilt-lint."

"Guilt-lint?" Rory interrupted. Lorelai continued as if no one had spoken.

"And it was later that same week that I found the sweater in your closet!"

"So maybe I just forgot that I had borrowed it," Rory shrugged unconvincingly.

"Right, well that being the case or not, I don't appreciate my one and only daughter lying to me on my wedding day."

Sighing, Rory spread her hands out in front of her in exasperation. "I just haven't told Jess about me and Logan yet is all," she said in a rush.

Lorelai's hand fell to her side. "Oh, honey…"

"What?" she said, prickling defensively.

"Why not?"

"Why have you assumed I have?"

"Well…" she trailed off, shrugging.

"Well, what?"

She exhaled, shrugging again. "I thought you and Jess might be a possibility again," she replied.

Rory blinked, startled by the blunt statement. "Oh." She recovered swiftly, looking back at her reflection, careful to avoid Lorelai's probing eyes. "Why would you think that?"

"I'm your mother," Lorelai stated. "Mothers know these things."

"I think your radar's a little askew."

"Rory."

Rory was finally forced to look at her mother. She raised her eyebrows expectantly. "What?"

"I've seen the way you act around him," Lorelai said quietly, "the way you look at him."

"Mom, I've been with you all week," Rory pointed out, ignoring the way her heart was beginning to skitter erratically.

"That may be true, but you always seem to be extra cheerful when we get to Luke's." Rory remained silent. "Is there a reason?"

"Good coffee?" she offered meekly.

"Rory."

"Mom, this is your wedding day," Rory interjected, smothering her panic from the unnerving insight. "Let's not think about me right now. In half an hour you're going to finally become Mrs. Luke Danes. This is your day."

"Yeah, yeah," Lorelai rolled her eyes, allowing Rory to change the subject. The two looked at each other for a second before bursting into excited squeals.

The door opened and Sookie came in. Upon seeing Lorelai, her eyes filled with joyful tears.

"Oh, Lorelai," she gushed, fanning at her eyes in a futile attempt to dry her tears. "You look so beautiful."

"Aw thanks, Sookie." Lorelai crossed the room and embraced her long-time friend.

As the two talked, Rory's brow furrowed, her thoughts troubled. All the talk about Jess had brought up memories of the night before at the rehearsal dinner. For some reason, Jess had been more reserved than usual. Sullen, even. She didn't know why. He barely participated in the festivities, and that truly bothered her. Since the day he returned, she'd noticed that he had become surprisingly more conversational, even towards others in the town. Last night, however, something had been wrong. Had she done something?

"Rory!"

Waving her hand wildly, Sookie motioned for Rory to join in on the group hug. The three stood there as Sookie continued to wetly babble out compliments. Finally Lorelai stepped back and grasped her shoulders.

"Sookie, you know I love you, but honey, you're going to make me miss my wedding."

"Oh!" Sookie cried, as if she had completely forgotten about the ceremony. She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. "I came in here to get you two!" She giggled, nudging Lorelai. "You finally ready to get yourself hitched?"

Lorelai grinned. "More than you know."

"Then let's go!"

Grabbing Rory and Lorelai by the hand, Sookie energetically dragged the Gilmores out of the room.

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In a chair next to the door, Jess sat back and enjoyed the show. For the past twenty minutes, Luke had used about every name in the book in referral to his tux. Tucking, pulling, yanking and cursing had become the ongoing routine. Oh how he had missed Luke.

"You mind helping me out instead of just sitting around, taking pleasure in all of this?" Luke snapped.

Jess smirked, slouching further in his chair and crossing his arms. "No, keep going," he encouraged with mock seriousness. "I think you're starting to get the hang of it."

"Oh! Aren't you cute?" Luke shouted in irritation. "I'm actually starting to believe that Kirk would have been the better choice for best man. Taylor, even!"

Jess snickered as Luke began fumbling with the bow tie for the hundredth time. Shaking his head as he rose from the chair, Jess took the silky fabric out of Luke's furious hands. As he began to tie the material, he tsked at his uncle.

"I told you; you should have bought the clip-on."

"Shut up," Luke retorted. Jess grinned.

A few moments later, Jess finished and stepped back. Luke inspected his work in the mirror.

"How'd you learn how to do that anyway?" he asked, the edge in his voice disappearing.

Jess shrugged. "I saw it in a movie once."

"Huh. You're smarter than you look."

"Gee, thanks."

Luke exhaled loudly, tugging at the fitted vest. Jess handed him his suit coat and checked his watch. 4:15.

"You ready for this?"

"If you mean wearing this designer-labeled torture device for another six hours, then sure. Why not?" He sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

Jess clapped him on the shoulder. "Shakespeare ain't got nothing on you," he commented wryly, pushing Luke out the door.

On their way outside, Liz came rushing towards them.

"Oh, my boys!" she squealed, hugging each of them in turn.

"Hey, Liz," Luke greeted her affectionately. "I'm glad you could make it."

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Liz put one hand on Luke's cheek and one on Jess'. "This may be the only time I ever see you two in tuxedos." Jess and Luke shared a smirk. "Unless of course Jess here gets his act together. A wedding is a great way to meet women!"

Jess rolled his eyes. Here we go again.

"What about Rory? Do you think you two could—?"

"Mom," Jess interrupted quickly. "We're friends, okay?"

She gave an innocent shrug. "I'm only saying—"

"Look, I appreciate the concern and all, but I think I can take care of my love life on my own." Yeah. Right.

Liz put up her hands in surrender. "Speaking of which," she said, looking around, "where's T.J.?"

Grimacing at the name of his lunatic step-father, Jess smacked Luke on the back. "Good luck with that," he muttered before walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey, Jess!" Luke tried calling him back.

Smirking to himself, he continued on.

As he made his way outside and to the back of the building, the smirk diminished. The gloom that had haunted his steps for two days settled back over him. It was times like these that he wished he hadn't quit smoking.

Leaning his back against the brick wall, he slowly exhaled. Over the past couple of days, he had begun to dread the approaching wedding. He hated to admit it, but the reason was credited to a certain Logan Huntzberger. As pathetic as it was, he hated the idea of Rory being with someone else right in front of him. It would be like rubbing salt in the ever-gaping wound.

Running a hand over his face, he gazed up at the cloudless blue sky. It reminded him of Rory's eyes…

Get a grip! he chastised himself. Do you really want to look like a moping idiot?

Jess growled inwardly. He was sure Huntzberger would get a big kick out of that.

Shaking his head, he wished he could shake away the tension just as easily. He didn't like feeling this weak.

Pushing away from the wall, Jess shoved his hands into the pockets of his suit pants. As he walked towards the gardens where the ceremony would take place, his stubborn determination took over. No matter what, he wouldn't let Huntzberger get to him. He would do his duties as best man and be a friend to Rory.

Even if it killed him inside.

Well I hope this was worth the wait! I think it went pretty well. I know, I know. I can already hear you guys. "GET TO THE WEDDING ALREADY!" right? Well it's next I promise ^.^ Please review!