A/N: You may notice that it seemingly took Jess three hours to get from Luke's to Rory and Lorelai's house. Hold your horses; there's an explanation. Read on!

"So when's he picking you up?" Lorelai asked as she put the final touches on Rory's ensemble. The dress was on (it still fit perfectly, to Rory's great relief), her hair and makeup were done, and the shoes were numbing her feet as they spoke.

"The prom starts at 5, so I think he should be here soon…" she trailed off, glancing at the clock on the mantle. It was 4:30. Not time to panic yet, she soothed herself, trying and failing to hide any anxiety from Lorelai.

"He'll be here, hon," the older woman assured her. As if to cement her words, a knock sounded at the door. "Maybe that's him!" Lorelai said brightly. Rory stood back, nervously checking her reflection. "Mom?!" Lorelai's astounded voice came from the foyer.

"Grandma?" Rory asked, confused.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore!" Emily boomed. Rory winced, glad she wasn't standing closer. "How could you hide the fact that my one and only granddaughter is attending the prom tonight?"

"We didn't mean to hide it, Mom, I guess we just forgot to mention it," Lorelai apologized.

"'Forgot' to mention it?" Emily exclaimed, her voice hitting a high note at the end of her sentence. "You were at dinner just last night, and you forgot to mention it?" She walked into the living room, looking like she had a bad taste in her mouth. Then she caught sight of Rory. "Oh, Rory! You look absolutely enchanting! Where on earth did you buy that dress?" Emily stepped closer to her granddaughter and gave her an air hug, so as not to muss her dress.

"Very Emily Post, Mom," Lorelai said dryly. "And I made the dress."

The Gilmore matriarch pursed her lips. "You made it. Well. Lorelai, you did a nice job…again," she said, referring to Rory's Chilton dress. Then she frowned. It seemed to be her default expression. "But the Chilton prom isn't till tomorrow night," she said, turning in confusion from Rory to Lorelai.

"She's not going to the Chilton prom, Mom," Lorelai said patiently. "She's going to the Stars Hollow prom. With her boyfriend. Who attends Stars Hollow High."

"You remember, Grandma. Jess. He was at…graduation…" She trailed off nervously.

Emily stared at Lorelai, making no attempt to hide her displeasure from Rory. "You're letting her go to prom at a public high school with that – that – "

"That very nice guy who's been dating Rory for over six months? Yup, that one," Lorelai filled in. Rory shot her a grateful look just as another knock came at the door.

"Good timing, Jess," Lorelai muttered under her breath as she went into the foyer again. "Whoa. Rory? Come here!" she said excitedly.

"What, what?" Rory asked, hurrying to see what had caused the sudden change in Lorelai's tone. "Whoa."

Emily approached the Gilmores' door more slowly, a thousand different ideas of what could be in the yard that was so fascinating to her girls running through her head. She gasped.

A shiny white Duesenberg – Emily only knew the name because Richard had raved about one at a car show a few years ago – was pulled into the driveway behind Lorelai's Jeep, Rory's new Prius, and Emily's Mercedes. It took Emily a moment to reconcile the poorly-dressed hooligan at dinner months ago and at Rory's graduation with the man who was standing in the yard now.

"Hey," Jess said, a little taken aback. He'd been expecting just two Gilmore girls, and now he had to contend with three, all standing on the porch and staring at him. "Hi, Rory," he said more specifically, catching sight of his girlfriend, hovering slightly behind her mother. He bit his lip, trying to hold back a grin. She looked incredible.

Meanwhile, Rory was thinking the same about Jess. She hardly recognized him without the baggy jeans and moussed-up hair. She just stood there silently, her mouth open. When Jess had told her he had a big surprise for prom night, she'd been expecting, well, not this. "H-how?" she said faintly. "Where did – where did you get the car? And the suit? And the – how?"

Jess shrugged. "Called in a few favors," he said simply.

The last time Gypsy worked on Jess' beat-up old car, she'd way overcharged him for something Jess could probably have done on his own. He only discovered this after he got back to Luke's and looked at his receipt properly. He'd stomped back to Gypsy's and argued with her, largely unsuccessfully, before shouting that she owed him one. Sick of fighting for once, Gypsy reluctantly agreed. Turned out she had connections with some guy in New Canaan who collected vintage cars, and the rest was history. Then, as if that hadn't been enough, he had to convince the guy that he wouldn't get even a tiny scratch on it and would only put premium gas in it if it needed it. It had taken some time.

"The suit I just bought," Jess continued, a faint smile on his face. "They're pretty easy to find if you know where to look."

Rory was so stunned that she hadn't even left the porch. Lorelai put her hand on the small of her daughter's back and gave her a little push. "Go on," she urged out of the corner of her mouth. "No, wait, let me grab something. Then you can go," she amended. Meanwhile, Emily appeared to be rooted to the spot.

"I do not approve of this," she said, holding her head high and staring Jess down. He sighed.

"All due respect…ma'am…but I think Lorelai's the one who has to approve of this," he pointed out. "And I think she already has," he continued as Lorelai popped back out with a string of pearls in her hand. Emily looked stunned.

"Final touch," Lorelai whispered to her daughter, fastening the jewelry around her neck. Then she turned to her own mother. "Mom. I know you hate this. I know you're having flashbacks of the Chilton dance right now, 'cause I'm having them too." Here Lorelai glanced at Jess. "I need to give him another chance, Mom," she said more quietly. "Rory did." Emily made a tsk noise and turned to go back inside the house, too fed up to say much more.

"Home by eleven!" she called authoritatively.

"Twelve," Lorelai mouthed to Rory and Jess, waving goodbye and beaming at how lovely Rory looked. She bit her tongue before she could add "And be careful." She didn't need to. Rory was always careful. Jess, on the other hand…no, she said to herself firmly. Just go back inside…to contend with Emily. She heaved a long-suffering sigh and closed the door behind her.

"So…do you like it?" Jess asked, opening the passenger door for Rory.

"Jess, it's amazing. I can't even – I don't have words," she said helplessly, stepping into the car.

He laughed as he shut the door behind her and went to open his own. "That's a first."

"Shut up," she said good-naturedly.

"She found her vocabulary again! It's a miracle!" Jess exclaimed.

Rory giggled. "Just drive, Jeeves."

"Seatbelts on?" Jess asked, a mock-stern expression on his face. Rory nodded, returning his serious gaze. He leaned over as if to check if her belt was secure, sneaking a hand on her shoulder and pulling her to him for a kiss. "You look amazing," he whispered, making her blush.

"So do you," she said back quietly. "Seriously, where'd you get the suit?"

"That ancient Italian place at the end of Plum," he replied, pulling back and starting the engine. "The guy tried to sell me a fedora, too."

"Oh, you should have worn one!" Rory cried.

"So every other guy at the prom would beat me up? No, thank you," Jess said, looking to the left and right before turning. "So why's your bag so massive?" he asked, glancing at the sack she held on her lap.

"There's not that much in it," Rory defended. "A lipstick. Extra bobby pins. Hairspray. A book."

"A book?" Jess asked. "You expecting a lot of downtime at this thing?"

Rory laughed. "No, I just take a book with me everywhere."

"I know," Jess replied, smiling a bit. "So do I." He gestured to the floor, near Rory's feet. A worn-looking copy of The Great Gatsby resided there. "I just finished it. What'd you bring?"

Rory just grinned and held up her own copy of the same exact book.

"Huh. Interesting," Jess said.

"One would think we have similar tastes or something," Rory shrugged, unable to wipe the smile off her face. "Oh, I hope this isn't too lame," she said wistfully as they pulled into the parking lot behind the high school.

"Well, only one way to find out," Jess replied, shifting the car's gears into park and trying not to show how nervous he was.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! If you want to get an idea of what the car looks like, there's a Flickr link in my profile.