A/N: Thanks for the continued feedback, peops. You know I always appreciate those reviews :) Okay, now Luke & Lorelai are all patched up, Rory & Jess are going strong, Paris is happy with Doyle, so the only issue that remains is what the heck is wrong with Lane? Read on to find out! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 21

When Jess went and knocked on Paris and Rory's dorm room door, he wasn't quite prepared for Lane to answer it. Of course, he knew she was staying there. It was him that had driven her here last night, after all, but he had assumed she would still be in a corner crying or ranting about what happened with her mother. It was what she had been doing all weekend long, in fact, ever since showing up at the diner and crying all over a very startled Luke. She certainly looked more chipper now.

"Hey, how do you take your coffee?"

"Er, black?" said Jess vaguely, confused as to why that was Lane's opening question, or really why she was asking him any questions at all.

"Got it!" she said, squeezing by him and practically running from the building.

Jess caught the door as it swung in her wake and wandered into the dorm. Thankfully, he found Rory sitting on the couch and not any of her dorm-mates.

"So, Lane's feeling better?"

"More or less," Rory agreed, nodding her head. "She's decided that if she's going to stay here, she needs to be useful. First task, coffee run."

"Cool," said Jess, coming to sit beside his girlfriend. "Hi."

"Hi," she replied in kind, kissing him soundly. "I thought we were meeting for lunch later?"

"We were. We still can, if you want," Jess confirmed.

"Okay." Rory nodded. "I don't want this to sound like I'm not happy to see you but how come you're here? Random visits are great but not so much like you."

"Honestly?" he said, making a face even as he confessed. "I kind of wanted to make sure Lane was okay."

"Aww, that's so sweet!"

"Yeah, that's what I was going for." Jess rolled his eyes. "I swear, spending so much time with you and Paris and Lorelai and even Lane, it's not good for me. A guy should have male friends."

"You have male friends." Rory reminded him. "You have Marty, and you have Luke."

"True, and hey, I'm not complaining that most of the people closest to me are women, I just think maybe I shouldn't be so caught up in all the drama."

"Lane sure is having a lot of that right now." Rory sighed, leaning back on the couch with Jess, his arm around her shoulders. "I mean, I figured Mrs Kim would find out about CBGB's and that would be what finally blew Lane's cover. I never would've guessed that her deciding not to go would cause all the trouble."

"CBGB's caused nothing." Jess told her definitely. "That was all down to Zach."

"But he never would've been comforting Lane if she wasn't so upset about the gig not happening, so they wouldn't have kissed right there in the square where they could be seen. If Mrs Kim hadn't found out about Lane kissing a boy, there wouldn't have been a fight, and then Lane wouldn't have gone ahead and confessed everything in a fit of panic and tears."

Jess felt like his head was spinning after that particular speech, long-winded and fast-paced as it was.

"Man, you would think I'd be used to that by now," he said, blinking hard. "I guess some of the blame at least lands with the gig not happening, but I refuse to blame the venue specifically."

"I would never ask you to do that," said Rory, grinning at how dumb this conversation was, before kissing Jess one more time. "Okay, I need to get ready for class. Hopefully, Lane will make it back with the coffee before I have to go."

"I'll hang here until she gets back," said Jess, picking up the TV remote. "Where's Paris anyway?"

"Oh, she said Lane could have her bed for a couple of nights," explained Rory from the doorway to her bedroom. "I'm not really supposed to tell you this on account of the fact, and I quote, 'you might get all big brother about it,' but she's going to be crashing at Doyle's for a while."

"Huh," said Jess, turning towards the TV again and switching it on.

He knew he probably surprised Rory by not over-reacting. The fact was, he didn't especially like the idea of Paris with any guy that might hurt her, but he was pretty sure that Doyle wasn't the type to cheat on her or just drop her when he got bored. He seemed like a decent person, from what Jess knew of him, and if Paris was happy, he knew from experience it was better to be happy for her than try to start a fight.

Though his eyes were pointed at the TV, Jess wasn't really seeing what was on the screen at all. He would feel bad about fighting with Paris over Doyle, or anything else for that matter. What he felt worse about right now was lying to Rory.

When she asked why he came over, he just bottled out of telling her the whole truth. He did care about Lane and how she was doing, but that was so far from being the real reason why he came here. This past weekend, he had planned to talk to Rory about something that had been on his mind for quite some time, but when Lane had her crisis, she became the focus of everyone's attention. Jess didn't deny her that, his issues would keep for another day, but even now he had the perfect opportunity to spill his guts, he still wasn't doing it. He just didn't know where to start.

"Jess?" Rory poked her head out of the bedroom door suddenly. "Did I leave my black sweater with the zipper in your room? I can't find it anywhere and I don't remember taking it home."

"Not that I noticed, but maybe," he considered. "You need me to go look?"

"Um, no. It's fine. I'll change again."

Jess watched her disappear back into her room then smiled and shook his head. Women and their clothes, he was never going to understand it. Guys just threw on a shirt and pants, no drama. Girls could not seem to manage that.

A second later, the dorm-room door opened and in rushed Lane with two trays of coffees and a bag that almost definitely contained Danishes or similar. She was smiling widely, which was great to see, but as a long-time user of the fake smile and other similar expressions, Jess knew only too well that Lane was not coping so well with what happened.

"Hey, you doing okay, coffee girl?" he asked her with a half a smile.

"Sure, yeah. I'm doing just fine," said Lane, still grinning too much and they both knew it. "Kind of, more or less," she added, shrugging her shoulders. "I knew this had to happen someday. I couldn't pretend my whole life. Now Mama knows the truth and I have to accept that she can't accept me for what I am."

"And Zach?"

"Honestly? No idea." Lane laughed a little manically. "Maybe he loves me, maybe he hates me. I kinda hope it's somewhere in between but, who knows?"

Rory emerged from her bedroom ready to leave then, thanking Lane for the coffee and promising to be back in a couple of hours to check on her.

"You gonna walk me to class?" she asked Jess.

"Sure," he agreed, also thanking Lane for his beverage. "You still planning on working your shifts at the diner?" he asked then as he and Rory were leaving. "I know Luke still needs the help."

"Maybe, soon." Lane nodded. "It's a little tough for me to get back and forth between here and there right now."

"Well, I'm heading over this weekend. I can take you back."

"And I'll bet Mom wouldn't mind you crashing in my room for a couple of nights," said Rory easily.

"Thanks, guys." Lane smiled a lot more genuinely than before. "I'll call Luke later, see if he wants me to work."

"Cool." Jess nodded, following Rory out the door.

It was a couple of days before Jess ran into Paris, despite the fact she was living at Doyle's place just down the hall from her his room. Even then, it was actually in the library that they almost literally collided.

"Hey, you do still go here," she said, smirking the way he usually did. "I was beginning to wonder."

"Hey, it's you that's been holed up in the RA's room for days. For the sake of my sanity, I choose to believe you're doing nothing but playing checkers in there."

"If it helps you, sure." Paris rolled her eyes. "Actually, we have played chess a couple of times."

"And?"

"I kicked his ass, obviously."

"Obviously." Jess smiled. "Well, I know Lane appreciates you giving up your bed for a while. Rory too, actually."

"I sympathise with the whole 'parents who don't get it' thing," Paris reminded him. "I guess it's something that Mrs Kim actually cares what Lane does with her life. It's more than either of us ever had."

"If we had better parents, we might never have met," Jess considered.

"Wow, my life could've been that good?" Paris countered, smirking terribly.

"Ha ha," said Jess flatly, rolling his eyes. "You'd be lost without me, Geller."

"Like you'd do any better without me, Mariano."

This was the closest they usually got to admitting they loved each other like siblings would, but that was okay. They knew their connection well enough, sometimes the words weren't needed anyway.

"So, how goes the great American novel?"

"I told you, many times now, it's really not that ambitious. It's just a short novel, but it's going pretty well. Rory did some proof reading and editing on it. The long job is going to be typing it all up on the computer."

"Well, if you will be old-fashioned with your pencil and your legal pad."

"Hey, don't mock the process. It's worked for me so far."

The librarian shushed them when they got a little too loud. Paris and Jess made faces but nonetheless lowered their voices a little, then just got bored of trying and went elsewhere to talk. It was good to catch up, and yet, when it came to the one topic that had been on Jess' mind more than a little for a while now, he never said a word.

He had almost thought it would be easier to bring up with Paris than with Rory, but it wasn't. Maybe this weekend he'd have better luck with Luke. One thing was for sure, this thing wasn't going to go away. He had to talk it out with somebody and it had to be soon.

"I'm sorry, Jess. I know we had plans this weekend, but I really, really have to get this paper finished, plus I have reading to do-"

"Rory, I told you, it's fine," he insisted. "I get it. You have a lot to do and it'll be easier here than in the Hollow."

"You're the best boyfriend ever," she said definitely.

"I know." He smirked back at her from the edge of her bed. "So, you getting out of Friday Night Dinner too?"

"Probably not, but I can drive straight back here after it's over and get as much done as I can. You're taking Lane home with you, Janet's already gone off somewhere with the boyfriend since it's their anniversary, and even Tanna has plans. I think she said she was visiting her grandma or something. She left pretty early this morning since she doesn't have classes today."

"Does she actually put on the red cape and take her basket?"

"Don't be mean," Rory told him, even as she laughed at the joke. "She can't help being younger."

"Your room-mates are all cracked," he told her, pulling her close the moment she got close enough for him to reach.

"Are you including your sister in that?" she asked with a look.

"Are you kidding? Paris is the worst of them all sometimes. Just because I love her doesn't mean I'm blind to the crazy."

"Good point." Rory nodded, knowing she felt much the same. "I am sorry we don't get to spend this weekend together," she apologised again, sitting down in his lap.

"Don't worry about it," he told her easily. "We're here right now and nobody else is, right?"

"True, but Lane won't be long. She just went to get snacks for the ride home for you two."

"How long you think she'll be?"

"I don't know, she left like a minute before you got here and she has to walk all the way into New Haven and back. Still, probably less than an hour."

"Hmm, now, what can we do to kill time for an hour?" asked Jess with a look in his eyes that Rory knew too well.

"Hmm, well," she said, pretending to consider that question seriously, "we could study, or we could play Monopoly, or-"

Her words were cut off by Jess' lips on her own as he pulled her down onto the bed with him and kissed her thoroughly. There was only one way he wanted to spend the next hour alone with his girlfriend, and Rory was more than amenable to the suggestion.

To Be Continued...