A/N: Well, this chapter got very dialogue-heavy. After 26 chapters I still have no idea how to balance dialogue and not-dialogue (or what exactly not-dialogue is called). I never claimed to be a professional. I just want to write something you guys will like :)

"So what was that at dinner?" Lorelai asked, once Luke was safely upstairs and out of earshot.

Rory decided to play dumb. Unfortunately, she wasn't very good at it. "What was what?" she asked, already feeling herself starting to blush. It didn't escape Lorelai's notice.

"That thing about how you and Jess are friends? I thought you weren't talking to Jess. You certainly looked like you didn't want to be sitting by him at dinner yesterday. I haven't seen someone that uncomfortable at a holiday meal since the last time we went to my mother's for a holiday."

Rory shrugged. "We talked a little bit," she said. "Everyone else kind of took off between dinner and dessert so we were the only two people sitting there. It would've been weird to not talk to him."

"Uh huh," Lorelai said, not impressed. "So, what did you talk about?"

"Work, mostly."

"Mostly."

"He broke up with his girlfriend," Rory said reluctantly.

Lorelai nodded knowingly. "Aha. Now we're getting somewhere. Why did they break up?"

"It just wasn't working out, I guess. I don't know. Why does anyone break up?"

"Someone runs out on the wedding, someone is suing the other one's parents, they get married on a whim in another country and it doesn't end up being as whimsical as it seemed at first," Lorelai said.

"Those examples are all from you," Rory pointed out. "No offense, but I don't think most people end up breaking up because their boyfriend is suing their father."

"Someone likes someone else more than they like their boyfriend. Or girlfriend," Lorelai added pointedly.

Rory sighed and got up to pour herself a cup of coffee. When she settled back in the living room, she looked at her mom seriously. "Okay, if you promise to listen and not interrupt, I will tell you the whole story, deal?"

Lorelai clapped her hands. "I knew there was more to the story! You were acting awfully squirrely for someone who just talked about work with an old friend."

"I was not acting squirrely," Rory argued. "I'm never squirrely."

"Chipmunky, then."

"If you want me to tell you what happened you're going to have to stop comparing me to woodland creatures."

"Deal," Lorelai said, taking the coffee cup from Rory's hand. "If I'm not drinking something I might be tempted to interrupt you," she pointed out before Rory could protest.

"Fine, keep the coffee. I just got up to get it to avoid you anyway." Rory took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare herself to tell the story. "Okay, so we actually didn't talk much at first between dinner and dessert. Jess said something first about TJ and Grandpa talking—"

"Yeah, what was with that?" Lorelai asked. She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry," she said, her voice muffled behind her hand. "Carry on."

"Anyway, we kind of acknowledged that we hadn't talked in a while and then I asked Jess why he didn't bring his girlfriend, and he said they broke up." She paused, not sure what she should say about happen next.

"Were you happy?" Lorelai prompted, probably figuring that didn't count as interrupting since Rory wasn't talking.

She let it slide. "Kind of," she admitted. "But then I felt bad for not feeling bad, so I got trapped in that guilt circle thing we're so good at for a minute. I don't know, though. When he said that I just got so mad. Like, I wanted to work on having a relationship and he turned me down because he had a girlfriend, and they only dated for a couple of months? I felt like he was just using her as an excuse to not be with me."

"Do you think she actually existed?"

Rory hadn't even thought about that. "Of course," she said, resolutely. Jess might have done some questionable things in the past but she couldn't imagine he would just make up a girlfriend to get out of being with Rory. The Jess she knew now would just be straight with her. "Anyway, I kind of exploded on him," she said, trying to continue the story. Lorelai raised an eyebrow, which was not a trait that Rory inherited from her. "I was mad! And filled with a lot of carbs that were giving me energy for a fight."

"You guys got in a fight?"

"Not a fight," Rory corrected herself. "A…discussion. Anyway, I said that it was pretty crappy that he turned me down just to date someone else for a couple of months. I know it doesn't make any sense and he has the right to date whoever he wants, but in the moment I was mad that we went through all that just so he could break up with her after a couple of months. I reminded him that our relationship ended badly and things had been screwed up for years and he was all 'What was I supposed to do, just sit around and hope you'd be interested in me again someday? Because you said you weren't going to do that when I left' and it was really kind of annoying to have that thrown back at me."

"I can see that. So…" Lorelai was clearly trying to hurry her along. Rory was good at telling stories on paper, but she had a tendency to ramble on when she was relaying them verbally. Of course that she did inherit.

"So, it all just kind of came to a head and Jess said that he had broken up with his girlfriend because she wasn't me. And then he kissed me."

"You made me wait ten minutes while you rambled on about stuff I already knew instead of leading with that? Next time I'm telling you to give me the Reader's Digest version," Lorelai said, shaking her head. "Did you kiss him back?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know. It happened kind of fast."

"Oh, please. You either did or you didn't, and you know which one it is."

"I kissed him back. But then you came out of the kitchen with dessert, so nothing happened after that."

Lorelai smacked her forehead with her palm. "I didn't know I was interrupting! Sorry. So that was all that happened?"

"What do you mean, all? You wanted us to consummate things on the dining table?"

"Don't be gross. I mean, did you just leave it at that? People dispersed kind of quickly after dessert."

"Oh, we talked more after that. We really did talk about work. And then he said he was working on getting his new book published and I told him he should bring me a copy, like he did the first time. So I guess I kind of invited him to visit me in Michigan."

"Lorelai Gilmore!" Lorelai admonished. "I cannot believe I let you go to bed last night without prying that out of you. I had no idea you'd gotten so forward with the boys."

"Ew, don't be gross, Mom."

"Hey, you were the one talking about consummating things on a table."

"And I officially regret saying that."

Lorelai handed Rory's coffee back to her and she took a grateful sip. Talking about the day before had really taken it out of her. "So, what happens how?" Lorelai asked. "What's going on with you guys?"

"I don't know," Rory admitted. "He texted me earlier to tell me something Kirk did when he was at Luke's, so that's not very indicative of where his mind's at right now. Him visiting me in Michigan isn't even a for sure thing. I mean, he could take months to publish his book, if he does use that as a reason to come to Michigan. And by then he'll probably have forgotten that I even said that."

"Oh, he won't forget," Lorelai said knowingly. "If I had to guess, he gets that book done sooner rather than later so he has an excuse to go see you."

"You really think so?" Rory asked.

"Definitely."

"I'd be nice to know what he's thinking," Rory said. "But we've been through that before and it ended with us not talking for months, so I'm not going to push it. I guess we'll just see how things end up."

Lorelai studied her daughter. "Is being with Jess how you want things to end up?"

"Kind of," Rory admitted. "I know you don't like him, but I just feel like we never got a fair chance, you know? He was in such a weird place when we were dating and then by the time he figured things out I was with someone else. I want to give things a shot when we're both settled and good."

"Hey, don't worry about how I felt about him," Lorelai said. "I know I was never his biggest fan when you guys were dating, but if being with him would make you happy then I'll go over to Liz's right now and talk some sense into him."

"Thanks, Mom," Rory said, leaning over to give her an impulsive hug. "You don't need to do that, though. I think part of giving things a real grown-up chance is just letting them play out how they're supposed to play out, without any parental involvement."

"Spoken like a true grown up," Lorelai said with a yawn. "Unless you've been holding back part of the story, I think I'm going to go to bed. The idea of having a lunch meeting with my mother on Monday is already exhausting."

"I'm good," Rory said. "You go to bed." Lorelai nodded and kissed Rory on the head before heading for the stairs. "Hey, Mom?" Rory called quietly, before her mom could get too far away. "Thanks for listening."