A/N: Y'know how sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better? Yeah, hold onto that thought...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 28

The week passed quickly. With the kids so caught up in their project for Chilton's Annual Business Fair, there wasn't time to think about anything else. That was true for Rory and Paris, even Madeline and Louise, to a certain degree. For Jess, it was different. Though he actually did try to focus on the stylish first aid kit idea that his step-sister had come up with, and engage with Richard Gilmore when he tried to be of help, it was tough to concentrate. Jess knew his mother's secret, the truth of her clichéd affair with the pool boy, and it was killing him just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Liz had pulled her son aside the day after he discovered her and Javier getting familiar. She urged him once again to keep his silence, warning him in a none too friendly way what he would destroy by opening his mouth. Jess said very little in response, but he did confirm his promise not to spill his mother's secrets. She was right, it would ruin everything if and when the truth came out. He wouldn't tell, but Ira Geller was not stupid, and neither was Paris.

Liz got lucky not to be caught by one of them last week instead of her son. She figured they were out of the house and the staff were too busy to notice anything. As it turned out, Paris was there the whole time, though with her room being at the front of the house and the pool at the back, it was unlikely she saw or heard anything of note. The most she would have reckoned on was Liz actually going swimming. Jess sighed just thinking about it. He hated to lie to her and to Rory, and a lie by omission was still a lie, but he didn't have a choice, not if he wanted his last few days in Hartford to bear any resemblance to the previous happiness he had found here. The girls certainly looked happy enough now, all four of them actually. Winning did that for a person, or a group of people, as was the case today.

"I'm sure no team of young people ever deserved a first prize more than this particular group of hard-working students," said Richard as he watched the girls hug each other and bounce around like crazy people. "And yet, you do not look all that thrilled by your achievements, Jess," he said, looking seriously at the young man beside him.

"I'm not really the jumping and screaming type," he said, smirking as he watched the girls get over-excited.

"Well, no. It would hardly be appropriate for a young man to... be so elated," said Richard diplomatically. "But somehow it feels as if this whole experience has been underwhelming for you. I don't presume to know your character that well, Jess, but it doesn't take an expert in psychology to see that something is on your mind. Clearly it's not school. You're very intelligent from what Rory has told me, and from what I've observed myself."

"No, it's not school," he assured Rory's grandfather, shaking his head. "And thank you for the compliment," he added politely before continuing on. "I'm just... You ever look at your life and wonder where it all went wrong?" he asked eventually, almost wishing the very next moment that he had said nothing at all.

Richard continued to look very seriously at him, apparently giving the question a great deal of consideration before he answered it. "Not often," he admitted. "Although I have to say, I can probably guess what that feeling must be like. But Jess, you're young, you're healthy, you're intelligent, and you're courting one of the very best young women in the country." He smiled warmly as he mentioned Rory in the usual glowing terms that Jess would never argue with. "What on Earth can you have to regret?"

Jess opened his mouth and closed it again fast. He rubbed his forehead, trying to stave off a headache that was not being helped by the happy cheering and giggling of his team-mates.

"It'd be tough to explain to you," he told Richard eventually.

Jess moved as if to walk away, but Richard stepped into his path and met his gaze once again.

"If you ever do need to talk, man to man, Jess, you would be quite welcome to come to me."

That brought a genuine smile to Jess' face, even if he was surprised by the offer.

"Thank you... sir," he added as an afterthought.

Richard waved the term away in a moment. "As I said before, Jess, 'Mr Gilmore' is just fine," he smiled amiably. "You know you quite shocked Emily, she was not at all impressed with you, but I am. You're a very intelligent and respectful young man. Much better than the last boy Rory introduced to me as her boyfriend."

"Thank you, again," said Jess, smiling some more because he really couldn't help loving that Rory's grandpa just dissed Dean like that, "and not just for the compliment. You made Rory really happy when you said you'd help us out with this project, and I'm pretty sure we wouldn't've won without you, not even with Paris and all her... enthusiasm," he said, choosing the word carefully.

Richard chuckled at the way that word was said, knowing very well what Jess meant.

"I'm sure you would have done well enough," he said thoughtfully, "but I suppose I did help rather a lot, didn't I? Quite honestly, I enjoyed myself immensely. Perhaps I gave up work too soon, too easily."

He was deep in thought as he wandered away a couple of steps, only to be instantly accosted by Principal Charleston. Jess was staring after the two older men when suddenly Rory was in front of him, throwing herself into his personal space with the biggest grin on her face.

"We won!" she enthused.

"Yes, we did," Jess agreed, though the smile he raised for the occasion didn't really cut it and they both knew it.

"You're not happy," said Rory, her own happy looks fading into sad as she stared at him.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not," she insisted, her hands on his shoulders, leaving him no choice but to look at her, try as he might to squirm out of it. "You haven't been since we started this project. You didn't enjoy it?"

"It was fine, Rory," he insisted, meeting her eyes. "I'm fine. I am," he said again, kissing her quickly, changing the subject even faster. "You want to go out and celebrate our victory tonight?"

"All of us?" she checked.

"I was thinking maybe just you and me, but if you want Paris and the Banger Sisters to come along..."

"Just us might be nice," she considered with a smile, before a thought hit her. "Oh, but not tonight. Sorry, I just remembered, it's Movie in the Square Night and Mom is picking the movie. I don't really wanna miss it..."

"That's fine," said Jess, trying to hide his disappointment and clearly doing a good job since Rory never questioned him further. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Definitely tomorrow," she grinned, planting another kiss on his lips before rushing over to Paris the moment her friend called for her attention.

Jess watched her go and let out a long sigh.

"Tomorrow," he echoed. "Better hope I'm still around by then."


"The Yearling? Again?" said Luke with no lack of disgust.

"Hey, you try choosing a decent movie from the dumb folder full of crap that Taylor has!" his girlfriend argued, as they crossed the street towards the town square.

"It really was a horrible list," agreed Rory, having gone through the process with her mom.

"And you only had to go through a few pages," her mother reminded her. "Your school project came just at the right time to keep you away from the dreaded folder!"

"But aren't you glad for all the work I put into that?" her daughter countered. "We did get first place at the business fair."

"You got first place?" Luke checked. "How did I not know that?"

"Because I didn't get around to telling you yet, and you haven't seen Jess today?" Rory guessed. "Well, now you know, we won. Principal Charleston thought our funky stylish first aid kits for the locker were the best invention he had seen in a long time, plus we had all the financials figured out, pie charts and spreadsheets galore. Paris was amazing, but Grandpa was a real help too."

"And also in the good news column," said Lorelai fast, "Dad is now talking about going back to work, thus getting him out from under Emily's feet, leading to less complaining to me about said feet being under!" she explained as only a Gilmore girl could. "This is what we call a win-win-win, people!"

"And yet there is still The Yearling," said Luke, as they took their seats.

"Au contraire, mon frère!" said Lorelai, at which Rory frowned.

"Frere means brother. You're dating Luke," she explained succinctly.

"Eew!" Lorelai frowned. "Okay, well, yes, The Yearling, but first, drum roll please!" she said in a half-whisper as the screen came to life before them. "Right on time," she grinned.

Words immediately appeared in white on a black background proclaiming 'a film by kirk'.

"Ah, geez!" groaned Luke.

Lorelai giggled like a teen, looping her arm through her boyfriend's own and resting her head on his shoulder. Beside her, Rory was smiling as she contemplated the beginning of Kirk's short film and all it might yet entail. The smile faded as she checked her phone and realised Jess still hadn't replied to her text. It had been more than a half hour and he usually answered faster, especially when she was asking a direct question. She had hoped he might come over for Movie in the Square Night. He gave her a maybe when she asked in person at the end of the school day but when she text a while back to check if he had decided, he didn't reply. She typed out another message, hoping he would answer, and then just to be sure nothing was wrong she text Paris and asked if she was okay. Ten minutes later, neither of them had answered, and Rory started to worry.

"You okay, sweets?" asked Lorelai, noting Rory's worried expression even in the half light of the 'movie theatre' atmosphere.

"Jess and Paris aren't answering. Neither of them. That's weird."

"Maybe they're having a little brother-sister bonding time, watching a movie of their own or studying together or something," suggested Lorelai. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"You're probably right," Rory agreed, nodding her head, but she couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was wrong.


"What do you expect, Ira?! A woman like me has needs!"

"A woman like you should've had her rear tanned when she was a girl, then maybe you would've turned out better!"

"You asshole!"

The loud sound of flesh smacking flesh echoed through the house, the only thing more openly violent than the yelling that had been going on for an hour. This was the one, the final fight. Jess recognised the sound of it, the harsher words, the finality of the statements being made. It was all inevitable, it had just come somewhat sooner than he had hoped.

Ira knew about the affair. Jess hadn't said a word and couldn't imagine Liz was so dumb, not after all the fuss she made about her son keeping his silence. The longer he sat and listened, the more Jess suspected it was Javier himself who had come clean. Jess wouldn't be at all surprised to hear Ira say he had paid the guy to try his luck, just to see if Liz would go for it. Jess could've saved him a few hundred bucks - he knew his mother well enough to know it didn't take much to turn her head.

"It's bad, isn't it?" said Paris from further along the top step of the stairs.

Usually she would be in her room when one of these fights broke out, headphones in and music blasting. Jess would use similar avoidance tactics on any normal day, but this was different. This definitely was as bad as Paris thought. This was the end of the line, but Jess didn't have the heart to actually say so.

"I should go pack," he said instead, getting up from the step and moving down the hall towards his room.

Paris stayed put, wincing as something smashed against the wall and fell to the tile in pieces. It could be anything from a regular dish or an antique vase. To Paris, it made no difference. Nothing was as loud as her own blood pumping in her ears. Nothing hurt as much as trying so hard not to cry.

Her parents' divorce never broke her. To the world, Paris Geller was indestructible and most of the time she lived up to the legend. Her family had never really been a happy one. Her mom lived in one corner of the house, her dad in another, and Paris somewhere in the space in between. She had a Portuguese nanny who cared well enough, but that was all. It was only since Jess Mariano came into her life, starting out as a pain in the ass but soon genuinely becoming like a brother, Paris started to feel like she really was a part of something. Now all of that was going away, and she hated it.

"You don't even care what you've done, do you?" her father shouted at Liz. "To my family, to my reputation. I was a fool to think you were worth the rumours and the laughter behind my back. You're nothing but a drug-addled whore!"

"You don't know anything about me! Not the real me! You could never understand!"

"I don't care to! Not anymore! Why don't you take your drugs, your dirty drinking habit, and your son, and get out of my house?!"

"I wouldn't stay here if you paid me!"

Paris winced at the final exchange before doors slammed and Liz began yelling for Jess to get his ass in gear. Panicked by the sudden motion in proceedings, Paris scrambled to her feet and headed down the hall. She met Jess as he came out of his room, already wearing his leather jacket and toting a couple of bags, the very ones he had arrived with back in September.

Everything had changed so much in the last seven months, and yet to look at Jess now, you would never know. He wore a scowl and yelled back to Liz that he was already packed and ready to go. Paris swallowed hard. She couldn't find the words. She wasn't built to cope with stuff like this.

"You don't have to leave," she said at last, a crack in her voice that she couldn't control. "Not like this."

"Pretty sure your dad feels differently," said Jess, barely looking at her, knowing what he would see if he did - sadness, hurt, pity - he couldn't handle it.

"He's mad at Liz, not you," Paris insisted. "I could talk him around. You could stay, even if she has to go. I'm not saying I'm a spoiled princess that always gets her way with Daddy, far from it, but I'm pretty sure-"

"Paris!" Jess cut in, his tone perhaps too harsh in the circumstances, but he couldn't help it. He made himself meet her eyes then, shaking his head to let her know there was no point.

She looked broken somehow. The great Paris Geller with all her strength and bitchiness was suddenly a five year old child who just heard her dog had bought the farm. Jess felt sick. He knew Rory would be hurt by his going and assumed maybe Paris would too, but this was something else. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the knife twisting in his own gut as he realised he could easily never see either his girlfriend or his step-sister ever again.

In what had to be a moment of madness, he threw an arm around Paris and drew her close for all of a few seconds. One tear streaked down her cheek as they parted, and Jess had to clear his throat twice before he could speak again.

"I need you to give this to Rory," he said, pulling an envelope from his inside pocket and pushing it towards her. "Paris, c'mon, say you'll do it," he urged when she didn't take it from him immediately.

Liz was calling for Jess again. Ira was angrily questioning why they were still on his property.

"You know I will," said Paris, dragging her hand across her face so her sadness didn't show so much - she failed at covering any of the emotion she was feeling.

"Thanks, sis," said Jess deliberately, managing half a smile as he hiked his bag higher on his shoulder and then walked away. "Maybe I'll see you around," he called over his shoulder, somehow not feeling able to look back even for a second.

"I doubt it," muttered Paris as she watched Jess disappear down the stairs.

More tears fell down from her eyes the moment she was alone, and that was very much how Paris felt right now; alone.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: And I almost made myself cry writing that last scene. How's everybody else holding up? You hate me yet?