A/N: I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter! I was kind of worried it would be jumping the shark a little bit but with Jess I guess you never can tell :)

Rory wasn't proud of what she did after the cake had been served. As soon as she got a piece (along with a slice of pie and a few tiny cheesecakes) she clamped onto Lane and dragged her into the living room. "I want to hear all about the boys' first Christmas!" she exclaimed as they sat on the couch, her eyes glued on the kitchen doorway.

Lane looked at her strangely. "It was nice," she said "Lots of presents they've probably already forgotten about. And church, lots of church." She took a bite of cake, following Rory's gaze. "I'll show you pictures later, though. What is going on with you? Don't think I didn't notice you disappear into your bedroom with Jess as soon as we got inside."

"I was just trying to free up some space in the kitchen and he followed me in there," Rory explained. That was true, but Lane gave her a skeptical look anyway. "Look, it's my mom's wedding day. We can talk about it later."

"So something did happen," Lane said triumphantly. "I knew it. Something always happens when Jess is around! Did you guys…?" She trailed off meaningfully, raising an eyebrow.

"My bedroom door was open the whole time we were in there! We did none of the things that you could possibly be thinking about," Rory said. In fact, she and Jess hadn't had any physical contact since he'd been there. It was probably for the best. Physical contact with Jess was generally pretty disorienting. "Honestly, we can talk about it later. It was no big deal."
"What wasn't a big deal?" April asked, joining them on the couch. Even though she had nothing against her new step-sister, she groaned inwardly. Lane had been her excuse to get out of the kitchen and away from Jess and now she was in the middle of an interrogation.

She tried to look casual. "Nothing," Rory said. "We were just talking about how we had to start the ceremony a little late."

April nodded, like she actually accepted that lame story. "Jess said there was an accident when he was driving up here. He didn't actually see it happen, though. He just got stuck in traffic behind it."

"That's what he said," Rory agreed, cutting her miniature cheesecakes in quarters.

Lane nudged Rory's arm. "I bet that's not all he said."

April looked between the two of them, finally clued in on the fact that she was out of the loop. "I'm going to go more cake," she said slowly, showing surprising tact for a teenager. After she was gone, Rory sighed.

"Now she knows something weird is going on," she said. She wasn't blaming Lane, of course. It was her own fault for pulling Lane aside and then refusing to tell her what was going on. "Okay," Rory decided. "I'll tell you what happened, but we have to go outside. I don't want anyone else to overhear. That would be a mess."

Lane practically shot off the couch, leaving her dessert on the coffee table. "No one will even notice we're gone," she promised.

With most everyone still in the kitchen, Lane and Rory slipped out the front door without anyone seeing them. "So." Rory leaned against the porch railing, trying to stall. Unfortunately, stalling had never worked with Lane before and it certainly wasn't working now. Rory sighed. "All right. If you must know, Jess asked me to marry him."

Lane stared at her, her eyes wide. "He proposed to you?"

"I guess," Rory said, although it hadn't exactly felt like a proposal. It had certainly been nothing like Logan's way too public proposal. "He didn't actually ask me to marry him. He just said we could get married. I'm assuming he meant it in a proposal sort of way, but you can never tell with him."

Lane shook her head, though she looked amused. "Jess is the only person ever who would propose by pointing out that you 'could' get married. How would that work, anyway? You guys have never exactly been on the same page."

"Exactly!" Rory said. "I have no idea. In his mind he had us grabbing the justice of the peace and getting married today. Then he said he could 'probably' move to Michigan."

"A ringing endorsement of his commitment," Lane said.

Rory liked that someone else was on her side and recognized how insane Jess' little plan was. "I know I have to talk to him about this whole thing, but I don't even know what to say. We couldn't even work out a way to have some sort of relationship and he thinks the solution is getting married?" Rory sighed, drumming her fingers on the railing. "He is the most unpredictable person ever. I thought Logan was impulsive, but Jess is in a whole different league. Just in the last few months he's done half a dozen things I didn't expect."

"So what are you going to do?" Lane asked, sounding genuinely curious. That was one thing Rory loved about her best friend. She knew when to keep her opinions to herself and just sit back and watch the show.

Her opinions could be helpful, though. Rory had no idea what to do about the whole situation, which was par for the course when it came to Jess. "I guess we go back inside," she said with a shrug. "I think I'm going to pretend nothing happened."

"That's the mature thing to do," Lane said, holding the door open for Rory. "Zach and I have to get back to the boys soon, but you better call me later and tell me every single thing that happens with you and Jess after I leave."

"I promise," Rory said, grabbing Lane's pinky with her own. "If there's anything to tell, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if he high fives me and leaves without a word or something."

Lane chuckled, looking into the living room for Zach. It was empty, as was the kitchen. "That's weird. We were only outside for a second. Where did everyone go?"

"Everyone's outside taking pictures," Rory said, watching from the window in the back door. "I guess we go out and join them."

"Pictures are important," Lane agreed, shivering. "I'm just going to call my mom really quick and let her know that I'll be by to pick up the boys after we do the pictures and I'll meet you out there."

Rory agreed and headed outside. Lorelai waved to her from the chuppah, where she was flanked by Richard and Emily. "You got suckered into taking pictures too, huh?" she said, joining Jess on the outskirts of their little group.

"My mom wanted me to be in one with her and Luke," Jess said. "I tried to hide inside, but TJ dragged me out here. He is aggressively family-oriented." He shrugged off his jacket and offered it to Rory, who was shivering in her sleeveless dress. "Here, take this. I guess when you disappeared before it wasn't to find a coat."

"I didn't disappear," Rory said, wrapping Jess' coat around her shoulders. "Lane and I were just talking."

"About me," Jess predicted. Since he was the undisputed master of being cagey and evasive, it was very difficult to pull the same kind of thing on him, but that wasn't going to stop Rory from trying.

She dragged the toe of her shoe through the snow, patting the little pile of snow flat. "Just girl stuff," Rory said casually.

Jess smirked. "Girl stuff, right. That's very specific and impossible to argue with."

"Thank you; I put a lot of thought into it," Rory said, choosing to ignore the obvious sarcasm. "So, are you heading home tonight or are you staying with Liz and TJ?"

"Liz wants me to stay with them, but I don't know," Jess said, looking at his watch. "It's not that late. I guess if I left after the whole picture thing I could get home."

Rory nodded, on the fence about whether to feel disappointed or not. She liked being around Jess, but after he completely blindsided her during dinner she was feeling nervous around him, too. She had no idea what his next move would be, and he was acting like everything was normal. "I think that's when the party is pretty much breaking up," Rory said, deciding to play it safe. "Lane and Zach are leaving soon, and Sookie mentioned something about only having her baby-sitter for a few hours earlier."

"So I'd be here with Liz, TJ and your grandparents," Jess said, nodding. "Huh. I think I'll probably head out soon. I've got some stuff to do tomorrow, anyway."

"Rory, we need a family picture!" Lorelai called, her arm linked through Luke's. Rory handed Jess' coat back to him, wondering what he had going on the next day that he couldn't just postpone. It seemed like if he wanted to stay he could get someone to cover for him at the diner he worked at. Rory smiled happily for the pictures, but each click of the camera shutter felt like pulling petals off a daisy. Click. He wants to stay but has to work tomorrow. Click. He wants to leave because he's mad about our conversation earlier. Click.

After Sookie took dozens of pictures of Rory with her mom and Luke, it seemed like Rory got passed around the group. Lorelai insisted on getting pictures of her with Lane, her with her grandparents and a few of just her and April. Through the whole thing Jess watched from the sidelines, an inscrutable look on his face. Eventually Liz got her own family pictures with Jess, but nobody insisted on a picture with both of them in it. After everything Lorelai knew about the two of them, Rory was thankful that she seemed to be staying out of things. Rory didn't want to throw a wrench in her mom's happy post-wedding glow by making things weird with Jess.

When Lane and Zach left after taking pictures it was like the triggered some sort of herd response with everyone else. Richard and Emily left shortly after, which wasn't surprising. They said they'd had a wonderful time, but they never seemed comfortable at Lorelai's house. But even after Liz and TJ left, Jess lingered. He accepted another piece of cake from Lorelai and talked about work with Luke, and even chatted with April about books and what was new at Truncheon. While he was deep in conversation with April, Lorelai raised an eyebrow at Rory. She knew Jess wasn't the type to hang around and make small talk and probably assumed Rory had something to do with his hanging around. Rory just shrugged. Truthfully, she wasn't sure what Jess' game plan was. He was talking to everyone but her.

Just as Lorelai was pulling out the leftovers for round two, Jess announced that he had to leave. "It seems a little convenient that you decided to leave while everyone else was busy in the kitchen," Rory noted, walking him to the door. "Trying to avoid all the sappy goodbyes?"

"From your mom?"

"Hey, you were awfully polite when you thanked her for the cake. You might be growing on her," Rory said.

"I'm always going to think your mom hates me," Jess said, leaning against the door. "Old habits die hard, I guess."

"I guess so," Rory said, moving the pendant on her necklace back and forth on its chain. "So you've got a busy day tomorrow?"

Jess just looked at her, biting his lip. "Did I say that? Huh."

"I will never understand you," Rory said. She took a deep breath, figuring she should just bite the bullet before Jess left and bring up the issue neither of them was mentioning. "Are you just going to leave without even talking about what happened earlier?"

"I've got a minute or two," Jess said. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I…" Rory's words died in her throat. She had no idea what she wanted to talk about. It felt like there should be so much to say about Jess thinking they could get married, but in reality it just was what it was. He had offered and Rory had said no. She loved him, but she had said no. She could think about it and analyze it all she wanted, but the facts were simple no matter how much she scrutinized them. "I guess nothing," she said finally. "Um. Thanks for coming."

Jess reached toward her and for a minute she thought he was going to kiss her, but he just brushed a piece of hair off her face. "Thanks for inviting me," he said. He opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, looking back at her. "Maybe I'll see you around."

"I'm going home in a couple of days," Rory pointed out. Jess didn't say anything, just gave her a little smile as he shut the door behind him. After he got into his car Rory sat down on the little bench in the foyer and sighed. Jess spent a dizzying amount of time messing with her head, but she couldn't help but let him do it.