What's the Big Deal Anyway?

Lorelai greets them when they enter, and Rory can see she's very much uncomfortable. She's not sure if it's just because of Jess' presence, the fact that they're holding hands or because she's realized he might have heard what she said about him, but either way it makes for a very awkward start of the meal.

After a stiff round of hellos they all sit down on the bed around the overflow of food, Rory in the middle to act as a buffer between her mom and Jess, and Lorelai clicks on the TV, finding an old black and white movie that they all pretend to enjoy as they start to eat.

It only takes a few minutes though before mother and daughter are both, hesitantly at first, but after a while more energetically, mocking the movie. Soon the mountain of food is nearly halved, and their banter is almost up to par with their usual movie nights.

Throughout, Rory keeps stealing glances at Jess, and she finds him looking back increasingly often. For every time she does, the glances keep getting longer, and soon she's wearing a more or less permanent blush.

Her mother notices, she is certain, but doesn't say anything, for which Rory is very much grateful. It feels entirely too much like having her mother along for a first date as it is. After a while Lorelai even starts trying to engage Jess in their mocking. She's not very successful, but Rory appreciates the effort nonetheless.

The movie eventually ends, and soon after Rory reluctantly pushes away the last piece of pizza in the box on her lap. "This was absolutely amazing, but I don't think I can eat any more," she complains.

"Me either," her mother mutters from beside her, making a fruitless effort to push away an empty taco container. "But I agree. It was awesome."

"I'm amazed you're both still alive after eating all of that," Jess says, shocking both Gilmore's.

"Now it's up to you to finish the rest," Rory says after a moment's silence.

"Take one for the team," Lorelai adds.

"I don't think so," he mutters, shaking his head.

"Spoilsport," Lorelai complains, looking to her daughter for confirmation.

But Rory can no longer ignore the fact that she desperately needs to use the bathroom, so she hauls herself off the bed, awkwardly climbing behind Jess, and excuses herself. But not before making him promise not to leave before she's back.

She hurries as much as she can and is just about to exit the bathroom when she hears her mother's voice, and something makes her stop with her hand on the door knob.

"Look, I don't know how much of what I said earlier you heard," her mother says, "but I just want to say that I didn't mean it as an attack on you, even though it certainly must've sounded like it. I just want to protect my daughter, the best way that I can, and I guess I got spooked."

The room is silent again, except for a droning voice in the movie. Then, when she almost thinks he isn't gonna answer, she hears Jess sigh.

"Ok," he says, his voice strangely empty, but she supposes it could just be that her perception is warped by the door between them.

"Ok?" her mother says disbelievingly.

"What do you want me to say?" Jess questions, his voice harder this time. "I actually thought you'd be different than everyone else, at least you seemed to be. But you know what? You don't know the first thing about me, and you still immediately jumped at the worst possible scenario. How am I supposed to react to that?"

"Well…"

"And what's the big deal anyway?" Jess continues. "Tomorrow you'll go back to wherever it is you came from, and in a week or two she'll have forgotten about all of this."

Rory wants to run into the room and tell him that no, she won't forget, but at the same time she doesn't want to let them know she's listening. So she stays silent, hoping she'll figure something out before tomorrow night.

"And what about you?" her mother asks, and Rory holds her breath.

"I'll survive," he says shortly.

"That's…" her mother starts, a strangely concerned tone in her voice.

"Look," he cuts in, clearly not in the mood to listen to whatever it is she's about to say. "I appreciate everything you've done here, even if it was just to help your daughter keep her promise, but I don't think either of us wants a heart to heart right now, or ever. And I'm pretty sure you don't want me in here all night, so why don't we just wait for Rory to get back, and you can have your room to yourselves?"

"That sounds… reasonable," Lorelai agrees, and Rory can tell she's relieved. She decides this is as good a moment as any to make her reappearance, so she makes a show of really twisting the knob before opening the door.

Jess is already standing halfway to the door, and is clearly ready to leave. "Nice timing, princess," he says, quietly enough that only she can hear it, and with that smirk she just then realizes is the sexiest thing she's ever seen, a thought that makes her blush furiously. It's not until later she realizes he probably knew she was listening.

"You're leaving?" she manages to get out, feeling stupid even when the words leave her mouth, because of course he is. But she doesn't know what to say in this situation, feeling the way she is, and with her mother just on the other end of the room.

"Yeah," he confirms, bending down to pick up his backpack and slings it over his shoulder.

"Ok," she nods, desperately wanting to do something more than just stand there awkwardly saying goodnight, but once more her mother's presence stops her. "I'll see you for breakfast tomorrow then."

He nods, and then he gives her a small smile. "Happy birthday, Princess," he says quietly, and then bows out of the room.

She stands there looking at the closed door, then she sighs and turns around.

Her mom is watching her, looking apprehensive. "You ok?" she asks carefully.

She nods, not exactly interested in discussing her conflicting feelings with her mother right now. "I'm tired," she says instead. "I think I'll just go to bed."

"Ok," Lorelai agrees, if somewhat doubtfully, but then her eyes widen. "Shoot! I just remembered we never got our overnight bags from the car. I have to go get them."

Rory stares at her for a moment, her anger about her mother's trestment of Jess momentarily pushed to the back of her mind. "But the car is far away," she protests. "How are we gonna get our things from there now?"

"Yeah, about that…" her mother grimaces. "The car really isn't that far away."

"What?" Rory frowns.

"It's actually parked in the garage around the corner."

Rory blinks. "Are you telling me this is where we started this morning?"

"Yeah," her mother nods.

"So that walk we took was to hide where we'd be staying?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Rory takes a second to digest this information, actually really impressed with how much planning her mother must've put into this trip. "Huh."

"So…" Lorelai says after a moment's silence. "Maybe you can try to clean up here while I do that? I'll only be gone a few minutes, but when I get back, I really just want to get changed and crawl into bed too, and I'd prefer if it weren't covered in takeout containers."

"Sure, I can do that," Rory agrees.

"Thanks," Lorelai says, her smile somewhat hesitant. Once at the door she turns around and looks at Rory. "I'll be back in a couple minutes, ok?"

"Ok," she agrees, and then Lorelai is out the door and she's alone.

With a sigh she starts collecting boxes, stuffing them in the bags, all the while trying not to think about what's happened that evening since meeting Jess. When she's done she looks at the bed, but it doesn't seem as inviting anymore. She's restless, in a way she's never felt before. She sits down on the edge anyway, but gets up almost right away and paces the length of the room which, granted, isn't that big. She's on her third turn when her mom comes back.

"What're you doing?" Lorelai asks, walking into the room slowly, looking a bit worried.

"I'm pacing," Rory states, finishing the turn.

"Ah," her mom nods, carefully putting down their bags on the table, almost as if Rory were a caged animal she's afraid of spooking. "Why are you pacing?"

"Because I don't know what else to do."

"Huh."

"Not helpful, mom."

"Sorry."

"I just couldn't be still," Rory sighs, frustrated. "I honestly don't know what to do with myself." Except on some level she does, but that thought is dangerous.

"Aw, honey," Lorelai says soothingly, sitting down at the foot of the bed, patting the space beside her. "Come here."

Rory considers for a moment, but then slumps down beside her mom, who drapes an arm over her shoulders.

"You want to talk about it?"

"I don't know," Rory says honestly, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"Ok," her mom says. "How about you lay down on the bed and tell me the first thing you see when you close your eyes?"

"Why?" Rory asks, somewhat apprehensively.

"Because I want to know what's going on in that pretty little head of yours."

"Whatever it is?" she checks.

"Yes."

Rory is still reluctant, even though her mom has calmed down considerably. "Will you jump to conclusions again?" she asks, not wanting to risk another blow out if it can be avoided.

"Ouch," Lorelai mutters, but then sighs.

"Sorry," Rory mumbles, feeling a bit guilty, despite thinking she's right.

"No, it's ok. And fair, I guess," Lorelai sighs. "So, how about it?"

Rory takes a deep breath and then nods, looking up at her mom again. "I don't have to close my eyes to know," she says quietly. "It's me and Jess in the elevator, except instead of stepping away, he kisses me."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Rory sighs. "I know it's only been a couple hours, and it's probably crazy to feel like this, but I don't want to go home tomorrow and never see him again."

"Aww, honey," Lorelai says sympathetically, wrapping her arm around her daughter's shoulders and Rory leans into her. They sit like that for a long time, both deep in thought.

"I never felt like this about Dean," Rory confesses quietly.

"Yeah, I kinda figured," her mom sighs.

"It's like there's a magnet in the middle of my chest," Rory continues, barely hearing Lorelai, "and it's pulling me right across the hall. And it's exciting and wonderful and also scary like nothing before, and I don't know what to do."

"First, I really think you should try and get some sleep."

"But…"

"Honey, it's getting late, and you've been up since really, really early this morning. Everything will seem a lot less confusing in the morning."

Rory isn't so sure about that, but she sighs, retrieves her overnight bag from the floor, and goes into the bathroom to brush her teeth. The routine actually helps, and when she's brushed her hair and changed into pajamas she's more than ready to crawl into bed.

She says goodnight to her mom, declining her offer to talk more, and slips under the covers. She falls asleep almost immediately, imagining what Jess would say if he saw her cupcake pajamas.