A/N: Hey, people actually wanted to see more of Jack/Jaime! I did not see that coming, but thank you so much to those who reviewed. Now, how about a little something with all the kids when they were young?

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

8. Be My Valentine - 14th February 2017

"I'm telling you, he's doing it all wrong!" said Doula indignantly. "Real women don't respond to that approach."

"Real women?" Rory echoed in a soft tone, trying not to giggle as Jess rolled his eyes.

"I swear I don't know where she gets this stuff," he told his wife, equally quietly.

They were watching over Jess' little sister for the day, along with Jack and Tori, and Billy too, while the town in general celebrated Valentine's Day the way only Stars Hollow could - with a big crazy event for all.

The town square was all decorated in pink and red crepe paper, with flowers and love hearts all over the gazebo, and various stalls and games set out for the amusement of everyone present. Also, they were raising money for the bridge. Again.

"I still can't believe your mom is missing this," Jess told Rory. "It's exactly her kind of nuts."

"True, but Luke already had this super-romantic day figured out for them, including a meal at the restaurant they went to for their first date, and there was just no way to say no to that," Rory reminded him. "I bet she'll make sure they're back before all the fun is over."

"God only knows what Liz and TJ are doing today. I didn't actually dare to ask."

"I'm pretty sure they're spending all day in their bedroom," Doula piped up, having overheard that remark. "It is an important part of a healthy marriage."

If Jess' eyes got any wider, Rory was pretty sure they would roll out of his head.

"Seriously, where is she getting this?" she asked her husband in an urgent whisper. "It's really freaky hearing that from a ten-year-old!"

"I'm just glad those three aren't paying much attention," Jess replied, tilting his head towards Jack and Tori who were both engrossed in books and Billy who was equally as absorbed by a video game.

"Oh my God!" Doula gasped then, literally face-palming. "If I had known he was going to screw up this bad, I wouldn't even have bothered sending the card for him!"

"Okay, who are you talking about?" Jess asked, crouching down next to her seat and trying to follow her eyeline. "D, seriously, what did you do?"

"I'm talking about Davey!" she explained, pointing towards him with her whole arm. "You know he's completely in love with Sara March, right? Everybody knows!"

"Does Sara March know?" asked Rory curiously, glancing from an awkward looking Davey across about six feet of space to the girl in question.

"She should, you know, since I sent the Valentine card with Davey's name in it. I told him he couldn't fail if he would just actually talk to her. If he won her a bear or asked her to dance or something, he'd be golden."

Jess closed his eyes and fought to urge to scream. He really was so uncomfortable with his ten-year-old sister playing matchmaker for young teens, no matter how good she might prove to be at it.

"Yeah, I don't think golden is going to happen," said Rory then, jabbing Jess in the shoulder until he opened his eyes and looked again.

He soon saw exactly what she had, Davey heaving a big sigh and walking in the opposite direction away from Sara, who was so deeply in conversation with two of her girl-friends that she didn't even notice he had ever been there.

"Poor Davey," Rory said sadly.

"I'll go talk to him," said Doula, immediately on her feet, but Jess pushed her right back down into her seat without a moment's pause.

"Nope, sorry. No more matchmaking today," he insisted. "We need you here."

"For what?" his sister countered, looking from Jess to Rory and back. "You're handing out pie. You don't need me for that."

"Yes, actually, we really, really do," Rory said fast, ushering Doula in behind the table and effectively trapping her there between herself and Jess. "Because I made a bet with your brother that women were just better at selling pie than men and, so far, he's sold more slices, so I need your help."

It was pretty lame as excuses went, or so Jess thought. Even at ten (and a half, as she would tell you at every opportunity) Doula was bound to see through it. Jess soon realised how wrong he was as his little sister began giving Rory all her best advice on attracting friends and influencing people. They would probably sell the whole table full of pie in an hour, if she had her way.

Rolling his eyes, Jess turned away to look to his own kids.

"Hey, Tor?" he called to his daughter.

"Yeah, Dad," she replied, though her eyes never left the page.

"Promise me that whatever Doula says to you about guys, you'll ignore it, at least until you're twenty-one?"

Tori looked up from her book then, wearing a serious frown. Jess realised too late she probably hadn't heard any of what was said before, as engrossed as she was in reading. He might actually have made this whole situation infinitely worse for himself.

"Okay," she said eventually, nodding her head.

"Good girl," he replied with a sigh of relief. "You can go back to reading now."

"Actually, I'm kinda thirsty," said Tori, closing up her book. "Is it okay if I go over to Aunt Sookie's lemonade stand and get a drink?"

"Sure," Jess agreed easily. "You need money?"

"I have some, thanks, Daddy," she said with a winning smile as she got up and practically skipped off across the square.

"I'll go with her," said Jack, seemingly reaching the end of his chapter and closing his book too. "Hey, wait up, Toria!" he yelled, giving chase.

"You going too, Billy?" Jess asked Rory's brother.

"Nah, I'm not thirsty," he said, eyes glued to his video game yet, tongue poking out of his mouth as he concentrated harder on a tricky part.

"Well, guess we don't have to worry about him and girls just yet," Jess muttered to himself going back to manning the pie stand with Rory and Doula.

Across the square, Tori arrived at the lemonade stand with Jack right on her heels.

"Hey, Aunt Sookie! Two lemonades please."

"Well, hello, sweetheart. I'll get you those drinks in just a sec, okay?" she told them with a kind smile, giving all her attention to cleaning up Jaime's face and hands.

Her youngest daughter had clearly got into some serious fun at the face-painting table, trying to do her own thing instead of letting the professionals do their job. Tori didn't comment, just moved closer to her brother and spoke quietly to him.

"We have to help Davey," she said definitely.

"Toria, it's none of our business," he told her firmly. "Besides, what do you know about helping a person get a date?"

"Not much," she admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "I just know that everything Doula was doing to try to help was not working at all. It seems really unfair that a nice guy like Davey can't be with the girl he likes most, and on Valentine's Day too."

Jack sighed knowing she had a point, not that he really knew how to help either. Sure, he had seen plenty of movies and read plenty of books where the guy got the girl in the end, but that was never his favourite part of the story. Besides, he was pretty sure in real life you didn't need to shoot a bad guy or storm a castle or do a big song and dance number to get a girl to like you.

"Jack, we have to do something!" Tori insisted, actually jumping up and down by now and pulling on his shirt. "Think!"

"I'm thinking!" he told her definitely, paying Aunt Sookie for the lemonade she then handed them.

"What's the problem, honey?" she asked Tori then. "You seem kinda frustrated."

"It's nothing," the little girl told her, shaking her head. "I just... um, well, how did you know Uncle Jackson liked you when you were young, Aunt Sookie?"

The way she laughed very loudly confused the kids a little bit, but then she sobered up and apologised for the outburst before finally answering the question.

"Well, with Jackson... I don't know, I guess we just always knew we liked each other. You know, he always brought the best produce to the inn, saved it all for me because he liked me so much. It was very sweet. Come on, you're not into all that stuff already, are you, Tori?" she asked the nine-year-old then. "Or is it Jack here that's having his first big crush?" she teased.

"Not me," he insisted, shaking his head.

"Hey, guys!"

Before Sookie could ask any more questions, Steve and Kwan came rushing over to talk to Jack and Tori, with Martha bringing up the rear, struggling to keep pace.

"My brother... is... such a dinkus!" she declared, gasping in breaths.

"That's not fair," Steve told her, shaking his head. "Davey's not a dinkus, he's just... not very good at talking to girls anymore."

"It happens when you're a teenager," said Kwan sagely. "Mom told me."

"Somebody should help him." Tori sighed. "He's so sad and I want him to be happy."

As the kids all tried their best to come up with a plan, arguing about the best way to help Davey, they completely missed the part where Sara March walked right by them. She strolled on up to where Davey was hanging out alone on the gazebo steps, sat down beside him and tapped him on the shoulder until he looked her way.

"Hi," she said, smiling widely, showing off her impressive set of braces.

"H-Hey, Sara." Davey stammered. "Um, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she told him, giggling prettily. "I, uh... I was going to thank you for the card you sent me, but something tells me it wasn't really from you, so..."

"Oh, um... well, I didn't think-"

"It's okay," she said when he floundered a little in his response. "I don't need a card or anything. That stuff is for losers, but I was thinking of maybe going on the Ferris wheel, and I'm a little afraid of heights. So, I thought, since you never seem to be afraid of anything, maybe you would wanna come with me? You know, so I won't be scared. What do you think?"

If Davey was still breathing, he didn't know how. Since no words were forthcoming, he just nodded his head, grinning like a fool as Sara rushed off towards the Ferris wheel, clearly expecting him to follow. He went willingly, and so fast, he almost knocked poor Tori flying in his rush. He called an apology back to her, not even stopping for a second to hear her reply.

"Oh, my goodness!" she gasped, pointing with her whole arm. "Look!"

Everybody looked, everybody stared, and everybody smiled as they watched Davey and Sara sit down in the next available bucket on the Ferris wheel together, both grinning like fools. Maybe Davey didn't need their help after all.