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Chapter 11

The day of Richard's funeral arrived. They were all sat outside for the ceremony. "Now, Richard's granddaughter would like to say a few words..." The minister said.

Rory took a deep breath. She felt a squeeze on her hand and she glanced at Jess who was sat next to her and gave him a small smile. She then glanced at her mom who smiled encouragingly at her. She slowly walked up to the front. There had been several conversations about who was going to speak. Rory had volunteered as she didn't want to put her Grandma or mom through it but now she could feel the butterflies in her stomach. She just wanted to do him proud. She took another deep breath and glanced up at everyone seated. "My grandfather was a kind and generous man who would do anything for his family." She started. "He loved my grandmother with all his heart and he was so proud of my mom's achievements." She said glancing at the respective people who had tears in their eyes. "And...he..uh..he meant a lot to me." She said hearing her voice breaking. "My grandfather always wanted what was best for me and we bonded immediately over travel, books and of course, his Alma Mater, Yale. He could talk about Yale for hours." She smiled slightly, hearing everyone chuckle. "I always knew that if I needed someone to talk to, he was there. He was always there for me and all I wanted to do in my life was make him proud. He was an amazing man..." She said, feeling tears come. "He...uh...he..." She struggled to get the words out. She tried to take a deep breath but she could feel her tears falling down her face and her voice getting really shaking. She tried focussing on the piece of paper but she felt her emotions getting away from her. Suddenly she felt a presence next to her and she looked to see that it was Jess. She felt him take her hand and give it another squeeze before nodding at her encouragingly. "You can do it." He said softly. Rory nodded and took a deep shaking breath before continuing. "Richard Gilmore was a great businessman, colleague and friend to all. But above all that, he was an amazing husband, father and grandfather to his family. I feel so honoured to be able to call him my grandfather." She said tremulously, glancing over at this photo. "Grandpa, I love you so much and I'm going to miss you so much." She said, before wiping away her tears and nodding at everyone before heading back to her seat. She sat back down and immediately felt her mom's hand on hers. She took it and squeezed it tightly.

After the funeral, they all headed back to the Gilmore Mansion for the wake. "You doing ok?" Luke asked Lorelai as they walked through to the sitting room.

"I'm ok." She gave him a tremulous smile.

"You're doing great." He smiled softly.

"Oh god..." She suddenly said.

"What? What's wrong?" He said.

"Chris..." She said quietly.

"What?" Luke said tensing slightly.

Lorelai glanced at Luke. "Chris is here..." She said.

Luke followed her gaze and saw him across the room. "Oh.." He said.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know he was going to be here..." Lorelai said.

"Lorelai, it's fine." Luke assured her.

"But..."

"Look, we were going to bump into him at some point. He knew your father, Lorelai. I think it's good of him to come and pay his respects. It makes sense he would come. Rory will be happy to see him." He said.

"Are you sure?" Lorelai said hesitantly.

"Go. Go say hello. I'll go make sure your mother's ok." He said.

"Luke..."

"It's fine." He smiled softly before giving him a kiss.

"I love you." Lorelai said.

"I love you too." Luke said before walking off.

Lorelai took a deep breath before heading over to Christopher. "Chris..." She said.

"Hey Lore..." He said.

"It was good of you to come. Have you seen Rory?" Lorelai said.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Our kid did great, didn't she?"

"Yeah she did." Lorelai smiled softly.

"Look, I know you came with him and that you two are obviously back together. I didn't want to cause any trouble. I just...your father was a great man. I just wanted to pay my respects, that's all." Chris said.

"Thanks, Chris." She said sincerely. She hesitated before giving him a hug. "I'm glad you came." She said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "But I should..." She said gesturing around her.

"Oh right, yeah, you should go. I'll come say bye when I leave." He said. "If that's ok?"

"Of course." Lorelai said. "Bye Chris."

"Bye." He said, watching her go.

Lorelai let out a breath as she walked away and went in search of Luke when she suddenly bumped into another familiar person. "Jason..." She said softly.

"Lorelai..." He said.

"You look like the hottest Italian widow I have ever seen." He joked.

Lorelai chuckled. "It's nice that you came."

"Your father was a force to be reckoned with. You know that." Jason said.

"I do." She sighed.

"I'm deeply sorry." He said sincerely.

"At least it was sudden. Mom didn't have to watch him fade away." She said. "Have you seen my mother by the way?"

"I've been successfully keeping a living room's worth of space between us." He smiled slightly.

Lorelai laughed. "She's in hostess mode. At worst, she'll send you home with shrimp."

"To which I'm allergic." He said.

"Thus fulfilling her devious plan." She smirked.

Jason laughed. He glanced at her. "You happy?" He asked softly.

"Right now or...?" Lorelai chuckled.

"Are you happy?" He repeated.

Lorelai saw Luke out of the corner of her eye, by her mother's side and smiled. "Yes." She said softly.

Jason nodded. "Good. See you, Umlauts." He smiled softly.

"Digger." She smiled and then watched him leave. She sighed and then headed over to her mom and Luke. "Hey..." She said.

"Hey, everything ok?" Luke asked.

"Apart from bumping into two of my exes, yeah I'm good." She laughed slightly.

"What?" He said.

"Jason is here." She said.

"Jason Stile?" Emily said surprised.

"I guess he just wanted to pay his respects. I know things went bad between him and dad but...they worked together for a long time." She shrugged.

"Well...that was nice of him." Emily said.

"I thought so." Lorelai smiled.

"But everything's ok?" Luke asked.

"Everything's ok." She smiled at him and gave him a kiss. "Have you seen Rory?" She asked, glancing around.

Meanwhile, Rory and Jess were in another room talking to some of the people there. They exited a room when they suddenly bumped into someone. "Oh sorry!" Rory apologised but she froze when she saw who it was. "Logan..." She said stunned.

"Hey Ace..." He said.

Rory felt Jess tense beside her. "What are you doing here?" She asked. "I...I thought you were in California."

"I was. I heard about your grandfather and wanted to pay my respects." He said.

"So you flew all the way back just to come to his funeral?" Rory said.

"Thought I deserved him that respect. You and I were together for a long time." Logan said. He glanced at Jess. "I know you, right?" He said.

"Oh..uh..sorry, this is Jess." Rory said awkwardly. "You two did meet that one time..."

"Ah yes, I seem to remember being called a blonde dick." Logan chuckled slightly.

"Well, you deserved it." Jess said gruffly.

"Jess..." Rory said nervously.

"I probably did." Logan said surprising both of them. "Look, I'm not here to cause any trouble. Especially today. I don't know what's going on between the two of you and I know it's none of my business but what you did for her at the funeral...well, I'm glad she has you by her side." He said to Jess, holding out his hand to him. "A lot of time has passed since we first met. Truce?" He said.

Jess glanced at his hand and then at Rory who was looking awkward and nervous so he sighed and shook his hand. "It was good of you to come." He relented.

"I honestly just came to pay my respects. Your grandfather was a great man." Logan smiled softly at Rory.

"Thanks Logan." Rory smiled back at him. "And thank you for coming."

"Go take the New York Times by storm ok?" He said.

Rory laughed. "I intend to." She said.

"Good." He chuckled. "Good luck yeah?"

"You too, Logan." She said softly.

"Bye Ace." He smiled before walking off.

"Bye Logan." She sighed before watching him walk off.

"You ok?" Jess asked, glancing at her.

Rory nodded. "I guess, in a way, it was nice to see him one last time." She admitted. "At least my last memory of him isn't...well, you know..." She said.

Jess nodded, remembering how Rory had told him about how she had to turn down his proposal at her graduation. "Yeah." He said.

"Thank you." She said.

"For what?"

"For being civil to him."

He shrugged. "He flew across the country to come here. The least I could do was respect that."

Rory smiled at him. "Let's go find my mom and Grandma." She said.

They entered another room and saw them across the room. "Hey..." Rory said going up to them.

"Hey, where have you two been?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, just chatting to Logan..." She said casually.

"What?" Lorelai said surprised.

Rory chuckled. "Yep. He came to pay his respects."

"Wow, well I guess it really is a day of bumping into exes..." She laughed.

"What?" Rory said confused.

"I'll tell you later." Lorelai smirked.

"Ok."

Later that evening, after having spent the day at the Gilmore Mansion with her Grandma, mom, Luke and Jess, Rory stood up. "I'm really sorry, Grandma, but I really need to get going now if I want to get to New York not too late." She said.

"Of course. You should get going." Emily smiled softly at her granddaughter.

"I promise to call regularly and will come and visit." Rory promised.

"You just show the New York Times what an amazing writer you are ok?" She said.

Rory smiled tremulously and hugged her grandmother. "I love you, Grandma." She said.

Emily blinked back tears. "I love you too." She said. "And thank you...for your words at the funeral."

"I'm just glad I could get through it." Rory admitted.

"Well, I feel like that was down to a certain person." She said glancing over at Jess who was talking to Luke.

She blushed slightly. "Yeah...well, he's really been there for me lately." She said.

"I'm glad." Emily smiled softly. "Keep in touch and let me know when you've got there safely ok?"

"I will." Rory said. She then hugged her mom. "Bye mom." She said.

"Bye hon." Lorelai smiled. "You call me as well ok?"

"Of course." She nodded.

"So Jess is driving you?" She asked.

"Only back to Stars Hollow so I can grab my bag and get my car." Rory said. "Then he's heading off to Truncheon."

Lorelai nodded. She then smirked. "Well I feel like more than just you is going to miss him." She joked.

Rory laughed as she glanced over to see Luke giving Jess a manly hug. "Yeah..."

"He's a good guy." Lorelai smiled.

Rory smiled at her. "Thanks mom." She said softly.

"Have a safe journey ok?"

"I will. Bye mom." She said giving her another hug. "Bye Luke!" She smiled giving him a wave.

"Bye Rory. You need anything, you call ok?" He said gruffly.

Rory smiled and went over to give him a hug. "I will."

"Good." He said. "You drive safe." He told Jess.

"What, so no more swerving on the road huh?" Jess smirked.

"Jess..." Luke said.

"I promise not to fracture her arm this time." Jess said.

Rory laughed. "Come on, stop teasing them. Bye everyone." She said, before heading off with Jess.

"And you tell me they're not together?" Emily asked Lorelai, raising her eyebrows.

"Hey, you know as much as I do!" Lorelai laughed.

"So I guess this is it..." Rory said after she had loaded her bags into her car boot.

"Guess so." Jess nodded.

"You'll call me when you get to Truncheon?" She said.

"As soon as I get there." He nodded. "You call me as well ok?"

"I will." She nodded.

"Ok...well...bye then..." Jess gave her a small smile, hesitantly giving her a hug.

"Bye Jess..." She sighed, reciprocating the action. She couldn't help but kick herself as she watched him walk towards his car. Before she knew what she was doing, she called out. "Jess wait!" She said.

"Yeah?" He said turning round.

Rory ran up to him. "I know my mind wasn't in the right place before and it still might not be. But I do know that I've liked having you around and I've liked spending time with you again."

"Likewise." Jess nodded.

"I...I..." She sighed not being able to get the words out. She suddenly went forwards and kissed him.

"Huh.." He said as they pulled away from the kiss after a moment.

"I'm sorry." Rory sighed. "I just..."

"You don't have to be sorry." Jess said softly before walking forwards and kissing her again. Once they pulled away from it again, he smirked slightly. "Sorry." He said.

Rory laughed. "So...I guess we'll be travelling those 97.5 miles huh?" She said.

Jess chuckled. "I think that would be a safe bet." He said.

Rory smiled and ducked her head. "Thanks for everything recently, Jess."

"You don't need to thank me." He said.

"I do." She said.

"Well...it's no problem." Jess said.

"So I'll see you around?" She smiled.

"See you around, Rory." Jess smiled softly.

"Bye Dodger." Rory smiled before slowly walking back to her car with a smile on her face that she couldn't seem to shift.

Jess walked towards his car with a similar expression, wondering what the future could really hold.

Hope you liked it! :) Please keep the reviews coming as I really do appreciate all your comments and support. :) Thanks again!