A/N: I know some of you reading this will be wondering why Our Little Corner of the World, Vol.3 isn't back yet. It is on it's way, however, I've been holding onto the beginning of this fic for quite a while now and I really, really want to share it! This intial chapter was intended to be a one-shot when I originally wrote it, and then, I kept on looking at it and trying to decide if I could continue on and make it a whole long fic. I've decided now that I definitely can, so that's what I'm going to do. Well, assuming anybody around here wants to read it, of course ;)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other folks who aren't me.

Chapter 1

When she ventured outside to look for Jess, Lorelai wasn't exactly sure what she expected to find. She thought maybe he was just gone, all the way back to Luke's, maybe even all the way back to New York. On the other hand, he could just as easy be taking a breather, a minute to get his head straight before he had to face a lot of strangers again. She wasn't expecting the beer, but of course, she never dropped a beat. The second he had the cap off, she thanked him for taking the trouble and swept the bottle clean out of his hand, taking a drink.

"Refreshing," she said with a satisfied lip smack and a smile.

He looked kind of underwhelmed, but then Lorelai supposed she couldn't really expect anything else. She had just taken back the beer he tried to steal, but it wasn't as if she was busting his ass for the theft. Of course, it was unlikely the entire problem was as simple as that.

"So, what?" she asked Jess, leaning beside him on the porch rail. "You're not hungry?

"Not really."

It came out muttered and awkward, proving he clearly did not want to be here. Lorelai knew that feeling a little too well.

"Well, Sookie made you some grilled cheese if you don't like pot roast."

"Oh, well, if I'd had known that..."

Lorelai bit her tongue when she wanted to snark back at him. It wouldn't help and she knew it. When she first met Jess, she resented his attitude, feeling mad at him on Luke's behalf, for not being grateful enough for the help he was receiving. That changed this morning, the moment she got a call from her mother.

"Let me guess, you don't want to be here?" she said to Jess, who still didn't seem eager to look at her at all.

"Doesn't matter."

"I mean, here, in Stars Hollow," she pointed out.

Turning to face her then, Jess was in full sarcasm move as he answered her.

"Well geez, Ms. Gilmore, why would anyone not want to be here in Stars Hollow? That just sounds plum crazy."

"Oh, Jess," she said, shaking her head. "Will you let me give you a little advice?"

"Do I have a choice?" he countered. "Because that would make a change."

Lorelai nodded her head, eyed the beer in her own hand for a moment. She would love to down the whole bottle right now, before she went forward into the breach as it were, but that was hardly the right example to set. Instead, she put the beer aside, took a deep breath, and tried to find the right words that would actually help Jess out without patronising him.

"Okay, first off, the whole 'my parents don't get me' thing? I've been there," she assured him with what she hoped came across as an understanding smile rather than a smart-ass one.

"You have, huh?"

"Yes, I have. I've also done the 'chip on my shoulder' bit. Ooh, and the surly, sarcastic, 'the world can bite my ass' bit, and let me tell you, I mastered them all, in heels, yet," she said with a small laugh that she almost instantly regretted - Jess did not look amused. "What I'm trying to say is, well, I understand, you know? Teen angst is something I know a lot about, and one day, if you're ever unfortunate enough to meet my parents, maybe you'll understand why, but frankly, I wouldn't wish that kind of torture on anyone."

Jess shook his head. "It's all relative. You know my mother's a whack-job, right?"

"I... know that Liz has had her problems," said Lorelai diplomatically, "and as a member of the 'I had a baby way earlier than I probably should have' club, I do get that it's rough."

When Jess' head turned fast and he looked at her then, Lorelai realised she had surprised him, but she wasn't sure how. After all, she sort of assumed that either from something Luke said or just from seeing their situation, Jess would guess she was a young, single mother, but maybe not.

"You know, by the time I was your age, I had a one-year-old, a full-time job, and a potting shed to call home."

"Huh," said Jess, clearly unimpressed still. "And what? I'm supposed to be happy that my life is just so great by comparison?" he checked.

"No, that's not what I meant." Lorelai shook her head. "Actually, what I was going to say was, even though things were tough for me then, at least I was happy. In a lot of ways, I got lucky, even though it might not have seemed that way to other people at the time. I got lucky with Rory, because she is the best kid, and even though my parents were not the greatest, I got lucky with Mia, this really nice lady who took me in and gave me that job and that potting shed I was talking about."

She smiled at the happy memories, catching herself drifting and coming back fast to the present when she noticed Jess staring at her.

"You know, everything you're feeling right now might be totally justified. Maybe your mom is a whack-job, maybe you are getting screwed, but Luke is a great guy," she told him definitely. "He's very special, and he really wants to take care of you and make things right for you. So, as much as you don't see it right now, you're incredibly lucky to have him, just like I was lucky to have someone to look out for me. Honestly, it does not suck to have a little support when life seems crappy."

"He does seem pretty darn determined to help me out." Jess rolled his eyes, leaning back down on the porch rail next to Lorelai.

"That's Luke," she said, rolling her eyes. "He's a helper, even when you sometimes really don't want him to be, but like I said, he is a good guy. I just think if you give this situation half a chance, you might be surprised at how good it can be, how much you like living here, and how comfortable it feels to have someone like Luke you can really depend on."

It was something, Lorelai thought, that he was at least listening to her, that he had dropped the attitude for a minute and everything. As much as Luke was trying, and she knew he was, Jess probably just needed someone who had the same mess of a teenage life that he did to say they understood. Lorelai was totally up for that, as she hoped she was proving.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you and Luke... I mean, you're not sleeping with him, are you?"

"Excuse me?" Lorelai gasped, completely shocked by the question.

"I don't know." Jess shrugged. "The whole starry eyed 'you're so much better off, just give it a chance' speech. Maybe you're just real good friends, or maybe...?"

"Okay, no," said Lorelai fast, throwing up a hand to make him stop. "Please, God, do not finish that sentence."

"So, no on the sleeping together," said Jess, smirking terribly.

"No on the sleeping together," Lorelai echoed. "Although, actually, not so much your business anyway."

"I sleep five feet from his bed," he countered. "Kind of is my business."

"Yes, well," she began to reply, realising pretty fast that he had a point, "just to be clear, Luke and I are friends, very good friends, but that is all. I just need you to know that... well, whatever you might think of your mom or Luke or Stars Hollow, however crappy life has been treating you, it can get better. I should know, because it did for me."

Jess nodded in what seemed to be understanding, muttering what sounded like 'Thanks' but she couldn't be sure.

Lorelai felt a sigh of relief escape her lungs. "Okay, so you wanna come inside? Try some of this delicious food Sookie has spent all afternoon making? I mean, you don't have to but..."

"I could eat," Jess admitted then.

"Cool, then let's go eat." Lorelai smiled, ushering Jess towards the door and back inside. "Just do me one favour," she said as they reached the kitchen, "if I ever start sounding too Dr Laura, tell me, okay?"

Jess smirked and nodded once. "Deal."

They both walked through to the living room then, where the others were standing around with plates piled high. Luke looked kind of worried until Lorelai mouthed something like 'Everything's okay' and Jess didn't have it in him to even roll his eyes at the whole thing. Besides, Rory was talking to him again and he certainly counted her as someone worth listening to.

"For a minute, I thought you doubled back to my room and bailed out the window."

She said it quietly enough, and with Luke and Lorelai bickering over the food and Sookie and Jackson still apparently talking about lemons, nobody heard but Jess himself.

"Just needed some air, that's all," he told her. "Although, for the record, potlucks and Tupperware parties aren't really my thing. I still think we'd be better off out there."

"Hey, in here is where the food is," Rory reminded him, handing him a plate that she had severely overfilled. "Sookie is the greatest chef. Not that Luke is any slouch. Since Mom doesn't cook, they pretty much feed me all the time. Try it," she urged him, proffering the plate one more time until finally Jess gave in and took it.

"Thanks," he told her, realising she was just going to keep staring until he did as she asked.

Picking up a fork, Jess plunged into the mashed potatoes and took a big bite. Whatever he had been expecting, it was not what he got. He never in his life knew something as simple as mashed potatoes could taste that good, but they really did. He also hadn't realised quite how hungry he was until he started eating decent food.

"Pretty good, huh?" said Rory with a grin.

"Not bad," Jess acquiesced the moment his mouth was empty. "We allowed to sit?"

"Sure, right over here."

She led the way to the couch and they sat down together, both digging in to their dinner with gusto while the adults entertained themselves. As cool as Lorelai had been with him, Jess was a little more comfortable not having all the attention of the four others on him all of the time. He could deal with just Rory. In fact, he could more than deal.

"So, do you think you're going to like living in Stars Hollow?" she asked him between mouthfuls of delicious food.

"I don't know, maybe." Jess shrugged. "I guess it could be worse."

"Wow, high praise." Rory dead-panned. "Still, I guess it must be pretty weird after New York."

"You have no idea."

As the teens continued to talk, Luke found himself watching them from across the room. When Jess suddenly smiled widely at something Rory said, he actually felt his heart constrict. So, the kid was capable of an expression that wasn't surly and sullen. Who knew?

Of course, in noticing the happiness of his nephew, Luke managed to completely miss a large chunk of whatever it was Lorelai was trying to tell him.

"All I'm saying is, well, I think maybe we all need to tread carefully with him, you know?" she said, clearly talking about Jess, made evident by the way she was glancing his way and also keeping her voice low. "I mean, he has a pretty decent Breakfast Club audition going on, the last thing he needs is a reason to perfect it, right?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Luke shook his head, sure at least that Lorelai would assume he didn't get the reference (which he actually did, for once) rather than having missed half of what she said to him.

"I just think that Jess is... well, he's not so different to me when I was his age."

"Really?" asked Luke, eyes a little wide.

"Well, obviously, there are differences." Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Boy-girl differences and a pregnancy and all, but what I mean is, he's had parent problems and he feels like his life isn't his own, you know?"

"Hold on a sec." Luke shook his head. "What are you doing talking to him about stuff like that?" he asked, perhaps a little more snippily than he should have.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help," she pointed out, the hand holding her fork raised up in mock surrender. "Also, I can't have done too bad a job because he's here, right? He's talking, and eating, and smiling," she said with a look, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the couch.

"Yeah," said Luke with a sigh. "I guess he is."

"Then I helped." Lorelai grinned. "Yay me. Now, I need more of this pot-roast, because wow, so good. Sook!"

She was gone in a second, leaving Luke standing alone, marvelling once again at her ability to just fix things. Well, maybe it was exaggerating a little to think she had fixed everything where Jess was concerned. Luke knew damn well there was a long way to go yet, but if he did his best and if he allowed Lorelai and even Rory to help out if they wanted to, maybe it could be okay.

To Be Continued...