A/N: Thanks for the latest feedback, folks. Y'all aren't big fans of Logan right now, huh? lol Well, you'll be pleased to know he's not actually in this chapter. This one is all about Jess :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 16

Jess laid awake long enough that he saw the darkness beyond the window turn to a bright light. It wasn't that the bed wasn't comfortable or that he had any kind of urge to get away from where he was or who he was with. Honestly, he was probably in his favourite place in the world right now, which was wherever Rory Gilmore was to be found. She had slept right through his latest existential crisis, which was fine by him. The last thing she needed was to be worrying about all the things crowding in his head the past couple of days and nights.

Rory was curled up with her arm across his body and her head pillowed on his chest. She barely stirred, even when Jess' hand stroked over her hair and he kissed the top of her head. She was the most amazing woman he ever met in his entire life and the idea of walking away from her was more than he could bear. Unfortunately, being with Rory created a whole myriad of complications elsewhere in Jess' life. For the life of him, he didn't know how he was going to resolve the mess.

Trying to talk things out with Logan had been futile, all three times he made an attempt. The first time he got a door in his face, after an impassioned speech about Jess seeming to want a kind of revenge on the privileged. That wasn't it at all. His feelings for Rory were so overwhelming and genuine, Jess knew he hadn't even subconsciously pursued her in some misguided attempt at getting even with Logan or anyone else. Of course, that didn't mean his old friend wasn't entitled to his opinion.

The second go around, Jess had been denied access to Logan by his flunkies. Maybe that was an unfair term for Colin and Finn, who seemed determined not to take sides, only to keep apart two people who might just come to blows if allowed to interact. The third time, Jess actually braved the Huntzberger estate, having heard that was where Logan was at, but the maid wouldn't let him past the doorstep and that was that.

If Jess could explain the guilt he felt, then he absolutely would. Maybe then he could even get over it, but the ridiculous nature of the feeling was what was messing him up the most. After all, he actually hadn't done anything wrong. Rory and Logan were seeing each other casually, no strings. That meant Jess had every right to start something with Rory if he wanted to, provided she was willing also. She had proved more than willing, and so it came to pass.

Except what happened between Rory and Jess just wasn't casual, couldn't be labelled as basic friendship or even some kind of friends with benefits scenario. Though he hadn't actually said the words yet, Jess knew he loved her. There simply was no other explanation for how crazy he had acted in the last few weeks.

"Hmm, what time is it?" said Rory sleepily, eyes finally flickering open.

"Uh, a little after seven," Jess told her. "Good morning to you too, sunshine," he said with a smirk when she groaned and tried to hide her face from any kind of light.

"Early," she complained.

"Depends on your perspective," said Jess, shifting to try and see her face. "Hey," he said with a smile when he achieved the feat.

"Hey," she replied in kind, smiling back at him.

He kissed her then and she responded instantly, despite her sleepy state. What was between them was electric on all levels, none more so than in the physical sense

It was less of a problem for Jess to be staying over at the dorm now he and Rory were happy to share a bed. Of course, Paris made comments, but nobody really cared about that. When she got a little much in her sex-related jokes last night, Rory was quick to remind her she was only bitter because her own love life had gone cold. Apparently, the guy that used to keep her warm at night had recently stopped coming around. Jess wasn't sure he could say he was surprised by that, and he didn't even know Rory's dorm-mate that well.

"Hmm, this is nice," said Rory, pulling away just when they were getting somewhere, "but I should probably get up. I have an early class today."

"How early?" asked Jess, not quite letting go just yet.

"Eight," said Rory, sighing when he started planting kisses on her skin again. "Which is only forty-seven minutes from now, and I still need to shower and eat breakfast and..." she gasped, all the words going away when Jess' lips found that spot on her neck, just as he knew they would.

"Still wanna get up?" he whispered in her ear then.

She didn't even answer in words, just pulled his head around so she could kiss him and wrapped her body completely around his own.

By the time she did get out of bed, there were only eighteen minutes left before she had to be in class.

"You are so bad for my timekeeping!" Rory complained, throwing on clothes and tossing books into her bag.

"Sorry about that." Jess did feel a little bad, but he couldn't seem to stop smiling long enough for the apology to really seem all that genuine. "If it helps at all, I am trying to find some other place to live."

"What?" Rory stopped rushing around and just stared at him from across the room, in the amusing position of having one boot on and one still in her hands.

"Rory, come on. I can't live in your dorm forever. I don't go to Yale," he reminded her, as if she didn't know that already. "I need a real place to live, even if it's just a room in someone else's place, and before you tell me your mom would let me crash in Stars Hollow, that'd be a little weird without you there too, don't you think?"

She opened her mouth as if she might protest but then seemed to think better of it. After all, her mother sharing a house with her boyfriend, it had to be a weird concept for all concerned, and Jess was not willing to live that way. Awkward wouldn't even begin to cover it.

"I have to get to class," she said then, looking pained. "Just please, don't be gone when I get back, okay?"

"As if I would do that to you." Jess rolled his eyes. "C'mere," he urged her close enough that he could reach for her head, guiding her to him for one more kiss. "I promise, if I'm not literally in this room when you get back, I'll still be around. When I move out, you will know where I'm going, and it won't be too far away. You're stuck with me now, Gilmore, you get that, right?"

"Glad to hear it, Mariano," she said, smiling as she stole one last quick kiss then hurried off to class.

The intention had been to go work his shift, then spend the rest of the day looking for an apartment, a room, any place where he could pay a minimum amount of cash and actually have his own bed for the night. Jess ought to have learnt by now that things very rarely went according to the plan in his life. He certainly never could've imagined coming back to Stars Hollow, willingly and without Rory's hand to hold, and walking right into Luke's Diner with a purpose.

The look on his uncle's face was a real picture when he looked up and saw him there, but then the nerves melted into a smile, a genuine expression that Jess remembered fondly from his childhood.

"Hey," said Luke as he approached the counter.

"Hey," he replied in kind. "So, I had a visitor today. From what he told me, he's been doing the rounds the past couple of days."

"Joe," Luke realised, nodding his head. "He came by. It was nice to see him again, and a little depressing to find he's aging better than me."

Jess smirked. "Yeah, it is weird how he never seems to get any older. I swear he looks the same now as when I was eight years' old."

Bringing up the good old days maybe wasn't the best idea. It made Jess' own smile falter and he couldn't even bear to look at Luke to see if it caused the same reaction in him. He guessed probably it would.

When Joe came over to Rory's dorm seeking him out, Jess had only been mildly surprised. After all, he hadn't gotten a chance to let his ex-step-father know where he was staying these days, which meant either Logan told him, which was unlikely, or the actual truth, which was that Joe had reconnected with Luke.

"Um, I was actually hoping you might come by," said Luke then. "That maybe we could talk?"

"Sure, let's talk," Jess agreed, waiting a moment while his uncle yelled out back for Caesar to cover for him, then following Luke upstairs.

Talking was fine, after all, it was what Jess had come here for. Joe had urged him to try and make some peace with one of the only family members around who still actually cared. He reminded Jess that Luke was never a bad guy and that if he turned his back on Liz, well, of all people in the world, Jess ought to understand why. Of course, it didn't change the fact that Luke also abandoned Jess by default, but he was trying not to focus on that part right now.

"Uh, this is my place," said Luke as they reached a door and he opened it up. "You know, it used to be your grandfather's office. I'm guessing you don't remember him?"

Jess frowned as he read 'William's Hardware' from the glass. There was something way in the back of his mind, the face of an old guy that might just have been called Grandpa William, but he wasn't sure.

"Yeah, it was all a really long time ago," said Luke, clearly noting his expression. "I mean, up until a few days ago, it has to be, what? Ten years since we last saw each other?"

"Something like that." Jess nodded his agreement, standing across from Luke in what appeared to be an office-turned apartment with his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

"Well, you seem to have grown up pretty good." Luke smiled. "I mean, if Rory likes you, you're clearly a good guy. I'd trust that girl's judgement with my life."

"Right." Jess nodded once, not unappreciative of the compliment to either himself or Rory, but this might just be one of the most awkward moments he ever found himself in, and that was really saying something. "Look, I just came here to say I get it, okay?" he told Luke suddenly, figuring it was better to just to spit it out and have done with it. "It took me some time to see it, but I guess Joe has a point. You got to a place where you just couldn't watch Lizzie destroy herself anymore. Trust me, I more than know the feeling. So, we're cool, okay? I'm not mad at you, or whatever."

It seemed to take Luke a moment to process, which was fair because Jess figured he had kind of Rory-ed his speech, for lack of a better term. The fast talking certainly wasn't his usual way, so clearly something was rubbing off after spending so much time with her.

"Thank you, Jess," said Luke, eventually. "You know, I never meant to... I would never want you to feel abandoned in any way. I walked out on Liz because, like you said, it was too much just watching her do what she was doing, over and over. I know that also meant I walked out on you too. I guess I didn't give that as much thought as I should have."

"Like I said, it's cool. I'm over it," Jess repeated. "No hard feelings."

He offered Luke his hand, unsurprised when he grasped it to shake, but definitely not ready for the way he was swiftly pulled into a tight hug. He stiffened at first, but then decided just to go with it. Oddly enough, there was some remnant of a nice memory in there somewhere about big bear hugs from Uncle Luke when he was still small enough to be swallowed up in his arms.

"So, uh, I'm glad you came by," said Luke as they parted then, adjusting his hat and looking a little surprised by his own previous actions. "And I know I'm a little late in the offer, but if I can help you out now, in any way at all, just name it, I'm there. I mean, I know you have Joe in your corner too, he's a good guy."

"He's the best." Jess nodded in immediate agreement.

"Right, of course, he's always been there for you, but he explained how you can't stay with him anymore, because of the thing with the guy that liked Rory."

"Logan Huntzberger."

"Yes, him. He told me how Joe works for his dad and Logan likes Rory and then Rory chose you and that whole messy situation. Obviously, you've been staying at Yale with Rory, which is great that you guys are making that work, but if you needed a little space of your own to crash in, I could make some room here."

"Here?" Jess checked, turning to look around the apartment that was probably not really big enough for even one.

"It's not much, I know, and I'm not asking you to move in permanently or anything," he said with nervous laughter in his voice. "That would be a little weird for all concerned. I'm just saying, if you ever need a place, you got one, nephew. It's the least I can do."

"Thanks," said Jess shortly, unsure that he had any more words to offer.

Certainly, he was wary of this becoming an emotional moment on either side. He really did not want that.

"And, uh, I don't know how things are money-wise for you-"

"I don't need charity," Jess quickly waved away whatever offer Luke was going to make, sure that a pile of bills was coming his way.

"Oh, I wasn't... I mean, if you needed cash, I could, but I actually meant a job," Luke explained. "Joe said you worked at Walmart, but I know how shift work can be sometimes, and with you trying to set yourself up with a place and everything, well, I could always use another pair of hands in the diner."

That didn't sound like a half-bad idea to Jess when he gave it a moment's thought. Wouldn't be the first time he waited tables and Walmart didn't seem to need him quite as often as they had before. A few shifts in both places might just add up to one decent full-time job. Then maybe it wouldn't be such a crazy idea that he might be able to scrounge up rent for a place of his own.

"I'll think about it," he told Luke a moment later, realising his uncle was waiting on some kind of response. "Thanks... Uncle Luke," he said, finding a smile came pretty easily to his lips.

Luke smiled back. "You're welcome, kid."

To Be Continued...