A/N: My readers are still around, right? I feel like the reading/reviewing really drops off once the couple are actually together. Weird, huh? Anyway, thanks to those who are sticking with me :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 17

The weekend meant that Rory wanted to go home to Stars Hollow and of course it meant her bringing Jess along with her. Thankfully, she already had the much-needed and strangely unawkward conversation with her mom about how she and Jess were sharing a bed these days. Lorelai was the cool mom that actually smiled and said it was fine with her if they shared Rory's room over the weekend. She was just so happy at the thought of having her kid home again.

"I think Luke will be happy to have Jess hanging around also," she had told Rory. "It's cool that they talked things out."

"It's very cool," she agreed with her mother without pause. "I would've felt so awful being piggy-in-the-middle if they couldn't have patched things up."

"Well, all is good, babe. Stars Hollow is a happy little place for all!"

"Except Mr Twickham," Rory reminded her, bringing the mood down in an instant.

After sixteen previous near-death experiences, the poor old man had finally passed over. This weekend, the town was having a day in his honour. A time to both mourn his passing and celebrate his life was how it was pitched. Rory wasn't sure what to make of it. Jess, who was not yet used to Stars Hollow's crazy ways, was even more bemused.

"They don't just have funerals where you come from?" he asked, making a face.

"No, they do," Rory assured him, "and I'm guessing there will be one of those... or has been one of those," she said as she considered it, "but this is more of a life celebration thing than a mourning a death thing. I don't know, Old Man Twickham really added a lot to the eccentric side of the Hollow. Apparently, it was in his will that this is what he wanted, so we do what the man says."

"Works for me," Jess shrugged, looking more resigned than he was happy.

Rory really wished she could do something to cheer him up. Not that he was exactly depressed. He could do happy, jokes, laughter, all that good stuff, and when they were spending time together, he seemed to be enjoying himself, and not just when they were in bed either.

Still, there was a general air of melancholy about Jess at times. Rory was pretty sure the larger part of that was how things had fractured between him and Logan. She figured, in time, they would get past it, either bury the hatchet and be buddies again or just deal with the fact their friendship was over and move on. In the meantime, Rory just tried her best to be whatever Jess needed, until he felt better.

Dropping their stuff off at the house, they found a note from Lorelai letting them know where to find her, and headed off, hand-in-hand, in the general direction of the Twickham house.

"Oh my God," said Rory as they drew near, getting Jess' attention and pointing. "Okay, that lady right there, that's Miss Patty."

"Huh," he said, nodding his head. "The dance teacher who had five husbands, right?"

"Right," Rory agreed. "Now, it would probably be tough enough getting her to keep her hands to herself around you on a normal day, because hey, look at you," she said, continuing on despite his smirking, "but it looks as if she made her famous Founder's Day punch."

"And drunk Miss Patty is even more handsy than regular Miss Patty?" Jess guessed.

"Oh, yes. Also, best to steer clear of the booze in general," Rory advised. "Miss Patty's leftover punch is used to remove tar from construction sites."

Just as they were about to cross the street towards not only Miss Patty's punch stand but the house and the celebration in general, Rory heard her name called and turned to see Lane rushing towards her.

Immediately, she excused herself from Jess to see what was wrong. Clearly there was some girl-type distress happening, and frankly, Jess was happy to avoid it. Standing well back from the fall out of whatever drama Lane was having, he checked both ways down the quiet street and crossed over, eyeing the table with the punch cups on it with interest.

Honestly, he could go for a drink, especially if he had to stay amongst the wacky denizens of Stars Hollow all day. There was every chance he was going to have another awkward conversation with good old Uncle Luke and/or Rory's mom and, honestly, a drink might just take the edge off.

"Well, hello, gorgeous," said Miss Patty, suddenly noticing him there. "You're Rory's young man, aren't you?"

"Word travels fast," he said, nodding his head.

"I also heard you were Luke's nephew, is that true?"

"That's true. Does confirming all the juicy gossip get me a discount on the punch?" he asked, turning on the charming smile he knew never failed in these situations.

"Oh, darling, you get the discount just for looking like a tall drink of water on a hot day," she promised, charging him for only one cup despite the fact he was clearly taking two. "You're still thirsty later, honey, you know where to find me," she said, tipping him a wink.

"Thanks," Jess answered shortly, feeling just a little disturbed as he turned to go - he seriously did not want to think about what else she might be offering him there!

Jess got a surprise when he looked and found that Rory and Lane weren't right there across the street where he left them. It was an even bigger shock to the system when he suddenly realised a woman he recognised was storming over to him with a face like thunder.

"Paris," he said, shaking his head. "What are you...?"

"Where's Rory?" she asked before he could hardly blink. "You're here, so she's here, right? She said she was coming here, even invited me to come along, but I thought I should be home in case Doyle called. Well, the stupid dwarf can suck it. I'm not waiting around for him anymore!" she said crossly. "Where's Rory?" she repeated, clearly not realising she hadn't actually given Jess a chance to answer that question the first time it came around.

"If I knew, I'd tell you," he explained, looking around for his girlfriend and realising he really couldn't see her anywhere. "Another of her friends was having guy trouble, I think. You know Lane?"

"I do know Lane." Paris nodded. "God, you just know her boyfriend screwed her over. It's what all you men do eventually. Why is that? Why are you all just so-"

"Drink, Paris?" Jess offered fast, pushing the cup towards her.

She looked at it curiously, but didn't argue as she took it into her hand.

"Alcoholic?" she checked.

"To the nth degree, from what I hear," he confirmed. "I don't know about you, but I could use the help, today of all days."

She looked a little surprised that he said it, and then, after a moment or two not so much. Shrugging her shoulders, she held up her cup in some kind of toast.

"I guess it can't make things any worse. Cheers?"

"Cheers," Jess echoed, tapping his cup against her own.

Then they both drank.

When Rory started listening to Lane talk about her worries over Zach's potential infidelity, she hadn't really thought about the fact they were walking away from where they were supposed to be. Before she knew it, they were not even in sight of the Twickham house, and that meant, they were too far from Jess.

Unfortunately, by the time she calmed Lane down and convinced her to go and talk things out with her boyfriend, then doubled back the way she came in search of Jess, he didn't seem to be anywhere around.

Lorelai showed up, along with Luke, and they started to ask around. Lorelai called the house in case Jess went back there but got no answer. Luke tried to the diner, but same result. That was when Miss Patty overheard them all discussing Jess and explained that she had seen him.

"I thought he was buying the punch for you, sweetheart," she told Rory, shaking her head, "but then your friend showed up. Oh, what is that girl's name?" she asked, clicking her fingers as she made guesses. "Madison? Florence?"

"Paris?"

"Paris, of course!" Miss Patty face-palmed. "Well, they were here together a short while, and then... well, I'm not sure where they disappeared to," she said, looking left and right. "Oh, but I'm sure it's all completely innocent, darling."

"I'm sure you're right." Rory nodded, not even needing to lie.

She loved Jess and trusted him too. Though she and Paris didn't always see eye-to-eye, she did know her friend and dorm-mate would never try to put the moves on her boyfriend when her back was turned. Actually, Rory's only concern was the state both Paris and Jess were likely to be in when she tracked them down, thanks to the strength of Miss Patty's punch.

"Okay, so now we're looking for two somewhat drunk twenty-somethings who don't exactly know their way around town," Lorelai recapped with a look. "Fun times."

"They can't have gone far, right?" said Luke, adjusting his cap. "I mean, we only have so much town here to cover."

Lorelai shrugged. "You go east, I'll go west?" she tried, seemingly unable to come up with a better plan. "And honey, maybe you should stay put," she suggested to Rory then. "After all, wherever they wandered, one or both are likely to at least try to head back to where they started eventually, right?"

"I guess so." Rory nodded her agreement.

The next minute, her mom and Luke were gone, leaving her alone to wander and wonder. It had been a heck of a day so far, coming into town with Jess to attend the life celebration of poor Mr Twickham, then having to talk Lane down off a ledge over Zach's supposed infidelity. Now, she seemed to have misplaced both her boyfriend and another friend that she hadn't even known had come to town until a minute ago.

"Paris," she suddenly said to herself, reaching for her cell and speed-dialling.

It wasn't a trick she could use to find Jess since he didn't have a phone of his own, but Paris was never without hers. When the line began to ring, Rory frowned, realising she could hear the actual ringing as well as the tone through her own speaker. Pulling the phone away from her ear, she concentrated on the ring tone, moving around back of the Twickham house and realising she could now hear familiar voices too.

"If that's Doyle, I'm going to tell him to shove it. I'm also going to tell him I'm currently with a guy ten times hotter than he is, which is only a partial lie."

"Thanks... I think."

Rory arrived in front of the two drunks sat with their backs against the house and sighed as she ended the call she had been trying to make to Paris.

"It was me that was calling," she told her friend, even as she continued to scramble for her phone.

"Hey, it's Rory!" said Jess, squinting up at her. "You know, this crackpot town has a couple of good things going for it?" he told her, raising his cup of punch and then drinking down the last the contents.

"Oh, I will drink to that!" Paris agreed, a little too loudly, reaching for her own cup and taking a good long drink herself. "You know, Gilmore, all men are scum, but this guy? He's really not so bad."

"I'm not so bad," Jess echoed with a lopsided smirk.

The two then promptly proceeded to bust up laughing.

"Seriously?" Rory sighed. "What am I going to do with the two of you?"

"Ooh, Mama Bear's angry," said Paris, still giggling even then as she leaned heavily into Jess.

"She's beautiful when she's angry," he said of Rory, with no hint of humour in his own voice. "Actually, she's always beautiful, and smart, and funny. That's why I screwed over my friend to be with her. You know, you're right, Paris. All men are scum. Especially me."

He started trying to get up then, which he did manage, though he staggered a little. Paris tipped over onto the ground in the process, since she had been leaning on him the whole time. Suddenly, Rory felt like she was trying to wrangle cats, not knowing whether to go for the one struggling on the ground or the one trying to walk away.

"Guys, come on," she urged them. "Help me out here."

"You need help?" asked Paris, pulling herself up to her knees. "Oh, me too," she declared, looking horribly green, before suddenly turning towards the bushes and throwing up spectacularly.

Rory winced, but took the opportunity to grab Jess, since Paris clearly wasn't going anywhere for a while. When she pulled him by the arm, he listed terribly to one side and it took all her strength to steady him.

"Hey, look at me," she urged him, when Jess seemed determined to evade her gaze even then. "Hey, Jess, come on. What was all that stuff you were saying? All that garbage about you being scum, what was that?" she asked him crossly.

"What do you want from me, Rory?" he checked, shaking his head. "I screwed up! I screwed up with Logan, with Luke, and before too long, I'm going to screw up with you!" he said too loudly and right in her face. "It's inevitable."

She might have been impressed he could make a speech like that, ending on a word of five syllables no less, when he was so drunk on Miss Patty's punch. Of course, the things he was saying weren't good at all. They hurt to hear. Of course, Rory couldn't say she much preferred what she was hearing from Paris either, wretching violently in the bushes still.

Jess visibly swallowed hard and leaned his weight more on Rory then.

"If she keeps doing that, I think I'm gonna join her," he admitted, turning his face away from Paris who clearly wasn't done yet.

"Oh, great." Rory sighed. "This day just gets better and better."

To Be Continued...