A/N: Standard Disclaimer. Please, please, please review! I found out I thrive on reviews! Thank you so, so, so, so much to the people that wrote reviews! You don't know what it means to me that people who have no personal ties to me at all like my writing! And, thanks to those that feel I've stayed true to the characters. My biggest fear about writing fanfics is that I'm going to warp the characters beyond repair.

I've also found out how people get to write those twenty-five-plus chapter fics! Not that this is going to be one of those, since this is the end of this one. I promise there is a sequel! Okay, on with the story!

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They tromped into Luke's on their way home from the video store. They'd rented the two movies Rory had named, and rented a third for good measure.

To their shock, everyone in the establishment stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at Rory, some with sympathy, others with humor.

"I guess they heard," Rory murmured to her mother, moving resolutely through the crowd. She sat on a free seat at the counter, and slapped it. "Barkeep!" she hollered. "Two cafés, and make them snappy!"

"Taking a page from the Book of Lorelai?" Jess asked rhetorically, obliging her with a quick mug of coffee. "You know, I could have brought you guys some coffee when I came back."

"Yes, but you're in the middle of surgery on the toaster. We had no way of making breakfast without it," Lorelai said, sitting next to Rory and grinning at Jess. "Hey, she did say 'two coffees' right? Or was that my hearing acting up?"

"Too much wax," Jess agreed. He waited for a moment before getting Lorelai a mug also and pouring her a cup.

"Are you giving them coffee?" Luke said in a resigned tone.

"Well, it's either that, or listen to them complaining. Tell me which you'd rather," Jess added, grinning at his uncle.

"You're awfully cheery this morning," Luke said suspiciously, eyeing his nephew up and down, looking for the catch that would release the sullen, silent Jess.

"Yes, and a cheery waiter makes for happier, better-tipping customers," Lorelai jumped in. She knew why Jess was so happy, and sympathized. She was heartened by the fact that he hadn't immediately jumped at Rory when he found out she was no longer attached.

Over the last few months, Lorelai had watched Jess when he didn't know it. She'd seen the sincerity in his expression when he was nice to Rory and the hurt he felt every time she wasn't available to argue because Dean wanted to do something. Lorelai still didn't exactly adore the fact that her daughter seemed to be getting attached to someone who reminded her of all the Bad Boys in all the movies she'd ever seen, but she was realizing that Jess was changing for the better. He was no longer the sullen kid who had so alienated her when he first got here. Because of Luke's steady hand, and quite possible Rory's simple innocence and goodness, he was becoming a person she could like.

He had depth. And he adored Rory. Those were major points in his favor in Lorelai's opinion.

She snapped back to the present when Miss Patty came up to Rory. "I was so sorry to hear about you and Dean, darling," she said sympathetically. "I can still remember my first break up, and if you ever want to talk, I'm here for you."

"Thank you, Miss Patty," Rory said, smiling. "Really. But I'm okay. I was expecting this. I don't think I could have gotten up the courage to do it myself, so I'm grateful he did."

"That's all right, dear," Miss Patty said, tapping Rory's cheek. "You don't have to put on a stoic front for me. I'll be here if you ever want to talk."

She turned and left Rory blinking. "She didn't believe me?" she demanded after a moment, whirling on her stool to face her mother. Lorelai began to laugh. "It's not funny! Why would I lie about that? Why would I lie about anything? Stop laughing!"

Lorelai did, but was still grinning as her daughter ordered pancakes. "I stopped serving breakfast a half-hour ago," Luke said. "Order something from the lunch menu."

"Aw," Lorelai whined, her grin disappearing. "But it's not a weekend until we get our pancakes from you. Please? Can't you make an exception?"

"No," Luke said.

Jess grinned from behind Luke and nodded. He knew his uncle would fold, and moved to turn on the stovetop to warm it up. Rory watched him go to the back room, interested in spite of herself. Then she listened to her mother and Luke making a bargain. Lorelai wouldn't ask for more than five cups of coffee today if Luke made them pancakes.

Luke walked into the kitchen, muttering to himself about having no backbone, only to find Jess already ladling pancake batter onto the stove.

"What are you doing?" Luke roared.

Jess merely smirked. "Helping you. Come on. We both knew you would give in. You always give in to those two. You can't help it." The smirk turned into a knowing smile as Luke began to flush slightly. "Thought I'd save you some time and warm up the griddle for you."

"Yeah?" Luke demanded. "And why are you so happy this morning? Why are you so helpful? Look at you, you're actually smiling!"

"So?" Jess said. "I'm having a good morning. But don't worry. Something should go wrong by the end of the day and I'll be back to my surly old self. But, hey, good news. The nicotine cravings are almost gone."

Luke smiled for the first time that morning at his nephew. "Really? That's good. Here," he added, taking the spatula out of Jess' hands. "Let me take over."

"No problem, Uncle Luke," Jess said. He moved towards the door to the diner, eager to go back out and talk with Rory, and even—to some extent—Lorelai.

Luke sighed, and then bolstered his courage. "Uh, Jess? Hold on a second." Jess stopped and turned to face his uncle. "Look, I know why you're so happy. But, can you do me a favor? Just wait." Jess began to scowl at Luke, unhappy that he had guessed his motives so quickly.

"What, you want me to wait as long as you have? Nothing doing."

Luke winced at that. "No, definitely not that long. Just a couple weeks. Give her time to not be part of a couple any more. Let her see that you like her, and that you're not just going after her to piss Dean off." Jess turned, but stopped when Luke added, "Hey. She's worth it, right?"

Jess sneered as he entered the diner again. But as he listened to Rory and Lorelai's conversation, he realized Luke was right. *Damn him anyway,* Jess thought darkly. Rory was wondering what to do with herself now that she didn't have to make Dean happy with stuff she didn't want to do. She was looking forward to catching up on her reading, browsing the used CDs, and hanging out with Lane and Lorelai.

*I'll just give her a month,* Jess thought. *That's not so long to wait.*

A/N: Okay, no flames. I have no personal experience with relationships (well, besides media--books, TV, music…) but I figure Rory's got to have some "Rory Time" to figure out what she wants, blah, blah, blah! I promise there's lots more 'shippy stuff to come, for both L/L fans and R/J fans (or the ones I am slowly converting to R/J! (Cue evil laughter!) erm…I'm okay now. Thanks!