** Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Gilmore Girls. If I were that all powerful then Jess would be staying put! So, in summation... Please don't sue me!**

Jess sat at the kitchen table in Luke's apartment with his head in his hands. He'd spent most of the day before with Dean. And even though Dean didn't know about Jess and Rory, Jess still felt like Dean was waiting for him to slip up and confess. And he'd wanted to.

And every time Dean had talked about Rory, Jess had felt even worse. Especially when Dean brought up the subject of Rory's party and how much fun they'd had hanging out and talking.

"Hey."

His heartbeat quickened slightly and he turned around.

"What are you doing here?" He asked softly as Rory walked over and sat down in the chair next to him.

"I just… wanted to see you." She smiled slightly. "Are you ok?"

"Not really." He said, shaking his head.

"Dean?" She asked.

"Yeah. I feel so…" He looked down at his hands on the table. "I can't believe I'm doing something so crappy to him."

She reached out and took hold of his hand.

"Is this ok?" She asked, not sure what he was thinking or if he'd changed his mind about them being together.

"Depends on what you mean by ok." He said, looking up at her.

"I mean… do you want me to touch you at all? Or are we back to standing on opposite sides of the room?"

"No… it's ok." He said, squeezing her hand slightly.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

He looked her in the eyes and then looked back down at the table.

"No…" He sighed. He wasn't sure if it was true. He didn't doubt how he felt about her, but he didn't know if he could face Dean if he kissed her again.

He let go of her hand and stood up, leaning on the back of his chair.

"I don't know if it's better to tell him or to just… hope that he moves on."

"I know."

"I just feel like I'm betraying him whenever I'm even in the same room as you." He sighed.

"You're not." She said, standing up. "I know he cares about me, but that doesn't make me his."

"I know…"

"So you're not doing anything you shouldn't." She continued.

"Rory, I'm his best friend. I shouldn't be kissing a girl when I know he likes her."

"So we all get to be miserable?" She frowned. "We can't be together because Dean might get hurt. I can't have you and neither of you can have me?"

She was right. It didn't make any sense.

He took a step towards her, and reached out, touching her hand lightly with his. She stepped forward slowly. They kissed gently and then smiled at each other.

"You have to stop doing that." He said, half seriously.

"Why?"

"Because you make me forget."

"Good." She smiled, kissing him again.

He put his arms around her waist, and she let her fingers move into his hair. Their kisses quickly got more intense.

"What the hell…?!"

They jumped apart.

"Luke!"

"Yeah, Uncle Luke, just minding his own business, coming into his own apartment, seeing his nephew …" He tried to shake the vision out of his head.

"It's not what it looks like…" Jess started.

"Please tell me that your mother knows about this." Luke sighed, looking to Rory for an answer.

She looked at the floor and shook her head.

"Oh god." He groaned, taking his cap off and rubbing his forehead. "You should go." He said. Rory nodded quickly and glanced a Jess before leaving.

"Luke… I can explain…"

"I don't know if I want you to." Luke said, sitting down. "The more I know the deader I am."

Jess sighed and sat down opposite Luke.

"Are you two…" Luke started and then looked at Jess, hoping he'd catch on.

"No." Jess said quickly.

"Are you planning on…"

"We… I…" Jess didn't have an answer for him.

"How long have you been… doing that." He said, pointing to the spot where he'd seen them kissing.

"Since her birthday."

"Well then you definitely shouldn't be planning on…" Luke shook his head again and got up.

"We're not. At least… we haven't talked about it." Jess said, hoping to calm him down.

"Good. Don't do it."

"Are you going to tell Lorelai?" Jess asked.

Luke started pacing.

"I… it's not my place to. Rory should tell her." He said finally. "Is Rory going to tell her?"

"We hadn't talked about that either." Jess admitted. "We're kind of… not telling anyone."

"Yeah, I had noticed." Luke said sarcastically.

"It's just that… Dean really likes Rory too… and he doesn't know she and I like each other. I mean… he knows we're friends, but he thinks that's all."

"How do you find messes like this and then manage to plant yourself firmly in the middle of them?" Luke asked in disbelief.

Neither of them said anything else. Luke left and went back down to the diner. Jess sat back down at the kitchen table and tried to figure out what he should do.