Author's Notes:

I suppose this chapter was inevitable. Jess had to come up at some point, given that he's Luke's nephew, and I hope I handled it okay. I actually like him as a character—he grew on me during Season Two—although I'm not a fan of him and Rory together. Thanks, as always, to my reviewers, and on to Chapter Nine!


Luke was wiping down the counters after the dinner rush when Dean came in that night. He'd had a great conversation with Lorelai earlier that afternoon, and from the look on the boy's face, it appeared as if Dean's talk with Rory had gone equally well.

"Dude, I don't even know how I can begin to thank you," Dean began, still grinning from ear to ear.

"For one, you can stop calling me dude," Luke answered, but Dean knew he was kidding. "And I didn't do anything you need to thank me for."

"Are you kidding?" Dean asked. "You were the one who called Lorelai! None of this would have happened if it wasn't for you!"

"All right," Luke agreed, "but you had to face Lorelai Gilmore after sleeping with her daughter. That's braver than anything I've ever done."

"It wasn't that bad," Dean shrugged. "I think you put her in a good mood."

"It looks like Rory did the same for you," Luke observed.

"She says she wants us to get to know each other again when she comes back," Dean told him, still unable to believe his luck. "I think we can make it work this time."

"I think you're right," Luke agreed. "I have to admit, I really misjudged you at first."

Dean laughed. "You mean when you put me in a headlock to keep me from coming in the diner that time?"

"I thought you were a selfish little punk," Luke admitted. "But I was wrong."

"That was obviously before Jess came along," Dean joked. An uneasy silence fell, and he regretted his words. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay." Luke brushed aside Dean's words. "Just forget about it."

"I mean it," Dean insisted. "I forgot that he was your nephew."

"I said it's fine," Luke replied. "I just don't think it's such a good idea for us to talk about Jess."

"Okay." Dean held up his hands. "I'm sorry."

"He's not such a bad kid," Luke told him. "It's easy to get the wrong impression about him if you don't know him that well."

"The wrong impression?" Dean repeated, dumbfounded. "He's never been anything but nasty to anyone who tried to help him!"

"That's not true," Luke insisted. "There's a lot of good in him. Yes, he's young and irresponsible, but he's a really bright kid and he has a lot of potential."

"Luke, he took a swing at me when I was trying to keep him out of trouble! He took Rory from me and then left her without even saying goodbye!" Dean argued. "Was he even grateful for everything you did for him?"

"As a matter of fact, he was!" Luke retorted. "And he didn't just take Rory from you! She made her own choice. Jess didn't kidnap her."

Dean breathed in sharply, feeling as if Luke had slapped him. "You don't know what it's like," he said slowly. "You don't know what it's like to love a girl more than anything in the world and have her throw you away for some jerk who makes her cry and then leaves her without saying goodbye."

"I think I know more than you give me credit for," Luke said frostily. "How do you expect to make things work with Rory if you can't accept her past? You can't have a relationship if you don't come to terms with what happened with Jess."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's great advice, coming from a man who waited nineteen years before he told Lorelai that he loved her."

He regretted his words as soon as he'd said them. Luke winced, and his eyes looked honestly wounded. He wanted to apologize, but he didn't want to say that Luke had been right. Most of all, he wanted to get out of there. "I should go."

Luke gave him the briefest of nods, then turned his attention back to the tables, lining up the salt and pepper shakers and straightening the stacks of menus. Dean paused for a moment, then left.