A/N: I don't think they ever mentioned Rory's half-sister's name, so I pulled one out of my ass. If I'm wrong, feel free to smack me with a wet fish and correct me. Thanks!

"Guess who's coming to town?"

She was lying in her bed with the cordless phone held to her ear and Hephaestus the bear wrapped in her arms.

"Santa?" asked the voice on the other end.

"My dad."

"Ah. When?"

"Tomorrow," Rory replied, snuggling down into the covers a little more. It was getting late, but she needed to talk to someone. "It's weird. For a while, we talked all the time, and now, it's once in a blue moon. Again."

Jess sighed. "Yeah, I know how that is."

Rory nodded. "Will you come over?"

"Will he kill me?"

"Nah. I don't think he's quite the type," Rory snickered. She sighed. "It's so weird. I have a baby sister whom I've met once, the day she was born, and a very scary step mother. I don't see these people, and now all of the sudden, it's 'guess who's coming to dinner.'"

"Just go with it," Jess replied. "I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"You're gonna hate Sherry."

"There are few people I don't hate, remember?"

"She works for Loreal."

"Shoot me."

Rory smiled into the phone.

"Do I have to be fancy like the thing for your grandmother?" Jess asked.

Rory shook her head. "I don't think so. Dad's pretty casual... god, it's gonna be weird. The last time I saw him I was kind of forced into being nice."

"Why wouldn't you be?"

"He and mom were gonna get back together at one point," Rory replied quietly. "He promised me things were going to work out. But then Sherry got pregnant, and it all went to hell."

"Still mad at him?"

"Don't know."

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You sound a little off."

"There's gonna be a baby here tomorrow that's related to me."

"I know."

"Have you ever been around babies?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Good, because the only baby I've ever really been around is Sookie's baby," Rory told him. "And only a few times. What do you do with babies?"

"Eat them?"

"I do hear they taste like chicken, but... no. Somehow I don't think that'll make a very good impression on my father."

"True."

She yawned a little.

"Tired?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah. You?"

He shrugged. "I'll probably stay up and plow through something."

"Okay. Well... I'll stop by the diner tomorrow."

"Why?" Jess asked. "I figured you'd be there waiting for your dad."

"I feel like being fashionably late with my thug boyfriend," Rory snickered.

"I see," Jess replied. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Hey, Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"We're okay from this afternoon, right?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?"

"Well, I did kick you."

"And that hurt, by the way," he told her. "But... we're okay, you and me."

She nodded. "Good. Good night. Happy plowing. I'll give Hephaestus a kiss for you."

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks. G'night."

*****

"So... no Sherry?"

Christopher sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "No Sherry. She's... on business."

Lorelei nodded, sensing that something was up, but not pushing it. "Hmm." She looked at the baby lying in the carrier on the coffee table. "She's very cute."

"Thanks." He sighed. "So... where's Rory?"

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "Being fashionably late with her almost always fashionably late boyfriend."

"Dean?"

She shook her head. "No more Dean."

"Damn," Christopher said. "I kinda liked that one."

"Oh, you'll love this one," Lorelei replied sarcastically. "His name is Jess."

"So she has a Jess."

"Yup. Since they're not here yet, I need to lay down some ground rules."

Christopher raised an eyebrow. "Ground rules?"

Lorelei sighed. "No talk of school for Jess. He doesn't go. They had a blow-up about it yesterday that involved... mac and cheese, and shins..."

"Shins?"

"Shins," Lorelei confirmed. "He's working at Luke's until he's fully recovered."

"Recovered?"

"Giant car accident. Car was totaled. He landed in a coma."

Christopher gave a whistle. "Hello, Days of Our Lives."

"If you only knew."

*****

Obviously things did not go all too smoothly. They sat in the living room, trying to make small conversation.

"Rory?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Could you and Jess please take your sister into the kitchen for a moment? I wanna talk to your mom."

She nodded and got to her feet, taking hold of the baby carrier. She nodded toward the kitchen at Jess and he got up and followed her.

Lorelei stared at Christopher. "What's wrong?"

He sighed.

"Where's Sherry? Really?"

*****

They stared at the quiet baby.

"I still think we should eat her," Jess whispered.

Rory giggled and pushed him playfully. "She's cute. She looks a lot like Sherry."

"Well, Sherry is her mother," Jess pointed out. He tilted his head, still staring at the girl. "She's got kind of a pointy head."

"Are you calling my sister a Cone Head?"

At that moment, Lorelei came storming in. "Jess, I need my Rory. Out."

He blinked at her.

"Out!" Lorelei cried. "Go!"

"Jesus, okay!" Jess cried, walking out. "What did Luke put in her coffee this morning...?" He walked out to the living room and sat down across from Christopher.

"So..." Christopher said slowly. "You're the boyfriend..."

"Hey, listen," Jess interrupted. "If you're going to threaten my life if I hurt your daughter, you're gonna have to grab a ticket and get in line, because this entire town is in front of you, and Lorelei and Rory, herself, have first dibs."

Christopher couldn't help but smirk.

****

"Sherry ran out on him?"

Lorelei nodded.

"Wow," Rory said, sitting down. "Wow, wow, wow."

"Yeah," Lorelei replied.

"So now he wants..."

"He said he'd like to 'see more of us,'" Lorelei told her. "I just... I'm so... I can't..."

"Mom, breath."

"How am I supposed to breath at a time like this?!"

Rory got up and grabbed her mother by the shoulders. "Breath."

*****

"So, what's the plan?"

Rory sighed as she walked Jess back to the diner that evening. "There really isn't one. Dad and Cordelia and gonna stay the night, and they're going to talk more in the morning."

"And you?"

Rory shrugged.

"Gotta be pretty weird having a full house," Jess commented.

Rory nodded. "Yeah."

They reached the diner door and Jess pulled the emergency key down. "Y'know... Luke's at Nicole's again. If you wanted to just... crash here..."

Rory stared at his back as he unlocked the door. "I don't know. It'd be nice... I don't know if I can leave Mom alone with Dad and the baby though... and something tells me if I told her I was staying over here, she'd have another freak out."

He nodded and turned to her, leaning against the window. "Right."

They stared at each other for a few moments before she leaned forward and kissed him sweetly. He wrapped an arm around her.

"I don't want to leave," she told him quietly when it ended.

"So don't."

She frowned and sighed. "I'm sorry."

He smirked at her. "Don't be. You should get back before your mother has another flip-out."

She nodded and kissed him once more before walking off.

He watched her go and went inside.