Someone5 and others!: Thank you for your feedback. I'm not offended. Quite the opposite. I really appreciate the criticism. It was not my intention to use the show's plot as a crutch. Pt. 46 was mostly written out of anger, and my need to "fix" things. Compulsive? Me? Nah. Haha. It was just something I really did want to do. Thank you again!

Thanks for all the great feedback! Sorry this took so long...

Jess swung a punch at Jamie and missed. "So then... we go to her dorm," he swung again, and clipped his shoulder. He shook out his hand. "And Dean shows up."

"The ex?" Jamie nodded, ducking a punch.

"The ex."

"What did he want?"

Jess shrugged. "Didn't ask."

Jamie stopped moving, looking at Jess with squinted eyes. "Didn't ask?"

Jess shook his head. "Didn't ask."

"Why?"

Jess took the opportunity to slug Jamie in the stomach. "Don't wanna know. All that matters is that she came out ten minutes later and left with me."

Jamie heaved and stumbled back a little. "Fair enough."

The door to the gym opened and Gloria walked in, trailed by Paris and Rory.

"I am not fighting," Paris argued.

"You'll be great at it!" Gloria giggled. "Come on!"

"It's primitive and immature, and I refuse to participate!" Paris cried. She turned to Rory. "Do you take part in this ridiculousness?"

Rory shook her head. "Nope. But it's only because I can't fight."

"I can fix that," Jess called from the ring.

Rory shook her head. "No way."

He wiggled a "come hither" finger at her, and she smiled and shook her head again. Jess climbed out of the ring, and stalked toward her, and Rory laughed and started running, dropping her school bag on the way.

Paris shook her head. "They are so strange."

Gloria smiled and climbed into the ring, wrapping her knuckles along the way.

Jamie backed against the ropes on the side of the ring. "Aw, god, not again."

"Move over you two," Jess barked as he carried Rory over his shoulder into the ring.

"PUT ME DOWN!"

Jess put her down in the ring and smirked.

She pushed him, and he stumbled back slightly.

"I knew if I got you mad enough you'd fight me," he said as his smirk widened.

She crossed her arms. "I'm not fighting you."

He gave her a playful push and she pushed back, shoving him into the ropes. He catapulted himself off of them, right into Rory, knocking her off her feet. She cried out as she hit the mat with Jess on top of her.

"Ew!" Rory yelled. "You're all sweaty and gross!"

"Gee, you didn't mind that last night," Jess muttered quietly.

She turned red and shoved him off of her with a slight laugh. "I'm not fighting you."

Gloria helped Jess to his feet with a smile. "I'll fight you."

"Aw, god," Jess groaned.

"You're all heathens!" Paris called from outside the ring.

"Come join us!" Jamie called. "You can be a heathen, too!"

Paris rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe Jamie got Paris to fight," Rory laughed as she and Jess walked out of the gym.

"He does have a way with women," Jess smirked, running a hand through his damp hair and hefting her backpack on his shoulder.

She turned around, walking backwards as they headed down to the parking lot that held both their cars. "Hey... can we talk about last night?"

"You mean that crap Limp Bizkit song on the radio? How dare they cover Behind Blue Eyes. They destroyed that song."

Rory sighed. "True, but-"

"No wonder Dave said he cried the first time he heard it... it's horrible. Keith Moon probably rolls over in his grave every time someone plays it."

"I meant about Dean," Rory said.

Jess didn't reply, only nodded.

Rory stopped walking, and stopped Jess as well. She sighed. "He asked me to-"

"It doesn't matter."

She blinked up at him. "What?"

He shrugged. "I don't care."

"Oh..."

"You're here now," he said. "I care about that."

She stared for a moment before giving him a wide smile, and throwing her arms around him. Her pack slipped from his shoulder to the ground as he wrapped his arms around her.

She pulled back a little to look at him. "Nothing happened."

"You'd be awful at hiding it if something had," Jess smirked.

"Mean."

He shrugged and let go of her to lift her bag again. "Come on. I need a shower."

"I can't believe you're hosting Thanksgiving," Lorelai snickered at her daughter over the phone. "You've never hosted Thanksgiving a day in your life."

"Well... it's Jess's apartment," Rory pointed out as she walked into her dorm room the next afternoon. "So technically he is hosting Thanksgiving. I am merely a co-host."

"Ah."

"And you're coming."

"Am I?"

Rory nodded with a smile. "Of course! You wouldn't miss my first co- host, would you?"

Lorelai sighed. "I suppose not... will Luke be there?"

"Probably," Rory shrugged. "Jess is inviting him."

"Mmm."

"Why?"

"Uh... no reason."

Rory raised an eyebrow and kept silent.

"Well... he..."

"He what? He withheld coffee?"

"No."

"Gave you salad?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No."

"Made you do a little dance for your food?" Rory asked.

"He asked me out on a date."

Rory sat speechless.

"Rory?" Lorelai asked. "Are you still there?"

"Uhm... yeah! Yeah, I'm here," Rory replied. "Luke asked you out? Luke- Luke?"

"Yup."

"Wow."

"Yup."

"What did you say?"

"I... I said yes."

"You did?!"

"Yes!" Lorelai cried back. "I said yes! I just... I want to date Luke!"

"Finally!"

"What?!"

"The whole town has been waiting for this for years!"

Lorelai sputtered.

Jess swung open the door and Rory had to laugh a little. He was wearing nice slacks and a button-down gray shirt and a plain, black apron. In one hand he was holding a turkey baster and in the other a rubber spatula.

He glared. "Don't laugh."

She put a hand to her mouth to try and cover her smile.

His glare became deeper and he turned and stocked back into the apartment and into the kitchen. She followed and looked in to see Jess and Luke (sans his baseball cap and flannel) bustling around the kitchen.

Rory laughed loudly.

Luke looked up and rolled her eyes. "Look, do you wanna eat Thanksgiving dinner or not?"

Rory kept laughing. "Where's Mom?"

She had to stay at the Inn late," Luke replied. "She said she'd be here, though."

Rory nodded, still snickering. "Good."

"If you don't stop laughing, I'm gonna throw a dinner roll at you," Jess threatened.

"Jess, hand me the baster," Luke ordered.

"I wanted to baste," Jess replied calmly.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Fine. Baste away. Whatever." He glanced at Rory, who was still laughing. "Stop."

"I'm sorry," Rory replied. "It's just... you guys are so cute!"

"We are not," they both said at the same time.

Rory laughed harder and went to answer the door when there was a loud knock on it. She opened it to reveal Lorelai, Sookie, and Jackson who was holding Davie.

"You have got to see this."

She led them to the kitchen, where Luke was nitpicking on Jess's basting job.

"You missed a spot."

"I did not."

"You did. Right there."

"Jeez, Martha Stewart, will you cut it out?!"

Sookie rolled her eyes and zoomed into the kitchen, snatching the baster from Jess. "I will handle this."

Both men grumbled.

"I'm carving the turkey."

"No way," Jess snapped at his best friend. "This is my house, and I don't trust you with a knife."

Jamie didn't look as if he was going to give up the carving knife any time soon.

Jess glared and readied a fist, but Sofia snatched the knife from Jamie before any harm could be done to either boy.

"I'm carving," she told them. "Sit."

Both of them sat, glaring at each other the entire time.

"Well," Emily said, trying her best to be pleasant around the cramped table. "Isn't this nice?"

Richard nodded, not hearing the slight strain in Emily's voice. "You've got a very nice apartment, Jess."

He nodded. "Thank you." He watched his grandmother cut up the turkey with a bitter expression.

Liz smiled at Jess. "You really did wonders with this place."

Jess shrugged and held his glare at his grandmother.

"Don't give me that look," Sofia snapped playfully as she served everyone. "You couldn't cut this to save your life."

"She's not wrong," Liz snickered. "You remember that one time you tried to cut our turkey and it wound up butchered?"

"I didn't do that," Jess said in a low voice. "You're husband-of-the- week did... you were passed out on the couch."

The room sat in uncomfortable silence after that. Emily and Richard both looking slightly shocked. Luke was rolling his eyes at his nephew, and Lorelai and Rory both sighed a little.

Once the food was served, most of the table began to eat, but Sofia cleared her throat.

Jess sighed. "Oh, god."

"We have to give thanks before we eat," Sofia said, her voice calm. She turned to Jess.

"Oh, you won't let me cut the turkey in my own house, but you want me to do this?"

TJ smiled. "Come on, Read."

Dave, Brian, Zach and Lane all snickered.

"Read?" Dave asked.

"Shove it, Rygalski," Jess glared.

Paris also saw this as an open shot. "Read?"

"Jeez!" Jess cried.

Gloria snickered as well. "Come on, Read. Get it over with."

"Don't call me that," Jess snapped.

Luke groaned. "Just give thanks so we can eat."

"Why don't we just go around the table?" Rory offered, smirking at Jess.

"That isn't a bad idea," Richard smiled. "Jess, why don't you start?"

Jess sighed, trying to be serious. "I'm thankful that... in a few hours... you'll all be leaving."

The group gave off mostly amused protests, but Jess held his ground.

Rory smiled. "I am thankful for..." she sighed. "Family and friends."

"Hey!" Lorelai cried. "You took mine! You've been reading my mind again!"

"I have not!"

"Wow. I never thought that tonight would be that pleasant," Lorelai smiled as she and Rory walked to the jeep.

Rory smiled back and pulled her coat tighter around herself.

"How come you're not staying?" Lorelai asked.

"Jess looked tired," Rory replied. "And... we have a giant stack of movies to get through this weekend, don't we?"

Lorelai smiled. "Ah, yes. The pile... I'm going to have to take a break to go on my date, you know."

Rory smiled. "And I can use that time to study."

"And by study, you mean drive back here and spend time with Jess," Lorelai corrected.

"No, I mean study."

Lorelai snorted. "Study anatomy."

"Dirty!" Rory cried.

Lorelai wrapped an arm around her daughter. "Come on. Let's get home and start on those movies."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Jess felt strangely serene as he washed the dishes in his quiet house. He had a lot of cleaning up to do before he headed to bed, and then went to work in the morning. Who would stop into the bookstore the Friday after Thanksgiving, Jess had no idea, but he was thankful for something to do.

He sighed when the phone rang and broke his tranquil thoughts. He walked into the small living room and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Happy Thanksgiving!"

He smirked. "Hey, Lily."

"Hey! Did you guys have dinner?"

He nodded. "And dessert."

"Mom's still cooking."

Jess smirked. "Yeah? She going with Turkey?"

"Yup, but she bought low-fat and low-cholesterol everything else for Jimmy."

"He mad?"

"Duh. How was your dinner?"

"Good," Jess replied, plopping down on the couch. "Nobody tried to kill anyone else... well... there were murderous thoughts but things stayed calm for the most part."

Lily giggled. "Good! How's Rory?"

"Rory's good," Jess smirked. "Real good."