Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it. The plot and any original characters belong to me, but everything else is stuff I only wish I could take credit for.

A/N: Again, thanks for the reviews. I hope you like this chapter, because I personally love it.

Chapter 11: Homebound Train

"So, you and Rory finally got busy." Claire said to Jess as she waited for her toast to be done. It popped up from the toaster and Claire picked it up, only to drop it as it burned her fingers. She began to butter her toast and looked up at Jess expectantly.

Jess was reading the newspaper and didn't look up from it. "Yup." He said, trying not to blush.

"Good job. Worth the wait?" Claire questioned, biting into her toast.

Jess's words got caught in his throat, so he just nodded.

Claire smiled widely. "Oh, I live for these moments when you get so flustered you can't talk. It's like Christmas. What happened with her and her mom?"

Jess sighed and said, "They fought about our relationship. Her mom hates me."

"So does my mom." Claire said with a shrug. "You aren't the kind of guy moms like."

Jess frowned. "Your mom hates me?"

Claire let out a short laugh before looking at the expression on Jess's face. "You didn't know that? She despises you. She thinks you're rude and obnoxious and trouble with a capital T."

"But she's always polite to me." Jess argued, still frowning.

"Well of course she is." Claire said. "My mom knows how much I care about you. She knows we're best friends and that she can't change that. She probably would if she could. So she accepts you, and is ready to send my brothers to kill you if it's necessary."

Jess slipped into silence as he absorbed Claire's words.

"Hey, if you want to get on my mom's good side send her just flowers or something; don't get so upset about this." Claire said, frowning at Jess.

Jess smiled a small smile and said, "Don't think I won't. But right now, I'm thinking about Rory and her mom, and about the train schedule. Do you still have a copy?"

Claire's eyebrows shot up. "Jess…what are you going to do?"

Jess smirked and shrugged. "I'm gonna try and fix the situation, most likely screwing things up more, but we'll see. Train schedule?"

"In the living room." Claire said. "You don't have the money to just hop a train to Connecticut."

Jess stopped in mid-step and turned back to Claire with a sad smile. "I don't, but someone I know does."

Claire stared at Jess, her blue eyes wide and unblinking. "You're asking for money. You've never asked me for money. In over five years of friendship, you have never asked me for money."

"That in itself should tell you how important this is to me." Jess said, trying to maintain some dignity by not pleading.

"Please, I know how important anything to do with Rory is to you." Claire said, crossing over to Jess. She smoothed out a wrinkle in his shirt and kissed his forehead. She grabbed her purse and pulled her checkbook out of it. She quickly wrote out a check and handed it to Jess. Jess looked down at it, eyes widening at the number written there. "Claire…"

"You'll need a train back too, dumbass. And food, and cab fare or bus fare. And you might need something else along the way. Take the money." Claire said, closing her checkbook and putting it back in her purse. "Go. Do what you're going to do. And if Rory's mom tries to kick your ass, remember that it's improper to hit a lady and take your beating like a man."

"Yes, ma'am." Jess said, tucking the check into his back pocket. "You're too good to me, Claire."

"I know." Claire said, handing Jess his wallet. "Go." She ordered again.

Jess picked up his copy of Adam Bede, tucked it in his back pocket, and walked out the apartment door.


"I think the raspberry sauce." Lorelai said to Sookie, licking some of said sauce off her fingers.

Sookie nodded. "I agree. I'll get it made right away."

"Good." Lorelai nodded.

Sookie looked up at her friend as she chopped onions. "Still not talking to Luke?" She asked.

Lorelai shook her head. "I told him to just give me some time to think everything through. He said he understood and he hasn't been pushing me about it. I'm just so…mad about it all."

Sookie smiled gently. "She's a big girl, Lorelai."

"She's acting like an idiot." Lorelai snapped.

"Lorelai, there's a man here to see you." Michel said, entering the kitchen. "He's waiting at the front desk and he says it's rather important."

"Thanks, Michel." Lorelai said. She smiled a sad smile at Sookie. "We'll talk later." Sookie nodded.

Lorelai went over to the front desk, where a dark-haired man was standing with his back to her. "Hi, I'm Lorelai Gilmore. How can I help you?"

Jess turned around with a small smirk. "Hello, Lorelai."

"No." Lorelai practically growled in her throat. "I refuse to believe you're here. Get out of my inn, Jess."

"Do you hate me that much, Lorelai?" Jess demanded, leaning an elbow on the desk.

Lorelai pushed his arm off the desk and said, "Yes. I hate you because you're an immature ass who broke my daughter's heart. As her mother, I have that right."

"Fine!" Jess exclaimed, causing several guest to turn and look at them. "I don't care how much you hate me! I don't want you to hate me, but I really don't blame you. I hate me too for how I treated her. This isn't about me. It's about Rory."

"My daughter has been making some very foolish choices lately. You're just the most recent." Lorelai snapped, folding her arms across her chest in a way very similar to her daughter.

"Is it so hard to believe that people can change?" He demanded.

"You'll never change, Jess! You're just a punk kid who can't handle relationships and runs."

"I'm not running now." Jess said, glaring harshly at her.

"Not yet!" Lorelai exclaimed. "You will. It's what you do. You've proven-."

"I'm in love with your goddamn daughter!" Jess screamed, cutting her off, and slamming a fist down on the desk.

Lorelai stopped speaking, her mouth hanging open.

"I love Rory. I always have and always will. Why is it so stupid for her to be with someone she loves and who loves her back?"

Lorelai regained her composure and said, "She slept with Dean. Did she tell you that?"

Jess nodded. "She did, and it made me want to kick his teeth in. But I'm getting over it. I'm accepting her flaws. Why can't you?"

Lorelai clenched her jaw as she stared at Jess. "I want you to leave my inn right now. I don't ever want to see you again."

"I'll leave." Jess said as he pulled something out of his back pocket. "But I'm not going away forever. I love Rory. Do you hear me? I love her. You can't scare me into not loving her anymore, and you can't treat her like a criminal because she loves me back." Jess looked at the object in his hands before tossing it on the desk that separated him and Lorelai. He turned and walked out wordlessly, avoiding the stares he was getting from the inn's patrons.

Lorelai picked up the book and stared at the cover. Adam Bede. She'd never heard of it. There was a train ticket from New York to New Haven marking a page. Lorelai opened the book and saw that there was a passage underlined.

It's cowardly for me to keep away. I'll stand by her- I'll own her – for all she's been deceitful. They oughtn't cast her off – her own flesh and blood. We hand folks over to God's mercy, and show none ourselves. I used to be hard sometimes: I'll never be hard again.

Lorelai reread the passage several times, and with each time she read it, it became a little clearer why Jess had wanted her to see it. She was casting her daughter off, and he was standing beside her. He had changed, or at least was going to great lengths to make her think he'd changed. Lorelai shut the book with a sigh and went to do damage control for the scene she'd just caused.


"Hey." Jess said as he entered the diner.

Luke looked up at him, and then looked back down at the table he was wiping off. "Hey." He said. "Causing trouble?"

"Yeah. Went and saw Rory's mom." Jess said, sitting down.

"Was there screaming?" Luke asked, sitting down across from him.

Jess nodded. "Oh yeah."

Luke nodded. "She's good at the screaming."

Jess raised an eyebrow at his uncle, prompting Luke to exclaim, "I meant in arguments!"

Jess smirked and said, "I know what you meant. What's up with you two?"

Luke shrugged. "She asked for time to think. I'm giving it to her."

"Good call. I'm sorry about all this, Luke." Jess mumbled.

Luke sighed. "It's not your fault. Well, that's a lie. It is your fault, but I'm not mad at you. She shouldn't be reacting this way. She's so scared about the woman Rory's becoming that she's trying to pretend she's still a baby."

"I noticed. I like the woman she's becoming. She made a bad decision with Dean. People make bad decisions." Jess said.

Luke nodded. "They run to California without telling their girlfriends."

Jess smirked. "They get married on cruise ships."

Luke released a sigh and said, "Touché."

"We're not exactly relationship-savvy." Jess said. "Are we?"

Luke looked at his nephew with a small smile. "No, we're not. But we're learning."

Jess returned the smile. "Yeah. We are, aren't we?"


2nd A/N: Adam Bede is the work of George Eliot. I just want to say that the passage I used from Adam Bede happened to be on my Victorian Literature midterm. What does this teach us? Writing fanfiction will help get you through college.