Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing. Accept it. I've learned to.

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. Keep them coming!

Selina: Thanks so much for all the reviews! You completely made my day.

Also, I recieved a couple of people who commented on Lorelai making it seem like Jess forced himself on Rory.I was trying to put her in the defensive mother role right there, while still keeping her 'Lorelai-ness' I personally don't think that Jess did anything wrong, but you know that Lorelai would see it differently.

I really like this chapter. I hope y'all do too.

OK, that's it. Review and more importantly, enjoy!

Chapter 3

"Hey." Rory said, sitting down next to Jess on a bench.

Jess looked up from his book. "Hey."

Rory leaned in for a kiss and was met with a light brush of Jess's lips against hers. "What are you reading?" Rory asked.

Jess closed the book and extended the book to show Rory the cover.

"Salinger." Rory said with an approving nod. A thoughtful look crossed her face and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"What?" Jess demanded, retracting his hand quickly as if he'd been burned.

"You're rereading." Rory said; her eyes still on the book. "You only reread when you're upset."

"Great observation, Encyclopedia Brown." Jess snapped, opening the book again and looking down at the page.

"Encyclopedia Brown?" Rory said, tilting her head to the side.

"Boy detective. Star of his own children's book series." Jess mumbled, sounding annoyed.

Rory rolled her eyes. "I'm completely aware of the context. It was just a strange reference coming from you. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Jess said, staring hard at the page.

"Jess…?" Rory said. She received no answer and touched Jess's arm. "Hey. I thought things were going to be different now."

Jess sighed deeply and closed the book again. He looked over at Rory and stared intently at her, saying nothing.

"You know, what with us being in love and all." Rory said, feeling ridiculous. "Forget it. I don't know what I was thinking."

Rory stood up and looked around quickly for a destination. She decided to just go home and quickly hurried in that in direction. She crossed her arms over her chest and fought back tears. She had been a fool to believe things would be different now that they had said that they were in love. She had been naïve enough to believe that now Jess would be willing to open up to her. She had expected that he'd be able to change overnight. She'd been expecting miracles, and she really should've known better.

"Rory!" Jess called, causing her to turn around. He tucked his book into his back pocket and walked towards her.

Rory stood there, watching him approach her. His face showed no emotion, as usual. He came up to her and put a hand on either side of her face. Rory dropped her hands to her sides and allowed Jess to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his waist as the kiss became more passionate.

Rory pulled away from him and brought a hand to his cheek. "You do know how to make an apology, don't you?"

Jess smirked tightly and pulled her to him. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you." He whispered against her ear.

Rory smiled widely against his shoulder. He'd said it first this time. She hadn't said it first. He really meant it. He loved her.

"I love you too." She said, clinging to him.

Jess pulled away and held her at arm's length. "You know me. You know this whole talking thing isn't my thing." He said. His tone was chiding, yet soft.

"I know, but-." Rory started, but Jess cut her off.

"No. Listen, Rory. I've got some stuff I'm going through. If I want to talk, I know I can. But I don't want to talk about all this. Not yet."

Rory frowned, feeling hurt. "I want you to be able to talk to me."

Jess sighed, frustrated. "I know, but I just…can't."

Rory stood on her tiptoes and rested her forehead against his. "You know that I'm here if you need me though, right?" She whispered.

"Yeah." Jess said, pulling away from her. He slung an arm casually around her shoulders and said, "I'm gonna have to cancel our date tonight. We'll watch the movie tomorrow, OK?"

Rory thought about asking why he was canceling their date, but knew better than to push the issue, especially after the conversation they'd just had. "Alright, but you owe me."

The two started walking down the sidewalk and Jess said, "Oh yeah. What do I owe you?"

Rory tilted her head in thought and said, "Hmm…Two Brontes and a volume of Gerard Manley Hopkins's poetry."

Jess shook his head. "No way. I'll give you one Bronte, and I get to pick which one."

"Fine." Rory said, smiling. "But the Hopkins is nonnegotiable."

"Deal." Jess said as they stopped in front of the diner.

Rory smiled at him and pulled him in for a kiss. They stood locked in their passionate embrace for a few moments before they pulled apart.

"Love you." Rory said, looking up at him sweetly.

"Yeah," Jess said as he turned away. "Love you too."

As Rory walked away, Jess shook his head sadly. He didn't have time to dwell though. He had someone to go see.

Jess looked at the door for a very long time. He wiped beads of nervous sweat from his forehead and rubbed his sweating palms against the legs of his jeans. He took a deep, shuddering breath in a failed attempt to calm himself. He reached into his back pocket and retrieved the wallet. He raised his fist and knocked loudly three times.

The motel room door swung open and the man from the diner looked at Jess with shock and fear on his features. He brought his hand up and scratched his dark hair. "Umm, hey."

Jess held up the wallet and said, "You left this at the diner." He tossed it in the air, and Jimmy caught it in the air.

"Oh, good." Jimmy said. "I'd hate to lose that driver's license. Great picture of me. It's so rare to take a good driver's license picture. I think this might have been my first good driver's license picture ever. Once it expires, I think I'll get a frame for it and hang it on the wall." He looked at Jess and stepped back into the room. "Do you want to come in?"

Jess nodded and stepped past Jimmy into the small motel room. The bed was unmade and there was a half-empty suitcase laying on it. The radio was on, and a classic David Bowie song was blaring through the speakers. "So, did you intend to say anything to me other than 'More coffee'?"

"Like, 'I'm your father.'?" Jimmy asked nervously.

"That might've been a good start." Jess said, sitting on the bed.

"Ok." Jimmy said, sitting next to him. "I'm your father."

The two sat in silence, listening to Suffragette City on the radio.

"Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am." The two sang the line softly in unison, then looked at each other in shock.

"So were you going to tell me?" Jess demanded, his voice taking on a harsher tone. "Or were you just going to pack up and leave? You seem to be good at that. Not that I'd know personally, as I was only about three days old the first time."

"Nine days old." Jimmy corrected. "You didn't leave the hospital till you were nine days old. You had a breathing problem they wanted to monitor, and I didn't want to leave until I knew you were going to be OK."

Jess stared blankly at Jimmy before a scowl overtook his blank face. "Wow. I can't believe you just said that."

Jimmy shrugged. "Then after I realized you were going to be fine, I panicked. I absolutely freaked. I went out to buy diapers, said I'd meet you, your mom, and your Uncle Luke back at the apartment. I never came back."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that one out when I turned five and still didn't have those diapers, or my father."

"I would've been a lousy dad." Jimmy said.

Jess smirked, but there was absolutely no humor behind it. "Are you really gonna go with that excuse?" After the words were out of his mouth, Jess recognized the words as Luke's, but didn't let it faze him.

Jimmy shrugged. "It's true."

"What are you doing here?" Jess asked, finally getting to the point.

Jimmy stood and paced the room, looking awkward and uncomfortable. "I was passing through town."

"From where?"

"California." Jimmy said with a small smile.

"What are you doing here, Jimmy?" Jess repeated the question, using his father's name for the first time.

Jimmy sighed and stopped pacing. He ran a hand over his hair again and said, "I wanted to see you."

"It's been 18 years. Why now?" Jess demanded.

Jimmy shrugged. "I was thinking about you and-."

Jess cut him off. "Well I wasn't thinking about you. I gave up wanting my daddy when I was about five."

Jimmy nodded. "I deserve that."

"You deserve a whole lot more than that!" Jess exclaimed, finally getting mad. "What did you think was going to happen? You were going to show up and we'd be father and son and everything would be cool? I'd pack up and move to California and we could be a family, find out we have a lot in common and become best friends? Go to Hell because it ain't gonna happen!"

"What do you want from me? I'm a screw up!" Jimmy yelled back. "What else do you want me to say? I won't apologize! It's who I am! I came here to see you and maybe let you know that you do have a father out there. Maybe he is just a screw up, but he's out there and he was thinking about you! Maybe I was wrong in coming here, but that wouldn't be a change from most of my life!"

The two men looked at each other, the fight going out of both of them. They stared at each other for a long time before either of them spoke.

"Maybe we're more alike than I thought." Jess said; his hands balled into fists at his sides and his tone still angry.

"In which case, I'm very sorry for you." Jimmy said, smirking.

The curtain of awkward silence fell back over both men. They stood there, avoiding eye contact and breathing heavily with their nervousness.

"So," Jimmy said, sitting back down. "You like Bowie."

Jess looked at him for a moment, and then he sat down as well. "Yeah. I like Bowie."

Luke walked into his apartment and threw his keys down on the table next to the answering machine. The red light was blinking, indicating new messages. Luke pressed the button and walked into the kitchen to get a bottle of water.

"Mr. Danes, this is Mr. Sloane from the bank. We have a brief question about your newbusiness arrangement with Taylor Doose, and we'd appreciate it if you could get back to us as soon as possible."

Luke walked back over to the machine, taking a long gulp of his water.

"My name is Julia and I'm calling on behalf of Stars Hollow High School."

"Oh God, what now?" Luke said to himself, taking another drink of his water.

"Now that the withdrawal process is complete for Jess Mariano, we need someone to come down to the school and clean outhis locker. If his possessions aren't cleaned out by the end of the week, they'll be disposed of appropriately. Thank you."

Luke was no longer drinking his water. It was all over the wall from him spitting it out at the sound of the secretary's voice. Luke shook his head violently as he went into the kitchen for a rag. Like it or not, he and Jess were going to have a long talk when he got back, and it was probably going to end badly.