The doorbell jingled and Jess' head shot up quickly but casually, trying desperately to feign calmness. At every jingle he would perform this charade in the hopes that he would appear to Rory a stoic being who was unaffected by their encounter the previous night. He was only kidding himself.

And indeed, Lorelai and Rory walked through the door just as Jess was finishing wiping down the counter for another set of customers. Rory's eyes locked with his while her mother was still talking energetically to her, unaware of what caught her daughter's eyes.

Lorelai sensed that Rory's attention was elsewhere when she delivered her punch line, which was met by no laughs from her daughter. She followed Rory's eyes to behind the counter...what could be so interesting about Luke today? A different colored cap? Only it wasn't Luke.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Lorelai asked Rory angrily, the volume of her voice catching the attention of other customers.

Rory gulped. "I...I'm not sure Mom, he never really explained that," she replied calming, trying to ease the situation as best as she could. She hated when the town people stared at her.

"What do you mean by that? You spoke to him? When? How come you never told me? What's going on?" Lorelai asked, now practically hysterical. Just when she thought her daughter was finally getting over the hurt and disappointment Jess inflicted onto her, he had to come back and screw everything up.

"I just saw him for a second last night. Look, Mom, if you want to talk to me about this, then let's go back home. We don't need the whole town as our audience," Rory said, trying to steer her mom out the door.

"No! I want answers, and if you can't give them to me, then James Dean over there will," Lorelai replied, striding right up to the counter and looking at Jess angrily.

Jess, like all the customers, had heard Lorelai's shock. But unlike the customers, Lorelai chose to shout it to the world while everyone else, even Miss Patty, only whispered about his return and the possible reasons why.

"Hello Miss Gilmore," Jess said respectfully though never taking his eyes off hers. "What are you doing here?" Lorelai asked straightforwardly. No banter, no ramble, no quips, nothing. Jess was grateful that there was about a foot and a half of granite counter between them; Lorelai might have strangled him if it wasn't there.

"I..."

"Cuz I really don't understand you. I tried, really I did. I thought I could trust you with Rory, trust you not to hurt her. But you did. You broke her wrist, then you dated her, and broke her heart! What right do you think you have to come and weasel your way back into town?" Lorelai was furious, and it honestly scared Jess.

He was silent.

"Answer me, God damn it! What? No sarcastic, one-word replies? Losing your touch, Jess? Are you finally realizing what a jerk you are? You come into town a complete wreck, cause Luke an enormous amount of pain, flirt with my daughter, which leads to her breakup with the best first boyfriend she could have asked for, neglect her like I neglect the front lawn when you two finally get together, and then ditch her with no phone call, no letter, not even a 'Sorry Rory, but I'm such a coward that I didn't even have the decency to tell you that I'm leaving to your face!' I can take you being an arrogant jerk to me, but I cannot stand here and let you hurt the people I love anymore. You're a lost cause."

Lorelai finished her rant to a silent diner. All eyes were on her, all voices quieted by what she had to say. Granted she loved attention, but this wasn't quite the attention she was aiming for.

"Nothing to say?" Lorelai asked Jess quietly, but sternly.

Jess looked down to the counter and then back at her. Everything she had said, no matter how harsh, was completely true.

"I..." Jess' voice trailed off. He was perfectly aware of what a complete bastard he had been to these people and this town, but he didn't need Lorelai restating it, in front of a whole crowd no less. No, he didn't need that. "You know what? Forget it, I'm the lost cause, right?" Jess asked angrily, but with an almost untraceable hint of sadness in his voice.

Lorelai didn't catch it, but Rory did. Jess walked around the counter, grabbed his jacket, and went out the door.

"Nothing's changed," Lorelai said as she and the other customers watched Jess leave.

"Lorelai, what's going on?" Luke asked, coming into the diner with a bag of groceries from Doose's. Lorelai was standing in front of a stool, red in the face, with Rory looking depressed a few feet behind her.

"Jess is back and you didn't bother telling me?" Lorelai asked accusingly.

Luke frowned. "He just came back last night."

"Oh, so you didn't think you should call me and say, 'Hey, Lorelai, don't come over today, the devil child is here.'?"

"You sleep in late and you probably would have fallen asleep again thinking it was some dream and come over anyway. Lorelai, really, I did think about telling you, and I was going to when you came in today. But then I realized we were out of peanut butter and Kirk wouldn't shut up about a peanut butter and banana sandwich," Luke explained.

"Soft bananas, please. Kat Kirk might have loosened one of my teeth," Kirk said from a nearby table. Luke ignored him.

Lorelai wasn't in the mood for a completely logical explanation. But she wasn't mad at Luke at all, she realized. "How could you take him back after acting like Good Will Hunting on crack before?" she asked him.

"He's family and he's grown up more now. I...I just can't give up on him," Luke replied honestly, taking the groceries to behind the counter and opening the peanut butter.

"Well, he ran out of here just like any other time. Didn't strike me as a really adult thing to do," she replied incredulously, purposely ignoring the fact that her shouting at him wasn't very mature either.

Luke knew better than to question her about what she could have possibly said to Jess to make him leave. "I'm sorry. Can I get you something to eat that'll harden your arteries?"

Lorelai smirked. "Chocolate chip pancakes with a side of bacon," she said, sitting at the counter in front of Luke. He sighed and mumbled something about dying at the age of forty from a heart attack. She swiveled around on the stool to call out behind her, "Rory, honey, what do you want?" But Rory wasn't there. She wasn't even in the diner anymore.

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Author's Note: Yay!! I got lots of reviews that made me happy! You guys are SO supportive, it makes writing so much more fun. Thanks for everything, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Jess needed a verbal beating, don't you think? Well, next chapter is what I'm sure many of you are looking forward to, more Rory/Jess interaction.

I had NO clue that they canceled Jess' spin-off show until some of the reviewers said so. I was shocked. I can't decide if this is a good or a bad thing. I like Jess the character on Gilmore Girls and felt that his departure was premature cuz they could have REALLY, REALLY extended the Rory/Jess relationship into a whole new area that would have brought new light to the good girl/bad boy relationship, but the writers didn't do that and instead made Jess out to be a jerk. Seeing him back on GG would be a bit weird, but I think that there's still attraction between him and Rory no matter what. I think Jess is THE ONE for Rory. Of course, I'm completely biased. =)

Anyway, if you read this entire AN, please review and let me know what you think about my story and about the cancellation of the spin-off...I'm really interested to know what all you guys think. Thanks!