A/N: This chapter's a little weak, I'll admit it. There is better coming: Logan, Rory, Emily Gilmore.

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Jess was completely oblivious to his uncle's maneuverings around the apartment, not that he lacked practice in it. Luke fried a few eggs and some bacon, left to get some orange juice and then 'accidentally' let the door slam behind him on the way back in. He clattered plates and silverware, but Jess was dead to the world. The pre-eminent sleeping pills he had taken the night before after scrubbing himself of dissolved patty melt and Rory in the shower guaranteed it.

Eventually, however, Luke decided that at 10am, Jess had presumably recieved enough sleep and that waking him up for cold eggs was probably not going to win him any favors. He attempted several types to rouse his nephew, but the most successful attempt resulted in a tortured groan and Jess burying his face in his pillow deep enough to suffocate himself.

That was until Luke pulled out the classic pitcher of ice water.

"Rise and shine! We have to be in Hartford at noon to make sure your tux fits and I know how long it takes for you to do your hair."

Jess, impressively, brainstormed several forms of medieval torture even in his unwake state but had neither the will or mental capacity to execute them. So, instead, he plopped his face back down into the pool of water and ice that had manifested itself in his pillow. As this resulted in him nearly drowning, he resolved instead to throw the soaking pillow at Luke. He missed, but he rolled off the bed, with a thump on the floor, anyway.

"Good morning, sunshine!" quipped Luke sarcastically. This elicited only a sneer from Jess who practically crawled into the shower. An hour and a half later, he was eating cold eggs and bacon with lukewarm orange juice, desperately trying to focus on each individual task involved in eating. Scoop eggs. Bring fork to mouth. Chew. Chew. Chew. Swallow. Lower spoon. Rory. Scoop eggs. Mena. Bring fork to mouth. Dean. Chew. Chew. Chew like a dog gnawing on Dean's mangled...Swallow.

The ride to Hartford started quietly after Luke commented that Jess looked hungover. No, Jess informed him. This town just drove him crazy. It wore him out. Luke seemed to buy it, at least enough to keep the reggae down and refrain from chatting about the weather. Jess might have appreciated it if it hadn't left him alone with his thoughts, so he was conversation starter twenty minutes into town.

"I'm happy for you, Luke," Jess offered to break the silence. "I don't really understand why you'd want to marry into the Gilmore circus, but if that's what you want, I'm happy that you've finally got it."

"You've not done so bad yourself. Last night at the Twickham House, your mother dropped by. She was so excited to hear about how great you were doing that she wanted to come right over to the diner and hear about it herself. I told her to wait, so that you could see her house and have a few moments of sanity before this town started to sink in. I know how much you hate it here." Luke cleared his throat, pausing a moment before suggesting, "Maybe you should go see her this evening?"

Jess shrugged indifferently, channeling his adolescence. "I'll see her when I'm ready for it. If I go over too soon before I leave, she'll think it's okay to drop by a million times with TJ, and I'm not sure I can handle not punching that guy in the nose everytime he walks into the room."

Luke gave a short laugh and looked fondly at his nephew. "Yea, I understand that. Just don't skip out on her before the family dinner or else you'll be recieving TJ commentary with all Liz's personal questions."

Waving his hand indifferently, forgetting that he started the conversation for a reason, Jess dismissed it. "Yea, yea, I'll do it. No need to threaten me."

A few more moments of silence brought a few more thoughts of Rory. A few more than he could take, incidentally. Sure, stealing a boat and having an affair were pretty hefty things, but would Lorelei really shut her kid out for that? No, Jess decided, There had to be more than that. And Luke would help him get to the bottom of it.

"I heard a few interesting things about Rory last night."

"Jess, really- you don't want to get involved in this."

"No, I'm already involved. Is she still with Dean?"

Luke tilted his neck to the side and popped it, before conceding to the question. "No, they didn't last very long," he started simply, and then quickly developed an increasingly ranting tone, "She's dating this Huntzberger guy now. The guy is a real piece of work from what Lorelei tells me. His dad is this huge newspaper mogul, and he said that Rory didn't "have it" to be a journalist so Rory ran off and stole a boat with Logan and then dropped out of Yale! Now she's living in her Gilmore's poolhouse, and Lorelei and Rory aren't speaking about it, and she might not even show up for her own mother's wedding! It's insane! That kid has done something to her. I mean, the Dean thing was bad, really bad, but she and her mother could get over it! Not with this klepto Huntzberger character, though, I'm convinced he has a hand in it and things aren't not going to be okay until someone talks some sense into that kid and Huntzberger leaves! But no, Emily and Richard Gilmore love the Huntzbergers. Sycophants!" Luke had clenched his fingers around the wheel so tight his knuckles made aspirin look tan. He exhaled loudly and tried to relax, but it was a few minutes before the color returned to his knuckles.

Jess stared at his uncle during his tirade, sorry to have brought it up until Luke practically spit "sycophant." He wouldn't dare laugh at a man who held his life in his hands while he was in such an unstable state, though. No, he'd just cough a snicker and absorb everything Luke had said.

The last 30 minutes to Hartford were still as death, each man occupied in himself. When they finally reached the 'boutique' Lorelei had picked out for them, Luke apologized for his explosion. Jess was quiet though, shoving his hands in his pockets and shrugging it off. He really had too much time to think lately. Why didn't he think to bring a book? Dante's Inferno seemed appropriate.

"Like I said, Jess," his uncle continued, "You really don't want to be involved. Between the wedding and my family and her family...Just do yourself a favor and stay out of it. Better yet, be my best man?"

Jess rocked back on his heels and nodded. "Yea, sure, just don't try to hug me."