A/N: These next three are for the reviewers, because they should be dedicated to someone. They're each a little short, but I felt like there should be chapter breaks. Anyway, enjoy!

It was four o'clock the next afternoon before Jess woke up, but he had an ominous pulling in his gut that even that 12+ hours of sleep he had received weren't going to prepare him to deal with a hell of a family dinner at the Twickham House. Everything about the situation screamed conflict and Jess was in no hurry to participate after a marathon of mothers and the late-night diner scene the night before.

Jess showed up at exactly six, expecting to have nothing more to do than sit down in his designated seat, eat silently and try to endure TJ for about an hour and a half before he could be reasonably excused. The women, of course, had other plans and he was designated to set the table. It was a simple enough task intially: one plate, one fork, one knife, one glass, one napkin for each of the nine guests, of which he immediately identified the seven. Lorelei changed her mind, seeing the table, though, and hand him pull out four forks, two knives, three spoons, two glasses, and three plates, and two bowls for each person. Not only did he have to engineer for them all to fit, but they all had to fit in the way Lorelei designated. By the time Sookie started to bring out dishes, it was too much, and Lorelei had him put the majority of it away.

Luke, however, had the delightful task of "fixing" a chair that didn't appear broken. Jackson stood around in the kitchen and pretended to be helping with the vegetables, and TJ was so useless that no one expected him to do anything more than stand around a be a nuisance, of which he was one, of the supreme order, to Jess, the entirety of the table fiasco. For lack of a better word, he felt like a neophyte.

Jess excused himself from the dining room when Liz and Lorelei came in to discuss the arrangement of the dishes and the centerpieces. Following the sound of a television, he managed to find the living room and Luke, who had since finished "fixing his chair." The women and TJ could still be heard in the background, but relatively speaking, it was a moment of peace, and the only one he expected to get for the rest of the night.

"Sorry, Jess. I really thought they were going to have dinner on the table at six or I would have warned you not to come until seven," his uncle offered without glancing away from the baseball game on the television screen.

Jess gave a one shouldered shrug and leaned heavily on the far arm of the couch, not that interested in the baseball. "I've learned my lesson." There was a pause, filled by the sports announcer and a half-intelligable conversation about whether to put all three types of potatoes on one part of the table, or spread them out. "Who is coming tonight?" he asked hesitantly, "Lorelei had me set out nine plates."

"The seven of us, and Lane and Zach, although Lorelei said that they might not make it. Apparently there's something with the band and Mrs. Kim."

"Lane and Zach? I thought this was a family dinner."

"Lorelei rambled something about her knowing Lane from the time she was two and needing to feed starving artists..." Luke shrugged himself, still staring at the screen.

The answer didn't satisfy Jess. From what Luke had told him previously, Rory's appearance would be just as ambiguous as Lane's, and yet Lorelei has a place set for the latter, and not her own daughter? He wasn't going to pretend he understood the current dynamic between the mother and daughter, but nothing about the way it was being handled at dinner seemed correct. Aside from this, though, Jess wasn't going to give two thoughts to Rory. He convinced himself that he was ambivalent about her arrival, although, he hoped for the sake of everyone that she would come, and be the Rory everyone loved. If he take a few days out of his life for Luke, Rory could swallow her pride for her mother. Self-righteous, Mariano? he chided himself after the thought, but immediately tossed it away.

At about fifteen until seven, everyone was called in to sit around the table. It was circular and formally decorated with white iris centerpieces and black napkins below clear, glass plates. Sookie had arranged everyone in (mostly) boy-girl order, so he had Lane to his left, followed by Zach, TJ, Liz, Luke, Lorelei, Jackson and then back to Sookie, who was on his right. Cleverly arranged, if Lane and Zach were going to show up. He could talk music with Lane and Zach while the rest of the family chatted about the Inn or Liz's tour on the Renn Fair circuit.

The tapping of a fork on a glass focused their attention when they all finally settled into their designated seats. It was Liz, standing and raising her glass. "It felt like an occasion to toast- To my brother, for finding his personal Holy Grail, to Lorelei for making my brother incomprably happy, to two families joining together, and to Sookie for preparing this beautiful meal for us to unite together with."

Each person lifted their glasses to toast and had their drink before the three types of potatoes, two types of chicken, the ham, and assorted vegetables began circulating. They had just begun to fill their plates when the doorbell rang.

Jess' heart skipped a beat.

Lorelei excused herself to answer the door.