A/N: I apologize ahead of time for any typos, I just really wanted to get this up because I won't have any time to tommorow. Plus, it really is mean for you to have wait to find out that all your hopes and dreams for this dinner are false, because even though I warned you in Ch. 1 that Rory wasn't going to be there, you still kept on hoping...Or am I being facetious?
Jess swallowed hard, but didn't let his distress let on as Lorelei spent longer and longer in a foyer just far enough away that no semblance of noise could be heard. He let his plate collect food as long as dishes were going around, but once they stopped, he had no appetite, and would have none until the identites of the final guests were known. This, however, was unlikely to be appetizing news in any case. Lane and Zach would confirm his worst suspicions about Rory. Logan, however, would almost inevitably accompany Rory, and that was in no way conducive to consuming even Sookie's food, either.
He pushed the food around on his plate and took a few bites as Sookie, if anyone, would notice if he wasn't eating. The experience of it, though, was nauseating and he glanced at Sookie to see if she were in any position to notice. She, however, seemed just as anxious as him to find out who their guests were, and upon closer inspection, so did everyone else at the table except the oblivious TJ. He set his fork down and affixed his glass to his hand, attempting to be sly in his nearly constant glance towards the hallway.
Eventually, soft footsteps against the hardwood flooring could be just barely heard over the noise of TJ chewing. Jess caught Sookie fish something out of from underneath the tablecloth but before he had time to question it, the first voice was heard.
"This is a lovely home you have, Ms. Gilmore." It was a male voice, familiar, and definitely not Zach's. The sound caused Sookie to back out of her seat quickly, snatch up the Lane and Zach cards and quickly replace them with Rory and Logan, respectively. Jess stopped remembering to breathe.
And then they came in. Lorelei, her face plastered with a fake, tense smile, followed by Rory with a similiar expression, and then Logan, hands nested firmly in his pockets bearing a grin Jess might have had the notion to slap off had he noticed anything but Rory after she entered the room.
Every bone in Jess' body ached just looking at her. It was easy enough to distance himself emotionally and intellectually when he was physically apart from her, but now, with her standing there...His pulse raced. His bones screamed longing. The jealousy lit up his eyes. The anger fueled the passion.
But if she had seen him, she didn't acknowledge it.
"Rory, everyone, and her company, Logan." Lorelei introduced. She went around the table, naming each of the other guests before directing them to their seats.
The situation could not have been manufactured more poorly. There was no way he could avoid her. The table was just big enough to hold all nine chairs as long as the a persons' neighbors were unafraid to rub shoulders with them. He would have to pass her bowls, butter dishes and rolls. He didn't have to look at her, but her presence would be inescapable. The only thing remotely comforting about the situation was that Logan was now sitting next to TJ.
The table was quiet except for a few requests for the passage of food so that Logan and Rory could fill their plates. Most of them, fortunately, passed through TJ, who had a comment for everything that travelled through his hands.
"Ma'am," Logan indicated to Lorelei, "could you please send the rolls this way? My compliments to the chef-" he delivered that saccharine smile that just begged for a bloody lip, "They're wonderful."
Sookie giggled and matched his smile, "Thank you, Logan! My secret is just a little bit of sugar and to mix them very lightly. It keeps them from becoming too gelantinous." If Jess' appetite could have been any worse, the "gelantinous" comment might have sent it down the spiral just a little more.
The basket reached TJ's hands and he held it out for Logan to take his roll from it, "I wish my old lady could cook like that one. Not that she can't cook, her food is edible most days, unlike my last wife. Have you ever been married? I've been married three times. The first lady, she could cook alright, a lot like Liz here, but she was insane. A complete whackjob. The second woman was a nut too. She liked to hit the booze, if you know what I mean, and she couldn't boil water to save her life- not that I know how to either, but she's a woman, you know? None of them, though, are as great as my Lizzie. She's the best in bed too."
Logan chuckled goodnaturedly as Luke and Jess both dropped their forks with a clatter onto their plates. Jess spoke up first, "Geez, man! That's my mother!"
"I'm just telling it like it is, kid." TJ shrugged.
The conversation continued stop and go in short, uncomfortable bursts for half an hour when Sookie finally spoke up. It was a sudden, sound-shatter, "Ohh! I almost forgot!" before she shuffled out of the room and came back with what looked to be a photo album.
"Since this is a family dinner, I thought I'd present this to all of you, even though Jackson and I are here and we're really not family. But anyway, for you all." She held the book out for Lorelei to take, who couldn't contain the curiousity written on her face. "It's a photo album of all you. There are a bunch of baby pictures, wedding photos and some other momentos from crazy happenings.
Lorelei sat with the book in her lap and Luke watched over her shoulder as she flipped through it, pointing and commenting only to him at various points. Pointing and commenting until she erupted it riotous laughter. "No way, Liz, did baby Jess have a mohawk!"
Rory couldn't seem to resist this either and piped up, "I want to see!" to which Lorelei, without hesitation, agreed to and displayed the picture to the entire table.
Liz laughed from the bottom of her stomach. "Oh, Jessie, you don't remember that? You must have been four. I can't believe you put that in there, Sookie!"
"How could she not," Luke commented in his gruff voice, "It's proof Jess was a punk, even back then."
"Ha.Ha. Give me that," Jess half-demanded, and Lorelei, already on the last page, passed it over the table to him. He stared down at the picture of himself, half-amused.
"Oh! Oh! It was Crazy Bill!" his mother recalled.
"The crack dealer?" Jess inquired, incredulous that he would let that dirty, old man touch him.
"Yea, yea, him. He used to come over on Sundays, don't you remember? Ten years this guy would drop by, every Sunday. He's the one who gave Jess the mohawk."
Jess gave a little shudder and continued to flip through the album, overly conscious of the fact that Rory was looking over the shoulder. Two pages later, entitled "FIASCOS," was the chalk outline of the "dead" body he had drawn outside of Doosie's and then perimettered with the crime scene tape.
Rory reached her finger down to the picture, spotting it at the same time he did, and spoke up. "How'd you get the picture of the crime scene? That looks like a police photo."
"Oh! It is," Sookie giggled, "I was hunting around town for those last few pages, and Kirk said he might be of some assistance. Apparently, he was taking photos for the police department awhile, and that one was in his "portfolio." There are pictures from the protest, too, on the next page! And Jess' car!"
"Devil-egged?" Rory asked innocently, to which her mother responded with a giggle.
"I knew it!" Jess looked up at her and made eye-contact. It was disorienating, but aware that the volume of his voice had already drawn attention to him, he proceeded with his accusation as soon as he realized he was hesitating. "You two did it! No one else would have been that juvenile!"
"Who, us?" Lorelei batted her eyelashes and feigned inculpable. "We would never do such a thing."
"You devil-egged someone's car, Ace? I never would have thought you had it in you."
"Don't look at me. I didn't do it!"
"Oh yea," Jess' voice had adopted playful, mock hostility, "Then how did you know the eggs were cooked, let alone devilled? I didn't want to get within 100 feet of that car, it smelled so bad! You did it! Give it up, Gilmore."
Rory coyly pushed the food around on her plate, directing a conspiratorial glance to her partner in crime and then a warm smile towards Jess. His breath caught in the back of his throat, something he forced himself to quickly swallow so that he could return the smile.
"Let me see that," she requested, and Jess slid the book over to her. The light contact of their fingers was maddening.
She flipped to the front, revealing pages he had yet to see and set the book, like Jess had done, in her lap so that Logan could see it also. Through the front were various pictures of Luke and Lorelei, a page of her grandparents, and photos from Rory's childhood. Logan and Rory bantered about pictures of tu-tus and glittery, fairy wings that Rory and Jess had long since been over.
The awkwardness, as a result, was quick to return, especially when the "couples" pages appeared. One for Rory, divided in half with assorted pictures of Dean on top, and a "to-be filled" post-it note and a photo of Rory dancing in a suit with Logan.
The next page was devoted entirely to the two of them. The implications were something even Logan could probably see, and Jess thought now might be the time to make his exit, but Rory wouldn't have it.
"I didn't know anyone took pictures at the dance marathon," she said to Sookie and traced her finger over a picture of her and Dean. She was half asleep in her arms, her face twisted into a determined ramble.
Jackson retorted, almost a little bitter, "Those are twenty-four hours I'd like to forget."
Sookie looked nervously at her husband and gave an anxious giggle. "Oh, stop it, Jackson. Everything worked out fine."
"For you! I'm the one with who had the scissors taken to me."
Lorelei smiled at the pair and squeezed Luke's arm. She whispered something into his ear that caused him to smile, and then she addressed the table. "But Luke fixed my shoe, and even though Kirk won, I still found the opportunity to steal his trophy." The grin on her face was perversely naughty and completely unsuitable for anyone's mother.
"And Rory stopped playing mind games, at least for that occasion." Jess added. The words fell out of his mouth, and he wished there were some way to shove them back in. He regretted the comment before he finished speaking it. Fortunately, it was just audible enough for his immediate neighbors to hear.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rory whispered angrily to him.
"You heard me," Jess bit. Truthfully, the comment was out of line. He was probably blowing the Dean thing out of proportion, but the confrontation was there, and he wasn't about to back down. "Look, we're not going to have this out here. If you want to fight, we'll take this outside."
"You will not dictate what I will and will not do." The volume of Rory's voice escalated, attracting Logan's suspicious attention. "If you have something to say to me, this is just as good of a place as any."
"No, it's not," Jess matched her tone, "This is not about you, Rory. This is about your mother and Luke, and there is enough tension in the room because of you. I am not going to add to it. If you really want to get into it, we'll go outside, but right now we're going to eat and be pleasant."
"Oh, aren't you full of it, making a comment like that and then speaking down to me like you're not going to add to tension that's "all my fault." Fine, we'll take it outside. Right now!"
Rory backed out of her seat and stood up, waiting for him to do the same. Jess stared at her like she was the dumbest person alive, "What, now? In the middle of dinner? For all the fuss your grandparents make about manners and polish, you obviously haven't acquired any!"
By now, the whole table was watching, but Jess couldn't have really cared less until Logan felt the need to add his two cents. "Hey, I don't like the way you're talking to her."
"This is none of your business," Jess snapped at him and the pushed himself out of his own chair. "Let's go!" he commanded, and the pair stormed out, with a quickly apology to Logan from Rory, silent and steaming all the way to the backyard.