A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter 14! Read, review, and have a great day!

***For those that skipped chapter 13, the summary is the following paragraph***

Rory reveals to Jess that she and Dean had an affair, beginning a week after Jess came to Rory's dorm to ask her to leave with him. She had originally kept it a secret, and Jess gets hurt and upset, resulting in an argument. Jess leaves the apartment to cool down, and once he comes back he and Rory have a discussion. Rory apologizes for hiding the information, and it comes out that Dean manipulated her into the affair. Rory and Jess make up the next morning, promising that they've made it through their first fight stronger than before.

Chapter 14

Rory was exhausted after the past four days. She'd experienced every high and low imaginable in such a short amount of time and wasn't exactly looking forward to returning to her apartment and dealing with an angry Paris, but at least she had an apartment. For that she was grateful. When she arrived home, she found Paris's anger was a silent treatment kind of anger instead of a yelling and raging kind of anger. For this, she was even more grateful. Paris shuffled around the apartment with a scowl on her face, pretending that Rory didn't exist. As much as she would like to be on good terms with Paris, she didn't have the energy to try to mend things that night. Instead, she spent her evening in her room, moving her things back into their places and doing some reading for her classes that week. She was getting ready for bed when Lorelai called.

"Hey, Mom," she answered unenthusiastically.

"Uh oh, that was not a happy 'hey mom'. What's up, babe?"

"It's nothing." She didn't feel like discussing her fight at that moment.

"Rory, come on."

Rory sighed. "Jess and I had a fight last night. It was big, there was yelling, but we're okay now. I'm just tired."

"Aw, kid. I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. Seriously, mom. Jess and I talked it through this morning. We came to an understanding, apologized to each other, and made it to the other side. We're good."

Lorelai paused. "Wow."

"What?"

"Nothing, just… you told me he had grown up. I guess I just didn't really believe it. But he and I had a little chat the other day…"

"Yeah, he mentioned that."

"… and there's no breakup or tears because he left after the first sign of a problem. Kid's gotten a lot better at communication since he was 17."

Rory was already on edge, and her mother was still expecting the worst of Jess only frustrated her further. "Well, yeah, Mom. I told you that. Neither of us are the people we used to be. I feel like I've said that a lot since he and I started dating again," she snipped.

"Whoa, hey, okay. I'm just saying, I'm glad he's grown up."

"We've both grown up. We're both adults, we've learned a lot. God, he wasn't evil incarnate in high school." She was growing more annoyed by the second.

"Rory…"

"We hurt each other. Both of us. It wasn't just him. We didn't know any better back then. But we're different now, we're adults and we're handling our relationship like adults and we have been since we started dating. All this time you've just been playing the part of the supportive mom when really you still had just as little faith in us, in him, as you did when we were teenagers. God, I can't believe how stubborn you're being about this! But gee, Mom, I'm glad you finally caught up with the program."

"Hey, that's enough!" Lorelai's voice was stern with a twinge of hurt.

"I have to go. I have an early class tomorrow, bye." She hung up without waiting for a response. She flung her cellphone on her bed and ran her hand over her face. She hated fighting with her mom, but she thought Lorelai was on board when she had been lying for months. She knew she needed to apologize, that the things she had said were said too harshly, but she was angry. Jess had been proving himself repeatedly throughout the past few months. He was sticking around, they were working through their problems, and she had been telling her mother this. It hurt to think that Lorelai hadn't actually believed her, that she was still waiting for Jess to bolt at the drop of a hat. She went to bed angry and hurt and tired of arguing with the ones that meant the most to her.

Rory spent most of the night tossing and turning and not getting much sleep. When she finally decided to just get up the next morning, the sinking feeling that had kept her up stuck with her. The pain of separation with her mother was still fresh and the thought of fighting with her again filled Rory with anxiety. She went about her morning classes with minimum focus on the content and more on how to resolve things with Lorelai.

She made it through the day, and she settled down on the couch in an on-campus café to get some work done. But before tackling her assignments, she called Lorelai. She cringed at the terse tone in her mother's voice as she answered the phone.

"Hey, kid."

"Hey, mom…"

They sat in awkward silence.

"Did you need something, Rory? Because I'm at work and the inn is crazy…"

"I'm sorry. You couldn't have known this, but a lot of what you were saying just hit a nerve that was still raw from my fight with Jess. But I was mean, and though the sentiment still applies, I could have been nicer about it. I'm sorry." The line was still quiet. "Mom?"

"Thanks, kid. And I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you said Jess had grown up. I believe you now, for what it's worth."

Rory smiled to herself. "Thanks, mom."

"Can we please not fight for a very, very long time now?"

"Oh, I am so beyond okay with that. I'm sick of fighting with the people I love."

Rory heard Lorelai gasp quietly. "Love?"

"Yes, mom, I love you. I'm surprised you didn't know that after 21 years of you being my mother. Do I not say it enough?" she teased.

"Har har. Know that a career as a comedian is not in your future. When I questioned the 'love' I meant, Jess, obviously."

"Well then, yes, love. We love each other, mom."

"And you've both said it?" Lorelai asked, still a little dubious of Jess's communication skills.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mom, multiple times."

"Wow, babe. You guys really have grown up." Rory could hear the smile in her mom's wistful voice.

"Yeah," she replied with a smile of her own. "We have."

"Okay, we need to change subjects before someone starts crying."

"Yes please. Why'd you call yesterday?"

"Oh, you mean before you yelled at me?"

"Mom…"

"Sorry, had to milk it a little. I called because I wanted to see if you had plans Friday."

Rory thought a moment. "No, I'm free. What's up? Shopping spree? Midnight movie?"

"Nope."

"Okay, then what?"

"We're going to Friday Night Dinner!" Lorelai said with far too much forced enthusiasm.

Rory's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Well, your grandfather called again."

"And you answered?" she shrieked.

"I was distracted! Paul Anka had done something weird with my scarves…"

"Sure."

"… and I was in the process of cleaning them up when the phone rang, and I answered without looking."

"Rookie mistake!" she chastised.

"I know! But when he started asking questions about the money and Yale, I couldn't fend him off. He is very persistent, your grandfather."

"How come he's 'my grandfather' when he's being annoying?"

"Hush. All of this comes down to I had to tell him Chris is paying for Yale."

"Mom!" Rory couldn't believe it.

"Hey, why are you upset? I thought you didn't want to have to deal with it!"

"Oh. But wait, why do I have to go to Friday night dinner?" she wined.

"Well, grandpa wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of your dad taking over tuition payments."

"And to that I say 'duh'."

"Let me finish! Goodness, child, asking all the questions and not letting me finish. Grandpa wasn't happy, and rather than let this grow and grow until it explodes, I figure we should sit them down and explain. Hence, Friday night dinner."

Rory frowned.

"Rory?" Lorelai asked into the silence on the line.

"What does Grandma have to say about all this?"

Lorelai reassumed her fake enthusiasm. "She's pumped!"

"Pumped?" Rory asked, disbelieving. "I have never once heard Grandma be 'pumped' about something."

"Oh, yeah, she's super pumped."

"Can we stop saying pumped?"

"Yes."

"So, Grandma's exact words were…"

"Well, she wasn't pumped, necessarily…"

"Ha!"

"… but she wasn't angry at the idea. She seemed very neutral."

"Grandma's never neutral on anything. She has an opinion on how big the holes in a lace doily should be."

"I'm pretty sure that's Emily Post speaking, not Emily Gilmore."

"Still, you get my drift."

"Okay, fine, I admit, she didn't sound thrilled. But, at least she wasn't angry."

"Yet."

"Rory!"

"Sorry." Rory took a deep breath. "So. I guess I'll see you Friday night?"

"See you Friday night, kid." The evil grin was evident in Lorelai's voice.

Rory groaned and slid down in her seat. This was going to be a disaster.

Despite Rory's wishes, Friday night arrived. That night, Rory would be seeing her grandparents for the first time since she left without telling them. For the first time since she had replaced them as her source of payment for college. For the first time since she had broken up with Logan, who, in their eyes, was the golden child. The perfect mate. They ran in the same circles as the Huntzbergers, there was no way they didn't know already. But what they for sure didn't know was that Rory had a new boyfriend. A new-old boyfriend, that is. One that Emily certainly didn't approve of.

Rory and Lorelai stood outside the Gilmore residence, staring down the daunting door. Rory felt a little nauseated. Her face apparently showed it because Lorelai was looking at her with a concerned expression when she extricated herself from the thoughts on a spin cycle in her mind.

"I don't think I can do this."

"Now, come on, Rory, you've rang plenty of doorbells before."

Rory shot her mother a glare.

"Okay, sorry, you're right, not a joking matter. But just think, we go in, we get drinks, we sit them down for the explanation, we eat something fancy and weird, and we go home."

"Yeah…" Rory had a feeling it wasn't going to be as simple as her mother made it seem.

"Once more with feeling."

"Yeah," Rory said quietly.

"Okay, maybe a little more feeling."

"Mom."

"Okay, here we go, pretty sound," Lorelai mumbled as she rang the doorbell.

Rory's stomach lurched as the door was opened by the maid. She swallowed hard.

The maid welcomed them into the foyer and took their coats. Rory felt like she had lost a layer of armor. The maid then walked them into the living room where, to Rory's surprise, they found her grandfather sitting on the sofa and calmly reading a book. He didn't even look up when they entered the room.

"Um." Lorelai shot Rory a confused glance. "Hey, Dad."

Richard simply held up his index finger, indicating the other two to wait. Lorelai and Rory exchanged befuddled glances. After a moment, he closed his book and removed his glasses.

"Sorry girls, needed to finish the sentence."

"Oh, no worries. How are you?"

"Can I get you ladies a martini?"

"Oh. Um, sure." Lorelai mouthed a wildly confused "what?" to Rory as Richard made the drinks.

"Will Rory be having one?"

"Hm?" Rory squeaked out.

"A martini. Would you like one? You are of the legal age, now."

"Oh, sure. A small one."

Rory anxiously fiddled with her skirt, very aware of the only sounds in the room: the clock ticking in the entryway and the soft clinking of glasses as drinks were prepared. Her grandfather re-entered the living space and handed Rory and Lorelai two very large martinis. She sipped at hers, thankful for something, anything, to do.

"So, Dad," Lorelai began. "Where's mom tonight? I thought she'd be here."

"Oh, she's here."

At that moment, as if her cue had been called, Emily walked inside from the backyard.

"Uh. M-mom?" Lorelai stammered.

"Yes?"

"Uh. Hi." She held up her hand in a frozen wave of greeting.

"Hello, Lorelai. Rory." Emily said Rory's name with a kind of vague disdain that Rory had never heard her grandmother refer to her with before.

"Hi, Grandma." Rory responded in a shaky voice with a shaky smile to go with it.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Lorelai asked Emily.

"Painting."

Lorelai choked on her martini. "What?" she coughed out.

"I'm painting. Outside. The moon is lovely tonight, I thought it was the perfect subject for the next piece."

"Next piece?"

"Yes, the DAR ladies and I have put together a little painting club. I'm sorry, I must have forgotten to mention it on the phone. And you wouldn't have known any other way. Of course, Rory wouldn't have known, you couldn't have heard it from her." Emily smiled coldly at her granddaughter.

Rory looked at the floor, shame mixing with anger. She hadn't kept in touch with her friends at the DAR. It wasn't on purpose, not at first. But the busier she got with school, the paper, her relationship, the less enticing the DAR became. She left it in the past with everything else. Her grandmother had no right to try and shame her for it.

"O-oh. Okay. When's dinner?"

"Soon. Let me go get changed."

"What?"

"Lorelai, I need to change out of my painting clothes. You can't expect me to eat before freshening up. Not all of us can live such haphazard lives, going places and doing things without a care in the world." Emily shot a pointed look at Rory.

Richard stood up, wanting to excuse himself from the tension, muttering about how the ice had a funny taste to it. Emily excused herself to get changed out of her painting clothes. Rory's anger rose to the surface as she muttered an excuse to leave.

"Everyone! Stop!" Lorelai shouted. Everyone else froze in place, stunned by the outburst. "Dad, enough with the ice. Mom, get changed and come back. Rory, you're staying here. We obviously have some issues to figure out and we are not leaving until we figure them out!"

What followed can only be described as organized chaos mixed with a strange form of family therapy.

Emily argued with Rory. Rory argued with Richard. Richard argued with Lorelai. Lorelai argued with Emily. Everyone argued with everyone about one thing or another. Somehow, at the same time, they managed to eat dinner. Only the maid would remember what was served that night.

Eventually came an argument about the initial reason for this Friday Night Dinner: Rory's father paying for her school. Emily and Rory hollered at each other in the dining room as Richard and Lorelai sat on the couch, energy draining by the second.

"He's my father, he's allowed to pay for my education!" Rory bellowed.

"Oh, of course, what a time to step in and be a father. What perfect timing to get you further away from us!" Emily yelled back.

"He wanted to help, I let him! Why is that so awful?"

"Because you were doing it to spite us!"

"'Spite you'?" Rory cried in indignation.

"Yes! You were doing it just to hurt us!"

"I never wanted to hurt you! I'll be honest, at the time it was another way to get out of a life I wasn't proud of myself in. But after all these years of him being absent, he wanted to help me with something, so I said yes!"

"A life you weren't proud of yourself in?" Emily yelled. "What's so wrong with the life we had for you here?"

"It wasn't me! I wasn't happy!"

"Oh, nonsense. You were living a perfectly fine life here. You were in a happy relationship, you had a job you were happy with, and you were happily living out your days!"

"I wasn't myself, Grandma! I was so far from myself I didn't recognize who I was anymore! I had given up my dreams because I believed something someone said about my career and then I made a huge mistake. A mistake that, by the way, was encouraged by your precious Logan."

"What are you talking about?" Emily spat.

"Logan! It wasn't exactly his idea to steal the boat, but he sure didn't even try to talk me out of it! He encouraged me to do things that I ended up regretting, things I never would have thought of doing before I met him. He was shaping me into someone he wanted me to be, not into a better version of myself!"

"Nonsense! Why you broke up with that boy, I'll never know."

Rory laughed bitterly. "Well, if you'd listen, I'm trying to tell you!"

"I am listening!"

"He treated me like garbage! He didn't challenge me to better myself, he didn't encourage me to chase my dreams! Just like every other girl he 'dates' I was just another prize! He was rude to others, and he was rude to-" Rory stopped herself.

"To who, Rory? Who was he so rude to that you couldn't possibly forgive him?"

She decided she might as well say it, she was saying everything else that night. She stood tall with her arms folded across her chest. "Jess. He was incredibly rude to Jess. Who, by the way, is who you have to thank for me being back at school." She braced herself for the impact of Emily's reaction.

"Jess? Who on earth is—" Emily was brought back to a night where a rude young man with a black eye left dinner before the salads were served. "You're dating that insipid boy again? Luke's nephew?" Emily squawked. The realization dawned on her face. "Is he the one that assisted you in leaving without any word? He was very rude to your grandfather, young lady."

"Yes, Grandma. I'm dating Jess. Yes, he helped me move out. I'm sorry he was rude but don't be mad at him for helping me, he was doing me a favor. He's changed. He's grown up. He wrote a book, and he works for a publishing company, and he's making a name for himself. He's the one that showed me how messed up I was after everything with the boat and with Logan's dad and the time off. He showed me who I was again. God, I am so sick and tired of having to try and prove to everyone that we've grown up!"

"Well, perhaps there's a reason you have to try and prove something like that so many times."

"And what's that, Grandma?"

"Perhaps it's because it's not true!"

Rory's jaw dropped. "Or maybe it's because nobody's willing to believe that people can change!" she shouted.

On the couch in the living room, Richard had drifted off. Lorelai, however, was listening with a proud smile on her face.

"Well—"

"What, Grandma? What could you possibly have to say?"

Emily huffed and stormed into the kitchen, muttering something about getting a cup of coffee, leaving Rory standing alone in the dining room wearing a hint of a victorious grin.

The arguing went on. And on. And on some more. Old issues came up, new issues were brought to light. The Gilmores fought until they had no fight left.

Lorelai and Rory stumbled out of the house many hours after arriving, exhausted in every possible way. They mumbled a goodbye to each other and got in their respective cars and drove home. All in all, it wasn't a completely disastrous way to reinstate Friday Night Dinners.