Aki- Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews. I'm actuallt getting nervous that at this crucial part of the story that some of you will be dissapointed on when and why and how people find ot Ambr is Rory's daughter and how they will react, but I already have it planned out so hopefully it will work for you. And to reviewerxh4z3L3y3sx- Are you pychic? You're sugestion in your review was what I had planned out for this chapter. I was a little freaked when I read it.

Chapter 10

After diner the party-ers declined to the living room for after super coffee and tea as well as a more than slightly tipsy game of charades followed by watching an over-played Christmas special. The night progressed and everyone quieted down, from sleepiness caused by the time, the food, or the alcohol.

Rory lightly brushed her fingertips against Jess' arm to get his attention where she sat in a chair stolen from the kitchen next to him. He looked up at her.

"Can we talk?" she whispered.

Jess sat there for a moment and Rory feared he did not hear her, but after a minute he nodded.

"Privately," she added, nodding her head towards the exit of the room. Jess stood and followed Rory out of the room and onto the porch through the back door in the kitchen. Everyone noticed the two of them leaving the room together, but no one said anything to point out though.

Rory rubbed her arms in the chilly outside air, "I-a- finished your book. Your new one."

"Yeah?" asked Jess.

Rory nodded, "It was good. It's probably one of my favorites of yours. Nothin' will beat The Subsect on my list though."

"Who was your favorite character?" asked Jess genuinely.

Rory bit her lip in thought, "Probably Jared, I liked Krissy and John a lot too."

"Jared's my favorite too," added Jess.

The conversation died. Rory noticed the peace they had between them as they spoke about his book and decided to bring it up again, "I can really see how Star's Hollow inspired Franksville. The small, barely existent town full of crazy traditions with all sorts of quirky characters."

Jess nodded.

Rory continued, "It was amazing how each chapter you changed the perspective from an outsiders looking in to an insider looking out…It was mean what you named Taylor though."

"What?"

"The Taylor-like character, Jack Ashton."

"What is wrong with the name Jack Ashton?" asked Jess teasingly.

"You know what is wrong. What it sounds like."

Jess chuckled lightly in his throat.

Rory sighed, changing the subject abruptly, "I'm sorry. I know I've said it before, but I'm saying it again, I'm sorry."

"Okay," replied Jess simply, nodding.

"Okay…What?" asked Rory, wanting an explanation.

Jess answered coolly, "Okay, you should be?"

"What?" said Rory again.

"What are you so mad about?" asked Jess.

"I mad because of this total lack of response," said Rory agitated, voice rising out the whispers they had been previously speaking in.

"What did you want me to say?" Jess demanded, the loudness of his tone following her suite.

"I don't know, maybe 'It's okay,' or 'Your forgiven.'"

Jess tsked in a sarcastic unbelief.

"What was that for?" Rory demanded harshly.

"It's just funny that you're the one getting all offended in this situation."

Rory huffed, "You know what Jess, I thought you had changed, but you are still the jerk like you were when you came to Star's Hollow for the first time years ago."

"Well if I remember correctly, you liked me when I first came to Star's Hollow, and even if I haven't changed, you changed too much."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that the Rory I knew, the Rory I," Jess's voice faltered for a moment, "Fell in love with won't have abandoned her daughter."

"That's-," started Rory, voice faltering also, "That's not the point."
"No, it's totally the point."

"So, what happened on the bridge…"

"It would do best of we both just forgot it."

"Yeah," said Rory, her tone edging on hysterical and with a sarcastic bit, "Let's just forget that potentially intimate moment between us. In fact, let's forget everything that ever happened between us-."

Jess cut her off, "Don't, Rory, don't. We had are time, its over."

"Maybe I don't want it to be over yet…"

Amber's brow wrinkled with curiosity as her father and Rory left the room together to some unknown destination. Amber was sitting on the couch with Luke on the opposite side and Lorelai, who she was next to, in between.

Lorelai leaned over to Luke, putting her hand up to the side of her mouth to whisper a secret in his ear in a not so whisper volume, "They either end up doing it or there is a double murder."

Luke gave his wife a look, "Rory wouldn't do that."

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah, she's not the murderous type."

"I was talking about the 'doing it' part."

"Okay, make-out, instead."

"What?" asked Amber confused, listening to the couple's conversation.

Lorelai glanced at Amber as though she had just released she was their, and then back at Luke and commented to him, "We probably should have not had this conversation in front of such young, virgin ears."

"Why would they make-out?" asked Amber, ignoring Lorelai previous comment.

"They had dated."

"They had?" asked Amber, her suspicions confirmed.

"Yeah, your father moved in with Luke here and Rory ended up becoming friends with and falling for Stars Hollow's resident bad boy. They got pretty serious towards the end."

"What happened?" Amber genuinely wondered.

"Jess left without warning or telling Rory and broke her heart…She never told me, but I think she might have…loved him. Sorry I'm rambling again."

"It's fine," said Amber, deep in thought. She had suspected her father and Rory had dated, but love, that was a whole new development.

"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom," said Amber, dismissing herself from the room.

After Amber left, Luke leaned over to Lorelai and said, "This might just be the beer speaking, but, Amber's eyes, I've only seen one person with eyes that blue-,"

"Rory," Lorelai intervened.

"You noticed it too?"

"Yeah, I noticed it too…," answered Lorelai, wheels beginning to turn in her head as things fell into place.

Amber did go to the bathroom and wash her hands, afterward going into the kitchen to get a new drink. As she finished filling up a cup with water from the sink she head something. It sounded like voices. Amber looked around, confused. They weren't coming from the living room…they were coming from outside

Amber tiptoed over to the kitchen door, her eavesdropping instincts naturally taking over. She pulled back one of the curtain an inch with her finger tip and looked through the gap out the window where she saw her father and Rory in a furious discussion with each other. Leaning down next to the crack in between the door frame and the door, Amber could make out what they said.

"…it's over," Amber heard her father conclude.

Rory sucked in a shaky breath before saying back, "Maybe I don't want it to be over yet."

"Rory," said Jess in a warning tone, shaking his head.

"Maybe I want to take another chance," exclaimed Rory, ignoring Jess's admonishing tone.

"We had are chance, Rory," interrupted Jess, "We had are chances. There are no more chances for us."

"How can you say that?" Amber heard Rory yell almost frantically, "How can you say that when I still love you."

Silence. It was the first silence Amber had heard in this argument. It was cold, chilling. She was shocked, and though she could not see his face, she amused her father was shocked too.

Rory was surprised she had blurted that out. She hadn't meant too. She hadn't thought about it. She hadn't even been sure, but now that she said it, to Jess's face, she didn't regret it, because it was true. But the silence from Jess wasn't very reassuring.

His expression was would have been unreadable to someone who didn't know him well like Rory. There was shock detectable in the straight line of his mouth. The remnants of anger were in the tense lines of his face, while confusion and thought were in the wrinkles on his brow. There was something else in his eyes though, something that Rory neither cared nor had the time to identify.

"Fine," said Rory, mad and hurt, after he continued to say nothing, "I guess I'm the only one then." She turned on her heal and took a step towards the door. Before she could take another Jess spoke up.

"No," he said sharply. Rory turned to look at him, "You are not the only one. I'm not letting you be the martyr again Rory. You go back in that house all upset, everyone is going to assume it is my fault. And they'd be wrong. Guess who's the victim this time? Me! You approached me! You started this! This is your fault this time."

Rory glared at him and said in a quieter voice, "What did you mean by, 'you're not the only one?'"

"Huh?"

"Right when I was leaving you said, 'no, you're not the only one.'"

Jess sighed irritated, "I meant that…I meant that no, you're not the only one to still have feelings."

"Then why is the thought of you and me so crazy?"

"You can't seriously be that naïve, Ror. You and me is so crazy because our last chance ended when you left almost nine years ago, and you didn't leave just me-."

Amber pulled back sharply from the door not needing to hear the rest of the conversation. She knew who her mother was now.