Due to circumstances (that piss me off) beyond my control, I will be losing all things cable in my house for the next approx. 2 or 3 weeks, and won't be posting. I'll be back right after my internet resumes, though, with a new chapter. Not really sure why I'm informing, because it's just a little longer than I've waited to post at times, but I just felt like saying it. So now you know. On to the story.

And I LOVE reviews, teehee. I read all the ones I receive, and I especially like it if the reviewer is so into the story that they get all emotional…like Mina-bashing (don't worry, I have plans for her) and various OOC rants. Though it IS alternate universe... Moving on, because this has turned into and AR (author's ramble), here's chapter five. This was a mighty fun chapter to write.

Unlike most rich families, Mina and Kathy normally ate with the Marianos. Rory sat at one end of the table, Jess at the other, and then Mina sat next to Riley opposite Jane and Kathy. No one spoke as they ate Kathy's famous baked potatoes, but meaningful glances were sent back and forth all around. Mina kept looking at Jess as to ask how much trouble she was in, but as he hadn't talked to Rory since the playroom, he had no better of an idea than she did.

Kathy's eyes were narrowed at Mina. Since the Shane incident, she hadn't trusted any of the girls who came through the house. She knew very well that Jess was just as blame-worthy as them, but she also had a soft, mom-like spot for Jess. So her frustration over the afternoon's events fell on none other than the perky blonde.

Rory had been focusing on her plate since they'd sat down, ignoring everyone who occasionally looked at her to judge how she was feeling. She quietly took another sip of her wine, before beginning to recite the alphabet backwards in her head to gauge how sober she was. Normally she wouldn't have bothered, but after her latest decision, she was determined not to be drunk after dinner. It took some time, but she finally reached A. As she did, she looked up for the first time and found Jess staring at her. She shot him a warm smile, stunning him, and returned to eating with her head down.

"Nossy!" Riley screamed, breaking the spell on everyone. The table's other five occupants looked at the little boy who giggled as he basked in their attention. "Nossy! Nossy!" he screamed happily, hoping to elicit the same response his initial 'nossy' had gotten out of the group.

"I think he's saying 'baked potatoes'," Kathy explained apologetically. Riley Mariano had a habit of making up his own words when the real word had too many syllables. The group's personal favorite was "Loopy," which meant 'Grandma Lorelai'.

After dinner, Kathy set about washing the dishes with the window-like feature of the house between the kitchen and the living room open. Mina had taken both children somewhere else in the house, which was surprising, because Rory normally preferred to play with them when she wasn't busy. But Kathy didn't know where Rory was, so she couldn't say why she'd instructed Mina to play with them. The final member of the household, Jess, sat in the living room with the TV on and his laptop in front of him, most likely going over the month's bills. Scratch that, that was definitely what he was doing; every so often his eyebrows scrunched together, and he let out a quick 'Jeez, Rory!'

Speaking of the elusive Rory, she entered the room at that moment. Instead of heading for the drink cart, she made her way towards her husband. Not knowing if they were about to fight, or something else, Kathy closed the window to give them privacy.

"Hey," Rory started as she sat beside him on the couch.

"Hi. Wanna lay off the Visa?" She leaned forward to see what he was seeing on the computer screen, and her hair tumbled across his chest. She was facing forward, so she didn't see the quizzical look that graced his face for a second before he regained his composure. He had been expecting a tantrum about something small, like the fact that he'd only gotten three of the four requested bottles on her grocery list. Either that, or her ignoring him for the rest of the week. He wasn't expecting her to get all friendly-like.

"I'll try. Are you almost done?" By now, he was starting to get suspicious. She usually regarded him with one of two attitudes; she was either playfully harsh, or acted pretty much indifferent to him. The first one was normally present after a few drinks; the second one had been painfully obvious after catching Mina in his lap earlier.

"Why?"

"I was just thinking…" Her fingers found the edge of his t-shirt, and began to teasingly pluck at it. "I haven't been very nice to you lately." He shut the laptop with a snap and turned to her, grinning.

"No. You haven't."

"I'm sorry." Then her lips were on his, and both their worlds were spinning. When they broke apart his smile had gotten wider, but her eyes had turned the pool-blue shade he recognized from past encounters like this. There was some fear in them, some hesitation, some innocence, some sadness. He recognized that look as one she gave him when she was trying to let her guard down, if only temporarily. But many times she had tried to ease up around him, and failed for reasons unknown to Jess. Not this time.

"Hey. Shhhh. I have you, it's okay." He pulled her onto his lap, and kissed her again. She opened her mouth this time, and let his familiar tongue dance with hers. In the kitchen, Kathy couldn't resist opening the window a little, just to peek in on the silence from their end. She smiled to herself when she saw the couple clinging to each other, looking like a pair of love struck teenagers with the house to themselves. Discreetly she closed the windows for the second time, hoping to herself that Rory would go a bit easier on Jess after this. It seemed like every month or so, she would suddenly revert back to the young woman she'd been when she married Jess, and the two would be inseparable for hours. She'd gaze into his eyes, only pausing to blink, while he always had to be touching a part of her; her hair, her hand, anything. But soon, she'd close herself off once more. She'd get distant. And Jess would sit for hours on the darkened patio, staring at the pool as the night's wind made the slightest ripples, wondering what he'd done wrong this time; what he'd done wrong in the first place.

Back in the living room, Jess wrapped his arms around Rory's waist to hold her in place as he sank into the couch. Her hands were wandering, and her nervous eyes had closed themselves. She was letting him in. She was throwing him a bone, which he took with no questions. It had been nearly two months since she'd last gotten like this.

"I have an idea," she told him five minutes later as he kissed her neck.

"Yes?"

"Let's watch Almost Famous." He pulled his head back to look at her. "We haven't watched it together in forever." They hadn't, and it was their favorite movie to watch together.

"Let's."

"You set it up, and I'll go see if we have any good snacks." She jumped up and made her way towards the kitchen as Jess stared after her. Shaking his head to clear the still-surprised cobwebs out, he took Almost Famous from their extensive DVD library, and set it up to play. Two minutes later, she was back with Chex Mix and a bag of Sweedish Fish.

They took their places on the couch as the movie began; him sitting up with his arms draped around her, and her leaning against his chest. She was tenser than she'd been in this position in days past, but did nothing to prevent its occurrence. And when Mina walked in looking for Jess approximately an hour later, she saw him curled up with Rory. She tip-toed back to her room, not expecting Jess's visit tonight.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

The ending credits of the movie found the couple still together on the couch, comfortably alert to each other's presence.

"That was good."

"Always is." He was still marveling at her sudden turn-around. At the same time, he wanted to make the most of it, because he might not get the opportunity to prove himself to her again.

Wasn't that ironic? He was her husband for God's sake, and he still felt sometimes like he had to prove himself worthy to be with her. But while his pride swelled up angrily in his chest at the thought, he'd never voice it aloud. It would chase Rory away even faster.

She was looking up at him with adoring eyes, and he began to believe that this might last for a few more hours, at least. She was putting herself in his hands. Funny how, even when she did that, she still had him wrapped around her finger. It would be an interesting caricature to illustrate.

"I'm tired, Jess." Kissing the flesh on her shoulder exposed by her spaghetti straps, he turned the TV off with a click of the remote.

"Let's go to bed then." She stood up first, having been nearly on top of him throughout the movie, and took his hand in hers as he too rose to his feet. He grabbed her other hand as he backed her towards the staircase. Entwined thus, they made their way upstairs and into their bedroom without hitch. Once there, he leaned against their door to close it, pulling her towards him. Twisting her arms behind her to decrease the space between them, he kissed her lightly, cautiously. He felt her lips curve into a smile as she threw caution to the wind, and used his arms to support her as she hopped up and twined her legs around his waist. He sank a few inches under her weight, but straightened up as he readjusted so he could completely support her, and began moving towards the bed in the center of the room.

Neither had bothered to turn on the lights, so Rory didn't bother with opening her eyes. She knew where they were going anyway. She kept on kissing him sweetly, then passionately, then furiously, then softly. Every time she gasped for breath and made her descent once more, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up in anticipation. What would the next kiss be like? Desperate? Loving? Teasing?

"Oomph." Her back had collided with the mattress. Paired with the man now on top of her, it had knocked the breath out of her for a second. As she gasped for air, Jess trailed his mouth to the side of her head, smooching her cheek and licking her ear. He was biding his time as he waited for her to set the pace. She would either be up for something lengthy, slow, and romantic, or into a faster, wilder kind of night. He never could tell with her- and if he made her uncomfortable by guessing the wrong one, she'd slip through his fingers. "Umm. Jess." She ran her fingers through his chaotic hair, pulling his head back to her lips.

"Jess is here, beautiful. He's here forever." She stopped kissing him and smiled up at him in the darkness. His eyes having adjusted, the trust and respect in that look alone made up for the past months of awfulness. But on an even better note, he now knew what exactly she wanted. Helping her wiggle out of her shirt while still remaining underneath him, he licked his way down her luminous skin, from her neck to her pants. She purred from her position as shy fingers quickly undid the first three buttons of his shirt. "Hold on baby, we've got all night."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Morning light snuck in through the cracks in the blinds. The slivers of it which made it into the expensively-decorated bedroom slid across the faces of the two people in bed. Jess's eyes were closed, though he was wide awake, as Rory's manicured nails traced circles around his raised nipple. Their limbs were still twisted almost painfully together under the Egyptian cotton sheets, but neither made the effort to move. A saucy smile was on Rory's lipstick-free lips (it had been kissed off hours ago) as she began to draw trapezoids instead. Finally he could take it no longer, and admitted defeat.

"God, Ror, what are you doing to me?"

"I knew you weren't asleep." He shifted so his whole self was facing her, being forced to disentangle their bodies slightly. Draping a lazy arm over her waist, he moved in unhurriedly for a drawn-out good morning kiss. She returned it with equal ardor, making his spirits lift yet even further. The only thing better than waking up with neither space nor clothing separating him from Rory was Rory's eagerness to repeat the activities that had gotten them that way in the first place.

"What time is it?" he asked a few minutes later as he finally drew back, but kept his eyes on her face. They combed her features as she blushed under them, and she lifted her own eyes to view the alarm clock over his bare shoulder.

"9:28. I don't have to be anywhere until 3, what about you?"

"4. Plenty of time for another round, don't you agree?" She giggled as he rolled on his back, pulling her with him. Before she knew it, she was sprawled across her husband as he lay back, looking at her with the same intensity his gaze had held the night before.

"Yea, but we should probably go see if Riley and Jane are awake yet. And ask Kathy for some breakfast in bed. I'm thinking French toast, what about you?"

"I'm not hungry. Well, for food, anyway. And Mina can watch the kids." As soon as he mentioned HER, Rory's smile dropped. Pushing herself off of him, she grabbed her velvety bathrobe from the bedpost and slid it on as she stood up. He looked at her speechlessly as she headed for the bathroom.

"I have to shower." Cursing loudly and in as many languages as he knew, he soon found himself out of swearwords. The ONLY time she had to react like that, after hearing Mina's name mentioned, had to be at that moment. It just had to be. Rory must hate him, it was the only reason she'd say nothing after catching the girl on his lap and whispering in his ear, but turn back into the Ice Queen nanoseconds after he mentioned her in a completely unrelated conversation under such circumstances as they'd just experienced. Rory must hate him, it was the only explanation.

He sighed as he too took his bathrobe from its place by their bed, grabbed a long-neglected pack of cigarettes he'd been hiding from Kathy out of his underwear drawer, and headed for the door that led to his and Rory's private patio. He'd quit smoking while Rory was carrying Jane, trying from the start to be the best Dad ever, but still needed to indulge himself every now and then. Particularly at times like these.

Why had he been so stupid as to mention Mina? He must have gotten too comfortable with the idea that Rory would feign indifference towards the girl's name. It was the only way he'd forget that Rory's defenses were down, and that she'd react like any normal person. Saying Mina's name, even if he was just talking about her job, was quiet possibly the dumbest thing he'd done in a long time… Mina being included on that list.

He lit a cigarette, reflecting. He'd pushed her away this time. He couldn't cling to the false belief that it was just her nature when she retreated, because he'd never been more sure that it was his fault. He went through three cancer sticks before he saw her moving around in the bedroom, and threw the smoking butt into the makeshift ashtray he'd formed out of an empty Gin bottle Rory had left outside. Reentering the room, he watched her select a pair of earrings from the box on their dresser, stubbornly ignoring him. A wave of pain engulfed him, and before he could think, he was talking.

"You can't do that. Not after…what we were. Just then. You can't do that to me, Rory."

"I still need the bathroom to do my hair. If you need to shower or piss, would you mind using the hall bathroom?"

"You always do this to me! Always!" A boiling tear wound itself down his face before he could register that he was crying. She smiled falsely as she chose a pair of turquoise and silver danglies. "I know it might not have been the smartest thing to mention Mina, but that's why there is a Mina. Because you shut yourself off from me with no warning, no reason, no explanation!" Her eyes didn't meet his as she went back to the bathroom and closed the door. He stared after her, another tear falling. But he came to his senses soon enough, and grabbed a random shirt and pants from the stacks in his closet. Dressing without showering, he made his way down to the kitchen where Kathy was stirring unrecognizable batter at the island. She looked up hopefully when he came in, but saw his crestfallen face. She sighed as she put down her whisk and walked to him, enveloping him in a motherly hug.

"I'm so sorry, honey." He let out a strangled sob as he suddenly hugged her back, tightly.

"Why does she do this to me?"

"I don't know, Jess. It's just Rory."

"She didn't used to hurt me. What did I do to her?"

"Nothing. You did nothing." She soothed him with more words, and then pancakes as she tried to comfort him in the way that Liz had never even attempted. Speaking of Lizzie, he'd talked to his mother about half a year ago. She had moved down to Flordia with her new husband TJ years ago, and though mother and son were no closer than they'd been in Jess's youth, some of the hostility had gone away as they both matured. From what she'd said when they talked six months ago, things were stellar, and her and TJ were doing swell.

It was sad when Liz's relationship were healthier than his own.