Two hours later, Rory and Lane sat reeling from the pageant. "What just happened?" Rory asked. "Was that actually good?"

Seeming stunned, Lane didn't speak for a second. "It was kind of incredible," she finally said.

"Like, who was the little girl that played Linda Blair? How did they get a child actor that good in Stars Hollow?"

They began gathering their things.

"That's actually Joanna Posner's kid."

Rory stopped, gaping at her. "Joanna Posner from Stars Hollow High?"

"She's Joanna Simms, now," Zach chimed in, packing up the toys and snacks strewn across the floor in front of them.

"Wait, did she get pregnant while I was still going there? That kid's got to be like 10."

Lane shrugged, ushering Steve and Kwan into the aisle. "It was sometime around then. You really never heard about that? Not even from Miss Patty or Babette?"

Rory was still processing this information when she noticed Jess standing up at the back of the room. He was holding Doula and standing next to his mom and T.J. Following her gaze, Lane said, "Oh, I didn't realize Jess was going to be here for Christmas."

"Mm-hmm," Rory affirmed absently. "Look, I should go talk to him."

Lane raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"I'll see you later."

"From what I hear, I'm gonna be seeing a lot more of you soon," Lane said, then she shooed her off. "Go talk."

Rory headed toward the back of the room, dodging Andrew, who was fighting with his date, and Reverend Skinner, who was debating the merits of the pageant with Rabbi Barans. She was halfway there when she ran into her mom and Luke.

"Hey, sweetie. What did you think of Jesus Christ Rock God?" Lorelai asked.

It would be rude to push past them without saying anything. Rory glanced back at Jess, but he didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave, so she smiled at her mom and Luke and said, "It was kind of great. Not at all what I expected, but very Patty all the same."

"Right? I wish Sookie and Jackson could have made it."

"It's a bummer Martha got sick. She would have loved the 'Four Horsemen' lamb."

Luke huffed. "I don't know what asylum this town escaped from. Why was there a little girl spitting up pea soup?"

Lorelai waved her hands mysteriously. "It's all part of the May Queen's miracle."

"That makes no sense! Plus it's such a waste of good soup. And Kirk was just ridiculous, strutting around in that mustache and half a shirt. It's indecent, is what it is!"

"Bah-humbug!" Lorelai cried, though she smiled lovingly at Luke. It seemed so foreign to Rory, the idea that a couple could still like each other so much years into their relationship. It had never been her experience.

"Well, the costumes were amazing, regardless of what you think of the storyline."

Lorelai gave a humble bow, but she was a little too proud of herself to leave it at that. "So say all of my adoring legion of fans."

As she gave a little laugh, Rory noticed Jess's family getting ready to leave. "Well, I'm going to head out."

"Okay, sweetie, see you at home. We'll talk logistics over dinner?"

Rory nodded. "Sounds good."

Luke was looking at her with such sympathy that she knew Lorelai had told him. "You know we're always proud of you," he said, so sweetly she almost wanted to cry again. He gave her a big hug, and she was grateful that she could bury her face in his chest for a moment while she composed herself.

He finally released her, and she said, "Love you both."

With a wave, Rory continued on her way toward Jess. After being briefly waylaid by Babette, who had to mention how great it was that she and Lane had made up, Rory arrived in the back of the room, just as Jess was about to leave.

"Hey," she said, catching him by the arm, "can we talk for a second?"

The rest of his family was already outside. T.J. seemed to be miming fire dancing for a disgruntled Taylor, but Liz and Doula were both looking back at them through the doorway. For a moment, Rory was worried they'd insist on leaving together, but Jess waved them off, and with a nod, Liz guided her daughter over to T.J. and away from them.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Jess asked as they made their way out of Miss Patty's. He didn't seem upset about the night before, but he wasn't exactly warm either.

"I don't know." She stuck her hands in her coat pockets. Rory had thought she'd wanted to finish the conversation she'd cut short, apologies and forgiveness and all that, but she found when the time came, she still really didn't want to talk about it.

He gave an exasperated sigh. "Rory, you're the one that wanted to talk."

"I know," she said softly. "Want to go over to the gazebo?"

"Not really."

As different as he was these days, it sure didn't take much to get him back to the sullen, terse attitude of his teenage years. Or maybe it just didn't take much for her to get him back there.

"Rory, what are we doing?" he said, annoyed. "You want to talk but don't know about what. It's friggin cold out here—just say what you're gonna say already so I can go inside."

Kirk and Lulu walked by, complimenting each other on their respective roles in the pageant.

"Not here." Rory grabbed Jess's sleeve and led him toward the gazebo, where there was less foot traffic. He was wearing his old corduroy jacket, and the feel of it under her fingers was startlingly familiar.

Once they got to the gazebo, he pulled away from her with a shrug. "So what is this all about?"

"I'm moving back to Stars Hollow for a bit."

That clearly wasn't what he was expecting. "Shit."

"So I don't want things to be weird between us." She was bouncing slightly on her heels, mostly from the cold but also a little from nerves. "I know you don't actually live here or anything, but we're bound to run into each other more if I'm living with Luke."

Jess nodded. "Well, last night makes a bit more sense now."

She gave an awkward laugh. "Yeah, I was in kind of a weird place. Trying to figure things out, you know. You've always helped me with that."

He gave her a look, a long, cryptic look she couldn't even begin to understand, then he shrugged. "Well, you've done a lot for me, too. I couldn't have written The Subsect if you hadn't believed in me."

Without thinking, Rory said, "That's not true. You're brilliant, and you would have found a way to write it no matter what happened."

Jess laughed. "See? It's what we do for each other. 'No friendship is an accident.'"

"What?" she asked, thrown off by his last words.

Smirking, he turned and started walking back toward the diner. "Figure it out."

Rory stood next to the gazebo, puzzling over what this could mean, but it came to her soon enough. "Heart of the West!" she cried after him, a smile blossoming on her face.

Jess looked back at her, and she knew she'd gotten it right. "See you around, Rory."

"Goodnight, Dodger."

And as he left her standing there, she felt, for the first time in many years, that she was excited to see what surprises the future held.