A/N: You may find a few events of Season 3 get a little jumbled as we go along. All the important stuff will be in there somewhere, even if it is slightly out of order. Thanks for the reviews on the previous - y'all make me smile a lot :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 4

"Did I mention that you're the best boyfriend ever?"

"And the best uncle of a boyfriend ever?"

The Gilmore girls had on their big grins and fluttering eyelashes when they stared up at Luke as if he were a Greek god. All he could do was roll his eyes and shake his head.

"You both know I already agreed to the damn ice-cream parlour, so you can stop fawning now."

"I can't believe you gave in so easy." Jess laughed, whilst Rory and Lorelai continued to fake adoration at Luke. "You went from 'Taylor, no' 'til the day you die, all the way to 'build what the hell you want' in the time it took these two to pout."

"Never underestimate the power of the Gilmore pout, my friend," said Lorelai with a wink. "Besides, what could possibly be considered bad about a place that sells ice-cream and soda, plus old fashioned candy - we're talking taffy, rock candy, hand-made fudge - I am failing to see the downside."

"The downside is Taylor!" said Luke loudly, startling various people who were walking within six feet of him.

Jess rolled his eyes at the display, threw his arm around Rory's shoulders and manoeuvred her a little further away from their parental figures. As much as he loved his uncle, and liked Lorelai well enough also, it was just a little embarrassing to be seen with them right now.

"How'd you like your first town meeting?" asked Rory as they walked along together.

"About as nutty as everything else in this asylum, but I'm adjusting to this level of crazy, so it's fine," he told her with a smile.

"Hey, you lived with Paris for more than six months. You should have a pretty high tolerance for crazy."

"Ain't that the truth?"

The four headed over to the diner, Lorelai having decided she needed just one more slice of pie before she would be full. Luke still wondered where she put all the food, but had stopped arguing that she should eat less sugar, fat, and the like since it never got him anywhere anyway. So long as she was happy, he supposed that was what mattered most. Rory happily accepted a coffee alongside her mother, but when Jess suggested maybe she would like to come upstairs and see that book they had been talking about, she was quick to go with him.

"A book? Really?" said Lorelai the moment they were out of sight.

"What? You know they both love to read," said Luke, shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh, hon, you're adorable," his girlfriend told him, kissing his cheek. "I know Rory and Jess share a love of books, but they also have a burning attraction to each other. I'll bet you this whole slice of pie that there will be more necking than reading going on up there."

"Oh, geez!" Luke was up on his feet in a second, but Lorelai grabbed his arm and encouraged him back into his seat. "Hey, calm down. They're smart kids and they know we're sitting right here. I said necking, not making babies," she reminded him with a look.

Luke sighed and adjusted his hat. He hadn't thought too much about the development of Rory and Jess' relationship, and even now that it occurred to him, he wished it hadn't. Of course he liked them being together, because they made each other so happy, but there was not going to be anything he considered innappropriate, not under his roof. He was pretty sure Lorelai would agree when it came to her house also.

"Now, whilst they're out of the way," said Lorelai then, her hand on Luke's own to get his full attention as she lowered her tone. "Jess' birthday is this Saturday, right?"

"Right." Luke nodded once. "With a little luck his gift will be ready in time."

"Well, we can worry about the gift part later, but I was wondering, do you think he might want a party?"

"A party? For Jess?" said Luke, hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Er, I don't know. I'm not sure how many friends he really made at Chilton, aside from Rory and obviously Paris. He's not really the social type."

"Must run in the family," Lorelai teased him with a smile. "Okay, so not a full on teen party, but maybe you, me, Rory, Jess, Paris, Lane, say at our house? Nothing fancy just food and gifts. I could ask Sookie to whip up a cake, she loves to do that," suggested Lorelai, reconsidering when she saw the look on Luke's face. "But we don't have to do it, it was just an idea. I mean, you're only eighteen once, I just thought-"

Her words were cut off entirely by Luke's lips on hers, not that Lorelai minded at all. In fact, she was smiling widely when they parted.

"You're amazing," said Luke. "You know that, right?"

"I could stand to hear it a couple more times," she replied, still grinning. "You like the idea?"

"I love the idea. I actually think Jess will too," Luke considered. "I never would've thought of anything like that."

"Well, you're new to the whole parenting thing. I happen to have expertise that I'm more than willing to share," Lorelai told him happily. "Besides, Lane will help with the music, I will hardly have to lift a finger myself," she said with a shrug.

"I still think you're amazing," said Luke, kissing her one more time. "More pie?" he offered, noting the first slice had gone down altogether too easily.

"Hmm. Nah, but I'll take another cup of coffee, then it'll probably be a good time to remove my daughter from your nephew before something unfortunate happens."

"Unfortunate?" echoed Luke, before his eyes went wide with realisation. "Aaw, geez!"

"This was such a great idea, Mom," said Rory as she helped hang streamers and balloons in all four corners of the living room. "I mean, Jess really isn't the party type from what I can tell, but just a small family gaterhing like this, I think he'll love it."

"Well, you're only eighteen once," Lorelai reminded her, as she came through from the kitchen with a bowl of chips in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other, "and since I plan on going all out for your special day next month, it seemed only fair that Jess got something."

A knock on the door got her attention then and she rushed to answer it. Out on the porch stood Sookie with a large box in her hands and a worried expression on her face.

"What's up, Sook?"

"I don't think he's going to like the cake," she said, all panic and fuss as she brought the box through to the kitchen and laid it on the table. "I thought it was going to work, but then I started icing, and then I started over, and over again one more time, and it's probably fine, but is fine really good enough? This is a special occasion, and I really, really don't want to mess it up..."

"Sookie, sweetie, please breathe" said Lorelai urgently. "You're turning colours."

"I'm sorry," she said, sitting down heavily in a chair and making herself breathe. "Just, you guys take a look and tell me how awful you think it is," she suggested, covering her face with both hands, as Rory appeared and shared a look of concern with her mom.

Lorelai rolled her eyes at the dramatics she was already sure would be unnecessary and flipped open the box lid. Both she and Rory gasped at the sight that met their eyes.

"It's hideous, right?" asked Sookie, still hiding behind her hands.

"Sookie, it's incredible!" Rory told her with genuine enthusiasm. "Jess is going to love it!"

"And there speaks the voice of experience on things that Jess loves, since she is one of them," said Lorelai knowingly. "Honestly, hon, you've done a great job, not that I ever doubted you would."

Sookie finally came out from behind her hands, smiling when she realised they were not just being kind. Now that she looked at it again, she supposed the cake did look pretty cool, carefully built and iced like a row of books leaning up against a record player, the vinyl record carefully iced to read 'The Clash' and 'Guns of Brixton'. On the books were the words 'Happy 18th Birthday, Jess' in swirling black letters. The whole thing was so well done, it was ridiculous to think that anyone could ever have thought otherwise.

With Sookie's nerves finally settled, she threw herself into helping with whatever preparations were left to do. Lorelai offered her to stay for the party itself, but she declined. Jackson had a bottle of wine and a movie waiting for her at home for a cosy night in, so she was more than eager to get away before the festivities began. Lane let herself in as Sookie was headed out, explaining that Mrs Kim had only let her come because she had assured her the only guys present at the party would be Jess and Luke, who were both only interested in their respective girlfriends. Next came Paris, who complimented the decor and yet still managed to list five ways that the whole party set up could have been improved. That was just her way.

They were all in place and ready for the arrival of Luke and Jess just in time. Three rings on Lorelai's cell was the signal from Luke that he was bringing his nephew over, and the four girls all hid in the living room. From there they heard voices and tried not to giggle.

"Shouldn't you knock or something?" asked Jess.

"Lorelai said to let ourselves in. You know how women are when they're getting ready for dates."

Rory bit her lip and started praying she had been right about this party. It sounded like such a good idea when her mom explained the arrangements, the only part she was just a little nervous about was the surprise element. Jess wasn't usually a huge fan of surprises, with the possible exception of Rory and Paris showing up in New York that one time.

When the door opened and the two men walked in, Lorelai gave the signal and they all leapt out yelling 'Surprise!'. If nothing else, Jess certainly did look as if he hadn't been expecting that. His eyes went from Rory to Lorelai, Paris, and Lane, right around the room, then he noticed the banner proclaiming 'Happy 18th Birthday', the balloons, and the food.

"Huh."

Luke rolled his eyes at the underwhelmed reaction, though he wasn't sure what else he really expected from his nephew.

"Happy Birthday, Jess," said Lorelai, encouraging him further into the room. "We thought, hey, eighteen is kind of a milestone so why not a little gathering of family and friends."

"Thanks," he said, looking a little stiff as she encouraged him to come sit down on the couch. "Your idea?" he checked with Rory as she moved to hug him and kiss his cheek too.

"Actually, mostly my Mom's," she admitted. "You're okay with this, right?" she said quietly in his ear as he he held her a moment.

"Yeah. It's cool," he promised with what seemed to be a genuine smile as they parted.

"C'mon, Mariano," said Paris then. "It's a party not a date with your girlfriend."

"Glad you came, sis," Jess told her with a smirk as everybody found a place to perch and Lane cranked up the music.

Jess' smirk became a smile when he heard The Ramones playing and realised a serious effort had been made here. As embarrassing as it was in it's way, it was actually kind of nice that people cared about him like this.

"Can I just say, good work having your birthday land up on a Saturday," said Lorelai with a look. "There was a moment when we thought it was Friday, and do you know the trouble we would have had getting out of dinner with my parents?"

"I can vouch for the fact they are not easy people to deal with," said Luke with a sigh.

"Aaw, babe," she said, trying not to laugh. "You still haven't recovered from last week?"

"I'll live," he said, rolling his eyes. "Just try not to get me invited back again any time soon."

"And you can feel free to never mention me to your grandparents, ever," said Jess to Rory, more seriously than she expected.

Rory only smiled and reached under the coffee table for a brightly wrapped box. "Open your present," she told her boyfriend.

It was, unsurprisingly, a book, as was the gift from Paris and from Lorelai. Lane had gone for a CD she had mixed himself, based on information she gleaned from both from Rory and from past conversations with Jess himself. That just left Luke.

"I guess it's my turn," he said, standing up.

"You already gave me money," said Jess, looking confused. "That wasn't the gift?"

"It was a part of the gift," his uncle told him cryptically. "C'mon."

The girls all looked as confused as Jess as they got up and followed Luke to the front door. Only Lorelai seemed to know what was going on, which surprised Rory, since her mom usually sucked at keeping secrets, especially good ones. Outside the house, Luke led the assembled group down the porch steps, across the drive and into the street. Jess was about to ask where the hell they were going and Paris wasn't far behind in wanting to ask the question, when suddenly they all made it around the corner and Luke stopped. With a smile, he grabbed a hold of Jess' hand and dropped a set of keys into his palm.

"Happy birthday, nephew," he declared, gesturing towards a car parked a few feet away.

A chorus of gasps went up from the girls, but Jess didn't make a sound. For once in his life, he had no words. The party was cool, but he knew it was as much for Lorelai and Rory themselves as for him, because they did love a celebration. This was something else. Luke had actually bought him a car. Nothing fancy, not a new vehicle, just something second-hand and likely to need some fairly regular repairs, but it was a car, and it was his own. Jess really did not know how to react.

"You have to pay for the gas, the insurance, the oil," said Luke sternly. "This is your responsibility now, and I expect you to step up," he explained. "But I trust you with this, Jess. Gypsy checked it out, and she says it's in pretty good shape for what it is. I know it's not brand new, but it'll get you to school and back, that kind of thing and... and I wanted you to have something... something worth having. You like it?" he asked then, looking at his nephew's still-shocked face.

"Yeah," he said too quietly, before clearing his throat. "Thanks, Uncle Luke," he added, with no hint of sarcasm or irony.

"You're welcome, Jess."

To Be Continued...

A/N2: If it all gets too cute and sappy you guys will let me know so I can dial it back, right?