A/N: Is it wrong that I really love this chapter? I wrote it, so that's a little narcissistic, I suppose... but seriously, I just love it! lol

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 6

"I still say that brother and sister were a little close," said Lorelai with a significant look.

"Mom!" Rory complained, squirming terribly in her seat. "Not the thing to focus on," she reminded her. "Darren was a really nice guy, and he seemed to think I was Harvard material."

"That he did," her mother agreed, pulling up to a Stop sign. "You did good today, baby girl. Made a real good impression on that alumni. Alumnus?" she double-checked, still not sure she got that part.

"Alumnus," Rory confirmed. "It did make me feel better to meet him, even if their family is all pressure-filled and crazy. I feel like I can breathe again about the whole Harvard thing."

"Breathing is definitely of the good," Lorelai agreed. "Of course, there's something else on your mind that you want to talk about, and I really wish you'd spill it so I don't have to tip you over!" she added with a smile. "C'mon, babe. What's up? I know something is," she said, pulling away into the flow of traffic again.

"It's nothing really." Rory shook her head, though she knew she was going to have to explain herself anyway since Lorelai would never give in. "And even if it is something, it's all in my head and I'm being dumb about it. Unless I'm not, which would make Jess a bad person, and I don't want to think that, because he really hasn't given me a reason to."

"Okay, okay," said Lorelai, waving a hand before returning it quickly to the wheel. "One point at a time. Let's start with why Jess might be a bad person," she said, trying not to sound as freaked out as she felt.

There were many ways that a boyfriend could behave badly, and Lorelai wasn't a fan of any of them, especially where her teenage daughter was concerned. She didn't want to think that Jess was anything but a nice guy, not least because he was Luke's nephew as well as Rory's boyfriend, but she needed to know what was going on here. Lorelai really hoped it wasn't what she most feared.

"Well, he's not," Rory confirmed. "I mean, I haven't seen him do anything wrong. So far just talking."

"Talking?"

"To other girls."

"Oh, okay."

Lorelai let out a sigh of relief as quietly as she could so she didn't have to explain it. If Rory and Jess were nowhere near talk of sex, there was no way she was bringing up the subject and putting it into anyone's head. That would be bad.

"So, Jess has friends that are female. I'm assuming we're talking aside from Paris and Lane?"

"They are very much not the problem," Rory agreed. "Louise and Madeline can be flirty, but I know Jess can't stand them, at least not in that way. There's this other girl, Francie. She's a real... pain in the butt."

She said it in such a way that Lorelai was pretty sure more choice words were running through Rory's head, she just wasn't prepared to use them. The name rang a vague bell in her mind and suddenly Lorelai realised why.

"Is this the charming Queen Bee type, head of The Powerpuff Girls at Chilton?"

"The Puffs, and yes, that's her," said Rory grumpily. "She's pretty and smart and popular. I know I shouldn't be jealous, and I'm not really, not of her, it's just... I don't like her being all over Jess. He says he doesn't like her, and I'm sure he doesn't, but I still don't like it."

"Well, hon, jealousy is a part of life. When you love somebody you can feel possessive of them, and there's nothing wrong with that," Lorelai assured a pouting Rory, complete with folded arms. "The only problem would be if Jess was encouraging Francie, and if he's not, the only issue is going to be you making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. I don't think Jess would appreciate that."

"Probably not," Rory sighed. "And if it was just Francie, I probably wouldn't care, but there's another one!"

"Geez, what's going on? Is Jess starting a harem or something?" asked Lorelai, eyes wide.

"Not helping!" Rory complained, before explaining further. "There's this girl in town, her name is Shane. She's started hanging out at the diner a lot."

"Slutty blonde with a 'tude?" said Lorelai, nodding her head. "Oh yeah, I've seen her. Luke really, really doesn't like her."

"Lane said similar things, which is why I'm so worried."

"Oh, sweets, you can't let it get to you," her mother warned. "I know you know Jess better than I do, but do you really think he'd go for cheap, blonde, and easy when he has you? C'mon, he's proven he has taste, and as much as I don't like to judge-"

"Except for when you do it all the time."

"-Shane does not really strike me as a Jess type of girl. Last book she read is probably 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'."

Rory laughed at that. It was mean to say and yet probably true. Shane didn't seem like the bookworm type, and Jess really had no time for the unintelligent. Maybe she really was worrying over nothing. Jealousy was normal when you cared about somebody, Rory knew her mom was right on that, but she could really mess things up with Jess if she accused him of something she was already pretty sure he had not and would never do.

"Seriously, babe, if she bothers you, I don't think it would hurt to tell Jess that, but please don't accuse him of something unless you're sure he's guilty. You'll do more damage than you fix. Take it from one who knows."

"Thanks, Mom," said Rory, smiling now and genuinely grateful for the advice,

Honestly, it felt good just to have talked about it with someone else, especially when that someone was her mom.

"Yes, Paris, but I have to go now. I'm hanging up the phone," said Jess, even as his 'sister' continued to talk in his ear. "Seriously, what part of hanging up do you not get?"

Luke rolled his eyes as he was forced to squeeze past his nephew. Technically Jess was done working his shift so it didn't matter that he was taking a call from Paris. The issue was that he was kind of in the way of things for as long as he was using the phone behind the counter. Not that Luke blamed Jess, he knew what Paris could be like, especially at the moment. Her college application process was an epic situation that she was freely pulling both Rory and Jess into at every opportunity.

"Y'know, you're only so antsy because Rory is at her Harvard alumnus meeting," she told Jess crossly.

"I'm sorry, have you completely lost it at this point?" he asked. "Why would my mood be affected by Rory's meeting?"

"Because, it makes you think seriously about the future," said Paris. "Rory is smart, you know this. It's highly likely that Harvard will snap her up and then that's it. She's off to college, out into the big wide world, and where does that leave you? Big bad Jess Mariano has decided he's too good for college. He's cool, man, just surfing along, doing his own thing, but you won't be so cool when me and Rory are gone and you're all alone in Hicksville."

Jess' eyes went wide at her little speech. "You think a lot of yourself if you think I'd miss you that much," he told her, though there was no real malice in his words. "And even if I would miss you or Rory, it's not like you're never coming back."

Paris scoffed at that. "Four years is a long time, Jess, and I'm not saying that Rory is the type to stray, but put temptation in a woman's path and it's only natural for her to think about it. Anyway, you need to go and so do I. I'll see you on Monday."

She hung up the phone so suddenly, Jess physically flinched at the click. His mind was suddenly racing with thoughts he would seriously rather not be having. Paris was crazy, he reminded himself of that very firmly, as he hung up the phone and trudged over to a table to sit down. Paris was crazy and Rory would never, ever cheat on him. They were pretty solid, or as solid as a high school romance ever was. People stayed together when college happened, or if they didn't, they survived. Jess wasn't at all happy with the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach right now, or the weird spasm of pain that was echoing through his body. Clearly all this was causing a frown or similar because Luke came over and called him on it.

"You have a very weird look on your face," he noted, taking Jess' chin in his hand and turning his head so he could get a better look at him. "Are you going to throw up? 'Cause if you are-"

"I'm fine" said Jess, pulling away. "Paris was being... well, Paris. She gets to me sometimes, that's all. Especially with all this college crap."

Luke opened his mouth then closed it again fast, shaking his head. It was so tempting to have another talk with Jess about the possibility of his going onto further education. Somehow this didn't feel like a good time. Luke could only hope that with both Paris and Rory so dead set on going to Harvard, or in a pinch some other Ivy League school, maybe something would rub off on Jess. Maybe he would start to see sense when Chilton kept on reminding him of the wonders of college. Luke hoped rather than believed it were true.

"Greetings, diner folk!" said Lorelai, loud and happy as ever as she descended on the place.

"Hey," Luke greeted her as he passed between tables. "You staying?"

"Wish I could, babe, but for me this is the flying kind of visit. Coffee to go?"

"Take a seat at the counter, I'll be there in two minutes."

Lorelai grabbed Rory and kissed her cheek, telling her she would see her at home later, and then headed for the counter, just as Luke had said. Rory sat down at the table with Jess and kissed him 'hello'.

"Hey," she greeted him happily. "Everything okay?" she checked.

"Sure, yeah," he told her. "You have a good time at the Springsteens?"

"It was amazing!" Rory enthused. "Bruce says hi," she joked before going on to tell Jess just about every detail of her visit with the Harvard alumnus and his family.

He was listening, at least most of the time, but his mind kept going back to that conversation he had with Paris a few minutes ago, and the twisting pain in his gut that just wouldn't quit. He told Luke he wasn't going to throw up but right now Jess wasn't so sure that was true. Losing Rory, that would hurt like hell. The merest mention of the idea made him feel terrible.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Rory after a while. "You look tired, or like you're getting sick maybe?"

"I'm fine," said Jess, knowing from the look on her face that she didn't believe him, and not blaming her for that either. "I'm not sick, I just..." he trailed off, looking around to see Luke seemingly keeping an eye on them, and various townsfolk who were probably eavesdropping. "Can we go somewhere else?" he asked.

"Sure." Rory nodded.

She had no idea what was going on, but she trusted Jess and if he needed to take her elsewhere she would go. He had a tight hold on her hand as they got up and left the diner, walking at a pace through town. They headed down past the school and then towards the lake. They were in the middle of the bridge before they stopped and Jess sat down with Rory beside him. She expected that once they had arrived at wherever they were going, Jess would start talking. Apparently, Rory was wrong, and that made her more than a little nervous.

"Jess, should I be worried about where this conversation is going?" she asked. "Are you... Is this a break up?" When his gaze shifted from the water at last and he stared at her, Rory couldn't read his expression. The next thing she knew, Jess' hand was behind her head pulling her in closer, and then he was kissing her like his life depended on it.

"Good answer," she said breathlessly when the moment was over.

"Rory," he said, forehead resting against hers still, "what happens when you go to Harvard?"

"I think you mean if I go to Harvard," she noted with a smile.

Jess looked very serious as he pulled away enough to clearly see her again.

"Either way, you're going to college," he said, "if not Harvard then somewhere else in the Ivy League. Not to go all Sweet Valley High on you, but what does that mean, for us?"

Rory shook her head. "I don't know. I mean, I figure I'll see you in holidays, some weekends. I can come visit here - I mean, I'll want to see you and also Mom and Grandma and Grandpa - and you can come visit me too. You have a car now."

"Yeah, 'cause I'll have enough gas money to get there and back every other week," he muttered, getting up and turning away, though he walked no more than a pace or two.

Rory scrambled to her feet and opened her mouth to speak, to make it better somehow, but she didn't know how.

"Jess?" she said, her hand at his shoulder. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"Me either," he sighed, apparently defeated.

When he turned around to face her again, Rory wasn't sure if she was expecting him to yell and cry or just pull her close and kiss her again. The latter turned out to be true, and she didn't mind at all. She fell into the moment, arms around his neck as he pulled her tightly to him. It was nice to drown so beautifully in each other for a while, but when it was over, Rory knew the problem still remained. Jess was concerned about how they would carry on when she went off to college, and now Rory was thinking seriously about it too, she didn't have a choice.

"Are we okay?" she asked when the kissing ended, their arms remaining around each other yet.

"Sure, yeah" Jess shrugged, knowing there was nothing else to say or do. He was a fool if he ruined what they had now for the sake of what may or may not happen almost a year down the line. "I guess we'll just cross the Harvard bridge when we come to it."

"We'll make it work," Rory assured him, her hand to his cheek. "I mean, you went back to New York for a while and that didn't break us. So long as you don't plan on getting tired of me or replacing me..."

"Nobody could replace you," he told her definitely. "Ever."

"Another good answer," she said with a smile.

Rory was suddenly wondering why she was ever worried about girls like Francie and Shane hanging around. Jess was her boyfriend, he loved her and no-one else. If she hadn't been sure before, she certainly was now as he kissed her one more time.

To Be Continued...