A/N: Y'all seemed pretty interested in how the party would pan out without Jess failing school and all. Well, I wouldn't say the party is the highlight of this chapter, but I think you'll enjoy the twists ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 29

Jess hadn't really expected to enjoy the party at Kyle's house. For one thing, he couldn't have picked Kyle out of a line up. The band were okay, whatever their name was. Jess knew the guys and they were cool, but Lane spent quite a while freaking out about not being good enough, and then a little more time freaking out about her fake Korean boyfriend liking her too much and Dave maybe not liking her enough. All in all, it meant that Rory spent a lot of time with her friend and a lot less time with Jess. When he finally got his girlfriend back by his side, Rory was eager to dance, to talk to old friends from Stars Hollow High that she hadn't seen in a while, to make a point of being cool about talking to Dean and his new girlfriend, Lindsay. Jess could stand it, but he could think of better ways to spend his time. He smiled politely, danced a little, and even managed to keep his Dean-related insults down too dull roar for Rory's sake, but then he was ready to call it a night.

"We're reaching the point where I'd actually rather be working than be here now," he told Rory perhaps a little too honestly. "Can't we just go back to your place?"

"No," she said, shaking her head vehemently. "No way. There's a good chance that's where Mom and Luke will go for... post-date activities," she said pointedly, trying not to make a face and failing miserably.

"Okay, then let's go back to the apartment," he suggested, with a look that was unmistakable.

"Jess, I am not going to do anything remotely... intimate with you," she said, blushing furiously, "with Paris right downstairs. You really want a person you consider your sister to hear any of that?"

"On second thoughts, let's stay here," he said, sitting down very suddenly in an arm chair and pulling Rory down with him. "Who knew a room full of people could be more private than going home?" he said, kissing her soundly.

Nobody paid any mind since most people were equally as distacted by their own boyfriends and girlfriends at this point. Rory felt a little weird about making out amongst a bunch of other people all engaged in the same activity, but she supposed it didn't really matter. She got lost in the moment for a little bit, until she suddenly heard a crash and a familiar voice apologising repeatedly.

"Lane?" she checked, pulling away from Jess.

Rory was up from her boyfriend's lap and rushing away in a second. Jess gave chase, wondering what could possibly have happened now. They found Lane in the kitchen, scrabbling around on the floor to pick up things she had clearly knocked flying from the counter.

"Sorry, sorry!" she repeated over and over to the cups and forks in her hands. "Rory! Jess!" she cried happily when she saw them. "Are you having a good time at the party? I am!" she declared, lurching forward.

Jess caught her seconds before she hit the tile and tried to right her.

"Wow. Did you drink the whole keg by yourself?" he asked, smelling nothing but beer on her.

"Oh, Lane," Rory sighed. "Why would you do this?"

When her friend started crying, Jess was quick to hand her over. Rory wrapped her arms around Lane as she sobbed and explained how everything was ruined. Jess watched the scene, knowing there was no way this evening was ever going to end as he would like it to now. Running a hand back through his hair, he made a decision.

"Let's get her back to the diner, get some coffee into her," he said, not sure why he was playing knight in shining armour for his girlfriend's BFF, internally blaming Luke for influencing him into wanting to save everyone the way he did himself. "If Mrs Kim sees her like this, I'm pretty sure all our lives are over."

Getting Lane into the car wasn't too bad, but Jess was concerned his interiors were going to be smelling like puke if he didn't drive carefully or quickly enough. Thankfully, Lane made it to the diner before the worst happened and she threw up spectacularly in the dumpster. Rory stayed with her, whilst Jess went inside to brew up even stronger coffee than would be available for the general public. He found the diner was practically empty, just one older couple in a corner, and the reverend working on his sermon by the counter. Paris was stood by another table, clearing away a single cup and looking at what might have been a wallet in her other hand.

"Hey, what's up with you?" Jess asked her. "You look like you just saw a ghost?"

Paris turned slowly to look at him, eyes dodging back and forth between the wallet she held and Jess' face. Eventually, she shook her head.

"Not a ghost," she confirmed, pulling the ID free from the wallet and holding it out for him to take.

Jess was equal parts intrigued and annoyed as he he came over and picked the card out of Paris' hand to look at it. The man in the picture staring back at him looked just vaguely familar and then he read the name alongside it.

Jimmy Mariano.

"Huh."

Lane had told her mother she was spending the evening with Rory, which was not a complete lie. It made it easy then for Paris to call Mrs Kim and advise that she had invited Lane to stay over at her house, if that would be okay. The fact Rory was there too was implied not stated, so it wasn't really a lie. Not that Rory suspected for a moment that Paris would have any problem lying if it suited her. She took the recovering Lane home with her to keep her out of any more trouble than she might already be in, leaving Rory alone with a still shocked Jess.

His father had been in the diner, just moments before they arrived. Rory couldn't believe it and was pretty sure Jess felt the same. He had been sat at the table, in the seat that Jimmy had occupied before, staring at the wallet belonging to his father, for a full half hour. He hardly spoke at all. Rory offered to get him a drink, even an alcoholic one if she could find it, since he had clearly suffered a shock, but Jess didn't want anything. She was all for giving him time to process, but quite honestly, Rory just wanted him to speak now, to move, to blink even, just so she knew he was okay.

"Jess?" she prompted, her hand covering his on the table.

"This is so weird," he said at least. "I never really thought about it, y'know? Like what if he came to find me some day? When I was a kid I thought about it a lot. I never said anything, but I'd think maybe it'd be cool if he showed up, took me away from the life I had with Liz. Sometimes I was just mad at him for running out the way he did, even if I did totally get it. I mean, you've met Liz. Not the easiest person to live with."

Rory didn't know what to say so she chose to say nothing, just nodded along and let Jess continue for as long as he wanted to.

"I don't know why he'd come find me now, if that's even why he's here. It's gotta be, right? I mean, who comes to Stars Hollow for the sights?"

"Probably no-one," Rory agreed when he looked at her for an answer. "The only attraction for him is going to be you, I guess."

Jess nodded his agreement but said nothing else. It got the better of Rory in the end. She just had to ask the one question that wouldn't leave her mind.

"So, do you... Do you wanna meet him?"

There was no immediate answer from Jess. She wondered if he even knew what he wanted right now. This had to be such a complete shock. Whatever answer he might have given, there was no chance for him to process it. The door rattled with an attempt to enter and Rory moved quickly to let Luke and Lorelai in. They looked understandably confused by the Closed sign, and then concerned by the serious look on Jess' face.

"What happened?" asked Luke.

"We had a visitor," his nephew told him, handing the wallet over.

Luke's eyes went wide.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"That's no joke," Jess confirmed as Lorelai peered over Luke's shoulder to see.

For once, she said nothing. This really wasn't any business of hers, even if she did have an opinion on it already. Jimmy Mariano was a heel, or so Luke said. Ran out the day Jess was born and never looked back. Christopher hadn't exactly been the best father in the world to Rory, but he had offered to marry Lorelai in the beginning and stand by her. She said no, she chose to be apart from him. Liz and Jess hadn't been given a choice. Now it seemed maybe there was a decision to be made. From the way Jess and Rory were telling it, Jimmy had come in when Paris was holding the fort and left before they arrived back from the party. That meant Jess still hadn't met his father, but he could, if he wanted to.

"We'll find out where he's staying," said Luke forcefully, "I will take his wallet to him and I will tell him where he can go, because if he thinks-"

"No," Jess cut in, only just loud enough to be heard. "Luke, I know you think you're being the good uncle here, but don't, please," he said, giving him a look. "I don't want you to do that."

Luke was astounded and it showed on his face.

"You don't think he deserves to be told what an ass he is for what he did to you?"

"Maybe," Jess considered. "But don't I deserve to be the one to tell him that?" he countered. "After waiting eighteen years to meet the guy, I think I have the right to say whatever I want for myself."

"The kid has a point," Lorelai ventured when it seemed as if Luke could go either way in his reply. "Or rather the point is that he's not so much a kid anymore, I guess," she said thoughtfully.

"What do you wanna do, Jess?" Rory asked, as Luke turned away from he scene.

The honest answer to that was that he didn't know, but Jess would feel stupid saying as much as they all knew it. He should know if he wanted to meet his father. Actually, he was fairly certain that he did know, that he did want to look Jimmy in the eye and ask him what the hell he was doing here after all this time. The problem was Luke. The guy had been there for him like a father should, and Jess couldn't appreciate that more. To go against what he wanted over Jimmy seemed wrong, but it was what he wanted to do. He needed to.

"If you wanna meet the guy, Jess, you're right, it is your decision," said Luke eventually. "You're old enough to know what you wanna do. I can't stop you. I won't try."

It was a relief to Jess to hear those words. Once they were said, he could speak freely about his decision without the concern that somebody was going to get mad.

"Thanks," he told Luke. "Honestly, I do wanna meet him. I need to, I think. I don't actually know what I wanna say or anything but... Yeah, I think I have to talk to him."

"He has to be staying in town," Lorelai considered. "I know people at all the inns and guest houses, it would only take a couple of calls to find him," she said, excusing herself outside the door, cell phone already in hand.

It seemed the wheels had been put in motion. Before the night was over, Jess Mariano was going to meet his father for the very first time. He honestly wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Paris wasn't good at not knowing things. She liked to have all the information, like all people with inquiring minds. She wouldn't say she was nosey exactly, but she probably was. Mostly, she was just concerned for Jess, though she wasn't about to tell him that. It was probably a little too early on a Sunday to be dragging Lane into the car and driving her home, and definitely too early to go bugging her brother about what happened last night with his father, but Paris couldn't help herself.

Jess saw her coming through the diner window and came out to meet her in the street.

"I'm guessing you wanna know what happened with Jimmy," he said, glancing back at the diner where he knew Luke was watching them.

"You think you know me so well," said Paris, rolling her eyes, and yet she couldn't deny he was right. "Was it okay? Do I need to go kick his ass or anything?"

"Stand down, Pink Ranger," Jess advised with a smirk he couldn't help. "Let's walk," he said then, urging her to go.

They were headed nowhere in particular, but Paris understood why they were going. Luke didn't approve of Jimmy, it had been mentioned before. No doubt he wasn't a fan of Jess' father being back in his life and it was easier to talk about this away from the protective uncle, as well as other prying eyes and ears. People thought Paris didn't understand tact, when in fact she knew exactly how it worked, she just thought it was a waste of energy most of the time.

"So, Jimmy is... He's cool," Jess explained as they walked along together. "He's not like I pictured at all. A lot of the stories my mom told painted him like a cartoon villain. I almost expected a black cloak and maniacal laughter," he explained with a wry smile. "She had other stories, from when they were young, our age, I guess. Then he sounded a lot like me. He is a lot like me, just older."

"Then he can't be so bad," said Paris with a smirk she learnt from Jess himself. "So, did he tell you why he suddenly showed up?"

"He wanted to see me. I don't know what took him so long. From what he said, I'm not even sure he knows." Jess shrugged, hands deep in his pockets as they crossed the street and continued on to nowhere in particular. "I was in the same room as him for over an hour and I think we said maybe a dozen things to each other."

"Well, you're not exactly the chatty type. Maybe you get that from your father," said Paris, only half-joking. "You sure as hell don't get your monosyllabic tendencies from Mommy Dearest."

"Hey, I'd talk more if you ever stopped for breath," he countered, not unkindly.

"Ha, ha. You're hilarious," she dead-panned. "God, if you hadn't had a traumatic experience last night, I'd leave right now."

"And that'd be a shame."

When she looked at Jess she saw humour in his expression, but truth in his eyes. He was messing around because that was what they did. They teased each other like siblings would, but underneath it all, they cared. She came here to find out what happened but not just to have all the information, more so because she was worried for her brother.

"Seriously though, are you okay?" she checked then.

"I'll live." Jess nodded.

"Good to know. I kind of got used to having you around."

"Yeah, me too. Jimmy offered me the chance to visit with him... in LA."

"He offered you a free trip to California?"

"He didn't say he was paying for the flight or anything, but I guess I'd be staying with him, and Sasha and Lily. That's his girlfriend and her daughter."

"Wow." Paris looked genuinely surprised and Jess didn't wonder at it after all he had told her in the past about his supposed dead-beat absentee father. "He settled down. Maybe that's what had him yearning to see how his offspring turned out."

"Maybe."

"So, are you going?"

"Always with the journalistic instinct." Jess rolled his eyes. "Rory should take tips from you. Honestly? I don't know. Summer's right around the corner. Rory's going to Europe. It's not the worst idea in the world."

Paris knew she shouldn't feel hurt that he hadn't considered leaving her behind when he crossed the country for a vacation with Daddy. Jess owed her nothing, not really. They had each other's back, they cared, that was the truth, but if he wanted to know a piece of his real blood family better, she couldn't really complain. Hell, she had two parents in her life all this time and neither was altogether interested. Jimmy might be eighteen years too late, but at least he had made an effort now. A cross-country effort no less.

"Y'know I appreciate you coming over," said Jess then, stopping walking and turning to face Paris. "Means a lot."

"What are sisters for?" she asked, smiling in spite of herself. "I mean, I know our parents were only married a really short time, and apparently my father was far from Liz's first trip into matrimony, but I just can't seem to help caring what happens to you. I'm still half-convinced I suffered some kind of head trauma around the time you arrived here or something. How else could I possibly explain it?"

"Maybe they banged our heads together, because I don't have an explanation either," said Jess honestly. "I guess it just doesn't suck having one person I can call family that doesn't run away from me at the first sign of trouble."

"Same here," she agreed. "Except for me there doesn't even have to be any trouble for the people to start running."

As the two of them turned back towards the diner and the spot where Paris had parked her car, Jess threw an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a brief side-ways hug. They didn't need to say anymore today, they both knew where they stood, and if that didn't prove that they were born to be brother and sister, nothing ever could.

To Be Continued...