Chapter 20

The next morning Rory left without incident and Jess was grateful. Not for her leaving, as much as for the chance to think about the situation in peace.

Jess wasn't doing this because he was in love with Rory. Or because she deserved it. Truthfully, she didn't, and she knew it as well as he did, but this wasn't a matter of him doing her a favor out of affection or nostalgia either. He just felt compelled to be there for her. Not indebted because of the times she believed in him when no one else did, when he wasn't mature enough or ready enough to deal with things yet, but because he knew he was the only one with a real shot of seeing what was happening.

No offense intended to Luke or Lorelai, but if Rory had an internal problem (as he expected this one was, based on her behavior), they may notice but they might not. And even if they did, would Rory really go to them?

One would think she'd go to Lorelai, but since college started, things had been different. Maybe even before. She went to Lorelai with problems she knew Lorelai could solve, and had realized the limitations of her mother's help.

It also seemed like maybe she wasn't interested in it for the most part. No one was able to talk Rory out of her grandparent's house except for Jess, as close as Luke and Lorelai came at the party just by their presence. And she didn't want to talk to her mother about most things of real internal importance. Rory had seemingly outgrown that instinct, which made sense, given her mother's tendency to not always understand the way Rory's mind worked. (To no fault of Lorelai's own, Rory's mind would have been a mystery to Kafka).

Believe it or not, Jess secretly believed that she probably would have gone to Luke about serious issues before Lorelai. Rory went to Luke when Jess had left town, and during the separation she called Luke rather than her mother, and Rory never really had the same emotional block with Luke during that time that she did with her mother. Luke was the father figure that was understanding, soft and kind, as well as being a rock of stability. Jess knew that about him, and he knew Rory was also very aware of it. But Luke hadn't noticed anything was wrong with Rory, and it seemed pretty damn apparent she wasn't in a talking mood.

No, Jess was the only one who saw that the Rory currently visible on the surface wasn't quite right. Something was going on, but he knew it wasn't something she was just going to tell him immediately. It had probably taken her some time mentally to even get herself to Philadelphia. Rory had to know that Jess would see it in her, the off-ness that was so obvious to her now. It wasn't a difference of maturity, because he could see how maturity had changed her. The relaxation was at least partially a product of that, the ability to sleep and to breathe and to spend ten minutes without making a list. Part of it was strange but some of that was natural and made sense to have changed. The fact that she wasn't constantly calling her mother would be another hallmark of maturity.

But the fact that she hadn't visited Star's Hollow in as long as it had been concerned him. The fact that she called Lorelai less often wasn't concerning, but it worried him that she didn't really seem to call at all. She'd called once that weekend, prompted by Jess's question about when they'd last spoken and her admission that she couldn't remember. She sounded peppy, quirky, reference-spouting and bantering as usual, but when he'd looked up, he realized she wasn't smiling. She hadn't once the whole time. There was a flatness in her tone as she said those things, especially when Lorelai was asking questions about her life. She hadn't mentioned being in Philadelphia until the end, at which point Jess was grateful that it appeared Lorelai did not mention his visit to Star's Hollow. After getting off the phone, she'd acted like everything was normal and about dinner. But he'd seen the same uncertainty and, was it exasperation?, that he'd been seeing since she'd come back into his life.

He really didn't have the time to analyze this. Work was crazy and his two business partners were likely to be highly displeased to find out about Rory's open invitation. He might actually have to work on it a bit with them, especially considering how unsuccessful his previous attempts had been. It was just hard because there really wasn't a good way to justify her behavior. And Rory wasn't used to being disliked. He could see from a mile away what a pain in the ass this was going to be. Sighing, he headed downstairs to talk to Chris.

"Hey," he said, pushing open the office door, "How's it going?"

"Better than expected," Chris admitted, turning to Jess, "You know how much it pains me to say it but that extra body was pretty damn helpful. Annoying OCD tendencies with all the lists and sticky notes though."

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Jess said.

"Oh no," Chris said, immediately stopping his work and looking at Jess, "You guys didn't…"

"No!" Jess exclaimed, a very slight flush appearing on his cheekbones, "God, no, it's not like that."

"Thank god," Chris said, "I mean, no offense, but that would've been stupid as fuck for you to…"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Can we move on now?" Jess interrupted in frustration.

"Alright, angsty," Chris smirked, "What's on your precious little mind then?"

"I told Rory she could come back."

"For how long?"

"Open invitation."

"And why the hell would you do something like that?"

"No one else can and she needs someone to."

"Bullshit. Why can't someone else? Unless she's starving or out of work or has a scary boyfriend…wait, is she seeing anyone?"

"Why, you interested?" Jess smirked, unable to help himself, "But no, she isn't. Me included. This is just something I need to do. And I know it's a lot of shit to ask you to put up with, but let's be serious for a second. She was here helping out all weekend and was she once anything less than kind to either of us?"

"That comment about the Beats made me want to roast her over a fire like a pig."

"Well, besides your Lord of the Flies tendencies, which are totally justified in that situation, I'll admit, do you have any rational reasons to be so stubbornly against her after this? It's been years, Chris. All I'm asking is for you to give it a shot."

Chris inhaled deeply and sighed. "Fine," he said grudgingly, "But you know we're all only putting up with this because you put up with our shit, right?"

"And I will continue to," Jess grinned, "In fact, I'll even wingman for you with those twins at the bar tonight."

"Really?" Chris' face perked up and Jess laughed.

"God no, you have no chance in hell. But the redhead might be a possibility." He clasped his arm around Chris' shoulder and they walked out of the office.