A/N- A couple quick notes. First, the last chapter was not rated M. I would agree with rating it T probably. If I decide to write M, it will be M. But in terms of tone that's how a lot of it will be, so I was very glad to hear that people seemed to enjoy it and I'm fairly certain I'll follow through with that. But, like life, you have to wait until the time is right, no matter how completely insane the waiting drives you ;) Yes, I'm cruel, but for some reason you crazy people love me anyway. Thanks for that, if I haven't said so before.

Please keep reading and reviewing. Recommend to your friends if you feel like it, because I'm loving seeing all the new readers recently (though of course I have a special place in my heart for my loyal-from-the-start, tried-and-true readers as well). I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of its characters or concepts, but I've been watching a lot of it lately and now that I'm starting to understand the references I really desperately wish I had the opportunity to attempt to continue it, because the premature death of that show has severely robbed society of a necessary source of insight and, well, just happiness.


Chapter 52

"Rory! Jess!" Chris opened the door with a bow and a flourish, "Welcome to our humble abode."

Jess rolled his eyes, smirking. "Looks nice. Did you finally bother to throw away that bag of chips from three months ago?"

"Jess constantly mocks our housekeeping skills, but I argue that's just another sad consequence of his OCD."

"Which didn't seem to be present when he was leaving books all over the place when we all crashed upstairs at Truncheon," Matt called from the kitchen.

"Untrue," Chris replied, "The haphazard piles always had some bizarre logic to them, according to Mr. Angst over there. We just weren't capable of understanding it."

"If you're going to mock me mercilessly and without any sort of basis in reality, can I at least get a beer first?" Jess asked, walking forward into the main room. Rory followed him closely, trying to calm her nerves.

"Jess, Rory…this is Hannah," Chris smiled, gesturing to one of the two girls sitting on the couch. She smiled and stood up, brushing her long chestnut hair off of her shoulder.

"Nice to meet you," she said shyly, "Chris's told me so much about you, both of you."

"All slander, I promise," Jess shook her hand, his eyes sparkling. Rory felt her own eyes narrow.

"Yeah, really nice to meet you, Hannah," Rory immediately held out her hand to the woman, meeting her eyes purposefully. Hannah offered a small nod of understanding.

"You too, Rory," she continued, "Chris was telling me that you went to Yale?"

"Yeah. It seems like a lifetime ago," she answered, relaxing somewhat. She glanced at Jess and caught amused expression on his face.

"I grew up in New Hampshire and a lot of my friends from boarding school ended up there. Everyone said they loved it," Hannah continued, shyly.

"Matt, get your ass out here," Jess called. Matt appeared, looking disheveled.

"What?" he asked irritably. Jess smirked.

"Geez, what have you been doing? Heavy construction?"

"I'm…never mind. Did you call me here for a reason or just to mock my appearance?"

"Both," Jess answered, "Chris was just introducing us to Hannah and I was wondering if you were ever going to bother…"

"Oh, yeah, of course," Matt cut him off, "This is Chloe."

He gestured to the other blonde girl lounging on the couch. She offered a halfhearted wave, before leaning over to grab her beer.

"Nice to meet you, Chloe," Rory offered.

"Yeah, same here," she responded, not looking up. Jess and Rory exchanged a look.

"Now, if you're done telling me how to live my life, I really have to get back to…"

"Building the Hoover Dam? Can I help?"

"Only by letting me drown you in it," Matt mumbled as Jess followed him into the kitchen. Rory looked at Chris nervously.

"I should go make sure they play nice," he rolled his eyes apologetically, "We'll be back soon."

He followed after them, leaving Rory standing awkwardly in front of the couch with the two girls. Hannah smiled reassuringly.

"Here, sit with us. So how did you meet Jess?" she asked, moving over to make room for Rory on the couch. Rory glanced at her appreciatively before sitting down.

"We actually met back in high school. He lived in my town for a while, with his uncle, who's a good friend of my mom's. And how did you meet Chris?"

"Nothing special," she looked down sheepishly, "I was at a bar with a couple friends and he came up to me and…well…yeah. Completely unlike me, but Chris seems really great."

"He's a really nice guy," Rory affirmed, "What about you, Chloe? How'd you meet Matt?"

"I'm a waitress. He asked me out," she answered in a monotonous tone. She twirled her blonde hair around her fingers, "Happens a lot. He's alright."

Hannah and Rory exchanged a look.

"Alright…" Hannah replied awkwardly, "Um…so Rory, you're working at Truncheon?"

"Right now, yeah," she answered, "It's kind of a long, crazy story."

"Those are the best kind," Hannah responded. Rory couldn't help but smile. Maybe this night wasn't going to be as tedious as the ballroom dancing marathon night after all.

"So two questions. One, why the hell do you look like such a mess and second, does the fembot sitting on your couch have a soul chip or is she an earlier version?"

"Can you shut up? I'm trying to work here," Matt replied to Jess irritably, going into the pantry and gathering an assortment of items. Jess furrowed his brows.

"What is all that?"

"Ingredients."

"For?"

"Dip," Chris answered seriously. Jess looked at Matt in disbelief.

"You have to be shitting me."

"Chloe's fine. She's got a brain. She just doesn't talk a lot."

"Seriously, all of this is to make dip? I mean, I knew you weren't domestic, but…"

"Plus not all of us date to marry, Jess," Matt continued pointedly, "We're in our twenties. What's wrong with dating an attractive woman just to have fun?"

"I don't mind casual dating. But you seem to think it's the only possible option," Jess argued, "Plus, did you see that look she shot at Rory?"

"Have you considered that Rory might be an acquired taste?" Matt countered, "I didn't like her much at first myself."

"Children," Chris interrupted, "Can we please try to behave?" Matt scowled at him.

"Yeah, Matt, behave," Jess called, sticking his tongue out as he walked back toward the living room, earning a snort of laughter from Chris and a flying packet of onion soup mix to the head from Matt.