A/N- Hello everyone! I'm sorry that this chapter, again, is a little shorter. But the last one was really long! So it kind of works out, I guess. I'm still going to attempt an extra chapter soon, I promise, it's just crazy right now since I'm moving across an ocean on Tuesday. So wish me luck! It's absolutely terrifying and I wish more than anything I had a Jess to calm me down. Just saying, ASP, if you based him on a person...I want his contact info. Anyway, I had a point here, didn't I? Okay, short chapter, more coming, Jess is perfect (in the only acceptable way- imperfection), and I hope you all have a good week this week! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, keep reading and reviewing! I do not own Gilmore Girls but I do own a new day dress that is very much Girly Rory. Fifties, swingy, Dance-Marathon meets Season 6-7 meets a little bit of Lorelai in the simplicity, fit, and color scheme. Maybe wearing it will help me channel the Gilmore luck with women, though if it gets me Narco I'm going to have to burn it (sorry, but I'm really just not).
Chapter 82
"I suppose champagne is in order," Emily said flatly as they all sat down at the table, "Richard, would you…"
"I'd be delighted," he answered. Standing up, he looked at Jess. "Care to help me with the glasses, son?"
"Sure, Mr. Gilmore," Jess replied, rising. He smirked at the confused expression on Luke's face. "No problem."
"Please, call me Richard," he insisted, clasping Jess on the shoulder, "You're practically family now, right?"
Rory and Jess exchanged a look.
"Because we're getting married," Lorelai added helpfully, "See the ring?"
"That big, shiny thing on your hand that you've been pointing at for days? Yes, I've noticed," Rory rolled her eyes and Luke stifled a laugh. Richard and Jess departed toward the study.
"So Jess," Richard said, slowly, "Emily tells me that the first time you came here, you didn't make the best impression."
"No, sir," Jess answered. He'd been expecting this. Even though Rory had said that Richard would like him, he knew it wouldn't be that easy. He saw how protective the man was of his granddaughter and furthermore understood it.
"Do you have any explanations to offer?"
"None that justify my behavior," he answered, "But I can very honestly say that I'm not like that anymore."
"Like what?" Richard said, abandoning all pretense and walking to Jess, staring him straight in the face, "What were you like?"
"Impulsive. Rash. Irresponsible," Jess responded without hesitation, "Inconsiderate, ungrateful, cowardly, stubborn. Actually, I can still be very stubborn. But the rest of it? I've moved past those things."
"That doesn't change the fact that you treated my granddaughter with a lack of respect and that you made a very poor impression on my wife. Those things do not speak well of you."
"No, sir, they do not."
"So explain to me why I should approve of this relationship which you two are so clearly embarking upon."
Jess looked at him and smiled. It wasn't that he hadn't believed Rory, but it was incredible how she could see these things coming.
"Because I make her happy. Happier than anyone she's ever been with and happier than she is alone," Jess told him honestly, "And because I know I'm not good enough, and never will be, but I'll spend the rest of my life trying if she'll let me. I don't deserve her, that's true. But Rory knows what she wants, and for some reason that I'll never understand, it's me. And considering how close you are to her, I know that at the core of it you really just want her to be happy, and you know as well as I do that no one is good enough for her. So given that, I'd pose myself as the best alternative."
"Well," Richard said thoughtfully, after a long pause, "How about that."
"What?" Jess asked, anxiously.
"I didn't really expect you to have an answer!" Richard boomed, beginning to laugh. He grabbed the bottle of champagne and gestured to the glasses, which Jess grabbed. He followed Richard to the kitchen, looking at him in a curious confusion as the older man continued to laugh hysterically.
"Well there you are…Richard! What on Earth is the matter with you?" Emily asked, perplexed, as Richard set the bottle on the table, his laughter only beginning to subside, "Are you having some kind of fit?"
"Jess?" Rory turned to him, confused. He shrugged.
"No idea," he answered quietly, "But I think it's a positive."
"Ever the optimist," she smirked as her grandfather gathered himself. She caught his eye and he winked at her, giving a small nod towards Jess who was busy passing the glasses around the table. Rory grinned widely in spite of her better sense and reached for her drink. Perhaps this time Friday Night Dinner would actually involve some version of everybody getting along.
