A/N: So this is a long chapter. Like, a really long chapter. A really, really long chapter...maybe the longest I've ever posted. So it's kind of two days' chapters, but I wanted to leave them together given the way they are. Hope you enjoy, please read and review (and recommend to your friends and favorite, if you haven't already and you feel so inclined!). I do not own Gilmore Girls but I do own a notebook with the next year of this fic planned out in it so I feel both surprisingly organized and surprisingly low-tech. How Gilmore of me.
Also, I planned out some of my initial ideas for a fic about Paris and Rory living together for the rest of college...that idea I'd alluded to forever ago. Haven't written it up yet but if anyone would be interested in such a fic, let me know and maybe I'll consider starting it up!
Chapter 107
Five nights later, Rory and Jess stood in front of the imposing front door to her grandparent's house.
"We have to go in eventually," Jess pointed out, turning to look at Rory. She sighed.
"Not really. We could just never tell them."
"Won't they find out?"
"How?"
"Rory, our lives are pretty damn intertwined. We live together. It seems realistic to expect our futures to continue to be really involved. There's no way you could hide that from them."
"You're right. Why don't we get a kid and make it tell them?"
"Oh my god, there is so much wrong with that statement," Jess said, his jaw dropping in horror, "First, 'get' a kid? Did you pay any attention in health class? Second, making our hypothetical child tell them is cruel and unusual and that kind of goes against my hypothetical child-rearing philosophy. And third, don't you kind of hate kids?"
"Two out of three valid points. Alright, fine. What about a dog?" Rory looked at him innocently.
"We're going inside now, if only to replace your crazy with the other two generations of it," Jess rolled his eyes, ringing the doorbell. Immediately it opened to Emily Gilmore.
"Grandma!" Rory jumped, "Since when do you open your own door?"
"Since the maid decided to be completely incompetent at her job. I've already fired her. Well don't just stand there, come in. And I'll have the cook come in to take your coats."
"Seriously?" Jess muttered to Rory once Emily had turned around and begun walking towards the living room.
"You were the one who wanted to come in," Rory shrugged, smiling gently as she handed her coat to the nervous-looking woman who had just appeared.
"Probably not one of my better ideas."
"Probably not."
"Rory?" they heard a voice call from the living room.
"Mom!" Rory smiled, quickly walking in and going over to hug her mother, Jess following a few steps behind.
"You're late!" Lorelai accused, looking at both of them suspiciously, "Were you…"
"Busy with Truncheon? Yes," Jess cut her off, "And Rory had an important phone call."
"Wait, you two drove here together?" Emily asked, looking at Rory curiously, "That doesn't make any sense. From what I remember, Jess was based in Philadelphia."
"He is," Rory answered quietly, her eyes on the floor.
"So why would you two come here together? Did you have an assignment in Philadelphia? Your mother said you were doing less traveling. And I can't really imagine what they would have you doing in Philadelphia, of all places," Emily rolled her eyes.
"Mom…"
"Hello, everyone! Sorry I'm late, I was on an important call with Brussels."
"Ah, yes, how are the Sprouts?"
"Really, Lorelai," Richard shook his head, "Emily! Rory and Jess don't have cocktails! Rory, Jess, would you like anything?"
"Red wine, please." "Just a soda would be great, thanks."
"You didn't answer my question," Emily said pointedly, forcing Rory to meet her gaze, "Why did you two arrive together? Did Jess have an appointment in New York?"
"No, Grandma," Rory sighed, "We came from Philadelpiha."
"And what were you doing there?"
"It's where I live."
Suddenly Emily stood up, outrage spreading across her face. "What do you mean, it's 'where you live'? You were relocated and you didn't tell us?"
"Well, actually…I wasn't relocated, per se," Rory continued, looking hesitantly at Jess. He nodded at her slowly, reassuring her to go on. "I don't work for that paper anymore."
"You have a new job and you didn't tell us?" Emily demanded, her cheeks reddening with anger, "How could you…and what type of job could possibly locate you in Philadelphia? That city is for starving painters and waitresses, not for the brightest minds of our nation."
"The DAR would probably disagree," Lorelai mumbled to herself, quickly picking up her martini and gulping down the rest of it before handing it to her father, "More please."
"Actually I…I'm looking for a new job."
"You were fired?"
"I quit."
"You quit?"
"I quit."
"What on earth were you thinking? And that still doesn't explain…" Suddenly Emily's eyes widened and her lips pursed.
"Mom…"
"You're together."
"What?"
"You and this awful young man…you're involved. And you're in Philadelphia, shacking up with him, wasting your life away. And I thought you knew better…"
"Mom!"
"After all, you weren't willing to relocate for a man before, even one who was actually deserving of your affection, who could have provided you with a good life, who was going to marry you! Is Jess going to marry you? He can't provide for you! From what I understand to be the case, he can barely provide for himself. Living above a shop, that's what brothel-owners do…"
"Did you just compare Jess to a pimp?" Lorelai asked unbelievingly, drinking her next martini, "Or a madam?" She handed Rory and Jess their glasses and looked cautiously at their faces. Rory's was perfectly still, and Jess' looked blank as well. Only they could have seen the rage that was boiling beneath each other's expressions.
"Lorelai, for once in your life, be quiet, and do your job! Parent! It is abundantly clear that your daughter, your only child, is throwing her life away for a man, a man that isn't even worthy of her affections, something you told me yourself!"
"Mom!"
"You called him a weasel! You were going to forbid her to see him!"
"Mom!"
"Do you want her to end up like you?"
"Enough!" Richard boomed, right as Rory stood up and opened her mouth to interject, "Rory, Emily, sit down. We are going to talk about this calmly and rationally."
"Calmly and rationally?" Emily asked, disbelieving, "Are you being serious, Richard? This girl is throwing her life away!"
"I highly doubt that, Emily, and even if that were the case, your histrionics aren't helping. You haven't even let the poor girl explain. Or given Jess a chance to speak, as you so enthusiastically degrade him, in spite of the fact that I have told you multiple times of my own personal approval of the boy."
"You cannot approve of someone who would corrupt your granddaughter, take her away from her dreams, her life!"
"I guarantee you, Emily, no man is capable of that. We've seen proof."
"I can't talk about this anymore, I'm going to lie down," Emily snapped, "Call me when at least one of you gets some sense into your head. And Rory, if you're going to make your mother's mistakes, I hope you realize that in doing so, you put all of the support we've given you over the years to waste. You should be ashamed of yourself."
"No, she shouldn't," Jess said, his voice low.
"What was that?" Emily snapped, turning around.
"She shouldn't be ashamed," Jess replied, more loudly this time. He looked cautiously at Richard. "Mr. Gilmore, sir, I'm sorry, but I have to say something here." He stood up and walked directly toward Emily, looking her straight in the eye. "You can think whatever you want about me, and even say whatever you want about me, and I will sit quietly here and just take it, because there's some grain of truth in every criticism you make. Hell, some of the things I agree with. And even the unfair ones really don't matter to me, because what matters is that Rory knows who I am and that those things aren't true. But the second you start in on her, we have a problem."
"Young man…"
"I wasn't finished. Maybe it was wrong of Rory not to tell you she moved or about her job, and you have every right to disapprove of her decisions, but you will not make her feel like a lesser person for making her own choices instead of the ones you want her to make. And you will not make her out to be some victim, some guy-obsessed bimbo that throws everything away for the first guy she meets. That's not Rory, and you know it, and I won't let you demean her that way."
"This is my house, and I can say what I want inside of it, and I certainly don't…"
"You're right that it's your house, but Rory and I don't have to be in it. You guys don't have a deal, and I'm fairly certain that she comes here because she loves you and wants to spend time with you. And her grandfather. But if you love her, which I would think you do, considering how fiercely protective you get of her, you should realize that saying things like that to her is only going to do more harm than good."
"Young man…"
"Emily," Richard said, his voice low, "Go upstairs. We can talk about this later, and I'll call you when they've left and we'll have dinner, alright?"
"Richard, he can't…"
"I will take care of it."
With one last disgusted look at Jess, and one last glare from Rory, Emily stomped up the stairs. When she was finally gone, Richard turned.
"Jess, although I appreciate the merits of many of the points you made and happen to agree with a fair lot of them, I think it might be for the best if we all got together another time. Perhaps we could stay another ten minutes, finish our drinks, discuss the basics, so that we're up to speed, and then arrange for another night? I think that might be for the best."
"Absolutely. Mr. Gilmore…"
"Richard."
"Richard. I apologize, I know I upset your wife…"
"She'll calm down. In truth, it will probably do her some good."
"Grandpa…"
"Yes, Rory?"
"I'm sorry for not telling you."
"Your grandmother's just upset…"
"No, that's not what I mean," Rory corrected, her eyes still alight with anger but meeting her grandfather's directly, "I'm sorry for not telling you. I should have told you. I just didn't know how."
"Well, why don't we start with when and go from there." They all sat down and Rory sighed, beginning slowly.
"A few months ago, I started visiting Jess in Philadelphia on some weekends. I'd been having a rough time at work for a while. Not performance-wise. Performance-wise, everything was great. I just wasn't happy. And I started visiting Jess, but only as friends. Once he realized something was wrong, he helped me. He let me stay with him while I cut my workload, first down to only assignments I could file remotely and finally, once I quit. Yes, I'm living with him, but I was staying with him before we were involved. We only began dating…again, I guess, really, a month or so ago. It had nothing to do with the career things."
"I believe you," Richard nodded, "Now, matters of practicality. Are you paying any rent?"
"I won't let her pay me money," Jess replied, "But she does work in our offices, on a temporary basis."
"How long…"
"Since the remote-reporting phase. Until now," she answered, "Recently, I realized that what I wanted to do wasn't reporting. It was being an editor. And subsequently, I began a job search which is just now starting to bear fruit."
"And you plan to live…"
"In Philadelphia."
"You realize you're limiting yourself…"
"Yes, and Jess wasn't pleased about that at first either. But I want to be with him, and this isn't a casual, temporary situation."
"Alright," Richard sighed, looking at Jess, "Now you, young man. I don't agree with most of the things that Emily said, but if you are at least partially providing for my granddaughter, there are questions I need answered."
"Anything."
"You make enough money to support yourself?"
"Comfortably."
"And Rory, if the need occurred?"
"Yes, though less comfortably. I'm not wealthy, by any means. Independent presses don't lend themselves to that. But I'm self-sufficient and I can support her as long as she needs me to."
"Are you financially supporting her now?"
"Not really," Rory answered for Jess, "In terms of free rent, yes, and some food, but I have more than adequate savings to live off of."
"And your job search is promising?"
"Yes. I have an interview next Thursday with a paper for a Features Editor position."
"And the most important thing," Richard leaned forward, "Are you happy?"
Jess and Rory looked at each other and grinned. Lorelai feigned a gag, and Richard looked at her disapprovingly.
"Yes, we're happy," Rory smiled, shooting her mother a smirk.
"So happy it makes me sick, actually," Lorelai added.
"Actually, Lorelai, I have a few questions for you as well," Richard turned to her and she sighed.
"And this is where it'll get ugly…"
"Get?" Jess asked, smirking.
"How long have you known about this?"
"Longer than you, but not exactly as it was happening. I've been kept up to date as Rory's felt comfortable keeping me up to date."
"And did you have any intention…"
"No, I wasn't going to tell you. But I have been trying to get Rory to do it for a while now. She was just afraid of how you guys would react."
"More how Grandma would react."
"How crazy of you," Jess rolled his eyes. Rory grinned.
"That might be the only time you've called me crazy that you've meant it sarcastically."
"Savor the moment."
"I can understand that," Richard nodded at Lorelai, "You were respecting her wishes. She's an adult. Now, what do you think of Jess? Is it true, what Emily said about you disapproving of him?"
"Yes, no, well…" Lorelai started, earning glares from both Rory and Jess, "I mean no! I don't disapprove of him! Meaning yes, I approve of him! The things Mom said were from a long time ago."
"And a long time ago…"
"I didn't approve of him."
"Because?"
"Because he was an angry kid and I thought he'd hurt Rory and do her more harm than good."
"What changed?"
"He did. They both did, actually," she corrected, smiling at Rory.
"And now? You trust him with your only child?"
"I do," she nodded, "She's never been happier."
"I can see that in her."
"So…"
"So, Rory," Richard stood up, and the others followed suit, "I cannot speak for your grandmother, but I, personally, am happy for you. And I will support you in both of these endeavors, professional and personal, in any way I can. If you need anything, I am here."
"So you don't…"
"Think you threw your life away for a man? Not the Rory Gilmore I know," Richard answered, grinning at her, "You'd never. And you don't have to work at the New York Times to make us proud."
"Wall Street Journal?"
"Lorelai."
"Washington Post?"
"Lorelai!"
"Oh, that one was louder," Lorelai smirked, "Probably because of all the left-wing…"
"Goodnight, all of you. And Rory, give it a few days. She'll calm down. She just wants the best for you."
"I know," Rory smiled slightly, "Thanks, Grandpa."
"And Jess?" Jess turned to face Richard. "I have a very upset wife upstairs, and you're majorly responsible for that."
"Yes…"
"But I also have a granddaughter that I'm very proud of here, and I'm happy to see that someone feels as protective of her as I am. Take good care of her."
"I will."
