Sorry for the delay! I've been really busy at work and then my mum came for the evening yesterday so I haven't had time to write. I hope to update This is Life tomorrow but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the new chapter for this story. :) Oh and just to answer a question that's come up a bit, Paris was married to Doyle but they didn't have kids.

Chapter 3

"Rory..." Paris suddenly said spotting her watching us. She quickly got up and started rushing towards her.

"Paris, wait!" Jess said getting up and running after her.

"Rory, wait!" Paris said, ignoring Jess.

"I don't want to talk to you." Rory said starting to walk off quickly.

"No, please Rory, wait! Please!" Paris begged.

"Why?" Rory snapped turning round to face her.

"I want to talk to you." Paris said.

"Well I don't want to talk to you." She said crossing her arms against her chest.

"That just happened, I swear. That's the first kiss that has happened." Paris tried to explain.

"That's meant to make me feel better is it?" Rory snapped. "You hid this tryst from me for three years!"

"It's not a tryst! Nothing's happened between us in the three years until now!" Paris exclaimed.

"She's telling the truth." Jess said catching up with them.

"And why should I believe a word either of you tell me anymore?" Rory said angrily.

"Geez Rory, the world doesn't revolve around you ok?" Jess retorted. "Yes, we should have told you about us working together and living together but we've apologised for that. We can't keep apologising. The kiss just happened then. Paris was right about that. Maybe we've been feeling something for a while but do you know why we tried to forget about our feelings? Because of you." He said.

"So what changed?" Rory frowned.

"You don't run my life anymore. I may have let you have power over me before but I'm not letting you anymore." Jess said. "I don't see why you even care! I heard you had a boyfriend?"

"I do." Rory said quickly. "And I'm very happy. He makes me so much happier than you ever made me." She said spitefully.

"Nice." Jess said dryly.

"Oh and it's Logan by the way. We met up in London and we reconnected. It's always been him. It's never been you. Ever." She snapped.

"Logan Huntzberger?" Paris said surprised. "I thought he was engaged..."

"It's not what he wants." Rory said crossing her arms against her chest again.

"Wow, Jess was right." She said.

"What do you mean?" Rory said.

"You've just been ranting about me hiding something from you and you've been hiding something from me as well. I thought you said friends don't have secrets." Paris said.

"This is different. You're dating my ex! Friends don't date their friend's ex, that's the rule!" Rory exclaimed.

"Yeah, well you've made it clear we're not friends anymore so I'm free to do exactly what I like." Paris retorted. "And why do you care? You've just told us how bad a boyfriend Jess was."

"Appreciated that by the way." Jess interrupted.

Rory snorted. "Just make sure he doesn't take off without saying goodbye. He's got a habit of doing that." She said spitefully.

"Yeah, well at least I'm not going out with someone who's engaged." Paris retorted. "I've really respected you, Rory. Your friendship has meant a lot to me over the years, you know that. But you're never happy unless everything's going your way. I never realised it before but it's true. When something doesn't go your way, you steal a yacht, or drop out of Yale, or even lash out at your friend who's been there for you through everything. I wonder why I was scared to tell you about this. But I'm not scared anymore. I haven't felt this way about someone since Doyle. This isn't just to spite you whatever you may think. I..." Paris said glancing at Jess nervously. "I really like him." She admitted. "I just...I hope one day we can be friends again."

"Don't hold your breath." Rory said stubbornly.

"Save your breath, Paris. We're obviously not going to get through to her. We've apologised. We've told her everything. We can't do much more than that." Jess said.

"I am right here, you know!" Rory said.

"Come on." He told Paris, ignoring Rory. "Let's go."

Paris nodded. She glanced at Rory. "Bye."

Jess glanced at Rory as well. "I thought we were finally good. I thought we could finally move past everything and be friends. I guess I was wrong. If you think I'm just going to abandon Paris, then you're wrong. I guess I'll see you around. Or not." He said, then turning to leave, leaving Rory standing them watching them walk away.

"Where are we going?" Paris asked.

"To come clean to the one person I need to tell before he hears it from someone else." Jess told her.

Paris glanced at him and immediately knew. "Luke." She said.

"Luke." He nodded. They got to the diner and he was about to go in when he saw Paris had stopped. "What's wrong?"

"What if you and him fall out about this?" She said nervously. "I don't want to be the reason you and Luke are fighting."

"You wouldn't be the reason." Jess said.

"But he loves Rory. She's like his own daughter. He won't be happy." Paris said.

Jess shrugged. "So what if he isn't?"

"You don't mean that. I know you, Jess. You love Luke. I know you won't admit it but I know how close you two are." She said.

Jess sighed. "That's why he needs to hear this from me and not from..."

"Lorelai." Paris finished his sentence from him. "Of course. Rory's going to tell Lorelai."

"Yeah and I'm going to be public enemy number one again." He said. He glanced at her. "You can head back to Truncheon if you want. I'm happy to do this alone and I will probably be coming back sooner than I thought anyway."

Paris glanced at him. "You're really willing to risk your relationship with Luke, your family, for me?" She asked quietly.

Jess gave her a small smile. "I like you, Paris. I really like you. I know I haven't exactly been great in relationships before but I don't want to screw this one up. I'm not just going to give up on you now." He said.

Paris blushed slightly and gave him a shy smile. "Thanks." She said quietly. "And I'm coming in with you."

"You don't have to." He assured her.

"I do." She said. "It's the least I can do."

"Ok." Jess conceded. "Come on then. Ready?"

"Hold on." Paris said taking a deep breath before taking hold of his hand. "Now I'm ready."

Jess gave her a smile and squeezed her hand. "Let's go." He said.

"Wait, so you're telling me that the roommate you've been going on about all this time, the one you would never tell me her name is...Paris? It's always been Paris?" Luke said.

"Yeah." Jess said as he and Paris sat on the couch up in the diner apartment, watching Luke pace around.

"You've seriously been working and living together for three years? You two? Together? And you're dating?" Luke said trying to get his head round what Jess had just told him.

"Yup." Jess repeated.

"We wanted to tell you before Rory or Lorelai tells you." Paris said quietly.

Luke stopped and glanced at them. "Rory knows?" He said surprised.

"Yeah. Rory knows." Jess sighed.

"And I'm taking by your expressions, she didn't take it very well?" He said slowly.

"You could say that." Jess said. "Which is why I wanted to tell you first. And...well...I wanted to make it easy for you and take myself out of the equation before you have to do it yourself." He said glancing at the floor.

"Wait, Jess..." Paris said surprised.

"What do you mean?" Luke frowned.

"Well...we all know Rory's going to tell Lorelai, who's going to come to you once she finds out and she's going to expect you to choose Rory over me. She's always expected that. And I get it, I do. You've always seen Rory as yours and I don't want you to be stuck in the middle." Jess said, getting up. "So...I want to make it easy for you. Paris and I will go back to Truncheon and you won't need to worry about me coming back to mess up everyone's lives like I normally do." He said. He glanced at his uncle. "I...I know I've said it before but I..uh..I really appreciate everything you've done for me. There's no hard feelings. This is just the way things have to be." He said gruffly. He glanced at Paris. "We should go." He said slowly turning and going to leave, Paris following him.

"Jess, wait..." Luke said.

Jess sighed and turned. "Please...don't make this any harder than it already is. It's ok. I get it. I really do." He said.

"No. You don't get it. You don't get it at all." Luke said. "Did you really think I would just turn my back on you? After everything we've been through."

"But Rory..." Jess said confused.

"Is like my own daughter, yes." Luke nodded. He looked at Jess. "But you're like the son I never had. And you're family. Family stick together."

"But Lorelai will..."

"I will deal with Lorelai if anything happens there. You forget I don't even know if we've broken up or not so it might not even be a problem." He said. He glanced between them and sighed. "I'm not going to say this isn't a shock but...if you two are serious and, well, if you do want to stay a few more days here, this apartment is free."

"Seriously?" Jess said shocked.

"I love Lorelai and Rory. But...I love you too, Jess. I thought that was pretty obvious." Luke said gruffly.

"Well...you did finally give me the password for the wifi." Jess said, smirking slightly.

Luke chuckled slightly. "Well I thought you finally earned it."

Jess glanced at Luke for a moment. "You really mean it? We can stay?" He asked.

Luke smiled at him. "At the moment, you're all I've got, Jess. I don't want to lose you as well." He said softly. "This..." He said gesturing between them. "...may take me some time to get used to...but...if you're happy, then you've got my support."

"Thank you." Jess said quietly. He looked at Luke for a moment before surprising Paris, Luke and even himself by going over and giving his uncle a hug. "Thanks." He said gruffly.

Luke let out a breath and reciprocated the action. "I'm here, Jess. I'm always here. That's never going to change."

So a shorter chapter but I wanted to get something out for you. I was going to make it longer but it felt right to end this here so I promise the next chapter will be longer! Please keep the reviews coming as I really love reading what you all think! Thanks again for all of your support. It really does mean so much to me! :)