A/N: I'm glad you are all enjoying Jess' POV in this fic. It's a whole other world for me, and yes, it does mean you're left wondering about Rory's situation, but that will all be revealed in time, I promise :) In the meantime, a little more Jess ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 5

When they got back from the park, Lil was full of tales to tell to her mom and Jimmy. That worked out just fine for Jess since he was able to slip off to his room without anyone really paying any mind. He knew he was smiling like an idiot and would not be good for any kind of conversation right now. His mind was elsewhere, still back on the Ferris wheel with Rory for the most part. She was honestly like no other girl he ever met and it both thrilled him and saddened him to have met her like this.

For as long as she was around, they were pretty much guaranteed to have the best time. They had an awful lot in common, both obsessed with books, classic movies, and good music, and yet they were different enough as to make things interesting. Honestly, it was almost more fun to disagree than to get along. Not that Jess was objecting at all to the moments when they wanted the same thing, especially when that thing was his lips on hers.

Though he managed to get to bed without anyone questioning him about the giddy look on his face or similar, Jess knew his luck wouldn't hold forever. He got a promise out of Lilly before not to mention Rory in front of the parentals, but he knew that couldn't last too long. It wouldn't be fair to expect her not to slip up eventually, especially after their day at the park together. Rory's name was going to come up again before long, and questions were going to be asked.

Thankfully, when the moment came, it was fairly painless. Jimmy left for work right after breakfast and Lilly was in her room, deep into a book, as she often was. Jess was taking his turn washing dishes whilst Sasha talked of spending a little time on her canvas this morning. She headed for her room but returned a minute or two later, fastening a headscarf over her hair, presumably to keep the paint off. Jess barely glanced up until she spoke.

"So, Rory, huh?" she said with a smile he could hear. "Don't blame Lil. She really didn't mean to say anything, she felt just awful about it."

"It's fine." Jess shrugged, keeping his eyes on the dish he was washing. "You were gonna find out some time anyway."

He looked over at Sasha leaning on the door jamb, saw the smile on her face and rolled his eyes. She was thinking exactly what he expected her to think, that it was just adorable to see him in love or something. Anybody who knew Sash would never suspect she was the fairy-tale princess type. Truth was she was pretty realistic about love, life, and everything else, but that didn't mean she couldn't be as romantic and mushy as any other woman when she put her mind to it.

"She's a tourist, right?" she asked then. "Rory, she's just here for vacation?"

"From Connecticut, yeah." Jess nodded, shutting off the water now the dishes were done.

"Wow. New England girl. She a blue blood?"

Jess' eyes narrowed at the question and he frowned. Sasha didn't judge people, not at all, so he wondered at her trying to categorise Rory this way. She must have read him right because she immediately explained herself.

"I just... I don't want you to get hurt," she told him quickly. "Some girls, women, they have their life all laid out for them, especially the upper class types. So they rebel. They pick some nice guy to... to go wild with for the summer or something, and then they go back to their life and forget all about them. I don't want that for you," she said, shaking her head.

"Rory's not that girl," Jess insisted. "Even if she was, I don't think it'd matter," he admitted with a sigh.

Sasha watched him drying off the cups and plates, and realised all too quickly what he meant. Poor Jess, he really had it bad. Even if this girl was some kind of user, he would happily be used just to be with her for a while. Love at first sight. It was no fallacy, Sasha knew that for sure. It had happened to her at least three times, though only this last one had really stuck. Love could be as fleeting as it was sudden. Somehow where Jess was concerned she had a feeling it was going to be a much more permanent state of being. That could be dangerous, and yet she couldn't warn him off this girl, not when she could already see how Rory had affected him.

"Do we get to meet her?"

Jess looked a little startled by the question, but only for a second.

"Maybe," he considered. "You do get that I've only been out with her twice, right? I only met her four days ago."

"You wanna give me the hours and the minutes too? Because I'll bet you could." Sasha smiled, coming further into the room.

"You're loving this, aren't you?" said Jess, trying to be pissed about it but failing miserably when he smiled back at her.

"I am not unhappy to see you feeling this way," she admitted, her hand on his shoulder. "Everybody needs love in their life, Jess, and you deserve way more than you've had so far."

She didn't feel sorry for him as such, Jess knew, but Sasha had a lot of empathy for people. She understood what it was to be screwed over. Her own beginnings in life hadn't been so great, and then things hadn't worked out with Lil's dad. Her first really stable family situation was with him and Jimmy, as there's was with her and Lilly. None of them had really caught the greatest breaks until they found each other, they just didn't talk about it much, mostly because Jess didn't like to think of his make-shift family as the down-sized Brady Bunch.

"You don't think I'm an idiot?" he checked then. "I mean, she's going home in a couple of weeks, to just about the farthest point in the country from here. If I ever see her again after that it'll be a miracle."

"Maybe, maybe not," Sasha considered, "but don't waste the time you have by worrying about what might happen later," she advised, patting him on the back. "Just be happy, Jess. It's all we want for you."

"Thanks, Sash," he said, still smiling as he allowed her a rare hug. "I think I'll head out, see who's around."

"Enjoy," she said as Jess grabbed his keys, cell, and wallet and left the house.

He didn't have much use for the phone most of the time. It was really for emergencies and such, when Jimmy needed him at work or Sasha hoped he would come home to watch Lil for a while. Still, he had exchanged numbers with Rory so they could text when they wanted to meet up next or whatever. Switching it on this morning, the phone configured and immediately bleeped with a new message. Jess smiled when he saw it was from Rory and fought to read the screen in the bright sunlight.

'Mom + Luke have plans for me today, sorry. How about 2moro night for the park?'

Jess couldn't say he wasn't disapponted to realise Rory wouldn't be around today, but at least she was asking about seeing him tomorrow. He had suggested she see the view from the Ferris wheel at night and she was quick to agree to a date for just that very thing, though she wasn't sure when at the time. Now tomorrow night seemed definite. Jess text back to confirm and told her he hoped she had fun with her folks today. When he was done, he closed up the phone and switched it for the paperback in his back pocket. Apparently he was spending the day without Rory or his little sister for company. Time to catch up with Franny and Zooey then.

"Hey, what held you up?" asked Jimmy as his son came crashing into the back of Dante's Inferno. "Or should I say who?" he tried with a look.

Jess rolled his eyes.

"I was not with Rory," he insisted. "I just got caught up is all," he explained, waving his paperback in Jimmy's face.

"Huh. Franny and Zooey, a classic. Not that you'd know it," he said, eyeing the screwed up copy in his hand with distaste. "You may as well have cleaned the floor with this Jess. I taught you more respect for books than that!"

"That's my travelling copy," Jess told him, tying on his apron to begin working. "I have the hardback at home. Totally pristine."

"That's my boy," said Jimmy with a smile, ruffling his son's hair.

"Seriously?" Jess complained, fixing the mess his dad had made before getting to work.

It was tough not to smile. Jimmy was kind of a great father. The two of them weren't much for hugs or 'I love you's but Jess never doubted for a second that Jimmy would do anything for him, that he always had his best interest at heart. He wouldn't be here if that weren't true. The other thing they rarely said was anything at all about Jess' mother.

Jess knew very little about Liz, save for the fact she had problems of the alcohol and drugs variety. She got in a pretty bad way, so bad that Jimmy meant to leave her before, but then she was pregnant and there was no way to walk away from that sort of responsibility. Even with a baby to think of, Liz couldn't kick her habits, and so the day Jess was born Jimmy had done the only thing that made sense to him, he picked up his son and ran.

Jess had the story relayed to him only when he was old enough to hear it and really understand. It hurt. Knowing his mother thought more highly of herself and her dirty habits than of him, but he didn't doubt what Jimmy said was true. It made too much sense to be lies, and Jimmy didn't pull any punches with his kid. Jess knew his father was no saint, that he made his own mistakes too. It wasn't as if he never had a drink, never partied with Liz, popped the pills, smoked the dope, but when it came to the crunch, he cleaned up his act. He knew he had to.

"Maybe I should've stayed. Maybe she would've changed for you, eventually, but I couldn't take that chance," he had said in explanation. "Liz wasn't getting better, she was getting worse, and... I needed to get out, and I couldn't just leave you, no matter how freaked out I was about being a single father."

They made it work. Jess knew Jimmy was his dad, but quite honestly, he acted more like a buddy, an older brother maybe. Maybe that wasn't the right way for them to be, but it worked. Besides, from the way Rory talked about her mom, the two of them were much the same, practically like sisters and definitely best friends rather than mother and daughter most of the time.

Thinking of Rory again made Jess smile all the more. It kind of sucked not getting to see her today, but there was always tomorrow. Sure, inside of two weeks she would be gone back to the east coast. Ironically, she was from the same kind of area where Jess himself might be now if his parents had stayed together. Life was funny that way sometimes.

"What can I get you?" he asked the next customer, shaking himself out of a daze.

He didn't really need to concentrate on his work, it came so automatically after all this time, but still it was better for Jess to keep his mind on the present. The past certainly wasn't his friend and further into the future wasn't necessarily so bright either. Maybe he would just think about tomorrow. Jess had a feeling that was going to be a good day.

To Be Continued...