A/N: Good to know that you guys can understand Jess' attitude in this story. There are a lot of issues to be resolved in this story. Different ones to canon, sure, but still, issues! Now, on we go...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 10

Jess didn't expect to get in any trouble for his long walk down to the beach, even though he hadn't told anybody where he was headed or for how long. Jimmy and Sasha had to understand that he needed to get away for a while. It was Lilly who seemed to be most worried about him when he came home pretty late.

"Woah!" Jess exclaimed as she ran at him the second he got in the door, slamming into him and hugging him tight. "Hey, munchkin."

"I thought you weren't coming back," she said, hanging on to him like she was afraid he would disappear any second.

Jess closed his eyes and sighed. He hadn't meant to scare her. It never occurred to him that she would worry like that, but now that he thought about it, it did make sense. Though she really didn't remember anything about her father, she did know that he walked out on her and Sash, and for no reason that she could understand. It wouldn't take much for her to get the idea that the family feud she heard earlier could result in her big brother leaving her just the same way.

"Hey," he said, crouching down to her level and meeting her eyes. "I would never, ever leave you like that, okay?"

"You promise?" she checked

She wasn't crying now but looking as if she might've been before. Jess felt sick.

"Lil, when people get older... life happens," he tried to explain. "I can't promise that we'll always live in the same house or even the same place, but I'm always your brother, and I'm always going to be there if you need me. I promise, if I had to leave, I would tell you, and you would know exactly where to find me. You got that?"

Lilly nodded her head solemnly, then threw her arms around Jess' neck to hug him some more. He hugged her back, holding on tight for as long as she needed. The last thing he ever wanted to do was upset her or have her feel like she couldn't count on him. Things were complicated enough without having his little sister's heartbroken too.

Jess and Lil had both been abandoned in different ways. Her father walked out without her. At least when Jimmy ran he took Jess with him, but Liz never came looking. The only reason Luke had found him was by a real strange coincidence. Jimmy, Sasha, Jess, and Lilly had built their own family, filling in the holes that were left gaping by other absentees. It worked for them, and Jess wasn't sure how he felt yet about having an uncle, an aunt, or a potential relationship with his mother. Even after all that time spent wandering around thinking, he still felt at a loss.

"Where's your mom?" he asked Lilly then.

"She and Jimmy are in their room, talking. Before, there was yelling, but it's been pretty quiet for a while now," she explained, going with her brother to sit down on the couch.

Jess nodded that he understood. Probably best he didn't go getting into the middle of the parental discussions right now. No doubt he was to blame for some of the upset, running out the way he had, but much of it would be about Luke and Jimmy's fight. Jess was only grateful they hadn't actually come to blows.

"So, are you going to meet your mom now?" asked Lilly, all in childish innocence.

"I don't know," said Jess, honestly, because right now he really had no idea where they all went from here. "I don't even know if she'll want to meet me, or where she is, or anything. That's what I should've found out at dinner, I guess, but..."

So much for a family meal and a reasonable conversation. Jess had thought Sasha was giving in to wishful thinking on that one and was not at all surprised when he was proved right. It would've been nice if her theory panned out, but none of them were so naive as to really believe whole-heartedly that it would.

"You and Rory aren't related, are you?"

The look on Lilly's face was so confused and disgusted that Jess almost laughed, even though there had been nothing funny about this situation up to yet.

"No, munchkin, we're not," he promised her. "Luke's only her step-father, not blood."

"We're not blood either, but we're family."

"I know," Jess agreed. "It's complicated, Lil. It has a lot to do with how you're raised. I mean, if I knew Luke was my uncle from the start and me and Rory had known each other when we were kids, it probably would've been different. Especially if he was really her dad, then it definitely would've been, but he's not. It's complicated," he repeated, only realising now just how true that statement was. "Look, all you need to know is that I'm your brother and I always will be, and Rory is... well, me and Rory..."

"You love her," said Lilly for him, grinning wide now. "You're like Jo and Laurie."

Jess opened his mouth to reply but then closed it again fast. She never had read any more of Little Women, not since Beth died. Though Jo had rejected Laurie's marriage proposal already, clearly Lil was hoping for an eventual happy ever after. If Jess and Rory were the characters she spoke of, that didn't bode well at all.

Thankfully, there was to be no further discussion on that particular topic. Sasha emerged from the bedroom, glad to see Jess home and all for checking he was okay. She said she needed to get everything cleaned up from the dinner that went so wrong and Jess offered to help her. Anything to take his mind off Rory, Luke, his parentage, and everything else screwing with his head right now.

Jess sent Rory a text message first thing the next morning to see if she was okay and moreover if she would be able to meet up with him later. She replied almost immediately saying she was fine but not sure if she would be able to come see him, though she would try. It made Jess smile that she wanted to make an effort for him. It would probably be easier for her to stay away, with her step-father so bent out of shape over Jimmy and all, but no. Rory had meant what she said when she told him she loved him, Jess didn't doubt it at all. He meant it when he said it to her too, as crazy as that seemed.

A part of Jess kept on expecting to wake up and find this whole situation was some kind of weird dream. Meeting Rory, falling for her, then finding out her step-father was his uncle, it was all fairly unexpected and strange. Not that Jess was complaining at all. He still didn't know what he was going to do about his uncle or his mother, but he did know what he wanted when it came to Rory. He wanted to spend as much time alone with her as he could before she had to go home, and he was very much aware of that time running out.

'Meet me on the boardwalk?' said Rory's next text message.

'The bench by the book store?' he suggested in reply.

'I'll be there in ten minutes,' she promised with a smiling emoji.

Jess smiled for real as he sent the same symbol back. He wasn't much for that kind of thing, but this was Rory, so he didn't care. Grabbing his jacket, he made his way quickly to the spot that had fast become their own, arriving a couple of minutes before Rory herself.

"Hey," she said as she approached the bench.

"Hi," he replied, looking up at her, not sure if he was being blinded more by the sun or her smile. "Glad you came."

"Me too," she agreed, sitting down beside him.

They were kissing inside of ten seconds, and it took a while before they came up for air. Even then, they sat close together, his arm around her, her head on his shoulder.

"This is a real mess," she said with a sigh.

"Tell me about it," Jess agreed, kissing her hair. "First time I fall for a girl and it causes a family feud."

Rory's head came up off his shoulder so fast she almost broke his jaw. With wide eyes, she stared at Jess, and he replayed his own words in his head, checking for what had her so shocked.

"You never...? No, you must've dated before. I mean, look at you!" she declared.

Jess smiled at the compliment, he couldn't help it.

"I date. I mean, I've dated," he confirmed, "but nothing serious, until you."

He felt weird saying it to her, even though it was true. Love confessions on a ferris wheel in the dark had seemed so easy. Even in the light of day on the back porch yesterday after the family dinner that went so wrong. Here and now, with her staring at him wide-eyed and baffled, Jess felt too self-conscious. He felt the need to get away, and yet he didn't run, not from Rory, not now.

"Wow," she said eventually, pushing her hair back behind her ear when the breeze moved it. "I didn't... I guess I just assumed there were other girls before."

"Were there other guys?"

Jess wasn't sure whether he wanted the answer to that question or not, but he had asked now and he wasn't about to take it back. It seemed strange now that he thought on it that they never talked about this before. Conversation was usually all about books, movies, music, and anecdotes from their lives that were unlikely to include exes. Now Rory was going to tell him about the boyfriends back home she might have had. Jess realised very quickly that he was holding his breath and made himself relax, seconds before Rory answered his question.

"Um, there was one guy," she admitted, looking away. "Dean."

"Huh."

"It was... We were pretty serious for a while, I guess."

"Recently?"

"No." Rory shook her head. "We dated for around six months, Sophomore year. It just didn't work out."

Jess nodded that he understood, even though he had no experience of his own in dating a person for that long. Given the kind of girl Rory was, he believed she had been serious about this Dean person, or they never would've been together for six months. Jess would be lucky if he could stay with her for a fraction of that time, since she would be headed home in a week or so.

"If it helps, you're the first guy that I said 'I love you' to," said Rory then. "Which is kind of crazy after such a short time, but it definitely proved to me that Dean was a mistake. I mean, he was a great guy and everything, but when it came to the big L word, he was ready to say it, I never was. That was the beginning of the end."

"Is it wrong if I like that you never loved him?" asked Jess, smirking because he couldn't help it.

"No," Rory assured him with a smile of her own. "I like that there's only you on that list," she said, moving in closer again so his arm went back around her.

Jess was happy enough to hold onto her, as much literally as figuratively. No matter how much he tried to put it out of his head, he couldn't shake the dread that came with knowing she couldn't stay with him too much longer. That led to thoughts of her mother and step-father, and then his own mother who he had never met.

"Your mom and Luke have been together a long time, right?" he checked.

"No, not that long," Rory explained, her head back on his shoulder now as they both stared off at the ocean beyond the beach. "They were friends for a long time, since I was around eleven, then when I transferred schools Sophomore year, one of my teachers, Mr Medina, he asked out Mom. He was such a nice guy, my favourite teacher at Chilton, actually, but Mom just couldn't do it. It took her a while to realise why. She loved Luke. After that they started to date, and then Luke proposed, and they've been married a year already. It happened pretty fast in the end, but I guess when you know you know, right?"

She moved to look at him and Jess smiled.

"Yeah," he agreed, kissing her lips, knowing now she was talking about them as much as her parents.

"Y'know, it wasn't just Mom that was sure about Luke. I was too," Rory explained. "He's just always been there for us, the whole time we've known him. He stepped into the space where my dad should be a lot of times, I guess. He really is a good person, Jess."

"I'm not saying he's not," Jess assured her, though he knew he probably didn't look like he meant it.

Undoubtedly, Luke Danes was a good guy, but he was the enemy of Jimmy right now and that made Jess want to go automatically on the defensive. Still, the last thing he wanted was to be fighting with Rory. They needed a subject change, and yet it was hard to get off a topic that had been filling his head for days now, especially when Rory might be able to quell some of his fears and concerns.

"Did you ever meet Liz?" he asked eventually.

Rory shook her head.

"No, she didn't come to the wedding. I'm not sure why exactly," she admitted. "You think you want to meet her?"

"If I knew, I'd tell you. Kind of a weird concept." Jess considered a moment, before shaking his head. "Could we maybe talk about something else?"

"Sure." Rory smiled "How're you doing with The Fountainhead this time around? Because I actually think I'm getting to like Ernest now..."

She continued on in a similar vein, happily snuggling into Jess' side as she did so. He was listening, kind of, but his mind would not stop wandering. Off the topic of his mother, he was instead thinking again about how he would deal when Rory left at the end of her vacation. He almost asked her, but thought better of it in the end. Better to enjoy the time they had while they had it, he knew, however tough that was becoming at this point.

To Be Continued...