A/N: Well, everybody seems pretty happy with where things are going in this fic so far, especially how well Jess is fitting in in the Hollow :) Thanks for all the lovely feedback. Now, on we go...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 20

"Are you excited?"

Jess didn't exactly feel bad about looking at Rory as if she had three heads. It was a pretty strange question to ask in the circumstances, but she seemed serious about it. Lorelai was looking at him as if she expected a positive reaction too. If he didn't know it already, Jess sure got plenty of daily reminders that Stars Hollow was a very strange place.

"You seriously expect me to be excited by a town meeting?" he checked.

"They expect everyone to be as crazy as they are," Luke noted, smiling fondly at the girls. "It's weird, but you learn to love it."

"I believe that," said Jess, looking at Rory and seeing her blush. "So, these things are run by Taylor, right? Because that guy really doesn't like me."

"Oh, Taylor doesn't like anybody," said Lorelai, waving away his words. "Especially 'outsiders'," she air-quoted.

"But Jess isn't an outsider. His family come from here, at least, one side anyway," said Rory, suddenly awkward as she realised what exactly she was saying.

Jess squeezed her hand and let her know it was fine. It wasn't as if what she said was wrong anyway. Luke was his family, and so was Liz. They hailed from Stars Hollow and that made him at least half a local. Of course, most people hadn't seen Liz in town for quite a while, and even Jess had only seen her twice since he'd been there. The second time was slightly less painful than the first, and then probably only because she had come to dinner with Luke, Lorelai, and Rory present too.

That was a couple of weeks ago now, and time was passing quickly, without mother and son making much of a connection. Jess ought to be mad at her for not making more of an effort, but then he had her number and address, he could make the first move too and chose not to.

Spending time with Rory was priority one, and then Luke and Lorelai, who were a great uncle and aunt so far. Of course, Jess missed Jimmy, Sasha, and Lily sometimes, but he really wasn't yearning to spend a huge amount of time with Mommy Dearest.

"So, we sit?" he asked as they stepped into Miss Patty's studio to find rows and rows of chairs facing the front.

"Yes, we do," said Lorelai, picking out a row and ushering everybody in.

Jess looked around at the assembled crowd. They seemed to be the usual faces, a lot of neighbour types, the town gossips, and some business owners. He and Rory were probably the youngest people in the room, bringing the average age down a decade all by themselves, or so he thought. It wasn't long before he spotted Lane sat by her mother. She turned to wave to him and Rory, and they waved back. Jess stopped abruptly and looked away when he realised Mrs Kim had noticed and was glaring at him in a way that he was sure was supposed to kill him by pure force of will.

"She is truly terrifying," he told Rory in a whisper.

"I cannot argue with that," she agreed.

Jess continued to survey the crowd until the meeting began. His eyes landed on a very tall young man towards the front in an aisle seat. That could only be one guy, he was sure, and was proved right when Dean looked back at Rory with a real sour expression.

"Does he actually believe he is Frankenstein's monster?" asked Jess, glaring daggers right back at Rory's ex. "I mean, I know he's twelve feet tall, but that glowering thing just really adds to the whole-"

"Stop it," she admonished, though Jess could see she was trying not to smile when he looked at her. "Dean is a nice guy. Just because things didn't work out with us, we're still friends, so please, be nice."

"Be nice?" Jess echoed, trying not to laugh. "Are you kidding? All that guy has done since I came here is glare like he's trying to burn a hole through me, and I'm the one who has to play nice?"

Rory frowned at those words, and Jess didn't wonder at it. Up to now, he hadn't bothered to tell her about Dean's continued attempts to assassinate him by mind-power alone, not least because Jess was pretty sure Dean didn't have enough brain-power to blow the top of his own head off. It just didn't seem important. If anything, Jess kind of liked the idea that Rory's ex was jealous of him, and with absolutely no effort exerted on his part.

Throwing his arm along the back of Rory's seat, Jess settled back in his own chair and waited for Taylor to call the meeting to order. It honestly wasn't the worst way to spend a couple of hours, he realised, as the townsfolk discussed, argued, and bickered amongst themselves. Lorelai passed out snacks, Rory leaned in closer to Jess, and the four of them enjoyed the amusing show for as long as it lasted.

Of course, when it came to the final order of business, Jess suddenly wished he was anywhere but here. When Taylor said Andrew had something he wished to share, and the bookshop owner stood to face the assembled townsfolk, Jess just didn't like the way the guy was looking at him. He had a horrible feeling he knew what was coming and it made him feel sick.

"I'd just like to say a big Stars Hollow welcome to our newest resident, Jess Mariano," said Andrew, smiling wide as he pointed towards the row where Jess was sat. "He's been here a few weeks now, and this is his first town meeting. He's a friendly face in the diner and already one my best customers in the bookstore. I just thought it was only right and proper for us to formally welcome him into our community."

"Here, here!" cried Miss Patty with gusto.

"Yeah, he's a real nice kid," Babette declared loudly. "We see a lot of him down our street, you know, with him dating our Rory and all. He fits right in here with us, as if he belongs."

"He does belong, Babette," Luke pointed out, rolling his eyes. "He's my nephew."

"Oh, sure," she agreed, turning to her husband, Maury. "I always forget that part."

"Okay, well, I'm sure Mr Mariano is now feeling very welcomed," said Taylor quickly. "If there's no more business, we'll call this meeting to a close."

He banged his gavel then and stepped down from the podium. Jess heaved a sigh of relief and pulled himself up straight in his seat again, having sunk down to almost the floor during the great 'Isn't Jess awesome?' speech. Not that he hated knowing people around here liked him, he just wasn't quite equipped to deal with the attention in that way.

"So, what do you think?" his girlfriend asked now the meeting was over and they were getting up to leave.

"I've had worse evenings." Jess shrugged. "At least until that last part."

"What? You think that was embarrassing?" said Lorelai, giving him a look. "Oh, sweetheart, you've known no embarrassment until you've had your romantic life be the subject of an entire, secret town meeting."

"What?" he asked, looking from her to Luke.

His uncle had a hold of Lorelai's hand and was pulling her towards the door, but she stood her ground and gave her answer to Jess' question.

"When me and Luke first got together, there was an emergency town meeting, without us present, to discuss if we should be allowed to date."

"You're serious?"

"On this rare occasion, yes, she is," Luke confirmed.

"Of course, no vote Taylor held or rule he tried to impose could break up Mom and Luke." Rory grinned. "They were made for each other."

"Very true," Lorelai agreed, planting a kiss on Luke's cheek.

"Come on, Crazy Lady. Let's go home already. You kids coming?" he checked.

"In a while," said Jess, his arm around Rory's shoulders still. "We were going to take a walk."

"A walk, huh?" said Lorelai with a knowing look. "Well, don't walk too far," she added, pointedly.

"We won't," said Rory, blushing furiously.

Jess pretended not to notice the exchange or to understand what it all meant. When Luke and Lorelai were gone, he and Rory headed off towards the bridge in comparable silence. They hadn't got far when someone called Rory's name and Lane came running up to them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I only have five minutes before Mama notices I'm gone and I really, really need to talk to you," she insisted to Rory.

"It's fine," Jess promised her. "Actually, I'll just... Huh," he said, feeling in his back pocket. "Apparently, I need to head back to the studio, try to find my book."

"Okay. We'll be here." Rory smiled, leaning in to kiss Jess briefly on the lips before he walked away.

They hadn't got far and even in the semi-dark, Jess found his way back to the meeting place just fine. A few people were still hanging around outside and in the town square, talking with their neighbours and friends. Jess hurried up the steps and slipped inside, eyes on the ground, searching for his lost book. He spotted it almost immediately, right in the far corner, and moved to retrieve it. When he got back up from the ground and turned, Jess was a little surprised to come face to face with somebody else's chest.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he asked, looking up into the face of Rory's ex. "Aren't you supposed to be chained down before the full moon rises?"

"You really think you're smart, don't you?" asked Dean, clearly unamused.

"Actually, I know I'm smart," Jess countered. "I'm also pretty sure you're not, but hey, it's not affecting my life, so why would I care?"

He turned to go then, but a hand on his shoulder pulled him back around. Quite honestly, Jess did not relish the idea of getting into a fight with this guy, not because he couldn't handle himself well enough, but just because he could do without the trouble. Things were going pretty well for him here, he didn't want to mess it up, or have it messed up for him, truth be told. Of course, that didn't mean that if Dean started a fight, he wouldn't finish it, because he absolutely would.

"You really think you're something."

"No, I don't. I know exactly what I am. I'm Jess Mariano. I'm Luke's nephew and Rory's boyfriend. Anything else is theory on your part, and frankly, none of your business anyway. So how about you stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours, because I don't have time for this West Side Story crap, okay, Riff?"

This time, when Jess made to leave, Dean let him go. Quite honestly, Jess wasn't sorry about that. He probably could beat the guy in a fight, but he would rather not have to. He wasn't sure that Rory would be all that impressed. Though he believed she was done with her ex, they were still supposed to be friends.

As far as Dean was concerned, Jess was pretty sure some feelings for Rory remained. Not that he could blame the guy. As far as he knew, it was impossible not to be in love with Rory Gilmore. It seemed that Dean certainly wasn't over her and as such was going to hate Jess for just as long as he was around. That was fine with him. It seemed the rest of the town loved him, for better or worse, and as weird as that was, he didn't hate it.

"Hey," said Rory as he reached her once again. "Lane had to go already. You seemed to be gone a while."

"The people in this town just love to talk," said Jess, rolling his eyes. "Now, how about we go down to the lake and not talk?" he said with a look, wrapping his arms around her.

"Sounds like a solid plan," Rory agreed, smiling widely, as they set off towards the bridge.

To Be Continued...

A/N: So, this fic is now going on hold 'til 2018. I do this every year as I have a lot of other stuff to do in December, including Christmas-related fics and of course plenty of RL things too. Please rest assured, this story will be back in the new year, and hey, I didn't leave you on too big of a cliffhanger, right? :) Also, I might just have a Christmas surprise of the GG kind coming your way very soon, so keep an eye out ;)