A/N: Seems there is general approval over the way the Literati first time happened. Yay for that, and thanks for the lovely reviewage peops. Now, a little over a month late, how about we celebrate Christmas with Rory & Jess? ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 24

"This is so weird."

"You keep saying that."

"But it doesn't even look like Christmas. It's like the middle of summer. It's unnatural."

"Not for California," Jess pointed out, rolling his eyes at her expression of apparent shock. "Rory, come on, you knew it was not going to be all snow-covered and cold here. Please, tell me you realised that."

"Of course, I did, on a practical level," said Rory, rolling her eyes right back at him. "That doesn't mean it's still not very weird to be spending Christmas in a place that doesn't know the meaning of seasons," she said definitely. "Of course, alongside the weird, it is really great to be here with you," she said happily curling into his side.

Jess wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. She wasn't wrong, it really did feel great to be together, even though he was back home for Christmas. He couldn't wait to see Jimmy and the family again, but not being with Rory right now would've been impossible.

Now he had the best of both worlds, and perhaps the best part was managing to catch an earlier flight than expected. It meant they were about to surprise the people who had planned to meet them at the airport in a couple of hours' time by showing up on the doorstep unannounced.

When the cab pulled up at the kerb around the corner from his house, Jess jostled Rory to get her up. They got their luggage together and the driver was duly paid before they hurried towards the house, hoping not to be seen until they reached the door.

"You okay?" asked Rory as Jess lingered on the porch a while.

"Yeah," he answered automatically, and yet his heart thumped wildly in his chest. "This feels a little weird is all. Is that crazy?"

"No," Rory assured him. "You've been gone a while, you're excited to see your family again, right?"

"Right." Jess nodded in agreement. "I'm glad you're here too," he promised her, glad to see her smile, before he turned back to the door and they made a deliberately loud entrance.

Jimmy, Sasha, and Lilly all came running to greet them. Jess was sure he had never been hugged so much in his entire life, but it didn't feel in any way bad. As much as Stars Hollow had welcomed him and he was glad to be there for a while, he wasn't sorry to be home for the next week, amongst these people, and in this house. Nothing felt quite like home.

Jess was more glad to be home for Christmas than he ever really thought he could be. Within a minute, he had fallen into conversation with Jimmy, wanting to tell him everything and hear everything too. Then Lilly wanted attention and Jess was happy to give it. He felt bad when he realised hours later that he had hardly paid any mind to where Rory was this whole time. He set out to look for her, crossing through the living room and then heading for the kitchen, since he had found her nowhere else. He stopped a few paces from the door when he heard the conversation inside.

"You okay there?" asked Sasha, and Jess could just picture the expression of concern she was doubtless wearing.

"Sure, yeah," said Rory, sounding less than cheerful, and Jess winced at the realisation. "I just... It's silly. I just feel like maybe Jess is wishing he hadn't brought me here now."

"Oh, honey, there's no way Jess regrets any part of being with you, including bringing you home with him." said Sasha definitely. "I've never seen him like this with anybody else."

"Not with Jessica? Or Christy?"

Jess didn't think he could feel any more of a jerk right now, but apparently, he could. It didn't thrill him that he was eavesdropping on his girlfriend and his step-mom either, but now he had started, it was impossible for him to stop.

"Wow," he heard Sasha say. "He told you about them? That's a good sign. Men only talk about their exes for two reasons. One, to make you jealous when they don't have you, or two, to be honest with you when they love you."

Rory smiled at that, Jess was sure. He could hear it in her voice when she spoke again.

"You know, Jess said my mom sometimes reminds him of you. I see what he means. You remind me of her too, a little bit."

"Thank you, Rory. I take that as a huge compliment, given how close you guys are," Sasha told her, clattering dishes together as she presumably made a start on dinner. "So, you're okay sharing a room with Lil, right?"

"Sure. It's fine."

"I mean, I'm sure you'd rather be sharing with Jess but-"

"No," said Rory so fast, she actually startled Jess. "I mean, well..."

"Rory, sweetheart, I'm not naive about teenagers," Sasha assured her, "especially ones who are in love like the two of you obviously are. Now, Jimmy would like to think of Jess as a little kid sometimes, and I get that, but I know he's a young man now, and you're a young woman. If you two are having sex then that's your choice. I trust you're being safe and sensible, so it's no problem, but I have a ten-year-old in this house, and I don't want her getting any of those kinds of ideas for a long time yet."

"I understand," said Rory solemnly, "and we are, by the way. Being safe and sensible."

"I never doubted that."

Jess sighed softly. He wasn't sorry that Sasha trusted him like that. He hadn't given much thought as to whether or not the parentals would assume he and Rory were sleeping together or not, but he supposed he should've guessed Sash was smart enough to know. It was a relief to hear her be so cool about it, though he never really expected anything else. He had great parents here.

"He really loves you, you know?" said Sasha then.

"I really love him," Rory replied, making Jess smile.

Of course, it occurred to him that he and Rory had so much love and trust between them, he really shouldn't screw it up by sneaking around and listening in on what ought to be a private conversation. Taking a deep breath, he stepped back a couple of paces and then strolled into the kitchen like he just arrived.

"Hey."

"Jess, hey" said Rory, startled by his sudden appearance apparently. "Um, we were... I thought you were spending time with Lilly."

"I was. I am," Jess corrected himself. "She actually wants me to take her to the mall, get something that certain adults aren't supposed to know about until Santa comes." he explained, gesturing not at all subtly towards Sasha making her laugh. "She asked me to ask you if you wanted to come with."

"Really?" Rory checked.

"Really."

"I'd love to," she said, with a wide smile that Jess never got tired of seeing. "I just have to go to the bathroom before we leave."

She leaned in to kiss Jess' cheek and then hurried out of the room. Jess sighed and leaned back against the counter top. It was good that she wasn't mad at him, in spite of his bringing her here and then pretty much abandoning her. He had to get better at this balancing act between the folks in California and those in Connecticut.

"So," said Sasha, getting his attention then, "how much did you hear?" she asked with a look.

Jess knew there was no point pretending he didn't understand.

"Most of it, I think," he admitted.

She smirked and shook her head, but didn't admonish him at all.

"She's a really nice girl," she said of Rory instead. "I'm glad you brought her with you."

"I'm not so sure Jimmy is thrilled," Jess noted.

"He wants you all to himself," said Sasha, passing by him to the fridge. "You're his kid, that's the way it is with parents."

"Not all parents."

Her back was to him when he said it, and Jess almost didn't want her to turn around. It was such a self-pitying whine of a thing to say, and he really didn't want to start dissing Liz now he was home. It wasn't cool, and he knew it, but somehow, after spending so much time with Luke and Lorelai and now being around Jimmy and Sasha again, seeing what parents should be like, it made Liz seem so much worse.

"I'm sorry, Jess," said Sasha, suddenly in front of him, with her hand at his shoulder. "I wanted Liz to try harder for you."

"It's not like she's not trying at all," he said with a sigh. "She invited me to visit in New York in the new year. Even if she flakes, I'll get to see the city. That won't suck," he said with a brave smile.

Sasha smiled too, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

"We really miss you around here when you're gone," she said as they parted, planting a motherly kiss on his forehead, "you know that, right?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I miss you guys when I'm gone too, but I think I made the right choice."

"I think you did too," Sasha agreed easily. "Now go, get that gift with Lil, or you'll be too late to get it to Santa," she told him with a grin.

Jess was laughing as he headed out, as glad that he came home for this holiday as he had been to stay in Stars Hollow for the last one.

Christmas morning was noisy but full of fun and laughter. All the gifts were duly exchanged, and nobody could deny they had all been spoilt. Jess was particularly touched to see Jimmy and Sasha exchange gifts with Rory, and what he and Lilly picked up at the mall yesterday pleased the parents too.

Of course, the gift that was making Jess particularly nervous was the one he had for Rory. He thought about giving it to her away from prying eyes, but this was his family, they were not going to judge him. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the small box with the bow on top from under the tree and handed it to her.

"Here. Merry Christmas, Ror."

She must have guessed it was from him before she ever read the tag, and her smile grew impossibly wide when she found out for certain. Her hands appeared to be shaking as she unwrapped the paper, and Jess heard Sasha whisper to Jimmy that the packaging suggested jewellery.

"Oh, wow," Rory gasped as she finally saw her gift.

"Can I see?" asked Lilly, sticking her head in between Rory's face and the box. "That's really pretty," she noted happily, before going back to her pile of books and other gifts.

"It's gorgeous!" said Rory, lifting the locket from the box by its chain. "Jess, I love it."

"Open it up," he urged her, hoping she was as pleased when she did as she seemed now.

"That is perfect," she declared, seeing the captures inside - her mom and Luke on one side, and Jess himself on the other. "Look," she said, leaning over to show Sasha.

"That is very special," she said, grinning at Jess.

If Jess wasn't determined never to do so, he could've sworn he was blushing right in that moment. He hoped rather than believed that was true.

"Hey, there's still one more here for you, man," said Jimmy then, handing over a final package from under the tree.

Jess thanked him as he took the gift, looking sideways at Rory. It had to be from her, nothing else made sense. It felt like a book, and Jess wasn't surprised when he pulled off the wrapping and found he was right. What gave him pause for thought was that the pages contained no words. He turned to Rory with a questioning look and saw her shift uncomfortably.

"I, er... When I was over at the apartment a couple of weeks ago, I was looking for your watch for you," she reminded him, "I opened the drawer and saw all your papers."

"Huh," said Jess, realising that maybe he wasn't the only sneaky person in their relationship.

He knew what she had found. The pages and pages he had written at the the end of the summer. When his head was full of family matters, and his heart was lost to Rory on the other side of the country. He'd had ideas of doing something with all that he had written, making it into a story maybe, but it hadn't happened yet. He never told Rory that, though he had explained why he had all those pages in the first place. She was clearly listeneing closely at the time.

"I didn't read it all," she explained quickly. "It just... It occurred to me that you said you like to write, and clearly that's very true, so I thought... Well, especially with everything that's changing in your life right now, you have a lot to think about, and writing things down has helped you before, that's what you said," she reminded him. "I just... It seemed like a good idea at the time," she told him, clearly reconsidering that fact now.

Jess took pity on her in a moment, turning the book over in his hands and finding she even had his initials put on it, right there in gold on the smart faux-leather cover. She was amazing.

"Hey," he said, moving closer and putting his hand to her face until she looked at him again. "It's amazing, Ror. I love it," he promised her.

She was smiling in a second and it never occurred to Jess not to kiss her. He stopped very quickly when he realised Lilly was making 'aaw' noises and Jimmy was whistling at them.

That time, Jess was almost certain he was blushing, but actually, he really couldn't care less.

To Be Continued...