A/N: It's time for Friday Night Dinner again! Well, almost... maybe...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 19

Jess felt it had been a very long day, and it still wasn't over yet. Luke let him out of the diner around five o'clock, knowing he would need to rest and change before Friday Night Dinner at the Gilmore mansion. That kind of thing needed a little prepearation of the mind, Luke was sure on that, and Jess appreciated the understanding.

He headed out into the chilly autumn air, zipping up his jacket and shoving his hands deep into his pockets. Jess wasn't really looking where he was going, just wandering home down the already darkening street. He was practically running right into a person coming the other way before he even knew she was there. Jess opened his mouth to apologise but the words died on his tongue when he saw who it was.

"Lindsay," he said with a nod of greeting.

"Hi, Jess," she smiled tightly.

They remembered each other from school, of course they did. It would be hard not to recognise each other as the second love of their current partners. Of course, Jess had no idea how much Lindsay knew about what happened with Rory and Dean after the guy married her. He also wondered how Dean explained his bloody nose a week ago. It certainly wasn't up to Jess to tell her anything, so he didn't. In fact he was hoping to slide right by without another word, but the second he took a step forward, Lindsay blocked his path.

"I'm not stupid," she said out of nowhere.

Jess waited to see where she was going with this, offering no opinion on her initial statement. It really depended on what she knew and what she had done about it whether she could be considered actively stupid, or maybe just foolish or blind.

"It was always about her," she sighed sadly, eyes dipping to the pavement. "I thought Dean could love me like he loved Rory, sometimes I think he can," she explained, meeting Jess' gaze again.

"Why are you telling me this?" he shook his head.

"Because we're the same?" she suggested. "First loves don't go away, I know. Dean was the first man I fell for, the first I..." she faltered, feeling so dumb saying these things to him, but Jess was maybe the only other person that might understand how she felt. "You and Rory are..."

"Me and Rory are for keeps, Lindsay," he said, cutting her off before she suggested any kind of alternative idea. "Now I'm sorry that Dean Forester is an unfaithful ass, because I'm pretty sure you deserve better than that, but Rory loves me. God knows why she does, I don't really deserve it, but I am working my butt off to prove to her and to everybody else in this crazy town that I can be worthy of her and of this kid we're having. Dean stopped being any kind of picture perfect boyfriend when he married you knowing he still loved Rory."

The rant ended abruptly when he realised he went too far. Lindsay's eyes were glassy with a flood of tears she refused to shed where people would see. Jess hadn't meant to do that, but he also wasn't willing to stand here and be told he and Lindsay had anything in common. It was true enough that they had been the people Rory and Dean ran to when they broke up. The difference was, Jess was the reason for the dissolution of the former relationship. Rory wanted him more than she wanted Dean. Lindsay was the rebound girl that Dean had bounced on to. He didn't love her, he had used her, and if Rory snapped her fingers the dumb dog would come running, leaving Lindsay without a second glance. It was sick and unfair, but it was true.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, feeling lousy for being the one to make Lindsay cry, as if her husband wasn't enough of a reason already. "Seriously, Lindsay, I am. You don't deserve to be treated this way, not by him, not by anybody."

"You're so sure Rory loves you," she said, almost laughing even as tears streaked down her cheeks. "Must be nice."

It really was, but Jess wouldn't confirm what she already knew. That was causing unnecessary pain and from what he could see here, Lindsay had enough of that already. Still, he had one thing he felt he needed to get out into the open whilst he had the chance, consequences be damned.

"Y'know, you said before you weren't stupid," he reminded her. "If that's true, knowing what you know, why are you still with him?"

"We're married," she scoffed, like that was answer enough.

Jess shook his head. She didn't get it. There was so much more love and commitment between him and Rory than there ever had been or ever would be between Lindsay and Dean. Marriage didn't always make for a perfect relationship. In this case, it made for a much worse one than anyone could have imagined.

"Good luck, Lindsay," said Jess as he walked away. "I think you're gonna need it."

Lorelai wasn't looking forward to facing her mother tonight. Nothing about Friday Night Dinners thrilled her on a regular week, but today was definitely not going to be a barrel of laughs. It had been tricky enough since her parents split up, having to go to drinks in the pool-house with her father and then into the house for dinner with Mom. They weren't really rude about each other or anything, but they were neither of them happy and both feeling they weren't getting enough time and attention.

Now Rory was back, with Jess in tow, and a baby on the way. Richard had handled it relatively well, though Lorelai was pretty sure he was broken up on the inside. He was trying and that was what really mattered. Emily on the other hand had blown her top, causing Rory to react badly. Now things were fractured, hopefully not beyond repair, but it was up to Lorelai to go in and check the status of things, with no idea how bad it might be.

In any other circumstance, Lorelai would have run screaming from the conversation she now had to have with her mother. The fact was, only Rory's welfare would make her face this kind of situation by choice. For her baby girl, Lorelai would do anything and everything. That was why she was here, outside her parents' house alone, whilst Rory and Jess sat semi-comfortably in the pool house drinking soda and trying to make conversation. Lorelai had to figure things out with Emily, even if she knew she was probably going to catch most of the blame for everything that was broken in Rory's life. She would do it, she had no choice.

Ringing the doorbell, she waited for the maid to answer and got a surprise when it was Emily herself.

"Hi, Mom," she greeted her mother awkwardly.

"Lorelai," she nodded once in reply and spoke with a cool tone. "Where's Rory?"

"She's not here right now," Lorelai explained as she stepped inside. "Her and Jess are with Dad actually, I kind of wanted to talk to you alone."

Emily's expression was unreadable as she ushered her daughter through to the living room and followed on behind her the moment the front door was closed. She silently poured a drink for herself and then one for Lorelai, showing no emotion whatsoever as she handed a glass to her daughter and sat down. Honestly, Lorelai would rather she was yelling and screaming than doing her ice queen bit, but she would work with whatever she had. At least the silence gave her a chance to say her piece.

"So, Rory was really upset last Friday, and I know you were too, but it's just... it's made things feel strained and weird", she explained. "Rory doesn't know if she's welcome here, or if she even wants to be..."

"Of course she's welcome here," Emily snapped. "She is still my granddaughter, and so long as she is willing to apologise for her behaviour..."

"I'm sorry, what?" Lorelai interrupted this time, incredularity written all over her face and evident in her tone. "Mom, what the hell does Rory have to be sorry for?"

"Oh, Lorelai, please!" her mother rolled her eyes. "You think the way she spoke to me last week was acceptable?"

"Usually, no, but in the circumstances? Hell yes!" she declared, putting her glass down on the coffee table with a thud. "Mom, she barely got in through the door and you managed to judge her, Jess, their life choices, and me, all in the space of ten seconds or less. That was a record even for you."

Emily's lip curled into a sneer and Lorelai had to wonder which part of what she said got to her most. She figured it was somewhere between the mention of Jess and telling her mother she was judgemental - as if they didn't all know very well she could be, and to the extreme too.

"Mom, I know you care about Rory," she said when Emily seemed loathed to speak herself. "And trust me, she loves you and Dad so very much. It's coming out as anger, but I know she's heartbroken to have disappointed us. She gets it, she really does, and I do too. You think this is what I wanted for my daughter? Of course it's not. I wanted her to finish Yale and go travelling and have this amazing career before she got to settling down surrounded by diapers and baby bottles. I know how hard it is, I know better than anyone, but she and Jess are making the best of this. They say they want to make it work and you know what? From what I've seen so far, I really believe they can."

Emily turned in her chair looking off into the space on the other side of the room. Lorelai wondered if she was taking in a single word of what she was telling her. She hoped so but couldn't really believe it. This whole thing suddenly seemed so pointless. Lorelai got up from her seat with heavy sigh.

"I guess you still can't accept that anything outside of your plan isn't automatically a tragedy and a deliberate attempt to hurt and defy you," she said, turning to leave.

She got a real shock when she heard her mother call her name with a voice cracking with deep emotion. Lorelai looked back and saw that Emily had tears streaking down her face, lips quivering with the effort of trying to speak clearly and not break down completely.

"Lorelai, I'm sorry," she admitted. "Everything is... it's just falling apart all around me."

It was an automatic reaction for Lorelai to move closer to her mother and wrap her arms around Emily as she cried. She hadn't seen her this upset since... Lorelai wondered if she ever saw her this upset. It was highly unlikely this was all about Rory either, but Lorelai wasn't likely to find out for a while, not as long as Emily was crying all over her. She would just have to wait and see what happened next.

Grandpa said he was okay with the situation of Rory having a baby, taking a year out of Yale, and all. He said it but Rory knew better than to think it was really true. Over time, he would make himself accept things as they were, maybe even be truly happy for her, but in the meantime, things were just awkward. It meant so much to Rory that Richard would try to be reasonable, way more so than Emily had been. He was accepting of Jess and the baby, the situation they found themselves in, but it was evident he felt strange about it, uncomfortable and ill at ease. It was worse without Lorelai there to crack jokes and be a buffer between the two generations, but she was still with Emily trying to broker peace. She seemed to have been gone a very long time.

"Y'know, Grandpa, I really like what you've done with the place," said Rory politely. "You almost wouldn't guess this was just a pool-house."

"Thank you, Rory," he smiled back at her, and then the silence settled in again.

Jess had been in some pretty awkward situations in his life, but this was just awful. He had no idea what he was supposed to say here. He kind of hoped Rory and Richard would just talk around him, but they were both almost as awkward as him right now. For one of the first and only times in his life, Jess wished Lorelai was here cracking her lame jokes.

"Er, you should tell your grandfather about your job," he said quietly to Rory.

"Oh, well, I have a job," she said then. "It's just at the local book store, part time, but it's money coming in and something to keep me occupied for a while."

Richard nodded and smiled, then proceeded to shift awkwardly in his seat. Money probably wasn't a great topic to get into in the circumstances and Jess felt like an idiot for encouraging Rory to mention her job. Money was why Rory had started seeing her grandparents as often as she did, Jess knew that. They had been paying for Yale this past year but nobody was sure if they would be again when Rory went back. Everything was so uncertain, and so damn awkward!

"Speaking of money," said Richard then. "You know, Rory, if you do plan to go back to Yale next year, I still fully intend to pay your tuition, as agreed. That hasn't changed."

She smiled at the sweet offer and yet felt strange about accepting. Things were so different now, and though she kept on saying she would be back in education next year, she had no real concrete plans. There was so much to figure out, so much she and Jess needed to discuss but hadn't yet. Rory was still finding her feet on the whole pregnancy thing and moving back home. It was so overwhelming.

"Thank you, Grandpa," she said anyway. "And someday, I still want to pay you back. I don't know exactly how the future is going to pan out anymore, if I ever did, but somehow, someday..."

"We'll pay it back," Jess confirmed, picking her hand up in his and squeezing it. "Somehow we will," he said definitely, looking at Richard then.

For all that he wanted to hate this young man for getting Rory into such a situation, Jess Mariano did not make it easy. He seemed so determined to stand by the woman he professed to love, and to do what was right for her and her extended family. That demanded some respect, in spite of his status as the boy who got Rory into trouble.

"Well, thank you," said Richard with a half-smile, and there the conversation died again.

"Um, so Grandpa, what have you been reading lately?" asked Rory, determined not to sink into any more uncomfortable silences.

"Actually I've been re-visiting Hemingway, though I know that won't interest you," he smiled fondly at his much beloved granddaughter who just didn't understand the joy of reading that man's works. "Your grandmother despises everything by good old Ernest also, but out here I have my freedom away from her glares and disapproval."

"Well, then it's a good thing that Jess is here!" she said happily. "He loves Hemingway. You two could probably talk for hours."

"Really?" her grandfather looked astonished.

Jess might've been offended by his shock, but he would be the first to admit he probably didn't seem like the type to know his literature. There was a pun in there about judging books by their covers that he just knew Lorelai would've made if she was here. Actually he was surprised Rory hadn't but maybe she was just happy and proud to have found a topic for him and her grandfather to talk on.

"I like the guy's work," he admitted with shrug, like it wasn't the big deal they all knew it was. "It's probably The Old Man and the Sea that I've read most."

"Ah, indeed, a fabulous piece of writing..."

Rory sat back against the cushions, soda in hand and smiled as she watched two of her favourite men in the world talk animatedly about books. She had no idea what was going on in the main house with Mom and Grandma, but right now she couldn't care. Grandpa was on her side, and he was one more family member willing to accept Jess and the baby they were having together. It made her happier than she could say right now, happier than she ever thought she could be when they first returned to Stars Hollow. Maybe things could work out somehow, however tough they seemed.

To Be Continued...