A/N: Heeey. I just wanted to drop in and say thank you all so, so very much for all the reviews, follows, and favorites that this story has already gotten. It's only three chapters in now, but I'm glad that you all like it thus far (: Please keep on doing those things because it makes me a happy camper! I hope you all like chapter three!

"For him it was a dark passage that lead to nowhere,
then to nowhere, then to again to nowhere, once again to nowhere,
always and forever to nowhere, heavy on the elbows in the
earth nowhere, dark, never end to nowhere, hung on all time
always to unknowing nowhere, this, time and again for always to
nowhere, now not to be borne once again always and to nowhere,
now beyond all bearing up, up, up and into nowhere,
suddenly, scaldingly, holdingly all nowhere gone and time
absolutely still and they were both there, time having stopped
and he felt the earth move out and away from under them."
-Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls

"You knew that she had a kid – for almost ten years – and you decided to not tell me?" Jess was feeling irate with the entire day. He wasn't meaning to take it out on his uncle, but it seemed like the perfect way to let off some steam. After all, Luke was more than used to Jess' rants and bitching. "We talk at least once a week," Jess stated, pointing a finger at the older man, "and not one time did you ever think to tell me, Oh hey, so your ex girlfriend has a daughter now?" He rolled his eyes, knowing that the conversation was useless and ridiculous, but he couldn't help himself. Something about coming back to Stars Hollow usually made him want to scream, but not once did he think it'd be over Rory of all things.

"Jess," Luke sighed saying his name. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe she didn't want you knowing that she had a kid?"

The younger man wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. The fact that Luke would even bring that up made Jess feel pained. "Why would she not want me to know?"

Luke shrugged, "I don't know, nephew." It was a simple answer, but it was lacking honesty. Luke knew the truth, but he wasn't allowed to come right out and say it. Doing that would betray Rory and Lorelai's trust and he couldn't do that, especially now that he stepped up and played a bigger role in their lives. Saying something like this might end in divorce papers for all he knew. "You're still in love with her," he stated, looking disappointed. "It's been ten years and you're still in love with her? You've gotta let it go. That ship has sailed. It sailed the moment you left town the first time and yet, here you are, thinking that the ball is still in her court? Why would you do this to yourself?"

Jess' brows furrowed and he crossed his arms, suddenly feeling as if someone took a hatchet to his nicely built walls that he kept around himself. He had gained a lot of trust in Luke and over the years, he had always given him good, solid advice, but hearing something like that made Jess want to run. He wasn't exactly good with confrontation when it came to his own feelings. "I'm not still in love with her," he lied, "I just want to be sure that that kid isn't from Dean." Dean's name still tasted like venom on his tongue. He could remember the hatred that he felt when they first met and now it was even stronger if that's even possible. They had only bumped into each other a few times in the past decade and Jess could tell that the feeling was still mutual even though he had moved on with his second wife. Maybe Rory had a good hook on the guys she was with – a hook that she should just release them from, but to Jess, it was comforting in the strangest way possible.

"Bullshit," Luke spit out. "I see right through you, kid. Always have and always will."

"Is it so hard to believe that I'm worried that Dean has become Rory's doormat because of their love child?" He hated himself for speaking that sentence, but he had to get it out in order for the talk about feelings to stop.

Luke sucked in a sharp breath, "I can guarantee you that Elinor doesn't belong to Dean. He's happily married with kids of his own." He raised a brow at his nephew who started to look relatively relived by the word.

"That's good to hear."

Luke crossed his arms and stared at his nephew. "Really? That's what calmed you down?"

"Whatever, I still don't like the dude."

"It was over ten years ago, Jess."

"So what?" Jess shrugged, heading over to sit in front of the TV like nothing ever happened. He and Luke had some serious talks here and there, but he never thought it'd be about Rory's ten year-old daughter.

x-x-x

Rory sat in the living room of her own Crap Shack, sighing at the empty air. Lane was sitting quietly next to her, shaking her head the entire time. The two had almost finished off an entire bottle of wine after the kids went to bed, but after talking about the Jess situation, neither of them knew what to do or say.

"You have to tell him," Lane offered, knowing it wasn't her most solid advice.

Rory scoffed, not expecting that to be her answer. "Why would I do that?" she rolled her eyes and took another swig of her wine. "You're my best friend, you're supposed to tell me to lie."

Lane offered a smile as she rubbed Rory's shoulder. "I would, but Steve and Kawn are into their lying stage now and we're trying to teach honesty as a cool thing, so I can't really help you out. You should know better than ten year olds."

"You're right," Rory huffed, sinking into her seat. Lane was always right. "I should tell him."

"The truth?" Lane pressed, using her strict mom voice.

In response, Rory groaned and hung her head down. She didn't want to go through with it. Instead, she wanted to run out of town and hide somewhere in the universe where he couldn't track her down. This was a conversation she never wanted to have. Sometimes she thought that she should've told him off the bat to begin with, but telling Jess Mariano that he was going to be a father was something that Rory wasn't ready for... And she still wasn't ready for it ten years after the night at Truncheon. "This sucks," she frowned, "but I guess I'll tell him the truth."

"Good job. Should I tag along to make sure you don't bail?" Lane joked, but inside she was completely serious and was ready to follow them wherever they went. It's not that Lane was against Rory not letting Jess in on the secret, but she thought that the man should know. Not meeting your kid until she was almost full grown seemed unfair in Lane's mind and she knew that Rory had to agree on some level.

"I think I've got it from here," she nodded as she stood up. "I need to go get ready. Do you mind taking Elinor for awhile?"

Lane lit up at the question. "Of course not. She is my mini-Rory after all."

x-x-x

Later that night, Jess paced up and down the length of the bridge, thinking about all that had happened in that one spot since he moved to Stars Hollow when he was a teenager. There had been a lot of confessed feelings, depressing nights, getting to know the love of his life, and most importantly: Luke pushing him off into the lake. He knew that he had raised hell for Luke when he was younger, but nowadays, the two were able to laugh about it as much as possible. All hard feelings were erased and now they were as close as ever which was what Jess had always been missing with Jimmy out of the picture. The man stopped to pull the pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket and light one up. It wasn't often that he smoked anymore, but he was more anxious than he intended to be. He wasn't exactly sure why he felt the apprehension in the pit of his stomach, but it was bubbling over his insides in the worst way possible.

Not too long afterwards, Rory showed up, spooking Jess in the slightest way. He hoped that she didn't notice, but Rory always saw everything but never cared to remark upon anything. "Hey," Jess nodded as he took a drag of his cigarette.

"She's Logan's!" Rory blurted out.