"Can you zip me up?" Rory asked as she tried to look at herself in the mirror.

Jess walked over to her and a smile tugged at his lips. "Sure."

She noticed the smile in the mirror and smiled herself. "What's that for?"

"Nothing," he shrugged as he finished zipping the dress up. "Just this is usually the other way around now, isn't it?"

Rory blushed and moved her hair from her right. She spread it out over her shoulders while Jess stayed behind her and watched. "How do I look?"

He nodded appreciatedly. "Sexy."

"I don't think sexy is the look I'm going for to dinner with my father," she turned around and faced him.

"That's too bad," Jess teased and put his hands on her hips. "Because, Rory Gilmore, you are always sexy."

She rolled her eyes while hiding her blush. "You're such a suck-up."

"What am I sucking up for?" He asked innocently.

"I'm not sure," she laughed and kissed him quick. "But there's got to be something."

"Can't I compliment my girlfriend without having an ulterior motive?" Jess asked.

"Depends," she pretended to think about it. "Was there ever a time you didn't have ulterior motives?"

He nuzzled his nose against hers back and forth. "With you."

Rory smiled softly. "I think you've gotten cheesier with age, Mariano."

"Don't tell," he held a finger over his mouth in a ssh gesture.

"Never," she nodded then gasped. "Oh my god!"

Stunned by her sudden change in tone, Jess dropped his hands from her and backed up. "What? What's wrong?"

"My dad's gonna know we're sleeping together!" She half-yelled.

"What?" Now Jess laughed. "How?"

"Because!" She held her arms out. "We're living together!"

"So?" He still laughed.

"Jess!" She whined which made him laugh more. "This is technically your first impression! And your first impression is living with his daughter which ultimately means sleeping with his daughter!"

Jess stopped his laughter and walked back to her, this time placing his hands on her shoulders. "Ror. Look at me."

She did as she was asked. "What?"

"Your dad is gonna form whatever opinion of me that he is going to," Jess told her. "Whether its because of a car accident thirteen years ago or that I've seen you naked, I doubt there's much you can do to change it."

"I know," she groaned. "But it feels like we're adding fuel to the fire, doesn't it?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I don't really meet fathers."

"What about the other girl?" She found herself asking.

"What other girl?" Jess asked.

"When we were at your mom's," she started then took a breath. "Doula may have mentioned you having a serious relationship."

"Oh," he sighed and dropped his hands.

"Not that I expected you to not date anyone," she corrected. "I mean, high school was a long time ago and I would be a huge hypocrite to judge. But I...I was curious."

"Yeah, I met her parents," he admitted. "The one and only time besides you."

Rory nodded. "So it...it was serious then?"

"It was," he nodded.

"How long were you two together?" She asked. Her curiosity was peaked and she wanted to know more about this girl and their relationship.

"A few years," he shrugged. "On and off."

"You loved her?" She bit her lip , afraid of his answer.

"Why are you asking all these questions?" He asked playfully. There was a tightness around his eyes that said he didn't want to talk about it and it was obvious he was trying to tease her out of the topic.

"I don't know," she replied. "You met her parents. You were together for years. You must have loved her."

"I loved her," he said and Rory looked over at him. "I met her parents and we were together for a while. But you're missing something, Ror."

"What's that?" She whispered.

"See, she knows about you," Jess explained. "And you wanna know what happened after I told her about you?"

She nodded slowly. "What happened?"

"She broke up with me," Jess smirked with no real hint of amusement.

Rory's eyes looked right into Jess'. "What?"

Jess walked closer to her again. He hadn't realized how far apart they'd been standing since he dropped his hands. "She said I was still in love with you, said it didn't matter you were married. That in my head it wasn't over and she couldn't be with me while I still hadn't had closure."

"Oh," she once again whispered. "And now?"

"And now what?"

"Is there closure?"

Jess laughed for real this time. "Does this seem like closure to you?"

Before Rory can reply, Jess kissed her deeply. His hands were on both sides of her face and her hands moved to his back. She gripped him to her as he backed her up. Rory's back hit the wall beside the mirror she had been standing in front of and he pulled away. Both of their eyes were still closed seconds later.

"No," she answered as she opened her eyes. "No, it doesn't."

"Because it's not," he explained. "I love you. I've always loved you. I'm not with you because I need to be in order to get over you."

"That's good to know," she smiled.

"And you're not?" He asked, now needing the reassurance.

"I'm not," she confirmed. "I'm all in, too."

Jess smiled too. "Good to know."

There was a knocking on the door that caused them both to look in that direction. "My dad."

"Right," he nodded and started to move away from her but her hand caught his wrist.

Rory kissed him sweetly on the lips. "Thank you. For dealing with my crazy wondering."

He shrugged with a playful smile. "Its nothing."

On her way to the door, she fixed her dress just in case it looked obvious she had been leaning against a wall while kissing her boyfriend. Rory took a deep breath and opened the door.

Christopher Hayden smiled brightly at her on the other side. "Hey, kiddo!"

"Hi, Dad," she smiled as he went to hug her. Rory hugged him back and hoped she hadn't scared Jess out of dinner with her impromptu questioning. "How do you like New York?"

"It's nice," he said. "I'm not used to it but I've lived in cities before to not be completely blindsided by it."

"That's true," she laughed.

She heard footsteps behind her and a smile grew on her face, one that Christopher had noticed. He looked at the dark-haired man behind his daughter and stepped closer. "You must be Jess."

"That'd be me," he nodded and held out his hand for him to shake.

The older man took his hand and shook it. "Nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you over the years."

"I've grown up, I swear," Jess put his hands up in surrender once it was released.

Christopher laughed. "That's definitely good to hear."

"Dad?" Rory asked. "We should probably go right? You said there's reservations."

"Right, right," he agreed. "I have a cab downstairs waiting."

He led the two of then out. Jess slid his hand into Rory's and she smiled. She gave it a small squeeze as he locked the door behind them which was hard one handed so she let his go. Once finished, they linked their hands together again and walked to the cab.

...

"So you wrote a book?" Christopher asked Jess after the waiter took their orders.

"Three, actually," Rory cut in before her boyfriend could answer.

"Wow," her father turned to her. "And how are they? You've read them?"

"I have," she beamed brightly. "They're amazing. Jess has such good talent but I always knew that."

"You said I had potential," he teased.

"Which you've proven," she pointed out. "So you're welcome."

Christopher watched them interact, he watched as Rory smiled big at the man beside her or as Jess would touch her hand. He wondered just how serious this was and why it had taken so long for them to meet.

"I'm actually writing something new," Jess took a sip of his drink.

"Oh?" Christopher asked. "What's it about?"

Rory looked at her boyfriend eagerly, wondering the exact same thing. Jess kept a poker face. "Its a surprise."

"What?" She gasped. "No!"

Jess laughed at her. "You'll find out when everyone else does."

She pouted at him and drank some of her water to hide it. "Fine. Be like that."

"So, Jess," Christopher interrupted. "I hear you got your GED?"

"Yes, I did," he nodded. "I actually got it right here in the city."

"You did?" Rory asked. "I thought you just got it in -"

"No," he shakes his head. "I did it, after I came to see you."

The older man at the table cleared his throat. "So you didn't graduate or you left early?"

"Dad," Rory warned.

He ignored her and Jess answered. "I didn't graduate. I missed a lot of my senior year and wasn't gonna make it up without retaking the whole year."

"Why not just make up the year?" He prodded.

"Didn't want to," Jess shrugged. "I never really liked school and I learned better on my own."

"But you left, right?" He kept going. "Why not just get your GED in Stars Hollow?"

"Town wasn't really a good fit for me, either," he explained.

"Even if my daughter was in it?" He asked.

Rory glared at her father and her tone become like ice. "Dad."

"Is this you way of asking me what Rory is to me?" Jess countered.

"Maybe it is," Christopher shrugged. "Maybe I want to know you didn't come back into my daughter's life, decide you want something better again and leave her."

"Maybe I love her," Jess almost hissed. "Maybe I left the other time because she deserved better than a guy who couldn't even graduate high school."

Rory tried to speak but he continued. "Jess -"

"I was a fuck up in high school," Jess went on. "I'll be the first person to admit that. But I won't deny what Rory means to me. And she deserved better back then. I needed to get my shit together so that I could be here today, with her."

"So you admit you made mistakes," Christopher said. "Anyone can do that."

"You haven't from what I've heard," Jess said.

"Excuse me?" He exclaimed.

Right then, a waiter came with their food and interrupted their heated discussion. Jess looked up at the waiter. "Actually, can we get these to go?"

The waiter nodded and left the dishes on the table as he went into the back for the to-go boxes. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah," Jess nodded and looked over at Rory. "You coming?"

The waiter returned with the boxes and put their meals into them for them. Jess handed him a bunch if bills to cover their food and told him to keep the change. He graciously left with the money and both men turned tbeir eyes on Rory.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm coming."

"Rory," Christopher called as the two of them stood up and grabbed their food. "Rory!"

Jess held onto Rory's hand as they walked out of the restaurant. They speed walked and could almost hear him behind them. "So much for changing his mind about me, huh?"

"What the hell was that?" She asked.

"He pushed," Jess replied. "Farther than he should have. I just can't listen to him assume he knows me or how this will end up."

"Me, either," she agreed. "But maybe..."

He looked at her as a cab came to a atop in front of them. "Maybe what?"

"Maybe we should have stayed," she said low.

"Huh."

"Jess."

He shook his head and reached into his pocket. "You could have stayed."

"I wanted to come with you," she told him.

"But you think that was okay?" He pointed back to the restaurant.

"Not at all," she answered. "But...well, I think we made it worse."

"You mean I made it worse," he corrected. "You can say it."

"No," she said. "We did."

"Rory..." He sighed. "I'm sorry. I am but hearing that guy say I'm just gonna leave you...he's not right okay? I don't care who he is."

"I know," she agreed. "That part was hard to hear."

"We can go back," he reluctantly added.

"No," she shook her head. Behind them, they heard Christopher call their names, especially hers. "Let's go home."

They climbed into the cab and gave their directions. Christopher was left in the dust in front of the restaurant hoping his to-go box.

...

Jess shut the door to the apartment behind him and watched as Rory walked further inside. She threw her purse down on the table and sank down into the couch. He followed her inside, placing the food on the table beside her purse.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked.

Rory shook her head. "No. I'm not mad at you."

He nodded as he began to process that she wasn't upset with him. "Upset with me?"

"I'm not anything with you," she sighed. "I'm just tired."

"Okay." He sat down next to her but not too close.

"He was being an ass," she groaned after a minute of silence. "And I know if we stayed longer, it would have gotten much worse."

"And?" He nudged her.

"And this makes me more mad at him," she confessed. "He finally meets you and he has to quiz you about school and thinking because you don't like Stars Hollow, you'll leave me again."

"I shouldn't have acted like I did," Jess sighed and put an arm around her. "Then and now."

Rory shook her head. "You don't even live there anymore, Jess. If you don't like Stars Hollow, you can come here or to Philadelphia. I don't understand why he's bringing up years old stuff."

"He's being protective," he shrugged. "Even if I don't really agree with how."

"Oh, I hadn't noticed," she smirked at him. Jess laughed and she snuggled into him. "You know, at least now he's not thinking about us sleeping together."

He kissed her hair. "Bright side, huh?"

Rory was about to look up at him when she heard the familiar ringtone of her phone. She got up off the couch to check it. "Ugh."

"Your dad?" He guessed once he turned in his seat and looked at her.

She nodded. "I don't really want to talk to him."

"You'll have to eventually," he said.

"But not right now," she walked back to her previous seat with her phone in hand. After she placed it on the table, she snuggled back against Jess.

"I'm sorry I'm causing trouble between you and your dad," he told her honestly. He wasn't sure he would take back defending himself and their relationship to Christopher but he did feel bad about coming between Rory and her dad.

She sighed. "We've always has trouble, really. When he was actually around, that is. This is just another to the list."

"I am sorry though," he replied. "I could have made it easier."

"No," she took his hand in hers. "If you didn't, I might have. I can't listen to anyone throw the past back at you."

"Even if I deserve it?" He smirked.

"Even if you deserve it," she laughed and kissed him softly. "Though you don't. You've changed a lot and that should be acknowledged."

He's about to say something when her stomach makes a small sound. They both laugh and he unwrapped his arm from around her. "Maybe its time I feed my girlfriend."

"Yes, please," she beamed. Jess got up first and held out his hand for her and they walked together into the kitchen.

...

Once again, Rory's phone rang loudly. She looked at the clock to see what time it was. The clock read just after 12 am and she looked over a sleeping Jess and then to her phone. She sighed and held her phone in her hand as she walked out of the bedroom.

"Mom?" She whispered.

"Sorry to call at this time, sweets," Lorelai said on the other end. "But I have a burning question to ask - what the hell happened between Jess and your dad?"

"He called you," Rory stated.

"He talked," she corrected. "Very very loudly."

Rory winced for her mother. "I'm sorry."

"You'll make it up to me by telling me what the hell happened," she pointed out.

So Rory told her. She went into the whole story about their short dinner and how her and Jess had left Christopher in the restaurant. When she finished with the story, she added a new detail. "He called me when we got home."

"He told me he tried but you didn't answer," the older woman said. "I'm on Jess' side, hun."

"Really?" Rory asked skeptically. She wasn't used to her tolerating him yet.

"Yeah," Lorelai sighed. "He should have at least waited more into the dinner to start the interrogation. Into the meal, at least."

Rory rubbed her eyes with her thumb. "It kind of reminded me of high school."

"The boyfriend interrogation?" She asked.

"Jess," her daughter simply answered.

"Why? Did he punch Chris?" Lorelai laughed.

"No," Rory laughed too as she imagined the mental image. "Though that would be like uncle, like nephew, wouldn't it?"

"Luke would give him a medal I bet," Lorelai said.

"How quickly he got mad reminded me of the past," Rory said seriously. "He had ammo to get angry but I haven't seen him like that in a while."

"And you're worried?" Lorelai asked.

"Not worried," she tried to explain. "Not exactly. I don't want him to do something the old Jess would do and feel guilty."

"Did you talk to him?" Her mother asked.

"No," she said. "We came home, we ate, we watched tv and went to sleep."

Lorelai nudged as best she could over a phone. "So talk to him. "

"How do I start that?" She laughed without humor. "Hey, honey, I love you defended our relationship but you also reminded me of high school you so let's talk?"

"Eew," Lorelai groaned. "You call Jess honey?"

"Focus," she demanded, a smile played on her lips. She heard a creak in the floor and the smile faded. Rory turned aaround and her heart sank. Jess stood in the doorway of the bedroom and it was obvious he heard her last words. "Mom, I have to go."

"But we're not done!" Lorelai exclaimed. Then she added in a lower voice, "Oh. Jess is there?"

Rory nodded then remembered it wasn't her mother who was staring at her. "Yeah."

"I'll call you later," Lorelai said. "Preferably when the sun is out."

"Okay," Rory replied. "Bye."

She hung up the phone right after Lorelai said bye and set the phone down on the table. Jess stood there and waited for her to speak first. When she didn't, he did. "I reminded you of high school tonight?"

"That wasn't what I said," she replied.

"Then explain," he asked patiently. "Because it sounded like you just told Lorelai the opposite of what you told me tonight."

"You have changed," she told him. Jess just looked at her, a look that told her he didn't believe her when she said that on his face. It broke her heart.

Rory stood up and walked to him. He stayed stiffly in place as he leaned on the doorway. She took Jess' hands in hers and looked up to his face. "Tonight, when you just wanted to get out of there and you were mad, I thought of high school."

He nodded. "So I did hear right."

"No," she clarified. "Because it was a moment. I wasn't used to you being mad."

He gave another nod. "And?"

"And I guess I've been in this happy bubble with you that I forgot that's still a part of you," she confided. "It surprised me to see you upset."

"I got really good at hiding it," he said and a smirk was tugging on his mouth.

"Jess?" She asked. His brown eyes looked right into her blue. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I should be the one apologizing."

"I do," she looked down at their hands to avoid eye contact. "Because I should have said it to you and not my mom first and make you overhear it."

"I shouldn't have been a jackass who made you walk out on your father, either," he countered. "I'm sorry, too."

Rory smiled softly at him. "Can we just go to bed now? I'm tired and I just want you to hold me."

"I can do that," he gave her a smile back.

She led him back into the bedroom and climbed into the covers first. Jess came behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Rory out her hands over his arms and nuzzled into him. He kissed her just below the ear and she closed her eyes contently. Jess didn't fall asleep until minutes before his alarm went off.

...

Jess was up, showered and dressed before Rory even opened her eyes. She slammed the snooze button again and expected to feel him holding her but found she was alone. Rory sat up and looked around. She saw the bathroom light on and walked to it, thinking she'd catch him in the shower or shaving or brushing his teeth.

He was doing none of those things. He wasn't even in the bathroom. Rory shut the light and walked out of the room, her bare feet padded against the floor as she finally found Jess in the kitchen. "Morning."

"Morning," he said and put his coffee down.

She noticed he was dressed nicely. Jess wore something that could have resembled a suit had he had a tie on. "You look nice."

"Thanks" he smirked and pointed at her. "You, too."

She blushed as she looked down at herself. Rory hadn't really cared about changing into pajamas the night before so she wore one of Jess' band tees and her underwear. She looked back at him and tried to get back on topic. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Chris called," he explained and rinsed his coffee mug. "Wants me meet a guy about his poems or something."

"Oh," she nodded. "Now?"

"He said the sooner, the better," he answered.

Rory's face fell. "Oh. Okay."

Jess walked over to her and kissed her quick. "Back to work today right?"

"Right," she nodded. "I should start getting ready."

"And I should be going," he looked at the clock and kissed her again before he walked to the door. When he had the door open, he turned back. "You want Chinese for dinner?"

"Sure," she smiled faintly. He nodded and was out the door.

What had just happened? The question ran through her mind as she replayed the look on his face versus his words in her mind.

Rory stood there in silence for minutes after he walked out the door. He obviously wasn't okay after hearing her phone call last night. Maybe she would call her mom again for advice. She even imagined calling Paris again like last time but she knew how busy she was now. Maybe she would call Lane.

Finally, she moved from her spot and started to get ready. After her shower, she sat in the kitchen and ate the waffles he had left for her while she drank her coffee. A knocking on the door made her look up and she wondered if Jess had forgotten his key. When she opened the door, however, she was surprised to see her father standing there.

A/N: This chapter particularly wasn't really easy to easy because I am not a Christopher fan, at all. I knew I'd have to include him at some point and everything I tried sounded too biased lol But I really think he would be like this to Jess, its hard to tell since they had no scenes at all and I feel like a bit of teenager Jess would come out at his disapproval.

I also hope its not too OOC. And don't hate me for making a bit of conflict here! It will be worth it, trust me!