Disclaimer- Gilmore Girls and the characters associated with the show are not mine.

Chapter Eight- Friday 3:00 PM- Jess

I'm getting married! And Jessie is here! He's going to walk me down the aisle! Give me away! He forgave me for everything, otherwise why would he do it? I love my adorable TJ! He means everything to me and I can't wait to start a new life with him. It's fun seeing all my old friends, and it was hilarious when Kirk scurried away from me just like he used to.

Jess had been on the Yale campus before, but only the one area, and only at night. This visit, with the game day party atmosphere, reminded him of the Hollow's festivals, only with more expensive color coded attire. Including cardigans Taylor might have killed for. Although Jess had promised Rory four hours, holding in his smirks and sarcasm was becoming difficult and his internal monologue reflected it. Rory though, Rory was in her element showing them her favorite study tree, the best coffee cart, and her dorms. It was fun to see her excited, her cheeks pink, the sparkle in her eye, and Jess allowed himself to fall under her spell. Watching the activity in the courtyard, he wrapped his arm around Rory's waist, pulling her against him as he dropped a kiss on her temple.

"Whoa! Is Grandpa Richard singing?" Garret asked. Rory laughed, resting her head on Jess's shoulder.

"Yup, it's called Leavin' On A Jet Plane. Your Grandfather is a Whiffenpoof," Rory replied, enjoying Jess and Garret's identical looks of surprise. Emily was laughing as she caught sight of the group and hurried over to meet them.

"They sound good don't they? Sometimes, there's too many lower registers who show up, today it's a fine mix, and your grandfather is in his element," she said, pulling Garret in close to squeeze his arms. Jess smirked, he couldn't hold it in any longer. He could tell Emily wanted a hug, but the Gilmores had never been touchy feely people to start with, and the arm grab was as close as she ever came to asking. And today? For some reason, the idea bothered Jess. Scowling, he shoved the thought away, and forced his mouth into as close to a smile as he could manage.

"Go ahead Emily, I think Garret could use a hug," Jess said. Garret gave Jess a confused look, but then nodded, and moved into his grandmother's arms, wrapping his arms around her waist. It took her a second to respond, but soon her arms tightened around him. Garret figured Jess was the one who needed the hug, but couldn't ask for himself. So he would hug, and Jess could enjoy it seeing it, but then something happened. Garret felt an overwhelming relief, a sense of home. He hadn't realized he was tense until he felt it slip away.

Letting Garret go, Emily squeezed his arms again, and donned a bright smile. The addition of Garret into their family had truly been a good thing.

"Thank you Garret, I know a young man your age isn't keen on hugging. Rory, did you show them around the campus?"

"Of course! I even showed them Handsome Dan One and Two, along with the current representative," Rory replied. Garret shuddered.

"I'm not fond of the stuffed dogs, but the live one let me scratch his ears," he said.

"Right there with you," Jess added. "I'm not sure I believe some of the anecdotes Rory told us either. Like being chosen because they hate the color red? Can dogs see red? Emily, Rory tells us you have food somewhere?"

"Of course! Let me signal Richard, and we can head to the R.V., our chef is putting out quite a spread for us today. I need to tell you both something, and I hope you don't leave after I do," Emily said, looking down at her fingernails, and twisting her ring. Rory and Jess exchanged worried looks.

"Maybe you should tell us, instead of keeping us in suspense," Rory said, as she tightened her grip on Jess's hand.

"Logan and his family are parked right next to us, and the cooks combined forces. It's turned into a large gathering. Quite an event. I didn't know when I invited you. He seemed to think it would be fine," Emily was afraid to look up, to see the expressions on their faces. She waited, expecting to see their feet turn away from her, to hear their footsteps walk away. She hadn't done it on purpose, but since her past behavior, with regards to ex-boyfriends, could be considered suspect, she didn't know if they'd believe her.

"Might be awkward," Rory said, unsure about what Jess was thinking. She wanted to be here, to share this with him and Garret, but she didn't want to add to his stress. Jess let out a dry chuckle. He could tell by Emily's demeanor she expected them to leave, for him or Rory to get angry.

"And about three other synonyms of the word. We can stay, if you're okay with it. They'll be other people there, possibly more of your college friends. I wouldn't mind talking to Logan anyway. It's time to renegotiate the contracts for the books he hasn't filmed yet, and I have something to bargain with now. I'd like to get his mind headed the direction I want, so when the guys meet, he's hungry."

"I want to stay," Garret added, he didn't know the entire history, but he could tell this wasn't "the old Emily" acting up, as his sister and mom put it. Emily looked relieved, and turned her attention to Rory for final approval.

"Okay, but Jess has already said he's only giving us four hours of politeness, and I've used one of them. So if it gets tense, or too much, we'll bail."

"I couldn't ask for more," Emily replied, lacing her arm through Jess's. "Kind Sir, would you be so bold as to escort me to the party?" Jess narrowed his eyes at her smile, but sighed, and responded.

"Of course. You do know I'm on to you, right? I promise, Emily, I don't plan on hitting anyone today. It really isn't necessary to hold my arm down."

"I'm not holding you back, Jess. I'm letting everyone know you have backup."

Jess chuckled at the idea of Emily being his support in some sort of barroom brawl, with her beauty shop styled hair and manicured nails. Then again, she was feisty, tough and had a mean streak.

Richard extracted himself from the singing, and chatted with Garret about Yale's history as they walked. Although quite a bit of it was information Rory had already shared, it didn't matter to Garret. He was happy to let his adopted Grandfather share his obvious love of the campus. And Richard was in his element as he stopped to introduce the group to old friends along the way. As they neared the R.V.s, Richard took Rory's arm, slowing her down.

"Did your Grandmother tell you? About Logan? Mitchum and Shira aren't there, thank God, but-"

"It's fine Grandpa, really. We can all play nice," Rory said. Richard raised his eyebrows at her, and glanced over at Jess and Emily.

"Really? Well, we can live in hope, I suppose," Richard said as their arrival caught the attention of the group. Jess scanned the crowd, and watched Logan slide his arm around his wife's waist. Figuring he might as well jump in with both feet, Jess led Emily straight to the couple.

"Logan, I believe you've met Rory's husband, Jess. They'll be joining us this afternoon," Emily said. Jess held in a smirk, and put out his hand for Logan to shake. Raising a well manicured eyebrow, Logan let go of his wife long enough to grip Jess's hand.

"Mariano, how's the writing going? Started a sequel to Cerulean Steel yet?"

"Logan, don't be rude. Introduce us before you begin badgering the poor man," Chloe said, a smile in her voice. Jess smirked at Logan, as Rory joined them.

"Jess, Rory, this is my wife Chloe and my daughter Maddie," Logan said, ruffling his daughter's hair. Rory smiled at Chloe.

"It's nice to actually meet you, I mean, when Logan isn't reading me the riot act. Your daughter's beautiful. And you're obviously going to add another family member. When are you due?"

"A couple days ago, so any day now, seriously. Any day. The sooner the better!" Chloe said, running her hand across her stomach. Rory laughed and turned to the men.

"Go talk business. Jess, you can answer Logan's question. Tell him about Cerulean Silk," Rory said. "We have to talk babies and children." Seeing Jess's wide eyes, Rory laughed. "Just research Jess, just research." Jess met Logan's knowing smile with one of his own.

"Cerulean Silk? Not a bad title, I can work with it. Let's go get drinks and talk," Logan said, leading Jess away from the table. He knew Chloe could handle Rory, and Maddie was there as a buffer. Plus, Logan didn't miss Jess's nod to Garret, directing him to Rory's side. The women were well chaperoned.

"Doesn't he want children? I'm sorry, it was inappropriate of me to ask," Chloe said, sitting down next to her daughter, and sipping on her lemonade. She was curious about Ace, but unsure if she wanted to be left alone with her. Rory smiled as Garret sat down next to her at the table, idly wondering if Jess had sent him over for her protection. It would be like him, and truthfully, as long as he kept it unobtrusive, she loved him for it.

"Oh he does, more than he even realizes, but he wants to wait a while. Travel together a bit first. I'd bet money though, if I did announce a pregnancy, he'd be ecstatic."

"That's the way it happened with Logan. We'd been together for a couple of months, then the condom broke, and I knew. I knew that night I was pregnant, the timing was horrible. But I didn't tell him. I said I thought we'd be okay. When he left for work, all the horrible fears, and the past, came up and bit me in the behind. I ran. I was terrified. Truthfully, and why I'm telling you this, I don't know, truthfully, I was running from the idea of you and his Hartford life. So I hid out for two weeks trying to figure out what to do, if it could work. When he realized I was gone, and no-one knew where, he searched for me. He didn't go to work, he scoured the places we'd gone together, trying to find me himself. I found out later, he hired six different private investigators, and offered a bonus which would go to the company who found me first. When he broke down the door to the hotel room I was in, and pulled me into his arms, I told him I was pregnant, blurted it out, thinking it would scare him away, but instead, he pulled a ring out of his pocket. He told me as far as he was concerned, we'd been married since the first time we'd made love. He'd had the ring for a month, and was just waiting for the right moment. And then, he told me I needed to quit showing him up because the baby made the ring pale in comparison."

"That's beautiful. No, really," Rory said, seeing Chloe's look of disbelief. "One of the best engagement stories I've heard. I'm so glad he has someone, Chloe. It's good to see him happy. Really happy, not just coasting," Rory added.

"So who's this young man next to you?" Chloe asked, embarrassed she had run off at the mouth, but she was nervous. Rory's eyes had a way of looking through you.

"This is my little brother Garret," Rory said, introducing him around the table. Already engrossed in a sketch, Garret barely nodded hello. "He gets caught up in his art, and there's a lot of good material here." The table grew quiet as Garret fleshed out the drawing, and the subject became recognizable.

"Oh, Maddie, look what he's done!" Chloe said, directing her daughter's attention to the portrait. "Can I have it?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, here you go. It's not very good, really. Just a quick observational sketch, but she's a good subject," Garret added, finishing the lines on the little girl's bow, and tearing the paper out. "I'd really like to draw you," he said, not meeting Chloe's eyes, keeping his gaze on the table cloth. He was embarrassed to ask, but she was full of curves, and most of his subjects, were not. Chloe's look of shock had Rory laughing out loud.

"Why?" Chloe asked, and watched as the blush crept up the boy's cheeks. "Sure, I mean, you don't see someone this pregnant every day of the week, do you?" she said, trying to help cover his embarrassment. Rory gave her a grateful smile, as Garret fiddled with his pencil.

"Not at the table though, a bench would be better," Rory suggested. Chloe nodded her assent, and the group moved away from the R.V., back into the courtyard. Chloe sat on the bench with Rory and Maddie sitting in the grass a few feet away. Rory was regretting the offer to watch Maddie, what was she supposed to do to entertain a pre-schooler anyway? It had been too long since she'd babysat Lane's boys. Then she had an idea. Catching Maddie's attention, with her soft "Once upon a time," she began telling the story of a Princess in the fairytale land of Stars Hollow and the swan who grew up with her. Maddie listened, enthralled at the tale of the swan's heroic first flight. It only took a few minutes of storytelling for her to clamber up into Rory's lap and curl her body against Rory's. Rory continued her tale, even though she suspected the little one had fallen asleep.

"You should write it down. The story, Ace," Logan said from where he and Jess were standing under a tree.

"I want to publish it. Let Garret do simple illustrations like in Charlotte's Web," Jess added. His eyes were narrowed in contemplation as he watched Rory holding Maddie in her arms. There was an unexpected swirl in his gut at the sight of her cradling the sleeping child. He flashed back to the picture in his head of a little boy lying by the library fire, but this time, instead of having a little girl with bright blue eyes reading in the library window, he pictured her curled up on Rory's lap. Rory smiled at the look in his eyes, and tucked Maddie's hair behind her ear.

"I don't know, I think the target audience might have fallen asleep," she said, expanding her smile to the group. Jess nodded, swallowing hard, and leaning down, lifted the little girl into his arms. Standing, he passed Maddie to Logan.

"You have a beautiful daughter, Logan. A beautiful family," Rory said.

"Yeah, you do," Jess added, shoving his hand into his pockets.

"Thank you. So why are you guys over here anyway, when all the food is at the R.V.?" Logan asked.

"Garret wanted to draw Chloe," Rory replied, as Jess helped her to her feet. Logan looked confused, letting his now awake and squirming daughter down, but keeping hold of her hand.

"She's differently shaped," Garret said, trying to explain without embarrassing himself again. An artist should be able to look at the female body and not be embarrassed, he thought. There was something about her though, and not because she was pregnant. No, Garret added some lines to her eyes, she was beautiful. Maybe the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Her cheekbones were high, and her lips were full. Her brown eyes were huge with long lashes. Jess's stepsister, Lilly, had given Garret some art books, and Chloe's structure reminded him of some of the nudes by the old masters. He felt his cheeks grow red again, as he pictured Chloe's face in those paintings.

"I see," Logan said, narrowing his eyes at the boy, and moving to look at the picture. He could tell by the drawing the boy was attracted to his wife. Somehow, it showed in the lines, and although he knew it was ridiculous to be jealous of the kid, he didn't want to let him keep the sketch. "A hundred dollars. I'll buy the drawing from you for a hundred." Garret was shocked. No one had ever offered him money for his art before, and he didn't know what to think, or say. He glanced at Jess, who came to his side.

"Two hundred, then, and it's as high as I'll go," Logan added, when Garret didn't immediately accept, pulling out his wallet and presenting the two hundred dollar bills. Jess looked at the picture, and understanding, nodded his head at Garret.

"You can have it. You don't have to pay me. I just drew it as a study of curves," Garret said, as he carefully ripped the page out of his book and handed it to Logan.

"Nonsense, you worked hard on this. It's your creation, and it's good. Take the money, use it to buy supplies," Logan added, tucking the money into Garret's sketch book. Taking Chloe's hand, Logan led her and Maddie away.

"Did I do something wrong?" Garret asked, as he fiddled with the money. Rory shook her head no, as Jess spoke.

"Not really," he said, seeing Rory's surprised look, he tried to explain. "You're attracted to Chloe. Sexually. It showed in your sketch."

"Me? No! I'm not. What are you talking about? She's too…old," he said, trailing off and slumping his shoulders under Jess's amused and knowing look. "How? How did it show?" Garret asked, embarrassed, but curious too, because he thought he had sketched her objectively. Jess laughed, and shrugged.

"It wasn't one thing, really. She has a natural beauty, I suppose, but you made her too pretty. Her eyes were a little too big, the lashes way too long and lush. And you made her pregnancy smaller, but her breasts larger. You even made her hair prettier, fuller," Jess said.

"You drew her as you saw her, not as she actually looked," Rory added, understanding. Garret's cheeks were crimson.

"So how does that work? What I see isn't actually what I see? My brain can trick me? How can I be an artist if that happens? If I can't be objective?"

"I don't know if you should be totally objective. I mean, art isn't about recreating something exactly, that's what cameras are for, art is about emotion and perception. It was obviously her in the drawing, you just gave too much of yourself away to a man who wasn't expecting it," Rory said.

"I'd bet Logan is as protective of Chloe as I am of Rory. He didn't expect a quick sketch to show so much. If he would have shopped around for an artist, seen your work, chose you, and paid you to draw her, he would have been very happy with the finished product. Would have said the artist had even captured her inner beauty. It's why he insisted on paying you. To put you back into the 'providing me a service' box in his head which made you noticing her physical attributes acceptable," Jess added. Garret nodded his understanding.

"She is beautiful though, right?" Garret asked, still a bit confused.

"Yes, she's beautiful. Just in a different way than the females you're used to seeing. Kinda sounds like all those curves took you by surprise. I suppose it won't be long before some girl your own age gets you in her clutches. I don't think any of us are ready for you to date," Jess said, as the group walked back to the R.V. for food.

"God no! Can you imagine what it'll be like? With his height and eyes? We'll have to beat them off with a stick. Maybe we can home school him. Keep him sequestered till he's out of his teens," Rory added, only half joking as they rejoined the Gilmores.

"Yes!" Jess yelled, jumping to his feet with the rest of the crowd, as the Yale quarterback's throw was caught and successfully run in to score the winning touchdown in the last seconds of the action packed game against Harvard. Realizing how involved he'd become, he lowered his fist, and with a studied nonchalance, wrapped his arm around Rory's waist again. Looking down at her face, he realized he hadn't gotten away with anything.

"God I wish I had that on film!" Rory said, laughing. "Garret! Did you see? Jess was, dare I say it? Excited! Involved, even! In a sporting event. You will never live this down. You showed spirit, Jess. Real team spirit," Rory added, ignoring Jess's scowl. Garret was sketching as fast as he could.

"I've got it! I can redo it later, but I got the basics!" he said, showing Rory the picture of Jess, cheering, pumping his fist in the air, complete with a large toothy grin. Rory couldn't resist one last dig.

"We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit, how 'bout you?" she cheered, pointing at Jess. Growling, Jess pulled Rory into his arms, and locked his lips to hers, tightening his grip, angling his head to deepen the kiss. Breaking the kiss off, he let his forehead fall against hers.

"I'm gonna buy you a foam finger for the next game," Rory said, breathless. Jess groaned, and lowered his lips to hers again, kissing her till he felt her body slump against his. The sound of laughter brought them back to the crowd around them.

"It appears you've discovered a particularly effective way of quieting a Gilmore girl. I'll have to keep it in mind."

"Richard! You wouldn't dare!" Emily replied with a smile.

"Oh, but I would, my dear," Richard said as he pulled his wife into his arms, lowered her into a dip, and dropped a light kiss onto her lips.