Thank you for all your comments and feedback. I really appreciate them and I have changed some of the last chapter to try and improve it. :) Here's the next chapter! :)
Chapter 11
"Well isn't this a spontaneous visit..." Lorelai smiled at their visitors.
"My lectures were cancelled for tomorrow so I thought I'd come home today seeing as I was coming for the weekend anyway. I can go if you want?" Rory teased.
"Don't you dare!" Lorelai grinned, happy to see her daughter.
"So how did it go?" Rory asked them, glancing at Luke.
"It was...I don't know..." He sighed. "Anna got all her digs in."
"But you said the character reference helped right?" Lorelai said.
Luke looked up and gave them a small smile. "It was great. Thank you for doing it. Both of you." He said glancing at Jess who just nodded at him.
"So...when do you think you'll hear?" Rory asked.
"I'm not sure. Hopefully tomorrow." Luke said nervously.
Lorelai squeezed his arm. "I'm sure it'll be good news." She said softly.
"I hope so." Luke said quietly.
"Well come on, let's not just stand here. I'm starving." Lorelai said putting her arm round Rory and heading towards the front door.
"You're always starving." Rory and Luke said in unison.
After eating dinner, Lorelai and Rory headed into the living room to set up for the movie night they had decided to have, leaving Luke and Jess washing up in the kitchen. Luke glanced across at Jess who was clearing up the surfaces and wiping them. "You know...you didn't need to do the character reference. I didn't want to force you to do it."
"Have you tried saying no to Rory before?" Jess said.
Luke smirked. "Did she browbeat you into it then?"
"Yep, she definitely used her best debating skills." Jess said.
"Sounds like Rory." Luke said, starting to wash the plates in the sink.
Jess glanced across at him. "You could have asked me yourself though. I would have said yes."
"I didn't want to burden you with all this. You've got work to focus on." Luke said.
"Work can wait. This was important. For you..." Jess said. He glanced at him again. "I meant it." He said quietly. "What I said in it. I meant it."
"Please. You would have made something of yourself without me. You're bright. You didn't need me for that." Luke waved off.
Jess snorted. "Are you kidding?! If I hadn't been sent to you, I'd probably be in a detention centre by now." He said.
"Jess..." Luke tried to protest.
"No I mean it." Jess interrupted him. "You made me care. You made me feel like I was worth more. You're the reason I wrote a novel and now work at Truncheon. Stop being modest and just accept it! You're the reason I turned my life around. I owe you. That's why I said yes to Rory when she asked me to write the character reference. You helped me so much. You deserve to be able to do that for April. Both Rory and I wish you were our actual father. April gets the privilege of that actually being true and she deserves to experience that. You'd be an amazing dad to her." He said.
Luke looked up at him in shock. "Wow..." He said.
Jess ducked his head embarrassed and focused on wiping the surfaces again.
"You know, I think that's the most you've ever said without a breath." Luke said smirking slightly.
Jess rolled his eyes but smirked. "Yeah well it's the truth." He said. He threw the sponge at Luke. "Here, start cleaning and I'll go see if they need any help in there." He said heading towards the living room.
"Jess?" Luke said.
"Yeah?" Jess turned round.
"Thanks." Luke said softly.
Jess gave him a small smile and a nod. "I should be the one thanking you. I have to get off early tomorrow so if you haven't heard before I leave, good luck yeah? I hope you win."
Luke nodded. "You want to crash here tonight?" He asked.
"I was going to go to go to the apartment." Jess said.
"You don't need to. You can have the couch." Luke said.
"You sure? Lorelai won't mind?" He asked surprised.
"No she'll be fine. If you're worried about Rory though..." Luke said cautiously.
"We're good." Jess said quickly.
"Ok. Then I guess we don't need to discuss this anymore." Luke smiled.
"Guess not." He said heading to the living room.
"Hey Jess?" Luke said again.
"Geez what?" Jess exclaimed.
Luke smirked at his exasperation. "It's good to see you."
Jess' face softened. "Yeah good to see you too."
After dinner, Luke and Lorelai headed up to their bedroom leaving Rory and Jess talking in the living room.
"So how's life in Philadelphia?" Rory smiled.
"Yeah it's good. Matt and Chris drive me crazy but they're good friends. And they're good at what they do." Jess said.
"They sound fun." Rory smiled.
"Yeah they are. Sometimes more like annoying brothers though." Jess smirked.
Rory laughed. "Yeah I sometimes feel like that with Paris."
"That she's an annoying brother?" Jess smirked.
"No!" Rory rolled her eyes. "But she does feel like a bossy sister sometimes. She can be so infuriating but she's a good friend."
"Yeah I can imagine." Jess nodded. "So how come you're back this weekend? Is it just a visit?"
"Yeah, sort of. I wanted to support Luke but I'm also..uh..meeting an old friend that I knew from Chilton." She said hesitantly.
"An old friend huh? Anyone I know?" Jess asked.
"No. I don't think you ever met him." Rory said.
"Him?"
"Yeah..uh..him." She said awkwardly. "His name's Tristan."
"Oh was that the guy who made your life hell?" Jess asked.
"How did you know that?" Rory asked surprised.
"Heard you moaning about him to your mom a few times." He said. "So if he made your life hell, why are you meeting up with him?"
"He seems different." Rory shrugged. "He was at this newspaper panel I was doing at Yale. He's at Princeton now. I don't know but he just seemed...different."
"Fair enough." Jess said.
"Sorry...I don't know why I'm telling you this." She said awkwardly.
"It's fine." Jess said. He glanced at her. "I'm seeing someone." He admitted.
"Oh..." Rory said surprised. "Uh..well...that's great." She said.
"Is it?" Jess asked awkwardly.
Rory smiled at him. "Are you happy?" She asked.
Jess ducked his head but couldn't hide the smile that appeared on his face. "Yeah. I am." He admitted.
"Then I do think that's great." Rory smiled sincerely. She sighed. "I know we missed our chance with..uh..well all that...but I've always wanted you to be happy. You deserve to be. So I'm glad you've found someone. What's her name?"
"Hayley." Jess said. "She works with us at Truncheon."
"Cool. Well...maybe you could bring her here one day?" Rory smiled.
Jess smiled. "Yeah. Maybe." He glanced at her. "So you think something might happen with this Tristan guy?"
"I don't know." She admitted. "I only recently broke up with Logan. I'm over him. I am. But I don't want to rush into anything."
"That's understandable." Jess nodded.
"But maybe...sometime in the future. We'll see." Rory smiled.
"Well...good." Jess said.
"Hey, maybe we could double date one day?" Rory grinned trying to ease the awkwardness.
Jess chuckled. "Now that would be something."
Rory yawned and stretched. "I think I might head to bed. You sure you're ok on the couch?"
"I'll be fine. You go to bed." Jess nodded.
"Ok...Well night then."
"Night Rory." He smiled watching her disappear off to her room.
Rory woke up early the next morning due to shrieking and loud voices coming from upstairs. She sleepily got out of bed and trudged into the living room in her pyjamas where Jess was also waking up. "What's going on?"
"I've got no idea but I'm going to kill them! It's 7 in the morning!" Jess grumbled.
"Rory! Jess!" Lorelai exclaimed running downstairs with Luke close behind her.
"Geez keep it down will you?" Jess grumbled. "Did you drink coffee all night or something?"
"Luke won!" Lorelai exclaimed.
"Won what?" Jess grunted half asleep.
"Wait...do you mean?" Rory said catching on faster, seeing her mom and Luke's elated faces.
"I won the case. I get joint custody." Luke said with the biggest smile they'd ever seen on his face.
"Oh my god! That's amazing, congratulations!" Rory exclaimed, surprising Luke with a hug. "Isn't that great?" She exclaimed grinning at Jess.
"It would have been greater if it wasn't 7 in the morning." Jess grumbled.
"Hey! Stop being grumpy and get up and give your uncle a hug!" Rory grinned throwing a cushion at him.
"Hey!" Jess exclaimed. He groaned but got up. "It is great news. Congratulations." He said sincerely, giving Luke a manly hug.
"Thanks. I should be thanking you to. It was the character reference that swayed it." He smiled. "So thank you. All of you." He said looking at Lorelai too.
"We should celebrate! How about a trip to Luke's?" Lorelai grinned.
Jess frowned. "But Luke's here. Can't he just cook here?"
"Don't fight it." Luke said. "I've always had this fight."
"Come on!" Lorelai grinned heading for the door.
"Uh..mom?" Rory said gesturing to her pyjamas.
"Well meet us there!" Lorelai exclaimed. "Be quick though!"
Rory just smirked as she dragged Luke outside. She turned to Jess. "Well I guess we're going to Luke's then..."
"God this family is crazy." Jess grumbled.
"Yeah but it's your family so get used to it! Chop chop!" Rory grinned rushing off to her room.
"God help me.." Jess grumbled but started getting changed.
Hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think. I love reading your reviews so thank you so much for your continued support! :)
