A/N: Thanks again for the reviews! Sorry for the italics in the last chapter, it isn't like that in the actual document, don't know what happened there. It was supposed to only be the phone conversation with Lane that was in italics.

Disclaimer: I'll never own it, not even in my dreams.

Ch. 3- A Step Forward

Lorelai turned when she heard commotion on the staircase to see her daughter bursting through the curtain that separated the diner from Luke's old apartment. She felt slightly wary when she saw Jess appear behind Rory, staring like a hungry wolf after her. She suddenly felt extremely protective and rushed to slide her arm around her daughter's shoulder, gliding her away from the man who, on second glance, now looked more like a love-sick puppy.

"So… what were you doing upstairs, hun?" she asked with a lightly accusing tone.

"Oh, umm, Luke told me to get Jess and tell him it was time to go to dinner" she fibbed, noticing that Luke was not nearby to call her out on it. She also noticed the raised eyebrow and smirk combination Jess gave her and shot him a warning look, daring him to say something.

"Uh-huh," Lorelai retorted skeptically, "well, I suppose we should get going then."

"Okay, where's Luke?" Rory asked, looking around.

"Oh, umm, he's going to meet us there. He had something to do really quick first" Lorelai said quickly. It was her turn to sound a little suspicious, but she hurried both Rory and Jess outside to her car, ignoring the questioning looks they were giving her.

It seemed to Rory that her mom was driving in circles, but when she inquired as to where they were going, all she got were evasive ramblings that meant nothing. What did dryer sheets have to do with their dinner plans? If she wasn't so curious, she would have been laughing hysterically at the story her mom was coming up with. When her attempt with Lorelai failed, she tried to engage Jess in polite conversation, but in true Jess-fashion, he couldn't form a complete sentence in front of her mother. She finally gave up on that too after a few minutes and began to wonder to herself why they were driving towards their house, when they had originally gone the opposite direction. She was completely bewildered when her mom pulled into their driveway and turned off the car.

"Did you really just drive around for fifteen minutes only to bring me home? Did you forget something or is this our big dinner plan? And if we were just coming here to order take-out, why did I have to walk all the way to the diner in the freezing cold weather?" She rattled off a litany of questions, and it finally dawned on her that there was something waiting for her inside. One look at her mom confirmed this, because a smile was slowly spreading across her face. She grinned and ran into the house, leaving Lorelai and Jess alone in the front yard. They exchanged a mutual look of mistrust before following.

Rory followed the noises and amazing smells to the kitchen, where she found Sookie and Luke setting up an impressive looking spread on the table. There were burgers and fries that Luke had obviously brought from the diner and a cake with 'Welcome Home Rory' scrawled on it that was undoubtedly Sookie's handiwork. There were also taquitos and macaroni and cheese and mini corndogs thrown in the mix.

"You guys, this is too much!" she said, laughing.

" Rory! Welcome home! How's the campaign trail? I know you love it! We're so excited to see you, it's been too long" Sookie greeted her best friend's daughter.

"I do love it, but I miss you guys so much! I can't believe you planned all this and actually managed to pull it off. I can't believe you two are actually working together and not killing each other! You must have really missed me, too."

"We did, kid" replied Lorelai as she made her way into the kitchen.

"So the food's on the table and here's a plate" Luke stated, handing Rory a plate.

They all began loading their plates with food, Rory answering questions from all three adults about her travels and where she would be going next. She looked around for Jess and finally spotted him standing in the hallway, looking uncomfortable. She caught his eye and nodded towards the food table with a meaningful expression. He sighed and joined the others in the kitchen wondering how he had gotten himself roped into this. He had only reminded her of the dinner because Luke had mentioned it when he first arrived and he needed an excuse to separate himself Rory before he did something stupid. He had assumed he would be able to get out of it once they were downstairs because he figured Lorelai would have declared the dinner "family only" and told him he couldn't come. Then Rory had to go and say that Luke had invited him. Sure, he wanted to spend time with her, but not around other people. It had always been like that and he had hoped he would have gotten over it by now, but he still got jealous when they were around other people. When he was with her, he wanted her all to himself. It wasn't realistic and he felt like a stupid teenager again, but there it was. He tried to be sociable, but mostly, he just sat off to the side by himself trying to think of a way to get her alone without eliciting too much comment. Eventually, though, he gave up on that idea and bid farewell to the welcome party and headed back towards the apartment above the diner.

Rory excused herself just after Jess left and hurried to catch up to him. He was walking too fast for her liking after eating all that food, but she supposed it was just so he could get out of the cold sooner. She picked up her pace to exceed his, trying to sneak up on him. Jess stopped abruptly when he heard footsteps behind him and swiveled around only to see Rory practically running in his direction. She had enough momentum going that when he stopped, she didn't have enough reaction time to avoid colliding with him. Jess, however, did have a quick reflex and caught her gracefully. They froze for a moment, locked in an accidental embrace. The urge to kiss the girl in his arms made Jess step back first.

"What are you doing?" he asked, amusement clearly playing across his face.

"Sorry. I didn't expect you to stop. I was trying to surprise you, but apparently my covert ops skills have not been honed correctly after all these years. These stupid loud shoes don't help either" she began. She always rambled when embarrassed. Well, actually, there was hardly a case when either Gilmore girl didn't ramble, but it was one of the things Jess found most endearing about her. He didn't need to talk much, she carried the whole conversation by herself most of the time. It worked out well because when he finally did decide to string together multiple sentences, he usually got her full attention just out of sheer shock.

"It's okay. No harm done. But why were you trying to surprise me? Are you planning to join the CIA? Because, if so, you do need some more practice on those covert ops. I could hear you a mile away" he teased.

"I don't know," she said, her face turning pink, "I guess I thought it would be romantic or something?"

Jess could not think of a single thing to say to that. All his witty retorts failed him as he racked his brain to find an appropriate response. Rory couldn't think of anything else to say, either. She stood there waiting for his response, feeling like an idiot. She was getting a little desperate, but she didn't care. She knew what she wanted and didn't have enough time to play games. They only had a few days before the real world came crashing down on them and they would be separated again for months. They stood staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but was more like 30 seconds, before Jess finally ignored the warning lights in his head telling him he was setting himself up for heartache again. He took a step forward and pulled her close again, pausing only for a moment to lock eyes with her, and kissed her. Again, they were teenagers, not caring who saw their public display. Jess had always known he was fighting a losing battle, but at this moment, he was glad she had won. They could worry about all the complications and awkward scenarios they were about to encounter later.

"So…" Jess began when he was finally able to catch his breath, "I can either turn around and walk you back to your house, or I can keep walking where I was going originally, only with company this time."

"Keep walking" Rory instructed, recognizing this tactic. It was his way of gauging what she thought about a situation without actually having to ask or state his opinion on the matter. She knew there was going to be hell to pay for this decision tomorrow, but she didn't care. She finally had what she wanted and everything else be damned.