A/N: Sorry for the wait, but at least the chapter is longer than the others, even though I'm splitting this part into two chapters. I'll try to make the next chapter long too, because I'm not sure when I'll get it done. Again, sorry. Busyness and lack of inspiration does not a good combination make.

Disclaimer: Still too poor to own anything.

Ch. 5- A Very Gilmore Christmas (Part 1)

Lorelai glared at the boy (well, technically man now, she had to admit) standing with his arm around her daughter's waist. It wasn't so much that she was mad that Rory had spent the night with him, it was more that she had lost valuable time with her daughter and it was his fault. Rory shifted uncomfortably, not sure whether she should offer up an explanation or wait for her mother to voice her thoughts. Jess merely stood, unmoving, thinking about just how bad things could possibly get and how the hell he could fix it. Finally, Lorelai got tired of holding her tongue.

"Where the hell have you been?" she demanded, still glaring accusingly at Jess.

"Well, we were trying to find you the perfect Christmas present, if you must know" Jess responded, much to the surprise of both women.

"And where is this supposed present?" she asked after the initial shock of actually hearing Jess speak more than one word to her wore off.

"We couldn't find anything to match your level of awesomeness" he replied, with no hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh, you're good" she said to Jess skeptically before rounding on her daughter, "He's good. Did you teach him that?"

"No, I didn't. That was all him" she told her mother honestly.

Lorelai shook her head and motioned for the younger two to follow her in the house. She wasn't sure what had just happened, but she couldn't think of any witty banter to follow such a statement. Jess followed the two women in the house with a triumphant smirk on his face. He had just beaten the master and it felt good. He suddenly felt much better about the day, no matter how many family members he would have to endure. They entered the living room to find Luke plugging the Christmas tree lights in.

"Rory, Jess, merry Christmas!" he greeted them cheerfully.

"You, too, Uncle Luke" Jess replied. It was weird getting used to seeing his uncle cheerful instead of grumpy and gruff.

"Hey Luke. It's good to see you! I've missed you and Mom so much!" Rory said, hugging her soon-to-be-step-father.

"It's present time now, right?" Lorelai interrupted.

Luke sighed. "I told your mom we could open presents right when you got here since I have to head over to the diner soon. She didn't think you'd be back in time, but I told her you would."

"Thanks, Luke. I'm glad somebody has faith in me" she said, darting a fake glare at her mother.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Faith, shmaith. Let's open presents!" Lorelai said excitedly.

Luke played Santa (without the hat, despite Lorelai's persistent nagging), passing out presents. In a flurry of torn paper, the presents were soon unwrapped and everyone was taking inventory of their loot. Luke left for the diner, promising to return as soon as he was confident that Caesar was not going to burn the place down. Lorelai suggested that they watch something seasonal before breakfast.

"As long as it's not A Christmas Story again. I don't think I could take it" Jess groaned.

"Uh oh, how many times did you have to watch it?" Lorelai asked sympathetically.

"We only watched it twice, you big baby!" Rory teased.

"That's only because I told you that if you made me watch it a third time I'd have to shoot out both my eyes with a BB gun. And then after all that, you wouldn't even watch the Grinch with me."

"I told you, we have to save all the good cartoons for today to watch with Mom. It's tradition, isn't it, Mom?" Rory asked dramatically.

"It sure is. I can't believe you spent the night with a boy and all you did was watch TV" Lorelai teased her daughter, breathing a silent sigh of relief.

"We drank hot chocolate, too" Jess offered.

Lorelai smiled. She couldn't believe she had almost wasted her entire day being mad over something so silly and selfish as not wanting her daughter to spend time with someone other than her. She didn't even mind now that she was going to be sharing her movie tradition with Jess, which surprised her, but she supposed she was going to end up sharing it anyway because Luke was going to come back soon and join them. They agreed to first watch Twas the Night Before Christmas because Luke didn't like the mice, they creeped him out, and he was still at the diner. Then they decided when Luke came home with the food, they could watch Charlie Brown and the Grinch (the cartoon, of course) and possibly Rudolph, if there was time before they were supposed to visit Liz and TJ. It turned out that they did have time, as they had all woken up ridiculously early. Luke and Lorelai had decided to go with Jess and Rory to see Liz and TJ and Doula for lunch, so they headed out together just before noon. When they got to the front door, they heard loud voices coming from inside. They shared a worried glance before Jess stepped forward and knocked loudly. Liz answered the door with a broad smile on her face and immediately hugged her son, who begrudgingly hugged her back.

"Merry Christmas, my only son! Big brother, Lorelai, Rory, merry Christmas! Come in, come in!" Liz greeted the group, ushering them inside.

"Liz, is everything okay?" Luke asked protectively.

"Of course, why wouldn't it be? It's Christmas and all my favorite people are here to visit me. Everything is wonderful!"

"It sounded like you and TJ were fighting when we first got here."

"Fighting? We were just showing Doula how to play with her new toys" TJ said as he walked in the room. He, too, had a large grin on his face. "Merry Christmas everybody!"

It seemed as though there really was no trouble in paradise this time, although Jess decided that he was already tired of hearing people wish him a merry Christmas and was debating on whether or not he could turn it into a drinking game. He decided against that thought when he noticed that all there was to drink was eggnog. He grimaced at the thought. Besides, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to show up at Casa Gilmore wasted out of his mind. He decided to say hello to his sister instead. She couldn't talk yet, which was a nice change of pace to being surrounded by the three most talkative women on the planet all under the same roof. He suddenly understood why they had thought Liz and TJ had been fighting. Doula wasn't big enough to play with any of the toys they had bought her and obviously they had been doing the honors instead. How could someone who couldn't speak yet play with a karaoke machine anyway? He picked up his sister and spoke quietly to her in soft murmurs. She quickly fell asleep in his arms, which he found comforting in a way. He noticed Rory watching him out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't put his sister down. She wouldn't be little forever and he hardly ever got to visit her, so he figured he should make this visit count.

Rory watched Jess with his baby sister, mesmerized. She had never seen him show his soft side to anyone but her before and it was incredible to watch. She could tell that her mom and Luke were noticing as well. Doula wasn't even old enough to remember him, yet Jess was spending as much time with her as possible. It was clear that he loved the little girl, though he had only met her a handful of times. She decided not to disturb him just yet, so she joined Liz and her mom's conversation but was only half listening. When it was time for lunch, Jess finally put his sister to sleep and joined the adults around the table. Rory took hold of his hand and squeezed it lightly. Jess had never particularly liked the holidays, but this one was turning out pretty good. He actually joined the conversation more than once. Rory had always had a powerful effect on him, but somehow it was more pronounced now. He supposed it was because he finally felt worthy of her and knew that there was a chance they would be able to work things out this time.

After lunch, Lorelai and Luke headed to the diner for some coffee. Rory decided to pay Lane a visit while Jess went upstairs to Luke's old apartment to work on his latest novel. When Rory arrived at Lane and Zach's she was greeted with squeals from two adorable baby boys and an exhausted hug from her best friend. There were tiny scraps of wrapping paper all over the living room and a bowl of cheerios was toppled over on the couch. Zach and Brian were playing Guitar Hero in the corner of the room, seemingly oblivious to the madness.

"Wow, looks like you're morning has been even more eventful than mine" Rory commented as she crossed the threshold, dodging plastic blocks and pacifiers.

"I should have known better than to let Zach open his presents before we cleaned up the boys' mess. I'm going to have to cut the power to drag him away from the TV. So how are things going with Jess? I'm dying for an update" Lane pleaded.

"Well, he came to my welcome home dinner last night and when he left randomly, I followed him. It was snowing and I ran into him and we kissed and then went back to the diner apartment and he made me hot chocolate and we watched A Christmas Story twice and both fell asleep in his bed. Today we've already done presents with Mom and Luke and been to see Liz, TJ, and Doula. You should see Jess with his sister, it is so cute! I never would have pegged him for the kid-type, but he was so good with her."

"Hey, that's how it usually happens. I mean, look at Luke. He hated kids until he found out about April and he's been a great dad to her. And Zach, too. Who would have thought he would make such a terrific father, and to twins no less?"

"Certainly not me" Zach answered.

"Hey, private conversation here, geez…" Lane said, laughing as her husband immediately went back to playing his game, oblivious to the rest of the world again.

"Okay, so I was on the road and was completely broke, but I managed to find you this" Rory said, handing Lane a long, thin package.

"Oh, I've got yours in the other room. I'll be right back, we'll open together" Lane replied walking towards the bedroom.

When Lane returned with Rory's gift, they sat in the middle of the floor to open the presents so they would be within reach of the twins. Rory had found a set of decorative jade drumsticks in a hole-in-the-wall music store that reminded her a lot of the store Jess had taken her to in New York. Lane gave Rory several CD's from obscure bands so she would have something new to listen to when she had to go back on the road. Their time together was too short for both their likings, but Rory had to get ready to see her grandparents and Lane had to put the twins down for a nap. Rory promised to come by again before leaving town and headed home once more.