AN: Right, so this was almost done on Wednesday, but then there was this massive party in my backyard, with so much food and alcohol, and a whole bunch of people I've missed more than I realized. Saturday night was awesome, and now my life can go back to normal (at least until Sunday, when I actually turn 21) but I figured that this was just about as good as I'll get it, so please enjoy. Oh, and also thanks for the reviews.

Luke watched Jess expertly maneuver around the diner, avoiding even looking at Rory. They'd been like this for over a week, and it was getting to the point where he was about ready to throw his hat to the ground and tear his hair out.

Liz had decided that the renascence fair was too big an opportunity to pass up, so even though she still wasn't thrilled about leaving Jess after what had happened at dinner, she finally agreed that he would be alright in Luke's care. TJ was joining her, planning to build her a booth as well, which had pleased Jess; Luke had a feeling that had he not been so persistent, then, the newest man in his sister's life might possibly have volunteered to be on teen watch.

In two weeks Jess is going to be staying here; I can not have the two of them acting like this up there. There is only so much space, and they're already practically throwing their backs out avoiding each others gaze in here.

Just as he was making his mind up to go and give the two of them a serious talking to, Rory got off the bar stool she was occupying while on her break and started walking towards Jess, but at the last second she veered right and came to stand in front of a customer.

"Hey, what can I get you?" She asked the man who was just walking through the door. Luke shook his head, disappointed.

"Rory…"

"Do I know you?" she asked, trying to place his face. She couldn't think of where she'd seen him, though the way he was staring suggested that she should remember him from somewhere.

"Rory, go upstairs," Luke instructed, at her side now.

"What? Why?"

"Now!" he insisted.

"Ok, ok." Sparing the weird starring guy one last glance, Rory turned and headed for the stairs.

"Get the hell out of my diner." Luke ordered. The dirty-blonde haired man standing in front of him didn't move far, just shifted from foot to foot, holding his hands up as if to protect himself.

"Luke, come on, man."

"I mean it, Chris. Get out of here right now."

"I just want to see my kid." Christopher Hayden explained quietly. "You can't stop me from talking to her."

"Yes, actually, I can." Luke grabbed a hold of Chris' arm and yanked him outside, around the side of the building, before continuing. "She was put into my care by her sole parent, and that means for the time being, I have control over who is involved in her life, and I choose for you to continue having nothing to do with her, just the way that you've done since before she was even born."

"I just want…"

"No one cares what you want Christopher, because you sure as hell didn't give a thought to what other people might have wanted when you skipped town. Did you think she's missed you? Because she hasn't,"

"I'm sure that's true."

"Never says a word about you."

"I wouldn't expect her to."

"Do you know why she doesn't miss you, Chris? Because you're a loser and nobody missed a loser."

"It's been almost seventeen years Luke."

"Well, I'm glad that you can still count that was one thing you were pretty good at. You know, I remember the last time I saw you; it was right after Lorelai told her parents she was pregnant. You were all set to marry her, you remember that?"

"Yes,"

"So, you guys had just had this big dinner with both your parents and all the plans had been set. She'd even agreed to get married, a little reluctantly, but it had been the only way to stop the yelling she said."

"I was there, I don't need the play-by-play."

"But then, it was what, I think maybe three days later that she showed up at my house, in tears, telling me that you were gone. You hadn't even left one of those cowardly letters, or made a stupid phone call. She just went to your house to find all your stuff cleared out."

"Luke, come on!"

"You left her, and you left Rory. Don't get me wrong, that was probably the best thing you ever did for them, but seriously, what the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"I don't know!" Chris yelled back before lowering his voice again. " I just wanted to. . . I don't know, see her."

"Why now? You dying or something?" Luke wasn't entirely sure how sad he would be if Christopher answered yes to that. They'd been friends once, but that had been a long time ago, before a lot of stuff went down. "Because, really, if that's the case, you'd be doing her more harm than good, showing up, only to disappear in a few months or maybe even less."

"I'm not… I just thought- Can't you give me a break here?"

"Give you a break? I am trying to keep this kid from falling off the face of the Earth. I'm trying to get her through school. I'm trying to give her a future. And I gotta be totally honest with you, Christopher – I'm not really sure that I'm doing all that great." Why he needed to be honest with this man, Luke didn't know, he was the last person who deserved anything at all, besides a kick in the ass.

"No?"

"No, and the last thing she needs is a special appearance by her father who can't be here for any good reason."

"I'm not here with any evil plans, I just wanted to come and…"

"What? Say hello, see if she looks like you? Because aside from the left earlobe similarity, there's nothing there. After you saw her, what was the next plan?"

"I told you, I don't know!"

"Okay, well, while you're figuring it out, let me plant this little thought in your head – neither Rory or Lorelai need you screwing things up for them, so if you do or say anything to upset Rory and make it harder for me to keep her on the right path, or make any contact with Lorelai, I'm gonna put your head through a wall; any wall, you can pick the wall, but it's gonna be a wall, okay?"

"I just wanted to see her."

"Well, you saw her. Now get outta here." He spat at the man before turning and walking back inside. "What?" he barked at the customers, whose eyes were all glued to him. "Just eat your food you gluttonous…" he muttered to himself before heading for the stairs.

Rory pulled out a box from the back of the closet and triumphantly lifted a dusty old book. A yearbook.

She'd seen it many times before, pretty much memorized the faces within, but it hadn't occurred to her until after Luke told his part in the story of her life that she had seen him before. He was all through the book with her mom and Sookie and…

"Christopher Hayden…" Rory whispered, finding a photo of the four of them, grinning with their arms around each other. Continuing on through the book there were a lot more mentions of the names Gilmore and Hayden, they appeared about double the amount of times that Sookie and Luke did, and they were almost always together.

"Ok, so that probably isn't the way that-"

"Is he gone?" Rory asked, cutting Luke off as he came through the door. There was no mistaking that face, of course in the pictures he was younger, but still she could see clearly that it was in fact the same person that her mom was kissing at some random school dance.

"Yep. I really don't expect he'll be coming back. Although he wasn't always too bright, so maybe…"

"Why did he come here? How did he even know that I was here?" Rory asked, putting the yearbook aside and starting to pace. "Mom's never been able to contact him, so that couldn't have been it. Although, she never told me anything about you or anything, and she could have been lying to me this whole time. Maybe she does-"

Luke grabbed a hold of Rory's shoulders, stopping her movement. "She wasn't lying, I'm absolutely certain of that. But his parents and Lorelai's parents were pretty good friends once, maybe they still talk. Despite the fact they haven't seen you since you a were a baby, they still do have you in common, so they probably catch up now and then, it could have been passed through them that you were here. Straub and Francine probably told him, but I promise your mom did not do this."

"I just… that was… that really was him, wasn't it?"

"That was him."

"What am I… Is there… I- I don't know the protocol for dealing with the father you've never ever met, when he just shows up out of the blue."

"I wish I could help you with that, but unfortunately I have no experience in that area."

"Fortunately," Rory corrected.

"What?"

"You said unfortunately. Believe me you are very lucky to not have gone through this. It's not a good feeling."

"No, I guess it wouldn't be." Rory dropped onto the couch, holding her head in her hands as she processed all that had just happened. Her father was in the diner, she'd spoken to him, albeit, briefly. Her father. "You should take the rest of the afternoon off, go for a walk or something." Luke suggested.

"Ok, thanks. I think I will." She stood up slowly on shaky legs. This was way too much. He wasn't supposed to just show up like this, it was meant to be up to her, when she'd finally made up her mind to look for him, it was going to be her choice to surprise him. It wasn't meant to be like this. "You are," she added as she made her way towards the door.

"I am what?" Luke asked, confused again. She was really good at that.

"You're doing great. Well, not great, but ok. If I were more cooperative, then maybe you would be doing great, but I guess we'll never know." Rory explained, pointing to the open window as Luke looked at her, still lost. "And thank you for threatening to put his head through a wall."

"No problem."

Rory slowly made her way down to the diner, gripping the banister tightly to help keep her vertical, and then numbly walked outside, completely forgetting about how she'd planned to talk to Jess and fix things, or at least try to fix things.

Her father.

That was big. Jess was amazed that Rory was working at all, that she was able to still think and function, after the completely unplanned visit from her dad. He didn't know all that much about Chris Hayden, just the tiny scraps that his mom and uncle had given him since the impromptu appearance, but still, he knew that the two of them had no relationship whatsoever, they'd never even met before he walked into the diner and stood staring at her.

Jess didn't have the greatest bond with his father – Jimmy was absent most of the time, traveling along the eastern seaboard, opening up Inferno franchise's – but at least they'd met, and they talked on the phone almost every week. And he spent time in Stars Hollow now and then, so really, it wasn't too bad.

This was completely different though.

"Jess? Where did you go doll?" Babette asked her hand out as she waited for her change. Shaking his head, Jess removed the coins he needed from the cash register draw and handed them over.

"Sorry Babette, I just, um-"

"Oh, I see what happened," the blonde replied knowingly as she followed his gaze towards Rory talking to Lane at one of the tables. "Don't worry about it Sugah, I won't tell a soul." She added before pocketing her money and walking away.

Jess opened his mouth to try and make some feeble comment, to dissuade her, but she was already gone, so he just closed the door and turned into the kitchen to help Caesar.

It had been three weeks since he had spoken to Rory outside the contest of work, and even though he really wanted to go back out and ask her how she was doing with the unexpected appearance of her father, there was a part of him that wouldn't allow that, so he stayed put, flipping over a couple of meat patties and then assembling the burgers.

A couple of hours later, Rory stood at the counter, watching Jess as he delivered food to a table of annoying little kids, and their poor suffering mother.

All day, whenever she looked up, she could have sworn he'd just been looking at her, but it didn't matter how closely she watched him in those moments, he never flinched or turned back to look at her again. Until the next time she would feel his eyes on her and the cycle continued.

With a huff, she walked over to where he stood, tapping him on the shoulder. "This is ridiculous!" she announced as soon as he turned around. "I know you're all sweetness and light, and I'm the devil incarnate from the big bad city, but can we please talk about this, so that when we're sharing a bathroom, things are a little less uncomfortable?"

"Talk about what?" he asked, glancing at the customers for a moment, before taking a few steps away.

"Oh my God! Did your mother drop you in your head as a child?"

"I'm sorry, but exactly what are you trying to achieve with this conversation?"

"A little peace. You know, so that we can maybe look in each other's direction – at the same time! - without the fear of turning into a pillar of salt or something equally disturbing."

"Well, I'm kind of busy right now, so-"

"Luke, can Jess and I be excused for a while?" Rory asked, turning back to where Luke was standing at the cash register.

"Dear God, yes."

"Great, let's go." She pointed to the door and Jess threw down his order pad before walking out the door. Rory followed him across the street to the gazebo, and he turned around waiting for her to speak. "So this time I know that you're mad at me. But you have no reason to be; I wasn't the one doing the kissing. That was all Tristan, and I don't care what he tells you, but I swear I had nothing to do with it."

"Why would I be mad about that?" Jess asked, trying for nonchalance.

"I have no idea, Jess, why would you punch your best friend and break his nose, just because he kissed me?"

"You didn't try to stop him."

"I didn't get a chance!" Rory exploded at him, this was so frustrating. "He was torn away before I could even understand what was going on and push him away. So explain it to me, please. Why did you react like that?"

"I thought that… It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me, alright? I want you to tell me." Rory replied, looking into his eyes, and forcing him to look back at her.

"I thought that you liked him. And why wouldn't you? He's smart, when he wants to be, and he's attractive, and has more experience with girls than anyone I've ever met. And I figured he was just choosing to forget that he was my friend and… and that I liked you."

"You're smart all the time, and you… This would probably totally freak out your mother, but honestly, that would be half the fun, if you had a leather jacket, you would look amazing, not that you don't in your Chilton uniform, or that, even." She rambled, pointing to his Clash t-shirt. "And experience? Please, that boy is a total slut if ever I saw one. That doesn't matter, it's not important."

"Okay," Jess replied hesitantly.

"I may not have been the most accessible person, since I got here, but in case you failed to notice, you were on the short list of people that I did let in. The top of the very short list by the way. And I have never been very good at doing that, which probably dates all the way back to my father walking out on me during that fun little gestation period, but it wasn't all that hard with you, after the initial anger at my new home wore off, and then some terror, I realized that things weren't quite as bad as I was making out. And you were a really big part of that. I probably could have shown it more clearly, but you really helped me here, whether you knew it or not."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Jess asked. He'd tried keeping up, but she talked so fast, and said so many things, it was really hard.

"That I have zero interest in Tristan DuGray, or any other guys you might be able to think of. It may have been incredibly stupid of me, but seeing as how he's the closest thing I have to a parent at the moment, I told Luke that I liked you. Probably should have told you before hand, but I was in a lot of shock, and it kind of just slipped out."

"You told Luke?" Jess asked, the smallest of smiles creeping across his lips.

"Yep. Aside from you and Lane, he's also pretty much the only friend I have, so… Now I'm wondering why he was so determined to have you stay with us. Is he hoping that we'll repeat the actions of our mothers or something? Because I really do not see that in my future."

"No, neither do I. I think it was just… he wanted to save me from the hazzar crowd. Or worse, TJ."

"He's not that bad, you know. TJ, I mean. Just that, that kind of guy takes a little getting used to, but really, there's a lot worse out there. Trust me, I've met them." Jess nodded and they fell silent for a few moments.

"Ok, I have to say something here,"

"Go ahead." Rory replied, smiling.

"Well, like I said, I haven't done this a whole lot, unless you count Leslie Ryan in fourth grade, or, well, your birthday, I guess. But-"

"Jess, stop talking." Rory instructed and he nodded.

"Ok, I- Sorry!"

"It's ok, just breathe, ok?" Rory told him, Jess closed his eyes and did so. Rory leaned forward, catching Jess off guard and he gasped.

Rory took that as her invitation to move a little further, running her tongue along Jess' bottom lip as he slowly lifted his hands to cup her face.

"So…" she said, a little breathlessly as she sat back a few moments later. "What was that you were saying about Leslie Ryan?"

"Leslie who?" Jess replied, moving towards her again.

"My birthday sucked, huh?"

"Oh yeah." They didn't speak again as their lips met. And despite herself, Rory felt the stupid butterflies return.

Yeah, I'm not that great at those kinds of speeches, so I apologize for that. And the whole Christopher thing, well, I had planned to leave him out of it until after these two stupid kids got their acts together, but that's what I did in HIMYF, so I figured I should change it a little at leaset. Please review.