A/N: Thanks for the support, reviewer peops. Okay, so I've had a couple of brainwaves about there the heck I'm heading in this fic. Hopefully, you're going to like these ideas of mine as you discover what they are ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 5

"Rory, seriously, it's no big deal," Marty insisted, even as his friend continued to look annoyed. "Those guys are just... that's just the way they are."

"Well, they shouldn't be," she said determinedly. "They're no better than anybody else. They're not better than you just because you served drinks at their party. You were doing a job, that's all. You're not beneath them."

"Who's not beneath who?" asked Jess, looking up from his book at the sound of his girlfriend's angry tone.

"Me," said Marty, coming to sit down heavily in the armchair of their common room. "Some guys I tended bar for last weekend saw us in the quad. Rory didn't like their tone," he explained.

"They were rude to Marty," Rory complained as she came around to the couch to sit by Jess.

He moved his legs off the next seat over to make room for her and put his book on the table, wrapping an arm around his angry-looking girlfriend.

"They weren't so rude," Marty assured them both. "It's really not a big deal."

"You can rely on Rory to fight for truth, justice, and the American way," said Jess, smiling until he saw that she very definitely was not. "Oh, come on. You get a little worked up about this stuff, Ror, and it's not a big deal. So, the rich guys here are jerks. So, what? It's not exactly a shock."

"And hey, it's not like they didn't pay me for my work," said Marty, shrugging his shoulders. "I made a lot of good tips out of a bunch of drunken idiots. If that means they talk down to me a little bit when they see me around campus, I don't care."

"Well, I do," said Rory, arms still folded tightly across her chest and expression more than a little grumpy. "I hate the over-privileged few that think they can just treat everybody else like dirt. It's not okay."

"I agree with you," Jess promised, "but maybe keep a hold on the anger, Jennifer Walters. Rich guys may be jerks but they have pull in places like this. I don't want you pissing off the wrong person and getting into trouble. They're not worth it."

"They're really not," Marty agreed. "And I really don't want you getting into trouble because of me."

"I'm not going to do anything," Rory huffed.

"Good." Jess nodded once, kissing her cheek. "I have enough problems keeping Paris from killing people on an almost daily basis. She's bad enough sometimes, but this past week or so, keeping her calm is like trying to tame a rattlesnake."

"You think it's about Jamie still?" asked Rory worriedly.

"I don't know, she's not really talking lately," said Jess, shaking his head.

"I need to try harder with her. I've just been so busy with the work here and everything. I'll talk to her again, tonight if I can," she promised.

"Call me if you need me."

"I will."

They smiled at each other and shared a kiss that didn't exactly end all that quickly. Marty realised they weren't coming up for air any time soon and slipped off to his room. Neither Rory nor Jess noticed at all, they were having too much of a good time. When that good time got a little more serious, Rory pulled back. Jess looked a little dazed by the sudden loss of contact.

"I'm sorry." Rory shook her head. "That was getting a little intense and this isn't an entirely private place," she pointed out, looking towards the door.

Anybody could barge in, and even if they locked the door, Jess' other room-mates had a right to gain access. He knew that too, and got up, holding out his hand to lead Rory to his room. Though she put her fingers into his palm, she didn't exactly move when he pulled on her arm.

"Jess," she said, shaking her head some more. "Marty is right there," she reminded him, gesturing to the proximity of one room to the other. "The walls here are like paper."

"You planning on being loud?" he asked, with a look that sent a shudder through Rory that she couldn't complain about.

"That's not the point," she told him anyway. "I'd just feel better if we were really alone, if we were going to..." she said, making some random gesture with her free hand.

Jess let out a sigh, but didn't complain. Pulling Rory into his arms he kissed her one more time, at the very least making sure she knew what she was missing.

"Hmm, you don't make it easy to say no," said Rory as they pulled apart.

"You want me to be sorry for that, you're in for a long wait."

"I don't want you to be sorry. Just maybe find out when all your room-mates are likely to be gone at the same time, then invite me over," she told him, smiling widely.

"Sounds like a plan," Jess agreed, running a hand through her hair. "Y'know, I didn't think it mattered to me, but I'm actually kind of glad you didn't get your hair cut so short."

"Yeah, me too," Rory agreed. "I gave it due consideration, new look for college and all, but it wouldn't've looked right on me."

"Hey, you would've been beautiful anyway," Jess assured her, "but I like this better," he admitted, putting her hair back behind her ear and watching her eyes fall shut.

"I like it too," she admitted, not at all talking about her hair anymore as she revelled in his touch and went in for another kiss.


"I don't think you stand a chance of ever getting any alone time in our dorm," Paris told Rory. "I mean, Janet is out a lot, and I'm happy to clear out once in a while for your conjugal visits, but I'm pretty sure the prodigal child in that third room isn't allowed out past seven on a school night. Not unless Mommy is going to come visit and hold her hand," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Tanna is sweet," Rory insisted. "She's just young is all. I'm sure she'll adjust to being here and start to go out more soon."

"You better hope so," said Paris with a look. "Guys get bored if they're not getting any."

"Paris!" Rory yelped, looking scandalised. "There is more to my relationship with Jess than sex."

"Thank God, because trust me, I would not want to hear anything about the two of you if that was all it consisted off," she said, shuddering badly. "Jess is my brother, maybe not in the traditional sense, but it's how I see him. It's bad enough knowing you two have engaged in the horizontal rhumba at all without being given a play by play."

"Nobody was trying to give you a play by play, Paris." Rory rolled her eyes as she let them both back into the dorm. "It's just awkward right now, with us not getting any real alone time. Of course, it's tougher on you and Jamie, being so far apart."

"We talk," said Paris, visibly squirming as she pushed past Rory and practically ran towards their shared bedroom.

Something was not right with her, and Rory knew it. Jess knew it too, and though they kept on asking what was wrong, it didn't seem to do any good. It had to do with Jamie, that much was for sure, but with them seeing so little of each other, Rory just couldn't understand how they were having any trouble. She hadn't heard a fight and Paris always insisted everything was fine, but it couldn't be, and Rory was now determined to get to the bottom of the issue.

"Paris, what is going on?" she asked, coming into the bedroom and closing the door behind her.

"Right now, I was hoping to start on this homework assignment," she said, books already open on the desk. "Assuming that's what you were asking."

"You know that it's not," her friend told her, moving over into her line of view. "Paris, c'mon. Please, talk to me."

"About what?"

Her eyes were fixed on her books but her tone betrayed her. She wasn't so oblivious to what Rory was getting at and they both knew it. For whatever reason, she didn't want to talk, but this had gone on long enough.

"Paris, something is not right with you. It hasn't been right since we all came to Yale, maybe even a little bit before that, but for some reason you don't want to tell me what's wrong," said Rory crossly. "I tried to be nice, I tried to be understanding. I thought if I just let you be for a while, you'd get over it, but you haven't. You're not yourself. I've noticed, and so has Jess. It seems to have something to do with Jamie, but you keep on telling us he's fine."

"He is fine."

"But you're not," Rory insisted. "Paris, what is wrong? Did you break up? Did he do something? What is it?"

"I thought I was pregnant!"

The words came so suddenly, Rory felt as if they had struck her in the chest. Paris was wild-eyed and close to tears as her head whipped up and she faced her friend at last. The last word she had spoken echoed in Rory's head like a bell ringing.

"Pregnant?" she echoed. "You thought you...? Are you?"

"No, I'm not. Thank God," said Paris, letting out a long sigh. "But for a while there, I thought I could be."

Rory sank down onto the edge of the bed, all the fight going out of her in a second. She hadn't considered that. She had thought of a great many possibilities for Paris' strange mood, her odd attitude when it came to Jamie. She wondered if they had fought, if he had hurt her, if she just didn't love him anymore. She considered maybe Paris regretted choosing Yale rather than Princeton or was feeling bad about not spending more time with her boyfriend over the summer. All those options, but never this one. Never did it occur to her that Paris - straight-laced, sensible, forward-thinking Paris - would have had a pregnancy scare.

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow," Paris echoed. "Kind of a big deal, huh?"

"I'll say." Rory nodded. "But you're definitely not?"

"No, I'm definitely not. Mother Nature paid her call and proved the situation null and void," she confirmed. "And I know what you're thinking, how could Paris be so stupid, right? Well, I'm not. I take my pill regularly, never missed one, and we always use condoms too. No one kind of birth control is completely infallible, you have to be careful."

"Preaching to the choir, Paris," Rory assured her. "Result of a teenage pregnancy, right here. I'm well-educated in all the protection, trust me."

"Well, even when you think you've got it covered, you can be wrong. Last month, I was late. Very late. Then it occurred to me that there was one occasion with Jamie when... when we got a little carried away. At the time, I figured it was fine, the pill would take care of it, but then when the usual monthly emission failed to occur on time, I started to wonder, then I started to panic. For two weeks, nothing, which I know was probably made worse by the stress of worrying about it, but what could I do? I bought a test. I was just working up the nerve to take it when proof positive came that I had nothing to worry about."

"Oh, Paris." Rory sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You weren't here," her friend snapped, immediately regretting her tone when she saw the hurt on Rory's face. "I'm not blaming you, I'm not. I could've called, I could've talked to you about it when you got home, I know. Hell, I could've talked to Jamie. I know I should have. If I had been, well, it would be his kid too, but I was just... I was terrified. It was easier to avoid him, so I did. I've been avoiding him ever since, and quite honestly, I'm not even sure why anymore."

"I'm sorry, Paris," said Rory, looking genuinely sad. "I'm sorry you've been struggling with this, all these weeks, but y'know, you could've talked to me, when I got home. I wouldn't even have told Jess if you didn't want me to."

"I know." Paris nodded and sighed once more. "I know I could've talked to you or Jess, even Lorelai. I mean, she would've understood more than anyone. I just felt so weird about it, y'know? I was shocked and panicked, and obviously having a baby would've been a huge inconvenience to my education and my career, not to mention my father would probably disown me, but... but a part of me had already decided that if I was, if there was a baby, I would've kept it. I would've made it work, somehow. Maybe with Jamie, maybe not, but I would have done it."

She was actually crying now, tears pouring down her cheeks unchecked. Rory didn't know what to say, so she said nothing at all. She just got up, went over to where Paris was sat and threw her arms around her, hugging her tight. This whole situation made so much more sense now, the bad moods, the quiet times, the avoidance of Jamie. Eventually, Rory knew she would have to advise Paris to talk to her boyfriend about what happened. It was the right thing to do, the only thing that made sense, but for now, those words were best left unspoken. Paris just needed a friend, a sister, maybe, rather than the brother that she sometimes relied upon. Rory was happy to take on that role, whenever and however she needed her.

To Be Continued...