A/N: I know, I know, I should've updated this story sooner, but hey, this chapter is on the longer side, so hopefully y'all will forgive me ;) Thanks for all the fab feedback - it does help inspire me to keep the updates coming as and when I start to struggle :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 13

"She was so upset. I cannot believe Jess would do this!"

Luke didn't know what he was supposed to say as Lorelai stormed up and down the living room, waving her arms emphatically. She was really, really mad since she got back from Yale, and he did understand. Rory was upset, it was her mother's job to want to fix that. Actually, he was usually right there with Lorelai, wanting to make it all better for her daughter. Unfortunately, it seemed the Gilmore girls were making this all Jess' fault, and quite honestly, Luke was having trouble seeing it.

"Are you sure Jess actually broke up with her?" he checked.

"You think Rory would lie about something like that?" asked Lorelai, turning on him with wide eyes that flashed with fire.

"Of course not," said Luke, rolling his eyes, "but she might've misunderstood. Seriously, Lorelai, Jess adores Rory, there's no way he would break up with her. He loves her more than anything."

"Huh! Not more than he loves punching rich guys in the face apparently!"

"He was provoked," said Luke automatically.

Lorelai was incensed. "Were you there?" she asked crossly.

"Were you?" he countered.

Luke at least knew he had her there. Neither of them had borne witness to any of the events at Yale, be they between Rory and Jess, or either of them and this Huntzberger character. That didn't mean that Luke and Lorelai weren't going to fight about it apparently.

"I know what Rory told me," she said, folding her arms across her chest.

"And I know what Jess told me," Luke reminded her, realising belatedly how childish they were both really being.

When she turned her back on him, Luke let out a long sigh. This really was so stupid. Somehow, he and his fiancée were in a major fight because her daughter and his nephew had a misunderstanding. Luke honestly believed that was all it was and that the kids were bound to work it out when they both calmed down. He only hoped the same could be said of him and Lorelai. He really hated to fight with her, but right now she was just so upset. If she would only calm down, Luke was sure she would see reason, at least, he hoped so.

"Come on, Lorelai," he said then, approaching her from behind, "be reasonable."

His hand didn't quite make contact with her shoulder before she whipped around to face him, angry enough to spit.

"Reasonable?" she echoed incredulously. "I've just spent three hours comforting my daughter who is completely heart-broken over her boyfriend screwing things up for her, yelling at her, and dumping her," she told him again, having already said as much at the beginning of this conversation, "and instead of being supportive of Rory, our Rory, you're defending the idiot that did this to her!"

"Hey, that's my nephew you're talking about, and he is not an idiot," Luke reminded her. "So, he may not have acted in the best way, but from what I hear, Rory could've behaved a little better too."

Lorelai's eyes went all the wider at that remark.

"You're unbelievable!" she said angrily, turning on her heel and storming away.

"Lorelai!" Luke called after her as she ran for the stairs.

"Do not follow me!" she told him. "In fact, you can feel free to leave whenever you want, and please, let the door hit your ass on the way out!"

The bedroom door slammed shut upstairs and Luke growled in frustration.

"This is insane," he muttered to himself, picking up his jacket and stalking towards the front door. He wrenched it open but stopped short of actually leaving.

He was a fool if he let his relationship with Lorelai fall apart just because the kids had a fight. Of course, he felt bad for Rory if she was hurting, but he had heard Jess' side of this whole thing too and just wanted Lorelai to cut his nephew a little slack. He hadn't done anything so terrible. In fact, the way he told it, this had all started because he stood up for Rory's honour, for lack of a better turn of phrase. Besides, as much as he loved Rory, Luke meant what he said about her behaviour recently. If Jess was to be believed, and Luke didn't really have a reason to doubt his word, Rory had been hanging out with some questionable company of late and not exactly making it clear to certain other guys that she was dating someone else.

"Maybe I'm insane," said Luke to himself, slamming the front door shut without passing through it.

He threw his jacket back into the armchair before running up the stairs to Lorelai's room. Pounding on the door, he received the expected response of her telling him where to go, again. Luke didn't care. He wasn't giving up so easy.

"I'm not going anywhere until we figure this out," he insisted. "And you don't have to let me in or come out of that room, but you do have to listen.

"Now, I don't know exactly what happened with Rory and Jess, but you can't expect me to put all the blame on him, any more than I would expect you to put all the blame on her. I love both of those kids as if I raised them, you know that better than anyone. You should also know how I feel about you.

"We're engaged, Lorelai, and that means something to me. Just because you were the one to propose, it wasn't like I hadn't thought about it a hundred times myself, before we were even together, because honestly, I...

"Anyway, if you want to doubt Jess' word or be mad at him, well, that's your right, but if you're going to start doubting how much I care about Rory or you, then you need to tell me now, because that is no foundation to build a marriage on."

It was the most Lorelai had heard him say all in one go in a long time. Luke wasn't a talker and certainly not a speech maker. He and Jess had that in common. It made them both come off grumpy sometimes, but the Gilmore girls knew better. They just weren't chatty, but their girlfriends balanced them out well by talking a mile a minute at any given opportunity.

Of course, Lorelai had learnt long ago that when you had a man like Luke who didn't say much, you really had to pay attention to what they did say, because those words mattered. Certainly, he had just given quite the speech and left her with a lot to think about, some of which she knew she ought to answer immediately, before she lost her chance.

Moving to the bedroom door, she hesitated just a moment before releasing the lock and opening up the door. Luke was two paces down the hall, apparently sure that he was wasting his time by now. Lorelai hated that she made him think so.

"I don't doubt that you love me, Luke," she assured him, "or Rory. I know how much she means to you too, but you have to understand-"

"Of course, I understand," he cut in, meeting her eyes. "Lorelai, I'm no happier about the kids fighting or breaking up than you are. I'm not saying Jess is blameless, or that this is all Rory's fault, but we can't take sides in this. We can't let what we have fall apart because things are rough with the two of them right now."

"I know," she said, wiping one eye with the back of her hand. "I just hate it, Luke. It breaks my heart to see Rory hurt, and I just want somebody to blame. She's calling Jess the bad guy, you know I have to side with her. It doesn't mean I hate him, not really, and it certainly doesn't change how I feel about you."

Luke nodded that he understood, but he really didn't know what to say. He was asking her to see things from his point of view and Lorelai was trying. Now he had to see it the way she did too, and he knew it ought to be easy to do. If Rory's boyfriend was anyone else, he would want to knock the little punk into next Thursday for making her cry. Hell, he had tried to do just that when Dean was to blame for her tears years ago. It was so hard to know what to think now they were caught in the middle between Rory and Jess.

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this but... you think we should call Paris?"

"Paris?" Lorelai echoed.

"I was just thinking, she's actually at Yale, in the middle of everything that's going on, plus she loves Jess and Rory almost as much as we do. She's opinionated and kind of crazy, but she's probably one of the most honest people I ever met."

"Painfully so sometimes," Lorelai said with a chuckle she could not help. "I guess she could maybe fill in some gaps, give us some perspective on the situation. I just want to help, Luke. I hate that Rory's hurting."

"I hate that she is too, but I'm also worried about Jess," Luke admitted. "You know what I'm saying is true. He's crazy about Rory. There has to be more to this than there seems."

Lorelai nodded and slowly crossed the space between them, stopping a pace in front of her fiancé.

"So, you still wanna marry me, right?" she checked.

"Wasn't so sure you still wanted to marry me," he admitted.

"Luke Danes, I'd marry you tomorrow if I could," she promised him, reaching for his hand. "I'm so sorry about before."

"Forget it," he told her, looking down at their fingers entwining. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry too. We're supposed to be the adults here, and we end up fighting worse than the teenagers we've been raising."

"Yeah, that is pretty stupid," Lorelai agreed with a smile she couldn't help as she moved a little closer. "But we're okay, right?"

"We're okay," Luke promised, sliding his arms around her. "And I'm sure Rory and Jess will be too, in time."

"I hope so. You know you might have had a brainwave about Paris. I think I'll give her a call, see what I can find out. I don't like going behind Rory's back, but what else can I do?"


"Well, that was fun," said Paris as she hung up from her call.

"Weird call?" asked Marty, barely glancing away from the TV as she came back into the dorm.

"Rory's mom," she explained. "Seems she and her fiancé, Luke - that's Jess' uncle - want all the gossip on the so-called break up, and I'm the number one source," she said, dropping down onto the other end of the couch with a sigh.

"Wow. Awkward," said Marty, giving that one due consideration.

"Amazing deduction, Sherlock." Paris rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I gave her all the facts. What she does with them is her business. I've done all I can already," she said, checking her watch. "I thought Jess would be back from class by now. I know he's not dumb enough to think we're meeting at my dorm, given the situation."

"Maybe he wants to go over there, try to make things up with Rory," Marty considered. "You want them back together, right?"

"Sure, if that's what they want. I don't think Huntzberger will make any more trouble, but that doesn't undo what's been said and done already. Damn Mariano for being so easily riled. Not that I'm saying Logan didn't deserve the punch in the face. I'd've done it long ago if I thought I could get away with it, and of course, Gilmore has to be so gullible as to think the rich boy is blameless. Not that it's all her fault either. Like I told Lorelai, they're both as bad as each other really."

"I'll be happier when they're back together."

"You, me, and everybody else, man." Paris sighed.

She really wished she knew what else to do to fix this situation between two people she cared so much about, but short of locking Rory and Jess in a room together and refusing to let them out until they kissed and made up (which may not work anyway) she was all out of ideas for now.


Jess expected to have more trouble getting to see Rory. He knew it was likely Paris would stop him from making further arguments with his girlfriend, whether in an attempt to stop him getting into more trouble, or to play sister solidarity with Rory. He also knew if he didn't get things figured out with his girlfriend quickly, there was every chance that her mom, his uncle, and half of Stars Hollow were going to get dragged into this mess.

Yesterday he was too mad about their fight to think straight. Today, he had spent three classes thinking about nothing but the state of his relationship with Rory, the last of which was English, Jess' favourite part of Yale, which usually took all his concentration very easily. This couldn't go on, and he knew it. It needed figuring out and it was going to be now, before things got really stupid.

When he knocked on the door to the dorm, it was Janet who answered, the sporty girl who Paris had no time for but Rory seemed okay with.

"Oh, it's you," she said, looking disappointed, which presumably meant she was expecting someone else, maybe her own boyfriend.

"Is Rory here?"

"In her room." Janet nodded, standing aside to let him through.

Jess barely managed a 'thanks' as he rushed towards the door, knocking quickly and not really waiting for a response before he peeked inside. Rory was lying on her bed with her back to him, but turned now to see who was there. She certainly looked surprised to see him, and Jess wasn't sure whether to take that as a good sign or a bad one.

"Hey."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, sitting up and hugging her knees to her chest.

Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and Jess felt like a heel. Sure, not all of this was his fault, but that didn't mean he took any pleasure in seeing Rory upset. In fact, it broke his heart.

"We need to talk," he said, coming further into the room and closing the door behind him. "C'mon, Ror, you know we do," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets because he didn't know what else to do with them.

"Funny, you didn't want to talk before. You didn't even want to be in the same room as me," she reminded him bitterly. "You said we were done, Jess."

"Yeah, but I didn't..."

He stopped talking when he realised how she had taken his words. This was actually worse than he thought. Jess hadn't thought that was possible.

"Rory, I meant the conversation was over. I needed to get out, clear my head, calm down. I wasn't... You didn't seriously think I was breaking up with you?"

"What was I supposed to think, Jess?" she yelled when he dared to come a couple of steps closer. "You hit a friend of mine, caused all kinds of trouble, pretty much accused me of cheating on you-"

"No, I didn't."

"-and then you say we're done. Think about it from my side, Jess. It sounds like a break up to me."

"Hey, you said things too," he reminded her crossly, "and you weren't exactly on my side when it came to Huntzberger. You know how that made me feel, Rory? I'll tell you, about an inch tall! Especially when you seemed to care more about your damn newspaper article than about me!"

Rory's mouth fell open all by itself, but there were no words coming out, so she made a point of closing it again. She knew he had a point. It was one thing she definitely did regret in their fight earlier today. She was also patently aware that she ought to be glad she had a boyfriend that stood up for her and believed that she would never cheat on him rather than whatever tale Logan may have told. A lot of thinking had led her to the conclusion that she may have been wrong on more than a couple of points, but admitting it didn't thrill her at all.

"Look, can't be just get past this already?" said Jess then, daring to sit down on the very end of her bed. "I get that hitting Logan in the face was not my finest hour, but you gotta admit, he had it coming."

"Violence never solved anything," said Rory, looking away, "but if he said what you implied he said..."

"Which he did," Jess said definitely.

"Then I guess you at least had an excuse to be mad at him."

"Thanks for the permission," he said, getting a harsh look for his trouble. "What do you want me to say, Ror? I already said I shouldn't've let him get to me, but I did and it's done. I'm not going to pretend I'm sorry I hit him, but I am sorry that it made you mad at me. Isn't that enough?"

Rory wanted to say yes. She wanted it to be okay with her and Jess again, because fighting with him was just awful, and thinking they were over just about broke her heart. The more she thought about it, the more she could see his point about Logan making him mad, provoking him into a fight. She also knew she had sort if implied her new friend and her potential article for the paper were more important than her boyfriend, which was not cool. Jess was sorry he hurt her and she couldn't really ask for more than that.

"I'm sorry too," she admitted then, sniffing back further tears that she barely knew she had left to cry. "Jess, I just... I hate this. I can't stand it when we fight, and... and I was just so worried you were going to get into trouble."

"I get it," he promised her, reaching for her hand. "We both screwed up."

"I guess we did," she admitted, nodding her head as she moved a little closer. "Can we please never fight like this again?"

"Works for me," he told her, inching forward the same as she was. "So, we're cool?"

"Like Frank at the Sands," she told him, with a smile he was so very glad to see.

He nodded his head and smiled right back. "That's cool."

To Be Continued...