xxiii

Doula did not like the Gilmore residence in Hartford. Not one little bit, it seemed.

"I'm sure she will calm down soon," Liz apologised, rocking the baby back and forth. Though she was apologetic, she did not seem particularly embarrassed. Richard and Emily, on the other hand, looked deeply uncomfortable. Emily's smile had faltered a little in the beginning, but now it was stapled on. The house could have fallen down on their heads and she would still be wearing that fixed, manic smile.

"Is she still sick?" Lorelai clucked. "Poor dear."

"Yeah, it's a bad ear infection this time. We think it's related to her teething. Every time we think it's gone, it pops up again. Been nearly two weeks now. I gotta tell ya, it's really getting in the way of our tour," TJ told her.

"You're on tour?" Emily asked. "How nice." Her eye twitched a little, in the corner.

"It's great," Liz said. Her voice was wobbling from rocking the baby. "We're planning to join the whole tour of the eastern seaboard when this one's a little bigger."

Rory and Lorelai exchanged a pained glance. They hadn't even sat down for dinner yet, and Doula was still screaming.

"Should we get her some baby aspirin?" Rory offered.

"Nah, she's had her medicine from the doc. They should kick in soon. Couple hours at the most."

At this revelation, everyone in the room shared a pained glance.

"Don't mind her," Liz pleaded, still smiling. "She'll calm down soon."

"Liz," Luke sighed. "She probably needs some sleep."

"Oh, but we just got here," Liz pouted. "And we never get to go out anymore."

Luke sighed again and rubbed his forehead until inspiration struck him. "Call Jess, then. He's staying with you, isn't he?"

"He is?" Rory asked.

"If you call scowling and sulking staying with us, then yes," TJ said. "For another night anyway."

"It's an adjustment to him," Liz placated TJ. "I raised him to be very independent."

Luke scoffed and then tried to hide it with a weak cough.

"It's not a bad idea," TJ agreed. "He's pretty good with her."

"He's great with her," Liz corrected, addressing the room.

"He hasn't dropped her on her head, anyway," TJ offered.

"Okay, I'll make the call," Liz said, handing Doula to Lorelai. "And then we partay!"

"So Lorelai, Luke. Tell us about the honeymoon," Emily instructed as Liz left the room. "Did you like Mexico?"

"Who doesn't like Mexico?" Lorelai countered. "It was amazing. I spent two whole weeks lying on a deckchair on the beach, drinking cocktails." She sighed happily. "We even tried surfing and snorkelling, although I should have known better. Gilmores are not built for water sports."

Rory shook her head sadly in agreement.

"How nice," Emily said, and looked to Luke expectantly.

"Uh, it was great," Luke said awkwardly. "Like Lorelai said, lots of sea and sand and umbrellas in your drinks. The diner didn't burn down while we were gone, or the Inn, so that's a plus."

"Fascinating," Emily said emotionlessly. "Rory, how are things with you? Any luck on the job front?"

Rory shook her head, embarrassed by the attention of the room while they discussed her failures. "I have a few potential contacts, but nothing solid yet."

"Where?"

"Everywhere," Rory shrugged. "New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Connecticut. Anywhere on the east coast would be great at the moment."

"I'm sure you'll find something soon," Lorelai said, patting Rory's hand with one hand and returning Doula to Liz with the other.

Doula was still red, still feverish, still pitifully helpless-looking. Her big watery eyes regarded Rory with some interest, but it was only for a few moments before her face crumpled into tears again.

"It's the economy," TJ pointed out helpfully. "You probably shouldn't have gone into a dying industry."

There was a long beat of horrible silence.

"Time for salad!" Emily clapped her hands together. Her eye was twitching again.

Jess arrived just as Gretel served the main course. The ringing of the doorbell caused her to go into quite a tizzy, as she was holding several dishes in her hands at the same time.

"Oh good God, woman! I'll get the door myself," Emily snapped, rising and leaving the room while Gretel attempted to gain some composure.

Emily opened the door and regarded the man in front of her. "Hello," she said coldly.

"Hey," he said.

She waited for him to say anything further. When it became apparent that he wouldn't, she sighed.

"Come on in, then," she opened the door fully.

There were people in this world who, having gotten a phone call that they would shortly be summoned to the Gilmore household, would attempt to straighten themselves up a little. Run a comb through their hair, maybe change. Jess was not one of those people.

He followed her through to the dining room, where the dinner party was going on. Doula was whimpering in her mother's arms.

"Give her here," Jess said crossly.

"Hey, kid!" Liz said happily, wrapping her arms around her son in an awkward embrace. "Thanks for coming."

"You're really doing us a solid," TJ chimed in.

"Now I've already given her the drops and the antibiotics, it should kick in soon. She'll need another dose in about two hours."

"Fine," Jess said. He looked around the room, where everyone sat eating their duck. He raised an eyebrow at Luke, who looked even less comfortable than usual. "See ya."

He left, Doula in hand, and they settled back to dinner.

Rory stood up suddenly, causing the table to shake.

"Maybe I should…help him…" she said lamely, and left the table.

"Yikes," Lorelai said, to nobody in particular. Catching herself, she picked up her fork. "She, uh…really likes that baby."

"Rory is a very loving person," Richard agreed, piping up for the first time that evening. "She will make a fantastic mother."

"Yeah," Lorelai said, stuffing a forkful of potatoes into her mouth. "I should check on them."

She found Jess strapping Doula into her car seat. He was resolutely ignoring Rory, who was trying to get him to talk to her.

"Jess, please," she begged.

Jess slammed the back door shut and got into the front seat.

"Jess!"

"WHAT?" he snapped suddenly, surprising both Rory and Lorelai.

"I just…want to talk to you," Rory faltered.

"Well I don't want to talk to you. Not so nice when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?"

He shut the door, started the engine, and swung out of the driveway before Lorelai had time to get to Rory.

"Oh, honey," Lorelai soothed her, wrapping her arms around her daughter. "What happened while I was gone?"

Rory burst out crying

"Oh, this looks familiar." They turned around, to see Emily standing in the doorway. "Some people never change, I suppose. Come on, your dinner is getting cold."

She turned and walked back into the house, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor.

Rory turned to Lorelai. "Come on, then," she said. She smiled bravely. The effect was somewhat tempered by the fact that she was still crying, and forced to take big gulps of air.

"I hear they eat duck cold on the continent," Lorelai said, halting Rory's entrance. "Let's wait a minute. And when we get home, we're eating every bite of chocolate in Stars Hollow and we're catching up!"

xxiv

"So you're not mad?" Rory asked, taking another twizzler.

"It's not my job to be mad, hun," Lorelai said. "You're a grown woman. I'm sure Emily and Richard would have plenty to say about it though."

"That's hardly my biggest obstacle," Rory sighed. "He hates me."

"Of course he doesn't hate you. He's hurt."

"You don't understand, Mom," Rory said. "He's never been like this before. He usually calls me out on things he thinks are unfair, or if he thinks I'm out of line. I've had him shout at me before, but I've never had him give me the cold shoulder. I think he's done."

"I don't believe that," Lorelai told her. "I saw the two of you at the wedding. Nobody could doubt that he cares about you, as strange as it is for me to admit."

"What do I do?" Rory's eyes glittered with tears. "How do I fix this?"

Lorelai shook her head. "I don't know, sweetheart. Normally I'd say call him or something, but you know him better than I do."

"I'm completely lost right now," Rory admitted. "I'm terrified."

Lorelai patted her hand gently. "That's usually a sign you are doing the right thing."

xxv

Jess had the rings ready, to Luke's surprise. He didn't even make a joke about pawning them.

When the time came, his fingers trembled a little but he managed to get the ring on her finger quickly enough. Not quickly enough, in his opinion. It should have happened years ago. But now she was wearing it, and he was wearing his ring, and everything was right in the world.

Lorelai smiled at him, a big bright teary smile that made him want to smile as brightly.

"I do," she said, but it sounded like it was underwater because he couldn't quite believe it was happening.

"I do," he said back, slowly, seriously.

Rory was crying, he could see her standing behind Lorelai. Sookie had been crying since breakfast.

Even Emily was dabbing her eyes gently with a tissue, in an uncharacteristic display of emotion.

Luke was not crying, but he wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was Jess, who was muttering sly comments about the ceremony throughout under his breath. Perhaps it was because he simply was not a man who cried.

But this was the closest he had ever come, that was for sure.

They played the music, a nice jazzy piece that Luke had heard before but could not place. Kirk stepped in front of them, blinding them with an industrial size flash.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Revered Skinner called, waving his hands. "I didn't pronounce them yet!"

The music abruptly halted, and after four more pictures, Kirk was ushered to his seat.

Reverend Skinner took a deep, calming breath.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

xxvi

"I feel like it's time I made up my mind."

"About what, hun?" Lorelai asked as she leaned over to grab a handful of popcorn.

"What I want to do with my life."

"You could be a newsreader, like Ron Burgundy here. Or a lion tamer! I've always wanted to say I know a lion tamer."

"Mom," Rory said seriously. Lorelai realised the sincerity in her expression.

She quickly paused the movie.

"What do you mean, Rory? You're going to be a journalist."

"Of course," Rory said, and Lorelai let out a sigh of relief. "But what kind of journalist? Should I cover politics in front of a camera in the Middle East, or write book reviews for the New York Times?"

"Honey, you don't need to sort all of that out yet."

Rory arched an eyebrow. "Mom, I'm nearly twenty four."

Lorelai fought the urge to laugh. "Why not do all of those things? Try out something for a while, see if you like it. If you do, keep doing it. If not, do something else."

Rory studied her ice cream thoughtfully. Finally, she told Lorelai: "I've never not had a plan before. Except for when I dropped out."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I rarely have plans. I find life works itself out along the way." She wrapped an arm around her daughter comfortingly. "So what's step one? What's tickling your fancy right now?"

Rory shrugged and raised another spoonful of ice cream to her lips. She paused, grabbed some popcorn, and stuffed both in her mouth at the same time.

"Sleep on it, you might think of something in the morning." She stood up to stretch. "I'm going up to meditate on those red shoes we saw this afternoon. You think if I sleep on it will I wake up magically able to afford them?"

"It's worth a try."

"Yeah. Well, good night."

"Night, Mom."

Lorelai began to climb the stairs, but she did so slowly, because she had a feeling that-

"Mom?"

There it was.

Lorelai turned around. "Yes?"

"Um…I was thinking…."

"Go on," Lorelai encouraged her.

"Well, you see, Jess works in a publishing house, but it's also a bookshop, and they also have this online magazine that they send out once a month, and sometimes more often if they can, and he asked me if I wanted to submit some content, and I said no, but since then I've been thinking that maybe I should, what do you think?"

"First of all, I think you should take a breath. Second of all, I think it's a bad idea to work with someone you have feelings for." Seeing the obvious disappointment on her daughter's face, she amended her original statement. "But sometimes it can work, especially when it's only for a little while."

"It would totally be temporary. But it would get me back on my feet, I think. I might have a little more freedom to find out what I like doing."

"Well, we already know one thing you like doing," Lorelai said wickedly. "Jess!"

"Mom!" Rory blushed.

"Ha, you're blushing, that's means it's true."

"Mom!"

"Okay, okay, I'm going to bed. I love you." She darted up the stairs, barely dodging the clown cushion Rory threw at her.

xxvii

It was really a really crappy day. Philadelphia was dark and windy, buffeted by sheets of rain. The bookshop was busier than usual, with pedestrians seeking cover, and Jess was hiding in the back office, at his overflowing desk. Despite the traffic, they weren't very busy. Most people were browsing, or listening to a shockingly bad mandolin concert being held amongst the Classic Lit shelves.

Matthew appeared at the door to the office. "Hey, there."

Jess ignored him, as he had been doing all day.

"Jess, don't be like that," Matt sighed. "You can hardly hear them from here."

"I can hear enough," he said through gritted teeth.

"It's not my fault, Jess. This is what happens when you won't let me audition acts before booking them."

"That's because you would never do anything else and I would never get anything accomplished."

"Speaking of, how is Cassandra's stuff looking?" he nodded towards the stack of poems in Jess' hands which he had been editing for the past two hours.

"Useless, she's back with the boyfriend." Jess sighed. "It's a bunch of sappy crap, at least for now."

"Shame, she could have been the Alanis Morissette of poetry."

"I was only a couple of poems short of an anthology, too."

Jess swore under his breath.

"Is it unethical to tell her he was sleeping with that waitress from the cafe on the corner while they were broken up?"

"Don't even think about it. Maybe you could do like Neruda, but backwards? Twenty Songs of Despair and a Love Song?"

Jess scratched his chin. "It's an option."

"Oh, I totally forgot why I came in to you," Matt slapped himself in his forehead. "Your aunt is waiting for you in the shop."

Satisfied, he left to turn down the volume on the mandolin amps.

"Matt, what? I don't have an aunt…" Jess followed him

At the back of the small crowd for the performance was a tall woman with dark hair. Jess had enough time to swear viciously under his breath before she turned around.

"Lorelai," he greeted her, almost managing to hide his horror.

"This is the dorkiest thing I've ever seen," Lorelai enthused. "I can't believe it. I thought you were cool, man."

"What are you doing here?"

"We're visiting you. Luke's parking the truck, he's been trying to find parking for a good half an hour; it's hilarious. So, I decided to grab a coffee and then come here."

"You're all wet," he pointed out.

"It's raining, Sherlock. Anyway, it's mostly my jacket." She took a sip of her coffee, and Jess realised that she was nervous. "Plus, I wanted to talk to you before Luke comes, if that's ok?"

"Uh, yeah. Talk."

"First of all, I want to say that this is a Rory-free topic. Or at least, a Rory-and-Jess-free topic. I'm here as Luke's wife. You see, I was thinking..." She took another nervous gulp of her coffee. "Remember at the wedding, how everyone kept saying in the speeches about how much of a father-figure Luke has been to Rory? I kept thinking that I should have a similar relationship, or any relationship at all, with Luke's family. I've been trying with April and her Mom, and well, you and I have never gotten on very well…"

"I'm not Luke's kid, though. You don't have to-"

"You might as well be! He talks about you all the time, about how proud he is of you. He sells copies of your book in the diner, which totally goes against his soliciting policies. He didn't need to have a Best Man, Jess! He wanted you up there with him."

"So what, we become best friends? Gossip about reality television and send each other postcards when we go on vacation?"

"No. For God's sake, Jess! I just don't want us to be at each other's throats."

"But you hate me," Jess pointed out, still confused.

"I don't hate anyone. True, I don't like you very much, but we're family now. And in my experience, my family is 50% people I like and 50% people I'm 50/50 about."

Jess frowned, trying to work that out. Finally, he shrugged. "Fine, let's do it."

"Awesome," Lorelai beamed.

"We might never be friends," Jess said.

"The odds are probably worse than that," Lorelai agreed. "But it won't be because we never tried."

They shook on it.

"You know, in another life I could have been on your side from the beginning. If you didn't date my daughter and steal my beer, I mean."

"I guessed what you meant. More coffee?"

"You have coffee here? I nearly got pneumonia for nothing?"

"It's for staff only. Come on."

Lorelai followed him to a small station behind the cash registers while he filled the kettle.

"I'm serious," Lorelai said as they waited for the kettle to boil. "What you have done here is pretty impressive. I really respect that you've managed to do all this by yourself. I'm usually the one on the side of the underdog."

"Except when they date your daughter."

"Pretty much. I read your book, too."

"Really?" Jess asked suspiciously

"Luke gave it to me. He also gave copy of it to my Dad. He really liked it, to my mother's eternal dismay."

"What about you?" Jess asked, as he poured her coffee and added milk.

"Oh, my mother's dismay makes me happier than my father's delight."

"No, I mean what did you think of the book?"

"I liked it too. I thought it was pretty cool."

"Cool?"

"Yeah. My dad and Rory used lots of big fancy college words to analyse and critique it, but all I can say is that I thought it was cool."

"I'll take that over a critical reading any day," Jess said, and handed her a cup.

"This place is a hellhole!"

"Luke!" Lorelai exclaimed, her hand jumping to her heart. "You're drenched!"

"I had to park a mile away, and pay an exorbitant price to do so. Then I had to walk here, in a goddamn hurricane!"

"Welcome to the big city," Jess clapped him on the back.

"I hate this," Luke grumbled.

"Nice to see you too, Uncle Luke. Glad you could come."

"Still a wiseass, I see."

"Come on, I'll bring you upstairs. You know where the shower is, I'll get some dry clothes. Lorelai, come on and I'll give you the tour."

"Okay, but no t-shirts with butts on them." Luke sighed loudly as he trudged upstairs, leaving puddles of water behind him.

xxviii

"You're supposed to dance, Jess. You're the best man."

"I'm supposed to do a lot of things as best man that I'm not doing," Jess told his mother. "Dancing is pretty high on my list of things I don't want to do."

"They look happy though, don't they?" Liz sighed as she watched Luke and Lorelai dancing. They first danced together at my wedding, did you know that?"

"I was there, remember?"

"In a way, I kind of brought them together."

"Ah jeez, Liz. I'm getting another beer."

"Drink about ten more beers, it might make you a bit more sociable.

xxix

There are a few ways to deal with close proximity to your ex. Most of them involve maintaining at least a four foot distance at all times.

Some of them involve copious drinking. It's a risky strategy, but it's a classic. Unbeknownst to each other, Rory and Jess were hoovering up half of the alcohol available at the Inn. By the time Richard and Emily retired to bed, Rory was laughing louder than anyone else at the wedding.

"Jess, come sit with us," she beckoned him as he passed their table. He sat, a double whiskey in hand. "Doyle was just trying to argue that a newspaper can survive without being online in this day and age."

Jess shook hands with Doyle. "Hey, man. I agree."

Rory's jaw dropped in outrage.

"Oh come on," Paris snorted. "Ad revenue is probably the main source of income for news outlets these days. And all advertising is online."

"I'm not saying it's a sound strategy, but I think you can survive," Jess argued.

"You're saying that, but your company prints an online-exclusive 'zine," Rory argued.

"Because you need to be established," Jess insisted. "Online is the best vehicle for an obscure publication with limited cash flow and readership. But if we were the Financial Times..."

"News outlets need to be able to provide information in real-time now. Nobody wants to read yesterday's news."

"The New Yorker then," Doyle offered. "Give me one reason that needs to be online."

"Sorry to interrupt, but Doyle and Paris, your cab is here."

"We better get our coats," Doyle said, and stood up. Thanks again for having us. And congratulations."

"Thanks, Doyle," Lorelai said. Paris barrelled into her, squeezing her tightly. 'Oh, and you too, Paris."

"Bye Rory, bye Jess," Paris said, as they all shook hands and hugged until the cab driver began to get impatient and started beeping the horn.

"Bye!" Rory called after them.

She looked to Jess, who was the last person left with her. She downed her glass.

"More wine?" he asked, quickly polishing off his own drink.

"Please," she said, wiping her mouth with some embarrassment.

xxx

Luke and Lorelai left after dinner, and Jess tidied the apartment as a way of distracting himself. The day had been weird as hell. Thankfully, the apartment needed plenty of care, so he killed a good hour cleaning the oven and mopping floors and completing other mindless tasks.

It was beginning to get dark when he left the house, trash bags in hand. There was a dumpster behind a bar down the road in which he liked to dump his trash, if only to provide him with a small sense of rebellion. Unfortunately, the rain was still falling heavily, and it was a miserable trip. He dumped the trash and rushed back to Truncheon, but he was stopped in his tracks by a bizarre sight in the doorstep of an abandoned building on the way.

"Rory?" has asked, before he could help himself.

Rory Gilmore's eyes were wide as saucers. She looked like a child who had been caught stealing from the cookie jar. She then tried very unconvincingly to fake an air of nonchalance. "Oh, hey Jess. Fancy seeing you here."

"Rory, what are you doing here?" he asked her, moving under the porch to get out of the rain.

"I..uh… have a job interview."

Jess looked her up and down. She was wearing a Velvet Underground t-shirt, jeans, and Minnie Mouse converse.

"Huh."

"Yep. So I was just… on my way back to my car, before I had to take cover… from the rain."

"Rory," he started, and then paused, not sure where to begin. "You're sopping wet."

"This? It's no big deal." The rain had plastered her hair to her face. It seemed to make her eyes stand out even more than usual. Jess was reminded of the time she had gotten the sprinkler stuck, and they had both been tried to have a conversation while soaked to the bone. She was blinking like crazy.

"So…" she started, still feigning calm. "How have you been?"

"Rory, I'm not an idiot!" he bit out, rubbing his forehead with his left hand in agitation. "Why are you here?"

She bit her lip awkwardly for a minute before confessing. "I saw my Mom and Luke inside when I went to knock on the door. I guess I panicked," she shrugged.

"They're gone now," he said, for lack of anything else to say.

She nodded.

"That still doesn't explain why you're here," he pointed out, annoyed at her for forcing him to talk to her when he really didn't want to talk.

She bit her lip and looked down to the ground. "I'm here to ask you for another chance."

"Sorry?" Jess spluttered.

"Look, I know you're mad at me. You should be. What I did was horrible. But, I panicked. I'm really good at telling myself what I think I need to hear, Jess. My lack of self-awareness is pretty astounding, I've been told by other people. But I always come around in the end….and, so, here I am."

"I don't know, Rory," Jess said honestly. "I think we're kidding ourselves. Why would this be any different than before?"

"Because this the last time," she told him. "I want to do this, I want to be with you, and if we can do it, I know it'll be amazing. And if it doesn't, at least we can say we tried."

Jess studied her for a long time. Long enough that she became bashful, and looked down at the ground.

Finally, he held out a hand to her, which she tentatively grasped.

"Come on, let's see if Luke left any hot water. You're shivering."

"What does that mean?" she asked him, trailing behind him, hands clasped with his.

"It means we get you dry, and warm, and then we figure where we go from there."

He squeezed her hand, and she beamed. "Oh. Okay, then."

xxxi

"Why are you smiling so much?" Jess asked her.

"I've never been the last person at a party before," she told him. It was true, the staff were starting to clean up around them. One waiter was having a smoke behind the stables while he waited for the pair to hurry the hell up so he could sweep the floor.

"Well aren't you the crazy rebel these days, Gilmore," he teased.

She beamed at him, eyes sparking and a little gin-clouded. He gulped nervously, and took another swig of whiskey.

"Come on," he stood up, pulling her up with him. "Let them clean up before they kill us."

"Thanks, Jerry," Rory told the bartender, who was clearing the table beside them. "You were always my favourite."

"There's no need to flirt with him anymore," Jess said, as they stepped out onto the grass. Rory threw her shoes off and relished the feel of the cool grass on her bare feet. "He already gave you every drink you could think of."

"I liked the blue one," she giggled. She plopped down on the grass.

"The blue one was the worst." Jess shuddered. He nearly lost his balance as she reached up to him and pulled him down to her. He managed to catch himself just in time, but he spilled a little of his drink on her lap.

"Sorry," he said, staring at her lap for far too long. There was a cool breeze rustling the material of her dress very slightly, making it stick to her skin. Jess cleared his throat uncomfortably, realising that she hadn't responded.

He looked up, and saw that her face was very close to him. The breeze was rustling her hair as well. He wanted to touch it. Her eyes were wide and bright, and he stopped thinking about her hair.

"Sometimes you look at me like you want to eat me alive," she said softly.

"Sometimes I do," he admitted.

"Kiss me," she ordered, and he obliged.

They sat there for a lifetime, as he kissed her over and over again.

When the breeze picked up and she began to shiver, she told him: "Let's go upstairs."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

She clasped the front of his shirt with her small hands. He kissed her hairline.

"Absolutely."

He pulled her up and they tumbled up the stairs, hands clasped.

-End-

That was fun to write. I almost didn't want it to end!

Thanks for reading, and as always, reviews are really appreciated :)