Thanks for the feedback! Sorry I haven't updated for a while, had a busy couple of weeks.

On Friday Rory met Paris in Stars Hollow during her lunch hour. Paris made a face at the sight of the latest town decorations but said nothing as Rory led her into Weston's. They took a seat by the window and, as the perky waitress came to take their order, Rory was reminded of the time after school when Paris had insisted on prowling around Stars Hollow in search of its criminal edge. Today she merely remarked on her surprise that there was no juke box in the corner and, as they sat, gave her friend an awkward smile in place of a hug. Rory listened to Paris talk about her latest research project and harassing the office for funding before her friend turned to her and said,

"So what have you been doing since leaving Logan?"

Rory looked at her drink for a moment before saying,

"Working. I got a job at Stars Hollow Books."

"I hope not permanently."

"You have to start somewhere," Rory said defensively. "It's better than nothing. It might take a while until I find a decent job."

"Just as long as you don't get complacent," Paris accused. "I don't want you staying there for ten years and frosting your hair."

"I'll try."

The women went quiet for a moment and Rory sipped her coffee, hoping the rest of the time wouldn't feel like an interrogation. She put down her cup and blushed as Paris asked,

"So besides being the town book keeper, what else have you been doing?"

"Just hanging out," Rory said, knowing her cheeks had gone red. "Seeing people."

"Seeing people?" Paris echoed, curious. "Like?"

"Lane," Rory said, her voice even. "And Jess."

"You've been seeing him?" Paris asked and Rory nodded, knowing her cheeks had gone pink as her friend asked,

"What have you been doing with him?"

"Nothing."

Paris leaned back in her seat and looked at her.

"You slept with him," she said slowly. "You did, didn't you?"

"How did you -?"

"You had sex with Jess," Paris said. "I'm impressed."

"Don't say it so loudly," Rory pleaded. Paris grinned.

"Relax, Rory, we're the only ones in here. Do you think it's going to be lead story in the Stars Hollow Gazette?"

Rory rolled her eyes but glanced around in case anyone was listening. Miss Patty overhearing would be worse than the paper. Paris interrupted her train of thought by asking bluntly,

"When did you screw him?"

Rory squirmed slightly.

"I'm glad you're not the one writing for the paper."

"Answer the question, Mary."

Rory looked daggers at the use of her old nickname and Paris smirked.

"Last week," Rory admitted, knowing it was a lost cause. "And a few days before that."

"I knew you still had something for him," Paris said smugly. "Was it good?"

"Yeah, it was good," Rory said awkwardly and she looked away as Paris asked,

"Better than Logan?"

Rory didn't answer and Paris said,

"I know it was. So how did it happen? Did he ask you to see his room?"

"No," Rory said shyly. "He asked me to come over and I told him I left Logan and he kissed me and it...it just kind of happened. On his living room floor."

Rory didn't want to tell her about the letter. She didn't want her friend to make a blunt remark about it and felt justified as Paris said,

"Couldn't wait, huh?"

Rory answered her by drinking more coffee, which had gone cold. Paris sat back and grinned.

"How about the next time? Did you get carpet burn?"

"His floor's wooden and anyway, we used his room after that. I'm not telling you any more," Rory added, embarrassed. "I haven't even figured it out yet."

"What's there to figure out?" Paris asked. "You like him, he likes you and you're having good sex. You're not married to Logan now."

"But I was," Rory argued. "Not that long ago."

"And you looked sadder than when you quit Yale. Come on, Rory. You know that marriage ended way before Logan cheated on you."

Rory stared at her cup, mulling over Paris's words.

"It isn't that simple," she said eventually. "Or it shouldn't be. I still loved Logan, even if it wasn't like how I did. We're only just getting divorced. I'm not ready for a new relationship. I can't do that right now."

"So don't," Paris said shortly. "It's just sex."

"It's with Jess!"

"So what?" Paris demanded. "You're both still into each other. You both like each other. You've had sex twice and you're both adults. Enjoy it and quit worrying about it."

"This coming from you," Rory couldn't help commenting. Paris shrugged.

"I might be high maintenance but I'm not going to waste time over worrying about something being the right time. If you like each other and want to screw, I say do it. Life's too short."

Rory didn't know what to say. Paris might be coarse but she seemed to have a point.

"Maybe," she said eventually. "I just don't want to make things more complicated."

"They already were," Paris said simply. "Right?"

Rory nodded, wordless. They paid the bill and parted ways.

That evening she and Lorelai prepared to go to Richard and Emily's. Rory would rather have had fifty more personal questions from Paris but she and Lorelai hadn't been over for a while and Rory knew she owed her grandparents a visit and explanation about leaving Logan. They changed into light summer dresses and walked slowly into the jeep, hot as an oven from the day's heat. Lorelai cranked down the windows and said knowingly,

"For all as it hot as it is in here, I promise it's going to be fifty degrees warmer in there."

Rory didn't try to reply with a witty remark. She buckled her seatbelt and stared out of the window as they drove into Hartford. She was sweating yet her stomach felt filled with ice and she shivered as Lorelai pulled into the drive.

Emily came to greet them at the door, dismissing the maid impatiently.

"Lorelai, Rory!" she cried, ushering them inside. "It's been too long since I had both my girls here. Richard! The drinks, please!"

Lorelai and Rory followed her inside, Rory shooting her mother a confused look. It had been a long time since she had spoken to Emily, the last time she'd been here had ended with her storming out yet her grandmother was acting as though nothing had changed.

"What can I get you, Rory?" she asked as they sat on the sofa. "White wine? A cocktail? Soda?"

"White wine's fine," Rory said, bemused and Emily nodded.

"Wine, Richard. Lorelai? Your usual drink?"

"Please," Lorelai said, sounding equally perplexed. "So...how have you guys been? How was the trip?"

"Oh, it was marvellous," Emily gushed. "The weather was beautiful, your father made three deals and I dare say I caught a tan, despite being as careful as I could in the sun!"

"That's great, Mom," Lorelai said and lapsed into silence as her mother continued to talk about how she had bullied the hotel staff into giving them the best room in the building.

"...and I said it was a sea view or no view," Emily concluded triumphantly. "They listened to that!"

"I'm sure they did," Lorelai said, the faintest sarcasm in her voice. Her mother noticed and pursed her lips together.

"Well, how have you been, Lorelai?" Emily asked coolly. "And you, Rory?"

"We're fine," Lorelai said, looking anxiously at Rory. "Actually, there's something we wanted to tell you. Hon?"

Rory nodded and took a deep breath.

"Grandma, I think you need to know something. I left Logan. I mean, I know I did before but it's for real, this time. We're getting a divorce. I'm sorry. I know you wanted things to work out but it's finished between us. I've moved home with Mom until I figure something out."

Rory stopped and looked nervously at her grandmother. There was the briefest of pauses and then Emily said shortly,

"Oh."

"I wanted you to hear it from me than someone at the club," Rory explained. "It's been a few weeks but I couldn't tell you before because you were on your trip. That's it. That's all. Logan's moving back to California in a couple of weeks."

"Well, that's unfortunate," Emily said simply. "I think dinner is ready now."

Rory stared at her and a glance at her mother showed she felt exactly the same way.

"Mom, are you okay?" Lorelai asked. "Did you hear?"

"I haven't gone deaf, Lorelai," Emily snapped. "It's too bad and you know what else would be too bad? Letting dinner go cold. Let's go through."

Dumbly they got up and followed Emily and Richard into the dining room. They took their usual places and Emily said brightly,

"We're having roast chicken tonight. Richard, would you serve?"

Richard cut and served the meat. They all ate in silence until Rory found herself putting down her fork and asking,

"Is that it?"

"What do you mean?" Emily asked crisply.

"You haven't seen us for weeks. The last time I was here we fought, after that I went back to Logan, I just told you we're getting divorced and now you're talking about chicken!"

"It's for dinner!"

"Don't you want to know why? Rory demanded. "Don't you care?"

"Rory," Lorelai said warningly. Rory ignored her, knowing how it sounded, a reversal of how family arguments usually occurred. She glared at her grandmother and Emily snapped,

"Of course I care! Don't you think it bothers me that my granddaughter is getting divorced?"

"You're acting like I've told you we're not going on vacation this year!"

"Rory, we are eating dinner," Emily said angrily. "It is not the time or place for a scene!"

"You didn't care about making a scene when I told you we got separated!" Rory snapped.

"That was different," Emily said defensively. "I didn't know the reasons for it."

"So it had to be a good enough reason?" Rory demanded. "Me being unhappy wasn't enough?"

"Rory!" Lorelai exclaimed, putting a hand on her daughter's arm. "Honey, chill out."

Rory couldn't chill out. She somehow couldn't stand the way her grandmother was sitting across the table, calm and collected, refusing to see the cracks in her and Logan's relationship. She suddenly wanted Emily to shout and yell, do anything to lose the proper look on her face and was rewarded as Emily dropped her cutlery with a clatter.

"Rory, I don't know what it is you're expecting. I shout, you storm out, I stay calm, you throw a tantrum. What exactly do you want from me?"

"I want you to say you were wrong," Rory said. "Wrong about us, wrong wanting us to get married."

"I will not say that," Emily said coldly. "I'm not going to regret encouraging what I thought was a good marriage – and it was."

"How was it ever a good marriage?" Rory cried. "You mean between the cheating?"

There was an awkward silence. Richard excused himself to his study and Emily waited for the maid to clear the plates before saying,

"Obviously without that. How could I have predicted that?"

"Was it the money?" Rory asked. "Is that why you wanted us to get married?"

Emily got up and said coldly,

"This conversation is becoming ridiculous. If you'll excuse me, I have to check on dessert with the maid."

She marched out of the room and Lorelai took Rory's arm.

"Hey," she said. "What's going on? When I thought there was going to be heat this evening I expected it from her, not you."

Rory didn't answer. She couldn't explain why she, the calmest of all three of them, was firing questions at her grandmother but she couldn't let go. She felt a sudden rage at how her grandmother had encouraged it all, talked about compromise and planned each step of the wedding and found herself shaking her arm away and following Emily into the hall.

"Grandma!" she shouted, making her jump. "I'm not done!"

"Good Lord," Emily said, turning around. "Do you want to scare me to death?"

Rory didn't answer and Emily rolled her eyes. She made to go into the kitchen and Rory snapped,

"I'm still talking to you!"

"You are being hysterical," Emily said calmly. "And I don't talk to people who are hysterical. Go and sit down and wait for dessert."

Rory lost her temper.

"I will not wait for dessert!" she shouted. "I want to know why! Why did you tell me to marry him?"

"I didn't tell you to do anything!" Emily exclaimed and Rory retorted,

"You encouraged it. You said it was the best thing I could have done."

"So it's my fault, is that it?" Emily said, losing any pretence of cool. "It's my fault Logan cheated on you, it's my fault your marriage fell apart, everything wrong in your life is my fault!"

"That's not what I said!"

"You asked why I encouraged your marriage, which shows what you think! Yes, I encouraged it! I don't have a crystal ball, Rory! I saw two young, successful people who could support themselves and make each other happy! Why shouldn't I want that?"

"It was a bad decision," Rory said, breathing hard. "I was too young!"

"No, you weren't! I got married just as young and I am perfectly happy! Just because it's the fashion now to get married later – if it all –doesn't mean you shouldn't do it the old way! You didn't have anything else to do after graduation!"

"You're right, I didn't," Rory said, her voice shaking. "I didn't know what else to do or how to figure it out on my own and you said it was the smart thing to do!"

"You made your own decision," Emily snapped. "Don't you dare make me the villain, Rory Gilmore. I can't control a thing you do, we both know that. I still remember how you left!"

Rory ignored her and went on,

"Why didn't you tell me to take a step back? When I told you we had a fight, why didn't you ask how unhappy I was instead of telling me to compromise? Why did you take his side? Why did you make me feel unreasonable and why did you keep on telling me how I'd made the smart decision and Mom hadn't? Look at me, Grandma! I'm getting divorced and I'm at home and I don't know what to do and I wish...I just wish you had listened to me instead of giving me a country club membership!"

There was a stunned silence. The last of Rory's words had been a shout and Emily stared at her as though she'd been slapped. Finally she stood taller, regained her composure and said,

"Excuse me. I don't think I want dessert after all."

She walked past them and up the stairs, not looking back once. Rory and Lorelai watched her until she disappeared and then, without looking at her mother, Rory turned and hurried out of the house and into the car. She couldn't believe what she'd just said. She stared and stared until there was a knock at the glass, making her jump. Lorelai was there and said,

"Mind if I come in?"

Rory opened the door and her mother climbed in beside her.

"Well," she said, after a pause. "I think that makes a fine competitor for our latest Friday Night fights."

"I'm a jerk."

"Honey."

"I shouldn't have said all that," Rory said, finally looking up. "I didn't even mean to, it was like something took over my mouth...she'll never forgive me."

"Yes, she will."

"I just got so mad," Rory said. "She was sitting there and I told her what happened and it was like nothing had happened. It's not her fault, I didn't mean it, it's just..."

"I know. I'm sorry, Rory."

Roy looked at her, confused.

"Why are you sorry?"

"I never said anything," Lorelai said seriously. "When you were making up your mind about Logan's proposal. I did think you were too young and I did think it was a mistake."

"Why didn't you say that?"

"Because you loved him," Lorelai said with a small laugh. "And Grandma got married as young as you and she and Richard are just as much as in love as when they met, as much as it grosses me out to think. It can work out for some people and I didn't want to tell you it couldn't, just because it wouldn't for me. I wanted it to be your decision."

"You had a feeling though."

"Yes," Lorelai said slowly. "But we know my impulses can be wrong."

"I don't really blame Grandma," Rory said. "She just loved Logan so much and I was mad at her for it."

"I know the feeling. She always loved Christopher, too."

Rory sighed.

"How long do you think she'll be mad at me for?"

"A while," Lorelai said, starting the car. "Hey, it could've been worse."

"How, exactly?"

"Telling her you've started sleeping with that thug Jess."

Rory stared at her and they both started to laugh.

"Just drive," Rory said. Lorelai did so and they giggled guiltily the whole way home.

Lorelai let Rory out at Jess's. She buzzed the intercom and Jess let her in. He kissed her and, as they broke away, asked,

"What's wrong?"

"I just went to my grandparents'," Rory said, sitting down. "And I lost it."

"You never lose it."

"I did. I yelled at my grandmother."

Jess didn't say anything but sat beside her and Rory went on,

"I was such a jerk. I said all this things about how she should have told me not to get married and how she should've known it was a mistake. I didn't mean it."

"Not even a little?"

"It bothers me that she was so insistent about it all," Rory admitted. "And she thought it was such a smart thing to do. She never saw the bad in Logan. None of it's her fault though. It was like someone else was yelling...I told her it was over and she barely reacted and I lost control. It made me mad and then the rest did too. I don't know how to apologise for it."

"Families fight."

"I feel horrible," Rory said. "I don't know how to explain it."

"You're Lorelai's daughter."

Rory had to smile at that.

"I don't think she'll accept that explanation."

She stared at her skirt and Jess squeezed her hand.

"You can't do anything right now."

"I guess."

Rory tried to shake the fight from her mind. She asked Jess how his few days down in Philadelphia had been, her work at the bookstore and coffee with Paris, leaving out her colourful embellishments. Jess laughed and they reminisced over their dinner together so many years ago.

"I liked you a lot, back then," he told her and Rory smiled.

"I know. Paris knew, too. She told me when you left."

"Astute girl, Paris."

"She is," Rory agreed. "She was right about me, as well."

"What was that?"

"Liking you too."

Jess smiled and kissed her. Rory kissed him back, letting him slip his hand around the back of her dress to unzip it. They moved into his bedroom, made love and fell asleep and Rory woke up in the night. Her thoughts were in a confused haze, wondering where her life would have been if she'd said no and never got married. It seemed strangely amusing that saying yes had landed her here, in Jess's bed, and she wondered if she'd still be here if she hadn't. She shifted to her side, leaning on her hip to look at Jess who woke up and asked sleepily,

"What is it?"

"Nothing," Rory said quietly. "Just thinking."

He looked at her, nodded and lifted his hand to stroke her hair.

"Okay," he said. He smiled at her and Rory lay down beside him, her hair brushing out between them. Jess slid it to the side, kissed her shoulder and fell back asleep. Rory slid into stumbling sleep, questions curling around her mind about paths untaken and decisions not made. She found Jess's hand in her slumber and pressed it against her chest. It remained there until morning, the fingerprints clear and defined for the rest of the day.