Rory and Lorelai were standing outside Liz's house Saturday evening, both Luke and Jess left a few hours ago to start cooking the meal as Luke decreed it would take that long to make the three course meal Liz wanted him to cook. Rory went forward to ring the doorbell, she knew tonight would be better than the previous, she knew Jess was happy to see Doula again, Luke was the one to open the door and usher them in without any greeting.

"He doesn't seem happy." Rory was quiet as she spoke to her mum as Luke quickly walked back to the kitchen.

"Liz stresses him out, especially if she's been fighting with TJ again." Rory pulled a face at that, she knew Jess had similar issues with Liz.

They walked further into the house and saw Jess stood in the kitchen with Luke now at his side, both of them looking less than happy about thier circumstances.

"Hey, nice of you girls to finally make it." Jess looked happy to see them walk in.

"Hey, we are exactly on time. I deserved some alone time with our girl." Lorelai was the one to answer him.

"Yes you did, and did you enjoy your afternoon together?" He hugged Rory close to him then, glad that she was there with him now.

"We did, thank you. What did you do with your afternoon?" Rory noticed a sudden change in his posture as she asked that question.

"Not much really, been here the last couple hours helping Luke out setting up for dinner."

"Uh huh, and before you got here?" She could tell he wasn't telling her everything.

"Nothing in particular." She was surprised when Jess turned away from her suddenly. "You should get to the table, food is nearly ready and I think Doula would like to see you again, Liz is with her in there." He realised he was rambling but couldn't seem to stop himself, he relaxed when Rory left to go and see Liz and Doula though.

"Everything ok there Jess?" It was Luke that asked the question as Lorelai left to follow Rory.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just seemed as if something was going on." He sighed heavily, he knew he had been very obvious about how uncomfortable he was.

"I may have done something that will make her mad, I don't want her to find out before she has to."

"What'cha do?" Jess looked out towards the dining room, there was no sign of either of the girls listening in.

"I went to see the Gilmores." He said it quietly but Luke missed the hint as he made a loud strangled noise.

"You did what?" He quickly looked back through the door, glad to see no one was coming through it.

"I wanted to fix things between Rory and her grandma, I spoke to her grandpa and he wants it fixed too. I invited both of them to the party in a couple of weeks, he said they will both come, if he can convince her to go with him."

"Oh Jess. You shouldn't have done that behind her back, but you did a good thing. I hope it works."

"Me too. I just know she will be agree if she find out now, if I can leave it until just before the party..."

"Have fun with that." Luke laughed shortly at the thought.

"At least until she is in Philedelphia with me."

"Ok, my lips are sealed. Just try not to act like your hiding something, Rory will jump to all sorts of conclusions." Jess just nodded before helping Luke start to dish up the first course of the meal.

"Seriously good food Luke." Rory complimented Luke's cooking heartily.

"Yeah, how come you never cook like this for me?" Lorelai had a look of mock hurt as she spoke.

"The last time I cooked a meal for you at home, you told me there was 'green stuff' in it, refused to eat it and dragged me to my own diner to cook you a burger."

"Oh yeah." She laughed at the memory. "That's what you get for trying to feed me healthy foods."

The group laughed at Luke's, less than happy, reaction that statement. Conversation had been slow during the dinner but now everyone had finished it was starting up again.

"My big brother, the best chef in the world." Liz started picking up the plates to clear the table.

Rory noticed Jess roll his eyes as Liz spoke, he was bouncing Doula on his lap as he had been since he finished eating. She smiled when she saw them together, he clearly enjoyed seeing his sister. She started to doze off in his arms and Jess stood up.

"I'm gonna go put her down, I'll be down in a minute."

He left the rest of the group sat at the able.

"He's good with her." Lorelai looked over to her duaghter who was watching the space Jess disappeared. "Taken to being a big brother."

"He is, I think he loves being a brother."

"Everything ok kid?"

"Yeah, he just seems in an odd mood tonight." She hadn't noticed anything but she took Rory's word for it.

"Well, family dinners. It's been a rough couple of days." Rory had to agree with her there.

"Yeah, it has." Liz came back to the table then and the conversation halted.

"You have to go tomorrow?" Jess laughed lightly at the question being posed again by Lorelai.

"Yeah, we have to go. You're going to come and see us in a couple of weeks for the party." Rory seemed to be supressing laughter as she spoke as well.

"Definitely, we will be there to see Truncheon and you guys."

"Oh yeah, you haven't seen the place yet." Jess hadn't realised until now this would be her first visit.

"No, I haven't, will be great to see though."

"It's not much."

"It's amazing, you'll love it." He laughed at Rory's outburst.

"You'll have to point out all the best things to do in Philadelphia."

"How long do you expect me to stay there with you?"

"We have to stay a couple of days at least." Jess laughed out loud at the expression Luke pulled at her.

Luke just shook his head, he knew there was no arguing with her on this. He was happy to stay there for a few days if that's what she wanted.

"Where's the nearest hotel for us to stay in?"

"There's actually no need, there's a spare room above truncheon, we would share a kitchen and living room but you'd have your own en suite bathroom."

"Sounds perfect."