A/N: Thanks to those who took the time to review - always much appreciated :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 2

"Hey, you're up."

"Good observational skills," Jess deadpanned, opening the fridge and reaching into it for a bottle of water. "You want anything?" he asked Luke as an afterthought.

"The only thing I want right now is for you to tell me how your study session went with Rory last night," said his uncle, arms folded across his chest. "Please, tell me you actually achieved something?"

"We studied." Jess shrugged, then took a sip of his water. "I mean, that was the point, right?"

"Of course it was the point." Luke rolled his eyes.

"Then, mission accomplished."

Jess knew he was being a pain in the ass. Somehow, his uncle just seemed to push his buttons and make him aspire to the most smart-mouth version of himself, just because. He wasn't entirely sure why, though he suspected the Psych 101 answer would be that he was trying to keep a person who seemed to care about him at arm's length, for fear of actually getting close and being let down again. Something like that anyway. Jess tried not to think about it too much.

"You must've worked pretty hard. You were sound asleep when I came in last night."

Keeping his face turned away hid the smirk that came right to his lips. The truth was, Jess had done a good job at pretending to be out for the count when he heard his uncle on the stairs. It seemed easier than having the conversation they were currently stuck in, which was no doubt about to get worse as Luke delved deeper into what he and his tutor had gotten up to last night.

"So, Rory was able to help you out? With all your subjects?"

"Yes, Uncle Luke." Jess sighed, busying himself with sorting one rogue pile of CDs into the genre-specific boxes by his bed. "We read Othello, we went over The Marshall Plan, and I wrote out the Pythagorean Theorem twenty times on the specials board. I was a real good boy, is that what you wanna hear?" he asked snippily.

When he looked up then, he found Luke staring at him awfully hard. Not a threatening, nasty kind of stare, not even a disbelieving one. It was almost a look of pity, which to Jess' mind might actually be worse.

"What?"

Luke shook his head slightly before his spoke, his tight-folded arms giving way a little too. "Jess, you know, Rory is a nice girl. She didn't just come over to tutor you because I asked her to, I think she genuinely wanted to help you out and be your friend. I just don't... I need you to remember that that's all there is to it."

"Don't know what you're talking about."

It was an outright lie, because Jess knew exactly, but he wasn't about to admit that to Luke. He barely liked admitting to himself that he was so crazy into a girl that was dating some other guy who she wouldn't even think about dumping the idiot to be with him instead. It absolutely was not good for his self-esteem and that had taken enough of a beating over the years as it was.

"Jess, come on." Luke sighed. "It's no secret that you like Rory."

"What's not to like?" he said easily. "You just said yourself what a nice girl she is."

"Yeah, but we both know it's more than that for you, which is fine, you can like her more than she likes you, but my point is..."

"Look, I couldn't care less what your point is." Jess raised his hands in mock surrender. "Whatever you think you see between me and Rory, you're wrong. She has a boyfriend and I just see her as one of the less freakish people in this town that's actually read more than three books in her life. Now, you wanted me to learn something last night and I'm telling you, I did. So, just let it go, okay?"

With that, he grabbed his jacket and slammed out of the apartment, immediately regretting it the moment he was on the other side of the door. Jess knew Luke was trying to do the right thing. The guy was always trying to do the right thing, and even though he screwed it up sometimes, it probably wasn't fair to be an ass about it.

"But why break the habit of a life time?" he muttered to himself, heading down the stairs before he could change his mind and go back into the apartment.

After all, what was he going to say if he did go back? Apologise for the things he said or for having an attitude? Admit he liked Rory as way more than a friend? Actually show somebody that he had feelings and could be vulnerable? Not a damn chance.

"Remember what you said."

"I remember!" Lorelai insisted, almost tripping into the diner from the turning back to answer her daughter. "Geez, you're like a stuck record this morning."

Maybe Rory wasn't being quite as annoying as it seemed, but the fact was she had a bad night which involved very little sleep, thanks to her darling daughter's jibes about her teenaged self. Being asked to cut Jess Mariano some slack rubbed Lorelai up the wrong way in the first place, but the reminder that she was no angel at his age either just really added to the itch.

The worst part was, Rory had a point. As she lay in bed contemplating it all, Lorelai had come to the conclusion that there was no avoiding it. She had to admit that all the shadiest things Jess had done, all the attitude he had exhibited, everything, if she was seventeen again, she would've thought he was amazing. In fact, she had been known to pull a few pranks herself, to tell adults that crossed her just exactly what she thought, and to go after who and what she wanted mercilessly until she got her own way, consequences be damned.

"We really do have a lot in common," she had realised of herself and Jess, somewhere around two o'clock in the morning.

It probably also explained why Rory liked Jess so much. After all, she was half Lorelai and half Christopher, the original rebel and the boy that had loved her first. None of these realisations were pleasant for Lorelai, but she was too good a person and mother not to admit that she had them. Before they left the house for breakfast this morning, she told Rory that she maybe had a point about Jess not being so bad, or at least some of his behaviour being understandable, given his circumstances. She then promised all over again to try her best to cut him some slack.

Of course, when they got to the diner and Jess was nowhere in sight, the whole 'remember your promise' thing seemed kind of pointless. Lorelai almost said as much, but the second she and Rory got their butts on a pair of chairs, Luke was there.

"Hey, you didn't see Jess on your way here, did you?"

"Nope, can't say that we did," Lorelai told him. "Why?"

"Oh, it's nothing. He just... went out," said Luke vaguely, waving his hand in some random gesture that seemed to indicate nothing more than 'beyond the windows.'

"Well, maybe he just went into school early," said Rory helpfully. "He did say he was going to try harder after our tutoring session last night. I actually think he meant it too."

"Yeah, maybe," Luke considered, though he frankly didn't look convinced. "Anyway, what can I get you to eat?"

The Gilmore girls placed their orders and then Luke headed for the kitchen to fulfil them. Lorelai looked at Rory, just as Rory herself turned to peer out of the window.

"What's up, hon?"

"Nothing. I was just trying to see if I could see Jess," she admitted, craning her neck some more. "I mean, I know I said maybe he went to school already, but it is kind of early, even for early birds like me."

"That's true." Lorelai nodded. "But hey, it's possible, right?"

"I guess," she said, though she didn't really look like she believed it. "You don't think Luke and Jess had a fight, do you? Because he seemed a little... well, like maybe they had a fight."

Lorelai shook her head. "I don't know, sweets. I guess, maybe, but what would they fight about? I mean, you said Jess really buckled down at tutoring and said he was going to try harder. Luke would love that. What's to fight about?"

Before Rory could hardly open her mouth to hazard a guess, the bell rang over the door and they both looked up to see Jess strolling into the diner. "Hey."

"Hey." Rory replied with a smile. "Luke was wondering where you were. He's in the kitchen."

"Right." Jess nodded once, then headed back behind the counter.

"You didn't say anything!" Rory hissed across the table.

"Like what?" Lorelai checked.

"Like, 'Good morning, Jess,' or, 'Hey, Jess, how are things?' You know, any standard greeting would do."

"Well, I'm sorry, Miss Manners, but I didn't even get my coffee yet, so forgive me for not being totally gung-ho with the niceties. Besides, he didn't say anything to me either."

"He said, 'Hey.'"

"Yeah, to you."

"To both of us."

"Rory, come on..."

"Order up." Jess said flatly, placing two plates onto the table, replete with eggs, bacon, and pancakes. "I'll be back in a second with the coffee."

"Oh, thank you, Jess," Lorelai told him, forcing a wide smile. "Uh, Rory tells me the studying went well last night. That's... cool," she ended awkwardly.

"Yeah, I guess," Jess replied, looking from Lorelai to Rory, his eyebrows rising as if to say, 'What the hell?'

The next moment, he was gone and Lorelai absolutely felt like banging her head against the table. "Okay, I tried. That was me, actively trying to be nice."

"And you did it so well." Rory grinned at her. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, well, I don't think Jess did."

"Hey." Lorelai jumped a little on realising Luke was suddenly at her elbow, with the coffee that his nephew had promised. "Uh, I sent Jess upstairs to get ready for school, so here's your coffee. Also, it's on the house. Everything here is on me," he explained, gesturing to the breakfast dishes on the table. "Call it a thank you for the tutoring," he told Rory before turning to look straight at Lorelai, "and for not being weird about the tutoring."

"Weird? Why would I be weird?" Lorelai asked, shrugging her shoulders, trying desperately for a nonchalance she couldn't seem to find this morning. "What is there to be weird about?"

"Come on, Lorelai, I know that Jess is not your favourite person, and believe me, I do understand why, but you cut him some slack and I appreciate that, I really do, so thanks."

When Luke smiled at her that way, Lorelai could do nothing but tell him, "You're welcome," and smile right back, until he finally walked away.

He was such a good guy. The best guy, actually. There were times when Lorelai thought... but then, she always stopped herself before she went too far down that road. Her and Luke and a romance, wouldn't that just be a trainwreck? There was no way on earth she would risk their very special friendship that way, she just couldn't.

"See, Luke appreciates you making an effort too." Rory smiled widely, popping a forkful of eggs into her mouth. "Doesn't that make you feel good?"

"Just peachy," Lorelai told her, digging into her own breakfast before it got cold.

The truth was, she didn't hate making Luke happy, or making Rory happy, obviously. They were two of her very favourite people, so it was no bad thing, and it hadn't been all that hard either. Of course, she had interacted with Jess very little so far. How she was going to do as time passed, she wasn't sure, but she really would try, especially now she saw how much it pleased Rory and Luke both.

Her chance to make an effort came more quickly than she expected.

"Hey, Teach," said Jess as he appeared once again at the table, looking to Rory, obviously. "Thanks again for the help last night. I have a trig test today, and just so you know, I'm actually going to show up and try to pass."

"That's the spirit." Rory grinned up at him. "Good luck."

"Yeah, good luck, Jess," said Lorelai with some actual genuine enthusiasm. "I mean, I'm not so sure trigonometry is super useful for the future, but hey, anything to pass the class and get those credits, right? High school seems like a drag, we all get it, but it's worth it in the end. I should know, you know, being the drop-out who had to get her GED after the fact."

She was rambling, Lorelai was well aware, and not in the usual cute and endearing way either. Both Rory and Jess were staring at her like she was a few fries short of a Happy Meal. She wasn't even sure that she could blame them.

"I gotta go," said Jess then, hiking his thumb over his shoulder towards the door.

"Well, like we said, good luck with the test," said Rory, suddenly socking the guy in the shoulder with her tiny, weak little fist.

Suddenly, Lorelai's embarrassment wasn't all her own. She winced for her daughter's sake, the moment Jess was gone and Rory's head hit the table.

"Well, that was... different."

"I'm an idiot!" Rory bemoaned, her forehead still on the melamine. "I was trying to be supportive. How do you even be supportive with guy friends?"

"Beats me, babe." Lorelai sighed. "But hey, at least we tried, right?"

Rory lifted her head and managed a half-smile. "Yeah, I guess," she said, getting back into her breakfast.

Lorelai smiled and did the same. It may have been a rough night, but so far, not a terrible morning after.

To Be Continued...