A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews, folks. I had a feeling you'd enjoy Rory & Jess finally getting back together :) However, I should point out that this fic still has quite a long way to go, as in, assuming all goes to plan, we're only about halfway through the journey yet! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 13

"You and Rory? Really, that's happening?"

The grin on Luke's face was almost amusing. Jess' reaction to it was only tempered by the fact he felt weird still in talking to his uncle about his love life, especially when the girl in question was Luke's girlfriend's daughter.

"Apparently, it is," he said shortly, putting all his concentrating on the laundry he was tossing into the hamper.

"That's great. It's really great," Luke continued to enthuse from his side of the apartment. "It's great, right?" he checked, on not getting an immediate response.

Jess sighed. "Sure, it's great," he called over his shoulder, hoping that was the end of the conversation.

He had put off telling Luke anything at all for a couple of days. In part, it was because he knew Rory wasn't likely to get around to telling Lorelai until this weekend. She had to rush back to Yale pretty fast after her studying session that had turned into a make-out, and knew she couldn't get back to the Hollow for a one-to-one with her mom until at least Saturday. If Jess told Luke, then he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut, however much he tried. Besides, putting his uncle in the position of having to keep a secret from his girlfriend just seemed wrong.

"Okay, why don't you sound or look happy about this?" asked Luke himself then, pulling on Jess' shoulder until he turned around and looked at him. "I thought Rory meant a lot to you."

"She means everything to me." The words came out too fast and completely unchecked, not that Jess wanted to take them back exactly, but the look on Luke's face when he heard them made him squirm horribly. "You know what I mean," he muttered, glancing away.

"Okay, she means a lot to you, and I know you've wanted to get back together with her ever since you got back here, maybe even before that," said Luke knowingly. "So, now that it's happened, why the face and the attitude?"

They didn't do this, they didn't really talk about feelings and stuff. It wasn't the way of the Danes men, and Jess knew that was what he was, equally as much as a Mariano, maybe more so in some ways. Luke wasn't this person either, but he supposed it was kind of cool that he was trying. Those Gilmore girls were making talkers out of the both of them, and as much as Jess would love to complain about it, he couldn't deny it did seem to help sometimes.

With a sigh, he sat down on the edge of his bed and ran a hand over his face.

"I just don't wanna screw up again," he admitted, eyes trained on the floor rather than Luke or anything else. "As much as I wanna be with Rory, I am more than aware that I don't deserve her. A part of her is bound to just be waiting for me to be the ass I was before..."

"Hey, that is enough," said Luke crossly, sitting down beside his nephew and putting a hand to his shoulder. "Listen to me, you are not this awful person that you seem to think you are. I know that. Rory obviously knows that. So, you made some mistakes, it happens. I'd say you're young and it's sort of expected, but even older people screw up sometimes. It's normal, trust me," he said with a knowing look that made Jess smile in spite of himself. "We all worry about messing up, Jess, and sometimes, in spite of our best efforts, that's exactly what we do, but there are ways to overcome this stuff. Come on, after everything that happened before with you and Rory, you made it back to a good place. Sure, it took some time, but you got there."

"I guess so." Jess nodded. "Things seem to be going pretty well for you and Lorelai, and look how long that took to figure itself out."

He smirked when he said it and wasn't at all surprised to get a shove from his uncle for his trouble. Of course, Luke was smiling too, because he knew he was at least half-joking, and certainly that he meant no harm.

"Finish figuring out what needs washing already," said Luke then, getting up to go back to his 'room' and leaving Jess to the task at hand.

"Yes, Uncle Luke," he dutifully replied, surprised by how much lighter he felt for their conversation.

Maybe this talking thing really was as powerful and effective as people said.

"So, basically, what I'm saying is... Jess and I are back together," Rory finally concluded her long and rambling speech, watching her mom's face carefully from the other end of the couch.

She probably should have told her about this a whole lot sooner, but there really hadn't been much opportunity. Rory had so much work to do for Yale and Lorelai was similarly busy working for her mother, they really hadn't seen each other in-person for long enough to have this talk until now. The only other chance would have been at Friday Night Dinner, and Rory really was not prepared to announce the reboot of her relationship to her grandparents just yet. That was another hurdle for another day.

"Wow. So, it finally happened," said Lorelai, after what felt like a very long silence, but probably hadn't actually been more than a few seconds. "Gotta say, babe, I'm not exactly surprised."

"Yes, but are you happy? Or not happy, but at least not sad?"

"Oh, sweets, I'm not sad that you got back together with your boyfriend," said Lorelai, shaking her head as she scooched over closer on the couch and grabbed up both her hands into both of her own. "If you're happy, then I'm happy. That's how it works. You know that."

"Sure, usually," Rory nodded her agreement. "But where Jess is concerned..."

"I can't lie, I have not always liked the guy very much, and you can't deny, he has given me reasons enough to get mad at him in the past."

"True.

"But I have to admit that since he's been back, he really does seem to be on his best behaviour. Luke's been telling me almost every day about some thoughtful thing Jess did, some favour for somebody or a selfless act. He almost makes it sound like he's going for sainthood!"

"Really don't think that's what he's doing." Rory laughed, unable to help it, given the image it conjured in her mind.

"And on top of that, he seems to be treating you a whole lot better too. Helping out when you had your pre-Yale panic and yelling at Taylor on your behalf when he was out of line. Giving you a place to study when you needed it, being all kinds of supportive and totally non-pushy, from what you told me."

"He really has been so great." Rory grinned widely. "It's like he's all the things I liked about him before, but with the less-good parts dialled way down. He's really trying to open up and talk, which I know is super-hard for him, but he is trying. We promised each other that it's going to be different this time. That we'll both try harder, because you know I did not help the situation last time. I pushed him too hard, I know I did, and I made unfair comparisons with Dean, and..."

"Hey, I know. We did this part already. You don't have to give me the speech again," Lorelai assured her, squeezing her hands. "Like I already told you, Rory, I'm happy if you're happy. If Jess is the guy making you happy right now then that is all that matters. However, you and he should both know that if he does screw up again, like seriously screw up and hurt you bad, I will come for him, and he will be singing soprano from then on, capiche?" she said, in a deliberately Godfather way.

"I think we both know that," Rory agreed, reaching forward to hug her mom so tight. "Thanks, Mom."

"No problem, kid," she told her, squeezing back just as hard. "So, you wanna hear my dating news? It's super-weird."

Rory pulled back, very aware that she was making a face by then. "Something super-weird, about you and Luke?" she checked, feeling nauseous at the thought.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "As if Luke would even be into anything super-weird, and as if I would tell you if he were," she said, shaking her head. "No, what I'm talking about is when Jason 'Digger' Stiles actually asked me out!"

"I almost feel bad that we're so happy and back together, when you and Dave..."

"Hey, it's fine," said Lane, putting on her best brave face for Rory.

Jess could tell, even if Rory couldn't, because he had worn that expression himself, so many times. Trying to be okay but not quite making it stick. Poor Lane. She was a decent person and she deserved better.

"Honestly, I'm happy for you, both of you," she said with a smile that she was really trying to make real. "Just do better this time, okay, Mariano?" she told him then.

"Already had the threats from Lorelai and Luke," he confirmed, nodding once. "Not that I needed it."

Lane nodded back at him, clearly believing what he said, which was actually nice. He didn't want to need that kind of approval, but deep down, Jess had to admit, if only to himself, that it didn't suck to have it all the same. To have people believing him when he said he was going to try his best, that he was going to be better, if he possibly could be.

"Oh, and we have other news too. Well, it's not so much a we thing as a Jess thing, but still. Can I tell her?" Rory asked him excitedly.

"Knock yourself out." He shrugged easily, unable to keep the smile from his lips as she squeezed the hand she was already holding and got super-enthusiastic in telling Lane how he had gone and got his GED.

It was cool to have someone be that proud of him too, truth be told. Luke was thrilled enough to almost do back-flips. Even Lorelai had seemed genuinely happy for him. It was going to take a lot of getting used to, all this praise and joy and even love for Jess Mariano. He was absolutely not ready for it a all, but he was pretty sure he could learn to handle it, in time.

What he wasn't so thrilled about was the town meeting they were heading to. When Rory came home unexpectedly mid-week, he had hoped she wanted to spend some time alone, maybe catch a movie or hang out on the bridge over the lake. No such luck. She had heard from Lorelai about the emergency town meeting and just couldn't help but drive over to attend.

When she asked Jess if he wanted to come, he couldn't think of anything worse, but then she flashed those baby blues at him and smiled in that way that made his heart skitter, and he had to say yes. Besides, the chance to spend time with her at all was always welcome. He would listen to an hour of Taylor's pointless ramblings and the wacky townsfolk debating nonsense, just to sit beside her for a while, to have her holding his hand and just being there for him to bask in her presence.

"So, any clues as to what the meeting is for?" asked Lane, as they reached the dance studio and headed on in.

"Mom said she couldn't get anything out of Miss Patty or Babette, though she had a feeling maybe Miss Patty knew something and was just sworn to secrecy. Must be pretty big if she isn't telling."

"Must be," Lane agreed, nodding her head.

They had only been in their seats about a minute when Taylor called the meeting to order. Rory immediately looked around, craning her neck to see if her mom and Luke had caught them up yet. Jess glanced back too, just in time to see them sneak in and sit down in back. From the way Luke was adjusting his cap and Lorelai looked flushed, he had a feeling he knew what had made them late and wished he didn't. Shaking his head, he faced front again, actually listening to Doosey, if only so he could push out all other thoughts from his head.

"As you know, every year, one lucky town in Connecticut gets to host The Festival of Living Pictures, a show which presents onstage recreations of famous works of art - statues, paintings, etc., with real people posing as the figures in the art. We hosted it seven years ago - successfully, I might add. Now, the town of Woodbury was supposed to host it this year, but because of recent flooding, they cancelled at the last minute, and I offered Stars Hollow to be the host. How does that sound?"

As the crowd around him erupted into giddy laughter and happy yells, Jess sank down a little in his seat and started to wish the world away. This whole thing sounded like a nightmare from hell, and he had a horrible feeling that a part of this whole being a better person thing would mean him feeling compelled to get involved.

"Aww, geez."

To Be Continued...