Rory came to consciousness knowing she was more comfortable than she'd ever felt before. In the back of her head, she realized that was strange because even though she was super comfortable, her back hurt and there was a spring poking into the back of her knee. That only meant one thing, she was sleeping on her couch, and usually, when that happened, no one ever termed their sleep comfortable. She adjusted herself a little bit to try to get the spring out of her knee when she realized she couldn't move all that much because she wasn't on the couch alone. There was an arm that was wrapped around her pulling her close against a firm chest that was breathing deeply signaling they were still asleep.

That's strange she thought, she hadn't slept like this with anyone since she was a little kid and had a nightmare. Even in more recent years when her mom snuck in her bed, they'd just sleep beside each other. She opened her eyes and turned her head to see who was with her and when she saw Jess she thought Oh, that makes sense.

She couldn't think of any other reason she'd ever think sleeping on the couch would be comfortable. A second later she jumped into panic mode, she'd just slept on her couch with Jess. Her mom was going to be so mad! She had to get him out of there before Lorelai woke up. How did they even get in this situation? Were they all watching a movie where they fell asleep and her mom decided to let them rest? No that would never happen. Oh! That's right, her mom went out of town for the night. Okay, that was good, that meant she had time to get him out of there without her mom finding out about this. That thought made her feel terrible, she didn't want to be the type of person that hid things from her mom.

No, she decided, she'd tell her mom the truth just after Jess was awake and gone home, better not to have a visual representation of it, plus if she was going to get mad, Rory would rather it be with her and not with Jess. She looked around for the clock and saw it was just after nine, which meant her mom would be home in about two hours if check out was at ten. She decided she couldn't let Jess sleep any longer because she wanted him to be long gone by the time her mom got home and didn't want there to be a surprise if she and her grandma happened to leave early.

She reached over and lightly shook Jess, he scrunched his nose in a way Rory could only think of as cute before swatting her hand away. She reached back over to shake him again, this time with words, "Jess, wake up, we fell asleep!"

"Huh?" He asked, still lost in the land of not.

"Wake up!" Her voice was louder this time.

"Fuck Liz, leave me alone, it's the weekend!" He said still mostly asleep.

Rory's eyes widened, she heard him refer to his mom as Liz before but for some reason, she doubted he actually called her by her name to her, let alone cursed at her, she supposed that she was wrong. In a softer, but still loud tone, she said, "No Jess, it's Rory, you have to wake up."

"Rory?" He asked, finally opening his eyes. His eyes widened when they made eye contact and he sat up quickly before looking around. "Damn, I guess we fell asleep."

"Yup."

He calmed down sensing no immediate danger and stretched before leaning down over her and kissing her, when he pulled away he said, "Good morning."

"Morning."

"Shit, Luke might not care what time I come home but I'm sure he'll realize I never even made it home last night."

"Yeah, we better get going soon, I wouldn't want my mom to come home to find you here."

"We?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, it might be the weekend but I'm still a Gilmore and we run on caffeine."

He smiled at her but his smile dropped when he looked past her, "You said your mom isn't coming home till later today, right?"

"Yup, that's what she told me."

"Then what's that?" He said, nodding his head towards the coffee table.

Rory turned and saw a folded paper with her name on it that most certainly wasn't there the night before. She reached for it with shaky hands and when she opened it her heart dropped, it only said, Lucy, you got some splainin' to do.

Jess must have been reading over her shoulder because when he spoke she thought he explained the situation nicely, "Fuck."

He started getting up and gathering his stuff. Incredulously, she said, "You're leaving?"

"I thought we both were, coffee, remember?"

"Yeah but now my mom is already home."

"And she still will be once I've got you properly caffeinated. Her lecture and punishment can wait another hour."

She stayed quiet for a minute or two thinking it over, part of her thought it'd be best to stay and deal with whatever her mom wanted to say, she had a feeling that was the mature part of her but most of her wanted to run and face the music later. Maybe this is what her mom meant when she said Jess could be a bad influence because she grabbed the hand he was holding out to help her up and quickly ran to her room to get changed. They were out the front door less than five minutes later.

The walk to Luke's was made in a comfortable silence, they were holding hands lost in their own thoughts. It was the first time that day that Rory had a chance to think about what happened the night before and she felt a blush cover her face. She'd never gone that far with a guy before. She liked it, she really liked it and it didn't seem like anything changed between her and Jess, which she was kind of worried about, she was worried he might get bored and leave her once he realized that she wasn't going to move as fast as he was used to.

She realized that was silly now, she might not have a ton of experience with guys but she could see that he cared about her just from how he looked at her, she just let other people's thoughts and worries about him get into her head. She squeezed his hand tighter and walked a little closer as she promised herself not to do that again.

"You seem to be thinking hard over there, are you wondering how long Lorelai's going to make you stay away from me this time?"

"She wouldn't do that!"

He scoffed, "She made it quite clear to me that she could and would do it if I messed up again. Do you think this counts as a mess up?"

She laughed but it trailed off as she realized he wasn't joking. "She didn't really say that, did she?"

He nodded, "She said she didn't want to but she would if I made you do anything bad again or anything that could hurt you in any way, whether that be your feelings or if we did something to hurt your future."

Rory couldn't believe her mom would do that behind her back, part of her wanted to call Jess a liar but she didn't think he was. Actually, now that she thought about it, she could so see her mom doing that thinking she was doing the right thing by threatening a minor. She'd have to have a word about that with Lorelai later, she didn't care if technically she was supposed to be the one in trouble.

When they walked into Luke's there was the normal breakfast rush, that was why it took until after Jess walked behind the counter to get both of them a cup of coffee and then they both sat at the bar to drink it. When he did notice them his eyes opened wide and to say Jess was surprised when Luke quickly walked over to him and wrapped him in a hug would be an understatement.

"Jeez, Jess, thank god you're okay, I was about to call the police and set up a search party."

"You were?" Jess asked, confused. He knew Luke would notice he was gone he just didn't think he'd care or do anything about it.

"Hell yeah I was, you can't just disappear on me like that. Are you okay? What happened?"

Jess cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck, "Uh, sorry. We just fell asleep watching a movie."

He looked over to Rory as if seeing her for the first time, he was very awkward when he spoke, "Oh, uh, okay, just as long as you were safe, that's all I care about. You were, right? Safe, I mean."

Rory felt her cheeks turn bright red at the implications but Jess spoke first, "Jesus, man, we just ate dinner and watched a few movies, we were fine."

"Oh, good," He patted Jess' back, "Uhh, good talk."

"Right."

"So uh, you two want anything for breakfast," Luke asked, still clearly awkward.

"Yes, please! I'll take pancakes with bacon, and an extra side of bacon. Oh, and a donut while I'm waiting."

"Sure, no problem, what about you Jess? And just remember, I'm only taking your order because it's technically your day off."

He smirked, "I'll have the same, thanks Uncle Luke."

Luke gave Jess his signature 'I'd strangle you right now if it weren't illegal' Look and walked away before Jess had a chance to provoke him anymore. As he was walking, over his shoulder he said, "Get the donuts yourself, and be a gentleman about it, okay? Get Rory's too."

Rory rolled her eyes at Jess when he looked proud of himself for annoying his uncle as he stood up to get the donuts. They sat and talked about nothing, pointedly ignoring the fact that Rory had a feeling she was in deep trouble. Jess got up when he saw their breakfasts were up on the window and grabbed all the condiments they could possibly need before sitting down and both digging in. After a few minutes, Rory noticed Jess wasn't really paying attention to her talking, let alone being active in the conversation.

"Earth to Jess."

"Huh?" He asked, looking back to Rory.

"What's wrong? I'm using some of my best material here and you're not even listening."

"Sorry, it's just, does Luke look okay?"

She looked over to Luke who was talking on the phone with his back turned to the diner and he was kind of hunching in over himself, something definitely was wrong. She knew when she answered it sounded more like a question and she had a feeling she was wrong. "Yes?"

"Yeah, you're probably right, best not to worry about it."

"What? No! He's your uncle, if you think something is wrong, it probably is. Why don't you ask him?"

Jess scoffed, "Yeah, then we'll hold hands and skip together."

"What?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. He's fine, if something is wrong, he'll tell me."

Rory sighed but didn't push any harder, she knew Jess well enough by now to know when it was useless to push him. "Okay, whatever you say." However, she couldn't help but notice something was off about Luke for the rest of the time she was in the diner.

She and Jess decided to go their separate ways after breakfast, she figured she couldn't put off the inevitable any longer and Jess said he had to get ready for his shift at Walmart. They were outside of the diner, Jess leaning against the wall looking at her with his eyes that always drew her in. She had a feeling she was blushing when she said, "I uh, had fun last night."

"Yeah? Me too."

"What are you doing tonight? Or tomorrow? I have some school work to do but not too much, I should be done by the time you're done work."

"Well, tonight I think I'm going to be busy but tomorrow we can hang out." She wanted to ask him what he was doing tonight but she stopped herself, she didn't want to seem like the overly clingy girlfriend, it seemed the question was on her face anyway because he answered her unasked question, "Did you notice? No workers around the diner. I think the construction might finally be done. If that's true, I'll be spending the whole night moving into my new room."

She smiled, happy for him, "Oh, that's great Jess, I know how much you want your own space. And even though I love my mom more than anything and she's my best friend, I think I might go insane, possibly on a murderous rampage, if we had to share the same room for an extended period of time."

He smirked, "Yeah?"

"Oh yeah, she's a step above messy, I can't deal with it. Do you know I'm the one in the house who writes out who does what chores every week, who makes sure we vacuum under the couches often enough, the one that organizes the cabinets?"

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me one bit."

"Exactly, just thinking about sharing a space with her makes me, well not quite murderous, but manslaughter-y, at the very least."

Her smile widened when Jess laughed. He leaned in and kissed her slow and sweetly, it was still passionate but they were in public, after all. He was 75 percent sure his uncle was watching them through the windows. Eventually, he pulled back, "So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Her voice was a little dreamy after the kiss.

"And maybe call me tonight and let me know how bad Hurricane Lorelai is when you get home." He hated how shy and unsure his voice sounded. He'd never been in a real relationship before, he never cared if the girl called him and he never cared if the girl got in trouble at home.

"Yeah, I think I can manage that." She said with a small smile. With another kiss, Jess went back into the diner and Rory started to make her way home.

It wasn't surprising to her that her mom was up and waiting for her at the kitchen table when she walked through the door. It kind of became her mom's spot to wait for Rory when she was angry over the years. She held back the sigh, she knew she technically messed up but they didn't mean to do anything wrong. They just shouldn't have tried for that third movie.

"Hey, Mom."

"Good morning, fruit of my loins."

"Ugh, you know I hate when you call me that."

"Well I don't think today is the day you're allowed to complain about it," Lorelai said getting right to business, she'd hoped to calm down while she slept, and she had, but it didn't work nearly as well as she had hoped. She knew deep down that the kids didn't mean to do anything wrong. She had a feeling if they were trying to have a sneaky sleepover it wouldn't be on that tiny uncomfortable couch, it would have been on Rory's bed. That led her to believe they just fell asleep watching movies. And if that was the case, they didn't do anything wrong except make a mistake, knowing that didn't help Lorelai with her anger and worry though.

Rory worked hard not to show her annoyance at her mom's attitude, and to not get angry with her, she knew she was the one that was in the wrong, technical as it may be. "I'm sorry mom, I guess we shouldn't have attempted that third movie."

"Ya think? When did Paris leave?"

"Before the movies started, we studied a little after dinner and she left not long after that."

"So you and Jess were alone most of the night."

"Yeah," she said, her annoyance starting to show. "Is that a problem? You knew he was probably coming over, Paris was the surprise."

"No, normally it wouldn't be…"

"Except when you're not there to watch over us?" She asked, losing control of her temper. "You said you trusted me, Mom. You have to make up your mind, you either trust me or you don't. If you do, stop being so micromanaging, if you don't have the decency to tell me to my face."

"Woah, calm down there, kid. Let's not try to turn this around on me, you're the one that had your boyfriend sleep over without permission when no one else was home."

"I didn't mean to! We fell asleep! You and I have done that a hundred times! We didn't mean to do anything wrong, and I'm sorry if it was a startling sight to come home to."

"Damn right it was a startling sight, that's putting it lightly. He's just lucky all clothes were in their proper place and hands were in PG areas."

"God, what is it with you and him lately? You used to like him, but now you choose to look at him in the worst light possible, always!"

"Maybe because now when he does bad things it affects you too!"

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm my own woman? I have autonomy, I have no problem telling Jess no if he suggests something I'm uncomfortable with and he respects that, he respects me." She's more quiet, and softer when she speaks again and Lorelai feels terrible because she can hear her daughter's sadness in her tone, "Why don't you want to be friends with him anymore? I don't want to have to split my time between you two and I know he doesn't either. He likes you, wants you to like him, or at least treat him like you used to. He hasn't had many people he could count on in the past. Neither of us is trying to 'get one over on you' or whatever shenanigans you think we're up to, I just, well, I like him a lot and I want to be with him when I can without worrying that you're thinking we're up to no good."

"Oh kid, I'm sorry, I don't mean to make you feel like that. I do like him, he's a good kid, I know it. I guess it's taking some adjustment on my part to get used to your new relationship too. Jess and Dean are two very different people and I think I've been letting myself focus on that too much. I don't know how it happened but somehow in my head Dean became everything I wanted a boyfriend of yours to be and Jess turned into the opposite, I know it isn't fair, and doesn't really even make sense but I worry for you, kid. And I always will."

"What is so bad about Jess? Why is he the opposite of who you want me to date?" Rory asked in a small voice. Was she missing something? Did she have like a big giant blind spot when it came to Jess?

"Oh no, sweets, whatever you're thinking to make that face, that's not what I meant. You know how scary my brain is on the best of days, and worrying about you and your safety definitely isn't the best of days. So if you're looking for me to explain it, I'm sorry but you're outta luck. You're right though, I'm not being fair to him, and I promise to work on it."

"Oh, okay, good. I'm glad we understand each other. Well, this has been a very productive talk, I'll just head to my room to do my—"

"Nuh-uh, nice try, but you still messed up. You know you're not allowed to have a boy sleepover ever, much less so when I'm not here. You did wrong, Rory."

"And I told you, we didn't mean to! We fell asleep during the movie, neither of us was trying to do anything wrong and we definitely weren't trying to pull one over on you or whatever. And I'm sorry if we did. But I promise, we really did just fall asleep during the movie."

"I believe you, kid, I do, just," She sighed, "Just be more careful, I'm much too young and beautiful for a heart attack."

"I'm pretty sure beauty has nothing to do with your heart and the potential for it to be attacked."

Lorelai shook her head negatively, "I'm going to have to disagree with you there, my smart child, I have the proof of you with me, two of the most beautiful ladies in the world and zero heart problems."

"If we listen to either of our doctors or the hundreds of people who have told us so in the past, that's only a matter of time with the way we eat."

"Unbelievers and pessimists, the lot of them."

"Whatever you say, mom. I'm going to get done with my schoolwork, you know I hate leaving it until Sunday."

"Okay, kid, just remember what I said, be more careful, and don't make me feel my heart stop again because I accidentally walk into another situation where you two are in compromised situations."

"We weren't compromised! We were sleeping! Only sleeping."

"Okay, okay, I believe you, and I know I've had the sex talk with you enough times to know that you won't be talked into or coerced to do anything you don't want to do."

"That's right."

"Alright, sweets, let's just call this the mistake that it was and move on."

They spent the rest of the day hanging out together and talking about the time they spent apart, some especially good stories from Lorelai about her grandma made Rory laugh loudly. It was only a few minutes into their talking that both of them forgot there was even a fight to begin with.

Jess walked back into the diner and saw that Luke was still in some type of daze. Normally he'd just ignore him and go on with his day but he was in a good mood today so he decided to be a good nephew and ask what was wrong.

"Alright, just spit it out already, what's with all the moping?"

Luke scoffed, "I'm not moping, I'm just… distracted."

"And what's got you so distracted?"

"Oh, nothing. Well, not nothing, I hate to be the one to have to tell you this but… Uncle Louie died last night." Luke offered comfort in the only way he knew how, by awkwardly reaching over and patting Jess' back. Luke was worried Jess was taking this harder than he thought his nephew would because Jess stayed quiet for a really long time.

He was eventually proved wrong when Jess replied, "Who?"

Luke sighed, " Your great uncle."

"I didn't know I had a great uncle."

"How?"

"It's not as if he came around to visit on Christmas and my birthday like you did."

"Yeah, that was probably for the best, honestly."

"Why?"

"He wasn't the nicest person on the planet."

"Wow, with you of all people saying that he must have been a real asshole."

Luke used the hand that was still awkwardly patting Jess to smack the back of his head, "Watch your language! And don't speak ill of the dead, he was your family."

Jess shrugged, "Not my family. I didn't even know he existed until after he didn't anymore. Uh, sorry for your loss though." Jess added the last sentence as an afterthought. They both simultaneously cleared their throats ready to get off of such emotional conversations, "So I noticed there weren't any contractors around today. Does that mean…?"

"Yes, it means the upper floors are ready and the stairs were added so we don't have to go to the other side of the building to get to them."

Luke hadn't seen Jess smile or seem so genuinely excited maybe ever. He didn't have much chance to enjoy it because Jess ran up the stairs faster than his uncle had ever seen him move before. Luke smiled just a little bit, he was still iffy about his decision to give Jess a whole floor but he could be happy for his nephew. Plus, he needed a moment of lightheartedness before he had to start the depressing project of planning a funeral.

Jess ran up the first flight of stairs and stopped to take a moment to orient himself to the second, it was strange, with another breath he walked upstairs, he had rooms to himself before when he lived with his mom but they were tiny, and not just because they lived in New York. There were two separate times he could remember where his room was his mom's closet and the other where his room was the laundry room. He was younger then so he didn't need much space, at least he figured that was how his mom justified it to herself. Then there was the time she bought those Chinese room dividers and gave him the corner of the living room, it would have been great if it didn't coincide with Rich, his mom's third husband, the one that liked to stay up till all hours of the night getting drunk and yelling at the TV because the team he bet on was losing. On the nights he lost a lot of money he smashed through those room dividers and took his anger out on Jess.

Jess shook his head, his life wasn't like that anymore, things were going good and there was no need to dwell on that bullshit. When he made it to the top of the flight of stairs there was one hallway leading to the end where there was a door, he saw it was the bathroom, cool, he never had his own bathroom before. He looked up and saw the entrance to the ceiling. Then on the left side of the hallway, there was only one door. He walked over slowly, really taking it in, and with a deep breath he reached for the handle and turned it.

"Woah," Jess voiced out loud.

Luke really did give him the whole upper floor, the room was bigger than most of the apartments he'd lived in. There was a bed in there right in the center of the room, he had almost two full walls of windows, the walls were a dark gray, all his stuff was up there, though still in boxes to unpack, and there was a huge bookshelf that might be big enough to fit all his books. Jess realized he was smiling widely, he was giddy for lack of a better word, and was happy he was alone so no one could see him. He flopped on his new bed and took it in for a minute before sitting up and getting to work.

Rory and Jess talked on the phone that night after he got home from work, which mostly consisted of Rory's eyes wide open because she'd never heard Jess talk so much or so fast in all the time she knew him. She was happy though, he clearly really loved the room. He also mentioned his dead great uncle and how he probably wouldn't be able to see her much over the next few days helping Luke plan things for the funeral.

That was why Jess was surprised two days later when he came downstairs for his shift and saw both Rory and Lorelai in aprons walking around the diner giving out dishes and coffee. "Oh, hey. No, actually, what?"

Rory smiled at him but kept working instead of greeting him like she normally would with a kiss, "I think I like being a waitress."

"Yeah, I don't know what you're always complaining about Jess, this is fun." Lorelai chimed in before turning to the window, "Caesar, we need Adam and Eve on a raft, and reck 'em!" She slapped the sil twice before turning back to Jess, "That's real-life diner talk."

"Huh, it seems I still have things to learn about diner life."

"Yeah, you should try it, I think you'll like working here more, you might not ever want to leave."

"I repeat, what?"

Rory chimed in, "Luke had some running around to do for the funeral and we said we'd help out so he didn't have to close down."

He shrugged, "Oh, cool then."

It took a little bit of time but after a while they all got the hang of working together and Jess actually enjoyed working that day. He basically got paid to hang out with his girlfriend all day, even though they were working, it didn't slow down their banter, and they were able to take quite a few 'breaks' during down times which involved going outside for some 'air' which was just code for making out. Lorelai didn't seem upset with him either about the other night, which was a good thing. It seemed the customers liked Rory and Lorelai there too because he made the best tips he had since he started working there and Rory was happy to have a nice chunk to add to her college fund too.

The mood soured when Luke came home because he was clearly upset, he was happy when Lorelai took the lead and followed him upstairs so Jess didn't have to. The dinner was dead at that point and it wouldn't pick up again until diner time so Jess and Rory sat down at the bar and ordered lunch, both happy to get off their feet for a while.

"Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm planning and paying for our next date," Rory said giddy, though there was something mischievous and borderline evil in her tone. "I have to after all the money I made today."

"Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like this date?"

"Oh, you will, as long as you keep an open mind."

"What is it?"

"I don't know yet."

"What?"

"Yeah, but if I know myself at all it's going to be something fun, quirky, and probably book-related."

"That does sound like you." Jess concurred.

"Good then," she said stealing a fry off his plate and quickly pecking his lips before he could complain, "Then I'm sure you're going to love it too."

Rory's eyes opened wide, not meaning for her words to come out like that, thankfully Jess skipped right over the implication that she was saying he loved her and smiled, which Rory was grateful for. "I can't wait."