A/N: If you're still reading, and ever more so if you're still reviewing, then I thank you very much for sticking with me. Your support means a lot, especially right now, when me and mine have been struggling through a nasty cold/virus.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 25

"So, then Grandpa asked how you were doing and if I knew how you were getting on with Menken's Chrestomathy. I told him you probably hadn't had much time to get into it, because you were so busy with work, but if you told him you would call with your thoughts when you were done, then you could absolutely be relied upon to do that."

"You told no lies," Jess assured Rory, as they walked through town together, their arms around each other. "Also, thank you for not bringing up your grandparents until now."

Rory giggled. "You're welcome," she said, leaning in to kiss his cheek as they continued on.

With Lorelai busy at the inn and Lane all about helping out there any time she wasn't at the diner, putting in shifts for Luke, the house was empty on this fine Saturday morning. After a very awkward couple of weeks in which the young couple had found it impossible to get any decent alone time in a suitable place to be close, they had made full use of Rory's bedroom while nobody was around. It was a period of time in which the last thing Jess would have wanted to hear about was Friday Night Dinner or the Gilmore elders in general.

"So, now we're not doing that," she said as diplomatically as possible, "I guess I can also tell you about Paris."

"Is there ever a good time for that?" he asked her, making a face.

Rory sighed. "She's not that bad. Hey, you should be nicer. I know it sounds like a miracle, but it turns out she actually approves of us being back together."

"Jump back," Jess deadpanned, making her laugh, as he knew he would.

"Okay, no more '80s movie marathons for you," she told him. "I know you said it was a bid to cheer up Lane, but I think you enjoyed it just a little too much."

"Maybe." Jess smirked, but said no more. "So, what about Paris?"

"Oh, well, you remember I told you she was seeing Doyle, but also still technically seeing Jamie?"

"Sleeping with the editor of the school paper, stringing along the Princeton guy. I remember."

"Not the nicest way of putting it, but accurate, unfortunately. Anyway, her conscience has been pricking her for a while, but she was feeling seriously confused about her feelings. However, she finally plucked up the courage to make a choice, and this weekend, she's going over to Princeton to break the news to Jamie."

"Sucks to be that guy." Jess frowned some. "I mean, seriously, I'm not sure he can be all that smart if he fell for Paris, but still, when you lose the one person in the world you feel that way about, it really, really sucks."

Rory stopped walking then, pulling him to a halt alongside her. "It really does suck," she agreed, the look on her face proving she knew it just as well as he did, though of course, he was already aware of that. "At least this time is different. We know what we're doing. I have no plans of suddenly falling into the arms of some newspaper guy at Yale."

"Me either," Jess told her very seriously.

It was a whole two seconds before the moment devolved into Rory giggling and him laughing right along with her.

"Idiot," she told him, smacking him lightly in the chest.

"Sometimes," he agreed, pulling her closer once more and kissing the top of her head.

They headed for the diner as much out of habit and momentum as anything else. It was only when they were already inside, looking around for a table to grab, that Jess realised he had made a very wrong choice. By then, it was all too late to make a decent escape.

"Jess," said Luke, looking pained.

He certainly knew why that was, long before the woman in front of the counter ever turned around and looked at him.

"There's my boy!"

"Oh, geez."

Rory was more than a little dumbfounded when she suddenly found herself being shoved aside by a much older woman, who seemed determined to wrap her arms around Jess and hold on for dear life. She was sure she had never seen the person before in her life and was just starting to worry, when suddenly Luke was there, making a face, but telling her it was okay.

"That's Liz. Jess' mom," he explained in a low voice. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you...?"

"Trust me, after five minutes in close quarters with her, you'll know why," he said, putting his attention on his sister then and raising his voice up to normal, so she would hear. "Liz, come on, let the kid breathe. Let's all just sit down and act like normal people for a minute, okay?"

That was what they did. Rory was quickly invited to join and soon she found herself sat around a table in the corner of the diner with Jess, his mother, and Luke. It felt very strange, first to be mostly ignored while Jess was told repeatedly how great he looked, and then finally, to be introduced as 'girlfriend', a term she had never once heard Jess use about her before. It didn't suck, but it was strange.

"My mother, Liz Danes, my girlfriend, Rory Gilmore," he said shortly, waving his hand back and forth between the two of them.

"Hi," said Rory, nodding once, unsure what else to add.

Normally, she might have said that it was a pleasure to meet her or something similar, but in the case of the woman who had carried, birthed, and raised Jess, she just couldn't bring herself to say the words. Sure, she knew Liz and Jess got along okay right now, and that, in spite of everything, he loved his mother. At the same time, she heard too many stories about what Jess had been through as a child, from himself and also from Luke by way of Lorelai. Liz had never been what could be described as a good mother. Much of the time, it seemed to Rory that she hadn't even tried at all.

That made her mad, made her feel awkward, and just a little crazy. It made her not want to be nice, but also, she didn't quite know how to be mean, especially in front of Jess and Luke. It was why she said an uncommonly small number of words in the exchange that followed. For once, Jess was actually chattier than she was, but mostly, it was Liz who rambled on and on and on.

"I'm going to have to..." said Luke awkwardly, after a while. "Customers," he added, with a lopsided smile, disappearing from the table.

Jess watched him go, looked back at his mom, then Rory, clearly considering something. Rory only realised what it was a beat too late when he was already making excuses to leave the table to go help Luke out. Lane was due to arrive for her shift soon, but the lunch rush appeared to have started a little early today. Rory couldn't exactly blame him for wanting to pitch in and help, or escape the table where his mother seemed determined to pinch his cheeks, talk him up in the most embarrassing ways, and attempt to cleanse his aura with wild arm gestures that attracted a lot of attention.

"Coffee?" he asked Rory, as he backed away.

"Please," she said, nodding her head and forcing a smile.

"So, you really hate me."

The words from Liz startled Rory into turning her head so fast to look at her, she almost gave herself whiplash. Her mouth opened and closed three times as she fought to find an appropriate response to that remark, but none came.

"Hey, it's fine. It's more than fine!" Liz insisted, as Rory continued to flail, waving one hand in a dismissive gesture. "Don't worry, I half-expected you to be anti-me, and for what it's worth, I don't blame you."

"I don't understand." Rory shook her head. "And for the record, I don't hate you," she said pointedly, keeping her voice low so nobody would hear, even if it made little difference, since the whole county was likely to have heard just about everything Liz said. "I really don't hate anybody."

"That's 'cause you're a good kid." Liz smiled across at her. "You know, the way he talks about you, I had a feeling you were the good kind of kid. Your mom raised you right, the way my mom tried to raise me. Of course, she wasn't around long enough to really finish the job, and my dad, God rest his soul... Well, he just didn't know where to start. Not that I'm blaming it all on my parents. God knows, I was not an easy kid to deal with.

"I'm no saint, sweetheart, I'm all aware of that. I had problems. Big, big problems. When Jess came along and Jimmy left me... I kind of fell to pieces. I did my best for a while, I honestly did, but I will be the first to admit that, for quite a lot of Jess' younger years, I was way, way away from Mother of the Year. I guess he told you that, huh?"

"He told me things," she admitted, unwilling to go any further than that.

After all, everything private that Jess told her was in confidence, as far as she was concerned. Of course, all the stories about his mother were no secret from the woman herself, because she was there, but from the way he so often described Liz's behaviour during his formative years, it was likely she recalled very little of what happened. There was a lot of alcohol and drugs involved. A lot of men too. A huge lack of concern for what happened to Jess, at the hands of the 'uncles' and 'step-fathers' Liz took up with, and in the general sense too.

"Which is why I don't blame you for not thinking I'm the greatest person in the world," said Liz knowingly. "It's true, I'm not. I could have and should have been a better mother to my boy, I know that. I just couldn't deal with motherhood, and when he got older, I couldn't deal with him. He just became hell on wheels when he hit the teen years, and I don't blame him for that. He was showing the worst parts of me and Jimmy combined, and trust me when I tell you, that is not a winning combo.

"That's why I sent him to Luke. Not because I didn't want him around or because I didn't care what happened to him. It was actually the opposite. I saw Jess headed down a bad path, kind of like the one I'd been on for a while. Trust me, the last thing I want for my precious boy is for him to turn out like either one of his parents. I want him to be more like Luke, or like our dad," she said with a wide smile as she stared over to the counter where Luke and Jess worked side-by-side. "Those are two of the best guys in the world that anybody could ever meet, I'm telling you."

"There's nothing you can tell me about Luke being a good guy that I don't already know," said Rory, as politely as she could. "He's always been there for me and my mom."

"Ah, yes, you're the famous Lorelai's daughter." Liz grinned then. "I can't wait to meet her, she sounds like a blast. Plus, you Gilmore women sure have good taste, picking my brother and my son to date. Like I said, the best guys, but then, you already know that."

Rory was a little amazed by what she was hearing. Of all the things she might have expected Liz to say to her, none of it included her calling her out on not liking her or admitting her own faults. She was too bemused to say much of anything in response. She had to shake herself to even manage to thank Jess for the coffee he put in front of her a few seconds later.

"Everything okay here?" he asked, looking more at Rory than at Liz.

"Uh, yeah, sure," she told him, with a more genuine smile. "Everything's good."

"Sure, kid, we're getting along like old friends already, right, Rory?" Liz smiled across at her, the expression not at all forced, her words as honest as any Rory had ever heard before, she was sure.

"Yeah, I think we're going to be fine," she said, wondering at the fact that she believed everything she just said.

How the hell did that happen?

To Be Continued...