A/N: As always, big thanks to those who leave reviews. Yes, you may have noticed that Paris is dating Doyle at the same time as Jamie – this is because I seriously could not bring myself to write about the Paris/Asher relationship. Don't get me wrong, I can handle an age-gap relationship - some of my OTPs have that attribute – but a college age person dating someone old enough to be their grandparent? That's just a little much for me. No disrespect to anyone else, I'm not judging, it's just my personal opinion/feeling, which I'm sharing purely to explain why you won't see Paris dating Asher in this fic :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 23

"It sounds as if this Stan gentleman was quite the character."

"He really was." Rory nodded in agreement with her grandfather, though her eyes stayed firmly on her pot roast. "Everybody liked him, and I know people say that all the time and it's not usually true, but in this case it was. His funeral was packed out, standing room only."

"Luke didn't come," Lorelai pointed out carefully, "but that was only because he had the diner to handle. He did a lot towards the wake. You know, all Stan's favourite foods and everything. Usually, that would be more of a Sookie thing, but Stan didn't have expensive tastes. He was a real regular in the diner."

"Jess said that," Rory looked across at her mom, letting her know to brace accordingly, because she was going forth into the unknown. "It's funny because he's really not much for getting along with the townsfolk. Jess I mean, not Stan, but even he said he was going to miss the guy. You know, he went into the diner every Wednesday at two o'clock, placed the same simple order, but always left a generous tip."

"Aww, honey." Lorelai sympathised, obviously noticing the shake in Rory's voice.

It was real, but there was a devious part of Rory even then that thought she could use her upset to her advantage. After all, she had promised to tell her grandparents about her relationship with Jess, and tonight was supposed to be the night, before they ever found out about Stan's passing.

"Well, though I didn't know the man in question," said her grandpa then, "I believe it would be fitting if we raised a glass to a fine citizen who knew how to be an upstanding member of his community. To Stan," he said, raising his wine glass.

"To Stan," Lorelai and Rory agreed, picking up their glasses too.

All eyes were then on Emily, who finally joined in at the last moment, absently intoning, 'To Stan.' Her mind was quite obviously elsewhere, which tended to be dangerous. Rory looked to her mom for help, but none came. There really wasn't time anyway.

"Jess," said her grandma, clearly musing on the name. "This is Luke's nephew who used to be your boyfriend?"

Rory swallowed hard. "Um, yes, Jess is Luke's nephew and, yes, he was my boyfriend. In fact, it's so funny you should bring that up..." she trailed off, putting down her knife and fork, and instead picking up her napkin to dab at her mouth. "See, the thing is, Jess, he was my friend, and then, he was my boyfriend, and after that, well, we had some differences of opinion and... and he went away for a while, which was good. You know, sometimes, you need some time apart, to get some perspective. I think it's important, for personal growth..."

When she saw the look on her mom's face, Rory knew she was rambling, and not in the cute way either. She was getting away from the main point and confusing her grandparents, which was never her intention.

"Okay, just spit it out," she told herself in a low voice, clearing her throat and making herself look at first Emily and then Richard as she made herself plain. "Grandma, Grandpa, I think it's time that you knew that Jess and I, well, we're back together. We're a couple and we have been for a few weeks now. I know you probably think I should have told you sooner, but honestly, it was all a little tentative at first. As I said, Jess and I had some time apart, and when we decided to start over, I think we just needed some time to adjust, but we have now. We're together and we're very happy."

"And when you think about it," said Lorelai fast, "anybody who loves Rory could only want her to be happy, right?"

Rory smiled, recalling she had something awfully similar herself when her mom had broken the news of herself and Luke dating some months before. As she glanced between her grandparents, she realised they knew it too, though neither said a word about it.

"Jess. I don't believe I ever met him."

"I did." Her grandmother's tone was cold as ice and bitter as poison at the same time. "You remember, I told you about him, Richard. The boy with the black eye," she said pointedly.

"Ah, yes, indeed." Her husband looked momentarily sober, but then smiled almost too much as he glanced Rory's way. "Well, as much as I believe in making a good first impression wherever possible, there is also much to be said for second chances. Rory, since you find this young man to be worthy of your time, and at such a crucial point in your life too, then I am willing to trust your judgement, at least until I am given the opportunity to form an opinion of my own. Would you like to invite Jess to dinner next Friday? Would it be convenient for him, do you think?"

"Oh, well, I don't know." Rory squirmed horribly.

"Would it interfere with his work?" asked her grandma, too primly. "He does work, I assume."

"Of course, he works, Mom." Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"Yes, of course, he does," Rory agreed, smiling with relief as she realised she had some very good news to throw in now. "In fact, he works in one of the libraries at Yale."

"At Yale?"

"Honestly, Grandpa's face lit up like a beacon when I said you worked at Yale, plus the fact it's a library earned you extra points, I'm sure. I told you, he loves a good book, and when I got to talking about your thing for Hemingway, I'm pretty sure he started to like you even more than he likes me!"

"That's probably pushing it." Jess rolled his eyes, though it was hard not to smile all the same. "So, next Friday, huh?" he said of the dinner he had been invited to, or maybe press ganged into might be a more accurate description.

"Next Friday," Rory agreed, curling closer under his arm as they sat together on the bridge in the noon-day sun of a bright Saturday. "That's okay, right?"

"I guess." He nodded his agreement, but couldn't help the sigh that escaped at the same time. "Come on, tell me, how many times did your grandma bring up the black eye after you said we were back together?"

"Only once," Rory insisted.

He stared at her a moment, testing to see if that was true or just something to make him feel better. It took her only a few seconds to crack, as he knew it would.

"Well, only once in the literal sense of actually using the words 'black eye', but she did make a few barely-veiled references to pugilistic pursuits and general thuggery."

"Huh." Jess really didn't have any more to say about it than that. After all, it wasn't as if he didn't know that he was one of Emily Gilmore's least favourite people. It didn't bother him much for his own sake, but he knew how much Rory liked everybody to get along. It was why he would do his best to be polite and wonderful when they went to dinner next Friday, for her sake and hers alone.

That was the moment when the church bells rang out, signalling midday, their most noisy and over-the-top clanging and clamouring of the day, since they had to strike the hour the maximum twelve times. Jess tried not to wince, until he realised Rory was doing it herself.

"Wow, even right down here, they're pretty loud," she complained. "And they do that every hour?"

"Every hour," Jess confirmed with a nod. "I gotta say, much as I thought Stan was a good guy, he was cracked if he liked those bells so much."

"Poor Stan." Rory sighed. "Maybe it had been so long, he just forgot how crazy-making they could be."

"Maybe. I guess when you have to go without something for a while, you can build up in your head how good it really was. Then if you ever get it back, it's just disappointing. Of course, there are other things that are even better than you ever thought possible..." he trailed off, smiling at Rory until she gave herself the chance to really think about what he said and catch on.

"Oh. Yeah, I get that," she said, grinning back at him, leaning in for a kiss that went on and on and on.

"Friday night dinner, huh? Wow. That's... I don't know, maybe it'll be second time lucky."

"Pretty sure the phrase is third time lucky, and believe me, after the first time, I'm not exactly doing cartwheels about dinner number two, so don't even try and tell me a number three would make me feel better," Jess grumbled, letting out the majority of his frustration on a stain on the counter.

Technically, Luke didn't need him to work Sundays. Lane couldn't, of course, her mother would never allow that, and for what it was worth, Lane herself had even said she wouldn't be entirely comfortable with it. Luke could cope alone, he had intended to, but Jess had been antsy since his talk with Rory yesterday where he found out the Gilmore Elders had summoned him to the next family dinner. It seemed better not to fight him on it when he offered to work a shift this afternoon.

"You know, I at least think you stand a chance with Richard," Luke tried to be helpful. "He reads a lot, like you. Pretty sure he is where Rory gets the habit from, because as much as I love her, Lorelai is not exactly the book-reading kind."

"Pretty sure I heard her say, 'If it's not Cosmo, what's the point?'" Jess smirked some, finally giving up on scrubbing and throwing the cloth down hard. "I don't wanna be a jerk about the whole grandparents thing, and obviously, I'm gonna try hard. You know, for Rory."

"I know." Luke started to smile, but tried to rein in the expression in a little, before his nephew accused him of thinking he was cute or sweet or something similar that guys never wanted to hear from anyone, ever. "Just be how you've been around here lately. I know you can be polite and reasonable, you've proven that, and let's be honest, even if you do your best, those kinds of people... You just gotta accept they're never really going to like us. They're just not, but that's okay. It's not about what they think. You know that, right?"

"I know." Jess nodded, finding a half-smile for his uncle. "I mean, come on, the grandparents don't even like you, and nobody does uber-polite better than you when you have to."

The smile turned into a smirk when he said that. Luke didn't know whether he wanted laugh or smack the kid upside his head, but he didn't exactly get a chance to do either one. The door flew open with the force of a tornado blowing in, then Lane was there, right by the counter, literally bouncing up and down as if there was trampoline under her.

"Jess, you won't believe this! I can hardly believe it myself, but it's true. It's actually happened. I mean, it's really, really real!"

"What's real? What are you talking about?" Jess asked, coming around the counter closer to Lane, with as much concern as curiousity in his eyes. "What's going on?"

"It happened. It really happened. The band have a gig at... wait for it... CBGBs!"

"What?"

Luke tried asking what that actually meant, but in the end, he didn't bother. The grins on both their faces proved that wherever it was, it was a big deal and a very good thing. He did say 'congratulations' but honestly, he was pretty sure Lane never heard it. She was too busy squealing and bouncing, grabbing onto Jess and hugging him tight. To his credit, he hugged back without complaint, telling his friend he was stunned, but also so happy for her. It was a nice moment, or it could have been, if the next sound heard wasn't the crash of the door opening up again, followed by the Gestapo-officer looks and tone of Mrs Kim.

"Oh, God."

Lane looked shellshocked as she turned to see her mom standing there, a face darker and more severe than any thundercloud ever managed to be. It probably didn't help that she and Jess were still wrapped in each other's arms. As far as Luke knew, Lane wasn't supposed to even look at boys, never mind touch them. She was allowed to serve male customers at the diner, but even that had required a long talk between Lane, Luke, Mrs Kim, and God, before it was fully approved.

"Mama, I..." was as far as Lane got into any kind of explanation or apology, before Mrs Kim turned on her heel and stormed right back out again.

In a blink, Lane was chasing after her, yelling for her mother to stop, wait, and let her explain. They went off across the town square, one behind the other, the diner door closing behind them, but doing little to muffle Lane's desperate cries.

"That could've gone better," said Jess flatly.

Luke considered for a moment, then sighed. "She might be the one mother in the world that's even scarier than Emily Gilmore."

Jess looked uncertain as he glanced at his uncle. "Gotta be a pretty close-run thing."

To Be Continued...