148A/N: Here we are at the end of the line for this fic too. It's quite the coincidence that both my latest Literati stories have come to a close around the same time, but hey, what can you do? The stories end where they end and it just worked out this way this go around. Thanks to all those who left reviews, whether it was on one of the previous chapters, all twenty-two, or anywhere in between. Your support is always apprecaited :) Now, hope about another happy ending for Rory, Jess, and just about everybody actually? ;)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 23
"I told him, I don't need him hanging around like some weirdo while I take my last final. I mean, this is not the nineteenth century, I don't need a chaperone, and if I did, you're here. Honestly, I love the guy but he's not always the smartest person in the world."
Jess smiled to himself as Paris yammered on. It was funny, at the beginning of the school year, when they first ran into each other at Yale, he wasn't sure it was a good thing. She had some attitude on her, some pretty crazy opinions too, and she thought a lot of herself, but Paris was also Rory's friend and any connection to her was welcome while she was so far away in Harvard. At this point, Jess would have to admit he and Paris were some strange kind of friends themselves, her incessant talking having become almost as welcome as Rory's own rambling could be. Almost. Not quite.
"Bradley said you were going to visit with his family over the summer?"
"That's the plan." Paris nodded. "God knows what they're going to think of me."
"Probably the same as the rest of us do." Jess shrugged. "That you're a little too smart for your own good and just the right amount of crazy to be interesting," he said, bumping her shoulder with his own.
Paris tried not to smile but could hardly help herself. "Idiot," she told him anyway.
"Maybe, but you'd be so bored without me around."
"Don't flatter yourself, Mariano." Paris rolled her eyes, but the smile was evident on her lips by now and was going nowhere fast. "So maybe it hasn't been the worst thing to have a friend in this place. Thank you, Jess," she said, her hand on his arm as they stopped walking.
"For what?" he asked, curious about her sudden gratitude - it wasn't very like Paris Geller to get serious or grateful like this.
"I don't know, being my substitute Rory?" she suggested. "I don't think I realised how much I was going to miss her until she wasn't around."
Jess nodded that he understood what she meant but never really got a chance to respond even if he wanted to.
"Hey, hands off my man, Geller!" said a voice.
Jess and Paris turned as one to gape at Rory as she walked towards them.
"You wanted to keep him, maybe you should've got here sooner," said Paris, not quite managing to keep a straight face. "Welcome back, Gilmore-Danes."
"It's good to be back." Rory smiled back, the two girls hovering awkwardly before finally giving in and sharing a hug. "How have you been, Paris?"
"Can't complain," she said as they parted. "Last final on a Saturday was kind of a pain, but it's done now. The summer beckons and when I get back here next year, at least all the right people will be present."
"Yes, they will." Rory grinned.
Paris left pretty quickly after that, her good instincts telling her that her presence was no longer really required.
The moment they were alone, Jess pulled Rory into his arms to kiss her hello.
"Not that I'm not happy you're here, but I thought we were meeting at your house for the whole end of Freshman year / Bon Voyage party thing that Lorelai is throwing?"
"We were," Rory agreed, looping her arm through his own as they headed for the car, "but I decided I needed a little alone time with you before that."
"You know I already brought all my stuff back to the Hollow, right? Mattress and all."
Rory scoffed. "So, not what I meant," she insisted. "Although, I have really, really missed you," she said as they reached the car, putting her back against it and pulling Jess towards her.
It was nice to get lost in the moment for a while, though probably a good thing that someone honked their horn as they sped by a few minutes later, or Rory and Jess might've got a little too carried away for a public place.
"We could go back to the apartment," he told her breathlessly, checking his watch. "I don't think anyone's expecting us to be home too soon."
"Apartment is good." Rory nodded, claiming one last kiss before they both scrambled to get into the car and go.
Jess may have broken the speed limit just a little on the way back to Stars Hollow, but parking around the side of the diner and going in through the back door meant they weren't spotted, as far as they knew. Like Rory had said, they just needed a little alone time before they hit the party. They really had been apart too long.
"Seriously, what time do you call this?" asked Lorelai as she opened the door and ushered them inside.
"Um, 3.30?" said Jess, consulting his watch and showing it to Rory too.
"Yep, looks like 3.30 to me, maybe 3.31."
"Thank you, Smarty and Alec." Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Everybody has been here over an hour already. I thought your last final got out around noon?"
"It did." Jess nodded.
"So, where have you been...? Oh," said Lorelai, the light apparently dawning in her head as she took in Rory's pink cheeks and Jess' smirk. "Forget I asked. I wish I hadn't," Lorelai declared, hands held up in mock surrender. "You're here now, it's all good."
Just as soon as she walked away and the rest of the party guests caught sight of Rory and Jess they pretty much all came running over to talk to them, hug them, and tell them how great they were. Everybody had missed Rory, from Will and Tuesday, to Babette and Maury who lived next door, and everyone in between.
"I gotta say, sugar, I wasn't exactly sorry when your mom told me you were transferring schools. Harvard was too far. I said to Maury, 'Our little Rory, she's just gone too far away. We never see her anymore!'"
"Darling, Stars Hollow just isn't the same without you. We finally get Jess and Lizzie back, plus little Tuesday of course, and you up and disappear on us," said Miss Patty, gesturing with her cigarette holder.
"Well, Harvard was great, but I happen to agree that this is where I belong," Rory smiled from her place practically glued to Jess' side. "I'm so happy that Yale said they'd take me for the next three years."
"Me too," he agreed, kissing her cheek.
"Aww, you're the cutest. Ain't they the cutest?"
"No offence, but nobody's as cute as me and Lulu," said Kirk seriously. "Rory, do you know if your mom has any more root beer?"
"I'm guessing it's in the kitchen, Kirk. Go help yourself."
The crowd around Rory and Jess seemed to disperse at last and she felt him sigh with relief beside her.
"Don't get me wrong, I do love this place, and I know you're glad to be back, but I will not hate escaping for a few weeks this summer."
Rory smiled at that. "And you're not exactly sad about the fact you get to see your dad either."
"Seeing Jimmy will be cool too." Jess shrugged like it was no big deal.
"You can be all Frank at the Sands if you want, but I know the truth," she insisted. "You'll be really happy to see him and know he's doing okay. It's been a long time."
"Longer for you," he considered. "You do know that he's probably still going to call you princess, right? Jimmy gets really stuck on his nicknames."
"Hey, I'm counting on it," Rory insisted. "I miss being a princess."
"Not something you hear said everyday," said Lane as she appeared in front of them, dragging Dave behind her. "You miss being a princess?" she checked with Rory.
"Long story," her friend insisted, before diving into conversation with her best friend about how things were going with each of them.
Jess took the opportunity to slip away and thought he was going to get away with adding a shot to his Coke when suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"You really thought nobody was watching, nephew?" said Luke, giving him a look when he turned around. "Go ahead, drink it, what do I care?" he said then, rolling his eyes. "I don't even want to know what you've been getting up to in that dorm at Yale, do I?"
"Maybe not." Jess shook his head, smirking hard. "Seriously though, first drink I've had today and I wasn't planning on having any more. This whole party atmosphere is just a little much."
"I hear you," Luke agreed, perching on the edge of the table and surveying the scene. "This is all Lorelai. She loves a good celebration. Comes with the territory when you marry into crazy."
"Because our side of the family is so sane." Jess rolled his eyes then sipped at his drink. "You know, when I came here last summer, I never saw things turning out this way. I mean, sure, I wanted to go to Yale, but I had no idea how it would work, plus Rory... I really did not see that coming."
Luke was smiling when Jess looked at him then, which came as a bit of a surprise. Before he could ask what had him so oddly cheerful, his uncle explained.
"These things take you by surprise," he explained, moving to grab a picture frame from the wall and showing it to Jess. "Twenty years ago now, I step out of your grandpa's hardware store to chase down your mom, who has gone running off in one of her snits. I grab this girl thinking it's her. She turns around and looks at me and... I don't know, it felt like somebody punched me right in the chest, just knocked all the air out of me. That one moment, changed my whole life," he explained, tapping the glass of the photoframe and bringing Jess' attention back to it.
"That was Lorelai," he said, staring at the young woman who looked so much like Rory in so many ways.
"Sixteen years old, already pregnant, soaked from the rain, and desperate for a friend." Luke nodded. "I had no idea then that this is where we were headed. I sure as hell never could have imagined that we'd end up married, raising Rory, having Will, then you coming back here, and Liz and Tuesday. It's crazy how things work out, but it's all gotta happen for a reason, right?"
"I guess so." Jess nodded, moving to put the picture back where it came from, eyes lingering on another framed photo to the right of it. "He was a real good guy, wasn't he?"
"Your Grandpa William?" said Luke with a smile. "Yeah, he was the best. You know, you remind me of him sometimes. A lot, actually."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Rory came looking for Jess then and Luke left them to it, dropping a kiss on Rory's head as he went by.
"Is he okay?"
"Sure, just getting nostalgic, that's all," said Jess, eyes still fixed on the pictures on the wall.
Rory followed his gaze to look at them too and smiled. "That's our crazy family."
"Yep," Jess agreed, his arm around her. "But would we really want them any other way?"
"No," said Rory definitely, kissing his cheek. "I like things just exactly the way they are."
The End
