A/N: Each and every time I rewatch the Jess episodes in Season 4, this idea comes back into my head and doesn't want to leave. It got to the point where I just had no choice but to write it down, and if I'm writing it then I feel I should be posting it, so you guys can read it and tell me if it sucks or not. (Wow, that was quite the Gilmore-esque ramble, huh? lol) So, please, give it a read and let me know what you think!

(Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and any recognisable dialogue from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other people that aren't me.)

Chapter 1

Lorelai hated making decisions. More specifically, she hated making decisions alone. On this occasion she really didn't have a choice. There were no objective persons to turn to for advice, not this late at night, not when the decision she must make involved a person that had hurt just about everybody in her life that really, really mattered.

"Ugh! I hate this!" she growled to herself, as she hovered in the middle of the street in the dark and freezing cold.

Luke was being impossible. It wasn't that she didn't get why he was feeling a little less than eager to be helpful right now. Lorelai thought she had family issues, but between his sister and his nephew, Luke was not having a good time of it. He should care that Jess might freeze to death in the back of his junk-pile car tonight. On some level Lorelai knew that Luke did care, but it might take a little too long for his conscience to kick in after the day he'd had.

That left Lorelai here, between a rock and a hard place. She could walk away, pretend she didn't see Jess, that she didn't pretty much tell Luke to take the kid in already. Of course, she could also wake up in the morning to the news that there was a Mariano popsicle found in the street, and though he was the biggest pain in her ass in a very long time, Lorelai knew there would be guilt. For all that Rory made pretend she was over Jess, she sure would be hurt by his death.

"I must be crazier than people say," she muttered, striding over to the car before she changed her mind.

Lorelai raised her arm and pounded her fist as hard as she dare on the window three times. Jess shifted on the back seat but made no moves to respond to her knocking, so Lorelai pounded another three times. Jess sat up sharply then, eyes widening like a cartoon when he realised who was there. He wound the window down, practically snarling.

"I'll be gone tomorrow!" he told Lorelai sharply. "Leave me alone."

"No." She shook her head, pushing her hand in through the window before he had a chance to close it. "Get out of the car, Jess!" she commanded.

He didn't budge.

"Why? So you can yell at me in colder conditions?" he asked. "Leave me alone, Lorelai."

"No," she repeated, leaning in to unlatch the door and pulling it wide open. "I'm going to say this exactly one time, so listen up. I don't like you, I never really have all that much, even when I was trying to, but I'm sure as hell not going to be the reason that you freeze to death in this heap you call a car. Now get the hell out and follow me."

She half expected him to ignore her. Stern mom voice didn't work with everybody, and Lorelai knew from experience that pretty much nothing worked with Jess. Still, she was offering him a choice between her company or hypothermia. There was a vague chance she would win over a possible life-threatening situation, but where Mariano was concerned, she couldn't be absolutely certain.

Lorelai was a good few feet from the car on her way home when she heard the door close, still not knowing whether Jess had done that from the inside or outside of the vehicle. Only when his footfalls made noise behind her did she know he was following. He fell into step beside her, and Lorelai bit back a half smile as soon as she felt it coming.

"So, you're not completely stupid," she considered, glancing his way.

"I don't think that's what this proves," he replied, pulling the zipper on his jacket higher.

Lorelai got a good look at him then, too pale, dishevelled, thinner in the face than she remembered. The kid was having it rough, that was for sure. He probably deserved it, after all, he chose to screw up and run. Still, there was a pang somewhere in Lorelai's heart. She knew what it was to strike out on your own and struggle. To be too stubborn to accept help even when you were desperate. She knew all of this a little too well in fact.

"Nice hat," she told him, with a smirk she couldn't help.

"Thanks," he replied, rolling his eyes.

From there they walked in silence, all the way to Lorelai's home. At the Crap Shack, she led the way up onto the porch and unlocked the door, stepping inside. Jess hovered outside until Lorelai eventually noticed and turned back.

"Are you coming in or what?" she asked sharply. "Because all you're achieving there is letting more of the cold air into my house."

It took another beat or two of his looking around cautiously, like maybe he was about to bolt, before the penny dropped with Lorelai. She bit back a remark about Jess' need to run away, because now wasn't the time. She was being the Good Samaritan here, for the benefit of people she loved, more than for Jess himself. The fact was she realised now that in spite of the seemingly nonchalant way he hurt Rory in the past, he was wary of seeing her. Lorelai wasn't sure what that meant. All she really knew for sure was that conserving her heating bill was way more important at present.

"If you're worried about Rory, she's not here," she told Jess. "Trust me, if she were, you wouldn't be. Now, inside already!" she urged him.

Jess let out a breath as he moved quickly into the hall and watched Lorelai slam the door closed behind him. It was weird being back here. The house looked essentially the same as he remembered, but he was different, and Lorelai had to be too. A few months ago, Jess would lay money that his girlfriend's mother wouldn't have cared if he lived or died, probably preferring the latter. Rory wasn't his girlfriend anymore, and Lorelai had every reason to hate him still, perhaps now more than ever.

"Why are you doing this?"

The question came out without Jess being sure if he had spoken the words aloud or only thought them. Lorelai's reaction gave away the truth.

"Pretty sure I told you back there I was only saying it one time," she said, not even turning around from hanging her coat on the hook. "You're not a coffee drinker, right?" she called as she continued on to the kitchen, presuming Jess would follow. "'Cause I don't know what else I have that's hot. Maybe some tea, I think?"

Jess appeared in the doorway, removing his hat, as Lorelai reached into the top cupboard for the elusive tea bags.

"Tea's good," he nodded once. "Thanks," he added as an afterthought, momentarily distracted by the door to Rory's room.

She wasn't here, probably at Yale, or so Jess assumed. Still, he couldn't help the shiver of anticipation that went through him, like any second he expected that door to open and Rory to come walking out, smiling like sunshine, just like always. Maybe the shivering was just the cold, Jess told himself. He didn't want to think any deeper right now.

Lorelai caught him staring at Rory's door and bristled at the very thought of Jess coming face to face with her daughter. That wasn't happening again. No way, no how. She didn't even want him this close to that bedroom.

"Head for the couch," she said a little more harshly than was really necessary. "Take a load off," she added with a sugar sweet smile when he met her eyes.

One, almost imperceptible nod, and Jess did as he was told.

Lorelai busied herself with the tea for Jess and coffee for herself. She took a couple of deep breaths and tried to remember that she was doing the right thing. It wasn't hard when her brain started listing the facts which fast outweighed her own negative feelings about Jess. He was alone in his car in thirty degree weather. Nobody cared enough to take him in, not even Luke. Maybe that was Jess' own fault, but when all was said and done, the guy was just a kid. His parents didn't care at all, his life had been a mess from what Luke said, from what Rory knew. Alone in the world, Lorelai knew that feeling. Some of that was her own fault, but others played their part. Maybe the same could be said for Jess. Sure, he messed up, but maybe he had reasons for being so screwed up in the head in the first place. The kind of emotional mess he was didn't come from nothing and nowhere.

Picking up the two mugs from the counter, Lorelai headed for the living room. Jess was sitting on the edge of couch like he planned to get up and run any second. He moved his hat back and forth between his hands, dark eyes staring at nothing.

"Here," said Lorelai, snapping him from his daze as she held out the tea for him to take.

"Thanks," he said too softly as he accepted the mug and clamped both cold hands around it.

He really was frozen to the bone, probably more hungry than thirsty. Lorelai couldn't see much of the guy who infuriated her so much before, who hurt Rory again and again. All she saw was a kid who was suffering. Any mother would feel the pull at her heart strings right now, Lorelai was sure on that. Getting up again, she fetched the nearest pack of cookies from the kitchen and tossed them into Jess' lap without a word. He muttered another 'thanks' as he tore into them. Lorelai just sat down in the armchair and tried not to stare.

Four hastily eaten cookies later, Jess looked a little awkward as he glanced up at Lorelai and realised she was watching him. She sipped her coffee and looked the other way, then she spoke up again.

"For the record, I told Luke to take you in tonight," she said, staring into her hot beverage. "Pretty sure he would've but... It's been a weird day."

"And getting weirder all the time," said Jess, taking a long drink of tea.

"Amen to that." Lorelai nodded once, practically saluting the sentiment with her mug.

Silence reigned for a minute more. Jess considered another cookie to sate the gnawing growl in his stomach, but then thought better of it. Some things were more important.

"I'm sorry, y'know?" he said, forcing himself to look at Lorelai.

He wasn't entirely surprised to see anger flare in blue eyes that were too much like Rory's own.

"For what?" she asked him crossly. "For treating Luke like crap? For walking out on Rory without a goodbye? Because I'm not the person you need to be apologising to."

"Actually, you are," he cut in fast before she could draw breath and ramble on some more. "You remember the day I first came here?"

"Like I could forget," Lorelai scoffed out a humourless laugh. "Your Breakfast Club audition was exemplary."

Jess couldn't help the smirk that pulled at his lips.

"Still wish you had that big cream pie, huh?"

"I'm amazed you were listening well enough to remember that," said Lorelai honestly, hiding her own hint of a smile in her coffee.

"I remember everything you said that day," admitted Jess, flicking tiny crumbs off the edge of the coffee table just so there was something else to focus on. "The only reason you made me so damn mad was because I knew you were probably right. I just didn't wanna admit it," he confessed in some soft tone that Lorelai had never heard come out of his mouth before. "Coming here... it was the best thing that happened to me. Luke, Rory, all of it," he admitted, shaking his head sadly. "It was better for me than where I was."

"So, why screw it up?" asked Lorelai, unable to help herself.

Jess shrugged his leather clad shoulders and blew out a long breath.

"It's what I do," he admitted, leaning back into the couch cushions. "It's what Liz does. Jimmy too, mostly." He smirked again then. "What? You're not gonna tell me it's wrong to blame my parents for my mistakes?" he checked.

Lorelai smiled widely and shook her head.

"Oh, honey, I may be a hypocrite sometimes, but even I'm not gonna make that comment," she told him, finishing off her coffee with a satisfied smack of her lips.

She got up and took the empty mug to the kitchen, returning via the closet with a pillow and blankets for Jess. He made no comment about the cutesy design on the covers he was being given. Even he wasn't dumb enough to be so ungrateful in such a moment.

"So," said Lorelai, dumping the blankets and pillow into his lap, "you can sleep here tonight, but you have to be gone first thing in the morning," she told Jess. "Rory's coming home-"

"I'll be gone," he promised, "from your house at least. Hopefully I'll be out of town altogether this time tomorrow."

Lorelai nodded that she understood and accepted the answer. "Probably for the best."

"Probably," he echoed.

"The couch is a little lumpy" she admitted then. "But it's that or Rory's room and-"

"Couch is fine," he interrupted a second time, but Jess was pretty sure Lorelai wouldn't care.

Neither of them wanted the conversation to veer into that territory. Jess had never been in Rory's bed. The room, sure, but never the bed. Lorelai had to know that, given the way the Gilmore girls shared, but neither of them needed to be thinking about that right now, never mind talking about it.

"Okay." Lorelai nodded once more and then headed for the stairs.

Jess unfurled the blankets, put the pillow on the arm of the couch and kicked off his boots. Getting comfortable here was going to be child's play compared to the back seat of his car. Hell, this might actually be better than some of the other places he found himself in since his last trip to the Hollow. At least this one had four walls and a roof.

"Lorelai?" he called to her before she was completely out of sight. "Thanks," he told her. "Seriously, thank you."

She just barely smiled in response and then she was gone.

To Be Continued...