A/N: Raise your hand if you've been waiting on this third part of the Kids trilogy. Anyone? Anyone? Geez, I hope you're out there, folks, 'cause here we go again! ;)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other folks who aren't me.

Chapter 1

"Geez, sis, I didn't think you could be more excited than when I got home from California" said Jess, watching Paris practically skip to the car ahead of him.

"Can it, Mariano!" she told him sharply, and yet it was impossible for her to stop smiling. "Can I help it if I'm missing the Gilmore girls' presence in my life? You and your uncle are all well and good, but a woman needs female company sometimes. There are things I cannot talk to you about."

"Thank God," Jess muttered as they both climbed into Paris' car, not even caring when she socked him in the shoulder for his comment.

They were headed to the airport to pick up Rory and Lorelai when they got in from their Europe trip. In truth, Jess was no less thrilled to have them back than Paris was. Obviously, Rory was his priority, but at this point, he would be glad to see Lorelai too. Luke wasn't doing so great without her. He was extra grumpy of late, and Jess could live without it.

"I still can't believe you and Luke worked together all that time over the summer and didn't kill each other," he said, thinking on it one more time. "I mean, you're not exactly known for your calm."

"I told you, we found a rhythm." Paris shrugged, eyes on the road at all times. "Besides, he's really not as bad to work for as you always say. He has certain small-town ideals that I guess are unshakeable after all this time, but he has a good work ethic, I'll give him that."

"I'm sure he was thrilled when you told him that." Jess smirked wickedly.

"Actually, yes," Paris agreed, either not noticing or choosing to ignore his obviously sarcastic tone. "Besides, with you away, and Rory and Lorelai too, I think it was good for him to have some younger company. Otherwise, he risked turning into a grumpy old man, and nobody wants to purchase food from that guy."

Jess didn't know what else to say to her, so he said nothing. Waiting until Paris was concentrating at a busy intersection, he leaned forward to put on the radio and retune it from NPR to some decent music. He half-expected Paris to complain, but instead found she was actually bouncing her head along to The Clash as it blared through the car. He had been trying to educate her in decent music for as long as they'd known each other. Nice to know he might finally have succeeded in instilling some taste in her, he supposed.

After tapping along to a fairly decent selection of old school pop, rock, and punk, Paris finally pulled her car into a space at the airport lot. She and Jess made their way inside and waited at Arrivals until finally the Gilmore girls appeared. Paris realised a little too late what she was going to have to bear witness to when Rory and Jess finally saw each other again.

"I swear, the theme from Love Story should be playing right now," she said, rolling her eyes.

"The way they're headed, I think more like the theme from Boogie Nights," said Lorelai with a shudder as she turned away and Paris did the same.

They did not need to see their daughter and brother respectively getting half way to happy land in the middle of an airport - that was just wrong.

"So, Paris, how've you been?"

"Fine. Busy at the diner and getting ahead with the reading for Yale. How was Europe?"

"Very European," said Lorelai with a smile. "We saw so many fantastic places and met all these amazing people. I don't regret a second of it. Except not quite managing to meet Bono. That kinda sucked."

Paris was about to note that she didn't see the attraction but respected his love for the third world when she realised Rory was reaching to hug her.

"Hey, Paris!" she said joyfully, pulling her friend close.

"Nice of you to join us," said Paris, patting her on the back. "Seriously, how do you go that long without oxygen?"

"A lot of practice." Jess noted, before seeing the look on Lorelai's face and almost blushing. "Hey, welcome back," he told her awkwardly.

"Hey yourself, kid. How was Cali?"

"It was good. Europe?"

"Also good."

"Good."

"Wow, that was wordy," said Rory sarcastically.

"Hey, when you get along as well as we do, you don't need so many words, right, Jess?"

"Sure," he replied, deliberately keeping it short for the bit.

He'd gotten used to this by now, Lorelai and her jokes and all. Honestly, he liked that she was this kind of wacky, even if she did have the ability to embarrass him or freak him out sometimes. She was a lot like Rory, and she didn't want to castrate him for sleeping with her daughter, plus she made Luke insanely happy. It was a win-win-win as far as Jess could tell.

"So, where's my man?" asked Lorelai then. "I kind of figured he missed me or something."

"Oh, he missed you, believe me!" Paris assured her, pulling her into conversation as they headed for the car.

Rory and Jess lagged behind, their arms wrapped around each other still.

"As much fun as Europe was, I am very glad to be home."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Definitely. If it wasn't clear already, Stars Hollow has one or two things that are very easy to miss."

The look in Rory's eyes was unmistakable and Jess couldn't help but kiss her long and hard on the lips. They might've made it all the way to the parking lot without letting up, if they hadn't crashed into somebody's luggage trolley and almost knocked both themselves and it over.

"Well, that was embarrassing," Rory noted as they continued walking after making eight or nine apologies. "But totally worth it."

"I'll agree with that." Jess smiled.

"So, you've been back two weeks already, what's been happening in town whilst we were gone?"

"Not much. Taylor's opening his new soda shoppe soon, which is adding to Luke's excellent mood, let me tell you."

"Aaw, poor Luke," Rory sympathised. "How's Lane?"

"She's good, from what I can tell," Jess considered. "I haven't seen her much, at least, not without her mom glued to her side. You know how it is."

"Poor Lane. Well, at least Paris seems happy," she said, gesturing ahead to where her friend talked animatedly and laughed with Lorelai. "I was worried about her being left behind when we both went away."

"From what I hear, she and Luke kind of adopted each other for a while there."

Rory made a face. "That's... nice?"

"They seemed okay with it." Jess shrugged. "Weird as that sounds."

"Well, now the gang is all back together," said Rory happily, snuggling ever closer into her boyfriend's side. "And just one week left until we all go to Yale!"

She said it with such joy, Jess decided not to make any kind of negative comment. It wasn't that he hated the idea of going to college exactly. When he had to think about choosing a major and picking out courses, he found he got really into it all. The literature from Yale made everything sound so exciting and interesting. Jess only hoped it proved to be as great as it seemed on paper.

Certainly, it didn't suck knowing he was going to be living a little more independently, and on the same campus as Rory and Paris too. Of course, he was going to have room-mates he didn't know and professors he might not care for. Jess chose not to worry about it too much. This was a great opportunity for him, everybody said so, and regardless of how it turned out later, he was going into this with an open mind and at least a little positivity. There was no other choice.

Rory had barely been back twenty-four hours when Taylor sprang the whole Ice Cream Queen thing on her. Usually she was so into town events, she could understand why he thought she would be up for this particular role, but quite honestly, she just didn't have the time. The schedule she made herself for starting Yale looked a little cramped when she revisited it on her return from Europe, and Rory was determined to be ready ahead of time so she and Lorelai could spend a couple of days having fun before the day of her leaving. That meant no time for things like being the face of the Soda Shoppe launch.

Thankfully, Paris was still working her shifts in the diner until school started. That meant she was in town the day of Taylor's store opening and wasted no time at all in wading in when the Town Selectman started putting Rory down.

"Listen to me, Doosey. You may own the grocery store and your quaint little candy store, but you're not God!" she told him crossly. "Rory Gilmore is one of the most sickenly nice people that I know. She does everything for everybody, so just because she turned you down this one time does not give you the right to sully her reputation as town princess, okay?"

Rory wasn't so sure she appreciated the actual wording, but the sentiment was true enough. Besides, it was the thought that counted, and it was kind of entertaining to see Paris almost bring Taylor to tears. Certainly, the rest of the townspeople who saw and heard the altercation seemed to think so. Jess was particularly impressed with his sister's performance, though that didn't stop him declaring that maybe she should get the Ice Cream Queen crown in the circumstances, in front of a bunch of bystanders who seemed quite happy to agree.

"Not if you paid me, wise ass," she told her brother, with the same venom she had been spitting on Taylor, though a smile broke through as she turned to storm back into the diner.

Jess knew as well as she did that all those people being supportive of her did not suck for Paris. She had made friends here, maybe even some fans, and she didn't hate the community spirit of Stars Hollow in general. Jess understood because he felt it too. As much as he tried to fight it in the beginning, the place got under your skin, the people too. It wasn't so bad to feel you had a place to belong.

"I still have so many supplies to get together," Rory told him then, consulting one of many lists. "This is crazy!"

"You want help?" he offered. "I don't think I'm needed here for as long as Paris is around," he said, hiking his thumb back towards the diner.

Rory gratefully accepted the offer and they started off walking towards the relevant stores, figuring out which things she needed to get herself and which Jess could pick up for her. Anything from the drugstore was a Rory task, but certain stationery items and things like a waste paper basket and such were easy enough for Jess to handle.

"I'll bet Paris had all her stuff bought and packed right at the start of summer." Rory sighed.

"Pretty sure," Jess agreed. "Seems as if she's been working in the diner most of the time we were away."

"Did she see Jamie at all?" asked Rory then. "I asked her about him, but she was kind of vague. They didn't break up, did they?"

"Pretty sure they're still together." Jess shook his head. "Paris saw him a couple of times, so she said, but I don't know. I leave all the boyfriend stuff to you girls. I do not need to hear that," he said, hands raised in mock surrender.

Rory laughed at his expression, but knew he had a point. Jess was the last person who would want to hear about Paris and Jamie's love life. Still, Rory made a note to ask her friend what was going on and soon. It seemed strange that she wouldn't see as much as possible of Jamie over the Summer, especially when they wouldn't be at the same college in the Fall.

Jess kissed Rory's cheek as they parted ways at the next corner. He headed off, list in hand, and she watched him go for a moment before attending to her own shopping tasks. She did love that both Jess and Paris would be with her when Yale started next week. She also loved that her mom and Luke were engaged (even if Luke was a little self-conscious about people knowing Lorelai asked before he could). She loved that Sookie's baby would be along in just a few short months. Everything was going well, all on the up and up, and though Rory was sure in these circumstances she should be worried about what was about to go wrong and ruin it all, she really wasn't concerned. She felt good about where she was at and what was to come. The sun was shining and the world was a beautiful place. For all of these reasons, Rory Gilmore wore a wide smile as she practically skipped to the store.

To Be Continued...