A/N I have been tossing this idea around for a long time and I finally had to write the full chapter. If you guys like it, I will continue. I promise this will end up a LIt story. It picks up one day before Rory's 21 birthday party and I've added a little twist. I'm still working on Something Worth Fighting For because its my baby...I just had to get this one out of my head. So enjoy and let me know what you think and if I should continue. Oh yea no copy right intended. This is just for fun.

Jess walked out of the bookstore that had agreed to stock his book. He still wasn't use to calling it his book, but there it was, a printed documentation of what fell out of brain one night when his thoughts became too much and he had no choice but to write it down.

The next day he planned to make his way to New Haven to see Rory. He needed to show her that he had changed. She needed to know he was different now, if for no other reason than to thank her for seeing past all the walls he put up. She saw him behind the chip that was fixed on his shoulder and the mask of not caring he wore so well. She knew who he could be even before he knew, even when he was an angry kid who couldn't open his mouth and say what he wanted. She said he could do more and he finally had.

He initially begged the owner to carry The Sub-Sect. The bookstore sold the ten copies and made a second order. His business partners, Matt and Chris practically dragged Jess to the bookstore in Woodbridge when the owner reached out to Truncheon Books and asked Jess to do a reading and book signing. So now here he was, back in Connecticut promoting his book as the author.

He was about to get in to his 2000 Honda CR-V he was forced to buy when his rust bucket of a car died three days after getting him to Philadelphia. Jess took it as sign as it was loaded on to the tow truck that perhaps this would be a more permanent situation than the dingy apartment he had been crashing at in New York.

A young girl of about twelve with curly dark hair and the most ridiculous looking bike helmet stopped him.

"You Jess Mariano?" The girl said.

"Last time I checked" Jess turned around to see the girl in glasses and long curly hair. "I don't want Girl Scout cookies."

"I'm not selling anything." She said. "I need your hair."

"Excuse me," Jess was taken aback. "I'm not having that good a hair day."

"With roots?" She continued.

"For…"

"I go to Martin Van Buren Middle School over on Woodbridge. Do you know it?"

"No."

"Well, every year Samuel Polotsky wins the science fair. Now, it's very important that I beat him this year because I hate him. This year I have the perfect project. I'm going to take hair samples from three men, run DNA tests on them, and figure out which one's my father."

"Huh. Good luck with that."

"My uncle works for a lab in Hartford, so he's going to oversee me. But I'll be doing all the actual work myself," she continued.

"Your father," Jess' blood ran cold at her words.

"Yeah, see, science fairs have gotten so political lately. It's no longer the simple act of science being appreciated. There's got to be a twist, a gimmick. Something flashy. I figure this is perfect. Real science, DNA testing, with a flash of human drama. "Who's my daddy?". Huh? Catchy, right?"

But I'm to young to be…"

"I already have the other two samples. This is my last stop. I go to the lab tomorrow, and the fair is on the 16th. And, if I win, there's going to be a banquet on the 18th, and you get to choose any two kinds of spaghetti that you want. There's going to be at least ten options, though I know what I'm getting. Split order, half mushroom, half mizeethra cheese."

"But I'm not your…I'm too young…" Jess stammered.

"Your father is Jimmy Mariano. I found my mothers old diary. There isn't a James or Jimmy Mariano on the eastern seaboard that fits the age range and love of Hot Dogs. But I was able to track down a Jimmy Mariano in California that does and he has a hot dog stand on Rome beach…"

"Venice Beach," Jess corrected. He was turning white at her descriptions of the man he had only met a few years ago.

"And you are his son. I did an online search. I found your publishing company and now here I am."

Jess stood in shock of this girl.

"Even without Jimmy, I can prove we have similar DNA markers that siblings share. It would better if I had your mother's hair to rule out what you got from her and what you got from Jimmy. But I will take what I can get." The girl reached up and pulled out some of Jess' hair, took a picture of him and got back on her bike and went on her way.

Jess stood on the sidewalk and touched the spot where the girl had pulled out his hair.

He needed to see Luke.

Jess drove up to Luke's diner and could see Lorelai Gilmore through the window. "Well here goes nothing," he said to himself. He knew his uncle was engaged to Lorelai Gilmore. It was about time. The only two people who couldn't see that coming form a mile away were Luke and Lorelai themselves. He took a deep breath and got out of the car walked into the diner.

When the bell chimed to signal a new customer both Lorelai and his uncle looked at him.

"Jess?" Luke said in surprise. "Did I know you were coming?"

"I didn't know I was coming," Jess answered. "Its okay that I'm here?"

"Of course it's okay," Luke said still taken aback by his nephew's presences.

" I was in Woodbridge and I wanted to say hi."

"I'm glad you did."

Jess sat at the counter and nodded hello to Lorelai, who smiled politely at him. After all that happened between him and Rory, he was taking it as a good sign.

"You're welcome to stay here."

Jess was supposed to drive back to check into a hotel in Hartford, but after the conversation he had with the strange girl, he wasn't in the mood for driving. He knew he had a place to stay with his uncle.

"You sure? I'm not imposing?"

"Never."

"Okay then. I will stay for the night." He went and got his stuff out of his car and carried it upstairs.

Jimmy had up and left Jess and his mother before he was home from the hospital and now this girl wanted his hair for genetic proof of a sibling. If Jimmy could just leave Jess, whose to say he wouldn't do the same to another kid? It made Jess sick. He would tell Luke about the strange girl later. For now, he was just happy to be around the only man who came closest to being a father to him.