A/N: What...what's this? A new chapter? Really? Whoa!

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own the characters, even with their AU personalities.

Rory left her grandparents' house/mansion feeling rather torn. She was surprised by how much she and her grandpa had in common, at least when it came to literature. Emily still intimidated her, though. She could practically feel the disapproval dripping off her. Lorelai glanced at her niece as they walked to the Jeep.

"It's just because she and your mom had a falling out when she left," she said, reading Rory's thoughts. The younger girl simply shrugged in response, pretending not to care. They got in the car and Lorelai turned to grin at her niece as she started the engine. "Are you excited to see Jess later?" She said Jess like it was a dirty word she thoroughly relished pronouncing.

Rory snorted. "Whatever."

"Oh, I see we're back to Teen Speak. That's cool. Or should I say…that's dope?"

Rory had to let out a genuine peal of laughter at that. "Nobody actually says that. At least not anymore."

"Are you just telling me that so I won't sound cool in front of all your…hip friends?"

Rory just shook her head, covering her eyes in embarrassment.

Rory could not deny that she felt the slightest hint of butterflies in her stomach. She hadn't seen Jess since their…encounter under the awning the day before. She held a t-shirt to her chest, turning this way and that in the mirror to see how it might look. Discarding it, she returned to the closet, staring into it as if it held all the answers to life's questions.

"Want help?" Lorelai asked, appearing behind her.

Rory sighed. "I…don't know." She turned to look at her aunt appraisingly. Lorelai simply stood there as Rory analyzed her outfit and thought about what she'd worn over the past few weeks. "I guess."

"Yes!" Lorelai cheered. "I am so good at this. You'll see." Within a few minutes, Lorelai had sorted through every piece of clothing Rory owned. "None of this will work," she informed her niece, whose jaw dropped.

"What?!" she shrieked.

"Don't worry! We can go to the magical shopping closet upstairs! Come with…meeee!" she sang, dancing out the door.

"Too much caffeine," Rory muttered under her breath, trudging after Lorelai. She stood in the doorway and watched as her aunt sorted through her own wardrobe, hemming and hawing over various tops and skirts.

"Okay," she said after ten minutes. She held up a dark red blouse. "This says you're cute and down-to-earth." She picked up a pair of skinny jeans. "These say, 'I like to be comfortable, but not the pre-makeover What Not to Wear version of comfortable." Finally, she grabbed a light scarf and wound it around Rory's neck. "And this…well, this is just plain cute. Oh, and wear your jacket."

Rory stared at her. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Lorelai shoved the outfit in her niece's arm and gestured for her to head downstairs.

"You just put together the perfect outfit in less than ten minutes. I had been staring at my clothes for twenty," Rory said over her shoulder as they walked down the steps and back into Rory's room.

Lorelai shrugged. "What can I say? It's a gift. Now, I do have one caveat…" She looked at Rory sternly. "Please do not smoke while you're wearing my clothes. Please. I feel that I've been very…er, forgiving in that area. I have not hidden your cigarettes, or bought you tapes, or patches, or crazy Chinese herbs, all of which Luke suggested to me, by the way. All I ask is that you leave my clothes smelling like…well, clothes, and not an ashtray." Rory reluctantly agreed, trying not to think of what (or, more accurately, who) cigarettes would forever remind her of.

An hour later, Rory hesitated outside the door to Luke's until Lorelai gave her a gentle shove between the shoulder blades, forcing her to push it open. The bell jingled and Rory's eyes made quick work of the diner's patrons. Babette and Morey, Miss Patty, Kirk, Andrew from the bookstore, Gypsy from the auto shop, a couple kids from school, Luke…no Jess. She felt mildly concerned that she might have a panic attack from the way her nerves were jumping around, and apparently it was rather noticeable. "Hey," Lorelai said. "Try to relax. Your eyes look like they're gonna jump out of your head." Rory threw her a dirty look with her jumping eyeballs, but tried to take a few deep breaths. How bad could it be, really?

"So I'll see you later, right?" someone giggled, and Rory's gaze turned to the curtain covering the way to the stairs.

"Sure, I just have to do this thing with Rory first," a voice that was distinctly and undeniably Jess' replied. Then he and Francie emerged from behind the curtain, like an unwelcome consolation prize. Rory's heart sank and Lorelai made a half-angry, half-sad sound behind her.

"You guys eating?" Luke inquired from behind the counter, seemingly oblivious to the crisis happening right in the middle of his diner.

"Um, yeah, two cheeseburgers and fries, please," Lorelai replied distractedly. Luke followed her and Rory's gaze to Jess and Francie in the corner, where the couple were staring sickeningly into each other's eyes. His eyebrow quirked up in a silent question, but he said nothing aloud.

"Coming right up," he muttered as Rory and Lorelai took seats at the farthest table from the corner.

"You okay?" Lorelai said in a low voice, well-covered by the chatter of the other customers. Rory just nodded, her eyes icy. She knew she shouldn't be mad. It was silly of her to expect that Francie would immediately be exiled, just because she and Jess had kissed one time. But she couldn't deny she'd kind of been expecting it. I mean, look at her, she thought snidely, peering at Francie out of her peripheral vision. She's so…blah. What a snob.

"Hey," Jess said, startling her.

"Oh, hey," she replied, her voice dull and flat. She glanced up at him quickly, then back down at the table.

"Jess, who's the girl?" Babette asked loudly. Francie, who was halfway to the door, stopped in her tracks and listened.

"Um…that's Francie," Jess replied lamely, well aware that his answer wouldn't come close to satisfying Babette's – and the town's – sudden curiosity.

"She's your cousin, right?" Kirk asked from the counter. "That's what Taylor told me. He tells me everything." He took a large bite of his grilled cheese. Jess looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Rory watched his eyes dart to Luke, who just shrugged, making Jess' eyes narrow. His dad wasn't going to help him out of this one.

"She's…my girlfriend," he muttered reluctantly, chancing a quick look at Rory. She was staring out the window as if nothing at all of interest was going on, but a closer look revealed that her hands were clasped tightly in her lap. The diner gasped at large. Only Luke, Lorelai, and Rory seemed unfazed by the revelation.

"You're dating your cousin?" Kirk asked, holding up an inquisitive pickle. Nobody paid him any mind.

"She goes to your school, huh?" Babette said eventually. Jess nodded. The entire conversation was taking place as if Francie herself were not there, although she watched and listened silently from the door. Rory stared at her and the redhead lifted her nose in the air and ignored it.

"Can we go, Jess?" she asked stiffly.

"I – I have to study with Rory, remember?" Jess asked, resting a hand on the table. He tapped on it.

"Fine, whatever," Francie snapped after a moment of looking back and forth from Rory to Jess. She left. There was a brief moment of silence, during which only the sound of Kirk chewing could be heard.

"Well. She's…nice, sugar," Babette tried first.

"Is that her natural hair color?" Patty asked next.

"I don't know," said Jess, scrunching up his shoulders uncomfortably. He sat down in the chair opposite Rory, jerking a nod to Lorelai. "Got your books?" he asked Rory, letting out a puff of breath.

"Um…yeah, they're right here."

Jess looked at her expectantly. In turn, Rory looked at Lorelai. "Oh," she said. "Uh, I guess I'll take the burger to go." She glanced up at Luke, who grabbed a takeout bag from behind the counter and brought it to the table. "Thanks." She looked at Rory. "See you later?"

"Yeah."

Lorelai nodded and left after exchanging a quick, questioning glance with Luke, who shrugged slightly. He moved back behind the counter and became absorbed in a conversation about cheese-to-bread ratio with Kirk. Rory set her history book on the table carefully and waited, but Jess was staring out the window, seemingly at nothing. "You okay?" she asked after a few minutes of tortured silence. He jumped, as if he'd forgotten she was there.

"What are you learning about in your French class?" he asked, grasping her history textbook and flipping it open.

"Uh…I'm taking Spanish…" Rory gave him a quizzical look. Her embarrassment was overshadowed by concern. She noticed Luke and Kirk staring at them, and lightly touched Jess' denim-clad arm. "Wanna walk around outside for a few minutes?"

"Sure." Jess stood abruptly and walked out the door without waiting for her. Rory followed him all the way to the bridge where she'd sat on her second day in Stars Hollow. It was chillier here now, and she wrapped her jacket closer around her small frame before sitting down next to Jess. She waited patiently, now aware that something strange was going on inside his mind. Plucking absentmindedly at her jeans, she waited for him to work it all out.

"I don't like Francie that much," he finally said, his fingers twiddling a cigarette.

"So why are you dating her?" Rory asked, furrowing her brow. Regardless of whatever feelings she may or may not have had for Jess, that just didn't make sense. Why date someone you didn't like very much? Jess shrugged.

"Dunno. She wanted to."

Rory couldn't help snorting, and he lifted his head to look at her. "Sorry," she said. "I can think of a lot of bad reasons for dating someone…and that has to be one of the worst." She shifted a little so she could look at him without craning her neck. "If only one of the people in a relationship is putting in any effort, then what's the point?" She threw her hands in the air for emphasis. "There isn't one, exactly!" she continued, though Jess hadn't answered her question.

"Francie was one of the first people I met when I started at Chilton," he explained, staring down at the water below them. "I could see that she was the queen bee already, and she was used to getting everything she wanted. I figured it would make my life easier if I didn't butt heads with her." Rory nodded, encouraging him to go on. He lit his cigarette. "I…I can't even remember how we started going out. It just kind of happened, and one day I woke up, and I was her boyfriend. It was like it was happening to me, you know?" He inhaled deeply. "Like I wasn't even a participant in the relationship."

"Does it still feel that way?"

Jess jerked his head up and stared at her. "Yeah, it does." Rory nodded, but didn't say anything further.

"She decides everything we do. I wanted to go to this Distillers concert in Hartford last week, but she just…kind of ignored me and told me we were going to a party instead." He flicked his cigarette ash into the water. "It sounds so stupid and weak, but she has so many…I dunno, minions at school. If we broke up…" He trailed off, leaving Rory's imagination to work at what Francie could possibly do to Jess.

"Would it really be so bad? I mean…worse than actually being with her?" Rory asked, trying to remain neutral. Much as she wanted to push him into breaking up with Francie, her conscience (which sounded remarkably like Lorelai) urged her to allow Jess to make up his own mind. He just lifted a shoulder, a habit that grated on Rory's nerves a little, despite her own propensity for making an identical gesture. She tried to ignore her heart slamming against the cage of her ribs and took a deep breath. "So what was yesterday all about?"

"What do you mean?"

Rory narrowed her eyes at him and waited. He sighed in resignment. "If you wanna just forget it ever happened…"

"I don't," she replied instantly, surprising him. She gazed at him. "Do…do you?"

"No."

Rory bit her lip. "Okay…" She turned so her legs were dangling off the side of the bridge again and stared at the water.

"Can I just see something?" Jess asked, and she flinched when she realized he was much closer than he'd been a moment ago.

"Um, okay," she replied quietly, and he leaned forward and cupped her jaw in his left hand. "Jess…we shouldn't…" But then his mouth met hers and she marveled at how soft his lips were and how his breath didn't stink like an ashtray, despite his covert nicotine habit. Rory couldn't help but wrap her arms around him and pull him closer. We're just seeing something, she told herself as his tongue slid into her mouth. It's like a science experiment. Long moments drifted by lazily. She felt the urge to feel for her pulse to make sure her heart was still beating. He played with her hair and trailed his fingers along the nape of her neck, making her shiver and gasp a little into his mouth. He pressed his lips against hers harder, then pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. Just an experiment, right?