Time After Time - A Gilmore Girls Fanfic #1

Chapter 9

Lorelai regretted the words the instant they left her mouth. She didn't know why she'd told Jess; the words just kind of tumbled out in her shock.

Rory. In London. With Logan.

Again.

She shook her head, trying to tamp down the mounting frustration. Lorelai had watched her daughter make some huge mistakes in the past—from sleeping with a married Dean, to quitting Yale—but she'd tried to stand back and give Rory room to learn her lessons in her own time. Rory was an incredibly smart girl and often learned her lesson, even if, sometimes, it was in a roundabout way. So when Rory broke the news that she was back with Logan—who was engaged to a French heiress—Lorelai was sure it was only a matter of time before Rory saw the error of her ways. And Rory had, finally breaking it off with Logan. Only to find out later that she was pregnant with his child.

Lorelai felt like a spectator at a tennis match but instead of a ball, it was her emotions getting batted back and forth. And now, seeing the look on Jess' face, she felt herself getting smacked back over to the other side of the court again.

"Logan?" Jess asked, his eyebrows drawn so tight, they were almost touching. He set his hands on his hips and let out a breath through his nose. "The hell?"

"Look, I know how you feel about Rory..." she said, hoping to salvage the situation.

He looked up, anger lining his face. "Do you?"

"Uh, yeah," she said. "I've watched you over the past decade pining over her."

"How? You barely even see me."

"But when I do, your eyes are flicking around, searching for her," she said. "I've noticed, Jess. I know you've been waiting for her to come home."

"Did you notice her sneaking off to London to be with that blond dick from Yale?" he said, jabbing a finger in what she assumed was the general direction of London.

"Hey, that's not fair," Lorelai said. "You don't know why she's there."

"Do you?" he asked, glaring at her.

She stopped short. "Come on, Jess. Don't do this whole destructive thing again. You've been through this phase of pushing people away. It wasn't pretty then and it's not pretty now."

"I'm pushing people away?" He paused, eyes narrowing. "Nice misdirection, Lorelai. Real nice. Just answer the question."

"What question?"

"Of why she's in London!"

"I can't tell you that," she said, fighting the urge to yell back. She wasn't sure what would happen if they both blew up right then. "But it's not what you think it is."

"So why do you look like how I feel?" When she didn't have an answer, he nodded. "Thought so."

"I trust my daughter to do the right thing. If you care about her even half as much as I think you do, then you'd trust her too."

With hands on his hips, he scrunched his lips together. He stared off into space for several moments, shaking his head every now and then. "You know, I've loved your daughter since the first day I met her," he said, his voice thick with anger. But underneath all the layers, she knew there was sadness buried there. "Even when I didn't have it in me to care about myself, I still cared about her."

"I know," Lorelai said quietly, her heart hurting for the person before her. She had known Jess first as a self-destructive boy with a sharp tongue and a chip on his shoulder. But he had evolved over the years, shedding the anger and doubt, finally becoming a successfully functioning adult, something she never thought she'd see. Though they still provoked each other once in a while, Lorelai often came dangerously close to liking him.