Disclaimer: I do not own GG, its characters, or any recognizable references or dialogue. Please don't sue me.

Chapter 1

Lorelai Gilmore sat surrounded by her favorite food and her favorite people, but despite the jovial conversation and the deliciously made dinner, she couldn't concentrate on anything but the two teenagers sitting across from her who had been talking quietly, practically oblivious to the dinner party.

For the last hour, all had been sitting at the table in the living room, eating through Sookie's spread, and talking in between bites of food. Currently, Sookie and Jackson were arguing about the merits of papaya, with Luke rolling his eyes every couple of minutes. And her daughter, usually a partaker in these conversations, had been engaged in a much quieter, but just as joyful exchange with Luke's mysterious nephew by her side. There had been secret glances and secret smiles, and if Lorelai was correct in the body language, which she always was given that she's such an expert, there had also been secret touches.

She had a bad feeling about this.

Her eyes narrowed when she saw a blush paint Rory's cheeks before she hid it with another bite of mashed potatoes. Lorelai switched her gaze to the boy next to her, with his gelled unruly hair, his grey hoodie and baggy jeans, looking like the next iteration of James Dean or Dylan McKay. He gave her daughter a smirk before turning his head and looking into her eyes, his face now expressionless.

Lorelai frowned – that's one hell of a poker face – and opened up her mouth to speak to this boy, who had done nothing but eat and talk to her daughter, but right when she was about to speak, Sookie, who had been flapping her arms in her argument with her husband, stretched out and knocked over the bottle of beer by Luke's plate. This sparked a shout from Luke and a profusions of apologies from Sookie as she quickly shot up to wipe the mess, but she then knocked the plate of lemon herb turkey off the table, which fell to the floor in a large crash.

Lorelai silently cursed her luck as once again her attempt to question Jess and find out something about him was thwarted. All dinner long, she had been trying to edge in some very innocent - no agenda at all questions towards him; she couldn't shake the feeling that he was nothing but trouble. However, her daughter seemed to have a sixth sense about when she was going to strike and redirected the conversation instead. And this time, she couldn't blame her daughter since the interruption came from her best friend.

She watched as Jackson, Sookie, and Luke left the table to clean up the mess, and then glanced around, noticing the mostly empty plates around the table. Well, I guess it was over anyways, she thought with a sigh, as she too got up and started clearing the dishes. She shot another glance to the youngsters, and saw both of them looking at her.

"Look who's finally joined us in the land of the living," she said with a sardonic smile, a handful of plates in her arms.

Rory cocked her head in confusion. "What?"

"You know, for a second there, I thought I was stuck in some weird parallel universe, where I existed, but at the same time didn't. Oooh, I was like Casper. Except not quite as white, and at least he could get people to talk to him."

"Mom, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the numerous times I tried to start a conversation with you two, but you were oblivious, lost in your own little world."

"Oh," Rory said, a tinge of pink coming to her cheeks. "Sorry. We were just…" she trailed off, unsure of how to finish the sentence. She peeked over at Jess and noticed he was biting back a laugh.

"Oh, I'm aware," Lorelai said with a nod of her head. "I guess Einstein was right. Reality is an illusion."

"Okay, okay," Rory replied. "Are we finished then?"

"Looks like it, kid."

Luke walked back into the room, wiping his hands on his jeans. He noticed the stack of plates in Lorelai's hands and went over to her. "Here, I'll take that," he said, grabbing the dishes and turning to walk back into the kitchen. He almost bumped into Sookie, who was coming into the hallway with Jackson right behind her.

"Is that the cue for dessert?" Sookie asked, pointing to the plates in Luke's hands.

"I don't know. Ask Lorelai." He sidestepped the couple, and continued into the kitchen.

"Did someone say dessert?" Lorelai skipped up to Sookie. "Oh best friend. What delicious goodies have you made for me?"

"Well, I started out by making a key lime pie, but then I wasn't sure if Jess would like lime, since it's an acquired taste for most people. So then I switched to a crème brûlée, but I remembered Luke tends to like things a bit more simple, so then I thought maybe some chocolate -"

"Sookie! What did you make?"

"Caramel apple pie! You can't go wrong with pie, right? Cause if not, I can go back, whip up some -"

Lorelai reached out and grabbed her friend by the shoulders. "Sookie, breathe."

The chef stopped her rambling with a grin and took in a few breaths.

"Caramel apple pie sounds perfect." Lorelai turned to yell behind her back. "Rory sweets, come help dish out the pie in the kitchen. This way, we can control how much we get compared to everyone else."

"Lorelai!" Luke admonished.

"Hey!" Sookie interjected. "It's my pie. If anyone decides who gets to eat the most, it should be me." Sookie ran off to the kitchen.

Lorelai gasped, affronted. "Are you telling me you wouldn't give the biggest slice to your best friend and her only daughter? Sacrilege!" She ran after Sookie.

"Actually," Rory spoke up, eager to get some alone time with Jess. "I'm not really feeling dessert right now."

Lorelai had been halfway to the kitchen when she heard Rory's reply. She stopped, completely in shock, turned, and slowly walked back to the living room. "You what?" she asked, jaw slightly open.

Rory caught her mom's eye "I – well –"

"You're saying no to pie? Sookie's pie?!"

"Well, I mean, this was a lot of food, so I think I can wait on the pie for right now…"

Lorelai blinked in surprise before she exclaimed, "RED ALERT! RED ALERT! IT'S HAPPENING! MY DAUGHTER IS OFFICIALLY A POD PERSON!"

Everyone's head whipped around at Lorelai's outburst and watched as she started running around the house, waving her arms emphatically.

"MOM!" Rory yelled, taken aback by her mother's antics.

"QUICK, WE NEED TO EVACUATE THE HOUSE IMMEDIATELY! AND WHATEVER WE DO, WE CAN'T FALL ASLEEP!" Lorelai started to do jumping jacks in the hallway and used her feet to try and shoo the dinner party outside.

Luke, who had come out of the kitchen, shook his head and face palmed. "Lorelai, what are you talking about?" he groaned out with his face in his hand.

"It's invasion of the body snatchers! I thought we still had a few years before they came, but we don't. They're here!"

"Wow," Jess drawled out, watching the older Gilmore with amusement. "You weren't kidding when you said your mom was a little crazy," he whispered in her ear.

"Jess," Rory admonished.

"I mean, I thought she'd just be a more grown up version of you, but nope. She's definitely got a few screws loose in her head."

"Jess!"

Rory took a deep breath before turning to her mother. "Mom, stop," she said, standing up to get Lorelai's attention. "I promise it's me. Everything's perfectly fine."

"It can't be fine! You said no to pie!"

Jess snickered.

"Shut up," Rory muttered as she leant towards Jess.

"She's got a point," he muttered back.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Mom, honestly, it's fine. Besides, I can eat the pie when I get back."

Lorelai froze again for the second time in a few minutes. "Get back?" she asked slowly, fully addressing her daughter. "Back from where?"

Seeing her mom's serious face, Rory realized her misstep. "Well, um… actually…" she stammered, trying to find a way to diffuse the argument she felt was coming. "I promised to show Jess around town, so we're gonna go." She grabbed the cuff of his hoodie and pulled him up, heading to the door.

"Aw, they look so cute together," Sookie said as she watched the younger pair. "Don't they?" she asked, turning her head to Lorelai. Her smile faltered when she noticed Lorelai's expression. "Uh-oh," she whispered to herself. She quickly grabbed Jackson and Luke. "Come on boys. Help me outside with something." She dragged them out the back door, talking over Luke's protests.

Lorelai's attention turned back to her daughter when the door was shut. "I'm sorry. You what?" Lorelai asked, following after her daughter and Jess to the front entrance.

"I told Jess I'd show him around town," Rory replied as she grabbed her jacket and slipped it on.

"You have to do that now?" Lorelai nervously asked, glancing out the living room window. The sun was fully set and all the daylight was gone.

"What's wrong with now?"

"It's dark outside."

"And? It's Stars Hollow. You know nothing bad ever happens here."

"I just mean it's dark. If you're going to be showing someone around, wouldn't you rather wait until it's light out and he can actually, you know, see the town?"

"I figure it's better at this time. That way there's not a lot of people around, and he doesn't have to see we have twelve different stores that sell unicorn ceramics."

Jess, who had been staring at his shoes during their exchange, shot his head up at the last part of Rory's statement. "Wait, what?"

"See?" Rory gestured to Jess' bewilderment. "It's fine. I'll be back in a few minutes. Come on, Jess." She grabbed his sleeve again and turned to leave.

Lorelai felt her stomach clench at her daughter's familiarity with the dark-haired boy and unease settled deep in her chest. When the two teenagers were right about to leave out the door, she spoke up again. "Uh, Rory?"

Rory stopped, sighed, and turned around. "Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute?"

She bit her lip to keep back a snarky reply before whispering to Jess. "I'll be right back."

She quickly walked over to her mother in irritation. "What?"

"It's just.." Lorelai trailed off, a bit hesitant to speak her mind. Were her suspicions valid or was she being completely ridiculous?

"What?" Rory repeated louder, clearly exasperated.

Lorelai shook her head to clear her thoughts before continuing. "I'm uncomfortable with this."

"Why? I'm just showing him around town."

"When it's dark outside," she said, motioning to the window. Three heads popped out of sight, and she shook her head.

"Why do you keep saying that?"

Lorelai could tell her daughter was starting to get angry. "Look," she said gently. "I know you don't have a lot of experience in this…"

"In what? Being a tour guide?"

"No. Rory… guys like him…"

"Guys like him?"

"Look," Lorelai said as she took a deep breath. "You think they're cool cause they have this dangerous vibe and they've watched a lot of Sylvester Stallone movies -"

"Oh, so because he's part Italian, he's obviously watched Rocky and Rambo a million times." Rory rolled her eyes. "Mom, you don't even know him."

"Well, neither do you. That's my point. And you don't know 'cause you've only had one boyfriend who was nice and sweet -"

"What does Dean have to do with this?"

"You can trust a guy like Dean."

"And what? You can't trust Jess?"

"Well…" Lorelai said, gesturing to the front door with her hands.

"Oh my God." Rory immediately turned around and started walking away.

Lorelai grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Look, he's the type of guy that will expect things."

"Things?"

"Yeah. Things that tend to happen in the dark. And judging from the way he was looking at you during dinner, it doesn't take much to guess where his thoughts are headed."

"I don't believe this!" Rory exclaimed, now feeling very done with this conversation with her mom. "I'm not little red riding hood and Jess isn't some big bad wolf that's out to take advantage of me." She paused in her tirade when she realized she was partly to blame for this conversation. If only she had told Lorelai about Jess months ago, they wouldn't be having this argument. But now would be the wrong time to address it.

"How do you know?" Lorelai pressed further.

"Because I'm the one that offered to show him around town."

"But -"

"Mom, enough!" Rory said, putting her hands up. "I've got to go. He's standing by the door, and what kind of hostess would I be if I left my guest unattended?"

"But -"

"Relax. It's Stars Hollow. You can see the whole town in fifteen minutes, and I promise, I'll be back in thirty."

Lorelai paused in her retort. "You promise?" she asked warily, her eyes boring into Rory's.

"Yes," Rory said firmly. "Now can I go?"

"Okay." Lorelai relented, letting her defenses down. She may not trust Jess, but she did trust her daughter.

"Thank you," she said, making a beeline for the door. She gave Jess a brief tug on the arm before hollering to her mother. "Try not to eat all the pie without me!"

"I make no promises!" Lorelai hollered back as Rory and Jess left the house. She walked over to the windows, and through the curtains, watched as they walked down the steps with smiles on their faces. Again, her stomach clenched.

Yup. Bad feeling indeed.

"And finally, we have the Twinkle Light store, which is where we go every Christmas to get the best decorations. Harry, who runs the store, has always loved Mom, so he tends to throw in a few extra lights when we leave. When I was younger, it was my favorite place to go. Since we didn't really have a lot of money, coming to this store was like a splurge, and we'd take the little bit of lights we were able to get and put them up all over the house, and then we'd put the ornaments on the ceiling fans and make a little game out of it."

Rory interrupted her own chatter with a laugh, her face warm and bright as she reminisced about her childhood. She had taken Jess around the town and pointed out the various places that played a huge part in her growing up. Still, there was one place left on the list. She continued walking, this time in the direction of the inn.

Jess, who had remained quiet throughout the tour though acknowledging Rory's comments with a slight nod, gave a half smile and a single "Huh."

Rory turned to him as they continued their walk and smiled shyly, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I know. It's probably boring compared to New York, but the people are what make the town really interesting. You'll get to meet some of them tomorrow if you haven't already."

"Oh boy. I can't wait," he drawled.

Rory gave him a soft swat against his shoulder. "Hush you. I promise it's not all bad. It might not have the culture of the city, but it can be home."

"I guess I'll just have to take your word for it. Although," he said, reaching out his hand to grab ahold of Rory's. "I can say this place has one thing that New York doesn't have." He lightly brushed his thumb over her knuckles.

She blushed, her cheeks burning red as thoughts of their kiss rushed through her mind. She inhaled sharply and tugged him forward. "Come on, there's one more place I want to show you."

She heard a slight groan beside her. "Aw, cheer up buttercup," she teased. "We're almost done."

"Yeah, that's what you said at the last six places we've stopped at."

"Well, I just want to make sure I'm being thorough. Come on. I want to show you where I grew up." She tugged his arm again, their hands still linked, but instead of pulling him forward, she found herself being pulled backward into his chest.

"You know," Jess said, whispering into her ear. "I can think of another way you can be thorough. One that will be fun for both of us."

Rory shivered slightly as his voice sent tingles up her spine. She chuckled nervously before replying. "Since when is hanging out with me not fun?"

Jess grabbed a strand of her hair between his fingers. "Hanging out with you is always fun, especially in person. But I think there's only so much of Stars Hollow a newbie can take in one day. Plus, now that I'm here..." he stopped, bending down to place a soft kiss on the hollow of her neck. "… I've got something else I'd rather look at. I can see the haunts of this place anytime."

Rory felt her heart beat quicken as his lips met her neck. She swallowed and bit her lip before taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. "You bring up a good point." She turned around, her body now facing his. "What exactly did you have in mind?" she asked, her eyes on his chest, slightly afraid to look up into his eyes.

Jess cocked his head as if in thought. "Well," he said, his mouth pursed thoughtfully. "I seem to recall several conversations where a certain girl was really interested in seeing my book collection."

Rory's eyes flew up to meet Jess' as she felt excitement thrum through her body. "You brought your books with you?" She grabbed his hand again and started walking in the direction of the diner.

Jess smiled at her haste. "Slow down," he said, pulling on Rory's arm slightly. "It's not like I could bring all of them. Only the necessities. There's only so much I can fit in a duffle bag."

"Well, which ones did you bring?" They quickly walked across the lawns to get back to the town square.

"Hemingway, obviously. Bukowski. Kerouac. A few others."

Rory rolled her eyes at his response. "In that case, I think I'll wait for the full collection."

"Have fun waiting on Liz. And what's wrong with my books?"

She sighed. "We're really not gonna have this argument again, are we?"

"Don't tell me you're admitting defeat already."

"I thought you said this was gonna be fun for both of us."

Jess shot her a look. "Since when is debating about books not fun for you?"

Rory bit back a smile, and shrugged. "Maybe since the debates always go back to Hemingway."

"Well, the man is a genius." They reached the door to Luke's.

"Yeah, of boredom."

"Well, maybe I can change your mind," he said with a raise of his eyebrows. He grabbed his wallet from his back pocket, and pulled a card out of a slot. He slipped the card between the lock, and shimmied it back and forth, pushing the latch in and swinging open the door.

Rory walked past him and rolled her eyes at his non-traditional entry. "And how exactly would you do that? You haven't managed it in the last five months. I doubt you could do it now."

"A simple change in tactics."

"Change in tactics," she repeated, unconvinced.

He stepped towards her, running his hand down her arm, until their hands were joined again. He bent forward and whispered. "Why don't you come upstairs and I'll show you?"

Rory shivered again at his touch. "Upstairs?" she breathed out, feeling anticipation running through her veins.

Jess nodded and smirked before leaning over and placing a kiss on her lips.

She responded immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck as warmth shot to her core. She moaned softly when she felt him place his hands on her hips, and followed his touch up the stairs and into the apartment.

Lorelai stood pacing in her living room, her gaze constantly going to the window. Jackson and Sookie had left twenty minutes prior, but Luke sat on the couch, waiting for Rory and Jess to get back. Lorelai let out another groan as she glanced at the clock: 9:45pm. Fifteen minutes past the time Rory was supposed to be back. Where the hell is she? Lorelai thought as she resumed her pacing. Her legs itched to head to the front door, but Lorelai tried to keep them in check. No, we're trusting Rory. Remember, you're the cool mom.

She paced a few more minutes before she couldn't deal anymore. Her thoughts circled around one idea: Jess leading Rory into trouble. That's it, she thought as she raced upstairs to grab her keys from off the bed.

Luke, who had been twisting his cap in his hands, Lorelai's worry making him antsy, rose up from the couch in alarm as Lorelai darted up the stairs. "Lorelai!" he called, walking over to the staircase and peering up. He heard her footsteps coming back down.

She turned the corner, and he saw the keys in her hand. Immediately, he knew her train of thought. "Lorelai," he said, trying to reason with her. He stepped in front of her to block her path to the front door. "I'm sure she's fine. She's only a few minutes late. Let's give them a little more time."

"This isn't some kid we're talking about. It's Rory. She's a stickler for deadlines. She's never late. And now she's almost twenty minutes late." She tried to sidestep past him, but Luke didn't budge. "Luke, get out of my way!"

Luke kept his ground as he did his best to keep the upset woman in front of him. "Lorelai, everything is fine. I'm sure she'll be back in a couple of minutes."

"Everything is not fine. She is out with a teenage boy in the middle of the night." She tried to step by him again but failed.

"She's out with Jess. She's fine."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you actually saw how he was looking at her tonight."

Luke rolled his eyes. "And how exactly was he looking at her?"

"Like he wanted to devour her."

"Devour her?" He started laughing.

"Of course you wouldn't get it. You're a guy. And his uncle, but I know Rory -"

Luke cut her off. "Exactly. It's Rory. You know nothing's going to happen. And Jess may be a teenage boy and a bit of a smart ass, but he's quiet and keeps to himself. Besides from what I could see, he actually likes Rory. I don't think he'd do anything to hurt her."

She threw up her hands when another attempt to go around him failed. "Why would your sister send him to you unless if he was trouble? And how can you know what he's like when you haven't even seen him in several years?"

Luke opened his mouth to retort, but realized she had a valid point. Unfortunately, in that moment, Lorelai took advantage. She quickly stepped around him and shot out the door, down her steps, and into the night.

Luke shook his head, put the cap back on his head and followed. "Lorelai!" he yelled again, jogging to catch up to her. "What are you gonna do? Go around town, yelling her name? You'll wake up the neighbors, not to mention Taylor, and then I'm gonna have to deal with his crazy, and I'm not prepared to do that right now."

"Then I'll deal with him. I highly doubt he'll want to deal with me when I'm in full on Mommy mode." She took a few angry steps before calling out loudly, "Rory!"

"Oh jeez," Luke muttered as he thought of a way to calm Lorelai down. What's the one thing that can capture her attention and make her listen to reason? He pondered for a few seconds before the answer finally came to him. He briskly walked in front of her again, and this time, grabbed her shoulders to get her to focus on him. "Lorelai, stop. Why don't you come to the diner and I'll make you some coffee?"

Lorelai paused slightly in her determination at the mention of her favorite drink. Luke noticed and continued speaking.

"I'll make you some coffee and we can sit in the diner. From the window, we can see most of the town, and we'll be able to see when Rory finishes her tour with Jess." He held his breath to see if his suggestion would work.

Lorelai debated briefly in her head about Luke's idea. Although she felt pretty desperate to find Rory and make sure that nephew kept his hands far away from her daughter (although she had to admit that Rory's hands were just as quick to touch Jess), she knew rampaging through the town wouldn't really help matters and would only make a lot of people upset, Rory included if she found her. She exhaled a deep sigh before nodding her consent. "Fine. But if they haven't shown up by 10:15, I'm going back out there."

Luke nodded and together they walked the short distance to the diner.

"Curse you for using my one weakness against me," Lorelai muttered as she walked beside him.

Luke chuckled. "It's your own fault. I wouldn't know about it if you didn't come in ten times a day just to get a cup of coffee."

"Well, it's your fault for making such a heavenly drink. If you didn't make it, I wouldn't need to come ten times a day."

"Oh, okay. Well I'll just stop making it then."

"LUKE, DON'T YOU DARE!"

Luke chuckled again as they came up to the diner. Everything was quiet and dark, except for a small light coming from the upstairs window. He shook his head and grumbled, "That little punk."

"What?" she asked, confused by his statement.

"I told Jess to stop leaving that light on when we're not in the room. I even turned it off to demonstrate, and he just went and turned it back on. Probably to spite me." He took out his keys and unlocked the door, letting them in.

Lorelai stood outside and looked at the light for a long second, feeling her stomach clench tighter and tighter before she hurried into the diner and up the stairs to the apartment.

Luke stood, puzzled by her speed up the stairs. "Lorelai?" he called. When he heard no answer, he shrugged and went over to make the pot of coffee. Before he got to the counter, a sudden shout made him freeze.

"OH MY GOD!"

Jess and Rory, who had been so engrossed in their make-out session on the couch that they didn't hear the doors open, sprang apart at the shriek, both leaping from their lying position into a standing one. Rory's eyes widened as she took in the sight in front of her. There was her mother, standing in the doorway, her hand raised on the wall and her jaw dropped in shock.

OH MY GOD

A/N: So, as some of you may know, For The Love Of Howl was only supposed to be a one-shot. But thanks to the many responses I've gotten on here and AO3, I've decided to write more in that universe. Since FTLOH feels complete to me, I've decided to write a sequel. I'm not sure exactly how it is going to go. It might only be a few chapters, basing around some scenes I wanted to include in FTLOH. Or it might end up being a season 2 rewrite. I don't know. We'll have to see how the muse goes. But for now, there will be at least two to three chapters. Also, since my main writing focus is on Of Soul And Spirit, updates will probably take a little longer, but I hope to update at least once every month.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter. I wanted to write a scene about Lorelai finding out about Rory and Jess' friendship/relationship in FTLOH, but when writing the original story, I found that the scene didn't really fit with what I was going for. So I'm glad I'm writing this story now so I can finally include the scene.

Not a lot of references in this chapter. Just mainly a quote from Einstein and a reference to the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Wonderful and freaky old film. I definitely recommend watching it if you like B&W movies. The title is a line from Howl.

As always, if you could please leave a review or favorite or follow and let me know how you like it, that would be most appreciated. Up next will be the fourth chapter for Of Soul And Spirit. If you're reading that story, please stay tuned.

Until next!