Disclaimer: I don't own.

A/N: Takes place during/after 7.09 and goes from there. Changes start happening in that episode. Only difference is that Lorelai knows Jess helped Rory in 6.08.

Thoughts of an Executive Producer

Chapter One:
Meld

The duffle bag was set down on the floor with a rather loud thump; most likely due to the accumulation of novels that was nestled inside. He had to something to pass the time away while he was here. Reading seemed a better option than many. Although he began to second guess himself as the sound brought on the attention from every one of the diner patrons.

--- Three Days Ago:

The phone rang, disturbing him from that pleasant dream that came with his slumber. Yawning, he looked over at the clock: 9:56 P.M. He could just ignore the call and drift back to sleep…yeah that sounded nice.

The answering machine clicked as he closed his eyes, his voice replaying itself through the machine.

"Hey. This is Jess. There's about a fifty percent chance that I'll call you back if you leave a message. So you might as well try after the beep."

He made a mental note to change the recording tomorrow morning. It was annoying as hell. His thoughts drifted to what he would say, maybe a simple: You have reached Jess Mariano, leave your name and num—his thought halted as a familiar voice came after a shrill beeping sound.

"Uh, hey Jess, sorry to bother you so late. You're probably sleeping and in that case I'm sorry for disturbing you. Hell, I don't even know why I'm calling you of all people, usually I would have just called Lorelai but--; anyway I just needed to talk to someone. Anna—that's April's mom—is planning on moving to New Mexico and she's taking April with her. I'm going to try for custody; my lawyer says I'll probably lose—"

Jess groggily stood up, removing his bed covers from off of him and dropping them haphazardly on the floor. Stumbling towards the phone he picked up.

"Luke?" His voice sounded raspy, a side-effect to just waking up.

"Jess?" Luke sounded surprised that he actually answered.

"Yeah." Confirmation that they were actually going to have a conversation since the first time since the Open House at Truncheon, the first time in over half a year.

"Oh, sorry for waking you up."

"Don't worry about it. What's this about trying for custody?" Jess' voice showed genuine concern for his uncle.

"I'm trying to get custody of April."

"Gee, thanks, I got that." He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, well um, Anna's mom is sick and she wants to move to New Mexico so she can help take care of her. I was fine with at first, tried to tell her some sort of arrangement with holidays so I could see April. She didn't agree, so now I'm trying to—"

"Why aren't you discussing this with Lorelai?" Jess interrupted casually.

"Oh, um, she's married."

"Yeah. You guys got married in June." He rolled his eyes wondering why he had to explain this. "Sorry I didn't make the wedding…I was doing something for work."

"We didn't get married in June."

"What?"

"We broke up."

"No way! Why?" Surprise was acknowledged on Jess' features. How could two people who were that in love just break up?

"It's complicated."

"Right." His voice was laced with disbelief.

There was silence for minutes. Each one had no idea what to say next, it wasn't anything new.

Jess was the first to speak again. "I have an early day tomorrow, so I should probably go."

"Right, so thanks for listening."

"No problem. Bye."

"Bye."

With that, Jess put the receiver down and drifted back towards his bed. He couldn't fall back asleep. He kept thinking he had to go back. Luke was in trouble and as family, Jess felt the obligation to go help him. If there was one thing he learned from the two years he lived with Luke it was that you help family.

--- Present Time:

It would be tough to understand why they did it. Their whole relationship was weird; it seemed forced; only melded together after what seemed to be the demise of a pair of true soul mates. It was two people's stubbornness mixed with a failure to communicate that spawned this facade of a relationship that they were now flaunting throughout the small town of Stars Hollow--how lucky for Christopher Hayden. He and Lorelai Gilmore were currently walking hand in hand; a gold piece of jewelry situated on her ring finger gleamed in the perfect sunny day. The weather was unrealistic for a Connecticut winter, just like their marriage was unrealistic—period.

Christopher was an intruder in the town. He was more 'city' than 'town'; he preferred places such as Boston or Los Angeles and to tell you the truth, the townsfolk preferred him in such places. They wanted him out. The town was like a secret club and they wanted nothing more than to place a sign stating 'No Christopher Hayden's allowed' at its entrance. But to their dismay, they couldn't do that; he was now Lorelai's husband and Lorelai was a member of the town. It was like having the fucking 'Golden Ticket'.

The worse part of it all was that Christopher situated himself in the town Luke was raised in; the house that Luke had just fixed up for her; living the life Luke was supposed to be living--as the husband of Lorelai Gilmore. No regards to Luke's feelings--it was like he didn't even exist anymore.

Lorelai and Christopher continued walking. As they had begun to near the newly remodeled store front of Luke's Diner, Lorelai couldn't help but notice that the ribbons were out again. Just like after Luke and her 'time of separation' a year before, the forever haunting pink and blue ribbons made their appearance. But what was truly daunting was the fact that she could not spot a single pink one.

She took a deep breath and sighed rather loudly, getting Christopher's attention as they stopped right in front of the diner's window. "Lor, what's wrong?" He wouldn't understand the significance of the ribbons; he was an outsider after all.

Lorelai was about to reply when Christopher's cell phone began to ring. Looking at the caller I.D. he signaled to excuse himself as he walked towards the center of town. After he departed, Lorelai stood there, trying to look anywhere but inside the diner. After a minute of standing there, she couldn't take it anymore. She turned around only to see Miss Patty and Babette staring straight at her. She smiled softly at them, half-expecting to see Luke gawking at her. Her glance turned to behind the counter where it appeared Luke was taking a phone order, although he was smiling and looked happy.

Looking towards the gazebo, Lorelai saw that Christopher was deep into conversation; his hands were moving back and forth as if he was trying to prove a point although the person on the other end couldn't see his accentuation. Lorelai turned back around and took another deep breath, this time because she was on a mission. Her high heels clicked loudly against the sidewalk as she made her way up the diner steps. Another breath taken as she turned the knob to enter the establishment she had avoided and neglected the past few months. The damned bells announced her entrance, getting Luke's attention. He was still on the phone; a muffled voice could be heard on the other end.

Luke's eyes met hers and he froze for a second. "Sorry Liz, I have to go." There was a pause as the muffled voice said something. "Okay, see you in a bit."

Lorelai was going about to say something, anything just to get the conversation rolling. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, one Jess Mariano strolled down the stairs and through the curtain making an entrance into the now quiet diner.

Lorelai continued to stare at Luke. Normally she would have said something in response to Jess' sudden appearance in Stars Hollow. However, she had no right to do that anymore. After another moment of stares, she spoke. "Hi." Her voice came out awkward. They hadn't spoken to each other since that night April was in the hospital. The night when he noticed the ring on her finger and didn't say anything; the night the remnants of his heart were torn into more pieces than thought possible. The tension was there—and it was ice cold.

"Hey." Luke's eyes darted everywhere, finally landing on a pot of coffee before returning back to her sympathetic gaze. "You want some coffee or something?"

She smiled and sat down on the stool right in front of her. "Yeah, coffee, coffee good." She realized how ridiculous she sounded as she sputtered out words but she couldn't help it, she felt ridiculous.

He placed the large cup in front of her, paying no attention to the fact that every set of eyes in the diner were looking straight for Lorelai and himself. It was deathly quiet. He tried to distract himself by wiping down the counter in front of him. "So...," He began in an attempt to start civilized conversation, "How's Christopher?" Wrong thing to say, definitely wrong; he couldn't help it, it just spilled out.

She turned her head to the side as if she was just mentally slapped. When her eyes met his again she chose to avoid the subject. "So, Jess is here," she turned to look at Jess who seemed to be frozen to spot where he was standing, "hey Jess."

"Yeah, Liz is gonna pop any day now. I'm here to meet my new baby sister." Jess spilled out quickly, it wasn't entirely a lie.

"Oh, right; I almost forgot. It's good you're here." She had to get out of there, all this talk about Luke's family was getting to her. "Did you tell Rory you were coming, I'm sure she'd like to see you. You did get her back on track; she's really happy to be back at Yale."

"Yeah, maybe I will." Jess forced a smile. Rory had obviously neglected to tell Lorelai the specifics of what happened in Philadelphia.

"Good. Good." Lorelai brought her attention back to Luke and followed his glance out the window. There was Christopher looking like a lost puppy wondering where Lorelai was. In the diner, she stood up, not bothering to drink the rest of her coffee. "I have to go."

As she began her departure, Luke didn't say anything. He just turned around and walked in to the kitchen. In the dining room, Miss Patty leaned towards Babette. "Those poor dears are torturing themselves."

They looked outside at Lorelai and Christopher. Lorelai didn't seem herself lately; not at all. "Yeah." Babette simply added to their conversation. It was all that could be said.