Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls

Curley: Thanks for your comments and your alerts! And the idea, I hadn't thought of it because I'm not a Jess fan. But I will try.

Chapter 3

"Hey Mom."

"What's wrong?" Lorelei said immediately.

"Well, you should be expecting a call from Grandma at some point in the near future," Rory said cautiously.

"Why?"

"Logan saw Luke and I out at the Pub having lunch."

Then, Rory heard the phone ring in the background. Her mother started shrieking. "DON'T ANSWER THAT PHONE!"

Then Rory heard a scuffle and a lot of banging and crashing.

"Mom?" Rory asked. "Mom, are you ok?"

Rory looked at Luke and Luke mouthed "What?"

Rory scrunched up her face and shook her head.

"Mom, you there? Do I need to call an ambulance or Babette?"

Finally, Lorelei responded. "Please don't call either of them."

Rory could hear Christopher in the background. "Lorelei, what the hell was that about?"

"It was my mom."

"I know, I answered before you threw me to the floor, took the phone and yanked the phone out of the wall."

"I don't want to talk to my mom right now."

"You never want to talk to your mom, so I always deflect for you."

"I don't want you to take any flack for something I did."

"What did you do?"

"Well, technically, Rory did it."

"MOM!"

"What did Rory do?" Christopher asked.

"MOM!"

"Let me finish with Rory first, then I will talk to you about this," Lorelei tried to placate Christopher. "Shit, my call waiting is beeping. Rory?"

"Yeah."

"The jig is up kid."

"I know, text me if I should barricade the doors and windows."

"Will do, kid."

Rory hung up her phone and gave Luke a worried look.

"Mom has to tell Dad."

Luke stared at Rory for a few moments and contemplated his next move.

"So any minute your dad will be coming through that door to kill me."

"Possibly, however, I expect Mom to be at the top of her distraction game."

They sat down at the kitchen counter and fiddled with some popcorn. They heard a knock at the door a few moments later.

"That can't be Dad already."

"What's the game plan?" Luke asked. "Should I open the door, should I follow you to the door, or should I stay here in the kitchen?"

"Stay," Rory said as she stood. She gave Luke a weak smile and turned to walk to the door. She stood in front of the door and took a deep breath. She opened it and saw her grandmother. "Grandma!"

"Rory, we NEED to talk."

Emily walked into the house and went to the living room. She saw Luke sitting at the counter and turned to look at Rory who had followed Emily after standing stunned in the doorway.

Rory looked harried and stopped short when she saw the look Emily was was giving her.

Rory smiled awkwardly. "Grandma, how do you like the furniture?"

"So, its true?" Emily asked sternly.

"That Dad bought me a townhouse and furnished it after I broke up with Logan," Rory started. "Yeah, its true."

"No, Rory," Emily firmly said, crossing her arms. "You are dating the diner man?"

"His name is Luke, Grandma," Rory answered firmly crossing her arms.

"He is not an appropriate man for you to date, Lorelei Leigh."

Rory furrowed her brow. "And who is appropriate, Grandma?"

"For starters, Logan."

"Yeah, Grandma, that acorn didn't fall far from the tree," Rory raised her voice. "Is that what you want for me, a philandering husband and my weight yo-yoing thirty pounds every three months?"

"What are you talking about?" Emily uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips.

"We had a fight and before we made up, Logan slept with Honor's entire bridal party."

"Well, there are plenty of other suitable young men here at Yale for you to date," Emily said. "It is unseemly for you, a vibrant, young, wealthy girl to date a middle class man who is old enough to be your father."

"Well that was certainly snobbish Grandma."

"Its true, Rory," Emily said stepping forward. "How do you think it looks for you to be dating him? It looks ridiculous. You both look ridiculous," Emily said looking from Rory to Luke.

"Look, Emily," Luke started before he was cut off by a shrieking Lorelei.

"Rory! Why aren't you answering your phone? We're here, and your father has blood in his eyes!" Lorelei skidded to a stop between Rory and Emily. "Mom! What are you doing here?"

"LORELEI LEIGH GILMORE," they heard from the doorway. Rory hung her head, Luke stood up, Lorelei spun around and Emily stepped toward the door.

"Chistopher!" Emily said surprised.

"Emily, what are you doing here?" Christopher asked.

"I assume the same thing you are doing," Emily said turning and shooting daggers at Luke from her eyes.

"Grandma, please be polite to my guest!" Rory said with her voice raised.

"He is not welcome in MY house!" Christopher retorted.

"It's MY house DAD, you put it in MY name!" Rory returned.

At that point Rory, Emily and Christopher began a screaming match. Lorelei and Luke tried to follow the conversation but when Lorelei began hearing things that could damage the family relationships, she stepped in.

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT," Lorelei hollered stepping between Rory and Christopher and Emily while waving her arms. "To your corners, please!"

Everyone stopped.

"We WILL NOT do this like this," Lorelei said. "First of all, this is Rory's decision. Second of all, if we want to have a conversation about it, we will do it in a civil manner so that we will do not damage to our relationships."

"Rory, Christopher, Mom, Luke, please take a seat," Lorelei said a few minutes into a stand off. Emily and Christopher took two arm chairs, Rory and Luke a couch and Lorelei sat on the coffee table between all of them.

"Rory," Lorelei started. "How long have you been seeing Luke?"

Rory looked to Luke, then her mom. "Since the night Logan and I broke up."

"Why did you go to Luke?"

"Because he is a terrific man, loving, generous, kind, handsome, loyal, hardworking..."

"Mom, using kind words, why are you concerned about her relationship with Luke?"

"Because he is older and an unsuitable choice."

"What makes him unsuitable?" Rory asked. Luke was looking at his hands to avoid Christopher's glare.

"He is not one of us Rory," Emily finally said.

"Grandma, I have been with one of us and I don't want that kind of life. I appreciate everything you, Grandpa and Dad have given me and will give me, but I can't be with someone who doesn't have genuine feelings for me."

"Rory," Christopher started, "he is old enough to be your father."

"And Dad, what does that matter? He has his life together. He knows what he wants, where he wants to be, and he is there."

"Which will only hold you back, Rory," Emily countered.

"I'm sorry, I have to jump in here," Luke said to Lorelei. Lorelei nodded. "I have no intentions of holding Rory back. I have her best interests in my mind. If she needs me to let go, I will. I am just happy to be able to instill in her that not all men are arrogant and inconsiderate."

"Ok, this is out in the open," Lorelei said. "Mom, Chris, let's go, we can continue this later after everyone has calmed down and thought about everything."

Rory and Luke sat on the couch and watched as Christopher, Emily and Lorelei left the townhouse.

They sat quietly as they heard the cars start and pull away. Dumbfounded and shocked at how their evening turned out, they didn't move or speak.

Finally, Rory began giggling. Luke was concerned by her reaction and looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"That could have been so much worse!" Rory spat out. Then she saw Luke's expression. "Are you ok?" She got serious. "Luke, if this is too much for you, I understand. Many a guy has run from my family."

"I'm not running away," Luke said leaning into her. Rory put her hands on either side of his face and leaned into him for a kiss.

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The next morning, Rory's doorbell rang while she was in the shower. Luke went to open the door and found a messenger. Luke signed for Rory's envelope and put it on the counter next to her plate. When she got out of the shower, Luke had chocolate chip marshmallow pancakes waiting for her.

Luke was eating his yogurt and noticed, that in true Gilmore girl fashion, Rory had pancake tunnel vision and hadn't noticed the envelope.

"A messenger was here this morning."

"What?" Rory asked her pancake concentration broken.

Luke gestured toward the envelope.

Rory picked it up, opened it and groaned.

"Special invitation to a Yale alumni party at the Gilmore's."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Last time I was invited to one of these parties, Grandma and Grandpa had just found out I was back with Dean. Its going to be an "auction Rory off to the highest bidder" party."

Luke laughed. "I remember your distress call from that one." Luke took a sip of orange juice. "Would you like a date?"

"As great as that would be, I am not going to rock the boat that hard yet."

"Just giving you an option."

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Three weeks later, Rory and Luke were sitting on the patio reading the Sunday paper when they heard the door bell ring.

Rory went to the door, took the envelope and opened it as she walked back to the patio. As she sat down, she groaned and dropped her head on the table.

"Another one?"

Rory mumbled something into her arms and held the invitation out to him.

"What is that? 4 parties in three weeks?"

Rory held up a hand with all five fingers on that hand raised.

"FIVE?"

Rory nodded.

"I think its time for either my attendance or a Lorelei intervention. You have enough to do without having to attend five auction parties every three weeks."

About that time, Lorelei called from inside the house. "Rory? Rory? Are you decent? OW!"

Rory lifted her head. "Mom, open your eyes, we're on the patio."

"NAKED!"

"Clothed, come out here."

Seconds later, Lorelei came out of the house.

"What's with the sour faces?"

Rory lifted the invitation above her head as Lorelei walked up.

"Another party?!?"

Luke nodded.

"I haven't seen them so determined since they found out I was having sex."

Rory groaned again.

"Mom, either you have to do something, or I'm bringing Luke to this party as my date."

"As entertaining as that would be, and you know how much I love being entertained, I don't think having Luke at this party would be well received," Lorelei answered reading the invitation.

"Then you have to do something," Rory pleaded.

"Sorry, kid, I'm out of ideas," Lorelei answered.

"Luke, would you like to attend a party at my grandparents house?"

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