Author's Note: Sorry for not updating sooner, but the teachers were loading us down with work. A little background information on the story that I did not include is that Rory did get financial aid for Yale, and neither Lorelai nor Rory are talking to Emily or Richard. Would anyone be upset if Emily and Richard didn't appear in this story?

Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Gilmore Girls, I know, it's sad.

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Rory walked into her house and saw the answering machine had new messages.

"Hey Hun, I have to stay late at the inn today, I'll be home by nine. Mia's son is here looking over the damage. You can come to the inn, and we'll have dinner later if you want; or if you have a lot of work I left money under the Rabbi. Call me either way!" Lorelai's voice rang through the room.

Rory picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number to the inn. I wonder how much damage there really is. How long will it take to fix it? Rory thought as the phone rang.

"Hello, Independence Inn" Michel answered in a thick French accent.

"Hey Michel, is my mom there?"

"Here" Michel said throwing the phone down in front of Lorelai, not even bothering to tell Rory to hold, or to tell Lorelai who was on the phone.

"Hello?" Lorelai's voice came through the phone.

"Hey mom"

"Oh hey Hunny" Lorelai cooed. "So did you get my message, or are you just calling because you can't live without hearing my voice?" Lorelai asked overdramatically.

"I'm actually a little sick of your voice; I'm calling about the message."

"In that case I'm a little sick of your voice too, but I'm too nice of a person to say something like that." Lorelai said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, as usual.

"Finals are coming up soon, plus Paris started freaking over the graduation edition of the paper, so I think I'll just order Pizza if that's okay." Rory said ignoring her mother's previous statement.

"Sure Hun; I may be home sooner than I thought after all, Mia's son is walking over, I better run. Don't study too hard!" Lorelai said.

"Okay, I won't; Bye mom, good luck"

"See ya" Lorelai said before hanging up.

Rory didn't actually have a lot of homework, and Paris was just starting to freak over the Franklin, after all they did have three weeks before it came out. She wanted to wait home for Jess's call, but if she told her mother that Lorelai would have went on and on about how she has sat by the phone too much waiting for that boy.

Rory walked into the kitchen, and got herself a soda before starting the homework that she did have.

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After about an hour Rory finished, and went to change. As she was about to sit down with a book, the phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered the phone.

"Hey" Jess responded calmly, in his normal tone.

"So you're in California?"

"Yeah, I came to see my dad he came to see me first about a week ago. He came into the diner and only ordered coffee one morning, and then came back the next night, after closing." Jess explained.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing. He had a cup of old coffee and we listened to a Bowie song."

"Oh" Rory said, surprised Jess was sharing this information with her. Jess normally kept to himself, and never told anyone anything.

"Is he nice, or…I don't know what's he like?" Rory asked.

"I don't know, I haven't really spent much time with the guy. He reads a lot; I guess that's where I got it from."

"What's he read? Who's his favorite author?"

"All kinds of stuff, and Hemingway" Jess said realizing the irony.

"Like father, like son"

"Yeah I guess so" Jess wasn't sure if he wanted to be like his father, after all he did leave right after Jess was born.

"Where are you staying?"

"With him, and his girlfriend, and her daughter."

"I bet that's going over well, you living in the same house as a little girl." Rory said sarcastically, remembering how well the Stars Hollow High Winter Carnival had gone with Clara.

"Actually she's not that bad." Jess said, surprising himself as the words came out.

"Oh really?" Rory asked hoping for more information, but knowing not to push because Jess could shut down again any minute.

"Yep really" Jess said, his tone signaling that the topic was no longer open for discussion.

Rory wanted to know what happened with him not graduating, but she didn't want to upset Jess.

"So I saw Luke today, and he didn't think I knew where you were, it was so funny watching him squirm"

"Oh really?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, you did call him, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I left a message on his machine."

Just then Lorelai came bursting through the door, "Rory, my dear where are you? I have big, huge news to share!" Lorelai cooed very excited about something.

"Uh, my mom's home, I have to go, you promise you'll be at my graduation?"

"Hey I said I would didn't I?" Jess asked.

"Yeah you did."

"Alright, I'll try and call you tomorrow. See ya."

"Bye Jess" Rory said before hanging up and walking into the kitchen to see what had her mother so excited.

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"Hey mom…what's up?" Rory asked as she walked in, seeing her mother with a champagne bottle.

"Guess what…the Independence Inn is closing!" She said, not waiting for Rory to guess what had he so excited.

"That's good?"

"Yep, now I and Sookie can open the Dragonfly!"

"But what about the Independence Inn?" Rory asked, sad that her childhood home would no longer be there.

"They're boarding the place up; too much damage, it's not worth the money they said. I told Sookie and tomorrow we are putting an offer in on the Dragonfly!" Lorelai said, slightly slurring her words.

"How much have you had to drink?"

"Umm…Jackson and I split a bottle of champagne, and on the way home I got this one." Lorelai said picking the bottle in front of her up, and raising it over her head, spilling some in the process.

"Well, don't you think you've had enough?" Rory asked trying to take the bottle.

"Oh no you don't! It's mine! Lorelai said running around the kitchen table with the bottle, as Rory chased her and tried to get the bottle away.

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Sasha knocked on Lily's bedroom door, and then pushed it open. Lily was no where in sight, but Sasha knew she was in there.

"Hey Lil, will you come talk to me please?" Sasha called.

About a minute later Lily crawled out from under the bed, with a flashlight and a book. She walked over to where her mother was sitting on the bed, and sat down beside her.

"Jimmy and I are going to go out for a few hours, we're gonna grab a bite and then swing by the hot dog stand." Sasha said, she had agreed to go out with Jimmy so he could "explain".

Lily just looked at her mother, showing no indication that she had heard her.

"I'm gonna call Cocoa to stay with you okay?" Sasha said she was used to getting no response from Lily, even though she heard every word.

"What about Jess?" Lily asked.

"Well…I don't know I guess he'll be here, why?" Sasha asked.

"Why does Cocoa have to come if he will be here?"

"I thought you liked Cocoa." Sasha said a bit surprised.

"She's okay, but she doesn't read."

"So you want Jess to stay with you?" Sasha asked, very confused seeing as Lily didn't usually like new people.

Lily shook her head "yes" in response and walked out of the room to find Jess.

Jess was sitting in the study, reading one of the books he had brought with him. Lily entered the room and marched right up to him. She didn't say anything, but Jess could feel her presence and looked up.

"Will you stay with me while Jimmy and my mom go out to dinner?" Lily asked finally getting a brother like she had wanted. She had submitted a written request to her mother, and her wish had come true.

"Yeah… guess so. I've never babysat before."

"It's easy…you sit in the same room with me, and I read."

"Alright…fine" Jess said turning his attention back to the book.

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A/N: So I hope everyone liked it, the next chapter will contain Jess babysitting Lily, and I have no clue when it will be up. As always, I love reviews and they help me update faster.