A/N: I don't own anything or anyone you recognize.
Adrian runs into the diner Friday after school.
"Hey kiddo. Why are you in such a hurry?" Luke asks.
"I need to wash my hands." Adrian examines his hands to see how dirty they are. "It looks like there's jam on them… I didn't even eat anything with jam on it today. I'll be right back … How did I do that? ... " Adrian muses as he scurries off to the bathroom to wash his hands.
Luke just rolls his eyes and mumbles, "The eternal question springs up again."
Luke whips up cheeseburgers and some fries for Adrian in the bathroom and for Lorelai and Kira who should meet him here any minute when Kira gets out of school.
Adrian takes a seat at the booth with his food and starts chowing down, remembering to thank his dad only after Luke stares at him for a little, begging for a thank you. The cheeseburgers across from him get cold when his mom and sister do not show up.
The phone in Luke's Diner rings.
Luke answers, "Luke's… Oh my God… ok, I'll be right there… yeah, I'll take him to Rory's… ok… everything will be fine. I love you Lorelai."
"Come on, A." Luke says urgently to Adrian.
Adrian does as he is told. "Where are we going?"
"You're going to Rory and Jess's. I'm going to the emergency room with mommy and Kira."
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure, that's why I need to get there."
Luke knocks on the Gilmore's door.
"Hey Luke, ready to start babysitting so soon?" Rory asks, referring to the night of romance Rory and Jess have planned for tonight.
"Unfortunately not Rory. Kira is in the emergency room. I need to go with Lorelai. Can you watch Adrian?"
"Yeah, sure Luke. Call me when you know anything, ok?"
"Yeah, we will. Thanks. Bye A. And Rory? Don't worry."
Luke quickly leaves and hops in his car. Rory gives Adrian a hug and leads him inside and tells Jordyn that he is here to play for a little.
Now she just needs to break the news to Jess. Rory is worried about Kira and at the same time really disappointed that she and Jess won't be alone tonight. They were both really looking forward to not having to see the G-rated movies or worry about their kids screaming in restaurants or bickering wherever they go. They were actually going to get a chance to be alone.
When Jess walks through the door he notices that Rory looks distressed.
"What's wrong, babe?"
"Kira is in the hospital, Luke went to see her and Lorelai. I don't know anything more than that."
"Oh, that's awful, I hope everything is alright. Luke hates hospitals, he must really love those girls to just run over there."
"Yeah, I have a feeling he does." Rory smiles. "It looks like mom and Luke aren't going to be able to watch the kids tonight. I guess we can just do it another night."
"Oh, I forgot about that. No we can't."
"We can't go out another night? Why not?"
"No, we can do that another night, but I was going to surprise you. I got tickets to go see "Footloose" in Hartford for tonight. I can't get a refund or an exchange. I don't want to waste them."
"Aww, Jess, thank you." Rory smiles at how sweet he is.
"Well what do you want to do? Do you know anyone that could baby-sit?"
"Actually, yeah."
"Who?" Jess questions.
"Dean. He said he would like to meet our kids, and here is his chance!"
"Alright, give him a call. It's worth a try. Basically all Dean will have to do is watch a movie with them and get them into bed. Anybody can handle it."
Rory walks over to the phone and finds Deans number in her purse and dials his cell.
She hears his voice, "Hey, you've reached Dean Forester's cell phone. Sorry I missed you, but leave a message and I'll get back to you."
"Hey Dean, it's Rory. Can you come over or call me back as soon as possible! Kira is in the hospital and Jess and I had a date tonight. We have tickets to a show and we would like to go. Lorelai and Luke can't babysit, Jess and I would really like to go out. Would you be willing to help? Please come over, thanks Dean." Rory hangs up. There she had done it. Where could Dean possibly be?
Dean noticed the voicemail in a few minutes when he came out of the bathroom and listened to it. "… It's Rory." Damn that static. He really wants to hear what Rory has to say. "Come over or call me back … possible … date tonight…tickets to a show…would like to go… Luke and Lorelai… babysit… Jess … out … willing to… come over, thanks Dean."
What? Although it could end up being a number of things, Dean is pretty sure he knows. A show with Rory? Lorelai is babysitting? Maybe Jess didn't want to go. He never was agreeable, but Dean thought Jess had changed, maybe not enough. Whatever, he has a date. It sounded urgent like she really needs to get out of there. He always knew they would end up together. Dean stops and buys some flowers for Rory to make a good impression on their first date as adults. Dean hums the whole way to the store and to Rory's house.
Meanwhile, Rory is waiting by the phone for her mom to call or for Dean to call. Either would be good right now. Rory is really worried about Kira.
The phone rings. Rory answers it after the first ring.
"Hello"
"Hello daughter"
"Mom, what's going on with Kira?"
"Well, she was having a pain in her side and she's going to have her appendix taken out. It is a routine process; everything should be fine. We should be home tomorrow."
"Ok, I'm glad everything is ok." Rory says into the phone. Jess is relieved when he hears this.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow sweets, tell Adrian we love him." Lorelai says.
"Will do, bye Mom."
Rory and Jess hear screaming from where Jordyn, Adrian, Mason and Maddie are playing. The couple looks at each other.
"You get to play referee." Jess tells Rory.
"Great. Where's my whistle?"
Rory goes into the room and explains that rather than fighting over the one blanket in the room, they could just get another one.
While Rory is getting the kids settled in front of the TV, Jess answers the door, still in a nice button up shirt and slacks from work.
"Dean, thanks for coming over." Jess starts the conversation.
"No problem. I'm surprised you don't want my job tonight." Dean says referring to the job of taking Rory out. Jess responds thinking about Dean's job of babysitting.
"Oh, it's fine. I get to do it every other night. You can enjoy being me for tonight."
Dean looks at Jess and sees how unappreciative of Rory he is. Dean wonders if he even wonders what he has. I mean Jess is married to Rory Gilmore. He can't do anything better than that. Does Jess think there is anybody better than Rory? He's crazy if he does.
Jess looks at Dean and sees how much Dean would love to break him and Rory up. That's not going to happen, bagboy. Jess wants to get through the tour of the house and the explanation as quick as possible so he and Rory can be on their way.
Rory appears in black slacks, a pink button down shirt and Mary Janes. Wow, she really is Jess's wife. They even dress the same. Rory greets Dean at the door. He pulls out the flowers he is holding and hands them to Rory, forgetting all about Jess.
"You look great Rory. These are…" Dean starts but is cut off by Rory.
"for Kira? That is so sweet. This will cheer her up so much! I'll put them in water and put them in her room to cheer her up when she comes home. Thanks Dean!" Now Rory realized that these were for her by the confused look on Dean's face, but continues on with this act so that she doesn't get into a fight with Jess right before they leave. Rory makes sure to explain everything to Dean. What else is he confused about?
"So Dean, these are the kids. Maddie, Mason, and Jordyn are ours." She looks at Jess and they smile at one another. This makes Dean nauseated. "And then, that's Adrian, Luke and Lorelai's boy." To the kids, she says, "Kids this is Dean. He'll be watching you tonight. You know your bedtimes. Be good." Back to Dean she finishes, "You'll be babysitting all four kids. It should be easy. They'll just fall asleep on the couch, you can leave them there. You have my cell number. Call if you need anything, and we'll be back my midnight. See you later! Bye kids, love you!"
All the kids wave goodbye to Rory and Jess. Jordyn runs over for a hug and Jess picks her up and spins her around, gives her a kiss and a scoot to the couch and takes Rory's hand and leads her to the car.
Dean envies the relationship Jess has with his kids and with Rory. He actually seems content. Dean would like this security as well. Dean also thinks about how wrong all of the assumptions he made about Rory were. She wanted to be with Jess all the time. She was just being nice; just being Rory.
When they are both buckled, Jess starts the car and pulls away from their house. Jess starts telling Rory about Hope and Corey and how they remind him of them when they were teenagers. He hopes they realize what they have in each other.
"I really regret not having our college years together. It was my fault." Jess says.
"I regret not having our high school years together. That was my fault." Rory counters.
"So we're even?"
"Of course." Rory cannot resist anymore. She first starts pecking Jess's neck and sucking and teasing him.
"Rory, I'm trying to drive."
"Ok, try harder."
"I can't drive with you doing that to me." Jess explains which makes Rory pout. "So either stop, and we'll drive to dinner and have the romantic dinner that we planned, or you can keep going and we can stop at the nearest Del Taco on our way to the theater."
Rory pulls his shirt up and kisses his stomach and begins to unbutton and unzip his pants. Jess looks down at her and cocks an eyebrow. Rory looks up innocently.
"I like tacos." Rory explains with a smile.
Jess smiles and looks back at the road and gets off at the next exit. He finds a baseball field and parks his car overlooking a view of Connecticut suburbia.
Reviews really make my day. And with finals this week, I could use something to put a smile on my face. I like to know people are reading the story, so please review!
