Disclaimer: Own nada.

A/N: Let's keep it short. Reviews make me happy. Enjoy the chapter. If this sucks, I am sorry. Major writer's block, but I have some good ideas for chapters to come.

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"What will it be?" Luke asked as he walked up to Rory and Lorelai's table.

"One of everything?" Rory proposed as she looked at Lorelai, she had been home for almost a week now and she was pleased at how easily she settled back into the small town life she had inevitably grown to miss.

Lorelai nodded at Rory and confirmed, "One of everything."

"One of everything on the menu?" Luke asked in confusion of if they understood the actual amount of 'one of everything.'

"Yeah shopping all day can work up quite the appetite."

"Okay and now I'm going to ask you, what would you order if I were to say you're paying?"

Lorelai and Rory gave identical gasps and turned to Luke. "You wouldn't."

"Hypothetically," He looked at their offended glares. "Burger and fries it is," Luke said as he walked away.

"You know you'd think the bride-to-be would get some special treatment, considering it his bride-to-be," Rory observed as Lorelai's cell phone started to let out a ring.

"I guess I'll take this outside," Lorelai said loudly as she looked back at Luke who just smiled and gestured to the no cell phone's sign. Her voice rose to a level that could have been used to address the entire diner, "One might think that a man might cut some slack to his fiancé and stop acting like he's still not getting any."

Once upon a time that might have fazed Luke, but Rory watched as he simply raised his eyebrows and went back to work. She watched out the window and watched the animated argument Lorelei seemed to be having over the phone.

"And here you go," Luke said as he reappeared with two white boxes, each containing a burger and fries.

"Thanks. How does it feel to know in a week you are a married man?" Rory inquired pleasantly.

He looked at Lorelai and considered how much time he already spent together and how many nights consisted of either her here or him at her place. "Not that big of a change really," he said honestly with a shrug.

Rory smiled at this and a new thought popped in her head upon realizing the wedding is in a week. "Luke," Rory started as he walked away.

"Yeah?"

She thought about which way of asking her question would go over best. She decided to go for casual, "Mom told me that Jess is the best man so I figured he might get here a bit earlier than the morning of, but would you…um…do you know when he gets here?" That came out much more formal than she intended. Luke looked absolutely thrown for some reason.

"Uh, I…uh…"

Then she understood what Luke must be thinking, "Oh, I'm not avoiding him or anything. I was just wondering because I figured with the wedding pretty soon."

"Oh, no I didn't think…" Luke decided best to brush past this thought and stop mumbling. "A couple days I think? Tomorrow? Not really sure, actually."

"Oh, okay," was all she thought to say. Though to herself she had to ask what difference it even made to her to know. He might be mad, or even worse, he might not be mad.

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A flat…

Perfect.

Cars were much more trouble than they're worth. Either they're backfiring, stolen by your uncle and locked in a garage for a year, or getting flats so you're stranded twenty minutes from Stars Hollow.

Jess looked at his car in irritation. He no longer drove the bucket of bolts he used to, hasn't for a while. Not that he had any problem with it, but he really needed something to get him from point A to point B, and it eventually stopped doing as much. He wasn't exactly driving a Porsche, but he bet he could just almost drive through Hartford without people scurrying in fear at the horrible anomaly. Too bad.

He opened his trunk and groaned at what he saw. A bunch of various tools, yet no spare. Where the hell was he supposed to get a spare tire at ten o' clock on a Monday night?

He looked a few feet ahead of him at an SUV. His eyes scanned it quickly, specifically the spare tire attached to the back. He surveyed the four tires that seemed to have no fault.

His eyebrows rose with a found solution.

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There was not a place more complacent than Stars Hollow. It was a static space in a dynamic world. Jess looked around. He almost expected to see something that would indicate that time had passed here, but there was nothing. He drove up to Luke's and parked across the street. He looked intently and tried to find some advancement that this town wasn't the same as it was six years ago. Long and behold, there was none. Yet, he could feel his resent to this town to be not nearly par with how he felt upon first stepping foot here.

Jess checked his watch, almost ten thirty. Luke said it doesn't matter if he gets here when he's out or sleeping and he can let himself in.

He walked up to the front door and reached up for the spare key to let himself in. Yet all his fingers found was the empty ledge. He reached up again, no key. He felt around for it some more, no key. That's when he noticed the lights were on and there was a cup of coffee sitting on one table. All the chairs were on the table though…

Then he saw Rory's face emerge from behind the counter.

Rory glanced around the diner till her eyes fell on him and her tired expression sharply turned dumbstruck and she froze as if someone had put her on pause.

Jess's eyes widened from a surprise that seemed to paralyze him for a few seconds, but he recovered quickly. He realized that she was still standing motionless, watching him. He was baffled at her shock, and he almost could have laughed if it wasn't for a small bitterness he felt upon seeing her. He tilted his head to the side and cocked an eyebrow at her. The realization seemed to have just hit her that he wanted to get inside because she quickly walked towards the door as she lightly blushed.

She opened the door and stood silent. Rory observed him, and noticed no major change of appearance. The change between seventeen and nineteen was notable. The change between nineteen and twenty-one was large. Though, the change between twenty-one and twenty-three was slight if any. His hair wasn't neat like when she last saw him, it was as haphazard as ever. Still scruffy. He looked tired.

Her eyes traveled upward and her eyebrows rose. He looked at her and followed her eyes and he realized she was looking at his arm which was still extended with his hand still placed on the ledge.

"Looking for my doobage," Jess explained casually as he stepped back and glanced up. "But I guess someone stole my stash," he said with a mock disappointment and shrug.

Rory weakly smiled and moved aside so he could get in. "I was going to put the key back…before I left. Sorry," she said as she fidgeted and averted her eyes to the ground.

He dismissed the unnecessary apology and walked inside and sat at a barstool and dropped his rucksack on the counter. He turned and looked at her. She stood quietly as she faced him. Oddly enough, seeing her made him miss her a little. She looked restless.

"So, hi," Jess said with a nod.

"Hi," Rory said a little bit breathlessly. Many a conversation had started like this.

"Luke here?" Jess asked out of part curiosity, and of part thinking someone really needed to say something.

"He's out with my mom," she said simply, but continued, "I offered to close up so they could leave, and it wasn't that busy, and to help out some more around here with the wedding so close. And he said I could use the spare key to get coffee for myself whenever as a thank you. Which was unnecessary, but why refuse?" She said at a speed that was pretty quick, even for her. She smiled slightly, but still shifted uncomfortably where she stood. "They'll be back pretty soon probably, because Luke tends to set a curfew for himself. Which you probably know."

"Rory."

She got still at the sound of her name, "Yeah?"

"Take a breath."

She pulled a chair off the table and sipped the coffee on it. She didn't fail to notice the more formal undertones behind the general friendliness.

"How are you?" Rory asked unsurely.

Right now he was really bothered by how uncomfortable she seemed. "All is well."

"I'm glad," she said sincerely.

"And what have you been up to?"

She debated whether to actually tell him what she's been up to or if he even cares and is just asking for the hell of it. "I've been on the Obama campaign trail for almost the past year."

"Well look at you," he said with a proud tone, warmth finally in his voice, "Really doing it." He watched her smile shyly. The warmth in his voice was quickly fading and became strained once more. "Glad to be home?"

"Definitely, especially for the occasion."

"The wedding."

"That is the occasion I was referring to."

"About time really for them."

"They really belong together."

"Took them long enough to realize to it."

"Better late than never."

"Pretty much."

He wanted to say more, but the words didn't form and his gaze slowly wandered to his shoes as if there was something absolutely fascinating about them then flicked his eyes up to see Rory doing just the same. If anyone could see this it must be some ridiculous sight.

She looked extremely shifty. He couldn't help but wonder if she was worried he was going to kiss her or something. "Rory you can relax," he said with a dry laugh. "I'm not going to do anything--"

She cut him off and seemed to be in anticipation of this and she met his eyes for the first time and she didn't hesitate even though he was intently staring back at her, "Jess, no, that's not it at --"

The diner door swung open and Luke appeared and looked from Jess sitting on a barstool and followed his intent gaze to Rory who was staring back at him with sadness. The two both turned to Luke now. "Hey," Luke said hesitantly to both of them. "When'd you get here?"

"Ten minutes ago? Maybe less," Jess answered.

"I'm going to get going. See you tomorrow Luke," Rory said as she stood up and walked towards the door then turned to Jess and smiled, he returned it but the smile fell more into a straight line. She put the key back on the ledge over the door then started on home.

Jess was almost thinking that she couldn't walk home at this time of night, but then he remembered he was in a town of no crime.

"What was that?" Luke said.

"Don't really know. Nothing really," Jess said truthfully.

"Did I interrupt something?" Luke asked Jess who was absently staring out the window.

"Nah." He was still staring out the window when something came to his mind, "That guy she's going out with isn't coming down here, is he?"

"What guy?" Luke said confusedly as he cleared Rory's cup of coffee and put the chair back on the table.

Jess raised an eyebrow, "Blonde. Rich. Jackass."

"Oh," Luke said recognizing who he was referring to. "Gonna say no since they've been done for…about a year I think."

Jess wasn't completely surprised, but the little pride he has had been and still was a bit too injured to care. "Got any food? I'm kind of starved."

"Yeah, come on up. Bring your stuff."