Summary: AU. What happens when 23 year old Rory Gilmore-Hayden graduates from Yale and moves to Stars Hollow. Who will meet who? Who will fall in love with who?

AN: Thanks for reading everyone, and thank you for reviwing Gilmore-Buffy-Fan-13, GilmoreGirl916 and LorLukeAlways. Just to clarify, Luke is the same age as in the show. I had this in my head as a Luke/Rory (which is I guess what happens when its midnight and you're tired and tipsy and writing five chapters in one hour...), but I am not one hundred percent sure. I am a total JavaJunkie in real life, but for AU I kind of like the Luke/Rory pairing...anyway, I am still not sure what is going to happen, so I guess we'll just see how it goes! Keep on reading and reviewing.

Chapter 6: Answers and Bookstores

He looked at her, stunned, "You're asking me to go with you?" He choked out.

Suddenly she was nervous, "Well, I mean, um, I'm new here and I don't know anyone except for you, and well Miss Patty and Babette, but I was just thinking that it would be nice to go and meet people and, you know, to not have to go alone. Anyway, it was dumb, forget I said anything," she mumbled.

"No, it's okay. I just usually don't like to go to those silly things. But I'll tell you what, you can go and have fun and meet people, and when you get bored and want to commit everyone, I'll be in here and you can come get some coffee."

"Oh, ok. That does sound nice, thanks. Anyway, I should get going, get a little more settled in and unpacked you know?" She said with a grin.

"Sure," he said, "I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked, casually.

"Oh yeah, at least once for sure, I inherited my mother's lack of cooking skills," she said with a giggle. And with that she left the diner.

Thinking of her mother, she pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial.

"Hello," her mother answered the phone, breathless.

"Eww, mom, is dad there?" She asked.

"No, hon, why would you think that?"
"Because it sounds like I interrupted you doing something dirty," Rory said with a laugh.

"Oh well…"Lorelai trailed off.

"Eww… Mom! I did, didn't I? Well at least it's not dad, I was thinking that ship had sailed."

"Definitely has," she said with a giggle, "hey, how about I call you in the morning?"

"Sure, not too early, and keep the details PG!"

"Sweetie, you're 23 now, you should be out finding out about the PG-13 and the R now, ok?"

"I'm working on it mom, don't worry about me. I'll talk to you in the morning. Love you."

"Love you, too, kid."

She flipped her phone shut and walked the remaining few blocks home quietly and quickly. It was barely nine o'clock and she wasn't tired yet. Still not TV to watch; she skimmed her fingers along the spines of her books not knowing what she felt like reading, and not really caring. She grabbed one at random and sat back in the couch. She opened it up and began skimming the pages.

Half an hour later she had made little progress and could barely remember a word she had read. 'Was her mom right? Was she boring? Was she missing out on life?' She had done it the right way in high school and college, a few boyfriends here, a few dates there, she'd even lost her virginity to her one semi-long term boyfriend in college—but it felt empty now, she felt childish. Maybe she could start something here, maybe….Her thoughts drifted to Luke. He was different, a bit gruff, definitely "rustic" in Emily Gilmore's world, but he had been nice to her and listened and they had chatted. He wasn't gorgeous, but he had a sort of passionate appeal. 'Sure, he was a bit older than her', she thought, 'but maybe it was time to start living.' She smiled as she continued to think about him as she drifted off to sleep on the couch.

Waking up Rory felt stiff and uncomfortable. As she stretched out her limbs, she realized why; she had slept on the couch. She groaned; she was hearing a faint noise coming from the floor. As she rummaged around with her hand, her eyes still closed, she recognized it as her cell phone.

"Hello," she groggily answered.

"Fruit of my loins! It sounds like I got you in the aftermath of doing something dirty—Am I right!" Lorelai greeted loudly.

"What mom, no! I just—you woke me up and I slept on the couch so am extremely stiff."

"I woke you up, wow, Gilmore, you're learning how to sleep in again. It's 11:30, I'm proud."

"Gee thanks mom," she replied as she headed over to start her coffee. "So what brings you awake on this lovely morning?"

"Oh not much, I was just sitting around, thinking how much I missed my lovely daughter, wishing I could see her but decided I would have to settle for hearing her voice."

"Aw, mom, that's so sweet," Rory replied sarcastically, "so what are you up to today?"

"Not too much, have to stop in at work to check on things. I'll tell you, owning hotels is usually easy, but the minute something goes wrong—bam! Life sucks for me. Have to stop in at your grandparents for that function tonight, remember? The one you so luckily got out of—which I hate you for by the way. Maybe I'll find me a guy though, would make the night a bit better. So what about you, got any big plans for today?"

"No, not really. I am going to check out the bookstore this afternoon. I saw it yesterday but wanted to have more time to check it out so I waited until today."

"Wow! You walked past a bookstore without going in? The world is coming to an end—it's the Armageddon!"

"Ha, ha mother. And then there's this festival in town tonight, I think I might check it out for a bit, see what it's like."

"Yeah, that kind of sounds like fun. Have you met anyone yet?"

"Well, kind of, I met the guy who owns the diner, good food, great coffee; I'll have to take you there sometime when you come. And then these two gossiping ladies that were in the diner, Miss Patty and Babette. That's pretty much it though. The town square is real nice, I read there for a while yesterday."

"Oh honey, what did I tell you—this is your time to go out and have fun, quit with the reading already!" Lorelai said with a laugh.

"Hey!" She replied indigently.

"I'm just teasing you. So, any cute guys yet?"

"Oh, not really…"Rory replied vaguely, thinking about her pre-sleep thoughts from the night before.

"Darn," Lorelai sighed, "keep an eye out for me, too."

"What about Mr. Dirty from last night?" She questioned.

"Oh, that was an 'Emily-approved' date, so probably not going to see him again," she said with a sigh, "well, I'd better get going, I've got a full agenda for the day before making myself pretty for tonight. Call me after your first day, or before if you want."

"Bye, mom, it was good to talk to you. Love you."

"Love you too, kid."

Rory hung up the phone and put a few pop tarts in the toaster. She poured herself a second cup of coffee, grabbed the pop tarts and sat down at the table. Quickly she ate her pop tarts and drank her coffee. She stood up, poured herself another mug, and went to throw on some clothes.

She hurried down the stairs and over to the bookstore; she was excited. It had been awhile since she had been in a new bookstore. She stepped inside and smiled. It was small, quaint, but packed full of books. An older man sat at the counter talking to another man over the counter. They both stopped when she came in. They waved and smiled slightly, and, as soon as she walked towards the shelves, began to whisper. She smiles to herself, knowing they were wondering about her. It didn't bother her, she was in a bookstore so couldn't be anything but happy.

She perused the shelves for a few hours, every section being explored. She had gathered a large stack in her arms to buy, but new she couldn't afford them all. She sat cross-legged on the floor and began to sort the books into two piles; the must-haves and the ones she could maybe do without. After sorting through them three times she was able to weed it down to only six books. She sighed longingly at the "reject" pile but walked away quickly.

She approached the counter, "Is it okay if I leave this pile here while I put back the ones I had to part with?"

"Sure," he replied, looking at the large pile of discards.

After re-shelving the pile of books she hurried back up to the counter looking sad.

"Sorry," she said to the man, "I hate putting books back, but this is all I can afford right now."

"It's alright. You must be the new girl I've heard about. I'm Andrew."

"Yeah, I'm Rory. It's nice to meet me. You'll probably see me in here a lot," she replied with a smile, "It's a really nice store."

"Thank you, come anytime you want, even if it's just to browse."

"I'll probably take you up on that. Thank you, Andrew. Bye."

She carried her sacks of books back to her apartment. As she passed the diner she saw Luke at the counter and gave a small wave, the best she could manage with her bags. The festival looked like it was just barely getting started in the square, she decided to head home and freshen up before heading back out to check it out.