Incoming

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. Not even the computer I wrote it on.

Summary: Jess shows up at Richard and Emily's vow renewal. Luke has something to say about it. Rory is less than happy. Lorelai has to deal with Christopher. And the day is definitely not everything Emily hoped it would be.

Feedback: Reviews are fun. Like a barrel of monkeys. Why anyone would put monkeys in a barrel…I don't know, but it's supposedly a lot of fun.

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Jess was shocked. When he heard about the vow renewal from…well actually he found out from a co-worker whose friend was catering it, but as soon as he heard about it, he know he had to see her. And that's all he thought it would be. He'd watch her for a little while and then he'd leave. No one would know. Obviously that plan had been shot to hell because here he was back in Stars Hollow. With Rory Gilmore kissing him and he was too shocked to respond. He realized this and relaxed, but by the time he started to kiss her back she was pulling away.

"Oh my God." Her hand went to her mouth and she took a step back.

"Rory…"

"No." She held a hand up so he wouldn't come any closer. "Just…I need to think. Okay?"

"Yea." He said softly.

She nodded and ran inside.

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Luke pulled up to The Dragonfly and saw Lorelai and Paris sitting on the front steps. "Hey." Luke said as he walked towards them.

"Hi." Paris said flippantly.

"Hey." Lorelai got up and kissed him quickly. "You're late."

"It's only quarter after." He looked over her shoulder at Paris and pulled her back a few feet. "Why is Paris still here?"

"She's coming home with us."

"Oh…why? I thought she was driving you insane."

"She was. But then she got rid of the motor home, and it's Spring Break, and she has nowhere else to go."

"The motor home?"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the truck. "Tell ya what. How 'bout we go home, and after we get Paris all settled in with Rory, you can make me some coffee and I'll fill you in."

"Sure. Let's go."

"Alright." She waved Paris over. "C'mon Paris." She turned back to Luke. "She's gonna follow us in her car."

"Okay." He got in the car and waited for Lorelai to climb in next to him. "Ready?"

She looked behind them to see if Paris was ready to go then turned back to Luke. "Affirmative." She nodded then grinned at him.

"What?"

"You didn't even argue when I said you had to make me coffee."

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When they got home, Lorelai brought Paris to Rory's room and Luke started the coffee on Lorelai's orders. "Hey." He called from the kitchen. "Should I make some for Rory and Paris?"

"Rory's not here."

"What?"

She walked into the kitchen when she heard the panic in his voice. "She's out with Jess. Remember the whole GED thing?"

"She's not with Jess. He's been at the diner since six. She was not with him."

"Well maybe she went over there for dinner after you left or she went to Lane's or something." She sat in the chair next to her. "Oh my God, my kid's missing." She took the phone Luke was holding out to her and dialed her daughter's number.

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Rory picked up her cell phone when it started ringing and checked the caller ID. "Luke?" She answered.

"Oh thank God." Lorelai let out a sigh of relief. "Where the hell are you?"

"At the bridge. Why?"

"Well, we got home and you weren't here and Luke started to panic 'cause you were supposed to be with Jess but he's at the diner and you're not and we didn't know where you were and Mommy freaked out a little."

"Sorry. I thought I'd be home before you or I would've left a note. I guess I lost track of time."

"No, it's fine. Just go back to whatever it was you were doing. Especially if it's something Taylor wouldn't approve of."

"I'm reading."

"Ugh. At least tell me it's something dirty."

"Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and peasant and the making of the modern world."

"Sounds dirty to me."

"Hey, I'll be home after I finish this chapter. Okay?"

"Only if you carve something obscene on the bridge."

"And what would you like me to use to deface public property?"

"I heard you keep a knife in your sock."

"Bye Mom."

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Rory got home around nine-thirty and walked to the living room where she heard her mother talking to the television. "I'm home." She called.

Lorelai paused her movie when Rory plopped down on the couch next to her. "How'd your juvenile delinquencies go?"

"I'm not a juvenile."

"Well, then, your regular delinquencies?"

"Where's Luke?"

"He's upstairs. He has to get up early, so…"

"I kissed him." She blurted out.

"Luke? Eww." She gasped. "Oh my God, I'm Mrs. Robinson."

"Jess."

"Jess kissed him too?"

"Mom!"

"Sorry. Just…you kissed Jess."

"Yea."

"So what now? Are you guys back together?"

"Well, umm…I kinda ran away after I kissed him."

Lorelai shrugged. "At least you're consistent."

"What should I do?"

"Oh, honey." She ran a hand over Rory's hair. "You gotta do what makes you happy.

You know I can't make the decision for you. But no matter what you do, I'm behind you ninety seven percent."

"I thought you liked Jess."

"Like is such a strong word. I mean I like waxing my legs. Jess is more something I tolerate."

"You said he wasn't so bad."

Her eyes went wide as she clasped a hand over her daughter's mouth. "Shh. Don't say it out loud. People might hear."

"The only other person in the house is asleep."

"I think the place is bugged."

"Why would anyone bug our house?"

"It's Taylor. He's trying to ruin me."

Rory shook her head. "Luke is a brave man." She leaned over and hugged Lorelai. "We have some major shopping to do tomorrow, so I'm gonna go to bed. Night Mom." She stood up and headed towards her room.

Lorelai sat back on the couch and ran a hand through her hair. "She kissed Jess." She said quietly.

"Paris is in my bed." Rory said as she walked back into the living room.

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Did I not mention that?"

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Lorelai snuggled up to Luke and wrapped her arm around his waist. "Luke." She whispered, putting her lips right next to his ear.

"Hmm." He mumbled sleepily.

She placed a soft kiss on his temple. "I'm glad you're here."

"Mmm." He turned over and buried his face in her neck. "Me too."

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"Rory." Lorelai whined. "I need coffee before we go shopping and at this rate we'll never even get out of the house."

"Sorry." She banged on the bathroom door. "C'mon Paris! Mom's going into caffeine withdrawal."

"I'll be out in a minute."

Lorelai pointed at the door. "She said that an hour ago."

"Why don't you just go to Luke's and get coffee and breakfast and we'll meet you at the mall. Then we can hit the cute place. Okay?"

"Are we avoiding a certain someone who works at the diner?" She smirked.

"I'm not avoiding him. I just don't want to leave Paris alone in the house."

She scoffed. "Liar. You know you're gonna have to talk to him eventually."

"I know. Just not now. I'm not ready to talk to him yet."

"Alright, kiddo. I'll see you at the mall."

"Only if I can get Paris out of the damn bathroom!" She yelled as she banged on the door a few more times.

"Okay." Lorelai nodded. "I'm just gonna go to Luke's. And I'll let you deal with Paris."

"Sounds fair to me." She replied sarcastically.

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Lorelai skipped into the diner and immediately started talking. "I need to meet Rory and Paris at the mall in like a half an hour so I need coffee now and pancakes and where is Luke?" She asked when she realized Lane and a few customers were the only people there.

"He's in the back." Lane told her. "Do you want me to get him?"

"No. I got it." She went around the counter and into the storage room.

Luke looked up from the shipment he was unloading when he heard the door open. "Who let you back here?"

She smiled as she shut the door behind her. "Lane."

He grabbed her around the waist and kissed her softly. "No one listens to me."

"You complaining?" She put her hands on either side of his face and pulled his lips down to hers.

He kissed her a few more times before resting his forehead against hers. "No. But you still shouldn't be back here."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "But we can't do this out front."

"I have to get back to work."

"Can't Jess do it?"

"Oh, yea. Let me get my nephew down here to do my job so I can make out in the storage room."

"Sounds good."

He laughed and kissed her forehead. "Come on. I'll get you some coffee."

She tilted her head to the side, weighing her options. "Fine. But only because I haven't had any today. And don't expect me to be so easily distracted by your offers of warm beverages tonight."

"Don't expect me to try to distract you with offers of warm beverages tonight."

"Why Mr. Danes, are you flirting with me?"

He pressed his lips against hers one more time before pulling her out to the front room. "Sit." He said, guiding her to the counter.

She sat on the stool next to the register and waited for him to pour her coffee. "Hey Luke."

"What?" He asked as he filled her cup.

"You know Jess?"

"My nephew? Yes."

"And Rory?"

"I know her too."

"Well what would you say if I told you something happened with them yesterday?"

"I know."

"You do?"

"Jess comes to work on his day off, a day he's supposed to be spending with Rory, it kinda tips me off."

"Right." She took a sip of her coffee. "Speaking of Rory, I need to meet her in Hartford in about twenty minutes. So…pancakes?"

"You want chocolate chips?"

"And whipped cream."

"Coming right up."

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Rory and Paris were sitting outside a dressing room surrounded by a pile of bags waiting for Lorelai to come out. "C'mon Mom. We wanna see."

"Alright. Alright." Lorelai walked out of the room and twirled around. "So?"

Rory stood up to get a closer look at the dress. "Mom, you look beautiful. This dress is great."

"Really? Paris?"

Paris looked her up and down. "It's kinda sparkly."

She looked down at the pink dress she was wearing. "You're right. It's too sparkly."

"Don't listen to her." Rory told her. "It's not too sparkly."

"Yes it is. I look like a chandelier."

"You do not. You look great."

"Really? Paris?"

"Well…" Rory shot her a look and she nodded. "Yea. You look great."

Lorelai smiled. "Great." She went back into the dressing room.

"What is wrong with you?" Rory asked Paris.

"What?"

"That dress is great."

"I don't like sparkles."

"Well Mom does. And her date is in like two hours so we need to get out of here."

"Sorry." She looked down at her feet.

"Are you okay?"

"Why hasn't Doyle called me?"

"I don't know. Maybe he…I don't know, Paris."

"Maybe I'm not good."

"Oh my God."

"I was good enough for Asher. He said-"

"Paris!"

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Lorelai looked herself over in the mirror then turned around unhappily. "Rory!"

"What?" She called from downstairs.

"It's too sparkly."

"No it isn't."

"I look-"

"If the word chandelier comes out of your mouth…"

"Are you sure it's okay?"

"Luke won't be able to keep his hands off you."

She smiled gleefully as she smoothed her dress.

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Rory sat next to Paris on the couch after she finished convincing Lorelai that the dress was fine. "She's impossible."

"This is depressing."

She looked at the movie that Paris had on. It was a sixties beach dance party movie. "Why?"

"All these people are dead."

"That movie is from the sixties. They're not all dead."

"Well, they're old. Osteoporosistic. These days if they shake it, they break it. That makes me sad."

"Okay." She grabbed the remote and turned the television off. "Get up. We're going out."

"Where?"

"I don't know. Wherever. We just need to get out of the house and do something." She paused when the phone started ringing. "Hold on." She picked the phone up. "Hello?"

"Oh my God!" Lane screamed.

"Hi."

"When did this happen? How? Where? I want all the details."

"You're gonna have to help me out a little here."

"You kissed Jess! Spill."

"If you're not doing anything tonight why don't you come hang out with us and I can tell you."

"Who's us? I thought Lorelai had a date tonight."

"She does. Paris is here."

"Okay. I'll be there in four and a half minutes."

"We'll see you then." She hung the phone up and turned back to Paris. "Lane's gonna come over and hang out with us. That's okay with you, right?"

"Whatever. Can I put my movie back on?"

"No. We're going to have a fun girls' night. With no depressing movies. And if that means we have to stick to movies made after 1980 then so be it."

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Rory skipped up to the front counter at Black, White, and Read. She, Paris, and Lane had been there for about two hours. No one else was there, so they asked Kirk to put a cartoon on for Paris's benefit. "Kirk." She sang.

"Yes, Rory?"

"Our movie's over. Can you put on another one?"

"No."

"No?"

"We're closing now. Mother says I have to be home before ten-thirty."

"Kirk, you really need to move out of your mom's house."

"Yea, that's what Luke said." Suddenly something snapped in Kirk. "Lock up behind you." He threw the keys at Rory and ran out the door.

She looked helplessly towards the theater. "Do either of you know how to work a projector?"

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A/N: I'm not doing cartwheels over this chapter. It really felt like filler to me. So if any of you feel the same way, I'm sorry. The next chapter will definitely have more substance.