Chapter 12
Jess was sitting reading a book when she walked into her room.
"Hey," he looked up at her. "Lorelai leave for work yet?"
"In a minute. She was showing me her fancy new bathroom."
"What is it with girls and bathrooms?" Jess asked. "When Liz and TJ did theirs she called and gushed about it for an hour!"
"I don't know," Rory yawned. "We just like them. We spend a lot of time in them putting on make-up and gossiping about men." She sat down on his lap and put her head on his shoulder.
"Tired?" he asked, smirking down at her.
"No," she shook her head, but her eyes were closed.
"Rory?" He hummed her name.
"Hmm?"
"Don't you think you'd be more comfortable in bed?"
"I'm good," she assured him.
"Okay." He laughed softly and brushed the hair from her face. He waited until her breathing evened out, then got up and carried her over to the bed, laying her down gently.
"What are you doing?" She asked, waking slightly.
"Nothing, go back to sleep." He tucked her under the blankets and started to walk away.
"No," she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Where are you going?"
"I'm just going to go take a nap on the couch," he told her. "I'll be right outside." He tried to pull away, but she held onto him and tugged back.
"No, stay." She tugged on his hand, then moved over to make room for him.
"Rory-" he started to argue, but she pulled harder.
"Please," she asked again.
"Okay." He sighed and crawled into bed beside her, letting her curl into his side and rest her head on his chest.
"Thank you," she mumbled into his shirt.
"Go to sleep," he whispered, stroking her hair.
"Okay." She nodded, and seconds later she was out cold.
Jess slept too, but woke up before her. He wanted Rory to sleep as long as she could, so he slipped out of bed and picked up a book- The Fountainhead. He figured if he and Rory were going to make it this time, he should give it one more chance. He was a couple hundred pages in when she started to wake up.
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," he joked. "Can I just tell you that this woman is certifiable?"
"You're reading it again?" Rory smiled sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"Well, when I started it seemed like a good idea. Now, I just can't seem to stop- it's like watching a car crash happen."
"Seriously?" Rory frowned at him.
"Has your opinion of Hemingway changed?" Jess challenged.
"Fair point," Rory shrugged and got up. "What time is it?"
"Um... 12:30," he looked at his watch.
"Crap! We're supposed to be meeting my mom for lunch!"
"Okay, it's lunchtime now," Jess observed. "Get ready and we can go."
"Just give me a minute to brush my hair," she hurried out of the room.
Lorelai was waiting for them when they pulled up.
"Come on, come on, come on!" She waved impatiently, then dragged them inside, coming to an abrupt stop outside the kitchen.
"Wait here," she instructed before disappearing inside. There was the muffled sound of voices and then Lorelai yelled "Okay!"
Jess raised an eyebrow, but Rory just shrugged and led him inside.
"Rory!" Sookie screamed and threw the bowl she had been holding. "You're home!" She started to breathe heavily, babbling about Thanksgiving and thinking about Rory and her wishes coming true.
"Are you okay?" Lorelai asked, watching Sookie concernedly.
"Do you need a paper bag?" Rory added.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just hyperventilating," she wheezed still beaming from ear to ear. As she was trying to catch her breath, Michel wandered in to get some coffee.
"RORY!" He grinned at her.
"Oh! Hi, Michel," Rory smiled, surprised by his exuberant welcome.
"I had no idea you missed her that much," Lorelai bit back a smirk.
"She just surprised me," he tried to explain. "But I am very glad you're back."
"I'm glad to be back."
"Lunch!" Sookie suddenly screamed. "I'm making you lunch!"
"What a surprise," Jess mumbled. Rory elbowed him in the ribs and Sookie suddenly seemed to notice he was there.
"Why don't you guys go sit down?" Lorelai suggested. "I'll be out in a minute."
"Sure." Rory nodded and took Jess's hand, leading him into the dining room.
"Are they going to whisper about how much they hate me?" Jess asked once they were out of earshot.
"Oh, they're not going to whisper," Rory smirked at him.
"Awesome." His voice dripped with sarcasm and Rory's smirk softened into a smile.
"They'll adjust," she assured him. "Soon they'll love you almost as much as I do."
"You always were the optimist," Jess sighed.
"The hoper of far flung hopes," she grinned. "And I'm almost always right, so shut up."
Lorelai joined them a few minutes later, followed by an army of waiters carrying piles of food.
"Am I the only one having deja vu here?" Jess asked.
"I grew up with this," Rory laughed. "From Sookie and Luke. It means she likes you."
"Exactly," Lorelai agreed. "Dig in."
While they ate, Lorelai continued to fill Rory in on everything she had missed.
"Oh!" She remembered as the third wave of food arrived. "Your dad called the other day."
"Oh?" Rory raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, he left me a message, which Luke heard- leading to a huge argument. But we're good now, and your dad and I are having lunch tomorrow."
"Did he say what it was about?" Rory asked. "Good or bad?"
"No, he just said he had some news and he needed to talk," Lorelai shrugged.
"It's a 50/50 chance with Dad," Rory reasoned.
"I know," her mom agreed. "But let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it's about Gigi- maybe she's a child protege! Maybe he's inviting us to her debut at Carnegie hall!"
"On what instrument?"
"Flugellhorn?" Lorelai shrugged.
"She's 3," Rory pointed out. "I think we would have read about it in the paper by now."
"Well, I'm out then," Lorelai sighed. "We'll just have to wait and see... So, how long are you guys staying?"
"For a while," Rory assured her.
"So you'll be here for Thanksgiving dinner?"
"Definitely."
"Okay," Lorelai grinned. "We're having it here this year, Sookie's cooking."
"Not Luke?" Rory looked a little disappointed.
"No, but I'm sure he'll try to help Sookie until she tries to murder him with a turkey baster. Are you planning on staying after Thanksgiving?"
"For a little bit," Rory looked at Jess and he nodded.
"Okay, because Luke and I were talking and we were thinking you could stay in the apartment above the diner while you're here- not that I don't love having you at the house, but we figured you might want some privacy."
"But that's Luke's house," Rory shook her head.
"He's hardly ever there anymore," Lorelai waved her off.
"That would be great," Jess agreed, cutting off any further arguments Rory could make. "Thanks."
"Fantastic!" Lorelai clapped her hands together, bringing the subject to a close. "Just go see Luke when you leave and he'll get you all settled in. Jess, you still have a key, right?"
"Unless he's changed the locks."
By the time they got to the diner, Luke had already cleaned up the apartment and gotten Jess's old room set up again- although Rory noticed the bed had gotten bigger since she had last been there, which she assumed was her mother's doing.
"You guys know where everything is," Luke shrugged. "If you need anything I'm downstairs. Jess, your mom is going to be here cooking her Thanksgiving dinner. She says she's doing it at her house, but something is going to go wrong and she'll end up here so you might want to avoid the place on Thursday. I'll clean up after her, don't worry."
"Okay, thanks for the warning."
"Alright, well, I gotta go back downstairs. See you later." He gave an awkward wave, then left them alone.
"I feel like he's going to unexpectedly show up again at any second looking for a case of mustard," Rory admitted after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah, it is a little deja vu-ish," Jess agreed, dropping onto the couch and pulling a book out of his pocket. "The difference being that we're adults now and we can lock the door."
"Very true," Rory agreed.
"What do you think he would do if we put a sock on the door?" Jess asked, an evil smirk on his face.
"I think there's a very good chance he would have an aneurysm," Rory scolded, laying down and putting her head in his lap. Jess instinctively started stroking her hair.
"Are you going to have Thanksgiving with your mom?" Rory asked, her eyes closed.
"Nah, we're not really a holiday family. She's cooking for her renaissance fair friends. I figured I would have dinner with you and Luke, like usual."
"You did that once," Rory pointed out, smiling at him. "But okay."
"Are you tired?" Jess asked, noticing that she was falling asleep again.
"No," she lied.
"Are you sure?" He prodded. "Because you've had a pretty exhausting day, and it would be understandable."
"I'm not tired. I'm just resting my eyes for a minute."
"Okay." Jess let her be, picked up a book and kept stroking her hair as he read.
