For as long as Luke could remember, he'd been serving Thanksgiving lunch at his diner for the townspeople of Stars Hollow. This lunch had become something of an institution over the years, like a giant family gathering where people were free to come and go, eat and mingle, before going home to unbutton their pants and take a nap. And though Luke would never admit it, Thanksgiving was one of his favorite days of the year.
On any given day, Luke was territorial over his diner but today, of all days, he didn't mind some behind-the-counter participation. For the most part, he actually liked Lorelai coming back there to help prepare food (as much as she was able, considering her lack of experience with a knife, or a ladle, or anything involving cookware), enjoyed the sight of Rory moving around the diner, refilling the shakers and decorating each table with tiny pumpkins and pine cones. Even if he grumbled and barked out orders, having Lorelai and Rory helping with the meal made Luke feel as if he were a part of a team. A family.
"What's with the goofy smile on your face?"
Luke's serene moment popped the moment his nephew showed his face. As much as he liked Jess and was proud of his success, the guy had a real talent for rousing the hornet's nest. "Here," Luke said, handing Jess a bucket full of silverware and the special cloth napkins reserved for special occasions. "Start wrapping."
"I need coffee first."
Luke took hold of Jess' shoulders and steered him toward a table. "Fold now, coffee later."
"I'm calling my union," Jess quipped, casting a quick glance across the room at Rory before turning to his task.
Shaking his head, Luke poured out a cup of coffee and set it in front of Jess. Luke wanted to ask about the Rory situation but resisted. He was trying this new thing called staying out of people's business. He wasn't sure he could do it, not when it came to people he actually cared about, but he'd at least give the impression that he was trying.
Jess took a grateful sip of the coffee. "I know what you want to ask me," he said in a low voice. "And the answer is no. We're just friends. Nothing more, nothing less."
Luke held up his hands, backing off. "Hey, I didn't say a word."
Jess' eyes flicked over to Rory once again. "You didn't have to."
"Make way. The most amazing cranberry sauce coming through," Lorelai said, holding a bowl up in the air with one hand as she sashayed out of the kitchen. A moment later, her hip caught on the edge of the counter.
Luke watched the entire thing happen as if in slow motion—Lorelai bounced off the counter just as the glass bowl came flying out of her hands. It sailed through the air and landed face down onto the floor, red sauce splattering everywhere.
Lorelai's hands flew up to her mouth, her eyes as wide as the splash radius.
Luke wiped at the sauce spot on his cheek, shaking his head as he surveyed the mess. "People are going to come in here and wonder who got murdered."
"Time to call Dexter Morgan," Jess said from where he sat.
Rory walked over, biting back a laugh. "Now if we only knew someone with experience in drawing chalk outlines," she said, flashing Jess a meaningful smile.
Jess just gave her a tight smile in return and got up. "I'll go get the mop," he said and walked off to the stock room.
Rory watched Jess retreat to the back of the diner, a little disappointed he'd chosen not to acknowledge her reference. Still, she wasn't naive enough to think he'd be all jokes and smiles already; it would take time and patience to earn back his regard.
After helping her mother wipe up cranberry sauce from the baseboards, Rory looked around the room and realized they'd missed something. "We didn't get flowers," she said and turned to Luke. "Do you have a vase?"
"Yes he does," Lorelai said with a wide smile. "Ask him how many."
Luke let out a deep sigh. "Your mother's been buying me a vase every year since we got back together, so now I am two vases short of a dozen," he said. "She won't stop buying them."
"It's not my fault you have hoarding tendencies," Lorelai said, smiling at him with warm eyes.
"Or that you have compulsive buying disorder," Luke shot back.
It occurred to Rory that this back and forth ribbing between her mother and Luke was their own unique way of flirting. All these years they'd been doing it right in of Rory and she hadn't even known. "Okay, well, while you two bicker, I'll just run over to Gabby's and buy us some flowers," Rory said and started for the door.
"Hurry. We start eating right on the hour," Lorelai called out. "As soon as Cesar makes more cranberry sauce, anyway."
Rory rushed out, heading down the sidewalk towards Gabby's Flowers. But when she got there, she found it had already closed for the day. She turned to the next best place: Doose's Market. Thankfully, the market was still open but their flower selection was paltry at best.
"Do you have anymore in the back?" Rory asked Taylor as she looked over the three bouquets available.
Taylor paused from making half-off signs for his leftover pumpkins. "That's all we have left. It's Thanksgiving, not Mother's Day."
Barely suppressing an eye-roll, Rory picked out the biggest bouquet and took it to the cash register. As she was paying, she heard the unmistakeable voice of Zack Van Gerbig somewhere within the store. After Rory received her receipt, she followed the voice to the back corner of the store, finding Lane's husband on the phone, staring at a shelf full of cold and flu medicine.
"Which one? Cold and flu, just cold, or just flu?" he said. "Nighttime cold or daytime flu? Gel caps or liquid? Lane, this is giving me a headache. I'd go get some medicine for that too but I'm afraid to look and fall into some sort of drug-confused inception."
"Hey, Zack," Rory said, approaching. "Is Lane sick?"
Zack hung up and nodded in that loose, swaying way of his, as if he's always hearing a beat. "As a dog. She's bedridden and hacking up buckets of phlegm. So uncool," he said then added, "because, you know, fever."
Rory asked him to list Lane's ailments and then picked out the most appropriate medication. "Try this one. This is what works best for me," she said, handing him an orange box. Then she grabbed the blue box too. "Might as well take this to be sure."
"Thanks," Zack said. "I guess it's just me and the boys eating tofurkey with the in-laws this year."
"Ah, the infamous tofurkey," Rory said with a smile. It had been years since she'd been invited over for a Korean Thanksgiving, but the taste of tofu cooked to mimic turkey meat was one she didn't think she'd ever forget. "Well, give Lane my best," Rory said, a plan already forming in her head.
"Will do."
Thanksgiving lunch went off without further problems. Turkeys were sliced, gravy was ladled, and as usual, Lorelai stole the marshmallows off Luke's sweet potatoes.
"I missed this," Rory said, her eyes floating around at the happy faces around the room. She had spent the last several years hopping from one Thanksgiving table to another, but no place had ever felt as comfortable, as right, as in this diner with her mother, and Luke, and this odd assortment of people. Even if Jess was sitting across the room, braving his meal with Miss Patty and her overt advances, Rory still felt a feeling of contentment settle over her.
After finishing her food, Rory pushed away from the table and picked up her plate.
"You done already?" Lorelai asked, giving Rory a bewildered look. "You haven't even had seconds. Or pie. You can't miss the pie."
"The pie will be eaten, I promise," Rory said. "First I want to take some food over to Lane."
Luke frowned up at her. "Isn't she down with the flu?"
"And with OPP?" Lorelai piped in.
"She is," Rory said with a nod. "Which is why she'll need some food. So it you'll excuse me," Rory added and headed to the kitchen.
A few minutes later, Rory started out the door with a paper sack full of food in her arms. She was already halfway down the street when she heard footsteps coming up fast behind her. Then Jess appeared at her side, his hands in his pockets and a sheepish grin on his face.
"Uh, hello." Rory expected him to breeze past but he remained in step with her. "Can I help you?" she asked.
"I'm just here to make sure you don't get mugged," he said with a shrug.
"Because Stars Hollow is second only to Detroit in violent crime?"
"Look, I'm only doing my civic duty," he said.
Rory shook her head. Typical Jess, not giving a straight answer.
They remained unspeaking until they rounded on Lane's house, the same place where Sookie and Jackson used to live before their family had outgrown it.
Jess jumped up onto the porch steps and held out his hand. "Here, I'll take it inside."
"I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself," Rory said, trying to move past him but Jess blocked her way, his body a warm, immovable wall.
"Let me take it, Rory," he said, his voice hard and forbidding.
She held onto the paper sack, her eyes flying over his face, searching for clues to his bizarre behavior. "What is with you?" she asked and tried to dodge past him again. She froze when his arm wrapped around her, holding her in place.
"Rory, just let me do this, okay?" he asked, the texture of his voice changing, softening. With his face uncomfortably close, he pried the sack from her hands. "Wait here." Then he turned away, opening the front door and calling out a greeting to Lane. When he heard her voice, he promptly disappeared inside.
Rory stood on the porch, staring after him. A minute later, she heard a window sliding open, then Jess stuck his head out. "Come on," he said with a crooked grin.
Rory walked over and peered into the window, seeing Lane in her bed. "Hey there, sicko," Rory said with a wave.
Lane shifted to a sitting position, her short hair sticking up in places. "Why are you out there?" she asked in a hoarse, congested voice. She shot a puzzled look up at Jess. "And why is he in here?"
"I have no idea." Rory watched him unload the food, setting each container on the side table beside Lane. A shiver traveled through her and she hugged her arms around herself, wishing she'd remembered to take a jacket. But, then again, she hadn't exactly counted on her food run being hijacked.
"Thank you," Lane said when Jess handed her a fork and knife.
"So how are you feeling?" Rory asked, leaning closer to the window.
"Better now," Lane said, opening the container with the stuffing and taking a bite. "I can't taste anything but I'm sure this is delicious."
"Luke certainly outdid himself this year," Jess said, walking over to the window as he shrugged his jacket off. A moment later, he stuck it out the window.
Rory didn't hesitate to take the jacket. As soon as slipped it on, she was immediately enveloped in his lingering warmth. The jacket even smelled like him, his scent floating around her like a cool ocean breeze. "Thanks," she said, their eyes locked.
He nodded, saying nothing. But even in the absence of words, Rory could feel the silent push and pull between them.
"What's going on between you two?" Lane asked. "I'm either sensing some major tension here or the Dayquil is really kicking in. Or was that Nyquil I took?"
"Definitely the Nyquil," Jess called over his shoulder.
"But why is Rory afraid to enter my house? Is she a vampire?" Lane insisted.
Jess held Rory's gaze, his jaw muscles working. "No," he said. "I just don't want her to catch the flu."
Rory's chest swelled as his actions came into focus. Despite it all, Jess was trying to take care of her—and the baby—in his own gruff way.
She opened her mouth to give voice to her gratitude, but he turned away from the window and walked back over to Lane. "Do you need anything else?" he asked, actively avoiding looking at the misty-eyed girl at the window. "Maybe some juice? Water? Whiskey?"
Lane held up a container, taking huge chunks out of the cranberry jelly and scooping it directly into her mouth. "Nope. It's all good."