[A/N: Two days in a row- trying not to jinx it! Thanks to everyone who left a review- they absolutely made my morning and I'm so glad there are still people interested in this story. Please keep reviewing if you can, it's very motivating :)

Also- I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of its characters or concepts, but I have enough Italian food on the way to feed 4 people and I live alone. So I feel like I'm really honoring the Gilmore's good name in my own way here tonight.]

Chapter 127

"So remind me why we're doing this again?"

"Because Lorelai thought it would be a good idea."

"Since when was that a compelling reason to do anything?"

"If you'd prefer we could hold hands and skip."

"Hey, at least that involves less woodland creatures."

Jess and Luke trekked up the hill, Jess rolling his eyes.

"Hiking, really? Are you sure she's not trying to tell you something?" Jess smirked meaningfully, gesturing to Luke's gut. Luke's eyes narrowed.

"Hey, Rory was off the charts excited about this. So before you go pointing fingers..."

"They probably just wanted to get rid of us before they finished the rest of their wedding crap, so that we wouldn't mock them."

"So you wouldn't mock them. I don't mock."

"No, but you judge. That's worse."

"I don't judge!"

"You judge everything! You just judged my body."

"You judged mine first."

"I mocked it!"

"...it's almost like they're here."

"I recognize that tree."

"Wow. This is..."

"Yeah, it's one of my favorite spots to camp. Too bad we've got early mornings."

"That diner isn't gonna run itself."

"And those authors aren't gonna...wait...what do you actually have to be up for again? You're already in Stars Hollow."

"Video call with an author. He's in London, so we have to adjust for the time difference."

"Any good?"

"Well, he's no Dave Eggers, but hey, who is?"

"...Dave Eggers, maybe?"

"Use some context clues there?"

"It felt like the right answer."

"Yeah...I mean, he's quirky and innovative, but I'm still trying to figure out if he's actually saying anything."

"Aren't books supposed to say things? By their nature?"

"Anything important."

"Oh. Well, yeah, you probably need to talk to him to figure that out, if the book doesn't make it clear."

"Which it should, which obviously means more work for me after that conversation if it is trying to say something. But it's saying nothing in a really interesting way."

"Alright, save all this for Rory, you lost me at Edgars."

"Eggers."

"I don't care."

"It's gorgeous up here."

"Yeah, it is. I guess this wasn't a bad idea."

"Things have been busy lately."

"Yeah...ever since the thing with the inn, it's just been nonstop."

"And with Rory's new job we're getting here less, even with all the wedding planning."

"By the way, did you get the tux figured out yet?"

"I'm under strict instructions to do nothing, and let you do nothing, and to only show up when and where they tell us."

"That sounds great to me."

"I'm sure it does."

"Smartass."

"Better than the alternative..."

"Well sometimes you're that too..."

"Thanks for that warm affirmation during our bonding trip, Uncle Luke."

"Can't let things get too mushy. We're already talking back and forth like them, soon enough we'll have a secret handshake."

"They would lose it if we had a secret handshake."

"NO."

"Come on, just..."

"NO!"

"But..."

"I threw you off a bridge, I will throw you off a gorgeous cliff into the sunset if I have to."

"...should've held hands and skipped."

"Jess, you're going to crash into something."

"Hasn't happened yet."

"Give it five minutes."

"I've been doing this since I was six. Still hasn't happened."

"I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. And you're either full of it or have the spatial reasoning skills of an Air Force pilot. But you're giving me anxiety either way."

"You know what helps with that? Not caring."

"You're literally reading a book while we hike."

"Ignore it! I'm behind you."

"Obviously- you can't navigate while you're reading."

"I could."

"Not a challenge, Jess. Come on, put it down."

"We're on a completely flat trail and have been for two miles, I think..."

"Please."

"Fine."

"So what's so interesting you can't stop to hike, during a hike?"

"Actually something Chris is writing."

"He wrote a book?"

"He's written a couple. This is just a manuscript. I put a cover over it so it was less likely to get damaged in travel."

"Jess, you're reading it while hiking. I think that ship has sailed."

"...point taken."

"So it's good?"

"It's really good. He's got a lot of talent. I think he's gotten even better lately- this is better than a lot of his published stuff and this is just a draft."

"Just getting better with time?"

"That, and I think...I don't know, never mind."

"What?"

"He's got some other stuff going on that I think is helping."

"What do you mean? He take a class or something?"

Jess rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, he went and got his MFA, that's what did it."

"Really?"

"After this many years, you still can't tell when I'm being sarcastic?"

"Your charming personality has led me to believe you're always being sarcastic, so I've given up trying."

"...no. Not a class."

"Then what?"

"...things are going well with him and Hannah."

"Hannah?"

"His girlfriend. For now. They just moved in together."

"Wait, this is the same Chris who, the first time I visited you, showed me his waterbed and made that comment about..."

"The motion of the ocean? Yep, same guy."

"Wow. There really is a lid for every pot."

"Different strokes for different..."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. But wow. You really think that can affect someone's writing?"

"Of course it does. It has to. It's just a question of whether it makes them better or worse."

"You really believe that?"

"I don't just believe it, I know it."

"...well that just begs the..."

"Question that you're going to nosily ask?"

"Hey, it just came up!"

"My writing is going as well as ever."

"...that's all I get?"

"It's going well."

"Well?"

"Great."

"Great?"

"So great I want to hold hands and skip." Luke grinned and Jess smirked and turned away.

"Well that just might merit it."