Author's Note: I hope everyone is enjoying this!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I own nothing…except the original storyline.
Every time the door to Luke's opened and the chime would sound, Luke would turn to see who was coming. And Jess had noticed every time that Luke's face would fall once he saw Andrew or Kirk walk in.
"Expecting someone?" Jess asked casually as he cleaned off the counter, while Luke was at the till.
"What are you talking about?" Luke asked, without looking up.
"You've been eyeing that door all morning," Jess said.
"You're seeing things." Luke finally looked at Jess. "Shouldn't you be getting to school by now?"
"It's Sunday." Jess stared at Luke for a second. "Still want to get rid of me?"
"Go, but if I hear anything from Taylor-" Luke spat.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember." Jess handed his towel to Luke before walking towards the door.
As he neared the exit, the door chime sounded as a tall woman with curly red hair walked in. She smiled as she looked around, then focused on Jess. "Oh, hi!"
Jess hesitated. "Hi," he said flatly, waiting for her to move so he could leave.
"You must be Jess. You have your mother's eyes," she said with a nod.
"Right," he said and looked back to Luke for help, but he wasn't behind the counter. "Can I help you?" he asked slowly as he looked back at her.
"I'm Rachel, we talked last night," she explained, taking his hand to shake.
"Oh, Luke's friend," he said.
"Yeah…um, where is he?"
"Probably in the kitchen. I'm sure he'll be out in a sec." Jess waited a beat. "Well, I have to get going."
"Oh, right. It was really nice meeting you, maybe we can catch up later!"
"Whatever," Jess answered casually as he made his way around her for the door.
Luke came back into the diner and saw her sitting at the counter, beaming once she saw him.
"Hey Luke," she said.
"Rachel, you're here," he said as if he was surprised.
"Well, I told you I would be," Rachel laughed.
"Right, you did." He wasn't sure what to say, now that she was here. He'd be thinking all morning of the right thing to say, but all that came out was, "I have a special omelet now."
Rachel chuckled a little, and looked up at the sign. "That's great, Luke. But I'm not really hungry now."
"Oh. Okay. Um, where are your bags?"
"I dropped them off at my room at the inn before I came."
Luke felt like an idiot for asking. Of course Rachel had a room at the inn. Of course she didn't want to stay with him, especially with Jess there. "Right, good idea."
She glanced around the diner. "So, it's the late-morning lull, right? Could we maybe go upstairs and talk alone?"
"Sure. Uh, Caesar…I'll be upstairs," Luke said as he walked behind Rachel upstairs. Even Luke couldn't ignore the gossipy whispers from his customers.
"This place seems bigger," Rachel said as she followed Luke into the apartment. "Did you remodel?"
"Uh, yeah. Once Jess was here, it really wasn't big enough for the two of us, so I expanded a little," Luke explained.
Rachel smiled as she sat down in Luke's worn armchair. "I guess it can get a little cramped for two people."
Luke chuckled a little, still standing nervously. "Right."
"Luke, am I making you uncomfortable?" Rachel asked.
"No, of course not. Why would-"
"Well, you're making me uncomfortable, please sit down," she said. Luke managed to find his way to the couch. "Thank you."
"So, Brazil, huh?"
Rachel smiled. "Yeah, I'm doing a piece for National Geographic about the efforts to salvage the rainforest."
"Wow," Luke said, trying to sound enthusiastic. He did admire Rachel's ambition to travel and try new things. But, he also couldn't understand why she didn't want a comfortable apartment and stable business, as he had always been content with.
"I talked to Jess," Rachel said. "He seems like a great kid."
Luke chuckled sarcastically. "Wait until you really get to know him." He felt as if he shouldn't have said that once it was out. "Not that you should get to know him. You're probably better off if you don't. Jess has a way of causing trouble for those he's most acquainted with."
Rachel smiled again. "I'll keep that in mind. But, I was kind of hoping you would let me invade your kitchen and cook dinner for the two of you."
"Tonight?" he asked.
"Well, since I am only going to be here a few days, why not? Unless you two have plans-"
"No, tonight would be great," Luke said. He smiled a little. Ironic that he and Jess hadn't really sat down for a dinner together as long as he'd been there, most of the time they ate in shifts while working the diner.
"Alright. Well, I'll let you get back to work, I'm going to go get some things from the market," Rachel said. Luke nodded as he watched her walk out, and still had that odd surreal feeling that Rachel was actually back.
When Jess came back to the diner, he started to head upstairs, but Luke came out of the kitchen and caught him.
"You need to find somewhere else to be this afternoon," Luke said.
"Why?" Jess asked as he shrugged Luke's hand off his arm.
"Because Rachel is making us dinner and she want it to be a surprise."
Jess's mouth twisted into a smirk. "Rachel is making us dinner?" he repeated. Luke rolled his eyes a little as Jess continued. "Does she know that we live above a diner which you own?"
"She wanted to do something nice."
"Why? Is the way to Luke Danes's heart through a home-cooked meal?"
Luke ignored Jess's attitude. "Just stay out until seven, alright?"
"Okay, Uncle Luke." He kept smirking to himself as he walked out to the streets of Stars Hollow. He was having a hard time imagining Luke being involved with a woman. Jess had made jokes about Luke and Lorelai, but he never actually pictured Luke in love. It was brightening up to be a most entertaining experience.
Jess found a bench in the park and sat crossed legged with a book in his lap. As he read, he would occasionally scribble notes, and underline important text. He realized someone had sat down next to him when he heard a cough, and glanced over.
"Hi, Lane," he said slowly. She was staring straight ahead. "Can I help you?"
"No, this should only take a few minutes."
Jess kept waiting for an explanation. "Sorry, did I miss something?"
Lane finally looked at him, with a depressed look on her face. "I'm trying to get my mother to ground me. If she finds me with you, I'll be locked up for a good week."
Jess displayed his confusion. "Well, glad I could help, but why would you want to be grounded?"
Lane groaned with exasperation. "If I am grounded, there is a chance she won't make me go out with all those potential Korean doctor husbands. Or, that their families won't approve of their sons seeing a girl as reckless as me."
"Yeah, sitting on a park bench can be pretty wild."
"Besides, Rory told me to be nice to you."
"Rory did what?" Jess asked.
"Well, she said she wanted you to have someone to talk to while she's away. She suggested we listen to some CDs or something. But I think she just wanted me to check up on you so I can tell her what you're doing." Lane looked at his book. "So, what are you doing?"
"Well, first of all, I don't need anyone to talk to or baby-sit me, and if Rory wants to know what I am doing, she knows where I live and that I have a phone," Jess said with a tone of bitterness. "And I'm doing homework."
Lane rolled her eyes as she twisted around to read the book cover. "Rory tried to get me to read "The Count of Monte Cristo" when we were eight, but I was sort of consumed with Sweet Valley High at the time," she explained.
"Wow, that's great," Jess said, trying to continue reading.
"Here she comes." Jess looked up and saw Mrs. Kim storming down the street and heard faint shrieks of what he assumed were Korean punishments. Lane turned to Jess. "Thanks for helping me out. And I'll tell Rory you're staying out of trouble."
Jess almost let a smile slip out. He watched Mrs. Kim drag Lane away, then couldn't help but laugh for a second.
"Alright, you can come up now!" Rachel called from the top of the stairs.
"Finally!" Jess moaned, standing up from a table in the diner. He gathered his books quickly as he hurried up the stairs.
If there was one way Jess was like all other teenagers, Luke thought, it was his demanding stomach. When Luke reached the apartment door, he stopped as he came in. Rachel had, of course, cleaned up a little more. She had dusted and swept. There were three place settings on the table, which had a tablecloth.
"Where did you get all this?" Luke asked as he walked towards her.
"The market, I wanted to make everyone feel at home," she said, glancing at Jess as he came out of his room.
"Well, then you would have forgotten to buy hamburger along with the Hamburger Helper," Jess quipped as he went over to the stove and started dishing up.
"Hey," Luke warned.
"Why don't we all dig in?" Rachel suggested. "I'm starving too, I tried not to eat everything while I was cooking."
The three of them were seated at the kitchen table with their full plates. Jess was eating quickly, not paying attention to the two of them. Rachel was watching the both boys carefully, and she noticed Luke not eating much.
"Is everything alright?" she asked and he looked up from his plate.
"Oh yeah, it's great. I just…where'd you learn to cook?"
"Well, Luke, I did work in the diner a little when I was living here."
Jess sat up with attention. "You lived here?" he repeated, then glanced mockingly at Luke. "When was this?"
"None of your business," Luke said quickly.
"Oh come on, Luke," Rachel said as if it was no big deal. She turned towards Jess. "Earlier last year."
"And you actually put up with that single bed?" Jess asked. "That thing killed my back!"
Rachel chuckled. "I suppose I got used to it."
"So what happened between you two?" Jess asked curiously. "How come you're not Aunt Rachel?"
"Jess, shut up," Luke growled.
"I'm just making dinner conversation," Jess offered. "Like normal families do."
"Well, then why don't you tell us what you did in school last week?" Luke asked, hoping to beat Jess at his own game.
"Well, I passed my American Studies test; got out of my biology lab because dissecting frogs is inhumane; made seventy bucks writing book reports for other kids; and the marching band was practicing on the football field so I changed the timers to set off the sprinklers while they were there," he explained casually.
Rachel laughed lightly at the description, but stopped when she saw Luke wasn't laughing.
"Is that all?" Luke asked, closing his eyes a little.
"I also got Lane Kim grounded for a week," Jess smirked.
Luke sighed. "Are you done with your dinner?"
"Yep."
"Good. Go to your room."
Jess stood up and pushed in his chair, looking over at Rachel. "That was a great meal, and it was a blast getting to know you, ma'am. Let's do this again sometime." He went to his room and shut the door.
Rachel saw how exhausted Luke looked. "He's kind of a handful, huh?" she asked. He was resting his head in his hands.
"You have no idea. I'm probably going to get a call from the principal tomorrow, and he'll be kicked out of summer school, and then I'll be stuck with him in the diner for the next two months," Luke theorized.
"Why don't you send him home?" Rachel asked.
Luke snorted. "He's ten times better off here than with Liz. And he's even improved a little this summer."
"I never pictured you as the fatherly type, Luke," Rachel said, then smiled. "But I think I like it."
Luke saw how Rachel was looking at him and coughed, breaking their gaze. "It, um, was really nice of you to cook us dinner," he said.
"I don't want you to ask me to spend the night, Luke," she said and Luke could look at her again. "So where is Lorelai?"
"Why do you always have to bring up Lorelai? She's just-"
"A friend? Luke, you've said that so many times the words have lost all meaning. And I am just asking, seeing as she is your friend."
Luke stood up to clear the table. "She's out of town. With her new boyfriend."
"Oh, Luke, what did I tell you?" Rachel scolded as she carried her plate to the sink. "Is it serious?"
"They went out of town together," Luke repeated, omitting the fact that Lorelai had only know this guy a few days before leaving. It didn't change that she was gone, so there was no reason to mention it.
"Well, next time you see her-"
"Rach, I don't want to talk about Lorelai. We should talk about you."
"Why?"
"Because you're here and she's not!"
Rachel shook her head, picking up her bag from the couch "Luke, I don't ever want to feel like someone is just settling for me because I'm here. Goodnight." She walked out of the apartment, leaving Luke to hear her words echoing in his head.