The Best of What's Around
Chapter 5: Crossroads
Jess Mariano glanced quickly over his shoulder in disgust. His roommate, Brian, was elaborately practicing a monologue for his acting class the next day. He recognized the piece from Romeo and Juliet. Brian had been at it for the last two hours. It had provided Rory with some amusement when he had been on the phone with her earlier. At the moment, he was pretending that his can of Red Bull was a vial of poison. Jess shook his head. Of all the roommates he could have gotten at NYU, he had to get one of the damn artsy types.
Jess grabbed the phone on his desk and quickly punched in a string of numbers. He held it to his ear and listened to several rings before a gruff voice answered.
"Luke's."
"Uncle Luke?" Jess drawled.
"Jess," Luke said shortly. "What have I told you about calling me that?"
"Gee, I don't know, Uncle Luke. It's been so long since I've seen you. I missed you."
"Uh huh. Do you need money, or something?"
Jess propped his feet up on his desk, smirking. "I just called to hear the sound of your voice."
"Quit being a smart ass. What did you want?"
"I'm just letting you know that I'm catching a ride to Stars Hollow tomorrow. I should be back on Sunday."
"Catching a ride?" Luke asked skeptically. "Did you join a biker gang or something?"
"Yeah, Luke. I'm wearing leather and chains right now. I also got a tattoo that says 'Burgers or Bust,' I think you'll like it."
"Jess…"
"I'm getting a ride with Lorelai and Rory."
Luke was silent for a moment. "Lorelai and Rory?"
Jess noted the change in his uncle's tone, but decided it was probably best not to say anything. "Yeah. They're staying at the grandparent's house for the holidays."
"Oh… right… of course," Luke said slowly.
"Yeah… so, I just wanted to let you know. Wouldn't want to walk in on you and Maddie doing the nasty, or anything."
"Jess!" Luke said in exasperation.
"What?" he asked innocently.
Luke grunted into the phone. "Listen, speaking of Maddie…"
"Whoa, Luke, I didn't really want to know about you and Maddie doing the nasty," Jess said quickly.
"Would you shut up for a minute? Well… you know we've been planning the wedding and everything. And, uh… I guess I need a best man. It's either you or Kirk, and you're family and everything…"
"You want me to be your best man?"
"Well… yeah."
Jess was secretly touched by Luke's offer. But, he would never actually let him know that. "Okay. Sure. Whatever," he said casually.
Luke let out a breath. "Great. Okay then. So, uh… school going good?"
Uh oh. Luke was trying to make small talk. Time to end this, quick. "Yeah, just finished finals. Look, I gotta go, Brian wants to use the phone."
"Oh, okay."
"I'll see you Sunday."
"Right. Hey, Jess?" Luke added.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
Jess smiled slightly. "No problem. Bye."
"Bye."
He hung up the phone. Brian was still reciting the final scene of Romeo and Juliet. Jess moved throughout his room quickly, checking to make sure he had not forgotten to pack anything. He finally zipped up his bags, piled them in the corner, and lay down to go to sleep.
"O true apothecary!" Brian yelled out.
Jess grimaced and rolled over in bed, shoving a pillow over his head.
***
The next day…
"Oh my god, Mom, did you pack the entire apartment?" Rory asked in horror as she surveyed the growing pile of bags on the sidewalk.
Lorelai walked out of the building with another suitcase and a sling bag. "This is the last of it, I swear!"
"What is all of this?"
"Well, some of it's clothing. I still haven't decided on an outfit yet for the wedding, so I brought along several options. And, of course, depending on the dress I choose, certain shoes will be needed, so I had to pack a couple of different pairs. And then there are jewelry decisions to be made, and you can see how it spiraled out of control from there," Lorelai finished, waving her arms at the pile.
"Where are we going to put all of it? You do realize that four people are going to have to fit in the jeep as it is, right?"
"Ah, that is where you're wrong. Your brilliant mother has already taken care of all of our transportation needs," she said proudly.
Rory crossed her arms and looked at her skeptically. "Care to enlighten me?"
"You see, as it would happen, Annie has a car that she has graciously volunteered to let us use for our trip."
"And it's going to fit all of this junk?"
"Yup, apparently it's huge. We'll be traveling in style."
Rory looked behind her mother. "Ah, I see. Traveling in style. You sure about that?" she asked as she pointed.
Lorelai turned around to see what Rory was looking at. When she did, she wished she hadn't. Annie drove towards them in a car that Lorelai could best describe as a total junker. It looked like it had been through inclement weather, several accidents, and possibly a nuclear war. She didn't know much about cars, but she was fairly certain that this wasn't a good sign.
"It looks like a whale," Rory murmured.
Annie grinned as she turned off the engine and got out of the car. "Good afternoon, Gilmores!"
"Hey there, Annie," Lorelai said meekly as she continued to look at the car.
"Oh Lorelai, thank you so much for inviting me. It just means so much," she gushed as she walked towards them.
"It's no problem at all." She paused. "So, this is the car?"
"Yup! It's not much, but it should get us to Connecticut and back. It used to be my dad's."
A meowing sound suddenly started coming from the back seat.
"Kitty?" Rory asked as she peered into the car.
"That's Walter," Annie said proudly, pointing to the tiny cat inside a cage in the backseat.
"You brought… Walter?" Lorelai asked slowly.
"Well, I couldn't just leave him home all alone. Oh no, I hope you don't mind."
"I'm sure it'll be fine," she said cautiously.
"Okay then! I'm going to start loading up the trunk." She moved to Lorelai's pile of luggage and picked up several bags.
"Does Grandma like pets in the house?" Rory whispered.
"Are you kidding? She barely lets me in the house with the mess I make of things," Lorelai replied back quietly.
The sound of approaching footsteps caused them to look down the street. Jess jogged towards them with only a backpack slung over his shoulder and a small bag in his hands.
"Sorry I'm late. My subway train was backed up."
Rory moved towards him, greeting him with a sweet kiss. Jess looked at the scene around him. "Where's the jeep?" he asked after a quick glance at Annie's car.
Rory nudged him. "Mom's arranged for other transportation."
Jess raised his eyebrows. "I see." He leaned towards Rory. "You know, I think that kind of car was recalled in 1982," he whispered.
Lorelai clapped her hands. "Alright, enough chit chat!"
"No chit chat? You're the queen of chit chat," Rory pointed out.
"Yes, well, not right now. Let's finish packing up the car."
After several minutes, the car was packed and everyone was seated. Despite its shoddy appearance, it did actually hold all of their luggage. Lorelai was the designated driver, Rory and Jess shared the backseat, and Annie was shotgun.
"Alright! We are all set. Connecticut, here we come," she said as she rubbed her hands together. She turned the key in the ignition. The engine abruptly backfired, causing everyone in the car to jump. Slightly stunned, Lorelai sat still for a moment before trying the key again. This time, the car started without incident, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hey Mom, will you turn the heat on? It's freezing back here," Rory said.
Lorelai pushed the button for heat. When nothing came out of the vents, she tried again. Still nothing. She turned to look at Annie with expectant eyes.
"Uh, well, actually, the heat doesn't exactly work," Annie said apologetically.
Lorelai groaned.
"But, don't worry," Annie continued. "I brought extra blankets!" She reached under her seat and pulled several quilts out. She tossed two back to Rory and Jess and handed one to Lorelai.
Lorelai positioned the blanket across her lap and pulled her jacket tighter around her. "Okay, kids. We're off!" she said as cheerfully as possible.
A while later, the car was driving relatively smoothly along the turnpike. Annie was gazing absently out the window. Lorelai glanced into her mirror and saw Rory and Jess cuddling under their blankets in the back seat, his hand stroking her hair. She felt an involuntary pang in her chest. The scene was all too familiar.
***
Two years earlier…
Lorelai slammed her parking brake on and hopped out of the jeep. Forgetting to even lock the door, she ran towards the glowing sign that pierced the dark night with the words that caused her heart to clench painfully: Emergency Room.
She had received the call from Jess a half hour earlier. He hadn't been able to give her many details because he didn't know much himself. He had tried to keep his voice steady as he relayed what he did know to Lorelai, but she could tell that his heart was sick with worry. His voice broke slightly when he said her name: Rory. Rory was in the hospital.
She pushed her way through the heavy glass doors and looked wildly around. She was surrounded by illness, and injury, and death. Fresh tears stung her eyes. She had to find her daughter. She spotted a nurse's station and stumbled towards it.
"Lo-Lorelai Gilmore," she choked out through her tears. "I have to find Lorelai Gilmore. Please, you have to tell me where she is."
A nurse looked up at her. "Just one moment, miss."
"No, no! I don't have a moment. I have to find my daughter. Her name is Gilmore, Lorelai Gilmore. She goes by Rory."
The nurse looked through several charts before pausing on one. "You're her mother?"
"Yes!" Lorelai said desperately.
She looked up at her very sympathetically. "Room 203. Just down the hall and to the right."
Lorelai took off in the direction the nurse pointed in. She felt the panic in her chest building to an even greater degree. Soon, she was passing several doorways. Room 201. Room 202. Her heart seemed to stop. Room 203. Her fingers lightly traced the raised outline of the numbers on the wall.
The door was closed. She breathed deeply, about to go in, when she stopped. She peered through the glass window. Through the blinds, she could make out Rory and Jess. She moved closer to the window and leaned forward, her warm forehead relieved with the touch of the cold glass. Rory was curled up into a tiny ball, her petite body racked with sobs as her arms clutched at Jess. He held her close, resting her head on his shoulder, his hands smoothing her hair. Lorelai could see his mouth moving slightly, no doubt whispering words of comfort. He raised his eyes slightly and caught sight of Lorelai standing at the window. He nodded his head slightly, motioning for her to come inside.
Lorelai stepped back and wiped at the wetness on her cheeks. As she moved to touch the doorknob, a presence was suddenly at her side. Her head turned quickly.
"Doctor! You're a doctor? Are you Rory's doctor?"
The man looked slightly taken aback by her outburst, but recovered quickly. "Yes, I'm Doctor Meadows, I've been taking care of Rory. You're… her mother?"
"Yes, I'm Lorelai Gilmore. What's going on? How is she?"
He took her arm. "Ms. Gilmore, if you could just come with me and sit down for a moment, I'll fill you in on everything…"
She shrugged out of his grasp. "I don't need to sit down. I need to know what's going on with my daughter!"
Doctor Meadows sighed. "Alright. Ms. Gilmore, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I'm afraid your daughter has suffered a miscarriage. She came into the emergency room complaining of cramping and some slight bleeding. We did everything we medically could to prevent it, but, unfortunately, there was nothing else we could do. I'm sorry."
Lorelai's head spun slightly. She put out a hand and used the wall to steady herself. Maybe sitting down would have been a better idea. "But, Rory's going to be okay?"
He gave her a small smile. "She's a little emotional now, but she'll be fine. I just have to go in and check on her. I'll just be a minute, and then you can go in and see her." He reached out and patted her shoulder reassuringly. He tapped Rory's chart on his hand and entered the room.
Lorelai found a chair and sat down heavily. She doubled over, her head in her hands, rocking slightly. Rory was going to be okay. She kept repeating this mantra over and over again to herself. She heard the click of the door and looked up. Jess warily stepped out of the room. He spotted her and stood still for a moment, unsure of what to do. Finally, he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and took a seat in the chair next to Lorelai.
She turned slightly so that she could look at him. His face was strained, and the ghost of tears could be seen from the streaks on his face. She moved her head so that it was staring straight ahead again, but she silently moved her hand to cover his. She felt his body twitch in shock before he firmly took her hand and gave it a grateful squeeze.
"I didn't know what to do," Jess mumbled.
Lorelai nodded.
"We were just sitting on the bridge reading. Her stomach had been bothering her all day, but she just thought it was something she ate at Al's Pancake World. She thought it was nothing." He ran his free hand over his face and through his hair. "Maybe if I had brought her here earlier…"
"Don't," Lorelai interrupted softly. "Don't torture yourself with the 'what ifs.' It'll drive you crazy. You did everything you could."
Jess remained silent at her words. She looked at him. He seemed younger under the fluorescent hospital lights. Like a lost, scared little boy. After all the time she had spent hating him for what he had done to Rory's life, she seemed to have forgotten that he was still a kid himself.
"Rory's going to need a lot of help getting through this. She's going to need the people she loves around her. She needs… both of us," she said slowly.
Jess nodded. They sat in silence for a few moments. Finally, he spoke. "I just want you to know… I was going to stand by her and the baby. And I'll stand by her now. I'll stand by her forever, if she'll let me. I love her."
"I know," Lorelai whispered.
Doctor Meadows appeared at the doorway to Rory's room. "You can go see her now."
Lorelai stood up quickly and looked back at Jess.
He nodded his head in the direction of the room. "You go. I'll wait out here."
She gave him a small smile. She turned back to the door and slowly reached out to turn the knob.
Rory seemed very tiny in the large, white hospital bed. At the sound of the door opening, she looked up sharply, her blue eyes wide. At the sight of her mother, her bottom lip began to tremble slightly. "Mommy?"
Lorelai flew to the bed and enveloped Rory in her arms before she even realized she had left the doorway. She ran her hands over her back soothingly as Rory began to cry afresh into her chest. "It's okay, baby. Everything's going to be okay," she whispered over and over again. Lorelai leaned down to kiss her head, taking in the scent of her hair mixed with the delicate perfume she put on every morning. Rory. She was really safe in her arms. "Everything's going to be okay."
Lorelai absently stared out the window to the hallway as she held Rory. She saw Jess stand up and take a few steps down the hall. Suddenly, Luke entered her frame of view, pulling Jess into a short, but tight embrace. They stood conversing for several moments, Luke's face twisted with worry and confusion. He finally turned and walked to look into the window. He caught Lorelai's eye. She hadn't seen him since that late night in the street in front of the diner three weeks before. They maintained eye contact for a few long moments before Luke abruptly turned away and walked out of her field of vision. Lorelai continued to stare out the window for several seconds, her eyes clouding with tears again. "Please let everything be okay," she whispered.
***
Lorelai and Jess had made peace that day. She had seen how much he cared for Rory, and she appreciated the way he stood by her when she needed him the most. And hell, her daughter loved him. They seemed to grow even closer after the miscarriage. What could she do, hate him for the rest of their lives? It would only get the lot of them on the Maury Povich show someday. Too bad things couldn't be quite so easy with Luke.
They were about an hour outside of New York City. The car was quiet, except for the occasional comment by one of the Gilmores. Lorelai was driving along when she was suddenly struck by a craving for coffee. She was thrilled to see a sign for an approaching rest stop.
"We're stopping!" Lorelai called out as she entered the lane leading off of the main highway.
"Hmm? Why're we stopping?" Rory murmured, apparently having drifted off to sleep for a few minutes. She had a habit of falling asleep in moving vehicles ever since she was a baby.
"Coffee," Lorelai said simply. "And it looks like you could definitely use some, sweets."
She rubbed at her eyes. "Mom, we've been through this before. Rest stop coffee is toxic."
"Coffee is coffee," Lorelai said stubbornly. "Any coffee is better than no coffee."
"This isn't going to end well," Jess muttered.
Lorelai pulled the large car into an empty spot that was far from the other cars. Better safe than sorry, in her opinion. Everyone slowly spilled out from the car.
Rory walked over to Lorelai. "I can't feel my feet. I think I have frostbite," she whispered.
"I know, baby. My feet stopped feeling the pedals a long time ago."
"Good to know."
Annie looked positively excited as they walked towards the building. "I've always loved rest stops."
"Really?" Lorelai asked in disbelief as she turned towards her, noting the rundown condition of the place.
"Oh yes. When I was young, my parents liked to take road trips sometimes. They even had a Winnebago for a few years," Annie laughed. "I've spent a lot of time at different rest stops. We even went cross country once."
"Like in Crossroads!" Rory exclaimed.
"Rory, I thought we agreed that it was best to never admit to actually having seen that movie," Lorelai admonished.
"Oh please. You're the one with the strange Britney Spears fixation. You learned the whole "Baby…One More Time" dance from the video."
Lorelai clasped a hand over Rory's mouth as Jess laughed. "Crazy girl, giving away all of mommy's dark secrets."
They entered the rest stop and were immediately engulfed in the bustle of holiday travelers. While Lorelai and Annie sniffed out the coffee, Rory and Jess headed over to the book stand in the mini-mart.
Jess looked through several rows of books. "Hidden Desires, The Countess of Mayberry, Quivering Loins?" he rattled off, before backing away in disgust. "Don't they have anything that isn't of the trashy romance novel persuasion?"
Rory picked up a book and held it out to him, a sly smile playing at her lips. He took it from her, only to toss it back a second later, shielding his eyes.
"Half-naked Fabio not your persuasion?" she asked innocently.
"That was just mean," Jess muttered. "I think I've been blinded."
She laughed and looped her arm through his, leading him away from the offensive novels. "I don't think we're gonna find anything worthwhile here." She spotted her mother walking away from the Roy Rogers counter, blowing on a large cup of coffee. Rory quickly got in line and ordered a vanilla milkshake.
"Ice cream craving?" Jess said.
"Nope, it's for Mom," she said simply.
Rory and Jess joined Lorelai and Annie at their small table. Lorelai leaned down to sniff her coffee, and anxiously brought it up to her lips. Rory looked on, waiting for the inevitable. She took a long sip, the look of hopeful anticipation on her face quickly replaced by one of shock, and then disgust.
"Oh my god!" Lorelai exclaimed. "Milkshake! I need milkshake!"
Rory pushed the cup towards her nonchalantly. Jess and Annie looked on in confusion as Lorelai began gratefully gulping it down.
"How did you…" he began.
"Vanilla milkshake is one of the few things that kills the taste of bad coffee," Rory stated, as if it should be obvious.
He shook his head in disbelief. "I will never understand the two of you."
***
Several hours later, Lorelai and Rory found themselves standing side by side in the doorway of the Gilmore residence like they had done countless times in the past every Friday night before dinner. Jess and Annie hung back slightly in the driveway. Lorelai braced herself and rang the doorbell.
After a moment, a stodgy older man in a suit opened the door.
Lorelai was slightly taken aback. "Um… hi there." No response. "I'm Lorelai, and this is my daughter, Rory."
The man continued to look at them down his nose.
"Uh… Emily should be expecting us?" Lorelai said hesitantly.
The man abruptly closed the door on them.
"Was it something I said?" Lorelai asked in confusion.
"Did Grandma get protection from the mafia, or something?" Rory offered.
Before Lorelai could make her own speculation, the door opened again and Emily Gilmore appeared.
"Lorelai! Rory!" she exclaimed as she pulled both girls into a hug.
"Hey Mom."
"Hey Grandma."
"Well, come in, come in. There's no need to lurk in doorways," Emily said, motioning them in. Jess and Annie made there way inside as well.
"Hey Mom, speaking of lurking, who's the stiff?" Lorelai said with a slight nod of her head in his direction.
"The stiff, Lorelai? That's our butler, Arthur."
"You have a butler now?"
"Well, it was so hard to find a maid that could take care of everything in the house that we decided to start compartmentalizing our help."
"Compartmentalizing?" Rory asked.
"Now we have a maid, a cook, and a butler," Emily said proudly.
"Wow…" Lorelai said slowly.
Emily looked beyond Rory and Lorelai and spotted Jess and Annie.
She nodded curtly. "Jess, nice to see you." Emily had been wary of Jess since he had begun dating Rory, and her glacial attitude towards him did not appear to be melting anytime soon.
He returned her nod. "Mrs. Gilmore. Thanks for letting me stay here tonight."
Lorelai walked over to Annie. "Mom, this is my personal assistant at the hotel, Annie Devane. Annie, this is my mother, Emily Gilmore."
Annie eagerly shook her hand. "Mrs. Gilmore, thank you so much for letting me spend the holidays with you."
"It's no problem, Anne. It's lovely to meet you," Emily said warmly. She seemed to have taken an immediate liking to Annie's polite nature and her lack of incessant talking, which was quite the rarity in that house.
"Where's Grandpa?" Rory asked.
"He's away on business, I'm afraid. He was quite upset that he wouldn't be here to greet you, but I expect him to be back tomorrow afternoon." Emily clapped her hands after a moment. "Alright then. I imagine all of you are tired. I'll have Arthur take you all to your rooms."
Arthur shot Lorelai and Rory an annoyed glare as he motioned for them to follow him upstairs.
"I'll be expecting everyone at breakfast tomorrow morning," Emily added cheerily as they climbed the spiral staircase.
"Ahh, this is going to be such a fun two weeks," Lorelai muttered as she put an arm around Rory.
***
Despite her exhaustion, Lorelai still laid awake in bed two hours later. It was strange to be back in her childhood bedroom. The same place that she had been so desperate to escape when she was younger. She leaned up slightly in bed. Her eye caught sight of the dollhouse that was still in the room back in the shadows. It seemed to symbolize her entire existence for the first sixteen years of her life in that house. It was beautiful, and pleasing to the eye, but everything was extremely breakable and not to be handled much. God, she had hated it. And now, she was back here again, under her parents' roof, voluntarily no less. Well, not entirely voluntarily, but close enough.
She slowly got out of bed and maneuvered her way around the room. The layout of the furniture was still the same, so she was able to avoid tripping over anything in the darkness. She sat down on the sofa by the window and peered outside. It was completely dark, except for the light from several streetlamps and the glow of the moon and several bright stars. That was one of the things she missed most when she lived in New York. In the city, it was impossible to ever really see the stars.
Her thoughts wandered to the day ahead of her. She was going to go back to Stars Hollow. Back to the place that she had called home for a major portion of her life. Back to see him. Luke. She hugged her knees to her chest. She still had no idea what she was going to say to him. She didn't even know why she was attending his stupid wedding. What did she hope to accomplish? Things could never be the same as they were before. She remembered everything he had said the last time they spoke. I can't trust you, Lorelai. I can't trust you with my heart. She raised her head to the sky again and picked out a particularly bright star.
"Star light, star bright," she whispered into the vast darkness. "First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, please grant the wish I make tonight."
***
Next chapter: Breakfast at the Gilmore compound. Lorelai visits Sookie and prepares to see Luke. Lorelai remembers the entirety of her final conversation with Luke two years before.
Author's Note: Thanks so much for all of the reviews! I know some of you have expressed some concern over whether this story will end happily or not… all I'll say is that there is still a long way to go. Luke and Lorelai are going to have a lot of stuff to deal with. But, ultimately, this is a love story – between some people you expect, and some you might not. So, stick with me! Hopefully, it'll be a fun ride.
P.S. – Lorelai's wish will eventually be revealed in a later chapter!
Any reviews, feedback, or critiques are much appreciated and can be left here or sent to ShowMeLove100@aol.com.
Thanks!