A/N: Chapter Seventeen!
Oh, gosh. It has taken me forever to start this chapter. After I wrote the last one, I had major writer's block. Luckily, miss.pebbles made a suggestion that got me thinking, and so it is incorporated into this chapter. I would like to thank her for such a wonderful idea!
Have a very Merry (or Happy) Christmas! Or Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Solstice, or whatever you might celebrate, even though I think most of those have already passed.
I'm posting this at, like, 4:02 CST (my required time is 4-9 CST, 5-10 EST) because tonight there's a Christmas Eve service at my church, and we still have to clean the house.
Have fun reading…
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: R/T, R/J
Disclaimer: I do not own "Gilmore Girls." That is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB. I do, however, own most of this storyline (some was taken from previous episodes), so steal that and I will haunt you for the rest of your life.
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Tricia walked into the diner and sat at the counter. Luke was working.
"Hey, Luke. Whatcha doin'?" She grinned at him.
Luke smiled. "Hey, kid. What does it look like I'm doing? I'm working."
Tricia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but doesn't Jess usually work?"
Frowning, Luke said quietly, "Jess left the morning of the wedding. He hasn't come back yet." They shared a look. Tricia was a lot more perceptive than she let on, and she knew that Jess loved her mother a lot. Luke knew that, as she'd asked him about it when she'd first noticed.
"Huh." Luke stifled a grin. She'd picked that up from Jess. It annoyed both her mother and grandmother to no end. "I'm going to the bridge." She stood and left the diner, waving at Luke. She supposed he was her grandfather now, but she'd called him Luke for so long… Well, she'd already thought about this. Several times, in fact.
Why hadn't her parents gotten married? They almost had… but then her mother had run. They'd just driven, and driven, until they'd reached a hotel. The owner had been very nice, and Tricia had had a nice chat with her about books. They'd spent the night, but then they'd come straight back to Stars Hollow. Her mother and grandmother were at the house, talking most likely. Tricia had decided to see if she could talk to Jess. After he talk with her mother, she'd begun to suspect something, and she wanted to act on her suspicions.
Tricia arrived at the bridge and sat down. Her mother came here a lot, and she'd brought Tricia with her. They'd often run into Jess here. It was a special place, Rory had once said, one that held a lot of memories. Tricia wondered if they were memories of Jess, or of her father.
To say the least, Tricia was disappointed that her mother and father had not married. She couldn't remember her father at all, but she'd heard her mother and grandmother speak of him, and she'd seen pictures of him. When he'd come that day in the diner, she hadn't recognized him. But after that, she felt she had grown to know him quite well, and she knew that she loved her father and would miss him in her life. But at the same time, she realized that he'd never been there, and she resented that.
Tricia suspected that her mother loved Jess. She knew that Jess loved her mother. So maybe what they needed was a push in the right direction. Tricia intended to give them that.
***
Luke watched as Jess strode into the diner. He pounded up the stairs, probably depositing his bag in his room. As the young man walked back down the stairs and headed back out the door, Luke called out to him, "Jess!"
He halted and turned around. "Yeah?"
"Where are you going?"
"Out."
Luke sighed. No matter how clichéd it was, the saying was true. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
***
Jess walked towards the bridge, hands in his pockets, head down. He needed to think. The love of his life was married. She, along with Tricia (whom he admitted he loved like a daughter), were leaving for Boston in five days. At least Tricia was still here. Rory was in Greece somewhere.
He strode onto the bridge, stopping only when he noticed the small form sitting on its edge. He sat down next to her. "Hey, Tricia."
Her head turned, and she grinned. "Hey, Jess."
"What are you doing out here in the cold, young lady?"
She shrugged nonchalantly. "Thinking."
"You sure you should do so much of it? Might be bad for you."
Tricia laughed, a musical sound that brought a smile to his face. She turned towards him and said, her voice becoming serious. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." Jess could never refuse anything that Rory or her daughter asked of him.
"Why haven't you ever told mom that you love her?"
Jess did a double-take, certain he had heard wrong. "What?"
"I said, why haven't you ever told mom that you love her?"
"Wha… Why…"
Tricia laughed. "I'm not stupid, you know."
Jess sighed. She was smarter than she looked, and apparently a lot more perceptive. "How did you figure it out?"
Tricia rolled her eyes. "Jess, it's obvious. And it's not like I'm the only one that knows. It's obvious to everyone else in town that you love her, except her of course."
Jess tilted his head, looking at Tricia thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter anymore, anyway."
"Why not?"
Jess raised an eyebrow and gave her a look that suggested that the answer was obvious. "She just got married. Yesterday."
Tricia gave him a disbelieving look. "No she didn't."
Jess just stared at her. Finally, he said, "What?"
"Mom and dad didn't get married. Grandma Emily was pretty upset…"
"Wait. Why did she not marry Tristan?"
"Mom said that she didn't love him. She mentioned something about a wedding dress, and not trying it on. But I think I know why…" she trailed off, leaning forward and raising her eyebrows.
Jess was intrigued. "Why?"
"Because she's in love with someone else."
Jess' heart dropped. There was someone else. There was always someone else. He sighed, and asked half-heartedly, "Who?"
Tricia smiled at him, as if the answer should be obvious. "You," she said simply.
Jess stared at her, disbelievingly. It couldn't be. Why would it be? She'd said yes to Tristan just four months earlier, and had apparently been going to go through with the wedding as recently as forty-eight hours ago. So why would she love him? No, it couldn't be. It wasn't. And that was final.
***
Tricia walked back towards her house, disappointed. Jess hadn't believed her. It looked like he wanted to, but at the same time, he couldn't. She sighed. She had to talk to her grandmother.
She walked in the house through the kitchen door and called, "Grandma!"
Lorelai walked in the kitchen and smiled at her granddaughter. "Yes?"
"Can I talk to you? Alone?"
"Sure. Sit down. I'll make coffee." Lorelai grinned and started the preparations. "Where did you go?"
"Well, I went to the diner. I wanted to talk to Jess, but he wasn't there. He left yesterday morning."
Lorelai's head shot up and she looked at her granddaughter. They both knew, of course. That Jess loved Rory. "Where is he now?"
"I don't know. Probably at the diner. He came to the bridge."
Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" She asked innocently.
Tricia smiled. "I tried to talk to him about mom." She looked at Lorelai and continued, softly, "I know that they love each other. I think they should be together."
Lorelai's eyes watered as she looked at her granddaughter. Tricia was such a sweet girl. Lorelai knew she'd been looking forward to her parents getting married, but now, only twenty-four hours after it had failed to happen, she was trying to make her mother happy. It could happen; Lorelai knew it. It reminded her so much of what had happened between her and Luke that it wasn't even funny. She grinned even as she blinked back her tears. "I think that too." Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "Do you think we should help them along?"
Tricia grinned. "Definitely."
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A/N: So what are they going to do??? You'll find out in the next chapter… *grin* Oh, I so cannot wait to write it. Sorry this one was like, half as long as the other. It's kind of transitional. It was fun to write most of it from Tricia's point of view. She's a good kid.
Thanks for reviewing chapter 14: MaryATroryFan and the one anonymous reviewer.
For chapter 15: MaryATroryFan
For chapter 16: alexa, blahs, destiny, girldevil, green eyed wonder, kat, klm111a, Melissa Larkin, miss.pebbles, orenjipanda, Tiz-nd-Az, and the one anonymous reviewer