*Disclaimer: I don't own the series Gilmore Girls or the characters. All I own is my imagination and the plot.

*A/N: Hey!!! I wanted to finish this story before school started, but I don't think I'm going to make it. So after next Monday, the updates will be less frequent. I'll try to update as often as I can though.........and review as many stories as I can. :-) I WILL finish 'You're being watched' before school stars however. One or two more chapters till the conclusion.

*~*~*:-)*~*~*Bye, smile :-)

Rory opened the door and stepped into the diner, the cheery tune of the bell matching her high spirits. The diner was half full, just the way Rory liked it. She didn't like it crowded, because she felt as if everyone was playing close attention to everyone, and she didn't like it empty, because it was too easy to feel uncomfortable in that silence. But half full was just right. There were enough people to make her feel comfortable and notice her cheerfulness, but there wasn't a crowd to stare at her. Rory smiled and tried to find a reason why she was so happy this morning. The only reason that came to mind, was the phone call that she had with Jess last night, but she quickly declined it.

After all that couldn't be it. Maybe it was just the fact, that it was such a beautiful day. Clear sky, colored in a bright shade of blue, the sun stood high in the horizon, caressing it's surroundings with his rays. Or maybe she just felt happy and carefree, because it was one of those days. One of those days, where you wake up, and have a content smile on your face, without really knowing the reason why it was there. If only she would open her eyes and stopped being in denial, she would see, that her reason, was just upstairs.

R: ''Morning Luke.''

Rory made her way over to the diner, smile still decorating her face, and sat down on one of the stools. Luke quickly looked at her and gave her a small smile, that turned into a genuine one. No one could remain cold and serious when Rory had one of 'those days'.

Luke: ''Hey Rory. Where's your mom ?''

R: ''She's still at home. She refused to leave the house without her 'I'm on cloud 8 now, but I'm moving up to cloud 9 soon' t-shirt.''

Luke: ''Couldn't she just put on another shirt ?''

Rory shrugged.

R: ''Once she has her mind set on wearing something particular, it's no use to tell her otherwise.''

Luke just nodded. He was used to Lorelai's clothing obsessions. Honestly, he didn't care much about close. Besides anything that she wore looked good on her. Even a pair of faded jeans and an oversized sweater looked good on her. He poured Rory some coffee and looked at her.

Luke: ''So, how are you and Jess doing ?''

Rory shot Luke a confused look, pretending not to know what he was talking about and hoping that he would end this topic before it really started.

Luke: ''I know it must have been hard to see him again. Especially since he............and he...........''

Rory looked up at Luke and smiled at his attempt of a heart to heart.

R: ''Since he didn't call or write after I went to see him in Venice ?''

Luke nodded and put a cup of coffee down in front of her. She laced her fingers around the cup, still with a smile on her face.

Luke: ''He's sorry you know ?''

Rory nodded.

R: ''Yeah, I know. We sort of talked about it and I don't blame him. I mean, I didn't keep in contact either. I tried, but I couldn't. It was too hard, especially with Billy and Yale.''

Luke: ''I understand, but he's not so bad. He even offered to go back to school, did you know that ?''

Rory nodded and studied Luke's face as he told her this. His eyes were shining and he had a proud smile on his face.

R: ''Jess told me.''

Rory lowered her eyes and took a sip of her coffee. Luke glanced at her, his smile now not only existing of proudness, but also of thankfulness. He was thankful for the fact that Rory gave Jess another chance. He had heard them talking on the phone last night and he had never heard Jess be so at ease with someone.

Luke: ''It's great that you two are talking again.''

Rory smile's grew wider. Luke just described the reason of her mood today. She was happy, because it was great to be able to talk to Jess again.

R: ''Luke, is Jess up already ?''

Luke shrugged.

Luke: ''I don't know.''

R: ''Would it be okay if I............?''

Luke nodded and smiled as he turned around. Rory grabbed her coffee and went up to Luke and Jess' apartment. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. After several more knocks, she opened the door and went into the apartment. Immediately she heard the shower run. She spotted Jess' empty and unmade bed and walked over to it. She put her coffee down on his bedside table and made his bed. Probably the first time in ages. Books were lying all over the room, every book characterizing a piece of his soul. The book on his bedside table, next to her coffee, caught her interest. She took it and sat down on his bed, Indian style. She continued to read where Jess had left off, keeping her index finger between where Jess finished reading and the pages she had read. She was so consumed in the book, that she didn't even look up when the shower was turned off or when the door of the bathroom opened.

J: ''What are you doing ?''

He had been watching her for a couple of minutes now and still she hadn't acknowledged his presence. He found it quite amusing. Give the girl a book and you could rob her entire house empty.

Rory looked up at him with a playful look in her eyes. She quickly scanned him up and down before she rested her gaze on his eyes. Thank God he was fully dressed, that made this situation just a little more bearable.

R: ''Reading.''

Jess' eyes softened and his cracked shield started to crumble. All because of the way she said that one simple word. She made it sound as if she did this every day.

J: ''Obviously.''

Jess gave her one more look before he walked over to the mirror and started doing his hair. Rory looked at him, partly with amusement and partly with adoration as he ran his fingers through his hair, pushing some strands to the side to give it an 'edge'. Rory softly laughed.

R: ''You spend more time in front of the mirror than me.''

J: ''Unlike you, I don't jump out of bed with every hair in place.''

R: ''I don't jump...........I bounce.''

Jess looked at her in the mirror and smirked. Rory returned to the page where Jess had left off and carefully put the book down. She got up and started to walk over to him.

R: ''You're doing it all wrong.''

Jess turned around and raised his eyebrows.

J: ''Then show me the light.''

Rory stopped in front of him and briefly met his eyes, before she ran her hands through his hair. She giggled when she saw what she had done. She had messed his hair up, but too much. A couple of strands were even hanging over his right eyebrow. Jess looked at himself in the mirror and shot her a fake smile.

J: ''Gee thanks.''

R: ''Don't worry I've got just the thing.''

She grabbed one of Luke's baseball caps that was lying around and put it on Jess' head. She looked at him and smiled. She liked the way his face was partly hidden by the cap and how a just a couple of strands of his hair were visible. Jess shook his head, took off the had and placed it backwards on Rory's head. She saw him smirking and turned her head to look in the mirror.

R: ''What ? I can't look.........that horrible !''

J: ''Caps aren't your thing.''

Rory pouted and turned the cap around, so it was now hiding her eyes. Jess looked at her. He actually thought the cap suited her. It made her look playful and slightly boyish in a cute way.

Suddenly the door opened and Luke came in to the apartment.

Luke: ''What's going on ? Is that my cap ?''

Rory looked at Luke from underneath her cap.

R: ''I have a bad hair day, so I covered it up with one of your caps.''

She pulled off the cap and smiled innocently at Luke. And though she seemed quite serious, there was a certain sparkle in her eyes. Jess turned to Luke.

J: ''So that's why you wear a cap every day ?''

Luke frowned and looked from Jess to Rory.

Luke: ''Rory, you're mom's here.''

Rory nodded and smiled at Luke. Luke mumbled something that sounded like okay and left. She caught Jess looking at her.

R: ''What ?''

J: ''I think I like you better with the cap.''

Rory rolled her eyes and went to get her coffee, running a hand through her hair on the way. She finished half of her coffee, as Jess fixed his hair with some gel.

J: ''There I'm all pretty.''

Rory rolled her eyes again and followed him downstairs.

*~*~*

Rory jumped off the last step and entered the diner. Her mom, who was sitting at the counter, looked up and shot her a clueless look.

R: ''Hey mom.''

L: ''Sweets, what were you doing up there ?''

Rory shrugged.

R: ''Jess needed help with his hair.''

Lorelai glanced at Jess suspiciously, but didn't say anything. Rory and Jess exchanged a look before Jess started to take orders and Rory sat down. Lorelai didn't miss the exchange and threw a sideways glance at her daughter.

L: ''Since when are you and Jess so friendly towards each other again ?''

Rory shrugged. She didn't wanna talk about it. She had thought and talked about it enough. She took a sip of her cold coffee. But she ignored the fact that it was cold, she was focusing on her patience, trying not to snap and tell her mom to mind her own business. Lorelai decided to drop the subject when she studied her daughter's reaction.

L: ''You know, Dean and Lindsay booked a room at the Dragonfly.''

Rory nodded. Dean and Lindsay probably didn't wanna spend one week apart from each other. That was so.............nauseating.

R: ''How's Lindsay ?''

L: ''Still blond.''

Rory laughed and looked at her mom.

R: ''You want some help at the Fly today ?''

Lorelai nodded and smiled.

L: ''Sure, we could always use an extra pair of hands.''

R: ''You mean a maid ?''

L: ''Hey, it can be glamorous. Just look at Jennifer Lopez in 'Maid in Manhattan'.

Rory chose not to response and finished her coffee instead.

R: ''Done.''

L: ''Two coffees to go Luke.''

Luke gave her a look.

Luke: ''You just had coffee.''

L: ''Yeah, but we need more. Besides it's not for us, it's...............''

R: ''For the car.''

L: ''Yeah, for the car. See, instead of fuel, my car runs on coffee.''

Luke sighed and gave them two coffees to go, arguing would get him nowhere. Lorelai thanked him and got up. Rory did the same and looked at Jess as he appeared behind the counter.

R: ''Your hair looks terrible.''

J: ''Bye.''

Rory sweetly smiled at him.

R: ''Ah, did I hit a nerve ?''

Jess shot her a stern look. Trying to contain his urge to smirk.

R: ''Bye.''

*~*~*

Rory sighed and leaned against the counter. She had been answering the phone for about half an hour and already it was the most boring thing she had ever done. The people, on the other end of the line, were annoying and couldn't be satisfied. Between the phone calls she had surfed the net and checked her e-mail, but since she didn't care much for that, it became another drag. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and started to head for the kitchen, leaving one of Lorelai's employees to answer the phone.

S: ''Hey sugar. I didn't know you were here.''

Sookie was just putting the finishing touches on one of her famous breakfast trays.

R: ''I was just helping, answering the phone and stuff. But it got pretty..........''

S: ''Boring ?''

R: ''Yeah.''

S: ''Lorelai made me stand guard by the phone once. But after the first three calls I got so boring that I started to answer the phone in funny little voices.''

Sookie giggled as she lifted up the tray.

S: ''Could you do me a favor hon ? Could you be an angel and bring this up to room 103 ?''

Rory nodded and took the tray from Sookie. She looked at the bacon and scrambled eggs.

R: ''Isn't it a little late for breakfast ?''

Sookie shrugged.

S: ''The couple woke up late.''

Rory nodded and went up to room 103, carrying the tray. She softly knocked on the door and patiently waited for someone to open it. After a couple of seconds the door flew open and she was greeted by a half naked Dean. He was only wearing a pair of boxers.

R: ''Uhm.........hey. I got your breakfast.''

Dean looked surprised when he saw her, but that quickly faded.

D: ''I didn't know you..............''

Rory shrugged and handed him the tray.

R: ''I'm just helping out my mom.''

Dean took the tray and locked eyes with her.

D: ''Thanks. I better get back.''

R: ''Yeah, of course. See you around.''

She turned around and left, but not after catching a glimpse of Lindsay, wearing only her underwear and a pink tank top.

Rory hurried down the stairs, a little embarrassed by what she just witnessed. She ran into her mother in the lobby and told her what she just saw.

L: ''Well they must have had fun last night...........and again this morning.''

Rory grimaced and went back to the counter. At least answering phone calls was safe.

*~*~*

After a couple of more hours answering the phone, Lorelai and Rory headed home. Once they were home Lorelai ordered pizza while Rory checked the messages on the machine. There was another message from Billy, telling her about his day and finishing with saying 'I love you' and asking her to call him. Rory quickly deleted the message and took the phone from her mom as soon as she was done.

L: ''Who are you going to call ?''

R: ''Billy. I have to call him. I wanted to do that this morning, but I forgot.''

L: ''I thought you called him last night ?''

Rory turned towards her mother.

R: ''Forgive me mother, for I have sinned.''

L: ''But I heard you talking to someone last night.''

R: ''I called Jess.''

L: ''Well, apparently Billy is fading into the background.''

R: ''No, no he's not. I just..........I don't know. I wanted to talk to Jess.''

L: ''Why ?''

R: ''Cause I kind of bailed on him when Dean wanted to talk to me.''

L: ''So, you only called him to apologize ?''

Rory sighed.

R: ''Mom, you don't have to worry about anything. Me and Jess just started to work on our friendship again and I didn't wanna screw it up with one small thing.''

Lorelai gave her a skeptic look and nodded.

L: ''Okay. I'll call you when the pizza arrives. I think Billy's waiting.''

Rory smiled and went into her room with the phone. She sat down on her bed and started to dial a number, but stopped when she realized she was dialing the number of the diner. Rory sighed and dialed another number. This time it was the correct one.

*R*E*V*I*E*W*! Please ? :-) Thank you for your (too) kind reviews! :-) I mean it, I loved every word. I'll probably add one more chapter before I move forward to Dean's wedding. So.........just a little longer before the big finale! Thanks again for everything!!! :-)