Chapter Three

"This is where you grew up?" Georgia asks holding Rory's hand tightly as she stares at the small town the cab had just dropped them off at, she'd opted for the faster cab from the train station instead of the bus because her headache had no eased up.

"Yup, this is Stars Hollow." Rory states.

"It's so little." Georgia comments.

"Rory!" Rory's attention is grabbed my Miss Patty hurrying to them.

"Hi Miss Patty." Rory greets as she wraps Rory into a big hug.

"Your mother said you would be back in town for the summer and this must be your little sister, right?"

Rory nods, "Miss Patty this is Georgia, Georgia this is Miss Patty, she lives here."

"Pleased to meet you." Georgia offers her hand for Miss Patty to shake but Miss Patty pulls Georgia into a tight hug.

"She was very friendly." Georgia comments as Miss Patty heads back to her studio.

"You'll find that most of the people in this town are." Rory states, "come on let's get some pizza."

"OK!" Georgia responds cheerfully, for a girl who had never had pizza a month before it had quickly become her favorite food.

Walking into the pizza place of her childhood Rory can't help but notice that it is fairly full, but mostly with teenagers Rory doesn't recognize with the exception of one blonde girl who is no longer a teenager. "Oh my God, Rory what are you doing Stars Hollow?" Clara Forester comes flying up to Rory.

"Clara," Rory hadn't thought about Dean's younger sister in years. "How are you?"

"I'm good, I'll be a senior in college next year, and I'm getting married in a month. How are you. Your mom said you were living with your sister now."

Rory nods, "yeah."

Clara smiles, "that's cool. I should go, I was just picking up a pizza to take home, I'll see you around."

"Sure," Rory nods and then quickly stops Clara, "have you see my mom tonight?"

Clara shakes her head, "nope, sorry."

Rory nods, "it's fine, I'll see you around." Rory walks up to the counter figuing she might as well order if her mom was running late, "Can I get one large pizza with everything on it?" Rory requests.

"It'll be 15 minutes." The teenager behind the counter states.

"All right thanks," Rory digs into her purse and turning around she calls, "Georgia, why don't you..."

"Rory." Jess cuts off Rory's suggestion.

"Jess..."

"I didn't know you were back in town." Jess states staring between Rory and Georgia who has just appeared at Rory's side, ready to take the money Rory was about to offer.

"Yeah," Rory takes a deep calming breath, "just for the summer. I'm uh, staying with my mother for awhile."

"Oh." Jess shifts uncomfortably in front of Rory. "So how, uh, have you been."

"Fine, you?"

"Fine."

"I have to go to the bathroom." Georgia's comment takes attention away from Jess and Rory's uncomfortable non-conversation.

"All right, I'll show you where it is. It was, um, nice to see you again Jess."

While Georgia uses the bathroom Rory splashes cool water on her face, hoping that Georgia won't notice that she has gone pale and is on the verge of tears. Quickly drying off her face Georgia comes out to washer face stating, "that guy was cute. But you didn't like him."

"How do you know?" Rory asks the small blonde.

"You had a funny look on your face." Georgia comments.

"Oh."

"How come you don't like him?" Georgia inquires.

"Because," Rory bites her lip, "well Jess and I used to go out."

"And you broke up?" Georgia asks.

Rory nods, "yeah."

"Oh, that makes sense." Georgia responds and Rory is glad for Georgia's seven-year-old level of thinking.

"Why don't we go out and see if my mom is here yet?" Rory suggests.

Georgia nods, "all right, I'm starving." She slips her hand into Rory's as they walked to their booth table just as Lorelai walks into the restaurant.

An hour later Georgia has eaten a piece and a half of pizza and plopped herself on Rory's lap, her arms wrapped around Rory's neck and fallen asleep. "So Jess was here?" Lorelai asks.

Rory nods, "I literally ran into him in line. He seemed to feel the same way about running into me as I did."

"I'm really sorry Ror, I didn't even get a chance to tell Luke you were back in town so he could pass the message along to Jess." Lorelai responds.

"So you and Luke still aren't speaking?"

Lorelai shakes her head, "he's still avoiding me, I did go to the diner to talk to him but he disappeared into the kitchen. I tried following him back there but Caesar wouldn't let me through."

"I'm sorry Luke's been..." Rory's attention is caught of Lorelai's head, "avoiding you."

"What?" Lorelai asks at the change of Rory's tone, turning around she faces Luke.

"Jess said you were back in town but I didn't believe him." Luke suddenly stands at the table and he hugs Rory, moving back embarrassed he states, "well welcome back."

"Hi Luke." Rory smiles at Luke, she had missed him in the years she hadn't come home.

"Hi Luke." Lorelai echoes.

"Oh Lorelai hi, well I need to get back to work."

"Luke..." Lorelai exclaims exasperated.

"I really do, I left Jessica in charge and you know she can barely walk and chew gum at the same time."

"Luke..."

"I'll talk to you later." With his words Luke hurries out of the restaurant.

"You weren't kidding," Rory comments, "he really is avoiding you."

Lorelai sighs, "it's driving me crazy."

"Well maybe you should tell him how you feel."

"How I feel?"

"Well you love him to don't you?" Rory asks.

"Of course no..." Lorelai stops, "well since he said it I'm not sure. You think I love him?"

"I think you've loved him for a long time. That's why you couldn't make it work with anyone else." Rory states.

"I haven't..." Lorelai stops mid-sentence again, "have I?"

Rory smiles at her mother in response and then states, "we should probably get to the house so I can get her to bed."

Lorelai nods, "the moves got everything here earlier today I moved it all into your old room, are you sure you and Georgia will be comfortable sharing a room."

Rory nods, "we'll be fine, but thanks."

"She really is precious Rory, you lucked out." Lorelai comments as they walk home, Rory carrying Georgia.

Rory nods, "I was kind of worried she would be a brat, but she's not. Don't get me wrong, she does have her moments where you just have to stay out of her way, but other than that she's pretty easy to get along with."

Lorelai nods, "then this living arrangement shouldn't be a problem. Oh, I forgot I talked to Taylor and he has been meaning to start a new town bulletin and when I told him that you'd be home for the summer he kind of assumed that you would do it for him."

Rory smiles, it seemed like by the morning everyone would forget she had been gone for years, "sounds like something I might actually enjoy Taylor volunteering me for."

Lorelai nods, "that's why I didn't try to get you out of it."

"Right now I just want to sleep though."

"You look exhausted."

"I didn't sleep well last night, packing things up, you know."

"Well let's get home and get some sleep, I'm sure you'll have lots of visitors tomorrow." Lorelai comments. "Everyone wants to meet Georgia too."

On the next Gilmore Girls:

"Rory I heard you were back in town."

"Hey Dean," Rory glances at the 3 children around him, "how are you?"

"Are we going to keep doing this?" Rory stares at Jess.

"I guess for as long as we're in the same town, I guess I'll take off for the summer visit my Dad or something."