Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story idea.
A/N: See Chapter One for full premise. To sum up, this is an AU (Alternate Universe) in which Jess Mariano never existed. In his place, Jessie Danes, daughter of Liz, has come to live with her Uncle Luke for the summer. This is still not beta'ed to be gentle. I am very pleased that so far people are enjoying this. Reviews are always welcome, no matter how short or long. A special thanks goes out to Lindsay for letting me bounce all my crazy ideas of her. This story would not be here without her. Literally. She had to talk me into posting it.
June: Arriving and Adjusting
Chapter Five
~~
After feeding both Jessie and Lorelai healthy dinners, something he was still in shock over, Luke decided to let Lane and Caesar handle the rest of the diner for the night. He needed to get upstairs and finish with the bed. The delivery guys had put together the frame and put the box spring and mattress down on it, but Luke wanted to unpack all the stuff they'd purchased that day, make the bed and then put everything else away.
Taking Jessie's cleaned plate from the counter and depositing it in the bussing tray, he said to her, "Okay, let's go."
"Go? Go where?"
"We have to put away the stuff we bought today and I have to make the bed. You can help."
"Help? Why do I have to do everything?" she sighed theatrically.
"I'll help, too," Lorelai broke in. "I love to make beds."
Jessie regarded her suspiciously. It sounded like a trick. Whenever grownups pretended to love doing chores or eating broccoli or reading books without pictures in them they were always trying to trick you into doing something you wouldn't like. "Then you guys can go make the bed and I'll stay down here and have dessert," she said with an evil smile.
"Oooh, dessert," repeated Lorelai, immediately swayed.
"You already had your dessert today," replied Luke.
"When?" Jessie protested.
"The frosting you ate with Sookie, the donut you snuck before dinner and God-knows what else," he answered.
"That was so long ago, though," Jessie whined. "That was dessert for lunch. I need dinner dessert."
Luke heaved a sigh and said, "Okay, look. Come upstairs and help with the unpacking and making the bed and I'll let you have one scoop of vanilla ice cream before bed."
"One scoop?" Jessie asked, shocked at his stinginess.
"One," Luke nodded.
"Can I have butterscotch topping?"
"Me, too!" cried Lorelai.
"No," he said evenly.
"Why?" Jessie moaned as if in pain.
"Because that's too much sugar before bed," he answered reasonably.
"You never let me do anything!"
"You were at the Dragonfly for most of the day and then we went shopping," Luke pointed out. "That's not nothing."
"I don't care. Humph," she answered with her arms crossed over her chest and her chin drooping low.
"Come on, Jessie, a scoop of ice cream is better than nothing isn't it?" he cajoled.
"No."
"It's not better than nothing?"
"No."
"Luke, can I just ask you a quick question about the bed?" interjected Lorelai.
He swiveled his head and met her eyes. Was she crazy? He was in the middle of Custer's Last Stand and she wanted to ask him about the bed?? Rolling his eyes, he followed Lorelai up the stairs to his apartment door where she whispered to him, "Luke, you are doing an amazing job with her so far, but can I just say one little thing?"
With his arms crossed over his chest and his chin pointed down, he looked exactly the way Jessie had moments before. "Shoot."
"Sometimes you have to pick your battles," she explained gently. "A little butterscotch topping won't kill her and it might go a long way towards, you know, building up your relationship. She has to respect you, but she also has to like you. Or at least, you want her to like you…don't you?"
Luke considered. His father wouldn't have thought twice about saying no and walking away. He'd said "no" to Luke so many times Luke had suspected he'd enjoyed it. Was he turning into his father? No, he reasoned. He didn't enjoy saying "no," but someone has to set the perimeters. Kids need discipline. They need structure. If they're allowed to run wild they turn out bad. Look at Liz. Perfect freaking example. And yet, he did want her to like him. And she had behaved well in the stores today, aside from jumping on that one bed. Was a little butterscotch topping so out of hand?
"Okay. You've got a point. I'll be right back." He opened the door and let Lorelai inside, then descended the stairs and sat down on the stool next to Jessie. "I'll make you a deal," he said.
Her arms were still crossed over her chest but her chin had drifted up so that she could look at him. "What?"
"You can have ice cream with butterscotch topping if you tell me that you'll start making your bed every morning."
Jessie considered. She really wanted the topping, but she hated making her bed. Possibly, though, he would forget about this request and she could get what she wanted now and then just ignore her end of the deal later. "Okay," she agreed.
"Okay, good. Now come on. Let's go."
Upstairs they found Lorelai sitting on the floor by Luke's new bed opening packages and rifling through shopping bags.
~~
Later, after they'd washed and dried the new sheets, made and even put the dust ruffle on Luke's new bed, Jessie and Lorelai sat at Luke's kitchen table waiting for him to return with their ice cream.
"What are you guys doing this weekend?" asked Lorelai.
"Dunno," replied Jessie, one cheek resting against her palm. "What are you doing?"
"Well, I'm having dinner with my parents and daughter on Friday, then Rory, that's my daughter, is coming back here with me and we're going to spend some much deserved quality time together and I can't wait."
Before Jessie could comment, Luke reentered with two bowls at this point and set one in front of each of them. "Dessert is served, ladies," he said.
"Awww, yeah!" crowed Lorelai.
"Yum!" cried Jessie as she took a spoonful of the vanilla and butterscotch and shoveled it into her waiting mouth. With her first bite she allowed her head to drop back as she closed her eyes and sighed dramatically. "Sooooo goooooood," she mumbled with a full mouth.
"Try not to let it dribble down your front," cautioned Luke sternly as he turned to the sink.
At his words, Jessie looked at Lorelai, opened her mouth and allowed melted ice cream to slip down her chin in thin streaks. Lorelai almost spit hers out at the site and this made Jessie laugh, forcing the rest of her mouthful to tumble out and into her lap. They were both helplessly lost in giggles when Luke turned around to see Jessie covered in her own mouthful of ice cream.
"Oh, that's real nice," he said, trying to hold in his own laughter. "Very ladylike."
This brought on another set of giggles and it was some time before Jessie and Lorelai could breathe again. When they'd finally calmed down, Luke took their empty bowls away and sent Jessie into the bathroom to get cleaned up. At the table, Luke and Lorelai sat quietly. It had turned dark outside and the dim light above their heads cast soft shadows.
"Thanks for helping me with this today," Luke said awkwardly. "Not just the bed, but with Jess, too. I appreciate it."
"Anytime, Luke. That's what friends are for, right?" He met her eyes and tried to read them. She just smiled at him, though, and continued by saying, "You've been there for me how many times when Rory was growing up? I couldn't have done it without you. If I can in some little way return the favor, then I'm happy."
Luke would have replied, but Jessie opened the bathroom door with a bang and shouted, "Powerpuff Girls!" before racing to the couch, jumping over the arm and landing on the soft cushions with a grunt.
"What did we say about jumping on furniture?" Luke asked.
"It's a good thing?" she answered playfully as she flicked on the remote and changed from ESPN to Cartoon Network. It hadn't taken her long to memorize the channels. In her pink jammies she stood on her knees to look over the couch back at the two adults sitting in the kitchen before saying, "Uncle Luke it's time for bedtime TV. Are you coming?"
"Bedtime TV?" asked Lorelai with raised eyebrows.
"It's a little thing we do," he explained standing.
"Tell me about it," she asked joining him in the living room area.
"Before bedtime I let Jessie watch half an hour of TV if she hasn't watch any during the rest of the day. We usually sit together and just have quiet time."
Lorelai smiled warmly and said, "Can I join you?"
Jessie's brow furrowed immediately. "It's something we do together. Just us," she said meaningfully. Stars Hollow was just beginning to replace New York in her affections and she wasn't about to be usurped by another "significant other", as her mother referred to them. For years she'd had to fight for her mother's attentions and affections and so far she'd had Luke to herself. If she could keep it that way, she wanted to.
Startled at Jessie's tone, Lorelai played it cool saying, "You know what? It's really late and I wouldn't want to impose on you guys any more tonight, anyway. I understand what it's like to have special rituals like that."
Luke protested but Lorelai was firm. He walked her downstairs and made sure she got to her car safely. Once back in his apartment he closed the door and said, "That was really rude, Jessie. Why did you talk to Lorelai that way?"
Pretending to be engrossed in the show and hoping he'd drop it, she replied, "Huh?"
"Why couldn't Lorelai join us?" he repeated.
With growing impatience Jessie shrugged and scowled. "I don't know."
Luke sat down beside her and took the remote. Pressing "mute" he turned his body toward her and said, "We need to talk about this because it was very rude of you. After all that she's done for you with the horseback riding and today with the shopping, why did you make her leave?"
"You wanted her to stay?" she asked with a furrowed brow.
"I didn't want her to leave the way she did."
Silently, Jessie scowled harder and focused her eyes on the muted cartoon. "Jessie, answer me."
"I don't know!" she shouted. How could she make him understand? She could hardly find the words herself. She finally had an adult in her life who actually enjoyed spending time with her, who cared enough to make her eat healthy, who let her go horseback riding and who let her crawl into bed with them when she was feeling alone and scared. She didn't want to lose him to anyone, even Lorelai. "She should watch TV at her house and let us watch TV here, that's all."
Luke sighed, completely bewildered. "I don't understand."
Infuriated, Jessie stood up and yelled at the top of her lungs, "I hate her and she should leave us alone!"
Losing his temper in an instant, Luke stood up as well and shouted, "That is enough! I don't ever want to hear you speak like that, no matter whom you're talking about! Do you understand?"
Jessie lower lip trembled, but she held herself together as Luke yelled at her. "I don't know what has gotten into you, but it is unacceptable. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Silently, Jessie continued to stand before him staring at nothing. "If you have nothing to say, you can go to your room," Luke finally said quietly. When she didn't move, he stated firmly, "Now."
Turning and trudging to her little closet, Jessie waited until she'd slammed the door before letting the tears come. After crawling into bed she cried herself to sleep in the dark room.
~~
Much later, Luke awoke out a dead sleep to find that he was alone. She had not come out of her room since she'd slammed the door and he was still baffled by her behavior. Glancing at the clock on his nightstand he found that it was just about the time when she usually woke him up. He listened for her door to open but the apartment remained silent.
Impatient with himself for worrying, but unable to stop himself, he threw back his new sheets and comforter so that he could pad across the floor to her room. Gently twisting the knob, he pulled the door open and allowed the lights from the street and moon to bathe the inside of her room. He quickly saw that she was fast asleep in her new Powerpuff Girl sheets. Leaving the door open he entered and stepped the few feet to the bed. She was lying on her back, legs and arms flung about at odd angles, mouth slightly ajar, breathing deep and even. He saw the unmistakable traces of old tears, though, and his stomach ached a little. She'd cried herself to sleep and that's why she hadn't woken up yet. She must have exhausted herself.
He needed to talk to her tomorrow and figure out what had happened. One minute everything was fine and the next she was practically throwing Lorelai out the door. And that was the most bizarre thing of all, he thought, as he let the backs of his fingertips brush her heated forehead. She liked Lorelai. They were friends. Why had she suddenly acted so strangely?
With a deep sigh, Luke left the room, closing the door behind him. Once settled back in his new bed he tried to go back to sleep, but the images kept playing over and over in his mind.