Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the storyline and Jessie.
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.
Sorry it's been a few days. My beta-reader got sick. To recap chapter seventeen, Rory and Jessie were able to trick Luke and Lorelai into spending some alone time together. As a result, nature took its course and the inevitable occurred. The macking was interrupted by the girls, though, and later, Jessie confessed to Luke that he and Lor had been set up. Luke was understandably horrified.
I can barely believe that there are almost two hundred reviews for this story. I've got twice the chapters for A Little Emotional and almost the same number of reviews. That's saying something. Thank you so much to everyone who has left a review. A special thanks goes out to Lindsay for letting me bounce all my crazy ideas off of her. And another big thanks goes out to my beta-reader and friend, Sarah, for taking the time to read these chapters and make them as good as they can be.
July: Cowboys and Ballerinas
Chapter Eighteen
~~
The next morning Lorelai overslept and didn't have time to stop at the diner before going to the Dragonfly. She called Luke on her way to the Inn, though, to say she'd be there for dinner. Luke didn't mind as he was pretty busy with customers. He even let Jessie walk to the library by herself while he waited for Lane to come in for the afternoon shift. It was Sunday and he'd promised to take her to Sports Authority for a new bathing suit and she wasn't about to let him forget it. He reminded her that Lane was scheduled to come in at eleven and sure enough, Jessie arrived back with her bag of books just as Lane finished tying her apron on. Luke assumed that Lane had been in on the previous day's movie scheme but he didn't want to ask her about it. The last thing he wanted to know was the number of people involved in the little plot.
After Jessie put her books upstairs, she and Luke piled into his old green truck and headed for a new, one-piece bathing suit. Her curly brown hair was tied into a messy ponytail and her dark eyes gleamed at the thought of another new swimsuit. Her golden skin was tanned and Luke couldn't help but feel very satisfied with his life in that moment. Her clinginess after the phone call to Liz had gradually lessened and Jessie was almost back to her normal pre-phone call self. She hadn't talked to him about it since her tearful breakdown and Luke wondered a little if he should bring it up. She seemed fine, though, he told himself. She giggled a lot and danced around the apartment the way she always had. She bounced and had trouble sitting still the way she always had. She even cannonballed onto the couch before Bedtime TV just as she always had.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Jessie bounced up and down in her seat, confirming his thoughts. She grinned at him and squealed, "Bathing suit!"
"You're going to make my ears bleed," he told her with fake grumpiness.
She rolled her eyes and said theatrically, "You're so dramatic."
"Ha! Pot, meet the kettle," Luke replied with a short laugh.
"Huh?" she asked with a wrinkled nose.
They got out of the truck and he said, "Nothing. If we're getting you a suit, I thought we could go down to the lake later and you could try it out while I fished. It's a nice day. So let's hurry up, okay?"
"Yay!" she squeaked as she bounded along beside him. She grabbed for his hand and he felt his arm jerk out of the socket a little each time she bounced downward.
Thankfully, he'd parked close to the front doors and she let go of his hand when they entered. Finding a one-piece bathing suit didn't take long. In fact, finding rows and rows of them didn't take long. When Luke first saw the expansive selection he almost doubled over and put his head in his hands. There was no way she'd find something quickly in all this. But, Jessie surprised him. She must have known what she was looking for because in about ten minutes she'd taken several to the dressing room and after coming out to show him a few, she chose a pink one-piece with boy-shorts on the bottom. It wasn't too high or low cut and the straps criss-crossed in the back to add just the right amount of "sexy" according to Jessie. Luke had simply grimaced, closed his eyes, and tried to breath. He was very grateful for the boy-shorts bottom. All the beer commercials on ESPN made him worry that the only bathing suits out there were cut for strippers and models. This suit made him very happy.
Jessie bounced along jerking his arm again as they headed back to the truck and she chatted away about nothing for a good part of the trip. Suddenly, though, after several minutes of silence, she turned to him and said, "Will you and Lorelai have a baby?"
Luke was so stunned by her question and the lack of transition that he almost drove off the road. Righting himself and the truck, he turned to Jessie and said, "What?!"
"If you get married. Will you have a baby?"
"I…I…." he stammered. "Jess, we are not getting married."
"But you might. And babies come from kissing and other stuff. You don't have to be married to have one," she told him authoritatively.
Luke let out an impatient noise. "I know where babies come from." Then he silently added, Please don't ask the other stuff. She stared at him expectantly until he finally said, "It will be a very long time, if ever, before Lorelai and I get married, much less have a baby. We're hardly even dating at this point. Lets not put the cart before the horse."
"Okay," she told him. Then, in a small voice she added, "But if you did have a baby, would you still…like me?"
Ahhh, he though. That's what this is about. "Of course," he told her. "And I don't just like you, you know."
"I know," she said anxiously. "I just wanted to make sure."
Luke chuckled, ruffled her hair and replied, "If anything changes I'll let you know."
She giggled, dropped her head to one side and said, "So you'd call me up and say, 'Hey, Jess, I don't like you anymore.'?"
"Exactly," Luke said, nodding. "I'd say, 'Sorry, Jess. No more love for you.'"
"No, you wouldn't," she laughed.
"I wouldn't?"
"No!" she chortled.
"How do you know?" He asked with exaggerated seriousness.
"Because I'm lovable!" she claimed, haughtily.
"Ha!" he replied.
"I am!" she insisted with a wide grin and a laugh.
Luke laughed, too, and nodded as he pulled the truck into Stars Hollow. "Yes, you are," he admitted.
Once back at the diner, they went upstairs where Jessie quickly changed into her new suit and Luke got his fishing gear together. At the lake, Luke sat on the dock and watched while Jessie splashed around in the shallow water. The sun was fighting through rolling clouds as Luke let his legs hang off the end of the dock and watched his fishing line drape into the water. The dock was long and he was almost at the very end while Jessie played in the shallow water near the shore's edge. Giggling, she charged toward him splashing abundantly and shrieking in the cold water.
"Hey!" he complained good-naturedly. "You'll scare the fish away!"
"Come back, fish!" she yelled as she waved her arms around splashed some more.
Luke laughed and reeled in the line. Nothing was biting anyway. As he put the rod and reel away the sun faded behind a bank of dark clouds. Shivering, Jessie climbed onto the dock and wrapped her towel around her shoulders. "I'm cold!" she announced. She stood dripping next to him as he helped her towel off her hair. "Ready to head home?" he asked. She nodded, her teeth chattering too much to form a coherent sentence. Shivering again, she slipped into her old flip-flops and slid her hand into his. In Luke's other hand was his pole and tackle box. Jessie tightened her grip on the towel and huddled closer to Luke as they walked home fighting a stiff cold wind.
Once inside and upstairs, Luke put his fishing gear away and said, "Go change, you'll catch a cold." As if on cue, Jessie sneezed and scampered into her room to change. When she emerged a little later her clothes were dry, but her hair was still wet and her nose was shiny and red.
In the kitchen Luke was boiling water for some herbal tea and honey. He paused look up and note that it had begun to really storm outside. As he poured the water into two mugs, he saw heard Jessie's door open and he paused to say, "Did you hang your suit up?"
"Yes?"
"Jessie."
She sighed dramatically and said, "Fine," as she rolled her eyes and stalked into her room to retrieve the wet suit and hang it up in the bathroom. When she came back into the kitchen he finally noticed that she was wearing black leggings, an oversized orange sweatshirt and her pink converse with fuchsia socks. Luke did not comment on her wardrobe choice, he simply put her mug in front of her and sat across with his own. After they had finished their tea and warmed up a little, they settled on the couch with the rest of Charlotte's Web. Luke settled against the cushions with his feet up on the coffee table and the book in his lap. Jessie sat beside him with her legs tucked under her body and her head under his arm.
A couple hours later Jessie's nose was still a little red and she had sneezed a few more times. "Don't get sick," Luke warned.
Jessie rolled her eyes and swiped her sleeve across her nose. "Hey!" Luke scolded. "That's why God invented Kleenex. Your sleeve is to cover your arm, not to wipe your nose." He book marked the page and stood up to get her some tissue. She took it from him and blew noisily into it. "Such a lady," he told her.
She made a face at him and commanded, "Read."
Luke obeyed for another half hour before noting the time pointedly. "We need to get downstairs for dinner."
As she extricated herself from his side she asked, "Can I have pizza for dinner?"
"No," Luke replied as he set the book down and led her out the door.
"Why not?" she demanded.
"Because pizza is not on my menu."
"So if you put pizza on the menu I could have it?"
"No."
"But why?" Jessie whined.
"You get enough pizza when you see the Gilmores. The last thing you need is more," Luke answered reasonably.
"You're so mean!" she declared.
"I know," he told her with a smile.
"Meanie!" she accused.
"That's me," he replied.
"So what's for dinner?" she asked darkly, clambering up onto her stool.
"I asked Caesar to make you up a plate of chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans."
"Ew!"
"Stop," Luke told her with an eye-roll as he left to get her food from the kitchen.
When he returned, Lorelai was sitting beside her. "Hey," he said with an awkward smile as he set Jessie's food down.
"Hi," she returned, a little bashfully.
"Can I get you anything?"
"Burger and fries," she said, feeling the tension ease a little
"How about some chicken?" Luke offered.
"I'd rather tear off my own arm and beat myself to death with it," she replied nicely.
"As long as you don't have any strong feelings about it."
"Nope."
"I'll get the burger," he told her.
Lorelai watched him go then turned to Jessie with narrowed eyes and said, "So Rory tells me that you two set us up."
Jessie had the grace to look guilty, but she quickly shrugged it off and said reasonably, "It worked."
"Still," Lorelai chastised, "using Willy Wonka for your evil plans is almost blasphemous. You ought to be ashamed."
"Bless-a-what?" Jessie asked impatiently.
"Bad," Lorelai clarified.
"I'll never do it again," Jessie promised in exasperation. The grown ups got upset about the littlest things! To make it up to her, Jessie added, "Do you want to stay for Bedtime TV?"
Lorelai paused and then said tentatively, "Really? You wouldn't mind?"
"Nope, it'll be fun. You like the Powerpuff Girls, right?"
"Love 'em," Lorelai confirmed.
"Here ya go," Luke interrupted as he put the plate of food before Lorelai.
"Perfect, thanks!"
Jessie and Lorelai ate and chatted while Luke worked. At nine he nodded toward the clock on the wall and said, "Okay, time for bed, Jess. Say goodnight."
"Lorelai's going to watch TV with us," Jessie announced as she jumped down off the stool.
Luke's eyes shot to Lorelai's for confirmation. Lorelai nodded and said, "I was invited and I have accepted. If that's okay with you, that is," she added hastily.
"Yeah," he said softly.
On their way upstairs, Jessie sneezed again and Luke groaned, "Please don't get sick, Jess."
"I won't," she told him as she again used her sleeve to wipe her nose.
"Kleenex," he admonished her as they reached the top of the stairs.
"I don't have any!" she cried defensively before sneezing again.
"Come on," he said, leading the way into the apartment. Lorelai followed them in and watched as Luke took Jessie into the bathroom and handed her some tissue. "Now go get your pajamas on."
Jessie headed for her room where she closed the door behind her.
Luke and Lorelai faced each other uneasily. Before them sat the living room which consisted of a couch, a coffee table and a TV. Lorelai wet her lips and Luke watched, his hands hanging at his sides. "Can I get you some water?"
"No thanks," she answered a little shyly.
Luckily, the door to Jessie's room opened with a bang just then, announcing her return. "I'm back!" she needlessly announced.
"We could tell," Luke replied wryly.
Jessie fixed him with a look and headed at top speed for the couch where she jumped the arm and landed in the center with a loud grunt. "Hey!" Luke scolded as he and Lorelai followed her. Jessie ignored him and they all sat down with Luke on one end, Jessie in the middle, and Lorelai on the other end. Luke pulled the afghan down from the back and draped it over Jessie as she made her claim to the remote. "Lorelai likes the Girls," she told her uncle importantly.
"It doesn't matter how many people you tell me like them," he reminded her. "I will never like them." As he spoke, Luke noted that her nose had not stopped running. Please don't get sick, he thought.
Without bothering to answer, Jessie simply shushed him and focused on the TV. As the minutes slipped by Luke felt her head getting heavier and heavier against his arm until after about twenty minutes he looked down and she was out cold, the remote hanging lifeless in her hand. Gently, he took the remote and handed it to Lorelai who smiled and watched him pick Jessie up and carry her to bed.
When he came back out and sat down beside her, Lorelai felt her mouth go dry. The sun had long ago set and Luke's small apartment was lit only with a few well-placed lamps. They each looked at each other nervously. They didn't have the luxury of being a little drunk tonight, but they were still unable to keep their eyes off of each other.
Finally, Lorelai laughed, shook her head, and said while she stared at her hands, "God, this is stupid." Glancing up quickly, she took in his taken aback expression and quickly clarified. "Not this, this. I mean, we've known each other for years. It's stupid that we feel so weird right now. This should be easy, right?"
Luke nodded and said, "Yeah," before pulling her towards himself and crushing her mouth under his. Lorelai scooted closer and closed her eyes. The sensation of his lips against hers was exhilarating. She ran her hands up his chest to his collar and around his neck where she pulled him even closer.
Pulling back briefly, Lorelai noted throatily, "Nice ice-breaker." Luke pulled her back, though, and sifted one hand through her dark hair.
Lorelai's fingers, too, were busy as they worked on the buttons of his plaid shirt. When she had finally opened them all, she pushed the shirt over his shoulders and let her hands roam about his chest. Finding his nipple through the thin fabric of his t-shirt, she scraped her fingernail across its surface and smiled with satisfaction at his sharp inhalation. Exploring further, she took it between her thumb and forefinger and squeezed a little, only to be rewarded by a soft growl and a quick hand finding hers and pulling it away. Sitting on his lap the way she was, Lorelai took full advantage of her position as she wriggled her bottom against him.
Groaning quietly, Luke let his hands roam under her soft tank top. The skin was just as smooth as he remembered and he felt his body respond painfully at the sensation. Lorelai mouth slanted over his and he felt her trace his lips with her tongue. Stifling a moan, he moved upward under her tank top until the tips of his fingers brushed against the undersides of her breasts. Moving even farther up cupped her left breast and gently tested its weight in his hand. Lorelai's breathing became hurried and shallow as she continued to kiss him hungrily. Luke took this as encouragement and brushed him thumb across her rigid nipple. "Oh, God," she murmured with her eyes closed and her forehead pressed against his. "Luke, can we do this?"
"For a little while longer," was his whispered reply.
Pulling back, Lorelai stared at him in confusion. "What?" she asked.
"Well," he began, feeling awkward, "I don't know if you remember, but I don't have an actual room."
Dazed, Lorelai looked around at the tiny apartment and began to see the logistical difficulties. Sidling off his lap, she gave a half smile. The heat of the moment was gone, replaced with a stifling need to finish what they'd started. She stared at his lips and wished she could pounce on him. "This sucks," she sighed.
Luke nodded. "I know."
Glancing sideways at him, Lorelai hazarded a supposition, "We can still make out for a while, though, right?"
"As long as we're quiet," he answered as he pulled her back onto his lap.
Feeling like teenagers, they necked for another forty-five minutes or so and then Lorelai went home. She didn't want to oversleep again. As Luke kissed her goodbye at the diner door, they each were lost in the heady thrill of each other and the newness of their relationship.
"Bye," Lorelai whispered, smiling stupidly at him.
"Bye," he answered wearing the same expression.