When Lorelai opened Rory's door, she found the younger Gilmore lying in her bed, reading by flashlight. Jess was fast asleep with an arm around her, and his head on her shoulder.

Rory looked up and smiled, nodding slightly for her to come in.

Lorelai walked in and closed the door silently behind her. She tip- toed over to the bed and sat on the floor with her back up against. "Aren't you afraid he'll drool on you?"

Rory smiled and turned her head to kiss Jess's nose gently. He didn't stir. "Nope," she whispered. "There's never been drool, or strange, loud noises," she wrinkled her nose. "His feet get cold sometimes, though."

"I liked kissing Luke," Lorelai said suddenly.

Rory blinked, and shut off her flashlight. "What?"

"I... oh, god." Lorelai hit her head against the bed. "Oh, my god. It's so... weird... it's... I liked kissing Luke."

"How much did you like it?" Rory asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, it just felt... right, somehow... comfortable... and he's a good kisser."

"He kissed back?!"

Jess shifted a little closer to Rory in his sleep but didn't wake.

Lorelai sighed.

"He kissed back?" Rory hissed quietly. "He looked too stunned to kiss back."

"I don't know," Lorelai replied desperately. "I could have imagined that he kissed back... couldn't I?"

Rory gave her a confused look. "Can you imagine something like that?"

"I don't know! Maybe... maybe he just kissed back out of reflex."

Rory shrugged, and nudged Jess a little. "Hey."

"Mm."

She snickered a little. "Hey, Sleepy, waky-waky."

He sighed and shifted closer to her. "I would... but unless I have incentive, it's not happening."

"Dirty," Lorelai snickered.

Jess squinted his eyes open and sat up to look over at the floor where Lorelai was sitting. "Well... that killed the mood."

"Morning, Honey," Lorelai teased. "You're cute when you sleep."

Jess flopped back down. "Jesus..."

"No, he's not here," Lorelai replied.

"Why did you wake me up?" Jess asked.

"Mom liked kissing Luke."

Jess groaned. "No. No, we are not having this conversation. Ever." He took the blanket and threw it over his head.

"She's says he's a good kisser," Rory snickered.

Jess flung blanket off and looked at his girlfriend. "You know who else is a good kisser?"

"Who?"

Jess smirked at her.

Lorelai was up like a shot. "And on that note, I'm leaving."

"Good," Jess replied. "Because this next part will blind you."

Lorelai rolled her eyes, and rushed out of the room, closing the door behind her to the sounds of laughter.

*****

The next morning, Jess walked into the diner, trailed by Rory, who took a seat at the counter. Jess immediately grabbed the coffee pot and a mug for Rory.

"You're late," Luke told his nephew as he placed an order with Caesar.

"Way to state the obvious," Jess muttered, pouring the coffee for Rory.

"So... Rory..." Luke said, clearing his throat. "Where's... ah..."

"Lorelai?" Jess offered.

"Yeah... Lorelai."

Jess rolled his eyes and walked off to take Ms. Patty's order.

"Home," Rory replied. "She claimed she wasn't feeling well this morning, so she's still in bed."

"Oh."

Rory nodded. "Mhm."

"That's uh... I hope she feels better."

"I'll tell her you said so."

Luke's eyes shot to her. "Oh... you ah... you don't have to tell her anything from me... I mean... you can if you want...just..."

Patty blinked and looked up at Jess, who was writing her order. "Honey, sit with me for a minute, will you?"

Jess gave her a wary look.

"Well, sit."

He slowly sat down, his suspicious glower still in place.

"Now... I have a feeling you know something I don't," Patty said, smiling. "Why don't you tell Ms. Patty what it is?"

"I know nothing."

"Where's Lorelai this morning?"

"Not feeling well."

"She comes into the diner for coffee even when she isn't," Patty pointed out.

"Well, she didn't wanna get out of bed this morning, so we left her."

"This is not like Lorelai."

"Maybe it's her evil clone," Jess said.

"You know... Luke has been acting a little jumpy this morning..."

"Huh."

"Something didn't... happen between those two, did it?" Patty asked, leaning closer to him.

"You'd have to ask Luke," Jess replied, hearing the phone ring.

"Oh, now don't be that way, Jess," Patty said affectionately. "You know, I've always liked you. You're very cute. Why don't you tell me what's going on between Luke and Lorelai?"

"Jess!"

"Because I have to work." Patty pouted a little as Jess made his way to the counter and took the phone from Luke. "Hello?" He smirked. "Hey, Lily... No, I'm not too busy."

Luke glared.

He nodded. "Yeah, I miss you guys, too... Yeah, I've read it..." He wrinkled his nose. "Ugh... you women and your Rand!"

"Oh!" Rory smiled leaning forward. "Oh!"

Jess rolled his eyes at her. "Atlas Shrugged."

Rory giggled and sipped her coffee.

"No, you know I don't like Rand," Jess said into the phone. "Maybe because she's a political psycho... She is!" He sighed and looked to Luke. "I gotta take this upstairs."

"No, you have to work," Luke told him. "Say goodbye to your sister, and hang up the phone."

"She's not my sister," Jess corrected. "She's the constant thorn in my side." He laughed a little into the phone. "You wanna talk to Rory?"

"Don't tie up the phone!" Luke scolded. "What if customers call?"

Jess rolled his eyes. "Hold on, Lily." He handed the phone to Rory.

"Hey, Lily!"

"Hey, Rory," Lily replied. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Rory replied. "You and Jess are on good terms again?"

"Yeah," Lily replied. "I miss him but there's a chance we might see him for Christmas."

"Oh yeah?" Rory asked. "He didn't mention."

"He doesn't know," Lily snickered. "We're trying to be devious."

"Ah."

"It's kind of hard," Lily went on. "Jimmy isn't too good at the whole evil plot thing."

"Which is surprising, because Jess is a master," Rory snickered.

Jess raised an eyebrow at her as he went to refill coffees.

"I know," Lily laughed. "When he was here, we did all sorts of stuff! He taught me how to draw a chalk outline of a body, and how to pulls quarters out from behind peoples' ears!"

Rory tried not to laugh. "Please don't draw chalk outlines of bodies, Lily. It scares people."

"But Jess says that's the funny part."

"Uh-huh," Rory nodded.

"Hey, Rory, I have to go," Lily said. "Tell Jess I said bye, okay?"

"Okay, Bye, Lily." She handed the phone back to Luke, who hung it up, and she kicked Jess as he walked past her.

He almost tripped, coffee pot still in hand. "Hey!"

"What are you teaching her?"

"Nothing that won't be useful somewhere down the line."

"Sasha will never forgive you if Lily turns out to be juvenile delinquent," Rory pointed out.

"With Jimmy around, how can she avoid it?" Jess countered.

Rory sighed. "Gimme more coffee?"

He leaned over to her from across the counter. "Magic words?"

"I love you?"

Jess rolled his eyes and poured her more coffee.

"Wow, I didn't think that would work," Rory snickered.

"Jess, go get the tomato sauce out of the store room," Luke ordered.

"Can Rory come?"

Luke scrunched up his face. "No. Just... go."

Jess shrugged at Rory. "It was worth a shot."

Rory smiled and watched him go, just as Lorelai walked up and sat next to her. "Hey, I thought you were staying at home."

"I was," Lorelai replied grouchily. "But I got lazy, and I didn't want to make my own coffee."

Rory shook her head.

Luke turned around, and cleared his throat, not looking at Lorelai. "Hey, Lorelai."

"Hey, Luke," she replied, her voice a fake form of cheerful.

"What'll it be?" He asked, looking down at his order pad.

"Uhm... coffee, and... chocolate chip pancakes with a side order of bacon, sausage and onion rings."

He nodded as he scribbled. "Great... just... great... Rory?"

"Same, sans the bacon," Rory replied.

"Okay," Luke replied. "I'll put these in with Caesar and they should be ready soon."

"Thanks," Rory said.

Luke nodded, and still didn't meet Lorelai's eyes. "So ah... you're feeling better?"

"Oh, yeah," Lorelai nodded. "I feel great now."

Luke nodded yet again. "Great."

"Great," Lorelai nodded.

"Great," Luke nodded back.

Luke stood there a moment more as silence overcame them.

"Great," Jess added loudly, making both adults jump.

"Jess!" Luke snapped.

"I'm so sorry I interrupted your painfully tense and awkward moment," Jess told his uncle sarcastically. "I'll never, ever do it again." He handed Luke, who was on his way to the kitchen, the can of tomato sauce and then poured Lorelai her coffee.

"Thank you, Jess," Lorelai said, her voice half amused and half annoyed.

"I live to serve," he droned.

Lorelai reached out and pinched his cheek. "And you're just so good at it, too."

He swatted her hand away and glared.

"Leave him alone, Mom, he's had a rough morning," Rory giggled.

"Oh?"

"She hid my shoes," Jess muttered.

Lorelai laughed. "Where?"

"One in the cookie jar-"

"The cookie jar?" Lorelai cried. "How could you? Now our cookies will smell like Jess feet! Yuck!"

"Relax, I took the cookies out first," Rory reassured her mother. "The other one wound up in the bathroom closet."

"With the tampons?" Lorelai asked.

Rory nodded.

The older Gilmore laughed at Jess. "You had to sift through tampons!"

He blushed ever-so-slightly and grabbed his order pad again. "I gotta work."

The two girls snickered as he walked off.

"You're right," Lorelai said. "He's adorable when he turns red. What brought on the shoe swiping?"

Rory smiled. "Just a little sweet revenge."

"Lorelai!"

She turned to see Taylor approaching her. "Hi, Taylor."

"I need a favor from you," Taylor said, sitting down next to her.

"Okay, but it won't come cheap," she replied. She turned to Rory. "Didn't we raise my prices last month?"

Rory nodded matter-of-factly. "And I get a bigger percent."

"I'm being serious, ladies," Taylor warned. "The weather forecasters are predicting rain on Halloween."

"Oh, no," Rory said seriously. "The masquerade will be rained out."

"Precisely," Taylor nodded. He looked at Lorelai. "We need to use the Dragonfly."

Lorelai blinked. "You do?"

He nodded. "Yes! It's the perfect place!"

"Well..."

"Please, Lorelai!"

"Why can't you use the school gym?" Rory asked.

"It's very difficult to make the gym look festive for Halloween," Taylor replied. "That atmosphere of the Dragonfly would be perfect if it were decorated."

Lorelai sighed. "We don't have any guests for that night yet... I have to talk to Sookie and Michel..."

Luke walked over and set their food down. "Here you go."

"Thanks, Luke," Rory said.

Lorelai nodded, not looking up at Luke. "Yeah, thanks, Luke."

He nodded and rushed off as quickly as he could.

Taylor watched him go. "He's acting strangely."

"What?" Lorelai asked abruptly. "Of course he's not! Why would you say that?"

"He didn't have one snide remark for me."

"I do," Jess jumped in as he refilled Lorelai's coffee. "I've got lots."

"I am in no mood for your insults, Young Man," Taylor glared. "You would do well to keep them to yourself."

"Oh, Taylor's mad," Jess taunted. "Rory, hold me, I'm so afraid."

Luke walked over and dragged Jess away by the collar of his shirt. "Work."

Jess sighed. "Just when I was getting started."