AN: Someone asked for a character list and age list for the kids. . . good idea. I had made one to keep it clear in my mind, lol, so here you go. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and for those of you where were so supportive of the trilogy. This chapter was revised slightly--Des06 you were right, lol, it's been a while since I've done the whole apply to college thing. I was thinking Early Decision was sooner than it was, but I checked and Ella shouldn't know til early December if she made the first cut. . . Thanks :) Now it makes more sense, hopefully.

Luke and Lorelai: Will (21)

Rory and Tristan: Ella (17) and Jacob (15)

Jess and Erin: Ambrose (15) and Juliet (14)

Sookie and Jackson: Davey (23), Anna (21), Billy (18), and Lia (16)

Chapter 2

Lorelai opened the door when she heard the car outside, seeing her best friend jumping out of the Party Wagon and hurriedly shouting instructions at her children to get all the food and supplies set up properly in the kitchen. They all offered greetings to their 'Aunt' Lorelai as they filed in, and finally Will came before his mother holding a large stack of trays.

"Hey, Mom," he kissed her cheek as she shut the door behind him.

"Hey, honey," she smiled, turning and looking at him expectantly.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. How's Br--," she started but was cut off quickly.

"Don't say it Mom," he warned.

"How's bringing over the food going?" she made a face as she tried to cover her motherly questioning.

"Smooth, Mom, smooth," he shook his head, turning to go into the kitchen.

"We're talking about this later," she called after him.

"Whatever," he muttered.

Luke looked up from his rearranging of the kitchen to accommodate the large load the Melville family was dragging in. He saw his son moving through, Lorelai hot on his heels and his 'please make Mom stop' face pleading with him.

"Hey, Will," he nodded, "Give me a hand here, will you?" he added to try to keep Lorelai's probing away from him for a bit longer.

"Sure, Dad," he said gratefully, not caring what task his father had in store for him. He was hoping it was an errand of some kind.

"So, Anna, you excited for your last semester of college?" Lorelai asked, realizing Will was a lost cause, for now at least.

"Uh, sure, Aunt Lorelai," she said distractedly before excusing herself to the restroom.

"Did I say something?" she asked Sookie.

Sookie made a face and looked in the direction that her daughter had skulked off to. "Oh, it's not you. She's been in a weird mood since she got back from school yesterday."

"School not going well?" Lorelai asked concerned.

"Probably just PMS," Billy offered, which earned him a smack on the arm from his younger sister, Lia.

"Pig," she muttered.

"It seems to be that time for everyone," he added before jogging out of her reach and back out the front door. He'd wait in safety on the porch for the others.

"Do you know what's going on?" Sookie asked Lia.

"Nope, no clue. She won't talk, but I did hear her crying last night," she shrugged.

"Hmm," Sookie turned and looked at Lorelai.

"Maybe being with everyone will help her, she'll seek out some advice. Maybe she'll confide in me or Rory. She likes Rory," she added, smiling positively at her friend.

"Maybe," she sighed, turning her attention over to Jackson, who was cutting up zucchini.

"What are you doing?" she asked, moving over to stop him immediately.

"Sookie, calm down. I'm just," he started.

"We agreed that you weren't going to cook! I'm the chef, it's bad enough that I have to let Luke make some of the things!"

"Hey! I'm RIGHT here!" Luke protested.

"Sorry, Luke! Jackson--," she whined.

"No, I want zucchini bread, and I'm going to make it!"

"But it's not a Thanksgiving food. It's like fried turkey," she added.

"ARGH! Not again with the fried turkey! Everyone LOVED the fried turkey!"

"Not everyone!" she countered, raising her hand in the air.

They continued to argue, oblivious to everyone else in the room. It was only when a new voice appeared from at the back door did the arguing stop.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Rory poked her head in the door, smiling at those already gathered.

"Rory!" Lorelai called happily, hugging her daughter. "Where are my grandbabies?" she asked, moving to hug Tristan who was right behind her.

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I'm sure they'll be along shortly."

"What happened?"

"Nothing, they're just being . . . teenagers," she said the last word as if it contained only four letters and left a bad taste in her mouth.

Lorelai laughed, and even Will smiled at his sister's frustrations. Rory moved over to greet Luke and Will as Tristan reopened the door for his daughter.

"Hey, Will! How's Yale?" Rory asked him excitedly.

"It's good. Finally my last semester, for sure this time," he laughed. Will had taken a semester off from school after high school, much to everyone's chagrin, using the money his grandparents left him to travel around Europe. Luke and Lorelai had accompanied him for three weeks, but Will stayed for a total of three months, then came back and earned some money before heading off to Yale in his older sister and grandfather's footsteps. After changing his major after the first two years from pre-law (because of his excellent debating skills inherent from the Gilmore side) to business (because his father's years of passing on his love for owning his own business evidently had rubbed off) he was now close to finishing his degree.

"Ella!" Lorelai hugged her granddaughter, who managed a smile despite her overall distaste for the small town and lack of things to do. She did love Grandma Lorelai; she made the trip to the sticks worth it. She made her rounds of hellos; always polite as was the way she was raised. These people were who she'd been raised with, and as much as she hated being away from her friends and social life that the city offered—she did enjoy seeing everyone together.

"Ella, why don't you help Will and go back out to Sookie's car and get the rest of their stuff?" Luke suggested. The two headed out immediately, leaving the adults alone in the kitchen.

"Where's Jacob?" Luke asked Rory.

"Uh, it's Jake now," Tristan sighed.

"Really?" Lorelai laughed.

"Yep. And I think he ran into Billy out front," Rory told them.

"Kids getting to you?" Lorelai hugged her daughter.

"Jake's fine, it's just Ella, she's. . . very social," she said diplomatically.

"Social? As in makes friends easily or needs special medicines that they overly play ads for with people riding bikes through meadows on television?" Lorelai raised an eyebrow.

"Mom!" Rory chastised.

"Lorelai!" Tristan shot her a look to show his distaste.

"Well!"

"She just thinks coming out here is going to somehow disrupt her entire schedule with her friends for the whole year," Rory explained.

"Ah, give me a couple hours—some of Sookie's sweet potato pie, the first two airings of 'A Christmas Story' marathon to kick off the holiday season—and if we're lucky the first snow walk of the year. I thought I smelled something when I came home from the market," she winked at her daughter.

"For the last time, you can't smell snow," Luke reminded her.

"Correction—YOU can't smell snow," she pointed at him.

"Are you still having this argument?" came a tired sounding voice from the back door.

"Jess! Erin!" Rory smiled warmly.

"Still using the back door? Well, I guess it's a step up from Rory's old bedroom window, but seriously, one day, use the front door," Lorelai chided him.

"Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, Lorelai," Jess shook his head, moving to give his uncle a hug. "Where are the kids?"

"We sent them down to the homeless shelter in Hartford. More pie for us," Lorelai informed him sardonically.

Jess shook his head as Erin laughed, which set off a chain reaction of Lorelai sticking her tongue out at Jess. Juliet came into the kitchen, book still in hand and leaned against her dad.

"Jules, I think the others are out on the front porch," Luke informed her, as all the other kids had found other places to go.

"Oh, yeah. Ambrose went around to see Billy and Jake," she shrugged.

"Jules, if you want, you can read in Will's old room. We have about an hour 'til everything's ready," Lorelai told her.

Juliet smiled gratefully and headed into the room, shutting the door behind her. Erin smiled at Lorelai and thanked her.

"She's gotten really shy since she started high school, I don't get it," she shook her head.

"Probably a hold over from her father being such a loner when he was her age," Luke raised an eyebrow as he spoke, and gave a real smile Jess' direction.

"She'll be fine—it took Rory a while to adjust to Chilton," Lorelai said with a mother's authority.

"Rory had a hard time because some people couldn't remember her name," Rory said, poking Tristan playfully.

"Mar--," came his response, until she poked him in the ribs with a wooden spatula, "Ow! Vicious," he said a little too happily.

"Okay, everyone who isn't cooking, out to the living room!" Luke ordered, causing Lorelai to move to the front room, though pouting for effect. Rory bounced after her, pulling Tristan along with her. Jess offered to stay and help Luke, while Sookie continued to nag Jackson to leave the cooking to her and give up the zucchini bread.

Outside, Will and Ella caught up while sitting on the bumper of Sookie's Suburban. There had been no extra stuff left, as Will knew full well, but decided to play along with Luke's suggestion to get out of the growing crowd of adults. Though Will was now 21, and Davey 23, they still didn't feel like adults.

"Where did Davey go?" Ella asked, noticing he was the only 'kid' missing. All the other boys were up on the front porch of her grandmother's house, and she figured Juliet was hiding somewhere with a book. Just like her brother, she thought.

"I'm guessing he had an errand run," he said knowingly.

"Ooh, Davey's got a girl?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Something like that. Just, keep it to yourself," he instructed, pointing a finger at his niece.

"Who is it?"

"I don't know," he said, holding his hands up in defense.

"Will, you live with him, you have to know," she countered.

"He always goes to see her. I'm beginning to wonder if she's real or fictional," he laughed.

"What about you?" she asked, her voice softening. She'd heard all about her uncle's tumultuous relationship from her mother, and she felt badly. Will was the most decent guy in the whole world, and deserved so much better than what Bree had done to him.

"I'm fine. Who's new on your rotation?" he nudged her a little.

"No one special," she smiled.

"Huh. Well, who ever it is that comes along next, I have to okay him, you know this, right?"

"Right. I just can't wait 'til college," she sighed happily.

"Ah, big decision time," he nodded.

"Yeah. Mom wants me to choose Yale, as I'm a legacy," she leaned her head to one side.

"Of course," he said naturally.

"Dad wants me to look at UNC," she leaned her head to the other side.

"UNC?"

"He went there for a year. He loved it," she sighed.

"I thought Tristan went to Yale," he said confused.

"He graduated from Yale—he transferred there to be with Mom," she explained.

"Weird. That so—doesn't sound like Tristan. Especially the way Mom makes him sound in old stories," he laughed.

"Anyway, I also applied for Early Decision to Princeton, Sarah Lawrence, and Harvard," she said with finality.

"No clue where you want to go?"

"None."

He looked at her and opened his mouth, but closed it again. She gave him a look and waited expectantly.

"What?"

"You could . . . make a pro/con list," he suggested, knowing her mother's lists made her crazy.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

"What else are you going to do? Rock, paper, scissors? Flip a coin? Roll a die?"

"All options. . . maybe I won't get into some of them," she countered.

"Right, good luck with that."

She sat back and enjoyed the cool autumn air hitting her face and weaving through her long brown hair.

"Hey, guys," Billy Melville came up to the two, standing in front of them. He was the same year as Ella in school, a high school senior, though he attended Stars Hollow High, while she went to a fancy private school in New York City. He had reddish blonde hair and hazel eyes, Ella noticed for the first time that he finally looked more grown up instead of the awkward gangly phase he'd been going through the last three years. His shoulders had broadened, and his jaw more square and set. She gave him a faint smile.

"Hey, Billy," she said.

"Hey, man."

"Where'd Davey go?" he asked Will, still looking at Ella who was as breathtaking as ever. He'd always had a crush on her, since they were four and she lifted up her skirt in the sandbox in front of him.

"Errand. We should all probably get back inside," he said, noticing the way Billy was looking at Ella.

"Right. I'll go get the other boys," Ella said, moving away from the bumper, smiling at Billy, not giving even the faintest of a blush. They two guys watched her stroll up to the front porch, and interrupt the discussion her brother and Ambrose were having with Lia and Juliet who had just joined them. After Ella spoke, they all made their way inside.

"Please tell me you aren't thinking about how hot my niece is," Will warned him.

Billy cringed and visibly tensed. "No, man, not at all."

"What were you thinking, then?" Will tried to hide his amusement.

"Uh, you know, Thanksgiving stuff. Turkeys, wishbones, you know," he coughed, as Will patted him hard on the back and they made their way to the house again.

AN: Sorry the updates are taking a while. I just got my request for the Fall Trory ficathon, and my mind is swimming with those ideas, and we're boxing up the house now for the move. Luckily for you guys, though, I'm cheating and writing when I should be packing :)