AN: Just wanted to thank all you reviewers. I wish I could give rosie4299 an award for consistently longest reviews. . . but she knows I love her! But I always love to hear how you guys are reacting to the story lines. So, read on, and please, leave a review.
Lorelai was still in the kitchen, adding fries to her plate when Will came in the back door. She turned and smiled, and he instantly felt the weight of the day lift off of him. He was home, the one place in the world where life was simple and good, no matter what the outside world held.
"Hey, we brought tons of food back from the diner. Don't touch the turkey burger, though. Your dad will be back soon, and it's for him."
"Why would I take the turkey burger? Is my other option liver?"
She giggled. "No, we have regular cheeseburgers, and every side known to man. No liver," she promised.
"Sounds good. Can't beat Dad's home cooking," he said as he grabbed a plate.
"Well, it's better than Mom's home cooking," she quipped.
"No comment," he said, kissing her cheek as he moved past her to get some mac and cheese.
"Smart boy."
"That's what my teachers tell me."
"So, we've got movies set up in the front room. Everyone's crammed in there," she said, making a face as Will put some salad on his plate.
"Everyone everyone?"
"Yep. Rory, Tristan, Jess and kids. Your Dad will be here soon, plus us. It's a full house. Or a royal flush."
He shook his head, knowing his mother was just going to get sillier as the carb-loading ensued. "Is there dessert?"
"Pie by the fridge," she replied. She turned to look at him, her plate now holding no more food without the paper plate collapsing under the weight. "Oh, hey, how did it go with Anna?"
Her voice seemed unnaturally loud to him, perhaps because this was the one topic that he literally couldn't talk about. He could chat about world politics, if they should pass the much debated bumping up of the speed limit from 20 to 25 mph through town, or medieval history. Just not Anna. Not yet, anyhow.
"How did what go with Anna?" Rory asked, coming in for more soda.
"The line-up, uh, earlier," he began to cover.
"No, you called me and told me about that, I was talking about--," Lorelai interrupted.
"Rory hasn't heard, yet. Anna ID'ed her attacker today."
"Oh, good. It must be a huge relief for her, just to know he's off the street. You went with her?"
"Yeah. I did," he said, trying to give his mother a covert 'please say nothing' look without his sister catching on.
"What's going on?" Rory asked, looking from her mother to her brother.
"Uh, nothing. Nothing at all. Come on, let's get the movie started," Lorelai said, having caught Will's look of panic. She wasn't sure what it was about, but clearly he wasn't up to talking about it. She ushered her kids back into the front room, Rory giving her mother a questioning look the whole time.
&&&&
By the time the road-warriors reached Princeton, there was just enough time to make their official tour and meet with an advisor together. Shortly after, they rejoined Billy in the library, and decided to check into their hotel. Jane had pre-booked a room, on Paris's demand that nothing on this trip be left to chance. Once they dropped their bags in the room, Ella flopped down on one of the beds. Jane went about checking the cleanliness of the bathroom, to see if their room had been truly cleaned between guests.
"She never stops, does she?"
"You should have seen her in our meeting. She's got to be good at the 20 questions game. I think the advisor was going to cry when we left."
"Why?"
"She kept asking questions in really disparaging ways, like asking why her mother should shell out $10,000 a year for two square feet of personal space that was lit in such a way to worsen her eyesight."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"And you have to sleep with her," he laughed.
"Can't I sleep with you?" she asked, flopping her torso back down on the bed.
"Can you not rub all over the bed? Half of it is mine," Jane said as she emerged from the bathroom.
"Jeez, it's not like I have cooties," Ella said, sitting back up. "But I did lick your pillow," she teased.
"Gross!" Jane scrunched up her nose in disgust.
"So, when should we hit the clubs?"
"Clubs?"
"Jane, we're spending the night in a college town. We should take this opportunity to see if we could have any fun should we decide to go here. I can tell you, the night life in New Haven, well, it leaves a little to be desired. Not a lot of places to go, but there are enough so that it's not completely bleak. I figure Sarah Lawrence, well, it's in New York, so it's got to be fine. Princeton was my only real question in that respect."
"I don't care about the night life."
"And she doesn't like to boogie, either," Billy joked.
Ella snickered, and Jane shot him a look. "Where are you going to college?"
"Well, what with all the family money, I thought I'd bum around Europe for a year or so, then just buy a university upon my return."
Jane rolled her eyes. "I need to call my mother, and give her my notes on the colleges so far. You guys do whatever you want. But we need to leave for New York by 7am, sharp, so don't do anything too stupid."
"And on that note, let's go get some grub," Ella said, grabbing Billy's hand, and pulling him towards the exit.
&&&&
Dave, Mallory, Anna, Sookie, and Jackson sat in the third row of the Stars Hollow High Auditorium, watching Lia as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. She was quite good. The same, however, could not be said for most of the rest of the cast.
"I'm in physical pain," Sookie leaned over to Anna, and was shushed by the person behind her.
"Obviously the mother of that kid on stage left," Anna giggled quietly.
"Hey, pass the snacks," Davey said from the other side of Mallory.
"You guys, we're going to get ushered out," Jackson warned.
"We can only hope," Sookie said, passing down the popcorn to her eldest son.
Once the pain ended, including two curtain calls, they all got up and went to the front lobby to await Lia. She came out, and Davey wrapped his arms around her.
"You were the shining star of this production," he announced.
"Wow, you could give her a better compliment that than," Anna scoffed, also hugging her little sister.
"What, it was bad?" she asked.
"You didn't see that kid reading his lines off of his hand?" Jackson asked.
"Well, Tommy isn't the best at the memorization."
"Wow," Sookie breathed, hugging her daughter. "Well, it doesn't matter. You were wonderful! Are you ready for a big celebratory dinner?"
"Sounds great, I just have to run and change," she announced, turning to head back to the dressing rooms.
"So, Ann, how's Will doing?' Sookie asked, as they killed time.
"He's fine, Mom, why do you ask?"
"Oh, I just wondered," she smiled knowingly.
"What?"
"I saw you kiss him on the cheek in the car!" Sookie confessed happily.
"You guys are dating?" Davey asked.
"What, no! Mom, I can't believe you were spying on me!"
"You're dating Will?" Jackson asked, and then turned to Sookie. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"There is nothing to tell. I kissed him on the cheek to thank him for going with me earlier today. It was a friendly gesture between friends," she emphasized the word friends. She hoped her family would just let it drop.
"Well, why aren't you dating?" Dave asked.
"Dave, seriously. This topic isn't up for debate. Will and I are just friends, just like you and Will are just friends."
"I so hope that's not true," Mallory turned to Dave, her eyebrows raised. Dave snickered, and Anna let out a frustrated groan.
"Okay, everyone lay off of Anna. If she says nothing is happening, nothing is happening," Jackson moved in, putting his arm around his daughter.
"Thank you, Daddy."
"But if anything should happen with you and Will, I just want to say that your mother and I whole-heartedly approve," he whispered into her ear, causing her to smile and hug him back.
&&&&
Luke got up to answer the phone, as he was probably the person in the room that cared the least about the movie. Especially since he'd been forced to watch Monty Python movies repeatedly since moving in with Lorelai. She gotten on a John Cleese kick when pregnant with Will, and spoke with an English accent at home for three weeks. She begged him to do a silly walk for two days, but gave up when he threatened to break her copy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
"Hello? Yeah, hang on a sec," he put the phone on the desk. "Jess, phone!" he said, moving back to his spot next to Lorelai.
Jess wondered who knew he was here. Work would call his cell. Maybe it was Erin, he thought, and got a little nervous on the way over to the desk. He wasn't quite sure what there was to say, and was even more unsure if he wanted to hear what she might say.
"Hello?"
"Jess, this is Gwen, from earlier in the diner."
"Oh, hi."
"Hi."
"Did I give you bad directions?" he asked, taking the cordless phone down the hall into the kitchen.
"No, no, I got here fine. I'm just a little bored out of my mind, so I called the diner and they gave me this number. I hope it's fine that I called."
"Uh, yeah. It's fine."
"So, how long are you going to be in town?"
"Probably until the day after New Years. We tend to stay around for this big party my uncle and his wife have every year."
"We?"
"Uh, my kids and I. And the rest of my uncle's family."
"Well, I was just wondering, because I'll be in Hartford until after Christmas myself. I was thinking maybe we could get together, for dinner or something."
"Dinner?" Thoughts flew through his mind. Erin calling the kids while he was out with this woman, and her reaction when she asked to talk to him. His kids' reaction when he told them he was going on a date. Luke's reaction when he asked them to watch the kids while he went on a date.
"Unless, you don't want to. Am I being too forward here?"
"No. No, it's fine. Dinner sounds good."
"Great. Well, you have my cell number, and maybe you'll call me later and we can make definite plans?"
"Uh, sure."
"I'm sort of hiding out at a family thing, I need to get back."
"Right. I'll call you tomorrow," he promised.
"Great."
He hung up the phone, and sat down at the kitchen table. He did really want to go. Gwen had been attractive, smart, and funny. He would have to be dead not to have reacted to her. He hadn't planned on calling her, really, but he was finding he was glad she called. And the fact that she'd tracked him down, just amazed him. Ambrose came into the kitchen to get pie, and saw his father sitting at the table.
"Was that Mom?"
"No, uh, that was the woman from the diner."
"Oh."
"I might go on a date with her."
"Oh. Wow."
"Are you okay with that?"
"Does it matter?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, I'm not exactly alone here. You and Jules matter here."
"Well, I guess what would Mom say about it?"
"I guess now would be a good time to tell you," he muttered, and Ambrose sat down next to his dad.
"What?"
"Your mom, she's seeing someone. In California. He's the one that got her the job."
"So, she left for him, not a job?"
"Sort of. But she is seeing him."
"Is it serious?"
Jess raised his eyebrows.
"Are you guys getting a divorce?"
"I don't know. I told Jules the same thing."
"Oh."
"Don't worry, though, I'll make sure she knows, so it doesn't have to come from one of you kids. I'm really going to try to keep you guys out of the messy stuff. Just know, that none of this was my idea."
"I know. Really, we do, Dad. We are fairly perceptive."
"I know, trust me. It just kills me that you guys have to deal with all of this."
Ambrose nodded. "I'm going back out there. You coming?"
"I'll be right there."
He watched his son walk back into the living room, now with the whole pie plate, just in case anyone else was in need. Jess knew he had to tell everyone about the date, including a call to Erin. As much as he didn't want to care about her reaction, he did. This was all new, he told himself, and it would get easier. But he knew deep down, it would always be hard, when it came to her. It was just going to stay messy, and there wasn't much he could do about it.