Through Your Eyes #1: People Change
By: Apolla
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, settings, etc. Oh, but I do own Milo (sucks for you!).
Pairings: Literati and Java Junkie. I'm sorry, I didn't know there were any other options :p
Setting: This story starts about one month after That'll Do, Pig.
Don't Worry: Allow me to put your fears to rest. No matter what happens along the way, in the end, Rory & Jess and Luke & Lorelai will be together.
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Rory burst into the diner after school. "Sorry it took me so long," she told Luke and Maggie, who were sitting at Maggie's usual table.
She looked around. "Where's Jess?"
"Upstairs," Luke answered.
Rory saw the brochures spread out on the table. "Sit down. I'll get him," Luke said.
He walked over to the stairs. "JESS! GET DOWN HERE!" he yelled up.
Luke went back and sat down, and a few minutes later, Jess came down the stairs. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Luke, Rory, and Maggie sitting at a table together and looking at him expectantly. "What's going on?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nothing. Sit," Luke said.
Jess still looked wary and he looked at Rory. She smiled and gave him a nod, and Jess sat down next to her and across from Luke. "I need to talk to you about something," Luke began.
"And you brought reinforcements?" Jess interrupted.
Luke looked from Maggie to Rory a bit uncomfortably. "Well…….."
"Just listen to what he has to say," Maggie said.
Rory put her hand on his leg above his knee in what she probably meant to be a reassuring gesture, but Jess reached down and removed it, taking her hand in his. He didn't need any more distractions at the moment………not that Rory's hand on his leg wasn't a pleasant one.
"I had a meeting with your English Lit teacher yesterday," Luke said, then paused as if waiting for Jess to respond.
Jess didn't say anything, so Luke continued. "She wanted to talk to me about your paper. She said……well, she said it was the best paper she'd ever read."
Jess just stared. What was so important about that that Luke had called a big powwow? "She gave me these," Luke said, gesturing towards the brochures on the table. "Take a look at them."
Jess, for the first time, noticed the pile on the table. Still looking at Luke warily, he removed his hand from Rory's and picked one up. Boston Writers, he read to himself. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was a college brochure.
"What is this?" Jess asked, looking back up at Luke.
"Your teacher gave them to me. She thinks you'd have no problem getting into one of these specialty writers' colleges."
"What?" Jess asked blankly.
Rory and Maggie both looked like they wanted to say something, but this was something Luke had to talk to Jess about, so they kept their mouths shut.
"College. Did you ever think of going?" Luke asked.
Jess still looked like he had no idea what Luke was talking about, but replied, "Not really. School's not my thing."
"But would you go if you could?" Luke persisted.
Jess looked around uncomfortably, avoiding Luke, Maggie, and Rory's eyes on him. "Dunno. What does it matter? You have to do well in high school to go, anyway. It's a little too late for that now."
"No, it's not. Apparently, at these writing schools, all you have to do is write an entrance essay and have a teacher recommendation. They don't care about your high school grades."
Jess stared at Luke. What's he smokin'? Everyone knows that colleges look at your high school grades. There isn't any exceptions. Is there?
"I think you've lost it," Jess finally said.
Luke shot a glance at Maggie, who took that as permission to speak. "No, he hasn't. I know most of these schools, and they're all excellent colleges. And I read your paper. You could get in easily."
"You read my paper?" Jess repeated.
He started to look annoyed. He turned to Rory. "Did you read it, too?"
"Yes," Rory answered, not understanding why he was getting upset.
She reached onto the table and put her hand over his. "It was good, Jess. More than good. It was amazing."
Jess took his hand out from under hers. "You all read it?"
"Your teacher gave me a copy - " Luke started to explain.
"Well, hell, Luke, why don't you just read it out loud at the next town meeting? Or pass it out here, you know, like flyers or something. Or maybe - "
"Jess - " Rory began.
Jess ignored her and got up. He headed towards the door. "Where are you going?" Luke called after him.
"Out."
He slammed the door behind him. Luke turned to Maggie and Rory. "Well, that went better than I thought it would," Luke said, and Rory gave him a slight smile.
Maggie just stared at him like he was crazy. "What?" she finally asked, thinking she had heard him wrong.
Luke looked at her. "Maybe you don't know Jess as well as you think you do," he told Maggie, sounding slightly smug.
"I know where he is. I'll talk to him," Rory said.
"Good idea," Luke said, looking relieved.
Rory left and headed for the bridge but was intercepted by Dean. "Hey," he said, stopping to talk to her.
"Oh, uh, hi Dean."
She peeked around Dean's shoulder. She could just make out Jess standing on the bridge. "Do you want to get some ice cream or something?" he asked her.
"What?" Rory asked, snapping back to the conversation. "Oh, uh, I'd like to, but I have to do something - "
"Come on, I'm sure it can wait," Dean said with an easy smile, trying to win her over.
"Actually, it really can't," Rory told him, starting to walk around him.
Dean grabbed her arm to stop her, and Rory turned to face him. "Let go of my arm," she told him, starting to get annoyed.
"I thought you said you wanted to be friends."
"Well, yeah, but right now I just can't - " Rory stopped.
Dean was still holding her arm and he refused to take no for an answer. Rory was starting to get angry. Yes, they were friends, but right now she had to talk to Jess! Couldn't Dean see that she didn't feel like getting ice cream at the moment?
"Let go of me," Rory repeated.
Suddenly she heard a voice from behind her. "Hey bag boy, I think I heard her say you should let go."
Dean let go of Rory's arm, and she turned to see Jess. "Jess, I need to talk to you," she said anxiously.
Jess shot a look at Dean, who was still standing behind Rory. "Do you mind?" he asked him sarcastically.
"Well actually, Rory and I were just - " Dean started, wanting to piss Jess off.
"Wrong answer."
Jess needed someone to vent his feelings on, and Dean was standing right there, asking for it. The next thing Rory knew, they were fighting. "Stop!" Rory cried as they punched each other.
Jess threw himself at Dean, who fell over, and they started rolling around on the grass. "Stop!" Rory shrieked louder.
She looked around, but she was the only one there. Dean and Jess had both gotten up and Jess was trying to put Dean in a headlock. "Jess, stop!" Rory cried, upset.
Jess let out a groan of frustration, then let Dean go and stalked away. Dean straightened and looked at Rory, but she hurried after Jess without even glancing at him.
Rory caught up with Jess and put her hand on his arm. "Are you okay?" she asked.
They stopped walking and Jess turned to look at her. Rory noted with relief that aside from a swollen lip, he looked fine. "Yeah."
They stood in awkward silence for a moment until Rory spoke. "Come on, you need ice on that."
"I'm not going back to the diner," he said stubbornly.
Rory sighed. "Fine, we'll go to my house. My mom's still at work."
They silently made their way to Rory's house, and Rory sat Jess down in a chair in the kitchen, then went to get some ice. She pulled a chair across from Jess, then sat down in it and put the ice to his lip.
Jess glanced at her furtively. He knew very well that he could hold the ice on his own, but admitted to himself that he liked having Rory take care of him. "Sorry about Dean," Rory said, breaking the silence.
Jess pushed her hand away from his swollen lip so that he could talk. "I can't believe you're apologizing for him."
"Well - I just - " Rory stammered.
"Whatever."
Rory felt tears stinging her eyes. "What is your problem? I said sorry because I know you were mad and Dean shouldn't have said anything to you."
"My problem is that every time he does anything wrong, you defend him! What, do you still have feelings for him?" Jess asked angrily, his voice growing louder.
"No! I'm sorry I said sorry, okay?" Rory said, refusing to let the tears fall from her eyes.
Jess scowled. "You know what? Just go!" Rory yelled at him.
"Fine, I will!" he yelled back.
Jess stormed out the front door, almost knocking Lorelai over on her way in. Lorelai made her way into the kitchen. "What was that all about? I saw his swollen lip. Did you sock him?" she asked excitedly.
"No."
Lorelai sat down in Jess' vacated chair. "What happened?"
"Dean and Jess got into a fight," Rory sniffed.
"Oh. Well, you knew it was going to happen sooner or later."
Rory shot her mom a look. "Right. Shutting up now. Continue."
"Jess was in a really bad mood already, and then when Dean came, he just lost it. We came back here to get some ice, and I apologized for Dean, and Jess got mad, and then we got into a fight."
"Oh, honey, it'll be okay," Lorelai said, giving Rory a hug.
She waited until Rory stopped sniffling, then asked, "Why was Jess already in a bad mood?"
"I don't know. I mean, I do know, but I don't know what the big deal was. He wrote a paper for school - "
Rory stopped when Lorelai didn't seem surprised to hear this. "You knew?" she asked Lorelai.
"Well, Luke mentioned something about it to me last week."
"Oh."
Rory sounded a bit put off for a moment, then continued. "Well, Jess' English Lit teacher called and Luke had a meeting with her yesterday. She told Luke that Jess' paper was amazing, and that he was the best writer she had ever seen, and she gave Luke these brochures for specialty writers' colleges that Jess could get into."
"Wow. Really? I had no idea."
"Yeah. Luke showed them to me, and to Maggie, and we read Jess' paper, too. And then today after school, Maggie and I were there when Luke talked to Jess about it, but Luke barely had a chance to talk about college because Jess got angry when he found out we had all read his paper."
"Oh."
Rory looked at her mother incredulously. "Oh? Oh is all you have to say?"
"Well, this is Jess we're talking about. Did you really expect him to be happy that everyone read his paper? I mean, he probably thought only the teacher would read what he had written."
"I guess I hadn't really thought about that……" Rory said slowly. "Papers are really personal……"
Lorelai rubbed Rory's arm gently. "He'll get over it."
"But then why did he get mad when I apologized for Dean? He said I always defend him," Rory told Lorelai, starting to get angry again. "He even asked if I still had feelings for Dean!"
Lorelai kept quiet. "What? Say it," Rory ordered, knowing her mother wanted to say something.
"Just……just remember that Dean's the ex-boyfriend here. Wouldn't it make you a little uncomfortable if Jess was friends with his ex-girlfriend, and then defended her all the time to you?"
"Well - well, okay, maybe- "
Lorelai gave Rory a look. "Okay, yes, it would," Rory said, putting her head down on the table. "I'm a horrible girlfriend!"
Lorelai gave her a quick laugh. "No, you're not. This is just a weird situation," Lorelai assured her.
Rory didn't lift her head from the table. "Does this mean we're not having dinner at Luke's?" Lorelai asked hopefully.
"Let's just order a pizza."
"Okay!" Lorelai said happily.
Going to Luke's still made her uncomfortable. She picked up the phone and quickly ordered the pizza. "Mom," Rory said after Lorelai had hung up the phone. "Why were you defending Jess to me? Since when do you defend him?"
Lorelai looked a bit uncomfortable with Rory's question. "Maybe he's starting to grow on me," Lorelai finally said.
Rory looked at her skeptically. "Hey, I can see that he actually cares about you, and he makes you happy………usually. And if you're happy, I'm happy."
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Luke looked up as he heard the door slam. Jess went upstairs without saying a word to him. Maggie had left, and Luke decided to follow Jess.
"Hey," Luke said as he entered the apartment.
Jess didn't reply and kept his head down. "I need to talk to you," Luke told him.
"Great. Go ahead, Uncle Luke. Maybe afterwards we could - "
"Okay, enough."
Luke looked at Jess strangely. He was purposely avoiding looking up. "Jess, look at me," he ordered.
Jess looked up, and Luke saw his swollen lip. "What the - Jess, who'd you fight this time?" Luke asked, his voice growing loud and angry.
"Dean."
"Dean? Jess, you know that Rory's not going to like this when she hears about - "
"She knows," Jess cut him off.
"She does?"
"Yeah. She was there."
"Oh, great. This is just great. You know - "
"Why the hell are you getting so upset here? He was standing there trying to pick a fight with me, and I let him have it."
"What did Rory say?" Luke asked quietly.
"She said stop."
"Did you?"
"Yeah."
"Is she mad at you?"
"About the fight? I don't think so."
Luke gave him a look. "What do you mean, about the fight? Is she mad at you for something else?"
"How the hell do I know?" Jess asked harshly.
"That'd be a yes. What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Jess, come on. We're talking here, communicating, it's what people who live together do."
"Oh, really? Like when you talked to me first before letting other people read my paper?" Jess bit out.
"Jess, I - "
"Forget it."
"No. Look, you're right, I shouldn't have done that. I didn't think about whether you wanted other people to read it, and I'm sorry. Okay?"
Jess shrugged and looked down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Luke put the brochures on the coffee table. "I'm gonna go back downstairs," he told Jess.
"Am I stopping you?"
Luke looked like he was about to say something, but then just walked away muttering to himself. Looks like Lorelai was right. Luke is going crazy, Jess thought.
Jess closed his eyes at the thought of Lorelai. Oh shit. She's gonna be really pissed. Not that it's any of her business, really, but since when has that stopped her? She'll probably come with a pitchfork to run me out of town for yelling at Rory……not that Rory didn't yell right back at me!
Jess got up and sat down on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table. I don't know why Rory was so pissed off……I'm the injured party here! And of course she just had to defend Dean. Dean would never do anything wrong, I make him do it. Yeah, right. Like he's Mr. Holier Than Thou. The guy's an ass, and he deserved what he got. He deserves more than what he got.
Jess frowned for a moment. Why does Rory always apologize for him? It's never her fault. It's between me and him. He was an overprotective, possessive, controlling, jealous boyfriend to her, and she still doesn't even see what he was. What he still is.
Jess scowled, thinking of Dean. But she always defends him……..she doesn't still have feelings for him, right? Of course not. She wouldn't. She doesn't. Does she? I don't think so. She got mad as hell when I suggested it to her. I trust her. I do.
Jess put his head in his hands and let out a groan of frustration. Luke's not the only one going crazy. These Gilmore women will do it to a guy. I shouldn't have gotten mad and yelled at Rory……I should apologize to her. Great. I'm not too hot at apologizing……besides, she's probably still really pissed off at me. I can't believe I'm so insecure when it comes to her. Probably because she's the best thing that ever happened to me, but still.
Jess straightened and stared at the wall as he realized something. Now I'm the jealous boyfriend. Wow. This day just couldn't get any better, could it?
Pushing all thoughts of Rory and their relationship out of his mind, Jess looked at the table in front of him and picked up the brochure that was on top. He flipped it open and started reading. Couldn't hurt to just read about college…………
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rory sat in her bed, not paying attention to the book she was trying to read. Her mind kept wandering to Jess. I wonder if he's still mad. Who am I kidding? Of course he's still mad. I knew he was already upset, and I went to go talk to him, but I just couldn't get rid of Dean, could I? I should have been rude, just once, and gotten rid of him! I mean, what did I think was going to happen if Jess and Dean saw each other? That we'd all go out for ice cream together? I should have done something. I knew Jess was in a bad mood. Why didn't I do something?
Rory bit her lip, thinking. I don't blame him for fighting Dean. Does he think I blame him? I hope not. Dean was trying to provoke Jess, and Jess was already mad, so it worked. It's as simple as that. But Jess did stop when I asked him to. He hates Dean and was probably enjoying getting a chance to let his emotions out on him, but he stopped because I wanted him to. What does that mean?
Rory frowned as her mind jumped to thinking about the scene in her kitchen. Still, I can't believe he asked me if I still had feelings for Dean! After everything we've been through? On Valentine's Day everything was so perfect, and that was less than a week ago! I thought Jess was different……I thought he trusted me. He said he did! He said he was fine with me being friends with Dean. Was he lying? Does that mean he was lying when he said he trusted me around Dean? No, it can't be. I trust him! If I can have so much trust and faith in him, why doesn't have the same faith in me? Am I really that untrustworthy?
Rory threw a pillow at the wall. "Ah!" she yelped, frustrated.
I'm going crazy with all of this wondering! I have to know.
Rory looked at her clock. It was almost eleven thirty. She knew her mom was probably still up, so sneaking out wasn't really an option…….figuring she had no other choice, she went upstairs to talk to her mom.
"Mom?" she asked, knocking lightly on the door.
Lorelai opened the door. "What is it, babe? Is something the matter?"
"Can I go and see Jess?" Rory asked in a rush.
"What? Uh, you do know that it's eleven thirty at night, right? And that it's a school night?"
"I know, but I can't sleep. I just keep thinking and wondering about my fight with Jess, and it's driving me crazy! I have to know!"
Lorelai looked at her daughter carefully. She sighed, seeing that Rory wouldn't get any sleep otherwise. "All right. Go. Be back soon, though, very soon. Understood? And if you wake up Luke and he refuses to give you coffee tomorrow morning, well, don't come to me. 'Cuz I'll pretend I don't know you."
"Thank you! Have I told you lately that you're the coolest mom ever?" Rory said, giving her mom a hug.
"Yeah, yeah. Get out of here, spawn."
"Yes, Satan."
Rory threw on her coat over her coffee cup pajamas, stuffed her feet into a pair of sneakers, and headed for Luke's.
Once she got there, she looked around nervously. She hadn't really thought this through; how was she supposed to wake up Jess, but not Luke? She hesitated, then saw a pebble on the ground.
Picking it up, she threw it at Jess' window. She waited, then threw another. Finally Jess poked his head out, and Rory stifled a laugh at the expression on his face when he saw her down there. "Come down!" she called softly.
Jess disappeared from the window and was outside in a flash. Rory looked at him, then quickly looked at the ground and blushed. He had thrown a coat on, but he was just wearing pants and had no shirt on underneath the coat. It wasn't buttoned or anything, and Rory could easily see his bare chest.
"What are you doing here?" Jess asked.
He didn't sound mad, which Rory was relieved to hear, but amused. "I couldn't sleep," she replied, looking up at him.
Her eyes met his, and she saw that he also looked wide-awake. "Yeah, me neither."
"Oh."
They stood in silence. "I - I'm sorry," Rory began.
She took a deep breath, and then it all came out in a rush. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry I apologized for Dean, I'm sorry I got mad, I'm sorry I yelled, I'm sorry I - "
"It's not your fault," Jess interrupted her.
"Yes it is," Rory said, nodding.
Jess let out a groan of frustration. "No, it's not! Not everything is your fault. I got pissed and I took it out on you. So……..I'm sorry."
"Oh. So……um…….you didn't mean what you said, right?" Rory asked, looking at the ground again.
"What did I say?"
Rory looked at him. "When you asked me……..when you asked if I still had feelings for - "
"No," Jess cut her off, not wanting to hear her say Dean's name.
"No?" she repeated, sounding hopeful.
"No, I didn't mean it."
"Okay. Good."
They were silent again. Jess knew Rory wanted to say something else, so he waited. "Because I don't, you know. I mean, me and - " she paused, avoiding saying Dean's name, "we're over. And I was mad because it was like you didn't trust me. And you can. You should. Trust me, that is."
Rory stopped, looked at Jess, then looked at the ground again. "I know," he said.
Rory looked up at him, her blue eyes worried. "Do you?"
Jess' eyes softened. "Yeah."
Rory smiled at him. "So, we're not fighting anymore, right? We're fine," she said.
"We're fine," Jess agreed.
He put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him. Rory put her arms around Jess' neck and looked into his eyes. Her smile widened; she liked what she saw. She felt happy because she knew that no one else looked into Jess' eyes and saw what she saw. In his eyes, she saw how much he cared for her, how he was happy when he was with her.
"What?" Jess asked as Rory just looked at him.
They were facing each other with their hips touching. Jess was about to kiss Rory when he remembered his swollen lip. "Nothing," Rory said.
She was looking into his eyes, and Jess couldn't help looking back into hers. He felt like he was drowning in them. She showed so much emotion through her eyes.
When Rory had first come to talk to him, he had seen the nervousness and anxiety in her eyes. He had seen how desperate she was that he believe her when she said she was sorry and that she didn't have feelings for Dean. He had seen a slight flare of anger when she had asked him if he meant it when he had accused her of still having feelings for Dean.
But now…….she looked beautiful. Jess looked into Rory's blue eyes and saw that she was happy. With him. Huh, Jess thought.
Rory unexpectedly reached up and gently touched his lip. Not expecting it, he flinched. "Does it hurt?" she asked softly.
"Nah," he said.
They exchanged a smile, both knowing that he was lying. "You know, this could cause a problem with us," she said.
He knew she was talking about his swollen lip. "Huh. You think?"
"Yes. How are we supposed to kiss?"
"We can still kiss."
"But it'll hurt!" Rory said, looking worried.
Jess lowered his face to hers. "It'll be worth it," he said, so softly Rory could barely hear him.
Jess kissed Rory, ignoring the pain in his lip. Rory could tell it was hurting him, though, and pulled away. She kissed his face around his mouth, and then started kissing his neck. Jess let out a soft moan, but pushed her away. He had never been that good at staying in control around her. "You should get home," he said hoarsely.
"Yeah, I have school tomorrow," Rory said, but she didn't move away from him.
His arms were still wrapped around her waist, and hers were still hooked around his neck. Their eyes locked, and neither could tear their gaze away from the other.
All of the sudden, they heard a noise from above the diner. "Jess?" they heard Luke call.
"Run!" Jess whispered to her with a grin.
She grinned back, and he gave her a kiss before she ran off. He winced. She was right, it had hurt. But he had been right, too. It was worth it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"RORY!" Lorelai yelled loudly, coming into Rory's room. "Hurry up! You've got 15 minutes!"
"Too. Tired," Rory moaned from her bed.
"Well, too bad. You're the one who just had to run off and see your loverboy. Now hurry up and get ready, and tell me the details on our way to Luke's."
Twenty minutes later, Lorelai and Rory were on their way to the diner. "So?" Lorelai asked.
"We made up."
Lorelai couldn't help but smile. Her daughter looked extremely tired, but also extremely happy. So maybe I hated Jess at first………well, hate is such a strong word……but, I have to admit, he's growing on me. He wasn't that bad during movie night - we had an actual conversation. Well, sorta. And he did one of the bad guys' lines in Charlie's Angels……that was really funny, actually. I'm going to have to tease him about that again. And I can't even remember the last time I saw Rory this happy. She must be right. He can't be that bad. She's practically glowing.
"Hey, tone it down, Tinkerbell," Lorelai said to her daughter.
"What?" Rory asked, confused.
"You're glowing. Okay, I get it. Jess is just sooooo wonderful."
"Mom!"
Lorelai continued as they walked into the diner. She started pretending to swoon. "Oh, Jess. Kiss me! Kiss me!"
Lorelai started making kissing noises. Rory sat down, turning red. "Mom!" she hissed.
"Excuse me?" Jess asked, coming over.
He looked at Rory. "She knows I'm not going to kiss her, right?"
Rory looked at her mom, who was still pretending to faint in the middle of the diner. "Uh………right," Rory said, not sounding sure at all.
She smiled at Jess, and she saw that look in his eyes again. That look that showed how happy he was to see her and how much he really cared for her. Lorelai came and plopped down in the seat across from Rory, and Jess quickly masked his expression, but Rory had seen it. She loved that look. It always made her feel happy and excited at the same time.
"Oh, no, I forgot!" Lorelai said, looking at Jess and clapping her hand to her forehead.
"What?" Jess asked suspiciously.
"You can't kiss me. Your lip's swollen."
"What?" Luke asked, coming over to them.
"Oh, hello, Lukey," Lorelai said cheerfully.
She was so busy thinking about Rory and Jess and how to embarrass Jess that she had forgotten about her little Luke problem for the moment. "Me. And Jess. And - "
"Mom!" Rory cut her off. "No. What have I told you?"
Lorelai put on a sad face. "That I have to be nice and can't hit on your boyfriends."
Rory nodded. "That is correct," she said in a mock-stern voice. "And you better remember it, missy."
Lorelai pouted. "But - "
"No buts," Rory said.
Jess looked relieved. Lorelai turned to Luke with big, sad eyes. "My daughter's being mean. I need coffee, coffee man."
"Fine," Luke said, pouring her a cup.
Rory, Lorelai, and Jess all looked at Luke in shock. "What?" Lorelai asked. "Did you just give me coffee willingly?"
"I saw it," Rory said.
"Me too," Jess added.
"Lucas? Explain this, so that I can figure out how to make it happen again," Lorelai said.
"I just want to get away from your conversation about Jess as quickly as I can," Luke said.
He walked away, and Lorelai shrugged. "His loss."
She turned to Rory and Jess. "So I meant to ask you. Did Luke catch you last night?"
"I ran," Rory said. "Did he get you?"
"Nope," Jess replied. "I went up and said I just took a walk. He was still half-asleep, I think."
"Hmm," Lorelai said thoughtfully.
"Oh no. Mom, what are you going to do?" Rory asked.
"Nothing!" Lorelai said, giving her an innocent look.
Luke came over again, and Jess saw a wicked gleam in Lorelai's eye. "So, Luke," Lorelai began. "You seem tired. Did you sleep okay last night?"
"What? Well, I had this weird dream, but - "
"Ooooh, I love dreams! Tell! Rory's good at analyzing them," Lorelai told him.
"I just dreamt I heard people talking outside the diner, and that Jess was gone."
Luke turned to Jess. "Wait a minute. That wasn't a dream, that really happened, right?"
"Nope."
"It didn't?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jess replied.
Lorelai giggled, but was silenced by a glare from Rory. "I think I'm going to leave again," Luke said.
"Aw, poor Lukey," Lorelai told him. "Now that Jess has crossed over to my side, there's no one on your side."
"When did I cross over to your side?" Jess asked.
Lorelai gave him a serious look. "I knew you had come to my side when you said that line from Charlie's Angels. After that, all was lost."
Jess rolled his eyes. Lorelai really was crazy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Rory, I'm home!" Lorelai called as she entered the house.
It was a few days later, and Lorelai had gotten home early from work. It was barely four o'clock in the afternoon, and she knew Rory should have been home by now.
Lorelai looked around, but didn't see a note. Well, Rory was probably at Luke's with Jess or something. She had probably been expecting Lorelai to come home around dinner time, which was why she hadn't left a note.
"I'll head over to Luke's after I change," Lorelai said out loud.
She headed upstairs to change out of her work clothes. Things are still normal between me and Luke, Lorelai thought as she changed.
Well, why wouldn't they be? she asked herself. He doesn't know that I know. Ugh. What do I know, anyway? Me and Luke. That sounds weird even in my head. Luke's my friend. Right? But I saw it, I know I did. So what do I do about it?
Lorelai shook her head to clear her mind as she walked back downstairs. She couldn't think about the situation with Luke any more, she just couldn't. She hoped something interesting happened soon, something to distract her. It had to be something major. She needed a good distraction.
On her way to Luke's, Lorelai's mind jumped to thinking about Rory and Jess. She smiled gleefully. Jess always tried to hide it around her, and everyone else, but she had caught it. She had seen the look in his eyes when he was with Rory, and she knew now that Jess was in love with Rory.
Hmm. I can't say I'm surprised. I guess I've seen it coming for a while now. Still, it's nice to know that Jess isn't using Rory……and that if Rory ever tells Jess how she feels, I'll know that the feeling is reciprocated.
Lorelai entered the diner. It was empty; no one else was there. She saw Luke, Rory, and Jess sitting with someone at a corner table, but she couldn't see who it was because Luke was blocking the person from Lorelai's view.
"Hey!" Lorelai called.
She started walking towards the table. Rory got up and met her halfway, giving her a hug. "You're home early."
"Yeah, well, I snuck out and left Michel in charge of this horrible group of business women from California. If he asks you, tell him I was abducted."
"Got it."
"Hey Lorelai," Luke said.
"Hey Luke. Jess."
Jess gave her a nod. "So, what's the big powwow about?" Lorelai asked.
"Come sit down with us," Rory said. "I want you to meet someone."
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Maggie sighed inwardly. When she had heard Rory say "Hi Mom" when someone had entered the diner, Maggie knew the inevitable had come. There was no way that Lorelai wouldn't put the pieces together. Luke and Rory had both seen it, but they didn't have the information Lorelai did. Lorelai would know.
Still, when Maggie heard Rory say "I want you to meet someone", she froze. Luke and Rory were looking at Lorelai, but Jess noticed and gave her a strange look.
"Okay. Who am I meeting?" Lorelai asked, standing next to the table.
"Mom, this is Maggie," Rory said. "And Maggie, this is - "
Maggie got up as Rory started to introduce her, then turned to face Lorelai.
"Hello, Lorelai," she said softly, cutting Rory off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lorelai's eyes widened. It can't be! Can it? Same name, same face………it has to be!
"Margaret?" Lorelai whispered.
She nodded. Lorelai's face broke out into a smile. "Aunt Maggie! Oh my God!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Maggie.
Maggie smiled back and they hugged. "What are you - why did you - it's been a long time!" Lorelai said after they broke apart.
"Twenty years," Maggie told her.
"Wow," Lorelai said, still smiling. "Yeah, it has. I can't believe this."
"Uh, Mom?" Rory interrupted timidly. "You know that you don't have an aunt Maggie, right?"
"I know. But I've called her that since………well, since I could talk, probably!"
"That must have been a horrible day," Jess muttered.
Lorelai ignored him, not even looking in his direction. "Rory, Aunt Maggie and my mom have been best friends since they were little. So I just always called her Aunt Maggie."
"You're the one that writes to us?" Rory asked.
"Yes, that's me. It was nice to finally meet you," Maggie replied.
Maggie had kept in touch with Lorelai after she had moved to England; after all, Lorelai was like a daughter to her.
"What brought you back after all this time? Does Mom know?" Lorelai asked.
"No, I haven't seen Emily yet. I wanted to……..you know……..get settled."
"Oh."
Lorelai's eyes just happened to slide from Maggie's to Jess', and all of the sudden she seemed to go pale. Lorelai just stared at Jess as if she had never seen anyone like him before. "Uh, Lorelai?" Jess asked, feeling uncomfortable under her stare.
He snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Anyone there?"
Lorelai looked at Maggie, then back at Jess again, and she gasped, then started mouthing wordlessly. "Lorelai? Are you okay?" Luke asked, concerned.
Luke shot a look at Jess and Rory and saw that they looked surprised at Lorelai's behavior, but then he looked at Maggie and saw that she didn't look surprised at all. In fact, she looked like she was expecting it.
"Oh my God," Lorelai finally said.
She backed up a step. "Lorelai, please," Maggie began, trying to prevent Lorelai from saying anything.
"Mom? What's the matter?" Rory asked worriedly, getting up and going to her mother.
"Jess," Lorelai said sharply all of the sudden. "What's your dad's name?"
Jess looked at her as if she was speaking gibberish. "What?" he asked.
"Answer me!" Lorelai snapped.
"Lorelai, please," Maggie said again.
Jess looked from Lorelai to Maggie, then back to Lorelai again and answered her.
"Jimmy," he said.
After hearing that, Lorelai felt her knees go weak. She almost fell, but Rory steadied her. "Mom? Mom, what is it?" Rory asked, a panicked note in her voice.
Jess and Luke had also gotten up. Luke took Lorelai's other arm and tried to get her to sit down, but she refused. Jess stood between Rory and Maggie. Lorelai ignored Luke and Rory fussing over her, and looked at Maggie.
"Maggie?" she asked, her voice sounding almost child-like.
"Lorelai, I can explain."
"It can't be," Lorelai said, trying to convince both Maggie and herself. "It can't be."
"Lorelai, please, no one knows! Lorelai, listen to me," Maggie said, sounding desperate.
"No one knows what?" Jess asked.
"Lorelai! Please, Lorelai. Please. Don't. Let me. I'll explain."
"They……." Lorelai's eyes landed on Jess. "They don't know?"
"No. I'll explain. It's time, anyway."
"Okay," Lorelai said, her voice growing stronger.
Lorelai went over to the door and flipped the sign from Open to Closed, and then she and Jess followed Maggie back to her table and sat down. Luke and Rory were still standing. "Sit," Lorelai commanded them.
"Mom, what's the matter?" Rory asked.
"Lorelai, are you okay?" Luke said, voicing his own concern.
"I'm fine. Sit. You need to listen to what she has to say."
Lorelai was talking to Luke and Rory, but she was looking at Jess when she said it. Jess got the feeling that Lorelai was telling him that he was the one who had to listen.
But listen to what? What was Maggie going to explain?
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Author's Note: Review! Review! Because guess what? *evil grin* I have the next chapter done already! It's up and ready to go……..but I'm not going to put it up until I get lots of reviews! *evil laugh* Who ever said being evil isn't fun?
Coming in Chapter 9………Finally, we find out who Maggie is! 'Bout time, huh?