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.
********************************************************************************
"Jess! Where the hell have you been?" Luke asked, walking over to Jess as he entered the diner that evening.
"Out."
"You could have told me. I had to handle the whole early dinner rush on my own!"
Jess smirked. "You were distracted."
"What?"
"When I left. You were distracted."
"No I wasn't," Luke said quickly.
"Yes you were," Jess said, his smirk widening. "I think it was something to do with Lorelai, but - "
"I heard my name!" Lorelai sang, coming over to Luke and Jess.
She looked from Luke to Jess. "What's going on?"
"Nothing," Jess said unconvincingly.
"Riiiiiiiight. Oooh, are you two bonding? You're sharing secrets? That's just so adorable!"
Jess looked disgusted. "We were - "
"Where's Rory?" Luke asked Lorelai, cutting Jess off.
"Oh, I get it. I can only eat here if I have Rory here. You don't like me at all. Just her."
Lorelai sniffed dramatically, holding up a hand. "No, I understand. I get it. I just - " she took a deep, shuddering breath. "I thought we were friends, Lucas, I really did. But it's okay. Really, it is."
She looked up at Jess and Luke to see their reactions to her performance, but she was disappointed. Jess had left and gone behind the counter, and Luke was just looking at her, waiting for an answer to his question.
"Oh, all right. You're no fun, you know that?" Lorelai told him grouchily. "Rory went out with Chris and Sherry, remember?"
"Oh yeah."
Lorelai went to sit down at the counter, and Luke followed, going behind the counter with Jess. Lorelai sighed, putting her chin in her hands. "Is it pathetic that I have no life without my daughter?" Lorelai asked Luke.
"Yes," Jess answered.
Lorelai glared at him, and Jess knew that if he wanted to get through meeting Rory's dad and grandparents alive, he couldn't have Lorelai against him. He quickly poured her a cup of coffee and handed it to her. "Coffee?" he asked.
"Oooh, coffee! Thanks, flannel junior!" Lorelai said, perking up and downing the cup.
Jess rolled his eyes and went to take a customer's order. "I'm going to have to talk to him about giving you coffee," Luke said gruffly.
"You want him to give me more?" Lorelai asked innocently.
Luke looked horrified. "More? Are you kidding me?"
"No."
"Lorelai, coffee kills you. How can I make you understand that? It kills you."
"Luke, not having coffee kills me. How can I make you understand that? It kills me," Lorelai replied, mimicking him.
Luke sighed. "What can I get you?"
"A really greasy cheeseburger, and some even greasier fries. Oh, and more coffee."
"Heart attack on a plate?"
Lorelai smiled. "Mmmm, sounds good!"
Luke walked away, shaking his head. Lorelai heard the bell as someone else walked into the diner, and she looked up. "Maggie!" she exclaimed.
Maggie smiled, then walked over to Lorelai. "Hello, Lorelai. I assume your mother has told you about tomorrow?"
"Yes, she has. We will definitely be there."
"Good," Maggie said, looking pleased.
They talked for a few minutes, and then Luke came out bringing Lorelai her coffee. "Oh, Maggie. Hi," Luke said.
He glanced from Maggie to Lorelai, obviously wondering whether Lorelai had told Maggie what was going on - well, really, what wasn't going on - between the two of them. "Oh, yeah. I almost forgot," Lorelai said.
She turned to Maggie. "Maggie, I have something funny to tell you."
Maggie raised an eyebrow, giving Lorelai an amused look. "Really."
She glanced at Luke. "Do tell," she added.
Lorelai pouted. "Hey! You already know!"
"What? Did I miss something?" Luke asked, looking from Lorelai to Maggie.
He shook his head. "Never mind. You always know everything," he said to Maggie.
He walked back into the kitchen, shaking his head and muttering to himself. Lorelai's eyes followed him. "He's going crazy. I take all of the credit," Lorelai told Maggie.
Maggie smiled. "Good for you, dear. How did this all come about?"
Lorelai quickly ran through the story of how Emily had come to think that Lorelai and Luke were dating, then ended by telling Maggie what had happened earlier that day. "So Mom comes in here, and I had to run upstairs and tell Luke what was going on before she got to him, and of course Jess already knew because of that evil daughter of mine, and he told Luke, and Luke didn't want to go along with it, but I managed to convince him, and so we had just finished convincing Mom that we really were dating when two people came in."
Maggie looked at Lorelai. "Who?"
"Christopher. You remember Christopher?"
Maggie's eyes widened. "Yes. And he's Rory's father, correct?"
Lorelai nodded. "But he just had another daughter with his girlfriend - I mean fiancee - Sherry, and the two of them just happened to come by today, of all days."
Maggie looked around. "Is that where Rory is now?"
"Yeah. Sherry's in love with Rory, and Rory wanted to see Chris, so, yeah. But Chris and Sherry came in when Mom was still there, and so now Chris and Sherry think we're dating, too."
"Oh, dear. Emily called me earlier to say that they were coming, but I didn't know how they managed to get invited."
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Sherry. Just wait until you meet her. But anyway, everyone except for you, Rory, and Jess think that Luke and I are dating."
Lorelai paused, and Maggie looked at her. "And you want me to go along with it tomorrow," Maggie said.
"Yes. Will you? Please? It's just for tomorrow, then Luke made me promise that I'd tell my mom that we broke up."
Maggie hesitated, then agreed. "All right. But I'm not going to flat-out lie for you."
"Good. No, you don't have to. Good. Thanks," Lorelai said, sounding relieved.
Luke came out with Lorelai's dinner, placing it in front of her. "Maggie's going to go along with it," Lorelai told him.
"Great. One more insane person to add to the list."
Luke stalked off. "He's a little touchy about it," Lorelai told Maggie quietly.
She raised her voice. "Don't worry, Bubba, you're on that list too!" Lorelai called after him.
Maggie didn't even bother asking why Lorelai was calling Luke Bubba. However, Jess happened to be nearby, and he looked over at Lorelai. "Bubba?" he asked.
"I always wanted to date someone named Bubba," Lorelai said dreamily.
Jess rolled his eyes, then noticed Maggie sitting next to Lorelai. They looked at each other. "Hello," Maggie said.
"Hey," Jess said casually.
Jess glanced at Lorelai, who quickly looked down at her food and busied herself with eating. "Would you like to go for a walk?" Maggie asked Jess.
"Uh, yeah. Okay," Jess said awkwardly.
They got up and walked out of the diner, then started off down the street. "So……how are you?" Maggie asked, glancing at Jess out of the corner of her eye.
"Okay. You?"
"Okay," Maggie replied.
They continued walking, neither of them saying anything. "So, tomorrow," Maggie said. "Can you tell Luke and Lorelai to be there around ten?"
"Yeah. But I don't think Lorelai and Rory get up that early."
Maggie grinned. "I know."
Jess couldn't help grinning back. It would be funny to see those two having to get up that early on a weekend. On the other hand, Lorelai's complaining could quite possibly drive him completely insane.
"So, what'd you do today?" Maggie asked.
Jess scowled. "I went shopping."
"Shopping?" Maggie asked, obviously trying not to laugh.
"It's your fault," Jess told her.
"My fault?" Maggie asked, putting a hand on her chest and widening her eyes innocently.
"Yes. I had to buy clothes to wear tomorrow."
"Well, dear, that certainly isn't my fault. It's either your fault, because you don't have nice clothes, or Luke's fault for not getting you nice clothes earlier."
"It's not my fault, or Luke's."
"Why are you getting dressed up?" Maggie prompted him.
"Because we're going to brunch with Rory's grandparents."
Maggie gave him a triumphant look. "Then it's their fault."
Jess, trying very hard not to smile, shook his head. "I can't believe you're blaming other poor, innocent people," he told her, sarcasm evident in his tone.
"I can't believe you're blaming poor, innocent me," Maggie shot back.
They had stopped walking as they had talked, but they now started walking again, and there was a silence between them. "So what do you think?" Maggie asked, finally deciding to break the silence.
Jess immediately knew what she was talking about. She wanted to know what he thought of her, of the fact that she was his grandmother. "I think it's……..okay," Jess said uncertainly.
"Okay."
Maggie and Jess were standing in front of the diner. "I'll see you tomorrow," Maggie said.
"Yeah……..and the happy new couple, Luke and Lorelai."
Maggie smirked. "So I heard. I'm going to have to talk to you and Rory tomorrow."
"Why?" Jess asked suspiciously.
Maggie looked at him. "Because we have to have some fun with Luke and Lorelai," Maggie told him, as if she were stating the obvious.
"You want to……..you………." Jess didn't know what to say.
He had never imagined himself as the type of guy who had a grandmother, and certainly not one as strange as Maggie.
"What, you think I'm some stuffy old lady who spends all her time and energy on poodles? You have a lot to learn. I'll see you tomorrow at ten."
With that, she got into her car and drove away, leaving Jess to stare after her. What a crazy old lady, he thought, then went inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Rory, wake up," Lorelai said the next morning, coming into Rory's room.
Rory opened her eyes blearily. "Mom?"
She looked at her clock. "It's eight thirty in the morning! Leave me alone!" Rory said, pulling the covers over her head.
"Can't do that. We're supposed to be at Maggie's by ten."
"Since when?" Rory asked, her voice muffled from being under her covers.
"Since Jess and I talked to her last night."
Rory sat up. "You and Jess saw Maggie last night?"
"Yeah, she stopped by the diner when I was having dinner. I talked to her, and so did Luke, kinda. She said she'd go along with our whole pretending-to-be-dating thing. And then Jess came over, and they took a walk. I don't know what they talked about. That's your job to find out, and report back to me."
"Will do."
"Now come on. Up, up, up."
"Why are you so perky?" Rory said, getting up out of bed.
"The elixir of life, daughter of mine. It has been bountiful this morning."
"You must share the elixir of life!" Rory exclaimed.
"I'll get you a cup. You get ready to go."
"You're not ready," Rory pointed out.
"But I have the coffee."
"Point taken."
An hour later, Lorelai and Rory were almost ready to go. "Where are my shoes?" Rory yelled up to Lorelai.
"Uh………here!"
Lorelai threw them down the stairs, and Rory grabbed them, quickly putting them on. She looked at herself in the mirror. I look okay, she thought.
She smiled to herself. What was the matter with her? It seemed like every time she saw Jess lately, she was worried about what she looked like. Which was ridiculous, really, because he had never even seemed to care.
"What are you smiling about?" Lorelai asked Rory, coming down the stairs and interrupting Rory's thoughts.
"Nothing."
Lorelai grinned as she and Rory made their way to the Jeep. "You were thinking about Jess," she said.
Rory gave a small smile. "Well, maybe."
"Oooh, you're in love!" Lorelai said as they parked the Jeep and were about to go into Luke's.
"Mom!"
Rory looked around, hoping that no one had overheard……….especially Jess. Lorelai looked at Rory, frowning slightly. "You still haven't told him that you……" Lorelai also looked around. "You know."
"No, I haven't told him."
"Why not?"
"Can we talk about this later?" Rory asked.
Lorelai put an arm around Rory. "I just don't think you should try to bottle up your emotions."
"I'm not, I just - "
"I know, you don't want to pressure him in case he doesn't feel the same way. But…….." Lorelai paused.
"What?"
"I think he does," Lorelai said honestly.
"You do?"
"Yeah."
Rory looked thoughtful. "Okay."
"Okay," Lorelai repeated.
They walked into the diner, and Lorelai, instead of doing her usual and barging over to start annoying Luke, held back and watched Rory and Jess.
The diner was empty, since Luke had closed it a while ago so that he and Jess could get ready to go. Lorelai and Rory were fifteen minutes late, so Luke and Jess had been sitting there, waiting for them.
Lorelai stood by the door, and Luke was behind the counter. Lorelai watched as Rory walked over to Jess, who stood up as she approached. Wow, he's actually………not dressed like a thug, Lorelai thought.
Quickly getting over the shock, she continued to surreptitiously watch them. They had kissed and were now talking. Lorelai couldn't hear what they were saying because they were talking quietly, but Rory seemed to be teasing Jess about something - Probably his clothes, Lorelai thought fleetingly - but she saw that they were in love. She didn't know how Rory and Jess themselves didn't see it, but she did. Their body language said so much. Their bodies were turned toward each other; they faced each other as they talked. Both of their faces always lit up when they saw the other. A part of them was always touching, even if it was just a hand on an arm or one of them leaning against the other. Lorelai even saw Jess smile a real smile a few times.
Suddenly Lorelai sensed someone behind her, and saw that Luke had gotten up and was now standing behind her. "Rory's good for him," Luke told Lorelai quietly, seeing that she was looking at Rory and Jess and knowing that she was thinking about them.
"He's good for her, too. It's just taken me awhile to see it," Lorelai replied softly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you never told me," Lorelai said, twisting around in her seat. "What'd you and your dad and Sherry do last night?"
Luke was driving to Maggie's home in Hartford, and Lorelai was sitting up front with him. Rory and Jess were sitting in the back, and Lorelai had turned around to face Rory to talk to her.
"We went out to dinner and saw a movie. You know, boring stuff. Sherry was…….well, Sherry. And Dad…….." Rory trailed off, frowning.
"What?" Lorelai asked, concern knitting her brow.
"I don't know," Rory said slowly. "Something was bothering him, though."
Lorelai's expression cleared. "He has to live with Sherry. Enough said."
Rory smiled. "That's probably it," she agreed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luke pulled up to Maggie's house, and he, Rory, and Jess looked up in amazement. It was huge. Lorelai hadn't been exaggerating when she had told them it was a mansion.
"Wow," Rory said.
"I know. I'd forgotten how impressive it looks," Lorelai said.
They all got out of the car. "That's odd," Luke said.
"What?" Lorelai asked.
"I don't see any other cars," Luke answered her.
Lorelai, Rory, and Jess looked around. Luke was right - it looked like they were the only ones there. "But we're twenty-five minutes late! How can we be the only ones here?" Rory asked.
Luke, Lorelai, Rory, and Jess walked up to the front door and rang the bell. Maggie herself answered the door. "Good morning," she told them brightly.
They all greeted Maggie, and she closed the door behind them as they came in and took their coats off. "Where is everybody?" Lorelai asked.
"Oh, that."
Maggie looked almost sheepish. "I wanted to get a chance to show you all - " here she looked at Jess " - around before everyone else got here. So I told you to come an hour early, because Lorelai, honestly, you're always late. And your parents are always early, but I figure we have at least twenty minutes before they show up."
Lorelai shook her head, grinning at Maggie. "Just when I think you've turned into an honest woman………."
Lorelai trailed off, and she and Maggie exchanged a grin. "Well, you know me, Lorelai," Maggie said. "Some people never change."
Rory shook her head and smiled at the two of them. "You lied to me," Jess said, almost sounding proud.
"You tricked us!" Luke said indignantly.
Maggie waved a hand. "Oh, boys, you'll get over it. Now come on, I want to show you around."
Jess put his arm around Rory, and the two of them followed Maggie. Lorelai made to follow them, then looked back and saw Luke still standing there. She went over to him and linked her arm through his. "Come on, honey," she said.
"Don't call me that," Luke said irritably.
"But sugar, we're supposed to be a couple," Lorelai said as they started walking to catch up to Maggie, Rory, and Jess.
Luke scowled. "I have never dated anyone that has called me ridiculous nicknames," Luke told her as they caught up to the others.
"But he doesn't get out much," Jess said over his shoulder to Lorelai.
Lorelai grinned as Luke's scowl deepened. "No one asked you," he snapped at Jess.
"Oh, honeybunch, don't get so upset!" Lorelai told him.
Luke pulled his arm away from her. "Don't call me that!"
"But sweetums - "
"Aaah!" Luke cried in frustration.
He stalked out of the room. "I think I upset him a little bit," Lorelai told Maggie, Rory, and Jess.
Jess smirked. "Just a little," Rory agreed.
"I wonder where he's going," Maggie mused.
"Maybe he'll get lost!" Lorelai piped up enthusiastically. "And then twenty years later you'll find him dead in a bedroom upstairs or something, but he won't really be gone, because his ghost will be haunting the house. Ooooh, a haunted house! I love haunted houses."
"Oh, remember that time when we went to Fright Fest?" Rory asked her mother.
"Of course! That was creepy, but I'm telling you, that dead pirate was totally hitting on me."
"He was not," Rory said.
"Yes he was. Why was he following me everywhere?"
"Because that's what they do, to scare you," Rory explained patiently.
"But I liked it."
"Yeah, but you're just plain scary anyway," Rory told her.
Jess smirked at that, and Lorelai whirled on him. "Do you agree with her?" she asked him.
"Yes," Jess replied.
"I can't believe it! Everyone has turned on me! I need some coffee."
All of the sudden Lorelai's eyes lit up. "Hey, I wonder if this will work."
"What?" Rory asked.
"This. I need coffee!" Lorelai said.
Rory looked at her, confused. "Now concentrate on coffee really hard," Lorelai told her.
"Okay, but why?"
"Just do it, you'll see."
Lorelai closed her eyes, presumably to picture coffee in her mind, and Rory followed suit. Jess and Maggie looked at each other, wondering what Lorelai was up to. All of the sudden, they were surprised by Luke re-entering the room. "What are they doing?" he asked Jess and Maggie.
Lorelai's eyes flew open. "I knew it, I knew it!" she crowed.
Rory opened her eyes. "What?"
"Look! We thought of coffee, and it called Luke to us!"
Rory turned around and saw Luke standing there. "We have magic powers!" Rory exclaimed.
"Yes, we do! I have to admit, I was a little worried after the dance marathon."
"You mean because we tried to use our psychic powers to move the diner closer to us and it didn't work?" Rory asked.
"Yes, exactly, Mini-Me. But now - " she jerked her head in Luke's direction " - we have proof."
"You are not psychic just because I happened to decide to come back in."
Lorelai and Rory exchanged looks. "Um, yeah, we are," Lorelai told him in a no-duh tone of voice.
"No you're not," Luke said, exasperated.
"Yes we are!" Lorelai argued stubbornly.
She turned to Jess and Maggie, who hadn't said anything throughout the whole ordeal. "We're psychic, aren't we?" Lorelai demanded.
Jess and Maggie glanced at each other. "We're staying out of this," Maggie replied.
"Fine. But we're psychic," Lorelai said, turning back to Luke.
Just then the doorbell rang. "Then how come you didn't see that coming?" Luke asked her smugly.
"I did, I was just too busy arguing with you to say anything," Lorelai said haughtily.
"Right."
"I was!"
"I believe you," Luke said in a tone that said otherwise.
Jess and Rory hung back as Maggie went to answer the door, Luke and Lorelai bickering as they followed her. "Ready?" Rory asked him.
"Oh, yeah. I just can't wait for all the fun to start," Jess said sarcastically.
"It'll be okay," Rory said, sounding as if she were trying to convince herself as well as Jess.
"Right," Jess said, seeing through her futile attempt at reassuring him.
Rory stepped closer to him, and Jess put his hands on her hips, pulling them to bump his. Rory leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss. "It'll be okay," she repeated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh, Richard, please, stop it," Emily said as they walked up to Maggie's door.
"What am I doing that's annoying you so much?" Richard demanded.
"You keep talking about that boy you met in the bookstore yesterday. Honestly, you don't even know the boy, but the way you're going on about him, you'd think he was a favorite nephew or something."
"Well, Emily, I'm sorry if I'm annoying you. I'm simply telling you that I met a very nice young man last night at the bookstore. He was very well-read, and knew what he was talking about when it came to great literature. I just think that that is the kind of boy Rory should be dating. Do you know, that young man was buying a book for his girlfriend? He was nervous about meeting her family, and wanted to buy his girlfriend a present. Why can't Rory date someone like that?"
"Richard, I don't like the sound of this Jess boy anymore than you do, but we have to be civil. You know what happens when we make our disapproval known - the girls just cut us out of that part of our lives, and that is not going to happen this time. I don't care if that boy is horrible, we will keep our opinions to ourselves."
"Yes, Emily, I know."
They both sighed, then rang the doorbell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maggie answered the door, Luke and Lorelai behind her. She turned around and gave them a look before opening the door, and they stopped arguing. Maggie pulled open the door to find Emily and Richard standing on the doorstep. "Hello Emily, Richard. Please, come in," Maggie said, closing the door behind them.
"It's wonderful to see you again, dear," Emily said as she and Richard took off their coats and a maid suddenly appeared to take the coats from them.
Emily and Maggie hugged, and so did Maggie and Richard. "Maggie, I have to agree with my lovely wife. It is simply wonderful to see you again, and to be in your beautiful home again!"
"Thank you, Richard. It's wonderful to see you again too," Maggie said graciously.
Lorelai cleared her throat loudly. "Lorelai!" Emily said, sounding completely shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello to you too, Mom. I was invited, remember?"
"Of course I remember, Lorelai. I'm the one that invited you. But your father and I are early, and you're always late."
"That's my fault," Maggie intervened. "I told Lorelai to come at an earlier time than the rest of you, since she's always late. She and Rory came with Luke and Jess, and of course I wanted to see my grandson again."
"Oh. Well then," Emily said, appeased.
She turned to Luke. "Hello, Luke," she said.
"Hello, Mrs. Gilmore," Luke replied.
Maggie, Emily, Lorelai, and Luke all looked at Richard. "So you're Luke," Richard said.
He didn't offer Luke his hand to shake. "Uh, yes," Luke said, glancing at Lorelai. "Yes I am."
"And what do you do?"
"He - " Lorelai began to explain.
"I asked Luke, Lorelai," Richard said, cutting her off.
"I own a diner."
"I see."
Lorelai and Emily exchanged a look. "You've been there, Dad, remember?" Lorelai said. "We had that great grapefruit there that one morning."
"You mean you had that grapefruit. But yes, I remember being in that…….diner, as you call it," Richard replied.
Emily quickly jumped in. "Where's Rory?" she asked.
Lorelai and Luke both looked around. They had been arguing before Emily and Richard arrived, and hadn't even noticed that Rory and Jess hadn't followed them in the foyer. "They must still be in the sitting room," Lorelai said with a shrug.
"You left them alone?" Emily asked, looking scandalized.
"I - " Lorelai began, but was cut off by the doorbell.
"Oh God, that must be Christopher and that woman," Emily said.
"Mom!" Lorelai exclaimed.
The maid opened the door, and Chris and Sherry came in. "Oh, wow, we're the last ones here!" Sherry said as the maid took her and Christopher's coats.
"I can't believe you beat us, Lor," Chris said.
"Yeah, well, you know me. I just wanted to give everyone a good shock," Lorelai replied.
Chris and Sherry greeted Emily and Richard and Chris introduced Sherry to Maggie before they turned to Luke. "Hello, Luke!" Sherry said.
"Hi Miss, uh - "
"Oh, don't be silly! You just have to call me Sherry, we're all friends here!" she said with a smile.
Luke and Lorelai exchanged a glance, both trying not to laugh or say anything. "Right. Hi Sherry," Luke said.
He turned to Chris. "Chris," he said, giving him a nod.
"Luke," Chris returned coldly.
Lorelai gave Chris a strange look, but he pretended not to notice. Sherry, however, looked around. "Where's Rory?" she asked.
"She and her boyfriend are in the other room," Emily told Sherry.
"Oh, that's right. I can't wait to meet him!" Sherry said.
"They're alone?" Chris asked.
"What is it with you people! What do you really think is going to happen in five minutes?" Lorelai exclaimed.
"Whoa, calm down there," Chris said, holding up his hands in surrender. "I just asked."
"That's exactly what I asked before, Christopher," Emily said.
"Instead of talking about it, why don't we join them," Maggie suggested.
"Great idea," Lorelai said.
She linked her arm through Luke's once again, and they all made their way to the sitting room. Rory and Jess were standing there talking about something, their backs to them. "Hey guys, look who's here," Lorelai said.
Rory and Jess turned around as Richard cast another look at Luke. He didn't think that Luke was good enough for Lorelai. He owned one little diner in that crazy town that Lorelai lived in. That certainly didn't make Luke good enough for any daughter of his.
"Hi Grandpa," Rory said.
"Hello, Rory," Richard replied, his face breaking out into a smile.
He looked around for Rory's boyfriend, but he was talking to Maggie with his back towards Richard. Luke and Lorelai were talking with Chris and Sherry, until Rory went over and stood with Maggie and Jess. Chris and Sherry went over to meet him, and Richard gave up on trying to see his face, knowing that he'd meet him eventually anyway. Emily came over and stood next to him, and soon Luke and Lorelai joined them. Emily began a conversation with Luke and Lorelai and although Richard stood with them, he wasn't really paying attention.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Tell her," Jess said as Rory came over to him and Maggie.
"Tell me what?" Rory asked.
"We're going to have some fun with your mother and Luke," Maggie told her, her voice so quiet that Rory had to lean in to hear her.
"What do you mean?"
"Rory, don't you think that if this pretend dating thing goes on long enough, it'll be a push in the right direction?" Maggie asked.
"What do you mean, the right direction?" Rory asked.
"I mean, they'll realize that they want to start dating for real," Maggie replied.
Rory glanced at Jess, who was smirking. She turned back to Maggie with a smile. "Okay, what are we going to do?"
"Well, you two just try to get them to have to be with each other as much as possible today, acting like a couple. Leave the rest to me," Maggie said.
"What are you going to do?" Jess asked.
Before Maggie could reply, they heard Chris and Sherry behind them. "Are we interrupting a private conversation?" Chris asked.
"Of course not!" Maggie replied with an easy smile, her voice its normal volume once again.
Rory turned around and threw her arms around Chris. "Hi Dad!" she said.
"Hey kiddo."
They broke apart, and Sherry gave Rory a hug. Chris, however, looked at Jess. "So," Chris said. "You must be Jess."
"Yeah."
Chris looked at him closely. "You broke my daughter," he said.
"Dad!" Rory exclaimed. "It was a long time ago. And it was an accident."
"I know," Chris said, turning an amused smile onto Rory. "You told me the same thing over and over again last night.
"I'm Sherry," Sherry said, sticking her hand out for Jess to shake.
Jess reluctantly shook it. "Jess," he said shortly.
All of the sudden he felt someone kick him, and he looked behind him to see Maggie standing there. "Be nice," she muttered.
Luke and Lorelai came over, and Maggie left to talk with Emily and Richard. "So Jess, what do you like to do?" Sherry asked.
Jess could feel Rory, Luke, and Lorelai holding their breath, afraid that he would say something that wouldn't be……….appropriate. "I like to read and listen to music," Jess finally replied.
Then, deciding he may as well play the game, asked, "How about you?"
"Oh, well…………."
Sherry listed a dozen things that she liked doing, and Rory almost started laughing at the look on Jess' face. "We will mock later," Lorelai said, so quietly that only Jess heard her.
He glanced at Lorelai and saw that she understood exactly what he was feeling. They exchanged a half-smile, and then Jess tuned back in to what Sherry was babbling about.
"So even though I was really good at tennis and enjoyed playing it, I haven't gotten back into it, even though I certainly could now, since I'm not pregnant anymore, obviously!" she said with a little laugh.
She stopped talking and no one said anything. "Well, uh, I think I should introduce Jess to Grandma and Grandpa," Rory spoke up, breaking the silence.
She put a hand on his arm and they started walking across the room. "What'd my mom say to you?" Rory asked quietly as they walked.
"That'd we'd make fun of Sherry later," Jess said, smirking.
"She's gonna love you for that."
"Who?"
"My mom. I try to be nice to Sherry, but Mom will love having someone who will be just as cruel as she is."
"I can't believe you're calling me cruel. I'm hurt, Rory, I really am."
Rory giggled. "You'll get over it."
Maggie had gone to check on how the brunch was coming along, so Emily and Richard were sitting by themselves when Rory and Jess came over. Richard's back was to them as Rory spoke. "Grandma, Grandpa………this is Jess," she said.
Richard turned around, and looked at Jess at the same moment that Jess saw his face. They both froze. "It's nice to meet you, Jess," Emily said, forcing her tone to be civil and extending her hand.
Jess, however, didn't notice. Emily and Rory looked at Richard and Jess as they continued to stare at each other. "Jess?" Rory asked.
"Richard?" Emily asked.
Chris had gone off with Sherry to show her the house, and Luke and Lorelai joined Rory, Jess, Emily, and Richard. They were also confused as to why Richard and Jess were just staring at each other. "What's going on, Jess?" Luke asked.
"You!" Jess finally said.
Both he and Richard seemed to snap out of their trance. "Yes, me…….." Richard said.
Suddenly Richard started to laugh, which only confused Luke, Lorelai, Rory, and Emily all the more. "We're the family?" Richard asked.
Jess smiled despite himself. "Yeah. And excellent book choice, by the way. Now I know your daughter will like it."
"Yes, and all that bartering for nothing. It's still Rory getting all the books!" Richard said jovially.
"What? What books?" Rory asked.
"It's nothing," Jess told her.
"Richard, what is going on?" Emily asked.
"I'd like to know that myself," Luke said, crossing his arms and looking at Jess.
"Emily, this is the young man I was telling you about!" Richard told her happily.
Emily looked at Jess. "You?" she asked.
Jess shrugged. "Apparently."
"What?" Lorelai asked, thoroughly confused.
Just then Maggie came in, and she noticed that something odd was going on. "What is it?" she asked, coming over to them.
"That's what I'd like to know!" Rory said, crossing her arms.
Her stance looked eerily like Luke's, which Chris noticed right away as he and Sherry rejoined the group. "What's going on?" Chris asked, glancing at Luke darkly before putting his arm around Rory.
However, Luke didn't notice, and neither did anybody else. They all had their attention fixated on Jess and Richard. "I met Richard yesterday," Jess told them.
Everyone looked at him as if he were crazy. Had he just called Richard by his first name? Jess glanced at Richard. "I mean…….Mr. Gilmore."
"No, it's all right. After all, I introduced myself to you as Richard."
"You guys met yesterday?" Rory asked.
"At Los Libros de Amore," Jess told her. "I went to get you a book, and we kept running into each other."
"Now we know why," Richard said. "I was looking for a book for you, too. At the time, we just thought that his girlfriend and my granddaughter had similar tastes. We didn't know it was the same person."
"Talk about freaky," Lorelai commented.
"So you met Mr. Gilmore when you went out last night?" Luke asked Jess.
"Yeah," Jess snapped.
He was quickly tiring of being the center of attention. He didn't like it. He couldn't believe that Rory's grandfather was the old man he had met at the bookstore last night………he should have known. A biography of Brad Pitt? Who besides Lorelai would want a book like that?
"You guys traded books?" Rory asked.
"Yes," Richard replied. "You're going to have plenty of new ones now!"
Rory smiled, but Lorelai remembered an earlier part of the conversation. "But you said daughter, not granddaughter," Lorelai told Jess.
"I was looking for both you and Rory," Richard quickly filled in.
"So what'd you get me?" Lorelai asked, quickly distracted by the thought of presents.
"It's for your birthday, Lorelai. I'm not telling you," Richard told her.
Lorelai turned to Jess. "But you know."
"I'm not telling you either," Jess told her stubbornly.
Lorelai pouted. "Come on," she wheedled.
"Oh, Lorelai, your birthday's coming soon enough. Stop whining," Emily told her.
"It's more than a month away!" Lorelai said. "That's a long time! Will I like it?" she asked Jess.
Jess glanced at Richard. "Yes," he finally replied.
Lorelai looked pleased.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I know. No fight. See, I did something silly. I put up the last chapter before I had this one written, which I usually never do because I want to make sure that what I'm promising you for the next chapter, you'll actually get. I won't be making that mistake again.
Review! You are getting sleepy………sleepy………you want to sleep………*you fall asleep* Now, when I count to three, you will wake up and have an overwhelming urge to give this story many long, detailed, glowing reviews.
One.
Two
Three.
Coming in Chapter 13…………Okay, now, there really will be a fight. Really. During brunch. But I don't think that it's who you think it is. Of course, I don't know what you think. Do I? I think. Okay, just ignore me, but read the next chapter! Oh, and there's a Rory/Jess moment that any true Literati lives for!