Disclaimer: I own a computer. I own a backpack. I own 4 highlighters. Yeah. That pretty much sums it up. Wait. I don't even own the computer. I'm a fifteen year old girl who aspires to become a psychiatrist but meanwhile I'm content with writing fanfiction. So. Amy Sherman-Palladino owns Gilmore Girls. Not me. I own various characters that you don't recognize.

Mother isn't here now,

Who knows what she'd say?

Nothing's quite so clear now.

Feel you've lost your way?

You decide, but

You are not Alone.

-----"No one is Alone" Into The Woods

Chapter 2:

It was a busy day in Luke's Diner.

Luke turned from the middle aged man he was taking his order from and tucked the notepad into his apron pocket, sneaking a peek at the brunette teenage girl cleaning a table in the corner.

Rory had lost weight. She'd always been a skinny girl but now you could see her hipbones sticking out of her jeans. Her short sleeve shirt that would have fit well at the beginning of the summer hung loose off her thin frame.

It's unhealthy, Luke observed. She hadn't had much of an appetite lately. It was understandable. She had suffered a huge loss.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when the shrill ring of the diner's phone rang through the diner.

Rory finished up the table she was cleaning and walked over to the table where Babbette and Miss Patty sat to take their order, pulling the note pad out of her apron pocket.

"What'll you guys have?"

The two ladies looked up with their eyebrows raised.

I hate walking over to people and realizing that they'd just been talking about me, Rory thought, looking away for a second as the two women stared at her.

"Oh, sweetie. How're you doing?" Babbette said in her husky voice.

"Fine, thanks," Rory said cheerfully, "Do you want to order?"

"Oh yes, dear," Miss. Patty said and she and Babbette ordered and Rory walked away, scribbling the order down.

"No. Liz. I can't do that—"

Rory heard Luke's voice ringing clearly out of the storage room where the phone cord stretched through the door. She paused to listen to his side of the conversation.

"I already have a teenager living here, Liz!"

"It's a long story."

"No. I will not tell you! When are you going to face up to your—"

"You can't just dump your kid off—"

"No. Wait. Liz—"

Apparently whoever he was on the phone with had hung up. Luke hung up the phone and burst out of the room while Rory hurried past with her order, handing it to Caesar.

"Caesar! I'm taking a break!" Luke yelled, sticking his head into the kitchen, "Rory, I've got to talk to you upstairs."

"Okay."

Following him upstairs, Rory realized the something must really be wrong when he started pacing in front of the kitchen table. Rory sat down at one of the chairs and chewed on her fingernail.

"What's wrong, Luke?"

Finally, he sat down across from her.

"My nephew's coming to stay with us," he said, looking at the thin girl under his care. "He's your age, 16, and his name is Jess."

"Oh," Rory looked surprised and didn't say anything else.

"He got into some trouble in New York and his mother's sending him here. I know it's cramped but I couldn't talk her out of it. I don't know how long he's staying."

"Okay."

"Rory. You need to say something. You need to tell me how you feel about this situation. We can't make this work if you don't talk to me," Luke said, grabbing Rory's hand out of her mouth.

Rory was silent, her pale hand being held awkwardly by Luke's larger one.

"Please, Rory. We need to make this work," Luke pleaded.

She was quiet for a second, looking thoughtful. Then finally, "Where's he gonna sleep?"

Seeing as he was expected to be arriving by bus the next morning, Rory and Luke had to close the diner for the day so they could go and get the necessities for another person living in the small apartment. After Luke had gone and bought another mattress to put on the floor on the opposite side of the room as Rory's.

"You know," Luke said as he stood in the small space between the bare mattress and the one where Rory slept. There was only about a four foot distance. "I never realized how small this room really is."

Rory sat down on her bed and pulled her legs up under her. "Do you want me to come with you tomorrow when you go to pick him up at the bus stop?"

"No," Luke said, pulling out the green sheets that they had purchased at Wal-Mart. "You should probably stay here and watch the diner while I'm gone."

"Okay."

That Sunday Morning dawned bright and early.

The first thought that went through Rory's head was, Oh god. I have to go to school tomorrow.

And the next was Oh god. His nephews getting here today.

They opened the diner without any major problems and as the diner clock's hand moved slowly towards the eight, Luke left the diner with a wave to Rory and a yell to Caesar that he was leaving.

When he got to the bus stop, the large vehicle was just opening its doors, sending a large crowd of people walking out. One of them was a lone teenager with dark hair and dark eyes wearing a leather jacket with a book tucked into his back pocket. Seeing Luke, he walked over with his large duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and a lopsided smirk on his face.

"Hey, Uncle Luke."

A/N: And there's chapter 2. I wanted to keep you satisfied for the week because I probably won't have time to update during the week, only on the weekends. Thank you to all those lovely reviewers. Seven in one day! I'm satisfied but looking forward to more as the story progresses. So review because it makes me want to write another chapter!

Thank you, Angelp316, Kyle1403, pbnk-ink, emu, megs, JustPeachy123, and estick!

Estick- yeah, the thing is... I'm not entirely sure yet. Lol. I'll tell you guys in the next chapter.