Disclaimer: I own Rachel. I am totally claiming her. ASP has nothing to do with her. [Hugs Rachel protectively] Stay away! You'll never destroy her character! Never! Never!
(I finally found a way to put emphasis on my ["actions"] Hehe!)
A/N: Aww! [hugs you all] My reviewers totally rock! I swear, my teeth are sunburned I've been smiling so much! You just make me blush and feel happy!
I have decided to skip leaving Stars Hollow, because, yeah, it's not a big thing. I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay with it before I skipped it. This chapter is more Rory/Jess/Rachel oriented... I know, as opposed to what? But they are the main characters, who else would it be revolved around, Kirk?
Oh, and thanks to Poodernite for the cake [hands you a thank you card] It was yummy!
Okay, I've been to New York before, but never the city, so if at any point the odd thing happens that I actually express an opinion of something in the city it's probably just from a picture iIve seen. Anyone who's actually from there... lucky. But yeah, I've never been there. Someday I will get there though! And this could be useless information, too, because I may not even have an opinion written. Hee.
Oh, and although I don't usually do the individual thanking thing, I have to thank cellardoor, because your review just made me smile so much. ALL of my reviews made me smile, hence the hugging you all. But I just loved yours! [hugs you again] And of course Erika, because she's my muse. Without her my stories would probably cease to exist. Which I'm told would be a bad thing. And hopefully would be a bad thing! :)
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"Dad! Where's my flowery skirt?" Rachel called from her room.
"How would I know?"
"You put it away," she said, appearing in the hall with her hands on her hips.
"Then it's probably in one of your drawers."
"It's not; I looked."
"Wear something else," he said.
"I've been planning to wear that for weeks."
"You have a million outfits, just pick one."
"None of them are the flowery skirt," she said stubbornly.
"Then wear one of the other thousand skirts you have."
"Like which one?"
"I don't know," he said, pausing for a moment. "Which one do you want to wear?"
"The flowery one."
"I'm tuning you out now," he stated as he went back to writing the names on the name tags.
"You are not helping," she told him.
"Did you hear something, marker?"
She sighed heavily and went to her room. "How about the pink and black striped one?" she asked, stepping into the hallway and holding it up to her waist.
"Sounds fine," he replied, without looking up.
"I wish you were a girl," she said before huffing back into her room.
"Now that would be interesting," he said as he wrote the last name tag and put the cap on the marker.
===
As soon as they arrived at the school Rachel hopped out of the car and went in to see friends.
Jess pulled out the envelope with the name tags and sullenly walked over to the teacher.
"Mr. Mariano, glad you're here."
"Oh yeah, me too," he said, although she missed the sarcasm in his voice.
"Good. Do you want to hand out the name tags?" She smiled.
"They probably like you more than me."
"Oh, don't be silly. Kids, come get your name tags from Rachel's dad," Miss Simpson called to the kids who were off in their groups talking. She glanced back at Jess. "Sometimes they don't listen the first time."
"Huh. Tell them it's ice cream, that'll get their attention."
Miss Simpson laughed. "I'm sure it would. Oh, that reminds me, do you have a wife?"
His eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"
"Well, the other chaperone won't be able to make it; her son is sick. I planned it with two chaperones and honestly it's going to be a lot to handle with only one. I tried contacting the other parents to see if they could make it but unfortunately they were all either at work or just leaving."
"Can't imagine why."
"It would be a lot easier. I planned to assign so many children to one chaperone, but..."
"There's no other chaperone." He nodded. "That means I'm going to have to deal with all of them?"
"Well, I'll help, but unless someone else offers it's just us," she said with a smile.
"Could you get YOUR husband to help?"
She laughed. "No, I'm single."
"I'll be right back, I just remembered I have a call to... Just tell Rachel I'll be right back," he said, exiting the classroom. He walked outside the building and pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
"Hello?"
"Rory?"
"Jess?"
"Hi. You're on your way to work, right?"
"Actually, I'm standing right in front of my boss, is this important?"
"That depends, is my sanity important to you?" he asked.
"Yeah, hold on just a second."
"Apparently not that important," he said to himself.
"Okay, I'm back. Now what do you need?"
"You."
"Very funny, what do you really need?"
"No, I really need you. What are you doing?"
"Working."
"Other than that?"
"More working," she said.
"Okay, I know this is a huge favor but is there any way that you could get off work today?"
"Probably, why?"
He sighed. "Remember the field trip?"
She smiled. "Yes."
"The other chaperone isn't showing and everyone else claims to be either working or dying, whichever one gets them out of the chaperone gig."
"What does this have to do with me?"
"Rachel's teacher is very single and I'm afraid of her."
Rory chuckled. "What do you want me to do, find her a single guy?"
"No, I want you to help me chaperone."
"Excuse me?"
"The Brooklyn Children's Museum, it's for children; you'll love it."
"I'm sorry, when did trying to get someone to do you a favor start including mocking them?"
"Right, sorry. Anyway, could you get out of work?"
"Well, yeah, I can do it later at home. I don't know... the children sound scary."
"There's coffee in it for you," he said.
"Done. I'll see you in a couple minutes."
"Rory?"
"Yeah?"
"You don't know where the school is."
"Oh. Right. Give me a minute to get a pen and I'll get directions," she said.
===
Jess and Miss Simpson were handing out the name tags to the kids and Jess got to Rachel's group, handing one to her and one to Kenny and mentally noting not to pick Kenny for his group of kids.
"Rachel, how come your dad's being the chaperone?" her friend Cassie asked.
"Because we needed a chaperone," Rachel said, resisting the urge to add "Duh!" on the end of her sentence.
"I know, but usually the moms do it, not the dads. Why doesn't your mom be the chaperone?"
"Well... Miss Simpson asked Dad," Rachel said.
"But I've never even got to meet your mom," Kenny said.
"She's a mom, everyone has a mom, they're all the same, why do you need to meet mine?" Rachel replied before going to her desk and pulling out a pencil to start on her crossword puzzle.
Kenny just stood there looking confused.
"Boy, someone's in a bad mood," Cassie said before walking away.
Rachel looked up and glared at Cassie's back.
"Does everyone have a name tag?" Miss Simpson asked. "If you don't have a name tag raise your hand." She looked around the room. "Everyone has a name tag then?" They continued to ignore her so she sighed and tried to find the name tags on the kids.
"Hey, if you don't have a name tag we're leaving you here," Jess called out. "Who doesn't have one?"
A few kids raised their hands.
"How hard was that?" he mumbled. "Come up here and get one."
Kenny wandered over to Rachel. "Are you mad at Cassie?"
"I don't like Cassie," Rachel said.
"You liked her yesterday."
"Well, I don't like her anymore."
"Do you not have a mom?"
"What?" Her head shot up.
"Well, you usually don't draw a picture of your mom at Mother's Day and your mom never comes to school events. Your dad always brings you. I thought maybe you didn't have one."
"I do have a mom," she said, standing up and going over to look at the Mother's Day pictures hanging in the classroom. "...Somewhere," she finished to herself.
Within about two seconds she decided to make a stop at the markers and make some... artistic corrections to the Mother's Day pictures the other kids drew of them and their moms. She took the cap off the red marker and started to lower it to the paper when someone behind her cleared her voice. She turned around like a deer in the headlights and dropped the marker.
"Hi, Rachel," Rory greeted, glancing at the marker.
"Rory."
"What are you doing?"
"Um.... nothing," Rachel said.
"Well, what was the marker doing?"
"Being very bad," she said sheepishly.
Rory nodded in agreement.
"Please don't tell my dad, he'll take my books away for the rest of the night and make me watch Animal House."
"I won't tell this time, but please don't do it again."
"I won't," Rachel promised. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, your dad called, he said the other chaperone couldn't make it and he asked if I could come," she explained. "I hope you don't mind," she added as an afterthought.
Rachel smiled. "No, not at all."
Rory smiled. "Good." She glanced over her shoulder and chuckled. "I better go help Jess before someone gets hurt."
Rachel giggled. "Yeah. He's not good with kids. Well, except me, but I'm different."
"Oh, I like your outfit," Rory added. "It's very pretty. I'm sure Kenny liked it," she said with a small smile.
Rachel blushed. "Dad told you?"
"He didn't have to; the kid was drooling so much I nearly tripped and fell on the way over here."
Rachel blushed but couldn't suppress a smile.
Rory smiled. "Okay, Jess is about to break, I have to go. I'll see you in a few minutes."
"Okay." Rachel nodded.
Cassie followed Kenny over to Rachel. "Was that your mom?" she asked.
At first Rachel looked surprised, but then she smiled. "Yes, that's my mom," she decided.
"Cool! I want to meet her," Kenny said.
"Oh, but you can't let her know that you know she's my mom," Rachel added quickly.
"Why?" Cassie asked, looking confused.
"Well...because, we're playing this game."
"What game?"
"Um, we were reading... Oliver Twist together, and so you know how Oliver's an orphan?" she asked, although they both just looked confused. "Well, he is, and me and my mom decided to play a game where I pretend like she's not my mom and I just call her by her name... because Oliver didn't have a mom, so I'm seeing what it would be like to be an orphan. It's really a fun game. I just call her Rory for the day."
"Cool! I never get to call my mom by her first name," Kenny said.
"Do you call your dad by his real name?" Cassie asked.
"No, only me and my mom are playing. It's a mother-daughter thing," Rachel said, nodding matter-of-factly.
===
A few minutes later Justin, one of the kids in the class, went over to Rory.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Rachel's Mom, could I have another name tag? I lost mine and I don't want to ask him, he's not very nice," he said, pointing to Jess.
"What?"
"A name tag. Willie ripped mine."
"No, I know, but you called me Mrs. Rachel's Mom."
"Oh, sorry. Mrs. Mariano."
"Um, I'm not Mrs. Mariano, I'm just Miss Gilmore," Rory said.
"You don't have the same last name as your daughter?"
"I don't... I'm not Rachel's mom."
"Oh...Oh! That's right, I forgot you were playing the Oliver Twist game."
"The...what?" Rory frowned.
"I didn't know that applied to all of us." He smiled. "Sorry. Can I have another name tag?"
Rory frowned in confusion and got a name tag. "Name?"
"Justin."
She wrote quickly on the name tag. "Okay, there you go Justin."
"Thanks." He went back to his friends.
Rory frowned in thought and headed over to Jess. "What's the Oliver Twist game?"
"I...have no idea."
"Rachel doesn't know an Oliver Twist game?"
"If she does she didn't tell me about it," he said. "Why?"
"Oh, just wondering...honey," she said before walking off with a smile.
He frowned. "What did you- Rory?" He chased after her.
===
"I can't believe you refuse to tell me why you called me honey until I get you coffee," Jess complained as he watched the kids pile into the bus.
She smiled. "Why not? I'm a Gilmore, we'll hold anything ransom for coffee."
"It's pathetic."
"You're just pouting because I know something you don't know," Rory stated.
"She's MY daughter," he mumbled.
"According to Miss Simpson's class she's mine, too," Rory replied with a smirk before boarding the bus herself.
He frowned again. "What? Rory? You have to quit doing this," he complained as he went up the stairs.
"Coffee first, explanation later."
"Fine. You know what, if you want to slowly kill yourself with coffee I'll facilitate your habit."
"Wow, if you only knew how much like Luke you sound right now."
He glared at her in response. "I am nothing like Luke."
"You can take the guy out of Stars Hollow, but you can't take Stars Hollow out of the guy." She grinned.
He sighed a very annoyed sigh. "You're about two words from getting kicked off the bus."
"Do you have a baseball cap? Because you know, I do remember a time when you dressed up like Luke and I must say the resemblance was imposing."
"Rory," he warned.
"Ooh, stern face." She smiled. "Did I touch a nerve, Luke Jr.?"
"I'm about to go sit with Rachel."
"Seriously, do you have flannel? I should call Luke. He'd be so proud."
"Oh yeah, who wouldn't want me to be the result of their influence?" he asked sarcastically. "I mean, I'm just so darn wonderful."
"And so easy to get along with," she added.
"That's me in a nutshell."
"Yep. Even the ditzy drummer on Josie and the Pussycats isn't as optimistic as you are."
He rolled his eyes and pulled out a book. "This is me ignoring you," he informed her, gesturing to the book and then to himself reading the book.
She just smiled and then turned around to check on the kids. "Hey, don't throw your crossword puzzles at each other!"
===
"I loved the big red N in the sleep part," Kenny said. "I'm glad your mom took a picture of us by it."
Rachel nodded. "It was cool."
He nodded and opened his lunch pail. "Want my Fruit Roll-Up?"
"My dad packed me..." She grimaced. "Peanut butter crackers? I'm gonna have to talk to him."
"How come your mom doesn't pack your lunch?"
"Oh. Well, my dad likes to pack it extra special."
"My mom does that," Kenny said.
Rachel shrugged. "Want my crackers?"
"I'll trade you," he said, handing her the Fruit Roll-Up.
"Thanks." She took it. "Did you like the dinosaur part?"
"Yeah, I love dinosaurs." He glanced behind him. "Is your mom and dad going to eat with us?"
"I don't know, why?"
"Because they're coming over here," he said.
She looked behind her and slouched down in her seat as if to hide from them. "Don't forget we're playing the Oliver Twist game," she whispered to Kenny.
"Only with your mom, though, right?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Hey," Jess said. "Are we allowed to sit here?"
"Sure." Rachel nodded, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"You're making her eat a sandwich on a field trip?" Rory asked, frowning.
"That's what she packs everyday," Jess said.
"But today's field trip day, the most special of all days."
"What's so special about it?" he asked cluelessly.
She rolled her eyes. "Do you like Patsy Grimaldi's?" Rory asked Rachel.
"What's that?" Rachel asked.
"A pizza place. It's really good. I'll take you there when we leave," she told Rachel.
"You don't have to go to work?"
"Nope, I have the day off thanks to your dad who is now causing me to work all night," she replied with a smile.
"Will I like Patsy Grimaldi's?"
"Probably, I do."
"You also liked Sandeeps," she pointed out.
Rory chuckled. "Good point. Okay, better idea, how about I take you to Funtime USA and you can get pizza and soda and I can buy some tokens and we'll play games and make your dad try to win something?"
"Good thing I don't have any plans," Jess remarked playfully.
"You just know I'll beat you at Skee Ball," Rory replied haughtily.
His jaw dropped. "In your dreams."
"Prove it," she said.
"I will."
"You and me, Skee Ball machine, when we get there."
"You're on. But when I beat you I don't want to hear you whine about the machine not liking you."
"That was only once and the machine really didn't like me; it spit balls at me," she said.
"It did not."
"And it ate my tokens."
"You DROPPED your tokens," he corrected.
"And I'm going to win," she concluded, smiling at Rachel.
Jess rolled his eyes. "You wish."
Rachel just smiled and finished her Fruit Roll-Up.
"At least he gave you some good junk food," Rory said.
"No, Dad gave me crackers, Kenny gave me this."
"Jess, do I have to teach you everything?" she asked him.
"Now crackers are bad?"
Rory went through Rachel's lunch bag and chuckled. "Jess, there's not one good thing in here. You have to pack cookies or Gushers or something that's not good for you." She pulled out an apple. "What's this?"
"A round fruit known as an apple," he replied.
"I'm going to have to teach you how to pack a lunch the Gilmore way."
"I don't want my kid having a heart attack by the time she's 40, so I think I'll stick to apples, thank you very much."
She giggled. "You're even into healthy eating. You are so Luke."
He sighed in frustration and grabbed some change from his pocket. "I'll be right back, there's a vending machine somewhere over there."
Rory chuckled and took a sip of her coffee.
===
"You cheated," Jess stated after the millionth time Rory teased him.
"How did I cheat? You can't cheat at Skee Ball," Rory insisted with a smile.
"For one thing, you teamed up with Rachel. You two together are hell on wheels."
Rachel smiled and whacked him with her inflatable bat. "You said a bad word."
He rolled his eyes. "You gave Rory your tickets."
"I can't help it if I'm beautiful," Rachel said innocently.
Rory laughed. "Gotta love a girl who knows what she's got."
"Creepy little boy," Jess muttered.
"He wasn't creepy, he was nice; he gave me his tickets," Rachel said.
"That's why he's creepy, I never got that desperate until I was at least 11," Jess said.
Rory chuckled.
"I think it was nice," Rachel insisted stubbornly.
"Still, you could've given them to me, remember me? The man who's been feeding you and clothing you for the entire seven years of your life. And you give the tickets to her," he said, pointing at Rory.
Rory smiled and wrapped her arm around Rachel's shoulder. "We beautiful women have to stick together."
Rachel giggled. "It's true, Dad."
Jess just rolled his eyes. "What did I do to deserve this?"
"We ask ourselves that, too. I mean, we could be gracing anyone with our presence, why you?" Rory mused.
"May I borrow that?" Jess asked Rachel.
She handed him her bat. "Why?"
"So I can do this," Jess said, gently hitting Rory on the head with the bat.
Rory gasped. "You little punk," she said.
"I had to," he said, casually draping an arm around her shoulder.
"I'm going to get you back for that," she warned him.
"I'm terrified," he said dryly.
She grinned. "No, but you will be." She leaned down to Rachel's height. "Do you have any finger nail polish?"
"Nope."
"I do, we'll practice on him sometime."
Rachel smiled. "Okay."
"I can feel you two plotting against me," Jess informed them.
Rory popped back up and said innocently, "We don't know what you're talking about. We were just talking about how I beat you at Skee Ball."
"You cheated," he repeated.
"Uh huh, make excuses," she said, shaking her head in mock disapproval.
Jess just rolled his eyes and opened the car door. "Cheaters first."
Rory smiled and got in. "Thank you."
He opened Rachel's door. "You too, mini cheater."
She smiled and hopped in. "Thank you."
Jess shook his head and walked around to his side. "How am I going to deal with two of you?" he asked when he got in.
"I don't know, you'll learn in time," Rory said with a nod.
Rachel smiled and leaned back in her seat. She liked that idea.
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A/N: Sorry, I know that wasn't the most radical, sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat ending, but I wanted to update without taking a million years and I have this problem, once I start writing I can't stop until I'm at at least 2,000 words. It's ridiclous.
(I finally found a way to put emphasis on my ["actions"] Hehe!)
A/N: Aww! [hugs you all] My reviewers totally rock! I swear, my teeth are sunburned I've been smiling so much! You just make me blush and feel happy!
I have decided to skip leaving Stars Hollow, because, yeah, it's not a big thing. I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay with it before I skipped it. This chapter is more Rory/Jess/Rachel oriented... I know, as opposed to what? But they are the main characters, who else would it be revolved around, Kirk?
Oh, and thanks to Poodernite for the cake [hands you a thank you card] It was yummy!
Okay, I've been to New York before, but never the city, so if at any point the odd thing happens that I actually express an opinion of something in the city it's probably just from a picture iIve seen. Anyone who's actually from there... lucky. But yeah, I've never been there. Someday I will get there though! And this could be useless information, too, because I may not even have an opinion written. Hee.
Oh, and although I don't usually do the individual thanking thing, I have to thank cellardoor, because your review just made me smile so much. ALL of my reviews made me smile, hence the hugging you all. But I just loved yours! [hugs you again] And of course Erika, because she's my muse. Without her my stories would probably cease to exist. Which I'm told would be a bad thing. And hopefully would be a bad thing! :)
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"Dad! Where's my flowery skirt?" Rachel called from her room.
"How would I know?"
"You put it away," she said, appearing in the hall with her hands on her hips.
"Then it's probably in one of your drawers."
"It's not; I looked."
"Wear something else," he said.
"I've been planning to wear that for weeks."
"You have a million outfits, just pick one."
"None of them are the flowery skirt," she said stubbornly.
"Then wear one of the other thousand skirts you have."
"Like which one?"
"I don't know," he said, pausing for a moment. "Which one do you want to wear?"
"The flowery one."
"I'm tuning you out now," he stated as he went back to writing the names on the name tags.
"You are not helping," she told him.
"Did you hear something, marker?"
She sighed heavily and went to her room. "How about the pink and black striped one?" she asked, stepping into the hallway and holding it up to her waist.
"Sounds fine," he replied, without looking up.
"I wish you were a girl," she said before huffing back into her room.
"Now that would be interesting," he said as he wrote the last name tag and put the cap on the marker.
===
As soon as they arrived at the school Rachel hopped out of the car and went in to see friends.
Jess pulled out the envelope with the name tags and sullenly walked over to the teacher.
"Mr. Mariano, glad you're here."
"Oh yeah, me too," he said, although she missed the sarcasm in his voice.
"Good. Do you want to hand out the name tags?" She smiled.
"They probably like you more than me."
"Oh, don't be silly. Kids, come get your name tags from Rachel's dad," Miss Simpson called to the kids who were off in their groups talking. She glanced back at Jess. "Sometimes they don't listen the first time."
"Huh. Tell them it's ice cream, that'll get their attention."
Miss Simpson laughed. "I'm sure it would. Oh, that reminds me, do you have a wife?"
His eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"
"Well, the other chaperone won't be able to make it; her son is sick. I planned it with two chaperones and honestly it's going to be a lot to handle with only one. I tried contacting the other parents to see if they could make it but unfortunately they were all either at work or just leaving."
"Can't imagine why."
"It would be a lot easier. I planned to assign so many children to one chaperone, but..."
"There's no other chaperone." He nodded. "That means I'm going to have to deal with all of them?"
"Well, I'll help, but unless someone else offers it's just us," she said with a smile.
"Could you get YOUR husband to help?"
She laughed. "No, I'm single."
"I'll be right back, I just remembered I have a call to... Just tell Rachel I'll be right back," he said, exiting the classroom. He walked outside the building and pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
"Hello?"
"Rory?"
"Jess?"
"Hi. You're on your way to work, right?"
"Actually, I'm standing right in front of my boss, is this important?"
"That depends, is my sanity important to you?" he asked.
"Yeah, hold on just a second."
"Apparently not that important," he said to himself.
"Okay, I'm back. Now what do you need?"
"You."
"Very funny, what do you really need?"
"No, I really need you. What are you doing?"
"Working."
"Other than that?"
"More working," she said.
"Okay, I know this is a huge favor but is there any way that you could get off work today?"
"Probably, why?"
He sighed. "Remember the field trip?"
She smiled. "Yes."
"The other chaperone isn't showing and everyone else claims to be either working or dying, whichever one gets them out of the chaperone gig."
"What does this have to do with me?"
"Rachel's teacher is very single and I'm afraid of her."
Rory chuckled. "What do you want me to do, find her a single guy?"
"No, I want you to help me chaperone."
"Excuse me?"
"The Brooklyn Children's Museum, it's for children; you'll love it."
"I'm sorry, when did trying to get someone to do you a favor start including mocking them?"
"Right, sorry. Anyway, could you get out of work?"
"Well, yeah, I can do it later at home. I don't know... the children sound scary."
"There's coffee in it for you," he said.
"Done. I'll see you in a couple minutes."
"Rory?"
"Yeah?"
"You don't know where the school is."
"Oh. Right. Give me a minute to get a pen and I'll get directions," she said.
===
Jess and Miss Simpson were handing out the name tags to the kids and Jess got to Rachel's group, handing one to her and one to Kenny and mentally noting not to pick Kenny for his group of kids.
"Rachel, how come your dad's being the chaperone?" her friend Cassie asked.
"Because we needed a chaperone," Rachel said, resisting the urge to add "Duh!" on the end of her sentence.
"I know, but usually the moms do it, not the dads. Why doesn't your mom be the chaperone?"
"Well... Miss Simpson asked Dad," Rachel said.
"But I've never even got to meet your mom," Kenny said.
"She's a mom, everyone has a mom, they're all the same, why do you need to meet mine?" Rachel replied before going to her desk and pulling out a pencil to start on her crossword puzzle.
Kenny just stood there looking confused.
"Boy, someone's in a bad mood," Cassie said before walking away.
Rachel looked up and glared at Cassie's back.
"Does everyone have a name tag?" Miss Simpson asked. "If you don't have a name tag raise your hand." She looked around the room. "Everyone has a name tag then?" They continued to ignore her so she sighed and tried to find the name tags on the kids.
"Hey, if you don't have a name tag we're leaving you here," Jess called out. "Who doesn't have one?"
A few kids raised their hands.
"How hard was that?" he mumbled. "Come up here and get one."
Kenny wandered over to Rachel. "Are you mad at Cassie?"
"I don't like Cassie," Rachel said.
"You liked her yesterday."
"Well, I don't like her anymore."
"Do you not have a mom?"
"What?" Her head shot up.
"Well, you usually don't draw a picture of your mom at Mother's Day and your mom never comes to school events. Your dad always brings you. I thought maybe you didn't have one."
"I do have a mom," she said, standing up and going over to look at the Mother's Day pictures hanging in the classroom. "...Somewhere," she finished to herself.
Within about two seconds she decided to make a stop at the markers and make some... artistic corrections to the Mother's Day pictures the other kids drew of them and their moms. She took the cap off the red marker and started to lower it to the paper when someone behind her cleared her voice. She turned around like a deer in the headlights and dropped the marker.
"Hi, Rachel," Rory greeted, glancing at the marker.
"Rory."
"What are you doing?"
"Um.... nothing," Rachel said.
"Well, what was the marker doing?"
"Being very bad," she said sheepishly.
Rory nodded in agreement.
"Please don't tell my dad, he'll take my books away for the rest of the night and make me watch Animal House."
"I won't tell this time, but please don't do it again."
"I won't," Rachel promised. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, your dad called, he said the other chaperone couldn't make it and he asked if I could come," she explained. "I hope you don't mind," she added as an afterthought.
Rachel smiled. "No, not at all."
Rory smiled. "Good." She glanced over her shoulder and chuckled. "I better go help Jess before someone gets hurt."
Rachel giggled. "Yeah. He's not good with kids. Well, except me, but I'm different."
"Oh, I like your outfit," Rory added. "It's very pretty. I'm sure Kenny liked it," she said with a small smile.
Rachel blushed. "Dad told you?"
"He didn't have to; the kid was drooling so much I nearly tripped and fell on the way over here."
Rachel blushed but couldn't suppress a smile.
Rory smiled. "Okay, Jess is about to break, I have to go. I'll see you in a few minutes."
"Okay." Rachel nodded.
Cassie followed Kenny over to Rachel. "Was that your mom?" she asked.
At first Rachel looked surprised, but then she smiled. "Yes, that's my mom," she decided.
"Cool! I want to meet her," Kenny said.
"Oh, but you can't let her know that you know she's my mom," Rachel added quickly.
"Why?" Cassie asked, looking confused.
"Well...because, we're playing this game."
"What game?"
"Um, we were reading... Oliver Twist together, and so you know how Oliver's an orphan?" she asked, although they both just looked confused. "Well, he is, and me and my mom decided to play a game where I pretend like she's not my mom and I just call her by her name... because Oliver didn't have a mom, so I'm seeing what it would be like to be an orphan. It's really a fun game. I just call her Rory for the day."
"Cool! I never get to call my mom by her first name," Kenny said.
"Do you call your dad by his real name?" Cassie asked.
"No, only me and my mom are playing. It's a mother-daughter thing," Rachel said, nodding matter-of-factly.
===
A few minutes later Justin, one of the kids in the class, went over to Rory.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Rachel's Mom, could I have another name tag? I lost mine and I don't want to ask him, he's not very nice," he said, pointing to Jess.
"What?"
"A name tag. Willie ripped mine."
"No, I know, but you called me Mrs. Rachel's Mom."
"Oh, sorry. Mrs. Mariano."
"Um, I'm not Mrs. Mariano, I'm just Miss Gilmore," Rory said.
"You don't have the same last name as your daughter?"
"I don't... I'm not Rachel's mom."
"Oh...Oh! That's right, I forgot you were playing the Oliver Twist game."
"The...what?" Rory frowned.
"I didn't know that applied to all of us." He smiled. "Sorry. Can I have another name tag?"
Rory frowned in confusion and got a name tag. "Name?"
"Justin."
She wrote quickly on the name tag. "Okay, there you go Justin."
"Thanks." He went back to his friends.
Rory frowned in thought and headed over to Jess. "What's the Oliver Twist game?"
"I...have no idea."
"Rachel doesn't know an Oliver Twist game?"
"If she does she didn't tell me about it," he said. "Why?"
"Oh, just wondering...honey," she said before walking off with a smile.
He frowned. "What did you- Rory?" He chased after her.
===
"I can't believe you refuse to tell me why you called me honey until I get you coffee," Jess complained as he watched the kids pile into the bus.
She smiled. "Why not? I'm a Gilmore, we'll hold anything ransom for coffee."
"It's pathetic."
"You're just pouting because I know something you don't know," Rory stated.
"She's MY daughter," he mumbled.
"According to Miss Simpson's class she's mine, too," Rory replied with a smirk before boarding the bus herself.
He frowned again. "What? Rory? You have to quit doing this," he complained as he went up the stairs.
"Coffee first, explanation later."
"Fine. You know what, if you want to slowly kill yourself with coffee I'll facilitate your habit."
"Wow, if you only knew how much like Luke you sound right now."
He glared at her in response. "I am nothing like Luke."
"You can take the guy out of Stars Hollow, but you can't take Stars Hollow out of the guy." She grinned.
He sighed a very annoyed sigh. "You're about two words from getting kicked off the bus."
"Do you have a baseball cap? Because you know, I do remember a time when you dressed up like Luke and I must say the resemblance was imposing."
"Rory," he warned.
"Ooh, stern face." She smiled. "Did I touch a nerve, Luke Jr.?"
"I'm about to go sit with Rachel."
"Seriously, do you have flannel? I should call Luke. He'd be so proud."
"Oh yeah, who wouldn't want me to be the result of their influence?" he asked sarcastically. "I mean, I'm just so darn wonderful."
"And so easy to get along with," she added.
"That's me in a nutshell."
"Yep. Even the ditzy drummer on Josie and the Pussycats isn't as optimistic as you are."
He rolled his eyes and pulled out a book. "This is me ignoring you," he informed her, gesturing to the book and then to himself reading the book.
She just smiled and then turned around to check on the kids. "Hey, don't throw your crossword puzzles at each other!"
===
"I loved the big red N in the sleep part," Kenny said. "I'm glad your mom took a picture of us by it."
Rachel nodded. "It was cool."
He nodded and opened his lunch pail. "Want my Fruit Roll-Up?"
"My dad packed me..." She grimaced. "Peanut butter crackers? I'm gonna have to talk to him."
"How come your mom doesn't pack your lunch?"
"Oh. Well, my dad likes to pack it extra special."
"My mom does that," Kenny said.
Rachel shrugged. "Want my crackers?"
"I'll trade you," he said, handing her the Fruit Roll-Up.
"Thanks." She took it. "Did you like the dinosaur part?"
"Yeah, I love dinosaurs." He glanced behind him. "Is your mom and dad going to eat with us?"
"I don't know, why?"
"Because they're coming over here," he said.
She looked behind her and slouched down in her seat as if to hide from them. "Don't forget we're playing the Oliver Twist game," she whispered to Kenny.
"Only with your mom, though, right?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Hey," Jess said. "Are we allowed to sit here?"
"Sure." Rachel nodded, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"You're making her eat a sandwich on a field trip?" Rory asked, frowning.
"That's what she packs everyday," Jess said.
"But today's field trip day, the most special of all days."
"What's so special about it?" he asked cluelessly.
She rolled her eyes. "Do you like Patsy Grimaldi's?" Rory asked Rachel.
"What's that?" Rachel asked.
"A pizza place. It's really good. I'll take you there when we leave," she told Rachel.
"You don't have to go to work?"
"Nope, I have the day off thanks to your dad who is now causing me to work all night," she replied with a smile.
"Will I like Patsy Grimaldi's?"
"Probably, I do."
"You also liked Sandeeps," she pointed out.
Rory chuckled. "Good point. Okay, better idea, how about I take you to Funtime USA and you can get pizza and soda and I can buy some tokens and we'll play games and make your dad try to win something?"
"Good thing I don't have any plans," Jess remarked playfully.
"You just know I'll beat you at Skee Ball," Rory replied haughtily.
His jaw dropped. "In your dreams."
"Prove it," she said.
"I will."
"You and me, Skee Ball machine, when we get there."
"You're on. But when I beat you I don't want to hear you whine about the machine not liking you."
"That was only once and the machine really didn't like me; it spit balls at me," she said.
"It did not."
"And it ate my tokens."
"You DROPPED your tokens," he corrected.
"And I'm going to win," she concluded, smiling at Rachel.
Jess rolled his eyes. "You wish."
Rachel just smiled and finished her Fruit Roll-Up.
"At least he gave you some good junk food," Rory said.
"No, Dad gave me crackers, Kenny gave me this."
"Jess, do I have to teach you everything?" she asked him.
"Now crackers are bad?"
Rory went through Rachel's lunch bag and chuckled. "Jess, there's not one good thing in here. You have to pack cookies or Gushers or something that's not good for you." She pulled out an apple. "What's this?"
"A round fruit known as an apple," he replied.
"I'm going to have to teach you how to pack a lunch the Gilmore way."
"I don't want my kid having a heart attack by the time she's 40, so I think I'll stick to apples, thank you very much."
She giggled. "You're even into healthy eating. You are so Luke."
He sighed in frustration and grabbed some change from his pocket. "I'll be right back, there's a vending machine somewhere over there."
Rory chuckled and took a sip of her coffee.
===
"You cheated," Jess stated after the millionth time Rory teased him.
"How did I cheat? You can't cheat at Skee Ball," Rory insisted with a smile.
"For one thing, you teamed up with Rachel. You two together are hell on wheels."
Rachel smiled and whacked him with her inflatable bat. "You said a bad word."
He rolled his eyes. "You gave Rory your tickets."
"I can't help it if I'm beautiful," Rachel said innocently.
Rory laughed. "Gotta love a girl who knows what she's got."
"Creepy little boy," Jess muttered.
"He wasn't creepy, he was nice; he gave me his tickets," Rachel said.
"That's why he's creepy, I never got that desperate until I was at least 11," Jess said.
Rory chuckled.
"I think it was nice," Rachel insisted stubbornly.
"Still, you could've given them to me, remember me? The man who's been feeding you and clothing you for the entire seven years of your life. And you give the tickets to her," he said, pointing at Rory.
Rory smiled and wrapped her arm around Rachel's shoulder. "We beautiful women have to stick together."
Rachel giggled. "It's true, Dad."
Jess just rolled his eyes. "What did I do to deserve this?"
"We ask ourselves that, too. I mean, we could be gracing anyone with our presence, why you?" Rory mused.
"May I borrow that?" Jess asked Rachel.
She handed him her bat. "Why?"
"So I can do this," Jess said, gently hitting Rory on the head with the bat.
Rory gasped. "You little punk," she said.
"I had to," he said, casually draping an arm around her shoulder.
"I'm going to get you back for that," she warned him.
"I'm terrified," he said dryly.
She grinned. "No, but you will be." She leaned down to Rachel's height. "Do you have any finger nail polish?"
"Nope."
"I do, we'll practice on him sometime."
Rachel smiled. "Okay."
"I can feel you two plotting against me," Jess informed them.
Rory popped back up and said innocently, "We don't know what you're talking about. We were just talking about how I beat you at Skee Ball."
"You cheated," he repeated.
"Uh huh, make excuses," she said, shaking her head in mock disapproval.
Jess just rolled his eyes and opened the car door. "Cheaters first."
Rory smiled and got in. "Thank you."
He opened Rachel's door. "You too, mini cheater."
She smiled and hopped in. "Thank you."
Jess shook his head and walked around to his side. "How am I going to deal with two of you?" he asked when he got in.
"I don't know, you'll learn in time," Rory said with a nod.
Rachel smiled and leaned back in her seat. She liked that idea.
--------------------------
A/N: Sorry, I know that wasn't the most radical, sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat ending, but I wanted to update without taking a million years and I have this problem, once I start writing I can't stop until I'm at at least 2,000 words. It's ridiclous.