A/N—Wow, the reviews, everything, I'm humbled. You guys, seriously, I'm loving it.

Someone5: Thanks for the GREAT compliment! I'm glad you're pleased!

Lizzy11120: Sorry about the late update again, I had been out at a football game all night (the wonderful boyfriend is a linebacker) and he had me home late (grin and a giggle).

UnDiScOvErEdAuThOr, spinaround: thanks for the support!

Bittersweetbloodbaby: No, thank you. I can't tell you what you reviewing my story means. If you can offer ANY advice, I'll take it gladly. And I LOVE crushing Dean. A lot.

Soph: Thanks again! Rodney Dangerfield was an actor who was notorious for saying the line (or a variation thereof), "Can't get no respect, no respect at all I tell ya." My mom claims relation to him when I'm 'unnecessarily mean' to her.

I pride myself on Lorelai moments…(grins). And the closing line was something that popped into my head at about 11:50 on Saturday night, glad you liked it.

Moon,gates,slaying: Thanks again! You're still one of my most favorite reviewers! I love to keep them smiling!

RandomGG25: You read my mind. Luke and Lorelai are going to get their attention in the VERY near future. Thanks for the sweet review!

Literatiever: Wow, thanks SOO much. I'm glad you like it. We will see very soon what movie they went to see (though the timeframe may be slightly off).

I'm not sure about the fine-print with these disclaimers, but—Hi, my name's not Amy Sherman-Palladino, therefore, I don't own Gilmore Girls or any of the characters.

The fic!

Love Actually. She heard him say it. Two for Love Actually. Not only had Jess said love, but he had taken her to a movie about it. Rory Gilmore had sat through a movie about British people in love, with Jess Mariano. And she wanted to stay there forever. Watching Jess grin secretly at the most discreet moments, seeing him grimace when cheesy bits of dialogue would float their way.

Rory wanted to marry the movie at that moment.

Jess remembered calling the theater earlier in the day, seeing if anything worthwhile was playing. If Rory had to sit through the Lord of the Rings with him, she'd be reminded of Dean. And if Jess was expected to sit through Peter Pan, he'd be reminded that he had pride.

He had heard great things. And he, despite himself, liked Liam Neeson. He knew Rory would love it. It was a combination of Christmas and romance. Again, despite himself, he loved it too. Because he loved her.

"That was incredible," she gushed to Jess as they walked out of the theater, his arm slung around her waist unceremoniously. Jess smiled fully, down at his angelic girlfriend.

"Huh, it kinda was," Jess said as he led them out into the romantically chilled air. Rory glanced down at her watch as they walked, painfully slowly down the sidewalk.

"It's only 10:15…," she commented, squeezing his hand a little bit. He smiled and quickened their gait, dragging her in the direction of the bridge. They reached the middle and he spun her around so that she was fitted up against his body perfectly.

"Jess," Rory giggled, pretending to push him away by applying the lightest of pressure to his chest where one of her hands had become trapped.

"Rory," he whined back. His hands slid to her back and he gently stroked it, feather light, intensifying with every pass. "This, in all actuality, is our first date," Jess stated simply as she gave into the affection and rested her forehead against his.

She looked up to see him in the eye and saw that his were twinkling with delight. She wanted to laugh at her own thoughts. Nothing about Jess should twinkle. Jess burned, Jess smoldered, Jess combusted. But it was there, nonetheless, present as the slim, crescent moon.

"It is, isn't it?" she said absent mindedly.

"The ball's in your court," he said, pulling her a little closer, leaving little left to imagination about what was under his clothes. She gasped as waves of tingles hit her hard.

Taking a moment to snake her hands up to his neck, Rory lightly pulled Jess's head down and placed a kiss on his ready lips. Jess felt his breath catch in his chest as she made her small but terrifyingly larger-than-life first moves on him. He took the kiss like a prayer and let his heart decide the rest.

xxx

(A/N-I'm not sure about the timeline involving Nicole, but in my world, she never came into play. Now that we have that out of the way…)

"Luke!" Lorelai called from the counter, pretending to be nearly asleep. "Coffee, before I pass out," she said, holding out he mug on the end of her finger helplessly.

"One day, you're going to have so much caffeine in your system that you're going to start hallucinating," he said as he poured the coffee into her mug. She was dressed in a purple, plunging neckline knit shirt and a pair of dark jeans, with her, as usual, overpriced shoes. She let her hair run curly and she had left her makeup unfreshened, keeping her looking all-too natural. Luke shook himself slightly to snap the thought out of his head.

Lorelai reached across the counter and pinched him.

"Ow! Lorelai! What's wrong with you?" Luke asked as he jumped back and lightly rubbed the spot where she had pinched him on his upper arm.

"Well, I had to make sure you were real," she said, as if it made perfect sense.

"You amaze me sometimes, Lorelai Gilmore," he said walking away, choking lightly on his words. Lorelai amazed him all the time.

"Well, dahling, that's because I am amazing," she said, sipping her coffee lightly as he walked back into the kitchen. She averted her eyes to the counter, studying a barely visible scuff-mark. Lorelai was single. Lorelai was sad. Lorelai had been madly enthralled with Luke Danes for quite some time, and had no one who would take her seriously.

She caught sight of something tall and sulky walking past the window and realized that it was Jess and Rory, walking out of the movie theater. He had his arm hung around her waist, guiding her lazily down the street. Rory checked her watch.

"Good girl," Lorelai said quietly, cheering her on. She smirked at Jess and they picked up their walk and hurried off together in the direction of the bridge. Lorelai sighed and reached behind her for her mug, severely overshooting, her hand collided with Luke's stomach.

"'Scuse me!" he said, surprised by her unsuspected contact. The place where she had unknowingly touched him burned gently and he backed away, walking around the counter to buy himself time and sit down beside her.

"Sorry, I was going for the coffee."

"It's okay, just didn't want you to dump that crap on me," he said, gesturing to her cup. She smiled and then was reminded of what she had just seen.

"Rory and Jess decided to extend the evening's events," Lorelai said, frowning slightly at the loss of a visual on her only daughter. Luke had been struggling with the idea of his cut-up nephew and Star's Hollow's very own princess together for the past week. He had originally thought that Jess was going to ruin her life and break her heart, but regardless of his immediate ideas on Jess in a relationship, Luke was giving him a chance.

"Looks that way," Luke said, staring out the window with her. He studied Lorelai for a moment, noting the worried look on her face.

"Huh," she said, on the brink of being upset.

"Hey," he said, turning his face towards hers. "They're on a bridge, in the middle of Small Town U.S.A.. Nothing bad is going to happen. With any luck, Miss Patty or Babette with stroll across and break up anything too racy," he said, joking at the end.

Lorelai exhaled a small, contented sigh. "You're right, I'm just worried, you know? This second boyfriend thing is hard. She and Dean were so...solid."

Luke turned to face Lorelai and rested his hand protectively on her knee. They both felt the sparks emanate from the touch, but neither felt inclined to do anything to stop it.

He shrugged. "I guess we gotta let them figure this one out." He realized the look on Lorelai's face. "Rory's a smart kid, and she's a lot stronger willed than Jess. She won't let anything happen that she doesn't want to happen. She's your daughter of all people, everybody knows that she's a control freak."

"I raise them to survive. If it means pushing him around a little bit, he's gotta be willing," Lorelai said, grinning.

"Somehow I doubt that Jess is going to give into being told what to do."

"You'd be surprised at the things that Rory can make boys do. She could have them running around her in circles like trained ponies if she put her mind to it."

"The mental picture of Jess prancing around in a circle is a little too horrifying for this time of night."

'Oh just ask her out you jackass,' Luke said, mentally kicking himself. Lorelai laughed heartily and Luke chuckled along with her. When the laughing started to calm, he decided to talk again.

"Hey," he started, awfully shakily. Lorelai raised her eyes to his expectantly. "Do you want to have dinner with me on Friday night?"

Lorelai felt the world halt beneath her as she heard Luke utter the most beautiful words she could've hoped for. She studied his handsome face for something, mostly she found a nervous energy humming throughout him, but part of her found affection and she almost had to smile at that.

"Uh, sure!" she said, trying hard not to be enthusiastic. Everyone in town had known that sooner or later they'd look across the counter and think, "Hey, where've you been all my life?", but Lorelai was still coming to terms with the fact that Luke was offering her something more than a hot cup of coffee and three squares a day.

"Great. That's great," Luke said, relaxing ten fold and feeling a little proud of himself. "I'll pick you up at seven?" he asked, still, even at his age, very new to the dating thing.

"Sure," she said as she stood and pulled on her coat. "But hey, listen, I gotta run home and make sure Rory's back by curfew."

"Also known as moving all of the clocks forward so that you can interrogate her with some shadow of purpose behind it. Gotcha. Talk to you tomorrow," he said, waving as she walked out the door.

Lorelai smiled all the way home. This was love, actually. Or something a lot like it.

xxx

Jess and Rory stood on the Gilmore porch, with two minutes left until Rory's curfew rolled around. Jess had his lips working softly on the hollow of Rory's neck and Lorelai was sitting on the couch with her eyes closed, counting the seconds.

"Are you sure that you have to be back by eleven?" Jess said, muffled against her ivory skin.

Rory let out a little elated sigh, just this side of a quiet moan. "Yes, my mom told me to be home exactly at eleven," she stated sadly. He reluctantly pulled his lips away from her slender neck and placed a tender kiss on her lips before descending the stairs quickly.

"Call me," she ordered as she opened the door. He waved in acknowledgement and she entered the house.

"Right on time," Lorelai said, standing up quickly to greet her daughter who was dropping her coat and shoes in the hallway. "So, how'd it go? Still virginized?" Lorelai asked, rubbing her hands together.

"God!" Rory said, dropping her stuff fully on the floor and straightening to see her mother full in the face.

"Sorry, I don't know how to ask about your second-first date! Last time it was all very after-school special. This time I feel the need to make up words," Lorelai rationalized.

"I was at a movie, mom," Rory said as she looked at her mother incredulously.

"How am I supposed to know? It's not like I followed you or anything," Lorelai said, a little too casually.

Rory narrowed her eyes. "Mom."

"I didn't actually follow you. The fact that this town is small enough to see almost everyone all the time is definitely not my fault," she said, leading them into the living room.

"Right," Rory said slowly as she flopped onto the couch beside Lorelai. They sat in silence for a few moments, only hearing their own thoughts and the other's breathing.

"How was the date?" Lorelai asked seriously. Rory smiled to herself, color creeping in from her neck.

"Good," she said simply, not wishing to share the details of the lip action that had conspired on the bridge only minutes before.

"Just good? You guys looked like a couple of oversexed teenagers running toward the bridge after that movie got out. Wait, you are," Lorelai said, trying to lighten the situation to avoid picking a fight.

"I knew you were watching!" Rory said, pointing accusatorily.

"I was sitting in Luke's, having a cup of coffee!" Lorelai countered, her thoughts halting as she replayed the scene in her mind. She was going out with Luke on Friday night.

"Stalker," Rory said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I bet you don't even remember what movie he took you to see," Lorelai teased childishly.

"Do too! Love Actually!" she said, sticking her tongue out as she finished. Lorelai laughed explosively, unable to contain her incredulity-laced amusement.

"Love. Actually. I can't even wrap my brain around Jess 'I am curt, hear me roar' Mariano sitting through Love Actually. Do you know that that was the second best thing that's been said to me all day?" Lorelai said, still grinning ear-to-ear.

"Well he did, and he liked it, I could tell-what do you mean 'second best'?" Rory asked, suddenly very suspicious.

"No, he did not like that movie. I refuse to believe it. There isn't a chance. Hugh Grant is in that movie."

"Mom!" Rory yelled over her, trying to understand the first-best thing she had heard all night. "What do you mean by second best?"

"Oh. That. Luke kind of asked me out," she said, looking off in the other direction, speaking softly but grinning a little at the thought.

Rory sat dead silent for a moment as the words floated into her head.

"MOM!" She screamed, launching herself into a hug with her mother, finally hearing the words of salvation. Finally they were going out. And how long had it taken? Oh yeah, damn near 8 years.

"I know!" she screeched back at her. They stood and bounced as they hugged. Lorelai pulled them apart for a moment. "Wait, are we or are we not dating in the same gene pool?"

"Oh, we definitely are."

(A/N-The next chapter will be in the 'present-ish' time. I realized later that I said that chapter two was two years prior to chapter one, I was wrong, just one year, it's Freshman year at Yale. So stay tuned!)