Author's note:

Wow! I got reviews! Positive ones. From authors I regard as the best! This is all so incredible. Thank you all for reading and I hope you will continue to support this story.

I will try to include more dialogue, but it's not my best quality.

Now...on with it...wait...diclaimer: Still don't own anything. Now...on with it...

Quaint. Small. Scary. Kat Mendosa let her new surroundings sink in and couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly with Jess. If she were shipped out to a place like this, she would run. Fast. But she was still a woman on a mission, so for now she had to deal with the lingering stares of the townspeople upon spotting someone unknown. Specifically someone who didn't quite…fit in.

Kat lifted her heavy duffel bag onto her shoulder, wincing at its weight. Damn those sweaters. Groaning, she headed toward the direction of the Dragonfly Inn, a road sign telling her where to go.

It must be quite a new place, since she hadn't heard of it's existance from Jess. He had told her about pretty much everything else in town, which didn't take up that much time. She now silently thanked him for all his stories she had found so boring only days ago. But now it was an advantage. She had a map of the town printed out in her head thanks to his descriptions.

Within no time she found the Inn, where she got a room after a lot of bickering with a grumpy and unwilling man with an annoying French accent. Michel, she remembered. She smiled. Come to think of it, Jess did tell a lot of stories for someone who was supposed to hate the place.

The room was okay and after a quick shower and a change of clothes, Kat decided she might as well start her quest right there and then.

Walking toward the center of the town, she spotted Luke's diner. Another very detailed description from her friend. She peeked inside to see a man wearing a flannel shirt and a baseball cap. Luke.

Or Uncle Luke. Though Jess always chose words of disdain for the man, he spoke them in a tone that held a considerable amount of respect and even love for the only adult to ever take care of him.

Kat let her eyes wander some more and then her eyes found the purpose of her quest. The girl she saw in Jess's bookmark/picture sat at the counter with another woman who was probably her mother. Both of them were holding huge mugs. Coffee in them, no doubt. Funny how she already seemed to know these people. She even knew who the man in the corner must be. A guy named Kirk.

Kat, it's really time for you to get in. She had made no plans whatsoever to say to this girl, so she had to rely on her excellent persuasive manners. She just had to make the girl see her point.

Never before in her life had Kat been so glad that a place was almost deserted. As the bell above the door signaled her arrival, the entire diner looked up. As there were only three townspeople and Luke in there, she could deal with it. She knew that if she had arrived at lunch rush, she would have the entire population stare at her. Like she was some zombie. Ignoring their stares, she walked over to the counter and took her seat next to Rory and her mom. Luke came over and purposefully she asked for strong black coffee.

"Your biggest cup, please. I'm suffering cold turkey here."

Bingo! It had made Rory's head snap up. She got her attention now.

"You're lucky, you know. Luke here serves the best coffee in this hemisphere." Kat smiled. "Even bad coffee would do now. Anything better than plane coffee."

Rory turned fully to the girl next to her. She didn't know why, but this unknown girl intrigued her.

"So…you're a tourist?"

"Something like that."

Kat nodded her head in thanks to Luke, who had just put a steaming mug in front of her. Now he turned to argue with Lorelai over a refill. Gratefully (she didn't lie, she loved her java) Kat took a sip.

"You're right, this is very very good coffee. And I'm used to some of the best within my family."

"Making great coffee is an art."

Rory grinned while begging Luke for her own refill.

"Agreed, and this man over here deserves the Pulitzer prize for this java."

"Nuh-uh. Nobel prize."

"Right."

The girls smiled at each other.

Lorelai finished her cup and grabbed her handbag.

"I'm off to see Sookie at the Inn, sweets. Can you entertain yourself for a while?"

"Mom, just because I'm home for the holidays doesn't mean you have to change your plans. We'll catch up on movie night tonight, okay?"

"Great idea. I raised you well, dear mini-me."

"Thank you, coffee-queen."

"See you, heir to the coffee-throne." With that she left with what she hoped was a graceful glide.

Rory turned to face the girl next to her again. Kat raised her eyebrow.

"Your mom?"

"The one and only."

"She's…nice."

"You mean crazy, right?"

"Only in a nice way. By the way, I'm Kat. Kat Mendosa"

"Rory Gilmore."

"Good to meet you Rory."

Rory and Kat ended up spending the afternoon together, just talking, while Kat tried to come up with the perfect excuse to steer the conversation to Jess. She was afraid that if she tried, Rory would crawl into her shell and shut her out. So she had to be careful.

Luckily, Rory brought it on herself. When she was showing Kat her room, which was left intact apart from the books she took with her to Yale, Kat noticed the amount of books still left.

"So…I guess you read a lot, huh? All those books yours?"

She knew for a fact that Jess left lots of books in Rory's room and never asked them back.

"I guess. They were from Jess mostly."

"Jess?"

"Boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend."

"What happened?"

"He took off."

"What, just like that?"

"Just like that. Now he lives with his dad somewhere in California. I just don't know…he never talked to me."

Suddenly, Rory groaned in frustration. "Why am I telling you all this. I'm over him. I mean, I have to be over him, I can't…" Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Kat sat down next to her on the bed. "You liked him a lot, I gather." "I did. I…I think I…loved him. And he just left."

Kat pulled her new friend in a hug and momentarily cursed Jess for his insanity. How the fck could he have done this to her? Then she remembered her quest. And Rory admitting she still loved Jess was at least a start.

Should she tell her now? Or gain some more information? Like, would she even take Jess back if she had the chance? Was her love stronger than her anger and hurt? So…just ask her. "Maybe he didn't know how to tell you."

Rory nodded. "He was never much of a talker. I only know what Luke told me. Jess is his nephew."

"What did he tell you?"

"He told me Jess wasn't graduating high school. Deal was that Jess could live with Luke as long as he graduated, so when he didn't…but it just hurts that he didn't know how to tell me. I would have helped him. I loved him, he must have known!"

"Maybe he did. Do you…still love him?"

Rory nodded again, not capable of answering. "So if you would see him again…"

"Come on Kat! He lives on the other side of the country! I'll never see him again. I don't have an address or anything!"

Time to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. "Maybe I can help you…if you really want him back. Do you?"

"Of course I want him back. But how on earth can you help me?"

Kat heaved a sigh. Here goes nothing. "I kind of lied to you, Rory."

"How, you didn't tell me much about yourself yet."

"No, I didn't and I had a good reason. But I have to tell you something now. Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Promise me you won't get mad at me. Please just hear me out. If you want me to leave then, I will, okay?"

Rory promised with an eerie feeling in her stomach. Somehow she had the tiniest suspicion this conversation didn't accidentally got to the subject of Jess. But what did this girl have to do with it?

"Rory, I'm from California. I go to UCLA, where I got to be good friends with a guy in my classes. We hang out a lot, we talk sometimes and he's told me about the girl he loved and left behind. Now I'm here to find this girl and bring her back with me so he can finally stop wallowing over her and get on with his life. And I think you can guess who I'm talking about here."

Rory gasped for air. For a moment it seemed like the world had collapsed on top of her and she didn't like the feeling. This was a lot of information to digest. First, Jess was going to UCLA? He graduated high school after all and made it to college? Why didn't Luke know? Why hadn't he told her? Second, he…he wallowed? Like he still loved her? Did he? Third, was she supposed to just hop on a plane and go back with this girl she just met a couple of hours before? To go and see Jess?

Kat watched her intently and put a hand on the trembling girl's shoulder. "Just think about it for a while, okay? You don't have to decide anything yet. I just wanted you to know that he does still love you. The guy hasn't even so much as glanced at another girl since he started university. I mean, all he does is work his – may I say – very cute ass off just to get by for the month he has lost and when he doesn't study he either reads or pretends to read while staring at your picture. That says something doesn't it?"

"He still has a picture of me?"

"Maybe even more. Drives the girls crazy. He turns them down one by one. Very frustrating, might I add."

"He turned you down too?"

"Yup, can't blame a girl for trying, now can you? But he didn't want me either. I just guess I'm a sucker for romance, cause ever since I found out about his wallowing I decided to come here and play cupid. Just think about it. Please?"

"I will, it's just…it's so hard."

Kat gave her new friend a pat on the shoulder before she quietly left the room.

That's the third chapter. Pretty long, isn't it? Might make you want to review...I'm not stopping you!