It was late afternoon, and the diner was only half-full. It seemed odd to Luke, who has just entered the diner after spending hours away from it, without giving any notice for his long absence. He wasn't used to having the diner that empty, and giving his current mood, he was extremely unhappy about it. Taking a moment to relax, he took a deep breath, and started marching towards the counter.

"Caeser!" he called, as he walked behind the counter, planning to maybe have an excuse to take his despair out on his cook.

The moment he was about to step in the kitchen, Jess came out. "What?"

Luke stopped in his track, a little startled. And a little surprised. "Where's Caeser?"

He asked after a moment of silence.

Jess pointed back with his thumb. "In the kitchen."

"Did he serve the costumers?"

"No, I did." Jess replied.

Luke's eyes widened a bit. Glancing at the costumers, a part of him thought, 'Well, that explains it', but a part of him was impressed.

"You served the costumers?" Luke wondered.

"Yes."

"Without me asking you to?"

"Yes."

Luke couldn't think of a thing to say. What happened to the kid who used to occasionally walk out when he was asked to help around?

"Where were you, anyway?" Jess asked, interrupting Luke's trail of thoughts.

"Well, uh…" What was he supposed to say? That he was upset over a fight with Lorelai and needed to cool off? Besides the fact that he didn't want to explain to Jess why the fight occurred, he also knew that if this conversation reached the wrong ear, the whole town would be talking about it. "I was out."

Jess leaned back. "Out where?"

"Since when are you the guardian?"

"I'm not," Jess shrugged, "And neither are you. Where have you been?"

Luke sighed and motioned Jess to come closer. "We had a fight."

"You and Lorelai."

"Yeah."

"What about?" Jess asked, but it didn't take him too long to figure out on his own, especially when noticing Luke's hesitation. "Ah."

"Jess…"

He half-smirked. "Like mother, like daughter," He murmured.

"What?" Luke asked in confusion.

"Nothing." Jess retorted, trying to avoid further questions by reaching to grab two plates Caeser placed on the window.

"When did you see Rory?" Luke didn't stop.

"She was here." He took the plates and started walking away.

"When?" Luke followed him.

"When you weren't," He replied without turning around.

Luke took the plates out of Jess's hands and placed them on the counter. Jess turned around and sighed, giving his uncle a 'What?' sort of look.

"What did you talk about?" Luke wondered.

"Nothing."

"She was here and you didn't talk?" He asked skeptically.

"Nope," He stuck his hands in his pockets, "She was too busy looking for things to blame me for."

Luke frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Having a life, serving other costumers, giving her a free donut."

"You gave her a free donut?"

Jess shrugged. "I thought it would shut her up."

Luke pondered the idea. "Well…" He half-nodded in approval, and Jess grinned.

"What did Lorelai have to say about me?" His grin was wishing to fade, but he attempted to keep it on. He didn't want it to seem like it bothered him.

Luke decided to try Jess's way for answering questions like these. "Nothing."

Jess kept grinning. It was obvious to him that Luke was lying, and it was obvious to

Luke that Jess knew he was lying before he even opened his mouth. "She was mad that I invited you here because, well, she said you…hurt Rory before, and…"

"I think we got pretty even." It was getting harder and harder to keep that grin on.

"… And now she's afraid you'll do it again."

"She's got a little fore on that as well."

Luke started feeling bad for his nephew. "Don't hold it against her," He asked him.

"I've lived with the blaming and finger-pointing for 22 years, I think I can last a few more days."

Luke smiled. "Thank you."

Jess returned a smile, and gestured at the phone. "You better call her."

"Yeah." Luke nodded. He grabbed the phone and walked into the kitchen.

A minute later, he came out, his face carrying an expression of utter shock. "The wedding's off." He announced, and disappeared behind the curtain that leads to his apartment.

And that moment, Jess decided he wasn't going to live with that feeling any longer. He threw his pad order on the counter and stepped outside.

-

And after not a long period of time, he was there. The Dragonfly Inn. He was still busy wondering what the hell he was thinking coming there, but a voice in him tried to convince him that it was for a good cause.

A quiet voice. Muffled.

After all that Luke has done for him in the past, he felt like he owed him a huge favor.

And if that favor is talking to Lorelai and trying to talk her out of calling of the wedding – so be it.

He took one step forward, and then another.

And then he stopped. He stopped and laughed.

Come on. Who was he to convince Lorelai Gilmore to do anything? Why did he even think that this woman, who hated him with every fiber of her being, would even agree to listen to him?

"Excuse me," An odd voice with a French accent cut his trail of self-doubt, "Are you planning any sort of breaking and entering?"

Jess frowned, "What?"

"You have been standing in the same spot for minutes and minutes and minutes, that makes you a potential criminal. And if to tell you the truth, I don't really care, just come in already. It is very boring to stand here and watch you, my eyes hurt." The French man that Jess remembered from The Independence Inn said, and walked back inside. Jess just sighed and followed him, to the reception counter.

"Yes, hello, what do you want?" The French man said with a big fake smile. The name on the counter read 'Michel'. Right.

"I'm looking for Lorelai," Jess hesitated.

Michel tilted his head. "You look familiar," He narrowed his eyes, "Why is your image taking such precious space of in my brain?"

"Can you please just tell me where Lorelai is?" Jess asked as politely as he could.

"Very well, Mr. Potential Criminal," Said Michel and went over some papers. "She's at her office."

Jess just kept standing there.

Michel sighed and pointed, "It's over there."

"Thanks," Jess said, and proceeded to walk in the direction of the French man's finger.

And then he reached the office. The door was open. Through it he saw Lorelai flipping through piles of documents, completely occupied with work. This is his chance to get away, he thought. He even began to walk away when Lorelai saw him. She must have been really occupied because she didn't say a word. Just glared.

"You busy?" He asked.

"Depends. What do you want?"

"To talk to you about Luke."

"Than yes, I am busy." She said, going back to her documents.

"Can you hear me out for a second?" He took a step into her office.

Lorelai looked back at him. "Why would I want to hear you out?" She said, coldly.

"Because I came here."

"In my world, that's just not enough."

He opened his mouth to speak but closed it immediately. He knew what harsh things he wanted to say and he knew that if he wanted to achieve his goal, he couldn't say it.

But he did have something to say. And he was going to say it.

"My uncle is walking around like a zombie right now because of you, because for some reason you can't get over me being here. I know I'm not your favorite person in the world, but do you really think I'm worth canceling a wedding?"

"Yes."

He brought his hand to his heart, "I'm flattered, but you know I'm not."

"Oh?"

"Come on, Lorelai, you're not two. If you want to get back at me for something I did, get back at me, not Luke."

"I'm not getting back at anyone!" Lorelai defended.

"Yeah? Then why'd you make such a stupid decision?" Jess challenged.

"Who are you to doubt my decision?" Lorelai raged, standing up.

"Considering I inspired you to make the decision, I'd say I definitely have a right to doubt it."

"Very clever."

"Right back at ya."

"What the hell were you thinking, anyway? Coming over to talk to me? No, wait - What was II/I thinking, considering listening to any of the bull you had to say?"

"I was just thinking the same thing." Jess deadpanned, and turned around to leave.

But then he turned back.

"You know what? No. I'm not going. You've always been so stuck on thinking I'm some kind of a big bad wolf; you never even tried to see me differently, so don't try to blame this on me!" He said, and Lorelai just crossed her arms. "You don't know me, you don't know anything about me, but you can keep hating me if that's your cup of tea. I never cared and I'm not gonna start now. But the moment you hatred towards me became Luke's problem, I started caring. Luke has done nothing but try to help me during the years I lived here. It didn't work for him – but he tried. And after all he's done for me, I'm not going to just stand there and watch you hurt the guy just because you really want to despise me. This can't be about me! This is not about me, and you know it."

Lorelai bit her tongue and looked down. She didn't want to admit it but some of his things made sense. She wanted to be petty; she didn't want to let him win the argument. She remained silent, and he had to admit – that bothered him.

"Look," He rubbed his forehead, "We both know in the past I've done things I'm not proud of."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, some things I'm not proud of." He rolled his eyes, "But I've never been that much of an issue. Why now?"

She preferred to say silent, to not show the enemy that his words actually got to her. But the words pushed through right out of her.

"I'm nervous." She admitted, burying her head in the palm of her hand, "Things always went so well between me and Luke and all of a sudden this… you, came, and…" She raised her head and sighed. Her eyes looked moist. One blink, and a few tears made their way down her cheek. "I didn't mean for this to go this far, but it all just… I was nervous."

Jess felt uncomfortable. Why was Lorelai sharing this with him? He wasn't used to hearing emotional, heartbreaking confessions from anyone, especially not from Lorelai. But what mostly bothered him was that for this, he had no clever comeback. He didn't have anything to say, whatsoever.

"I just didn't want Rory to get hurt." Lorelai added, and kind of saved the day for Jess. For that, he did have a comeback.

"Rory's a big girl now," He assured, "She knows how to hurt back."

She wanted to frown at him, but on some level, he was right. "Just… don't bother her, okay?"

"Wasn't planning to."

Lorelai nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me," She wiped some tears off, "I have a wedding to call back on."

Jess accepted her wish and made his way towards the exit.

"Jess?" He heard Lorelai's voice and turned back to her, "Thanks."

He just smiled.