"Mom?" Rory shouted when she got home. "Mom? You home?" She asked walking into the kitchen. She looked around and walked over to the answering machine. She pressed play.

"You have no new messages." It said. Rory walked upstairs, and checked her mom's room to find it empty. She went back downstairs and walked out the door to head to Luke's.

"Hey Luke."

"Oh, hey Rory."

"Would you happen to know where my mom is?"

"Uh.."

"Luke?"

"Nope."

"What?"

"I mean, I don't know where she's at."

"That's weird…I tried her cell phone on the way here, and its off…You think she is okay?"

"I'm sure."

"Well, while I'm here, I could take a cheese burger."

"Coming right up."

Lorelai was walking down the hallway to the very crammed apartments on 54th street. It smelled like cigarettes and burnt food. Finally she found apartment 23 and knocked. A woman with blonde, short hair opened the door.

"Hi. My name is Lorelai. I'm looking for Jess."

"How old are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"I just mean that you are older than the type of girls that used to come here looking for him."

"I'm not looking for Jess for the same reason."

"Sure."

"I'm not. Listen, I'm from Stars Hollow, I'm a friend of Luke's. I needed to talk to Jess for a minute."

"Hold on, I'll see if he's here."

"You don't know if he is here or not?" Lorelai asked, but Liz just walked away. Lorelai scanned the room. A shirtless guy was asleep on the couch with a beer dangling from his fingers, and the television volume was low. The kitchen was really small, and dishes were piled in the sink. She was about to step in the apartment to look around more, but Jess grabbed her attention,

"Lorelai?"

"Jess."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Could I talk to you for a sec?"

"Did Luke put you up to this?"

"Maybe out in the hallway, here?"

"Look, if you're here for Rory, I know tha –

"Could you just. Step out here? For a second."

"Fine." Jess walked towards her and she turned around and walked out. After the door was shut, Lorelai started,

"Lord only knows why my daughter loves you, but she does. She is madly in love with you, and I know that the feelings are mutual. You left. Without a goodbye, or explanation. You hurt the two people in this world who care about you most, for what reason? Because you had a simple fight? You don't want to be here, and I know it. Who would want to be here? Stars Hollow is good for you, and you are good for Stars Hollow, as much as it pains me to admit it. This visit isn't about school, or about me, or about Rory. It's about you. You don't have to be so goddamn stubborn. For once, let something bad happen without putting on your bad-boy cover. Quit running away from your problems. Rory is sick of it, I'm sick of it, Luke's sick of it, and if my judgment is right, you are too. Before you cough up some lame excuse or story as to why you don't want to be in Stars Hollow, let me tell you this. My daughter, Rory, you know her right? She cares about you, and I know you care about her. So stop such a jackass and go back to her. I will see you later."

Lorelai walked back down the hall, while Jess just stood there taking in everything she had said.

"Its getting late."

"I know," Rory said sadly

"She's fine."

"How do you know?"

"I know, okay? I know."

"But how? What if she's in trouble?"

"She isn't."

"How do you kn –

Luke handed her a carry out box. "Here. Go home and wait for her. When she gets there, give her a burger, and probably you'll still be hungry then, so you can eat with her. I threw in some fries."

"Thanks, Luke."

"No problem."

"I'll see you tomorrow at my graduation. You're still coming right?"

"Yeah. I'll see you then."

"Okay." Rory got up and walked out of the diner with her carry-out box.

Luke was finishing cleaning the ketchup bottles when the bell above the door rang. Without looking up, he said,

"We're closed."

"I know."

Luke's head popped up to see Jess with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

"Jess."

"Luke."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too," Jess said sarcastically.

"I mean, I thought you went back to New York."

"Well, I couldn't resist your charm, Uncle Luke."

"Jess," Luke said warningly.

"I was sitting there just thinking to myself, "Life just isn't complete with the smell of diner food greeting you every time the door to the apartment was opened." So I thought I would give good ole Stars Hollow another try."

"Do you always have to be such a smartass?"

"Yup."

"So, uh, you get here okay?"

"I had an interesting means of transportation."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how I got here was pretty interesting."

"Why is that?"

"Don't know."

"Would it kill you to give one straight answer?"

"Huh, I don't know." There was a long pause until Jess started again. "So, its okay that I stay…right?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Stay."

Jess walked farther into the diner, and climbed the stairs. Luke looked out the window to see Lorelai's jeep driving away from the diner.

When Lorelai got home, no lights were on but the t.v was on with the volume low. Rory was asleep on the couch covered up with a blue sheet. Lorelai walked over and kissed her forehead.

"What time is it?" Rory asked sleepily, with her eyes still closed.

"Late."

"Where were you?"

"Hartford." Lorelai answered quickly

"Why?"

"I just had some errands to run."

"Why didn't you call?" Rory asked

"It just slipped my mind."

"Where is all the stuff you bought?"

"I didn't buy anything. I just had to go to the bank, and then I saw this sign for a coffee shop, so I went to find it, and I got lost. But, then I got found, and I had some coffee. Then I went to a drug store, because we needed aspirin." Lorelai said.

"We just bought aspirin the other day."

"We did?" Lorelai asked, trying to sound convincing.

"Yes, remember? At Doose's when we were buying pop tarts."

"Oh, I forgot."

"Okay." Rory said, not believing her.

"Well, goodnight."

"Night." Rory said dropping her head back onto the pillow.