Lorelai POV

"Lorelai?"

I looked up from the large folder before me and found my father standing at the desk. I swallowed nervously; he has never been to the Inn before, which was what set me on edge, but I was also concerned about why he was here.

"Why are you here?" I asked, and then I laughed, "Sorry, I'm a little on edge these days."

"It's understandable," He said, "How is Rory?"

"Some days are better than others. She's pretty happy at the moment since we found a way for her to safely go to the Chilton dance tonight," I told him cautiously, unsure of how much I could tell him.

He nodded, "I'm glad... Could you maybe take a photo for me of her and her date before they leave?"

"Sure."

"She really is sorry, you know," He said. He sounded sad and regretful, like he had made the mistake.

"I know," I admitted, "I'm just not ready to forgive her yet. And neither is Rory, and it's her that Mom needs to apologise to."

He handed me a letter. It was addressed to Rory in Mom's beautiful handwriting, and I sighed, "I can't promise that this will turn out good, and if Rory never forgives her, I won't blame her."

He smiled sadly and walked away. I considered opening the letter and reading what was written, but I knew that Rory would let me read it later, so I went and put it into my bag before returning back to work.

I got home early, finding Luke doing Rory's hair. He had learnt how to do certain things over the years and had specifically learnt this hairstyle for tonight (with my help). She smiled at me from her seat, before returning to the plate in front of her. I kissed Luke's cheek in greeting, and then got myself sorted.

When I returned to the kitchen, Rory had vanished and Luke was tidying up. Actually, he was fussing and trying to distract himself, but to the average person, it looked like tidying up. I walked up to him and forced him to face me. The look on his face took me back to all those years ago when the doctors cleared Rory for school and all we could think about was what could go wrong.

"I'm scared, too," I told him, not needing him to tell me what the problem was, "But the plan is going to work. It has to."

Tristan was picking Rory up in a limousine, and the driver was the DuGray's personal driver and had worked with them for years. The limo was going to drop them off at the school gates and pick them up there, with Tristan texting us with updates every hour. If Tristan needed to leave her side at any point, Rory had to stay with Mr Medina, who had offered to keep an eye out. There were to be no detours and no one else could get in the limo.

Tristan had come up with this himself with the help of his parents. Apparently, they had done something similar when his uncle got out of prison, but he couldn't remember the finer details of it. It allowed Tristan to go to school events like a normal kid while keeping him safe.

I felt more comfortable with it given that it had worked with Tristan, which I had confirmed with his parents when they reached out to me. They said he would have been using the service anyway but they would be reminding the driver of the old rules as a precaution. However, Rory should be perfectly safe.

"Mom!"

I turned around to see Rory stood in her dress. She looked perfect, and as she twirled around to show off, a calmness settled over me. She is going to be fine.

"You look amazing, hon," I told her, grabbing the camera from off the table and snapping a quick photo. When I looked at the photograph, it was just right, and definitely something I wanted to frame.

"You're beautiful," Luke told her honestly, a small smile on his face. I could tell he was sad, too, probably because she looked so grown up.

When someone knocked on the door, I answered it because Rory currently wasn't allowed, and found Tristan waiting, "Good evening."

"Rory," I called, "It's for you."

She immediately joined me in the doorway since she had been hovering just out of sight, and smiled at Tristan, "Hey."

That was a nervous 'hey' and I pushed back the urge to chuckle. They've been friends for weeks and she's nervous now? I turned to Rory, "I know you're supposed to be leaving straight away, but could I get a photo of you both?"

She nodded, and I gestured for Tristan to come in so we had some light. I took two good photos before letting them go, with me and Luke watching from the doorway as they got in the limo and drove off.

"She's so grown up," Luke said as he shut the door, "Won't be long and she'll be going off to college."

I laughed, "I'm dreading it; Harvard is an hour and a half drive away."

"I remember," He said, "I was the one driving."

We had taken a road trip to Harvard the summer before Rory started high school. It was something we had planned for weeks but surprised Rory with it. We had booked an official tour, something they offered during the summer to high schoolers, and we got to watch her explore her dream college. It was then that I decided to have Rory apply for Chilton, but it took quite some time for a spot to be available.

We talked for a while about Rory, but in a way we hadn't since Rory started Chilton. It had all been about Christopher and school, but instead, we reminisced about our trip to Harvard, moving on to the holiday we took for Rory's 13th birthday and on and on.

About an hour into the conversation, someone knocked on our door with a pretty heavy hand. Luke got up and answered it, but no words followed.

"Luke?" I asked, turning around. I could see Luke's back, but I couldn't see who was at the door. He stepped back silently and let the person in, and I realised that Luke was completely confused, and for good reason. Jess.

"Does your mom know where you are?" Luke finally said.

"Well, that explains a lot," Jess muttered. He had a small bag on his back and looked exhausted, "She sent me and said she had cleared it with you. She said you'd meet you at the bus stop, and when you didn't show, I made my own way here."

"I haven't heard from her in over 6 months!" Luke snapped and then stopped himself. He took a deep breath, "I'm not angry with you; you've done nothing wrong yet. What exactly are you doing here?"

"I've been getting into trouble at home and Liz decided she couldn't cope any longer, so she sent me here; I presume to live, but you'd have to speak to her to find out."

Sighing, I stood up, "I'll take you upstairs and show you our spare room. Luke, you need to phone Liz and find out what the hell is going on."

I led Jess upstairs and took him into the spare room. It was a mess since we generally used it for storage, but there was a usable bed in the middle.

"Where's Rory?" He asked curiously as he put his bag down.

"At a school dance," I told him and he screwed his nose up in distaste.

"I'll get you some bedding," I collected the bedding (and listened to Luke's conversation a little) before returning to the room, "I'd prefer you didn't go through any of the boxes, and if you are staying, we'll get them cleared out as soon as we can."

While there was only one box I didn't want him going through, I thought it would be better off if I told him they were all off-limits so there's less chance of him going through the one I didn't want him to see.

"Thanks," He said, "Can I at least go through that box?"

He pointed to the one labelled 'books' and I chuckled, "As long as they're returned in the same condition, you can go through it. They might be a bit young for you though, I don't remember what books are in there and they might be ones Rory had when she was much younger."

"A book is a book," He said, "As long as I haven't read it before, I'm happy to read it. Is anything else off-limits?"

"The other two bedrooms unless you're invited in," I told him, "Everything else is free-range."

"Thanks."

AN: I wanted to introduce Jess earlier so I did. I haven't decided what I'm doing with him yet, though. Let me know what you think.