A/N: Hello lovely humans! We're officially in the final three chapters, and whoops they're long. But they're important, so I'm not going to apologize. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 18

Somehow, aided by copious amounts of coffee and late-night encouraging phone calls with either Jess or Lorelai, as well as driven by Paris's absolutely insane though simultaneously helpful study schedule, Rory Gilmore successfully finished her junior year of college. After turning in her last final on Friday evening, she went back to her apartment and collapsed into bed fully dressed; she was pretty sure she hadn't actually slept over the last couple of months, unless fifteen-minute naps off and on throughout the night count as sleeping. And there she slept for the next fourteen hours, waking up the next morning only because her phone was ringing. She grabbed it blindly and flipped it open.

"Hello?" she croaked.

"Wow. You sound like Tom Waits."

Rory blinked open her eyes. "Hi, Mom."

"I'm serious, there's a crazy resemblance happening here. Hey, sing something for me!"

"What time is it?" Rory mumbled, trying to find her watch.

"About ten, why?"

Rory sat up. "Ten in the morning?!" she screeched.

"Honey, Mommy's going to go deaf if you scream into her ear like that again."

"Sorry."

"Yes, ten in the morning. Why, what's wrong?"

Rory scrambled out of bed. "I'm late! I haven't packed or showered or anything! I just woke up!"

"You just woke up?"

"No, I just felt like freaking out about the time for no reason," she said sarcastically. "Yes, I just woke up! I fell asleep when I got home last night and apparently conked out hard." She ran around the room trying to get her things together.

"Okay, babe, breathe. There's no time limit here, I'm stuck at the inn all day anyway, and wedding stuff doesn't start until next weekend, you've got days."

"I know, but I'm your Maid of Honor! I should be there!"

"For the wedding, sure. Bachelorette party? Absolutely. But there's no need to panic about not getting here a week before all that. You were exhausted, give yourself a break. Take a nice, long hot shower, take your time packing, and don't speed too much on your way here. Got it?"

Rory relaxed her tense shoulders and smiled, forever thankful for her mother. "Yeah, I got it."

"Good, now go clean the library dust and finals stress sweat off of you."

Rory wrinkled her nose. "How much do you think tests and papers make me sweat?"

"I don't know, you were the one freaking out about showering."

"Well I just meant because I wanted to be presentable, not because I was drenched in sweat and dust. And what is 'library dust' by the way?"

"Dust from old books, duh."

"Of course, I should've guessed that one."

"But seriously, take your time, hon."

"Will do. I'll call you when I'm on my way."

"Sounds good. See you soon, kid!"

"For your wedding!" Rory squealed.

All she heard in response was a high-pitched giggle before she hung up the phone with a smile.

Rory made it to Stars Hollow packed, clean, and unscathed as Lorelai requested. She spent her first few days finalizing seating charts and flower arrangements while her mother kept busy at the inn, happily preparing for her mother's special day. She was glad to be Sookie's taste tester for any and every wedding food sample, and she worked with Lane to make sure all her mother's requests were on the reception playlist. But even though she kept plenty busy between her wedding jobs and catching up on reading and sleep, she felt a little bored.

She repeatedly found herself thinking back to the paper. She knew she had gotten everything done that needed to be done and cleaned up her desk, ready for her to return in the Fall. But she found herself missing it. And missing the paper wouldn't have surprised her, she had worked her whole life to be on the path she was on now. But what confused her was that, out of everything she'd done in her job, she missed being Editor the most. She had found herself driven and alive when she was working as the editor, reading pieces submitted by others and giving them advice and critiques on how to make certain points stronger or more powerful, even more so than when she was finding her own angles and writing her own stories. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but she had a feeling that maybe… that meant something.

She was sitting on the couch on her porch with April one afternoon, each of them with their nose in a book, when she heard a car pull into the driveway. She pulled herself out of the novel and saw Jess getting out of his car and a smile lit up her face. She put her book down and ran down the steps and into his arms, eliciting an "oof!" and a laugh from Jess.

"Wow, I missed you too."

"Good, I'd be upset if you didn't," she retorted. She pulled back and stood with her arms around his neck. "Hi."

"Hi." Jess smiled and closed the space between them, kissing her.

Rory pulled away and glanced at the porch where April was watching them slyly with dreamy eyes.

"We have an audience," Rory mumbled and gestured slightly towards the house.

Jess glanced and quickly looked away when he saw April pretending not to watch them but very obviously not reading her book any longer. He snickered. "Hi, April," he called in her direction.

"Hi, Jess!" April called back before getting up and going inside. "I'll give you guys your privacy!" she added with a girlish giggle.

Rory snorted. "She's at that stage where every relationship is a beautiful romance story."

"That's a stage?" Jess asked, starting to walk them towards the porch.

"For girls, yeah."

"Huh. The more you know."

"She's especially entrenched in it since everyone's main focus right now is her dad's wedding."

"Ah, that makes sense." Jess chuckled. "Still weird to think of Luke as a dad."

"Yeah. But if you think about it, he's been the father figure to us members of the Absent Father Club."

Jess smiled. "True. April's lucky to have him."

Rory smiled. "That she is."

They sat together on the porch and traded small talk. Jess congratulated Rory on finishing her classes, Rory checked in with how work was going at Truncheon, and they resumed the kissing that had previously been interrupted in the driveway.

Rory pulled away suddenly, a thought barreling its way through her mind.

"You okay?" Jess asked, looking startled.

"Yeah, yeah, I just had a question."

He looked at her expectantly.

"Right! Gotta ask it. Um, you mentioned talking to Matt and Chris about me picking up some work this summer. Have you had a chance to talk to them yet?" She stumbled her way through her question.

"Oh, yeah! Actually, they loved the idea. It would be nice to have an extra set of hands around."

"Good! Good. And, um, what about the editing and stuff?"

Jess nodded slowly. "They were more hesitant about that, but I convinced them to give you a chance. Why, is everything okay?"

"Oh! Yeah, yes, everything's fine, I just…"

"What?"

"I think I miss editing," she said quietly. "I mean, I know I miss it. I just… it's only been a week, and I'm busy with the wedding and everything, but at the same time I'm bored. And I miss it even more than I missed writing. Is that… crazy?"

Jess shook his head. "No, Rory, not at all. You're good at it. You have a natural ability when it comes to leading and organizing in addition to the impressive writing skills."

Rory blushed and waved him off.

"Stop it, I'm serious. If you get to be my cheerleader, I get to be yours. You're really good at this sort of thing, plus I know you love it. You once spent forty-five minutes talking about helping Bill find an angle on a piece about how the school was going to plant a new tree for arbor day."

Rory snorted. "Yeah, he was really stumped on that one."

Jess hung his head as Rory laughed. "That was the lamest pun I've ever heard."

"Sorry, I couldn't let it pass," Rory said through her giggles.

"My point is, missing editing isn't a bad thing. It might be a good thing. I know editing books and newspapers aren't the same, but… I'll see what the guys thing about you helping out with the zine. It's a little closer. And whether it ends up being books, short stories, articles, why not give it a try this summer and just see how it goes?"

Rory nodded before smiling. "Yeah, okay. I'll try it out."

"Good. Now, is it okay if I keep kissing you or do you have another question?"

Rory smiled. "No more questions for now!"

Rory and Jess walked hand in hand to the diner that afternoon for lunch, only to be met with a sign on the door with the word "CLOSED" written in big, red letters. Luke's was closed with no explanation or sign of Luke or his employees during what would normally be the Friday afternoon rush. There wasn't even a "gone fishing" note on the door. Rory looked at Jess with one eyebrow raised and Jess only responded with a confused shrug before reaching above the door and retrieving the hidden key. He unlocked the door and they entered cautiously, observing the empty diner curiously.

"Upstairs, maybe?" Rory offered.

"Might as well check."

Rory followed Jess up the stairs to the apartment above the diner, listening closely for any sign of life. They reached the door and Jess knocked uneasily as Rory stood back and chewed on her thumb nervously. The wedding was in a week. The bachelor party was tomorrow. And Luke was AWOL.

"Luke? You in there?" he called through the closed door.

There was no answer.

"Luke!"

Only silence responded.

"His truck was outside, right?" Rory asked in a hushed tone, unsure of why she was whispering.

Jess thought for a moment. "Was it?"

Rory's shoulders sagged. "Well, now I don't know." She ran down the stairs to look outside while Jess continued to knock. Once she reached the windowed walls, her question was answered. Luke's truck was nowhere to be found.

"It's not here!" she called to Jess.

"I'm going in," Jess called back as he turned the handle to the apartment. He entered the room to find two made beds, open curtains, and no sign that anyone had been there all day. It felt like a rock had settled in his stomach.

"Alright, this is getting creepy," he said as he went back downstairs and outside to find Rory.

"Where could he be?" Rory asked nervously, eyes darting around the town square as they stood outside the diner. "I mean, mom didn't mention that he was going anywhere, and even if he was Caesar or Lane could open the diner for him."

"I don't know," he said quietly, filling with anxiety.

"Jess, what if he…" She felt sick.

Jess shook his head. "No, there's no way he ran. He loves your mom too much, hell, he loves you too much to do anything to hurt either of you like that."

Rory took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. "I'm going to Lane's to see if she knows anything."

"Sounds good. I'm going to try and go look for him."

"Where?"

"No idea."

"Call me if you figure anything out?" she asked with a worried expression.

"You, too." Jess gave Rory a quick kiss before she headed towards Lane's apartment and left Jess by himself, facing the town square and wracking his brain for where Luke could possibly be hiding. He wasn't at the diner, he wasn't at the house… it was possible for him to be at the inn, but he wouldn't have closed the diner if he had just popped over to fix something or see Lorelai. After a few minutes of thinking, feeling more hopeless by the second, a thought occurred to him, and he started towards the lake. If that bridge was Jess's quiet spot, maybe Luke had a similar affinity towards it.

As Jess approached the lake, he breathed a sigh of relief at the figure sitting on the edge of the bridge, his legs dangling above the water and his eyes staring into the distance. After the relief, the annoyance set in, and he stepped onto the bridge and walked towards Luke.

"So, we playin' hooky today?" he asked, a slight edge to his voice.

Luke startled and looked up at his nephew, clutching his chest. "Jeez, kid, you almost gave me a heart attack."

"Yeah, I'm familiar with that feeling. Felt it not too long ago when Rory and I tried to go get some lunch only to have the diner closed and you nowhere to be found."

"Oh…" Luke grumbled.

"Care to explain why you scared us half to death with your little disappearing act?"

Luke snickered.

"What's so funny?" Jess asked, rapidly becoming more perturbed.

"You sound like me," Luke muttered.

Jess rolled his eyes, deciding to ignore the obvious similarities between the two of them as he sat down next to his uncle on the bridge, turning slightly to face him.

"Talk."

Luke stared down at his hands folded in his lap.

"I have to assume this isn't cold feet, otherwise you would have left town," Jess said.

Luke spun his head to look at Jess. "God no, I would never do that to Lorelai."

"Good. I'm glad I can tell Rory that, because she was worried that you had run," Jess said bitterly.

Luke sighed, feeling guilty. "I just…" he started before faltering.

"Look, Luke, I hate the mushy, pour-your-heart-out thing just as much as you, maybe more. But something is obviously wrong, so just get it out and we can get this over with."

Luke took a deep breath and stared out at the lake. "What if this… what if our life isn't enough for her? What if I'm not enough for her?" he asked quietly.

Jess's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"Lorelai, she's this… wild, crazy, energetic, beautiful, smart, absolutely incredible force of nature, and I'm just… the diner guy. What if I can't make her happy? What if our marriage ends up being so mind-numbingly boring for her and she regrets this?"

Jess sighed. "Luke, come on…"

"No, I'm serious here," Luke barked. "What if I can't make her happy? What the hell do I do then?"

Jess shook his head. "With all due respect… you're crazy."

Luke spun his head around to look at Jess. "Excuse me?"

"You've been in love with Lorelai since, what, the first day she walked into the diner? When was that?"

Luke cleared his throat. "Ten years ago," he almost whispered.

"Okay, you've been in love with her for ten years. And in those ten years, you have become her friend, her confidant, supported her in every insane thing she's done, built her a damn chuppah when she was engaged to another guy, helped her raise her daughter," he said, counting off each thing on his fingers. "And in those ten years she has involved you in all her crazy town events, she jumps in and helps you whenever you so much as mention you have a problem, she runs to you whenever she needs anything, she's supported you with April, she asked you to marry her."

He paused, gathering the guts he needed to say his next words.

"Look, I'm only going to say this once, but you… I look up to you. You'll always be the first adult who looked at me like I wasn't just this waste of space, the first adult who believed in me. You're the only person I've ever looked up to in life," he finished quietly. "Lorelai isn't going to be bored by you. She knows you, she chose you, and she's excited to be married to you. Trust me, I get all the secondhand enthusiastic babbling from Rory. Lorelai loves you, and you're more than enough for her."

Luke continued to stare at his hands as if they held the secrets to the world, but Jess could have sworn he heard his uncle sniff.

"Thank you," Luke said quietly.

"I would say, 'anytime,' but this really is a one-time thing," Jess said.

Luke clapped his hand on Jess's shoulder. "You're a good kid, Jess."

Jess smirked. "Not really a kid anymore, but thanks."

Luke chuckled. "Yeah, you are. And, by the way, I'm really happy for you and Rory. You guys are good for each other. It makes me happy that you found one another, even if it took a few years."

"Thanks, Luke," Jess muttered, doing his best to keep any emotion out of his voice. "Listen, I need to call Rory and let her know everything's okay. You good?" Jess asked, standing up from the bridge.

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. See you for dinner tonight?"

Jess smiled and nodded. "Sounds good," he replied before leaving Luke alone on the bridge once more.

Saturday night arrived and with it, the fated bachelor and bachelorette parties. Luke made Jess promise to keep it as low-key as possible – he didn't really even want to have a bachelor party but Lorelai insisted it was tradition and, as only Lorelai could do, convinced him to do it. Thus, Jess planned a day for just himself and Luke to go to the lake and fish to be followed by an evening of food chosen by Luke, beers, and whatever sports game Luke wanted to watch. The perfect Luke Bachelor Day.

Rory, on the other hand, had joined forces with Sookie and Lane to plan the biggest, most "Lorelai" bachelorette blowout they could possibly think of. A surprise party hosted at Miss Patty's dance studio; the women of Stars Hollow would be participating in the all-night movie-marathon-slumber-party of a lifetime. There would be more booze than they could possibly need, naughty decorations, all of Lorelai's favorite foods, drinking games that went with the movies, dance parties… basically everything Lorelai could ever dream of.

So, when it was finally Saturday, Rory barely stopped moving. She saw Jess briefly in the morning for breakfast before he swept Luke away to their day at the lake, then Rory was off to decorate and set up the party. Lane was in charge of music, Sookie manned the food, and Rory took over decorations and movies. All too soon, it was evening, and it was Rory's job to get Lorelai dolled up in her cutest pajamas and to escort her to Miss Patty's without spoiling the secret of what her bachelorette party entailed. By the time they reached the sliding door, Lorelai was already tipsy, and Rory had only barely managed to not spill the beans. They walked up the steps, Rory pulled open the door, and…

"Surprise!"

Lorelai's jaw dropped and she gasped. "Oh… my god." She spun around to Rory. "You did this?!"

Rory simply smiled and shrugged.

Lorelai burst into gleeful giggles as she observed the room around her.

Lining the walls were posters from Lorelai's favorite bands and movies, along with twinkle lights and phallic-shaped garlands. The tables were packed full of pizza, burgers, fries, tacos, cookies, candy, ice cream, and more. Rory had set up beanbags (because Miss Patty just happened to have a million of them), pillows, and blankets in front of the projector screen for everyone to lounge on while they watched the movies.

"You like?" Rory asked, beaming at her mother.

Lorelai was actually tearing up a bit. She hugged Rory as hard as she could, eliciting a strangled groan from the Rory that could no longer breathe. Lorelai finally relinquished her daughter and held her at arm's length. "I love."

Lorelai spun around and shouted into the crowd, "Let the party begin!"

And so it did.

Lorelai spent the next many hours with a huge smile that never left her face. Movies like Pretty in Pink, Casablanca, and The Breakfast Club played on one side of the room and dance parties were had to Blondie and The Bangles on the other. Lorelai laughed and blushed and played along every time someone made an innuendo to her wedding night and, as the drinks kept flowing, got weepy when she and her friends talked about her future with Luke.

Rory had foregone the stereotypical stripper. Lorelai had objected, but when Rory explained that Kirk had volunteered when he caught wind of Rory planning a bachelorette party, Lorelai quickly stopped her complaining. They did, however, play an adult version of Truth or Dare and that satisfied the need for the bachelorette party stereotypes. They sang, they drank, they ate, and Lorelai truly had the time of her life.

Sometime around dawn, as the exciting buzz of alcohol wore off and the hangovers started to set in and the thrill of dancing and singing passed and the exhaustion took over, everyone either passed out on the beanbags or left to find their ways home. Lorelai and Rory chose the latter and, with arms wrapped around each other's shoulders, drunk girl stumbled through the square, eventually finding their way to their beds.

Rory awoke slowly to sun pouring through the window, and it made her angry. She barely remembered where she was or how she got there. All she knew was her mouth tasted horrible, her head was pounding, and her stomach was screaming. She peeled her eyes open, still stuck together from the remnants of yesterday's mascara, and sat up slowly, regretting every movement she made. Sitting up only made the drum in her head louder, which, in turn, made her stomach churn. She felt miserable. But at the same time, she was happy. She had successfully thrown her mother the bachelorette party of a lifetime and followed through with the promised hangover. Honestly, she was pretty proud of herself.

She eventually dragged herself to her feet, put on a robe, and slowly stumbled out to the bathroom with her eyes closed. After washing her face, brushing her teeth, and drinking water straight from the tap, she shuffled into the kitchen and saw the tacos, burritos, and coffee spread out on the table. She didn't even notice Jess standing in the corner by the back door as she hungrily unwrapped her burrito and took a bite.

"So, I take it the bachelorette party was a success?" Jess asked with a smirk.

Rory jumped and winced, putting her empty hand on her head as it throbbed. "Oh my God, don't scare me like that again if you want to live to see another day…" she garbled past her mouthful of burrito.

"Sorry," he whispered, walking over to kiss her temple.

"But yes, it was a success." Her brow furrowed. "I think." She paused. "I'm pretty sure there were movies. I know there was drinking. But I also have some vague memories of dancing and singing and laughing, which I think are good signs."

Jess chuckled. "I'd say so."

"I remember the first couple hours, but once we started doing shots for every time Patty mentioned any of her ex-husbands or she or Babette made a wildly inappropriate comment about the wedding night, everything kind of swirled together in a haze eighties music and penis decorations before fading to black completely."

Rory took another bite of her burrito as Jess stared at her, looking mildly horrified.

"It's a good thing you weren't there, I think Miss Patty would have eaten you alive once she got the first drink down," she teased.

Jess shuddered. "You're welcome for the hangover food, by the way," he said, changing the topic.

"Oh, wow, thank you. I didn't even question it came from." Rory collapsed into a chair at the table. "So, was your man-day with Luke a success?"

Jess rolled his eyes and sat down next to her. "Would you stop calling it that? And yeah, I… think so."

"'Think so'?" Rory asked with a concerned expression.

"The fishing and drinking beer in silence was a huge success, Luke actually smiled a few times."

"Whoa!" she laughed.

"Yeah, but then when we got back to watch the game, he had a few more beers, and then he unearthed a bottle of scotch from a shelf that, had I known it existed in high school, would have taken advantage of. By then he was drunk enough from the beer to want to openly celebrate being engaged by drinking the scotch, and then that's when he got a little… gushy."

Rory snorted. "Luke? Gushy?"

"I know, sounds crazy, but I'm serious. He wouldn't stop talking about how proud he was of me, and of you, and you and me together, and of April, and talking about how much he loved Lorelai, and…" He shuddered again. "I don't know, it kind of freaked me out."

Rory giggled. "It sounds like a successful bachelor party to me. You did things his way, the groom got drunk and said things he'd regret if he could remember saying them, and no one was hurt."

Jess smirked. "Well, when you put it that way…"

"Wait, why aren't you hungover?" Rory asked.

"Well, I did have a few beers and a little scotch, but I knew you and Lorelai were gonna be dead to the world today and Luke was on his way there too, so I stopped drinking so there would be at least one person not sick this morning."

Rory smiled. "Aw, you do care about us. And by that, I mean mom and Luke, too."

Jess blushed. "Uh, no, that's not what I said. I just figured it would suck to be one of the ones fighting a hangover all day. It was completely self-serving."

"Oh, sure, whatever you say," Rory said, feigning belief.

Jess avoided eye contact by turning his attention to the paper while Rory smiled and went back to eating her burrito. Before long, they heard a groan and a shuffling sound from the stairs as Lorelai, wearing yesterday's pajamas, makeup, and tangled curls, shambled her way into the kitchen and glared at Rory.

"What did I do?" Rory asked defensively.

"Oh my God, when did your voice get so loud?"

Rory winced. "My voice? You're one to talk! You sound like… uh…" she faltered, losing her train of thought. She turned to Jess. "What's that one screamo band?"

Jess snorted. "You'll have to be a little more specific than that."

"I'm hungover, leave me be," Rory whined. She laid her head on the table with a groan.

Lorelai gasped. "Is that hangover food?"

Jess handed Lorelai a burrito. "I come prepared."

Lorelai's grimace melted. "Angel."

Jess wrinkled his nose. "Alright, I appreciate that you don't hate me anymore, or whatever, but I draw the line at anything resembling a nickname."

"Ugh, fine, I feel too crappy to try and argue with you right now." Lorelai took a bite of her burrito and glanced around. "What time is it, anyway?"

Jess checked his watch. "A little after noon." He stood up and started gathering his things. "That reminds me, I need to check on Luke."

Lorelai looked a little scared. "What? Why?"

Jess smirked. "I don't think he's quite as hungover as you two, but he definitely drank enough last night to feel at least a little bit miserable this morning. I had Caesar open for him this morning so he could sleep it off."

Lorelai shook her head in disbelief. "Who would have known you'd be the one taking care of us all this morning?"

Jess just shrugged and walked over to kiss Rory's head where it lay on the table. Rory responded with a vague, blind wave goodbye as Jess walked out the back door.

Lorelai continued to eat her burrito when Rory suddenly sat up and squinted at Lorelai.

"Hey."

"What?" Lorelai asked with her mouth full of food.

"We just threw you a bachelorette party."

"Oh, is that what that was? That explains all the booze and pen—"

"Mom," Rory interrupted.

"What?" Lorelai asked with some annoyance.

A smile slowly spread across Rory's face. "You're getting married next weekend."

Lorelai grinned. "I am, aren't I?"

Forgetting their current state of misery, they both squealed and giggled before groaning miserably and returning to their previous tasks of eating burritos and laying on the table. The squealing could wait.