Libby was half asleep on Rory's shoulder when she carried her into the apartment.
Rory managed to get her out of her sweater and her button through dress just leaving her in her t-shirt and diaper before she tucked her in bed.
"Night baby."
Rory changed into her pyjamas and curled up on the couch to watch some TV.
She was woken up by the sound of the front door opening.
"Hey." Jess said.
"Hey. I thought you would have been back hours ago. I got the message you left New York about 4 or 5 hours ago."
"I guess you didn't get the message I left on the answer machine." Jess set his bag down.
"Message?" Rory turned around and saw the red light flashing on the answer machine. "I came straight in and put Libby to bed. Then watched some TV. What did the message say?"
"I got a flat and the spare tire was flat too so I had call Triple A. I thought it would be easier to leave a message here you'd get when you got home rather than call you while you were having dinner." He explained.
"Sorry. You were right about Grandma not approving of Walt Disney World."
"Well she'd prefer Martha's Vineyard."
"And about Mom wanting to come with us. We have to get her some pictures of Mickey and a few other characters. She's going to make a list."
"That was predictable. Other than that you've had a good day?" Jess inquired.
"Libby kept telling people that you'd gone. So I kept having to explain to her that you'd be back. You might want to go and check on her."
"I will in a minute. I got her this book; it's about a bunny who is taking his first trip on a plane. I thought it might help explain it to her before we take the trip."
"That's a great idea." Rory smiled.
"Although I'm not sure why a bunny would be going on a plane but that's kids books for you. I'll be right back."
Jess went and checked on Libby giving her a quick kiss goodnight and tucking her blanket around her.
"You know you didn't tell me what Baxter wanted." Rory said when he came and joined her on the couch."
"It turns out I need a lawyer."
"You're getting sued?" Rory asked.
"No. But do you think your grandparents know a decent one who could look something over for me? The only lawyer I know is Luke's ex-wife."
"Grandpa should be back tomorrow so you can call him. But what do you want him to look over."
Jess grabbed his back and pulled out a brown envelope and handed it to her.
"What's this?"
"Open it." Jess suggested.
Rory pulled out a legal document.
"It looks like a contract." Rory said glancing through it.
"The guy Baxter wanted me to have lunch with was a guy named Mel. I thought dinner with your grandparents lasted a long time. This took three hours."
"Mel?" Rory glanced up.
"Short for Marcus Ellington-Lyman."
"And what does Mel do for a living?"
"He works for one of those producers."
"Producers?" Rory questioned.
"They want to option my book to make a movie out of it and pay me a nice sum of money now and then some more later. It's all in there in some kind of legal jargon I don't understand."
"They want to make a movie out of your book."
"That's what the guy said over lunch."
"That's great." Rory hugged him. "What did you say?"
"The publishers are all for it, since they'll get some money out of it too. Baxter loves the idea."
"And you?"
"I told them I needed some time to think about it, get my lawyer to check the papers over."
"Play hardball?" Rory smiled.
"Is this really what I want?" Jess asked.
"If this number is real, then hell yeah." Rory replied.
"We can survive without it."
"Jess this is a great opportunity. When do you need to let them know?"
"By the end of next week." Jess admitted. "Oh and the other thing which Lorelai is going to love."
"What's that?"
"Oprah's book club."
"Seriously?"
"That's what the publishers say. I should get an agent."
"I thought you said an agent would just take half your money."
"They would, but it would stop me having to deal with this crap."
TBC