Chapter 19

"Hey Lane. It's Rory. I know you are out touring right now but I have some stuff I have to talk to you about. Call me back at your earliest convenience. Bye."

Rory hung up her cell phone after leaving that message on Lane's voice mail. She noted the time on her watch before consulting the list she had written.

Mom. Check. Luke. Check. Stars Hollow via Miss Patty. Check. Sookie and Jackson. Check. Paris. Check. Lane was going to call her back. She was meeting Chris for lunch tomorrow. She was still missing someone though…or someones.

Rory took a deep breath, picked up the phone and dialed a number that she had long ago memorized.

"Hi, Grandma… Yes, it has been a while…I'm much better, thanks…Hey, can I drop by after work the day after next, there is something I need to talk to you and Grandpa about…Yes, everything's fine. It's good news, sorta…It's just not something I want to do over the phone… Okay, bye."

Rory sighed as she hung up the phone. Everything was set up and with a few minutes to spare. Rory had one more call to make that day, this time one she was looking forward to.

In NYC…

"School starts tomorrow, is your homework done?"

Amber sighed exasperatedly, "For the zillionth time, yes. You made me do it on the first day of break because we were going away for Christmas."

"Yeah, but I raised you and if you were me then I wouldn't have done my homework and lied to my parents about."

"One, it's a good thing you are not me because that is a mildly creepy thought. Two, I did do my homework on the first day of break. Three, I wouldn't lie to this extent about it. And four, please stop asking."

"Wow, someone is snippy today."

And I wonder what the reason could be," replied Amber, looking pointedly at her father. He pretended he didn't noticed and continued reading the newspaper while he sat on the couch.

Amber glanced up at the wall clock from her position on the floor and watched a few seconds tick by before going back to the words on the page of her book, hoping her father hadn't noticed. She had no such luck.

"You know the clock is not going to run away," Jess commented, turning the page of the newspaper.

"How do you know?" replied Amber lamely.

Pause.

"She's going to call."

"I know she is."

Another pause.

"Then why are you so worried that she isn't?"

"I'm not worried," rebutted Amber unconvincingly.

"Yes, you are. You been checking the clock since Rory left this morning. I've seen you and I've seen your face when you do it. You're anxious. Not good anxious like you can't wait to talk to her, bad anxious, because you are afraid you won't have the chance to."

"That's not…" Amber trailed off.

"Come here," said Jess, patting the seat next to him. Amber plopped on the couch on the couch next to him and crossed her arms. "So why are you afraid."

Amber blinked, "The last few days have been so good. I'm afraid that she- that when she goes back to her real life that she'll realize that she doesn't need me."

"Oh, Amber, I'm not going to spend anytime trying to convince you that is not the case. You are only going to be convinced when Rory calls, which she is."

"Who do you know?"

"I just do."

"But how?"

"Trust me. I'll prove it to you, at seven-thirty. Come on, I'll even clock-watch with you. Won't that be fun?"

"Not really."

Jess put a hand to his heart, "Oh, I'm hurt."

Amber smiled and rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

The two sat in silence for a while. The clock now read seven- twenty five.

"You're a great dad. You know that right?" said Amber quietly.

"Of course," replied Jess in mock cockiness and confidence. But honestly he didn't know that. He didn't have a father to compare himself to really. When he had gotten Amber he had no clue how to raise a child, let alone a little girl. He was convinced he wasn't genetically set up for it. It is funny how things had turned out. Jess was never a big religious type, but he was sure that his little girl was a blessing from God, because he didn't deserve her.

"It's seven-thirty two. Oh my gosh, she not calling!"

"Amber, give Rory a few minutes."

That's when the phone rang. Amber dived, almost comically, across the couch to reach the phone that sat on a table next to it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Amber, it's me."

"You're late."

"It's the time difference," Rory deadpanned.

"New York and Stars Hollow are in the same time zone," Amber replied coolly.

"Darn, you kids are too smart these days."

Amber just laughed and shook her head. That's when she caught her father's eye. He mouthed, 'I told you so,' and then went back to his paper.

The next week went like that. Rory called promptly at seven- thirty and the mother and daughter talked from as short as fifteen minutes to as long as several hours each night. Sometimes it was serious discussion, sometimes funny banter, sometimes just what they did that day. The two had a lot to catch up on, but it didn't stop either of them from trying.

Rory met her father as planned. He was upset, as upset as any father would be to hear that his daughter had been knocked up by the same boy who had broken her arm years prior in a car accident. And to have had his daughter lie about it for nine years and have left the child, but only as mad to try not to be a hypocrite.

The next day was the grandparents.

"Twenty bucks they blame me," said Lorelai, who had come along for emotional support, before they rang the bell outside the Gilmore Mansion. A few hours, a bit of yelling, a few tears, and some condensations later the Gilmore girls on the road to Stars Hollow and Rory owed her mother twenty dollars.

Amber looked forward to the phone calls everyday. It almost became like an addition for her. It was great to have this woman figure in her life. She found it special, like an all-purpose gal-pal. It was someone she could trust like a friend. It was great to have someone that she could talk about boys and crushes and other girl problems who was older and experienced and could give you good advice. It was awkward for Amber to talk her father about such things. It took a day or two for Amber to understand what relationship she was having with Rory, and that was when she realized that is what a mom is.

About a week from New Years…

"It's stupid that you're avoiding her," said Amber after having such a phone conversation with her mother. She had asked her father if he wanted to talk to Rory, he declined. She asked Rory the same thing and she also declined. Amber had offered to at least one of them, sometimes both, everyday during the special seven-thirty phone call but every time they refused.

"I'm not avoiding her," replied Jess a little too defensively.

"Oh please."

"I'm not avoiding Rory," he insisted.

"Really? Then why have you refused to talk to her everyday this week.?"

"I barely talked to her in nine years. A week is not a big deal."

"Sure," replied Amber, nodding her head before adding under her breath, "She's been avoiding you too."

"Why are you telling me this!"

"Because I find it pretty strange that you guys are avoiding each other when you love each other!" said Amber exasperatedly.

Jess paused, "What did you say?"

"Oh, come on! I'm not stupid. It's obvious."

"It is?" asked Jess with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah. The dreamy look Mom gets when she talks about you. And how bout before Christmas if I asked you if you loved my mother and you said, 'With all my heart.' Or on Christmas night when you two were arguing outside. I didn't just overhear that Rory was my mother. And that kiss on New Years, don't tell me that didn't mean anything. "

"You saw that?" asked Jess, slightly horrified.

"Um, yeah," answered Amber sarcastically.

"Wow," Jess said more to himself than Amber, running his fingers through his hair.

"So I go back to my original statement. I think it is stupid that you are avoiding her."

"Amber," said Jess pleadingly.

"You love her. You can't deny it can you?"

Jess said nothing.

"And I know she loves you."

"Amber, it's more complicated than that," Jess said calmly.

"No, it's not. You two love each other. There is nothing less complicated" said Amber almost hysterically.

"No, there is nothing more complicated than love. Rory and me, we have a past…and it is not so pretty, and then there is you-"

"So what," Amber reasoned, "I'm both of your guys' kid. That should make it easier."

"Amber," said Jess taking a step towards her, she stepped back, "Come on."

"Why? Why is this such a crazy idea. Crazier things have happened."

"Crazier than having a mom and a dad that are married?"

Amber gave him a harsh look.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I shouldn't be joking right now."

"No, you shouldn't," Amber answered before running into her room and slamming the door.

Jess sighed and ran his fingers through his hair again; it was a nervous habit he had picked up over the years.

He went over to his daughter's door and knocked on it, "Amber."

No reply.

Jess tried the doorknob. The door was locked.

"Amber, come on," begged Jess outside the door. This time his answer was music being turned on loudly.

Jess was at a loss for what to do, so he did the only thing he could think of, he picked up the phone.

"Hey, Rory. It's Jess."

"Hey," she replied, slightly confused.

"I know this is kind of random, but Amber's pissed at me."

"Jeez, Jess. The kid and I only got off the phone like ten minutes ago," Rory teased.

"Yeah, yeah. And now she has locked herself on her room and is giving me the silent treatment."

"You must have made her really mad."

"I didn't do anything."

"Come on!"

"Seriously. She got off the phone with you and then started saying that…" Jess trailed off.

"Saying what?"

"Saying that it was stupid that we are avoiding each other when we love each other or something…"

Silence.

"Rory, you still there?"

"Yes. It's just…I'm not gonna deny what I said on Christmas, I still have feelings for you."

"Rory," Jess shook his head, "We both know it's more complicated than that. With our history and Amber-"

"What does Amber have to do with this?"

"Say we do try something again. What if it doesn't work out. What if end up fighting and hating each other and Amber gets stuck in the middle of our bad relationship."

"Our relationship is not too hot right now either."

"True, but…"

"You don't have to explain it, Jess, I understand where you are coming from."

Then Rory chuckled.

"What's that for?" asked Jess.

"Just that that is one great kid over there, trying to get us back together."

"Yeah, she is something."

"We can't…but it would of," Rory stopped mid-sentence.

"It would of what?" pondered Jess curiously.

"I was saying that if we did get back together, or at least tried to…it would have been nice."

Jess blinked, "I guess it would of."

"About Amber, let her cool down tonight and don't force her to talk to you if she doesn't want to, but definitely get her in the morning if she is still mad and explain things to her like you did me."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"'Cause it is," Rory paused for a moment, "Okay, I guess I see you…bye."

"Wait!"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe," started Jess nervously, "We can have dinner sometime."

"Dinner?" questioned Rory.

"Yeah, maybe next weekend when you are coming up to the city Amber will let me borrow you for a few hours one night."

Rory bit her bottom lip and smiled on the other side of the line, "That be nice."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so, I'll see you then."

"See you then." They both hung up their phones with smiles on their faces.

Jess turned around to see Amber standing in her doorway, hands on her hips, with a smug look on her face.

"Suckas," she muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me?" asked Jess.

"I knew that if my logical reasoning did not get you to call Rory, my 'breaking' into hysteria would."

Jess collapsed on the couch, shook his head and sighed, "You are one slick kid."

"I have good genes," Amber replied simply.

"You're right," started Jess jokingly, "That is one fine pair of pants you are wearing right there."

Amberjust rolled her eyes. Adults…

The End

But wait, it isn't over yet. No, do not fear, there is an epilogue left and a possible sequel, I have ideas for it. Tell me your thoughts on that in the reviews. Their will be more info next chapter…