A Second Chance

Chapter Three: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

Disclaimer: I want a pony. Did I get it? No... Life isn't fair... I want Gilmore Girls... do I get it? NOPE!

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you all weren't waiting too long for this update. I tried to make it pretty speedy and believe it or not this is pretty good for me. I'll try to have the next chapter of A Lot Like Fate up soon, but you know how that goes... Enjoy this chapter!

A/N2: Just a note about this story, Jess and Rory have not been in any sort of contact since the night he begged her to come to New York with him. I think that's the way they did it on the show, but I just thought that I would clear that up. Also, although this is late S5, Rory and Logan are not going out. After she said she couldn't do casual dating, she left before he could ask to be her boyfriend, and has barely talked to him since. Just thought I would clear a few things up!

A/N3: I made a song! It's right down there! Sing it to the tune of "Mary had a Little Lamb" (I'm pretty proud of this one!) Ahem

Rory was stalked by a ghost

By a ghost

By a ghost

Rory was stalked by a ghost,

Someone she used to know

Everywhere that Rory went

Rory went

Rory went

Everywhere that Rory went

Luke would surely follow

Tee hee :-D. So anyway now on to the story! Review please my lovely fans!

XOxoXOxoXOxoXO

Over the next few days it seemed that wherever Rory went, the ghost of Luke would go too. (A/N4: See the connection the song held? I'm not so crazy now, am I?) Two weeks had gone by, and Rory had decided to live at home for the rest of the school year and just drive over to New Haven when she had a class. This let her watch out for her mom as well as have time to mourn herself. However, it was hard to be sad when the dead person was hovering over you at all hours of the day.

It was late on a Thursday night, and Rory was in her room, trying to finish a paper that was due on Monday. Lorelai was in her room, as Rory had convinced her to try to get some sleep. Luke was stubbornly sitting on Rory's bed. He had refused to leave her side until she agreed to help him. However, he was not the only person gifted with stubbornness.

Rory stopped typing and looked at the clock. She sighed and stood up. She had been checking on Lorelai every half hour or so just to make sure that she was alright.

"Where are you going?" Luke asked from his place on the bed. Rory jumped slightly, having forgotten for a moment that he was there.

"Um, I was just going to go check up on Mom," Rory responded.

"You stay here and work, I'll go check on Lorelai. I'll just poke my head in, and I'll come down here to get you if anything is wrong," Luke said. Rory thought about it for a moment and nodded.

"Thanks Luke. I do really need to get this paper done so I can proofread it over the weekend," Rory said. Luke walked out of the room and Rory smiled as she watched him go. Even in death he was the most generous person she knew. She almost forgot for a moment that he wasn't supposed to really be there.

As Luke walked up to Lorelai's room, he looked around at the walls and furnature. There were so many memories that he shared with Lorelai and Rory in this house, and there were supposed to by so many more. It couldn't end like this, he had to convince Rory to help him, it was the only way.

When he reached Lorelai's room, he briefly considered knocking, but it would be odd if he knocked and she found no one was there. He slowly opened the door, careful not to startle her. However, he found her to be asleep on her (their?) bed.

He looked at her lovingly and instead of just walking away he slowly entered the room. He hovered over Lorelai, looking down at her. She had a frown on her face, and was tossing and turning in her bed. Luke wanted to wake her from her nightmare, but she wouldn't have been able to hear him. He stared at her for a few seconds before she formed words to vocalize her troubled dreams.

"No! Luke! Please don't go!" She muttered, and Luke's suspicions of what she had been dreaming about were confirmed.

"Luke!" she screamed suddenly, jolting awake and sitting up in bed. She was breathing heavily, and Luke wanted nothing more than to be able to hold her in his arms and comfort her. She looked around wildly and turned to look at the other side of the bed, where Luke should have been lying.

She frantically searched the bed before promptly bursting into tears. She held her head in her hands and sobbed uncontrollably.

"Luke!" she screamed through her weeping, "Why did you have to go?" Luke looked at her, his physically hollow chest filled with sadness and emotions. He was sure he would be crying if he were alive and actually had tears to come to his eyes.

Watching Lauren gave him an incredible sense of helplessness, watching the woman he loved have a break down– especially when he was the cause. Just as he remembered he should call Rory up to comfort her she burst through the door. Speak of the devil.

"MOM!" Rory yelled, rushing over to her bed and putting an arm around Lorelai.

"He's gone! He's gone Rory, and he's never coming back!" Lorelai sobbed.

"It's okay Mom, I'm here. You're not alone," Rory said.

"That's just it! I am alone! Because who is it I would usually talk to about things like this? Luke! But I can't! Never again! And I shouldn't let you see me like this, I have to get control of myself! I'm supposed to be strong for you, Rory! I'm supposed to be strong! Why can't I be strong?" Lorelai said whispering the last part. It was as if something inside of her suddenly broke, making her lose control completely and put all of her emotions on the table. Or, in this case, Rory's shoulder.

Luke couldn't listen to any more of this, his heart was being ripped in two. With one final glance, he disappeared to visit the other person he haunted, the one who was unaware of it. Jess.

Rory watched Luke dematerialize, and looked back at her mother. In one short moment she knew that she would help Luke. But first she had to find a way to know for sure he was there.

XOxoXOxoXOxoXO

Luke had spent the next few days following Jess around, trying to find any clue of who was his murderer, and what had caused it. However, the only thing he noticed was that whenever he came home he checked his apartment thoroughly for signs that someone had been there.

Meanwhile, back in Stars Hollow, Rory had been searching everywhere for Luke's ghost. However, she could find him nowhere. She was actually beginning to believe that the had never really been there at all.

Lorelai was not doing so well either. Ever since she had broken down that night, she had been especially on edge, and stayed either in her bed or on the couch, always covered in numerous blankets and watching something on TV.

Rory and Sookie were worried about Lorelai, and kept trying to bring her back to her old self. While she was usually stubborn and independent, she was not actually letting people help her with some things, as all of her energy seemed to be drained.

Rory walked out of her room one morning to find Lorelai sitting at the kitchen table staring blankly at the stove, an untouched cup of coffee sitting in front of her.

"Mom?" asked Rory cautiously, sitting across from Lorelai. She snapped her head over quickly to look at her daughter.

"Hey sweetie. Did you sleep okay?" Lauren asked, trying to act cheery.

"I slept fine. How about you?" Rory gently returned the question.

"Good. I actually only woke up once the whole night," she responded. Rory smiled, for this was quite an improvement from her thrashing and sleepless nights. At least she was getting her much needed rest.

"What do you plan on doing today?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't have much planned for the day. I might start a paper I have due in two weeks, then Lane and I are going to go see a movie at BWR," Rory said.

"Fun," Lorelai said, trying not to remember she and Luke's fight at BWR a few months ago right before their breakup.

As the day wore on, Lorelai tried to do a little bit of work for the inn, but couldn't concentrate and ended up falling asleep on the couch at around 2:00. Rory realized that she needed her sleep and didn't wake her up.

When Lorelai woke up panting from het another nightmare it was around 3:15. She walked into the kitchen and found Rory there surrounded by books and notes.

"Hey sweets," Lorelai greeted. Rory looked up and smiled.

"Hello. How was your nap?" asked Rory.

"Good," Lorelai said distantly. She looked around to face Rory and forced a smile.

"That's good. Hey listen Mom, you know how I told you that Lane and I were going to go see a movie?" Lorelai nodded, "Well I was thinking maybe you and Sookie could come with us," Rory proposed.

"Oh, I don't know..." Lorelai started to say, thinking of a reason to not go, but Rory stopped her.

"Mom, I know that you are sad, so am I, but you need to get out, if only for one night. I know Luke was important to you, and I'm not saying to just forget about him and completely move on, but he would want you to keep living your life, even if it only comes about in small steps, one outing at a time. Please Mom," Rory said. Lorelai looked at her kid, and realized that she was right.

"Alright, I guess I'll go," Lorelai said. She wanted more than anything for the pain to stop, and thought that maybe if she went out of the house it would take her mind off of Luke.

As the day wore on, Rory continued to look everywhere for Luke. He had disappeared late on Thursday night, and it was now Saturday. He had been gone for two days, but Rory would not give up. She was now sure that Luke had really there. She thought of it this way: if Luke was just her imagination, why would her mind send him away right when she actually needed him?

The movie was at 7, so at 6:30, Lorelai was running around to get ready quickly so they wouldn't be late. Some habits are hard to break.

"Mom! We're going to be late!" Rory called up the stairs. She didn't want to push her mother too hard, but then again she didn't want to miss the movie either.

"Alright honey, I'm just about done. I'm just having a lip gloss crisis, none of these shades look right," Lorelai said. Rory sighed.

"Mom, I'm coming up so I can help you with..." Rory started to say, but she was cut off by Lorelai.

"Got it!" Lorelai yelled, running down the stairs and grabbing her purse, "See, this is the color I was looking for, but it was hiding from me under the dresser," Lorelai stated.

"How did you get it from under the dresser? You know what actually I don't want to know," Rory teased. Rory was very happy that Lorelai was acting normal, at least for the time being.

"Come on, let's blow this pop stand!" Lorelai said. The two girls walked out of the room and out into the chilly night air. Although it was spring it was still a little cold outside.

As they walked along the street Rory kept an eye out for the ghost of Luke. Little did she know that he was secretly following her. She just never looked behind her.

"Lorelai!" came a yell from up ahead. Lorelai looked and saw Sookie running towards her; well, as close to running as she could get being pregnant.

"Hey Sookie," Lorelai said as she was engulfed in a huge hug.

"It's so great to see you out of the house and everything!" Sookie said as she pulled away from the hug. Lorelai just smiled. She would have said it was great to be out, but somewhere inside she just wanted to run and hide away in her room again.

Rory met up with Lane and together the four of them headed inside. They all got seats on the red couch and Rory looked around one final time for Luke. However, to her surprise, he was there. He was sitting in an empty chair right near the top.

Although Rory was looking right at Luke, he was not watching her. Instead he was looking at Lorelai. He didn't seem surprised that she was there, which made Rory think that Luke had actually been watching her for some time. He probably hadn't been there the whole two days she couldn't find him, but he must have been there at least for part of that day. Rory wanted to talk to him, to get his attention in some way, but she realized that screaming Luke's name probably wasn't the smartest move, so she decided to stay put until after the movie.

"I've got the popcorn," Lane said, sitting down next to Rory and breaking her from her thoughts. She turned around suddenly and looked over at Lane, taking a handful of popcorn.

"What were you looking at up there, hon?" Lorelai asked.

"Nothing..." Rory said as Lorelai turned her head around. She was staring right at Luke, and Rory briefly wondered if she could see him too, but dismissed that theory when her mom turned around.

"Well, unless you think Kirk looks especially sexy when he deals out popcorn then there's nothing to see," Lorelai said.

"Right," Rory said. Lorelai smiled slightly and looked to her left, which was where Luke usually would be seated. With a heavy heart she realized that he wasn't there and would never be there, sitting next to her, again.

"Lorelai, hun, you okay?" Sookie asked, putting an arm on her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah," Lorelai said, staring straight ahead. Kirk walked up to the front to announce the movie but had to wait a moment before all was quiet. As Kirk finally got order, Lorelai still had Luke on her mind.

"Thank you. Tonight's feature will be the 1982 movie Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid," Kirk said before walking away.

Maybe it was the fact that she had been already thinking about Luke. Maybe it was the mention of the words dead and plaid in the same sentence. Either way, Lorelai was instantly gripped by sadness. She had seen that movie numerous times, and knew that it had nothing to do with a dead plaid-wearing man, but the fact that there was actually one of those in her life led Lorelai to start tearing up.

Rory looked over at her mother when she heard the movie title and saw that she was crying. Rory put a hand on her shoulder, but Lorelai shrugged it off.

"Mom, are you okay?" Rory asked gently. Lorelai shook her head as tears streamed down her face. She got up suddenly, wiping her eyes on her arm, and ran out of the bookstore.

Rory watched her mother go and then glanced over at Luke. Luke was looking after Lorelai and before he knew what he was doing he got up from the chair he was sitting it, causing it to wobble and fall over. The lady next to where he was sitting looked at it oddly, as chairs do not usually just randomly fall over. Rory's eyes widened at this. If that woman had seen the chair fall over, then Luke couldn't have just been a part of her imagination. She may be smart, after all, but she was no Matilda.

"I'll be right back," Rory said to Lane and Sookie before rushing out the door that was still open from her mother running out.

"Mom?" yelled Rory, looking around for either her mother or Luke.

"She went home Rory," came Luke's voice from behind her. Rory spun around to see him. There he was, standing right in front of her once again.

"Luke, I believe you, that you are really there. I don't know why or how you are here, but you are. I don't know why I am the only person who can see you, but I am. I can't let Mom live the rest of her life like this, and I certainly can't spend the rest of my life thinking that if only I had listened to you, I could have done something about it, I could have made her happy again. So whatever I need to do, anyway at all I can help, I'm willing to," Rory said. Luke looked at her, then smiled a little bit. It was small and almost unnoticeable, but it was there none the less.

As Luke began to explain everything to Rory, the pieces started to fit together. Rory would have to help Luke talk to Jess, and then Jess would help them find the person who killed Luke.

As simple as it sounded, it was quite the opposite. Jess was not one to believe in ghosts, no matter how many supernatural books he's read.

XOxoXOxoXOxoXO

HAHAHA, get it? She was no Matilda, because Matilda was... oh never mind... :-D

Well anywho, how did you like it? Nice lone chapter, eh? Just the actual chapter, not including the monstrous A/Ns is 2744 words! Nice, huh? So what do you think, was it worth the wait? Well anyway, drop me off a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter, and hopefully I'll update soon! Thanks a million bajillion! (That is so a word, spell check it just stupid!)

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P.S. I really am a talented poet, no?