Chapter 2- Take the Scrambled Eggs

"Honey, I'm home!" came Lorelai's exhausted, by cheerful voice from the doorway.

"Hey, Mom," Rory said, dejectedly. She was sitting on the couch, open containers of ice cream, half-eaten bags of popcorn, and empty mugs of coffee lying around haphazardly, and playing on the T.V. was the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory;" a good wallowing movie, of course, due to the copious amounts of candy and chocolate constantly on the screen.

As Lorelai walked into the living room and saw her daughter curled up on the sofa in her pink fuzzy pajamas and matching slippers, she immediately rushed over to the couch to join her.

She pulled Rory up into her arms and held her like she would a baby, just letting Rory finally cry over all that had happened in such a short amount of time.

After a few minutes of sobbing, Rory was down to the occasional sniffle here or there. "What happened?" Lorelai asked, frowning.

"It's over. I made a mistake," Rory responded, miserably.

"Oh, babe. What'd you do? Do you need me to kill Dean for you?"

"No." She paused, trying to figure out what to say next. "I did something really bad that hurt a lot of people, and I'm surprised you don't already know about it because I thought the while town would be talking about it by now…but, maybe Babette and Miss Patty are giving it awhile; they are nice like that. Anyway, I kinda kissed Jess and-"

Lorelai interrupted her, a little confused, "You kissed Jess last year. Why would that have anything to do with what happened now…oh. Again, huh?" she asked, a sad smile on her face.

"Yeah. I didn't mean to…see, I was watering the lawn and the lever thingy broke and it wouldn't turn off, so I paged Dean, but I guess I lost my pager, because he never paged me back, and then I was looking for Luke or someone to help with it because you said it would drown and I ran into Jess and I told him what happened and he went to fix it even though I told him he didn't have to, and he made it look easy, and then we were both standing in the yard, soaking wet, and we sorta had this awkward conversation and then there was the magnet that made us get closer and closer until we kissed." She took a deep breath, and continued, "And then we kissed a little more and then a few minutes later I heard Dean yell and we kinda jumped apart and then he kinda got all mad and stuff and he and Jess got into a fight, verbal, not physical because Jess was standing up for me, and then Jess left and we talked and I wasn't in love with him and I never was, so we broke up, oh, and Miss Patty and Babette were watching the whole thing from kiss to the final 'I'm sorry' that I said to Dean before I left and ran back home to wallow and eat."

She looked up at her Mom to see a sympathetic expression on her face, with traces of amusement laced in her eyes.

"What's so funny?" Rory asked, pouting.

"You made-out with Jess…" Lorelai taunted, "You said you kissed Jess and then a few minutes later Dean came, meaning you were kissing for a few minutes; thus making-out," she finished smugly.

"Yeah, but he has a girlfriend and she's blond and likes to kiss against trees and I was probably some awful memory he won't ever what to relive to him."

"Rory, that kid's been obsessed with you since he's gotten her, and no offence, but it doesn't seem like it's entirely one-sided. As much as I, and even you have tried to deny it- you like Jess," she pointed out.

Rory sighed heavily, forehead wrinkled, thinking about what Lorelai just said. It was true, wasn't it? She did like Jess in more than a friendly way. Huh. Now what, though

"I guess you're right…but that doesn't change the fact that he's with the Barbie wannabe and you hate him."

"I wouldn't say 'hate' per say; that's too strong of a word. I mean, there must be something there if you like him so much. And about the chick…she's nothing. You show any indication to him that you want to be with him, and she's gone. Out of the picture," Lorelai assured her, nodding.

"Thanks, Mom." Pause. "I think I'm gonna go to bed. It's been a long day."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay up and eat and watch some more T.V.? We can make it a movie-ish night…" Lorelai asked.

"I'll take a rain check on that. I want to catch up on some reading. There's this book I've always wanted to start, but never have the time or motivation to do it. Good night!" she called.

"Night, hun. Love ya!"

"Love you, too, Mom!"

Lorelai collapsed into the couch and reached for a bag of potato chips. She was reluctant to admit it, but Jess scared her. He was so much like Christopher, and Rory was turning into a mini-Lorelai. She didn't want her daughter to make the same mistake she did, and she wouldn't, even if that was the last thing she did.

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"Morning," Rory said, walking into the kitchen a week later, on her way to grabbing a pop tart.

"Morning." Replied Lorelai distractedly. She was looking at the dozens of catalogs laid out on the table in front of her.

Rory glanced at the area around her mom and remarked, "Wow, someone woke up in project mode today."

"I'm like the army, baby. I get more done before nine o'clock in the morning than others get done all day."

"Well, as long as you don't abandon it mid-project…" Rory warned, trailing off.

Lorelai protested, "I do not do that."

"Make your own seashell candles?" Rory asked her, remembering a time in the past.

Lorelai scowled, "Aw, not fair."

"The place smelled like melted crayons for three weeks."

"This is different," guaranteed Lorelai.

Rory rolled her eyes, but gave up on the useless fight, "Fine, what's the project?"

"This is a pile of every catalog we have received for the last three months," she told her daughter.

Rory raised a bemused eyebrow, "Okay…"

"I have gathered them all together, and I will now proceed to call all the companies that are sending us duplicates and tell them to stop," she explained.

"That's very environmental of you."

"It's getting ridiculous. We get, like, eight of some of these," she stated matter-of-factly.

Rory's eyes widened, "You're kidding."

"Check this out." She picked up a stack of the thick books, "This is a stack of identical catalogs mailed to Lorelai Gilmore, Rory Gilmore, Lorelai Rory Gilmore, Lorelai V. Gilmore, Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, Lorelai Gilmo, Lorelai Gil, and Squeegy Beckinheim."

"How'd that get in there?" Rory asked her, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I once told a store my name was Squeegy Beckinheim just to see how many catalogs they would sell my name to, and apparently my name is to catalog companies what Brooke Shields' picture is to Chinese restaurants."

"How many?" questioned Rory.

"Ten."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I know," Lorelai said, amused.

"You do know that you were the one who started this whole thing…" Rory told her.

"Unintentionally, of course. It was just a little experiment."

Rory shook her head, "I can see it worked." She picked up the catalog closest to her, "Why is this addressed to Tookie Clothespin?"

"Oh, I forgot my code name at the second store I tested, so I told 'em it was Tookie Clothespin."

"Gotcha'," she paused, thoughtfully, "What do you say we head to Luke's this morning?" she asked nervously.

Lorelai turned to face her daughter, "Really? Are you sure you're ready to go in there?"

"Yeah. I can't avoid him forever," she explained.

"Okay…if you're sure, then."

"I'm sure," Rory assured her.

"So, I guess we should go…" Lorelai said, picking up her purse.

"What, are you gonna finish the project?"

"I'll do it later- you're more important than some stacks of bounded paper, and…today's Danish day!"

"Yum. Let's go!" Rory said a little overenthusiastically.

"Let's" Lorelai nodded.

They grabbed their stuff, turned off the lights and walked out the front door, both a little apprehensive to what the day would bring.

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"Coffee," Lorelai shouted, back to her normal self as she walked into the diner door.

"Hold on, you're not the only customer," Luke said, gruffly.

"Aww, me and mini-me haven't been to your wonderful establishment in a week and that's the welcome we get?" She mocked dramatically.

"It wasn't my fault you didn't come," he paused, setting down two mugs of coffee in front of them at the counter, "Why haven't you been in her recently? Is something wrong? Was it Jess, because if it was Jess, I swear to God, I will kill him…Jess-" he started, shouting up the stairs.

"No, not Jess, exactly. It was more Rory not feeling all to well…she and Dean broke up."

Luke's face had a surprised look, "Oh…I'm sorry," he said sincerely, "you know, I always said he wasn't good enough for you."

"Thanks Luke," said the previously silent Rory, "but I think it was a long time coming. Breakfast?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure, anything you want, on the house."

"Oooh, me too, me too…I had to put up with her wallowing for the last few days- do I get what I want, too?" Lorelai asked excitedly.

Luke rolled his eyes, but nodded his assent.

"I want… French toast, Belgium waffles, and Colombian coffee," she ordered, smiling, "I want to delve into the unknown of un-Al's food from around the world."

"Okay. Same for you, Rory?" he said, writing down the food.

"Uh, no thanks. I'll just have some eggs and coffee."

"Okay. I'll have Jess bring it to you in a minute," he told them, already walking into the back.

Rory turned to her Mom, biting her lip. Lorelai shrugged her shoulders as if to say, 'What do you want me to do? It was bound to happen some time.'

The younger Gilmore bent her head down, waiting for the food and the awkward conversation that was certain to come with it.

A few minutes later, she saw a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon set down in front of her, and a more crowded plate of food set in front of her mom.

"Uh," she said, hesitantly, "I sorta wanted the eggs sunny-side up…but" she retracted, seeing his annoyed expression, "this is perfectly fine, too."

"No, I'll go change it," Jess said, reaching for her dish.

"No, I'll just take the scrambled eggs. I don't want to be a burden," she told him, not looking at his face, afraid at what she would see. She didn't blame him for being angry with her. She ignored him all week.

"Fine, then. Is that all?" he asked.

Rory just nodded, already eating her food, so Lorelai butted in, "Yep. All good. Thanks for bringing the coffee," she said as politely as she could.

He arched a confused eyebrow, but didn't comment. He twisted on his heel and walked back into the storage room, trying to figure out why in the world she was being friendly to him.

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"Hey, that wasn't too bad," Lorelai pointed out as they were walking out of the diner half-an-hour later.

"Yeah, if you think that the Civil War was just a bad case of sibling rivalry, it wasn't," Rory snorted.

"Hey, come on. You can't blame him for being a little irritated. You kissed him, and then didn't talk to him for seven days. He might not even know you and Dean broke up."

"This is Stars Hollow. He must know," Rory told her mother.

"Yeah, 'cause I can totally see Jess gossiping with the cheerleaders at school."

"Okay, maybe not. But, I like, him, you know, and I don't like fighting with him" she explained sadly.

"Then fix it. Talk to him later- one on one."

"Yeah, maybe I'll do that. Thanks," she said, genuinely.

"For what?" asked Lorelai, puzzled.

"For being so understanding, and being nice to him, and for being such a cool mom."

"Aww, your welcome." She paused, noticing the bus, "Hey, you'd better get to school. See you this afternoon." And with that, she kissed her daughter's forehead and marched doff in the direction of the Inn, chin up.

A/N: So, what do you think? I'm sorry for the lack of Rory/Jess interaction this chapter, but I think next chapter should have lots. And lots. )...I was so surprised at the number of reviews telling me how mcuh they were looking foward to this story. I hope this is up to your expectations...

Please review...please- It really helps me write better and faster. Please.