Chapter 6

"So what's he like?" Rory asked, having been genuinely curious enough to pick up the phone and call her mother without having any other pressing need. Leo had been staying at the Crap Shack for nearly a week now, and Rory wasn't sure whether her mother's radio silence until now had been because everything was going well or the opposite.

"He's been a little shy, overly polite almost, but I swear - he's not really getting my jokes," Lorelai listed a little disappointedly. She'd prepared for moodiness, improper behavior but not this. Humor was her ammo, and it didn't seem to be working. She wasn't going to elaborate on Leo's minor panic attack after having accidently spilled a glass of milk, worrying they might get angry at him - clearly there were issues there, just well hidden under the surface. She just hoped they could provide enough stability for him to heal.

"He really likes Paula Anka, they're playing catch as we speak. The poor dog will actually get fit if he keeps this up," Lorelai added on a more positive note, glancing out of the living room window at the two for a moment.

"What's the background story there? How long will he stay with you?" Rory asked curiously.

"His aunt, who he was staying with OD-d, and she's still in the hospital - it was a pretty close call," she replied. "She'll likely go to rehab and then there's still a lengthy process for her to get custody back if she wants it. So the prognosis was at least six months, but it could be more," she added with a sigh. "He stayed with another relative for a while but they really were not equipped to have him for extended periods of time. There was no deliberate abuse as far as I know, but neglect..," Lorelai described, getting a lump in her throat just by thinking about it. Surely there were worse cases, but still, no 8-year old deserved to go hungry or own only clothing that wasn't worn out or stained, as the items that he'd come with. "He's been hungry the entire time and I swear Luke is just bringing in bag after bag of food from the diner and it all just disappears in minutes," Lorelai explained. She'd gone to Walmart twice this week alone, to make sure he had everything - shoes, socks, underwear, a proper winter coat and stationary for school, just to name a few.

"Sounds rough," Rory sighed, adding on a more positive note unsure what else to say, "but your place is definitely the place to be for constant inflow of food." It still felt a little strange that her mother would pick a path that clearly wasn't the simplest one - this meant challenges along the road, good communication and at some point potentially also departing from the kid.

"I think it's even getting to Luke a little more than me actually - it reminds him of the stuff Liz went through a while back. The situation wasn't nearly as bad but I think he keeps comparing Leo to Jess, wondering if he should've done something sooner," Lorelai explained.

"Well I don't think there's much point dwelling on that now - just look at him, Jess is clearly doing fine. No lasting damage," Rory replied optimistically to the best of her knowledge. Jess, while he had had his own issues - anger and non-existent communication skills to begin with - Jess seemed to be the most capable person to survive something like that. Instead of waiting around for someone to fix things he had just gone out and got a job as soon as someone would have him, and made sure he himself was fed and the bills paid.

"I know, that's that I've been telling him," Lorelai replied.

"I'm sure he's just nervous, it's a new situation," Rory added.

"Yeah. Anyways - Luke's taking him ice-fishing tomorrow and everything," Lorelai elaborated.

"Wow, sounds cold. Fun.. maybe?" Rory hesitated.

"What are you up to this weekend?" she asked, changing the subject, as she trailed towards the kitchen to make some coffee.

"Oh just waiting for the catering to arrive with Finny," she replied, while helping Finny build a block tower.

"Oh, Logan's birthday, right? I should text him," Lorelai recalled.

"He's doing it low key this year, just friends, no family as Honor's in Frankfurt looking at houses with Josh anyways," Rory explained.

"And the school stuff, your thesis, it's going okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's going okay. I've just been a little nauseous so it takes some of the fun out of staring at the screen when I should, but I hope it gets better soon," Rory explained with a sigh. Just the thought of the nausea seemed to bring it back again. "Oh, that reminds me," she remembered suddenly. "Would you still be okay with babysitting for a few days now with Leo there? If you can't it's okay, we'd find a way," Rory said.

"I guess, I'm not sure how it'd work exactly but I'd love to," Lorelai said with endearment. She hadn't really babysat Finny in a while, and even then just for a few hours. But she desperately wanted to, besides this felt like improvement in their relationship already.

"Okay, it'd be the 27th of February and we'd probably be back by evening of 29th, we might stay at the Inn after the long drive before we head back home," Rory explained.

"Long drive from where?" she inquired, winking friendlily at Leo who'd just returned from outside with Paul Anka.

"Portland," Rory sighed.

"Maine? Again?" she replied, confusedly.

"I know a guy at the high school there, I need to go for my study and Logan just didn't want me going alone," she fibbed. Sure her going alone was a part of it, but Logan had his own things but it wasn't her place to tell.

"Oh, right, of course," Lorelai replied. "I better go, I promised Leo we'd watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone tonight," she added, leaving Rory with a sense of nostalgia which wasn't quite envy, just a strange deja vu which she wasn't a part of anymore.


"Where is this little name-sake of mine?" Finn demanded playfully as soon as he emerged from the elevator with Celeste, who had just gotten showered with Finn's playful, and completely innocent, compliments on her appreance in her vintage ruffle wrap dress. She had needed that - not that she didn't feel appreciated from that viewpoint at home, but somehow this just felt refreshing.

"He's right here, Finn!" Rory called from the living room, pushing herself up from the floor, Finny already sprinting towards the familiar voice. Finn was clearly sharing the place of Finny's third favourite person in the world besides his parents, the other being Luke.

"Celeste!" Rory hugged her in greeting, seeing Finn already having one of his secret conversations with the little boy and simply waved at him in passing, knowing they'd talk more later.

"Hey!" Celeste replied.

"What, no Jess?" Rory inquired, surprisedly. The two had been joint at the hip for nearly two years at any event.

"April had to work tonight so Jess stayed with Evie," Celeste explained.

"You should've brought her with you, Finny won't be going to bed for hours," Rory assured. Finny had taken a really late nap that day, and now he was likely up until 11 PM at least.

"Oh, it's fine, I just needed a break tonight," Celeste replied. Jess had been on his toes the entire week, and she certainly appreciated the gesture - him trying, but she kept feeling like he was just scared but secretly wanted to switch back to his work mode, like something ticking in the back of his head despite being there. She hadn't lied about April being at work, and of course she'd considered bringing Evie and Jess along, but somehow she just felt like she needed something different that night - have a drink with the guys and not think about baby-minding or their issues.

"Everything okay there?" Rory inquired concernedly, frowning her forehead slightly, leading Celeste towards the kitchen.

"Ah.. you know," she exhaled, brushing the topic off with a hand gesture, not wanting to talk about it right then and there.

"Alright, at least one of us can have a drink with that thought," Rory replied, pouring Celeste a glass of Prosecco, and herself some non-alcoholic apple cider. She was a little worried for Celeste, and Jess too, but surely she would talk to her if she felt ready to do that, and if there was something to tell. They could already hear Logan interacting with Finn and apparently also Colin who must've arrived in the meanwhile, the familiar banter making the women smile in unison at it's comforting sound.

Celeste poured the Prosecco down her throat in two sips, holding out her glass for Rory to top it up again.

"Aren't we thirsty?" she exclaimed without judgement and the two returned to the living area, where Finny had clearly become the main stunt of the early part of the evening, Logan showing off what tricks he'd learned with him at toddler acrobatics they attended once a week.

"I told you, they'd change," Celeste noted, the current moment being probably the longest already as the three sat at one of their birthday parties without already having scotch glasses at hand.

"Yeah, and I heard Robert is engaged. He's not bringing her tonight though, but still," Rory commented.

"No way!" Celeste exclaimed.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Rory commented, recalling Robert's life plan of having numerous wives and thousands of illegitimate children but die alone and leave everything to Polly the parrot.

They joined the guys in the living room, Rory politely asking, "gentlemen, drink anyone?"

"Oh, yes please, darling," Finn replied. His reply was in no way a surprise, rather a pleasant reminder that some things hadn't changed.

"Colin?" Rory asked.

"The usual, thanks," Colin replied.

"I'll get it," Logan insisted instead, Rory rolling eyes to Celeste wordlessly in regards to Logan's constant care-taking mode she'd been enduring ever since he found out she had twins on board. The 12 weeks mark was approaching fast, next week to be exact, and she definitely showed already, but had chosen a loose pocketed dress that hid it well. And having already told more people than they probably should've, they'd decided to tell everybody else by e-mail or postcard along with a professional announcement photo they were also having made next week.

Rory and Celeste settled on the round lounge armchairs, each sipping on their drinks, listening in to the guys' banter.

"So Celeste, how's life treating you?" Colin asked after a while, having known about her issues with her family the question was really a lot deeper than one would've expected from, say, Finn.

"Oh, pretty good. Quiet. Not much going on if I'm home with Evie. Stocks are stable, been trying my hand at some drawing," Celeste explained, making Rory feel a little guilty for not having really had a lot of time to discuss her ideas as she'd promised.

"No ghosts from the past?" Colin asked with genuine concern.

"Just the one. The guy works in Truncheon, but there's an NDA and I had a PI check him out, but he seems clean," Celeste shared.

"Smart, the PI, I mean," Colin noted, accepting the scotch from Logan who'd just returned from the bar cabinet.

"And Colin - you're not thinking of moving back to New York yet? How much wind can you take?" Rory continued, laughingly, recalling Colin complaining about the windyness of Chicago more than a few occasions.

"Actually, I'm considering an offer in Boston right now," he replied, taking a sip of his scotch.

"Wow, cool," Rory replied.

Soon Logan buzzed in Robert as well and the group jumped to question him about his supposed fiance along with drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Robert had pictures to prove and the dark-haired petite woman, who looked a good ten years younger than Robert, certainly sounded perfect for him.

"Well, we're happy for you Robert!" Rory raised her glass to him at some point, the others following her lead and drank the remainder. "More drinks anyone?" Rory asked, also checking on Finny who was still playing with his blocks between the, and headed to the bar to get another round at their nods.

Celeste really enjoyed the change of company, perhaps too much. It felt good to switch on another record - talk about everything and anything other than what she had going on at home, the bottle of Prosecco dissappearing down her throat.

It was sometime after they'd eaten and Rory was putting Finny to bed downstairs, when she was left alone in the kitchen with Logan.

"Listen, I wanted to talk to you for a moment in private," Logan said, despite noting that she was clearly a little tipsy.

"Sure, what's up?" Celeste asked, taking a seat at the kitchen stool.

"I didn't tell Jess everything about Noah. It's probably no big deal, but I think you should know," he began, making Celeste apprehensive.

"Well...?" she inquired impatiently, taking another sip.

"Noah just told me that he used to have a major crush on you, just so you know…," Logan added smilingly. He realized it really probably was nothing, it was nearly 20 years ago after all. "But you can probably see why I didn't bother to mention this to Jess," he added a little apologetically.

Celeste burst into laughter, perhaps a tad inappropriately. "God, I barely remember the guy. I saw a picture the PI dug up and well I maybe remember seeing him once or twice, but I don't even think I talked to him outside of class assignments, if that even," Celeste replied, shaking her head in disbelief.

What she didn't say was that she actually felt flattered - it was not like the guy was bad looking these days, and whatever his attentions had been - surely not anything serious as he'd met her at last year's New Year's party all pregnant and married, she was at a point where any type of approval she took with gratitude. It was like an affirmation that there were still people and things outside home that appreciated her - took an interest at least. She wanted to help herself to another glass of Prosecco, her face appearing disappointed as the bottle was nearly empty.

"Well, I guess it was just sort of adoring from the distance kind of crush, guys get those sometimes," Logan smirked, observing Celeste cautiously.

"I guess," Celeste shrugged.

"You okay there?" he asked after a few seconds.

Celeste shrugged again, trailing back into the living room to continue talking to the guys, her step being already a little bouncier than it should've been.

Celeste texted Jess sometime after 1 AM, letting him know her ETA, saying she couldn't find her keys. Her keys were in fact safely in her purse, but she was too drunk and had barely made it to her Uber. As she arrived, Jess waited for her to drag herself up the front stairs of their townhouse, all giddy and wobbly, stumbling and laughing at her own non-existent motor skills. Jess had never quite seen her like that before, sure he'd seen her drunk but not this drunk.

"Come on," he sighed determinately, as he helped her take off her coat and shoes, while she hardly managed to stay still long enough.

"You're my hero, you know that?" she mumbled as he let her lean on him to get her upstairs.

As she reached their bedroom it was as if she'd turned a switch in her head, beginning to remove her wrap dress with somewhat seductive movements, getting all touchy-feely.

"I want you," she said in whisper, the lingering smell of alcohol being utterly overpowering.

"I think we should just get you to bed," Jess said firmly. Sure those words had worked on him before, numerous times in fact and she probably knew it, but she was way off character, so much he would've felt like taking advantage of someone.

"You're being ridicule-lush," Celeste argued, "but I'm horny," she added, finishing the sentence with a slight hick-up, struggling to unhook her bra.

"Come on, I'll help," Jess suggested, moving around her to unhook it.

"So this doesn't do it for you anymore?" Celeste accused him getting all defencive.

"That's so not the case, you're just drunk. I prefer my wife when she's conscious," Jess replied, clear-headedly.

"Don't be such a mood-kill," she argued, giving it another try by trailing her hand over his chest down towards his crotch.

"I told you," Jess said calmly, removing her hand from his body. "Time for bed," he added, physically leading her towards the bed.

She landed with a soft sigh, clearly the softness of the bed having some appeal.

"Now you stay, I'll get you some water and an Ibuprofen. You'll thank me later," Jess said, switching off the main light in the bedroom, the bedside lamp illuminating the room enough.

As he returned Celeste was already fast asleep and he simply left the promised items onto the bedside table next to her.

He took a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair, before he got in bed. Surely she was allowed to have fun, but this just didn't seem like her. She always treated her body as a temple, hardly ever splurging on her calories not to mention alcohol - and now this? He positioned himself to face her quietly, observing her in the room only lit by the moonlight. It pained to see her like this.