This Crazy World

Part 12

"Well, that was…interesting," Luke said once the door was closed behind them.

Jess leaned back against it. "That's one way to put it," he nodded slowly.

"Damn, how much stuff do they think a kid really needs?" Luke asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Well, according to their parenting book, a whole lot of it," Jess answered with a scoff.

"I don't even know what half of it was."

"I think you should be thankful for that."

"You're probably right," Luke nodded and started down the stairs.

Jess pushed himself off the door and followed him down the stairs and out on the street.

"And what's with the names?" Luke asked with a frown a few houses later.

"Yeah, they were kinda original."

"Well, Desdemona wasn't that bad," Luke suggested.

"Personally I wouldn't name my kid after a character who marries her brother, but that might be just me," Jess shrugged.

"Well, in this case you'd be the brother," Luke smirked.

Jess gave him a disturbed glare. "At least I'm not Greek," he muttered.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Luke asked with a frown.

"Desdemona was Greek," Jess shrugged.

Luke nodded to himself. "Italy isn't that far from Greece," he reflected.

"Are you trying to creep me out here?" Jess asked with a scowl. "And besides, a last name doesn't make you Italian."

"Well, the name isn't exactly unfitting," Luke shrugged, glancing at him.

"Which is another mystery," Jess nodded.

"We seem to be collecting those tonight."

"Sure does seem that way," Jess agreed.

"You don't know where it came from?" Luke asked with a small frown.

"What?" Jess looked up at him. "The name?"

Luke nodded.

"Nope," Jess said and shook his head.

"Jimmy never told you anything about his parents?"

Jess shook his head again. "And I never asked."

Luke nodded. "I never met them, they weren't at the wedding. For all I know they were already dead."

Jess shrugged and they both went silent.

After a while Luke glanced over at Jess who walked silently beside him, hands deep in his pockets.

"You don't think they were actually serious about calling the kid Cinnamon?" he asked with a shudder.

Jess snapped his head up in surprise. "God, I hope not," he grimaced.

"I think Babbette had a cat with that name a couple years ago," Luke said, frowning.

"And that information was supposed to make it better?"

"No," Luke shook his head. "Just remembered it."

Jess nodded slowly. "There's still time."

"We can always hope they come up with something better in the next 6 months," Luke agreed.

"And Liz has a history of last minute decisions, so you never know."

"How so?" Luke asked.

"When I was nine she told me she had wanted to call me Arrow," Jess said and shook his head at the memory.

Luke gave him a disturbed look. "She did?"

"Yeah, apparently there was a lot of the 'happy green stuff' involved," Jess chuckled, using air quotes. "It took me another two years to figure out what she meant by that."

"How come she didn't?" Luke asked, frowning at the last part.

Jess shrugged. "When the nurse asked her what she wanted to name me, she couldn't remember it. And considering the alternative I'm kinda happy with the one I got. I thought about looking up the nurse and thanking her, but Liz couldn't remember what hospital she'd been at, so I didn't get that far."

"St. Vincent's," Luke said slowly and thought for a while. "The nurse was kinda scary. She reminded me a little too much of a female Taylor."

Jess stopped. "How do you know that?"

Luke stopped a few feet further down the street. "I was there," he said.

"Huh."

"Well," Luke began, looking a little uncomfortable. "I was out in the hallway all the time, feeling sick, but yeah, I was there."

Jess frowned. "I didn't know that." He started walking again, catching up to Luke.

"I thought Liz would've told you."

"We never really talked," Jess shrugged.

Luke nodded to himself and again they walked in silence. They reached the diner and Luke unlocked the door, letting them both in.

"I should have been there more often," Luke said as he closed the door again.

"What?" Jess asked, stopping on his way over to the stairs.

"I tried in the beginning, but New York isn't exactly nearby and then dad died and everything with the store and Liz changed her last name so many times I just couldn't keep up."

Before he got any further Jess interrupted. "It wasn't your job to look after us."

"But I could have tried more."

"You probably wouldn't have been able to do anything anyways," Jess shrugged and leaned against the counter. "Liz didn't want help back then and I didn't know any better."

Luke nodded at the dismissive tone in Jess' voice and let it drop, walking up to the counter.

"You want anything to eat?" he asked.

"After the dinner Liz made us eat?" Jess asked skeptically.

"Right."

"You may be used to Lorelai, but I'm certainly no bottomless pit."

Luke chuckled and checked his watch. "Speaking of. I should call Lorelai."

"Right," Jess nodded. "You never said what that phone call was about."

"I didn't?"

Jess shook his head. "Nope."

"Huh, I thought I did." He shook his head.

"But your reaction when the phone rang was priceless," Jess smirked.

Luke glared. "I thought I'd left the phone here," he defended himself.

"Yeah, sure," Jess said with a chuckle.

Luke glared some more, but then shook his head. "One of the horses at the Inn wasn't feeling too good, so Lorelai called in a vet and she said she'd stay till they knew what was wrong. Just thought I'd see how it's going."

"And to see if she wants any coffee," Jess smirked.

"She has coffee there."

"You can go over there you know," Jess said, ignoring Luke's comment.

"I don't…"

"Luke, it's fine," Jess chuckled. "I need some real music after this night and I don't think you'd appreciate it."

"If this is the same noise you called music four years ago, then you're right," Luke agreed.

"Noise, huh?" Jess smirked. "I seem to recall Lorelai finding a Jimmy Buffet shirt in your closet…" He trailed off, raising an eyebrow.

Luke glared. "Fine."

Jess just kept smirking.

"Ok, I'm going," Luke sighed.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jess smirked and waved as Luke opened the door.

"The horse's name is Desdemona, by the way," Luke said on his way out.

"Figures," Jess said, shaking his head and went over to lock the door before heading upstairs.