A/N: Alright, so I've been rewatching Season 2 all day and I wanted to say something. Personally, I think Teach Me Tonight and Lost and Found are two of the saddest episodes of the show to me. It sounds silly probably, but rewatching them I was just so sad. Lost and Found...you see Lorelai and Jess both really trying, and then reaching some beginning of an understanding, and then it all breaking down immediately. Teach Me Tonight, I don't even have to explain it. But the moment with Luke and Jess on the bridge was one of the most beautiful and sad things I saw on the entire series. And I'm always amazed with the way ASP does it, makes these moments so imperfect but so perfectly done, how she just kills us with emotion in a way that's so subtle and beautiful. And she makes the little, simple things the most important. I think that's why I love Literati (and even Javajunkie) as much as I do.
Another note, has anyone else watched that deleted scene from There's the Rub with Paris and Rory talking about Jess? If not, watch it. I want to know what other people thought about that as well as all the stuff I said above (I need people to talk to about these things with!).
As always, I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of the related characters or concepts, all of which are the products of ASP's genius. Which I will rant on about further in the next author's note. Anyway, I do own a lot of books, so there are moments when I feel like a Gilmore.
Chapter 105
"What in the hell…"
"Coffee."
"Is everything al…"
"Coffee."
"Okay, okay," Jess went over to the counter and grabbed the pot, then headed back towards the two girls, who were now lying their heads down on top of their table, "Jesus, what happened to you two?"
"We forgot to sleep."
"And since we weren't tired, we came here to get coffee."
"But then on the walk over here…"
"We realized we were tired."
"Not just tired."
"Exhausted."
"So you two didn't sleep at all?" Jess asked, disbelievingly.
"Why, did you?" Rory looked at Jess accusatorily. He raised his eyebrows in amusement.
"What?"
"Did you sleep? Were you lying to me? You said you wouldn't get any sleep."
"Alright, you need to take your meds."
"I'm not on any meds."
"Explains so much."
"Hey, when you two are finished with your verbal foreplay, I need more coffee!" Lorelai called, her face still buried into the table but her arm holding up her coffee cup expectantly. Jess smirked.
"Here," Jess filled her cup up again, "Luke'll be out in a second, he's back in the kitchen. Rory, do you want to borrow a book or something? Take a nap upstairs?"
"Well…" she looked at her mother hesitantly.
"Oh for god's sakes, at least come up with a decent excuse. Hey Mom, I'm going to go join a cult that's meeting upstairs. Hey Mom, I'm going to go steal all of Luke's baseball cards and hide them in Taylor's soda shoppe. But reading? Really? I'm ashamed of your lack of creativity."
"And on that note, I'm ignoring my mother and coming upstairs."
"To read?"
"Anaïs Nin."
"You are a devil-woman," Jess said softly, smirking as he gestured up the stairs.
"So…"
"So."
"Are you tired?"
"Unfortunately," Rory answered, looking at Jess apologetically. He smiled.
"It's okay, I am too," he admitted, "God, aren't we supposed to be married like twelve years before we're too tired to…"
"Read Anaïs Nin?"
"That is not going to become a thing."
"But…"
"No."
"Doing laundry?"
"No."
"Playing monopoly?"
"No."
"Come here," Rory murmured, pulling the comforter on the spare bed around her. Jess walked over and gently kissed her on the cheek before lying down beside here, "Mmm…perfect."
"Can't disagree with you there," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist, "God, maybe now I'll get some sleep."
"You didn't sleep?"
"Maybe two full hours."
"This is a sickness."
"Please. It doesn't even compare to the level of sickness of your book or junk-food consumption."
"Hey, you share at least one of those with me."
"I didn't say we're not equally afflicted."
"I missed you."
"I missed you too. Now go to sleep or I'll pull out A Farewell to Arms."
"I don't appreciate blackmail."
"Bribery?"
"Listening."
"Pie when we wake up?"
"And?"
"Anaïs Nin."
"Knew you'd come around," she grinned lazily before pulling Jess' arms closer around her to drift off to sleep.
"Lorelai?"
"Hm?"
"What are you doing?"
"Passing out."
"I can see that. Why are you passing out on my table?"
"Because it's under my head."
"Oh, that makes more sense."
"You're marrying me. You should know by now that I make no sense."
"Where'd you get the…"
"Jess. Heathen when he's not saving the world with his coffee-bringing."
"And he is…"
"Upstairs with Rory."
"Upstairs with Rory?"
"Reading."
"Reading?"
"I'd let them be."
"And you don't care?"
"Well, she's not sixteen. And it's six in the morning. Knowing Rory she's actually going to sleep."
"Why are you here at six in the morning?"
"We didn't sleep."
"You couldn't sleep?"
"No, we didn't sleep."
"At all? Lorelai, go home and get some sleep."
"No, no sleep, coffee."
"You're deranged."
"And enchantingly beautiful. More coffee?"
"Alright, fine. What do you want to eat?"
"Cake."
"Cake?"
"Blame the girl who thinks she's a princess."
"You're making no sense."
"One of my innumerable charms."
"How could I have forgotten?"
An hour later Jess heard a gentle knock on the door to the diner's upstairs apartment. Regretfully he untangled himself from Rory, stood up, and went over to open the door.
"Sorry," Jess whispered, gesturing Luke in, "She needed sleep."
"Yeah, I know. I was just about to take Lorelai home. Do you mind taking over downstairs? Cesar should be here in half an hour and then he can take over for you again."
"Sure, no problem," Jess said, walking out of the apartment and closing the door carefully behind him, "And sorry for just taking off like that, I just kind of dozed off."
"It's okay," Luke answered, "The box is still up here, so I had a solution if I thought things were really dire."
"The box?"
"Nevermind. I'll see you tonight, okay?"
"Dinner?"
"And a movie. Lorelai's idea."
"She must have gained some consciousness since I last saw her if she can form ideas."
"Coffee is like shock therapy for her brain."
"Must be genetic."
