After breakfast, they still hadn't pieced much together. Rory had asked who was handling the Inn, and Lorelai had explained that Sookie was (with a sense of obviousness that made clear she thought the question was stupid). Lorelai had also admitted that her trip was spontaneous, only saying that she needed a little air and that it had been a busy few weeks. Luke's name, when floated, went over like a lead balloon, so they'd stopped floating it. They focused on topics like Lane and Stars Hollow town business until breakfast wrapped, at which point Lorelai said she was going to do more work. Rory offered to stay with her, but Lorelai pointed out that Rory needed to go to work herself, and why wasn't she there already? Rolling her eyes, Rory hugged her mom goodbye and headed for her car. Once she'd left, Lorelai turned to Jess.
"I don't want the tenth degree. You get it. Everything is fine, no one is in danger or has been harmed…I just need a beat, okay?"
"Got it," Jess nodded, meeting her eye.
"So the monosyllabic thing does have its advantages," she smirked, "If you're also the reason Rory's prying was limited, maybe I should've bought you breakfast."
"Well, you can buy me lunch. I've got a busy morning dealing with some absurd marketing bullshit, but it clears out after about 1, and that leaves me a good chunk of time till Rory gets home."
"That…sounds good, actually."
"Meet here at 12:45? I like Chinese," Jess said, meeting her eye for a quick moment and smiling at the old joke. She nodded, understanding clear on her face.
"Any good shopping around here? I don't actually have…"
"I'm the wrong person to ask, but I think there's one of those Sephora kiosks or whatever near City Center," he smirked. She grinned.
"That'll do. Thanks, Jess."
"It's nothing," he said, shaking his head, "I'll see you in a bit." With that, Lorelai nodded, adjusting her purse around her shoulder and jumping in her Jeep.
"Wha…it's only been like three hours," Jess said disbelievingly, as Lorelai got out of the Jeep in front of the Inn, laden with three Sephora bags.
"One's for Rory!" Lorelai smiled charmingly, "and one's stuff for Sookie and Lane and Miss Patty, and then the last one's for me!"
"…you buy Miss Patty's makeup?"
"I just saw a red I thought she'd look great in," Lorelai shrugged evasively. Jess narrowed his eyes.
"If there's anything for Emily in there, I'm calling the sanitarium."
"Relax. The day that happens I'll sew my own straitjacket," Lorelai grimaced. "But for now, let's grab lunch. Where were you thinking?"
"Luke's?" Jess quipped, Lorelai meeting him with a glare. "Oooh-kay, not in a joking mood. There's a little Vietnamese place near here."
"Vietnamese? Isn't that just soup?"
"Mostly. With noodles."
"Well, you shoulda led with those. Let's go."
"Not bad."
"God, you and Rory are picky for people who theoretically eat anything, and who I've seen eat literal mountains of food."
"She didn't like it?"
"Less than you did. She won't come with me unless she owes me one."
"That sounds transactional. I raised her well."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night. Speaking of which, did you sleep at all last night?"
"I did! I was asleep before you!"
"And you woke up at…"
"…3," Lorelai admitted, sighing. Jess could see her crumpling. "Look, I said I didn't want to talk about it."
"…you sure?"
"Really? With you?"
"Hey, it seems crazy to me too. But at least then you get to talk only as much as you actually want to. I'm not gonna ask a ton of questions or give you a bunch of unsolicited advice. I'm basically a brick wall."
"It's weird that that's so comforting," Lorelai cracked, a tiny smile appearing on her face. She sighed. "So he hasn't told you anything?"
"Nope. He called to make sure you got here okay, and wasn't particularly chatty even then."
"And you just left it?"
"Figured you guys would talk to us when you felt like it."
"…wow, maybe you are a good influence on each other."
"Well now you're just trying to ruin my street cred," Jess quipped. "So…?"
"Kids," she sighed, "Luke wants kids." Jess sighed, inhaling quickly to offset the pang of hurt he felt when he heard the sentence.
"And…?"
"I'm not sure I do."
"…this really hasn't come up sooner?"
"It has. But things have changed. Last time it came up was…the first time. And even then, it wasn't a long discussion."
"So what's changed for you since then?"
"Well, I'm older for starters. It's not a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am-away, as it once would've been," Lorelai rolled her eyes as Jess cringed, "But also…I'm just getting Rory back. I want to be able to be there for her. I don't want her to feel like I'm not around for her. We're finally getting close again, and I want to keep it that way."
"You don't think you'd have the time for that with another kid?"
"It would change things, regardless," Lorelai said, "Plus, what are the chances I'd even like another kid as much as Rory? Oh god, it could be a girl. I am basically certain I couldn't love any other female child as much as Rory. And Lane was damn cute."
"So have all of these concerns been living in your head, or did they make it to Luke?"
"In some jumbled, yelly fashion, I think about 40% or so of them did yesterday?"
"That sounds…ideal."
"Yeah, a great start to the morning," Lorelai agreed sarcastically, "I was so angry when I went to work I wasn't even seeing straight, I couldn't focus on anything, and so after the world's least productive half workday, I just said screw it and decided to come here. Take a beat."
"Makes sense," Jess nodded.
"No questions? No lecture?"
"Nope."
"But you're Luke's! You're on his side!"
"I'm not taking sides. But even if I were on Luke's side, I'm not here to convince you of anything. Crash as long as you want, talk to him or don't. You'll figure it out."
"…thanks, Jess."
"Anytime. Now let's get back to Truncheon so you can terrorize Matt and Chris into being productive."
"But I always distract them with conversation!"
"Which suddenly makes them jump up and get back to work."
"Mean!"
"Loinfruit!"
"Mom," Rory smiled as she walked in the door, "Wha…"
"I stopped by your Sephora today," Lorelai smiled, "This bag is yours."
"You went to Sephora? Here?"
"Had some stuff to pick up."
"How'd work go?"
"Meh. How was yours?"
"Awful. I had to fire someone."
"How'd it go?" Jess asked, walking into the room. Rory sighed, pulling him in for a hug.
"It was crap. Glad it's over though. I don't like being the bad guy. At least not to my own team."
"Well hopefully getting rid of this guy means that you won't have to be for a while," Jess said reassuringly, "Also, we're going for Italian for dinner."
"Really?"
"Yup. Your mom suffered through Vietnamese for lunch with me and you had a shitty day, so I figured you guys should be rewarded." Rory narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Mom, would you mind if we drive separately? I need to check in with Jess about some stupid bill stuff."
Lorelai rolled her eyes at the obviousness of the lie. "Sure, I'll meet you there. Text me the address."
"Will do," Rory said, her eyes not leaving Jess. Once the door swung shut, she turned to him. "So?"
"God, could you have been any more obvious?"
"I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you to pump my mother for information the second I went to work!"
"…wait, are you mad?"
"I…I'm not sure," Rory admitted, "It's weird."
"Is it? You talk to Luke."
"Yeah, but I've always talked to Luke. This is different."
"If it bothers you, I won't do it again."
"…it doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother her. I'll work on it. But did you even find anything out?"
"Yeah. They're fighting about kids."
"What? Why would they be fighting about that? And was it really bad enough to get her here?"
"Apparently."
"…well, what else?"
"I mean, she vented a little but that was it."
"That's all you asked?"
"I mean, Luke wants them, she's not sure."
"Why?"
"A bunch of reasons she's still trying to work through."
"Didn't they talk about this before?"
"Not since the first time."
"And she just…changed her mind?"
"I don't know, Rory," Jess said, honestly, "I'm not sure if she really did, or if she's just scared, or still trying to figure it out."
"Have you talked to Luke?"
"Not yet."
"Are you going to call him?"
"Probably not. I'll wait for him to call me another day or two, and if not, then I'll try him."
"But we could just…"
"But it's not our thing, Rory. It's theirs. We have to let them work it out."
"Even if she's being stupid?"
"Yes. But he could be being stupid too. We don't know. Let's just go eat and we'll take it from there."
