"Well, that's settled," Emily said, as soon as she and Lorelai sat down at the table where Rory and Jess were already sharing a plate of fries, "We're leaving. After lunch. I'll be dropping off your mother back in Stars Hollow on my way."

"Mom?"

"Yep. Thanks for having me, kid," Lorelai smiled reassuringly at Rory. She turned to Jess. "Jess, would you mind?"

"On it," he nodded, walking away from the table with his phone to let Luke know she'd be home in a few hours.

"I'm going to track down that waitress and see if she can hurry things up," Emily huffed. "Lorelai, what would you like?"

"A burger and fries."

"Of course," Emily rolled her eyes. "See you shortly."

Once she walked away, Rory smiled weakly at her mom. "I'm glad you worked it out."

"Are you?" Lorelai asked carefully.

"Of course! I want you to be happy!"

"But…"

"But…Jess helped you, and then it seems pretty clear Grandma helped you, and I didn't help you at all," Rory admitted. "I just…normally I'm that person for you. I'm sad about losing that."

"Rory, you're not losing that. But also, you can't be all things for me all the time. As much as I wish you could," Lorelai reassured her, "Look…you and I are always going to be as close as it's humanly possible to be without some siamese twin scenario. But, that being said…it's okay that sometimes we're going to need other people more. I was sad too, when I wasn't the one who helped you out of everything you were struggling with last year, or the one to help you into all the great new things. I wasn't even a part of most of it."

"Mom, I'm sorry…"

"You don't need to apologize. I'm just saying- I've felt how you're feeling right now. And it's like we talked about a couple of months ago…things are changing, hon. It was bound to happen at some point. Especially now that you're leading a rich, full life of your own and some of my things are actually moving a bit. We'll figure it out as we go. But you are always wanted, and you and your opinions always matter to me, and I promise that the tiniest positive interaction with your grandmother will not displace you."

"I still can't believe it was Grandma that helped," Rory marveled. Lorelai sighed.

"I'm sure it's already going to her head."

"What's going to whose head?" Emily asked, sitting down, "Lorelai, I ordered your burger but I also ordered you a salad. You need to start taking care of yourself. You're getting married, for god sakes!"

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "No one, Mom. And I'm not eating a salad!"

"Honestly, how can you have such blatant disregard for your health? Have I taught you nothing?"

"Apparently not."

"Also, we'll get dinner at Luke's before I head back to Hartford. The maid has the day off, so I'll bring something back for your father."

"…great."

"Grandma…"

"It was lovely seeing you, Rory. But I have concerns. Let's discuss your current living situation."

"That was…"

"Unbearable?"

"Seemingly, but here we are," Jess replied, falling back onto the couch. "Your grandmother is something."

"She was in fine form today," Rory agreed.

"Does she think she gets a say in all of your life choices?"

"She thinks she has a deciding vote," Rory answered, rolling her eyes, "She's still upset I left the DAR."

"The what?"

"Don't even ask."

"Gladly."

"Well, at least we have the weekend back to ourselves," Rory sighed, "You think they're gonna work it out?"

"Yeah," Jess nodded, "I do. Now let's get back to our regularly scheduled reading."

"Anais Nin?"

"You read my mind."

"Jess?" Rory asked, a few hours later.

"Yeah?" he replied softly.

"Since it's come up…well…you know how I feel about kids," Rory said carefully. Jess nodded slowly. "But that doesn't mean I don't want them. I haven't made that decision yet. I thought I should be honest with you though- that there's no guarantee with me either way. I haven't figured it out yet."

"Rory…that's okay," Jess said, "Look, I'd be over the moon to just spend our lives together, but I also think it would be cool to have kids with you. But for me, it's not a dealbreaker."

"Do you have a leaning?"

"Towards," he admitted, "Though it's hard for me to imagine just having kids, when there are so many kids that need families that don't have them. When I was on my own, I thought about fostering or adopting or something."

"We could still do that," Rory said softly.

"You'd consider that?"

"Jess, of course I would. Thinking about that hurts me too, and if I learned anything from Lorelai Gilmore, it was how to make somebody feel loved. A lot of people don't get that feeling."

"I'm not saying it would necessarily be at the exclusion of maybe doing things the other way…"

"Me either. I'd like to keep both on the table. But that's actually something I feel really good about, as we're talking about it," Rory admitted, sitting down next to Jess. "You were really going to do it on your own?"

"I even looked into it a little," Jess admitted, "I figured, what's a bed? Some of the shit they'd be so grateful for is just a given for us. That feels wrong, you know?"

Rory nodded. "I can't believe you did research."

"It was minimal."

"Still," she nodded, "It's good to know this is something you care about, and a thought you have. I'm kind of glad this came up, otherwise, I'm not sure we'd have talked about it for a while."

"To be fair, I don't think it's going to be particularly relevant to our lives this week."

"True. But maybe over the next couple years," Rory pointed out, then blushed. "You know, if things…"

"Work out? Rory…look, we'll take our time, and I'm enjoying it. But I think it's safe to operate under the assumption that things do work out." He smiled. She returned his smile softly.

"I'm glad, Jess. But yeah, even if it's not a right-now question…I'm glad we're talking about it now. I don't ever want to end up in the fight Mom's in."

"There's no guarantee with anything like that," Jess replied, taking Rory's hand in hers, "And even if this isn't the topic, I'm sure we'll fight about all sorts of stupid crap over the rest of our lives. But yeah- I'm glad this came up. I haven't really told anybody about that."

"Luke?"

"We don't have that many emotional heart to hearts," Jess replied cheekily.

"Also…I'm sorry Mom said that he'd never had kids."

"Why? It's true," Jess said casually, standing up and busying himself in the kitchen, "You want coffee?"

"Yes," Rory answered immediately, "But also…you know it's not."

"…I know what you mean. Thanks, Rory."

"Anytime."

"Mom…I think I should go talk to Luke now. I'll have Cesar get your orders to you right away to bring back to Hartford. Okay?"

"Well, I suppose that's fine," Emily said, "Thanks, Lorelai."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"…listening. And letting me help you."

"Well, I'll deny I ever said this, but once in a blue mood, I actually need it," Lorelai cracked, sharing a small smile with Emily, "Thanks, Mom."

"Anytime, Lorelai. Say hello to Luke for me. And we'll see you both Friday," Emily said pointedly, walking over to Cesar. Lorelai sighed. She walked to the counter, and Luke came out from the back storage room.

"Lorelai. That was fast," Luke said, a little coolly. Lorelai sighed.

"Can we talk?"

"I thought we didn't have anything else to say."

"Well, you know me," Lorelai rolled her eyes, and Luke smiled a tiny bit in spite of himself. "Upstairs?"

"Alright. I'll have Cesar take…is that your mother?"

"Yep. Another good reason to walk quickly."

"Right behind ya."

"So…"

"So, I'm sorry," Lorelai sighed, sitting down on the bed. Luke looked at her carefully.

"Lorelai, it's not about sorry. I'm not…angry with you…really. I just need to know. You know that."

"I know," Lorelai nodded, "Look, I get it. And…I want more kids. I really do. I know I do."

Luke exhaled heavily in relief, slowly sitting down next to Lorelai.

"Then would you mind telling me what the hell all that was a couple of days ago?"

"That was…fear. Not of having them…but fear that I couldn't."

"But you…"

"It was a long time ago, Luke. I'm not sixteen. I'm not even twenty seven," she joked. "I…I want more kids, and I know how badly you do too. Especially since you never really had them. But I can't guarantee I can give them to you."

"…why didn't you tell me this was worrying you?"

"Because I didn't want you to feel like you had to fix it for me," Lorelai said, "Or like you had to give something up, that was really important to you, just to be with me."

"Lorelai…if something's…if it doesn't work the way we hope it will, we'll figure something out. There's not just one way to have a kid," Luke pointed out, "We'll figure it out together. I don't want to leave you just because it's not a guarantee it'll happen exactly the way we plan. That's ridiculous."

"But you deserve to have it happen that way! You've never really gotten to do this."

"That's not really true," Luke replied, looking down.

"You didn't even find out about April until…"

"Jess."

"…oh."

"I mean, I always had a feeling how that would end up. Where we are now. And even though he's not…I mean, but…"

"He's your kid," Lorelai said. Luke nodded. "Were you there when he was…"

"I was always there," Luke answered, "Whenever Liz would let me, or when I knew where they were. He might not have lived with me for real until he was sixteen, but I was raising him far before that, as much as I could." Lorelai nodded.

"Luke, I'm sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry about?"

"I don't think I've always treated it that way," Lorelai admitted, looking down. "I think I've almost treated it like…well, not like that's what it was. And you told me that's how it was a long time ago."

"More or less," Luke nodded, recalling the conversation she was referencing after Jess had crashed Rory's car.

"But yeah…even with Jess being that for me…I have always wanted…"

"I know," Lorelai nodded, "And so do I. And if you're up for figuring it out with me…then I'm all in."

"Me too," Luke smiled, pulling her close, "Me too."