A/N: Hello again! Thank you all for the follows and favorites. Please continue doing that, along with reviews because those things keep me happy. Also, I did re-write a little more of that episode just to keep the story going, so obviously it's not going to be what you may remember. Sorry about that! I promise this fic will get a lot better in the upcoming chapters. Stay tuned!

The pair drove back to Stars Hollow, Jess following Rory on the dark streets with nothing but dread tugging at his brain. He should have been happy and he kept telling himself that, but even The Strokes couldn't let him get over the fact that he'd be going back to a place that he hated. While the place was too Pleasantville for Jess to comprehend most of the time, he hated it more because of all the bad things that had happened while he still lived there. The worst being that he hurt Rory — took off without a warning, a phone call, or even a goodbye. The least he could have done was leave a lousy letter explaining why it had to be done, but back then he didn't want to go through the hassle, he just wanted to get as far away from that place as he could.

He groaned and rolled his eyes as they pulled into the small town. He thought about honking his horn at Rory to pull over to Luke's, but instead he flashed his lights, not wanting to get into it with Taylor at three o'clock in the morning. (Taylor was another terrible thing about Stars Hollow in Jess' mind.)

As he pulled his car on the street outside Luke's, the girl rolled down her window to look at him. "Coffee?" He asked and pointed towards the diner. It may have been the early hours of the morning, but he knew she'd refuse the offer. Without a word, she turned off the car and ran over by him as Jess pounded on the door, hoping like crazy that Luke would hear it.

The lights came on and the pair waited anxiously to be let inside. Much to their surprise, it wasn't Luke who unlocked the door for them. Instead, it was Lorelai wearing what looked exactly like one of Luke's flannel shirts. Rory's eyes widened at the sighed while Jess covered his eyes. "Oh my God, mom!" Rory whispered, her face redder than her mothers from the embarrassment.

"I didn't expect it to be you two," Lorelai admitted as Luke raced down the steps after her. Lucky enough for all of them, he was fully clothed.

"Who were you expecting at three in the morning? The Chinese guy?" Jess asked sarcastically, still trying not to make direct eye contact.

The two stepped into the diner as Lorelai rushed upstairs to find a pair of pants. Halfway on the steps, she turned back around and slid her head around the corner. "Déjà vu, huh?" A wide, yet humiliating smile appeared on her face as she looked at Jess and Rory.

"Déjà vu," they nodded in unison.

The moment Jess heard the door upstairs close, he shot his glance to Luke who was standing behind the counter with his arms crossed, unsure of what to do in this situation. "What the hell was that?" He asked and pointed to the stairs. His uncle did nothing but shrug at the question. Everyone knew that Luke wasn't much of a talker, much like his nephew, but this was a really good time not to be silent. Even his monosyllabic ways would come in handy at the moment. "Coffee?" Jess asked Rory.

"Oh, yeah." The girl nodded sheepishly and sunk into her bar stool, ready to evaporate into thin air. Of course, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened, but each time took Rory by surprise. The only good part about it was the expression on Jess' face this time. That was something that'd make her smile even on the grayest of days.

Lorelai strolled back downstairs, this time with more layers of clothes on, and scooted past Luke and Jess to pour herself her own cup of coffee. "What do you think you're doing?" Luke asked as Lorelai started to grab for one of yesterday's coffee.

The woman smiled and scoffed, acting like the answer was obvious enough to everyone. "I need to re-energize, duh."

"Mom!" Rory whined, wishing that Lorelai had an off switch somewhere for times like this.

"Fine, moving on." She said as she took a seat next to her daughter. "What are you two even doing here? ...together?" The younger pair glanced at each other waiting for one of them to speak up at any given moment, but instead they stayed silent and looked shameful. "Let's see," Lorelai started, "last thing I heard was that you two ran in circles chasing each other around the town before Jess said those three oh-so precious words before taking off yet again. Am I wrong?" She eyed the two of them and they were still silent, not even making contact with Lorelai at this point. "So what? All's forgiven now?" She rolled her eyes before turning to Jess. "Is this about the book?"

The boy's face scrunched up in feigned confusion. "What book?"

Lorelai let out a laugh. "How To Love When You're Unloved or whatever lame self-help book you were reading." Rory's eyes shot up at Jess, her face softened like she suddenly had an epiphany after hearing her mother ramble on.

He scoffed, growing more and more defensive by the second. "What are you talking about?"

The woman looked at Luke who was rubbing his face and staring at the ground. "I saw it in your backpack earlier," she told Jess.

"And what were you doing going through my things?"

"Ah-ha!" She shot up from her chair. "So you admit you were reading a self-help book?"

Jess froze for a moment, trying to think up a clever response, but his wit seemed to fail him. "Who do you think I got it from?" In anger, he pointed a finger over to his uncle who was just now tuning back into the conversation.

"Oh," Lorelai's humor dropped, "that explains why you got so defensive earlier." She raised her eyebrows in perplexed manner. "Who knew."

The four sat in silence, only making noises when someone's coffee mug would hit the counter. Luke just scowled at the three of them for drinking coffee at the particular ungodly hour.

"I think I'm gonna go home and get some rest," Rory finally said. She stood up from her stool and flashed a small smile at Jess.

"Me too," Lorelai copied her and Luke nodded.

Jess walked towards the door, "I'll walk you out," he told Rory. He needed to be certain that this didn't suddenly change something within her. He knew Lorelai had a big mouth and that she could openly mock people on cue, but this was the last thing he expected to happen. Rory sauntered next to him, not knowing what to say. When she got to her car, she kept her eyes glued to the ground, making Jess feel like he was going to scream. "What?"

The girl shrugged. "A self help book? Really?"

Jess rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Luke—" He stopped himself and tried to calm down before blaming Luke once again. It was his book to begin with, but Jess was dumb enough to read it. "Look," he took her hands and closed the gap between the two of them, "it helped get us this far, didn't it?" He let a small, innocent-looking smile slip onto his face. Rory nodded and mirrored his expression. "It's no big deal," he admitted, "it is what it is."

They two started making plans for the next day and said their goodbyes just as Lorelai stepped out of the diner. "Goodnight, Jess." The woman smiled and Jess nodded at her as he turned to head back inside. "So, this explains a lot." She grinned at her daughter.

"Yeah," Rory agreed.

"The monosyllabic twins actually got what they wanted due to a self-help book." She tried her hardest not to smile, but it turned into full blown laughter with small chuckles coming from her offspring.

Rory unlocked her car and got in. "It's definitely not what I expected."

Lorelai got in the passenger side and tried to cool down, but instead continued to laugh. "I'm sorry, but this will never not be funny."