"So, he left?" Rory asked.

"He had to sweetie… His family needed him."

"When did he leave?"

"Yesterday." Lorelai answered.

"Well, when's he coming back?"

"I'm not sure… He's not sure… It won't be too long." Lorelai could tell Rory was upset. "Rory, don't worry…"

Rory shook her head. "Things were just getting good… I mean, really good and what if…" She paused. "Never mind."

"What?" Lorelai inquired.

"It's just… what if he comes back with his nephew?"

"I think that's the plan." Lorelai replied. "But, he's really close your age… You may be a few months older than him."

"That doesn't make things better." Rory argued. "It's going to change everything."

"Rory, change happens… it's just a part of life."

"Aren't you worried?"

"No." Lorelai smiled. "I'm not. I think Luke needs us to be supportive. To be here for him and help him. He's lost his sister…. And we know how it feels to lose someone special to us, right?"

"Yeah." Rory replied softly. "I guess I didn't look at that way."

Lorelai glanced at the clock. "Well, you'd better get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow."

"High school." Rory nodded. "I've thought a lot about what it would be like, but I never imagined I'd be going to an American high school. Do you think anyone will treat me different?"

"No…" Lorelai replied. "You don't have a British accent, thank God we kept that out of your system, so unless you tell them they'll have no idea you ever lived in London. Besides, this is your home town."

"Right." Rory smiled.

"Now, get some sleep." Lorelai leaned down and kissed Rory gently on the cheek.

A couple of months passed. Lorelai and Rory's stuff had arrived and long since but organized into their new home. Luke had called about once a week, and the conversations were always short and interrupted. He still wasn't sure when he'd be coming back to Stars Hollow. Jess was against the idea of leaving California and hell bent on giving Luke a hard time. Lorelai, though she missed Luke very much, was starting to wonder if perhaps there would still be a spark between them when he finally returned. She had been asked out several times by several different guys, but had politely turned down each invitation.

Finally, on an evening in early November Lorelai spotted Luke's old green chuck sitting by the diner. She rushed inside and found Luke carrying bags up the stairs. When Luke heard the door open, he stopped and gazed down.

"Lorelai!" he dropped the bags and ran to her. "Oh, God it's good to see you!" He wrapped his arms around the beautiful woman.

Lorelai wasn't sure how to react. When the embrace was over she asked. "Why didn't you call more?"

"I tried…" Luke replied. "Seems like when I finally got everything settled down for the day it was 1 and 2 in the morning. During the day, I knew you'd be at work and I had no idea what the number at the inn was. I told you in our last conversation I wish we could talk more."

"You could have asked me for the inn's number."

"Yeah, but I didn't want to bug you at work." Luke glanced Lorelai over. "God, it's so good to see you."

"Yeah, you said that." Lorelai remarked.

"Hold on…" Luke held up his hand. He walked over to the stairs. "Jess! Get down here!"

"Oh, Luke, I …." Lorelai began to object.

"No, come on, I want you to meet Jess, I've told him all about you."

A young dark haired boy slowly stepped down from the stairs. At first glance, Lorelai labeled the kid as trouble Jess looked like the typical bad boy with his leather jacket and his cold stare. He had the "I don't give a crap" attitude nailed.

"Jess, this is Lorelai. Lorelai this is my nephew, Jess."

"Hi." Lorelai greeted.

"Hey." Jess nodded.

"Welcome to Stars Hollow."

"Whatever." Jess replied in a monotone voice.

Luke cleared his throat. "Lorelai has a daughter… remember I told you her name was Rory. She's about your age."

"Yeah. I remember." Jess answered.

"I'm sure, if you'd ask, Rory would be more than happy to introduce you to a few people at school, show you around..." Luke smiled.

"I'll pass." Jess turned to walk back up the stairs.

"Nice meeting you, Jess." Lorelai replied sarcastically. Once Jess had closed the door to the apartment, Lorelai glanced back at Luke. "He's just a ball of sunshine, huh?"

"He's still dealing with Liz's death." Luke replied. "He's got some problems… but hey, that's why he's here. We'll get them worked out."

"Well, good luck with that."

Luke could tell Lorelai was being distant. "So, do you want to pick up where we left off? How about dinner tomorrow? I could use some new company."

"Actually, I'm kind of tied up tomorrow with some stuff at the inn." Lorelai lied through her teeth, but at the moment that didn't matter.

"Oh… well, maybe another night this week?"

"Yeah, we'll see." Lorelai flashed a smile. "Well, I'd better get going, Rory is expecting me back… Bye."

"Bye." Luke repeated.