Luke opened the door and walked in. Lorelai was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on a cup of coffee.
"No luck?" She asked looking up.
"No." Luke replied. "Wherever he's went, he's made sure he covered his tracks." Luke pulled out a chair and sat down across from Lorelai. "I'm sure he's found someone where to spend the night… He'll probably show up in the morning."
"I feel horrible about all of this…" Lorelai said as she looked over at Luke.
"It's not your fault." Luke retorted. "Jess is just… he's a handful, you know. Running away is the easy thing to do and so that's what he's done. It has nothing to do with you."
"Rory said he's disappeared before… while we were on our honeymoon. The whole town was out looking for him…"
"Yeah." Luke nodded. "I can't wait till he grows out of this stage."
"He's fifteen Luke, I don't think he'll grow out of this stage. I think Jess is the type of person who has trouble facing problems and he can never come up with a solution… so he runs."
"Well, that's probably because that's all he's ever seen his mom do. Liz ran away from everything… she thought another town, or another state would make everything better."
"I guess I'm kind of guilty of that myself." Lorelai admitted.
"No… it's different with you… you were making decisions, you weren't trying to hide from anything or run away from a problem."
"I'm not so sure… I've asked myself at least a thousand times why I left here."
"Because you thought London would be the best place for you and Rory." Luke answered. "Trix was there…"
"I left because I couldn't face you… because I couldn't deal with our problem." Lorelai gazed into Luke's eyes.
"Well, none of that matters." Luke said still unwilling to blame Lorelai for anything. "You're back now and we're together and that's all that's important."
"Rory told me she has a date tomorrow…" Lorelai randomly added. "First thing I thought was 'Wow, you're old enough to date?" And after realizing she's completely and totally old enough to date, I became nervous and worried… and I swear I jumped like twenty levels into mother mode…"
"Rory's responsible… I'm sure she'll make good decisions." Luke added.
"There's a pattern with women in my family… It happened to my mom… it happened to me…"
"Lorelai…"
"I'm not saying it'll happen to Rory… I want to do everything to ensure that it doesn't. I'm just worried is all… I guess I'm not used to Rory being old enough for guys and dating and… it's just all so new."
Luke smiled. He understood what Lorelai meant. At that moment he realized that for the first time in days, they were actually talking; sharing emotions and feelings with each other. Their communication barrier had finally been broken down.
"Who's the lucky guy?" Luke asked.
"Oh, some boy named Dean." Lorelai smiled.
"Like James Dean?"
"God, I hope not." Lorelai added with a bit of laughter. "Rory says he's really sweet and little awkward… sounds like a good combination."
"Well, if Rory approves, I'm sure he's a good guy."
"You honestly believe that much in her judgment?" Lorelai asked a bit skeptical.
"Of course I do." Luke reached his hand across the table to Lorelai's. "I know you've raised her to be careful and smart about these types of things… She's got a good head on her shoulders and that's because of you. You're a great mom." Luke smiled.
Now Lorelai remembered why she said yes in the first place. This was the Luke Danes that she loved. These were the moments that everyone waited for in life. The moment that was set up so perfectly and timed so specifically, it kept you going though everything else was falling down around you. She leaned across the table and as her lips came close to his, the back door opened and Lorelai and Luke both pulled away from each other. They turned to see Jess standing in the doorway.
"What can I say… I've got a knack for opening doors at inconvenient times." Jess replied as he closed the door behind him. "Don't mind me, go back to what you were doing." He walked over to the basement door and opened it.
"Wait a minute…" Luke stood up from the table. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Uh, going to bed…"
"Can it with the wise cracks." Luke replied sternly. "Sit down." He pointed to an empty chair at the table.
"Luke, it's 1:00 am…" Jess replied.
"Exactly my point… sit down!" Luke said aggressively. Lorelai even flinched a bit by his harsh tone.
Jess mumbled a few words under his breath and then sat down at the table. Luke sat down as well.
"First off, this running away thing stops now… I've been out looking for you for hours. You don't just vanish like that."
"What?" Jess asked in disbelief. "I'm under lock down now?"
"That sounds pretty good." Luke replied. "Or here's a better term. Grounded."
"Grounded?" Jess couldn't believe his ears. "For what? Getting away from a deranged screaming girl?"
Luke's anger rose. "You went to school and you spread lies…" Luke said slowly and yet hatefully. "You embarrassed Rory… You've tarnished Lorelai's image and you've humiliated the whole family."
"No… I didn't. I told some guys at school that Lorelai spilled her coffee. I made a joke about it… they're the ones who took it to the next level. I took up for them!" Jess replied.
"You never should have opened your mouth to begin with…"
Jess stood up from the table. "Whatever…."
"Sit down!" Luke yelled.
"No… I get it now." Jess replied calmly. "It doesn't matter what I do… I'm always going to be labeled the bad kid… the trouble maker… the ogre …"
"That's not true." Luke remarked.
"Yes it is!" Jess countered. "I've told Rory and I've told you that I didn't spread those things… that I took up for Lorelai and Rory and neither one of you want to believe me. Fine, I don't care anymore. I'm through caring. If everyone wants to blame for everything, go ahead!"
"I believe you." Lorelai suddenly said. Luke and Jess both looked over at the woman who they had practically forgotten was in the room.
"What?" Luke asked not sure what Lorelai meant.
"I believe him." Lorelai clarified. "He says he didn't say anything else other than it was funny… I believe him. I believe he took up for us too."
Jess wasn't sure whether or not to trust Lorelai. He was quite for several seconds. Luke was also caught off guard.
"Why do you believe him?" Luke asked.
Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know… He just made a mistake, like I did. I slipped up and removed my robe in front of him… he slipped up and said something that other people took the wrong way. He didn't intentionally cause any of this."
Jess stared at the woman. "Yeah…" he nodded. "That's it…"
Luke scratched at the back of his head. "Well, if you believe him…"
"So, I'm not grounded?" Jess asked.
"Oh yeah, you're grounded. This doesn't excuse the taking off till 1:00 am part."
Jess sighed. "Fine, for how long?"
Luke looked over at Lorelai. Lorelai didn't give any type of sign or movement. She sat there waiting for Luke to make the decision.
"Uhhh…" Luke exhaled deeply. "A week."
"Alright…" Jess replied. "Can I go to bed now?"
"Yeah… go on." Luke nodded towards the basement. "No music or television. Straight to bed." He added.
Jess turned and looked back at Lorelai. He didn't know why she had decided to believe him or take his side, but it was a relief to have someone on his team for once.