(for disclaimer, etc. - see part 1)

Part 2 of 3

They were a noisy bunch when they all met up at the Whippoorwill, which was really no surprise given how many of them there were. Zoe and Wade with their two kids had brought Rose along, not really on purpose, more because she showed up right as they were leaving to ask about the visiting clan from Stars Hollow. Zoe said her best friend should come right along and meet everyone, not least because a new one in the party was about her age and had just suffered a heartbreak. Maybe Rose could be April's buddy while she was in Bluebell.

Wade was just happy not to have to get involved in anybody else's twenty-something love drama, though he had enough of a time corralling a lot of excited kids when Jack and Eve finally saw Mia and Richie again. They were so little, especially Eve, he had half-convinced himself that, after a year, they wouldn't all remember each other so well, but that wasn't true. They all went just this side of crazy on meeting up again and pretty much started running circles around the adults as they were all hugging and shaking hands and such. Eve seemed to be completely over her sickness, which was excellent, and no doubt had only been caused by over-excitement in the first place. "So, I was thinkin'," Wade told Luke and Jess, wincing at the noise being made by the kids squealing and the womenfolk not doing much less, "maybe you guys might wanna come along to the Rammer Jammer with me. You know, Luke, we could call it a business meetin' if you wanna throw me some tips for the food side of things over there."

He hoped the look he shot Luke's way made it plain he was hoping to escape the furore for a while and that maybe both he and Jess might agree to be part of the plan. Seemed to work pretty easy actually.

"That sounds great. I could absolutely help you out," said Luke definitely. "Hey, Will, you wanna come along? And before you ask, yes, you can bring your tablet with you."

"Sure." Will nodded without hardly looking up from the device in his hands.

"He got it for his birthday," Jess explained to Wade. "Pretty sure I haven't seen it leave his hands in six months, but at least what he's doing on there is mostly educational."

Wade didn't say anything, just whistled loud to get Zoe's attention and let her know the guys were all headed in a decidedly Rammer Jammer direction. She looked set to argue for all of three seconds before she sighed and gave in.

"Fine, but we'll come meet up with you there around lunch, and please remember, it is too early for beers just yet," she said with a look.

"I hear you, baby," Wade promised, blowing her a kiss before the guys parted ways with the girls.

Zoe watched them go, then turned back to Rory and Lorelai, rolling her eyes. "Men, am I right?"

"They just like to do their own thing sometimes," said Lorelai, shrugging her shoulders, "I mean, us girls are much the same right?"

"I guess so," Zoe agreed. "So, you want me to give you ladies the tour of the town because..." she trailed off, wincing at the general cacophony the over-excited kids were making. "Wow, they're loud."

"Christmas time makes for very excited kids, and I'm guessing your baby girl is extra pumped, with it being her birthday, also."

"Oh, you have no idea." Zoe shook her head. "I swear, I love my kids-"

"But every once in a while, it would be nice if they had a volume control or maybe even a temporary off switch," said Rory with a knowing look.

"It's like we're one person," said Zoe, her eyes wide, and then all three of them laughed.

"Hey, Zoe?" Rose called out then, now surrounded by all four kids, with April moping nearby. "I was just thinking, maybe we could take the kids off your hands a while, you know, if you wanted a chance for adult talk."

"Oh, well..." Zoe trailed off awkwardly, then looked to Rory. "You know, Rose is one of my very best friends, super trustworthy with kids. If you wanted to..."

"I guess so." Rory nodded cautiously. "I mean, Richie and Mia seem to love her already."

"Plus, I'm betting April would stay with them too," said Lorelai. "She's not exactly chatty lately."

"Well, maybe Rose can get her to talk about it, maybe even cheer up a little? She is so good at that kind of thing, as well as being just about the best babysitter in the world."

With all that decided, Rose and April were left alone with the kids, while Zoe took Lorelai and Rory off for a tour of Bluebell. Of course, they were going to stop off at the Butterstick for coffee and doughnuts, then the plan was to pretty much circle the town, and arrive at the Rammer Jammer in time for lunch.

Rose promised to meet them there, with April and all the kids in tow. She waved the mothers goodbye, then asked the kids where they wanted to go. Jack and Eve just wanted the chance to run around town square among the Christmas display, and Mia and Richie were no less eager when they knew that was an option. Rose let them do it, inviting April to join her in the gazebo, since it was the best place to keep an eye on things.

"Wow, you really have gone through something bad, huh?" she said as they trudged up the steps and sat down on the bench within. "I know that expression a little too well myself."

"Guys suck," April grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. "I mean, come on, he knew my education and career meant a lot to me when we got together, it's not like it should have come as a surprise when I was dedicated to studying and working. And It's not as if I never had any time for him at all. He absolutely did not need to sleep with half the lab behind my back."

"Ouch," Rose sympathised. "Yeah, I've been there. I mean, not cheated on with half a laboratory full of people, but cheated on in general, oh yes," she said with a sigh. "Trust me, bad as it seems right now, you will bounce back. You don't think that you can, but you will. Hey, maybe you'll even meet somebody great while you're down here."

"In the remaining three days of the trip? What kind of relationship would that be?"

"The fun kind?" Rose suggested with a grin. "Not every guy has to be marriage material, April, and I'm not even suggestin' you go leapin' into bed with the first guy that asks, but mistletoe kisses can be awful good for your self-esteem when it's been swimming around in the basement for a while."

That got a smile out of April, which was what she had been aiming for. As far as Rose Hattenbarger was concerned, nobody should be depressed on Christmas, not even strangers from Connecticut that she only just met. If she could find somebody around town to make April feel better about herself before Christmas was over, so much the better. In the meantime, at least the kids seemed to be having a real good time. That wasn't nothing.

"This place is so much like Stars Hollow, it's almost scary," said Lorelai, draining the last of the coffee from her to-go cup. "I mean, I admit, your Butterstick is great and all, but they are nowhere near as good as my Luke at coffee. That said, the sweet tea is just about sweet enough for my ridiculous sugar tolerance, and the town in general? Big Stars Hollow vibes, you know, if it was permanent Summer there."

"I was just going to say that." Rory laughed. "This heat is so weird for December. It must have taken you forever to get used to it, Zoe, coming from New York and everything"

"Oh, it did," her friend agreed, nodding her head, "but I had good reasons to try to adjust. Don't get me wrong, it was quite the rocky road settling into Bluebell, but I had Wade and Lavon and George and so many good people around me. This place is family as well as home. I couldn't be anyplace else now."

"I get that." Lorelai sighed. "When I left Hartford and moved to Stars Hollow, I was seventeen with a two-year-old kid," she said, looking fondly at Rory. "I wasn't sure how it was going to work out, but it just did. The weirdest situations, the most hopeless seeming beginnings, they can lead to the absolute best things."

"Amen to that," said Zoe, lifting her own near-empty cup to toast the sentiment.

Three cups all came together in agreement and then the women finished off the last of their drinks. As they did so, Zoe caught sight of her watch.

"Wow, we really should head for the Rammer Jammer. The guys will be wondering where we are."

"Ha! I doubt it," said Lorelai. "I'm guessing there's a flat screen TV in Wade's bar, plus beer which they will probably have decided it's okay to get into if they've started eating lunch without us. Luke will be giving Wade all the tips about all-day breakfasts and perfect pancakes. Also, last minute cooking advice for the big dinner tomorrow."

"While Jess will be lost in a book, and Will, having presumably found a charger for his tablet, won't have lifted his head in hours either," Rory finished off. "At least we know they won't be getting themselves into any trouble."

"That is true." Zoe nodded.

So convinced were the girls that they had their guys pegged exactly, it came as a real shock when they arrived in the Rammer Jammer to a very different scene than the one they expected. Rose and April actually had the kids all sitting quietly in a corner booth, drawing and colouring, by the seem of things. The weirdest part may have been that April was genuinely smiling, something nobody had seen her do for quite a while now.

Still, what took the cake was the guys. Will seemed happy as a clam bussing tables, while Jess tended bar like a pro. Wade and Luke were conspicuous by their absence, but before Zoe or Lorelai could worry, they appeared together from the kitchen, chatting away like the greatest of all pals.

"You know, I thought I knew how to make a pancake, but seriously, man, yours are somethin' else."

"It just takes practice is all, and hey, I never even knew what grits meant until today."

"I gotta tell you, Lorelai," Wade looked to her then, "your husband here? Complete natural at Southern cuisine. Best grits I ever knew a Northerner make, that's for damn sure."

Zoe cleared her throat loudly and all eyes turned to her. Wade stifled a laugh. "Oh, come on, baby. You are good at a lotta things, a real lot, but grits?"

His wife huffed a sigh and rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, I suck at grits," she admitted, "but more important right now, why is Jess running your bar?"

"Uh, 'cause we were busy in the kitchen and he offered. Relax, doc, he's run bars before. Told me so himself, and in your beloved New York, no less."

"Oh, yes, that is true." Rory nodded her agreement. "He did some bar work in New York and in Philadelphia before the book thing happened."

"And I promised Will a couple of bucks if he pitched in, hence the bussing tables," Luke explained. "I know, he should learn to volunteer without being paid, but I-"

He stopped talking very abruptly, the plate in his hand sliding towards the floor. It was Wade who thought fast and caught it before there was a mess, though all other eyes were on Luke as he stared straight ahead as if someone just hit him with a stun gun.

"What is the matter with you?" asked Lorelai, waving her hand in front of his eyes.

Luke's arm raised to point past her to the door and everybody looked that way instead. Rory really didn't know what all the fuss was about, until Zoe spoke up.

"Lavon. Hey, come meet our friends from Connecticut."

It seemed the great Lavon Hayes had arrived and though nobody had ever really seen Luke starstruck before, that had to be exactly what was happening as he continued to stare in silence for quite a while. When he was finally introduced to the mayor of Bluebell, former NFL star, Lavon Hayes, he snapped out of it, and then, the gushing started.

Rory excused herself to go talk with Jess, glad to be able to grab him between customers at the bar and claim a kiss. "Hey, sexy bartender man."

"Hey, you," he greeted her with a grin. "So, you just met Luke's hero, I think."

"Something like that," she said, shaking her head. "I have never seen him so over-awed by anybody ever."

"Everybody goes to pieces over somebody, I guess, but if that's how it makes a person look, makes me glad to know all my favourite authors are dead."

Rory laughed at that, even if the joke was a little morbid, and also, kind of true. She sat down on a stool, waving to the kids at the table a short distance away. They waved back but were far too invested in what they were doing to come over.

"So, apparently, Christmas is going to be celebrated here tomorrow," Jess explained, furnishing Rory with a glass of wine. "Wade said they talked about throwing the event at the mayor's house, but that didn't seem too fair on Lavon and his wife. They're setting it up later, making one big table out of all the little ones, I guess."

"Well, it is already decorated and there really are a lot of us to accommodate. Makes sense," she considered, sipping her drink. "Can you actually believe we're having Christmas in Alabama? I mean, it's December and I'm pretty sure I've sweated through this dress in half a day."

"Wow, thanks for sharing." Jess smirked terribly, leaning on the bar beside her.

"Hey, we can't all be so damn cool that even hundred-degree heat can't touch us."

"Comes easy for guys like us, right, Jess?" said Wade, holding up his hand for a high-five.

Though Jess rolled his eyes where the other guy couldn't see, he didn't leave him hanging.

"So, he fill you in on the plan for tomorrow?" Wade asked Rory then.

"That we're having Christmas in here? Yes, he did," she confirmed. "It really is going to be a big event. I feel a little bad about landing you with all the cooking and the clean-up after and everything."

"Hey, come on, now." Wade shook his head. "After what y'all did for us last year when we got ourselves stranded? It's no problem. 'Sides half the people woulda been here anyhow. Me and Zoe, Jack and Eve, old Earl, that's my dad, plus Lavon and Lemon and their twins. We don't exactly do things by halves, even when we don't have half o' Connecticut droppin' in to visit."

When little Eve started calling for her daddy's attention, Wade went right on over without hesitation. Rory watched him leave, then turned back to Jess with a smile as she raised her glass like a toast.

"Well, here's to Southern hospitality."

Grabbing a bottle of beer for himself, he clinked it against her glass. "Here's to it."

To Be Continued...