Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls and all it's characters and situations are property of Amy Sherman-Palladino and The WB/The CW. I do not own anything and will not make any profit from this story.

A/N: Voiceovers are in bold.

A/N: Sorry it took so long, but it's a really long chapter (specially for you, my loyal readers :p). I'm trying this new thing where I outline the chapters first, makes writing so much easier. Hope you guys like it.

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are awesome. xD

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Rory asked, placing her hand on Jess' arm, effectively stopping him from walking up the front porch steps. "I can do it alone if you want."

Jess sighed. "Rory, I have to face him at one point if he's going to be at the wedding."

"What if he stands up and tells me not to marry you?"

"Will you listen?"

"No."

"Then there's no problem. It might even make things more interesting." He smirked.

Rory glared at him. "I don't want our wedding to be ruined."

"Rory, it'll be fine. You'll see."

She sighed. "But if it isn't, it's all on you."

"Fine, can we go now?"

"Yes." She huffed, following Jess up the steps and watching as he rang the bell. How was it that he was more okay with this than she was? Sure, Dean and she had worked out their issues, but she didn't want him to make Jess uncomfortable. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened.

Dean looked kind of taken aback at having not only Rory but also Jess on his doorstep. Especially since Jess looked like he wanted to be here and Rory looked like she didn't. The reverse was usually true.

"Hey, Dean, buddy, can we come in?" Jess said as he pushed past Dean.

Dean shot a questioning look at Rory, who just shrugged and followed Jess into the house.

"Sure, come in." He said to the now empty porch and closed the door, following his two visitors into the living room.

--

"Nice place," Jess said, turning around slowly and looking everything over. The place was small, but looked like it served it's purpose to the owner.

"Thanks," Dean replied awkwardly, unsure if he was being insulted or not.

"Please, sit," he motioned towards the couch. "You guys thirsty?" He figured he might as well be polite, even if he had no clue as to what they could be doing here. "Shouldn't they be planning wedding stuff?" He thought to himself before heading off to the kitchen to get Rory a glass of water.

"Thanks," Rory replied when Dean handed her the glass before sitting down opposite them.

"So… how are you guys?"

"We're good," Rory replied with a friendly smile. "You?"

"I'm good too."

There was an awkward silence as Jess and Rory looked around, trying to absorb as much information about Dean's life as they could from the walls.

"She's pretty," Jess said, attempting to remain friendly.

"Who?" Dean asked.

Jess motioned his head to the pictures on the mantelpiece.

"Oh, Veronica, yeah."

"You have a girlfriend?" Rory asked.

"Uh, yeah, we've been dating for three years now. She lives with me actually. I would have introduced her to you but her mother's sick, so she's away."

"Oh, that's too bad," Jess said sincerely.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Dean said, "but what's going on? I find it hard to believe that you guys dropped in just for a chat. Especially you Jess, no offence."

"I would've been offended if you had expected me to drop in just for kicks," Jess joked. Dean chuckled lightly.

Jess found this extremely weird. He couldn't remember a time when he had liked Dean, when his main goal wasn't to upset or piss off Dean. But now, here he was, in his house of all places, making small talk, about to invite the guy to his wedding. And the kicker? It was all his idea.

"Well, here's the thing, I don't know if you know," Rory started, nervous as hell, "but Jess and I are getting married-"

"Congratulations," Dean smiled sincerely at the both of them, he was past petty differences, harsh words, jealousy. He was past Rory.

"-thanks, and anyways, we were wondering if you would like to come. With Veronica of course." Rory waited with bated breath, while Jess just stared at Dean.

"Sure," Dean replied after a couple of seconds.

"We just- we want to leave the past in the past, start with a clean slate, let everything go. We're not in high school anymore. And in order to do that, we figured, you know, since we'd be seeing you around town and all, it would be nice to be able to be polite to each other in Doose's-" Rory rambled on, causing both Jess and Dean to smile.

"I appreciate it," he smiled warmly.

"It was actually Jess' idea," Rory said.

"Really?" Dean turned to Jess.

"Really." Jess replied. He took a deep breath. "Look, man, what's done is done, I just don't want this place to suck as much as it did last time."

"How heartfelt," Rory joked. They all laughed.

"I'm not saying we're gonna be best buddies or anything, but I guess it couldn't hurt to be able to be polite to you when you come into the diner or something."

Rory smiled proudly at him. He'd come a long way.

"I appreciate the gesture and… Thanks."

Jess nodded.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay," Dean mimicked.

They all stood up.

"So, anyways, congratulations again and…"

"See you at the wedding," Jess said, shaking Dean's hand.

"Yeah, see you at the wedding," he replied, shaking Rory's hand too.

--

"That went well," Rory said as soon as they were walking down the porch steps.

"What were you expecting? A fight?" Jess asked sarcastically.

"Honestly? Yeah," she answered bluntly.

"Rory-"

"Not from you, Jess! I just wasn't expecting it to go this well, that's what I meant."

"Me neither."

"And I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," Jess said gruffly, putting his arm around her waist as they walked to the diner.

"Coffee! Coffee! Coffee!" Lorelai yelled, storming into the kitchen of the Dragonfly Inn.

"You're in luck, there's a fresh pot on the counter," Sookie replied, chopping vegetables and not even batting an eyelash at Lorelai's behaviour. She'd gotten used to it by now.

"Oh, bless you, sweet lady, how can I ever repay you?"

Sookie grinned. "Feel like babysitting?"

Lorelai's face lit up. "Sure. No problem. When do you need me?"

"Thursday evening?" Sookie asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, no problem."

"And you're sure Luke won't mind?"

Lorelai waved away Sookie's question, "Luke, will love it."

Sookie raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Really? Something I should know?"

"No, no, nothing you should know..."

Sookie set down the knife, "Spill.".

Lorelai sighed and set down her cup of coffee. "Well, lately I've been thinking-"

"You wanna get pregnant again!" Sookie yelled, jumping to the other side of the counter and hugging Lorelai.

"Sookie, chill. Calm down, honey," Lorelai placed her hands on her friend's shoulders.

Sookie's face fell. "You don't wanna get pregnant?"

"No, Sookie, I-" Lorelai sighed and leaned against the counter. "I don't know. I mean, Rory's grown up and I'm certainly not getting any younger, but I... I kind of miss having someone to take care of, you know. Someone in the house."

"Aww, sweetie. Well I'm sure you could still have kids you know, you're plenty young. I mean, look at- at Marcia Cross, and... and Salma Hayek."

"Salma Hayek?"

"I think it was Salma Hayek. Anyway, my point is, you could still be a mom again."

Lorelai sighed, "Yeah, but what if Luke doesn't want to?".

Sookie moved back to the other side of the counter and started chopping again. "Well, you'll only know when you ask him."

"Yeah, but I mean, Rory should be the one having kids, not me."

"Says who?"

"Euh, Murphy's Law?" Lorelai tried, unsuccessfully.

Sookie chuckled. "Honey, do you even know what Murphy's Law means?"

"Something with apples falling to the earth, I dunno."

"Just talk to Luke, what's the worst that can happen?"

"Fire trucks and flash floods come to mind," Lorelai deadpanned.

"Oh, dear husband of mine, this smells amazing-" Lorelai placed her purse and keys on the little table near the door and made her way to the kitchen, "and I hope you made tons because I am starving, Michel was a huge pain today, well, more than usual and Sookie was in a frenzy over Rory and Jess' wedding cake, God, that still feels weird to say, what's all this?" She stopped suddenly when she saw what Luke had prepared. Macaroni and cheese, chilli fries, burgers, pie, ice cream, all her favourite food was on the table.

Luke smiled at her. "This is called a hamburger," he joked, picking up the aforementioned item.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "I know that." She plopped down on a chair. "But what's the occasion?"

"No occasion, just felt like making this."

"Felt like making this? Luke, you call this heart disease inducing food."

"Yeah, well, you like it, so…"

Lorelai smiled at him, "You're such a catch, d'you know that?"

Luke chuckled.

"I'm nominating you for Stars Hollow Citizen Of The Month at the next town meeting," she said with a mouthful.

"Well, proceed at your own risk, Kirk might be a bit irritated by that."

"Oh, please, he's won for the last three years, one plaque more or less won't make a difference."

"Hey, Luke," Lorelai set down her fork, "can we talk?"

"Sure," he wiped his mouth with his napkin, and mimicked Lorelai's actions. "Is something wrong?" He asked. He was unable to read the expression on her face, and that worried him.

She smiled. "No, everything's fine. Great, actually." Folding and unfolding her hands in her lap, she breathed in and gathered up the courage to broach the topic she was hoping to talk to Luke about.

"Okay, then, what's up?" Luke was oblivious to everything.

"Kids," she blurted out.

Luke looked confused. "Kids?"

"Kids," Lorelai affirmed. "I wanted to talk to you about kids. Our kids. Or- not that we have kids, but maybe in the future, the near future hopefully about having kids, our kids, our own kids, because we're not getting younger, but you hate spit and little jam hands-"

"Lorelai!"

She shut up.

"Once again, calmly," he took her hand, smiling.

"I miss having kids around the house," she said simply. "I miss the noise and the laughter and the hair-pulling and the worrying. But, I'm not young anymore, and Rory might have a kid soon-"

"What?!" Luke yelled. "That punk got her pregnant?"

Lorelai laughed. "Luke! They're getting married, and he's not a punk anymore, they're 25, it's okay if they're pregnant."

"Yeah, you're right. It's okay," Luke repeated, his breathing getting normal again.

"But they're not. At least not as far as I know..."

Luke paled again so she changed the subject back. "I just mean, it's Rory's time now, not mine. I just- I guess it's just the fact that my baby's all grown-up now, I'm getting a bit nostalgic I guess."

Luke's face softened, "Lorelai, we have options you know."

"You mean, you get it?"

"I get it," he smiled, "plus, I think this place could use some jam hands, liven it up a little."

"So you're in?"

"I'm in."

Lorelai's grin practically reached her ears. "Come here." She pulled him closer for a kiss.

"Okay, so options."

"Well," Luke started, "we could have kids-"

Lorelai smiled, "that would be nice."

"Yeah, or adoption is an option, foster care-"

"Foster care?"

"Yeah, you know, take in a kid without officially adopting-"

She waved her hand, "No, I know what foster care is, but I just never really thought of it before."

"Well, it is an option..."

"Yeah, foster care..."

Lorelai heard a frantic knock on the door. "I'm coming! I'm here!" She nearly tripped down the stairs as the knocking became more insistent. "Jeezes. Kirk! I've told you before that I don't have any salt, so no you can't borrow some! I don't care if it's the neighbourly thing to do!" She swung open the front door, disgruntled, expecting to find an annoying neighbour, but her facial expression changed to concern when she found her daughter standing in the door opening.

"Honey, its 2 AM, what're you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep," Rory mumbled as her mom guided her to the kitchen.

"So you came here for some hot chocolate? Sweetie, you have a full fridge at home. I know this because I was there when your fiancé stocked it up."

Rory accepted the glass of water her mother gave her. Lorelai sat down opposite her daughter.

"Does Jess know you're here?" She asked after a few minutes.

Rory shook her head.

"You wanna tell me what this is about?" She asked gently.

"I can't do this, mom."

"Honey, yes you can. Where's this coming from?"

"What if he won't love me anymore?"

"Oh, sweets, Jess has done stupid, questionable and hurtful things, but babe… he loves you. I know it, Luke knows it, Jess knows it, the whole town knows it and you know it too."

"Yeah, but what if one day he meets a blonde, leggy actress or model like-like" She looked at the cover of Nylon lying on the table, "like Hayden Panettiere."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Rory, Jess isn't Sarkozy, he would never do-"

"You don't know."

"Yes, I do-" She was interrupted by the phone. "Hold on, babe."

"Lorelai! Is Rory there, and don't say she went to a hockey game. I woke up and she wasn't there-" Jess' frantic voice washed over Lorelai.

"Hoodlum, chill. She's here, she's okay, she just needs you to come over and take her home. And I wasn't going to say hockey game."

"Swimming competition?"

"Pie eating contest. Duuh."

"Who was that?" Rory asked when her mom entered the kitchen.

"Oh, just some Dragonfly thing. But… crisis averted. Don't worry."

Rory nodded, playing with her empty glass.

"Rory, being nervous is normal. God, before I married Luke I was ready to run away. But sweets, as corny as it sounds, you love Jess and Jess loves you. It's like scientifically proven. It's more accurate to say that you guys belong together and love each other than to say that the earth revolves around the sun."

"So! How did it go?!" Sookie yelled as soon as Lorelai entered the kitchen.

"Okay, Sookie, 9 AM."

"Sorry," Sookie answered sheepishly.

"Plus I think you deafened me in one ear," Lorelai rubbed her left ear frantically.

"Ha. Ha."

"You love me," she made a cutesy face that Sookie reciprocated.

"But seriously, how did your talk with Luke go?"

"It went quite well."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oooh, I'm so excited, what did he say?" Sookie's face lit up.

"Well, we threw around some ideas, and the one idea that stood out besides, you know, the obvious," she pointed to her stomach, "was foster care."

"Foster care?" Sookie's face changed instantly.

"Yeah, foster care. I mean, Luke took Jess in, and we realized that if we couldn't have a child of our own, we wouldn't mind helping out some troubled kid who doesn't have a home."

"Wow. That's big."

"Yeah, you don't look happy. Why?" Lorelai asked, studying her friend's face.

"No, I am happy. I just, for some reason foster care slipped my mind yesterday when we were talking. I'm just a bit surprised, you pulled a rug from under me, here."

"Yeah, I know, but it seems like a good idea. I mean, we still have to talk everything over, but you know, everything is just in beginning stages," Lorelai couldn't stop smiling.

"Well, if it's what you guys want, then I'm happy," Sookie replied, a smile now firmly in place on her face.

A shrill ringing pierced the air. "Speak of the devil," Lorelai said, checking the caller ID.

"Hey, Luke."

...

"Uh huh. Sure, that's okay, I can wait for dinner. Why do you need to go to Litchfield, though?"

...

"Oh, right, yeah. No. Pfff, she's my daughter, of course I didn't forget. What kind of mother do you think I am?"

...

"Okay, see you tonight, bye hon," Lorelai shut her phone and spun around to face Sookie.

"Sookie, we have an emergency."

"What's wrong?" Sookie asked, seeing her friend's worried face.

"Rory's Bachelorette party! I totally forgot!"

Sookie gasped and clapped her hands to her mouth. "Damn! How could we forget that?"

"Yeah, and the wedding is next Wednesday. Today's Wednesday. We have less than a week to plan it."

Sookie handed her friend a cup of coffee. "Honey, calm down. We'll figure it out. Look, I'll grab Lane and we'll figure it out. We can meet here tomorrow for lunch. I'll call Lane, you brainstorm, it'll be fine. It'll be okay."

"It'll be okay," Lorelai repeated.

"Ooh! Ooh! You can work on who to invite, okay?"

"Yeah, it'll be okay," Lorelai repeated again.

"Need a brown bag?"

"I'll be okay," she replied, taking her coffee and heading to the front desk. "It'll be okay."

"Sorry, sorry, sorry I'm late," Lane yelled as she rushed into the dining room where Sookie and Lorelai were already sipping ice teas.

Sookie waved away her apology, "It's okay, sweetie."

Lane plopped down and brushed away an erratic strand of hair. "Zach and I got our wires crossed, and then we had to find a place to leave the kids… but okay, Rory's bachelorette party. Go!"

Lorelai clapped her hands in excitement," Okay, so I was thinking, tons of junk food, alcohol, her favourite music, it'll be at our place and just you know… the ladies. Just a classic party. Nothing too fancy-"

"Yeah, Rory doesn't like that," Lane agreed.

"Okay, so I'll do the food," Sookie said.

"I'll do music," Lane volunteered.

"Great, that leaves me with the alcohol. Just as life intended it to be," Lorelai joked.

"Who should we invite?" Lane asked. "I mean, obviously the three of us will be there, but who else?"

"Well," Lorelai started, "my mother will want to be there, Miss Patty, Babette, Gypsy, Sasha, Liz, Paris, and I'll ask Paris to round up some of Rory's Yale and Chilton gal pals."

"Don't ever say gal pals again," Sookie said.

"Sorry," Lorelai hung her head in shame, causing Lane to smile. Those Gilmore Girls always had a way to make you laugh.

"Okay, so we should have games, right?" Sookie asked hesitantly.

"Dirty games!" Lorelai yelled, frantically writing down all their ideas and requirements.

Lane and Sookie laughed.

"Oh, and karaoke," Lane said.

"Always fun," Sookie agreed.

"Should we get strippers?" Lane asked.

"Huh, Lane, you don't think Rory might be a bit too modest for that?"

Lane scoffed, "Please, she's living in sin with Jess, she can't be that modest."

Lorelai shrieked and covered her ears, "Lane, mother in the room."

"Sorry, Lorelai. But… you get my point."

"Loud and clear, Roger."

They spent the rest of the afternoon planning, laughing and joking around.

"Rory, what on earth happened to your foot?" Emily shrieked as soon as she saw her granddaughter enter the living room. Rory's foot was fine, she was able to walk, but it was still bandaged so the wound could heal properly.

"Oh, it's nothing grandma, it was just a knife-"

"A knife!" Emily shrieked, falling backwards into the sofa. "Richard, Richard, I think I'm having a stroke, I need a whisky, or something!"

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Mom, quick, do you feel pain in your chest?"

"Yes, I think so," Emily replied dramatically.

"Then you're just fine," Lorelai replied, sitting down on the couch next to her mother while Jess and Rory headed to the opposite couch. "I'll have a gin martini, dad, thanks."

"Lorelai, how can you be so calm about this? Your daughter had a knife thrust in her foot!"

"Grandma, a knife fell in my foot, but I'm fine now, the wound just needs to heal properly-"

"The wedding, you're going to be married in less than a week, Rory!" Emily took the glass of water Richard handed her and gulped down a huge sip.

"Emily, she'll be fine. Won't you, Rory?" Richard faced his granddaughter.

"I'll be fine, I have the world's best nurse," she replied, gracing Jess with a teasing smile.

He groaned, "At least say doctor, it sounds more manly."

"I think nurse is plenty manly," Lorelai deadpanned.

"Don't listen to them, Jess," Emily said.

"Oh, if that I could," he sighed wistfully.

"So you'll be fine?" Emily turned her attention back to her granddaughter.

"I'll be fine, grandma," Rory smiled.

"Okay, good, good," she took another sip of water, "So, how is everyone? Nervous, I should hope," Emily faced the young couple.

Rory glanced quickly at her mom who gave her a warm smile. She hadn't told anyone about Rory's freak-out and she wasn't going to. She and Jess were the only people that ever needed to know. Every girl was entitled to at least one small breakdown before her big day.

"A bit nervous," Jess replied, squeezing Rory's hand.

"But I think we'll survive," she added.

"Dinner is served," the maid said timidly from the doorway.

"Thank you, Dorota," Emily replied.

"Mom," Lorelai hissed, while the rest headed to the dining room.

"Lorelai, what is wrong with you? Must you always insist on being so dramatic?" Emily chastised her daughter, causing Lorelai to roll her eyes.

"Sure, Ms. I'm-having-a-stroke, here's the thing though," she took a deep breath and continued hurriedly, "this coming Tuesday, our place, Rory's bachelorette party. Okay? Take note, save the info, let's go eat."

Lorelai quickly finished her martini and headed for the dining room.

"Lorelai!" Emily hissed. "Lorelai!"

She finished her water. "Good grief, that child is going to be the end of me."

"Hey, Jess, buddy! You gonna wear tights tomorrow? Really let's everything breathe, you know," TJ greeted his stepson as they all assembled at the Diner, waiting for Luke to close up.

"Oh, geez," Jess muttered under his breath.

"No, TJ, no tights. Stop harassing the kid," Jimmy said, helping Luke carry some beer from the storage room.

"Where are we going?" Jess asked, following the men of Stars Hollow out on to the empty street as Luke locked up the Diner.

"We are heading over to Luke and Lorelai's house for the best bachelor party ever!" Zach yelled, handing Jess a beer.

"Dude, it's like 9 PM," Brian interjected.

"Brian, that's Stars Hollow time for 1 AM," Zach shook his head, as if it were the most logic thing in the universe.

--

"M'ladies, are we ready for the best bachelorette party in the history of Stars Hollow!?!" Lorelai yelled at the ladies standing in Rory's living room.

"No offense Sookie and Lane," she added quickly.

"None taken," Lane replied as the other ladies wooted and whooped.

"Rory, guest of honour, are you ready to have fun?!"

"Jeez, mom, cool down," Rory said amused.

Lorelai gasped, "I most certainly will not." She faced the other ladies, "Now, off to my house!"

--

"What the hell is this?" Lorelai wondered aloud as they arrived to the Gilmore-Danes residence, music thumping, boisterous laughter coming from the inside, lights on on the down floor.

"Looks like your house has already raised the roof," Miss Patty joked.

Lorelai stormed inside and was greeted by a drunk TJ.

"Lorelai, honey, you like tights?"

"Yeaaah, chicks!" Jimmy yelled from the living room, causing all the ladies to abandon Lorelai and Rory, who were left standing in the hallway.

"Lorelai, what are you doing here?" Luke asked, Jimmy's outburst having lured him out of the kitchen.

"I- Rory's bachelorette party," she said weakly, "I thought the house was free tonight."

"Mom, it's okay," Rory consoled her mother.

"No, this was supposed to be awesome, it's your bachelorette party," she said, clearly upset.

"Mom, it's an awesome party, so we're sharing our parties and the boys started a little earlier," she saw Taylor doing the limbo, "okay, a lot earlier, but it's still awesome."

"Yeah," Luke added, rubbing her back, "besides, we didn't touch the food you guys left here, so nothing's ruined."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay."

Rory smiled, "Okay."

"Okay,"" Luke affirmed.

"Let's party!" Kirk yelled, stumbling out of the bathroom, causing Luke and the girls to laugh.

"Let's party!" Lorelai repeated, following Kirk into the living room where Babette and Andrew were singing a duet of "You're The One That I Want".

Rory made her way to the kitchen. If there's one thing my mother taught me, it's never to drink on an empty stomach. She was surprised to see Jess sitting at the table, a beer in his hands.

"What're you doing here?" He asked, getting up to kiss her.

"Double-booked," she replied simply.

"Aaah, that explains the food," he nodded knowingly, pulling her onto his lap as he sat down again.

Rory picked up a fry. "Now, promise me that you will keep me away from the karaoke machine should I get too drunk."

"Now that I wanna see," he smirked.

"Please let it not come to that."

--

Two Hours Later…

"And I need you now tonight, and I need you more than ever, and if you only hold me tight, we'll be holding on forever, and we'll only be making it right, and we'll never be wrong, together we can take it nana na whooo, total eclipse of the heart!" Rory belted her heart out as the rest cheered on. She could see Jess smiling, obviously amused at his fiancé's antics. She and her mother had thought it appropriate to do shots for every little thing they could think of. "Drink because my daughter is getting married, drink because you moved out of the house," Lorelai had slurred, Rory right next to her, though slightly more sober, "Drink because I am finally going to be a wife!"

Rory took a bow as soon as the song ended. "What did you think?" She asked Jess while her grandmother and grandfather were next to take the mic.

"Go mama Gilmore!" Liz yelled, Luke took the beer from her hands. "Enough for you," he said, heading for the kitchen. It seemed he was the only one who could carry his alcohol, though Jess wasn't doing too bad himself.

"Oooh, its soo warm in here," Rory panted, clinging to Jess' shirt.

"Okay, let's get you outside, perhaps some fresh air will do you good."

"Thank God the ceremony is in the afternoon," Rory said, collapsing onto the bench, the noise behind them still slicing through the cool night air.

She curled up next to Jess," I love you," she mumbled.

He chuckled, "I love you too, Rory."

"Don't leave me okay?"

Jess looked down at her, surprised," I'd never, Ror. You know that."

"Yeah, it's just, we're us… you know. It is what it is. You. Me."

His fingertips were playing with her hair. He liked the soft touch of the brown strands more than anything else.

"Exactly, Rory, we're us. We're okay now."

She smiled against his chest, "Yeah, we are." Her mood shifted suddenly.

"So, who do you think is going to be most drunk tomorrow?"

"Miss Patty, hands down," Jess answered immediately.

"Oh, now that's not fair, I'm gonna go with TJ, he seems to be slinging 'em back like there's no tomorrow."

"Well, knowing TJ, he probably forgot that there is a tomorrow, and that this particular tomorrow comes bearing a wedding and booze."

Rory slapped his leg playfully, "He's your stepdad."

"Thank God for that," Jess answered, causing Rory to giggle.

"And please, please, keep Miss Patty and Babette away from me, you know how they get after they've had their alcohol."

"They wouldn't dare, you'll be a married man by then, even they have some decency," Rory said while Jess just scoffed.

--

Rory made her way to the kitchen to get a glass of water for Paris. Paris had taken it upon herself to try and get the highest karaoke score and was using tequila to warm up her vocal chords. Needless to say, drastic steps had to be taken. Rory stopped when she heard two voices whispering frantically. It sounded like they were arguing.

"Lane, you said you were going to be home on Saturday," Zach hissed.

"I never said that, you just assumed it," she hissed back.

"Yeah, but I was planning on hanging out with Brian."

"Well, too bad, I have to work, okay. I can't just shift that, whereas you can shift your little man-date."

"So my plans are less important than yours, huh?"

"It's work, Zach. "I'm not just bumming around, okay? We need food on the table, clothes on our backs, tuition for our kids," she whispered harshly. More harsh than she would've liked.

"Bumming around?! That's what you really think?"

Lane sighed. "You know I don't. But this is work, Zach. I can't just shift it," her voice started to crack. "Please understand that," she pleaded.

Zach rubbed his eyes tiredly, "Yeah, well, you and your work have fun," he walked out of the kitchen, missing Rory.

Rory debated whether or not to go in but decided to follow her instincts when she heard her friend crying quietly.

She walked in and wordlessly pulled her in for a hug. "Let's go outside, catch some air, huh," she suggested.

They sat there for 20 minutes until Lane's tears subsided and her sobs died down.

"It's kinda' ironic," Lane smiled sadly, "you're getting married while my marriage might be falling apart."

"Oh, Lane, that's not true," Rory said softly, placing an arm around her best friend.

Lane sniffled quietly, "But it is.".

Milo and Hayden broke up! I'm so happy right now. xD

Okay, soo, what did you guys think?

I made the chapter waaaay longer than usual. I included a bit more of the other characters (and there'll be even more in future chapters), I hope I did okay. There's some drama coming soon. :) I know, I'm evil.

If you guys have suggestions or requests of what you'd like to see happen, I'm open to anything, just leave me a review (hint hint) and maybe I'll work it in. xD

Now, please, please, review.

The little button is asking you to. ^^