Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Author: Ha! Earlier than expected. Happy Easter! To you all! And thanks for the reviews!
Chapter 3: "Luke. Coffee. Now!"
It was with a sulking pout on her lips and a sour mood to match it, that Lorelai stumbled her way through town to Luke's diner early Saturday morning. She hadn't had much sleep. Last night's fight with her mother echoed over and over again in her head, preventing her to feel even the slightest ounce of happiness. Once again her mother had managed to make her feel small, like a failure for still being single in her mid thirties. It didn't matter to her mother that Lorelai was happy and running her very own inn. She was still single and single women could not be attending charity events. For heaven forbid that two women would sit next to each other at the table!
Lorelai had done her best defending herself, but after Emily had used the old Christopher card against her, there was no way she could walk out of her parents house not feeling like the complete failure her mother had portrayed her as. She had even been forced to pull over once on her way home to blink the tears out of her eyes.
Of course, she did not let any of this show on her face when she climbed the few steps up to the diner's entrance.
"Luke. Coffee. Now!" She barked as she came through the door, not bothering one penny about the other quests sitting there. With a grumpy mutter, Lorelai sat down on the chair next to the register and tossed her purse on the counter. Half expecting the coffee to be already in her hand by the time she had settled down, Lorelai was surprised to notice that Luke hadn't even move a muscle to get her the much precious black liquid, despite him standing just across the counter from where she had taken a seat.
"Earth to Luke," Lorelai said, feeling a headache coming up. She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hello? Coffee. Need a whole bucket of it."
Luke blinked and returned to reality.
"Coffee," Lorelai repeated when he blinked stupidly at her. Hadn't he heard her come in? "What's wrong, Luke?"
He was looking at something behind her. Lorelai turned her head and her eyes widened in disbelief when her gaze landed on a very familiar figure. Jess! Lorelai blinked but he was still there. The boy... err... young man taking the order from and elderly couple close to the window. He'd changed his haircut, but Lorelai would have recognized those black unruly curls anywhere. It was Jess!
Turning her head back, she stared at Luke for answers.
"When did he get back? Did you know he was coming here?"
Luke shook his head. "No, I didn't but that's not all of it." He nodded to her to look at Jess again. "Just wait for it."
Lorelai looked, but saw nothing. Yes, Jess had changed his clothes too, but that was not surprising. That leather jacket he had sported last time he was around in the neighborhood wouldn't go very well with his new haircut. It didn't take long before she had turned impatient.
"What are you talking about, Luke? What am I supposed to see? Give me my coffee."
But Luke didn't budge.
"Trust me, wait for it."
Luke, I'm serious. Give me my coffee. I'll get crazy if I don't get my caffeine soon. I'm like the caffeine monster from coffee world!"
"Wait for it."
"Unhappy customer over here, soon turning into the caffeine monster."
"Wait for it!"
"I'm warning you, Luke. If I don't get my caffeine within three seconds, I'll turn into the caffeine monster and start clawing on the interior. Your precious diner..."
Lorelai trailed off mid-sentence. Her eyes widened in surprise. Jess was finally done with the old couple's order and had turned around to head to the kitchen. When doing so he also revealed that the notepad he had written the down order in wasn't the only thing he held in his hand. A baby, a small baby girl, was cuddling up against his chest with his left arm securely wrapped around its tiny body!
Lorelai watched him walk around the counter in stunned silence. Jess flashed a greeting smile when he noticed her sitting there, but stopped to pick up an infant car seat before coming all the way up to her. As he bent forward to pick it up, a lock of his hair fell forward and the baby wasn't late grabbing onto it.
"Auch, Clara! Let go of me. That's my hair you're pulling!" Jess hurried along the counter, bent slightly forward as he tried to wrestle the car seat with him without hitting anything. The baby pulled hard on his hair, trying to get some of it into her mouth. "Alright, alright, I'll get you breakfast. Stop chewing on me!"
With one gracious swing, Jess put down the car set next to Lorelai's purse on the counter and grabbed hold of the baby's arms. The little girl gave up a disappointed sound when he managed to wriggle free from her grip. With both of her tiny little hands trapped in his, Jess gave the baby a disapproving look before placing a light peck on the baby's head.
He turned to Lorelai and smiled.
"Coffee, Ms Gilmore?"
"Yes, please!" Lorelai tried to not sound like the caffeine addict she really was, but failed miserably. She couldn't stop staring at Jess. He looked nothing like the Jess she had seen two years ago. And the baby on top of it!
"What kind of waiter are you?" Jess told his uncle, stretching out his free arm behind Luke to get the coffee pot. "Letting your worst caffeine monster wait for her coffee. She could have torn down the interior! Now go and make waffles, the couple over there want one with strawberry jam and cream and the other with raspberry jam only. Now go!"
Lorelai had to smirk at Luke's surprised face when Jess bossed him out the kitchen. One could almost think Jess owned the diner, not the other way around. When Jess returned he had a big of cup of coffee with him which he sat down in front of Lorelai.
"Thank you, you're an angel!" Lorelai sighed of pure pleasure and let the first sip of coffee find its way down her throat.
Jess gazed her with arched eyebrows for a moment before he shifted the baby's weight on his arm to set the baby down in the car seat. The little girl made an impatient and unhappy sound.
"Yes, honey, you'll get breakfast soon. Don't you worry." From the back pocket of his jeans, Jess pulled out a plush toy elephant in pink and blue and placed it in the little girl's arm. "Here. Drool on this for a while." He turned but before he left them he added: "Be careful, she's a bit crazy this one."
Lorelai wasn't sure if he said it to her or to the baby. Once he was gone though, Lorelai found herself sitting all alone with the cutest baby she had ever seen since Rory was little. The dark hair curled on top of the baby's head like a soft cloud. There was no doubt the baby's father was Jess, the resemblance was undeniable. Lorelai could see Jess in every feature in the little girl's face. The hair, the nose, the mouth and... oh, God! The girl even had the same pair of intelligent, teasing brown eyes Jess had. And she used them to stare relentlessly at Lorelai while sucking on the plush toy elephant's ear.
Jess is a father. Lorelai couldn't quite wrap her head around the concept even though the proof was right in front of her. Very much alive. The rebellious teen that had broken her own daughter's heart was all grown up now with a family of his own. Lorelai looked for features in the baby's face that could tell her anything about the mother. The only thing she spotted was a roundness to the cheek, a softness to the baby's overall features, but other than that she was all Jess.
The baby coughed and blinked at her. Lorelai smiled.
"Hi, there stranger. Who are we being so cute today?"
The baby grinned a toothless grin and waved with her tiny arms in the air. Lorelai guessed that the child was no more than a few months old. For some reason that thought amazed her. Jess had just recently become a father. Somewhere out there was a girl who had given birth to his child.
Jess returned a short while later with a feeding bottle in his hand and Luke in tow.
"She is cute," Lorelai said to Jess when he picked up the baby from the car seat and sat down with her on the chair next to Lorelai. "What's her name?"
Jess adjusted the baby into the right position in his arms and put the bottle to her lips before answering.
"Thank you, her name is Clara. Hey, easy now, honey. There's no hurry," he added turned to the baby who had started to feed hungrily. Lorelai watched the young father and his newborn. For having become a father quite recently, Jess looked very comfortable in the new role.
"How are things with you, Lorelai?" His opening to a polite conversation surprised her. The old Jess would have brooded in silence.
"I'm good, thank you."
"How's the Dragon Fly? You and Sookie doing okay?"
In this mild, polite manor a conversation began that Lorelai never would have thought was possible. Jess wasn't just changed to the outside, he was a completely different person to the inside as well. He told her and Luke that he moved from Philadelphia to work at a publishing company he and two friends of his were the owners of. Same friends whom he also shared a huge apartment with in an uptown neighborhood. Lorelai could tell he was happy and proud over what he had accomplished with his life.
When Jess told them he was close to finishing his very own novel, Lorelai threw a glance at Luke. His facial expression was a mix of wonder, admiration and pride. Last time they had seen Jess, Lorelai had been sure life wouldn't end up very well for the boy. Now here he was all cleaned up, a hard working man and… a father!
The only shadow laying over the picture was the plain golden ring on Jess left hand. Where was Clara's mother?
Jess was in the midst of telling them of how he was planning on finishing his senior high school year back in Philadelphia, when all of a sudden Clara cooed delightfully in the car seat Jess had put her back in after having finished feeding her. A moment later a foul smell started to ooze from the baby. Lorelai wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Clara!" Jess groaned in mocked annoyance. "Really? You think this is a good place doing that? People are having breakfast here. Sesh! It's obvious you don't want my reputation to improve around here."
Clara giggled very pleased with herself in a way only someone who has just taken a dump can. Jess picked her up and turned apologetically towards Lorelai and Luke.
"I'm so sorry for this. Looks like little miss Stinky here doesn't know how to behave in a crowd. Now do you, Stinky? Yes, I'm talking about you." Jess put a finger in the baby's belly, which evoked a squealing giggle from the little girl.
"We'll be right back." He told them and headed for the staircase leading up to Luke's apartment. On the way out, Clara suddenly realized that it wasn't so pleasant wearing a diaper filled with poop. A quiet sob escaped her lips.
"Well, that's what you get for pooping in your pants," Lorelai heard Jess say to his daughter before they got out of earshot.
Lorelai turned to Luke with an astonished expression on her face.
"Wow, he is so changed."
"He is," Luke agreed.
"He's a dad."
"He is."
"So have you met the mother yet?"
"No."
"Didn't he bring her?"
"I don't know."
"How long is he staying for?"
"I don't know."
"Why has he returned then?"
"I don't know."
"What do you know, Luke?" Lorelai exploded in frustration. "I'm dying of curiosity over here. Jess is back. Aren't you the least bit curious why that is?"
"Of course I am curious!" Luke protested.
"Well then, why haven't you asked him about it?"
"We never got to that part. I was kind of preoccupied with that thing he came with." Luke leaned closer as if to tell her a secret. "I don't know if you have noticed it but... he's a dad!"
Lorelai couldn't help but so laugh. Luke was obviously freaking out over the whole Jess-being-a-father-thing.
"So how does it feel, grandpa?" she teased him. "Ready to call the retirement home yet?"
"I'm not grandpa!" Luke hissed. "And who does he think he is coming here with a baby? He is too young to have a baby! He should be out there discovering the world... or finding himself... or whatever kids do these days. Not sitting here with a baby in his lap!"
"I think Jess has found himself," Lorelai said. "Didn't you see him just now? He was great with Clara."
"He is too young!"
"He is not too young, Luke." Lorelai shook her head. "Jess is old enough to be a father, whether you like it or not. He could have been a father when he was here last time. And besides, what are you going to do about it now? Clara is already born. Are you planning on adopting her?"
The thought seemed horrifying to Luke. Before he could say anything Lorelai continued: "Haven't you said ever since he left that you wished he'd reach out to you? Well, maybe this is it. Maybe having Clara has made him open up to the idea of reconnecting with his family. You shouldn't do anything that can turn him away until you know what he wants."
Luke sighed.
"I suppose you are right, but... Wow! He's a dad!"
Lorelai grinned as she stood up to leave.
"He's a dad."
Please leave a comment below to let me now what you think. Next up - what will Rory's reaction be...?
