Incoming
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. Not even the computer I wrote it on.
Summary: Jess shows up at Richard and Emily's vow renewal. Luke has something to say about it. Rory is less than happy. Lorelai has to deal with Christopher. And the day is definitely not everything Emily hoped it would be.
Feedback: Reviews are fun. Like a barrel of monkeys. Why anyone would put monkeys in a barrel…I don't know, but it's supposedly a lot of fun.
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Luke woke up to the sound of someone yelling and banging on the door downstairs. "Ugh." He groaned. "What the hell is that?" He rolled out of bed and walked over to the window. "You have got to be kidding me." He opened the window and stuck his head outside. "What do you want Taylor?"
Taylor stopped banging on the door and looked up at Luke. "Send that delinquent nephew of yours down here right now!"
"It's four in the morning, Taylor. Just tell me what you want."
"I want to talk to that criminal that you keep bringing back to this town."
He sighed. "I'm coming downstairs." He yelled before closing the window and walking over to Jess's bed. "Hey!" He yelled, kicking the bed. "Jess."
"What?" He grumbled.
"What did you do?"
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What are you talking about? What time is it?"
"Taylor's here and he seems to think you did something."
"He's probably right."
"Jess."
"I'm sure you'll find out as soon as you get downstairs."
"Fine. But it better not be something illegal." He growled as he turned and left the apartment.
Jess grinned as he watched him walk away, then laid back down and went to sleep.
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Luke turned the lights on then unlocked the door and Taylor immediately pushed his way into the diner. "What's the problem, Taylor?" He asked as he closed the door.
"Look at this!" He pointed at the window between the diner and the soda shop, which was painted the same color as the walls. "Your good-for-nothing nephew did this."
"You woke me up at four in the morning because your window, a window that I hate, was painted?"
"Yes."
"And you think Jess did it?"
"Yes."
"And you think I care?"
"Yes. Luke, this is an outrage. That window was very beneficial to this community, and now no one in my shop will be able to see through it."
"Get out, Taylor."
"This is not the end of this. It will be brought up at the next town meeting." He said as he walked out the door.
"Great. Can't wait." Luke pushed the door closed and looked over at the window, a hint of a smile on his face.
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Lorelai stumbled tiredly down the stairs and to the front door. She pulled it open and saw Luke standing on her porch. "It is four-"
He stepped inside and wrapped his arms around her waist as he crushed his lips against hers. "Hi."
She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm with you so far."
"Did you paint the window in the diner?"
"It was Jess's idea."
"I don't like waking up to the sound of Taylor's voice."
"Really? Cause I love it. Almost as much as my boyfriend waking me up at four in the morning fully dressed and with no coffee."
"Sorry. I ran out of there pretty fast. I didn't want to be there if Taylor came back."
She wordlessly took his hand and started pulling him inside.
"Lorelai. What are you doing?"
"Upstairs. Sleep."
"I have to get back to the diner."
"Uh-uh. Saturday. Caesar. Lane. C'mon." She waited for him to shut the door than dragged him the rest of the way to her room.
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Rory walked to her mother's room, wondering why she wasn't up and begging for coffee, since it was already ten o'clock. She stood at the door for a minute, and not hearing anything, eased the door open. A large smile spread across her face when she saw Luke and Lorelai curled up, asleep. She tiptoed back out then ran down the stairs. After writing a quick note, she grabbed her jacket and started out the door. "Oh my God!" She jumped when she ran into Kirk on their porch.
"Oh, Rory. Did I scare you?"
"Just a little, Kirk. What's up?"
"Is Luke here?"
"Yea. He's upstairs with Mom. Why?"
"Taylor told me to find him." He pulled an envelope out of his pocket. "He said I have to give him this or he'll banish Lulu from Stars Hollow."
"Oh. Well, he's sleeping right now, but I can take it. I promise I'll give it to Luke."
"No. I need to hand deliver it."
"Do you think you can hold on to it for a few more hours? I'm sure Taylor won't mind if you wait until Luke gets to the diner later."
"This paper has to be in Luke's hands before five, or Lulu is gone."
"Oh, Kirk. I promise Luke will be at the diner before five."
"What if he's not? What if he takes the day off and Taylor drives Lulu away? She's the only girl that ever liked me. And I love her. And I don't want to move back in with my mother."
"I'll talk to Taylor, Kirk. Don't worry about Lulu."
"Okay. But if he asks can you tell him I gave Luke the letter? Just in case?"
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Rory walked into the diner and glared when she saw Taylor sitting at one of the tables. "Taylor!"
He looked at her, as did every other person in there. "Yes, Miss Gilmore?" He put down the newspaper he was reading.
"What is wrong with you? You are an awful, awful person."
"Excuse me, young lady."
"You told Kirk you were going to banish Lulu? Are you completely insane? You're gonna BANISH her? You can't banish people. And why do you have to torture Kirk like that. It's mean, and awful and…mean!" She spun on her heal and marched out the door.
"Rory!"
She turned around when Jess yelled her name and smiled at him. "Hey."
He stopped in front of her and held out a cup of coffee. "Hey."
She took the cup from him and took a sip. "You ran all the way out here just to bring me coffee?"
He grabbed her around the waist and brushed his lips against hers. "Something like that."
"Well, thanks."
"No problem." He shrugged. "So what was all that about?"
"Taylor's mean."
"Yea, I think I heard that somewhere."
She blushed a little. "I made a pretty big scene, huh?"
"No, I don't think anyone noticed." He said sarcastically.
"I didn't mean to blow up at him. I've just been stressed since the wedding thing. I mean, things with you have been really great. And I'm really happy that Mom and Luke are back together. But I'm still pretty mad at my grandma. And I talked to my dad, but we're still pretty shaky. Then today, Kirk was just all upset that Taylor was really gonna banish Lulu. And I snapped."
"I have to say, the look on Taylor's face was totally worth your pain."
She slapped his shoulder playfully. "Really feeling the love."
"I try." He smirked and kissed her again. "I gotta get back to the diner. Did you eat?"
"Who do I live with?"
"So no." He took her hand and started towards the diner but she didn't move. "Ror?"
"Can you see if Taylor left?"
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Jess looked up from his book when he heard the door open. He raised his eyebrows at Luke who walked in carrying Lorelai in his arms. "I'm not even gonna ask."
Luke walked over to the stairs and put Lorelai down. "The shoes that go with that outfit are in the apartment. So rather than wear different shoes, she had me carry her here."
"But I look so cute in this outfit. And none of my other shoes go with it." She defended before running upstairs.
He walked behind the counter and picked up a rag. "So, where's Rory?"
"Upstairs. She went to get a book and never came back."
"You didn't check on her? What if something happened."
"Lorelai hasn't screamed yet, so I think we're okay."
"Jess."
"Yes I checked on her. She got comfortable and decided to read up there. I think she's avoiding Taylor."
"Why would she be avoiding Taylor?"
"She yelled at him earlier. And now she's embarrassed."
"Oh."
"Hey, I need to run to Gypsy's. You good here?"
"Yea. I'm fine. But you know, Rory's gonna be up there for a while with Lorelai, so…"
He held his hand out. "Give me the list."
"It's not much. We're just low on pastries and peanut butter and a few other things." He handed the list over. "Thanks."
"By the way, Kirk's looking for you. And Taylor might stop by a little later. Oh, and I think Miss Patty wanted to talk to you. Something about fire damage at the Independence Inn and your butt. I didn't want hear anymore than that. So have fun. I'll be back later."
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Jess put his basket of groceries on the check out counter at Doose's and smirked at the glare Taylor shot him. "How ya doin' Taylor?"
"Me? Oh, well I'm wonderful. I have no window." He said as he rang up the groceries.
"Shame. I'd talk to Lorelai about that."
"Fifty-six fourteen."
He paid, took his bags and walked out of the store…right into Dean.
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Jess stalked into the diner and dropped the bags onto the table. "Here."
Luke looked up and a grin spread across his face. "Swan?" He laughed, pointing to his nephew's eye which was rapidly turning black and blue.
"Heh." He glared. "No. Dean."
"Dean?"
"He was welcoming me home."
"You've been here for two months."
Rory and Lorelai walked down the stairs cutting off their conversation. "Coffee!" They both yelled dramatically.
Rory gasped when she saw Jess. "Oh my God." She ran over and grabbed his face in her hands, careful to avoid the bruise. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He turned away from her and started for the door. "I'm going out." He called to Luke.
"Uh-oh." Lorelai said as she watched him walk out.
Rory looked at the door for a minute before chasing after him. "Jess!" He didn't stop, so she ran up to him and grabbed his arm. "Jess. What's wrong? What happened? Talk to me."
"It's nothing. Okay?"
"No, it's not okay. You won't talk to me. This is what killed us last time."
"Well, maybe you forgot that this talking thing needs to go both ways."
"What are you talking about? What happened?"
"Dean happened." He pulled away from her.
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"Great." He said under his breath.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Dean growled.
"Buying pastries." He held up one of the bags. "That okay with you?"
"They don't have pastries in New York? You have to come here, where you're not welcome?"
"You know, I haven't heard any complaints about my being here. In fact, everyone seems pretty happy about it. Especially Rory."
Dean was shocked for a second, but pushed it back. "Well, Rory's been pretty damn stupid recently."
Jess dropped his bags and swung at Dean, connecting with his mouth. "If you ever talk about her like that again-" He was cut off by Dean's fist hitting him in the eye.
Dean wiped the blood off his lip and sneered. "She'll come running back to me. As soon as she remembers what a piece of shit you are she'll be back in my arms. Back in my bed."
Jess breathed in sharply, not knowing what to say, as Dean laughed at him and walked away.
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"You couldn't even tell me?" He asked, angrily.
"Jess. I'm sorry. I know I should have…I didn't know how to tell you. I wanted to. I did. But I couldn't. I tried to tell you so many times, but I just couldn't say it."
"No. After everything that happened with us, you couldn't even mention it? No, 'Hey, Jess, I slept with my ex-boyfriend. Can I have some coffee?' How many times did you tell me just to talk to you? And you can't even…I can't do this right now." He turned around and left.
Rory stood in the middle of the street, watching him walk away, as tears started to well up in her eyes.
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A/N: How mean am I? Sorry about that. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Don't hate me. Well, I guess you can if you want, it's a free country, but I would prefer if you didn't.
