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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After they paid Miss Patty, Lorelai, Rory, and Paris walked up to the front porch of the Twickham house, where Luke, Jess and Sookie were waiting. While Luke and Sookie were standing there smiling, Jess was sitting on the steps with his head in his hands, trying not to fall asleep. Rory smiled and gently hit the side of her foot against his shin. "Hey."

He looked up at her and leaned his head against the banister next to him. "Hi."

"You look good." She teased.

"I am so tired. I slept for like three hours last night."

"C'mon you big wimp. Luke got home the same time you did and he's all chipper and upbeat."

"That's because there's something wrong with Luke." He yawned. "Do you think Taylor would notice if I fell asleep in the back of the wagon?" He asked his uncle.

"What wagon?" Lorelai asked.

Luke was about to tell her she'd have to wait and see, but Kirk ran outside calling Jess's name.

"What, Kirk?" Jess asked.

"Taylor needs you to go upstairs and label the light switches."

He groaned. "Why don't you tell Taylor he wouldn't have this problem if we had used a rotating spotlight like I said."

"Jess…" Luke warned.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine." He grabbed Rory's hand, which she was holding out, and pulled himself to his feet. "I'll be there in a minute Kirk."

"The show starts in fifteen minutes." He said before going back inside.

Jess slid his hands to Rory's waist. "You wanna come help me label?"

"I can't. I told Lane I'd meet up with her."

"Okay." He gave her a long, slow kiss. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." She smiled.

Paris looked over at Lorelai, Luke, and Sookie after Jess went inside. "That was sickening."

"Yea, it was." Lorelai agreed as the other two nodded.

"I'm standing right here." Rory said.

"It's not you, honey." Lorelai told her. "It was Jess being sweet. Kinda makes us want to gag."

"You guys are awful." She shook her head before going off to find Lane.

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"Hey" Rory smiled and waved when she saw Lane walking towards her.

She frowned. "Hi."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine." She answered unconvincingly.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Paris walked over, carrying three cups of Miss Patty's punch. "You look like crap." She told Lane, handing her a cup.

"Paris…" Rory said, unsure as whether or not they should be doing this.

"Hey, we paid our three bucks. Drink up." She pushed one of the cups into Rory's hands.

"Miss Patty's leftover punch is used to remove tar from construction sites."

She shrugged. "Then let it remove the tar from our souls." She took a large sip.

Rory and Lane watched her for a second then followed suit, each gulping down the punch.

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After he labeled the light switches, Jess went downstairs and watched as Lorelai and Sookie look happily around the museum and scoffed. "Are you two insane?"

"Probably." Lorelai told him, keeping her eyes on the painting they were looking at.

"How can you be enjoying this museum? Not one thing in this place is historical."

"So?" She asked. "It's all possibly related to someone who could have been friends with a guy who might have been the cousin of the person who conceivably lived next door to the family of someone who there is a slight chance had a one night stand with the woman who maybe cleaned the windows at the house of a possibly historical person. That's important."

"And fun." Sookie added. "Very 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon."

"Yea. Who needs stuffy old museums where you can't touch anything when you can come here and look down a hole in the floor at a cannonball that has probably never been in a cannon." Jess said sarcastically.

"Way to get in the spirit." Lorelai said, turning back to the painting.

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Rory, Lane, and Paris had found a table and chairs and were sitting outside the Twickham house, surrounded by several empty cups. Rory lifted her cup to her lips and downed what was left in the cup before tossing it on the table with the others. "You know," She hiccupped, obviously drunk. "I don't remember why we're drinking."

Lane waved around the half full cup she had in her hand. "We are drowning our misery."

"What misery?" Paris slurred.

"Yea." Rory agreed. "I'm not miserable."

Lane shrugged. "Well, then we're drowning my misery."

She nodded. "Okay."

"I will drink to that, my friend." Paris finished off the punch she had and put her cup down. "You shouldn't let him do that to you."

"What?" Lane asked.

"Zach. You shouldn't let him be…a guy."

"You're right." She jumped up. "I've had it. He can't do this."

Rory squinted her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"I am getting to the bottom of this." She said decisively, before storming off.

Paris watched her walk away then looked over at Rory. "She walks funny." Before Rory could respond, Paris's cell phone rang and she jumped out of her chair. "What is that?"

"It's your cell phone, Paris."

"Oh." She gasped "Who do you think it is?"

"You should answer it."

"Ooh. I should." She pressed send and brought it to her ear. "Hello?" She said, trying her best not to sound drunk. "Doyle! Hi…Nnnooo. I don't know what you're talking about…Stars Hollow. I'm with Rory." She moved the phone away from her mouth and turned her attention to Rory. "I need to take this." She stood up and walked away, talking to Doyle again.

Rory frowned as she looked at her surroundings and noticed she was alone. "Huh."

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Luke, Jess, Lorelai, and Sookie were standing upstairs watching the diorama presentation. Lorelai and Sookie looked giddy as Taylor narrated. "Sanitation in wartime. No one likes to think about it, but in Stars Hollow that's all we thought about. A local manufacturer, Buff-Rite, was the sole supplier of all things pertaining to sanitation and hygiene for our boys in World War two. Remember their snappy theme song?" The light shines on two deliverymen carrying cardboard boxes labeled 'Buff-Rite' and a woman sings the theme song. "Walk light, smell right, head held high with Buff-Rite!"

"Oh my God." Lorelai said happily.

"I know." Sookie agreed. "This is great. Walk light, smell right…"

She grinned. "Rory really needs to see this."

"I'll go find her." Jess jumped at the chance to get out of there.

"Use protection." Lorelai yelled as he ran out of the room.

Luke looked at her like she was insane. "Jeez, Lorelai."

She shrugged. "If I don't make jokes, I freak out because my baby's having sex with Jess. It's how I cope."

He just rolled his eyes and went back to watching the presentation.

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Rory sat at the table alone, drinking the last cup of punch that they had, before getting up and heading towards the front door to find her mother. She stumbled onto the porch and leaned on the railing for a minute so she wouldn't fall over. She closed her eyes and pressed her hand against her forehead, trying to make the dizzy feeling go away. "Ugh." She looked up when the door opened and smiled. "Jess! Hi."

He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to her. "Hey. Are you alright?"

"I am great." She poked him in the chest emphasizing each word.

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you drunk?"

"No." She waved it off. "I'm not drunk. Rory Gilmore does not get drunk." She tried to walk past him, but ended up stumbling into his chest. "Okay, maybe I'm a little drunk." She giggled.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and held her against him. "A little?" He reached his other hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she lazily threw an arm around his neck.

He tried to hide his grin as he answered. "I'm calling Lorelai." He dialed her number and brought the phone to his ear.

"Lorelai…" Rory laughed. "That's a funny name."

He bit back a laugh as Lorelai answered the phone. "Hey. It's Jess."

"Jess. I thought you were coming back with Rory. Didn't you find her?"

"Oh, I found her." He said, looking down at Rory.

"Then, what's the problem?"

"Well, she's…really drunk."

"She's drunk! Oh my God. Uh, just hold on. I'll be down in a minute."

"You don't have to come running down here. I'll take her home."

"Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yea. I just figured you'd want to know."

"Okay. But call me if you need anything."

"I will."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later, Jess." She hung up and turned to Luke, who was standing behind her. "So, Rory's drunk."

"What?" He asked, shocked.

"Yep. Patty's punch. Jess is taking her home."

"Wow. You'd expect that to be the other way around."

She smiled proudly. "My baby's all grown up and getting drunk at town events."

"And who doesn't want that for their kids?" He asked sarcastically.

"Uhh, crazy people." She said like he should know then grabbed his hand. "C'mon. I wanna see the rest of the diorama."

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After Lorelai left to go to the inn, Luke went outside and walked toward a table on the side of the house to pack up his toolbox. He turned around and clenched his teeth when Dean walked by, giving him attitude. "Okay, Dean. Come on. Give me that attitude. What's up? What is this, still about the Pippi night? The Bop-it? Or is it about Jess?" He shook his head. "Fine. You hate me, whatever. You want to punch me? Go ahead, I'm a terrible guy, I deserve it. Go ahead, take a shot. I won't even fight back. Make you feel better, huh, buddy?"

Dean glared. "Just go back to your girlfriend."

"Fine. Whatever."

"While you've got one." He muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means?"

"I'm not playing games here!" He yelled, fed up.

"Your situation is no different from mine. Buddy."

"I've got work to do." He growled.

"Then go." She waited until Luke turned back to his tools to add, "They want more than this. Don't you see that? And all you are is this."

He spun back around. "Rory was a kid, Dean. She grew up. She moved on. Accept it."

"You accept it. This town, it's all you are, and it's not enough. She's going to get bored, and you can't take her anywhere. You're here forever."

"It's different."

"It's not different. You and me. Same thing."

Luke stared after him, looking hurt and upset, as he walked away.

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Jess held Rory's hair back with one hand and rubbed the other up and down her back as she knelt over the toilet. "Feel any better?" He asked softly.

"Ugh." She groaned. "I hate Lane and her misery."

He kissed her temple. "You wanna go to bed?"

"Mmm. Just let me brush my teeth." She went to push herself up, but dropped back down when the room started to spin. "You know, I kinda like it here."

He pulled her towards him slowly. "C'mere."

"Okay." She backed up and laid her head in his lap. "Jess?"

"Yea?"

"I don't like Miss Patty's punch."

He ran his hand over her hair. "Really? Cause you seemed to like it a lot a few hours ago."

"Yea." She said sleepily. "This floor is really dirty."

He smiled. "Yea, well, it is Lorelai's bathroom."

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Lorelai walked into the inn, where she found Tom sitting in the living room, waiting for her. "Hey, Tom."

He put down the paper he was reading. "Lorelai. You ready to go over these prices?"

"Yea. Let's go to my office."

"Alright." He stood up and followed her down the hall.

After Tom sat down, she closed her office door and went behind her desk. "Okay, so you looked the whole place over?"

"Yea, the place doesn't need much work. I don't even know why you called me. Luke could probably do all the work for free."

"But you're a professional. And you know how much we love you, Tom."

"Yea. So, you gonna have to replace the floor downstairs, get your water and electricity and all that stuff working, and you should probably get some new doors, but other than that, all you need is a couple coats of paint and some furniture."

"Really?"

"No, I'm lyin' to ya."

"This is so great, Tom. How fast do you think you could replace the floor?"

"We could get the old one up by next week, and it would take another week to replace it after we get the new stuff, but we have to talk to the owner…" He looked down at the printout he had. "…Jess Mariano, before we start work."

"Ahh, Tom if you weren't married…"

"The wife'll love that."

"Yea, so would Luke. So, let's talk prices."

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Lorelai walked into her house later that night. After she talked to Tom, Michel reminded her that she had agreed to take over for him for a 'few hours' so he could take his chows for a checkup at the vet, so she ended up not getting out of there until eleven o'clock. She yawned as she hung up her coat and walked into the living room. She immediately went into 'mother mode' when she saw Paris and Kirk in the living room. Paris was wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, clutching her cell phone tightly. Lorelai gently slipped the phone out of her hand and set it on the table before moving on to Kirk. He was laying on the floor in the fetal position on the other side of the coffee table. Lorelai grabbed a pillow and blanket out of the closet and went back over to Kirk. She lifted his head carefully and slid the pillow beneath it then draped the blanket over him before heading towards her daughter's room. She slowly eased the door open and saw Rory sleeping peacefully in her bed with Jess propped up against the headboard next to her, reading. He looked up when the door opened and saw Lorelai waving him into the kitchen. He nodded and slid out of bed, careful not to wake Rory.

"Hey." He whispered as he put his book down on the table. "You're just getting home?"

She sat in one of the chairs and yawned again. "Yea. Michel had to go to the vet so I ended staying late." She shrugged. "How's Rory?"

"She's fine. After I got her home, we went straight to the bathroom where she threw up a lot then fell asleep in my lap. She woke up a little while later and I brought her down here, gave her a couple aspirin and a bottle of water, and she's been asleep since then."

"When did Paris and Kirk get home?"

"Paris was passed out on the couch when we got here and Kirk came back around eight. Did you know he deals Blackjack in his sleep?"

"Yea. There's Roulette too."

"Huh."

She shrugged then stood up. "Well, if you can live without me, I'm gonna head over to Luke's."

He nodded. "Alright." He said, also standing up. "Then, I'll just…" He gestured to Rory's room.

"Okay. See you later, Jess." She smiled at him and walked back towards the door.

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Lorelai walked into the diner, surprised to find the door unlocked considering how late it was.

"We're closed." Luke yelled from upstairs.

"Hey, it's me." She called up to him.

He ran down the stairs. "We're closed." He repeated, looking at her.

"Luke?" She noticed the suitcase that was sitting on the counter. "What's going on?"

He picked up the suitcase and walked past her, out the door. He couldn't talk to her. This was already hard enough.

"Luke." She chased him outside. "Luke!" She grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. It had been dark in the diner, but now, under the streetlamp, she could see his eyes were red and a little puffy. "What is this? Are you leaving?"

"Lorelai, please don't do this." He begged. "You weren't supposed to be here."

She let go of his arm. "So you weren't even gonna tell me? Were you just gonna have Jess mention it when I stopped by in the morning? 'Oh, sorry Lorelai. He's not here. He skipped town last night. Didn't he tell you?' Oh, wait. He's probably going with you. Because that would be so Jess of him."

"Don't take this out on Jess. He doesn't even know I'm leaving."

Lorelai didn't even bother trying to hide the tears running down her cheeks. "Why are you doing this?"

He threw the suitcase into the back of his truck. "Because I can't be here when you realize I'm not enough."

"What are you talking about?"

"You want more than this. And this is all I am. This town is all I'll ever be. And I can't be here when you realize you want more. That you deserve more. I can't stay here."

"God damn it, Luke!" She was mad. When did he get so stupid "I had it all. For sixteen years, I had everything a girl could want, and I ran away from that. Because it wasn't what I wanted. I wanted twenty-four hour dance marathons that I never win, and giant pizzas, and night terrors, and sleepovers in a zucchini patch. I wanted a home. I wanted this. This past year is the happiest I've been my entire life. C'mere." She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the diner. "Eight years ago a girl with a serious coffee addiction walked through that door. The grumpy owner of the diner was pretty busy, but she walked right over and started begging for coffee. Being the mean, grumpy guy that he was, he told her to wait her turn. So she starts following him around and talking about lots of fascinating things. After a while he turned around and told her she was annoying and that she needed to sit down and shut up and that he get to her when he gets to her. I told you he was grumpy. Anyway, the beautiful, intelligent customer still hadn't gotten her coffee, so she asked the coffee man when his birthday was. He didn't want to tell her so she talked about other things until he said when it was. Then she got the newspaper and opened it to the horoscope page. She wrote something down, ripped it out, and handed it to him. He looked at the paper, and under Scorpio it said 'You will meet an annoying woman. Give her coffee and she'll go away.' So he gave her coffee."

"And she came back and begged him for coffee everyday since then." Luke finished.

"Yea." Lorelai pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. "But do you know what's different now?"

"What?" He put his hands on her hips.

"She loves him too." She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, then pulled back and smiled at him.

"How do you know he fell in love with her that day?"

She took his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled to horoscope out of it. "Eight years." She smiled at him. "Cause, you see, that day all those years ago, she told him to put that horoscope in his wallet, and that one day it would bring him luck. And he kept it. For eight years. And when he showed it to her a few months ago, she knew he was exactly what he was looking for when she ran away. He was home."

Luke smiled at her then looked down at his feet.

"Hey." She said softly.

When he looked up Lorelai saw he had a tear on his cheek. She wiped it away with her thumb then ran her fingers through his hair.

Luke's eyes drifted shut and Lorelai looked at him lovingly. "Luke." She whispered.

"Hmm?" He opened his eyes.

"Will you marry me?"