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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"Mom?" This was definitely the last person Lorelai expected to find on her porch.
"Hello, Lorelai." Emily greeted.
"Uh, hi."
They stood like that for a minute before Emily spoke. "Do you mind if I come in?"
"Oh." She stepped back. "No, uh, come in."
Emily nodded and walked to the living room, followed closely by her daughter.
"Hey," Rory called as she made her way downstairs. "Is that Jess? Tell him he better have a damn good – Grandma." She froze on the last step.
"Hello, Rory."
"Hi. I was just getting ready for – oh, no. What time is it? Are we late? Are our clocks wrong? Did we miss a daylight savings? Mom! How could you forget to change the clocks!"
"The clocks are fine, Ror." Lorelai would have laughed if she wasn't still shocked about the sudden appearance of her mother.
"Your grandfather and I-"
"Grandpa's here?" Rory interrupted.
"He's taking a call outside. I told him it would be rude but you know how he is with his work." She said.
"Oh. But why are you guys here? Jess and I were going to leave for dinner in fifteen minutes."
"We thought we could have Friday Night Dinner here this week."
Lorelai widened her eyes. "Here? You want to have dinner here?"
"Hello?" Richard called as he walked into the house. "The door was open."
"Hi, Dad." Lorelai said. "It's fine. Come on in."
He smiled at her as he closed the door and made his way to the living room. "Well," He said to Emily. "Did you ask if we could have dinner at Luke's?"
"Ohhh." Lorelai drew out the word. "Luke's. I thought here meant here. And we don't have food here, so having dinner here would not actually be dinner 'cause we're foodless."
Rory shot her a 'what is wrong with you' look then turned her attention to her grandparents. "Dinner at Luke's would be great." She smiled then gasped. "Oh, no. Jess is coming over."
Lorelai put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Why don't you and Grandpa head over to the diner now, and after I get dressed, Grandma and I will meet you there."
"Okay." She kissed Lorelai on the cheek and ran out of the house followed closely by Richard.
Lorelai waited until she heard the door close then turned on Emily. "What are you doing?"
"What?"
"Why are you here?"
Emily sat on the couch. "Your father and I thought we could have dinner here this week."
She crossed her arms across her chest. "Why? You have never wanted to have dinner here before. Why now? Is it Jess? Do you not want him in your house?"
"I can't come to your town with no ulterior motive? I always have to be up to something?"
"Mom! You always have an ulterior motive."
"That is not true."
"Yes it is! You have never come here just to see us."
"You never invited me!"
She let out an exasperated sigh. "You don't need an invitation, Mom."
"Really, because this visit is going over so well."
Lorelai sat next to Emily and breathed out a sigh.
The two sat there for a few minutes before Emily broke the silence. "Thank you for telling us."
"Thank you." She repeated slowly and frowned at her hands which were resting in her lap. "That's not congratulations."
"Lorelai-"
She held up a hand and stood up. "No, it's fine." She started for the stairs. "I need to get changed."
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Luke set a cheeseburger and fries on the counter in front of Kirk. "Do you need anything else?"
He looked at his food then back up at Luke. "Can I have some coffee?"
"You don't drink coffee, Kirk."
"I don't?"
He rolled his eyes. "You said it makes your lungs hurt."
"Does it?"
"I don't know, Kirk. Do you want me to pour you some?"
He thought about it for a couple seconds then nodded. "Okay."
He shook his head as he grabbed a mug and poured the coffee. "Here ya go, Kirk."
"Thanks, Luke." He took a sip then put the mug down. "Hehh." He wheezed and held a hand to his chest. "Ohh. Bad idea."
Luke raised his eyebrows at Kirk then looked up when the door opened. "Hey, Rory." He smiled.
"Hi, Luke."
"Jess is upstairs. You can go on up."
"Actually, I'm here for dinner."
"Aren't you going to your grandparents' house?"
"Not quite."
He narrowed his eyebrows. "Meaning?"
"Well-" She stopped when Richard walked into the diner.
"Hello, Luke." He reached his hand out across the counter.
He shook the older man's hand. "Mr. Gilmore."
Rory clapped her hands then pointed to the curtain in front of the stairs when they looked at her. "I'm gonna go get Jess." She nodded then made her way up the stairs.
Luke looked back at Richard. "You can sit anywhere."
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Rory didn't bother knocking as she pushed the apartment door open. "Jess?"
He walked out of the bathroom buttoning his dress shirt. "Hey." He gave her a short kiss. "I thought I was picking you up."
"There was a tiny change in plans." She held up her hand with her thumb and index finger a centimeter apart to emphasize her point.
"What do you mean?"
"My grandfather's downstairs. And my grandmother is on her way over with my mom."
"Why?"
"Because they heard you guys put on a terrific drag show."
"What?"
"Yea, Luke is down there right now in a boa, singing 'It's Raining Men'."
"Please tell me you're not kidding."
"They're here for Friday Night Dinner."
He raised his eyebrows. "Have they ever come here for Friday Night Dinner before?"
"No. It must be you. Ooh, maybe it's because you crashed my car and they don't want you driving me to Hartford."
He nodded. "That's probably it."
"Yea, well, I still get a little nervous when you get behind the wheel." She grinned at him.
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Lorelai and Emily walked into the diner in complete silence, each too stubborn to apologize for what happened at Lorelai's house.
"Emily." Richard called from where he was sitting with Rory and Jess.
She walked to the table to sit down while Lorelai went to the counter. "Hey." She said to Luke as she leaned across the counter to kiss him.
"Hi." He frowned, noticing she was upset about something. "You okay?"
"Yea." She waved it off. "I'm really sorry about this." She gestured to the table Rory, Jess, and her parents sat at.
He ignored her as he walked around the counter to grab her hand and pull her into the storage room. "What happened?"
She just leaned against the door and looked down at her feet.
"Did your mom say something?"
She looked up at him. "Yea. She said 'thanks for telling us'. She couldn't even get out a 'congratulations'. My own mother couldn't even say congratulations. God, Luke, she's supposed to be happy for me. Why can't I make her happy?" She swiped angrily at the tears on her cheeks. "I hate that she can get to me like this." She cried.
"Hey." Luke pulled her into his arms and ran a hand over her hair.
"I'll always be a disappointment to her. Just the stupid teenager that got knocked up at sixteen. I'll never be good enough. I ran away and I didn't marry Christopher and I lived in a potting shed and I couldn't fit in the stupid white dress and I didn't tell her I was in labor. And I can't even explain to her why I did any of it because no matter what I say, she never hears me."
"You have to make her hear you, Lorelai."
"I tried. My whole life I tried to get her to hear me. I don't know what to do."
"You just have to go out there and talk to her." He felt her nod and start to pull away, but stopped her before she opened the door. "I didn't mean right now."
"Right."
"As much as Jess would love you to take the attention off of him..."
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his chest. "Yea, they'd make him go to another dinner. That would be mean. Thoroughly amusing, but mean."
Luke silently brought his hand down to play with the hem of her jacket and kissed the top of her head.
"You know," Lorelai said, lifting her head to look at him. "We've been in here for a while. You know what everyone probably thinks we're doing." She grinned wickedly.
"Yea, I know."
"And, it would be wrong to disappoint them." She said, her hands sliding under the flannel.
He took a large step back. "Okay, your parents and your daughter and my nephew are right out there." He pointed at the door. "And I have customers and…Kirk."
"Fine." She moved towards him but he took another step back. "What are you doing?" She asked looking amused.
"We can't have sex in here."
She smiled. "Can I at least kiss you?"
"You're not gonna try anything, are you?"
"Me?" She held a hand to her chest. "Never."
He narrowed his eyes. "Lorelai."
"Ooh, I love when you say me name like that. It's so hot."
"Alright, that's it. Now I'm not gonna kiss you."
"Oh, oh. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I promise I won't try anything. Please, Luke."
He gave in and pulled her closer by her waist then slowly pressed his lips to hers. Lorelai slid her hands down his back and smirked against his mouth as she squeezed his butt. He jumped back and pointed at her. "Hey!"
She giggled as she pulled the door open and bounced back into the diner.
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Kirk watched Lorelai sit at the table with Rory, Jess, Emily, and Richard and frowned. He climbed off the stool he was sitting on and pulled up a chair between Lorelai and Rory and smiled at them. "Hi."
"Hi, Kirk." Lorelai said. "What are you doing?"
"Aren't we having a group dinner?"
"No, Kirk."
"Oh," The disappointment that crossed his face didn't go unnoticed by Lorelai.
She grabbed his arm when he started to stand up. "But one more person wouldn't hurt."
He sat back down and smiled brightly. "Thank you, Lorelai. As you know, I get very lonely when Lulu is out of town."
"I know, Kirk." She lightly squeezed his forearm. "You know you're always…welcome. Right, Ror?"
"Yea." Rory said quickly. "Of course, Kirk."
He hugged her then turned his attention to the elder Gilmores. "Lulu's my girlfriend. She was picked to be the town whore, but she got sick and I had to fill in."
Rory looked at her mother behind Kirk's back and mouthed 'Oh my God' but Lorelai just took in the horrified expressions on her parents' faces and smiled.
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"That hamburger was exceptional." Richard told Luke when he walked to the table to collect the empty plates.
"Thank you, Mr. Gilmore." He gathered all the plates in his hands. "What can I get you guys for dessert?"
"Pie!" Lorelai and Rory cheered, each receiving a glare from Emily.
"Pie would be perfection." Kirk said.
Lorelai gasped. "Oh my God. Kirk, did you just make a Friends reference?"
"Mother likes Friends. She used to make me watch it with her every week."
Jess scoffed under his breath, which earned him a kick in the shin from Rory. "Ow."
She looked at him innocently, pretending she didn't know what was wrong. "You okay?"
"Yea, fine."
"Why don't I help you with that pie." Richard offered as he stood up.
"Richard." Emily put a hand on his arm to stop him.
He moved her hand. "Emily, he can't carry six pieces of pie. He only has two hands. Lorelai, why don't you help."
"O-kay." She said hesitantly as she followed them to the counter.
Richard moved the lid while Luke got the dishes and forks. "This smells wonderful."
"It's, uh, strawberry-rhubarb. That's okay, right?"
"Did you say strawberry-rhubarb?" Kirk called.
Luke nodded. "Yes, Kirk."
"I love strawberry-rhubarb."
"I know, Kirk."
Lorelai watched the exchange then turned to look at her father, who was cutting the pie. "Why are doing that?"
"Would you rather give everyone a fork and let them eat it out of the pie tin?"
"Well, actually…"
He stopped what he was doing and looked up at her "I wanted to talk to you and Luke without everyone else hearing." He whispered as he turned his back to their table.
Lorelai pushed Luke to his right so they were standing in front of her father and able to talk without Kirk trying to read their lips. "What's up Dad?"
He started cutting the pie again as he spoke. "I want to pay for your wedding." He held up a hand when she started to protest. "I won't interfere with your plans. You can have all the chairs shaped like giant coffee cups…" He held back a laugh at the horrified look on Luke's face. "…if Luke agrees, of course, but I want to pay for it. I think I have the right to pay for my only daughter's wedding."
She looked at Luke, who just smiled and shrugged, then threw her arms around Richard. "Thank you, Dad." She took a step back when she noticed Emily, Rory, Jess, and Kirk looking at her like she was insane. "He gave me the biggest piece of pie."
