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.
A/N: I am sooo sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I've been pretty busy the last few weeks, and haven't really had a chance to write. Again, so sorry, and I promise not to let so much time go by between updates. And, if it makes you feel better, this is one of my longer chapters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luke walked down the stairs letting out a yawn as he stopped on the bottom step. He smiled when he saw Lorelai and Jess attempting to waltz while Rory slept on the couch. He watched them for a few minutes before stepping into the living room. "Hey." He said softly, causing Jess to jump away from Lorelai like she was on fire. "What are you doing?" He laughed.
"Nothing." Jess said quickly.
"I'm teaching Jess how to dance." Lorelai explained.
"It's three o'clock in the morning."
"I know."
"You got up at three in the morning to teach Jess how to dance?"
"Well, how would it look if the best man at our wedding didn't know how to dance?"
"The wedding isn't until July."
"And…?"
"And it's not even May yet."
"And…?
He shook his head. "Never mind. I'm going back to bed."
"No!" Lorelai said loudly, grabbing his hand. "Dance with me."
"Lorelai…"
"Please." She pouted. "Jess sucks. And Rory fell asleep like an hour ago."
He groaned and let her pull him towards her. "Fine. One dance. Then we're all going back to bed."
"Yay." She put her left hand on his shoulder while he slid his right to her waist. "Jess, music."
He walked to the CD player and set the soft waltz back to the beginning then sat on the coffee table to watch them dance.
They danced around the room easily, Lorelai telling Jess the steps as they went. About half way through the song, Luke twirled Lorelai – as per her request – and she kicked the side of the couch, waking up Rory, before spinning back towards him.
"Mom." Rory whined, rubbing her eyes. "I was sleeping."
"Dance with Jess." Lorelai said. "He needs to practice."
She let out a yawn and stood up. "But Jess sucks."
"That's why he needs to practice."
"But I don't wanna."
"I'm taking medicine for the leprosy if it makes you feel better." Jess said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning most of her weight on him. "I'm just tired."
"I know." He kissed her forehead and put his arms around her waist.
"What are you doing?" Lorelai asked when Rory put her head on Jess's shoulder.
"Sleeping?" Rory offered.
She stepped away from Luke and put some space between Rory and Jess's bodies. "See, this is your dance space…" She said to Jess then turned to Rory. "…and this is your dance space. Stay in your own dance space. And no sleeping." She added when Rory's eyes started drifting shut again. She watched them closely as she walked back towards Luke. "Okay. Watch us." She and Luke got back into their dancing position. "Step one, two…"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rory rolled over sleepily, her body coming in contact with something soft and warm. She squinted an eye open and smiled at Jess's sleeping form, remembering the events of last night. They had all danced until four o'clock and watched part of one of the ballroom dancing tapes Lorelai stole from her parents house, before Rory and Jess fell asleep on the living room floor, Luke and Lorelai on the couch. She kissed his shoulder softly before sitting up and rubbing her neck, sore from sleeping on the hardwood floor. She grabbed her phone off the coffee table to check the time and immediately jumped up. "Mom! Luke!" She shook her mother awake, waving the phone in front of her.
"What?" Lorelai groaned, sitting up a little. She grabbed the phone to get it away from her face. "What are you doing?"
"It's eleven-thirty!"
"Ugh." She dropped her head back onto Luke's chest. "So?"
"Shit!" Luke said, sitting up quickly, knocking Lorelai off the couch, onto Jess.
"Agh!" Jess groaned in pain when Lorelai landed on his ribs. "Why the hell are you sitting on me?"
Luke stood up and pulled Lorelai to her feet. "We're supposed to meet you father for lunch in a half an hour!"
"Oh my God! I need to take a shower."
"So do I."
"We'll you're not doing it together." Rory said. "You'll never get out of here."
"I call upstairs!" Lorelai jumped up, waving her hand in the air.
Luke nodded. "I guess I'm downstairs then."
"And I'm going to the diner." Jess said as Lorelai and Luke made their way to their respective bathrooms.
"Why?" Rory asked.
"I have a job interview at one o'clock."
"Really?" She said happily. "Where?"
"At a publishing house in New Haven. The pay wouldn't be great, but I can't afford the club on what I'm getting paid at Luke's."
"Maybe you could ask my-"
"No." He stopped her.
"What?"
"I know what you're gonna say, Rory. And it's not gonna happen."
"But they-"
"No."
"God, you are worse than my mother."
He sat down on the couch. "Rory, I can't ask your family for money. Just…I'll figure it out. Trust me."
She let herself fall onto his lap. "I know. I just want this to work."
"It will."
She pressed her lips against his in a chaste kiss. "So, I'm moving out of my dorm in two months. You ready for the full time Gilmore girl experience?"
"If Luke can handle living with Lorelai, I think I'll manage."
"You're very funny." She smiled as she slid her arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his. "Please don't go."
He let out a quiet laugh. "Didn't we just talk about this?"
"Yea. But I haven't had you all to myself since last week." She pouted.
"You're the one who wanted to spend the day with Liz yesterday."
"Hey, mister." She poked him in the chest. "Don't even try to pretend you didn't have fun."
"Oh, yea." He said sarcastically. "Watching you and Liz go through my baby pictures thrills me to no end."
"I can't believe Luke's had those pictures stashed in the apartment all these years and I never saw them."
"Oh, believe me, a good amount of money went into keeping them away from you and Lorelai."
They both looked over when Luke ran out of the bathroom, passing Lorelai on the stairs as she ran down to the kitchen. "Huh." Jess said.
"Yea." Rory agreed.
They watched for another couple minutes as Luke and Lorelai both ran back to the living room, meeting at the bottom of the stairs. "Time! Time!" Lorelai said loudly, leaning on Luke as she slipped a pair of Rory's shoes on.
"Uh, eleven fifty-two." Luke told her.
"Oh, oh!" She started pushing him towards the door. "Out, out."
He stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "Why are you saying everything twice?"
"Don't know, don't know." She started pushing him again. "We're gonna be late. We're gonna be late."
"Stop it."
"No. No." She smirked at his back as she shoved him out the front door, pulling it shut behind her.
Jess turned back to Rory when they heard the door close. "I think Luke was on something when he agreed to marry her."
She nodded. "Yea, yea." She smiled widely at him and hopped off his lap. "Now," She said, walking around to the back of the couch and leaning down to whisper in his ear. "I'm gonna go upstairs to take a shower, but since it would be mean to subject you to not nearly as nice downstairs bathroom, I wouldn't say no to some…company."
He barely caught the last word as she disappeared from behind him and ran up the stairs.
He smirked as he jumped off the couch and ran after her.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lorelai ran into the restaurant, dragging Luke behind her, not bothering to stop to let the hostess seat them. "Dad." She said loudly when she saw Richard sitting at one of the tables. "I'm so sorry we're late. We were all up late and then we fell asleep in the living room, so we didn't get up until eleven-thirty and we had to shower and get dressed and it's a thirty minute drive to get here, so…sorry."
He stood up and hugged his daughter then shook Luke's hand before sitting back down. "I actually didn't expect you until one." He said to Lorelai. "I know how you always like to be fashionably late."
She and Luke sat down across from him. "Ooh, so really, we're early." She said happily.
"No." Luke said. "We're just less late than expected."
"Which would make us early."
He held his hands up in surrender. "Alright, you win."
She smiled and patted his knee. "You're learning."
He grabbed the hand that was on his knee and laced their fingers together then turned his attention to Richard, who looked really amused. "So, we should probably talk about the wedding."
Richard looked to his left and caught the attention of the waiter before looking back at Lorelai and Luke. "Why don't we eat first, then we'll talk."
Lorelai looked thrilled. "That's the best thing I heard all day. Well, except when Rory said something about me and Luke showering-" She was cut off when Luke clapped a hand over her mouth. "-ourselves with…gifts." She finished when Luke lowered his hand. "Cause you know how much I love presents. Lorelai Gilmore never says no to a present. Or shopping. I love shopping. And gifts. So showering ourselves with gifts would mean presents and…shopping. Yea."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In the shower?" Lane asked giddily, looking at Rory over the plate of cheese fries they were sharing at the diner.
"Yea." She smiled. "And then-"
"And then!"
Rory laughed. "Shh. My mom would kill me if she found out."
Lane lowered her voice. "Lorelai doesn't know you and Jess are…"
"Of course she knows. Isn't she the one who told you?"
"Oh, yea." She nodded. "So why would she kill you?"
"Because she can't be trusted with any information. If she found out then she'd have to tell Luke because she has no self-control, and he wouldn't be able to look me in the eye ever again. And then he would go in the bathroom one morning to take a shower and remember what happened in there, so he would never be able shower in there again, which would mean he'd have to start showering in the apartment, but-"
"-but Jess is living in the apartment, so he couldn't shower there."
"Yep. And then he'd have to go to Liz and TJ's, which would traumatize him to much for him to ever want to have sex again."
"Lorelai's life is very complicated."
"Only by fault of her own."
"Excuse me. Miss." A customer called to Lane. "I'm ready to order."
"I got it! I got it!" An apron clad Zach ran out of the kitchen with order pad in hand.
Lane threw a "Thanks Zach" over her shoulder as she turned back to her conversation with Rory.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hey, Michel." Rory said as she stopped at the front desk. "Do you know where Mom is?"
He looked around the desk before giving her a mock apologetic look. "Oh, I'm sorry. I seem to have left my tracking device at home."
"Okay. I'll just go…" She gestured to the kitchen door. "…check the kitchen."
"Ohh. Wonderful." He gave her an obviously fake smile. "Please tell me if you find her. I've been so worried."
"Thanks, Michel." She made her way to the kitchen and pushed the door open. "Hello?" She called when she didn't see anyone inside. "Mom? Sookie?" She walked around the counter to the open back door.
Lorelai, Sookie, and the kitchen staff were all standing outside looking at something on the ground.
"Hey." She stopped between Lorelai and Sookie. "What are we looking at?"
Lorelai shifted her eyes from the burnt mess on the ground to her daughter's face. "Sookie killed Manny-"
"What!"
"Jeez. Let me finish a sentence. Sookie killed Manny's pants."
Rory raised her eyebrows and turned to Sookie. "You set his pants on fire?"
Lorelai giggled. "Dirty."
Rory rolled her eyes. "Are you twelve?"
"Yes."
"Ooh." Sookie jumped suddenly. "Dinner. I need to go finish dinner." She ran back inside, the rest of the staff following hesitantly.
"Hey." Lorelai grabbed one of the chefs on his way by. "Keep her away from all things fire-y." He nodded and went back into inn.
"So…" Rory said. "How'd it go with Grandpa?"
"It went great." She paused. "Wow, I can't believe I just said 'great' in reference to one of my parents." She shook her head. "Anyway, since Luke and I don't have a wedding photographer, Dad's gonna get the one that did his and Mom's vow renewal thingy."
"Kirk's gonna be upset."
"But he has a girlfriend now, so we didn't think he'd wanna do it."
"Just promise that if he starts crying, you'll let him take pictures."
"I promise."
Rory smiled. "Good. So what else did Grandpa say?"
"Right. So, he's gonna buy all the fabric for my dress and yours and Sookie's dresses. Uh, he's setting up a fitting with his tux guy for Luke, Jess, and Jackson. He refuses to deal with the florist so I have to call them, and just send him the bill. And he says I have to pick out invitations sometime before the wedding."
"Oh my God." Rory said sarcastically. "The demands he put on you."
"I know. It's awful." She put her arm around Rory's shoulder as they started walking around to the front of the inn. "So, where's the other half?"
"New Haven. He had a job interview at one o'clock."
"He's still there? It's like four-thirty."
She shrugged. "Maybe he had something to do afterwards."
"Maybe he hopped a bus to California."
"Mom!" She stepped away from Lorelai.
"What? You can't tell me you're not thinking that too."
"I shouldn't be!"
"But you are." She said softly.
Rory sat on the front porch and put her head in her hands. "I'm the worst girlfriend ever."
Lorelai sat next to her. "Hon, you know that's not true."
"Yes it is. He bought a club and an apartment. And he asked me to move in with him at the end of the semester. And he had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and Kirk. At the same time. And he let you teach him how to dance in the middle of the night. But I still can't get over this fear that when he leaves, he's never gonna come back." She cried.
"It's okay to feel like that. You know it's gonna take more than a couple months to trust him again. And he knows that too. He broke you."
"Mom…"
"I'm not talking about the accident."
"Oh." She looked down at her hands in her lap. "I think I broke him a little bit too."
"Yea?" Lorelai never told Rory that she knew about what happened at her dorm.
She looked up at her mother. "I think I broke him a lot."
She put her arm around her daughter and kissed her hair. "You wanna know a secret?" She whispered.
Rory put her head on Lorelai's shoulder. "Yea."
"Luke almost left."
She sat up quickly. "What? When?"
"The night we got engaged. He had a suitcase packed and everything."
"Why?"
"He thought I wanted more than him. It appears, my darling, that we are more intimidating than we thought." She shifted to humor mode in hopes that Rory wouldn't ask what made Luke think he wasn't enough. It didn't work.
"Luke just suddenly decided you wanted more? He was fine that morning."
"Well, he didn't exactly come to that conclusion on his own."
"Huh?"
"Apparently, Dean said-"
"Dean?"
"Yea."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rory walked all over town before spotting her ex-boyfriend through the window at Doose's. She marched inside the market and made her way over to him. "Dean."
He looked up at her and smiled. "Rory. Hey. I was-"
Rory slapped him – hard – cutting him off. "How dare you!"
His hand went to his cheek. "What-"
"You can pass judgment on my relationship with Jess all you want. I don't give a damn! But you will stay the hell away from my mom and Luke. Stay away from their house. Stay away from the diner. Stay away from the inn. And I swear to God, if you ever pull what you did with Luke again, I will make sure you are run out of this town before you can blink." She shot him one more seething glare before turning on her heel and marching back outside.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rory threw herself at Jess as soon as he walked into the apartment. After the thing with Dean, she immediately went over to the diner and hugged Luke, then went upstairs and read. She was barely through the first chapter when Jess got there.
"Hey." He said, wrapping his arms around her. "You okay?"
"I love you."
He was starting to get worried. "Did something happen?"
"Bad day." She said into his chest then looked up at him. "Well, hour."
He walked them over to the couch and sat down. "What happened?"
"I went to the inn and me and Mom were talking about you 'cause I'm a horrible girlfriend…" He wanted to know what she was talking about, but he knew better than to interrupt a Gilmore when she was upset. "…and Luke almost skipped town the night him and Mom got engaged because of Dean and I found him at Doose's and I yelled at him and slapped him and I missed you."
"Huh."
She closed her eyes and leaned against his chest. "Yea."
"You slapped Dean."
"He told Luke he wasn't good enough for Mom."
"He did what!"
"That was my reaction."
"I hate that guy."
"I know." She reached down to play with the end of his tie. "I like this."
"Yea?"
"Mmm. You look really nice." She smoothed down the tie then let her hand rest on his leg. "Jess?"
"Yea?" He said softly, playing with the ends of her hair.
She tapped her fingers nervously on his thigh. "I thought you weren't coming back."
"When?"
"Today. Everyday." She looked up at his face. "I think, in the back of my mind, there's always this fear that you're going to leave." She almost regretted telling him this when she saw the hurt in his eyes, but she knew they had to talk about it sometime.
"I didn't leave because of you."
"I know."
"Then I can live with that."
"But-"
"I never expected you to be over it, Ror. You have every right to feel that way."
"But you're not…" She said hesitantly.
"I'm not gonna take off."
She smiled and kissed his jaw. "Good. Cause I kinda like you." She settled herself against his side. "Now, tell me about your interview."
