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: So it's been what, a year and a half? That's a long time with no updates, but to anyone who's still reading this, here you go. I hope you enjoy.

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Lorelai glanced behind her as she pushed a junk-food loaded cart down the frozen food aisle at Doose's. Taylor was about six feet behind her straightening the bread shelf. She rolled her eyes then turned back around.

Rory stopped next to the cart and dropped a three frozen pizzas and two bag of tater-tots in. "I think we need more of those frozen mozzarella sticks."

"Why are we even getting frozen pizzas? I'm ordering real pizza when we get home."

"Oh, this is Yale pizza. I was running low."

"Hey! We are not Yale shopping. We're movie night shopping." Lorelai took the pizza out of the cart and handed it to her daughter. "No Yale pizza."

"Why?"

Lorelai looked at her like that was the stupidest question she ever heard. "Uh, because then it's gonna be in my house all day tomorrow, and I naturally will have to eat it."

"Or, you could just leave it in the freezer and not eat it." Rory put it back in the cart.

She shook her head and picked it up again. "I can't do that. I'll know it's there and it'll call to me. You know I can't resist the call of a pizza."

She tore the pizzas out of her mother's hands and walked away, calling over her shoulder as she walked. "How 'bout the call of the crazy house? Can you resist that?"

"Been doing it for years, baby!" She looked behind her again to see Taylor inching closer to her none too subtly. "Taylor! I am not shoplifting!"

He looked up suddenly from where he was studying a stack of canned peas, pretending that he just noticed she was there. "Of course you're not shoplifting, Lorelai. Why would you even say that?"

She crossed her arms in front of her. "Maybe because you've been following me for the past twenty minutes."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, cut the crap, Taylor. What do you want?"

He took a couple steps toward her, trying to be nonchalant. "Well, if you must know. I heard from…someone that you and Luke wanted to get married in the square."

"First of all, you heard it from me because the whole time I was going over my wedding plans yesterday you had your face pressed against that stupid window staring at me."

"I was not!"

"I had to move to a different table 'cause you were creeping me out so much. Now, why are you suddenly so interested in where I'm getting married?"

"Well, I noticed that neither you nor Luke has gotten the necessary papers to have an event of that size in the town square. And you know it really is better if you take care of it ahead of time. I know you Lorelai, and you can be a little…scatterbrained sometimes. You don't want to wake up on the big day and realize you forgot to get the necessary paperwork, do you?"

"Go away, Taylor."

He held up a hand hesitantly. "Now, Lorelai…"

"Taylor! Seriously. We'll get the paperwork. There's still six more weeks till the wedding."

"Well…"

She rolled her eyes and groaned. "Well, what?"

"The committee would prefer if you filed the papers at least two weeks in advance. So there's time to evaluate it."

"Evaluate it?"

"Of course, we can't just go approving every outrageous request someone puts in."

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. "I swear, Taylor, if you don't go away right now…And stop saying 'we'! There's no 'we'! There's no committee. There's just you! You and your big stupid head."

Taylor scoffed, insulted, and finally went back to his work.

Rory grinned and dropped a couple bags of baby carrots and some celery into the cart. "What did Taylor and his big stupid head do now?"

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"Hey, man." Simon called into the kitchen as he walked behind the counter to pour himself a cup of coffee.

Luke came out and immediately rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone think it's okay to come behind my counter?" He gripped the younger man by the shoulders and guided him back to the other side. "This is your side. That is my side."

He pointed where they standing. "People who don't work here." And then to the back. "People who do work here. Got it?"

Simon nodded and grinned. "Yep."

"Good. Maybe tonight you can explain it to Lorelai."

"Yeah, so you excited about movie night?"

He shrugged and went back to his side. "I have mixed feelings about movie nights. Just thinking about what they eat when they watch movies makes me want to kill myself. So actually witnessing it…"

"Right." He sat at the counter. "Best to be avoided."

"Yea, but, then on the other hand, it's nice to see them together. Just relaxing and having fun. No inn, no Yale. It's just nice."

They both looked over when the door flew open.

"Big Brother!"

Luke moved to hug his sister. "Hey. Liz. I thought you and TJ were going back out on the faire circuit."

She waved the thought off. "Oh, we were. Change of plans."

"Why? What happened?" He walked them over to the nearest table and they both sat down.

"Oh, nothing. Stop worrying. Anyway, Luke, I have such exciting news!"

He leaned back in his seat. "Uh-oh."

"Would you stop that. It's good news."

"Well, what is it Liz? I am at work."

She waved an arm around the room. "Simon's the only one here. Besides I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Well, I want to tell you and Jess together. So I thought we could have a nice family dinner and tell you the good news. Tomorrow night. TJ's making chicken fajitas and smiley face french fries."

"I guess I have to come if there's…smiley fries."

"Oh, yay!" She jumped up and threw her arms around him.

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A very agitated Jess stormed through Lorelai's front door, talking loudly into the cell phone held against his ear. "No! Luke, just, no. I already have plans tomorrow night…not having dinner with Liz…I don't care if she has news. I'm not going…I'm not spending two hours in a room with TJ…because he's a moron…"

Lorelai glanced up from her magazine and gave a small wave.

Jess nodded in greeting then rolled his eyes at something his uncle said. "How important…fine. But I'm not staying longer than an hour and a half…yeah, whatever…alright. Bye."

He closed the phone and dropped onto the couch with a groan of annoyance. "God, she's a pain in the ass."

Lorelai stared at him seriously. "Hey, are you doing anything tomorrow night?"

He grinned as he grabbed the remote off the coffee table. "Nope. Not a thing."

She smiled brightly. "Great. I have to pick some stuff up from my mother's. You can come with."

His shoulders slumped. "Damn it." He muttered before continuing, louder. "Oh, shoot. I can't. Luke and I are going to Liz's for dinner. Must've slipped my mind."

"It's weird how those things happen."

He nodded in agreement then turned around at a knock at the door. Before either could get up to answer it, Simon gently pushed it open. "Hey," he called. "I come bearing delicious, sugary treats."

Lorelai bounced giddily out of her seat as a plate of rice crispie treats appeared in front of him. "Oh my god, a man who brings me food that's bad for me! Luke never does that. What do I see in him?"

"Oh! I know this one." Simon raised his hand then briefly pointed at her. "You love him."

She tilted her head to the side in contemplation. "Love or rice crispie treats?" She brightened visibly. "Oh, that is so gonna be the name of our first single when Rory and I put our band together."

He handed over the plate he was holding and Lorelai smiled happily. "You are the perfect man."

"Oh, you." He waved it off then paused for a second before shrugging. "Well, yeah. I am." He glanced around the empty room. "So when do the festivities start?"

"Oh, not for an hour. But since you're here guess what you get to do."

"Dig into to this beautiful pile of marshmallow squares?"

She clasped her hands together with an audible clap. "No. You get to help set up."

He held up a hand and took a step back. "Whoa, I was promised pre-made junk food, stimulating cinematography, and fun-to-be-had-by-all. Not," He lowered his voice to a whisper, as if he were saying a dirty word. "preparation. That takes the shine off the entire evening."

She raised her eyebrows in amusement. "I need someone to run to the video store to pick up to movies too."

He threw his hands in the air. "You have now sullied this wonderful experience."

Jess got up and shoved his friend toward the kitchen. "Dude, shut the hell up." He laughed.

Lorelai nodded at the now empty living room. "That's more like it."

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The entire coffee table was covered with food by the time Rory drifted into the house, followed closely by Matt. She moved immediately to the kitchen to greet Jess, while Matt lingered in the living room with Simon and Lorelai. Luke was the last to arrive, shortly before eight.

It was quickly decided that they would start the night off with horror, and then follow up with comedy, when Matt informed the group he would only be able to stay for two movies. "The wife wants me home before one. We've got brunch with the in-laws tomorrow, and apparently it's easier for them to pretend to like me if I'm well rested. I don't know."

So they settled in quickly. Luke on one end of the couch, with Lorelai curled into his side, and Simon on the other while Rory and Jess sat on the floor in front of them, arms wrapped around each other. Matt reclined comfortably in the chair beside the sofa.

They watched the horror movie intently, but none too quietly, with Lorelai, Rory, and Simon keeping up a running commentary.

"…go in the basement? There's only one way in or out. She might as well go hide in the closet and…"

"…has worked perfectly this entire movie but the killer's coming and suddenly it takes five tries to start…"

"…right behind you! Turn around! No! Look behind..."

What seemed like barely minutes later the credits were rolling and Lorelai was jumping up to refill drinks and toss another bag of popcorn in the microwave. "Rory, can you give me a hand in the kitchen?" She paused for a second. "Whoa. Never thought those words would come out of my mouth." She shook her head and disappeared through the doorway.

When Rory got to the kitchen the popcorn was already in the microwave and Lorelai was hiding behind the doorframe staring at the living room."

"What are you doing?"

Lorelai grabbed her daughter's hand and pulled her to her side. "Look."

She did.

Luke and Matt were discussing something quietly while Jess and Simon tossed m&m's at each other. "Yeah? Your boyfriend is more mature than mine? What?"

They moved further into the kitchen to talk. "There's boys in the house. It's weird."

Rory smiled. "I think it's kinda nice."

"But you're used to it. Jess and Simon practically live in your dorm room. Which Paris must love." She added sarcastically.

"You have no idea."

"But this is the Crap Shack. It's always just been you and me. I mean, I know Luke lives here now but it's different when we're outnumbered."

"I like it."

"So do I. What do you think that means?"

Rory mulled it over for a second before answering. "I think it means we're growing up."

"Scary, huh?"

She nodded. "Almost as scary as Paris."

Lorelai's eyes strayed to the living room once more and mischievous look crossed her face. Before Rory could ask about it she let out an ear piercing shriek.

Less than five seconds passed and the kitchen was suddenly a lot more crowded. Four very worried men surveyed the room for any signs of danger.

"What happened?" Luke asked frantically.

She stared at him innocently. "There was a spider. It was huge. David Arquette would've been freaked."

Rory agreed automatically, gesturing to the open window. "It escaped."

A feeling of relief passed over the group as Jess moved to shut the window. The guys slowly disappeared back into the living room.

Rory turned on Lorelai, eyes wide. "What the hell?"

She shrugged. "I wanted to see what they'd do. Now I know. It makes me feel very safe."

"Yeah, thank god they're here. Who else would protect you from the giant imaginary spiders? You know, one day, there'll be no one here to save you from your delusions. And then come the men with the butterfly nets."