A/N: Wow! Two chapters in 3 days! You guys are lucky!! You can thank me in reviews...(Hint, Hint! LoL) Our muses are screaming at us right now, so we have another chapter in the works! It's already three pages so please don't get sick of us!
I've included a small recap, just for this one chapter. Just FYI.
Please review!
Brianne
"Mom we're back" Rory called through the house.
Lorelai popped out. "Shhhhh, Dani's asleep and we need to talk"
"Oh boy." Jess muttered, earning him an elbow in the ribs and a glare from Rory, before exchanging a glance before following Lorelai into the kitchen.
"Sit." Lorelai commanded pulling out a chair.
"But what if I don't want to?" Jess retorted.
Lorelai pointed to the chair. "Sit, now." Her tone was dangerous and deadly. "Okay, you two, spill!" Lorelai commanded as she leaned against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest.
Her attempt to be intimidating made Jess laugh out loud. "But I don't want to." Jess mocked.
"I don't care what you want, I'm older, prettier and need answers now!" Lorelai ended in a scream and both teens jumped at the sudden change in volume.
"Only fifteen years." Jess muttered.
"Boy, are you asking for punishment? Never and I do mean never go there again!" Lorelai pointed at him, then she turned to Rory. "Spill, Lorelai the third."
"Mom" Rory started weakly and avoided eye contact.
Lorelai tilted her face up to her "We don't keep secrets, remember?"
"Yeah, but-"
"There are no 'but's to this conversation, young lady." Lorelai sounded mad.
Rory immediately cowered in front of her mother and Jess sat, unable to speak, watching them.
"Um... Well the thing is…" Rory tried, nervously twisting her hands in her lap. "Mommy, don't be mad." She pleaded.
"I can't promise that." Lorelai softened, just a little bit.
"But you can try, right?" Rory looked up and made eye contact for the first time in the conversation.
Lorelai sighed deeply as she looked at her daughter's timid form. "I'll try to understand, but you have to tell me, so I can be understanding." She tried, giving Rory a small smile.
Jess looked dumbfounded at their relationship, thinking that he would love to have that with Liz. Thinking of how he had that with Dani, almost.
"Mom, Jess and I are dating." Rory managed the words with difficulty, thinking how good it felt to admit it to someone.
Dani walked into the kitchen, her face white and holding onto the counter for support. "Hey guys." She greeted softly.
Jess sprang from his seat appearing by her side in an instant helping her into his vacant chair. "You feeling better at all, Kris?"
She managed a small smile. "I'm not really looking forward to the next chemo treatment, but yeah, I'm okay." She nodded and the room spun. "If I don't do that, that is." The group laughed quietly.
Rory and Jess shared a glance and welcomed Dani's appearance as a distraction.
Lorelai sat completely immobile and silent during Dani's appearance. "What's up with Lorelai? Dani asked confused, looking at Lorelai who had a shocked expression on her face and was staring at Rory with her mouth open.
"She's in shock, I think." Jess told her.
"Why?" Dani asked quietly.
"We told her." Rory chimed in.
Dani's giggle seemed to break Lorelai's trance. She turned to Dani. ''When did you get here?" The teens laughed at her. "What, what's so funny?" She demanded.
"You are." Dani smiled.
"Glad to be of service." Lorelai snapped, grabbing her purse and slamming the back door behind her.
She fumed all the way to Luke's, where she banged on the door, ignoring the 'Closed' sign.
"What? Jeez." Luke jumped from where he was wiping down the counter jogging over to the door and unlocking it before Lorelai shoved it open and walked around him.
"Did you know?" She demanded desperately, grabbing a cup of coffee.
"Know what?" Luke looked clueless, as usual watching her stomp around the counter.
"About Rory and Jess, idiot!" Lorelai slammed the cup down on the counter, the cup shattering and coffee spilling over her hands. Luke's shock at Lorelai's behavior made him stare at her for a minute before he could respond.
"Yeah. I saw them earlier." Luke cleaned up the counter, just barely glancing up to take in Lorelai's expression.
"And you didn't tell me?" She asked, swiveling on the stool to keep him in her gaze.
Luke winced, "Because I thought you knew." He glanced at her.
"Nope. New cup of coffee?" She gestured to him, indicating that she needed coffee.
"How was chemo?" He switched the topic quickly.
"Your poor niece." She chewed on a fingernail thoughtfully. Luke immediately noticed her change in demeanor and sighed deeply.
"She's okay?" Luke changed the coffee filter desperately looking for something to keep his hands busy.
"She will be." Lorelai admitted.
"Well, that's reassuring." He said sarcastically, leaning over the counter.
"Yeah." She leaned closer, their foreheads almost touching. "Yeah." She whispered, right before their lips met. They separated reluctantly gazing into each other's eyes.
"Six years and one horoscope." He told her.
"Yeah. Six years and one horoscope." She repeated breathlessly, before they kissed again.
Lorelai pulled away, "Wait, what horoscope?"
"The one that I carried around in my wallet for six years." Luke pulled out his wallet and showed her.
Lorelai read her addition and a silent tear slipped down her cheek. "What would I do without you?" She asked, looking up at him, not bothering to brush the tear away.
"Go coffee-less." He teased.
"Is there such a thing?" She asked, hestatently giving him another kiss and picked up her purse.
"Where are you going?" He asked gently.
"Home." She left the diner much quietly than when she had entered, leaving Luke at the counter, wondering how he had gotten such an amazing chance to go out with Lorelai Gilmore.
Rory, Jess and Dani were all sitting in the kitchen watching the door blow in the wind. "I guess we should shut the door." Rory said still not believing her mother's reaction.
"I'll do it." Dani slowly made her way to the way to the door and shut it, shivering from the cold breeze
"What the hell was that?" Jess bellowed causing both Dani and Rory to jump and turn to him quickly.
Dani grabbed her head and moaned. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry." Jess's tone softened a tiny little bit.
"What's wrong with you?" Dani stared at her brother.
"Sorry Kris" Jess said as he walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her to the sofa. "I guess I'm a little tense."
Dani turned to him and dryly retorted, "Well duh!"
Her response made Rory start to laugh and Dani soon joined her as Jess scowled. "Come on, that was not a good reaction to us dating!" At his protest the girls only laughed harder.
Rory began to calm herself down and walked over to Jess and gently sat on his lap. "She will be ok, I promise"
"I know." Jess wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder. "You better be worth it." He teased, earning him a slap on the head courtesy of Rory.
Dani playfully glared at him, "Hey, be nice or I'll tell stories about your Power Ranger phase" she giggled through her threat.
"It was not Power Rangers, it was Teenage Mutant Turtles, or something like that." Jess defended himself. "Miss Barbie." He reminded her.
Rory giggled and buried her face in his chest. "Whmf wzzz oor fvr?" She mumbled.
"What?" Dani and Jess chorused together, looking at her in confusion.
Rory stopped laughing and turned to them seriously. "Red, Blue, Yellow, or were you a Pink Ranger fan?" Dani started to laugh as Jess stood up abruptly and sent Rory falling directly on her butt onto the hardwood floor.
Jess stomped out of the house slamming the door in the process. "Maybe I shouldn't have teased him like that." Rory admitted sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it, he'll be ok" Dani told her with a twinkle in her eye, "How did you know the colors of the Power Rangers?"
Rory blushed and turned her head, "I may have watched a few times."
Dani laughed long and loud before hearing the door open and Lorelai call through the house. "The mommy's home!"
"I should probably go." Dani hurried out of the house, just before Lorelai came in.
Lorelai came into the kitchen and surveyed Rory sitting there with a critical eye. "Where's your boyfriend?" She asked, almost taunting her. When she didn't get a response, Lorelai stood with her arms crossed looking at Rory. "How long?"
"How long what?" Rory tried playing dumb.
"How long have you been hiding this thing with Jess." Lorelai said trying to remain calm.
"It's not thing." Rory avoided the question.
"Quit playing dumb." Lorelai snapped, her temper reaching boiling point. Lorelai took a deep breath before puling out a chair and plopping herself into it. "Please just answer me, please?" She pleaded looking at Rory's shrunken form.
"Three weeks." Rory said quietly, still avoiding eye contact.
Lorelai stood from her chair "Why did you keep it from me for three weeks? Did you not think that I would try to understand this?"
"Because I knew you would react like this!" Rory stood too.
"How am I reacting?" Lorelai asked.
Rory finally met her gaze. "Like my mother's mother."
Lorelai looked extremely hurt and angry.
Rory stood her ground silently wondering if she should have said that.
"Well it must be genetic." Lorelai snapped.
Rory looked up to her mother in shock. Lorelai took one look at Rory's shocked expression and doubled over in laughter. Rory stepped back, clearly stung.
"That is so not funny!" Rory protested, but joined her mother in laughter.
"We're a great team." Lorelai hugged her quickly.
Rory stood stiff as a board before slowly relaxing into her mothers embrace. "We most definitely do"
"Oh, my God. I forgot, guess what?" Lorelai pulled out a chair and sat down, relaying to her daughter what had transpired at Luke's.
"What do you mean Luke knows?" Rory said slightly panicked "We were doing so well keeping this quiet!"
"Apparently not." Lorelai quipped, still hurting.
"But you kissed Luke!" Rory shrieked.
"I know!" Lorelai smiled, a glazed, hazy look coming over her as a result of her day-dream.
"Gross, Mom, please stop fantasizing about Luke with me in the room." Rory teased, only slightly joking.
"Shut up." Lorelai playfully responded.
"That went well." Dani joked, sitting beside Jess on the bridge.
Jess reluctantly stubbed out his cigarette. "Sure."
"Someone's talkative today." Dani made her look at him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He sighed. "Everything."
"You're telling me." Dani agreed.
"Why did you have to start telling Rory all that stuff about me?" Jess started.
Dani sat there realizing that something deeper was bothering him. "What's the real problem?"
Jess sighed deeply. "Lorelai's reaction" He said quietly.
Dani nodded, "She will be ok, just give it time."
"What if Rory changes her mind because of Lorelai? You know they are freakishly linked!" He shouted causing Dani to wince at his volume, her head still hurting.
"Nothing could make Rory change her mind about you." She told him softly.
"Yeah, right." He snorted.
"Listen dummy, she likes you! Even a blind person could see it!" Dani tried.
"So now I'm dumb?" He asked her angrily.
"You're not dumb...you just act it sometimes." Dani said giggling.
Jess laughed hollowly, his sister's humor was infectious, "Thanks a lot."
"You're welcome."
Jess met her gaze, love evident in his eyes. "I mean it."
"I love you too." She smiled slightly. "Because if you didn't, I would be screwed." She continued, laughing.
"Glad to know I'm needed." He teased.
Dani hugged him, then rested her head on his shoulder. "Always."
She then yawned. "Now, as can we please go home?"
"Sure." Jess sounded surprised. "It's only 10."
"Says the guy who didn't have cell-killing medicine injected in him." Dani helped him up, then leaned on him for support.
Dani woke up the next morning at 3 and went over and poked Jess awake. "Dani." He groaned, trying to hit her with his eyes closed and failing.
"Get up." She hissed. "I want pickle and chocolate chip pancakes."
"But you hate both pickles and chocolate," He pointed out.
"I don't care. I want it and I want it now." She told him firmly, shoving him off the couch that doubled as his bed.
"Okay, what is your damage this morning?" Jess snapped
"Chemo. Jeez, you're dumb at-" She checked his watch. "3:04 in the morning."
"3:04 in the, wha?" Jess mumbled incoherently, rubbing his head in confusion.
"The morning." She pushed him down the stairs to the diner's kitchen.
Jess stumbled on the last couple of stairs and landed with a thud on the diner floor. "Great." He said sarcastically.
Dani howled with laughter and stepped over him, grabbing her cell phone that she had left downstairs and snapped a picture, blinding Jess with the flash.
"Kris." Jess growled before hoisting himself out of the floor and advancing toward Dani.
"Bye." She hurried into the storage room, bumping her lower arm into the counter on the way, making her curse fluently under her breath.
"Have I mentioned how much I hate you?" He asked rhetorically.
"You just did." She poked her head out of the storage room, making sure the coast was clear.
Jess stomped up the stairs as Dani exited the storage room and went in search of chocolate ice cream and those pickles she wanted so badly.
Dani entered the kitchen and pulled out the ice cream, pickles and milk and placed them on the counter. "Blender, Blender, where is the blender?" She said as she looked through the cabinets.
"Ah ha, there you are!" she said pulling the appliance out of the cabinet. "It's not pancakes, but it will have to do!" Just as she was finishing she heard footsteps coming her way.
"You're making it impossible to go to sleep." He told her before looking in the cup. "That looks nasty!" Jess informed her, watching her drink her milkshake.
"It's really good." She said, offering it to him teasingly, then looking disappointed when he rejected it with a look of disgust.
Jess's face contorted in disgust, "Okay, why the sudden need to drink this nasty- gross, what is this?"
"Chocolate & Pickle milkshake" Dani said before proclaiming, "Luke really needs to make these!"
Jess shook his head. "Oh, no, he does not."
Dani gasped before saying, "You're right, it needs coffee in it."
"You have to be smoking something! What are you on, Kristin?" Jess snarled as he grabbed Dani's shoulders and forced her to look at him.
"Let go of me!" She snapped.
"Not until you tell me what you're on." He said tightening his grip.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" She yelled, trying to slap him.
Jess grabbed her hand before she made contact. "You're acting like you're high and you're asking what is wrong with me? Come on!"
"Yeah, Jess. I'm high because I just got shot up with a bunch of chemicals!"
"What kind of chemicals?" He asked suspiciously, tightening his grip even more.
"Just my chemo, jeez Jess! Lay off!" Dani yelled, apparently waking Luke in the process.
"What are you two doing up and why are you yelling?" Luke said before he noticed Dani's milkshake, "And, what is this?" He said, holding the glass between his thumb and pointer finger, his face contorted in disgust.
"My milkshake," Dani answered proudly, "Want one?"
"No!" Luke and Jess shouted simultaneously.
"Forget I asked." Dani snapped, hurt physically and mentally by Jess's attack, before taking her beloved drink upstairs and returning to bed.