AN: I was going to name this 'Greetings from the Sunshine State, but that's not California, it's me (Queensland) and Florida. And then, stupid me, I realised that they're not coming from California, they're coming from Boston, so instead of the Golden state, we'll go with Beantown.

Without saying anything, Lorelai let Jess in and nodded towards Rory's room. He smiled tightly at her before making his way over and knocking. "Her name is Sasha, she has a ten year old my dad's completely crazy about and the only reason he hadn't told me anything before now was that they only started seeing each other in November," he explained as Rory sat on her bed, flipping through a magazine. "So can we just pretend I didn't act like a total lunatic this afternoon and move on?"

"That depends," Rory replied, tossing the magazine aside, "is the lunatic really gone?"

"Yes!"

"Well alright then. So," Rory shifted on the bed to make room for Jess and he came over to join her. "Tell me about Sasha and...?"

"Lily."

"Right, tell me about Sasha and Lily."

"I don't know much just that they moved to Boston a couple of years ago after Sasha's divorce came through, they have a lot of pets, Lily loves to read. Sasha sounds really nice, they both do."

"So you won't be locked in any cupboards?"

"Probably not, unless I really piss her off."

"We'll have to make sure you avoid that then, and take my advice; be nice to her."

"I will. I will be very nice. And I'm sorry about this afternoon, I didn't mean to go crazy like that, it's just that, before TJ came into the picture I really wasn't aware of either of my parents being in relationships. I'm sure it happened from time to time, they just never said anything to me about it."

"It's ok, really." Rory told him, leaning in and kissing him. After a moment there was a crashing sound in the lounge room, Jess looked over at the door, worried, but Rory just shook her head, trying to look annoyed. "My mother has been spending far too much time with Luke." She explained, pushing herself up off the bed. "Come on, that's our cue to make an appearance."

"Oh, hey you guys." Lorelai smiled brightly at them as she picked up a couple of books from the floor. "Sorry, did I disturb you? I was just clearing some stuff and knocked these-"

"It's fine Mom." Rory told her.

"Yeah, I actually have to be getting back home; I just wanted to make sure we're good?"

"Yeah, we're good." Rory nodded.

"Ok, that's great, so I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Oh, wait, when are they coming?"

"When is who coming?" Lorelai asked, having abandoned her pretence of cleaning up the mess she'd made in favour of sitting on the couch and listening to their conversation.

"My Dad's visiting with his girlfriend and her daughter sometime soon, but he didn't say exactly when," he added to answer Rory. "He doesn't really stick to schedules anyway, on the off chance he makes one. The only reason we got dates out of him last time was because it was Christmas."

"Right," Lorelai nodded, drawing out the word. "That sounds about right. So, soon?"

"Yeah, but with Dad that could mean anywhere between tomorrow and next month, who knows?"

"Well at least he said he was coming." Rory added.

"Yes he said that." Jess agreed, feeling bad because he realised that although his dad was rarely around and could be a little unreliable, he still had one, whereas Rory could count the number of times she'd met her own father on one hand. "And I'm going to be nice, like I already said. Not that that should be a concern, every one thinks I'm nice and Miss Patty and Babette always tell me if they had daughters my age, they'd have set us up along time ago."

"That just means you're cute, and they think your butt would look good on a tiny groom on top of a wedding cake," Rory pointed out.

"I think there was a compliment in there somewhere, but in any case, I've gotta go."

"Yes, ok, leave." Rory pushed him lightly towards the door. "Take away my viewing pleasure. Just go!"

"Goodnight crazy. See you later Lorelai."

"Bye Jess."

"I don't like the nicknames you give me, they're kind of mean," Rory commented, following him to the door.

"I will see you tomorrow."

"Mmhmm," she glared at him for a moment before smiling. "Bye." She added, leaning forward to kiss him quickly. "Nice Luke impression, by the way," she added to Lorelai after closing the door and turning back to face her.

"What are you talking about?"

"The big crashing sound to scare us and make us jump apart, he did that daily when I was living with him. Multiple times a day, actually."

"I don't know what you mean. I already told you, I was just clearing some stuff in here and I-"

"Ok, sure. You were cleaning something. If you really want to stick with that story, I can't stop you."

"Rory! I swear, I wasn't trying to interrupt-"

"Don't worry about it Mom, it's fine." Rory told her, returning to her room.

Two weeks Lorelai stood at the reception desk at the inn, sifting through the mail as she heard a familiar voice call out to her. "Would you look at that, she's still here!" Jimmy exclaimed, making his way over from the stairs that lead to the second floor.

"Haven't you been getting your regular reports of my whereabouts?" she returned, stepping around the desk to hug him.

"I have received a few, I just wasn't sure if they'd been fabricated. Looks like they were correct though,"

"Yes, they were, I'm still very much here. So, where are the girlfriend and the kid we've all heard so little about?"

"They're up in our room, getting settled in. You weren't here when we arrived, so that freaky French guy had to check us in. I don't think Lily's ever going to want to come back here."

"Oh, that's no good. I'll explain to her the best ways to avoid Michel and I'm sure she'll be begging you to bring her back every other weekend."

"Oh, good, can't wait for that,"

"Shush, you know you love it here in our crazy little hamlet."

"Uh, yeah, I kinda do."

"Finally we get the truth out of you. I just wish I had a witness. Damn!"

"No one will ever believe you, you know that, right?"

"Fine, it never happened." Lorelai conceded. "So, they're settling in, what are you doing?"

"Well, I was hoping I could possibly take my friend out for a cup of coffee, although, the last time I tried to do that, she had a bit of a meltdown and ran away from me. You think there's a chance she's going to be semi-sane today?"

"I think there's a very good chance, just hold on one sec, ok?"

"Alright, but don't try hiding from me. I've got super powers when it comes to hiding kids; I know exactly where you're supposed to look."

"It's a good thing I'm not a kid then, isn't it?"

"Same principal applies to adults, I think." Jimmy shrugged.

"I will be right back; I'm just going to let Michel know he needs to keep an eye out for anyone wanting to give us their business."

"Alright, but I will come looking for you if you're not back soon." Lorelai just laughed and shook her head as she walked away from him.

A few minutes later as they walked along the street, Jimmy grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Woah, wait a second, we can't go in there." He said with a note of urgency in his voice, indicating the diner.

"Wha- Oh, shut up! We're going into the diner, ok, unless you did something in there that was very naughty?"

"Nope, can't think of anything recent. What about you?"

"Hah, nice try, I've been a very good girl, of late."

"Uh huh, but in the not to distant past, there was some naughty-ness?"

"I'm not saying another word without my lawyer present." Lorelai replied before pressing her lips together.

"So we can really go in there? You aren't going to run away this time? Or hide under the table even?"

"We can go in, we can sit on the chairs, and we can eat. I can even talk to Luke now."

"You can, huh?"

"Yes." Lorelai replied, moving forward to open the door.

"There's time for talking with all the kissing you two have been doing?"

"Jerk!" Lorelai screeched, hitting him on the arm before taking a seat. "What else has your demon son been telling you?"

"Not much, just that every time he and Rory enter a room the two of you are in they have to work real hard to suppress the urge to vomit."

"We are not that bad!" Lorelai argued. "But if we were, I'm sure it would just be because we're punishing them for making us have to watch them kiss all the time."

"Fair enough. Gee service in this place sucks, doesn't it?" Jimmy asked loud enough for Jess to hear as he came out of the kitchen.

"Oh, yeah, totally,"

"Dad what are you doing here?" Jess asked rushing over to the table.

"What do you mean what am I doing here? I told you I was coming."

"Yeah, but you neglected to say when you'd be arriving. If you'd called ahead for example I would have arranged to have the day off."

"Its ok buddy, my friend here is in tight with your boss. I am too, but not quite as tight. So, I'm thinking between the two of us we can negotiate you the afternoon off."

"I'd appreciate that. So where are-"

"I knew I forgot to pack something into the car! Guess I'll have to go back, try this again next week."

"Dad?"

"They're at the inn. I thought I'd leave 'em to settle in while I forced Lorelai to have a drink with me."

"And how's that going for you?"

"Well, I got her inside, now we're just waiting for some attention from someone that works here. Hey, don't you know the owner?"

"I heard a rumour that you were really good friends with him." Jess shot back. "Ok, so I'm guessing you both want coffee, anything else I can get you?"

"Nah, I'm good,"

"Me too,"

"Ok, I'll be right back." Jess returned a moment later with a pot of coffee and after filling their cups, put it down on the table to keep them happy once they were finished with their first cup.

"What are you doing right now?" Jimmy asked.

"Working, mostly,"

"Yeah, ok, sure. But do you have a minute to sit, talk? I haven't seen you in months, and I did make this trip just for you."

"Yeah, but I just told you, if you'd-"

"Jess would you please just sit down and talk to your father so that I can disappear without him noticing?" Lorelai begged.

"And facilitate your Luke addiction? I'd rather not."

"Hey, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even have the option of obsessing over your pretty girlfriend. Plus, I'm going to get you free time so come on!"

"Fine!" Jess huffed, pulling out a chair and sitting down, pretending it was a great hardship. As soon as he was seated, Lorelai pushed her chair back and raced off to the kitchen.

The two of them laughed as she disappeared and Jimmy took a sip of his coffee before jumping out of his seat. "Hey! I thought you guys were staying in for a bit." He said, crossing the room to kiss the woman at the door and lift the young girl that was with her from the ground.

"We thought we'd take our chances walking around without a guide. You talk about this place so much, I practically had it all mapped out in my head and I was pretty certain I could find the diner without you."

"You did good Sash,"

"Well, first we stopped at the actual hardware store, but we worked out pretty quick that they didn't serve food there so we tried again. Second time was the charm."

"Mick's pretty nice about sharing his lunch actually, if he's been having a profitable morning." Jess interjected as the three of them joined him at the table.

"I'll have to keep that in mind for next time." Sasha nodded, before leaning across the table. "Hi, it's great to meet you, I'm Sasha." She said, pulling Jess into a hug. "Your dad talks about you all the time."

"And this here, attempting to burrow into my jacket is Lily." Jimmy added, as she peeked out and inspected Jess from the safe distance across the table.

"It's great to meet you guys," Jess replied, not really sure what he was supposed to do under Lily's scrutinizing gaze.

"So I was thinking we could all have dinner at the inn tonight, if you weren't busy." Jimmy said as Lily finally shifted in his lap to face Jess properly. She was still silent, but she wasn't staring quite as intensely.

"Uh, yeah, well Rory was going to come over. Mom's decided she wants to learn to cook, so I'm trying to teach her a few things and Rory seems willing to eat whatever we come up with, but I'm sure she'd appreciate not being poisoned tonight."

"I bet she would. You should bring her along, your mom too and-"

"TJ has to work tonight."

"He does, ok, well that's good, I guess. But you'll like Liz and Rory," Jimmy added to Sasha, "they're great. And Sookie should be there too, right?"

"Probably,"

"Where is Sookie going to be?" Lorelai asked, returning to the table and grabbing an empty chair to sit in.

"At the inn tonight," Jess replied.

"Oh, no, she's taking tonight off. Jackson and I finally wore her down, she's agreed to go on maternity leave in a couple of weeks and we thought it would be a good idea to get her to take a day or two to try and ease her into it so the shock of having to leave for an extended period shouldn't be too bad. I'm going over there tonight to keep her company and try to distract her."

"You think you can distract Sookie from the fact that she's not in her kitchen?"

"I said try. It's probably not going to work for longer than an hour, but I'm going to give it a shot."

"Well why don't you guys come to dinner too? Luke as well, we'll make it a whole big group thing and you guys can all get to know each other." Jimmy suggested. "We'll go somewhere else and leave the inn for another night."

"Eating in someone else's restaurant, complaining about the way they prepare their dishes, I think that may just do the trick and make her forget she's not at work, thanks."

"Happy to help,"

As the group of old friends met up outside the restaurant that night, Jimmy took in the sight of Liz and Sookie waddling over with Luke and Lorelai and grinned at the two pregnant women.

"Wow, you two look so-" Sasha hurriedly put a hand over his mouth to stop him from completing his sentence as the two women glared, expecting an insult and Luke paled, wishing their husbands were there, so that it wouldn't fall to him to comfort them as they cried angrily because of Jimmy's words. "I was going to say you look so happy," he continued, removing Sasha's hand. "But I think I'll have to reconsider that one. Geez. What do you people take me for?"

"Sorry Jimmy, we're just a little on edge. Last week Kirk was staring at us, and ducking every time either one of us moved as if he expected us to explode at any moment." Sookie replied. "I swear I heard him mutter something about Mr. Creosote."

"I am actually mad at you." Liz added. "Why didn't you remind me how much I despised being pregnant the first time? I am always uncomfortable!"

"Well, you didn't exactly consult me on this, did you? And besides, it's not my fault!"

"TJ's busy. He's not here right now, so I choose to be pissed at the person who caused this situation the first time."

"That's great Liz," Luke interjected. "But how about we all stop being pissed at everyone, go inside and have a nice meal?" he suggested, leading her towards the door. Everyone else followed and they were soon seated at their table where Jimmy completed the introductions that hadn't been made earlier.

"They seem very nice," Rory commented as she and Jess stood on the front porch of his house later that night. "And you're dad looks happy."

"He does, doesn't he?"

"So you're ok with everything now? It's all good with him being in a relationship?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good. And I think Lily likes you, I don't know what you were talking about,"

"You didn't see the way she was... No, you're right, everything was fine tonight, and everybody looked like they were having a good time. Except Mom,"

"Oh, I'm sure she didn't really mean that. It's just the hormones. Sookie has those days too."

"Yeah, you're right. And I'm sure when it's your mom's turn she'll be-"

"What did I say about making jokes about my mother being pregnant?" Rory demanded.

"That Tristan can't do it without risking a punch in the stomach."

"Ok, fine, I'm amending the rule; no one can make jokes without risking a very hard blow to the gut. Got it?"

"Loud and clear,"

"Good. And if you want, we can work on Lily a little; take her book shopping or something."

"That could work."

"By the time they head home, she'll love you so much, she won't want to leave."

"Ok, there's no need to go overboard there."

"Fine, we'll settle for her tolerating you, better?"

"Much."

"I should go, I think. So you can go take car of your mom and I can be completely grossed out, walking in on your uncle kissing Lorelai."

"Hey, you were the one that was so desperate for the two of them to get back together. You really should have thought about it more, got a few perspectives from the people who knew them as a couple."

"Because you threw yourself in front of them trying to stop me from interfering," Rory shot back.

"I did try to talk you out of it, actually."

"Whatever you want to tell yourself,"

"I'm going inside now, if you don't mind."

"Alright, well we'll see what we can do about Lily tomorrow,"

"Sounds good." Jess agreed. A few minutes later the porch light flicked on and the two of them looked over at the window a little sheepishly. The curtains were closed, but they knew by now what the light meant.

"Night Liz!" Rory called out before kissing Jess one final time and stepping off the porch.

AN2: Ok, that didn't exactly turn out how I planned, I don't really know what happened. I was so excited about Jimmy, Sasha and Lily's visit, but for some reason I didn't write the latter two in until yesterday and by then I'd watched part of 'Merry Fisticuffs' and I didn't want Sasha around, even though it wasn't her fault. I wish I could have stuck with my 'Wicked' phase and included a couple of 'Wizard Of Oz' quotes, but that didn't work out either. Sorry about that, maybe if I watch 'Here Comes the Son' I'll have better luck.