A/N: Most of you wanted to know what drove Rory over the edge, and believe me, I asked myself that question. Unfortunately, my inspiration was intent on holding out on me with that, and instead it gave me some JJ while hashing out the details for the return of Rory and Jess. I promise that I will see to it that there be Lit in the next chapter, so enjoy this until next time!

Disclaimer: I, the author of this story, do not own any of the characters from Gilmore Girls. That honor belongs to the wonderful Amy Sherman-Palladino. I am not making any money on this (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised it I'm losing money over it…).

8. Park bench revisited

Lorelai groaned at the sound of the phone.

"You're closer to the phone, Luke. Answer it for me, will you?" she begged him.

"What if it's Rory?" Luke asked.

"Just answer the thing."

Luke shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the phone.

"Hello, Luke Danes at Lorelai Gilmore's house… Yes… Just a second, Emily."

He put down the phone, and turned to Lorelai.

"You knew it was her." he said and looked at her reproachfully.

With another groan, Lorelai got out of the sofa and went over to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello mother."

"Lorelai, I demand an explanation!"

"Mom, any other time I would know what you're talking about, but please, be a little more specific."

"First, Rory calls us…"

"Wait, Rory called you?"

"Yes, Lorelai, she called us, and she was raving. Something about a hijacking. Is she in trouble?" Emily demanded to know.

"No, but…"

"And then, just a minute ago, that… Well, that boy comes knocking down our door, storming in and hands us Rory's engagement ring."

"Jess was there?"

"Lorelai, can't you keep up? Yes, he was here, he asked us if we were happy now, and then he left. I think he came in a cab, and I do hope for his own good that it didn't leak oil in the driveway."

"Mom, I hardly think you can blame Jess for an oil leak on a vehicle he doesn't own. Secondly… Mom, honestly, have you no idea what this is about?"

"Would I have called you if I had, Lorelai?"

"But why did you call me? I know you're not Jess' best buddy, but why didn't you call Rory?"

"She was driving, I heard it. Do you think I want to be the reason for her possible arrest?"

"Seriously mom. Why did you call me?"

"Stop answering my questions with questions, Lorelai. I demand to know what is going on."

Lorelai took a deep breath. There was no telling where this would go.

"Is dad still up?"

"No, he just went to bed. How so?"

"Would you just please go drag him out of bed? You know what, I'll come down, it's best."

"Lorelai, it will be late by the time you get here."

"Mom, if you managed to stay awake almost the entire night to watch those ballroom dancing tapes, on several occasions I might add, then I'm sure you can stay awake for this. It concerns Rory, I would think that's important to you. Now, get dad out of bed and I'll be there in twenty."

With that, she hung up, and let out the breath she had held for the final minutes of the conversation.

"So you're going to Hartford?" Luke commented.

"Yup. As much as I'm not a fan of a face-to-face confrontation with my parents, I couldn't tell them over the phone." Lorelai replied gloomily.

"You want me to tag along?"

She smiled at him, nodding as she stepped forward to give him a hug.

"But don't think for one second I'm gonna let you drive." she added as they began walking towards the door.

"You're hopeless."

"And you love me for it."

During the drive to Hartford, Lorelai tried calling Rory and Luke tried to reach Jess, but neither of them answered their phones. Rory had switched hers off, and Jess simply wouldn't answer. Lorelai knew that Rory hardly ever switched off her phone, and having no means of contacting her made Lorelai anxious. By the time they parked the Jeep outside the Gilmore residence, she was worked up, all jittery and ready to explode into a tirade of explanations and accusations. For the first time she had no problem ringing the bell, and she marched in as soon as the maid had opened the door widely enough.

Richard and Emily were sitting in the livingroom, Richard still in his pajamas and a neat silkrobe, while Emily still wore the same clothes she had had on for dinner.

"Hey," Lorelai greeted them. "Thanks for… you know, staying up."

Luke greeted the Gilmores and they sat down in the sofa opposite the elder Gilmores.

"So, what is this about. Why am I being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night?" Richard asked, a tad sourly.

"Dad, this…" Lorelai began, but restrained herself from going off-topic. "Okey, so it's Rory."

"Is she all right?" Emily asked, her face smooth and emotion-ridden.

"She's fine, as far as we know."

"As far as you know? What does that mean?"

"It means she has turned off her cellphone, and I can't get a hold of her."

Richard and Emily looked puzzled over this, as they knew just as well as Lorelai that Rory always kept her phone on. Lorelai felt flustered, and her bad habit of fidgeting with her hands kicked in on cue.

"Rory…"

She sighed. This was much harder then she had thought.

"Okey, so everything was good, until we got home…"

"Lorelai, the point, please…" Emily urged her.

"Rory broke off the engagement with Jess." Luke told them in a solemn voice.

"She what?" Emily and Richard said in one voice.

"We came home, and saw that you had called, and we listenened to the message, and yes, Michel and Sookie can take on more work, but not until…" Lorelai started rambling. "Nevermind, the thing is, Rory sort of snapped when you began talking about her wedding, 'cause her and Jess were planning on having a long engagement, and then you popped up, taking over what has to be the most major thing in her life, hence the hijacking-reference. And Jess, he must be devastated, and I think he thinks you wanted it this way, which I hope you didn't, so that explains his visit, and now they're both on their way to Philly, and we can't get hold of either of them, and now I'm out of breath."

The silence that followed was almost as defined as the one that followed the outbursts at dinner. Richard was staring at Lorelai, and Emily's eyes seemed fixed on something far away.

"But… she is safe?" Richard asked cautiously.

"I don't know! She flipped, dad, and left. At some point she came back, took Jess' car and left. She then called Jess, and then he left in a cab, and sometime between that call and ten minutes ago, she switched off her phone. But since no hospital has called me to inform me that she's been hurt physically, I'm assuming she's not suffering from anything else than a broken heart."

"Broken heart?" Emily asked, sounding surprised.

"Mom. You took over the thing that was her entire life, without asking her."

"Nonsense, she would have had a say in everything, and if she didn't want it, she would have been free to turn down my offer."

"But this is Rory, mom. Do I really have to explain this to you? She loves you so much, and the idea of saying 'no' to you is almost absurd to her."

"Then why this fit of hysteria?"

"I don't know. Normally we would have talked about it, and I would have called you, and you would have told me not to stick my nose where it doesn't belong, and in the end Rory would have called and asked you to drop it, but… I don't know, there's something more here."

"Luke, do you think you could get in touch with… with Jess?" Richard asked.

Luke flinched a little, he had been sitting quietly beside Lorelai, listening to her arguing Rory's case, and the sudden question threw him.

"He's got his phone on, but either he refuses to answer me, or he can't hear the phone ring. Don't ask me which is more likely, 'cause I don't know."

The answer didn't seem to fully satisfy Richard. His face got an expression of great thoughtfulness. After a few minutes he spoke again, his voice magisterial and determined:

"This is what we will do. We will leave them alone for tonight. If they haven't answered your calls before, I doubt they will do it now. Tomorrow, we will all go to Philadelphia, and we will sort this thing out."

"A full-scale Gilmore intervention. Not bad at all, dad." Lorelai smiled.

"Now, I suggest we start early tomorrow, so we'd all better get some sleep. I'm sure you and Luke can make do with your old room. If you excuse me, I'm going back to bed."

Richard rose from the sofa, and strolled away up the stairs. Luke excused himself to go to the bathroom, leaving Lorelai and Emily alone.

Lorelai watched her mother. She could tell that Emily was feeling something. She had seen that face, that almost perfect mask that covered up whatever she was feeling, so many times.

"Mom..? Are you okey?"

Emily didn't answer immediately. She seemed lost in thought.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Lorelai, I'm fine." Emily answered soberly. "Well, it's no good sitting up all night, if we're heading out tomorrow. I suggest you and Luke try to get as much sleep as possible."

Emily rose, and Lorelai instinctively rose with her.

"We will."

"I'll send Anna-Perenna to wake you, and we'll have breakfast together before we leave."

Lorelai just nodded.

"Well, goodnight, then."

"Goodnight, mom."

Emily walked past her, heading for the stairs. The spirit in the room felt like a heavy blanket over them both. Lorelai sighed heavily.

"Mom?" she called out.

Emily turned around, halfway up the first set of steps.

"It's gonna be okey. I'm sure Rory's fine, and we'll straighten this out tomorrow."

Emily smiled a faint smile, before continuing up the stairs.

Seconds later Luke emerged from the bathroom, to find Lorelai alone by the sofa, her arms wrapped around her.

"You okey?" he asked her.

"Yeah… Or… No, not really." she whispered. "I can't stand not being able to call her or talk to her."

"Come on, let's get some sleep. You're tired and wound up. Rory's fine, Jess is fine, I'm sure of it, and we're going to get to the bottom of this." Luke told her confidently.

She let out a small laugh.

"Why do you make it sound more believable?" she asked him jokingly, as they walked up the stairs.

"Because I mean it."

"God, I feel like I'm sitting on that stupid park bench again."

"Park bench?"

"Yeah. It was while we were building the inn, and I had money trouble, and felt like I was losing it, and you talked to me, and told me that I wasn't failing, and…"

"I remember that. Though I didn't specifically remember the park bench."

"Well, I'm getting the 'failing'-feeling back, 'cause why couldn't I fix this, why didn't I run after her, and why did I reject the idea of talking about it, this, whatever at dinner, and… and why isn't she answering? She knows I turn into a basketcase everytime I can't get a hold of her, and that I feel guilty everytime I go a long time without talking to me. Why is she doing this?"

She knew it before she felt it, she was crying, and this time, she didn't even try to fight it. Luke guided her into her old room, pulled the bedcover off, and let Lorelai lie down. He knew none of them were going to get much sleep anyway, and she obviously needed to unload, so he pulled off his jeans, his shirt and socks, and lied down beside her. Lorelai was already sobbing into her pillow. Carefully, he turned her, so that she faced him, and he held her close. Tomorrow would be critical, Luke knew that. He only hoped that the three stubborn Gilmore girls could see eye to eye on this.

A/N: Hmm… So a semi-cliffhanger here. I can't seem to get rid of them. Anywho, please review and kickstart my Rory/Jess-inspiration!