Just a quick note: this chapter takes place the day before Rory's wedding to Logan, meaning 1 year and almost 8 months has passed since the previous chapter.

Vanessa stands on the street, next to Jess' parked car, with Jess in the driver's seat.

"So tomorrow's her big day?" She says leaning through the open window and Jess nods in response. She rolls her eyes. "Something borrowed, something blue and an ex-boyfriend?"

"I'm not seeing her. I'm just leaving the package." He says without emotion, simply stating facts, while staring out the front window.

She sighs. "I still think..:"

"I know what you think…" He interrupts her in a harsh voice. "…but this is the way I'm doing it."

"But she might…"

He turns to face her and makes sure to catch her eyes before interrupting her again. "When she left I seriously doubted there was even a meaning for me to continue living." He stresses every word. "I've gone through things in my life, but I've never before doubted whether I should stay alive or not. I can't have my heart broken like that again – that's why I'm doing this my way, okay?"

"Fine!" She says and stands up straight, taking a step away from the car.

"Fine!" He answers and starts the engine.

She leans forward again and says "Good luck!" with a smile on her face before he rolls up the window and drives off.

"Where's Jess going?" Chris says as he walks down the small set of stairs from Truncheon and onto the street next to Vanessa.

"Visiting a friend over the day. He'll be back tomorrow." She answers quickly.

Chris nods in an absent-minded way. "By the way Vanessa.." He says as he gets to the reason he really stepped out onto the street when he saw her outside the store."…are you living in our apartment? I mean living in it like paying rent, contributing to the handy-man fund, buying milk?"

She smiles. "Okay Chris, tell me what's bothering you this time. Did I leave smudges of mascara on the sink again? Clean the dishes when it was actually your turn? Which by the way I've done several times. Oh, oh, I know!" She nods knowingly. "Did I leave pieces of clothes that made you blush, in places where you'd stumble upon them?"

He frowns, but there's a smile on his lips nonetheless. "All I'm saying is that I am not the one that has a girlfriend practically living in our apartment, and still my hair smells like apricot."

She looks surprised. "My apricot conditioner…That's what's bothering you?"

"Well….yeah. I like my manly smelling two-in-one shower cream/shampoo but sometimes, when I'm in a hurry I take the wrong bottle and I end up smelling like a fruit basket all day."

"Smelling like one, acting like one" She mumbles to herself.

She wraps her arm around Chris' waist and they start slowly walking up the stairs. "Me insisting on designating half a shelve in the fridge for my fruits and vegetables – that doesn't bother you. "She chuckles. "Me filling your little bachelor pad with curtains and tablecloths – that doesn't bother you." She stops on the top of the stair before entering the door. "Staying up all night making sometimes loud, sometimes weird, sex noises, the weird ones not coming from me I might just add – that doesn't bother you." She's giggling so hard she can hardly stand. "But my apricot conditioner – that bothers you."

He can't hold back a smile, even though he tries to look offended.

"Thank you Chris. Thank you for being in my life – you just make life so much more fun!"

He holds the door open for them."Yeah, yeah, apart from the apricot conditioner – you're kind of okay too I guess."

OoOo – Lorelai's point of view, reading the book – OoOo

After a long day at the diner Luke walks through the front door and is met by an excited Lorelai, holding a closed book clenched in her left hand.

"We have to get married." She says, walking backwards in front of him as he starts making his way to the kitchen.

"What?" He stops deadpanned in the doorway.

She nods enthusiastically. "I've just finished reading Jess' book, and the way I see it – we have to get married. There's no other way, the sooner the better."

He raises his eyebrows and looks at her as he walks over to the fridge and grabs a bottle of water. "You know I didn't write you a book, right?"

She glares at him with and irritated frown on her face. "Yeah, I know." She sits down at the table where a bunch of papers with incomprehensible scrabbles on them are lying in a mess. "Stop talking crazy and help me plan this thing." She moves the papers around, waves a few of them in his direction to clarify what she means by 'this thing'. "I'm thinking we do it on a boat, out at sea. Then neither of them can run away. Of course we'll take the life boats away, just in case."

"Of course" Luke mutters, but Lorelai doesn't seem to hear him.

"We have to be rather far out, taking away the option of swimming to shore…" She says as she reads from one of the papers. "…and maybe skip the life jackets as well…" she reaches for a pen and starts adding to the paper she's reading from as she continues talking. "'Cause with a life jacket on, no matter how far out we are, the option of swimming to shore won't seem impossible."

"I'm talking crazy?" He shakes his head and sits down next to her. "As tempting as a wedding on a boat, far out in the open ocean, without life boats or life jackets sounds, I'll have to ask where this is coming from?"

She puts the papers down put her hands out. "They have to be together. They're perfect together – I can't believe I didn't see it before." She shakes her head at her previous ignorance.

"Jess and Rory?"

"Yes, Jess and Rory. Who did you think I was talking about? Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston? 'Cause I think that ship has already sailed."

"Just making sure."

"If we get married, he has to attend the wedding, I mean, after all you've done for him – he has to come. And Rory, well she has no other choice, she's my daughter. 16 hours of labor means she has no way out of it."

He sighs. "So your plan is to push them together in as small a space as possible, without being able to leave?"

"Yes. And if it doesn't work out the first time, well, then we'll have to get divorced and do it again, in an even smaller space. And again and again if necessary."

"As thrilled as I think your mother would be about that idea, don't you think we should wait and see how their talk goes first? And besides, wouldn't it be nice if I actually got to propose to you this time?"

She pouts. "But what if their talk doesn't go well?"

"Then I'll guess I'll have to pop the question, rent a small boat with no life-saving equipment whatsoever and go along with whatever crazy plan you have in mind."

She smiles and leans over to kiss him.