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It was a fresh, clear morning. The day was dull but it made Rory smile to breathe in the familiar smell of rain and look up at the clouded sky. She couldn't remember the last time California had been anything other than azure. The ground was still damp and Rory felt a childish happiness as she jumped over a puddle.
"Good sleep?" Lorelai asked, laughing at her and Rory smiled and nodded.
"The best."
"Good. I didn't know how comfortable the bed would be."
"Mom, I slept it since I was ten, it's pretty comfortable."
"Yes, but you haven't been back for a while," Lorelai said. "I thought you'd be used to a double bed by now."
Rory shrugged and stuck her hands in her pockets. Lorelai draped an arm around her and kissed her cheek.
"Hey," she said fondly. "Have I told you how happy I am that you're home?"
"You might have hinted a bit," Rory grinned and Lorelai squeezed her arm.
"Because I'm happy," she told her. "Happy as in insane happy, so happy that I want to dance through the woods!"
"I'm surprised you haven't done that yet!" Rory told her and they both burst into laughter as they strolled into the diner, jangling the bell which hung over the door.
Luke had his back to them and, as they approached the counter, they heard him said in a harried voice,
"Take a seat, I'll take your order in a minute."
"That's not the service I'm used to," Rory said, grinning. Luke's back froze and then he turned around slowly with a look of disbelief on his face.
"Rory?" he exclaimed, going around the counter to hug her. "What are you doing here?"
"Mom didn't tell you I was coming?" Rory asked, hugging Luke and looking at her mother's beaming face. Luke released her and said,
"She did but I didn't expect you until tomorrow!"
"We crashed at Mom's. You're not mad, are you?"
"Am I mad?" Luke echoed angrily, shaking his head as he realised Rory was teasing. "I wrote a whole new menu for you, a mad guy doesn't do that."
"I thought Mom was kidding!"
"She bullied me into it," Luke coughed and Lorelai whispered,
"He's been planning it for years!"
"Look, it doesn't matter," Luke said firmly, still holding Rory's hands. "Why are we talking about food? Let me see you."
He looked Rory up and down, making her slightly embarrassed, and she waited for his familiar words of, you look good. He didn't say anything and she asked nervously,
"Do I look bad?"
"What?" Luke asked, glancing away. "No – you look great!"
"You didn't say I look good like you normally do."
"Well, it just didn't seem like the right word," Luke said, smiling awkwardly. "With your new clothes and fancy jewellery..."
Rory looked down. Besides her wedding ring she had two silver which she wore on her other hand and a clasped bracelet Logan had bought her a few months ago after a fight. She suddenly felt out of place in her cream blouse and black pants.
"It's really good to see you," Luke said quickly, sensing that he had said the wrong thing. "We've missed you so much Rory, you've no idea."
He hugged her again and Rory hugged him tightly back. It felt so wonderful to see him again, Luke, with his uniform of flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap and she said in a muffled voice,
"I never want you to change."
"What?" Luke asked, sounding concerned but keeping his voice light. "What do you mean, Rory?"
"I think she's delirious from hunger," Lorelai cut in. "As am I!"
"I want to sample something from my menu!" Rory said happily. "Are those chocolate chip pancakes?"
"With strawberries and whipped cream," Luke said proudly, pouring them some coffee. "Coming right up."
Lorelai and Rory got up to find a table and he asked curiously,
"Hey, shouldn't this be breakfast for three? Where's the husband?"
Rory thought she heard dismissal in his last words but she ignored it and said,
"Logan's coming later. He's got business stuff to do."
"Right," Luke said, sounding normal again. "The table by the window's free – I know that's your favourite."
"Right," Rory said, feeling puzzled, and she followed her mother to the corner. Luke brought their food over shortly and, with happy exclamations, they began to dig in.
"So tell me," Lorelai said, after most of the food was gone. "How's the job hunt going?"
Rory shifted awkwardly in her seat.
"Um," she said, playing with the fork. "It's going."
"Going...how?" Lorelai asked, putting her own fork. "Good? Bad?"
Rory shrugged and said,
"Somewhere inbetween."
"Okay," Lorelai said, sounding confused. "Have you had any interviews recently?"
"Not for a while," Rory said uncomfortably. In truth, she could not remember when she had last sent out a job application but she didn't want to have that conversation here and now, right in the middle of her celebratory breakfast. "So...how's the Dragonfly?"
"It's fine," Lorelai said, sounding suspicious at the sudden change of subject. "The usual. Big party of hikers came in last week, tramped in mud and Michel freaked out, all systems normal."
"Great."
"Yes."
"Is it busy right now?" Rory probed and her mother looked at her.
"Rory –"
The door suddenly burst open before Lorelai could ask any further. Kirk tripped over his own feet, after failing to walk in his inflatable pants which he himself had invented, and conversation turned to that and his failed endeavour. He greeted Rory from the floor, who pulled him up, and told her all about how he and Lulu were trying for a baby.
"Really?" Rory asked excitedly. "What'll you call it?"
"Well, it will depend on if it's a boy or girl."
"Right," Rory said. "So if it's a boy...?"
"Kirk," Kirk said cheerfully. "Boy Kirk."
"And if it's a girl?"
"Lulu," Kirk said, sounding confused. "What else would we call her?"
"You don't want something original?"
Kirk straightened up, which was not an easy task, and said haughtily,
"Original's overrated, isn't it, Lorelai?"
Rory opened and shut her mouth. Kirk nodded, turned, and attempted a grand exit, hampered by tripping again. They watched him pull himself up and stumble away and then Lorelai burst into laughter.
"He had you there."
"Shut up."
"We could just call each other by our middle names – I'll be Victoria and you'll be Leigh, how's that?"
"Fantastic," Rory said grumpily and her mother said cheerfully,
"Not that I won't be incredibly crushed and disappointed if you don't call your daughter Lorelai."
Rory smiled but the pancakes suddenly seemed to form a cold lump in her stomach. Lorelai looked at her, concerned.
"You okay, sweetie?"
Before Rory could try to answer Lorelai's phone went off. She took it out of her pocket, Luke exclaimed outside! and Lorelai rolled her eyes as she got up, patting Rory on the arm as she went.
Luke sat down in Lorelai's empty seat, smiling at Rory and shaking his head.
"It's gone to a whole new level, Rory. Now she's bugging me to install wifi!"
Rory smiled but didn't say anything. Luke seemed to take her quietness for tiredness as he asked,
"Long trip?"
"Long enough."
He nodded and Rory suddenly felt rude.
"How have you been, Luke?" she asked. "I'm sorry, I didn't even ask."
"Oh, that's okay," Luke said, sounding surprised. "There isn't that much to tell. Same old. Yelling at your mom about her cellphone. Telling Kirk not to sell whatever crazy invention he's come up with next."
Rory nodded, sipped her coffee and coughed as Luke remarked casually,
"I spoke to Jess last week."
"Jess?" Rory asked stupidly and he nodded.
"He's coming to stay."
Rory put her cup down and stared.
"For how long?"
"I'm not sure," Luke said. "At the moment it's two weeks. Something to do with the Truncheon."
"Wow," Rory said weakly. "When's he coming?"
"Saturday."
Rory stared at her cup, hot prickles making their way across her spine, and Luke added,
"Isn't it great though? You'll have a chance to catch up."
"Yeah," Rory said stupidly. "Great."
Luke nodded and then said thoughtfully,
"This'll sound dumb, but I always thought you'd stay together when you were kids."
"Really?"Rory asked, curious in spite of herself and Luke said,
"You seemed to have a bond. I mean, I know that was mostly insane amounts of teenage hormones, but...I don't know. You seemed to know each other, like really know each other."
Rory didn't say anything but looked down, suddenly unwilling to look at him.
"I'm sorry," Luke said quickly, sounding ashamed. "I shouldn't be saying stuff like that."
"Oh – it's okay."
"No, it's not, you're married, I'm being completely inappropriate."
"It's fine," Rory assured him and he smiled, looking embarrassed.
"I guess it's all in the past now. You know, it never stops sounding strange to remember you're married. When I think of you I still remember that kid who'd come in and take up three tables with books"
"It feels weird to me too," Rory admitted and he coughed.
"That's a long time ago now, you're all grown up and living in a whole other state. And Logan's a great guy," Luke said hastily and Rory nodded automatically.
"Of course he is."
"Here he comes," Luke said, looking out of the window at the tall blond man making his way up the path. "I'll leave you in peace."
Logan walked in with Lorelai, who groaned and threw her purse down in a dramatic fashion.
"My mother," she said wearily. "Has figured out, through what must be her witch powers, that you're back early and wants us to come to dinner tonight."
"Oh," Rory said weakly and she nodded unhappily.
"That's about right. I'm going to get more coffee – I think I need triple the caffeine dose tonight."
She made her way to the counter and Logan opened a menu, an amused expression on his face.
"What's the best kind of breakfast pancake?"
"Why don't you try something from the Rory menu?" Rory suggested cheerfully. He looked at her and laughed.
"A Rory menu?" he asked, shaking his head. "What the hell is that?"
After Luke's Logan said he had to go to Hartford to check some stuff out about the apartment.
"If we go now, we can beat traffic," he said, looking at his watch. Rory hesitated.
"Do we both have to go?"
"I guess not," Logan said, sounding confused. "I mean, it's just paperwork."
"Don't you want to see the apartment?" Lorelai asked but Rory shrugged.
"I'll see it next week. I saw pictures online."
"If you're sure," Logan said, shrugging as well. "They only need my signature, I guess. It'll take a few hours. I've got a car booked."
"I'll hang out here," Rory said firmly. "Do you mind?"
"Of course I don't mind," Logan said, kissing her cheek. "I'll see you later, Ace."
They watched him walk away and Lorelai turned to Rory.
"I'm surprised," she said. "Don't you want to see where you're going to live?"
"I'll see it soon enough," Rory said, putting her hands in her pockets. "I want to hang out with you."
Lorelai's frown changed to a wide smile and she said happily,
"Now that I can get behind!"
They walked slowly back to the house. Lorelai made a pot of coffee but, just as they were about to sit down and talk, the phone rang. It was the Dragonfly and Rory wandered into her bedroom, the mug hot in her hands.
It was as though time had stood still in the room. Rory sipped at the hot liquid and ran her hands over the books on the shelf, books she had once considered her greatest friends. She thought about taking a book out to read but she couldn't choose. Her eyes settled on the spine of Franny and Zooey and she remembered how, years ago, she and Jess would talk for hours about it. Many of the miscellaneous titles on the shelf were owed to his recommendations. Rory remembered that he was coming back soon and a flush filled her cheeks which had nothing to do with the coffee. She wondered what he would say to her, how he would look at her, if, like Luke had, with an almost sad look in his eyes. Rory bit her lip and sat down at her old desk. A glance inside the drawer showed that she still had her Chilton chemistry textbook and she got it out to read.
The door opened, making Rory jump and spill coffee.
"Sorry," Lorelai winced as Rory mopped it up. "Rory, I have to go to the Dragonfly, I'm sorry. There's a problem with one of the rooms."
"Oh – okay."
"I'm sorry," Lorelai said guiltily. "I know you were looking forward to hanging out."
"It's okay," Rory said, looking around her. "I can hang out here."
"Doing homework?" Lorelai asked, catching sight of the book. Rory got up, embarrassed, and Lorelai paused at the door.
"What?" Rory asked.
"Rory, don't – don't sit in here all day, okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"I think you should go out," Lorelai said. "Go see Lane or something. She must be excited that you're home."
"Right," Rory said quietly and Lorelai added,
"I just hate to think of you sitting here all day in the dark."
"Mom, I'm fine," Rory said, surprised. "Besides, you and Logan will be back soon anyway."
"I know, it's just – why don't you go see Lane?"
Her mother looked anxious and Rory frowned.
"Okay, I will. I was going to anyway."
"Need a ride?" Lorelai asked, sounding bright again and Rory shook her head.
"No, I'll walk. See you later, Mom."
"See you, sweets."
Rory waited until she heard the jeep drive away before getting her jacket. She slipped it on, looked back over her shoulder and closed the desk drawer. It seemed like the desk was still waiting for someone, someone ready to sit and learn. Rory sighed, left the house and headed to Lane's.