A/N: Y'all are still reading AND reviewing? You're all awesome - thank you :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 6

It had been a week. It wasn't supposed to be but it was. Jess had several calls and texts from both his jobs in that time, two bosses asking when he was getting his ass back to work. The contact stopped two days ago for one and yesterday for the other. Now he had been replaced. Twice.

Burning bridges came surprisingly easy to Jess. He had been doing it all his life and almost never regretted his behaviour. The exceptions to the rule lived right here in Stars Hollow, and apparently those bridges were not so much burnt as they were a little charred around the edges. Rebuilding was possible, and that was what he had been doing. Luke accepted Jess back, almost as if nothing had happened. Lorelai was being friendly, which was a real shocker, but then Jess had done his part in healing the breach there. He found a new understanding with Lane, especially since she had now left home and all. The only real issue was Rory.

Jess couldn't fail to notice that she hadn't been around much lately, and he couldn't help but blame himself for that. Sure, she was in college now, and you didn't pass courses at Yale by never being there. Still, Rory's absence was so noticeable and unusual that even Lorelai and Luke had been talking about it yesterday. If they were worried about her, maybe Jess wasn't being paranoid after all.

When he noticed Lane sat at the counter, putting concentrated effort into seeing how much her nickels and dimes would buy for her, Jess saw a chance to find out what was going on. It was questionable behaviour to offer free food to a woman in distress for the sake of information, but for all that Jess was trying to be a better person these days, he wasn't exactly going for a sainthood.

"Hey," he said to Lane as he poured her a cup of coffee and selected a doughnut from the stand. "You look like you could use these," he offered.

"Oh, thanks" said Lane awkwardly. "I, er..." she looked pained as she started over counting her change.

"It's cool. It's on me," Jess assured her with as much of a smile as he could manage.

The whole being nice to people thing still didn't come entirely naturally to him. With Rory it was easy, even with Luke sometimes, but as to everybody else, well, the world had never really given Jess a break so he never felt the need to be kind to anyone else as a rule. Lane was Rory's best friend and she could use somebody being around to help her out right now. Jess knew better than anyone what it was to be in her position after all.

"Thank you," she smiled gratefully for the food and drink he gave her. "Seriously, Jess, I appreciate it."

"No big deal. Members of the psycho mom club have to stick together, right?" he told her with a smirk.

"Right," Lane replied with a smile of her own.

"And y'know, if you need a job, you should ask Luke," suggested Jess then. "He mentioned you worked here for a while, and just because I'm around, there's always shifts when he could use the help."

"You really think he'd hire me again? After the way I just ran out on him?"

"Lane, this is Luke we're talking about," said Jess, rolling his eyes. "He's got me working here again after everything, he's going to have no problem with you."

"Thanks, Jess. Again," she said, sipping her coffee. "It's just kind of tough, the whole being out in the world on my own thing," she admitted, sighing heavily as she picked at her doughnut. "I was staying with Rory at Yale for a while and now I'm on Lorelai's couch."

"A place I know well."

"Right, of course."

Silence fell over the pair and Jess couldn't handle it. The truth was, he didn't mind being nice to Lane, but he had come over here for one reason above all others and he wasn't going to settle until he just asked his question.

"So, I guess Rory must be pretty busy with Yale? I haven't seen her around much."

Lane tried not to smile too much, hiding her expression in the large bite she took from her doughnut.

"They keep her pretty busy, yeah," she agreed around her mouthful. "Even when I was living there, I didn't see her all that much. Always running from one class to the other, in the library, plus hanging out with all the new friends she's making."

Lane watched Jess carefully as he made a big deal of wiping down the counter top with gusto. Rory did have new friends at Yale, that much was true, but not so very many, and none of them dateable guys or anyting. Honestly, Lane just wanted to see how much Jess would react in an attempt to gauge his interest in Rory. She was pretty darn sure Jess was still totally in love with Rory, and she wouldn't be amazed if Rory told her she was still in love with Jess. Neither of them had made that kind of confession or even a suggestion of it to Lane so far, but she had a feeling that one of them could, if pressed.

"Huh," said Jess, his only reaction to all Lane had said, before he turned and walked away.

He had customers to serve, it wasn't such a big deal that he had gone, but Lane had a feeling he might not have been quite so eager to go if she had been in any way encouraging. If she had told Jess that Rory missed him or wished she had time to see him, then he might have stayed to talk longer. As it was, Lane wasn't willing to lie, and actually she was wishing Rory was around just as much as Jess was right now. It was always lonely without her.

Lorelai cursed as she checked the machine and realised she had missed yet another call from her daughter. She and Rory just seemed to have the worst possible timing lately. It was a constant stream of messages left and messages received the last couple of days, and of all times to be without her daughter, Lorelai felt this was the worst one. Not that she would tell Rory what was going on if she were here. She couldn't tell anyone, not one person, because if she confessed it out loud that would make it altogether too real.

The truth was, Lorelai was just haemorrhaging money lately. The inn development works just kept on running into snags, things cost more than they budgeted for, and with Sookie always so busy with Davey lately, Lorelai was expected to do everything, to handle all things at once. It was too much, and more than once she felt as if she would drown amongst the to do lists and money worries. There was no good direction to turn, no person to rely on for help or advice. Lorelai fought to keep her head above water, and all without the comfort of her daughter to talk to.

"Hey, sweets," she said, leaving yet another message on Rory's voicemail. "Remember me? The woman who birthed you? Well, it's me, again, just letting you know I'm still around and hoping to hear from you very soon. I miss you, kid," she said, the last few words more sincerely than any others in the whole message.

Hanging up the phone then, Lorelai pushed her hair back off her face with both hands and blew out a long breath. Too much to do, and not enough time to do it in or money to acheive it. She didn't have to do all this alone, she knew that. What was the point of her relationship with Jason if she couldn't turn to him in a time of crisis, and he would be supportive, she knew he would. Unfortunately, Lorelai couldn't allow herself to put him in that position, to talk about her money troubles to her boyfriend. He would offer to give or lend what she needed and Lorelai would feel so awkward taking that money. Accepting cash from the guy you were sleeping with. Unless you were married or whatever, that had connotations that Lorelai really didn't care for. Her parents were an option, but she couldn't stand to admit defeat that way. The bank probably wouldn't lend her any more, which left only one final option.

"No," said Lorelai to herself, shaking her head. "No, I can do this myself," she told herself firmly, picking up her jacket and purse to leave the house.

She didn't believe the lies she told herself, but Lorelai didn't have a choice but to keep on telling them for now, until she sunk so low that she just had to beg a favour from her dearest friend, the ever reliable Luke Danes.

Rory switched her cell back on after her class and found a voicemail waiting for her from Lorelai. Her mom begged to hear from her soon and Rory only wished they could be in the same place at the same time, or at the very least on either end of a phone connection! Immediately she called the house in the hopes of her mom being there, but no joy. She was about to try her cell when the phone rang in Rory's hand. Without even checking the screen, she accepted the call.

"Mom?" she guessed, startled by the reply she received.

"Wow. So wasn't expecting that," said Jess with amusement clear in his tone.

"Jess. I'm sorry, I didn't look, I... I'm sorry," she repeated awkwardly.

"No problem," he assured her. "I was really just calling you so you got this number."

"This number?" she echoed. "You're not at the diner?"

"Nope. Currently walking through the town square of good old Stars Hollow and freezing my ass off in the process, I might add."

"No!" she gasped. "Jess Mariano, you bought a cell phone?"

"Apparently," he confessed with a smile she could almost hear. "I figured it was time. Sharing a landline with Luke wasn't always practical before, and now... Well, if I ever need to go any place, I have no excuse not to stay in touch."

"That makes sense," Rory agreed, though she felt sad just thinking about Jess going away again. "But does that mean... I guess you're headed back to New York soon."

Jess was quiet on the other end of the line, so long that Rory was about to check if he was still there, when finally he spoke.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I spent so long wanting out of this place, but now there's nothing holding me here, I could probably stand to stay a little longer."

A lesser spotted smile came to Rory's lips at that news, even if she knew she had to be crazy. Jess had hurt her before and more than once. Sure, they had patched up some kind of friendship on his return to town, but they had barely talked since and everything was just so vague and undefined right now. As much time as she was spending at Yale and studying, Rory wouldn't have known if Jess left town in the last week without a word, though she doubted he would be so callous after everything that went before.

"Rory?" he prompted when she took her turn at too long a silence,

"I'm glad you're sticking around for a while," she told him then. "I've hardly seen you. Yale has just been so crazy, I've hardly had time to breathe."

"I'll bet you're doing great, and you can tell me all about it next time you're home. I wanna hear everything."

"You will," Rory promised. "Hopefully I'll be down tomorrow for the weekend."

"Sounds good," said Jess definitely. "So, I'll see you soon."

"You will, but for now I really have to run. Bye, Jess."

"Bye, Rory."

When Lorelai walked in, Luke was pleased enough to see her. When she came over and sat down on a stool, unceremoniously dropping her head full force onto the counter, he stopped smiling.

"Bad day?" he asked pointlessly.

"No," said Lorelai from her sad position. "Awful day, worst day, hell day!" she said, as she finally raised her head and half a smile at the sight of a very large cup of coffee set before her. "You're an angel."

"So you've said before," Luke noted. "Wanna talk about the hell day?"

"Nothing could be worse than today," she lamented after several large gulps of java. "I haven't talked to Rory in over twenty four hours, we just keep missing each other, and then I fought with Sookie over all this stupid inn stuff, and then tomorrow night I have to go to dinner, not just with my parents, but with my grandmother also."

"So today is pre-hell day compared with tomorrow?" offered Luke.

"Not helping." she glared.

"Sorry," he said quickly refilling her cup as she held it out to him. "Seriously though, are you okay?"

Lorelai was not okay. She stared into her coffee thinking of just how much she was the opposite of okay and how one of the most major problems in her life could be solved by the man standing in front of her.

Money. It was such a dirty word when considered in the same breath as friendship. Part of what had caused the fight with her and Sookie was financials for the inn. It wasn't all of it, but it played a part. Making a monetary arrangement with Luke could get messy, but he always wanted to help, and Lorelai really was running out of options.

"Luke?" she said at last, glancing up at him over the rim of her cup. "After I get done at my parents house tomorrow night, could we maybe meet up? For dinner?"

"You and me?" he asked, seemingly surprised by the question.

"No, the Pope and Anna Nicole." Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Yes, me and you."

Luke blinked a couple of times and then eventually nodded his head,

"Uh, sure. I mean, yeah," he agreed, adjusting his cap the way he always did when something made him just a little bit uncomfortable. "Jess can close up for me, and so long as I... It'll be fine," he promised.

Lorelai was pretty sure he skipped over something he was going to say there. She would bet a whole bunch of money that it was something to do with Nicole, if she had a bunch of money, which she didn't, and that was kind of the point.

"Okay, cool," she said, deciding it was better not to pry into Luke's marriage on top of everything else. "How are things with you and Jess?" she asked instead.

Luke smiled. "They're good. I keep expecting him to say he's leaving but he doesn't, and honestly, I kinda like having him around again," he admitted. "He's different. He's still Jess but... I don't know, he seems like he wants to make things work here now."

"That's good, for both of you." Lorelai smiled too, meaning every word she said. She finished off her coffee and got up to leave then, knowing she still had a lot to do before she dare rest. "So, I'll see you tomorrow night. Eight thirty?"

"Eight thirty is fine," he agreed, waving goodbye as Lorelai left at last.

At least she looked a little happier walking out than when she had walking in.

To Be Continued...