A/N: Thanks for all the recent feedback. Now that Rory & Jess are on track, time to give Lorelai a little push towards Luke...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 18

"You're kidding!" Rory laughed heartily at the news about Taylor's new toupee. "Does he really think he's going to get away with that? That nobody is going to call him on it?"

"I swear, me and Luke made every rug and carpet reference imaginable, and the guy never flinched once. It was crazy," said Jess with a smirk his girlfriend could just hear.

"Makes me wish I was there," she said with a sigh. "Have you seen my mom at all?"

"A couple of times," Jess confirmed, deliberately vague about the details. "She's busy a lot with the inn, I guess."

"Yeah, I get busy," Rory told him, and Jess let out a silent sigh of relief at the subject change.

The fact was, Lorelai still hadn't been in the diner yet, and despite the advice Jess had given to Luke, his uncle had yet to make an effort to go see her either. He made every excuse under the sun from the diner needing him to Lorelai probably being too busy to talk anyway. There was nothing Jess could do to make him change his mind and actually have a conversation with the woman he clearly had feelings for. Jess was only relieved he wasn't the only one to see the problem. From what little Lane saw and heard, she quickly caught on to what he was bugging Luke about and called him on it yesterday.

"No joy in the Luke and Lorelai romance department, huh?" she had said when they practically ran into each other behind the counter.

"I can't even get him to talk to her right now."

"For what it's worth, I did try to get her to come in here yesterday but no go." Lane had sighed. "Why do they do this to themselves?"

Jess had shaken his head in defeat and the two had gone on working. It was cool knowing he at least had a friend in this weird situation. Certainly he never saw himself as the matchmaking type, but Luke and Lorelai were so obviously made for each other, and they had both given Jess another chance to be a better person, both with the two of them and more so with Rory. He guessed he owed them a favour that way.

"Jess?" said Rory in his ear, reminding him he was supposed to be having a conversation.

"Sorry, got distracted."

"Good book?"

Jess actually thought about just agreeing with her, but that would be a lie and it was something he swore to steer clear of this time around. Even the little white ones caused more trouble than they were worth. Besides, he couldn't imagine Rory being too freaked out by the idea of Lorelai and Luke dating. Either way, he supposed she deserved to know what was (almost) going on.

"Your mom hasn't talked to you about the diner lately, has she?" said Jess carefully.

"Er, no, not really," Rory admitted. "I mean, we haven't talked much these past few days, everything has been so full on. Why would you ask that anyway?"

"Because... Ror, Lorelai hasn't been in the place, not for more than a week. There was this thing with her and Luke..."

"Oh my God!" Rory gasped. "I can't believe they had a fight and she didn't tell me!"

"No, no. No fight," Jess assured her. "In fact, the opposite of a fight."

"What's the opposite of a fight?" she checked, thinking it over. "Unless... Jess what are you telling me?"

"I'm not saying... Geez, why am I getting involved in this crap?" Jess asked himself out loud. "Okay, Luke likes Lorelai, and Lorelai likes Luke. I tried to get him to talk to her about it but he won't and I think she's avoiding him also."

There was silence on the other end of the line. Rory was thinking about what Jess just said and at the same time replaying a couple of conversations she and her mom had recently. The weirdness last weekend when Lorelai wanted to tell her something and yet wouldn't. The fact they hadn't made it into the diner at all in those two days, and her mom really hadn't mentioned Luke or the diner for quite a while.

"Ror?"

"I'm here," she assured a worried-sounding Jess. "Um, I mean, Mom and Luke have always been close, and I guess it wouldn't be so crazy to think they might... Wow!" she gasped with the realisation of it all. "So, they're going to, what? Date?"

"Not if they never talk to each other again," said Jess candidly. "You coming home at all this weekend? Maybe you can talk some sense into your mom at least."

"Er, no, sorry. I'm staying here this weekend. I'm even skipping Friday Night Dinner tonight, I just have so much homework and stuff."

"Okay. Well, if you have a window in your busy Yale schedule, I was thinking I might swing by tomorrow afternoon. That work for you?" he asked with humour in his voice that she couldn't miss and mirrored when she replied.

"I think I could pencil in a couple of hours for you," she said with a smile and a hint of laughter that Jess was more than glad to hear.

Something was off at the Gilmore mansion. Lorelai was never massively comfortable about coming back to her childhood home for Friday Night Dinner without Rory to act as a buffer between her and Emily and Richard, but there was this whole other strange vibe she was getting tonight.

They had their drinks in hand, waiting for dinner to be served at seven sharp. Richard was talking but only very little. Emily had hardly said a word and it was creeping the hell out of Lorelai, yet she was afraid to ask what was going on.

"So, anything new with you guys?" she asked after a while, deciding a little vague feeling out of the situation might be her safest option - it wasn't.

"Well, I don't know, Lorelai. I'm not sure we should share our life altering stories with you. I mean, it's hardly a fair exchange when we hear so little about your life."

Lorelai got a horrible sinking feeling as she looked from her mom to her dad and back. Things she hadn't told them. It was a fairly long list, but there was one particularly significant shift in her life that she never had gotten around to explaining, that they also might just have stumbled upon without her saying a word.

"I had a particularly interesting conversation with Floyd Stiles the other day," said Richard, staring into his glass before taking a drink.

"Right." Lorelai nodded once. "So you know I was dating Jason?"

"Lorelai what on Earth were you thinking?" asked Emily crossly. "Of all the men in the world, why Jason Stiles? You know he was in business with your father, this could have had a terrible impact on the company!"

"But it didn't!" she insisted, looking to Richard. "It didn't right? I mean, we dated, it didn't work out, we broke up. Everything is still fine, isn't it?"

"Well, er, as a matter of fact... and this has nothing to do with your relationship, obviously," Richard explained. "Floyd recently offered me my job back and I accepted. It seems he was quite ready to sue us, and the only way to avoid such a disastrous mess was to dissolve the company and... go back."

He couldn't look at her when he said it and Lorelai had a horrible feeling she knew just exactly why.

"What does that mean for Jason?" she asked, knowing when Richard got up to refresh his drink never saying a word or even glancing her way that she had her answer. "Beautiful," she said to herself, downing the rest of her martini.

"Well, apparently you're not dating him anymore, Lorelai, so you won't have to hear him complain," said Emily snippily. "Besides, you're the one that ended things with him, from what we were told. Rumour has it that your attention was in so small part diverted by a certain diner owner, though I can't imagine what you see in him," she muttered, moving to get up and have her drink refilled also.

"That's ridiculous!" said Lorelai, like a reflex, in spite of the real truth of the matter.

"Well, perhaps, Lorelai, going forward, if you could just mention if you're in a serious relationship with anyone relevant to our lives, that would be helpful," Richard advised, holding out his hand for her glass so he could get her another.

"Because obviously unless who I'm dating affects your business you couldn't care less who he was?"

"Lorelai, don't be facetious," her father told her.

Lorelai shook her head, eyes closed a moment as she tried to regain some composure and not lose it. She really, really wished Rory was there right now.

"And all I kept thinking was 'Man, I wish Rory was here to take just a little heat off me with talk of her punk-ass boyfriend that Emily can't stand!'"

Rory tried not to laugh at the way her mom phrased her thoughts. She actually ought to be offended on Jess' behalf, but since she knew Lorelai was kidding about the insulting parts she let it go.

"I am sorry I wasn't there," she apologised sincerely. "I mean, not so Grandma could be mean about Jess, but so you would have had someone to draw a little of the fire."

"Thank you!" said Lorelai dramatically. "Well, school comes first, and you can make it up to me by graduating top of your class, getting a job that pays a fortune, and keeping me in the comfort to which I hope to become accustomed."

"Absolutely," Rory assured her semi-seriously. "In the meantime, is everything else okay?"

"Peach keen, jellybean," said Lorelai around a mouthful of what Rory could only guess was ice-cream or similar, anything to make herself feel better after a run-in with what she called the Emily Monster. "You been getting your study on?"

"Just finished for tonight," said Rory, tossing her pen onto the desk and closing up a couple of text books. "Your call was timely."

"Honestly? I was a little worried the line would be tied up with you and James Dean making googly eyes at each other."

"You're tired and upset so I'm going to let it slide that one cannot make googly eyes via phone, and move right on with the conversation. Jess and I talked earlier, plus he's dropping by tomorrow after the lunch rush at the diner," she explained. "Speaking of, have you seen Luke much lately?"

It was a tenuous link, but after what Jess had said earlier about Luke and her mom avoiding each other, Rory kind of wanted to see what she could glean about the relationship that wasn't quite there yet.

"Er, yeah, I saw Luke. Briefly, anyway. He was running around with Kirk, something about eggs."

"Oh, okay."

There was an awkward pause and then Lorelai spoke again.

"Why the questions about Luke?"

"Nothing, no reason," Rory told her, shaking her head for added emphasis in spite of the fact her mother couldn't see her from more than twenty miles away. "You guys are cool, right?"

"Me and Luke? Sure. I mean, we're fine, we're... we're me and Luke."

"Okay. So long as you're not avoiding him or anything. Jess just mentioned you haven't been in the diner much."

"Well I'm a little busy, honey. An inn does not set up itself!"

There was something unconvincing about the way she said it, Rory knew she had hit a nerve. Not that she doubted her mom was run off her feet and stressed out as hell with the inn, but that hadn't stopped her going into the diner before. It certainly hadn't kept her and Luke from being friends, as evidenced in no small part by the investment he had made in the Dragonfly a few weeks ago.

"Mom?" Rory prompted, knowing there was more to be said.

When Lorelai sighed heavily, it was clear the truth was coming out.

"I may have been avoiding the diner a little," she admitted, rubbing her forehead with her free hand. "Rory, Mommy's a little scared. There's a chance that... that I may have feelings for Luke," she confessed, wincing at the sound of her own words that had never been spoken aloud until now. "Go ahead, tell me I'm crazy."

"Not crazy," said Rory definitely. "Well, I mean, you are a little crazy, but not for liking Luke. He's the best guy, Mom, we both know that. If you like him and he likes you, why does that have to be a bad thing?"

"It wouldn't freak you out?" Lorelai checked. "Me dating your boyfriend's uncle?"

"I don't see what difference that makes. Pretty sure it's freaking you out more than it's bothering me."

Lorelai smiled at that. "You're too smart for your own good."

"It's why Yale accepted me up."

"And Harvard and Princeton too. Thanks, kid."

"Anytime."

Their call ended soon after. Lorelai tossed the phone on the table and looked down at the ice-cream melting in the container in her lap. Maybe it wasn't comfort she was looking for. Maybe it was something else, or someone else. She was missing Luke, that was for certain, but the idea of facing him messed with her head. The past few days, Lorelai had made excuses to herself, that she couldn't mix business with pleasure and since Luke was an investor in the inn a relationship of more than friends would be wrong; that he was in the middle of a divorce and she was on the rebound too; that she was just too busy to go into the diner each day; that there was no way Luke could be feeling what she was feeling so what was the point in trying?

"No more excuses," she said to herself, taking the spoon out of the ice-cream container and shoving the lid on hard. She took a moment, took a breath and considered. After a few seconds more, the lid was back off the container, the spoon shoved deep into the Rocky Road. "Starting tomorrow."

To Be Continued...