Thank you so much for all your support! Here's the next chapter. Sorry it's a bit shorter than recent ones but the next one will be longer, I promise! :)

Chapter 11

"So how are you holding up?" Luke asked as he sat on the back porch with Steve.

"I'm doing ok." Steve nodded.

"Yeah?" Luke said. "You seem better. You seem good. Well...as good as you can be obviously." He said.

"I am." Steve said. He sighed. "It's been hard. You know that better than anyone. You were there when I was at my worst. But...I am getting there. Haven't touched a drop of drink for 6 years."

"That's great." Luke smiled. "I'm proud of you."

Steve smiled. "It still hurts...Everyday I wake up and I forget just for split second that Laura's still alive and that we're so happy. And then I remember..." He sighed.

"I've been through that." Luke sighed.

"But I'm getting there." Steve told him. "Ben and Amy have been great. They've really kept me going."

"They're great kids." Luke smiled.

"It looks like they're hitting it off with Lorelai's daughters." Steve smiled as he glanced through the window and saw them all chatting and laughing together.

"Yeah, Olivia and Rory are great. I'm glad they're getting on." Luke said.

"Because it will make us hanging out even easier especially since you and Lorelai are a thing?" He smirked slightly.

Luke ducked his head slightly. "You're a jerk." He said but smiled slightly.

"She seems great." He smiled. "Really great. And she thinks a lot of you as well."

"Yeah?" Luke said glancing at him.

"From the way she was talking about you, I think that's a safe bet." Steve smiled. "I'm happy for you, mate. You deserve this. And Lorelai really does seem great."

"Thanks." He smiled softly.

"Hey, you know, I'm planning on taking Ben and Amy to the cabin at the weekend. You should come along with Jess." He said.

"Really?" Luke said.

"We..uh..we haven't been there since the accident. But I want Ben and Amy to think of the happy memories we had there. I don't want them to dread going. But...you coming along would be nice. A bit of moral support you know." Steve said. "Bring Lorelai as well and her daughters. We could all just hang out."

Luke thought for a moment. "Ok. I'll mention it to Lorelai."

"Great." Steve smiled.

Olivia glanced across at Rory and Jess who were sitting close to each other and she could see the smiles between them. She smiled slightly to herself. She was glad they were able to sort things out. She sighed but focused her attention back onto the tv.

"Red vine for your thoughts?" Ben whispered in her ear.

Olivia smiled slightly as she saw Ben holding out a red vine to her next to her. "I'm just thinking it was nice to hang out with you guys tonight." She whispered taking the red vine.

"Well that wasn't worth it. I thought I'd get some juicy gossip at least." He grinned.

"Sorry to disappoint you. But this was definitely worth it." She grinned eating the red vine.

Ben chuckled. "I guess it was nice to hang out with you all as well." He said.

"Oh yeah? So it was worth it then." Olivia teased, her eyes twinkling.

"Maybe." Ben smirked. "It's nice to hang out with people our own age." He admitted.

"I'm sure there's plenty of people your age back in New York." Olivia laughed.

"Oh there are." Amy joined in the conversation. "But...they all know what happened to us. And..uh..how dad struggled to cope for a while. So they sort of treat us differently to everyone else at school." She shrugged.

"That's awful." Olivia said shocked. "I'm so sorry."

"It's New York." Ben said. "People act differently there." He sighed.

"We get why dad wanted to move there. We know he had to get away from here. We get that. And we do have family in New York. It's just...I kind of miss it here. We were happy here. Well, before everything happened..." Amy said quietly. "Dad was happy here, we loved school, we had great friends, Luke's here...It's just...I kind of miss it." She admitted.

"Me too." Ben said putting his arm round his sister.

"Why don't you talk to your dad about it?" Rory asked as she and Jess joined the conversation.

"It's not fair on him." Amy said. "He's been doing so much better. If we came back here, I don't know what would happen. I don't know if he'd be able to cope." She said. "I...We lost mom already. I can't lose dad as well."

"Hey, that's not going to happen." Ben reassured her.

"How do you know though? It got so bad! I know it did. Luke tried to hide what was really happening but we were 10 and 9. I was old enough to understand what was happening. He could have killed himself." Amy said tremulously.

"But he didn't." Jess said. "He got better. For you guys. I wish my mom would want to get better for me." He said.

"Jess..." Rory said.

"I know. I know this probably makes me sound selfish or ungrateful or something. What you guys went through...losing your mom...it was awful. And here I am wishing my mom wasn't here." He said, sighing. "I just...Your mom was amazing. She loved you so much. I wish I had that." He said.

"We get it." Amy assured him, knowing the history of Jess' mom.

"My mom picked the drink and drugs over me. Your mom might not be around anymore but your dad...yeah, he went through some stuff...but he chose you. He wanted to get better because of you two. He did pick you over the drink." Jess said. "I'm sure he would want to know if you're not enjoying your life in New York. He's better now. I'm sure it would be ok."

Amy glanced at Ben. "I don't know..."

"He's right..." A voice said from the doorway.

They all turned to see Steve and Luke standing there.

"Dad..." Amy said.

"Why didn't you tell me you were miserable?" Steve said softly.

"We...didn't want to add to your stress." Amy said.

Steve sighed. "You two could never do that."

"Hey, you guys want to help me with something in the kitchen?" Luke said to Jess, Rory and Olivia.

They nodded and followed him, knowing that he wanted to give Steve, Amy and Ben some space.

"Hey, what's going on?" Lorelai asked.

"Just giving them some space. I think they need to talk about a few things." Luke said.

"Ah." She nodded.

"Oh, by the way, Steve has invited us to his cabin this weekend. If you're interested?" He said.

"A cabin?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah. We used to go there a lot when we were younger. It's his family's cabin. You up for it? We can go swimming and caneoing and stuff. It could be fun." Luke said. "Plus...well I think Steve needs a bit of moral support. It's the first time they're going back since...well since Laura's accident." He said.

"Oh poor Steve." Lorelai said sympathetically.

"So are you up for it?" He asked.

"Can we mom?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, it'll be nice to have a Paris free weekend for once." Rory joked.

"I'm up for it." Jess said.

"Well...I'd have to check with work but I'm sure they'll be ok." Lorelai said.

"Yeah?" Luke smiled.

"Yeah. It'll be nice to get away from a bit." Lorelai smiled. "Especially with you." She said softly.

"Ok we're out." Olivia said disappearing into her and Rory's bedroom.

"Yep bye." Rory said as she and Jess followed Olivia.

"I guess we'll have to get used to them being all sappy now." Olivia joked.

"I guess so." Rory smirked.

"It will be nice to get away though. Spend some time together." Jess said.

"Like we don't do that already?" Olivia teased.

"You know what I mean. I mean, properly spend time together. Relaxing and stuff." He said glancing at Rory and smiling slightly.

Olivia saw the blush on her sister's face. "Oh that kind of spending time together." She teased them. She saw them looking at her curiously. "I'm glad you guys worked things out." She said sincerely.

"You are?" Rory asked.

"Of course." Olivia said. "You're happy. I can tell. You deserve it. Both of you." She told them.

"Nothing changes ok? Between the three of us. Nothing changes." Jess said.

Olivia smiled. "I know that." She said softly.

"And you'll be ok with us...?" Jess said hesitantly.

"You mean have my feelings miraculously disappeared?" She said but with a teasing smile. "No." She said. "But I'm starting to deal with them better. Jess, it's cool. You and Rory are a better fit than me and you would ever be. I'm happy for you. Honestly."

"If you're sure." He said.

"Hey, guess what." Ben said appearing at the door.

"What?" Olivia said.

"We might be moving back here." Amy grinned.

"What? Seriously?" Olivia said.

"Well, dad said we'll talk about it more at the weekend but...yeah, it's looking likely." He smiled.

"That's great!" Olivia smiled.

"I think so too." Ben smiled. "Hey, this means you can borrow my record player anytime you want now." He said.

"That is great!" She grinned.

"Ah so you're the music nerd Olivia won't stop going on about." Lane joked.

"You talk about me a lot huh?" Ben smirked at Olivia.

"No. Lane likes to exaggerate." Olivia said, smiling slightly.

"Oh yeah?" He said.

"Yep." She nodded.

"Ok." He smiled.

"So what's this about your amazing record collection? Tell me everything!" Lane demanded.

Olivia smiled as they sat down at a table at Luke's with them and watched as Ben and Lane started talking music. "Hey!" She smiled as Amy appeared and sat down with them.

"Hey." Amy smiled.

"I think I've been dumped as your brother's all knowing music nerd friend for Lane." Olivia joked.

Amy laughed. "Boys can be so shallow." She joked.

"Absolutely!" Olivia grinned.

"So I hear you're joining us at the weekend." Amy said.

"Yeah, it should be fun!" Olivia smiled.

"Yeah." She smiled. "I was a bit nervous about going because...well, you know. But dad's finally opening up about stuff. This can only be a good thing right?"

"Absolutely." Olivia said.

Amy smiled. "I'm glad dad brought us back here for a visit. We wouldn't have met you guys otherwise."

"Yeah it's been cool hanging out with you two." She smiled.

"I know it's weird but it feels like we've known each other forever. Is that totally crazy?" Amy said.

"Yep." Ben said smirking at her.

"Shut up you." Amy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, be nice to your sister. She's the one that can tell me all your embarrassing stories." Olivia teased.

"I don't have any." Ben grinned.

"Sure you don't." Olivia grinned.

"Come on you two, we better get going." Steve smiled at his kids as he came up to the table. They were heading to the cabin a day before everyone else so they could get things sorted. "We'll see you tomorrow." He smiled at Olivia.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." She said, giving them a wave before watching them leave. She glanced back to find Lane smiling at her. "What?" She said.

"Nothing." She said.

"Ok..."

"Ben seems nice." Lane said.

"He is." Olivia said carefully. She saw Lane smiling knowingly at her. "Lane, he's a friend. I've known him for three days." She rolled her eyes.

"Well yeah...but sometimes you just know." She said.

"Lane..."

"I'm just saying he's basically all you've been talking about lately. It just seems like you two clicked pretty much straight away." Lane said.

"He's a friend." Olivia repeated. She sighed. "Look, I know I'm getting better at dealing with stuff but I don't want to force anything. Ben's nice ok? But he's a friend."

"Ok." Lane said. "Sorry."

"I just don't want a repeat of what happened with Tristan. I still feel bad about it." Olivia said.

"No, I get that. I'm sorry." Lane said sincerely. "So this trip sounds fun..."

"Yeah it should be!" Olivia nodded. "It will be nice to get away for a bit. And I know mom's looking forward to spending some time with Luke."

"They have been overly...uh..." Lane said.

"Gross?" Olivia joked.

"No!" Lane laughed. "It's sweet that they're at that stage. And they so belong together. Don't you think they do?"

Olivia smiled. "Yeah. It is sweet." She said softly.

"Anyway, I've got to run. But have a great time ok? I want details when you get back." Lane grinned.

"You got it." She grinned.

"See ya."

"Bye Lane." Olivia laughed.

The following day Luke, Lorelai, Jess, Rory and Olivia all arrived at the cabin.

"Wow this is beautiful!" Lorelai exclaimed looking around at the surroundings. "What a view!"

Luke smiled. "Yeah it's lovely here." He said.

"You found it!" Steve smiled walking up to them with Ben and Amy following behind them.

"Yeah, it's great to be back here." Luke smiled. "How are you doing?"

Steve smiled. "I'm doing ok." He said. "We..uh..we chatted about some of the happy memories we've had here over the years last night. It was good."

"Good." Luke smiled softly. "Hey you two!" He smiled at Ben and Amy.

"Hey! We're so happy you decided to come." Amy said excitedly.

"We've just started a fire and we were going to start cooking." Ben said.

"Sounds good!" Lorelai grinned.

"We'll let you go dump your bags and then you can join us by the lake if you want." Steve said.

"Sounds good." Luke said.

"Your rooms are up there." He pointed.

A few moments later they were all sat by the water, eating some food. "This is beautiful." Lorelai said. "Thanks so much for inviting us." She smiled at Steve.

"No problem. You're part of Luke's life and he's part of ours so it was a given." Steve said. "We're glad you could come."

Lorelai smiled. "Can I just say now though that I am not going fishing?" She said, causing everyone to laugh.

"I think that was definitely a given, mom." Olivia teased. "You'd probably end up catching a fish and then keeping it in our bathtub or something!"

"Yeah alright! I'm not that bad!" Lorelai smirked.

"Yeah you are." Rory smirked.

"I can't believe my own flesh and blood are ganging up on me." She said with mock horror.

"Well I think you'd be a really good fisher-woman." Luke whispered.

"Oh yeah?" She smirked.

"No. But I thought I'd try and be supportive or else I was worried you'd change your mind about us." He joked.

Lorelai smiled slightly. "That would never happen."

"No?" He smiled.

"Definitely not." She smiled softly. "This is really great. Thanks for letting us be a part of this life with you."

"There's noone I'd rather be here with than you." He smiled softly.

"Oh just kiss already!" Steve grinned.

Lorelai and Luke both blushed. Lorelai glanced at her daughters but they were both grinning at her so she glanced at Luke and slowly leant in before kissing him gently.

"Finally! And now you're officially dating!" Steve grinned, causing everyone to laugh.

So I hope you liked it! :) Let me know what you think as I love reading your reviews! Thanks again for your continued support! :)