I've just got home but I really wanted to get something up for you guys! I hope you're all still with me! :) Here's the next chapter. :)

Chapter 16

Lorelai stopped for a moment, taking the chance to glance through the diner's window. She smiled as she saw her daughters sat at the counter with their school books. As if on cue, she watched as they both looked up expectantly at Luke as he appeared from the kitchen. She grinned as she saw his exasperated look as her daughters very clearly were asking for more coffee and pie. Her grin grew as she watched Olivia get up and attempt to get behind the counter to get the coffee herself. Whilst Luke was distracted, she watched Rory sneak round the counter to get some pie. By the time Luke had realised and had turned round, Olivia had grabbed the coffee and both her daughters were back on the right side of the counter, grinning triumphantly. Lorelai smiled as she saw Luke try and tell them off but ended up chuckling with them. This had become a sort of routine for them all. Rory and Olivia would go to the diner after school to study a bit and annoy Luke and then she would meet them then after she was finished at the inn. She always enjoyed watching them for a moment through the window before going in. She saw that normal service had resumed so she decided to go in and walk up to them. "Hey, how come my daughters can go behind the counter but I can't?" Lorelai grinned.

"Because they're like you. They're not so good with no." Luke said dryly but the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. "Coffee?" He said.

"Do you need to ask?" She said.

"My mistake." He said.

"Hey Luke, thanks for the food and coffee. I'm going to take off. See you tomorrow." Olivia smiled getting up. "Bye mom, I'll see you at home." She said kissing Lorelai's cheek.

"See ya, Olivia." Luke waved.

"See you back there, hon." Lorelai smiled as she watched Olivia leave the diner.

"Yeah I'll see you back home too. I won't be late." Rory said.

"Ok sweets." Lorelai smiled as she watched her daughter head upstairs to the diner apartment.

This was all part of the routine they had started for the last few weeks. She would meet her daughters at the diner after work and then Olivia would take her slice of pie and her coffee back home so that she could have her phone date with Ben and Rory would head upstairs to spend some time with Jess. Olivia had confided in her about the kiss that had happened between her and Ben. She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about having both daughters starting relationships with guys but she knew it was going to happen at some point. When Rory had told her about her and Jess, she was slightly nervous but at least she knew Jess well. She'd known him most of her life and she knew he would treat Rory right. But she didn't know much about Ben. She also couldn't read Olivia as well as she could with Rory. She did know this was the happiest she had seen Olivia for a while though and Luke had assured her that Ben was a good kid and as she knew he had known Ben and his family for a long time, his word was good enough for her. She just never thought she'd have to start worrying about boys this early. Her daughters hadn't really seemed interested in them before but she guessed she could change.

"Coffee for your thoughts?" Luke said taking her out of her daze.

Lorelai looked up sheepishly. "Sorry." She said. "Just thinking about the girls."

Luke nodded. "Thought so." He said. "By the way...hi." He smiled warmly leaning over the counter to give her a quick kiss.

"Hi." Lorelai smiled softly. Her and Luke had been on a couple more dates since their first time and things were developing nicely.

"So what you thinking right now?" He asked.

"Right now?" She said. "Right now, I'm thinking life is pretty damn good at the moment." She smiled.

Luke smiled. "Yeah it is." He said. "And guess what, things are going to get better."

"How come?"

"Steve's finally finalised on the houses. They're moving back this weekend." He told her.

"That's great! That means they will be here in time for the firelight festival!" Lorelai smiled. "Liv will be thrilled."

"Yeah about that...Steve suggested we leave it a surprise..." Luke said.

"Are you asking me to lie to my kid?" She teased.

"Not lie...just not offer the information to her." Luke smirked slightly. "I know you'd love to see her face when she sees them, right?"

Lorelai grinned. "Ok you've convinced me."

"So how was work?" He asked.

"Urgh...do you think Michel could come and work for you because I don't think I can put up with him for much longer?" She groaned.

"No way." Luke chuckled. "He's all yours!"

"Aw you promised you would consider coming to Chilton." Olivia said lying on her bed, her cell by her ear.

"No, you begged me to come to Chilton and I told you I'm not as bright as you and Rory." Ben chuckled.

"Yeah but you are! You and Amy both are!" She pouted. "Plus doesn't Amy want to go to the same school as Tristan?"

"Look, even if we wanted to come to the same school as you, dad couldn't afford it. What with the move, he needs to save everything he can at the moment." He said. "Plus someone needs to keep Jess out of mischief."

"Ok fine, not all your points are bad." Olivia conceded. "I just...it would be nice to see you at school when you do move." She said.

"Yeah, it would be nice. But think of it this way, it'll make our time after school and at weekends even more special." Ben smiled.

"That does sound good." Olivia smiled. "So any news on the move yet?" She asked hopefully.

"Not yet." Ben said. "Hey, tell me a Paris anecdote. You haven't told me one in a couple of days now." He said.

"Seriously? You walked in on them kissing?" Rory exclaimed horrified.

"More than kissing." Jess said.

"Ewww Jess! That's my mum you're talking about!" She exclaimed.

"And he's my uncle! You think I enjoy walking in on them making out?" Jess retorted.

Rory smirked slightly. "Well thankfully, Liv and I haven't had to endure that yet. I think Luke would faint if we ever walked in on him."

"They're gross. They're always with each other, talking all sappy." He grumbled.

"Aw I think it's sweet." Rory smiled. "They're happy. They deserve to be happy." She said.

"I just wish they'd go be happy elsewhere and not somewhere I could walk into." He said.

"Fair point." Rory smirked. "I do think it's sweet though, don't you? They do seem really happy."

"Luke walks round smiling much more than usual. He even hummed the other day. It was creepy. And weird." Jess said.

"And sweet! Admit it, you're happy for him." Rory grinned. She sighed when Jess just gave her a look. "Ok, look at it this way, because they're distracted I bet Luke doesn't nag you as much right?" She pointed out.

"I guess..." Jess said.

"So that's good then right? Win win."

"Well I do know for a fact that the principal called him to inform him that I stole all the school's baseballs. But he hasn't said anything to me..." Jess said smirking slightly.

"What? You stole all the baseballs? Why?" Rory exclaimed.

"Something to do." He shrugged. "School's boring. Everyone there is weird." Jess said.

"Lane isn't weird." She said.

"Lane's the only sane person there but we don't share all the same classes. I need to find something to do to amuse me." He smirked.

"Then why don't you consider transferring to Chilton? Then I could amuse you!" Rory said.

"We've been through this..." Jess said.

"Yeah yeah, Chilton's not for you. But I don't see why it wouldn't be. You're as smart as me and Liv." She said.

"Maybe. But there's no point me going to Chilton. You want to go to Harvard. You need Chilton for that. But you know once I graduate, I'm done." Jess said.

"I don't understand why you won't consider..." Rory tried.

"Rory..." He sighed.

"Ok fine." She conceded. "I get that it's your choice. I do. I just...I want the best for you, Jess. You could do so much."

"And maybe I still will. Luke didn't go to college and he's doing pretty well." Jess said. "I don't need a diploma to be successful."

"I guess you're right." Rory said. She sighed. "I'm sorry I keep getting on at you about it. I just...care about you."

Jess smiled softly. "I care about you as well."

Rory smiled and went to sit closer to him. "I should head home soon..." She said reluctantly.

"Soon isn't now." Jess smirked before leaning in to kiss her. "We've still got time."

"Missing lover boy?"

Olivia looked up from her locker to see Tristan standing there. "What?"

"There has to be some reason why you've had a long face all week. It's Friday so you should be happy but you're not." He pointed out. "So what's up? Are you missing that Ben guy?"

"Wait, how did you...?" She said surprised.

"I kind of sensed something when we were all hanging out that last time." Tristan said.

"Oh.." She said quietly. "Tristan..."

"It's cool." He chuckled. "I just want you to be happy, you know that."

She smiled softly. "You're a good friend." She said.

"I try." He smirked.

"Seriously though, I never meant to lead you on before." Olivia said.

"I know." He nodded.

"This thing with me and Ben..." She said. "It's early days but I think..."

"You like him?" Tristan said.

"Yeah." She admitted.

"Hence the face all week."

She sighed. "Sorry. I just...our town's having this firelight festival tomorrow. And I thought everything with their move was going well but this week there's just been no news." She sighed. "I really wanted to share the festival with him." She admitted.

"That sucks." Tristan said sympathetically. "So...no news yet huh?" He said.

"You know you could just ask for Amy's number?" Olivia teased.

Tristan blushed slightly. "Busted." He chuckled. "Come on, I'll take you for a coffee. We can wallow together." He smirked.

Olivia laughed. "Deal!" She grinned following them. "Hey Tris?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." She smiled softly.

"Why did you need us to come to try and persuade Luke to join us? You know you can persuade him by yourself." Olivia said.

"I know." Lorelai said.

"So why...Oh my god!" Olivia suddenly exclaimed as they walked towards the diner and some familiar figures appeared from inside.

"That's why!" Lorelai grinned.

"I can't believe you!" Olivia exclaimed, hugging Ben. "You said there wasn't any news yet! You lied!" She exclaimed playfully hitting him.

"That's because otherwise this wouldn't have been a surprise. A nice one, I'm hoping?" Ben chuckled.

"The best!" She grinned. "Hey!" She smiled at Amy, giving her a hug as well.

"We were sworn to secrecy, sorry." She said sheepishly.

"I don't care! You're here now! I mean, you're here permanently now right?" Olivia asked.

"Yep." Amy smiled. "Hey Rory!" She said giving her a hug.

"Hey! It's good to see you." Rory smiled. "You knew, didn't you?" She raised her eyebrows at Jess.

"Sworn to secrecy." He smirked.

"Go on, you lot head over to the festival. I'll meet you there in a bit." Lorelai smiled at them all. She grinned as they all went off chatting excitedly. "Ok, that was totally worth it!" She laughed. "How was the drive?" She asked Steve.

"It was fine. Just happy to be here." He smiled. "I'm just going to sort some stuff out at the house but I'll meet you at the festival later?"

"Sounds good!" Lorelai smiled. "We'll catch up later." She said. "Ok so..." She turned to Luke.

"Nope." Luke smirked before heading back into the diner.

Lorelai walked through the crowds at the festival later that evening. She smiled as she saw the teenagers sat together, still chatting and laughing together. Her smile grew as she spotted a familiar figure on one of the benches. "So you did turn up then." She teased as she sat down next to him.

"Would I have heard the end of it if I hadn't?" Luke said.

"Nope." She grinned. "Still, I can't believe you came! You, Luke Danes! At one of the town's crazy festivals!"

"I can go back to the diner, you know." He said dryly.

"No don't go! I'm sorry." She grinned. She smiled as she leant her head on his shoulder. "This is nice. Hey, did you see Harry and Taylor get into a fist fight?"

"No! How did I miss that?" Luke said.

"It was so good!" Lorelai laughed. She smiled at him softly. "Thanks for coming." She said sincerely.

"Anything for you." He smiled.

Lorelai smiled and gave him a kiss just as a camera flashed. They looked up to see where it came from. Lorelai saw Luke's face go white. "Luke?" She said following his gaze to a curly brown haired woman standing infront of them.

"Rachel..." Luke managed to get out.

"Hey, how's it going?" She smiled warmly at them.

So I hope you liked it! :) Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thank you so much for all your continued support and I do hope you're still with me! :)