New Boyfriend

That evening Luke walked over from the diner, carrying a pie and a small duffel bag with some clothes. He had dressed nicely for the dinner with Rory and Jess, wearing a nice shirt, jeans and his cotton windbreaker jacket. In spite of his trepidation about Rory's and Jess' relationship, he was thrilled and excited to be here tonight. It would be his and Lorelai's first night at the Crapshack, another checkmark on his list of dreams come true.

There was no light on in the living room, but there did seem to one coming from the kitchen, so he jogged around to the back porch. As he reached the back door, he could see Rory, Jess and Lorelai standing in the kitchen. Laughter rang out as Lorelai and Jess were doing some sort of weird line dance, dashing up and down the length of the kitchen.

Luke opened the door and entered, saying, "I'm home. Here's pie!" It felt a bit awkward to say it, but he was glad he did, because it also reminded him of his commitment to Lorelai. He dropped the duffel bag by the door.

Lorelai was laughing and saying, "No, no it was more of a skip than a trot, Jess. Didn't you have any practice holding hands and skipping with Luke when you went apartment hunting?" She giggled. Jess grimaced at the thought.

Glass in hand, she skipped over to Luke, trying not to spill any wine. Wrapping her arms around his neck, wine glass behind his head, she kissed him sweetly, saying in her best Donna Reed manner, "Hi honey, you're home. Brought me a pie, did you? That's as good as flowers for a Gilmore girl."

He pulled her to him with his free arm, saying, "That I knew already. Hi." One last light kiss and he released her, taking off his jacket and dropping it on top of the duffel bag in the back entrance. Saying hello to Rory and Jess, he looked at the wine glasses and asked, "How far behind am I?"

"Oh, still the first glass, Luke," said Rory, "and I'm done already. I'm switching to soft drinks."

"Beer only for me," said Jess. "You want one?" Luke nodded. Jess pulled a beer out of the fridge and handed it to him.

"I'd planned to order takeout, but when I talked to Sookie, she offered a roast chicken," said Lorelai. "Smells great, doesn't it? Free range and organic, she says. Her new chicken guy is good."

"Sure does. Shel's a great guy. Too bad for you that I found you first," he teased, taking a draft of his beer.

"Eh," she responded, "I prefer burgers to chicken anyway."

Rory added, "She called a couple of minutes ago and offered veggies, so Jess and I are going over to pick those up now. We'll be back in a few." They headed out the front door, hand in hand.

Luke and Lorelai stayed in place in the kitchen, necking.

"Now this is nice to come home to," Luke said.

"I'm glad you can call it home, Luke, especially since you rebuilt half of it."

"I didn't mean the house, I meant you," he said gruffly, trying to pull her even closer than they were already.

"Doesn't matter," she replied, "it's a package deal. The house comes with the woman. Speaking of which…"

Lorelai separated from him, going to the desk in the hallway where she pulled out Luke's keys to the Crapshack. She brought them back and handed them to him. Identifying each key in turn, she said, "Front door, back door, garage. I don't know what that one's for, but it came with the others."

"These look brand new," he said as he inspected them, then slid them into his pocket.

"They've been in that drawer ever since we moved in. We don't lock the doors very often, so they don't get used much," said Lorelai off-handedly.

"How many times have I said you need to lock the doors? Why did I change your back door lock if you don't ever lock it?"

"Oh my God, Luke, you replaced the back door lock because YOU broke it!"

"It was a cheap back door lock, the kind burglars look for. Easy to break into."

"That's why it wasn't worth locking. If the burglars could break it easily, why bother locking it? It would only lead to the expense of replacing it. Oh, wait! I remember that fourth key. It's the new back door lock key."

"Why didn't you throw the old back door lock key away?" he asked, pulling the keys out and removing the useless key, tossing it in the trash.

"You never know when you need an old key."

"Yes I do know when I need an old key. Never!" He sighed and asked, "Where's your key ring, let me get that old key off as well."

Lorelai got her purse and handed Luke her key ring. "There are like 30 keys here? Why do you need so many keys? This must double the weight of your purse when you put them in."

"Some of them I'm keeping in case I remember why I put them on the ring in the first place."

Luke sorted the keys. "OK, house keys, apartment keys, this ring is for the Dragonfly. You must have fifteen keys you can't identify. Let's take them off and lighten your load a little."

"No, not that one, that's the key to my parents' house. The others can go, I guess," she said. "And don't remove my Hello Kitty key fob. That's how I know those are my keys."

"We'll look at the unknown keys some weekend and try to figure out where they belong," said Luke, putting the key ring back in her purse. He took her hand and she came close to him, resting her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed. "Man, I'm tired," he said.

After a moment Luke looked down at Lorelai. "How's it going with them? It still feels weird."

"Weird, but not weird at the same time. They are very cute together, and he's not the angry kid we knew a few years ago. He's much more the kind of 'boyfriend Jess' that I would have hoped for back then." Lorelai topped off her wine.

Luke processed her words for a moment. Lorelai just said Jess was the kind of boyfriend she hoped Rory would find? Wow.

"I'm still worried about Rory," Luke continued. "Jess hits below the belt when he's hurting. She doesn't deserve that kind of treatment."

"Luke, Rory has to learn how to handle that if she's going to be with him for the long term. God! I hated the way he treated you when you came to fix the window that one time. I went and yelled at him, he really ticked me off."

"Let it go, please, Lorelai. It's done, it's over."

He stopped and looked at her, thinking it's pretty nice when someone has your back. "You really yelled at him? You never told me. I did like the way you came back and took care of me, though."

Luke remembered waking up on her couch seeing Lorelai waiting with water, aspirin and a hug. He also remembered the feel of her hand smoothing his hair as she'd taken his cap off so he'd be more comfortable, then covering him up as he dozed.

They stood there holding each other, drawing strength from each other, until the younger couple came back with the food. Rory laughed as she and Jess entered the kitchen, saying, "See, Jess, they're at it again. Like rabbits, I tell you." Jess maintained an inscrutable expression.

"Ha ha," said Lorelai. "You try working as hard as we did today, and you'd be hanging on to something, too. We're too tired to move."

They got dinner on the table as quickly as possible, then sat down to eat.

"Luke," began Rory, "I had lunch with Grandma today. She didn't have much to say about your dinner at Persephone's." Her eyes twinkled, wanting to see how he would tell the story.

Luke's eyes darted to Lorelai's face. She demurely looked down at her chicken, apparently fascinated by the drumstick. "What did your mother tell you?" he demanded.

"Oh, nothing, really. She thought it would be better coming directly from you."

She nudged Jess, who asked on cue, "There was apparently something about a cigar?"

Lorelai snorted.

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!" Luke stated energetically. "The cigar was intended for Lorelai, anyway."

A chorus of 'Dirty!' resounded, followed by a burst of laughter.

Lorelai and Luke entertained the others with the details of their encounters with Jason and Emily. Rory contributed that Emily did at least remember meeting with Lorelai, but remained a little uncertain as to who Lorelai's date was.

Lorelai was in tears from laughter at the end, saying, "I love Drunk Emily, she was so funny, but honest, really, really honest!"

"You haven't talked to her since then?" asked Luke, wondering how and when Lorelai was going to tell her parents about their relationship.

"No, haven't spoken to her this week yet. We're not even having Friday dinner because of the test run. Mom is coming to the Dragonfly for lunch on Sunday, so we'll have a chance to talk then. Hey, can you all be there for lunch? We can make the introductions all at once. Rory is already going to be there."

"I'll be back in New York for sure by Sunday. My job won't wait forever," said Jess.

"Can you have the lunch sometime after one?" asked Luke. "The brunch and church crowds will be getting easier by then. I'll have to leave the test run early on Sunday morning to open, by the way."

"Probably, let me check with Mom. Rory, is 2 p.m. ok for you?" suggested Lorelai.

Rory hadn't thought so far to realize that Jess had a full-time job with responsibilities. No free summer like she had. "No chance of you coming up on Sunday for the day?" she asked her boyfriend, adding, "Two o'clock is fine for me."

"No way," said Jess, "I've been swapping schedules and calling in favors all week already. If I'm not back by Friday and working double shifts, there won't be a job at all, not even a place to sleep." Jess' single mattress in a decrepit building could not be called 'an apartment' by any means. He began to worry how Rory could visit him in New York with no place to stay.

Lorelai and Luke exchanged glances. Money was clearly going to be an issue between these two kids. Rory may not be a trust fund kid, but she wanted for nothing and went to an elite university. One day she would inherit the Gilmore fortune, something her mother had never discussed with her. Jess had nothing but his brain and his back and a drive to succeed.

Lorelai didn't expect her parents to leave any money to her after she left home, but they loved Rory and had no one else to give it to except charity. Managing that money was another challenge that Rory would have to face one day, and she wasn't yet prepared for it.

"Jess, you were talking earlier about a possible change? What's that about again?" she asked, turning her mind away from future problems.

"I worked with a couple of guys who are starting a press in Philadelphia. They're just getting their company going and there may be a job in it for me."

"What would you be doing?" asked Luke.

"It's only those two guys and me, so we'll be doing everything, really. We're looking for good books to publish, we'll do the editing, organizing the printing, publicity, all of it," he said.

"It's more than that," said Rory. "Jess has a book that might be one of the first ones they publish!"

"Almost have a book," he cautioned. "It's not done, and so far, it sucks."

"What's it about?" asked Lorelai.

"It's a novel, but I don't wanna talk about it right now, cause I'm making some pretty big changes and the whole plot might be different by the time it's finished. The first draft is done, but it needs a lot of work."

"Jess, that's great news! Isn't that great, Lorelai?" asked an excited and proud Luke. "Nobody in our family has ever written a book. That's amazing."

"Take it easy, Luke," said Jess. "There are a million ways for this to fail."

"But you haven't failed if you get the book written. Who cares if it gets published? None of us has ever written a book. Very impressive. My nephew the author."

"Maybe one day it will be your nephew the published author," offered Lorelai, squeezing Luke's hand in support.

"Yeah, yeah, even better. Man, that would be great. You know what? Let's have another beer to celebrate." Luke got up and grabbed two beers from the fridge. "Lorelai, Rory, you want anything?" he asked. Rory shook her head no.

"No, thanks, I've still got some wine. Rory, hun, how about if we do the dishes and you guys go out back and enjoy the weather? Gives me a little mother-daughter time," said Lorelai.

The men headed outside and sat down on the back porch steps. The fireflies provided the only light in addition to the light streaming out the glass in the back door. Luke and Jess sat in silence for a while, while Lorelai's and Rory's voices could be heard, but not understood in the background.

"You and Rory together. Feels a little like a year ago," said Luke.

"It's nothing like a year ago," replied Jess.

"Yeah, I know, it just feels like it. Feeling something don't make it a fact. It's just a feeling."

Silence.

"Jess, how are you going to handle a long distance relationship?" Luke tried to approach the topic gently.

"We'll figure it out."

"Rory's given the last 20 years of her life to earn a place at this university; don't let her give it up. It would devastate Lorelai and Rory both."

"We'll figure it out. Rory can decide for herself."

"Just don't make any rash decisions, OK?"

Jess snorted softly.

"What are you trying to say with that, Jess?" Luke was irritated at Jess' response, knowing that if Rory lightly gave up her college dream, it would ultimately hurt both Rory and Jess.

Jess gave Luke that hard, challenging look that signaled the start of one of their big arguments.

"Look who's talking about rash decisions. How long have you and Lorelai been together? A week? Now you live together? And you're telling me not to rush into anything?"

Luke stood up, angry. He went down into the yard and stared into the woods, trying to stay calm, then suddenly turned on his heel and came back face to face with Jess.

"Ten years, Jess, ten damn years is not rushing into things! Lorelai and I have seen each other on a nearly daily basis for the past ten years. I know every move she's made, every mistake she's made over that time, she's seen mine. We know each other's weaknesses as well as our strengths. I was there when she needed help raising Rory, getting her through Chilton, even moving her into Yale!"

Luke flopped back down on the steps.

"I would have given anything to have been in this place years ago, but it just wasn't right. When she might have been ready, I wasn't, or the other way around. We both had a lot to lose if we'd jumped too soon, because our friendship was too important to risk. We loved each other as friends a long time before we dared anything more, and part of that was waiting until Rory was independent enough to deal with it."

Having finally been able to express his strongest frustrations, Luke relaxed, taking another draft of his beer. He turned and looked Jess in the eye.

"Jess, these two have been my family these ten years. I love them more than I do myself. You're my family too, and you matter to me."

He continued, choosing his words carefully. "I know you love Rory. Whatever I can do to help, I will, but I don't want either of you to abandon your dreams. Find a way to work it out, and call me when you need something, OK?"

Jess softened slightly, seeing a different Luke than he'd experienced when he lived in Stars Hollow. "We'll figure it out, Luke, and yes, I promise to let you know if I need something. OK?" Jess didn't wait for an answer, but went inside.

After Luke and Jess had gone outside, Lorelai asked Rory, "What did your Grandma want?"

"First she avoided the subject of Grandpa completely, then she put the pressure on for me to travel with her this summer. She even suggested Europe. Mom, she is so lonely, I feel sorry for her."

"Rory, she and Grandpa will make up. She got really mad at him when he put their whole retirement at risk. As soon as she realizes that it's all worked out for the best, they'll get back together. You'll see. On Sunday she'll be a lot better, maybe she'll have completely different plans by then."

Lorelai continued. "You're right about Jess, kid. He really is different, he's much more sociable," Lorelai said as they washed and dried the evening's dishes. "He clearly cares for you. That's even more important to me."

"I knew if you only looked, you'd see what I do! That makes me really happy!" Rory gave her mother a very wet hug, squeezing the wet dishtowel between them. Lorelai in her turn splashed Rory with some soapy water.

Lorelai almost gave into her desire to quiz Rory about how she was going to manage this long distance relationship, or how she would fit Jess into her summer, but she chose instead to let Rory lead.

"What are your plans for the summer, then?"

"Too many options, I just can't even begin to decide. I really need to earn some money, things got very tight last year. It's not going to be cheap to visit Jess either, no matter where he ends up. Traveling with Grandma would be a great idea, but then I can't work. I'm going to think about it for a little while, then talk it over with Jess before I decide."

With that, Lorelai's hopes of a fun summer with her daughter were dashed. There won't be any long days spent together getting the Dragonfly up and running or nights spent watching movies and eating junk food. Her daughter had grown up already. Their relationship had just changed forever.

Jess came through the door and reminded Rory that they were going to go out to see some friends in Woodbridge, and it was getting late. She quickly got her jacket and gave her mother a hug goodbye.

"I'll be at the Dragonfly tomorrow, Mom. See you then, OK?"

"Sure, yeah. You better be ready to work hard, because I'm gonna be a slave-driver. No pain, no gain."

She went over to Jess and gave him a quick hug. "You be careful, Jess, and you're welcome here anytime, do you hear?" He nodded.

"Let's go out the back and say goodbye to Luke," said Rory, as she tugged on Jess' jacket. "Night, Mom."

Lorelai flicked the dishtowel into shape, folded it in half and laid it over the edge of the sink. She grabbed two beers from the fridge and went out back to Luke.

Handing him a beer, she sat down next to him and pulled his arm over her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his knee, put her head down and sighed.

"I'm old."

"No you're not."

"I'm the mother of a college student who doesn't need her mother any more. That's old."

"She needs you."

"No she doesn't. She doesn't even have time for me this summer."

"She'll make time. Just wait."

"How was your chat with Jess?"

"Pretty much like all the others."

"Sorry. That probably makes you old too."

"Thanks. I'm too tired to argue the point. Shall we go to bed?"

"Sure. Us old people need their sleep."

Lorelai rested there a moment longer, then said, "She flew the coop. Left the nest. Our little bird has gotten her wings."

"You're talking about Rory?" Luke smoothed his hand over her hair, trying to comfort her.

"Jess, too, in principle. It was just a year ago that we had two strong, beautiful baby birds in our nests. Now they're both gone."

"Testing their wings."

She sat up and smiled at Luke, who involuntarily smiled back.

"Now you get it." A new perspective dawned on Lorelai. "Do you know what that means?"

"Tell me."

"That makes us empty-nesters, not old."

"I'm good with the metaphor change. Can we go to bed now?"

She ran her finger along his chin, trailing it down his neck. "Do you know what the first thing empty-nesters do when their kids are out of the house?" Her lips took over where her finger stopped.

"Getting a few ideas." He felt his pulse race as she kissed closer to his heart.

Lorelai moved in front of Luke, kneeling on the bottom step between his knees. She pulled down the neck of his T-shirt, kissing the exposed skin. He groaned as his pants started feeling tighter. His hands found her lower back, his fingers reaching into her pants.

She pressed him backwards until he leaned against the stairs.

"Do we have to do it outside, or do empty-nesters get to use beds?" he asked. "Because if we have to do it in a tree I'll find a way." He closed his eyes as she pulled his T-shirt up and her hands reached his chest. His hips shifted as her fingers pinched his nipples gently.

She laughed at the idea of Luke in a tree. Yes, he'd definitely find a way if needed, she acknowledged.

"That's the brilliance of the empty nest. We can do it anywhere, anytime. No pesky kids with jam hands running in and out of the room." Her lips took over from her fingers, making his nipples bead up as she sucked and tugged them. "Save the tree idea for some other time," she added.

He grasped her firmly, pushed her back and stood up. "Bed it is. I'll put a treehouse on the list."

She hooked her fingers onto his belt and let him pull her along as he went inside. He grabbed his duffel bag and they headed upstairs.

Inside the bedroom, he turned and pulled her to him, planting burning kisses on her neck and along her collar bone. Lorelai tightened her grasp around his neck and hooked one leg behind his knee. He allowed himself to collapse onto the bed, rolling to the side to keep from crushing her. "Nice way to feather the nest," she thought, as his kisses took center stage.

Luke awoke later and looked at his watch. Damn, time to meet the bread guy. He stretched, pulled on his sweats and T-shirt and headed downstairs. He started coffee and water for tea, making sure to have enough coffee for both Lorelai and Rory. Never even heard Rory come in last night, he thought, she must have been very quiet. He rubbed his hand over his face, trying to wake up a little more. The water finally boiled and he poured it into his cup to steep.

He opened the back door to gather the empty beer bottles. Returning to the kitchen, he glanced at Rory's door, noticing that it was open. He walked over to see if she was awake, but her bed was still made. She hadn't been home all night.

Luke poured Lorelai's coffee, removed the tea bag from his own cup and took both cups upstairs after turning off the coffee machine.

Lorelai rolled over, somewhat awake. "Is that coffee I smell? You're an angel," she mumbled.

"Last night I was an eagle, feathering the nest, you said. Now I'm an angel? I see an identity crisis coming on." He smiled as he set her coffee on her night stand, sat on the bed next to her and kissed her.

"I'm going to call you 'Big Eagle Coffee Angel' for as long as I can remember the name," Lorelai said.

"I'm praying for a short memory, then," he answered, kissing her again. "Here's your coffee." He moved to his side of the bed and sipped his tea.

Lorelai pulled herself to a sitting position, took a deep sniff of the coffee. "Smells wonderful, thanks for making it." She took the first sip. "Mmmm, tastes even better."

Once the caffeine started to take effect, Lorelai's To-Do list took over. "So many things to do today. We're mopping all the floors, making all the beds, it's like being a maid again. My mind just won't let my body rest." She let her head fall to her chest and leaned forward.

Luke rubbed her back in empathy. "I have an idea. How about you come with me to meet the bread guy? Together we'll finish twice as fast, then I'll make you breakfast. That ought to get you to the Dragonfly at least two hours earlier than yesterday."

"You promise more coffee?" "All the coffee you want." "Deal."

They drank in silence for a minute, then started getting ready for work.

"Lorelai, did you know that Rory didn't come home last night?" Luke asked when Lorelai came out of the bathroom and started putting on her clothes.

"No, but I'm not surprised. By her own words, it's a serious relationship. If he's only got a day or so before he has to go back to New York, they're certainly going to spend as much time as possible together."

"Do you mean…?" He couldn't quite bring himself to say it explicitly.

Lorelai gave him a sympathetic look. Poor Luke hadn't had years to anticipate this, like she had. "Luke, when was your first time? You know when my first time was. What about yours?"

"Yeah, I get it. Nineteen seems too young, though, when it comes to Rory."

"She's not twelve anymore, Luke, you know that. I thought about this a lot when she was off at Yale. Wondering if she was safe, if she was ready, how she would handle it, but I was also grateful that she didn't just get it in her head one day that she 'needed' to do it, to get it over with. Now that it's happened, she told me that it was with someone she loved, and she was ready emotionally. I couldn't ask for more than that."

"That someone was Jess? What are we supposed to do about it?" Luke looked a little lost.

Lorelai went over to Luke and started buttoning his flannel for him. "Nothing. We can't do anything. They've done it and they live with whatever consequences there are. We can only hope it turns out for the best." She gave him a reassuring hug.

"Your daughter and my nephew? We're already more entwined than I thought." He brushed a stray lock of Lorelai's hair back behind her ear, following it with a kiss to that same earlobe. "Ready? We ought to get going."

As Lorelai started the Jeep and pulled out of the driveway, Luke continued processing the information. "Isn't it a little weird, you know, you and me, and my nephew and your daughter?"

"Unusual yes, but not weird. Weird would have been if you and I had been together for a couple of years already and the four of us were living under one roof."

"Oh god, yes, that would have been strange."

"What's really strange, Luke, is how you've managed to avoid telling me when you had your first time," Lorelai teased, pulling into a parking space. "I asked you already, but you conveniently skipped over that question."

He saw a man standing in front of the diner. "Oh, man you've made us late. Dave's there already. He gets really irritated if I'm not there to receive the shipment."

"How did I make us late? We walked out the door at the same time!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"You had to choose between three different sweaters. Why would you need to dilly-dally choosing a sweater so you can MOP FLOORS? Nobody cares what color your sweater is when you're making a bed." Luke hopped out of the Jeep and jogged over to Dave, waving from the distance.

"Dilly-dallying? I wasn't dilly-dallying! Hey! Wait up!" Lorelai chased after Luke, who was already talking to Dave.

As she reached the two men, she could hear Dave say, "Breaking in a new employee, Luke? Little slow, this one, isn't she?" Dave, like most everyone else in Stars Hollow who had an involvement with the diner, knew about Lorelai, even though he'd never met her personally.

"Well, Dave, I think she's got potential, just have to get her properly trained," Luke replied. "Load her up."

Dave turned to Lorelai. "What's your name, kid? Trying to break into the diner business, are you?"

Giving Luke a black look, Lorelai replied, pointing over at Luke with her thumb, "Dave, this one's getting a little old, don't you think? He's really slowed down the past couple of years; some new blood might revive the diner a bit."

"Load 'er up, Dave," was all Luke said, as he leaned against the wall.

"OK, kid, let me know when it's too much." Dave took two large plastic trays filled with hamburger buns and handed them to Lorelai. She held the load steady.

"Gimme two more, Dave," she said, defiantly looking at Luke, who stood there grinning at her.

"By the way, Lorelai, you damage the goods, it's coming out of your wages," he deadpanned.

"Shut up and open the door, boss!" she said sarcastically. Lorelai moved towards the door, a little unsteady under the unwieldy load.

Luke silently opened the door, and Lorelai took one step, steadied herself, then took the second. She glanced triumphantly back at Luke and moved forward, promptly tripping over the door jamb. All four trays went flying and she landed face first in the middle of the bottom tray.

"Lorelai!" Luke shouted, leaping both steps to help her, followed closely by Dave. When he ascertained that she was ok, he fell back on the diner floor, laughing his ass off.

She swatted him with a package of buns she'd flattened. "Here's what I really think of your buns, mister!"

"Luke, I gotta run. You got this under control?" asked Dave, trying his best to look businesslike and nonchalant, suppressing his desire to laugh.

"Got it! See ya Monday, Dave," Luke said, nearly in tears from laughing so hard.

Lorelai jumped on top of him, pinning his arms to the floor, knees on either side of his waist. "Don't think I don't see what you're doing, Luke. You still haven't answered my question. I'm not giving up until you do."

Luke just reached up and kissed her, first on the nose, then the lips. "Ready for breakfast? I'll get it started while you clean up here, OK?"

He let her hold him down a moment longer, then easily sat up, folding her hands together and pulled her onto his lap. She pouted until his insistent kisses broke through her anger, then she responded in kind.

Later, when the coffee was made, Lorelai had started eating her pancakes, and Luke had the diner ready to open, he stopped and sat down with her, his own pancakes and fruit cup in front of him.

She looked at him expectantly. He sighed, knowing he was defeated.

"It really wasn't a big thing, you know. I'd just finished my track career, won all those trophies and was riding high. I wasn't dating anyone seriously, but there were plenty of girls who were interested. So I dated some, all different people, lots from other schools."

"Mom had died years before, Liz was gone. Dating was meaningless for me. It just didn't make sense. Liz had done nothing but date, and was in trouble all the time. I couldn't see why I should go out and spend time with someone when I got a feeling about them almost instantly."

"What I hated most was the idea that it was a competition. Guys I thought were my buddies suddenly had a sister or a friend who wanted to go out with me. When I did my friends a favor, the girls were always trying to get me to be something I wasn't. Mostly what they wanted was to show me off to their friends. I never made a real connection to anyone, so even though it wasn't easy, I turned down the ones who only offered sex. I wanted a real connection with someone more than I wanted the sex. Some were disgusting. When they didn't get what they wanted, they made up stories. Crazy Carrie is one of those."

"One girl approached me via a friend from another school. She was his cousin or something, and from out of town. We went out a couple of times. She seemed different somehow. I felt comfortable. I was convinced that was the connection I'd been looking for. One day I felt the connection, I let myself go, and we did it that night. The next day she disappeared, turns out she was just another one of those who wanted the trophy hookup. At least I learned what it felt like to meet someone who pretended to make the connection I wanted. Since then, I've been more careful."

"Stupid, huh?"

"Not stupid, Luke. I know the feeling better than you might think. Once it got around that I was pregnant, I was considered an open target. Guys wanted in my pants and they took any opportunity they could to corner me. They were crude as well as cruel about it, too. Christopher was the only one who was halfway human to me. It happened before Rory was born, it happened after. I felt trapped every direction I turned. When I ran to Stars Hollow, I knew I needed to be careful. Never let anyone get too close. Saying crazy things helped me keep the distance.

Luke made a wry grimace. "No wonder it took us so many years to get together. Those are big walls to break through. Hey, your pancakes are cold now. Do you want fresh ones?"

"No, I think I'd rather go to the Dragonfly. You haven't eaten a thing, though," said Lorelai.

"Most of my meals are cold by the time I get to them anyway, no big deal. You've got about five minutes before Kirk gets here, by the way."

"Even bigger motivation to go," she chuckled. Lorelai stood up, walked over to Luke and put her arm around his shoulder. "Thanks for the talk. I never told anyone that before."

Luke pulled her down onto his knee and hugged her close. "Me neither. Lorelai, I love you, remember that."

"I will. You are my love, my inspiration, and today, my slave driver." She smiled, remembering the bread delivery this morning. "You know, I've got an abnormal love for doing dishes. Maybe next time you should put me back in the kitchen on dishwashing detail."

They stayed enveloped in their hug until Lorelai saw Kirk crossing the street. "Show time," she said, giving Luke a goodbye kiss. "I'll call you later."

Rory sat in an easy chair in Patty's guest room as Jess awoke.

"Hi," he said sleepily. "Whatcha doing?"

"Looking over the course offerings for fall. I'm trying to figure out which classes to take. You have to be early to get into the classes with the best professors. I'm thinking about Western Visions of Greece. It shows how important Alexander the Great was to the West. Another possibility is myths, epics and other literary traditions from Mesopotamia."

"How is that going to get you a job as a reporter?" Jess sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"A classical education is the best preparation for life there is, my Grandpa says. He's always able to draw a connection between his education and the topic we're discussing. That makes me think it's important to have that foundation."

Jess pulled on his pants and shirt and then looked for his shoes and socks.

"I've got to go back to New York," he said, abruptly changing the subject.

Rory made a pouty face and went over to him, pulling on his shirt and rubbing his chest. "Can't you stay a little longer?"

"No, I got a text message from my crew lead and he said to be on the job tomorrow morning or lose it. The guys from Philadelphia haven't contacted me at all, so I'd better keep the job I have until I find a better one."

"Why don't you look around here? You worked at Wal-Mart, but there must be better jobs here too. I'll be searching for a summer job myself; maybe we could find jobs together!"

It would be nice to have Jess around for the summer, Rory thought. Luke's apartment is empty, pretty much, and he could stay there for free. "If you close for Luke once in a while, I'm sure he'd let you use the apartment."

Jess' packing consisted of throwing a half-dozen pieces of clothing and his toiletries into a duffel bag, so he was ready to go within a minute.

"Rory, c'mon, I can make more money in a week as a messenger than I can in a month at Wal-Mart and Luke's. I've got regulars, they pay more to get the messenger they want, and I'm good. Being in New York also keeps me in front of the guys with the publishing company. That's what I'm going to do tonight; we're going to hang out. That'll give me a chance to catch up with them and see how the startup idea is developing. I can add my ideas, so when they do pull the trigger, my name is the first one they think of."

"Aah, cultivating mutually beneficial relationships. How very Gordon Gekko of you," she smiled.

"Yeah, well, all I know is when we are face to face, they listen. They like my ideas."

Rory picked up her jacket as Jess took his bag and they went into Patty's apartment. In the small house backing onto the property of her dance studio, she had added a couple of rooms at the back for her guests. They not only gave privacy to her friends, but also prevented them from having to smell the cigarette smoke that was omnipresent in her apartment.

"Good morning, Jess," she said in her usual sultry, smoky voice. She was working on her studio schedule, entering all the bookings into her web site, Miss .

She looked up and noticed Rory. "Well, hello again, dear." Patty spared Rory the usual innuendoes that she was so fond of. Jess could take it, but she knew Rory would just have her feelings hurt.

"Patty, I've got to go back to New York," Jess said, "Thanks for the use of your guest room. I just didn't feel comfortable staying at Luke's any longer."

"Yes, he and Lorelai are like a pair of rabbits who just discovered sex. That was some dance at his sister's wedding. In all my years singing torch songs in front of crowds of dancing couples, I never saw anyone who fell in love faster and more completely over a single dance."

Rory blushed at Patty's comment about her mother and Luke. "Patty, it's not really that way," she started, but Jess' snort and Patty's laughter interrupted her.

"Listen, Rory, it had the intensity of the Cuban missile crisis," she chuckled. "Luke was already smitten, of course, everyone knew that, but Lorelai… Oh it was amazing to see it unfold on her face! So beautiful, like when I see one of my ballerinas go from feeling awkward to realizing the true beauty of expressing herself with her body. Lorelai walked into the dance as Luke's friend and left as his lover. She really had no options. It was a once in a lifetime moment."

Patty sighed as she remembered her many 'once in a lifetime' moments. Rory blushed deeper, but filed the thought away so she could look for it the next time she saw Mom and Luke together.

"We're going over to Weston's for breakfast before Jess goes back to New York. Do you want to join us?" Rory asked.

"Oh, I'd love to dear, but my first class starts in a few minutes. You two go have fun." She stood up and enveloped each one in a hug. "Jess, you are welcome here any time. It was fun telling stories over whiskey. You're going to be a great author when you've had enough experiences to write about the passion and the pain. Especially the passion," she intimated.

After breakfast, they stopped at Doose's to pick up a pack of Red Bull for Jess' drive back into the city. Then they walked over to his car, which had been parked near the edge of town.

Jess ranted about the lack of parking spaces when he drove in. "How can a town like think have no parking available? I came in on a weeknight evening, there was absolutely nothing going on, but there were no parking spaces available anywhere near Luke's! New York has better parking available! I had to park all the way on the other side of the fruit streets!"

Rory just smiled and hugged his arm as they walked. It was nice to see that Jess had picked up some of Luke's cutest traits. It was also funny to hear him complain about parking in Stars Hollow, as if it were easy to park in New York City.

"Why don't you come with me?" he asked suddenly, taking one last shot. "You can find a job; there must be some way to make this work."

"Jess, I'm needed here to help Mom. And I can't afford a place to stay in the city. We can't stay in your room, you have too many roommates already, and we'll never be alone."

He tossed his bag in the car angrily. "I don't know when I can come back here," he grumbled.

"I can visit you," she offered, "I just don't know how we'll find time to be together."

"I'll find a way," he promised, "You just make sure you come, OK?"

"I'll find a way, too, Jess, I promise," Rory said, kissing him tenderly. "Call me as soon as you're home safe."

She closed his car door, waved him off and watched him turn the corner headed towards the highway. Rory walked back to the center of town, but headed to Lane's rather than home. She wanted to think about some things before facing her mother again.