Sunday, 1.12.2009

The last time Rory got drunk enough to have a hangover was... too long ago to remember while she was hungover. It was around the time she'd graduated. Must have been. Whenever it was, it must have been just far enough in the past for her to forget why drinking that much was a bad idea. The gross mealy-mouthed feeling combined with the dull thudding of a dehydration headache was enough to draw a groan past her lips.

She turned over onto her side, pulling her pillow over her head in an attempt to block out yet another rousing chorus of 'The Wheels on the Bus'. It was an unsuccessful attempt, seeing as she couldn't muster the upper body strength to make the pillow a worthy sound blocking instrument. Another thirty seconds of begging her eyelids to be thicker and Rory conceded to defeat.

Slowly, like she was made of the same goop as The Thing, Rory traversed her bedroom floor. The little light that came past the drawn curtains told her that she needed to brush her hair desperately. She put it up into a messy ponytail instead.

Forcing her forward toward the door, toward the noise of the continuing singing, was the knowledge that she would burn her eyebrows off with this level of morning breath.

In the kitchen, Luke was sat at the round table and feeding Will with green bottle. Lorelai was across the table, her eyes on what looked like a set of expenses that related to the geriatric brawl that had taken place a few day after New Years. Two older gentlemen got into a pushing match and broke quite a few of the nice holiday dishes that Sookie had procured. Even with her eyes scanning the stapled stack of receipts, Lorelai still held the melody of 'Wheels on the Bus'.

The two of them had become the jesters in Will's court the moment the kid crossed the threshold.

Lorelai turned in her chair when she heard Rory's door open, a mile on her face.

"How are you feeling, kid?"

Rory grunted 'fine' and shuffled away to the bathroom to re-make herself. It took about twenty minutes, but when she returned she considered herself less of a swamp monster. Still hungover, but not 'grab your torches and pitchforks' hungover.

"Well, don't you look like a fresh spring daisy?" Lorelai asked, getting down her pen to focus on the badly fake Southern drawl she tried to speak with. "Coffee's made and Luke made you chili fries."

Until Rory was sat with her second cup of coffee, all she could really manage to say back was 'thanks'. By that time, Will was done eating and Luke was pacing back and forth to burp him.

"I didn't think we had that much to drink," Rory mumbled, surprised that her mother was doing so much better than she was.

"We didn't, you did," Lorelai shrugged, packing her papers away into a Dragonfly Inn folder. "I couldn't drink all that much when I'm the one packing lunch."

"We could have done something else if you didn't want to drink. It would probably have saved me a lot of pain."

"Getting a job like that is worth downing a bottle of champagne," Lorelai insisted, standing to tidy after herself. She stopped for a moment to press a kiss to her husband's shoulder when he passed by with their baby boy.

"That's where Is should have stopped," Rory grumbled, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I've really got to start packing."

"I thought you didn't have to be in Philly until halfway through February," Luke said,switching Will to the other shoulder while they paced.

"I don't. I just have so much to take care of. I need an apartment full of things... I can probably get furniture in the city, but everything else has to be taken care of and packed before then," she pointed out.

She had a lot to do.

And she had to call Jess.

Monday, 2.02.2009

It turns out, Chris was a big fan of The Office. This was revealed by the various items found suspended in Jell-o once those who didn't live above the office came back from their holiday vacations. Jess's statue was incredibly sticky once he finally got it out of the stuff, but compared to the fake cactus that Gen lost in the muck, he felt he'd gotten off easily. Since then, a few of them had formed a coalition to get him back. Most of their ideas were too destruction of property-y, so they'd mostly resolved to stick him with the more irritating participants for the January open house and make him buy a new plant for Gen. Once that was finished, Louis and Jess went to lunch.

There was a rousing conversation on the merits of paper clips versus binder clips, Jess strongly in favor of the latter, before he moved onto something else.

"You know, Gen is convinced you have a girlfriend," Jess revealed, munching on a few fries.

Louis's eyebrow quirked up. "Is that so? What made her think that?"

"Well, she said you've been dressing better. And you got a good haircut."

"You think my haircut is good?"

"Oh, yeah. Totally. I was thinking of asking you out myself before Gen told me about this whole girlfriend thing," Jess laughed.

"Well, don't let that stop you. Especially since I don't have a girlfriend," Louis winked, pointing finger guns at Jess with an expression on his face that made it clear he immediately regretted the hands.

"You'll have a hard time convincing Gen, but I don't think anybody else would bother you about it."

"People might start bothering you soon though," Louis said, his eyes on his food.

"Bothering me?"

"Yes, you, Casanova."

"I'm sorry, Casanova?

"You're the 'hottest in the office' remember? You're always on the phone with Nadia-"

"Which is a part of my job," Jess reminded him.

"We both know that's not all it is," Louis contradicted, shooting Jess a look. Jess rolled his eyes but didn't interrupt. "Plus, you have Lorelai moving to the city soon..."

At that, Jess could feel his ears starting to burn. "She isn't a part of any of that. That's long in the past, trust me."

"I just think you should know that the longer you don't tell everybody which Lorelai is coming to town, the more it'll seem like you have something to hide."

"I don't have anything to hide. I just figured it was easier to let them be wrong than it would be to have conversations like this. I don't really want to defend my friendship with her against people who don't know the whole story."

Louis must have noticed the way the topic was bothering him, judging by the gentler tone of voice he spoke with next. "I'm not judging you. And I'm not going to judge you when she's around. I just think that if you're seriously looking to avoid any weirdness, it doesn't seem smart to keep lying. Everybody's going to be worried about you. I know I am."

Jess groaned quietly, burying his face in his hands for a few seconds, considering how he should reply. His policy up until this moment was similar to the classic 'fake it 'til you make it' strategy, only it included not even acknowledging to himself that he had some sort of lingering, floundering feelings for Rory. Sure, the romantic aspect of their relationship had on its deathbed for years, but it seemed to have a stronger grip than he'd have predicted.

"I know it's stupid," he finally started, looking up at Louis. "There's a lot of baggage and history and a lot of the shit that went wrong was my fault. To be completely honest, I know it would be easier to see her on holidays or when we really couldn't avoid it. But before we were together - really the reason that we got together in the first place is that we actually had something... comfortable. We got along, we were friends. If I'm going to see her for the rest of my life, and I am, I have got to put my eighteen year old bullshit in my rear view mirror."

Jess's long winded speech was met with the sound of Louis trying to suck up the last remnants of his water through a straw, the ice rattling in the cup. Expressing the mostly cohesive description of how he was feeling left Jess almost relieved. He was worried that it wouldn't make sense once he said it.

Sometimes he worried that he might be fooling himself.

"A conscious effort to move forward is better than a conscious effort not to," Louis finally declared, picking up his own menu.

"Yeah."

"You're still eventually going to have to tell everybody."

"I know," Jess said quietly, slumping back into his seat. "It's going to blow."

"That it will," Louis nodded slowly. "Are you really getting rid of the second couch?"

"Why, do you want it?"

Friday, 2.06.09

"- You're my lady of the morning. Love shines in your eyes sparkling, clear, and lovely - "

"Will you unplug the stereo, Caesar."

"Caesar, don't touch the stereo - my lady. Lady, turn me on when I'm lonely. Show me all your charms."

Luke slipped past Lorelai with two dinner plates as she snatched up a salt shaker, holding it as her microphone while she continued to follow her husband. She'd been harassing him for the last ten minutes, as soon as the clock struck 7:00 and they were due to be on their date night. Issue was, the diner started to fill up right around 6:45 for the dinner rush and Luke was never one to force Caesar and Lane to do more work than they should have to.

Watching her mother loudly sing Styx in front of half the town made Rory wonder if it was only a matter of time before she went completely insane herself. In twenty years, she and her mother could be the next generation of Miss Patty and Babette, both of whom were thoroughly enjoying the show. At least she'd stopped pelting him with fries.

Up until the last few seconds of the song, Luke had mostly resolved to work around the singing, but once he turned around and almost bowled Lorelai over, he had to address it. Setting down his plates on the counter next to William's car seat and untying his apron.

"Alright, Caesar, we're heading out. You're in charge!" He shouted, shooting Lorelai an exasperated look. "I'm going to get my keys. Please, don't start another song," he begged, kissing Lorelai's forehead before turning to dart up the stairs to the apartment up above.

With that, the music cut down to a much more manageable level and Lorelai took her bow to a smattering of applause before plopping back onto the bar stool next to Rory.

"You know, I should really be spending the night with you two," Lorelai sighed, reaching up to squeeze Will's toes through his bright orange sock. "You're leaving me for forever in less than forty-eight hours."

"Don't go letting Luke hear you say that," Rory chuckled, shaking Will's little rabbit toy to make him smile again. "You've got him this far, don't let him get away."

"C'mon, kid. A few years ago and we would have spent this whole week together. You and me, watching movies and pigging out on junk food. I feel like we've barely gotten our time..."

Rory turned to her mother, taking care not to stop bouncing the stuffed bunny on her brother's lap. "You only had me a few years ago. You have more stuff to take care of now and you aren't likely to have another date night like this any time soon. Plus, we have all of tomorrow together- Luke is dropping Will off with the grandparents, right?"

"Yes," Lorelai pouted, looking at her son's rosy cheeks and bright gummy smile. "It's the first full day that he's spending there. I keep worrying I'll forget something he needs."

"Even if you do, they can buy him a more expensive version. Or send Lance to go get it from Luke," Rory pointed out, wondering if Lance liked the scarf that she'd sent him.

"Well, yes, but -"

"But nothing, woman. You aren't stealing my bonding time with my brother because you're getting cold feet," Rory said, pointing toward Luke when he stepped out from behind the curtain hiding the stairs.

"I do not have cold feet," Lorelai said, standing and sliding into her coat. "Now, would I be terribly intruding on your bonding time if I kissed my babies goodbye?" She teased, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"I suppose not," Rory shrugged, watching her mother lift Will out of his car seat so that she could press kisses to his cheeks. Once Will was passed safely to Luke, she enveloped Rory in a tight hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead when they pulled back.

"We'll be home around 9:45. If anything goes wrong, call Sookie and then call me, okay? She knows you two are going to be alone," Lorelai reiterated, glancing back at Luke and the baby. It was nice, Rory noted, to see that a smile grew on her face when she saw the way Luke was whispering conspiratorially to their son.

"The bottle that he'll need is labeled in the fridge. His pajamas are in his crib with a fresh diaper and the diaper cream," Luke added, tugging Will's hat over his little ears.

"Did you put the car seat base in her car?"

"It's strapped in," Luke nodded, letting Lorelai say another goodbye to Will before tucking him snugly into his car seat. "Are we all set?"

"All set," Lorelai smiled, raising up onto her toes to press a kiss to Luke's lips. "Bye, kid."

"Bye, Rory," Luke smiled, stepping to the door so that they could exit before Lorelai found a reason not to.

"Bye, guys!" She called back, watching them walk away until Will made a whining noise. "Where did Bunny get off to?"

Lane, ever the savior, popped up from behind the counter, bunny in hand. "I'll get them one of the straps that I got for Kwan - he loved to toss his toys," She laughed, handing over the toy and continuing on to deliver the sandwich she had in her hand.

Sunday, 2.08.09

As Lorelai checked the pizza box on the coffee table for any left over slices, she declared, "This sucks."

"What sucks?" Rory asked, slipping her laptop carefully into her carry-on bag.

"Both of my babies, flying the nest. Leaving me to be an old, old maid," she sighed, holding a hand over her heart.

"Old, old maids don't have Lukes," Rory reminded her.

"An old, old maid with a Luke," Lorelai adjusted, coming up behind her adult daughter and draping her arms over her shoulders. "How will I ever survive?"

"Going to work might be the way," Rory said unsympathetically, leaning her bag against the wall and shuffling out of her mother's reach before turning around. "Will is only gone as long as you're at work and I'll see you for your birthday in a month and a half."

"A month in a half? It's forever! How will I know who you are when you come back? I'll open the door and you'll say "hi mom", but I won't believe that you're you because my daughter doesn't have those crow's feet and she definitely doesn't have those grey streaks-"

"Crow's feet and grey streaks? Why do I have crow's feet and grey streaks?"

"You'll be very old in a month and a half."

"If I'm very old, what will you be?" Rory asked, trying to suppress the smile pulling on her lips.

"I'll be just as young and spritely as I am now because I have a Luke."

"You have a Luke?" Luke asked, jogging down the stairs, his hand safely on the back of Will's head. "I didn't know there were multiples."

"Oh, yeah, babe. We're living in the post-Ford-assembly-line world. All of us are replaceable. Upgradable." Lorelai crossed the room, slipping in front of Luke once he laid a sleepy Will into his car seat. Rory averted her eyes while they shared a quick kiss.

"I dunno if I could find a way to up your grade," Luke murmured at a tone that Rory would not have been able to hear had there been any background noise. "Are you on your way out too?"

"As soon as you're gone and I've found my Miranda boots," Lorelai nodded, stepping back.

"The dark blue ones or the ones with the buckle?"

"Dark blue."

"Behind the bathroom door."

"My hero!" Another kiss and she jogged up the stairs.

Luke turned to Rory when Lorelai was out of sight. "You're ready to go?"

"My other bags are in the car," she nodded, pointing over her shoulder and out the front door.

"Have you gotten a hold of Jess? I know he doesn't wake up all that early," Luke said, bending over William to buckle him into the seat.

"I haven't gotten a text back, but he said that he would make his way to the airport as soon as I hit the runway at PHL. He said he already has the air mattress all blown up."

"Good, good," Luke murmured, patting his pockets for a moment before procuring Bunny the bunny. He held it out to Will, tucking it into the car seat when he found the baby too sleepy. Lorelai came down the stairs wearing a pair of suede ankle boots that went surprisingly well with the skirt that Luke had given her. Over the years, she supposed that Lorelai's style had rubbed off on him a little bit.

"Alright, we're all ready. Go before my heart breaks again," she said dramatically, hugging Rory first and last out of the group before pushing them all out of the front door. As Luke backed out of the driveway, Lorelai waved from beside her Jeep.

The pit of worry in Rory's chest must somehow be from the realization that she actually was leaving. Sure, she'd been gone for almost a full year with the Obama campaign, but this was always her home base. On her weekends off, she came here. For holidays, fro everything, she came back to Stars Hollow. "Home" was always 37 Maple St, Stars Hollow, Connecticut 06492. She didn't actually know Philadelphia's ZIP code. It probably had multiple ZIP codes.

Now, driving past the town square and Miss Patty's dance studio and Doose's Market and Al's Pancake World... well, this was still going to be her hometown. It would always be her hometown. For now at least, it wasn't going to be home.

While Rory waved to Gypsy, her girlfriend, and Kirk, she wondered if a salamander felt this uncomfortable when it shed its skin to grow.

Rory sent a text to Jess once she was in the air above the city, looking down and wondering whether she would enjoy living there. She'd been so sure that she wanted the job, she was still sure. But it was hours from where she wanted to be.

Her things would find her within the week, Emily and Richard paying to have them sent down once she found her apartment. They were having her car sent down immediately, which would hopefully be with her by the next morning. She could park it in Jess's spot, or so he said. He could park his car at his office as long as she stayed with him and she was determined to make that as short a period a she possibly could.

In the next three days, Rory was viewing nine apartments. Two the first, four the second, and three the last. She had high hopes for a few of them, though she wasn't entirely in love with the idea of being so desperate for a place to live while she was looking them over. She could forget to check something necessary. Because of that worry, she'd created forms for easier comparison, things that she would fill out as she explored the apartments.

Jess said that he could come to half of the second day's apartments and one of the third's. If she wanted him.

Once on the ground, Rory got herself a late lunch at a Smashburger. It was enough to hold her over until she could manage to pay for dinner, something she'd promised to do for as long as she took up Jess's office floor.

Gathered with her two suitcases, carry on, and wide pink purse, Rory waited for Jess outside the airport. She was bundled like a survivor despite the vague increase in temperature from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and shivering up until the point that Jess rolled his car up in front of her. Almost forgetting to greet each other, they tossed her bags into his car and took shelter from the late winter air.

"I thought you were supposed to be in the south," Rory complained, unwrapping her scarf and taking off her hat.

"I mean, we're south of Connecticut. We're not in the South," Jess laughed, pulling out of the parking spot once he saw that she was buckled up. "Do you want to stop at a McDonald's on the way to the apartment?"

"No, I got a crappy burger before you got here," Rory said, holding her fingers up against the heat. "Some of the stalest bread I've ever had."

"I can imagine it was especially bad after all the gourmet meals you've had in the past few weeks," Jess nodded, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of whatever metal song was playing on the radio.

"I didn't eat gourmet meals, I mostly ate pizza and diner food."

"You're telling me that Sookie didn't try and fatten you up for the holidays?"

"Alright... well, then I ate pizza, diner food, and a few gourmet meals," Rory conceded, sitting up a little straighter. She'd been stuck sitting all day whether in be in Luke's car, the airport, the plain, or the food court. Now that she was nearing the end of her journey she was starting to feel an odd mixture of antsy and exhausted. She would go on a run if she had the energy (or the personality for it) or to sleep if she didn't. The uncomfortable middle of the road made her feel as though she needed to talk, but as was often the case with Jess, she couldn't think of where to start.

Their lapse into silence was ended when Jess spoke up again.

"I think we should celebrate."

"Celebrate?"

"Yes. Celebrate the fact that you have a job writing for a real life newspaper. You're in the big leagues and we should celebrate the way that adults celebrate," Jess nodded.

"I start tomorrow morning, Jess. Plus, I just got over a nasty hangover."

"Celebration doesn't necessarily mean drinking. We could go to a movie or something else that marks the occasion; we can do whatever you want."

Rory mulled it over for a few seconds, weighing her options.

"I'd like to see the Liberty Bell," she decided, knowing that Independence Hall would be too long a wait for so late in the day.

"You're not going to lick it, are you?"

"I already know what pennies taste like," Rory smiled. "I've just never really gotten to see the tourist-y hot spots. I figure it'd be nice to go and see something historical, you know?"

"I showed my mother the Liberty Bell. And Independence Hall. I even showed her the art museum, which was really the only part she enjoyed. Then I went the next day with T.J., who didn't enjoy any of them after about twenty minutes."

"Why did they go separately?" Rory frowned.

"Oh, Doula didn't want to go. She spent the whole trip in the Children's Garden," Jess explained, nodding.

That was another thing she really liked about talking to Jess, their families were both so similar. Of course, it was technically the same family nowadays, but still. Beyond their mutual appreciation for music, movies, television, they could always talk about family. Eccentric mothers, absent or nearly absent fathers, much younger siblings, and Luke. The older they got, the more it seemed that Luke had played a more fatherly figure than either of their actual fathers (Jimmy did seem to be putting in the effort now and perhaps Christopher would too if Rory found it fit to speak to him more than necessary to stay updated with Gigi).

The rest of the car trip was spent talking about the ways that Doula was likely to turn out like Rory's younger sister with the way that they were both being spoiled. Thankfully, Georgia was just old enough to understand what was right and what was wrong while actually caring.

"So, we'll just take your things upstairs and then we can go to the Liberty Bell. I think we should just barely make it," Jess nodded, reaching into his backseat to hand Rory one of her suitcases and her carry-on.

"If we don't make it today, we can make it this weekend, can't we?" Rory asked, heading toward the front door of Jess's building.

"Definitely," Jess nodded, unlocking and opening the door for Rory before going inside himself.

Jess's apartment was on the third floor, and so they both trudged up the stairs rather than taking the old creaky elevator. No point in wasting young legs.

"Do you have to pay to see the bell?" Rory asked, knowing full well that she only had fifteen dollars cash on hand.

"I don't think so, but even if you do it's sat right in front of a massive window," Jess informed her.

"If you're outside you don't get to read any of the plaques or listen to the guides."

"You're telling me you don't already know enough about the Liberty Bell?" Jess teased.

"I guess I do, but what's the point of going if you're not going to learn something?" Rory asked, stopping right in front of Jess's door. "You got a door mat," she noticed, reading the black words printed on it: HENRY IV, Part I, II, ii.

"Unbidden guests are often welcomest when they are gone," Jess explained. "It was either that or a skull and crossbones, so I figured that this would be better."

"Well, yes. This is better," Rory agreed, stepping into the apartment once the door was open, making sure to wipe her feet before she did so. The apartment seemed mostly the same, though something seemed different... There were more bits and bobs on the coffee table. Probably a result of his Christmas haul.

"Let's just put the stuff in the spare room and we can head out," Jess prompted, nodding toward his home office. As she stepped across the room, she noticed that his desk had been fit between a bookshelf and a fake plant. He'd also added curtains to the other side of the french doors, she supposed that it would be for the fact that she was possibly staying there for more than the duration of a weekend.

Jess, seeing that her hands were full with her bags and purse, crossed the room to somewhat reluctantly open the door to what... used to be his home office.

It really was a spare room now.

Where the desk had stood was now a full sized bed with what looked like a new set of blankets and matching pillow cases, though she could see the hint of the Sound of Music sheets peeking out. The couch, which had been pressed under the corner of the big window and had folded out to right about where she was standing, was now replaced by a taller chair that she remembered as the one pushed into the corner for her bed. Beyond the bedside table and the blue and green striped lamp, on the right side of the room, was the now half-empty wall of bookcases.

"I figured that you'd have a lot of book to shelf. I know you've got a lot of apartments lined up, but I just... I don't know when you're going to move on. Plus, when you do, I'll have a guest room and another shelf for my CDs," Jess said shyly.

Rory quietly set down her bags on the end of the bed, pressing her tongue tightly to the roof of her mouth. She didn't know how truly nervous she had been until she was there, staring at the hurried attempt at a bedroom made for her, complete with space to shelve her books.

"Thank you," she said quietly, blinking rapidly before she found it fit to turn back toward Jess. "You can drop that suitcase wherever. We're going to miss the closing, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Jess said, the smile in his voice reeking of relief. Maybe he'd been worried she wouldn't like it.

She really, really did.