A/N: So happy to see folks are enjoying this so far - thanks muchly for the reviewage :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3

Eight weeks. Somehow the trip to Europe had seemed so long and in others so incredibly short and fast, but in the end, it had been eight weeks, exactly as they planned. Now, finally, they were back in Stars Hollow. Arriving late last night, Rory and Lorelai had both dumped their bags, enjoyed a real hot shower each, then fallen into their respective beds for their first good night's sleep in all those eight weeks. It felt amazing.

Rory knew she wouldn't have exchanged that trip for anything in the world and she loved every minute of the experience. At the same time, when she awoke to the sight of her own room, the feel of her own bedclothes and the normal, everyday sounds of Stars Hollow, and the house she called home, it was no bad thing.

Of course, it was impossible not to also think about the people that home brought with it. Not that Jess was anywhere close by. Last she heard, he was in LA and the chances were good it was where he was still living. Hopefully, he had called Luke, like she said he should. Hopefully, he was doing okay.

It was so weird that his call had almost made her give up the trip to Europe. It wasn't as if she could call him or see him or anything, not without catching a plane to California and she really couldn't see that happening. A part of her had wanted to stay home though, in case he called her again, in case he sent a letter, maybe even a postcard.

She winced when those words brought forth a less happy memory of Jess. The day in Doosey's, after she got back from Washington last summer, when she was still with Dean and Jess was seeing Shane. He had asked her then if she had called him, written to him, sent anything at all, from a smoke signal to a fruit basket. Of course, she hadn't. She had been so very unsure of her feelings for him then, or maybe she hadn't but she was just too scared to admit what they really were.

More than once, Rory had gone over it all in her head. All the occasions in her relationship with Jess, from the very first moment of their friendship onwards, when she probably should've acted differently. Sure, he screwed up plenty too, there was no denying that, but she wasn't quite the angel her mom or the town would like to pretend.

If she was, then it wouldn't have taken Dean dumping her for her to choose Jess. She wouldn't have been so suspicious all the time, so awkward and weird about things. She would have trusted Jess more easily and not compared him to her ex. Not made him feel like he couldn't talk to her when things got tough.

Heaving a sigh, Rory threw herself out of bed and padded over to the closet to pick out clothes to wear. There was no point in dwelling on what might have been. Jess was gone now, and as much as she would like to think she could hear from him or see him again sometime, it wasn't anything that was in her control. The focus for today would have to be her mother's burgeoning relationship with Luke, a fact she was reminded of full-force when suddenly a quick knock was followed by Lorelai's presence in the room, already dressed and bouncing around like Tigger.

"Morning, sunshine," she greeted Rory with a wide smile. "So, breakfast at the diner?" she asked, just a hint of nervousness in her tone and her face, despite how excited she clearly felt.

"Sure." Rory smiled back, glad at least to think that her mom and Luke might be happy together - she absolutely wouldn't hate that.

It was quickly decided that the Gilmore girls would get some laundry going in the washer before heading out for breakfast at Luke's, then later, sort out all the gifts they had brought back from Europe and spend the afternoon delivering them, filling in all their friends and neighbours on their epic trip. For now, Lorelai seemed just this side of desperate to be diner-bound and Rory couldn't exactly say she minded at all. She had missed Luke too and she had very much missed his cooking!

It was a miracle that they made it across town square without running into anyone they knew super-well, but the Gilmore girls couldn't exactly be sorry about it. It was only when they were within a few steps of the diner door that somebody got in their path, quite literally.

"Hey, Kirk," said Lorelai, trying to move by him - he wouldn't let her.

"Hey, Lorelai, Rory, welcome back!" he said in too big a way, wearing a grin that was far too clown-like to be good. "Wow, has it really been two months already? How was Europe?"

"Europe was great, but it was also a long, hard trip, with a real lack of Luke-type breakfast," Lorelai told him. "So, if we could just..."

She had to physically shove him to make him get out of the way of the door, and even then he was yelling, 'No, don't do it!' as they went inside.

"What on Earth has gotten into him?" Rory asked. "I mean, I know Kirk has always been a little..."

Her words trailed off, her voice going away entirely as she looked from her mother to the counter and saw a familiar person standing on the other side of it. Not Luke, like she would have expected, though she was pretty sure he was there too, somewhere in her periphery. For the time being, however, all she could really see was...

"Jess?"

It came out more like a squeak than a name. Rory felt her mom's hand at her shoulder and heard her say something that might have been, 'Are you okay?' but frankly, it mostly sounded like white noise. Jess was in town, in the diner, right there in front of her. Rory honestly thought for a moment that she might be dreaming. After all, it wouldn't be the first time. Just to be sure, she pinched her own arm very hard, wincing when it hurt. No, she was awake, and that meant he was real.

"Um, how did...? I didn't know," she told her mom desperately.

"Obviously." Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Seriously, hon, are you okay, because if you need to go...?"

"No, no." Rory shook her head definitely. "No, we came here for breakfast, and for you and Luke, and... I'm fine," she insisted again, leading the way to a table, trying really hard to look where she was going, which did not come easy.

She could hardly believe what she was seeing. Jess behind the counter taking orders, Jess moving amongst the customers with the coffee pot. It was almost as if he had never left. As if the last six months or maybe even a year never happened at all. Maybe that part was the dream, or the nightmare, depending on which part Rory focused on. Her hand went to her head that was very definitely swimming, just as Luke came over to the table, smiling widely as he welcomed them home.

"Good trip?" he asked Lorelai.

"Great trip," she told him definitely. "I see you got back your hired help."

"Uh, yeah. He called me, the night you left, actually. We talked a few times, and I said he could come back if he wanted, and he decided that he did, so he's here. I figured it wouldn't hurt while you two were away, and by the time you got back, well, I didn't even know how long he would stick around. Geez, I should've-"

"Luke, it's fine," Lorelai told him, the moment he began to squirm. "It's fine, right, honey?"

It took Rory a second to realise the conversation now included her and she shook her head as she looked to her mom and Luke, trying to grasp what question she was supposed to be answering.

"Um, sure, fine," she said, hoping that was the correct response. "I'm fine. Hi, Luke."

"Hey, Rory," he replied, smiling down at her. "So, breakfast?"

On automatic, the Gilmore girls placed their orders, and then, Luke was gone, back behind the counter, and then into the kitchen to prepare their meals.

Rory tried in vain not to stare at Jess, but when she looked to her mom instead, she found Lorelai's eyes were wandering too.

"We have serious problems," she realised aloud.

"Problems?" Lorelai echoed, finally tearing her eyes from the space where Luke had been moments before. "Jess problems?"

"Boy problems. Focus problems," Rory told her.

"Incoming problems," said Lorelai, out of the corner of her mouth, before scrambling to her feet. "Jess," she greeted him with a curt nod.

"Lorelai," he replied in kind.

"I'm just gonna..." she gestured past him then and was gone in a blink.

Rory took in a shaky breath and let it out slow as she looked up and met Jess' eyes. "Hi."

"Hi."

"So, you're back."

"I'm back."

"How long...?"

"Few weeks. I actually wanted to thank you, you know, for telling me to call Luke. You were right. You're always right."

"Not always," Rory insisted, feeling very strange. "You're back."

"Didn't we do this part already?" asked Jess, shifting awkwardly in place.

"Oh, yeah," she realised, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I... I didn't expect you to be here, and then with the jetlag and everything."

"Right. How was Europe?"

"Amazing," she told him, a smile coming naturally to her lips as she did so. "I'm so glad we decided to go. For a while, we... well, there were reasons why we both thought about staying home, but in the end, we were both glad we went for it. It really was a great experience."

It sounded like an analogy, Rory realised too late. As if she was talking about something else that she had considered not doing, but eventually was happy to know she had taken a chance on. She really wasn't trying to be that smart or that cryptic, but she didn't mind if Jess took her words that way. She never could entirely regret their relationship, no matter how badly it seemed to have ended.

"So, I just wanted to say hi," he said then, taking a moment to look back over his shoulder for a second, before continuing. "I'm working right now, obviously, but I was hoping maybe sometime we could talk? I know you probably have a bunch of stuff to do before Yale starts up, but if you had a spare hour somewhere in there...?"

"Sure." Rory nodded. "I'll probably have an hour, you know, so we can talk."

"Cool." Jess nodded right back, then took another look behind him as the bell rang over the door and more customers piled in - the breakfast rush had truly begun. "So, you'll let me know when?"

"I will," Rory agreed, and then, just like that, he was gone again.

Lorelai pulled back from their truly epic reunion kiss, apparently struggling a little to catch her breath. "Okay, this is not talking," she said, shaking her head, though Luke was glad to note she was also smiling a lot. "I came here to talk. Well, actually, I came here for breakfast, but also for the talking. This is making use of lips and tongues and everything, but there's a total lack of words."

Luke frowned at her. "You do know that you were the one who threw yourself at me the second we got back here, right? In fact, you kinda dragged me from behind the counter to the storeroom, and then you kissed me."

"I know that." Lorelai rolled her eyes at him. "What am I stupid? I know what I did, but that's your fault too. God, how did this happen?" she asked then, pacing up and down the very small space between the shelving units. "How did I reach a point where I can't be within six feet of Luke Danes without kissing him?"

"For the record, I wasn't objecting," he told her, apologising in spite of the smirk pulling at his lips when she gave him a severe look.

"No, I'm sorry," she said then, moving to sit down beside him on the boxes of pickles. "I know I'm being crazy, which I'm also aware is not new for me," she said fast, clearly realising he would have said it if she hadn't. "I just know that I missed you when I was gone. Europe was awesome, but you were on my mind a lot, Diner Man," she admitted, smiling across at him, bringing her hand to his cheek and removing her lip gloss from his face with her thumb. "It's just this is all so weird and fast and... Well, we really didn't settle anything before I went away. You were still with Nicole and-"

"That is all over," he told her immediately, determined for her to have all the facts and every piece of information she needed so that she didn't suddenly decide what they were starting here might be a bad idea. "I called her the very next day, she came over, and I explained everything. The vacation was cancelled, the relationship was done, over," he repeated, making a very definitely cutting motion with his hand.

"Wow. I'll bet she was super happy about all of that," Lorelai deadpanned.

"Some insults were thrown," Luke admitted, one hand going to the back of his head. "Also, some objects."

Lorelai winced on his behalf, but Luke didn't care enough to get too deeply into his break-up with Nicole. He was much more interested in his burgeoning new relationship with Lorelai herself.

"So, now I'm single, and I'm guessing, hoping that you're single..."

"I was done with Alex months ago," she assured him. "There is nobody else, Luke. Just you," she said simply.

"You have no idea how long I have waited to hear you say that," he admitted, before his brain had hardly processed the admission.

Lorelai smiled across at him, leaning in closer then. "So, we're doing this. You and me, the whole dating thing?"

"The whole dating thing," he agreed easily. "How's Saturday night sound?"

"An actual date, with you, less than a week from now?" she asked, grinning widely. "It sounds amazing," she admitted, a second before their lips met in another incredible kiss.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: There's a poll on my Profile Page concerning other potential GG fic from me, if you're interested. Either way, would love your thoughts on this chapter by way of a review please! :)