(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 18

"Hey, Luke?"

"Yeah?" His uncle's reply was vague at best, as he scratched away with his pencil on a legal pad, while there was a lull in customers in the diner - Jess didn't even ask what he was working on.

"I need to take a couple of hours off tomorrow afternoon. That's cool, right?"

That got Luke's full attention and it made him frown too. "You're taking Rory out on a Wednesday afternoon?"

"This has nothing to do with Rory." Jess shook his head, before reconsidering. "Or maybe it does, in a way, but I'm not taking her out."

By that time, Luke's expression was borderline comical, but Jess just didn't feel much like laughing. In fact, he felt weird and a little nauseous and he wasn't even exactly sure why. For all the confidence he had gained in himself, for all that he thought he was getting more comfortable with this whole sharing thing, some stuff still didn't come easy. Sometimes, he fell back on the old habit of expecting to be a failure and a general disappointment to just about anyone who put faith in him.

"Jess?" Luke prompted when he was quiet too long.

Huffing out a sigh, Jess reached into his back pocket and pulled out the folded piece of paper, handing it over to his uncle. Before Luke had hardly started reading the flyer, he began to explain in more detail.

"I got that from the bulletin board at Yale. I called the number today and I talked to this lady who said I sounded like I might be a good fit for the job. So, can I take a couple of hours off tomorrow to go to the interview or what?"

"You want a job in a library? Well, that makes a lot of sense. You do really like books, and I'm guessing it doesn't hurt any that the library is at Yale, where Rory is."

The look on Luke's face spoke volumes. Jess pretended he didn't notice.

"So, I can go?"

"Yes, of course, you can absolutely go. I think this is great." Luke was grinning like a loon by that point, another thing Jess tried not notice, but it was a little difficult to avoid.

"Yeah, I had a feeling you'd say that," he said as he took back the flyer, re-folding it and pushing it back into his pocket. "Just don't get too excited, okay? There's every chance I won't even get the job, and either way, I do not want Rory to know until it's over," he insisted, keeping his voice low, just in case. "So, could you please not mention this to Lorelai, or anyone else in this crackpot town? Luke?" he prompted, when his uncle's attention seemed to have floated away somehow.

"Oh, sure. Sure, I can keep a secret," he assured him then. "I promise, I will not tell Lorelai or Rory or anyone," he confirmed, proving that Jess must have looked as sceptical as he felt. "Geez, what do you want, a blood oath?" he muttered, turning back to his legal pad.

Jess was quite happy to go back upstairs a while, since he wasn't actually due to work until the dinner rush. He barely made it two steps when Luke suddenly spoke again.

"It's a weird coincidence actually."

"What is?" asked Jess, turning back.

"I was thinking about what happens when you get a different job, you know, something better than waiting tables for me," Luke explained.

"I like waiting tables for you," Jess muttered, walking back to where his uncle was waving paper and pencil around.

"Anyway, I can cope alone most of the time, but I kind of like having help sometimes, and I can afford it. So, I figured, as and when you decided to move onto better things, maybe I could hire somebody else," he said, showing Jess the potential job ad he had been working on. "You know, some local kid who needs a break, eager to work, earn their own cash..."

"Lane."

"What?"

The look on Luke's face then was almost amusing in its cartoonish confusion.

"Lane," Jess repeated, raising his hand a little below his own head. "About this tall, glasses, Korean, Rory's best friend?"

"I know who Lane is." Luke rolled his eyes. "You think she would wanna work here? You think her mother would let her work here?"

"Yes to the first one and, surprisingly, yes to the second," Jess told him, nodding his head. "This place is one of the few Mrs Kim approved locations, at least that's what Lane told me. No alcohol, walking distance to the church, and you can see her house from here."

"Wow. I guess I should feel honoured."

"You really should. Anyway, if you want somebody to replace me, that's my advice. Not that this other job is definite, and even if I did get it, I wouldn't be starting until after the holidays, so..."

"Hey, don't worry, you want the job here, it's always going to be open to you."

Jess muttered a thanks and turned away fast. He was getting better at the being open thing, he really was, though it took plenty of effort, most of the time. That didn't mean he was still one hundred percent comfortable with people being so nice to him, even if it was Luke. The guy always meant well and Jess seriously did appreciate it, but God help him, he didn't know what to do when his uncle got kind of mushy like that!

"So, yeah, lunch with Grandpa and Paris was surprisingly good, except for the part where Paris got a little over-awed by Asher Fleming, because that was just weird, and now, I seem to be going to a football game with my grandparents. Honestly? Not sure how I feel about that part."

"I don't actually think I can picture you at a football game."

"I went to a hockey game once. Besides, I can't picture you at any kind of sports event."

"Me either, thank God."

Rory laughed at Jess' dramatic exclamation, more than glad that she had taken the opportunity to call her boyfriend while Paris was in class. It was good to have the freedom of an empty room, so that she could just lounge on her bed and talk to Jess about anything and everything, without concerning herself about someone else's colour commentary.

"So, how are things with you?"

"Same old, same old," Jess told her. "Except I might have scored a job for Lane."

"Okay, did I even know that Lane wanted or needed a job?" asked Rory, frowning hard, struggling to recall a conversation with her best friend that had included that particular piece of information.

"I don't know, but she mentioned something in passing, one day when I was hanging with the band, and then, Luke got it into his head that another minion might be nice. I recommended Lane. I mean, can you think of anybody more reliable?"

"Not really," Rory considered. "Lane is super-efficient and organised, always punctual, plus she has customer-facing experience, since she helps out at her mom's store, sometimes."

"I hope she has you down as a reference." Jess laughed in her ear, clearly amused by the way she talked up her friend.

"Well, you know she's as good as I said, otherwise you wouldn't have recommended her to Luke."

"That is true," he agreed, "and for what it's worth, Luke actually listened. He had me ask her to come over for an interview sometime soon, if she was interested. I swear, she couldn't have gotten over here any faster if she grew wings and flew."

"So, Luke hired her?"

"She starts tomorrow."

Rory was back to frowning again when she heard that. "But what about you? I mean, will she be taking some of your shifts?"

"I guess she'll work when Luke needs her to. Don't worry, I didn't get fired or anything. Everything's fine," he assured her.

It didn't really make sense to Rory, why Luke would want to employ Jess and Lane to help out in the diner. Sure, it got a little busy sometimes, but he always coped before with only one extra pair of hands. Two seemed excessive, all of a sudden. Not that Rory really wanted to question it or complain. She was very happy that Lane had gotten a job, if that was what she wanted, and in a Mrs Kim approved place, no less, so she didn't have one more thing to hide from her mother.

"Rory?"

She must have been quiet too long, because suddenly there was concern in Jess' tone as he called her name.

"Still here," she told him fast. "Sorry, just thinking."

"About football?" he asked, with a practically audible smirk.

"No." Rory rolled her eyes, hoping he could somehow hear that in much the same way. "I can think of much better things than football, like you, for example."

"I'm flattered. You know, if I thought you actually had time to do more than think, I'd drive over there."

Rory sighed. "That would be so great, but I have a class in thirty minutes, and then, there will be reading, and an assignment I really should get a jump-start on, since I'll be at the football game on Saturday..."

"I get it, you're busy." Jess sighed too. "Do I lose cool points if I tell you I miss you?"

That made her smile. "No, you get extra cool points for telling me that. Only the coolest boyfriends admit to missing their girlfriends."

"Then colour me cool, because I miss the hell out of you," he told her, perhaps because it sounded funny, but Rory couldn't really believe he was actually lying to her.

"I miss you too. Really miss you," she told him, just as honestly, "but you know, it'll be Thanksgiving soon, and then, I'll be home for longer than I have been for weeks. I know we'll have my mom and Luke around for dinner and everything, but I'm sure we can get some alone time somewhere in there."

"Geez, I hope so."

Given some of the thoughts Rory had been having about Jess lately, and how close she wanted them to be, she had to admit that she really, really hoped so too.

She had been looking for an in all evening, or maybe that wasn't true, maybe she hadn't really been trying all that hard. It wasn't that Lorelai was ashamed to tell her parents that she was dating Luke. That absolutely wasn't it at all. The problem was that, sometimes, she was a little ashamed of her parents, and she knew that when she did tell them, their reaction would be awful. The last thing she wanted was a fight, but she could see one erupting when the news was broken, one way or another. Of course, that didn't mean she could back out of telling them. She made a promise to Luke that tonight was the night, and so, she just had to take a deep breath and do it.

"You know, this is a really good roast, Mom," she said, eyes fixed to her plate. "I, uh, I was thinking it might even be better than the one me and Luke had the other night, at this restaurant we went to, you know, for a date."

Lorelai dared a quick glance at Rory, who was giving her a wide-eyed, 'Oh my God, did you really just tell them that way?!' kind of expression. It really didn't help at all. Then there was a horrible sound as Emily's fork slipped from her hand and clattered noisily onto her plate.

"A date? You were out at a restaurant on a date? With Luke?" she asked, all in a rush and far too loudly, in her daughter's opinion. "Lorelai, explain please."

"What's to explain, Mom?" she asked, lifting her head at least and meeting her mother's stern gaze. "Me and Luke are... you know, dating."

"Who is Luke?"

Lorelai tried to repress the urge to roll her eyes as she faced her father instead and answered his seemingly earnest question.

"Luke, Dad, from Luke's Diner? You met him before, at Rory's sixteenth birthday party, and he came to the hospital when you got sick, though I'm not sure you actually saw him that time, but anyway, he's Luke. My friend Luke, who is now my boyfriend Luke, I guess, so, yeah," she trailed off, feeling very awkward suddenly.

Not that awkward was an unfamiliar emotion when she was back at the old homestead. In fact, it was pretty much standard for Lorelai Gilmore, but for once in her life, she actually wished her parents would say something, anything, rather than just sit there staring, first at her and then at each other. She ought to have known it would be her own sweet, beloved daughter who would come to the rescue.

"This is a good thing," said Rory, glancing from Richard to Emily, before finally looking to Lorelai herself. "Mom and Luke are just made for each other. They make each other very happy and I am so, so happy for them too. Anybody who loves either one of them could only be happy for them, if they're so happy together, right?"

"Yes, of course," said Emily, so mechanically, she ought to have 'Made in Taiwan' stamped on her rear.

"Well, certainly, I would never object to my daughter being happy," said Richard, shaking his head. "It's only that... well, in spite of what you say about us having met this Luke, I'm afraid I don't really know him at all. This must be remedied. I assume he could make himself available on short notice, for you."

"Short notice?" Lorelai squeaked, clearing her throat before trying again. "Oh, Dad, I don't know..."

"Certainly, if he is your boyfriend, as you say," said Emily with the usual scathing look, "he could never object to being invited to a family occasion. Aren't you always telling us how much he cares for Rory, also? The Yale-Harvard game is a very important Yale event and she is a student of Yale. We will all be there, I think Luke should be too."

"But, but tickets. You went to so much trouble just to get me a ticket, and now, Luke..."

"We can work something out," Richard told her, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture as he left the table. "I'll just make one or two more calls..."

Emily was soon up from her seat too, calling after her husband as she went.

Lorelai stared across the table at Rory. "Why do I feel like I just went through a car wash in a convertible with the top down?"

Rory shook her head. "It really seemed like more of a steamroller kind of thing to me," she said sympathetically, passing the potatoes over.

"Yeah." Lorelai sighed. "I think maybe that's exactly what it was."

To Be Continued...