"For Choices" Chpt 3 (Gilmore Girls)
Here ya go guys! More excitement for ya...and please do review if you like it, so I know if there's enough interest to write this whole thing. :) Anyway, thanks so much to those of you who are reviewing! Love you guys! :) All right, enjoy this chapter then. Thanks! Have a good night! *hugs*
Chapter 3
The next week brought an increasing amount of excitement across the entirety of Stars Hollow. The cementing of the Luke/Lorelai relationship was something that had long been both anticipated and dreaded in equal parts through town.
Those that loved them couldn't be happier, and those inclined to be more cynical pointed out that their actually being married would only make it even worse for the rest of the town if they ever broke again.
Lorelai pretended she didn't hear these things, but she did. For once though, they didn't bother her. It had taken too many years, but the insecurity was gone.
She and Luke were going to work. They were getting married, and it was going to last.
“Are you guys planning on having kids? What happens then? I hope I'm not still here then, but what if I am? Would I seriously have to share a room at-well, I'd be twenty-five by then. That would just be awkward.”
Lorelai scowled up from her paper and her pop-tart. “Excuse me?”
Rory, still in pajama bottoms and tank top, dropped into the chair opposite her. “Kids. Do you and Luke want to have kids?”
“Well we figured we'd get past the getting-married part first, since neither of us did that the first time around.”
“You know what I mean.”
Lorelai raised an eyebrow. “That's a little straightforward, honey.”
“Well I'd like to know as soon as possible if I'm going to have to get used to the idea of having new siblings now. At my age.”
“You sound like you're getting old or something. Should I find a cane? You'd better let me know now, 'cause if I do I should probably find two, seeing as I'm sixteen years older.”
“Hardy har har.”
“We haven't really talked about it,” Lorelai shrugged. Not recently, anyway.
“You never talked about it?”
“Well...”
Rory perked up a little. “What?”
“We did, some...right after we got engaged the first time. We both wanted kids then.”
“Well that's good. I think you should have your own if you want to; I was just curious...”
“Rory, that was almost four years ago.”
“So?”
“So I'm not sure if we're both in the same place anymore.”
Rory frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Lorelai took a bite of her pop-tart before answering. “Sweetie, as much as I'd like to pretend I've been twenty-nine for the past eleven years, I'll be forty in a few weeks.”
“People over forty have kids all the time. So you'll have been a really young mother and really old mother; so what?”
Lorelai shot her a look.
“A really young mother and a not-as-young mother,” her daughter quickly corrected.
“There you go. Anyway, I just don't know. Let Luke and I figure this one out for ourselves, ok?”
“Me and Luke.”
“Whatever.”
Lorelai had been suspicious for several minutes, but Rory allowing her head to drop to her arms on the table was the tip-off. “You, my dear, are just trying to distract yourself, aren't you?”
“What would I be trying to distract myself from?” she asked, clearly in denial.
“The fact that we have to be at the diner in an hour to meet Luke when he gets back from picking Jess up at the airport-which means seeing Jess.”
Rory grunted inarticulately.
“I thought that phone call went well?”
“It went not-so-bad,” she corrected. “As in not horrible, but not great, either. I have no idea how he's going to react when he sees me.”
“Well how do you plan to react when you see him?”
Rory just stared at her. “I don't know,” she said finally.
“Gotta have a plan, honey,” Lorelai reminded her gently.
“I know, I know...but I don't know how I want to react. I guess I forgave him years ago, for running off and everything...I mean, we were eighteen, and he didn't know what he was doing any more than I knew what the hell I was doing dating him, so...”
“Yeah, I guess that's true.”
“And he's done well for himself. I should be happy for him. I am happy for him. I just...I'm worried he might still have a reason to hate me.”
Now this she hadn't heard. “What do you mean?”
Rory grimaced. “Uhm...Luke wasn't exactly around for everything that happened when I showed up at that press Jess works at in Philadelphia...”
“Something else happened?” Lorelai asked. Her chest clenched, as it always did, as if in preparation to ache in sympathy if need be.
“Something almost happened,” her daughter corrected.
The clench eased, but was still poised and ready to come back. “Oh?”
“Let's just say I was angry at Logan at the time, and I wasn't thinking straight, and...I don't know. It was stupid. But nothing really happened. We just didn't part on the best of terms is all.”
“Oh...I didn't know.”
“It's okay. I didn't really want anyone to know.” Rory sighed, planted her hand flat on the table and pushed herself to her feet. “I need coffee.”
“Wow, you got through all that without it?”
“I don't understand it either. I think that just means I'll need even more now,” she said sagely, pulling a large mug from the cabinet and filling it to the brim from the coffee pot.
“I'm glad to see all those months on the road haven't changed you too much.”
“Of course they haven't. I wouldn't be myself without my daily overdose of caffeine.”
Lorelai held up a finger for attention. “Just remember, missy-maybe you're more of a guest now, but the same rules apply. Watch the pot. You finish it, you make another one.”
Her daughter held up the pot, which had barely a swallow of coffee still swishing in the bottom that she may or may not have intentionally left. “You have fun making that new batch, then,” she said, putting the pot back where it belonged.
“I have taught you well.”
Rory finally smiled, and Lorelai was satisfied in having done her motherly duty for the moment.
Rory stopped just around the corner from the diner.
“You okay?” her mother asked immediately.
“I don't know.”
“I guess we don't have to go in there right this second...”
“Good.”
Lorelai crossed her arms in confusion. “You want to wait a little while, or...?”
“I don't know,” she repeated.
“Honey, I'm gonna need an answer on this one. You do know you'll have to see him eventually...”
Rory let out a breath. “I know.” She grimaced and composed herself, not quite sure what was worrying her. “Fine. Let's go,” she said. But she was certain she sounded like a lamb being led to the slaughter.
Lorelai took her arm and led her around to the door of the diner, which hadn't opened that morning. Caesar would keep the place running while Luke and Lorelai were on their honeymoon, but Luke hadn't the wanted the place packed full of much-too-curious townspeople when he brought Jess from the airport. Despite the 'Closed' sign the door was opened, and Lorelai pushed through and pulled Rory gently with her.
“Bonjour, boys! We have arrived!” she called enthusiastically.
But they weren't there.
“Well, that didn't go as planned.”
Rory couldn't help but smirk, until movement t the door that lead upstairs caught her eye, and Luke and Jess emerged. The 'hey' was out of her before she could stop it.
Jess lagged behind Luke, looking a little uncomfortable himself. “Hey.”
“Hi...” Another greeting wasn't necessary, but it was all that came out. Jess just looked at her for a moment, and she tried to smile. She should smile. They'd known each other a long time. They should be friends if they could be, right?
Then Jess took a few steps closer and held out an arm, and it seemed he was thinking the same thing.
Rory's smile relaxed, and she slipped briefly under the offered arm for a casual-enough hug.
“We're good,” he said in her ear when she was close enough, under Luke and Lorelai's collective radar. It didn't take long to gather it was his way of saying he forgave her, that all was tentatively right with their world.
They both let go, and Lorelai nodded to him. “Jess.”
“Lorelai,” he nodded back. He held out a hand and shook hers. “Congratulations.”
“You give the bride best wishes,” Luke corrected with a smirk.
Jess looked at him. “What?”
“Ignore him. I've forced him to keep me company at dinner at my parents' house a few too many times,” Lorelai answered.
Jess shook his head and turned to Rory. “You want to get out of here?”
It was much too obvious that Luke and her mother would much rather be alone, and she had no choice but to agree. “I believe I do.”
Jess started to turn down the main street once they were out of the diner-and Luke and Lorelai were already on their way upstairs-but Rory quickly turned him around. “Other way.”
“Why?”
“Trust me; the gossip circle in this town hasn't gotten any better, and neither has the audacity of anyone who's curious about anything. They will badger us until we go clinically insane if they see us together.”
“Wow, I'm really feeling your confidence in me.”
Rory smirked. “There's nothing wrong with you that I know of, but there's definitely something wrong with them. Like I said, trust me. Every single one of them still wants to know everything.”
“Ah. I see. So it's not being ashamed of me; it's wanting to protect me.”
“And myself, and you are stalling,” she shot back, guiding them on a path that would lead them behind most of the town and through the more remote area where the inn was located.
“What am I stalling?”
“The subject.” Jess only raised an eyebrow, and she pulled his book from her purse and presented it to him. “This, oh brilliant one.”
He took it after a moment. “Right. That.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't know if you wanted to hear from me,” he protested.
“I'm the one who screwed up, Jess. I was worried you would never want to see me again.”
He shrugged wordlessly, and she sighed and crossed her arms uncomfortably.
“So what now?”Rory asked.
“After this wedding I'll be back in Philadelphia; we don't necessarily have to do anything.”
“I know, we won't really see each other much and all, but your uncle is marrying my mother, after all. We will see each other.”
“Yeah...”
She didn't say anything else, waiting for a more definitive answer.
“I've got no objections to being friends, if that's what you're asking,” Jess said finally.
“If-we-see-each-other-in-the-street-we-stop-and-talk-cordially-for-a-few-minutes type friends, or we-actually-make-an-effort-to-hang-out-or-at-least-talk-to-each-other-sometimes type friends?” She wasn't even sure which she preferred, but she knew she didn't want him to leave in a few days and never speak to her again.
He looked at her for a moment as if thinking, and finally shrugged again. “Why don't we just see what happens?”
Rory realized she was chewing her lip, and stopped. “I guess...”
Silence fell, and Jess was the first to speak up.
“Blond-dick-from-Yale is definitely gone, right?”
Her eyebrows went up. “Yeah...he's definitely gone,” she answered slowly, unable to avoid the pang once again.
“Good. He really ticked me off.”
Rory laughed. “Come on; my mom's inn is right up here. I don't think you've seen it yet.”
“Oh yeah, the one with, like, the bug name or something. Luke's mentioned it.”
“The Dragonfly.”
“Yeah, that's it. This I have to see, as a guy-a place named after a bug.”
“But it's a girly bug,” she protested.
“But it's a bug.”
“Well Mom and Sookie and the designers definitely went with the girly thing.”
“Damn.”
Lorelai groaned, holding her head in her hands as she sat at the dressing table in the back room of Stars Hollow's church. “I can't believe it. We had the bachelorette party an extra night early again, and the hangover is still lingering. Again.”
“At least this time you're actually getting married,” Rory commented, putting the final touches on positioning her mother's veil and making sure the strapless dress was straight. “And this time you don't have to be driving. We're not on way to who-knows-where. That's all a plus last time I checked.”
“You're right,” she sighed. After a moment Lorelai abruptly sat up. “Oh god Rory what the hell am I doing?”
“What?”
Her mother pulled her down on the stool next to her. “What am I doing?” she demanded urgently. “After all the relational failure how can I think I can make a marriage work? It's not even the first one! I couldn't stay married to your dad, and I've known him since I was six! What if something goes wrong again? Another kid comes out of the woodwork or he gets bored with me, or-“
“Whoa!” Rory took her mother's bare shoulders and squeezed. “Mom, calm down! Remember a week-and-a-half ago? How excited you were when you showed me the dress? This is going to work, Mom. You and Luke are going to be fine.”
“How do you know?” Lorelai asked quietly, and Rory realized she was dangerously close to crying.
“I know the same way you know...because Luke loves you, and you love him. He waited forever for you; he is not going to get bored. If you guys don't grow old together I will kick both of your butts, you hear me?”
Lorelai laughed, the unshed tears retreating. “That's the daughter I raised.”
“And hey, if you did that, you can do this.”
Her mother pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her cheek. “I love you, kiddo. Now go wait for your grandparents for me.”
“They're late.”
“I think they're flight from Paris was delayed. I couldn't quite understand Mom's message; she was freaking out just a bit.”
“Not quite a common occurrence for Emily Gilmore.”
Lorelai smiled. “As insane as she's been all my life, apparently she does care if she makes it to her daughter's waiting.”
“Awwww...”
“Shut up and go wait for your grandparents.”
“What about Sookie? Jackson and the kids are already out there, but I haven't seen her.”
“I'm sure she's been in the kitchen at the inn all night. Don't worry about her; she'll be here. Now go, before I kick you out there. If you're not outside where they can see you the moment they get here-you, the triumphant returnee-you know at least Emily will bitch about it later. Go. Get.”
Rory backed away and bowed low. “Yes, mi-lady.” She bumped into Sookie, who was coming in, apologized and hurried outside, content that her mother wouldn't be left to stress out any further on her own, if indeed she did begin to stress again. With any luck that part was over. If not, she was more than confident that Sookie could handle it.
Barely thirty minutes before the ceremony was due to begin the Gilmore's Jaguar pulled up to the curb behind the church.
“Okay, so I guess there was a little bit of method to my madness,” Lorelai had admitted the day after Rory had returned. “Mom and Dad are actually on their spring trip to Europe, and I guess I felt a little bit guilty that she wouldn't be here to help organize anything for the wedding, so I agreed to let her work with Sookie and do whatever she could do over the phone from there...”
Rory had to admit that her mother's agreeing to let Emily help at all made much more sense that way. It worked out about right, too. For certain there was plenty of white toole and more than enough flowers, and particular silver and china had been shipped to the inn to be used for the reception, but all in all it wasn't so bad. Not overboard.
“Rory!” Emily called immediately. “It's so good to see you-“ She cut off and turned to her husband as he climbed out behind her. “Richard, is there time for you to find somewhere else to park that thing?” She glanced at her watch. “Of course there isn't. Well, just make certain it's locked.”
“Of course I will make sure it's locked, Emily,” he grumbled. Then he saw his granddaughter, and his face brightened. “Rory!”
“Hi, Grandpa,” she smiled, hurrying up to hug him. “Come on; we've got to get you two inside. Grandma, there's a seat saved for both of you in the front. I'd show you to it if I had time, but I have to get Grandpa where he needs to be. It'll be obvious, I promise. Every other seat in there is taken. I think Lane and Zach are holding down the fort for you.”
“That Korean friend of yours?”
“And her husband, yeah.” Rory gave her grandmother a quick hug. “Go on.”
Emily reached up to check her hair. “I hate being rushed like this. Those airlines should really get their act together. We barely had time to get home and cleaned up and changed...” But she didn't seem entirely unhappy, and she did head inside as asked. Amazing.
Richard Gilmore chuckled as his wife disappeared around the side of the church. He took Rory's arms as she steered them toward the back door. “I must say I'm that you're home on a slightly more permanent basis.”
“Thanks, Grandpa. Me too; I think I've had enough moving around for a while.”
“But of course you'll want to get your journalism career on the move.”
“Oh, definitely. A few weeks here won't hurt me, though. Besides that, I'm fairly certain Mom would kill me if I didn't stay for a while,” she smirked.
They walked in silence the rest of the way to the door, but strangely enough it was Richard who hesitated before it.
“What is it?”
He took a deep breath. “Well...considering the past twenty-five years, I'm not sure I was ever certain I'd be here for this-much less be allowed to walk your mother down the aisle.”
Rory squeezed his arm. “She wants you to, Grandpa. Get in there.”
Richard smiled and patted the hand on his arm, and let her show him to the room where his daughter was waiting.
“Dad...hey,” Lorelai smiled tentatively. She seemed calm now, thank goodness, and Sookie was still there, in a purple dress that matched Rory's.
“Lorelai.” At first he'd lost the smile to something akin to nervousness, but he slowly gained it again as he took his daughter's hands and held her arms out to look at her. For a moment he seemed unable to say speak. “You look beautiful,” he managed finally.
“Aw, Dad...”
Rory retreated, sure she wouldn't be able to keep from crying at least a little if she stayed. Instead she backtracked down the hall to the door that hid the men, and Jess was coming out as she came up. The voices on the other side weren't exactly quiet.
“He's freaking out, too?”
Jess scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Oh, yeah. TJ's in there working on the calming him down part. I'm not all that great at that stuff...” he sighed. “I guess the guy's not so bad.”
“Who, TJ?”
“Yeah. I guess you didn't hear that I never exactly liked the fact Liz was marrying him.”
“You right; I didn't hear that one.”
“Now you have.”
“I guess so.” She rocked back on her heels. “We'd probably better make sure we're ready to get where we're supposed to be.”
Jess nodded. “Here's to not screwing this up.”
Rory chuckled. “Amen.”
The service went off without a hitch, thank god. Both bride and groom were calm, if still a little nervous about actually doing this, and Lorelai looked happy to be on her father's arm. Jess and TJ stood behind Luke, and Rory and Sookie with Lorelai. It seemed the whole town was present, and there was a mountain of presents back at the inn to prove it.
Rory couldn't have asked for better for her mother.
Luke and Lorelai left first. His truck had been left at the front curb for them, and they headed off for the inn. Then everyone else either started walking or headed for their cars, and Rory would have ridden with her grandparents if Jess hadn't caught up with her.
“Come on, that's no fun; let's walk.”
She wanted to get there quickly, but then again Lorelai would probably be too wrapped up in her new husband to notice if she was ten minutes later or so. So she sent Emily and Richard on and agreed.
Rory expected a nice walked in the spring air, a little good exercise-which made her glad she'd worn comfortable low platforms, not heels-and some pleasant conversation, even if it was bound to be awkward at first. They were still working on getting over that, but they'd do it if this friend thing was meant to work.
What she didn't expect was the figure she spotted escaping across the square.
She stopped dead at the edge of the church yard, staring, telling herself that her eyes had to be deceiving her.
“Rory?” Jess asked.
The shoulders seemed a little broader...more muscled than before, she guessed, just like the rest of the body looked to be, but it was the gait and the back of the head that she couldn't mistake.
“Rory, what is it?”
“Stay here,” she said.
“What?”
“I'll be back, I promise. Just promise me you'll stay right here.”
He finally seemed to catch what she was looking at, and his brow furrowed immediately. “What the hell...”
“Just stay here,” she repeated.
“Rory-“
“I'll be back!” she promised again, and hurried off across the road and into square after the figure she still wasn't sure she was seeing. Jess, bless him, stayed put.
“Wait!” she called after the retreating form.
He didn't respond until the third time she called, as if trying to ignore her, but finally he froze and waited for her to catch up. They were by a bench on the other side of the square by the time Rory came up from behind, and he reluctantly turned to face her.
“Dean.”
Chapter 3
The next week brought an increasing amount of excitement across the entirety of Stars Hollow. The cementing of the Luke/Lorelai relationship was something that had long been both anticipated and dreaded in equal parts through town.
Those that loved them couldn't be happier, and those inclined to be more cynical pointed out that their actually being married would only make it even worse for the rest of the town if they ever broke again.
Lorelai pretended she didn't hear these things, but she did. For once though, they didn't bother her. It had taken too many years, but the insecurity was gone.
She and Luke were going to work. They were getting married, and it was going to last.
“Are you guys planning on having kids? What happens then? I hope I'm not still here then, but what if I am? Would I seriously have to share a room at-well, I'd be twenty-five by then. That would just be awkward.”
Lorelai scowled up from her paper and her pop-tart. “Excuse me?”
Rory, still in pajama bottoms and tank top, dropped into the chair opposite her. “Kids. Do you and Luke want to have kids?”
“Well we figured we'd get past the getting-married part first, since neither of us did that the first time around.”
“You know what I mean.”
Lorelai raised an eyebrow. “That's a little straightforward, honey.”
“Well I'd like to know as soon as possible if I'm going to have to get used to the idea of having new siblings now. At my age.”
“You sound like you're getting old or something. Should I find a cane? You'd better let me know now, 'cause if I do I should probably find two, seeing as I'm sixteen years older.”
“Hardy har har.”
“We haven't really talked about it,” Lorelai shrugged. Not recently, anyway.
“You never talked about it?”
“Well...”
Rory perked up a little. “What?”
“We did, some...right after we got engaged the first time. We both wanted kids then.”
“Well that's good. I think you should have your own if you want to; I was just curious...”
“Rory, that was almost four years ago.”
“So?”
“So I'm not sure if we're both in the same place anymore.”
Rory frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Lorelai took a bite of her pop-tart before answering. “Sweetie, as much as I'd like to pretend I've been twenty-nine for the past eleven years, I'll be forty in a few weeks.”
“People over forty have kids all the time. So you'll have been a really young mother and really old mother; so what?”
Lorelai shot her a look.
“A really young mother and a not-as-young mother,” her daughter quickly corrected.
“There you go. Anyway, I just don't know. Let Luke and I figure this one out for ourselves, ok?”
“Me and Luke.”
“Whatever.”
Lorelai had been suspicious for several minutes, but Rory allowing her head to drop to her arms on the table was the tip-off. “You, my dear, are just trying to distract yourself, aren't you?”
“What would I be trying to distract myself from?” she asked, clearly in denial.
“The fact that we have to be at the diner in an hour to meet Luke when he gets back from picking Jess up at the airport-which means seeing Jess.”
Rory grunted inarticulately.
“I thought that phone call went well?”
“It went not-so-bad,” she corrected. “As in not horrible, but not great, either. I have no idea how he's going to react when he sees me.”
“Well how do you plan to react when you see him?”
Rory just stared at her. “I don't know,” she said finally.
“Gotta have a plan, honey,” Lorelai reminded her gently.
“I know, I know...but I don't know how I want to react. I guess I forgave him years ago, for running off and everything...I mean, we were eighteen, and he didn't know what he was doing any more than I knew what the hell I was doing dating him, so...”
“Yeah, I guess that's true.”
“And he's done well for himself. I should be happy for him. I am happy for him. I just...I'm worried he might still have a reason to hate me.”
Now this she hadn't heard. “What do you mean?”
Rory grimaced. “Uhm...Luke wasn't exactly around for everything that happened when I showed up at that press Jess works at in Philadelphia...”
“Something else happened?” Lorelai asked. Her chest clenched, as it always did, as if in preparation to ache in sympathy if need be.
“Something almost happened,” her daughter corrected.
The clench eased, but was still poised and ready to come back. “Oh?”
“Let's just say I was angry at Logan at the time, and I wasn't thinking straight, and...I don't know. It was stupid. But nothing really happened. We just didn't part on the best of terms is all.”
“Oh...I didn't know.”
“It's okay. I didn't really want anyone to know.” Rory sighed, planted her hand flat on the table and pushed herself to her feet. “I need coffee.”
“Wow, you got through all that without it?”
“I don't understand it either. I think that just means I'll need even more now,” she said sagely, pulling a large mug from the cabinet and filling it to the brim from the coffee pot.
“I'm glad to see all those months on the road haven't changed you too much.”
“Of course they haven't. I wouldn't be myself without my daily overdose of caffeine.”
Lorelai held up a finger for attention. “Just remember, missy-maybe you're more of a guest now, but the same rules apply. Watch the pot. You finish it, you make another one.”
Her daughter held up the pot, which had barely a swallow of coffee still swishing in the bottom that she may or may not have intentionally left. “You have fun making that new batch, then,” she said, putting the pot back where it belonged.
“I have taught you well.”
Rory finally smiled, and Lorelai was satisfied in having done her motherly duty for the moment.
Rory stopped just around the corner from the diner.
“You okay?” her mother asked immediately.
“I don't know.”
“I guess we don't have to go in there right this second...”
“Good.”
Lorelai crossed her arms in confusion. “You want to wait a little while, or...?”
“I don't know,” she repeated.
“Honey, I'm gonna need an answer on this one. You do know you'll have to see him eventually...”
Rory let out a breath. “I know.” She grimaced and composed herself, not quite sure what was worrying her. “Fine. Let's go,” she said. But she was certain she sounded like a lamb being led to the slaughter.
Lorelai took her arm and led her around to the door of the diner, which hadn't opened that morning. Caesar would keep the place running while Luke and Lorelai were on their honeymoon, but Luke hadn't the wanted the place packed full of much-too-curious townspeople when he brought Jess from the airport. Despite the 'Closed' sign the door was opened, and Lorelai pushed through and pulled Rory gently with her.
“Bonjour, boys! We have arrived!” she called enthusiastically.
But they weren't there.
“Well, that didn't go as planned.”
Rory couldn't help but smirk, until movement t the door that lead upstairs caught her eye, and Luke and Jess emerged. The 'hey' was out of her before she could stop it.
Jess lagged behind Luke, looking a little uncomfortable himself. “Hey.”
“Hi...” Another greeting wasn't necessary, but it was all that came out. Jess just looked at her for a moment, and she tried to smile. She should smile. They'd known each other a long time. They should be friends if they could be, right?
Then Jess took a few steps closer and held out an arm, and it seemed he was thinking the same thing.
Rory's smile relaxed, and she slipped briefly under the offered arm for a casual-enough hug.
“We're good,” he said in her ear when she was close enough, under Luke and Lorelai's collective radar. It didn't take long to gather it was his way of saying he forgave her, that all was tentatively right with their world.
They both let go, and Lorelai nodded to him. “Jess.”
“Lorelai,” he nodded back. He held out a hand and shook hers. “Congratulations.”
“You give the bride best wishes,” Luke corrected with a smirk.
Jess looked at him. “What?”
“Ignore him. I've forced him to keep me company at dinner at my parents' house a few too many times,” Lorelai answered.
Jess shook his head and turned to Rory. “You want to get out of here?”
It was much too obvious that Luke and her mother would much rather be alone, and she had no choice but to agree. “I believe I do.”
Jess started to turn down the main street once they were out of the diner-and Luke and Lorelai were already on their way upstairs-but Rory quickly turned him around. “Other way.”
“Why?”
“Trust me; the gossip circle in this town hasn't gotten any better, and neither has the audacity of anyone who's curious about anything. They will badger us until we go clinically insane if they see us together.”
“Wow, I'm really feeling your confidence in me.”
Rory smirked. “There's nothing wrong with you that I know of, but there's definitely something wrong with them. Like I said, trust me. Every single one of them still wants to know everything.”
“Ah. I see. So it's not being ashamed of me; it's wanting to protect me.”
“And myself, and you are stalling,” she shot back, guiding them on a path that would lead them behind most of the town and through the more remote area where the inn was located.
“What am I stalling?”
“The subject.” Jess only raised an eyebrow, and she pulled his book from her purse and presented it to him. “This, oh brilliant one.”
He took it after a moment. “Right. That.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't know if you wanted to hear from me,” he protested.
“I'm the one who screwed up, Jess. I was worried you would never want to see me again.”
He shrugged wordlessly, and she sighed and crossed her arms uncomfortably.
“So what now?”Rory asked.
“After this wedding I'll be back in Philadelphia; we don't necessarily have to do anything.”
“I know, we won't really see each other much and all, but your uncle is marrying my mother, after all. We will see each other.”
“Yeah...”
She didn't say anything else, waiting for a more definitive answer.
“I've got no objections to being friends, if that's what you're asking,” Jess said finally.
“If-we-see-each-other-in-the-street-we-stop-and-talk-cordially-for-a-few-minutes type friends, or we-actually-make-an-effort-to-hang-out-or-at-least-talk-to-each-other-sometimes type friends?” She wasn't even sure which she preferred, but she knew she didn't want him to leave in a few days and never speak to her again.
He looked at her for a moment as if thinking, and finally shrugged again. “Why don't we just see what happens?”
Rory realized she was chewing her lip, and stopped. “I guess...”
Silence fell, and Jess was the first to speak up.
“Blond-dick-from-Yale is definitely gone, right?”
Her eyebrows went up. “Yeah...he's definitely gone,” she answered slowly, unable to avoid the pang once again.
“Good. He really ticked me off.”
Rory laughed. “Come on; my mom's inn is right up here. I don't think you've seen it yet.”
“Oh yeah, the one with, like, the bug name or something. Luke's mentioned it.”
“The Dragonfly.”
“Yeah, that's it. This I have to see, as a guy-a place named after a bug.”
“But it's a girly bug,” she protested.
“But it's a bug.”
“Well Mom and Sookie and the designers definitely went with the girly thing.”
“Damn.”
Lorelai groaned, holding her head in her hands as she sat at the dressing table in the back room of Stars Hollow's church. “I can't believe it. We had the bachelorette party an extra night early again, and the hangover is still lingering. Again.”
“At least this time you're actually getting married,” Rory commented, putting the final touches on positioning her mother's veil and making sure the strapless dress was straight. “And this time you don't have to be driving. We're not on way to who-knows-where. That's all a plus last time I checked.”
“You're right,” she sighed. After a moment Lorelai abruptly sat up. “Oh god Rory what the hell am I doing?”
“What?”
Her mother pulled her down on the stool next to her. “What am I doing?” she demanded urgently. “After all the relational failure how can I think I can make a marriage work? It's not even the first one! I couldn't stay married to your dad, and I've known him since I was six! What if something goes wrong again? Another kid comes out of the woodwork or he gets bored with me, or-“
“Whoa!” Rory took her mother's bare shoulders and squeezed. “Mom, calm down! Remember a week-and-a-half ago? How excited you were when you showed me the dress? This is going to work, Mom. You and Luke are going to be fine.”
“How do you know?” Lorelai asked quietly, and Rory realized she was dangerously close to crying.
“I know the same way you know...because Luke loves you, and you love him. He waited forever for you; he is not going to get bored. If you guys don't grow old together I will kick both of your butts, you hear me?”
Lorelai laughed, the unshed tears retreating. “That's the daughter I raised.”
“And hey, if you did that, you can do this.”
Her mother pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her cheek. “I love you, kiddo. Now go wait for your grandparents for me.”
“They're late.”
“I think they're flight from Paris was delayed. I couldn't quite understand Mom's message; she was freaking out just a bit.”
“Not quite a common occurrence for Emily Gilmore.”
Lorelai smiled. “As insane as she's been all my life, apparently she does care if she makes it to her daughter's waiting.”
“Awwww...”
“Shut up and go wait for your grandparents.”
“What about Sookie? Jackson and the kids are already out there, but I haven't seen her.”
“I'm sure she's been in the kitchen at the inn all night. Don't worry about her; she'll be here. Now go, before I kick you out there. If you're not outside where they can see you the moment they get here-you, the triumphant returnee-you know at least Emily will bitch about it later. Go. Get.”
Rory backed away and bowed low. “Yes, mi-lady.” She bumped into Sookie, who was coming in, apologized and hurried outside, content that her mother wouldn't be left to stress out any further on her own, if indeed she did begin to stress again. With any luck that part was over. If not, she was more than confident that Sookie could handle it.
Barely thirty minutes before the ceremony was due to begin the Gilmore's Jaguar pulled up to the curb behind the church.
“Okay, so I guess there was a little bit of method to my madness,” Lorelai had admitted the day after Rory had returned. “Mom and Dad are actually on their spring trip to Europe, and I guess I felt a little bit guilty that she wouldn't be here to help organize anything for the wedding, so I agreed to let her work with Sookie and do whatever she could do over the phone from there...”
Rory had to admit that her mother's agreeing to let Emily help at all made much more sense that way. It worked out about right, too. For certain there was plenty of white toole and more than enough flowers, and particular silver and china had been shipped to the inn to be used for the reception, but all in all it wasn't so bad. Not overboard.
“Rory!” Emily called immediately. “It's so good to see you-“ She cut off and turned to her husband as he climbed out behind her. “Richard, is there time for you to find somewhere else to park that thing?” She glanced at her watch. “Of course there isn't. Well, just make certain it's locked.”
“Of course I will make sure it's locked, Emily,” he grumbled. Then he saw his granddaughter, and his face brightened. “Rory!”
“Hi, Grandpa,” she smiled, hurrying up to hug him. “Come on; we've got to get you two inside. Grandma, there's a seat saved for both of you in the front. I'd show you to it if I had time, but I have to get Grandpa where he needs to be. It'll be obvious, I promise. Every other seat in there is taken. I think Lane and Zach are holding down the fort for you.”
“That Korean friend of yours?”
“And her husband, yeah.” Rory gave her grandmother a quick hug. “Go on.”
Emily reached up to check her hair. “I hate being rushed like this. Those airlines should really get their act together. We barely had time to get home and cleaned up and changed...” But she didn't seem entirely unhappy, and she did head inside as asked. Amazing.
Richard Gilmore chuckled as his wife disappeared around the side of the church. He took Rory's arms as she steered them toward the back door. “I must say I'm that you're home on a slightly more permanent basis.”
“Thanks, Grandpa. Me too; I think I've had enough moving around for a while.”
“But of course you'll want to get your journalism career on the move.”
“Oh, definitely. A few weeks here won't hurt me, though. Besides that, I'm fairly certain Mom would kill me if I didn't stay for a while,” she smirked.
They walked in silence the rest of the way to the door, but strangely enough it was Richard who hesitated before it.
“What is it?”
He took a deep breath. “Well...considering the past twenty-five years, I'm not sure I was ever certain I'd be here for this-much less be allowed to walk your mother down the aisle.”
Rory squeezed his arm. “She wants you to, Grandpa. Get in there.”
Richard smiled and patted the hand on his arm, and let her show him to the room where his daughter was waiting.
“Dad...hey,” Lorelai smiled tentatively. She seemed calm now, thank goodness, and Sookie was still there, in a purple dress that matched Rory's.
“Lorelai.” At first he'd lost the smile to something akin to nervousness, but he slowly gained it again as he took his daughter's hands and held her arms out to look at her. For a moment he seemed unable to say speak. “You look beautiful,” he managed finally.
“Aw, Dad...”
Rory retreated, sure she wouldn't be able to keep from crying at least a little if she stayed. Instead she backtracked down the hall to the door that hid the men, and Jess was coming out as she came up. The voices on the other side weren't exactly quiet.
“He's freaking out, too?”
Jess scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Oh, yeah. TJ's in there working on the calming him down part. I'm not all that great at that stuff...” he sighed. “I guess the guy's not so bad.”
“Who, TJ?”
“Yeah. I guess you didn't hear that I never exactly liked the fact Liz was marrying him.”
“You right; I didn't hear that one.”
“Now you have.”
“I guess so.” She rocked back on her heels. “We'd probably better make sure we're ready to get where we're supposed to be.”
Jess nodded. “Here's to not screwing this up.”
Rory chuckled. “Amen.”
The service went off without a hitch, thank god. Both bride and groom were calm, if still a little nervous about actually doing this, and Lorelai looked happy to be on her father's arm. Jess and TJ stood behind Luke, and Rory and Sookie with Lorelai. It seemed the whole town was present, and there was a mountain of presents back at the inn to prove it.
Rory couldn't have asked for better for her mother.
Luke and Lorelai left first. His truck had been left at the front curb for them, and they headed off for the inn. Then everyone else either started walking or headed for their cars, and Rory would have ridden with her grandparents if Jess hadn't caught up with her.
“Come on, that's no fun; let's walk.”
She wanted to get there quickly, but then again Lorelai would probably be too wrapped up in her new husband to notice if she was ten minutes later or so. So she sent Emily and Richard on and agreed.
Rory expected a nice walked in the spring air, a little good exercise-which made her glad she'd worn comfortable low platforms, not heels-and some pleasant conversation, even if it was bound to be awkward at first. They were still working on getting over that, but they'd do it if this friend thing was meant to work.
What she didn't expect was the figure she spotted escaping across the square.
She stopped dead at the edge of the church yard, staring, telling herself that her eyes had to be deceiving her.
“Rory?” Jess asked.
The shoulders seemed a little broader...more muscled than before, she guessed, just like the rest of the body looked to be, but it was the gait and the back of the head that she couldn't mistake.
“Rory, what is it?”
“Stay here,” she said.
“What?”
“I'll be back, I promise. Just promise me you'll stay right here.”
He finally seemed to catch what she was looking at, and his brow furrowed immediately. “What the hell...”
“Just stay here,” she repeated.
“Rory-“
“I'll be back!” she promised again, and hurried off across the road and into square after the figure she still wasn't sure she was seeing. Jess, bless him, stayed put.
“Wait!” she called after the retreating form.
He didn't respond until the third time she called, as if trying to ignore her, but finally he froze and waited for her to catch up. They were by a bench on the other side of the square by the time Rory came up from behind, and he reluctantly turned to face her.
“Dean.”