Part 5 - Paranoia de Gilmore
Lorelai knocked on the locked door at Luke's. She could see him inside, stocking the shelves and glancing at the game on the baby TV she teased him unmercifully about. He looked at her and she smiled, pointing at the door, motioning for him to unlock it.
"I don't have any coffee."
"Not why I'm here but you could make some now that you've mentioned it."
"I didn't mention it so I could make it."
"Well, you're the one who keeps bringing up the coffee...and the donuts." Lorelai grinned, Luke rolled his eyes and let her into the diner.
"So I get this late night disruption for a reason, I suppose," Luke said, pouring coffee into a filter.
"I thought we should talk about Jess now that Rory is home again."
"Lorelai, I'm not going to argue about this anymore," Luke stated, his temper flaring a little.
"Amazingly enough, not here to do that. Would it kill you to not look so surprised by that?"
"That topic has caused us to not speak for weeks...so you want to argue about Jess?"
"Everyday you get a tad bit funnier, Trekkie." Luke's eyes narrowed to slits. "Wow, if that look doesn't say 'beam her out, Scotty', I don't know what does."
"Thin ice, Lorelai."
"They like each other."
"Obvious since the day he arrived."
"I'm skipping right past that one. There were obstacles before, now there isn't. I know that if I try to forbid her to see him, she'll do it anyway. I will not see her turn into me," Lorelai said slowly, shaking her head in defiance of the possible situation.
"You aren't so bad...most days."
"I meant the pregnant at sixteen, not graduating high school, running away...the whole thing. It's not going to happen to her."
"Of course it won't," Luke said, resisting the urge to put his hand on hers for comfort.
"Easy enough to say..." Lorelai trailed off, staring past Luke at nothing. "I can't stand to see her hurt again."
"Well, no one said ground rules were out of the question. We'll tell them no cars, we'll them-"
"No, that's not what I mean. She, unfortunately, seems to be following in her mother's graceful footsteps."
"I never liked that kid, anyway."
"It's not just Dean. Christopher hurt her from the beginning, even though that's not really something she talks about. I just know that it does. How could it not? I'm not close to my parents, but at least I had them there. Rory's never had that with Chris...there's this void for her. I don't want her to think that all men are like that, are volatile or leave you in the lurch..." Lorelai sighed. "I think my hesitation towards Jess is that I see so much of Chris at that age in Jess...and it petrifies me, Luke."
"Jess is a good kid, I think...somewhere in there...is a good kid. I do think he cares greatly for her."
"I don't question that. You saw them this morning as clearly as I did." Lorelai put her head in her hands and rubbed her temples. "Why couldn't she just stay ten and think I was the coolest person ever?" She leaned over the counter and grabbed a cup. Luke poured her coffee and she smiled at him gratefully. "I told her she could see him...that I would try not to interfere." Luke slowly put the coffee pot down, not quite believing what he heard. "You know how much it will kill me to not interfere?"
Luke didn't really know what to say. "That's a switch," was all he could come up with.
"Over the summer, I thought about all the fights I had with her, with him, with you and I remembered some of things I said. And it hit me. I had somehow, somewhere turned into my mother. And that alone was enough for me."
"If it makes a difference, I understood where you were coming from. You..." Luke didn't know if he should continue the thought. They were having an actual conversation, not just the friendly banter that they shared. Although they had come to a truce after a month of grunts from him and incoherent babbling from her, they had decided enough was enough. They had talked about that night and came to an agreement that both had over-reacted in the face of extreme worry. Even after that they hadn't had a talk like this since before the accident. Luke didn't plan on ruining the nice camaraderie they had at the present moment.
"Luke, c'mon, I flipped out. I channeled my mother whenever Jess was concerned." She smiled slightly and looked at him. "If I continue to behave like I'm twelve or...Emily...not only will I lose my best friend and daughter but I'll lose my constant coffee supplier. And there will be none of that."
"Has Rory said how serious this is?"
"I don't think it even needs to be said at this point. You know those looks...I'm sure even you have had the look at one time or another."
"It seems we just had a normal conversation involving Jess and Rory."
"If wonders never cease," Lorelai said, lifting the cover off the donuts.
**********************
Rory woke up the next morning feeling a renewed sense of self. Things were about to be completely different and she could feel the anticipation of it coursing through her veins. She reached to the bedside table and picked up the book Jess had given her the day before. She still couldn't believe he gave it to her and in front of everyone, no less.
She sat straight up in bed, suddenly feeling extremely neurotic about what happened at the diner. She flipped the book over and over again, more and more thoughts flooding her mind at each pass. She got out of bed and quickly looked for jeans and a T-shirt.
"Why...did...he...give...this...to...me...yesterday?" she asked no one as she jumped up and down putting her jeans on. She grabbed the book and her shoes, stopped at the table and wrote, "Luke's" on a piece of paper so her mother wouldn't worry. She put on her shoes as she hopped down the hall and out the door on her way to Luke's.
Rory walked through the door to the diner and looked at Luke and pointed upstairs. Luke nodded, a confused look on his face. She went through the diner leaving in her wake a room full of intrigued breakfast eaters.
She took a deep breath and began knocking on the door at a quick, constant pace. Jess ripped the door open about to say something unpleasant to Luke when he saw Rory standing there with a look of pure determination on her face. She walked past him and all the way across the room before spinning around to face him.
"Good morning," Jess said, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"What's this about?" Rory asked, holding up the book.
"An orphan..."
"I realize I walked right into that now. Why did you give this to me?"
"I thought you would enjoy it..."
"You are so infuriating at times!"
Jess walked over to where she stood, took the book from her hand, looked at it, then at her. "I think I missed something. Yesterday you liked it, today you don't. Rory, what's going on?"
Rory grabbed the book back and shook it in his face. "This! This is what's going on."
"I am so confused right now," Jess stated, bluntly.
"Why did you give this to me yesterday? In front of Luke? In front of my mom? Were you trying to prove something? Like 'oh, look at me, how much I've changed, I'm so great and caring now'?"
"I can honestly say that has never crossed my mind."
"Something must have for you have given this to me yesterday. What was wrong with the other day or even today? Why did you give it to me yesterday?"
"That's what this is about?" Rory nodded furiously. Jess chuckled softly to himself. "Are you always this paranoid?"
"No!" Rory declared, adamantly. "Not usually, well...sometimes...argh! Not the point. This," she shook the book again, "-is."
"You didn't think it was strange when I gave it to you."
"Well, no, I was consumed with a book lover's joy. I wasn't thinking straight. The worn leather binding, the musty smell, the Dodger name on the inside had me in some sort of strange book haze! But today...today is different. I've figured it out."
"And what did you figure out?"
"You are trying to win my mother over. You can't fool me, I'm on to your evil scheme-"
"My what?" Jess asked, laughing.
"Oh, yeah, you think this-" Rory shook the book again "-is going to help? I am on to you. I see what you're doing. And, sure, I appreciate it but this-" she pointed at Jess, then at herself and back at Jess again "-is not about my mother or Luke or -"
"Rory!" Jess interrupted. "You need to take a breath. You're going to pass out."
"But-"
"Uh-uh." Jess took the book from Rory and threw it onto the couch on the other side of the room. Rory watched it go, complete shock on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but Jess held up his hand, shaking his head in disbelief. "The book is not the point, Rory."
"But-"
"Look, I gave it to you yesterday instead of the day you came home because I was trying to save you from the Grande Inquisition if you walked through the door and your mom was there. I honestly could have cared less if the entire diner was filled with the crazy people of this town. I gave it to you yesterday because that's when I wanted to give it to you."
"You actually just spoke about three long consecutive sentences."
"I think I'm catching it from you."
"You threw my book across the room..." Rory said in a daze, looking over at her book.
Jess took Rory's hand, moved her face so she was facing him and smiled. "You are completely insane. You know that?"
"Mm-hmm."
"One last time, I gave you the book because?"
"You wanted to."
"Good. I gave it to you yesterday because?"
"You wanted to."
"Amazing. I'm going to kiss you now because?"
"I'm insane?"
"Exactly." They moved towards each other, both smiling, even as they kissed their first kiss of the day. The smiles disappeared as their kiss became more intense.
Jess broke away and looked at Rory. "Did it work?"
"What?"
"Did I win her over with the book? I didn't know if it was a bit much but I thought-"
"Do you ever shut-up?" Rory asked, bringing Jess's lips back to hers.