How did we get here - A Gilmore Girls fan fiction

Chapter 13

"Jess, where are you?!?!?!? You better get your ass out of that bed right now!!!" Luke comes barging in his diner early in the morning. He ignores his usual morning diners and heads up to his old apartment.

Luke yanks the sheets off of Jess. Pulls him out of the bed, and yells at him some more.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You told me you were all in. You told me you would be there for Rory. I trusted you. She trusted you. Why did she come home last night after talking with you crying? You better explain yourself."

Jess expected his uncle to come barging in this morning. Just didn't expect this early. And not while he is suffering from a hangover.

"Go take a shower. You smell like hell. Then we're gonna talk." Luke pushes Jess to the bathroom so he can wash up.

While Jess is in the bathroom, sobering up, Luke looks around his old apartment. It looks like a cyclone has hit. There are beer bottles on the kitchen sink. Luke counted 20 bottles. Papers and books are all over the ground. It looks like someone cleared off their desk in one clear swoop.

He picks up one particular piece of paper. Luke is surprised to see it's a picture of young Jess and Rory. It was a strip of pictures like you take in a photo booth. They looked really happy. Luke is surprised Jess still had these pictures.

Jess exits the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He rummages through the drawers for a pair of pants and a shirt.

"You better put on a sweater. We're gonna go for a walk. You and I need to talk."

Jess picks a blue sweater and heads back to the bathroom to change clothes. Jess spent all night thinking about his conversation with Rory. He truly regrets his reaction. But the girl he thought he knew is no longer there.

Jess leaves the bathroom to see his uncle throwing bottles of beer in the trash. "You never got drunk before?"

Luke doesn't respond. He can't even put into words his disappointment with his nephew. "Let's go."

Luke opens the door, waits for Jess to walk ahead of him. They walk down the stairs and leave the diner.

"You better explain yourself, Jess. I am waiting." Luke walks in step next to Jess. "You said you were a changed man. You said that you were going to be there for her. You better start now."

"I don't owe you an explanation, Luke."

"You wanna bet? That's my stepdaughter. You are my nephew. Start explaining."

"Look, I panicked. The past couple of weeks I started to fall for Rory again. I wasn't angry that she's pregnant. Just that she wasn't the girl I thought she was."

"So you're disappointed she's been sleeping with an engaged man. Or that she has not been sleeping with you."

"Luke, I moved on. I didn't expect her to stay celibate. But she's not the same girl I fell in love with."

"No she's not. You know what happened? Life. Life happened. That doesn't matter. You said you're in. You're all in. I warned you to not say that if you didn't mean it. Rory doesn't need another person to be disappointed in her. She's disappointed in herself enough already."

"I am still here, Luke. I haven't left." Jess exclaims.

"Well then you better call Rory and make it right."

They cross the bridge together. Halfway through, Luke shoves Jess in the lake. "Boy did that feel good." Luke thought to himself.

*****

"Rory! Come on, girl. I got breakfast for you. Get up so we can talk." Rory could still hear her mom's voice from under her pillow and sheets.

Lorelai knocks on Rory's door. "I'm coming, mom."

Rory rubs her eyes, stretches and looks at herself in the mirror. Her eyes are bloodshot red from all the crying. Her hair looks like a bird has used her hair to make a nest on her head. In other words, typical Rory Gilmore morning look.

"Good morning, sunshine! Ok it's just us girls. I went to Luke's earlier. Ordered us breakfast. Don't worry. I didn't run into Jess. Luke had taken him for a walk first. Good thing he did or I would have kicked his butt myself. Now tell me what happened last night!" Lorelai drops a plate of blueberry pancakes and eggs in front of Rory.

"I don't want to talk about it." Rory was too embarrassed to tell her mom.

"Rory, you came home last night in tears, interrupting our movie night. Rory tell me what happened."

"It's just Jess. He said he would be there for me no matter what. I had hopes that he would, I don't know, be supportive. But he's not. He was disappointed and angry. And I don't know."

"Rory, maybe you need to just give him time. It might be just his initial reaction. Let it sink in. Jess just needs to think this through." Lorelai is trying really hard to be positive towards Jess since he is family. But in the back of her mind, she is damning that boy to hell.

"Well, I'm not going to wait for him to figure things out. I have to figure things out myself." Rory looks determined to forge ahead.

"Well, I have to check with the inn this morning. Then I have the rest of the day off. Let's go to the mall. I need to start buying stuff for my grandbaby." Lorelai is trying hard to look upbeat for her daughter.

"Yeah, fine. Thank you for breakfast. I better get ready for the day."