How Living In Stars Hollow Affected My Life (M) - (4 Parts)

[Bongo]

Title: How Living In Stars Hollow Affected My Life

Author: Symphonyflute

Fandom: Gilmore Girls

Season: 2ish

Disclaimer: I wish, put it that way.

Summary: I changed the actual plotline of the show a little. In the episode towards the end of season 2, Luke sends Jess back to New York. He comes back in season 3 and all is well. I'm going to change that. He didn't go back, live happily with his mommy for a few weeks, and decide to pop back into Stars Hollow. Instead he had a terrible time including getting sick, hurt, and homeless, and wrote a mandatory essay about what has affected his life most. This somehow, I'm not telling how, brings him and Luke, Lorelai, and Rory back together.

A/N: I hate OCs with flaming passion, and I put in 3. You're welcome.

A/N 2: This story will be very dialouge-based. For some reason, GG fics are dialouge-y for me.

A/N 3: No one knows this fandom, and you need an idea to make sense. Therefore I shall provide for you a summary and character bios with pictures.

Character Pics:

http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z74/symphonyflute/

Character bios:

Lorelai Gilmore: Pregnant at 16. Very proud. Commitment-phobic. Coffee addicted. Eats a ton of junk food. Never really stops loving Christopher (Rory's dad).

Rory Gilmore: Really smart. Also coffee addicted and consumes a ton of junk food. Dating Dean.

Luke Danes: Owns the local diner. Lived in Stars Hollow all his life. Hates all the quirks of the town and townsfolk. Responsible. Hard-working. Made Lorelai a chuppa for her failed wedding.

Lane Kim: Rory's best friend. Knows everything about music. Plays drums. First generation Korean American with a strict religious mother.

Paris Gellar: Friend/hated rival of Rory's from school. I believe at this point it was more hated rival.

Taylor Doose (pronounced Doe-sy): Town's mayor. Power mad. Does strange things like instal the town's first stoplight for no reason. Luke hates him. Own's Doose's Market.

Kirk Gleason: Lives with his mother, Terrible at everythign he does. Nerd.

Miss Patty: Dance teacher. Gossip. Married several times.

Babette Dell: Gossip. Married to Morey.

Sookie St. James: Lorelai's best friend. Great cook. Absent-minded. Clumsy. Dating/Married to Jackson Melville.

Jess Mariano: Luke's nephew from New York. Trouble-maker. Doesn't try. Smart. Loves to read. Sent back to New York after breaking Rory's wrist.

Emily Gilmore: Rich. Snobby. Controlling. Can 't keep a maid more than a few days. Lorelai's mom.

Richard Gilmore: Rich. Works at an insurance company. Lorelai's dad. Enjoys reading and intellect. Gets along very well with Rory.

Michel Gerard: From France. Works with Lorelai. Very proper. Always has the expensive impeccibly clean suit.

Dean Forrester: Rory's boyfriend. Works at Doose's market. Very nice. Everyone in town loves him, except Jess.

Plot:

Lorelai, rebelious as she was, got pregnant at 16. She lived in an extremely wealthy household where everythign was very proper, so her parents disapproved. When her daughter Rory was born, she ran away from her home in Hartford, Connecticut to work as a maid in an inn in Stars Hollow. The show begins when Rory is 16. Lorelai has had success, she is now the manager at the inn. She works with best friend Sookie the chef and friend Michel. Rory is a genius (seriously, her biggest choice in the show was to go to Princeton, Harvard, or Yale, all of which accepted her). She got into Chilton, this prestigeous private school, but her mom can't afford it. So she strikes a deal with her parents who she can't stand and has barely seen since she was 16. They pay for Rory's school if Rory and Lorelai go to dinner at their house every Friday night.

Stars Hollow is the town that time forgot. Or maybe the town time saw and ranaway from screaming. It has the oddest characters. There's Taylor, who's the mayor or something. He runs the insane town meetings. He's completely power mad, owns Dosey's Market, and enjoys wearing cardigans. Miss Patty and Babette are the town gossips. Kirk is in his thirties and lives with his mother, can never get a date, and has had a different job in every episode. Sometimes 2 in one episode. No one ever questions this. Dean is mr. perfect. He's the hockey star, nicest guy ever, cute, tall, and Rory's boyfriend. As a random gift, not her birthday or anniversary, he built her a car. He works in Dosey's Market and goes to Stars Hollow High. Rory's best friend, Lane, also goes there. She is Korean and her mother is overbearing "No boys allowed. Ever. Or fun. Or chocolate. Now go read the bible." She joins a rock band as a drummer later, which she has to hide along with her cds and everything else from her mother. Another major Stars Hollow citizen is Luke Danes, who owns the diner which Rory and Lorelai eat at everyday and Lorelai flirts with everyday.

The town life is peaceful until season 2 when Luke agrees to let his sister's son, 17 year old Jess, live with him after he gets in a lot of trouble and she wants him to get a fresh start. No one is happy he comes. Taylor hates him. Lorelai hates him. Dean hates him. Pretty much everyone hates him except Rory. He loves to read and so does she, and they're both ridiculously smart, so they form a sort of friendship. The big difference between them is that Rory tries really hard and Jess doesn't care. Luke asks Rory to tutor Jess, and Lorelai tells him how much she hates the idea but allows Rory to make the decision. She has trouble tutoring him because he won't focus on the material, but he finally answers a question, showing he knows all the material. So they decided to go get some ice cream. Jess is driving home, in the car Dean made Rory, and something jumps in the road. He skids to miss it, and they crash. Rory fractures her wrist, and Lorelai screams at Luke that this is all his fault for bring Jess there when no one wants him. Rory is happy because her dad comes to stay with them, but sad when she hears from Babette and Miss Patty that Luke sent Jess back to New York.

That's all you need to know to be caught up for this story. And in case you don't thing my synopsis is good enough, I have a few others.

GG Fan site:

Set in the storybook Connecticut town of Stars Hollow populated with an eclectic mix of everyday folk and lovable lunatics, Gilmore Girls is a humorous, heartfelt, multi-generational dramedy about friendship, family and the ties that bind. In its first two seasons, Gilmore Girls has accumulated numerous awards. The show was named Outstanding New Series by the Television Critics Association and was honored with a Viewers for Quality Television Award and a Family Friendly Forum Award. Series star Lauren Graham received a Golden Globe nomination and two consecutive Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Thirtysomething Lorelai Gilmore (Graham) has made her share of mistakes in life, and she's been doing her best to see that her teenage daughter - and best friend in the world - Rory (Alexis Bledel, Tuck Everlasting), doesn't follow in her footsteps. That may be easier said than done considering that the two share the same interests, the same intellect, the same coffee addiction and the same eyes. Rory is more serious than Lorelai, but there are tendencies, especially in the love department, that clearly state she is her mother's daughter. From the beginning, this unique mother-daughter team has been growing up together. Lorelai was just Rory's age when she became pregnant and made the tough decision to raise her baby alone. This defiant move and Lorelai's fiercely independent nature caused a rift between her and her extremely proper, patrician, old-money parents, Emily (Kelly Bishop, Dirty Dancing) and Richard (Edward Herrmann, The Cat's Meow). Lorelai was forced to reconcile with them when she found herself in desperate need of money for Rory's tuition. The weekly Friday night dinners at the elder Gilmore's elegant and oppressive house are fraught with witty repartee and smoldering resentment. The looming decision of which university Rory will attend only adds to the tension between Lorelai and her parents.

As season three unfolds, both Gilmore girls are growing up fast. Lorelai faced a heartbreaking disappointment when her rekindled romance with Rory's father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe), was thwarted by the unexpected pregnancy of his girlfriend. Trying to move on with her love life, Lorelai now faces the prospect of life without Rory as the dream of Harvard starts to become a reality. Lorelai continues to manage the historic Independence Inn and to nurture her dream of one day opening her own inn with her best friend, the fabulous chef Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy, Charlie's Angels), who is now adjusting to married life.

For Rory, the failed reconciliation between her parents was a crushing blow and led to her first angry confrontation with Christopher over his failures as a parent. She tries to overcome her disappointment by immersing herself in the demanding curriculum at Chilton Academy and the uneasy alliance she has formed with her intense schoolmate Paris Geller (Liza Weil, Stir of Echoes). Rory and Paris spent the summer together at a leadership conference in Washington D.C., where Rory managed to temporarily avoid the turmoil of her own love life. Now back in Stars Hollow for her senior year, she will finally have to choose between Dean (Jared Padalecki), her sweet, safe and steady boyfriend of over a year, or the smart, not-so-safe new boy in town, Jess (Milo Ventimiglia). The possibility of a romance between Rory and Jess continues to be a strain on Lorelai's long-standing friendship with Luke Danes (Scott Patterson, Little Big League), the owner of the local diner and the Mike Nichols to Lorelai's Elaine May. Also there to help Rory sort out her teen life is her friend Lane Kim (Keiko Agena, Felicity) who has now turned her music obsession into action. She has joined a band. Of course, her mother has no idea.

Adding unique style to Stars Hollow is a colorful roster of town characters including Miss Patty (Liz Torres, The John Larroquette Show), the local dance teacher and social commentator, haughty concierge Michel Gerard (Yanic Truesdale) and Kirk (Sean Gunn, Pearl Harbor), the town's jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

Gilmore Girls was the first series to make it to air supported by the Family Friendly Forum's script development fund. An initiative between some of the nation's top advertisers and The WB, the program is intended to offer a greater array of compelling family programming on network television. The strong and loving mother-daughter relationship portrayed in Gilmore Girls reflects the growing reality of this new type of American family.

This heartfelt one-hour drama was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino (Roseanne) who serves as executive producer with Gavin Polone (The Panic Room, Stir of Echoes) and Daniel Palladino (Roseanne) for Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television.

TV Rage

Free-spirited Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) hasn’t always made the best choices in her life; but since she became a mother at the young age of sixteen, she’s made sure that her daughter, Lorelai “Rory” Gilmore (Alexis Bledel), doesn’t make the same mistakes that she has. However, that may be hard to do since Rory is the spiting image of her mother -- from their mutual love of coffee to their vast pop culture knowledge -- and are each other’s best friend in the world. Rory, however, is more serious while Lorelai still has the heart of a teenager, but you can see a piece of Lorelai in everything Rory does.

Since Rory was born, the two have been everything to each other. Lorelai’s decision to raise Rory alone without the help of her wealthy parents, Richard (Edward Herrmann) and Emily (Kelly Bishop), caused a rift between them that has been slow to heal. Lorelai single-handedly made a comfortable life for her and Rory through her job as a successful manager at a local inn, a job that her parents are not fond of. But when Rory was accepted to a highly prestigious private high school, Lorelai was forced to reconnect with her parents in order to pay the tuition needed for Rory to attend the school.

Lorelai and Rory live in the small town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, and each of the 9,973 citizens have their own unique set of quirks. Here, Rory met her best friend Lane (Keiko Agena), a Korean girl brought up in a strict, religious household, but has a secret passion for all things music. Lorelai instantly bonded with Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy) as a close friend and business partner. Together, Sookie and Lorelai opened The Dragonfly Inn and continue to run it together. Luke Danes (Scott Patterson) is the local diner owner who has always had his eye on Lorelai, but is hesitant and guarded when it comes to romance. Other citizens include Michel Gerard (Yanic Truesdale), the health conscious concierge at the inn; Paris Gellar (Liza Weil), Rory’s roommate and former arch-nemesis; and Kirk Gleason (Sean Gunn) a quirky, yet lovable character.

As the series came to a close after seven seasons, Rory must deal with the realization that her time at Yale is nearing its end and has to begin preparing for her future in the real world while Lorelai adjusts to the radical changes in her romantic life. But despite all of the ups and downs Rory and Lorelai face, the Gilmore girls will always be the best of friends, despite their ever-changing lives.

Now on to the story!

[Bongo]

CHAPTER 1

"I wonder where hansters come from," Lorelai Gilmore pondered as she and her daughter entered Luke's Diner on Tuesday morning for breakfast.

"Other hamsters," Luke replied as he swept by them with a pot of coffee.

They sat down. "I know that." Lorelai rolled her eyes. "How stupid do I look?"

Rory smirked. "Well, you did only put makeup on one eye. So do you really want an answer to that question?"

Lorelai groaned. "Are you kidding?" She pulled a compact out of her purse. "You're not kidding. You could have told me earlier. Like, before we left the house."

"Yes I could have," Rory agreed.

"So mean to mommy." She fished around in her purse for a minute until she found a stick of eyeliner and a tube of mascara.

Luke approched while she was doing this. "I don't see why women waste time and money slathering paint on their faces when they look just as fine, and natural might I add, without it."

"Says the thirty six year old bachelor," she retorted.

"Yeah yeah yeah. What do you want?"

"Pancakes please," Lorelai's voice went from bitch to playful, indicating that their mock-flight was over.

"I'll have eggs," Rory added. "Thanks Luke." As soon as he was out of earshot, the young brunette turned to her mother. "That was rude."

"Yes, but things have been so strained between us lately," Lorelai explained. "And I feel that now we're over it enough that I can talk to him like that again. I was celebrating."

"You have a weird way of celebrating," Rory said, shaking her head.

"Yes I do," Lorelai agreed. "Maybe New Guinea."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but maybe New Guinea what?" Rory asked.

"Maybe that's where hamsters come from. Maybe that's the land of origen for all domestic rodents, but since guinea pigs are bigger and cost more money the country was named after them instead of being called New Rodent."

"That must be it."

"What must be it?" Luke was back with their breakfasts.

"New Guinea was named after hamsters and chinchillas," Rory filled him in.

"Oh, of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

Not questioning the Gilmores at all, as he had learned time and time again was a terrible idea, he simply left them their food and coffee and went to the counter to wipe it down.

"Do you have any nieces?" Kirk, who was sitting at the counter drinking the same cup if coffee he had order half an hour ago, asked.

"Nope."

"Young cousins?"

"Nope."

Kirk thought a minute. "Long lost teenage daughters?"

Luke dropped the rag on the counter and sighed. "Not that I know of. What do you want Kirk?"

Kirk looked offended. "Nothing. I was just wondering why that girl keeps pacing in front of your door."

Luke looked up. Sure enough, a teenage girl was walking up to the door, pausing, and walking away again, only to repeat the process. He had never seen her before in his life. She must have felt her eyes, because at that moment she looked up, saw him looking, and came in.

"Can I help you?" Luke offered askance.

"I hope so," She had a British sounding accent, he noticed. Combined with her curly red hair, dark green eyes, and nice smile, she really was pretty. But Luke definately didn't know her. "I'm looking for a Luke Danes."

"I'm Luke Danes," he replied. "But I don't think I know you." By now, everyone in the diner was watching.

"You don't. How rude of me not to introduce myself." She held out her hand. " Kimberly Anderson. I'm a friend of your nephew."

Luke frowned, but shook her hand grufly just the same. "What did he do this time?"

"He won a statewide essay contest," she answered, flashing a brilliant grin. "It was about how everything we've encountered in our lives so far have shaped who we became. He wrote about you."

Luke was awestruck. "Me?"

Rory looked at her watch and frowned. "I have to go catch the bus."

"I'll fill you in later hon," Lorelai promised, before turning her attention back to the scene that was happening in the front.

"Not just you," Kimberly was saying. "His parents. New York. Stars Hollow in general. But mostly you. And it's really flattering. I thought you might want to read your bit." she pulled a packet of paper stapled together and flipped open to the third page out of her bag. "I have to ask you to only read this page and that next though."

"Why's that?" Luke asked.

"Because it was nearly impossible to convince Jess to give me this paper to show you. If you read any more than what he finally agreed to he'll never forgive me. Don't worry though, there's nothing bad about you after these pages or anything like that."

"Then what are they about?"

Kimberly frowned. "Maybe I'll just hold these and you can read them that way," she suggested.

Luke shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I don't want to read it."

She looked confused. "You don't want to?"

"He caused me enough aggrevation when he was here. I don't need it any more."

Kimberly nodded. "Sure, alright. Well, um, if you change your mind, here's my cell phone number." She wrote some digits on a receipt from her pocket.

"Sure. Thanks." He stuffed it in his pocket.

Lorelai walked up to the counter just as Kimberly was leaving. "Are you kidding me?" she demanded. "You're seriously not going to read it?"

"Of course not. Why would I?"

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because there's an essay about you that the entire state of New York may have read but you have no idea what it says? WHo knows what everyone knows about you now."

"That's assuming that Jess actually noticed something about me worth knowing, and that's a strech."

"Whatever you say. I have to go to the Dragonfly. See you later."

"See you," Luke replied absentmindedly, refilling Kirk's coffee cup.

[chui]

oh! yippee!! you captured them perfectly!! Lorelai is just brilliantly written...i cant wait for the next bit!!

[Bongo]

Only 1 sneeze in this segment, but I promise the build up is over and they'll be here in the third part. So please keep reading. And if you read, please reply. If I get no replies I'll assume no one is reading and I'll stop posting. Then you'll never know how it turns out.

CHAPTER 2

That night, as the exact same people from breakfast were eating dinner, Lorelai had moved on from hamsters to a topic she had decided was much more appropriate.

"I really don't understand why the 's' is necessary. It's not supposed to be plural. It's only one object of clothing. It's not like socks where you can wear just one sock. So why?"

"I do not know," Rory replied. "Maybe because saying you're going to put on pant sounds funny?"

"We send you to this expensive school and all you learn from your fancy english class is what sounds good and sounds funny?"

"Yes mom. Clearly the reason I don't know there's an 's' in pants is because I'm not erudite enough."

"What does erudite mean?"

"Thus proving my point." Rory smiled happily as her boyfriend of a year came in. "Hi Dean."

"Hi Rory. Room for one more?"

Lorelai took her purse off of the chair between her and Rory and put it on the square table. "Thanks." Dean sat down in the now empty chair. "So what's up?"

"We're discussing pants."

"Of course. Why wouldn't you be?"

"So what's up with you?" Rory grabbed his hand. Lorelai pretended to gag.

"No much. I got an A on my last history test."

"Yay!" Rory leaned over and gave him a kiss. "I knew you could do it!"

"What could he do?" Luke asked as he came over.

"Ace his test."

"Mazol Tov. What'll you have?" Everyone ordered, and Luke wrote them down on his little pad of paper and went back to the kitchen to cook,

The conversation veered away from pants, and soon they were all eating contently.

While they ate, Kirk approached Luke. "Do you have a scrap of paper? I just had a stroke of comic genius for my movie and I don't want to forget it."

"I'm almost afraid to ask."

"I've decided to write, direct, and star in a feature length film," Kirk announced proudly.

Luke rolled his eyes, but nonetheless fished around in his pocket, coming up with the receipt he had been given earlier. "You can write on this."

Kirk took it and went back to his seat to record his idea and Luke went to go talk to Lorelai.

"Hi you," she said as he approached.

"Hi yourself. How are your dinners?" Everyone assured him they were good. Small talk insued for a few minutes between the four, broken by Dean having to leave for work. Rory walked with him, and Luke took her seat. He and Lorelai continued their conversation about absolutely nothing for a few more minutes.

Kirk came up to them a few minutes later. "I lost it," he said sadly.

Lorelai opened her mouth to ask what he was talking about, but Luke stopped her. "You don't want to know."

"By the way," Kirk added, "if you have a problem, you should just let us help you instead of trying to hide it by running off to a different town."

"Yes Luke," Lorelai agreed. "You should let us help you with your problem. Kirk, what's Luke's problem?"

"I have no problem," Luke argued.

"He's addicted to painkillers," Kirk announced.

"Who's addicted to painkillers?" Miss Patty asked curiously, leaning over.

"Nobody," Luke told her. "Kirk, what are you rambling on about?"

Kirk held out the receipt Luke had given him. Miss Patty intercepted it. "He's right. These aren't for some headache, Luke. Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Because I don't have a pill problem." He grabbed the slip of paper back while Lorelai watched in amusement. "I've never even heard of this store. What is Duane Reade?"

"It's a drug store in New York," Lorelai replied. "When I was in New York seeing Rent, we stopped there to get some candy."

Luke stared at the rceipt in his hand for a minute, then flipped it over and stared at the number written on it. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You should call," Lorelai said.

"I know." He got up and punched the number into his wall phone.

A male voice answered. "Hello?"

Luke wasn't sure what to say. He had just been expecting the girl from earlier to answer and he didn't remember her name.

"Hello?" the voice said again.

"Yeah, hi. Um, a girl was in here earlier, and she gave me this number." He gestured to Lorelai to come join him at the counter.

"Who was it?"

"Um, she had an English accent or something. Her name was..." he looked at Lorelai fo help.

"Karen," she supplied.

"Karen."

The boy laughed. "One minute."

Luke heard the boy call something, but it was too muffled to understand as his hand was over the mouthpiece.

"Mr. Danes?"

"Karen? Hi," Lorelai leaned closer in, trying to hear the conversation.

"It's Kimberly actually, but you're close enough. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I think we need to talk. Can you come to the diner?"

"I'll be there in ten minutes," she promised.

------------------------------------

Ten minutes later, as promised, Kimberly pulled open the door to Luke's Diner, where he and Lorelai (and everyone else) were waiting for her. "Hello Mr. Danes," she greeted as she sat down at the counter next to Lorelai. "You called?"

"I did." He handed her the receipt. "Who bought these?"

"I did," she answered. "That's why it was in my purse."

"You bought all this medicine? For who?"

"For...me. Is that all you needed?"

Luke opened his mouth, then clooseod it again as he couldn't think of what to say. Lorelai helped him out. "Where's Jess?"

"I don't know," she replied. "He runs off whenever anyone mentions coming here, so we can't make him come."

"But he's in Stars Hollow?" Luke was surprised.

"Don't worry, you don't have to see him," Kimberly assured him. "We just thought it would be a good idea for him to come back here."

"Why?"

She shook her head. "Long story."

Luke held out his hand. "I want to read that essay."

Kimberly pulled it out of her purse again, flipped it open to the third page, and handed it to him. She and Lorelai sat there ackwardly as he read. Unable to stand the silence, Lorelai turnd to her new acquantince. "So how's England?"

"I wouldn't know. I'm from Melbourne." Kimberly didn't take her eyes off of Luke, intent on making sure he didn't read more than she wanted him to.

"Australia?"

Now, Kimberly did briefly look away from look to roll her eyes at Lorelai. "As opposed to the other Melbournes you've visited?"

"Snarky," Lorelai observed. "You really are a friend of Jess."

She smiled. "Whatever you say Ms. Gilmore."

Lorelai stared at her. "How do you know my name? What did he say about me?"

"You don't want to know."

She made a pouty face at Luke "Luke..."

"Don't bother," Kimberly advised. "It's not in the part he's reading."

As the words left her mouth, her cell phone started buzzing. Luke glared at her and pointed to the no cell phone sign.

She opened the phone on her way out, even as Luke grumbled at her. "Hello?"

"Kimmy, where are you?"

"Jess? Hey. I'm actually at Luke's Diner."

"So you gave him the essay? Did he like it?"

"He's still reading it. How are you feeling?"

He sneezed. "Better."

Kimberly laughed. "Clearly."

"So I'm a little sneezy, no big deal."

"Whatever you say Jess. Did you need something?"

"Yeah, were're getting dinner. What do you want?"

Kimberly thought about it for a minute. "I'll just grab something from here. Will that be alright with everyone?"

"Hold on." Kimberly heard him put the phone down and ask the others if they would eat something from the diner. "Yeah, it'll be fine. See you later."

Kimberly clicked her cell phone closed and went back into the diner, where Luke was giving her a horrified look.

"What's wrong?" she asked with a sinking feeling.

Luke handed the papers back to her. "Where's my nephew?" he demanded.

[tma]

I'm really liking this, I'm familiar enough with the main characters to feel like to have really got their speaking style down.

Also, for me it makes the fetish parts better when I'm really able to enjoy a good story and have the fetishy things be the yummy icing on the cake.

Great work and I hope to see more soon.

[polychrome]

I love it, especially since I'm a GG fan so I can see everything happening. And you really are doing a great job...wouldn't be GG if it weren't "dialougy"

[Bongo]

Here's where it gets all serious or angsty or whatever. So if you don't like, beware. Also, here's finally where it earns it's spot in the forum.

CHAPTER 3

"I told you, he's off somewhere in town." She really wanted to get out of there. "And I should probably go find him. So if you'll just give that back, I'll be on my way." She held out her hand, but he didn't hand it over. "Is something wrong?" She already knew the answer.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Luke was confused and stressed, trying to take in what he had just read. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"You read extremely quickly," Kimberly noted.

"What's going on? Lorelai asked.

"He read past where I told him to," Kimberly told her. "As in the part Jess explicitly told me to keep him from reading." She frowned. "He's never going to forgive me."

"Explain," Luke demanded. "Now."

Kimberly sat down. If Jess and everyone else were already going to hate her, she had better get them food like she promised. "If I tell you, can we have half off four burgers? I'm supposed to get dinner."

"You can have them for free." Luke told Ceaser to start cooking, and then came around the counter and sat next to her. "Talk."

She struggled to think of where to start. "You sent him back to New York after breaking that girl's arm. Rory, right?" He nodded, and she continued. "So he had to go stay with his mom. His friends were all happy to see him, we missed him, but his mom's new husband? Not so much. He pretty much said it all, I don't really know how to explain it more."

"Try."

"Fine. So Chet, that's Liz's new husband. She's-"

"My sister," Luke supplied. "We've met."

"Right. So Chet's a pretty big guy. Significantly bigger than Jess anyway. So he'd push him around a little, punch him a few times, no big deal."

"No big deal?" Luke repeated. Lorelai just sat there in stunned silence.

"In the scheme of things. So Jess just puts up with it, because Liz loves this guy and if he gets kicked out of there, he'll have nowhere to go."

"But doesn't he-"

"I'm getting there," Kimberly interjected. "So one day Chet comes home completely plastered and starts beating on him. Only this time, it's not so much a few punches as a fight for your life kind of thing. So obviously Jess fights back. Lays one punch on him. That's when Liz comes in, sees him hit her husband, and demands he leave." She thought for a minute. "Demands he leave again, I guess. Only this time instead of sending him to his uncle," she gestured at Luke, "she just sends him away."

Ceaser put a styrofoam container on the counter, with four burgers and some frys.

"He went to Austin's house, that's the guy you talked to earlier, and Austin took one look at him and immediately took him to the ER." SHe paused to collect her thoughts. "He's my best friend, but your nephew's an idiot. Three broken ribs, a broken arm, and a concussion, and he still won't accept any help. Well, he ate dinner at my house, but that was it. I offered him my couch, Austin offered him his couch, everyone else did too and he cose to sleep on a bench outside, because he didn't want to need anyone. About two weeks later, he wrote that essay. Then a week after that, here we are."

"And he's been fine since then, right?"

Kimberly smiled somberly. "He's been just dandy. His cast is on for another month at least. He's sick from sleeping out in the rain for almost a month. Oh, and he went home to get some stuff. You know, a blanket, clothes...Yeah, bad idea."

Luke cringed. "I want to see him."

"So?"

Luke looked annoyed. "What do you mean 'so'"?

"I mean who cares if you want to see him? He doesn't want to see you. Plus, you're not supposed to know any of that." She felt bad. Yeah, Jess wanted nothing to do with this situation, this town, or any of it's citizens, but Luke looked so sad. She sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

Glad for a chance to finally leave, Kimberly grabbed their dinner and fled. She walked the couple blocks to the park where their van was parked. Austin and his girlfriend Megan were sitting on a bench talking. Jess was streched out accross another. She forced herself to smile. :Dinner's here."

Austin looked up quickly. "Great, I'm starved. Hand it over."

She handed him the container and went to joing Jess. "Up and at 'um," she joked.

He bit back a groan and forced himself into a sitting position. "Hey Kimmy," he said in a hoarse voice. "What's the damage?"

How did he know? "What do you mean?" she asked in a squeaky voice.

"Money. How much did dinner set us back?"

"Oh," She giggled nervously. "Nothing. He gave it to us for free."

Austin walked the now half empty box over to them, as he and Megan had already grabbed their burgers. Jess grabbed one as the box went by him, and stared at Kimberly suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," she lied. "What makes you-"

"He-Ext! Ha-ah-Eptch! He-Eptsch!"

Kimberly stopped talking as Jess started sneezing, waiting patiently for him to be done and knowing he could actually go on for five minutes. He'd done ir before. "You done?" He nodded. "Then Bless you."

"Thanks." He scrubbed his still itchy nose on the back of his wrist, trying not to flinch as his head pounded. "So you were about to tell me what you did."

She sighed again, realizing that it wasn't a good sign that she had sighed so many times in one day. "You called the cell phone." It was pretty much referred to as the cell phone, even though it was actually Austin's. They only had one among the four of them and shared it.

"Yes I did," he agreed.

"Luke has a rule against cell phones in the diner."

"Yes he does." Jess didn't like where this was headed.

"I'm so sorry Jess! I was only out for a few minutes, I don't know how he could have read it so fast."

"The entire thing?" Megan, evesdropping, exclaimed.

"The entire thing." Kimberly looked down at the ground, before slowly raising her gaze to meet Jess'. He didn't look mad. Stressed and upset, sure, but not mad.

"I told you it was a bad idea to come," he complained. "I told you to leave it alone, leave him out of this. But did any of you listen? No!"

"Calm down," Austin ordered, his gray eyes flashing.

Jess took a deep calming breath. "It's not your fault," he said slowly. "I shouldn't have called while you were there."

Kimberly was quiet for a minute. "He wants to see you," she said.

"No."

"Jess," Megan tried. "Maybe you should give-"

"No."

"Okay."

He stood up quickly to go for a walk, but some more sneezes caught him off guard and forced him back onto the bench. "hihshoo! Ich'HISSH! Hetchoo! Atchoo! Ha…aaahhh…HaAtchhh!”

"Bless you," everyone chorused.

He stood up again, grunting in pain as his once again sore ribs, thanks to running into Chet before they had fully healed, expressed their displeasure at moving. He walked stiffly to the other side of the park and sat down with his back against a tree.

His friends gave him a few minutes, then grew impatiant. Jess could hear footsteps, but didn't bother to look up.

"You have to go talk to him," Austin said.

Now Jess did look up, noting that the sun glinting of Austin's light brown hair looked like his mom's.

"I know." He ignored the hand his friend extended to help him and stood up shakily on his own. "Let's go."

Okay, still not too many sneezes, but isn't it getting better? Maybe if you read and reply, even more will come...

[chui]

oh i love where this is going!! more please???!?!!!

[pirate_wench]

I want to read more, too! It is great!

[Bongo]

Chapter 4

It took seven minutes and thirty four seconds to clear out the Diner. Lorelai sat timing him as he floundered around, waving his arms at people and telling them to leave, that their food was on the house as long as they would just amscray now.

Then only Kirk was left. “I have no qualms about paying. I want to stay.”

“Why?” Luke demanded. “Why do you want to be the only person stubbornly sitting in a deserted diner?”

Kirk hung his head. “I have nowhere else to go.”

“And that is not my problem. Good-bye.” Luke took Kirk’s plate from him and dropped it in the sink to wash later. Kirk left in an angry huff.

“He’s mad,” Lorelai noted as they pulled on their jackets.

“He’ll get over it by breakfast tomorrow. Where could he be?”

“Bookstore?” Lorelai suggested.

“What kind of stupid idea is…wait. He could be there. Let’s go.”

Lorelai nearly had to jog to keep up with Luke’s quick walking. “You wanna slow down their big guy? Some of us are wearing heals.”

“And some of us have to find their sick nephew who’s been living out on the streets.”

“Touché.”

There were only a dozen or so people at the bookstore, and Jess was not one of them. As Luke stomped around the store, clearly frustrated, Lorelai took the time to speak with the owner.

“He’s about 5’9’’, dark hair, cast on his arm. Maybe with a few other people. Leather jacket?”

“Ah, yes. He was here a few hours ago.”

“Okay, cool. Do you know where he went?”

“No.”

“Okay, less cool. But still not completely in the uncool category. Did he say anything?”

“Not really. Just coughed a lot and bought Howl. Said he had a friend he owed a new copy. Poor kid looked like death warmed over.”

“And officially uncool now. Great.”

Luke approached the pair. “Did you find out anything?”

“Other than the fact that he wasn’t in peak physical condition? That’s a big nope-er-oni.”

“Great. This is just great,” Luke growled. “Already he’s giving me trouble and I haven’t even seen him yet.”

I wanted to write this again. So yeah, sorry to thread bump my own story. But read and enjoy, please! And see, I told you I'd stopp if I got no reviews. It's been like a year and a half.

[Fae]

i would love to read more.

[Jazz]

WHY?

Why the hell did I never click on this before?

It's absolutely amazing.

The pictures helped me visualize it well.

(:

Your writing style is excellent.

Oh, and the sneezing is just...

[LOSTfreak]

I love this so much! I have recently obtained Milo-itis, so you can probably imagine how insanely excited I was when I found this (As well as your other Milo fics ). I don't suppose that you would ever consider finishing this? Anyways, I think that it's wonderful and it would have been crazy for me not to comment on it, so sorry for the extremely belated bump.

[Bongo]

I love this so much! I have recently obtained Milo-itis, so you can probably imagine how insanely excited I was when I found this (As well as your other Milo fics ). I don't suppose that you would ever consider finishing this? Anyways, I think that it's wonderful and it would have been crazy for me not to comment on it, so sorry for the extremely belated bump.

Oh, bump away my dear. I didn't know there was any interest. Look for an update within the week.

[Quills & Wells]

Im enjoying this too. Please continue! Its getting good

[LOSTfreak]

I love this so much! I have recently obtained Milo-itis, so you can probably imagine how insanely excited I was when I found this (As well as your other Milo fics ). I don't suppose that you would ever consider finishing this? Anyways, I think that it's wonderful and it would have been crazy for me not to comment on it, so sorry for the extremely belated bump.

Oh, bump away my dear. I didn't know there was any interest. Look for an update within the week.

Thank you so much! You are an extremely awesome person!

[LoraLee2]

OMG what a great story!!! too bad it was never finished :*(

[Skiffy]

This dialogue could have been a real Gilmore Girls script- you're so great with the characters.

One criticism (sorry) that may not even apply to anyone other me- I like the show but haven't watched it for a while, I'm also a bit thick, so when I read "Stars Hollow" I thought it was familiar but couldn't remember where from. Then I read "GG" and thought "a girl/girl story?". You might get more casual 'Gilmore Girls'-watchers (but no fewer forgetful bi girls) to check out your excellent story if you could edit the description.

[LoraLee2]

hehe, i never thought about it that way! but yea GG could totally mean girl/girl. but it does say (m) for male in the title

i LOVED the sneezy-ness but i also really want to know exactly what it is that Jess wrote! it seems like this really could've gone on.

i envisioned luke going searching for jess, and finding him in the park, ensue h/c. or maybe rory is concerned and goes too and then things between them get reheated? and ensue h/c.

lol idk, but either way i really did enjoy reading this!