A/N: Finally heading into non-canon territory. The show is over! Rory is on the road. Now I can do whatever the hell I want! The ending is just a few chapters away. :) Thanks again to Djux for being my moral support, and a huge thanks to those who are still reading and reviewing. It's nice to know that people still care.

Stay in Touch

Rory settled into her window seat, towards the back of the bus, silently thanking her mom for the advice. She'd taken this seat just over a month ago, and it had now been fairly well established as hers. The bus was nicer than expected; more of a coach really. There were no vinyl seats here.

Pulling out her phone, Rory checked the morning messages from her mom. As usual they were all basically overly dramatic statements about the diner. Luke was trying to ration her coffee again, there had been a tragedy with a bagel that Kirk dropped on Lulu, and some story about Luke and his baseball cap that stopped part way through. She smiled, imagining her mom in the diner and Luke taking the phone from her. It had been much easier leaving Stars Hollow, knowing that her mom had Luke to look after her.

"Hey, Rory, sweety, sugar, dahhhling?"

Rory looked around at the young woman sat behind her. "Yes, Colleen?"

"Oreos? Twinkies? Sour gummies? Pringles?"

Rory leaned forward and pulled a bag of Red Vines from amongst her things and passed it back to her friend. "Colleen, it's nine AM!"

"So?" Colleen shrugged, a stick of the candy already in her mouth.

Rory smirked and turned back to her phone. "I really have to tell my mom she's got competition."

"Tell her I'm available for adoption as well!"

"I will do that now," Rory said, studiously typing the message to her mom.

Colleen settled back into her seat, happily devouring Rory's candy.

Part way through writing her message, she was interrupted by another.

Luke tried to steal my phone! Ha! Never underestimate my womanly wiles. I have to tell you something… Should I call you?

Before Rory could even think about responding, the phone was already ringing.

"Hello, Mother?"

At first her mom's voice was a hushed whisper "Rory, there's a-" but it quickly got louder; "Did you just call me 'Mother'?"

"It is your title, is it not?"

"It is not! That's my mother's title!"

"No, she's Grandma – unless you want me to switch? I could call her 'mother', and you 'Grandma' if you prefer?"

She could almost hear Lorelai shaking her head on the other end of the line. "The campaign trail has made you wild, young lady. I think you'd better come home."

Rory laughed. "As if the campaign trail could be wilder than Taylor and Kirk and Miss Patty!"

Lorelai sighed. "You have a point. Also, you probably shouldn't come home." There was suddenly a slightly more serious tone to her voice.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing."

The line went quiet for a moment, and all Rory could hear were what she assumed to be her mom's quick footsteps exiting the diner. "Mom?"

"Yes! That is my name. Also," her voice dropped back down. "The Hoodlum is back in town."

"Oh! You mean Jess?"

"No, I mean your grandfather. Yes, of course Jess."

"I know. He's just visiting. His mom and his uncle and his sister all live there, remember? He visits now."

"Sooo…you keep in touch with him?"

"Yeah. You knew that. I told you."

"I guess I just didn't realise you were that in touch with him."

Rory felt a sudden wave of guilt. It wasn't that she wanted to keep her friendship with Jess secret – but she didn't think her mom would really understand it. Hell, she wasn't entirely sure that she understood it. And if Lorelai knew that Jess had helped with her decision regarding Logan, Rory was sure she would start reading things into that. She cleared her throat awkwardly before she spoke. "Well we kept in touch during the stuff with you and Luke. We worried about you both after…you know. So we talked."

"Huh…" Lorelai's tone was somewhat suspicious.

Rory kept speaking. "Yeah, and, now we're both really happy that you're both really happy. So we talk about that. Someone has to keep an eye on you two crazy kids! We don't want you messing things up again, do we?"

There was a snort on the other end of the line. "Really? So The Hoodlum is playing Cupid now?"

"No, Jess is just looking out for his uncle. That's all."

"Hmmm. Well in that case, you should tell Jess that what would make Lorelai really happy is if Uncle Luke came home from the diner tonight with a giant cherry pie- no, peach! And some burgers, and some egg rolls from Al's. No, make the pie cherry. That way, Lorelai will make sure that Luke is kept happy as well."

Rory cringed at the innuendo in her mom's tone. "Gah! Don't say things like that! If you do that kind of thing, I will file for emancipation. You can adopt Colleen."

"I think you're too old for that now, kiddo. And is Colleen the girl with the sweet tooth? Does she spy on her parents' love life?"

"We're not spying!"

"Pfft. Sure. And I bet you're not interviewing for the CIA as we speak."

"Well, the NSA, actually," Rory conceded.

"Okay I have to get to work, kiddo. Send me the adoption papers for Colleen. And so…if I see The Hoodlum…?"

"Be nice. We're friends, Mom."

Lorelai sighed in resignation. "Okay. Love you, kid."

"You too, Grandma." Rory ended the call, quickly, sniggering wickedly.

Colleen's head popped over the seat again. "I mean it. I want your mom."

"Nah. I'm going to keep her." Rory smiled wistfully and sighed as she looked out of the window briefly. She did miss home sometimes. "Ah, crap."

She pulled out her phone again and texted Jess, warning him that as far as her mom knew, they'd been spying on her and Luke, and might be joining the NSA. As an afterthought, she also relayed her mom's requests for dinner.

A response came through some half an hour later.

Saw her in the diner at breakfast. Her head was SO close to going full exorcist twist. I guess she still kind of hates me, huh?

Rory frowned uncomfortably. She didn't want her mom to hate Jess. She texted him back.

Hate is a strong word; she just has problems trusting you. But if you can get Luke to take her food, I think it would help! Never underestimate the power of food on a Gilmore.

The response came quickly.

Well duh! I wasn't born yesterday.

Rory was smiling at the message when Colleen passed the bag of Red Vines back to her. "Here, Rory. I saved you some."

Rory arched an eyebrow at the two sticks of licorice left in the bag. "Gee, thanks!"

Colleen just grinned and sat back in her seat, sliding her headphones on. Rory shrugged and stuck a Red Vine in her mouth as she turned back to her phone to start her next message. She was muttering indignantly as she typed, "It's not just Gilmores, Jess!"