This Crazy World
Summary: Our most favorite diner boys, together trying to make sense of the chaos that Gilmore Girls has become.
A/N: This story started with a single fic, that became two and eventually three. During that time I started thinking about making it a series. And then a friend made me think about it more seriously. So, if this turns out badly, it's all her fault. ;)
It starts up after episode 6x21 and will contain spoilers for that episode and the season 6 finale. After that it's all my creation.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls. That's pretty obvious, since if I did, Jess would still be in it and no one would have been abducted by aliens and changed personality.
Part 1
"What are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too Uncle Luke," he smirked and walked up to the counter, dropping his duffel bag by his side.
"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting you." Luke grinned at him and walked out from behind the counter. They shared a short and slightly awkward hug. "How you doing?" Luke asked as he let go.
"I'm fine." Jess shrugged and sat down on a stool at the counter. "Got an interesting phone call from Liz this morning."
"Oh, right." Luke said with a nod and filled up a cup of coffee, setting it down on the counter in front of Jess. "She tell you."
"Yeah," Jess smirked. "She definitely woke me up."
"Bet she did," Luke chuckled. "So this visit…?"
"She sounded weird on the phone," Jess shrugged and caught Luke's expression. "More weird than normal that is. So I guilted the guys into letting me have tomorrow off. Thought I'd come up and see her, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."
"Well…"
"What? She threw him out already?"
"How did you…?"
"Luke, I may not be very close to my mother, but I still more or less lived with her for 17 years."
"Right."
"And besides, she's done it before."
"What?"
"Relax," Jess smirked and took a sip of his coffee, "I don't have any brothers or sisters you never heard of."
"Oh, good."
"She freaked out once, thought she was pregnant, got all paranoid and threw the guy out. Not that I wasn't happy he was gone."
"No good?" Luke asked, concerned.
"Definitely no good," Jess agreed with a wry smile. "It wasn't that long before she sent me here."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Um…well…" Luke said, a bit uncomfortably.
Jess looked up at him questioningly, taking another sip of his coffee.
"They actually left not that long ago," Luke blurted out, "Liz and T.J. that is. I think I talked some sense into both of them."
"Good," Jess nodded.
"Yeah, I was about to fight T.J."
"Huh, sorry I missed that," Jess smirked.
"Liz told me he left her and I found him in a bar. He refused to fight though and told me what really happened. It took some explaining before he agreed to come back with me."
Jess shook his head and his smirk widened. "You use too big words?"
"Jess!"
"What?"
Luke glared at him, but couldn't help a small chuckle escape. Jess gave him an innocent look and Luke shook his head. "Fine, I give up."
"Huh." Jess grinned at him.
"Wipe that grin off your face. He's good for her, that's all that matters."
"I know, I know. It's still fun though."
Luke looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind and shook his head.
"So, you heading over there tonight?" he asked instead.
"Didn't you just tell me they just made up?"
"Oh, right."
"I actually thought I'd ask if I could stay upstairs tonight. Go there tomorrow. I might stay the weekend, so…"
"Great. And of course you can stay here. I'm about to close; we can catch up a little."
"Sure. You want some help down here?"
"You offering?" Luke stared at him a little, to see if he was actually serious.
"Yeah," Jess chuckled, shaking his head. "You seem surprised."
"Well, you never really seemed to enjoy working here."
"That was when I didn't have any choice," Jess smirked and hopped off his stool, bringing his coffee cup with him into the kitchen.
"Ah, I forgot."
"Yeah well…" Jess shrugged and stood up, shouldering his bag again. "I'll just get my bag up."
"Ok," Luke nodded and walked out in the kitchen.
The last patrons left not long after he came back down and they went around the diner in silence for a while, cleaning and clearing tables.
"So, you're gonna be a big brother," Luke said when they were almost done.
"Yeah."
"How does that feel?"
"Not sure yet," Jess said thoughtfully. "Never really thought I'd have any siblings. Well, there's Lily, but that's different."
"Lily?"
"Jimmy's girlfriend's daughter. Didn't I tell you about her?"
"Um…yeah, I think you did," Luke said, trying to think back. "But there was no name, and not much of anything really."
Jess nodded to himself, wiping down a table. "She's thirteen, I think. Completely weird kid. Likes to hide in closets."
"Huh."
"Yeah, she scared me half to death a couple times while I was there."
"Sorry I missed it."
"Haha, very funny."
"I thought so," Luke grinned at him. "But seriously, how do you feel about this? I mean, Liz wasn't exactly…"
"You think I'd be jealous?" Jess cut him off.
"Well…it'd be a normal reaction."
"I don't know…" Jess began, standing up. "I'm 22 Luke, I've got my life back on track. What's the point?"
"I just…"
"Yeah, yeah I know." He shook his head and looked around the diner. "Well, I'm done over here."
"Yeah, I'm just gonna lock up the store room."
Jess nodded, hung the rag up in the kitchen and took a seat at the counter, waiting for Luke to get back from the store room.
"You writing anything new?" Luke asked when he came back, startling him.
"Huh?"
"Just wondering."
"Don't know…maybe," he said, not completely suppressing his smile.
"That's good." Luke looked at him with a small smile playing at his lips.
"What's the smile about?" Jess frowned.
"Just nice to see you doing something you like. You seem happy."
Jess nodded. "Yeah, I guess," he said with a shrug.
Luke shook his head with a scoff and took a last check in the kitchen before turning the lights out. "Come on, there's a couch and a TV upstairs. There might even be beer."
"As long as you don't insist on watching some lame football game," Jess smirked and waited for him to turn off the diner lights and close the door.
Luke glared at him through the now dark diner. "At least I don't watch that Dreaming Jeannie show."
Jess glared back and started up the stairs, ignoring Luke's chuckles, opting not to correct him on the name of the show.