THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR GILMORE GIRLS, A YEAR IN THE LIFE. Please, please, please do not continue reading if you don't want to read spoilers for this series. (Trust me, you don't.)
A/N: Normally, I'm a strictly "post a short note at the end" kind of person, but I just wanted to re-clarify a few things. This picks up immediately after the last four words of Year in the Life as in the next four words. This is completely my take on it, and honestly, I haven't had this much fun writing two characters as I have writing these two. This is a long-term Jess/Rory, so if you have a problem with that, you can leave. This first chapter is short because I really just wanted to get something out there. If you have any comments/questions/concerns please share them with me! I love feedback, it means your reading!
ONE
"Pregnant?" Lorelai looked at her daughter. Beautiful, smart, talented Rory. Pregnant Rory. Soon-to-be-mother Rory.
"Yes."
"You're sure?" Rory with so many wide open doors and the biggest heart. The best thing that had come out of her entire life, Rory.
"Five tests and a doctor's visit sure, so I'd say pretty sure."
Speechless. Had this ever happened in her entire life? Very, very few times had this happened. Goddammit, Lorelai, say something. "We're here for whatever you need. I'm here. If you want to stay here, I support you; if you want to move out, I support you; whatever you decide, I'm with you every step of the way, kid." Be what she didn't have when she was pregnant. "And if you want me to have nothing to do with it, I support that too. This is entirely up to you."
Rory reached out and grabbed her mom's hand, not filled with urgency but just for reassurance—to make sure that there was still a real, live person next to her and to feel her mother's comfort. They sat in silence, looking at people move along the streets of Stars Hollow from the steps of the gazebo.
Deciding what to say and what to not, to tell her everything, to shut her out completely?
"I'm going to need all the help I can get because I don't want Logan involved in this." One name. A split second decision to say his name and then to tell her mother that she had grown up and moved on from marriage wrecking pregnancies. She'd seen the quick to the aisle Christopher and Sherrie . . . and how poorly that had turned out for everyone involved. Logan would do the same, leaving everyone—including Odette—in pieces. Broken and stomped-on pieces.
"Wow, so it's definitely Logan then?"
"One hundred percent."
"Are you going to tell him, then? Not to butt in where I don't belong," Lorelai looked over to her daughter, who shrugged as a gesture to continue, "but Anna didn't tell Luke about April and she hunted him down. You knew Christopher. I just wanted to raise you by myself."
"To be fair, April could have had one of three dads, and she hunted down all three to see which was her real father."
"The point still remains that these things come out of the woodwork eventually. Besides, you wouldn't be the woman you are today if Christopher hadn't been at least present in your life."
Rory bit cheek, so the words "You're right" came out mostly mumbled. A beat of silence followed before she continued, "But this is different. This isn't you and Dad; we're not sixteen with parents that want us to get married before the baby comes. Logan showed up in Stars Hollow a couple weeks ago and we had the perfect goodbye, which I know you're going to say doesn't exist, but that's what it was. It was wonderful and amiable, and we all said goodbye. I don't want to mess that up right now because if I do, he'll come running back no matter what I say or how much I ask him not to.
"If it comes up, so be it. It comes up. It'll come up either way. But this child will have me and you and Luke. Luke was practically a dad to me, and I'm sure that he'll treat this baby the same way he treated me, if not better."
With a few soft-spoken words, Lorelai urged her daughter to come back to the house. They had a wedding to get ready for, after all. As they walked down the sidewalk, they chatted about flash mobs and hot dog stands, Lorelai's arm wrapped around Rory's shoulder, Rory's head tucked into her mother's shoulder.
"So," Jess swung up behind Rory and slid into the chair next to her at an empty table, "you and your mom were up incredibly early this morning walking around." He placed two drinks on the table and pushed one glass of scotch towards her, which she took and just swirled in its glass. "Were you saying goodbye or do you think you're going to stay in Stars Hollow for a while? Work at the Gazette, write your book?"
"I'd need to find real work eventually, but for now I think I'll stay here with Mom and write. It's probably best not to stray far from the source material."
"Not a bad idea," Jess lifted his glass to the woman next to him and then downed the smooth liquid. Rory raised her glass with Jess but just set it back on the table. "You gonna drink that?"
Shaking her head, she nudged the glass towards Jess. "I want to remember every moment of tonight," a smile crossed over her face as she looked around at the lights lighting up the night around them, people dancing and talking all around, "you're not going back tonight, right? You've had a lot to drink."
"No," the monosyllabic word drew out from his lips wrapped in a scoff, "Luke was about two steps away from a heart attack when he started thinking about leaving Caesar alone with the diner for a week and a half, so I offered to stay here for a bit and help out."
"You? Helping at the diner?"
"I'm as shocked with myself as you are."
"Where are you staying?"
"Mom and T.J. have a handful of really great handful of couches."
"A handful?"
"Don't ask," Jess's smile quirked up at one side as he finished off the rest of Rory's drink.
"That's ridiculous, we have a perfectly good bed at our house. I'm sure Luke would insist as well, but I know better than to assume you will ask him." Jess put his hand up to protest some more, but Rory interrupted him before he could start, "No, I insist, you'll stay with me. Otherwise, I won't let you read the first three chapters of my book."
"How did you-"
"I know you, Jess," Rory smiled and stood, running one hand over the least hideous bridesmaid gown in the world and offering the other to him, "I'm also going to make you dance with me before I let you read it." He shook his head as he stood, not taking her hand. "C'mon we can laugh at Kirk, make it more fun for ya."
He swung his arm around her shoulder, a place it hadn't been in over a decade, but still it felt natural. "Who brings a pig to a wedding anyway?"
I hope you all liked it! This is my first time onto this site in a while, but I couldn't resist. Not with Rory and Jess and the damn way that show ended. I needed more. I am writing more for me and for you, if you want to read it.
Talk to you soon!
x Star
