Title: Old Cartoons and Chocolate Ice-Cream
Author: Bru Cardoso
Summary: A talk late at night. Fluffy. Lit. an apology fic for delay of 'Under the Same Roof'
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, just the plot... you know the drill.
A/N: This is the apology that I came up with for the delay of "Under the Same Roof". Anyway, I promise to have a new chap up within a week. Also, a huge thanks to NikkiApep for the beta. I really appreciate it!
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Old Cartoons and Chocolate Ice-Cream
The sheets are cold and the buzzing in the street annoingly wakes him up. Darkness envolpes the room, and as his eyes adjust, he can only see the shelves, the window, the boxes by the door, and the empty wardrobe. It's all there is to see anyway. The room is very messy for its small size, but it doesn't bother him anymore, after all they will be moving to a slightly bigger apartment in a couple of days. He looks around and she is nowhere to be seen. He has grown used to it, waking up in the middle of the night not to find her by his side. He feels bad for her, really, but it's not like there is anything he can do to help her. Sitting on the bed he reaches for a tee, putting it on before standing up and opening the door.
The lights on the tiny living room are on, and she is sitting on the couch, her feet resting on the coffee table and a carton of chocolate ice-cream on her lap. She digs the spoon in and savors 'the gift from heaven', as she calls it. The TV in front of her airs some old colorful cartoon in a very low volume, and she giggles every now and then when the coyote gets caught in one of his own traps. Then she notices him, in his sullen presence, leaning on the doorway to their room, smiling at her.
"Hey, I didn't see you there," she tells him.
"I didn't want to distract you from the very important news you're watching," he replies with sarcasm and a smirk.
She glares playfully at him and then nodds at the carton of ice-cream, offering it. He shakes his head, refusing, "I don't want to listen to you complaining about how I ate it all later on."
"Smart boy," she compliments with a grin as he sits next to her.
"Well, I've learned to never get in the way of Gilmore's and their food over the years," he replies and rests his hand over her belly before adding, "and I'm guessing I should be even more careful now that I'd be in the way of two Gilmore's and their food."
She smiles at him affectionality and puts her hand over his.
"I thought you'd be throwing up in the bathroom again when I woke up," he says in a voice that is between sad, worried, and comforting.
She shakes her head, "Nope, it seems this one is in a good mood today," she nods to her bulged belly. "But I woke up feeling like I'd die if I didn't eat chocolate ice-cream, and I wasnt' really sleepy so I decided to have a nostalgic moment and watch some really old cartoons, to remind me of my childhood."
He nodds, "I can't really believe this, new cartoons...they're so lifeless!"
She laughs, "Oh, you say it as if you didn't mock the old ones!"
"Well, they can be really stupid at times, but they are slightly less stupid than the new ones. "
She rolls her eyes, "Whatever!"
"I can't believe we are watching these cartoons," he says exasperated, and she smiles.
"I can't believe we're having a baby."
"Well, that too."
He looks at her thoughtful, "I don't think I really asked you about how you feel about all of this lately," he half wondered, half asks.
She laughs hard at him, and his face beocmes puzzled. She laughs even harder, holding the ice-cream tightly, trying not to make a mess with it and to control herself at the same time. When she is calmer she accuses jokingly and still laughing, "You, Jess Mariano, spontaneously talking about feelings? The world really must have be coming to an end!"
"Ha ha ha," he mocks her mocking him. "Forget I said anything," he retrieves his hand from her stomach, but she catches it with her own and holds it against her, looking down at her growing belly, "I'm scared," she replies honestly.
He nods but doesn't admitt he also is. She shouldn't have to worry about him now, that's his job. So he probes, to try and find a way to confort her, "About what? Your job?"
She looks up at him and shakes he head, "With all the acumulated vacations that I have and with the compliments my boss has been giving me, I don't think it will be a problem. Besides, I promised to work on the book reviewing section until I come back to work... And today, my boss said I could work at home for awhile...just the first couple of months, after all I can just write the articles and send them by e-mail, I don't have to go to the office."
"That's good. You sounded so upset when the doctor suggested you take some time off work."
"Well, she says it as if I couldn't work just because I'm pregnant!" Rory said angrily.
'Hormones,' Jess thought. "Come on, you know it's not like that. She's just being careful."
"Whatever," she said agin, digging another spoon full of ice-dream into the carton and shoving it into her mouth.
"So, if that's not what is getting you worried, then what is?"
She looks down, unsure. "How are we going to do this, Jess? How are we going to become parents?"
"What do you mean? The main part is already done, you're already pregnant, now we just have to wait another few months and..."
She cuts him off, "You know what I mean. I've never been a mother before, what if it's not for me. What if I'm bad mother or something," she says tearfull.
"Hey, hey, look at me," he takes her chin and moves it so she's facing him, "You will be a great mother, just like Lorelai. And I might not be the best dad, but I promise to never run away. Never again. I'll always be here for the two of you, okay? And besides, we have help. Lorelai has lots of experience in the field, if Luke can become a parent then anyone can, and that whole mental intitution that you like to call your 'home town' would flip if we didn't let them help us."
She smiles at him because she knows he is doing it for her. Everything. The two jobs, the heart to heart talks, the staying up in the middle of the night when he has work in the morning, the phone calls (that he usually hates) in the middle of the day, the little baby presents he brings home whenever he passes in front of a baby store, the constant visits to Stars Hollow, the holding her hair while she is trhowing up, the telling the grandparents visit, everything. And she's really grateful. And happy. And proud.
He hasn't changed for her, no one changes. But he has matured, a lot, and now they are becoming a family. A family. Wow.
Niether says anything for a long time, lost in their own thoughts. When she breaks the silence, her voice is small, distant, wondering, "How did we get this far?"
"I guess it's just we were happy together...and tried to just keep making each other happy..."
She smiles, touched by his words, "I love you, ya know? I wouldn't want anyone to be my daughter's father."
"Daughter?" he says, surprised. "Do you know something that I don't?" he asks.
She smiles guilty, "Nope, just call it mother's intuition."
"Mother. We are really going to be a family," he says what both have been restless thinking for the past couple of months.
"Yeah."
He takes her hand in his and stares at it, "I love you. You know that, right?"
She looks at him while he still stares at her hand, "I know."
"And you know I won't run, ever again, right?" he asks, now looking at her.
She just nodds, but seeing how much he needs her to reasure him, she adds, "Yeah, I know," she whispers sincerely.
"I think maybe...I mean, I want to...unless you don't want to..."
"What?" she asks running out of patience.
"Will you marry me?" he blurts out.
"Really?"
"Well, yeah."
"But you never wanted..."
"I just never thought about it..." he pauses. "I think it's all perfect, or as perfect as it can be, between you and me... there is just this one piece missing... the one in which we say we'll be together forever."
She looks at him breathless, too surprised and happy to have rational thoughts. She thows her arms around him, then pulls away to look him in the eye, "We will be together forever," she assures him, and that's all the answer he needs to his question.
He leans down and kisses her. She tastes like chocolate. Yeah, life is sweet.