The Circle Continues
Summary: Sequel to Full Circle - Basically it just picks up where Full Circle left off, and will follow everyone's lives. I would definitely suggest reading Full Circle if you haven't already, otherwise you may be lost on who some of the characters are. Incase you were wondering, this story is a Luke/Lorelai, Rory/Marty and that's really all the pairings so far (at least from the show).
Disclaimer: I own Grace, Jake, Elle, Ty, Alyssa, Stella, and a whole host of other people. I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of the characters, etc.
A/N1: Just so you know, this picks up a couple weeks after Full Circle.
Jake and Grace sat in their car, anxiously awaiting arriving at their destination. Jake glanced over at Grace and saw her bouncing in her chair, something she did when she was very excited or anxious. He reached over and grabbed her hand, "Grace honey, we'll be there soon."
She groaned, "I know, it just feels like it's taking forever! Why did I have to choose to live in Stars Hollow? It has the slowest speed limit ever!"
Jake laughed and continued driving, he was just as excited as Grace but he was already going quite a bit over the speed limit. They got to the house and before the car came to a complete stop Grace was out of the car and running to the front door.
She ran into the house and saw Lorelai, Luke, and Elle in the living room. They were sitting on the floor by Elle watching her play; Grace ran over and picked her up. She immediately smothered her in hugs and kisses, "Mommy missed you baby, did you miss me?" Grace asked Elle.
Elle giggled as Grace continued to talk to her, "I'll just take that as a yes."
Jake walked in the door and Grace handed Elle to him then turned back towards Luke and Lorelai. "So how was she?" She asked.
Lorelai rolled her eyes; "Like you don't already know, I think you called every 10 minutes the entire time you were gone." She said as she and Luke moved to sit on the couch.
"Well," Grace started, trying to explain, "It was a long trip, weeks and weeks."
"It was a week and a half," Luke corrected.
Grace gave Luke a look, "Just you wait, you'll know what I mean someday." She then looked at Lorelai, "So how was the doctor's appointment? I need all the details."
"There's not too much to share, basically they just officially confirmed it and we're guessing I'm about 6 weeks along."
Grace gave a little squeal, "This is so exciting!"
"I know!" Lorelai gave her own squeal, "So did you bring presents?"
Grace rolled her eyes, "Of course!" She gave Jake a pleading look; "Can you go get them please?"
Jake stood up and handed her Elle, "I'll be right back."
"Thanks hon!"
Elle quickly cuddled up to Grace, "So you did miss mommy, I thought you might have." She said to Elle, then gave her a kiss on her forehead.
"Oh she missed you alright, it was a fun first few nights. She didn't want to let her Papi and Noni get any rest." Lorelai said.
"Crying a lot?" Grace asked and Lorelai nodded, "Sorry, but at least we have presents to make up for it!" Grace said as Jake walked in.
"Yay presents!" Lorelai said.
After they had opened their presents Luke had made dinner for everyone, and Grace had put Elle down for a nap.
The whole meal Lorelai had been trying to figure out how to tell Grace something, but it wasn't until the very end that she worked up the nerve. She tried to sound happy, "So Grace, do you remember how you are now a part of our family?" Lorelai said as she motioned between her and Luke.
"Yes." Grace replied.
Lorelai continued in a fake cheery voice, "Well, for whatever reason I was telling my mother about that the other night."
"Oh no," Grace said interrupting her, this couldn't turn out well.
"Yes, I did. And being that it was my mother, she wants you guys to come with us to dinner on Friday night."
Grace groaned and Jake looked at her, "Maybe it won't be so bad." He tried to tell her, but Luke, Lorelai and Grace all gave him looks that said otherwise.
Grace tried to be optimistic, "Well, it's only one dinner right?"
"Right." Lorelai said, although she didn't sound too sure.
"Well we better get going, I'm so tired." Grace said.
"Oh yeah?" Lorelai asked, "Didn't get much sleep while you were gone?"
Grace ignored her comment and stood up, "Thanks for dinner Luke!"
…
Jake, Grace, and Elle returned home to their apartment. Grace was carrying a sleeping Elle, while Jake had an armful of bags and luggage and still had to make another trip to retrieve the rest. Grace took Elle into her bedroom and started putting her to bed; a few moments later Jake joined her.
Jake sat down on the rocking chair and pulled Grace and Elle down with him, together they sat and rocked Elle to sleep. Grace lay back against his shoulder and sighed, "I'm so glad we're home."
Jake kissed Grace on her forehead, "Me too babe."
"I'm not looking forward to tomorrow though."
"I know you're not, but it's something that we have to do," Jake tried to explain to Grace.
Grace looked down at their sleeping baby; "I just hate the thought of leaving her."
Jake held her tighter, "I know. I wish you could always stay home with her, but we both know that's just not possible right now. These past few months have been hard without both of us working, and I don't think we can live on just one salary for much longer."
"I hate money, really I do. People always seem to have too much or too little of it, it's never fair." Grace said with a pout.
Jake motioned for her to get up and they stood, "Come on, let's get you to bed, you are starting to get a little cranky." He knew she was thinking of James and Caroline, who she had started calling her biological parents, because as far as she was concerned Luke and Lorelai were her real parents. Jake didn't want Grace getting anymore upset than she was, so after laying Elle in her crib, he quickly took her to bed.
…
The next day
A very frustrated Jake and Grace walked into the diner and went to join Lorelai who was sitting at a table with Elle. Lorelai took one look at their faces and knew things hadn't gone well, "I take it you didn't find anything?"
"There is no good daycare center, home daycare nothing. Everything is dirty and smelly and has fifty million germ infested kids running around sticking their hands in power outlets and beating the crap out of each other." Grace said as she plopped down into the chair.
"Was it really that bad?" Lorelai asked Jake.
"It really was, we literally went to every place in Stars Hollow and found nothing."
"What about the lady who watches Davey and Martha? Didn't Sookie give you her name?"
"She did, and we went and she was the only wonderful one we saw, but she didn't have any openings. Our name is on a waiting list, but who knows how long it will be." Grace told Lorelai.
Lorelai tried to think of more options, "What about your family? Could one of them watch her?"
Grace rolled her eyes, "Yeah, let me just go drop my daughter off at the Bennett's, that'll turn out well."
"Hey grumpy, I didn't mean them. What about Alyssa?"
Grace shook her head, "That's almost 2 hours of commuting each day and Alyssa isn't even home most of the time. When she's not off with Matthew and the kids on some business trip she has her own things to do."
"I'm sure something will turn up, and until it does you can bring Elle to work with you." Lorelai offered.
Grace smiled, "Thanks Lorelai, I appreciate that."
Jake stood up, "We've got more to look at in some other cities so we are going to go up and get back to work."
"Ok, do you need me to watch Elle for a little bit longer?"
"That would be great! Just bring her up whenever you get sick of her." Grace said.
Lorelai lifted Elle out of her highchair, "That will never happen, not with this cute little baby."
Grace and Jake went upstairs while Lorelai continued talking to Grace. Once she was done talking, she walked over to the counter and held Elle before Luke.
Lorelai began speaking for Elle, "Excuse me Popi, we need some more food."
Luke gave Lorelai a look, "Lorelai you just ate how can you be hung-" He stopped himself, "You know what, never mind. More food coming up! No coffee for you though."
"Good because this kid is definitely yours and the smell of coffee makes me sick." Lorelai said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
Luke rolled his eyes, "You'll live through another 8 months."
"No I won't! I'm going to die, Luke, die!" Lorelai said in her typical dramatic way.
Luke handed her a plate of food; "You'll live. Now go eat."
"Thank you Popi!" Lorelai said, speaking for Elle again.
…
Davis' Apartment
Grace sat nervously watching Jake as he was talking on the phone. They had just gotten a call from Lisa, the woman who runs the daycare that Davey and Martha go to. Grace went and sat right beside him, putting her face next to his to try and listen to the conversations, but all she could hear was Jake's responses.
"Uh huh, yeah. I understand, it's great that it worked out for them though. Well, thanks for the offer and we will see you Monday!" As Jake said this Grace squealed with joy.
Jake hung up the phone; "She's in! One of her families is moving and they have an immediate opening, she can start on Monday."
…
Monday morning
Lisa's house
Grace stood in the doorway tightly clinging to Elle, Jake stood beside her and put a hand on her back to lead her in the house, "Come on babe, we have to go in sometime."
Grace took a deep breath and slowly walked in the door and in to the room where Lisa and a few children were playing, and Jake kept a reassuring hand on her back.
Lisa stood and greeted them, "Hi Grace, Hi Jake. Good to see you guys again." She knelt down so she was face to face with Elle and gave her tummy a little tickle, "Hi Elle, how are you today?"
Elle giggled, and Lisa reached to take her from Grace. Grace reluctantly handed Elle to Lisa and started giving her all kinds of instructions. Lisa smiled and reassured Grace that everything would be fine, just to help calm her, she recited back all of the phone numbers that Grace left for her in case of an emergency.
Grace was trying to figure out how she would be able to leave when Sookie walked in, after greeting everyone she quickly set down Davey and Martha's stuff and sent the kids to play.
Sookie noticed Grace standing uncomfortable off to the side, watching all the kids playing and she went over to talk to her. "The first day is always the hardest. I remember the day I first had to drop Davey off at daycare, I cried for an hour and called every 5 minutes to check up on him. I was a mess all day and I burned everything I tried to cook." She placed a hand on Grace's arm, "I know how you're feeling and I promise that she'll be fine and you'll be back to get her before you know it."
Grace blinked away a few tears, "Thanks Sook. I guess we better get to work."
Sookie looped an arm through Grace's, "I guess you're right. Do you want a ride?"
Grace smiled for the first time that morning, "That would be great," She paused for a moment, "And we'll be back soon, right?"
Sookie smiled and nodded her head and together they headed off to work.
A/N2: Welcome back! I'm excited to be writing this again! I'm still looking for more ideas for it, so if you have any please send them my way! I know this chapter was a lot of Grace and Jake, but just like I promised it will follow the other characters more. Also, just a warning there is quite a bit of Grace again in chapter 2, but plenty of everyone else and some good Gilmore drama! Thanks for reading and please review!