It was a magical twenty-four hours that Rory Gilmore couldn't wait to write about.
The town square of Stars Hollow looked exactly like it's name; a starry hollow. The twinkling lights that Kirk had hung in the trees reflected off of the fall leaves, giving the brisk evening a magical glow. Laughter and music flowed through the town, smiles on everyone's face due to the fact that the town sweethearts were finally married.
The newly weds sat on the top step of the gazebo, lost in each others' company, yet not saying anything at all. Resting her head on her husband's shoulder, the blue eyed Mrs. Lorelai Gilmore-Danes played with her partner's hands; perfectly content.
At the punch bowl was Emily Gilmore, trying her first taste of Miss Patty's infamous punch. She laughed loudly with Patty and Babette, all so exasperated that it had taken this long for the inn owner and the diner owner to tie the knot. With her new home along the coast and her first job, Emily was the happiest either Lorelai had seen her since Richard passed away.
Across the square stood the youngest Gilmore Girl stood, leaning heavily against a tree.
The water glass in her hand was half full, and she couldn't bring herself to finish it. Her stomach had been acting strangely ever since she discovered what was growing in there. She had been eating healthily, had stopped craving junk food...
And she just really wanted coffee.
Leaving her spot standing against a tree, she turned to go into Luke's, when she collided with someone's shoulder. She stumbled, Jess Mariano held out his arm to steady her. His warm hand kept wrapped around her upper arm for a good three seconds longer than needed, but neither of them cared.
"Are you okay?" He asked, his dark eyes soft as he looked at her.
"I'm going to get some coffee." She responded, ignoring his question. She couldn't be sure if she was okay or not. Her whole world was about to change. She began walking until she noticed that he had stayed where he stood. "Are you not coming?"
"As you wish." He smiled and looked down at his shoes before going after her. "Although, you are aware that Lorelai actually got Luke to close the diner today. That means no coffee."
"Oh darn." She says sarcastically. "If only someone, anyone, knew where Lucas Danes kept his spare key." She sent a wicked smile to the man next to her and laughed as they reached the steps to the diner.
"You are becoming more and more like your mother every day, Lorelai Leigh." Jess told her as he reached above the door frame for the spare key and let them in. Rory's good spirits dropped immediately.
She knew that he meant nothing by the comment. Hell, he didn't even know what was going on at the moment. But there was something about those words coming out of Jess' mouth that completely broke her. Tears started to fall down her face at an uncontrollable speed.
Jess didn't notice until he filled the machine with coffee grounds and turned around. As he saw the girl he has cared for most of his life shudder and shake with tears and briefly felt the familiar urge to flee. Only he wouldn't.
He couldn't afford to leave again.
Taking a few quiet steps towards her, he rested his hands on her slight shoulders, rubbing small circles on her neck with his thumbs. He waits in that position until her breathing regulates.
"Hey, hey it's okay." He tells her. "I get it, things are changing and it's scary, but you can handle it. I know you can."
"How do you know?" She asks, resting a hand on her stomach. "How do you know I'll get through this?"
He smiles softly, and despite himself, fifteen years of affection shows in his eyes as she stares back up at him. Her eyes show a level of pure admiration, and an even higher level of respect.
"Because you're Rory Gilmore." He says, still smiling. "You were behind at Chilton and you graduated top of your class. You dropped out of Yale and you still managed to make it onto Obama's campaign. The memoir you're writing is going to be fantastic and you have people who care about you; your mom, your grandma, Luke, Stars Hollow." He paused for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to add himself. Rory noticed the omission of his caring for her, and for some reason, that upset her.
"And do you care for me at all?" Her voice was questioning as though she wasn't sure, but her blue eyes were lit up by the light from outside the diner, sending Jess back to when he was seventeen years old when things between them were good. He smiled softly, resting his forehead against hers.
"What makes you think that I don't care about you?"
"Not care" She whispered, remembering a time long ago at her house when they had a similar conversation. Only back then, the man in front of her was trying to convince her of the opposite. "But care care."
"After all this time I'd think you'd know the answer to that." Her lips parted slightly, her breath blowing against his chin. She looked at him as if nothing had changed from when they were young, she looked at his lips and realized that everything had.
Jess stood still, afraid that if he were to move too quickly he might frighten her off. His hands, that were still on her shoulders, shifted slowly so that they were on her back. One moved down to her lower back, pulling her closer than she already was.
"Jess..." Rory sighed, reaching up to touch his face, her fingers tracing the lines on his skin. He pushed his cheek into her palm, closing his eyes slightly. She was still crying, wondering why she didn't notice before she still felt something for this man.
"Rory..." He was staring at her softly, but with an intensity that she hadn't experience since she was nineteen and he was a young boy asking her to run away with him. He leaned in closer so their lips could brush together, and when she didn't protest he deepened the kiss.
She felt the cool edge of the diner counter across her back as he pressed her against it. Jess detached his lips from her mouth and found her neck instead. Feeling his warm mouth on her skin was not something she ever planned on feeling again. She wound her fingers into his long hair and smiled.
For the first time in a while, Rory Gilmore was happy.
But she knew that she needed to tell him before they took things too far.
Before they did something they could never take back.
"Jess." She said, her voice coming out breathless. He mistook the sound for a cry of pleasure and pressed his lips to hers again. "Jess."
"Don't." He whispered, refusing to look her in the eye. "Don't."
"Don't what?" She asked curiously, pulling away from him, not understanding where his hurt expression was coming from.
"Don't try to come up with some excuse to get past this." He said. "I can't get past this. You are it for me. You always have been. You can't just let me kiss you and then pretend like you didn't feel anything!"
"That is not what I was going to say." She said a little forcefully.
"That is what you always say Rory." He snapped, stepping back from her. "You come back into my life at these random, sporadic times, and send me back to when I was seventeen years old and hung up on you and then you tell me that I'm not the one you choose, or that you're in love with someone else and I just can't do this anymore."
He turned to leave, walking towards the door. He shook his head, he should have learned by now that Rory Gilmore is always going to be out of his reach. He should distance himself now before he ended up like his uncle and pining for the girl for a decade. Too late.
"Jess." She cried, not wanting to see him go too. "Jess!"
"What?" He asked, barely turning towards her.
"I'm pregnant."