This story seemed to get a good response, and I thought I should continue. I hope you all enjoy it. And yes it is a little angsty, but I promise, it will and does get better. I just decided to start a story off this way. Try to experiment with my writing. So thank you for reading. And I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as the last one!

The rain never ceased throughout the long painful night. A sudden flash of lightning and crash of thunder woke Jess from his sleep. He cringed as he moved his neck, sleeping in a chair was not the wisest thing to do. Immediately his gaze fell on Rory. She looked so fragile and the guilt flooded over him again. He sighed and looked at the clock. It was four in the morning.

"I'm so sorry." Jess whispered, kissing Rory's cheek. Jess, not wanting to cry, held back the imminent tears forming in his eyes. Rory stirred a little and Jess instantly became alert.

"Jess?" Rory weakly whispered.

"I'm here. I'm here Rory, what's wrong? Do you need anything?" Jess soothingly said, taking her small hand in his, careful not to hurt her.

"No. Just you. Why are you up?" Rory's voice was barely audible.

"Thunder woke me up. I couldn't fall back asleep." Jess shrugged.

"I'm sorry Jess." Rory replied. Jess didn't expect that from her at all, he was the one that should have been apologizing, he caused all of this. At least, that's how he felt.

"For what? You have nothing to be sorry about." Jess caressed Rory's face.

"For lying, for not telling you about the…for not telling you. If I would have, you probably wouldn't have let me go out, and I wouldn't be here like this. It's all my fault." Rory sobbed.

"No Rory, it's not your fault. It's my fault. You were right, I work too much, and if we hadn't fought, you'd be with me, at home. We would have been in bed." Jess wanted to take away Rory's guilt, it wasn't hers to have.

"It's no one's fault. It was a freak accident. I love you Jess, no matter what happened or happens." Rory quietly said. Jess smiled slightly and kissed her.

"I love you too. And I'm going to take good care of you."

Rory smiled and closed her eyes, sleep taking over her almost instantly.

"…and we will have a baby." Jess whispered, once he knew she was asleep. He didn't want to upset her more.

- - -

2 weeks later, Jess was able to take Rory home. They told her to take it easy and relax. No work and she should move as little as possible for the first few weeks. Rory called The Philadelphia Inquirer and told them she wouldn't be able to come in for a few weeks, but that she'd gladly work from home. Doing whatever she could from the internet.

Jess knew that time away from work would kill Rory, so he wanted to support her. He called Truncheon and told Matt and Chris to run the place, and if they absolutely needed him, then they should call. Otherwise he would be working from home until Rory could go back to work and take care of herself.

It was a perfect opportunity to finish his book without having to be at Truncheon all day then come home to work more. He could focus on the book and push away the thought of Chris and Matt letting the store burn to the ground. Jess shuddered at the thought and decided to call them up to threaten them.

"Truncheon Books. Matt speaking."

"Matt. You better make sure Chris doesn't do anything stupid to let Truncheon burn down or name the bar something stupid. We make those decisions together, and I don't want to get a phone call from the police or fire station to find out that our way of earning income is gone. Got that? I leave you in charge and fully responsible, and only call if it's an emergency. I plan on finishing this book and I need peace and quiet. I will make surprise visits to make sure things aren't crazy there. If I go and find anything at all that looks like you forgot to do something or you try to repaint anything, you will get an earful, and not just a normal one, I'll give you the full Jess Mariano earful. Got it?" Jess took a deep breath at the end of his rant and waited for a response from Matt.

"Worse than that one?" Matt's smirk was clearly heard over the phone.

"Did you not listen to a word I said?" Jess angrily asked.

"I heard all of it, you just need to relax pal, I'll keep things in order. Chris will be on a leash, I swear! So don't worry, and it's great that you are planning on finishing your book. So just worry about that and Rory. Everything will be fine here. No fires, no remodeling, no painting, no stupid BAR NAMES!" Matt shouted the last part for Chris to hear.

"Hey!" Chris shouted in the background.

Jess and Matt chuckled. "So just trust me man. Everything will be just fine. Swell. Great. Amazing…"

"Ok, ok I get it. I'll talk to you guys later. Behave! Tell Chris that." Jess chuckled and hung up.

Rory was wobbling into the living room when Jess hung up the phone.

"What was that all about?" Rory asked curiously.

"Rory, you aren't supposed to be walking around by yourself, you should have called me." Jess sternly replied. He couldn't hide his concern for her.

Rory sighed, frustrated. "I hate feeling so helpless and like an invalid. I can take care of myself."

"I know you can, but you have to take it easy these first few weeks, remember? I don't want anything else to happen to you. Just take it easy please." Jess sympathetically said.

Rory saw the concern and love in his eyes and sighed. "Ok. But just cuz I love you so much and I know you want the best for me. I guess I should check my email to see what the paper wants me to do. I don't think it'll be much."

Jess carefully pulled her closer to him and kissed her. Rory smiled and Jess smirked.

"Get to work." Rory playfully commanded.

"Yes ma'am!" Jess saluted and began typing furiously. Rory giggled and watched him write. "You know it's not very easy to concentrate with you staring at me like that."

"I know, so you better get used to it." Rory grinned, but flinched.

"Rory?" Jess set his laptop back down and moved closer to her.

"It's nothing, just a few pains here and there, apparently grinning isn't the wisest thing to do right now."

Jess frowned. "I'm sorry."

"Don't do this again. It's not your fault, it's not my fault. We just have to deal with this." Rory's voice got quieter at the last part.

Jess knew what she was thinking about. "Rory, we will have kids. I promise you."

"But the doctor's said we may never be able to have any. What kind of hope is that?" Rory sniffled.

"Don't listen to them, screw them! This is about us, not them. We, I, will make sure it happens. Even if I have to work extra hard." Jess smirked and looked at Rory. Rory blushed and giggled.

"I don't know Jess, I hope so."

"We will. No ands, ifs of buts. Just drop it. I will take care of it." Jess turned serious again.

"Oh, so you get to have all the fun?" Rory teased.

"I never meant that, I…"

"I was just teasing you." Rory laughed. She took a breath and closed her eyes. "I love you. You know that? You always know what to say."

"Well I'm a writer, I have a way with words…and I love you too. So much."

"Hey, I'm a writer too!" Rory pouted.

"Yes, but I'm a novelist." Jess pointed out.

"I could write a novel if I wanted! But I'll leave it to you. But only cuz I know that you write better novels than I ever could."

Jess smiled. "Oh you're too kind." Jess placed his hand on his chest as if flattered by Rory's comment. Rory playfully slapped him.

"Ow! You can't hit me! I'm a writer!"

"Whatever." Rory rolled her eyes and smiled. "Now write!"

Jess nodded and kissed her.

- - -

A few hours later Jess was finished with two chapters. He glanced over at Rory and saw her asleep next to him on the couch. He smiled and saved his documents, turned off his laptop, and got up to get Rory a blanket. He covered her and grabbed his cell phone. He decided to call Luke. He needed to talk. Wow, he never thought he'd ever think or say that.

He dialed Luke and Lorelai's number and waiting as the phone rang.

"Hello? Gilmore-Danes residence." Lorelai answered in a sing-song voice.

"Lorelai. Is Luke there?"

"Jessie! What is up sonny?"

Jess rolled his eyes. "Oh not too much ma'am."

Lorelai gasped. "What did mommy tell you about calling her ma'am? It's a no-no."

"But it's the polite thing to do."

"No. Not if mommy says it's not."

Jess chuckled. "Mom, can I please talk to my uncle?"

"Fine." Lorelai sighed. "Lucas! Phone for you!" he heard Lorelai yell.

Jess rolled his eyes again and smirked.

"Yeah?" Luke's gruff voice answered.

"Uncle Luke."

"Jess? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just needed to talk."

"Ok go ahead." Luke replied.

"Is there any hope for us? Me and Rory I mean."

"Hope for what?"

"Kids." Jess sighed.

"Ah." Luke went silent for a minute. "Jess, I think that you and Rory went through a lot. It took a lot for you to get together and you have a complicated history. Nothing is easy for you two. And with this thing going on here, it's just a complication. But because it's you two, I really think you will be able to have kids."

"Wow, that was a lot from you. I need a second to digest this moment." Jess teased, but took in everything he had said.

"Jess." Luke sighed exasperated.

"I know, I know. I was just teasing you Uncle Luke." He sighed. "I guess you're right though. Nothing has ever been easy for us. It's just hard to see Rory feeling so hopeless. She doesn't see it working and I don't know what to do."

"Well I think that it will just take time for her. Maybe Lorelai could talk to her." Luke suggested.

"Maybe, but I don't know what good that will do."

"Yeah, it's just something she has to deal with herself." Luke didn't know what else to say.

"Jeez, when did you get so deep and philosophical?" Jess asked.

"It comes and goes." Luke joked. They both chuckled.

"Thanks Uncle Luke. I guess I'll go now. Make sure Rory's doing ok and doesn't need anything."

"Alright Jess. I'll talk to you soon. And, don't stress about this ok?"

"Ok."

"Bye."

"Bye." Jess hung up and walked back to Rory. This would not be easy, but they will get through it. He sat down on the couch, careful not to wake Rory, and turned on the TV. Heroes was on, but he didn't know what was happening. He couldn't focus.

He got up and found his Ipod and turned it on. Maybe listening to music would be better. He set his Ipod on shuffle and waited for the music to start. The first song that played was "Guns of Brixton". He smiled at the memory and closed his eyes.

- - -

Jess had been asleep for half an hour when he felt a gentle touch on his face. He moved and opened his eyes slowly. Rory's smiling face was the first thing he saw. He smiled back and sat up.

"Hey there sleepy."

"How long have I been out?"

"I don't know. I woke up about twenty minutes ago and you were out of it." Rory replied.

"Oh. How are you feeling?" Jess asked.

"Fine. My mom called. We talked." Rory shrugged.

"You did. When did she call?"

"About ten minutes ago."

"Huh."

"Jess." Rory scorned.

"What? I'm not going to go all monosyllabic on you." Jess defended.

"Ok. I believe you."

"So what did your mom say?" Jess wanted to see if she talked to Rory about their issue.

"Not much. Just checked up on me. Asked how I was doing. Asked about us."

"Us?"

"Yeah, just about what we were planning. If we wanted to try…you know?"

"What did you tell her?"

"That we were going to try, but that it's unlikely." Rory bitterly replied.

"Ror, don't stress about it. Don't worry, let me. Ok?" Jess hugged her.

"Ok."

"Now, are you hungry?"

"Do you have to ask?" Rory looked at Jess with her eyebrows raised.

Jess laughed. "I guess not. Pizza sound good? I'm too tired to cook."

"Lazy." Rory mumbled and playfully smirked. "Pizza sounds great!"

Thought I'd end this chapter with cute bantering. Hope you all liked it. I am trying to make Jess be the one with hope and Rory not...but truth is, Jess is struggling as much as Rory is, which will be discovered in probably the next chapter. Him confiding in Luke shows that he is vulnerable too, he just wants to be strong for Rory. Well let me know what you think so far...and let me know what you want to happen in this story...I do consider and even use some of the ideas I get. So be kind, review! :)

Thanks,

Bethany