Author's note: I am in the process of rewriting bits of the chapters I already have and writing new ones. Read the AN in chapter one for more info. Reviews are appreciated!
Disclaimer: I don't own the show. I own Libby and any other original characters that come along.
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"You cannot be serious," Jess said.
"I am. And I am so, so, so, sorry Jess. Rory said you knew. She had this whole elaborate story about telling you and I didn't believe her but I didn't know what to do."
"I didn't know. Rory never called me; she never told me she was pregnant. Somebody else could've called for her! Didn't I deserve to know? How could she do that to me? I would think that she of all people would want their baby's father around. Or does she not care? You said she's in London with that asshole. She just up and left her baby with no parents? Without even telling me about her? What the fuck. Who the hell does that?"
Jess handed Libby over to Lorelai and stood up "I'll be back; I just…I need to get some fresh air before all my blood rushes to my head." He walked over to the door and pulled it open a little too forcefully. He pulled his coat on and slammed the door.
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Jess was pissed. How dare Rory have their baby and not tell him. How dare she abandon their baby. Jess walked to the one place he could stand in this crazy town, the bridge. He plopped down, his feet dangling over the edge, and stared at the ice covered pond before him. He groped around his coat pockets before he found his cigarettes. He pulled one out and lit it; he hoped the nicotine would help calm him down.
He thought about what Lorelai said, how Rory had made him seem like the bad guy, he hadn't thought it was possible but at that moment he hated Rory. Could she have been anymore selfish? He exhaled through his nose, blowing out smoke, and leaned back so his head was on the cold wood of the bridge. He heard someone walking but stayed where he was, and shut his eyes.
"Jesus Christ," he said to himself.
"Hey," Lorelai said, scaring him.
Jess sat up to see Lorelai standing next to him with a stroller. "Isn't it a little cold out here for a baby?"
She smiled, "Overprotective daddy already? And no, she has a snowsuit on and like 3 blankets. It's probably seventy degrees in there," she said, pointing to the stroller. Lorelai pushed down the lock on the stroller wheel and sat down next to Jess.
"What happened?" Jess asked.
Lorelai sighed. "It's a long story. You want the whole thing?"
He nodded yes.
"Okay," Lorelai continued. "I'll give you Rory's version. About five weeks after she went to see you, she told me that she was pregnant. I assumed it was Logan's baby but she said that he had been out of town on some stupid death club stunt at the time and they had been having some issues before that, so there was no way it was his, if you get what I'm saying."
He nodded again.
"She told me about the invitation she had gotten from you and that she had gone to Philadelphia to see you. She gave me the G-rated version of what happened but I know how babies are made so it's not like she had to explain it. I asked her if she told you, if the two of you were going to work together and try to make it work, I know your dad skipped out when you were a baby so I knew you'd at least try at this whole parenting thing. She said she told you. She said she called you and told you and you told her off. She said you didn't believe her, you thought the baby was Logan's and even if it was yours, you didn't want anything to do with it."
Jess scoffed, "That is not true at all. I haven't heard from Rory or Luke or anyone from here since that night."
"I know. I didn't believe her and she knew that but she told everyone her story anyway. And I mean everyone; every single person in this town has heard that damn story at least twice. I guess she thought it would come true or she'd believe it if she told it as many times as she could. Oh, and Logan. My God. She told Logan that she was having someone else's baby and he told her now they were even and she couldn't bring up him cheating on her when they were on a break and she agreed. She told me that and I was ready to call up Jeff VanVonderen for a Logan intervention."
"Cause you love her like crazy?"
"Yeah, and Ken Seeley creeps me out so I wouldn't want him to do it. He's so sweaty looking."
"She had nine months to contact me. Was I that terrible of a boyfriend that I didn't deserve to know that she was having my baby?"
Lorelai put a hand on his back to try to comfort him. "Honestly Jess, I think she was in denial. She didn't want to believe that she was pregnant. I think she tried to pretend it wasn't happening. She wouldn't talk about it, she only went to the doctor after I practically forced her into it and I had to drive her to all of her appointments. She didn't buy anything for Libby, she didn't come up with names, she wouldn't wear maternity clothes; she wouldn't do anything. She just acted like she wasn't pregnant. She stayed at Yale; she finished up the semester in December and then moved home. She went into labor on January third, Libby was born that night. I went to talk to her after she gave birth and that's when she told me she was moving.
She wanted Luke and I to take the baby. We could pick out her name, buy all the stuff she needed, we could do everything. She literally wanted nothing to do with her. She wouldn't even hold her. Libby was so tiny; she only weighed four and a half pounds when she was born, she was healthy though, just small. I went out the next day and bought everything we'd need. Libby came home the day after and Rory went and stayed at Logan's apartment in New York. She left the next day and I've heard from her once. She emailed me to tell me that Logan proposed and she accepted. I haven't heard from her since."
Jess stubbed out what was left of his cigarette and tossed it into the pond.
"Ooh, Taylor's gonna kill you!"
He rolled his eyes. "Do you want to know what really happened?"
"Very much so."
"Rory showed up at the open house and surprised me. I wasn't expecting her; I only sent the invitation to be nice. When everyone left she was still there. We sat down and started talking. She told me things were over with Logan, not officially, but she said she knew that they would never work. I don't know why but I kissed her. When I pulled away to apologize, she kissed me back. We wound up going to my room but I didn't really want to take things farther. It was all her, she said it was fine, that she was on the pill or patch or something," he paused, not sure what would be considered too much information.
"The next morning I woke up and she was gone. There was a note taped to my door. She said it was a mistake, she realized that she loved Logan and needed to work things out with him. That was the last time I've heard from her. That was the last time I've seen or talked to Luke too. I'm assuming he wouldn't take my calls because of the baby."
Lorelai nodded. "Rory wouldn't let us get a hold of you. She said you turned her away once and she "couldn't deal with being turned away again". I tried to get your email address or phone number but Luke wouldn't give them to me. He said we needed to respect Rory's wishes. He agrees with me now but he still hasn't said we should contact you. I wanted to tell you so bad Jess. I knew you'd want to be part of Libby's life. I am so sorry you found out this way."
"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault; Rory shouldn't have done what she did. It's her fault I wasn't there. If anything I'm sorry that you had to deal with all of this. I'm sure taking in a newborn that isn't yours was hard."
"It's been the hardest on Luke. He believed Rory so he was shocked when I told him we were bringing Libby home. He's also never been around a baby so the whole waking up multiple times in the middle of the night thing is foreign territory to him but I think he's getting used to it. We're just trying to, as Tim Gunn would say, make it work."
Jess stood up abruptly, startling Lorelai. "It's getting late. You should head home. I'll go to the diner. I need some time to process all of this." He held out his hand to help her up.
"I'll come over in the morning to see Libby and Luke."
Lorelai took his hand and pulled herself up. "Okay, we'll see you then."
Jess waved goodbye and they went in opposite directions. When he got to the diner, he pulled down the extra key from its "hiding" spot and unlocked the door. He made his way through the dark diner and up the steps to the apartment where he had lived for two and a half years. This was the only place he had ever called home. It was the only place with family that cared about him and welcomed him. He dug through his old dresser and found some pajama pants and a thermal shirt that he must've left behind. He quickly swapped the clothes he had on for the pajamas and crawled into his old twin size bed.
He tried to get into a comfortable position but he couldn't. He couldn't slow his mind down either. Thoughts raced through his mind and he thought about everything Lorelai had said. There was no reason for her and Luke to raise Libby. He was fully capable of doing it himself. He had a decent paying job; he could work from home and he definitely wasn't planning on moving to London anytime soon. He glanced around the room looking for a clock until his eyes settled on the alarm clock on his dresser. He frowned when he read the time, it was only five. Lorelai would kill him if he showed up now. He knew he wasn't going to be able to fall asleep so he got up, took a hot shower and watched some TV to kill time.
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At seven thirty Jess shrugged on his coat and walked to Luke and Lorelai's. He knocked on the door and she opened it a minute later.
"Okay, we must have different definitions of morning." Lorelai said as she walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Jess followed her and sat down at the table. "I was thinking you'd be over at ten-ish, not seven thirty. I think we're going through a growth spurt here. Libby was up four times. Four! I'd fall asleep and she'd be back up twenty minutes later. I just put her down, again." She sat down and rested her head on her hand.
"That's why I'm here," Jess said. "She's my kid; you shouldn't have to do this. I want custody."
