Thank you for all your support so far! I'm feeling happier about this sequel now and I'm glad you all seem to be as well. :) Here's the next chapter!
Chapter 2
Charlotte woke up on Christmas morning. She smiled across at Jess in their bed but then suddenly got up and sprinted to the bathroom, just in time to throw up in the toilet. She groaned as she brought up the contents of her stomach. This wasn't how she wanted to start Christmas morning. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and she froze, thinking it might be Jess. She couldn't tell him yet. She had an idea about how to but she didn't want it to be like this.
"Charlotte?" A voice said.
She relaxed when she heard it was Rory. She quickly washed her face and swilled her mouth with water before opening the door. "Sorry, I didn't realise anyone was up." She said.
"On Christmas Day? Really?" Rory laughed.
Charlotte laughed." Yeah I guess you're right." She said before suddenly having to run to the toilet again.
"Whoa, are you ok?" Rory said concerned rushing to her sister's aid.
"Yeah...I..uh...I probably just ate too much junk food yesterday." Charlotte said.
"We can never eat too much junk food." Rory joked.
"Well what else..." She started before throwing up again. "Urgh..." She groaned.
"Seriously are you ok?" Rory said worried.
"I'm fine. Like I said, probably too much junk food." Charlotte said, feeling a bit better and getting up.
"You didn't even eat that much last night." Rory frowned. "Hang on..." She said.
"What?" Charlotte said.
""You turned down coffee yesterday..."
"So?"
"And the last time you threw up this much was when you were pregnant with Jack." She commented. Rory saw Charlotte freeze and her eyes widened. "Oh my god!" She exclaimed.
"Shhhhh!" Charlotte begged.
"Charlotte, are you...?" Rory exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes ok! Yes I am but I haven't told Jess yet. I have a plan to tell him so please don't say anything before I tell him. Please Ror?" Charlotte begged.
"Aw Charlie, this is amazing!" Rory said beaming and going to hug her. "Isn't it?" Rory checked.
Charlotte smiled. "Well I think so." She said softly. "Just promise me you won't say anything. I'm going to tell Jess today and then I'll tell everyone but I want Jess to know first."
"Of course. I won't say a word." Rory promised.
"Thank you." Charlotte said relieved.
"Congratulations sis." Rory smiled softly, giving her another hug.
"Thank you." Charlotte smiled softly.
Luke, Lorelai, Charlotte, Jess, Rory, Sam, Mia and Jack were all gathered in the living room later that morning having opened all the present. Everyone was very pleased about what they have received and Mia and Jack were happily playing with their presents on the floor. Charlotte sat on the couch, smiling as she watched Jess get down on the floor and play with Jack with some of the remote control cars they had gotten him. She saw Rory watching her and she exchanged a small smile with her, both thinking about the same thing. Charlotte then tried to hide her smile as she saw Sam follow Lorelai into the kitchen, knowing he had been trying to find a time to talk to her about proposing to Rory.
Just then the doorbell rang and Charlotte got up. "That'll be dad." She said. "Let's go meet our new mommy." She grinned.
Rory laughed and got up with her and followed her to the door.
"Hey!" Charlotte smiled as she opened the door and saw their dad. "Hey Gigi! Merry Christmas!" She smiled at their younger sister.
"Merry Christmas!" Gigi said excitedly.
"There are presents for you in the other room. You can go on through if you want and open them." Rory smiled.
"Can I, dad?" Gigi asked excitedly, looking up at Chris.
"Of course." Chris smiled watching her rush off. "So..uh..I guess we should do introductions..." He said nervously. "Penny, these are my daughters, Charlotte and Rory."
"It's nice to finally meet you." Penny smiled sincerely at them.
"You too." Rory said.
"Yeah, we were starting to think you were made up." Charlotte joked.
Penny laughed. "Well I could say the same about you two." She joked, her eyes twinkling.
"I like her." Charlotte grinned at her dad.
"I'm so glad." Chris said dryly.
Rory laughed. "It's cool you could come today. Come on inside." She said.
"After you." Chris chuckled.
That afternoon, everyone was finishing off their Christmas dinner in the living room. "So Luke, April's coming tomorrow right?" Rory asked.
"Yeah." Luke smiled. "She's with her mom today but she's coming to us for a few days tomorrow."
"That's cool! I was worried she wouldn't visit until New Year and I wouldn't get to see her before we have to leave." Rory said.
"When are you heading back?" Chris asked.
"New Year's Day." Rory said.
"Ok well, if you two are up for it, Penny and I would love to take you out for a meal before you go." Chris said.
"Cool!" Rory smiled.
"So you're up for it?" He asked happily.
"Sure." She nodded.
"Charlie?" Chris said.
"I'm up for it." She nodded.
"Ok good." He smiled, pleased.
"So, Penny, you work with Chris right?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah." Penny nodded.
"Are you his boss?" She grinned.
"Ha no!" Penny laughed. "That would be a bit weird. We're just colleagues."
"It's still weird hearing about Chris having an actual job and doing work." Lorelai teased.
"Thanks Lor." Chris shook his head.
"Well...you don't have the best track record." She grinned.
"And there's the cue to wash up." Luke smirked. "Chris, want to escape to the kitchen?"
"Please." He nodded, getting up. "You better not discuss me when I'm out of the room."
"Would we?" Penny said innocently.
Lorelai grinned. "I like her."
"Totally!" Charlotte grinned.
"You two are too alike." Chris gestured between them, shaking his head.
"Right, let's let the guys wash up and why don't we head outside the back with the kids? Let them run around a bit. We could build snowmen and have snowball fights!" Lorelai said, getting up. "And we can finish swapping notes on Chris."
"Sounds like a plan." Penny laughed.
"Girls?" Lorelai said.
"I'm up for it." Rory said.
"Yeah I'll be right out." Charlotte said. "I just want to talk to Jess about something first."
"Ok." Lorelai smiled.
"Can I go out mommy?" Jack asked excitedly.
"Of course! And then I'll beat you in a snowball fight." Charlotte grinned.
"No, I always beat you!" Jack grinned, starting to follow Lorelai, Penny and Mia.
"Put your coat, hat, scarf, gloves and boots on first." Jess said.
"But daddy..." Jack groaned.
"No discussion." Jess said.
"Fine." Jack grumbled following Lorelai.
"I'll go help Luke and Chris wash up and then I'll meet you outside." Sam told Rory.
"Ok. Don't be too long." Rory smiled giving him a kiss.
"I won't." He smiled disappearing through to the kitchen.
Jess glanced at Charlotte. "So you wanted to talk to me about something?" He said.
"Yeah...well, I wanted to give you something actually." Charlotte said reaching right to the back of the tree and then handing him two gifts. "Last two presents." She smiled.
"You didn't have to get me anything else. I feel bad now." Jess said.
"Nah don't be silly. This is...well...just open them and you'll see." She said, biting her lip nervously.
Meanwhile, Sam had joined Luke and Chris in the kitchen and was washing dishes in the sink. "So..uh..since you're both here together...I wanted to talk to you about something." He said nervously.
"What about?" Chris asked.
"Well...I've already asked Lorelai but I know it's tradition to ask the dad. And well since you are Rory's dad..." He said glancing at Chris. "And I know Rory respects your opinion as well and you're her step dad..." Sam said. He took a nervous pause as he saw them looking at him, waiting for him to continue. "I love Rory and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. And I...uh...I would very much like to ask for your blessing for me to ask her to marry me..." He managed to get out.
Chris and Luke were taken aback and didn't know what to say.
"So?" Sam said getting worried.
"You've talked to Lorelai about this?" Luke said slowly.
"This morning." Sam nodded.
"And what did she say?" Chris asked.
"That I could ask..." He said cautiously. "Look, I respect both of you and I know you both want the best for Rory but I really do love her. I promise that I will never hurt her and always look out for her."
Luke and Chris exchanged a glance. "Well...if Lorelai said yes, who are we to stand in the way?" Luke said.
"But I want your blessing. It means a lot to me and I know it would mean a lot to Rory." Sam insisted.
"Well you've got it from me." Chris said. "You make Rory happy and that's all I want for her."
"Thank you." Sam said relieved. He glanced at Luke. "So?"
"You've got the mother and father's blessing. You hardly need mine." Luke shrugged.
"I still want it." Sam said. "For so many years, you were Rory's father figure. She loves you and I know that if she knew you were for this, she'd hesitate about saying yes."
Luke sighed. "Look, I like you Sam. I know Rory loves you but I just don't get why you need my blessing."
"Because since my dad died, I haven't had a father figure until I reconnected with Jess and met you. And if I get your blessings and Rory says yes when I ask, I want you stood up there with me." Sam said sincerely.
Luke was stunned that Sam thought about him like that. "Uh...well yeah, you can ask her..." He said.
"Really? I have your blessing?" Sam said relieved.
"You have my blessing." Luke nodded.
"Thank you." He said sincerely. "Both of you."
Jess opened the first of his two presents from Charlotte. He held up a t-shirt and read the writing on the front, Congratulations daddy! He looked at Charlotte confused. "What?"
"Open the next one." Charlotte said nervously.
Jess opened the smaller second one which was a rectangular box. He opened it and was quiet as he took out the contents of it. A pregnancy stick. He glanced at her. "You're..." He said surprised.
"Two lines mean positive so...yeah." She said nervously. "And before you ask, I did three other ones just to make sure."
"You're pregnant..." Jess said softly.
"Yeah.." Charlotte said quietly. "Are...are you happy?" She said nervously.
"Are you kidding?" Jess exclaimed, getting up. "You're having my baby again! We're going to be parents again!" His face broke out into a grin.
"I know!" Charlotte beamed getting up as well.
"You're definitely pregnant?" Jess said.
"I'm definitely pregnant." Charlotte smiled softly.
Jess took her by surprise by hugging her and spinning her round. "I love you so much!" He said giving her a loving kiss.
"I love you too." She laughed. "So you're happy?"
"Happy? No. Ecstatic? Probably doesn't cut it." He grinned.
Charlotte let out a breath, not knowing why her eyes filled up with tears. "Jack's going to have a sibling."
"He's going to be so excited. Have you told him yet?" Jess asked.
"No. I haven't told anyone. Well, Rory found out but that's only because she found me throwing up this morning and what with me turning coffee down yesterday, she put two and two together." Charlotte admitted. "But I wanted us to tell Jack together."
"It's fine." Jess smiled. "We should tell him before everyone else though."
"I agree." She nodded. "Let's head outside now and we can tell him after." She smiled.
"Sounds good." Jess nodded.
They headed outside to the back porch and they smiled as they watched Jack running round in the snow happily, Luke, Chris and Sam having joined everyone else. Charlotte stood on the porch watching her son, smiling. She felt Jess' hand hold hers. She glanced at him and smiled softly. "This has been a pretty good Christmas day right?" She said softly.
"It outranks any for me." Jess said sincerely.
Charlotte leant her head on his shoulder. "I can't wait." She said softly.
"Me neither." Jess smiled. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas." Charlotte smiled. She then got a glint in her eye and picked up a handful of snow and throwing it at him.
"Oh that's how you're playing it huh?" Jess smirked. "Ok, it's on!"
"You'll have to catch me first!" She laughed before running off towards everyone else, Jess in hot pursuit.
So I hope you liked it! :) Let me know what you think! :) Thanks again for your support! :)
