4 – Happy Families, Etc.
"Have I mentioned how ridiculous it is to have a Christmas party weeks before Christmas?" Luke grumbled, fidgeting with his tie and scowling at his reflection in the mirror that hung over the telephone.
"Repeatedly," Lorelai said as she ran barefoot down the stairs and into the living room. "But I like seeing you in your suit and I'll take every chance I get to dress up my sausage."
"So buy the flavoured condoms," Jess grunted, carefully packing away Lily's crayons. Rory swatted his arm, laughing. "Not in front of the kids."
"Or in front of me," Luke groaned, studying Lorelai. "New dress?"
Lorelai swirled, letting the blush-coloured silk swirl around her legs. "You like?"
Luke kissed her in response, the smouldering type of kiss that usually preludes a memorable evening.
"Hey, not in front of the kids," Jess and Rory said in unison.
Lorelai broke the kiss. "Come help me find the right shoes for this dress," she said, reaching for Luke's hand.
"We'll be coming up there if you are not done in ten minutes!" Rory called as they disappeared up the stairs.
"With a garden hose!" Jess added, pausing to check if their loud voices had woken Lily. She was curled into the armchair, holding onto her stuffed dog. Rory watched him, wonderingly, still not used to this fatherly facet of Jess.
Just look how concerned he is about her. If it wasn't Jess, it would be endearing.
Jess glanced at her. From the skew smile on his face, it was clear that he knew almost exactly what she was thinking. "You ever think it would be like this?"
"What exactly in this scene of Happy Families is bugging you? Luke helping Mom pick shoes, you checking up on your child or you and me able to have a civil conversation like actual grown-ups?" Rory deflected with a smile.
Jess grinned deviously. "You don't actually think he's helping her with her shoes, do you?"
"Oh, don't be gross," Rory grimaced. "I mean, any more than you can help."
"Ouch," Jess winced. "I must say, the investigative journalism business has knocked away all your dignity and sense of decorum if you think that's part of a civil conversation."
"Says the one who brought up the flavoured condoms," Rory shot back.
"Look," Jess said, suddenly serious. "I know this situation was manageable when you were on the road and you didn't need to be confronted with me or Lily on a daily basis. She loves Luke and Lorelai and it's great that there's someone reliable to take care of Lily when I can't. She loves you, too, and it's always been great that you've been able to look after her when you're home for a weekend or so. But ... if you're back at the house for any sort of extended period, this might get ... I think 'awkward' is the word I'm looking for and I don't want you to feel like a stranger in your own house. You have any questions, you ask."
Rory blinked, feeling flabbergasted. "Wow, quite a speech for someone who used to communicate strictly in grunts."
"Some words don't translate into grunts that well."
She had been in contact with Lorelai enough to know the basics of what was a horrible, everyday story – that a group of drunk high school seniors had smashed into the car carrying Lily's hitherto unnamed mother home from the hospital; that the paramedics had been unable to save her, but that the baby had survived, cushioned from the blow by her mother's arms. Rory didn't know if Jess was in the car, if he was overwhelmed with grief, if he even knew about the pregnancy until the paramedics contacted him as the next-of-kin. All she knew that Jess, barely a grown up himself, had been confronted with the needs of a newborn, turned from a father to a single parent with one brake failure.
"Don't tell me the Inn is on fire," Lorelai mumbled into the phone, husky from the sleep she had been woken up from. "I don't ever want another late-night call like that."
"Lorelai?"
The unexpected voice had Lorelai bolt upright, the strange voice jolting her more powerfully than any cup of coffee. "Jess?"
"Lorelai, she won't stop crying. I don't know what to do, but she won't stop crying."
"Who is she?" Lorelai asked, wondering if it was the residues of sleep that made her imagine the unmistakable wail of a baby.
"My daughter, damn it, my daughter! I've fed her and I've changed her and she's not running a fever, but she won't stop crying and you're the only person I know that has managed to raise a newborn on your own without dropping her on her head." Jess sounded like he was on the verge of tears himself.
"Jess ..."
"I'm sorry, I know there's a lot of bad feelings between us and I don't expect you to go Desmond Tutu on me now, but I have no one else I can ask. Please, Lorelai. Please."
Lorelai threw the covers away from her and got up, her body moving with little input from her brain. "What about Liz?"
"You mean the woman who left me alone at a bar for three days when I was seven?"
"Okay, where are you now?" Lorelai asked.
"Home."
"Which is where?"
"Lorelai, please, just tell me what I can do ..."
"Jess, childcare is not a long-distance sport. There's a limit to what I can do for you over the phone. Tell me where you are and I'll come help you."
Rory hadn't been surprised by her mother's actions. Jess may not hold a special place in Lorelai's heart and probably never would. But no one who had been faced with the seemingly insurmountable challenge of raising a baby as a single parent would be immune to a late-night cry for help. Lorelai had convinced Jess to move back to Stars Hollow, overriding his objection against involving Liz in his child's life by pointing out that (a) Luke, April and herself would outweigh Liz's influence and (b) Doula had not been left alone, not even in the toy store, since she was born.
And so he bought a house in Stars Hollow and established a Hartford branch of Truncheon near Bushnell Park. I should be jealous of this little girl, that she could convince him to move back to Stars Hollow when I couldn't.
"Well," Rory said, for the lack of saying something else.
"And if it's weird for you to have me around here ..." Jess tugged at his hair. "I can leave Lily with Liz more."
"Don't be silly," Rory quickly said. "I don't want to drive Lily out of the house."
Jess nodded, looking relieved. Rory wondered how worried he had been about her long-term exposure to his daughter ... and wondered why he was so worried. "Hey, Jess ..."
Jess looked at her, his dark eyes as inscrutable as always.
"I was just wondering ..."
"Anything you want to, ask."
"Why did you name her Lily?" Rory blurted out, settling for a safe question instead of the one she most wanted to ask.
Jess smiled a little, looking down at his sleeping daughter. "Lilies were her mother's favourite flowers."
"Why did you move to Stars Hollow? Why not get an apartment close to your bookshop?"
"Firstly, because Stars Hollow provides a nearly infinite supply of cheap babysitters," Jess grinned, without the serious light fading from his eyes. "Secondly, because all this fresh air and community feeling is a great environment for a kid to grow up in. Not so good for a teenager, but great for keeping a little girl safe. Safer than in cities where kids disappear from their own houses. And, thirdly, because I am scared to death of screwing this up and there's no chance of that happening while Taylor, Babette, Miss Patty and your mother is watching."
"And ..." The question died on Rory's tongue as Luke and Lorelai came down the stairs. "Now that we have finally resolved the Shoe Issue, it is time to resolve the question of how to sneak a lifetime supply of divine apple tartlets from my mother's house without her noticing. I usually support the squirreling-away-items-in-the-underwear-approach, but that just seems unhygienic when food is involved," Lorelai said chirpily. "Rory, you ready to go?"
Rory nodded, her eyes not leaving Jess' face.
"Bring Lily to the diner for breakfast tomorrow," Luke told Jess, clasping his hand briefly. "I'm making cherry pancakes."
"Will do," Jess said, scooping the sleeping girl into his arms. "Thank you for taking care of her today, Rory."
"No thanks necessary, Jess," Rory smiled.
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"Congratulations on your newest job description, Rory," Richard said, beaming affably at Rory as he handed her a martini. "I am not quite used to the idea of passing you an alcoholic beverage, but I am told that it is almost impossible to work with Professor Tarkington sober."
"Oh, Richard," Emily protested.
"I like him," Rory replied, drinking her martini. "He reminds me a little of you, actually."
"Well, now, that just cuts me to the quick." Rory and Richard smiled warmly at each other. "I believe I have a first edition of Conan Doyle in the study. Any interest?"
"Plenty," Rory said, following Richard into the study.
"She is so much like Richard," Emily mused, watching them leave with soft eyes. "Lorelai, I heard the most scandalous news today."
"Tweeny Halpburn pulling a Desperate Housewives with her gardener?" Lorelai asked.
Emily frowned. "No."
"Judy Green from the Rare Flowers Society emulating Lady Godiva at the botanical gardens?"
"Lorelai, please."
"Nora Huffington caught in her husband's underwear in her media room slash dungeon?"
Emily wagged a reprimanding finger at Lorelai. "One more word from you and I am never serving those apple tartlets again."
"So what most scandalous news did you hear today, Mother?" Lorelai asked meekly. Luke suppressed a guffaw of laughter.
"Well," Emily said, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I heard that Rory got her job because of a good word spoken by Logan Huntzberger."
Luke choked on his scotch.
"What does that mean, Lorelai?"
"I'm assuming it means that Logan told the Institute that Rory is a great writer and a terrific researcher who will be perfect for the position," Lorelai replied calmly, whacking Luke on the back. "And that is all that we will be assuming, Mother."
"But he would've married her if she said yes, Lorelai! Public validation from a Huntzberger, especially one who picked out a diamond ring for you, is a very serious statement."
"One more assumption from you and Sookie is serving meatballs at your next DAR function," Lorelai warned.
"But ..."
"Meatballs with beer!"
"Lorelai ..."
"Meatballs with beer and cheese from a can!"
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"Although I firmly believe that the last collection of Sherlock Holmes stories he wrote proves definitively that an author should not pander to public demand if he feels no inclination to write," Rory argued. She and Richard were comfortably ensconced in the study, escaping from the inane Christmas chatter and string quartet carols in the manor, and discussing their favourite books. It was, to Rory's mind, one of the best ways to enjoy a party at the Gilmores'.
"Hmmm." Richard cleared his throat, a little sound of uncertainty that made the hair in the back of Rory's neck tingle. "Your grandmother is ... concerned over the young Huntzberger's intentions, Rory."
"He helped me get a job I'll be really good at, Grandpa," Rory pointed out. "That's not quite going down on one knee and declaring his undying love for me."
"Although he has done so in the past. That type of commitment from a Huntzberger does not simply pass on like a ship in the night."
Rory desperately wished for another martini. "Grandpa ..."
"I do not relish the idea of my family joining with Mitchum Huntzberger's," Richard said, his jaw tightening at the mention of the man whose family belittled and humiliated his beloved granddaughter. "Nor am I particularly fond of his son. But I want for you to be happy, Rory. And if you believe that the young Huntzberger will make you happy, you have my blessings. And your grandmother's."
"I haven't seen Logan since I turned down his marriage proposal," Rory sighed, twisting her fingers together. "I might see him tomorrow at an office function and I am not looking forward to it."
"Nonsense," Richard said bracingly. "You're a Gilmore. You can take him on."
"Thanks," Rory smiled. "I just ... it's just that ... And ..."
Richard nodded as though the incoherent string of words made sense. "I understand. As long as you understand that, no matter what you decide with regards to young Huntzberger, I am here to punch him or congratulate him. Whatever may be required."
Rory felt a swell of love for the man who has always been her favourite father figure. "I know, Grandpa."
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A/N: Thank you for the feedback! Please steer that pointer over to the yellow button and leave me your thoughts on this chapter! Come on, two chapters in one day has got to be worth some love!