7. Heaven

6 A.M- Alarm goes off. After a couple of hits he finally found the off button. Grudgingly, he pulled himself out into the cold, Connecticut air. Padding his way across the cold wooden floor, he found his way into the bathroom to turn on the shower. Finding warmth by standing over the register waiting for his shower to heat, he only found that the water never heated at all and he was standing in the middle of an ice storm, naked.

6:12 A.M- With the shower over (though he swore he was being pelted with ice cubes). The grueling task of making himself looked presentable laid before him. First, was drying of the hair. Then, came the teeth brushing, hair combing with some mousse for volume.

6:20 A.M- A trip to the war zone the Mariano's call a closet is arranged. He has discovered that Rory, in her recent streak of organization has reorganized the closet again. All of his stuff had been organized by color, size, bands, casual, formal, business, vacation, and his tux from their wedding that Emily insisted on buying, though he didn't like it. His shoes were in the same order as well as his pants. He thanked his wife for that, seeing as that made getting dressed somewhat easier.

6:30 A.M- He has made his way downstairs now. His movements slow and quiet as not to wake the kids. Traveling through the dark was not an easy task, for his foot found many objects that made him recoil in pain and reminded himself to make sure those got picked up later. He limps into the kitchen, injured from the unfortunate encounter with a action figure at the bottom of the stairs. He finds his beautiful wife sitting at the table, looking as tired as he was and clutching a coffee cup like her life depended on it. He shared a knowing, loving smile and helped himself to a cup.

6:45 A. M- It was time to wake the kids up. A very grueling task. They were Mariano's alright. Waking up wasn't a favorite activity for either end of the action. He decided he wake his daughter, Mitchelle, up today, seeing she was more compliant than West was. Creeping into her green with blue polka dots room, he gently rested his hand on his four year old's back. "Hey, kid, time to wake up," he whispered playfully.

"No, sleep," she muttered in her high, adorable voice that would make the coldest heart melt.

"Sorry, kiddo, Mommy says," Jess said pulling the covers off her and picking her up.

"To early," Mitchelle murmured into his shoulder.

"Right there with you," he said. "But, you have to go to pre-school today."

This seemed to console her.

7:20 A.M- With Mitchelle and West successfully up and dressed the whole family was now in the car headed for Luke's, the usual breakfast stop. West proved to be fussy today, not liking his car seat very well and Mitchelle decided she was going to debate that she was to big to be in a car seat with Rory, who was winning.

7:30 A. M- He made it through the long drive, looking at Luke's gratefully, knowing Lorelai would entertain the kids so he could eat breakfast. But, being his kids, they weren't going to give him a break.

"Luke, I want eggs," Mitchelle declared, but just as soon as the eggs arrived, it was decided she wanted toast instead, and toast wasn't right either.

"How about some cereal?" Luke proposed.

"Sounds good," Mitchelle replied, trying to sound like her mother. Sighing, Luke gave Jess the eggs and toast to feed to West.

"Daddy, why does West eat anything you give him?"

"Because he's a boy and boys will eat anything really."
"Mommy eats just about anything and she's not a boy. So does Grandmommy."

"They're a special case."
"Why?"

"Because they have stomachs of steel."

"Why?"

"Because they're programmed that way."

"Why?"

"Um…"

"Got you."

"What?"
"I win. You didn't think of anything."

He soon realized this was like one of his and Rory's verbal sparring matches. She was getting smarter everyday.

"Cereal for the very picky eater," Luke grumbled.

"What's wrong, Luke?" Rory asked.

"Didn't get laid?" Jess added, taking pleasure in Luke's red face and quick no.

"Nothing's wrong except for Taylor," Luke replied walking off.

"And the saga continues," Jess said. "Tune in next week for another fine episode of Luke vs. Taylor."

9:00 A. M- Rory was gone. Mitchelle was dropped off. It was just he and West now. Easy, right? Wrong. West was crying as hard as he possibly could. Jess could already tell he was turning out to be a Momma's boy. Jess had left him in the playpen to make a phone call, but dear West wasn't having that.

Jess, I need it in tomorrow.

"I'll get it to you today, I promise."

Just Hurry!

"Well, Westy, what do you say to a nice car ride to dear ole' Dad's work?" Jess asked the one-year-old. "Then we'll drop Mommy off some lunch."

The word mommy seemed to satisfy him. They slowly made their way to the car, taking careful steps on the icy sidewalk

There was one thing Jess loved about cars. They always eased his son to sleep. No matter what. Or at least, that's what he thought. West cried the whole hour drive to subway station. Then he could barely stopped crying on the subway ride to Philadelphia. (Subways displeased West when his mother wasn't there). Then the taxi ride wasn't any better.

10:45- "Hey, how's little Westy?" his old roommate's girlfriend cooed. Thankfully the feminine presence was enough to calm West down so Jess could finally get some work done. But, deciding a design for the cover of Jess's newest novel was not an easy task and he already had a headache.

"None of these work," Jess finally announced after fifteen minutes of staring at the four choices. Choice one: A plain purple cover with a book laying open at the bottom. That one was one of the better options. Choice two: A pair of models obviously supposed to represent his characters. That one was rejected immediately. Choice Three: Another set of models. Those were two Plastic Surgery and Crash Diet to fit his main characters. Choice Four: A red cover with the title looking like it had been sprayed on with spray paint.

"How about that picture of you an Rory?" James asked, equally frustrated. "The one of you two dancing at your uncle's Wedding. Or a collaboration of pictures of you guys. Jess! You're a genius man!"

Though Jess didn't even answer his question, James had taken it as a yes and rushed off to work on it. Where he was going to get the pictures, Jess didn't know.

"Well…that was…"

"Just James," Claire, the girlfriend, answered ."I think you can go now."

11:50 A.M- "How does McDonalds sound to you?" Jess asked as they walked down the street towards Rory's magazine. West gurgled something from his car seat/carrier, but it sounded optimistic. Jess, satisfied there was no crying, took a deep breath and journeyed into the crowded McDonalds.

After half an hour of waiting in line, Jess was starting to get grouchy again. It didn't help that the new guy was being trained right now. Then, his order got all messed up, so there was another half hour and they were finally out the door headed to Rory.

2:30 P.M- Picking Mitchelle up was no easy job. First you had to meet all of her friends again, watch their new trick, look at every drawing, meet the new teacher, see the new slide, meet their class pet, gather her things, debate with her on the pros and cons of a wearing a coat, wrestle her into the coat, say goodbye to everyone, and then out the door. Then, there was the impossibly complicated car seat.

6:00 P.M- The kids were fed, one asleep the other watching TV in their rooms, and the house was quiet. Jess decided a nap would be nice. He made his way quietly down the hall, trying not to be noticed. If she didn't see him, she wouldn't feel the incredible urge to talk his ear off until Rory got home at 7 sharp.

Nearly bolting past Mitchelle's door and into the safety of his bedroom.

The king size bed standing in front of him was a illusion, a mirage, a gift from heaven itself. He fell onto it, falling asleep ten seconds after landing.

6:20 P.M: His eyes shot open. It wasn't possible. This was a nightmare. This couldn't be. He pulled himself out of his warm bed and tiptoed to the edge of the stairs, listening to the voices coming below.

"What do you say we move that couch over there and this one over here?"

"That would be perfect, Grandma!" his daughter's squeal was inevitable as she started babbling about long stemmed roses and a velvet covering for his favorite armchair.

"I was thinking that the armchair will have to go." It was unmistakable. Emily Gilmore was in his house, about to throw out his favorite armchair. The next words he heard about ripped his heart from his chest and tore it to shreds.

"I think you're right, Grandma." his little angel had just killed him. Just taken his heart out, threw it on the ground, and did the Mexican Hat Dance on it.

He had to put a stop to this before they decided to take out his soul by taking out his books too. He stormed down the stairs to see a couple of burly men about ready to lift up his chair.

"Stop right there!" Jess shouted, pointing at them. "That chair isn't leaving this house!"

"Oh, Jess, good, you're up," Emily said, letting Mitchelle slide down off her hip.

"Daddy! Grandma said I could be an interior designer if I wanted to," Mitchelle said.

"She has a natural talent, actually," Emily said. "For god's sake fix your hair, you look like a hoodlum."

"What are you doing here?" Jess asked, angrily. "Moving my furniture out. I obviously wasn't informed we were moving!"

Emily gave him a sigh and an eye roll as if her actions were obvious. "I told you guys last Friday that my mother was coming."

"Well, that clears it all up," Jess said sarcastically. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, she can't see your house looking like this!" Emily said. "Nothing matches! You matching furniture."

"She can just get over it. The chair stays."

9:48: "She can't keep doing this, Rory!" Jess said, as he folded down his side of the bed.

"It's just for one night," Rory compromised calmly, climbing in.

"But still, she can't come in and change around my house," Jess said, defensively.

"My grandma has always been like that and will always be like that," Rory said stroking his cheek and ruffling his hair back. "It's better to go along with her than fight her."

"But she can't come in and change our house around again, got it," he said.

"Yes, sir," she said. "You know, the kids are asleep."

He smiled at her, before planting a kiss on her lips. Even though his day had pretty much sucked, he wouldn't have it any other way. To him, all of this, was heaven.