A/N: Okay, so here is the next chapter. I'm going to do this one and then an epilogue I think. I outlined this during 4th period. Oh yeah, there is going to be a lot of time skipping in this chapter, so bear with me.

Disclaimer: Don't own…

On with the story…

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Chapter 9: Halfway There

Eight Months Later…

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Lorelai yelled, "Get it out of me!" she growled.

"You're doing great mom," Rory soothed, smoothing down her mother's sweat-drenched hair.

"I want it out!" Lorelai screamed.

"It doesn't work like that Lor," Luke stated.

Lorelai and Luke had gotten married a couple months after the proposal so that Lorelai didn't show much. She was now in labor and much pain.

"You did this to me Luke! You are never touching me again!" Lorelai growled at Luke.

Luke looked horrified and promptly shut-up.

Meanwhile...

Jess and Paris were pacing while Tristan was sitting in a hard plastic waiting chair trying to calm them down.

"Guys, please sit down. You're going to run a hole in the ground. She's going to be fine and so is the baby!" Tristan tried to persuade them.

"We know!" they both exclaimed.

"Then what the hell are you doing?"

"We're just anxious to see if it's a boy or girl!" Paris explained.

"Oh, I see," Tristan sighed and slouched in his chair.

Six hours and 23 minutes later, Rory came out into the waiting room to three sleeping forms on a waiting room couch. Tristan and Jess were in either corner while Paris was sprawled out on their laps. All were sleeping.

"Guys, wake up!" she called.

"Huh?" Jess mumbled.

"It's over! She had the baby!" Rory exclaimed.

"What? Girl or boy?" Paris sat up quickly causing both boys to wake.

"Girl!" Rory exclaimed and Paris jumped up to hug her.

"AH! What's her name?" Paris asked excitedly.

"Nancy Lorelai Danes," Rory informed with a bright smile.

Jess got up and went to Rory. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and gave her a searing kiss as he twirled her around.

"Can we see her?" he asked with a genuine smile.

"Of course, let's go," Rory replied and pulled Jess along with her towards her mother's room as Paris and Tristan trailed behind them.

The teens entered the room and saw Lorelai lying in the bed with a big bundle of blankets in her arms. Luke was looking over her shoulder smiling brightly.

"Let me see her!" Paris squealed as she ran out of Tristan's arms to the other side of the bed leaning over to see the baby.

"She's beautiful," Jess said as he took Luke's place.

"She's perfect," Rory recited. She walked up behind Jess and rested her chin on his shoulder, arms around his waist from behind.

"Did the contractors finish the house?" Lorelai asked.

They had decided to add on to the Crap Shack seeing as Rory and Paris were occupying the only other room besides the master bedroom and big walk-in closet on the second floor.

"Uh, yeah, I signed off on the last of it this morning. They said it would be done by tonight," Tristan answered.

"Good, good. We should be able to leave in a couple of days. You guys wouldn't mind getting it ready would you?" Lorelai asked softly, distracted.

"Of course," Rory assured her mother and kissed Jess on the shoulder, "Let's go get something to eat. Do you guys want anything?" Rory asked.

"Nah, we'll eat later," Luke replied, just as distracted as Lorelai.

The teens smiled knowingly and went to find a decent place to eat near the hospital, not wanting to risk eating cafeteria food.

They walked out into the cool spring night and started walking to a Wendy's they had seen on the way to the hospital.

"She's so adorable," Paris gushed.

"She is. You should have heard my mom. She was crazy loud and swearing like a sailor," Rory related.

"I'm sure she was," Tristan chuckled.

"Everything's going to change now," Paris said after a few moments of thoughtful silence.

"Yeah," Rory agreed with a nod of her head.

"What are house arrangements?" Jess asked.

"I think the add-on is for Paris and me because it's bigger than the room we have now. They'll build the nursery in our old room and you two will stay above the diner. We'll only be here for a few more months and then we're off to college," Rory stated with a wistful smile.

"What ever happened with your parents Pear?" Jess asked cautiously, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

She rested her head on his shoulder sighed, "They both got job transfers to Korea and are now living over there. Something I didn't know about them is that they speak fluent Korean. Anyway, they gave full guardianship to Aunt Lorelai."

"I'm sorry," he whispered and squeezed her shoulders.

"It's fine. I know they love me and just want the best for me. They're not kid people. I wasn't supposed to be born. They did their best, but it just worked out better that I grew up most of my life in Stars Hollow. Much more loving environment," Paris rationalized with tears stinging her eyes.

Jess stopped them both and brought her into a full hug. He kissed the top of her head, "Hey, hey, don't cry," he whispered, "Everything's going to be okay."

She sniffled and nodded her head against his chest, "I know," she lifted her head and smiled a shaky smile, "Thanks Jesse," she teased.

"Don't call me that," he groaned as he let go of her and she went back to Tristan's arms.

Paris chuckled and curled further into Tristan's arms as Jess pulled Rory to him.

"So, applications?" Tristan questioned.

"Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and a few other safety schools," Rory answered.

"Same," Paris replied.

"Yeah, me too," Tristan agreed.

"I applied to all of the state universities and community colleges around those schools," Jess informed.

"Why didn't you just apply to those schools?" Paris asked.

"Because I attend Stars Hollow High," Jess replied easily.

"So, your grades are impeccable," Paris retorted.

Jess sighed, "Just drop it Pear."

"Fine," Paris said haughtily and brusquely moved ahead of the group and into Wendy's.

"Ah jeez," Jess groaned and buried his face in Rory's neck.

"Don't worry about her. She just wants you to do all you can," Rory told him gently while running a hand through her hair.

"I know, but I won't get into those schools Ror," he picked up his head, "I may have amazing grades and impeccable test scores, but as soon as they see Stars Hollow High they'll toss the application in the 'no' pile."

"You don't know that," Rory stopped them from going through the doors; "There is no valid reason that those schools shouldn't accept you."

"Drop it," Jess said quietly and stepped out of her embrace to enter the establishment which held the food.

Rory sighed and followed his steps. That was the end of that conversation…for now.

--

"We have too much shit!" Paris exclaimed as she collapsed on the floor of the kitchen. The only floor in the whole house that didn't have boxes on it.

"Come on, we can't stop now. They're coming home tomorrow. We still have to do the nursery," Rory told her.

"Okay, okay," Paris groaned and pulled herself off the floor.

"We have all the paint necessities," Tristan called through the house.

"Yep, and they're heavy as fuck so come help us please," Jess grunted.

"Coming darling," Rory chuckled and went to the foyer to help them out with Paris following closely behind her.

They brought all of the stuff into the room that was to become the nursery and set it all down on the tarp they had put down earlier. They bought a light green paint and a light pink for accents. They set everything up and began to paint.

Three hours later, Rory and Pairs decided to continue moving their stuff into the addition on the house. The addition consisted of three rooms. One was Paris', one was Rory's and the other was a living room/kitchen. The kitchen was small, but equipped with all the necessities. Rory's room was painted a light blue with a border along the top with books on it. She had three floor-to-ceiling book shelves that took up one whole wall, a full size bed, a five drawer dresser, a desk, a nightstand, and a closet. Paris' room was painted a deep red also with a full size bed, but only two bookcases, a five drawer dresser, nightstand, and closet. They had a full bathroom at the end of the hall and a closet next to Rory's room. It was more like an apartment that was added on. The living room was equipped with a couch, love seat, and arm chair with one end table between the couch and love seat.

"We do have too much stuff," Rory said as she set down a box of books down on her floor.

"Jeez, are we done yet?" Paris whined.

"Yeah, I think that's the last of it. Let's check on the boys," Rory suggested as she pulled Paris to her feet from where she was sprawled out on the floor.

"Alright," Paris grumped and they slowly made their way back to the main house.

The teens finished every room they needed to by 1am and Lorelai, Luke, and baby Nancy came home to an impeccably clean house and finished rooms. The baby stayed in Luke and Lorelai's master bedroom at first, but eventually moved into her nursery. As the last couple months of school rolled around, the teens were anxiously awaiting their college acceptance letters. Jess was waiting on 3 in particular. On May 15th, his letters came. He met the mailman at the door and immediately hid the large envelopes.

Soon enough, it was two and a half months later and time for graduation. First, was the Chilton graduation. In attendance for Rory, Paris, and Tristan were Lorelai, Luke, Nancy, Jess, Lane, Sookie, Jackson, Davey, Emily and Richard.

"I would now like to bring up our valedictorian, Rory Gilmore, and our salutatorian, Paris Gellar, who will be doing their speeches together," the Headmaster announced and Rory and Paris stood to make their way to the stage, each taking a different podium.

"Thank you Headmaster. Welcome everyone, we've waited for this day and it's finally here. We did it!" Rory started.

"We've been counting down the seconds for its arrival and now that it's here…we're sorry it is," Paris continued.

"Graduating means leaving what some would say the sheltered environment that Chilton has provided."

"Leaving people who have impacted our lives in ways we'll never forget."

"We both live in a few different worlds. There's the world of books that we like to escape to when everything seems wrong."

"Then there's our Chilton life where we deal with all kinds of different people with different life styles all trying to fit in."

"And last, our home world, where we are loved and accepted for exactly who we are."

"Where our solace is the arms of our family and friends."

"We have one person in particular who has guided us through our entire lives with grace. Her name is Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, my mother, and Paris' surrogate aunt."

"Aunt Lor has impacted our lives in a way that can never be forgotten nor replaced. She has never once doubted anything we've ever done."

"When we declared at the delicate age of eleven that we would go to Yale, she was there ordering everything that had to with Yale from tea cups to sweatshirts."

"She stuck with us through every problem and every celebration we've ever had. No one could ever replace her."

"And let us not forget the man who not only fed us, but provided us with the best father-figure we could ask for, Luke Danes."

"Luke may seem like a gruff man, but underneath, he's just a big old softy," Paris smiled out at Luke.

"He came to our caterpillar's funeral and made us cake for every birthday we had. He was our father in the true sense of the word."

The whole crowd was in tears.

"Next on the list, our best friend, our go-to guy and the one and only love of my life, Jess Mariano. Jess has been my best friend for as long as I can remember seeing as he is also Luke's nephew."

"Jess was the guy who read in the corner while the rest of the guys played sports. The one who protected us from anything he could because he felt it was his duty."

"All he has ever done is love us and along the way we fell in love," she smiled tearfully out to him. He was smiling back at her trying to hold back his own tears; he doesn't cry.

"He was always there for us and for that, we are eternally grateful," Paris sighed and took a deep breath, "Tristan Dugrey is known to most people as the Chilton bad boy, the King of Chilton. To us and the rest of Stars Hollow, he is the second nephew of Luke, my boyfriend, and the guy that's protective of his girls, but nice to whom he can be."

"While I used to despise his every being, he grew on me. He became my best friend and basically a brother. I don't how I would have gotten through my senior year without him. Which brings us to my oldest and dearest friend, Lane Kim," Rory looked out into the crowd and found her face.

"I have to admit, I was jealous of her when I first met her. I felt like she was stealing my best friend."

"Which is completely ridiculous," the crowd erupted in giggles, "Lane and I have been there for each other since we were in pre-k and we always will be. I could always count on her."

"Now, I'm sure that you don't particularly care about who has inspired us or guided us, so let's wrap this puppy up."

"Thank you Chilton for giving us all of the training we could ever need to make it in this cold cruel world."

"We will never forget what you have done for us."

"Thank you and…we did it guys!" Rory finished and smiled a bright smile out into the crowd. The audience cheered loudly and stood up in admiration. Rory and Paris walked off the stage with their hands clasped together and smiles adorning their faces. They took a seat and waited for their names to be called.

A few minutes later, a recognized name could be heard through the speakers, "Tristan Thomas Dugrey," the Headmaster recited.

His own personal crowd cheered as he walked across the stage, moved his tassel and walked off.

"Paris Dana Gellar…Lorelai Leigh Gilmore," the Headmaster called with pride evident through his facial expression.

Their crowd erupted in whistles and cheers as the girls made their way across the stage together. They switched their tassels and made faces at Lorelai, then proceeded to walk off the stage.

After all of the names were called, the Headmaster spoke again, "I present to you, the class of 2008!"

The students threw their hats in the air and after catching them, ran off to find their friends and family. Paris and Rory linked arms and made off for their personal crowd with Tristan right behind them. As soon as Rory saw Jess she let go of Paris' arm and jumped into Jess' waiting ones.

She jumped, wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist as he twirled her. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and held him close.

"I'm so proud of you," Jess whispered in her hair and kissed her head.

"I love you," she replied and moved her head from his neck to kiss him full on the lips.

"I love you, too," Jess replied as they pulled apart. He set her down and she ran towards her mom, Luke, and the other people who had shown up to support her.

Paris was busy with Tristan; "I'm so proud," Tristan told her as he leant down and gave her a gentle kiss.

"Thank you," Paris smiled and gave him another short kiss. Paris' smile grew as she saw Jess smirking at her. She let out a tiny squeal and ran directly into his arms.

"I am so proud of you Pear," Jess gushed and hugged her tight.

Paris took his face in her hands, "I'm proud of you, too," she said sincerely.

"Uh huh," Jess said nonchalantly and let go of her to go greet Tristan while Paris ran to the other people who were there.

"Everything's changing," Tristan said quietly.

"It's halfway there," Jess replied.

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A/N: I am SO sorry for not updating, but I've been sick. Okay, so I lied. The next chapter won't be the epilogue. I'm taking this until I see it fit to end. Press the pretty little button!