A/N: Really long chapter tonight, I hope that's ok. I thought about breaking it into 2 parts, but it seems to work better this way, so again, hope that's fine with everyone. I hope you enjoy it and remember to leave a review on your way out :).

Grumbling acceptance

Friday evening, Rory and Jess were standing in front of the Gilmore mansion, looking at each other.

"I suppose we have to go in at some point, right?"

"Not for another 10 minutes. We made good time." Jess sighed, running a hand through his hair, the other one holding hers tightly.

"Can't we just leave? Really, they don't have to know, do they?" She looked at him, biting her lip.

"Why are you worried? I'm the one that's going to get killed."

"They're not going to kill you, grandpa likes you. He'll be happy about this."

"I don't care how much he likes me, you're still his granddaughter and I got you pregnant without being married. I'm dead."

"Oh, thank you for giving me more to worry about."

"I still don't get why you're worried anyway."

"Because…" She bit her lip again, lowering her eyes. "Now they're going to know we had sex."

"What?" Jess looked at her, trying not to laugh.

"I know it's stupid, but now they're really going to know we had sex and I just…ugh, I don't want them to know."

Moving to stand in front of her, he smirked, finally chuckling. "Rory, I know your grandparents are old but they know we've been living together for a long time. I think they kind of assumed we were sleeping together by now. I mean, they've been to our place and saw that we only have one bedroom and everything."

"Yeah, well, they didn't know for sure, did they?" She snapped, making him laugh again. Letting go of her hand, Jess rubbed her arms, smiling as he kissed her.

"I suppose not." He chuckled, pulling her into a hug. "Crazy woman."

"Yeah, well, they'll know. How exactly do I tell them that?" She looked down at her feet, avoiding his gaze.

"How about you focus on the baby and don't give them details? I'm sure they know how babies happen without you explaining the process in detail. We can lie and tell them it was a one time thing and it's never going to happen again, ok?" He crouched down a bit so he could look into her eyes, getting a small smile out of her.

"Promise they won't bring it up?"

"I doubt they want to think about that either." He straightened his back again and she placed a small kiss on his mouth.

"Thank you. And they're not going to kill you. Grandpa will probably be happy about it, even if we're not married. Grandma…will just have to deal with the fact that I'm not getting rid of you and finding a suitable young man. She might not be happy about it right away, but she'll get around to it."

"Hopefully before baby comes, because I don't want to spend the next many months in terror." He put his hand on her abdomen.

"We can always promise her we're naming our daughter Emily."

"We're not, just for the record." He chuckled, running his knuckles across her stomach.

"Not even as a middle name?"

"Why are we debating names now? Don't we have something better to do?"

"Like?"

"Well, since I still say I'm going to die in less than half an hour, I may have a few ideas." He smirked, leaning in and kissing her neck.

"That's how you'd spend your last minutes on Earth?"

"Doubt there's a better way."

"I see you stopped being worried."

"Well, now I'm kind of worried that you're going to murder me in my sleep, but other than that…" Jess chuckled, making her smile.

Cupping his face in her hand, Rory kissed him, then ran her fingers through his hair. "Can we go in?"

"Not yet." He kissed her again, putting his arms around her and pulling her closer to him, crushing his mouth to hers. They were interrupted by someone coughing behind them and they pulled apart, with Rory blushing and looking down. Turning around to see Lorelai standing behind them, grinning happily as Luke walked up to them, holding Will in one arm and a diaper bag on the other shoulder.

"What, you forgot your way?" Lorelai snickered, taking her son from Luke and looking at the two.

"Just making sure I enjoy my last minutes on Earth." Jess smirked, putting his arm around Rory's waist.

"Well, you really seemed to be enjoying yourself with your tongue shoved…"

"Lorelai, baby ears around you." Luke pointed to their son, not giving her a chance to finish her sentence.

"Yeah, well, she's my daughter as well. He shouldn't enjoy himself too much. Not that that's possible considering why we're here." She muttered under her breath.

"We're here because we're always here on Friday." Rory pointed out. "Now can we go before we're late and make this night even worse than it's going to be?"

"Hey, you were the one that was just as scared as I was of going in." Jess replied, looking at her.

"So the sooner we do this, the sooner we can actually get out of there." She turned around, getting ready to ring the doorbell when she remembered her ring and she turned back, looking from Jess to her mother. "Ring on or off when we go in?"

"Off." The two nodded in agreement and Rory took off her ring, a sad smile appearing on her lips.

"I don't like it." She dropped her ring in her purse, then rang the doorbell, waiting for the maid to answer. After a few seconds, the front door opened with Emily standing on the other side. Squeezing Jess' hand one more time, Rory smiled at her grandmother.

"Hey, grandma."

"You're here! Finally!"

Stepping in the foyer, Rory hugged her grandmother quickly before taking off her coat as the other walked in behind them.

"Nice to see you, Mrs. Gilmore." Jess tried to smile and she looked coldly at him.

"You too, Jess. Laura, come take their coats!"

"Hey, mom." Lorelai smiled and Emily finally noticed her daughter and grandson, walking to them and flashing them a smile.

"Laura, hurry up! How are you, Lorelai?"

"Fine."

"And William?"

"Will is fine as well." She huffed, annoyed by her mother's habit of using her son's full name. "He's almost starting to walk. Maybe tonight's the night, what do you say, baby?" She directed the last question at her son, who hid his face in the crook of her neck. "Ok, maybe not."

"Luke, how are you?"

"Also good, Emily." He nodded, smiling uncomfortably.

"Laura, for the love of all things could you please come take their coats?" Emily yelled again and a terrified looking young girl walked in the room, taking all their coats and running out again.

"Oh, wow, you get them younger and younger these days, mom. Child labor laws be damned, right?"

"Don't be silly, Lorelai, she's of a perfect age to have a job."

"The older you get, the younger everyone else is, mom." Rory looked at her mother and Lorelai shot her a glare, shaking her head.

"You really think you won't need me tonight?" Lorelai leaned closer to her daughter's ear as Emily started walking towards the living room.

"Sorry." Rory smiled sweetly, taking Jess' hand again as they headed for the living room. Taking one of the chairs as they had agreed and letting Rory and Jess sit down on the couch, Lorelai turned around to look at Emily.

"Where's dad?"

"Upstairs, getting your presents."

"Oh, we get presents!" Lorelai exclaimed excitedly.

"Of course you get presents, it's expected that you get presents from someone who has just returned from a trip. Really, Lorelai, you must remember some of the things I taught you. If only enough to have the common decency to ask how our trip was."

"I know how your trip was, you told me all about it on the phone."

"Well, never mind then. What would everyone like to drink?"

"Martini, please!" Lorelai sighed frustrated and put her son down on the floor, handing him a toy from her purse to play with.

"Rory, same for you?"

"Uh…no, just water, please. We're not sure if we're going back to Philadelphia after dinner and someone needs to drive."

"Don't be silly, a drink won't kill you." Emily smiled, handing both Rory and Lorelai a glass and she shrugged while Rory put hers on the table, shaking her head slowly. Grabbing her hand, Jess squeezed it softly, and she smiled gratefully at him.

"Luke, beer?"

"Yeah, sure." The man nodded as she handed him a bottle, then looked coldly at Jess.

"What would you like to drink, Jess?"

"Whatever you have is fine."

"You should know by now that we have everything. You've been coming here long enough. Scotch works for you?"

"Yeah, sure, it's fine." He sighed and this time Rory squeezed his hand, turning around to see her grandmother wasn't looking at kissed his shoulder quickly. Handing him the glass, Emily picked her own glass and sat down on the couch across from them, everyone staring at each other in silence, only interrupted by the toddler's happy noises. After a few minutes, Richard walked downstairs, holding a few bags in his hands. Everyone stood up, but he quickly motioned for them to sit down again, smiling excitedly.

"Wait till you see what we got you. Rory, I think you're really going to love this." He started looking through the bags but Rory and Jess exchanged a quick look, before she looked at her mother and nodded.

"Actually, grandpa, we have something to say before we start the presents and dinner."

"What's so important that it can't wait for presents?" Emily sighed and Rory smiled.

"Well, now that you ask…" She took a deep breath, holding Jess' hand tightly. "Jess and I are engaged."

"You're what?"

"Engaged. Getting married." She took her hand out of Jess' and quickly slipped her ring back on, smiling happily as it took its place on her finger, then looked back at her grandmother. "Grandma, say something."

"I…"

"Congratulations." Richard stood up, walking to the other side of the table and waiting for the two to stand up before he hugged his granddaughter quickly. Shaking Jess' hand, he smiled at him. "This is fantastic news. I'm very happy for both of you."

"Thanks, grandpa." Rory hugged him again, smiling.

Standing up, Emily looked at them. "Congratulations." She mumbled coldly, then turned around to face the door, seeing the maid standing in the doorway, getting ready to announce dinner. "Laura, we're going to be late for dinner so please inform the cook. Also, bring some champagne and glasses." Turning back to face her granddaughter, she smiled again. "Have you picked a date?"

"Uh, no, not yet."

"So this is still new I assume?"

"Yeah, it happened a couple of weeks ago and we haven't had much time to plan. But we're not done yet. We kind of have other news as well."

"And you couldn't have started with the other thing first because I really fail to see what's more important than being engaged?"

"Uh, you see, kind of funny that you say that because, uh…" Rory dragged it out, looking down at her feet while everyone else in the room was looking at her, waiting. Taking a few deep breaths and looking between her grandparents, she squeezed Jess' hand as tightly as she could before straightening her back. "I'm pregnant." She announced and the older couple looked at her, while Lorelai and Luke were looking from the couple on one couch to the one on the other one, waiting to see who would react first.

"I hope you're getting married before you start to show." Emily finally recovered, looking at her granddaughter.

"What?" Rory recoiled, trying not to get angry.

"You heard me. It's obvious you're only engaged because this happened and Jess, I respect you for trying to do the right thing. I can call a few people if you need any help planning your wedding."

"How about if we're engaged because we love each other and this baby has nothing to do with that? Doing the right thing? Really, grandma? What is this, 1950?"

"You don't actually expect me to believe you would be getting married if this hadn't happened, would you?"

"Well, yeah, I kind of do."

"Luke, can you take Will upstairs?" Lorelai looked at her husband, knowing that a fight was about to follow and he nodded, picking up their son and walking upstairs.

"Why is so hard for you to believe that want to get married, regardless of having a baby together or not? This just adds to our happiness but the two aren't connected. You really think we would have spent almost 5 years together if we weren't happy and in love?"

"Oh, please. You're stubborn. You don't know what you want and now you're stuck with this for the rest of your life."

"What?" Rory exclaimed again and Jess looked down, biting his tongue, knowing that it was her battle while Lorelai looked at her daughter, trying not to worry. "Grandma, I love Jess. You've known that for a very long time. This isn't something that happened yesterday. I'm not stuck with anything, I want this to happen. I'm happy it has. We both are." She squeezed Jess' hand. "You've made your opinions known some time ago and you might remember me saying that if you wanted us to still have a relationship, you were going to keep them to yourself. Now if you don't want to be a part of this baby's life, that's fine. But don't tell us how to live our lives, ok? We're fine without your help." She took a deep breath, still looking at her grandmother.

"I need some air." Rory announced after a few seconds of silence, getting up from the couch and Jess followed her after a few seconds, avoiding Emily's eyes and looking at Lorelai.

"I'll come get you if she wants you, ok?"

Walking outside he found Rory pacing furiously around the patio and closed the door behind him, walking to her, waiting for her to look at him.

"You ok?"

"God, I swear, she makes me so angry sometimes and I just want to…ugh!" She grumbled and he took off his coat, draping it over her shoulders.

"You'll catch a cold."

"Would it kill her to just say something nice and polite? Really? She lies to people in the DAR all day long, why is it so hard to muster a 'congratulations' for us? Pretend she's happy that she's going to be a great-grandmother and that we're getting married but you'd think it would kill her." She wrapped her arms around him tightly, suddenly starting to cry as he hugged her back, pulling the coat higher up her shoulders. She mumbled something and he pulled back so he could hear what she was saying.

"What?"

"I said I don't even know why I'm crying!" She sighed, a new wave of tears rolling down her face and he hugged her again, placing a small kiss on her temple.

"You knew this wasn't going to end any other way."

"I had hopes." She pulled back and he wiped her face, smiling softly at her.

"Feeling any better?"

"No." She shook her head, biting her lip. "I can't stand her when she's like that. Why does she have to be like that?"

"Ror, she wants what's best for you. And obviously doesn't believe I'm that."

"Well, she's crazy. Because you are."

"Good to know you still think that." He hugged her again, kissing her softly. "But if you ever tell me you need air and then leave the room without me, I will kick your butt."

"Why?"

"I do believe those were the scariest 20 seconds of my life."Jess sighed, tightening his grip on her. "I had no idea I could be this worried about you, just for the record."

"What?" She looked up at him, her anger forgotten for a second.

"I thought something was wrong. Just…don't do that again, ok?" He mumbled and she nodded, smiling at his admission and placed a quick kiss on his lips.

"I'm supposed to be mad at her right now, so stop saying nice things to me, will you?" She laughed as he wiped a small smudge of mascara. "You think things will ever be ok?"

"Yeah. Give her a few months, she'll reach the same grumbling acceptance of the fact that this is really happening that she's been doing over my general existence for the past few years. I'm not sure how she'll react when the baby actually comes, but since it's going to be cuter than I am, I have hopes."

In the meantime, inside.

"Did you have to say those things to her, mom?" Lorelai exploded as soon as Jess left the room, standing up and starting to pace around the room. "You can't honestly tell me you didn't think they were going to get married. They've been together for years, what else did you think was going to happen?"

"I thought she would come to her senses, that what I thought you happen, Lorelai. Certainly not have a child without being married. This is all your fault! If you had married Chris like you were supposed to, none of this would have happened! She would have known that this isn't something Gilmores do!"

"Did you really just decide to bring up Christopher? Mom, that 28 years ago! And hey, Will was born after I married Luke. I tried to set the right example for her." Lorelai snapped, sarcasm filling her words.

"This isn't how her life was supposed to turn out!"

"Mom, stop. Why is it so hard for you to just be happy for them? You're going to be a great-grandmother. Rory's not 16, she's in a happy relationship with a good man that is going to stand by her side. So what if she isn't married yet? She will be, and it will be to the father of her child. Does the fact that they're not married right now really matter that much to you?" She tried to appease her mother. "Dad, help me out here."

"Richard, stay out of this." Emily snapped at her husband and he shook his head, drinking from his glass. "She isn't supposed to have his children."

"Don't do this. It's been a long time since they were in high school."

"And I suppose you're ecstatic that your Yale graduate daughter is going to marry and have a child with a man who never went to college?"

"Yes, I am. Because, and God, I feel like I've been telling you this since they got together, he loves her. Makes her happy. What more do you want from him? He's done well even without going to college. And speaking of which, what have you done with your degree that's that important? Stop going after him, mom. He doesn't deserve that."

"You were on my side when they were in high school!"

"Yes, I was. 10 years ago, when they were both children. Now, I'm on his side. Deal with it because he's sticking around and, if you want to have anything to do with Rory or their baby, you better be nice to them from now, or I swear…" She mumbled the last bit as Richard stood up, filling his glass then heading for the door.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find them." He stepped outside, finding the young couple still hugging each other. Coughing politely, he looked at the two and they shot apart, trying to avoid his eyes. "Jess, can I get a few minutes alone with my granddaughter?"

"Sure, Mr. Gilmore."

"Richard."

"Richard." He nodded, still trying to get used to using the older man's first name.

"You can go to my study, Rory will come find you in a few minutes for dinner."

"Ok." He nodded again, smiling at his fiancée before heading back inside through the other door, trying to avoid running into Emily. Richard pulled one of the patio chairs and pointed for Rory to sit down, then took another one and sat down in front of her.

"I'm sorry about what happened inside."

"It's fine." Rory brushed it off. "It's good to know that you're happy about the engagement."

"Emily will turn around on it."

"I hope so. Preferably before the baby comes."

"I'll talk to her."

"Thanks, grandpa." Rory smiled gratefully.

"How do you feel? About the baby?"

"Excited. Really, incredibly excited. Both Jess and I are so happy about this."

"Good."

"He's going to be such a great dad." She gushed happily, pulling the coat tighter around her body to protect herself from the cold November night.

"You're going to be a great mom." Richard smiled at his granddaughter and she got up from her chair, tears shining in her eyes again and hugged him.

"Thanks, grandpa. That…means a lot."

"Now what do you say we go inside before you freeze out here?" Richard stood up and she nodded, hugging him again quickly.

"I'm going to go get Jess."

"I'll go see if your mother and grandmother are still fighting."

"Meet you in the dining room." She smiled before they both headed back inside.

In the meantime, back in the living room, Lorelai and Emily were looking at each other, neither one of them knowing what more to say. Seeing Rory's glass on the table, Emily sighed.

"She could have at least said something before I made her a drink. Now I have to throw it out."

"Oh, trust me, it's not going to go to waste." Lorelai picked up the glass, lifting in the air.

"Lorelai, you really should control your drinking around your son. What are you teaching him?"

"That drinking yourself into oblivion is the perfect way to forget an uncomfortable situation, of course."

"Really, Lorelai…" Emily shook her head while Lorelai sipped from the glass, trying to stay calm. Walking in the room, Richard looked at his wife.

"Any chance we can have dinner now?"

"I'll go tell the cook." The woman stood up, leaving the two alone.

"Where's Rory?"

"Getting Jess."

"Ok." Lorelai nodded, standing up. "I'm going to go see what Luke and Will are doing and then meet you in the dining room."

"Ok."

A few minutes later, they were in the dining room, with Will in a highchair, next to Lorelai. The maid dropped the plates on the table, ignoring the uncomfortable silence around the table. Pushing the cucumber slices away on her plate, Rory made a face when she saw the pieces of chicken, and picked up a tomato.

"What now?" Emily snapped and she shook her head.

"I'm not hungry."

"Nonsense, you have to eat."

"I would, if it wasn't awful." She grimaced again and Jess lowered his hand, rubbing her leg gently under the table.

"What is awful?"

"Today? Cucumbers, chicken, anything orange, chocolate, blueberries and eggs." Jess went through the list, making Lorelai laugh. "Did I forget something?" He looked back at Rory.

"Bananas. Apples are still undecided. But peaches are back on the good list." She smiled back at him while the others looked at them.

"I'll tell Laura to ask Jonathan to make you a new salad."

"You don't have to. I can just wait for the main course. Or grab something later."

"You have to eat." Emily announced, ringing the bell and calling for the maid again. As soon as the girl left the room, Rory turned to look at her grandmother again.

"Grandma, we haven't told dad yet about the engagement or the baby, so I would appreciate it if you didn't mention anything to him."

"Why?"

"I want to tell him in person, not over the phone." She lied, but no one other than Jess seemed to notice.

"Fine." Emily mumbled.

"So, how was Europe?" Rory smiled at her grandfather and he started his story.

Later that night, Jess and Rory were in the car, driving behind Luke's truck, headed for Stars Hollow.

"Told you, grumbling acceptance." He looked at her, smirking.

"What?"

"Dinner? I'm pretty sure her torturing the cook was her way of kind of accepting this."

"You think?"

"Any other night, she would have just left it at that and mentioned something about wasting food."

"You have a point." Rory nodded, biting her lip.

"It's been known to happen." He smirked again and she ran her fingers through his hair.

"I still don't like it. She shouldn't have said all those things."

"Ror, you knew she wasn't going to be excited about this. That kid has half my genes. What if it never goes to college?" He chuckled, glancing quickly in her direction.

"She better. I'm here to be a good influence on our daughter." Rory grinned, nodding and looking at him.

"So you're telling me I'm a bad influence?"

"I'm sorry, you mentioned something about teaching her how to set off the fire alarms. You can't say that and then claim you're going to be a good influence." She ran her fingers through his hair.

"That's it, just for that one, I'm throwing in at least a couple of other tricks. And no amount of grounding will make me change my mind."

"Oh, great." Rory sighed, trying to sound annoyed but ended up laughing. "With you teaching her all your tricks, I'll have white hair before her fifth birthday."

"Hey, if it's a girl, you'll be thankful if I teach her my tricks. Especially the one that involves not going near boys until she's 18."

"You're not serious, are you?"

"Heart attack serious."

"You do realize I was dating Dean at 16? And took a bus and went to New York to see you at 17?"

"Hey, if she ever brings home a guy like Dean, I am telling you right now that he's going to mysteriously disappear before the end of dinner. And then body parts will just as mysteriously appear around town."

"Jess, she'll be allowed to date any guy she wants."

"As long as he doesn't need help counting to 10." He chuckled, making her laugh.

"We don't even know if it's a girl and you're already overprotective of her?"

"Hey, I remember what I was doing with girls at that age. No dating until 18. I'd make it 30, but I think the whole 'legally an adult thing' would stand in my way."

"I'll get you a shotgun so you can scare off the boys."

"Not a bad idea, now that you mention it." He laughed and Rory shook her head, laughing as well.

"Crazy man." She stuck out her tongue, giggling. "Just make sure you don't teach her how to sneak out, so you can be crazy and overprotective all you want."

Even later that night, they were lying in bed in the apartment above the diner, an arrangement that had been started after Luke and Lorelai had gotten married and moved in the Gilmore house. Looking at Jess, Rory ran her fingers through his hair, biting her lip.

"Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this is an 'it's going to be a girl' week and I like that, but…if it's a boy, can we name him Richard? Middle name, not first. I think grandpa would like that. I'd like that."

Leaning in and kissing her softly, he smiled as well, nodding. "Yeah."

"Thank you." She kissed him again, hugging him as close to her as she could.