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Chapter 13
"How long have you known me?"
"What?" Jess said confused as he looked up at Charlotte as she got breakfast cooking for them.
"Just answer the question." She said.
"Uh..11 years I think." Jess said.
"You think?" Charlotte raised her eyebrows.
"Ok. 11 years, 3 months and 10 days." Jess said.
Charlotte glanced at him in surprise. "You've kept count?" She asked touched.
"Well you're the first girl I've fallen in love with so, yeah." He shrugged.
"Aw you big softy!" She grinned.
"So you want to know how long we've known each other because...?" Jess said.
"Do you seriously believe I would have told you no about you buying Andrew's?" She said. "You've known me for 11 years and you think I would stop you?"
"Well no but...I told you that I'd get a safe job while you were pregnant so I could support you." Jess said. "This isn't exactly a safe choice. I don't know how it will turn out."
"True but I believe in you." Charlotte shrugged.
"You do?"
"Of course! Andrew did well with the store so it's not like you need to worry about customers. Plus you've run your own business before and did pretty well." She said. "And I think you and Sam will make a great team. I think it's nice you'll be working together."
"Sam hasn't said yes yet though." Jess pointed out.
"He will." Charlotte said.
"How can you be so sure?" He said.
"Just a gut feeling." She shrugged.
"So you'd really be ok with it?" Jess said.
"So long as I get a family discount, yeah." She grinned.
"Knew it would come at a price." Jess smirked. "You can have as many books that you want."
"Then yes, I'm ok with it." Charlotte grinned.
"I love you." Jess smiled leaning over to kiss her.
"I love you too." She smiled. "Jack, breakfast!" She called.
"Hey, how's London?" Sam said.
"Good. Still trying to get over the jet lag but it's good. I'm planning to do some sightseeing today." Rory said.
"Cool." Sam smiled.
"How are you? Are you back in New York now?" She said.
"Yeah, got back this morning." He said. "Although I'm not sure how long I'll be here for."
"What do you mean?" She said confused.
Sam took a deep breath. "Well I went out with Jess yesterday and he asked me something. Something that could sort of be life changing." He admitted.
"Sounds intriguing." Rory said. "What was it?"
"Well apparently Andrew's closing his bookstore." Sam said.
"Oh no, really? I went there so much!" Rory said sadly.
"Yeah, it's sad. But he's retiring so he's selling." Sam said.
"Well I hope whoever buys it keeps it as a bookstore." Rory said.
"I'm pretty sure they will." Sam said.
"How do you know?"
"Jess wants to buy it and he wants me to be his business partner." Sam finally blurted out.
"Wow! That's...big! I mean...wow!" Rory said shocked.
"Yeah..." Sam said quietly. When Rory was quiet for a moment, he started to worry. "Ror?"
"Seeing as you're telling me this, I'm guessing you're actually considering this?" She said slowly.
"Well...I don't know." He said honestly. "I told Jess I couldn't decide anything until I spoke to you."
"But you want to do this." Rory said.
"When Jess and I were in New York, we used to talk about how one day we would work together and kick the world's ass." Sam admitted. "It sound silly now but..."
"No it doesn't sound silly." Rory said.
"It doesn't?"
"Well only if living in a house of cheese is normal." She joked.
"What?" Sam laughed.
"Lane, Charlotte and I used to talk about all living in a house of cheese when we grew up. The minds of girl, huh?" Rory smirked.
"Well that would have been interesting." Sam laughed. He was quiet for a minute. "If I did this with Jess, it would mean me moving to Stars Hollow." He said.
"Oh...well I guess that would make sense." Rory said.
"But our life is in New York. We've got the apartment..." Sam said.
"Sam, I'm not going to be there for six months. If this is going to make you happy, then do it. We can sort things out about what to do once I'm back." She said.
"You're serious?" Sam said surprised.
"Is this going to make you happy?" Rory said softly.
Sam thought about how much he was dreading coming back to New York and spending six months there without Rory and then he thought about how he and Jess had always planned to work together and how much fun it could be. "Yeah." He admitted. "Yeah I think it would."
"Then you should do it." She smiled softly. "I know our situation is weird but I'm doing my dream job. You should get to do what you want as well."
"I love you." Sam said softly.
Rory smiled. "I love you too." She said. "So will you have to sell the apartment to buy the store with Jess?"
"I don't think so." He said.
"But won't you need to have somewhere to stay in Stars Hollow?" Rory said.
"Yeah but I have an idea." Sam said.
"Intriguing." Rory laughed.
"I'll keep you posted. I better ring Jess but have fun sightseeing. Talk later?" He said.
"Of course." She smiled.
Sam stood outside the diner a few days later, looking up at the building. He had already told Jess he was in and he wanted run the bookstore with him. He'd given his notice in at The Strand as well, after having promised Chloe that he would, of course, still visit her. The next step was finding somewhere to stay. He took a deep breath before going inside. He saw Luke stood behind the counter and slowly walked up to him. "Hey Luke." He said.
"Sam, hi!" He said surprised to see him. "How's it going?"
"Good. It's going good." Sam nodded. "How are you doing? Feeling better?"
"I'm getting there." Luke nodded. "I have to be more careful about not getting too stressed but I'm doing good."
"Good." Sam said, sitting down, glancing down at the counter.
"Everything ok?" Luke asked glancing at him, seeing he wasn't exactly himself.
"I..uh..I was hoping I could ask you a favour." Sam admitted.
"Ok.." Luke said.
"Well, Jess and I are getting ready to buy Andrew's store but I kind of need somewhere to stay while we start setting stuff up to open it." Sam said. He glanced at Luke sheepishly. "I was hoping I might be able to stay upstairs." He said.
"At the apartment?" He said surprised.
"I can't really pay you rent at the moment but I'm happy to help out at the diner so that I can earn money to pay you back and then once the store's up and running, I'll be able to pay you more." Sam said quickly. "I know it's not great but..."
"It's all yours." Luke said.
"What?" Sam said surprised, looking up at him.
"You're as good as family now so it's all yours for as long as you need." Luke said.
"Wow, Rory and Charlotte were right." Sam said.
"About what?" He said confused.
"That you're the best." Sam said.
"Oh...well..." Luke said shrugging him off self consciously.
"Seriously. Thanks Luke." Sam said sincerely.
"And you don't need to pay rent so don't worry about that." Luke said. "Want any food?"
"Uh yeah, a burger would be great." He said.
"Coming up." Luke smiled.
"Daddy!"
"Hey!" Jess smiled as he saw Charlotte and Jack come into Andrew's. "There's some good books over there, kid. Go take a look if you want."
"Yay!" Jack said rushing off to look at the children's book.
"So this is your new empire." Charlotte said.
"Looks like it." Jess smiled. "We need to get some more books in but Andrew still had a lot in storage so it's in good shape."
"Are you excited?" She smiled.
"Is it sad that I am?" Jess said embarrassed.
"No. I think it's sweet." Charlotte said.
"Yeah sure." Jess rolled his eyes.
"And you're looking extremely hot today as well." She grinned.
"I am, huh?" Jess smirked.
"Oh yeah! Rande Gerber hot." She nodded.
"Wow, praise indeed." He chuckled. He glanced over at Charlotte who had gone quiet. "Hey, you ok?" He asked.
"What? Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She said.
"Ok..." Jess said unconvinced.
Charlotte sighed. "Do you find me pretty anymore?" She asked out of the blue.
"What?" Jess said taken aback.
"I just...I know with twins, I'm obviously bigger than I was when I was pregnant with Jack and I know, well, you know..." She said glancing over at Jack who was too engrossed in the books to listen to their conversation. "...well, sex normally stops during pregnancy and I understand why but...well, I miss you. I know that's weird because we see each other everyday but I miss the closeness." She admitted. She blushed slightly. "I'm sorry. I'm being pathetic. I'll leave you to your work. I'm sure you have a lot to sort out."
"Hey wait!" Jess said, reaching over to take hold of her hands. "Where's this coming from?" He asked softly.
Charlotte sighed. "I don't know." She said honestly. "I guess it's just my hormones."
"Have I not been there for you enough because I'm sorry if I've made you feel..." Jess started.
"No! No, Jess, you've been amazing!" Charlotte interrupted him. "Seriously, you've been great. I just...I guess with you helping out at the diner and now this new exciting project, I sort of feel, well, alone. Which is stupid because you always make me feel great."
"Charlotte, I love you." Jess said softly. "And you're always beautiful to me so don't ever think you're not. I guess I thought you wouldn't feel up to...well, you know, so that's why I backed off on that but I should have known it would make you feel like I didn't want it. I'm sorry."
Charlotte sighed. "I'm just being silly. I just, we haven't really had a date night for a while. I've missed them." She admitted.
"I've missed them too." Jess said. He thought for a moment. "What are you doing tonight?"
"No plans, why?" She asked.
"Well why don't we have a date night tonight?" Jess suggested.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I mean Sam is coming over in a bit to talk through stuff with this place but it won't take that long." Jess said. "And maybe we could ask your mom if Jack can have a sleepover at theirs tonight?"
"Jess, I don't want you to do this just because I've let my hormones get the better of me." She said quietly.
"You think that would be the only reason I want to spend time with my wife?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Well, no but..."
"I've missed the closeness too. And I've missed having time alone with you. Just the two of us. So...what do you say? Tonight at ours. Is it a date?" He smiled softly.
Charlotte smiled, embarrassed to feel tears prick her eyes. "It's a date." She said softly.
"Good. See you later then." He smiled leaning over to give her a kiss. "You're beautiful, Charlotte Gilmore. And don't let anyone tell you any different."
Charlotte smiled and kissed him again. "I love you."
"I'm so stuffed!" Charlotte exclaimed as she and Jess snuggled down on the couch after dinner. "You really excelled yourself. The food was great."
"Glad you liked it." Jess said.
"Why did you let me eat so much though? I feel like I can't move!" She exclaimed.
"Excuse me, do you think I really have any power over how much you eat?" He said.
"I guess not." Charlotte conceded. She smiled at him. "The meal really was great. Thank you." She said softly.
"Only the best for the best girl in the world." He smiled.
Charlotte smiled softly and leant her head on his shoulder. "Are you sure mom and Luke were ok with having Jack?"
"Yeah relax! They were looking forward to it and you know how much Jack loves staying there as well." He said.
"Yeah I know." She smiled.
"So do you want to watch a movie or do you maybe want to retire to the bedroom?" Jess said.
Charlotte glanced at him. "This isn't because I was an emotional wreck earlier was it?" She joked.
"No." Jess chuckled. "This is me wanting to spend some quality time with my wife. And because you're extremely irresistible to me at the moment." He smirked.
"You really do know what to say, don't you?" She smirked.
"I try my best." He smirked. "So movie or bed? I'm happy with either, honest."
Charlotte smiled softly. "I think bed." She said.
"Bed it is then." Jess said getting up, holding out his hand. "Hey, if we're really good we might turn those twins into triplets?" He smirked.
"I don't think it really works like that but sure!" She laughed. "Lead the way."
"On it." Jess smirked, leading Charlotte towards their bedroom.
So I hope you like it! :) Please let me know what you think! I love reading your reviews and I know I say this all the time but your support really does mean so much to me so thank you. :)