Chapter 21
"Christmas is two weeks away," Rory announced while they were eating breakfast later in the week.
"I know that," Jess nodded.
"And we don't have any Christmas decorations."
"We're going to Stars Hollow for Christmas next week, there will be all sorts of Christmas decorations," he pointed out. "It'll be Christmas on acid."
"But that's a week away, and I'm in the Christmas spirit now," Rory informed him. "So we're going to decorate the store, and then we're going to decorate the apartment."
"Rory," Jess moaned.
"Nope. It's happening," she shrugged. "You have absolutely no say in the matter."
"We don't have any decorations," he tried.
"I'll soon fix that. Now, are you going to come with me, or do you just want to be surprised?"
"You think I'm letting you Christmas shop without supervision?" Jess demanded, following her into their bedroom to get dressed. "I have no desire to find plastic, light up reindeer on the roof."
"How am I going to get reindeer on the roof?"
"I'm sure you would figure something out," he grimaced.
"Yeah, you're probably right. Hurry up, I want to get downstairs done before lunch."
She pulled on a festive sweater and wrapped a scarf around her neck, hopping around excitedly.
"I'll meet you downstairs!" She called, running off to tell the others what she was planning.
"Seriously?" Chris asked Jess when he came downstairs. "Do we really look like Christmas people?"
"Hey, do you want to tell her no?" Jess challenged.
They both looked over at Rory, who was running around the store telling Matt all her ideas, grinning from ear to ear.
"No," Chris grimaced.
"Exactly. Let the woman decorate, it won't kill us."
"You've gone soft," Chris shook his head. "She's made you soft."
"Hey, you can't say no to her either," Jess pointed out. "She made us all soft."
"Jess, come on!" Rory called from the door.
"Have fun!" Chris called after them, making Jess turn and glare at him as they left.
They started at the Salvation Army, picking up piles of tinsel and strings of lights in all different colours.
"I think that's enough," Jess observed when she put a third box of lights in the cart.
"We need enough for the store, the apartment and the tree," she told him. "That's a lot of lights."
Jess just rolled his eyes and helped her lift another box off the shelf.
From the Salvation Army they moved on to Value Village, where she collected all sorts of bits and bobs for the tree she planned on getting for their apartment, along with some window decorations.
"Is that it?" Jess asked as they were loading the bags into the car.
"Not even close," Rory shook her head.
"What else could you possibly need?" He asked. "We have lights, we have tinsel, we have tree ornaments... what else is there?"
"Well, for one thing, a tree."
Jess grimaced at the thought of the mess they were going to have in their living room.
"Don't make that face," Rory scolded. "I've decided to compromise."
"You're going to put a picture up, like I suggested?" he asked hopefully.
"No, that would be stupid. I'm going to get a fake tree and stick a pine scented air freshener in it."
"Well it's better than a real tree," he sighed. "Where do you plan on getting this fake tree?"
"Wal-Mart. Do you still have that employee discount?" She smirked.
"You're a cruel woman," Jess shook his head and pushed her towards her car door.
"Doesn't it just fill you with happy, nostalgic memories?" She asked as they walked through the automatic doors a few minutes later.
"No. Can we make this quick?"
"You're no fun," Rory put her arm through his and leaned against him as he pushed the cart to the seasonal section. "You're the Grinch! You're Scrooge!"
"I'm glad you've finally noticed."
She glared at him for a minute, then started throwing things into the cart.
"Why are you buying stockings? We're not going to be here for Christmas."
"Yes, but we can still hang up stockings."
Jess let out a heavy sigh and put his head on the cart handle.
"Help me lift this into the cart!" She was dragging a box that appeared to contain a tree, off of a shelf. "This is heav- Oh my God!" She dropped the box and rushed across the aisle to a display of tree ornaments. "These are perfect!"
She grabbed a large box and hurried over to Jess, who was struggling to get the tree she had dropped into the cart.
"Look!"
"I'm a little busy."
"Just tip it in," she told him. "Now look at these!"
She waved the box in front of his face, jumping up and down excitedly.
"I can't see if you keep moving it!" He told her, taking the box.
It was a collection of literary ornaments, all filled with pieces of paper with lines from classic novels- Anna Karenina, Alice in Wonderland, even some Hemingway, much to his delight.
"Okay, I admit, these are pretty cool."
"See! I told you!" She beamed, still jumping around like a child.
He just smiled and pulled her into his side, kissing the side of her head.
"You're ridiculous."
"I'm festive," she corrected. "There's a difference. Now come on, I have a house to decorate."
As they headed to the checkout she threw a few more knick knacks in, including some candles and Santa hats for everyone. She got classic ones for herself and Matt, and black ones that read 'Bah-Humbug!' for Jess and Matt.
"We're not going to wear those," Jess told her as they drove home.
"You say that now, but just wait until I start spreading the Christmas cheer, you'll be dying to wear your hat."
"You're insane."
Once all their purchases were inside Jess left her to her own devices, hiding in their bedroom to write while she ordered Matt and Chris around downstairs. He didn't emerge until she came running upstairs for lunch.
"You have to come look, it's so beautiful!" She gushed.
"I'm sure it's great," Jess agreed. "I'll check it out later."
"Are you going to help me decorate the apartment this afternoon?"
"No, I'm going to write a book."
"Scrooge!" Rory frowned, then turned to the kitchen to make herself Mac and Cheese.
"I'll tell you what," he offered. "I'll help you put the tree together and decorate it tonight."
"Really?" She beamed.
"If it will make you happy," he sighed.
"I love you!" She ran over and kissed his cheek.
"Your pot is boiling over."
"Damn!"
She hadn't been lying about the store looking nice. When Jess wandered down later that afternoon in an attempt to hide from her decorating frenzy, he thought that he had inadvertently stepped through a wardrobe and ended up in Santa's Village. She had even managed to make some of the craziest paintings they had up look like they belonged.
"Wow, she wasn't kidding," he observed.
"She's very festive," Chris cringed. "There's tinsel on the bookshelves."
"I can see that," Jess nodded.
"Isn't it great!?" Matt asked, joining them behind the counter. "It's so great having someone else here to spread the holiday cheer!"
"We're glad you're happy," Chris deadpanned.
Matt either didn't notice how unimpressed they were, or had elected to ignore them, because he just ran off to help a customer that had walked in, leaving Jess and Chris to brood.
"Did she show you the hats?" Jess asked.
"What hats?"
"She bought Santa hats."
"And you thought that was wise?" Chris demanded.
"She did. I told her we wouldn't wear them. She seemed to think I was wrong."
"Well I'll be more than happy to take your side on that one."
"I appreciate that," Jess thanked him. "I should probably go make sure Cindy Lou hasn't completely covered the apartment in tinsel and lights."
"Probably a good plan," Chris agreed.
"Hey, thanks for letting her do this, though."
"She lives here too," he shrugged. " And works here. If she wants to decorate, she should decorate. Plus, I don't actually think anyone is capable of saying no to her, especially not anyone who works here."
"There are a few brave souls," Jess assured him.
"Are you one of them?"
"I have my moments!"
"Ha!" Matt strolled past them, accompanied by a girl Jess assumed was a University student, judging by the books she was carrying.
"Nobody asked you," Jess called after him. "I'm going to go back to work."
"Can you open tomorrow?" Chris asked him as he headed for the stairs. "I have a bunch of meetings with authors."
"Sure," Jess nodded.
"Thanks, man."
"It looks like Santa threw up in here!" Jess cried when he walked into the apartment.
"I know!" Rory beamed. She had put her Santa hat on and had tinsel wrapped around her neck like a scarf, and she was playing Christmas music from her laptop. "Isn't is great!?"
"It's a good thing I like you," he sighed.
"Come on, it's pretty!" She pushed, motioning to the strings of lights she had put up across the bookshelves and in the windows. "Are you ready to put up the tree? I thought we could order Chinese and work on it."
"Did you order already?" Jess asked, moving towards the drawer of take-out menus.
"Not yet. If you order, I'll get the tree open."
"Deal." He grabbed the phone and started to dial, watching anxiously as Rory tried to open the box with an X-acto knife. "Please don't cut your hand off," he pleaded.
"I'm not going to cut my hand off! Pay attention to the phone." She started stabbing at the tape, which didn't make Jess feel any better about giving her a sharp implement, but eventually got the box open without maiming herself.
"Food will be here in half an hour," He reported, sitting down on the couch across from where she sat on the floor.
"Okay, let's start putting this together. Help me find the instructions."
"We don't need instructions," Jess waved her off. "It's a tree. How hard can it be?"
"No, we have to follow the instructions," she insisted.
"Life's more fun without instructions."
He got up from the couch and started taking everything out of the box, looking for the stand.
"Here they are!" Rory cried, grabbing a small booklet from the bottom of the box victoriously. "Okay, we need the stand first."
"I know that," Jess said, motioning to the item in his hand. "Seriously, I'm sure we can figure this out without instructions."
"Let me be," Rory swatted at him as he tried to grab the booklet.
"Put large stick on stand, attach smaller sticks to large stick. It's not that hard."
"I just don't want to mess it up!"
"Fine," he sighed and sat down beside her. "Tell me when you're ready."
She read the booklet closely, looking between the book and the pieces, figuring out what went where and how it all attached.
"Okay," she finally put it down. "I think I have it figured out."
"Me too," Jess nodded. He got up and grabbed the piece that acted as a tree trunk, attaching it to the stand. She ignored him and started sorting the branches by size, then passed them up one by one so Jess could attach them.
"Is it just me, or is this tree kind of pathetic?" Jess asked once it was all put together.
"You have to primp it," Rory said.
"Excuse me?"
"You have to spread the needles and branches so they look bigger, like this." She walked over and started moving the branches around to make them fuller. She was halfway through when her phone started to ring.
"Can you get that?" She asked Jess, seeing as she was stuck between the tree and one of the bookshelves.
"Hello?... Oh, hi Lorelai. She's primping the tree... I don't know... Rory, come talk to your Mom."
"Just a second," she attempted to extricate herself from behind the tree, but tripped over the stand and fell on her face.
"You okay?" Jess asked, an amused look on his face.
"Just hand me the phone," she grumbled, pulling herself into a seated position. "Hi, Mom."
"Hey, you sound peeved."
"I just fell."
"Oh, are you okay?" Lorelai asked.
"I'm fine. I'm just not a big fan of our Christmas tree right now."
"You got a Christmas tree?!"
"Yes! I've spent the entire day spreading Christmas cheer throughout the entire building!" Rory said proudly. "Jess and I went and bought decorations this morning-"
"Wait, I'm sorry, Jess went Christmas decoration shopping?" Lorelai interrupted, obviously shocked by this revelation.
"He wouldn't let me go unsupervised," Rory explained. "He thought I was going to come back with giant reindeer to put up on the roof, or something."
"Ah, that makes much more sense. Resume your story."
"Thank you. So we went and got piles of decorations and I spent the entire day decorating the store and the apartment, and now Jess is helping me put the tree together."
"You got a fake tree!?" Lorelai gasped.
"It was the only way I could get one," she grumbled. "Scrooge here didn't want to clean up the mess of a real one. But I stuck a pine scented air freshener in it, so at least the apartment smells good."
"Well when you get back here, we'll get a real tree and we'll have real Christmas."
"Perfect. So, were you just calling to chat?"
"No, I'm calling to tell you that I planned my wedding."
"Oh, you and Sookie got started?"
"No, we finished. Everything's done."
"What do you mean everything's done?" Rory asked. "When did you start planning?"
"This morning. We were going to this store to look at invitations, and we got lost and found a dress store, and we went inside- you know, just for kicks- and there it was."
"There what was?"
"The perfect dress," Lorelai sighed. "The most perfect dress there has ever been. So I checked and it was my size, so I put it on and it fit perfectly- no alterations at all- and it was on sale!"
"Wow, that is perfect," Rory agreed.
"Exactly, so I bought it and everything fell into place. The dress is strapless, so summer wedding."
"Of course."
"And summer wedding means daisies, so that was the flowers done, and the invitation place had the most beautiful daisy invitations, so I buy those, and the store is having a promotion where they print the invitations and mail them for you and handle the RSVPs- which is fantastic, because we both know I was going to hate doing that. Then we went to get some coffee, and in the window of the coffee shop is an advertisement for the most beautiful church, and do you know where the church is?"
"No."
"Right around the corner, so we went and talked to Pastor Todd. And the church was beautiful, and it has a function hall behind it, with beautiful floor to ceiling windows and doors that open out to a garden that has the most beautiful old carousel from 1850, which is going to be fully restored and working by June 3rd, which is the date of my wedding."
"Wow!"
"And the Pastor was having a special, so I rented the church and he gave me the hall for half price and threw in the carousel for free, and his sister runs a catering company which Sookie blessed and everything is done."
"Wow," Rory repeated. "That was a lot of work for one day."
"I'm nothing if not productive," Lorelai bragged. "I got your dress, too."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yep, and I have two words for you- hoop skirt."
"Nice!"
"In a lovely shade of tangerine," she continued.
"Excellent!"
"As soon as I saw it I thought, this is so Rory if only it had more ruffles!"
"Of course you did," Rory sighed. "Did you get me shoes too?"
"Of course, they sparkle and light up."
"See, now you're just getting my hopes up," she frowned. "I would love shoes that light up."
"I'll buy you a pair for Christmas," Jess offered from the couch.
"What are you doing?" Rory asked, putting the phone to her shoulder and looking over at him.
"I'm sorting out these ornaments and getting rid of the crap ones."
"There are no crap ones, they're all good! Stop that!"
"They are not all good!" Jess scoffed. "These ones have Care Bears on them."
He held up one of the boxes she had collected at the salvation army.
"What's going on?" Lorelai called, feeling left out.
"Jess is ruining Christmas!" Rory complained. "I have to go before he tries to throw out all the ornaments for the tree."
"Okay, bye Sweets!"
"Bye." Rory snapped her phone shut and scrambled over to the couch, snatching the boxes away from Jess.
"We are not putting Care Bear ornaments up on our Christmas tree," he told her.
"Fine, but who knows what else you'd try to get rid of!" She cried, sorting through the box of rejects he had started. "Some of these are perfectly fine. I mean, we can do without the My Little Pony one, or the half naked bar chick ones... but these are fine!"
She pulled out a handful of neon coloured baubles.
"They're hideous," Jess cringed. "They probably glow in the dark."
"How is that not a selling point?"
"We're not all as crazy as you," he grumbled. "Pick different baubles."
"Fine!" She grumbled and grabbed another box, sorting the contents on the floor. While she was sorting, the food came, so they took a quick break to energize, then got back to their bickering.
"Isn't it pretty?" Rory asked when they finally finished, taking a step back to admire their work.
"Sure," Jess nodded.
"Come on, it's pretty!" Rory poked him. "You're just not getting the full feel. Here."
She ran over and turned on the the tree lights, then turned off all the lights in the apartment and joined him again.
"Now what do you think?" She asked, beaming up at him.
"I think, that if it makes you happy, it's great."
She reached up and kissed him.
"Just admit it's pretty."
"I'm not going to say it's pretty," Jess stood his ground. "I do not refer to things as 'pretty'."
"You don't think I'm pretty?" She sulked.
"I think you're beautiful," he smirked.
"Well, I guess I can't fault you for that. Come on, I'm exhausted."
"That's because you've spent the entire day running around pretending to be one of Santa's elves," Jess pointed out.
"It was worth it, though."
The smile she'd had plastered across her face all day was enough to make Jess agree, despite his generally gloomy demeanour.
"Yeah, it was," he agreed, causing her smile to get even brighter.
Rory was in the middle of writing a book review for the Truncheon zine when her mother called the next night.
"Hi, just give me a minute to finish my thought," she answered the phone and continued typing.
"Okay, I'm done. Can I just tell you how great it is to be writing again? God! I don't know what I was thinking walking away from all this!"
"Luke has a kid," Lorelai interrupted.
"What?"
"Luke has a kid," her mother repeated. "A daughter."
"What? How?" Rory stammered.
"He just told me," Lorelai explained. "He has a daughter, she's twelve. He found out about her a month ago."
"Wow."
"Yeah," Lorelai agreed, and Rory could tell by the sound of her voice that she had been crying.
"How do you feel about that?" She asked.
"Well I'm not exactly thrilled that he waited more than a month to tell me, I mean, what does that say about our relationship?"
"Mom, don't think like that," Rory tried to comfort her. "I'm sure he wasn't hiding it because he didn't trust you. He was probably just trying to figure out the right way to tell you- this is really big."
"I know that!" Lorelai cried. "Which is why he should have told me!"
"I'm sure he just didn't want to hurt you," Rory tried.
"Honestly, I don't care why he didn't tell me," Lorelai admitted. "I just want to know what this means for us now."
"Well, what did he say?"
"Nothing. He says he wants a relationship with her- which is great, I'm not saying he shouldn't get to know his daughter, I just want to know what this means for us!"
"Then you need to talk to him about it," Rory insisted.
"I know, I know," Lorelai agreed.
"I'm sure everything will work out," Rory assured her. "You guys just need to talk things out."
"I know," Lorelai repeated. "I better go, I told him I'd meet him at the diner once I'd digested all this."
"Okay," Rory nodded. "If you need to talk some more, you know you can always call me."
"I know," Lorelai agreed. "Thanks, kid."
"I love you, Mom."
"I love you, too."
"What was that about?" Jess asked after she put the phone down.
"Luke has a daughter," Rory told him, then saw the guilty look on his face. "You knew?"
Jess nodded, refusing to meet her eyes.
"He told me before thanksgiving," he admitted. "I told him to tell Lorelai, but he said he needed to digest it himself before he told her."
"So you just kept it to yourself?" Rory demanded, her voice filling with anger.
"It wasn't my secret to tell," Jess said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I wanted to tell you, I kept telling Luke that he needed to tell Lorelai, but I wasn't about to do it."
Rory stared at him for a minute, then let out a sigh, the anger seeming to leave her.
"I guess you're right," she huffed. "It's just, this is a huge thing to keep hidden in a relationship!"
"I know," Jess agreed.
"You don't have any kids floating around that I don't know about, do you?"
"Not that I know of," he assured her.
"Good, because I don't think I could deal with that."
"Me neither," he shook his head. "I can barely wrap my head around the idea of Luke having a kid."
"Yeah," she sighed and dropped onto the couch beside him. "Have you met her?"
"He's barely met her," Jess shook his head. "Luke said that she came in and stole a piece of his hair for a science project to figure out who her father was. He only found out because he went to the science fair."
"Mom says he wants contact," Rory said.
"I figured he would," Jess shrugged. "You know how he is about family, you really think he would just walk away from his own kid?"
"I guess," Rory agreed. "Wow, Luke with a kid..."
"Yep," Jess nodded. "It's a crazy world."
"Ya." They sat in silence for a few minutes, digesting the information, then Rory went back to her review and Jess went back to writing- both of them trying to wrap their heads around the situation in Star's Hollow.