My notes: This chapter is based on one of my favourite episodes on the show. Hope you enjoyed like I did. Enjoy reading!:)

Story: Four years after Philadelphia, Rory and Jess meet again. (In my story that night ended different. Keep that in mind.)This time in Stars Hollow for Luke and Lorelai's wedding. Each of them keep a secret. Secret, that can change a life.

Chapter 25 Winter Carnival

Stars Hollow was all covered by snow. People were getting ready for Christmas and for the Winter Carnival, which was just before that. Those were good days for the Mariano family. Jess was in good shape, at least as good as his sickness allowed him. He had had three or four heavy headaches, but nothing as serious as the seizure after his fight with Dean. Rory and Annie were infintely happy to have him around.

However, Rory had changed something. As she had promised to her grandmother, Rory had 'forgotten' about the Friday Night Dinners. Instead, she had made her own version with Jess, Annie, Luke and Lorelai. They brought tons of happy moments for everybody. Beside that, she had created a peaceful family atmosphere for Jess. They were spending the nights as a family. Jess read to Annie, before she fell asleep, and Rory watched them, listening to his voice.

After that, they would make love. She didn't want at the beginning, afraid for his health, but he had insisted that, in that way, he was still feeling alive. Rory agreed with him then and the nights after that were filled with pleasure. Sometimes Jess was so tender that it brought tears in her eyes.

Rory felt like they were living in their own world, filled with happiness and love and nobody could change that. She had quit her job at the paper, mumbling some excuse that she wanted to spend more time with her family. Jess had disagreed. They had a little fight, but finally she told him that he was more important than any job in the world. She had a family trust fund and that money in there hadn't been touched. Money wasn't a problem. Jess smiled and said that with his money, they could live for the rest of their lives without working. Nobody was mentionning that his life might be shorter. Finally, Jess agreed with her and from then they were almost inseparable.

Jess looked good. The irony was that his sickness made him look healthier than others. Now he was not pale. The color of his face was normal. The black circles under his eyes had disappeared. He looked like a normal, healthy man. Except, he didn't know that Rory was highly concerned. She knew that eventually, his health would start to get worse. She had tried to get prepared for that. She had tried to get prepared for the possible bad end of this situation. She had tried to convince herself that when the time will come, if it comes, she would be ready, but she had failed every time. Every time Rory looked at Jess : how he read to their daughter, how he laughed at some joke she made, how he looked at her with so much love; watching him sleep at night…she knew that if Jess died, a part of her would be gone too. She couldn't help herself.

The days passed by. It was time for the Winter Carnival. Annie was so excited and Jess failed miserably with his attempts to convince her not to go. Rory laughed at his expression when he finally agreed to go with them. So, he found himself walking down the streets to the famous Carnival. On top of that, Annie was on his shoulders, giggling all the way.

'She has you wrapped around her little finger!' Rory laughed until they walked by Luke's Diner. She grabbed his elbow and cuddled to him.

Jess made an annoyed face.

'You didn't help me either!'

'Because I wanted to go!' she smirked and pinched his nose. 'C'mon, don't be so grumpy! It will be so fun!

Jess smirked.

'We can have our own fun…'

Rory smiled and rubbed her chin.

'Now that sounds familiar… I think I heard that before…'

Jess lifted one eyebrow.

'Ha-ha, v-e-ery funny!' he said with sarcasm in his voice.

'Wait! I remember!' Rory jumped, pretending. 'It was the day, when you told me that you didn't want to come, but you came after all. You just needed a little push!'

'From a certain someone!' Jess suddenly frowned and Rory almost felt sorry for mentionning that.

'Oh. Jess. I'm sorry… I…'

'Hey, no problem!' he smiled again and looked at her with sparkles in his eyes. 'Past tense and you don't need to apologize to me every time you mention Dean. He is in your past and I can't change that, no matter how hard I try. Now, focus on that stupid Carnival and help me with that little fury on my shoulders…'

Annie giggled.

'The Carnival is not stupid, daddy! You can buy me a cherry snow-cone.'

Jess exchanged a look with Rory and smiled a crooked smile.

'Yes, I can…'

'And win me a little bear.' Annie continued and Jess laughed.

'Ask your mom. I'm sure she can do it!'

Annie giggled again.

'She wins every year!'

Jess continued to look at Rory.

'Nothing's changed on that front, huh?'

Rory blushed.

... Rory walked back to Jess and Clara. Jess was playing the Bottle Toss game.

Clara laughed.

'You missed. You missed. You missed.'

Jess frowned. He obviously wasn't thinking about the game.

'Hey, you wanna learn how to fly?'

Rory smiled, but it was obvious that she felt uncomfortable.

'How's everybody doing?'

Clara looked at her.

'Jess can't throw.'

'I can, too.' He snapped.

'You missed every time.' Clara looked at him.

'I can't concentrate with your annoying midget voice. It's like having Stuart Little shoved in my ear.' Jess snapped again.

At that moment, Dean walked over and handed Rory and Clara each a snow-cone.

'Here.' He said to Rory.'They only had cherry.'

Rory made again her fake smile. She new Jess' temper and now she expected everything.

'Oh, that's all we need.'

Dean and Clara left them alone and Rory turned to Jess.

'Okay. So, how much to play?'

'A dollar.' He said without looking at her. That was not a good sign.

'Okay.'

'I got it.' He passed a dollar to the boy.

Rory took some balls and prepared to throw.

'Just for the record, I'm a girl and we are supposed to throw like this.' She did not even touch the bottles. Her thoughts were elsewhere. Rory knew that Jess would tell her what is on his mind only when he would be ready to do it.

'So you got anything you wanna tell me?' he started the conversation, but his eyes were still avoiding hers.

'I like your crazy hair.' She tried to joke.

'You weren't just gonna go to the carnival with Dean?' Jess finally came to the subject and she looked at him.

'No. Running into them was a total coincidence. I swear.'

'Okay.' He said, but he didn't sound convinced.

Rory threw another ball.

'Not even close.' She said

Jess looked at her suspiciously.

'So when did you and Dean get so buddy-buddy again?'

Rory looked him back.

'We're not so buddy-buddy.'

'Last time I checked, you weren't even speaking. Now he's fetching you snow cones?' he obviously didn't believe her.

'He was getting one for Clara…' she tried to divert the subject.

'You guys talking?' Jess didn't allow it. The look in his eyes convinced her to tell him the truth. All of it. She did not want to hide anything from him.

'No, we're not talking. We talked, once.'

'You got my interest.' Jess smiled with irony.

'We ran into each other and he wanted to get coffee, so I did, and we talked.'

'About?'

'Just boring things. Clara's horseback riding, his college application, nothing earth shattering.'

Jess diverted his eyes.

'Uh huh.'

'And he asked if we could be friends, and I said sure.' Rory continued.

'Friends?' Jess smiled again with knowing look. 'That sneaky snake, Dean.' He thought.

'Jess, he knows we're together, okay? And it's a small town. Dean and I will see each other, and I just thought it wouldn't hurt to be polite.'

'So you're just being polite?' he was not mad yet. It was not her fault, but still he felt a little hurt.

'Yes. Dean has never done anything bad to me, and I just, I want to...'

'I got it.'

'You're mad.' Rory felt his disappointment.

'Nope, just figured you could've told me.' He denied it.

'I'm sorry.' Rory felt the need of telling that.

'No biggie.' Jess put his usual face and passed her one ball.'You gonna throw that?'

Rory still tried to understand his mood.

'You're really not mad?'

'Nope, not mad at all.' He said holding the ball.

'And you understand?'

'I understand.'

'And you believe me?' Rory studied his face.

'Like you're standing with an axe next to a cherry tree.' Jess really trusted her. Dean was the problem and he would talk to him.

'And you're okay with it?'

'Will you just throw the ball?' he still held it. Rory finally took it. She threw the ball ant hit all the bottles.

'Oh my God, I did it!'

'Very impressive.' Jess smiled at her enthusiasm.

'Here you go, congratulations.' The boy behind the stand gave her one stuffed bear.

'Thanks. Hello sad, pathetic bear.' Rory took it and they walked.

'You know, I could've bought you that thing for a quarter.' Jess slipped his hand around her waist.

'No, it's better that I won it. Maybe Clara would like it.' She looked at him.

'Yes, shoved in her mouth.' Jess crooked his face.

'She's cute.' Rory laughed when he rolled his eyes.

'Oh, just darling.'...

'Hey!' Jess waved a hand in front of her face. 'Earth to Rory! What are you thinking?'

Rory blushed again.

'Nothing, I'm just remembering the last time we were here together.'

Jess smirked.

'Good times…'

Suddenly her smile faded.

'Yeah, good times…' she cuddled to him and layed her head on his shoulder.

'Hey, hey… Don't be sad!' Jess tried to make her happy. He took down Annie and said. 'I'll go for the famous snow-cones…'

A light smile appeared on Rory's face. Annie jumped with joy.

'You will find us at the Bottle Toss Game.' She said and took Annie's hand. Jess nodded and followed them with his eyes until they had disappeared in the crowd.

He smiled when he saw who was standing behind the stand.

'Hello, Taylor. Two snow-cones please…'

To his surprise, instead with the usual grumpy face of Taylor, Jess received the cones with a smile.

'Here you are, my boy.' Taylor said politely and Jess' jaw almost fell down. 'Greet your beautiful wife and lovely daughter.'

'Huh?' Jess was still looking at Taylor. 'Are you okay?' he asked. The poor man probably was sick or something. Taylor Doose had never liked him and now he was giving him a smile?

Another smile, but this time Taylor looked at the cones on his stand.

'I am okay, thank you. Go now, Rory is probably waiting for you.'

Jess was still confused, but turned around and walked away.

'Bye, Taylor.' He said.

'Bye Jess and take care.' He heard.

He became suspicious. Take care? Jess shook his head and walked through the stands.

'Hey Jess!' he turned his head and saw Ms. Patty and Babette standing next to the gazebo.

Jess smiled and nodded at them.

'Hello ladies.' He said and closed to them. 'How are you tonight?'

Babette avoided his eyes.

'We are fine, my boy. How are you?'

Ms. Patty studied his face.

'Yeah, Jess. How are you?'

Jess frowned.

'I am okay, why?'

Babette answered too quickly.

'No reason…'

'You better go. These snow-cones might melt down.' Ms. Patty intervened.

'It's cold. There is no way…' Jess started, but then suddenly stopped in the middle of the sentence. 'You're probably right. Bye ladies.'

'Take care, Jess.' Both answered him.

When Jess found Rory, she was already holding a little brown bear. Annie grabbed it and jumped, giggling.

'Who wants a snow-cone?' Jess said when he arrived.

'Daddy!' Annie ran to him and hugged his leg. 'Look what mommy win!'

Jess smiled and handed her one snow-cone.

'I see.' He took the bear so she could eat calmly. 'Now eat. I bet you'll like it!' Annie smiled and took his hand as they were walking by the stands.

'What's wrong?' Rory asked him after they had decided that it was time to go home.

'Nothing…' his eyes gazed at the road. He was holding Annie in his arms and she was sleeping peacefully on his shoulder.

'You didn't talk all night.' Rory continued and the concern in her voice made him to look at her.

'They know…' he said after awhile.

'They?'

'The whole town, or at least the majority of them…'

'Jess what..?' Rory stopped and looked at him with understanding. 'But how…'

'Taylor smiled at me, smiled at me Rory! Then Babette and Ms. Patty… They know!'

'That son of a…' Rory stopped in the middle of the sentence and continued to walk. 'How dare he…'

Jess nodded, but then looked at Annie and frowned.

'Now we have to take care of Annie. She can't know… I don't want her to!'

Rory cuddled to him.

'She won't. I promise you…'