A/N: Sorry this chapter is late, I've been on vacation. Thank you for the reviews.


Acting like grown-ups

Monday afternoon, Rory walked in the diner, finding Jess standing on the other side of the counter, reading.

"Slaving away, I see." She smiled, leaning over the counter and giving him a quick kiss.

"Someone's got to do it. How'd it go with the dresses?"

"Picked all of them up with no problems. I have to go by Liz's place and drop Doula's flower girl dress, making sure it's to her exact specifications." She grinned and he poured her a cup of decaf coffee, smirking.

"Did she relent on looking like a circus freak?"

"Hey, be nice to your sister!" Rory smiled, trying to glare at him. "And yes, sort of."

"Do I even want to know what that means?"

"You'll see." She laughed again, picking up her mug and drinking from it. "It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes or so. Want to come along?"

"Not really, but I probably should."

"I can just tell her you were busy." She shrugged but Jess shook his head.

"I have to tell her about Jimmy coming."

"Oh, right. I forgot about that. Baby brain."

"If that's the excuse you want to stick with…" Jess smirked, making her glare at him.

"Way to be nice to your pregnant fiancée. Really."

"It's not like you're going to change your mind now. Imagine the disappointment you'd cause your grandmother."

"You kidding me? She'd throw me a party." Rory laughed, leaning over the counter and kissing him again.

"Must you do this here?" Luke sighed, appearing next to them and Jess grinned, looking at his uncle.

"We'll take it upstairs if you insist."

"Rory, should I smack him or will you?" The man smiled at her and Rory tilted her head, looking like she was weighing the options in her head.

"I'll do it." Leaning over, she slapped Jess' arm quickly, still smiling and he smirked.

"That's spousal abuse, you know."

"Not yet, we're still not married. Now go on, we have to go drop this." She pointed to the garment bag next to her.

"Where are you going?" Luke smiled, looking at the two.

"Liz's place."

"And you're going, even though you have an excuse to not go? Don't act like a grownup now, Jess, you might give me a heart attack." Luke chuckled, making Jess smirk.

"Your wife is rubbing off on you. And I need to tell her about Jimmy coming. Jeez."

"He's still coming?" Luke's smile faded and Jess just nodded, shrugging at the same time.

"Said he is."

"When does he get here?"

"Thursday."

"What, he has nothing better to do then to stay in this town for 2 extra days?" The man snorted, trying to stay calm.

"Luke…" Rory looked at him and he shook his head.

"I know, I know, your mother's drilled the fact that I have to be on my best behavior into my head."

"Good. And both Jess and I appreciate it very much."

"Yeah, yeah. Go." He pointed at the door and Rory took Jess' hand, picking up the dress from the chair again.

"We'll see you in a bit."

As soon as they were outside, Jess took the garment bag from her, making her shake her head slightly and kiss his cheek.

"Carrying a bag is not going to kill me."

"So, anything else exciting happen?" He smirked, ignoring her comment and wrapping his free arm around her waist.

"Not really. How are you feeling about Jimmy actually coming?"

"Ror, him saying he's coming doesn't mean he is. Heck, him booking a room doesn't mean he is. I'll believe it when I see it."

"But…you're ok?"

"Couldn't care less." Jess shrugged, kissing her cheek again. "Anything left on your to-do list for today?"

"A few things."

"Anything I can help with?"

"Nope."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Ok." He nodded, kissing her quickly before they stepped on to Liz's porch. A few seconds later, Liz appeared at the door and Rory smiled, letting go of Jess.

"The dress is here, as promised."

"Thank you so much, honey." Smiling, she let the two walk in and pointed to the living room. "Can I get you something to drink? Are you staying for a bit or do you have somewhere to be?"

"We can stay." Jess nodded, making Liz's smile grow bigger.

"I have some fresh lemonade, can I get you some?"

"Fresh lemonade sounds amazing. Where's Doula?" Rory asked, looking around her.

"Napping. She was out this morning with Lane's twins and now she's exhausted. I can wake her up if you want her to try the dress on."

"Don't worry about it, just make her put it on sometime this week and call mom if it needs any alterations."

"I will." Liz sat back down, placing a tray with three glasses and a pitcher of lemonade on the coffee table. "How are the wedding preparations coming along? Anything I can do?"

"No, we're fine." Jess glanced at Rory quickly and she nodded.

"Can't believe it's so close, though. The last month has been so crazy, I can't wait to relax for a bit."

"Ok. If you change your minds and need anything, let me know, ok?"

"We will." Rory nodded again, smiling.

"Actually, I kind of have something to tell you about the wedding. It's just to give you a heads-up, but…" Jess took a deep breath, pausing for a second. "…Jimmy said he's coming. He's booked a room at the inn and everything."

"I know." Liz shrugged, drinking from her glass. "Honey, this is Stars Hollow. You had to have known that the second he booked that room, someone was going to find out."

"Are you ok with it?" He asked again and she smiled, nodding.

"Sure. It's your wedding."

"I…uh…thanks." He smiled back, not knowing what else to say and Rory squeezed his hand again. Before anyone could say anything else, the little girl ran in the room, going straight to Jess and hugging him, making him smile uncomfortably.

"Jess! You're here!"

"We brought your dress." He tried to distract her quickly and she let go of his neck, looking at Rory.

"Really?"

"Yeah." She pointed to the garment bag next to her on the couch and the girl's face lit up again, turning to look at her mother.

"Can I try it on? Please, please, please."

"Yes." Liz nodded and the girl smiled again, clapping her hands excitedly before trying to grab the dress. When she started struggling to carry it, she looked at Rory and she nodded, standing up and picking up the bag from her.

"How about we go get you all dolled up and then we can come show them?"

Nodding enthusiastically, Doula grabbed Rory's free hand and Jess smirked as they walked past him on their way out, making Rory glare at him.

"What's with the ballerina outfit?" He chuckled when they were of the room, picking up his glass.

"She only sleeps in that. Wait until your kid is born and old enough to have an opinion, you'll be happy with them wearing something, no matter what it is, as long as it's weather appropriate. Last week, she wanted to wear the princess dress she got for Halloween everywhere."

"This is when you take pictures and torture her with them when she's a teenager. Hey, you'll need all the leverage you can get." He laughed again, leaning back on the couch. In the meantime, in the other room, Rory was trying to zip up Doula's dress.

"Rory…" The girl dragged out the word, chewing on her lip.

"Yes?"

"Is it true that you and Jess are going to have a baby?"

"Uh…" Rory stammered, chewing on her lip. "Who told you that?"

"Miss Patty asked mom about the baby. I told her you can't have a baby because you're not married, but she just laughed!"

Zipping the dress up quickly, Rory smiled. "How about we go show your mom and Jess?"

"But you didn't answer me!"

"Well, we're going to get married in a few days. We're not having a baby before we get married."

"Oh, ok." The girl grinned, satisfied with the answer and took her hand again, starting to drag her towards the living room. Breathing out relieved, Rory followed, grinning when Doula let go of her hand and started twirling around the room. Walking to Jess, she ran her fingers through his hair quickly, looking at the girl.

"What do you think?" Doula put her hands on her hips, looking from her mother to Jess.

"Stand up straight, kid." Liz smiled. "I think you're very pretty."

"It's…interesting." Jess chuckled, looking up at Rory and she glared at him. "But yes, very pretty." He smirked, making Rory shake her head.

"Now go on, let's go get you changed before you spill something on it." Liz stood up, looking at the little girl and she started pouting.

"But mom!"

"No buts."

"We're going to head out as well. Stuff to do." Jess stood up, pointing at the door.

"Ok. Just…call if you need anything, ok?"

"Yeah, we will."

A few minutes later, they were walking back to the diner.

"So that went…better than anticipated." Rory smiled, moving closer to Jess.

"I know. She's acting like a grown up. Forget Luke, I think I may have a heart attack first if she doesn't stop."

Slapping his arm, she looked at him, tilting her head to the side.

"Sorry, force of habit." Jess lifted his hands in the air, leaning over and kissing her quickly.

"Think Jimmy will do the same, if he really does come?"

"I hope so. If he doesn't, then I'm not going to be the one stopping Luke from doing whatever he wants."

"And you'll…"

"I'll be ok. It's not like I care that much what he does or doesn't do." Jess kissed her temple, smirking.


The next evening, everyone was gathered in the Gilmore house, rounded in the living room around the tree. Walking into the kitchen, Rory smiled and hugged Jess, who was standing next to one of the counters.

"You know they're all asking where you are."

"Figured you could cover for me for a bit." He smirked, kissing her. "Liz was talking at me again, I had to get out of there."

"At or to you?"

"Well, I wasn't listening." He chuckled. "Conserving my energy for Saturday."

"You'll be nice, right?"

"Since I do have every intention of enjoying the wedding night, I'll be a good boy all day." Jess smirked again, making her laugh.

"Your mind only works in that direction, doesn't it?"

"Not exclusively, but you should agree that some enjoyment should happen that night."

"What if I'm sick again?" She suddenly looked worried, her smile fading and Jess hugged her closer to him.

"Then I'll enjoy holding your hair." He whispered, kissing her temple. "It's not like I haven't seen it all before." He chuckled and Rory lifted her head, placing a quick kiss on his lips.

"I'm pretty sure you seeing it before is what got us here anyway." She laughed. "Now come on, they were about to open presents in the other room. You can think of ways of having fun on our wedding night later."

"Can I get a preview instead later?"

Shaking her head, Rory snickered, taking his hand and dragging him after her in the living room. As soon as they were back, Lorelai smiled, looking at them.

"You found him."

"I was off looking for Narnia." Jess smirked, sitting down in an armchair and Rory sat on the arm, her arm around his shoulders.

"Presents!"

"These are yours. Dig in!" Lorelai pointed to a pile. "Jess, yours." She pointed to another one.

"You went all crazy again."

"Someone's got to." Lorelai grinned, picking up a box and handing it to her daughter.

A couple of hours later, after almost everyone had left, Rory crashed on the couch, breathing deeply. "Your Christmas party gets better every year."

"You're only saying that because you love me."

"Maybe." Rory smiled, looking at Lorelai. "What's with those boxes? Were we missing someone tonight?"

"Uh…not really."

"Then?"

"It's my duty!"

"What?" Rory looked at her mother confused as Jess walked back in the room, wiping his hands on his jeans.

"Dishes clean. Can we head back now?"

"Not yet, mom was just about to explain what sort of duty involves a lot of presents."

"You got it something first, now I can start!"

Blinking a few times, Rory grinned, looking from the presents to her mother.

"You mean…"

"It's my first grandkid, I wanted to celebrate its sort of first Christmas properly."

"I…" Rory hesitated for a second, before jumping from her place and hugging her mother as hard as she could. "Thank you."

"I may have gone a bit overboard." Lorelai smiled as well, hugging her back.

"But, you did all this, even though you've been doing so much for the wedding and I just…thank you."

"Stop thanking me and open them!"

Standing up and wiping her eyes quickly, Rory sat on the floor, picking up one of the boxes while Jess sat down in the armchair, both him and Lorelai watching her. Opening the box, she started laughing when she saw the tiny leather jacket, shaking her head.

"You're crazy."

"It's adorable."

"Where did you find one this small?"

"I have superpowers." Lorelai grinned and Rory held up the jacket, showing it to Jess.

"Look how cute it is."

"Just precious." He smirked and she threw some paper at him, laughing.

"Jess, I swear to God…"

"It's very cute." He shook his head, still smirking. "Thanks." He nodded in Lorelai's direction and she grinned.

"No need to thank me, just doing my job."


Later that night, after they dragged everything inside the upstairs apartment, Rory walked out of the shower, finding Jess lying in bed, looking at the pile of presents. Curling up next to him, she kissed his chest.

"We're never going to have to buy anything for that child if your mother keeps doing this."

"She wanted to do something nice."

"I know." He kissed the top of her head, smiling. "Now that Christmas's done, the wedding is really the next step."

"Unless one of us decides not to go through with it and run to Venezuela instead."

"Don't think so. I heard it's terrible there this time of year."

"Is it normal to not be scared?" She looked up at him, still smiling. "I mean this is this huge thing and I just…I'm not scared."

"It's not that huge. It's a piece of paper."

"It's a complete change in status. And name. I go from Miss Gilmore to Mrs. Mariano in 4 days."

"You're still convinced you want to change your name, I see."

"We're not going over this again. I want to. We're going to fight and I'm too tired for that."

"No fighting." He shook his head, placing a soft kiss on her lips. "Whatever you're happy with."

"Having two middle names seems like a fair compromise. And this way, I get to have the same name as the kid."

"We can call it Gilmore. I don't care."

"No. I want a family for this kid, as traditional as it can be when it comes to us."

"This is only the start of you winning very fight, isn't it?"

"Oh, please, I was already winning every fight." Rory laughed.

"I know." He sighed dramatically.

"I'm sure I can think of some way to make it up to you."

"It will take some work." Jess smirked, looking at her.

"I'm not worried." She grinned, leaning over to him and kissing him.

"Is this my preview?"

"In Luke's apartment? Nope. Small taste, mister."

"I'll settle for that." Turning off the light, he laid down and she took her place on his chest, smiling when he wrapped his arm around her. "One last Christmas present."

"You already gave me a present."

"Yes. But this one you'll have to check out tomorrow or something."

"What is it?"

"When you were out shopping with Lorelai today, I bookmarked some houses for you to look at and then maybe go check out after the honeymoon."

"Seriously?"

"Figured it was about time we did something on that front. You can dismiss all of them if you want."

"I'll look at them tomorrow. I love you."

"I know."

"Good night."

"Night."