They were moved by next Sunday, the final boxes and suitcases now almost unpacked. The nursery still looked bare, on hold for a few more weeks, the wallpaper which Celeste had picked out delivered and waiting in one of the closets, hidden from Jess for now.

The heat still hadn't let off and Celeste was unpacking on the boxes containing the contents of her bathroom cabinet. She was barefoot, wearing her shortie shorts and one of Jess' rugged t-shirts tied into a knot at her ribs, her hips swinging to the Shins.

She'd been just carefully checking the 'best by' dates of her supplements before placing them into the cabinet, when Jess' arms found their way around her waist, his stubble reaching over her shoulder landing a kiss just by her ear.

"That was the last of it," he murmured, having just come from the final round between his apartment and the house.

"We're moved in!" she cheered, turning around, his arms remaining around her, her hands closing around his neck, not minding the fact that he was a little sweaty. Never before had the moving of the final boxes into a new place felt that satisfying to her - a new chapter, almost like a new life - the little downgrades that mostly came in the form of a few lesser rooms and a narrower stairway compared to the house in Greenwich, barely registering next to the thought of what this place would be - a home for their family not just her, a place full of hope.

"Listen, I was wondering if you would mind terribly if I helped you unpack now for an hour or so and then go see Adrien - he's driving into the city now and I haven't seen him a while," he asked apologetically.

Celeste made a playfully grumpy face. She'd wanted to celebrate with him, cook them something nice and sit out in the backyard. But she understood - friends were important - and he had left most of them back in Philly.

"Alright, just don't stay out too long okay," she replied making her puppy-dog eyes, placing a deep inviting kiss on his lips as if a pre-taste of what he could expect once he returned.

He let out a groan as the kiss broke, knowing that they needed to get back to unpacking, as all that was still packed at this point were their everyday essentials they would be missing shortly if they didn't.

"I promise," he said, grabbing her ass firmly.

Celeste squirmed and giggled, stealing one more kiss from him, before he headed back towards the living room.

She understood well why it was important for Jess to have his own friends and spend time with them. There was only so much companionship neither of them could expect from Rory and Logan - they had their own lives, soon much busier than now. They loved spending time with each-other, there was no question, and mostly they did just that, but there were moments when a break was also welcome. And in the midst of these developments Celest actually felt a little lonely, once Jess was off doing his own things. She'd drifted apart from her former friends in the past months. She had lost track of the work stuff, and even though they too were family people, the connection just didn't seem as significant without the engagement in the work process. She just didn't feel like calling them, sensing like she wouldn't have that much to say, not wanting to go into too much detail about her pregnancy or the dealings he'd had to go through with Henri in Paris. All she really had to talk about was the house and the books she'd been reading.

Celeste had begun wondering how one finds new friends in a city like New York as an adult. She knew that even if she tried, it probably wasn't going to be easy - feeling still somewhat insecure about her background story, as if not sharing herself fully could never yield to an honest friendship. She'd checked local meetup groups online, but somehow going out to 'date' for friends felt wrong, or she even felt too old, and too pregnant, for that, as those mostly took place in bars.

Nevertheless she was making an effort. With her move she'd changed a lot of her exercising routines, switching to prenatal yoga already now, though feeling still a little out of place with all the round bellies around her, having left her pilates studio in Manhattan. She still ran but that she often did with Jess and it seemed that was mostly what people did to isolate themselves, earphones blasting. The few times someone had approached her while she'd been doing her stretches at a park, it had been by a strange man, that certainly not being what she looked for. Once or twice she'd tried a defusion dance class, but hadn't quite felt like she fit in that studio, the crowd being a little too tilted towards the anti-vaxxers and eco-warriors. She appreciated some aspects of mindfulness it carried but never much appreciated the talk of chakras or energies of crystals. She wasn't really sure what else to do - hoping that at least once she started the prenatal classes there might be some recurring faces, but she doubted it would be very easy with her to connect with people like she hoped to.

So there she was, alone for the afternoon, with her books and laptop. She hadn't done a lot of creative things in the past months, hence it felt like a breath of fresh air when she discovered her scribbling notebook in one of the boxes labeled 'bedroom'. She finished unpacking the box and took the notebook along with her unipins down to the back yard, snuggling into the couch under the pergola, just allowing the line on the paper to take over, switching off her brain.


It had taken Jess weeks to get that far in the thought process that Luke's words had begun making more and more sense. He could do very little against the worry - things being very much out of his hands but he could try to understand Jimmy better. The half a year he'd lived with him, Jimmy had pretty much fallen back into his day-to-day life, never discussing the circumstances of him leaving other than that one late-night confrontation when he'd first asked him if he could stay. Jimmy had been reluctant at best, insisting he barely had his own life together, but thankfully he'd relented. Jess knew he was already beyond that, he was able to take care of himself, but there was a certain insecurity, how he would handle the myriad of changes he was about to experience.

"Hi, is Jimmy around?" Jess called, staring out of their bedroom window down to the street, being rather surprised that Jimmy's number was picked up by a young-sounding female. He hoped Jimmy hadn't ruined things with Sasha - she'd been good for him, keeping Jimmy grounded. He hadn't the last time he'd called at least. They weren't exactly keeping close touch, calling on holidays on occasion, mostly biennially at best, usually feeling more awkward after the call than before.

"He's just in the shower," she replied. "Can I take a message?" she asked a second later.

"Can you tell him Jess called," he said.

"Oh, Jess! I haven't heard from you in a while. It's Lily," she replied.

"Lily, hi! How are you?" he asked, recalling the little girl who used to read books in the darkness of the closets. He'd connected with her a lot more back then than either Jimmy or Sasha, while sensing the boundary of not letting her get overly attached, as he didn't know how much he was going to be around. He'd spoken to her once more than ten years ago since that time, feeling slightly embarrassed of that fact now.

"Oh, I'm good. I'm just visiting for a few weeks. I graduated from Berkely this spring," Lily shared proudly.

"Wow, that's great, Congrats," he replied, not really being surprised.

"You're still in Philly?" Lily asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Actually no - Brooklyn," he replied.

"Oh, here he comes now. It was great talking to you. Don't be a stranger okay?" she said friendlily, again making him feel guilty for not keeping better touch. It was always a little strange with Lily, her not being Jimmy's but Sasha's.

"Sure, thanks," he replied, awkwardly.

"This is Jimmy," a hoarse voice answered.

"Hi! It's Jess," he said, waiting to hear something in his voice - disappointment, fear, joy - anything.

"Jess, huh," he sighed surprisedly, not giving him any hints on if he was glad to hear from him. Surely this must've come as a surprise - it was no holiday, it wasn't anyone's birthday.

"How are you?" Jess asked, clearing his voice.

"Same old, same old. The Inferno is still up and running, Sasha is good too," Jimmy replied briefly.

"So…," Jess began, not really sure how to approach the subject. When it came to communicating Jimmy was as terrible as he'd been, maybe worse, and this really didn't feel like a phone conversation. "Listen, I was thinking maybe I could come for a visit in a few weeks time, I have some business in LA, it would be a good opportunity to catch up," he added, lying about the business part. His schedule was flexible, the work needing to get done either way, but he could steal a few days away if needed. Somehow admitting that he genuinely just wanted to talk to him felt too uncomfortable.

"Sure, you're welcome," he replied a little awkwardly, unsure what to think of it by the sounds of it. He hadn't been expecting it, but frankly neither had Jess, just having come up with the idea. The trip was procrastination and removing the distance at once. Jess wasn't sure himself, if it would just be a waste of time or not.

"Okay, I'll let you know the details in a few days," Jess replied before he hung up along with goodbye's. He sat down onto the bed and kept staring at his phone, pondering what exactly it was he'd wrapped himself in to now. Whatever he wanted to hear from him, he had no idea.. Nor had he ideas on how to ask it.

"You look serious," Celeste noted as she walked into their bedroom to search for her charger.

"I just called my dad," Jess replied, rubbing his neck with his palm.

"Oh?" she reacted, pausing by the window. He never really spoke much about his real father, so the statement was significant on it's own.

"I want to go visit him in L.A.," he added with a sigh.

"Everything okay over there?" Celeste asked with some concern. Perhaps someone was sick?

"Yeah, they seemed fine. I just want to talk to him, you know. I thought I could do it over the phone, but he's not exactly easy to talk to," he explained.

She wasn't sure what to say. She had no objections to him going of course, and in a way she was even happy that he wanted to talk to him, and the fact that he'd shared this with her.

"Would you come with me?" Jess asked, almost surprising her.

"Of course," she replied, stepping close and stroking his shoulder supportively. The fact that he'd asked meant the world to her.