Celeste slept better than she had in weeks that night, only mumbling something affirmative in response after Jess kissed her and whispered that he was going to Luke's to have breakfast with April before her flight out, having ordered breakfast in bed for Celeste, that already stood waiting on the tray stand by the bed.
The fluffy snow had turned mostly into ice outside overnight and the wind had turned chilly, and Jess raised up his coat collar as he stepped outside. His hair was a little messy and he hadn't bothered to shave that morning, feeling much more like his old self in Stars Hollow as he walked across the town square towards Luke's. Strangely enough in a way it was comforting to slip into that old role for a moment. He saw April enter just in front of him, hastening his step.
"Hey, April," he greeted friendlily, as the door chimed.
"Good morning," she replied, placing her red parka onto the chair, before taking a seat.
Caesar came to take their orders in a snap, knowing the two knew the menu by heart.
Jess nodded in greeting and added, "Coffee and eggs, scrambled."
"April?" Caesar asked.
"I'll have oatmeal with blueberries, please," she said.
"So, New York, ah?" Jess began, wanting to not sound too abrupt with the suggestion he'd been thinking about all morning, as he stared at the ceiling, not wanting to wake Celeste, who he figured, needed the sleep.
"Yeah, I figured I needed to experience the world a bit before I finally decided on a graduate school," April said. "I was almost set on continuing at MIT but I wasn't sure on the major, and so now I've done a couple of shorter internships and a few courses that I can transfer to my graduate degree once I decide on it," she added. She hadn't put all of her eggs in the same basket, getting a undergraduate degree as a double major, but as she enjoyed both of them near-equally, she hadn't felt ready to make the final cut without seeing what sort of work there was out there in either.
"Keeping busy, I see," noted, saying "Thanks," to Caesar who brought him his coffee.
"So I was thinking that if it's okay with you I'd come on the 4th, my internship starts on the 7th," she began, explaining her schedule.
"Yeah, about that," he began, hesitating for a moment how to phrase what he wanted to say.
"It's still okay that I stay, isn't it? When Luke suggested it, I thought it sounded a little too good to be true," April panicked for a moment.
"Luke suggested it? I thought you asked him to ask me…. Ah, nevermind," Jess reacted, feeling a little confused but realizing it didn't really matter.
"I was almost going to turn the internship down because I wasn't sure how I was going to pay for a place, a room even," April explained.
"April, it's fine that you stay. But I'll be honest with you - I feel like Luke's overcompensating or something and I just think it's not right for him to pay for you. So maybe we can make some sort of a deal with you instead," Jess explained.
"What were you thinking?" she asked.
"Do you think you could find a way to pay for your share of the utilities? Get a part time job? Or maybe help out with the baby… if that's something you could see yourself doing?" Jess suggested.
"Yeah, of course, I was planning on getting a job anyways. I've been doing waitressing and data entry jobs, stuff like that for the past three years anyways, and I used to babysit in New Mexico all the time when I was younger," April agreed.
"And once you can, and you still want to stay there, we'll talk again about rent?" he added.
"Yeah, of course. I really don't like being a charity case…," April replied, like it was obvious.
"Okay, good," Jess said, feeling pleasantly surprised that April was perhaps more capable than Luke had made her seem. Maybe he'd judged her too harshly?
"So she doesn't hate me?" April inquired, after a moment's pause.
"Who? Celeste? - No way! There are very few people in the world she's capable of hating and you are definitely not one of them," he replied just before Caesar brought over their breakfast.
Liz's and TJ's house had clearly seen Luke's touch since the last time they visited. Now the place was decorated with hand-made Christmas decorations - not as flashy as The Crap Shack but in a more humble, eco-friendly way, a lot of the decorations made out of natural materials - straw, twigs, salt-dough and upcycled objects.
After about 10 minutes of greetings and hugging, along with "you look so good" and "how's the baby?" type of exclamations and questions from Liz, Doula walked in through the front door, unwrapping her scarf as she did.
"Hey Doula!" Jess greeted as he noticed her, expecting a warm greeting in return like she usually did.
The 10-year-old, however, walked away demonstratively and headed upstairs in a haste, hardly making eye contact.
"What's up with her?" Jess asked Liz.
"Oh, it's nothing, she's just a little upset she didn't get to be a bridesmaid. She'll get over it," Liz sighed, while she continued to stir the sauce over at the stove, she'd nearly forgotten about in the midst of the greetings.
"I should go talk to her," Jess said, glancing over to Celeste with a concerned frown.
"I'll go," Celeste offered.
"It was my fault, I should've told him myself," Jess explained, feeling guilty for having Liz tell her instead of calling her himself.
"Yeah, but you've never been a 10-year-old girl," Celeste replied with a wink, already heading up the stairs, hearing Liz comment to Jess, "you've got a good one there," approvingly, making her smile on the inside as she heard it. It felt good being accepted like that, even if it was the little things.
"Hey, Doula. Do you mind if I come in?" Celeste said after knocking on the door with the Lumineers poster on the door. The silence lingered for a while.
"Fine," she peeked the door, crossing her arms across her chest, as she sat back to her bed, legs pulled up in front of her.
"Hi, can I sit? Celeste asked.
"Okay," she replied.
"We're sorry we didn't tell you about the wedding," Celeste began.
"Is it that you didn't want me there? That I'm just some kid," Doula pouted.
"That's not it at all. We just decided we wanted to do it as soon as possible, we just didn't want to wait any longer and if we would've invited everybody that would've meant a lot of organizing and taking everybody's schedule into account. I really didn't feel up to all that planning," she said stroking her bump. "And... it would've been a little painful for me to be in a big production of a wedding, with everybody from Jess' family there but none from mine - I don't have any, you see," she confessed. She hadn't really said it out loud like that, but there was more truth to that statement that she wanted to admit.
"I didn't know," Doula replied apologetically.
"And you know what, if you're upset about missing a pretty dress, how about I promise to get you one for your birthday?" Celeste suggested, clearly knowing a thing or two about 10-year-olds.
"Really?" Doula asked excitedly.
"We can even go shopping for it together, but I think we need to do that before Evie decides to join us, I'm not sure how mobile I'll be afterwards," Celeste added smilingly. "Now how about we go downstairs? We've got pictures to show and let's just have a nice evening, alright?" she suggested.
Celeste and Jess drove back to Brooklyn on the 25th, wanting to spend at least part of their first Christmast together in their own home. They hadn't even bothered getting a real Christmas tree this time, just a few branches on the dinner table, feeling like they really didn't need much more than just being at home together.
They'd gone for a walk in the park, to stretch themselves after the long drive, and now they'd just had a simple dinner, a warm salad, feeling the need for something lighter after two nights of heavy dinners, Jess enjoying a glass of Bordeaux on the side.
"I got you a little something," Celeste began, as she finished her meal, and walked over to a kitchen drawer which they hardly used normally.
She walked back with a present wrapped in simple unbleached white paper, handing it to him.
"It's nothing much really, just thought of you when I saw this. And I know we really didn't talk about presents and perhaps it's not terribly romantic like one might expect from a first Christmas, but I just wanted to tell you that I am really grateful to everything you are - that you've taken these leaps with me and made me truly happy," Celeste said, getting a bit emotional by the end of that sentence.
"Hey..," he soothed her, stroking her shoulder. He unwrapped the present, which by the feel of it he already had guessed to be a book. Inside was a copy of "Man vs Baby" by Matt Coyne.
"Thank you! You didn't really have to get me anything," he replied humbly. "And I'll definitely read this," he assured. He had been feeling like he was behind in all things baby related, feeling like he was out of time and never going to catch up the important stuff, and while she was involving him a lot more, telling him about things she'd learned in class or read, it was never quite the same as reading things on his own.
"I got you something too," Jess surprised her. "I'm sorry, I didn't get around to wrapping this before we left," he apologized, as he walked over to his laptop bag, and pulled out a leather binder notebook.
"Wow, it feels amazing," Celeste replied, feeling it's slightly distressed cover with her palm. Inside were blank pages, and a new set of her go-to unipins. "Thank you," she said, giving him a kiss on the lips.
"Jenn mentioned to me that you talked to her," he explained his choice in gifts.
"I'm sorry, I hope you're not mad," Celeste worried.
"I've told you that I think it's great that you do these and I want you to keep working on them. I admit, I've peeked at your notebook before so it really wasn't much of a surprise you've been thinking about making something out of them. But I do wish you'd talk to me. I can be objective, you know," Jess clarified.
"I know," she replied, feeling a little embarrassed. "Just your opinion matters to me, and I didn't want to put you in that position - having to be brutally honest with me, if you didn't think it...," she explained.
"You don't ever have to think like that. I'll support you, I'll tell you when it needs more work… whatever you want to do, I've got your back," Jess assured.
She wrapped her arm around his chest snuggling into him, his hand stroking her back and he pressed his lips against her hair. The audible 'I love you'-s were unnecessary.
"You know, if you want I'll show you something I draw yesterday while you were having breakfast with April," Celeste said, looking up to him from his chest.
She led him upstairs, not too hastily, into their bedroom, settling to sit her back against the headboard, as she handed him the notebook she dug out from her leather tote that she usually kept on the window sill. Jess took a seat next to her, flipping through the notebook slowly, seeing more than a few new addition.
"Next page," she said.
He flipped the page and found a drawing of almost photorealistic quality. It was of two people in a pool, her legs wrapped around his waist, only really showing enough to hint the sensuality of the situation, showing nothing pornographic, no faces. There was a certain urgency that showed in the way he held her, arm muscles tensed, her body melting into his.
"I used some photos from the internet as examples, I'm not that good with realistic drawings myself," she explained, apologetically. But despite using photos as examples she was a little proud of it herself, having tried something different that simple doodles.
Jess smiled smugly at her, feeling an incredible sense of pride for her - for all the ways she kept surprising him, for how amazing she was and how he simply couldn't get enough of her.
AN: I have been thinking of doing a chapter on the Nantucket events with the other characters without Celete & Jess... I feel like you'd like it, but it would be a little out of the storie's style to write something that doesn't include the two main characters. So what do you think? Should I do it?