Seven

Jess froze.

Rory froze.

Neither knew what to do. They just stood and stared at the ringing phone in Rory's hand.

"What do you want to do?" Jess finally asked.

"I don't know!" Rory cried, holding her phone out like it was a bomb about to explode.

Jess was immobile, paralyzed between his anger at Lorelai and his desire to help Rory reunite with her mother.

It had to be good that Lorelai was calling, right? Maybe she was trying to make up, to apologize. But also, she could be calling to yell at Rory some more – yell at her for what he had said to Lorelai. But, no, she wouldn't yell at Rory for something Jess did, right? Though, on the other hand, Lorelai had reacted to the pregnancy much differently than they had ever expected, so maybe she was on a streak of doing things no one would expect.

Jess felt so torn on what advice to give, so he remained glued to the doorframe.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started ringing, the phone went quiet.

Rory's eyes glazed over and Jess finally regained mobility and raced to her side.

"Crap! Crap, crap, crap! What do I do now?" Rory demanded, her voice shaking with anxiety.

"I don't know, do you want to call her back?"

Rory glanced around frantically.

"I don't know! I don't… Jess, what… why…"

Jess noticed that Rory was almost trembling and took the phone out of her hand, gently grasping her upper arms and giving her a comforting squeeze.

"Breathe. Take a second and breathe before you do anything else."

Rory took a deep, shaky breath as she put her head in her hands.

"I don't know why I'm freaking out so much…"

Jess rubbed Rory's arms. "Hey, it's okay."

The two startled when Paris and Doyle's bedroom door ripped open to showcase a livid-looking Paris in disheveled pajamas.

"Why is there so much noise out here after midnight?" Paris seethed.

"Lorelai called," Jess explained quietly, shooting Paris a look to tell her to chill the hell out and not agitate Rory further.

Paris's demeanor immediately shifted, her rage switching to interest and confusion. "Oh. Why?"

Jess shrugged.

"I didn't answer," Rory explained, her panic resuming. "I freaked out and didn't answer. I should have answered! Why didn't I answer?"

"Did she leave a message?" Paris asked, closing the bedroom door and walking over to join the other two in the living room.

Jess checked Rory's phone and shook his head, finding no message.

"Why would she call? And why so late at night?" Rory asked in a small voice.

"Have you heard from her at all since you told her?" Paris asked.

Rory shook her head.

"Have you heard anything about her from Luke?" Paris asked Jess.

"He hasn't said anything, but we also haven't talked a lot lately."

Rory looked scandalized. "You aren't talking to Luke?"

"We're not 'not talking', we just aren't exactly calling each other up to gossip every day," Jess defended.

"So we have no idea what's going on in either Luke or Lorelai's lives that could have prompted Lorelai to call for the first time in over a month, let alone in the middle of the night?" Paris asked.

Rory shook her head sadly as Jess grumbled, "It's just after twelve, it's hardly the middle of the night, Paris."

Paris sighed. "Call her back in the morning, see what she wanted to talk about. I'm going back to bed."

She left Jess and Rory alone in the living room once more.

"Why didn't I answer?" Rory asked tearfully.

"Because you got scared," Jess whispered. "Which, considering Lorelai's weird tendencies to freak out lately, is understandable."

"What if that was my only chance? What if she thinks I hate her now? What if—"

"Stop with the 'what-ifs'," Jess interrupted. "They're only freaking you out more. Paris is right, call back in the morning and then go from there."

Rory smiled slightly. "Can you imagine Paris's face if she heard you say she was right?"

Jess smirked. "Yes, and I don't need a real-life example so don't you dare tell her I said that."

Rory and Jess went to bed where they both slept fitfully all night, Rory stressed about Lorelai and Jess stressed for Rory. When the sun finally rose, Jess rose with it. Rory was peacefully asleep, so Jess silently got up and dressed for the day, thankful she had gotten at least some rest and wanting her to sleep as much as possible.

He made his way out to the kitchen and made Rory the small amount of coffee she could safely have and a large amount for himself before starting to make some pancakes and eggs for breakfast. If Rory had a stressful morning ahead, the least he could do was feed her.

As if she had some sort of internal coffee alarm – which, hey, she was a Gilmore, it was possible – Rory shuffled out of the bedroom in her flannel pajamas and bedhead the second the coffee was ready. She squinted at Jess and rubbed her eyes as Jess smirked and sipped his coffee, taking in how adorable she looked first thing in the morning.

"What?" she asked through a yawn as she grabbed her mug of coffee.

Jess shook his head. "Nothin'."

Rory eyed him curiously as she drank her coffee, savoring the small amount she was allowed to have, and then took note of the spatula in Jess's hand and gasped.

"Did you make me breakfast?" she asked happily, a grin spreading across her face.

"'Course, someone needs to make sure the blob gets its nutrition," he said, giving her a quick kiss before loading up a couple plates for them.

They sat at the table and ate, but Rory only picked at her food and ate small bites.

Jess frowned. "Is something wrong with the food?" he asked, sniffing his own, worried that something had gone bad.

Rory shook her head and frowned back, her face a little green. "The thought of eating these eggs right now seriously makes me wanna puke," she said with a grimace. "I guess the baby doesn't like eggs anymore," she said sadly, pushing them around with her fork.

Jess chuckled. "Don't worry about it, I'll take 'em." He took Rory's plate and scraped Rory's eggs onto his own plate. He put Rory's pancakes down back in front of her and resumed eating.

After a few minutes of eating in silence, Jess noticed Rory hadn't eaten any more of her food.

"What now?"

Rory blushed. "Nothing."

"Rory, come on, what is it?"

"You'll think it's stupid…"

Jess smirked. "No, I won't, just tell me."

Rory sighed and pouted.

"The pancakes touched the eggs…" she mumbled, staring down at her pancakes in mild disgust.

Jess stifled the laugh that bubbled up in his chest.

Okay, she was right, he thought it was a little silly. But, he wasn't going to argue with pregnancy logic or Gilmore logic, especially when the two joined forces, so he took her pancake for himself and stood up.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked.

"Making pancakes that haven't fraternized with scrambled eggs," he explained, putting Bisquick in a mixing bowl.

Rory smiled widely as her eyes sparkled.

"You're making me a whole new breakfast?"

Jess nodded. "Go take a shower, your food will be done when you're out."

He kissed her forehead as she walked by on the way to the bathroom and then returned to the new pancakes.

As Jess heard the shower turn on, Paris's bedroom door opened and Paris walked out.

"I hope you're just using Rory's food, Mariano," she said as she started coffee for herself and Doyle.

Jess rolled his eyes. "How am I supposed to know what's Rory's and what's yours?"

Paris gaped at him. "You mean you didn't check?" she demanded.

"Check what? What is there to check, Paris?" he asked as he flipped a pancake and continued to grow more annoyed with Paris as she moved about the kitchen in a frenzy, checking the various breakfast ingredients with wild eyes. It was at that moment he realized he was about to start living with Paris.

God help him.

Paris held up the pancake mix, pointing at a purple circle the size of a quarter on the back of the box. "My things are marked with purple stickers and Rory's are marked with red. This Bisquick has a purple sticker on it. Tell me, Jess, what does that mean about the Bisquick?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest and looking at him like an impatient kindergarten teacher.

"I'm gonna have to go with, 'the Bisquick's yours'," Jess grumbled back.

"Oh good, at least I know you're not a total idiot."

"Relax. I'll reimburse you for the pancake mix. Would it help if I made pancakes for you and Doyle?" he offered begrudgingly.

Paris looked slightly surprised, her arms falling to her sides. "Oh. Sure."

Shaking his head ruefully, Jess added more Bisquick to the bowl and made a third batch of pancake mix. He hoped there wouldn't be any more surprises or breakfast mishaps or else he'd be stuck there making pancakes all day.

Paris sat at the table and sipped her coffee. "How's Rory this morning?" Paris asked, seemingly attempting some sort of small talk.

Jess shrugged. "Okay, I think. Eggs are enemy number one now, though, apparently."

"What?"

"Eggs made her sick." He paused, concern washing over him. "Is that… is that normal?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh, food aversions? Totally. I've heard of women vomiting because they got a whiff of vegetable oil or saw beef. She'll get over it eventually."

Jess breathed a small sigh of relief. He couldn't help but worry when Rory had new and rather un-fun symptoms pop up out of the blue. Honestly, he was thankful Paris had some experience with medical study so he could ask her questions when things arose and he didn't have a book to turn to.

He heard the shower turn off and began preparing Rory's new pancakes how he knew she liked them.

Paris eyed the bathroom door warily, as if to make sure Rory couldn't overhear her.

"Did she call Lorelai back yet?" she asked in a hushed voice.

Jess shook his head, putting the new pile of pancakes on the table and sitting down across from Paris. "Nope."

Paris thought for a second, sighing thoughtfully. "Why do you think she called?"

Jess shook his head. "I really don't know. I can only hope it's because she realized she screwed up and decided to fix what she broke."

"You and me both."

The bathroom door opened and Rory walked out in a towel, her wet hair leaving a trail of drips behind her. She halted at the sight of Paris and Jess at the table together.

"Okay, seeing you two at my kitchen table and not bickering is gonna take some getting used to."

Jess chuckled into his coffee. Honestly, it was going to take some getting used to for him, too.

"Don't worry, Gilmore. There was plenty of bickering while you were in the shower," Paris said, standing up and grabbing her and Doyle's food.

Rory laughed and headed off to her room to get dressed.

"Doyle and I will eat in our room so Rory can have the place to call her mom," Paris said.

Jess smirked. "Wow, Paris. You're almost nice sometimes."

He noticed Paris bite back a smirk of her own. "Watch it, Mariano. I know where you sleep," she said as she sauntered back into her bedroom and closed the door.

Rory emerged fully dressed and with combed hair, joining Jess at the table and diving into the new pancakes.

Jess laughed. "I see the egg-related nausea has subsided."

Rory grimaced and swallowed her bite of food. "Please don't say that word, just the thought of them makes my stomach churn."

Jess held up his hands in defeat. "They no longer exist."

Rory smiled. "Thank you for breakfast and coffee and just… everything," she said.

Jess returned her smile. "No need to thank me," he said quietly. "Though apparently I owe Paris pancake mix now."

"Oh, whoops, I forgot to warn you about the stickers. Sorry."

"No big, I'll bring some when I move."

Rory's smile grew wider. "I love hearing you say that. Living apart from you for over three weeks was way too long."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm willing to put up the control freak and her boyfriend," Jess teased.

Rory snorted. "Yeah, they take some getting used to that's for sure."

"What's the deal with the sticker system, anyway?"

"Purple and Paris both start with 'p', and red and Rory both start with…"

"'R', I got it now," Jess chuckled. "Why not just write 'P' or 'R' on things?"

"It's Paris, I gave up trying to understand the innerworkings of her mind a long time ago," Rory said, shaking her head and taking another big bite of pancakes. "God, how do you make pancakes from a mix so good?" she asked with a full mouth.

"Whisk the whites," he said, avoiding the forbidden word. "Makes them fluffier."

Rory squinted at him.

"Okay, a couple years waiting tables in a diner wouldn't teach you that, and I can't imagine Luke giving you private cooking lessons. So how?"

Jess looked down at the table, fiddling with his coffee mug in silence, a shy smile on his face.

"When I lived in Stars Hollow, there were times when the books I had were boring or I'd read them too many times. So I read whatever cookbooks Luke had lying around." He shrugged. "Seems like some of it stuck."

Rory smirked at him and shook her head.

"I have never been more in love with you."

"What?" Jess laughed.

"You cook, you read pregnancy books, you put up with my roommates… you're the perfect man."

Jess snorted. "Remember that the next time I do something that annoys you."

Rory gasped, apparently scandalized. "You? Annoy me? Never!"

Jess gave her a look.

"Alright fine, and if I don't remember you can remind me."

"Oh, now that I'm filing away for later."

Rory chuckled as she continued to shovel pancakes into her mouth.

"Hey, so I was thinking…"

"A potentially dangerous activity," Rory said, taking a sip of her coffee. "What about?"

"I don't have that much stuff to pack and move. If nothing weird comes up, I think could move all my stuff when I come up for the appointment on Friday."

Rory's jaw dropped.

"Really?" she asked, excitement lighting up her face like a little kid on Christmas morning.

"Hey, it's not a promise, I'm not totally sure how busy it is at work, I might not have enough time."

"I get that. But if all goes optimally…"

"I will officially live in New Haven next weekend," Jess said with a smirk.

Rory grinned, so looking forward to finally being in the same place as Jess, before turning serious.

"Are you sure you want to uproot your life like this? I don't want to get in the way of your success or hold you back or—"

"Would you stop that?" Jess interrupted. "I'm moving because I want to. This isn't… I'm not uprooting my life, my life is just changing. In a pretty amazing way, if you ask me. I'm still getting to work in job I love, I get to live with the woman I love, and I get to be here for the whole process of becoming a dad. I'm happy, Rory."

Rory blinked away the few tears that had gathered in her eyes and smiled.

"That was pretty sentimental for you."

Jess smirked. "Yeah, well, you make me sentimental."

A few minutes of silence passed as Rory finished her breakfast.

"So…" Jess said quietly, tentatively broaching the topic.

Rory took a deep breath. "Am I gonna call Mom?" she asked, anticipating Jess's question.

Jess nodded. "Are you?"

Rory paused then nodded slowly, as if trying to convince herself her answer was true.

"Yeah. I think I am."

Jess reached across the table and took Rory's hand in his own. "Do you want to do it alone or do you want me to stay?" he asked quietly.

"Staying would be nice," Rory said in a small voice.

Jess nodded. "I'm not going anywhere."

Rory grabbed her phone from where it lay on the table and dialed her mother's number with shaky hands before putting it to her ear. Rory bit her lip in anxiety, the next few seconds feeling like an eternity. Soon, though, Rory removed the phone from her ear and flipped it closed. She took a deep, shaky breath as she stared at the table.

"I got her voicemail," she said, her voice laced with annoyance.

"Okay, you can try again later."

Rory nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why would she call me and then not answer when I called her? What is her deal?" she snapped.

Jess shrugged. "She's probably just working or something."

Rory huffed out a frustrated breath.

"I guess. I just don't feel like playing phone tag with my mother when she's the one who yelled at me in the first place."

She had a furrow between her brows, a look of annoyance on her face, but her voice was quickly shifting from anger to hurt.

Jess sighed heavily. He hated how much this was stressing her out. How much Lorelai was stressing her out.

"How's a movie marathon day sound?" Jess asked quietly.

Rory paused, milling over the concept.

"Will there be Red Vines?"

Jess scoffed playfully.

"Please, I've known you long enough to know there has to be Red Vines."

Rory smiled softly.

"Then a movie marathon sounds great."

Jess and Rory spent the day curled up on the couch watching Rory's favorite movies. At times, Paris and Doyle joined them, and at other times Rory dozed off with her head on Jess's shoulder. If there hadn't been the underlining stress of awaiting a call from Lorelai, it would have been a pretty perfect Sunday.

As the credits rolled on Say Anything, Rory startled awake and blinked around the room.

"Morning sleeping beauty," Jess smirked.

"What time is it?" Rory asked sleepily, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her hand.

Jess checked his watch. "Just after six."

Rory's stomach growled as if upset that it hadn't been fed dinner yet.

Jess chuckled. "Want me to go get some takeout?"

"Don't you have to drive back to Philadelphia soon?"

Jess shrugged. "I may have called and told the guys I got caught up here and that I'd be back tomorrow."

Rory smiled. "Then takeout sounds great."

"Chinese?"

Rory pondered for a second. "The thought of it doesn't induce vomiting, so I think it's blob-approved."

Jess snorted. "Chinese it is. Be back soon." He stood from the couch, kissed Rory on the cheek, grabbed his wallet, and was out the door.

Rory curled back into the couch and picked up the book she had abandoned the night before, deciding to use a few free minutes to get ahead on her reading. She was deeply entrenched in her studies when her phone rang, jolting her out of her literary trance and sending her heart pounding. When she picked up her phone and confirmed her suspicions as to who the caller was, her stomach did a summersault. But, she refused to freeze this time, so she took a breath and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" she asked, a little louder this time.

"Hi," came Lorelai's voice, trembling slightly.

So many feelings coursed through Rory at once. Fear. Excitement. Anger. Joy. And still others she couldn't quite pin down or put a name to.

"Hi," she replied quietly.

"How-how are you?"

"I'm alright. You?"

"Well, I have a club of concertina players staying at the inn, so…"

Confusion etched itself on Rory's face. "What's a concertina?"

"Like a really small accordion."

Rory let out a small laugh. "Oh, so, you're just downing Tylenol all day then."

"That and I invested in earplugs," Lorelai chuckled.

The smile quickly faded from Rory's face as they returned to an awkward silence.

"Mom… why did you call?" she asked in a small voice.

She heard Lorelai's breath catch.

"I missed you," Lorelai whispered. "And…" she cleared her throat. "God, I can't do this over the phone, um…"

Rory's heartrate quickened. "What do you mean? Do what?"

"I just… wanted to talk. To you. Do you think you'd want to maybe come over tonight?"

Rory's mouth hung open. "Tonight?"

"Yeah, I just… wanted to talk. But in person, so I was wondering if you wanted to meet up. To…"

"To talk."

"Yeah."

"Um…" Rory's mind was spinning. Lorelai wanted to see her. Tonight. She had to, right? She had to take this opportunity to try and mend things with Lorelai. Not having Lorelai there for her was killing Rory. It was a bone-deep ache that never left her, a kind of pain that had become all-too-familiar. A pain that had drowned out the fear of what else Lorelai could say or do to damage their relationship further.

And was Lorelai, trying.

"Yeah, okay. Where?"

She heard Lorelai sigh in relief.

"The house okay?"

"Sure."

"I'll be here so… whenever."

Rory felt a wave of nausea and checked the clock. "Well, I'm due to throw up any time now so after that."

"Oh," Lorelai said softly, and Rory thought she could hear a smile in her voice.

"What?"

"My morning sickness was at night, too."

Rory's eyes welled with tears.

Just then, with perfect timing, Jess walked in with an armful of takeout bags. He froze at the sight of Rory crying on the couch with her phone pressed against her ear. His eyes blazed with anger as he set down the food and watched her cautiously, appearing ready to fight whoever it was that brought tears to Rory's eyes, even if he had to do it through the phone.

"Um, I'll see you soon, okay?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, um… see you soon."

Rory ended the call and put her head in her hands.

"See who soon?" Jess asked hesitantly.

"Mom," Rory said, lifting her head, a small and apprehensive smile dancing across her lips. "She wants me to come to the house tonight. To talk."

"Talk? What's that supposed to mean?" Jess asked angrily. "What, is she getting you to drive all the way to Stars Hollow just to yell at you some more?"

Rory shook her head as she stared into the distance. "I don't think so. She sounded… different."

"Different how?"

Rory shrugged and looked at Jess. "Scared, maybe?"

Jess sighed. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Maybe not to the house, but…"

"I'll come to Stars Hollow and see Luke and be there if you need a getaway car," Jess said with a small smile, doing his best to be encouraging when deep down he was terrified of what could happen when Rory went home.

Rory returned his smile and stood to walk over to him. "Thank you." She kissed him tenderly, placing her hands on her chest to brace herself.

Jess returned her kiss with fervor before pulling away and resting his forehead on hers, brushing their noses together. They stood there in silence until Rory wrinkled her nose and groaned as the nausea began to overwhelm her.

"Come on, I'll hold your hair," Jess said, grabbing her hand and moving them towards the bathroom.

Rory snorted.

"Wow, that may be the most romantic thing you've ever said…" she mumbled sarcastically.

A/N: A little literati fluff and finally some contact with Lorelai! Also doing my best to give Paris and Jess a little bit of the snarky friendship they deserved to have in canon, though Paris tends to be hard for me to write sometime so forgive me if she's ever out of character. Thanks for reading!