Fifteen

Rory left the newsroom and practically ran home, going up the stairs to her apartment as fast as she could at twenty-two weeks pregnant. Her body and lungs screamed at their sudden introduction to exercise, but she had news – important news, exciting news – that she needed to share with Jess as soon as possible.

It had been a month of trying and failing to find an apartment that fit their needs and she finally had a solution.

She unlocked the many locks, cursing Paris for being such a worrier, and burst into the apartment, startling Paris in the process.

"God, slow down Gilmore, you made me spill my coffee," Paris griped.

"Sorry!" Rory said breathlessly. She closed the door behind her and paused to try and catch her breath, leaning on the counter for support.

Paris smirked at her. "Jeez, what's got your panties in a twist?"

Rory furrowed her brow. "When did you become a sixty-year-old British woman?"

"When you started exercising."

"Oh, so, now."

"Exactly," Paris said, pouring herself a new cup of coffee. "Seriously, what's with the rush?"

"Where's Jess?" Rory asked, ignoring Paris's question.

"Is this a sex thing?"

Rory's face flushed. "God, Paris, no! I just need to talk to him about something time sensitive."

"I think he's in the shower," Paris explained.

Rory ran for the bathroom door. Finding it locked, she pounded on it incessantly.

"Jess! It's Rory, let me in!"

"Hold on!" he called from the shower.

"Jess!" she shouted, drawing out his name as she continued to knock.

"Jeez, I said hold on!" Jess called as Rory heard the water turn off and the shower curtain open.

"I have news! Hurry up!"

The door unlocked and opened, revealing a soaking wet Jess with a towel around his waist, some shampoo suds still in his dripping hair.

"Okay, God, what is it?"

"You know Frank, from the Daily News?"

Jess furrowed his brow. "Yes…?"

"He's graduating in December," Rory said with a wide grin.

Jess paused. "Good for him?"

"And he got a job in California."

"Still failing to see how this applies to me."

"His job in California means he's moving."

"K, I'm happy for Frank or whatever, but could I have at least gotten dressed before you told me?" Jess asked, slicking his wet hair out of his face with an annoyed expression.

"Jess, he's moving before his lease is up. Which means he's subletting his apartment until the lease is up next June."

Realization began to dawn on Jess's face.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Rory nodded, grinning widely. "He heard me saying that we were looking for a place and offered it to me! The rent is affordable, it's a great size for us, and it's just on the other side of campus. It's perfect."

Jess grinned. "We have an apartment?"

Rory returned his grin. "We have an apartment!" she squealed as Jess wrapped his arms around her, picking her up and spinning her.

"Watch the towel, Mariano!" Paris yelled from the living room.

"I'm fully covered, Paris, give it a rest!" Jess called back, adjusting the towel just to insure it wouldn't slip.

"I'm just saying!"

Jess shook his head and turned his attention back to Rory. "So. December?" he asked.

"Yep."

"That's soon," Jess said with a glance at the wall calendar Paris had up, noting the early November date.

Rory nodded and bit her lip. "I know."

"Okay." Jess nodded. "We'll make it work."

Rory sighed happily. "We're finally getting our own place."

Jess smirked and pressed a kiss to Rory's lips.

"It's about time."

The next few weeks passed in a blur of packing and purchasing.

They continued buying things for the baby whilst simultaneously start putting their lives in boxes, and the combination of new and old, all of which was in some state of packed, made it look and feel like they were living in a storage shed of bins of forgotten knickknacks. No morning started without tripping over a box and cursing loudly as the tripper held their toe and grumbled angrily at the offending box.

Rory loved that they were finally getting their own place, just for their little family. Finally feeling like they were starting their life as that family. But, if she was honest, she was really going to miss living with Paris. She'd been living with her for the better part of four years, and it really was the end of an era. She felt a pang in her chest every time she realized she wouldn't have to smell hot glue when Paris was doing stress crafts or wake up to her murmuring medical facts in the living room at two in the morning during a cram session. Over the course of the next month, Rory made an extra effort to spend time with Paris. Take advantage of the time they could spend time together so easily, even if just by simply studying in the same room. There was a bittersweet flavor to every interaction now as they realized that Rory and Jess's move marked the beginning of the months of change that would occur as they approached graduation.

Before they knew it, Thanksgiving was upon them and both Rory and Jess had a long weekend off from work and school. They made the trek to Stars Hollow and spent the days being overwhelmed by inquisitive townsfolk demanding answers about the baby and trying to be encouraging and supportive in their whacky small-town ways – meaning they threw a slightly impromptu baby shower despite Rory's objections the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Thankfully, the party was relatively lowkey. Jess and Rory got a lot of baby supplies, thus saving them more money, and they were able to get all of the questions answered and the unrequested advice reluctantly accepted in one fell swoop.

Thanksgiving Day was spent just with their strangely extended family and closest friends, all piled into the dining room at the inn, laughter and relaxation filling the air. April had become incredibly doting, constantly fetching Rory water and telling her to put her feet up and just generally at her beck and call the entirety of the holiday. It had gotten on Rory's nerves at first, but it quickly became endearing. Sookie had then insisted on sending Rory and Jess home with a variety of baked goods and demanded Rory call her with any and every craving, promising to cook and deliver it no matter what. When Rory returned home, she felt a little spoiled in the best way possible.

Along with the holidays came the arrival of Jess's baby sister. His mother had really named her Doula of all things, but he had to admit… she was a pretty cute baby. Not that he'd had a lot of exposure to other babies. He hadn't been present for the birth as Liz had wanted him to – thank God for emergency meetings in Philadelphia – but he got to meet her at Thanksgiving and after working through the initial awkwardness of meeting your half-sister from your slightly estranged mother, it was kind of a nice experience. Plus, he imagined spending time with a baby would be good practice considering he never had before and soon he'd have to figure out how to raise one.

Unfortunately, though, it was not all peace and joy through their family.

Just after Thanksgiving, it was revealed that April's mother was moving to New Mexico and trying to take April with her, effectively taking her away from Luke despite objections and arguments from everyone involved. Thus, Luke was fighting for partial custody.

If April was removed from their lives, Rory would of course miss her as a sister. But even than that, more it broke her heart to see Luke so torn up, so distraught over the possibility of losing his daughter. The recent ultrasound scare only made it hurt worse, easily able to step into the shoes of someone worrying about their child being taken from them. When the recommendation to have people write character references was voiced, Rory, Lorelai, and Jess gladly did their part, writing letters that explained what an amazing father and man that Luke was and how he deserved to be a part of his daughter's life. Only time would tell if they worked.

November came and went, and Rory jumped headfirst into the end of the semester. She'd never experienced a busier December. Between finals, prepping for their move that would occur over Christmas break, wrapping up her time as editor, and preparing for the baby, she didn't have a single free moment. Never mind that she was officially in her third trimester and the fatigue had hit her full force along with back pain, heartburn, and her precious little girl was often kicking her directly in the bladder or the spleen or the rib. Simply put, she was over it.

Jess had taken on the majority of prepping for their move, packing things up in between emails and editing for Truncheon and in the spare time before his shifts at the bar. He saw Rory working herself weary and despite his own exhaustion, he wasn't going to let his six-month pregnant girlfriend lift boxes and dismantle furniture. So, he talked to authors or businesses on the phone while categorizing and boxing his and Rory's literary collection or taking apart a desk or a bookcase. He was nothing if not a multitasker, but more than once Rory had entered their bedroom to find Jess asleep with a manuscript on his chest and a pen in his hand surrounded by the litany of baby clothes they'd already purchased or been gifted, a failed attempt at simultaneous packing and editing at the end of a long day. Rory would then simply take over the packing and leave Jess to sleep, a soft smile resting on her face as she tried not to giggle at his snoring.

Through all the craziness, Rory had spent the weeks fending off phone calls from her father. She had zero interest in hearing whatever lame attempt at an apology he had to say considering he'd reacted so poorly to the pregnancy, especially since he hadn't even been up front about his feelings about it with Rory and she had to hear it from her mother. In Rory's mind, Luke was the baby's grandpa, and Christopher didn't need to be in the picture, too angry and hurt to let her father back into her graces after he'd screwed up yet again. But, of course, Christopher wasn't exactly receptive when people tried to set boundaries.

Rory and Jess were spending a weekend afternoon in December each typing away wildly on their laptops, Jess taking advantage of having rare time to work on his novel and Rory frantically trying to finish a term paper. They were both deeply entrenched in their work when there was a knock at the door. It almost wasn't heard over the din of the music they had playing, but then it sounded again, slightly louder, and it startled Jess out of his trance. Hitting the "save" button, he hopped up and opened the door. His demeanor immediately changed, however, his jaw tensing and his nostrils flaring, as he was met with Rory's father.

"Jess," Christopher greeted coldly, straightening his spine as if to try and tower over Jess.

Rory's eyes shot up from her computer at her father's voice.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" she asked angrily, awkwardly hoisting herself out of her chair. At twenty-seven weeks, she was officially too front heavy to move like she had previously.

Christopher's eyes widened noticeably at her round stomach, and his demeanor faltered just slightly before he spoke.

"I wanted to talk to you and you weren't answering your phone."

"Yeah, well, there's a reason for that," she spat, folding her arms over her chest.

Jess glanced back and forth between Rory and her father as he tried to decide whether or not to insert himself. He stayed back, waiting until it was absolutely necessary, knowing that Rory could handle herself.

"Ror, I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" Rory asked, immediately thinking of half a dozen things he needed to apologize for.

Christopher hesitated. "Could I come in? Or could we get coffee? I don't want to do this in the doorway of your apartment."

Rory paused, chewing on her cheek as she mulled over his request.

"Fine, let's go get coffee," she said finally, moving into her room to grab her coat and shoes.

"Stay here," Jess growled at Christopher before following Rory into the bedroom and shutting the door behind him.

"I can't believe him!" Rory grumbled as she thrust her arm into her coat. "Just showing up out of nowhere and asking to hear me out! Ugh!" She sat down on the bed to pull on her boots, struggling to bend around her bump. "And here I am, hearing him out," she scoffed. "Pregnancy has made me soft."

Jess snorted. "You are not soft, you're just a nice person."

"That's my problem! I'm too nice! I should just turn him away, send him on his way!"

"Look, Rory, I'm seriously the last person to give you advice on making up with crappy parents, but… you're you. Family is one of the most important things to you. Do you think you'd be able to let it go if you sent him away?"

Rory sighed and pouted. "No, it'd drive me crazy."

"Alright. Then, go to coffee, listen to his excuses, and see what you want to do next."

Rory huffed out a frustrated breath. "Since when did you become the calm and reasonable one?"

Jess smirked. "Since your body flooded with pregnancy hormones."

Rory rolled her eyes but smiled all the same.

"Do you want me to come?" he asked quietly.

Rory softened. "No, stay here. I'm afraid the day might end in fisticuffs if you two are in the same room too long."

"You sure? Cause I could use a good excuse to get a punch in," he said with a smirk.

Rory smiled, crossing the room and kissing him gently. "Yeah. I'll call you if I need a knight in shining boxing gloves, Rocky."

"Aw, c'mon, I thought we were past the Rocky references!" Jess objected with a grimace.

"Never!" Rory smiled.

Jess rolled his eyes and kissed her cheek as she brushed back out into the living room.

"Ready?" Rory asked coolly as she stepped out into the hall with her father.

"Yeah. And, thanks for giving me a chance, kid," Chris said gently.

"Yep," Rory said in a brisk tone.

"Well, lead the way," Chris said with that signature, easy-going smile.

Rory stalked her way down the stairs as gracefully as she could without another word, quickly leading them towards the nearest café.

"Wow, kid, slow down. Thought I'd be able to keep up with you considering—"

Rory glared at him, daring him to finish his sentence about her size and her newly developed waddle. Chris, smartly, shut his mouth and kept it that way until he ordered their coffee.

Once they had their drinks they sat at a table in silence.

"Well?" Rory prompted.

"I'm sorry," Chris said.

"For?"

Her father sighed. "For… a lot of things. Firstly, for not being there when you were little."

Rory attempted to maintain her surprise at Chris's reference to the past.

"O-oh."

"Gigi's already so big and it's made me realized… I missed all that with you. And I know, it was my own fault, and I can't turn back time, but I don't want to miss any more."

"Well…" Rory began, faltering slightly as she came up at a loss for words.

"Don't say it's too late, please." Christopher said earnestly, practically begging.

The desperation in his voice irked Rory. It was the same story, all over again. The same apology, the same excuses, the same plea to be a part of her life. It had never changed – he had never changed – so why should she think this time was any different?

Rory sighed. "Dad, I… you can't just jump in and out of my life when it's convenient for you or when it works out for you to be with Mom. And that's all you've ever done!" she said, picking up steam as a lifetime of hurt flooded her. "You've only ever been there when you had a chance to be with Mom! And as soon as whatever you and Mom faded or exploded or just fell apart, you'd be gone again. Over and over again, that's all that happened. It's like I was never enough for you," she said, her voice breaking slightly.

She cleared her throat and sipped her coffee in an attempt to reign in her emotions. She took a breath and continued. "I'm about to have my own kid now and I can't have her grandfather fading in and out and confusing her. It was confusing enough for me, I won't do it to her, too. And plus… I'm really over being confused," she added quietly.

Chris blinked. "'Her'?"

"Oh," Rory said quietly. "Yeah, it's a girl." She pulled out the copy of the latest ultrasound photo that she kept in her wallet and handed it to her father.

Her father's eyes misted over as he looked at the image, clearing his throat before speaking. "Wow. It's… this is real."

"Yeah," Rory said, nodding slowly. "Has been for a while. It was real when the second line showed up, it was real when I was puking every night, it was real when we heard her heartbeat for the first time, it was real when they thought there was something wrong with her heart. It's been real for a long time and in a few months, it's gonna get even more real when she's born."

Chris continued to stare at the photo, seemingly transfixed as he processed a million thoughts, before he looked up and met Rory's eyes.

"I want to be there. In your life, in my… granddaughter's life," Chris said, the words seemingly feeling unfamiliar as he spoke them. "If you'll let me, I will," he said quietly.

"How do I know you will be?" Rory asked, shaking her head.

"Because I've learned my lesson, Rory. I have."

Rory stared down at the table and sighed before looking back up.

"What else did you want to apologize for?"

Chris paused for a moment. "Um… for…" He trailed off as he searched his mind.

Rory scoffed. "You don't even know what you have to apologize for, do you?"

When her father looked at her helplessly, she shook her head in disbelief.

"How about yelling at Mom when you found out I was pregnant?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"You acted like everything was okay when I called and told you I was pregnant, and then you called Mom and went crazy! I'm an adult, Dad! Mom isn't in charge of me anymore, and she's going to tell me everything you say anyway! You have to be honest with me when something happens or you're upset with me. I'm not a kid, I don't need to be protected from my daddy's big feelings."

Chris looked aghast, his jaw hanging in surprise for a moment.

He closed his mouth and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for not being honest with you. I didn't want to hurt you, but I should have realized that being dishonest would have hurt you worse."

Rory was honestly a little stunned. It was rare for Christopher to take responsibility for something he'd done, and though Rory had to be the one to point out his mistake… he hadn't tried to brush it under the rug this time.

Rory sipped her coffee and let the moment settle over them. "So where's Gigi today?" she asked quietly.

"Paris," Christopher explained.

"France?" Rory asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Sherry, uh… she really stepped up. Wanted to spend some time with her kid. So we worked out a plan for Gigi to spend time with her in France."

Rory nodded. "That's good. I'm glad Sherry realized what she was missing before it was too late," she whispered.

Chris exhaled heavily. "Is it too late for me?" he asked quietly.

Rory thought for a moment. She loved her dad, she really did. He'd hurt her – a lot. The many times in which Chris left when he said he'd stay stuck with Rory like the residue left by a band aid. No longer an open wound, but the evidence of recent injury collecting dust and constantly reminding you that you'd been hurt.

Despite everything, though, he seemed to be trying. Actually trying. Blame the hormones or the stress, but Rory could have sworn she saw a newfound desire or fear in her father's eyes. A realization that if he didn't get his act together, he'd lose something precious to him.

After minutes of painful silence, she decided.

"No," she whispered. "It's not too late. But…" she said as her dad's eyes started to light up with relief. "This will be on a trial basis. If at any point Jess and I see signs of you leaving, especially when the baby's old enough to notice… at that point, I'm done," she said, actively having to steady her voice as she explained just how serious she was about possibly having to cut her father off. As much as it scared or pained her, she wouldn't put her daughter through anything close to the confusion she'd experienced her whole life. But deep down, she knew she was using the baby as a cover. She knew she just wasn't sure how many more times she could take her father leaving her.

"Of course. Thank you, Ror," Christopher earnestly.

"On one condition," she added.

"What's that?"

"Stay away from Mom. For real this time. She and Luke are happily married and I won't let you get between them again," she said, her voice low and serious and almost threatening.

"I promise," he said, nodding solemnly.

Rory nodded tearfully, offering her dad a small smile. "Um, I need to get home. Jess and I are moving some of our stuff to our new place today."

Chris furrowed his brow. "New place?"

"Yeah, we figured our daughter's first home should probably be free of crazy roommates and shouldn't have a gang posing as a doowop group downstairs. A guy that works at the paper with me is subletting his apartment and it ended up being perfect for us," Rory said, her smile growing at the thought of being able to give her daughter a better first home than she or Jess had had. No garden sheds, no dingy rooms. Just a small, clean, safe apartment.

"Well, that's great, kiddo. I'm really happy for you. Both, or, I guess, all of you. And I'm not too far away, let me know if you need help moving or anything."

Rory smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

Rory said her farewells to her father and started the walk back to her apartment. She took a deep breath, inhaling the delightful chill in the December air – she was sure her mother would be smelling the coming of snow any day now. She had a good feeling about the coming days – finishing her second to last semester of school, wrapping her time as editor, moving into her and Jess's apartment, and, of course, Christmas. And, for the time being, she had her dad back, and she was even hopeful about that.

Her baby stirred and pushed on Rory's internal organs – she really had a habit of kicking inwards instead of out lately. And, yeah, it hurt sometimes. But it was always a welcome reminder that her baby girl was safe and healthy, and in thirteen short weeks Rory would get to meet her. That thought always brought a smile to her face.

She walked into the apartment with that smile still there and Jess's eyes darted up from his laptop.

"You're smiling, that's got to be a good sign. Either that or he made you so angry you lost your mind."

Rory laughed as she shed her winter outerwear. "No, it went well. I mean, it was awkward and tense and I got angry, but I think he's really trying. And we're going to try a trial relationship. So it was good."

Jess stood and walked to her, wrapping his arms around her lower back. "I'm glad it went well. I'm sorry you have to do trial relationships with your dad, but…"

Rory placed her hands on Jess's shoulders. "I'm glad to have a relationship with him at all," she said quietly, nodding.

"Yeah."

"He offered to help us move."

"And you politely turned him down, right?" he asked, looking nervous.

Rory laughed. "Yeah, no need to worry about my dad showing up with a bunch of boxes and a toolbelt to help us transport our belongings from one place to the next."

Jess smirked. "Speaking of, you ready to take the first things over?"

Rory grinned. "So ready."

A/N: So much good happening! Yay! And finally Christopher was told off. As he deserved. I wasn't totally sure where I was going with that originally, but I think it would take something really drastic for her to cut her dad off completely. Also, I have to admit that I forgot Sookie had a cannon pregnancy in season 7. That was a storyline I really hated and maybe just blocked, so she's one that is NOT pregnant in this universe. Anyway, excited to share more! Thanks for reading!