She couldn't remember the last time she had been up this early. It was only because the strong urge to eat half a tub of ice cream and a block of cheese had hit her a few hours prior and she had decided to scarf it down on the couch instead of going back to sleep.
The diner was completely empty, no pans or hot grease splashing, no customers chirping- it was peaceful. The muffins on the counter looked appetizing- would Luke notice if one of them was missing? She shook the thought and headed to the poorly decorated upstairs unit.
Jess had been up most of the night, working on another novel- a series of short stories based on his crazy antics like a car crash involving ice cream, a bird pecking him in the eye, amongst countless other things that had happened to him during his short stay in Stars Hallow. He was surprised to see Rory so early but grateful for her presence. She looked a little swollen and puffy compared to her usual self but in reality, it only made her more beautiful.
His crush may have never subsided but he was ninety percent sure that hers had, "Good morning!" His shocked voice made her cackle in joy.
"Surprised to see me, huh?" She slid her shoes off and crawled onto the couch, "I like what you've done to the place!"
"I'm just visiting for the weekend!" He shut his laptop and turned to face her, "Besides Luke would absolutely kill anybody who tried to touch this place with a coat of paint!" His eyes narrowed, "How have you been this past week?"
The brunette shrugged, pulling at the loose thread in her sweater trying to unravel the details, "It was alright!" By alright she meant she had spent the last few days shoved under covers on her Mom's living room couch, moping and staring at a computer screen filled with blank pages.
"Rory I've been thinking-," It was never good when Jess started to think too much, "I've been thinking about your situation…"
"My situation?" She raised an eyebrow, situation didn't seem like the right world to call the parasite.
"And I'm getting stressed out for you! Where are you living? What are you doing? I know I said we'd never talk about it again but how can we not?" He was hoping that she'd fall into his arms, begging to move into a place just the two of them, beg for his help.
Rory would never do that though, "Well I started reading those books about expecting which is very horrifying and by very, I mean very. I also found an apartment off of Peach that has two bedrooms so I figure I can do some freelance writing and make a life for myself there!" She had never sounded so unsure of anything since ever but it was the only option she could think of.
"Rory…." His eyes begged for her to come up with some other way to finish that sentiment, "The father, have you talked to the father? Who is the father?"
She glanced at her phone calendar. The father was getting married in approximately three weeks. This weekend he was probably tasked with deciding on the final arrangements of flowers and doing a quick walk through of the venue making sure that each stained-glass window was as perfect as it was when they were installed in the 1800's. He was probably swooning over Odette who was at her thinnest and most beautiful. She hated to think about it- it made her blood boil. "The father doesn't matter! Because he's not a part of this." Her anger bubbled to her pale cheeks and small specs of red traced her bone structure, "He didn't ask for this and it wouldn't help anything! It's me and this thing together and nobody else!"
Instead of responding to her anger he just looked into her, aware of the uncomfortableness she felt from being out of control, "But what if he finds out eventually? Do you think he'll be upset that you didn't tell him to begin with?" As a kid who had come from a life of not knowing his father, he knew the resentment felt on the end of the kid and it wasn't pretty.
The Royal Highness himself could care less about a baby or her at this point. They had washed hands clean, left with a final kiss, only to chat when they inevitably ran into each other at a Yale alumni event years down the line. Would he recognize the blonde-haired kid she'd drag with? Would it have Logan's eyes or his thick blonde hair? That was a bridge to cross when it happened. Her head shook, "I don't think he cares to be honest! And why should he? We're not a thing! We're not together!"
"Do you want to be?" Jess wasn't lying when he said he needed answers. Very specific and well-planned answers. She didn't have a lot of those to give.
"When you said you wanted to hang out today I didn't think it was going to be us playing twenty questions!"
He shrugged, "You're right, I'm sorry! What did you want to do today?"
She wanted to sleep for fourteen hours under a pile of covers away from the rest of the world but if she had to do something it mine as well be something productive, "I guess I need some furniture for my apartment and then I was going to swing by Lane's and pick up a couple of things, is that okay?"
He nodded, "I'm just along for the ride!"
"And to drive!" She warned, "As long as you don't crash!"
"Hey!" A chuckle emerged, "It has been years since that ordeal, you're really still not over it?"
"Somebody has to give you a hard time because I really feel like your friends don't! You seem far to pleasant lately for anyone to be poking fun at you." They crept down the stairs, hearing louder and clearer the pans starting to clang in the background. The diner was still an hour away from opening but Luke was always there far earlier than that to make sure that Caesar's closing job was up to par.
"Morning Luke!" Jess slipped behind the counter and poked his head through the kitchen window, "Rory and I are headed out!"
Luke yelled, "You and Rory? Wait up!"
She had finally mentioned the unavoidable to him about mid-week during a dinner of beef on buns that would typically be something she'd scarf down. He was concerned why she wasn't eating, checking her head for a fever, offering up chicken noodle soup. Her mother had shot her this "you tell him or I will" look and the words blurted out. Understandably he was shocked yet elated- the emotion that they both knew would take over. Within days the pillows had become fluffier, the fridge filled with easy prep foods, and a small plush toy in the shape of a bear was laid out on her desk accompanied by matching baby books. She swore that he had seen a World's Best Grandpa mug mixed in with the other miscellaneous ones in the cabinet but she chose to look the other way.
"Hi Luke!" She yelled, eyes still fixated on the muffins.
"Do you want something to eat? I can make you some oatmeal or some eggs? You should be sitting, why don't you sit?" In a panicked blur he started brewing coffee, decaf first even though he knew she would never drink that sludge, "Where are you guys going today?"
What was it with men and their incessant need to know everything about anything.
She smiled, "Muffin and a cup of coffee that isn't decaf would be very much appreciated!"
"Of course!" He threw three in a bag plus a sprinkled donut, "Can I least make it half caf?"
"If you want me to dump it out?" Her eyes challenged him, more like her mother every day.
He groaned, "I can NOT in good faith give you this! Have you not been reading the book?"
"And that's our queue to go!" Jess chimed in, grabbing himself a braided mess of cinnamon sugar and a mug filled with hot water and black tea, "Can we borrow the truck?"
Luke raised a brow, "Do you have a good reason?"
"We're buying furniture for my new apartment!" Rory had already lunged in to her breakfast, leaving a small trail of crumbs around her.
"Of course! The apartment!" He had seen it and he wasn't that impressed. He already had a list going of the fourteen things that needed immediate fixing and another list of thirty that would need updating within the first year. He had pushed Lorelai to let her stay, they could build another addition or buy out the house next door from that weirdo with the board games and the lawn sprinkler. It wasn't just that the place was run down it was the fact that she would be streets over, having to walk up and down stairs with an infant, a bag full of who knows what, maybe some groceries- it just wasn't ideal. He shook back to reality, "You can use the truck, of course! Your mom isn't going with you?"
"Mom is more into the decorating, I'm taking Jess for the heavy lifting…." Rory smirked at the small smile that crossed his lips as she voiced the words referencing that she needed him.
Jess grabbed the keys from the register and waved to his Uncle who had already thrown himself into wiping down counters and preparing for the day. He was never one to stall on the hard work, something that Jess had undermined in his youth but recognized the more he found his own passion, "Shall we?" He held an arm out for Rory, to help her through the mess of half up chairs and down the steps outside.
She gladly took it, tired from lack of sleep but excited to find her own things for her own place where she'd be starting her own family. Her vison was unclear, the borrowed furniture from exes, the leftovers from her grandparent's pool house, and the wooden bed frame that she had, had since her youth were all their own entity of things that didn't match and didn't align with her personal style. The closest she had got to determining any sort of style of her own was a dorm room at Yale but the 2000's were a different time and things had changed in the world of modern interiors.
"I hope you're ready for a long day!" She urged, climbing into the passenger seat careful not to spill her fresh coffee.
He was ready for any day with her. The longer the better.
