The next morning.

Jess is woken by a sound from the living room. He turns to Rory and whispers gently, "Merry Christmas."

Rory's eyes open slowly as she moans quietly. She rubs her eyes, "Good morning.

"It's Christmas!! A loud voice booms from the living room, it belonged not to child but to Lorelei.

Rory smiles and climbs out of bed. "Let's go. If we're not out there in five minutes she'll get the pots out."

Jess doesn't complain but follows suit.

*Living room. Elliot and Andrew are sitting in front of the tree, shaking presents. Lorelei is singing Christmas Carols while Luke sits grumpily beside her. Jackson is setting up the video camera. Sookie is reading the instructions. Jess and Rory shuffle into the living.

"Finally!" Andrew exclaims. "We've been waiting to open presents for ever!"

"More like, ten minutes Andy." Sookie replies.

"Can we open them now, mommy?"

"Ok, everybody pick a present." Sookie says calmly as Andrew and Elliot leap towards the presents.

*Hr later-All the presents have been open. Jackson has fallen asleep in the chair. Sookie is cleaning up the wrapping paper. Lorelei is sipping her coffee. Luke is searching for the Christmas parade on tv. Jess is on the couch holding Rory closely.

"You know…"Jess whispers, "I think this is the best Christmas I've ever had.."

"Rory smiles, "Me too."

"OO Donald Duck!" Squeals Lorelei. "It's not Christmas until he does his little dance."

"We used to have a dancing Donald doll." Rory whispers to Jess. "She used to put it out every Christmas Eve. She'd put new batteries in it and everything and by 7pm on Christmas he'd be dead."

Jess shakes his head in disbelief. "That's crazy."

"What's Crazy?" Lorelei Chimes in.

"You." He grins.

"I-I'm insulted. Luke did you hear your nephew.?"

"Yea."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?"

"nod my head in agreement."

Lorelei grabs a pillow from the couch and swats Luke. He laughs before grabbing her and pulling her onto the couch.

"Ok…time to get ready for dinner!!" Sookie announces.

"Dinner? It's 1:00" Jess comments.

"We always have dinner at 3 on Christmas, it's tradition."

"Oh, ok I don't argue."

*3pm-Dinner

"These are great greens beans." Jackson muses.

"They are, very soft." Sookie giggles.

Lorelei watches in disgust as Andy and Elli voluntarily eat carrots. "Devil children." She mutters.

"Not every lives on hamburgers and fries…some people like vegetables." Luke says gruffly.

"I don't buy it." Lorelei replies.

The dinner goes on for another hour. By the end almost everything is gone. Lorelei eats her third helping of turkey as Elliott polishes off the bowl of peas. Lorelei shakes her head at the sight but remains silent turning her attention to Jess who is involuntarily staring at Rory.

"Jess?"

"Hu-what?"

"She's not going to be any different 5 minutes from now." Lorelei says dryly causing Rory to go pink.

"Oh, right." Jess says picking up his fork and biting into his potato.

"Alright, so everybody go into the living room, I'll take care of the dishes." Sookie interjects.

"Oh, Sook, I'll help you." Lorelei offers.

The rest of the group heads inside. Moments later Andy and Elliot have fallen asleep next to their toys, Jackson is snoring in his chair, and Luke is breathing heavily on the couch.

Amused by the site Rory mummers, "Hey Je-

Rory cuts herself off noticing that Jess, too has fallen asleep. "Damn triptafen." Rory mutters walking into the kitchen.

*Kitchen

"Hey babe."

Rory smiles at her mother.

"I'm surprised you made it off the couch." Lorelei says dryly

"Why?"

"Honey, that boy has not let go of you for a minute all day." Lorelei chimes in.

"Leave her alone, it's cute. They're in love." Sookie replies dreamily.

"Thanks, Sookie."

"Any time. Coffee?"

"No thank you." Rory says cheerfully.

"No coffee?" Lorelei says, eyes wide in shock. "Are you alright, do you have a fever?"

"No…it's just.." Rory starts panicky, "I've been trying really hard to cut down on my caffeine intake, they kind of frown upon hyper teachers now a days."

Sookie nods in agreement, "That's true."

"Crooked school system" Lorelei mutters.

6pm.—Everyone has woken up just in time for Lorelei to coax them into watching miracle on 34th street.

"I can't believe we're watching this…again." Luke says gruffly.

"Shh this is the best part—right Rory? Rory?" Lorelei looks back towards the couch noticing at once her daughter's head resting upon Jess' shoulder. Lorelei stares for a minute before Luke brings her back to reality.

'Would you stop that and watch the movie."

*15 minutes later, the movie has ended.

Jess nudges Rory gently.

"Is the movie over?" Rory moans.

"Yea…" Jess trails off.

Rory sits up abruptly rubbing her eyes, "Mom, I'm sorry I tried to stay awake. I can't believe I missed it—

"It's ok, we'll watch it before you leave on Friday, now go to bed."

"Ok, Good night, mom." Rory hugs her mother. "Night, Luke." Luke nods in reply.

Jess just waves following Rory to their room.

Jess/Rory's room—Jess and Rory are lying in bed with a single light on. Jess is pretending to leaf through a book while Rory tosses and turns.

"Feeling ok?" He inquires.

"Yea, I just can't…get comfortable." She replies softly at which Jess puts his book down and turns off the light moving closer to his wife.

Jess notices a far off look in Rory's eyes, "Is something the matter?"

"No, yes. You know, I almost told her and Sookie today."

"Almost?"

"Well, I stopped myself."

"Why?"

"That's the thing, I don't know why. I guess I want it to be the perfect time and I mean I know my mom's going to go crazy and being Christmas and everything I think she'd just short circuit if I told her."

"Oh…"

"I want to tell her, I just want it to be done the right way, She's been my best friend all my life. When I tell her, I want her to know that she's the first person I told.

"I understand completely." Jess replies putting his arm around Rory.

*Next morning—After the exhausting holiday celebration everyone has decided to sleep in.

Rory/Jess's room

Jess yawns loudly stretching his legs as gradually wakes up. Rolling over he becomes aware of Rory's absence. He stretches one more time before standing up in search of Rory. As he enters the hallway he hears the shuffling of feet. He follows the sound which leads him to the Kitchen where Rory is dragging a chair across the floor.

"What are you doing?" He asks concerned.

"Getting a tea cup. If I can't have coffee I'll have tea…and for some reason these cabinets are really high." Rory replies climbing onto the chair.

Jess moves forward quickly stopping her from going any further, "I can get that." He says frankly.

Rory gives him a stern look before stepping down. "Ok, we need to talk. You have to promise me, right here and now that you're not going to be one of those jerky husbands that don't let their pregnant wife do anything, because I'm having a baby not dying—

"You're right. I'm sorry. If you want to climb chairs you can." Jess cuts Rory off. "But you have to promise me you won't do anything stupid like stand in front of a microwave for an hour." He says warmly Rory nods in approval.

"Wow." Rory says amused.

"What?" Jess says looking dazed.

"We just had our first discussion relating to our child."

"Wow. That feels kind of weird to say, our child" Jess says amazed.

"Jess Mariano, a daddy." Rory grins.

Jess grabs Rory holding her close to him, Rory sighs heavily closing her eyes. Jess smirks, "You're going to be someone's mother." He muses.

Opening her eyes, "That's righ" Rory pulls away from Jess suddenly; her face is white.

Vexed, Jess turns as the figure of his uncle comes into view, "H-hi Luke." He manages.

"I'm sorry, I should go." Look says awkwardly leaving the kitchen.

Rory moves quickly following Luke. "Wait Luke. It's ok."

"I'm sorry, I was just coming to make coffee for your mom." Luke replies frowning.

"W-we were going to tell you. I just wanted to talk to my mom first."

"It's ok, I understand."

"Please don't tell my mom. I want to tell her myself."

"Alright."

"Is she awake?"

"Well I woke her up about ten minutes ago…so she shouldn't be up for another 15."

"Good." Rory replies, Jess standing behind her.

Luke hard expression turns soft as he fights back a grin, "Is it…Is it ok?"

Jess looks at his uncle perplexedly, "Yea?"

Luke awkwardly holds out his arms. Jess moves forward and they embrace. "I can't believe it, I'm going to be a great uncle."

"A Grandpa…" Rory chimes in.

Luke's eyes tear slightly, "What?"

"I want you to be grandpa Luke…is that ok?" She answers shyly.

Luke nods repeatedly, "Yea." Jess moves back allowing Rory to hug Luke.

"What now?"

"Coffee…for mom, tea for me."

"Coming right up." Luke heads towards the stove.

"I'm going to go shower before there's a traffic jam." Rory says cheerfully, kissing Jess before she leaves.

Entering the bathroom, Rory encounters a bouncy Lorelei washing her hands.

"Hey babe!"

"Hi, mom."

"Whatcha doing?"

"I'm going to take a shower." Rory says passively.

"Oh…hey, you know; we haven't talked much this week. Are you ok?"

"Yea, I know. I've just have a little bit of a cold, so I'm sort of out of it."

"Oh ok." Lorelei replies dejectedly leaving the bathroom.

Rory pokes her head out of the door.

"Hey mom,"

"Yea?"

"How about we talk tomorrow…just you and me, after Sookie leaves. We'll go have lunch, you know so Luke and Jess can pack up."

"Ok, I'd like that." Lorelei says before heading into the living room.

"Morning." Jess says as Lorelei passes him.

She nods and heads into the kitchen.

"Hey hot stuff." Luke turns and smiles at Lorelei.

"You ok?" he asked noticing her faceless expression.

"Yea…but I think something's up."