Chapter 195

"Hello?"

"Hi Mom! I have two pieces of bad news, and one piece of very good news that will definitely make up for the bad news."

"…well hello to you too," Lorelai laughed, sitting down on the couch, "That was a lot in a short period of time, and that's coming from me. So what's up?"

"I can't come to Stars Hollow this weekend, though Jess will still be there. And Paris probably can't come to the wedding anymore."

"Oh no, why n…oh my god!"

"She had the baby."

"It's so early! Is she okay?"

"She's totally healthy. I'm going up to see them this weekend."

"…she wants you to come that soon?"

"Yeah," Rory said, biting her lip, "It kind of surprised me too. She's having me actually visit, and stay with them."

"Well, that'll be interesting," Lorelai sighed, "How's the baby? What does she look like? Marie, right?"

"Actually, Paris changed the name. She named her Simone."

"Simone? That's…that's really pretty," Lorelai admitted, "I like it more than Marie."

"Me too," Rory agreed.

"Did Paris send pictures?"

"Not yet. I'll ask her for some," Rory said, making a mental note, "But I didn't get any from her last night after we talked."

"So you're going this weekend, and Jess is gonna stay in Philadelphia?"

"I think he might still come help Luke if needed, but if you guys can wait a week, I'm sure he wouldn't mind the opportunity to get ahead on some work stuff."

"That should be fine. Most of Luke's stuff isn't as pressing," Lorelai said, "And I have Sookie helping me this weekend anyway. I had to politely decline Liz's offer to help, though."

"Ugh, tricky. How's all that going, by the way?"

"Luke doesn't want to talk about it, Liz really wants to talk about it, and I want to stay out of it, so I'm just kind of demurring every chance I get. How's it going on the Jess end?'

"He hasn't said much, but that's kind of how he is."

"I remember," Lorelai laughed, "Well, tell Paris I'm so happy for her, and that I can't wait to meet Simone soon. And send pictures when you visit, if she's okay with it."

"I will," Rory promised, "Love you."

"Love you too."

Rory hung up the phone, smiling. Jess turned around from the couch.

"Was that your mom?" he asked, pulling out his headphones. He'd been continuing to work in the living room for the last hour or so, since Rory got home. They'd planned to order Chinese food but the thought had gotten away from them, given how busy they were with their respective work. On top of that, they were both exhausted.

"Yeah, it was Mom," Rory nodded, "I let her know I wasn't coming this weekend. It sounded like they don't need you to either, if you want to stay here and get ahead on some work."

"Or less behind," Jess pointed out, gesturing at his still-open laptop, "It's nuts right now."

"I can see that," she said, nodding, "Why's it so much?"

"Realistically, we over-solved our lack of authors problem, which really means that we're getting bigger. And since authors mostly falls on me, that means I'm extra busy. But so are Matt and Chris. Matt is pretty much snowed in trying to handle the business piece of having, bringing in and keeping all of these authors, and Chris is keeping the storefront afloat. It's working, but yeah- it's a lot right now. So with the travel and everything else, it's just a bit much."

"…it probably doesn't feel that way, but I hope you know that you're all kicking ass."

"Thanks," Jess sighed, closing the laptop, "I know they are, at least. And I'm trying. There's only so many hours in the day. Anyway, enough about me. How was your day?"

"Long," Rory said, sitting down next to him, "Probably less long than yours, but certainly still a pain in the ass."

"What happened?"

"The team's doing great. I feel really good about how they're going to handle everything while I'm away this weekend, and then next. The block at the end is a little scary but we're getting there. The annoying thing today was a meeting with my Editor in Chief. He's perfectly nice, but there's just a lot of inefficiency and red tape in operations, and you know that kind of drives me nuts when there's a paper to get out. We have different styles, and he likes to sit down and have meetings and take minutes and be much more formal, when I kind of feel like I thrive best when things are really responsive, reactive, and on the fly. The good news is that normally it's not a huge issue- my team basically produces the Features section my way, and then the only thing that has to happen is melding it in with the rest. But that process has been kind of trying with him."

"…I can imagine. That sounds limiting."

"That's the nice thing about working for yourself, or with a small team, I think," Rory smiled at Jess, "You guys are only accountable to each other, and that minutiae doesn't have to hold you guys up. I'm a little jealous."

"Well, all the more time to bury myself with more manuscripts," Jess joked, pulling Rory in for a hug, "I'm sorry it was a long day."

"Yours too," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "A long day in a long week in a long month."

"You can say that again."

"A long…"

"Alright, alright. Wow, we should feed you. You get less funny when you haven't eaten."

"Crap, we haven't even ordered yet. I'll do that now."

"Food should get here in like 40 minutes, so if you want to work until then…"

"Need, don't want. I think that's true for both of us."

Jess nodded grimly, and reopened his laptop as Rory took out her phone to place the order for food.

"Break when we eat?"

"Of course. Bad movie?"

"Maybe only time for a bad tv show."

"We'll play it by ear."

The next day, Jess and Rory were out to dinner with Chris, Hannah, Matt, and Jane.

"I have some news," Rory announced after drinks were delivered to the table.

"Oh?" Hannah raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Paris had her baby. I'm going this weekend to visit."

"She had the baby?! Isn't it, like, really early?" Chris asked, sounding alarmed.

"She's completely safe and healthy," Rory reassured, watching as relief spread across her face, "They named her Simone."

"Wasn't it supposed to be Marie?" Jane asked, looking confused.

"Simone is a better name," Matt said, looking at Jess. Jess nodded.

"It's a de Beauvior reference too."

"Brilliant," Matt nodded, "It suits her."

"…how do you know if it suits the baby?" Hannah asked, turning to him. Matt blushed, and then shrugged.

"I guess I meant it suits Paris. It seems more her taste."

"I agree," Rory nodded, "But I don't know if it suits her daughter yet. I guess we'll see when I get there."

"Tell her congratluations from all of us!" Hannah said excitedly, "And that we want to meet the baby soon."

"Does this mean she won't be coming to the wedding?" Matt asked.

Rory nodded. "Probably. I think it's unlikely."

"What wedding?" Jane asked.

"My mom's wedding," Rory said, turning to look at her, "I thought…didn't we…Matt?"

"Oh, sorry," Matt said, looking sheepish, "Um…Rory's mom is getting married to Jess' dad and they invited us guys to come. So you and Hannah can come too if you want. Sorry, I thought I told you."

"When's the wedding?"

"Three weeks from today."

"…well, it's a little late, but I'll see if I can make it. Thanks for letting me know," Jane said. She looked annoyed. Surprisingly, the scowl on her face seemed more directed at Rory than Matt. Rory looked at Jess, confused, who sighed.

"Anyway…" he said, trying to deflect and redirect the conversation, "Thank you guys for taking a couple hours away from work to do this. Well, as away from work as we can right now."

Chris sighed, nodding, "Yeah, away maybe, but not stopping. Didn't we schedule a meeting for this dinner?"

"You guys are having a meeting during dinner?" Hannah asked, confused. Chris nodded.

"It was the only time today we were all going to be in the same place and have more than three minutes to talk," Chris said, "I'm sorry, I know we try not to talk shop at…"

"Don't worry about it," Hannah reassured him, smiling, "Rory and Jane and I will talk about other stuff. Fun stuff."

"Hannah, aren't you getting married soon too?"

"Oh, not for a long time," Hannah said easily, quickly changing the subject, "And it's so stressful to think about. Jane, how's your work?"

"It's fine. And yours?" Jane answered politely.

"Work is great, thanks," Hannah replied. Rory marveled internally at how diplomatic and smooth Hannah had been in avoiding a very awkward situation there. As Rory was thinking, Jane turned stony eyes on her. It didn't seem she'd get as lucky.

"Rory, thank you for inviting me. Of course, it's late notice, so I'm not sure…"

"Well, we'd love if you could come! But if not, we totally understand. I thought that the guys would have communicated…"

"Well, you know guys. Hannah, did you know?"

Matt turned to her, clearly having just heard that part of the conversation and Jane's frustration.

"…I think I could use another glass of wine. Anybody else?"

"Yes please," Rory said, plastering a fake smile on while sharing a look of concern with Hannah, who nodded before walking over to the bar. Hannah jostled Jess on her way out, getting Jess' attention and giving him a not-so-subtle look to rescue Rory. Which, being Jess, he promptly did.

"Jane, Rory, I know it's boring, but we'd love your thoughts on our next marketing scheme. Matt, could you run it by them?"

"…what mark…oh, the marketing scheme," Matt nodded, catching Jess' look, "Sure. It could take a few minutes."

"We've got time."