A/N Ok First Things First: the Season Ender—Left me so mad. Ok The
Luke/Lorelai elements were great and left me really happy. But what Rory
did was totally out of character for her. I don't know what it is with the
writing on the show but it seems to me they're fiddling to much with the
characters—like they did last season with jess all of a sudden treating
Rory like crap. Grr it angers me.
Story wise—I think for the remainder of the story I'll be skipping ahead the next few chapters. I want to move the story along a little faster, I've been having trouble getting motivated and I'm on summer break and start a semi-full time job next week so I don't have as much time as I'd like to work on this story.
So for this chapter: its early October Jess' book has come back from the editor.
Mariano Residence:
The clock beside their bed reads 2:14am; Jess Mariano is fast asleep, after weeks with no sleep, he has finally fallen into a semi-regular sleeping routine.
Rory on the other hand, is tossing and turning.
Jess is woken abruptly as her arm unintentionally smacks him across the chest. At first he ignores it, opening his eyes for a moment and closing them again, but with another toss of her body, Rory elbows Jess hard in the back. He groans, placing a hand on her elbow.
"Ror?" He whispers into the darkness.
Rory moans in response.
Jess rolls over, "Rory." He says sweetly in her ear.
"Jess?" Rory replies. "You're awake."
Jess sighs, "Yeah."
Rory sits up slowly, turning on the light.
Jess squints as his eyes adapt to the brightness around him.
Rory looks him over, "I woke you up didn't I?" She says meekly.
Jess puts his arm around her, "Don't worry about it."
"I'm sorry, I just can't get comfortable."
"Its ok, is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"
Rory shrugs, "No, its just I turn one way and my back hurts, I turn the other way my back still hurts, then all the tossing and turning makes me hot.......it just doesn't end."
Jess eyes Rory sympathetically, "I'm sorry Ror."
Rory leans her head back, with a sigh, "I just feel bad that I woke you up, you've been working so hard on your book you really need your sleep."
"So do you." Jess replies kissing Rory's forehead. "Hey, I got an idea, wait here."
"What are you doing?" Rory asks as Jess disappears into the living room and returns with a book tucked under his arm. "Oh." Rory smiles sweetly at him.
"How about it, up for a story?" Jess asks, climbing back into bed.
"Sure. What are we reading?"
"Shhh just close your eyes and listen." Jess replies, placing a hand over the cover of the book.
Rory leans forward, prying Jess' hand away, "Wait a minute is that, is this THE book?" Rory asks with astonishment.
"Maybe."
"But you said I couldn't read it until it was back from the printers."
Jess shrugs, "I said you couldn't read it, I never said you couldn't listen to me read it to you.......besides under the circumstances I figured we could make an exception."
Rory beams at her husband, "Ok I'm ready, read away."
"First get comfortable, then I'll start."
"So you never told me, what its about."
"You'll find out."
"No, I need background information to really get into a book"
Jess sighs as Rory stares him down, "Alright fine, but I don't want to hear a peep out of you, no aww Jess or that's so sweet, nothing."
"Ok." Rory says with a grin.
"I'm serious, or I'll put the book away and you'll never get to read it."
"Alright Jess, I promise."
Jess shifts his weights, placing his arm around Rory, balancing the book in one hand.
"Ok, so the story takes place in this small town where all its residents are a bit eccentric, and every week there's some kind of weird celebration going on. Everybody in the town is relatively happy to be there—except for William, the grouchy diner owner who does nothing but complain, especially about the mayor, Tyler. The only thing that ever makes William smile is the daily visits from the town sweetheart Lorraine and her daughter Lori. See Lorraine came from this upscale hoity family, and after getting pregnant as a teenager she moved with her infant daughter to this small town---"
"What the name of the town?" Rory asks happily, chewing on her bottom lip.
"What did I say? No talking." Jess replies, stifling a laugh.
"Sorry."
"No you're not........ok, they live in a small town called Moon Hollow."
Rory giggles loudly.
"Do you want to hear the story or not?"
Rory nods.
"Ok, basically Lorraine is the object of William's affection. He watches her from afar pining after her while she goes from boyfriend to boyfriend, always returning to William for comfort when something goes wrong. The story picks up 15 years after Lorraine and William meet—when William's authoritatively-challenged nephew moves in with him and falls in love with Lori, which ultimately forces William to confront his own feelings about Lorraine." Jess stops, waiting for Rory's reaction.
Her eyes are dancing at him.
Jess sighs, "Go ahead, say it."
"You wrote a romance story."
Jess shakes his head, "No, no. Its not that kind of garbage where the men take off their shirts and make reference to their genitalia every third paragraph.....it's a satirical drama with elements of romance that follows the lives of several small town people mainly focusing on William the diner owner—based very loosely on actual people and events."
"You wrote a book about Luke." Rory says softly, her eyes tearing. "And my mom."
Jess watches a lone tear fall across her cheek, now is not the time to defend his image. "And us."
"Wow.......I never thought." Rory replies, taking a sharp breath.
"Me either, but I sat down to write and that's what came out." Jess replies, tightening his grip on Rory.
Silence engulfs the two, as the magnitude of Jess' sentiment washes over them.
After a few minutes, a wicked smile appears on Rory's face, "Jess?"
"Yeah?" Jess replies, looking straight into her eyes
"So this Lori.....is she hot."
Jess laughs, "Words don't do her justice."
Rory snuggles in closer to Jess.
"So you ready to read?"
Rory shakes her head, "Let's just stay like this, I'm finally comfortable."
Jess smirks, "That can be arranged."
2 weeks later
Stars Hollow.
"We're here!" Rory says cheerfully.
"Yay." Jess rolls his eyes.
"Oh come on you love it here."
"I never said that."
"No, but your book did."
"It was a mistake to let you read that."
"I'm just teasing, come on Jess, today will be fun."
"Whatever, just be prepared to have your personal space completely invaded."
"It won't be that bad." Rory replies, steeping out of the car.
"Rory!" Lorelai exclaims running out of the diner
"Hey!"
"How are you feeling?" Lorelai asks, hugging her daughter.
"Fine, tired but fine."
"Aw great. Lorelai replies turning her attention to Jess, "And how's Mr. sensitive today?"
Jess groans, "You had to tell her? I'm never going to hear the end of this."
Lorelai pats Jess on the back, "Down have a hissy fit, I think its sweet, writing a book about Luke."
Jess sighs, "Does he know?"
"No, I figured it'd be more fun to let him be surprised." Lorelai grins at Jess.
"Right."
"But hey, where are Lane and Dave I thought they were coming down for our big last hoorah."
"They wanted to, but Lane's been advised to stay in bed for the next few weeks."
"Poor kid, having a rough time with all this?"
"Yeah, well Dave's mom told Lane that all Rygawlski children are impatient and can't wait to be born."
"Ah so its Dave's fault." Lorelai states, ushering them inside.
"As always." Jess says wryly.
The bell over the door rings as they enter the diner.
"Rory, Dawl. Look at you!" Babbette exclaims approaching her.
"Hi Babbette." Rory says meekly.
"You're huge, Patty come look at Rory."
"Oh sweetie you're glowing. You must be so excited." Patty says eyeing Jess. "Oh and this kid is going to have the most attractive father.......great buns."
"Patty." Lorelai says sternly.
"Well I should be getting back to the studio, got a class in ten."
"I'll come with ya patty."
Miss Patty and Babbette retreat.
"Told you so." Jess mutters.
"Shut up." Rory replies, irritably.
"Come on, I think my daughter needs some good ol' fried food." Lorelai grins at Rory.
"Yes please." Rory replies, taking a seat at the table in the corner.
"Luke," Lorelai calls out loudly.
"Here, you guys sit I'll get it." Jess leans down to talk to Rory, "Ok so fries, what else?"
"Cheese burger." Rory says more as a question than an answer.
"Sure. Same Lorelai?"
Lorelai nods.
"Ok, so I don't want to beat this to death because I know for a fact your grandma has been calling you nonstop checking up on you, but.........do you have everything you need, you're all set."
"I think so, I got pretty much all the necessities at the baby shower, so I think I'm good."
"Good, so how does it feel? 3 more weeks."
"Nerve racking, but exciting."
"I can't wait. She's going to be gorgeous." Lorelai says happily.
"I hope so." Rory replies honestly.
"Come on Rory look at you and jess there's no way this kid will end up a goober.......if nothing else, like Patty said she'll have great buns."
"Oh God. Maybe Jess was right. We should have stayed home."
"What? No. Then I wouldn't get to see you before the baby's born."
Rory looks up at her mother, "You're not coming to visit the week I'm due?"
"No, I am I just mean that this is our last weekend to do mother and daughter stuff."
"So what I'm not your daughter anymore once I have the baby?" Rory smiles at her mother.
"You know what I mean, once she's here I'm suddenly grandma Lorelai. Oh my God Rory, I'll be playing the role of Emily Gilmore."
"Mom."
"No, you'll be the mom, and I'll be the grandma...."
"You're going to be the best grandma, mom."
"But what if I'm not, what if when you become a grandma you suddenly become all uptight and get the urge to join the D.A.R?"
"Some how I don't see that happening." Jess quips.
"God, I hope not I couldn't handle that."
"Mom, come on we love grandma."
"Yes we do, but we don't want to be her." Lorelai says matter of factly.
"Don't want to be who?" Luke interjects.
"No one." Lorelai mutters.
"Emily." Jess answers.
Luke groans, "Not this again, Lorelai there is no way, even if you tried that you could be anything like your mother."
Lorelai looks at Luke sweetly, "Really?"
"Really." Luke replies giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Aww." Rory coos as Jess' cell phone rings.
Jess gets up and walks away from the table.
"Secret phone call?" Lorelai raises an eyebrow at Rory
Rory shakes her head, "Probably his publisher, Jess sent inthe final copy of his book last week."
"Oh."
Jess returns, an odd look on his face.
"Was that the publisher?"
"No." jess replies hoarsely. "That was Dave."
"What's going on?" Rory says calmly, her nerves quietly building. "Jess?"
"Lane had a boy, 11:26 this morning."
"Oh my God!" Lorelai exclaims. "Isn't that over a month early?"
Rory nods her head, "I-Is she ok, what about the baby."
"They're all fine, the baby's a few pounds under weight, but otherwise he's healthy."
Rory breathes a sigh of relief, "Did Dave say if they gave him a name?"
"Ben---but no middle name yet."
"Wow." Rory breathes, a glint in her eye.
"I know. So I told Dave we'd be there first thing tomorrow."
"Yay." Rory claps her hands, "I'm an Aunt."
"And Jess is an Uncle—haha Uncle Jessie, like on full house."
Jess and Luke collectively grunt.
"You know, I never noticed it before but there's definitely some John Stamosness to you." Rory giggles.
"No, no I always think of Jess as more of a Scott Baio type. You know he's chachi and you're Joanie." Lorelai says through a mouth.
"No I don't want to be her, she was always really annoying and had really bad hair."
"That's true. I never really understood exactly why Chachi loved Joanie."
"I'm going back to work before this turns into the big "What ever happened to their brother Chuck debate."
"Yeah whatever happened to that guy, after the first season they just stopped mentioning him."
"I'm right behind you." Jess says, following Luke back to the counter.
"Maybe they locked him in the basement, like Sloth in the Goonies." Rory suggests.
"Or they disowned him for knocking up his cheerleader girlfriend and refused to even mention his name ever again."
"Or maybe they were too ashamed to ever mention him again because he was secretly shacking up with Potsy the whole time." Lorelai's eyes get wide with excitement.
"And then Potsy went off to the army or whatever with Richie, and so they had to be even more quiet about it than before." Rory continues.
"And think about it Potsy was always pretty quiet, shy around the girls but very eager and excited around "the guys."
"It makes perfect sense—closeted homosexuality within nick at night."
"Wow, Poor Potsy."
"Yeah." Rory replies glumly before devouring her cheeseburger
A Few Hours Later: The Gilmore-Danes Residence.
Rory and Jess enter the darkened house.
"I thought your mom said she'd be back by now?" Jess asks as Rory makes her way over to the couch.
"Its Saturday she usually takes Davey for a few hours so Sookie and Jackson can have some alone time, and then she "helps" Luke close the diner."
"Ah." Jess replies, collapsing onto the couch next to Rory. "So," He says softly, staring into Rory's eyes and placing a hand on her stomach.
"So." Rory repeats, her hand grazing his.
"How you feeling?"
"Good, tired but really good."
"Today was a long day."
"No, it was nice.....until Kirk Babbette and Patty started trying to guess how much baby weight I've put on."
Jess laughs, a smile clinging to the corner of his mouth, "Yeah that was bad, but I thought I was going to lose it when Michel started talking baby talk to your stomach."
Rory rolls her eyes, "Yeah that was weird.....but a sweet gesture, I guess."
"Well I told you if we came to visit, you'd be the town spectacle."
Leaning her head on his shoulder, Rory replies, "Jess, I've been the town spectacle since I was 17 and got into a car crash with a guy who wasn't my boyfriend."
"True."
"Hey Jess?" Rory says airily, cuddling into him.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think our daughter will go through stuff like that?"
"Doesn't every teenager?" Jess raises an eyebrow at her.
Rory sits up, "I mean, do you think she'll have a Jess?"
Jess scoffs, "I guarantee it."
Rory sighs happily.
"But he's going treat her a lot better than I treated you---or I'll beat the crap out of him."
Rory giggles, "She's going to be a daddy's girl, I can see it now."
Jess simple smiles at Rory, "Yeah well I've gotten pretty attached to her already."
Rory looks up at him, "Really?"
Jess nods.
"You know its weird, but if I close my eyes I think I can almost see her face, I feel like I know her already."
Jess sits back, resting his head against Rory's, "I know what you mean."
"She's going to have dark hair." Rory states.
"With blue eyes." Jess replies.
Rory shakes her head, "No, dark brown eyes to match her hair."
"She'll have your voice."
"God, I hope so. Imagine if she got yours, she'd be a freak at school."
Jess laughs, Rubbing Rory's stomach, "She'll have no rhythm just like you."
"Hey! Who told you about that?"
"I've known you how long? Besides ask anybody in this town and they'll tell you how terrible your dance recitals were."
Rory looks down at her hands.
"....but that you were so happy to be up there you didn't care."
"That's right, I was determined."
"Just like she will be."
Rory beams at him, "I can't wait."
Jess scratches his head, "Me either. Its going to be great."
"Yeah. Scary though."
"Yeah we're stuck with this kid forever once she's here." Jess smirks.
Rory yawns, "It'll be great."
Jess nods, "Like us."
"We did turn out pretty awesome didn't we." Rory coos.
"Something like that." Jess quips.
"When I was 17, I would never have thought we'd get here, but now I don't see how we couldn't."
Jess remains silent.
Rory touches his check with her hand.
Jess smiles at her, "I'm lucky to be here today, you know that."
"So am I. Rory replies. "I don't work with out you, I wasn't even my true self until I met you, you changed my life, Jess."
"You saved mine."
"I couldn't do this with anybody else, I wouldn't want to Jess." Rory replies tears welling up in her eyes.
Jess brushes them away, "Shh, I didn't mean to start the big flood of the century."
Rory smiles sheepishly, "I'm sorry I can't help it."
"I know." Jess mutters, his words crumbling as his lips crash into Rory's.
"Mmm" Rory moans, wrapping her arms around Jess.
"Wow, did I walk in on Cinemax after dark?" Lorelai's cheerful voice cuts through the empty house, breaking the couple's embrace.
Jess mutters to himself as Rory wipes her now red face with her hands.
"Hi mom." She says, her voice laced with embarrassment.
"Hon, look don't get all upset. It's fine. Don't let me interrupt." Lorelai replies, walking into the kitchen.
Jess moves close to Rory's ear, "Im going to go take a shower..........a cold one."
"Sorry." Rory mutters, patting his knee."
Jess shakes his head, "Please don't. you'll make it worse" he says dramatically causing Rory to smile. "There you go, that's what I like to see. I'll be back in 5."
Rory nods, watching him disappear into the bathroom before heading to the kitchen.
"Hey kiddo." Lorelai says, her back turned to Rory.
"Hi." Rory says quietly.
"You might want to step out of her babe, I'm making coffee, I know you're off the elixir of life."
"Thanks, but I'm fine."
Lorelai laughs, "I could see that when I walked in."
"Yeah, about that I'm sorry. I know that must have been weird."
"Nah I'll disinfect the couch everything will be fine."
"Mom." Rory says sternly. "We just got caught up."
"Uh huh."
"We were talking about the baby, what we thought she might look like."
Lorelai whips around, a smile playing on her lips, "Oh yeah?"
"And, he really opened up to me. Like never before. He told me he was lucky to have me, and then I told him I wouldn't want this with anyone else." Rory says excitedly, tears forming in her eyes."
"Aw sweets."
"And it just progressed naturally, I'm so sorry. If you want we can go stay at the inn tonight."
Lorelai shakes her head, "No, no. You know I was just teasing right."
"You sure?"
"Of course, we've all been there. You know it's a big step for these Danes/Mariano's to open up."
"Tell me about it." Rory replies, leaning against the counter.
"So what did you guys decide? Who's she going to look like?"
"Jess says she's going to look just like me. But I see her being the spitting image of him—minus the gruff voice and facial hair."
"I think so too, and then in certain light she'll resemble that part of Jess that reminds you of Luke."
Rory grins, "Exactly."
"What?" jess voice interrupts.
Lorelai and Rory giggle.
"You were talking about me?" Jess smirks.
Lorelai and Rory continue to giggle as Luke enters the house.
Jess greets him at the door, "Don't bother hoping for a quiet night, they're both in the kitchen convulsing."
Luke grunts, "Want a beer."
Jess nods, "Sounds good."
Luke starts heading to the kitchen, but at the sound of Lorelai snorting he retreats, "There's a bar 5 minutes away. Get your coat."
Story wise—I think for the remainder of the story I'll be skipping ahead the next few chapters. I want to move the story along a little faster, I've been having trouble getting motivated and I'm on summer break and start a semi-full time job next week so I don't have as much time as I'd like to work on this story.
So for this chapter: its early October Jess' book has come back from the editor.
Mariano Residence:
The clock beside their bed reads 2:14am; Jess Mariano is fast asleep, after weeks with no sleep, he has finally fallen into a semi-regular sleeping routine.
Rory on the other hand, is tossing and turning.
Jess is woken abruptly as her arm unintentionally smacks him across the chest. At first he ignores it, opening his eyes for a moment and closing them again, but with another toss of her body, Rory elbows Jess hard in the back. He groans, placing a hand on her elbow.
"Ror?" He whispers into the darkness.
Rory moans in response.
Jess rolls over, "Rory." He says sweetly in her ear.
"Jess?" Rory replies. "You're awake."
Jess sighs, "Yeah."
Rory sits up slowly, turning on the light.
Jess squints as his eyes adapt to the brightness around him.
Rory looks him over, "I woke you up didn't I?" She says meekly.
Jess puts his arm around her, "Don't worry about it."
"I'm sorry, I just can't get comfortable."
"Its ok, is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"
Rory shrugs, "No, its just I turn one way and my back hurts, I turn the other way my back still hurts, then all the tossing and turning makes me hot.......it just doesn't end."
Jess eyes Rory sympathetically, "I'm sorry Ror."
Rory leans her head back, with a sigh, "I just feel bad that I woke you up, you've been working so hard on your book you really need your sleep."
"So do you." Jess replies kissing Rory's forehead. "Hey, I got an idea, wait here."
"What are you doing?" Rory asks as Jess disappears into the living room and returns with a book tucked under his arm. "Oh." Rory smiles sweetly at him.
"How about it, up for a story?" Jess asks, climbing back into bed.
"Sure. What are we reading?"
"Shhh just close your eyes and listen." Jess replies, placing a hand over the cover of the book.
Rory leans forward, prying Jess' hand away, "Wait a minute is that, is this THE book?" Rory asks with astonishment.
"Maybe."
"But you said I couldn't read it until it was back from the printers."
Jess shrugs, "I said you couldn't read it, I never said you couldn't listen to me read it to you.......besides under the circumstances I figured we could make an exception."
Rory beams at her husband, "Ok I'm ready, read away."
"First get comfortable, then I'll start."
"So you never told me, what its about."
"You'll find out."
"No, I need background information to really get into a book"
Jess sighs as Rory stares him down, "Alright fine, but I don't want to hear a peep out of you, no aww Jess or that's so sweet, nothing."
"Ok." Rory says with a grin.
"I'm serious, or I'll put the book away and you'll never get to read it."
"Alright Jess, I promise."
Jess shifts his weights, placing his arm around Rory, balancing the book in one hand.
"Ok, so the story takes place in this small town where all its residents are a bit eccentric, and every week there's some kind of weird celebration going on. Everybody in the town is relatively happy to be there—except for William, the grouchy diner owner who does nothing but complain, especially about the mayor, Tyler. The only thing that ever makes William smile is the daily visits from the town sweetheart Lorraine and her daughter Lori. See Lorraine came from this upscale hoity family, and after getting pregnant as a teenager she moved with her infant daughter to this small town---"
"What the name of the town?" Rory asks happily, chewing on her bottom lip.
"What did I say? No talking." Jess replies, stifling a laugh.
"Sorry."
"No you're not........ok, they live in a small town called Moon Hollow."
Rory giggles loudly.
"Do you want to hear the story or not?"
Rory nods.
"Ok, basically Lorraine is the object of William's affection. He watches her from afar pining after her while she goes from boyfriend to boyfriend, always returning to William for comfort when something goes wrong. The story picks up 15 years after Lorraine and William meet—when William's authoritatively-challenged nephew moves in with him and falls in love with Lori, which ultimately forces William to confront his own feelings about Lorraine." Jess stops, waiting for Rory's reaction.
Her eyes are dancing at him.
Jess sighs, "Go ahead, say it."
"You wrote a romance story."
Jess shakes his head, "No, no. Its not that kind of garbage where the men take off their shirts and make reference to their genitalia every third paragraph.....it's a satirical drama with elements of romance that follows the lives of several small town people mainly focusing on William the diner owner—based very loosely on actual people and events."
"You wrote a book about Luke." Rory says softly, her eyes tearing. "And my mom."
Jess watches a lone tear fall across her cheek, now is not the time to defend his image. "And us."
"Wow.......I never thought." Rory replies, taking a sharp breath.
"Me either, but I sat down to write and that's what came out." Jess replies, tightening his grip on Rory.
Silence engulfs the two, as the magnitude of Jess' sentiment washes over them.
After a few minutes, a wicked smile appears on Rory's face, "Jess?"
"Yeah?" Jess replies, looking straight into her eyes
"So this Lori.....is she hot."
Jess laughs, "Words don't do her justice."
Rory snuggles in closer to Jess.
"So you ready to read?"
Rory shakes her head, "Let's just stay like this, I'm finally comfortable."
Jess smirks, "That can be arranged."
2 weeks later
Stars Hollow.
"We're here!" Rory says cheerfully.
"Yay." Jess rolls his eyes.
"Oh come on you love it here."
"I never said that."
"No, but your book did."
"It was a mistake to let you read that."
"I'm just teasing, come on Jess, today will be fun."
"Whatever, just be prepared to have your personal space completely invaded."
"It won't be that bad." Rory replies, steeping out of the car.
"Rory!" Lorelai exclaims running out of the diner
"Hey!"
"How are you feeling?" Lorelai asks, hugging her daughter.
"Fine, tired but fine."
"Aw great. Lorelai replies turning her attention to Jess, "And how's Mr. sensitive today?"
Jess groans, "You had to tell her? I'm never going to hear the end of this."
Lorelai pats Jess on the back, "Down have a hissy fit, I think its sweet, writing a book about Luke."
Jess sighs, "Does he know?"
"No, I figured it'd be more fun to let him be surprised." Lorelai grins at Jess.
"Right."
"But hey, where are Lane and Dave I thought they were coming down for our big last hoorah."
"They wanted to, but Lane's been advised to stay in bed for the next few weeks."
"Poor kid, having a rough time with all this?"
"Yeah, well Dave's mom told Lane that all Rygawlski children are impatient and can't wait to be born."
"Ah so its Dave's fault." Lorelai states, ushering them inside.
"As always." Jess says wryly.
The bell over the door rings as they enter the diner.
"Rory, Dawl. Look at you!" Babbette exclaims approaching her.
"Hi Babbette." Rory says meekly.
"You're huge, Patty come look at Rory."
"Oh sweetie you're glowing. You must be so excited." Patty says eyeing Jess. "Oh and this kid is going to have the most attractive father.......great buns."
"Patty." Lorelai says sternly.
"Well I should be getting back to the studio, got a class in ten."
"I'll come with ya patty."
Miss Patty and Babbette retreat.
"Told you so." Jess mutters.
"Shut up." Rory replies, irritably.
"Come on, I think my daughter needs some good ol' fried food." Lorelai grins at Rory.
"Yes please." Rory replies, taking a seat at the table in the corner.
"Luke," Lorelai calls out loudly.
"Here, you guys sit I'll get it." Jess leans down to talk to Rory, "Ok so fries, what else?"
"Cheese burger." Rory says more as a question than an answer.
"Sure. Same Lorelai?"
Lorelai nods.
"Ok, so I don't want to beat this to death because I know for a fact your grandma has been calling you nonstop checking up on you, but.........do you have everything you need, you're all set."
"I think so, I got pretty much all the necessities at the baby shower, so I think I'm good."
"Good, so how does it feel? 3 more weeks."
"Nerve racking, but exciting."
"I can't wait. She's going to be gorgeous." Lorelai says happily.
"I hope so." Rory replies honestly.
"Come on Rory look at you and jess there's no way this kid will end up a goober.......if nothing else, like Patty said she'll have great buns."
"Oh God. Maybe Jess was right. We should have stayed home."
"What? No. Then I wouldn't get to see you before the baby's born."
Rory looks up at her mother, "You're not coming to visit the week I'm due?"
"No, I am I just mean that this is our last weekend to do mother and daughter stuff."
"So what I'm not your daughter anymore once I have the baby?" Rory smiles at her mother.
"You know what I mean, once she's here I'm suddenly grandma Lorelai. Oh my God Rory, I'll be playing the role of Emily Gilmore."
"Mom."
"No, you'll be the mom, and I'll be the grandma...."
"You're going to be the best grandma, mom."
"But what if I'm not, what if when you become a grandma you suddenly become all uptight and get the urge to join the D.A.R?"
"Some how I don't see that happening." Jess quips.
"God, I hope not I couldn't handle that."
"Mom, come on we love grandma."
"Yes we do, but we don't want to be her." Lorelai says matter of factly.
"Don't want to be who?" Luke interjects.
"No one." Lorelai mutters.
"Emily." Jess answers.
Luke groans, "Not this again, Lorelai there is no way, even if you tried that you could be anything like your mother."
Lorelai looks at Luke sweetly, "Really?"
"Really." Luke replies giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Aww." Rory coos as Jess' cell phone rings.
Jess gets up and walks away from the table.
"Secret phone call?" Lorelai raises an eyebrow at Rory
Rory shakes her head, "Probably his publisher, Jess sent inthe final copy of his book last week."
"Oh."
Jess returns, an odd look on his face.
"Was that the publisher?"
"No." jess replies hoarsely. "That was Dave."
"What's going on?" Rory says calmly, her nerves quietly building. "Jess?"
"Lane had a boy, 11:26 this morning."
"Oh my God!" Lorelai exclaims. "Isn't that over a month early?"
Rory nods her head, "I-Is she ok, what about the baby."
"They're all fine, the baby's a few pounds under weight, but otherwise he's healthy."
Rory breathes a sigh of relief, "Did Dave say if they gave him a name?"
"Ben---but no middle name yet."
"Wow." Rory breathes, a glint in her eye.
"I know. So I told Dave we'd be there first thing tomorrow."
"Yay." Rory claps her hands, "I'm an Aunt."
"And Jess is an Uncle—haha Uncle Jessie, like on full house."
Jess and Luke collectively grunt.
"You know, I never noticed it before but there's definitely some John Stamosness to you." Rory giggles.
"No, no I always think of Jess as more of a Scott Baio type. You know he's chachi and you're Joanie." Lorelai says through a mouth.
"No I don't want to be her, she was always really annoying and had really bad hair."
"That's true. I never really understood exactly why Chachi loved Joanie."
"I'm going back to work before this turns into the big "What ever happened to their brother Chuck debate."
"Yeah whatever happened to that guy, after the first season they just stopped mentioning him."
"I'm right behind you." Jess says, following Luke back to the counter.
"Maybe they locked him in the basement, like Sloth in the Goonies." Rory suggests.
"Or they disowned him for knocking up his cheerleader girlfriend and refused to even mention his name ever again."
"Or maybe they were too ashamed to ever mention him again because he was secretly shacking up with Potsy the whole time." Lorelai's eyes get wide with excitement.
"And then Potsy went off to the army or whatever with Richie, and so they had to be even more quiet about it than before." Rory continues.
"And think about it Potsy was always pretty quiet, shy around the girls but very eager and excited around "the guys."
"It makes perfect sense—closeted homosexuality within nick at night."
"Wow, Poor Potsy."
"Yeah." Rory replies glumly before devouring her cheeseburger
A Few Hours Later: The Gilmore-Danes Residence.
Rory and Jess enter the darkened house.
"I thought your mom said she'd be back by now?" Jess asks as Rory makes her way over to the couch.
"Its Saturday she usually takes Davey for a few hours so Sookie and Jackson can have some alone time, and then she "helps" Luke close the diner."
"Ah." Jess replies, collapsing onto the couch next to Rory. "So," He says softly, staring into Rory's eyes and placing a hand on her stomach.
"So." Rory repeats, her hand grazing his.
"How you feeling?"
"Good, tired but really good."
"Today was a long day."
"No, it was nice.....until Kirk Babbette and Patty started trying to guess how much baby weight I've put on."
Jess laughs, a smile clinging to the corner of his mouth, "Yeah that was bad, but I thought I was going to lose it when Michel started talking baby talk to your stomach."
Rory rolls her eyes, "Yeah that was weird.....but a sweet gesture, I guess."
"Well I told you if we came to visit, you'd be the town spectacle."
Leaning her head on his shoulder, Rory replies, "Jess, I've been the town spectacle since I was 17 and got into a car crash with a guy who wasn't my boyfriend."
"True."
"Hey Jess?" Rory says airily, cuddling into him.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think our daughter will go through stuff like that?"
"Doesn't every teenager?" Jess raises an eyebrow at her.
Rory sits up, "I mean, do you think she'll have a Jess?"
Jess scoffs, "I guarantee it."
Rory sighs happily.
"But he's going treat her a lot better than I treated you---or I'll beat the crap out of him."
Rory giggles, "She's going to be a daddy's girl, I can see it now."
Jess simple smiles at Rory, "Yeah well I've gotten pretty attached to her already."
Rory looks up at him, "Really?"
Jess nods.
"You know its weird, but if I close my eyes I think I can almost see her face, I feel like I know her already."
Jess sits back, resting his head against Rory's, "I know what you mean."
"She's going to have dark hair." Rory states.
"With blue eyes." Jess replies.
Rory shakes her head, "No, dark brown eyes to match her hair."
"She'll have your voice."
"God, I hope so. Imagine if she got yours, she'd be a freak at school."
Jess laughs, Rubbing Rory's stomach, "She'll have no rhythm just like you."
"Hey! Who told you about that?"
"I've known you how long? Besides ask anybody in this town and they'll tell you how terrible your dance recitals were."
Rory looks down at her hands.
"....but that you were so happy to be up there you didn't care."
"That's right, I was determined."
"Just like she will be."
Rory beams at him, "I can't wait."
Jess scratches his head, "Me either. Its going to be great."
"Yeah. Scary though."
"Yeah we're stuck with this kid forever once she's here." Jess smirks.
Rory yawns, "It'll be great."
Jess nods, "Like us."
"We did turn out pretty awesome didn't we." Rory coos.
"Something like that." Jess quips.
"When I was 17, I would never have thought we'd get here, but now I don't see how we couldn't."
Jess remains silent.
Rory touches his check with her hand.
Jess smiles at her, "I'm lucky to be here today, you know that."
"So am I. Rory replies. "I don't work with out you, I wasn't even my true self until I met you, you changed my life, Jess."
"You saved mine."
"I couldn't do this with anybody else, I wouldn't want to Jess." Rory replies tears welling up in her eyes.
Jess brushes them away, "Shh, I didn't mean to start the big flood of the century."
Rory smiles sheepishly, "I'm sorry I can't help it."
"I know." Jess mutters, his words crumbling as his lips crash into Rory's.
"Mmm" Rory moans, wrapping her arms around Jess.
"Wow, did I walk in on Cinemax after dark?" Lorelai's cheerful voice cuts through the empty house, breaking the couple's embrace.
Jess mutters to himself as Rory wipes her now red face with her hands.
"Hi mom." She says, her voice laced with embarrassment.
"Hon, look don't get all upset. It's fine. Don't let me interrupt." Lorelai replies, walking into the kitchen.
Jess moves close to Rory's ear, "Im going to go take a shower..........a cold one."
"Sorry." Rory mutters, patting his knee."
Jess shakes his head, "Please don't. you'll make it worse" he says dramatically causing Rory to smile. "There you go, that's what I like to see. I'll be back in 5."
Rory nods, watching him disappear into the bathroom before heading to the kitchen.
"Hey kiddo." Lorelai says, her back turned to Rory.
"Hi." Rory says quietly.
"You might want to step out of her babe, I'm making coffee, I know you're off the elixir of life."
"Thanks, but I'm fine."
Lorelai laughs, "I could see that when I walked in."
"Yeah, about that I'm sorry. I know that must have been weird."
"Nah I'll disinfect the couch everything will be fine."
"Mom." Rory says sternly. "We just got caught up."
"Uh huh."
"We were talking about the baby, what we thought she might look like."
Lorelai whips around, a smile playing on her lips, "Oh yeah?"
"And, he really opened up to me. Like never before. He told me he was lucky to have me, and then I told him I wouldn't want this with anyone else." Rory says excitedly, tears forming in her eyes."
"Aw sweets."
"And it just progressed naturally, I'm so sorry. If you want we can go stay at the inn tonight."
Lorelai shakes her head, "No, no. You know I was just teasing right."
"You sure?"
"Of course, we've all been there. You know it's a big step for these Danes/Mariano's to open up."
"Tell me about it." Rory replies, leaning against the counter.
"So what did you guys decide? Who's she going to look like?"
"Jess says she's going to look just like me. But I see her being the spitting image of him—minus the gruff voice and facial hair."
"I think so too, and then in certain light she'll resemble that part of Jess that reminds you of Luke."
Rory grins, "Exactly."
"What?" jess voice interrupts.
Lorelai and Rory giggle.
"You were talking about me?" Jess smirks.
Lorelai and Rory continue to giggle as Luke enters the house.
Jess greets him at the door, "Don't bother hoping for a quiet night, they're both in the kitchen convulsing."
Luke grunts, "Want a beer."
Jess nods, "Sounds good."
Luke starts heading to the kitchen, but at the sound of Lorelai snorting he retreats, "There's a bar 5 minutes away. Get your coat."