WHAT IT IS: A sequel, to my other Trory, What Happens When. Now, I had no intentions at all to do a sequel. However, you're getting one, because of all the Jess/Dean/Rory angst currently on the show—it's stressing me out. So, since I had decided that fluff was probably all I'd get out of a sequel and fluff is what I need right now (it's either fluff or unbearable angst coming out of me right now)—here's a sequel.
WHAT I OWN: Nada.
RATING: PG-13, just to be safe. It is fluff after all.
AN: Don't worry; I have no plans on making this a Jess vs. Tristan for Rory's heart or anything. I just like the dynamic of the weirdness factor of them being related and having to sort through all this. It's all about the family ties here. I just wanted to reassure any worries there. Hope you all enjoy the next installment.
By the time the six of them had reached the town square, most all of the town had arrived. The line to sit on Santa's lap was wrapped around the square. Rory giggled as she watched a panic-stricken Kirk pulling on the black boots before sitting in the big throne of a chair.
"How long do you give him before some kid rips off the beard?" Lorelai whispered to Rory, careful not to let Will hear.
"Twenty minutes?"
"I heard he's using a new adhesive—I give him an hour."
"Deal."
The shook hands and Lorelai skipped up to join Luke who was carrying Will towards the end of the line. Lorelai and Luke had decided to take turns waiting with Will this year after last years' fiasco. The first two years, they'd flipped for it. Luke had lost the first year, and been pretty okay about it, but last year Lorelai had lost. She'd done pretty well for the first hour, but into the second hour of no food and an ill tempered two year old, she stormed out of the line with Will. Will didn't get to sit on Santa's lap, and she told him it was Luke's fault for depriving her of caffeine and sugar. They did not have a happy child that night, to say the least.
Rory and Tristan wandered around to find food, holding hands and chatting. The got hot chocolate and ended up on a bench where they could see the all the proceedings. They laughed as Taylor yelled at the children to form an orderly line to see Santa, and as Ms. Patty tried to get her snowflake dancers to stop fidgeting and waving to their parents and do the routine she'd taught them. Rory stopped laughing when she noticed her mom and Luke, handing off Will for the next turn. Luke whispered something in Lorelai's ear that made her laugh. She looked so radiant and happy. A warmth filled Rory at that moment, and Tristan noticed as her face softened into a smile.
"Penny for your thoughts."
"Mom looks really happy."
"Yeah, she does. So do you, I might add."
Rory turned to face Tristan. "I am."
"Good. I love to hear that I'm keeping my women happy," he noted.
"You should try that stand up routine when we get back to the city. You're a box of laughs."
"I try."
"I wish I could bottle this feeling, or take a picture of it. It's perfect."
"You wouldn't change anything?"
Rory shook her head defiantly. She leaned in to kiss his warm chocolate flavored lips. He returned the gesture, enjoying the feel of her warm lips against his. When she pulled back, she saw her mom walking up towards them with Jess. She hadn't noticed him since they got to the festivities.
"Are you sure you can't stay longer? Will would love it."
"I'm sure. Work and all, you know."
"So, any special ladies waiting for you to get your cute butt back to New York?"
"Mom!" Rory exclaimed, who couldn't help but overheard them as they neared where they were sitting.
"What?" Lorelai feigned innocence.
"You're worse than my mom. She's hounding me constantly, I don't need you to start in, too," Jess sighed.
"I'm sure you're beating the women off with a stick," Lorelai reassured him.
Tristan let out a choked laugh, and Rory patted his back a bit. "You okay?"
"Yeah, sorry, I--," Tristan looked at the pained look on Jess' face again and continued to snicker, "I wish you could see your face, man."
"Look, I'm not discussing this with you guys, especially you," Jess gestured to Lorelai.
"Hey, you be nice, or I'll mention to Patty that you're lonely and desperate," Lorelai warned.
"Fine. If you must know, there's a woman at work I've been seeing," Jess admitted reluctantly.
"Was she the reason for the weekend departure?"
"No, not entirely. I did see her, but I had to do some stuff at work."
"Does she mind you referring to her as 'stuff'?" Lorelai mused.
Jess shot her a disdainful look. Rory was focusing on her hot chocolate, and Tristan was still laughing at Jess' discomfort.
"I don't know how Luke puts up with you," he sighed.
"Ah, you both love me. Admit it, you old softy."
"Whatever. I'm going to go check on something. I'll see you later," he added as he began walking off.
"The tree lighting is in two hours!" Lorelai called after him, happily.
Jess continued to walk across the square, through the crowd. Rory noticed the direction he was walking, and knew he wasn't just going to stop on the other side. She nudged Tristan.
"Yeah?"
"I think he's going to the bridge."
"That little rickety thing you go to when you want to be alone?"
"That's the one."
"Why?"
"He just sounded...weird. I just know," Rory explained.
"Do you want to go speak to him?"
"No, but would you? I'll hang here with Mom. Just make sure he's okay."
"He seemed fine to me," Tristan assured.
"Please? Even if he's fine, just go talk to him."
"Okay, whatever the lady wants," Tristan kissed her cheek and headed off in the direction Jess had gone.
"Where's he going?"
"To talk to Jess."
"I didn't embarrass him too badly, did I?" Lorelai asked, almost sounding ashamed of herself.
"He's funny about stuff like that," Rory explained.
Lorelai shrugged, and noticed that Rory was trying not to smile.
"What?"
"I can't believe you said he had a cute butt!"
"Well, it's true!"
"I know, but you're his aunt, for all intensive purposes!"
"Hey, I'm just glad I know where he got it from—Luke has a fine ass on him, too," Lorelai said, sneaking a glance at her husband.
"God, I really need earplugs," Rory said, as if what her mom had said to her had a foul taste.
"Maybe Santa will leave some in your stocking," Lorelai pulled Rory into a hug, smiling at her daughter, as they began to walk over to the line. Luke and Will were close, just five more people to go. When Will got up to see Santa Kirk, Lorelai leaned in close to Luke.
"What does he want?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
"Straight from his mouth to Santa's ears, huh?"
"Guess so. He sees no reason for a middle man to muck it up."
"When did we become the middle men?"
"Evidently this evening."
"Man, and it just gets worse—wait until he's a teenager."
"Okay, now you're just depressing me."
"Shhh-he's telling Ki—er I mean, Santa what he wants."
Will began rambling off his list to Kirk, who was starting to scratch his face. Evidently the adhesive he'd used wasn't agreeing with him. He tried to focus on Will, but the itching got much worse. Lorelai shook her head at him, and gestured for him to stop messing with his beard. By the time Will got off his lap and happily into his mother's arms again, Kirk jumped up.
"SANTA needs a break! Move it, elves, Santa needs to get through!" Kirk exclaimed, running back towards Patty's studio, ripping and scratching at his beard.
"An hour and twenty minutes. Hmm, pay up kid!" Lorelai held out her hand to Rory, who handed her five bucks.
"This wasn't truly earned, I want you to realize this. No child ripped it off of his face," Rory countered.
"Ah, Kirk's the biggest kid here," Lorelai reminded.
Tristan walked up onto the bridge to see Jess looking out over the frozen water, smoking a cigarette.
"Hey, you got another one of those?"
Jess snapped his head towards the voice, and furrowed his brow.
"You smoke?"
"Used to. I miss it," Tristan admitted.
"Yeah, me too. Being in this town tends to increase my need," he added, handing Tristan a cigarette and a lighter.
"Thanks," Tristan said, letting out a long breath of smoke.
Neither spoke, they just stood there, smoking. Jess moved some snow around with the heel of his shoe.
"Rory sent me. She thought you seemed off."
Jess scoffed. "Figures."
"She comes here a lot, to be alone."
"I know."
"Was this, you know, a thing for you two?"
"Sort of. We had some interesting moments here, to say the least. I had some others without her. It's the only place I really felt comfortable here sometimes."
"Is there really a girl in New York?"
Jess nodded.
"Is it serious?"
Jess pondered that for a moment. He tilted his head to the side a bit and took another drag.
"Potentially. She wants it to be."
"You don't?"
"I'm not sure."
"Would you rather be talking to Rory about this?" Tristan asked. As glad he was to get a chance to fill his vice, he didn't like talking about relationships much. Especially with guys. It was just...wrong and weird.
"God, no," Jess breathed.
Tristan looked at him, the tone of his voice was different.
"I just, you know, don't like talking about this stuff, to anyone really," Jess explained.
Tristan nodded. He finished his cigarette and flicked it out into the frozen lake. Jess offered the pack to him, but he waved it away.
"Rory'll kill me as it is. She hates the smell."
"I know. But as long as you're giving in, might as well do it right," Jess smirked.
"We should get back."
"Can I ask you something personal?"
"Sure, man, go ahead."
"How did you know it was right?"
"What, me and Rory?"
"Yeah. When you proposed, I mean. How did you know you wanted to be with her forever?"
"I couldn't imagine my life without her. I didn't want to live a life that didn't include her beside me. When I was with her, I could just see us together, when we're old. How beautiful she'll be, as an old lady, with well earned wrinkles gracing her face," he began to ramble, "I know it probably sounds cheesy, but I knew it the moment I met her. I could just see it, like seeing into the future somehow."
Jess nodded. He felt the lump in his throat forming, knowing exactly what Tristan was talking about. He silently cursed whatever force could let two men feel the same way about one woman.
"Yeah, she will be truly beautiful, 'til the day she dies," Jess whispered. Tristan didn't look at Jess, but took full note of the tone to his voice. He sounded sad, and regretful. He didn't say a word, just lit up a second cigarette. They continued to stand next to one another, both staring out over the lake as small clouds eminated from their mouths, a mixture of breath and smoke.
By the time the two rejoined the group Rory had Will with her. She was holding a large stick covered with cotton candy, which had stained her lips and most of Will's face pink. She smiled up at the two and continued to attempt Will from suffocating in the big pink mass of fluff. She was trying to teach him to pick smaller pieces off with his fingers, but it wasn't to his liking.
"Where's Luke?" Jess asked.
"Oh, Mom and Luke wandered off for a bit. I thought they deserved some alone time."
"Why don't I take Will? You guys can have some of that, too," Jess offered.
"You sure you don't mind?"
"Nah, Will and I need some bonding time, don't we?"
"Yeah! Can I keep the candy?"
Rory laughed and nodded, handing the big stick to Jess. She reached out for Tristan's hand, and they walked off, towards the tree where everyone else was starting to gather.
"So, is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine."
"Do I smell smoke?"
"We were bonding," Tristan tried.
"Sure. Over smoky sticks of death?"
"A man must have one vice," he reminded her.
"You have me," she chided.
"Ah, true. So I have two," he agreed.
"So, what was wrong with him?"
"Just wanted a smoke, my dear."
"Uh-huh, it had nothing to do with a certain girl?"
"You guessed it. I wouldn't talk to him about it though, he's a little fuzzy about it right now."
"Sure, my lips are sealed," she promised, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. He pulled her back, licking the sugar off her lips. She giggled, and pulled him even closer. Just then, Taylor got on a megaphone and announced the lighting of the tree. The townspeople ohhhed and ahhed as the tree illuminated, thousands of lights lighting up the entire square. Little kids squealed with delight. Rory felt Tristan squeeze her tightly, and she smiled as she saw Will, perched atop Jess' shoulders, pointing to the tree, urging his mom to look at it. She and Luke were standing huddled together next to the pair. Rory sighed with contentment and leaned back against Tristan's warmed chest, enjoying the moment.
When they all finally reached the Gilmore Danes house for the evening, Luke led the way into the living room. Lorelai and Rory had made sure all the stockings were laid out on the coffee table, all ready with cookies to be put out for Santa. Lorelai snuck off to the kitchen to get eggnog for everyone to drink while they prepared the house for Santa's visit. Everyone walked over to find his or her stocking. Rory found her stocking, one that matched Lorelai's. Both said 'Lorelai' in script across the top, but Lorelai's was scrawled in pink glitter and Rory's was blue. Both looked well loved. Luke, Tristan and Will's stockings had all been added to the collection three years ago. Lorelai had insisted on using glitter to write the names on, but had chosen dark green in color, a 'manly' glitter, if you will. Luke had attempted to make her see that was a contradiction of terms, but had found the clarification useless in her world. Jess looked on, and noticed a stocking with his name on it lying there as the others had taken theirs up to the mantle to hang them. He walked over and picked up a picture that was lying on top of the stocking and handled it gingerly. The stocking itself was quite large, and the photo showed what appeared to be a very small Jess inside the stocking, at what must have been his first Christmas. He was on the floor, and beside him was a very young looking Luke, and his mom and an older man were seated on a couch in the background. Jess' eyes softened as he looked at the photo, and Luke noticed him looking at it.
"I found that a couple of years ago. I meant to send it to you, but it got moved over here. I just found it again when I pulled out the boxes this year." Luke came up beside Jess, staring at the picture.
Jess nodded.
"That was taken at Pop's house. That's him there, next to your mom. That's me, obviously, and you're the little guy stuffed into the stocking."
Jess smiled, realizing that at one time he'd been part of a family. Maybe he had the whole time, but he'd never seen evidence of it before like this. There weren't a lot of Kodak moments in his childhood, you could say.
"Thanks, Luke," Jess said, hugging his uncle.
"No problem, kid." Luke smiled at Jess as he made his way over to the mantle to hang his stocking alongside the others.
"What about milk?"
"Will, I'm sure Santa is smart enough to find the refrigerator. We can't leave milk out all night," Lorelai told him.
"Are you sure?"
"I have it on good information that Santa is a pretty smart guy," she winked at Luke.
Will eyed his mother, and evidently decided to agree with her because he said nothing further. Once all the stockings were hung on the mantle, Lorelai took Will upstairs to get him ready for bed.
"Uh, so sleeping arrangements. It'll be a tight squeeze," Luke looked around the room at the others.
"I can go back to the inn," Jess offered.
"No, we have it all figured out. Since Lor and I have some work to do, we thought Rory and Tristan should take our room. Jess, if you don't mind bunking with Will, that way he won't be prone to sneaking a peek at the happenings in here. Lor and I can crash in the living room."
"Are you sure, Luke?"
"Yeah. Now all of you, to bed, or Santa will never come," he joked.
WHAT I OWN: Nada.
RATING: PG-13, just to be safe. It is fluff after all.
AN: Don't worry; I have no plans on making this a Jess vs. Tristan for Rory's heart or anything. I just like the dynamic of the weirdness factor of them being related and having to sort through all this. It's all about the family ties here. I just wanted to reassure any worries there. Hope you all enjoy the next installment.
By the time the six of them had reached the town square, most all of the town had arrived. The line to sit on Santa's lap was wrapped around the square. Rory giggled as she watched a panic-stricken Kirk pulling on the black boots before sitting in the big throne of a chair.
"How long do you give him before some kid rips off the beard?" Lorelai whispered to Rory, careful not to let Will hear.
"Twenty minutes?"
"I heard he's using a new adhesive—I give him an hour."
"Deal."
The shook hands and Lorelai skipped up to join Luke who was carrying Will towards the end of the line. Lorelai and Luke had decided to take turns waiting with Will this year after last years' fiasco. The first two years, they'd flipped for it. Luke had lost the first year, and been pretty okay about it, but last year Lorelai had lost. She'd done pretty well for the first hour, but into the second hour of no food and an ill tempered two year old, she stormed out of the line with Will. Will didn't get to sit on Santa's lap, and she told him it was Luke's fault for depriving her of caffeine and sugar. They did not have a happy child that night, to say the least.
Rory and Tristan wandered around to find food, holding hands and chatting. The got hot chocolate and ended up on a bench where they could see the all the proceedings. They laughed as Taylor yelled at the children to form an orderly line to see Santa, and as Ms. Patty tried to get her snowflake dancers to stop fidgeting and waving to their parents and do the routine she'd taught them. Rory stopped laughing when she noticed her mom and Luke, handing off Will for the next turn. Luke whispered something in Lorelai's ear that made her laugh. She looked so radiant and happy. A warmth filled Rory at that moment, and Tristan noticed as her face softened into a smile.
"Penny for your thoughts."
"Mom looks really happy."
"Yeah, she does. So do you, I might add."
Rory turned to face Tristan. "I am."
"Good. I love to hear that I'm keeping my women happy," he noted.
"You should try that stand up routine when we get back to the city. You're a box of laughs."
"I try."
"I wish I could bottle this feeling, or take a picture of it. It's perfect."
"You wouldn't change anything?"
Rory shook her head defiantly. She leaned in to kiss his warm chocolate flavored lips. He returned the gesture, enjoying the feel of her warm lips against his. When she pulled back, she saw her mom walking up towards them with Jess. She hadn't noticed him since they got to the festivities.
"Are you sure you can't stay longer? Will would love it."
"I'm sure. Work and all, you know."
"So, any special ladies waiting for you to get your cute butt back to New York?"
"Mom!" Rory exclaimed, who couldn't help but overheard them as they neared where they were sitting.
"What?" Lorelai feigned innocence.
"You're worse than my mom. She's hounding me constantly, I don't need you to start in, too," Jess sighed.
"I'm sure you're beating the women off with a stick," Lorelai reassured him.
Tristan let out a choked laugh, and Rory patted his back a bit. "You okay?"
"Yeah, sorry, I--," Tristan looked at the pained look on Jess' face again and continued to snicker, "I wish you could see your face, man."
"Look, I'm not discussing this with you guys, especially you," Jess gestured to Lorelai.
"Hey, you be nice, or I'll mention to Patty that you're lonely and desperate," Lorelai warned.
"Fine. If you must know, there's a woman at work I've been seeing," Jess admitted reluctantly.
"Was she the reason for the weekend departure?"
"No, not entirely. I did see her, but I had to do some stuff at work."
"Does she mind you referring to her as 'stuff'?" Lorelai mused.
Jess shot her a disdainful look. Rory was focusing on her hot chocolate, and Tristan was still laughing at Jess' discomfort.
"I don't know how Luke puts up with you," he sighed.
"Ah, you both love me. Admit it, you old softy."
"Whatever. I'm going to go check on something. I'll see you later," he added as he began walking off.
"The tree lighting is in two hours!" Lorelai called after him, happily.
Jess continued to walk across the square, through the crowd. Rory noticed the direction he was walking, and knew he wasn't just going to stop on the other side. She nudged Tristan.
"Yeah?"
"I think he's going to the bridge."
"That little rickety thing you go to when you want to be alone?"
"That's the one."
"Why?"
"He just sounded...weird. I just know," Rory explained.
"Do you want to go speak to him?"
"No, but would you? I'll hang here with Mom. Just make sure he's okay."
"He seemed fine to me," Tristan assured.
"Please? Even if he's fine, just go talk to him."
"Okay, whatever the lady wants," Tristan kissed her cheek and headed off in the direction Jess had gone.
"Where's he going?"
"To talk to Jess."
"I didn't embarrass him too badly, did I?" Lorelai asked, almost sounding ashamed of herself.
"He's funny about stuff like that," Rory explained.
Lorelai shrugged, and noticed that Rory was trying not to smile.
"What?"
"I can't believe you said he had a cute butt!"
"Well, it's true!"
"I know, but you're his aunt, for all intensive purposes!"
"Hey, I'm just glad I know where he got it from—Luke has a fine ass on him, too," Lorelai said, sneaking a glance at her husband.
"God, I really need earplugs," Rory said, as if what her mom had said to her had a foul taste.
"Maybe Santa will leave some in your stocking," Lorelai pulled Rory into a hug, smiling at her daughter, as they began to walk over to the line. Luke and Will were close, just five more people to go. When Will got up to see Santa Kirk, Lorelai leaned in close to Luke.
"What does he want?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
"Straight from his mouth to Santa's ears, huh?"
"Guess so. He sees no reason for a middle man to muck it up."
"When did we become the middle men?"
"Evidently this evening."
"Man, and it just gets worse—wait until he's a teenager."
"Okay, now you're just depressing me."
"Shhh-he's telling Ki—er I mean, Santa what he wants."
Will began rambling off his list to Kirk, who was starting to scratch his face. Evidently the adhesive he'd used wasn't agreeing with him. He tried to focus on Will, but the itching got much worse. Lorelai shook her head at him, and gestured for him to stop messing with his beard. By the time Will got off his lap and happily into his mother's arms again, Kirk jumped up.
"SANTA needs a break! Move it, elves, Santa needs to get through!" Kirk exclaimed, running back towards Patty's studio, ripping and scratching at his beard.
"An hour and twenty minutes. Hmm, pay up kid!" Lorelai held out her hand to Rory, who handed her five bucks.
"This wasn't truly earned, I want you to realize this. No child ripped it off of his face," Rory countered.
"Ah, Kirk's the biggest kid here," Lorelai reminded.
Tristan walked up onto the bridge to see Jess looking out over the frozen water, smoking a cigarette.
"Hey, you got another one of those?"
Jess snapped his head towards the voice, and furrowed his brow.
"You smoke?"
"Used to. I miss it," Tristan admitted.
"Yeah, me too. Being in this town tends to increase my need," he added, handing Tristan a cigarette and a lighter.
"Thanks," Tristan said, letting out a long breath of smoke.
Neither spoke, they just stood there, smoking. Jess moved some snow around with the heel of his shoe.
"Rory sent me. She thought you seemed off."
Jess scoffed. "Figures."
"She comes here a lot, to be alone."
"I know."
"Was this, you know, a thing for you two?"
"Sort of. We had some interesting moments here, to say the least. I had some others without her. It's the only place I really felt comfortable here sometimes."
"Is there really a girl in New York?"
Jess nodded.
"Is it serious?"
Jess pondered that for a moment. He tilted his head to the side a bit and took another drag.
"Potentially. She wants it to be."
"You don't?"
"I'm not sure."
"Would you rather be talking to Rory about this?" Tristan asked. As glad he was to get a chance to fill his vice, he didn't like talking about relationships much. Especially with guys. It was just...wrong and weird.
"God, no," Jess breathed.
Tristan looked at him, the tone of his voice was different.
"I just, you know, don't like talking about this stuff, to anyone really," Jess explained.
Tristan nodded. He finished his cigarette and flicked it out into the frozen lake. Jess offered the pack to him, but he waved it away.
"Rory'll kill me as it is. She hates the smell."
"I know. But as long as you're giving in, might as well do it right," Jess smirked.
"We should get back."
"Can I ask you something personal?"
"Sure, man, go ahead."
"How did you know it was right?"
"What, me and Rory?"
"Yeah. When you proposed, I mean. How did you know you wanted to be with her forever?"
"I couldn't imagine my life without her. I didn't want to live a life that didn't include her beside me. When I was with her, I could just see us together, when we're old. How beautiful she'll be, as an old lady, with well earned wrinkles gracing her face," he began to ramble, "I know it probably sounds cheesy, but I knew it the moment I met her. I could just see it, like seeing into the future somehow."
Jess nodded. He felt the lump in his throat forming, knowing exactly what Tristan was talking about. He silently cursed whatever force could let two men feel the same way about one woman.
"Yeah, she will be truly beautiful, 'til the day she dies," Jess whispered. Tristan didn't look at Jess, but took full note of the tone to his voice. He sounded sad, and regretful. He didn't say a word, just lit up a second cigarette. They continued to stand next to one another, both staring out over the lake as small clouds eminated from their mouths, a mixture of breath and smoke.
By the time the two rejoined the group Rory had Will with her. She was holding a large stick covered with cotton candy, which had stained her lips and most of Will's face pink. She smiled up at the two and continued to attempt Will from suffocating in the big pink mass of fluff. She was trying to teach him to pick smaller pieces off with his fingers, but it wasn't to his liking.
"Where's Luke?" Jess asked.
"Oh, Mom and Luke wandered off for a bit. I thought they deserved some alone time."
"Why don't I take Will? You guys can have some of that, too," Jess offered.
"You sure you don't mind?"
"Nah, Will and I need some bonding time, don't we?"
"Yeah! Can I keep the candy?"
Rory laughed and nodded, handing the big stick to Jess. She reached out for Tristan's hand, and they walked off, towards the tree where everyone else was starting to gather.
"So, is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine."
"Do I smell smoke?"
"We were bonding," Tristan tried.
"Sure. Over smoky sticks of death?"
"A man must have one vice," he reminded her.
"You have me," she chided.
"Ah, true. So I have two," he agreed.
"So, what was wrong with him?"
"Just wanted a smoke, my dear."
"Uh-huh, it had nothing to do with a certain girl?"
"You guessed it. I wouldn't talk to him about it though, he's a little fuzzy about it right now."
"Sure, my lips are sealed," she promised, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. He pulled her back, licking the sugar off her lips. She giggled, and pulled him even closer. Just then, Taylor got on a megaphone and announced the lighting of the tree. The townspeople ohhhed and ahhed as the tree illuminated, thousands of lights lighting up the entire square. Little kids squealed with delight. Rory felt Tristan squeeze her tightly, and she smiled as she saw Will, perched atop Jess' shoulders, pointing to the tree, urging his mom to look at it. She and Luke were standing huddled together next to the pair. Rory sighed with contentment and leaned back against Tristan's warmed chest, enjoying the moment.
When they all finally reached the Gilmore Danes house for the evening, Luke led the way into the living room. Lorelai and Rory had made sure all the stockings were laid out on the coffee table, all ready with cookies to be put out for Santa. Lorelai snuck off to the kitchen to get eggnog for everyone to drink while they prepared the house for Santa's visit. Everyone walked over to find his or her stocking. Rory found her stocking, one that matched Lorelai's. Both said 'Lorelai' in script across the top, but Lorelai's was scrawled in pink glitter and Rory's was blue. Both looked well loved. Luke, Tristan and Will's stockings had all been added to the collection three years ago. Lorelai had insisted on using glitter to write the names on, but had chosen dark green in color, a 'manly' glitter, if you will. Luke had attempted to make her see that was a contradiction of terms, but had found the clarification useless in her world. Jess looked on, and noticed a stocking with his name on it lying there as the others had taken theirs up to the mantle to hang them. He walked over and picked up a picture that was lying on top of the stocking and handled it gingerly. The stocking itself was quite large, and the photo showed what appeared to be a very small Jess inside the stocking, at what must have been his first Christmas. He was on the floor, and beside him was a very young looking Luke, and his mom and an older man were seated on a couch in the background. Jess' eyes softened as he looked at the photo, and Luke noticed him looking at it.
"I found that a couple of years ago. I meant to send it to you, but it got moved over here. I just found it again when I pulled out the boxes this year." Luke came up beside Jess, staring at the picture.
Jess nodded.
"That was taken at Pop's house. That's him there, next to your mom. That's me, obviously, and you're the little guy stuffed into the stocking."
Jess smiled, realizing that at one time he'd been part of a family. Maybe he had the whole time, but he'd never seen evidence of it before like this. There weren't a lot of Kodak moments in his childhood, you could say.
"Thanks, Luke," Jess said, hugging his uncle.
"No problem, kid." Luke smiled at Jess as he made his way over to the mantle to hang his stocking alongside the others.
"What about milk?"
"Will, I'm sure Santa is smart enough to find the refrigerator. We can't leave milk out all night," Lorelai told him.
"Are you sure?"
"I have it on good information that Santa is a pretty smart guy," she winked at Luke.
Will eyed his mother, and evidently decided to agree with her because he said nothing further. Once all the stockings were hung on the mantle, Lorelai took Will upstairs to get him ready for bed.
"Uh, so sleeping arrangements. It'll be a tight squeeze," Luke looked around the room at the others.
"I can go back to the inn," Jess offered.
"No, we have it all figured out. Since Lor and I have some work to do, we thought Rory and Tristan should take our room. Jess, if you don't mind bunking with Will, that way he won't be prone to sneaking a peek at the happenings in here. Lor and I can crash in the living room."
"Are you sure, Luke?"
"Yeah. Now all of you, to bed, or Santa will never come," he joked.