Disclaimer: Don't own Gilmore Girls, never have, never will…

AN: I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you who are still reading this, and sticking by it. Also thanks to all of you who still read and don't review, just knowing that someone out there is reading this is enough for me. So THANK YOU to everyone who is reading this now. Also if you get bored sometime and just want to read a quick one chapter story you can check out my other story, Endless Love, give it a shot, you just may like it or hate it, either way as long as it was read.

Nine months passed quicker then anyone had even imagined. Rory had been there every step of the way. Although she was around more often, she was hanging out with Skylar, and still rarely saw Jess. He was very busy, looking for a place to live, working, and preparing for the baby on the way.

School was still the most important thing in Rory's life. She had made tons of new friends, and there was a boy that she had her eye on. The truth was he reminded her of Jess, he had that dark and mysterious way, and always had his head in a book, yet he wasn't a nerd, his eyes were hidden from the rest of the world, and Rory wanted to be the one to open them up.

But soon her life was going to change, partly for the better and partly for the worse. And she never would get the chance the make a difference in that boy's life. Because everything she ever wanted was about to come true, at least that's what she thought at first.

She was sitting in class listening to her teacher ramble about something off topic for the third time already in the last half hour. She was staring at the clock realizing that she was wasting her time. Not that school was a waste of her time, but this was a mandatory class, that wasn't getting her any closer to anything she wanted to be. Her bag was leaning against her foot when it suddenly started to vibrate. She leaned over and pulled out her phone which was on silent, she read the caller ID and it was Jess's number. It was time, Skylar was having her baby, and Jess was about to be a dad.

Rory quickly rose up from where she was sitting grabbed her things and ran out the door. She ran all the way to her car which was parked in the farthest stall, in the parking lot half way across campus, when she finally reached her car out of breath she searched for her keys, fumbling to get them in the key hole.

Everything was going perfect. She made it to her car in record time, since she left half way through class she made it out of the parking lot rather quickly, she even managed to make every green light, but the second she reached the freeway, it was traffic for miles to come.

'Great' she thought, 'I knew it was all going too perfect'.

She finally reached the hospital an hour and 30 minutes later then she had planned on it. She ran right into the waiting room when she saw Jess already standing outside, staring at the delivery room door.

            "Jess!" she said with a huge grin on her face. He turned to look at her as she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. "Congratulations!"

            He smiled a small smile, and turned to look at the delivery room door once more.

            "What are you doing here standing and staring at the door for? Aren't you supposed to be in there, holding her hand as she squeezes the life out of it or something?" Rory asked looking at same door he was staring at.

            "Key word supposed" he looked over at her quickly. With a very concerned look on his face, and worry in his eyes he continued, "They kicked me out, I was in there holding her hand" he held up his hand which was bright red, "But then something happened, something went wrong, and they asked me to step outside, so here I am. Outside. Standing here. With no idea of what is even happening in there."

            Rory looked over at Jess and his hand which he was still holding up in the air, "I'm sure its just normal procedure Jess, and I'm sure its fine."

            "This is supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life Rory, but I'm scared, I'm worried, I've never had so many emotions going through me all at once." His hand was now shaking.

            Rory grabbed his hand, "Come on let's sit down and stare at the door together."

            They both took a seat facing the door, Rory was still holding his hand and the second they sat down the delivery room door swung open, and the same doctor that had asked Jess to step outside walked towards him.

            "Mr. Mariano." He shook his head and looked over at Rory.

            "That's me" Jess jumped quickly out of his chair and Rory was quickly at his side.

            "Mr. Mariano, I'm sorry…"

            He was cut off by Jess, "Sorry for what?" the tears already started to fill his eyes.

            "There were complications, we tried everything we could, but we could only save her or the baby, I'm sorry but she didn't make it." The doctor looked down at the floor.

            "Who? Who didn't make it?" Jess cried out.

            "You're wife." the doctor simply stated.

            "She wasn't my wife… yet." Jess felt himself go weak and fell to the floor, Rory tried to catch him but she fell right along with him.

            The doctor looked at them one last time before turning and walking away.

            Jess looked up, "Wait!" he shouted to the doctor, "And my baby?"

            The doctor stopped and turned around one last time, "Your daughter is fine, she is very healthy and the nurse's are cleaning her up as we speak, you can see her whenever you want"

            Jess looked over at Rory, "My daughter, did you hear that Rory? My daughter, I have a daughter who will never even know her mother." And the tears kept pouring. Skylar was gone, she was never going to come back again, and she was never going to know her daughter.  "Skylar's gone?" he cried, "Gone? She can't be gone. I was just with her less than an hour ago, she was smiling her beautiful smile, she's a mother now, and she can't be gone." He cried out to himself, but knew Rory was listening. "She's too young, too perfect to be gone." Jess continued to mumble, he was like a crazy man that heard no one around him, only his own words, and mumbled as if his words were the truth, 'she can't be gone' was all he kept repeating. As long as he continued to say it, it was true, Skylar wasn't gone, because he didn't believe it, but the truth was, she was gone.

            Rory honestly didn't know what to say. She was crying her self. Skylar was like a sister to her, especially in these last few months. She wasn't gone, she couldn't be, she thought to herself. All could she could hear were Jess's words repeating in her ear, 'she can't be gone.' But then something in Rory snapped, and she looked over at Jess who had already looked like he aged 5 years, from just sitting there on the floor for 5 min. He was so weak and helpless already, so Rory put on her strong face. She had to be strong now. She had to be strong for Jess. She wiped away her tears and hugged him.

            "Jess you can't do this." She comforted him, "Please don't do this now."

            "She can't be gone," he cried, "I loved her too much" he said as he still refused to believe it.

            Rory had lost him, he was spiraling down, into the dark hole of denial, she had to do something, but she wasn't sure what, she had never seen her best friend act this way before. In all the years she knew him, he always had his head up, and was strong, emotion was a stranger to Jess, "Jess, you can't do this, not now, you have to be strong. Please be strong."  She begged him, and then put her hand on his face turning it so he could look at her.

            "I can't do this alone Rory."

            "Jess you have to be strong, you're a daddy now, you have a beautiful little girl who just lost the only person she's ever known, she needs you more then ever right now, she needs her strong brave dad." Rory was trying to get through to him.

            Jess looked up at her, and looked straight into her eyes that were red from the crying she was doing herself, she peered back into his eyes and they looked lost, they looked like the eyes of a poor innocent child, begging for anything to help them survive. "She's too young to understand, and I can't raise her on my own." He quickly looked at his hands which were shaking.

            "Don't give up so quickly Jess. Don't say you can't do this, because we both know that you can. And you won't be doing this alone, you have me and Luke and my mom. Do this for Skylar Jess, be the father that we both know that you can be, go get your little girl. She needs you and you need her."

            "Is she really gone Rory?" he asked as he was still staring at his shaking hands. He asked her as if it wasn't real, that maybe Rory would tell him no, he always looked to her for the advice and the truth. Whenever there was a problem Rory was the one to go to, because she could fix anything. So he thought that maybe if he asked and she said no, Skylar would come walking out of the delivery room holding their daughter and life would once again be perfect in his eyes.

            "She's gone Jess."

            "She can't be gone, I need her, I can't survive without her, in the last 6 years I don't have a memory that's she's not in, and now how can I make new memories knowing she won't be a part of them?" it was a rhetorical question that he still hoped someone would answer for him, because he honestly wasn't sure how he was going to do it. How he was going to get by, knowing that the one person he truly loved was gone, and never coming back, no matter what he did to try and change it.

            "It takes time, I know, and I'll help you, and you may make new memories but you'll always have the old ones, and you'll always have your daughter to remind you of her."

            At those last words, it seemed to have sparked something inside Jess. He pulled away from Rory and looked at her. His eyes were narrow and it was like a light bulb went on his head. This time he had heard her; the thought that he would have a daily reminder of Skylar scared him and made him happy both at the same time. Whenever he wanted to see her, he could just look at his daughter, Skylar was a part of her, they were blood, she wasn't completely gone, she left behind the best thing he could possibly think of, a child. He stood up and walked to where the nurse was holding his daughter. She handed her to him and he began to cry even more. "You look just like her." He rubbed her small soft face with his thumb, "Looks like it's just me you kiddo… I love you." And he stood there with his daughter in his arms crying until there were no more tears left to cry, happy or sad.

And so it was both a sad day and a happy day, a day that would forever be remembered not only for a new life, but an old one as well, and all the memories they would hold.