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

AN: Sorry it's taken me so long to update, school started two weeks ago, so I've been tired, not really busy, just tired… lol… I like to sleep, so that takes up most of my time, anyways, here it is, enjoy…

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Days and weeks came and went, months flew by, and even years passed, and Rory and Jess were still only friends. Reagan was now four years old and she couldn't wait for school to start, even though she still had 2 years to go. Rory read to her every night and it was only a matter of time before she would be able to read herself, with Jess and Rory as her guardians there were books lying all around the house and in time she would pick one up.

Jess had eventually moved on. It took years but the pictures finally came down off the walls only months ago. It was a relief for Rory and Jess; it was like they were cleaning up the past and starting on a new slate.

It was a Saturday night and Rory was in the kitchen making Reagan macaroni and cheese, Reagan's favorite and the only thing that Rory knew how to make. Rory looked up and saw Reagan sitting on the couch watching her favorite cartoon, her feet didn't even reach the end of the couch but she was wiggling them along with the music giggling. Rory looked back down to stir the noodles and then she felt a tug on her shirt. She looked to her side and saw Reagan standing there.

"Hey you, you hungry?" she smiled.

Reagan nodded her head, "What are you making?"

"Macaroni and Cheese your favorite!"

"Yummy" she licked her lips, "Where's my dad?"

"He's upstairs getting ready."

"For what?"

"For his date."

"Okay, I'm going to go souperwise." She meant 'supervise' but she was still smarter then most four year olds. She turned and walked towards her dad's room calling him, "DAD!! DAD!! DAD!! DAD!! DAD!! DAD!!..." she had a dad for every step up the stairs.

Rory laughed… the innocence of being so young.

"REAGAN!! REAGAN!! REAGAN!!" Jess called from his room teasing her.

"Yes?" she asked when she finally reached him.

"You were calling me?" he smiled.

"Nu-uh, you were calling me" she giggled, and climbed up on his bed watching him as he combed his hair.

"So are you excited about tonight? Just you and Rory?" he turned to look at her.

"Yep, we're gonna watch cartoons, and play games, and listen to music and dance, and eat macaroni and cheese, and ice cream, and have a pillow fight, and play with make-up, and dress up, and have a tea party with all my stuffed animals and read!" she wanted to keep going, but she ran out of things to say.

"Are you sure you can fit all that into one night?" he laughed at her, it was so cute how when she said 'read' her voice went up signaling she was most excited about that one.

"Yep, I'm sure." She nodded.

He turned around to face Reagan and walked towards her, "So how do I look?"

Reagan sat there turning her head, leaning it to the left, and then to the right like she was really examining him, and thinking about how he looked, "You look silly."

"Silly huh?" he crept towards her; "I think you look silly!" he picked her up and started swinging her around.

She was laughing uncontrollably, and then he tossed her on the bed, "Do it again, again!"

He smiled and picked her up and swung her around again before tossing her on the bed.

"Again!" she smiled and she stood up and started jumping on the bed.

Rory knocked on the door frame of the open door.

Jess turned to look at her, and then he looked back at Reagan who was still jumping on the bed repeating, "Again! Again!..."

"Not right now, but I'm sure if you add it to your list you can squeeze it in there somewhere tonight." He poked her in the belly, "Now go wash up for dinner." He caught her mid jump, right before her feet hit the bed he picked her up and set her on the floor and watched as she ran out the door into the bathroom.

Rory patted Reagan on the head as she ran by her and then she made her way over to Jess who was standing in front of the mirror. She stood behind him and put her hands on his shoulders then smoothed out his sleeves. She looked at him in the mirror and straightened his collar, "So what's her name tonight, Summer? Misty?" she laughed.

"Ha…ha…" he smiled, "I'm over that, it's Trixie," he laughed at himself, "Just kidding her name is Madison."

"That's a good name; maybe this one will work out." Rory smiled at him in the mirror.

Jess turned around to face her, "Maybe." He smiled and then kissed her on the cheek before walking around her and over to the closet to find his shoes. "So how do I look?" he asked as he came back out of his closet this time with his shoes on.

Rory sat there and tilted her head from side to side just as Reagan had done before, "I don't know… I think you look silly." She smiled at him and let out a giggle.

"Silly huh?" he walked towards her, "You want me to do what I did to her."

Rory started to laugh and backed up from him slowly, only she was backing up towards the bed. Then Jess pounced her and tickled her onto the bed as he had done Reagan, Rory was laughing and screaming to be set free, and she tried to tickle Jess back, but she couldn't even get her arms near him.

Just then Reagan reappeared in the door holding up her hands, "All clean!" she smiled.

Rory and Jess both stopped what they were doing and looked at each other and then at the door. Rory smiled and crawled out from under Jess, "Let's eat!" Rory walked over to Reagan at the door and picked her up carrying her downstairs.

Jess sighed and laid down on his bed stomach first, he buried his head into the comforter, "Get it together Mariano" he mumbled to himself before getting up and following them down the stairs.

Rory set Reagan in her seat and gave her a bowl of Mac and cheese, "Spoon or fork?"

"Ummm… Spoon!" she took it from Rory and began to eat.

Jess came walking down the stairs and made his way into the kitchen, he grabbed a large spoon and started eating the Mac and cheese right from the pot.

"Aren't you taking her to dinner?" Rory grabbed the spoon from his hand and helped herself.

"But I'm hungry now!" he went to grab the spoon back from her hand, but she pulled it away. Just then the doorbell rang and they all looked at the door.

"She's meeting you here?" Rory's head jerked up to look at Jess.

"Yeah she lives in the opposite direction from where were going so I thought it would be easier this way." Jess walked over to answer the door but Reagan beat him there.

With her cheesy face and cheesy hands she called out, "Who is it?"

"It's Madison, I'm here for Jess." The muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

"She's here for you Daddy." Reagan smiled and then opened the door. "Ello! I'm Reagan." She smiled.

"Hello Reagan I'm Madison." She smiled to the messy little girl standing in front of her.

"Come on in." Jess picked up Reagan, "You're all cheesy." He wiped her face off with a napkin.

Rory had been watching from a distance, Madison looked decent; she was dressed in a knee length black dress. She had light brown hair and brown eyes, her smile was cute, she was better then most of the other girls Jess usually went on dates with. Rory then made her way over to Jess and took Reagan from him, "I'll clean up the monster."

"Thanks" he winked at her. "Okay Reagan you be good, don't have too much fun without me now! And Rory, don't do anything you don't want to do." He pointed at her playfully.

"Shut up" she slapped his finger down, "Go on get out of here."

"Okay I'm going, I'm going, See you later Ray, love you!" he kissed her, "Later Ror."

"Night" she waved, as they closed the door. She set Reagan down on the floor, "So what do you want to do first?"

Jess and Madison made there way to his car. Neither said a word.

Jess opened Madison's door for her, and she smiled and got in, Jess then raced over to his side and joined her in the car. Once they were in and on there way to the restaurant Madison smiled and finally spoke up "So Reagan sure is cute."

"Isn't she?" Jess smiled to himself, just the thought of Reagan made him smirk.

Madison too smiled and nodded, she turned to look out the window, as she thought how much she already liked him, she loved that he was a father and so into his daughter. "So Rory is she Reagan's mother?"

"Um… No" he shook his head and replied quietly.

"Oh I just assumed since they had the same eyes."

"Yeah a lot of people assume that, but… no, Rory isn't Reagan's mother. Rory and I grew up together, we've been best friends our entire lives," Jess took a deep breath, "she means just as much to me as Reagan does… She lives with us actually, I was young and wasn't ready for single parenthood." Jess never once looked over at her, but kept his eyes straight in front oh him.

"Where is Reagan's mother?"

"Dead." Jess still didn't take his eyes off the road.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I had no idea." Madison turned away from him.

"It's okay." Jess looked over at her and smiled a small weak smile.

Jess arrived home late that night, Rory was still up watching late night infomercials and Reagan was asleep on the floor.

"Hey" Rory whispered as she looked up at him, and then returned her eyes to the T.V.

"Hi," he looked down at Reagan, "You guys have fun tonight?"

"Oh yeah tons, I wore her out though, but not before we managed to do half the stuff on the list." She smiled "I didn't want to move her, it took her forever to finally fall asleep."

Rory followed Jess up into his room, "So how was the date?" she asked as she lay down on his bed.

"Well I can tell you there won't be another." He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed taking off his shoes.

"That bad huh?"

"It wasn't bad, not bad at all, it was a lot of fun actually… she was perfect you know."

"Then what was it?"

"She wasn't her, she wasn't Skylar." He put his elbows on his knees and buried his head in his hands, looking down at his feet. "I just think I really liked her too." Jess stood up off the bed, and made his way into the bathroom to brush his teeth. "I don't think I'll ever find anyone, because even when they turn out good, and the date goes perfect, I can't stop comparing them to Skylar. None of them can even compare to her, and until I can realize that there is no other her out there, my relationships are doomed from the start."

"So stop. Obviously you know what you're doing so what's the problem?"

"I can't stop comparing them to her, that's the problem!"

"Well Jess until you face the fact that there is not another Skylar out there, your going to be alone. Besides, you don't need another Skylar, you need someone new."

"Yeah I know" he rubbed his head and then splashed some water on his face.

Rory stood by and watched him, When was he going to realize that no one out there was good enough for him. When was he going to realize that he didn't need anyone else? That he had her. "I'm going to go put Reagan to bed, and then head to bed myself…" she paused and looked at him a moment longer "…night." Rory looked him quickly in the eyes and then made her way out of the room as Jess continued to undress and get ready for bed himself.