AN: It's a long one. I hope you're all pleased. I've had a lot of inspiration for this story lately (not to mention time to write), and let me just tell you, the last part of this chapter was hard to write. Better times, for all, are ahead. I hope you all enjoy it.
December 23. He didn't have to look at a calendar, and he wasn't fortunate enough to have lost count of the days in the bustle of his busy life. Today he had to see Erin. He looked at his alarm clock, and deciding that he could sleep another half an hour, he rolled over. When he woke for the second time, Jules was to his right, eyes closed and under the covers. He marveled at the fact that he hadn't even stirred when she slipped into his room. Turning to face her, he prodded her shoulder gently.
"Come on, little girl, wake up," he coaxed.
"I'm awake," she whispered with still closed eyes.
"To what do I owe this early morning visit?"
She opened her eyes, those green eyes of hers boring into his. She most definitely had her mother's eyes. He'd never truly be able to get away from pieces of Erin.
"I'm not sure I want to see Mom," she admitted.
"Oh, Jules," he had no other words. He knew the feeling, and he hated the fact that his kids may end up how he'd felt in his teenage years. He would do his damnedest to make sure they knew their father was always there for them, no matter what happened.
"She isn't bringing that guy, is she?"
"No, she's not."
"Will you stay with us?"
"Well," he hesitated.
"Are we going to talk about the divorce?"
"Hey, hold up. It's Christmas."
She ceased her rapid-fire questioning and gave her father some reaction time.
"Your Mom and I haven't decided that is what is happening here. I will talk to her, and we'll work everything out together. You really want me to stick around during your visit?" he asked, smoothing her hair back.
"Yeah."
"Okay. Go get dressed. And make sure Am is up. Nicely," he added.
She left and he fell back against the bed.
"Great. Just great," he said aloud to no one.
&&&&
Will was trying to veg out in front of the television. He'd earned some down time, after the last few hectic days. He and Anna had been nearly inseparable—including dinner with her parents one night and his the next. Not that he was complaining.
However, Davey—home for the first time in days—was ruining his veg session. He moved randomly about the apartment, doing strange things. Finally, after he'd sat next to Will with a glass of water, and then gotten up yet again seconds later only to return with a soda, Will couldn't take it anymore. His friend had cracked.
"What's with you?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing."
"Thirsty?"
"Oh," he said, looking at the coffee table, "Geez. Okay, I'm a little preoccupied."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just a lot on my mind."
"All right. Try not to hurt yourself."
Will tried to turn his attention away from his spacey friend and back to the mindless show, but Davey wasn't done.
"So, how's it going with you and Anna?"
"Fine."
"Just fine?"
Will looked back at Davey. "You don't want details here," Will assured him.
"It's been like a week!" Astonishment filled Dave's voice.
Will smiled. Dave did not. Will noted the displeasure on his friend's face.
"Relax—she came on to me."
Dave still didn't look pleased. If anything, just a little greener.
"I've known her all my life, you expected this to go slowly?"
"I expect you to respect my sister."
"I do."
Dave gave him another look.
"Hey, you've slept with your share of first dates, at least I waited for the second."
"You're right. I don't want details."
Will nodded. "So, what is wrong with you?"
"Nothing. I'm just a little preoccupied with some stuff."
"Worried Mal won't like her Christmas gift?"
Dave shrugged. "Something like that."
Will nodded again and both grew quiet, staring at the television.
&&&&
"I'm going out," Ella informed her parents as she stuck her head in their bedroom door.
"Wait!" Rory called.
"What?"
"Come in," Rory instructed.
It was only 10am, but she was all ready to head out, whereas her parents were still in bed. Though her mother's flushed collarbone and neck showed they hadn't just been sleeping before her knock.
"What?"
"Where are you going?"
"Vegas," she flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled.
"Ella."
"To Luke's, Mom."
"With Billy?"
"Yes."
"Alone?"
"Yes, but again to Luke's."
Rory nodded. She knew from Ella's upbeat mood the last couple of days that the two had smoothed things over. Now there was a whole new kind of fear: them being alone.
"Well, just be at Lorelai's by seven, we're all congregating there tonight," she said as her daughter began her escape.
Rory looked to Tristan, who had more been watching the exchange. Once Ella left, instead of resuming their prior activities, he spoke.
"I think she's made her decision."
"About school?"
He nodded. "Didn't you see how comfortable in her own skin she seemed? She'd been driving herself nuts for weeks."
"So, where is she going, Creskin?"
"I never claimed to be all-knowing."
"Yes, you did!" she pointed a finger at him.
"Was I sixteen?"
She nodded, giggling.
"And was I correct then?"
"That's not the point. You're contradicting yourself."
"Your memory? Far too good. When is that senile thing going to hit?"
She just shook her head in amusement as he pulled the covers up over their heads and invaded her side of the bed.
&&&&
"They really seem like they're in love!"
"Aww, Sook, I'm happy about this too, but we can't put that kind of pressure on them."
"It's not pressure, it's support."
"Just because they've slept together doesn't mean they're in love."
"They—they're what?"
"Oh. You didn't know," Lorelai cringed.
"You knew?"
"Well, they came into the diner, and it was just obvious from their body language. They went from being able to sit next to each other one day to not being able to pry themselves away at more than three junctures the next."
"I'm so stupid. Of course they are," Sookie thought back to having seen them. They had been rather touchy-feely the last few days. It'd been a long time since she'd experienced the beginning stages of a romance.
"Hey, wanna grab some lunch at Luke's?" Lorelai asked, trying to get Sookie's mind off her unfortunate revelation.
"Sure, let me go check something, and we'll go."
Sookie ran into the kitchen, and back out as Lorelai was pulling her jacket on. The two friends made their way through the snow and continued talking about the kids.
"Well, I still think they're in love. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we were related rather soon."
"Sookie, come on. It's been a week, or something."
"Well, you said they're already, well, you know, and if it's that fast," Sookie gestured out in front of her with her hands.
"What are you saying?"
"I just feel like one of my kids will be getting married soon. It's like I can feel it in my bones," she revealed.
"You feel your kid's marriage in your bones?"
"I do. It's like rain, or a motherly instinct."
"Rain?"
"You know for people with arthritis. Or you, with snow."
"Ah, I smell snow."
"Right. Well, then I smell marriage!" Sookie giggled.
"Oh, my," Lorelai stopped suddenly outside of the diner. She couldn't help but stare, and Sookie turned to see what had caught her friend so off-guard. There through the window of the diner, seated at a table, were Billy and Ella. Making out.
"I don't see where there is more than three separate junctures," Sookie said, rather concerned.
"Your son has his tongue in my granddaughter's mouth!" Lorelai exclaimed, covering her eyes with her hands.
"We need to stop this, right?"
"Right. Where is Luke at?"
"Good question!"
"Okay, we need to get in there. They are not stopping," Lorelai peeked through an opening in her fingers. "Ahh!"
"Yes, we—wait. You don't think that they would, do you?"
"Would what?" Lorelai asked.
"Get married. They're almost eighteen, they might go and impulsively run off?"
"No. Rory would kill Ella."
"Right," Sookie said, as she looked up. "Yeah, let' s go. No mother should have to witness this."
The two women marched into the diner, and stood in front of the kids' table, clearing their throats. The teens broke apart, both blushing quite furiously.
"Gramma."
"Mom."
"Kids, mind if we join you? No? Great!"
They sat and Luke came through from the back, noticing the group.
"Need to order?"
"Adult supervision? Why yes, we do!" Lorelai said gratefully.
"What?"
"What? Where were you? These two," she pointed at Ella and Billy, "Were just playing tonsil hockey for like five whole minutes in your diner."
"You what?" he asked the kids.
"Luke, we," Ella started, but Lorelai gave her a warning look. "Sorry."
"Just bring us food. Any food, and quick, we have to get back to the Inn," Lorelai waved Luke off, who was now glaring at Billy.
"And quit glaring at my kid!" Sookie added.
When Luke had retreated, Lorelai stood up. "I need to go to the bathroom. Ella, care to join me?"
Ella looked at Billy, then Sookie, who nodded. "Sure, Gramma."
They made their way up to the old apartment, and Lorelai closed the door.
"Okay, just to ease my mind a little, what was that?"
"We're dating. People who date usually kiss."
"Yes. Alone. On front porches or in cars. In a darkened theater. Not in a diner in the middle of the day! And not like that."
Ella looked down for a moment. "We got carried away. Please, don't mention this to Mom and Dad."
"Are you two having sex?"
"Gramma!"
"Els, it's me. You can tell me."
"No. And I've already talked to Mom about this."
"Well, good," she said, noting Ella's defensive posture. Her arms were crossed, and she was looking just past Lorelai's right ear. "I mean, I like Billy. And we're all happy you're dating. Just, take it slow. Please? For the sake of all of our old tickers?"
Ella smiled. "We are. Honestly, we were just kissing."
"Yeah, well, that's how it all starts, kid."
Ella nodded. "And you won't mention it?"
"No. I like Billy, and we wouldn't want your father to castrate him."
"No, we wouldn't," she agreed. The two linked arms and made their way back downstairs, where Luke was putting food down on their table and glaring at Billy again.
"Down, boy," Lorelai whispered into Luke's ear.
&&&&
Jess pulled the car to a stop a block away from his in-laws house. Ambrose looked up from his book, and stared at his father.
"What's wrong? It's just up there."
"I know. I just want to make sure you guys know the ground rules."
Both kids were riveted to his words. "I called your Mom earlier, and I told her you wanted to know what was going on with us, and that you wanted me around. So, here's the deal. Even though it's Christmas, we're all going to sit down and have a long talk about our family situation. Then, after dinner, I'm going to drop you all off here to have some alone time with her, at her request, then I'll pick you up to take us home. Any questions?"
Both shook their heads.
"All right," he nodded, putting the car back into gear and finishing the last block of the drive. Erin was waiting on the porch, he knew to avoid a confrontation between him and her parents. At least she was considerate in that respect. He looked at her as she walked to the car. She looked like his wife, but there was something different about her. Something intangible. She slid into the backseat next to Jules, shivering from the cold.
"Hey, guys," she said.
"Hi, Mom."
"Hey."
"So, we're off to dinner?"
"We are. How are your folks?"
"Oh, the same. Mom's got the house overly decorated, the usual. Oh, your Aunt Heather is here," she said, turning to Jules.
"Great."
"She brought you guys tons of gifts, so you'll have a lot of present opening to do tonight."
It was weird, how chatty she was being. Not that her conversation was abnormal—she was just talking to the kids as if nothing had happened. As if she hadn't been freezing him out for the last few months. His grip tightened on the steering wheel, and he maneuvered the car as if on autopilot towards one of their favorite restaurants in Boston. Soon to be on his never-visit-again list. He wished that list wasn't getting so long.
Once the family was seated, at a fairly private booth in the back, Erin cleared her throat. She looked to Jess, who sat at her side.
"Do you want to start?"
"Go ahead. They know all I know."
"Right. This really isn't easy," she said, he supposed to herself, because at this rate he didn't give a fuck. He knew what she was going to say, and he prepared himself to hear the words come out of her mouth. The same mouth that had repeated wedding vows happily and with promise to him so many years ago. He looked down at her hand, noticing her left ring finger was bare. He smoothed his thumb over the cool metal of his own still in place ring.
"I've decided to stay in California."
Yep, those were the words he'd been trying to prep himself for. The ones met with the shock of her actually saying them. No one else spoke.
"Jess?"
"What?"
"You don't have anything to say?"
"In front of the kids? No."
"Dad, you said you were going to be honest," Ambrose reminded him.
"Fine, when you're 21, I'll honestly tell you the words that are running through my mind."
"Jess, come on. I know you're angry with me, but I think this is for the best. We can both move on."
"I'm sorry, move on from what? If you want to get away from me, fine, but don't act like you're doing anything other than what you're doing—you're walking out on your family."
Jules was tearing up, as was Erin. Ambrose grabbed his sister's hand under the table, trying to provide some reality for her to hold on to.
"I'm not walking out on them!" she said in a low, harsh tone to Jess. She turned towards her kids, who were valiantly trying not to crumble while watching the final demise of their parents' marriage, "You guys are welcome to come to California."
"We don't have to, do we?" Jules words were aimed at her father.
"No, you don't have to."
"You'll come see me sometimes, we'll have joint custody," Erin interjected.
"I don't want to go, either," Ambrose spoke up.
"Not even to visit?" Erin asked.
"Nope."
"You've been coaching them, great," Erin crossed her arms, looking at Jess.
"Bullshit, Erin, all I told them was that they didn't have to do anything they didn't want to do. That this was going to be as easy as possible for them. How is having to travel back and forth to California going to be easy for them?"
"Look, why don't we discuss this later, when we're calmer."
"Fine. Let's just eat."
"I'm not hungry," Jules said softly.
"You have to eat something," Jess instructed, giving Erin a 'see what you've done' look. "At least order. You can pick at it."
"Fine."
The table was silent until the waiter came. He was given short orders and left. The tension filled the air around their table. Jess felt like he was coming out of his skin, and couldn't wait to get out of there. By the time he dropped them off at the house, both kids looking miserable, but having to see their grandparents, he barely got the car out of the driveway before he shut the ignition off again. Again, he traced the ring around his ring finger, before grasping it with his right thumb and index finger, slipping it off for the first time since his wedding. He opened the glove box and placed it inside. He saw his cell phone sitting in the compartment and pulled it out.
"Hello?"
"Gwen? It's Jess."