Encarta: I agree. Dean reproducing is terrifying, but I had to throw that in. Makes him seem like MORE of a jackass if he already has a pregnant wife when he confronts Rory about Jess. And making Dean look like a jackass is so fun…

pubnk: Yesh! Fellow 'Here comes the son' criers.

Erinsailorditz: I heart loyal readers.

Rory packed the last of her shorts into the box, and grinned at her mom.

"I can seriously have this dress?" Lorelai gaped, holding up the dark blue article.

"It's too hot in California. You can have my jackets, sweaters, and some of my pants."

"I don't want the feminist sweaters, but I'll take everything else!"

"I'm taking a few warmer things for when I travel and suddenly find myself in a normal climate, but other than that, they're yours. And I promised Lane she could have some, but you get first pick because you're here on time."

"We can probably chalk that up to our friend Dave, but she'll be here…eventually. Can I have this tank top? It looks great on me; I borrowed it while you were gone."

"I'll be taking that," she said, removing the item from her mother's loving hold.

"Mean," Lorelai commented, sticking her tongue out.

"Is Luke moving in?"

"Still no word, but I can be very persuasive."

"Don't be vile," Rory said, making a face.

"Hey, I didn't make that face when you were sharing the details of your steamy sex life with Jess."

"Which I never did, so either you were having a bizarro dream, or you're making up excuses for your floozyish behavior."

"I like that word! Floozyish! I'm going to use that in conversation!" Rory rolled her eyes and grinned at her mother's hyper antics. Lorelai was psyched for tonight's party. She, along with the help of a few friends, had thrown together a quick goodbye party for Rory, and they were determined to remind her of what she'd be missing. Lane's band would be playing, Patty's ballerinas would be performing, people were making a huge Rory collage to be hung in Patty's, and they were all signing a huge sheet of paper with words of luck and absence.

"So when are you going to call Christopher?" Lorelai asked, her giddy mood slipping a few notches.

"Thanks for reminding me, I forgot," Rory said appreciatively.

"You forgot?"

"Well, we don't talk much, and he's not here. It's not really goodbye for us, just 'hey Dad, I'm moving to California to live with a BOY', and he'll freak out and ask me to put you on the phone and they you'll argue and I'll regret surrendering the phone. Then I'll steal it back, tell him I'm an adult now, and hang up. After that, it will take six to eight months before we're talking again."

"That's not a nice plan."

"Well, he's not going to take it very well. He acts like I'm the same age as G.G.!"

"That's just cause he loves you," Lorelai said, her voice softening. Rory picked up the cordless from her dresser, and motioned that she was calling him. Lorelai nodded and left the room, not wanting Rory to put her on.

"Hey, this is Chris and Lexie's, leave a message," the answering machine announced breathily, and Rory cringed. She couldn't stand her father's new wife. What forty-something woman went by 'Lexie'? She was a good mom to Rory's half-sister G.G., though, and she'd helped Chris get over Sherry. Maybe she wasn't that bad after all.

Beep. "Hey, Dad, it's Rory. Just calling to inform you that I'm moving. I can get my exact address to you later, because the only time I've seen it is on mail, but the general vicinity is Venice Beach, California. Before you start wondering why, I'll be frank. I'm moving in with Jess Mariano, my boyfriend. I'm sure you remember hearing all about him, and I'm sure you're pretty disappointed in me right now, but this is what I want, so please don't make me feel like the whole world is against me. Love you, talk to you guys soon. Bye." She hung up, and Lorelai peeked her head back in the room.

"Done already?"

"Answering machine. I don't know if he'll call back or not. If he does and I'm not here, just give him our number."

"Will do.

Rory clapped and laughed as Patty's ballerinas twirled around, bumping into one another and getting caught on their own feet. They were adorable. And their mothers all sat by the gazebo, taking pictures excitedly. She closed her eyes for a moment, a feeling washing over her like the waves she'd grown so fond of. The old Rory never really thought about getting older, settling down, and having kids.

The new, moving-in-with-her-boyfriend, living-across-the-country-from-her-mommy Rory was definitively thinking about a lot lately. Not that any of it would become a reality for quite some time. It was just nice to think…

Lane sat down next to her, grinning from ear to ear, and interrupted her thoughts.

"What are you so happy about?" Rory asked, honestly curious. Lane said nothing, but her eyebrows went up enough to clue Rory in. "I see, something dirty. Uh…did you and Dave do it in the deserted dance studio?"

"Of course not, today is not about me at all! It's about you, girl, and I just realized I never asked you how Jess was."

"He's fine. He's working on his book as we speak. I believe I mentioned he was a talented writer, and he's working on a story about this white girl growing up in an all black neighborhood, or ghetto, whichever you want to call it. Anyway, her dad is killed by some people really opposed to him and his family, and the rest of the family goes to live with her mom's sister. So she's now in this white suburbia, and she's not used to anything there, she's grown up listening to rap music and braiding her hair in hundreds of tiny little braids, and she doesn't fit it at all." Rory stopped to take a breath, and Lane jumped in.

"You know, I didn't mean how is he in the general sense of the world, I mean how is he…" Her eyebrows rose again, and she nodded expectantly.

"Oh! That," Rory blushed, trying to fight the smile playing upon her lips.

"No comment?"

"No comment needed. He's perfect." The two fell into a fit of giggles as Lorelai walked up.

"Oh no, I just walked in on some serious girl talk, huh?" More giggling greeted her. She was reminded of the time she'd told Sookie about her and Luke making love for the first time.

"Keep it PG-13, ladies. There are small children around. And Taylor."

"It's nothing Sasha doesn't know, so it can't be that bad." Lorelai's eyes widened.

"You talked to Jess's step mom about THAT?" Lane and Rory's lungs began to ache from all the giggling they were doing. Lorelai rolled her eyes and stood up.

"My daughter, Traci Lords," she commented loudly as she walked over to Luke.

"What's that about?" he asked, looking over her shoulder at the two best friends.

"They're talking about what Jess is like in bed." Luke's eyes snapped shut, and he slapped his forehead.

"I could have gone a whole lifetime without ever knowing that."

"You're welcome." Luke walked away, shuddering, as Lorelai grinned and watched Lane and Rory.

"…better than Dean?" Rory blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"I asked you once if Jess was a better kisser than Dean. I was just wondering if Jess still won, hands down." Rory shrugged.

"Well, if I had to judge, I'd say…Jessy." A silly smile lit up her face as she said his name in a sing-song tone, blushing.

"Jessy?"

"Don't tell him I said that. He only lets me call him that when we're alone, and even then he gives me a mean look."

"Sorry, this is just strange. I mean, Jess is a good rebel-without-a-cause, lost-soul kind of name. Jessy sounds like a sweet, mama's boy kind of name."

"Jess is sweet. He just doesn't like people to see it."

"What's the sweetest thing he's ever done for you?"

"Besides buying my basket and saving me from some possessed sprinklers, he made me my own prom." At Lane's clueless look, she continued. "He cooked real food, not just Easy Mac, and we danced, and he got me a corsage!" Rory's voice practically left her as she gushed, just remembering that night. Following the dance they'd shared, he'd pulled her inside and they'd spent the night in a pile of sweaty, entangled limbs under his sandy sheets. The more time she spent away from it, the more she loved the sand. It's coarseness against the smooth fabric was like Jess's stubble against the soft skin of his handsome face.

"That is sweet," Lane admitted. She saw Rory slipping away into daydream-mode, and tried to reclaim her best friend's attention. Rory was not going to space out this close to her moving day. "What are you going to do once you get there?"

"Oh, well, I'm going to finish my book. Hang out with Lily and Sasha, and try to make some friends who aren't Marianos."

"So, no future plans?" Rory sighed.

"We haven't really talked about that. Well, he told me once he wanted to marry me someday, but he was really sleepy. I don't know if that qualifies as 'talking', or if he accidentally put it into a speech-bubble instead of a thought-bubble."

"Oh my God, that's so…Oh my God!" Lane shrieked and pitched forward, hugging Rory. "Oh my God!"

"Lane, air!" The Korean relinquished her hold on Rory, and sat back.

"It doesn't matter it you haven't officially talked yet, he's thinking about it! What about you, are you thinking about it? I mean, I know it's only been two months, but you two are so meant for each other!"

"You freely admit that?"

"Hey, he makes you happy enough to move across the country, you make him happy enough to give you your own little prom and mumble stuff before he goes to sleep! Destiny, thy names are Rory and Lane."

"Yea, I guess it is destiny. A few months ago, I never dreamt I'd even see him again, much less be thinking about that."

"So you are thinking! You're thinking! Oh my God! Tell me everything!"

"There's nothing to tell, I've just been…thinking about it."

"Rory, let me tell you a little about my personal fantasy. Dave and I, married and playing regular gigs in New York with our band. And every morning, after we get home from our show, we get back into bed and pretend we were there all night, and then the kids wake up."

"Aww, you have dream-kids! Do they have names?"

"The boy is Joshua, the little girl is Yoko."

"Wow. Yoko Rygalski. That's an interesting name. Especially when it's paired with Joshua."

"I know, but I picked these names out a long time ago, and I love them. And someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, when Dave and I have kids…I'll tell him about Yoko."

"Here's hoping it's soon," Rory said with a smile, laughing when Lane blushed and nodded in agreement.

"So what are your dream-children named?"

"I actually haven't gotten that far yet. I'm just starting to fantasize the backyard wedding."

"Backyard? That's so…not you."

"You forget- Jess's house backs up to a beach." She grinned and took a bite from the cookie just handed to her by someone. Someone turned out to be Liz.

"Hey Rory, mind if I talk to you for a sec?"

"Depends. Are you going to warn me not to hurt Jess?"

"No, no angry mothers here. I just wanted to tell you that I think this is great. Jess didn't exactly deserve another chance after what he pulled, but you gave it to him, and things turned out great. You two are adorable, even thought I've actually never seen you together. But I can picture it, and it's so cute. Well, I'll let you two get back to talking now, good luck in California." Rory accepted a quick hug as Jess's mother walked away, that word sounding weird in her head. Jess's mother. Liz was nice, but she'd never really been a mother to her son. Sasha filled that position, long-overdue.

"So…now that you've had time to think, what are the kids' names?" Lane asked excitedly after Liz retreated.

"I had one minute to think, and someone was talking to me the whole sixty-seconds!"

"You have to have some ideas, you're a chick. We all do it. My mother told me she picked my name out when she was eight."

"Did she know where babies even came from when she was eight?"

"No. She was going with the angel-wings story. So, tell all."

"I don't know. IF we get married, and IF we have kids, two very big IF's, we'd probably name them after authors. Mark, Emily, Tobias, Jane…whatever."

"Meaning whatever book you were reading when said child was conceived?"

"No, silly, meaning whatever name we liked and agreed on." She bopped Lane on the head childishly, and the two somehow found themselves in a tickle war.

In Boston, the Hayden family entered their apartment, exhausted.

"That was an interesting show," Lexie remarked of the "Nemo on Ice" show they'd attended with their daughter G.G. Chris grimaced in response, and hit the button on the answering machine. At first, he was thrilled to hear Rory's voice over the device. Soon, however, it turned to an upset frown.

"Chris? What's wrong?" He said nothing, just angrily grabbed the cordless and began to dial.

My sincerest apologies. I have as of late gotten very very angered at my parents, and thrown a vase which hit another vase and both broke. And, among other punishments, I am banned from the computer for two whole weeks. So the final chapters will come as soon as I'm allowed back on. But for now, I'm so sorry. I should have known throwing things was not a good idea (I have to go to counselling now. I am very upset.)