Title: Too Close For Comfort

Chapter 10: For The Shock Of It All

A/N: Look! Two chapters, one night. This chapter used to be worse. It got better, and I like it more. I don't think this story's got too much left. long, deep, sigh Oh, guys. I really hope you like this. It's almost time to wrap this thing up.

POV: Jess

-

Luke showed up at my apartment at half past five, pale and frantic but with a slight smile that showed up every few seconds. I glared at Luke, left the door open, and walked back into the apartment.

"What do you want" I asked as I pulled a bottle from the firdge.

"Rory's pregnant."

He said it so bluntly, so matter-of-factly, that the bottle slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor. "Shit" I exclaimed, grabbing a towel and kneeling to wipe up the fizzing beer.

"Jess. Did you hear me? Rory's pregnant."

"Yes" I looked up at Luke, still standing in the doorway. "Why the hell do you think I dropped the bottle"

"You shouldn't be drinkin' in the afternoon anyways." Luke walked in, pulled the door closed behind him. "So, whaddya think"

"I think beer stains" I muttered, still cleaning up the spill.

"Jess, shut up about the goddamn beer! Your ex-girlfriend's pregnant! Now, what the hell is going through your mind"

I stood up quicklky and turned to face Luke. "I think that sure is vindictive of the two of you to come tell me the fucking day after Christmas that Rory's moved on so quickly! The fucking holidays are fucking" I kicked the milk crate that served as my coffee table "bad enough already"

"Hey" Luke yelled, crossing the apartment in two steps and grabbing my arm. "Don't be such a stupid ass! It's your kid" Almost immediately, he seemed to realize that the news was better delivered in a nicer fashion. He dropped my arm, backed up half a step and cleared his throat. "It's your kid." He repeated, softer.

"Huh." I sank onto the milk crate I'd kicked over, and kinda stared at the floor.

"Jess" Luke asked, reaching his hand to my shoulder. I knocked it away and looked up at him.

"Why are you telling me this? Why isn't Rory doing it"

"Uh...mainly because she told me to tell you. Because she's actually not pregnant anymore."

"What" I stood up quickly. "What happened"

"Uh, she had it." He checked his watch. "About five hours ago, actually."

"Well" I asked, kinda apprehensively.

"Well what"

"What, uh...what was it"

"Oh? Oh, I don't know. Lorelai didn't say. I, um, showed up at the hospital when they were wheeling Rory up to delivery, and she and Lane forced me out of the hospital to come find you. So I went back to the apartment, tracked down your mom, and then we worked trying to track down you. The operators for this city have damn fine attitudes, by the way. It's amazing you turned out how well you did."

"Yeah, I know." I rubbed my hands through my hair. "I'm gonna go pack. And then, uh, we can leave."

"Okay." Luke nodded. He smiled and clapped me on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you."

I nodded, and then left to go pack.

-

On the ride to Stars Hollow, I started to worry. It had been apparently nine months since I'd seen Rory...and since then, she'd gone through pregnancy and had a child-and had apparently decided to not tell me. Why wouldn't she tell me? Why would she decide to tell me now, when there's nothing I can do? I mean, I guess what I was doing then-traveling to Stars Hollow-might qualify as doing something. I just felt horrible. I felt like I should have been doing something that whole time. You know, worrying about the fact I was going to become a father, if nothing else. God. Father. Father. What the hell? I was someone's dad suddenly. In a period of ten minutes I had gone from someone whose uncle was annoying him, to someone whose ex-girlfriend was pregnant with someone else's kid, to someone's dad. Seriously. How the hell?

-

Luke stopped outside the diner and told me to stay. He walked in, waved his arms around, and ran upstairs. When he came downstairs, Lorelai was trailing him, and people were lining up at the register, waiting to pay. While he rang people up, Lorelai spotted me sitting in the truck, and decided she'd come out and talk to me.

"Hey, Jess" she said, opening the driver's side door and sitting down.

"Hey, Lorelai" I said, nodding.

"So...you heard the news"

"Yeah, I...heard the news. Does, uh, Rory know I'm coming"

Lorelai snorted. "Are you kidding? She's been sleeping for four hours. I made her wake up yesterday at, like, five, 'cause it was Christmas, you know"

I nodded. I seemed to remember that Lorelai had an affinity for all things presents.

"Yeah, so then we had to wander around for hours, and we even saw my parents, and then we were going to bed at almost midnight, and that's when it happened." Lorelai smiled at me, and I tried to smile back. Lorelai looked up and made sure Luke was still busy, and then cleared her throat and leaned in towards me.

"Okay, listen. Earlier this year, I very, very much wanted to kill you. You ruined my baby girl, and then you left, and you didn't even know. But, I've gotten better. Rory's gotten better, she's accepted it, but now, her pregnancy's over, and she's got a baby. Her very own baby, and I just know she's going to break down sometime in the next two weeks because it's all too much." She took a deep breath. "But see, here's the thing. If you can stay, and help her out, and try to be a father-it'll be hard, it might feel impossible, but you can do it-then I won't kill you. Okay"

I nodded, slowly. "Okay."

Luke opened the driver side door, and Lorelai smiled at me and said"Scoot over." I obliged.

-

Lorelai and Luke both went into Rory's room before I did. After I'd been sitting in the waiting room for half an hour, Lorelai finally came back out, nodded and smiled at me, and then took my place next to Luke.

"Hey" I said softly as I walked into the room.

"Hey." She smiled and sat up more. "How are you"

"I should be asking that to you. You're the one that just had a...uh, a baby."

"Oh, is that what that was" She smiled and leaned back and looked at me.

"What" I asked with a slightly nervous chuckle after a minute.

"Nothing. I just wanted to say thanks."

"For what"

"For being here."

"I should have been here sooner" I said, shaking my head. "Rory, why didn't you tell me" I walked closer to her.

"I was worried. About what you'd say. So, I did what my mother taught me to do best, and I procrastinated."

"But now I've missed out on everything. And you had to go through all this by yourself. And I just–I feel like my dad, Rory. And I don't want to feel like him."

"Wow" she said, smiling at me again.

"What" I asked, feeling a little apprehensive.

"You're so grown-up."

"No, I'm not grown-up. I'm far from it."

"Oh, don't worry." Rory patted my hand. "You'll be grown up before long."

There was a knock on the door, and a nurse stuck her head in. "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but someone wants to say hello."

"Hey" Rory grinned. "Come on in"

The nurse grinned back and wheeled in a small plastic bassinet, filled with a small white and pink bundle. The nurse lifted the baby out, slowly, and laid it into Rory's arms. "Here's Mommy" she said softly.

"Thanks, Ashley" Rory called as the nurse left the room. "Hey. Come here. Come meet her." Rory beckoned me over with her head. I leaned in, over her shoulder, and watched the tiny thing in Rory's arms yawn.

"Jess Mariano" Rory said"meet Jessica Lorelai Gilmore. Your daughter."

Oh, yeah. I grew up fast.