Family Portrait

Author's Note: I know that a lot of you thought it was over. For a second, when I finished the chapter I thought it was too. Then, I thought about all that was left to write. The Literati relationship still needs to be explored some more, everyone needs to hear Rory's good news, the twins need to be named and born, as does Haley and I might even have to throw in a wedding or two. So, there's still a lot to be done. Just because Rory's made her choice doesn't mean the story has to end just yet. Rest assured everyone it's not over yet. Thank you to all of you who reviewed, I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter (most of you at least). Everything ended up perfectly; the Jess proposal was exactly as I hoped it would be in the end when I set out to write it. To mochamint19 who asked about the pronunciation of Haley. If you've ever seen One Tree Hill it would be pronounced the same as the character, or if you haven't it's: Hay-Lee or Hey-lee (Pretty much the same thing).

Chapter Twenty-One: Happy Again

When they returned back to the Gilmore-Danes home, Jess and Rory were surprised to find that everyone was out. Whether they had gone in search of their precious, injured, Rory, or had just altogether decided to up and leave was unknown. All they knew was that the house was dark, the door locked, and the extra key that her mother kept under the turtle was gone.

"Great," Rory heaved a sigh, plopping down on the swing she and Tristan had sat on earlier that night. She felt guilty for leading him on just then, for making him think that there might be a chance. Her mind flashed back to the hospital when she woke up, it could've gone that way. She could've ended up with Tristan, had he gathered up the courage to propose at that time, she just might have yes then.

Jess looked at her a moment, and then looked around. Walking off the porch, he headed around the house and Rory frowned. Getting up to follow him, she saw him standing outside the window to her old bedroom attempting to pry it open. "What're you doing?" she inquired, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Getting us into the house," he replied, "If you haven't noticed, it's cold out."

"They'll be back soon," she tried to assure her new fiancée.

"And we'll be safe and warm inside the house," he retorted, finally getting the window open. Turning towards her, he offered her his had, "You first."

"You know, this is a felony," Rory couldn't help but point out to him. Obviously, Jess had opted for felony that night after all. Just not the one she had expected. Then again, she hadn't expected a lot that night.

"You live here," Jess reminded her.

"My mom lives here," she corrected, "I used to live here." Nonetheless, she found herself allowing him to help her through the window, which proved to be tough with only one good arm. Once she was through, Jess followed. He tumbled gracefully onto the floor, and then stood up running a hand through his hair.

"Was that so hard?" he asked.

"This still isn't right," Rory wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that she was glad to be in the warmth of her old home, the home of her mother.

"Come on, we'll watch a movie or something while we wait," Jess suggested, leading her out of the room.

"Where could they have gone?" she followed close behind him, her hand reaching out and sliding into his.

"Don't know," he shrugged and then led her towards the couch before squatting down by Lorelai and Luke's cabinet with their DVD collection. "Preference?"

"Umm…Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!" she exclaimed, remembering her mother's plan to watch The Godfather after everyone left dinner. She racked her brain to figure out where her mother could've gone with everyone at this hour.

"No."

"You asked, I answered!" Rory argued, "Plus I'm the one who just got home from the hospital, and the one who's pregnant. So, put the movie on Jess!"

"No."

"Fine," crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back into the couch Rory pouted. Watching her, Jess shook his head attempting to not give into her puppy dog eyes. She knew he was trying his hardest not to end up a sucker like Luke usually did.

"Good," he nodded. Then, giving her one last glance, he heaved a sigh and took out the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory DVD, sliding it into the player. Grinning triumphantly Rory blew him a kiss.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed. Settling back into the couch as she waited for the movie to start, finding a comfortable spot on the couch, she watched Jess carefully. Once he had slid the DVD into the player, he came back and sat next to her again, putting his arm around her shoulder. Rory leaned into him, appreciating the warmth his body supplied her.

The movie started and as soon as song broke out, she heard Jess groan. She smiled to herself and snuggled a little closer to him, amazed at how easy it was to just slip back into a relationship with him. It was almost as if nothing had changed between them since they were eighteen and last together even though so much really had.

Twenty minutes into the film, the front door opened and Lorelai, Luke, with Lucas in arms, Lane, Dave, Paris, Jamie, Liza and Tristan all filed into the house. Rory sat up and turned to look at them, Jess following her action. "Mom!" Liza, catching sight of her mother ran over and jumped on the couch between Rory and Jess. Sliding over, Jess gave his daughter a little more room on the couch.

"Where'd you go?" Rory asked her mother, as she came around and sat in chair across from the couch, glancing to see where they were in the movie.

"To walk Sookie home, and then get Liza some ice cream," Lorelai mentioned, smoothing her hand over her stomach.

"To get Liza or you?" Rory chuckled.

"Both," Lorelai admitted, and then raised a brow, "Where were you two and how did you get into the house?"

"You don't want to know," Luke interrupted gruffly, and Jess chuckled. It pleased everyone to know that some things would never change. The couple exchanged a look then, wondering how to respond to the first part of Lorelai's question.

"What's that?" Lorelai shouted, reaching for Rory's broken left arm.

"A cast," Jess put in, knowing that Lorelai had obviously seen the ring on Rory's finger that had not been there earlier.

"Not that!" she glared at Jess, obviously not appreciating his humor at a time like this, and then pointed to the ring, "That!"

"Oh," Rory looked at Jess, then Tristan a moment before looking back at her mother, "Jess and I are getting married."

An eruption of activity occurred just then. Lorelai gasped loudly, obviously more surprised than anyone would've thought, Lane squealed delightedly and rushed over to Rory, talking a mile a minute. Luke gave his curt congratulations, and the rest of the men followed en suite. Caught in the middle of everything, Jess and Rory snuck one more look at each other before Lane managed to drag her off into the kitchen.

"When did this happen?" the bubbly Korean inquired, "You finally decided?"

"It happened when I left to go find Jess after talking to Tristan," Rory replied, "And yeah, I decided."

"I knew you would choose Jess," Lane said, happily, "Did he propose at the bridge?"

It only occurred to Rory then, that this major milestone in her and Jess' relationship hadn't happened at the bridge as she had always imagined it would. In fact, she was surprised that it hadn't considering all of the other events that had taken place on the bridge. She hadn't even thought to look for Jess at the bridge first, she had headed straight to the streets, walking aimlessly around town looking for him. Then again, their friendship and attraction for each other hadn't started at the bridge.

"No, at the gas station," Rory chuckled, it wasn't the most romantic place to propose.

"Oh," Lane scrunched up her nose, "I never would've thought…"

"You're getting married!" her mother spoke up again, she was nearly in tears and looked ridiculous with her hair all askew from her hat, and her large belly protruding out.

"I'm getting married," Rory nodded. Then, the two Gilmore women embraced. It was finally settling in then for Rory. This wasn't just embarking on an adolescent relationship with Jess for the second time. It was going to be a permanent thing now. She was engaged.

"You can't get married, you're my baby!" Lorelai blubbered.

"Mom, you're going to have two more babies on top of Lucas to worry about," Rory pointed out, "And my being married won't change anything."

"That's one more wedding I've got to prepare," Lorelai pulled away from her daughter, wiping away her tears, "Lane and Dave's and now yours and Jess'." Turning to Paris, obviously having moved on to her next though, "You and Jamie better hold off until after all the babies are born and the couples wed. Got it?"

"No problem Lorelai," Paris managed a small smile, "What about Tristan?"

"We're friends," Rory replied, "He proposed, but I turned him down. We're going to raise Haley together, but I don't love him as anything more than a friend and the father of my second daughter."

"I thought you two would be together," Paris admitted, "Just because of what he was able to do for you when Jess was still with Kate. He made you happy."

"Jess does too," Rory replied, "And you know how much I love him. How much I'll always love him."

"We know," her mother and two best friends nodded. Rory looked around at the three of them, and then they all moved in for a group hug. More tears were shed in between the pregnant Gilmore women, and Lane and Paris were obviously trying hard not to cry themselves. They were growing up.

(In the Living Room)

The men sat stiffly in the room, except Jamie and Dave who stood silently behind the couches. Luke on the opposite side of the couch from Jess and Tristan in the chair off to the side, there was a silence between them. Lucas sat on the floor, playing with some cars and looking up at the adults, and Liza, who sat in between her father and Luke, with her legs swinging looked between the three men trying to decide for herself what was going on.

"This is permanent, right?" Luke asked his nephew, afraid that he might once again leave Stars Hollow and break Rory's heart.

"Yeah," Jess nodded.

"You're not leaving?" he pressed.

"Not a chance," and with that his reformed hooligan nephew shook his head.

"Good," Luke glanced at Jess, then at Liza. He was satisfied that Jess was going to be here and be a part of his family. Play the role that his father never could've. It made Luke proud.

"You better be good to her," Tristan warned from his corner of the room. Jess and Luke looked over, they had been waiting for 'the other man' to speak up. Jess just nodded silently. "She's the most amazing girl in the world, and you're lucky enough to have gotten her."

"I know," Jess looked over, and caught Tristan's eye. The two came to terms with what had happened between them, and Rory. They came to an understanding, and they were both satisfied knowing that the other was going to be there looking out for her too. Sure, Tristan was upset, but he had his friendship with Rory and that was going to be enough for him.

They would have their daughter, and he expected to be there every step of the way. It didn't matter to him what everyone else would say about their family, he was going to be a father to Haley and love her with all of his heart. He also knew that Jess would too, and that when Tristan couldn't be there for her if she fell down she would have Jess. There was no fear of the other man taking over his role as father because they both knew that Jess would never allow it. Haley would have two fathers, but she would always know her 'real' dad.

When the women came back, they brought the liveliness back as well. Lorelai and Lane chattered about, Dave and Jamie stepped up to their respective girlfriends from where they had been standing. They brightened up knowing that the tension would be lifted, and that Luke, Tristan and Jess had found peace in the little words they had shared with one another.

"We have to call people and tell them!" Lorelai announced, "I mean, Rory Gilmore is engaged! The world has to know! And my parents! They're not going to be thrilled considering they're not very fond of Jess, but who cares!"

"Why don't we just have a blimp fly around the country announcing it!" Jess muttered sarcastically. The remark didn't go unnoticed by Lorelai.

"No!" Luke immediately jumped in, "Don't even think about it Lorelai!"

"But it's such a good idea!" she pouted slightly, giving her best puppy dog eyes to Luke, who had become the master of turning them down when her ideas were too preposterous.

"I have to agree with Luke mom," Rory mentioned, "I don't need my personal life announced on a blimp!"

"Fine, we could always just wait to tell everyone until they get the wedding invitations," Lorelai offered, "Especially Emily and Richard Gilmore because then they won't be able to stop the wedding!"

"Won't they notice the ring Rory just happens to be wearing?" Lane put in, "After all, they're going to be checking her arm!"

"She can take it off Friday dinners!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"I'm not going to take the ring off!" Rory shook her head.

"Fine," Lorelai sighed, "We'll just have to wait until they've drank enough and then slip it into the conversation casually. Like, I've named the babies and oh yeah, Rory's engaged to Jess the hooligan who got her knocked up at eighteen!"

"Real subtle," Luke mumbled.

"How about I just call them and tell them later?" Rory put in.

"Alright, but wait until tomorrow," her mother advised. By that time, Liza had gotten up off the couch and was tugging on Rory's shirt.

"Mommy?" she whined, trying to get her mother's attention as quickly as possible, "Mom!"

"Yes?" Rory asked, looking down at her daughter.

"Are you and daddy getting married?" she asked. Her big blue eyes were filled with that curiosity Rory knew all too well. She stooped down to her level and nodded.

"Yeah sweetie, we are," leaning in, Rory placed a small kiss on her daughter's forehead, "After the baby is born."

"Cool!" she grinned widely, "Does that mean I get to be the flower girl at both you wedding and Lane and Dave's?"

"Sure," Rory nodded, "If that's what you want, but now you go to bed and sleep. It's late!" Liza beamed at her mother and gave her a big hug, then made her rounds with the others present in the room before scurrying off to bed.

When she was gone, Luke scooped up Lucas and carried him off to bed as well, leaving everyone else standing in silence. Tristan was glancing at his watch, Lane and Dave had moved over to the couch, and Paris and Jamie were zipping their coats back up.

"We're going to go back to the Inn," Jamie told the others, "We've got to spend the day with Paris' father tomorrow, so we've got to be up early. You know how Paris gets if we're just a little late." That comment merited him a small smack from Paris.

"I got to go too," Tristan stood up, "Driving back to Boston for work tomorrow." He smiled at Rory and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "I'll call you when I get home, so you know I got back all right."

"Thanks," Rory smiled, "Drive safe."

When they had left, Rory went over and sat beside Jess, taking his hand in hers. The arm with the cast rested on her lap, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Lane and Dave were next to them, Dave's arm wrapped around Lane and she was leaning into him. Lorelai had moved into the chair Tristan had occupied earlier, and they all looked at each other in comfortable silence.

"Rory?" Lane's voice was quiet, a near whisper.

"Yeah?" Rory turned her head slightly to look at the other girl; Jess, Lorelai and Dave also turned their attention to what was being said.

"We're getting married!" she exclaimed, a bright smile plastered on her face.

"I know," Rory couldn't help but smile as well. Sitting here in the room at this very time, Rory knew that this was a day she would always remember. Not only because this was the day she had gotten engaged, but also because for the first time in years everything felt as if it were right. This was how it was supposed to be.