Lorelai was panicky when she saw Jess carrying Rory up the driveway. She sat her glass on the porch banister, and ran, which was something Lorelai didn't often do, to meet them. "What happened? What's wrong? Is she okay?"

Rory grinned at her mother. "She lost her sandals in the creek." She turned to kiss Jess's cheek. "So Jess was a gentleman and carried me home so I didn't have to walk on gravel."

Lorelai laughed, embarrassing Jess to no end. "Jess, when you get Rory inside, I want my turn to be carried like a princess."

Jess shook his head. "You've got a husband. Get him to cart you around."

He should have known better. Lorelai spotted said husband on the porch and took a running leap at him. He caught her, but was so surprised at the sight of a flying Lorelai that they both fell, though he did break her fall, which was something. Rory giggled as Jess sat her down, and looked at the pile comprised of her mother and step father.

"Well," Rory said primly, knowing that her words would just turn her mother into a whiny three year old. "I guess we know who they like better. I've never been dropped."

Jess rolled his eyes, heaved Lorelai to her feet, then held down a hand for Luke. "Go put some shoes on."

Lorelai looked at Jess and grinned wickedly. "Rory, did you forget that the Stars Hollow Summer Carnival starts bright and early tomorrow morning?"

Rory's whole face lit up. "Ooh. I had forgotten." She grabbed Jess's hand and dragged him inside with her. "So we'll get up at six, and go get coffee, and then we'll be there by eight, and spend all day. They're supposed to have rides this year, and twice as many games, and much, much more food."

Jess smirked. "They'll need it since you and your mom are both here this year."

Rory took that in stride and nodded as she slipped on another pair of flip flops. "Yup. Given the chance, we probably could have eaten them out last year, but we limited ourselves to one day." She tugged on his hand, and pulled his arms around her. "You'll go with me, won't you?"

Jess looked down at her with raised eyebrows. "When have I ever willingly gone to the Stars Hollow Carnival, no matter what season it was?"

Rory grinned. "The last time you went with me."

"No. That wasn't me going willingly, that was you bribing me into going and me wanting to razz Dean about us being together. It worked beautifully, by the way."

Rory slid her arms around his neck. "So how did I bribe you into going?"

He took a half step closer to her. "Well, I believe it went something like this."

The second his mouth closed over hers, all activity in the house ceased. No one moved for several seconds until Rory slowly pulled back from him, her face blood red. Jess glanced around and saw that they were being stared at, then blushed himself. It was several more heart stopping seconds before Lorelai let out a cheer and tackled her daughter. Everyone else in the house followed her lead and started clapping.

Jess leaned against the door frame next to Luke. "Why do I feel as if I'm in a movie?"

Luke lifted his shoulders in a patented shrug. "They want her happy. And they all see that you've grown up." He fixed his nephew with an intense stare. "She's pregnant, Jess. You know that. But I don't think you realize what getting involved with a pregnant woman entails. It isn't about the two of you. There's another, much smaller and more helpless person to consider. And she will put her baby first."

Jess nodded. "I think I can handle cravings and putting together a crib."

Luke actually laughed. "If only it were that and nothing else. Try the morning sickness that lasts until noon everyday with her. The backaches, and the ultrasound pictures, and mood swings, and being three times as emotional. And the cravings of a Gilmore, Jess. There wasn't one day that Lorelai was pregnant that I didn't have to go to the grocery store for something."

Jess sighed. "I love her. And I know that jumping in where we left off, and not taking time to go slow and do everything over probably isn't what people would like us to do. But I don't feel like I ever left, Luke. I look at her, and all I can think about is how lucky I am that someone like her, who's in a situation like hers, can find it in her to take a chance with me."

Luke saw Lorelai finally release Rory and nodded. "That's good enough for me. I know you love her. You have for a long time. But Jess, you have to know that she's going to give birth to another man's child in a few months. Despite the fact that he raped her, and is not going to ever be in the picture, the baby belongs to Logan. You have to think about the role you're willing to take there."

Jess nodded. "I'll take whatever role she wants me to have. But we've got a while to deal with that. Right now, I just want to make her stop crying herself to sleep."

"Lorelai told you about that, huh?"

"Yeah. I want to kill him, Luke. The bastard that did this to her. I want to hurt him more than I've ever wanted to hurt anyone else in my entire life, I think."

"Yeah, well, get in line on that one. You aren't the only one who thinks Logan deserves to be killed. You weren't here when it happened. I saw her come home that night with a bloody face and bruises from head to toe. I was the one who drove her to the hospital. She had me and Lorelai both in the room, and I had to hold her hand while they collected samples, and gave her the emergency contraceptive pill. I had to listen to her cry, and see Lorelai cry with her. Honestly, Jess, Logan is lucky he was on a plane by the time she was released that night, or I would have taken him apart with nothing but my hands."

Jess had never seen his uncle like that. He'd always known that Luke looked at Lorelai and Rory like family, but he'd always thought they were more like cousins, or a favorite niece. He was beginning to realize that Luke thought of Rory as his daughter. "So it was bad?"

"It was worse than bad. Lorelai doesn't like to talk about it at all. She doesn't like to think about it, or remember it." He sighed, looked around to make sure no one was listening. "She got here at about four in the morning. Had driven straight from Hartford. Logan had apparently found out that he wasn't going to have enough credits to graduate this year, even though he was supposed to graduate a year before Rory. He went out with a bunch of his friends, and they got really drunk.

"I guess Logan had a habit of doing stuff like that. He liked to party, and occasionally, he would get smashed. He went to Rory's room, just like he always did apparently, and she tried to sober him up. You know, pour coffee down him, herd him into the shower, try and keep him from tossing his cookies on her carpet. That sort of thing. And he decided that he wanted more.

"Neither of us are children, Jess, and while I still cringe to think about it, we both know that they had been together before. But Rory refused to sleep with him while he was drunk. From what she said, normally he's funny when he's like that. But with not graduating, and being angry, he took it out on her. He knocked her down in the bathroom and she blacked her eye on the corner of the sink. He kicked her a couple times, busted some ribs, nothing broken, but they were bruised badly. He yanked her up by her hair and dragged her into the bedroom. She fought back, Jess.

"She hit him, broke his nose from what I hear, and he busted her mouth, made her crack her head open on the dresser. She got a bloody nose, but not a broken one when he threw her onto the bed and she hit the wall. After that, well, you don't need to gory details, but the bruising was so bad that Lorelai bawled about it for an hour in the hospital. She had to get stitches and counseling, and stay in the hospital for a concussion. And she still wouldn't let us file charges."

Jess looked over towards Rory, who was standing with Lorelai, watching a pot of coffee brew. Their arms were around each other, and Rory was leaning her head on her mother's shoulder. "She looks like she's doing so well."

"She is." Luke said simply. "She really is doing well for what she went through. She doesn't flinch when someone tries to touch her, she isn't depressed all the time, she doesn't hide out or try to deny what happened to her. The only difference between her and a normal woman is the nightmares. She's been staying here since it happened, and it's rare that a night passes without her screaming and waking us up."

"You don't just leave her there by herself do you?"

"No. Lorelai and I go down, Lor comforts her while I perk coffee. They each have a cup, and then we all go back to bed. It's a twenty minute routine, just about every night. Honestly, Jess, Lorelai and I pretty much wake up a minute before she screams so we're halfway there by the time she needs us. I don't know what she's going to do when she moves out next week."

Jess shrugged. "I live in New York, too, Luke."

Luke nodded, started toward the kitchen to help Sookie with dinner. "Good answer. Now, go drag her and Lorelai away from that coffee. Caffeine isn't good for the baby."

Rory heard that last part and looked up. "She's a caffeine addict just like I am."

Lorelai nodded stubbornly. "I drank it every day all three times I was pregnant, and nothing ever happened to my kids."

Luke lifted one eyebrow at his wife. "You've only been pregnant twice. The boys were twins."

"I know. I was kinda there, remember? Fine, I have three kids. I drank coffee while pregnant with all three kids. All three kids are addicted to coffee, but that's the only thing that happened to them."

Luke smiled. "No, Lorelai, you thought you were drinking coffee while you were pregnant with the boys. I switched everyone in Stars Hollow to decaf those nine months. And no one ever knew it."

Lorelai paled considerably and grabbed the coffee can from the cabinet. It didn't say decaffinated. She sighed in relief. Luke took a page out of Jess's book and smirked. Her eyes widened. "You didn't."

He nodded. "Oh, I did. You're still drinking decaffinated."

Luke ducked when Lorelai threw the coffee can at him, and didn't manage to evade when she sucker punched him. "You jackass! How dare you!"

Luke wasn't oblivious to her anger, but he was practically rolling from laughter. "Lorelai, you never even noticed!"

Rory was looking upset as well. "You mean I haven't had caffeine since Mom got pregnant over two years ago!"

Jess saw violence in her eyes, and snagged her hand. "We're going to go down to Taylor's and buy some real coffee right now. Lorelai, hold on for five minutes."

Lorelai was sitting at the table in tears. She nodded. "I'll try, but hurry. I'm near death."

Jess was laughing as he dragged Rory out the door. It was nice to know some things never changed.