A/N: I'm updating! Finally! I kind of liked chapter seven, though, so I hope this one lives up to the standards. Anyway, this is a nice Lit-filled chapter. (Grin)
"What do you bring to a sleepover party?" Rachel asked before taking a bite of pizza.
"Well," Rory said, putting her slice of pizza on the plate, "you usually take a sleeping bag."
Rachel nodded. "I have one of those. What else?"
"Clothes to change into and of course some cute pajamas."
She nodded. "I already picked them out. I'll show them to you when we get home."
"Okay," Rory said with a smile, taking a bite of her pizza. Then she looked over at Jess' meatball roll and looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "Is that good?"
"Yes, it is," he replied.
"It looks good," she said, looking at it again then back up at him. "I bet is tastes really good."
"Like a slice of heaven," he said, smirking at her.
She gave him her best Rory face and he sighed, holding it out for her to take a bite.
She grinned. "Thank you." Then she leaned in to take a bite, but he pulled his hand back right as she went to take a bite. She shot him a look and he just smirked. She tried again and he pulled it away again. She finally held his wrist so he didn't move his hand and she got a bite. "Brat," she said.
"Food thief," he replied with a smirk. "I would have bought you your own, you know."
"Yes, but it's so much more fun to eat yours," she replied.
"What do you do at a sleepover party?" Rachel asked.
Rory turned her attention back to Rachel. "Well... when I went to sleepover parties we would play games and eat pizza and dance. My mom had a slumber party for me when I was in first grade and we had an ice cream eating contest." Rory shook her head. "That turned out not to be such a good idea. But the games were great," she said. "Of course Mom didn't exactly do games that you guys would play," she said with a slight frown. "But Truth or Dare is a classic."
"What kind of games did your mom play?"
Rory smiled. "Just... games like Pin the Tail on the donkey... although she modernized it. We just played lots of games. Did your friend tell you what kind of games she would be having?"
Rachel shook her head. "No, not really. She said we were going to watch the move Sleepover, though. There's a kiss in it," she said with a smile.
"Don't be taking notes," Jess said, slanting a look at her.
"Well, Kenny does want to be my boyfriend, Dad. I should know how these things are done."
"I assume he also wants to live to see puberty; ask him which one he wants more."
Rachel scowled at her father. "You are such a dad."
"I blame you," he replied, taking a bite of pizza.
Rachel turned her attention back to Rory. "When was your first kiss?"
"It came with the first boyfriend," Rory replied.
"When you were 16?"
"Yes."
Rachel frowned slightly. "Hm. I guess I won't kiss anyone until I'm 16 then."
Rory smiled. "A very good age for a first kiss. But don't kiss anyone until you meet someone worth kissing, otherwise it isn't so much fun."
"Was your first kiss fun?"
Rory's eyes widened. "Um... it was just a kiss, really." She glanced down at her pizza and took a bite.
"How about you, Dad? When was your first kiss?"
"I don't remember."
"Were you 16?"
"I doubt it," he replied.
"Well, was it fun?"
He sighed. "Hey, she's your role model, quiz her."
Rachel gave her father a look and turned her attention back to Rory. "Did you ever kiss my dad?"
Rory's face reddened and she stared quite intently at her pizza.
"Rachel," Jess said in his warning tone.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"You ask too many personal questions, it isn't poilte."
"It gives me a rash."
His eyes widened. "What?"
She smiled. "When that pretty redhead made that remark to you about you not being polite you told her it gave you a rash to be polite."
Jess hid his smile behind the pizza and managed to say, "Well, that's because I have bad manners. And because I didn't know you were listening," he muttered. "Be polite like Rory."
Rory nodded. "Okay." She looked at Rory. "But did you ever kiss my dad?"
Jess sighed and Rory looked up from her pizza. "Well... um... we never dated or anything."
"So you didn't kiss?"
Jess pulled some money out of his pocket and handed it to Rachel. "Go get a Snapple."
She gasped and took the money, jumping out of her seat with a grin and running over to the line.
"Nicely done," Rory said.
He nodded. "I learned it's a great bargaining tool to deprive her of something she wants because you can always give it to her later and get out of just such a situation."
"I wasn't sure what you wanted me to say..."
"Well, we did kiss," he said, glancing over at her.
She blushed again, not looking at him. "Well, I know, but... I thought maybe it wasn't the best idea because then she would bring up the fact that we never dated and..." She shrugged slightly. "I just think it would be nicer to only tell her about my good role model moments."
"You've always been a good role model."
"I kissed you when I had a boyfriend. Probably not the best thing to teach your child. I much prefer her thinking the boyfriend and the kissing go together."
"Such a good role model," she said in a mocking tone.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
He smirked and shook his head. "Juvenile, but still a good role model."
Rachel flopped down in her seat, handing over the Snapple for Jess to open. He opened it and passed it back to her.
"Thank you," Rachel said.
"You're welcome," he replied, taking a slice of garlic bread.
"Can we stop at the store on the way home and get pudding?" Rachel asked.
"Sure," Jess said.
She looked over at Rory. "Are you going to come home with us?"
"Do I get pudding?" Rory asked with a smile.
"Of course," Rachel said with a nod. "And vanilla wafers."
"I wouldn't pass up pudding and vanilla wafers."
Rachel smiled. "Dad makes really good pudding."
Jess shook his head, taking a drink of his pop. "I make really good fly soup, too, you should try it sometime," he told Rory.
"Behave," she said with a smile. "It's cute."
"It's cute when I behave?"
"I wouldn't know," she replied. "You never behave long enough to let me observe."
"Well, what fun would I be if I did that?"
She leaned in and took another bite of his meatball roll and smiled, not replying as she turned her attention back to Rachel. "So, we have to make sure you have a toothbrush, pajamas, extra pajamas-"
"Extra pajamas?"
Rory nodded. "You never know."
Rachel nodded. "Okay. Will you help me pick out my extra pajamas?"
"Of course I will," Rory replied.
"You should stay with Dad and keep him company while I'm gone. He'll get lonely," Rachel said.
"Yes," Jess said, leaning in suggestively and raising his eyebrows. "I'll get lonely."
"I don't know what he did before he had me," Rachel said, shaking her head.
"I staggered around waiting for you," Jess replied.
Rachel nodded. "You probably did. Sorry I didn't get here sooner." Then without missing a beat she said, "When did you and Rory know each other?"
"When we were younger," he replied.
"How old?"
"Uh, 17?"
"Yep," Rory verified.
Rachel nodded. "You could have had me then."
"Yes, but then your mother would be blonde, and who knows what you would look like?"
Rachel frowned. "No, silly, you could have had me with Rory."
Rory smiled. "My mother would have loved that."
Jess nodded. "I wouldn't be here right now, kid, and your Aunt Lorelai would be behind bars."
Rachel scowled at them both and took a drink of her Snapple.
--oo00oo--
Saturday evening Rachel insisted that Rory had to come over and help her pack so she didn't forget anything, and then of course she had to come with Jess to drop her off. Her bag was, of course, already packed since she was so excited, so it wasn't long before they were ready to leave. When they got to her friend's apartment building Rachel pulled Rory off to the side and said, "Could you talk to my dad about the little brother thing? I'd really like one. Or even a little sister. I'll take either one."
Rory smiled. "I'll see what I can do."
Rachel smiled and impulsively kissed Rory on the cheek, then she hugged Jess and ran up the steps. Once she was safely inside Rory and Jess started walking down the sidewalk.
"So... Rachel's spending the night at Lynne's."
"Yep," Jess said.
"You have the night all to yourself," she continued.
"I don't remember what to do with a night all to myself."
Rory smiled. "Of course not, you're Daddy-fied now."
"I'm Daddy-fied? Is that what they taught you at Yale?" he asked with a smirk.
"Yes, it is," she said with a nod. Then she said, "You know, you guys never come to my apartment," she said.
"We've been to your apartment," he said.
"Yeah, but not much. Sometime you guys should come over to my place and I can order take-out. You always have to feed and entertain me, I don't think it would hurt to share the job. Besides, I have a pretty big apartment for New York, nice and... roomy."
"Roomy," he repeated with a nod, glancing at her.
She nodded, frowning slightly. "Yeah. It's very roomy. In fact, too roomy," she said.
"Too roomy," he repeated.
"Yes, too roomy. My books have their own room, that's how roomy it is." She silently asked herself if she was done babbling like an idiot.
"Rory," he said, slightly amused.
"What?" she asked, scowling.
"What's wrong?" he asked, smiling in amusement.
"Nothing's wrong." She looked down the street, feeling agitated. "Why aren't you dating anyone?" she asked.
He raised his eyebrows, clearly not expecting that. "What?"
"You heard me. Why aren't you dating anyone?"
"Didn't we already cover this?"
She sighed, annoyed with herself. "Yeah. Never mind." She glanced up at the crosswalk signal and walked across the street, Jess following.
"What are you doing tonight?" Jess asked.
"Going back to my apartment, I suppose."
"Your roomy apartment?"
"My roomy apartment," she verified. "I take it you're going to work?"
He sighed. "Yeah."
She smiled slightly. "Clearly you're excited," she said.
"Oh, yeah, I'm doing cartwheels."
"If you don't like the job why don't you quit? You'd have more time at home anyway."
"Rent," he said simply. "It makes it easier to afford living here."
"Do you have to work two jobs?"
"Well, we could get by with me only working one job, but it would be pretty tight. I want to be able to give Rachel the things Liz couldn't afford to give me."
She nodded. "You just have to give up a lot of nights."
He nodded. "Yeah, well... the rent in this city's ridiculous, and I want to put aside some money for Rachel. She might want to go to college or something."
She swallowed, telling herself to act like a normal person. "You could get a roommate, take some pressure off with the rent," she said.
"I can't get a roommate," he said. "For one thing there's no room. I don't even have a bedroom, so where would I put a roommate? And... you don't know who you can trust. I could get some psycho roommate or something."
She glanced down at her shoes and then casually up ahead of her. "I'm not a psycho."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
She shrugged with a forced casual air. "I... I have two bedrooms. My books don't actually need their own bedroom, although they probably are spoiled at this point. But my bed has drawers underneath it, and I could actually put them in there and take out the pictures and stuff in the bookcase in the living area, and... it really wouldn't be much trouble to move things around..." Her heart was in her stomach and she had half a mind just to... to... well, she couldn't take it back, but she didn't want him to feel weird. "I mean, it- it's just an idea. Probably not even a good idea," she went on. "Probably a bad idea. You probably wouldn't like it, and... you wouldn't want to. Not that it's a big deal or anything, because it isn't. I just thought with my place being so roomy and your place not being so roomy, and... and the rent is good, my rent's perfect, and I mean, I've been doing it alone and I'm absolutely fine, so the rent isn't a problem, just whatever you can afford, or nothing even, because I make pretty good money and my apartment isn't that expensive. And it's a really good location, too. But like I said, it's just an idea. Don't feel pressured or anything, because you're not, and if you don't want to I completely understand. You probably don't want to uproot Rachel anyway and... just... I was- I don't know." She shook her head, glancing down. "I just thought then you wouldn't have to work a job you hate and you coucld save money for Rachel and... I don't know."
"Rory?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you take a breath at all?"
She sighed, smiling and pushing her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, just... ignore me."
"Are you retracting your offer?"
"No," she said too quickly. Then she blushed a little. "I mean... I just don't want you to think that if you don't want to do it things will be weird. They won't be," she told him. "It's completely okay if you're comfortable where you are. I just... I just thought I'd offer. I mean, we've been getting along and..."
"Rory?"
"Yeah?" she said, looking over at him and stopping as she realized he had stopped.
He smiled slightly and stepped forward, tilting her head up to his with his thumb and he gave her a soft kiss.
She blushed a little, looking down then back up at him. "That was nice," she said.
"That was nice," he agreed.
"I think we should do it again," she told him.
"I like the way you think," he said, backing her up so they weren't in the middle of the sidewalk and kissing her, smiling into the kiss when her arms went around his neck. She trailed butterfly kisses along his jaw and down to his neck and she said quietly, "Do you really have to go to work tonight?"
"I... could probably call in," he said, leaning in and capturing her lips again, deepening the kiss this time.
"That would probably be a very good idea," she said in between kisses.
"And we should probably... get me to a phone," he said.
"And we should probably not do this in the middle of the sidewalk."
His arms dropped to circle her waist and he smiled slightly, kissing her on the nose. "You're probably right."
She grinned and kissed him on the nose right back. "My place is closer," she said.
"I like closer," he said.
"I'm a fan of it myself." She took his hand and started walking down the sidewalk, stifling the urge to stop just so she could kiss him again. Her apartment was close. Very close. Just a block or so away. "Come on, speed it up," she said, pulling his arm.
He chuckled. "Somebody's eager."
"Well, you're a good kisser, that's not my fault," she said.
"I take the blame entirely."
"And you need to call in so they can find someone else to cover for you," she added.
"Very responsible," he said with a nod.
"Of course. So come on."
He smiled and leaned in to nibble on her ear, causing her to stop. "I think you want me," he whispered teasingly.
She smiled and yanked on his arm. "Come on, Mariano, I don't have all day."
"As you wish," he said.
--oo00oo--
He was no more than hanging up the phone when Rory started pulling him down the hallway.
"Down girl," he said with a laugh.
"Do you want to get laid or not?"
"Very much so," he replied.
"Then get your butt in my bedroom right now."
"Ooh, feisty."
She shot him a mock glare and shoved him in her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Then she smiled. "Hi."
He raised an eyebrow. "Hi."
Then she wrapped her arms around him and started kissing him, wasting no time in pulling his shirt off and shoving him on the bed.
--oo00oo--
Jess held Rory in his arms, idly running his fingers through her hair as she traced shapes on his stomach and chest.
"That was wonderful," Rory stated, smiling up at him.
He smirked at her. "I agree."
"We have to do this more often, I think."
"I think you're right," he said. "So why didn't you tell me?" he asked without missing a beat.
She bit her lip and gave him innocent eyes. "Tell you what?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Tell me what," he repeated slowly. "Hm. I wonder."
She sighed, looking back down at his chest. "Was I that bad?"
He tilted her face up to his. "Never utter those blasphemous words again," he said. "I just would have rathered you tell me before."
"It was... weird," she said, frowning.
"Weird?"
"You think it's weird," she pointed out.
"I don't think it's weird, Rory, I'm just surprised. Really surprised," he admitted.
"You think it's weird. Why wouldn't you think it's weird? It is weird. My own mother thinks I'm weird."
"I think we've filled the quota for how many times to use the word weird in one day."
She sighed. "I would have told you, but... well, it didn't come up. We didn't exactly discuss this before it happened."
"No, but I think somewhere between ripping my shirt off and toppling into the bed you could have said, 'By the way, Jess, I'm a virgin.'"
"I'm 27, I didn't figure you'd notice."
"How could I not notice?"
She scowled. "Rude."
He sighed. "I didn't mean that. I mean... did you forget the physical aspects of virginity? I'm pretty sure the initial pain doesn't really go away when you hit a certain age."
"It wasn't that bad," she muttered.
"I have nail marks on my shoulders that say otherwise. I could have prepared you better, Rory, it didn't have to be that... fast."
"Jess, did I seem patient to you? If you would have tried to slow the pace anyore I very well may have tied you to the bed and had my way with you."
He smirked. "Promise?"
She smiled and smacked him lightly in the stomach. "Stop it."
"I'm serious, I want a rain check."
"Then you're going to have to get Rachel to go to more sleepovers."
He kissed her. "I could send her to your mother for a week," he said thoughtfully.
She chuckled. "You are not sending her to another state."
He sighed. "Are you sure? Just for a few days," he said, pulling her hand up and kissing each finger.
"You know, if you move in I might be willing to share a bed with you," she said.
"But I might try to take advantage of you," he said.
"Promise?" she said, imitating his smirk.
"Absolutely," he said. She smiled and rested her head on his chest, sighing contentedly. "Tell me something," he said.
"Hm?"
"Why have you never had sex before? Not that I'm complaining," he added. "I'm not. Now I get to be territorial and canine and act like a caveman because I claimed my territory."
She smiled. "A caveman, huh? Are you going to dress like Fred Flinstone and tote around a club?"
"I might," he said with a nod. "Now stop playing me and avoiding the question."
"I don't know," she said with a sigh. "The timing just... never seemed right. I mean, it's not like no one wanted to, it was just... I didn't really... feel that sort of attraction to most of the guys I dated. I only really felt the urge to sleep with someone with one person. And then for years after that I just... I couldn't make myself settle, I could not just sleep with someone to do it. And then that just led to even bigger complications, because once you get to a certain age people do not expect you to be a virgin, and guys start getting ridiculous, so you can't even go on a date without them expecting sex. And then it annoyed me. I mean, why do they think because they bought me dinner I should sleep with them? I can buy my own dinner. I don't need them to buy my dinner, I don't need them groping me. And when you start to think of it like that it sort of loses all of its appeal anyway, and... I mean, of course I was attracted to men, but... not like that again. Nothing in comparison. And then that was another problem. I kept comparing them, which wasn't fair, but I did. You're too tall, you're too blonde, you're too dumb, your eyes are too blue. I got absolutely ridiculous. I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with me."
"Well, why didn't you sleep with the first guy, the one you... wanted to sleep with?"
"Because... I was seeing someone else."
"Why didn't you break up with him and date the other guy?"
She hesitated. "I didn't want to ruin our friendship... Plus... you left."
His eyebrows shot up. "Me?"
She nodded. "I was even planning on breaking up with Dean, but then... your father, you went to stay with Jimmy. And then we never saw each other, and then you moved to New York and you... had Rachel..."
He opened his mouth to speak but then he shut it. "Huh," was all he came up with. Then he smirked a purely male smirk. "So you've never wanted anyone but me?"
She gave him a look. "Reign in the ego, Mariano. I didn't say that. I just said I never wanted anyone enough to actually sleep with him."
"Same difference," he said with a shrug.
"My first boyfriend in college tried to get me into bed quite fervently, I'll have you know."
"You were saving yourself for me, that's so cute," he said teasingly.
"I was not," she said. "I just didn't feel the same way. Plus, sometimes when he kissed me he slobbered all over me, and it was gross. Then my boyfriend after that had really bad breath all the time, and I gave him so many Altoids it wasn't even funny. Then there was the boyfriend that dated me as a cover because he didn't want to be openly gay, and obviously he never tried anything. Then, like I said, after that it got to the point where everyone expected sex, and I found that annoying. I told my mom, but she said it was normal." She shrugged. "Maybe it is, but it's still annoying. So I didn't date a lot after that. Well, I didn't get past the second date."
"We haven't been on a date yet," he pointed out.
She smiled. "Well, after 27 years of being a virgin I was in the mood to slut it up. I fully intend to make up for lost time, too. Do you have a problem with that?"
"Is that a serious question?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
Before she had a chance her phone started ringing. She groaned and yanked the covers up around her, then she leaned over Jess and grabbed her phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey, babe."
She sighed. "Hi, Mom."
Lorelai snorted. "You sound excited to talk to me."
"Sorry. What are you doing?"
"Oh, just calling you. I'm bored."
"Well... great. What do you want me to do about it?"
"Oh, I know! Sing."
"I'm not singing."
"Aw, come on. I gave you life, child."
"Yes, and unless you want to lose yours I suggest we leave my voice unheard. Do you not remember Sherry's baby shower? I can't sing. It's the one talent I was born without."
Jess wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and pulled her down, kissing her neck.
Without meaning to Rory giggled as she half-heartedly pushed him away.
"Why are we laughing?" Lorelai asked.
"Huh? Oh. Uh, Mom, could I maybe call you back... tomorrow?"
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing, but I need to go."
"Yes, you do," Jess agreed.
Lorelai gasped. "Was that a man?"
"No, a very masculine woman," Rory replied sarcastically.
"Do you have a boy over?"
"Mother, I am a grown woman, if I have a man over do you really want to hear about it?"
"Well, no. But I thought you had taken a vow to be a virgin for life or something."
Jess sighed and eyed the phone.
"Just a minute, Mr. Impatient Pants," Rory murmured. "Mom, I have to go before Jess eats the phone."
Lorelai gasped again. "Jess? Jess is the boy you have over?"
Rory grimaced. "Oops. Uh, yes, Jess is the boy I have over."
"Hello, Lorelai," Jess said.
Lorelai giggled. "You slept with Jess! I am so telling Luke."
"Okay, you do that. I have to go now," Rory said.
"Buh-bye."
Rory hung up the phone. "Well, Luke's about to hear about something he didn't want to know."
Jess smirked. "He would have found out eventually," he said, returning his attention to her neck.
"Wait," she said.
"We were making up for lost time, remember?"
"Yes, and we will continue doing that in a minute, but first we should talk."
He sighed, leaning back in the bed. "Talk away."
"What are we going to tell Rachel?"
He shrugged. "I think she'll get the picture."
Rory frowned. "But that isn't the right way to do it. We need to talk to her. Should we tell her we're together, or would that make things weird for her? Maybe we should keep it a secret."
"I don't see why we should. Rachel adores you, she would be happy that we're together. She's been trying to push us together practically since she met you."
"I know, but... it still might be a strange transition."
"Then we'll work it out. I don't want to keep us a secret, Rory."
"Well, it's not that I want to, either. I just want to make sure we think about how this will affect Rachel."
He nodded. "I promise to always consider Rachel's feelings." He shook his head. "Is she your daughter or mine, because I thought the single parent was supposed to be the one overly concerned?"
"Well, she does resemble me," Rory pointed out.
"Do not say that when I'm having impure thoughts about you," he said with a grimace.
Rory grinned. "Oh, I forgot, Rachel also wanted me to talk to you about this only child situation."
"What about it?" he asked with a sigh.
"She doesn't like it. She wants a sibling. Brother, sister, she doesn't care. She informed me that she would appreciate if I would ask if you ever planned on remedying that."
"I have a better idea. Instead of talking about it, we can practice. I may have forgotten how babies are made."
"Oh yes, that's a liklihood," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Absolutely," he agreed, kissing her neck and rolling her back onto her back for some more practice.
A/N: A great big huge thanks to all my lovely reviewers! (Tosses out Milo stickers) In fact, I'm going to thank you each individually this time because this chapter was a complete pain and it took way longer to get out than I planned. (Blush) In the interest of staying Pg-13, I also glossed over their love scene, giving only the before and after. (Sigh)
literatiever:) Thanks! I'm glad you love the story. I hate Rory for sleeping with Dean, too, and even Logan for that matter, because... why not? Add it to the list. But she didn't sleep with them in my story! Isn't that nice? If she would have slept with Dean... well, someone would have hacked into my account, because I could never bring myself to write that. My poor fingers would probably fall off. I hate Dean. Yucky. (Gags) And yeah, I like her maternal instincts, too. They tend to write themselves, though. (Grin) I adore DaddyJess. Thanks for the review!
jlangblues: Erika! Hi! (Waves) Yeah, the story came back. :) I missed Rachel, too, really. I don't know what I'll do when I finish the story. Thanks for reviewing! (By the way, so sorry if you e-mailed me and I didn't respond, but when I tried to sign into my account it had closed because I had apparently gone too long without checking it. (Blush) So... that would be why. (Blush again))
chels: (Grin) Thank you! I'm glad you love the story. I definitely love the Jess being a parent. I just think he would make a cool parent. Well, I mean, someday I'm sure he will, but... we need to be able to read about it. I definitely thought the Literati world needed a little bit of light hearted fluff. Sometimes angst is just too much. :) Thanks for reviewing!
kk: Aw, I'm glad you like it! Thanks you! And look, I updated! (Grin)
X-identaty: Good, I'm glad you like it! Sorry I didn't update sooner. (Blush) Thanks for reviewing!
whatever13245: (Blush) Wow, thank you. I'm really glad you like it! I actually did get a chance to go to New York (squeal) but I didn't get to stay very long. I have a better feel for it now though. I wish I lived an hour away. (Pines for New York) I'm really glad you liked the story, though! Oh, I heart Milo, too! (Grin) Thnk you so much for the lovely review!
Francesca Jones: Lol, I love Daddy!Jess! I'm glad you like the story! Thank you so much for reviewing!
lex: Aw, thanks! I'm glad you like it! Hoped you liked this chapter! Thanks for reviewing!
xbrokenxheartedx: Lol, it's sad when the f-word can be cute, but of course he could make it cute. (Hugs Milo) Glad you like the story! Sorry I didn't update sooner:(
bobabuildergrl: Aw, thank you so much! I tend to lean towards AU stories, too. Mostly because current stuff is so... not making my Literati heart happy. Lol, yes, it seems to be the consensus that Daddy Jess is just wonderful. (Sighs happily) I just love when he's a father. It would be a crime for that man not to reproduce. :) Thanks for the great review!
smile1: Aw, thank you! I'm really glad you liked the chapter! Thanks for being such a faithful reviewer! (Grins and gives you a cookie)
petitos grasshoppertje: I'm sorry I took so long:( Thanks for reviewing:)
Mariah: Aww! (Hugs you) Thank you so much! That was such a sweet review! I'm glad you liked it! And of course you can have an animal-like Milo toy! (Hands you a cute little Milo toy) Take a sticker, too. :D Again, thank you so much for reviewing, and I'm really glad you liked the story!
gilmoreaddict: Lol, I like the way you think! Up there's more! Hope you enjoyed!
Lise88: Thank you! I'm really glad you like it. I try to keep the characters in line while allowing for growth... I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing!
Dione Robertson: In chapter seven Jess remarked that Rory and Rachel were blue eyes, brown haired females("It must be you blue eyed, brown haired females."). I didn't give an official description though, did I? (Blush) Sorry about that. And I addressed the money issue in this chapter. He could make it, but it would be tight, and he wants to save some money in case Rachel wants to go to college. And of course his rent's pretty high, living in Manhattan and everything. :) Thanks for reviewing!
Whew, I think that's everyone! If not, throw stones at me and demand a second Milo toy:) Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. :)