"All right," Jess' physical therapist, a nice middle aged man named Anthony, said as he locked Jess' braces into place. "Let's give this a try. Hold onto the rails and push yourself up. Don't worry about falling, this is like air." He pointed to the padding on the floor.

It had been about a since the surgery successfully repaired the damage to Jess' back. He with time would be able to walk again albeit with some difficulty. His doctors said it was likely he'd never be out of the wheelchair all together, but with proper therapy he would be able to stand and walk short distances with the aid of crutches and in time a cane.

Jess pulled on the leather workout gloves Rory had brought him and held onto the rails. "Why do I have a feeling this will be hard?"

"Not as hard as you think. The braces will lock your ankles. Lock your elbows and stand up," Tony encouraged.

Jess locked his elbows and concentrated on standing up. He felt the blood rush through his legs and the pins and needles feeling he was accustomed to go stronger.

"Damn it, this hurts," Jess grumbled. "When do I take a step?"

"Right now," Tony replied. "Focus and put your right foot forward, then bring your left one up next to it."

Jess put all of his concentration into that movement that one step. Completing that step was the starting point in the next part of his life. He could see it now, he was standing in the lobby of the inn under the chuppah waiting for Rory as she walked down the aisle on her grandfather's arm. He could see himself holding her close as they swayed to their song when the finally picked one. He could envision so many things that he couldn't see before.

"Jess," Tony' voice broke into his thoughts. "Come on this, is the first step of the rest of your life. Take a breath and follow through."

Jess looked down at his thin legs encases to the knees in metal. Pressing down with his arms for balance he focused and moved his right foot forward barely lifting it off of the mat. With equal effort he brought his left foot up next to it. With a proud smile on his face, he looked at his therapy.

"Good Jess!" he encouraged. "Now do it again, keep doing it until you get the end of the bars. Take it slow."

While Jess worked in therapy, Rory and Lorelai shopped for Lorelai's wedding dress. Rory tried Emily's dress on and decided that with some alterations, the dress would be perfect for her to get married in.

"So," Lorelai said as they exited a third wedding dress store. "Did you and Jess pick a song?"

"Nope, we're still in heavy debate. He's still clinging to that Johnny Cash song and I'm still pulling for Liz Phair. Lane suggested on by Howie Day, but Jess has been in the hospital so we haven't listened to it yet," Rory told her.

"Do you think you're being a little unrealistic choosing a first dance song?' Lorelai ventured.

"No," Rory replied. "The surgery worked, Jess has more feeling in his legs. We need to keep positive."

"I just don't want either of you to be disappointed," Lorelai sighed and put her arm around Rory. "Or Luke. He's so hopeful about this. Very un-Luke like."

"It's not really like Jess either," Rory sighed. "But its all he has isn't it?"

"I suppose so," Lorelai agreed. "Did you pick on of those invitation quotes. We need to send them out by November 15th and the printer said it would take a few weeks."

"We narrowed it down to two," Rory said. "First one," she pulled out a petite steno book from her bag. "The first one is, 'To love somebody deeply gives you strength, to be love by someone gives you courage.' And number two, this is Jess' favorite, 'Love conquers all things, let us too surrender to love.'''

"That first one was Luke's first choice. I'll fill him in on your input and then we'll have that done."

Lorelai and Rory were about to turn into another dress shop when Rory's cell phone rang. It was Jess' hospital room, she could tell because of the I Dream of Jeannie ringer she'd set for him.

"Hey, Jess," Rory answered. "Are you all right? You sound out of breath."

"I am," Jess panted, as he sat in his wheelchair across the room from where he'd begun. "I just wanted to tell you, I did it Babe. I made it ten steps."

Rory didn't respond to Jess directly. Instead, she grabbed her mother arm and gleefully proclaimed, "Ten steps Mom. Ten steps."

Lorelai and Rory made two fools of themselves dancing around in the middle of the street. Jess for his part was sitting with his therapist smiling, listening to his fiancée and her, their "mom" rejoicing in his triumph. He hug up, he knew in their joy they would forget he was on the line until later, after a couple of double espressos. He leaned back in this chair and took a deep breath, before meeting Tony's eyes and saying with new determination, "Again."