Disclaimer: I own only the character(s) I have created and the plot. The rest is Amy S.P.'s.
A/N Thank you to reviewers! I love waking up and seeing that I have review waiting to be read. I'm glad you liked last chapter though some of it was cheesy, but what can I say, I'm a sap for cheese. LOL. I am happy to say that I have found a beta and so the rest of this story will have better spelling and grammar. I really don't have anything to ramble about so on with the story.
Rory and Lorelai were having a movie night. The feature presentation was Shrek 2, Lorelai had wanted to watch Paws in Boots sing with Donkey. It had been a while since they had movie night, just the two of them. Jess had become a regular at the Gilmore household, just like Max and Dean had before. But somehow it seemed like it would stay like that for a longer time. Lorelai finally got her chance to give the 'hurt her, I'll kill you' speech two weeks ago.
FLASHBACK
Jess had come over to surprise Rory, but she was at Lane's, so Lorelai took this chance to give him the speech. "Hey Jess, Rory's over at Lane's but I'd like to talk to you." She said to him when she opened the door. He had a feeling he knew what she wanted to talk to him about but hoped he was going to escape it. He had avoided... at least he thought.
"Uh, sure, Lorelai." She moved to the side so he could come in, which he did slightly hesitant. Lorelai smiled, he was squirming. They sat down at the kitchen table. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" He knew that they got along, but he wasn't exactly sure where they stood.
"This is just something I explained to Rory that I would go through with all her boyfriends. But seeing as how she's never left you alone with me, you were able to avoid it. Okay, I'm admitting it, I like you. You and Rory are very much in love, even if you haven't admitted it yet. I've seen the way you are with her, and the way you are with Taylor." They both smirked at that. "But, just because I like you doesn't mean that if you hurt her, I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth, torture you, slowly and painfully, burry you and then let who ever is next in line dig you back up while you are still alive and do whatever they want." Jess grimaced. Thank God he wasn't planning on hurting her. "I see you get the picture."
"Sadly, yes. But if she were to hurt me, what would you do? Would you at least punish her?" Jess inquired.
"Depends."
"On what?"
"Whether or not she did it on purpose. I know I won't have to because she's too nice to do that."
"You're right. You know, I even got this talk from Tristan." Jess informed her. He had no idea where she stood with Tristan.
"What can I say? My kid is very loveable." Lorelai said proudly.
"Yeah, must get it from Chris."
"Mean! I knew you were like me." She smiled a bit.
"I've been spending too much time around you." Jess shook his head slightly. "You should spend more time with Luke. You two are obviously in love, whether or not you've admitted it. I should go help Luke. Tell Rory to call me when she gets back." With that he left Lorelai alone with her thoughts.
END OF FLASHBACK
As Lorelai thought back to that day, she knew Jess had a point. Maybe she was in love with Luke. "Hey Rory?"
"Yeah mom?" She turned to her mom. She noticed her mom was thinking since she was being quiet, but she wondered what about.
"What do you think of Luke?"
"What do you mean?" Rory said playing dumb. Of course she knew what she meant. Jess had told her about saying something to her mom.
"Is he dateable?" Lorelai decided to be blunt. This had been bugging her for the last two weeks.
"For you or me? 'Cause I mean, I have Jess, and that is against the law. And-" Rory saw that Lorelai was serious so she stopped while she was ahead. "Yeah, mom. Luke's a great guy. I mean, he has had a thing for you for as long as I can remember. He's smart, can cook, is constantly trying to save our lives, puts up with your craziness and has the best coffee in the entire world." Rory told her mother, knowing the coffee part was going to pay off.
"He does have good coffee doesn't he?" Beat. "Do you think he's still open? I want coffee. Put the movie on pause, so I can see Paws later." She smiled. Then frowned. "I need coffee, I just realized I haven't had any in the last two hours. And neither have you." She looked at Rory who avoided her eyes. "Rory, have you been holding out on me?"
"Remember how you went to the bathroom earlier and took forever?" Lorelai nodded. "Well Jess stopped by and brought me coffee and I sorta drank it all."
"If Jess stopped by then how could you drink the coffee if your lips were attached to his?" Lorelai said pouting.
"I told him that it was going to be just you and me tonight so he left after he gave me the coffee and a quick kiss." Lorelai looked at her doubtingly. "Okay, the kiss wasn't quick, but no longer than two minutes." Rory looked at her mom with a guilty face.
"Just, for that, no more coffee for you. At least not tonight." Lorelai told her. "Now I need coffee!"
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Rory and Lorelai were about to walk into Luke's but Lorelai stopped. She wanted to look good. Lorelai decided that she was through being lonely and was finally going to listen to her mother and Sookie. She was going to get her man. Hopefully. "How do I look?" Lorelai was entirely nervous. The butterflies that she usually ignored were wild and would not go away. She wasn't used to being this nervous.
"You look good mom." Rory told Lorelai trying to calm her down. "Now go get your man!"
"Shh! Don't be so loud! He'll hear you." Rory just rolled her eyes in response and walked into the diner and directly to Jess giving him a long kiss, causing him to drop whatever was in his hands.
"And that was for...?" Jess asked once they separated. "Not that I minded." He added.
"I missed you." Rory said simply.
"What are you guys doing here? Weren't you having a movie night?" Jess said securing his arms around her waist so she wouldn't be able to get away.
"We were, but we needed coffee."
"What happened to the coffee I brought over?" Rory blushed, and he knew the answer. She drank so much coffee, he wouldn't be surprised if she cut herself and bled blood. She even tasted like coffee. But somehow she tasted like coffee with tons of sugar even if she drinks it black. She never ceased to amaze him and that's another thing he loved about her.
"What did you say?" They heard Luke say and looked over at Lorelai.
"I said... um, will you go out with me?" Lorelai repeated very aware of the eyes on her. She had beaten around the bush but Luke knew her so well.
"When? And where?" Luke asked with a small smile on his face. The woman he loved since she had given him that horoscope was asking him out. His teenage nephew that was causing trouble in New York and had to be sent here was behaving more or less and Taylor hadn't bugged him for two days straight. Things were looking up in the life of Luke Danes.
He had thought about asking her out so many times, or came so close to just kissing her. But every time they shared one of those moments they were interrupted. Be it her phone or Lorelai telling him of her plans with a guy. He knew he had to wait for the perfect moment, but part of him felt that the moment he was waiting for had passed him by. Now he had his chance and wasn't going to screw it up. At least he hoped he wouldn't, he was Liz's brother...
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Casey had just gotten off the bus from New York and looked around. It was like this town was out of some story book. It was way too cheery for his taste, too many smiles. These people knew nothing of pain, hatred or anger. Their lives were all 'perfect' in this 'perfect' town. This was probably the best environment to keep a kid away from all of what he knows, and that's what he wants.
He looked around, trying to see if he could find Jess. He hadn't told him was coming in that day, just 'sometime in the next three days'. It didn't take too long seeing as how the town's the size of a pizza. He saw him coming out of the book store with his arm around a girl. She had long chestnut brown hair, porcelain skin and intense blue eyes. He looked her up and down, and just as he suspected, she had the look of complete and total innocence. That look instantly changed he saw Jess stand against a wall, pulling her towards him and kissing her. Maybe she wasn't as innocent as she appears to be, after all. Looks can be deceiving.
He made his way toward the couple who had yet to notice him. He stood behind Rory and dropped his bag, thinking that would get their attention. Apparently not. "Geeze, Jess. Let the girl catch a breath every once in a while."
Jess pulled away and Rory pouted slightly before turning around. "You didn't tell me you'd be coming today." Jess told his long time friend. They did their handshake that they had been doing since they met. They stepped back and Jess put his arm back around Rory. "Rory, this is my best friend Casey. Casey, this is my girlfriend, Rory."
"You have him speaking in full sentences. Wow. You must be some girl." Casey said, smirking even more.
"She is."
"Thanks. It took a while, but I did it. He even goes to school. That took even longer." Rory said smiling. She was happy to hear that she was the only who was able to change Jess. It seemed to make her role in his life more important and she liked that.
"Hmm. He quit smoking too? I quit about two months ago." Casey admitted.
"We lit our first cigarettes together. Lizzie's pack." Jess told Rory while looking at Casey. He knew why he quit, but why would Casey quit? He said there wasn't any chick in his life. Maybe he has cancer. He didn't come here just to see him, Jess knew that much.
"See Jess, no one had to bug him to quit." Rory said brining Jess out of his thoughts.
"You stopped kissing me until I quit. That was cruel and unusual punishment." Jess said shaking his head.
"It had to be done." She shrugged. "How long are you staying Casey?"
"A few days." Casey said. He hoped Jess would take his news well.
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Casey and Jess were upstairs later that day, catching up and listening to music. Luke gave him the day off, but Rory still had to work since it was a busy day and he would need some help. Jess knew there was something up with Casey. He wasn't making a lot of eye contact and was fiddling with a cigarette. Most people would pass it off as jitters you get when you quit smoking, but Jess knew better.
"What happened to Celia? You brake up?" Jess asked. Celia was Casey's girlfriend when he left and she wasn't just a random girl Casey was sleeping with. Casey actually liked her, maybe loved her. Besides Jess, she was the only one who understood him. In a way, she was his Rory.
"She's uh... she's pregnant." Casey mumbled the last word. Jess was the one who had always told him to use protection because he knew that it would be too hard to be a teen father in New York. Look at how he was. The only reason he was doing better was because he left New York and they both knew it. But Casey didn't have any relatives he knew about that would help him. He wasn't as fortunate as Jess was.
"What did you say?" Jess could have sworn he heard Casey say pregnant. But that couldn't be right; Casey wasn't that stupid to have unprotected sex, right?
"Celia is pregnant. Three months along. She's not having an abortion. I've been taking care of her. Her parents threw her out; don't want anything to do with her or the kid. She's staying with me and I'm working." Casey told his friend, knowing that would cover most of the questions waiting to be asked.
"Were you safe?" Jess asked looking at the floor trying to digest what his friend had just told him. He hoped to god that would never happen to him and Rory until they at least finished high school.
"Yeah." Casey said quietly knowing Jess needed time to digest this. When Celia had told him, he walked around for three hours before coming to a decision.
After what seemed for ever, but was only about ten minutes, Jess broke the silence. "I need to go for a walk." Jess didn't look at Casey, just walked out the door and downstairs. He saw that the diner was empty and that Luke would be able to handle it so he told Rory to take a break. She could see that his eyes were guarded, and that there had to be something wrong. Luke just nodded and they left. They didn't say anything, but they both knew where they were going. The bridge.
When they got there they sat down. She just sat there, holding his hand, squeezing it occasionally to let him know that she wasn't leaving, and waiting for him to talk to her. After awhile, he still didn't say anything, but wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer kissing her cheek softly.
He wanted to just hold her. Thinking about her getting pregnant, knowing that it could be very possible. It scared the hell out of him, and he knew his first instinct would just be to run. But he'd never do that. He wouldn't be able to leave like that and become his father. Jess knew that wasn't the only thing that Casey wanted. He would have just called if he just wanted to tell him. Jess knew there was something waiting to be said, but what he didn't know, was that it might be something that would change his life forever.
"Casey's girlfriend is pregnant." Jess said quietly. "She's seventeen, keeping it. Her parents threw her out, Casey took her in. There's something he wants, but I don't know what it is."
Rory didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think of the information that Jess had just shared with her. She didn't know if she could say anything so she just kissed him. Softly, sweetly, it lasted less than a minute, but it was enough. She sat there with him again; resting her head on his shoulder and looking at the water thinking about how she would feel if she were pregnant. She'd never have an abortion. She wouldn't be able to live with herself. Rory knew that Lorelai would probably be pissed at first and would want to kill Jess, but then help her out, making sure that no matter what she went to college. At least she hoped so.
Jess let go of Rory and got up extending his hand to help her up. They made their way silently back to the diner. Rory gave him a quick kiss before going back to work and Jess went upstairs to talk to Casey. He found him on the couch staring at the ceiling with a pensive look on his face. Jess sat down in the chair and looked at his friend.
"Why else are you here Casey?" Jess asked him. He needed to know or else he was going to go crazy. And he wasn't this curious. Once again, too much time with the Gilmore girls.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play with me, Casey. I know you didn't come here to tell me that Celia is pregnant, you would have just called. I've known you since we were ten, don't lie to me."
Casey knew that Jess was upset now, and what he was going to say would probably make him blow, but not saying anything would be worst. "I want you to take the kid." He said it quietly waiting for the explosion.
"What?"
"When it's born, I want you to raise the kid."
"Why? Why do you want me to raise your kid? What possible reason could you have for that?"
"I don't want my kid to turn out like me. I don't want him or her to grow up in New York, to go through all the crap we've been through. You're the closest thing to family that I have that would do this for me. I'd rather the kid grow up here than New York. You're doing better out here, your life's on track, you'd be a good parent. You could get Rory to help! Or Luke! You can give this kid a chance to live a better life than either of us had. They deserve it."
"I don't know man. This is huge!"
"I know, but I need to know, will you do it or not?"
A/N I know! You all are hating me sooooooo much. Such a short chapter, for a three week wait and a cliff hanger! I had no idea what else to put in this chapter. Even if it's short, I like it. Sooooooooooooooo sorry about the long wait, I had really bad writer's block. I also had to write three speeches, because my bat mitzvah was last Saturday! And my birthday was the Friday a week before. I was a bit distracted and lazy. So sorry. I can't guarantee a faster update, but reviews do make me feel guilty so I do try to write. Hint Hint Please review and tell me what you think. Should he do it or not? I really could use some encouragement. Also, my computer is dying, and it'll take a week to get a new one. Sorry! Please REVIEW!