LitGG1982 – Thank you so much for your review; it made me feel incredibly special. Don't stop writing though!
"Please, call us Rory and Jess."
"Are you sure? If you don't want me to call you Mr. and Mrs. Mariano, I could call you Mom and Dad. It's actually less confusing for younger children."
"Uh no, you don't have to call us Mom and Dad. Rory and Jess will work just fine."
"You're positive about this?"
"Very positive."
"I don't know, I feel like I'm overstepping my boundaries."
"Tana." Rory took the girl by the shoulders and gave her a little shake. "You are not a slave, you are an honorary member of the family. Rory and Jess."
"Well if you say so." Rory turned and continued walking, making a mental note to pop a few aspirin while showing Tana the bathroom off the nanny's room. The girl was driving her a little bit insane...but she'd calmed a fussing Riley with a two-verse lullaby upon entering the house, and Rory had been about ready to build a statue to her new employee. Plus, she noted looking at Tana's oversized sweater, librarian-worthy skirt, and prominently displayed wedding ring, there was no way Jess would be shacking up with this one.
Of course, her skills with children were the real reason she was being hired. Really.
"And this is your room, though since you'll be living with Chester for a few months, it can just serve as a chill-out space."
"Until he goes to Uganda. Is it still alright if I stay with you while he's in Uganda?"
"It's more than alright. Why is he going to Uganda again?"
"Peace Corps."
"Yes, the Peace Corps. Wish him luck for me."
"Oh, sure thing. Oh! This is my room?"
"I know, the last occupant painted it pink while I was out of town. 'Oh, your husband said it was fine! If I'd have known you'd be upset, I'd never have dreamed of doing it!' Jess promised to call the painters, but I know for a fact he hasn't gotten on it yet. Just tell me what color you want, I left some samples on the dresser, and it'll be ready by the time Chester leaves."
"Oh, the pink is fine! I just meant 'Oh' as in it's so lovely! You don't have to paint it, it's already the nicest bedroom I've ever seen! Unless you want to paint it, because it is your house, you know-" Rory took her by the shoulders again, foreseeing that this might be a common occurrence.
"Tana. I don't like the pink, and I have the feeling you'd be much happier with a less...Pepto Bismol-y color. Look through the paint chips, and tell me which one is your favorite. I'd be happy to buy you a bedset that goes with it, and then you're ready to roll." Tana's eyes looked close to tearing, so Rory awkwardly hugged her. "Look at me more as a friend than a boss. I'd rather have a friend take care of my children than some stale servant anyway." Tana was stuttering her eternal gratitude when Rory noticed something over the girl's shoulder.
"Bitch!"
"I'm so sorry! It wasn't my fault the walls had asbestos in them!"
"No, no not you Tana sweetie. Mina took the TV."
"Oh that's fine, I don't need a TV."
"Oh, you're getting a TV. A bigger, better TV than she had. C'mon, I want you to meet my husband." She led Tana downstairs to where Jess had just come in the kitchen, and was snacking on a bowl of frozen grapes Kathy had placed in front of him.
"We heard the garage door." He looked up at them, his cheeks puffed out with the fruit. Rory rolled her eyes. "You're worse than your children! Now I know why Riley hasn't swallowed anything in days."
"Es thhis thhe nahe?" He swallowed. "My apologies. Is this the nanny?"
"Yes. Tana, meet Jess. Jess, meet Tana Shrick-Fleet, our new child care provider." Tana shuffled forward to shake his hand with wide eyes. "I've just been showing her around the house. She starts on Sunday, but she's already working her magic around here."
"Nice to meet you, Tana. I'd have liked to be there for your interview, but it wasn't at all important to my wife that I be, so she didn't even bother trying to find a time that worked for both of us."
"Sweetheart, guess what I just discovered?" Rory asked him in a tone that suggested frozen honey, if it is truly possible for honey to freeze. "When Mina moved out, she took the TV in her room with her."
"It was a 12-inch screen, Rory. It's not even worth the trouble talking about it to replace it."
"I know that, but it just irks me that she stole from us as her final act of gratitude for giving her a job and a place to live. And it also irks me that you were in that room so often as to easily remember the size of the TV."
"I have to use the bathroom," Tana instantly declared. She scampered from the room as Rory and Jess looked quizzically at her back.
"You scared her off," Rory accused.
"She realized we were about to fight, and left. The girl didn't look like much for confrontation."
"We're not about to fight, I just...I just don't like Mina."
"Understandable."
"And I didn't think you'd care about the interview. I made you sit through some last time, and I'm still convinced you were sleeping with your eyes open."
"Okay, I'm sorry for saying it."
"Well, good. No fighting. I really don't want her to get that first impression." She moved to the table to pick up a grape as Jess looked at her with amazement. "What are you looking at?"
"Did Rory Gilmore just communicate?"
"It's Mariano, and yes. Don't make a big deal out of it." He moved closer and pinned her against the table playfully.
"It used to take major surgery to pull something like that out of you. What changed?" She shrugged.
"Dr. Cho gave me a shrink's card, and I really feel like proving her unnecessary. I don't want to go to a shrink. I don't want to discuss my personal problems with a stranger."
"Then we won't go." She sighed as she pushed him away.
"You know we should."
"Fine then, we will."
"But I don't want to."
"You're pretty whiny, you know that right?"
"Yea. Do you think one of us should go get Tana? I still have to show her where the emergency numbers are."
"I'll find her if you want."
"Thanks."
"And don't overthink the TV thing. We'll never hear from her again, so just forget about it."
He found Tana in the playroom, listening as Jane eagerly talked her unfamiliar ears off.
"So Mommy has a BABY growing inside her! A baby! A real, live baby! It's true, Daddy told me! And when I'm a little older, it'll come out, and I'll have a new brother or a sister! I really want a sister, but a brother wouldn't be really bad. Riley's my brother, and I don't not like him."
"Tana, Rory wants to show you something in the kitchen. Jane, Miss Tana will be around to play with you quite often, so save some of your stories for later, okay?"
"Like the one where my head was stuck in the porch?"
"Yes, that's one of your better stories I think."
"And the one where Mommy fell asleep in the sandbox."
"Another classic."
"And the one where no one knew where I was because I was hiding in you and Mommy's shower?"
"A cautionary tale. Miss Tana will like that."
"And the one where Riley crawled under the sink and I closed the door and no one's found him yet?"
"Yea-wait, when did that happen?"
"I don't know."
"Yet?"
"Read me a book, Daddy!"
"Jane Elizabeth Mariano, which sink is your brother under?"
"Maybe the one where I brush my teeth."
"Oh, your butt is SO in time-out, young lady. RILEY! Daddy's coming!"
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Jess collapsed in bed next to Rory's dormant form, utterly fatigued. Riley had refused to get in the bathtub without a fight roughly equal (in both force and amount of water distributed throughout the bathroom) to that of a small tsunami. And after Jess, still sopping, had finished wrestling the little boy into bed, Jane had appeared downstairs, crying, wanting him to 'Monster Proof' her room. It had taken every spare pillow in the house shoved under her bed, a search for a long-lost key which locked her closet door, and a great deal of ducktape around her window seams before she was willing to go back to sleep. And then, there was still the bathroom and all objects displaced during the key search to clean up. Tana wasn't working yet, Kathy was for all intents and purposes Off Duty, and Rory had disappeared early on in the bathing process, after putting Jane to bed for the first time. So poor Jess, ever the househusband, had been forced to tackle (in Riley's case, literally) both screaming children. And he was the very definition of exhausted at that moment.
He was just about to close his eyes and drift off, without undressing or splashing water on his priceless, movie star face, when Rory rolled over. She normally slept with her back to him, but occasionally would shift in her sleep. On those occasions, Jess had always been careful not to disturb her, lest she wake up and found herself quite close to her husband. Willing her to get just a little closer, so he could hold onto something as he slept, he was surprised to see her eyelids flutter.
"You're wet." She sounded only semi-groggy, meaning she had probably not been sleeping at all. Resting, yes, but aware of his entrance into the room, and his lying down beside her.
"Riley rebelled."
"Something tells me he's going to be a tough teenager." Yawning, she peeled the wet shirt away from his stomach, and draped her arm across the warm skin. She snuggled her head into his pillow as all signs indicated her departure for dreamland. Jess, however, was now wide awake. When was the last time Rory had slept like this? Not just touching Jess, but snuggling Jess?
'And I really feel like proving her unnecessary. I don't want to go to a shrink,' her words from earlier floated back to him. Was that what had prompted this change? Pure stubbornness? Or was she still riding the waves of good feelings that had come from firing Mina? Or even, maybe...nah. A change that sudden wouldn't just happen over night. She wouldn't just go back to happy, bubbly Rory from her Madison-and-Tony days at the drop of a hat. Or would she? Jess would be the first to admit that he had no idea what Rory was capable of anymore.
All this thinking just made him even more confused, and Rory's soft breathing brought the tiredness back to him. He buried his face into her brown curls, and fell asleep with her scent tantalizing his nose.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
On many a morning, the Ice Queen had woken up to find that her man had stolen the covers during the course of the night. She wasn't sure if it was out of response to her shutting him out, or if it was completely unintentional. In the old days, she would sleep so close to him, she had no before/after to compare. So she'd awake very alone, all isolated on her side of the bed, and very cold.
Today, though, she was waking up warm. Most every bit of flesh exposed by her somewhat flimsy (had she really teased Jess like that, but refrained from giving in so much of the time) nightgown was touching some part of him in someway. One of his hands had slipped completely innocently between her thighs, and kept the gap between them nice and toasty. His warm breath tickled her neck, and an arm slung dazedly around her shoulders prevented her back from getting chilly. It was a nice way to wake up, not even counting feelings it was stirring in her stomach.
She should have been pulling away at that point, but she forced herself to stay still, at least until Jess began to stir, so as not to break the peaceful look on his face.
And to her surprise, it was much easier than she'd thought it'd be.
