2029
"Mom, I can't find it!" A voice interrupted her while she nervously read the recipe again. Something was missing. "Then have a second look!" she replied. "Wow, you're such a wise woman!" The sarcastic voice came closer. Rory sighed. Too much contact with her Grandma, obviously. She looked up. Her daughter was standing in front of her, twelve years old, the dangerous age between still being a child and wanting desperately to be treated like an adult. Piercing blue eyes, light brown hair, the annoyed glance through crinkled eyes. "Honey, maybe you've lost them at Lane's place. I don't know." She put some cinnamon in the bowl. "Cinnamon!", she thought with a smile. To her it was always connected to Babette's deceased cat. Good old memories.
"We're back!" A voice came from the entrance and Rory's husband took his step into the room. "Pumpkin, you've lost your headphones in the car." The girl shrieked in excitement and grabbed them, disappearing in her room. "Well, no problem, it was my pleasure" he said with a high voice. Rory laughed. "Don't be disappointed. We're like totally uncool right now." "No, Daddy's cool! He bought me icecream!" A little boy rushed into the kitchen. "Hey you! Icecream, you said?" she asked him with her withering stare towards his dad. The man chuckled and raised his hands apologetically. "At least one kid calls me cool." He kissed her quickly and started putting groceries in the fridge. "Don't stress yourself too much, ok? It's just a dinner!" She breathed out. "I know, but... I want it to be perfect." He just smirked at her. "You're perfect. Screw the food. Hey Rick, pass me the milk, please." His son grabbed the milk bottle and handed it to his father. "Good boy, thanks." He ruffled his dark, wavy hair, just before Ricky opened the backdoor to run into the garden. Another door opened and the young girl appeared again. "Mom, please let me go this concert! Everyone is going!" she pouted while her favorite band was yelling out of her headphones. Rory sighed. "Emma, we've talked about it. It's going to be in New York. The city! I don't think this is a proper place for kids to go..." "You're so unfair! I turn thirteen next month which means I will be a teenager when the concert is! The others will think I'm a baby!" her daughter argued. "I'm not quite sure with that, little lady, I've talked to Harlow's Mum and she has the same opinion as me. We cannot leave you there alone." Rory said eagerly, made her point and put the little cakes inside the oven.
"Hmm", a scratchy voice interfered. "Y'all know that New York effing city is my Stars Hollow. Not the gnomes and cheesy festivals, but add in fact more crazy people. So maybe I could bring you girls. The music isn't that bad. And I will keep my distance, don't worry!", he added with a smirk. Emma's eyes lightened up. "Mooooom please! I mean, this is like... the lesser evil." Her mother started laughing on this comment. "Okay, we gonna have a parents discussion about it." "Love you Dad!", Emma squealed, quickly kissed him on the cheek and run into her room again, probably texting Harlow about the little victory of getting a "maybe". Rory felt his gaze although she turned her back on him. "Sooo", he teased, "who is now the cooler parent? Two out of two can recommend it." She felt him hugging her and kissing her neck tenderly. "Oh babe, you've always been the cooler parent", she admitted, "no one else is cooler than Jess Mariano."
"Night pumpkin" he said, before he was about to turn off the lights. "Dad? Can I ask you something?" He stopped. "Of course." Her face was sticking out of at least five pillows. Carefully he sat down at the edge of her bed. "What's up?" he asked. "Do you think he loves me?" Emma's voice sounded fragile, like she's afraid of the answer. Jess breathed in. "Scoot over!", he said, making himself comfortable on a fluffy pink pillow. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Em, of course he loves you. How can someone not love you? You're the bravest, smartest and funniest kid ever. You know, it's just... not everyone can show love like the other one deserves it. I know what I'm talking about. Your father is not part of the four of us and that makes him sometimes act... weird. But he loves you, he really does." Both of them laid there in silence for some minutes. The girl sighed finally. "I like the four of us" she said quietly. "Oh kid, so do I. Fucking much..." he replied. She giggled. "You said fucking!" "Geez, I did. Don't tell mum. But hey, you said it, too!" He tickled her. "Learned from the master." Emma nudged him back.
Later he crept out of her room, after telling her some silly stories to make her laugh until she finally fell asleep. He came to the door of Ricky's bedroom, he stopped and looked inside. His son was sleeping in his pirate ship bed, his messy curls around his face, the blanket on the floor. Jess picked it up and covered him carefully with it. He was the spitting image of himself, it was almost scary. Jess shook his head. Sometimes he still couldn't believe that he had his own family now. He remembered Emma calling him something like "Daddy" for the first time. It was a mixture of panic and happiness, combined with quite a bit of embarrassment, because he was just about to stable his relationship with Rory again. He never wanted to replace Emma's biological father, he never wanted to interfere like that. But it was just like something he said to Rory when she told him she's pregnant: Family isn't always blood. It's the people who really want you in their lives. And hell, he wanted them in his life. And as soon as he saw Emma, the little baby with the blue eyes, he knew, they will make it eventually. So when this little human being, almost two years old, approached him with wobbly legs, pointed out to him and said "Dada", he felt this bittersweet hurt that you can only feel when you sincerely love someone. Little did he know that Rory was watching them from the kitchen corner, her heart so full of emotions. That was the moment she opened her heart again for Jess, she was all in. He was there for her when she was exhausted, when she thought she reached her limits, he encouraged her in all her things, helped her and didn't leave. And now seeing her daughter and this young, decent man, she just knew it. It's him.
Jess sneaked into the bed carefully, because Rory seemed already to sleep. With a little smile he took a book out of her hands and put it to the bedside table. She mumbled something and drew closer to him. "Sorry babe, what did you say?" he asked, trying not to snicker. "I said that I really hate dinner parties. Next time just you and me and some Indian Food" she said without opening her eyes. Jess kissed her forehead. "Okay. And some good old Kate Hudson. She's still hot, you know."