A/N: To all my lovely reviewers - you're awesome! Now, you though that "What?!" was Lorelai, didn't you? Nuh-uh...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see Prologue)

Chapter 13

"What?!"

Jess and Rory had been ready for an explosion when they told Lorelai they were having a baby. What they hadn't been entirely ready for was Luke's unexpected reaction from the hallway. Nobody even heard him come in, partly because of the intense conversation, and partly because the kids wouldn't even have realised he was coming and going as he pleased. Right now he didn't look pleased at all, and neither did Lorelai.

"You're pregnant?" she checked with Rory, certain she just had some kind of seizure and imagined the part where her career-minded daughter of not-quite twenty just told her she was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend.

"I am," Rory nodded once, looking panicked as her eyes went to Jess for help.

"You did this?!" Luke exploded, suddenly at his nephew's side, smacking him across the shoulder to get his full attention.

"First, ow!" he complained, looking up at him. "And second, I didn't do this. We did this," he gestured between himself and where Rory was sat. "No, we didn't plan it, but yes, we are keeping this child. We made our bed, we'll lie in it."

"Oh, you did a little more than make it and lie in it," Lorelai muttered.

Jess bit his tongue until it almost bled. It was best if he dealt with Luke and let Rory talk to her mother. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple with them all in the one room and emotions running so terribly high. Leaving Rory didn't feel like a good option, especially after he had promised her faithfully they would face this together. All Jess wanted to do right now was run, not from Rory or his responsibilities, but just out of this room to a place where he could actually breathe. The death glares from Lorelai and Luke were suffocating to say the least, and they were both going to hit full on rant mode before long.

"Jess, maybe you and Luke could go get some air while I talk to Mom?" said Rory with a look.

It was as if she read his mind, or maybe she just knew him well enough to figure he'd be just about ready to explode himself right now and that wouldn't help anybody. He didn't ask if she was sure, just gave her a look that said it for him. She nodded definitely and forced half a smile. This wasn't easy on anybody, and they had sworn to face the parental figures together, but right now divide and conquer was looking like a better option given the turn things had taken.

Jess nodded his head, got up from the chair and came over to Rory. He never spared Lorelai or Luke a glance, just leaned down to kiss his girlfriend's lips, his hand still at the side of her head when he spoke softly to her.

"We're still in this together," he promised her. "I'm not going further than the porch."

"I know," she agreed, the smile that came with those words just a little more genuine than it's predecessor.

Jess led the way out of the front door then and Luke followed more out of instinct than a want to go. Rory was back and that was great, but pregnant by Jess? This was way too much to wrap his head around.

"I'm an idiot!" he declared the second he got outside.

His nephew looked confused but refused to enter into the madness until he had more information.

"I caused this, didn't I? I encouraged you to pursue Rory, telling you I hoped it'd work out and now, because you couldn't keep your grubby hands to yourself, look what happened!" he yelled all at Jess who chewed on his lip until the onslaught was over.

"Are you done trying to give yourself a coronary?" he asked then, just about as mad as his uncle with the way things were going. "For your information, Rory came looking for me," he emphasised, pointing a finger into his own chest. "For the first couple of days she was staying in my apartment, in my bed, I was sleeping on the floor. I did not take advantage of her! I did not do any of this by myself!" he said definitely.

Luke took in a breath ready to yell some more when he realised he couldn't do it. Jess was right, Rory had to have run to him, and without encouragement, it was the only thing that made sense. Plus the hurt in Jess' eyes right now was killing Luke to look at. Tearing into the kid just wasn't what he needed. He never wanted to come back to this place the last time, and the fact he was here now was for one of two reasons - because Rory wanted to and/or because he needed help, the latter of which Luke knew Jess would never admit to.

"Oh, Jess," he sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't a better guardian, I'm sorry I immediately pinned all this on you, I should..."

"It's fine," his nephew told him. "Not like I expected anything else," he said, turning away to lean on the porch rail.

Luke hated this. He hated knowing things were so screwed up, that Lorelai would be heart-broken and Rory would have to struggle. He hated most that he just laid all the blame at Jess' door without a thought in his head when the guy was probably scared to death and just unwilling to admit it.

"How long have you known?" asked Luke then. "That you're having a kid, I mean," he clarified when Jess glanced at him.

"She's almost three months now, but we only found out six weeks in," he replied a smile coming to his lips unbidden. "And believe me, I know this is bad timing, for everybody, but I'm not walking away, not from Rory, and not from this kid. I'm not gonna be like Jimmy, Luke. I'm not!"

"I know you're not," Luke assured him, reaching to hug the boy that was trying so hard to be a man.

He hadn't really expected Jess to allow himself to be hugged and yet he did. Just for a few moments, Luke was the father comforting a boy who was scared out of his mind, just needing to know that somebody was going to help him out.

"We didn't come here for charity," Jess clarified as they parted, pushing his hair off his face. "But New York got expensive and after I landed up in the hospital..."

"You were in the hospital? For what?"

"I overdid things. Working," he clarified. "Body gives out when you push that hard."

Luke didn't feel it was right to be proud of a person for working themselves into a hospital bed, but he kind of was. That showed dedication to Rory and this baby that was due in six months time. It showed some stupidity and bad judgement at the same time, but the dedication was what Luke chose to focus on right now.

Jess needed help. He didn't want to have to say it out loud, but he did. There were a million cheaper places he and Rory could've settled in. They chose Stars Hollow because it came with a support network, with family and friends. Luke was glad they chose here.

"You remember last time you were here?" he asked rhetorically, because they both knew he did. "I told you then and I'll say it again; I am always here, Jess. If you need anything, money, a roof over your head, just somebody to talk to, I'm here," he promised.

"I know" his nephew nodded once. "Honestly? Right now all I need is the one thing I can't have," he smirked a little. "Had to give up the smokes for good when we realised Rory was pregnant."

"Huh. That's what it took to get you to give it up?" Luke smiled into his joke. "If only I'd known that three years ago!"

"It was so hard to think about coming home. I knew I'd disappointed you. I never should've done what I did with Dean, that was beyond stupid. Then when me and Jess got back together, I knew you never liked him. From there, it kinda snowballed. I wasn't feeling well and things didn't add up so I took a test but that said not pregnant. It was a relief, I guess, and yet weirdly sad. I can't explain it, but we just carried on and... and then I passed out again and Jess took me to the hospital. That's when we found out the store bought test was wrong or faulty or whatever it was."

"But you still didn't come home," said Lorelai sadly after her daughter's long and rambling explanation of things. "Were you so mad at me, Rory?"

"No! No, I wasn't mad at you," she promised. "I thought you'd be mad at me. I know this isn't the life you wanted for me. You don't like Jess, you wanted me to finish Yale and be a journalist..."

"Honey, I want you to finish Yale and be a journalist because that's what you want," her mother insisted. "Baby, I want you to do whatever you want to do, always. Hell, I can learn to get along with Jess if that's what it takes, but you can't run away from me like that again. No matter what we fight about, no matter how bad things get, please, please don't run from me again. I'm so sorry if I made you feel like it was your only choice."

"I'm sorry too," Rory cried, the tears mostly unstoppable since they started a few minutes ago. "I did want Yale and a career, Mom, I really did. A part of me still does, and I know it's not going to be the same. It's going to be complicated now, but me and Jess have talked about it, we can make it work, we know we can. We might need a little help..." she confessed at which Lorelai smiled.

"You'll get help," she promised her faithfully. "Honey, if there's one thing I'm not going to be in this situation it's my own mother."

"Ironically, you sound like Jess," Rory chuckled a little through her tears. "He is so determined to be the very best father, nothing like Jimmy, or even Liz for that matter."

"Well, that is something, I guess," Lorelai considered, even if she wasn't entirely convinced yet. "He's still with you so far, that says something for Jess."

"Wow," the man himself said as he appeared with Luke right behind him. "That almost sounded like a compliment."

"Not quite," admitted Lorelai. "But it wasn't an insult, so..."

Jess nodded once and headed straight to Rory's side. He sat down on the arm of the couch next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. Lorelai watched the young couple as they leaned in to each other and shared a small smile. They were in love. She could see it as plain as day, more now than she ever could before when Rory and Jess dated. Maybe her daughter was right, maybe Jess had changed, grown up some. It made sense after everything that had happened, but there was still an awful lot to face, a lot more growing up to do in the next six months or more. Lorelai knew that better than anyone.

"You okay?" Luke said near her ear, crouching down by her seat to see her face.

"I'm thrilled that Rory's home," she smiled. "A little bowled over by the whole pregnant thing, but hey, this from the girl who got knocked up at sixteen so, who am I to judge?" she sighed.

"Mom..." Rory tried to cut in with more apologies and explanations, but Lorelai waved it all away.

"No, honestly, I'm fine" she assured her. "Honey, you have to know that even with your being older and Jess so determined to stick to you like crazy glue, this isn't going to be easy."

"We know" said Jess in reply, sparing Lorelai a rare smile.

The words she said were wacky as Gilmore-speak usually was, but the essence of her sentence meant a lot to him. She believed he was going to stick around, at least for now. That mattered, even though he wasn't about to admit it.

"I know you do," she nodded once. "I can't pretend you're my favourite person right now, Mariano," she told him. "But I do know it takes two to tango, and this wasn't all your fault. So, I'll try if you will, to be... I don't know, friends or something?"

"Deal," he agreed, sensing the smile on Rory's face as she squeezed his hand.

She just wanted everyone to get along. It was all she ever really wanted.

"Okay, so you two can stay here. Everything's pretty much like you left it in your room," she told Rory.

The young couple headed off to the bedroom then, Jess dragging the luggage along. Lorelai waited until they were gone, the door closed behind them, before she really broke down. Luke moved to sit by her on the couch and pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head. This was too much to take in. Rory was home, with Jess in tow, and that was good news, but the pregnancy changed everything. Lorelai was over-joyed and heart-broken all at once, and all Luke could do was hold her until she was done crying out all the mixed up emotions.

"Y'know there was a time when all I wanted to do was be alone in this room with you," said Jess with a nostalgic smile. "Some things don't change, I guess..."

He stopped talking abruptly when he realised Rory didn't seem to be listening. He dumped the bags and turned to look at her just staring fixedly at the bed. Just when he was going to ask what was wrong, she threw herself bodily towards it and started yanking at the covers.

"I need new bed clothes," she said, as she continued to fight the comforter and sheets off the mattress. "New blankets, new pillows, everything!"

She was almost yelling, practically hysterical in her efforts to get all the bed clothes off. It took a minute for the reason to occur to Jess. The covers would almost definitely have been stripped off, washed, and replaced since the incident that Rory was remembering, but apparently that didn't matter. She looked at this bed as it was made and she saw that day with Dean. She really didn't like herself much for what she had done and Jess couldn't blame her. Still, he couldn't just stand by and watch her be so upset.

"Hey! Rory, come on!" he dragged her away from the bed and pulled her into his arms.

"I'm so sorry, Jess," she cried into his shoulder, hot tears streaking down her face.

"It's okay. It's gonna be okay," he promised, holding her tight. "He's the past, Rory. It's all the past. It doesn't matter now."

Of course, Jess was well aware that he was a part of Rory's past too, and not a particularly happy part when all was said and done. The difference was, he planned on being her future too, the two of them and this baby they were having. No, it wasn't going to be easy, but they'd make it. Jess was certain on that.

"Facing him is going to be weird, and horrible," Rory lamented, still thinking of Dean apparently. "I don't even know if he stayed with Lindsay. I don't know anything right now."

"Well, then, let me tell you what I know," he said, lifting her chin on his finger. "I love you, Rory Gilmore. I love this kid we're going to have even though it's going to be six months before we meet him or her. And I'm willing to live with your mother just to be with you," he smirked, making her giggle at his so-called sacrifice. "If all that isn't enough to make you happy, well, I'll try just about anything else, so name it."

"What you're doing is enough," she said softly, her hand going to his cheek and then up into his hair. "I love you, Jess," she told him.

Though he already knew her feelings, as well as she knew his, it didn't hurt to hear it once in a while, a reminder that they really were as solid as they claimed. They both leaned in until their lips met, and nothing else really mattered of as long as they were here holding on to each other. Life wasn't going to be easy, not even back home on Stars Hollow, but they could do this. Never were there two more determined people to make something work, or so in love in this moment.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: If you haven't voted in my poll for what fic I write next, please head on over to my Profile Page and choose your favourite idea(s) - thanks!