A/N: Time to face the grandparents. Everybody take a deep breath and brace yourself!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 15

"So," said Lorelai, standing slightly behind Rory and Jess outside the grandparents' house.

"Yeah, so," her daughter echoed.

"So," said Jess, completing the set.

"Well, we're officially ridiculous," remarked Lorelai, waiting just a moment before pushing herself in between the kids and around the building to the pool house.

Behind her, Jess instinctively reached for Rory's hand and laced their fingers together as they walked, even though he never looked her way at all. It made her smile. He was still here, he had her back, or her hand, whatever. He was willing to face her grandparents, who were obviously not going to be happy, and since grandma and grandpa were still apart, it meant going through everything twice.

"Ah, Lorelai," her father greeted her with an awkward smile as the valet let her in. "So glad you could come."

"And not alone," she commented with her own wobbly grin.

Of course the moment Richard realised his granddaughter was there he reacted with joy, glad to have Rory fly into his arms for a big hug. Jess loitered awkwardly by Lorelai, knowing the happiness was probably not going to last very long. Lorelai felt the need to pat him on the shoulder in some sort of comfort and encouragement at the same time. Her Dad might actually go a little easier on the young couple, it was Emily they really had to worry about. Lorelai hadn't been to dinner every Friday since Rory ran away. She wasn't obliged to and she couldn't handle all the questions and digs about her parenting skills from her mother more than her father. Still, she had put in an appearance on a semi-regular basis just to keep her parents in the loop, and in the hopes of helping them reconcile their marriage, however impossible a task it seemed. So far, Dad was still in the pool house, and Mom was frequently in a worse mood than ever.

"Oh, my dear," said Richard as he held onto Rory still. "We've all been so worried about you, it's so wonderful to have you home."

"I missed you, grandpa," she told him honestly, pulling back to look at him. "I'm sorry if I made you worry, I never meant to."

"You're back now," he told her with shake of his head, dismissing all her concerns.

"And not alone," Lorelai threw in a second time, quite ready for the look that crossed her father's face when he glanced up and saw Jess stood beside her.

"Hello," he nodded at the boy. "And who might this be?"

"Oh, grandpa, this is Jess," Rory introduced. "Jess Mariano, my grandfather, Richard Gilmore."

"A pleasure, sir," said Jess politely, holding out a hand to shake.

Richard took the offer, but still looked obviously confused.

"Grandpa, Jess is... well, he's my boyfriend. You never met him when we dated before because the one time he came to dinner you were out of town, but we got back together recently," she explained in that rambling way only a Gilmore could, as she returned to Jess' side and took a hold of his hand.

"This is the boy you ran away with?" asked Richard, eyes narrowing,

"No, but this is the man she ran to," Lorelai corrected him - neither Jess nor Rory were sure what to think about her changing the word 'boy' to 'man' in her version, and right now didn't seem like the time to ask. "Dad, please, just stay calm while Rory gives you the whole story, okay?" she urged him when he started to look ready for a fight.

"Very well," he agreed, ushering the others toward the couch. "Won't you all sit down? Robert, drinks please," he said to the valet who duly moved to fetch the usual scotch for his boss, martini for Lorelai, plus sodas for the young people.

"Okay," said Rory when they were all seated, her between her mom and Jess on the couch, and grandpa in the chair opposite. "Well, I'm back, and Jess came with me. We've been living in New York but now we're going to be staying in Stars Hollow, at least for now, because... well, we're having a baby," she said almost too quietly.

Lorelai watched her father intently. She knew how much this was going to hurt him, because she remembered when she had to make this particular announcement herself. It broke both her parents hearts when they found out she was pregnant with Rory. Now they doted on their granddaughter instead. Finding out she had reached a similar bump in the road of life, Lorelai really wasn't sure how this was going to go.

Taking his scotch from Robert's tray, Richard gulped down a long swig and looked as if he were desperately trying to steady his nerves. When he was sure he could speak without yelling, crying, or similar, he did so.

"I take it this wasn't a planned pregnancy?" he checked.

"No, it wasn't," Rory admitted, glad of Jess' hand around her own as she explained. "It was an accident, but we're not taking an easy way out of this. We made the baby and we're going to raise it the best we can, just like Mom did with me."

"Indeed," her grandpa nodded once. "And do you have anything to say, young man?" he asked Jess then.

"Not much," he admitted with a shrug. "Everything Rory just told you is true and counts for both of us. Other than that, I don't know what I can say that you'd wanna hear, except for the fact that I love your granddaughter, I have on some level from the first day I met her, and I can't imagine that ever changing."

Richard was at least impressed by the conviction with which Jess spoke, and the sincerity that seemed to flow through every word. He never met the boy before, but he seemed more confident and sure of his affections for Rory than the boyfriend Richard had met, Dean somebody. That boy had been flaky and unsuitable. Whilst Richard would still prefer that Rory be married before she had children and to someone of more obvious breeding, he had to admit things could be worse. This Jess was willing to stand by Rory and not just because he had to. If he genuinely loved her, what more could a caring grandfather want for his granddaughter?

"Then I suppose congratulations are in order," he smiled slightly. "It is not the plan I would've made for you, Rory, nor the plan I know you made for yourself, but life has a habit of shifting on a person, and we make the best we can of whatever situation befalls us. We are Gilmores, and that is what we do."

"Thank you, grandpa," Rory smiled herself, blinking hard so the tears wouldn't fall.

"Yeah, thanks, Dad," Lorelai agreed, feeling stupidly emotional herself.

That had gone much better than any of them could have suspected, but there was still Emily to face yet.

"Round two," said Jess, feeling like a bell should be ringing to signal it.

Rory squeezed his hand and tried for a smile, knowing this was as tough on him as it was on her. Her grandpa had been pretty reasonable, quiet and strange, but reasonable. There was no way Richard Gilmore was going to be ecstatically happy about his nineteen year old granddaughter being pregnant, unmarried, and dropping out of Yale at least temporarily, but he didn't yell or try to lay down the law. Leave that to his estranged wife, because all three of them just knew Emily was going to flip her lid. She already disliked Jess, she hated that Rory ran away, and she kept on blaming Lorelai for her daughter's disappearance, plus she used every opportunity to be mad at Richard.

"This is going to be a train-wreck," Lorelai said quietly to Rory as they headed back around to the front door of the house. "I'm sorry, honey, I will try and make it easier on you but..."

"It's okay," her daughter assured her. "I know what grandma can be like, but I can be tough too, when I have to."

Lorelai smiled at her baby's bravery and then glanced at Jess.

"Brace yourself, Mariano," she warned him. "You're about to become Public Enemy No. 1 on Emily Gilmore's hit list."

"I've been in worse places," he shrugged, just a hint of that familiar smirk getting through the abject fear.

Lorelai was almost proud of him as she turned back to the door and rapped on the wood. The maid answered and all three trooped inside. Emily appeared as if from nowhere, already bawling Lorelai out for spending too long on drinks with her father when dinner was waiting. She stopped mid-sentence when she suddenly realised Rory and her hoodlum ex were trailing in behind Lorelai. Emily looked like she was going to smile at first, and then her eyes trailed down Rory's body. In the dress she was wearing, it wasn't impossible to tell she was pregnant, but you kind of had to be looking for it. Apparently that wasn't true when Emily Gilmore was the one looking.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, hands shooting up to her cheeks. "You're pregnant!"

"Geez, that's impressive," said Lorelai without thinking. "I mean, okay, yes, Rory is pregnant, but Mom..." she began, reaching out to Emily, but she backed up a step.

"Lorelai, how could you let this happen?!" she bellowed. "And with that?!" she said, pointing a finger at Jess as her lip curled in disgust.

"Hey, you can't talk about him that way!" Rory cut in, practically stomping her foot with frustration. "Grandma, I know you and Jess didn't get off to the best start, and I get that you're shocked and disappointed, but this is the man I love, the father of my child, and..."

"Rory, it's okay," he tried to calm her down, but she wasn't having any of it.

"No, Jess, it's not okay", she shook her head definitely. "She can't talk to you that way. You didn't do anything wrong."

Emily snorted loudly at that comment.

"What we did, we did together!" Rory clarified. "Maybe it's not perfect timing or whatever, we know that better than anybody, but you are not going to judge me and make me feel like I committed the worst crime in the world. You're not going to do to me what you did to my mom!"

With that, Rory turned and stormed towards the door, her hand in Jess' own meaning he followed by pure momentum. The smile on his face now was real enough, just because he never imagined this would happen, and though he had barely seen Emily's expression before he was dragged away, he loved the shock of it all. He knew she wouldn't be thrilled, but if she had just given Rory a chance to explain, if she had given anybody a chance in any way before she started tearing lumps out of people, things might have been okay. Of course, Jess' smile didn't last long when they slammed out onto the drive way and he realised how very upset Rory was.

"Hey," he reached for her shoulders and turned her into his embrace. "C'mon, take a breath. It's not good for you or that kid of ours to be this stressed out."

"She stresses me out!" Rory snapped. "I can't believe she wouldn't listen, not even for a minute, she just stated judging and... and why does she have to be that way, Jess?" she asked him desperately.

"I don't know," he shook his head, at a loss on how to help her.

He would love to rag on Emily Gilmore, he could verbally tear her apart right now, behind her back or to her face, it really didn't bother him, but he wouldn't do it. She was Rory's grandmother, and so she had the choice what was said about her. Jess didn't have that right and he wouldn't presume to try and gain it. All he could do right now was hold Rory close and hug her until she calmed down some.

"She'll probably come around," he said softly, rubbing her back. "I guess she gets mad because she loves you."

He really didn't know what else to say, and had never been so glad to see Lorelai as he was when she suddenly appeared at his side. Her hand went to Rory's shoulder and she sighed.

"Oh, kid. I'm sorry," she apologised, presumably on her own mother's behalf.

Rory came out of Jess' arms and dived into her Mom's embrace instead. He didn't mind. Nobody understood this situation like Lorelai, especially when it came to facing Emily and Richard.

"For what it's worth, I told her you were right. She had no place talking to you like that, either of you," she said seriously, looking pointedly at Jess.

He nodded once, a kind of affirmation that he heard her and understood, maybe even that he appreciated it in some small way. They were soon all getting in the car to go home, Lorelai driving the Jeep, Rory curled up against Jess in the back, their joined hands at her slightly swollen belly where their baby resided.

"So, we could stop by Luke's for food," Lorelai suggested as she pulled onto the main street of Stars Hollow. "He wanted to know how things went with the Gilmores anyway."

"I can't talk about it anymore tonight" said Rory, adjusting her head on Jess' shoulder.

"You wanna get out and walk back while your Mom talks to Luke?" he asked, dropping a kiss into her hair. "Fresh air might help you feel better?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," she smiled up at him.

Lorelai saw them share a look of love from her rear-view mirror and smiled herself. She may not like Jess very much, and there was no way she was genuinely happy that her kid was having a baby of her own right now, but there was not a doubt in her head that Rory and Jess were in love. She really hoped they made it. Something told her there was a good chance, even if she knew it was crazy to think so.

They all got out of the car outside the diner. Rory and Jess, with their arms wrapped around each other, headed for the house, whilst Lorelai dropped in to see Luke and pick up food. Neither of the young couple felt the need to talk. It was just a thing with them, they could spend hours together never saying a word, and it was never awkward. It had been true since they first met, long before they dated. Rory loved the comfortable silence she could only share with Jess. Unfortunately, it was quickly shattered as they ran across the last person either of them wanted to see.

"Oh, no," she groaned as she realised Dean was coming towards them. "I really don't need this tonight."

"Let me handle it," said Jess as Forester got ever closer and was evidentially ready for a fight. "Before you say anything, don't!"

"You don't come back here telling me what to do, Jess!" Dean yelled back at him. "What? It's not enough that you ruined Rory's life, you think you can come here and throw your weight around with the rest of the town too?"

Jess laughed a hollow humourless laugh.

"I ruined her life?" he checked, barely hearing Rory over the angry rushing of blood in his ears when she begged him to let it go. "She ran away from here because of you! Because you took advantage of her and made her your piece on the side, you asshole!"

"What do you know about it?" asked Dean crossly. "I love Rory, I always have, and she has always loved me too!"

"If you loved her you wouldn't've put her in the position you did, and if she still loved you, why is she with me, huh?" he asked just as angry. "Why is she pregnant with my baby?!"

"How do you know it's yours?" asked Dean smartly.

That was when Rory cut in.

"I know," she said firmly. "The hospital confirmed how far along I am and this can only be Jess' baby," she told Dean definitely. "Now, go home to your wife, Dean, and leave us alone!"

She made to storm past him and Jess happily followed. Apparently, Forester wasn't quite done.

"He won't make you happy, Rory!" he called behind them. "He can't. Just like Lindsay can't make me happy. We belong together, you know we do!"

Jess had been biting his lip and balling his fists this whole time, but at that remark he just lost it. He swung around so fast and Dean just wasn't ready. The punch to his face sent him flying sideways, and when he got stable again he had nobody to hit back. Rory had shoved Jess away and put herself in his place, knowing that for all Dean's stupidity tonight, he was not going to try to get past her, especially not in her condition.

"I'm sorry if you're not happy," she told a bloody nosed Dean. "But I am. I'm happier with Jess than I could ever be with you. Now, go home, Dean!" she told him a second time, turning to do the same herself.

Jess held back everything he would like to throw at Forester, every verbal barb, every subsequent punch. Rory had said what needed to be said, and it was done. Jess put his arm back around Rory and pulled her close as she had been before the confrontation had begun. Her arm went around his waist and her head rested back on his shoulder. All was right with the world as they headed home in their comfortable silence once again.

To Be Continued...