A/N: Nice to see folks are still interested in this story - thanks for all the reviews, peops! Now what better way to spend a day in mid-January than celebrating Christmas with the Stars Hollow gang, am I right? ;) Oh, and you can expect updates on this fic every Wednesday for the time being.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see Prologue)

Chapter 32

When Jess woke up on Christmas morning, the clock said it was a little after six. He tried to move his arm and found it was all but dead beneath Rory's still sleeping form. That ought to be annoying, and yet as he looked across at his fiancee, the mother of his unborn child, Jess couldn't help but smile. Here he was with a home and a family, things a guy like him would never have thought to have a year ago, even less. It was Christmas Day, he had a couple of days off work, people around that genuinely wanted to spend the holidays with him, and above all the woman he loved was curled up beside him, smiling in her sleep. In moments like these, Jess was reminded how worthwhile it was to work so hard, to stress so much. It was so worth the effort, every second of it.

Leaning over, he softly kissed Rory's lips, his free hand gently resting on her pregnant belly. The woman he loved and the baby they made, they were his entire world, and the only gift he could think to want this Christmas.

Rory woke slowly, with a soft smile and even after sigh.

"Good morning," she said, looking up at Jess.

"Merry Christmas," he replied.

"And to you," she said, reaching a hand out to his face, kissing him again. "Mmm, you think Santa paid us a visit last night?"

"Maybe," he considered, smirking a little. "That all depends if you've been a good girl."

She giggled at his teasing, pulling him closer, finally releasing his arm that screamed with pins and needles the moment it was free. Jess winced as he shook it out.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Rory, reaching out to rub his poor arm. "You should've woken me sooner, or moved me over..."

"Doesn't matter," Jess promised her, somewhat amused when Rory seemed set on literally kissing it better.

Her lips on his skin, no matter what part of his body, just did things to him. Were it not for the fact she was more than six months pregnant at this point, and the bed wasn't quite big enough in the first place, he had no doubt they would've been all over each other when a knock came on the bedroom door. In a lot of ways it was probably better that they had barely got into the kissing when Lorelai let herself in before anybody invited her.

"Merry Christmas!" she yelled into the bedroom, dragging an awkward looking Luke behind her.

It was only when Jess reached to flip on the lamp that he realised Lorelai had a hand over her eyes, peeking ever so slightly between her fingers. Rory laughed and told her mother she was safe to look, as she pulled on the covers to ensure she and Jess were adequately covered.

"For the record, she dragged me in here," said Luke, shifting awkwardly. "I said you guys would not want to be getting up at six in the morning just because it was Christmas..."

"Luke, it's fine," Rory assured him. "Although, if you guys could give us a minute to get dressed, that might be nice."

"Clothes, yes, you need those" said Lorelai, looking down at herself. "Um, maybe I should too," she considered her own attire of a dressing gown over nightwear.

She was so used to Christmas just being her and Rory, and now with Luke she figured semi-naked was still fine, but she hadn't properly considered Jess. Her future son-in-law really didn't need a show, she supposed, and it didn't take much for a tie-up belt to come loose in the excitement of Christmas morning.

Lorelai rushed away to dress herself properly, and Luke volunteered to put on the coffee while the kids got dressed. He closed the bedroom door behind himself and Jess rolled his eyes.

"After everything, he still calls us 'you kids'," he said to Rory as she worked on levering herself out of the bed. "I swear, we'll be on social security and he'll still be saying that."

"It's sweet," said Rory definitely, moving slowly towards the closet. "Hey, do you realise, this time next year there'll be five of us for Christmas?" she grinned suddenly, one hand still on her aching back, but the other on her precious bump.

Jess smiled at that.

"Yeah, although I doubt a nine month old is going to be participating much in the events of the day," he considered.

"He'll still be here," Rory sighed happily. "That's kind of amazing to think about. Little scary too," she admitted, even as she started to sort through her rail of clothing, looking longingly at pretty dresses and tight jeans that she wouldn't be able to fit into for a good while yet, if ever again.

"Hey," said Jess, suddenly behind her in only his sweat pants. "I know it's a lot, what with the baby, looking for an apartment, plus Yale and everything, but you don't haven't be scared, Ror," he promised, kissing her hair as she leaned back into his arms. "We can do this. Together, we can do anything."

"I know," she agreed, fingers entwining with his over their son. "And today I don't want to think about any of the stressful scary stuff anyway. This is Christmas, it's a happy day, and we're going to enjoy it, okay?" she said, turning to face him.

"Deal," Jess agreed, as they shared one more kiss, before getting dressed.

"Me first! Me first!" Lorelai bounced like a kid from her place on the floor by the Christmas tree, grabbing up a gift that bore her name.

In the armchair, Luke rolled his eyes at her behaviour but couldn't keep the smile of his face as Lorelai tore into the gift he had bought for her. Rory and Jess shared the couch, curled up with their arms around each other, happy as clams just to let Lorelai be crazy for now.

"Oh my God!" the woman in question gasped, all the childish glee going out of her in a second as she marvelled at her precious gift. "Luke! This is... it's beautiful"

"Well, don't look so shocked," he teased her. "I've known you a long time, Lorelai, I think I know your taste in jewellery by now."

Her eyes welled up with tears as she pulled the jewel-studded but tasteful piece from its velvet lined box. It had to have cost quite a bit, Lorelai knew that much, and she moved closer to Luke, planting a kiss on his lips.

"Thank you so much," she said, handing over the necklace as she turned her back to her boyfriend and pulled her hair up out of the way so he could put it on for her.

Rory watched with true happiness as Luke worked the clasp and fixed the chain around Lorelai's neck, kissing her shoulder before she moved away.

"I'm glad you like it" he said softly.

"I love it, and I love you," Lorelai promised, eyes sparkling as they stared at each other.

"Geez, next gift already," said Jess, rolling his eyes, but the smile on his face proved he meant no real malice.

"Impatient boy!" Lorelai teased him, poking out her tongue as she selected the next gift from under the tree anyway. "And this is for... Rory," she smiled, handing it over. "From your lover," she winked.

Rory gasped and looked at Jess.

"Hey, we said no gifts for each other this year," she reminded him.

"No, you said no gifts for each other this year," he told her definitely. "I didn't agree to that."

"Well, then, that's a good thing," said Lorelai, looking back under the tree a moment. "Because this one says To Jess, From Rory," she grinned, handing a decidedly book-shaped gift to Jess.

He let out a scoff of laughter at Rory's gall but nevertheless started to tear the paper off his present. She followed suit, knowing they were both as bad as each other, at least they seemed to be, until she saw her own gift from Jess was no simple book or CD, nothing cheap certainly. Inside the larger box that disguised the size of the true present was a much smaller one. Before she opened it up, Rory was sure she already knew what she we would find, and yet still gasped in surprise at the sight of a ring.

"It's not much, and believe me, I know you deserve something way better than a diamond chip like that," Jess sighed. "But you would've killed me if I spent a fortune we don't have on a really pricey engagement ring."

"Jess, I told you I didn't need one at all," she reminded him.

"I know," he nodded. "But I wanted you to have one, even if it's kinda lame."

"It's not lame," she insisted, her hand at his cheek, as tears streamed down her own. "I love it. I love that you were this thoughtful. I... I love you," she told him, kissing his lips.

"Yeah, you're not so bad either," he teased her, making her laugh, their foreheads pressed together still. "Good book choice by the way," he said of the tome in his hands. "I know how it must've pained you to get me anything by good old Ernest."

"You're worth it," she promised, smiling as Jess reached to take the engagement ring from the box and pushed it onto the third finger of her left hand.

"Pretty," said Lorelai, leaning over to see.

"That's a nice ring," agreed Luke when he saw it more clearly.

Jess felt a little dumb. He meant what he said about the ring not being good enough or anything like what Rory deserved, but they had to be practical for the most part. Big flashy diamonds were not realistic, but he could afford something, and Rory had to have something.

"Who knew we were such a mushy crowd?" said Lorelai then, wiping one eye that seemed to watering furiously.

Luke reached down to pull her closer and kissed the top of her head. She was grateful for the gesture and smiled before lunging under the tree for another gift. It was no mean feat dragging out the most ridiculously large box without actually getting up off her knees. Luke was apparently amazed to realise it had his name on it.

"What did you do?" he asked Lorelai, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Well, I bought you a gift," she said simply, as if that were a sufficient answer to his question.

Rory and Jess looked on as Luke gave in and began to remove the paper from the over-sized box he had been presented with. Once he got into the gift proper, a smile came over his face and he shook his head.

"Lorelai, this is..."

"The set of pans from the shopping channel that you said looked awesome but you would never risk that amount of money on?" she filled in for him. "Yup, that would be them. I figured with the amount of cooking you do for me, and Rory and Jess too, it was only right you had the really good copper bottom, steel walled, fancy schmancy whatever pans that you like," she grinned, clearly not actually knowing what she was talking about at all.

"You... You just never cease to amaze me," Luke sighed, thanking her with a huge hug and a kiss.

"Aaaw," Rory sighed happily, tears in her eyes once again.

"Hey, would you quit that?" said Jess, hugging her closer. "You said today was a happy day," he reminded her, kissing her temple.

"I am happy," she promised, even as more tears fell.

He knew she meant it, that her hormones were going crazy and that they were in fact joyful tears she was shedding. There wasn't time to think about it anymore as Lorelai had the next gift in her hand and was holding out to the young couple.

Rory frowned a little at the sight of an envelope bearing both her name and Jess' too. The only thing giving it away as a gift was the Christmas bow stuck in one corner. Jess made a gesture for Rory to go ahead and open it on behalf of both of them, even as his eyes strayed to his uncle. Luke wouldn't meet his gaze, focused solely on Rory's hands carefully opening up the envelope. If Jess thought she had been crying before, it had nothing on the flood that happened when she saw what the gift from Luke turned out to be.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, shoving the paperwork into Jess' hands.

He read down the pages quickly and then shook his head.

"No," he said eventually. "You're not serious. Luke, this is..."

"It's your Christmas gift," he said definitely. "It's not quite official yet, there are some papers you both need to sign as well to make it complete and legally binding, but it's the real deal. The two of you, you're going to own half the diner."

Jess' mouth opened and closed several times as his eyes returned to the pages in his hands. Even Rory was having trouble forming words. She really hadn't expected anything like this at all. Her gaze landed on her grinning mother then.

"You knew about this?" she checked and Lorelai nodded madly. "But you can't keep a secret!"

"Oh, honey, it has been torture these past couple of weeks!" she declared. "But it was worth it. It was so worth it."

Jess looked up from the paperwork again. If those around him didn't know better, they would say there were tears in his eyes. There was certainly a lot of emotion rushing around inside him right now, proven by the fact he had to clear his throat twice before he found his voice to speak.

"Luke, this is... It's amazing," he admitted, swallowing hard. "But why would you do this?"

"Why wouldn't I?" he shrugged easily. "Look, someday this was always going to happen. You're my nephew, and Rory is... well, I know you have a father already, but I've always..." he tried to explain and failed miserably at it, so he gave up, sure Rory understood she was like the daughter he never had. "Anyway, one day, when I'm dead, somebody would get the diner, and I can't think of anyone but you two I would leave it too. This way, signing over half of the place now means you guys get half the profits when you need it most, for raising your son and everything," he explained "And you don't have to be tied to the place or work there all the time. I'm fine with running it for a good while yet. I mean, in an emergency, if I needed somebody to hold the fort, then that would fall to you, Jess, but for the most part you can just work shifts whenever is good for you and collect your half of the money, for your family," he smiled.

Jess was hearing the words coming out of Luke's mouth but it was tough to take them all in. The man just gave him and Rory half a diner, half of all the profits from a business he had built with his own hands. It was too much, way more than Jess could ever really deserve. He was shaking his head again without even realising it until Luke called for his attention again.

"Hey, you need this, and more than that you deserve it," he told his nephew seriously. "I'll admit, I never would've handed over half of my business to that moody seventeen year old with the smoking habit and the attitude that first came into my apartment over three years ago now," he explained. "But you've grown up, Jess, you've both grown up together. You're working hard, you're supporting each other, and... and I couldn't be prouder of any two people than I am of you two," he promised them.

"Thank you, Luke," said Rory tearfully as she levered herself up from the couch and reached out to hug him.

He got up too and held his almost-daughter carefully around her bump. Kissing the top of her head, he told her again how proud he was of her, and that he never wanted her to forget it. As he released her, Jess stepped up for his turn at thanking his uncle for his kindness, only he really didn't know where to start.

"I'm sorry," he said instead. "For all the crap I've put you through, when all you were trying to do was what was best for me," he continued, waving the paperwork in his hand as evidence of exactly that. "This is way more than I could ever deserve, I know that, but I'm gonna live up to this, I swear, I am."

"I know you will, you already are," Luke assured him, pulling him forward into a man-hug that had Lorelai crying in a second.

"Thanks, Uncle Luke," Jess whispered solemnly before they parted.

"You're welcome, kid," he assured him with a smile, making Jess want to laugh.

"Still calling me kid" he muttered to Rory as he re-joined her on the couch, and Lorelai reached under the tree for anymore gifts that remained.

"And we have two more," she said, sniffing back further tears from the sweetness of the last gift. "Both shockingly similar packages. One for me, one for you," she told Luke as she handed his over, eyes then going to Rory.

"It's not much," she apologised immediately. "And I know you said not to get anything for you guys but we couldn't just leave you giftless."

"They didn't cost a lot of money," Jess confirmed. "But hey, they say it's the thought that counts, right? Which sounds really dumb when you just gave us half a diner..."

"Hey, it is the thought that counts," said Luke definitely as he unwrapped his gift without really looking down. "I don't want you wasting money on gifts for me when you could be putting it towards food, rent, baby stuff..."

"Oh my God!" Lorelai gasped then, cutting Luke off unceremoniously.

It made him look at her and then down in his lap at whatever it was he had been unwrapping himself.

"Now isn't that something?" he said to himself, lifting up the frame that lay across his knees to get a better look.

It wasn't one picture but a collection, all in little squares and ovals, connected up in a tree, under the heading 'Our Family'. As Lorelai showed Luke her own display, he realised each one was personal. Luke's had himself, his parents, Liz, Lorelai, Rory and Jess, and right at the bottom a copy of the sonogram picture of the baby, whilst Lorelai's had her own parents and then the kids and baby picture beneath.

"It all comes apart, so we can update the pictures as the baby grows up, or as we all grow and change, or you can leave it as it is now," Rory explained. "We just thought it was a nice idea..."

"It's gorgeous, sweets," Lorelai told her immediately. "I love it."

"Me too" Luke agreed. "Very thoughtful. Very nice."

There was a brief pause that everybody needed to take in all that had just unfolded around the Christmas tree. Such wonderful gifts in all different guises, thoughtful and sweet, beautiful and emotion-inducing. Unsurprisingly when the comfortable silence was finally broken it was by Lorelai.

"Okay, so bad news, good news," she said, clearing her throat. "Bad news is I have to swing by the inn for a couple of hours, pretty much right now," she sighed, continuing quickly before anyone protested. "Good news is I left your gift there, so hey, one more happy surprise when I get back!" she smiled at both Rory and Jess.

"You left our gift at the inn?" her daughter frowned. "How did that happen?"

"It'll make way more sense when I get back," said Lorelai, getting up quickly and heading for the stairs, presumably to change into more outdoor-appropriate clothing before she headed out.

Luke busied himself with clearing up fallen gift wrap and muttered about starting on dinner. Before long he had disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Rory and Jess alone. She lifted her left hand to gaze a moment and smiled.

"I love my ring," she said definitely. "You really shouldn't've spent money on something so frivolous, but it's so pretty and you're so sweet, I just can't be mad," she declared, kissing Jess' cheek.

"That's good, because if you were gonna be mad at me for a ring, you'd have to be furious at Luke," he said, staring once again at the paperwork proclaiming the diner was to be in joint names, half owned by himself and Rory.

"Kinda crazy," she nodded, looking down at the contract too. "But you have to admit, it's going to help us a lot."

Jess had to agree with that. This was maybe the best gift he had ever been given, unless you counted him getting Rory back and them having a son together, which was a different kind of gift, of course. Honestly, he was pretty sure it was going to take more than a little while to wrap his head around all this, how Luke could be so generous, how he could possibly be worthy of such an opportunity. In the end, Jess supposed he should just thank whatever deity or angel or whatever the heck else might be up there watching over him for doing just that. He had never felt so blessed as he did right now.

To Be Continued...