Rory stared disbelievingly at the ring before her. She was stunned. She couldn't speak; she didn't know what to say. She looked up at Jess, at the look in his eyes. She could almost hear him, silently pleading with her to say yes. She wanted to say yes, she wanted to make him happy. She looked back at the ring. A diamond is forever, the stone reminded her. Forever, like marriage would be. She wanted to say no, she wanted to tell him she loved him but not in a forever kind of way.

The silence stretched on and finally Jess spoke again. "It's alright. You don't have to answer me now. This is a big deal. Take your time," he told her but she knew he didn't mean it.

Rory didn't know what to do. Was there enough between them to last a life time? Was he her forever? Was there someone out there whom she could love more? Someone who could make her heart skip a beat whenever she saw him?

Logan's "get lost in me" chocolate brown eyes and his knee weakening smirk flashed before her eyes. Yes, he could make her heart skip a beat but he wasn't an option anymore. He had left her and Jess had been the one to help her move on. He had been the one to give her the courage to get her life back on track. Without even knowing it he had gotten her out of her grandparent's house and back in school. Without even knowing it he had helped dull the ache that Logan had left in her heart. He had saved her twice. Rory owed Jess everything, she owed him her forever.

"No," she said.

Jess's smile died and his eyes dimmed, his posture fell but he held the tears back. "It's OK, I understand."

"No!" Rory said again, more adamantly this time.

"Alright already, I get it," he told her angrily, standing up.

"Wait, Jess!" Rory grabbed onto his hand. "You don't get it. I didn't mean 'no, I won't marry you.' I meant 'no, I don't need to take my time.'"

"Oh…oh so that means…" Jess's face lit up again.

"Uh huh," Rory smiled and nodded at him.

Jess, still holding onto Rory's hand from when she had grabbed him, pulled her up. He looked into her eyes for a moment before pulling her into a kiss.

It was a good kiss, Rory had to admit but she found herself thinking that a moment like this should be better than just good. A moment like this should be the most romantic, most passionate moment of her life. This kiss should have been mind blowingly amazing. She'd had mind blowingly amazing before. The night Logan had climbed through her window the first time they'd had sex. His touch had sent shivers up her spine and the feel of his lips on hers had made her head tingle; her whole body had been screaming for him. The night of Finn's birthday party was up there too. She had wanted to rip his robe off right there in the middle of the party. Stopping that kiss had taken every ounce of her strength. She'd had mind blowingly amazing before but that was in the past, from now on she'd have to settle for good.

"I need to call my Mom and tell her the good news," Rory smiled brightly at Jess as they walked into their apartment several hours later.

"Of course you do," Jess said knowingly; Rory shared everything with her mother and name sake, Lorelai Gilmore. "Do you want to go out and celebrate tonight? I can call up and make us some reservations while you're on the phone."

"I think we should stay in and celebrate," Rory gave him a wink.

"I like that plan," Jess said. "Go! Call you're Mom. I'll take care of dinner," he gave her a quick kiss and walked into the kitchen.

Rory sat down on the couch and pulled out her phone.

"Did you know that if you shoot at an alligator it'll just bounce right off of them? You could lose an eye that way. You'd have to spend the rest of your life walking around with an eye patch and a parrot." Lorelai's voice chirped through the phone

"Darn it, now how am I going to get rid of the monstrous reptile living in my bath tub without having to turn pirate?" Rory joked

"Arrr! I Guess you'll just have to do it the old fashioned way, matey, and wrastle him to the death," Lorelai told her daughter mockingly.

"I told you to stop watching Animal Planet Mom, everything on there grosses you out." The younger Gilmore scolded playfully.

"Not everything, sometimes they have America's Funniest Pets on. There's nothing more fun than watching a border collie ride a unicycle. Besides, Paul Anka finds it soothing." Lorelai argued.

"Fine, do what you want. You will anyway. But when you start having nightmares about mating hyenas, don't call me."

"Fine, I won't…So kiddo, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" Lorelai asked.

"Actually, I have some really good news I wanted to share with you," Rory began.

"Good news? For me? I feel special. Ooh did Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban break up because that would be good news. I mean, I love Luke and all but Keith is my soul mate."

"Well Keith can wait until after my big news."

"Fine," Lorelai pouted. "What's your big news?"

"Jess and I…" Rory paused for a moment. "…are getting married."

"Really? Oh Rory, that's amazing. I'm so happy for you. I want you to be happy. You're happy right?" Lorelai asked.

"What? Why wouldn't I be happy?" Rory asked her mom.

"No reason," Lorelai told her.

"What?" Rory asked pointedly.

"What 'what'?"

"What do you want to say? I know there's something," Rory prodded her mother, she could read the older woman like a book and she knew her mom was holding back.

"I just want to make sure you're sure, that's all," Lorelai told her daughter, innocently.

"Is this a problem with Jess? Because I thought you liked him now."

"I do, I do like him kiddo. He's grown into really great guy. Besides, this isn't about how I feel about him; this is how about how you feel about him."

"And I feel good about him, so what's the problem?" Rory asked.

"Only good?"

"Stop that! This is my happy news; you're supposed to be happy for me," Rory said, flabbergasted.

"I am happy for you, kid. I said I was happy for you. Am I not allowed to ask if you're happy?" Lorelai replied.

"You implied that I wasn't happy. Why would you think I wouldn't be happy?"

"It's nothing it's just…"

"Just what?" Rory asked.

"It's just that I never really thought you talked about Jess in a 'madly in love, want to spend the rest of your lives together' kind of way. But I'm probably way off on this. You say you're happy and I believe you. I never get to see you any more; my maternal instincts are probably just on the fritz."

"That must be it because I am happy and I do want to marry Jess," Rory told her mother with more certainty than she felt.

"Well then, in that case I'm thinking summer wedding…."

"Oh. My. God!" Rory's friend Sue had spotted her engagement ring from across the news room and come running over. The eye that girl had for jewelry was amazing. She could spot the back of an earring in a shaggy rug in 2 seconds flat. "How could you not have told me about this?" she asked incredulously. "I'm supposed to be your best friend. When did it happen? How did he ask you? Was it romantic? I bet it was romantic," Sue swooned.

"Calm down, it only happened on Saturday," Rory assured her.

"Saturday? But today is Monday. That's two whole days." Sue complained, pushing her red hair behind her ear to get a better look at the ring.

"Actually, it's one day and two nights," Rory corrected. Sue looked up and gave Rory a scowl.

"This is a nice ring," Sue said, her eyes back on Rory's left hand. "Jess's book store must being doing pretty well. Maybe you should set me up with one of his partners," she suggested playfully.

"I'm sure Tim would love that," Rory said, referring to her best friend's boyfriend.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about him." The red headed girl grinned.

"I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear that," Rory told her.

"Seriously though, I'm so excited for you. We need to start planning your wedding right away. We should start looking at dresses. Oh, you'll look so beautiful all dressed in white with a poofy crinoline skirt and long satiny train. Oh, I can't wait," Sue gushed

"Seriously, between you and my mom I won't have to plan a thing for this wedding. She's already decided on a summer wedding and you've picked out my dress. Just tell me when to show up and point me towards the church," Rory told her friend.

"Really, a church wedding? Because I was thinking an outdoor ceremony might be nice."

"Oh come on," Rory sighed. "Don't I get to make any decisions?"

"Not, if I have anything to say about it." Sue smiled.

Rory smiled back. It was good that someone was excited about this wedding. Rory wanted to be excited, she really wanted to but she just wasn't. She wasn't second guessing herself of regretting her decision, she didn't really feel much about it one way or another. Maybe some of Sue's enthusiasm would rub off on her. She was going to be a blushing bride after all; she should be the happiest girl in the world. And Rory was happy; she was marrying one of her best friends. So maybe she wasn't the happiest girl in the whole world, but that didn't mean she was making a mistake. Did it?