Okay, so this took longer than I expected, and it's shorter than normal, but I had to get something out. Hope you guys enjoy.
Thanks to those who reviewed. You rule.
I don't own the Gilmore Girls. Pinkie swear.
Chapter seventeen - Keep Rolling
"Why don't you wear a suit everyday?" Lydia asked Jess as he walked into the sitting room, straightening his tie.
"I'm not a dork?" He grinned, sitting down beside her.
"I know," she smiled, brushing invisible lint from his shoulder, "but you suit a suit. You should get a job where you have to wear a suit everyday."
"See, I like my job for exactly the reason that I don't have to wear a suit." He smirked, leaning in to kiss her.
"'Kay, you've knocked her up already. You can stop with the PDA." Lily told them as she walked into the room.
"It's not really public, Lil, when we're in our own house." Jess smirked.
"Whatever. Get up I wanna take your picture." Lily smiled, waving her camera at them. "It's like prom tradition."
"No." Lydia shook her head. "I already feel like I'm in an episode of 'Teen Mom'."
"Just let me take the picture." Lily snapped a photo of the two sitting down.
"I wasn't ready!" Lydia exclaimed.
"Well then, get up!" Lily laughed as Jess helped Lydia to her feet. "Smile." Lily commanded.
"All that's missing is the limo and a giant corsage." Lydia grumbled when Lily had taken the photo, just as a car horn sounded outside the house. Lily looked out the window and let out a laugh. "I wouldn't go outside then." She smiled and ran out of the room.
"Why?" Lydia crossed the room and glanced out the window. "Oh jeez." She groaned and followed Lily and Jess outside.
"What is this?" She asked as Rory got out of the limo parked outside of the house. "We don't need a limo to chaperon prom."
"I know," Rory smiled, "but blame my grandpa. He decided we need to travel in style."
"Oh lord. Well, it can drop us a block away and we'll walk the rest. I'm so mortified." Lydia rubbed her temple.
"Oh, Red, here." Simon handed Lydia a white corsage. "I figured Jess wouldn't get you one."
"She didn't want one, man." Jess laughed as tears formed in Lydia's eyes.
"That's it. I'm staying home. Sweats and a pint of ice cream. You guys have fun." Lydia turned and started to walk back up the porch steps.
"Hey." Jess ran after her, running his hand down her arm. "What's wrong? You were looking forward to tonight."
"I know." Lydia nodded, brushing a tear away. "But, I dunno. I look so fat."
"You look amazing."
Lydia sniffed. "You're lying."
"I swear to you, I'm not. Madam Onassis ain't got nothing on you." Jess smirked down at her.
"Rod Stewart?" She laughed.
"Well I think he never should have left The Faces, but you and Peanut love him." Jess pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You've never looked sexier."
"That's not true."
"Trust me." Jess whispered. "Besides, we can't go without you. You're the only one who works at the school."
"That's true. Though, Mark Dawson will be there. I had to get another faculty member to go, and I forgot I'd roped him in when I first found out. He's new. You swear I don't look stupid."
"I swear." Jess smiled. "So, ready to go to prom?" He grinned, holding out his arm for her.
"I guess." She sighed. "But I don't expect to have fun."
"Noted." Jess laughed, as the walked to the limo to meet the others. "Lil, behave. Don't burn the place down."
"'Cause I plan on lighting fires. Have a good time!" She waved as the limo pulled away.
"I can't believe you made us walk the last block." Rory laughed, watching as the seniors of Fort William entered the ball room of the hotel.
"I can't believe you let your grandfather hire a limo." Rory glared.
"I didn't have prom." Rory shrugged. "And he wanted to do something nice."
Lydia sighed and glanced at Rory. "It would have been, if I weren't so pregnant. You know, crazy."
"It's fine. And you are crazy, because you look fabulous. I'm jealous."
"Why? You look like a goddess." Lydia gestured to Rory's nude cocktail dress. "I look like your lowly handmaiden, out of place at the ball."
"You do not." Rory nudged her as Mathew joined them.
"You two okay?"
"Yeah." Rory nodded, slipping her arm through his.
"Lyds?"
"I'm fine Math." Lydia smiled as the DJ started to play The Black Eye Peas 'I got a Feeling'.
"You wanna dance?" Rory glanced at Lydia.
"What? We can't dance. It's not our prom."
"Lydia, you love this song. Come on, we're dancing. You can show these kids how it's done."
"Fine." Lydia rolled her eyes as Rory took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.
"Wha are they doing?" Jess grinned as he joined Mathew.
"Dancing." Mathew laughed, "And, oh God, they've roped in Simon."
"Poor guy." Jess smirked as Chris joined his friends.
"Where did we find those three?" Chris shook his head, watching as the group shouted 'Mazeltov'.
"If you think about it, it's all Mathew's fault." Jess grinned, glad that Lydia was having fun.
"Excuse me, how is it my fault?"
"You were friends with Lydia before I ever dated her." Jess shrugged.
"And she introduced me to Simon." Chris added.
Mathew frowned and then turned to Jess. "Yeah well, Rory was your, well she was your-"
"Ex?" Jess cut in, smirking.
"Yeah. So that's on you."
"Fine. You're still shouldering two thirds of the blame here."
"I still don't understand how Si is my fault."
"Technically he's Lydia's fault." Jess explained, "But, as we discussed, Lyds is your fault, so, by extension, so is Simon."
And he gets off scott free?" Mathew pointed at Chris.
"Hey! I didn't bring anyone into the group."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to like Simon." Mathew pointed out.
"And you didn't have to like Rory!" Chris countered.
"And Jess screwed up by sleeping with Lydia." Mathew smirked.
Jess laughed and shook his head. "Lyds would have been here regardless, so that's a moot point."
"True." Mathew frowned. "Can I ask a question? We love those three idiots, right?"
"Yeah." Chris agreed and Jess nodded once.
"So why the hell are we arguing about this? I mean think about how we were before them. Sullen, sarcastic, man whore. And that was just Jess."
"Thanks man." Jess lightly punched Mathew in the shoulder.
"So you're saying that we're better now we have them in our lives?" Chris gestured to the three in the middle of the dance floor, dancing to a Katy Perry song.
Mathew nodded, smiling. "Yeah."
"Yeah." Jess agreed, less enthusiastically. "That's bad. Those three are..."
"Insane?" Chris supplied.
"Yeah, insane." Jess nodded. "I need a drink."
"Here." Mathew handed Jess a small silver flask from his inside pocket.
"Sláinte." Jess raised the flask before taking a sip.
"Yeah, just don't tell Lydia."
"Hey Ms. M!"
Lydia turned to find two seniors from her AP class standing beside her. "Hey girls. You both look beautiful."
"So do you." The taller of the two smiled.
"Thank you Marcy. But you don't have to say that."
"But it's true! Both me and Tyler think so."
"Yeah." Tyler nodded. "You look like one of those pregnant celebrities, except better. 'Cause you're real."
"Okay. Thank you very much Tyler." Lydia grinned.
"We also wanted to say that we're really glad that you were chosen to be the faculty chaperon. You're cooler than every other teacher. And you roped in Mr Dawson, who's like the hottest teacher at the school. And those guys you brought? Gorgeous! I mean who's that fox over there?" Marcy nodded over Lydia's shoulder.
"Fox? You girls been watching 'Footloose'?" Lydia laughed before glancing over her shoulder. "Oh." She looked back at the girls. "That's Jess." She smiled back at Jess, who was filling two glasses of punch. "My husband."
"That's Mr. M?" Marcy's jaw dropped and Lydia nodded.
"That kid's gonna be gorgeous!" Tyler pointed at Lydia's bump.
"Thanks. Glad you approve."
"And he's a writer, right?" Marcy continued. "God, I'd love to end up with someone like that. You're so lucky Ms. M."
"I think so."
"He's coming back. We'll leave you to it. See you later." Tyler waved.
"Yeah, later!" Marcy linked her friends arm.
"Bye girls." Lydia smiled as Jess reached her side, handing her a glass of punch.
"Who was that?" He nodded at the girl's retreating backs.
"Couple of students. They think Peanut's gonna be gorgeous."
"I second that." Jess grinned, wrapping his arm around her waist.
Lydia leaned into the embrace, her hand running along Jess' arm "Really? 'Cause the girls thought that because of you." She smiled, lifting her head to place a kiss on Jess' jaw.
"Ms. Mariano." They were interrupted by a clipped voice.
"Scarlett." Lydia smiled at the short brunette in front of them. "What can I do for you?"
"Are you prepared?"
"Prepared? For what?" Lydia smiled.
Scarlett's eyes widened in shock. "For your presentation."
"Presentation?"
"Ms. Mariano. You are aware that the faculty chaperons always does a presentation. A skit usually, to say goodbye to the senior class."
"I didn't know!" Lydia cried.
"I left you a memo three weeks ago."
"I didn't get it!"
"And I checked with Mr. Dawson on Friday and he said it was under control."
"What?" Lydia glanced at Jess, who was holding his hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh.
""You're on in twenty minutes. You better remember what you're doing in that time." Scarlett turned on her on heel and walked off.
"Wow, she was intense." Jess smirked.
"Yeah. I gotta go sort this out." Lydia kissed his cheek.
"Go, I'll be around."
"Mark!" Lydia found her co-worker at the other side of the room with a tall woman in a blue dress.
"Lydia, have you met my girlfriend Terri?"
"No, it's nice to meet you." Lydia smiled. "Mark, I was just cornered by Scarlett Parker, who told me I have a presentation to give, a skit possibly, and you told her on Friday it was all sorted."
"It is." He nodded, grinning.
"How? I know nothing!"
"Yeah, you're going to be singing."
"Okay, I can do that. Why not just tell me?"
"The whole senior year, bar Scarlett Parker, who is as out of the loop as you are, has been voting for what song they want you to sing."
"Why? I'll sing anything."
"They asked that freshman that lives with you-"
"Lily? She's my sister, sort of. What did they ask?"
"If you would sing. She told them you loved singing and at karaoke, you like someone else picking the song. So they voted. You'll find out now." Mark smiled, nodding to the stage where Scarlett was asking the two teachers to join her. "Act surprised when you get up there."
"Hi guys!" Mark said when he reached the stage. "As you all know, you've all been voting for your graduation song, which is also going to be sung by Ms. Mariano, as a goodbye from the faculty. She didn't know you guys did this, but Ms. M. you should know that the graduating class of 2010 did this as a gift. They heard you love blind karaoke and they wanted to do something for their favourite teacher. You won the poll. Congratulations."
"What?" Lydia looked from Mark to the sea of seniors who were all cheering. She spotted her friends at the back of the hall, Rory giving her the thumbs up, the boys waving and Jess standing with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. "Thank you guys, but I'm reserving judgement until I hear this song." Lydia grinned and the music started. "Greenday? Seriously?"
"It's a classic!" A boy yelled from the floor.
"I know." Lydia nodded. "They played it at my prom too." She smiled before clearing her throat to sing. "A turning point, a fork stuck in the road."
"I always forget how good your voice is." Rory told Lydia on their way home.
"One day I'll have sang so much, you'll never forget." Lydia laughed, putting her head on Jess' shoulder.
"The kids loved it too. I saw a bunch of them crying."
"You saw through your own tears?" Mathew asked Rory, causing her to glare at him.
"It was beautiful."
"Thanks Rory." Lydia said, hitting Mathew with her purse as the limo pulled up out Jess and Lydia's house.
"This is us Lyds." Jess opened the door. "Night guys." He told his friends as Lydia gave each of them a peck on the cheek goodnight.
"See you later." She waved and then closed the car door. "I had fun." She told Jess, slipping an arm around his waist, as they walked up to the door.
"Better than sweats and ice cream?"
"Much." She sighed, pressing a kiss onto his chest. "But now I need to sleep."
"Lydia?" Rory called out as she entered the foyer of the Mariano's the following Saturday.
"Kitchen!" the reply came and Rory followed the voice.
"What are you doing?" Rory came to a standstill as she entered the kitchen.
"She's baking." Lily looked up from her novel. Both the kitchen and Lydia were covered in flour, Lydia in a pink apron, with a wooden spoon in her hand and a bowl of batter in front of her.
"You let this happen?" Rory sat her bag beside the teenager.
"I haven't the power."
"Lydia, what happened?"
Lydia looked up from her mixing bowl and gave Rory a small smile, before bursting into tears. "I was watching Nigella. She's always cooking for her kids. The only thing I can do is order takeout. Peanut's going to starve! I have to learn how to bake cookies and cake too!" She gestured to the batter with her spoon.
"Okay, Lyds, put the spoon sweetie. Put it down." Rory smiled as Lydia did as she was told. "First of all, Jess is an amazing cook. Peanut won't starve. And from what I hear, you make the best breakfasts. And you know, you can always just buy cookies and cake."
"That's true." Lydia nodded as the door bell rang.
"I'll get it." Lily sat down her book and jumped off the stool to answer the door.
"Let's get you cleaned up." Rory smiled, brushing some flour out of Lydia's fringe as Lily came back into the kitchen.
"Lil, who was at the door?" Lydia asked, brushing flour of her sleeve before looking up and seeing her brother standing beside Lily. "Jamie? What are you doing here?"
"What happened you? You look like you've been tricked at Halloween." Jamie crossed the room to his sister.
"It's nothing. Hormonal pregnancy freak out. I'm fine. Why are you here?"
"I got a letter this morning."
"A letter. And you drove three hours from New Haven to tell me that?"
"Here." Jamie handed her a small white envelope. Lydia glanced down at it and then back up a Jamie.
"John Hopkins?"
"Yeah." Jamie sighed, nodding.
"You didn't open it?"
"No, we opened everything together. Stanford, Yale. We need to..."
"Right." Lydia smiled. "Here-" She went to hand him the letter but he stopped her.
"No, you."
"You sure? It's your-"
"No, I want you to." Jamie smiled.
"You know what's going on?" Rory whispered to Lily.
Lily shook her head. "No. I got John Hopkins and then lost."
"Okay." Lydia smiled, sliding her forefinger under the seal of the envelope and ripping it open. She pulled out the letter and read it aloud. "Dear Mr. Murphy, we are pleased to inform you-oh my god! You got in! You got in!" She yelled in delight, throwing her arms around Jamie. "Oh, I got flour on you!"
"I don't care!" Jamie laughed. "Are you sure. I'm definitely in?"
"Yes!" Lydia handed him the letter so he could see for himself. "You're going to your dream school kid."
"I know. Wow." Jamie ran a hand through his hair.
"Hey, Jamie, congrats. That's amazing." Lily reached up to give him a hug.
"Thanks kiddo." Jamie smiled, ruffling her hair.
"Get off!" She laughed, squirming out of his reach. "I'm going to meet Sam, we're going for dinner, so I'll see you later." Lily headed to the door picking up her bag and keys as she went.
"Samantha? Friend?" Jamie asked his sister.
"Samuel. Boyfriend. And don't give me that look, you were dating at thirteen."
"No, I thought she was dating that Ryan kid."
"Oh lord, you are behind. He was about seven boys ago. Right?" Lydia asked Rory.
"At least." Rory confirmed. "Congratulations Jamie. John Hopkins is a great school."
"Thanks Rory."
"Okay, let me go get cleaned up and we'll go celebrate." Lydia stood up and untied her apron.
"Oh wow." Jamie gasped. "I never realised with you sitting down, but you're massive. All bump."
"I'm nearly six months pregnant. What did you expect? And you're really going to have to work on your bedside manner." Lydia swatted his arm as she walked by.
"Yeah, okay. I'm gonna go call Abby. She's working and made me promise to call her as soon as the letter was opened."
"Well I won't be long. Rory, can you call the boys? Tell we're celebrating and to close up shop and meet us at Empire?"
"Sure." Rory lifted her cell phone and then shooed Lydia. "Go."
"To my little brother," Lydia held up her Shirley Temple, "the best thing to happen to the medical world since George Clooney."
"Not a real doctor Lyds." Jess smirked.
"Don't care." Lydia smiled. "To Jamie."
"To Jamie." Everyone chorused after her.
"I'm so proud of you." She told her brother when sat back down.
"I know. But you know I'd be nowhere without you."
"That's completely true. You're amazing. And you're gonna be the best mom. You were to me."
"Shut up, you're going to make me cry." Lydia hugged him as his phone rang.
"That's Abby."
"Go, talk to her." Lydia smiled and turned back to face Jess.
"You okay?" He rubbed his thumb across her cheek.
"Yeah, just proud of him."
"All grown up, huh?"
"Yeah, but we've still Lil. And eighteen years with this one." She grinned rubbing her bump.
"Eighteen years. That's terrifying."
"No." She shook her head, leaning in to kiss him. "It's amazing."
"Amazing." Jess agreed.
Review and make my day? I've love you forever.