A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful friend Jordana (aka jordana60) on the occasion of her birthday. Hope it's a good one, honey! :) I told her a long time ago that I would find a way to make her (or more specifically, her name) part of one of my GG 'verses, and this is how I did it ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

8. What's in a Name? - 30th September 2007

"This has to be the best and worst part of having kids all rolled into one!"

Rory declared it with such gusto that Jess had a hard time not laughing. Besides, she was the one sat on her behind with a book in her hands right now, whilst he was up a ladder painting walls, again.

"I mean, naming a child of your own, it's such a big deal. You're giving them a part of their identity and that's special but also so nerve-wracking because what if you choose wrong?" Rory continued to complain.

"We did okay with Jack."

"That's true."

"I figured since this one is a girl you'd just wanna name her Lorelai the Third."

He was only half-kidding and Rory probably wouldn't realise since she couldn't see him smirking for as long as he faced the wall.

"Fourth actually," she told him, poking out her tongue when he did look her way, still in full-on smirk mode. "Grandpa's mom was the first Lorelai."

"I stand corrected," he said, nodding once and moving to continue with his work.

"But I don't wanna name her Lorelai anyway. You didn't want Jack to be called Jess."

"That's a little different."

"Not really. You think kids don't make comments about a name like Lorelai?"

"At least nobody questioned your gender."

"And when I started going by Rory?"

"Again, I stand corrected," Jess noted, wondering why he ever did bother to argue with his wife at all. "So, you seemed pretty stuck on Jack being a J after me and Jimmy. How about an L or an R for our daughter?"

Rory gave that due consideration.

"It's an idea," she said, flipping the baby names book towards first the Ls and then after that the Rs.

She read aloud a whole bunch of names beginning with both letters, making faces at most of them, and all out 'ick' noises at some. Jess tried not to be amused and concentrated mostly on his painting. Honestly, he wasn't too worried about naming their daughter. He figured Rory would pick something and so long as he didn't hate it for some reason he would just agree and everyone would be happy. A name wouldn't change who their little girl was or would become, so it mattered very little to him.

"Maybe another J," said Rory eventually, flipping pages. "Jane, Janet, Jeannie... Jessica?"

Jess turned to narrow his eyes at her, knowing from the way she giggled that she was deliberately teasing him.

"Jewel, Jolie... Ooh, Jordana!" she suddenly gasped. "Jordana Mariano. I like that."

That time Jess didn't turn around to glare, because he knew Rory wouldn't understand if he did. Instead he took a different approach to showing his distaste.

"Doesn't really work," he said vaguely, putting all his effort into keeping the peach coloured paint on the wall and off the ceiling. "You sure you even wanna go with another J?"

"I like it," Rory repeated. "Jordana. It's pretty. You don't think so?"

Jess squirmed, she could see it even from watching his back.

"It's nice enough," he admitted, heaving a sigh, knowing there was no getting out of this without lying, which he would not do. "I just... I could use not having a daughter with that name is all."

"Because?" Rory prompted when he said no more.

Jess came down the ladder, wiping his hands on a rag, and sat down near the bottom of the steps facing his wife.

"I used to know a girl named Jordana, a couple of lifetimes ago," he said with a smirk he couldn't help. "We were twelve, maybe thirteen. She lived with her dad, a couple of apartments away from me and Liz, and when things got rough we'd hang out in each other's places, or just head out into town together."

"You were good friends," said Rory with a smile, that expression slipping in the next moment when she realised this story couldn't end happily, or Jess wouldn't have such an aversion to the name.

"We were," said Jess, nodding his head, "and then after a little while we were... more than friends," he said with a look, watching Rory's eyes get wider. "Blame it on the bad parenting, two thirteen year olds deciding to experiment, looking for a little happiness? I don't know. It didn't last, obviously. Her dad got busted for possession and distribution a couple of weeks later, and Jordana got shipped off to her aunt in Arkansas. Never saw or heard from her again."

He wasn't even looking at her, and Rory couldn't figure out why. Because he was sad and didn't want her to see it. Because he was talking about an ex and thought she might be jealous. Because he was confessing to her what his first time had been, a thing she had wondered about several times over the years but never quite asked. The whole of Jess' childhood had been filled with pain and trauma. Rory let him be and only listened when he chose to tell her things. She didn't ask a lot of questions because it didn't seem fair. She certainly hadn't been expecting this.

"Wow," she said eventually. "So, yeah. Not calling our daughter Jordana."

"Well, we never would've called our son Dean," he pointed out the obvious parallel.

Jess hadn't really looked at her when he spoke. The truth was he was only seeing the pictures in his mind's eye, scenes that seemed like they were out of a movie of someone else's life, or at the very least from a million years ago. He hadn't thought of Jordana in so long, and now he had, he wondered whatever happened to her. All Jess could really hope was that she was happy now. Somehow he wasn't so sure.

"Ror, don't," he said when he suddenly looked and realised her heavily pregnant self was right there in front of him, reaching for an awkward hug. "You're gonna mess up your clothes."

"I don't care," she declared, making a big deal of hugging him as close as she could. "I love you, Jess Mariano. I may not have been the first woman in your life, but I plan on being the last."

"You're the only woman I could ever love this much," he promised, kissing her face, then her pregnant belly when she straightened up. "Except for maybe this one," he said, patting her bump affectionately.

"This one still needs a name," she said with a heavy sigh.

Jess rolled his eyes and picked the book out of her hand, flipping the pages. He wasn't even looking at what he was doing as he chose a completely random page and held it up in front of Rory.

"This page," he declared.

"Ooh, Vs. Interesting," she said, taking the book and returning to her chair as she read out a few names that might work. "Valerie, Vanessa, Vera, Victoria... Hmm, that's my mom's middle name."

"Victoria?" Jess checked, sure that was right. "You like it?"

"I actually do." Rory smiled. "Victoria Mariano."

"Victoria Lorelai Mariano," Jess suggested, sure she would appreciate the idea.

He was rewarded by one of the biggest grins ever seen on her face.

"That's perfect."

"There you go," he said, smiling back at her. "She has a name."

"Victoria Lorelai Mariano," Rory echoed, her hand resting on her pregnant belly just as the little one inside decided to kick. Rory laughed.

"I think she likes it too."