A few minutes later the door shut and Rory laid her head against the pillow. Her thoughts piled in her mind as she thought about Jess...her, and possibly a pregnancy. The house was quiet right now with Jess gone and her just resting on the couch. Her thoughts strayed back to a child...her child...no, their child, laying in a pink bassinet right by the couch. What would she look like? Who would she look like? Rory shook her head, was this baby a she now? Poking her head up in the direction of the kitchen, Rory sat up, the room spinning before her--just at the small movements she made. In fact she would have to wait until Jess came home before she even proceeded to get up from this couch to call her mother.

Heart beating quickly, Rory laid back down on the couch with a relentless sigh. In fact as she laid there she was thinking of a growing list of things that she should be doing...for work, for the house...and Jess. Today was their anniversary and she had been planning to surprise him with an absolutely delicious meal that she knew that he would have never expected. One, because he knew that if he had ever let her touch the stove, she might burn something. Two, most of her life had been filled with takeout food, and lots of it. Three, what he didn't know now though is that she had taken a bunch of food courses over the past few months in order to make a simple but delicate meal just for the two of them.

In fact she had gone grocery shopping last night after Jess had fallen asleep. The past few days he had been working on a follow up novel to the first one that was now going on shelves in the coming week or so...and he had worn himself out to the bone in order to dish out the first three chapters of his next novel. She had never seen him work so hard, but when inspiration hit him he just went at it with everything that he had. And that was the last of her thoughts as she drifted out to sleep with a smile on her face.

And that's where he found her a half an hour later as he closed the door quietly behind him. Grocery bags in hand, he went right past her and set the groceries onto the table. Unpacking them, he embraced the quiet atmosphere of their house. He focused on the baby doll face and the quiet whimpers and cries of a child...his child. Digging through the bags until he had found the pregnancy test, he set it down onto the table at easy reach before putting the other items in their right places. Orange juice, milk, 7-Up--into the fridge. Crackers, soup and pudding--into the cupboard.

He cleared the table of all the empty bags, sticking them underneath the sink in a brown paper bag. The only thing left was the box with the pregnancy test in it. This was going to be the result of what they were both wondering now... was there a baby in their future? Or was this something else? Either result that they got would be the life changing. Although bringing up a child would always bring new lessons, if it were sickness such as cancer, he didn't know if he could cope.

For sickness or for health... The vows they had taken three years ago... then it hit him...the one thing that he had forgotten when he had been at the store were some flowers for Rory. He had been planning on stopping at the new flower shop that they had opened in the store while he was there, but the lines were long enough that he had walked right out the door with the groceries in his hand.

Grabbing the keys from his pocket, Jess went out the back way into the garage and opened the door. It was no use walking back the other way in possibility that it would wake up Rory. And as much as he didn't like parking in the driveway, he had promised Rory that he wouldn't park his car on his side, until he had gone through everything on the shelf on his side. Man had that become a disaster area.

Unlocking his car, he got in and closed the garage door with the click of the opener before backing down the short driveway. It seemed like it took less time to get back to the store then it took to get back home with the groceries. His strides had gotten longer as he walked across the parking lot and through the first two doors, making a sharp left as he strolled into the flower shop. It took another several minutes before he had found the right bouquet of flowers that Rory might like, and again he was out the door and back home in a matter of minutes. World record in his books.

When he walked back into the house, through the garage of course, the house was still silent. That only meant one thing; Rory was still most likely sound asleep. Good. At this point she needed all the rest that she could get. That and he could use the element of surprise in his favor. Like a quiet jack of cards. Smiling he found an empty vase and set them on the counter. Taking out the card next he wrote a short message, that he loved her and that he was glad that she was his wife--and that together they would continue to celebrate life together, no matter what happened--then sealed the envelope, wrote her name on the front and stuck the envelope between the flowers.

He hoped this would cheer her up some after she had gotten some rest. It wasn't just him who had been busy lately. Rory had been working endlessly on articles for the paper she worked for. In fact they hadn't been expecting for quite awhile for Rory to become an editor for the newspaper. But she had and seemingly everything was falling into place. And they had both been tired and exhausted lately--which didn't leave much time for the two of them being together.

Except for earlier last week when they had caught a minute to show their love to one another--to talk--it wasn't like they hadn't talked, but it had been limited. For the past few months he had been home writing while she had gone to work and then she would come home at five to which he would make dinner for the two of them. But one night they took it a step further. Funny what too much wine can do to a person.

"Jess?" Rory's voice trailed from the living room into the kitchen. Quickly he scooped up the box from the table and walked into the living room where Rory was laying against her pillow. Her cheeks were a nice rosy color and her eyes were filled with a cloud of sleepiness.

"Feeling any better?" Brushing his hand against her forehead he slyly checked to see if she had a fever as he brushed away a few stray hairs from her eyes.

"Not really. My head feels like it's spinning like a wheel--or more like a Ferris wheel if you want to get down to the very details." She joked quietly, closing her eyes then reopening them. And although her cheeks showed slight color, her face was still pale.

"That's why I bought you soup, 7-up...pudding"

"Soup, Jess?" She offered him a sleepy smile, snuggling into the couch. "I've heard that pregnant woman want real food." Teasing him, she closed her eyes again. Was it possible to keep her eyes open more than a few minutes at a time? Prying her eyes open she gazed at him for his reaction.

"Well I can cook you some real food if you can keep down what I give you..because right now even eggs are the enemy in your books."

Smiling, she rolled carefully to her right side. "Speaking of books, when do I get to read this finished novel of yours?" Poking him lightly in the chest, her fingers shook. Seeing this he wrapped them lightly in his before setting them softly on the couch.

"When you're able to stand, and keep down a whole meal."

"Deal."

"... But first lets see what that pregnancy test says so we know what we're dealing with." He held out his hand taking hers carefully and brought her to an upright level, slowly. Wrapping his arms around hers he led her to the bathroom, sat her down on the closed toilet seat before going to get the pregnancy test. By the time five minutes had passed, they had the results that they were looking for. Helping Rory stand, they looked at the results of the stick together. And It took a moment for them to wrap their heads around the fact that--after looking at the box--they found they were looking at another positive sign of pregnancy.

A swirl of emotions circled around them; time seemed to slow as they took in every breath. There was confusion, anxiousness, happiness...then back to confusion. They hardly knew what to expect, how to completely react...and yet they knew nothing much about pregnancy except for what they had learned while in high school. Even now, that had seemed like it had been a long time. Okay it had been a long time, and yet the last pregnancy had been subjected to was her mother's pregnancy. Not to mention that he or she would be joining in some way, Jess' and her siblings; April, Gigi, Doula, and William.