A/N: Sorry, I know this is late and not that great but stuff is going on, term's started again so I'm trying to brain while on pain meds and life is just .way. At all times. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Reviews are love :).

Books, dinner and forgiveness

Wednesday morning, Jess picked up the phone, dialling his wife's number, while typing with his free hand.

"I'm busy, talk fast." Rory finally replied after a few rings.

"Shit, you too?"

"Me too what?"

"You're busy as well?"

"There was a fire downtown so everyone's running around like headless chickens, plus there's this other thing that I can't talk about yet but someone finally called me back and it's very exciting." She rambled before catching her breath. "What's up?"

"Long story short, printers flaked out again and I hoped you could take Jimmy while I figured something out."

"Sorry." Rory shrugged, flipping through a pile of post its on her desk. "Plus, I'm pretty sure he wants to see you, not me."

"Right now, I couldn't care less what he wants unless he has Bill and Ted's phone booth and will proceed to let me use it so I can talk myself out of signing those morons."

"Doubt it. Call him and reschedule for dinner."

"Can I not just cancel instead? I gave it my best try, really. The Universe is trying to tell us something."

"Jess..." She snickered, shaking her head.

"Fine, dinner, whatever. Any preferences?"

"Why don't you just ask him over to our house?"

"Because then he'd know where we live." Jess smirked, holding the phone up with his shoulder to be able to type his email faster.

"He lives on the other side of the country, I don't think he's gonna drop by unannounced too often."

"It still goes against everything I believe in life." He laughed and Rory shook her head.

"Ok, then pick some other place. Listen, Jess, I really need to..."

"Yeah, me too. I'll text you later to tell you what's going on."

"Love you."

"Bye." Putting his phone down, he grumbled, staring at the screen for a few more seconds before sending the email.

Leaning against a kitchen counter, Jess looked at Rory, who was pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"I'm a moron." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I just couldn't think of..."

"Jess, it's not going to be that bad." She tried to reassure him, walking to him and dropping her mug on the counter before cupping his face in her hand, running her thumb over his cheek slowly. "Promise."

"You're pacifying me." He smirked, leaning over and kissing her quickly.

"Only a little."

"Your mom really needs to stop treating me like a baby, Brett." Jess chuckled, running his hand over her bump.

"Oh, shush." She grinned, kissing him. "It's not going to be that bad."

"Yes, it is. Because I don't have the inbuilt safety feature of meeting people outside of the house - I can't leave when I want. It's on him to go away."

"You're turning this into something it's not. He's not moving in with us, Jess, he's coming for dinner."

"How do you know?" He smirked, pulling her closer. "If he has a suitcase..."

"Ok, now you're seriously being ridiculous." Rory stuck out her tongue, laughing at the same time. "We'll give him a tour, get him a drink, put some food on plates, feed him, send him on his way. I'll even be in charge of the tour if you want, so you don't have to be around him for too much."

"That'd be nice, thanks." Jess laughed, trailing kisses on her cheek. "Promise I'll make it up to you."

"How completely self-serving of you." She replied, amused. "But fine, I'll do it." Hearing the doorbell ring, she untangled herself from his arms, laughing when he pouted. After placing one more kiss on his cheek, she took his hand, starting to drag him towards the front door. "Hey, Jimmy." She smiled at the older man after she'd opened the door, squeezing Jess' hand at the same time, trying to keep him calm.

"Hi." The man greeted back, smiling.

"Hi." Jess mumbled as well, moving to the side to make enough room for the man to walk in. When he didn't move, Rory put on a huge smile, groaning inwardly at their awkwardness.

"Please come in."

Stepping inside, the older man nodded as a thanks. After a few seconds of standing around, without saying anything, Jess pointed at the kitchen, shrugging.

"Going to go check on dinner."

Glaring at him when Jimmy couldn't see, Rory shook her head before turning around to face him again. "Want to go sit down? Take a tour of the house? Something to drink?"

"I'm good." He shrugged before grimacing.

"Sorry, I'm overwhelming you. I should take this one at a time." Rory smiled, resting her hands on top of her bump. "Dinner's not going to be done for a bit, would you like a tour of the house? You don't have to, just beats sitting on the couch."

"A tour would be nice." Jimmy nodded, breathing out loudly. "Unless there's something else you need to do...?"

"Nah, Jess is the one in charge of the cooking process, my skills in that area are very, very limited."

"Is that what you're calling it now?" Jess smirked, leaning in the doorway.

"Oh, go on, I can...uh...make salad?" She made a face before looking at Jimmy. "He might have a point."

"Might?" Jess chuckled again.

"Whatever." She stuck out her tongue quickly.

"Kitchen's this way." Jess flipped his head in the direction of the room, looking at Jimmy. "I heard you were getting the tour."

"I hadn't started yet." Rory waited for Jimmy to walk in the room before following him, running her hand down Jess' arm. "Thank you." She whispered quickly in his ear when the older man turned his back to look around, placing a small kiss on his cheek. "The kitchen's pretty much my favorite room, after the office."

"Only because the food's in here." Jess smirked, his hand resting on the small of her back.

"How very nice of you." Turning her attention back to the older man, she smiled. "You want to see the rest?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Go back to cooking or whatever it is you do in here."

"Hide from you." Jess chuckled making her glare at him. "Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes."

"Ok." Waiting for Jimmy to follow her outside, she lead him to the office, opening the door. "Sorry about the mess, it's more his turf than mine and with work being so crazy lately and all the Stars Hollow trips..."

"It's fine." Jimmy smirked, looking around the room. "You've clearly never seen my office if you think this is messy."

"It's all the books, I swear, they keep appearing."

"Tell me about it." Looking at a shelf, the man ran his hand over the spines of a few books, picking up one of them. "These Jess's?"

"You haven't...?"

"I found a couple online."

"Which one are you missing?"

"The Subsect." Jimmy looked back at Rory. "I've been trying to track a copy down, but so far no luck."

"Yeah, they only printed a few hundred copies. There's some talks of printing a new edition, but Jess is stubborn."

"Talk him into it, will you?"

"I'm trying." She beamed happily, her hand resting on her bump.

"He's a really good writer."

"Yeah, he is." Rory nodded. As soon as he put the book back, she tilted her head towards the door. "Want to go see the rest?"

"Yeah." She started heading out, but Jimmy made a face, clearly uncomfortable.

"Can you not tell him about me buying his books...?"

Biting her lip, Rory nodded. "I...uh..." Hearing her phone starting to ring in the other room, she frowned. "Sorry, I need to get that. Could be work."

"Don't worry, I can entertain myself." Jimmy smiled and she left the room, a grateful smile on her face. A few minutes later, Jess walked in the room, finding Jimmy looking at books.

"You ok? Rory was yelling into her phone so I kind of assumed you'd be bored."

"Don't worry, I'm good."

"I can finish the tour if you want."

"Yeah, sure."

Walking into the nursery a few minutes later, after having shown him the bedroom quickly, Jess raised his eyebrows, running a hand through his hair. "It was pink when we moved in here, so we just left it like this. The baby's..."

"A girl. Yeah, you said something on the phone last time we talked. Have you picked a name yet?"

"Brett. Rory gets to pick the middle name."

"Ashley?" Jimmy snickered and Jess shook his head, smirking as well.

"Suggest that to her, maybe she'll throw something at you as well." Jess paused for a second, looking at his father. "I got away with one Hemingway name, no way I get more than that."

"Not a fan?"

"Understatement of the year." He chuckled, nodding. "That poor kid is going to very confused growing up with Rory and me always fighting over writers."

"It's ok, Lily survived." Jimmy laughed as well. "And as far as I know, doesn't hate us either."

"You said something on the phone about Lily starting college in the fall...?"

"NYU."

"Smart kid."

"She's not really a kid anymore." Jimmy smirked, shaking his head. "She said it was either NYU or no college."

"Just as stubborn then, huh?"

"Oh, yeah." He laughed. "Sasha sends her love."

"Say hi back. I should go beck on food." Looking at Jimmy, he shrugged. "Come downstairs, I'll get you something to drink."

"Thanks."

As soon as they were in the kitchen, Jess opened the fridge after having checked on the food, picking up a beer bottle.

"Beer?"

"Sure."

Handing the man the bottle, he picked one for himself before leaning against the counter, keeping an eye on the oven. "Anything else going on in California?"

"Not really."

"Your meeting today went well?"

"Yeah. Proper ketchup bottles acquired."

"And the universe as we know it will continue to exist." Jess laughed, shaking his head.

"Hey, I've been trying to find some to replace the old ones in years."

Walking in the kitchen, Rory filled her coffee cup again, leaning against the counter and looking at the two men. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing much."

"Aw, man, I miss alcohol." She sighed, looking at their beer bottles.

"I can..." Jimmy looked at his bottle, slightly concerned but Rory laughed.

"Please don't worry about me, I was thinking out loud. I'm more of Martini girl anyway." Deciding to switch the subject, she put her mug on the counter, resting both her hands on her bump. "Jimmy, have you been to Philly before?"

"Lived here for a few months."

"Really?" Jess looked at him, surprised.

"I pretty much covered the entire East Coast." Jimmy shrugged, sipping from his beer. "And a lot of other places from here to California. I tried making a list once, stopped when I reached the end of the page."

"That sounds fun." Rory grinned.

"It had its perks. Didn't I tell you about all of this?" He looked at his son, but Jess just shook his head.

"You never mentioned Philadelphia."

"Slipped my mind. It's been a while. Looked different back then."

"Huh. Shocking." Jess deadpanned, picking up a few plates from a cupboard. "Ror, can you...?"

"I'll set up the table." She smiled, placing a kiss on his shoulder on her way to one of the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen.

After as dinner was over, they were sitting in the living room.

"I should probably leave." Jimmy announced, standing up after checking his wristwatch. "I need to go grab my stuff from the hotel before my flight leaves."

"Need a ride?"

"All good, thanks. I have a car picking me up for the airport, I'll just get a cab to the hotel." He smiled at Jess' offer.

"Honestly, it's not a big deal." The younger man shrugged.

"It's late, I don't want to bother you guys even more."

"I don't have anything better to do." Jess smirked, standing up. "I'll grab my keys."

"Jess..." Jimmy tried to protest but he was already out of the room, as Rory watched him, smiling to herself.

"It's ok, I get to clean without him in my way." She looked at the older man, standing up as well, starting to collect the dishes in a pile.

"Thanks for dinner."

"Any time you're around. Sorry about the change in plans, it was just...one of those days."

"I get it." He nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. Walking back in the room, Jess looked at him.

"Ready?"

"Sure. It was really good seeing you again, Rory."

"You too." She smiled, walking the two men to the door. "Have a safe flight."

"I'll be back in a bit." Jess whispered, placing a small kiss on her lips before heading out the door, following Jimmy.

"Listen, Jess...?" The older man looked at his son after almost ten minutes of driving in silence.

"Huh?"

"Tonight and at your wedding...I didn't get a chance to..."

"If you're trying to apologize, let me spare you the trouble. I don't care."

"Jess, just let me..."

Glancing at the man, he shrugged. "We both know what you did was crap."

"Yeah." Jimmy grumbled, waiting for the rest.

"But it was a long time ago. I've grown up. Gotten over it."

"That still doesn't..."

"Make it better? Change anything?" Jess interrupted. "I know. There's no way to do that and frankly, I'll probably never fully forgive you for that. Or understand you, for that matter."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"You took me in." He clenched his hand harder on the steering wheel, trying to focus on driving. "It didn't work perfectly, but I didn't have to sleep on the street. Now I don't really give a fuck if you did it because you felt guilty or whatnot, I just know you didn't have to do it and it caused you more than enough problems." Looking at the man again as he pulled into a hotel parking lot, he smirked. "I'm just giving you a shot as well."

"Thanks."

"Whatever." He brushed it off, nodding. "Drop by again sometime."

"I'll see what I can do." Jimmy smirked as well.

"See if you can convince Sasha to come with you."

"I'll try." He nodded, looking at the hotel. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem. Have a safe flight."

"Thanks." Opening the car door, he got out, waving one more time as Jess drove off.

Getting back to the house a while later, he walked in the kitchen, finding Rory washing the dishes. Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he exhaled loudly, staying as close to her as he could.

"Done."

"You okay?"

"Yeah." He nodded, kissing her shoulder. "I love you, Ror."

"I know." She smiled, drying her hands off before turning around in his arms. "I love you too." Looking down at her stomach, her smile grew even bigger. "Yes, love you as well, baby." Picking up Jess's hand, she made sure he could feel the kicks before placing a small his on his lips.