A/N: Virtual chocolate bribes for reviews? You know you want to ;).

All important issues

"What are you doing up?" Jess sighed, walking into the living room and sitting on the couch next to her.

"Me? What are you doing up?" Rory smiled, curling up next to him, lowering the sound on the TV.

"Woke up, saw you weren't in bed, came looking for you."

"Sap."

"Just…concerned." He smiled, kissing the top of her head. "So?"

"The kid's taken to waking me up at 6 AM by doing her exercise routine. I have coffee and watch the news while she does her thing." Taking his hand, she placed it on her stomach, moving the headphones away. "I like giving her something to listen to while she stretches around." She shrugged at Jess' questioning look.

"And she doesn't hear the news?"

"Ok, maybe it's about that as well." Rory laughed softly, shaking her head. "I'll give you your music back in a minute, kid, just say hello to your dad first."

"My most sincere apologies for having disturbed you." Jess smirked, looking at the bump before moving the headphones back on. "Still Clash?"

"I think she likes it." Rory nodded and he kissed the top of her head.

"She better. I'm abandoning her on some church steps if she doesn't."

"Of course you are."

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." He smirked, hugging her closer to him. "When did this start?"

"What?"

"Her exercising sessions."

"A week or so ago."

"Didn't I drum it into your head enough that you're supposed to tell me things like this?"

"Sorry. I just didn't think you'd be interested in my waking hours."

"I like knowing things."

"Jess, it's nothing. You know I wake up early anyway, she's just giving me an extra incentive."

"You're crazy."

"Somehow it feels like I hear that from you every day."

"Huh. Wonder why that is." He smirked, placing a small kiss on her ear. "Your doctor's appointment is at 2 on Thursday, right?"

"It's just a check up, you don't have to be there."

"Speaking of repetitive, how many times are we going to have this conversation?"

"Fine." Rory drew out the word, laughing. Picking up her coffee cup, she offered it to him, twisting her head to look at him. "Want some?"

"You know it's love when a Gilmore offers to share her coffee." Jess shook his head, smiling. "I'll go get my own cup."

"But I don't want you to move, I'm comfortable."

"Then I'll wait until you're not." He kissed her forehead, hugging her again. "So…we're up to doctor visits every other week already?"

"I have no idea when the hell that happened."

"Language." He chuckled and Rory slapped his leg.

"She has music on, I won't ruin her."

"Oh, so I should take this opportunity to curse as much as possible?"

"Clearly." She laughed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Seriously though…are we ready for this?"

"Probably not." Jess admitted honestly.

"We still have so much stuff to figure out." She mumbled.

"So…should we try and decide now?"

"As good a time as any. Though you might need coffee as well."

"Yeah, I think I will." He stood up, picking up her half empty cup. "I'll top yours up too."

"You're perfect."

"I'm perfectly well trained." He smirked before leaving the room as Rory pulled a blanket over her legs, turning the TV off. "So?" Jess sighed, sitting back on the couch and handing her the full cup.

"I suppose now we talk about her." She looked down at her stomach, running her free hand over it. "We don't have to work everything out from now until she's out of the house, but a few things…"

"Should be decided now."

"Yes." She agreed. "How's the scheduling for Truncheon going?"

"We don't have anything major going on from July until October, I think."

"The guys agreed to that?"

"I think they were willing to close it down, if we wanted them to." He smiled, pushing a strand of hair away form her face. "Your work?"

"Twelve weeks off with pay."

"Starting?"

"July first, but my editor's aware of the situation and I have enough days saved to take off if she decides to come early."

"Huh, your insane work ethic really paid off." He laughed, shaking his head. "I had to threaten you with force to get you to stay home last time you were sick."

"I don't like missing work."

"You don't say." He smirked again, squeezing her hand. "That gives up until almost the end of September to get the hang of being parents. While preferably not killing her or each other in the process."

"Yes, while avoiding that." Rory giggled as well, leaning in and kissing him quickly. "What about after?"

"After…I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know either." She shrugged, biting her lip. "We really need to start looking at nurseries, if we decide to do that."

"Are we doing that?"

"I don't want to." Rory shook her head. "I've been thinking about it since we brought it up the first time and…I know it's completely ridiculous but I just don't want that life for her, if we can give her something that I think would be better."

"Ok." He nodded, a reassuring smile on his face. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"No, Jess, this has to be a joint call. We can't just drop her off at anyone, unless mom really follows to on her threat and moves to Philly so it would have to be one of us taking care of her."

"I know. I don't mind staying with her. At least on a very hypothetical, 'I've never actually been in charge of a baby for more than a couple of hours' sort of way."

"Are you sure?"

"I've been thinking about it." Jess shrugged. "I've talked about it with the guys as well and they're fine with me working from here most of the time instead of going to the office every day."

"Did they make Mr. Mom jokes?"

"Yeah." He smirked. "And then they decided that I should just bring her in with me wince I can't possibly be entrusted with a baby all by myself and they'd be so much better."

Laughing, Rory ruffled his hair. "You'll do just fine."

"You say that now. Wait until you come home to find out I've spent the afternoon reading The Old Man and the Sea to her."

"It will bore her to sleep, so sure, why not?"

"Poor Hemingway. So not deserving of your insults."

"Stop defending him." She laughed, rolling her eyes.

"I think we're straying from the subject."

"That's because you're stubborn."

"Ror…"

"Oh, fine, let's talk about our daughter's future instead of your inability to discern what good literature is." Rory laughed, leaning over and kissing him before drinking from her coffee cup. "We are sending her to kindergarten though, right?"

"So nursery's bad but kindergarten's good?"

"She'll need to interact with other kids her age. Will's the closest she has, but he's all the way in Stars Hollow."

"Plus you met Lane in kindergarten so you're completely biased."

"Maybe." She grinned.

"And I can't say that I mind having a determined end in sight to my babysitter days."

"Jess, you really don't have to…"

"Joke." He smirked, shaking his head slightly. "I'll tell you if I change my mind."

"Any time you do. It won't make you any less super-dad."

"I don't have to wear some ridiculous outfit, do I?"

"Sorry, already put an order in for the tights and cape." She cupped his face in her hand, running her fingers across his skin. "I love you so much, Jess."

"I know. I love you too." He smiled, placing a kiss on her palm. "What next?"

"Grounding."

"Grounding? Seriously?" He laughed, shaking his head. "You really think that's something we have to worry about in the near future?"

"She's your daughter, everything's possible."

"Yes, what if she crawls out of the house to go a Teletubbies show?"

"If you're going to be silly, I'm turning on the news again." Rory laughed, rolling her eyes at the same time.

"Oh, I'm silly? You're the one that wants to talk about how we're going to ground out unborn daughter."

"Your point is?"

"I need more coffee." He smirked, standing up. "Come on, I'll make food and you can tell me all about our urgent need to determine how we're going to ground our kid."

"Oh, can you make French toast?"

"And bacon?"

"You're perfect!" Rory yelped, wrapping her arms around him. After helping her up, they both walked to the kitchen and she started making a new pot of coffee while Jess pulled things from the fridge.

"You were explaining grounding to me."

"I just think that if we can decide on things now, it will be much easier when she's old enough to actually need grounding." She smiled, kissing his shoulder.

"Feeds into your obsessive need to have a system for everything?"

"Don't say that like it's a bad thing."

"I'm not really sure it's not."

"No being mean to pregnant wife." Rory pouted.

"Never, dear."

"If you didn't have bacon in your hands, I'd kill you."

"Saved by my meat?"

Blushing furiously, Rory stared at the coffee machine and Jess walked to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "No playing coy now, you were the one practically ripping my clothes off the other night."

"I'm…uh…"

"Don't worry, I enjoyed it." He smirked, kissing her neck. "So grounding Brett?"

"I'm not really sure. I was never really grounded." She shrugged as he turned back to the other counter, starting to mix the eggs and milk in a bowl.

"You don't expect me to have any experience with this, do you?"

"I'm not an idiot."

"If you really want to have a system, I think she should get extra time for not telling us what the hell she did."

"What?" Rory looked at him, slightly confused.

"Let's say she sneaks into the house at three in the morning, right?"

"Why is our daughter out until three in the morning?"

"Because as far as I know she's related to me?"

"Think I can get you to give me that in writing? Because I would really like having some sort of official document in which you admit that you're to blame." She laughed, pushing his coffee mug next to the stove and kissing his shoulder at the same time.

"Don't get your hopes up."

"You sure?"

"Can I get back to my point?"

"Yes." Rory nodded, picking up her coffee cup and sitting down.

"Ok, so we catch her and she decides to be stubborn and not tell us what she's done. I think that should qualify as an extra period of probation."

"What is she, in jail?"

"So you're saying me that you'd take well her being out doing whatever?"

"Good point." She conceded. "How long?"

"Don't know."

"Let's say the maximum period that she could normally get grounded?"

"Which is…?"

"Six months?"

"You really want a sulky teenager around the house for six months?"

"One then?"

"What if she does something like, I don't know, jump on a bus to see a guy in New York without telling us about it?" He smirked, twisting his head to look at her and Rory laughed.

"I do something impulsive one time and I never hear the end of it."

"You've got to learn to accept consequences."

"Hey, you were the one that hadn't said goodbye. You made me do it."

"It's because you can't resist me, isn't it?"

"Yes. Absolutely impossible." Rory laughed. "How about three months then? Seem like a nice enough average."

"Three months sounds ok."

"So that's the most she can get if she tells us what she's done?"

"Yeah."

"I like that." Poking her stomach, she smiled at it. "Sorry, kid. You better behave." Looking back at Jess, she picked up her coffee cup again. "And if she doesn't tell us, it's three months plus whatever she would have gotten in the first place?"

"Uh-huh." He mumbled, flipping the bacon over. "She'll fucking hate us…"

"But I don't really care."

"Good to know." After a few seconds of silence, Jess turned around to look at her again, making sure the food wasn't going to burn. "Ror? Can I ask for a favor?"

"Anything you want." She pulled herself up using one of the counter before walking to him, cupping his face in her hands. "What is it?"

"When you two are the best friends in the whole world and whatever…fill me in about things, please? I'm not sure I won't change my mind, but I'd like to be aware if she's in love and stuff like that. Especially the other stuff that teenagers…you get my point, right?"

Kissing him gently, she ran her fingers through his hair. "Yes. And you're an idiot if you think you even have to ask me that. Of course I'd tell you."

"What if she asks you not to?"

"Then I'll make you guess. Play Pictionary or something." She smiled, kissing him again before letting go. "We're married, it's got to be somewhere in the rulebook that I can't keep secrets from you."

"But they're not your secrets. They're hers."

"So you wouldn't tell me if she talked to you instead of me?"

"I want to think I wouldn't. Not unless it was something serious."

"So is she gets a crush, it's between you two, but big bad things we battle together?"

"Why would she tell me if she had a crush?" Jess scoffed, flipping the bacon again.

"It was an example."

"I just don't like the idea of breaking her confidence."

"We keep small secrets but let the other one in on big things?"

"Yes." He nodded. "As long as she knows, when she's older, that that's the way things work."

"I'm sure she'll figure out by herself that we don't keep things from each other."

"Did I tell you about my other family in Pittsburgh?"

"Yes. It's ok, our former postman comes over when you're gone."

"Good, you have company." Jess smirked, pulling out two plates from a cupboard. "Can we stop talking about Brett being a teenager? This is depressing me."

"One more thing and then we're done."

"Shoot."

"All groundings must be decided by both of us."

"That's how they do it on TV."

"You realize we probably shouldn't base our views on two parent households on one too many reruns of The Cosby Show, right?" Rory laughed.

"Could be worse, we could be gauging them on Roseanne."

"On second thought, the Cosbys were fine. Now we can talk about diapers."

"Diapers? Really?" He smirked, putting the two plates on the table.

"I don't know, it was just the first baby thing that came to mind. Though we probably should leave stuff relating even indirectly to bodily functions for after food."

"I like that plan. What else?"

"You're seriously not done with the baby talk?" Rory looked at him, slightly surprised as she picked up a bit of toast with her fork.

"Since we just decided we're entrusting her to my care, I would prefer if we had everything settled. Seriously, give me a list."

"I think we're having a bit of a Freaky Friday moment here." Rory giggled. "Teenage Jess would be horrified."

"Teenage Jess was a jackass. I think 2.0 is a better version." He smirked, drinking from his coffee cup.

"I think they're both pretty awesome." She smiled lovingly, running her fingers down his cheek briefly. "Though 2.0 comes with extra perks, so I suppose it gets my vote as well."

"Maybe if I'm lucky, you might even decide to keep me."

"Of course I'm keeping you, you make perfectly crispy bacon."

"Yet again saved by…"

"Don't finish that." She glared at him and he smiled innocently, trying not to burst out laughing.

"I was going to say bacon. Seriously, Rory, mind out of the gutter for a minute here."

"Oh, I apologize for corrupting you."

"Don't forget our poor little daughter. I can't even…"

"I'm ignoring you now." She giggled, shaking her head. "What's next on the list?" She asked after a few seconds.

"I thought you were ignoring me."

"I got over it."

"You're really good at this being mad at me business, aren't you?"

"You want me to be?"

"Face it, it's impossible for you to not melt at my adorable self." Jess smiled, crouching in front of her, hands on her knees, ignoring his breakfast. "Don't even try to deny it." He smirked again, picking up her hand and kissing her palm and she smiled, running her fingers through his hair.

"I wasn't mad, I was just not talking to you because you were being silly."

"Well that was a flawed plan to begin with, it's not in your genes to shut up for longer than 2 seconds unless asleep or eating. I'm buying ear plugs as soon as she starts talking." He snickered, pointing at her stomach.

"Someone's got to make up for your taciturn self."

"Lucky I have you then." He smiled, pulling himself up and giving her a quick peck on the lips, before going back to his food. "Back to the kid issue?"

"I don't know, I think we're sort of settled. We've agreed that you're taking care of her, we've decided…"

"On the ever important issue of grounding?"

"I was going to say it in a less sarcastic tone, but yes." Rory grinned. "We'll improvise the rest. I mean…we're us. I don't think there's any sense in even bringing up any New Age child rearing crap."

"I will have to draw a line at reusable diapers." He made a face and she laughed. "No way, no how."

"I wasn't even going to suggest that. The concept freaks me out. Oh, private school!"

"How did you get to that from diapers?"

"My mind works in mysterious ways."

"I suppose that if she really, and I am stressing that word, wants to, then…fine. She can go."

"How generous of you."

"As long as I get to pick whichever one she goes to."

"Why?"

"So I can make sure the uniforms are decent. I remember what I wanted to do to you when you wore your uniform around the diner, I'm not letting her prance around in anything like that."

"Oh, but it was fine for me?"

"Of course it was." He smirked, cocking an eyebrow. "It would have been better if you'd let me do any of the things I wanted to…" He trailed off, suddenly less interested in food.

"Things?"

"Lots and lots of things." Jess pulled his chair closer to her, running his fingers up her leg as she closed her eyes. "I can demonstrate."

"Screw breakfast." Rory giggled, kissing him passionately.

Waking up later that night, Rory rolled over in bed only to find Jess awake, staring at the ceiling. Crawling next to him, she rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her.

"What's up?"

"Thinking."

"About this morning?"

"Yeah." He admitted, kissing the top of her head. "I'd just like to have some sort of reassurance that I'm not going to mess our kid up."

"You're not."

"You're biased."

"I'm your wife, of course I am. And then there's the whole silly loving you thing. It doesn't help me be impartial."

"Damn." He smirked, kissing her head again.

"Jess, if you don't want to do this, you don't have to."

"I didn't say I don't want to."

"I know. But I feel like I've pushed you into this." She sat up on the bed, leaning against the headboard and Jess did the same, his hand playing with hers.

"You didn't." He shook his head, smiling. "I want to do this."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. At least give it a try."

"But you've been working so hard for Truncheon all this time. It's not fair to take that away from you."

"You're not. Ror, I'm not quitting. I'll still go in to work, just less often than I am now. I'll edit from home and email stuff in."

"You'll be taking care of our baby. When will you find time to do all that?"

"I'll figure something out."

"And when something finally gives from you constantly figuring it out instead of letting me help?"

"Nothing will give."

"You're not a superhero."

"Fine. If it happens, I'll hand her off to you and go on one of those yogin retreats to find my balance or some other similar crap." He smirked, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Don't worry, ok? It'll be fine."

"I want you to be fine first. Fine and happy and not giving up things for me or Brett."

"I am." He reassured her again, leaning in and kissing the tip of her nose before placing a quick peck on her lips. "Plus, Matt spent all of today hounding me around the office trying to make sure that I bring her in to Truncheon as much as possible so he can get his baby fix. See? I have someone to pass her on to if I get bored."

"Don't talk about our daughter like she's a football." Rory giggled, kissing him again. "And I know, he called me as well."

"Figures. You two need to gossip less."

"Oh, hush, we're friends. We're supposed to talk." She smiled, running her fingers through his hair. "Tell me one more time you want to do this."

"I want to do this." Jess nodded, smiling. "Tell me one more time I can do this."

"You can do this."

"Thanks." He leaned in, kissing her softly.

"How's Chris doing with the potential of you bringing baby in the office?"

"He's fine with it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I asked him when Matt wasn't around to drive us mad and he said he's perfectly fine. He has headphones stuck in his ears most of the time anyway, he couldn't hear a foghorn."

"Did you hug?"

"What?" He laughed, looking at her incredulously.

"In my head, that conversation has a very sentimental tone to it."

"Trust me, it didn't."

"Oh, fine, ruin my fun." She messed up his hair, laughing. "So you'll be less Mr. Mom and more 3 Men and a Baby?"

"Don't put it like that. The prospect of being Ted Danson is highly unappealing."

"Could be worse, you could be Steve Guttenberg. Ted did Becker and Cheers. What more could you possibly want?"

"Selleck's mustache?"

"You couldn't rock it."

"I'm hurt."

"Jess, I love you, but you have to be Peter Selleck to be able to have that mustache and not look like a porn star."

"Who said that's not what I'm going for?"

"Oh, in that case…" She laughed, kissing him quickly before yawning. "Can we continue this conversation in the morning?"

"I think we're done with it."

"Ok. You can change your mind at any time. You don't even have to try."

"I know." He nodded, lying back down, waiting for her to do the same before wrapping his arms around her from behind. "Good night."

"Sleep well, Ted. Love you."

"Love you too." Jess smiled, kissing her shoulder as his hand rested on her bump, feeling a couple of kicks against his palm.

"Jess?" She mumbled after a few minutes, squeezing his hand in hers.

"Hm?"

"You have nothing to worry about. You will be amazing with Brett."

"Thank you."

"Any time."