A/N: Oh, geez, it's been a while. Sorry. Writing isn't easy lately for some reason and it's been a bitch getting any done. You're all more patient than I deserve.

One for the road

"Rory, you look wonderful!" Emily greeted her on Friday evening, stepping to the side to let her in the house before giving her a hug.

"Thanks, grandma. I don't feel very wonderful."

"You definitely look it and I won't hear another word about it." She grinned. "Jess." She looked at the man, her smile going away completely.

"Good evening, Mrs. Gilmore."

"It's nice to see you." She replied, waving towards the living room. "Come on, let's go sit down."

As soon as her grandmother's back was turned to them, Rory placed a quick kiss on Jess's cheek.

"She loves me." He smirked, waiting for Rory to go first before following the two women to the living room.

"What would you like to drink, Rory?"

"Club soda, please." She answered sitting down on the couch with a small grunt. "By the way, mom called me and said she was going to be late. Caesar is stuck in traffic on the way to the diner and Luke had to be in charge so she's busy with Will."

"She could have called me instead of making you her messenger."

"I'm sure it wasn't on purpose." She replied, rolling her eyes. "It must have been more convenient to call me, that's all."

"Here you go." Emily handed them drinks. "I'm going to go tell the cook dinner is going to be late."

"Great, scotch." Jess grimaced when she was out of earshot, putting the glass on the table.

"I am so sorry."

"You'd think I'd gotten used to it by now." He smirked, kissing her quickly. "So how late is your mother going to be?"

"Don't know. Why?"

"Between the two of you talking, there's not a lot of time for Maleficent to focus on me."

Laughing, Rory shook her head. "You'll be fine, grandpa will be here soon enough and you can talk to him."

"I really hate Luke for not being at every single one of these dinners, by the way."

"Take it up with him." She smiled before placing a kiss on his cheek. "You can be on permanent baby duty in a few weeks, that should keep you away for most of the evening."

"I'm not sure I'm supposed to be as happy as I am about that."

"Should have had children sooner."

"What can I say, the benefits never occurred to me."

"I told Richard to hurry up, but he's tied up with his calls." Emily announced, walking back in the room.

"It's fine, grandma. He needs an intervention to retire."

"I agree." She smiled. "How was the doctor?"

"It's all good but no significant progress." Rory shrugged. "I don't think Brett is in any hurry."

"Have you picked a middle name yet?"

"No. I think at this rate she will never have one."

"Or she'll have fifty." Jess chimed in, picking up his glass again.

"Right, I'm here!" Richard walked in before anyone could say anything else. "Don't get up." He urged Rory and Jess, motioning with his hands. "What have I missed?"

"Nothing much, grandpa." Rory smiled.

"Good. How's work?" He asked, sitting down next to his wife.

"I'm mostly supervising my interns now to make sure they're ready." She replied, sipping from her drink. "They're both great, it's a good thing they need to go back to college or I'd never have my job back." She joked.

"I'm sure that is not true." Richard replied. "What about Truncheon, Jess?"

"Having an interesting time trying to finish four issues of the zine in a month, but other than that it's about the same."

"And your writing?"

"On hold." He shrugged, sipping from his drink while trying not to make a face.

"You better resume it soon." Rory nudged him gently, smiling at him.

"I agree." Richard back her up.

"I'll try." Jess answered.

"That must be Lorelai." Emily said as the doorbell rang. "Finally."

"It's only been fifteen minutes, grandma." Rory pointed out.

"If you could be here on time from Philadelphia I don't see why she couldn't." She grumbled again.

"Hi!" Lorelai greeted everyone as she walked in the room a moment later. "Sorry I'm late, Caesar and Luke and Will and never mind." She waved her hand, making her way to one of the free chairs. "You didn't have to wait for me to start dinner."

"Nonsense, we all eat together." Emily pointed out.

"What would you like to drink?" Richard asked, standing up.

"Martini please." She smiled before looking at her daughter. "You never told me how you got your doctor to let you make the trip here."

"She made both me and Jess promise that we'd head back if anything was even slightly different." Rory smiled. "I didn't want to miss the chance for one last babyless trip."

"I'd throw you a say goodbye to normal life party, but it's not fun without drinking."

"Lorelai." Emily sighed and she lifted her hands in the air.

"Sorry, mom." Looking back at Rory, she mouthed a 'later'. "What else is new? Did I miss the weekly nag dad to retire session?"

"No, you're in time for that." Richard smiled, handing her her glass. "Though I really wish we would go without."

"Let me guess, you'll retire as soon as you've closed your last few accounts?"

"I have a meeting next week, I thought I could bring it up then. If it's all right with you, Emily."

"Don't joke, Richard." Emily chimed in from her seat, trying not to look too hopeful.

"It's about time, I'd say." Richard replied. "I'm going to be a great-grandfather soon, I should slow down a bit."

"But we'll be left with this large chunk of time to fill every week!" Lorelai joked, looking at her mother who was beaming with joy. "I think it's great, dad."

"So do I." Rory nodded in agreement.

"Are you going to try to join me everywhere I go? Because my happiness will depend on your answer." Emily smiled.

"I promise you I will find my own hobbies, dear."

"In that case, I'm going to go tell the maid to bring some champagne." She stood up, a radiant smile on her face.

"Why are you still awake?" Rory mumbled later that night, waddling to the table after a short trip to the bathroom.

"Work." He looked up, running his fingers over the back of her leg.

"You should have stayed home, Jess." She ran her fingers through his hair before pulling a chair closer to his. "You're going to be a wreck tomorrow."

"I'll have coffee."

"You're stubborn."

"Laura would have throttled me if I'd let you come alone." He pointed out.

"Is that the story you're sticking to?"

"Look, there are going to be a lot of things in her life…" He pointed at Rory's bump as he spoke. "…that I won't care about missing. Fifth play of the year where she plays the tree on the left? I'll try to be there but I won't beat myself up too much about it. But I don't feel like the risk of not being there for her birth is worth it."

"You're such a softie in the middle of the night." Rory replied, laughing.

"Don't tell." He kissed her forehead. "You should go back to bed."

"I don't like sleeping without you."

"Is that supposed to be your cunning ploy to get me to go to sleep?"

"Is it working?"

"I really have to finish this." He jerked his head towards the papers on the table, an apologetic look on his face. "At least if you want me to have enough time to come to Liz's with you tomorrow."

"It can't wait until Sunday? Or tomorrow afternoon?"

"Screw it." Jess decided after a moment, standing up and extending his hands to help Rory up.

"Yay!"

"You're the one that has to talk to Matthew if he calls me to complain about not being done yet, got it?"

"Yes." She nodded, lifting his hand to her lips and kissing it. "I'll write you a note if you want."

"It might come to that."

"Good morning!" Lorelai walked in the dinner the next morning, holding her son in her arms. "Say 'hi', Will!"

"Hi!" The toddler laughed, waving both his hands while trying to weasel out of Lorelai's hold. "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!" He continued, making Rory laugh.

"No, just once, silly face." She kissed his cheek. "Luke, help please!" She called to her husband and he walked from behind the counter, holding a high chair.

"Where do you want it?" He asked, kissing both of them.

"Rory's table." She pointed with one hand, waiting for him to move it there before strapping Will in it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled, pulling out his order pad. "What would you like? She's been waiting for you to get here to order food."

"Waffles."

"Pancakes, hash browns and lots of bacon." Rory added.

"And coffee."

"Me too."

"Anything else?"

"Nope. I fed Will before we left home." Lorelai caressed the boy's cheek with her finger. "I know better."

"What happened?" Rory asked as Luke left to get their food.

"He's been very messy lately." She shrugged, sticking out her tongue at Will, getting him to laugh. "He has a very impressive throwing range with his food and the diner is harder to clean than our kitchen. And I hear people don't like food getting in their hair."

"Silly people." She smoothed the toddler's hair down, making faces at him.

"Coffee." Luke announced, putting two cups on the table. "Food will take a bit longer."

"We'll live."

"Barely." Lorelai sighed. As soon as he was gone again, she looked at Rory. "What are your plans for today?"

"Run a marathon, climb a mountain. The usual. Maybe swim fifty laps or something if I can find the time."

"You think you could postpone those? Your brilliant mother figured pedicures might be better." She grinned. "The nice place in Hartford that gives you a foot and calf massage as well. What do you say? Luke can take care of Will once the lunch crowd is gone and you have nothing better to do anyway and I've already made reservations. Come on, do it!"

"Yeah, like I need convincing. I'm in."

"Yay!"

"We're having lunch at Liz's, but I'm all yours after that."

"Can we go shopping? Please?" She drew out the word. "Will's going through a growth spur or something and I don't have anything to put him in."

"As long as we stick to buying him clothes instead of Brett."

"Promise."

"You're lying, but I'll take it."

"You can't prove it." Lorelai giggled.

"Can I ask a stupid question now?"

"Sure."

"How am I supposed to know when it's real labor and it's a false alarm?"

"Well, if a baby comes out of…"

"Mom!" She glared at her.

"Oh, you wanted the serious answer?" Lorelai laughed, sipping from her cup. "No clue. When you get to the hospital and the doctor tells you 'hey, you're in labor!'."

"You've had two children and this is the best you have?"

"The first one was quite some time ago." She pointed out. "I don't know what to tell you, kid. You know the rules about contractions, right? Regular, getting closer…"

"Don't change with level of activity, intensity becomes greater, pain usually radiating."

"That's a yes. And a 'I really should be less surprised by now when you start reciting books'."

"I need more firsthand information."

"I don't have any, Rory." She shrugged apologetically. "I would love to, but I don't. There isn't anything other than that. Oh, if your water breaks! That's a good sign."

"Only happens in a small percentage of cases. Another television and movie lie. There's nothing sacred any more." She paused for a second, biting her lip. "I don't want to be the crazy person that goes to the hospital a million times."

"No, don't worry about that." She tried to tell Rory. "It's better to go than to wait too long and have a kid in your living room. Ruins the carpet."

"What if I call you and you're on your way and then it all stops and you've made the trek for nothing?"

"You can call me again, I'll only be halfway there. Or I'll sleep in the guest room. Don't worry, it doesn't matter."

"You're sure you don't mind me calling you for potentially nothing?"

"God, yes." She nodded vigorously. "I'll be there come hell or high water and a few false starts don't matter."

"I want to hug you, but you're all the way over there and by the time I'd get up, the moment would be gone." Rory laughed. "Hopefully there will be only one good start."

"And last exactly fifteen minutes longer than it takes me to get there."

"That would be nice."

"TJ's gone to Al's to pick up lunch." Liz announced when she opened the door, waves of smoke wafting out. "I don't know how this happened, I swear."

"It's fine, Liz."

"Hey, it's just like when you cook." Jess smirked, looking at his wife and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Be nice!" Liz admonished him. "Right, let me look at you." She exclaimed and Rory turned around once slowly.

"Satisfied?"

"Yes. You are gorgeous." She smiled, giving her a hug. "You're looking good too." She told her son, hugging him too. "Now let's go in the back yard before Doula knocks the house down or something."

"Right, she's the great danger here." Jess said.

"This hasn't happened in months!" Liz tried to fight back, guiding them to the back yard. "Hey, Doula, look who's here!"

"Jess!" She yelped, running to her brother and wrapping her arms around him. "You came!"

"Told you I would." He smiled, ruffling the little girl's hair. "Am I allowed to breathe now?"

"Suppose so." She mumbled, letting go of him before noticing Rory and bouncing over to her. "You look really, really pretty, Rory."

"Thank you, Doula." She smiled at the child as she wrapped her small arms around her as well as she could, ending up hugging her hip mostly. "Did you coach her on that one?"

"Nope." Liz answered.

"I'm not sure if I should believe you, but it's a great thing to hear." Rory replied, laughing.

"Do you not tell her often enough, Jess?" She looked accusingly at her son and Jess shook his head.

"I do my best."

"It's true, he does. He's pretty wonderful."

"Only pretty, huh?" He countered.

"Oh, shut up." Rory giggled before looking at the little girl who'd finally let go. "How are you, Doula?"

"I finished school for the summer!"

"And won't stop talking about it." Liz sighed. "It's going to be a long few months. Come on, sit, sit." She encouraged Rory and Jess, pointing at a bench. "I'll get you something to drink, what do you want?"

"Water's fine."

"Me too."

"Come give me a hand, kiddo." She called to her daughter, leaving the two alone.

"Hanging in?"

"So far." Jess smiled, kissing Rory's temple.

"You didn't even try to pry Doula away. Or Liz."

"If TJ tries it, I make no promises the result will be the same."

"No one asks that of you."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Jess, stop worrying."

"Can't, your doctor will kill me."

"I'll kill you first." She giggled. "We'll be back home tomorrow and then I promise you I'm not leaving Philadelphia until after she's born."

"I don't know if I should trust you." Jess smirked, wrapping his arm around her.

"Do you want me to put on my trustworthy face?"

"Never gonna work." He laughed.

"Here!" Doula placed a glass on the table next to Rory. "I didn't spill!"

"Good job!" She praised the girl. "So, how was your last report card?"

"All As!" She beamed.

"Wow. You're very clever."

"I'm not as clever as Jess. He writes books!"

"Sure you are." He told her. "I wasn't writing books when I was your age."

"So I could grow up and write books?"

"Yes."

"And you'll help me?"

"With anything you need." He ruffled her hair again and she tried to fight his hand away.

"Drinks!" Liz walked outside, holding two glasses. "What else is new with you two?" She asked, sitting down across from them.

"Nothing. Doing the 'please be born already' dance." Rory laughed. "When do you leave for the fair?"

"Monday. We heard you were coming to town for one last visit and couldn't miss it."

"I feel very honored."

"Heya, Liz, I'm back!" TJ's voice boomed from inside the house. "I stood there just like you said to make Al hurry with the food." He said as he walked outside, holding a couple of bags in his hands. "Jesus, you're huge!" He blurted out as he saw Rory. "What'd you do, shove another one in there?"

"TJ!" His wife yelled at him.

"What'd I do now?"

"You said something not nice, daddy." Doula chimed in. "And when you say something not nice, you apologize, right?" She looked at her mother for confirmation and she nodded.

"Right."

"Sorry." The man sulked.

"It's fine, TJ." Rory smiled. "Doesn't matter."

"Yes it does. And as penance, I think he should go bring plates." Liz declared.

"But I already went for the food!"

"Doesn't matter."

"Not fair." The man sulked, heading inside the house anyway.

"Rory, I'm really…"

"It seriously doesn't matter. I am huge. You were telling us about the fair…?" Rory reminded her, making the other woman launch in a long story involving their plans for the next few months.

"Call me any time! Day, night, morning, whatever. I mean it!" Lorelai hugged her daughter tightly. "Promise."

"Mom, I already did."

"Do it again."

"I double promise." She laughed.

"I can't believe next time I'm going to see you…" She choked back tears. "So not ready for this."

"Ok, you're going to have to let go now so I can leave before you start crying again and then I have to console you and we're not home before midnight."

"Fine." She dragged out the word before letting go. "See, I did it."

"Yes, you did. I should go." She jerked her head towards the car and Jess waiting leaning on it. "I'll call you tonight."

"Ok. Drive safe."

"Don't cry." She told her before waving one more time.

"I'll try."

"See you hopefully very soon."

"Yes. Don't stay in there too late, Brett, grandma wants to meet you."

"I'm sure she's going to listen."

"She better." She threatened jokingly. "Ok, go. Bye, Jess." She waved at the man and he nodded once as an answer before getting in the car. "Call?"

"Obsessively." Rory promised one more time before sitting in the passenger seat with a groan.

"You ready?" Jess asked.

"No." She shook her head in reply, laughing. "I suppose I've got to be though, right?"

"Probably." He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Let's go."