Thank you for your continued support! I'm so grateful and happy that you're all still with me and seem to be enjoying this sequel. :) Here's the next chapter! :)

Chapter 4

Charlotte and Jess were sat in the doctor's surgery waiting to get their first scan of the baby. Charlotte glanced across at Jess. "Brings back memories, doesn't it?" She smiled softly.

Jess smiled. "Yeah it does." He said softly.

"Except this time I'm actually still talking to my family." She joked.

"There was never any doubt that your mom would be happy for you this time." Jess said.

"Maybe. But I haven't told my Grandma yet." Charlotte pointed out. "And seeing as how they reacted to Rory's engagement, I'm not holding my breath for a positive reaction."

"I still can't believe they can't just be supportive of them. I mean, can't they see how happy she is with Sam?" Jess shook his head.

"Yeah but he's not wealthy. He's not from their world." Charlotte shook her head. "They think he's not good enough."

"That's stupid. Sam's a good guy and he loves Rory so much." Jess said.

"Well we know that but I think they still had it in their head that she might change her mind and go back to Tristan." Charlotte sighed.

Jess glanced at her. "You don't think she will, do you? I mean, you know how much Rory hates disappointing your grandparents..." He said cautiously.

"No." Charlotte assured him quickly. "Yes, Rory hates falling out with them but I'm pretty sure this is something she won't change just to please them. She loves Sam. Trust me, I know."

Jess nodded, relaxing slightly. "Ok. Good."

"I just thought we were past all this." She admitted, sighing. "I mean, they like you now."

"They tolerate me." Jess smirked.

"No that's not true." Charlotte protested.

"Believe me, they just put up with me because they know that I'm not planning on going anywhere." He said.

"Well...Grandpa likes you. Genuinely." Charlotte said conceding slightly.

"He might do. But your Grandma...well I still see the looks that she gives me." Jess said.

"And you wonder why I'm nervous about telling her about the baby." She sighed.

"That's different." Jess said. "She might not like me but she adores Jack now. She's actually really good with him."

"Yeah I guess..." Charlotte said just as a doctor came out.

"Charlotte Gilmore?" She said.

"That's me." Charlotte said getting up. "You coming in with me?" She asked Jess.

"Try and stop me." He said.

Jess glanced across at Charlotte as he drove them back to Stars Hollow. "Penny for your thoughts?" He said.

Charlotte glanced at him. "Well...I guess it does run in the family..." She said.

"True." He nodded.

"Why aren't you freaking out?" Charlotte said. "I mean, ever since she told us, that's all I can think about. How will we cope?"

"Oh I'm freaking out." Jess told her. "But there's not really much we can do about it now."

"Twins..." She breathed out. "We're having twins..."

"Yeah.." Jess said.

"I knew my sickness had been worse than it was when I was pregnant with Jack but I didn't really think much of it..." She admitted. "How will we cope with twins? We're going to have three kids!"

"We'll cope." Jess said.

"How?" She exclaimed.

"Because as soon as those babies come into the world, we'll love them unconditionally and then it won't seem as daunting. I know it's a shock. Trust me, I'm as freaked out as you are but we'll cope. I'll get another job so we have more money coming in. We'll be fine." He said.

"But you love what you're doing at the moment..." Charlotte said softly, glancing at him.

"I do but I don't know when Hep Alien will next go on tour and even then, with you pregnant, I doubt I'd want to leave you. And yeah I might be writing but that's not bringing in any money at the moment. I'll get a proper job. I want to." He said.

Charlotte smiled softly at him. "You always have a way to calm me down."

"I try." Jess said, as he drove up and parked by the diner. "Now let's go tell Jack." He smiled.

They headed into the diner and saw Jack sat at the counter. "Hey!" Charlotte smiled sitting next to him.

"Mommy!" Jack smiled happily.

"How'd it go?" Luke asked them as he walked over.

"Oh it went." Jess chuckled slightly.

Luke looked at them confused. "Everything's ok right?" He asked.

"Yeah everything's good. We just got a little surprise, that's all." Charlotte told him.

"What surprise?" Luke asked.

"Well...it seems we're going to be parents to two kids instead of one." Jess said.

"What?" Luke said stunned.

"Yeah...exactly our reaction." Charlotte laughed nervously.

"You're having twins?" Luke asked softly.

"Yeah. We're having twins." She said softly.

"Twins?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, isn't that cool?" Jess said.

Jack just shrugged. "Grandpa Luke, can I have some chips?" He asked.

"Uh sure." Luke said glancing at Charlotte and Jess.

"You're going to have two siblings. That'll be fun, won't it?" Jess tried again.

Jack shrugged again. "Can we go to the park?" He asked.

"Jack..." Charlotte tried.

"I want to play on the swings. Please? You promised we could when you got back." Jack said.

Charlotte sighed. "Yeah, of course." She said exchanging a worried glance with Jess.

Back in New York, Sam arrived back at the apartment to find Rory already there. "Oh hey!" He said surprised. "Did you finish early today or something?" He asked.

"Something like that..." Rory said nervously.

"Everything ok?" Sam checked, noticing she wasn't exactly acting like herself.

"My boss..uh..he called me in this afternoon as he wanted to talk to me about something..." She said.

"Ok..." Sam said slowly. "He didn't fire you or something, did he?" He frowned.

"What? Oh no, not at all!" Rory said quickly. "He..uh..he was actually really impressed by my work lately." She said. "He..uh..he wanted to offer me something. A big project..."

"That's amazing!" Sam smiled. "What project?"

"He wants me to cover the war in Afghanistan." Rory said quietly, glancing down at the floor. "And how Obama is trying to get peace there..."

"That is big!" He said. "Aw Ror, I'm so proud of you!" He smiled giving her a hug.

"Thanks." She said quietly. "There's a catch though..."

"What?"

"He wants me to go there. To really get in the middle of it. He feels like it will make my writing better actually witnessing everything going on..." Rory said quietly, biting her lip nervously.

"What?" Sam said stunned.

"He wants me to go to Afghanistan. For three months. From next month." She said nervously, glancing at him to gauge his reaction. Sam was just standing there, staring at her though. "Say something. Please." She said quietly.

"Is he crazy?" Sam said.

"What?"

"You're not seriously considering this, are you?"

"Well..."

"Oh my god..." Sam said. "Rory, it's dangerous there! There's a war! You could get killed!"

"I'm not literally going to be in the middle of everything! I'm not going to fight or anything!" Rory said.

"Are you that naive?" He exclaimed.

"Sam!" She exclaimed, hurt.

"Rory, so many innocent people are getting killed out there! People who aren't fighting! But do you really think the Taliban care about that?" Sam said angrily.

"This has been my dream for so long!" Rory defended.

"What, getting killed?" He said sarcastically.

"No, reporting from abroad. From as far back as I remember, this was my dream! And now I've been offered a chance to do that! I thought you'd be supportive!" She exclaimed, frustrated.

"Supportive?" Sam said, shaking his head. "You know I'm supportive of your job. You're amazing at what you do but this...It's too dangerous! You can't go. I won't let you."

"You won't let me?" Rory frowned. "Who are you, my dad?"

"No, I'm your fiance! Or have you forgotten about that?" Sam snapped.

Rory's face softened slightly. "Of course I haven't." She said quietly. "But..."

"I need some air." Sam said grabbing his jacket.

"Sam, we need to talk about this!" Rory exclaimed.

"What's the point? It's obvious you've made up your mind anyway. You don't care what I think." Sam shook his head, as he headed towards the door.

"Sam, wait!" Rory begged.

"I'll see you later." Sam mumbled before leaving Rory stood there facing an empty room.

"You know, you didn't have to come right?" Charlotte said glancing across at Jess.

"I know. But I wanted to. I know how nervous you were about coming here." Jess said.

Charlotte sighed and looked ahead at the grand door of her grandparents' house. "I know I could have done this on Friday but I didn't want a big scene in front of everyone. Especially Jack."

"I get that." He nodded. He glanced at her. "You ready?" He asked.

Charlotte took a deep breath before nodding and ringing the doorbell. A maid opened the door and let them in. "Do you know where my grandparents are?" She asked.

"Mr and Mrs Gilmore are in the living room." The maid said politely.

"Thanks." Charlotte said. She glanced at Jess who gave her an encouraging smile before they headed towards the living room. "Hi Grandma, hi Grandpa!" She said.

"Charlotte!" Emily said surprised. "Were we expecting you?"

"No, it's a bit of a spontaneous visit." Charlotte said. "We're not interrupting anything, are we?"

"Not at all." Emily said glancing at them both intrigued.

"Would you two like a drink?" Richard offered.

"I'm fine thanks." Charlotte shook her head.

"Me too." Jess said.

"Well ok, sit down, sit down." Richard smiled at them. "To what do we owe this pleasure?" He asked.

Charlotte glanced at Jess as they sat down and took a deep breath. "Well...we have some news to share with you..." She said nervously.

"What sort of news?" Emily asked.

"Good news." Jess said.

"I'm sure I can be the judge of that." Emily told him.

"I can assure you it's good news." Jess said holding his own.

"I'm pregnant." Charlotte suddenly blurted out, not wanting to prolong the situation anymore.

"Excuse me?" Emily said surprised.

Charlotte took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant." She repeated, quietly.

"Well isn't this great news?" Richard smiled happily. "Congratulations, both of you!"

"Thanks Grandpa." Charlotte smiled gratefully at him.

"We're very happy." Jess nodded.

"So are you going to quit your job?" Emily said stiffly.

"No, why would you think that?" Charlotte frowned.

"All mothers normally take a break from their work so I just assumed. And with your illustrating business, surely people will get bored of waiting for you and find another illustrator." She said.

"Charlotte's the best illustrator there is. I'm sure they'd be happy to wait and I'm sure they'd understand." Jess said.

"And what about you? How will you support them? Doing music isn't exactly a job." Emily said imperiously.

"I'm going to get another job. I'll ask Luke if there's a job going at the diner." Jess said. "Don't worry, I'm planning to support them."

"The diner.." Emily laughed slightly. "Not really a worthy job."

"Luke seems to like it. And if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me." Jess said gritting his teeth slightly.

"Well I guess I can't be surprised, considering the family you've come from." She said snobbily.

"Grandma, that's enough!" Charlotte said. "I'm pregnant and I thought you would be happy to find out you were getting two more great grandchildren. We wanted to share this news with you but I guess we were wrong to."

"Two?" Richard said surprised.

"Yeah. We're having twins." Charlotte said quietly.

"Twins? Oh, how wonderful!" Richard smiled.

"We think so." Jess said.

"And how does Jack feel about this news?" Emily said.

"He's...well he's..." Charlotte hesitated slightly. How could she admit that Jack wasn't exactly thrilled? He hadn't wanted to talk about the babies at all and when she offered to show him the scan picture, he refused to see it.

"He's very happy. And excited." Jess jumped in.

"What exactly is your problem?" Charlotte demanded. "You love Jack! Or is this just about who I'm having these kids with?"

"I don't see why you and your sister can't find respectable partners." Emily said.

"Because we're not from your world. We actually look for happiness, not money." Charlotte said. "We're leaving." She said getting up.

"Charlotte..." Richard said.

"I appreciate your support, Grandpa. I really do." She said softly. She glanced at Emily. "If you can finally accept Jess and accept the fact that I love him and nothing is going to break us up, you're welcome to be involved in the twins' lives as much as you want. I want you to be. But I'm sick of you always talking down to Jess. You think Jess isn't clever, but he's seen the subtle looks you give him and he hears the things you say under your breath. He's not stupid. And neither am I." She said. "I want you to be involved, Grandma, because like Jess pointed out to me before, you're great with Jack. So it's up to you." She said. "We'll see you Friday." She said before leaving with Jess.

Rory looked up from the couch later on in the evening when Sam finally arrived back. "Hey.." She said quietly.

"Hey." Sam said quietly.

"You've been gone hours..." She said.

"I needed to get my head round everything." He said

"Where did you go?" She asked quietly.

Sam glanced at her and sighed before going to sit down next to her. "I was with Chloe." He said.

"Oh ok." Rory said not being able to help the sigh of relief that he had spent the last few hours with his cousin and no one else.

"She told me I was being stupid as well." He admitted.

Rory sighed. "I never said you were being stupid." She said softly. "I understand your apprehension. I do. I'm really nervous about it as well. I know it's dangerous. I do know that."

Sam sighed. "The thought of you being in danger terrifies me, Ror." He admitted. "I love you so much and the fact that I won't be there to protect you from anything really terrifies me. I don't want to lose you."

"You won't lose me." Rory assured him. "I'll get training before I go. I'll get told how to keep safe and I'll get protection."

"That doesn't make you immortal." Sam pointed out.

"I know." She said quietly.

Sam sighed. "I stand by what I said before. I can't lie and say I'm happy for you and I want you to go because I'm going to worry every minute of every day."

"Sam..."

"But..." He continued. "I don't want to be the controlling fiance either. As dangerous as this is, it's your decision. And I'll support you either way. But you can't stop me from worrying."

Rory blinked back tears. "So you're saying you'll let me go if I choose to do it?"

"Reluctantly, but yes." Sam said.

"Thank you." Rory said softly, pulling him into a hug.

"Just promise me one thing." Sam said.

"Anything." She nodded.

"If you find yourself in any danger, please don't stay around to try and get a story. Promise me you'll get out of there." He said.

"I promise." Rory said sincerely.

"Because I want to marry you but in order to do that, you need to get back here safe." Sam said.

"I love you so much." Rory said softly, leaning in to kiss him.

"I love you too." He said quietly, not wanting to show her exactly how terrified he actually was about this.

Charlotte and Jess were sat on the couch in their apartment, snuggled up, while Jack played in his room. "What if he never comes round?" She said.

"He will." Jess said.

"But what if he doesn't? He doesn't even want to talk about the babies. He doesn't want to see the scan. What if he resents them when they come?" She said worried. "What if he hates us for it?"

"Ok you need to calm down. This stress isn't helping the babies." Jess said softly. "It's probably just been a surprise to Jack like it was for us. But he'll come round and he'll soon realise how cool it will be being a big brother."

"You really think so?" Charlotte asked quietly.

"I know so." He assured her. "It's natural for an only child to get jealous when they find out they're no longer going to have their parents' undivided attention. I'm sure lots of families have gone through it."

"I guess you're right." She sighed.

"I was jealous of Doula, remember." Jess said.

"Oh I remember." Charlotte nodded.

Jess ducked his head slightly, ashamed, but he continued. "I was jealous that my mom was excited about having her and how she was determined to be the best mom to her. But I got over it and you know how much I love Doula now." He pointed out.

"Yeah I know." She smiled softly.

"Jack will come round, I promise." He assured her, giving her a kiss on her cheek.

"Mommy?" A small voice said.

They turned to see Jack standing in the doorway. "Yeah darling?" Charlotte said softly.

"Do you still have the picture of the babies?" He asked quietly.

"You mean the scan?" Charlotte asked surprised. Jack nodded. "Yeah I still have it..."

"Would you like to have a look at it?" Jess said.

Jack bit his lip before slowly nodding. "Is that ok?"

Jess smiled. "Of course! Come on over." He said, raising his eyebrows at Charlotte.

Charlotte got up to get the scan before sitting back down on the couch, this time with Jack sat in between them. "Here. You can't see them very clearly but those two blobs there. Those are them."

"Pretty cool huh?" Jess said softly, ruffling his son's hair.

"Uh huh..." Jack said quietly. He focused on the scan picture until he quietly said, "I don't hate you."

"Oh Jack..." Charlotte said softly, blinking back some tears realising he had overheard their conversation.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly.

"It's ok." She said softly, pulling him into a hug. "It's really ok." She said before sharing a relieved smile with Jess.

So I hope you liked it! :) Please keep the reviews coming as I love reading what you think! Thanks again for the continued support! :)