Thank you for your continued support! I hope you're all still with me after my little break. :) Here's the next chapter!
Chapter 18
"Hey mom!" Charlotte smiled as her mom opened the front door of the Crap Shack.
"Hi hon, thanks for this." Lorelai smiled at her daughter. "Luke was going to have a day off today to be with Mia but Caesar called in sick this morning so he has to go in at least until Lane gets in." She said.
"It's fine! I love seeing Mia, you know that." Charlotte smiled. "Besides, Jess has taken Jack out with TJ and Doula."
"I'm sorry, did you say Jess has gone out voluntarily with TJ?" Lorelai said.
Charlotte laughed. "Yeah, I think he's sort of made a truce with him now."
"Well that's not something I thought I'd hear." Lorelai joked. "Anyway, I've really got to run. Be good for your sister, you." She told Mia, giving her a kiss. "I won't be late back."
"Ok, bye." Charlotte said. She grinned at her sister. "So what do you want to do?"
"Can we bake?" Mia asked excitedly.
"Urgh seriously? You know that's the one thing I'm not good at!" She groaned.
"Please? I'll help. And I've got the recipes!" Mia said. "Daddy said he'd bake with me today..."
Charlotte sighed as her little sister gave her those Gilmore puppy dog eyes. "I can't believe I taught you how to do that." She said. "Fine, let's bake." She said, getting a whoop of cheer in response. She had to smile when Mia rushed off to the kitchen excitedly.
"You are full of surprises, you know that right?" Rory said.
"Well I aim to please." Sam said.
"I can't believe you hired out a whole pod to have to ourselves! Wasn't it expensive to do?" Rory said as they stood in one of the pods on the London Eye.
"I'm allowed to treat my girl every so often." Sam smiled, going to stand next to her as she looked out at the view of London.
"I just hope you haven't spent too much money on me. Seeing you is enough." Rory smiled softly.
Sam smiled. "I just wanted to make this weekend special. I've missed you."
"I've missed you too." She sad softly, leaning in to give him a kiss. "And this is perfect. It's so beautiful from up here."
"Yeah it is." He smiled, putting his arm round her and enjoying the close contact between them as they looked over sunny London.
"You know, weird as it seems, I always wanted to go feed the ducks when I was younger." Jess admitted as he was sat on a bench next to TJ watching Jack and Doula excitedly throwing bread into the water for the ducks.
"Your mom never took you?" TJ asked, glancing at him.
Jess snorted. "She never did anything with me. She was always too drunk or too high or too occupied by her current boyfriend at the time." He said. He glanced at TJ and sighed. "Sorry. I just...sometimes I wish I had some memories like this from my childhood."
"I get that." TJ nodded. "That's why I want to make sure Doula has those memories. And your mom does too. She knows she let you down big time."
"She does?"
"She told me." He said. "She knows she can't turn back time for you but she wants to make sure it's different for Doula."
"Well...good." Jess nodded.
"Thanks for agreeing to come with me today. Doula was really excited when she heard you were coming with Jack." TJ said.
"Yeah, well, she's a good kid." Jess said. "She deserves a brother who gives a damn."
"Well I think you're a pretty awesome brother." TJ said.
Jess glanced at him and then glanced back at Doula and Jack for a moment before glancing back at his step-dad. "I..uh..I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time for a while." He said awkwardly.
"Don't worry about it." TJ waved him off.
"I..uh..I've always found it hard to trust men. Especially men connected to my mom. I just assumed you'd be the same as all the others." Jess admitted, not really knowing why he was opening up so much to him.
"I can understand that." He said. He glanced over at him. "Did they used to hurt you?" He asked cautiously. He saw Jess look at him in surprise. "Your mom hasn't told me anything personal, just that she knows she always chose the wrong guy. And that it was hard on you."
Jess just shrugged. "Some. But I got used to it."
"No wonder you were sceptical of me." TJ said. "It must have been tough on you not having a male role model while you were growing up."
"I had Sam's dad. And then I had Luke." Jess said.
"True. But it still must have been hard. I know what it's like." He said.
Jess looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"My dad ran out on us when I was three." TJ told him.
"Seriously?" Jess said surprised.
"My mom had to work all hours of the day to provide for me and my brother but we still couldn't do all the stuff our friends got to do. Our mom just couldn't earn that much money." He said. "Don't get me wrong, our mom was great. But there were tough times."
"I didn't know..." Jess said quietly.
"I don't really talk much about it." TJ shrugged. "But I get what it's like not to have a father figure around. That's why when I got with your mom, I understood she came as a package deal. She told me about you straight away and I vowed I would be there for you if you needed me. Except, I guess you didn't really..."
"I didn't really give you a chance." Jess said sheepishly.
"I didn't exactly make it easy for you though. I know I can be a bit full on sometimes." TJ said. "I just...I guess I wanted you to know that you had me if you needed me."
Just then Doula and Jack came rushing up to them after finishing their bag of bread. "Can we go get ice cream?" Doula asked TJ.
"Please daddy!" Jack asked Jess excitedly.
"Well I don't know, did you feed all the ducks?" TJ said.
"Every one of them." Doula said.
"And you didn't leave one out?" TJ said.
"Not one." She said solemnly.
"Well what do you think, Jess? Think they deserve ice cream?" TJ looked over at Jess, his eyes twinkling slightly.
Jess couldn't help but smirk. "I think they might do."
"Yes!" Jack exclaimed happily. "Come on, there's an ice cream van over there!" He told Doula and the two of them started rushing off towards it.
Jess glanced at TJ who was chuckling as they followed the kids. "You know, having a step-dad could actually be quite cool." He said.
TJ glanced at him. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Jess said. "Hey, if I have any questions about tights, I know who to come to don't I?" He said smirking slightly.
TJ chuckled. "I would be your man for that, yes."
Jess smirked. "Come on, we better hurry before they start buying up the whole ice cream van." He said nodding towards the kids who were already chatting away to the ice cream man.
"Oh shit, yeah!" TJ said rushing off.
"You really did do your research, didn't you?" Rory teased.
"I try my best." Sam said.
"This food is delicious." She said sincerely.
"It's good right?" Sam nodded.
"And the view's great! How did you manage to get us this table right by the window?" She asked.
"Used my charm." He joked. He smirked when Rory raised her eyebrows at him. "Ok, I told them I wanted to treat my girl who I hadn't seen for months and I wanted to surprise. Seemed to get their sympathy." He chuckled.
"Sam!" She exclaimed laughing.
"What? We got the table, didn't we?" He grinned.
"You're impossible." Rory laughed.
"Thanks." He grinned.
"So what else have you got planned for us today then?" Rory smiled.
"You'll have to wait and see." Sam smiled.
"Ok, I am officially done!" Charlotte exclaimed as she collapsed onto the couch. "No more baking for a very long time!"
"We didn't do that much!" Mia defended.
"Are you kidding me? We've made brownies, we've made chocolate chip cookies, we've made flapjacks...Need I go on?" She said.
Mia giggled. "Mommy will be happy."
"Oh that I'm sure of." Charlotte smiled slightly. "Come here." She said holding her arms out and Mia joined her on the couch. "How about we watch some tv now?"
"Ok." Mia smiled snuggling into her older sister. She looked at the tv as Charlotte turned on some cartoons. "Thanks for baking with me." She said quietly.
Charlotte smiled. "No problem, sis. It was fun." She said.
"When will your babies arrive?" Mia asked as she looked at her sister's baby bump.
"A few months yet." Charlotte said.
"Are you scared?" Mia asked curiously.
"About the babies?"
"Yeah..."
"A little. But I'm also very excited." Charlotte smiled, just as the phone rang. "Urgh, don't they know we're too tired to answer?" She groaned but she got up to answer it anyway. "Hello?" She sighed.
"Charlotte?" A quiet voice said from the other end.
"April?" Charlotte perked up a bit. "Is that you?"
"Yeah it's me." April said quietly, sniffing slightly.
"Are you ok? What's wrong?" She said suddenly fully alert.
"The..uh..the police just called. They...they had to let Toby go." She said tremulously.
"What? Why?" Charlotte exclaimed. She saw Mia look up at her in surprise at her loud exclamation. She gave her a reassuring smile and then took the phone through to the kitchen. "What happened? Why have they let him go?"
"They said they didn't have enough evidence. I showered before I reported him so they couldn't get any DNA off me. And...well it's my word against his and he got a pretty good lawyer." She said quietly.
"Oh April, I'm so sorry..." Charlotte exclaimed. "Oh my god, it's my fault. I told you to shower. I should have known..."
"No, it's not your fault!" April said quickly. "I probably would have done it even if you weren't there."
"Well...what about your clothes? Surely they could be evidence?" Charlotte said.
"I stupidly washed them." April said quietly. "I wanted the smell off them. I'm an idiot!"
"No, no you're not an idiot, April." Charlotte sighed. "Oh April, I'm so sorry."
"I can't stay here. I can't stay at MIT, not with him being here. He's got everyone believing that I was lying. Everyone's turned against me." She sniffed.
"What about Jamie?" She asked.
"He's been great." April sighed. "But I know it's been hard on him as well."
"April..." She said softly.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put this all on you. I thought it was my dad's day off." She said.
"It was supposed to be but Caesar called in sick so he's had to go in." She explained.
"Oh." April said.
"Do you want me to get him to call you when he's back?"
"Yeah, if that's ok." She said quietly.
"Of course. I'm so sorry, April. If you need to talk at all, I'm here ok? I'm here for anything you need." Charlotte said softly.
"Thanks." April sniffed. "Bye."
"Bye." Charlotte sighed and hung up the phone.
"Ok, tomorrow I'm treating you ok? You're not paying for anything." Rory said as she lay down, snuggled up to Sam, on the back of the boat, looking up at the blue sky as Sam had hired someone to drive the boat around for them.
"Deal." Sam smirked.
Rory glanced over at him. "Today has been amazing." She said softly. "What have I done to deserve you?"
"I think the question is what have I done to deserve you." Sam said softly, giving her a kiss. "You changed my life, Rory. I wanted to show you how much I love you."
Rory blinked back tears. "I've really missed you." She said sincerely, snuggling even closer to him. "I can't wait to marry you."
Sam smiled at that. "Ditto." He said softly, holding her close.
"I wish today didn't have to end." Rory sighed, closing her eyes.
"Me too." He said softly, closing his eyes too, the two of them just taking in the sun and savouring the moment.
Charlotte looked up from the couch as Luke returned home. "Hey Luke."
"Hey, thanks for today." Luke said.
"Daddy!" Mia said excitedly getting up and rushing over to give him a hug.
"Hey princess." Luke smiled. "Have you been good for your sister?"
"We've been baking!" Mia grinned.
Luke looked at Charlotte. "You've been baking?" He smirked.
"She was very persuasive." Charlotte said. "Don't worry, I followed the recipes and didn't mess up your kitchen." She teased.
Luke smirked. "Good." He said. "Right, well I'm going to get dinner going. You staying for food?" He asked her.
"Sure, if that's ok." Charlotte smiled.
"Of course. You're always welcome, you know that." He smiled before disappearing off into the kitchen.
Charlotte glanced at Mia who was engrossed into the tv show again so she slowly got up and followed him. "Hey Luke, have you heard from April?" She asked.
"April? No, why?" He said.
Charlotte sighed. "She rang earlier. They let Toby go." She said quietly.
"What?" Luke exclaimed.
"Not enough evidence or something." Charlotte said. "I'm so sorry, Luke. I was the one to tell April to shower. I shouldn't have. I should have known! Jess wanted her to go and report it straight away but I told her to go shower. I'm an idiot."
Luke sighed. "It's not your fault. You didn't know." He assured her.
"But if I hadn't told her to shower..."
"He may have still got off. You're going to drive yourself crazy with the what ifs so don't." He said.
Charlotte sighed. "She wants to leave MIT..."
"Ah geez..." Luke said rubbing his hand through his hair.
"We need to fix this. He can't get away with it. He just can't!" Charlotte exclaimed, blinking back tears.
"I know." Luke said. "Hey, come here." He said pulling her in for a hug. "Don't blame yourself ok? We'll fix this."
"I feel like I've let her down." She admitted.
"You could never let April down." He said softly. "You've been great to her. I know how much she's appreciated your support."
"I know but..."
"Ok no more talk about what ifs. We need to think about how to go forward for April. I won't let this monster get away with it, don't worry." Luke said. "I'll think of something."
"Ok." Charlotte said quietly.
"You stir this while I go give April a ring ok?" He said.
Charlotte nodded. "I am sorry, Luke." She said quietly.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." Luke said softly before disappearing off to call April.
Charlotte returned home to find Jess on the couch watching some tv. "Hey.." She said tiredly.
"Hey." He said. "How are you doing?" He asked, having heard about what had happened with April.
Charlotte just shrugged. "I just can't keep thinking about April." She admitted, collapsing down next to him.
"Yeah.." He sighed, pulling her close. "It'll sort itself out."
"But how? It's her word against his." Charlotte said. "It's so unfair! He's going to get away with it, I just know it."
"People like him always end up getting caught. April will get justice." Jess assured her.
"I really hope so." She said. She sighed and glanced over at him. "So how was your day with TJ and Doula?"
"Yeah, good." Jess nodded.
"Good? That's all I'm getting?" Charlotte said smirking slightly.
"It was nice." Jess smirked. "TJ and I had a nice talk, the kids had fun, it was good." He said.
"Good." Charlotte smiled. "Is Jack asleep?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"I think I'll just go in and give him a kiss and then I think I might retire to bed. You going to join me?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty tired." He nodded getting up. "I'll meet you in there."
"Ok." Charlotte said walking towards Jack's room. "Hey Jess?" She said turning round.
"Yeah?"
"I love you." She said softly.
Jess smiled. "I love you too." He said softly.
So I hope you liked it! :) Please keep the reviews coming as I love reading what you all think! Thanks again for all your support! it really does mean so much to me. :)