A/N: YOU GUYS. I got my first flame for 8 1/2! How exciting. I almost made it through this whole story without a good flame. Ahhh. At least I know people like this story enough to be pissed when a twist comes along...

Eight and a Half

By Imagine Backstory

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Birthdays & Brownstones

Rory

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding as I folded myself over the shut laptop, bringing my forehead to the bed. I groaned. "That could have gone better." Jess rubbed my back in gentle circles, but said nothing. "I just got so mad."

"You reacted," Jess said finally. He took and upper arm in each of his hands and lifted me upright, pulling me against him. We reclined against the wall together, a tangle of limbs and sheets. He rhythmically brushed my temple with the pad of his thumb. "He was being a jerk."

"Kind of," I muttered into his chest. "He was surprised. And still hurt, I'm sure. But I didn't even give him a chance. He just said he couldn't come back and I got so mad." I supposed I was more mad at the situation in general than just at James, but I didn't say that.

I heard the rumble of Jess' voice under my cheek as he spoke. "I didn't even think about the Visa thing."

"Me neither."

"So...what now?"

I sighed, slapping my hand down onto my thigh. "I wanna plan your birthday party."

Jess sputtered for a moment and pulled back to look down at me incredulously. "No friggin' way."

I giggled and ducked out from under his arm, standing at the end of my bed and leering down at him. "Way," I shrieked as he leapt at me. I jumped down from the bed, sprinting into the kitchen. He caught me easily, hooking an arm around my waist and pulling me flush against his chest. "Let me throw you a party!" I yelped as I pretended to struggle against his iron grasp. "Let me love youuuu!"

"If you love me, you'll drop this whole party idea," Jess growled into my ear before nipping it with his teeth. I turned in his arms and planted a big kiss right on his mouth, taking him by surprise. I kissed him again, deeper this time, and the mood of the kiss melted the playful nature we'd been previously embodying. Jess' hands ran a hot trail down from my shoulder blades to my bum, which he used as leverage to bring me closer. He eventually began walking us back to my bed, and I willingly went along, giggling like a schoolgirl all the way.

Jess

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday TO YOU! Happy BIRTHDAY dear Jeeeesssssss... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TO YOUUUUU!"

To my disdain, it was impossible to hold back a smile as the small crowd of people surrounded me at the dining table at the Dragonfly. Lorelai placed the cake down in front of me, alight with candles criss-crossed to form three X's. She stepped back, grinning, as the rest of my family huddled close with cameras and smiles of their own. Luke with Emerson on his hip, April and her boyfriend Mark, Liz, TJ, and Doula. And Rory, of course. She stood furthest away, actually, watching me with the most stunning look of love in her eyes, and shot me a lovely, private smile which I reciprocated in earnest. In that moment, I forgave her for dragging me back to Stars Hollow for my birthday.

After cake, Lorelai and Rory went off to chat furtively. I found myself in the lobby with Luke, leaning against the front desk as we sipped our beers and watched our women talk to each-other, heads bowed in, matching blue eyes bright.

I lifted my arm to accommodate Doula, who had ducked under it in her pursuit of Emerson, who was running about in his diaper, squealing at the top of his lungs. "Where you going? Where you going?" my nine-year-old half-sister cooed as she reached her arms towards the fleeing toddler. She was a good sport, remaining steps behind him even though she could have caught up to him in two strides.

"Kids everywhere," I muttered, taking a sip of beer.

Luke frowned at me. "I see two kids, Jess," he said, nodding to Emerson and Doula. "And one of 'em's approaching teeny-bopper age."

"Teeny-bopper?"

"You know, tweens. Not quite a kid, not quite a teenager..."

I raised an eyebrow. "...Right."

"Shut up," he grumbled.

"There's April, too."

"April's twenty-one, she's graduating university at the end of the month. As much as it pains me to admit, she's not a kid anymore." Luke glanced wistfully over to where April and Mark were seated in the lounge area, chatting intimately together. His hand was on her knee and I saw Luke's jaw lock at that fact.

"She's still your kid," I said softly, nudging Luke with my elbow. "She'll always be your little girl."

"I've only known her since she was twelve," Luke said mournfully, his brow furrowed. "Worst thing that's ever happened to me, I think. Missing all that with her." I looked away, taking a big gulp of beer, and shoved my free hand into my pocket. I felt Luke staring at me but kept my gaze trained firmly elsewhere. "Jess."

"Yeah?"

"There's gonna be another kid running around soon, isn't there?"

I bit my lip and raised my eyebrows once. "I don't know if she wants anyone to know."

"Lorelai told me," Luke replied, gesturing with his free hand. "I'm sorry, it's just, you know she can't keep those things to herself. I told her afterwards she shouldn't have told me but by then I already knew, so, what can you do." He stopped rambling and placed a firm hand on my shoulder. "So I guess congratulations are in order?"

"What?" I looked at him, too stunned to be mysterious.

"Well, I mean it's a big deal but you and Rory seem to be pretty happy. I just want you to know that I'm here for any help you might need. You know, advice, dad-to-dad. And all that."

Not wanting to get into the thick of it, I just nodded, eager for this conversation to be over. "Thanks, Uncle Luke."

"For the last time, it's just Luke," he growled. "Need another beer?"

"I'm good."

"Suit yourself." Luke lumbered off to the kitchens in search of more brew.

I glanced around at the mis-matched family around me. We were an odd and eclectic crew, but it seemed right, somehow. I wouldn't have had it any other way, at that moment. Even Emerson's screams weren't annoying anymore.

Rory found me in that same spot some ten minutes later, a glass of cranberry juice in her hand. Upon my skeptical look she explained, "It was so that I could tell people there's vodka in it so they wouldn't suspect anything. But my efforts were pointless." She leaned against my arm, her cheek coming to rest on my shoulder. "Everyone knows. And now I'm stuck drinking cranberry juice."

I leaned my head against hers, sighing. "Do they know, uh..." I trailed off, hoping she'd get the gist. That I'm not the father?

She did. "I think everyone just kind of assumes." She stood up straight to look at me an rubbed my back. "It doesn't matter. We don't need to deal with that yet."

"Until the kid comes out with an accent and doing a jig."

She whacked me lightly on the arm. "I swear to god. You and my mom, it's like you share a brain sometimes. It's freaking me out."

"What?"

"Never mind." Rory sighed heavily and leaned against me again. "Thanks for coming here for your birthday. You're a trooper."

I played with her hair gently, running a strand of it between my fingers. "Don't mention it."

"I'm serious. Family time means a lot to me. I know you're not such a huge fan, so I really appreciate it."

"I'm serious. Don't mention it." I kissed the top of her head. "It's Easter weekend," I pointed out. "Do you wanna stay till Monday?"

"We've gotta get back to the Cafe," Rory reminded me somewhat mournfully. "Give poor Dimitri a break. And Matt has to get back to Philly. We should leave tomorrow like we planned." She glanced up at me, suddenly turning shy. "And you have...you know."

Oh, I knew. Nora. I had to drive her to and from her therapy sessions. I didn't know what kind of therapist held sessions over Easter weekend, but hers did. Transit overwhelmed Nora and her drivers' license had been suspended, not that she had a car anyway. So I was essentially her taxi service, because she couldn't afford to take a cab, either. It was all a big mess, really, but I was dealing with it as best as I knew how: at arm's length. Doing the bare minimum that was required of me without fucking off completely.

Looking back to Rory, I kissed her again. "So we'll enjoy a good..." I checked my watch, "...twenty-four hours here, total. We have to come back in a couple months for Lorelai and Luke's wedding, anyway." They'd finally set a date: June 3rd. It was in the middle of the week, but apparently it had some sentimental value, or something. I didn't pretend to get it. Luke had asked me to be his best man and Rory was the maid of honour. I still wondered if Luke had made me best man just to secure my presence there.

Rory groaned. "Right. My dress totally won't fit me by then."

"Good thing your mom can sew," I reminded her teasingly.

She sighed. "I'm going to get so fat."

"Yup."

"I'm going to have to wear those jeans with the spandex waistband."

"Sexy."

"I'm gonna have to buy a body pillow and I'm gonna have all these weird cravings."

"Because your eating habits are totally normal now," I teased, ducking to avoid the swipe she aimed at my head. We nearly tripped over Emerson and Doula, who both ran by us right at that moment. I grabbed tight to Rory as she stumbled into me and held her against me. She looked up and smiled her dazzling smile, and I bent forward to kiss her.

As much as I disliked coming to Stars Hollow sometimes, standing right here with Rory surrounded by our zany family felt as right and natural as anything in the world.

A few hours later the party wrapped up and Rory and I headed over to the Diner, where we were staying in Luke's old apartment.

"I'm thirty," I moaned as I climbed into bed. I was more than a little buzzed, having consumed my weight in beer throughout the night. Rory giggled as she tucked me in and leaned over me, her long hair brushing my shoulder. "Like...thirty. Ugh."

"You won't be alone for long," Rory reminded me. "In six months, I'll be thirty, too. Then we can be grumpy, clueless thirty-year-olds together. Mind you, I'll be nine months pregnant and won't be able to drink to forget the fact that I'm turning thirty, so really you have it better than I do despite the fact that you're turning thirty first."

She was blocking the ceiling light from my view, which created a halo of light around her head, setting the flyaways of her hair on fire. I reached up and stroked her cheek gently. "That sounds wonderful," I sighed. smiling at her.

She returned the smile and leaned down to kiss me tenderly. "Good night, my little thirty-year-old," she cooed before curling up next to me. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to me, snuggling in, and was soon asleep, peaceful and content. And thirty.

"So, how was it?" I asked as Nora flung herself into the passenger seat of my Comet, dragging her backpack in after her.

She folded forward in the seat so her head touched the dashboard. "Jess, I just spent two hours in there spilling my freaking guts and analyzing everything that's wrong with me with a total stranger. The last thing I wanna do is talk about it more afterwards, especially with you."

I raised my eyebrows once, reaching for the stick. "Fair enough," I said through a tense exhale as I put the car in gear and eased off the clutch.

Nora sat up as I pulled into traffic and groaned, glancing at me sidelong. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Don't mention it."

"Thanks for picking me up."

"No problem."

We were silent for a while as I navigated my Comet through the busy streets, each wallowing in the utter awkwardness of the situation at hand. I briefly considered just driving off the Brooklyn Bridge as we crossed it, figuring death by drowning in a car would be more pleasant than being trapped driving in one with my ex. It was weird, now, to think I'd spent five years with this girl and now it felt like we were total strangers. I guess it went to show how much a person can change when they're no longer part of an equation.

Finally, as we drove through the streets of Brooklyn towards Nat and Dan's place were Nora was staying, she broke the silence. "So...how's life?"

I kept my eyes on the road and my tone light. "Life's good."

"And the Cafe?"

"Cafe's good."

"Busy?"

"It will be soon if the weather stays like this," I replied, glancing out at the sunshine.

"I heard Isabel quit," Nora said. She was fiddling with the zipper on her backpack.

I shrugged. "Just till her show is done. Who knows when that will be though. She'll always be welcomed back whenever."

"Hired anyone new?" Nora asked.

I shrugged again. "Yeah." That was all I was willing to say on the matter, and frankly Nora didn't ask further.

What she asked instead, though, wasn't much better. "Are you seeing anyone?"

My jaw clenched and my fingers tightened on the wheel. So awkward. Whyyy. "Yeah," I replied, figuring I might as well tell the truth. She was already in therapy, what else was I supposed to protect her from? "You?"

She scoffed. "Please. I'm gonna be single for a loooong time." I felt her gaze on me but I kept mine firmly trained on the road ahead. I was counting miles in my head. Almost there. Not much farther... "Is it Rory?"

I pretended not to hear her, hoping she'd chicken out and chance the question. "Huh?"

"The girl you're seeing. Is it Rory?"

Ugh. "Yes." What else was I supposed to say?

Nora was silent until we reached Nat and Dan's, but as I put the car in park, she remained seated, staring sullenly at the dashboard. Exhaling slowly, I said, "So, same time next week?"

"Did anything ever happen, Jess?" Nora asked, turning her lamp-like green eyes on me. "With Rory...before we broke up?"

I shrank a little, more so at the question itself than at the look of fear in her eyes. I struggled to find words. I didn't want to be blunt for fear of breaking her. But I couldn't bring myself to lie to her anymore. I decided to be evasive, neither lying nor admitting. "Does it matter?" I asked. "Why are you torturing yourself with this?"

Her expression hardened and she reached for her backpack, unbuckling her seat belt and flinging it to the side. "That's a yes," she muttered.

"Nora-" I tried, but she cut me off, seething.

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" she snarled, her hand on the door handle. "Do you have any idea how much I trusted you? And how important that was to me? I've never trusted anyone else in my life! And now I have to go about knowing the one person who I thought actually gave a shit was fooling around behind my back!"

"Oh, because you're miss high fidelity," I retorted sarcastically, anger flaring up so fast I nearly choked on it. "How many times did I have to pull guys off of you at some club when you got fucked up?"

"I don't even remember those guys," she cried.

"It still happened, Nora!" I yelled, unable to control my volume any longer. "Just because you get to forget about it doesn't mean I do! But maybe that's what coke is for, right? Forgetting all the lousy shit you do in the night?" I added in an extra nasty growl.

Nora's face fell and I knew immediately I'd gone too far. She hurriedly scrambled out of the car. "I'm just gonna have Nat drive me to my sessions from now on," she snapped. "I'll explain to my councilor that you're unhealthy for me. It will be better for both of us. Have a nice life, Jess." With that, she slammed the door shut behind her and stalked into the apartment building.

I slumped onto the steering wheel, pressing the leather into my suddenly aching forehead. I guess we were due for a screaming match. We hadn't really had a proper one when we'd broken up. I felt shitty for saying those things, but they weren't untrue. At least now I didn't have to see her anymore, didn't have to drive her to her therapy, didn't have to endure the awful awkwardness. Why, then, did I still feel like such a piece of shit? How could I be the good guy and still come out the asshole in the end when I spoke my mind? I had never been particularly tactful, but up until now I thought I'd been handling the Nora thing so well. I guess I had a limit to my kindness. I was gonna be such a great dad.

Not.

Rory

They really weren't kidding when they said the gel was cold.

I was reclined on the medical bed at the doctor's getting my first ultrasound, and the technician was smearing the cold jelly all over my protruding stomach with the little wand device thingy. I glanced over at Lorelai, who was holding my hand and smiling at me excitedly. I'd decided to bring her to this appointment instead of Jess, since he had a lot of work to catch up on at Truncheon and I didn't want to add to his stress.

Weird noises sounded through the machine as it lit up. The technician, Joy, moved the wand over my belly, trying to get an image. "There it is," Joy said, pointing to a big-peanut-sized shape in my womb. "You're about thirteen weeks, so your baby has all the organs now, and facial expressions are beginning to form. It's too early to determine the sex, but in a few more weeks we might be able to get a good image."

Lorelai squeezed my hand and sniffled. "Oh, wow, kid," she said softly. "Would ya look at that?"

I was looking at that. Through the tears that had suddenly sprang into my eyes, I was looking directly at my future on that screen.

After my appointment we headed out to do some shopping for Lorelai's wedding. She had come up for the weekend mostly to be there for my ultrasound, but decided she wanted to look at decorations and such in New York, since the selection in Stars Hollow was quite limited.

"This is cute," Lorelai said, holding up a mason jar strung on a piece of burlap twine. "We could put little tea-lights in it, make little lanterns?"

"Good idea," I replied, approaching my mother and taking the jar from her to inspect. "But I'm sure we can find cheaper ones at a grocery store. Make a DIY project out of it."

"DIY?"

"Do it yourself?" I laughed at the grimace Lorelai pulled. "Come on, it will be fun. It's been ages since we crafted together."

Lorelai smiled and conceded, placing the jars back on the shelf. As we continued to wander around, I knew she wanted to say something but was struggling to get it out. I waited patiently, eager, in fact, to put off any real conversation for awhile and just enjoy browsing aimlessly. My mother, however had other plans. "So, have you and Jess talked more...? About, all this?" She made a crude gesture towards my torso when she said 'all this'.

"What do you mean?" I asked, feigning offense. "All this what? I've barely stated to show!"

"I'm sorry, you know what I mean," Lorelai replied with a charming smile. "Jeez, you pregnant women sure are touchy."

"Whatever you say, miss I-want-wagon-wheels-and-nothing-but-wagon-wheels."

"Hey, that was one time, and I totally blame Emerson for that. I swear, the kid developed a sweet tooth in the womb." We laughed and then fell silent again. "So, really, though... Anything?"

I sighed. "Not really. I think he just needs time. To process, to prepare. He's been really great, though. He loves me so much. So much so that he's willing to stick around and help me with this kid who's not even his."

"But the kid is half yours," Lorelai reminded me with a gentle smile. "You're right, kid, Jess does love you. And he's going to love that kid, too, because he's yours."

"Or she," I pointed out.

"Or she. Any more word from James?"

"Yeah. He wants to talk."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "Are you going to?"

"I haven't decided yet," I said with a sigh as we exited the store, hands empty. "I'm not sure what the point would be. He can't come back to the States without a Visa, and it's gonna be pretty tough to get one now that he's moved back to Ireland. So, really, there's not much he can do besides try and make decisions over the phone. And I don't want this kid growing up that way. He or she will have a father figure, and when he or she is old enough, we'll tell them the truth. Until then...if we're being honest, I think Jess is just as excited as he is terrified."

Lorelai got an amused glint in her eye. "Oh, yeah?"

"He finds every opportunity to bring it up. It's kind of adorable. And plus, it wasn't even that hard to get him to go to Stars Hollow for his birthday, and the entire time he couldn't take his eyes of Emerson and Doula, and he had this sort of fondness in his face I've never seen before. Plus, he practically lives at my place nowadays, he barely ever goes to Brooklyn."

"Have you talked about moving in together?" Lorelai asked as we got into her Jeep and headed back towards my apartment.

"Not yet, but soon, probably. It just seems like the next step. Plus, my place is so much closer than his is to work." I looked out the window, grateful for the sunshine beating through the glass.

Lorelai glanced at me sidelong. "You can't live at your place."

"Why not?" I asked, frowning.

Lorelai pulled off one of the busier Manhattan streets, I figured to avoid traffic, and turned down a quiet, narrow avenue lined with cute townhomes and old trees. "Rory, it's tiny. It's barely big enough for one person, let alone two grown-ups and a baby. Where would you put a crib? Honey, I'm sorry, but you have no idea how much space a kid takes up once its born. Not it itself obviously, but its stuff gets everywhere. Trust me. You've seen my house on a bad day."

I laughed. "That is true. It's like a bomb went off."

"Exactly. Now imagine that kind of mess in a four-hundred square foot apartment."

"Eeesh."

"Exactly."

"Alright, well..." I threw my hands up, at a loss. "I guess we could start apartment hunting."

Lorelai smiled her shit-eating grin. "I'm so glad you said that," she said as she pulled her Jeep up to an adorable Brownstone townhouse.

I glanced around, not quite sure what was going on. "What's going on?"

Lorelai raised her arm to reveal a pair of keys hanging on a loop. She dangled them from her fingertips. "Happy birthday, kid."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, looking at the keys as though they were objects from Mars. "My birthday's not for another six months."

"Yeah, well, when your grandparents and I decided to buy you a Brownstone, we weren't exactly expecting that you'd be having a baby the same month you're gonna turn thirty, so we're celebrating early." She was still holding the keys up, looking at me expectantly. "Well, take them!"

I did, but my brain was three steps behind, rushing to process everything Lorelai was saying. "I don't understand..."

"Rory, look," she said, pointing out my window. I looked at the Brownstone. It had a little wrought iron gate, potted plants in the window, and a bright yellow mailbox right near the sidewalk. "That's yours. All yours, babe. Well, yours and Mr or Miss Tiny in there. And Jess', I guess."

"You bought me a house?"

"Town house."

"You bought me a house?"

"Your grandparents, Luke and I all did," Lorelai said. She was beaming like the Cheshire cat. "To be honest, it was going to be a wedding gift and we were going to give it to you and James on your thirtieth birthday. We've had the deed for a couple of years now." She leaned in towards me covertly. "I'm not supposed to be telling you about this yet. They all wanted to be here when I gave you the keys. But with everything that's going on, I knew you'd need time to process this on your own."

"But...but..." My eyes welled up with tears so fast they burned. Lorelai handed me a tissue. "But I still have to pay Grandma and Grandpa back for Yale. I'm still making payments for another year or two."

"Yeah, so?"

"So I owe them money, and they're still spending on me?"

"You don't have to pay them back for this one, Rory. This is something we all wanted to do for you. In fact, it was Luke's idea."

I sniffed and blew my nose. "Really?"

"Yeah, kid," she said with a smile. "He sold the building next door to the diner and Mom and Dad sold the house they previously bought for Luke and me that we didn't end up moving into, and we all pitched in for your Brownstone."

"I can't believe this," I said breathlessly. "You bought me a house."

"So we've established."

"Mom, I... I don't know what to say."

She reached over and squeezed my hand. "You don't have to say a word, kid."

A/N: I know that Edward Herrmann died in December 2014, and we've since passed that point in the story (we're in April 2015 now), but I am going to live in denial that it happened for a little while longer, thank you very much... Maybe forever? Who knows... wah.

Sorry this one took a bit longer than expected... Please review! Even if it's a flame ;)