A/N: Hey, nice to see I have a few readers for this fic of mine - thanks to all those who left reviews :) Now, some of this chapter was adapted from a one-shot called 'Four Little Words' which I wrote for someone called scribbledmargins at AO3, as part of the HetSwap exchange in 2018 - that's kind of where this whole fic started actually...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 2

It was never going to be anything but awkward, but tradition was everything in Stars Hollow and so must be adhered to, especially today. At the wedding of Luke and Lorelai (or at least what would've been their wedding if they hadn't officially gotten married last night) the best man and the maid of honour were bound to dance together, as the bride and groom did the same. This was how Rory and Jess had ended up in the middle of the make-shift dancefloor out in town square with their arms wrapped around each other.

"You ever see this day coming?" she asked, hardly daring to look at him.

"Luke and Lorelai's wedding? Sure," he told her easily.

"No, I didn't-, I meant you and me, like this."

Jess nodded his head, though Rory couldn't be sure if he was saying yes or just confirming he now understood her question. She wasn't prepared to ask it again. Honestly, she was just trying so hard to find the right words to say next, preferably the ones that would tell Jess he was going to be a father a few months from now.

She had to do it, just get those words out. It really ought to be some time and place when they were alone, but she knew he wasn't sticking around long after the ceremony. Basically, it was now or never.

"This is okay though, right?" he said then, startling her from her thoughts and making her look at him strangely. "I mean, you're not freaked out about a dance, after all this time?"

"Not freaked out," she assured him, allowing herself to lean in just a little bit more once again. "Actually, this is probably the perfect time to tell you what I've been meaning to tell you all day."

If Jess reacted at all to the idea of Rory telling him some secret or making a confession, she didn't notice, and so pressed on regardless. She didn't have much of a choice anyway.

"Uh, so, you remember the last time we saw each other, right? And I don't mean yesterday, I mean the last time," she emphasised, sure he must understand when she was referring to.

There was a smirk on Jess' face a mile wide when he pulled back to look at her then. Rory knew she was blushing under his intense gaze and hated that he could still have that effect on her, but he did, always.

"I didn't think we were supposed to talk about that night," he said, trying to meet her eyes and failing to do so.

That was what they had agreed. After running into each other at random when he dropped in to check on his mother, they ended up going to get a drink, which had turned into a few drinks. They talked, or mostly she talked, at least, at first. She told him everything about her life that he didn't already know, then after, he did the same.

It got late, too late to be driving, especially after one too many shots of scotch. When Rory offered Jess a room at the inn, he really hadn't expected anything but a bed for the night. The thought never crossed his mind that she might be thinking of sharing it with him.

Truth be told, he was pretty sure it wasn't a plan, not on her side, definitely not on his. Not that it never crossed his mind to want to have sex with Rory. The thought had occurred, maybe a million times back when they were dating teens, and more than a few since then, if he were being honest. He didn't tell her that. It wasn't why she kissed him, though it had something to do with why he kissed back.

It had felt so strangely natural at the time, though it was an experience they had never shared up to that point. Jess would freely admit, it had been worth the wait, and Rory didn't seem to have any regrets on that score either. When they made love for the first and only time, it was exactly as amazing as Jess always imagined it would be. It shouldn't have been a surprise. He had loved her for too many years to doubt it would be anything but perfect, if and when the moment ever came.

Of course, it wasn't supposed to mean anything more than simply what it was. An act of love and trust between two people who had known each other for what felt like forever. When it was over, Rory made a semi-awkward speech about how it had been great but it would probably be better never to bring it up again. Jess agreed, because it wasn't in him to beg for anything more, and honestly, he would do just about anything to keep her in his life in whatever form he could have her there.

They had gotten it out of their systems, at last. Ticked it off the list of things they had never quite got around to in their relationship up to then, Rory said, but once it was done, there was no need to complicate things further. These days, they were more or less best friends. What other way was there to describe the equilibrium they had found? Neither one would spoil it for the world, and yet, here was Rory, bringing it up again, making it weird. That gave Jess pause for thought.

"Rory?" he prompted when she was quiet too long. "We agreed, right? To never mention that night again?"

"We did," she confirmed, nodding solemnly. "We said we would just let it be what it was and not make a big deal, which I did intend to stick to, I swear, it's just that the world, nature, fate, God, whatever, seems to have decided not to give me a choice," she said, taking a deep breath. "Jess?"

"What?" he asked as their gazes locked.

"I'm pregnant."

He felt his eyes go very wide because he knew what that meant. There was a horrible but completely understandable and forgivable question in his head but the words, 'Is it mine?' never passed his lips. Jess knew better than to ask, because the fact that Rory was telling him like this was answer enough. He knew about Logan, about Paul, even about the Wookie guy, but he also knew that if Rory was saying this to him now, in this moment, in this way...

"We're having...? Huh."

As reactions went it wasn't so bad, and it was so very Jess, Rory couldn't deny that for a moment. She suddenly realised that the music had stopped, that his arms were still around her but they were no longer even pretending to dance. Thankfully, they were close enough to the edge of the dancefloor and all focus was on the bride and groom as it should be, that it didn't seem to matter much.

Reacting quickly, Rory slid her hand around Jess' own and pulled him with her to the far side of the gazebo. It was quieter there, a little more secluded. They might at least manage to have the rest of the much-needed conversation without being overheard. That had to be a good thing. What was worrying Rory was how pale Jess seemed to be.

"Do you need to sit?" she asked nervously.

Jess shook his head slightly, and though he didn't sit, he did lean back rather heavily against the gazebo's brick base. His eyes were unfocused and Rory could practically see the cogs turning inside his mind. If she had to guess, she would say they were spinning pretty fast. Just when she was about to ask again if he was okay, he looked over at her and spoke.

"You have to have known before this."

It was more of a statement than an accusation, Rory thought. No snippy tone, no glare, nothing malicious about the remark. She nodded that he was right either way.

"It's been a few weeks" she admitted, "but just in case you were wondering, you're definitely the father. I know I haven't been entirely discerning in my taste lately-"

"I never asked about that." Jess shook his head firmly. "If you say it's mine then it's mine. You're not a liar, Rory."

"Really? You think so?" she checked, moving to lean beside him. "Maybe that's true, but my behaviour this past year... God, Jess, I've been such an idiot. You wanna know where I was when I realised that I was most likely pregnant with this baby? Our baby?" she asked, not even daring to look at him for any kind of response before pressing on regardless. "I was in bed with Logan Huntzberger. Well, no, actually, I was near the bed that I had just been in with Logan. He came to see me, him and the guys, the Life and Death Brigade," she explained, unsure that Jess would really want to know but feeling she just had to give him the full and frank explanation - she owed him that much. "We had this crazy night. Breaking into Dooseys, making golf shots from the roof, dancing in a tango club, renting out an entire bed and breakfast, it was... it was crazy, but I'll admit it was also a lot of fun. It took me a while, but before it was over, I realised something. That was my last hurrah. With Logan. With that part of my life.

"I was sitting in the window seat, staring out at this gorgeous view, thinking how everything should be so perfect, but it wasn't. Everything pretty much sucked. I had no job, certainly no career, no home of my own, one on-again, off-again boyfriend who was engaged to someone else and another one I hadn't seen in months and couldn't even remember to dump.

"Me and my mom were in this huge fight, which actually started with the book idea that you gave me, but it was more than that. It wasn't about her, it was about me. My life had become this tangled mess of bad choices and worse reasons for them. I knew that. The more I sat there in that window thinking about it, the more I knew I had to make changes. I thought about work and home and family... and then about Logan and Paul... and you. Somewhere in there, I realised the whole monthly cycle thing must have gotten a little out of whack. That's when I first thought I could be pregnant, but it had been too long since Logan or even the Wookie. If I was, then..."

"It had to be me." Jess still looked a little on the stunned side as Rory glanced at him, but there was resignation in his eyes too - he did believe her, thank God.

"It had to be you," she confirmed anyway. "So, that morning, I broke up with Logan, for good this time. I came home, picking up a couple of pregnancy tests from a drug store far away from here on the way. I went to my grandparents' house, confirmed what I was pretty sure I already knew, and then, after a lot of crying and worrying for a while, I seemed to find a weird sort of peace.

"The whole pregnancy thing had to be figured out, I knew that, but it wasn't a desperate situation. I had a while to think, to process. In the meantime, I went to my grandpa's study, I sat down at his desk, and I started to write. It's so strange, because I thought I had things straight in my head even before that, but nothing, absolutely nothing, could ever give me as much clarity as writing the first three chapters of the book, of Gilmore Girls."

There was a smile playing at Rory's lips that she couldn't keep in check. What she said was so perfectly accurate, the unvarnished truth. Beginning to tell the story of herself and her mom, the story that Jess himself had told her she ought to write, it was so freeing, so amazing, so what she was she was supposed to be doing. It was wonderful later to find that she now had her mom's approval, but it was the writing of it, the process of putting pen to paper or even fingers to computer keys that made her so inordinately happy and sure she was doing the right thing.

"I never did properly thank you for the idea, did I?" she said, looking at Jess then. "For the book, I mean."

"I think that you did," he answered absently, his brain clearly still trying to catch up with everything she had told him already - to be fair, it was a lot. "We're having a kid," he said then, meeting her eyes. "Aren't we?"

"We are," she confirmed, nodding her head.

"And what does that mean, you know, for us?"

Rory opened her mouth to reply, but soon closed it again without a single word being spoken. Honestly, for all the thought she had applied to this situation, from every possible angle, that was one question she still didn't have an answer for.

To Be Continued...