A/N: Thanks to all who leave reviews - you're fab! :)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 4
The drive back to Philadelphia seemed stupid short. Jess wasn't exactly surprised, his head was so full of thoughts that he was amazed he even managed to keep the car on the road. Not that it was so shocking to have a busy head after the weekend he just spent with Rory. They had a lot to talk about and they went over just about everything, twice, as far as he could tell. Everything from doctor's appointments to her living arrangements, money stuff to the need for pre-natal vitamins, and how and when to break the news to just about everyone they knew.
Jess' head was spinning long before he ever got home, and even when he had pulled the car to a stop in the parking garage down the street from Truncheon, he sat there for a long time contemplating what came next. At some point, he was going to have to tell the guys about the baby. Matthew and Chris would have a field day with the news. They knew about Rory, in fact, they even met her a couple of times. The whole story of their relationship had come out in pieces, all the best and worst parts when Jess had had one too many drinks, but still. They knew as much as anybody when it came to the long, twisted journey of Rory and Jess, including how he still felt about her.
Jess let his head fall forward onto the steering wheel and he groaned. The only thing worse than the guys' reaction was going to be everybody else giving their opinion. Lorelai already knew, which meant maybe Luke did by now. They might just be okay, but the great Emily Gilmore? She was going to go crazy, and yet, somehow, Jess was pretty sure he had volunteered to go with Rory when she visited her grandma in Nantucket to break the news.
"I am officially an idiot," he muttered to himself, lifting his head and finally getting out of the car.
Grabbing his bags from the trunk, he locked up the vehicle and began the short walk down the street to Truncheon, still going over and over things in his mind. The money would actually be the easy part. Not that Jess was exactly swimming in spare cash, but he had enough to put in his half for the baby. Luckily, if Rory planned to stay in the Hollow, at least for now, prices would be that much cheaper than the city. That wasn't nothing.
Arriving at the side door, Jess let himself inside, walking into the office to find Chris and Matthew both there, each looking up from their prospective work when they noticed his presence.
"Hey, the best man is back in town." Matthew grinned.
"How was the wedding?" asked Chris.
Jess blinked once and then suddenly found himself talking before his brain could even process what was coming out. "Rory's pregnant and it's my kid."
For a second, he couldn't believe he had done it. In fact, he started to wonder if he really had, until he noticed the two open-mouthed, wide-eyed stares he was getting.
"Are you kidding?" Chris checked. "'Cause I know you have that serious deadpan humour thing going on, but this is-"
"No joke." Jess shook his head. "I'm gonna be a father."
Saying it out loud to other people really made it hit home for Jess, so much so that his bags dropped from his hands to the floor with a loud thud, and his butt followed suit into the nearest chair.
"He's serious," he heard Matthew say, he and Chris both moving quickly to crowd around him. "Jess, this is... this is huge."
"What are you going to do?" asked Chris.
Jess opened his mouth to answer, but no words would come. He had no answer to give, that much he already knew. His hands covered his face a moment as he took a breath and tried to think, but with his two friends alternately firing questions at him and at each other, none of which he could deal with right now, he couldn't do anything but laugh.
"Is he...?" Matthew asked.
"Laughing like a lunatic? Pretty much," Chris confirmed.
If he could have stopped, Jess would have, but for a good long while, he really couldn't.
"Hello, newlyweds!" Rory called from the front porch as Lorelai and Luke disembarked from the car.
"Loin fruit!" her mom called back, rushing up the steps and pulling her into a huge, tight hug. "Oh, sorry!" she suddenly explained, loosening her hold a lot. "Wasn't thinking."
"It's okay. You didn't crush me or anything. Was the honeymoon amazing?"
"Oh my God, so amazing!" Lorelai enthused, opening her mouth to say more then swiftly seeming to change her mind, "but I'm realising very fast that you, of all people, do not want details. I will save those for Sookie. She is way less freaked by naked Luke stories."
"Okay, I only got the last three words of that and it didn't sound good," Luke himself declared as he appeared on the porch steps behind them, too many bags in his arms.
"Relax, babe. You look great when you're naked," his new wife assured him, waving her hand dismissively. "You have absolutely nothing to worry about."
"I'm not worried, I'm just..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Never mind. I'll take the bags inside. Hey, Rory," he said, smiling at her briefly before he disappeared in through the open front door.
Rory watched him go, and as soon as she was sure he was out of ear-shot, looked back to her mom. "Does he know about...?" she checked, eyes dipping to her own middle.
"Nope." Lorelai shook her head definitely. "First of all, honeymoon," she said pointedly, waving her wedding ring in Rory's face, "so kind of a little busy with the not-talking. Also, in all seriousness now, I really wasn't sure it was my place. I mean, this is your news, babe, and also, Jess' news, I guess. It just didn't seem like I was the right person to announce this one."
Rory really wasn't sure if she was pleased to hear that or disappointed. It probably was better that she and Jess were the ones to tell people about their baby, but somehow, it seemed like it might have been easier if Luke, and even some other people, knew already so she didn't have to go there.
Heaving a sigh, she faced the front door, steeled herself and walked inside, fairly certain her mom was right behind her. Of course, she had asked Jess if he wanted to be the one to tell Luke, with them being actually blood-related and all. He had made it pretty clear he would like to be long gone before that happened.
Luke was just coming back down the stairs, presumably from depositing all the luggage in the bedroom. He found both Rory and Lorelai staring at him as he made his way back down to the living room.
"What?"
"Luke," Rory began, taking a deep breath, "I... I have news. Good news, really, I guess. Of course, that might depend on your point of view..."
"Oh, you got a job and you're leaving again?" he guessed, his expression telling her that, if that were the case, he was both pleased for her and sad to see her go.
Rory appreciated that, she really did, but of course he was way, way off.
"Um, no. No job and, if it's okay with the two of you, I didn't plan on leaving yet, but things are going to change. Mostly for me, partly for you. Luke, the truth is... I'm pregnant. I'm having a baby and the father... the father... is Jess."
The last part seemed to be the hardest to force out, not that Rory was at all ashamed of what she and Jess had done, but she was just a little worried about what Luke's reaction would be. After all, she was happy to say that he tended to look on her as a daughter, now more than ever, and with Jess being his nephew who he saw more like a son, he might be a little freaked. At least when Rory and Jess had dated as kids, things never got as serious as this, and that was before Luke and Lorelai even had one date.
"You... you're...? And Jess...?"
Rory nodded silently, waiting for a question with all the words present or really any kind of full sentence she could respond to. Luke appeared to be shocked beyond words, almost beyond reason.
"You're still breathing, right, babe?" asked Lorelai after a while. "Luke?" she said more loudly when he still didn't seem to have moved at all.
"I'm... I'm breathing. I'm... I'm confused," he admitted then, sinking down very slowly into the nearest seat. "You and Jess?"
"Me and Jess." Rory nodded, following his example and also sitting, her mom dropping down beside her. "I'll spare you the details, but it was just one night. Obviously, that's all it takes, we all know that," she said, playing with the end of her own sleeve. "Uh, so, anyway, pregnant. Jess knows, I told him, and we're figuring things out. You know, visits and money, all the sensible stuff."
"But you're not... I mean, you're not getting married or anything? No, of course you're not," he said, answering his own question and looking about an inch away from a literal face-palm. "Sorry, I'm doing that old-fashioned thing again, sounding like your grandmother or something."
"It's okay, Luke," Lorelai assured him, moving to sit on the arm of his chair and leaning in to kiss his cheek. "It's a lot, I get it."
He stared up at her then. "You knew," he realised, nothing accusatory in his tone, just very matter-of-fact.
"Only for a couple of days," she admitted with a sigh. "Rory let slip at the wedding, and yes, I know, I probably should've told you, but like I told the kid, we were kinda busy with the whole honeymoon thing, and besides, not really my news to tell," she added pointedly.
Luke's focus shifted back to Rory then. "So, you said visits and money... So, you're keeping the baby?"
"Yes, very much keeping," she confirmed without pause. "So, in a way, you're going to be a grandpa," she told him with a smile, "and also a... great-uncle?" she tried, looking to her mom for help.
"Maybe, I don't know." Lorelai shrugged. "Family tree stuff, not exactly my strong suit, but hey, he's married to me and been standing in for your dad for enough of your life. Grandpa is good, right?"
Rory wasn't sure if that question was meant for her or not, since Lorelai's attention switched back to an open-mouthed Luke before she was quite done asking it. He really did look so shocked, and then, suddenly, he was on his feet.
"I have to go call my nephew."
He was gone back upstairs before anyone could say another word and the Gilmore girls shared a look.
"Is he planning to congratulate Jess or yell at him or...?" Rory asked helplessly.
"No idea, kid." Lorelai shrugged, moving back to the next seat over on the couch. "I mean, I've known the guy a long time and I love him to death, but guessing his reaction to stuff still does not come easy. Since you're not throwing a fit about Jess and the whole being pregnant thing, he really has no reason to be mad at the guy, right?"
"He really doesn't," Rory confirmed. "You know, he was actually really great about this whole thing. Jess, I mean. We talked a lot, after you were gone. I mean, obviously, he was really surprised when I broke the news, but yeah, he was cool after that."
"Well, I'll say this much," Lorelai said then, "you know I was never Jess' biggest fan when you guys were teens and doing the whole dating thing, but he has grown up a lot in the past few years. That business of his does pretty well, he wrote another book, and I can't remember the last time he needed to come to Luke for a loan or anything. He really turned his life around."
She was being nice about Jess, which was weird enough for Rory, but to hear her mom praising him for all the things that she couldn't claim herself made something unpleasant start to squirm in Rory's stomach. After all, she didn't have a steady job, she really hadn't managed that for years now, all too quickly using up the trust fund her grandfather and great-grandmother had set up for her so long ago. She had no income, no home of her own, and had achieved so little since she got out of Yale eight years before. Not that her lack of achievement should be put up against what Jess had done in the same time or any judgements made. Rory absolutely knew that wasn't what Lorelai was doing, but she was also all too aware that she didn't come off well in a comparison these days. To think, when they dated at seventeen, it was Jess who was considered not good enough for Rory. How the tables seemed to have turned now.
"Hey, sweets? You okay?" Lorelai checked.
Rory shook herself out of a self-indulgent daze. "I'm fine," she promised. "Just thinking."
"Well, there is a whole lot to think about," her mom agreed, "but you don't have to do any of this alone. You have me and Luke, always. Plus, you know this town will rally around like anything, once it's time to share the news. That's not yet, right?"
"No, but it's close," Rory confirmed. "Twelve weeks is recommended. It's already been a little over ten."
"Well, whenever you're ready." Lorelai smiled, though the happy look soon faded, no doubt because Rory was having trouble keeping her own sunny expression in place. "Seriously, Rory, is everything okay? I mean, you said Jess was cool about all this."
"And he was," she promised. "He was so supportive. He wants to come down and visit on a pretty regular basis, and definitely any time I have a doctor's appointment or a scan or anything. Also, like I said, he wants to pitch in with the finances, which is great, because I'm really going to need him to. We're going to set up an account that we can both put money into, so there's no confusion or awkwardness with that."
"Wow, very proper and business-like," said Lorelai with a look.
Rory rolled her eyes. "It's not like that. I mean, it is, because money stuff should be, I guess, but it doesn't mean that we're not friends. We are. We have been for a long time and I don't see that changing just because of the baby."
Maybe it was a naive thing to think and more so to say. The look on Lorelai's face certainly suggested she thought so, but Rory refused to get into that particular conversation. She and Jess were not in a place where getting back together would be a good idea, and certainly not just because she happened to be pregnant with his child. At least, that was what Rory was telling herself for now.
To Be Continued...
