A/N: Thanks for the latest reviews, peops :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 18

It was tough going.

Rory had felt so inspired when it came to writing Gilmore Girls, the first part of the book just flying onto the pages once she got started, but as she went on, it started to get harder. Writing about her life as a teen, her dating dramas and all, it probably wouldn't have been quite such an emotional experience if she wasn't full of pregnancy hormones, but Rory had persevered and made it all the way to Yale and then beyond in pretty good time.

Then came the beginning of her career, the ups and downs of her life, her mom and Luke getting back together, a whole boatload of drama and happy moments all swirled together as the years ticked by. It was then she hit a wall, when the going got tough and the inspiration to keep writing got going.

Rory blamed all kinds of things. Her pregnancy. Being so busy with the house move and all. Adjusting to new circumstances and routines. The truth was, she just didn't really want to revisit the parts of her life that saddened her or gave her reasons for regrets. Of course, she knew that she had to keep on going. It would be easier to give up, to end the story at a previous happy moment, but Rory knew better than that.

As she and Jess had said in a conversation not so long ago, if they hadn't gone through the tougher times in their lives, they never would have gotten to where they were now, and that would suck. It was that which made Rory knuckle down and write her way through the hardest parts of her book, until finally, she reached happier times again.

Writing the last part of the story, at least for now, made her very happy. Her mom and Luke getting married. Telling Jess she was pregnant and the two of them rebuilding their relationship. The future looked bright from where Rory Gilmore was standing, in spite of the tears in her eyes as she reached the end of the final sentence in the first completed draft of Gilmore Girls.

Sitting back in her seat, she blinked through hazy vision at the cursor flashing at the end of that last line, and then, all at once she gasped. Her hands flew to her stomach as surprise turned to joy.

"Jess!" she yelled loudly. "Jess, come quick!"

Maybe she should have more carefully considered what he might think when she yelled such things, her voice thick with emotion and her exclamation so sudden. Rory certainly realised her mistake when Jess came crashing into view, asking her in quick succession what was wrong, was it the baby, and did he need to call for help.

"No, no," she told him fast, sure the face-ache-inducing grin she was wearing would soothe his fears. "Come here," she urged him, reaching for his hand and placing it beside her own on the expanse of her belly.

He was just in time as the baby kicked out once again, so hard that Rory almost jumped. She saw Jess jump too, clearly amazed to feel a tiny foot so definitely against his palm.

"Wow, that's..."

"Our kid," Rory confirmed. "Our son."

They shared wide smiles and then soon a hug, Rory in her desk chair and Jess kneeling on the floor, neither of them caring if it was strange or not. When they pulled apart a moment later, his eyes strayed to the screen of her laptop.

"How's it going?"

"Finished," she confirmed, nodding her head when she saw his eyes widen slightly at the word. "I just got done when suddenly he started up," she said of the baby, who was now much more still again. "Maybe that was his version of a round of applause for all my effort?"

"Maybe," Jess agreed, smirking a little. "So, you're finally done. Gilmore Girls is complete."

"For now." Rory sighed. "I mean, the story's never really over. We're living potential new chapters all the time, but for now, yeah, it's done. The first draft anyway. I don't know what my editor-slash-publisher will make of it."

"I don't really think you have anything to worry about."

"Hey, no telling me it's great if it sucks," she said definitely, poking a finger into Jess' chest. "Just because we're together does not mean you shouldn't edit like you mean it."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" He looked like he was snapping to attention, even though he was still on his knees, and Rory felt bad for giving him orders.

She really hadn't meant for it to come out that way, but at least he took it in good humour. Jess was great that way. He had gotten used to her pregnancy hormones and mood swings even faster than she had, which was cool, though she didn't much like knowing the reason why. Apparently, it wasn't so different to Liz when she was in and out of relationships, and more so on and off the drugs.

"What's that look for?"

Rory shook her head. "Nothing, really. Just getting thoughtful, I guess. It's a very weird feeling, knowing the first draft is done," she said of her potential novel, looking over at the computer screen again.

"I can start reading it later, if you want, or did you need Lorelai to see it first?"

"Oh, um... well, you can start," Rory considered. "I'll print out a copy for Mom too, but I don't think it matters so much if you're both reading at the same time. I mean, yes, if there's anything she's really uncomfortable with, it'll have to come out or be changed or whatever, but I don't want you to have to wait until she's done to get started."

"Fair enough." Jess nodded, leaning up to plant a quick kiss on her lips. "Now, since junior has settled back down, I should really get back to work. Pretty sure I gouged a pretty impressive line in my notebook when you started yelling."

"Oops?" Rory offered with a half-smile.

"Don't worry, you're worth it," he assured her with a smile of his own before he turned and left the room.

Sappy as it may be, it made her so happy when he said stuff like that. Jess Mariano had come an awfully long way when it came to expressing his feelings, with Rory, anyway. In front of anybody else, he probably wouldn't ever be so sweet, but that was okay, because Rory didn't need for him to be that effusive. Even when he wasn't saying anything, she was so certain of his love for her. She supposed she always had been, on some level. What was between them went back so many years and had never truly died, even when they tried to pretend that it had.

It was strange now to think how she used to imagine alternate futures. Rory could easily conjure up the images of herself marrying Dean or Logan, or just going out into the world and becoming an overseas correspondent, as she had planned in the beginning. All those ideas were just stories, like fairytales that were never going to come true. The real story, the way her life was going now, as far removed from what she ever pictured as it was, she loved it.

Looking around the room, Rory smiled, thinking of the house for which she and Jess shared a lease. Her arm went around the swell of her stomach and she thought of the family they were going to make when the baby came along, their son. With her mom and Luke close by, now married and happy, and all of her closest friends within easy distance, Rory couldn't imagine wanting to be anywhere else, doing anything else.

"Funny how plans change," she said softly to herself, "but nice how things work out," she added, eyes back on her manuscript.

Like she told Jess, it wasn't really 'the end'. They were still living their lives, not just the two of them, but her mom and Luke, and even her grandma. All the Gilmore girls, alongside a lot of other amazing women and some men too that made Rory's life what it was.

Getting up from her chair, Rory went down the hall and through to the living room where Jess was hunched over his laptop, working hard, probably editing some other person's manuscript for now. Actually, the look on his face suggested he was a little pissed, which might mean he was telling some author or other what he was getting wrong in said manuscript. She knew he had been having trouble with one of them of late.

"You know it's creepy to silently watch people like that, right?" said Jess, eyes never leaving the screen, fingers still tapping on the keyboard.

"You know if you get any closer to that screen, you're going to go blind, right?" she countered, coming further into the room. "I'm starting to think you might need glasses."

Putting the computer down on the table, Jess leaned back on the couch, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The worst part is, you're probably right," he admitted. "Well, I guess all that reading in crappy lighting was going to catch up to me eventually."

"Don't worry," Rory said, sitting down beside him, "it's catching up to me too. I secretly have a pair of those Walmart eyeglasses in my nightstand."

"They're not so secret, Ror," Jess told her, his arm around her, pulling her close as he kissed the top of her head. "When I got home last Tuesday, you were asleep out here still wearing them."

"You never said anything."

Jess shrugged against the couch cushions. "I figured you didn't want me to know about them. God knows why, but obviously you didn't."

Rory sighed. "I don't know either. Vanity, I guess, which is dumb, because hey, what's a little eye deficiency when you're getting ready to be fitted for a circus tent anyway?" she said of her expanding middle.

"Hey, it's not like you're fat. You're pregnant and you're beautiful," Jess assured her. "Besides, even if you were fat or different some other way, you'd still be Rory Gilmore, so it wouldn't matter, not to me."

"Hmm, now I'm suspicious," she said teasingly, her hand at his cheek. "I mean, I believe you, but I'm just wondering, are you saying all this so I'll promise to love you even with the grey in your hair?" she asked, catching one or two silver strands from his temple between her fingers and tugging on them.

"I couldn't care less about grey hair," he assured her, turning his head to kiss her palm. "Besides, after everything that's happened with you and me, if you still love me now, I don't think my getting older is going to change anything."

"You're right, it's not," Rory assured him easily. "Besides, I've found one or two silver hairs myself since I stopped getting touch ups when he happened," she said of the baby between them. "I guess we'll just have to grow old disgracefully together," she said with a grin.

"Sounds good to me," Jess agreed, kissing her lips.

When he started to pull away, she moved with him, keeping contact, letting the kiss go on a while longer. Eventually, he put a hand on her shoulder and parted them.

"As much fun as this is, and as much as I hate myself for saying it, I really do have to finish this email," he said regretfully, glancing to the computer.

"Wow. If I didn't know before that Jess Mariano was all grown up..." Rory grinned at him.

"Had to happen sometime." He shrugged, sitting them both up so he could finish working. "And I don't think there could be a better time than this," he added, looking decidedly at her stomach.

Rory sat staring a moment as Jess went back to his work. She couldn't help herself, she had to ask the question that had come to mind, knowing it would never go away if she didn't.

"Jess?"

"Hmm?"

"If we... After that night at the inn, if I hadn't been pregnant-"

"Yes." The response was immediate, the typing stalling and his eyes meeting hers, all without her ever having actually asked the question. "Rory, even without the baby, even without anything else at all, I would still be here," he promised her faithfully. "The second you came to Truncheon and told me how you felt, that was it. That would've been as true if you weren't pregnant as it was when you were. Honestly? It would've been as true ten years ago as it is right now."

There were tears in Rory's eyes that she couldn't account for as she looked at Jess then. She knew all this. In her heart, she truly did, and yet hearing him say it, seeing it so clearly in his face, in his eyes, it took her breath away. To think how hard it was for him to tell her how he felt when they first met, how hard it had been for her to accept that she could like him too. Thank God they had both grown up so much in the past decade and more. They certainly had needed to.

"I love you, Jess Mariano," she said, her throat thick with emotion.

"I love you too, Rory Gilmore," he told her with a smile. "That's kind of the point."

To Be Continued...