A/N: Thanks to those who left a review last time – always appreciated :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 19

"That was delicious, Luke. Thank you. Nobody makes a better pie," said Rory with real enthusiasm, at least until she saw the look on Jess' face. "Um, what I meant was..."

"I know what you meant," he told her, clearly trying not to smirk. "And I can take being second to Luke on pies. He did teach me everything I know."

"In cooking, everything he knows about cooking," Luke confirmed definitely. "I don't want to take responsibility for anything else he gets up to," he teased his nephew as mercilessly as ever.

That was okay, Jess always took it in good humour these days, as evidenced by the fact he seemed fully prepared to clear the table and do the dishes.

"Oh, you don't have to," Lorelai insisted.

"It's no problem," Jess told her easily. "I never do dishes at home. Rory insists."

"He cooks," she explained to her mom when she got a strange look from her. "So I clean. It's fair and equal."

"Luke cooks, I don't always do dishes."

"That's because we have other arrangements," said Luke, smiling at his wife, at least until he realised both Rory and Jess looked similarly scandalised. "I didn't mean... Aww, jeez! Jess, you wash, I'll dry. You two, go relax already," he told the girls without pause.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Rory assured him, getting up from her chair to go through to the living room.

"I'm not so dumb as to argue either. Thanks, boys!" Lorelai called behind her as she followed Rory to the couch, where they both sat down together. "Well, this was fun."

"And you never really thought you'd say that about dinner with Jess."

"Oh, come on!" her mom complained at the sound of that remark. "I have gotten along with Jess for years now, kind of," she said, squirming just a little. "And I have been really, really good about you two getting back together."

"I know, I'm sorry," Rory apologised, looping her arm through Lorelai's own and squeezing. "I was mostly kidding, but it is kind of a reflex with you two. You have to admit, you really did not get along in the beginning."

"Well, we had our reasons, babe." Lorelai shrugged. "To Jess, I was one of the major blockers to him being with you, plus just a pain in the butt adult that was trying to tell him how to live the life he was absolutely rebelling against back then. To me, he was the guy who seemed pretty adept at causing trouble for two of the most important people in my life - you and Luke. Under those circumstances, I don't think even the most peace-loving person could've expected us to call a truce."

Rory had to admit that all did make sense, just as it had when Jess made a similar speech a while back. At least both he and Lorelai could see each other's point of view these days, both willing to admit that they perhaps hadn't acted in the best way when they first met, or even after.

"For what it's worth, sweets, I actually, genuinely like the guy now," Lorelai said of Jess then. "I mean, I admit to trying to like him for Luke's sake and your sake for a while, but now, he's earned his stripes," she admitted, shrugging one shoulder. "I mean, he works hard, he's really made something of himself, he's developed a healthy respect for Luke, and all that love he claimed to have for you? Clearly true and real, else he wouldn't still be saying it after all this time."

"That's what I think too." Rory smiled, tears building in her eyes that she just couldn't help. "I love him so much, Mom. I think I always did, deep down, even when it seemed like I should hate him. We just go together."

"Like rama-lama-ding-dong?" Lorelai teased.

Rory gave her a playful shove. "You know what I mean. It's like you and Luke, or Lane and Zach, or Sookie and Jackson. There have been other people in everybody's lives, people that seemed like good matches, perfectly nice people, sometimes, but they're not the one. In the end, you have to be with the one."

"And Jess is your one." Lorelai nodded, a statement not a question, because she knew as well as Rory did that it was true. "Too bad you missed out on the leap year."

"The what now?"

"The leap year. Last year. 2016 was a leap year, so on February 29th, you could've made Jess your permanent one."

Watching her mom hold up her left hand and wave her third finger in her face caused Rory's breath to catch in her throat, so much so that she started coughing uncontrollably. It was loud and long enough to bring Luke and Jess both hotfooting it from the kitchen, the former proffering a glass a water, the latter looking beyond worried.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she insisted after a few sips of water and a couple of deep breaths. "I don't really know what happened, but I'm fine."

Forcing a smile, she hoped the guys would buy it and go back to their dishes. Unfortunately, Luke volunteered to finish up alone so that Jess could stay with Rory. That put paid to her private conversation with her mom, which was a good thing in some ways, but not in others.

It was very clear to Rory what Lorelai had been implying. The old tradition, an Irish one originally, was that women could propose to their men on February 29th, the leap year. There was even a movie about it, as Rory recalled. Not that she believed there was only one day a year when a woman could propose, because it was 2017, for goodness sake, and a woman could do anything she wanted at any time. Still, she had to wonder, if all this had happened a year earlier, with the end of the shortest month right around the corner, would she really have been planning a proposal of her own?

"You feeling okay now?" Jess asked as she glanced his way.

"Mm-hmm," she told him, nodding her head, unsure how convincing she was really being.

Proposing to Jess. It wasn't the worst idea she ever heard in her life, that was for sure. Of course, there was a part of her that would rather he ask her, the treacherous traditionalist part that she never really understood, given the modern way she had been raised. That being said, her mom had her fair share of love for traditions too, so maybe it wasn't so strange.

No matter who asked, it was a crazy concept to think of marriage between her and Jess anyway. Not because it would be bad. After all, they loved each other, they were already living together, having a baby together, so marriage would just be the bow on top of the pile of gifts, in a way. At the same time, it wasn't really as if it were necessary to go ahead and have a ceremony and a ring, just because. Rory wasn't even sure that Jess believed in marriage. Given the way things were for him growing up, she could well believe that he might not.

"You still with us, sweets?" Lorelai asked then.

Rory shook her head and realised she must have missed some conversation between her mom and Jess, because both of them were now looking at her from either side, expecting some kind of response, apparently.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You sure you're okay?" Jess checked again.

"I'm fine," Rory insisted, before he could say more. "I promise, I am. It's just... ugh, you know how I feel about plain water," she said, raising the glass in her hand. "Could I have a soda please?"

"Sure."

Jess took the water glass from her hand and went straight to the kitchen. The second he was gone, Rory leaned in closer to Lorelai.

"I can't believe you did that to me!"

"What? I just made an obvious assumption about the next step for you two. I didn't know you were going to choke like the Oilers in '93."

Rory felt her eyes widen to the point of the danger when she heard that. "Did you just...? A sports reference? Really?"

"Hello, I married Luke Danes. He knows football and sometimes he talks about it," Lorelai explained. "Trust me, he gets way more movie references now than he ever did before. You'd be stunned."

Rory didn't doubt that, but it wasn't really what she wanted to talk about. Not that she could get her mom back on the subject of proposing to Jess because the man himself was once again back in the room, one glass of soda in his hand just for her, as requested.

She really did try to act normal after that. With Luke also in the room and talk turning to what was going on with April, it got easier. Then Rory was asked how the book was going and they talked about that for a while. Before long, conversation got general, then dried up completely as each person around the living room seemed to take turns in yawning.

"God, we're all getting old," Lorelai complained. "It's eight-thirty and I'm beat."

"I'm amazed it took me this long to start drifting," Rory confessed. "Since junior moved in," she said, her hand on her bump, "I can doze off any time, any place."

"We should probably make a move before you lose the ability to walk home," Jess suggested.

Rory didn't need any encouragement, the two of them getting into their coats as they thanked Luke and Lorelai for a great evening, and headed out into the chilly night air. Not that Rory was really feeling the cold with Jess' arm around her.

"I honestly feel like I could fall asleep walking," she said, curling into his side.

"That would be a clever trick," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "Might be better to hold off until we get home though."

"I'll try." Rory sighed and yawned one more time.

It didn't come easy and by the time they had to stop for Jess to unlock the front door, Rory really did feel like she could fall asleep standing up. She wasn't sure why she came over tired so very suddenly, but she wouldn't be at all surprised if it had something to do with all the over-thinking she had been doing, ever since her mom mentioned proposing.

"Things are okay with you and your mom, right?"

The question came so suddenly as they were both getting ready for bed that it caught Rory totally off-guard. "Why would you ask that?"

"I don't know." Jess shrugged before pulling off his shirt. "After the whole coughing incident, you just seemed a little... off. I thought maybe she said something when me and Luke were in the kitchen."

"Well, she didn't. At least, nothing to upset me," she clarified fast. "We're fine."

It wasn't a lie. What her mom said to her hadn't actually upset Rory at all, just surprised and confused her. What she didn't want to have to do was confess to Jess just exactly what had been said in that particular conversation. The last thing their rekindled relationship needed, when it was going so well, was for her to bring up a topic that could ruin everything, especially at her mom's suggestion. Lorelai and Jess might be getting along better these days, a lot better in fact, but there were limits. Besides, what man wanted to know his 'mother-in-law' was interfering in his life? As far as Rory knew, no man, ever.

Getting into bed with Jess, Rory had a feeling she was going to have to say something to make him stop worrying. Maybe worrying was too strong a word, but he seemed concerned still. She didn't want that, especially when there was no need for it.

"You know, Mom was actually telling me how much she likes you now," she said truthfully, thinking it was the better topic to go with. "How she started out trying to get along with you for Luke's sake and for me, but that now, she doesn't have to pretend."

"High praise," Jess dead-panned, then smirked. "Seriously though, I get it. Come on, you know I do," he insisted, clearly feeling as if maybe she doubted him. "After all, I could say the same thing. I always knew how much your mom mattered to you, you made sure I did, and a blind man could see how much Luke loved Lorelai, even back when I moved here the first time. I tried for you two, but it was never easy. Lately, it's not so bad. I guess we found some common ground, you know, more than just caring about some of the same people."

"Well, I, for one, am glad that you did," said Rory, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Not that I don't appreciate the effort you both were making before, but it is nicer knowing you genuinely like each other now."

"I'm happy you're happy," said Jess easily, before they both laid down to go to sleep.

Tired as Rory had been, once the lights were out, she found herself wide awake as thoughts of marriage and proposals seeped back into her mind. Everybody got along now, everything was going so well. It probably wouldn't be so bad to add a ring and a marriage certificate to the mix. Making things official might be nice, actually.

Eventually, she drifted off, picturing Jess in a suit and her in an off-white dress and veil, out in town's square, with all their friends and family gathered around. It made a really pretty picture, she had to admit, and a very nice dream, at least for now.

To Be Continued...

A/N2: There will be no new chapter posted on this story next week as I'm taking a holiday/vacation. Next update will be Wednesday 7th June. In the meantime, please leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter :)