A/N: Thanks to those who left reviews on the previous chapter. I don't seem to be getting the email alerts for those and I've lost the ability to send PMs at the moment, but I do see all the reviews and messages via the site, so thanks muchly for them :)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 22
"Okay, that's not cool," said Rory, walking into the room and noticing Jess closed his laptop lid very fast. "No, no, no, you're not looking at rings, are you? Jess, we agreed."
"Exactly, we agreed," he countered, shaking his head. "You told me you didn't want an engagement ring, so I told you I wouldn't get one. I'm not going back on that."
She was sceptical still, not because she didn't trust her fiancé when he told her something, but more because she knew he couldn't resist being the nicest possible guy to her, even if it meant bending the truth slightly to do it. Honestly, she had almost caved on the whole engagement ring thing a couple of times, but in the end, she was certain she didn't need or even want one. She had Jess and their son and the house and everything. A diamond ring held no thrill for her, by comparison.
"You wanna know what I was doing? Editing," Jess told her then. "Weirdly enough, I don't want you watching me when I'm reading your manuscript."
"Oh, right." Rory nodded. "Sorry, I didn't know you were working on that today."
"Well, I am," he confirmed. "I gotta admit, I'm going over one of my least favourite parts, so it's kind of tough going, but I'm doing it."
Rory almost asked which part he was talking about, but in the end, decided not to. There was a whole list of chapters she knew could be potentially awkward or downright unpleasant reading for Jess, including her other relationships, but also the rockier moments and eventual breakdown of their own teen romance.
"I guess I should check in with mom on her progress sometime too," she said then, giving it due consideration. "I asked a couple of times how she was getting along with it. With all the issues at the inn, I know she had to leave it for a while, but I figure she's probably almost done by now. If she needs stuff taken out or changed-"
"Then we'll take stuff out or change it," Jess finished her for. "Honestly, there's not much that needs fixing so far anyway, at least not from my perspective."
"That's good." Rory nodded, mulling over her next question for a little while before finally asking it. "So, there's not anything that you want taken out?"
Jess looked up at and squinted a little. He really should see an optometrist before too much longer, his eyes clearly not adjusting well from the screen to the real world anymore. She kept on bugging him, but he always made excuses. He also kept on saying if he was going to go, maybe she should too, given the Walmart readers she had in the nightstand, but that was a fight for another day.
"Are you asking me as your editor or as your fiancé?"
"Fiancé," she told him without hesitation. "You just told me there aren't too many changes to be made from a professional point of view, but what about for you? Anything you'd prefer wasn't in there?"
Jess leaned back against the couch cushions and sighed. "Honestly? It'd be nice not to come off like a jerk when we were together the first time, but hey, the truth is the truth. I screwed up a lot, Ror. That's what happened, so that's what you wrote. You didn't leave out any of the times when you made mistakes. Why would I ask you to take out mine?"
"Because, I chose to write this book," she reminded him, sitting down in the nearby armchair. "My life is supposed to be laid bare, Mom's too, as far as she agrees to that, but this wasn't your decision. If you need me to make changes-"
"I don't," he insisted firmly. "Not for my sake anyway. For the book's sake, there are parts that could use some minor trimming, and actually, a couple of places where a little more detail could improve it, but I'm not asking you to change anything for me, Rory. I wouldn't do that, okay?"
Heaving a sigh, she nodded her head. "Okay. Then I guess my next stop is over at the house, see how Mom feels about her parts of the story."
"That might be an interesting conversation," Jess considered. "Although, honestly? If I didn't think Lorelai was kind of amazing before, I do after reading this through a couple of times."
That one took Rory a little by surprise. "Really?"
Jess smirked, clearly realising how much he shocked her. After all, as much as he and Lorelai got along better these days than they ever had before, nobody expected them to start saying they loved each other like family or anything. For Jess to be describing Rory's mom as amazing, it was kind of a big deal.
"Think about it, Rory," Jess started to explain then. "Your mom and my mom, they weren't all that different. Sure, Liz had a couple of years on Lorelai, and she had a husband for a while, but when you and me were born, it was essentially to single mothers who were totally out of their depths. That ends one of two ways - in success, born out of fighting tooth and nail to make it work, or in failure, because it doesn't even enter your head to put your kid first. I got B, but you got A. It takes guts to go out on your own like that, even more so with a little kid in tow to raise."
"Hey, you don't have to convince me that Lorelai Gilmore is awesome," Rory confirmed, tears in her eyes that she just couldn't help at all. "I just never thought I'd hear you say it, that's all."
"Yeah, well, credit where credit's due." Jess shrugged. "She recognises my achievements these days, turnabout is fair play."
"So they tell me," Rory agreed, moving to sit beside him on the couch and plant a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."
"For what? Being honest about how incredible your mom's story is?"
"I guess, but you know it's more than that."
Jess only nodded his head, then insisted he get back to editing already. Rory left him to his work and got ready to leave to go see her mom. It would be interesting to see the look on Lorelai's face when she heard how complimentary Jess had been about her, but Rory was also a little worried in talking to her mom about Gilmore Girls again.
As inspiring and incredible as the tale of young Lorelai and baby Rory might be, it was their story and, technically, not anybody else's business. If her mom vetoed the sharing of it, Rory wouldn't have a book to publish, or maybe she would just have a much shorter, less interesting book. Either way, she wasn't sure she was going to love the conversation if it started with Lorelai not being happy about what she had read so far in Rory's manuscript.
"She might be okay with it," she said, as much to her bump as herself, as she headed for the house still affectionally referred to as the Crap Shack. "I mean, she comes off like a really amazing person in it, like Jess said, which she is, obviously. I don't know, I just hope she sees all the positives that can come out of sharing our story with the world. There are a lot, I think."
"Hiya, doll!"
Rory was startled from her thoughts by Babette calling to her from the porch. Before she could blink, her old neighbour was barrelling across the front lawn to get to her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, sugar. I shouldn'ta yelled like that and made you jump, especially in your condition!"
"It's really fine, Babette." Rory assured her. "I was just lost in my own thoughts is all. I promise, you didn't do any harm."
"Well, thank goodness!" he friend said definitely. "I couldn'ta lived with myself if I had. So, how are you doin', Rory? Everything okay?"
"Everything's good," she said with a genuine smile. "I mean, I pee a lot and get tired really easily, but they tell me that's all normal at this stage," she said, one arm hugging her bump. "Part of me thinks I'll be glad to get to the not being pregnant anymore part, but then another part is a little terrified about actually having to take care of a baby, so... yeah."
"Oh, honey, you're gonna be a great mom, you really are. Just like Lorelai! I mean, when it comes to moms, who coulda done a better job than her?" she asked, her hand at Rory's chin as she grinned up at her.
"Thank you, on behalf of me and my mom," said Rory with a smile, "but if you don't mind, I'm going to get inside now."
"Oh, sure thing, sugar. You go put your feet up and relax while you got the chance," Babette insisted. "But I'll see you again soon, okay? Don't you be a stranger, and if you ever need anything, anything at all, you can always knock on our door."
"I know, and thank you, again."
Rory watched Babette run back into the house, yelling for Maury as she went. Though the folks in Stars Hollow were eccentric, to say the least, there was no denying that all their hearts were in the right place. They always had doted on their Gilmore girls. Rory was grateful for that, more now than ever before. She had a feeling lots of people to call upon in a pinch might just come in very useful when she had a kid to take care of, no matter how prepared she would like to think she and Jess were.
Heading for the next house, Rory was soon knocking on the front door of the Crap Shack and then letting herself inside, calling for her mom and hoping she was home.
"Right here, sweets!" came the reply from the kitchen.
It was a real surprise to Rory when she got there and found only the back half of her mother in view, crouched on the tile with her head completely inside the oven.
"I told you before, Sylvia Plath was a great writer, but not everything she did made sense."
"Oh, Shecky, you kill me," Lorelai declared, rolling her eyes as she emerged. "This is all your fault, by the way. You with your admitting to cleaning more at home because Jess always cooks every darn thing. You made me feel guilty! So now, here I am, on my knees, scrubbing the ever-living crap out of the oven. And yes, it's true, Luke said I didn't have to. He said he was fine with doing the cooking and the cleaning, and then that made me feel even worse! I mean, he has all this to do at the diner already, why should he do it here too?"
"All excellent points," Rory considered. "Except the part where this is my fault. I don't care for that part," she admitted, pulling up a chair and sitting down.
"That's fair." Lorelai nodded, making a big deal of prising her knees up off the tile. "I hate to tell you this, babe, but mommy's getting a little old for this crap."
"Honestly? Some days, I feel like I'm getting a little old for stuff. I'm not sure toting junior around is helping with that."
"Aww, but he'll be totally worth it," Lorelai assured her with a smile, as she pulled off her rubber gloves and immediately started making coffee, like a reflex. "So, you come over for anything special or you just missing Mommy?" she asked, sitting down at the table and offering Rory first dibs on a box of Mallomars.
"I don't think I've been away from you enough lately to actually miss you," she admitted, reaching for a chocolate treat, "but you know I always love to visit. I did kind of have another reason for coming over too, but if you're busy..."
"Never too busy for my favourite daughter." Lorelai grinned. "What's up, kid?"
"Did you...? Have you, uh...? I know you started reading Gilmore Girls. I just wondered how far along you'd gotten and if you had any comments or anything?"
Rory wasn't sure why she felt so nervous about the whole thing. She could say it was a result of the major blowout she and her mom had when she first pitched the idea of the book, but that was a long while ago now and they absolutely patched things up. She knew how supportive Lorelai was of the whole book thing now, so there was no need to worry.
"Actually, by some spooky coincidence, I just finished yesterday," said her mom, eyes all in the Mallomars box. "I probably should've told you but..."
"But?" Rory prompted, suddenly even more nervous. "Mom?"
"I don't know." Lorelai shook her head. "I just... I wasn't sure what to say. I mean, you told me if there was anything that made me uncomfortable, you would take it out."
"I absolutely would. I will," Rory insisted. "Jess knows there might need to be more edits because of you, I told him. He understands too."
"I'm sure that he does," said her mom, smiling like she meant it, "but the truth is, well, I'm not sure you should take anything out. I mean, most of it is your story, so it's your business how much you tell the world about your boyfriends, your schooling, your friends, and everything. The only parts I could really object to are the things that happened when you were super young or before you were actually here, and I don't think I wanna do that.
"Honestly, the way you wrote me back then? You made me feel like a superhero. Not the kind that flies around with a cape or a metal suit or a magic hammer or anything - although that would be cool - but just like I was amazing and I could do anything. It felt pretty good to see myself that way."
"You are that way," Rory insisted, her hand covering her mom's own on the table top. "Even Jess said so."
"Wow, Jess said so?" Lorelai shook her head. "Was he drunk? Like really, really stinking drunk?"
"Of course not. He just said it, a half-hour ago, sat right next to me, sober as a judge," said Rory definitely. "Come on, he had Liz for a mom. No offence, because I know she's Luke's sister, but she was pretty crappy as mothers go."
"Yeah, I know." Lorelai sighed. "But for what it's worth, sweets, much as I may have come off like Super-Mommy to you, it is really, really tough raising a kid alone when you're so young and everything. I mean, I regret nothing, I swear, I don't, but it wasn't easy, not ever."
"I know, but that's what makes you even more super." Rory smiled. "I want the world to know that. It's part of why I wrote the book."
Grinning widely, Lorelai got up from the table then, walking away for just a minute and returning with the manuscript for Rory's book in her two hands.
"I made just a few tiny little changes," she admitted, "but I used the really cool purple ink, not the red, because I didn't wanna come off all school teachery, you know?"
"Very wise." Rory nodded.
"And they really are just tiny things. Stuff that you didn't remember quite right from when you were little, that kind of thing, you know?"
"That's great, I'm glad you did that," she said, taking the manuscript from her mom. "And you're positive there's nothing that needs to come out? Nothing about you, or Grandma and Grandpa, or your love life?"
"Absolutely nothing," Lorelai assured her. "That's our story, kid, you and me, and you wrote it so well. I think it's going to make one amazing book."
"Thanks, Mom." Rory smiled. "I really hope so."
To Be Continued...