It was official.

Jess hated interviewing people.

Like, despised it.

The brainless small talk, the repetition, the pressure that goes into trying to find just the right person for the job. Someone that will mesh well with your personality and succeed at the job but not try and take over the company, a good balance of driven but not too driven. He was about to lose it after hours of having to sit there and smile and pretend like he wasn't judging every word that came out of the person's mouth.

It was monotonous, it was draining, and he was over it.

The older man was nice and knowledgeable but wasn't quite the right fit for Truncheon. The middle-aged mom was the epitome of an inexperienced know-it-all, almost yelling at Jess about how she was the best he would find when he told her she wasn't quite what they were looking for. The college graduate was nice, but like… too nice. He answered every question Jess asked him like was looking for approval, for the "right" answer, and it made Jess hate the guy just a little for not having more backbone.

There were plenty more people that interviewed, so many that it took three whole days of back-to-back interviews to get them in. People with experience that knew they had experience and thus deemed Truncheon below them, teens that just needed a job to make their parents happy, people that were almost right for the job but that Jess just didn't mesh with. He knew he was being picky, but he really didn't care that much. He'd lucked out with Matt and Chris and wasn't quite ready to let go of that dynamic.

Then, Wednesday evening, came the last applicant. The girl that had few references but submitted pieces of her own writing. The one that caught Jess's eye.

The bell jingled and Jess looked up to find a short, slightly curvy teenager with deep green eyes and shoulder-length dark hair that was an electric kind of purple on the tips. She wore dark jeans, combat boots, and a soft sweater that was a contrast to everything else about her presence.

"Hi, Alexandra?" Jess greeted, holding his hand out to shake hers.

"Oh, God, Alex, please," she said, chuckling slightly.

"Alex, sorry. Hi, I'm Jess Mariano."

"Hi, nice to meet you," she said with a shy smile, shaking Jess's outstretched hand.

"Here, have a seat," Jess said, gesturing to the chairs by the desk. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

Alex shook her head, sitting in the chair and shifting awkwardly.

Jess took the seat across from her, gathering his papers and getting the small talk questions out of the way. The how-are-yous, the how'd-you-hear-about-the-jobs, all the standardized inquiries that he'd asked so many times at that point that he barely even heard Alex's responses.

The entire time, Alex was soft-spoken, almost shy despite her bold appearance. She was polite and kind and answered all of Jess's questions about who she was with a kind of professionalism that not all eighteen-year-olds had.

"So, what makes you think you're right for the job?" Jess asked.

Alex smiled a little, sitting up straighter in her seat and looking Jess dead in the eye. "I'll be honest – I don't know if I am. I'm young, I barely graduated high school, and I don't have a lot of what some people would consider formal experience."

Jess blinked, confused. "You're not really selling me on hiring you."

"Well, I might not be formally experienced, but I've been writing basically my entire life. My friends and I started a club in middle school – and yes, I'm aware of how juvenile that sounds – and since then, I've never stopped. I was the sole editor for the group and then became a teacher's assistant in high school for every English class I had, plus I've won multiple writing competitions in multiple genres of writing."

Jess narrowed his eyes. "And you said you barely graduated high school?"

Alex winced. "Yeah. I couldn't give a crap about grades or what most of my teachers thought, and I sucked at math and social studies, and so I put all my energy into what I actually cared about. Writing."

"Huh," Jess said with a glimmer in his eye, leaning back in his chair as he appraised the applicant in front of him.

Alex shifted a little, cheeks tinting pink. "I know, it doesn't exactly make me sound like a great employee."

Jess chuckled under his breath. "Uh, no, I was just thinking I was pretty similar in high school."

Alex's eyes went wide. "Oh?" she asked, her mouth opening and closing like she was desperate to ask more questions but was refraining for fear of coming off as unprofessional.

"Didn't graduate high school," Jess said shaking his head. "I got my GED a while later, but formal education and I didn't agree."

"Interesting," Alex laughed. "Could you tell that to my parents? Because they're the kind of people that think you need a master's degree to succeed in life."

"Ah, yeah, see, I don't think they'd listen to me."

"You're probably right," Alex said, relaxing slightly.

The rest of the interview went… smoothly. Almost enjoyable. Jess barely checked his watch more than twice and Alex left with a firm handshake and a smile on her face. And, for the first time that week, Jess went home excited to tell Rory about his day at work. But as he approached the apartment, his attitude took a turn. He could hear Ellie screaming from down the hall of the complex. Heart jumping into his throat at the sound, he fumbled with his keys, trying to unlock the door as quickly as possible.

When he finally managed to get inside, he found Rory swaying and bouncing with Ellie in her arms, Ellie's poor little face screwed up and bright red from the crying. Rory didn't look like she'd changed out of her sweats or even brushed her hair all day. She just wore an expression of exhaustion mixed with worry, and relief melted her when she laid eyes on Jess.

"What's going on?" Jess asked over the wailing.

"She's been like this all day!" Rory exclaimed. "She barely napped, all she wants to do is eat, she keeps putting toys in her mouth… she won't let me get near her mouth to look but I think she might be teething."

"Already?" Jess asked, extracting Ellie from Rory's arms, holding her close and trying to calm her while Rory collapsed on the couch in exhaustion.

"Some of the books say it can start as early as like three months," Rory groaned.

Jess took Ellie's face in his hand, trying to get her to let him look in her mouth and getting slobbered on in the process. As she pulled away with a yell, he caught a little glimpse of white peeking through her gums.

"No, yeah, there's teeth happening here," Jess said, grimacing as he wiped baby spit on his jeans.

"Great, that's gonna make nursing fun…" Rory grumbled, covering her face with her hands.

Jess sat down on the couch next to Rory, letting Ellie gnaw on his finger which seemed to ease her discomfort a little as shown by the sudden lack of screaming.

"You okay?" he asked, nudging Rory's side with his elbow.

"I'm fine," Rory sighed, still not removing her hands from her face.

"You seem it."

"Shut up," Rory chuckled weakly, letting her arms fall to the couch with a thwump. "I just barely got any work done today because of the banshee over here," she said, gesturing to Ellie and wrinkling her nose. "How does she make so much spit?"

"I think it's a special power kids have. Constant drool and sticky hands," Jess said, wincing. "Ow, jeez, she's got strong gums."

Rory reluctantly pulled herself off the couch. "I'll go find the teethers that Sookie gave us," she said, shuffling into what would be Ellie's room as soon as Rory felt like Ellie was big enough to sleep in her own room. She wasn't sure that would ever happen, but everyone assured her that she'd want Ellie in her own room eventually.

The rest of the evening was focused solely on getting Ellie comfortable. They gave her teethers to chew on, gave her a bath to try to make her happy, read her favorite book to her, put her favorite music on – which, oddly enough, was Bowie, Ziggy, specifically, and Jess had really never been prouder than he was the day they figured that out. But, despite their efforts, it took hours for Ellie to finally settle.

As the three of them sat curled in a pile on Jess and Rory's bed sometime past midnight, Ellie finally dozing off on Jess's chest, he turned his head to Rory.

"Why didn't you call me?" he whispered.

"Huh? When?" Rory asked sleepily.

"When she wouldn't stop crying."

Rory shifted to face Jess better. "You were doing interviews, I didn't want to bother you. It's not like I couldn't handle it," she said, slightly affronted, internal anxieties about being a bad mother rising in her.

"No, I'm not saying you can't handle it. I'm saying I want to be bothered."

Rory's shoulders relaxed a little. "Oh."

"If you were at work and I was home with her and she was upset all day, wouldn't you want to know?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so," she said. "I'm sorry."

"No, hey, it's okay. Just, next time…"

"I'll call you," Rory said with a nod.

"Thank you," Jess said with an appreciative smile.

"But I really don't want to think about next time yet, I'm exhausted."

"Right there with you," Jess said through a yawn.

The next day, Jess opted to work from home, reviewing his notes from the interviews with Ellie in his lap while Rory worked at her desk in their room, doing her best to stay awake while editing pieces for the following week's paper. In the end, they were all so exhausted that late afternoon found them taking a family nap in Jess and Rory's bed, Ellie tucked safely in the middle between her parents, and once they woke up and transferred Ellie to her crib after a quick dinner, they all conked right back out.

That was the first time that Ellie slept through the night.

It was a miracle, considering she had gotten so close to that stage before uprooting her little life and changing her routine by moving to New York.

It was also completely and utterly terrifying for her parents who were used to their sleep being disrupted a few times a night to feed or change their daughter.

Rory woke up the next morning and initially processed how rested she felt. Then she realized it was morning, and that she hadn't woken up at all through the night, and that she hadn't been woken by a baby all night, and that thought had her leaping out of bed half asleep and inadvertently shoving Jess awake.

"Whaswrong?" Jess asked, sitting up, hair sticking out everywhere and eyes barely open.

"She didn't wake up all night," Rory said shakily, running over to where Ellie's crib was across the room.

"What?" Jess asked, suddenly wide awake and darting to Rory's side.

There Ellie lay, rubbing her ruddy face with her chubby fists and slowly waking up to her parents' voices.

"Oh thank God," Rory breathed, picking up her little girl and holding her close.

Jess just slouched against the crib and ran his hand over his face. "Jeez, I thought I'd be happy when she started sleeping through the night," he breathed. Suddenly, feeling the weight of the many what-ifs that had run through his mind in the seconds it took to confirm Ellie's safety, he frowned and reached for her, silently requesting Rory to hand her over to him. Understanding completely, Rory passed Ellie to Jess, who clutched her to his chest and buried his face in her soft hair, inhaling deeply.

"That's one way to start the day," Rory said quietly, reaching out to stroke Ellie's arm, still needing the physical contact to assure her frazzled mind that her baby was okay.

"One way I never need to start the day again," Jess mumbled into Ellie's cheek, still reeling from the sudden wake up call.

Jess brought Ellie back to bed with him, beckoning Rory over as he settled a still-sleepy Ellie in the middle of the bed. Despite the nagging in the back of her mind that she needed to start getting ready for work, Rory couldn't resist climbing back into bed to snuggle with her little family before facing her responsibilities.

As they lounged, Rory feeding Ellie as Jess dipped back into sleep, a thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Hey!"

"Hm?" Jess mumbled from his place half buried in his pillow.

"I didn't get to hear how the last interviews went," she said, reaching out to gentle stroke Jess's stubbled face.

"Oh," Jess muttered again, mouth hitching up at one corner at Rory's touch.

When he gave no follow up, Rory laughed and nudged Jess awake.

"Come on," she whined playfully.

Jess cracked one eye open in an attempt to scowl at her, but with mussed hair and pillow creases on his cheek, he came off far less intimidating than intended. When Rory didn't relent, just stared at him expectantly, he begrudgingly pulled himself to a seated position, running his hand through his hair in a weak attempt to tame it.

"You're relentless," he yawned.

"And curious!"

Jess just smiled at her, taking in her bedhead and wrinkled pjs as she fed their kid, looking more beautiful than ever. He leaned across the bed to press a kiss to her lips, smiling against her mouth.

Rory hummed happily as she drew back, a confused but elated smile on her face.

"What was that for?"

"Nothin'," Jess said, shrugging, a soft smirk resting on his mouth.

"Feel free to kiss me for no reason more often," she chirped, leaning back towards him and pulling him in for another tender kiss before drawing back with a grin. "So, the interviews."

"Jeez, alright," Jess laughed. "The first few from the other day were fine, but just… not quite right, y'know? But, and I don't wanna get ahead of myself…"

"Oh my God, you found someone!" Rory squealed.

"Didn't I just say I didn't want to get ahead of myself?" Jess asked, laughing at Rory's enthusiasm.

"Yes, but I'm not you."

"Thank God for that."

"So? What are they like?" she asked gleefully.

"Young. She's only eighteen, just graduated high school a few months ago."

"Wow. And you think she has the experience she needs?" Rory asked, shifting Ellie to burp her.

Jess shrugged. "I don't know. She's been writing her whole life and she's edited in professional and academic environments a lot for a kid her age."

"Kid," Rory snickered. "Like we're not just a few years older than her."

"Okay, fair, but remember me at eighteen? I was an idiot."

"Oh, yeah, so was I," Rory said with a grimace. "Yeah, I understand the whole 'kid' thing now. So what makes you think she might be the best contender?"

Jess's gaze shifted to his bent knees sheepishly. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Of course," Rory said, her face going stoic at Jess's sudden change in tone.

Jess sighed. "She reminds me of me, if I'd, I don't know… had better influences. Or at least listened to the couple of influences I did have."

Rory didn't quite know what to say. Part of her was concerned. Was this girl dependable, able to bear the weight of helping run a business? But the other part of her suddenly ached for Jess and for this girl.

"Oh," Rory muttered, for lack of anything else.

"Which makes me nervous, because opening a second location is already a big leap of faith and hiring someone young and inexperienced could be detrimental. But just… part of me wants to give her the chance that Matt and Chris gave me, y'know?"

Rory's heart warmed as she watched Jess talk, his brow furrowed and his hands moving wildly to punctuate his words. "Well, I guess… talk to the guys about it and see what they think? But if you think this girl…"

"Alex."

"If you think Alex is up to the challenge, then I say go for it. Worst case scenario, she doesn't do great and you let her go in a month or two."

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"I know so," Rory said softly, cupping Jess's face in her palm before passing Ellie to him. "Now, change her, I'm gonna go make breakfast."

"A full breakfast on a Tuesday?" Jess asked in mock surprise as Rory shuffled out of bed and changed into some clean clothes.

"Might be crazy, but I say we try it out anyway. Coffee?" she called into the bedroom.

"Please," Jess called back, moving to get Ellie ready for the day.

The rest of the morning was done in a routine manner, Rory preparing a quick meal of eggs and toast before sitting down to eat breakfast and start working while Jess shoved some food in his mouth and was out the door for work. And to an outsider, it may seem cold and distant. But they kind of loved how routine it was. They knew each other's cues and had developed a kind of silent communication, they had their little life that they settled into for their little family, taking turns cooking and cleaning and falling asleep in each other's arms and waking up to do it all over again.

Some people might find it monotonous.

Rory and Jess were not those people.

Partially because for Rory, once Jess was out the door, it was never the same. Sometimes blissful productivity and sometimes utter chaos, depending on how Ellie felt that day. And not having Jess home to help with a screaming baby was already wearing on her nerves. It would be fine if she didn't also have to work. But because she had to read and edit pieces for grammar and accuracy and proof layouts and delegate tasks on top of caring for a fussy baby, Rory started to wear down.

But she was determined to thrive. So, she pushed through.

August and September flew by.

Jess hired Alex, and together they joined forces to get this branch of Truncheon up and running, quickly signing a handful of authors in the New York area to work with. The first time Jess gave Alex a short story to edit, she'd remained professional until she excused herself to the bathroom where he heard her jump up and down and poorly suppress squeals of glee, only to reappear a few minutes later with a forced serious expression.

Jess had almost laughed coffee out of his nose.

Rory continued to fall into her role at work, loving the responsibility she was handed and loving the spark of energy that shot through her when an urgent story surfaced. It was especially interesting once trends started to show a large number of job losses occurring across the country, leaving it up to reporters to either brings anxiety or calm about the economy to readers everywhere.

But being a stay-at-home mom was harder than she could have imagined.

It wasn't that she couldn't do it. She totally could. She was nothing if not a master multitasker. She could easily care for Ellie and complete her tasks for work, and she adored the privilege of getting to watch her daughter grow. She loved being able to hang out with her baby all day. To see her personality development, to see her meet every tiny milestone.

What was hard was how different it all was.

She thought she knew what she was getting into. She'd had this vision her entire life of what she was going to do after college. And now, nothing was what she expected.

It wasn't like she wanted to go back in time and change history – she wouldn't trade Ellie for the world. She just…

Needed to adjust.

Because she could get used to the loneliness. She missed seeing her coworkers and missed having classmates. She actually missed living with Paris, missed the ease of driving a short distance to see her mother or Luke or Lane. She'd started talking to herself or having full-on conversations with her six-month-old daughter who just gazed at her with a half confused, half loving expression and babbled back occasionally. Even the city felt lonely, even though it was full of people. It just felt… anonymous. And she was far from an extrovert, but she wasn't used to this new brand of quiet. But, she could convince herself that she would get used to it eventually.

And she could get used to feeling like she was half-assing everything she did. She felt like she had to give a hundred percent of herself to her work, and a hundred percent of herself to Ellie, when there was only a hundred percent of her to try to split between her job and her family. Ellie was still a pretty clingy baby, always wanting to be held and cuddled by one of her parents, so Rory spent a lot of the day in meetings or working on articles with a baby perched on her lap or strapped into the baby carrier. And though her coworkers were totally fine with it, even loved cooing over Ellie over Skype, Rory couldn't help but feel a little unprofessional. Which was crap, because she was a working mom, and she was doing everything she possibly could to make it work. But she also couldn't help but feel guilty every time Ellie would be sitting on the floor in front of the couch where Rory was working, playing with blocks and looking up at her mommy with a silent request for her to join her when she just couldn't step away from her work. Her heart panged with regret every time she had to say no to her precious little girl, making sure she gave her extra cuddles at bedtime that night. But, as much as she felt awful having to split her time and feeling like she was being torn in two directions… she could convince herself that things would get better.

There was also the matter of the jealousy, but she'd get past that, too. Jess got to leave the house every day. He got to go and spend time with a coworker, a human that was old enough to carry a conversation and wasn't just a face and voice on the other side of a screen. He got to come home with stories about his day, like about the guy on the train that they'd dubbed King of the Rats – because he had somehow befriended the meanest of the subway rats – or something Alex did that made him think about a client's work in a way he hadn't considered before. He had a loose routine that allowed things outside of the norm to happen, where Rory was always stuck at home with the same pattern of things and rarely did anything that required her to change out of her yoga pants. And it wasn't like Jess expected her to be the doting housewife – in fact, he did most of the cooking and always picked up groceries from the market down the street and did his absolute best to make sure Rory didn't feel any pressure to take care of the house since she was the one taking care of Ellie all day. So, of course Rory didn't want to tell Jess she was jealous. He was thriving and had been so amazing when it was his turn to be the stay-at-home parent while she finished school. So, she'd suck it up and adjust.

Changes of plans could be good.

She just needed to adjust.