How did we get here - A Gilmore Girls fan fiction

Chapter 12

Jess is wiping up the counters when the diner bell rings. Standing at the door is Rory with a nervous smile on her face.

"Hey, Rory." Jess approaches her from behind the counter. They hug for a second. "I'm almost finished down here."

"I'll wait."

As Rory takes a seat on one of the tables, Rory enjoys watching Jess as he closes up for the night. Watching him bustling around the diner is something she never thought she would enjoy. As she watches him count the money made today in tips, she realizes he truly changed.

"Ok. Rory. I'm done. You want to come upstairs or stay down here?"

"Upstairs is fine. Thanks, Jess."

As Jess leads the way upstairs, Rory gets more and more anxious of what she's gonna tell Jess. She gets nervous of how he will react and what he's going to say.

Jess opens the door to Luke's former apartment. Rory is shocked to see nothing has really changed. Except now there are more books (Jess's doing) and an old laptop on the desk.

"Are you currently writing?" Rory tries to delay the eventual topic of conversation by asking for an obvious answer.

"Yes, I am. I am starting to write my own memoir. I got inspired by you to do that."

"That's cool."

"Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Beer?"

"Tea please if you have any," Rory pulls out a chair to sit.

Jess is once again surprised to hear Rory turn down coffee. "I don't think I have tea bags. But Luke left behind some Lipton iced tea. Is that ok?"

"Yeah, that's perfect. Thank you."

As Jess fixes her a glass of Iced tea, Rory touches her belly once more. Rory is really excited to be a mother. She just hopes her old friend will be just as happy for her.

"Here you go. A cold glass of iced tea." Jess puts down a glass in front of her. He walks to the fridge to take out a bottle of beer, opens it and takes a seat across from Rory. He patiently waits for her to start the conversation.

Rory takes a sip of her tea. The cool taste of the drink gives her the courage to speak up.

"So as you know I went to London earlier this week."

"Yes you told me."

"Well I had some unfinished business with Logan. I needed to tell him something very important. I know you have been asking me what's wrong? And I haven't been able to divulge what it was because I wanted to wait until I told Logan first. I owed him that much." Rory rambles. The more nervous she gets, the faster she talks.

"Rory, I understand. Now please tell me what's wrong."

"Jess, I'm pregnant." Rory is too scared to look at Jess. She keeps her eyes on her hands on the table as she waits for Jess's response.

Jess takes a deep pull from his beer as he contemplates what he heard.  "Ok, well that explains the "no coffee" the past two weeks." He jokes just to break the tension.

Rory lets out a small giggle. "Yeah. I thought that might have given it away."

"So what now?"

"I plan on raising the baby alone. I just can't be the cause of another breakup. I want to be a better person for this baby. And for me to do that, I couldn't let Logan call off the wedding."

"Logan's engaged? While he was sleeping with you, he was engaged?" Jess asked with anger creeping into his voice.

"Yes. It was a mutual agreement between us. He didn't do anything I didn't want him to do."

"But this isn't you. I mean having an affair with an engaged man. I know you. What happened?" Jess couldn't help but raise his voice as he spoke.

"Jess, you don't know me. I have changed since I last saw you. This isn't something that I could just reverse. It's not like leaving Yale. This is permanent." Rory is getting angrier as well. She didn't know what to expect from Jess but she couldn't believe he was getting so angry.

"I better go. This was a mistake."

"Yeah you better go." Jess says quietly.

Rory spins around, opens the door and heads down the stairs. She reaches the street before she lets the tears fall.

Meanwhile upstairs, Jess drinks the rest of the beer. He sits and ponders who is this woman. "She's right. I don't know her."