Mariano Twins

New Years

Jo's POV 

This year was another Christmas spent without Liz, though we never did anything when we were with her.

Jess and I didn't really know what to get Luke, so we just got him some new fishing equipment and a couple new flannels. I also cleaned the apartment a few days before Christmas.

Even with the addition it's still a cramped space for three people. Luke got us a very practical gift of a bookshelf for Christmas which helped organize Jess and I's small library.

Dean invited me to have dinner with him and his family on New Years Eve and then stay with him and Clara to watch the ball drop on TV.

Convincing Luke to let me stay out past midnight with my boyfriend was not an easy task, but I got him to agree.

We would have Clara with us until it was time for me to leave, so nothing was going to happen. Not that I wanted it to.

I'm heading over now. His mom is making dinner and I put myself in charge of everything for our little party. I walk up and knock on the door. Clara answers the door.

"Jo!" says, excitedly.

"Clara!" I reply, smiling.

We catch each other in a hug.

"I'm so glad you're here. Come on," she says letting go and leading me further into the house.

We walk into the kitchen.

"Mom, Jo is here," Clara says.

I put my bags on the table and she greets me with a hug.

"It's so nice to finally meet you," she says.

"It's nice to meet you too," I reply.

"What's all this?" she asks.

"This is the stuff for our little party later," I tell her as I turn to Clara.

I can see she's almost bouncing with excitement.

"Where's Dean?" I ask.

"He's in his room," Clara says.

"Well, help me put this stuff up and we can go bug him," I tell her.

"Okay," she says.

We put everything away and then go head upstairs.

"Dinner will be done in about 15 minutes," their mom says on our way out.

Clara leads me to Dean's room. We slowly open the door and see him on his bed, laying on his back, with his headphones on, eyes closed.

We walk up to him and jump on the foot of the bed, scaring him. He smiles when he realizes it's us. He grabs hold of us both and pulls us down so I'm laying next to him and Clara is on top of him.

"When did you get here?" he asks.

"Just a couple of minutes ago. I met your mom," I tell him.

"Mom sent dad off to get something for dinner, and he's not back yet," Clara tells him as she slides off of him and onto me.

"Careful. You're almost as big as me," I tell her.

We just lay there for a couple of minutes until we hear their dad come in. The three of us go down to greet him.

"Dad, meet Jo," Dean says.

"Nice to meet you Jo," he says, shaking my hand.

"Nice to meet you too," I reply.

When dinner is ready we all sit down to eat. It's a circular table and I have Dean to my right and Clara to my left.

"So you two met at school?" his dad asks.

"Well, not exactly," I say.

"She's friends with Rory and Lane. We met hanging out with them," Dean says.

"Oh, really? That's nice," his mother says.

She didn't sound condescending. That's good.

"Are you originally from Stars Hollow?" his dad asks

"I actually moved here last year. My brother and I came here from New York and moved in with our uncle," I reply

"Your uncle?" he asks.

"Luke Danes," I say.

I see something go off in both of their heads as they freeze for a moment and then share a look.

"Is something wrong?" Dean asks.

"Oh, no. We just didn't know she, um..." his mom fades off.

"Didn't know I was related to Jess? He's my twin brother," I tell her.

"I didn't know you and Jess were twins," Clara says.

"Yeah. We were born eight minutes apart. He's older," I reply.

We finish dinner and their parents head up to bed. We put on some music, and I give Clara some ice cream.

We all eat junk food and drink bottled soda and hang out. Clara ends up sitting with her legs across my lap, resting her head on my shoulder. This is where she falls asleep at about 11:30.

Dean and I talked quietly while we sat on the couch and he held my hand. He ends up scooting closer and puts his arm around me and plays with my hair.

We reach the countdown and I shake Clara awake. As we hit midnight she is awake enough to open her eyes.

"Happy New Year, Clara," I tell her.

She mumbles it back and I kiss her head.

"There, New Years kiss," I say.

She doesn't hear me because she's already asleep again. Dean gently grabs my chin and turns my head to face him.

He gives me a light kiss on the lips. We pull back and smile at each other

"There, you got yours too," he says.

He picks Clara up off of me because I can't carry her up the stairs. I help him set her into bed and quietly close her door.

We go downstairs and clean everything up before we get in his truck and he drives me home. We pull up outside of the diner and I sit there for a minute. I look over at him and smile.

"I had a really awesome night," I say.

"Me too. It was a lot of fun," he says.

Lean closer to him.

"That first kiss was pretty great too," I tell him, and he grins.

"Really? Well, there's more where that came from," he says.

We lean in together and I kiss him again. We pull back.

"Well, I better get in there before Luke comes looking for me," I tell him.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want that," he says with a smile.

I get out of the truck and wave at him. I use my key to unlock the door and he waits until I'm inside to drive away.

\\ AN // -- All grammar, punctuation, and spelling corrections are helpful, encouraged, and greatly appreciated. 

Thank you

-- Izzy