EncartaQueen
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Posts: 8
(14/4/05 6:27 pm)
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Leaving the Norm PG-13 3/?
A/N: This is in the future. You’ll get glimpses of what happened but I don’t want to go into detail. All you really need to know is that Jess and Rory are married. Yeah, I know I know...
Leaving the Norm
Chapter One
If someone were to have told Jess Mariano 10 years ago that he would end up married to a very pregnant beautiful women, and that he would be shopping with said girl... Well let’s just say a lot of laughing would have been involved. It seemed almost surreal, the last years of his life. He had gone through so many conflicting emotions, many of which he couldn’t even put a name to, but the thing he was sure of was that he, Jess Mariano, was in love. That in itself was a miracle, a once in a life time experience. And now he was married and was not only a husband but a father to two unborn children. That fact scared the hell out of him.
“I still can’t believe we’re having twins.” said Rory excitedly as she scanned the aisle’s like a young child in a candy store.
“The doctor doesn’t lie.”
“That’s two babies. Two!”
“Well, we can only hope that at least one of them inherits your math skills.” He replied sarcastically. She playfully glared at him.
“Ha. That means the other one gets your sense of humor.”
“We can only hope...” Rory stopped the cart abruptly and pulled two matching jumpsuits off a nearby rack.
“We have to get these!” He cringed as he noticed the small ducks on each of the pockets.
“Put them back.”
“But they’re cute.” She pouted her lips at him but he didn’t take the bait.
“They’re purple.” He stated simply.
“Purple’s cute on babies.”
“My boy’s are not wearing purple.” She smiled a little at his use of ‘My boys’. He was excited, though he would never admit it.
“Fine. Be that way.” Jess lifted an eyebrow at her and she turned away quickly, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
“How about this?” He asked as he picked up a plain black shirt. He looked it over, relieved when he found no barn yard animals or clowns.
“It’s black, babies don’t wear black.”
“Then why would they make them in the first place?”
“For the stupid wives with demented children that let their husbands shop for baby clothes alone.” She answered matter-of-factly.
“Uh huh.”
“Our children are not going to be demented.”
“Don’t be so sure.” A mix of Mariano and Gilmore genes was bound to produce something abnormal, physically and mentally.
“They won’t, not if I’m here to protect them.”
“You’re not always here. There’s plenty of corruption time between ten and eight.” She stared at him, noticing the faint gleam in his eyes. He was happy.
“Are you going to let them watch Child’s Play? My mom let me watch that when I was three. I kept telling her that I wasn’t scared but I had nightmares for a week. You could scar them for life Jess!”
“Fine, no horror films.”
“And no smoking either.”
“I don’t smoke anymore.”
“You could pick up the habit.”
“Yeah, and I could also pick up golfing.” She looked at him crossly for a second. He knew exactly what she was doing.
“Mental image.” She stated in mock seriousness. He shook his head.
“That bad, huh?”
“You’ve got glasses that are taped in the middle and a puce and olive plaid shirt.”
“Now that’s attractive.”
“Oh my god. You just swung the club too hard and then fell over.”
“I’m not sure I like what this pregnancy thing does to you.”
“I’m not that loopy.”
“No, you’re Lorelai on marijuana.”
“You can’t blame me, you’re responsible.” She stated defensively, crossing her hands over her chest.
“Sure, it’s always Jess’s fault. Someone stole the build-the-bridge money? Must be Jess. Someone drew a chalk outline outside of Doose’s? Must be Jess. Rory’s pregnant? Must be Jess. Just once I wish someone would blame you.”
“How could I get myself pregnant?”
“There’s...ways.” He replied as he draped his arm around her shoulder.
“And I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know what they are.”
“Suit yourself.” She looked up at him for a second.
“What are we going to name them?”
“Name them?”
“Yeah, the boys, they need names. I’m sick of calling them ‘them’.”
“I don’t know.” He lied. He wouldn’t really call it a lie, more of a half-truth.
“Come on Jess, I know you’ve thought about it.”
“I’m fine with whatever name you choose. As long as it isn’t Dean or Logan.” It was a joke but pregnancy means hormones and hormones mean...
“You’re still mad at me! You said you weren’t!” She sniffled like a small child. He tried not to laugh, knowing it would only make the situation worse.
“Calm down Rory. I was kidding, you can name the baby Dean if you want.”
“I can?” She looked up at him innocently. In his mind he kept repeatedly screaming ‘Hell no!’ but looking at her...
“Sure.”
“Sorry but I’m not naming my baby Dean and...Logan? Blah.” She replied as she smirked at him and sped up a bit.
“How did you just do that?”
“Do what?” She replied innocently.
“You got me to let you name one of my kids Dean.”
“You just gotta work the hormones.” He shook his head at her and she beamed.
“Can I kiss you now?”
“No.” She stated defiantly. “You can’t kiss me while I’m pregnant.”
“You’ve been pregnant for months, you didn’t seem to have a problem with it before.”
“Yeah, but now they have ears and brains. They’ll know what we’re doing.”
“I think everyone knows what we’ve been doing.” He watched as she blushed slightly. It amazed him that she still blushed about anything directly or indirectly related to sex.
“I don’t care. I don’t want to hurt them.”
“I’ll be the perfect gentlemen.”
“Jess...”
“Rory...” He leaned in closer and she closed her eyes. They both felt seventeen again as their lips barely made contact.
“Do you need help finding anything?”
“@#%$.” They jumped apart like a pair of guilty teenagers. He ran his hands through his hair, it was just to uncanny.
“No, it’s fine. We’ve got everything.” The watched as the blue vest nodded, turned, and left them. He looked at her curiously.
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Picturing me naked.” She replied as she pushed the cart toward the check out.
“I was not picturing you naked.”
“Sure...”
“I wasn’t!”
She just shook her head at him as she placed their items on the conveyor belt.
“Besides, I’m married to you and I’m allowed to picture you naked whenever and wherever-” He was cut off as her lips met his. He was surprised to say the least. Situations like this usually happened when Rory was rambling and he would kiss her just to shut her up. Now she was throwing his own techniques back at him.
What he didn’t notice was her hand which placed the matching purple jumpsuits on the checkout and the smirk that played across her lips for a job well done.
Chapter Two
Jess lay in bed, seemingly deep in thought. The fact of the matter was that the only thoughts currently occupying his head were the number of cracked tiles that lined the ceiling. He didn't want to think about anything else. There was one single statement that continued to resurface. He was going to be a father. He was going to be a father. It was like the persistent dripping of a leaky faucet. How can someone sleep through that?
That’s just it. You can’t. You end up laying on the living room floor trying to quiet the voices in your head.
“I’m going insane.” He muttered to no one in particular.
“Yeah, I’d say talking to yourself is one of the first warning signs of insanity.” Replied a voice from the doorway. Her hand sat on her protruding stomach while her eyes looked him over, worriedly.
“Hey. I didn’t know you were up.”
“You were supposed to get back from your trip tonight. I was going to call and see if you were running late.” She replied as she sat and the couch across from him.
“Nope. I’m right here.”
“You didn’t bring your suitcase. You didn’t pack anything.” It was abrupt, but she was always abrupt when she was scared. It was the way she vocalized her feelings and he had grown used to it.
“It was just a weekend business trip. I didn’t really have anything to pack.”
“You left your jacket.”
“I just got it cleaned.” She looked at him doubtfully. Jess never trusted anyone else with his leather jacket. She couldn’t count how many times she had tried to throw it out without his knowledge. He always managed to get it back. “Why, is there a problem?”
“No, there’s no problem. Everything’s great!”
“What is wrong with you?”
“You left your jacket, all your clothes. That’s what’s wrong with me.”
“Why are you making me defend my laundry?” A big question mark was flashing in his mind. Why were they yelling about this?
“I’m saying I do it. The laundry is one on the many services I provide. If you had to have your jacket cleaned, I clean it, me!”
“Since when did you start loving laundry?” She looked at him, annoyed.
“I do the laundry around here!”
“Did I miss something?”
“What’s this?” He looked over at her curiously. In her hand was a long piece of hair.
“Look’s like a hair.” He stated easily.
“Who’s hair?” Was she serious?
“I don’t know, the cleaners.”
“It’s blond.”
“It’s white.”
“It’s platinum blonde.”
“It’s white old lady hair.”
“This is not old hair!”
“Why don’t you just ask what you want to ask?” Remember she’s pregnant. Remember the hormones.
“Are you having an affair?” The question was like running face first into a brick wall.
“Yeah, me and the old lady. I took one look at her laundry and I had to have her.” It was his turn to be mad. “Are you nuts?”
“Jess, this isn’t a joke!” She looked at the ground and continued quietly. “Your boss called.” She heard him sigh heavily.
“So that’s what this is about.”
“He said you needed to come empty your desk.”
“Right.”
“You got fired Jess? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It wasn’t important.”
“You can’t do this! You are not going to shut me out again!” she yelled, desperately.
“Rory, I can’t be a father.” He was defeated. Even more so by the pained look that spread across her features.
“What?” Her voice was broken and the sound cut to his heart.
“I don’t want them to be like me, Rory. I’m a screw-up. I mean, I got fired from my @#%$ job when my wife is eight months pregnant! What does that tell you?” His head dropped to his hands, keeping his eyes on anything but her. The apartment remained silent. His words seemed to echo off the walls, repeating over and over. He heard her crying quietly.
“I didn’t mean that.” He took her hand and she looked up at him. “I want this. I do, it’s just…”
“It’s just what?”
“I don’t know If I can be a dad. I don’t know how to be a dad. I’m going to-” She was cut of as her lips suddenly made contact with his. She had no idea why she was kissing him. The urge had come at a very inconvenient time. It was happening too much lately. She yelled, she cried, she laughed, she kissed him, damn those hormones.
Before she knew it her back was against the arm of the couch and he was lying, semi-reclined, on top of her. She felt a violent kick of protest from her stomach. They were telling Jess to get the hell off.
“What are we doing?” she asked breathlessly.
“I thought it was obvious.” He breathed against her neck.
“We’re supposed to be talking this out.” He sighed heavily, knowing she was right, and sat back up.
“Fine.” He knew he wouldn't get off that easy, but it was worth a try.
“Jess, you’re wrong. You are going to be the greatest dad. I know you. You think you can’t do this but I know you can. So you got fired, we’ll live. It’s not the end of the world.”
“I should have told you.”
“Yeah, you should have.”
“Do you want to know where I was?”
“Well it obviously wasn’t a business trip, so yeah.”
“I went to Ian’s.” She groaned inwardly.
“I should have known.”
“Yes, you should have. I would never cheat on you Rory. I mean, the cleaner’s nice and all but we just don’t have that spark, you know?”
“Your going keep making fun of me aren’t you?”
“Yeah, probably.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him, sighing contently.
“I think this was the first fight we ever had about laundry.”
“Laundry’s an important part of our lives. To bleach or not to bleach, serious stuff.”
“Jess…”
“What? I’m not joking.” He replied innocently.
“You’re such a jerk.”
“Yeah, but you love me anyway.”
“Yeah, I do.”
They continued to just sit there quietly and as Jess watched Rory’s steady breathing, sleep suddenly became that much easier.
Chapter Three
Jess was looking forward to two weeks in hell. The unspeakable was about to happen. They were going back to Stars Hollow. Rory was going to have the twins in Connecticut. He would have to put up with Mrs. Patty, Kirk, Taylor, his mother-in-law, and worst of all, Dean. He hadn’t seen Dean since the night at Rory’s dorm, six years ago. Somehow it didn’t seem long enough.
“Are we stopping soon?” asked Rory, successfully breaking his train of thought. He sighed. There was nothing better then thinking of the 101 ways you could kill Dean.
“We just stopped twenty minutes ago.” And 20 minutes before that, and 20 minutes before that…
“Let’s stop again. I’m hungry.”
“The ladies right, it’s nearly noon and I haven’t had a single drink.” Interjected Finn from the back seat. Jess glared at him through the rearview mirror, wondering why he had agreed to let him come in the first place.
Flashback
“You all packed?”
“Mmhmm.” came her muffled reply from the closet.
“Need any help?”
“I’m pregnant not disabled.” She deadpanned.
“If you say so…”
He watched as she tossed clothing into her suitcase, and then struggled to zipper it up.
“Are you-”
She cut him off. “I’m fine.”
“I can-”
“Jess, I’m pretty sure I can pack a suit case by myself. I’m not three.” He sighed.
After a few more attempts, she gave up, settling instead to just pound on the bag repeatedly.
“Give up yet?”
“No.” She replied stubbornly. He smirked.
“Okay. Well, I’ll go start loading up the car.”
“Make sure you keep the back seat open.”
“Why?” He questioned suspiciously.
“I might have invited someone…”
“You might have, or you did?”
“I did.”
“Who?” She looked at him and then at her watch, mock surprise written all over her face.
“Would you look at the time. Can you believe it’s taken me 20 minutes just to fill up this one suitcase? Well you know what they say, time sure does fly when you’re having fun.”
“Uh huh.”
“I better go get changed. Could you take care of my suitcase? Thanks you’re a doll.” And with that, she left, only stopping to blow him a kiss on her way out. He stared after her blankly.
“Lorelai, I married Lorelai.”
“I heard that!” She called back.
End Flashback
He sighed. “Give me a half an hour.”
“What do we do until then?”
“Entertain yourself.” He saw Finn smirk and cut him off before he could reply. “Keep it PG.”
“Damn.”
“Let’s sing car songs.” offered Rory. “100 bottles of beer on the wall?”
“Don’t tease.” He huffed.
“Fine, I’ll make it Pepsi. Besides, I’m pregnant.”
“100 bottles of Pepsi it is.” And they began to sing, leaving Jess to drive the car with not way to protect himself from the noise.
“100 bottles of Pepsi on the wall, 100 bottles of Pepsi! Take one down, pass it around, 99 bottles of Pepsi on the wall.” He cringed internally, remembering the first he had met the Australian.
Flashback
Rory’s dorm. He was in Rory’s dorm and she was asleep next to him on the couch.
It had been two weeks since his reappearance in her life. She was different now, both physically and mentally. Her hair was short and curled. She was noticeably skinnier and there was something about her. She seemed older, more sophisticated. She wasn’t the same innocent girl he had met three years ago.He knew she'd lost her virginity to a rich, college snob, a fact that both angered him and relieved him. She had college friends, and new somewhat annoying habits, like using the word ‘cas’ continually. But since his arrival, she was slowly changing, they both were.
The only thing he just wasn’t used to was college life, or how to deal with Rory’s friends. Marty and Paris he could understand, but Logan and his ‘brigade’ drove him up a tree.
Knock. Knock. “Psst, Laurie.” He growled, the knocking got louder.
“Colin, why isn’t she answering?”
“Did you try knocking louder?” Jess snorted.
“Maybe I should just open the door.”
“What if she’s indecent?” Pause. “You’re right, let’s invite ourselves in.”
And sure enough, they just opened the door and walked in. Jess closed his eyes, hoping that they would get the hint and leave.
“Laurie, where are you?” They came deeper into the room. One of them spotted the sleeping couple.
“Look at this, mate.”
“Isn’t that precious?”
“Think we should wake them up?”
“Seems like the most responsible thing to do.”
“And we are responsible.” And soon enough a hand reached out to poke Jess in the head.
“Touch me and die.” He immediately responded.
“It speaks.”
“Too violent for my taste.” Replied the Australian.
“Poke him, see if he’s bluffing.”
“He’s got a leather jacket.”
“Ah, you’re right. Never poke a gentlemen who wears a leather jacket.” Replied Colin.
End Flashback
“89 bottles of Pepsi on the wall, 89 bottles of Pepsi! Take one down, pass it around, 88 bottles of Pepsi on the wall.” He cringed again. Rory was good at a lot of things, singing definitely wasn’t one of them.
“On second thought, let’s stop now.”
“Why the change of heart?” asked Rory, innocently. A smirk evident on her face.
“The man’s gone soft.”
With that, Jess turned sharply, successfully knocking the pile of suitcases sideways. Each one of them hitting Finn square in the face.
Okay, maybe there wasn't something better then thinking of the 101 ways you could kill Dean but this came damn close.
Edited by: EncartaQueen at: 14/4/05 6:35 pm
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