Authors Note: Here it is, guys, the last chapter. I hope you enjoy it and aren't too disappointed. Please enjoy and thanks for reading. A special thanks to Scarlet3086 for reading, reviewing and encouraging. It is so supportive to know that at least one person is reading and enjoying the story, I really appreciate it =) Thanks to everyone else who has reviewed, it was very exciting everytime I would get a new review and I really am thankful for the feedback and support. To all the American readers out there, Happy Thanksgiving. As always please read and enjoy! D xx

"Jess." A small voice croaked, pulling him from the depths of the darkness that had consumed him. "Jess." The timid voice croaked again. His eyes opened and he looked up at the blue irises that stared down at him, covered by heavy lids. His surroundings finally dawned on him and he jolted up, suddenly wide awake and alert.

"Rory, oh god, you had me so scared." He took her in his arms holding her for a moment. "Do you need anything?"

"Water, please." She croaked, her voice horse. He quickly poured her a glass and brought it over to her, bringing the straw to her mouth so she could drink. Rory sipped gently at the liquid and savored the feeling as it cooled her mouth. She looked down and suddenly was aware of the flatness of her stomach. She reached down and held her belly, where she last remembered her baby to be. She looked up at Jess with wide eyes, already shining with tears.

"What? Where is our baby? Jess, what happened?" She asked him, panic rising.

"Rory its ok, just breathe." He settled her. "You remember your waters breaking?" He asked her. She nodded towards him and he continued. "Well it wasn't actually your waters. When I got the doctor we came back in and you were screaming in pain and then you just passed out. When the doctor lifted the blankets your waters hadn't broken you were hemorrhaging. He said that the placenta had detached."

"What does that mean?" She asked him.

"Well basically it means that it has cut off everything from the baby. It means that it wasn't getting any nutrients or oxygen. Nothing. It also meant that you were losing a frightening amount of blood. They rushed you down into the theatre and had to transfuse you." Rory had begun to cry as Jess recounted the horrific scene to her.

"I am so sorry. I should have pressed more when I was cramping I should have known something was wrong. This is my entire fault Jess. I am so sorry. I am just sorry, so sorry." She was sobbing. Jess climbed up onto the bed next to her and took her in his arms.

"Rory this wasn't your fault. This was just a terrible thing but you didn't cause it. You did check out the cramps. Stop baby." He cooed to her.

"If I had done more we would still have our baby." She sobbed into his shoulder uncontrollably. Jess pulled her back and looked into her face the pain behind her eyes almost unbearable for him. He got off the bed and left the room for minutes before returning with a wheelchair. He walked towards his shaking wife before lifting her from the bed and placing her gently in the car.

"Jess where are we going?" She hiccupped. He pushed her down a series of hallways, one blending into the other. They reached a room with photographs of small children and babies plastered across the window. He opened the door and pushed her towards a small incubating bed, tubes wrapped all around and resting on the tiny baby inside. Monitors beeped all around them.

"Jess what is this?" Rory asked him, hurt that he would bring her in to see such a small baby after what they had been through.

"This," He said gently, pulling the crib towards Rory, "Is our son." Rory looked up at him, her eyes bulging at him.

"Our son?" She whispered, turning back to stare at the tiny baby, covered in tubes.

"Yep, William Elias Mariano. Is that ok?" Jess asked her timidly.

"It's perfect, he is perfect." She said placing her hand over the glass panel. "Is he ok?"

"He is a fighter. He weighed right on 3 pounds and 4 ounces. His lungs are only small which is why he has the tubes on his nose, they are helping his breath. He is slightly jaundiced but they said that is a normal occurrence even in full term babies so they aren't too concerned. The doctors are amazed by him, they said for how early he was born he is doing amazing." Jess said the pride in his voice very obvious.

"So he is going to be ok?" She asked.

"He is going to be great." Jess told her, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. They kept their place in front of the incubator watching their son. The door to the NICU opened and a voice called to them.

"My baby had a baby." Rory turned to see Lorelai and a huge smile broke across her face.

"Mummy." She murmured as Lorelai reached down and enveloped her daughter in her arms. Luke followed behind her, kissing Rory's cheek gently.

"Imagine our surprise when we entered a room that was housing my previously comatose daughter to find the bed empty." Lorelai joked.

"I thought bringing her up here was the best place for her when she woke up." Jess told them.

"Of course. How is our baby boy doing today?" She asked.

"Doing strong." Jess told them, proudly.

"He's perfect isn't he." Rory said looking at her mum who nodded at her lovingly. A nurse entered the room and approached the family.

"Sorry to interrupt but we just need to run a few checks on our little guy here. You might want to go get some food or a cup of coffee; it will be about forty-five to an hour." She said to them. Luke and Lorelai nodded and moved towards the door. Rory pressed her hand against the glass again and whispered to her son.

"Mummy will be right back little man. I love you." Jess smiled down at his wife, before turning her wheelchair around and moving her out the door.

"So there are a few people here who have been very worried about you missy." Lorelai said as they came out into the hall way. The foursome made their way to the hospital café down on the second floor. As Jess wheeled Rory inside she was greeted by her dad, Gigi, April, her grandparents and standing slightly to the left of the group was Mitchum Huntzburger. Her family rushed towards her and all began hugging her and congratulating her on Williams arrival. Emily was crying a steady flow of tears and Rory looked up to see her grandfather's eyes looked puffy and red as though he too had succumbed to his emotions. She held her family and told them of her son and thanked them for their prayers and wishes. She moved her way to Mitchum, who was standing with his head down, looking at the floor. She reached out for his hand and heard him sniff.

"Thank you, for bringing me here in time. I am alive and have my son because of you. I can never explain how much that means to me." She told him gently, squeezing his hand.

"Of course, Rory. I am just so glad you are both safe now." He told her, his voice heavy and choked.

"My son's name is William." She told him. He looked at her and nodded.

"William, what a very noble and strong name." He told her.

"Yes, William Elias." She told him. He looked at her with wide eye, tears threatening to break over.

"Elias, like…"

"Like you Mitchum. And like Logan." She told him. She watched as his eyes darted towards Jess, silently questioning the decision.

"It was Jess's suggestion." She told him. "I want you too be around Mitchum. It's been a very strange and winded road that brought us to this point but I want you to be in our lives. I want Will to know his name sake." The tears had now broken through Mitchum's resolve.

"I thought you would just move on from me and my family. Your life is different now. And it is not like I am owed your kindness Rory. Lord knows I never really gave you mine." He choked.

"Perhaps not then, but lets be honest, while you may have been very wrong about me you were attempting to have Logan's best interest at heart and that I something I understand. Plus, I loved Logan very much. He was and always will be a very special part of my life and you raised him. You are responsible for shaping the man who helped to shape me, so you can't be all bad. I am not sure how this will work but I would like to try." She said gently. The business tycoon, a man who made many fall at his feet and agree to his every whim, stood in front of her in the hospital café and he dropped. She gathered him into her arms as he sobbed into her lap and apologized in sobbing hiccups. Finally he looked up into the blue eyes that his own son had loved beyond all else.

"Thank you Rory." And in those three words Mitchum let go of the past and the pain and stepped into his future.

12 Weeks Later.

Rory and Jess entered their New York apartment, Rory for the first time in twelve weeks. They had finally been released from the hospital; Will was finally being brought home. He had surpassed all the doctors' expectations and was a very popular little guy with the NICU nurses. He had reached his original due date and the doctors had agreed the family was ready to begin their real life together. Jess opened their apartment door to a massive cheer from inside. All their loved ones were packed inside the tiny living area awaiting the new family. Lorelai rushed forward and hugged her daughter quickly before lightening the capsule in Jess's hand by stealing her grandson. Rory looked over at Jess and gave him her perfect Rory smile. The one that could make him fall in love with her over and over. He thought back to all they had been through, the time and the heart ache. Both of them leaving the other at some point or another. He thought about the many times he had told her he loved her, and how it had never gone to plan, one of them making a mess of it each time. He leaned in and kissed his wife on the cheek, thankful for all those times for where it had brought them now.

"I love you, Jess." She breathed into his ear and he felt his heart beat faster. It may have taken years but to finally hear her say it back was unbeatable and in those words, Jess Mariano knew that he was home.

Thanks Again for reading everyone! D xxx