A/N: So, this is a kind-of-sequel to The Runaways. I say kind-of-sequel, because its not going to be a linear story, but rather a collection of one-shots showing various moments in the lives of Rory, Jess, Jack, et al. They won't be in any kind of order, they'll just appear as the ideas hit me... or as you suggest them and I decide you've had good ideas too ;)

(Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and any recognisable dialogue from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other people that aren't me. Any new characters belong to me!)

1. Baby It's You - 23rd March 2006

It was almost midnight and Rory was very deliberately awake. It was a little crazy. Jack had only started sleeping through the night a couple of months ago, and for a few weeks Rory had just adored the eight hours of peace, the sheer God-given joy of sleep. Tonight was different. Tonight she had to be awake.

"Jess?" she whispered in the dark. "Jess!" she tried again a little more forcefully, poking him in the shoulder.

"Rory?" he groaned, face half smushed in the pillow and yet he still looked beautiful to his fiancée. "What's wrong?" he asked, as he finally came to, eyes opening just a fraction to look at her.

"Nothing's wrong," she promised with a winning smile that he could just make out in the darkness of their room. "It's midnight," she said as her only explanation. "Come on!"

Jess shivered as the covers were unceremoniously dragged from his body and suddenly Rory was up and standing there in her nightwear, waiting for him to move his ass. If he were more awake right now, Jess might have figured on why, but in the haziness that was his brain right now, he hadn't a clue.

"Rory, what...?" he asked as he crawled to the edge of the bed and let his feet drop out onto the ground.

He was faced by the glowing figures of the clock then and something clicked in his sleep-fogged brain. A smile spread across his lips as he reached out to take the hand Rory offered him and followed her to the door. Pushing his hair out of his face, Jess had his eyes open wide enough to navigate alongside Rory to their son's room. Sound asleep as any sane person of any age should be at such an hour, Jack would be officially one year old any minute now.

"Happy birthday, little man," said Rory in a whisper, leaning over the edge of the crib to her baby boy.

Jack shifted a little in his sleep then snuffled and woke himself up. Jess wondered if it was their fault for coming in here in the first place, and yet he had been around Rory and Lorelai enough to actually believe maybe the kid knew this moment was significant and that was why he had awoken.

"Y'know Jack, Grandma Lorelai and me, we kind of had this tradition," said Rory in a soft voice as she reached to pick him up. "Every time my birthday rolled around, she would come into my room at 4.03am and tell me the story of the night I was born," she explained, moving to sit with her son cradled in her arms.

Jess joined her, perching on the arm of the comfy chair and just sitting back to listen. He was intrigued by the one story he had maybe never heard from Rory. She often told him tales of life growing up with Lorelai, and he in turn had shared the less happy stories of his own upbringing at the hands of Liz. It seemed she had skipped over the birth story she got from her mom every year, a tradition she obviously wanted to continue with Jack.

"I can't believe it's been a year already since that night when I went into the bathroom and suddenly I was stood in this lake that you and me had made! Your Daddy was so calm and cool about it all, as if he would ever be anything else. He got me to the hospital really fast and he stayed with me, holding my hand the whole time, while I screamed and wailed, and tried my very best to get you out into this world. It was a painful experience, no doubt about that. The worst pain I had ever known in my life was that night, but Jack, y'know what? You were worth it. I would go through every second of it all over again for you, because that's how much I love you and how very special you are to me."

Jess smiled at her story and the love she spoke of. It was something so hard to put into words, and yet Rory managed it. He leant down to plant a kiss in her hair and sighed.

"You really were made to be a writer, Gilmore," he told her softly, making her laugh.

"Maybe" she sighed happily as she leant into him. "I'd say it's just easy to speak from the heart, but I guess we both know that's not always the case," she said, looking up at Jess.

"It gets easier in time," he admitted, looking more at Jack than Rory for a moment. "One year old, kid," he told the little boy then. "I guess the world's still a pretty nutty place to you, huh? Yeah, that doesn't ever really change," he smiled wryly.

"Ain't that the truth?" Rory agreed with a chuckle. "But when you find your place in it, this world's pretty cool too."

She looked up at Jess and barely got a chance to breathe before he planted a kiss on her lips. Rory didn't need to ask what it was for, because there didn't have to be a reason. They loved each other and they both adored their son. Much of the time, it was all that mattered. In this moment, seeing the light shine in Jess' dark eyes, Rory knew he was thinking just the same.

Her story done, Rory got up to put Jack back in his crib. Jess reached for the boy and she handed him over, watching her fiancé kiss their baby on the head before laying him back down to sleep. Jack had only been partially awake the whole time and was bound to be snoring softly again before they hardly got out of the door.

"Happy birthday, kid," Jess told him.

Rory took the hand he offered her this time, a reverse of how they had come into the room as they padded back to their own bed and climbed in under the covers. Jess' arms went automatically around her, pulling her close, and Rory happily threw an arm across his middle, resting her head on his chest with a contended sigh.

"That's a cool tradition," he told her, kissing the top of her head. "I dunno how comfortable he's gonna be as a teenager hearing how Mommy pushed him out into the world, but for now, it's cool," he smirked.

Rory didn't have to see the expression to know it was there, she had learnt to hear it in Jess' voice. She couldn't help but wear the same look in that moment.

"You think that was something I was comfortable hearing as a teen?" she asked incredulously. "Being male or female makes no difference, that is always a weird conversation."

"Don't doubt it," Jess agreed, a yawn escaping then. "Weird to think that was all a year ago."

"Sometimes it seems much longer, and other times it's like it was just yesterday," Rory agreed.

"Time is weird that way."

"Yeah."

They were both well on their way to being asleep again, at least Rory assumed it wasn't just her. Jess hand moving lazily up and down her back and the rhythm of his chest rising and falling beneath her head was easing her into a peaceful slumber. His yawning suggested he was headed the same way, and yet Jess eyes weren't even closed.

"You're amazing, you know that right?" he asked her softly in the dark. "And I don't just mean how to you dealt with the pregnancy thing or giving birth to Jack, not even how you deal with being a young mom and everything. You're amazing because you're you, Rory. The way you let me back into your life, how things worked out with us... I know it's all water under the bridge and I'm not supposed to drag stuff up, but all of this, Jack's birthday and your traditions with Lorelai, and... I dunno, it brings up memories and thoughts I can't help. I guess what I'm really saying is that I love you, Ror. I swear, you'll never know how much."

"I know," she replied sleepily, tipping her head back to look at him.

"You're not asleep," he said, surprised by the fact.

"I was, kind of," she yawned, "but who could sleep through a speech like that? You really weren't kidding about the verbal thing coming and going," she smirked, the expression looking a little too much like him right there in that moment. "Maybe next year you can tell Jack the birth day story. Y'know, from Daddy's perspective? I never had that."

Jess only nodded his agreement and leaned down to capture her lips. Rory was totally happy to sink into the moment, the two of them lost in each other within a minute. A year on from the birth of their son, almost two since their reunion, and more than four since they first met, Rory and Jess were as in love now as they had ever been. That was something they could never see changing.

A/N2: If you peops have any ideas for scenes you would like to see from the lives of our favourite Stars Hollow denizens within this 'verse, do let me know in your reviews and I'll see what I can do ;)