One-Shot: Found Family

Rory Gilmore checked the Diner to see if the coast was clear. It was deserted, which was not unusual for a Saturday at lunchtime. She turned back to her compatriots. "All clear!"

Jess Mariano and April Nadrini followed her into the diner and took a seat at the table.

"I knew Uncle Luke would be home with Lorelai," Jess said. "So, what's all the Mission Impossible secrecy, Rory?"

"Well," Rory explained. "Tomorrow is Parents' Day, and I thought we could put something together for Luke and my mom."

"I think it is a very plausible proposition," April agreed. "What should we make?"

"A Diner Feast!" Jess suggested. "With all of Luke and Lorelai's favorite foods."

Rory smiled. "You and I, my cousin, have a one-track mind."

"Step-cousin," Jess corrected. "And, yes, we do."

So the three blended family members who felt more like siblings anyway set to work bringing the diner to life. The only limit was that Jess insisted that Rory, in her pregnant state, stay out of the kitchen.

The next morning, Rory woke up early, despite her pregnancy, and let Jess and April in through the front. Jess brought the completed meal from the Diner. They slipped up the stairs and snuck into Luke and Lorelai's room.

"At least they're decently clothed," Jess observed.

"How do you know? The covers are half-on!" April hissed.

"Uncle Luke has his shirt on," Jess pointed out dryly.

The trio waited until Rory counted down from three. "SURPRISE!" they yelled, waking the still-newly married couple up. Luke and Lorelai looked around frantically for a moment to get their bearings.

"What the heck is this?" Luke groused.

"Just your children wishing you and Mommy Dear a Happy Parents' Day!" Rory chirped.

"We took the liberty of creating a confectionary concoction," April echoed. "It's apparently very traditional."

Luke chuckled and got out of bed.

"Thank God, you have your boxers on," Jess drolled. Luke punched him on the arm, and then embraced each of the three young adults whom he considered his own children. Only one actually was, but the other two he had practically adopted.

"Thanks, girls... and Jess," he grinned.

"Girls and Jess? Sounds like a 90s band name," Lorelai quipped, as she too got up to embrace the kids.

"Or it just sounds like my usual status," Jess sniped quick-wittedly back.

"Enough!" Luke let out a bark of laughter.

And the blended family sat down all over the bed to enjoy the breakfast.

Later that night, Rory and Jess and April were sitting around the kitchen table. Rory was quiet, contemplating her baby bump that she was caressing her hand over. She was thinking about her baby's father, who was halfway around the world. Today was Parents' Day, and although their baby still was not in the world, he deserved to have a Parents' Day... or almost Parents' Day.

But Logan was now married to an heiress in London, and she didn't know how he could be in their baby's life, even after she did tell him about her pregnancy. So she asked her step-cousin and step-sister for advice.

"I want to go to London. I have to tell... my baby's father about our little bundle of joy."

Jess saw right through her vaugeness, she knew it, but he did not voice anything. April picked at her glasses, deep in thought.

"There's just one problem..." Rory took a deep breath. "He's already married."

Jess raised an eyebrow. "And you're afraid you'll run into them both," he stated.

Rory nodded.

"That's a risk you're going to have to take, cousin," Jess explained.

"Step-cousin," Rory corrected with a smile.

"Technicality. Anyway, you don't have to go alone. April and I can go with you!"

"Logan will recognize you!" Rory blurted out, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

"I knew it!" Jess cackled. "But did you notice these sideburns? I've been growing them out! April and I could shadow you. You get Logan into a public place where we can blend in, and if the heiress happens to be there, we just watch you to see if anything gets out of hand."

Rory raised an eyebrow. She would prefer to find a way to tell Logan privately, but she was not sure if that would be in her control. She turned to her step-sister. "April?"

April shrugged. "I'm in."

The following week, the three took a flight to London. Once there, Rory called Logan and asked her to try and meet her at a bar they had once frequented during their affair. The trio beat him there, and Jess and April inconspicuously took a table a few yards away, keeping surveillance on the door.

At last, Logan came in... with Odette the heiress with him. Over at the bar, Rory took a deep breath. She would have to tell him with his betrayed wife sitting right there.

"Hi, Rory!" Logan greeted warmly. He was careful to only give her a friendly and brief hug. "This is my wife, Odette."

Odette warmly shook Rory's hand, unaware that anything was wrong. Rory returned the handshake stiffly.

"I have something to tell you," Rory said before she lost her nerve.

Over at the table, Jess's eyes narrowed. "There's gonna be an explosion..."

"Steady..." April warned, even as she had her eyes also trained on the exchange.

"I'm pregnant. And I felt I should tell you since last week was Parents' Day, but... I'm pregnant. You're going to be a father."

Dead silence from Logan. Only now did he slowly look down and seem to notice Rory's baby bump for the first time. "Oh no..."

Odette, meanwhile, was dangerously and slowly turning from white to red to purple. "You... had an affair... with MY HUSBAND?!"

"Uh oh. Mayday, mayday! Rory, get out of there!" Jess coached under his breath.

"You little Hussey! You... bitch!" Odette lunged for Rory and the two women slammed into the bar.

"The baby!" April cried.

"APRIL, GO!" Jess bellowed. The pair sprinted into the fray. Odette put up quite a fight when Jess tried to pull her off of his beloved cousin, so the young author and former bad boy had no choice but to punch her and knock her out. April tended to Rory.

Logan stared at the interference, finally recognizing Jess. "You! What are you doing here?"

"Saving your family - and mine!" Jess snarled. "Get your wife out of here!"

Logan, shaken, gathered Odette up and ran out of the bar. April helped Rory out and quickly hailed a cab. Jess was last of all. He saw the bartender reaching for the phone, and raised a threatening fist.

"Call the cops and you're dead!"

The blended family made it back to Stars Hollow without getting any cops on their tail. Several days later, Logan called Rory, telling her Odette had woken up with no memory of the incident. He promised to send forward child support money when he could and do anything and everything else to raise their baby.

At least, Rory had more than Logan to help her. She had the entire town of Stars Hollow. She had her mother and step-father. And she had the closest thing she had to siblings. She was going to be all right.