Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or Rory and Jess.

A/N: I had this idea when I was writing another fic. Just a quickie, one-shot. Review please. It would be very much appreciated.

Castles Made of Sand

She walks up the steps of the house and stands for a moment, trying to gather the courage to ring the doorbell. She hadn't been here, to this house, in over three years. She had kept in touch, but only the occasional phone call or letter.

Ever since she had married him, they didn't seem to want to be a part of her life.

And she was fine with that, really she was. She didn't need them to be happy anymore. She didn't need them to graduate Yale anymore. She had her mother's support and that was all she needed.

But she needed them now.

Rory took one last gulp out of her coffee, knowing fully well that the second she stepped in the house, she would be forced to throw out her precious elixir. She heaved a sigh and rang the bell.

She was answered almost immediately by, not surprisingly, a different maid from the last time she had been there. She covered her nerves by plastering a fake smile on her face and forcing her shaking legs into the large foyer.

Her grandmother greeted her as she slipped the empty cup into the trashcan behind her.

"Rory! Oh, what a wonderful surprise!" Emily embraced her and pulled back, a full-blown smile gracing her features. She turned and yelled over her shoulder.

"Richard! Richard! Rory is here!"

"Rory?" Genuine surprise filled his voice. He came out of his office, a terse smile on his face. Rory could tell it was just as forced as hers was. He gave her a stiff hug and pulled back.

"You look good. Come, sit, have a drink."

She followed her grandparents into the lounge room and took a seat, drumming her fingers on the armrest of the couch.

"Martini?"

"Water is fine." She answered simply. Her grandfather was eyeing her carefully from his place across from her.

Emily handed her the glass of water and took a martini in her own hand. She sipped from it daintily before asking the question no doubt foremost in her mind.

"So Rory, where is your husband?"

Rory sighed and gave a small smile. The Gilmore's were never ones for beating around the bush. She noticed a shadow of emotion pass over her grandparent's faces. She chose to ignore it.

"That's actually why I am here." She set her glass of water on the table and folded her hands in her lap.

"You see-"

"You got a divorce?" Emily interjected excitedly.

Rory looked up surprised and squinted her eyes in slight anger. "No, Grandma, we didn't get a divorce. I came here to ask you a favor."

Richard leaned back in his seat, a knowing smirk on his face. "Ah, money."

Emily gave a similar smirk and turned her face towards Rory. A blush crept up her cheeks and she looked down. She heard Emily scoff, "Just like her mother."

She looked up trying to not let it get to her. She couldn't help the tears that welled up behind her round eyes.

"He's sick."

She was met by blank, emotionless stares. Emily looked at her curiously. "Who is?"

The tears were falling freely now. Not because of her grandparent's lack of support, but out of deep concern and hurt over her husbands current condition.

"Jess. He is sick."

"Sick how? Like he has a cold?"

Rory wiped under her eyes with her hand and let out a small sound of impatience. "No, not like a cold." Her voice was bitter and cold. "He has cancer and we don't have enough money for the treatment. I asked mom and Luke-" Another shadow of emotion. "And they have helped all they can but it still isn't enough. We just need more money."

She began crying silent tears as Richard watched her stoically. Emily looked around, obviously upset.

"Well, this is just like him."

"What?" Rory asked incredulously.

"It is just like that Jess boy to go and get sick and drag you down with him. I told you this would happen. Now you are going to have to waste your future taking care of him, pouring endless amounts of money into his well being."

"This isn't Jess's fault!" Rory stood up from her seat and wiped under her eyes again. "How can you say that? He didn't plan on getting cancer! He didn't plan on dying young, just three years after we were married. How can you just sit there and say his sickness was a grand master plan, just to bring me down?"

Emily watched her granddaughter with shocked eyes. "Rory, you must understand."

"No Grandma, you need to understand. I love him and you never accepted that! You couldn't even accept it for my sake. But I am asking you to accept it now. Please. For me. For him. For your grandchild. We need your help."

Both elder Gilmore's snapped their heads up at the mention of grandchild. The formerly silent Richard leaned forward in his chair. "You are pregnant?"

"Yes." She had stopped crying now and took her seat back across from them. Emily folded her arms and looked down. Richard sighed and looked at his broken granddaughter, make up smudged and sorrow visible on all her features.

"Emily, get the checkbook."

Emily looked up. "Richard, you can't be serious."

Richard turned his head and looked at his wife. "Emily, get the checkbook."

She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "I will not. I will not allow you to give this boy money. It is probably some scam where he will run off with our money."

Rory's mouth dropped and she looked at her grandmother. "You still think that, after all these years? You think he is the same person he was all those years ago? You would let him die because you don't think he has changed?"

Emily refused to look up.

"You would let my child grow up with one parent?"

This is when Emily looked up. "Your mother seemed to manage just fine."

Rory's eyes filled up with tears. "You have no idea. Mom went to bed crying every night until she found Luke. She struggled to make it work for us. And everyday, I felt Dad's absence. I don't want that. Not for my child. Not again." She swallowed and turned her head to Richard.

"Help us? Please?"

Richard sighed and gave Rory a small smile, his eyes showing a little of that light that had died long ago. "Of course. I'll fetch the checkbook."

Rory smiled as the tears fell down her cheeks again. "Thank you."

--

Rory walked out of the financial wing of the hospital, stretching her aching legs. She shuffled over to the elevator and pressed the appropriate buttons.

Soon she was on the all too familiar floor and as she walked out, she greeted the nurses she now knew by name.

His room was dark, with only a single light on next to his bed to allow him to read. He looked up when she entered, dropping the book on his thinned out chest.

She smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed. She took his hand carefully and began rubbing it.

"Hey." He whispered hoarsely.

"Hi." She said.

He scooted over slightly in his bed and she smiled at him, lying down in the now vacated space. He put a test tube infested arm over her waist. She brushed his growing hair out of his eyes.

"You need to cut this hair."

He groaned. "No, it's going as long as it can until chemo starts."

He smiled up at her. "Missed you."

She smiled. "I was only gone three hours."

He raised his eyebrows. "Three hours of your mother and Luke trying to make me 'feel better'. I swear if I hear 'How bout that schnitzel!' from your mother one more time, I am going to rip out my life support."

The smile faded from Rory's lips. "Don't say that."

He sighed and the happiness fell from his face too. "I was just kidding."

She buried her face in his neck and he put his other arm around her. Soon he felt hot tears on his neck. He squeezed his own eyes shut and spoke in her ear.

"I want to see our baby grow up." He whispered hoarsely. "I want to read him books. I want to see your blue eyes in him. I want to help him rob Dosey's."

Rory half laughed, half sobbed into Jess's neck.

She pulled away and put her hand on his cheek. She pressed a kiss on his forehead, and then the tip of his nose. He wiped away her tears with the pad of his thumb.

"You will." She stated seriously.

The confidence dropped from his eyes, and he looked at her, vulnerable. "You promise?"

She smiled. "I promise."