AN: In this Post-AYITL fic Jess met Odette through Logan and they developed a relationship. It's a bit of a class difference with them (former French heiress who is trying to make it on her own vs Jess Mariano from humble beginnings). Odette has been determined to have a baby as she's in her late 30s (but is still very attractive and fit - I've imagined Odette showing some resemblence to LΓ©a Seydoux but not her exactly), even if she has to do it alone. But Odette's and Jess' relationship is fresh - just a few months in. But Jess is definitely feeling the need to make up his mind if he wants a baby with her or whether she should go at it by herself. As you probably can tell from the title, fun baby making is about to commence.
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Taking the leap for you - Jess and Odette make a baby
Odette sat at the back of her Greenwich Village garden under a shade sail, enjoying the warmth outside, her laptop in front of her, drinking a glass of ice water. She was enjoying the greenery that lay in front of her - a L shaped raised bed full of bushes and shrubs, some flowering, some not - all thanks to the gardener she'd hired a week ago. She had liked the idea when she'd bought the place - that there'd be a private outdoor space, a place for dinner parties and for her kid to play in. But when it came to the actual gardening she didn't exactly have green thumbs, hence relying on outside help.
She'd so far managed to maintain the four-story townhouse just by the help of a cleaning maid helping out once a week, who usually came when she was doing her pilates. Now there was another thing she needed outside help with. She'd never really thought that getting hired help would make her feel bad, but now it did - as if it was another thing that demonstrated how spoiled she actually was, and she was almost reluctant to tell Jess about it. She would of course, but she could see it being another one of these things that Jess didn't like about living with here. She could see that Jess didn't fit in in this neighbourhood, and among her ponderings - relating to everything and anything between having her baby, their relationship, her career, which didn't really require her to be in Manhattan these days, she'd begun considering whether it was indeed her that could and would need to adjust according to him someday.
While she'd maintained some of the luxuries of life - her assortment of exercising possibilities, help around the house, eating healthy and fresh food along with some day spa treatments she allowed herself occasionally, she really didn't live very lavishly except for the house that was clearly too big for her alone. Her daily needs for designer outfits were scarce, and without the added pressure of comparing her appearance or wardrobe to the long row of society wives and cut-throat business women, she actually didn't miss it. She also didn't go out a whole lot, especially to places that were on the fancier side, worrying she might run into someone from her past whom she hoped to avoid. She didn't travel even much, or buy art or cars or other luxury items just based on whims. She'd definitely changed - and whether Jess had a part in that transformation, she couldn't really say for sure, but what she did know was that she didn't miss her old lifestyle when Jess was around.
Odette had spent most of the week in a haze, worrying about what was going in Jess' mind, however. She'd realized that her new life leaned on Jess a lot - and it had all happened so fast. The relationships she had with her friends, or Logan and Rory even, were superficial in comparison to put it mildly. Maybe it wasn't entirely healthy that the potential loss of Jess scared her as much as it did? She'd tried pulling back a little, as a protection mechanism, attempting to spend some time apart - it wasn't too difficult as Jess seemed to have a lot of work that week, but it was at night when the longing crept in and it was at least every other night she'd still ended up either texting him to come over or just gone herself. Each time that happened it was like an automatic de-stress. They wouldn't even need to have sex, just being around him was enough. She had even begun considering that maybe she was willing to risk the wait, delay having the baby a few more years or finding some alternative paths to do what she wanted to do - maybe she could volunteer, work with kids in some way, maybe that would do it? But she wanted a baby so badly none of those scenarios really appealed to her. She was trying to find compromises in her head, leverage - anything to give her reasons to not to think about the possibility of parting from him in case all of this was just too much, too soon for him.
Jess, on the other hand, hadn't lied saying he'd been working a lot that week, he had, but just not on strictly his job assignments - a lot of the time going into his inner debates on whether he could in fact do this with her. Whether he could allow himself to get lost even further in her. He had sensed her pulling away, keeping to herself a little, but was almost relieved to see her experience the pull back to him despite that. At least he wasn't alone in that position. He didn't want to keep Odette guessing, worrying - he knew he needed to decide whatever he was going to do sooner rather than later.
"Hi," Jess said as he stepped into the garden, jolting her out of her thoughts. It was around 6.30 PM, and he'd just come from work. He had his own key to her place, hence he'd let himself in. The key exchange, as everything else, had come without theatrics or long discussions, it had simply been practical.
"Hey," she replied smilingly, pulling down her laptop cover, to give him her full attention. They'd made plans to make dinner together here that evening and just hang out.
Jess stepped close, greeting her as they did - two kisses on the cheeks, a sneaky stolen kiss on the lips, which she always anticipated. He placed his phone, wallet and a folder he'd had in his hand onto the spare chair.
"How was work?" Odette asked, offering him a drink of water from her own glass.
"Good, I finished one title today," Jess sighed and nodded, after swallowing the sip, rolling up his dress-shirt's sleeves as the day had turned much warmer than he'd anticipated.
"What's that?" Odette asked, gesturing towards the folder, jumping right into what he'd been planning to share with her after he'd gathered his courage.
"It's something I wanted to show you," Jess began, realizing that there was no better time than the present. Maybe it was just the heat but he felt a little nervous as he opened it, placing a number of documents in front of her, and lastly a thin book with a blank front page.
"Where should I start?" she wondered, trying to quickly glance through the reports and statements that laid in front of her.
"Anywhere," Jess said in a low tone, taking a deep breath.
She browsed through the papers, first not really understanding what she was looking at. Health reports, genetic testing results, financial statements and insurances - all on Jess' name.
"I want you to know all this," Jess said assuringly, tapping his fingers against the papers.
"Wh...," she began, not really knowing what to say. Was something wrong? Why was he showing her these?
"I'm sorry, I'm just not getting it - what is it that I am supposed to be seeing here - you're not sick are you?" she asked, confusedly.
"No, I'm not," he said, feeling slightly amused, handing her the white hand-binded book. It was the book he'd written for her. The extra work he'd been doing the past week and half had gone into that. It was working on that that had led him in his mind where it was now - to a certain state of clarity.