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Jess comes back home for Christmas, like he promised. That sentence is a goddamn miracle.
The time between Tuesday and the Friday after next seems eternal, and work is just a thing he does to pass that time. He finishes the book he's writing, and even lets the lovers explicitly end happily ever after because he's in that kind of mood.
Every moment in New York – his New York – is torture, because, as much as he loves the city, his heart is in Stars Hollow with Rory and Lola.
When he gets to Stars Hollow, he goes to drop his things off at the diner, like usual. The diner is packed, and goes silent for a minute when he enters before the furious whispering starts. Jess rolls his eyes as he goes upstairs.
It's nice to know that some things never change.
Next, he goes to visit Doula, and gives his little sister her Christmas presents. Liz says she saw Lorelai that morning, looking at him slyly out of the corners of her eyes, and he wonders if the whole town knows.
"She said it smells like snow," Liz warns him. "Be careful heading out there."
Jess goes back to the diner next, suddenly terrified and not wanting to seem too eager. He feels very seventeen right now, and he detests the feeling.
But Rory is there and, from the look on her face, she's been waiting for him. Her eyes run over him like he's a signed first edition.
The diner goes silent again as he grabs two of the Gilmore sized cups of coffee from behind the counter, fills hers with decaf, and starts up the stairs, hoping she'll follow him and wondering what it means that Lola isn't with her.
He gets to the top of the stairs, hears the faint Luke-ish shout of, "Mind your own business, all of ya!" from below, and hears Rory snort out a laugh behind him.
They're in his teenage room again, the place where they finally made love – and, oh god, are we calling it that? – at the ripe old age of thirty-three years old. Jess feels that thirty-three is too young to suffer an aneurysm, even if it is Gilmore-induced, but there he is, trying to prevent one all the same.
"Hi," Rory says, shyly.
They've texted every day since that one, and spoken on the phone at least every night. He can't go through a day now without touching her life somehow, and begging her to touch his. Is this what love is? This hatred of the apart?
"Hi," Jess says, shyly.
They're looking at each other for the first time since that night, and Rory has the nerve to fidget with her top like there might be something wrong there. She's clearly nervous, and that just won't do.
Jess crosses the room, takes Rory in his arms, and kisses her for all he's worth. He pours every ounce of missing her into it, every text message he didn't send, every time he started to say "fuck it" to his job and drive off to Stars Hollow, only to turn around like a coward.
Then he pulls back, abruptly, just to watch her confused blue eyes blink open so he can look directly into them and say, "I missed the hell out of you, Lorelai Leigh Gilmore."
This is a big deal. He cannot fuck this up again. He has to be good at saying these things out loud, with words, and he has to be good at it now.
She looks at him with wonder, and whispers, "I missed you so much, Jess Mariano," and then she pushes him back onto the bed even though it's, like, eight in the evening and the diner is completely open downstairs, not to mention completely full of townspeople gossiping about them like it's the opening musical number in a Disney princess movie. Bonjour, indeed.
They're not teenagers any more, though. People will gossip, but no one is going to interrupt them.
The last time Jess had Rory in this bed, he treated it like it might be the only time. They hadn't talked about anything else yet. But this time, in the now, they have been talking nonstop for ten whole days about this relationship, and Jess knows what Rory wants, what she dreams about at night… her needs and boundaries. Jess, in his thirties, is a very good listener. He never listened to another self help tape, but there may have been a couple of workbooks, and even a podcast or two. He's big on self-improvement now.
She backs him onto the bed, pushing up his t-shirt with both her hands and savoring the skin she reveals along the way. He pulls her skirt up to her hips, gripping her hip with his left hand and touching her through her blue panties with his right.
"How long have you got till you need to be back?" he asks.
"Not long," she replies with some regret, "but you can always come with me."
"Sounds fun," he teases, gripping her hips with both his hands and pressing the two of them together in a way that feels delicious and promising all at once. Rory makes a small mewling sound that's exactly the same as the one she used to make back when they'd make out as kids, and he is in complete awe.
Later they walk to her house, even though he has his car. What's the point of driving in Stars Hollow anyway? If you can hack it in New York, you shouldn't even need a car in the Hollow. Jess would be ashamed of himself or something.
The three living Lorelais still reside together at Lorelai II's house. Rory's received a hefty advance on her book and is supposedly looking for a place, but in reality is dithering about where to live now that she has Lola to think about.
Jess doesn't know how to tell her that, ever since she excitedly told him the amount of her advance, he's been looking up apartments in New York and he thinks they can probably make it between the two of them. Especially if his new book is as good as he suspects it is.
But maybe he's just dreaming again. That's kind of always been a problem with Jess.
Lola is about as excited to see him as a six month old can be. Lorelai smiles, though, and Jess makes himself smile back because Lorelai is not a threat to him any more, if she ever was one to begin with. He's successful now, and a good guy. Maybe even good enough for Rory.
"Coffee?" Lorelai asks. In another house, that might have been taken as an invitation, but Jess knows better, and hands over the large takeaway cup from Luke's he's been carrying. Rory had offered, but she's still breastfeeding Lola, and he doesn't trust her not to absent-mindedly chug it like the addict she is.
Liz's warning about Lorelai's weather prediction was on the mark, as it turns out. It begins to snow, first in a few delightful flurries, and then hard enough that Jess is worried about walking back to the diner alone. Judging by the way Rory is eying him, she's having the same thoughts.
"I think you're going to need to stay here," she says, heavy on the apology in her tone.
Jess's heart skips a beat. "I can still hack it on a couch," he lies cooly, and his thirty-three year old back gives a preemptive twinge, which he steadfastly ignores.
"Don't be ridiculous," Rory says just as quietly, both of them very aware of Lorelai staring out the open window at her beloved snow.
"Well," Lorelai says briskly, closing the window, "I don't know how to say this without giving you horror-movie flashbacks, Jess, but it looks like you're stuck here. At least for the night."
Jess nods, wondering if this is a test. He doesn't have to say anything, though, because at that moment the power goes out. They all look at each other in shock for a moment, before Lola wakes up with a cry.
"Her white noise machine," Rory says in horror.
"I'll get Lola," Jess replies calmly, "you two find candles and blankets."
Rory nods and walks off. Lorelai just stands there for a moment, looking at Jess curiously, before she finally goes too.
Jess wonders if he passed. He finds himself hoping that he did. He doesn't need Lorelai's approval, but he finds himself wanting it nonetheless.
Jess walks into the nursery – Rory's old room – and finds Lola in her crib crying. The sound machine did, indeed, die with the electricity. Jess picks Lola up and starts to sing the same Cure song he always sings her. Lola stops crying and, with a hiccup, smiles, and grabs Jess by the nose.
"Ow," Jess says pleasantly, because he needs to express himself, but doesn't want to scare Lola, who has moved on to pulling his hair.
He walks Lola into the living room, where Lorelai and Rory are setting up blankets and snacks by candlelight. Jess can't help but smile at their priorities, because the blankets are scattered haphazardly, but the snacks are organized in the usual Gilmore fashion which only Gilmores understand.
"There's Mom!" Jess tells Lola in a sing-song voice as he rubs circles on her back, and Lola coos. "Can you say Mama yet?" he asks.
"She hasn't said her first words yet," Rory says, downing a handful of M&M's before reaching out for Lola.
"Ow," says Jess as Lola grabs onto his hair again, with both tiny but powerful fists. "Go pull your Mama's hair, yeah?"
Lola blows a raspberry and waves her arms at Rory, who laughs.
"She's really opinionated, for someone who can't talk yet," Jess grumbles.
"She comes by it honestly," Lorelai says distractedly. She's staring at her phone, and Jess can guess she's probably waiting on Luke to call.
Jess huffs the tiniest of huffs and picks up his cell phone. The battery is at eighty percent because he usually only uses it to check the time. He's good to make a call.
"I'm so glad you called!" is Luke's enthusiastic, if confusing, greeting.
"Are you stuck at the diner?" Jess asks, and he sees Lorelai's head snap up.
"Yes. Me, April… and Kirk."
Jess can hear the seething in Luke's voice at that last name. Clearly Kirk is in fine form tonight.
"Okay, well, you know… stay safe. And don't kill Kirk without an alibi."
Luke snorts. "Duly noted. Where are you?"
"With Rory and the whole gang."
"Oh," Luke says, and Jess can hear a lot of trepidation in that syllable.
"It's okay," Jess says, deliberately misunderstanding, "we have blankets, and snacks, and candles, and… and Lorelai is waving a bottle of rum at me right now."
Lorelai gives him a thumbs up with the hand that isn't holding the rum.
Luke laughs, and it's a real laugh, the tension in his voice gone. "Have fun, then. Tell them all…" he trails off, tense again.
"Yeah," says Jess. "You too."
And they hang up.
Lorelai looks at Jess with raised eyebrows.
"Kirk's the only one in danger," Jess reports. "They're stuck in the diner."
Lorelai nods, and her eyebrows go down.
"Oh," Jess says, not varying his tone in the slightest, "and he loves you truly, madly, deeply."
Lorelai's eyebrows shoot up again, and Jess grins.
“He wants to stand with you on a mountain,” Jess says, heavy on the snark.
"See if I give you any of this rum now, Mariano!"
"Um!" says Lola.
The three of them turn their heads to look at the baby.
"She didn't pronounce the R," Jess says quickly, "so that one doesn't count."
Rory and Lorelai nod vehemently, and they go back to talking. Lorelai cracks open the rum – it's satsuma flavored. Jess had given a bottle to her as a wedding present, and she likes it so much she keeps ordering it special. She pours some into each of two Star Trek pint glasses, then fills the rest of the pint with something out of a can.
"Imagine I just did the Tom Cruise bottle-flippy thing," Lorelai jokes, handing one of the cups, Will Riker, to Jess and keeping the other, Beverly Crusher, for herself.
Jess takes a sip and – "What is this?" he asks, incredulous. "You can't even taste the alcohol…"
"I call it a Dreamsicle," Lorelai says proudly. "It's just that satsuma rum you found, and cream soda."
"Cheers," says Jess, holding his cup out to knock against Lorelai's.
"Moooooom," Rory whines from the couch, where Lola has fallen asleep on her chest. She carefully extracts herself from Lola, laying the baby down on the couch and sitting on the floor in front of her.
"I desperately need one of those cream sodas now," she says, and Lorelai obliges.
They hear a stomping sound outside, and the three of them sit up straight where they are as the key turns in the lock.
"Lorelai?" Luke's voice comes from the front hall.
"In here!" Lorelai calls, quiet-like, so as not to wake Lola. "What are you doing here? I thought you were stuck at the diner?"
Luke appears in the darkness and shrugs. "Your text sounded worried. April said she'd take care of Kirk and sleep upstairs."
Lorelai has a big, soppy grin on her face, as she stands up, holding out her arms for a hug. Jess and Rory pretend to check on Lola.
"Come on," Lorelai says. "I'll take her. You two drink rum and flirt." She looks beatifically happy, in the candle light. Beautiful, in her strange, unique Lorelai way.
Rory looks like she's hesitating, but Lorelai picks Lola up off the couch, carefully, to not wake her, and the two of them and Luke head upstairs to sleep.
"This is why I pump," Rory says out loud, as if reminding herself.
"So you can get drunk on Dreamsicles?" Jess asks with a grin.
"Yes, exactly," Rory says sarcastically, pouring out a Dreamsicle. She holds up her pint glass, Deanna Troi, biting her lip.
"To us," Jess says softly.
Rory smiles at him, and that is worth being vulnerable for.
"To us," she repeats, knocking their glasses together.
An hour later, and the both of them are on the fun side of tipsy, sitting so close together on the couch, wrapped in blankets against the cold.
"I don't believe you," says Rory. "It's not possible."
"Test me, Gilmore," Jess returns belligerently. "It doesn't matter what you're feeling, either Chris Cornell or Taylor Swift has a song for it. Usually both of them."
"Cornell, I understand, but I wouldn't have taken you for a Swiftie," Rory muses, finishing off her third Dreamsicle.
"She's a brilliant confessional poet," Jess shrugs, finishing off his fourth. "And Emo as fuck. And I find most of her critics' arguments are rooted in mis-misogyny."
That stutter, on the word misogyny, is Rory putting her hand on his thigh.
They put the glasses down on the coffee table, and everything is quiet for a long moment. Her eyes are so blue it hurts, so Jess kisses her to make the heartache stop. It works out wonderfully, because she immediately kisses him back.
They fall asleep there, on the couch, with Rory on Jess's chest like a Nicholas Sparks movie where the poster is two white people almost kissing, like every Nicholas Sparks movie poster.
Jess wakes up when Luke and Lorelai come downstairs with Lola, Lorelai to feed Lola a bottle, and Luke to prepare breakfast for everyone else. Jess detangles himself from Rory and the blankets and, after popping his back profusely, heads to the kitchen after them.
"Eggs?" Luke asks.
"Yeah, sure," says Jess. "But shouldn't we not open the fridge until the power comes back on?"
"Like there's anything in there," Luke laughs, and Jess laughs too.
Lorelai doesn't laugh until Lola does. "Et tu, Lola?" she says.
"Tu!" says Lola.
The three of them pause, Luke, Lorelai, and Jess.
"That doesn't count," says Jess quickly. "It's in Latin."
Luke and Lorelai nod, and resume their previous activities.
They give Lola half a banana to try, since Rory is starting her on something she read about in a book called "baby-led weaning" that mostly seems to involve giving Lola people food instead of baby food or breastmilk. Jess doesn't know much else about it, but that part makes sense at least. People food is loads better than baby food. Still, he asks before feeding Lola anything because you never know. He certainly doesn't.
Jess makes coffee, which wakes up Rory, who comes in grumbling.
"Good morning to you too, oh sunshine of my life," Lorelai says a little too cheerfully.
"I fried your eggs in bacon grease," says Luke, ignoring his wife's contribution. "Good for hangovers."
"Bless you, Luke," croaks Rory as she sits down at the table. "Why am I such a lightweight now?"
After breakfast, Jess and Luke go outside with shovels. They make a path to Jess's car, which Luke had driven back to the house last night using the key Jess gave him for shit like that, and dig out the car. They're not going anywhere, it's just in case.
They spend the day in the living room, playing with Lola. The electricity comes back on around nine. By mid-day, the roads are clear.
Jess is technically free to go. Not that he wants to, not for the world. Going means leaving his heart behind. But it's probably time; he should really give Luke a ride to the diner, and then check on Liz and Doula. Lord knows they weren't prepared.
He walks out of there knowing something new about himself, though. He wants to marry Rory as soon as possible. Even if it means moving to Stars Hollow.
*
They walk through the door a heartbeat apart, out of the cold and into the warmth of Lane and Zach's house.
They're late to the party this time, and that was kind of funny because Jess had been ready ten minutes early. Rory, however, had still been in pajamas when she answered the door for Lola reasons.
Lane welcomes them with effusive joy, talking a mile a minute with Rory about Halsey and her kids and her job and Rory's book and…
"Here," Zach says, handing him a beer. "You look like you could use this."
"Thanks," says Jess, taking a swig.
Rory is officially off with Lane now; they're looking at something on Lane's drumkit. Jess turns his attention to Zach, who is saying something about his latest something about music. Jess doesn't really care. It's not Zach's fault, although Jess has privately kept contact with the infinitely cooler Dave Rygalski. It's the vintage ring in Jess's pocket that is driving him absolutely insane.
It's got to be a trap. Someone is going to think he stole it. No. No. He's just freaking out because the ring has ever so many diamonds in it.
Jess has no clue how Emily Gilmore finds out half the shit she seems to know. All he knows is, she showed up at his office in a pantsuit as he was getting ready to leave for Stars Hollow, for this New Year's party, actually.
"This office is nice," was the first thing Emily said, looking around appraisingly. "Though your taste in art baffles me."
"Do you have publishing needs?" Jess had asked stupidly, and the look Emily gave him plainly said it.
"I'm given to understand that you are still interested in my granddaughter romantically and, what's more, she's still interested in you. What I don't know is how serious the two of you are about this relationship."
"No comment," Jess says, and Emily glares at him.
"I'm not joking, young man. Rory deserves a partner in life, and Lola deserves a mother and a father. Someone who's going to be there for the hard times, the way Richard was always there for Lorelai and me and…" she hesitated, then begrudgingly said, "the way Luke was there for Rory and Lorelai."
"Are you asking me to be Lola's Luke?" Jess asked, bewildered. "Because I'm not Luke."
"Oh," Emily says with heavy sarcasm, "you haven't been waiting around for the last decade, hoping Rory would look your way?"
Jess opens his mouth to reply, but Emily raises her hand to stop him. Then she says the weirdest thing she could possibly say.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go for blood. I do that when I'm scared, and I'm often frightened by things that are out of my control."
Jess's mouth hangs open with surprise, and her eyes gleam.
"Therapy is a wonder," she says.
That's when she produces the ring from the pocket of her coat.
"Richard gave this to me when he asked me to marry him," she says fondly, girlishly, like she's somewhere else for a moment. She holds it out and something in her eyes tells him, "But only if you're absolutely sure."
He takes the ring.
His life is a joke.
He somehow has Emily's approval, which means he'll never have Lorelai's. Their tenuous, rum-soaked truce will end. Jess finds himself missing it already.
But after the party, when they're walking back to Lorelai's house, Jess grabs Rory by the arm, veering off to the bridge. They sit there in silence for a few minutes, like they've done a hundred times before.
"Rory," Jess finally asks, "did you like living in the city?"
"Who doesn't love New York?" is her response.
He looks up, at the stars, screws his courage to the sticking place, and says, "Would you and Lola like to get an apartment in New York with me?"
His heart is in his throat. That wasn't even what he meant to say. He's supposed to be asking her to marry him. But Rory is smiling, and nodding, so he kisses her gently. Eventually, they get up and walk back to Lorelai's, hand in hand, whispering plans for the future.
*
They get a small two-bedroom in the city, a very small one, and Luke and Lorelai help them move in.
They get to the apartment – Jess coming from his old apartment, and the rest coming from Stars Hollow – and movers are there, bringing in expensive looking furniture that Jess has never seen in his life.
Lorelai picks up her cell phone. "Mom," she growls, "what did you do? No, I… but… okay, but…" Lorelai growls again, stuffing the phone in her pocket and turning to Rory, trying to sound excited. "Free furniture, kid! I'd call Grandma later, if I were you."
Rory shrugs, looking tired. Lola had been up most of the night, expressing her distaste for the process of teething. "She did this with my college dorm too," Rory tells Jess, making him snort.
It's fine, though. It's not like they had couches or beds or anything. They were supposed to go shopping for all that stuff tomorrow.
If Jess had any guts, they could be making a wedding registry. But he doesn't. What he has is a very expensive ring in his pocket at all times, and no plan.
Lorelai and Luke stay the night, because it's late and they were supposed to help with the now unnecessary furniture shopping trip tomorrow.
"I know a really good Indian spot just down the street," says Jess to Rory.
"Not tonight," begs Lorelai, who hates the smell of curry and has that gene that makes cilantro taste like soap.
Lorelai orders them Chinese from three different locations nearby, and they all spend the evening testing dishes and rating restaurants. Even Lola noms on some steamed broccoli.
That night, Jess goes to bed with his girlfriend in their own bed, in their own apartment, for the first time.
It would be sweeter, but Lola wakes up at three-thirty in the morning, crying over the baby monitor.
"I got this," Jess murmurs, pressing a kiss to Rory's hair. She smiles sleepily.
He walks across the apartment, past where Luke and Lorelai have woken up on the couch-bed Emily so graciously provided them.
"I've got it," he mumbles sleepily, and Luke and Lorelai nod and lay back down.
He stumbles into Lola's room. She's pulled herself up using the crib bars, and is really wailing.
"Hey," says Jess gently as he picks her up, "hey, hey, Lola. Are you hungry or wet or scared?"
Lola starts to settle down as Jess, one-handed, heats up a bottle from the fucking mini-fridge – Lola's mini-fridge – in the warming contraption. Then he and Lola sit in the wooden glider and rock together. Lola drinks her bottle, and Jess reads to her, picture book after picture book, most of them presents from him. Then, as she starts to become heavy eyed and droopy, he sings her "Lovesong" until she finally falls back to sleep.
The whole process takes about an hour, then Jess is back in bed again, where he is surprised to find Rory awake and smiling.
"You should be sleeping," he grumbles, because hadn't that been the whole point?
"I love you," Rory says, and her eyes are starry as she grabs him by the robe and kisses him.
"What did I do to deserve this?" Jess asks with a soft and tired smile.
"You left the baby monitor on," she says.
"I'm sorry," he says immediately, because that has to be pretty annoying when you're trying to sleep.
But Rory shakes her head, and it seems that once again he's misunderstood.
"I liked hearing the two of you together," Rory says in a small voice.
It's late enough that there aren't any secrets between them. Jess goes into the pocket of his robe and wraps his fingers around the ring box.
He doesn't take it out this night, he doesn't ask her, but he does think about how he might do it.
*
Rory is hard at work on her book, and Jess on his. Lola is hard at work teething. The three of them are cranky, and sometimes they grumble at each other, but they're adjusting.
Jess does most of the cooking, Rory the cleaning, Lola the eating and messing.
"Where did you learn to cook?" she asks him one night over breakfast-for-dinner. (They're eating a lot of cheap food to save money so Rory can stay home with Lola at least until her birthday.)
"Liz… wasn't always present and accounted for. Mentally or physically. If I didn't cook, I didn't eat sometimes. Why do you do all this cleaning?"
"Lorelai isn't, like, the fondest of cleaning?" Rory says lightly. "I've always been more organized than her, and don't ever tell her, but cleaning actually relaxes me. I feel in control."
Jess knows that the feeling of control is important to Rory, and immediately rules out any public proposals. Thank whatever gods exist, because he isn't super into public humiliation.
He's still thinking, though.
*
On Valentine’s Day, Jess – who has historically hated most holidays – has a to-do list. On it is the following:
Leave work at three
Pick up groceries
Pick up flowers
Cook an amazing dinner for Rory
Pop the question
???
He's getting ready to leave the office at three when Lorelai shows up, because this is apparently becoming a thing – Gilmore girls showing up at his office for a Talk.
She looks very stormy as she shuts the door behind her and turns to face him.
"I am so, so sorry about what my mother did to you on New Years. Please understand, Jess, if I had known, I would have stopped her."
"I assume that's why she didn't consult with you," Jess points out.
Lorelai doesn't laugh though. "Don't… please don't let this scare you off," she says.
"I took the ring," he says, and Lorelai's eyebrows shoot up.
"Are you… tonight?"
"I don't know," Jess admitted. "I haven't found the right time yet."
"Well, the timing is very important," Lorelai agrees.
He remembers about her and Max Medina, and the thousand yellow daisies. Jess bought daffodils for Rory for Valentine’s Day, because he likes how sweet and silly they look. (His favorite flowers are dandelions though.)
He's an idiot, and he should have gotten roses like any other guy.
"Don't… panic," Lorelai says slowly, holding out her hands.
Jess realizes he is breathing pretty fast, his hand clutching the ring box in his pants pocket.
"Can I see it?" Lorelai asks softly, and of course he obliges. "I always liked Mom's engagement ring. Rory did too, she put a post-it on it once, back in the day. I let her have it because… well, because she's their darling, the one who went right."
"I think your parents were proud of you too, Lorelai," he says.
Lorelai shrugs it off, like it matters so much less than they both know it does.
"Just… promise me you'll do it because you're ready," Lorelai says, holding out her pinkie finger.
Jess hesitates – because really?! – but he links fingers with her.
"When we're both ready," he promises, "and not a moment sooner."
*
Rory's book – Gilmore Girls – comes out in March and Jess's book – Epiphany Point – in April, so Lola ends up spending a lot of time in Stars Hollow while Rory and Jess do the author thing. It's a lot of meetings, followed by interviews and parties. It's all very exciting, but not as exciting as when they pick up Lola from Lorelai's and Lola shouts, "Ma! Ma! Ma!" at Rory, reaching her little arms out.
They have so much going on that Jess begins to wish he'd made a tacky Valentine’s Day proposal. He barely has time to even talk to Rory, much less find the right time to ask her to marry him. Jess begins to worry it will never come.
*
In the end, he finally does it, but he does it in the most Jess way possible.
They're eating lunch at the little Indian place down the street – where everyone already knows the three of them – and Jess still has the ring in his pocket. It's the first of September, and the air is already beginning to cool, or at least that's what everyone would like to think. They're talking about anything and everything – cabbages and kings – and Jess's heart is completely full in a way he always wanted it to be when he was a young and lonely kid growing up here.
They're waiting for Lorelai to text that they've made it to town before meeting them at the apartment to hand over Lola for the weekend. Not because anything is happening, but precisely because nothing is happening. It's the first time in forever that they've had a free weekend, and they're going to do absolutely nothing with it.
That is, they were, until Jess gets an idea.
"Hey," he says as Rory scoops up the last of her rice and chows down, "we should get married when we leave here."
Rory chokes on her rice, and Jess very politely pounds her on the back.
"You okay?" he asks.
"I honestly don't know," says Rory.
"Look," Jess says in what he thinks is a perfectly sensible tone, "you can make your pro/con list on the way to the courthouse. Call Lorelai and tell them to meet us there, we'll have witnesses. And," he pulls the ring out of his pocket, "this is for you."
Rory opens the box, and her jaw drops. "Where did you get this ring?" she asks.
"Your grandma was pretty insistent that I take it. Luckily there's no one else I want to give it to."
Rory laughs, and looks up from the ring at him. "Okay," she says. "Sure, Jess. I'll make my pro/con list on the way."
He grins. "Well, Lola? What do you say to that? Can I be your stepdad?"
"Da-da!" Lola calls out cheerfully, waving her spoon and flinging rice.
Rory and Jess both stop laughing instantly and go pale.
"We'll work on that," she says.
"I don't care what she calls me," Jess admits. “She can call me Papa Bear Baloo, as long as Logan doesn't have me assassinated for it."
They leave the restaurant, and Rory calls Lorelai to meet them down at the courthouse. But when they get there, they discover the twenty-four hour waiting period.
Well, that just won't do.
"Why is there a waiting period?" Luke wants to know. "There's no waiting period in Connecticut. Do they think people don't know what they want? Or that having to wait one measly day is going to sober them up enough to make wise decisions about marriage?"
But Jess is stuck on the fact that there's no waiting period in Connecticut.
"We could go to Stars Hollow," he says to Rory, carefully, because he knows the chaos that will ensue from that decision.
Rory looks thoughtful, then nods. "If we do it at the bridge…" she says.
We can limit the number of guests, he mentally completes for her.
Luke rolls his eyes like this is all a hassle, but Jess sees his grin as he says, "I guess someone better call Liz…"
Jess couldn't care less if Liz is there, but he does want Doula to hold the ring for him, so he doesn't say anything. Besides, even Liz couldn't ruin this day.
"I better call Grandma," Rory says slowly, eyeing Lorelai and Jess as if she'd asked a question.
Jess and Lorelai exchange an uneasy glance, but they don't move to stop her.
For half a second, Jess feels sorry for Jimmy and Christopher, because no one suggests calling either of them. But Jess figures they both earned it fair and square.
The drive to Stars Hollow takes an eternity. Per Lorelai's decree, Jess rides with Luke, and the three Lorelais ride together. Luke's new truck – a long-needed concession on his part – has a bluetooth radio that Luke doesn't know how to use, so Jess hooks up his phone and plays the Rory playlist on shuffle. His leg jiggles nervously with the beat of "Flutter Girl" off Euphoria Mourning.
"This song is depressing," Luke grouses. He's figured out how the skip song button works. Luke skips "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" and St. Vincent and "I Wanna Be Your Dog," stopping on "Accidentally in Love".
"No way," Luke says, with a hearty guffaw, and Jess is already turning red. "I don't know what's worse: you listening to Counting Crows, or you putting the song from Shrek 2 on your love playlist."
"Fuck you, okay?" Jess whines, crossing his arms across his chest. "I did it for Doula reasons, the same reason you can quote that damn movie beginning to end. Now, do you mind stepping on it? I'd like to get to Stars Hollow before the courts close."
Luke, still laughing, gently increases his speed to the actual speed limit. Jess can only imagine Lorelai cheering in the car behind them. Lola would probably start clapping just because she likes to see others happy. Jess knows he certainly feels like clapping.
They make it to the courthouse at four o'clock, which is good because they close at five. The clerk is someone Jess went to high school with, someone he'd briefly dated to make Rory jealous, but he cannot for the life of him remember–
"Hey, Shane," Rory says cheerfully. "We're here to get married."
Shane's eyes narrow and, oh, apparently they're still holding grudges here in Stars Hollow.
"It's fifty-seven dollars, cash only."
It's amazing how Shane manages to make that information sound snotty.
"Jess," says Rory, sounding concerned, "do you carry cash?"
"Does anyone, ever?" he asks, frustrated.
"I've got a twenty on me," Luke says at the same time as Lorelai, digging in her purse, pulls out a smaller, hand-stitched coin purse.
"This is, like, ten bucks in quarters, nickels, and dimes," she says with a grin. "And I always carry a ten to remind me to stay angry and fight authority like Alexander Hamilton."
"That's only forty bucks," Luke says, disappointed.
"What's wrong, big bro?" a voice asks. It's Liz, and Doula comes in behind her with…
"Hey, yeah," says T.J. at entirely too loud a volume, "you do all look kinda pissed off for a wedding. Even the clerk looks pissed off. Is it cause of the short notice? Because I know I thought it was short notice!"
Jess could reasonably punch that man someday. How someone that ridiculous contributed to Doula, Jess has no idea.
"Do you carry cash?" Lorelai asks Liz. "The kids are seventeen bucks short to get married."
Jess cringes, feeling he should have done better than this for Rory. Rory should have the gazebo, surrounded by her whole loving town, and the most beautiful white dress.
"Oh, no problem," says Liz. "Can you make change, darling?" she asks Shane.
"System's down," says Shane. "Exact payment only, please."
That doesn't deter Liz, who just nods and shrugs, pulling a wad of cash out of her bra and another out of her left sock, which has a pattern of Van Gogh's sunflowers on it.
Jess covers his reddening face with one hand. "Liz, don't you, like, embroider wallets now, or some shit?" he asks.
"No, but that's a brilliant idea, my sweet baby boy! Why do you ask?"
"Nothing," Jess mutters.
Liz counts out seventeen dollars, which she hands to Shane, who looks disgusted. Lorelai and Luke hand over their contributions, and Shane is forced to let them through as she's counting out Lorelai's change.
"Bye-bye!" Lola calls, waving to Shane from her stroller, and Jess snorts.
They are able to obtain the license, but by the time they're done filling out the paperwork, the judge is gone for the weekend. They'll have to find someone else to perform the ceremony.
As they're walking back out they hear a familiar voice, getting louder.
"I don't care who you think you are, young lady, if I miss my grand-daughter's wedding you'll never work in the state of Connecticut again!"
"It's okay, Grandma," Rory says patiently, "you didn't miss anything but us getting the license. Just boring paperwork."
Jess notices that Emily is holding three black garment bags and being trailed by two photographers, who have started doing what Jess can only assume is their job: photographing them.
"Who are we going to get to marry us on such short notice?" Jess asks.
"Hang on," says Rory. "Let me make a phone call."
Rory calls Lane, who screams with glee at the news. Rory has to hold the phone away from her ear for a full minute.
"Lane's meeting me at Lorelai's house with the officiant."
"Why Lorelai's house?" Jess asks.
"So I can get ready," Rory says coyly, making his stomach flutter and an involuntary grin spread across his face.
"Come on," says Luke, patting Jess on the shoulder.
"To the diner?" Jess guesses.
"To the diner," Luke confirms, ignoring the sarcasm.
So their party splits. Lorelai and Emily take Rory and Lola back to the house, along with one of the photographers. The other photographer follows Luke and Jess on their walk back to the diner with Doula and Company.
Luke is taciturn, per usual. Doula takes holding the ring so very seriously that she's not even talking, just checking her purse every five seconds for the ring. Liz and T.J. more than make up for any silence from them, though, chattering a mile a minute. T.J. is still upset that they didn't have more notice for the wedding, and Liz is convinced this is the most romantic thing ever. They bicker good-naturedly the whole way to the diner, where Luke sets them up with coffee, and hauls Jess upstairs.
"Fuck my life," Jess groans when the upstairs door shuts behind him, "do they ever shut up?"
"Do you have anything to wear?" Luke asks, ignoring his obvious pain.
"Yeah, I picked up my good suit when we stopped by the apartment for Lola's weekend bag."
"Then get changed," Luke says, "and head downstairs again. Soon, and remember I am sacrificing my sanity keeping them all out of your hair."
Jess grins and nods. He gets dressed, which doesn't take nearly long enough, but at least it's enough time for him to calm down and be able to interact with Liz and T.J. again.
They're supposed to meet at the bridge at five-thirty, just before sunset, and Jess is continuously checking the clock hoping that more time has passed since the last time he checked.
The next time he sees Rory again, they'll be getting married. He's heard about cold feet, but that's not what he's experiencing right now. He's too excited for cold feet. He can't wait to see Rory again.
Finally, it's time to head down to the bridge. It's a short walk, like any walk in Stars Hollow, to be honest, but Jess is grateful to get his nervous energy out. It's occurring to him that, if Rory doesn't show up, if the cons outweigh the pros in the end, Jess will be in public, in front of Stars Hollow. He could never show his face here again.
Jess takes a deep breath and plays a mental rhyming game he uses to relax. That is an unlikely scenario, and worrying over it would be unproductive.
Lane Kim is waiting for them at the bridge, smiling.
“This will be my first straight wedding!” she says excitedly.
“Huh?” says Jess, the king of eloquence.
Turns out, Lane had gotten ordained to perform weddings for people who didn't want religious ceremonies, in particular queer couples.
“That's… pretty cool,” Jess acknowledges. “But I didn't know there was a huge need for that in Stars Hollow.”
“There's not,” Lane admits, “but I travel all around the state, and to New York City too.”
There's not much to say or do while they wait for Rory and company to get there. Jess is getting more and more nervous as time passes.
What if the cons outweigh the pros? What if she's not coming? What if she sends Lorelai with a note and runs away to Europe with Emily, like she did when it was Dean?
What if he never sees Rory or Lola again?
Jess feels a hand on his arm, and jumps, startled. It's Luke, and Luke looks concerned.
“We can leave if you need to,” Luke whispers, just loud enough for only Jess to hear. “Write it down in a letter and I'll give it to her.”
Jess starts to smile, because damn is that love, but he shakes his head.
“What time is it?” he asks instead.
He's not going anywhere. If Rory never comes, well, this is where Jess Mariano dies. On the bridge in the town where they first fell in love.
Jess wants to sit down, his head is feeling dizzy, but he doesn't.
“Jess!”
He gets the feeling this isn't the first time Lane has called his name. He looks up, startled and guilty. She's about to ask if he's all right, he knows it.
Then Lane looks at her phone. “It's time!” she squeals.
Jess turns to look in the direction they'll be coming from, but it's Emily and Lola walking up to them. Jess hopes Rory wouldn't send Emily to let him down, but he knows she wouldn't send Lola. Rory is coming to this wedding.
Jess breathes a sigh of relief, and grins at Luke, who looks so very soft right now, Jess almost can't handle it.
Jess is not going to cry at his own wedding. Luke might, though.
Jess looks away from his uncle, back to the direction from where Rory will be coming, in her own time and not a minute earlier, but now that he knows she's coming, Jess can wait.
They walk together, Lorelai and Rory, arm in arm, whispering to each other and giggling as they make their way to the center of the bridge, like everyone isn't waiting on them. Lorelai looks ethereal as always, in a blue dress that flows around her like water as she walks her daughter down the makeshift aisle.
And Rory… Rory looks resplendent. She's wearing a white ballgown that Jess has never seen before, and he is desperately in love with her knowing little smile and the shine in her blue eyes. She stands out, even in the darkness.
“I guess the pros outweighed the cons,” he jokes when she's standing next to him.
Rory shrugs, still smiling. “I never got around to making the list.”
Jess's heart thumps so hard and fast that he thinks he's dying for a second, but he can't be dying because he's getting married to Rory Gilmore.
Lane is saying something about that now, and Jess is strugging to pay attention because Rory looks so beautiful it hurts.
They had decided, in the bit of time they'd had to talk about such things, not to write their own vows, and keep the script easy, because even though they're both writers, no one wants to hear a first draft that was scribbled down in less than a day.
Jess's response, his “I do” is barely audible because he's suddenly feeling shy about all the people there. Rory's voice is strong enough for the both of them, though.
And, when Lane says that Jess can now kiss the bride, he takes her face in his hands and kisses her for all he's worth. His hands are sure, certain that it won't be him breaking her this time.
They part to the sounds of their family cheering and clapping.