"Come with me." Jess said to Rory, laying in bed one lazy Sunday morning. "Where?" Rory said curiously. "To the stop in London. For the book tour." He responded. "Ohhh the book tour! You go to London the 9th of March right?" She said. "Yep. And I would love if you would come with me. So come on, let's book the flights." Jess said, already getting up to reach for his laptop. "Jess, wait a second. Let me check my schedule." Rory said. "Ror, if you didn't want to go, you could've just said. You didn't have to say the most cliché response ever." Jess said. "Oh stop. I actually have to check my schedule."
Rory sat up in bed and reached for her phone on the bedside table. Going to the calendar app, she saw that March 9-12 she was free. She looked up at Jess and locked her phone. "I've got nothing going on. Book 'em." They smiled.
After the Obama campaign trail and Luke and Lorelai's wedding, Jess and Rory reconnected. Jess had moved to New York right before the wedding and Rory was planning to move to New York right after the wedding. They started talking more and soon were able to open up to each other just like old times. After about 6 months, Jess finally was able to make the first move and asked her out. They began dating and had moved in together two years later. Now, two years after moving in together, Jess was planning to propose. There was no book tour stop in London but he knew Rory wouldn't go with him just because. So he devised his plan.
*March 8th*
Jess and Rory had just got back from Stars Hallow where they said goodbye to Luke and Lorelai for the next four days. They all had an early dinner because Jess and Rory still needed to drive back to New York.
Jess threw his keys into the bowl near the door to their shared apartment. He hung up his coat as well as Rory's and sat on the couch, closing his eyes. "I don't know about you, but I am tired." Jess said. "No no no no no, mister. You still need to finish packing. I told you you would be tired from driving and I told you to finish before we left for Stars Hallow and what did you say? You said that you would finish when you got back. Let's go!" Rory said, pulling on an arm.
"You know what, okay. I'll get up." Jess said. Rory was surprised it only took one speech and one arm tug. He went into their room with Rory following behind him. He pulled down a hat box from the top of the wardrobe (which Rory could've never reached.) Jess led Rory into the living room and they sat down on the couch.
Jess pulled the top off of the box and pulled what looked like a book wrapped in tissue paper out of it. He handed it to Rory. "Open it." He said. Rory eyed the package and opened it.
"House of Cards by Jess-" she looked at him with wide eyes and he had the biggest smile on his face. "You wrote another book? What? How?" Rory asked, full of questions. "Notice the title? It's our song, Ror. I've kept journals since we started dating and, a couple months ago, I had to idea of turning them into a novel. I called up Matt and Chris and they helped me with getting it. It's our love story, Rory. All that happened throughout us dating and all of my thoughts." Jess explained. "Jess that's the most beautiful thing anyone has ever done. I love it. I love you." They kissed and smiled into it.
"People are going to love our story! It's going to do so well!" Rory said excitedly, thinking about how successful Jess' third novel would be. Jess chuckled and grinned to himself. "Well, that's just the thing. There's only one copy. I asked Matt and Chris if they could finagle it for me. You have the only one." Jess said, explaining everything he did.
Rory jumped into his arms and hugged and kissed Jess fervently.
*Morning of March 9th*
"All ready?" Rory said, looking over all of their bags. "Yep, I think so." Jess said nervously. What did he have to be nervous about? Maybe he was uneasy about the flight. Yes, that's it. "Okay, let's go." Jess hailed a cab and they set off for the airport. They got all checked in and went through security and, before they knew it, it was time to board.
After getting settled on the plane, Rory took out the book Jess had written for her while Jess popped in one headphone. She was able to read up until when they met again at Loreali and Luke's wedding when the stewardess came around with dinner trays. Rory stopped reading, ate, and then slept and listened to music for the rest of the flight.
Rory woke up with 30 minuets left in the flight to see Jess reading. Had he slept at all on the flight? Maybe he was an uneasy flier. They landed safely and got to the their hotel. After two days of site seeing, Jess got a call from his publishers early in the morning about a party they were hosting in London. During the call, they also explained to Jess how because of scheduling differences with the venue where the tour would be held, this stop was canceled.
After telling Rory about the tour and the party which would be held later that night, they substituted their fancy dinner plans for the publisher's party.
Getting ready in their hotel room, Jess shuffled a playlist of their songs. Rory stepped out of the bathroom with her hair and makeup done to put on her dress. She heard "House of Cards" by Tyler Shaw playing and silently sang along. Jess, putting on a cufflink, came up behind Rory as she was putting on jewelry and snaked his arms around her waist, singing along to the song in her ear. She turned and kissed him. "I love you." Rory said, looking between both of his eyes. "I love you too, Ror."
They walked out of the hotel room hand in hand, Jess wearing a black suit and Rory a knee-length burgundy dress with a black double-breasted jacket and black heels. Rory stopped at the lobby to ask Jess if they were calling a can or getting a car from the hotel and he responded by saying they would walk. Surprised, Rory followed along, letting Jess lead the way.
From their hotel, Westminster Hotel, to Westminster Bridge was not even a 5 minute walk and it had been Jess' favorite place they saw. They walked to the middle of the bridge and looked out over the water, taking in the beauty of the city and sunset. Jess looked over his shoulder and over Rory's but she didn't think anything of it, too engrossed in the way the glow of the sun hit the skyline perfectly.
"Hey Ror," Jess said, grabbing Rory's arms and facing her towards him. "You have made my life so amazing for these past few years. I don't know where I would be or who I would be without you. We are meant to be together and it's about time that this happens." He got down on one knee and opened the box. "Rory, will you marry me?" He said, his hands shaking.
"Yes! A thousand time yes!" Rory said. Jess snapped the box closed so the ring wouldn't fall out, got up, and kissed Rory with everything he had. He picked her up from under her butt and she kicked her legs up, all while still kissing. They separated and linked foreheads, smiling ear to ear. Jess opened the box and showed Rory the ring. It was a 1.5 ct oval halo engagement ring, glittering the descending sun. He slipped it onto her finger and hugged her. Rory closed her eyes, happier than she had ever been.
She kissed him and popped her foot, something she had always wanted to do since she had seen The Princess Diaries.
And then she heard the flashing of cameras.
Rory separated from Jess and looked behind him to see a photographer. She looked behind her and saw another. Down the bridge a few feet, another. She looked at Jess in disbelief, "You remembered." she whispered.
Back when they were dating, Rory and Jess talked about proposing in general and Rory mentioned that she loved to see couples that had their proposals professionally photographed. The candids and even the posed-for photos were beautiful to look back on and it was great to have multiple photos of the momentous occasion. When planning the proposals, Jess remembered all that they had spoken off throughout the years, wanting to make everything perfect.
"Yeah well..." Jess trailed off, shy even though he had thought of everything. "Yeah well this is perfect. This ring is perfect. This proposal is perfect. I love you, always, Jess." Rory said, still in awe. "I love you too, Ror." Jess said, nuzzling his forehead into Rory's. At that moment, all three photographers captured the same picture from three different angles.
They felt happier than they had ever felt. They were on top of the world, ready to face whatever came their way together. That photo, which would be looked at in the coming years, symbolized all of the love they had for each other. Everything they had fought for and gone through had led up to this, this perfect moment of euphoric bliss.
