DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!
Sequel to The Way You Look Tonight
In The Morning Light
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Jess rolled over with a groan, pulling his pillow from under his head to over his face.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He sat up with a curse when he realized that the persistent banging was coming from his front door.
With another curse he got out of his warm bed to answer whoever it was at his door at, he shot a quick glance at the clock on the side of his bed, 3:28 in the morning.
He pulled open his door, ready to yell, before all of his breath left him. "Rory" he whispered. She looked like she had been through hell and back.
Her dress was wrinkled and her hair was falling out of its elegant up do to surround her face. She had a backpack on her back and a messenger bag hanging around her torso. She also carried a duffle bag in one hand. Tears were streaming down her face.
She glanced up at him with sorrow filled eyes and asked in a shy voice he hadn't heard her use since she was 17 "Can I come in?"
She stepped past him and into his apartment when he nodded. "What's going on Rory?" he asked gently as she sat on the couch.
She looked up at him. "You're right. About all of it. After I left the bookstore earlier I realized that I didn't love him. Not that way I should. When I got back to the party he took me aside and asked where the hell I had been. When I told him it was none of his business he pulled me out of the hall to the parking lot where he got his keys from the valet. "I made your excuses" he'd said. "We are going home."
Jess shook his head. "Ok, but that doesn't explain why you're here" he said. She nodded. "When he got back to his apartment he started yelling. Yelling about how bad I had made him look; about how I don't respect him. God, Jess. That was when I realized that he didn't want to marry me because he loved me, but because I'm a Yale graduate, I'm a Gilmore, and I make good arm candy." Tears cascaded down her face. He shook his head, confused.
"So" she continued "I put my computer away, stuffed my backpack with books, and filled the duffle with clothes. Told him not to follow me and that I would call him for a time to pick up the rest of my stuff. He just stood there, like he couldn't believe that I was actually leaving him. Again. But this time it's for real. I'm not going back there. I'm not letting him drag me down to that place, a place I don't belong."
She took a deep breath and glanced up at him. "Finally" was all he said. She stared at him. "Why don't you" he offered "Go take a shower while I start some coffee? Sound good?" she smiled gratefully. "Yah." She said "Sounds perfect"
He smiled as he watched her walk through his home like she belonged and thought that maybe this time it could work between them. After all, she had come to him after the fight. Not Lorelai, not Lane, not even Paris. Him. Maybe that meant something.
Nine months later Jess could not believe she had said yes. As they lay curled up together in bed that night he watched as she played with the simple ring on her finger that caught the light from the morning sun that streamed in their window. It was not as big or as flashy as the first. But it proved that he was much more different than the first man she had said yet to.
He wanted her for her mind, body, spirit, and soul. He loves that she reads as much as he does; and writes just as well. He loves the way she looks in the soft morning light, with the sun's golden glow on her skin, he feels like the luckiest man in the world. He adores her need for a cup of coffee before she even thinks about talking, yet she can say it all through just one look.
He loves that she is the only one who can tear down his walls and get away with it. He loves that it took so many years to wind up in the place that they were meant to be. And most of all, he loves that they finally get their chance for forever.
A/N: This is the product of another late night and one hell of an emotional one at that. You should thank whomever that my dad can piss me off to no end and did tonight. So thank him. But be thankful that he's not your dad. Cuz I'd pity you if her were.