Ok here it is Gilmore Girl Beauty and the Beast AU
AN: So first of all this wasn't beta'd so all mistakes are mine (sorry). Also I haven't watched Gilmore Girls in a long time so sorry if some of the characters or facts are wrong (this is an AU though) I just was so shocked that nobody wrote something like this! Of all the fandoms, Gilmore Girls has so many reoccurring themes with Beauty and the Beast! Especially Rory who reminds me a lot of Belle particularly in the early seasons. So I had to do this because it just wouldn't leave me alone. Hope you enjoy it! It's not perfect but the world needed a GG/BatB story even if it wasn't a great one.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or Beauty and The Beast
Cast
Belle-Rory
Beast/Prince-Jess
Gaston-Logan
LaFou-Colin
Maurice-Chris
Belle' Mom-Lorelai
Mrs. Potts-Liz
Lumiere-TJ
Cogsworth-Luke
Once upon a time, there was a young prince who lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired the prince was moody, selfish and unkind. But then one winter's night an old woman came to his castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter, from the bitter cold. The prince had no desire to help anyone besides himself so he turned the old woman away and went back to reading his Ernest Hemingway. But she warned him, not to be deceived by appearances, for true beauty is found within. And when he dismissed her again the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart and as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast. And placed a curse on the castle and everyone inside it. Disgusted by his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered, was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his 21st birthday. If he could love another and earn their love in return before the last petal fell, the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years past, he fell into despair and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?
Rory Gilmore lived in the small provincial town of Stars Hollow Connecticut. It was an odd town, filled with even odder people but Rory had grown up there so she was used to it. There was Miss Patty the man-oogling dance teacher, Taylor the uptight self-appointed town spokesperson, and of course her mother, the ever pop culture referencing inn keeper, just to name a few. There used to be more, Luke the diner owner who was good friends with her and her mom, had disappeared a few years ago mysteriously. Taylor hadn't really addressed it too much, Taylor and Luke never really got along and so when he disappeared without telling anyone Taylor didn't think much of it. Lorelai, Rory's mom, was the only one who really noticed and/or cared about Luke's vanishing act. Lorelai tried to organize a search party but they never found him and in the end Lorelai was forced to admit that Luke most likely left the town that was never too kind to him in the first place. To this day Lorelai still missed Luke, especially his coffee but like everyone else she carried on.
Today was like any other day for Rory, she went into town passed all the gossiping members of Stars Hollow and walked straight into the book store. The townsfolk didn't have a whole lot to talk about in Stars Hollow, not a lot went on there, so lately Rory, the college graduate turned reporter turned homebody was the latest gossip. After graduating from Yale, Rory went on the road as a reporter but she soon found that she was not cut out for the constant traveling, late nights, and dirty hotel rooms. So she quite the campaign circuit and returned home to her mother until she could find a job at a regular newspaper. This, for some reason, fascinated the town (mainly Babbette and Miss Patty) and made Rory Gilmore the latest and the greatest thing to chat about. Rory didn't exactly want to stay Stars Hollow, in all honesty she had outgrown the town years ago but she didn't have a job and she had nowhere else to go. So she spent her days searching for reporter openings and doing the thing she loved most in the world, reading books.
Which brings us back to the bookstore. Rory entered the little shop, activating the little bell above the door.
"Hello Rory." Greeted Mr. Marsh, the book store owner
"Hi! I'm here to return the book I borrowed" Rory said smiling
"The one you borrowed yesterday?"
"Yup!" Rory said beaming proudly "Got anything new?"
"Nope. Sorry." Said Mr. Marsh laughing
"That's okay. I'll borrow this one."
"The Foutainhead? But you've read it twice."
"Well it's my favorite! Honestly Rand is a genius." Rory said skimming through the book.
"If you like it that much, why don't you keep it?"
"Mr. Marsh, are you sure?"
"Positive. It is my gift to you."
"Thank you so much!" Rory left the book store happily but her cheerful outlook faded fast as she saw who was crossing the street toward her. Logan Huntzberger had to be the most stuck up, obnoxious, self destructive jerk on the whole planet. And to think for a little while, to her still utter bafflement, she had dated him. In her defense it was during her wild college years, specifically the one where her brain had been temporarily replaced with someone's who wasnt Rory, not in the least, but Logan didn't understand that and had been chasing after her since she rejected his marriage proposal. He followed her all the way to Stars Hollow and had been living there the past few months.
"Hello, Rory, fancy meeting you here." Logan said beaming brightly
"Hi Logan. Are you following me again?" Rory said unimpressed
"You're funny Rory, tell you what why don't we go over to the town hall and see the small shrine Miss Patty has set up for me since I moved to town. She does so love when new eye candy comes to Stars Hollow." Logan said wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pushing her towards his previously described shrine, which in actuality were just a few pictures that Miss Patty had taken at the last town even. Unfortunately, Logan was right about one thing, Miss Patty did love new men in town and consequently more than half the pictures were of Logan. But he was still an ass for bringing it up.
"No thank you, Logan."
"Oh come on Ace, it will be just like old times."
"Logan, I asked you not to call me that anymore! Now please, I have to go help my mom at the inn. Goodbye."
"Wait! Ace! I mean Rory, look it's been six months, I think you've had enough time to get over your cold feet, so come on now we all know you want to marry me so stop this monkey business and just say yes already so we can leave this half-bit town!" Logan spat after her. Rory turned around to face him, furious.
"Listen Logan, I told you I don't want to marry you! It has nothing to do with cold feet it has to do with the fact that I don't love you anymore! Now that I think about it, I'm starting to doubt I ever loved you at all! And don't insult my town! Only I get to do that because I've lived here for my whole life not just a few months! So why don't you go jump off a bridge or something!" With that Rory ran off towards her mother's inn.
Colin, Logan's right hand man and lackey, emerged from his hiding place behind the book shop.
"Whoa, mate, she told you!" Colin said in between laughs. Logan grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up.
"Listen, mate, Rory and I will be married, make no mistake about that!" Logan slammed Colin down and stormed off to admire Miss Patty's photos of him.
When Rory arrived at the Inn, she saw her mother behind the desk.
"Fruit of my loins! My only child!" her mother shouted at her.
"Mom, I thought I asked you not to call me that anymore."
"Yes well when you spend 5 hours in labor then you can start making demands. How was your day?" Lorelai asked.
"Not bad. Ran into Logan again. He proposed. Again."
"What did you tell him?"
"No!" Rory said as if it was obvious.
"Good! He was never good enough for you, that self-absorbed, self-worshipping, self-loving…"
"I got it ma, he loves himself."
"Dam right he does, he should just marry himself. Speaking of self-absorbed jerks, your fathers here."
"Really? Dad's here?" Rory asked excitedly
"Yup! He's on his way to Hartford and he thought he'd drop by and see you. Not me. You." Lorelai said just a little too bitterly.
"Where is he?"
"He's in the kitchen with Sookie." Rory ran like a little girl into the kitchen.
"Dad!"
"Ror!" Christopher opened his arms to his daughter who ran into them willingly.
"I can't believe you're here!"
"Me neither! But I'm headed to Hartford for a little invention convention thing and thought I'd pop in."
"What did you invent this time?"
"Nothing much, just a little something I like to call the lock pick extradorneir."
"My father, the aid to thieves everywhere." Rory said sarcastically.
"Hey! Cops can use it too!" Christopher smiled at his daughter. "Well I'm glad you made it because you were cutting it kinda close there kiddo. I gotta leave like right now."
"Okay I'll let you go but you have to promise to call as soon as you get there because there is so much we need to talk about!"
"Promise."
"Pinky promise?" Rory held up her pinkie, Chris help up his as well.
"Pinkie promise."
It was taking him way too long to call. It had been nearly 5 hours since he left and even if he had gone to the convention he would have been back by now. Rory was starting to get worried.
"honey, stop waiting by the phone, you know you're dad, he means well but sometimes he doesn't keep his promises." Lorelai said trying to be understanding.
"I know but he really promised this time, and how hard is it to make one phone call?" Rory complained
"Sweetie, go to bed. You can always call him in the morning."
Rory couldn't sleep, she just lay there thinking of all the horrible things that could have happened to her father. Mugged, kidnapped, stranded in a ditch somewhere, after three hours of this Rory couldn't take it anymore, she picked up the phone and called his cell. It rang and rang but there was no answer. She tried two more times until she gave in and called the hotel he was staying at. That was when her worst fear was confirmed. Chris had never gone to his hotel that night. That was all the proof Rory needed. She grabbed the keys to her mom's jeep, left a note explained her absence on the kitchen table, and took off for Hartford.
Rory only got about halfway there when she saw her father's car on the side of the road. She pulled over.
"Dad?" she looked in the car, around the car, even under the car but there was no sign of her father. She did find his cell phone though. Dead. Great. Then she saw footsteps in the snow leading back into the woods. Her father's footsteps? She followed them into the woods and finally into a clearing where she found a huge medieval castle staring down at her. Since when are there castles in Connecticut? Rory thought. Has that always been there? The footsteps lead into the castle and so did Rory. The door was unlocked.
"Hello?" Rory called into the dark and creepy parlor area. "Dad? Christopher Hayden? Anybody?"
Rory walked around the place. It looked deserted. Suddenly she heard a sound.
"Did you see that? It's a girl!"
Rory whipped her head around to see where the voice was coming from. There was no one there. Just an etch a sketch on a table and a coffee mug on a table behind her. This place just keeps getting weirder, she thought. She turned around again when another voice spoke.
"I know it's a girl you idiot! What's she doing here? Jess is not gonna be happy. Two intruders in one night."
"Who's there?" Rory whipped her head around again but still no one was there. She slowly turned around. "Please! I'm looking for my father!" she spun around to see the entire room looking for the sound of the voices. Everything was the same except that the etch a sketch on the table was now drawn on. An arrow pointing to the left was on it. Rory turned to see the direction it was pointing too and saw a stair case leading down. She hurried down it.
Downstairs was some sort of dungeon. Creepy dark castle with creepy dark dungeon, wonderful. Rory heard coughing from the last cell and ran towards it.
"Dad?"
"Rory?"
"Dad!" Rory reached through the bars to hold her father's hand. "What are you doing here? What is this place?"
"What am I doing here? My car broke down and well it's a long story but what are you doing here? How did you find me?"
"You never called. I got worried. I called your hotel and they said you never showed up. I took mom's jeep and tracked you down. We have to get you out of here."
"No! He might come back! Rory you must go. Before that thing comes back in here!"
"Dad, what are you talking about?" Suddenly a massive hand (paw?) grabbed Rory's shoulder and flung her around. Her flash light hit a wall and was smashed into a thousand pieces. The only light was now from a window shining in a stream of moonlight.
"What are you doing here?" a voice growled.
"Who are you?" Rory asked trying not to show how scared she was.
"The owner of this castle. The one you and your father here are trespassing on." The voice growled again. It almost had an animal like quality to it but something very human stuck out about it too.
"Please let my father go, he could die in here!" Rory begged.
"Well then he should have thought of that before he just wandered into my home and started acting like he owned the place."
"I'm sure he's very sorry now if you just let him go then we will never bother you again."
"Can't do that. People will think I've gone soft. What kind of reputation is that?"
"People? What people? Who even knows this place is here? And while we're at it, since when are there giant medieval castles in Connecticut?"
The voice growled at her, literally growled this time, like a wolf or a dog or something, "Don't talk about things you don't understand!"
"Please! I'm begging you! Just let him go and we will repay you in anyway we can."
"No."
"Wait! Take me instead." Rory said standing up to face this mysterious thing.
"No Rory! You don't know what you're doing!" Chris protested from his cell.
"You would take his place?"
"If I did, would you let him go?"
"Yes, but you must promise to stay here forever!" the voice was ever so slightly softer now. But still it begged the question what did this thing (as her father put it) look like anyway.
"Come into the light." Rory asked quietly. It slowly slid one hairy foot into the stream of moonlight, the rest of it followed. Rory tried to hide her gasp. The voice came from a six foot tall wolf thing. Something crossed between a man, a wolf, and a gorilla maybe? All covered in thick black hair. It was like nothing Rory had ever seen before, nothing she though could have existed but there it was. So this was it, the cross roads of her life. Would she live with a mutant animal to save the father that only breezed in and out of her life when it was convenient to him?
"You have my word." Dam right she would. Because she was Rory Gilmore, the one girl you could always count on to the right thing.
"Done." The beast opened her father's cell and grabbed him.
"Don't worry Dad, I'll be fine. Tell mom what happened and tell her I love her!" Rory called after her father.
"Rory! No! Don't do this!" The beast dragged Chris back outside.
"Please spare my daughter." Chris begged.
"She's no longer your concern. Here take this. Call a cab, a tow truck, something, and never bother me again." The beast threw Chris out of the castle.
Back inside, Luke the coffee mug and TJ the etch a sketch were arguing whether or not if TJ did the right thing by showing Rory which way to the dungeon.
"Jess is gonna kill you. Then me. Then you again. Why did you give that girl directions? Why couldn't you have given her directions OUT of the castle not IN it!" Luke shouted.
"You are one angry piece of plastic, you know that Lucas?" TJ said
"Don't call me that!" Luke shouted again.
"Will you two quite arguing! I hate seeing my brother and my husband at each other's throats. So to speak." Liz, Luke's somewhat outrageous sister, who happened to be a tea pot currently, was staring at the two men.
"Liz when did you get here?" Luke asked
"I came in somewhere between you insulting TJ's mother and TJ calling you a, oh well never mind that. The point is I heard enough. And if anyone cares, I think TJ did the right thing." Liz said.
"Ha! Hear that coffee boy?" TJ shouted triumphantly.
"Liz! How can you agree with him?" Luke criticized. Foot steps started getting louder and all three adults knew it meant Jess and the girl were coming up the stairs. They stayed quiet as to not freak out the girl quite yet, and watched Jess bound up the stairs with Rory following a good three feet behind him.
It hadn't taken much convincing to get Rory out of the dungeon and into a real room. He used the excuse that he wasn't that heartless (despite popular belief) that he would let a young woman rot away her whole life in a dungeon. The truth was he kind of liked the girl and admired her for her bravery. But he would never tell anyone that. It wasn't like she could actually return the feelings. He looked behind him to see Rory slowly following him down the hallway. She was crying. Great, now he felt like a jerk. You are a jerk Jess thought.
"What's your name?" he asked gruffly
"Rory."
"Nice name."
Rory thought about asking him what his name was but she wasn't sure if he even had one. Do monsters have names? And she didn't want to say something wrong and loose her room privileges so she said nothing. Jess opened the door to a large room and gently pushed her inside.
"This is your room. The castle is your home now so you can go anywhere you want. Except the West Wing."
"What's in the West Wing?"
"If I wanted you to know it wouldn't be forbidden now would it? Don't go in there. And I will see you at dinner. That's not a request!" Jess slammed the door before Rory could say another word.
Rory sat on her new incredibly large bed and tried to think how to make the best of this situation. She decided to do it the way she did most things, to make a pros and cons list. Well there were plenty of cons, let's think of the pros she thought. No more Logan asking me to marry him, that's a pro. No more town meetings with Taylor, definite pro. She wouldn't have to worry about looking for a job now. Well that was more of a con. No more job, never gonnna be a real reporter. No Kirk (was she actually missing Kirk?) No Friday night dinners (as much as she hated to admit it she did miss her grandma and grandpa) No more movie nights with mom. No more mom. That was the one that sent her over the edge and she just lay in her new uncomfortable bed and sobbed.
"Jess Mariano! I can't believe you were so rude to that girl!" Liz scolded her son as he sat by the fireplace, moping as usual.
"What? I gave her a room!" Jess protested
"A room where she can be a prisoner in!" Liz shouted again. "Let the poor girl go home to her family."
"She agreed to this!"
"Did she really have a choice?"
"Hey I got an idea! Let's think of this as a positive thing!" TJ cut in.
"How?" asked Luke, always the pessimist.
"Well we finally got a chick here, maybe old Jessie boy can work some of the old moves on her and we can finally stop being made of plastic." TJ said happily.
"Right. Because the quickest way to girls heart is to hold her captive." Luke mumbled under his breath.
"You think I haven't thought of that? God, I'm not an idiot." Jess growled.
"Great so you fall in love with her, she falls in love with you and bada bing the spell is broken!" TJ said
"I don't think it's that simple dear." Liz corrected.
"Besides, it would never work. She's so beautiful and I'm…well look at me!" Jess shouted at the three objects.
"You must help her to see past all that." Liz soothed.
"You can start at dinner." Luke finally spoke up.
"There is no way in hell I'm going to dinner!" Rory shouted to her door.
"Dear if you just let me in maybe we could talk about this." Liz tried to calm the girl through the door.
"NO! My answer is final." Rory said, silence answered her. And then finally a soft "Please?"
Rory opened the door a crack and nearly fell backwards when she saw the talking tea pot before her.
"You're a….You're a…."
"I'm a tea pot thank you for pointing out the obvious."
"What are you? How are you?"
"Calm yourself honey. I'm not here to talk about me. I'm here to talk about my son."
"You're son?"
"You're ahem captor."
"You're son is the….how does that even work?"
Liz sighed. "Let's start again. Hi I'm Liz, you're name is Rory right?"
"Yes."
"Hi Rory."
"Hi Liz"
"Would you please come to dinner Rory?"
"No."
"Well, where is she?" Jess spat
"Um, see the thing is, uh, circumstances being what they are,…she's not coming." Liz finally studdered.
"WHAATT?"
Jess stormed up the stairs and banged on Rory's door.
"I thought I told you to come down to dinner!"
"I'm not hungry." Was Rory's calm response.
"You'll come down or I'll break down the door!" Jess screamed.
"Um, honey." Liz whispered.
"What?"
"I don't think you're earning any points with her by screaming at her." Luke said point blank.
"Please, try to be nice!" Liz begged.
"It would give me great pleasure if you would join me for dinner." Jess said trying to keep his cool.
"No thank you."
"You can't stay in there forever!"
"Oh yes I can!"
"Fine! Be that way! Starve for all I care!" Jess screamed and he stormed off.
"That went well." Luke said.
It was about an hour later that Rory, being her mother's daughter, figured out she was starving. She had to get something to eat but she was afraid that thing could still be skulking around, still couldn't hurt to just peek around right? She creeped out of her room slowly. No one was there. Rory walked out into the hall way and slowly down the stairs looking for the kitchen. She wandered around the place but she couldn't find anything that remotely looked like a kitchen. Instead she found the one place she wasn't supposed to be. The west wing. It looked like all the other places in the castle, what made this place so forbidden?
"Hey!" a voice called. Rory jumped ten feet but she turned around to see not the beast but a coffee mug.
"You scared me!"
"Just be glad it was me and not someone else! You need to get out of here! No one's allowed here!"
"Ok I'm going I'm sorry I was just looking for the kitchen."
"Down the stairs and to the left. Cant' miss it."
"Thank you, um.."
"Luke."
"Luke, my mother had a friend named Luke once."
"Really? Does she miss him?"
"I didn't say he was gone."
"Oh, well you said had which implies you know past tense."
"Yes as a matter of fact she does miss him, very much."
"Oh, well okay then, um good luck finding the kitchen." And with that the coffee mug named Luke disappeared leaving Rory with nothing but more questions. Instead of turning around and going where Luke said to go, curiosity got the better of her and Rory walked right through the large intimidating doors.
Inside the oh so aloof west wing was a mess! Furniture everywhere, books everywhere, everything half destroyed. What is this place Rory thought as she cautiously walked around, careful not to trip on anything. The entire room was dark except for a corner of it shining with light. As she got closer Rory noticed the light was coming from a rose, a magical glowing rose.
"And this place just couldn't get any weirder." Rory said to herself as she lifted the bell lid off of the thing. She was about to touch one of its petals when the beast returned. He loomed over her like a monster.
"What are you doing here?" he growled, his anger holding back by a thread.
"I'm sorry." Rory said, at a loss of what to say.
" I told you never to come here!" He said, angrier this time.
"I didn't mean any harm." Rory said slowly backing away.
"You had one rule!" Jess screamed throwing a table out of his way. Rory backed up faster until her back hit a wall.
"Get out!" Jess screamed. Rory couldn't get away fast enough.
"Get out!" Jess screamed again. Rory was long gone though, and only then did he realize his temper had scared her off and he would probably never see her again.
"Where are you going?" Liz asked as Rory ran out the front door.
"Promise my ass. I can't stay here one more minute!" Rory threw open the door and ran outside.
She ran and ran trying to find her car but it was dark and her flashlight had been broken the night before. She had nothing to go on. It wasn't long before she realized she was lost. Great going Gilmore, she thought You managed to escape death at the hands of a raving beast only to time alone in the woods from starvation, or hypothermia, or…..wolves? A pack of hungry wolves were slowly surrounding her.
"There are no wolves in Connecticut!" Rory screamed at them as if maybe that would make them go away. But they didn't. "Okay so apparently there are wolves in Connecticut. Just enough to kill me." Rory ran in the other direction but they followed her. One snapped at her ankle and she took that as the time to stop running and fight. She tried hitting one of them with a stick but it just grabbed it in its mouth and pulled her down into the snow. They were all about to go in for the kill when another louder roar echoed from behind Rory.
She turned to see the beast protecting her. Wait a minute, the beast was protecting her? Rory couldn't believe it but there it was. The beast about to kill her a half hour ago was now protecting her from the wolves about to eat her a minute ago. The beast managed to fight off the wolves but he was hurt himself. As the wolves ran off, he collapsed in the snow. Rory turned to leave but she couldn't bring herself too. Come on Gilmore, one foot in front of the other, just like that stupid song from that stupid movie mom makes you watch every Christmas. But she couldn't do it, because as stated previously, she was Rory Gilmore and she had to do the right thing. So she did. She dragged the beast back to his castle but some miracle of strength and direction.
The beast was licking his arm. Licking, like ew. But hey who was she to judge? It was kinda her fault that he was hurt in the first place.
"Hold still, please." Rory asked as she put the wet towel on his arm, cleaning his wound. He growled.
"That hurts!" Jess shouted.
"If you held still it wouldn't hurt as much." Rory shouted right back. it had been a long night and she wasn't in the mood for anymore of his crap.
"Well if you hadn't run off this wouldn't have happened."
"Well if you hadn't screamed at me then I wouldn't have run off."
"Well you shouldn't have been in the West Wing!"
"Well you should learn to control your temper!" That shut him up. Jess slumped in his chair as Rory continued to clean his arm. Ha! She had won! With her new surge of confidence she decided to act, now or never.
"By the way, do you have a name?" she asked. Jess looked confused, but answered her.
"It's Jess. It's not short for anything."
"Well then, thank you, Jess, for saving my life."
"You're welcome Rory."
"You let a monster take my baby?" Lorelai screamed at her once boyfriend.
"I didn't have a choice! She agreed and I.." Chris tried to defend himself.
"No! You don't get an excuse! This is your fault! You made another promise you couldn't keep and the next thing I know she's gone with nothing but a note on the table and not answering her phone! I've been worried sick and now you show up with this crap story about monsters and castles and expect me to believe none of this is your fault?"
"When you put it that way…"
"Christopher I am done with you! Do you hear me? You are going to march back to wherever you left her and bring her back here! Understand? Because if you don't I swear to god I am going to murder you and bury you in the backyard next to Babette's gnome collection!" Lorelai shouted as she shoved Chris out the door.
"I'll bring her back I promise!"
"You better. Because remember if you don't, gnomes!"
It had been a few days since the wolf attack and Jess and Rory had been growing closer and closer. Ever since the screaming match while she was cleaning his wound it was like the air was finally clear. Rory was no longer as afraid of Jess and Jess was no longer as afraid of being judged by her. They were becoming, dare he think it, friends. Rory was amazing. She was sweet and smart and funny. It was only after his mother said "You really like her don't you?" that Jess realized he was saying all this out loud.
"What?"
"Rory, you really like her."
"I suppose I do."
"You should do something for her!" TJ suggested excitedly
"I don't know what I would do."
"You could give her something!" Liz suggested.
"No it has to be something special, something unique to her." TJ said "But what?"
"Uh, I have an idea." Luke pipped in.
"You? King of 'I hate everything romantic or happy or decent in the world' has an idea?" TJ complained
"I have a bit of a confession to make. I kinda knew Rory before this whole madness happened."
"What?" Liz, TJ, and Jess all shouted
"Before I came to visit you guys, and got turned into a coffee mug, I lived in Stars Hollow. Rory and her mom lived there. They came to the diner every day. I actually liked them, compared to the rest of the town. Anyway I know her pretty well okay? So I think I know what Jess can give her. So you wanna know what it is or not?"
Jess led gently by the hands.
"You really don't have to do this." Rory said "Not that I'm complaining about getting gifts its just I mean I didn't get you anything."
"It's okay. I don't need anything. You can do one thing for me though."
"What?"
"Never tell anyone I did this okay?"
"Still have the reputation to up hold?"
"You make fun, but I have street cred."
"Ofcourse you do. Can I open my eyes yet?"
"Nope."
"Someone really should have named you king of monosyllabalism."
"Okay, now, open."
Rory opened her eyes to see the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life.
"Oh my god! Books! I've never seen so many books! Not even in my grandfather's study!" Rory looked around at the massive library before her.
"You like it?" Jess asked hopefully.
"Like it? I love it!" Rory squealed.
"It's yours."
"Really? Thank you! Thank you so much!" Rory practically squeaked as she ran to hug Jess. It was kind of an awkward hug, but Jess thought it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. He would give her a thousand libraries for another hug. Rory let go and continued to explore the rest of the library.
As it turned out, Jess was an avid reader as well. Almost as much as Rory was, almost. They spent the rest of the afternoon comparing literary taste and all though they had some disagreements (Hemingway versus Rand and all that) most of their tastes were the same. For the first time in a really long time, maybe ever, Rory felt she found someone she could really connect to.
They had gone through almost all the books when Rory reached a small black book towards the bottom of one pile.
"The Subsect. I've never heard of this one." Rory read aloud. "By Jess Mariano. Wait a minute, that's you! You wrote a book?"
"A short novel." Jess corrected humbly
"You wrote a book?"
"A short novel."
"I can't believe it. You wrote a book! I'm going to read it right now! And then I'm going to tell everyone I know that I know a writer. A good writer. A real good writer!"
"Read it first before you praise anything, it's not that good."
"What are you talking about? I'm sure it's amazing! I still can't believe you wrote a book."
"Yeah well I had a lot of time on my hands here. Alone."
"Well you're not alone anymore. You have me." Rory beamed up at him.
"Rory are you happy here? With me?" Jess asked starring down at the floor.
"Yes. It's just, I wish I could see my family again. Just to make sure they aren't worried about me and they are okay." Rory said solemnly. She really was happy here with Jess, and Liz, and Luke, and even TJ, but she missed her family, her mom especially. "I didn't even get to say goodbye."
"Wait right there." Jess told her and he leapt up and out the room. Ten minutes later he was back with a mirror in his paw.
"Take this and ask it to show you someone. Anyone, and you'll see them." Jess gently places the mirror in her hands.
"I'd like to see my family please." Rory said barely above a whisper. The mirror first showed her mother, pacing the kitchen and making lost posters with Rory's picture on them. If that weren't upsetting enough, it then showed her father, lost and alone somewhere in the woods, coughing terribly.
"Oh no!"
"What is it?"
"My father! He's lost somewhere, he could be dying and he's all alone!"
"Then you must go and find him."
"What?"
"You aren't my prisoner anymore Rory, you haven't been for a while now. Your family needs you, go to them."
"Thank you for understanding." Rory squeezed Jess's hand and then was about to give him the mirror back when he stopped her.
"Take it." Rory smiled sadly and left the library.
Christopher woke up in her daughter's bedroom in Stars Hollow.
"Lorelai?" he asked weakly
"Close." Rory appeared in the doorway smiling.
"Rory! How did you escape?" Chris tried to sit up but Rory pushed him back down and gave him some water to drink.
"I didn't escape, Jess let me go."
"Jess? Who's Jess?"
"Jess."
"You mean that thing?"
"He has a name, and it's Jess." Rory corrected.
"But he was horrible to you! To me!" Chris said trying to sit up again.
"He was but he changed. I can't explain it. He's just different, somehow." Rory said looking off into the distance.
"Dam, kid. What the hell happened after I left?"
Then, Lorelai appeared in her daughter's bedroom.
"you are one lucky son of a bitch you know that?" she said addressing Chris. "You come here raving about some crazy monster kidnapping Rory, I almost called the nice men in the white coats on you. Lucky your daughter is more forgiving then I am and dragged your drunk ass home after I kicked you out." Lorelai wacked Chris in the shoulder and then left to get him more water.
"You didn't tell your mother?" Chris whispered to Rory.
"I didn't know how to. I'll tell her, eventually." Rory whispered back. "Now just rest, you nearly caught your death wandering around out there."
"I was trying to find you."
"I know you were, thank you. Now rest!" Rory commanded. Just then there was a knock on the door. Rory opened it and came face to face with an angry looking Logan.
"Listen here Ace! You've made me the joke of this stupid little town! And now I have to marry you're stupid, book loving, skinny butt or I will never be taken seriously again!" Logan shouted.
"Logan are you drunk?"
"We are getting married right now!" Logan grabbed Rory by the wrist and started dragging her outside.
"Logan! Let go! You're hurting me!" Rory tried to fight him off. "I don't love you!"
"Yeah and who else do you have Ace? Face it, you're unemployed, broke, and alone. Marrying me is the best option you've got."
"I have plenty of options! I'm going back to Jess!" Rory said before she could stop herself.
"Jess? Who's Jess? And why does he have his hands on my woman?"
"He's my friend. And he won't let a drunken pig like you force me to marry you!" Rory shouted.
"Well where is he? This mysterious Jess? I bet you're making him up!"
"He's real and I can prove it!" Rory ran inside her house and got the mirror "Show me Jess Mariano." The mirror swirled and in it Jess's reflection appeared. Logan gasped and grabbed the mirror.
"What is that thing?"
"He's not a thing, he's Jess and he's my friend."
"He's a monster!"
"He's not a monster, Logan, you are!" Rory grabbed the mirror back but in a drunken rage Logan pushed her down.
"I'll teach this monster to mess with my woman!" Logan grabbed Rory and threw her into her house and bolted the door shut. "I'm off to kill your beast boyfriend! Wish me luck Ace!" Logan laughed viciously and disappeared into the night.
Rory was a mess. She didn't mean to mention Jess she really didn't, but she was so angry! And now Logan was going to hurt Jess and it was all her fault. She managed to escape through her bedroom window, with a quick explanation to her father who was still lying on her bed, but Logan was long gone by the time she finally got out.
She jumped in her mother's van and drove off to the castle.
When Rory finally made it to the castle, Liz, TJ and Luke ran to her.
"Rory! You have to help us! Someone's in the castle! How did they even find us?" TJ rambled
"Oh, this is all my fault! The man is Logan, he's my ex-boyfriend. He's gone crazy! I'm so sorry!" Rory said fighting back tears.
"Don't cry sweetie, everything's going to be okay." Liz tried to reassure her
"Don't go making any promises yet, Liz." Luke snorted
"Where's Jess?" Rory asked
"He's in his room, trying to calm down pycho pretty boy." TJ said "Go up there and see if you can stop your crazy boyfriend!"
"GO!" Liz and Luke shouted. Rory ran up the stairs as fast as she was physically able to. She darted through the hallways trying to remember which was to the West Wing. She finally burst through the heavy wooden doors. There was Jess, fighting a crazed Logan.
"Logan! Stop!" Rory cried, but Logan was already half way through knocking Jess through a window and onto a balcony.
"Ace! So glad you could join the party! Wanna see my kick the crap out of your freaky boyfriend!" Logan laughed, kicking Jess. He grabbed a torch off the side of the castle and was about to hit Jess with it, but Jess got up and grabbed it and the two began a power struggle.
"Stupid beast! You honestly think Rory would love a thing like you when she had me?" Logan taunted. Jess growled and threw Logan down. He held him over the edge of the castle about to drop him. That's when Logan started begging.
"Please! Spare me! I'm sorry! I didn't mean! Please!" Logan was practically crying. Jess glared at him, years of anger boiling in his eyes. But soon his expression softened, the anger replaced with something else. He lowered Logan to the ground.
"You're not worth it. Now get out!" He growled.
"Jess!" Rory cried. She ran to the window, trying to maneuver her way through the shards of broken glass.
"Rory." Jess whispered he reached out to her through the broken window. Rory took his hand and smiled. "I can't believe you're here."
Logan looked up just in time to see the touching reunion. All his anger immediately returned replacing his fear. In a blind rage, Logan pulled a knife and stabbed Jess in his side. Jess roared and Logan lost his balance, falling off the castle to his death. Jess began to fall back but Rory pulled him through the window using every ounce of strength she had.
Rory lowered a bleeding Jess to the floor.
"Hey, Ror." Jess laughed softly
"Oh, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault." Rory said, hugging Jess's chest.
"Don't worry about it. You're here that's the important part."
"I am here. And I'm going to save you Jess. You're going to be fine."
"Sure." Jess said in a way that sounded very un-sure
"No! None of your monosyllabic crap right now, do you hear me Jess Mariano? You are not going to die on me." Rory said barely holding back tears. Jess was getting weaker by the second that was obvious but Rory was not about to let the one good thing in her life slip away from her.
"Rory, why did you come back?"
"Are you kidding? Logan was going to kill you! I had to stop him!"
"Is that the only reason?"
"Yes. Well, no, I was going to come back anyway. Once my dad was settled."
"Why?"
"Because. You never said goodbye." The tears were streaming down her face now. Jess lifted his paw to her face and gently wiped some of them away.
"Rory Gilmore, I am so glad I met you." Jess whispered. His eyes slowly closed and his head fell back. His hand fell away from Rory's face.
"No!" Rory sobbed. "Jess! Please!" But it was too late. Jess was gone. Liz, TJ, and Luke had all come running up after Rory when they saw someone fall off the roof. They sadly looked on. Liz began sobbing and TJ tried to comfort her. Rory sat, sobbing onto Jess's chest.
"Please, don't leave me." The rose on the table behind them drooped. "I love you." Rory whispered into Jess's shirt. The last petal fell off of the rose. Rory was too busy crying to notice. She was too busy crying to notice the sparkling dust falling from the sky around her. But when Jess's body lifted up on its own from under her, she noticed that. His body was taken up into the air by some unknown force. Rory backed away not knowing what was happening.
Jess was floating in midair, surrounded by what looked like glowing stars. The stars swirled around him, his hands, his legs, and his head especially. Rory looked away from the blinding light and when it finally dulled down enough for her to see, Jess was gone. On the ground in his place was a young man. Rory didn't know what to do. Where was Jess? Who was this guy? Was he even conscious? The young man moved a bit and groaned. Rory shrieked. He stood up, his back facing her.
"Who are you? What have you done with Jess?" Rory shouted, shaking slightly and using a stick as a bat to defend herself. The young man turned around. Rory lowered her defenses a little bit in pure shock. He was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. He was taller than her but not too tall, medium build, with thick dark brown hair, almost black, that seemed to stray off in different directions. And the deepest brown eyes she'd ever seen. Eyes she swore she recognized from some place.
"Rory! Calm down! It's me!" Jess said putting his hands up in front of him.
"Jess? No that's impossible!" Rory said lifting up her makeshift bat again.
"Rory, I swear it's me. Look at me! Really look." Jess walked a little bit closer to Rory close enough that she could really look into his eyes. She could see now that the messy black hair looked an awful like Jess's (old Jess) fur, and this handsome young man's eyes, they were the eyes Jess had when he told her he wrote a "short novel" or when he told her that Hemingway was way better than Rand, or…
"Jess?" Rory whispered dropping her bat to the floor. She ran her hands through his hair experimentally, as if just touching him would prove his existence.
"Yup." Rory laughed loudly.
"King of monosyllabism! It is you!" Rory laughed and jumped into Jess's arms hugging him around his neck. "You mister, owe my one hell of an explanation!" She said into his hair.
"Yeah I do, you want it now?" Jess asked
"Nah." Rory said finally letting go of him.
"Now who's the monosyllabic one?" Jess whispered, leaning way down into Rory's personal space. Not that she minded.
"Still you."
"Huh." With that Jess's lips were over her own in a kiss that Rory was convinced was the most magical kiss in the history of kisses. She threw her arms around his neck again and her fingers tangled themselves into his dark hair. His hands went from her hips to around her waist and clung her to him like she would disappear if he let go.
They could have stayed like that forever. But TJ, Liz, and Luke burst into the scene, after having been turned back into people.
"I knew you could do it, loverboy!" TJ shouted patting Jess on the back, hard.
"TJ? Liz? Luke?! Mom's Luke? You were the….I mean you were a.." Rory stammered.
"Yeah, I should probably go see her and explain huh?" Luke said, looking a little embarrassed.
"Yeah." Rory said, giggling a bit at the ridiculousness of the situation.
"I'm so proud of you honey!" Liz said hugging her son. She took his hand with one of hers and Rory's hand in her other. Liz brought both of their hands together and let go with her own hands. Jess and Rory stood there holding hands and looking into each other's eyes. Finally, after all the crap they'd been through, they could finally just be together. And they were together, for the rest of their lives. And they lived, as you can probably guess, Happily Ever After.