Title: Between the Lines
Author: Zoe Saugin
Fandom: Gilmore Girls
Pairings: Rory/JessTimeline: Mid season 2
A/N: Another story
for my friend, who bemoaned the lack of well written Lit fics in the
Gilmore Girls section. Ack, it's kind of OOC, I might rewrite it...
Between The Lines
The books came to her randomly. Sometimes, they were waiting on the windowsill when she woke up, or were on the bridge when she got there, or left on the table next to her while her mom was otherwise engaged. She began to look forward to the books, not for the books themselves, but for the notes between the lines or in the margins.
The notes told a story of their own. Between the sarcastic comments and sardonic questions lay the story of the broken boy who loved his mother and missed his father, who found solace in books rather than in life.
Rory began to see not the troublesome homeless kid that Luke saw, or the sarcastic rebel capable of hurting her that her mom saw, or the cocky abrasive kid that pissed Dean off so much, but rather Jess as his own entity.
She read about his hopes and fears, triumphs, and failures. She could see in his notes that he was homesick, and scared of drifting to far away but afraid to ask for help.
When her mom asked her what she was reading, she would just smile sadly, and hold up the book so her mom could read the title. Her mom would then proceed to do whatever she had been doing, leaving Rory alone.
It wasn't long before Rory began writing notes in her books as well, telling the story of her life. They were left at the table with the bill, or passed on by a very bemused looking Luke. It became their very own message system.
Jess was fascinated by the story between the lines of Rory's books. She was unbelievably strong and intelligent. Dean didn't deserve her—Dean probably only read sports magazines.
Lorelai noticed her daughter's sudden interest in reading different books. The books appeared out of nowhere, and it made Lorelai sad that her daughter wouldn't tell her about them—she felt like she was losing her daughter. When she saw her daughter give Luke a book, she realized where the books were coming from, and that made her even more sad.
Jess's story was heartrending and completely real. Rory read about his mother and her boyfriends who thought Jess was trash, about his friends who no longer spoke to him, about girls and school and drugs and alcohol.
Rory's story was equally heartbreaking, but in different ways. Jess saw that the Rory Gilmore he saw was only that Rory because she was a Gilmore. He grudgingly realized that Lorelai was pretty much solely responsible for Rory's demeanor, though the town had had some effect on her.
He read about years of estrangement from her grandparents, which had only lately been rectified at all. He read about Mia, the Crap Shack, the Inn, birthdays, snow, reading, Chilton, Star's Hollow, and Lane. Most of the story was colorful, and he loved to read it, partly (he knew) because of the fact that Dean didn't know as much as he did.
It was a pride thing.
One of the stories his notes told was the story of the girls who could make it all—the drifting, the homesickness, and the rebellion—make it all stop. He wanted her to understand, but she just returned the book silently, and he felt his heart fall.
He thought it was funny, though, how she never mentioned Dean.