A/N: Bonjour everyone! Kat again, this time with my first Literati fic! I was going to make this a oneshot but my dearest Sarah really wanted to start reading it and I really wanted her to read it. So it is coming to you in two or three parts. I hope you like it!
Synopsis: Set after the series ends. Rory is back from the campaign trail. Luke and Lorelai are engaged.
Dance Marathon Redux: A Literati fic
"I may be obligated to be your dance partner, but I am not obligated to help you win." Luke said to Lorelai in a sort of agreement to participate in the twenty four hour dance marathon.
"You have to try though." She whined back and stuck out her bottom lip.
"No. Isn't it enough that I'm going to dance? You know I don't dance."
"Nope. You have to win to make me happy. And I know you can dance. Don't lie."
At that moment Rory walked into the diner and sat on the stool next to her mother. "Is he still not agreeing?"
"If you want to win so badly why can't Rory be your partner?" Luke suggested. Lorelai turned to give her daughter an eager look.
"No way." Rory replied. "I'm still tired after the campaign trail."
"You've been home for a month! How can you still be tired?" Lorelai exclaimed.
"Bus lag. It's five hundred times worse than jet lag. I may never be able to dance again." She finished dramatically.
"Ugh. Fine. I just won't win this year." There was a momentary pause and then she looked back to Luke behind the counter. "Please? I need that trophy!"
"Ooh. She's desperate." Rory commented. "Did you hear that? She never says please."
Luke looked once more at Lorelai's begging face and cracked. With a sigh he said "alright."
"Haha! One step closer on the road to victory!" she triumphed then stood and leaned across the counter to give him a kiss. "We're off now. Gotta do some shopping!" Each of the girls took a quick sip of coffee, said goodbye to the diner owner and went off to shop.
"I don't want to get dressed up! I'm not going to be dancing. You are." Rory stated to her mother the morning – early morning – of the dance marathon.
"You don't want to look all pretty and retro?"
"I would rather be more comfortable so I can fall asleep on the bleachers."
"Falling asleep on the bleachers is for wimps." Lorelai said childishly. "Come on! Give into the peer pressure of a dress and curly hair!"
"No! There's no point."
"Oh yes there is a point! The point is that this dress is just calling your name!" the woman said grabbing a light blue dress off the bed and waving it in front of her daughter's face.
"Why did you buy that thing?"
"Because I saw it and knew it would look just darling on you, but you have to wear it today or-or it'll explode and then I'll have wasted all that money and the world will have one less pretty little dress from the fifties."
Rory's face was blank as she grabbed the dress from her mother's hands and walked into her room. "Ha!" Lorelai exclaimed. "I knew you couldn't resist it!"
"I'm only doing this because I'm very tired and your voice gets loud when you're trying to persuade me to try something on." The girl shouted through the door.
"You know it's because you love me. Now show mommy how the dress looks."
Rory stepped out of her room in the dress and Lorelai put on a grin. "You look just nifty!"
"Nifty?"
"I don't know. It seemed like a fifties-ish word in my head. Anyway, now for your hair!"
"No. I am wearing the dress, but no curly hair! Last time you nearly burnt my scalp. Besides you and Luke have to sign up."
"Oh. I should go make sure he's ready. I set out his clothes, but he looked at them this morning and might have thought they were a joke." Lorelai bolted up the stairs, leaving Rory to the half full coffee pot.
The group of three entered the gymnasium full of people ready for a twenty four hour dance marathon.
"Mom, I can't believe you're doing this again. Do you remember how much our feet hurt after the last time you tried this?" Rory inquired.
"No, I must have repressed the memory. Come on, let's get a spot!" she said enthusiastically, pulling along an unenthusiastic Luke.
Rory went over to the bleachers and sat down, coffee cup in hand. A few moments later she saw Lane and Zack coming her way, each one with a little boy in their arms. "Lane!" she exclaimed happily.
"Rory! Why are you dressed up?" the Korean girl asked as she gave her best friend a one armed hug having a child held in her other arm.
"Mom." Is all Rory gave as a reply. Lane nodded knowingly. Rory's attention was then taken by the two little boys. "They're getting so big! I only saw them yesterday, but they look like they've grown."
"They're making me feel old." Lane said, sitting down on the bleachers.
"Fifteen minutes until dance-time!" Taylor said into the microphone. Out on the dance floor Kirk and Lorelai were having their yearly confrontation, only this time Lulu was being competitive also. Luke stood by looking bored as the three competitors challenged each other.
"This is going to be interesting." Rory sighed.
Rory's eyes fluttered. She was going to fall asleep soon and she couldn't help it. They were about twelve hours in. Only halfway.
"Not dancing this year?" asked a familiar voice behind her.
"No." she said slowly with a tired drawl in her voice. "I don't think I cou- "she abruptly stopped talking as she turned to look at the person who had addressed her. "Jess?"
"Hey." Jess Mariano replied with a shy wave.
"What are you doing here?"
"I, uh… came for the wedding. I got here and discovered this was going on."
"Oh. The wedding, of course! So you thought you would come check this out because it is such a Jess Mariano thing to do." Rory said sarcastically.
"Yes, that was my thought exactly. So, why aren't you dancing? Couldn't get your Yale boyfriend to be your partner?" He said 'Yale boyfriend' with a sneer remembering the last time he met Logan.
"Well, mom almost forced me to be her partner, but I'm still too tired after the campaign trail." She answered then added, "And I don't have a boyfriend."
"Oh, right, the campaign trail." Jess said acting like he hadn't heard the last part. "How was that? Any cars come hurtling towards you while someone was shouting in a foreign language?" he joked, reminding Rory of a discussion they had back in their high school days.
Rory smiled at the fond memory. Well, fond besides the car crash that followed. "No. They were always shouting in English."
"But there were cars hurtling towards you."
"Once it was a bus. What have you been doing? Still with the company?"
"Ya, the company's doing pretty well. I haven't been doing much else lately but working there." He replied.
"You haven't been writing more?" Rory asked with a sad tinge in her voice.
"Not really. I have a few ideas, but I don't have the drive to make them something more. I guess I lost my muse or something." He said the last bit jokingly.
"Maybe getting away from work for a little while will help." She suggested. As she said this Taylor announced the runaround and she watched amusedly as her mother dragged Luke around the edge of the gymnasium.
"Ya. Maybe." Jess mumbled in reply and gazed at her for a moment while her attention was elsewhere.
When the two minute break arrived Luke and Lorelai went over to the bleachers.
"Jess. What are you doing here?" Luke asked, though he seemed pleased to see his nephew.
"I came for the wedding." Jess replied as if it the question hadn't been worth asking.
"The wedding isn't for another week. I didn't expect you to show up so early."
"Oh, sorry. Should I leave then come back the day of the wedding?" he joked.
"No. There should be room for you to stay above the diner. It's kind of a mess though…"
"Sounds like a life I'm used to."
As this conversation continued a different conversation was being whispered between Rory and Lorelai.
"Jess is here?" Lorelai said, shocked.
"Yes. He's here for the wedding."
"Oh. Right. Forgot to warn you he's going to be Luke's best man. Sorry."
"It's ok. We're friends."
"Ok. I forgot to tell you though. I'm sorry."
"It's ok. Now shut up and go dance. Taylor is about to blow his bullhorn thing again."
"Dirty." Is all Lorelai replied as she pulled Luke back out to the dance floor. Rory gave her a disgusted face.
8 hours left on the clock and Rory was about to pass out.
"I don't think I have ever been this tired." She said, leaning her head on her hands.
"What about the last dance marathon? You actually danced then." Jess retorted.
"Well, I was young and spry then. I had more energy. Now I'm old and easily tired."
Jess gave a short laugh. "If you're so tired then go to sleep. You can't be disqualified from sitting on the bleachers."
Rory heard him, but her tired mind didn't want to comprehend too much. Her eyes closed and her head fell onto Jess' shoulder. She was out cold. Not even Taylor tiredly shouting through his megaphone could wake her up. Jess didn't want to move a muscle. He watched the people dancing and when Rory was in danger of falling backward he held her steady with an arm around her waist.
Rory twitched and began to wake up. Jess quickly removed his hand from around her waist. There were six hours left.
"I was asleep for two hours?" Rory asked, surprised.
"That was an impressive nap. Taylor started yelling in his sleep and you didn't wake up." Jess said.
It was then that Rory realized her head was resting against his shoulder. She quickly lifted her head, but regretted it seconds later. "Ow." She put her hands on her neck. "Vertical positions are not good for my neck. However, I'm no longer dead tired."
"Always look on the Brightside, right? I'll be right back." Rory watched confusedly as he walked out the gymnasium door. He returned a few moments later with a small paper bag in his hand.
"You, my friend, are god." Rory excitedly stated as she accepted a cup of coffee from him as he sat down.
"Not god. I just know you." He smirked, pulling his own cup out of the bag.
"Obviously you don't know me well enough or you would have brought a donut." At this he produced a donut with chocolate icing from the bag. "Oh. You do know me." She laughed.
There were two hours left. It was almost over. All Rory could think was that she could sleep in her bed in only a matter of hours. By now even Jess was tired.
Luke and Lorelai were now only up against Kirk and Lulu. Lorelai was practically asleep on the dance floor. Rory watched as Luke gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and Lorelai woke up a bit more.
The music was quiet and slow and so were the two dancing couples. The usually energetic Lulu was suddenly gone. Kirk was left trying to hold her up as she stopped dancing. Miss Patty saw this and woke Taylor.
"It's over." Taylor said with a tired slur into his megaphone. "The winners are Luke and Lorelai."
Kirk let out a somewhat dramatic "No" as Lorelai opened her eyes completely and happily grabbed the trophy. "Haha! It's mine! Take that, Kirk! You're winning streak is broken! I've found a partner to make sure you don't have a winning streak ever again."
"Let's not get carried away." Luke said, leading Lorelai off the dance floor. "I'm never doing this again."
"You just wait, mister. I have persuasive powers. Ow ow ow. I hurt." She went to sit down.
"Don't sit down. You'll never get up." Luke exclaimed.
"That is because I don't want to get up."
"Rory, let's get your mother home before she falls asleep on the bleachers."
"Right. I like that idea." Rory replied, standing to follow the two, now half-asleep, winners. She took the trophy out of Lorelai's hands seeing that she was about to drop it.
"I'll carry that." Jess said taking the trophy from Rory.
"You don't have to."
"I haven't been awake as long as you have. Just let me carry the trophy, ok?"
"Alright." She said with a smile as they walked side by side.
A/N: Well, that was part one. I hope it was to your liking.
I would like to thank my dear Sarah; Tumblr bestie, fellow Milo fangirl, Literati shipper, and all around amazing person! I may have never met you in person, but I love you all the same hun! 3