Christmas had come and gone. They hadn't made it back to Hartford, or to see Liz like Rory had promised. Rory wanted to spend as much time as she could with Lorelai and Jess. She had done just that spending her remaining days with the two people who meant the most to her. Jess had spent his days with Luke when he wasn't with Rory. They spent Christmas morning at the crap shack. Later that afternoon they had made their way to Luke's for some dinner. Come Christmas night it was a tearful one. Rory had a plane to catch, it was back to the grind for her. They hadn't discussed what they were going to do for New Years, they were going to wait and see.
Rory walked around Truncheon books. The place hadn't changed since the last time she was here. A smile came to her lips the memory of her and Jess sharing a kiss in the place. She scanned the room finding Jess' back to her. She snuck up on him, covering his eyes. Of course she needed to stand on her tip toes.
Jess had stiffened for a brief second when lithe hands went over his eyes. The intoxicating smell of coffee had him relaxing. Having his wife with him for New Years was a surprise, but a welcoming one at that.
"What are you doing here, Rory?" Jess asked taking her hands from his eyes. Turning around he made sure to keep his hands locked with hers.
"I was nearby, couldn't miss ringing in the New Year with my husband," Rory replied with a mile long grin on her face. She wasn't going to ask how he knew it was her, he was amazing like that.
"We're gonna be closing shortly, then we're gonna head out. Happy you could join us," Jess smirked pulling her close.
"It was either stay in and watch the ball drop on TV alone in my hotel room or come get that midnight kiss, hard choices," Rory told him. Her smile never falling.
"Really touched, shocked you picked me," Jess responded finding her lips with his own.
"Break it up, what would your wife say, Mariano?" Rory pulled away from Jess her cheeks a light tint of pink, even with the slight embarrassment, Rory was still able to give Jess a serious look.
"What would that wife say?" Rory asked a smile in her eyes, a stern look on her face.
"Dude! She knows you have a wife?" Rory couldn't remember which guy was which. She had met them for a brief second when they had the grand opening.
"She knows I have a wife, Matt. She'd find it quite ok or a little kinky maybe," Jess smirked, sending Rory a wink.
"Jess! She would not!" Rory yelled shoving him. Jess chuckled wrapping his arm around her.
"You wouldn't share me?" He asked in a pout.
"Uh, no. You're mine and it took me long enough to see that," Rory told him with sincerity.
"What am I missing?" Matt asked scratching his head. "Does this mean you're getting a divorce?"
"I hope not," Jess responded kissing Rory's temple.
"Dude, that's his wife. You bug him about the picture on his desk," Chris informed his friend joining in on the conversation.
"You have a picture of me?" Rory asked with a smirk.
"Of course. Don't you have any pictures of me?" Rory looked down chewing her lip. She had a few pictures of Jess. They were put in the Jess box when he walked out of her life. She had no idea what happened to that box over her years at Yale. It had always remained to hard for her to ever open that box or even look at it. Just the thought of the box that held the contents of her past with Jess made her want to break down. She did have the one picture that had found its way into her bag when she got ready to start the campaign. The picture was before they ever started to date. His feelings for her were clear, but she was with Dean. Jess was at the diner, leaning against the counter a book in hand. The picture had fallen from one of her books.
"An old one," Rory responded leaving out the details. "I think I need a few new ones," she threw the idea out. Jess hated his picture being taken but he agreed with Rory. They did need a few new pictures, now that they were married.
"We'll get some when we have the time. How long you here for?"
"I have to fly out tomorrow night and meet everyone else," Rory told him bringing their happy mood down a notch. "But we have tonight and most the day tomorrow, we can make the best of it," Rory kissed his cheek before pulling away. "I'm going to go get ready, where do you want me to meet you?"
"Let me get a few things and I'll come with," Jess quickly kissed her lips and rushed upstairs.
"So how did you and Jess meet?" Matt asked leaning against a wall. "He doesn't tell us much about his past."
"He moved to town, we found a love of books. Became friends, dated, broke up, typical teenage stuff. He needed to go figure out who he was, and in a way I did too." Jess was lost when he came to Stars Hollow. She hated the way he had left, he could have told her what he was doing, spoke at any moment when he called her. She would have understood. It took time but she had forgave him for the things he had done and the way he had done them. He needed to go, he needed to travel the road he had, to become the person he was today. It was hard to say what would have happened if he had actually stayed in Stars Hollows instead of chasing after his father. Things could have only ended bad between them if she had ran away with him. Things happened the way they were supposed to. The time apart had let them grow into the adults they were, to experience things in life they needed to do without each other. No she wasn't mad at Jess, for the things his teenage self had done. She forgave him a long time ago. They had both learned from the mistakes they each made. After all they were only mistakes.
"You and Jess are made for each other. So damn vague when it comes to the past," Matt muttered in a huff. Rory let a giggle out seeing him get so worked up.
"What's it matter? The past isn't who we are today. It only helped shape us into who we need to be. I have a past with Jess, a past I wouldn't change. The good or the bad. The details mean nothing to anyone but him and I."
"Exactly," Jess responded walking down the last few steps. "The most you need to know about my past is that I lived it and made it through, a little broken at times. But it made me stronger and gave me the best thing outta life," he said walking up to Rory. He had a long and rough road to get to where he was today, but this wasn't the butterfly effect, he didn't wanna go back in time and change a thing about it and risk changing what he had now.
"What's the sense of changing the past when the present has turned out to be something special," Rory replied taking his free hand.
"Exactly," Jess responded kissing her soft lips. "We'll meet you guys at the bar around 9." With that said Jess led Rory out of Truncheon books and let her led the way to the hotel she was staying at.
They both showered. Together had resulted in one hell of a long shower. Not that either one had minded. It was a few minutes after 9 when they stepped out of the hotel doors meeting the cold crisp winter air. They walked with arms around each other, relishing in the fact that they were able to show they were young and in love.
"What took you guys so long?" Matt called over the loud music that was being played. "Wait! On second thought don't tell me." He was quick to take his words back seeing the smirk that had crossed Jess' face and in the dimly lit bar he could see a little tint to Rory's porcelain skin.
"Don't you have a girl to find?" Chris asked. Matt slammed the rest of his beer and headed off.
"Aren't you going to find someone?" Rory asked giving Jess a nod that she wanted a beer.
"I've got all night, I can't leave you alone to let the wolves descend on their pry," Chris joked getting Rory to giggle slightly. Both of them took a quick look around. Everyone was having a good time and eyes seemed to linger in certain places longer then others. "I've seen Jess in a lot of moods over the years, but this happy glow about him, I think is the best one," Chris spoke not wanting any awkward moments to pop up. Rory nodded looking back at things. She had her fair share of fights with Jess and she didn't like the angry Jess that came out. Her eyes locked on his from the bar. She liked this newer, better, happier version of Jess.
"Me too," Rory told him breaking the eye contact with Jess. "I've been through a lot with Jess, and the person he is today, is the best one yet. I've never really seen him this happy before." She wouldn't and couldn't take responsibility for that. This was all Jess's doing, no matter what he said. He had it in him the whole time. He just needed to find it.
"What are we talking about over here?" Jess asked placing Rory's beer in front of her. He was happy to see that after everything that his friends were taking the chance to get to know Rory. He wanted them to get along, part of him needed them all to get along.
"After the campaign, what are you guys going to do?" Chris asked just as Matt slumped down in a chair, clearly upset that he had been turned down.
"You're not leaving us are you?" Matt asked panic starting to set in. Jess was quick to shake his head.
"His work is here. Philadelphia has been good for Jess, I could never think about making him leave this place. This is home to him and soon enough to me as well. We need to find a house here and I need to find a job, but at the end of the day, Philadelphia is our home," Rory explained. Jess smiled even brighter squeezing her leg under the table.
"That has to be the best news I've heard all night," Matt said quickly finding interest in some blonde. This time he had drug Chris with him.
"You are ok with moving to Philadelphia, right?" Jess asked. They really hadn't talked about their future, it was easier to take things as they came, but a house was something they couldn't wait for at the last-minute like other things.
"I'm perfectly fine with moving to Philadelphia. I think the next time I can get away, we need to look for house's. I've looked online, but it's not the same as in person," Rory told him. Jess smiled pulling her into him.
"Deal," Jess told her with a kiss.
They spent the hours having fun watching Chris and Matt try to pick up chicks and fail horribly at it. She sat in Jess's embrace and this was the place she wanted to be the most, in the arms of her lover. This New Year's was a special one because she was bringing it in with the person she was going to spend the rest of her life with. The first New Year of many to come. She was excited to see where there future was going to take them.
10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1 Happy New Year!
During the count down Jess had pulled Rory closer to him. The count down became faint as their heartbeats rang out in their ears. Jess's lips came crashing down on hers. Rory smiled into the kiss she shared with Jess. She was ready to get out of the bar and back to the hotel to really heat things up.
