A/N: It's a Future, AU, one-parter Lit fic. Rory never said no to Jess' proposal in LWFTWT- that's how it should have been, anyway-
Huge thanks to Lyds because she was sweet enough to beta this thing and help me a lot. Dedicated to all the wonderful girls from the Lit Department at Happy 200th thread!!!!!
Our Story
The living room was bathed in a soft, warm glow, as the flames were playfully dancing in the old-fashioned fireplace. The beautiful Christmas tree was sparkling because of the many Christmas ornaments hanged in its branches, and the multi-colored tinsel. Milky-white snowflakes were falling heavily outside, where cheerful voices of children singing carols were heard.
It was Christmas Eve and everything seemed so peaceful, so magical. It seemed like nothing could disturb these priceless moments, and one couldn't resist the soothing sounds that made him doze off, undisturbed by anything…
"Pleeeeeeeease"
Well, almost anything.
Jess Mariano's eyelids fluttered open at once and his eyes quickly scanned the room to find the cause of the high-pitched, annoying noise. They landed on a tiny dark-haired, blue-eyed 6 year old girl, with an adorable pout on her mouth. His daughter. Jess rolled his eyes. Great.
"What now, Elise?" he asked the little girl, a hint of annoyance present in his tired voice.
"Tell me a story…pleeeease"
He looked like he was actually pondering the question for a second. "Uhm…..No"
"Oh, come on, Dad, pretty pleeeeease..you never tell me stories.."
"So why start now? You're old enough to read some, anyway."
"Because I'm asking you to"
"You're gonna have to come up with something better than that." Jess replied, stretching his hand towards a plate full of cookies.
Elise slapped his hand away. "You know they're for Santa. You're not allowed to eat them"
"Oh, I'm sure Santa wouldn't mind." Jess tried, eyeing the delicious looking chocolate chip cookies.
"Yes, he would! And then he won't get me anymore presents, and it'll be all your fault!" Seeing that that had no effect on him, she quickly added: "You touch those and I'm telling Mom"
"Fine" he relented with a sigh. "Go to bed" he ordered. Revenge was sweet.
"No way! Not until you tell me a story!"
"Go to bed"
"Tell me a story"
"Grow up"
"You first"
"Whatever"
"Fine."
Two pairs of hands proceeded to cross, and two almost identical scowls appeared on Jess' and Elise' faces.
A couple of minutes passed before the silence was interrupted by a tiny voice:
"I'll tell you where Mom hid the new Hemingway novels you bought her last month"
Jess raised his eyebrow. "I thought that she forgot those books at work"
"Yeah, right, and Santa Clause isn't real."
Jess opened his mouth, pondered and shut it back. A brief sad look appeared on his face.
Elise noticed: "You know how Mom is. She didn't want you to make her read the novels, but couldn't bear throwing them away. So, she hid them in the house. Somewhere.." she grinned.
Jess sighed deeply. "One stupid story and you're off to bed before I can count to 5"
"Yay!" Elise exclaimed cheerfully and sat on the sofa next to the armchair where her father was sitting.
"Well….see, there was this guy, who was good. And…uhm…there was this other guy who was bad. These two guys hated each other. So they fought. Pow, pow, pow, boom, bad guy went down, good guy won. Then the good guy got the girl, married her, and they uhm…did some things you're not allowed to know about until you're 20.." He considered this. "…30, I mean, and ta-da they had some kids which annoyed the hell out of them later. The end."
Elise blinked. "That's it"
"Yeah. What, you want an epilogue too"
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard and I'm 6"
"Hey, you wanted me to tell you a story, not a damn Salinger novel!" Jess pointed his finger at her.
"I've heard more interesting stories from that cute paper boy I met. I want a real story, now!" she whined.
"Know what, get to bed before…" he frowned. "What cute paper boy? I'm gonna break that puny kid's neck"
"I want a stoooooooory now!!!!!" The little girl started whining loudly.
"Aww, Geez, knock it off"
"Well, I see you guys are certainly taking this whole bonding thing seriously…"an amused voice interrupted the two.
Rory Mariano, formerly known as Rory Gilmore, was standing in the doorframe, a huge smile plastered on her face. Her cheeks were still rosy because of the cold outside, her bright blue eyes were sparkling wildly, and her long brown hair had snowflakes stuck in it.
She dropped her purse and coat, leaned down to delicately kiss her husband on the lips, and ruffled her daughter's wild, dark hair. She then plopped down on the floor, facing the two.
"So what's the problem?" she innocently asked, trying to ignore her husband's scowl.
"Dad won't tell me a story!" Elise whined.
"Turning into the Grinch again, are we?" she playfully asked Jess.
"You … hid the Hemingway novels." He answered instead.
Rory's eyes widened. "You little traitor, I can't believe you told on me!" she told Elise, who instantly flushed, dropped her head and muttered an apology.
"You….will pay." Jess went on, a mischievous glimmer in his dark brown eyes.
"That brings back memories…"his wife replied somewhat absentmindedly.
"Uhm … ewww" the little girl scrunched her nose up in disgust. "You two make me sick sometimes. Stop it and tell me a story"
"Well, looks like we get no saying in the matter." Rory's brow furrowed, deep in thought. She smiled a bit and went on: "Elise, you wanna hear a story about how me and Dad met"
A look of horror flashed though Jess' eyes, while Elise simply clapped and nodded excitedly.
Ignoring her husband's repeated mouthing of the word "no", Rory cleared her throat and began: "Once upon a time, there was a young princess, who lived in a fairy town…"
"..A tiny little patch of land, stuck in the middle of nowhere" Jess muttered.
"…full of nice, caring, friendly people…" Rory went on.
"..Nut cases with too much free time on their hands…"Jess interrupted her again.
"Jess, you still want that face of yours intact by tomorrow morning?" Rory sweetly asked. Receiving only a glare from her husband, she continued: "Everyone liked her, and one might have said that she had everything she had ever wanted. However, that wasn't the case. There was something missing from her life. And she realized what that something was when one day, a mysterious, dashing young prince came to her town." Rory snickered, and was again interrupted.
"You think I'm dashing?" Jess smugly inquired.
"Jess!" Rory blushed.
"You think..I'm dashing?" he smirked.
"Not this again…"Elise buried her head in a pillow.
"You're not exactly setting a good example for our daughter." Rory said.
"Wanna go upstairs and…read?" he went on.
"Shoot me." Elise said, her words muffled by the pillow. Suddenly, she grabbed the pillow and hit Jess across the head with it.
"Hey! What the hell?!" Jess rubbed his head.
"Stop being so gross and let Mom tell the story!"
"As I was saying…" Rory cleared her throat again. "The prince had been sent away by his mother, to live with his uncle"
"Oh, you mean uncle Luke?" the little girl asked.
"Yup, good ole' Luke. Now…uhm…after the prince arrived, the princess' mother decided to throw a banquet in the newcomer's honor. It was then that the prince and the princess first met." Rory stopped, smiling fondly at the memory. She was surprised to hear Jess' voice.
"The prince hated the damn town. He was angry, and annoyed because he couldn't leave. But when he saw the princess…." his voice turned unnaturally gentle: "You know, Elise, it's like when you go to the dentist. You hate it there-and you make that painfully clear by screaming and stomping your foot- but you still go because you have to. And then, when you think it couldn't get any worse…you get a candy bar, something that makes all the bad stuff fade away. Well...the princess was the prince's candy bar…..He took one look at her and was lost." He paused, smiling a little embarrassed because he was showing his feelings so openly. Although over the years, with Rory's help, he had pretty much stopped blocking everyone out of his heart, this way of actually telling what he felt still seemed pretty new to him. Old habits die hard.
He glanced at Rory, whose sapphire eyes shone softly. Even after all these years, she was still amazed at how easily he could bring her close to tears of happiness. She briefly thanked God for having him show up that faithful night, outside her dorm room, heart on his sleeve, hand extended, with a seemingly crazy proposition, one that she had accepted. It had been a bumpy road, with many bitter, discouraging moments between them, but it had totally been worth it. Smiling tenderly, she got up, sat next to Jess and intertwined her fingers with his, kissing him on the cheek, feeling his arm wrap around her protectively.
Elise looked at her parents and for once, didn't protest. That little intimate moment they were sharing was certainly not mock-worthy. Not right then, anyway.
After a few moments, though, she decided she had been sensitive enough, so she tugged at her father's sleeve.
"Daaad….what happened then"
"Huh? Oh, right, the story…well, they met, yada yada yada, fell in love, got married, had a spoiled brat for a kid and lived almost happily ever after. Now go to bed"
"Nice to see the old Jess is still alive and well." Rory giggled, then playfully smacked Jess in the arm, while Elise threw her pillow at him.
"I am NOT a spoiled brat!" she said.
Jess scowled and muttered under his breath something about sending the future kids to Tibet.
Both girls ignored him.
"So, after the prince and the princess met, they became almost inseparable. Though the princess was in self-denial mode, refusing to admit that what she was feeling for the prince was more than friendship"
"..Or that she had no feelings whatsoever for the brainless troll she was dating…"Jess added.
"You were dating someone else, Mom?" Elise asked.
"Well, uhm, you see, uhm…."she stammered, blushing violently.
"Wow, Dad, you stole another guy's girlfriend! I feel so proud." Elise grinned widely.
"Huh…piece of cake." Jess flippantly dismissed the matter with a wave of his hand, knowing all too well that it hadn't been easy to get Rory to make up her mind. Nope, it hadn't been easy at all.
"Elise!" Rory gasped. "You resemble Jess waaay too much for your own good."
The girl stuck her tongue out and said:" On with the story, fair maiden..", rubbing her tired eyes. She was starting to feel sleepy, and the soothing, calm atmosphere wasn't helping her fight back the Sand Man.
"The prince and the princess continued seeing each other, each playing the pretending game. But one day, the prince got sent back to his kingdom. During that time, the princess started slowly realizing that she had deeper feelings for the prince that she had thought. She visited him and after a while, he returned. She was so happy to see him then, that she uhm…kissed him"
"One hell of a kiss, I might add." Jess smirked.
Rory blushed deeply. Again. "I don't think Elise cares about that"
"So you agree then?" he grinned lop-sidedly.
"Yeah, it was…" she smiled."Elise, Hun…" She stopped upon seeing her daughter sleeping soundly, her beautiful long, straight black hair framing her delicate face. She looked like a china doll.
Rory grinned proudly while Jess got up, grabbed a blanket and tucked Elise in. Kissing her forehead, he turned back to Rory, a package in his hand. She nuzzled closely to him, and curiously peered at the package.
"It's not Christmas yet, Jess…"she protested.
"12:02 a.m. Technically, I'd say it is." He replied, offering her the package.
"You sure you don't wanna wait until tomorrow morning?" she asked.
"Yup. Open it." Jess insisted.
Rory took the package in her hand and gently unwrapped it. Inside she found a beautiful photo album. Carefully watched by her husband, she opened it and gasped. It was full of photos of her and Jess, some of them unknown to her.
There was one of them when they were a couple: they were sitting in her old room, snuggled up together on the sofa, reading peacefully. She found another one, taken on the day of Luke and Lorelai's wedding ceremony. While Jess looked pretty uncomfortable standing next to his uncle, as his best man, Rory was grinning widely, sincerely happy for her mother.
Looking through the pages, Rory came across a picture of hers and Jess' own wedding ceremony, some from the day Elise was born, others of her as a toddler, with Jess and Rory carefully watching out for her. It had taken Jess quite a lot of time to gather all of those scattered photos, not only from their house, but also from Lorelai's, Luke's and Lane's.
The last photo was one taken on Elise's 6 year old birthday party. The little girl was in Lorelai's arms, trying to grab her present, while Luke, Jess and Rory were smiling proudly in the background.
It was all it took for Rory's eyes to fill.
"So..I take it you like it?" Jess asked, trying not to show his concern.
She looked dumbly at him for a while, then hugged him fiercely, as if she were afraid to let go. Jess hugged her back, and kissed the top of her head.
"It's amazing." She sniffed. "But I'm still giving you your present tomorrow morning"
He laughed and kissed her. "I figured, you cruel woman." She giggled. He looked at her seriously. "I love you. Always have, always will"
Rory stopped giggling: "I love you too. And ditto to what you said. You're not getting rid of me anytime soon." She smiled.
"Wouldn't have it any other way." Her smile was contagious.
They kissed again, enveloped by the warm blanket of their memories, and the refreshing hope of the future, bathed in the soft light of the flames in the fireplace, listening to their daughter's regular breaths, holding each other, while the snowflakes kept magically falling outside.
It was going to be another happy Christmas…