Title: Back In Stars Hollow
Chapter 10: Home Movies
This was originally going to be the last chapter, but I've decided that it's not. The next chapter will most likely be in Amy's point of view, a major turning point in her life, and will most likely be the last chapter. Maybe.
Home Movies
January 13, 2008
A black screen.
"Jess! I said I didn't want any pictures taken!"
Jess removed the lens cap to his brand-new video camera and zoomed into Rory's face. "It's not pictures. It's video."
Rory rolled her eyes and shielded the breast-feeding, one-day-old Amy from the watchful eye of the camera. "I would think that a big-time movie director would know that video is moving pictures."
"And talking, too."
"Jess! Seriously! I look like crap."
"Yeah, you do," Jess agreed, walking around Rory's bed to get her from different angles.
"Jess!"
In a moment of weakness, Jess edged within arm's length of Rory, and she reached out.
Static.
July 27, 2008
Lorelai Gilmore's backyard, Stars Hollow, Connecticut.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…." The priest continued talking, but was blocked out by Lorelai's voice, as she leaned over to Luke.
"You didn't get her walking up the aisle."
"Lorelai," Luke sighed.
"Don't 'Lorelai' me!" She imitated his sigh perfectly. "You didn't get her walking up the aisle. With Amy! It was so cute!"
"The photographer got some pictures."
"It's not the same as video."
"Well, I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do now."
"Yes, there is, I can hurt you."
"And then who would film the ceremony?"
"I would."
"Without a knowledge of where the power button is?" Luke raised his eyebrows. "I've seen your pictures, and I think Rory would appreciate if I filmed it."
Lorelai sank into stubborn silence and the ceremony could be heard again.
"With this ring, I thee wed." Rory slipped the finger on Jess' finger, and they faced the priest again.
"With the power vested in me by God, the state of Connecticut, and the consent of these two people, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Jess lifted Rory's veil and they kissed, causing Amy to shriek in Lane's arms. The congregation laughed, and Rory and Jess separated, grinning. Rory lifted Amy from Lane's arms and slipped one arm through Jess'. He led her back down the aisle, amid applause.
"My daughter's married before me!" Lorelai suddenly wailed, throwing her head onto Luke's shoulder. Her sudden weight caused him to jostle the camera, and when the impact of her words hit him, he dropped it completely.
Static.
March 16, 2009
The Mariano home, California.
Rory walked into view of the camera, fastening an earring and glancing at the back of her long black dress. "Do I have peanut butter on me? Amy just hugged me goodbye."
"Spin for me," Jess' voice, behind the camera, commanded. Rory obliged, and then stood still.
"Is that on?" she asked suspiciously.
"Uh, no."
"Yes it is. Jess!"
"What? It's our first world-wide premiere."
"The first one together." Rory grinned. "So, any peanut butter?"
"No."
"Good." Rory walked back into her room.
Black.
December 7, 2010
Dragonfly Inn ballroom.
"Ahh!" Rory screamed and ran toward her mother. "You're married!"
"I know!" The two women jumped through their hug. Two-and-a-half-year-old Amy wandered towards her father, in the sight of the camera.
"Mommy and Gwandma are cwazzy." The sentence was her first full one, and she got plenty of use out of it.
Luke, sitting nearby, pulled Amy into his lap. "I agree."
Amy nodded solemnly and turned back to watch her mother. Jess changed his spot of focus from Rory and Lorelai to Baylor and Paris, sitting at the table next to Luke and playing with one-year-old Justin.
"How's my big boy doing?" Jess asked in his proud-dad voice.
"Jess, you're the most annoying person ever when it comes to children," Baylor announced, before sticking her tongue out at him.
"Wait till your sucker pops out; you'll feel the same way."
"Hey!" Paris placed a hand on Baylor's almost noticeably pregnant stomach. "Don't call our baby a sucker!"
"You tell him, sweetie!" Baylor nodded.
Jess responded by walking away from the table and towards Lane and Dave, taking a break from playing in the band. Amy raced over after him and threw her arms around Lane's knees. Lane laughed and lowered an arm to Amy's back.
"Hey, girl. You having fun?"
"Dwums!" Amy held out her hands greedily for Lane's drumsticks; Lane handed them over and sat Amy at the drums. Dave walked to the microphone and said, "Ladies and gentleman, little Amy Mariano, granddaughter of the newlyweds, would like to play a little selection for you."
Lane released Amy's arms and she pounded on the drums and the cymbals, beating out an agonizingly loud incomprehensible rhythm. After a second Lane grabbed Amy's arms again, and lowered her from the drums.
"Give it up for Amy Mariano, everybody!"
The crowd clapped, and then the band settled back into their spots and started playing again. Amy moved from the stage to right in front of it, dancing her little self all around. Rory snuck up behind Jess.
"She gets her musical ability from you."
"No, she gets her musical ability from you. You've heard yourself sing, right?"
The camera was jostled slightly as Rory hit Jess. He laughed, and then let his hand holding the camera drop as he kissed Rory.
Black.
March 23, 2012
The Kodak Auditorium, Los Angeles. 84th annual Academy Awards.
"And the nominees for best original screenplay are—Worlds, Universes, Love, Tiffany Bold and Harvey Johnson; What Sam Says, Rory Gilmore-Mariano; Introduction, Ethan Hawke; Family Is Like Chocolate, Zoe Mittner; The Bus, David Scheoutfski."
The large crowd applauded as the aging, once-gorgeous, washed-up movie actor picked up the envelope and put his figure under the seal. "And the winner is." He added the period, pretending that the sentence stopped after the preposition. He'd never been the best speaker.
The seal was broken and all six nominees held their breath and the hands of the people closest to them.
"What Sam Says, Rory Gilmore-Mariano!" The actor, knowing Rory personally, started clapping before he'd finished saying her name. The entire crowd picked up on his enthusiasm and cheered as the large monitors showed Rory sitting in her seat, shocked, her hands over her mouth. She slowly got to her feet and hugged her mother next to her, and then walked into the aisle to hug her husband. She squeezed him for reassurance before finally making her way up the stairs to the stage. A gorgeous woman in black handed Rory her Oscar, and Rory hugged the aging actor before standing at the podium, clutching the golden statuette in her hand.
"Oh, my God. This has got to be the best news I've ever heard. God, I thought just being nominated was a big deal."
The crowd tittered.
"Oh, really, I've got a thousand people to thank. First and foremost I want to thank my mother, Lorelai Gilmore, who has been through everything with me, and I want to thank Luke, and my husband Jess—good luck—and my daughter Amy and my sons Justin and Will, without whom I'd just feel lost every single day, and I want to thank the studio for allowing us to make this movie, the producers for allowing me to have almost final say on everything, and Baylor Clarke for playing the lead. This movie is very close to my heart, and I'm just so thrilled with how it came out. Oh, I wanna thank Lane, Dave, Kurt, Paris, and Kaitlyn, and above all, I want to thank Mark Miller and Tristan DuGrey from the bottom of my heart. Without you two, I wouldn't be where I am today. Thank you."
The music began playing, and Rory bounced off the stage after Tom Cruise. The announcer announced the next presenter, and the tape skipped.
"The directors are the ones who drive us crazy with demands, idiotic ideas, and ways to make our characters worse, it seems." The middle-aged actress smiled at her husband.
"Still, they do manage to help the productions move along with a semblance of smooth, at least, and sometimes, they even manage to make the entire thing work out."
"And when they're married to the writer, they know exactly where everything's going, and what's supposed to be happening." The actress left the script behind, and her husband stared at her, in the scripted joke.
"Hey, why'd you go off-script?"
"I thought it was funny, so I said it." She shrugged.
"Yeah, well, it wasn't."
"Oh, you're just mad cause I make more than you do."
"No, not at all. I'm just mad you cut my spending money."
The couple grinned at the audience's laughter. The actress leaned forward. "And the nominees for best direction are—James Cameron, Ashley; Dana Harold, The Way;Jess Mariano, What Sam Says; Jane SanMillan, Family Is Like Chocolate; Walter Wallmarak, Shrew."
"My turn now, right?" The actor asked, about to open the envelope.
"You open it, I announce."
"Why don't we both announce it?"
"Okay. And the winner is—"
The actor slit the seal and opened the envelope; the actress squealed.
"Jess Mariano, What Sam Says!" The couple yelled together. Jess stood up automatically, shocked, and then sank back down. Rory pulled him up, laughing, her Oscar still in her hand, and pushed him into the aisle. He hugged her quickly, and then stalked up to the stage. The actress gave him a huge hug, and the actor shook his hand. He was handed his Oscar and edged to the microphone, shaking his head.
"Wow. Wasn't expecting this. Usually after they make fun of you, they don't give you the award. But…wow. I guess that good luck Rory gave me worked. Uh…thanks. To the academy, Luke, Lorelai, Liz, Jimmy, Baylor, my wonderful family—Rory, Amy, Justin, Will, I love you all. Thanks to the producers, the studio, Rory once again for writing the best script I've had the chance to direct, the cast for being one of the best I've worked with—even including Ryan back there, believe it or not—and…I think that's about it." Jess started to leave, but then ducked back down to the microphone. "Oh, and thanks to Miller and DuGrey, for returning my wife and keeping the family in one piece, and for the best family story anyone can tell. Thanks." Jess waved his statue and followed Reese and her husband backstage. Rory, sitting in her seat, covered her hands in shock again, although this time one hand was clutching her award.
August 14, 2018
The Mariano home. Stars Hollow, Connecticut.
"All three of my babies are in school!" Rory cried from behind the camera. Amy, Justin, and Jess glared at her; William grinned.
"Stop glaring, you three! It's a happy day!"
"Mom, it's school," Amy pointed out. "I hate school."
"I thought you loved school?"
"That was you, Ror," Jess pointed out.
"I don't want to be in second grade," Justin complained.
"I'm in kindergarten!" William yelled. "I'm a big boy!"
"Yes, you are, sweetie! You're a big, big, boy!" Rory cooed.
"Rory, don't baby him."
"He's my baby; I'm gonna baby him."
There was a knock on the door, ceasing any other arguing. Paris and Baylor pulled their daughter Kaitlyn behind them, followed closely by Lane and Dave's son Kurt. Kurt ran to William's side, as they were going into school together; Kaitlyn wandered over near Amy, the only other girl in the group and three years her senior.
"Thanks so much for taking them to school, Rory," Paris said. She sounded exhausted. Baylor ran a hand across her back and nodded to Rory.
"I'll drive with you, if you want me to. Paris has got to get to work."
"Has keeping Kurt with you guys been working out better?" Jess asked.
Kurt yelled, "No! I wanna stay with Will!"
"What do you think?" Paris asked dryly. Jess nodded.
"Just as I thought."
"Well, I gotta go. Bye, Kaitlyn," Paris said, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "Bye, everybody!"
"Bye, Paris!" Everyone waved and Paris left.
"Actually, Ror, I gotta go too. First class is in an hour and a half."
"Okay." Rory handed the camera to Baylor and kissed Jess goodbye. "Have fun teaching those Yalies about film."
"Oh, it's always a blast." Jess echoed Paris' dry tone from earlier before kissing each of his children goodbye and leaving.
"When are Lane and Dave getting off tour?" Baylor asked Rory from behind the camera.
"Another six months." Rory sighed as Kurt and Will started play-fighting. Justin eventually joined in, and the two girls just rolled their eyes. "What a family," Rory commented.
Black.
May 1, 2020
The Danes kitchen.
The camera focused on Rory's former bedroom door as Jess' voice drifted in from the kitchen.
"Where's Lorelai?"
"Upstairs," Luke answered. Amy silently walked forward, hoping the camera would focus on her fatherly figures. It did.
"She's cleaning," Luke continued. He lowered his voice. "I don't think it's fully hit her yet."
"It hasn't fully hit me yet." Jess shook his head and leaned his elbows on the table. "It's a shock, even after a year and a half."
"No matter how long they're sick, it's always a shock." Luke took a swing of his beer, and then frowned at the green glass bottle. "It's always a shock," he whispered, remembering his parents, and then his sister. Jess nodded. He crossed his arms and laid them on the table, and then laid his head on his arms.
"I just wish the tears would come," he whispered. "I feel so guilty."
Amy, standing behind the camera, stiffened. She hadn't cried yet, either. She felt horrible, especially when she saw her brothers, and how sad they were.
"You guys gonna stay here tonight again?" Luke asked softly.
"Probably," Jess said into his arms. " I can't handle being reminded of her right now, and I can't handle knowing that the house is free of her."
Luke reached out and patted Jess' shoulder reassuringly. Amy lowered the camera.
Black.