A/N- More real authors notes coming in soon! Hope you enjoy this chapter, I'll definitely have more to say tomorrow though. Thanks for the reviews, especially on these last few chapters. They have honestly turned a really frustrating week into something bearable, so thank you wonderful, lovely readers for your encouragement and support. Which was redundant, and repetitive, and redundant, and repetitive...
Please keep reading and reviewing, and favorite and recommend to other people if you'd like! As always I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of its characters or concepts, though if I became a gazillionaire the first thing I'd do is shamelessly try to bribe ASP into continuing with them. Humanity needs more Gilmore Girls.
Chapter 48
Four hours, eight cups of coffee and three different boxes of candy later, Rory and Jess arrived home. Home, really, to both of them now. It was the first time they'd come to Truncheon together, both expecting to stay indefinitely. Rory turned and met Jess' eyes as they parked, and she saw the content from her own eyes reflected in his. This was indeed home.
It had been harder to say goodbye to Lorelai that Rory had expected, if only because she realized how little time she'd really spent with her once Jess arrived. She'd have to apologize later, even though Lorelai hadn't said anything. She'd just smiled and hugged her, telling her that she loved her and knew where to find her. She'd seen Lorelai shoot a knowing glance at Jess and Jess nod in acknowledgment. It seemed as though Rory had missed something but she was trying not to worry about it. She trusted Jess, and she needed to make a real effort to let things go, to not add to her own stress levels by getting involved in things she didn't need to. Luke had been even harder since she'd barely seen him, and truth be told, Rory always missed him more than she let on. Luke had been a father figure to her since she was about ten and she always felt a little sad and lost to leave him. She knew Jess felt the same way about Luke, and had for an even longer time. It was clear from his eyes when he said goodbye to Luke, and the few moments of silence that followed that goodbyes. Rory intuitively knew to give him space afterwards, seeing that it was hard for him. Jess might act independent, and no one would argue against the fact that he could live that way and had for most of his life. But Rory knew the part of him that probably only Luke and herself were aware of, the part that desperately ached for something strong and stable to hold onto. She was happy to see he had a rock, and understood the fact that Jess was still acclimating to the relationship itself.
As they walked in, Jess carrying the bags, Rory noticed Chris' car on the side. She sighed, and Jess turned. When he saw it, he looked at Rory.
"I'm sorry, I told him to take today off. I didn't think he'd be here," Jess apologized.
"It's fine. He actually works here, it's not really my place to get annoyed having him around," Rory replied, looking at her feet. She understood why Matt and Chris had such an issue with her, but she was in fact starting to crack under the pressure of their constant omnipresent disapproval. She didn't need everyone to like her. It wasn't like high school Rory who couldn't take the heat of a few guys messing with her or screwing around. It just really upset her that two people so close to Jess and so important to him thought poorly of her, and to such an extent that they expressed it publicly and with great enthusiasm. She knew that their opinions meant something to him and it killed her that they refused to see her as anything other than the worst-case scenario based on the worst parts of her past with Jess. It wasn't the whole story, but she understood why they'd gotten there. She just wished she could do something to change their minds.
"I know, I just thought it might be nice if you got a break from the peanut gallery," Jess continued, rolling his eyes at the thought, "I swear, they said they were going to be better. And they'll come around eventually. Don't let it get to you."
"I'm not," Rory answered defensively. Jess looked at her disbelievingly and she sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll try not to," she conceded, "I just…wish I could start over with them."
"You can't," Jess said simply, holding the door open for her, "In life you can never start over. Sad but true. The best you can do, in this situation or anything like it, is to accept the complexity as your base and build off of it, trying to find something to appreciate in the mess. You can't change most things and you can't change most people, so you have to be willing to look deeper and work harder, rather than just getting a nice clean chalkboard to write on every time something doesn't work out." Jess opened the door to the apartment and they walked in. He set the bags down. "Just think about it."
Rory nodded. He had a point. If she could just start him and Lorelai over from the beginning she wouldn't. Even with the bad, the complexity helped to build something even more strong and better than what would have been if it were easy. Organic, authentic, real. It occurred to Rory that maybe words like that should take the place of perfect and fixed in her mind. It might make things easier on her, and maybe even for Jess as he attempted to deal with her.
"Hey, can you toss me one of my black shirts? I think you stole them all," Jess accused, grinning over his shoulder at Rory. She smirked.
"I plea the fifth," she replied as she threw a tee at him. He caught it and walked toward the bathroom.
"I'm just gonna change and then I was thinking we could go downstairs and sort the new inventory. Exciting, I know," Jess added, somewhat sheepishly, "It's just we're a little…"
"Jess," Rory cut him off, walking over to him. Without even thinking she placed her hand on his wrist with a smile. "I don't mind. I like working here. What you just told me is that I'm going to be spending the rest of the day sorting books. That's kind of like telling Luke he gets to watch baseball all day or Lorelai that there's a shoe sale."
Jess laughed, keeping his hand in hers. He ignored the beat thumping in his chest as he returned her gaze. "If you insist," Jess shrugged his shoulders, "God, we really need to find a way to pay you."
"I'm good with room and board, if that works for you," Rory offered, "Honestly, I should be paying you rent though or something." She pulled her hand away and walked across the room over towards her purse and Jess immediately walked over and stopped her.
Jess put his hand on her shoulder. "Rory," he said, his voice low, "Let me make one thing clear. If you ever try to pay me to live here, I'll make reading Dickens look like a comparatively pleasant experience. Get the picture?"
"But…"
"No," Jess shook his head, "No compromises. The closest I'll get is that you work at Truncheon for now. But even that's just as long as you'd like to. You're always welcome here, and you know I don't mean that as a guest. My home is not your home for all intents and purposes. It is actually, truly, your home. Look at it that way. I insist."
Rory blushed, looking at Jess' darkened, determined eyes. "Thank you," she finally accepted, "I think I'm gonna like it here."
"Well, I'm not Daddy Warbucks or anything…" he called as he started walking down the door, "You coming?"
"Right behind you," she answered, walking down the stairs and closing the apartment door behind her. Now if only she could find a way to charm Chris into tolerating her. If not, she could always bash his head in repeatedly with a copy of Anna Karenina until he assented to give her a fair shot. Smiling at the idea, Rory headed downstairs to attempt peace negotiations.
