A/N- My dear readers...I can't believe this is already Chapter 50. It's crazy. I hope you enjoy this bit, though I do promise more action soon. For now, just coast, as they are. There's a lot of Lit-implication-atmosphere here, so at least it might partially satisfy your understandably Lit-anticipatory feelings.
I'm loving the reviews and thoughts and I really appreciate all the input. Please continue providing your feedback, both good and bad. I always look forward to reading them. Also, favorites and recommending this story to other FF aficionados or GG interested parties that you know is always appreciated.
As always, I do not own Gilmore Girls or any of its characters or concepts, though I do kind of feel protective of them now, after writing about them this much. It's odd, but very cool.
Chapter 50
Over the next few weeks, things continued on an upswing. True, no one, including Rory, had figured out what was going on with her. But she and Jess had fallen into a comfortable, natural rhythm that seemed pretty damn close to perfect. Going to sleep and waking up in the same room, sharing mealtimes, and even working together, it all felt right. It didn't seem to matter that Rory was spending her days as an un-glorified stock girl, working for no money (Jess wanted to pay her but had lost that fight every time, though she hadn't tried to pay any of the expenses again, so they were at a draw). It didn't matter much either that Matt still hadn't warmed up to her. Chris had come around a fair deal since his talk with Rory. They were cordial, even close to friendly at times, and he could appreciate her productivity. They treated each other with a cautious respect, Chris always slightly wary but allowing and Rory tentative but determined. Jess wasn't really surprised, when he thought about it. Chris had always been a bit more moderate, open to the idea. But Matt hadn't budged. He just stonily ignored Rory as much as possible now. He was never outright rude to her and he had stopped putting her through the ringer. Clearly Jess' discussion with him had an impact. But he wasn't going to go out of his way to make the effort like Chris did. Chris had tried to talk Matt into being a bit more forgiving and it had been almost as spectacular a failure as the time Truncheon attempted to sell zines. The two of them had barely spoken for almost a week and it ended with a grudging agreement to keep off the topic, though Rory had thanked Chris when she found out about the attempt. There was only so much that could be done.
Regardless, both Rory and Jess were, to put it simply, happy. Happier than either of them had been in a very long time. Those issues didn't seem to bother them much, and Rory was starting to regain a sense of pride and self-worth that she'd thought was permanently lost. She couldn't explain why that was. The work she was doing was no more stimulating than helping her mom out with the inn when she was in high school. But something about the atmosphere had allowed her to relax into herself, lose inhibition, and simply live. The change looked good on her, as Jess often thought. He'd catch himself watching her lazily curled up watching reruns or the way she'd carelessly shove six fries in her mouth at once when they had lunch, or how she stretched in the mornings when she woke up, whatever shirt of his falling off her porcelain shoulder as she arched her back and sighed deeply. He thought about the last one more than he probably should, but who could blame him? It was a tantalizing visual. Seeing Rory in such an artless form was making Jess melt into a similarly unrehearsed calm. He'd never really put on an act for people. Walls had been more his thing. But now, he was smiling and laughing more than he ever remembered, and he wondered why he'd resisted that for so long. Sure, he was working, hard. Truncheon had become swamped with business and it was actually a godsend to have the extra hands. But he was writing too. He had been writing more frequently since that day she showed up, but since Rory moved in, Jess had been writing almost every day, unable to keep the words in, the way it had been with his first. Not that he ever talked about it with Rory. Things were kept pretty light between them still, discussions limited to life and the universe and junk food and movies and punk bands and of course the books, always the books. They didn't delve into each other's psychology or criticize or question. Jess didn't pressure Rory about her path and she didn't offer anything, and he didn't explain the choices he was making either. They just floated along next to each other, Jess teaching Rory how to let go and Rory keeping Jess from being alone.
That was another interesting thing. It hadn't really occurred to Jess how alone he'd been, because truthfully, he hadn't been lonely. It wasn't a self-delusion or anything of the sort. Jess had really just been dedicated to his work for the last few years, and Luke's occasional visits combined with the camaraderie of Matt and Chris had been enough to keep him satisfied. But after Rory became a regular fixture in the landscape of Truncheon, Jess realized how long it had been since he'd been that intimately close with someone. True, they were still completely platonic, even with all the flirtatious banter that characterized most of their conversations. But the intimacy of feeling so connected to someone, not wanting them to leave, never getting sick of them…those were emotions Jess hadn't experienced in a long time. And he didn't realize how much he wanted to again, how much it satisfied him to have that type of companionship. He could tell Rory felt similarly, just from the comfort that she displayed in her own skin.
Jess knew at some point something would have to crack, one way or the other. Maybe it would be a romantic thing, maybe an anger thing, but he knew that this status quo wasn't going to be able to last indefinitely. But that thought didn't deter him in the slightest from just coasting through the bliss that they were enjoying now. Whatever happened would happen. It was what it was, her, him. He'd known that from the beginning and so had she. And they were both ready to face whatever would come. But for the time being, they'd come to an unspoken agreement not to rush, to just exhale in the security of their current situation, and they'd face whatever would come. And truth be told, both of them, without the knowledge of the other, felt very courageous here. There was very little they couldn't take as long as they came home to that shared room every night and woke up in it every morning.
