A Long December

Chapter 2: Daylight Fading

Author: Starcrossedsoulmates

Rating: PG-13, possibly R later

Disclaimer: I don't own the show, the characters or the song titles. Rest assured that if I did own the show or the characters, Season 6 and 7 would've gone a whole lot differently.

Summary: Literati. Post Season 6 – slightly AU, future fic. One month, a lifetime of changes. Maybe this year will be better than the last.

A/N: So many lovely reviews!! They make my heart happy and help to feed my inspiration. Some might view this as somewhat of a filler chapter, but sometimes those are necessary to get to the more interesting parts.
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A long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
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Rory came to an abrupt stop on the sidewalk, receiving a few dirty looks from people who had almost knocked into her when she stopped.

Watching Jess with the woman, Rory felt like she was intruding on an intimate scene. The two of them seemed so wrapped up in each other and completely oblivious to the world around them.

She wondered exactly what their relationship was. Was this woman his girlfriend, his fiancée, or even his wife? Rory gulped as an uncomfortable, icy feeling made its way down the back of her neck at that last thought. The very idea that the spontaneous, unpredictable Jess Mariano she had known in her adolescence had potentially settled down made her chest burn.

Realizing that she had enough on her plate to deal with and not wanting to analyze her nostalgic feelings (After all, that's all it was, right? A feeling of nostalgia for when things were simpler in her life?), Rory pressed on to continue her walk to her apartment, hoping that walking would help to clear her head.

As she stepped off the sidewalk to cross the street, her heel unexpectedly broke, and she fell with a cry as she stepped into the crosswalk.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Rory, Jess had noticed her from across the street. Rather, he looked up from the woman he was with and recognized that she looked familiar from a distance. He watched her as she began to cross the street, and as she fell into an unladylike heap in the street, he recognized the walk and the gracelessness to be Rory's.

As he heard her cry out, he left the woman he was beside with a simple whisper of, "Rory…"

No one had stopped to help Rory when she had fallen, and she was trying to find some space in the middle of all the people who were also crossing the street.

All of a sudden, a hand appeared in front of her face. Rory reached for it without a second thought, and as she got up, she found herself face to face with Jess.

She gasped in surprise and immediately let go of his hand, almost causing her to fall again.

Jess reached out and caught her arm, "Careful, there. I don't know that I could be expected to help a damsel in distress twice in a row."

Rory blushed and gave him a small smile, "Thanks, Jess."

As the two stood there awkwardly, both trying to figure out what to say and why it was so awkward as their relationship had been over for 7 years, the woman who had been with Jess appeared at his side.

If she noticed the awkwardness, she didn't let on and instead became concerned over Rory's fall.

"That was quite a nasty spill you took there. Are you okay?"

Rory shook herself out of her daze and looked at the woman. She was the same height as Rory, with long, dark burgundy hair and huge, beautiful violet eyes. She wasn't quite thin but was extremely attractive with all of her curves perfectly placed.

She forced herself to smile at the woman and responded, "Oh, yeah, I'm okay. Clumsy me, I shouldn't be surprised. I should know better than to wear heels this high and try to walk through crowds of people."

The woman looked back and forth between Jess and Rory as if she was waiting for one of them to either introduce her or ask her who she was. After a few minutes, the woman stuck out her hand to Rory and said, "By the way, my name is Sarah, and this is my husband, Jess."

Rory turned white at the mention of husband but forced a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She reached out and shook Sarah's hand, "I'm Rory, and Jess and I actually go way back. We're old friends from Stars Hollow."

Her smile faltered slightly as she turned back to Jess, "I suppose congratulations are in order, then?"

Jess simply rolled his eyes and turned to Sarah, "I thought I told you not to introduce me as your husband to people. Technically, we aren't married yet."

Sarah bumped Jess' side as she rolled her eyes back at him, "You do realize that's strictly a technicality at this point, right? We've been living together for over a year, and the 'official' ceremony is in only a month."

She turned back to Rory and winked at her with a smile, "Men!! Am I right? Everything has to be so specific for them!! Anyway, did you say 'Stars Hollow'?"

Before Rory could respond, she had turned back to Jess, "Isn't that where your uncle lives?"

Jess sighed and answered, "Yeah, Luke is actually engaged to Lorelai, Rory's mom."

Sarah's eyes lit up, "Oh, wow, so that would make you almost cousins, kind of, right?"

She immediately embraced Rory in a huge hug, "It's really great to meet some of Jess's family…or almost family, I guess!!! He's been promising to take me to Stars Hollow to meet his uncle and mom and little sister, but with our busy work schedules and planning for this wedding, I'll be meeting them for the first time at Christmas."

Still reeling from the idea of her and Jess as cousins, Rory tried to respond politely to Sarah, "That sounds exciting, or, well, interesting to say the least. When is the wedding?"

"New Year's Eve!!! Doesn't that just sound beautiful?? It's like every year, our anniversary will be a holiday… or the day before one, anyway."

Jess cut in to the conversation, "So, how've you been, Rory?"

Rory laughed, and it sounded fake and uncomfortable, even to her own ears.

"Oh, just fine…you know, staying busy, busy, busy. I'm actually finalizing my own wedding plans, too."

Rory wanted to kick herself as soon as the words exited her mouth, but she couldn't seem to make them stop.

If it was possible, Jess looked even more uncomfortable, which left Sarah to ask the question, "Oh!! When is your wedding?"

"Same day, or night, rather. New Year's Eve…what are the chances, huh?"

Jess nodded slightly and asked quietly, "Same guy?"

Rory took a deep breath and nodded, not trusting herself to answer him.

Sarah pulled her into another hug with exclamations of, "Congratulations!!!"

When Sarah let her go, Jess forced a smile and leaned forward to brush his lips against her cheek. As he pulled back, he managed to breathe out the words, "Yeah…congratulations, Rory."

Rory felt like her cheek was on fire from the simplest touch of Jess' lips. Even in the cold December air, she suddenly felt flushed from head to toe.

Turning back to Sarah, she decided to make a quick exit.

"It was nice to meet you. I actually have to go now. And, uh…take care of yourself, Jess. Good to see you."

Jess' lips quirked into a half-smile, and for one of the first times during their conversation, he met her eyes dead on.

"Yeah, you, too, Rory. I'll see you around."

With those words, Rory turned to leave. Thankful that her apartment was only 8 blocks away, she hobbled down the sidewalk, with one heel considerably shorter than the other.

About 15 minutes later, Rory finally arrived at her building. As soon as she set foot inside, she took off her heels with a sigh of relief.

Ernie, the doorman, greeted her with a tip of his hat and a smile, "Evening, Ms. Gilmore, rough day?"

Rory let out a humorless laugh, "Ernie, that doesn't even describe the half of it."

Ernie smiled sympathetically, "Hope your night will be better, ma'am."

Rory smiled her 'thanks' and muttered, "Doubtful, very doubtful," on her way to the elevator.

On her way up to her apartment (the penthouse, of course, since nothing else would do for a Huntzburger), Rory took a deep breath and practiced what she was going to say when she saw Logan. Her elevator ride was over all too soon, and as Rory approached the door to unlock it, she knew it was now or never.

She entered the apartment, looking for any sign of her (soon to be ex) fiancé.

"Logan?" she called out, looking around for any sign that he was home.

She heard the muffled response of, "One second, Ace. Be right out!"

Rory sank into the plush couch, massaging her feet, and sure enough, a few seconds later, Logan entered the living room, looking handsome and sophisticated in his black tux.

"How long do you need to get ready?" Logan asked, looking at his watch.

Rory looked perplexed, "Ready for what?"

"There's a party tonight, celebrating the newest addition to the Huntzburger newspaper dynasty. I called and left a message for you at work this afternoon. My family expects us to be there, especially since our wedding is a month away. You have 30 minutes to get ready before the car arrives to pick us up," Logan began to look panicked as he took in Rory's disheveled appearance.

Rory let out an exhausted sigh, "Logan, I've had a rough day. I left work early because I actually got everything done and needed to relax from all the overtime I've been working lately. My heel broke, and I fell as I was trying to cross the street. The last thing I want to do tonight is get dressed up and go be with lots of people who I don't even know, or really like. And, about the wedding, I wanted to talk…"

Logan cut her off, "I know, I know…you're exhausted and probably feeling overwhelmed that there's still so much to do before New Year's Eve, but I tell you what. I'll make you a deal. Go to the party tonight, and I'll call in sick to work for you for all next week so you can have some time off to rest and take care of wedding stuff. How does that sound?"

Rory weighed her options of how to respond and decided that breaking off the engagement could wait until after the party that night. Just because she didn't want to marry Logan didn't mean that she wanted to publicly humiliate him. It was going to be bad enough once she broke it off and all the gossip columnists caught wind of it.

Rory forced a smile and replied, "Okay, I'll go tonight, but you don't have to call in sick for me all of next week. Just a couple of days will probably do wonders with getting things done. Give me about 20 minutes, and I'll be ready to go."

With that, Rory hurried into the bedroom (as much as her aching feet would let her) to choose a dress and make herself presentable before the car arrived.
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A/N: Next chapter will have more drama, and perhaps, the big announcement...positive (or constructive, at least) reviews make me want to update faster :-)