A/N: Okay, so here we are in the Literati & Zade Advent Calendar 2023. As it says in the summary, this is NOT a crossover. It is 24 completely separate one-shots, 12 of which are Gilmore Girls, Rory/Jess stories, and 12 of which are Hart of Dixie, Zoe/Wade stories.

If you're interested in GG/Literati, come by on the odd-numbered days between now and Christmas, and if you're interested in HoD/Zade, come around on the even-numbered days. (Of course, if you like both, you're in luck because every day is good for you! lol)

This is my best attempt at doing something nice for all my regular readers and reviewers - I hope you all like it. There was just no way I could produce two advent calendars - I tried it once and it was just too much - and actual crossovers don't seem to get much readership, so hopefully, this is better :)

Disclaimers: All recognisable characters from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other folks who aren't me. All recognisable characters and from Hart of Dixie belong to Leila Gerstein and other folks who aren't me. Any new characters that do not actually feature in the canon of either Gilmore Girls or Hart of Dixie belong to me, Ultrawoman, aka Ultra.

1. Silver Bells
'Verse: AU, in which Rory & Jess never met before
Date/Timeline: December 2006 (AU Season 7)

"Rory, honey, can you please get that?"

"I'm on it!" she called back to her frantic mother, even as she fought to free her underskirts that seemed to have gotten caught up under her appropriately Christmassy dark red bridesmaid's dress. "Yes, I'm coming!" she yelled towards the front door, moments before she finally got there and prised it open. "Wow."

The guy on the doorstep looked like he fell out of GQ, and when he looked her over, with a smirky smile on his face, something inside of Rory melted entirely.

"Hi. I was about to ask if I have the right place, but I'm guessing you don't wear that around the house on a normal day," said the stranger then, gesturing to her dress.

"No, I don't, and yes, this is the right place, you know, for the wedding." Rory knew she was rambling and hated it. "I'm sorry, let's start over. Hi, I'm Rory Gilmore."

"Jess Mariano," said the handsome stranger, reaching out to shake the hand she had offered him. "I'm Luke's nephew. You know, the groom?"

"Yes, I know the groom. I'm the bride's daughter. Also, maid of honour, hence-"

"The dress." He nodded in understanding. "It's nice. Very festive, without being too holly-jolly. I'm assuming that's what you were going for."

"Almost word-for-word, so thank you" She smiled at him. "Um, did you want to come in? Because obviously Luke's not here..."

"Luke sent me over, actually. Apparently, this got left at his apartment. I was not comfortable with asking how or why," Jess explained, handing over a small box.

Rory frowned as she opened it up and stared inside, closing it again very fast when she realised what Jess' problem was - it was a blue garter. "Okay, so that explains the lack of something blue for the bride. We found it."

"I guess we did. So, I should probably get back there," he said, hiking his thumb over his shoulder. "Between Luke, Liz's latest monstrosity, and some guy named Kirk..."

"Ooh, talk about your oil and water and... some other thing that doesn't mix." Rory trailed off awkwardly on realising she had nowhere else to go.

Jess smiled. "I was going to go with nitro-glycerine and dynamite and something else that explodes, but at least your way ends a little less messy."

They both laughed at that, and then, even though it made no sense, continued to stand there just staring at each other. Well, maybe it did make sense from Rory's side, but the fact she was ridiculously attracted to her soon-to-be step-father's nephew probably wasn't something she should explore. Needless to say, if Santa was still taking requests, she had definitely just found the one thing she would be very happy to find at the end of her bed on Christmas morning.

"So, I really should get back there, I guess," Jess said again, though he seemed as sorry to leave as Rory would be to see him go. "I'll see you at the wedding?"

"Sure, of course, yeah." She nodded. "And then, at the reception, also. You know, where they have the speeches and the food and the, uh, the dancing."

The smirk on Jess' face made her insides flip in the best way. "You know, I'm not much of a dancer, but if you promise not to force me into the hokey-pokey or the hustle or anything too lame, I could probably make an exception for you."

That was when Lorelai yelled loudly for help and Rory had to tell her she would be right there. By the time she looked back to the door, Jess was long gone. It didn't matter, she would see him again, and it seemed he had agreed to a dance with her. Rory was smiling as she closed the door; "Merry Christmas to me."

A/N2: If you like the concept of this advent calendar, this first fic in particular, or both, would love to hear from you by way of a review - thanks :)