Jess' POV
Their comfortable solitude was interrupted by a knock on the door. They were lounging on the couch, both completely naked after their most recent round of lovemaking. Watching something…a movie, he was pretty sure, but he couldn't be positive, he was too focused on her, on having her in his arms again. He was barely able to believe that they were relaxing together completely comfortable, alone, in love, a situation he never thought he'd be lucky enough to see.
So, to say that the knock on the door was an unwelcome distraction would be an understatement. Especially when Rory freaked out and jumped up, taking the blanket they were lying under with her as she headed for the stairs. He couldn't help but sound a little annoyed and possibly a little worried and self-conscious when he asked, "Where are you going?"
"Jess, someone is at the door, and I'm completely naked!"
"So am I." He reasoned.
"Yeah, but your clothes are by your feet, all I have is a wedding dress that we ripped as you were taking it off me." Well, he couldn't fight that logic, could he?
"Fine, go upstairs, I'll get whoever it is out of here quickly."
"Good, you better. I still have plans for you yet." He liked the promise in her voice, so he nodded as he quickly threw on his clothes.
In retrospect, he should have realized that the knocking was very similar to the frantic knocking he had on his door the morning before when Rory showed up, but right now, his mind was focused on Rory and getting whoever was interrupting them away. So when he swung open the door, he was clearly ticked off, "Yeah? What do you want…. Lorelai, oh, hi. Uh, what are you doing here? And maybe more importantly, why are you covering your eyes?"
"Uh duh, I don't want to know what type of shenanigans you two have been getting up to in this den of iniquity you have here."
"Jeez, Lorelai. Where do you think I live, a crack house? Open your eyes, it's fine."
She parted her fingers just enough to peek one eye through, and once she realized he was fully dressed and the place was actually rather nice, maybe even nicer than her place, she slowly put her hand down. "Oh, okay, well, either way, I won't be here long. I just figured Rory could use this," She said as she handed over an overnight bag. "Knowing her, she probably showed up with nothing but that ugly family heirloom Mrs. Huntzberger demanded her to wear, and I wouldn't want her to be uncomfortable."
"Uh, okay. Thanks, I guess," he said as he took the bag from her, a little off-kilter with this whole situation.
"Where is our girl anyway? Did you tire her out?" She asked while punching his arm in a friendly way. He could tell she regretted saying the words as much as he regretted hearing them out of her mouth.
He decided to ignore the second question and just answer the one she cared about, "She's upstairs. Uh, feel free to sit down or snoop or whatever, I'll bring this to her and be right back. Who am I kidding? We both know you're going to snoop, and you were still going to even if I hadn't suggested it."
"You know me well," She admitted without a hint of remorse.
"Yeah," he replied, not knowing what else to say before quickly running up the stairs, he was barely in his room, or their room now, he supposed, before Rory was in his face.
"Did I hear my mom down there? What is she doing here?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. She did bring this though," He said as he handed the bag over.
Rory quickly opened it and let out a happy sound, "Oh, clothes, how I missed you!"
He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "Come on, I think we both enjoyed our time without clothes very much. You better watch out, or you're going to hurt my feelings. And my ego, come to think of it."
She turned around in his arms so that she was facing him and slapped his chest, "Oh stop, you know what I mean. At least now we can go out to get me those cheese steaks you've been promising."
"This is true."
"Go on, get back downstairs, don't leave my mom waiting, who knows what trouble she'll get into. I'll be right behind you."
He leaned in and kissed her slowly, thoroughly, "You better."
"I will."
He nodded and left the room to make his way downstairs; he somehow wasn't surprised to see Lorelai had somehow found his mail drawer and was looking at his bank statement. Talk about an invasion of privacy. He ignored it though; he had nothing to hide, and maybe the decent-ish savings he'd been working on for years now would make her more okay with him and Rory being together. "She'll be right down."
She quickly dropped the papers back in the drawer and closed it, catching, "Oh, okay. Good. I'm just going to say hi to her and be on my way, I really just wanted to drop that off. But it'd probably be rude to drive all this way and spend time in the same house my daughter is in without saying hi, right? Yeah, that'd be rude, so that's why I'm going to stay for a few more minutes, but then I promise I'll be on my way and out of your hair…"
"Lorelai, it's fine, I don't mind." He said, cutting her off.
"Oh, okay, good." They were both quiet for a long while, awkwardness starting to creep in until Lorelai opened her mouth again, "Strange, huh? I bet you didn't see that this is where we'd be 48 hours ago."
"You can say that again."
"I know it certainly isn't where I thought we'd be ten years ago. And even if I did see this happening, I know back then I wouldn't be so supportive or happy with the outcome."
"Don't I know it."
Ahh, Jess Mariano, speaking in only three-word expressions, it's been a while." She said sarcastically, and Jess couldn't help the small chuckle.
"Sorry, you might have had years to get used to this, to her feelings for me, but I'm still wrapping my head around it."
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Rory asked, breaking off their conversation and running quickly down the stairs. Jess had a feeling she didn't want to leave them alone together longer than absolutely necessary, considering their past, he didn't blame her.
"Just came to drop some stuff off, hun, I'll be on my way now."
"You're telling me you drove over 4 hours and 200 miles to bring me some clothes and toiletries?"
"Of course I did, I'm your mom,"
"Mom…" Rory said, not believing her.
Lorelai walked over to Rory, put her hand on her lower back, and led her away to talk in private. Jess considered letting them know he could hear every word but decided against it.
"Okay, you caught me. I was just worried, okay? You ran away. I thought your teenage rebellion streak ended when Jess left town the first time; I wasn't expecting it to make a comeback." Jess cringed but also felt a little annoyed. When they were dating as teenagers, Rory was anything but rebellious; the worst thing she did was visit him in New York, and that was like a year before they got together.
"Oh, stop, you probably knew I wasn't going to go through with the wedding before I did."
"True, but I thought you'd end it before the day of, or at least take me with you."
"I'm sorry, Mom, I wasn't really thinking when I left. I just knew I had to come here."
Lorelai let out a long sigh, "It's fine, now that I know this was your destination, I wouldn't have wanted to come anyway. I just had to come to see with my own eyes that you're okay."
"I am, I promise."
"Good. That's good."
"Thanks, Mom. I love you."
"Love you too, kid." Though he couldn't see them, he could hear the telltale sounds of two people hugging, so he made himself busy in the kitchen, starting dinner. "Okay, I'm going to get out of your hair now."
"Are you sure? It's getting late."
"No, it's fine. If I leave now, I'll make it to Stars Hollow by 9, Luke and Paul Anka are expecting me."
"Well, okay, drive safe."
"I will," She said as they both walked back into the kitchen. "Okay, you two, I'm leaving, don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"At least that leaves us a lot of options," Jess deadpanned. He'd grown up a lot over the last few years, but sometimes the asshole in him snuck back out, and Lorelai had a way of bringing it out of him.
He laughed when he felt her not too light slap on his shoulder and Rory's gasp, "Yeah, well, even if that is true, have fun, but be careful. I'll be expecting you to come for a visit in not too long; those clothes will only last Rory so long, I'll get started on packing up her stuff that's still at my house. Oh, and I expect to see you guys at least once a month, if not, there will be dire consequences."
"Oh, Mom, of course, we'll be there often," Rory said with a big smile as Jess saluted Lorelai in agreement.
"Okay, good. Love you both!" She said with one more wave before walking out the front door; her words surprised Jess. He thought she tolerated him for Rory and Luke, and he thought, at best, she considered them friendly. He mentally shook his head; she was probably only saying that to make Rory more comfortable, yeah, that made more sense.
He was too lost in his thoughts apparently because he jumped when he felt Rory wrap her hands around him from behind, he relaxed a moment later, though, "Happy you finally have some clothes of your own to wear?"
"Oh yeah, but I hope you know I plan to wear your clothes or nothing at all just as often. Mine are strictly for leaving the house and guests."
"I like the sound of that." He said as he stirred the pasta and meat sauce.
There was another knock on the door, this time much less frantic but much harder, just as Jess finished eating and Rory was going for her third plate. "Jesus, are you miss popular or what? I'm pretty sure I haven't had as many knocks on the door since I first moved in as I've had in the last few days."
Rory held her hands up, "Hey, I didn't invite anyone over, this isn't for me."
"We'll see about that." He said as he got up to answer, his friends knew better than to just show up, at the very least, they'd text him beforehand to let him know they were stopping by.
That was why he was surprised to see both Matthew and Chris at the door when he opened it. "Christ, does anyone know how to use the phone anymore? Since when do you assholes just show up?"
"Uh-oh Matt, Jess is in one of his broody asshole moods, you know what that means," Chris said, pushing Jess out of the way to get inside.
"That I do, Christopher. It means our man here needs some distracting, stat. Jess Mariano, get your ass dressed, we're dragging you to the bar, even if we have to force you." Matt said, following Chris.
"I can't go out tonight, and even if I could, I wouldn't be going with you two."
Matt covered his heart as if in pain, "But Jess, I thought you loved us!" He joked but continued more seriously, "We have been calling, trying to get in touch with you, you just haven't been answering. Not since that cryptic text you sent yesterday saying you'd call me later. We hope that means the beautiful Tara has been here to keep you entertained for the last 48 hours. Well, we figured it was either that or she killed you and stole all your valuables, including your phone, which she used to text us pretending to be you."
"We really hoped it was the first option, though, especially after how down you've been the last few weeks. Months actually, ever since you got that Save the Date from that…. Ouch!" Chris was cut off when Matthew stomped on his foot.
Jess knew by now none of his friends liked Rory; they hadn't since she came to Trunchion that first time because he was an absolute mess for months after, if they didn't care about him, he certainly would have lost his job by the amount, of days he missed and the few times he showed up still drunk and angry. There was more, much more he got really dark during that time. And to his friends, it seemed like every time he pulled himself together and healed, Rory would come back around for lunch or a visit, and he'd spiral again, although none were as bad as that first time. Either way, they learned fast not to talk bad about her, Jess wouldn't let them. It wasn't often he got angry, but talking bad about Rory was a surefire way to do it. That was why Matt had to stop Chris before he put his foot in his mouth while he was clearly just trying to be a good friend to Jess, albeit in a way Jess didn't appreciate too much.
Jess decided to ignore the comment, "No, she's not here, and I have no plans on ever seeing her again."
"Oh yeah? That sucks, I liked her…" Matt cut himself off when he walked into the kitchen and saw Rory sitting there in the dining area. Fuck, Jess really wanted to talk to the guys before they saw Rory, he knew how they felt about her, and he really needed them to be nice to her and give her a chance.
Rory lifted her hand and waved, surprised to see anyone with Jess. It didn't take long for her to get over the surprise, though, and she was back to her normal self. She stood up and walked over to them, making sure to stand close beside Jess, leaning closer when he rested his hand on her lower back, she held her hand out to them, "Hi, Matt, Chris, right? It's been a while; it's nice to see you again."
Both the men looked between her face and her hand, clearly not in a rush to shake it while Jess was staring at them hard, trying to use whatever mental powers that were out in the universe to work for him right now. Finally, Matt looked at him, confused, but after a moment of looking at Jess, he knew what his best friend was trying to say, so reluctantly, he shook Rory's hand before elbowing Chris, making him do the same.
"Hi, Rory," Chris said stiffly. Jess could tell that Rory was picking up on the awkwardness. Especially when Matt didn't say anything at all and just stared at her. "Uh, well, I'm going to call my mom to make sure she got home okay. I'll be upstairs if you need me.."
Jess nodded and leaned in to kiss her once quickly but firmly, when he did, the room became deathly quiet, he didn't have to see them to know his friends were staring at them in disbelief. They were not expecting that, not sure what to make of it. Jess took his hand from her back and watched her walk up the stairs. The only sound that could be heard was Rory's steps up the stairs and down the hall before, finally, his bedroom door shutting. Once it did, it was like an explosion from his friends.
"What is she doing here?" Matt started.
"Why would you let her in?" Chris quickly followed up, not giving Jess a chance to answer.
"And you're kissing her now?" Matt asked angrily, Jess opened his mouth to answer but was cut off.
"What the hell, Jess, I thought you were finally getting over her."
"I mean, I didn't. Obviously, he wasn't over her. When was the last time you saw him that drunk? You don't remember? Well, I do, it was the last time she came to town. It was obvious he was only out Friday night getting that drunk and taking that girl home with him to forget that Rory's wedding was yesterday… or at least it should have been. What is she doing here, Jess?" Matt, always the more observant of the two, asked again.
"Really? I could have sworn he was past it all, when was the last time he brought her up in conversation? The only reason we knew she was getting married was because we saw the save the date on the fridge, and the invitation came straight to Truncheon." At this point, Jess stopped trying to get a word in and just waited to see where this conversation ended.
"Sure, he stopped talking about her, but didn't you notice his extra long broody times? Or how much more often he'd just stop what he was doing and look out of the window for an hour? Jesus, Chris, you really need to learn to pay attention."
"Hey, I pay attention!"
"It sure doesn't seem like it."
"Yeah, well, sorry, I took what he, our best friend, said at face value. He told me he was fine; I believed he was fine, he should have been fine. He told me he was ready to get out there and find someone to have a relationship with; I took him out to the bar to meet people."
"Yeah, but how didn't you notice that proclamation came the same day that Save the Date popped up on his fridge?"
"I don't know, man; I guess I just don't pay enough attention to people's fridge decorations."
"You can say that again," Matt muttered while crossing his arms.
"Okay, okay, maybe it's time to refocus," Chris said, and Matt nodded along with him. Then, simultaneously, they both turned their bodies toward Jess and looked at him hard in the eye.
For a moment, he felt that old defensiveness creep up in him, the one that made him quick to snap at people or run away, the one that helped keep him alive most of his life. But he stopped himself because he didn't need to do that anymore, these two were his friends, the closest thing he had to family other than Luke. They knew him, and they weren't going to judge him, as cheesy as it sounded to him, even in his mind, they loved him, and he was safe with them. So he felt the tension that was building in his shoulders ease, and he took a deep breath.
"I was having breakfast with Tara and then preparing to show her off before going back to bed when there was a frantic knocking on the door. Surprised the fuck out of me when I opened it to see Rory in a wedding dress…"
"Woah."
"No way, what did you say?"
Jess quirked his eyebrow but didn't say anything about the interruptions. "She told me she couldn't get married to Logan because she was in love with me…"
"And what? You just believed her? It's not like she hasn't dicked you around before, man…" Matt trailed off after seeing the angry look Jess was giving him, he knew better than to say anything bad about Rory around Jess. As far as Jess was concerned, all their problems, the reason they weren't together for so long, was his fault. She had every right to run out on him because he did it to her first. Sure, he never used her to make someone else jealous or hurt, quite the opposite, really, ahem Shane, but he earned that after how he treated her, and at that point, she didn't owe Jess anything, she didn't owe him any loyalty, she didn't do anything wrong to him. Sure, it hurt, fuck, did it hurt, and he might have told her he didn't deserve to be treated that way, but deep down, he knew that he earned every painful thing she ever said or did to him. No matter how long or how many times his friends tried to tell him otherwise.
He cleared his throat, "As I was saying, she told me she was in love with me, and it all just kind of spiraled from there, but now we're finally in a place to actually give us a chance, so that's what we're going to do."
"What, so you're just going to forgive her for everything? And what, do long distance?" Chris asked incredulously.
"What do I have to forgive her four? I'm the one that left her, remember?"
"Yeah, when you were kids! All the hurting that went on between you two since then was from her side!" Chris said, getting angry. Jess was a little surprised when Matt nodded his head vigorously, agreeing with Chris.
For the first time in a while, Jess really wished he had a cigarette handy right about now. Since he didn't, he started pacing instead, trying to get all the excess energy out of him. "We've talked about this before. Well, it's more like you guys forced this information out of me before. We weren't together; she didn't owe me anything. It's fine, I'm over it, you guys should be too."
"No, you're not. If you were over it, you wouldn't have let her back into your life so easily. You'd be able to see clearly that she hurt you, and you deserve an apology, at the very least." Matt said, standing in Jess' pacing route, placing a hand on Jess' shoulder, looking very serious.
Jess sighed, "Look, I love her, always have, always will. How about you two just try to be happy for me?" Jess hated talking about his feelings, even with these two, so he just wanted to get past this conversation as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
Matt squeezed his shoulder once, "I know you do, man. That's why we're so worried. How do you know you're not just blind right now? Just seeing what you want to see. How do you know she's not going to get a call from that rich asshole and then run back to him? You'd be a mess if that were to happen."
Jess wanted to get mad, but he couldn't because he had the same worries himself, plus he knew that 'being a mess' would be an understatement. He gave a helpless shrug, fully aware of the possible consequences, "I guess it's just a chance I'm willing to take."
Jess saw the moment both of his friend's postures loosened, and they accepted his words. He breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't like being at odds with either of them, especially when they were disagreeing with him because they were worried about him. Matt spoke first, "Alright, man. If this is what you want, then I'm happy for you."
"Yeah, me too. But you better believe I'm going to have my eyes on her, and I'm going to give her a piece of my mind." Chriss agreed and then amended. Matt nodded his head, showing he was on the same page as Chis.
"You two won't say anything to her other than being nice to her; I don't want her to be uncomfortable, especially in her own home."
"What?!" They asked in unison.
"She's moving in, she can work from anywhere, and I've put down some pretty strong roots here being part owner of Truncheon, so it's not like I can just up and move anymore. And we don't want to do long distance; we just want to be together." He usually wasn't this open, even to Chris and Matt, but he was happy for the first time in a long time, maybe ever, and he guessed it made him a little loose-lipped.
"Jeez, Jess, are you sure you don't think you two aren't moving too fast?"
"Matt…" Jess said warningly.
Rory's POV
She'd been listening to their whole conversation, of course, she had. Jess had to be silly to think she wouldn't. Now, a big part of her wished she didn't; she felt terrible right now. How did she never know what she was putting Jess through all these years? Okay, so maybe that wasn't true, maybe she did know she was hurting him, on some level anyway. She'd just gotten so good at denial and compartmentalizing over the years that she was able to not think about it. And that realization made her feel like a terrible person.
Everything his friends were saying was true; she owed him an apology and much more than that. How could she just think that everything would be okay between them if she just left her wedding and went to him? God, she could be so self-centered, she should feel lucky that he sent that other girl away when she got here, he could have just as easily done it to her instead. But no, Rory didn't even consider that he wouldn't choose her. Then again, Jess never really hid the fact that he still loved her, even if he went out of his way not to say anything or put any pressure on her. That was just another thing she needed to apologize to him for because she did just the opposite, every time they were together, she'd play up her love for Logan and talk about how happy she was with him and their life together. Granted, she did that more to convince herself it was true than to convince Jess, but that was just another way she was self-centered and hurting him with it.
She took a deep breath and stood up straighter. Well, she was going to stop acting like that right now. She was going to put Jess' needs first; he deserved someone to do that for him, and she was going to be that person for the rest of her life. She was happy Jess had his friends, it seemed like he finally had people who cared for and defended him, she wanted him to have that, even if right now they were trying to protect him from her. She was going to make sure to prove to them that Jess could trust in her, that she wasn't going anywhere, she didn't care how long it'd take.
So she'd start right now, she decided, and started to make her way out of the door and down the stairs as quietly as she could. That's when she heard his friend, Matt; she thought it was, asking Jess if they were moving too fast. Then she heard Jess say his friend's name warningly, clearly getting angry. The last thing she wanted was for Jess to get in a fight with his friends, the people who have been here for him over the last few years while she was with someone else, especially if that fight was because of her. She couldn't let it play out like that, so she made herself known.
"It's okay, you have every right to worry, I deserve that after how everything happened these last few years."
"Rory…" Jess said, quickly walking up to her and wrapping his arm around her protectively.
"No, it's true. They have every right to be wary of me. I hate to say it, but I've earned that skepticism over the last few years."
"No, you didn't, they just don't get it, how I was to you before."
"Jess, come on, we were kids back then, and you were going through so much that I didn't know about at the time, you can't really be held accountable. And even if that wasn't true, you've long since made up for your mistakes. I'm the one who kept making them."
For this whole conversation, she only had eyes for Jess, but she remembered they weren't alone when she heard one of the guys move, she flicked her eyes to them, seeing how they were taking this apology, and saw them both looking at her with hard, untrusting stares. Wow, it seemed like it wasn't going to be easy to win them both over.
"Rory, it's fine, I'm just happy you're here now, with me." He said the last part in her ear, only for her. She didn't try to stop the smile, and she turned her head to kiss him, just enjoying the moment, lavishing in the fact that they were together again.
Jess returned the kiss but ended it much quicker than she'd have liked, he turned his attention back to his friends. "So yeah, thanks for checking up on me, but as you can see, I'm fine. I'm going to take a personal day off tomorrow and Tuesday, but I'll be back on Wednesday for the meeting with that new author. I'll see you two then."
His words were pointed, close to rude, to kicking them out, but his friends didn't budge, they just kept their hard stares unwaveringly on Rory, and it made her a little uncomfortable. She didn't know what she could possibly say to make this better. She eventually cleared her throat. "Uh, Jess, I'm getting hungry."
He smirked, "I figured you would be, that's why I made enough spaghetti for a family of five, I can make you another plate."
"Actually, I was thinking about dessert, maybe ice cream?"
"Sure, there's a great ice cream slash pizza shop and museum not too far away. I wanted to take you there anyway."
Her eyes widened, that did sound like fun, it had all her favorite things: Ice cream, Pizza, Learning, and Jess. All it was missing was her mom and writing, but heck, maybe if it's as awesome as it sounds, she could write an article about it. She mentally shook her head, 'focus Lorelai', she'd just have to save that for another time. "That sounds perfect, but I'm not really up to going out tonight, maybe we can go there for dinner tomorrow?"
He shrugged, "Sure, whatever you want, but I thought you wanted ice cream."
"Would you mind running to the store and getting some? I'm sure Matt and Chris could keep me company while you're gone."
"Ror…"
"It's fine," She said with a bright, determined smile, "Right, guys?"
They were still staring at her hard, but at least there was some curiosity in their gazes. Chris was the first to respond, "Uh, yeah, sure."
"See, it's fine," Rory said, turning back to Jess.
"Okay," He eventually said after looking between the three of them a few times, "But I'll be quick."
She leaned in for a kiss, and when she finally pulled away, she said, "Love you."
"Love you too, Ror." She noticed him give the guys a hard look before slipping on his shoes, grabbing his keys and wallet, and then walking out the front door.
There was a palpable silence after the front door shut where the three of them just stood there looking at each other, unsure what to say or how to start. Since it was Rory's plan to get them alone, she decided she should be the one to start. She took a deep breath before opening her mouth, "Okay, we're alone. You can say whatever you want to say to me without Jess getting mad. I won't tell him."
"I don't trust you." Matt started.
"Yeah, me either, and I'm pretty sure I don't like you either." Ouch, well, she asked for them to get it off their chest.
"Because you think I'm going to hurt Jess?" She asked, trying to sound strong and collected.
"No, because you've already hurt him. More times than I can count. You don't see him after you leave him, he's a mess. Especially that first time. And that other time, when you stayed in town for a few weeks, newly single, after the first time you said no to your boyfriend's proposal."
"He's not my boyfriend. Jess is."
"For now. If we're going by past actions, all it will take is a phone call or for you to have a sappy memory of your time with him, and you'll go running back."
Rory cringed. She knew she hurt him at that open house, but she also knew it was nothing compared to when she came down here after her college graduation and after she turned down the proposal from Logan for the first time. Wow, why did Jess even take her back after all the shit she put him through? No wonder these guys don't like her. Well, she knew for sure she wasn't going to explain her reasoning to them before she explained it to Jess.
"That's not going to happen, I've already talked to him and told him it's over. Listen, I need you to know it wasn't just Jess pining and hurting this whole time; I was too."
"Yeah, right, if that's the case, then why did you stay with that guy? Why leave Jess hurting for so long? No, I don't believe you, it doesn't make sense. You've got to be lying." Chris said, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, and if you're lying, that means this is just going to end the same way for Jess that it always does. Him alone and in pain, trying to ignore it by getting drunk or diving so deep into work that he doesn't leave the office, either way is not pretty, it ends with him in a dark, dark place that it's not easy to drag him out of, a place that we're running out of ways to drag him out of. He doesn't deserve that; he might be a little rough around the edges, but Jess is one of the best men I know."
"I'm not lying; Logan knows it's over. He's known I've loved Jess since before we were even together."
"What? That doesn't make sense."
"Oh yeah? Well, I didn't even tell him where I was going, but somehow, he knew calling Jess was the only way to get in touch with me. Explain that." Rory said, putting her hand on her hips and stomping her foot in a way that reminded her of one of her teenage tantrums. "Listen, I want to tell you this isn't any of your business because it isn't, but I get it. If I were to hurt him, it'd become your business, but I'm not going to. Everyone knows how I feel about Jess. My mom called him first, too; I'm not ruining this chance, I won't."
Matt looked at her, weighing, "If you've loved him this long, and everyone knew about it, why didn't Jess? Why'd you stay away?"
She sighed and looked down, "Because I thought I lost my window. I went to that open house to tell him, but I chickened out, then I chickened out again after I came down here when I turned down Logan's first proposal, I ran back home scared and confused, then the next thing I knew, a year went by, and I figured he had to have moved on, so I tried to too.
Matt and Chriss both looked at each other, and Rory could swear they had a whole conversation within that look, eventually, they both looked at her, and Matt spoke, "Fine, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, to give you one more chance, one. If you hurt our friend again, we won't let you anywhere near him, even if we have to pack up Trunchion and move locations across the country without telling him. Because God knows that guy would end up forgiving you, but we won't, and we'll make sure you don't have a chance to get him back. This is it, your one chance. And we'll be watching you too, don't think we won't. Jess has done a lot for us over the years, has been there for me through one of my hardest times, and I'm damn sure going to make sure I do the same for him."
Rory smiled, even if it was a little fake, "I'm happy he has people like you to rely on, he deserves it."
"Yeah, he does." Chris agreed.
Rory held her hand out for a shake, "So, are we good? Maybe even friends one day?"
Matt looked back and forth between her hand and her face; he did eventually take it this time, though, "Friends might be pushing it, I'm nowhere as quick to forgive as Jess, but we'll be nice and friendly to you for Jess' sake until you give us a reason to act otherwise."
She sighed but supposed it was the best she was going to get, the best she deserved, maybe. "Deal."
Jess' POV
When Jess walked back in the house, the three were standing around each other, making clearly awkward small talk, Matt and Chris seemed relieved to have him back. He held up the bag of ice cream, "I got enough for everyone."
"No thanks, man, we'll check in with you tomorrow, we're planning to meet Tylor at the bar soon. Have fun with your… personal days." Chris said, making 'personal days' sound very provocative.
"Yeah, thanks." Jess said with a roll of his eyes, "Alright, I'll see you Wednesday."
"Or sooner, we might come by for another visit." Matt said, Jess not missing the eye contact he made with Rory. He wasn't sure how much he liked that.
"Have fun, you two, thanks for stopping by," Rory said with a wave as she walked up to him and rested her hand on Jess' back. Jess leaned into the touch, as if he could do anything else.
He turned to her as soon as his friends were gone and cupped her face with his hands, "What was that about? Are you okay? They can be jerks sometimes; don't take what they say too seriously."
"They were fine. They didn't say anything that I didn't deserve."
Jess let out an angry noise he could only categorize as a growl, "I'll kick their asses."
"No! They weren't mean, Jess, I promise. How about we put this ice cream in the fridge and save it for a little later? I have a feeling we're going to work up an appetite." She said in a coy way that made him hard and ready in an instant.
"Oh yeah? And how are you planning on working up this appetite you speak of, Gilmore?" He said huskily, leaning in closer to her, close enough that he could feel her breaths on his face.
"Oh, I'm sure we'll be able to think of something," She said with a wink before turning and running from him up the stairs, leaving nothing but a giggle in her wake. He quickly followed behind her.
He caught up to her when they got to the room, he scooped her up and threw her on the bed. He stood there staring down at her, lust burning inside him. He saw her start to wiggle, start to get antsy from his stare. Eventually, he ordered, "Take off your clothes."
She immediately complied, throwing her shirt off as quickly as possible, though she was blushing brightly. Jess loved that she still reacted that way, even after all these years. Once she was naked, he took a step closer to the bed and reached his finger out to lightly run up her inner leg. He heard a hard exhale from her, and she quickly spread her legs wider, giving him better access. He skipped over her center and kept traveling up, her hips, her stomach, belly button, chest; he avoided her breasts, a testament to his control because they were calling to him, up her neck, jaw, chin, and finally, her lips, enjoying when she opened them up and took his finger into her mouth, sucking.
He eventually pulled his finger out of her mouth and ran it back down her body, this time taking one nipple in between his fingers and tweaking it, causing a breathy exhale from her. He stayed there, playing with her breast until he lost the battle with himself, and he leaned down to take the other one in his mouth, not losing eye contact with her once. His free hand traveled down and slipped inbetween her legs and her inner lips, starting to play with her. He felt her hand slip through his hair, holding him close while her other hand reached for the button on his jeans, trying to get him undressed as he was working her up. It wasn't long before she succeeded, and she wrapped her hand around him, pumping slowly in time with what he was doing to her. Small, quiet moans were leaving both of them, growing as they each began to lose control and restraint, moving faster.
Jess climbed on top of her, not in the mood for any more foreplay, and going by the look on Rory's face, she felt the same. So, quickly, he aligned himself with her entrance and thrust into her, causing loud moans from both of them. He started a quick, rough pace, enjoying how enthusiastically Rory seemed to take it, he reveled in her hands scratching down his back, sure she left marks and loved every moment of it. He kissed her deeply, taking her moans into his mouth, and it wasn't long before he felt her tightening around him, her orgasm close. He reached down between them and started playing with her clit the way he learned she loved, and it wasn't long before she had to break the kiss to moan his name into his ear as she fell over the edge. Jess couldn't help but fall with her, thrusting one, two more times before cumming too.
After a few long moments, he rolled over, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to his side. Rory used the opportunity to snuggle as close as she could. Jess lay
there, partly enjoying the afterglow, enjoying being with Rory, and partly worried about what Rory and his friends talked about, although he was pretty sure he knew anyway.
He kissed the top of her head, deciding not to worry about that right now. Very rarely was he able to shut off the noise in his head and just enjoy the moment, but it became a lot easier when Rory was around, it was one of the things that drew him to her in the first place. He decided, for now, he was just going to focus on the moment, focus on having Rory with him and making a life with her.
She started idly running her fingers up and down his chest, drawing him from his thoughts. He smirked, letting out a hum of contentment, and then he copied the movements she was making up and down her back. Whatever was going to happen, he was ready for it; he had built a good life for himself over the years, he was happy enough, he had good friends, a good career, and even some family. Okay, granted, that family consisted of Luke and his sister Doula. It wasn't as if he and his mother would ever have a good relationship, but he could say he was pretty happy overall.
Still, though, he always felt like something was missing, it wasn't like he didn't know what he was missing; he did, and now it seemed as if he finally had a chance to have everything he ever wanted: her friends and family even seemed like they approved of them being together. He knew he couldn't blame the end of their relationship when they were teenagers on other people; he was mostly at fault for it, but everyone around town hating him and her mother disapproving of him definitely put a strain on their relationship. He was happy that wasn't going to be a problem this time around, and he was hopeful that finally, after all these years, they were finally both in the right place to be together and make this work.
So, as he felt himself starting to fall asleep, and the circles on his stomach started to slow as Rory's breathing started to even out, he felt confident and content. Ready for whatever was going to happen, whatever future they were going to make together.
Five years later
Jess stood there waiting. He knew most men went out of their minds with worry in his position, but he felt strangely calm, certain. He knew every single little choice he made since landing in Star Hollow, right or wrong, was leading up to this moment. Luke, Matt, and Chris were with him, but other than that, his side of the aisle was a little skimp. It wasn't surprising; Rory was always the one everyone loved, and he never worked hard to get close to people. In fact, what was supposed to be his side was filled with some of his authors, his mom, his sister, surprisingly his dad and his family, a few other coworkers, then mostly just overflow from Rory's side, a lot of people from Stars Hollow. Some of them still looked at him distrustfully all these years later. He smirked when he saw Taylor looking at him as if he expected Jess to try to steal his wallet as soon as he had a chance.
Luke put his hand on Jess' shoulder, drawing his attention, "Are you ready for this? They should be coming out soon. I would offer you a getaway car if necessary, but then I'd probably have to kill you because she's as much family to me as you are."
"Hey, I'm not the one of us who has a history of running away on their wedding day, I'm fine."
Luke chuckled, "That was a hell of a day. I panicked, worried that something happened to Rory, while Lorelai was as calm as a cucumber. For once, I was the dramatic one; I have to say, I wasn't a fan."
Jess chuckled, "Yeah, well, hopefully we won't have a situation like that today."
"Yeah, right, she's not going anywhere, she loves you."
"Yeah, that's true. Plus, I don't think the flower girl would be too happy with her."
"Yeah, it's no fun being on Elle's bad side."
The music started, and everyone stood up, looking at the back of the room. The doors opened, and Elle, their three-year-old, was the first to be seen walking down the aisle with a basket of flowers in hand, looking so serious and very concentrated on her job. When she made it to the front of the rows she quickly ran up and wrapped her arms around his legs in a hug. Jess couldn't help but chuckle, he was proud she at least made it down the aisle before she deviated from the plan. Hell, he couldn't be upset that she wanted to hug him, so he patted her head before turning her around and pointing to where she was supposed to stand. With a giggle, she ran to her spot.
Next was Paris, who came down the aisle, then Lane, and lastly Lorelai as the maid of honor before finally, Rory came out looking as beautiful as he'd ever seen her. He was in awe of her. It wasn't an unusual feeling when it came to Rory, but it was one he never grew tired of. He couldn't take his eyes off her, not as she walked up the aisle, not when she hugged her mom and Luke, and not when she took his hand. He felt like he was in a fog; he saw her mouth move when she made it to him, but he didn't really process what she said. He replied, though, and going by the smile and laugh coming from her, he said something right.
The whole ceremony went by in a blur for Jess. He was there, and he was present, of course, but something about this day didn't seem real to him, he'd been wanting this since he was just a punk teenage kid with nowhere and no one to call home, and for a long time he believed he'd never get here, not with Rory anyway, and the thought of doing this with anyone else had always just felt dumb and useless to him.
He felt her squeeze his hands and saw her quirk her lips at him. He leaned forward to kiss the smirk off her lips but was brought back to reality when he felt Rory smile and laugh against his lips, as he heard all their friends and family laugh and the preacher stop talking. The biggest wake-up call was the loud "Eww" that came from Elle, she wasn't a fan of seeing her parents kissing. Oh well, he didn't really care that much, though he swore he felt his cheeks heat up a little and hoped it wasn't visible to the people around him. He pulled away from Rory and made a 'go on' motion with his hand toward the preacher, who cleared his throat and continued.
They just spoke the regular prewritten vows; it surprised Luke and Lorelai when they told them that was the plan. "You're both published authors, why aren't you writing your own?" Rory, being his perfect match, didn't have to wonder when he suggested it, she knew him well enough to know he wasn't going to say everything he wanted to her in front of a room full of people, he had something planned for her later though when they were finally alone. And he couldn't wait because it felt like forever since he had some time with just Rory, over the last few months, she'd been very focused on planning the wedding and finishing her first book all about her life growing up with her mom. So, to say he was excited to have a full, uninterrupted week alone with his new wife was an understatement.
"Now, you may kiss the bride."
He heard the crowd laugh again, but he paid them no mind as he leaned in and took Rory's lips again, making sure to kiss her thoroughly even if he had to hold back a little, they weren't teenagers anymore, having a make-out session in the middle of the town square wasn't what they considered a good time anymore. As he pulled back, he leaned back in once or twice or four times to peck her lips again before finally ending the kiss. He just stared at her in disbelief warring with joy because they were finally there. Rory was finally his wife, and they had finally made it here after over fifteen years.
He felt Luke pat his back in congratulations and laughed when Elle threw the rest of the flowers she had in the basket up in the air as high as she could, some of the petals landing beautifully in Rory's hair. He watched as his wife picked up their daughter and hugged her tightly before looking back at him and holding out her hand. He took it, of course, he did, it wasn't like he ever had any other choice when it came to her than to let her lead him back down the aisle. He once told her he'd follow her anywhere; he was glad that she led them here, to this day, this moment, he wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading my short new Jess/Rory story! I hope you liked reading it as much as I loved writing it!