Work Text:
The First of Many
The snow was coming down outside relentlessly, creating a fluffy wall of white that boxed in the guests of the Dragonfly Inn. Christmas was as good as over, the last few stragglers recovering from a day of festivities in the dining room, all laughing tiredly with full bellies and rosy cheeks, munching on the remains of Christmas dinner and dessert and the cookies that Santa hadn't eaten. Jess and Rory, on the other hand, had retreated to the inn's library, away from the boisterous voices and loud personalities of their collective family members.
The couple sat cozied up on the loveseat that they'd scooched in front of the hearth, basking in the glow of both their newly rediscovered feelings for each other and the warm fire in front of them. They had started on opposite ends of the sofa when the nervous butterflies had resettled in their stomachs for the millionth time that day, but within twenty minutes they were shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, with their hands intertwined between them, gently playing with each other's fingers and simply enjoying that they had permission to give into the gravitational pull that was felt between them.
Rory had to remind herself that staring was weird and creepy repeatedly, even if she was staring at her boyfriend. Because the glow of the firelight in his warm, golden-brown eyes was just too irresistible to look away and stay looking away. Every time she turned her head once more, though, she caught him staring right back, and it sent her stomach fluttering and made her mouth quirk up at the corners in a shy smile. She was pretty sure she'd never get used to how he looked at her, how he made her feel, how he made her brain go mushy. She never wanted to get used to it.
Jess could hardly resist the stupid smile that kept spreading across his face. He'd never refer to himself as a romantic – that was cheesy and just not true of course. But every time Rory's bright blue eyes landed back on him and her cheeks flushed pink when she found he was already gazing at her, he would remember that for once in their lives, the timing was right and that the woman in front of him was his girlfriend, and that smile that made him feel like a happy idiot crept back onto his face. They'd only just rekindled their romance, and it was far too soon to say it, but every giggle, every nervous touch, every innocent kiss made him want to spew those three words that he'd felt since the moment he'd met her.
After a day of enduring – and, honestly, often enjoying – the many vivid personalities that made up the group of friends and family that had come together to celebrate Christmas, they were both socially drained and only desired the company of each other. They were thankful for the sliding doors that bordered off the grand dining room that held the last Christmas celebrators, muting the joyful voices just enough to feel separate but not alone. Instead of joining in the last revelries, they opted to drink their hot buttered rum in the room full of volumes of their unique love language. It was where they would always be most comfortable, and tonight the musty smell of well-loved, antique pages only made their moment even cozier. They spoke in hushed tones about their day and their plans for tomorrow and what possibilities the new year would bring. They couldn't know it for sure, but they both had a gut feeling that 2006 would be a big year for them.
They mused together about how strangely right it felt to be celebrating Christmas together, despite not getting to see each other until the early dinner at the inn. Jess had had to work on Christmas Eve and thus not been able to make the drive from Philadelphia to Stars Hollow until the following morning.
"I'm sorry I couldn't make it here in time for Christmas morning," Jess said quietly. "I know how important that is to you."
Rory smiled. Again. She couldn't seem to stop smiling. "Jess, you already apologized, I said it's fine. Right now feels pretty perfect, honestly, and I'm not sure we would have gotten this if you'd been here this morning."
"It all worked out in the end, huh?" Jess asked with a smirk.
"Yeah, it did," Rory smiled.
Jess sighed contentedly and he pressed his lips to Rory's. He was pretty sure he'd never get over the novelty of being allowed to kiss her. He felt her smile into the kiss and it sent his butterflies fluttering wildly.
When Rory drew back slowly, her eyelids were heavy and her cheeks were pink. Little did Jess know, the same went for him. They were fully encapsulated in what Rory's mother referred to as their "love bubble". Despite Rory's objections to the name, she secretly agreed it was apt.
"Speaking of Christmas morning…" Rory said, hopping up from the couch. The loss of contact brough a pout to Jess's face and he had to hold in the whine that tried to escape when she was no longer right next to him. But Rory quickly returned from the front counter with a small, rectangular Christmas gift in her hand.
"I know we said it was too soon to do gifts, or whatever, but I saw this and it just screamed your name, I had to get it."
Jess shook his head in mock disapproval. "Now, Rory, you can't go break the rules like that and leave me unprepared and empty handed. It makes me look like a bad boyfriend," he teased.
"I don't care, just open your present!" Rory said excitedly.
Jess snapped his fingers, pretending to remember something. "Oh, hold on a second…" He hopped up from the couch and walked over to where his coat hung on the rack. It was Rory's turn to object to the loss of touch between them and she happened to let out the whine and it made Jess want to return to the couch as quickly as possible. He retrieved the gift from his coat pocket and returned to the couch, suddenly embarrassed at its ramshackle wrapping job as it lay next to Rory's pristinely bound present. Rory obviously didn't care, however, as she snatched it up giddily, like a child on, well, Christmas morning.
"Jess! You shouldn't have gotten me anything!" she said, though her face said something entirely different.
Jess scoffed playfully. "What, so you're allowed to get me something and I'm not allowed to get you something? That's not fair!"
Rory laughed and Jess attempted to memorize the sound. It had always been one of his favorite things to listen to.
"Can I open it?" Rory asked shyly.
"No. It's not actually a gift, just a prop. You just have to sit there and look at it."
Rory rolled her eyes and began to tear into the paper, eliciting a laugh from Jess as he carefully peeled back the paper on his own gift.
Once they had them open, neither could believe their eyes. As the shock wore off, however, they both burst into laughter.
"I should have expected this," Jess said as the laughter died down.
"Really? Because I honestly can't believe we got each other the same book."
"Mutually loved author releases a new novel? I'm just lucky you didn't get this for yourself already."
Rory blushed. "I have to admit, I have read it already," she admitted. When Jess looked disappointed, she prompted him to open it. "Just look inside. And don't judge me."
Jess furrowed his brow in amused confusion before looking down at the open book in his lap. He could barely believe his eyes and his heart swelled as his eyes scanned the words written in her elegant and orderly script. Rory Gilmore had defaced a book. For him.
"You wrote in the margins?" he asked quietly.
Rory gave a small shrug and looked very purposely at the fireplace and very purposefully not in Jess's eye, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly bashful. "I always loved when you wrote in my books. It made them so much more meaningful when I was able to see your thought process and your reactions to the story, to experience your analysis firsthand. So… I thought I'd return the favor." She turned to look at him, concern etched on her face. "Was it stupid? Ugh, it was stupid. I should have just given you the book, I…"
Jess interrupted her with a kiss, his bookless hand coming up onto her cheek to pull her even closer, attempting to show her how absolutely incredible and entirely not-stupid her gift was. How much it meant to him.
"Thank you, Rory," he said when he drew back. "This is… it's the best present anyone's ever given me."
"Really?" she asked in a small voice.
"Really."
"You're welcome," Rory said, though it felt too small, too commonplace for how happy she was in that moment.
"Check out the cover page," Jess said with a smirk.
When Rory opened her copy of the book, her jaw dropped. "You had it signed?" she cried in excitement. "How?!"
Jess shrugged. "I have my ways."
Rory was practically bouncing in excitement, and her movement shifted the book slightly, turning a few pages in the book. Her heart melted when she saw his own annotations lining the pages in his familiar, angular print.
"You wrote in the margins, too?" she asked with a smile.
"I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it, not having a spotless copy of a new book. But you seemed to like when I did it back in high school, so…" He trailed off, suddenly becoming self-conscious. His anxiety quickly melted away, though, when she threw herself across the couch, her arms around his neck and her lips pressed to his own.
"Always, always, write in my margins," she whispered when she pulled away, keeping a hand planted on his chest.
Jess snorted and Rory turned bright red as she heard the unintentional innuendo in her words.
"That was not supposed to sound so dirty," she giggled.
"I don't believe you," Jess teased. "And I'll always be happy to write in your margins," he added in a whisper that gave Rory goosebumps.
"Can I read what you wrote?" Rory asked with a grin.
"Only if I can, too," Jess replied.
Rory nodded her agreement and curled into Jess's side as his arm came around her shoulders and they both settled in to reread their new books, taking in the thoughts and opinions and musings of the person they cared about most. But as the day caught up with them, the warmth from each other and the embers in the fireplace lulled them to sleep, their books in their hands with their thumbs inadvertently bookmarking the pages they hadn't been able to stay awake through.
That's how Lorelai found them when she opened the sliding doors to send home the last remaining guests. She was about to tease them for falling asleep when she saw the books in their hands, the smiles on their sleeping faces, and the way they just seemed to fit together. The appearance of pure contentment hushed any worries about leaving her daughter to sleep curled up with her boyfriend, and even she had to admit they looked pretty perfect together. She smiled at the obvious happiness her daughter felt even in slumber and grabbed a throw blanket from the basket in the corner, covering them both up to keep them warm now that the fire was out. She gently patted Rory's arm in a quiet "goodnight" before making her way up to the room where she was staying with Luke that night.
Though it was their first Christmas together, Rory and Jess had a gut feeling they'd have many more just like this one. And they knew they'd be just as perfect in the end.