Title: Ex Libris – Book Marriages (1/?)

Author: The Lucky Ducky

Fandom: Gilmore Girls

Pairing: Literati (Rory/Jess)

Rating: K+ (I guess… for now at least)

Disclaimer: "Gilmore Girls" isn't mine, otherwise thing would have been different. Jess wouldn't have left or at least, he'd come back for good.

Summary: "Jess, our books have to get married!"

A/N: I started this when I was on my way to Munich (for the Heroes World Tour) and I had to wait at the station in Memmingen for an hour. I was reading "Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader" by Anne Fadiman, which is just a great book (thanks for suggesting it, Maho). In that book there is also a chapter in which she and her husband put together their books after their marriage and I was instantly thinking of Rory and Jess. Now this is what I wrote at that little train station somewhere in Bavaria.

A/N2: Thanks to my wonderful beta Maren, who had to struggle with the runes that I call my handwriting. You're just amazing! If it wasn't for you, this fic would probably still "sleep" in my notebook and not be published for another several months.

Ex Libris – Book Marriages

"Jess, our books have to get married!"

"Huh?", Jess looked up from the book he was currently reading – or better re-reading cause he had already read "Siesta" about three dozen times – and over to the other end of the couch, where Rory sat curled up with her own book.

"Our books have to get married!", she repeated.

"I'm sorry. What?!" This time he had heard every word she said perfectly well, but he still couldn't get the meaning. Maybe she had said something else?

Rory sighed angrily, then she repeated the words again, this time stressing every word: "I said: Our books have to get married." You could even hear the full stop at the end of the sentence, but still…

"Okay, just let me get this right. Did you just say you want our books to get married?", Jess asked, still confused about the words, and earned himself an angry look. Rory may have refused to show him her withering stare that day she had visited him in New York, but all her fears of hurting him seemed to have vanished during the last year.

"Thats what I just said."

"Ah, okay. I thought that was it."

"And…?" She grew impatient.

"And what?"

"What do you think?"

"About…?", he became more and more confused.

"About our books getting married, of course!" Did he only pretend or was he really that stupid?

Jess didn't know what to say. "Do they need wedding rings and a ceremony?"

Books getting married? This was ridiculous. She must have certainly gotten insane.

"Of course not!"

Jess was relieved. "Good. I didn't think we could afford that for all of them and I don't know what about you but I couldn't decide which ones to disappoint.", he grinned.

"Very funny." Rory rolled her eyes at his remark, but he could see the tiny smile she was trying to hide.

"I thought so."

"But that's not what I meant."

"Well, what did you mean, then?" Jess asked, suddenly curious which way this was going to go.

"Jess, we've been living together for ten months now and we still keep our books in different shelves!"

"So…?"

"So I think this has to change."

"What's wrong with it?" He really had no clue what Rory was up to.

When they moved in together, they each had filled their own bookshelves and everything had been good as it was. Okay, there may have been some occasions when one of his books would show up in her bookshelf or the other way around, but she had never complained about that. They had always shared their books, and he had written just as many notes in the margins of her books as he had in his own, so that sometimes even they didn't know anymore which book belonged to whom. But it had never really mattered. So why her sudden urge to change that?

"We're married!", Rory exclaimed.

Jess nodded. "I know."

"Seven months ago we promised each other to share everything, that there wouldn't be "yours" and "mine" anymore but only "ours"!" Now she seemed upset.

"I know. I was there, too.", Jess stated, matter-of-factly.

"Then why don't we do it?"

"Do what?"

"Make everything that's now yours and mine OURS!"

Jess frowned. "I thought we already did. We're sharing this apartment, our bed… right now you're wearing a pair of my sweatpants!You never seemed to want me to share the kitchen with you, but if you want to… I wouldn't mind."

"It's not about the kitchen!"

"So what is it about? Cause really, I have no clue what you're talking about!"

She threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. "I'm talking about the fact that we're sharing the same bed but our books still live in different shelves!"

"Oh."

So that was the thing that bothered her.

"So you want us to…"

"… finally put our books together, yes!", she finished for him. "I mean, we read each other's books anyway and there are your margin notes in all of them, so it doesn't really matter."

Jess nodded silently, considering her proposal. He knew why it seemed to be so important for her.

Books had always defined their relationship, maybe their love for books had been the only reason for them getting together. He didn't know if he – as the angry, stubborn kid he had been when they first met – had even talked to that strange girl if she hadn't loved books just as much as he did.

And now, seven years later, they were married.

Sure, it had been a long way until they finally got here, but it had certainly been worth it.

Putting their books together would make it a lot more difficult to break up again. Right now, each of them could easily pack their books and leave, but if they mixed them up in one shelf this wouldn't be possible anymore. And neither of them would leave without their books. Rory knew it as well as he did. It was commitment, a promise to stay together for the rest of their lives and maybe it meant even more than exchanging rings at their wedding.

Jess had never really committed himself to anyone – and he had thought he never would, or rather, never could.

He looked at Rory, his beautiful wife, the woman he loved more than anything in the world – even more than his books – who now gazed at him expectantly out of those deep blue eyes of hers. And that was the moment he knew he could commit himself to one person only.

He shrugged. "Okay. Let's do it."

Her eyes grew wide and a smile spread across her face. "Really?"

"Yeah. Why not? It's no big deal and as you said, we've been married for…"

He didn't get any further cause Rory had already thrown herself at him and kissed him passionately. When she pulled back, still sitting on his lap, she looked him deep in the eyes. "I love you, you know?"

Jess answered with his crooked trademark grin. "I know."

End Part 1

A/N: This can probably also be read as a stand alone, but there will be more parts.

So tell me how you liked it.