Chapter 1

Accidents

Rory ran down the first section of the stairs, tears streaming down her face until she reached the middle of the stairs and stopped.

"What happened Rory?" Dean asked her in an anxious tone.

"Nothing…I…Jess." She stuttered but she could barely make sense of her own words.

"What'd you do to her?!" Dean yelled as soon as Jess was in sight.

"Nothing. Just leave me alone." The right corner of Jess's mouth slanted downward as he struggled to make it to the door as inconspicuously as possible. Dean's face practically lit up with anger. He didn't know what had happened between Jess and Rory upstairs but if Rory was upset, someone was getting busted. Dean ran up to Jess and right-hooked him right in the jaw. That was it, the first punch was thrown and the fight had begun. Jess and Dean moved throughout the house, causing each other as much pain as they could and using anything they could get their hands on to do so.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Rory cried as she tried to break up the increasingly violent fight. A sudden burst of adrenaline pulsed through Dean's veins as he turned to his right and shoved Rory out of the way as hard as he possibly could. Stunned, Rory flew back into the corner of a cabinet and lay limp on the floor. She could feel the blood seeping onto the back of her shirt as she watched several unnamed party goers jump on Dean to restrain him.

"Rory! Rory stay with me!" Jess as at her side now. His left hand supported her head while his right rubbed her arm soothingly. His expression was startlingly angry.

"Someone call 911! Hurry!" he yelled at no one in particular.

"Come on Rory," he whispered quietly in her ear, "just stay with me." Despite her effort to do just that, the room spun and Rory began to drift into unconsciousness.

Rory's eyes slowly fluttered open as she assessed her surroundings. White walls, fluorescent lighting, and as she looked farther down on the cot she was laying on she noticed that the sheets were white too. As she tried to focus on her other senses as well, she noticed an annoying and utterly consistent beeping sound. The beeping, she realized, was in time with her breathing so that must be her heart rate machine thingy. Her eyes fell upon a glass window but it was not the cart fill of syringes and medicines outside the window that caught her attention. No, it was Jess. She had a vague feeling that she was supposed to be mad at Jess for something but everything that had happened lately seemed like a distant memory that could barely be recalled. Jess caught her eye and a surge of relief lit his eyes. He opened the door to Rory's small, sterile hospital room and pulled up the only chair in the room right next to her bed.

"Hey. How you doing?" He asked. Concern was the strongest emotion in his voice.

"I feel fine. My head hurts a little but…where am I?" Rory had just noticed the sharp pain in her head and she knew she was at a hospital but she didn't know which one.

"You're at the hospital in Hartford," Hess said, the relief fading from his eyes and being replaced by a more urgent but unidentifiable emotion. "At the party…Dean and I got into a fight and he…he pushed you." The pain in Jess's eyes was heartbreaking. "You hit your head on the corner of a cabinet, Rory. There was a lot of blood. You scared me. The doctors said you had a sever concussion but they said you should be fine now."

"Dean did this to me?? You guys had a fight? When did all this happen?" Rory was on the verge of tears now. They were welling up in her eyes, threatening to come loose at any second.

"Look we had a fight at Kyle's party last night because you were…you…" Jess trailed of but he looked like he might want to say something else so Rory didn't say anything. "You and I had a small fight because you wouldn't…because I was being selfish." Jess looked down at his hand and Rory's intertwined as he continued, "You left the room crying and Dean saw you on the stairs. He sucker punched me and I defended myself. You tried to break up the fight and that's when he pushed you." Jess stopped abruptly, like he was going to keep talking but decided against it at the last second.

"I can't believe he would do that!" exclaimed Rory. She was completely taken aback.

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open. Rory jumped and felt a tug on her IV.

"Ow" she muttered under her breath.

"Nobody wants you here Dean!" Jess was at the highest volume a person could go without actually yelling. Rory's head snapped up. It was Dean. Dean had obviously not been expecting to see Jess here before himself.

"How did you get here before me?" Dean asked.

"I stayed overnight." Jess's expression was smug, almost like it was a contest to see who could spend the most time with Rory.

"Rory, listen to me!" Dean was looking directly into Rory's electric blue eyes as he spoke. "It was an accident, Rory! You know I would never hurt you!" Dean's expression was a combination of desperation and lifelessness. Rory almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"Dean, please just go away. Please." Rory avoided Dean's and Jess's gazes while she said this. No turning back now.

"But Rory…please! I just-"Dean started to say but was cut off by Jess's fiery voice.

"She said go away man!" Rory looked u at Jess, who had jumped up out of his chair, and for a moment she thought she saw regret in his eyes, but if it had been there, it was quickly replaced with boiling anger.

"Fine" Dean looked crushed. "Fine" he said more quietly. He dropped an envelope at Rory's feat and quietly left the room.