Summary: The episode 'The Real Paul Anka' ends a bit differently: Rory says she loves Jess, but she has to break up with Logan face to face before they can be together. Will she be able to leave him when his injuries turn out to be far worse than in the actual show, making Logan dependent of Rory, possibly for the rest of his life?

After hearing Rory tell him that everything's fixed Jess leans forward and kisses her. Careful at first, but when she responds and kisses him back he reaches his arm out towards her waist and intensifies the kiss. Suddenly she pulls back.

"What?" He says, still leaning forward towards her.

"I'm sorry." She says as she gets up and starts walking away.

"About what?" Jess gets up as well, a confused and hurt look all over his face.

She turns around and starts slowly walking back towards him, her hands nervously moving from the hem of her shirt, to the buttons of it and back again, as if she doesn't know what to do with them. "Uh, about coming here like this. I just got the flier, and I don't know. I just wanted to see your place, but then this…it's not fair to you. I'm such a jerk."

She turns around to walk away again, but Jess reaches his hand out and stops her, forcing her to turn around and face him again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Rory tries to focus her eyes on a point behind Jess, afraid to see the pain she's sure her next words will definitely cause. "And I couldn't even cheat on him the way he cheated on me."

"Who? Who cheated on y… that guy?" He sighs before he continues with a resigned voice. "You're still with him."

"Yeah." She almost whispers, as if she's ashamed of the fact that she's still with the guy that had cheated on her and that had acted like a first class jerk last time she and Jess met.

"I thought everything was fixed." His voice is restrained, but his body and his eyes can't hide the fact that he's disappointed, that he's hurt from learning she's still with Logan.

"Everything but him" She shrugs her shoulders.

"I hate this." This time the hurt in his voice can't be hidden and he doesn't know whether he wants to shout at her in anger or if he wants to cry. All he knows is that the emotions building up inside him are almost overpowering.

"You should. I'm sorry."

"You came here alone, to Philadelphia." He puts emphasis on every word, as if trying to convince them both that the fact that she came to him must mean something.

"He was out of town." She answers quickly as if that explains everything.

"I don't deserve this Rory." He says between his teeth, trying not to lose his temper.

"No, you don't. You don't deserve it. I just…I don't know, everything's such a mess." She looks like she's about to fall apart.

"Do you love him?" His voice is calm, but inside his heart his beating so hard and so fast it feels like he's been running a marathon.

"No." She says and looks terrified and surprised at the word that seemed to come out so easy and natural. "I don't know." She quickly adds.

Jess closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Why did you come here?" He says as he opens his eyes again and looks at her.

"I-I don't know." She buries her face in her hands. "I think…" She removes her hands and shakes her head. "I guess I wanted to see if it was real."

He looks confused and irritated. "If what was real? Truncheon? Philadelphia?"

She sighs. "The things I've been feeling since your last visit. I…I've been thinking about you so much." She starts pacing the room as she continues speaking in a rapid pace. "Every night before I go to sleep, every morning I wake up, I think of you. Everything Logan does I find myself wondering what you would have done in the very same situation. 'What would Jess do?' My very first thought when finding out about Logan cheating on me had nothing to do with him, or even me, the first thing that popped into my mind was 'Jess would never have done that to me'. But I was scared, I didn't know whether these things I felt were real or merely a memory of what we were, you know?" She looks at him for confirmation and he nods. She stops pacing and sighs. "And he begged me to take him back. At the time it all sounded so logical, all things he said, they made sense, and I don't know, but I think going back to him was a mistake." She shakes her head. "I know it was a mistake." She bites her lip and looks up at him. "I came here because I think I love you, or I thought I loved you, and now I know."

A wary smile appears on Jess' lips as he moves closer to her. "Just to make sure, what is it you know now?"

She looks up at him and smiles. "That I love you. I know that I do. I don't know how you feel, or if you even want to be with me, but I love you and I want to be with you and if you…" She's interrupted when Jess closes the distance between them and kisses her.

While kissing her softly he runs his hand up her sleeve and cups her face. He draws his head back and looks at her. "I love you, I never stopped loving you. You're the only girl I would ever want to be with." He pulls her closer and hugs her tightly and lets out a deep breath. "God." He whispers into her hair. "It feels so good to say it. I love you Rory."

She wraps her arms around his neck. "I love you too." She pulls her head back and finds his lips again. There's a desperation in her series of short, intense kisses, as if she's trying to make up for the interrupted kiss.

He raises one of his hands and gently strokes the side of her face as he deepens the kiss, forcing her to slow down. He lets his hand slide backwards and entangles his fingers in her hair.

She moves her arms from around his neck and grabs the sides of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. His lips against hers, his warm body pressed against her, it feels so good, so right.

"I was thinking…" He says in between their kisses. "It might not be…" He kisses her again as his free hand slowly finds its way up under her shirt and strokes the skin on her lower back. "…safe…" He moans softly as she gently sinks her teeth into his lower lip. "…driving home tonight…"

She lets go of his lip. "It is rather dark." She says before her mouth is covered by his again.

"Mmm." He pulls her even closer. "You shouldn't be driving in the dark." Without letting go of her or stop kissing her he starts walking, pushing her towards the staircase.

"Visibility's bad…" She backs up on the first step of the stair with him following closely behind. "…because of the darkness."

"Deer." He mumbles against her lips.

"Yes…and small…furry…animals." She answers, her lips letting go of his for a few seconds a time, only to let the words out.

"I know for sure…" He places his hands on her hips as they reach the top of the stairs. "…those can be tricky…" With his body he backs her up against the door and lets his hands slip under her shirt and up along her waist. "…when driving…" Her hands find his bare skin under his shirt and the light touch of her fingers causes him to let out a deep breath before continuing. "…late at night."

Jess starts trailing kisses down her neck. "Logan." She whispers and feels his body stiffen against hers and his kisses stops for a few seconds.

"For future reference…" he mumbles while starting to kiss her neck again. "…calling me your ex-boyfriends name while we're making out isn't exactly the biggest turn on."

She pushes him away. "That's the thing, he isn't my ex-boyfriend….yet. I have to tell him."

Jess sighs and takes a few steps back. He takes a few deep breaths to regain control of himself before talking. "The one thing that isn't fixed." He says, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah." She arranges her shirt and looks down at the floor.

"But it will be, right?" He asks, the words sounding a bit more harsh than he had planned for them to.

She nods. "Yeah. I will fix it, as soon as he gets back."

He nods as well and sighs. "You want coffee or something?" He says and points towards the door behind her.

"Coffee's good." She says and moves away from the door, allowing him to open it. She bites her lip and reaches out to place her hand on his arm as he reaches to open the door. "This doesn't change anything." She says and meets his eyes. "I still want to be with you, only not like that. I want it to be right. I don't want my memory of this night to be over-shadowed by feelings of guilt."

He nods and smiles. "It's okay. I understand."

OoOoOoOo

"I still don't think you should be driving home in the dark." Jess says as he starts washing their coffee mugs. He casts a glance over his shoulder to Rory, who's sitting at the kitchen table. "I can take the couch and you can sleep in my bed."

She slowly shakes her head. "I couldn't do that. I can't drive you out of your own bed. I can sleep on the couch."

He puts the last mug in the dish rack and turns around, his back resting against the sink. "No. The couch is really uncomfortable to sleep in, trust me, I've tried." He smirks. "You don't want to be driving back home tomorrow with a wryneck, that might be even more dangerous than driving at night."

She smiles. "But if the couch is really that uncomfortable I'm definitely not going to let you take it. After all, this is your home and your bed."

"And my couch." He adds. "Otherwise we could forget about sleep all together and stay up all night arguing over who gets to sleep on the couch."

She bites her lip and looks up at him. "You have a big bed, right?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "I guess."

"Okay then…" She gets up from her chair, but seems to have forgotten why she did it as she stands there, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "We're adults, we have self-control, you have a big bed. It's not like we have to share a cover or a pillow. We can sleep in the same bed without anything happening."

"Yeah, probably." He says with a face that gives no clue whatsoever to what he might think about the idea.

"Good." She says and smiles.

OoOoOoOo

She splashes some water in her face and looks up at her reflection in the mirror and smiles. For the first time in a very long time she feels happy. Truly happy. She's starting a future with Jess.

All she has to do is wait for Logan to come home and break up with him. It will probably not be that hard, he has probably felt it coming. They hadn't been the same since Honor's wedding. No, the rift between them had occurred before that. She had felt it when Jess came to meet her at her grandparent's house. His words had forced her to take a look at her life and realize how wrong everything was. How completely off track she was leading her life.

Jess' words had made her realize she needed to fix everything, that she needed to find her way back. The only thing left from that life had been Logan. She doesn't really know why she hadn't left him along with everything else that was messed up in her life.

He had been so good at persuading her. She had actually believed that he fitted in to her life, no matter how she lived it. But the truth was he didn't. He had fitted in well, great actually, in that other life – with that other Rory, the one that wasn't really her.

This Rory – the real Rory, belonged with Jess. Somehow she had always known it, but she'd been afraid to admit even to herself.

She takes one last look in the mirror before leaving the bathroom and finding her way through the apartment back to Jess' bedroom.

"Wow." Jess looks up as she enters the bedroom, wearing a t-shirt he loaned her to sleep in.

"What?" She says blushing as she makes her way to the bed.

"You're beautiful…and sexy." She quickly crawls down under her cover next to him and he leans over and whispers in her ear. "…the things I will do to you once you're rid of that boyfriend…you have no idea Gilmore."

"Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea." She whispers back, pulling her cover closer around her body.

Jess smiles and rests his head back on his pillow. She's lying next to him, inches away. Rory's lying next to him, wearing nothing but his t-shirt and some black underwear he saw a glimpse of as she walked across the room before getting into bed. He takes a deep breath. The t-shirt was all too big for her, and as she stirs around in her sleep it will most probably get tangled up and expose that soft, pale skin on her stomach.

He swallows and closes his eyes. She's so close. He can hear her breathing next to him. If he leaned over and kissed he neck and let his hands wander to all of those places on her body that felt so wonderful to touch, he's sure the rhythm of her breathing would change. It would fasten. He wants to hear her breath heavily as he touches her. He wants to know what her breathing sounds like when he touches and kisses different places of her body. Places he was never allowed to touch last time they were together.

And her eyes – they're always so full of expressions. All of her feelings are always shown in her eyes. He imagines what it would be like looking into those eyes as he… He shakes his head, trying to get rid of all the dangerous thoughts. He has to be patient. He has to let her break up with Logan first. A few more days, then she'll be all his.

A few more days, then he'll be able to rip that t-shirt of her and closely examine and get to know every inch of her body. He's going to take it slow the first time. Take the time to enjoy her body, make sure she's pleasured. His touches will be soft but determined, until she's begging for him to… No! This is not working. If he keeps this up it will end up in him throwing himself over a sleeping Rory and thereby going against her wishes for them to wait until she's no longer attached to the jerk.

But he can't help it. He can't control his thoughts with her lying so close to him, in the same bed, wearing next to nothing. He sighs and grabs his pillow and cover and starts climbing out of the bed.

When he's almost done climbing over her she opens her eyes. "Where are you going?"

He smirks as he makes the last moves to climb out of the bed. "I think both of us highly overestimated the amount of self-control I posses around you." He watches her blush as the meaning of his words sink in. "For this whole 'nothing should happen before you talk to Logan' deal to work, I think I better take the couch tonight."

"I should take the couch." She makes a move as to get out of bed as well.

He bends down and tucks her in. "Don't be silly." He kisses her forehead. "Besides…if you get up from under that cover and reveal those amazingly hot legs again…" He takes a deep breath as to retain control over himself. "I'm not responsible for what I'll do. I'm at the very verge of my self-control as it is."

He smile and grabs a pillow out of the bed before heading for the living room.

"Jess?" The sound of her voice stops him as he reaches the doorway.

He turns around and looks at her. "What?"

"Thank you."

He smiles and shrugs his shoulders. "It's one night. If only I give you the time to talk to Logan, I'll have a lifetime of nights to spend next to you. With that in mind, the couch doesn't seem all that bad."