A/N: Thank you for the reviews.

Monday

The next morning Rory walks out of the bedroom and into the living room, hesitantly, and sees him sitting on the couch, reading. She smiles weakly and waves when he looks up.

"Morning." He greets her, putting the book down. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah."

"There's breakfast in the kitchen. I assumed you were going to be starving."

"Thanks." She smiles, this time less hesitantly then looks around her. "Which way to the kitchen?"

Smirking, he gets up and walks to her, pointing to a door. "That way."

She nods and walks into the small kitchen, with Jess following closely and sees the impressive spread on the table. Turning around she smiles at him.

"You went all out."

"I've seen you eat. Coffee should still be hot but I can make a fresh pot if you want."

"You've done too much already…" She says, a hint of sadness in her voice and he picks up on it so he grabs a mug and points to a chair.

"Sit down. I can get this for you."

Nodding she takes a seat and he pours coffee in the mug, then places it in front of her. "Omelette, bacon, toast, waffles. A, b, c, d or all of the above?"

"All of the above." She grins, sipping from her mug. Jess just nods, smiling as well and loads the food onto a plate, then sits across from her, picking up his mug from a counter.

"You're not going to eat?" Rory asks.

"I've eaten."

"How long have you been up?"

"A couple of hours. Fed the dogs, made breakfast, watched the news."

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to fall asleep last night."

"It's ok. You looked like you needed it."

"I didn't get any sleep the night before. I was trying to decide if I should come and then packing. I really didn't mean to." She apologizes again, listing all the reasons.

"Rory…it's ok. Really." He reassures her once more. "As long as you're staying tonight as well because we still need to talk…"

"Yeah. I am." She nods.

"All good then."

"Why tonight? Can't we just talk now?"

"Or we could go to the beach, read, enjoy the day. Talks are better had at night."

"Postpone the inevitable?"

"Why not?" He counters her question.

"Ok." She agrees, digging into the food on her plate.

That night, they're sitting in the living room, looking at each other, both waiting for the other one to speak first. Hoping the other one would speak first.

"Why are you marrying him?" Jess asks, his fists clutching at his sides.

"He's a good man, Jess. We have a good life together."

"And that's all you need? A good life? Rory…"

"Don't! Just don't. It's ok. I'm fine with it."

"You're not supposed to be fine with it. That's not how life should be."

"Jess…"

"Nope. You're going to listen to this." He stands up, angered by her indifference. "Life is supposed to be about more than just comfort. I asked you why you're marrying him. You didn't even say it was because you love him."

"I do love him…" She tries to argue weakly.

"Enough to last for the rest of your life? To gloss over the next time he cheats on you? To give up everything you've ever dreamed of just to make him happy?"

"I'm not giving anything up!"

"Oh, you're not? You're working for his daddy. You go to his parties. How about seeing the world? What happened to that? Fuck that, what happened to you? When did you become that girl? The one that lets things happen and not gives a damn?"

"Jess…" She pleads with him again, hoping he'll stop, tears pooling in her eyes.

"You used to have dreams! You used to be your own person! You knew what you wanted to do. Now you've settled for doing what's expected of you, without thinking about you're giving away. "

"Stop…just stop!" She begs him, the tears now running down her cheeks.

"I'll stop right now if you tell me this is how you want to live the rest of your life. I swear I'll back off. Just say the words and I'll admit to being an idiot and getting in over my head and leave you alone."

He looks at her, waiting for her to speak but she just looks back at him, still crying.

"Say something." –don't cry, please, I hate being the one that makes you cry-.

"What do you want me to say?" She asks between sobs.

"Anything. Be angry, tell me you hate me, just…something."

"I don't hate you."

"Fine, then tell me I'm a dick. That I am completely wrong and you're happy with your life." He kneels down in front of her, lifting her chin up with his hand, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Please, Rory." He's the one pleading this time and it just make her cry harder.

"Why do you fucking care all of a sudden?" She finally recoils, moving away from him and he stands back up, waiting to hear what she has to say. "You didn't care when you left me! Why does it suddenly matter?"

"That was 6 years ago, Rory! When are you ever going let that go?"

"Never! You left. You just took off. Didn't bother to say goodbye, to leave a note. I trusted you! I believed you wouldn't do that again but, hey, maybe you just wanted to prove me wrong. So who do you think you are attacking me when you haven't even apologized for that or for any of the other stunts you pulled. Do you really think it was that easy to just watch you bounce in and out of my life, over and over again? That it didn't kill me every single time?"

"I was 18! I didn't know what I was doing! And didn't you already get back at me for that in Philadelphia?"

"Philadelphia wasn't even close to what you deserved. You have no idea how many nights I cried, wondering what I had done wrong. How many times I went over every single moment in my head, trying to figure out what made you hate me so much!"

"I didn't hate you! Leaving had nothing to do with you!"

"And couldn't you have bothered to tell me that instead of just taking off? Or would you like to talk about all the times you bounced back? What, you thought you hadn't done enough damage the first time?"

"Years ago! I didn't know what I was doing back then!"

"Well if you get to use that, I get to say I was emotional and therefore not thinking in Philly. We both know our excuses are bull anyway, so why not just say the words and pretend it doesn't matter ?Did you just ask me to come so you can yell at me and get back for that?"

"I don't want to get back at you! I want you to say you're happy with your life but you don't seem to be able to do that! You're bringing up stuff that doesn't matter, trying to avoid the things that do! You want me to be a bastard so you don't have to face that you're a fucking coward!"

"Maybe I am a coward but you know what? It's my life to throw away! Why does it matter to you?"

"It just does! I don't know why so yeah, maybe I haven't changed and still don't know what I'm doing but at least I'm trying! You've given up because you're scared!"

"I'm not scared! Fine, maybe I'm settling for a cozy life but I get to make that choice! You never cared about anything anyway so stop messing up my life!"

"I don't have to care to tell you you're being an idiot! I'm not telling you to leave that idiot, just reconsider why you're marrying him! Is it because you truly love him and want this or is it because you're too afraid to even consider other options? You're so intent on being the fucking self-sacrificing princess, as always, that you seem to forget you're not living in a Victorian novel. You weren't promised to him, it's not your holy duty to marry him if you don't want to. But you love being the martyr. How do you sleep at night knowing that you're giving yourself up to please everyone else?" He asks bitterly.

She takes a step back, his words hitting harder than before. "Not this again! We haven't talked in years! You don't know anything about me so what the hell makes you think this isn't who I really am?"

"I know you. I loved you. I remember you back when you still thought for yourself! You would have never let me get away with half the things I've said to you in the last couple of days back then. If this is really who you want to be, then why don't you just say so? My offer still stands. Tell me this is what you want, not just what will please everyone else and I won't say anything else."

She looks down, biting her lip, a million thoughts rushing through her head and he just shakes his head sadly.

"Do you even remember how to feel anything?" He whispers, taking a small step towards her. "Rory…" He whispers again, lifting her chin up with his hand.

"I'm angry right now…does that count?" She asks after a few seconds of silence, chuckling humorlessly, not bothering to keep pretending that everything was fine.

"It's a step ahead. At least you've stopped being numb."

"What next?" She questions him, hoping he has the answer.

"I…don't know. Spend a few days here, away from your life. Think things over. Ask yourself what went wrong. If you're this way because of him or because of everything else. Then decide what has to change."

Nodding softly, she wraps her arms around herself. "I…think I'm going to go get some sleep. It's been a long day."

"Ok. If you need anything…"

"I'll knock."

"Good."

She waves before turning around and walking to the bedroom, leaving him standing there, looking at the door closing behind her.

Hours later, he's walking back from the kitchen, a glass of water in his hand, when he hears a noise coming from her room. He opens the door slowly and sees her curled up in a corner of the bed –she's so small, too small, too hurt-. He hears her whimper again and sits down next to her, putting the glass down on the nightstand and caressing her hair slowly, trying to calm her down.

"Rory…" He whispers her name but she just hugs her knees to her chest even tighter.

"You were right…I don't think I know who I am anymore."