A/N: Hello, loves! I am so terribly sorry that it took me a long time to post this chapter. I'm getting back in the habit of writing again, so bear with me for a bit. I am so sorry that I suck lately. I'm going to try to update at least twice a week from here on out until the story is finished (and I'm not even sure when that'll be). As always review, favorite, and follow if you like. It keeps writers happy!

It had been a few hours since Rory had told Jess about her divorce to Logan. In those few hours, a whirlwind of surprises and mistakes took the two by storm. Now, the man sat up in bed and peered over at Rory who was face down in her pillow snoring, sleeping off all of the alcohol she had just consumed. The man ran a hand up and down his face as he examined the messy room. There were empty bottles of champagne knocked over on the dresser and bedside tables and not too far from those were clothes that got spewed and thrown all over the place in the heat of a reckless moment. Neither of the two thought about anything they were doing, but it felt good, to say the least. Quietly, the man lifted himself off of the bed to find his pants and then headed towards the window that overlooked most of the London skyline. It was foggy, but he could see clearly enough in the dark city to make sense of all the buildings. Before sitting down on the windowsill, he took another look at Rory. She was a heavy sleeper, but also a peaceful one. He sat down and took out a cigarette and sparked it up before fumbling through his carryon bag to find a notebook. He scattered words onto the sheet and let out a sigh after he had finished. It took half a cigarette and a lot of regret, but he had finally written his short goodbye to the girl he had forever loved. He didn't know what to say, so he said it in the most simplistic way possible. He didn't want to be her therapist or her rebound - he just wanted her and he knew that was never going to happen in the way he wanted it to.

As he tiptoed around the room to pick up his clothes and bags, Rory slowly awoke from her slumber and squinted her eyes in his direction. "Jess?" She whispered with a scratchy voice. "What are you doing?"

The man jumped as soon as she spoke and damned himself for not collecting his things fast enough. He didn't want to explain himself fully, but here they were - in the dark and half naked - needing different things at this point. "Uh," he mumbled and tried to think fast on his feet, but the gross champagne made the man want to vomit with every step he took. "Nothing, go back to bed." He smiled at her in the darkness, but knew she couldn't see it.

"Come here," Rory half-demanded as she fought to keep her eyes open.

If Jess was strong enough, he would've refused to do so and would've left the hotel and gone to a different one. Hell, he'd go to the airport if he was strong enough. But Lorelai Leigh Gilmore was his number one weakness and even in her sleepy haze, she knew it, too. With a defeated sigh, he put down his shoes and walked back over to the bed and climbed in. He hated himself for doing so, but he couldn't say no to Rory, no matter how badly he wanted to. He didn't want to be her rebound from an asshole like Logan. Rory was like ancient ruins now that their relationship was over and Jess had to be perfectly careful as he reconstructed her. It was like tiptoeing around a small child for the most part. It was hard to do, but the moment he laid back down next to her in that bed, he knew that he was going to spend a very long time putting her back together. She was his Rory, after all.

Around noon, the two woke up with lazy smiles on their faces. Jess knew this was going to happen - the girl was like a drug that had him hooked for years now - but he smiled anyway, feeling like he had finally won in some odd way. Rory rolled onto her side to face Jess and rested her head on his shoulder. "Coffee." That's all she could manage to say after last night. Jess didn't expect her to say anything else, honestly. She had always been this way if she didn't have coffee in her system. The man let out a soft chuckle as he reached his arm across her to find the room phone to order room service.

The two ate breakfast in bed without exchanging a word. All that time that had passed since the last time they had seen each other had drifted away like everything else. It didn't matter. The two always had the most comfortable silences and it always felt very homey to both of them. Halfway into their meal, Jess' cell phone started to ring and he let out a groan the moment he saw his agent's contact pop up. "Shit," he mumbled under his breath before answering. "I forgot," he explained the moment he hit answer. The man nodded and rolled his eyes to the woman on the other end as he scrambled to find clothes and his bag. "I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" He sounded irritated, making Rory grow more and more curious by the moment as she listened. He slipped into the bathroom to get ready as Rory finished eating her breakfast. Once he emerged from the bathroom, Rory smiled at him, but he still looked irritated. "I have a signing to get to," he explained as he took his cup of coffee and chugged the remainder of it.

"Can I come?" Rory asked with her brows raised. "I've always wanted to see you as a true author."

Jess scowled at the comment. "I'm not a true author," he explained, "but if you can get ready in five minutes, you're welcome to tag along."

The girl hopped out of bed and out the door to her own hotel room. After collecting his messenger bag, Jess headed out the door and to the lobby to wait for Rory. If she took longer than five minutes, he was going without her. He was always late to these types of things and if it happened once more, he'd most likely get fired and he wasn't going to risk it.

It took seven minutes, but Rory arrived in the lobby looking as if she hadn't chugged back an entire rack of alcohol last night. Her beauty never ceased to amaze Jess, but he held his tongue this time.

The whole signing lasted about two hours and every so often, Jess would scan the book store to make sure that Rory hadn't run off, but every time he spotted her, she was sitting in a comfy chair, reading his book and smiling to herself. He knew that she liked every genre out there, but he didn't think this particular book would be her style. He shrugged and continued to sign his books and talk to a few happy fans of his. Once it was over, he wandered off to find a very specific book, paid for it, and then went to find Rory. "Hey," he said as he hit her chair with the back of the book in his hands.

"Hey," Rory laughed and sat up straight to face him, "I'm almost finished with this. It's amazing, Jess."

He shook his head. "Ya'know, I could sign it for you, if you'd like."

The girl rolled her eyes and looked down at the bag in his hands. "What's that?"

"An oldie, but a goodie." He explained as he reached his hand out to help her sit up. "You wanna go to lunch?"

Rory nodded and along they went. The entire time, Jess was thinking of the book that weighed down the plastic bag on his wrist. Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez seemed to pop into his head in the middle of his signing. He wasn't quite sure why - he hadn't read in years - but one quote did seem to stick out to him after all of these years and it was more than fitting after the past fourteen hours they shared.

"To him, she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single on of her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell."