The next morning after a restless nights sleep, Rory walked into their apartment to find James waiting in the living room for her. She had been outside for hours, trying to work up the strength to go in and face up to what she needed to do. She knew that neither of them could continue in the way they had but she had no idea of how James was going to take the news, he could be pretty unpredictable.

Lorelai had desperately tried to make Rory realize what she would be giving up if she walked out on James, and she had made her question what might be in the future for her and Logan if there was anything at all. Rory had almost been convinced by her mom's arguments, but as she lay in the dark in her childhood bedroom she remembered that Lorelai had never really been on Logan's side and Rory knew him better than anyone, he had asked her to be with him hadn't he? She was pretty sure that if she chose Logan, he wouldn't walk away from her.

But this decision hadn't purely been about Logan, although he had been a major factor in it. It had been about her and what she wanted. The more she had thought about it the more she had realized that as much as she cared for him, James was not what she wanted and though they'd had a good couple of years together, they had married much too soon and Rory knew that the sad truth was - had she not been trying to bury all thoughts of Logan at the time, she probably never would have married James in the first place.

"Where have you been?" James said as Rory walked in the door. He took in her appearance, she looked tired and like she had been crying.

"I went to Stars Hollow to see my mom," she said as she put her bag and car keys down on the sideboard.

"You could have told me, I was worried about you."

"Sorry, it wasn't planned," Rory said as she looked down at the ground. She wondered if she should make some small talk first or just get it over and done with, like ripping off a Band-Aid. In the end, she went with the latter, figuring there was no point delaying the inevitable.

"James…I think we need to talk" Rory said quietly.

James sighed and sat down on the sofa. He didn't seem surprised by her words. "Okay"

Rory sat next to him. "James, there's really no easy way to say this but I think that we should separate for a while."

"What?" he looked at her in shock.

"This is not working for us, it hasn't worked for a while. I think that we both need some space" Rory said without looking at him.

"So that was what you were doing with your mom? Discussing our martial issues before you've even discussed them with me? That's real nice Rory. Who else have you been talking to about us?"

"I just needed someone to talk to." She said resolutely. She wasn't going to apologize for talking things over with her mother. "James, I just think that we are constantly clashing with each other, and I have some issues that I need to work out in my mind. I think that I could do this better if we were apart for a little while."

"This is bullshit, Rory. Are you leaving me for him?" he spat.

"What? No!" Rory could feel her face as it flushed. "This isn't about Logan" but even as she said the words, she knew that it was partly a lie. While Logan wasn't the sole driving force behind her reason to end her marriage to James, it had definitely moved the decision along. "I've not been happy for a while, have you? You can't be happy living like this James? We're barely communicating and if we are we're fighting. This isn't a marriage, it's an existence."

James ran his hands through his hair. He'd been angry and suspicious of his wife recently but he never thought that she would actually come to him and tell him that she wanted them to get separated.

"No, I guess not so much recently, but I love you Rory. I mean, we were trying for a baby weren't we. Why would you do that if you were working your way up to leave? I thought you wanted a family."

Rory looked down at the floor and shook her head. "God this is a mess. Look, this is horrible for me to tell you, but we weren't really trying. She bit her lip. She was ashamed of herself and all the lies she had told this man. Last night she had come to the decision that the kindest thing she could do was let him go.

"What is that supposed to mean?" James looked at her accusingly.

"I have been taking the pill," Rory said quietly. "I never wanted to get pregnant"

"What?" James said as he looked at Rory. He didn't look angry with her anymore, he just looked sad and defeated. Rory felt like her heart was breaking in two. "You never had any intention of us having a baby?"

"I'm sorry James." There was nothing else she could say, there was nothing she could say that would make anything better. Rory stood up. "Look, I am going to go, you stay here…"

"Rory," James said as he grabbed hold of her hand "Don't go. I don't really know what's been going on, and I suspect however much you deny it that it has something to do with him in some way but let's just try and move on from this. We can do that. I can do that for you."

"James…" Rory said, "It's too late." She said as she shook her head. "I've tried, honestly I have but if I stay we're just going to continue hurting each other. Look at you, you're not happy and I feel like I am the root cause of all this, if I stay you'll end up resenting me. Look at what I am doing to you. You deserve more than this."

"So you're really going to leave?" James asked her.

"We can't just stay together and be unhappy for the rest of lives. Don't you see that?"

James didn't answer, he simply picked up his keys and walked out of the apartment. Rory contemplated going after him but worried it would just make things worse, she let him go and went to the bedroom to pack her overnight bags.

Rory stood outside the door to the apartment with her bags in her hand and knocked on the door. After just a few moments the door opened.

"I'm sorry for coming here, but I had nowhere else to go," she said and the tears she had been holding on to so tightly were suddenly released full-flow.

Jess reached out and embraced her. "Ssh, it's all going to be okay. Come on" he said as he pulled her inside.

"You've finally done it then?" Jess looked at Rory and she nodded. "Have you told Logan that you've left your husband for him?"

Rory shook her head. "I haven't left him for Logan"

"No?" Jess raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe I have" Rory said sinking her head into her hands. "God that's absolutely crazy isn't it? You hear about deluded misguided women leaving their husbands for their lovers and now I am one of them. Way to go Rory."

"So Logan doesn't know then?"

"No, I thought that would just complicate things and right now I need to get my head straight. Ugh. I feel absolutely dreadful." She said.

"To be fair to him, I bet James is feeling a lot worse that you right now. How did he take it anyhow?" Jess asked.

"Well, let's see. How exactly would you take the news of your wife leaving you?" Rory raised an eyebrow at him. "It was traumatic, it was horrible. I broke his heart. I could practically see it happening in front of my eyes. I just feel mentally exhausted from the whole thing" she sighed.

"I presume that he doesn't know everything…" Jess said, alluding to what he knew about Rory and Logan.

"I really wanted to be honest with him but…no, I didn't see what telling him about Logan would achieve." It's not like we're together…" Rory stopped as Jess interrupted her.

"…yet," he said.

"I don't even know if that's actually going to happen. I mean all this drama could be too much for Logan and he might bolt so there was really no point rubbing salt into an already painful open wound. Rory leaned back on the sofa. "God Jess, how did it all come to this. I mean it started with one stupid slightly drunken kiss. It wasn't supposed to turn into an affair that turned my entire life upside down."

"You only slept with him once, not sure that is classed as an actual affair" Jess joked.

Rory wrinkled her nose.

"Rory…" Jess said giving her a bit of side-eye. "You slept with him more than once?"

"A little bit. What Jess! Once, twice…what does it matter? Cheating is cheating."

"So twice then?" Jess asked.

"Technically, three…but that was it I promise!" Rory said blushing furiously.

A little later on, after Rory had fallen asleep on his sofa, Jess covered her up with a blanket and went into his bedroom to make a call.

"Hello?

"Lorelai, it's Jess"

"Oh hi Jess, is everything okay? Oh, you sound weird. Why are you whispering? Are you in a hostage situation?" Lorelai joked.

"Ha, not quite. I just thought I ought to let you know that Rory is here with me. She's kind of a mess."

Lorelai held her breath. "What has happened?"

"She's left James," Jess said slowly. He was in two minds about how much he should be sharing with Rory's mother.

"Oh" Lorelai sad sadly. "I guess this was to be expected. I presume you know what's been going on with her and…?"

"Kind of," Jess said.

"And what do you think about it all?" Lorelai said, interested in Jess's view.

"Lorelai, it's not really my place to say but what I will say is that Rory's been unhappy for a while, and this is not just about Logan."

"But he's involved," Lorelai said pointedly.

She wasn't exactly thrilled by the breakdown of her Rory's marriage, nor the fact that Logan Huntzberger, her daughters Achille's heel played a part in it. Logan had always had the kind of effect on Rory that made her world turn upside down and after she had settled down and got married to James, Lorelai had hoped that was the end of that. However, Logan was the one Rory just couldn't quit.

"Well, I guess, yeah he is now." Jess shrugged.

"God, I just don't know what it is with them two. It's so frustrating" Lorelai exclaimed.

"I guess that they love each other" Jess said simply "Sometimes it's just too strong to come between".

"Yeah. I guess." Lorelai sighed. "Thanks for calling me Jess, I appreciate you letting me know what's going on. Look after my baby won't you? I may not totally approve of her choices but I hate to see her hurting."

Jess ended the call and went back out to check on Rory who had by now woken up.

"Who were you talking to?" she said sleepily as she rubbed her eyes.

"Your mom" he admitted.

Rory grimaced. "You told her huh"

Jess shrugged. "I thought it was better she knew where you were before she started sending out the packs of wild dogs to hunt you down."

"Is she mad at me?" Rory asked.

"Nah," he said as he pulled her in and gave her a squeeze. "She just cares about you that's all."

"Jess, can I stay here for a few days?"

"Of course you can. Now, are we wallowing or what? What sucky movie do you want to watch first?"

Rory smiled a thank you at Jess. The truth was there was nowhere else she wanted to be right now. Rory felt safe there with Jess, he never really judged her though wasn't afraid of giving her a few home truths.

She knew she couldn't go home to her apartment because of James and she really didn't want to go back to Stars Hollow and face her mom. Rory suspected Lorelai would hit her with all the reasons why she was wrong to be doing what she was doing and she just couldn't deal with that.

As much as she really wanted to see him, Logan was out of the question right now. She knew that when she was around him she completely lost her mind and the ability to make sensible rational decisions seemed to disappear. What she needed right now more than anything was the time and space to regain some clarity.