A/N: Inspiration was low this past month. I apologize. I also wanted to be able to give a real chapter and not something I just posted to have an update. I officially think this is wrapping up soon though. I haven't felt inspired for writing much anymore despite my love for it. I hope that changes but I need to stop dragging this out and get to an ending just in case inspiration hits all time low. I don't want to leave it unfinished so I'll try my best to get it completed. For now, this won't be the last chapter and hopefully it won't take as long to update again.

Also, this is not a happy chapter. But it's also my way of getting a long due conversation out and to finally wrap things up soon. I hope people aren't too mad.

PS this isn't a Logan fan friendly chapter. It's sad I have to post this on a Literati fic but I feel like I need to. If you are a Logan fan reading this, remember this is my story and I can do whatever I want to regarding him.

"Grandma, you don't have to do this," Rory said as she stepped out of her car.

Emily shook her head from the other side of the vehicle. "Nonsense. Of course I do."

"No, really," she said while they walked on the small path. "This is too much."

"I called my real estate agent," she simply said. "It's not as if I'm paying for the house."

"Because I told you that was definitely too much," Rory smiled.

Emily stopped walking and turned to face her granddaughter. "I want you to be happy. If I can help in any way then you can be sure I'm going to do it."

"I am happy, Grandma," she replied. "A house won't change that."

"But it doesn't hurt, either," the older woman teased a smile of her own. She began to walk towards the front door again. "Now come on. This is only the first stop."

Rory nodded and followed. She knew there was no fighting with Emily Gilmore.

Throughout the day, they saw many houses. Rory found some that she really liked and a couple that she loved. She was sure they'd be out of their price range but when she heard her grandmother's agent tell her the cost, she was stunned. They were in her price range after all.

At the end of the day, the two of them drove back to Rory and Jess' apartment. Rory had offered her to stay over but she politely said that wasn't necessary. She instead explained she wanted to drive to Stars Hollow to visit with Lorelai.

"Are there any houses you liked?" Emily asked in the car.

Rory nodded. "A couple. I'll have to ask Jess about it, though."

"Are you sure you don't want to just keep the home for you right now?" she asked.

"Grandma," Rory said sternly.

"It's nothing about the man you're seeing," she clarified. "It's just do you really want to continue living in sin?"

Rory almost laughed. "It's not living in sin to live with the person you love anymore, Grandma."

Emily half made a face but didn't comment on that part. "I just don't see why you can't just date."

"We already live together," she replied. "We've lived together for a long time now. It seems a bit off to stop that just because we're together."

"It was already enough you were living with a man you weren't in a relationship with," she sighed.

"He gave me a place to live," Rory commented.

"Why couldn't you just live with me?" the older woman wondered.

"Jess gave me a job," she answered. "I couldn't live in Nantucket and work in Philadelphia all while raising Tori."

"You didn't have to work in Philadelphia, you know," she told her. "There's book stores near me, too."

Rory smiled slightly and nodded. "I know, Grandma. But I like working in Philadelphia."

She leaves out anything with the new job, not wanting to distract her point. Emily sighed sadly. "I just wish you'd wanted to be with your family back then."

"I know I should have been there for you more when Grandpa died," Rory admitted and her grandmother looked at her with her eyes full of sadness. "I'm sorry that I wasn't. When you moved to Nantucket, you wanted a fresh start and even if Jess hadn't offered me all of that, I'm not sure I would have lived with you. You needed to start fresh there without us."

The older woman's face softened at her granddaughter's words. "You were grieving as well. You were there as much as you could."

"Maybe," she mused.

There was a small silence after that so Emily lightly tapped Rory's leg, hoping to change the mood. "Come on. We have one more house to see for the day. Then we'll get you back to your little girl."

Rory nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

…

Truncheon felt particularly busy today. Jess was not usually out on the floor instead of his office. The crowd was big today, unexpected but not unwelcome. Anything that made people interested in actual books and not kindle made Jess happy and helped their business.

He had just finished talking to a customer about one of their newer releases when he noticed someone walk through the door. He sighed and closed his eyes tightly as he hoped he had imagined the sight before him. But when the person saw Jess and began to walk towards him, he knew he wasn't dreaming.

"Hello, Jess," the person said as he reached him.

Jess nodded. "Logan."

"Is she ready?" Logan asked, getting right to the point.

"She should be," he replied. "I'll just go check on her quick."

Jess headed towards the mini daycare they opened in Truncheon. He nodded a smile towards "the bosses" then kneeled down in front of Tori.

"Your dad's here," he told her. "You almost ready?"

"Is Mommy here?" she wondered.

Jess shook his head. "No. But remember, you two had your goodbye before she left. Besides, you'll be nearby so if you need anything, we will be right there."

Tori nodded too. "Almost done."

"Okay," Jess smiled at her then kissed her cheek. "We'll be right out there when you're ready."

He stood up and walked back out to Logan. "What's the news?"

"She's almost ready," he confirmed. "Which could mean a couple of minutes or half hour. I guess it depends."

Logan nodded slowly. Both were quiet for a moment. Neither ever really knew what to say when it was the two of them alone. They'd usually avoided that situation, always having Rory or Tori as a buffer between them.

"So how's the new house?" Jess broke the silence. "You settling in?"

"Yeah, it's good," he answered. "The last of the stuff I had shipped over came yesterday. Some of it is still in boxes but at least there's furniture."

"That's good," he agreed. "Tori picked out her room?"

"The second she ran inside," Logan chuckled.

"What about Odette?" Jess asked. "Is she here?"

"Rory didn't tell you?" he asked.

"Tell me what?" he wondered.

Before Logan could answer, Tori ran out of the other room and crashed into her father's left leg. "Hi, Daddy!"

"Hey, how's my favorite girl?" he asked.

"Happy!" she exclaimed. "We going to new house?"

"We can stop there," Logan told her. "But I have plans for us...unless you just wanna sit at the house instead."

"No!" she yelled. "Wanna do plans!"

Logan laughed and so did Jess. "Well, okay but only since you insisted."

Tori let go of her dad's leg and moved to Jess. He kneeled down again to reach her level and gave her a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Kay," she nodded into his shoulder. "Love you, Uncle Jess."

"I love you, too," he hugged her tighter than kissed her hair.

He let her go and she went back to Logan. "Tell Rory sorry we missed her."

"I will," he nodded.

Logan and Tori headed out back to the door and Jess was left standing by himself. He wondered about what Logan had meant. What Rory didn't tell him about Odette. Instead of fixating, he decided to distract himself and went back to work. When work didn't help, he headed back to his office and he continued his latest writing.

…

When Rory got home later that day, it was almost night. Jess sat on the couch with his laptop on his legs as he typed. The journal his girlfriend had gotten him laid beside him filled with notes. She smiled at the sight as soon as she opened the door.

"Hi," she said the second she was in the room with the door closed behind her.

Jess looked up from the screen. "Hey, you missed Logan."

"Right," she nodded once as she took her coat off. "How was Tori? I'm sorry I wasn't there but you know Grandma and her appointments."

"I know," he closed the computer and pushed it towards the coffee table in front of him. "I just hope today was more successful than other attempts."

"I think I found our place," she smiled.

"What?" he sat up straighter.

Rory laughed. She took off her shoes and walked over to the couch beside him. "It was the last place we looked at. We weren't having that much luck. I was about ready to give up but then we saw this place. It was beautiful, Jess. You should see it."

"You think it's the right place?" he asked.

She beamed. "I really do."

"Then I trust your instinct," he said.

"I wanna take you and Tori to see it as soon as we can," she stood up already. "I'm sure it won't be on the market that long so I don't wanna wait."

"You could have put an offer in," he told her.

Rory stopped her walk to the kitchen and turned to him again. "But you and Tori - "

"Will love it, I'm sure," he chuckled. "But if you feel this strongly, then maybe we should just do it."

"I haven't even told you if it's in our price range yet," she commented.

"Is it?"

"Little bit, yeah."

"Then do it."

"Jess."

"What?" he shrugged and stood up from the couch as well. "I haven't seen you look like this about any other place we've looked at. This is the one."

Rory's face brightened into a huge smile. "I'm gonna call Grandma now then."

She kissed him quick then happily skipped off to their bedroom. He shook his head in amusement until the question on his mind from earlier that day came to the front of his thoughts again.

When she came back out a few minutes later, she burst happiness. "Grandma's gonna call the real estate agent for us. Its late now but she knows them."

"Sounds good," he said but his mood from seconds ago had disappeared.

"What's wrong?" she noticed his expression. "You were just as happy as me and now you look deep in thought. What happened?"

"Just thinking," he told her.

"Thinking about what?" Rory asked. "The house? I can call Grandma back if you aren't sure."

"It's not about the house," he confirmed.

"Oh," she nodded. "Okay then what is it?"

"Just something Logan said earlier when he picked Tori up," he shook his head.

"What did he say?" now she was really curious.

Jess leaned against the counter and held his palms flat against the sides. "Just - I asked him about Odette and he replied by asking me if you told me. Then Tori ran out and I never found out what. So what was he talking about?"

"What exactly did you ask him?" she wondered.

"I asked if she was here," he replied. "Why? Does it matter?"

"Odette is not coming," she explained. "She told him she didn't want to come here and that it was either moving here to be with his daughter or her. There wasn't an option where she'd move here with him."

"So she left him," Jess filled in the blanks since he already knew Logan had in fact moved here.

"Technically, he left," she tried to joke.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he ignored her attempt at humor.

"I didn't think it was a factor," Rory replied.

"A factor?" his voice rose. "What does that even mean?"

"It means that he was moving here no matter what," she stated.

"And it didn't occur to you to tell me this anyway?" he asked with a slight accusation in his voice.

"Why would it?" she asked. "Is this because you think he wants to get back together? Do you still believe that it's even possible?"

"It's not about whether or not it's possible if the two of you could get back together," he replied, temporarily distracted from his own questions. "It's about that it's possible that that's what he wants."

"We've been over this," she told him.

"Things are different now," Jess countered. "Logan and his wife are separated. That wasn't a part of the equation before."

"And it's not now," Rory crosses her arms over her chest. She stood on the edge of the small living room and he was in the kitchen. Neither moved from their spot to get closer or further. She wondered what that meant.

"Rory," he shook his head. "How come you can't see it? Why do I have to feel like the bad guy in the situation because I have to tell you what's going on?"

"There is nothing going on," she retorted.

"Maybe not right now," Jess crosses his arms too and then quickly uncrossed them. His hands motioned his words as he spoke. "But he wants you back. I see it when he looks at you, Rory. I don't know how you miss that every time he's around you."

She scoffed. "That is ridiculous. He doesn't want me back. He wants his daughter."

"I'm not denying that part," he went on. "But can't you see it even a little?"

"No," she answered honestly. "No, I don't."

There was silence after her short sentence. The two of them looked straight at each other with completely different expressions. Rory's face was shocked while Jess' was upset.

"I was there that night," Jess sighed after a moment. "The night you told me was when you left with Logan and his friends to that inn. The one where you conceived Tori. I was in Stars Hollow."

"What does that mean?" she almost whispered. "You were there - when Logan came? Why didn't I see you?"

"Me and Luke were supposed to have dinner at Mom and TJ's that night," he explained. He sat down on a stool in the kitchen but still faced her direction. "Luke was out of it because Lorelai had just left to do Wild. You remember?"

"Of course," she nodded in a small voice.

Jess gave her a small smile but it didn't reach his eyes. "We canceled the dinner because he was so out of it. I decided to help him out a little. I took out the wifi in the diner so he wouldn't have to deal with the digital generation. I was upstairs when I heard laughing so I looked out the window."

"Jess - " she said but cut herself off. She didn't know what to say.

"I saw you, Logan and three other guys," he continued. "You looked like you were having fun. There was this light in you I hadn't seen in a while, too. I stopped watching not only because I shouldn't have been in the first place but because you looked happy. I couldn't really bear watching that."

"Logan was good at making me have a good time," she added. "It didn't always mean I was happy but it didn't mean I wasn't, either. I just...was."

Jess nodded once. "But you left with him."

"We got carried away," she explained. "I didn't mean to actually leave with them."

"But you did," he said. "Did you know that if I hadn't seen you with them that I was headed to see you? I thought since I was in town and the dinner was cancelled…"

His voice trailed off. Rory connected in her head what that would have meant. She tried not to imagine if Logan hadn't come or that she and Jess had dinner that night. She tried not to think of how her mother had been gone and what if something had happened between them as if it had between her and Logan. Tori could have turned out to be Jess' instead.

"Jess, I'm so sorry," she finally stepped out of the spot she'd been in and moved closer to him. "I didn't know. I definitely didn't know you would have came to see me, either."

"That part doesn't matter now," he told her. "It didn't happen."

"Of course it matters!" she exclaimed once she reached him. Jess tried to look down but she lifted his face to look at her. "What if he didn't come to Stars Hollow and I stayed at Mom's? What if you came over and what if it ended up as it did but for me and you?"

"What if I ended up as Tori's father?" he finished for her so she nodded. His expression softened even though his words weren't. "This is exactly why I didn't tell you. Now you're thinking of the what if's and there's nothing we can do about those anymore so it doesn't matter."

"It matters to me," she admitted. "I'm sorry. I wish I knew. I wish you told me."

"Only Luke knew about this," he confessed.

"He wasn't supposed to be there," she said. "We broke it off. I broke it off. He didn't want me to so he came here for me. That's the last night me and him were ever together. I officially called it off the next morning."

Now Jess' expression turned hard again, so different from moments ago. He pulled himself out of her embrace. Her hands slid away from his face as he walked away from her. "So you broke off the affair and he didn't like that so instead of ending his engagement, he came to get you back as his mistress. And instead of saying no, you slept with him anyway and only broke it off again after the fact."

Rory looked as though she was slapped. She didn't deny his words so he took that as confirmation. When her voice spoke to say out loud what he figured out, his veins felt like ice. "Yes."

Jess began to pace the apartment. His hand went to his chin in thinking mode. Rory watched him silently as what had happened sunk in.

"So he didn't care about Odette," he finally said. "He wanted to have his cake and eat it, too."

Rory felt sick. She imagined Jess felt sicker. "That isn't exactly how I'd put it."

"Then how would you?" he looked at her.

"I don't - " she shut her mouth when she couldn't find the words.

"Right," he said.

"Jess," was all she could get out.

"So this happened," he said slowly. "And you really don't think it's possible that he wants you back? He had no respect for his own fiancée so why would he care about me?"

"Because he cares about me," she sternly replied. "He may not be in love with me anymore but he still does care. He wouldn't do something to upset me or Tori."

He put his hands on his lips, sucked in his breath, stretched his tongue in his mouth. "Would you?"

She took a staggering step back like he burned her. "No. You think I could?"

"I think sometimes it's hard to control," he replied.

"I don't wanna fight," she closed her eyes tightly as if it would erase the past hour.

"We're not fighting," Jess said back.

"Then what is this?" she questioned. "An accusation?"

"I'm not accusing you of anything," he told her. "I know you haven't done anything wrong. It's always him I don't trust. I tried to. I really did but I can't. Even if he is Tori's father, I can't trust the guy. And I can't sit around and do nothing while he's still in love with you. Especially when you don't see it."

"Logan is not in love with me," was all she could say.

Jess walked toward the front door, past Rory, and grabbed his jacket. "I'm gonna go out for a little while. I can't do this right now."

"You brought it up," she commented seriously. "If we need to do this, then we need to do this."

He shook his head just the once. "I need to get out before I say something I'll really regret. If there's anyone I never want to do that to, it's you. There's too much history here. You bring out the best and the worst in me and I don't want the worst to come out right now."

He opened the door and was about to head out before she called his name. "How is this any worse than anything that was in the book?"

A half smile appeared on his face, the humor missing. "Because this is happening now. The book was already the past."

With that, he shut the door behind him. Rory slumped down to the ground and began to cry. She wasn't sure what any of it meant. He said it wasn't a fight but it sure felt like one.

…

Jess didn't come home. Rory has left countless texts and voicemails on his phone throughout the hours. When no reply came back, she laid in bed and hid her face in his pillow.

Eventually, she had fallen asleep on his side of the bed. She awoke to a chiming sound in the morning and still found herself alone in the apartment. Rory sighed and got out bed. She searched for the source of the chiming noise until she found his laptop. It was on twenty percent battery and the chiming was a notice of how low it was.

She was about to plug it in then shut it off when she noticed the document icon blinked. It asked her if she wanted to save changes to the document. Rory hit yes but couldn't resist checking it. It was the first page of a long document.

It was more than a first page, actually. It was a book dedication page. On it, it had said 'For Rory. Because she believed in me when no one else had and she trusted me again when no one would have."

Wet tears slowly spilled from her eyes as she looked at the screen. What had she done? Jess said she didn't do anything wrong but hadn't she? She knew he wouldn't make something up, not like this. If he thought he saw something with Logan, then maybe he was right.

How could she doubt the person who's been there for her the past four years? The man who loved her regardless of her faults, because of them. She shut down the computer and wiped her face.

As she stood up from the bed, she grabbed her phone again and dialed her boyfriend's number. Once again, it went to voicemail. "Fuck."

This time, she dialed a number she memorized for many years. A chipper voice came on the other end. "Lorelai Gilmore speaking, how many I help you?"

"I need help," Rory cut right to the chase, ignoring her mother's attempt at professional humor because it was her cell phone.

"What's wrong?" she turned into protective mode.

"Is Jess there?" she asked instead of answering.

"No," Lorelai answered. "Why would he be here? Did something happen?"

"We had a fight," she sighed. "He said it wasn't but it felt like one. Then he left because he didn't want to say something he can't take back and I haven't seen him since."

"Oh, boy," her mother sighed. "What was the fight about?"

"What do you think it was about?" she countered.

Lorelai answered immediately. "Logan."

"Yeah," Rory nodded. "God, I keep screwing up."

"I'm sure that's not true," she tried to console her daughter.

"I don't know where he is, Mom," she felt like a fresh wave of tears was coming. "What if something went wrong and that was the last time I saw him? What if the last thing I asked him was about why this was worse than things I'd done before."

"Don't think like that," she soothed. "Take a deep breath. I'm sure he'll be home soon."

"Right," she said. "But what then? How do I make this right?"

She explained the entire conversation to her mother and even added in important details outside of that night. When Rory was finished, Lorelai told her some stories about her and Luke that she had never heard before.

"Logan is always gonna be in your life," she concluded. "If Jess is in your life, then he needs to find a way to accept this."

"But what if he's right?" Rory asked.

"Then you and Logan need to have a serious talk," she told her. "The line has to be set so there can never be a question about it again. If he is in love with you, he needs to one hundred percent be sure it won't happen."

The phone beeped to signal a new call. Rory looked at it but didn't recognize the number. "I'm getting another call."

"Answer it," she said. "We'll talk later. You find Jess."

"Right," she agreed. "Thanks, Mom."

"Anytime." They said their goodbyes then hung up.

Rory answered the other call and was surprised to hear Jess on the line. "Hey."

"Where are you?" she half yelled. "I've been calling and you didn't come home."

"I lost my phone," he said but she sensed that wasn't the whole story. "And I may be in the hospital."

"Hospital?" she jumped right up. Her heart pounded. "What happened?"

"Nothing," he said. "It was stupid."

"Jess," she said worriedly.

"I went out," he stated the obvious. "I ended up at that bar from years ago. The one Matt and Chris invited us to. There was a fight. I didn't start it but I definitely ended it much to the dismay of my right hand."

"Are you okay?" she asked after a moment.

"Yeah," he answered and she got the feeling he didn't just mean his hand. "Yeah, Ror. I'm okay."

A/N: Sorry to end it there but I really wanted to get it up. I hopefully don't take as long with the next update but also we'll see how many more there are too. Thanks for being so patient and I hope even though this wasn't a happy update, that you still like it. Until next time.