Thank you a thousand times for the reviews you've left! It makes me very happy!

I messed things up when counting days and I had to go back and change a tiny little thing in the very last part of the previous chapter: When Rory and Matt talk in the end it sounds as if he's suggesting that she would stay for two nights and then drive back (and that was how I meant for it to sound) but now, I've changed it into one night and one day.

I'll recap the last lines for you, so you don't have to go back to see the changes:

"You have no idea, I think this week is Asian/American week, not as bold as Indian/Mexican week, but nonetheless interesting. Then tomorrow you could come and watch me work the lunch shift and then we could go out somewhere for an early dinner and if you want to you could be back in New Haven by tomorrow night – plenty of time for you to sleep your beauty sleep and greet the fiancé when he gets home"

Matt looked at her across the table, eagerly leaning forward as he waited for her answer.

Rory sighed and threw her head back. "What movies were you thinking?" She asked as she dropped her head back down again and met his eyes.

"She was not flirting with me" Matt stated with an amused tone of voice as he opened the door to the apartment and held it open for Rory to step through.

"Of course she was" Rory turned to face him when she entered the hallway. "Come on! 'Odd choice of movies for a date'" Rory mimicked the girl from the video store's voice. "'Oh, this is not a date'" She darkened her voice to mimic Matt's and he grinned wide at her acting.

"I come in there a lot" Matt defended himself while hanging his coat on the rack and taking the bag with movies and take-out in his hand. "We're friends"

Rory shook her head. "She was flirting and so were you. End of story"

Matt rolled his eyes as he flung an arm over her shoulders and headed for the living room. "Whatever"

At the very same time Rory and Matt stepped over the threshold they spotted Jess standing in front of the bookshelves in the living room. He turned around with a book still in his hand when they entered the room.

"Oh. Hey" Rory said and without thinking about it she took a small step away from Matt and started wringing her hands together in front of her stomach.

"Hi" Jess waved the book in his hand a little as to, without the use of words, explains his presence in his own living room.

"I'm just gonna…" Matt held the bag of food up in front of them and excused himself. Rory casted a sideway glare at him, which he conveniently chose to ignore as he moved away towards the kitchen.

They stood for a while in an uncomfortable silence before Rory cleared her throat, an action that made Jess look up from examining the cover of the book he held in his hands.

"The girl at the video store was flirting with Matt" Rory informed in an attempt to break the silence and start a conversation on a neutral subject. She tried to smile to assure him of her friendliness. It felt half-hearted and probably looked it as well.

Jess nodded. "So I heard"

She nodded as well, unsure of how to continue. "I…" She started and then drifted off. "We…" She began again but stopped to take a breath before she made a third attempt in which the words came out fast and almost sounded like she was defending her presence in the room, which she, come to think of it, kind of was. "Matt invited me to stay for a movie night"

Jess nodded again. "Okay"

"So there's no rush for you to sign the papers" She continued in her attempts to be friendly and act nice.

He quirked an eyebrow at her as he put the book back on the shelf.

"I mean, you can give them to me before I leave tomorrow" She explained and he nodded again – an action that was starting to annoy her. She was trying desperately to make nice conversation and all he offered in response was nodding.

"If that's okay with you?" She asked, trying to get something other than a nod out of him. "That I stay" She clarified her question.

"Sure" He shrugged his shoulders before he retreated into his room.

Rory sighed and went to look for Matt, who had surely been taking his time getting the food ready.

"You go make some more popcorn and I'll put in the next movie" Matt said as he got up from the couch, putting an end to their heated discussion on whether the 2005 version or the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice was a better movie adaption.

Matt had argued that Colin Firth was Mr. Darcy and Rory had – as per usual – defended the movie he bashed just because it was fun to do so and she loved arguing with him. Even at times when they did in fact agree, Rory had to disagree a little just for the fun of it. It was their thing. She had missed it.

"You're really gonna let me be in charge of the cooking part of this?" Rory widened her eyes and looked at him incredulously. He grinned.

"Well…There's no chance in hell I'm letting you anyway near my new DVD-player, that's for sure. And it's microwave-popcorn, you can't mess it up!"

A mischievous smile spread across Rory's face. "You know you're talking to a Gilmore, right?"

"Yeah" He ushered her towards the kitchen with a smile as he added: "A Gilmore that will have to endure her movie without popcorn if she messes them up"

Rory gasped at him in mock terror before she laughed and made her way towards the kitchen.

She rummaged through the bag Matt left on the counter, found the popcorn and placed a bag in the microwave.

She leaned back on the counter and waited for the popping to begin.

"What are you doing?"Jess came in to the kitchen and gave Rory a quick peck on the lips before he took a glass out of the cupboard and started filling it with water.

"Popping popcorn" She smiled proudly when Jess raised his eyebrows at her.

"Matt does know you're a Gilmore, right?"

"Shut up!" She punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"I'm just saying" He held his hands up to defend himself with a happy smile on his lips.

She pouted and he tilted his head when he continued mocking her cooking skills. "I'm just hoping he has a fire extinguisher prepared" He took a small step closer. "Or at least another bag of popcorn"

"Hey" She slapped her wrist against his chest and he quickly grabbed it and drew her closer to him. She smiled when she put her arms around his neck and leaned in for a kiss.

"How many movies left on this movie night?" He whispered as he let his lips travel across her jaw line towards the soft skin right beneath her ear.

She gasped. "One"

With his hand firmly placed on the small of her back he pressed her body closer to his and found her lips with his again. "Wake me up if I'm asleep when you're done" He mumbled against her lips and she nodded before she pressed her lips against his.

He sighed a content sigh before he drew back. "Don't burn the popcorns" He whispered against her ear and his warm breath against her skin made her shudder.

He smiled as he walked away, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She smiled back and stood there for a few seconds, all consumed by the happiness rushing through her body, before she remembered the task she'd been assigned in the kitchen.

"What's that burning smell?" Rory literally jumped away from the counter when Matt entered the kitchen, sniffing the air.

"Oh God!" Rory launched towards the microwave when she suddenly remembered the popcorns. She had been so lost in her memories she had completely forgotten about the popcorns.

"Sorry" She offered when Matt pulled a smoking bag out of the microwave and threw it in the sink.

"It's okay. I should have figured" He smiled. "Have you ever made popcorn without burning at least half the bag?"

"It's unheard of" She smiled as well.

Rory sighed and turned on the couch again. Sleep seemed to be so far away, so unattainable. She was tired. She had barely been able to keep her eyes open while watching the last movie. And now she was wide awake.

It was as if the apartment was too familiar to fall asleep in, if that made any sense at all. Every way she looked there was a memory waiting to be stirred up.

Even if she closed her eyes there was a smell lingering in the apartment. She couldn't describe it, but it was the smell of her old life. Of Jess and her.

She had read about is somewhere, about how the olfactory organ was somehow connected to the part of the brain that was associated with memory. She couldn't quite remember how or why, but if there had ever been any doubt in her mind about the veracity of it, she was definitely convinced now.

Trying to avoid all the familiar smells in the apartment she stopped breathing through her nose and instead opened her mouth.

That worked for about a minute before her mouth felt as dry as a desert. She sighed as she slowly got up to go get a glass of water.

Not wanting to wake anyone else up she carefully avoided turning on any lights as she headed towards the kitchen. There she almost screamed as she bumped into someone in front of the refrigerator.

"It's just me" She heard Jess' voice trying to calm her down and she felt ashamed at how easily scared she was.

"I couldn't sleep" She explained.

Her eyes were starting to get used to the darkness in the kitchen and she could see him nodding. "Water?" He opened the fridge and held a bottle out towards her.

"Thank you" She took the bottle and opened it right away. She felt his eyes on her as she took a huge gulp out of the bottle.

He played with the cap of his bottle, but didn't open it. "So you're back at school?" He asked and she was surprised to learn that he obviously had extended his will to converse to more than simple nods.

"I was" She nodded fervently. "I graduated last week."

"Good" He nodded as well, but at least this time the nod was accompanied by words. "You should never have dropped out in the first place."

She felt her heart drop. Maybe this wasn't an attempt at a friendly chatter. "Don't, Jess"

"I'm just saying" He shrugged his shoulders. "School and study, that's your thing, you shouldn't have given up on it, I shouldn't have asked you to give it up"

She sighed, her voice tired. "Well, everything worked out for the best"

"Seems like it" He replied and with that he turned around and headed back towards his bedroom.

When she heard the door to his room slam shut a memory of another slammed door flittered across her mind.

"You can't walk out in the middle of a conversation!" Rory screamed as Jess left the living room and headed towards the front door.

"This isn't a conversation anymore – it's a fight!" He snapped back.

"Even more reason why you can't leave in the middle of it" She shouted and took a few angry steps towards the hallway.

"Watch me!" He answered as he walked out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Rory pinched her eyes together as she stood in the dark. How had they come to that? To fighting and shouting at each other?

It wasn't supposed to be like that. But she hadn't been able to stop it, neither of them had. It had been like sitting in the backseat of a car, speeding towards a massive rock face without being able to do anything but sit back and watch as they headed closer and closer to the final crash.

She sighed and took the bottle with her back to the couch. They had lost it. They had lost everything that made them happy. They had lost it and forgotten were to search for it.

Rory blinked a few times and stretched her body before she opened her eyes completely to the daylight shining through the windows and filling the living room. She sat up on the couch and pulled the blanket closer around her.

The apartment was quiet. She looked around, not sure whether she should get up or if she should stay put until Matt woke up. She didn't want anyone (that would be Jess) to think she was pushing the boundaries of her welcome by snooping around.

Her eyes caught sight of a green post-it stuck to the water bottle she retrieved the night before and placed on the coffee table next to her. She reached for the bottle and read the post-it.

Make yourself at home. I'm at work, come see me if you get bored.

/Matt

P.s Jess is going with me, so you'll have the apartment all to yourself

Rory took the note off the bottle and held it in her hand. It was a Saturday and she wondered if Jess was working too, or if he had accompanied Matt only to avoid being left alone with her. If the latter was the case, she wasn't sure whether she was relieved or disappointed.

She sighed. Of course she was relieved; the tension between them was weird and the less time they spent together the better.

'Coffee' she thought, effectively pushing the thoughts about Jess away in favor for a more urgent one. There should be coffee in the kitchen, she reasoned as she got up with the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders.

Within seconds, she found the coffee – on the same shelf where she herself had put it years ago. A smile spread across her face as she opened the bag and sniffed the air above it.

After starting a pot of coffee, Rory wandered around the living room, waiting for the pot to be done and for that wonderful smell of freshly brewed coffee to spread. The living room looked pretty much the same.

A few of the things she had added while living here were missing. Like the silly little ceramic frog she had bought at a flea market and insisted to place where you would immediately catch sight of it the moment you stepped into the living room.

Every day, either Matt or Jess would move the frog to a less visible place and every day she would find it and move it back. She chuckled. It had developed into an ever on-going game of hide-and-seek. She wondered where the frog was now.

The bookshelves were still in the same place and still filled with books. Rory slowly walked up t it and began running her finger along the spines of the books in the bookshelf. There were a few new titles in it.

She remembered how they had bickered when moving her things in and realized that all their books combined were too many to fit into the bookshelf.

It had been a couple of days of debating – both of them coming up with several, in their own opinions, valid arguments as to why a certain book deserved a spot in the bookshelf and why another should be stored in a box under the bed.

On the third day Jess had gone out and bought another bookshelf. That meant they didn't have the money to paint the spare room right away – but at least their books had a nice home and they didn't use the spare room anyway.

She smiled at the memory as she reached the end of the bookshelf. Her smile faded though as a realization hit her. None of her books were in it anymore.

She went back and looked it over one more time. No. All her books were gone, banished from the shelves. She wondered what he had done with them, if he had thrown them away. He wouldn't do that, would he?

Tentatively, all while casting glances across her shoulder, she took a few steps in the direction of Jess' room. There was another bookshelf in there; maybe he had simply moved them out of sight for everyone else?

She stopped outside the door, debating whether she should go in or not. She was curious, not only about her books, she had to admit that. She wondered if he still slept in the same bed – their bed; if the second drawer in the bureau was still broken.

Quickly, before she changed her mind, she pressed down the handle and pushed the door open. She didn't move from her spot on the floor as she waited and listened. She was still alone. With one last glance towards the front door, she took a deep breath and stepped into his room.

She looked around the room. It basically looked the same. The same minus all of her things, she noticed as she walked over to the bookshelf. It was littered with books, not even half as tidy as the bookshelf in the living room – but none of the books was hers.

She turned her back towards the bookshelf and looked around the room again. She couldn't quite explain the feeling of relief when she noticed there wasn't anything even remotely resembling girl's stuff that had replaced her things.

The bed was neatly made, a habit she always suspected he picked up while living with Luke.

She walked over to the bed and sat down on it. It was the same bed and it was neatly made, a habit she had always suspected he had picked up while living with Luke. How could he stand to sleep in their bed, surrounded by all the memories it held?

As on a whim and without really thinking about it, she pulled the drawer of his nightstand open and peered into it. There were no condoms in it. At least that's a good thing, she thought without really knowing why it was a good thing.

She was just about to close to the drawer and get out of the room before anyone came home and found her in it, when something caught her eye. It was a frame facing upside down.

She recognized the frame and couldn't stop her hands from shaking slightly as she pulled it out and looked at it. It was their wedding photo. Chris had taken it with a disposable camera and then he and Matt had framed the photo and given it to them as a wedding present.

They looked happy. Back then, their problems had been small enough to hide behind a smile and a kiss.

She sighed and placed the frame back in the drawer. When doing so, she felt a paper against her fingers and without even looking at it, she instantly knew what piece of paper it was. She couldn't believe he kept it all this time. She had been sure he would have ripped to pieces and thrown it away.

She pinched the paper between her fingers and pulled it out. It was a small note, only two words in her handwriting.

I'm sorry.

She looked down at the words on the paper and took a deep sigh, trying to hold back her tears. Why was it so hard? The hard thing should be to make the decision, not to go through with it.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down and slowly slid the wedding ring off her finger and placed it next to the words on the paper.

"I love you." She whispered out into the silence, as if the words would maybe linger in the room and ease his pain when reading her parting words. A tear escaped her eye and fell on the paper, smudging the 'y' in sorry.

She ran her hand over her face, wiping away the traces of the tear and turned around and walked away. In the hallway she picked up her bag in which she stuffed the most prized of her possessions and with a last look over her shoulder she left the apartment.

She hadn't heard a word from him since that day. A fact that made her even more decided that her decision to leave had been for the better for both of them. They had been slowly destroying each other and would have kept doing so until it was too late.

With the unexplainable feeling of tears stinging behind her eyes, Rory placed the note back in the drawer, closed it and hurried out of the room.