I had a lot of trouble with how to write this chapter. I knew what I wanted it to be about, but I couldn't quite figure out how to get there, so after many rewrites I decided to write it from another point of view: Matt's. Or at least half of it, the rest of the story will be (as usual) from Rory's point of view.

Matt looked at the paper in front of him and smiled proudly. This would work. He was sure of it. If only she gave it a try, Rory would see that she and Jess belonged together. There was no doubt in his mind about that.

Well, the very passionate kissing he'd witnessed between the two when sneaking out of the pub was probably going to help as well. But he knew Rory; she needed this as well to help setting her mind straight. Kissing alone wasn't gonna do it.

Startled by a sudden rustle at the door and loud voices from the hallway, Matt flew out of his chair.

"Don't do that!" He heard Rory's voice, shouting from the hallway and he headed for the door to see what the fuss was about, but stopped in his tracks when he heard who she was yelling at.

"Don't do what?" Jess' tired and equally irritated voice asked.

No. No, no, no. What had happened? How had they gone from kissing outside the pub to this? Slowly and quietly Matt moved closer to the door and pressed his ear against it.

Eavesdropping wasn't polite. He knew that. But screw politeness – this was for the greater good. All is far in love and war, right?

"Don't get all quiet and bitter and shut me out" Rory pleaded and he heard Jess scoff in response.

"Shut you out?" He scoffed again. "Like you did with me?"

"You don't understand" Rory's voice was sad with a hint of desperation in it and he wondered if she was crying.

The voices were coming closer and it sounded as if though the fight had moved from the hallway and into the living room.

"What I do understand is that you should have told me" Jess' voice was restrained and Matt could very well picture the cold look he probably had on his face.

"We could have gotten through it together" Jess continued and Matt searched his brain to try and match the pieces. They were obviously talking about something that had happened when they were together.

"We could have supported each other" Jess' voice was softer now, and it had a hint of sadness that Matt had never heard in it before.

"You don't get it!" Rory shouted and he could hear her pacing around the living room. "I was relieved when I lost the baby"

Shocked, Matt took a step back from the door. The baby? Rory had been pregnant? When? Why hadn't she told anyone?

Even though his ear was no longer pressed against the door, Rory was talking loud enough for him to hear the rest of her confession.

"I had a life growing inside of me and all I felt when it died was relief. Relief because the future I had planned wasn't at risk anymore" Her voice was almost breaking and Matt assumed that she was crying. He wanted to go out there and comfort her, but he didn't. He figured this was something they needed to deal with on their own.

Rory's sobbing and heartfelt confession was met with silence for several minutes until the sound of Jess slamming his bedroom door echoed through the apartment.

Shocked over what he'd just learned, Matt backed further into his room until the back of his legs hit the bed and he sat down on it.

Rory woke up the next morning with sore eyes and a headache. The apartment was silent and she was relieved at that fact. She didn't want to face Jess after their fight last night.

Oh, the fight. Rory buried her face in her hands.

Why had she felt the need to explain to him why she left? Why couldn't she just have left things the way they were?

Why had she kissed him?

It had been stupid. Everything last night had been stupid. She shouldn't have stayed for the celebration. She was no longer a part of this life. She had left it.

She shouldn't have kissed Jess. She was engaged to be married. She really shouldn't have kissed Jess.

What worried her the most though, was all the feelings the kiss had stirred up. Feelings she had been sure she had buried so deep they would never surface again.

She shook it away. As soon as she go back home, those feelings would disappear again. Last night was nothing but a reminder of what her life had been like. Even the fight fit well in there.

Rory sighed and let her drop. Was that really all it was? Jess' lips against hers, his arms around her body – it had all felt so good. If she were to be totally honest with herself, she had been longing for that kiss ever since Matt had interrupted them in the kitchen.

She lifted her head and glanced over at Jess' bedroom door. The bedroom she'd shared with him. The door was closed.

Sighing again, she forced herself to stop staring at the closed door and her eyes fell on a stack of papers lying on the coffee table. She recognized them and picked them up.

It was the divorce papers. She quickly flipped through them. It was the divorce papers with Jess' signature on them.

There was no note. No words. Nothing but his signature, saying that he wouldn't contest the divorce.

Rory looked into Jess' brown eyes and all nervousness she'd felt and all the doubts she'd had seemed to disappear in that instant. He was smiling. Not one of his usual smirks, but a real smile.

It made her smile too. It had been too long since she last saw him smiling like that. His smile grew wider as her smile had given his more energy. She couldn't resist a small giggle. This was crazy. They were both crazy for doing this.

But it didn't matter – if being crazy felt this good, she'd chose it over sanity any time!

"I love you" Jess whispered.

"I love you too" Rory whispered back before the minister stepped before them and called for their attention.

A lump starting growing in Rory's throat and she had to swallow hard several times. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she stood up from the couch, placed the papers neatly in her bag, grabbed it and headed for the hallway.

She stopped on the threshold and turned around to take one last look and make sure she hadn't left any of her stuff behind. She'd have to come back and get the stuff from the storage another time, but that was a later problem. She couldn't stay here any longer.

Her eyes lingered a few moments on Jess' door, before she sighed, turned around and walked out of the apartment.