Rory looked at her image in the mirror. A year ago she would have been concerned about if she looked nice, if the boys would notice.

Now all she wanted was to see that girl again. She'd give anything for a bad hair day to be her biggest concern. Her cheeks were tear-

streaked but she didn't care enough to wipe them away. The phone rang, but she didn't answer it. She had convinced her mother she was

sick, and Lorelei hadn't made her go to school. Jess had called, he knew she wasn't sick, but thought she was upset about the previous

night. Rory realized how much she loved him. She couldn't keep secrets from the people she loved anymore. She had two options, she

could tell, or she could kill herself. A bottle of pills weren't far from her hand, but she had decided not to use them. All she wanted was for

her mom to hug her and tell her it was going to be okay. Lorelei was convincing. She heard the door open, and ran to it,"Mom, thank god

you're home." But it wasn't Lorelei at the bottom of the stairs. It was Dean. "Oh, Dean, what are you doing here?" Dean looked down,

"I've been worried about you Rory. We haven't talked since you called me that night." Rory said, "Dean, thanks for being worried about

me but," Dean cut her off, "Rory, I'm still in love with you. I want to protect you." She was slightly taken aback. In the months since they

had broken up, Dean had gone with many different girls. He continued, "Look at what Jess did to you Ror, he doesn't deserve you!" Rory

said quietly, "Jess had been so good to me Dean. I'm in love with him." Dean said quietly, "I'm sorry, but I'll never stop loving you."

Rory hugged him. He looked pleadingly into her eyes and she looked back. "One Last Kiss?" said Dean, almost begging. They were

kissing when Lorelei walked into the house. "Oh My God!" said Lorelei. Rory immediately pulled away. Dean looked hurt and said, "I

better go." Lorelei looked at Rory, "What was that all about?" Rory looked down, "he said he wanted a last kiss." Lorelei hugged her, "Oh

honey." They hugged and suddenly Rory was crying, "Mom, I have to tell you something." An Hour Later, after the story had been told,

Lorelei and Rory were crying, sitting hugging on the couch. Lorelei said, "It's okay now Rory." It was a small town, and Rory wanted to

be the first to tell Jess. Lorelei and her walked into the diner and Rory grabbed Jess's hand. "I have to talk to you," she said. When they

got to the upstairs apartment he said, "Rory, I don't want you to regret last night." She kissed him, "This isn't about last night Jess. I

haven't told you everything. When I was drunk at that p-p-party Brent raped me. Then he came to school and took advantage of me. He

told me he would tell everybody if I didn't go back to his house with him. I did. I was so scared that you wouldn't love me anymore if you

knew. He ruined my life Jess." She was crying now, and he was hugging her. "I will always love you Rory. I promise. Nothing can change

that." After Rory left Jess started punching the wall. Nobody could do this to Rory. He set out to find Brent.

Nearby, the story of Rory being raped had spread throughout town to Dean. He hadn't however heard the whole story. He had assumed

that Jess had raped her. He stroked a semi-automatic handgun in his pocket. He was sitting on a park bench all alone. It was dark. He saw

Rory leave the diner, holding hands with her mom. They didn't see him. That was his Rory, the precious, beautiful, perfect Rory. How

could Jess think of doing that to her. She had just said she loved Jess. How had he warped her mind like that? Well he wouldn't hurt her

again. Dean would make sure of that.

Jess left the diner. He had a cigarette in his hand, this time if any was one he needed one. He had told Luke he needed to be alone. Luke

understood. Or at least Luke said he did. Jess wondered how anybody could understand the guilt he was feeling. If he hadn't taken her

back to his town, and agreed to go to the party, this would never have happened. It was all his fault. He didn't exactly know where he was

going to find Brent, but Rory said he lived in Stars Hollow. It was a small town.

Dean saw Jess leave the diner. The bastard was smoking. Quietly he left the bench and began to follow Jess. Smoking that cigarette

would be the last thing he would ever do. He wouldn't ever hurt Rory again. Dean put his finger on the trigger and walked to wear Jess

was. After about an hour and half Jess sat down in the middle of the park. It was quiet, dark, nobody was around. Dean approached him.