Chapter 20: Oh, My Love

[Dean]

Dean woke up the next morning feeling like crap. Not the I-feel-so- sick crap. The my-entire-officially-sucks crap. He went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face to try to wake himself up. He stared at himself in the mirror. He did look like crap.

"What are you doing?" Dean's crappy-faced reflection asked him.

"Am I sick or something?" Dean asked himself. "I could've sworn my mirror just talked to me."

"I did talk to you," mirror-Dean responded. "What are you doing?"

"I'm watching my face," Dean responded, feeling a little foolish talking to a mirror.

"You're letting the girl you love get away," mirror-Dean corrected him.

"Hey, she chose to leave," Dean said.

"You love her don't you?" mirror-Dean asked.

"Yeah, but-"

"And she loves you."

"No, she doesn't."

"Why do you think she's moving? You wanted to get back together with her, but you were afraid of getting hurt so you ragged on her for rejecting Jess over you."

"Gee, thanks."

This was getting a little weird to Dean. He was talking to a mirror. And it was talking back? What was wrong with him?

"Now, she's too hurt to even look at you," mirror-Dean continued. "So, she's moving away."

"How do you know this stuff?" Dean asked.

"I'm your subconscious," mirror-Dean answered. "I know everything. She loves you. Go get her before it's too late."

Dean sat up in bed and looked at the clock. 6:45 A.M. It was just a crazy dream. But, everything the mirror "told" him was true. He had to go get her before it was too late.

Dean quickly splashed some water on his face, changed into clothes and ran outside. He didn't know where to go first. It was either Luke's or her house. As he ran passed Luke's he bumped into Rory, almost spilling her coffee.

"Careful!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," Dean said. "I was looking for you."

"Why?" Rory asked.

Dean took a deep breath.

"You can't go," he said.

"Why not?" Rory asked.

"Because I don't want you to," Dean said.

Rory didn't say anything. She just stared at him with her mouth halfway open in surprise.

"I'm sorry for how I treated you," Dean said. "I do want to reconcile. I just said no because I was stubborn and afraid of getting hurt. But, I'm sorry I made hell for you. Please don't leave. I'm so in love with you and I want to start over with you."

He was practically begging. He felt like he was Ross begging Rachel not to go to Paris on the season finale of Friends (which Lindsay made him watch with her while they were married). Rory stared at him for a few minutes and then looked down at the sidewalk.

"Rory," Dean said. "Please say something."

"Can't you make up your mind?" Rory said. "First you sleep with me then you want me then you don't want me and now you want me again? God, you're like a little boy! 'Mommy, I want the train. No, I want the airplane. Actually, I want the G.I. Joe doll.'"

"My mind's made up now," Dean said. "And I know you love me, too."

Rory sighed. "No," she said. "I can't."

Dean's hopes shattered along with his heart. "Why?" he asked.

"I can't handle this," Rory said. "It's too confusing."

They stood on the sidewalk looking at each other. Two or three cars started driving in the street.

"I have to go," Rory said, getting into Luke's truck turning on the engine.

"Rory," Dean said, desperately.

"I'm sorry," Rory said.

Rory drove away slowly. Dean stood in the street and watched her drive away. After everything they'd been through together over the past seven years, she was really leaving.

[Rory]

Rory stopped at a red light and waited for it to change. She saw Dean standing in the street. She couldn't believe she left things like that with him. She loved him and now she knew he loved her.

If he loves you and you love him, then why are you still moving? A little nagging voice in the back of her head asked. Why am I still moving? Rory thought. The primary reason she was moving away was because of him. Now, he practically begged her to stay and said that he loved her and she still kept driving.

The light changed and Rory kept her foot on the accelerator. Dean, who looked like a dot now, turned around and walked away. Screw this, Rory thought. She turned off the engine, jumped out of the car, and dropped her coffee and spilling it all over the road.

"DEAN, WAIT!" Rory shouted.

The dot, otherwise known as Dean, turned around. Rory ran down the middle of the road towards him, dodging a truck that nearly hit her, and ran up to Dean and kissed him. The kiss brought her back to Chilton when she first told him she loved him. But, before she could indulge herself anymore in the memory, Dean pushed her away.

"What the-"Rory began.

"Are you crazy?" Dean asked.

"What?" Rory asked.

"You almost got hit by a truck!" Dean exclaimed. "How dumb are you?"

"I'm not dumb," Rory protested. "I was determined. You just begged me to stay and now you're yelling at me about getting hit by a truck?"

"Don't ever do that again," Dean said. "I just don't want you to die. I mean, you are going to die, but I don't want you to die until your at least one hundred and thirty."

He pressed his lips against hers. It was Rory's turn to push him away.

"You're a pain in my ass, Dean Forester," Rory said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Dean said.

He kissed her again, but she pushed him away again.

"A really big pain," she said.

"I got it," Dean said, leaning in again.

"It's so big I have to get an operation to get it removed," Rory said.

"Could you shut the hell up so I can kiss you?" Dean asked.

"Did you just tell me to shut up?" Rory said.

"I'm sorry," Dean said.

Rory draped her arms around his neck and gave him a good long kiss until she ran out of breath.

"So, you're staying?" Dean asked.

"I guess I am," Rory said.

"Good," Dean said.

"So, what now?" Rory asked.

"Well, did you eat yet?" Dean asked. "Or can I endorse you for the one you just bought?"

"No," Rory said. "I was going to get something on the way down."

"I didn't eat either," Dean said. "Do you want to get something?"

"First, I have to take the truck back to Mom's and tell her that I'm staying," Rory said. "But, after that sure. I would love to."

Rory and Dean headed back to Luke's truck. Halfway there, Dean draped his arm around Rory's shoulders.

"You know," Rory said. "You could win an Oscar for that performance you gave me back there?"

"Excuse me?" Dean asked.

"'Rory, don't go,'" Rory said, dramatically. "'I love you. I want to start over with you.'"

"Shut up," Dean said.

"'I wanted to be with you,'" Rory continued. "'I was just too stubborn.'"

"Okay, I know I begged," Dean said.

"You want me to stop teasing?" Rory asked.

"Yes, please," Dean said.

"Fine," Rory said. "I'll save it for another time."

"I can't wait," Dean said, sarcastically.

I guess sometimes the other woman gets a happy ending, Rory thought, as she and Dean got in her truck and drove back to the Gilmore-Danes house.

"Oh my love for the first time in

my life

my eyes are wide open

oh my lover for the first time in

my life

my eyes can see

I see the wind, oh I see the

trees

everything is clear in my heart

I see the clouds, oh I see the

sky

everything is clear in our world"- John Lennon

A/N: JOHN LENNON ROCKS MY WORLD!!!! Not in the disgusting way. Corny, I know. But, there's an epilogue.