They had sat on the bridge for two hours before it started pouring rain.

"So much for this brilliant idea," Jess commented.

Rory crossed her arms tightly and nodded. She'd said nothing the entire time and didn't seem like she was about to start.

"Come on," he told her. "Let's go to the diner."

She nodded again and followed.

******

"No, I haven't seen her," Luke said into the phone. "Jess ran outta here about two hours ago, chances are they're together... Jess won't let anything happen to her, you know that, Lorelei. I gotta lock up, I'm meeting Nicole for dinner. They'll turn up, don't worry. Alright. Yeah, If I hear anything I'll all. Okay. See you tomorrow." He hung up just as Jess and Rory walked in. Rory with her arms around Jess, looking like she'd been crying.

"Rory?" Luke asked worriedly. He'd never seen her look so... dead.

"Hi," she replied, her voice was horse and both she and Jess were soaked.

Luke frowned. "Your mom just called, she's worried sick."

Rory nodded. "I'll call her."

"I'm gonna get her upstairs to dry off," Jess told Luke.

"Do you need anything?" Luke asked.

Rory shook her head.

He nodded and looked to Jess. "I'll call later."

Jess nodded.

******

Lorelei had never run for the phone so fast. "Rory?"

"Hi, Mom."

"Oh, thank god," Lorelei breathed. "Are you alright? Where are you?"

"Jess's."

"Do you want me to come get you?"

"No. I'm gonna crash here tonight," Rory told her.

Lorelei bit her lip. She didn't really like that idea, but the last thing she wanted to do was start a fight. "Do you need anything? Clothes?"

"Can you come over and check on me?" Rory asked in a small voice. "I just can't talk to Dad right now."

Lorelei nodded. "You got it, Babe. Be there soon. I love you."

"Love you, too, Mom."

Lorelei hung up and got her coat. "Chris! I'm going out!"

He rushed out to the front hall. "Where is she? Is she alright?"

"She's at Jess's," Lorelei replied. "I'm going to check on her. You're going to stay here."

"Hey-"

"She can't talk to you right now, Chris," Lorelei cut him off. "I'll be back soon."

*****

She was sitting on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket. He'd let her borrow a shirt and a pair of jeans, along with a belt.

He walked over, also in dry clothes, and set a bowl of soup down in front of her. She stared at the bowl as he sat next to her.

"Eat."

"What about you?" Rory asked him.

"I don't like soup," Jess told her.

"Everybody likes soup."

"I'll make myself a sandwich later."

"I'm not eating until you eat," she replied. "It'd be rude."

"And I worry about manners?"

She gave him a small smile.

He scooted closer to her and put an arm around her. "Never seen you that worked up."

"Bad day."

He nodded.

"My dad..." she didn't finish.

"Yeah."

"And Dean."

He blinked. "Dean?"

"Dean."

He nodded. "Huh." Dean was not going to live for very much longer.

"I wasn't very nice to either of them," Rory said quietly.

"They probably deserved it," Jess replied. Especially Dean. Damn him for making Rory cry. That did it. Bagboy was going down.

"I was already upset when Dean came up to me," she told him. "He thought you'd done something to hurt me."

Dead Dean. Dead, dead Dean.

Jess didn't reply, which was fine since Lorelei began to knock on the door. Rory rushed to the door, swung it open, and threw her arms around her mother.

Jess got up to check on their clothes that were in the dryer.

*****

Lorelei sighed as she got ready to go twenty minutes later. "Okay. Don't do anything I would. And call if you need anything."

Rory hugged her mother one more time. "Thank you, Mom."

Lorelei nodded and hugged back. "Always. You know that. I'll see you both in the morning." She looked over at Jess. "No ding-ding."

"Bye, Mom."

Lorelei hugged Rory once more and then left.

When the door shut, Jess blinked. "Ding-ding?"

"She's been watching Robin Hood: Men in Tights again," Rory replied.

"Ah."

*****

Chris blinked when Lorelei walked back into the house. "Where's... where's Rory?"

"Jess's, I told you," Lorelei replied, taking off her raincoat and hanging it up.

"And... you left her there... for the night."

Lorelei sighed. She knew exactly where he was going with this. "Chris..."

"You left her... at her hoodlum boyfriend's house for the night?" Chris asked, completely shocked.

"He's a thug," Lorelei replied. "Get it right."

"Lor!"

"Nothing is going to happen," she told him.

"You don't know that."

Lorelei sighed. "Y'know what? She's eighteen."

"Point being..."

"Technically she's an adult."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Lorelei, you're over thirty and you're still not an adult."

"Yup. And Rory acts older than I do. So there you have it."

"If he hurts her..."

"You are at the back of the beat-down line," Lorelei replied. "Live with it."

Chris sighed. "You really trust her this much?"

Lorelei nodded.

"Do you trust Jess?"

Lorelei shook her head. "Not really. But he loves her, and he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her."

Chris shook his head.

*****

It was so cold as she walked down the middle of the highway. Dark, too. The only thing she could see up ahead were flashing lights.

No.

Not again.

She ran.

When she reached the flashing lights, she saw the smashed car, with his mangled body inside. His deep brown eyes shut. Blood everywhere.

And then there were her parents.

"Rory!"

She turned around to see her mother running up, wearing a long, beautiful wedding dress.

"Mom?" She began to cry.

"Oh, honey, don't be sad," her mother said. "We're getting married!"

"Jess died, Mom!"

Lorelei looked to Jess's lifeless body and shrugged. "There's always Dean."

Rory only stared through her tears.

"Lor! Rory!"

Lorelei turned with a smile and waved at Chris, who was wearing a black tuxedo.

"Dad?"

"Hi, Honey!" Chris replied.

"We're getting married, Rory, isn't it amazing?" Lorelei laughed, hugging her daughter.

Over her mother's shoulder, Rory saw Chris pull something from his back pocket and point it. "Dad?"

"I'm sorry, Rory. It has to end this way. It always does." He pointed the gun, Rory screamed and a shot rang out.

******

She shot up in bed with a start, and looked around frantically.

Jess' room.

She looked around more.

No Jess.

She got out of bed and rushed out to the couch.

He looked up from his book and sat up. "Rory?"

She just stood there, staring. He was fine.

He got up and walked to her. "Hey. What's up?" he asked, brushing some messy short hair away from her face.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on, not saying anything. She squeezed her eyes shut and held on.

He stood shocked. She was acting strangely. Stranger than she usually was, and wasn't liking it. All he could do was wrap an arm around her in return.

*****

"I just think... I'll always care... Chris... I'll always love you. But it's too late. It can't work."

Lorelei sighed as she looked in her mirror, practicing what she would say to her old flame, who was sleeping on the couch down the stairs. She sat on the bed and buried her head under a pillow.

*****

"What were you thinking about before?"

Rory was curled up against Jess on the couch and he'd pulled a blanket over them. "When?"

"This morning at the diner."

"Oh..." Rory replied. "It's no big deal."

She wasn't going to make this easy. He had to get her mind off of whatever whacked-out dream she had, or she'd never get any sleep. Neither would he, for that matter. "Tell me anyways."

She sighed. "I was wondering... do we have an anniversary?"

He gave her a confused look.

"Y'know... a day... where... y'know a day."

He shrugged. "Do you want one?"

"Do you?"

"You want one, don't you?"

"We don't have to have one."

"What day do you want?"

"The day you woke up."

"I wake up everyday."

She gave him a scrunched up look.

He smirked. "Okay. The day I woke up. So that'd be..." He thought. Oh shit. "Two days from now."

She nodded.

"You're not giving me a lot of time."

"It doesn't have to be anything special," she told him.

He nodded. Sure it didn't.