A/N: So my last ending was a bunch of crap, basically. I agree with anyone who said- "worst ending EVER," because now that I've had some time to reflect on it, I really think I copped out. So, now that I have time, I've rewritten this with a happier ending, although it's still in keeping with the "These Tortured Souls" idea that I started with.

He could see the resolve building in her eyes, the way her posture subtly shifted, the way she cleared her mouth with her tongue and swallowed anything that would hold her back. He imagined this was the end. He imagined that this was the last time he would see Rory Gilmore- not that the woman he loved inhabited the body in front of him anyway.

And, he, too, was building resolve about this.

The elevator levelled out on the top floor and announced the opening of its doors with a grating, ominous "ding." Jess swallowed hard, and prepared himself for her departure.

But she didn't go. She held his eyes in hers and let the doors close again. She held his eyes and unflinchingly moved towards him, practically gluing her body to his to reach around him and press the button to lower them to the 8th floor, where Jess lived. She held his eyes in his as she backed away, still cool, stoic and utterly unreadable.

Jess wondered if this was all a dream. He wondered if she was only dropping him off on her way down. He wondered if this was a false victory. He wondered if she could see his weakness, his confusion or the way his resolve abandoned him the second she hit the button.

If she could, she didn't let on.

When the elevator opened its doors to the 8th floor, after ninety seconds of excruciating silence as they traversed the four floors, she put her hand in his in the a warm gesture that sharply contrasted with the frigidity of her behavior. He allowed her to lead him, vexed beyond reaction, back to his apartment. He allowed her to pull him down next to her on the couch, he allowed her to let go of his hand. He allowed her to speak first.

"We'll talk, Jess," she spoke, finally, in a tone that was so dramatically different from any behavior she had exhibited earlier that Jess was a little stunned.

And then they did, productively and civil, though not unpassionate. Jess confessed what had been long realized about his departures, to the correct analyzations of Rory. He left because he was afraid, because he had nothing to offer her, because it was his father, because he dropped out. He'd come back because he loved her- it was that simple.

Rory admitted that Jess was a factor in her affair with Dean. He only added to the chaos and tumult of the time, but it was more than that. It was loneliness, it was a sense of reclaiming what had been lost, what she couldn't reclaim with Jess, what she had wanted with him...

Jess talked about Mena. He talked about how he had met her with fond recollection. He explained why she left, and what happened when she came back. He showed Rory, more than he told her, what Mena had done for him.

And Rory spoke of Logan. She would mumble about the boat, and defiantly defend her decision to drop out of Yale. She would lament the developments in the relationship with her mother. It was this topic that would draw her into his arms, to fall asleep and leave Jess to his thoughts.

The words Rory would speak made it easy to let go. It was the way she said it, with the flicker of drive, of pro-con analysis, the insane references she could manage to drop into even the most serious conversations...That made it hard. Confessing, giving himself back to her, produced a similar tug-of-war. He couldn't help but feel the pull of adolescence that suggested flight, and yet, the understanding that his confessions produced made it harder to leave.

At the end of the day, though, as the lights of NYC began to flicker down and Rory snored softly on his chest, he realized that he had to. She wasn't going to stay, for more reasons that Logan's personal tumult and her need to be there for him. It was time for them both to give up and move on.

Accepting this was hard, especially with Rory's physical proximity and the intimate way she had her arms wrapped around his waist, but he did it, and then made a plan.

He made a plan and then drifted off to sleep himself.

His eyes would flicker open several hours later, as the sun peeked through the curtains of his apartment. She wouldn't be there, but he would be at peace with this, and drag his emotionally weary body into his own bed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week later, Rory would show up on his doorstep again. She'd hide a Yale t-shirt under the dress-suit uniform of the DAR. She'd tell him she was making amends with her mother, that she was registering for classes again, and that she had almost finished her community service. She'd thank him, and then do the leaving he was so familiar with.

A month later, things would be over with Logan. Luke would make a tacit phone call, and inform him of the news, but Jess wouldn't allow himself to develop expectations. Instead, he'd bury himself in work, in his plan, in another novel- one in which Rory would not star.

A year later, he'd stand in his new home, adjusting the rocking motion of the Atlantic Ocean. He'd feel like Hemmingway, only more satisfied with his life, yet, still uncomplete, as he began to pull up the anchor on his boat, his plan. As the boat started to drift away, however, his cell phone would ring. A fleeting thought suggested throwing it into the ocean, but the caller, ironically, convinced him otherwise. Rory would graduate in the coming weeks after taking an extra load, and summer school classes. She wanted him to be there.

He would anchor his boat for Rory. He would grab the nearest cab and temporarily abandon his plan to stop in Stars Hollow, to knock on her mother's door, and she would answer it with the phone to the land line still in her hand. He would tell her, "Congratulations," and offer her a smile. She would invite him in. He would be there for her graduation. They'd both be ready for what had so long been right in front of them.

A decade later, two children later, a wedding later, five novels between them later, they'd sail around the coast off Greece in Jess' abandoned big plan, celebrating their 5th anniversary, and they love they could finally share, simply.

A/N: Better? I hope so. Thanks to everyone who gave this story a chance initially, and especially to those who gave it a second chance!