DISCLAIMER: I still own nothing, my attempts to take over the world have failed, darn.

Okay, so this one is a bit... darker, heads up I guess. Nothing of great consequence happens though, actually that's totally not true, something happens. But I won't give it away! Tell me what you think.

Oh, and a big thanks to those who have reviewed, sad I know, but I hope I haven't disappointed you, keep it up for my sake!

-Over The Edge-

It was hard for Rory to ever get comfortable, to ever feel safe, because whenever she did, things like this happened. Things that threw her delicate system off balance, things that brought her back to the beginning, things that hurt. But no matter how many times she reminded herself of the possible consequences, she found herself getting attached, attached to people, attached to hopes, attached to memories, and each time these were pulled away, the cut was worse. So this time, with this one simple realization, Rory was hurting again, more than ever before, and she knew this one would leave a scar.

Rory gently took the blankets from Luke's firm grip and bundled them in her arms. She just wanted to go to sleep and, by the way she was feeling tonight, never wake up. She stood watching, while he dragged the air mattress out onto the floor, the same flimsy mattress that Jess had slept on so many years ago. In reality, it hadn't been very long, but to Rory it felt like forever. Since it had been forever since she was happy, forever since she was herself, forever since she was young. Now, all she felt was old, her spirit sagged, and she ached with constant exhaustion, no matter the amount of sleep she got. All she wanted, was to be free again.

Killer instincts. She's over the edge.

The tile floor was more inviting than the smooth sheets tucked tightly in their corners, and the creaseless pillow resting at the top. They were cold enough to numb her pain, hide her thoughts, and strong enough to block out the world. The sheets had no barriers, they let everything in, because all walls were down when she slept. So Rory sat, cross-legged on the bathroom floor, she sat just thinking, thinking of what her life had been, what it was, what it would be, but mostly of what it could have been. She thought of what she could do to change it, who she wanted in it, who she didn't, and if she even needed be there. The scary realization in her mind was she saw no need for her existence, and in some odd way, that comforted her beyond belief.

They were all testing her, seeing if she would give into the temptation. The razor blades, the medicine cabinet, the shards of glass in the trash, they were all trying her, seeing what she might do, what extremes she might reach. And to Rory, they didn't seem that extreme, they were simple way to escape the pain, to escape the fear, to escape the guilt. It was the cowards way out, but she couldn't say she was feeling too brave.

She's gone for desperate measures, not right in the head.

She toyed with the loose ends of the label clinging to that simple bottle, that one bottle that could do so much for her. Change her in so many ways. That one bottle, that was so hard to empty, so hard to even look at. Yet despite her wariness she shook a few of the crisp white pills into the palm of her hand, she had never really liked pills, but they were a small price to pay if she could escape this hell, a tiny one.

Better alive? Or better dead?

Luke's eyes danced from his Carpenter's magazine to the closed bathroom door, trying to remember the exact time Rory had gone in just to 'freshen up before bed'. He wondered whether she was having some sort of trouble, so he quietly moved towards the door and gave it a firm knock.

"Yeah?" Rory called, a slight quiver in her voice.

"You okay in there?" he asked poking his head in the door, making sure to tightly cover his eyes with his hand.

"Yeah," Rory blurted, trying to shove all the pills back into their appropriate containers.

"Kay," he stated, not sounding so reassured, but all the same he backed out of the room shutting the door behind him.

Rory sighed, rubbing her hands over her tired eyes. She couldn't do this to Luke, not here, not now. She had already done enough to the poor guy, he didn't need his dead daughter-in-law spewed across the floor to top it off.

People pull her back and push her over, it's all one big game.

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She had waited till he was asleep, till his mind laid in forced relaxation, till she had the perfect escape, and she had left. Gathered her things and walked out the door, making sure to leave a short note before she left. A note she was sure wouldn't help, a note that wouldn't give him any answers, just a note so that she wouldn't feel so guilty. But that was too late, every thought in her mind was laced with guilt, weighed down by facts and consequences, burdened by her past. And the only way to escape that, was to leave everything she had ever known, everything she ever loved, so now she found herself jogging down the street, a few bottles of pills rattling in her jacket's tight pocket. Jogging from everything she needed to face. Jogging, back into problems, but feeling like she was leaving them all behind.

So she just hovers in existence, not able to move.

Luke awoke the next morning in a rush, the nights happenings flooding back into his mind. He knew Rory had been upset upon discovering Lorelai was pregnant, and he wanted to talk. He wanted to tell her he never thought it was her fault, he wanted to tell her she still meant the world to him, tell her that they would get through this together, that maybe they could push through the pain, but in her place he found a small piece of paper.

Dear Luke,

I had to leave, I don't have an explanation, I just had to. I couldn't bear to hurt you any more, to rip apart your world further, so this is one less person you have to worry about. I'm sorry for all the damage I've already caused, and hope you can forgive me.

I love you, I always have and so did my mother,

Rory

And that was that. He didn't know where she was going, he didn't particularly care, all that mattered was that yet another person had been ripped from his life, and he was alone... again.

EL FIN