Disclaimer: I own nothing outside of my own creativity and dirty thoughts of Jess

A/N: Sorry updates are so sparse. I'm extremely busy at school, plus it's hard to find inspiration with sucky!rory on my TV screen every Tuesday. November 1st. That's what keeps me going. November 1st. Anyway, reviews are life. Don't take my life away, cuz that's murder and is illegal pretty much everywhere.

Seis

When Rory woke in the morning, it was to the hollow sound of Jess's fingertips hitting the keys on his laptop and to the scent of cigarette smoke wafting into her nostrils. She slowly opened her eyes, feeling very groggy. The couch springs groaned under her weight as she sat up.

"Morning." Jess said without turning around.

"Morning." Rory repeated. "What time is it?"

"Uhh…" Jess looked at the clock in the bottom right-hand corner of his computer screen. "A little after seven."

"In the morning?" Rory asked incredulously, falling back on the couch.

"Yup." Jess responded, still typing.

"Why are you up this early?" Rory demanded, stifling a yawn.

Jess shrugged. "Paige got up at six so she could go home and change before work. I couldn't fall back asleep."

"Maybe you should've tried harder." Rory said, covering her face with a pillow.

Jess laughed at that. "Don't be such a baby."

He meant it as a joke, but Rory frowned. His words reminded her of her behavior last night, specifically her call to Logan. God, he was going to listen to that message. He was going to hear her sobbing and her childish plea for him to go home. It filled her with shame to remember that she had completely broke down like that. Tears welled up, and it amazed Rory that she had any left in her at all. She let them fall silently down her cheeks as she replayed her words in her mind. "Please come back, Logan." She'd pleaded to his voicemail. "Please come back." She was pathetic.

Jess noticed the sudden quiet and stopped his typing. He turned in his chair and saw Rory, staring straight ahead at the wall, tears on her cheeks and a blank look on her face. He saved his document and closed his laptop. He extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray he kept on the desk. He stood and stretched his cramped muscles. He walked over to the couch, where he lifted Rory's feet and sat, letting her legs drop in his lap. "Talk." He said quietly.

The blank look lifted from Rory's face, and was replaced by a sad one. "I called Logan last night." She whispered. She could feel Jess stiffen beneath her.

"Rory…" He started.

"I know." Rory cut him off. "I shouldn't have done that. He didn't answer though. I got his voicemail. I…I don't know what I would've done if he answered."

"It hurt like Hell though, huh?" Jess asked, tickling the bottom of her foot lightly with his index finger.

Rory pulled her foot away from his touch and nodded. "Yeah. I just don't understand what happened."

Jess shrugged. "Richie Rich wasn't ready, I guess. Isn't that what it said in the note?"

"I tried, but I can't do it. I'm sorry. Logan." Rory recited verbatim.

Jess frowned. That was so ambiguous. What exactly had Richie Rich tried to do? Pretend he was ready for marriage? Or pretend he loved Rory?" Either way, he'd been lying to Rory. Jess clenched his jaw as he continued to think about it. He'd pretend to be unpartisan for Rory's sake, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to punch this guy in the face if he ever met him.

"OK. What you need right now is some catharsis." Jess said matter-of-factly.

Rory looked at him with tired eyes. "You're going to let me devil egg your car?" She asked seriously. "Or maybe push you in a lake?"

Jess smirked. "Oh, very funny. No. I don't have a car anymore, and there's not really any lakes anywhere near here. I have an idea that doesn't involve getting me wet or the destruction of my personal property."

Rory sighed. "OK. Let's try it."

Jess pushed her feet off him and stood up. "Get dressed, but in clothes you don't mind getting dirty."

Rory raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, causing Jess to roll his eyes. "Do you trust me?" He demanded, extending his hand to her.

Rory didn't have to think about the answer. She nodded and took his hand, allowing him to help her off the couch.

"Then get dressed." Jess said with a grin.


"I don't understand." Rory said, dumbly looking around her.

Jess walked in ahead of her and turned the lights on. They were standing in what appeared to be an art studio. There were canvases all along the walls, some blank and some full. There was paint and supplies scattered haphazardly throughout the room. The entire studio smelled faintly of turpentine.

"It's a studio." Jess said with a shrug.

"I can see that." Rory responded. "Do you paint?"

Jess snickered. "No. This place belongs to my friend Joseph. He's a pretty decent painter. He's in Prague right now, painting the European cities or something like that. He knows that sometimes I need to get in here, and in return I just have to clean up any huge messes I make and keep an eye on the place."

"And we're here because…" Rory trailed off, waiting for Jess to finish her sentence for her.

"Catharsis." Jess said vaguely. He grabbed her hand and tugged her forward. "I'll show you."

Rory looked down at their interlocked hands, not sure how she felt about the contact. She didn't pull away though. Instead, she allowed Jess to drag her to the other side of the studio. There was a large canvas covering the wall, the pure whiteness of it almost blinding. There was a small table, and on it there was a variety of paints and brushes.

"Are we going to paint pictures?" Rory asked, skeptically. She was more than a little disappointed in Jess's idea of catharsis.

Jess smirked. "Something like that."

As Rory watched, Jess opened a tube of bright yellow paint and squeezed the contents into his hand. He looked at the glob of paint, then up at Rory with a smile. He brought his arm back and threw the paint at the canvas forcefully. Some of it landed on the floor before reaching the wall, but the bulk of the paint landed on the white surface with loud splat.

Jess looked at his yellow palm, and then up at Rory, who was watching him with her mouth wide open. Silently, he extended to her a full tube of blue paint that matched her eyes. Rory studied the offering disbelievingly. Jess sighed and opened the tube himself. He took Rory's wrist in his clean hand and gently turned it so the palm was facing upwards. He emptied it into her hand and said, "Go."

Rory looked at the paint in her hand and back up at Jess. "Are you serious?" She asked, cringing at the disgusting feeling the paint created in her hands.

Jess nodded solemnly.

"No, really." Rory said, still just looking skeptically at her hand.

"Rory." Jess said. "Just do something with the paint. You'll feel better. I promise."

Rory squeezed her hand into a small fist, allowing the paint to ooze through her fingers. She then began to rub her hands together, amazed at how good it felt to see her hands go from flesh tone to blue; at how good the slippery texture felt against her skin.

She slowly approached the canvas, looking at it skeptically. Then, in one quick motion, she slapped her hands against the white canvas and dragged them down it. She stared at it, then brought her blue fingertip up and traced the top of the mark. All of a sudden, she was filled with a complete sense of relief. Rory let out a long sigh, and on it flowed all the pain in her system. It seemed to splash onto the long blue streak she'd created.

She turned to Jess, her eyes bright. "More." She pleaded.

Jess smirked. "I was hoping that's what you'd say." He motioned to the table full of paints. "Pick a color."

Rory picked a deep green next and opened the tube. Instead of pouring it into her palm this time though, she laid the tube in her hand and slammed her other hand onto it, making it squirt onto the canvas with a loud farting noise that made Rory giggle childishly and Jess chuckle lightly.

Rory continued to take paints and violently apply them to the canvas, a weight lifting from her shoulders each time. Jess continued to stand and watch, amused at the work of abstract art that Rory was creating with nothing but her hands and her emotions.

After about fifteen minutes, Rory finally stopped her frantic attack on the canvas and turned to Jess, panting with exhaustion. Jess just smirked at her. "Now that's what I call cathartic." He said sincerely.

Rory shook her head. "Almost." She said. She selected the pink paint and covered both her hands in it. She took a step towards the canvas, but at the last moment, she whipped back around to Jess. She placed on hand on his chest and the other on the side of his face, covering both his face and shirt in fluorescent pink paint.

Jess was shocked at first. He just stared at Rory in amazement for a moment. She was smiling brightly at him, and her eyes shone with something resembling happiness. Seeing her with that light back in her features pulled at Jess deeply, and gave him a sense of amazing happiness to know he'd helped bring it back. It made him feel amazing to know that he was actually helping for once, not destroying that light.

Rory found herself staring into Jess's eyes for just a little longer than she should have, entranced by the life and happiness she saw there, and the life and happiness that she was feeling for the first time since she had become a jilted bride.

"God, was it really only 3 days ago?" Rory asked herself, pulling her eyes away from Jess's. "It feels like an eternity."

She was slipping back into her shell. Jess noticed it the moment she looked down. He refused to let that happen. Behind his back, he managed to open a tube of paint and pour it into his hands. He dragged his hand through Rory's hair and down the side of her face, making a white streak in her hair and on her skin.

Rory pursed her lips in a face indicating that a battle had just been waged. She grabbed another tube of paint and squeezed it into Jess's hair. Bright purple trickled down from his hair onto his ears.

Rory looked at him innocently and said, "I thought the gel was getting lonely."

Jess growled low in his throat, and pounced on Rory, attacking her with paint. An all-out paint war had been waged. As Jess overpowered Rory, smearing orange and red paint on her arms, Rory was overcome with an amazing thought: everything was going to be all right.

It'd been a little more than two weeks since the Great Paint War, and Rory had been right. While she was still hurting immensely and feeling depressed, she also felt that things were getting better for her. She and Jess fell into an easy pattern. It was as if they'd always been living together. They were good roommates, and it got better each day that Rory started feeling better. Each day, Jess became less of her protector and more of just her friend.


"So what do you think? You can call off." Jess said, not looking up from his laptop.

Rory brushed off the lapel of her suit jacket with a shake of her head. "No. I can't. I've gotta get back to work. I've read almost every book in this place. One more day with nothing to do and I'll start reading the Hemingway." Rory took a deep breath of air, suddenly feeling nauseous.

"Jeez, lay off of Ernest. He adores you. You could at least show him some respect." Jess said seriously.

Rory snickered uneasily, feeling relieved as the nausea passed. "Sorry, but it's just so boring around here on days you're at work. And Hemingway is the most boring man in the universe." Jess still worked a few days a week as a messenger to pay the bills.

"I know you're bored." Jess said, ignoring her Hemingway comment. "But are you sure you're ready to go back to work? I mean, are you going to be OK? I can seriously see you getting all worked up and, like, crying at your desk."

Rory nodded and slipped her black shoes on her feet. "I'm going to be fine. I have to do this."

"I know." Jess replied. He stopped his typing for just long enough to glance at his computer's clock. "You'll miss your train."

Rory glanced at the clock on the wall and nodded. "OK. I'll see you tonight."

"Good luck!" Jess called out.

Rory yelled a thank you in response as she closed the door behind her. As soon as Jess heard the lock click, he finally took his attention away from his typing. He let his arms fall to his sides and he slumped back in his chair. He rubbed a hand roughly over his face as he sighed.

Rory was doing so much better than she had been. Every day, she was getting a little bit better. She was nowhere near the Rory that Jess had known when they were younger, but Jess had a feeling that had happened long before Logan dumped her. She was doing better though. There were days when Jess completely forgot why Rory was living with him to begin with.

Paige had noticed this, and was expecting Rory to move out sometime very soon. Jess tried to dissuade her, saying it was still too soon. This argument had worked for a little while, until Paige had come over and saw how well Rory was doing.

"She's…happy." Paige commented as Jess closed the apartment door. He took her hand and they walked down the hallway to the elevator together.

"I don't think I'd say happy." Jess responded. "But she's getting there."

Paige tightened her grip on Jess's hand and said, "We were in there talking with her for an hour, and she didn't start to cry once. She even laughed a few times."

Jess nodded. "She's doing better, I guess." It wasn't his place to mention that there were still a few nights when Rory crept into his room, tears streaming down her face. Besides, he didn't think that it'd please Paige to know that when she did, Jess would take Rory in his arms and let her cry herself to sleep.

"That's good." Paige said, pressing the button on the elevator. "What's she still doing here?"

"What?" Jess asked, shocked at the question.

"She's doing better." Paige said, repeating Jess's words. "Why's she still living with you?"

Jess furrowed his brow in thought. He'd almost forgotten that this was supposed to be a temporary situation. Rory was doing better and that meant that she was supposed to move out soon.

"Paige…" Jess started, unsure of what to say.

The doors opened, and the couple stepped into the waiting elevator. Paige pressed the button for the lobby and said, "Because this is only temporary, right? She was just staying with you until she started doing better. You don't want her there, right?"

And there was the guilt. Jess tried his best not to become annoyed or frustrated with Paige's tactics. He knew she was being very patient in allowing Rory to live with him, and he felt bad enough as it was about deceiving her by letting her think that he didn't want Rory there.

Jess nodded. "I'm going to give it a couple of days, just to make sure she's really OK. Then I'm going to send her home."

The elevator doors opened and the two walked out into the lobby. Paige smiled victoriously as she pressed close to Jess as they walked. "Good."

Jess wrapped an arm around Paige's shoulders, trying hard not to let on that he was thinking about Rory and how much it was going to hurt both of them to ask her to move out.


Rory felt eyes on her as she walked over to her desk. Did they know? Was it that obvious on her face? Had it made the Society section of the newspaper?

"Rory!" Jillian, her coworker and friend, walked over to her and gave her a huge hug.

Jillian, of course. Rory realized why she felt like everyone knew. She'd invited several of her coworkers whom she was close with to the wedding. They knew there hadn't been a wedding.

"Hi Jillian." Rory said, tentatively hugging the girl.

"Oh sweetie, how are you?" Jillian asked, releasing Rory from her grip. "Are you OK? I'm so sorry about what happened. You poor thing."

Rory cringed. You poor thing. That was a terrible phrase to here. She smiled weakly at Jillian, the nausea from earlier returning. "I'm fine, Jillian. Thank you for your concern though. Really, I'm going to be OK."

Jillian nodded sympathetically. "I'm glad. I was so upset when your mother came in and said there wasn't going to be a wedding. Of course, it was nothing compared to how heartbroken your grandparents looked. They took it hard."

The nausea was growing deep within her, and Rory could feel the need to vomit becoming stronger. She smiled weakly at Jillian and said, "I know. I've got to go now though, Jillian. I've got two weeks of work to catch up on."

Jillian nodded, her eyes still shining with sympathy. "OK. If you need anything, you just let me know." Jillian sent one more smile Rory's way, and returned to her desk.

Rory tried to remain calm and casual as she walked into the ladies room. She locked the door behind her, and proceeded to throw up as quietly as possible.

Rory flushed the toilet and stood on shaky legs, dusting off her pants. She turned the faucet on and washed her hands vigorously. She then scrubbed at her face and rinsed her mouth out with the cool water. She looked at her pale reflection in the mirror. She hadn't realized she was that nervous about going back to work. The nausea had passed completely. Rory wiped at her mouth with a paper towel and threw it away. She opened the door to bathroom, held her head as high as she could and walked over to his desk.

The pile of work was twice as high as it had been when Rory had left on the day before her wedding. There were manuscripts waiting to be edited, letters and memos that needed to be responded to, and dozens of other things that needed to be dealt with immediately.

Rory sat down and started organizing the chaotic stacks into more sensible subgroups. She separated the work into 'time sensitive,' 'low-priority,' and 'high priority' categories. As she worked, the nausea tried to rise up in her throat again but she did her best to suppress it. She swallowed hardly and continued to work through the sickness.

Mr. O'Brien walked by and nodded. "Gilmore." He said in greeting.

Rory looked up nervously. "Good morning, Mr. O'Brien."

"Nice vacation?" He demanded, sounding uninterested.

Rory felt a wave of relief, though it was secondary to the nausea. He didn't even know that she was taking time off because she was getting married. She nodded silently.

"Well, get back to work. Push your other stuff to the back and get serious with York. He's got a deadline coming up on the 26th." Mr. O'Brien said. "That's Wednesday." Her boss walked away briskly without another word.

Rory looked at her calendar disinterestedly. She knew Jess would be ready by his deadline, because she could constantly nag him until he was finished. Then, she realized something. There was a small red dot two marked on the 20th, which was two days before.

Rory furrowed her brow as she thought. Stress. When I'm stressed, sometimes it comes late. It has to be stress. The nausea rose in Rory's stomach, and she stood and walked to the bathroom as discreetly as she could.


Jess walked into the apartment and looked around in confusion. It was completely dark. Jess turned on the light and looked at his watch. Rory should've been home from work by now. He tossed his keys onto the table and looked around.

"Rory!" He called. "You here?"

Jess felt nervous butterflies in his stomach. He'd been building himself up all day to talk to Rory about moving out. He was as ready as he was going to be to do it, and he wanted to do it as soon as possible. If he waited too long, he knew that he'd lose his nerve.

Jess looked down the hall and noticed a sliver of light peeking out from under the bathroom door. From within the room, he heard a soft sound that he was very familiar with. He heard the sounds of Rory weeping.

Jess knocked lightly on the door, but got no response. He turned the knob and pushed the door lightly. He couldn't see Rory, and she made no noise of protest so he opened the door wider.

Rory looked up at Jess pathetically from where she was sitting in the bathtub. She was still wearing her business suit. Her eyes had reached the level of red puffiness that they had on that first day she had showed up in her wedding dress.

Jess felt concern overpower him and he took a step into the bathroom. "Ror?" He asked quietly. "What's wrong, Rory?"

Rory didn't respond, and Jess's eyes fell to the bathroom sink. There was an open box sitting on it, as well as instructions and Rory's wristwatch.

Jess walked over to the bathtub and squatted down next to Rory. "What happened?"

Rory extended her hand, revealing the plastic strip that she was holding. Jess took it from her and analyzed it, confused. "What is it?"

"It's a pregnancy test." Rory whispered, dropping her head to her knees.

Jess looked at it disgustedly, realizing he was holding something that Rory had peed on. Then he saw it- the little pink plus sign that was the cause of all this distress.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Jess asked, shocked and somewhat scared.

Rory nodded against her knees. Jess placed the test on the sink and stood. He kicked off his shoes and stepped into the bathtub. He sat down facing Rory, ignoring the tight squeeze. He balled his hands into fists, trying to forget that he had traces of Rory's urine on his hands now.

"So…what now?" Jess asked quietly.

Rory looked up at Jess, tears streaming. "I don't know." She whispered. "I don't know."

"Shh." Jess said, reaching out and tucking a strand of hair behind Rory's ear. "It's going to be OK."

Rory sniffled and put her head back down. She murmured something completely unintelligible, or so she thought.

Jess had heard her words perfectly: "I'm so glad you're my friend."