A/N: Sorry for the delay of this chapter. I've had it half-written a few days, but I only today got the time to finish it. Sorry to keep you waiting after the lovely reviews! I'll try to be quicker with the next one, that is to say, if anyone likes this one and tells me so…

Chapter Five

Yes, he heard her whisper and now he couldn't get his mouth muscles organized again, because no matter how much he tried he just couldn't collect himself after the shock. She called him, now. In the freaking middle of the night, she called him. Why would she even call him now, after today? And how in hell had she even got a hold of his number?

She interrupted his inner ranting. "Rory," she added now, thinking he might not have recognized her voice like Luke and Logan had earlier. (Out of those three, the one she would be most disappointed not to remember was still him.)

"Yeah." His verbal capacity had increased just a tad, confirming her that he had in fact recognized her voice. In spite of everything, this still satisfied her a little, only not really enough to make her smile to herself.

"Um, hi," she said again, stressed by the silence.

"Hey," he said, not knowing what else would be possible to say, his mind drawing a complete blank.

"Look, I'm, uh, sorry – about earlier," she rambled nervously, needing to get this out. She wasn't sorry it had happened really, but she was sorry still.

"Um, it's okay," he responded quietly, even though he didn't mean it and knew that she knew this too. He just had to say it, because her distress bothered him and he couldn't make it worse, even though he had every right to be mad or bitter or whatever he should be, but wasn't really. He was just confused, and a little curious, wondering what turn this conversation could take, why she had called, what she wanted to say to him.

Suddenly he heard her crying silently on the other end.

"Rory?" he asked, concern so evident in his voice that it made her cry a bit more audible, because it hurt to hear him still care (even though the contrary would hurt so much worse).

"I screwed up, Jess," she mumbled between soft sobs.

He didn't know what to say, so he just listened.

"I shouldn't have married him. I just shouldn't have. I shouldn't have said 'no' to you in the first place, I should have gone with you, maybe we'd be married instead and then I'd be happy and not kissing other guys and cheating on my husband because then you'd be my husband and you're really the only one I want to kiss," she rambled very quickly, pausing only to sniffle now and then. "But I did marry him, and I've got Sheila with him and I don't want to have a kid with him, but now I can't just leave him and I'm stuck here and you just showed up and I kissed you and I shouldn't have!" She got more and more hysterical. Jess just listened, her broken voice tearing at his heart, causing actual physical pain in him.

"I just don't know what I'm gonna do now." She was begging him for answers he couldn't give and it broke him even more not to be able to do anything for her. He wanted to say comforting things like 'everything will be okay', but he didn't know that and he couldn't lie. He wanted so much but to say this, yet he did because he had to.

"Look, I'm really not the one you should be telling all this to," he sighed tiredly. "You know that too, Ror," he added, a bit more gently, wishing he didn't have to end this conversation, wishing that he could keep her on the phone all night even if it was slowly killing him.

"I know, but I just… I can't deal with him," she admitted weakly. He knew, but he had to be strong now. She had to do this, and she had called him for some kind of help. Right now this was all he could offer her; the truth.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you with this. I can't make any decisions for you and I can't tell you what to do." He hated himself for the words coming out of him mouth, and for the extra sniffle he knew they caused.

"I know." That gave him a small sense of relief. At least she knew he wasn't meaning to hurt her. He needed that to do what he had to do.

"You need to talk to him. I gotta go." He sounded too harsh. He didn't want to be harsh. It was just hurting too much and he needed to hang up, to get away from this, from her pleading voice.

"But, Jess-"

"No buts, Rory, please," he pleaded back at her. "Just – work this out, okay?" he asked, not begging, but wishing. So much wishing.

"Okay," she whispered, sniffling. "Okay."

And then she could no longer hear his breathing in her ear. She knew he was gone, she felt it before the dial tone came.

She sat for a while there, phone still pressed tight in her hand. She only let go of it when she realized her knuckles were growing white. The alarm clock beside her bed told her that it now was way past midnight and very much time to go to bed. Her body gladly chimed in on that, screaming with exhaustion from a very trying day. She sighed and sunk down amongst the pillows and covers, losing herself in the fluffiness. Her eyelids were extremely heavy now and her body was getting relaxed. Her mind pondered that she probably should stay awake and wait for Logan, deal with him and get that over with, but on the other hand she had no idea when he might be expected and she really didn't have the energy to keep herself awake. Also, she knew the confrontation with Logan could very possibly lead to some life-altering, and house-altering, decision. And she definitely did not have the strength to move today. It could all be dealt with tomorrow, she thought before finally allowing her eyes to close.

Jess had now moved his brooding session to the bed instead of the couch, but that really was all that had changed; the location. He knew he wouldn't get any sleep, and his thoughts were just as anxious after the phone call as they had been before. Maybe he had more reasons for that small hope flittering around and never abandoning him now than he had before, but it had been there also then. And even though it now probably was less believable than it had been before that he would never see her again, he still knew the chances pointed against him. She wouldn't leave her husband just to be with him. This was Rory Gilmore, and she wouldn't do that, even though she maybe wanted to. Plus, even though today had insinuated that she did want to be with him, he wasn't too sure that she really did. He never had been one to assume those things easily. In some ways he was still insecure, and he had trouble trusting happiness to come his way.

He wanted this too much, and that was why he wasn't able to close his eyes all night, just because of the maybe her 'okay' had offered him. He was just afraid of expecting too much, and then be let down and even more broken. So instead he tried to force himself to believe that she would never talk to him again, just so he wouldn't be disappointed when (if) she later didn't. This wasn't really a comforting way to handle it, but it was the only way he knew to keep himself at least somewhat protected.

A/N: It's a bit short, but I couldn't make it longer because then it would have been way too long. I've got the plot worked out for the next chapter, I just need the time to put it together and the inspiration of knowing someone wants to read it. So, if you want to read more, tell me so. And please let me know what you thought of this chapter.