"Don't you dare hurt them, Jess!" Rory screeched as he dragged her up the stairs to Luke's apartment. Her injured ankle caught horribly on the floor and she moaned. "They haven't done anything!"

"I won't hurt them," Jess assured. "Provided that they tell us where Lisa is."

"Jackson already knows," Rory sobbed as he stopped on the landing. "He's looking for her now!"

"Yeah, he's looking, he doesn't know where she is," Jess hissed and twisted open the door. "They do."

Lorelai's head snapped up as they barged in. She bolted upright. "Rory!"

Cynthia backed into a corner, shaking as she saw Jess's weapon.

"Hello, Lorelai," he greeted cheerfully. "So, are you and Luke official now?"

"It's Ms. Gilmore to you, asshole," Lorelai snarled. "Let my daughter go NOW."

"Such a pleasant town," he mused. "Reminds me why I didn't stay when I had the chance. By the way, where's Lisa?"

"She's at So-" Cynthia began intelligently but Lorelai cut her off.

"None of your goddamned business," she spat. Jess dropped Rory and advanced on Lorelai. She screamed as he pinned her to the chair with his arms and pressed the gun to her temples.

"Care to tell me now?"

"No," Lorelai hissed. "Not on my fucking grave!"

"Trust me, it can be arranged," he nodded coolly. "I'll give you ten seconds before I blow your brains out."

Cynthia stepped forward, concern etched all over her face. "How did you get to be this way? I don't know you, but you seem like you used to be so…innocent."

"Shut up!" he yelled over his shoulder at her. "This is none of your concern, Red, so stay the fuck out of it."

"You used to date Rory. Rory has common sense, she would never pick…you. So you must have changed a lot over the years."

"Shut u-"

Rory finally spoke. "She's right, Jess. I loved you once. You used to be so different, you…you used to read poetry and now you've turned into a man who kills people for a living. Look at what you're doing here. You're threatening to shoot a woman just so you can get information about another girl's whereabouts you couldn't give two shits about."

He sighed and rolled his eyes at Lorelai. "You're down to five seconds now."

"I'm not telling you!"

"Jess," Rory pleaded, and her tone of voice was what made him turn around. She was calm, not hysterical, but quiet with small tears running down her face. "What happened to us? I wanted to work it out, but you ruined it by running out on me and then joining forces with Jackson. If you'd have come to me peacefully, then maybe I could have…talked. We could have talked. This could be different. You don't want this, I know you don't."

His face was contorting itself horribly as he battled his own emotions. "I…"

"Put down the gun, Jess, please. You don't want this future. This future is…nothing."

"No, this town is nothing. My future with Jackson, it's all I got. That's it."
"No, Jess," Rory looked into his eyes sincerely. "It's not. If you drop that gun right now, it can be different. I promise."

He was trembling as the pistol clattered noisily to the floor. Rory looked at Cynthia. Cynthia knew. She had to.

Jess walked to Rory as Cynthia picked it up and shot him squarely in the back. Rory jumped out of the way as he fell to the floor. He was dead before he hit the rug.

Rory hit the rug next, her knees collapsing as she sobbed.

"Mommy," she murmured as Lorelai hobbled over and wrapped her arms around her little girl. It reminded Rory of her childhood, of broken Barbie dolls and skinned knees.

"My baby girl," Lorelai whispered soothingly as Luke and co. threw open the door nervously. "It's alright. It's going to be okay. It's over."