Oh my gosh, yes it's me! Amazing isn't it? I'm sorry it took so long. I have no excuses except laziness and school, and not knowing what I wanted to have happen. Gah!

I hope this chapter isn't too melodramatic.

The Truth

Chapter Eight

Jess walked out of the house, fuming silently to himself. He had no clue what in God's name was going on, and it was pissing him off. He didn't understand why Rory was acting the way she was. She wasn't herself anymore. Something was wrong, that much was obvious. He'd been trying to figure out what it was ever since she had treated that little girl so rudely. He wondered why she wouldn't confide in him. Didn't she trust him? They'd been friends for years after all. More than that. They'd dated. That had to count for something right?

Jess sighed and leaned heavily against the Gilmore's house. Even though Rory had kicked him out, he had made a promise to Lorelai to stay with her until she got back. He wasn't about to leave Rory and incur the wrath of Lorelai and Christopher.

"What is going on with you, Rory?" he questioned quietly to himself, bending down to peer through the open window at her.

Rory stared at the spot where at the spot where Jess had been only moments before.

'I used to think you were stronger than this, I guess I was wrong.'

The words echoed in her head, replaying over and over, etching permanently into her brain, though she tried to ignore them, tried to focus on the loud, obnoxious beat of the music flowing out of the stereo. But the imprint of Jess's voice was louder, and refused to be ignored.

'This isn't you Rory! Drinking, cutting, all of this that you're doing, you don't run away from things!'

'I used to think you were stronger'

'stronger'

Rory clenched her fists, her hands shaking as her nails bit into her palm. She walked over the stereo and turned it off, trying to stamp out the voice in her head as she walked. But the words continued circling around in her head, constricting her heart.

'This isn't you.'

"No," she agreed softly, tears escaping the barriers of her eyelids. "It's not."

She hugged her arms tightly around herself, tears flowing freely town her cheeks. Jess watched her, wondering if he should go inside. Should he attempt to comfort her (though he wasn't sure how successful he'd be at this), or leave her alone? Would she get mad if she saw him? As she slowly sank to her knees, Jess made up him mind, and made his way to the door. He quietly stepped into the house, not wanting to startle her. He was about to say something when she spoke.

"How did I let it get this far?"

Jess stopped and stood quietly. He knew he should make his presence known, but he was curious as to what she would say next.

"How could I have been so foolish? Lying, sneaking around, hurting the people I love…When did I become so cruel and weak? Why can't I stand up and fight? I'm shameless."

"You're not 'shameless.'"

Rory gasped and spun around. "Jess," she said, taken aback.

He ignored her. "You're not shameless, but you are hurting, and there is something major going on. That much is obvious. This thing that's happened, this thing that's eating you alive….it must be terrible, to make you live in such fear, to push you to do the things you've been doing and act the way you you've been acting. I don't know what it is, and you don't have to tell me if you don't want. But you do need to tell someone because if you don't, it's going to destroy you. Little by little, until there's nothing left. It's already started to. Your eyes have already lost some of their sparkle, and you don't seem as happy as you once were. I'm afraid if this keeps up that soon there'll be nothing left."

_______________________________________________________________________________

"What the hell!" Scott cursed as both Logan and Colin's fists connected with his face. "What the fuck are you doing?" he fell backward against the floor.

"You are going to pay for what you did to Rory!" Logan snarled venomously. "I am going to kill you."

"Correction," Colin hissed, "We are going to kill you."

Scott blinked as he quickly tried to get up but was forced back down by both Logan and Colin, their fists pummeling every inch of him they could reach.

"You're going to suffer for what you did to Rory!" Logan shouted, nearly blind with rage. He fought against the people attempting to pull him off Scott, and in the corner of his could see Colin doing the same. Every eye in the room and even some curious onlookers from the hall was fixed on them. People were muttering to each other.

The few brave souls who had intervened earlier in the fight now held a struggling Logan and Colin. "Get your hands off of us! That bastard deserves it!"

Scott spit blood onto the floor, shrugging off the girl who tried to help him up roughly. "What the hell do you think I did to your precious Rory?" he asked angrily, glad that no one could hear his pounding heart.

"You raped her, that's what you did! You, and two of your worthless friends: Mike and Jared."

The people at the party gasped, and began muttering even more obnoxiously than before.

Scott smirked. "She told you this, did she?"

"You have Mike and Jared to thank for that, actually," Colin said, voice dripping with malice. "They admitted to the three of you sleeping with her."

Scott's smirk became wider, "Sleeping with her, you say?"

Colin only stared at him.

"While your ferocious stare is very unsettling Colin, you have no right to accuse me of rape based on what you heard from those two."

"The hell we don't! She told me herself she was raped, she just didn't tell me who did it. I should have known, from the way she was acting around you," Logan said, still struggling against his captor. He didn't understand why he wasn't being allowed to smash this guy into the ground. "You probably threatened to kill her if she stayed at the hospital that day, didn't you?" Logan became even angrier, if possible, as the truth dawned on him. "And you probably said you'd kill me too, didn't you, you bastard. That's why she said she didn't want to be with me! She was trying to protect me. Dammit!"

Scott stared at Logan, the smirk gone from his face. Everyone in the room was staring at him in disgust. The man who was holding Logan loosened his grip, and Logan went flying towards Scott, but this time, Scott was ready for him. Before Logan's fist could connect with his face again, he reached into the front of his shirt.

"Logan, I would suggest you back off, I don't want to hurt you."

"I'd like to see you….try…." the words faltered on Logan's lips. He stared at the 9mm Scott pointed straight at his heart.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Rory stared up at Jess, tears streaming down her face. She didn't know what to say. All she could do was sit there and cry and hug her arms around herself while looking at the floor apologetically.

Jess got on his knees beside her, taking her hand. "Rory, please tell me what's going on," he begged. "Please let me help."

Rory tried to speak but she couldn't. Couldn't find the words to say. God, why couldn't she find her voice?

"It's nothing. Not important," she finally mumbled.

Jess rolled his eyes. "Rory, you don't just break down crying for no reason. I know something is going on. Why can't you tell me?"

"You might die," Rory admitted, immediately regretting the words.

"What do you mean? Who told you I would die?"

"That's why I had to break up with Logan. He threatened to kill the both of us if I told anyone that they raped me, and Logan was starting to figure things out." Don't say anything else. You'll put him in danger. Her mind warned, but she couldn't stop the sentence from forming. It was as thought something in her soul had been set loose. "I had to make him believe I didn't love him anymore, to keep him safe. But I do love him. I love him so much. I don't want to not be with him. It's killing me. Sitting here right now knowing I can never hold him again or spend time with him again is killing me," Rory sobbed, the words spilling out of her mouth before she could think to stop them.

"Who?" Jess asked, blood bubbling in anger. "Who did this to you?"

"But I was so cruel, even if he finds out the truth, how can he ever forgive me? I don't deserve to be forgiven, after what I did," Rory hugged her knees to her chest and buried her head in shame.

"Who did this to you?"

_______________________________________________________________________

"Like I said," Scott grinned, "Might want to step back a bit."

The whole room froze, the only sound being the music that was playing. Everyone stared at the gun in Scott's hand.

"What are you going to do, kill all of us?" Logan asked from where he stood. He hadn't yet moved.

"Goodness no," Scott said as though he were crazy. "That would be way too dramatic and messy. And I'm not partial to either of those things. No, no, my gun is simply serving as a protective measure at the moment. I was rather hoping I wouldn't have to get it out. It seemed everything had been going so well," he said all this as calmly as though he and Logan were discussing the weather. "Could someone please turn down the music, it's getting rather annoying…Thank you. Now then, I wonder where those two idiots are...An answer might be nice."

"They're passed out over there."

Scott looked around, eyeing the twenty or so people that were in the room and found where the shaking boy was pointing. He rolled his eyes. "Figures," he muttered.

"So are you just planning to stand there all night with a gun pointed at us? Someone's bound to call the police sooner or later. We're not just going to stand here waiting to see if you kill us," Logan said.

"Logan, dear boy, we've already been over this. I'm not going to kill all of these people. They'll all leave this room unscathed. Sadly, however, I can't say the same lucky fate has befallen you," he said, cocking his gun and pointing it between the blonde's eyes.

Okay, I admit, not my best chapter. However, it is a chapter, and I'm happy to finally have something to put up. Don't forget to review!