As soon as they pulled away, the moment was over.

"Oh my god!' Rory exclaimed.

"Rory…" Jess tried to calm her down.

" Don't touch me," she warned, stepping backwards. "Oh my god!"

"Rory, would you just-"

"I think we should go home. Now."

They drove home in silence. When they reached Stars Hollow Jess turned to Rory.

So what happens now?"

"I don't know," Rory answered, staring out the window.

"What are you going to tell Dean?"

'I don't know," Rory repeated.

"Are you even going to tell him anything?"

"I don't know!" Rory answered for the third time.

"Well," Jess sighed, pulling up in front of the diner, "looks like you have a couple of things to figure out." Rory nodded, her chin quivering. Jess cringed, knowing what would come next. Sure enough, the tear began flowing. Jess looked around awkwardly. He wasn't very good with the whole crying thing. "Come on Rory, don't cry," he tried. Surprisingly, this didn't work.

"What have I done?" she gasped. "I have a boyfriend. Oh my god, I'm such a terrible person!" she sobbed. "What would my mom say?" Jess tried again.

"Rory, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I kissed you, and that it's putting you through so much confusion. But you're not a terrible person! A terrible person wouldn't be sobbing with regret."

"A good person wouldn't have cheated on her boyfriend!" Rory retorted.

"A good person would realize that they're only human, and sometimes they give into their emotions. Now, will you stop crying before Luke sees and kills me?" Rory nodded, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her coat. Jess helped her out of the car. The second they got upstairs she barricaded herself in her room. Jess was no mind reader, but something told him that his feelings for Rory would be put on hold for a while. There was no point in denying that he even had feelings for her, no point in lying to himself. He cared about her, unlike the way he had cared for anybody else in the world.

Rory sat on the floor in her room, her back pressed against the base of her bed. Her knees were drawn up to her stomach. In her hands she gripped the album of her mother.

"Mom," she cried, "I need you! I'm so confused, and I need your help. Come back." Her body racked with sobs. "Please… I'm so… alone," was the last thing she said before her emotions completely took over.

Jess and Rory made a point not to mention the kiss over the next week. Jess heard the first hint of it the next week when Rory came up to the apartment, looking like she had seen a ghost.

"What's the matter?" he said, turning the page in the novel he was reading.

"I told him," she said. When this got no response, she elaborated. "Dean; about the kiss." Jess put down his book.

"You told him?! That was stupid." Rory shot him a look that shut him up.

"He didn't even say anything," she recounted, sitting down next to him. "Just got up and walked away all fast and stiff, you know, the way he walks when he's really angry." Jess nodded.

"Yeah, well Dean's a jerk," he said. Rory turned to him, angry.

"No he's not! Dean's a great guy, and he's so good to me, and I go ahead and treat him like dirt!" She held her head in her hands. "I won't blame him if he never talks to me again."

"Neither will I," Jess agreed. Rory looked at him, hopeless shock in her eyes. "Well, you did cheat on him," he pointed out. Rory took the book from him and smacked him with it. "I'm sorry!" Jess said, holding his hands up in defense. "Look Rory, if Dean never talks to you again, then he's an idiot. He'll come around."

Dean never really got the chance.

He approached Jess the next day in school.

"Why the heck do you think it's okay to go kissing my girlfriend?" he asked, towering over jess. Jess peered up at him, grinning.

"I'm sorry," he faked. "Just thought she should know what it felt like to kiss someone without standing on her tiptoes!" The muscles in Dean's jaw clenched.

"Stay away from her," he warned. Jess cocked his head.

"That'll be kind of difficult, considering we live together."

"I can fix that," Dean said, curling his hands into fist.

"Is that right?" Jess taunted. He poke Dean on the shoulder.

"Don't touch me jerk!" Dean said, pushing him backward. That was when they both lost it.

Twenty minute later, Jess was icing his eye when Luke came to pick him up from the principle's office.

"You've got to stop the fighting Jess," he sighed once they were in the car.

"Whatever you say Uncle Luke," Jess said, leaning his head back against the seat, examining his eye in the mirror.

"You need to apply pressure," Luke instructed him. Jess put the ice back on his eye as Luke cellphone rang.

"Hello?... Yeah, this is her guardian… what? How much time?... Ok… we'll be there as soon as we can…Thanks." Luke hung up the phone, all the color gone form his face.

"What is it?" Jess asked.

"It's Lorelei. She's dying."

Jess had never seen Luke drive faster than right then. He came to a screeching halt in front of Chilton. "Don't move," he instructed Jess, even though Jess had no interest in disappearing. He ran through the large, grand entrance in front of Chilton. It looked so odd to Jess; Luke in his faded green coat, sports cap, and sneakers, against the ancient, snobby building. He fidgeted anxiously waiting for them to come out. After what seemed like a lifetime, Luke reappeared, half-supporting Rory. Jess stared at her. She looked like a ghost. The blood had disappeared from her face, and her eyes were focused on something far away. Jess slid over on the bench and held his hand out as Luke helped her into the passenger side of the truck. Even though she was bundled in her heavy school coat, she was shivering.

"Take her," Luke commanded Jess. Jess slid his arms around her shoulders around her and squeezed. She made no indication that she even knew he was there.

Luke sped down the street to the hospital. They got there, and stumbled out of the car. They moved together towards the imposing building, Jess's arm still around Rory, supporting her.

Anna the nurse met them as they were coming throught the hospital entrance. She gave Rory a hug as soon as she saw her. Luke turned to her. "How is she?" Nurse Anna put on a mournful face.

"Not so good. Her heartbeat is way down, and her brain activity is irregular."
"How much time?" This question came from Rory, the first thing she had said since she ahd gotten into the car.

"It's hard to say," Anna answered gently.

Rory nodded, and continued down the hall into her mother's room, Jess and Luke following after her. As soon as they entered the room Jess could tell that something was different. The heart rate monitor was beeping at a slow, erratic pace. Lorelei's breathing was slow and shallow. Rory stood by the side if the bed and squeezed her hand. She tenderly stroked her hair.

"How am I supposed to say goodbye?" she whispered. Tears started to make their way down her cheeks, curving crooked paths to her chin. She bent down and kissed her mother. "I love you," she said. She pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat there, still holding her mother's hand, occasionally stroking her hair or face. Slowly and steadily, Lorelei's heart rate began to drop. Her breaths became farther apart and more shallow. And then, she took one last rattling breath, and her heart rate flat lined.

"Mom!" Rory now gripped her fragile hand in both of hers. Luke was at Rory's side; he took her by shoulders and hugged her. Jess stood back, in his place against the wall. Rory sobbed into Luke's shoulder. The sounds grated against Jess's ears. He didn't want ot be hearing this, to be witnessing this at all. He turned in an effort to sneak out quietly, buthe was stopped by a small beep. He froze in his track, but the beep continued.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The hear monitor was beeping steadily. Rory stopped crying and looked up.

"Mom?"

Lorelei, still imobile, suddenly let out a small cough. She shifted slightly, and then, before their very eyes, her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Oh my god," Jess said softly to himself.

"Oh my god," Luke breathed.

"Oh my god!" Rory looked like she was afraid to move, as if this was a dream and the slightest motion would send it spiraling in the wrong direction. "Mom?"

Lorelei blinked and stared at them, looking lost.

"Mom, it's me. It's Rory! Do you know where you are?" Lorelei stared blankly back at Rory.

"What's going on? Where're my parents? Where's Christopher?" she demanded.

Rory was the one who looked confused now.

"You want Dad? It's okay Mom. Everything's going to be okay." Rory moved towards her, but Lorelei held her arm out in front of her and shrank back.

"Who are you?" she asked.

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