Rory awoke the next morning and last nights events flooded her mind. The arm that was wrapped around her waist quickly brought her back to reality. She turned to face him and was surprised to find him staring back at her.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" Dean asked.

"Yes, I slept very well." She answered with a smile. "How about you?"

"Yeah, I slept pretty well." He lied to keep things between them normal. How could he possibly explain that he laid awake all night, worried that she may leave without saying goodbye? "So your phone rang a couple of times this morning, I'm sure your mom is a little worried."

"I should have called her."

"She knows that you're with me…"

"Well yeah, I told her that we were going to see a movie remember?"

"Yeah I just didn't want to mention this to anyone. I'm sure she's already figured out what we were doing."

"No, I mean even if she did, I'm going to tell her that the movies were busy and that we rented one instead and we fell asleep watching it. It's not a big deal; I will take care of it."

"It's scary how easily you lie now?"

"What?" She asked a little defensive.

"Well I mean you make things up quickly and you do it so well. I used to be able to tell when you were lying or making something up. You got this really worried look on your face, like please believe me…remember that time Jess came over and you said he was there because Paris liked him?"

"Yeah?"

"That was a big one. I would have busted you on it, but I didn't want you to get that upset."

"Now you're lying, you didn't know that night, you believed me."

"I believed that you didn't ask for him to be there but I didn't believe the story you gave me…none of that matters anymore, I was just trying to make a point. You didn't used to be like this."

"What do you mean? How am I?"

"Hard, you've built this shell around yourself and it doesn't seem like you're ever going to let anyone in again."

"Dean that isn't it, I'm just…"

"Really busy…with your job, I know you've already told me, a couple of times now actually."

"Where is all of this coming from? I thought I explained my situation, you agreed to this Dean, I haven't done anything wrong." She began to get louder as she explained herself and sat up in bed.

"Rory please calm down, Kyle will hear you. I don't mean anything by it, I just want you to be happy and in my opinion you're not." Rory glared at him. "I'm not naïve; I know that you think I'm saying these things so that you will stay here, with me. But honestly it has nothing to do with me, your family misses you Rory, hell I miss you…if nothing else as a friend. The whole town misses you; all I'm saying is that if this job is as tiring and stressful as you claim it to be why the hell are you still there? At the end of the day, what is the point? You have no one to come home to and nothing to look forward to."

A tear slipped from her eye. "I guess not all of us are destined to spend the rest of our life in the small town we grew up in." She looked him in the eye one last time before climbing out of bed to retrieve her clothes from the floor.

He didn't say another word as she got her clothes and put them back on. He knew she had changed but he couldn't believe what she had just said to him. "Thanks for everything Dean; as usual it was an experience I'll never forget." She said standing up and gathering the last of her things. "I could still leave through the window if you insist." She said a bit mockingly.

"No, use the front door. I'm not too worried about defending you anymore." He said coldly staring at the wall.

She ran her hand through her hair a bit frustrated now. "Well maybe I'll see you around Dean." She said before finally leaving the room.

When she stepped out of his room she felt like she would burst into tears but the thing that made it most frustrating was that she knew he was right about what he said. Being so caught up in the moment she hadn't noticed that Kyle and Mary were both sitting at the table looking back at her.

"Hey Rory, is everything okay?" Kyle asked unsure of what exactly was happening.

"Oh Kyle hey…I'm sorry to interrupt you guys, I was just on my way out."

"No worries, I'd like for you to meet my girlfriend, Mary." He announced proudly.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry I'm like this…it's just been a rough morning."

"That's okay…Kyle told me all about you last night." Rory stared back at them oddly. "I didn't know who it was that we were welcoming home."

"Oh right, well you know Miss Patty always blowing things out of proportion."

"I thought it was sweet and wow how cool is it that you and Dean got back together…when Kyle told me about the two of you and everything you've went through I had my doubts but I'm happy to see that I was wrong."

Rory laughed. "Yeah well I should get going. It was nice meeting you and seeing you again Kyle." She said while walking to the door to make a quick escape.

Once Rory left Kyle became concerned. "Excuse me for just a few minutes…I need to talk to Dean."

"Okay." She said with a smile as he left her.

He knocked before going inside. When he opened the door he was surprised to find a very active Dean pulling the sheets off his bed to the floor.

"Hey man, what's going on? I just saw Rory she looked upset."

"Don't worry it's just one of her many talents now, she can turn the emotion on and off, she'll be okay once she gets home."

"So you want to talk about what happened?" Kyle asked cautiously.

"There's nothing to talk about. I decided to take your advice and see if there was anything still there."

"So what did you find out exactly?"

"That the girl that I loved is no longer here or anywhere for that matter. So you can rest easy tonight Kyle because that girl that just left our house is a stranger to me."

"I'm having mixed emotions about this Dean but for right now it works for me…"

"What?" Dean asked completely confused by Kyle's antics.

"Mary has this friend and from what I've been told she is a complete babe…I have to find her a date for New Year's Eve and I was hoping…"

"Go ahead and set it up, sounds like fun." Dean said confident as he carried the bed sheets passed Kyle towards the laundry room.