(hi friends! it's been a minute! first of all, i would like to thank and give a huge ass shoutout to the ever-so-talented Ilovebildip for this absolutely insane art of marley based on chapter 17 because hooooolllyyy shit!!)

(IT'S LITERALLY THE MOST GORGEOUS THING IVE EVER SEEN I DON'T KNOW HOW A PERSON CAN BE SO TALENTED! THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN ABBY I LITERALLY CAN'T BELIEVE THIS OOOHHHHHH MYYYYYYY GOOOOODDDDD!)

(secondly, hi! i miss y'all when i was gone! happy to be back! i'm hoping to have the next one of these up by christmas bc my finals are this week (rip pray for me) but we'll see how motivated i am. i kind of suck when i comes to updating but ive literally never been busier in my life! apologies! hope you enjoy! love you all tons! -mags)

✧✧✧

JESS AWOKE AT twelve in the morning to his phone ringing loudly on his bedside table.

He squinted at the clock and audibly groaned. He didn't have work tomorrow or anything, but this was the first night for him in weeks that he'd gotten to bed before eleven. His friends called him an old man, but he didn't care. There were few things that he liked more than sleep.

One of them just so happened to be calling right now. She was in New York for one of her father's many fundraisers and most likely calling him shitfaced (which was a bi-weekly occurrence, even if they were hanging out together), but he figured that he'd pick up anyway. He sighed and fumbled to grab his phone from its charger, flipping it open to answer it. "Hey," he mumbled.

"Hey, it's me," Marley said slowly. Jess immediately noticed the slur in her voice.

"You know it's midnight, right? Some people like to sleep at midnight."

Marley didn't seem to register anything he'd said."I'm going to tell you something right now, but you have to promise that you can't get mad at me or anyone involved."

Jess's response came hesitantly and was accented by a chuckle. "Should I be scared?"

"You? No. Me? Most likely."

"What happened?"

He heard Marley groan at the sound of a car laying on its horn. "Tomorrow morning, I'm gonna need you to drive to New York to pick me up," she said.

"Tomorrow morn-- I thought you were staying the weekend?" Jess asked.

"Yeah," she slurred. "I did too. But, uh, something happened. And I think it'd be a bad idea for me to take the train home alone."

"Can you stop speaking in riddles and tell me what happened?"

The line went silent. Jess could only hear muffled shouts and arguing. Marley spoke after a moment, sounding more confused than he'd ever heard her. "I'm sorry. Who am I talking to?" she asked.

"Marley, what the hell is going--"

It was then that Jess heard Marley start to cry. He immediately sat up straight against his bed's headboard, as if that would help him better understand what she was saying. From what was coming from the other end, it was clear someone was trying to take the phone away from her. "Hey," said an unfamiliar voice on the other end. "Who is this?"

"This is Jess. Marley's friend," he replied, voice a bit more panicked than he'd been anticipating. "Who are you?"

He heard whoever was on the phone sigh. "Of course it is," he muttered. The guy continued before Jess could say anything in response to that. "Hey, Jess, it's Logan Huntzberger. Long time no see."

Jess wasn't sure if he was glad that Marley was actually with people she knew and trusted or if he wanted to drop dead hearing Logan Huntzberger's voice once again. He figured it could take turns feeling both.

Pushing all of that aside, Jess needed to figure out whatever was happening right now. "Hi," he said shortly. "What's going on?"

"Jesus Christ. Finn, can you hold her down? Sedate her, do whatever, just get her to stop moving," he ordered. "Listen... Shit, there's no easy way to tell you this, but I'm currently in the car with Marley right now on our way to the hospital."

"What? What happened? Is she hurt?"

"Uh, well, it's kind of a long story and we don't have a ton on time until we get to the hospital--"

Jess was already ready to strangle him. "Then shorten it," he nearly snarled.

"Fuck, man, fine, we were all out tonight and Marley hit her head really bad and we're pretty sure she's got a concussion. She's bleeding pretty bad too, so I'm thinking she's gonna need some stitches too," Logan said, sighing shakily after he spoke. Jess might have noticed how panicked Logan sounded if he wasn't so worried. "We're taking her to the best hospital in the city right now. My father's best friend is the Chief Medical Officer, so she'll be taken in immediately. I was gonna call you, but she beat me to it."

Jess was out of bed by the time that Logan had said the words concussion. His stomach churned at what followed, sickened by the idea of Marley hurt like this. He barely even registered the fact that Logan had avoided the question of how all of this had happened. Marley was hurt. Everything else was secondary right now. He was pacing in front of his closet when he realized that he hadn't said anything in response to Logan.

"I-Is she okay? How bad do you think the concussion is?" Jess asked.

"I don't know. She's pretty incoherent right now. Doesn't really know where she is, keeps asking for you and someone named Courtney. She threw up while we were waiting for my buddy to pull up his car. I guess that could have been from drinking, but she didn't really have that much tonight."

Jess stopped pacing to wipe a hand down his face. "Jesus Christ. What--"

"Yeah, take a right up here," Logan directed someone, interrupting Jess's next question. "Hey, Jess, I know she asked you to come pick her up tomorrow, but you don't have to do that if you can't. I'm gonna stay with her all night and I can get someone to drive her back to Philly. I'd do it myself, but I've got a twelve o'clock flight back to London tomorrow afternoon. I moved it back as far as I could to stay here just in case, but I couldn't get it any further--"

"I'm about to get in the car right now," Jess told him, cradling his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he slipped on his shoes. "I'll be there by one-thirty. Probably closer to two."

"You're coming right now?"

Jess didn't understand why he was so taken back. "Yeah?"

"It's midnight. And you live in Philly."

"Marley's hurt," Jess stated, in a matter-of-fact tone that he knew he only could have picked up from his best friend. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Logan was silent for a moment, then nodded against his phone. "Okay, good. Okay. We'll be at the Presbyterian Hospital on sixty-eighth. I'll call you from this phone if we find out anything before you get here."

"Got it," Jess replied, hanging up before Logan had a chance to say anything else.

Jess booked it out of his room, throwing his messenger bag over his shoulder. Bowie's head perked up from his sleeping spot on the arm of the sofa as Jess threw some cat food into his bowl, just in case he returned later than expected. He did a once over of the apartment, trying to see if there was anything in view that he was forgetting.

It didn't take long for Jess to grab a jacket from its hook by the entryway and be on his way out the door.

✧

THE SUMMER HAD gone by quicker than anybody had anticipated. All of the days kind of blended together as everyone fell into their own little routines, pausing only for things like random parties and get-togethers around town, and people like Lauren visiting from time to time. Marley had taken her summer class, had made her money, and had embarrassed Taylor at one of the many town meetings that took place this summer, and before she knew it, she was back in Philly with Jess.

The summer had been a good time for Truncheon too. While they'd only printed a couple more books, the numbers they were currently doing we leagues better than what they'd done in the previous year. Jess was in the process of putting the finishing touches on the final draft of his second book (something he hoped to have out by Christmas, or his birthday at the latest) and was closer than ever to convincing an author to sign with them.

This semester was going smoothly for the both of them. Marley wasn't stressing too much about her workload, as it was her senior year and things were finally getting a little less rigorous, and Jess was happier with things than he had been in months.

And now Marley was in the hospital. And Jess was currently running through a parking garage after having gotten to New York in an alarmingly quick record time.

It was October. There was something about the month of October. Things never seemed to go right for either of them, no matter what it was.

Logan had called Jess about twenty minutes ago to let him know what wing of the hospital they were in. It was a short conversation with no time for small talk and absolutely no pleasantries. After Jess had gotten the information and hung up the phone, his mind began to race. Jess's foot only seemed to press down harder on the gas as he got lost in his thoughts. An empty, quiet car was not a good place for a person like Jess when he was upset.

How the hell had Marley managed to get hurt? Was it Logan? Was it one of his friends? Where had they been or what had they been doing for this to have happened?

Jess knew in the back of his mind that Marley was stupid and reckless enough to have done something like this on her own (he loved her, but Marley Acosta was a moron when she was drunk), but there was a strange satisfaction in the idea of being able to put blame on Logan. Maybe this was how Lorelai felt when he'd crashed Rory's car. Huh. Jess didn't like the feeling of being able to relate to Lorelai Gilmore. Maybe he'd have to take it a bit easier on Logan.

Take it easier on Logan. That would be easier said than done as Jess finally found the waiting room that Logan was sitting in. Logan looked up as soon as Jess entered the room. It made Jess feel a bit better seeing how panicked and tired he looked. A bit. Not a lot.

"Hey," Logan said, sticking his hand out to shake Jess's. Jess hesitated, but eventually met his hand and shook it quickly.

"Is she okay?" Jess asked.

Logan nodded and he started to walk toward the doors to the hospital rooms. He grinned at the woman behind the desk as he did so, getting a large one in return. "She's not great, but she's doing better than she was. She hasn't thrown up again which the doctor said was a good sign," Logan said. "They did some tests on her and the doctor said that she's definitely got a concussion, but it's not as serious as we thought it was, which means no CT scan for her head, so that's also good news."

"No scan for her head?" Jess questioned, stopping in the middle of the hall and narrowing his eyes as Logan noticed his slip up. "Did she need a scan elsewhere?"

Jess didn't take it as a good sign when Logan sighed. "She's, uh, she's got a fracture in her shoulder. The way she fell... wasn't good. The doctor said it wasn't too bad, but it's enough that she's gonna need to be put in a sling and needs to take it easy for about six weeks."

Jess wiped a hand down his face and shut his eyes. "Jesus Christ," he muttered.

Logan swallowed, nodding in the direction of Marley's room. "Yeah," he huffed as he and Jess continued to walk. "She's been knocked out ever since they brought her back to the room. My friends are watching her now. They gave her some painkillers, so it should be interesting when she wakes up."

The two of them finally made it to Marley's room, where she was laying on the hospital bed, asleep with two boys Jess assumed were Logan's friends passed out in chairs next to her. Jess's breath got caught in his throat at the sight of Marley, looking rather peaceful despite the massive bruise and stitches on her head. He sighed after a moment, looking away as they stood in the doorway. He didn't know if he could stand to be near Logan any longer.

"I-- uh, thank you for calling me," Jess said, clearing his throat as he heard his voice break. "But I think I can take it from here. I know you guys have places to be."

Logan looked at Jess as if he were insane. "What? No way I'm leaving. Not until she wakes up, at least. I'm staying here. I've already cleared it with the doctor."

"I think it'd be best for everyone in this room if you guys were gone before she woke up."

Logan scoffed. "I don't think you get to decide that."

"You wanna remind me how this shit happened?"

"I already told you."

"Run me through it again," Jess said, scrunching his nose in what looked like disgust. "Because I got the Cliffsnotes. And I thought it was lacking some pretty important details."

"Was it?" Logan challenged.

"The book report wouldn't have gotten me any Harvard looks, let's just say that."

"I don't think a book report would have been the thing not giving you Harvard looks."

Jess narrowed his eyes. "Why the hell are you being so evasive? I'm asking you what happened and you can't give me a straight answer."

"I just don't like what you're insinuating," Logan said, a humorless chuckle laced within his words. "Because if you're trying to say that I was the reason Marley got hurt, I might just have to ask someone to escort you out of here."

"Forgive me for using my past experience with you to pull some shit together," Jess seethed. "Because from where I'm standing, she's the one hooked up to some wires and you and your friends seem to be just fine."

"You really think that I'd try to hurt her?" Logan asked lowly, stepping closer to him in a way that would have been intimidating if it were anyone else but Jess. "You seriously think that's who I am?"

Jess shrugged. "I don't know who you are," he said. "All I know is that you're the asshole I met in a bar who cheated on Rory and the guy who's standing while Marley's in a hospital bed."

Logan had apparently had enough, because as soon as those words left Jess's lips, he shoved him in the wall beside the doorframe. Jess was taken back by the suddenness of the action and would have winced at the contact if Logan wasn't already in his face. Jess rolled his eyes, looking away from him, surprised by the lack of attention this was attracting. Maybe it was for the best.

"Whatever the fuck happened with Rory isn't any of your business, okay? That's over and done with. I was a jackass that night and I apologize for that, seriously, I do," Logan said, his voice getting quieter as he spoke. He pointed a finger in Jess's face, then in the direction of Marley's room. "But don't you dare think for a second that I would ever hurt her. Don't you fucking dare." Logan backed away from Jess but didn't break eye contact. Jess stood up straighter, not saying a word. "I don't have a lot of friends, Jess. You wanna know how many people in my life would drop everything to fly halfway around the world for me? Three. Three people. And they're all in that room right there. That girl means more to me than you know, okay? I would never try to put her in any danger."

The hall was quiet as they stood there. Jess attempted to evaluate everything that Logan had said, trying to see if anything about it was bullshit. As a nurse passed the two of them and machines in the rooms around them beeped, Jess begrudgingly came to a conclusion. None of what he said seemed to be false.

Jess stared at Logan for another second before he looked away in resignation. Logan watched as he nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, still leaning against the wall. "I know you'd never try to hurt her," he said. "I just didn't... I didn't know..."

"There aren't many people I'd do anything for, Jess," Logan stated. "But she's one of them. And I know you feel the same." A sly, knowing smile came across Logan's lips. "Maybe in a different way than me, but you get it."

Jess refrained from rolling his eyes, but by the look on Logan's face, he might as well have. "Okay," Jess said, sighing uncomfortably. He and Logan shared a look, letting themselves laugh together after a moment. "Okay. I'm sorry if I... accused you of... all of that."

Logan nodded in return, seeming to calm down as well. "It's okay. I'm sorry for coming at you like that. That... wasn't me."

"Marley would have killed you if she'd seen that," Jess told him, letting a bit of humor into his voice.

"No shit. She wouldn't have talked to me for months."

"Try two years."

Logan raised his brows in surprise. "Are we speaking from past experience here?"

Jess nearly smiled in an attempt to fight off a grimace. "I beat the shit out of her ex-boyfriend a couple of years ago. The fight we had afterward was so bad that we didn't speak for two years."

Logan huffed a laugh. "Jesus," he chuckled. His eyes drifted to Marley's room as if to make sure that she wasn't awake. "What'd the boyfriend do to deserve it?"

"He wouldn't shut up," Jess said, with a shrug. When he saw how Logan was looking at him, Jess sighed. "Let's just say you would have been on my side if you'd heard him talk about her." A ghost of a smile made its way to Logan's lips as he nodded once more. Jess slowly decided to change the topic. "So... what actually happened tonight?"

"She, uh..." Logan snorted, shutting his eyes. "The club we went to tonight had this huge DJ playing for them and Marley and my friend Finn found a way to get on stage with him. Next thing I know, Marley's sitting in the backstage hallway bawling her eyes out with blood gushing from her head, not knowing where she is," he explained. "Apparently she stepped on the foot of some drunk girl that was up there and the girl fuckin' pushed her off the stage."

"Seriously?" Jess asked.

Logan nodded. "Seriously. The club threw the girl out once Finn explained everything. I've never seen him get in someone's face like that before. We got her to the hospital as fast as we could when we realized something was wrong."

As if on cue, Finn himself poked his head out from Marley's room. Jess nearly jumped at the sight as the two made eye contact. "I heard my name," Finn said sleepily. He glanced at Logan as he pointed at Jess. "Who's this fellow?"

"Finn, this is Jess," Logan said.

"Marley's Jess?"

"You know a lot of Jess's?"

"More than I'm proud of," Finn mused, eyes shifting to Jess once more. "But they've got longer hair and happen to be a bit leggier than you are."

"Jess?" came a voice from inside the room, slurred and giggly. "Is he here?"

Finn smiled tiredly at Jess and Logan. "Marley's awake, by the way," he said.

The two of them blew past Finn, swiftly moving into the room to be greeted by the sight of Marley loopily talking to Colin, who looked like he'd gotten hit by a bus. As they entered the room, Marley looked at them, her smile faltering in what almost looked like terror.

"Oh my God," she said, blinking slowly. She looked back at Colin. "How fuckin' strong are these pills, dude?"

Colin shrugged. "I'm not sure what they gave you. But I don't think they're too bad."

"So I'm not hallucinating the two of them together?" Marley asked, pointing her finger that had a pulse oximeter on it at her friends.

"Nah," Logan said, grinning at her. "We're here, Penn."

Marley hummed, a wide smile forming on her face as if she were trying to match Logan's. "You two start swinging at each other yet?"

"Close to it," Jess muttered, earning a stiff elbow in the side from Logan.

"No, Marley. No swinging. I think we came to an agreement of sorts."

Marley snorted, slapping her hand over her mouth as she realized how loud it was, dissolving into giggles shortly after. "An agreement?" she asked, attempting to imitate Logan's voice. "We suddenly living in a Jane Austen book, or something?"

"That's exactly what it is," Jess said.

"Yeah? Which one?"

Jess quickly glanced around the room and then back at Marley. "Maybe Sense and Sensibility."

"Booooooo," Marley drew out, leaning her head back on the bed's pillow. She grimaced as she did so, forgetting for a moment that she had a concussion. "Give me Pride and Prejudice or give me death."

"Overrated," Finn sang from the corner of the room.

"You wish you were half the man Mr. Darcy is, you fucker," Marley nearly yelled, hissing as she moved her shoulder slightly as she leaned forward.

Jess moved toward her as he chuckled to himself, gently moving her back to her original position on the hospital bed. "Easy," he said quietly to her. "Don't hurt yourself again, idiot."

Marley grabbed Jess's hand as he went to move away from her. "Don't call me an idiot, asshole. I'll defend Mr. Darcy until the day I die," she muttered.

"That's a stupid hill to die on," Jess said, trying to tug his hand out of Marley's. She didn't budge.

"I've died on stupider hills."

"You can say that again."

Marley grinned at him in a way that was so wide he knew it was the painkillers talking when she repeated, "I've died on stupider hills." Jess shook his head and laughed, attempting to pull his hand away once more. "Stop trying to leave. Sit your ass in that chair and stay with me, jackass," she whined.

"I'm not goin' anywhere," Jess said. "I drove here for you, Acosta. I'm not leaving without you."

"Good," she said, smiling lazily at him.

A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. There was a nurse who stood in the doorframe, smiling as she saw Marley. "Good to see that she's awake," she said. Her eyes transferred the Jess who was now in the chair Marley had ordered him to sit in. "Are you the roommate? They told me they were waiting on one more to arrive when they brought her in."

"Yeah, that's me," Jess replied.

The nurse smiled and nodded, making her way into the room. "Good. It's nice to meet you," she said, moving to the foot of Marley's bed. She glanced at Logan and his friends. "I don't know how much you've heard, but Marley's got a moderate concussion and had to get a couple of stitches for the cut on her head. She's got a hairline fracture in her shoulder blade, which will look worse than it is when you see it unbandaged." Jess nodded, ignoring Marley who kept squeezing his hand and laughing to herself as he tried to process everything this woman was saying. "I know that all sounds like a lot, but from what I'm hearing about the way she fell and where, she's pretty lucky it's not worse."

"Is she gonna need surgery or anything? Physical therapy afterward?"

The nurse chuckled at his concern and shook her head. "No surgery. She'll actually be okay to go in a little while unless you want her to stay here for the night. She might need PT, depending on how her shoulder heals, but the only thing you're really going to need to worry about is making sure she's wearing her sling. As for the concussion, she'll be miserable for a couple of weeks. No TV, bright lights, definitely no drinking."

Marley gasped animatedly at the nurse, moving her head back on the pillow. "Noooooooo," she whined, despite the laugh in her voice.

"The stitches will need to be removed in ten or so days, depending on how they're healing as well," the nurse continued, chuckling softly at Marley. "I'd recommend coming back to have someone remove them, but I know you guys live in Philly, so if you can't get back here, just take her to someone over there. You can do it yourselves, but I don't recommend that."

"Her, uh, her mom's a nurse," Jess said. "Would she be..."

"Definitely," she replied. "I might even recommend bringing her back home or having her mom come to you guys. I know she's in school, but she probably won't be able to do a whole lot of coursework for a week or two at least."

Jess nodded again, looking over at Marley who was still smiling. He seemed to realize just how out of it she was when the idea of being behind in her classes and work wasn't an immediate red flag for her.

The nurse said a couple more things regarding how to help Marley out while she was recovering especially for the next couple of days and nights. The nurse then told them that someone would be in momentarily to bring her a sling for her arm, then called Logan out into the hall. Jess watched as Logan was brought to the desk down the hall and began talking to the secretary.

Colin and Finn both excused themselves from the room, telling Marley and Jess (mostly Jess) that they were going to need some coffee if they were expected to do anything functional within the next couple of hours. Jess nodded at them, giving the two a tight-lipped smile as Marley waved goodbye.

Marley turned her head to face Jess. She squeezed his hand again, furrowing her brow as he tried to pull away again. "Why don't you want to hold my hand?" she pouted.

Jess gave her a look, but Marley gave it right back to him. "I'm just trying to get some feeling back in it," he told her.

"Is it because they're sweaty?" Marley asked.

"No, it's not. You're just holding it like someone's going to take it away from you."

Marley's eyes widened and her grip tightened. "Will they?"

"I don't think your friends want to take turns holding my hand, if that's what you're asking."

"Good," she said, loosening her grip but still not letting go. Jess raised his brows. "No. Stay."

Jess finally sighed, giving up whatever fight he thought he had a chance of winning. He nodded and pulled the chair closer so there was a bit more slack between them when he leaned back in the chair. He sighed as Marley began to ramble about something or another, a wave of exhaustion hitting him.

But he didn't let go of Marley's hand. And as people filtered in and out of the room, she refused to let go of his too.

(Until both of their hands got too sweaty for Marley to bear and she shook him off of her. But still. It was the thought that counted.)

✧

GETTING MARLEY INTO Jess's car was a task that seemed easier in theory than it was in practice.

Jess wheeled her down to the parking garage with the wheelchair the hospital had lent them for the time being. Logan and Company had followed him to the garage, willing to help with anything and everything, including bringing the wheelchair back to the hospital. Marley had fallen asleep in the chair and her arm was in a sling, making for an interesting sight as they all made their way to Jess's car.

Awkward was the wrong word to describe the vibe of the group. Logan and his friends talked amongst themselves, for the most part, asking Jess a couple of questions here and there. Jess was quiet and kept to himself for the rest of the time, aside from when Marley tried to talk to him. He didn't really care if he came off cold or unfriendly. It wasn't like he was ever going to see these people again. And he really just wanted to get Marley home.

Once they had gotten to Jess's car (and Jess had successfully ignored Colin's comment to Finn about how his car looked like a four-hundred and twenty credit score on wheels), they managed to wake up Marley enough to get her to stand up and move into the passenger side seat. It was a struggle, to say the least, but they managed to get in done within the hour.

Jess slid the wheelchair to Finn, nodding at the two of them and saying his thanks for helping her out. He turned to do the same for Logan, who was already sticking a hand out for him to shake. Jess complied and met his hand with less hesitance than earlier.

"Thanks again," Jess said as he shook Logan's hand.

"Of course," Logan replied. "Anything for her, y'know? Thank you for coming down to get her."

Jess nodded knowingly, giving Logan a slight smile before walking around his car and into the driver's seat. Once Jess had started his car (with a deafening squeal that both Marley and Jess were used to but scared the shit out of the others), he pulled out of the parking space he was in and drove to where they were all standing. He reached over to crank down the window for Marley.

"Bye guys," she said with a sleepy grin.

"Bye Marley," Colin sang.

Finn pointed at her. "Give us a call when you can see straight, darling. You'll make me worry about you if you don't."

Logan chuckled, looking at Jess. "Tell her I'll call her when she's off the drugs," he said to him.

"Will do," Jess said.

"Drive safe," Logan told them, earning a wave from Jess as he cranked Marley's window up and put his car into drive, making his way out of the lot.

The drive back to Philly was quiet, for the most part. Or, as quiet as it could be. Jess had thrown in a CD he'd made a while ago as Marley went in and out of sleep. That left Jess to debate how to go about telling Marley's mom about what happened.

He knew that her mother wouldn't be angry or anything, but he didn't know if he could ask her mom to drive to Philly. Marley definitely wouldn't want to inconvenience her mom like that, but he knew that her mom would do it in a heartbeat. He almost took the nurse's advice and brought her home to Stars Hollow, but he figured her mom wouldn't appreciate getting a call from him at three in the morning when he could take care of Marley himself. He figured he'd call her when they got home to let her know what had happened and then take it from there.

Jess made sure to look over at Marley almost every chance he could to make sure she was still breathing when she was asleep or not doing something stupid when he was awake. Currently, she was asleep, and Jess was in the process of trying to see if she was breathing. He'd gently tried to shake her awake, avoiding her shoulder, as her hurt one was on his side, but she was out like a light.

It wasn't until Jess cranked the music up to its loudest volume and shook her leg that she showed any sign of being alive. She groaned as she awoke, but didn't seem to register what had woken her up as Jess immediately turned down the music. "What the hell was that?" she asked.

Jess kept his eyes on the road. "I don't know," he said lightly. "Good to see you're alive though."

"I thought I heard music."

"Huh. I think you're hearing things."

Marley shook her head childishly. "Whatever," she mumbled. "You wanna know what I think?"

"What?" Jess asked.

"I think you need a new car."

"Nice observation, doc."

"I'm serious. You've had this car since I've known you," Marley said. "It's a piece of shit. Truncheon's gotta be turning enough of a profit for you to upgrade to something better."

Jess chuckled to himself, feeling a bit lighter as Marley had seemed to regain some sort of consciousness to be talking like herself again. Her words were still slurred and he knew she wasn't going to make a ton of sense for the next couple of hours, but he was relieved that it was getting better.

"I like this car. I don't see the need to upgrade."

"Jess."

He glanced over at her. "What?"

"You can't possibly like this car."

"I do."

Marley winced as she moved to point a finger in his face. "Liar!"

Jess pushed her away from him softly, making sure that she was sitting back in her seat. "Stop moving like that," he said. "You're hurting yourself."

"And you're being a stubborn, cheapass buttface."

"A cheapass buttface?"

"I'm on drugs. You can't make fun of me," Marley whined, turning away from him to look out the window. It took her a moment to realize she couldn't cross her arms over her chest.

Jess laughed to himself and shook his head, continuing to focus on the road. He ignored Marley's eyes on him as she glanced over to see if he was looking at her making a scene. As soon as they met eyes, she would look away, out the window, like a three-year-old.

Once Marley came to the realization that Jess didn't seem to care what she was doing, she sighed heavily, turning her head to look at him. "I'm gonna ask you something," she said, stumbling over her words slightly. "I haven't asked you about this before because it made me feel weird and all funny, but I'm, like, numb and fuzzy right now, and literally can't feel anything so I might as well."

"Where you goin' with this, Acosta?" Jess asked hesitantly.

"The night of my twenty-first," Marley began boldly, not stopping for breath, "you said something to Courtney. About me. Called me something. And I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since."

Jess's grip on the steering wheel got tighter. "Marley..."

"You called me 'your girl,'" she stated. There was no room for mistakes, no room for misconception. "Courtney said you called me that. What did you mean by that?"

Jess nearly slammed on his breaks in the middle of the freeway. Whatever he'd expected to come out of Marley's mouth, that wasn't it.

He didn't dare look at her. He only shook his head, pretending like this wasn't affecting him in the way it really was as he could feel Marley's eyes boring into the side of his face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do," Marley replied, that same smile she wore in the hospital stretching across her lips. She poked Jess's cheek with her finger. "You know what I'm talking about."

He batted away her finger, letting himself chuckle. "What are you doing, c'mon," he laughed as she continued to poke him. He felt his chest get a little lighter as the conversation became a bit more friendly, something of which he welcomed with open arms. They didn't need to be having this conversation right now. Especially not when Marley probably wouldn't remember any of this when the painkillers wore off. "I'm trying to drive."

"I think..." she began, leaning forward again and booping his nose, despite her shoulder, "I think you want to kiss me."

Jess shook his head for what felt like the hundredth time today. He huffed a laugh and used one hand to put her back in her seat. "What makes you think that?" he asked.

"You do."

"I do?"

Marley nodded, putting a hand over her mouth as she giggled. "You want to kiss me, Mariano. You wanna kiss me so bad."

Jess sighed. "You're insane," he told her. "Go back to bed."

"Am I wrong?" she asked. Her words were innocent and sweet and Jess finally had to look at her, at least for a moment. She was staring at him with glazed over eyes and a tired smile. "Am I? Am I not your girl?"

Jess's breath caught in his throat. He paused for a second, swallowing harshly. What the hell. She wasn't going to remember any of this anyway.

"Yeah, Marley," he said softly. "You're my girl. You're always gonna be my girl."

Marley grinned momentarily, wider than Jess had seen in a while. Her smile faltered as she thought back to their previous exchange. Her brow furrowed, and she looked at him like she was trying to figure out some sort of equation. "So, I'm your girl. But you don't want to kiss me?"

Jess had nothing to say in response to that. There was a part of himself that hated his cowardice. He couldn't bring himself to admit anything like that to her, even when she was like this. He knew that once something like that left his mouth, he probably wouldn't be able to stop. Or he wouldn't be able to say it again. He wasn't sure.

Marley took his prolonged silence as an answer to her question. She nodded slowly and sunk into her seat. "Oh," she said, sounding more upset than Jess could have ever anticipated. He wasn't expecting her to sound upset at all. She leaned her head on the window, yawned, then shut her eyes. "That's sad."

"It's sad?" Jess asked in shock.

"Yeah. It's sad," Marley said through another yawn. She moved her head, trying to find a more comfortable spot. "Because I wanna kiss you."

And with that, Marley fell asleep. And it took everything in Jess's power not to pull the car over, shake her awake, and ask her what in the ever-loving fuck she meant by that.

✧

WHEN THE PAINKILLERS finally wore off, Marley Acosta awoke to find herself back in her room in Philadelphia with a massive headache, her arm in a sling, and Jess Mariano sitting on her bed beside her.

"Hey," he said softly, setting a glass of water on her bedside table. "You back yet?"

She looked at him in confusion, then glanced around her room, trying to recall how she'd gotten here. "Not that I'm not happy to be home," she began slowly, "but how the fuck did I get here?"

Jess's lips twitched upwards as she spoke. "She's back," he said, mostly to himself.

Marley moved to sit up straighter in her bed, hissing in pain as she did so. Jess moved to help her, but she waved him off, knowing she could do it herself. "I'm good," she told him. She made a face in pain, then looked at him with furrowed brows. "Did I get hit by a bus or something?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Jess asked, reaching to grab the water he'd set down a second ago.

She took the glass from him, thanking him quietly before downing half of it. She took a breath before shaking her head. "I remember being in a club with Logan and his friends... and then Finn and I decided it'd be a good idea to try to become friends with the DJ because he was like, famous or something? And the dude thought I was cute so he let me and Finn up on stage where there were a couple of other people. And then I got shoved into this bitch who, like tried to fight me I think? And she might have pushed me?" Marley shook her head. "I don't know. I remember falling. That's about it. Everything else is blank. And now I'm back here."

Jess nodded, taking the glass back from her after she finished the water in it. "Yeah, that adds up," he said.

"What happened after?" she asked, gritting her teeth as she shifted her position.

"Well, from what Logan told me--"

Marley shut her eyes in a long, disbelieving blink and put her non-slung-up hand on Jess's arm. "Hold on. Logan? You met Logan?"

"Who do you think brought you to the hospital, Acosta?"

"Oh my God. You met Logan."

"I met Logan."

Marley looked at him with wide eyes. "That couldn't have gone well."

"No. It didn't. But then it was fine," Jess said, shrugging.

"I can't believe it. I was knocked out when you met Logan."

"You were awake for some of it."

"You met Logan while I was high on drugs. I can't believe I missed that."

Jess laughed at her, shaking his head. "Can I continue what I was saying please?"

"I guess," Marley said, still in disbelief. "Nothing you say is gonna rattle me more than the fact that you two met again."

"You called me at midnight and sounded like someone had roofied you," Jess said. "You didn't know it was me on the phone at one point in time. You freaked me out. And then Logan took over and explained everything, told me where they were taking you. And then I drove to New York to get you from the hospital."

Marley took all of that in, still seeming put off by everything that he'd told her and everything that had happened. "W-Wow."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry I made you drive all the way to New York."

"Are you kidding?" Jess asked. "You were hurt. I barely even stopped for red lights."

Marley stared at him with a soft smile, looking down at her comforter once Jess met her gaze. "Well... thank you. For doing all of that." Jess nodded in response, watching at Marley tilted her head as if it would help with the pain. "So, what'd that bitch on stage do to me?"

"According to the nurse, you've got a pretty good concussion and a couple of stitches on your forehead," Jess said.

"That explains the headache," Marley muttered. "What's up with the sling?"

"You've got a hairline fracture in your shoulder blade because of the way you fell."

Marley scowled, shaking her head. "I should sue. I'll find her and sue her ass into the ground."

"You do that."

"I'm serious. Logan's rich. I'm sure he sues people all the time. He could probably help me out and get me a settlement or something."

"Do you know her name? Anything about her?" Marley only stared at him with the same scowl. Jess nodded as he got his answer. "That's what I thought. Speaking of Logan, he told me to tell you to call him when you were feeling better."

"It's so fucking strange to hear that Logan told you anything," she mumbled.

"Imagine how I feel."

Marley hit his arm lightly. "Well, thank you for doing all that for me. I know that was probably... less than fun for you. So thank you."

"It wasn't all bad," Jess said.

"No?"

"Watching you almost fight Logan's Australian friend about Mr. Darcy was pretty entertaining."

Marley covered her face with her free hand. "Did I actually do that?" she groaned.

Jess bit back a smile. "Amongst other things."

"Yeah, well, whatever I said, I stand by it. Mr. Darcy rules. Especially in the Keira Knightley movie." She moved her hand to the stitches on her forehead. "Do you know how many stitches I've got?"

"Not sure. But don't touch them," he said, moving her hand away. "I called your mom before I woke you up. We're gonna drive to Stars Hollow in about two weeks so that she can take them out. She wants you to call her too. Courtney too. Apparently, you called her after you called me."

"It took me getting pushed off a stage for me to become popular, that's nice," Marley said to herself.

Jess snickered at her words, checking the clock on her bedside table. It was the early afternoon, but he figured she should recover as much as she could. "You should probably try to sleep a little more."

As if on cue, Marley yawned. She nodded, looking at Jess. "I'm sure you're tired, too."

"I'm actually doing alright," Jess told her.

"That wasn't a hypothetical. You look exhausted."

"You sure know how to woo a guy."

"I'm serious. Have you slept at all?"

Jess tried to shrug it off, but Marley wasn't having it. "I got a few hours before you called," he said. "It's okay. I texted Lauren and she said she'd be over when she could."

"I don't need a babysitter, Mariano. Get some sleep."

"The nurse said I had to wake you up every two or three hours. I can risk sleep if that means you won't have a brain aneurysm or something."

"I think that's a little dramatic."

"Marley..."

Marley grabbed his arm once more. She looked at him with tired, pleading eyes. "Jess, c'mon. Just, like, sleep in here, if you're that worried. I can set an alarm or something."

Jess knew there was no use fighting her. She'd say something along the lines of how she would sleep unless he did, or she'd be a pain in his ass until he did what she wanted him to. And besides, Jess was exhausted. He knew that he was. He just didn't realize how much he looked it.

He gave her an annoyed look, trying to play his last card. His voice was gentle when he said, "I'm just trying to take care of you."

"And you did. You are," she said. Her voice matched his. "And now I'm trying to do the same for you." She rolled her eyes and motioned to her injuries. "As much as I can right now."

Jess looked at her with a fondness that Marley was able to recognize through partially closed eyes, and then dipped his head in resignation. Marley knew she'd gotten him. She smiled as he sighed, shaking his head in what he wanted so badly to be disappointment, but he couldn't muster it up. "You're impossible," he said, getting up to go to the other side of her bed.

"I'm not impossible. I just care about you," Marley argued.

"Same thing."

"I think you're impossible," she told him, turning her head to look at him as he laid down beside her. She shifted her position on her bed to make a little more room for him, trying to hide her grimace as a sharp pain shot through her shoulder. "You're the impossible one."

"You are tired," Jess chuckled. "Either that or I'm not sure the painkillers have fully worn off yet."

Marley yawned again. "What makes you say that?"

"Your comebacks are still pretty shitty."

"Bite me."

"You called me a cheapass buttface."

Marley snorted. "Not my best, but I'll bet I was right," she said, moving closer to him as she started to feel a bit more tired. "Why'd I do that?"

"You were bullying me about my car."

"Oh, so I was right."

"I'm not cheap for not wanting to waste money."

Marley put her head on his shoulder, laughing to herself as she listened to him. "But you are cheap for refusing to upgrade from that piece of scrap metal," she said. "And you wouldn't be wasting money. You'd actually be spending it wisely."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Jess replied, sounding a bit more sleepy than before. "Your head's still fucked up."

"It can't be. I'm actually making sense."

"Debatable."

Marley groaned, her head falling from his shoulder to his chest. "I'm going to bed now," she mumbled.

"Good."

"You should too."

"I can't if you keep talking."

Marley shut her mouth, forcing herself not to respond to that. Instead, she sunk further down onto Jess's chest and sighed, trying to find a semi-comfortable position to be in for her shoulder. The door to Marley's room opened slightly, a quiet meow following as Bowie entered the room and hopped up onto Marley's bed. Before Marley could pick her head up to see her cat, Jess's hand had found her hair. Marley froze. She hoped that Jess didn't notice.

He didn't seem to, as he ran his fingers through it for what felt like forever, but Marley knew was only about a minute, before he rested his chin lightly on top of her head, making sure not to touch her stitches.

Marley swallowed harshly before she asked her next question. "What else-- What else did I say?" she asked. Her voice was no louder than a whisper.

"Hmm?" Jess asked, obviously half-asleep.

"You said I almost fought Finn about Mr. Darcy 'amongst other things,'" she repeated. "What else did I say?"

Jess didn't answer for a moment. Marley's stomach churned at his silence. After a long while, he asked, "You really don't remember anything?"

Marley didn't understand why his voice sounded so strained. "No. Nothing," she said.

"You just said some crazy things," Jess replied after a beat. "Talked a lot about Jane Austen, talked some shit about my car, said you wanted to kiss me. That kind of stuff."

Marley nearly threw up then and there. The way that Jess had said that last part so indifferently made her sick to her stomach. She'd actually said that? Was it common practice for her to say that shit to people when she was out of it? God, had she actually said that to Jess?

"Oh." Marley laughed uneasily. "That is weird."

Jess sighed, and it was so heavy that it moved Marley's head on his chest. "I thought so too."

There were so many things that Marley could have said to that. So many. But as always when it came to Jess and this kind of stuff, she went with the safe option. "Sorry about that," she said.

Jess shook his head. "Don't apologize. You weren't all there. I know you didn't mean it."

"Right," Marley said. She didn't even believe her own voice, but Jess didn't seem to catch it. He was already half asleep. "I didn't mean it."

If Marley knew that it wouldn't have hurt her head, she would have gotten up and slammed it into the wall.

Before she could say anything else, there was a loud knock on their front door, making the both of them flinch at the sound. The two of them glanced at each other, wondering who could possibly be behind the door. Their silent question was answered less than a second later.

"It's Lauren!" she shouted. "That guy from downstairs who came to our party last week let me in! I'm carrying a whole bunch of shit, let me in!"

Jess sighed, rubbing at his eyes as he got up from the bed. Bowie made his way up to replace Jess and Marley smiled as he immediately curled up next to her. She watched Jess move to leave her room. Her heart was in her stomach, stomach in her throat.

Was she...? Should she?

In a split-second decision, Marley shakily called out, "Jess?"

He stopped in the doorframe, glancing back at her with a furrowed brow. "Yeah?"

She looked away from him as if that would distract her from the bile rising in her throat. "What if..." she choked out. Marley finally looked him in the eye. "What if I did mean it?"

Marley watched how the entirety of his being changed in that very second. He went completely rigid. His worried expression turned into something that Marley couldn't define. She hated the way that he was looking at her. She couldn't figure it out. It was like she'd either ruined his life or done some sort of miracle.

She was good at reading him. The best, actually. But this... this was different. She had no idea how to read this. And that scared the shit out of her.

His lips parted as if he went to respond, but no words came out. The only thing that Marley heard was Lauren screaming in the hallway. Both Marley and Jess knew they'd get yet another noise complaint courtesy of their friends if Jess didn't answer the door.

So, Jess turned away from her and went to open the door. Marley put her face in her hand, silently cursing herself as she was left alone. Stupid, stupid, stupid. God, she was so fucking stupid. How-- Why had she said that? What made her think that it was a good idea?

Marley had no time to worry about how she'd probably ruined everything because Lauren quickly came barging into her room with an armful of supplies for her. As Lauren greeted her and explained everything she'd brought, Marley let herself glance over at Jess who was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, that same, unrecognizable look on his face.

She didn't know what she was going to do when Lauren left.

✧✧✧

author's note: well. you know what they say. one step forward, one leap off of a cliff back.

i've got finals to study for so this is gonna be a quick one, but this hunk of shit is almost at 150k and i can't thank you guys enough. that's so crazy. literally so crazy. thank you, thank you, thank you.

hope you all enjoyed! thank you again to abby for the absolutely glorious art! i literally can't believe i have multiple people making art for this story it's insane.

love you all tons!!
-mags