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trigger warning !! mentions of death and sickness, please read at your own discretion
FIVE WEEKS.
Five weeks had passed since Rory's departure.
When Rory had gotten the call that Dawn was sick again, she wasted no time in buying the first plane ticket back home and packing her bags. She left Luke in George's care, thinking she would be home by Christmas. But Christmas had come and gone and Rory had found out that she wasn't sure when she could return home.
She wasn't going to leave Dawn's side until she was stable enough, even with her grandmother telling her to go home. She had spent over three weeks by Dawn's side, her first ten days were spent in a hotel for isolation. Rory's apartment was no longer hers, she had all of her furniture and belongings in a storage unit back in Brighton. She had officially moved back home.
"I have a nurse," Dawn argued, hearing Rory worry for her once more. Dawn was always stubborn, sick or not. "She makes all that bad cancer stuff go away. You go back home."
"I'm not leaving," Rory said firmly, "It's not fair for me to leave when you've been there for me for the last twenty-three years."
"Well, did you expect me to just not take you in after your parents passed away?" Dawn scoffed. Rory shook her head, smiling sadly. "No, but you deserve some good old TLC."
"God, you're just like your mother," Dawn sighed, "Stubborn yet sweet."
"Ah, I try," Rory teased. A tense silence passed between the two, both trying to ignore the inevitable. Dawn's cancer was back, with her at an older and more vulnerable age. Rory tried to ignore the dark parts in her life, she hated the pity she received when those parts in her life revealed themselves. With deceased parents and a sick grandmother, pity was all Rory knew when she was younger and she had grown to despise the pity she was showered with.
She had told George about her parents when they had played their question game, when he asked her about them. And per Rory's request, George kept his pity locked away. He was one of the few people who understood her feelings around pity and respected those feelings. Rory joked about it, calling it her 'Peter Parker origin story', as her parents had passed away in a plane crash when she was very young.
"I'm going to call George," Rory mumbled. "You're okay?"
"Rory, for the love of god, call that lovesick boyfriend of yours. I'm fine," Dawn said exasperatedly. Rory smiled and took her phone, leaving the room. George picked up right away, despite the massive time difference between them.
"Hey, how are you?" George asked hurriedly. Rory could practically see George pacing his apartment nervously. She could see Luke sitting on his couch, staring at his new companion curiously.
God, she missed them.
"I'm fine. Missing you," Rory mumbled, "I'm sorry I had to leave so abruptly."
George laughed shortly, "Rory, please don't apologize. Please, love, you've apologized every day you've been away. How's Dawn?"
"She's doing alright, she's always been strong," Rory replied. "She says that I don't have to be here but-"
Rory's eyes filled with tears as her throat closed up. She tried to swallow, tried to blink the tears away. But the drops stained her cheeks before she could hold back.
"I'm scared, George," Rory sobbed. "I'm so scared I'm going to lose her. It's different than my parents death, it happened when I was so young. And it's hard to miss someone or something that you never really had in the first place."
"Hey, it'll be alright. I know it's not much to hear those words, especially over the phone, but I need you to take a breath, Rory. Take a breath, okay?"
Rory slowly and shakily inhaled, trying to stop her flow of tears. George smiled sadly, the thought of her being in pain with him so far away made his heart break. But one of them had to be strong.
"How was that?" George asked, keeping his voice gentle.
"Better," Rory said softly, inhaling and exhaling slowly. "God, this is so hard. With Dawn sick, with you so far away. The world is being exceptionally cruel."
"We'll make it," George said determinedly. "I know we will."
"What makes you so sure?" Rory asked, sniffling.
Because I've fallen in love with you, George thought.
"Because it's us, Rory." George said. "You hated me at a point, remember?"
"You must stop twisting that story," Rory laughed quietly, the memory providing her with a flicker of comfort. "I was merelyannoyed with you. Now I'm pretty fond of you."
"Well that's a relief, especially if we throw in the fact that we're dating," George joked. Rory chuckled. Although she was generally a very optimistic and bright person, George had a way of beckoning her happy and true nature out when she was feeling the opposite.
"Guess we're officially a long distance couple, huh?" Rory queried. George sighed, "Yeah, I guess so. But we got this, Rory. We have texting, phone calls, our new Twitter ship users."
Rory laughed again, sending a spark of warmth through George.
"We really just left them to assume," Rory smiled, "Maybe when I come back, I can just sneakily kiss you on the cheek during one of your streams."
"Rory, they were losing their minds over our hands brushing."
"I've always wanted to break Twitter, it's on my bucket list," Rory said lightly, George laughing. The two lovers eventually fell into a relaxed conversation, the way they always did. And while their voices were light and cheery, an underlying sense of loneliness and sadness swelled within George and Rory.
"Okay, I have to go, Aurelia is on her way over." Rory sighed, running a hand through her hair. "She's helping me out with Gran, she's known her forever. Say hello to Luke for me."
"Of course. Call if you need anything," George said kindly. Rory bit her lip, not wanting to hang up the phone. Every time their calls ended, Rory ended up with tears in her eyes and George with a hole in his heart.
"Bye, George," Rory said softly.
"Talk later, Rory."
And when Rory ended the call, her heart broke once more.
