*
Jill half hoped that Rory would still be in the hallway when she opened the door to leave the next morning. He wasn't.
She rode the elevator down to the lobby, her sea bags piled onto a luggage cart, her eyes downcast, not quite focused on the carpeting. Jill couldn't help but wonder if she would ever be able to look at the hotel the same way, or even return to Elitch Gardens again.
Once Jill finally made her way downstairs, Casey took one look at her sister-in-law and pulled her into a big, pregnant hug. "I'm so sorry, hon," she whispered. And without another word between the two of them, Casey checked her out and led her out to the Jeep. She even passed Jill a pair of sunglasses to hide her red eyes from the world.
They beat the furniture delivery to the apartment by all of three minutes. After that it was a long, complex dance of getting everything into the right room, set up just the way Jill wanted it. The TV came around noon, along with some Geek Squad guys to set up all of the electronics she had purchased the previous day.
Jill was grateful for the whole complicated mess. It made it difficult to remember just how empty and hollow she felt inside.
Jason joined them around one, freshly showered from practice but looking a little hung over. Casey explained softly that he had been out with the notorious O'Brian until late: "Your brother will be feeling too bad to notice that you're not exactly feeling great either."
Jill shot her sister-in-law a grateful smile. "Thank goodness for small miracles," she whispered hoarsely, her throat still raw from crying all night.
-----
The next few weeks did nothing for Rory but prove just how heartbroken he was over Jill. Even Kellan, eternally positive, nice guy Kellan, had called him an idiot. You knew things were bad when Kellan Quaid was screaming at you for being an asshole.
Jason didn't go easy on him either, but he at least had an idea of what Rory was going through, having gone through a similar slump when he first met Casey years ago. Though he, too, had called Rory a bonehead for not telling her that he loved her.
He just felt so lost. Rory was trying, really trying, to move on. He had even gone out with some of the guys one Friday night; Colby Mac had been raving about a new strip club for weeks. Some random blonde there expressed interest in bringing him home. Two months ago he would have gladly complied, but now all he could think was that she wasn't nearly as beautiful as Jill.
And now, every time he looked out of the window at his apartment, he saw that damn Ferris wheel and remembered what he lost. Who he lost.
Rory had grabbed the keys to his apartment a million times to make his way upstairs to see Jason before he would remember that he too, had left. He and Casey had moved into the new house and he wasn't about to go bother them there, not with the new baby coming so soon.
So he moped. He went on his road trip, and it was the same damn depression in a different city. So he came back and just moped some more.
A month after Jill left, Rory started to consider buying about fifteen cats to keep him company. And that was when he knew he was going crazy. Grasping at straws, he called Kellan and begged him to come over the next day and barbecue after their team meeting. Anything to avoid being alone.
"I can't, man, and neither can you. We're all going over to LeBlanc's for the party, remember?"
"Oh shit, I completely forgot," Rory moaned. It was like he was losing his damn mind.
"Don't worry about it, man. Want me to put your name on the gift I got them?"
Leave it to Kellan to actually buy them a house warming present, the thoughtful bastard. "That depends, what did you get them? I don't want to put my name on another damn fondue set with you."
