A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews, here is another chapter for you. I had fun writing it so I hope you all like it. Don't forget to review :).

Disclaimer: Nope, do not own, moving on.


Chapter Two


Jess sat up, trying to loosen the painful cramp in his neck. It had been a while since he had slept on his own couch. Slowly, he made his way down the small hallway, and upon opening his door, he saw Ellie curled up in a ball on his bed. A sudden wave of protectivness he had never felt before washed over him as he walked up to the bed, and he knelt down beside her and covered her with the blanket, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She stirred slightly, and he froze, silent, for fear that he had woken her. But he let out a breath as she brang her thumb to her mouth and began quietly breathing again. It had shocked him at first, how much of a resemblance Ellie had shared with her; he had honestly thought he had lost his mind. There were subtle differences here and there, but she had her hair, her porcelain skin, and her eyes were almost a carbon copy. He thinks that's what had drawn him to her in the first place. But all he knows, is that when he first laid eyes on her, he had the overwhelming urge to keep her safe.

x x x x

"So how're things with the Mrs?" Jess smirked, knowing it was now officially impossible for Luke to deny what Jess had known all along.

"Lorelai... uh."

"Oh c'mon, Uncle Luke! You would tell your best man if you were in the doghouse, wouldn't you?" Jess said mock-seriously, laughing at the mental image he had of Luke whimpering away from a vicious Lorelai.

"Well actually, it's about Rory," Luke said cautiously, knowing the tenderness the subject held with his nephew, "She hasn't come home since the wedding, and Lorelai's barely talked to her. I guess they havn't go past the dropping out of Yale thing... Well... Lorelai's been..."

"Don't worry, I can imagine," Jess said, hoping to end the conversation as soon as possible; memories from the wedding, and in particular, the maid of honor, flooding back to him.

"Sorry, I know this is-"

"No big deal," Jess lied.

x x x x

Jess barely heard the sound of the small pattering feet behind him over the noise of the fry pan. He turned around just in time to see Ellie with her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with excitement.

"You're awake," he stated with a smile, "Are you hungry? I made breakfast."

She pulled her hands away from her mouth, clapping them in front of her. "Ellie loves... PANCAKES!" she shouted excitedly, running over to the small table and jumping up onto the seat.

Jess hid a smile, as he tipped the last of the pancakes onto a plate, and turned off the stove.

"Do you like chocolate sauce?" he asked as he slid one of the plates in front of her.

"Mhm," she nodded, as she began to grab the pancakes with her hands.

"Wait, wait," Jess said, pulling Ellie's hands away from the pancakes gently. "You have to use your knife and fork, see?" Jess held up his knife and fork in example, but she simply stared at him vacantly. And it only just occurred to Jess that she was only three years old, and that she probably didn't know how to cut up her food.

"I'll show you," Jess said nervously, pulling her plate over to him and cutting the pancakes up into small pieces. He slid the plate back in front of her and she grabbed her fork, beaming up at him.

"JESSIE," she said cheerfully, "cut my pancakes for me!"

"Not Jessie, Jess," he stated clearly, but she was already singing over the top of him.

"Jessie... Jessie... Jessie," as she shoved each square into her mouth.

"I guess that will do for now," he sighed to himself, concluding that at least she was in a better mood than she was the night before.

x x x x

"Jess, its Paige. Look, I'm starting to get worried, I haven't heard from you in over a week! Where are you? I went to your apartment and you weren't there. What's going on, Jess? Call me as soon as you get this."

x x x x

"What's with the kid? Babysitting does not become you, man."

"Look, I need you to look after her. I didn't have anywhere else to bring her," Jess explained to his co-worker and assistant, Jacob.

Jess cringed at the fact that he had to bring Ellie to work with him, after all, there wouldn't be much to keep her entertained at Truncheon, and he's pretty sure he would rather anyone than Jacob take care of her, but the truth was that those daycare places kind of freaked him out.

"Can you read my book to me?" Ellie called out to Jacob, holding her copy of 'Oliver Twist' out in front of her.

"Whoa, 'Oliver Twist'! How old are you, kid?"

"Ellie is three," She answered happily.

"Rightcheous," he said in awe, following her to the couch and opening the book.

x x x x

"I'm sorry you had to come to work with me today," Jess told Ellie as they walked down the sidewalk hand in hand; Ellie taking twice as many steps to keep up with him.

"It's okay! I like working, it's fun!"

Jess chuckled, growing more and more fond of the little girl. He glanced at the book she had under her arm, noticing it was the only real possession she had.

"Where did you get the book?"

"The lady gave it to me."

"The lady...?"

"Who comes to visit me. She's pretty. And she reads to me."

Ellie stopped suddenly, her eyes watering. Jess froze, the people bustling past him on the busy sidewalk calling out words of protest as they knocked into him. But he hadn't the slightest clue on what to do.

"Jessie?"

"Y-yeah?" he stuttered.

"When is the lady going to visit Ellie again?" she mumbled, the tears threatening to fall. Jess was in shock, guessing that Ellie was talking about one of the volunteers that came to visit, or someone of that accord. He had never thought that by taking her home with him, taking her away from the orphanage, she would miss things about it - the people that were there and that came to see her.

"Ellie has Jessie now... but... but... I still miss my friends."

Jess knelt down beside her, wiping away the tear that had just fallen. And not knowing what to say, he pulled her into his arms. He had never noticed before just how tiny and fragile she was, and again, the same feeling of needing to protect her flowed through him, and he held her tightly against him.

"Do you know what, Ellie?" Jess said after a while, holding her at arms length.

She responded with only a sniffle.

"If you let me, I can be your best friend."

She looked up at him with her bright blue eyes, a few stray tears still falling to her cheeks. Then she threw her arms around his neck, clinging to the back of his jacket. He picked her up and hugged her again for a moment.

"Hey," he began cheerfully, "You know what I like after a hard day at work?"

She shook her head in silence.

"Ice-cream."

"... Ellie... likes ice-cream a lot."

x x x x

"Hey!" Ellie yelled in protest, "I want to press the button this time!"

Jess chuckled, lifting her up so that she could reach the fourth floor button, and then placed her on her feet again. Immediately, she grabbed his hand, and Jess had to hide his grin.

"Hey, wait," he said as they exited the lift. He stopped, kneeling down beside her and wiping the ice-cream off her face. "Maybe you should try to get it in your mouth next time, huh?"

"Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh," She imitated as they began to walk again. Jess smirked at her, shaking his head.

"Jess?"

Paige was standing at his door, eyes wide at the scene before her.

"Jess," She repeated, trying her best to keep her voice steady, "Who is this?"

Ellie seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation straight away, and stood silently next to Jess. Jess sighed, running a nervous hand through his hair, "She's not mine. I mean... not exactly."

"Jess, would you please tell me what's going on?" Paige said in a fragile voice. "Where have you been for a week?"

"Do you think we could go inside?" Jess asked awkwardly, motioning to the wide open hallway. She nodded quietly in response. He unlocked the door, the silence burning into his ears, and left it open for Ellie and Paige to follow him inside. Ellie walked straight to the couch, and Paige followed after her, grabbing Jess by the sleeve and pulling him straight into his bedroom, shutting the door behind them.

She stared at him in silence for a moment, and then, finally, she chose to speak. "Why do you have a kid that's not yours?" She asked in an eye of the storm calmness.

Jess ruffled his hair again, trying to choose his words carefully, "I, ah... I went to do the research for my book. I drove all the way to New Hampshire. I sorta figured the orphanages there would be less... well, the types I wanted in my book."

"Jess-"

"I just... I saw her there and," he sighed running a hand through his hair for the third time, "Well I guess you know the rest."

"You... adopted her," she breathed out, sitting on the edge of his bed, and smoothing down her long brown hair, her dark eyes then snapping up to him. "So when you said you weren't ready for the next step, you couldn't even imagine having a family... you really meant-"

"Look, this wasn't expected okay!" Jess snapped, raising his voice as he began to lose his cool.

"But you still adopted her!" Paige began to yell as well, "I mean, it must have been expected when you signed the forms! I give you credit enough to not be that dim-witted. And what's worse, is that I only found out now! I'm your girlfriend Jess, I should have known before this happened! I should have known where you were for a week, instead of being here worried sick about you!"

She turned away from him, her shoulders beginning to shake, "I should have been there with you."

Jess felt his stomach plummet, and stepped up behind her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "Paige..."

She knocked his hand away, turning to face him. "No!" she cried, her voice risen again, "I'm sick of it, Jess! I'm sick of it! You're never there, not really! You never let me in, or when you do it's only for a moment. And then as soon as I mention something about Hemingway, or why you say you can never get into poetry, yet carry that stupid 'Howl' book around with you everywhere you go, you shut me out completely. And when I asked about that girl in the pictures of your uncle's wedding, you didn't speak to me for a week, Jess! I'm not stupid; I can connect the dots-"

"Paige, its not-"

"What I think? To be honest I don't really care anymore, Jess. I think we both know you don't love me... not really."

Jess looked at her with apologetic eyes.

"You know, she looks just like the girl in the picture. I can already tell that you adore her... both of them." She smiled at him sadly. "Bye, Jess."

And with that she turned away, leaving Jess with so many new emotions fighting inside of him. He had never stopped thinking about her. He thought he had, but he hadn't really. Not at all.

"Jess...!" He heard Paige call worriedly from his living room. His eyes shot up immediately, and he ran outside towards the voice. He didn't have to ask her what was wrong, he looked into her eyes and then around the empty room, and then at the open door.

"You didn't..."

"Jess, I'm so sorry-"

"What were you thinking?!" If Jess' voice was loud before, it was nothing compared to what it was now. "What were you fucking thinking leaving the door open with Ellie here!"

He turned on his heel, racing out into the hall.

"Jess, wait!" she called, chasing behind him.

He turned to face her, his eyes furious, "I have to find her! She could be anywhere! And unless you're going to help me do so, don't follow me!"

She nodded silently, and they both headed for the stairs.

"I'll go this way," Paige said frantically, motioning to one side once they were out on the streets. Jess nodded once and headed in the other direction.

He couldn't even describe what he was feeling at that moment. Pure terror and panic, magnified a thousand times, might begin to describe it. Every car that flew past him was a car that had hit her onto the pavement. Every stranger that rushed past was a stranger that was hiding her from him.

"Excuse me!" He yelled desperately to a passer-by, "Have you seen a little girl?"

"Hey, watch it, pal!" the man replied, brushing off his business suit and continuing down the path.

"Excuse me! Hey!" He tapped the shoulder of a young woman with earphones, "Have you seen a girl-"

"Hey," she smiled coyly. He sighed, frustrated, pushing her aside. "Hey!" she protested angrily, "What's your problem?!"

Jess looked around himself, taking in every inch of his surroundings. He pulled his hands through his hair, feeling his head spinning, and that he might be sick at any moment. But then he heard it... Ellie. His head snapped towards the soul of the sound, and he saw Ellie twenty or so meters away. A man with slicked back, long black hair was walking away with her, his hand wrapped tightly around her arm. Jess pushed past a group of people, knocking them over in the process, as he sprinted for Ellie.

"Ellie!" He called to the back of her head, "ELLIE!!"

She turned to see him, and tried to run over to him, but the middle-aged man still had her by the arm, and was pulling her away faster now.

"HEY!!" Jess called frantically. He tried to catch up, but a group of busy New Yorkers bumped past him, almost knocking him to the ground. Ellie's cries for Jess were getting further and further away as the man was pulling her faster. Jess was knocked to his feet again by a girl with a large amount of shopping bags, talking on her cell phone. He got up and looked frantically around again. They were just there in the distance, about to turn a corner. Jess sprinted off the sidewalk and onto the road.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!"

Car horns were beeping at him from all sides; there were shouts of road rage, and shouts of awe from the sidewalk. He teared down the side of the road, not a care for his own safety.

"Guy! Are you crazy?!"

He turned into the street that the man had pulled her down, and in the distance he saw them. He ran after them again, and as he looked ahead, he saw from the other side, Paige intercepting them. He swore, that at that moment, his heart started to beat again, but he did not stop running. Paige had hold of Ellie's other arm up ahead. She was yelling something at the black haired man. Jess was mere meters away now. The man shook his head at her, held up his arms, and began to walk away. But Jess had reached him, and grabbing him by the collar, slammed him against the wall of the building.

"Whoa, what the fuck are you-"

Jess' fist collided with the man's face; hard. He turned back to Jess, laughing, his nose bleeding heavily. "That's a pretty kid you got there."

Jess slammed him against the wall in fury again, his eyes fierce, and the other man's laughter ceased. With one final shove, Jess released him, and he fled. Jess turned back to Ellie, who was now in tears.

"What were you thinking?!" He yelled at her, and she began to sob more. He picked her up roughly.

Paige was looking at him apologetically, her eyes watering, "Jess, I'm-"

"Stay the hell away from my daughter," He spat in fury. And with that he turned and began towards his apartment as his mind began to ponder all the different scenarios. If he and Paige had been just moments later... that creep...

Jess was sure of one thing and one thing only. They were moving to a place she would be safe...

... They were moving to Stars Hollow.


Please review to tell me how much you like or hate this chapter/story. Constructive critisism is welcome, it helps me to improve my writing and storylines. And I'm not gonna lie, I definitely love the happy reviews, because they make me feel inspired, which means I start writing the next chapter straight away, and you guys get to read it sooner. So please review!