A/N: The title of this chapter is taken from the song by 13 & God of the same name.

December 2007

Luke honks his horn and drums his fingers on the steering wheel, staring ahead of him at rows of cars, a majority of them high-end imports. He thinks again about how hard Jess has had to work to make it this far, about how hard it is for him to ask for help, so when he called last night, asking him for help, he could only imagine what measures Jess went through to fix the problem himself before dialing his number.

He is about to honk again when the passenger door opens, sucking out the heat, and Jess slips in, handing off a cup of coffee to him.

"Thanks," Luke says, surprised, and Jess just shrugs.

"I thought it was the least I could do since…" his voice trails off and he looks at Luke with apologetic brown eyes.

Luke knows better than to say anything when Jess is showing some sort of positive emotion towards him, so he just nods and takes a sip from his coffee, placing it in the cup holder when he's done.

He backs out of the apartment complex and takes the fastest route to Fremont, the ride completely silent. He parks in front of Truncheon and they get out, walking up to the tinted glass and steel doors.

"So who am I supposed to intimidate? Your partners, the lawyers, that code enforcement asshole?"

"I think the two of us looking like European hit men will be enough for this guy to bend. I just can't believe it's come to this," Jess mutters, shaking his head.

"Look, so the guy wants to leave and take half of your clientele with him. He thinks he's the next publishing god- let him think that. Leslie already drafted the settlement, debriefed me on how to act in her place, and I've seen her in action, I think I can do a pretty good job mimicking her. You're doing the right thing Jess," Luke gives him a firm pat on the shoulder, "and I'm here to make sure everything goes smoothly."

Jess rubs the back of his head, suddenly reminding Luke of his father. They have the same eyes, the same dark, world-weary face, the same unruffled, unaffected manner that to anyone who didn't know them would come across as aloof.

"I just thought that things were, you know, going good. I mean, Luke, we have clients. We have authors. We are getting a steady stream of revenue; we are getting our name out. Why would Ben want to break away now, just when we're almost established? So he can take the authors he "found", who, coincidently, happen to be our biggest draw, and start the next Simon & Schuster?" he asks angrily.

Luke has rarely, if ever, seen Jess so distressed, and it bothers him just like when April got slighted during her eighth grade awards ceremony. It pains him to see the kid he's watched grow into a self-assured man suddenly start doubting what he has created. The parental instincts start to kick in more than before and he grips Jess's shoulder, forcing him to look him in the eye.

"Jess, believe me when I say this to you- everything will be fine. You'll get more authors, better authors. Yes, Truncheon might go through a leaner period, but I'm rich, I'll float you. I've got an M6 and two lucrative businesses to prove it," he smiles but Jess continues to look ruffled.

"I'll let you in on something that I was sworn never to mention. When in my third year of operating the diner in Seattle, I was losing money, fast. The property and city taxes were killing me and, for some reason, no one wanted to eat that year. I was facing the possibility of closing when Leslie gave me an envelope with a check inside. A post-it note saying 'From one restaurant owner to another' was attached to the check. Leslie's mother bailed me out. And when I asked Leslie why she would do this, she told me that I'm the only family she has in Seattle," Luke finishes.

Jess sighs and rubs his jaw, indicating that the self-doubt has passed and he's thinking of something to say.

"So, Leslie, huh?" he asks with a grin.

"I don't like your tone," Luke replies, taking his hand off of Jess's shoulder.

"I have no tone. I'm toneless. I'm just making an observation."

"Yeah, well, keep your observational skills restricted to book deals."

"Okay, Uncle Luke, okay, don't get uptight before we step inside," Jess says cheekily, opening the door and stepping aside.

"I don't even know why I bother," Luke says under his breath as he walks inside and Jess smiles to himself as he follows.

It's some hours later when Luke and Jess reemerge from the building.

"Yeah, I'll call you later Dave," Jess calls before closing the door behind him and they rush to the car to escape the increasingly bitter cold.

"How are you feeling?" Luke asks as he starts the engine, letting the car warm up.

"Hungry."

"Yeah, I didn't realize signing a couple of papers would take half a day," he says dryly and Jess shakes his head.

"Go ahead, say it."

"Say what? That I've never seen a bunch of men gab so much? I was tempted at one point to suggest I go and get the sleeping bags and nail polish."

"I didn't realize you were a comedian. When did this new personality trait develop?" Jess asks, sarcastic.

"When I had to say all those nice things to prevent your business from losing more money that it should," Luke replies with a grin and revs the engine, smoothly pulling out of the parking space and into light traffic.

"I visited Rory while I was in New York," Jess says after a long stretch of silence.

Luke glances at him, his mind racing with questions, but he has never been placed in the situation where Jess actually, voluntarily wants to talk about Rory. He decides to avoid the direct questions and instead ask some easy ones.

"Oh yeah? How is she?"

"She's fine. She has glasses now. They suit her."

"Yeah, I'm sure she looks more studious than ever."

They lapse into a brief silence, Luke wondering if he asked to easy a question and now Jess is back to being tightlipped and standoffish, when Jess speaks again.

"I don't why I keep hoping for her. I don't know why, but I do."

He looks over at his nephew, who is staring straight ahead, everything about him steady, and he wonders if he is breaking inside, if that note of defeat he heard in his voice is just the tip of what must be a glacier of disappointment and heartbreak.

"I know what you're feeling. God, do I know. Every time we think we have it together, down comes the house of cards. And, if we had any sense, we would wake up, move on, forget about that feeling and about that dream and settle for another one, but we have no sense. We want that first dream, we want it and we can't settle. If we can't have it, if it's so far away and out of reach, we bury it and only let it out when there's no one else around, when it's a particularly hellish day or night or both and we want to escape. We go back to that first dream and remember how close we were at making it a reality," he says, thinking of Lorelai.

"I'm not you Luke."

Luke nods, giving his nephew a sad smile. "I know, but you have to let her figure it out. She knows you love her, I know she does, you know she does, everyone knows, but she has to know. And you'll be fine once she does."

Jess eyes him carefully and turns back to the passing view. "Maybe. Let's stop by 14 Carrots."

Luke sighs. "Sure."

"What you said before, about first dreams and realities," Jess starts a couple minutes later as Luke turns onto the street leading to the restaurant.

"What about it?"

"You're full of shit."

Luke laughs and Jess smiles.

"Maybe."