Here's the next chapter! Felt on a roll so I'm going with it! :)

Chapter 36

Lorelai and Luke arrived home blissfully happy from their date night.

"Hey children of mine!" Lorelai smiled as they went into the living room and saw Rory and Jamie in there watching tv.

"Oh, hey mom." Rory said. "Did you have a nice time?"

"A really nice time, thanks!" Lorelai grinned.

"Oh, good..." Rory said exchanging a glance with Jamie.

"Ok what's wrong? Is Abby ok?" Lorelai asked worried.

"She's fine mom. Honest. She's sleeping in her crib." Rory reassured her.

"So what's going on then?" Lorelai asked.

Rory looked at Jamie not sure how to break it to Luke that his sister had died.

"Well something's happened..." Jamie said, helping Rory out.

"What? What's happened? You're scaring me now!" Lorelai said glancing at Luke who looked just as concerned.

Luke then noticed that Jess wasn't there. "Where's Jess?" He asked.

"In his room." Jamie said. "He...um...he got a phone call tonight.." He said.

Luke frowned. "From who?"

Jamie took a deep breath. "The police. They...um...they found his mom in their apartment. They think she had taken an overdose." He said quietly.

Lorelai was shocked and looked at Luke who had gone pale.

"They reached her too late. I'm sorry..." Jamie said quietly.

"Oh hon..." Lorelai said and led Luke to the sofa so he could sit down. "I'm so sorry Luke."

"I...I can't believe this..." Luke said. He then looked up. "How's Jess?"

"We don't know. He hasn't said one word to us about it. He got the call, told us what had happened and then went to his room. We haven't seen him since." Rory said quietly.

"I should go talk to him..." Luke said, looking at Lorelai who nodded. He got up and went off to his room.

Lorelai watched him go upstairs sadly. She looked at her kids. "Are you two ok?" She asked softly.

They nodded. "I know his mom wasn't the best mom..." Rory said. "But you should have seen Jess. He was in shock. I don't think he even knew how to feel. He looked so lost, mom." She said quietly.

Lorelai sighed and hugged them both. "Well she's still his mom, whatever's happened in the past." She said softly.

"It got me thinking, what if we ever...lost you?" Rory said tearfully. "I don't think I'd be able to cope."

"Hey, you're not going to lose me. I'm here for keeps." Lorelai said softly, hugging her.

"Yeh, mom's too stubborn to go anyway." Jamie smiled at his sister.

"Hey!" Lorelai said indignantly.

Rory smiled a bit. "Sorry. I was being stupid."

"We just need to support Jess and Luke through this." Lorelai said, to which they nodded their agreement.

Luke knocked on Jess' door. "Jess?" He said as he opened it. He saw Jess sitting on his bed reading. He went over and sat on it with him.

"I guess you heard?" Jess asked.

Luke nodded. "Rory and Jamie just told us. How are you?" He asked softly.

Jess shrugged. "I don't know how to feel." He admitted.

Luke nodded. "I'm about the same."

Jess looked up at his uncle. "She made my life hell for so long." He said with tears in his eyes. "I hated living with her. I hated everything about her! I even wished she would go away and never come back. How terrible a person does that make me?!" He ranted. "I'm messed up in the head."

"No you're not." Luke reassured him. "And you're not a terrible person. You were hurting back then. She didn't give you a great life. Anyone would be angry with the stuff you had to deal with."

"Part of me's saying good riddance but the other part is saying that she's still my mom and she must have loved me deep down..." Jess said quietly. "Even after all the crap she put me through, I still loved her deep down. You only get one mom." He said.

"I'm positive she loved you." Luke said. "She went off the rails a bit..." He said to which Jess just snorted. "But she sent you to me, didn't she?"

"Because she wanted to send me away. Because she thought I was nothing." Jess mumbled.

"But she could have sent you anything. She could have just thrown you out of the streets but she didn't. Now I'm not defending her for what she put you through but deep down, I think she knew she was sending you to the best place. She wanted you to be looked after." He said.

Jess looked up at Luke and gave him a small smile. "I had thought about that." He admitted. He then let some tears fall. "She's dead, Luke. I'm never going to see her again." He said quietly.

"Come here." He said pulling him into a hug. "I know it's hard but we'll get through it together, ok?" He said.

Jess sniffled and nodded. "I'm sorry." He mumbled into his chest.

"For what?" Luke asked.

"She was your sister too." He said quietly.

Luke felt a lump form in his throat. "Yeh. She was." He said quietly. "But as I said, we'll get through this together."

Jess nodded and pulled away from the hug. "The police said they wanted to come and talk to me tomorrow about things. Can you be here?" He asked.

"Of course." Luke said.

The following day, Lorelai, Rory and Jamie thought it would be best to leave Luke and Jess at the house by themselves to talk to the police. They arrived in the morning. Luke led them through to the kitchen.

"Firstly, I'm sorry for your loss." The policeman said kindly.

"Thanks." Luke said and Jess nodded.

"There are some things we would like to talk to you about first. We've been told that Mrs Danes' death was due to an overdose. It was pretty obvious what had happened when we arrived on the scene." He said.

"I told her that stuff would kill her one day..." Jess said quietly.

"We are able to release her body soon so you can start planning her funeral." He continued. He glanced at Jess before going on to the next point. "The final thing involves her son. Jess, isn't it?" He asked Jess.

Jess looked up and nodded.

"I'm sorry but what about Jess?" Luke said.

"Well Mrs Danes didn't leave a will. We've had to get in touch with the social services about Jess' living conditions." He said.

"But he's living here with me. Why did you have to get the social involved?" Luke demanded angrily.

"We had to." The policeman said sympathetically.

"I knew it!" Jess shouted and got up and ran upstairs.

"Jess!" Luke called. He turned to the policeman. "Why did you have to say that? Can't you see the kid is suffering enough as it is? He doesn't need any more instability in his life!" He said angrily.

"I understand but we had to get in touch with the social. We always do when a child's involved."

"I don't care! Jess is not going into care!" Luke said angrily.

Lorelai arrived back at this moment and heard the outburst. "Sorry. I can go out again..." She said.

Luke calmed down a bit. "No it's ok." He said.

"Is everything ok?" She asked. "I'm Lorelai, Luke's fiancee." She introduced herself to the policeman who shook her hand.

"They call the social services. They want to put Jess into care." Luke told her.

"What? Don't Jess and Luke have a say in this?" Lorelai asked shocked.

"I'm sorry but it's not up to us." The policeman said. "Unless you think about maybe adopting Jess, you will have to leave it to social services." He said.

Luke's head jerked up. "Adopting him? I'd be able to do that?"

"You'd have to talk to the social but if you're serious about it, then yes. But they would have to make sure that it's what everyone would want." He said. "It might make more of a case if you both agree to adopt him. If it's just Mr Danes, then they may think that your fiancee has a problem with it which would mean that Jess wouldn't have a warm and loving home."

Luke was shocked. The policeman decided it would be best to leave and left them the number of the social worker who would call round when it was convenient for them.

They looked at each other for a bit, obviously both stunned at what had just been said but before they said anything Jess came storming downstairs with a suitcase.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Luke asked.

"Going as far away from here as possible!" Jess snapped. "I knew this was too good to be true! I thought I had finally found a place I could call home but it was just a fantasy! Well I don't need you or your stupid family! I'm not going into care so I'm leaving!"

"Don't you dare!" Luke said firmly. "What did I tell you when you first got here?" He demanded.

"I don't know. Who cares!" Jess snapped.

"I told you that you were stuck with me and I wasn't going to make you leave if you didn't want to! Well I meant it." Luke said.

Jess just shook his head. "They want to ship me off to care! I didn't see you put up a fight for me!"

"Because you stormed upstairs as soon as they mentioned social services. If you had stayed, you would have heard me tell them there was no way in hell that I would let them send you away! Damn it, Jess, you're family! You're the only family I've got now." He shouted. "There might be a way for you to stay here but if you want to leave, the door's right there!"

Lorelai put a reassuring hand on Luke's arm and looked at Jess sympathetically. "He means it, Jess. Luke loves you. He wants you here, we all do." She said softly, giving Luke a meaningful look.

Jess stayed quiet for a moment. "I might be able to stay here?" He asked quietly.

"Come on, let's go sit down and talk." Lorelai said leading them to the sofa in the living room.

Jess looked up at them. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call your family stupid..." He said quietly.

"Forget it." Lorelai smiled at him sympathetically.

Jess looked at Luke. "So..?"

"You might be able to stay if we adopt you." Luke said.

"We, as in both of you?" Jess asked surprised.

"They said we would have a bigger chance if it was both of us." Luke said. He looked at Lorelai. "We haven't had a chance to talk about..." He started saying before Lorelai interrupted him.

"It's a no brainer, Luke. If it's what Jess wants, then I'm all in." She smiled, using Luke's phrase.

Luke smiled at her lovingly. He looked back at Jess. "I want you here Jess. We all do. I'm not letting you go without a fight. I know it's a big decision and it's your choice. If you want to go, I won't like it but I will support you." He said.

Jess just looked at them stunned. "I don't want to go." He said quietly. "I want to stay."

Quite a long chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! :) Review and let me know if you did! :)