As the Danes men, honorary and certainly, walked through the square, it became obvious the eyes and gossip followed their every step.

"So tell me," Jess said, pulling his jacket closer to his body as though he were trying to hide something, "Is this the usual The Hoodlum is back stares or is this The Hoodlum tried to kill himself stares?"

Jess noticed Luke falter in his step towards the diner – he obviously wasn't expecting Jess to put it so bluntly. It was as if he were trying to pass it off as no big deal, and it occurred to Luke that that was exactly what he was doing. Jess turned to face his frozen uncle and waited for him to recover.

"I don't know –" Luke swallowed hard, he stuttered his movements forward and attempted to keep himself as casual as possible. "I did shut the diner quite abruptly last night."

"Sorry Luke."

"Stop apologising, Jess. You'll find out soon enough, I see Ms Patty perched in the window."

Jess grimaced, nodding and following his uncle towards the diner, he ignored the silence that fell, and the stares that followed him as he told Luke he was going to go and change into any clothes that he might've left behind.

As Jess shut the door of the apartment upstairs, he let out a long breath.

"Just got to live in a town full of people who can't keep their noses out of anybody's business don't you Luke," he grumbled to himself, pushing away from the door and towards the small cupboard of clothes. He chose something baggy to wear – he knew that he was hiding how much weight he had lost from not only his uncle, but the rest of the town, and as he looked at his ribs poking through his skin he almost gagged at his own repulsion.

He forced himself to breathe through his gritted teeth and push down the bile as he made his way back down into the diner and situated behind the counter. "Just take orders for now," Luke said, "And eat a Danish or something – I haven't seen you eat yet."

Jess nodded, ignoring the request to eat as he attempted to stop himself from feeling nauseous by gritting his teeth and biting the inside of his cheek. He picked up a pencil, tapping it twice on the order pad and made his way to the first customer.

Anyone watching would have noticed his cautious movements. Jess was hunched over in his work, hiding his face and form from the onlookers. He moved his weight from one foot to another, and focused much too hard on writing down the orders. He managed to get away with the minimal amount of conversation with the customers who he barely remembered living there from his last stint at Stars Hollow.

That was, until, he was forced to take the order of the town gossips – Miss Patty and Babette.

"Afternoon Doll."

Jess nodded to the both, flipping open his order pad and waiting for them to order – hoping not to speak to either of them if he could help it.

"You're back then?"

"It seems that way."

"Glorious news." Patty grinned, looking the boy up and down as she used to, but she noticed his smaller frame and almost faltered in her comedic appraisal.

"Are you doing to order?" He nodded towards the menus that both held in their hand.

The women seemed to falter and stutter, but got out their orders, and Jess walked off to pass it off to Caesar.

"That was weird don't you think?" Babette leant forward, whispering to her conspirator and sending side glances to the boy who offered them a great array of stories the last time he was there.

"That he's back?"

Babette hummed in affirmation, "And he seemed skinny – doesn't he seem skinny?"

"Do you think his being back is related to Luke kicking everyone out last night?"

"I thought Lorelai kicked everyone out for some alone time."

"It seems like too big of a coincidence don't you think?"

Their gossip was interrupted by Luke dumping their orders in front of them. They noticed his glare, and his thundering expression and wisely chose to change the topic of conversation – at least until they were out of the diner.

Jess raised his eyebrows at Luke's anger, "Well," he commented, tapping his pencil on the notepad, "I'm pretty sure that's not your everyday grumpy – that's a new grumpy."

"Shut up, Jess."

Lorelai came bursting into the diner in a flurry of coats, scarfs, hats and a busted-up duffel bag. "I come baring gifts!" She exclaimed with a tune, pushing the bag into Jess' arms and twirling around to kiss Luke on the lips.

"Wow," She commented, "You're grumpier than usual"

Jess raised his eyebrow at Luke, nodding his head toward the crazy woman that Luke now called his girlfriend, and slowly let the bag fall from his grip.

"That was quick –" Luke started.

"Where are my books?" Jess pushed in, pushing the bag of what he presumed were clothes out of the way with his foot and moving from behind the counter.

"Jeep."

Jess nodded, not even bothering to make a comment to Luke and almost ran out of the diner to collect his possessions.

"Wow," Lorelai turned back to Luke as they both watched the boy bolt from the diner, "Loving the gratitude from that boy."

Luke shook his head, looking down and rubbing a hand across his forehead. Lorelai leant forward and rubbed her hand up and down his arm and muttered close to him – aware of the residents currently sat around the diner. "Are you okay?"

Luke nodded silently. Turning quickly out of her embrace to deliver the orders that had stacked up. Lorelai sighed, dumping herself on the nearest stool and watched as Jess struggled back into the diner with the books they had collected the night before. She was about to get up to help, but as the boy stalked past he uttered a sharp "I am not an invalid." And was determined to make a racket on the way up the stairs.

Lorelai and Luke shared a look of mutual exasperation before he got back to work, and she ventured away from the diner and to her belated work.

Jess let the books fall from his grasp, them scattering on his bed. Amongst them he noticed the red notebook he had taken to scribbling in on occasion. He slowly settled himself down on the bed next to the pile and slipped the book from under the rest. He breathed in deeply as he flipped through the pages – the indentations from his pen marking a story he hadn't intended on starting.

As he caught glimpses of the words he had written, Jess was in almost disbelief. He shocked himself at how – how dark the writing was. The character he had created in those fever dreams between the dream world and reality – the moments where he was so engrossed in escapism that he conjured a door himself – the character was downright… well…

"Depressed." He said out-loud.

The poetic almost lyrical message that his fabled protagonist was sprouting was from Jess' own mind and he couldn't help but cringe at the hopelessness of the man's view.

' I don't know what it is. I've always had this darkened view of my future. Colours didn't seem to fit in to my idea of what my life is to come. You'd see in movies these family images. Couples smiling and cuddling, surrounded by children and elders, all looking back on what they had achieved, and what they still had left to do.

It didn't seem to fit with my idea. I couldn't see daylight in my future - just sort of the darks

I think that's why, whenever it was sunny, I'd go and sit out in the light. Not necessarily with anything to do, just sort of sitting with the sun warming my being and forcing a smile on my face. As I got older, that same ideal came with a bottle of beer, a cooler and the music I had come to enjoy blasting in my ears – blocking out the world. But it remained majorly the same. '

Jess scoffed at this revelation. Of course the man was depressed – you're meant to write what you know.

In a fit of energy and rage that he hadn't realised he still possessed, Jess threw the book away from him. He used his whole body in the feat of physical strength and the pages clashed against the adjacent wall, sending a few of Luke's high school trophy's crashing to the floor.

He cringed at the noise, but stayed rooted as he forced himself to breath. Slowly. Carefully. Calculated.

He shook his head, letting his head curl in front of his head. He sighed, and got straight to cleaning up his mess – picking up the trophy's and hiding the notebook away from Luke's curious eyes.

He hated himself in that moment.

He hated himself.

How could he be so stupid? How could he not see the escalation – it was right there in front of him.

Deep down he knew he was worth more than the shit he was forced to deal with in his life. He was worth more that living in the shithole he was forced to call his home for months in New York. Worth more than his failed friendships, relationship and piece of shit mother.

He was worth more than the murky, dark, desperate shit drowning him.

With that thought, and the resonated understanding that although he knew he was worth more – it might be more difficult than just thinking it to actually make him believe it.

He made it back downstairs half an hour later. Luke didn't mention his prolonged disappearance, and instead nodded towards the food waiting to be brought to customers. Jess ducked his head down, he took the plates to when his uncle indicated and continued his shift with much the same indifference he always had.

During the dinner rush, Lane Kim came into the diner in a flurry of hastened apologies and throwing an apron around her waist and gripping an order pad and pencil like they were her life line.

"Ah," Jess audibly reacted, he pulled back when he saw her and with a curious glance at Luke that showed this wasn't unusual behaviour he accepted that apparently, she was working at the diner.

"Jess!"

And apparently the rumour mill hadn't caught up to her yet.

"That'd be me."

He attempted to slip past her to the kitchen but she seemed to snap from whatever shock she was experiencing and followed him with a pointed finger, furrowed eyebrows, and an accusational speech seemingly prepared.

"If you're back to fulfil some weird, Norman Bates-esque obsession with my best friend then you better frickin' believe that I won't actively stand in your way –"

"Lane."

"You've changed your mind more time than… than –" She growled when she couldn't instantly come up with a comparison, "than Spinal Tap have drummers!"

Jess rolled his eyes, picking up the bread rolls that Caesar had left to be taken out and once again slipped past the agitated girl towards the patrons. "Lane –"

She followed him, poking him in the pack with her pointed, accusing finger and continued her rant. "You can't keep walking in and out of her life like you own it because let me tell you my friend she doesn't need you anymore –"

"Lane!" He said louder, clattering the plates on the customers table, eliciting a jump from them, but successfully forcing silence from the younger Kim. "Are you done?"

She backed down, nodding. Her eyes darted side to side when she realised she had created a scene and Jess discretely nodded his head to the curtain so that he could explain himself.

"Luke brought me back here Lane. I did not come of my own accord. I am not here to ruin whatever good thing Rory has got going on right now. I am not here to cause trouble. I just want to lay low until I'm once again allowed to leave."

"Luke brought you here?"

"Yes. Is that all?"

She nodded and Jess huffed as he pushed the curtain aside and ignored the looks from regulars that greeted him in his return.

He supposed he'd have to start getting used to those looks.

Later that evening, after Luke had locked up the diner and Jess had successfully managed to avoid any more excited and gossipy glances or conversation, they sat opposite each-other at the dining table, both actively attempting to avoid the awkward silence.

There was a plate of food in front of Jess that he had honestly been attempting to eat – but he supposed smaller portions of food filled him up quicker than he used to.

"You haven't eaten all day." Luke broke the silence with a topic that Jess would have preferred to avoid.

"I know."

The honesty from his nephew shocked Luke into another prolonged silence that he found difficult to break from.

"Is it related to –?" He didn't want to say the word.

"Maybe. But more likely the fact that I couldn't afford to."

"You're not paying for the groceries."

"I meant before. It's hard to remember to eat when you get used to not."

Luke nodded to himself – he'd have to keep track of that.

"Tell me what you're finding appetising – we can start small."

Jess' head jumped up at those words. He looked at his uncle for a very long time, silent in his contemplation, but Luke just sat there and waited for the boy to come to whatever conclusion he was going to reach.

All that Jess could think was that his uncle wasn't angry. He saw not frustration, no confusion and certainly no pity in the man. He was adapting purely to help Jess get an appetite back, without any qualms or double-standards.

And instantly with that question came images and smells of food that made Jess' mouth water with temptation of a real meal he might be craving.

The small grin on Jess' face was all the proof Luke needed that he was doing the right thing. This would be worth it no matter how hard it would be.