Disclaimer: Still own nothing… Sad as it may be…

A/N: The last chapter is finally upon us… Thanks to all who've been reading and reviewing for reading and reviewing, and do please drop a comment! All comments are very much welcome… I won't be posting another story for awhile, not until inspiration strikes. In the meantime, enjoy the final chapter! :0)

A/N 2: Erm… there might be a few more Hornby references in here than there should be… Hope it's not too disruptive to the reading process…

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Jess stumbled out of bed late the next morning. His eyes were puffy, his hair resembling a bird's nest, his walk veering unsteadily from the lack of sleep, and his stomach empty and growling. He headed for the kitchen, hoping to find anything resembling food, but instead found himself looking at a virtual mirror image.

"What're you still doing here?"

Liz was bent over the kitchen sink, the filth still visible on the edges of her mouth. She wiped it away with the back of her hand, before turning the tap on to wash away the evidence of her nightly escapades. "Oh, Jess, it's you."

"Were you expecting someone else?" he bit back, the thoughts of the previous night out of his mind for awhile as he tumbled back to the harsh reality of his New York life, pre-Stars Hollow. "And shouldn't you be getting drunk at your job?" he sneered.

"Unh… I'm not feeling too well," she groaned as she retreated to the couch, collapsing on it.

"Well, that's a shocker," he quipped, the edge in his voice razor-sharp.

"What're you still doing here anyway? Don't you have school?" Her voice was weak, tired of going through the same routines again.

"No, you never informed the school that I'm back."

Liz emitted another groan as her hand went to her forehead. "Oh my god, I completely forgot about that!" No surprise there, either. "And Luke told me again and again, reminding me to do it…"

Luke? Jess froze completely. It was the first time since his first day back that he had actually heard the name spoken by someone who was not part of his Stars Hollow life, and he felt the wrench in his gut when Liz uttered it. There, in that filthy apartment he had called home all his life, with the stench of stale cigarette smoke hanging in the air and the afternoon sunlight dim and grey, the dust particles lit as visible specks floating about him, Jess suddenly felt like a lost boy, yearning for… home.

"Jess." His thoughts were jolted back to earth by the sound of Liz speaking his name, in a soft and gentle manner he was more accustomed to hearing from Meg than from his own mother. He turned his eyes on her, meeting her pleading gaze, and his mother suddenly looked to him as frail and desperate as she had never seemed to him before, yet only now he saw her for what she normally was.

"Why did you come back here?" she continued, echoing the words that Meg had repeatedly asked him.

It was this echo, this unaccustomed hint of Meg that suddenly appeared in his mother, that threw him off, that dulled the sharp edge with which he usually treated Liz. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, why do you want to leave a good place and come back to this… hellhole?"

Jess snorted in derision, not believing the words he was hearing. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No, I'm serious here, Jess! I lived in Stars Hollow for the first half of my life, I knew you'd hate it, but you're so much better off there than you are here!"

Jess was beginning to fume. "I'm better off there? I'm openly despised there! At least here I don't have to put up with that crap."

"And then what? Here, you'll just get yourself in trouble again, and I won't be able to get you out of it the next time!" That left him silent. "God, Jess, you don't get it, do you? I can't take care of you here--"

"I don't need anyone to take care of me!" Jess shouted back to her, his anger bubbling to the surface and boiling over.

"Yes, you do, Jess!"

"Oh really?" He was on a roll now. "Well, you haven't cared for me one bit these past 17 years, and I'm still doing just fine!"

Jess wasn't Liz's son for nothing, and she responded in kind, despite her continued discomfort. "Oh yeah? Is that so? You call getting arrested for stealing a car 'doing just fine'? You're not doing just fine, Jess! I don't want you to go down that path that I'm on! You have a future ahead of you. That future could be ruined if you stay here. I don't want that to happen to you." Jess was by this point taken aback by the tears flowing down Liz's face.

Liz drew in a breath, then continued. "You need someone to care for you, Jess. I can't. But Luke can. I mean, you probably wouldn't even be alive if he hadn't come to help me out."

"What?" The words that Liz had said caught Jess completely unawares.

"He came to live in New York for a couple of months, when you were really young… About two, I think."

Jess was utterly stunned. "But Luke hates the city. He can't even stand Hartford."

Liz chuckled slightly at that. "I know, but he still came anyway." She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand, and continued. "Your father was in jail at the time. You were still so young, and so active, and there I was, a complete wreck… Luke really took good care of you, and helped me get back on my feet. I don't even want to think of what could have happened if he hadn't come…"

Jess was bowled over by what Liz had just said. He collapsed on the couch next to his mother. There was so much he had to ask, so much to say… "Huh."

Mother and son sat in silence, so much to say between them that had already been said, yet so much more that hung between them. One knew the other could not stay home; the other knew that he had to go home.

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Meg awoke early Sunday morning, going about her usual routine, but she had sensed something was different. Her heart seemed lightened, yet a sadness hung over her as well. She soon found out why when she reached her store. The book had been placed on the doorstep, as she had been expecting to find it. She picked it up, her thumbs easily finding the pages between which the note had been placed. It was simple, non-descript, plainly written in familiar writing.

Thanks, Aunt Meg, but I already have a copy back in Stars Hollow.

Her boy had finally gone home to his Will.

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A/N: Well, the journey has finally come to an end, and Jess has finally returned home.. Thanks to all who've reviewed for reviewing, and for those who haven't… Well, what're you waiting for? :0)