*A few hours later*
Jacee rubbed her eyes sleepily as she slowly walked downstairs to the diner. She figured that she had imposed on Jess enough. As soon as she walked into the diner, she realized that it was empty.
That's strange.
She soon found Jess reading Hemmingway, while leaning against the counter. She almost laughed when she caught sight of him. He was so predictable, at times. Jess frowned for a second, before he felt her presence behind him. He turned around with a smile, playing on his lips.
"Have a good sleep?" he asked.
"Yeah. Thanks," she replied, almost shyly.
He gently steered her towards a seat and sat down with her.
"Now, tell me the whole story," he said.
Jacee took a deep breath and began telling him the truth.
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Luke Danes had been in Hartford for most of the morning, settling some deals with a new supplier. He was grumpy, tired and frankly, overworked, no thanks to his lovely nephew. What's more, his sister had sent over his other nephew, Jess' twin, for him to straighten out.
"Just great. I have yet another "Jess" to take care of. I can barely handle the first one, what makes her think I can handle this one? Jam hands…it all begins with them and their stupid jam hands…." he began to mutter incoherently.
So, you could say, that he was less than pleased when he finally arrived back in Stars Hollow and found that there was a "CLOSED" sign hanging on the diner door. He began to say a few choice words before deciding that he and Jess needed to have a little talk. Oh, and that Chris would have to listen to the new rules as well.
"JESS!" he yelled, as he stepped into the diner.
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Jess' head was reeling as he tried to digest all of the information. He was mentally kicking himself for not being there for Jacee. God, she had been through a lot. Man, if he found that stupid asshole that she was her boyfriend, he wouldn't stand a chance at living. While he was feeling all of this self-hatred, his uncle stormed in screaming his name….so let's just say that he was feeling less than civil.
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Luke found himself staring down at Jess' angry brown eyes, the minute he walked into the diner. He took a deep breath to compose himself before he spoke.
"Jess. I thought we talked about this. I was going out and I needed you to help me run the diner. NOT CLOSE IT."
"Stuff came up," came Jess' vague reply.
"Damn it, Jess. What sort of stuff? Why can't I just depend on you for once? Oh yeah, I forgot, it's because you're you."
"Jess," a soft voice interjected.
Luke glanced at the owner and saw that it was a petite Asian girl. She looked about Jess' age but she didn't seem to be from around here.
"Jess, did you close down the diner?" she asked.
Jess looked down. "No. Chris did. They were making too much noise."
"Jess. It would have been fine," she stated stubbornly.
"Jace, you were sleeping. It wouldn't have been fine if they woke you up."
Luke didn't seem to be getting the whole story but he could guess.
"JESS?! I LEAVE YOU HERE FOR ONE MORNING AND NOW YOU'RE SLEEPING WITH SOME GIRL WHILE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING?! AND YOU CLOSE THE DINER JUST TO LET HER SLEEP IN?!"
The girl paled and elbowed Jess sharply, who had begun to open his mouth.
"Sir, I'm afraid this has been a big misunderstanding. You see…Jess is my best friend and he was working along with Chris. Um…however, when I came in this morning…" she said, as she frantically tried to explain the situation.
"Uncle Luke, I was not and am not sleeping with her. She just arrived in town and she looked as if she really needed the sleep, so I gave her a place to crash. And some stuff was happening, and we didn't want it spreading around town…so Chris and I closed the diner," Jess explained for her, seeing how she was panicking.
"What stuff was happening?" Luke asked suspiciously.
Jess glanced quickly at Jacee, who had looked down at the floor. Determination flooded his features.
"I don't think that's any of your concern, Uncle Luke," he replied shortly.
"I think it's my concern when my two nephews decide to randomly close down my diner, which in case you didn't know, is my source of income!"
Once again, Jacee interjected.
"Sir, I'm really sorry. I was having some personal problems and…"
Luke didn't know why but his anger dissolved a bit when he looked at her. She just seemed so frail and sad, and it was kind of nice to see Jess protecting someone instead of hurting them.
"Look, Uncle Luke, she's going through some shit right now. And she's going to stay with us, ok? Or Chris and I are moving out."
Both Jacee and Luke were shocked at Jess' ultimatum. Jacee elbowed Jess once again, and kicked him as well…just for good measure.
"I'm sorry, sir. I think he was dropped on his head too many times when he was a baby and this is a result of one of those times…"
"Tell me about it," murmured Luke.
The girl smiled a bit. "Really, it's ok. I won't be here for long anyway. I'll be able to find a place to stay. Don't worry about it," she said, glaring at Jess.
Luke almost laughed. The pair were quite cute.
"No, Jace. I'm not letting you run off again. You can't keep doing this. Stay here. It's safe," Jess said to her.
Luke raised an eyebrow. "Safe?"
"I agree with him," a voice came from the doorway, and Chris breezed in.
"Chris, you're the mature one. Please convince your psychotic brother over here that my moving in is not a good idea."
Chris smirked before shaking his head. "Sorry, Jacee. Can't do that cos I agree with him."
Luke was incredulous. "Excuse me? You two are telling me that if I don't let her stay with us, you're going to move out?"
The twins nodded, while Jacee frantically shook her head.
"It's really ok. Honestly….Jess, this is Stars Hollow, right?" she asked.
"Yup. Why?"
"Well, I've just thought of something. Do you guys know of a Luke Danes? I need to find him."
Luke and the twins were quiet.
"What do you need to find him for?" Luke asked.
"Well, he used to stay with my family when we were living in Hong Kong. So, maybe I could stay with him."
"Jacee Heung?" Luke asked hesitantly.
Jacee turned to look at Luke. "Oh my god. Uncle Luke, is that you?!"
She smiled and gave him a big hug. "Man, I've missed you."
Luke laughed. "And I've missed you."
"I can't believe it's you!"
"Neither can I."
"Well, now it's settled then. You're staying with us," said Chris.
Luke observed the Asian girl standing before him. Her long dark hair was somewhat dishevelled and she looked a bit on the thin side. He noticed a dark bruise on her thigh but decided not press matters too much. She would tell him when she was ready.
"It's ok by me," he declared.
"Thanks, Uncle Luke," she squealed before hugging him again.
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Lorelai and Rory were just passing by Luke's. Lorelai was avoiding it because she still hadn't gotten over her fight with Luke, and Rory was avoiding it because of…well, Jess. However, they both noticed something strange. The blinds were down and the sign on the door said "CLOSED".
"Rory, how strange is it that Luke's is closed?" Lorelai asked.
"Very strange, indeed. Perhaps we ought to call Ms. Marple. Or Hercule Poirot? He's always free."
"Rory…."
"Ok, ok. Yeah, it's quite strange. I wonder what happened."
"So do I…so do I."
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