Title: Four Two Two

Rating: PG-13 (entirely precautionary)

Summary: Travelling three thousand miles doesn't get rid of one's ghosts. Jess is merely starting his life in Venice, CA, yet can he let go of what he left in Stars Hollow? My take on Jess's life in Venice, an oft-done take, I know, but please do R&R!

Disclaimer: Jess, Jimmy, Sasha and Lily all belong to DPDH and ASP, I (unfortunately) own none of the above. Same goes for the chunks of dialogue and scenes that I still habitually rip right out from the show. But other than that, the story and other new characters are all, thankfully, mine.

Author's note: See Chapter 1 for most of what I had to say.

To the few faithful reviewers, many thanks for your kind comments! That said, this will be the last update for awhile, mainly due to real life commitments that I have. The next time I update this fic, it'll be when the entire story is complete, so this may really really take awhile. It'll be updated en masse too, FYI, so if you're following this fic, you can look forward to one big big read. Thank you for having continued with this story, and this is the last you'll be hearing from me for awhile. Till then, adios, and thanks for staying tuned! :0)

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"So, Lily-Lou? What's the verdict?"

"Well, his handwriting is absolutely atrocious and completely illegible… I can't even read half of this. He may have to fund my next visit to the optician, Mom."

"Lily, hon, focus here. So how did he do?"

"You might want to get a second opinion on this, I mean, I made out what I could, and marked him on that, but it may be completely different from what he intended, and I want to make sure this is as accurate as possible."

"Okay, Lily, now you're just messing with me. Do you not want him here or something?"

She squirmed slightly under her mother's stern gaze. "Well, it's not that I don't want him here… After all, I was the one who told you I wanted a brother…"

Now the mother was completely taken aback. "Didn't you mean a younger brother? You do know that Jess is older than you, right, sweetie?"

"Well, Mom, I actually would prefer an older brother, you know, someone who can bully the kids who try and bully me at school…"

"Wait, there're kids who try and bully you at school?"

"Mom, now you're digressing."

"Sorry, sweetie, go ahead."

"Where was I? Oh yeah. Now, it's not that I don't want him here, it's just that… I saw you and Jimmy arguing about him earlier—"

"You were eavesdropping??"

"Mom, Mrs. Coulson next door could hear you, and she still needs a hearing aid." The stern gaze got Lily right back on track. "Anyway, I'm just saying—if you want it to be, it can be a bad result, y'know—"

Sasha sighed, then quickly added, "No, Lily, I don't want you to cheat Jess out of what he worked for. If he did well, then he did well. Don't alter things just because you have the power to do so, it's not what you should do. Under any circumstances, you hear?"

Lily reflected on this for a moment. "Not even if it'll help those you love?"

"Lily, it's nice that you want to do this for your mother, but I'm not the sort who'd want to cheat someone out of something, and you shouldn't even think of doing so just for me. Okay, sweetie?"

Lily was silent for a moment, then she nodded. "Okay, Mom."

"Now, we've been sidetracked long enough. So how did he do?"

Lily shuffled through the stack of paper before her. "Well, he's hardly a genius at the math and sciences, but he does seem to be able to apply what's taught, although I doubt he's highly capable of going beyond what's taught to him. His strength is definitely in the humanities, I mean, he brings in stuff not even in the books that I gave him, and he just goes completely beyond all that—"

"Lily, sweetie? Cliffs Notes version?"

She collected the sheaves of paper together, making the mental assessment of Jess's overall results. "Well… He should be acing high school."

Sasha smiled, glad that her gut instinct was right once more, as her mind began to race at the prospect of running this latest project.

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Jess stirred from his deep slumber, disoriented when he opened his eyes to find himself facing an unfamiliar—and absolutely hideous—couch. He blinked once, then twice, gradually remembering where he was, and what had gone on in the short time that he'd been on the West Coast. He pushed himself up and away from the mattress, turning around to get up, then—

"Oh, jeez!!"

Jess jumped almost a mile high when he turned to find Lily's face two inches from his own. "You know, you might want to avoid doing that, you might just kill someone that way one day."

"You snore."

Jess was utterly silenced by the reply he received from the girl. After all, it was hardly what he expected to hear out of her.

He could not even begin to formulate a comeback to that when she continued, "Mom wants to see you." With that, she straightened herself, then turned and left, something regal and untouchable about the way she carried herself.

Jess watched her walk away, marvelling at the peculiarity of this girl once again. Sighing, he rose from the rumpled sheets on the mattress, a check with the clock on the wall letting him know that he'd been asleep for just over seven hours. Stretching a little to overcome the remnants of sleep in his limbs, he followed Lily out into the hall and into the kitchen.

Sasha sat at the small table that barely fit into the kitchen, leaning back in a relaxed fashion, drumming her manicured fingernails on the stack of paper that Jess himself was more than acquainted with already.

Nervously, Jess shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, hunching his shoulders forward and ducking his head slightly as he awaited the final conclusion.

"Well, Jess," Sasha began, clearing her throat. "I have to say, not many people can best my dear Lily when it comes to the academics. But you… So tell me, what're your plans at graduating early?"

This certainly wasn't going to be a direct conversation. "Well, I'm figuring, go to summer school, take extra classes, do whatever extracurricular papers I need to do to get out of there earlier, and I should be out of your hair by January."

"January?" Sasha questioned, raising her eyebrows as she went over what he had just suggested. "That's ambitious, even for a Mariano." She straightened herself up, sitting upright now, and looked Jess straight in the eye. "You might wanna refine that plan a little, make it a bit more realistically feasible, change that deadline to maybe March or April, get a bit more detail in it… After all, the one you'll really need to convince is the principal."

Jess's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What?"

"It's Friday today, and it's also the last day of the term, so you'll get your shot at starting summer school soon enough." Sasha stood, gathering the stack of papers and handing it over to a shell-shocked Jess. "Monday, you and I are going down to West Venice High, that'll be the school you're attending. We'll meet with the principal, who happens to be an old friend of mine, so you'd better not screw up or your ass is out of here faster than you can say 'graduate'." Sasha went around the table and out through the doorway that Jess had entered from, a woman with a mission now. "Any questions, comments?"

"Wait, you're letting me stay?" Jess scrambled after her.

"No, you're going to high school but living out on the street. Of course I'm letting you stay. Jeez, you'd think that someone who could do what you just did would have no problem in comprehending this little conversation. Now, ground rules. I want you out of my house as soon as possible, which means you need to put school as your number one, number two, and number three priorities. Any other priorities below that ought to mainly consist of personal hygiene and keeping alive. Which means I don't want you working some part-time job or any crap like that, and that will thus inevitably bring about the question of rent. There won't be any. You'll essentially freeload off us, but you'll obviously still have to chip in your fair share of work, that means chores, chores, and more chores. Oh, and babysitting for Lily too, so we can scratch that off our expenses. Shouldn't be a problem, though, Lily's an angel." Sasha finally stopped. "Any questions?"

Jess could still barely absorb the pace at which Sasha was going. "Uh—No. No questions."

Sasha looked him over once more, then said, "Good. You should do great, Jess, but one mistake and that's it. Got it?"

Jess nodded his assent in silence.

"Okay, now, are you gonna stop following me around the house?"

Jess blinked and looked at where he'd followed Sasha to. They were on the upper level of the house now, and clearly in front of her bedroom. "Oh. Sorry. I'll just—I'm going now." He turned and quickly strode away, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Sasha smiled fondly as she watched him walk away. He seems like a good kid… Messed up, but good…, she thought. She normally trusted her instinct when it came to people, and her gut told her that she wouldn't be wasting her time with this.

Sasha opened the door, and was mildly startled when she suddenly came face to face with Jimmy. Damn it, he's got the puppy dog eyes going again…

She sighed again as she sensed the topic that was soon to be broached again. "Jimmy, I'm letting him stay for his own sake, not because of you, and because he's earned it on his own merit at least."

Clearly Jimmy had something else on his mind as he blinked in surprise at her opening statement, caught off his guard. "You're letting him stay? Really?"

The plucked raised eyebrow made its reappearance. "You're standing so damn close to the door and you didn't hear a word that was said outside?"

"No I—I mean, I—Look, Sash, I was a little engrossed with wanting to talk to you, okay? I'm not concerned whether Jess can stay right now, I'm concerned with what's going to happen to you and me." Tentatively, he stepped closer to the cold regal goddess of his dreams. "Sasha, I know it's going to be next to impossible for us to get past this, but I want to. I need to. You know as well as I do that you saved me from the life that I was leading, that I'm only where I am today because of you. I can't continue on this path that I'm on without you, and you know that. Please, I'm begging you—" his voice nearly broke here "—can we work past this?"

Sasha looked into Jimmy's sea-blue eyes, the colour of the only other thing he loved more than her in the world—this she knew, only because he'd said it far too many times, and she'd seen it in his eyes far too many times. Try as she may, and hurt as she was by his reticence on the son that he had, she knew he loved her deeply, and that she reciprocated it in every way. The ice around her heart that had been there since Jess showed up was melting away now, and they both could not deny it.

Taking Jimmy by the hand, she sat down on the edge of their bed, sighing. "Tell me more about the whole situation with Jess. Everything about that time that you spent in New York, anything else about your past that you haven't told me. Tell me."

Willingly, and with a touch of desperation to salvage their relationship, he poured out his heart about the whole matter—what his life in New York had been like, meeting and living with Liz, the pregnancy, dealing with her brother Luke and father William, and the topic that was hardest for him—why he ran.

As they spoke, they never realised that a lone figure had remained outside their door, having turned around wishing to express his gratitude again, but instead inadvertently learning a great deal more of his past than he'd ever got out of his own mother.

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