Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the storyline and Jessie.

A/N: See Chapter One for full premise. To sum up, this is an AU (Alternate Universe) in which Jess Mariano never existed. In his place, Jessie Danes, daughter of Liz, has come to live with her Uncle Luke for the summer.

Thank you to all the reviewers. You have no idea who gratifying it is to read all your thoughts and opinions. A special thanks goes out to Lindsay for letting me bounce all my crazy ideas off of her. And another big thanks goes out to my beta-reader and friend, Sarah, for taking the time to read these chapters and make them as good as they can be.

August: Goodbyes and Hellos

Chapter Twenty-two

By the time they got back to the house, Luke was feeling more than a little guilty. He'd just left his niece's birthday party so that he could bang his girlfriend. Not exactly Parent of the Year material. On the other hand, her own mother hadn't even called yet to wish her a happy birthday, so he figured he probably wasn't going to hell just yet.

Luke and Lorelai entered the house to find Rory and Jessie slumped on the couch with their feet on the coffee table watching The Goonies. They each had huge plates of half-eaten cake on their stomachs.

"What took you so long?" Jessie demanded without taking her eyes off the TV.

"What are you eating?" Luke countered.

"It's my birthday," she told him airily. "I can eat whatever I want."

"Not so," he replied, removing the plate of cake from her stomach. "Here's the change of clothes, go get out of the wet dress."

Jessie tore her eyes away from the TV and took the clothes from him. Once she left, Luke headed for the kitchen and Rory gave her mother a look.

"What?" Lorelai asked innocently.

"Don't what me," Rory told her with one eyebrow arched. "You were gone an awfully long time just for a change of clothes."

"Do you want details or just an admission?"

"Ew, neither! And let's never talk about this again."

"Done," Lorelai agreed.

When Jessie came out of Rory's bedroom in her dry shorts and t-shirt, she found her uncle Luke at the sink in full clean-up mode. He and Lorelai had been gone a while and she thought she knew why. Angling onto a chair, she sat at the table, folded her hands and tried to prepare herself. The spread of wrapping paper and gifts still lay out before her but that's not what she was thinking about.

"Uncle Luke?" she asked hesitantly.

"Uh huh?" he replied, not looking up from the pizza pans he was scrubbing.

"Does Mom know we're here today?"

Luke looked up at her and tried to read her expression. All he saw was wary hopefulness mixed with an attempt at nonchalance. Turning off the water, Luke moved across the room and sat beside her. "I…I don't think so, Jess," he replied gently.

"Oh," she said, sagging a little. "I thought maybe she called when you were at the apartment."

Wrinkling his eyebrows, Luke asked, "Why?"

"You were gone a long time," she pointed out with a frown.

"Oh, well, I –" Luke began, completely unsure of how to address that.

"Do you think she left a message on the machine?" Jessie interrupted, again looking hopeful.

"We can see when we go home but I didn't notice one just now," he told her quietly. He put his hand on the table palm up and she put hers on top of it palm down. "If there's not we can call her," he offered, hating himself. The last thing he wanted to do was give Liz another opportunity to hurt Jessie, but he felt like he should give Jessie every opportunity to be in touch with her mother if that's what she wanted.

With a quick shake of her head, though, Jessie said, "No." Then, "Uncle Luke?"

"Mm hmm?"

Jessie shifted uncomfortably and looked out the window. "If I stay here and we move into a house what will happen if you marry Lorelai?"

"I…what do you mean? I don't understand."

"I mean…will I have to go back to New York?" she asked miserably, unable to look at him.

"No," he said quickly and firmly. "If you choose to stay then you stay for good. But, Jess, don't make this decision if you're mad at your mom."

"I'm not mad at her anymore," she told him with another frown. She twisted her hand in his and confessed, "It makes me sad that she doesn't want me but I'm not mad."

Luke stared at her, trying to comprehend the fact that a nine-year-old was able to have this conversation. "You're not?"

"No. Rory and I were talking."

"About what?"

"About moms. Single moms," she clarified as she pulled her hand away. Again she shifted awkwardly in her chair. It was embarrassing to have a mom like hers. She'd meant what she'd said about not being mad, but it still hurt her feelings that her own mother didn't seem to care about her. Fortunately, there was someone in her life now who did care. Lots of someones, actually, but one important someone.

"What about single moms?" Luke prompted, leaving his hand on the table in case she needed it.

"Single moms have it hard because there's no dad to help," she explained. "And some moms are better than others." Luke listened quietly, still not believing what he was hearing. She sounded like an adult, for heaven's sake, but that was probably Rory's influence.

"That's true," he told her carefully. "Some moms are better than others."

"And without dads to help, the moms who aren't as good sometimes just can't do it all," Jessie continued, wrinkling her forehead in concentration.

Luke shook his head and interrupted, "Jess, I don't want you to make up excuses for your mom. You were never 'too much' for her. She chose not to…" he groped for the right words, "…put you first. Understand?"

Jessie nodded, uncertain but wanting to believe him. "Look," he continued. "Your mom wasn't ready to be a mom. Heck, she's still not ready to be a mom. It didn't have anything to do with you."

"Okay," she said. And then, "I want to stay."

Luke let out the breath he'd been holding for two weeks. Jessie wrapped her hand around his thumb and said, "Can we get a dog?"

With a soft laugh, Luke squeezed her hand and replied, "We'll see."