Disclaimer: I own nothing besides what is mine to begin with. I'm cute, aren't I?
For the sake of everybody's sanity, please don't question my motives. I probably have none...
Chapter 11: Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman.
Jason steps into the diner, and immediately feels questioning gazes pinpricking at his skin in various points. He rolls his eyes, having withstood them a few hours before as well, and sidles up to take a stool at the counter, eyeing his lifelong friend as he gives the cook an order and then moves to handle a coffee pot and a couple of large coffee mugs. Jess is so busy he does not notice him, thus has no power to warn him about the cardigan clad fury that tears through the diner.
"Luke?" Taylor all but bellows.
"Taylor. No" Luke hardly looks up from where he's ringing up Ms. Patty at the counter. "And this is your change Patty, see ya soon!"
"Bye Luke, honey" Ms.Patty does a double take to ogle Jason's body, who frowns and squirms a little on his stool.
Jess shifts his gaze to the area in front of the counter, smirks, shakes his head, and comes to the rescue.
"Ms. Patty? Look, Andrew is talking to a woman that is definitely not his wife..."
"What? Oh... that poor girl... she'll be so crushed... I didn't think Andrew had it in him... I'll go and..." she leaves, not completing her statement.
"Oh man..." That woman is disturbing. This entire town is disturbing.
"Don't worry, my friend, you just need to keep a safe distance." Their attention is drawn back to the dayly Taylor-Luke squabble.
"No what?" Taylor goes back to harassing Luke.
"Whatever insane thought that is circling in your head, I don't want to hear it. So I guess I'll save time and say no from the beginning." I don't need this, today of all days I don't need this.
"Now, Luke, your attitude is seriously off-putting. It is appalling how you seem to not care about the corruption that is threatening to take over our town."
"What on Earth are you talking about, Taylor?" What? Is he going to ban squirt guns?
"This morning three strangers entered Star's Hollow. They refused to give me any information regarding their identity or their past histories"
"Oh! They refused to spill their guts about their lives to a complete stranger? I'm appalled!" That's it! I'm moving tomorrow! Jesus!
"Your sarcasm is not appreciated. They were spotted while coming out of the Gilmore's house"
"Once again, I'm appalled." Luke deadpans. If he has a petition to sign to have them banished from the town, I'll go and throw bricks through his window panes for the rest of our lives.
"And they were seen while consorting with your nephew..."
"What is it with that word today?" Jason can't help but mutter under his breath as he listens, completely confused, to Taylor's tirade.
"So what? He knows them. They're his friends. The whole friendship concept implies speaking to each other, or it doesn't work." Oh God.
"It is a known fact that your nephew is trouble..."
"Ouch Taylor. That hurts!" interrupts Jess in a fake whining tone, a hand to his heart, a quivering lip on his face that suggests crying. Jason's expression becomes even more bewildered.
"And it is known that whomever associates with your nephew is trouble."
"Hey, I'm standing right here!" Jason's temper is about to flare, but Jess catches his eyes, shakes his head, and then shifts his gaze to Luke.
Don't worry, he'll handle it.
"Now, it is already bad enough that Rory is letting Jess influence her, but I request that, in order to prevent the corruption from spreading...".
"Jess?"
"Yes Luke?"
"Hold the door open." He says curtly
"Sure, Luke" knowing exactly what his uncle wants to do, Jess complies more than willingly. Luke manhandles Taylor and successfully pushes him across the diner, out the door, into the street, all the while ignoring the older man's protests.
"Luke, what are you doing?"
"I'm kicking you out of my diner, Taylor."
"You can't..."
"See me? This is me doing it. Out" Jess lets the door close, and Luke leans against it. Their eyes meet, and Jess starts to say something.
"Don't mention it. And go refill."
Jess comes back around the counter and his eyes meet Jason's.
"This town needs a completely new word to describe just how fucking weird it is..."
"Don't I know... Blonder, more feminine, and more attractive half of you?"
"I left her on a bridge not far from here. She sent me over so she could talk to the blue-eyed, sweeter, less smart-assed half of you."
"She's talking to Rory?"
"I'm guessing she is, since when I last saw them, one of them was playing guitar and the other one was hiding behind trees... The Half-Pint?"
"Upstairs, sleeping. I left her a note, so she won't freak when she comes out of her coma."
"Good. I'll..."
"Sure, go on. I'll be up when I hit my break."
Rhiannon is still out like fire someone threw water on. Jason smiles, as he watches her sleep, thankful for the peaceful expression hovering on her features, for the way her eyelids rest upon her eyes, her lips close softly over her teeth, and her arms rest under the pillow. He knows that, in a few days' time, she won't be sleeping restfully. She will scrunch her eyebrows, forcefully close her eyes, clamp her mouth shut, curl into a taut, violently shaking, sweating ball. Her sleep will be fitful and she will wake up panting, panicking, screaming.
It used to happen every night.
Flashback
The incessant ringing of his doorbell sounds ominous in the D'Antona household. He meets with his father at the front door, knowing exactly who will be standing on its other side. Opening to let the late night visitor in, Jason feels, like every night thrilling notes jolt the apartment's inhabitants out of sleep, something ugly pull at his heart, something that ferociously needs to tear it to shreds.
It is whom they were expecting.
Jordan Vianti's broad shouldered frame looms in front of them, clad in the t-shirt and the sweats he uses to sleep. Dark circles lining his eyes, tightly curled black hair sticking every which way, shoulders slumped, face defeated.
"Again?" Jason's question is met by a stare and a nod.
Kyka joins them in front of the door, carrying her everpresent guitar.
"Rhiannon?"
"Yes"
The four of them cross the hallway to the Viantis apartment.
Rhiannon is curled up in her bed, under the comforter, crying desperately. Camille lays on top of the covers, legs bent at the knees, long mahogany hair pulled in a high ponytail, one hand stroking up and down the shaking form huddling beneath it, while Jordan's father sits on the floor, his arm against the kid's body, letting her feel his presence. They both look tired, worried, and saddened by what they are seeing. It is obvious that none present is new to this. It is about as obvious that Rhiannon in this state is hardly something easy to witness.
"Rhiannon?" Mil coaxes. "Rhiannon, come on, look who's here. We're all here."
"We're right here, Half-Pint, we're not going anywhere." Jason whispers in the same tone as his friend.
It is after many statements of the sort, a lot of cuddling and coaxing that Rhiannon gradually uncurls from her fetal position, relaxes her taut muscles, and finally stops her crying. But she still doesn't sleep, and it is Kyka's turn to sing her something soothing to get her to slumber. Tonight she chooses Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman. It's slow, repetitive, and she knows well enough that lullabies don't cut it with this kid. She exits the room last, with Jordan at her side.
"Bryan Adams?"
"Whatever works. If I have to play Marylin Manson, I will." She smirks at him.
"Why do I think that it will be hard with the acoustic guitar?" He returns the smirk.
"Because it would be." They are in the living room by now, four pairs of eyes on them. "Mission accomplished." She informs them wearily.
"How many times tonight?"asks Jason
"This is the third. She couldn't stop crying." Camille shakes her head, rubbing her temples, then her eyes, and finally holding out her arms to Jordan, who settles next to her.
"Yeah. I told you that spending the night here wouldn't do wonders for your beauty sleep." He lets his chin rest on her hair as she molds her chest to his.
"I don't need beauty sleep." I need to be here with you. You hurt as much as she does.
"What was it tonight?" Kyka leaves her guitar on the coffee table to wrap her arms around Jase from behind, her eyes looking at Jordan from behind her boyfriend' shoulder.
"Same as every night. She's afraid that, if she goes to sleep, she'll wake up in a world where she doesn't know anybody... She was getting better..." Jordan's tone expresses defeat, pain, sadness. They all know that he sports the same injuries as the little girl resting a door over, and he needs to be strong for her on top of it all.
"She is getting better. She used to be up all night long and watch one of us sleep. Or she'd wake up something like ten times during the night, every night... Right now, we're down to a couple of nights a week, with an average of three dreams per night. I kinda like to think that progress." Jason says, remembering the first year of their stay in Italy.
Kyka nods.
"I'm going back to sleep. Work tomorrow. Goodnight guys, thanks for being here." Jordan's father heads for his room.
"I'll be going too. Jase?"
"Go ahead, Dad. Lock up, we have the keys."
"Ok. Goodnight everyone" He goes back to the apartment across the hall.
"Do you have lesson tomorrow?" Jord asks his girlfriend. She shakes her head.
"Nope. It's friday... You have only the 2 PM, right?" Mil watches as nods in response, then proceeds to look over at the couple standing in front of them.
"What's tomorrow for you?"
"Beginning of marking period showcase rehearsal. Meaning that we have no classes until four, and then we start working our asses off until, at the very least, ten PM for the next two weeks." Jase is too tired to express whether happyness or dread at the prospect.
"Does anybody here feel like sleeping?" Jor queries. When they all look at him, with identical Yeah, right, expressions painted on their features, he shrugs. "I guess not. You pick the movie, and we raid the kitchen for edible stuff." He gets up and Jason follows him, while Camille crawls over to the TV set and starts looking through movies wiht Kyka.
"Can we come and watch the rehearsals?" Mil sifts through the DVD's in front of her, handing the occasional one over to Erika for an opinion.
"Are you even asking?" Erika ponders over two cases, putting them both back in the pile.
"I'm thanking the powers that be that we can sleep in tomorrow... Rhiannon can go without me tutoring her in the morning."
"Are you sure?"
"We're way ahead. That's the thrill of homeschooling her, she is the fast learner if I have ever seen one..."
The two long-time friends excahange a look that needs no collateral.
It's hard. There isn't a gun held to our head, either. We love them and they need us to be here. And when we need them, they love us enough to help us.
Movie over, the two couples retreat to their respective sleeping quarters.
They have survived another night.
End of Flashback
Jess snaps his paperback shut and replaces in his backpocket, his gaze sweeping the room until he finally spots Luke, catches his eye while pointing to his watch, the almost dead diner, and the stairs. Luke shrugs.
He climbs up to the apartment to find Jason going through his cd collection. He picks a jewel case, reads the tracks on the back of it, and carries it with him to the couch.
"Hey." Jess breaks the silence
"Hey." Jason looks up from Luke's couch. "You on break?"
"Yeah. Diner's completely dead." Ok man, talk to me. I can't read freaking mind read you, even though I've known you my entire life.
"I might be needing your help..." Jason's gaze follows Jess as he sprawls on the couch next to him.
"Ain't helping you with anything 'till you own up to your side of the deal. The kid is in bed. Talk."
"All right. First off, you're gonna be asking about school. We had to cut the school year short. The building is... ancient, 'cause old just doesn't describe it, and it decided to pick the past two months to fall apart on us. Hence, they opened our cages earlier."
Jess indicates with a nod that this information has been absorbed.
"How did we get here? My father had a business trip planned, and he coincidentally had two more flights available as fringe benefits. I wanted Jordan to come, but... he has to take exams until the end of July, he has Camille, and..." He just can't be here.
"He thinks that something short of an eight hour flight away is too close." I can't blame him. Miss him? Yes. Wanting to see him again? Hell yeah.
"Yeah. That's just about it. And Kyka... I told you she was accepted for that exchange program. She will leave for Paris in September, and... I don't know... Time together before that won't hurt." She is going to be gone for six months, maybe more.
"I get it. Still..." Why are you here to begin with?
"I thought I could take it full on. You know, America, NYC, everything..." But, well, obviously I couldn't. I can't even think about going back without feeling sick.
"No, huh?"
"No. I wanted to take the first flight out as soon as I stepped in the airport. I wanted to throw up everything I've ever eaten in my entire fucking life. That's why I told my father I would be visiting you before deciding what to do."
"Rhiannon?"
"Rhiannon visits with the McAdams from the fourth of July on. Meaning she stays a month with me and Kyka and my father. The plan was to spend time in NYC, but..."... that kinda fell through.
"Did she want to?"
"No. She told meway too many times the usual three days she stays there per year are enough. Thank the gods the McAdams have relatives in Florida whom they spend the entire month with, or the kid would go nuts."
"Staying sane is not an option. " At least for any of us in NYC. "Ok, neither of you can go back there. So...?"
"Well... if Star's Hollow happens to have room for three more..."
"Sure you can handle this place? It's weird..." Understatement. Big, huge understatement.
"I think the three of us might need this place." Jason seems conflicted, then seems to be making a decision regarding the internal argument he's been having.
"Tension at home is running on its highest level. Ending the school year early seemingly meant that we had twice as much stuff to prepare. It was absolutely nuts. Jord and Mil have big exams planned for both this and the fall session, and... They can't deal with much more than that, right now." I still don't know how we did it last year.
"I know what you mean. " I know what is going to start happening in a few days from now. I've read enough of your mails to last me a lifetime.
"You?"
"I've been worse" Understatement "Man, was I majorly messed up... But the smartest thing my mother did was sending me here." Jess breathes. He's gonna kill me... "I'm still messed up. Less than before, but..." He looks down at the floor "I'm probably not going to graduate with the rest of my class..."
"What!" Jess Mariano? The guy who pulled A's and B's in his freshman year without as much as looking back over his notes the night before a test?
"I missed too many days, and I didn't care about it enough. I'm thinking about G.E.D.ing, though. I wanna get it over with by the end of summer" I stopped caring three years ago.
"As long as you get the fucking piece of paper, you... God, I can't fucking believe I'm having this conversation with you."
"I will. I know. And..." How is she doing? He glances at his bedroom door. Jase follows his gaze.
"Everything I wrote in my e-mails is true. She is growing up. She won't grow out of what happened, cause let's face it, none of uswill beable togrow out of something like that, but... it gets better. And" he proceeds on a lighter tone "She's spoiled rotten. She has the four of us at her beck and call. Not to mention my father, and Jordan's father. Oh, by the way, my father is dating a tall, sickeningly thin blonde number."
"Huh. Should I be sorry?" It's been what, five years since the divorce?
"No. She's ok, actually. She doesn't intrude, she makes him smile, and she isn't after his money. It's her being so skeleton like that makes it unsettling... And before you ask, I'll see my mother when she deems me worthy of notice." So sometimes in the near to distant future.
"Wasn't about to mention anything about her." Jess thinks for a second. "Where are you guys planning to stay?"
"We aren't planning anything yet. I need to talk to Kyka first."
"Well, if you are interested, there is an apartment as big as this is, one door over, above the Soda Shop. You gotta talk to Luke, but..."
"Sure."
"Oh, and the next tenant is going to be living there in september. So rent isn't a problem."
"That wouldn't feel right. I could pay rent. We both work at home, we could work here too..."
"Well, if I G.E.D I'll be taking classes. Meaning there will be uncovered shifts at the diner..."
"That might just work. I'll talk to..."
"Erika. Yes, I know. You in a serious relationship... I thought that was the living example of an oxymoron."
"Get over it Mariano. It's almost three years. And, you shouldn't be talking. What I saw this morning didn't exactly scream 'casual'." But she seems right for you.
Thank God it isn't. "Huh. You learn something new every day."
"Jess?" A small voice comes from behind them. The duo seated on the couch exchanges a gaze, and turns around to see Rhiannon walking the lenght of the living room, hair disheveled, pouty lips and hazy I-just-woke-up eyes.
"Wher'ss a bat'room?" Jess points her in the right direction, smiling at her sleep induced slur. Another glance passes between two life long friends, traveling the lenght of the friendship itself, leaving an unanswered question in the air.
Now what?
A/N: next on LUFI, you are getting the lowdown on the Italian contingent. And after that, you get answers. I promise. :) M.
