Title: Emotionless
Author: Kate M. better known on the net as many things including (kait, katem_23, kate, k8, kiss_me_k8 [FF screenname], and GWTDC - if you're Fair- lol)
Chapter: 3.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, probably never will.

Rating: R

Summary: AU fic. At 36 years of age, Jess Mariano has become the last person he ever wanted to be -- his father. In this chapter - More of Atticus, and maybe a bit of a cliffhanger at the end...

Author's Notes: Bah! ok, so i never wanted to be one of those people who begged for reviews or stopped posting unless they got a certain number of posts...i thought my writing was good enough that people would want to post, and i wouldn't have to beg. i'll take anonomous reviews! i don't care what it say, even if it's crap, just give me some input. It's extremely important to me and the story. If i don't get more I might have to change the summary to something flaky because that seems to be all you people want nowadays. sheesh.

To:
kat --
you are my queen, i don't know what i'd do if i didn't always have your support, thank you so much. you are my goddest.
Ahmee -- ahh, i love ya. yes, i am senile. but don't worry, it wont damage my ability to write fic.
ophelia -- you are a wicked reviewer, and one of my most faithful fans, thank you so much.
Sarah V. -- all those questions and more, to be answered in this chapter and the ones to follow.

Everyone else who reviewed:
my greatest thanks. I appreciate every word you type out, whether it is reviewing me or entertaining me with your own ideas and concepts. Thank you.

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Lorelai smiled when she saw her grandson walk in the door of the inn. She loved it when he was at home, and now that it seemed like him and Rory were going to be around for a while, she wanted to try and improve their relationship - not that there were many problems with it, just that they weren't as close as they once were.

Hey babe! What's up? she walked out of her glassed-in office and gave Atticus a hug.
Chilton sucks, I can't believe Rory went there by choice
Yeah, well you haven't been the first person to say that over the years...So can I get you something? Uh, we've got...corn, Corn dogs...corn nuts...Corn...on the cob! Do you even like corn?
Atticus looked bewildered at his grandmother, What's up with the corn?
Oh! Sookie accidentally ordered twice the amount of corn last week and she didn't know what to do about it, so all the food includes corn this week... she tried to explain,
Could you just get me some coffee?
Whoa, what kind of a question is that? Of course You can, what kind of a grandmother would I be if i withheld the elixer of life from my own flesh and blood. Follow me. Lorelai grabbed him by the arm and led him into the kitchen.

As they walked into the kitchen they were greeted with the distinguishably sweet aroma of corn bread.

Sookie! Look who's here! He wants coffee, can you get him some coffee?
Sookie looked across the kitchen at her best friend who was standing beside a medium-height young man with messy, short brown hair, and a strangely familiar fire in his eyes. Having seen him just two weeks before when she catered his eighteenth birthday, she instantly knew that she was in the presence of Atticus Mariano.

a smile spread across her face as she remembered the times when he was at the inn nearly everyday, and was still a little boy.
He smirked and greeted her back with false enthusiasm, Hey Sook!

Lorelai glared at his sense of humour and nudged him hard in the back, wiping the look of distaste off his face.
Sorry, James Dean here just had a bad day.
Sookie just nodded, she'd heard stories about how much he'd changed after they'd moved from New York to LA. She hadn't had much of a chance to talk to him when she'd seen him before, so this was one of the first evidance of just how different he had become.
Well, I think that I still have some coffee left over from that afternoon luncheon that will still be warm...I'll uh, go check. Sookie walked back over to the side of the kitchen where she was working before the pair arrived.

Lorelai gave Atticus a aporetic look, and when he caught her glare he instantly threw his gaze towards the floor. I'm sorry
She sighed, it wasn't his fault really his life had been far from perfect, and expecting him to be like her daughter was too much to expect. Of course, they had their similarities, even Atticus and Lorelai had their parallels, but specifically Lorelai knew who had the most in common with him, and it was neither of them. It was someone Atticus was extremely close to, yet had never encountered.

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Atticus closed his eyes, took a deep breath and pulled open the door of Luke's diner. A hush fell upon the people inside as he strode through the door, and inside to the counter. He sat down on a bar stool and waited patiently for his uncle.

Upon rounding the corner and coming back into the main room of the diner, Luke's eyes fell upon a familiar looking boy sitting at the counter. Dressed in Khakis and a crested dress-shirt, the dark-haired boy not only looked slightly out of place in the diner, but also in himself. His grand-nephew did not belong in a Chilton uniform, but he seemed to enjoy school so Luke was sure Stars Hollow High wasn't the place for him.

Hey At- he caught himself Dodger, what can I get you?
Atticus' eyes staggered around the room before locking with his uncle's. Uh, can we...talk? Alone somewhere?

For the most part Atticus had grown up without a father. Without any one specific male role model in his life that he could look up to, but he knew if he ever needed anything, Luke would be there for him. Which was one of the reasons he didn't feel that badly about asking him for advice.

Luke led the way upstairs to his once-apartment, that was now converted into an office for the diner, and his personal use whenever he needed a break from the diner. Once inside he motioned for Atticus to take a seat on the couch on the left side of the room, and Luke settled into a large armchair.

Luke smiled, trying to comfort the boy who looked somewhat nervous. Can I uh, get ya something? he asked
No...thanks...I'm fine.
Luke just nodded, he simply needed time to find the words, and Luke could wait. After a few moments Atticus looked back up at his uncle, then away again.
I need to know...about Jess...

Luke looked pained for a moment, silently cheering that his nephew wasn't looking at him. Jess. He hadn't thought about him in a while. Of course, the thought of him crossed his mind all the time, but he had begun to stop wondering where he was and what he was doing. A few years before he had set out to find him, he was dead set for tracking him down and shaking him for all he could. But when he had found out where he was, he couldn't bring himself to go see him. So he shoved the information he'd found - mostly address, place of employment, phone number, and marital status- into a drawer in an upstairs filing cabinet. He looked back now at his nephew's son, who was now nearly a grown man. During his life he'd had to grow up a lot faster than he deserved to, but it had done him some good, Luke mused. Still, no one deserved to grow up without a father.

Well, uh... Luke wasn't sure where to start, I-uh...well, what do you want to know?
Anything...everything...um, I sort of, wrote him... Atticus looked up expectantly.
Luke's eyes shot up and he looked incredulously at the boy, I'm sorry?
I wrote him...a letter... Atticus explained, he sighed and sat up to further the thought, A few months ago, when we were visiting at Easter, I came up here to get you some paper, and I don't know why but I started, I uh...I started going through some of your things...that filing cabinet. He stated, pointing across the room to the cabinet that held the information about Jess. Luke just sighed and waited for him to continue again.
I found...I found the information...on Jess, and I wrote him because I just, I needed to...I needed some closure, I don't know why I did it, but I did. Now I don't know what to think...
Luke stood up and walked over to where Atticus was sitting, taking a seat next to him, on the couch. It's okay. I can understand, I mean I was the one who tracked him down in the first place, I'm just sorry I did because if I hadn't then you wouldn't be in this position.
His eyes flickered with anger, Why do you want to be sorry? I don't regret what I did, so neither should you.
Luke was a little startled by his tone, and taken aback that he was angry that Luke didn't want him to know, well...I just... he was totally at a loss for words.
Atticus stood up, and looked down at his uncle, It wasn't my fault that he left, but it would have been my fault if I hadn't at least tried. He left me, and I need to know why. I need to know why he hated me so much that he couldn't bear to stick around. he turned and walked out of the office, storming out of the diner without making eye contact with any of the startled patrons.

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After a few minutes Luke came back downstairs. He was getting too old for dealing with teenage angst, god knows what he would do when his own kids hit sixteen, but he had faith that he hadn't screwed them up too badly, at least, he hoped he hadn't. Nobody ever would have thought that Rory's child would end up the way he had, although there was definitely some reason for it. He sighed and looked around.

The diner had been the same for what seemed like forever. Taylor still came in bothering him about the same things, and Luke thoroughly believed that he was even more senile now than he had been twenty years ago. Kirk still lived with his mother and still insisted that Luke make his sandwiches without crust. Patty still drifted from man to man, always taking time to check out the latest seniors at the high school - a thought that made Luke shudder because he remembered when he was a senior in high school and Patty had sized him up like a piece of meat.

Luke looked around and saw a few customers in need of a refill of coffee. He turned his back to the diner and picked up the coffee pot. Before he turned the bells on the door sounded and he gave a non-committed look towards the door. At first glance Luke thought that it was Atticus back for another round, but after looking away and thinking about it he doubled back and looked up at someone that while he had a lot of the same characteristics, he was much older and had a pain in his eyes much harsher than the one his son carried. Luke's steps faltered and he held onto the counter. This isn't happening' repeated in his head.

Holy shit came from across the room and all eyes fell on the figure standing in the doorway.


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A/N 2: ok, so now what do we do? Review! ...you know you want to... :)