"It's three in the morning."

Rory nodded as she sorted her laundry. "I know."

"Go to sleep."

"I can't sleep."

Lorelai sighed and sat down on her daughter's bed.

"I don't want to talk about it," Rory told her.

Lorelai nodded.

"I don't want to talk about Dean. I don't want to talk about Jess. I just want to sort my laundry."

Lorelai nodded, and slid onto the floor next to Rory. She started to help her sort her laundry.

And two weeks later he couldn't sleep.

He hadn't slept in days.

Had it been days? It all seemed like one, big, long day. Never ending. It would be light, and then it wouldn't. It'd be dark.

Dark.

Dark, dark, dark, so dark!

It wasn't night, was it? There were no stars. There had to be stars for it to be dark! He stared at the window.

"Are you night?"

He lay there and sighed heavily, loudly into the thick darkness. He hugged his pillow and squeezed his eyes shut, but it did no good. He wanted to go find Luke, but the last time he had, he'd been yelled at a little.

He didn't like yelling.

Yelling was bad. It meant he was bad. He didn't want to be bad anymore. And it was so loud. Like raisins.

He couldn't sleep.

Couldn't sleep.

Sleep.

Couldn't.

He sat up and looked around at his old room. He got out of bed and walked slowly over to the stereo, glaring at it. He wanted to hear music, but he couldn't for the life of him remember how to work it.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at it.

Rory had not been into the diner since the day Jess had come back. She thought of going in often enough, but never actually did. She'd walk up to the door, and stop, and turn and walk back home.

"Rory!"

She turned one day to see Luke rushing after her. "Hey, Luke."

"Can we talk?" he asked, catching up to her.

She shrugged. "Sure."

"You haven't been in, in a while," Luke pointed out.

Rory shrugged again. "I've been... busy."

"Busy avoiding Jess."

She only looked down.

"What happened to him-"

"Isn't my fault, I know," Rory cut him off. "Is he any better?"

Luke sighed. "A little. Had to switch medications. Probably will again if this recent stuff doesn't start working."

Rory nodded.

"Come in."

"Luke..."

"Rory..."

"I can't see him like that."

Luke's expression became bitter. "How do you think he'd feel if this were the other way around?"

Rory couldn't say anything.

"He'd still come to see you."

Rory swallowed hard as Luke stalked back into the diner.

Lorelai walked up. "Hey," she said gently. "Going in?"

Rory nodded slowly.

"Hold still."

He whimpered.

Luke sighed miserably. "Jess, will you just hold still?!"

"I can't, it's gonna get me!"

"What?!"

Jess batted the hairbrush away. "Stop," he whined. It hurt. It was pointy. It was going to suck his brains through it's... pointy things!

What?

Luke attempted to run the brush through his freshly washed, yet extremely messy hair, but Jess covered his head with his arms.

Luke threw up his hands in frustration. He set the brush down on the kitchen table. "Okay. Fine. I'm going downstairs."

Jess gave him a hurt look. "I was bad again."

Luke sighed, feeling guilty. "Jess..."

"I'm sorry. I'm always bad. I won't be bad anymore." He picked up the brush, but didn't seem to know what to do with it.

Luke sighed. "Just... stay up here today, okay, Jess? Your medicine isn't working again."

Agitated, Jess dropped the brush down on the table again. "Why do I need to take those stupid pills?!" he cried. "One makes you taller, one makes you smaller, and let's you go through the little door so you can follow the white rabbit, and it's not a good idea anyways, because... because..."

Luke sighed, frustrated, and left the apartment.

"Count of three," Lorelai said.

Rory nodded slowly as they stared at the diner door.

"One. Two. Three."

They entered to find Luke taking an order. He seemed surprised to see Rory. "Hey."

Lorelai smiled as she walked over and kissed him briefly. "Hey. Get any sleep last night?"

"Some," Luke replied. "I think he was awake most of the night again, but decided not to bother me this time."

"How is he?"

Luke sighed. "Medicine still isn't working... I'm gonna have to take him back for another prescription... He wouldn't let me brush his hair this morning."

Lorelai smiled a little. "I can-"

"I'll try," Rory said quietly.

Both of them looked back at her. Luke felt a little guilty. She was doing this because of what he'd said to her. Or at least, that's what he thought.

"Rory, you don't have to-"

"I'll try," she repeated, just as calmly as before.

"Babe..." Lorelai started.

"Its fine," Rory told her. She made her way up the stairs, with both adults watching.

She refused to cry for him.

She'd promised herself when he'd left for California that she would not shed one tear for him. She'd held to that promise well.

But he looked lost, and weak, sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the hair brush in front of him. He looked...dead, almost.

The thought burned like the tears that refused to fall.

He looked up at her, a little confused. "Rory?"

"Y-yes?" she stammered, wiping her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" He got up to walk over to her.

She hadn't even realized that her tears had finally fallen. "I'm fine."

"And you sad?" he asked. "Don't be sad."

"I'm not."

"Was I bad again?" he asked. "I can make it better if I was. I don't wan you to hate me anymore."

"I don't hate you."

"Don't cry."

"Jess..."

He looked around frantically. "I can fix it. I just have to find..." he stopped. "Where'd it go?"

"Jess..."

"It's gone!" he cried. He rushed about the apartment, looking through boxes and even the refrigerator. "It was here, I know it was!"

"Jess!"

He stopped and looked at her from the kitchen again. "You're mad."

"No."

He slumped back down into his chair. "I was bad again."

More tears fell. "Jess..."

He looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

She sniffed and wrapped her arms around herself.

"It's just that... there were hot dogs and I really like hot dogs and you were mad because I was bad, and I couldn't fix anything, but I can fix it now. I just have to find it, but it's gone and I don't know where it went! God!" He got up again with his last word, almost knocking his chair over.

She sniffed a little and managed to make her feet move. She slowly walked over to him and he backed away from her, into the refrigerator door. She shakily lifted the hair brush from the table.

"Hold still."

He didn't move.

She reached out gently, and began to straighten his hair.