A week later, Rory arrived at the hospital earlier than usual. Generally she'd go around one in the afternoon with Lorelai and again around seven at night with Luke. Over the last few days though, by the middle of the evening visit, Jess was either in too much pain to enjoy the company or too exhausted to stay awake until the nine o'clock cut off.

Visiting hours usually began at six but since Rory was helping Luke in the diner for some extra cash for the school year, she waited until he turned things over to Caesar and rode with him. Luke needed his hand held anyway, and Lorelai had to be at the Inn most nights. Tonight, though Rory had off and Lorelai had off, so Rory decided to go to the hospital early to visit Jess.

It was 5:55 pm when she arrived at Jess' door to find it was still closed. A closed door at St. Barbara's meant two things, therapy or sleep. Since it was so close to six and Jess had been putting his back into it literally all day, she assumed the later and opened. She gasped audibly at what she saw.

Jess had been working out for most of the day with Jerry, like he had done nearly everyday since he'd been here. They had a routine, a predictable routine. Every day, Harriet would wake him up; he'd dress, and have breakfast before a work out on his arms and upper body. He also rehearsed the daily necessities; moving from his bed to his chair, getting into the shower, getting out of the shower, getting dressed…those things were getting easier by the day. It was the exercises, that were getting hard, and Jess was beginning to see them as futile wastes of time. By the time they were finished with this it was time for lunch and Rory and Lorelai would visit him. They came every day without fail, which gave him strength to face the rest of the day. He needed to see Rory's smile, feel her touch, and to be honest, he needed a healthy dose of Lorelai.

After they left, he and Jerry would work on his legs and his abs, an event which usually resulted in bad muscle spasms and complete exhaustion. Today, Jerry was showing him a new truck. Using parallel bars he was showing him how to use his arms strength to propose his body forward. It was usually used when people were learning to walk again, but Jerry felt the exercise would help Jess' waning confidence.

"Don't use your legs, Jess," Jerry warned. "They're still dead weight. Use your arms and your back; keep your shoulders perpendicular to your spine."

"God, this hurts," Jess groaned putting all of his body weight on his arms. That wasn't hard, he's always been strong. What were hard were his shoulders, tensing his back muscles caused intense spasms, sending fire hot pain down his legs.

"Don't think about it," Jerry advised. "Rise above it. Use your arms and move toward me."

Jess started to try but his instability made him nervous and he shook his head, "No, I can't."

"Yes, you can, Jess. Come on, try it," Jerry encouraged.

Again Jess considered it, but couldn't shake his fear. His arms were shaking, his legs were shaking, and his heart was pounding. "No," he repeated. "Help me back to the bed. It's late anyway."

"After this exercise you can go back to bed. Do this first," Jerry commanded.

"I can't do it!" Jess protested. "Help me back to bed."

Jerry folded his massive arms across his chest, "I can't do that."

Jess was getting tired. The muscles in his arms were burning, his back ached, and his legs shook. If he didn't lie down in the next five minutes he'd be on the floor. Yet, he couldn't give in and do what Jerry asked. He was afraid of that motion, of feeling the dead weight of his legs drag underneath him, he was afraid of falling on his face and having the reality of his situation hit home.

"I'll do it myself," Jess snapped. That was the point anyway wasn't it, to do for oneself?

"Go ahead," Jerry replied.

Jess Mariano, he'd learned had a will of iron, which was a blessing and a curse. It was people like Jess that made it in the world in spite of their disability; it was also people like Jess that made his life a living hell. Jerry knew turning around and going to his bed was beyond Jess' capabilities, but he had to show him a quitter attitude didn't work at St. Barbara's. Jess had been exhibiting that attitude and that iron will was turning against him. This would be a set back for Jess, but hopefully; it would have a positive ending.

Jess' uncle and girlfriend were solid supporters of Jess' recovery, except when it came to seeing him do the work. The man, Luke, couldn't push Jess beyond a certain point, once Jess started balking about something he'd give up. The girlfriend couldn't even push him to a point, all she wanted to do was coddle him, hold him, and let him be waited on hand and foot. That was not the way to recovery. Thankfully, Jess still had enough steel in his spine to keep on trying, driven by his own will. Once that cracked, Jerry didn't think he could count on the family to support him, they would cave to Jess' wishes. And that would be the end of the kid's life.

Jess concentrated on the configuration, his determination to get back to bed, lie down, and sleep driving him beyond reason. He was so exhausted. His bed was far away from the end of the parallel bars, about six feet by his estimation. And he had to turn around. It would have been easier to do as Jerry asked, but he was too stubborn to recant his refusal now.

Jerry couldn't help but laugh to himself. Jess' "I can't" to a relatively simple task was as fervent his "I will" to this much harder one. He knew the kid didn't have a snowball's chance in July of doing what he waned. Jerry could only hope the resulting fall wouldn't do further damage to his confidence or his body. The determination Jess came in with had slipped in the last few days as he continued to work and felt no improvement.

Jess' jaw was firmly set. He would do this. It wasn't hard. Just turn around and push to the comfort of his bed. Once he did that he could rest. Rory would come soon after and massage his back while Luke gave the staff Hell. That was his favorite part of the day. Reliable Uncle Luke always yelled at Jerry for pushing too hard. But that never stopped Jerry, he'd just push harder.

Jess wasn't sure how, but by sheer force of will and solid arm strength, Jess managed the rather complex movements to turn his body around.

"You can do that, but you couldn't come to me," Jerry said stifling a laugh.

"Shut up!" Jess barked his teeth clenched against the pain of overworking his body. He'd done the hard part, now he had to get to the bed. He used the bars for balance until they ended. It was exhausting work, but he could do it, and the thought was exhilarating.

It was when the bars ended that Jess faced the real challenge; six feet to his bed with now means of support. Now was the time to see if all those exercises worked like the doctors said or if they were bullshit like he was beginning to think.

"Jess, don't use your…" That was all Jerry could say before Jess tried to step toward the bed. Naturally his legs didn't obey his brain's commands and as soon as he let go of the bars, he fell.

Jess lay on his stomach; his legs sprawled haphazardly behind him. Jess looked up at Jerry, tears brimming in his eyes, tears he was determined not to shed until he was alone, much, much later. "Help me?" he asked his pride shattering in that millisecond. Jerry saw it and knew what he had to do to help Jess get it back.

"Nope," he replied moving Jess' wheelchair over so it was near him, just out of his reach. "You got yourself down there, you get yourself up. Use the chair."

That was what Rory saw when she walked in. Jess on the floor, his therapist standing over him looking down at him. Jess and Jerry looked at Rory's face, seeing a mixture of emotions; anger, pity, and sadness cross her face. When the shock wore off, Rory rushed over to Jess and fell to her knees beside him. She saw the tears on his face, tears he tried to hide from her, but to no avail. Rory knew Jess' pride was wounded, it had taken a lot of hits since that night in her dorm, and out of respect to that she wouldn't mention that she saw him cry. "Jess, are you okay? What happened?" That was all she asked.

"Fell," he managed his teeth and jaw clenched. He couldn't seem to catch his breath.

Rory rose from her crouch, blue eyes blazing with anger directed at Jerry, "Why? Why did he fall? What were you doing to him when he fell? Why weren't you helping him? Huh? Why did you let him fall?"

Jess listened to Rory rail on Jerry. She shouted one question after another at him who tried to remain calm and answer them, "Rory, Jess insisted on trying…"

"Fine, but what about now? Help him now," she urged, gesturing to Jess who was trying to pull himself up on his chair.

"Jess had to learn to get up on his own," Jerry explained. "There will be other falls. He can't lie on the floor until someone comes home."

"But he's exhausted right now and I know his back is killing him so help him up," Rory told Jerry. "It is past six anyway, his work out is over."

"His work out is over when he's back in bed," Jerry told Rory. "Let's go Jess."

Jess tried, he truly did. He used his wheelchair for balance and tried to pull himself up, but he failed. He was simply too tired and worn down to succeed. Dejected and embarrassed he slumped to the floor again, his whole body shaking with fatigue.

"You have to help him," Rory declared. "You can't just leave him there."

"He can do it himself," Jerry declared. "He knows how."

"Maybe, but he's exhausted right now. So if you won't help him, I will!" Rory announced before leaning over behind Jess.

"Rory, you'll hurt yourself. I'm too heavy," Jess protested. "I'll try again in a minute. I'll do it, you'll see."

"Let me help you, Jess. When you're ready," she told him, smoothing his hair back from his damp forehead and dropping a kiss on his head.

A few minutes later, Jess nodded, took a deep breath and nodded, "Okay." Rory tried to push his legs up, but that action only caused him to cry out as pain shot through his back. Rory felt her throat close up. "I'm sorry," she squeaked out through tears.

"It's…okay," Jess managed gasping for breath, his chest working to catch up with his need for oxygen. "I…just…"

He stopped talking then and closed his eyes, his chin falling to his chest.

"Jess?" Rory cried out, fear evident in her voice and on her face.

Jerry tried to comfort her with a touch on her shoulder, "It's all right. He's just sleeping. He's worn himself out."

"Don't touch me!" Rory shouted at him, "Don't you dare touch me!"

That was what Luke heard when he arrived near Jess' room. He broke into a run, knowing that Rory would never be shouting at Jess like that or about that. He swung the door opened, and shouted, "What the HELL is going on in here?" His blue eyes burned as he held Jerry's gaze.

"She's upset because Jess had a fall and he fell asleep from working to get himself up?" Jerry hastily explained.

"Why were you touching her?" Luke asked.

"I just put my hand on her shoulder," Jerry defended.

"Rory?" Luke waited for affirmation.

She nodded, "Luke, he wouldn't help Jess." She was sobbing and covered her face with her hands. "He needed help, he…"

"Rory, go to the waiting room and ask the nurse to page Dr. Cameron. I'll handle this."

Jerry tried to explain to Luke that this was for Jess' own good, but Luke ignored the man, busying himself with lifting his nephew off the floor and placing him in his bed. With surprising tenderness he covered him to the waist and ran his hand over his forehead.

"Outside," Luke commanded.

Jerry opened his mouth to protest. "Outside," Luke said again.

Jerry moved outside of Jess' room where Rory was talking with Dr. Cameron. She was still shaking so Luke when he came out put his arm around her, taking care of her as he would have Lorelai.

"Let's go to my office and discuss what happened," Dr. Cameron suggested.

The four of them settled in his office, "Now, Rory, why don't you explain to me why you are so upset?" Dr. Cameron asked.

"Because, when I got to the hospital to see Jess, I walked into his room and saw him on the floor. He'd fallen down, and he was so tired. He tried to get up and he couldn't and he wouldn't help him." She glared at Jerry.

"Rory, it is our policy at St. Barbara's to let our patients do for themselves. We have to teach Jess how to do things like that for himself," Dr. Cameron reminded her. "But," he sighed. "It is not usually our policy to have our patients fall. How did that happen?"

"I had Jess on the bars and told him to use his body to come to the end of the bars. He refused and asked me to help him back to bed," Jerry began.

"Why didn't you?" Rory shot. "You torture him all day long! You all ready know he's not going to get better, but you do it anyway!" she shouted. "Why do you do that? And why wouldn't you do what he asked?"

"You have to understand that independence is going to be very important to Jess…" Jerry began.

"It doesn't have to be," Luke said hoarsely. "I'll help him as much as I can."

Jerry hated when the family did this. They hindered the recovery when they did that. He only wanted to do his job; he only wanted to help these people and their families. Jerry wanted to tell Luke and Rory they weren't helping but before he could Pat poked his head in the office, "Luke, Jess wants to see you alone."

A few minutes later Luke was in Jess' room sitting by his nephew's bed. The kid was crying he could see it in the slump of his shoulders, in the way his back was turned to him. "Its okay, Jess," he comforted. "

It's going to be okay."

"I thought I would get better, you know, but I'm not," Jess told him. "I'm not going to get better either. And, I can't face her…it's so bad I can't even look at her."

"Look at whom? Rory?" Luke asked. This was not his domain at all.

"Yeah, I'm not what she needs you know. I'm not…Luke, I want to go home. I don't want to be here anymore." Jess told him, his voice taking on that familiar tone.

Luke nodded, "If that's what you want, Jess." That was all he said before he rose from his seat and left Jess to sleep that was rapidly claiming him. This was going to be hard. He'd have to get a new place and soon, and he didn't know what to do. He only knew one thing; the poor kid had been through enough. Now it was time to bring him home.

End Seven

Next: Lorelai and Luke settle the resident problem. Taylor gets on Luke's last nerve. Jess comes home. . Please Review if you have more ideas/suggestions or things you'd like to see in this piece.