Welcome to Wonderland Ch. 11: I Didn't Know How to Tell You

"…Stones taught me to fly… love taught me to lie… and life taught me to die… so it's not hard to fall, when you float like a cannonball…"

Alice stopped playing, and Joey turned to her.

"These words don't make sense."

"Come on! It's Damien Rice! Its classic!"

"Classic angst," Alice complained.

"I like it," Joey replied. "Please?"

Alice glared. "No puppy-eyes."

He pouted.

"Joe!"

"Please, Ali?" he whined, keeping his pout in place.

She groaned. "Fine. Fine. Goddamn emo crap," she muttered.

He smiled. "Thank you."

Alice shook her head and started playing again.

Joey sighed and played the base part. "So… what's up with your parents?"

Alice shrugged. "I don't know. I woke up this morning, and mom was giving dad the cold shoulder. He probably deserves it."

He shrugged back. "They both looked pretty upset."

"It's none of my business," Alice told him. "If they're gonna be in a fight, then… they're gonna be in a fight. There's nothing I can do about it."

Joey nodded and kept playing, humming the melody as well.

"Ready for the big football game?" Alice asked.

"Are you kidding?" Joey snapped. "I feel like I'm gonna pee myself every time I think about it."

Alice snickered and kept playing.

"Hey…do you think Emma's okay?"

Alice shrugged. "Sure. Why?"

"I don't know," Dave sighed. "She's been hanging out with Mike a lot lately. I'm kind of worried."

"I think she'll be okay," Alice said. "She knows what she's doing."

oooooooooooooooooo

"So what did you say?" Luke asked.

Jess sighed and fidgeted as he sat on the old couch in the apartment above the diner. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

Jess shrugged.

"You asshole!"

"What!"

"The woman says she wants another kid and you say nothing!"

"What would you have said!"

Luke faltered at the question, and sputtered a little. "I… well, I would have said something!"

Jess sighed. "I just… thought it better to say nothing than to say something stupid. That's all."

"Do you want another kid?" Luke asked.

"I don't know," Jess confessed. "Maybe. I never really thought about it…We wanted Alice so badly…I figured I should just…be content with what we have…"

"She wants more," Luke pointed out. "Do you?"

Jess leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Rory sighed as she picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey!"

"Gloria!" Rory smiled. "Hi! How are you?"

"I'm great," Gloria replied.

Rory frowned. "I know that tone of voice…"

"What?"

"You got back together with Jamie again, didn't you?"

Gloria sighed.

"Gloria…"

"What do you want?" She asked. "He's Frankie's father, he's…He's all I've got."

"That's not true," Rory replied. "You know that's not true. You've got me, and Jess…"

Gloria snorted. "You've got your own problems, Jess being sick and all…"

Rory said nothing.

"Rory?"

"What do you mean…sick?" she asked.

"Oh, shit…"

oooooooooooooooooo

"I hate football," Joey muttered as he got set to play. "I hate football."

"Shut up, Joe," Bean muttered.

"I'm gonna pee myself," Joey commented.

"If you don't shut up and play, I'm gonna sack you so hard you won't know your own name," Luke said.

Joey shot up. "Okay, what the hell! That's just wrong!"

"Will you just play, so we can get this over with?" Kirk snapped, his voice cracking.

Mike smirked at his father, paying no attention to his teammate's outrage. "You're going down, old man."

"I'm not as old as you're going to feel after this game," Dean smirked back.

Tristin blinked from the bleachers. "Why are they playing football on a baseball field?"

"Because we don't have a football field, Junior," Alice replied with a smirk, shoving some popcorn in her mouth.

"Ah," he nodded. "So…what exactly is this?"

"It's supposed to be the annual father-son football game," Alice replied. "But…you know, Bean's dad, Jackson, and Joey's dad, Dave don't play, so Luke and Kirk are stepping in."

"Oh…"

"KICK THEIR ASSES, JOEY!" Molly cried from Alice's other side.

"GO TO HELL, MOLLS!" Joey yelled.

Emma giggled and wrapped an arm around Molly. "Now I remember why I love you."

"If he doesn't like football," Tristin remarked, "why is he playing?"

"They needed another player," Alice explained. "Taylor paid him thirty bucks."

"Damn, is that all?" Emma asked. "He shoulda haggled for more."

"Considering how many injuries he's about to sustain, I'd have to agree," Alice nodded.

Down on the field, Taylor blew the whistle, and Joey got trampled.

Tristin flinched.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Jess sighed as he walked into his house late that afternoon. "Rory?"

He got no answer.

He shrugged out of his coat and hung it in the closet, before walking into the kitchen.

Rory was sitting at the table, staring at the bottle of pills that sat in front of her.

He stood silently, staring at her seriously.

Finally, she looked up at him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He didn't reply.

"Come on, Jess," she said. "I thought we were past this."

"I was going to tell you," he muttered.

"When?" Rory snapped, getting to her feet. "When were you going to tell me?"

He didn't reply.

She shook her head. "You are unbelievable."

"Maybe."

"Jess!" she yelled. "I'm your wife! We're married! You're supposed to be able to tell me these things!"

"What was I supposed to say!" he growled, angrily. "Hey, Rory! Want Chinese for dinner? Oh, by the way! My heart is fucked up!"

She stared at him harshly, before storming out of the kitchen, and to the front door. He heard it slam shut.

Jess groaned, and made to go after her, but Alice appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, blocking him, a couple of tears ran down her cheeks.

"Ali…"

She shook her head, and, like her mother, rushed out of the house.

He blinked rapidly, and stumbled, hitting a chair before connecting with the floor.

In seconds, everything went black.

ooooooooooooooo

"Jess?"

"Jeez, how long has he been out?"

"I left at five."

"Five? It's six now! Jess? Come on, you stupid kid, wake up."

"Dad?"

"Stay back a little, Ali."

"Did I do this?"

"No."

"Of course not!"

"I did this…I ran out all mad, and left him here alone and if I'd stayed-"

"You had a right to be angry. He's sick and he didn't tell anybody."

He felt light fingers run through his hair. "Please wake up…"

He groaned and tried to sit up without opening his eyes.

"Dad!"

He squinted his eyes open, just in time to see Alice lunge at him and wrap her arms around him.

"I'm sorry I ran away from you," she said.

"I'm sorry I'm a jerk," Jess croaked out.

"You are a jerk," Alice replied, sniffling a little.

Jess sighed and wrapped an arm around her. "I know."

Rory let out a breath and rested her head against Jess's shoulder.

oooooooooooooooo

"Tachyarrhythmia."

Tristin squinted from his seat on his bed. He held the cordless phone to his ear. "What's that?"

"It's a condition that makes your heart beat too fast," Alice explained. "It has all sorts of crazy symptoms, not the least of which is passing out, which he did tonight."

"Is he gonna be okay?" Tristin asked.

"Yeah…as long as he does regular medication and check-ups, and takes it easy," Alice said.

"Why didn't he tell you?"

Alice groaned and flopped back down on her own bed. "Because he's Jess Mariano. He never tells anybody anything."

"So, your dad is an asshole," Tristin surmised.

Alice smirked. "Yeah. But he's my dad."

"You still mad at him?"

She nodded a little. "Yeah, I think I am…I just…need to get over it."

ooooooooooooooooo

"Still mad?"

Rory sighed and turned from her book to Jess, who was sitting in bed beside her with his own book.

"More scared than mad," she admitted.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"You should be," Rory replied.

"I am," Jess nodded. "I want to make it up to you."

She frowned.

"Whatever you want," he told her. "Name it."

Rory sighed heavily. "I want you to tell me everything that goes on with this."

He nodded.

"I want to go to doctor's appointments with you," she went on quietly. "I want you to start treating this marriage like a team effort. Not just for my sake, but for Alice's, and yours."

Jess gave another nod.

"You know damn well this can't work if you won't let me carry some of the weight."

"I know."

She turned to him and pressed her forehead to his. "And you know damn well that I love you too much to let you go through this alone."

He nodded against her forehead.

"Are these terms agreeable?" Rory asked.

"Yeah," Jess replied. "I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow."

Rory smiled sadly. "I'll take off of work."