Chapter 27 Notes: The boys fill their time during winter break before they make their new starts at school and work. Thanks so much for all the comments and feedback on the last chapter! I'm glad you guys liked my Emily. She was so fun to write, and it's always bugged me that we knew pretty much nothing about her backstory when she's such a main character. :) I want to respond to a question from a guest reader who was interested in my real-life connection to DCFS. I volunteer as a CASA, or court appointed special advocate, for children in foster care. I'm also getting my master's in social work with the end goal of being a child social worker. If anyone is looking for meaningful volunteer work with children in foster care, I would highly recommend being a CASA. It's a lot of work, but I find it super rewarding.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my own obsession with Gilmore Girls

The next week went by quickly. Jeremy didn't start school until after the new year. Jess wasn't starting his job at the bookstore until the same time, so it worked out perfectly as far as Jeremy was concerned. He got to spend his days with Jess and his evenings working at the diner. April stayed in the apartment with them for a couple of days after Christmas before heading back to Boston, Jeremy insisting on giving up his room and taking the couch. They went to the science museum in Hartford one day with April and Luke, Jess letting Jeremy go, even though he was still technically grounded because his cousin was only around for a limited time and it was a family outing. At her request to get to know her grandson better, Jeremy had spent one afternoon at Liz's house playing board games with her and Doula, working on his sign language, and having his chakra read. Jess had let him go under the guise of not wanting to disappoint Doula, but Jeremy knew it had more to do with Jess not wanting to hurt Liz's feelings. He could tell that Jess was working on his relationship with his mother, even though he hadn't said anything about it, and Jeremy was happy to oblige. The other days had been spent just him and Jess, one shopping for school supplies and going to the mall to spend his gift card on new school clothes, one walking into city hall as Jeremy Cooper and walking out as Jeremy Mariano, another spent cozy in the apartment during a snowfall so heavy that Jeremy wasn't needed in the diner, playing scrabble, watching movies and cooking dinner together. That day had been his favorite. As much as he knew he should be eager to make friends and develop his own social life with people his age in Stars Hollow, he always felt at his most comfortable and content when it was just him and Jess, or him and Luke. It was the first time he could remember having people that he could just be himself around, without having to worry about saying something stupid or not being good enough. Those were the times he felt the happiest and the safest.

Jeremy liked working at the diner. The work wasn't overly hard, and he liked the hustle when it was busy and how it made the time fly by. He also liked the lull after the dinner rush and helping Luke close up at the end of the night, when he would wipe down tables or sweep the floor and Luke would talk to him, asking about his day, telling him about some entertaining customer interaction, often Kirk related, that he had missed earlier in the day or sharing stories about his own teenage years or his parents, whom he referred to as Jeremy's great-grandparents. Jeremy liked the sound of that, the idea of being so rooted in his new family that he had great-grandparents, even if he had never gotten to meet them.

He also liked that he got the chance to meet some of the kids he would be at school with in January. He only had half a year left of high school and he figured he could make it through anything for that short a period of time, but he got the sense that Stars Hollow High was going to be a better experience than most schools he had attended. Jeremy liked the idea of living in a small town, but he hadn't fully understood what it meant until customers, especially those who were teenagers or adults who had teenage children with them, kept asking him if he was new to town and introducing themselves. He smiled every time he introduced himself as Jeremy Mariano. It felt good. He had served Sarah and Autumn, who had remembered him and introduced him to a group of senior boys they knew at another table. Sarah had also invited him to the New Year's Eve party she was throwing that weekend, and not wanting to turn her down a second time, Jeremy had admitted he would like to go, but he couldn't because he was grounded for almost three more weeks. Sarah had asked what he had done to end up grounded for such a long time and his explanation had been met with a disapproving look from Autumn and a mischievous smile from Sarah, who made him write down her address anyway in case he felt like sneaking out on Saturday night. He knew he wouldn't do it, but she was a hard person to say no to, so he dutifully copied down what she told him on the back of an order slip. Sarah reminded him a little of Melissa, and Jeremy wondered if Autumn ever did things she knew were wrong to please Sarah. The interaction made him miss his girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend now, as Melissa had been clear that she hadn't wanted to try a distance relationship when he left Philadelphia, but he still held out hope that they could reconnect once his sentence was up and he was allowed to text again. Overall, things were going well. Everyone seemed very friendly and without exception each new introduction ended with someone, either a fellow student or their parent, telling him that they were sure he was going to like the high school or the town in general. It all felt very welcoming, almost comfortable. Jeremy had never experienced anything like it, but he loved it. He didn't get why Jess had been so resistant to move back to Stars Hollow. Jeremy never wanted to leave.

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Jess was lying on the couch reading a book on Friday evening when he heard a knock on the door. He sighed. Jeremy was downstairs working an evening shift at the diner and Jess figured he must have forgotten something. "Jeremy, you don't have to knock! You live here!"

The apartment door swung open and Luke walked in instead. Jess smiled. "Oh, hey. You don't need to knock either, since it's your house and all."

"What? Oh, no, I should knock. I own the building, but you guys are living here. I don't mind knocking." Luke sounded distracted as he took a quick peek back into the hallway before closing the door behind him and turning to face Jess.

Jess raised an eyebrow. "What's up? You afraid you were being followed?"

Luke laughed. "No, smartass, I just wanted to make sure we were alone. That's all." Luke bent to pet Winston who had gotten up to greet their guest. "Hey, boy? How's my second favorite great-nephew doing?"

"You can't play favorites like that Luke. It's bad for Winston's self-esteem." Jess was still laying flat on the couch, but he had put down his book, resting the paperback open on his chest to save his place.

Luke laughed and sat down in the armchair across from Jess, then leaned forward and reached behind him, pulling out the stuffed donkey. He held it up and looked at it quizzically. "Is this Winston's?"

"It's Jeremy's." He met Luke's confused look with a shrug. "He saw it when we were Christmas shopping. He had one when he was little and he still lived with his parents. I could tell he wanted it. I don't think you outgrow stuff like that."

"Oh." Luke sat the stuffed donkey on the armrest of his chair.

"But, maybe don't say anything to him about it, ok?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, sure. I won't say anything."

Jess slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position, putting his book down on the coffee table. He could tell Luke wanted to have a talk with him and for a minute he caught a whiff of the leftover teenage feeling of wondering what he had done. "So, what's up?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I just, well, I've been trying to get you alone all week, but it's tough because you're always with Jeremy, or if you're not, I'm with him in the diner. I finally got away tonight by telling him that I needed to come up here and look for an old ledger I needed, that it might be in the safe. I'm not a very good liar, though, so I'm not sure he bought it."

"Uh, you do know that he works for you, right, not the other way around?"

Luke laughed. "I realize that, Nephew. I just wanted to come talk to you without him knowing, I guess."

Jess felt a surge of worry. "Everything is working out all right with Jeremy in the diner, isn't it?" Jess couldn't imagine things not going well. Jeremy had wanted a job so badly and he had so much respect for Luke. Jess couldn't imagine the kid slacking off or not being a good worker, but he couldn't see where else this conversation was headed.

"What? Oh, yeah! Things are going great in the diner. He's a good worker. He's very polite to the customers. He never complains about anything that I ask him to do. He gets along with Cesar and the other servers. He's so much better than you were. So much better!" Luke emphasized, laughing as Jess frowned.

"All right. I get it."

Luke paused, and Jess watched a smile spread across his face. "And, I love having him there with me. I love getting to talk to him and spend time with him like this. I'm thinking, though, that when he starts school next week I should limit him to maybe two or three shifts during the week and then he can work as much as he wants on the weekends. I know he needs money for college, but I don't want this job getting in the way of him studying and everything. What do you think?"

Jess knew that Luke was right on both counts, but he was leaning toward prioritizing how badly they needed money for Jeremy's college. He trusted that Jeremy would be able to manage his time and prioritize his school work better than he had at that age. Plus, with only one more semester of high school left, he didn't really think Jeremy could get himself in too much trouble. All his college applications were already out. "Yeah, I think starting him with a couple of shifts during the week sounds good, maybe three if one is Friday night. But, Luke you don't need to worry about him, ok? He's not going to mess up with school. He's a really good student and he takes school really seriously. He's going to go to college."

"I know. I know, you're right. I just worry."

Jess felt a small tug of guilt at the idea that Luke felt like he had to worry about whether another kid he loved would actually make it through high school thanks to Jess's own adolescent behavior.

"So." Jess spoke slowly. "You've been trying to get me alone all week to talk about Jeremy's work schedule?" It didn't seem plausible to Jess, and he knew there was more coming.

Luke was still rubbing behind Winston's ears as the dog stood next to his chair and now he looked down at the dog. "That was part of it, sure."

"What's the other part?"

Luke looked back up, and Jess didn't like seeing the uncertainty on the man's face. "It's just, well, I noticed something at Christmas that I wanted to talk to you about. It's probably none of my business, but it got me wondering."

Jess felt a spike of anger at the idea that Luke was going to ask him whether anything was going on with him and Rory. He didn't know what he was doing to give people the impression that he wanted there to be anything there, and he was getting sick of people misinterpreting his intentions. Was he supposed to act like a complete dick to her? Ignore her altogether? Is that what it would take to make everyone in his family stop assuming he was pining over her? He wasn't going to make this easy. If Luke wanted to butt in on his relationship, or lack thereof, with Rory, he was going to need to have the balls to bring it up on his own. "Yeah? What is it?" Jess kept his voice firm and neutral, wanting to convey the message that this wasn't a welcome topic, that it was indeed none of Luke's business.

Luke sighed, glanced over Jess's shoulder for a moment before regaining eye contact with his nephew. "At the end of the night, when Liz and TJ were leaving and saying goodbye to everyone, I noticed that Jeremy called them Grandma and Grandpa."

Oh. Jess instantly felt like an ass for making this all about him. He nodded, leaning forward, giving Luke his earnest attention to make up for his unkind thoughts.

"And, I don't know. I guess, I was wondering how that had happened. I didn't know that was an option, or a thing we could do….."

"You didn't know that was a thing we could do?" Jess tried not to smile at Luke's phrasing.

Luke looked back down at Winston, who was now resting his chin on the chair by Luke's leg, eyes closed as he enjoyed his head rub. "Yeah, I mean. He still calls you Jess. I didn't think we could have him call us family names when he isn't even calling you by a family name. And, if he wanted to use names like that, how come he's using them with Liz and TJ….."

"Instead of with you?" Jess prompted.

"Yeah, I guess. I just, I thought we had a bond, me and him. And, I was surprised to see him calling Liz Grandma…."

"You do have a bond. He's crazy about you. Liz asked. Or, rather, she sent TJ over to ask on her behalf if I would encourage Jeremy to call her Grandma." Jess shrugged. "You know how Liz is. I told him I'd ask Jeremy, but I wouldn't make him do anything he wasn't comfortable with. Jeremy was fine with it. Said he would do it if it made Liz happy. He also asked me if he should start calling you and Lorelai aunt and uncle. I told him that that was between him and you guys, but that I thought you'd be fine with whatever he wanted to call you. I get the impression that he would like to call you Uncle Luke, but he might be too self-conscious to ever ask you. Stuff like that is hard. It's a big deal."

"Oh….Well, for the record, I would love it if he wanted to call me Uncle Luke."

"Do you want me to bring it up to him?"

"No. No, don't say anything to him. I think I should talk to him about it myself, if that's ok."

"It's ok with me."

"I just. When I saw him with Liz." Luke looked back down at Winston while he spoke. "I didn't know if it had anything to do with me not letting you call me Uncle when you came to live with me. If you had assumed I wouldn't want Jeremy to, either. I feel bad about that sometimes, you know."

Jess thought about that. He understood that he had originally used the term sarcastically, only calling the man 'uncle' when he was trying to be particularly annoying or get a rise out of him, but after his initial transition to being with Luke, it would have been nice to have been able, or even invited, to call Luke by a family name. If Luke had told him that he wanted him to call him uncle after he had been in Stars Hollow for a few months, it would have felt nice, like a symbol of them really becoming a family. He had often gotten the impression that Luke regretted his choice to bar the word 'uncle' from Jess's personal lexicon, mostly when the man went out of the way to refer to Jess as 'nephew,' but he assumed that Luke hadn't known how to go about correcting the issue after the fact. He felt like it was too late now. And telling Luke how he felt now would only serve to make the man feel guilty. He realized that what Jeremy had said about transitioning to calling him dad was true. Jess would feel far too self-conscious to start calling Luke 'uncle' or Liz 'mom' at this stage in his life. He was glad to know that his son was braver than he was. All he could do now was make sure things turned out better for Jeremy. Jess spoke honestly, not saying it was ok, because it didn't feel ok, but not wanting Luke to feel bad about it either. "I don't hold it against you." Jess paused, unsure of how much he should say, but wanting to give Luke a heads-up that Jeremy wanted to start calling him 'dad' so that Luke wouldn't be throw off when he heard it and react in a way that would make Jeremy feel uncomfortable. "And he and I talked on Christmas. He wants to start calling me dad, but we're going to ease into it. It's a big thing for him, for both of us."

Luke smiled broadly, obviously happy for his nephew. "That's great, Jess! It's so amazing to think that a year ago your heart wasn't really into becoming a foster parent and now you're Jeremy's dad."

Jess huffed out a quiet laugh. "Yeah, it's pretty crazy." He admitted.

Luke was smiling at him warmly, the fondness in his expression giving Jess a warm, cozy feeling in his chest. "I love seeing good things happen for you, Jess."

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"So, how was your first official week as a Mariano?" Jess scooped a serving of roasted broccoli onto his plate. It was Sunday night and they were just sitting down to dinner. Jess had a little bit of nervous energy about starting his new job tomorrow, but overall, he felt pretty good. He had spent the day getting them both read for their fresh starts this week. While Jeremy worked at the diner, Jess had thoroughly cleaned the apartment, done their laundry and cooked for dinner as well as made a few things that they could throw together for lunches during the week. He had woken up early and gone to the gym almost every day that week and working out again was making him feel calmer and more himself. So was being in Stars Hollow. He didn't feel as desperate as he had back in Philly. He felt confident that he could handle whatever Andrew needed from him tomorrow, and he felt very grateful for the opportunity.

Jeremy smiled. "It was good. I really liked introducing myself that way."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. A few people even asked me if I was related to you when they heard my name. It was pretty cool getting to say yes. I've never been related to anyone before." The boy's grin was contagious and seeing it made Jess smile. He thought about the family he had grown up with, the Liz he remembered from his childhood and then meeting Jimmy in California. No one else had ever been this excited to be related to him.

"This is a first for me, too." Jess watched Jeremy's brow furrow in question as he chewed a bite of veggie lasagna. "I've never had anyone else in my family share my name."

Jeremy swallowed. "Didn't Liz? When you were a kid, I mean, before she married TJ?"

"Nope. Liz and Jimmy, my father, never got married, so she kept Danes until she married TJ. I was always the only Mariano I knew." Jess considered that statement. "Until I met Jimmy when I was eighteen, but we haven't really stayed in touch enough for that to matter."

"It sucks that Liz didn't give you Danes, huh? Then we could share a name with Luke, too. Why do you think Liz didn't change your name to Danes once your dad left? Wouldn't that have made more sense?"

"Yeah, that would have made more sense. Liz named me in the hospital, when she thought Jimmy was going to stick around and be my dad. But, I asked her once, when I was older, why she hadn't changed my name to Danes after he left, because he left right away. He took off right after Liz and I were discharged from the hospital."

"What did she say?"

"Just that it had seemed like too much hassle." Jess didn't know how the conversation had ended up here. He hadn't intended this conversation to involve running down Jeremy's grandmother. "And, granted, this was way back before the internet, so everything was more of a hassle back then, but c'mon." Jess went for sarcasm, trying to play Liz's excuse for a laugh, instead of the hurtful conversation it had been.

"It only took us like twenty minutes in city hall." Jeremy looked sad that Jess hadn't been worth the twenty minutes to his own mother, and Jess felt like an ass for letting this conversation go down this road. If he wanted Jeremy to have a decent relationship with Liz, and he did, he couldn't poison the well with careless anecdotes from his childhood. He would have to try really hard to come up with a positive story about Liz that he could share. Maybe he could ask Luke to tell Jeremy some from their childhood.

"So, who have you met in the diner?" Jess lightened his tone and purposely transitioned the conversation away from his childhood. "Who asked if we were related? And, was it our strikingly similar ruggedly handsome looks that tipped them off?"

Jeremy laughed. "I'm pretty sure it was the name. There was a couple in the other day, who asked me. Their names were Lane and Zach van Gerbig, but she said she was Lane Kim when she knew you. They had two kids. Twins. Lane said she went to high school with you and that she and Zach used to work for Luke, too, but not at the same time."

"Oh, yeah. I remember Lane. She's friends with Rory."

"She told me that, too. She seemed to already know who I was, so I figured Rory had told her that you're adopting me. She seemed nice."

Jess nodded. "I remember her being pretty nice. What's her husband like? I don't think I've ever met him."

"He seemed nice, too. A little…...goofy maybe, but nice. They said they've known Luke for ages and that he's the godfather of their kids. That's pretty cool, right? Everyone really likes Luke here, have you noticed that? Like, he's kind of a big deal. Lorelai, too. It seems like the whole town knows them."

"Yeah, well, it's a small town."

"I know, but it's just…...nice, I guess. I like that everybody seems so connected." Jeremy chewed a bite of broccoli.

Jess felt like telling him that living in a small town where everybody knew each other could have a downside, too, but he didn't want to be negative. He figured you reap what you sow and he knew Jeremy was likely to have a better experience here than he had had as a kid

"I met this other family and the guy knew you, Luke and Rory. He just moved back to town, too, but he recognized your name. He said he went to high school with you, and he knew Luke because he used to date Rory." Jess's head shot up at that, but Jeremy had his eyes down on his plate, spearing a forkful of lasagna, so Jess's dignity was spared. "It's just crazy how interconnected everyone is here."

"Did this guy have a name?" Jess went for casual curiosity, feeling ridiculous that his high school nemesis could still illicit any kind of stress reaction from him.

"Yeah, it was Dean Forrester and his wife was Jenny. I didn't get to talk to them very much, though. They had three little kids with them and one started having a meltdown, like crying and screaming and everything, and Luke gave him a look, the guy not the kid, and the guy apologized and ran outside with the kid until he calmed down. It was kind of funny, though, cause I felt like his wife was starting to pick up the kid, but the guy practically grabbed him out of her hands and ran outside with him, like he was scared of Luke." Jeremy laughed at the memory. "That's weird, right? I mean, Luke's like the nicest guy ever."

Jess felt a little smug satisfaction at the idea that Dean was stuck with a herd of squalling brats while Jess had been blessed with one perfect child like Jeremy. The following thought of Dean walking into the bookstore while he was working hit Jess hard. In all the years he had had a life he was proud of, working in publishing in Philadelphia and dating a beautiful woman, he had never once run into Dean during a visit to Stars Hollow. And, now, when Jess was at his lowest, that fucker had to move back, too. Of course, he did.

Jess pretended to contemplate, knowing he couldn't tell Jeremy that Luke has pretty much wanted to kill Dean since the day he learned that he had cheated on his child bride with Rory. "It was probably just leftover fear from when we were kids. Luke was always kind of tough on guys who dated Rory." He realized he was getting dangerously close to his own lie of omission here. He wasn't even sure why he didn't want Jeremy to know that he had dated Rory. And, he had no idea if Rory or Lorelai would ever bring it up to the boy, but Jess just knew he didn't want questions. He thought about how Rory had more recently cheated again, on her last boyfriend, with the blond dick when he had been engaged to another woman. He knew his own origin story had been pretty messed up, but Leelee's was a complete shitshow. He wondered how Leelee would feel about either of her parents when she was old enough to figure it out.

"Huh. Oh, there was a woman today who asked if I was related to you, too. Her name was Mallory Howard. She remembered you from school, too, but she said she was a year below you, so you might not have known who she was."

Jess pulled his mind back to Jeremy and focused on the conversation. "Hmm…..I can't say I remember any Mallory's."

"She's going to be my guidance counselor at school. She says she thinks I'll like it there."

Jess smiled and tried to look positive. "She must know what she's talking about if they trust her to do all that guiding and counseling, right?"

A smile flickered across Jeremy's face then faded, his expression becoming serious, almost nervous. "Hey, Jess?"

"Hey, Jeremy." Jess receive a smile in response and it made him smile, too.

"Sarah and Autumn came into the diner the other day. You remember them, right?"

"Those girls you met the first day here, right? When I was getting hot chocolate."

"Right, that's them. Remember how they had invited me bowling, but I couldn't go because I was grounded and everything?"

Jess didn't like where this was headed, and he braced himself. "I remember."

"Well, Sarah invited me to her New Year's Eve party."

Jess frowned. "New Year's Eve was last night." He was confused. Jeremy had worked at the diner the night before and Jess had stayed in the apartment working on ideas to bring more foot traffic into the bookstore. He wanted to be able to hit the ground running and pitch some ideas to Andrew on Monday. Was Jeremy about to confess to sneaking out of the diner and going to Sarah's? Certainly Luke would have noticed the boy leaving…...unless he had let him off early and Jeremy had gone up one set of stairs and out the other without letting Jess know his shift was over.

"I know." Jeremy really looked at Jess, then, narrowing his eyes. "I didn't go. Were you thinking I was going to tell you I went? I was in the diner all night. You can ask Luke."

"I believe you. I didn't say anything."

"Sorry, I thought you were looking at me suspiciously."

Jess shrugged. "This is just my face. Go on with your story."

"Ok, so, like, I didn't want to just say no without a real reason or anything, so I told her that I was grounded for another three weeks."

"You did?" Jess felt the surprise register on his face.

"Yeah, I felt like if I blew her off a second time, she might not ask me again and she seems like a good person to know."

"Oh yeah? Why is that?"

"Well, she's nice, and she was the first person I met here, well, her and Autumn. She also seems like she knows everyone. I'm not saying we're going to be friends, she's probably way too popular for that, but I didn't want to alienate her."

"That makes sense." Jess felt like this story was heading toward a request, but he couldn't tell what and it was bugging him. He liked to think he was good at predicting plot twists.

"I was thinking today how Sarah kind of reminds me of Melissa."

"Really?" Ah, now Jess was back on track.

"Yeah, and then I got to thinking about how much I miss her."

"You did?"

"Uh-huh. And, I was thinking about how before I had met anyone here, there wasn't really anything that I was being grounded from, right? I mean, you were still pretty nice about letting me see Luke and everyone else. And, you've been really nice to me and spending lots of time with me and stuff."

"Ok."

"So, the biggest part of me being grounded was not getting to text Melissa, right? Since, I didn't know anyone else here to be grounded from."

"I guess so."

"But, like, now, I've turned down two invitations to do stuff with kids from school. First, bowling and then the party."

"Yes, I'm following you."

"So, I'm wondering if since now that my being grounded is kind of more real, and there are real life things I'm missing out on, if maybe you could loosen the rules on using my phone. Like maybe I could just use it for a little while to text Melissa."

Jess was annoyed. He was puzzled at how Jeremy could seem like such a smart, almost adult during some conversations and in others, like this one, seem like a dumb kid who thought he could talk his way out of his punishment with incredibly weak logic. But, mostly he was annoyed.

"No, Jeremy. Your punishment stills stands exactly as it is. No phone for three more weeks."

"You're not even listening to me." Jess could see that Jeremy was getting frustrated.

"Are you kidding me?" Jess's voice was calm. He wasn't going to let himself get mad, not over this. He aimed for humor, to make the boy see how unrealistic he was being. "I did listen to you. What the hell did you think all that nodding and 'ok-ing' and 'uh-huh-ing was all about? That was me listening to you. I listened. You asked. I said no."

"I wasn't saying that I could just use my phone again all the time. I was just asking for an hour or so, just to connect with Melissa."

"I understand, and I'm still saying no." Jess was working hard to keep his voice level and not let his annoyance show.

"I really miss Melissa."

"I know you do. I gave you a choice here, Jeremy. You chose to spend your last week in Philadelphia with Melissa and go a month without your phone instead. Don't blame me if you're unhappy with your choice."

Jeremy looked down at his plate. "It was a fucking shitty choice." His voice was low and disgruntled, full of angry attitude, the words spoken mostly to his broccoli, and Jess was pissed that he had heard them. If Jeremy's voice had been just a little lower, Jess could have pretended he hadn't. He could have gone with the old 'what did you just say' parental standby and Jeremy could have replied with the typical teenager response, grunting out a barely distinguishable 'nothing,' and dinner could have gone on in relative peace.

"Jeremy, look at me." When that got no response, Jess made his force as forceful as he could without actually raising it. "Jeremy, look at me. Now."

Jeremy slowly lifted his eyes to make contact, his chin still angled down, his eyes nervous, his expression that of a guilty puppy. "Sorry." His voice wavered slightly on the word, but Jess was glad to see that his eyes were dry. He took that as a good sign, that Jeremy trusted him even when he knew he had done something wrong.

Jess sighed. "I'm not mad at you. But, the conversation about your phone is over. Do you understand me? I don't want to hear another word about your phone for the next three weeks."

Jeremy nodded contritely. "Can I ask one more thing? I get what you're saying, but I have one more question. Is that ok?"

"Ok. But, this is the last thing that's going to be said about your phone."

"Ok. Uh, when we were still in Philly and you were going to ground me there, before you gave me a choice, you said that I could take my phone to school in case there's an emergency. Can I do that here, too?"

Jess sighed, not wanting to go back on something he'd said, but seeing no purpose to the punishment at all if he let Jeremy take his phone to school here, where he would just be texting Melissa all day during class. "No, Jeremy. You can't. That rule was for your safety in a big city where I didn't live or work near the school and where the person you were most likely to text was already in school with you. If there's some kind of emergency at school here, you're right across the street from Luke. You're ten minutes away from where I'll be. You don't need to take it to school with you. Can you understand that?"

Jeremy nodded. "Fine." His expression told Jess he thought it was anything but. Jess thought about how quickly his own good mood had deteriorated as well, leaving him sitting across from a sulking child, with thoughts of running into Dean souring his outlook on Stars Hollow.

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"Hey, Jess." Jess looked up from the laptop in front of him to find Jeremy standing next to the table in his pajamas, looking unsure. The tension from dinner had carried over into the rest of the night, with Jeremy spending most of it in his room with the door closed.

Jess smiled. "Hey, Jeremy." The boy returned the smile with a small one of his own.

"I just wanted to say goodnight."

"Goodnight." Jess replied. He was trying to keep his expression warm and loving. The last thing he wanted to be was the kind of parent who held a grudge against his kid for acting like, well, a kid.

"And." Jeremy fidgeted a little, moving the palm of his hands on his pants as if searching for pockets in his pajamas. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for how I was at dinner and everything. About my phone."

"Thank you. I appreciate that." Jess smiled. "No hard feelings."

Jeremy crossed his arms in front of his middle, as if he were trying to hug himself. "Thanks. I know I was being a jerk. And, I've been feeling bad about it all night."

"Good. You totally should." Jess smirked and Jeremy laughed and pulled out a chair, sitting down across from Jess.

"I am sorry…." Jeremy looked toward the kitchen, avoiding Jess's eye. "But, you know what I was thinking was kind of cool?"

"What?" Jess felt like they were having a good moment and he really hoped the kid wasn't going to bring up Melissa or his phone again and kill it. Jess hoped this apology wasn't just a way to butter him up before Jeremy asked for his phone again.

"Like, I was thinking about what I said to you, about the choice you gave me being shitty?"

"I believe it was 'fucking shitty' wasn't it?" Jess asked, his tone light, an amused smile on his face.

Jeremy blushed slightly and smiled. "Yeah. You're right. It was."

Jess raised an eyebrow. "And, that was kind of cool because…..?"

Jeremy laughed. "It wasn't. I don't mean that me saying it was cool. It was pretty disrespectful. I get that. And, like I said, I feel bad about it. LIke, right away, I felt bad for saying it…..."

When Jeremy didn't continue, Jess took another guess. "So…...you having a moral compass is the thing that's kind of cool?"

Jeremy smiled, but he looked a little hesitant now, too. "No, I like to think I've always had that." The boy looked down, avoiding Jess's gaze. "But, like, I did something crappy, I mean, I've never talked back to you like that before, in a normal conversation, not like when I flipped out when you were yelling at me at the motel for coming home late. And I felt bad. I felt like a jerk. But I wasn't….I wasn't scared you were going to get rid of me, or stop loving me or not want to be my dad anymore." Jeremy was studying the tabletop in front of him, idly running his fingers along a scratch in the wood. "That was the kind of cool part. It felt pretty normal, not like a huge deal." He looked up at Jess.

"Ah." Jess kept his expression serious. "Now, I feel bad that I packed up all your stuff and threw it out the window while you were in the shower."

Jeremy laughed. "I'm serious. I've known for a while that you wouldn't get rid of me if I did something wrong, but I feel like this time, I….I don't know, like really felt it, too." The boy frowned. "Does that sound stupid?"

"Not at all." Jess smiled his warmest smile. "And, I'm really glad to hear you feel that way." He smirked. "It warms my heart to know that you're so comfortable with me that from now on, I can expect nothing but bad attitude and complete disobedience from you. That's every parents dream."

Jeremy huffed out a quiet laugh. "You don't have to worry about that."

"Just for the record, this wasn't the first time you've ever talked back to like that."

Jeremy frowned in thought. "I said aside from that night in the motel."

Jess shook his head slowly. "I'm not talking about that night in the motel."

Jeremy furrowed his brow.

Jess smiled. "Maybe this will jog your memory." He lowered his voice and made it exaggeratedly aggressive and belligerent. "Yeah, whatever, Mr. Mariano. Go fuck yourself Mr. Mariano."

Jeremy's cheeks colored bright pink. Then, he laughed. "I remember the first part, but I definitely didn't say the second part!"

"Oh, I heard it, all right!" Jess smiled. "The second part was most definitely implied."

Jeremy smiled. "Well, I'm sorry for that, too, then."

"Yeah, I got that from all the tears that night."

"Oh, god." Jeremy put a hand to his forehead, laughing. "That was so embarrassing! I still can't believe I did that. You must have thought I was such a loser!"

"I didn't. I just thought you were a kid who was going through a pretty rough time."

"You know." Jeremy lowered the hand he was hiding behind and looked at Jess. "I was so sure that things weren't going to work out with us. As soon as I saw you. I thought for sure I was going to end up back in the group home in a month or two."

"Really? I made that lousy of a first impression?" Jess played up his incredulity.

Jeremy smiled. "No, it wasn't you. Or, maybe partly, I guess. You were just younger than I was expecting and kind of cool-looking. Like, I could tell you put a lot of time and thought into how you looked. You were single. I kind of thought you were one of those people who fosters so they can feel like they're some great person and tell everyone they're doing it. They make it all about them. And they don't end up adopting." Jeremy shrugged. "I'm glad I was wrong about you."

Jess thought about how dead on Jeremy's analysis had been, but he wasn't sure how much he should share about his mindset when he took Jeremy in. He wasn't proud of it. "You're not as far off as you think." He started hesitantly. "My decision to foster definitely included an element of me wanting to prove what a great guy I was. I was coming off a break-up. My ex, Charisse, had been pushing for us to foster a kid together, and I was really resistant to the idea. I basically just dragged my heels and made things harder for her every step of the way." Jess shot a glance at Jeremy and saw that the kid was watching him intently. "She finally left me because I wasn't really committed to fostering. She told me I was selfish, and she was right. She went back to Baltimore, where she was from, so I kept the apartment. We had already gone through all the work, the classes, the home inspection, the application. We were already working with Ms. Garcia. And, after Charisse left, I was feeling pretty down on myself, knowing that she was right about a lot of stuff she'd said to me, and that I'd probably just lost the best thing I'd ever had." Jess paused, considering whether he should mention how Luke had provided the tipping point. Jess could clearly remember visiting Stars Hollow after Charisse left. His heart fracturing into even smaller pieces as Luke comforted him by telling him that someday he'd find someone to love who wouldn't ask him for more than he was capable of giving. He decided not to paint Luke in an unflattering light, even though the comment had hurt him as much as anything else had. Maybe he would add that to the story if he ever retold it when Jeremy was older, not while the boy's own relationship with Luke was still forming. "So, I called Ms. Garcia, to tell her what happened, and that I was ready to stop the whole process, right? But, Ms. Garcia tells me how easy it would be to finish the process and get certified on my own. That all I really needed to do was re-submit the paperwork with just me listed as a candidate to be a resource parent. And, I don't know, I'm still not entirely clear on what was running through my mind, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could be better than Charisse thought I was. Than I thought I was."

Jess looked at Jeremy, wondering what the boy had expected to hear, and how the truth had measured up in comparison. "So, that's why I decided to foster. It was probably a pretty messed up way to make such a big decision, because you're right, it was all about me and how I wanted to see myself. But, why I kept you….that was some of the best decision-making of my life, right there."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that I have, well, in the past, I had a habit of running away from people when things got difficult emotionally. I had pushed Charisse away…" Jess paused for a moment because that thought still hurt. Thinking about his own stupidity with Charisse, the wasted opportunity that he may never have again, still caused him real pain. "I had been lucky enough to have this intelligent, amazing, beautiful woman in my life, and I had been too stupid to hold onto her. But, I wasn't dumb enough to make the same mistake again. So, when the universe trusted me with this intelligent, amazing, beautiful boy, I was smart enough to keep him."