Disclaimer: I own Jason, Nikki, Maggie, and the Rehabilitation Center. Also, a few other minor characters in the story.

Summary: Even in a dark world of crazy parties, alcohol, and waking up in unknown places … there's someone at the end waiting to help you back to reality. Literati. AU.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter. They make me update a lot faster.

Thank you to my BETA, CharliLee.

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The meeting was exactly what Jess had imagined it to be. Not only were they lecturing about how much drugs and alcohol were bad for you, they were also giving sappy stories that would make you change your mind about the life you have been living.

It didn't make Jess change his mind, that's for sure. He still itched to have his hand around a bottle of anything with alcohol inside. He imagined having the rim of a bottle pressed against his lips. He longed to have the cold liquid run down his throat.

Jess shook himself out of the daydream and walked to his room. He dug around in his pocket for the key to the lock. When he didn't find anything in either pocket he groaned and sighed, "Dang it!" He kicked the door one time and walked away.

He walked downstairs and to the front desk where Maggie was checking someone in. He tapped on the desk until she looked up.

"Yes, Mr. Mariano?" She smiled and took a headphone out of her ear.

"Just call me Jess. I seemed to have lost my key somewhere can I have another?" He asked, nonchalantly.

She frowned slightly, "Everyone is responsible for keeping up with their personal belongings. I will give you this key free, but if you lose this one you will have to pay five dollars for another." She handed him another key and nodded to him.

"Thanks, Maggie. It won't happen again," He said and walked away from the desk. He tried to hide the smirk that was forming on his face, but he couldn't. The people in this place were too happy. Not the new patients, of course, but everyone else … was just odd.

He laughed bitterly as he got to his room and went inside. "I'm not going to make it here." He groaned to his self and went to the bathroom.

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Jess woke up with a nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach. He looked at the clock beside him that read 5:00 A.M. Jess stood up and walked into the bathroom. He immediately bent over the toilet and gagged a few times before anything came up. He repeated this about three times and then just laid his head on the toilet seat.

He groaned and breathed heavily, holding his head to make the blurriness go away. After he leaned over and threw up a few more times, he fell asleep. Right there on the cold bathroom floor.

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He opened his eyes and sat up, slowly. Jess looked around to figure out where he was. He stood up and felt his whole body crack from the sudden movement. First he washed his mouth out and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Walking into the bedroom, he caught a glimpse of the clock. 8:48 A.M.

"Oh, wait, tomorrow you meet with your counselor. Nine A.M. sharp. Do not be late."

Damn. He thought as he got dressed. He walked out of his room, making sure he had his key in his pocket.

Once he got to his counselor's office he knocked one time.

"Come in." He heard a female's voice on the other side of the door. He walked in and came face to face with the same girl he saw yesterday.

Jess smirked, "So, we have the same counselor?" She wouldn't answer him, so he sighed and tried again, "You know sooner or later you are going to have to talk to me."

The girl just smiled and walked behind the desk. She looked at the clock, then at him. Sticking out her hand, she spoke, "Hi, I'm Rory Gilmore, your counselor."

"You're shitting me," he deadpanned and looked at her small hand in front of him. He took it, carefully and shook it.

She ignored his comment, "So, you're late. Didn't Maggie tell you not to be late? I hate when people are late." Rory gestured for him to sit down.

He sat down in the chair and cleared his throat, "I'm Jess Ma-"

"Jess Mariano. I know," she said, laughing a little, "I have your file right here."

"Oh, well, sorry I am so late, Ms. Gilmore. I overslept." Jess looked around her office. It kind of surprised him that she worked here, but then again she didn't look like the type to be sent here. He looked up at her and watched as she took off her coat and pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "So how old are you?" He asked and continued to look around the small office.

"Twenty-seven, so call me Rory." He was about to say something else, but she cut him off before he could, "So I suppose you know the rules, right?"

"Yeah, I do," he replied.

"Good. You will be put in a group. You will attend all of the classes that we have for you with this group." She turned around and grabbed four books off of the shelf behind her. Rory faced him and set the books on her desk. "Read those," she said.

"What are they?" He looked through them and read each title, "What is this crap?"

"This crap is what you have. Your, as some people would call it, addiction or … disease."

"So I drink every now and then … what's the problem?" Jess questioned, getting a little aggravated.

"You've woken up on several occasions in the middle of an alley, or you've woken up not knowing what happened the night before. You take pills with your alcohol. You know you could kill yourself?"

"Thanks Dr. Phil, I really needed that." He said, sarcastically.

"God, I get so sick of that little act. That smart ass bit … it gets old. You aren't the only one here that doesn't want to be here. So I suggest that you stop trying to be so complicated and let us help you. Do you want to die at the age of twenty-six?"

He sighed, heavily, "No." She stared at him for a long time, waiting for him to say something. "I can control my drinking. If I really tried, I could control it. I'm a writer. Drinking is what writers do. I can control it."

She just looked at him and sighed, "Your group session is in an hour. You better go."

"What is it? Some self-help shit? I don't need that."

Rory shook her head and looked up at him, "You need help." She sighed and looked down at desk, again.

"Whatever," he said as he grabbed the books and walked out of the office, slamming the door.

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He walked into a store that was in the building. It looked almost like a gift shop, but once he was inside he saw that it was for things people might need. He walked up to the counter and looked at the boxes of gum, "I need something. Anything."

The woman turned around and grabbed two boxes of gum, "Here you go. That'll be four dollars and twenty-eight cents."

Jess dug around in his pocket and found the wad of money he had shoved in there this morning. He pulled out a five and handed it to her, "Keep the change." He walked off with the boxes of gum and went to his group session.

Once he was inside he sat down beside an older man who was scratching, no, clawing his arms. Jess looked the man over and decided to never be addicted to hard-core drugs.

Everyone was talking about their addiction and how they got to rehab and how long they have been doing it. Once it was Jess' turn he just stared at them like they were all crazy.

The woman in the front of the room smiled at him to encourage him, "Jess, this is a time where we let it all out. Our past and what drove us to our problem. Anything you would like to share?"

"No," he deadpanned and looked around the room, "Not today."

"Maybe another time," she looked to the man beside Jess, "Your turn, Eddie."

Jess rolled his eyes and sunk further into his chair.

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Jess walked back to his room later on during the day. He unlocked the door and noticed his hands were shaking. He couldn't get the key in the hole. Getting frustrated, he slammed himself into the door and just slid down. He looked at his hands that were shaking uncontrollably.

Tucking them under his arms, he rocked a little trying to calm himself. He closed his eyes tight when a sharp pain started throbbing in his temples. He groaned, loudly, and hunched over, also holding his stomach. The nauseous feeling was back.

He pulled out a piece of gum from his pocket and un-wrapped it with his shaky hands. He shoved it in his mouth and chewed hard, biting down until his teeth throbbed. He was close to crying because he had never felt this pain before. It was everywhere. Jess throbbed from his head to his toes. He was shaking furiously. If this is what it feels like to be without drugs, then why the hell do these people want me away from them? He thought as he started calming down a bit.

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Later that night he couldn't sleep. He was shaking and throwing up. He couldn't sit still and was fidgeting every now and then. He needed something because gum was not helping at this point. He looked at the clock that read 3:52 A.M. He got out of bed and out of the room. Jess walked down the hall with his credit card in one hand and a bobby pin in the other.

He saw a door that led into his counselor's office. He slid the card into the crack of the door and opened it easily. Once he was inside the office he went over to the drawers of her desk and tugged on each one. They were all locked.

He got the bobby pin and picked the lock of each one. He opened the top drawer and saw nothing but papers, pens, No. 2 pencils, and his file with a few others. He opened the second drawer and found a bottle of Advil. He smiled a little at how easy it was to find drugs around here.

His hands still shaking, he tried twisting the cap off. It was harder than what it usually was. He hit it against the desk and tried getting it off again. Groaning, Jess used his teeth to get it open. It was still too hard. He felt too weak to do anything.

Rory walked into the office and saw Jess sitting down on the floor, shaking and trying to get the cap off of the bottle, "Jess?" She turned on the light and went over to him, "Give me that!" She tried to take it out of his hands.

He snatched it away from her, "Get away!" He felt like he was going crazy, "You don't know what it's like to be away from something you've done for so long. You have no clue how I am feeling!"

"Jess, come on. Give me the bottle, this will not help you." She took it away from him and set it on the desk.

"I need it, Rory. I really need it. Look at my hands, this isn't normal." He showed her his shaking hands and she just nodded.

"Jess, that's normal for a recovering addict. How did you get in here, anyways?" She looked over at the door and saw a credit card sitting on the floor, "Never mind."

Jess took a deep breath and looked up into her blue eyes, "I need help." He choked out.

A/N: Okay, so this chapter was Jess realizing that he needed help. Next chapter we will get into the past of Jess and even Rory. Don't worry; Jess will not lose his ways so easily. Review, please.