AN: Sorry this took so long. I started writing it like, the day after I wrote the first one. But then I moved on to chapter three and forgot to post this. I don't like it that much, but the next one's shaping up to be a lot of fun, at least I think it is. Anyways, thanks for the reviews.

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

Rory glanced out the window as the bus slowed down. They were in Hartford, coming close to the terminal, which meant that in just under an hour she would be in Stars freaking Hollow.

Hell was practically around the corner.

Shaking her head she picked up 'Crime and Punishment' from the seat beside her and turned up the volume on her iPod, letting The Distillers scream in her eardrums. The book seemed appropriate; given her current situation. And since she really wanted to make a lot of noise, but figured that wouldn't be appreciated, she allowed the musicians to voice her frustrations.

It wasn't long before they were picking up speed, having stopped in Hartford they were now headed along the highway to Stars… Oh, she couldn't even bring herself to think it anymore.

The bus soon came to a halt and Rory looked out the window again. Sure enough, most of the things she'd been instructed to look out for were right there. Doose's Market was on one side of the street, and there was a gazebo not too far away. Right beside the bus stood a heavyset woman, smiling eagerly at the people departing the vehicle.

Rory knew from a bunch of pictures of when they were younger, and more recently from a stack of wedding photos, that she was Sookie, and she wasn't going anywhere until someone told her they were Rory Gilmore.

"I should have just doubled back…" Rory muttered, lifting her backpack and heading for the door. The entire journey she had been running through an escape plan, every time they stopped she could see herself walking away from the bus; but there was no more time for that.

"Rory? Rory, sweetie, is that really you?" Sookie asked as soon as she stepped down onto the street.

"Sookie," Rory nodded and moved to retrieve her other bag.

"Wow! Look at you, you're so grown up. I remember…" Rory tuned the woman out as they crossed the street towards the hardware store… or is it a diner? "My friend Luke owns and runs this place. This is his nephew, he works here too. Hi Jess, is Luke in?"

"Upstairs, I'll get him for you. Is this..?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, Jess, Rory. Rory, Jess." In her excited yet nervous state, Sookie was losing touch with her manners, she completely forgot to make the introductions until prompted.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. I-"

"Is that coffee pot painted onto your hand, or can you actually pour me a cup?" Rory interrupted and Sookie looked embarrassed.

"Sure, sorry. I'll be right back, take a seat." Jess dipped below the counter and returned to the table Sookie and Rory sat at, carrying two coffee cups and a full pot. "Take a look at the menu, I'll find Luke for you." Jess instructed before walking back behind the counter and up the stairs

"Why is it so important that I meet this friend? Are you in love with him or something?"

"What?" Sookie demanded. "No! He's just… I think Luke is just someone that people need to know."

"Whatever. Can we go soon? I'm really tired, long trip and all."

"Uh-"

"Hey Sookie," Luke came over and took a seat across the table from Sookie, looking at the teenager while Jess moved around the room serving customers. "So, you must be Rory,"

"I must be."

"Has Sookie told you anything about…?"

"I hadn't gotten to that yet; I thought it was best to wait for you." Sookie explained and the two of them shared a look.

"Right, ok. So… You don't know me, but I've talked to your mom and the three of us have come up with a plan."

"Bully for you."

"Sweetie, I really did want to help you and your mom out, but my house, you'll see it later, it's really small. And my husband and I talked it over, and we decided that there really isn't room for you. But then we talked to Luke and he said that he would be happy to have you stay-"

"Let me get this straight," Rory interrupted. "I had to leave home to come and live with you, but now you want me to move in with him? Some random guy I've never met?"

"Honey, if you can give it a chance-"

"I have to get out of here!" Rory announced, pushing her chair back and storming out the door.

Sookie looked at Luke, panicked. But before he could say anything, Jess, who had been listening to the entire exchange, moved towards the door, ready to follow Rory. "I've got it." He told them, before walking out the door.

"Rory! Hey… Rory, wait up!" Rory tilted her head to the side as she heard a voice calling out to her. There were three, maybe four people in this town who knew her name, which one of them would bother following her through the streets? "Rory, come on!"

She stopped walking and turned around to find Jess trying to catch up to her. "Ugh! What do you want?"

"I know that this whole situation really sucks for you… If I were in your shoes I'd probably be even angrier; being sent away from home, told that you're going to be living with someone you don't know, it all sucks, I'll give you that."

"Thank you. I'm so glad there's someone who agrees my shoes suck." Rory replied, continuing to walk.

"But you should give it a chance. I know that at first glance this town seems crazy… psychotic at times, but it's really not the worst place to live."

"That's your opinion. But my mother gave up on me, sent me away. And now I'm stuck here. You may love this place and all the weirdness…" she watched as a large woman lead a group of young girls in leotards down the street, each of them twirling a baton, while she smoked a cigarette. "But I don't. I've been here five minutes, and I already know that I will always hate it here. There's nothing you or anyone else can say that will change my mind. I want to go home!"

"I'm sorry that you feel that way." Jess replied, taking a step back. Rory glared as she watched him move along the street back to his uncle's diner. Once he'd disappeared inside she turned and continued in the direction she'd originally been heading in.

Sookie had to go back to the inn when Jess returned, but she'd made both Luke and Jess promise to call as soon as either of them heard anything from Rory. Within the next hour, Luke looked up from his order pad to see the girl they'd all been waiting for walk through the door and take a seat at the counter.

"Caesar can you get this for me?" he asked, calling over his other worker. "Thanks," Jess put his book down and moved to grab the phone. " I'll be back." Walking over to stand beside Rory Luke tapped her on the shoulder and she put down the coffee that Jess had provided her with. "Can we talk for a minute?" he asked. Without a word Rory stood up and followed Luke behind the curtain.

"What exactly are you planning on doing with me?" Rory questioned as she glanced around at the stairs and the darkness.

"I want to talk to you. Upstairs." Luke replied.

"Talk… right. You know, my mom has had guys coming and going into our lives for as long as I can remember. A lot of them used that line, but very few were sincere."

"You were sent here so that you could get your life sorted out." He explained, pointing to the couch,, he didn't want to listen to anything she was spouting on about. Rory reluctantly sat down and pulled a pack of cigarettes out, lighting one as Luke paced in front of her. "For some reason there are people who think that I can help with that. So here's what we're going to do;" he stopped and looked at her as the smoke drifted towards him. "Ok, this is done." He snatched the cancer stick off of her and put it out.

"Hey!" Rory cried out.

"You will live here with me, you will get up, you will go to school, you will come home, you will work in the diner until closing, you will do your homework and then you will go to bed."

"You can't be serious."

"The weekends are for chores and selected pre-approved outings, i.e. cavalla studies, freeway beautification projects, Color Me Mine pottery painting, all discussible options. My nephew and his friend Lane are both very suitable choices for friends, if you feel you want to have friends here."

"You can't just… "

"I can just. I have been put in charge of taking care of you. I am not letting you just fall off the face of the earth. You will not drift, I won't let it happen. Now I don't know if this is the right way to handle this, but this is the way it's being handled, and that my friend, is the end of this discussion."

"Why do you care so much?"

"That isn't important right now. All you need to know is that I made a promise and I'm going to keep it. You got that?" Nodding her head, Rory stood up. "Where are you going?"

"Out."

Lorelai sat at home the phone in her hand as she anxiously waited for the call telling her Rory had arrived safely. She hadn't wanted to send Rory away, but she hadn't been able to come up with any other ideas.

"This is going to work," she told herself for the twentieth time that hour. "She'll thank me for this one day."

While some woman may have taken their new kid-free existence and run with it, enjoying a day of solitude before a night on the town, Lorelai was frantic with worry. Ever since she got home from dropping her daughter off, she'd been waiting for the phone to ring, Rory on the other end, hopefully begging to be allowed back home.

But that wasn't going to happen.

Sookie had called briefly to say Rory was there and she was talking to Luke's nephew and she was sure Rory herself would call very soon.

"I can't do this anymore!" Lorelai groaned, picking up a piece of paper and hurriedly dialing Luke's number. After two failed attempts, both culminating in calls to a veterinary clinic in Woodbury, she finally got it right and was greeted by a male voice, younger than the one she was expecting.

"Um, hi. Is Luke Danes there? This is Lorelai Gilmore, and I just wanted to ask him…"

"Yeah, he's here. Just hang on a sec. Luke!" After some shuffling and a whispered conversation, Luke finally came on to the line.

"Hi Lorelai,"

"Hey. I was just calling to see how things are going? Is Rory settling in ok?"

"Ah,,, Well she's here right now if you wanna ask her yourself." Luke replied.

"Oh, well, yeah. That would be great." After a few beats Luke was talking again.

"Sorry Lorelai. Rory's a little busy at the moment; Jess is showing her the ropes. How 'bout I get her to call you tonight after the dinner rush?"

"Sure. Ok, thanks," Lorelai hung up and sighed. "I've screwed this up so bad." She muttered to herself.

"What the hell was that?" Luke demanded, after replacing the receiver in the cradle on the wall and turning to face Rory.

"What the hell was what?" she asked, using a fry to shift a lettuce leaf on her plate.

"You could have at least said hello to your mother."

"No. I couldn't. Like you said, I'm totally swamped right now; lots to learn, you know,"

"Rory, don't-"

"Don't what? Don't act like the woman just abandoned me with strangers? Because she did! I don't know any of you people, I don't want to know any of you either."

"We aren't strangers, you may not have memories of Sookie or me, or anything else in this town, but to your mom, we are not strangers. Now I don't expect you to understand all of this, but I do expect you to just accept the fact that you are here, and you will stay here until Lorelai decides that you can come home again. Am I making myself clear?"

"Crystal." Rory spat out at him before standing up and once again leaving the diner without divulging her intended whereabouts.

"What's up with you?" Lane asked Jess in a loud whisper as they sat side by side in their English class, Monday morning.

"Nothing's up. I'm just preparing myself to concentrate. We're covering Twain today right?"

"No, seriously, you look all twitchy. Are you ok?" she narrowed her eyes at him. They'd been in class for five minutes, the other students were still filtering in; Jess had kept his eyes trained on the door the whole time.

"I'm fine," Rory stepped through the door and Jess dropped his eyes to the book on his desk, focusing on his notes.

"Oh my God!" Lane practically squealed as she figured out what was the matter with her friend.

"Shh!"

"Ok class, take your seats, it's time for us to get started." Ms. Knowles announced, as Rory still stood close to the door, looking around. After a moment, she moved inside the room and took a seat towards the back. Despite his better judgment, Jess felt himself turning around in his seat. He knew that Lane would pounce the second class was over, demanding information on 'what was up with him' all over again. And he also knew, even before his eyes locked on to her, that Rory would be glaring at him.

"Oh my God!"

"Lane! Shut up!" Jess gritted through his teeth as the teacher stopped speaking and looked at the two of them.

"Is there a problem Lane?"

"No. Sorry, Ms. Knowles… Everything's fine." Lane replied, trying to suppress a grin.

"Jess?"

"Yeah, sorry… I don't know what's wrong with her."

"Alright, we'll move on then. So, as I was saying…" Jess sunk lower in his seat as Lane continued to stare at him. He could feel the tips of his ears turn pink and just hoped it wasn't noticeable to anyone else.

"You don't like girls!" Lane announced as soon as she caught up with him by his locker.

"Say that a little louder, won't you? I don't think the football team heard, and I'm sure they would love to have that information."

"No, I mean… You've never really liked a girl before. Of course, I know that you and every other guy in America was lusting over Jessica Simpson in those denim cut-offs, but other than that. I'm pretty sure you've never liked anyone real."

"Jessica Simpson is real." Lane raised a brow at him. "Ok, well, she's human, which would signify a little realness."

"You're trying to change the subject, and I do not have time for this. I need to get to biology, so hurry up and confess!"

"There's nothing to confess! I don't know what you think you saw-"

"You were being weird in class, and then some girl I've never seen before came in, and you got even more fidgety, then you got busted staring and you're ears turned a particularly nice shade of salmon. Spill!"

"- but there's nothing going on." Jess continued, trying to ignore her rant. "Just leave it alright?"

"Jess Mariano, you are my best friend, and I care about you a lot. But I will not stand being lied to. So you have the next fifty minutes to decide whether you want to tell me what's happening in your head, or if you want to tell your mother. I'll leave you with that thought."

Jess watched his friend walk down the hall and chewed his lip. Lane could get crazy when she thought people were keeping things from her, but his mom? God, if he were forced to tell her what he was thinking about… They were really close, Liz had raised him on her own his entire life, with just Luke and Sookie around for support. But he did not want to share this with her.

Making the decision to think up something to tell Lane, Jess headed to his next class.

But he didn't get too far. Halfway down the hall, the impossibly tall Dean Forester was leaning against a bank of lockers as he spoke to Rory, his floppy hair hanging in his face in a way he seemed to think looked good. His girlfriend, Lindsay stood a few feet away, watching him as he openly flirted with the new girl, obviously not caring that he was potentially breaking her heart.

Jess couldn't stand Dean, and he was pretty certain that Lindsay was an idiot; she was dating that oaf after all. But still, what he was doing was just wrong, plus Rory didn't look like she was enjoying the attention either.

"Hey, Dean, how about you back off, huh?" Jess asked, coming to join the group. The girls both looked at him, but Dean kept his eyes on Rory.

"Little busy here, Jess. I'm trying to make the newest member to our class feel welcome."

"And you're doing a bang-up job," Rory told him, a big fake smile in place. "But there's really no need. I won't be here long, so I don't need a welcoming committee or friends… or whatever else it was you were thinking you could offer me. So, just run along," as Dean took a few steps backwards, Rory's smile grew even bigger. "Thanks!" she called after him as Lindsay followed him around the corner. As soon as the two of them were gone, Rory dropped the smile. "What do you want now, a medal? I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can, but Dean-"

"Is harmless, trust me; that guy may be a dick, but he's an innocuous one. I've dealt with way worse."

"Where are you going?" Jess asked as she headed towards the front doors of the school.

"I need some air. Don't worry; I'll be back in time for the barn raising." Running a hand through her long brown hair, Rory walked out the door, inhaling deeply. The air didn't taste right here. Nothing was right here.

Rory walked through the doors of Stars Hollow High, sandwiched between large groups of other students also trying to get away from the place, but she doubted any of them wanted to get as far away as she did, their minds probably couldn't grasp just yet how God-awful their little town was.

"Hey, how was school?" Luke asked, coming to walk beside her.

"Just peachy,"

"So you were in school today?"

"What kind of a question is that? You walked me here this morning; practically holding my hand and dragging me here, and you just saw me walk out the door with everyone else. Normally, that would suggest I had been at school today."

"Normally, yes, but, I had an interesting call today. Wanna know who it was from?" Rory made no move to respond, but Luke continued anyway. "It was from Taylor Doose, you know he owns the market."

"I think I heard that somewhere."

"He said you came in today, around nine-thirty."

"Huh."

"But you were in class around that time, weren't you?"

"Probably."

"Good, good. Because Taylor says he saw you take some money out of a little donation cup to help repair the bridge. I told him he was crazy, you wouldn't do that, you weren't a thief, that he was just trying to start trouble, then I hung up on him. But don't get me wrong, I enjoy hanging up on Taylor, and he is crazy, but I was just wondering if maybe any of the other things he said were true."

"What do you think?"

"I think that if you tell me that what he's saying is not true, then I'm gonna believe it's not true. Because I want to believe that agreeing to let you come here was not the biggest mistake I ever made."

"Okay, it's not true."

"That doesn't sound very convincing."

"Look, what exactly do you want from me? I didn't want to come here; you didn't want me to come here. But somehow, I'm here. And I don't care what you say about not being strangers, because to me, you people are absolutely no one. I was taken away from my home, everything I've ever known, and I'm sorry if I'm not doing cartwheels but this was not my idea."

"I'm trying to help you." Luke replied evenly, a lot calmer than he really felt.

"Well, stop trying. Stop talking to me, stop following me, and stop asking me questions. Just stop."

"That's what you want?"

"That's what I asked for, isn't it?"

"That's really what you want?"

"Yes."

"Fine, you got it." Luke retorted, walking beside Rory as they came closer to the bridge.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now hurry up and get to work." He instructed, gruffly. Rory could've sworn that he was seconds away from shoving her into the water, but he kept himself in check, they made the way across without incident, and she followed orders, getting started with work as soon as she got through the door.