Sorry for the delay! I've not been feeling well all weekend so it's been a bit of a blow out. Sorry! Here's the next chapter now though. :)

Chapter 11

Jess froze and then slowly turned around. He felt his own body sag in relief as he saw his son slowly appear from behind the bushes. "Thank god..." He said.

"Daddy..." Jack said quietly, looking worried.

Jess looked at his son for a moment before quickly rushing forward and engulfing him in a hug, cradling his head close to his chest. "Don't ever do that to us again." He said gruffly. "You terrified us, kid."

"Sorry." Jack sniffed.

Jess could feel him shivering. "We'll talk about it later. Right now we have to let your mommy you're safe. Come on." He said, sending a quick text to Luke and Sam to let them know he's found Jack and to meet them at Emily and Richard's.

"Are you mad?" Jack said quietly, glancing up at him while they starting walking towards the Gilmore Mansion.

"No." Jess said.

"You seem mad." He said nervously.

"You terrified us, Jack." Jess sighed. "We thought something had happened to you."

"Sorry." Jack sniffed.

"Come on." He sighed.

They arrived at Emily and Richard's about 15 minutes later and Jess rang the doorbell. It was opened quickly by Lorelai who gasped when she saw Jack. "Oh thank god!" She exclaimed pulling her grandson in for a hug. "Charlotte!" She called.

"Have you found him ye..." She was saying as she rushed into the foyer but froze when she saw Jess with Jack. "Oh my god!" She exclaimed before rushing forward and pulling their son close to her and hugging him tearfully. "You're ok! You're really ok! He's ok right?" She said glancing at Jess.

"He's ok. A little cold but he's ok." Jess nodded.

"We should get him checked out just in case." Charlotte said.

"Best to be on the safe side." Lorelai agreed.

"Yeah you're right." Jess said.

"You found him!" Emily said coming into the foyer with Richard and Rory.

"Jess did." Luke said as he and Sam arrived.

"Thank god." Emily said relieved. "But you should know better than to run off, young man!" She said sternly.

"Sorry." Jack said quietly, reaching for Charlotte's hand.

"Grandma, not now." Charlotte said.

"What? He should know wandering off is wrong. You and Jess have been worried sick. We all have!" Emily said.

"I know." Charlotte sighed. "We will talk to him. But right now I want to get him checked out and then I want to go home."

"Ok." Emily said.

"Thanks for the food, Grandma. We'll be in touch ok?" Charlotte said.

"Really?" Emily said surprised.

Charlotte gave her a small smile. "Really. When things like this happen, you realise what's really important in your life, don't you?" She said.

Emily smiled slightly. "Thank you." She said.

Jess and Charlotte returned home after Jack getting the all clear after being checked out. "Go get changed." He told Jack, who rushed off to his room. "Weird day." He sighed as he and Charlotte collapsed down on the couch.

"Definitely wouldn't want to repeat it." Charlotte sighed.

Jess glanced at her. "Are you ok?" He asked softly.

"I just...I was worried that someone had...that someone had..." She said tremulously.

"I know. Me too." He admitted, putting his arm around her.

"You did?" Charlotte said surprised, glancing at him. "You never said..." She said quietly.

"Well...you were so upset and so scared, I didn't want to add to it." He admitted.

Charlotte sighed and leant her head on his shoulder. "You've been so great today. Really. I couldn't have got through it without you."

Jess gave her a kiss on the side of her head. "We do need to talk to him though, you know."

"Dad took his eye off him for a minute. Jack did nothing wrong." Charlotte said.

Jess sighed. "Come on, Charlotte. We both know Jack shouldn't have wandered off even if your dad did take his eye off him for a minute. I'm not defending him." He said before Charlotte could protest. "But you know he shouldn't have walked off. He knows better than that." He said.

Charlotte sighed. "Yeah I know."

"Mommy..." A small voice said from the doorway.

"Hey sweetheart..." Charlotte smiled at their son.

"Come here for a minute, Jack. We need to talk to you." Jess said.

Jack walked over nervously and sat on the couch with them. "You are mad, aren't you?" He said quietly.

"We're not mad. We just want to know why you ran off like you did." Jess said.

"I don't know." Jack said quietly.

"There must have been a reason." Charlotte said softly. "Did your grandpa do something?"

"No." He said quietly, fiddling with his hands.

"He must have done something..." Charlotte said.

"Charlotte..." Jess said. "Look, Jack, we brought you up better than to run off like you did. Anything could have happened to you. You're bright, you know that. I know you know that."

"I know." Jack said glancing at the floor.

"We're not mad, ok? We just want to know what happened." Charlotte said.

"Nothing happened. It was my fault." Jack said quietly. "I shouldn't have run off. I'm sorry." He said tearfully.

"Jack, there must have been a reason." Charlotte insisted.

"There wasn't!" Jack exclaimed tearfully.

"This is useless." Jess sighed. "Right, go to bed. We'll continue this conversation tomorrow."

"Daddy..."

"No. You terrified us today, kid. And now you can't even tell us why it happened. Go to bed. Now." Jess said sternly.

"Jess..." Charlotte said.

"I mean it. He needs to know what he did was wrong!" Jess told her. "This wasn't right! Go, Jack."

"Grandpa Chris is getting married!" Jack blurted out.

"What?" Charlotte said shocked.

"He didn't know I was listening. We were feeding the ducks and he left for a minute to get us ice cream. He was longer than he said he would be so I went to the ice cream van and I heard him talking on the phone. I heard him saying how excited he was about getting married and then he said something about moving away." Jack said quietly, tears pricking his eyes. "Why would he move away? Doesn't he love me anymore?"

Charlotte and Jess exchanged a glance before Jess sighed and moved over to his son and pulled him close to him. "Of course he loves you, Jack. You know he does. But you know people also don't stay in the same place all the time."

"Yeah and your grandpa's always been known to move around a lot." Charlotte said quietly.

"So that's why you ran off? Because you were upset about that?" Jess checked.

"I know it was wrong but then it was too late and...and I thought you would all be mad at me so I stayed hiding. I'm sorry." Jack said quietly.

"Right..." Jess sighed. "Ok, off to bed now. It's late."

"Are you mad?"

"No, we're not mad. It's just late and you need your sleep." Jess assured him.

"Ok." He said quietly before heading off to his room.

"We'll be in to say goodnight." Charlotte called after him. She then glanced at Jess. "My dad's getting married..."

"Apparently so." Jess said cautiously.

"Why didn't he tell me?" Charlotte said quietly.

"Maybe he was going to." Jess said.

"Yeah right." She sighed. "He was just going to up sticks and move. It's what he does."

"Well maybe this time, he was just waiting for the right time to tell you."

"Are you really defending him?"

"No. But your dad's been great over the last few years. You know he has. Maybe you should give him a chance to explain before you go in all guns blazing?" He suggested.

Charlotte sighed. "Yeah maybe..."

"Your dad probably shouldn't have left Jack by himself but Jack shouldn't have run off either. It's both of their faults really. I know you know that deep down." Jess said.

Charlotte glanced at him and sighed before shrugging.

"Ok, well I'm going to go say goodnight to Jack and then I'm going to call it a night. Meet you in our room?" He said.

"Yeah in a minute." Charlotte said.

Jess nodded and gave her a kiss. "I love you." He said.

Charlotte smiled slightly. "I love you too." She said softly. She watched him head down the hallway before slowly reaching for her cell and dialling a number. "Hey..." She said hesitantly.

"Charlotte? Have you found him? Please say you've found him!" Chris said desperately.

Charlotte was taken aback by her dad's worried tone and suddenly felt a bit guilty for not calling him sooner. "Uh yeah. He's ok. We're back home and he's in bed at the moment."

"Oh thank god!" Chris said relieved.

"Yeah..." Charlotte said quietly.

He sighed. "Charlotte..."

"So I hear you're getting married..." She said hesitantly.

"What? How...?" He said stunned.

"Jack heard you on the phone." She sighed. "He heard you say how you were getting married and moving away. He got upset because he thought you didn't love him enough to stay around."

"Oh geez..." Chris said guiltily. "So I guess you were right..."

"About what?" Charlotte said confused.

"You shouldn't have trusted me with Jack. I'm useless. I am the reason he ran away. You were right." He said quietly.

Charlotte sighed. "No. I mean, yeah he was upset about it and that's why he ran away but he knew better than to run away like that. Jess and I have brought him up better than that."

"You really mean that?" Chris said.

"I was terrified, dad. My son was missing and you were the easiest target at the time. I'm sorry I took it all out on you." Charlotte said.

"No it's ok. I don't blame you." Chris assured her, relieved she wasn't mad.

"Why didn't you tell us you were getting married, dad?" Charlotte said quietly. "It's Penny right?"

"Yeah it's Penny."

"Why didn't you tell us? Did you think we wouldn't be happy for you or something?"

"No." He sighed. "I was worried you'd think I was abandoning you again." He admitted.

"What?" Charlotte said surprised.

"I was going to tell you, I swear. I just...I guess I chickened out. I don't want to move away but Penny's been given this amazing new job and it's in Boston. It's too good for her to turn down and seeing as...well she asked me to marry her, I need to support her." He said.

"She proposed to you?" Charlotte said softly, smiling slightly.

"Yeah." Chris said smiling slightly. "I know it's not traditional but it was...nice..."

"Oh I think tradition isn't always needed." Charlotte smiled softly, thinking back to when she proposed to Jess.

"So...you're not mad?" He checked.

"No." She sighed. "Just promise me you'll tell Rory before she leaves."

"I promise." He said.

"And you may want to tell Luke. Give him time to grieve the departure of his new best friend." Charlotte said smirking slightly.

Chris chuckled. "I doubt he will be too upset."

"Hey dad?" She said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Congratulations." She said softly.

"Thanks." He smiled softly. "And I'm really glad Jack is ok. Tell him I love him ok?"

"Why don't you ring up tomorrow morning and tell him that yourself? I think he'd like to hear that." Charlotte said.

"If you're sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Ok. Well thanks. I'll leave you to it now." He said.

"Ok...Bye dad..." Charlotte said.

"I love you kiddo." He said.

Charlotte was quiet for a moment. "I love you too, dad." She said before hanging up. She sat on the couch for a moment before slowly getting up and heading off to bed.

So I hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think! :) Thanks again for all your support! :)