A/N Hope you guys like this VERY LONG chapter.. it was a little hard writing this chapter (you'll understand why while you're reading) Thank you so much for continuing to read this story and hope it's still good! Enjoy!
junienmomo: Thank you for your review! Haha when I read your chapter 9 review I was like, wait till you see chapter 10! :P and then I read your chapter 10 review and I was so glad you rated it as your favourite chapter so far! It's funny, when I was writing chapter 10, I kept reminding myself, it's time for Luke and Lorelai to kiss! It's time! It's time! and so I wrote them kissing at the end. Then today I went back and looked at my notes I actually didn't plan the kiss until chp 11 lol (so now I twisted the beginning of the story a little) I guess I'm desperate,haha! Hope you like chp 11 as well! Let me know!
Droolia: Thank you for you review! I was obsessed in finding out what Luke's favourite baseball team was, I watched the episodes but gave up lol and then I actually was crazy enough and went on twitter to ask Scott Patterson and he only 'liked' my tweet question :( but then I went back to watching it and I found out in one of the convo Luke had with Nicole kinda hinted that he might be a Red Sox Fan so I was like, Great! Yankees vs Red Sox, this could not end up well for the uncle and nephew. Thanks again! Hope you like chp 11 too! Let me know what you think!
RhizOneill: Thank you for your review! Cheers on the kiss! Glad you love this story! Hope you like this chapter as well! Let me know!
Anon1: Thank you for your review! I like how you describe Jess as a brat haha, you should really watch Gilmore Girls to find out how Jess was such a little punk in the show! I honestly don't watch baseball, I've only watched some playoffs last year and being in Canada made me automatically rooting for blue jays :P (that after-homerun reaction by Bautista was priceless!) Canada is definitely a great place with great people! I'm really sorry for your lose :( it really is a dangerous sport, I've only started snowboarding a year ago and injuries are almost unavoidable (cause I'm really clumsy) I bruised my right ribcage the other week snowboarding. Thank you I will try to be safe next time I go snowboarding again :) hope you like this chapter as well! Let me know what you think!
Chapter 11: The Only Living Boy In New York
October 25th 8am
Doorbell~~
Lorelai grunted at the doorbell which interrupted her beauty sleep. 'If this is Luke, I swear to god I'm gonna kill him!' she thought to herself while dragging her body to the front door. Lorelai saw the man standing in front of her, she was shocked, 'Christopher!'
'Hey Lor! How are you doing?' Christopher greeted the blue eye woman and gave her a hug and kiss.
'Daddy!' Rory squealed and ran to the man who she called daddy, she was very excited, the last time she saw Christopher was when she was 4 years old.
'Wait! Hold up! Is this really my little princess?! She's grown so much!' Christopher said while carrying the little girl and spinned her around.
Lorelai gave the father and daughter a smile with a line of sadness that could be easily seen. She's happy to see Rory jumping up and down with joy because of her father but she's scared at the same time. She kissed Luke last night, it happened so fast and here stands Christopher, the man who could easily steal her heart in a heartbeat.
'What are you doing here Christopher?' Lorelai asked nervously.
Christopher put his hands around Lorelai's waist, 'I'm here to see my two favourite girls, and to tell you something important.' Lorelai shifted her body and turned around and went to make coffee.
'Christopher, you can't just come in here and pretend everything is fine and normal, that you could just jump in and visit Rory like that!' Lorelai exclaimed.
Christopher gave her a shocked expression, 'Rory is MY daughter too! I have a right to see her, Lorelai!' Christopher took a deep breathe before he continues, ' I'm here to tell you I'm going to stay for real this time, I've found a very high paying job at Hartford, I can take care of you both, I'm not gonna leave this time. I swear.'
Lorelai couldn't find the words to say, 'No, Christopher! No you can't! Stop! Stop hurting me and Rory again and again! You can't just show up in our life and put yourself in, we do have a life here without you in the picture, and we are living fine! Great!' Lorelai yelled.
Christopher grabbed Lorelai's hands and assured, 'I'm serious this time, Lorelai, I'm no longer that 16 years old Christopher that you dated in High School. I'm different! I did this because I love you both so much! I love you, Lorelai.'
Christopher gave Lorelai a long kiss. Lorelai pushed away Christopher, 'Stop! Christopher! Stop!' Lorelai ran upstairs to her room and locked the door and tears were rolling down. She likes Luke but Christopher is Rory's father and Christopher can make Rory very happy and she wants her daughter to be happy, and if Christopher is really serious this time, Rory will finally have a normal ordinary family.
October 25th 9am
Diner Phone Rings~
' Jess help me get the phone, I got my hands full here!' Jess dropped his book and ran to the counter and picked up the phone. He gave his best impersonation of Luke's grumpy tone, lower his voice by a few level, 'Luke's'
'Jess, that's a nice try!' Lorelai laughed on the other side of the phone, Jess made her completely forgotten about her troubles for a split second, 'hey hon, can you pass the phone to Luke, I need to talk to him.' 'Okay, hold on a sec,' Jess replied,then shouted back to his busy Uncle, 'Uncle Luke! Phone!'
'Hi, who's this?' Luke said while handing plates to Jess to put on the tables. 'Hey, Luke.' replied Lorelai in her very abnormal calm voice. 'Hey.' Luke replied with a smile on his face. 'Do you have a minute? I really need to talk to you.' Lorelai said nervously. Luke sensed that it wasn't going to be a good talk, but he toughened up and answered, 'yes for sure, just wait a sec, gotta walk to the storage room, it's crowded in here.' 'Okay.' Lorelai replied with a bittersweet smile on her face.
'Okay, I'm good, what do you wanna talk about?' Luke asked, sitting down on one of the wood boxes.
'Luke...last night..' Lorelai was trying to blurt out what she wanted to say, but it was harder than she thought.
Luke knew this was coming, he was just not good enough for Lorelai. He sighed, 'Lorelai, say no more. It's okay if you wanna just forget about the whole thing, no sweat, really.'
'Luke. I don't wanna forget about it. We kissed.' Lorelai said softly with a sweetness in her voice. Luke can't help but have a big ridiculous grin on his face, 'yea, we kissed.'
'I like you, Luke. But I'm not sure if I'm ready to like you or whether I should like you at the moment.'
Luke was confused, 'what do you mean?'
'I...sigh.. I just can't right now, I'm sorry.' Lorelai hung up the phone and tears were rolling down on Lorelai's face.
October 27th 1pm
Lorelai and Rory had not been going to Luke's diner since Christopher's arrival. Luke didn't want to bother Lorelai just yet, it's obvious that something was troubling her but he was in no position to butt in.
'Uncle Luke, aren't we supposed to go costume shopping with Lorelai and Rory today?' asked Jess who was sitting at the counter reading a new book Luke bought him. 'Oh crap! Right! What time is it? It's 1pm! We gotta go, let's go Jess!' Luke wasn't sure if this was a good idea, driving up to Lorelai's as they haven't spoken after the phone call, but he figured this was for the kids, Lorelai must not have forgotten about it.
The uncle and nephew got out of the truck and head to the door. Luke knocked the door.
Christopher opened the door dressing in a halloween cowboy outfit, 'Hey buddy, can I help you?'
Luke was shocked seeing another man in Lorelai's house, he forgot what to say, 'uh yea, I'm looking for Lorelai?'
'Lorelai! Some guy is looking for you!' Christopher shouted back into the house, a happy jumpy cowgirl ran to the door, 'who's this some guy? Must be my secret lover!' Lorelai jokingly said.
Lorelai's smiley face fell when she saw Luke and alongside a little boy. 'Uh hi...hi.. Jess and and..Luke.'
'Oh! So you're Luke! The coffee guy that Rory's been talking to me about!' Christopher chipped in, not knowing at all about Lorelai and Luke's thing.
Luke was about to explode, he couldn't believe what he was seeing right now. 'Lorelai can I please talk to you for a sec? Jess why don't you go hang out with Rory for a while.' Luke requested while trying to be as calm as he can.
Lorelai nodded and left the house and the two stood near Luke's truck. 'What the hell Lorelai!' Luke shouted, 'so all these time, there's a guy in your life and you still lead me into it! For god sake, you kissed me! I thought that was a signal!'
'Luke, I'm so so sorry! It was a signal! But that's Rory's father, I didn't know he would be here and everything happened so fast, I can't process! He said this is serious this time and Rory is so happy, I can't crush her dreams like that.' Lorelai started having tears rolling down her cheeks.
Luke took a deep breathe, ' Fine. If this is what you want, then be it. Go and be with this guy who was never there for Rory! When Rory needed a father to dance with at the school dance, when Rory wanted her father to see her dance recital, when Rory was so sick, she could only eat mash potatoes for weeks! Where was her father at those times?!' Luke continue exploding on to Lorelai, 'He was not there, Lorelai. I ! I was there! I was there at every single important life moment of Rory's!' Luke pointed his index finger to his chest to prove his point, 'I was there! Not this guy!'
'Luke.. listen to me...'
Luke cut off Lorelai, 'No! I don't want to listen! All I did, was listen! I listened to you and wore a pink shirt and a tiara to Rory's birthday party, I listened to you and fixed everything that needs to be fixed here for you, I listened to you and gave you tons of coffee every morning, I listened to you and agree on dressing up for this damn stupid halloween that you don't even remember we had to go costume shopping for the kids because this guy showed up! I'm done, Lorelai! Whatever! I'm done! Have a big fat happy life!' Luke stomped his way to the front door and picked Jess up and drove his truck back to the diner leaving Lorelai just standing there tearing up. He didn't care if he hurt her with those sharp words, he was utterly hurt by the woman he loved and cared.
November 5th 3pm
It's been over a week, and Luke and Lorelai has not spoken to each other since the big melt down of Luke at Lorelai's house. Christopher was still hanging around, keeping his promise that he will stay and Lorelai decided to just go with it, as long as Rory was happy. She was ashamed of herself and she hated herself for doing this to Luke because she knew damn well that he didn't deserve this.
Rory still comes in to Luke's diner after school and hang out with Jess despite they were well aware of the two adults having an argument. Luke treated Rory the same as usual, he understood that he and Lorelai may never talk to one another again but the kids were innocent, they should be treated the same. Luke still loves this little girl as much as he did love her mama.
'Where's Luke, Jess?' asked Rory who was sipping her lemonade sitting opposite to Jess.
'I don't know, I think he said something about going to the bank in the afternoon this morning. How's Lorelai?' Jess asked back.
'She's okay, she's pretending to be happy, but I know she's not.' Rory replied with a bittersweet smile.
Jess nodded with a bittersweet smile as well. He may be 8 years old, but he was more mature than other 8 years old when it came to emotions of adults, after all, he had been through a lot before living with Luke. J
ess changed topic, 'you see this guy sitting there Rory?' Rory turned her head and looked at where Jess was pointing, 'That guy has been sitting here for hours, ordered 2 cups of coffee and he keeps staring at me. I hope he's not some kind of child kidnapper.'
Rory giggled, 'and why would he kidnap you? but in some weird way, you kinda look like him'
Jess gave her a disgusted look, 'I do not look like this creeper!' Jess couldn't get his eyes off this stranger, as the more he looked at him the more this guy was getting nervous and scratched his head and was about to walk to him.
Jess was not paying attention at all to what Rory was talking about how her dad was so much fun when the creepy guy picked up his phone. He was curious about this stranger guy in leather jacket and baggy jeans. He was definitely not from here.
'Yes, this is Mariano. Please call me Jimmy.' The stranger replied to the phone call. Jess froze when he heard the name. Jimmy Mariano. His father, that he had never seen since he was a few months old. The man walked out of the diner when he saw the sign saying 'no cell phones' and continued his conversation. Jess completely forgot about Rory's presence and secretly walked behind the guy and listened to the conversation.
'Oh man! So it's a done deal!' the man continued, ' thank you, thank you so much Pete! I will see you in New York tomorrow, opposite of the Plaza Hotel right? Ok, ok 4pm it is! I'll see you there! Thank you! Thank you so much!' The man quickly went back into the diner and put a 5 dollar bill on the table and left the diner as quickly as possible, he didn't even catch a glimpse of Jess after the news he got from the phone call. Jess stood at the door, looking at the man who might be his father walked out and drove off of Stars Hollow.
November 6th 7:30am
Jess was up and dressed, he did not sleep at all last night. He couldn't stop thinking about the man who came into the diner yesterday who he knew by instinct that he was definitely his father. He tossed around, left to right last night, struggling whether or not he should go find him in New York. He sat at Luke's bed and stared at one of the drawers where he knew Luke kept some money. Jess pulled out the drawer and took a few twenty bucks out of it and shoved them into his jean pocket and quickly rushed down. He has decided. He was going to find his father. He knew a thousand things could have gone wrong with this move, but he wanted to do it, so badly. Because this is his father. His real father, not Jack or Kyle or Nick. This is Jimmy, his father.
'Bye uncle Luke!' shouted Jess, who waited Luke to be busy in the kitchen so he wouldn't see his nervous face. He was about to ditch school for the very first time and head to New York City all by himself.
Luke dropped down everything and rushed out of the kitchen, 'Hey! Hey! Hey! Come here for a sec!' Jess sighed and turned back, 'I'm going to be late Uncle Luke!'
Luke pulled out a five dollar bill and smiled, 'here, your money for helping me out last sunday. Now don't you spend it all on baseball cards, alright?' Jess felt so guilty, he stole money from his uncle and here his uncle was awarding him with money, not knowing what he was going to do after he walked out of the diner door. He couldn't help but hug Luke, tears were wailing up in his eyes. Luke hugged back and smiled, 'it's just 5 dollars Jess, it's not like I'm giving you a million dollars! You have a good day at school, okay?' and he ruffled his hair and Jess immediately turned around and got out of the diner without saying goodbye.
November 6th 9am
Jess was finally on the bus heading to New York, he spent 40 dollars on the bus ticket and had 25 dollars left in his pocket only. He blamed himself now for not finding out how much a bus ticket cost, he will be short of money if he's going back to stars hollow. He wrapped his arm around his backpack which he placed on his lap and stared out of the window. He kept coming up with lines that he would use to open when he meet his father, he wonder what kind of person his father is, he wonder what kind of job he has, he wonder why he left him when he was just a little baby. And he was swirled into his deep little thoughts and fell asleep.
November 6th 12pm
'Here we are, ladies and gentleman. Hope you had a great time and please do not leave any of your personal belongings on your way out. Thank you.' the bus driver announced, which woke Jess up. He slowly got up and swing his backpack on to his back and stepped out of the bus. The familiar New York City smell woke Jess up completely, all those terrifying memories of his little life before Stars Hollow started to haunt him back. Jon. Nick. Paul. Chad. Jack. stop Jess! stop! you won't see them, you're here to see your father, Jimmy! stop panicking! they are not here! they won't find you! Jess decided to walk to the New York Public Library, the only place in the entire New York that made him feel calm and at ease. Jess spent a solid three hours inside the library before he realized the time and decided to head to the Plaza Hotel where he will finally see his father.
It only took Jess 45 minutes to figure out where the place was, after all, this was his hometown. He sat on a bench, not blinking his eyes at the entrance door of the building. He assured himself that he was going to run to the door when Jimmy appears and he would start his opening line and go on from there.
Jess waited and waited, he was too nervous and excited at the same time, he didn't bother to have lunch, he desperately needed to talk to Jimmy. He needed to blurt out all his questions he planned when he was on the bus. At 4:40pm, finally, a man with dark brown hair in his semi casual outfit walked out of the building. This is it, Jess. Go! Jess got up of the bench and was about to rush to Jimmy until a little girl of around four got out of the car and was running towards Jimmy as well. Jess stopped.
'Daddy!' the little girl squealed, jumping on to Jimmy. Jess just stood there watching his father lovingly gave this little girl hugs and kisses and then gave a woman a kiss on the lips.
'Hey honey.' Jimmy softly spoke to the woman. Jess couldn't process this. This was not a part of the plan he had. Jimmy suddenly noticed Jess standing from a far staring at him. He was shocked and quickly ushered his wife and daughter into the car, he looked at Jess for one last glimpse and turned his back and got right into the car and drove off.
Tears were rolling down.
(soundtrack: hometown glory by Adele)
Jess took his backpack and ran as fast and as far as he can. He needed to run away from all this, his own father abandoned him and left him under care with all those abusive men all these years when he built himself a nice little happy family. Jess had came up with a lot of explanations all these years as to why his dad had left him and mom, may be he was a very busy working man; may be he had some kind of terminal disease, may be he was in jail, may be he hated him for being in this world but none has concluded into this outcome. None.
Jess got tired running, he sat on a bench and was trying to catch his breathe from running and crying. He realized he has been starving, he opened his backpack and saw the brown paper bag lunch that Luke packed for him this morning. He ripped off the bag as fast as he can, and took a big bite of the tuna melt sandwich. Tears started to roll down again while Jess was chewing the sandwich. He thought about Luke, Luke the only person in this world who cares about him more than anything in the world, and he could only imagine how worried Luke must be now. He took another bite of the sandwich and sobbed harder and harder as he recalled some of the great memories Luke has given him, the aquarium, the bike, the pancakes, the baseball game; and here he is sitting in the middle of nowhere, stole money, skipped school, ran off to somewhere, making his uncle worry sick, he thought he blew it. He thought Luke must be worried and extremely mad at him. He thought his uncle would never want to see him again.
November 6th 6pm Luke's diner
Where the heck is the kid?! He knows he has to be back here by 5! Sigh
Luke looked at his watch one more time before grabbing his jacket and walked to the ball park to drag his nephew back. He saw Jess's friend Johnny but no sign of the boy.
'Hey Johnny, have you seen Jess around?' asked Luke who interrupted the game. 'Nope, I haven't seen him all day, I thought he was sick.' Johnny shrugged his shoulder.
'What do you mean you haven't seen him all day? You guys are in the same class!' Luke exclaimed.
' He wasn't at school today, we all thought he was sick.' Johnny replied innocently.
Luke took off his cap and scratched his head, 'now look, Johnny, I'm not in a mood for fun and games. I saw Jess walking out of the diner this morning and walked to school. You better tell me the truth, is Jess hiding somewhere just to prank me or something?' Luke grunted.
Johnny started to get scared by Luke's tone, 'I'm not joking sir, I really haven't seen Jess the entire day! Please, I'm not lying!'
Luke sighed, he knew Johnny would not dare lie to him. 'Okay, I'm sorry I yelled. But if you see Jess, call the diner or call my cellphone okay?' and Luke ran off back to the diner. He called the school, the school principal, he even called Taylor up to see if anyone has seen his nephew. No one saw him at all. Luke started to panic, he went to all the places that Jess would normally go, the ball park, the bridge by the river, the library and the book store. Nothing.
Luke was desperate, he drove up to the one and only place he knew he might get more help, Lorelai's. Luke knocked the front door and Lorelai opened the door, shock to see Luke.
Luke wasted no time, not even time to catch his breathe, 'Jess is lost. I don't know where he is! I searched everywhere! I asked everyone! No one has seen him the whole day!I don't...don't know what else to do but to come here, I'm sorry Lorelai, I know I shouldn't barge in like that. But I just don't know..I don't know what to do! What if he had been kidnapped or...or he..'
'Luke say no more, it's okay! Don't worry, we will find him. Have you called the police yet?' Lorelai asked, who was also very worried about the disappearance of Jess.
'Call the police? Right! I have to call the police!' Luke panicked and ran back to his car and grabbed his cellphone and dial 911.
November 6th 6:30pm
Jess finished the sandwich and stopped the crying. He figured it's no use weeping here in the cold lonely city. He had to somehow go back to Stars Hollow. Even though he knew that possibly mean the worst punishment of his life will be coming up but he really wanted to go home and that's the only place he can truly call home.
He noticed this street he was standing was not far away from where he used to live with his mom. He hasn't spoken to his mother since the day she left him at Luke's so he wasn't quite sure if she still lives there. But he thought he might as well take a shot and ask his mother for 15 bucks so he can take the bus back to Stars Hollow.
He walked up two stairs and turned left and knocked at the apartment door.
A man holding a beer opened the door, 'Jess my boy!'
Jess was getting terrified, 'Hi..hi Jack. Is my mom here?'
'Come in, son! Your mom will be here soon, she's at work. Come on in!' the man dragged Jess into the apartment and slammed the door before he took another sip of the beer.
The man was obviously drunk as hell, and Jess noticed, he just sat at the left end of the couch, and stared at the TV. The man sat on the other end of the couch, opened up another bottle of beer and stared at the boy.
'You know, I have never forgotten about that day at your bastard uncle's diner. The way he humiliated me.' The man grunted. Jess didn't reply, he was terrified, he just kept staring at the TV. 'I'm glad you're here boy.' the man mumbled, Jess still not moving or replying. The man threw the remote control on to Jess's head, 'Are you deaf boy!' The man shouted. Jess yelped and quickly ran to washroom as he knew what could happen next. But he was not quick enough. Jack grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him on the couch while pulling his belt off with one hand. Jess knew this was gonna come, he pleaded the man. 'Please Jack! I'm sorry! Please don't hit me!' The man took no mercy, he just kept whipping the boy with his belt without stopping. Jess grabbed his backpack while trying to run to the door and was trying to dodge the swats but Jack held him by his shirt with one hand. Jess knew he had to keep fighting through this, tears and yelps were uncontrollable as it hurts so much, he grabbed an empty beer bottle on the ground and threw it on to Jack and grabbed the opportunity to run out of the apartment as quick as he can. He ran and ran until he found himself far away from the apartment building. He stopped and bend down to catch his breathe but ended up crying again. He misses his Uncle Luke. He knew if Luke was there, he would never let that happen to him.
Lolelai's house
Christopher was gone on a business trip that day so there was only Rory and Lorelai in the house.
Lorelai and Rory were sitting on the table looking at the worried and panicky Luke who was calling everyone of this town to find his nephew.
'Luke?' Rory chipped in, 'I...I don't know if this will help or anything.. but yesterday when I was hanging out with Jess, Jess couldn't help but stare and followed this man who was at the diner yesterday for hours.'
Luke hung up the phone and sat down quickly, 'What man? Rory! What man!' Rory got a little scared, Luke never yelled this loud at her, 'um.. I..I don't know what man, we don't know who he is but when the man was talking on the phone and told the man to call him Jimmy, Jess stopped caring about anything else I was talking about, he followed him out of the diner to listen to the guy talking on the phone.'
Luke froze, that must have been Jimmy Mariano, Jess must have gone to find his father. 'Jess went to find his father.' Luke quickly ran out to his truck and started the engine. The last time he heard, he knew Jimmy was still living in New York, he wasted no time and started driving to New York.
November 6th 7:30pm
Jess was walking aimlessly in the streets of New York. He only had 25 dollars in his pocket, he couldn't get back to Stars Hollow. He was struggling whether he should call his uncle and tell him about everything and hope he would take him back in. The wind was getting more and more chilly, the start of the winter breeze. Jess was only wearing a long sleeves sweater and jeans, he always forgot about grabbing his jacket when he heads out of the diner. But then he suddenly remembered, Luke always put a jacket in his bag and nagged him about the importance of putting on a jacket when winter hits. He opened his backpack and found his dark blue jacket inside. He stared at the jacket, he knew he had to call Luke, if Luke was that worried about him wearing a jacket outdoor, he must be awfully worried about him now. He couldn't stand the fact that Luke might be hurt by him disappearing suddenly. Jess quickly put on his jacket and went to find a telephone booth. Jess inserted 2 quarters and dial Luke's rarely used cellphone number.
Luke's cellphone rang~
Luke was driving over the speed limit on the highway, and he picked up the phone as he knew this might be a phone call from anyone who found Jess.
'Hello?' Jess toughened up his voice.
'Jess! Is that you! Where are you! You scared the crap out of me!' Luke shouted, though he had a sigh of relief, hearing his nephew's voice.
Jess couldn't help it, he cried the instant he heard his uncle's voice, 'I'm really sorry Uncle Luke! I'm okay, please don't hate me...please, I'm in New York...*sniff *sniff'
' Jess, listen to me, everything is going to be fine, I don't hate you, no matter what, I will not hate you! You understand! Do you know where you are in New York? Cause I'm heading there now. Okay? Everything will be alright, don't you worry about a th...shittt!' Luke didn't finish his sentence, a loud BAM, crashing and horning sound were heard on the other end of the phone of Jess.
'Uncle Luke! Uncle Luke!' Jess shouted on the other end of the phone.
A/N thank you soooo much guys! For sticking till the end of this chapter, I know it's really long. Please, please, please review this chapter? I hope y'all like it. Let me know how this chapter went for you guys. Till then, stay tuned...