A/N: Two amazing artists drew up scenes from this story! I expect more to come :D Feel free to follow or just check it out on instagram #wolvecub07

this is a quick update to make up for all those weeks that I haven't made a single update. Hope you guys like it! Enjoy!

Chapter 23: Wish You Well

Stars Hollow Elementary School General Office 9:00am

' Oh my baby boy!' Liz happily squealed when she saw her son walking down the stairs.

Liz ran to her son and wanted to give him a hug before Jess angrily swayed her arms away. 'What are you doing here!'

'Hey, that's not the way you talk to your mother! Has Luke taught you nothing over the months!' Liz scolded Jess in front of the other teachers around.

Jess frowned and crossed his arms around his chest, ' What are you doing here?'

' I'm here to pick you up! The flight is at noon, so we better go now.'

Jess widened his eyes, ' flight to where!'

' Flight to New York!' Liz stated obviously.

' Where did you get the money?' Jess questioned, driving to New York was only less than three hours, he couldn't see the reason why they were flying out and didn't believe that his mother had that kind of money.

' Long story. Come on pick up your bag, let's go.' Liz hushed her son and grabbed his arm. Jess swung her arm away again, ' I'm not going to New York with you! I'm staying here with Uncle Luke!'

Liz ignored her son's complain and dragged the boy to the school parking lot where her driver was waiting inside a porsche.

' I'm not going! I'm not going!' Jess trying his best to get out of the parking lot, eventually kicking Liz out of desperation.

Liz slapped Jess across the face before she yelled, ' Hey! I'm your mother! You do as I say! Luke is not your dad! You think you're just gonna stay there forever? You're nothing but trouble to everyone, you think Luke loves you? He's just taking care of you cause he ain't got a choice!'

Jess had one of his hands covered on his right cheek, he was so mad and hurt by his mother's words that tears started streaming down his face. He shouted back, ' Luke's my dad! And he's also my mom! He's a billion times better than you! You're an asshole!'

Liz grabbed her son by the arm, she tried to smack him again on the face but Jess dugged it, ' Get in the car right now, Jess Mariano. Enough of your bullshit!' Liz pushed Jess into the car and ignored his shouting.

Jess was half shouting and half crying at the same time, ' I didn't even get to say goodbye to Uncle Luke!'

' You'll live.' Liz replied, lighting up a cigarette.

Hartford International Airport

Jess was ordered to sit at one of the couch by the glass where he could see all the planes depart while Liz went to washroom. Jess waited Liz to be out of sight and ran to the closest phone booth and quickly called Luke.

' Luke's Diner.' Luke picked up the phone in his monotone.

' Uncle Luke! Help!' Jess panicked. 'I'm inside the airport, ready to board to New York and..'

' Slow down! Aren't you supposed to be at school?'

' Liz came to school and brought me to the airport! We're leaving in less than an hour!'

'What!' Luke shouted.

' I don't wanna go Uncle Luke,' Jess whimpered.

' Okay, I'm going to drive to New York right now. Don't worry, alright?' Luke comforted the boy.

Jess hung up the phone and Liz caught him right in the act.

' Were you calling Luke to come get you?' Liz crossed her arms.

' Yes. I hate you and Jack and stinkin New York!' Jess growled.

Liz just laughed, ' Oh boy oh boy. Jack? He's long gone! I'm now with Charles. He's the one who's willing to pay all this and wanted to see you!'

Jess was puzzled, Liz continued, ' Don't worry, we won't be in New York for long, we're just staying there for the night and then we're flying to Canada with Charles.'

' Canada!' Jess widened his eyes, he's now worried that Luke won't be there in time to get him back before he's going to be shipped to Canada.

' Yes, you'll love it there. Charles already enrolled you into the best private school there. You'll have your own room and everything.'

' I don't want anything, I want Uncle Luke!' Jess cried, the fact that he will be going to live in Canada and never see Luke or Lorelai and Rory and his friends in Stars Hollow frightened him.

Liz just simply stated, ' well, you don't have a choice. Luke is not your legal guardian. Besides, this is for your own good, Luke would not refuse once he gets to know Charles.'

New York International Airport 1:30pm

After an hour on the flight, the mother and son had finally arrived New York. As they were walking out of the arrival gate, Liz ran towards a man. The man was obviously at least 20 years older than Liz. He was dressed in a nice suit with a fancy business coat, he smiled as he let Liz into his embrace. Jess walked slowly towards the couple and stared at the older man, this was all too weird for Jess. This man was unlike all the other men that his mother dated before. He looked clean, polite and different.

The man bend down and look at Jess at the same eye level, he gave him a warm smile, ' You must be Jess. I'm so glad to finally meet you. I'm Charles, Charles Mathers. You can call me Charles for now, alright?' Charles held out his right hand.

Jess reluctantly shook his hand and said nothing to the man. The three walked out of the airport and into a black limo. Jess sat opposite to Charles and his mother, looking down at his shoes. This was all too new and shocking to him, he didn't know how to react.

' Hey Jess?' Charles asked gently.

Jess didn't look up, he was still trying to piece things together in his mind.

' Jess! Charles is talking to you. Where's your manners!' Liz semi-yelled.

Jess looked up and stared at the man, before Charles continued, ' Yankees your favourite team?'

Jess just nodded and went back to staring at his sneakers.

' Well, you're in luck. I've got two tickets to the game tonight. You'll love it.'

Jess shook his head, ' No thanks. I don't wanna go.'

' Jess! You've been begging me for years to take you to a game and now you don't wanna go?' Liz asked.

' Uncle Luke's bringing me to the game on my birthday, I'm saving it to that day.'

' Hey buddy come with me to the ball game. I certainly don't wanna go with your mom she doesn't even know who's Mickey Mantle. It will be fun, Jess.' Charles joked and encouraged the boy. The car stopped. 'Besides, we're here already.'

Jess looked out the window, they were in fact right outside of the stadium. ' But it's only 2 o'clock, the game starts at 5 today!'

Charles already stepped one foot out of the car, he put out his right hand, ' come on, I want you to meet someone.'

Going to the Yankees Stadium and watching a game had been on Jess' top dream list. A part of him just really wanna jump out of the car and run into the stadium but another part of him thought about Luke. He so wanted his first time to the stadium to be with his Uncle not this random guy Charles.

' Go on already, Jess!' Liz slightly pushed Jess.

Jess was a little worried, he's going to the game alone with a stranger, ' You're not going?'

' No, I'm going back to the apartment to finish packing for tomorrow's flight. Go! Go have fun with Charles!'

And there, Jess stepped out of the limo and into the stadium.

Yankees Stadium 2:00pm

Charles wanted to hold Jess' hand but Jess refused to, he walked slowly right behind Charles, keeping a little distance from the man. They were walking right into the field and passing all the security guards without any trouble. The security guards even greeted them.

There it was, Jess stepped foot on to the sacred field of the Yankees for the first time. He looked up and was mesmerized by the size of the stadium. It was even more amazing than he imagined it would be.

' Impressive eh?' Charles smirked. Jess nodded. ' Come on. We'll come back out here later. I want you to meet the guys first.'

' The guys?' Jess asked, hoping by 'guys' he meant all the baseball players on his baseball cards.

Charles and Jess walked into one of the tunnel and turned to an elevator and Charles pressed the 5th button. And they stepped out into the major office of the New York Yankees.

' Hey Charlie!' a chubby guy waved at Charles, Jess recognized this guy from ESPN, Buck Showalter Yankees' Manager. ' It's been awhile since I've seen you!'

' Hey Buck!' Charles greeted back. ' Yea, work's been killing me. It's good to be back.'

' I see you brought us a little prodigy star here!' Buck joked, referring the star to Jess.

' Yea, the biggest Yankees fan you'll ever meet. This is Jess, my fiancee's son. My soon to be son.' Charles explained, 'Jess, this is Buck Sh..'

'Buck Showalter, the manager.' Jess cut Charles out, he still couldn't believe this was happening to him, he was so stars-trucked, he didn't seem to notice Charles said that he would soon to be his son. He's meeting the manager of the Yankees.

Charles ruffled Jess' hair, ' Told you this kid is a big fan.'

' Hey Jess you wanna meet the guys?' Buck asked.

' Yeah!' Jess excitedly replied.

' Wait a sec, you're not geared up yet. Buck you got any kid size jerseys and caps around?'

' Absolutely.' Buck turned and talked to a junior clerk to get Jess the jerseys and caps.

Jess put it on, wore the cap and followed Buck and Charles to the indoor training room.

Jess widened his eyes when he saw all his favourite players right in front of his eyes.

' That's Bernie Williams!' Jess whispered to Charles.

Charles chuckled, glad that Jess was excited, ' hey go on, go talk to Bernie.'

' Can I?' Jess asked, shocked that he could actually just walk up to the athlete star and talk to him.

Charles nodded. Jess slowly walked up to Bernie who just finished his track routine. ' Hi Mr. Williams. I just wanted...wanted to say you're awesome at playing ball. The way you hit and..and how you run really fast and stole so many bases.'

Bernie chuckled, patted Jess on his back, ' hey thank you! I appreciate your compliment kid.'

' Can you, Can you sign on my jersey?'

' Of course!'

Then Bernie had to do another set of exercise. Jess saw Paul O'Neill walking towards him, his jaw just dropped. He couldn't help but think this whole thing might just be a dream.

' Hey Jess.' Paul greeted him.

' Hi..hi Mr. O'Neill.' Jess replied nervously.

' You wanna play catch with me?'

Jess couldn't speak for a split second, Paul O'neill just invited him to play catch with him. Jess nodded excitedly.

Liz' old apartment 5:30pm

A loud knock on Liz's door.

' Liz, open the door! I know you're in there!' Luke shouted behind the door.

Liz opened the door, before she could speak, Luke barged in and shouted.

' Where's Jess! Why the hell did you just pull him out of school and send him back here!' Luke was furious at his sister.

' Calm down big brother! Everything is fine! Jess is in good hands! He is at the ball game with my fiancee Charles.'

Luke widened his eyes, ' you pull your son out of school and fly to New York to watch a ball game?!'

' No, Luke. We're moving.'

' Moving where?'

' Moving to Canada. Charles' headquarter is in Alberta, it's only wise, we move there as well. We're getting married soon.' Liz said it casually.

Luke took a deep breathe, ' so that's it huh?! You don't write, you don't call, you just take the kid and move him to another place!'

' Yes! Jess is not just a kid, he is my kid! I have the right to take him anywhere I want!' Liz shot back.

Luke scoffed, ' Did it occur to you that you just abandoned the child you called your son for more than half a year! And now you expect me to just hand him back to you like he is some toy?!'

' You're not his legal guardian.' Liz threatened.

' And those charming boyfriends of yours were legal guardians of Jess? Did you know what they did to him? What they did to your son! The last time he was here, he got brutally hit on his arms, his back, his legs with a leather belt and then kicked on his rib cage! It took almost two months for the welts to recover!' Luke barked.

Liz replied simply like it's not a big deal, ' Yea that's called 'spare the rod and not spoil the child' Luke. Dad used to hit you too! And you turned out fine!'

' Yes, dad did hit me, but he didn't ABUSE me. There's a fine difference between those lines! Jess was abused!' Luke paused for a second to calm down, ' bottom line is, Jess is not going anywhere near ANY of your boyfriends or fiancee or husbands.'

' Charles is different. He loves kids, he has two of his own but they are now adults and working in big companies, following his footsteps. Charles already enrolled Jess in the finest private school in Alberta, he bought us a nice house and everything! This is for Jess' own good! He is probably going to be the most successful person in our family! He will get a good education, make upper class friends and connections! Don't you want that for Jess?'

Luke paused for a second to think, ' fine, so he's rich, he can provide Jess with everything he needs. What happens when you and the guy gets a divorce huh? What are you going to do? How are you going to live up to that standard for Jess?'

' Well he's just going to deal with it then.' Liz said obviously while lighting up a cigarette.

Luke tried everything, he sighed, ' I'll have to talk to Jess first, if he doesn't want it, he's coming back with me. I'll wait downstairs in my truck. I can't talk to you anymore, you never fail to make me mentally explode.'

Luke stomped out the apartment with a bang on the door.

During the game 6:30pm

Charles got the VIP luxury Box tickets, it has a close and clear view of the entire stadium. The game has started for more than an hour and a half, but Jess was staring at the ground the entire time.

' Jess, buddy, come on, you gotta watch this! Paul's about to get a homerun, don't you wanna see it?' Charles asked.

Jess shook his head in reply. Of course Jess wanted to see it, he was trying so hard to refrain himself from watching the game. He insisted that he want his first baseball game to be watched with Luke so this was the only way he could do it.

' Jess...' Charles sighed, ' Come on buddy you have to watch this! I know you want to watch it with your uncle but I assure you he will be more happy if you actually enjoyed the game than sitting there and looking at your shoelace.'

Jess looked up, 'Really?'

Charles smiled and nodded. ' If he really loves you, he will want to see you happy.'

Jess nodded in agreement, ' He loves me more than the entire world.' then he proceeded to watch the game, he looked out at the green field and thousands of crowd cheering for the Yankees. He had never seen such a big crowd and be a part of a big crowd in life. Everything was so fresh and exciting for him.

' Oh! there goes the ball!' Charles shouted, Jess was so nervous, he wanted Paul O'neill to hit a run so badly.

It was a homerun and the victory music was blasting in the atmosphere along with a very happy little Jess jumping up and down for the win.

Downstairs of Liz' apartment 7:30pm

Charles' driver parked right in front of Liz' apartment building. Luke's truck was parked right across the street, he saw Jess and Charles walked out of the limo. Luke was about to get out of the car, but something stopped him.

The scene of Jess holding Charles' hand, giggling when Charles told him something funny and Charles eventually giving him a piggyback ride up the stairs.

Luke stared at the two, focusing on the smiling face of Jess until the two disappeared into the building. Luke sat there for a moment, he shook his head slowly, a little drop of tear wailed up in his eyes and a bittersweet smile hung on his face. He knew it's time for him to go. It's time to let it go. He thought to himself, it will be better if he doesn't say goodbye to Jess. He thought Jess was still little, the boy's memory of his uncle would fade eventually.

He turned on his engine and headed for highway 95.

Credit Roll Song: Winning Streak by Glen Hansard

A/N: Can't stop listening to this song while writing this chapter. It totally expressed how Luke was feeling when he was leaving Jess. He wanted Jess to have a better future and he knew he probably couldn't top what Charles could offer Jess. Luke wishes Jess well and hope Jess will forget him. :'(

Oh! And I was imagining Charles looking like Richard Gere.

Thank you for reading! Let me know how you feel about this chapter! Reviews are always greatly appreciated! Till then...stay tuned! :)

DC Nixon, thank you for your review! I'm just trying to live up to the GG style of dropping bombs! Bam! Luke has a daughter. Bam! Lorelai got a dog. Bam! Rory stole a yacht. You're probably hating me more for this chapter...

Anon1, thank you for your review! Laughed so hard at your question, is there a hitman in Stars Hollow? LOL I wish. Then I can just randomly kill off characters that I don't like. And yes, I'm feeling way better now thanks for asking!

Guest, thank you for your review! I'm glad my update made you happy! It also makes me happy! Well.. I don't know, so far doesn't Charles sounds like a good guy to you?

roganjalex, thank you for your review! Hope you continue to find this entertaining!

RhizOneill, thank you for your review! Hmmm..doesn't look like it... :( don't kill me!

junienmomo, thank you for your review! Yup, been waiting to drop the Liz bomb quite some time now. It's long due. I actually hesitated whether I really wanna go so far with this plot because I felt so bad for Luke during the last part of this chapter.

Nancy, thank you for your review! I know :( Luke has made such great progress in parenting and so did Jess with his behaviour and everything. Definitely, Liz always means trouble. But good things always has an end to it so...I mean...doesn't Charles sounds like a good fella? ,