A/N two amazing artists drew up two pictures for some of the scenes of this story! I expect more to come. Feel free to check it out and follow on instagram #wolvecub07

Chapter 26: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

CNN World News May 21st 8am

A man, known as Charles Mathers, CEO of Keywest Energy, is now on warrant search by the RCMP in Alberta, Canada after physically and sexually abuse and strangling a boy of eight, an American citizen who is now in critical situation in Alberta Children's Hospital. Alisyn in Calgary has more details on that.

The TV screen now zoomed to a news reporter in a big black coat holding a mic outside of a building.

Alisyn can you tell us more about the situation right now?

Yes, Patrick. I am now just standing outside of the Alberta Children Hospital. The Calgary Police Department had just confirmed the suspect as Charles Mathers, CEO of transnational oil and gas company, Keywest Energy. Police just posted a warrant search on the man for charges on sexual, physical abuse of a child and possible drug trafficking related to the recent discovery of 2.5million worth of benzoylmethylecgonine, commonly known as cocaine in New York a month ago. The police also released a statement of the child's condition. Multiple stab wounds and signs of sexual abuse, the child, who is an American citizen is now in critical situation.

Do we have any contact of the child's parents or legal guardian?

No. The immigration department did however confirm the child cross the border with his birth mother, Elizabeth Danes on April 27th. The police department has also warranted a search on Elizabeth Danes for child neglect and drug abuse.

Thank you, Alisyn. We will have more on the breaking news later today. A car crash happened last night at 1 am on highway...

' no...no...no! This can't be happening! Jess!' Luke screamed and was shivering.

Then he opened his eyes. Panting and catching his breathe. He quickly grabbed the alarm clock next to the bed, May 20th Sunday 1am. He immediately let out a sigh of relief. That was just a dream. He slowly sat up, and hung his head low. He was still breathing heavily. He put his hand on his bare chest, he could feel the sweat all over his body and the exploding speed of his heartbeat. He got up quietly, not wanting to wake his girlfriend. He walked down the stairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Luke couldn't go back to sleep. He was afraid to even switched on the television after that dream. He sat on the couch and put down the glass of water. He was just staring at the scattered with books and magazines coffee table of Lorelai's. He knew he was boarding and going to Canada in the afternoon, but he wanted to do something. He wanted to something now. He didn't want to sit down. What if the dream was going to happen? Fuck! Luke growled under his breathe and punched himself on his thigh.

Why didn't you just ask Liz to give up her legal parental right and signed yourself as legal guardian at the first place? Luke, why are you such an idiot, you never make things right! When mom died, you didn't keep an eye on Liz, you just let her rotten herself. When dad was about to die, all he wanted was to see Liz one more time, you couldn't even find her! Fuck! Luke! FUCK! You piece of shit! Now, you're gonna lose yet another family member!

'Luke, hun, are you okay?' Lorelai who went downstairs and was sitting next to Luke now.

Luke was trembling, ' I just keep letting people down, Lorelai. I'm the fuckin problem.'

Lorelai smoothed his back and comforted him, ' Don't say that. You're not. Jess will be okay, I know he will be.'

' No, he might not be! I saw him. I saw him in my dream just now! He was in critical condition, Charles that son of a gun tried to kill him!' Luke bursted out before his voice started to crack a little from all the emotion.

' It was just a dream, babe. Everything will be alright. Once we get to Canada, we will find Jess and we will bring him back if that even means we are kidnapping him.' Lorelai assured him.

Luke took a deep breathe, ' I don't know Lorelai. Think about it logically, I'm not in anyway Jess' legal guardian. Liz is not dead and Charles is rich. There's no game plan. There's nothing we can possibly do at this point really.'

Lorelai knew he was right, but she insisted that they should do something, something. The room was very quiet for a minute. Luke and Lorelai were both out of solutions. Luke was again staring at the pile of books and magazines on the coffee table.

Yellow page. Mariano. Jimmy Mariano!

Luke immediately threw the other books on the ground which were slightly covering the yellow book on the table and started flipping the book frantically.

Lorelai was confused, ' what are you doing?'

' Looking for Jimmy's phone number! It's not too late if I find Jimmy!' Luke replied and glued his eyes on the book. He knew Jimmy owns a few hotdog places in California and New York.

' Jess' father?'

' Yes! Jess' deadbeat father! and I also need to call up my pal, Ed. He's a lawyer. I should call Ed first. Why didn't I think of this earlier!' Luke blurted out everything quickly. He felt a sigh of relief that he finally found something to do, to may be solve the situation.

Saturday 11:30pm Alberta (1:30am Connecticut)

860-564-5885

You have reached Lukes' Diner. We are currently closed right now. Please call back later.

860-564-9811

It was Jess' voice.

You have reached Luke Danes and Jess Mariano's, we are currently too busy watching baseball, please leave a message, we will call you back later if the Yankees win tonight.

Damn it. Henry mumbled. He needed to talk to Luke as soon as possible. The next flight to Connecticut is in the morning. He knew he needed to act fast before something happens.

212-617-0902

' Hello?' a woman picked up the phone in a sleeping voice.

' Claire?' Henry replied.

' Henry?'

' Yes, I need some help. I know you don't want to do and be related to anything back up here in Canada. But this is serious.'

' Henry, you're my little brother, I'll do anything for you. But if this is for Charles, you can say your goodbye now.'

' This is for me. And this is for a little boy that is about to have our childhood history repeated on him.'

Claire got out of her bed and into her living room, ' Keep talking.'

' Long story short, I need you to drive up to Connecticut right now. To find a man called Luke Danes in Stars Hollow, he owns a diner. I checked, it's a small town, it shouldn't be that hard to find him.'

Claire nodded, ' okay, so assume I find this guy Luke Danes what do I do? And who is he?'

' He's the kid's uncle, tell him to get to Canada as soon as he can. Tell him what we are afraid that would happen to his nephew, Jess. Give him my apartment address and my phone number okay?' Henry explained.

' Okay, but Henry, do you have a plan? You are running against Charles, he can snap you with just his thumb in a split second.' Claire worried.

' I was just checking the company's net profit for the year, it does not make any sense. The numbers had been changed up. In the economy right now, Keywest cannot be making that much of an amount. Every single oil & gas companies are laying off people, selling off shares and lands while we kept purchasing and buying up small companies. It simply is not possible. So I secretly held an investigation and I found out something. Charles is in another business.'

' Illegal business?'

' Yes. A big one. With El Chapo.'

' El Chapo! The druglord?!' Claire exclaimed.

' Yes. So before anything happen to the kid, I'm gonna use this against him. I have documents to proof it. I don't know how he can fight against me with all his money, it's the legit, first hand documents that I stole from his house last week.'

' And he had not discovered that by now?'

' I put in a bunch of unrelated pile in just to cover up for now. Besides, it's not like he's the only one who's rich. I do own 40% of the share of the company as of three months ago.'

' True. Okay, I'm gonna head out now. I'll keep you informed. Bye.'

'Bye.'

Sunday 1:30am Lorelai's house.

' Hello, Ed? This is Luke. Sorry to wake you up. But this is urgent.'

Ed answered, ' It's alright. This is about Jess right?'

' Yes. I need to know about my possibility of becoming Jess' legal guardian. I'm flying to Canada tomorrow afternoon, so it really is urgent.'

' Okay, no worries, I'll get up now and change. Meet you at your diner?'

' Ok, that works, I'll be there in a minute. Thank you so much, Ed. I owe you.'

' No worries, pal. See you there.'

And Luke hung up the phone, proceeded to walk up the stairs and grab his shirt before heading down to his truck. He kissed Lorelai, ' hey, go back to sleep. We have a long trip tomorrow. I'll keep you posted okay?'

Lorelai gave him a soft smile, then a kiss, ' Okay. Love you.'

' Love you too.' Luke smiled and gave her another kiss on her lips before quickly heading out to his truck.

Sunday 12am Charles' Mansion

Jess' POV

Pee. I need to Pee. Shut up! You're supposed to be sleeping!

Jess was laying in bed, covered in his blanket with one hand holding Speedy tightly and another hand trying to hold his urge of using the bathroom. He peeked out of his blanket to look at the clock next to his bed.

12am. Sleep Jess sleep! It's way pass 9pm!

Jess closed his eyes again, tried to sleep for ten seconds before all his terrible imagination of Charles and what was going to happen after 9pm scared him again.

But nothing happened... There's no light outside, there's no noise, there's no nothing. Just go to the bathroom and rush back quickly! No one's gonna even notice. Flush the toilet tomorrow morning!

The urge was killing him, he's been holding it since 10pm. He decided, he really need to go to the bathroom. He slowly took his left foot out of the blanket first. The cold air was tickling his bare foot.

No, foot! Get back in Foot! Charles is going to eat you alive!

He resumed his position under the blanket. He was too frightened by the 9pm warning. But he kept on finding courage within himself to go use the bathroom.

Ok, think. think. think. This cannot be worse than Welcome to the dead house. Charles for sure is not a ghost. Mom is not a ghost, too. They are not ghosts and they are not going to want me to be dead if they are not ghosts. The worst that could happen is Charles likes to hit people, like Jack.

Jess took a deep breathe.

You can take a hit, Jess. You heal like wolverine. Just go.

He finally slipped out of his blanket and was tiptoeing quickly to the door.

The light outside suddenly switched on and he heard footsteps.

Jess panicked, he was whimpering inside. He quickly got back to his bed and hide under his blanket. He hugged speedy tightly, shut his eyes closed and breathed heavily.

Don't come inside. Whoever you are, don't come in my room. Please don't come into my room.

Jess was too terrified, he couldn't concentrate on holding back. He just had to let it flow. He started silently weeping under his blanket. He felt weak.

Jess Mariano, you're a stinkin' dumb idiot. You're a weak baby! You're crying and peeing your pants. You're useless. No wonder Uncle Luke doesn't want you back! Mom's right, you are a trouble to everyone.

Jess cried himself to sleep that night.

Sunday 2:30am Luke's Diner

' So you're saying if I can get Jimmy to give up his legal parental right and also prove that Liz is not capable of taking care of Jess, I have a very great chance to be Jess' legal guardian?' Luke asked, pouring more coffee for his friend.

Ed nodded, ' Yes, they will judge upon these few categories. One, the minor has been abandoned by the parent.'

' Well, Jimmy was never there for Jess and Liz is not any better.' Luke nodded.

Ed continued, ' Two, the minor has had physical injury or injuries other than by accidental means, or has injuries that are at variance with the history given of them or is in a condition that is the result of maltreatment.'

' That definitely happened. Jess was physically abused before he came here to live with me.'

' And the minor has been found to be neglected or uncared for.'

' That Jess can explain himself. He did tell me some snippets of times where there wasn't food in the house for a couple of days and Liz left him home alone sometimes for the whole day.'

Ed jotted down some notes before he put down his pen, ' You are looking good right now, but nothing is guaranteed.'

'I know. But how bout that Charles Mathers?'

' As long as he is not yet married to Liz, whatever he possibly signed right now, could not be effective.'

' But he could still hire a top notch lawyer for Liz and twist this whole thing around.' Luke worried.

' That's true. And we'll just have to hope for the best that the judge will see through the truth and has a heart.' Ed sighed.

Luke sighed as well, he stood up, ' I should call Jimmy now.'

A knock on Luke's diner. Claire arrived.

' Diner's closed, sorry.' Luke went up and opened the door.

' Are you Luke Danes?'

' Yes.'

' I'm Claire Mathers.' Claire held out her right hand.

' Mathers? You related to Charles Mathers?'

' Yes unfortunately. I'm here with an urgent news. Your nephew, Jess is not safe. You have to go to Canada as soon as possible.'

' Here's the address and phone number of my brother, Henry. He will be helping you and guiding you once you get to Calgary.'

' Okay. I will go there once I arrive. The thing is, Claire. I'm not Jess' legal guardian. And Charles is rich. He can make whatever he wants to happen, happen.'

' Don't worry. Henry got it all figured out. He has something to blackmail Charles. You can sort out the legal guardianship afterwards. You have to get Jess out of that house as soon as possible.' Claire explained. She swallowed before she decided to speak more, ' Every night, after 9pm. There's a possibility. A possibility... that.'

Luke widened his eyes, ' a possibility of what, Claire?'

' A possibility that Charles might be hurting him.' Claire replied, trembling as she had flashbacks of the past.

'Hurting him how?!' Horrified Luke asked.

Claire muttered, ' you don't wanna know..'

' Just tell me Claire. I will be even more worried if you don't tell me exactly how Charles is going to hurt Jess.'

' He could be hurting him in every possible way. Physically...' Claire took a deep breathe before she could continue, ' sexually. Henry and I had been hurt by him. We believed there was another kid before us but we had no idea what happened to him. We were probably the only ones who survived it throughout the years.'

Luke felt his heart sank to the very bottom. Jess could be struck, raped or killed any second from now. That dream of his, was getting very surreal. And he is just sitting here.

' We couldn't speak up for ourself. We were all just adopted, scared and manipulated. He provided us with education, everything we wanted as a kid, treated our mother fairly, he was really good at messing with your mind. Especially, a kid's mind.' Claire continued. ' It took me more than 8 years to overcome the trauma after I moved out of that house when I could.'

' I'm so sorry for what happened to you and your brother.' Luke sincerely said.

' Don't waste your time to be sorry for us. Save your nephew before it's too late. I gotta go. I wish you luck.' Claire replied and then hugged Luke before she left the diner and drove back to New York.

Sunday 3am Luke's Diner

310-782-2278

' Who is this?' A grumpy younger man answered the phone.

' Jimmy? This is Luke.'

' Luke who?' The man frustrated asked.

' Luke Danes. Liz's brother. Your son's uncle.' Luke grunted.

Jimmy was all awake all of a sudden, he got out of bed and went to the living room to continue the chat, avoiding to wake his wife. ' Why are you calling at 3am? Did Liz die or Jess?'

' No, no one's dead. For now. But soon.'

' What!'

' Let me just cut to the chase okay. I am out of time here. Jess, your son that you have never cared about until recently, where you just left him when you saw him and broke his heart. Is in serious danger. And it all depends on you to save him.'

Jimmy just paused, ' what do you mean he is in serious danger? Luke I have a family now that I have to take care of, my wife doesn't know about my past!'

' Jimmy fuck your excuse alright! For one god damn time, can you be a good father for once! You owe it to Jess!' Luke growled at the man.

'Okay, calm down man, calm down. What do you need from me? I can't make any promises here. I will try my best okay?' Jimmy said.

' You have to promise me, you are not going to sign anything associated with a man called Charles Mathers. I don't know if he would even find you, but just don't. Even if he's going to give you a million dollars for your hotdog stand.'

' Who? Charles what?'

' God damn it! Just listen alright! Don't sign anything, until I come back from Canada. Meanwhile, give up your legal parental right of Jess while I also file an application of being Jess' legal guardian. You will regret for your whole life if you sign anything. Jess might be struck, raped or killed right now, any moment from now!'

Jimmy paused. He might be an absent father, but ' struck, rape and kill' his own blood. That's way over the line. ' This Charles Mathers is trying to kill my son?!'

' Yes. And he is rich as hell, and with Liz, okay? So if you care about your boy even in the slightest, please do this one thing right. Don't screw this up please.'

' I won't. Luke, I promise I won't screw this up. You have my words.' Jimmy assured Luke, he was not going to let some man hurt his son. His only son.

A/N First of all, how bout that GG style dream that scared the crap out of you. lol. so sorry guys. This is longer than I thought. There will be a part 2. I just don't want to go up to 6000 words at once. Luke has got himself quite an avengers team right here. But Charles is like Ultron. Let's hope Liz won't be screwing things up now... hopefully...It is just a lot of explaining and talking in this one, next chapter will be the real deal. Thank you for reading, reviews are always greatly appreciated! Till then...stay tuned.

Nancy, thank you for your review! Loving your key flushing to the toilet idea! Charles do deserve to be locked up and handled, but sometimes bad guys win it all the way... or gets away with it at least. But I will promise that I will keep your wish list in my mind. Liz ha, Jimmy is even better than Liz in this chapter. Let's hope Jimmy keeps his promise. He is pretty flaky too you know? I like Henry too. I'm glad Jess has someone that's kind of at his side in Canada. Jess had been through too much throughout the story. Especially in this chapter, sleep. 9pm is gonna be a real trauma for the boy :( he's just 8 and more than a half!

Guest, thank you for your review and the support! Thank you for reading every chapter, that meant a lot to me. I understand and agree where you are coming from. Yes, Luke is Mr. Responsibility and it is weird that he isn't trying to do anything. But he almost always (to me at least) jumps to conclusions first, and then realised he made a wrong decision or something. And then eventually mending it back. That was the angle I was trying to get for these few chapters. Hopefully, the story is getting better and more to the character now, I apologize that I made you felt that way. thanks for the review again!

Anon1, thank you for your review! Haha, I actually had some sort of same thought as you when I decided to go with this sleep 9pm thing. I was like, are you trying to make Charles a vampire or something? That will just turn this story upside down, that's for sure lol. You toured the saddledome! Did you watch a game there? Did you catch the stampede event in Calgary (during early July)? It's the time where everyone turns into cowboys and cowgirls for a week. Also, thank you so much for the typo reminder! Thanks for saving the day ;)