Title: Guidance and Good Counsel
Rating: PG-13/T
Originally posted: 23rd September 2019
Originally written for: jeffgoldblumvevo
Characters/Pairings: Jess & Lily & April & Doula
Notes: for Treatmas 2019 at AO3.

January 2019

"Congratulations, munchkin."

"Seriously, Jess?" Lily mock glared at him via the video chat. "I'm twenty-three years old and I just told you I'm getting married. Enough with the munchkin."

He smirked at that but never made any promises to stop using his nickname for her. It didn't matter that she was no longer half his height, she was still much younger, and so often he could still see the little girl who hid in cabinets to read staring back at him across the internet.

"So, this is the guy I met last Christmas?" he checked. "The physicist from CalTech?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know his name." Lily rolled her eyes. "You know, Noah didn't stop talking about you for at least a week after you left Venice last visit. I almost thought he was going to dump me and run after you, all the way to Philly."

"Huh. Tell him he's not my type."

"Trust me, I did."

Jess chuckled at that, just knowing it was probably true. Lil may not be his sister by blood, but she had picked up a little of his sardonic humour somewhere along the line. To be fair, she probably got it from daily contact with Jimmy more than the fleeting visits that Jess paid to California these days, but he liked to think he had some influence at least. Lily certainly looked on him as her big brother, keeping in touch on a pretty regular basis and never treating him as anything less than part of the family.

"So, this whole wedding thing, it's not the shotgun kind, right?" he asked her, almost seriously. "I don't think I'm ready to be 'Uncle Jess' yet."

"No babies, just a wedding," Lily promised. "Trust me, I learnt from everybody else's mistakes. I wouldn't even have agreed to that much if I wasn't totally sure about Noah."

Jess almost wanted to ask if she counted him in those people who made big relationship mistakes. She knew the whole sorry tale of him and Rory, as well as a couple of other failed relationships he had since that weren't even half so serious. Still, he suspected Lil was thinking more of Sasha's first marriage, maybe Jimmy and Liz, and moreover, probably a bunch of fictional couples she loved like best friends.

"Jess?"

"Still here," he promised, not having realised he zoned out so badly that Lily thought the screen had frozen and the connection was gone. "Any other news I need to hear?"

"Not really," she said, seeming to consider it. "Mom and Jimmy are the same as ever, dysfunctional but fine."

"That sounds right." Jess nodded. "You look happy, munchkin."

"I'm so happy," she assured him, not even bothering to complain about the nickname this time. "You know, it'll almost be worth having the whole expensive wedding just to get you back here to visit again. I mean, you'll come, right?"

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away," he promised her faithfully. "Just give me lots of warning on the date, okay? Things tend to get a little crazy around here and it's not exactly a round trip that I can make in a day."

"You'll get your official invitation," Lily assured him. "It really will be so great to see you, Jess."

"Yeah, you too, Lil," he said, smiling at her, wondering how the hell she got so grown up all of a sudden.

She really didn't look much like the munchkin she used to be a whole lot of the time, but Lily would always be Jess' little sister, he was sure on that.

April 2019

"I'm not a damsel in distress, I didn't need rescuing!" April complained, dragging her arm from Jess' grip and almost falling on her face when the momentum caught up to her.

"Of course not," he said flatly, grabbing a hold of her again before she really did herself some damage. "That's why you called me at two in the morning and asked me to come get you, because you really didn't need any help."

"I didn't say I didn't need help, I said I didn't need rescuing," she countered, staggering as Jess helped her up the steps to the apartment door. "Jess?"

"What?"

"I'm going to vomit."

"Aww, geez!"

It was a pretty close call. How Jess got the door unlocked, manoeuvred April inside, and got her head over the toilet bowl before the expulsion of her stomach, he would never know, but he was grateful to whatever benevolent forces helped him out with that.

Parking his butt on the edge of the tub, he held April's hair back as best he could while she continued to bring up her guts for a while. Jess couldn't exactly judge her, he had been in the same position himself over the years, and for much the same reason at times.

"Ugh, I am never drinking again!" April wailed when the worst was over.

"You say that now, Jose Cuervo," Jess joked, running a wash cloth under the tap and handing it to her. "It's amazing how fast people forget that promise," he said, returning to his place on the edge of the tub.

It was weird seeing his little cousin like this. It wasn't the first time Jess had seen her drunk, though on previous occasions it had been the happy, carefree kind of inebriation that she wore so well. Of course, before, she had never been screwed over by her boyfriend of two years standing, the weekend of her birthday party, in a city that wasn't home.

"Men suck," she declared, words slightly muffled by the wash cloth still on her face.

"Some women aren't exactly great either."

April looked momentarily thoughtful. "Granted," she conceded before long, her back sliding against the side of the tub until her head landed on Jess' knee with a thud. "My boyfriend and my best friend. That's pretty disgusting."

"No arguments here," Jess agreed, taking the used cloth and tossing it into the sink. "You feel any better?"

"Obviously not." April rolled her eyes, seeming to regret it the moment she was done. "Ugh, it's not like I don't get it. Hormones, pheromones, it's all just biology, right? Love isn't real," she said, the words catching in her throat and choking her as tears suddenly sprang from her eyes.

Jess sighed, rubbing her back comfortingly. "I know it'd be easier to believe that, kid," he told her softly, "but it's real, and it hurts like nothing else. Just be glad you've got proof that it can be lived through," he said, looking down at her. "You're never alone, April."

She stared back at him and found him a watery smile. "You know, you're so much like my dad, only cooler," she confessed.

Jess smirked at that. "Nobody's cooler than Luke," he insisted.

It was worth it just to hear her laugh. She was going to be fine.

August 2019

They both knew it was going to happen eventually.

When Jess had told Doula that she could always call him, day or night, if things got too bad at home, he had hoped she wouldn't need more than someone to talk to and tell her everything would be okay. Of course, what he knew would actually happen before long was that his kid sister would feel the need to run. When that day came, Jess was determined that Doula would have someone to run to, not just someone to run from like he did.

"I told you I'd come get you," he said, getting out of the car and slamming the door behind him. "You couldn't just stay put?"

"Meeting half way was easier on you." Doula shrugged. "Besides, I knew you were tracking my phone. What's the worst that could've happened?"

Jess bit his lip so he wasn't tempted to answer that question. He should tell her. He should scare the living daylights out of the smartass almost-thirteen-year-old so that she never did something so stupid again, but he didn't. She was already going through enough. The lecture about travelling alone in the dark would have to wait. Plus, he would have to figure out how to make it less hypocritical than it currently was in his head.

"What, no hug?" she asked with a smirk that was too much like his own.

Funny, Jess had always thought he got that from Jimmy. Apparently not.

"C'mere, brat," he said, smirking right back at her as he pulled her into his arms and held her tight for a few seconds. "So, they finally wore you down, huh?"

"It's been insane the past few days." Doula sighed as they parted. "Dad tries, I know he does, but Mom is just..." she trailed off with a look on her face that Jess had seen too many times in the mirror over the years.

"Yeah, that's Lizzy," he said, shaking his head. "Anything specific I should know about?" he asked, encouraging Doula towards the passenger side of the car.

"Not really. I mean, the whole clean living, born again Zen Buddhist thing didn't last."

"Huh. Because it was so likely too," Jess deadpanned as they got into the car and he made sure Doula put her seatbelt on. "You remember to leave them a note before you split?"

"I put it on the table, used the vodka bottle as a paperweight. One of them should find it pretty fast," she said flatly, no hint of emotion involved.

Jess bit his lip and concentrated on starting the car. Sometimes Liz and TJ actually did okay. Sure, he was more than a little stupid, but he meant well. She even tried sometimes, for weeks, even months at a time, but then something happened, something asinine, something a little too much like the old days.

No, Doula's visit would be temporary. Eventually, Jess would take her back to Stars Hollow, and he and Luke would have to stage another intervention. It was the usual insane merry-go-round. Some things never changed.

The smile came back to Jess' face when he realised the radio had come on when he started the car and Doula was tapping the same rhythm in her lap as he was on the steering wheel, to The Ramones of all people.

"You're a twelve-year-old with good taste," he said without looking at her, smirking because he couldn't help it.

"I get it from my brother," she said, eyes as fixed on the road ahead as his were. "He's pretty cool, for an old guy."

Jess only laughed and drove on home.