***Author's note***

I don't know where else to put this, so let me know if this is incorrect. This chapter is where I start deviating a little bit from the show.

Boxes

The next week, with no warning, Jess's stuff began to arrive from New York. He had been in the diner when the first five were delivered; nondescript boxes with no outward sign of what was inside.

"Luke, did you make an extra order for this week?" Jess shouted at Luke, who was in the kitchen cooking for the small midafternoon crowd.

"What? I didn't order anything," his uncle replied.

"Then what are all these boxes?"

Luke finally popped his head out from the kitchen where he'd been cooking.

"I dunno, but they can't stay out there. See what they are, will ya?"

Jess pulled out his pocketknife and went to open the nearest box. His heart sank as the smell of Liz's apartment rose toward him: stale cigarette smoke and cheap incense. He lifted the flaps and recognized his clothes and a few CDs thrown haphazardly inside. A flood of emotions crashed over him like ice water, and he felt a sharp prick behind his eyes. He clenched his teeth together tightly, snatched the box off the ground and turned on his heel to take it upstairs.

By the time he had carried each heavy box up and inside Luke's apartment, he was sweating, and the raging pain of being unwanted and discarded like a broken toy had settled back into a dull ache in the pit of his stomach that he was, for the most part, able to ignore as usual. He had at the very least regained control of his face and was once again exuding an air of cool detachment. He went back downstairs and was relieved to find it packed. Luke was too busy cooking to ask questions, and Jess, possibly for the first time ever, threw himself into work, hoping to achieve the same thing.

Boxes continued to arrive throughout the week, and Jess continued to imagine, bitterly, how relieved Liz must be to have that extra space all to herself. She had not taken any care with his things; after opening a few boxes looking for specific books and CDs he'd been missing, he had found that none of his clothes had been folded, his books had been crammed in together, covers and pages bent and ripped, CDs tossed inside hurriedly. Jess recognized the signs of a drug-fueled flurry of excited activity. She would have these episodes occasionally, and he always made sure to clear out of the apartment when she did. When he came back, whatever project she had started would be half-finished, and he would be left to put the apartment back together. As angry as he was with her, as much as he hated living with her, he missed New York and had been expecting to go back. However, the fact that he now had all of his things told him she had been more motivated than usual, and he knew he did not have a place in New York anymore.

Avoiding these thoughts was high on Jess' list of priorities, and he had stubbornly refused to deal with the rest of the boxes, which had caused Luke to pester him incessantly about unpacking. Jess had asked his uncle several times where in hell he expected the contents of the boxes to go, considering that the apartment was already cramped, and had not received a satisfactory answer. The next Tuesday, during a lull in the diner, Luke finally forced Jess upstairs and told him to get it done and figure it out, so Jess tore through the boxes in the least helpful way possible. They were all technically open, the majority of his things were technically unpacked, and the fact that it was next to impossible to navigate the apartment gave him a strange, fierce sense of satisfaction. The anger and crushing sadness that he was now constantly trying to tamp down caused him to lash out at Luke, and while he recognized this, he was unable to grapple with his own fury and self-loathing, much less question why he was actively adding fuel to that fire.

The next day, while he was in the bathroom getting ready for school, he heard Lorelai come into the apartment. He rolled his eyes at her inescapable, ridiculous chatter before finally opening the door to leave.

"You've been in there for two hours," Luke snapped at him.

"Yeah well, my hair just ain't bouncin' and behavin' today," Jess said sarcastically.

"There are other people living here, too, y'know."

Jess picked up a stack of books in case school got to be too much.

"Huh. Learn something new every day," he said and headed toward the door.

Later, after another series of unproductive hours at Stars Hollow High, Jess thought he could actually see the black cloud of anger hanging over him. The emotional upheaval caused by the arrival of the boxes had caused him to abruptly lose all motivation for school. He continued to go, but he reverted back to bringing his own reading material and wholly ignoring his teachers and classmates. He went back to Luke's and made an excuse to skip his shift at the diner. He put a few of his most obnoxious CDs into the CD player, made sure they would play on a loop, and flopped down into the nest that he had carved out for himself among the debris of his previous life. He stretched out his hand and felt around until he found a book. He picked it up without looking at the title and began to read, folding his arm behind his head to be more comfortable. As he did, his fingers brushed against Rory's bracelet that he'd placed under his pillow. He held it loosely in his hand as he read, taking comfort from it.

What felt like moments later, he was awakened by the sound of Luke muttering angrily and the sudden sensation of clothes landing on top of him. He sat up bleary-eyed and saw Luke frantically digging through the mound of clothes by Jess' bed.

"Whoa, jeez! What the hell?!" shouted Jess.

"I can't stand it! I'm going crazy! This place is awful! I can't live like this anymore." Luke was gesticulating wildly and pointing a finger accusingly down at Jess.

Jess rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and said, "Just relax!"

"I can't relax! I can't sleep. I'm having nightmares about being chased around by boxes with arms, and they tackle me and pile clothing on top of my face and secure it around my head with packing tape, and I'm just lying there choking while you're sittin' in the corner laughing, putting gel in your hair with a switchblade!"

Jess was alarmed by Luke's manic energy. "Should I be putting a tongue depressor in your mouth right about now?"

"We're moving!" Luke exclaimed suddenly.

"What?"

"Tomorrow."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you and me going out, getting a paper and finding a new place to live."

"But I–"

"No buts! Ten o'clock tomorrow morning, I want you up, washed, moussed and ready to leave. End of story. Now go back to bed."

Jess bowed his head and didn't respond, suddenly uncomfortable.

"What?" asked Luke impatiently.

"I need the music on to sleep," Jess admitted quietly, embarrassed.

This hadn't been a problem before, when he'd assumed the move was temporary, but the negative noise in his head had gotten louder and louder with the arrival of each box, and the music helped drown it out. Thankfully, Luke decided not to ask questions. Instead, he turned, put the music back on and left. Jess laid down and closed his eyes, the roiling feelings of anger and sadness now mixed with guilt. Luke had given Jess a job, a place to sleep and a certain, silent, gruff sense of support, so Jess wondered, yet again, why he seemed determined to make Luke miserable. He fell asleep trying to think of ways to drag himself out of the hole he found himself in.

The next morning, Lorelai came by early to offer Jess a job cleaning out her gutters. Her clear reluctance told him that Luke was involved in this unexpected turn of events, so he tried to keep his tone civil. He mentioned that Luke was dragging him to look at new apartments at ten, so they agreed that he should be at her house around noon. They said goodbye awkwardly, and Jess went back to getting ready.

By eleven thirty that morning, he and Luke had looked at five different places, which all seemed to have some unredeemable quality, and Jess was beginning to lose patience. As he tried to convince Luke to choose the apartment with the windows he'd liked, the last hour of arguments suddenly overwhelmed him, and Jess found himself lashing out at Luke again.

"You know what? I don't care. Pick whichever one you want," Jess snapped.

"I'm not picking by myself," his uncle said flatly.

"You're the one that wants to move," Jess said.

Because of me, and all my stuff. How long before you decide to ship me off, too?

"Oh, so you like living the way we do?" Luke asked, skeptical.

"Fine by me," Jess said.

"No space, no privacy," Luke said, and Jess felt sure that he was close to being kicked out yet again.

"I got plenty of privacy," Jess said stonily.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm sittin' downstairs in the dark watching a two-inch TV."

"Hey, you're the one with the problem. You make the choice."

And I'm the problem. Even when I'm not doing anything but existing, I'm a problem.

"Jess, come on!" Luke said loudly.

"I have to go," said Jess flatly.

"We got three more places to look at."

"I'm supposed to be at Lorelai's in twenty minutes, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," said Luke, putting his hand on Jess's shoulder.

"I mean, if you want me to bail on her, fine," said Jess.

"No, you go, I'll look at the places alone," Luke said.

"Great idea," Jess said as he walked away.

"I'll take some polaroids, and you can take a look at them later," offered his uncle.

Jess turned around, wondering where Luke was hiding a camera. "Take a polaroid, paint a still picture, whatever you want," he said angrily.

"Jess, come on."

"Hey, nobody asked me if I wanted to move to Stars Hollow, but I'm here. Pick whatever place you want, and I'll be there, too."

Angry and full of doubt, he walked away. He spent the time it took to get to Rory's house attempting to press down the rage and sadness that were plaguing him and hoping that Rory would be home to make his encounter with her mother less painfully uncomfortable. As he thought about Rory, his shoulders relaxed, and he took a deep breath. He climbed the stairs to their porch and pulled out the CD he'd brought for her. He knocked.

Rory opened the door, much to his relief.

"Hey," she said.

"Here," he said lazily as he tossed the CD at her, feigning indifference.

She caught it and turned it over to see what it was.

"The Shaggs?"

"Trust me."

"Okay. So, you're very punctual."

"Yeah, well, it was this or continue apartment hunting with Luke."

"You're moving?" she asked, surprised.

"I don't know. Luke flipped out last night, and the next thing I know, he's dragging me all over town, bangin' on pipes and measuring square footage. It's…crazy."

"Hm. A new place might be nice. More space. Maybe you'll get your own room."

If he doesn't decide he's sick of me first.

"You change your hair?" he asked, deftly turning the conversation away from himself.

"What?"

"Your hair. It looks…different."

"So…segues, not your thing, huh?"

"Is it?"

"Well, um…" She looked down, suddenly flustered. As he watched her try to regain her composure, the knot in his stomach began to loosen.

"No, I wear it like this a lot. Why?" she asked him warily.

"Just looks…different."

"Oh," she said, frowning. "Bad different?"

He smiled his crooked smile, and Rory's face flushed. Before he could say anything reassuring, he heard…quacking?

"We just got a new alarm clock," Rory explained.

"Hm. Bet I know what the lead story in the Stars Hollow Gazette's gonna be tomorrow," Jess said. He heard Lorelai's voice approaching and noticed that she trailed off awkwardly as she caught sight of him.

"Oh, Jess, you're…here," she said.

He forced a small smile but did not know how to respond to that statement which was dripping with obvious disappointment.

"Terrific," she said, her smile forced and plastic.

Yeah, so this definitely wasn't your idea. Why didn't you just say no when Luke asked?

There was an awkward pause.

"So…um...would you like to come in?" Rory asked, looking pointedly at her mom.

"Oh, yeah, come on in. Sorry, I was just so excited about the ducks that, um…Do you want something to drink? You have good timing 'cause we shopped yesterday, and in addition to a case of Maybelline Fresh Lash mascara, I also bought some of that new, uh, freaky Coke with the lemon in it. It's very addictive."

He stood awkwardly in the kitchen. She'd said so many words, and Lemon-flavored Coke sounded horrible, but he bit his tongue.

"You can sit, you know," offered Rory.

"No, thanks," he declined.

"So, Jess, what's new?" asked Lorelai, desperate to fill the silence as always.

"Not much," he replied, refusing to help.

Rory was getting frustrated with both of them. She looked at him, exasperated, as she told her mom that he and Luke were looking for an apartment.

Lorelai knew this already because she'd spoken to Jess that morning about it, albeit briefly. She grabbed a Coke out of the fridge and said, "Oh! You guys see anything good yet?"

"Nope," he answered, taking the Coke she offered.

"Well, you know, there's some really cool places over on Peach. Or on Plum. Hm. Orange. Basically any of your fruit-named streets are pretty nice."

He had no idea what to do with that information, and Lorelai had no idea what to do with his refusal to say anything.

"Okay, well, I guess you should get started. There's a ladder right out front and some buckets and gloves and stuff on the porch. If you need anything else, just walk against the wind," said Lorelai.

"Come on. I'll show you," Rory said to him.

He walked quickly out the door and onto the back porch. She followed a moment later.

"Question," she said. She sounded frustrated.

"Yes?" he asked as he gathered the things from the porch.

"You come over. You seem to have a very firm grasp of the English language. You put together several full sentences, even using a couple of words that contain two or more syllables, and then my mother appears, and suddenly, we need a thought bubble over your head to understand what you're thinking. Can you tell me why that is?"

"The verbal thing comes and goes."

Depending on the company.

"I would really appreciate it if you would try to get along with my mom," Rory said firmly.

Jess stood up and turned to look at her. "I took the Coke," he said.

"I know."

"Personally, I think it's a little crazy to put lemon in Coke, but I took it anyhow."

"Stop it," she said, furrowing her brow.

"Oooh, stern face," he teased.

"Look, I went out on a limb for you trying to get my mom to give you the benefit of the doubt, okay? So, I don't think it would hurt you to try to be nice," she said, stubbornly refusing to let it go.

"Why?"

"Why?" Rory repeated, confused.

"Yeah, why?"

This question brought her up short. "Because she's my mom and…she's a friend of Luke's," she added lamely, pointedly ignoring the other possible reasons that occurred to her.

"So?"

"What do you mean 'so'?"

"So just because she's your mom or Luke's friend doesn't mean that I automatically have to get along with her," he explained.

"Jess, my mother is a great person. She's also my best friend in the world, so, if you care about me at all, you will take that into consideration and you will be mildly polite to her," she said sternly.

Jess looked at her, trying to suppress the triumphant look on his face that was threatening to betray him.

"What makes you think I care about you?" It was a playful challenge.

Rory shifted from one foot to the other, discomfited, and stumbled slightly over her words.

"I–I don't mean care care, like care. I-I mean, if you like me at all–not like like, I just meant that if…", she interrupted herself, and Jess smiled at how much she was squirming. She huffed in frustration before continuing her ramble. "If you think of me remotely as the sort of person that you could occasionally stand to talk to, then you will try to get along with my mom, that's all."

"Okay." He had enjoyed watching her squirm, but he wasn't going to make her think he didn't care.

"Okay?" She wondered briefly if he care cared.

"I can't guarantee that it'll work, but I'll try," he said.

She tilted her head down to hide a small smile and then looked at him earnestly.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"You're welcome," he said.

They looked at each other for a moment. He wondered what she was thinking.

"I should probably get to work," said Jess, looking down at the gloves and buckets.

"Right. Sorry. Go ahead."

She walked back inside, and Jess crouched down to put everything together to start working. He played over the conversation again in his mind and smiled widely. As he climbed up onto the Gilmore's roof, he realized he hadn't smiled in days.

Rory went back inside, confused but oddly exhilarated by the conversation she had just had with Jess. She caught herself short and shoved the thoughts she was beginning to have and the ensuing questions roughly aside, remembering that she had planned to meet Dean at the Buy-a-Book Fundraiser that was happening in town. She said goodbye to her mom and headed out, wondering which table Jess would have headed for first. She shook her head and sped up, trying to outrun her subconscious.

Dean met her by the gazebo and leaned down to kiss her as always. She tilted her face upwards mechanically and felt a flash of irrational irritation at how tall he was. She grabbed his hand guiltily, and they walked together towards the many tables of books. She found herself thinking of the time she had spent with Jess in the bookstore after their conversation on the bridge. She tried to suppress the smile that was forming at the corners of her mouth, but Dean had already seen it.

"What?" Dean asked, laughing.

A strange expression crossed her face briefly before she said "Oh, I'm just excited about the books."

"Well, where are you going to start?"

"Fiction," she said excitedly. "You?"

"Come look at the fantasy section with me first," he said.

"Oh, okay."

"Just for a minute."

"Yeah, let's go."

She looked around with him for a few minutes and then wandered over to the fiction table. She let her hand trail over a collection of short stories by Kate Chopin and considered the likelihood of whether or not Jess had read The Storm yet. She frowned at herself and turned to a different table.

After a little while, she found Dean seated next to the pile of books she had collected.

"Inherit the Wind, 75 cents."

"Great," Dean said indifferently.

Rory continued, excited. "Now, here's a copy of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, which I already have, but in a hardback. This is a paperback. Fits perfectly in a coat pocket, and it's only a dollar. I'm torn. Opinions?"

"Get it," he said.

Her face fell when she heard the tone of his voice.

"You look bored," she observed.

"I'm fine," he lied.

"You sure you don't wanna look around? They have great stuff here."

"I looked."

"For five minutes," she chided.

"No, I looked for twenty minutes, and then I stopped, and you continued for another two hours."

She smacked his arm and said, "It has not been that long."

He showed her his watch.

"Ooh…sorry," she said regretfully.

I wouldn't have to apologize for this with Jess. He'd still be looking, too. The thought came on suddenly and made her feel guilty and frustrated.

"No big deal," Dean assured her, though his tone was half-hearted.

"Let's go," Rory said.

"Are you done?" he asked, surprised.

"Yep, I've looked enough," she lied.

"You're not done," said Dean.

"No, I'm fine, really. Let's go."

"Rory, stop it. You want to keep looking. I know you," Dean pressed.

"No, I wanna hang out with you," said Rory, and it was her turn to sound half-hearted.

"Are you sure?"

No.

"Yes. I'll just pay for these, and then we can go," she said as she collected her books.

"I thought maybe we could go see The Lord of the Rings again," he suggested.

She stared at him for a split second in disbelief and then nodded, resigned. "Oh, okay."

"What?" he asked, offended.

"Nothing," she said curtly.

"Well, I thought you liked The Lord of the Rings," he said defensively.

"I do."

"You said you wanted to see it a hundred times," he reminded her.

She caught herself about to roll her eyes. "Yes, and apparently we're being very literal these days."

"Fine, we'll see something else," said Dean, frustrated.

"Lord of the Rings is fine. Can you help me with these?" She left him with a stack of books and walked away quickly.

Dean caught up with her at the table in front of Gypsy and set her second stack of books down.

"Wow, you made out like a bandit," said Gypsy.

"Well, you've got great stuff this year," Rory said, wishing she were anywhere else.

"Hey, did you see the astronomy section over there?" Gypsy asked.

"Oh, yeah," said Rory, lying.

"You didn't find anything?"

"Nope."

"Wait, I didn't see you look over there," said Dean.

"Well, I did," Rory said, doubling down.

"Go look," said Dean.

"I told you, I'm done," she said tersely.

I'm done, she thought again. Am I done? I feel done. What am I done with?, she wondered as she pushed up her sleeves that were suddenly annoying her.

"Hey, where–where's your bracelet?" Dean asked suddenly.

"What?" said Rory.

"You're not wearing your bracelet," he observed, looking at both of her wrists.

"Oh," said Rory, realizing that he was right.

"Where is it?"

"I took it off," she said quickly.

"Why?" Dean's voice was taking on a panicked, insistent tone that filled her head with noise.

"Well…because I got this weird rash on my wrist," she invented.

"From the bracelet?"

"Oh no, just a–a fluke thing. Actually, I think my Spanish midterm gave it to me."

"Oh."

"But it's getting better. It's almost gone."

"Well, good," he said dubiously.

"And as soon as it's completely gone, that bracelet goes right back on."

She looked down, panicking, then glanced up at his face to see if he'd believed a word she'd just said. It was clear he had. She looked down again, feeling the panic rising. He grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the table.

"So uh…compromise," he said.

"What?"

"You go look at the astronomy section, we'll go see The Lord of the Rings, and then on the way home we'll rent Autumn in New York and mock it for the rest of the afternoon."

"With full-on impressions?" she asked, trying to seem excited.

"With full-on impressions."

"Deal," she said.

"Go. I'll wait here."

She looked at him, unsure.

"Smiling. Not at all bored," he reassured her.

She gave him a small smile and a peck on the lips as thanks before walking away towards the astronomy books. Her stomach was in knots, and she couldn't focus on any of the book titles. Dean had just filled up the entire rest of her day as well as the evening, and she had no idea how to get away from him and look for the bracelet.

Back at the Gilmore house, Jess had been working on the gutters for about two hours when Lorelai came out and asked if he'd like to join her for leftover Chinese. His stomach growled, but he refused immediately out of habit. Lorelai started to go back inside, but as he leaned over the gutter again, he hesitated, remembering what he'd said to Rory.

"Chinese sounds great," he called out.

Lorelai turned around and asked, "Really?" She was surprised but didn't sound upset.

"If you're sure you have enough," he said, offering her a way out.

She gave a wry laugh. "Oh, there's plenty. Rory and I decided to take on the entire chicken column last night."

"Ambitious," he said.

"Well, it's all out on the table, so come in when you're ready," said Lorelai.

"I'm ready now."

"Okay, then, I'll see you inside."

He climbed off the roof and down the ladder, shaking his head, knowing lunch with Lorelai was going to be uncomfortable. She met him inside and began to fill all the empty space with words.

"So, um, basically, everything here is chicken. You've got uh, garlic chicken, kung pao chicken, szechuan chicken, chicken in brown sauce, which looks and tastes remarkably like the szechuan chicken except it's got these red peppers in it, and if you eat them, you die." She took a deep breath and added, "Plate?"

"I thought I'd…", he said, trailing off as he raised his hands, dirty from cleaning out the gutters.

"Oh. Soap's on the counter," she said.

"So when was the last time you had those gutters cleaned?" he asked in an attempt at small talk.

"It's been a while," she admitted.

"Yeah, I found an 'I like Ike' bumper sticker up there," he teased.

She laughed. "Is it really bad?"

"Well, it won't be by tomorrow, " said Jess, drying his hands and approaching the table.

"I like hearing that." Her smile seemed less forced, and her tone less hostile.

"So, you guys aren't too hot on vegetables, huh?"

She pretended to take offense. "What are you talking about? There's green peppers in the kung pao."

"My mistake," he conceded.

"So, are you a healthy eater like Luke?" she asked, picking up his cue.

"No," he said immediately. "No one's a healthy eater like Luke. Euell Gibbons wasn't a healthy eater like Luke."

"Wow. It's been ages since I heard a good Euell Gibbons reference," Lorelai said with a small, surprised smile.

"Many parts of the pine tree are edible," he continued.

"That's right. God, I wonder what the research process was like to get that information."

"I'd say fairly painful."

"Here," she said, reaching to take his plate and put it in the microwave.

"So, how's school?" she asked.

"It's still there," he said evasively.

"You on any teams or anything?"

"No, no," he said, trying not to scoff. She didn't seem like a sports person, but he couldn't be completely sure.

"Not a jersey guy?"

"Definitely not a jersey guy. Though the thought of throwing a ball at some jock's head isn't entirely unappealing," he said before he could bite his tongue.

There was a lull in the already somewhat stilted conversation while Lorelai thought back to her time in high school. She hadn't been one for teams and jerseys either.

Jess, on the other hand, was frantically trying to think of something to say. He gave up.

"Look, I'm not really good at the small talk…thing," Jess said in a rush, fidgeting.

"You're doing okay," she said reassuringly. "Cold egg roll?"

"Why not?"

He took one, bit into it, and regretted it immediately. Lorelai noticed the look on his face.

"Bad?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," he said around the mouthful of eggroll.

She almost managed a real laugh, and he smiled at her, yet again trying to swallow something inedible that had come from the Gilmore fridge. He realized he was starting to relax.

Suddenly, they both heard the door open and slam shut. Rory's voice rang out as she shouted for her mother.

Lorelai stood up quickly and said, "Here, right here, what?"

"Mom!" Rory yelled again

"What's going on?" Lorelai said, concerned.

Rory was searching every corner of the living room and yelled, "I don't know where it is!"

"Where what is?" asked Lorelai, chasing her around.

"My bracelet. It's gone!"

Jess stood up, his plate of food forgotten, and walked cautiously towards the living room. He listened for a few moments as Rory continued to panic, putting two-and-two together quickly. Dean had made her the bracelet that he had picked up off the bridge the day he bought her basket. He took a deep breath and went back outside.

Of course. The bracelet that he had taken to have a reminder of the one person who–well, of course Dean had made it for her. He took a deep breath. Rory sounded panicked, and the familiar feeling of guilt began to creep up on him again. But, he thought quickly, he hadn't known what it was, and it had taken weeks for her to even notice that it was gone. He paused as this realization washed over him. There was a warm feeling settling near his navel where usually there was an empty ache. The guilt he had been feeling subsided as he started to consider how he could get the bracelet back to her without alerting suspicion. Rory was already tearing her room apart, so he couldn't leave it there. If he dropped it somewhere in town, anybody could pick it up. Their car? He turned around when he heard the front door slam and saw Lorelai making a beeline for the Jeep.

Damn.

He briefly considered leaving it on the bridge where she'd originally lost it, but then he'd have to look at it every day until someone picked it up or she finally stumbled upon it, which seemed unlikely. The bookstore? She was in there all the time, after all. Maybe Lane's yard? Before he could make a decision, he heard Lorelai.

"Hey, Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind taking a look around the yard for us? Rory lost a bracelet that's pretty important to her, and if she doesn't find it, we're going to have a very Days of Our Lives kind of a meltdown on our hands."

"Yeah, sure."

She nodded at him and got into her car. He breathed a sigh of relief as she took off without giving him a second glance. The bracelet was back at Luke's, so he'd have to go get it. But if Lorelai and Rory were going to scour the town, he'd have time to do that and also probably finish the gutters. He felt a twinge of guilt thinking about how hard they were looking for something that was under his pillow, but he knew that if he told the truth, the uneasy truce he had managed to strike with Rory's mother earlier would be permanently broken. He hated to admit it, but without that, any future chance he might have with Rory were doomed before they began. He watched as Rory flew out the front door and down the lane towards town. He ducked his head and followed after her, dragging his feet.

Later, as Jess was coming back down the ladder with a garbage bag full of dirt and leaves, Lorelai pulled back into the driveway.

"Any luck?" she asked as she got out of the Jeep.

"I think so. Kind of a leather, metal thing?" he asked.

"Yes! Where was it?"

"In the driveway. Looked like it got driven over a few times."

"Oh no…is it–it's not broken, is it?"

"Seems fine to me. I left it by the kitchen sink."

"Aw, great. I'll go call Rory."

He nodded and turned back to his work. Lorelai paused with her hand on the door and looked back at him.

"Hey, Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. Y'know, for…" and she gestured vaguely toward the gutters but was clearly also referring to the bracelet.

"Yeah, sure."

She went inside. He moved the buckets and hose to the back porch where he'd found them and put on his coat. He knew he'd get the money Lorelai owed him later, so he headed back to the diner.

He had eaten and sat down with Bukowski who always had a sympathetic ear for his stifled angst when he heard Luke come in. He didn't look up from his book until he heard Luke rummaging around loudly in the closet by his bed. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw Luke put a sledgehammer over his shoulder and march away resolutely. Jess leapt out of bed, afraid Luke was going to start smashing his things. He watched, bewildered, as Luke took aim at the wall at the far end of the apartment. His mouth fell open as Luke took a swing and smashed a hole in the wall.

They turned to look at each other. Luke was particularly animated as he handed the sledgehammer to Jess.

"That's your room. Finish up. We'll hold hands and skip afterwards." He smacked Jess on the arm and almost skipped away. Luke was…giddy. Not a word Jess ever thought he would use to describe his uncle, but it was the only one that fit.

Shocked, he turned back to stare at the huge hole in the wall and wonder what in the hell happened to Luke after he'd left him looking at apartments that afternoon. As he continued to stare at the wall, the events of the last week, hell, the last few hours, overwhelmed him, and he decided to take Luke at his word. He got a better grip on the sledgehammer, put it over his shoulder and took aim at the wall. He thought of his mother, his father, Dean, his teachers and classmates, and brought the sledgehammer down viciously. The sound and feel of the drywall and wood caving in under the strength of his swing was enormously satisfying. He considered taking another swing but realized there were probably pipes in the walls that could flood the apartment, so he set the sledgehammer down and went back to lie down among his things. When sleep finally crept up on him, he didn't resist.