Jess clambered out of Rory's window as quickly as he could though he cursed when his jacket got stuck on a loose nail, he froze, listening hoping that he didn't wake Lorelai or Rory up. It was late in the night, more accurately early in the morning, only an hour or two before the sun was going to rise. After they made up after their fight, they laid down on her bed, talking and kissing, they lost track of time and before they knew it Rory was so tired she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore, Jess wrapped his arm around her waist and just held her for a while before he knew he had to get up or he'd fall asleep and wake up in the morning with a murderous Lorelai standing over him with a kitchen knife in her hand. So he left and walked back home through the quiet streets of Stars Hollow before going to his room and crashing, he was only going to get an hour, maybe two of sleep before his alarm went off but it was worth it.

By the time his alarm did go off he was having second thoughts, he was a teenager, and he needed more sleep than that. He considered skipping, ever since he made that promise to Rory a few weeks ago he only missed two days of school, both for good reasons, in his opinion anyway. Work was one of those days and the death in the family was the other. Ugh, but if Rory ever found out he skipped he knew damn well she'd used that as an excuse never to let him climb into her window again.

"Ughh," he groaned as he forced himself to sit up. Getting showered and ready for the day went by as a blur, he was pretty sure Luke was trying to converse with him at breakfast but he couldn't be positive. It wasn't until the start of his third cup of coffee that he was starting to feel more alive.

"You're spending so much time with the Gilmore girls that you're starting to copy their habits," Luke said, eyeing the mug.

"Yeah well, do you think me being this smiley and bubbly in the morning happens on its own?" He deadpanned in a monotone voice. Luke chuckled.

"Oh, hey, this came for you a few days ago, sorry, it got lost in the commotion of the funeral and everything."

Jess looked and saw it was an envelope, not sure what it could be but then felt something roil in his stomach when he saw the handwriting, it was his mom. He wasn't expecting to hear from her for a while yet, his mom went through stages, and the last time he heard from her was when all his stuff got sent over along with a delightful little letter blaming him for everything that was wrong in her life. If he knew her at all, and he did, this one would be an apology, she dried herself out, stopped shoving anything she could up her nose, and popping whatever pills she found at the bottom of her purse, it'll say she's going to do better, she was going to make things right between them, make things right for them.

When he was younger these were his favorite times, she was actually a mom, she paid attention to him, and let him know she cared, he stopped believing all the pretty lies she told him in this stage of her cycle long ago, and now wasn't any different, he didn't want to hear it, or read it as it were. "No thanks."

"No thanks? Jess, I know you two don't have the best relationship, and she hasn't treated you right, but she's still your mom."

"I don't have to read it, I already know what it says, 'Dear Jess, sorry for all the terrible shit I said about you in the last letter I wrote, and not bothering to send your belongings for months after kicking you out because my boyfriend thought you cramped our style, I didn't mean any of it. I was going through a tough time, but it's okay, I'm all better now and you should be happy for me, life is going great!' blah blah blah, and then she'll bring up the new great guy that motivated her to fix up her life and make unreasonable promises about how things are going to be different. I've heard it all a thousand times. I'll get another one in a few months blaming it all on me again once the guy leaves her or starts getting high with her. You can throw it in the trash, I'm good."

Luke's mouth hung open as he watched Jess walk away. He wasn't sure how to react if he was being honest, and that wasn't a normal response for him because whenever he was in doubt, his default was anger. It's just, he knew for sure anger was not the right reaction now. He realized his reaction no longer mattered when he heard the bell on the door jingle and he looked up to see Jess walking down the street. He stared at the envelope for a long time, a very long time.

"Oh, screw it," He said as he ripped it open, it's not like it mattered or Jess would ever find out, he told Luke to throw it away. He opened the letter, read it, and every line he read he realized more and more that Jess was completely right. He almost got his mother's words down verbatim without even looking at it. It filled him with anger, anger he had to let out, thankfully, Liz was kind enough to leave a phone number which right now seemed like the perfect outlet for all his anger.

He scrunched the letter up in his hand before tossing it in the trash and walking over to the phone. He picked it up and went to dial before cursing, walking back over to the trash, and flattening the letter on the table before grabbing the phone, looking over the letter, and dialing. As soon as the first ring tone went across the line he decided he made a mistake, the absolute only way he'd have this number would be by opening Jess' mail, he'd know, he'd dialed every number he had for Liz over a thousand times to get in touch with her and yell at her for how she was treating her son, and that number wasn't an exaggeration.

He decided to hang up, he moved to put the phone back on the wall but as he was moving his arm he heard a small but distinct 'hello?' From the phone. He considered just hanging up anyway but then he remembered she wasn't just the woman who treated his nephew horribly, she wasn't just the woman who traumatized and abused the kid he was starting to see like his son, no, she was his little sister, the girl he protected every chance he got and had sworn he'd keep doing that until he took his final breath. He sighed but brought the phone back to his ear.

"Hello?" She repeated after hearing no answer.

"Hey, Liz. How are ya?"

"Luke? Luke! Big brother! I'm so happy to hear from you! How are you? How'd you get this number?"

"I'm good, and uh, well, Jess got his letter."

"Oh, good! But, uh, why isn't he calling me?"

"Because he didn't even read it, he threw it right in the trash."

"Oh. That makes sense, I earned that."

"Darn straight you did!"

"Ah."

"Ah? What the hell does that mean, Liz?"

"It means 'Ah, so it seems Jess told you what really went on at our house behind closed doors. You know he didn't do anything to be kicked out and sent to you, I was selfish and did what I thought would make me happy, turns out, it's just what had made my ex happy. Your anger and hatred make sense, I deserve it."

"I don't hate you, Liz, I could never hate you. But… but how could you? I love that boy, you love that boy. He might be a lot but he's smart, he's kind, and that kid loves deeper than I've ever seen before. He deserves better than you gave him and I'm damn well going to make sure he gets it."

"Thank you."

"Thank you?"

"I mean you're right, and thank you for giving him what I haven't."

"You're still his mom, Liz, and you can still fix your relationship."

"Says the guy who dug the letter out of the trash."

"So what, it's going to be hard, he's not going to want to let you in, to forgive you, but he will because he loves you and in the end, he just wants his mom back, even if he won't admit that out loud yet."

Liz stayed quiet for a long time, eventually, she said, "I want to but I'll just fuck it up again."

"I won't let you. I love that kid like my own and he's happy here, he's making a life for himself, he's got friends and a great girlfriend, I won't let you mess that up for him. So come, and I'll make sure you're keeping things on track, it's safe, you're safe, you don't have to worry." Luke couldn't believe he was saying so much, more unbelievable was how good his words were coming out, they were nice but harsh. He was getting his point across nicely.

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"Well, okay. If you're sure."

"I am,"

"Okay, I guess I'll see you in about a week. I love you, big brother. Bye."

"Bye." As soon as he hung up the phone he felt like he had made a terrible mistake, he just overstepped so much. And now that the phone was hung up he wasn't even sure his overstepping would lead to anything good. "Fuck."

"Woah!" He heard from behind him, immediately knowing the voice but turning to face them all the same. "I've never heard you curse like that before! Was that Jess' mom?"

"Oh, sorry, you shouldn't have had to hear that. And yeah, that was her."

She walked over to the bar and leaned in looking him deep in the eye so he knew she was being serious. "Well I couldn't hear what she said to you to make you say one of your forbidden words but I do know that before that curse I've never been so proud of you."

"Yeah?" He said, feeling like he sounded almost exactly like Liz when she said it a few seconds ago, "Why?"

"You were so good, focusing on Jess, not letting her get away with any of her crap but still making her feel welcome so she could come and they'd talk. You were amazing, Luke." She said and he saw the sincerity in her words. He smiled and had a feeling he was even blushing a little bit, he didn't even know it was still possible for him to blush.

He cleared his throat and tried to wave it off, "Yeah, well, you know, you just gotta do what you gotta do to protect them."

"True, it's not always easy though."

"No, it's not." He looked away awkwardly while clearing his throat again, "Anyway, are you hungry? In need of coffee? There had to be a reason you stopped by."

"Oh yeah, I came in for some coffee," She looked around and realized the place was pretty much empty, "But I am early for work, so I suppose I could get some bacon and pancakes, and keep you company for a little bit."

Luke smiled again, he was never one to turn down Lorelai's company, so he nodded his head, wrote the order down, and handed it through the window to Caesar before walking back over to the bar and talking with Lorelai. They spent the next hour hanging out before they had to go their separate ways and Lorelai realized she hadn't enjoyed herself so much with a man in a long time, well, when there were clothes still on anyway. She never let herself seriously think about her and Luke as more than friends, he was one of the most important people in her life and she didn't want to risk ruining it but more and more the thought had been popping into her head and it was sounding less and less like a bad idea.

"Huh," she said to herself with a small smile on her face as she turned into the Inn's driveway. She had to talk to Sookie about this, she needed her best friend to either talk her out of her crazy thoughts or tell her that they're not crazy at all.

Jess was feeling that itch again, more persistent than it was before, his whole body was telling him to run, to leave, and never come back. Jesus, why did his mom have to fuck up everything good in his life? He'd finally gotten it under control, that urge to bail, he had a good thing going here and he knew it, he didn't want to leave Rory, Luke wasn't what he expected when he moved here but even Jess could admit he was a good guy, he had friends too, he had a life, he finally stopped feeling like people were watching him waiting for him to fuck up everywhere he went. He convinced himself that here was where he was supposed to be but one letter from his mom set him off.

Maybe another trip would do the trick, that trip to New York helped. Or maybe he should just disappear for a weekend, he was close, so close to being able to afford a car and Gypsie said she'd hold onto it for a little while so he could get up the last 200$. Yeah, that's what he could do, get the car and just drive for a little while, he could sleep in it, it wasn't like he hadn't slept in worse places over his lifetime. Hell, maybe he'd go for more than a weekend, see where the road took him, a week or—

"Hey, Jess!" He turned to look at Lane, thankful for her snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Hey."

"Wow, someone is grumpy today."

"What? I just returned your greeting, last I checked, that was society's normal reaction."

"It's your face."

"My face?"

"Rory call's it your broody face."

"Oh jeez."

"And she says you only make it when you're in one of your 'grumpy broody deep thinking states'."

"Yeah, well, I gotta lot on my mind," Jess grumbled, regretting being happy for the distraction.

Lane plopped down on the bench next to him, they still had another 20 minutes for lunch, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

The sincerity in Lane's tone made him look at her, "No, really, tell me, what's wrong? You listen and help me with my problems all the time but never talk about yours, we're friends, Jess. We're supposed to help each other when something is going wrong."

His initial reaction was to blow her off again but he did really want to talk about it with someone and didn't want to put it on Rory. Plus, Rory had like the best mom ever, she'd never understand and she'd look at him the same way those people at CPS used to, the same way Luke and Lorelai did when he first moved here, with pity and he didn't want that, especially not from her. Lane on the other hand, their moms might be completely different, but he'd heard enough of Lane's grievances to know that Mrs. Kim had some abusive habits as well, she at least might kind of understand what he's going through.

He opened his mouth before he could talk himself out of it, "I got a letter from my mom today."

"Oh yeah? What did she say? Does she want you to move back?" Lane didn't know a lot about Jess' life before Stars Hollow but he let a few things slip over the months that made it clear it wasn't the best of circumstances, his mom being at the center of it. She figured he'd only be feeling like this if she wanted him to go back to New York. That's why his next words surprised her.

"I don't know, I threw it in the trash before it was even opened."

"What? Why? She's your parent who you're not living with right now, there's a decent chance there was at least money in that envelope. I'm completely behind you not reading the letter, but throwing out potential money? No, you have to check."

"No, there was no money in there, I'm positive, there was no need to look," Jess said after letting out a sharp bitter laugh. His mom hadn't given him actual money in years, maybe ever now that he thought of it. It was his responsibility to shop and make sure there was food in the house, well, it became his responsibility when they had to go a whole month pretty much starving because Liz decided to sell her food stamps for whatever she could get her hands on. He only made it through that month because went to school every day since his house was low-income and he got free lunch and breakfast.

"Oh, okay." Lane didn't argue, "Wanna talk about it? Tell me why getting a letter from her is messing with you so much?"

Jess closed his book, stood up, and put it in his back pocket, "No, I want to get out of here."

"It's only halfway through the day."

"Yeah, so?"

"I thought you weren't skipping anymore."

"I wasn't, or I'm not. Whatever, I won't again, it's just a one-time thing. I can't talk about this here."

Lane stood up too, "Okay, then I'm coming with you."

"What? No, I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Nope, it's happening, no reason to try to talk me out of it. I'll treat you to ice cream and then you can sit down and talk to me about it."

"On second thought, school doesn't sound that bad."

"Oh come on, Jess, talking it out helps, I promise! Even if in the end I can't do anything to help you, talking about it will make you feel at least a little better."

Jess stared at her for a long time thinking it over, eventually, he replied with, "How big an ice cream are we talking about? Are toppings included?"

"Any size and toppings you want." She said with a smile, "Just don't make me go broke feeding your ice cream addiction."

"Fine, but this is completely on you, Kim. I didn't ask you to come with me, I don't want Mrs. Kim coming at me with one of her antique swords for corrupting her little girl."

"Yeah, those swords are kind of scary, huh?"

"Yeah, she has a look in her eye that makes me believe she's used them before and isn't afraid of using them again."

"Yeah," Lane said then shivered, knowing exactly what look he was talking about.

After getting ice cream he led them to the bridge without even thinking about it and sat down, Lane following suit. He tried to get out of talking but Lane wouldn't let up until eventually giving in. He told her about his past in broad strokes, not too many details like the time his mom left for work and only came back two weeks later with a man she met when she went to a music festival three states away. Lane took it all in, trying not to let her horror show, not believing that a mom could do this to their kid. When Jess was done he was surprised to realize he did feel a little bit better, though he had a feeling that all the bad feelings and memories he just unloaded to make himself feel better were now placed on Lane's shoulders. It reminded him why he never talked about this shit with anyone.

"Yeah, so, it's whatever now, she's gone, I'm here. It's cool."

"Yeah, cool would not be the word I use."

Jess shrugged and noticed kids walking up to cross the bridge, that must mean school was over. "I know it's fucked up but I've gotten past it. I'm cool, it's cool. You don't have to worry about it, I know I'm sure as hell not."

"Jess…"

"Look, school is over, don't you have to get home?"

"Crap! Okay, okay, you're right, I'm going but we're not done with this conversation."

"Next time I get you to skip school I promise we'll do something much more fun than talking about my childhood sob story."

"Jess, no, that's not it," she looked at her wristwatch, "Ugh, I really have to go, we'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay."

"Well, maybe. Wish me luck and cross your fingers that no one called Mama when I missed the second half of my classes because if she finds out, there's a decent chance I'll never make it to school again because I'll be dead. Or shipped off to Korea for the rest of my life, she's threatened that too."

He held his hand up showing his fingers crossed, "Good luck."

He went back to his book when she was out of sight, he didn't really feel like talking to anyone else today, so he figured staying right where he was sitting was a good choice, only Rory knew that this place meant something to him and seeing her today wouldn't be so bad.

As Lane was running back to the center of town she literally ran into Rory being in such a rush, "Oh my god, I'm sorry— oh, Rory hey!"

"It's okay, I'm sorry too. Lane! What's got you in such a rush?"

"Oh, I lost track of time and I have to stop at Doose's before going home, and if I'm late Mama is going to know something is up," Lane said as she started walking again, not surprised when Rory followed her.

"What's up? Is everything okay? You've had your after-school schedule down pat for years now, what's got you running around like a chicken with your head cut off."

"Hey!"

"A cute chicken! But a chicken nonetheless."

"If the chicken's head is cut off, how do you know it's cute?"

"Oh, you know, I just kinda know these things,"

Lane laughed and Rory joined, "Sure, that makes complete sense."

"I'm glad you agree. So are you going to tell me? Or am I going to have to trick it out of you?"

"As if, my brain is a steel trap, nothing is coming out of it unless I want it to."

"Lane…" Rory warns.

"It's not my place to tell, Rory."

"Then whose place is it? Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, Jess'll be fine, he's just having a rough one."

"Jess?"

"Damn! Alright, you got me, you're sneakier than I thought, Gilmore, but that's all I'm saying. Go talk to your boyfriend, I'm sure he'll tell you. Just go easy on him, he's been making the broody face since he walked into school."

"Oh, o-okay," Rory studdered a little, worried now, "He's okay though?"

"Yeah, he's okay. He just needed to get away from school for a little bit."

"So he skipped?" Rory sounded upset now.

"Kinda, but don't get mad at him. I went with him, like I said, he's just having a rough day. We ate ice cream and talked, it's not like he's skipping all the time anymore, it was just today, and for a good reason. Man, that woman is a piece of work."

"O-okay," Rory said, just confused now as she started to turn around to find Jess but stopped and looked back at Lane, "Wait, woman?"

"His mom. Damn it! I swear I'm not saying anything else."

"Wait, his mom is in town?"

"No, she just wrote him a letter. Crap! Rory stop! I'm trying to be a good friend but you're my best friend so I can't lie to you, stop asking me questions, please!"

Rory cracked a small smile at her friend but her mind was still elsewhere, "Alright, I'll go find him."

"Good, I'm sure he'll open up more to you than he did to me. Just, do me a favor, okay?"

"Anything, what do you need?"

"Well, two favors, one, don't tell him I let anything slip, I get the feeling he's not big into opening up, and if he thinks I just went and blabbed he won't do it again. And two, don't get mad at his crankiness, he gets to be cranky today."

Rory's smile was much more real this time as she nodded. She started to walk away again before turning back around and hugging Lane, "Thanks Lane, for being there for him today when I couldn't. I got the feeling he doesn't have many people he trusts enough to talk to. I'm glad he has you because you're the best best friend anyone could ask for."

Lane hugged her back, "Aww, I love you too Rory. Now go because I have exactly four minutes to get home before Mama starts thinking up punishments."

"Okay, okay, he's at the bridge?"

"How'd you know? Never mind, tell me later, four minutes, remember?"

Rory nodded and ran out the door, ignoring Taylor's indignant yells not to run into the store. She was so focused on Lane and her worry for Jess that she didn't even know Dean was working and overheard the whole conversation. Lane only noticed him when she made it to the checkout line, she felt very awkward Dean was a nice guy, one of the nicest, but the only thing they ever had in common was Rory, so they hadn't spoken since the breakup.

"Oh, Dean, hey."

"Hey, Lane."

"How are you?"

"I'm okay. What about you?"

"I'm good, you know, nothing new."

"Oh, that's good. Uh, so Jess huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're friends with him? I thought maybe you'd be the one talking some sense into Rory about that guy."

"She doesn't need anyone to talk sense into her, Dean. She's a big girl, she can handle herself and make her own decisions."

"I know that! It's just, well, I got this bad feeling about the guy, I always have, I know he's going to hurt her."

"And what, you want to be the one to comfort her when he does?" Lane wasn't usually so snarky but Dean was upsetting her. Jess was a lot of things, some of them not so good but she knew he'd rather die than hurt Rory.

Dean scoffed, "No, I don't want her to get hurt at all."

"Then maybe try being supportive! You might not be her boyfriend anymore but if you knew her at all you'd know she doesn't just stop caring about people, it's not in her blood. She still cares for you and cares what you think. You bringing down her boyfriend every chance you get is hurting her much more than Jess ever has." Dean opened his mouth but no words came out, he had no idea how to reply. The cashier who had just been watching the back and forth between the two handed Lane her change and Lane said, "Thank you. Oh and Dean, think about what I said because if you keep hurting her and pushing her away, you won't even have her as a friend anymore. And maybe stop being so obvious that you're rooting for them to break up, she loves him, and it'd break her heart if they did."

Again Dean opened his mouth but nothing came out, this time because the words hurt him. It didn't matter anyway, Lane didn't stay and wait for a reply, she grabbed her bags and walked out of the door, she had to get home.

Rory smiled when she saw Jess, his head in a book and his feet dangling off the bridge. She walked up to him, sat down, and leaned her head on his shoulder, looking to see what he was reading. Her smile grew wider when she felt him rest his head on hers. She only needed to read a few paragraphs to know what he was reading, she knew who it was written by after three lines but it took a little longer to narrow down the story.

"Huh," Rory said, sounding surprised.

"Hmm?" Jess asked, trying to finish the page.

"Oh, nothing, it's just surprising is all."

"What do you mean?" He asked turning his attention to her now that he was done.

"I just never saw you much as a fan of Shakespeare,"

"Why, because I'm not sophisticated enough? You don't think I can understand it?" He asked sounding angry.

"What? No! Of course not, Jess!"

He stared at her looking completely pissed off for a few moments before cracking a smile and laughing, noticing Rory's face go from worried to confused, "I'm fucking with you."

Her face turned angry and she smacked his chest, "Oh, you're such a jerk! I thought I really hurt your feelings."

Jess' laugh continued, he tried to catch his breath, he hadn't laughed that hard in a long time, as long as he could remember, "I know, you should see your face. You're right though, I'm not a fan, though I have read through his catalog once, a long time ago. Every avid reader has to. It's for school, I figure I should at least get some work in considering I skipped today." He tried to add that last part nonchalantly, knowing he broke his promise to Rory and that she'd have all rights to get mad at him now.

"Why'd you do that?"

Jess was surprised at her calm tone, she didn't sound upset at all, he turned to look at her. He didn't want to lie to her but he also didn't want to tell her where his head was at earlier, and more importantly, he didn't want to tell him who brought his head there in the first place. So he landed on a vague nonanswer, "I just felt like it."

"Jess…"

"It's no big deal, Rory, I just needed a break."

"Please don't lie to me. Tell me what happened." She was starting to get hurt and upset, why did he tell Lane but he wasn't telling her, his girlfriend?

"Rory, it really doesn't matter, it's stupid, I overreacted."

She looked at him and could tell he really didn't want to talk about it anymore and even though questions were literally burning inside her, she decided to put being a good girlfriend over her curiosity. So she leaned in and pecked his lips, "Okay, but I'm here when you want to talk about it and I'm all ears. Even if the urge to talk about it strikes you at midnight I'll listen."

Jess' eyes darkened, in a way Rory was starting to get used to. Apparently, Jess had some ideas about what would happen if he came by her window at midnight to talk. Whatever, she wouldn't say anything to disabuse him of that notion, whatever he had to think to get him talking worked for her.

"I might take you up on that." He said, something in his tone made her shiver but she quickly shrugged the feeling off.

"Good, now, I'm hungry."

"Uh-oh, I better feed you, I don't want to be the reason the town has to deal with a hangry Gilmore, they're terrifying"

"Smart man," She said as she stood up and held her hand out for him to grab. He did and they made their way to Luke's hand in hand, Jess feeling much better than he did a few hours ago. That itching was still there but it was nowhere as bad as it was before. He supposed that the state-mandated therapist he was forced to go to years ago was right, talking about his problems did help. He was just glad he had people he trusted and people who cared enough about him to talk to.