“Hey,” Jess said casually as he slid into the seat across from Rory. She looked up at him briefly before she returned to her notes that she was studying. “What are you doing tonight?” he asked.
“Studying,” she replied.
“Come out with me.” Rory was so shocked by this that she broke her pencil.
“What?”
“There’s this great band from New York in Hartford tonight and I want you to come with me,” he said as he tossed a flyer on the table.
“The Flamethrowers,” she read. “Are they any good?”
“Of course. I saw them a few times in New York. You wanna go?”
“Where are they playing?” Jess quickly rattled off the name of some little club she had actually heard of. “Okay,” she said after a minute.
“Great,” he said. “Meet me here at 7, we’ll take the bus down and be home by midnight,” he said as he quickly got up and went back to work. Rory watched him get up and go back to work, wondering if this was a friends thing, or a date thing. She shook her head and went back to her home work.
***
“He asked you out?” Lorelai asked as Rory dug through Lorelai’s closet for something to wear.
“It’s not a date,” she said dismissively as she pulled out a shirt. Lorelai shook her head and Rory put it back and kept looking. “It’s just a concert.”
“Sounds like a date to me,” Lorelai commented. “And what do you want?” she asked Charlie. The 10 month old bounced a little as she pointed to a toy on the night stand. Lorelai handed it to her before she turned her attention back to Rory. “And if it’s not a date, why are you so concerned about what to wear?”
“I don’t really have anything for a concert,” she muttered as she pulled out a tight long sleeved shirt with a flashy logo on it.
“Take it,” Lorelai said. “What you wore to The Bangles was concerty.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t The Bangles, this is a New York garage band,” she corrected as she left the room.
“Silly me,” Lorelai called after her as she turned her attention to Charlie, who had plunked herself down on the floor with the toy. She slid off the bed and to the floor to play with Charlie for a while.
“Don’t worry, I’ll call if I need anything. Besides, this place isn’t that far from Grandma and Grandpa’s,” Rory assured Lorelai as she pulled on her coat.
“Be careful,” Lorelai warned again.
“I will. Bye,” she said with a wave as she slipped out the door and headed to the diner to meet Jess. He was ready as soon as she got there and they didn’t have to wait very long for the bus either. They fell into an easy conversation about books and the band they were going to see and soon, they found themselves in Hartford, a few blocks from the club. “Is this the right place?” she asked Jess when they stopped in front of a dingy, dirty little hole in the wall of a club. This was definitely not the club she had thought it was.
“Yup,” he said as he paid the bouncer so they could get in. Jess got his hand stamped and Rory held hers out, ID in her other hand, expecting to get carded. She was more than a little surprised when she noticed that the stamp on her hand said ‘legal’.
“But I’m not. . .”
“Don’t worry,” he said as she shushed her. “You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to.” He took her by the hand and led her into the club. Rory kind of wanted to pull her hand away from his, but as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and she saw all the people, she hung on to Jess a little tighter. “Beer,” he called to the bar tender before he looked to Rory.
“Coke!” she called out. “Just Coke.” The bar tender nodded and soon they had their drinks and headed off to find an empty table.
***
Lorelai sighed as she flipped through the huge binder of movies Taylor had given her. None of the good movies she and Rory had previously come up with were in the book. She was starting to understand why it was The Yearling every year.
“Here,” she said as she but the binder down in front of Charlie. “You pick one.” Charlie looked up at her mother before looking at the binder again. She began to pull at the pages while trying to turn them. She eventually got a few pages to flip before she got bored. She heaved a sigh and crawled off to the living room to play. Lorelai heaved a sigh of her own as she picked up the binder to see what was on the pages Charlie had landed on. “The Yearling,” she read. She stared at it for a moment before she started to laugh. The Yearling it was.
***
“They’re really great!” Rory yelled to be heard over the band.
“What?” Jess yelled back as he moved them closer to the stage. Rory just laughed and hung on as he pulled her through the crowd.
“Watch it!” came an angry voice from beside Jess. Jess held his hands up, signalling that he was moving on. He continued on his way only to have some one bump into him and shove him back into the same guy he had just hit. Before Rory knew what was going on, Jess had pushed her out of the way and he was trying to get away from the guy who was trying to sucker punch him. The squabble quickly turned into an all out brawl.
“JESS!” she yelled as she tried to keep track of him. She gave up after a moment as the crowd started to rush the fight and she decided to try and make it back up to the bar. “JESS!” she called again as a group of people slammed into her and she stumbled, smashing her wrist against the edge of the stage.
“Come on,” she hear as some one grabbed her arm. She looked to see Jess at her side again with a bloody nose as he led her out of the club. She cradled her arm to her chest as they went. “Are you okay?” he asked her when they finally got outside and saw the police cars starting to arrive.
“I hit my wrist,” she said. “What about you? You’re bleeding!”
“I’m fine,” he said as he wiped away the blood with his shirt sleeve. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked again as he led her further form the club door. He looked up as he saw an ambulance show up and he led her over to them. Just as the paramedics packed Rory off in the ambulance, Jess felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see a cop. He was quickly confronted for his roll in the brawl and Jess soon found him self in a police car, on the way to the station.
***
“Hello?”
“Mom?” Rory asked quietly.
“Hey Rory, how was the concert?” Lorelai asked as she paused in her organizing of the Take Out Drawer.
“I need you to be calm,” she said, clutching the receiver of the phone tightly.
“Calm about what?” she asked as she stopped moving around the kitchen.
“Calm about what I have to tell you.”
“What. . . Where are you?” she asked when she was pretty sure she heard some one asking for a Doctor to go somewhere.
“I’m alright,” Rory assured her mother, while summoning the courage to explain what happened.
“Well, of course you’re alright. Why wouldn’t you be alright?” she asked, starting to panic a little.
“Because, I got in an accident.”
“What? What accident? What do you mean you got in an accident?” she demanded, dropping the fast food menus she had been holding in her hands.
“We were at the concert and everything was fine and then someone in the crowd bumped into Jess and he bumped into this other guy and then a fight started. . . .”
“Jess started a fight?”
“No! He was pushed into someone,” Rory said quickly.
“But he was still in a fight,” Lorelai pointed out.
“But I’m fine and he’s fine so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Where are you?” Lorelai finally asked. She was going to go and pick them both up immediately.
“I’m in the hospital,” Rory said in a tiny little voice that Lorelai hadn’t heard since she was about 8 and had been caught lying.
***
Lorelai stormed through the emergency room, Charlie half asleep on her shoulder, searching for Rory. She finally found out where she was after threatening to throw a fit in the waiting room.
“Rory, good. Are you okay?” she asked as she rushed over, only to see a Dr. wrapping her arm.
“I’m fine,” Rory assured her mother for the millionth time. “Please tell her that I’m fine,” she asked the Doctor when Lorelai didn’t look convinced.
“She’s fine,” the Doctor said with a gentle smile.
“Well, then, what’s with the wrapping? If she’s fine, there’d be no wrapping. There’s no wrapping if she’s fine,” she rambled, beginning to panic again. She started to rub Charlie’s back as the baby started to pick up on her mothers agitation.
“She was pushed into the stage. She sustained a minor hairline fracture to her wrist.”
“So she broke her wrist?” she asked. This definitely did not fall under the ‘fine’ category in her books. The Doctor quickly explained that she’d just have to wear a cast for a couple of weeks, that everything was really fine. “And that’s it. . . Just the wrist, everything else is fine?”
“She seems perfectly healthy.”
“She seems healthy? Did you check everything out?” The Doctor assured Lorelai that they had check out almost everything. Lorelai asked them to be extra thorough and the Doctor nodded, ordering extra x-rays.
“Jess made sure that I was okay before he talked to the police and. . .” Rory started before her mother cut her off.
“Let’s just hear about the details later, okay? I just want you to relax now,”
“You’re not mad?” Rory asked. She had expected Lorelai to be furious.
“No, I’m not mad,” she assured Rory as she sat on the gurney beside her, Charlie finally starting to fall asleep again. “I’m not mad,” she said again as the pair of them sat quietly until the Doctor came back, announcing that they were ready to take her to x-ray again. “Smile pretty for the camera,” she joked to Rory as she ducked out of the room. Lorelai headed for the waiting room for a moment before she marched towards the door and headed for the car again.
***
Lorelai quickly headed back to Stars Hollow and straight to Luke’s diner. She was fairly confident that Jess wouldn’t be back yet, but Luke might know where he was. She left Charlie asleep in the car and marched up to the door, banging on it until Luke opened it and she stormed into the diner. As soon as she was inside, she frantically started looking for Jess while she also started in on Luke. Luke stared at her in confusion as he tried to figure out what was going on.
“He took her to some club in Hartford, to see a band.”
“I know that,” Luke said. “I made sure to give him cab fair, so they didn’t have to take the bus home.”
“And then got into a fight!”
“What?”
“Yeah, a fist fight at the club that was definitely serving alcohol to anyone who walked through the doors!” she told Luke as she tore around his apartment upstairs. “Damnit! Jess!”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I saw the ‘legal’ stamp on the back of Rory’s hand that the Doctor was getting ready to plaster!” she yelled at Luke. She turned around and headed outside, the diner suddenly feeling too small. He follower her out, hot on her heels. “If you hadn’t brought him here, none of this would’ve happened!” she yelled at him.
“This is my fault?” he asked her, not exactly sure how the conversation had ended up where it had.
“Yes, it’s your fault! You told him to come, you let him stay! Everybody hated him, everybody knew he was trouble but you wouldn’t listen and you wouldn’t send him home and now my daughter is in the hospital!” she yelled at him. All the anger over all the stupid things Jess had done around town and had said to her and Rory coming out. “Why didn’t you put a stop to it at the first sign of trouble? Why didn’t you make him leave?” she demanded.
“He’s my nephew,” Luke shot back, trying to remain calm but finding it difficult. “I had an obligation to take him in, I had an obligation to care for him.”
“You had an obligation to this town and to me and to Rory!” she yelled back at him. “Where are you going?” she demanded when he started to head back to the diner.
“I have to find out where Jess is,” he said.
“Well, I’ll tell you where he’s not, he’s not in the emergency room having his arm plastered up!” she yelled at him as she quickly got herself between him and the door to the diner.
“Hey! I’m sorry about Rory. You know I care more about her and Charlie than I do myself, but at least you know where Rory is and at least you know that she’s okay. Now, I have to find Jess and I have to make sure that he’s okay and if that cuts into your screaming time, well that’s just too damn bad!” he yelled back at her as he stepped around her and headed into the diner to start making phone calls.
“Go to hell!” Lorelai yelled at his retreating back.
“Right back at ya!” Luke called as he slammed the door to the diner and locked it before disappearing up the stairs to his apartment. Lorelai stared at the door and fumed for a moment as she realised that Charlie had woken up at some point during the argument and was crying the car. She headed over, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. She got the baby out and held her for a moment before she got her cell phone out.
“Chris?” she asked with a shaky voice after she had dialled.
***
Luke shook his head again as he drove into Hartford. By the time he had gotten back up to the apartment, there was already a message from Jess. He was okay, but he was in the custody of the Hartford Police Department and could Luke please come and get him. When he finally got to the station, the officer in charge filled him in on what had happened. Luke nodded and agreed to take custody of Jess.
“I made sure she was okay,” were the first words out of Jess’ mouth when he saw Luke after walking out of the back.
“I know you did,” Luke said softly as he threw an arm over Jess’ shoulders and led him out to the truck.
***
Lorelai snuggled down in the chair, Charlie on top of her, as she watched Rory sleep. She knew that she was fine, that she didn’t have to sleep there, but she couldn’t make herself move. Right now, she needed to keep both of her kids close or she wasn’t going to get any sleep at all tonight. She rubbed her forehead a little as she closed her eyes, exhaustion finally setting in.
She woke up some time later and as she remembered where she was and what had happened, she glance left and jumped slightly when she saw Christopher asleep next to her.
“Chris?” she whispered as she reached out to touch his arm.
“What?” he asked quickly as he jumped awake. “Lor. . . Is everything?”
“Come on,” she said as she got up slowly, taking the blanket with her to keep Charlie covered. The wandered into the kitchen and Chris shut Rory’s door softly behind them. “What are you doing here?”
“I have a really crappy mattress at home,” he said with a small smile as they sat at the kitchen table.
“Chris,” Lorelai prompted. He quickly launched into a story about how he had rushed to the hospital, but they were already gone so he rushed to the Crap Shack but it was dark so he let himself in and dragged in a chair and here they were.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, feeling like she was going to cry again.
“Me too,” he said as he plucked Charlie from her arms, giving her some time to herself. Chris quickly made some promises about killing Jess and could she provide a photo? Because it would be bad if he killed the wrong kid.
“Well, look at you all springing’ into action,” she said with a tired smile.
“About time, don’t ya think?” he asked as he rubbed Charlie’s back.
“It could have been so much worse,” she said after a moment of silence, as everything that had happened began to hit her. She clenched her hands into fists as they began to shake. He got up from his chair and pulled her up with his free hand before pulling her in for a tight hug.
“It wasn’t. It’s okay,” he assured her. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”
“About that fight. . . “ she finally said weakly. “I just. . . I didn’t mean to. . ."
“No, I shouldn’t have. . ."
“But if I implied that. . ."
“You were right,” he said. He held her as she finally broke down about the nights events.
***
Rory and Lorelai sat quietly in their chairs the next night as Kirk’s short film finished playing. They snickered a little about it, and commented that it was too bad Chris had missed it since he had taken Charlie and gone to rustle up some pop corn. Things were getting back to normal already, but word was starting to get around about what had happened to Jess and Rory at the club the night before.
“Last night, Luke picked him up from the police station in Hartford and drove him straight to the bus station, stuck the kid on a bus and sent him home to his mom,” Babette told Patty.
“I can’t believe Luke would send him off like that,” Patty commented.
“Well, I heard the kid wanted to go. I don’t know. All I know is that Jess is gone,” Babette concluded.
“Well, well, well. What will we do for entertainment around here?” Patty asked as she settled back in her seat.
“Beats the hell outta me.”
Lorelai and Rory stared straight ahead at the movie screen. Rory was feeling horrible right now because she knew that everything that had happened last night wasn’t Jess’ fault, but the whole town already thought that it was and Lorelai was trying to decide exactly how she felt. While she was glad Jess was gone and she wasn’t going to have to worry about Rory ending up with him, she also felt horrible that Luke had taken the things she had said to heart and had sent Jess back to his mother.
*****
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**Fanfiction stats**
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**The 4400 - 1
**Andromeda - 3
**Dead Like Me - 1
**ER - 2
**Enterprise - 9
**Gilmore Girls - 8
**Harry Potter - 17
**Voyager - 3
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Total: 44 stories in 8 fandoms
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