❝RETURN OF THE CRAZY AUNT❞
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⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ chapter twelve,
Gilmore Girls — Season Four

―୨୧⋆ ˚ LUCY'S POV
( warning: some signs of abuse & neglect )

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𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 . . .
𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟏𝟔𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟓

𝐈 𝐒𝐈𝐓 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍, 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐎𝐁𝐘-𝐃𝐎𝐎 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐕 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓. A colouring book rests in my lap, and I scribble mindlessly as I try to distract my mind from the fact that my dad and my aunt are arguing just outside the door. It's early in the morning, and Dad is late to open the diner because Aunt Liz surprised us with a visit.

Dad was just about to open the diner when she walked in with Jess at her side. She was crying, and I'm unsure why. I gave her a hug, hoping that would help just a little, and then I tried to give Jess a hug but he stepped away, shaking his head. I noticed that his bottom lip was cut, and he was clutching his right arm pretty tightly.

He didn't look okay, but he didn't want a hug, so I was unsure on how to help.

Dad immediately sent me and Jess upstairs so he could deal with Liz, and now we're just sitting up here watching cartoons. I offered him my colouring book but he didn't want to colour. I asked if he wanted a drink, but he shook his head── not saying a word.

Something's bothering him, and I want to find out what, but I also don't want to annoy him.

Apparently I talk too much, but there's something obviously upsetting Jess, and I don't like seeing somebody in my family upset, so I want to try and help.

  "Do you want something to eat?" I ask, and Jess doesn't respond. He just stares at the TV, acting like he's really into the cartoon. "We have some left over chocolate cake from Sniffy's── it's amazing."

  I love Maisie's chocolate cake, more than any cake my dad has ever made me, but I'd never tell him that. I don't know what she does to her cake, but she makes it perfectly, and I know that cake has cheered me up a lot in the past, so maybe it'll help Jess.

  He still doesn't respond, so I stand up and move to the kitchen. I go to grab the leftover cake that Maisie left for us yesterday when we had dinner. I grab two forks, and then my eyes catch onto a box of cereal── Lucky Charms── and then an idea springs to mind.

Cake and cereal? Hmm, it could work.

I grab the box, balance the cake and fork on my hand, and I move back to the sofa. I place the cake in between us, place a fork on his knee, and I open the box of Lucky Charms.

"Do you think Lucky Charms and chocolate cake go together?" I pour the cereal over the cake, and Jess shifts his eyes from the TV so he can watch as I place the box down, jab my fork into the cake and cereal and take a large bite.

The softness of the cake and the crunchiness of the cereal would be okay if it didn't taste so... weird. It doesn't taste right at all, but I remain hopeful. I go in for another stab, and when I take another bite of cake with cereal, I find that it doesn't taste so bad. It tastes... fun, I guess.

"You should try it," I say, going for another forkful of cake and Lucky Charms.

He doesn't move for a few minutes, just watching me eat the odd combination of flavours, but after a six or so more mouthfuls, Jess finally stabs his own fork into the cake, pours some cereal onto his fork and takes a bite.

I watch, curious for what he thinks of the newfound desert I've created, and when his face scrunches up, obviously disgusted, a laugh bubbles out of me. "That's..." He shakes his head, still chewing. "...gross."

"It's better the second time, I swear!"

He jabs his fork into the cake again, picking up the cereal, and he takes another mouthful. His face doesn't scrunch up this time, so I suspect that he prefers the second bite more than the first. It definitely starts to taste better after a few bites which is strange.

"Better?" I ask.

He nods, moving his fork back to the cake and cereal. "Better," he replies, voice quiet.

We sit there for half an hour, not saying a word to each other. We just eat the cake and cereal, and watch the cartoons. We soon find that we have more cereal than cake so once we've demolished the chocolate cake, we pass the box between us and eat handfuls of cereal── finding that cereal on its own actually tastes pretty good.

I'm not sure if I'll ever eat cake and cereal as a combo again, but it was definitely a fun experience.

As Jess watches the cartoon, I look to him, and I keep looking to the cut on his bottom lip. I find that he's eating with his left hand rather than his right when he's right handed. I don't question it, but it's definitely strange. He's ten, he shouldn't have a cut on his lip unless he fell and hurt himself, and he shouldn't have a sore arm.

Maybe his lip hurts. Maybe his arm hurts. I could go get him an ice-pack. I know Dad keeps ice downstairs in the back room, but we were told not to leave the apartment until Dad finishes his talk with Liz── Well, until he finishes arguing with Liz.

I want to ask, but I'm not sure it's any of my business. Dad taught me that, while it's nice to care for others, not everything is my business or my concern. Unless somebody wants to talk to me, I shouldn't meddle in other people's lives, and I understand that, but Jess is family and he looks... hurt.

So I ignore Dad's voice in my head, and I say, "Are you okay?"

He peers over at me, and he pushes the cereal box back into my hands. "Yeah."

"Do you──"

"Do you have anymore cereal?" he asks, cutting me off. "I'm hungry."

I move off the sofa, and I look in the cupboards in search of cereal. I can't reach the top cupboards where Dad usually hides the good snacks so I grab a chair, pull it to the counter, and I stand on it so I can reach the top shelves.

I pull out a box that's definitely been up here for too long. "Frosted flakes?"

"Grrreat," he drawls, dragging out the 'r', and a smile touches my lips as I grab the box and slide off the counter.

I walk back to him, place the box in between us, and we eat the cereal in silence.

I haven't seen Jess since I was six, and I fear that after today, I won't see him for a long time. I can hear the faint yells of my dad, and the faint screams coming from Jess' mother. I sense that their argument will only progress, and because I'm just a kid, I'll never understand why they're arguing.

Dad tells me everything, and I tell Dad everything, but there really are some things that he has to keep a secret from me as I'm still just a kid. When I'm older, I might understand why my dad is so mad at my Aunt Liz whenever she visits, but until then, I'll always wonder.

I kick my foot towards Jess. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes."

I choose not to pry, but again, I'll always wonder what's wrong with him once he inevitably leaves later on.

Twenty minutes later, he's being dragged out of the apartment by his mother, and I hear him wince when she grabs the arm that's been hurting him all morning. "Stop!" I yell, grabbing onto Liz's arm. "You're hurting him."

She immediately lets go, and Dad grabs my shoulders gently, pulling me back. "Come on, Jess," Liz yells.

Liz begins to storm off down the stairs, not sparing my dad another glance, and Jess looks to me one final time. "See you, Luce."

I frown, and Dad squeezes my shoulders. "Bye, Jess," I say, and then he turns away from me, following after his mother.

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𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲 . . .
𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟕𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐌𝐘 𝐀𝐔𝐍𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐙, 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍. She needed money, and because my dad wasn't answering any of her calls, she used the last of her money to travel to Stars Hollow to demand money from my father who could not say no. Dad sent me to stay at Addy's, claiming that he didn't want me around his crazy sister, so I barely saw her for more than five minutes. She was gone the next day, and I haven't seen her since.

Until today.

My dad called me this morning, telling me that I should stay far away this weekend because Liz was in town. He told me to stay away, but I know better. My dad needs me this weekend, he just doesn't want to admit that he needs help with his crazed sister. Now because I am the most perfect daughter and I love going home at the weekends, I drive back to Stars Hollow to see my beloved father.

The second I walk into the diner, I'm practically swaddled by my dad. "Oh, thank God." He's pulling me into a bone-crushing hug, holding onto me like I'm his lifeline which I anticipated.

  "So you did need me, huh?"

  Dad pulls back, hands on my shoulders. "Of course I do. Liz is here."

"Yes, I know. Where is she?"

"Upstairs, probably raiding my apartment for money or──"

  "Oh, your apartment? I thought you moved." Even after a month, I still love to annoy my dad with the fact that he obviously hasn't moved, but he remains unamused, and continues to tell me that he has moved. Let me just say, he absolutely has not moved.

  "Don't start, kid." He steps back, shaking his head. He looks awfully fidgety── likely from his sister being here. Every time Liz stopped by when I was growing up, Dad was always in a restless mood, and today is no different. "She just showed up, out of the blue. It's been, like, three years, Luce. Why is she here?"

  "Well, have you asked her why she's here?"

"No."

"Then maybe we should go ask her."

"No, we──"

"Oh, my God." I haven't heard that voice in years, and I especially haven't felt the death grip of a hug my aunt gives me in forever. Before I even have the chance to react to her presence, she's pulling me flush against her and hugging me extremely tightly.

  Dad has a sympathetic look in his eye as Liz holds onto me, squeezing the breath from my lungs. "Hi, Liz."

She pulls back, hands still gripping my arms. "Oh, you look beautiful. Look at how you've grown up." It's been three years since she last saw me, so I've hardly changed, but I nod regardless. Her hands lift, now touching my face, and I smile politely but I wish she'd give me a second to breathe and react to her being in Stars Hollow after three years. Why is she here? "So beautiful, nothing like your dad."

She nudges my dad who doesn't look the least bit amused, but he forces a smile on his face for the sake of me. "Yeah, she..." Dad nods. "...she's always been a beautiful kid."

"Thanks." I turn to Liz. "And hi, Liz."

"Hi, Luce!" She pulls me in for another hug, and I accept because there's no time for me to deny her. "Oh, it is so good to see you."

  "Hi, Liz." I look to Dad, hoping he can see what I'm freaking saying with my eyes. Get her off me, I say silently, and Dad nods, putting a hand on Liz'z back.

  "Liz." He starts to pull her back from me, and I shake my arms, hoping to feel the life in them again. It's been so long that I've forgotten how hard she hugs people── it freaking hurts.

  "Come on upstairs." She starts to move away from us, moving to the stairs, and I look around at the very dead diner. Of course the diner is dead right now. It's like a sick joke. "Both of you."

  "Coming," we both say, looking to each other with a kill me look.

Look, I like my Aunt Liz just fine. I never saw her enough to form a real judgement on her, but from the things I've heard from my dad and Jess── I know she isn't the most stable woman in the world. Last time she visited, she left fifteen-year-old Jess alone in their apartment in New York, and Dad was beyond furious. When I was younger── about five or six── she and Jess would visit, and Dad would spend hours arguing with her about money, about drinking, about drugs. I know Dad loves his sister, but he hates how she's handled her life, especially with how she handled Jess.

And well, Jess didn't exactly have it easy growing up. I didn't see him a lot as a kid, but now I wish I had known him a little better when I was growing up so I could've understood him when he was forced to move here. Now I haven't heard from him in months, and I don't know how he's doing── I don't know where he is. He still doesn't know that he technically graduated high school, and I really want to tell him in person.

I don't know why Liz is here, and I'm not sure I want to know. If she needs money, I might have to put my foot down. I'm older now, and I won't allow for her to demand money from my dad like she did when I was younger. It isn't fair on my dad who has done nothing but support her over the years, even when she didn't deserve it.

It takes us a few minutes to actually walk up the stairs, but once we arrive in the apartment, I find that Liz is rummaging through the closet── the closet that Dad cleaned out a few months ago.

"It's not in here anymore," she says, her voice muffled.

"What's not in there?"

She steps away from the closet. "My pot."

"Yeah, I threw it away." Dad steps by her, shutting the closet door. "I have a kid."

"Yeah, so do I."

"Yeah, well, look how he turned out," I utter under my breath, but Dad hears me perfectly which earns me a glare, but he silently agrees with me.

Liz smiles widely, looking from me to Dad. "Boy, you guys look good── really good. What about me, don't I look good?"

Liz always looked the same to me as a kid. She always wore these long skirts, giant shirts, and huge headbands. She looked like a hippie── that's what my dad would call her anyway. I won't lie, she does look like she's doing good, and she certainly looks good, but Dad doesn't seem too bothered.

He shrugs. "You look fine."

"I do not look fine, I look good," she corrects. "I am good. I am really good, Luke."

"Well, I'm glad."

She moves to a table where three mugs sit. "I made us some coffee."

"I don't drink coffee," Dad grumbles.

She looks to me, and she knows damn well that I drink coffee like it's water. "Well, Lucy, I know you do." She tugs on my arm, forcing me to sit down, and Dad reluctantly sits down as I reach for the coffee.

I take a sip, and── Oh, my God, it might be the worst thing I've ever drank in my life. "Oh..." The grainy liquid travels down my throat, and I cough as it gets caught in my throat. "Wow."

Dad's trying to hide his laugh behind his hand, and I glare right at him. I've never known anyone to screw up coffee this bad, but I hide my pain behind a smile.

  "I haven't seen you guys in two years," Liz says, looking at us with a wide, unwavering smile.

"Three years," Dad and I correct.

"Three years." She nods, unaware that it's been three years. "Wow."

"Liz, I gotta know why you're here."

"To see you." She looks from Dad to me. "To see Lucy." She slaps a hand on my knee, and I offer her a tight-lipped smile, trying to be as polite as possible. "I missed you guys."

Dad sighs, not buying it. "C'mon."

"I did," she insists. "Plus it's my twentieth high school reunion this Saturday, I thought I'd maybe come back and I'd check out what the rest of the class of eighty-four's up to."

Liz was pregnant with Jess when she graduated high school, and a few months after graduating, she had Jess and she split for New York with Jess' father who left her shortly after Jess was born. Three months after Jess was born, I was brought into my dad's life, so the year nineteen-eighty-four brought about a lot of changes for the Danes' family.

Now it's twenty years later, and Liz is supposedly here to go to her high school reunion. How... fun, I guess.

"You're going to your high school reunion?"

"I even sent in a picture for the program," she laughs. "Wrote a little thing about myself, about how things are going good. I've got a great job..." She's had a lot of "great" jobs over the years. "I've just moved into a really cool apartment with a big patio so I can finally get a dog." She's also stayed in a lot of "cool" apartments over the years. "Plus, I have got──"

"A new boyfriend," Dad and I both say, voices monotoned and unamused because what else is new?

Liz claps her hands. "Yes!"

"And let me guess, he's different from the others."

She nods. "Yes, he is."

Dad has heard that line a lot over the years.

My Aunt Liz has dated questionable men. My dad had to hear about all these boyfriends whenever they'd break her heart. Dad, being the great big brother that he is, always had to mend her broken heart and console her── usually giving her money to help her get back on her feet, but he usually sent that money for Jess.

She's dated men ranging from world-renowned doctors── unbelievable, I know── to drug addicts which isn't surprising. Whenever Dad would tell me about these men, there's only one person I'd be seriously worried about, and it was never Liz that I cared for as she chose to be in crappy, broken relationships.

I worried about Jess, even when I didn't know him past the age of ten. The last time we saw each other before he moved here, we were both ten, and his mother was crying and arguing with my dad. Jess had a cut on his lip that I didn't ask him about, and I recall us sitting on the sofa watching reruns of Scooby Doo and eating cereal while Dad and Liz argued. That was the last day I saw him until he moved here.

"You two should meet him."

Dad scoffs, standing up, obviously feeling fidgety once again. "My kid ain't meeting him, that's for certain." Liz opens her mouth to argue, but Dad talks again, "But, you know what, if you say he's not like the others, and he leaves your TV when he takes off, I'll love him."

"Okay, fine. You have good reason to think, to doubt──"

"Good reasons?" Dad opens and closes the refrigerator door, and I look down at my hands, now feeling like an argument is about to erupt── one I shouldn't be here to listen to. "Liz, every time you find the one, you wind up with your bank account cleaned out, your stuff missing, crying on the phone to me to bail you out, which I do happily, but you'll understand if I hold off on planning for the bachelor party for a while."

Dad has always been a good brother to Liz── way more than she gives him credit for. He's always there to support her, always there to defend her, and always there for her and Jess. He's a great guy, and I'm not exaggerating about how loyal my father is.

Liz looks away. "Let's talk about something else," she insists, looking towards me. "Lucy, you're at college, right?"

I nod, looking up at her. "Yeah. Yale," I answer.

"That's a good school."

"Yes," I reply. "Yes, it is."

"Well, that's amazing." She hits my knee gently, offering me a wide smile, and I smile back. "You're definitely the smarter one in the family."

Dad steps over to me, sitting back down. "That she is," he replies. "She's doing great in all her classes, she was the high school valedictorian, and she's the smartest kid I know." I smile over at Dad, feeling a little embarrassed, but I appreciate all the kind things he says about me.

  "Well, that's amazing, Luce."

  I nod, clearing my throat. I'd rather not talk about me right now, so I divert the attention back to Liz. "You said you had a new job," I say.

  She nods proudly. "Yes, I do. I'm making my own jewelry: beaded necklaces and earrings, some crystal, getting into feathers now."

  "Feathers?"

  "I'm really good, very big on the renaissance fair circuit," she explains, but we just sit and stare at her strangely.

  "What's that?"

  "That's where I sell them, the renaissance fair circuit. It's a total trip." Sounds... made-up, but you could also say that about the town we live in. "I wear the long skirt, I have a hat and one of those corsets that squishes my boobs all up high. And I yell, "Huzza for the tipper"!"

  "And that's your great new job?" Dad asks, obviously not proud of her... accomplishments. "You sell earrings at the renaissance fair?"

  "I know it sounds flaky──"

  "Oh no, what── huzzah for the tipper with your squished up boobs, not flaky at all." He shakes his head, scoffing as he stands up, obviously frustrated, and I wish I could do more to help. "Look, I have to go back to work."

  Liz sighs, looking to me for guidance. "Luke, come on."

  "What, Liz? I mean, you're selling earrings in a booth and you're hooked up with another winner."

  "You don't even know him."

  "What about your son, huh?" Liz's face drops, and I frown. I really wish I knew how he was doing, but I don't know where the hell he is, and I don't imagine his mother cares enough to know either. "What about Jess, you talk to him lately? You notice he's not even here?"

  "Yeah, he sent me a letter." I snap my head to her, shocked that she received a letter. "He's with his father."

  "That's it? That's the extent of the contact?"

  "He's nineteen, you can't tell him anything."

  "Well, you definitely can't if you don't try," Dad argues, voice raising.

  "I tried," Liz defends, and a scoff rips out my throat.

  "No, you didn't," Dad fights.

  "I did!"

  I stand up, now agitated. "No, you didn't," I say to Liz, trying to keep my tone calm.

  Dad steps to me. "Lucy──"

  I shrug his arm away, and I continue to look down at Liz as I talk. "You didn't try, you gave up, Liz. My dad did everything for him. He tried to help him and fix what you broke."

  Liz looks away from me. "I thought you two would be better for him than I was," she says quietly. "Look at you, Lucy, and then look at Jess. I thought you two would do him some good."

  "Stop comparing me and Jess. We're different people. It's not fair to compare us── not when we've been raised entirely differently." I look to Dad who remains silent, but I see something of pride in his eyes, and then I look back to Liz. "And the reason I am who I am is because of my dad, but Jess wasn't raised by my dad so he didn't have what I had── that's why he gave up on himself in the end."

  "Lucy──"

  "You know, if Jess had an ounce of the love that I had growing up, he would've turned out okay."

  Liz snaps her head to me, and she opens her mouth to argue with me, but Dad pulls me back. "Come on, kid. Go downstairs, alright?"

  I look to Liz one last time before I turn away to the door. The second I do, I hear Liz raise her voice, and I hear Dad immediately start shutting her down, raising her voice an octave higher than hers. It all feels too similar to those times she'd visit when I was a kid, so before I have to endure another argument between them, I skulk off downstairs to the diner.

  I don't know why I felt the need to protect Jess just now, but I did, and I'm certainly not taking back what I said── not when every word I just said was true.

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐑 𝐌𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐍. Funny, right?

Dad was keeping Jess' car── the one Jess used to get to his job at Walmart── in an old garage he payed for monthly. He found that the car was missing an hour after Liz left to stay with her friend, Carrie. Dad has a feeling that Liz is behind the missing car, but he's decided to remain calm about it until the car is found.

I suspect that Liz was lying earlier about how much contact she and Jess are in. I feel like they talk more than she was letting on, but I don't know why they'd be talking. Jess barely talked to his mother when he lived here, so I don't know why he'd want to communicate with her now.

We're sitting in the diner, waiting to hear back from the police on the missing car, and I have about a million questions running wild in my head.

I think back to that day nine years ago── that day Jess and I ate cereal at ten-years-old, unaware on how our lives would end up. I can't believe that we created "cereal hour" when he moved here two years ago when our first one was at just ten-years-old, and we didn't even know.

I'm staring at a cup of coffee on the counter, and Dad is standing across from me, staring at me strangely. "Kid?" I hum, hearing him, but I don't look up from the coffee, I just stare mindlessly. "Lucy, are you okay?"

I look up at him. "Nine years ago," I begin, not really sure where I'm about to go with this, but I talk regardless. "Jess and I were sitting upstairs while you and Liz were arguing, and I noticed that he had a cut lip and a sore arm, and today just..." I shrug. "...I don't know, seeing Liz reminded me of that day, and I wanna know what happened. What did you and Liz talk about? Why was Jess hurt? Why──"

"Lucy," Dad interrupts, stepping towards me and leaning against the counter. "You know that your Aunt Liz is... troubled, right?" I nod, not sure if troubled describes her well enough. "Well, Jess didn't have it easy, not with Liz, but I tried my hardest not to get too involved in their business, Lucy. I just──"

"Dad, you were always involved in Liz's crap."

"Yes, but I didn't want to be," he says. "I always got caught up in her crap, and I hated it because I didn't want it to bother you. I didn't exactly like her being around you, not when she acted all crazy and out of control."

"But you had no problem leaving her with Jess," I snap, and I immediately hate the words that come out of my mouth."Sorry."

"No, it's okay." He puts a hand over mine. "Yes, Jess was stuck with Liz, and I hated that, Luce, I really did, but I could never take Jess away, not from his mother, and believe me, I threatened it."

"You threatened it?"

"Yeah, I threatened to get him taken out of her custody a lot, but the last time you and I saw Jess, she promised she'd clean up her act, and she did for a while..." He shrugs, and I can see that he obviously hates talking about this. I feel like I shouldn't have brought it up. "...but then Jess was older, and he started acting out, and Liz was running around with a new guy, and she just stopped talking to me for a while until she showed up here about three years ago needing money."

"W-Why was he hurt, Dad?"

"It's not my place to talk about it, kid."

"But──"

"It's not my place, Lucy."

I nod, realising I shouldn't talk about it anymore. "Do you think he's okay now?"

Dad nods. "I hope so." He doesn't sound too hopeful. "Do you still have faith?"

"I have all the faith in the world in him."

"I think it's nice that you stuck up for him earlier," Dad says, and a smile touches my lips. "And for me. I appreciate that, more than you know."

"You did everything you could to help him, and I did my best to show him that you are a great parent, not just to me, but to him too." Dad has acted like a parent to me, to Jess, to Rory, to Addy. He's the greatest parent I will ever know. "You're the greatest guy I know, Dad, and I'm sure he'll realise that one day."

"He's a troubled kid, Luce, but I don't think it's his fault that he is."

"Do you blame Liz?" I ask.

"For a lot of things, yeah." He nods, looking away from me. "For how she raised Jess, for the men she brought into their lives, for not taking care of herself or Jess. I blame her for a lot of things, Lucy, but at the end of the day, she's still my sister, and I still feel like I have an obligation to keep an eye on her── I can't explain it."

"I understand." If I had a sibling, I think I'd be protective over them just like Dad is over Liz.

  I think I'll always want to care for my family, just like Dad does. He's the most selfless guy I know, and if I'm anything like him when I'm older, I'll be damn proud of myself. There's nobody I'd rather be like than my father, and I hope he knows that.

  "She infuriates me, Lucy, more than you know, but I always feel like I've gotta help her." He steps away, leaning back against the counter. "Family are the ones you love the most, but they're also the ones you hate the most."

  "Yeah." I pick up my coffee mug, taking a long, painful sip.

  The door opens to reveal a police officer. "Luke." He nods towards my dad, and then looks to me, and I smile. "Lucy."

  "Oh. Hey, Coop."

  "Good news, we found the car," he says.

  "Oh good. Who would steal that thing? It's just a hunk of junk."

  "It broke down on the expressway a couple of hours ago, the guy was in it," Cooper tells us, and my eyes widen. Really?

  "You got the guy?"

  "Yeah, but there's not a lot we can do, the guy's the owner."

  What?

  "What do you mean? I'm the owner."

    I stand up, moving to the window of the diner, and I stare in shock as a familiar face gets out the police car.

  "Well, not according to the registration. It's registered to a──"

  "Jess Mariano," I say, mouth agape.

  Jess Mariano is back in Stars Hollow.

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authors note:

lil flashback to kid lucy & jess,, also young them eating cereal :')

jess had a difficult childhood, one that i probably won't write about in this story, but im sure you guys can interpret what kind of life he did have with his mother and the many boyfriends she brought back home . . .

sorry about the sadness and the upset of realising how jess truly had a messed up childhood,, but he's back in stars hollow for a lil bit and there's no one more there for him than lucy!

next chapter is solely dedicated to them,, my favourite duo,, and cereal hour is back!!!