Title: The Kid

Pairings: Literati, Java Junkie, though everything at its pace.

Spoilers: Everything up to season 5, but I pick and choose, so it'll be AU, Future Fic.

Synopsis: Jess returns to Stars Hollow with a kid in tow. What's the story? Can Stars Hollow deal with it? And what happens when he's not the only one coming back home.

THE KID

Prologue

He rode with a kid in the passenger seat. A 7 year old, too smart for her own good. Too young for her own good as well. His, in every sense that mattered to him. Not in every sense that mattered to law.

"Jess, when will I be old enough to smoke?" she asked. He tossed his lit cigarette out the window.

"Never, kid," he replied. So ok, now he had to be an example.

They'd fled New York during the night. Supervising bath was his duty, so he was the first to see the bruises. Liz hadn't seen them. She'd fallen off the wagon again, too drunk to see much of anything. The kid's stepfather could probably be blamed for the bruises.

He'd moved back in with Liz when he heard of his new sister… three years too late.

He was 27 now, still at a dead end, but at least he had a purpose. To get the kid away from all that no one had known enough to get him away from.

"Where are we going?" she asked, fidgeting with the semi functioning seat belt.

"We're gonna visit my uncle Luke," he answered, reaching over to fix the seat belt for her.

"How much longer?"

The sign for Stars Hollow was a blur as he sped past it.

"Not long."

TBC...