"Yes, it is 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!" Lorelei about Jess, season 2

.***.

Jess thought that Stars Hollow secretly liked to be stirred up every once in a while, which is why they frequently threw their own parties and celebrated obscure holidays. It was an opportunity to shake things up. The other thing that frequently shook things up? Construction.

"Excuse me," Jess muttered as he slipped past the people working on Luke's remodel. He hated living in the plastic-draped rooms, even if he knew that once the wall came down there'd actually be enough space for the two of them.

The construction worker he was trying to pass turned so that Jess ran right into him. "Look who it is," a slow Southern accent said, and the familiar tone made Jess go still. "I never thought I'd find you here."

"Right back at you, Carl," Jess said, "Now will you please get out of my way?"

"Liz is really broken up that you're gone," Carl said, "Even called me once or twice." He didn't move.

Jess finally looked up at him. Carl was huge, which was half the problem, and he was also traditionally handsome and ten years younger than Liz, which made him ten years older than Jess. "Did you answer the call?"

"Your mom's still the best piece of action in New York," Carl said, "Well, second best. After you."

"Thanks for the update," Jess said, "I need to go stab myself in the ears now. Move."

"Is there a problem?" Luke came up behind Jess and put a hand on his shoulder. Jess just barely had time to feel a flare of relief that he actually had protection against Carl this time before Luke said, "Jess, why are you interrupting people when they're actually doing their work? Which you should be doing yourself, by the way."

Carl smirked. "Back to work, kiddo."

Jess followed Luke down the stairs to the diner, "He was interrupting me," Jess said, knowing it wouldn't work. Luke shot him a glare and Jess couldn't help but continue, his voice bordering on a whine. "What? I was just trying to get to work and he blocked my way. It's not always my fault."

Luke grabbed a pad off the counter and started, flipping to a blank page for orders. "Except when your problems with the last three contractors meant I've had to hire four different crews in two weeks."

"The first guy smelled, the second woman was completely incompetent and stealing from you and the third one hit on Rory. Repeatedly." Jess took plates over to a family.

"I'm not saying that they weren't justified complaints…" Luke put the order in and finally stopped and looked at Jess, which was worse. They never really talked while looking at each other. Each of them always tried to find something to do so eye contact never had to be made.

So Jess started wiping the counters, "Well, this guy's no good either, okay? He's…" Jess bit his lip and Luke raised his eyebrow and Jess finally finished, lamely, "he's creepy."

"You know, I'm starting to think you don't want the addition," Luke said. "I'm starting to think you don't want to stay."

Except the alternative was New York, and Luke didn't know half the crap Jess went through with Liz and he wasn't going to know, ever, because right now Luke was working on Jess, was trying, was trying to fix him, and if he knew everything he might realize that Jess was irreparable. "Fine. Have a creepy guy build your house."

"It's just a wall. It'll be a week at most."

"Yeah, whatever," Jess looked at the toast and eggs Caesar always made for him and suddenly didn't feel very hungry. "I'm late for school."

"It's Saturday!"

"Detention," Jess lied smoothly. "Breakfast Club style."

"Let me guess," Luke said, "You're the Judd Nelson of the group?"

"That's the general consensus," Jess said, and breezed out the door before Luke could realize he hadn't touched a bite.

.***.

Jess planned to stay away until after 5, when he figured a lazy worker like Carl would be gone. He found a bookstore and grabbed old Stephen Kings, three for a buck, and read at the dock. He thought about loitering around Rory's house and seeing what she was doing today, but that would probably get him in trouble with Dean and he didn't want to risk a fight he if wanted Luke to fire Carl. And he really needed Carl to not be in his house.

How the hell did Carl end up in Stars Hollow, taking on construction jobs? Okay, so he'd worked construction in New York, but mostly he'd been into the same drugs Liz liked and took them too often to show up for work. Mostly he'd hang around their house until Liz was passed out, and then he'd pay attention to Jess.

Jess closed his eyes and when he opened them it was dark and he was cold. He needed to save up money for a jacket. If he asked Luke for one, he'd probably find it on his bed the next day, no problem. But he liked not asking Luke for more than the bare minimum. Even the addition was making him feel nervous, because it was basically dumping a lot of money into him, Jess, and it was money that Jess couldn't pay back if things went south. And one thing he'd learned in his seventeen years is that things always went south.

He gathered up the books, stuffing the thinnest into his back pocket and carrying the other two. It was only a short walk back into town and Jess kept blinking to keep himself awake. He was tired, but he was also hungry, and was looking forward to an evening watching baseball and eating with his grouchy uncle. God, when had he become so domesticated?

"Where you been today, kid?" The voice materialized into a person that emerged from the shadows.

"You auditioning for a bad horror movie, Carl?" Jess demanded, wishing Carl didn't make him jump. Or at least that he didn't see him jump. Or that he wasn't laughing like that.

"I scare you?" Carl whispered, and he put a finger on Jess's chest, jabbing him, trying to get a rise. "You deserve it. You almost landed me in jail."

"I wish I did," Jess said, "You deserve it."

"You deserved it," Carl said, "You were such a pathetic kid. So scrawny. So alone, whenever we got Liz out of the way." He put his hand flat, and he was touching too much of Jess, even through the shirt his hand burned. "You remember the fun we used to have?"

"I can still send you to jail," Jess said, flicking Carl's hand away. He tried to sound sure of himself but he kept glancing past Carl, looking for other people, planning an escape route. Except it was late, and they were still far from the "bustling" city center.

Carl saw him and drawled, "No uncle to help you now, huh? He wouldn't believe you even if you did rat on me. No cop worth his salt would believe you either. I know you haven't cleaned up your act since coming to this shiny place. You're still the dumb JD you were when you were fourteen."

"Not quite," Jess said, "I'm a lot faster now."

And, okay, he wasn't proud of it but he ran. He ran until he couldn't feel Carl's hand on him anymore, or hear his laughter in his ears. He ran until he saw the warm lights of the diner, the unlocked door reminding him that he lived here, he was home.

He burst in, throwing the books on a nearby table. Luke looked up from the bills on the counter and sighed. "You couldn't call all day? I was about to alert Search and Rescue. I even went over to the school. Surprise surprise—Saturday detentions are left to 80s movies."

Jess tried to joke back but found he had no breath. He wheezed for a while before managing, "I'm still shocked that you're a John Hughes fan."

"I was young once," Luke said. He came around the counter, eyebrow coming together. "You go for a run?"

"None of your business."

"Either you're running or you're smoking a pack a day. Oh god. Tell me you're not smoking."

"I don't do drugs," Jess said, and this was supposed to be banter but that came out like a snap. "Seriously, Luke? I lived with Liz. I don't do drugs."

"Alright," Luke said, still looking concerned. "So where were you and why were you running? You in a fight?"

"I was reading."

"It's been dark for two hours."

"I lost track of time. Fell asleep."

"You weren't harassing small children or terrorizing strangers?"

"You really just believe the worst of me, don't you?"

"You still want the new construction workers fired?"

Jess bit his tongue to stop himself from saying yes. To stop himself from telling Luke everything. Because Carl was right—Luke didn't trust him. This interrogation proved it. Luke wouldn't believe him. No one would.

So instead he sidestepped his uncle and swiped the books back up from the table. "Can you stop them from working before school? It's messing with my sleep."

"Really? I thought they were pretty quiet."

That's not the point. The point is that a long time ago Jess had trained himself to wake up to strange men coming into his sleeping environment. "Whatever," Luke said, "It's fine. It's all fine."

"If you don't want to stick around long enough to enjoy this renovation—which, by the way, is pretty pricey—then just say so and you can be on a bus tomorrow."

"I've got homework," Jess said. His grip on the books was too tight. He couldn't look at Luke, because then his words would come out wobbly and weird, like he cared, like he thought this arrangement might last longer than the others. "And I'm going to do it, unless I'm not going to be here on Monday."

He chanced a look up at Luke, who sighed, a heavy, weary, too-familiar sound. "Go upstairs."

"Yes, sir," Jess muttered, and he turned before he could see if Luke took this as sarcasm or for what it was, a deeply ingrained, incredibly embarrassing response to older men deciding his future for him.

.***.

The next day Luke wasn't talking to him, not in any substantial way. Which sucked, because Sundays were the day that Jess worked at the diner, a 9 to 5 shift that only ended because the town locked down Sunday nights. Usually Luke's gruffness helped the hours go by. Well, Luke's gruffness and the inevitable appearance of the one of the Gilmore girls to stir things up.

They came in at noon, Lorelei making a bee-line to Luke even though she was with that other guy, the teacher, and Rory flitted over to Jess even though she was with Dean, Mr. Stand-Up Guy. "Hey," she said, "Stephen King again?" She was looking at the book curled up near the cash register, The Stand. "Pretty dark. Pretty…"

"Not up to your usual literary standards?" Jess snapped, and then shook himself when Rory looked at her with those big blue eyes. Wasn't her fault Carl was leering around. "You got a better suggestion?"

"No, I just never understood horror. It's so…icky."

"Icky?"

Rory smiled, "Not the right word?"

Jess glanced at Luke, sufficiently absorbed with arguing with Lorelei. "Not for the King. He's all character psychology. You'd like it."

"That's not fair. I like everything." Rory blushed when Jess smirked. "You know what I mean."

"Do I? You better show me."

There was a loud crash from upstairs, and Jess cringed when he heard Carl swear. Nothing good used to come from that sound in his past. Rory looked at him strangely. "Who's that?"

"New carpenter."

"Should we check on him?"

At that same moment, Luke looked over at Jess. "Jess, will you go check on that?" It was the first thing he'd said to Jess all day, and it was huffy, barely civil, and he went right back to arguing with his favorite sparring partner.

Rory was already crossing over to the staircase. "I'll go with you! I'm terrible with tools—"

"No kidding?" Jess muttered.

"—and so carpentry just seems like magic. Like, every year Luke gives mom five hours of free labor for her birthday? I come into the house after that and everything's suddenly fixed."

Jess nodded. "Magic is obviously the only explanation."

"Obviously."

Carl had broken a lamp and looked up when Jess and Rory walked in. "I'm fixing it, don't worry."

"It was just loud," Rory said, automatically smiling. And why shouldn't she, Jess thought. Carl was handsome, Jess guessed, and he was halfway between his age and his mother's and so had the attractive of being not-too-too-much-older. And he had that accent, that tone, that smile that had sucked Liz in three years before. "We were wondering if you'd hurt yourself."

"Not yet, little lady, but if it makes you come up here more I might just find a way to drive a nail through my hand." Carl grinned and Rory blushed and Jess rolled his eyes. Maybe this is how he could get Carl out of his life for good.

"If you can't be careful up here, we can find another carpenter."

"Jess!" Rory admonished, looking aghast.

"A local," Jess looked at her, "Isn't Stars Hollow all about supporting locals? This guy's just a drifter. A nobody."

"Well, he's making your room bigger, so I'd say he's pretty important," Rory said, annoyed.

"My thanks, little lady," Carl drawled, and Rory actually giggled. For a weird moment, Jess wished that Dean was here to see this behavior. If there's one thing he could count on that moose for, it was insane jealousy. "This guy's just a little touchy about me having a key to his room." Carl dug into his pocket and held up a key identical to the one in Jess's pocket.

"Give me that," Jess said, feeling cold at the thought that Carl could come and go as he pleased. His face pounded with the force of the blood in his ears and his mouth was dry. "You shouldn't have a key."

"Luke gave it to me, take it up with him."

"I will!"

"Jess," Rory said, "What's you problem?"

"He's my problem!" Jess yelled.

He turned so that he was yelling in Rory's face, and he could see her face close, eyes shutter, chin stick out petulantly. "I need to go," she said, turning around.

"Rory…"

"Have fun with your book." Rory said over her shoulder. Really, she was already gone.

"And then there were two," Carl said, looking Jess up and down. Jess bit his cheek and looked away. "Damn kid. You grew up good. You were cute at fourteen but now…"

"Give me that key," Jess said, and now he couldn't stop his voice from shaking.

"No," Carl said. "And you know what? I think this project is going to take a little longer than I thought. I might be around for a while."

"Then I won't be," Jess said. He could find other places to sleep. He'd sneak in, break in, sleep outside if it meant Carl couldn't find him.

"Oh, you'll be right here," Carl said. "I was thinking about starting up our little business again."

Jess's mind went blank. He blinked. "What? Are you kidding? Stars Hollow doesn't have the same seedy underbelly New York does."

"Maybe a little more private than last time. You and me, kid."

"If you touch me, I'll kill you." Jess hissed. "I should have killed you when I was fourteen, even after you threatened my mother."

"And it's so much easier here," Carl said, moving forward, putting a hand on Jess's arm, sliding it up to his shoulder. "More people you care about. Your pathetically trusting uncle….that pretty girl…"

"I'll kill you," Jess protested, but then the hand dipped lower, lifted his shirt, and Jess didn't move, just looked at the ceiling and concentrated on breathing. Carl was bigger than him and Carl was holding a sledgehammer. And Luke was fifty feet away, downstairs, pissed, right next to a nearby, pissed-off Rory.

"You're not killing me now," Carl said. "So you listen up. You try to run, and I'll break that pretty girl's arm. You try to hurt me? I'll kill your uncle."

"You can't control me. I'm not fourteen anymore."

"No," Carl said, running a hand over Jess's torso, "You're not."

Jess punched Carl in the stomach and the next thing he knew he was on the ground, a sledgehammer hovering an inch above his collarbone. "Are you going to cooperate?" Carl asked, "Or am I going to have to mess up this pretty little body you've grown into?"

"You're going to jail."

"Why do you keep making these empty threats, boy? No one's ever going to believe you. No one even likes you." He patted Jess's chest, a gentle motion, "Except me."

"I'm not going to let you do this to me again," Jess said, and then he snapped his mouth shut because he was crying. How embarrassing is that?

"Oh, boy," Carl said, lifting Jess's shirt up more. "You already are."

.***.

in honor of Gilmore Girls coming on netflix, we're writing a throwback story. we're thinking this is going to be a three-parter. who doesn't like jess? who doesn't think he has more of a backstory than he let on?

like it? hate it? drop us a line, it makes i easier to know where to go with the rest of the story.