Summary: (AU, kind of.)When Liz comes to town and hits Jess in front of half the town, she causes Luke and the rest of the town to worry about him. Liz calls a few weeks later for Jess, saying that she is sorry and wants him home for Christmas. Will he go or will he stay? What will happen if he says no, what would Liz do then?

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Bright Eyes owns the title and the WB owns Gilmore Girls!

Alright, this is my first Fan Fiction, so please be gentle.

Review please!

:)

"Jess!" Luke called out, trying to get the boy's attention, "Jess, I need some help!"

Luke heard the sound of feet pounding down the stairs and Jess appeared from behind the curtain.

"I'm on break," he crossed his arms, staring at his uncle.

"Well, now it's over," he told the boy, throwing a rag at him, "Go clean the tables, we're closing in ten."

"Why, aren't we a grumpy old lumberjack this evening?" Jess asked, heading over to one of the empty tables.

"Jess, just clean the tables," his uncle sighed.

"Coffee to go!" screamed a female voice as she burst into the building, "I'm freezing and in need of caffeine."

Jess looked up from cleaning another table, recognizing the voice immediately. It was Lorelai Gilmore. Sure, he and the Gilmore had never really gotten along, but lately their relationship was getting better. Since she had found out what his mother Lizwas like, Lorelai had been much more open and patient with him. She must have felt some sort of pity for him, most people usually do, when she heard that his parent was an abusive alcoholic. It had only been a few weeks since Liz had come to visit, insisting that he go back with her. In her drunken state, she had made a scene, smacking Jess around in front of the diner's occupants. Ever since then the whole town, minus Taylor Doose of course, had been much more sympathetic towards him. He hated the sympathy and attention but he knew there was nothing he could do to make them all forget the event. Even the few townsfolk that were not present had heard of Liz's attack from either Miss Patty or Babette.

Luke's voice snapped him out of his reverie. "It's almost eight, why would you need caffeine now?" his uncle inquired to the Gilmore as she made her way to the counter.

"Because we all know I can't resist your coffee Luke," she smugly smiled, sitting down on a stool. "Besides, I had a family outing with the parents and it wore me out."

"It's too late for coffee," Luke announced as he walked to a table, placing the ketchup on the counter and beginning to wipe it down.

"Aw, but Lukey, please?" she begged.

"Just give her the coffee Luke," Jess cut in, "It won't kill her."

"Jess," Luke warned, insisting he stay out of the conversation with his glare.

"Listen to your intelligent, charming, nephew over there," Lorelai taunted, giving Jess a smile, "It won't kill me."

"I said no Lorelai," Luke walked over to her and motioned for her to look around, "If you haven't noticed, we're closing."

"Come on Luke," she whined, giving him her "puppy dog" eyes, "Please?"

"No," he told her, but it was a hard battle. He struggled to resist the pout of his customer and eventually resigned, walking towards the stairs. He took one last look, yelling to Jess as he began the trip up. "Jess, I'll be waitig upstairs for you," He ignored Lorelai, "Lock the door once you get her out."

"Meanie," Lorelai fussed as she stood up.

Jess headed over the coffee machine and poured the remainder of coffee into a cup.

"Here," he said, handing her the cup, "Don't tell Luke I did this, or he'll slaughter me."

She smiled and laughed at him, "Thanks Jess, you're a sweetheart."

"No problem," he told her, heading over to the door, "Now, I've got to close or the lumberjack's going to come back down, axe in hand."

"All right, then." She smiled as he opened the door for her, "Thanks again Jess."

"No problem," he smiled, shutting and locking the door as she left. He sighed and shut the lights of the diner off before heading up the stairs. As he entered the apartment, he found his uncle was sitting on the couch, beer in hand, watching television. He thanked God that Luke didn't drink whiskey. He hated the stench because Liz always reeked of it.

Plopping down on his make shift bad, Jess grabbed a book off of his stack. He opened up to the dog-eared page and began reading. Luke coughed, trying to get his attention, but it was in vain. Jess decided to ignore it. A few minutes later, after about six coughs, the boy gave up the act, shutting his book violently and looking over to his uncle.

"For Christ sake!" Jess yelled, raising his arms up, "It's hard to concentrate when you keep doing that!"

"Well, I was trying to get your attention," he pointed out, giving his nephew a small smile.

"What do you want then?" Jess asked, crossing his arms.

"You remember our deal, don't you?" Luke questioned, crossing his arms as well.

Jess sighed and Luke continued, "We agreed that on Sundays and Mondays we'd take some time to hang out together."

Jess sighed a second time and stood up. He made his way to the couch and plopped down next to his uncle.

"Fine, what do you want to do?" the boy asked, crossing his arms and looking towards his uncle.

"How about we watch a movie?" Luke suggested.

"Alright, you pick." Jess replied, motioning to the pile of mediocre movies scattered in front of the TV.

"We've seen those dozens of times," Luke shrugged, staring down at the pile, "Anyway, it's nearing Christmas, why don't we watch something more Christmas oriented?"

"Didn't take you to be a fan of the old jolly red fat man, Uncle Luke," Jess smirked sitting up.

"Did you and Liz have any traditions that you two used to do?" Luke asked his nephew, ignoring the boy's previous comment.

"None that I want to carry on," he shrugged, falling prey to his thoughts on past Christmases.

Christmas had never been that great for him. The holiday mostly consisted of helping his drunk mother get into bed or dealing with her or one of her boyfriends smacking him around. Well, when he was younger it had been different, she had gone all out for the holiday. She would get a real tree, wrap up the presents in Christmas themed paper, and even read him Christmas stories. It had been easier then--before he had realized that it wasn't his job to be taking care of his drunken mother, before he had started to resent her for it.

Luke had actually attempted to make this Christmas something special. The man had gone out and bought a tree, forcing Jess to decorate it with him. Admittedly, Jess had not really enjoyed it, but he thought he had been a good sport. He had even cut back on his sarcasm. Well, at least he thought he did. He really appreciated what Luke had been doing for him, taking care of him like this, treating him like a son. Yes, he was his nephew, but Luke treated him with much more patience and compassion than most uncles would a nephew. He wanted to let Luke know that he really did appreciate everything that he had been doing for him, so he did little things to show it. Sometimes it would be playing a trick on Taylor, or even picking up an extra shift at the diner without pay. Luke meant a lot to him, even though he may annoy the elder Danes to his last nerve, he hoped that Luke knew that was his way of showing he cared.

"Jess," Luke said, snapping the boy out of his thoughts, "I'm sorry if I brought up any bad memories-"

"No, it's fine, you didn't." Jess cut in, "What movie were you thinking of?"

"How about A Christmas Story?" he suggested, "It should be on now, it is three days away from Christmas. They tend to overplay that movie around this time."

"Sure," Jess replied, laying back down on the couch, "Sounds good to me."

Luke grabbed the remote and changed the channel until he found the movie. He smiled to himself and looked over at his young nephew. Jess was glued to the screen, his head resting in one hand while the other rested on his lap. The boy's eye was healing up nicely, the puffiness and bruise surrounding it fading. Liz had really done a number on him, barging into the diner and smacking him over and over. Jess just took it, telling her to calm down. The boy looked so small and vulnerable, every hit making him even more humiliated than before. Almost the whole town had witnessed her fit including his uncle.

Luke really had no idea how bad Liz was. He never thought she would hit her own child the way she had that day. Luke had tried to interfere during the attack, but Jess had told him not to, saying to let him "handle it," that he had gotten "used to it." No child should ever be used to having their mother hit them the way Liz had Jess. He wondered how many times before then that Liz had lashed out at the boy. He had asked Jess if he wanted to talk about it, but Jess responded with an emotionless no. Jess briefly averted his gaze from the screen, noticing the older man's gaze.

"What?" he snapped, annoyed.

"Nothing," Luke replied, giving Jess a smile, "Your eye's healing up nicely."

Jess moved his hand up to his eye and felt it. His expression took on that of a traumatized child until it quickly reverted to his normal smug face. "Yeah," he nodded, looking over at Luke.

"Jess, if you want to talk-"

"No," Jess snapped, anger seeping through his voice, "I'm so sick of everyone asking me if I want to talk about it. I don't, alright?"

"Alright," Luke nodded. He would drop it for now, hoping that one day that he would open up and tell him about it. For now he would just try and fight for that kid as hard as he could. He planned to file for legal guardianship after Christmas--he would never let his nephew be hit like again.

The two both turned their attention back to the movie and sat in silence. Luke had no idea why he had picked this movie, he had seen at least twenty times already. Jess seemed to enjoy it though, his eyes were glued to the screen, taking in every minute of the old film. As the credits began to roll, Luke looked over at Jess and noticed his head dropping down, resting slightly on his shoulder. He looked so young and peaceful when he slept. It as if his hard exterior vanished for a short time when his eyes were closed; it was the time that the boy felt it was safe enough to remove his mask. Luke smiled and nudged him a little.

"Jess," he whispered gently, "Jess?"

Jess' eyes slowly fluttered open and he sat up. He looked over at his uncle and rubbed his eyes.

"Did I fall asleep?" he mumbled, yawning.

"Yeah, you should get in bed," Luke told him, "Your winter break starts tomorrow so you can sleep in. I won't make you work the morning shift."

Jess nodded and mumbled, "Thanks Luke," before falling down onto his bed and turning his stereo on full blast.

Luke sighed and turned the television off. He shut the lights off and got into his bed.

"Night Jess," Luke said.

"Night," he heard a mumbled voice say from under the covers.

Thanks for reading! I have most of this story written, I just need to edit it.

Please review!