A/N: This is the end of the line, folks! It took a little longer to get this last chapter up than I expected, but I wanted to get it right (or as right as possible). On the plus side, this is my longest chapter! Thanks to everyone who has stuck with this story for so long, and of course a special thanks to everyone who has faved, followed, reviewed, or sent me a PM about it. You guys are truly awesome. I was so nervous about posting this story, and you made it so much easier.

Warnings: if you've read this far, you should be fine with this chapter. Discussion of injuries, implications/discussions of past abuse, one mild swear.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Ms. James!

Part VII.

Jess had had about enough by the time the social worker arrived. Enough of doctors and nurses looking at him like he was a kicked puppy. Enough of Luke looking like he was going to cry or kill someone, maybe both, every time Jess winced. Enough of being denied real meals because of the malnutrition or even reading material because of the concussion. Enough of Luke looking like he was going to ask something serious only to supplant it with whatever ridiculous question popped into his head. Definitely enough of Luke waking him up and scaring the crap out of him by hovering over him to make sure he was still breathing every time he fell asleep. Over the years, Jess had learned to be hyper-aware of his surroundings. Normally he'd drown out other noise with music as he slept, but loud music was another thing his concussion had them denying him. Without his music, the slightest change in his environment would wake him up. It had been a necessary survival skill, but now it was something he couldn't turn off.

"Luke," he'd snapped the last time Luke had woken him, "I'm in a hospital hooked up to a million machines. If I stop breathing, literal alarms will go off! Knock it off or I'll make them kick you out!" The social worker, a woman in her thirties with a no nonsense air about her named Ms. James, arrived shortly after that and asked to speak to Jess alone.

"He's not abusing or neglecting me in any way," Jess barked as soon as Luke left.

"Ok," Ms. James said, "then can you explain how you got all of those injuries?"

"Fell down the stairs," Jess said sullenly.

"Repeatedly over the course of three weeks?"

"What can I say, I'm just clumsy. Dashed my dreams of being a ballerina, but what can you do? Guess some dreams aren't meant to come true," he said with mock-resigned heartbreak.

"How do you explain the lacerations on your back?"

"Have you seen my apartment building? There's glass on the stairs more often than not."

"What about the ligature marks around your wrists?"

"I do magic. I was working on a trick, an escape act, and a prop malfunctioned. Got rid of the prop, of course. I'm thinking I'll stick with cards and coins."

"And the burn behind your ear?"

"I have a habit of storing cigarettes behind my ears. Plenty of people have seen me do it. The other day I spaced and put a lit one back there. Lucky my hair didn't catch on fire."

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" Ms. James asked.

"Yup."

"Can you explain the dozens of healed fractures, going back years, on the bones they x-rayed today? Or the scars littering your body?"

"You'd have to be more specific," Jess countered. "There's a story for each of them."

"I'm sure there is. How about the one on your elbow?"

"Got beaked by a swan."

The social worker blinked. "You..."

"Got beaked by a swan, yeah. They look all sweet and innocent, but it's just an act. They're vicious."

"Well, I'll give you one thing, that's actually a new one for me." She gave him a genuine smile, which threw him off. He'd have bet anything he was pissing her off. He was kind of trying to piss her off, although he admittedly probably wasn't doing his best work. "Jess, you're clearly a bright enough kid to know your injuries make it clear what happened, even if they don't tell us who gave them to you. I want to help you, Jess, but I-"

"You're not seriously going to give me the 'help me help you' speech, are you? It's beneath you."

"It's a classic for a reason, Jess," Ms. James countered. "Work with me, here." Jess looked away from her. He had had about enough of the game, too. He wanted to go home.

"I am clumsy," he said with a surprising degree of sincerity for such an obvious lie. "I'm accident prone. Always have been. Gotten hurt all my life. I've got this new theory, though. See, I think it was the pace of the city, because when I moved in with my uncle in Connecticut in this tiny little town I suddenly stopped having accidents. Probably wasn't rushing around as much or something. Anyway, three weeks ago I decided to move out of my uncle's place and back to the city and that's when my clumsy streak came back with a vengeance." He looked her in the eye and told her, "if I go back to Connecticut with my uncle, then I'll stop having accidents."

She studied him for a moment. All traces of sarcasm had left him. "You're sure?"

"Completely."

"And if an accident came looking for you?"

"It won't, but even if it did - my uncle would build walls, railings, rearrange his whole diner, replace all his stairs with bouncy house versions if that's what it took to keep me safe."

A smile was in the woman's eye when she spoke again. "He sounds like a good man."

"He is." If there was one thing Jess knew, it was that Luke Danes was a good man.

The social worker left feeling fairly certain that Jess had been telling her the truth – not in so many words, of course, but in essence. He'd been telling her his uncle wasn't a threat, and she believed him. She was very rarely wrong. It became clear in the conversations she had with the doctors and nurses who had interacted with both Jess and Luke that they shared her assessment.

Ms. James's conversation with Luke only served to reinforce her belief that he wasn't a threat. He'd backed up the boy's story about falling down the stairs and claimed ignorance about his other injuries, but his voice lacked conviction and he had a hard time meeting her gaze. She got the distinct impression that he was less comfortable lying about this sort of thing than the boy was. He was likely less experienced with it, too. Jess's lies seemed instinctual. Luke's lies seemed coached. The conviction returned to Luke's voice, however, whenever he spoke about wanting to take care of his nephew and keep him safe. In spite of the man's gruff exterior, she could sense the genuine affection underneath the surface whenever Luke talked about the kid. By the end of the conversation, she was sure Jess would be safe in his care.

For Luke's part, he was still uncertain about the lie he had agreed to tell about how Jess got injured. He knew why he had to do it, but it still felt wrong to let a man who could've killed Jess, and a woman who did nothing to stop it, get away with what they'd done. He didn't like the lie, but he stuck to it. The lie about his own part in the ordeal came more naturally. He may have believed he deserved whatever punishment the law might see fit to give him, but he knew Jess didn't deserve to suffer any more than he already had as a result of Luke's mistakes. Staying with Luke was what was best for Jess, and there was no way that would be allowed if anyone found out what Luke had done. The lie seemed so necessary that Luke had no problem looking Ms. James in the eye when he told her he had never hurt Jess. Still, Luke felt relieved when he could finally simply tell the truth when it came to how he felt about Jess and how he would treat him in the future.

The social worker's subsequent home visit convinced her further that the threat to the boy resided in New York rather than Connecticut. The mother had made no attempt to visit Jess in the hospital, and her interest in the answers to her inquiries into his wellbeing had seemed feigned. She seemed a little too excited, although she tried to hide it, at the prospect of her brother taking her son off her hands again. She was playing the part of a concerned mother, and she was playing it poorly. The mother's boyfriend, who arrived in time for the end of the visit, was a better actor. His concern seemed almost genuine, and he gave a reasonable enough explanation for the cuts on his knuckles. His questions, however, seemed designed to illicit information about whether or not Jess had said anything against them without coming right out and asking. She pretended not to know that that's what he was doing, but she nonetheless made it clear that the boy had insisted his injuries were accidents and had made no accusations against either of them. She was relieved to see that the boyfriend seemed satisfied by those answers. She knew better than to rile up a hornet's nest when she wasn't in a position to get rid of it. Especially when she knew she wasn't the one who would end up getting stung. All the same, she made certain that the boyfriend understood that Jess had his uncle in his corner now and that he was a man who would care for and take care of Jess no matter what. She didn't overtly say it, but she made sure he knew Jess would not be such an easy target in the future. What she'd seen was enough to convince her that this man had hurt Jess, but there was very little she could do about it in terms of the law without Jess's cooperation. The evidence was too circumstantial, and the boyfriend was too convincing. This was one of the things she hated most about her job: knowing, and not being able to do anything about it.

What she could do was recommend that Jess be allowed to return home with his uncle. When Jess was released from the hospital a few days later, Ms. James made sure he was allowed to return to the "bouncy house stairways" of Stars Hollow, Connecticut.

# # # #

Jess and Luke passed the first twenty minutes of the ride back home in comfortable silence. Jess had just fallen asleep when he was jarred awake by his uncle's voice.

"Hey, Jess?" He asked, not noticing that his nephew had been sleeping.

Jess jumped slightly. "Luke, I'm glad to be going back to Stars Hollow and everything, but if you do that one more time, I'm going to have to murder you in your sleep."

Regret immediately took over Luke's face as he sputtered an apology, "sorry! Forget it! Just... go back to sleep. It's not important."

"You already woke me up," Jess said, rolling his eyes. "Just ask already, jeez."

"It's nothing, really," Luke said as he scrambled for something to ask and saw the blanket on Jess's lap. "I was just wondering if you want a new blanket for your bed?"

Jess didn't dignify the diversion with a direct response. "Ask the question, Luke."

Luke spat his real question out before he lost his nerve again. "Jess, did I break your ribs?"

Jess sighed. "No."

"You're lying," Luke accused, and Jess rolled his eyes.

"What do you want me to say, Luke? Yeah, I'm pretty sure you broke my ribs. Didn't exactly get an x-ray at the time. It doesn't change anything." Luke scoffed. "It doesn't! You shouldn't have done it, but I get why you did. I wanted to do the same thing to the guy who hurt Rory, and if I knew who it was I would have. Plus, I know it's sure as hell not going to happen again. If I thought there was any chance of that, then I'd have ditched you at the hospital when you went for the car. It's done. I forgave you. End of story. Just drop it!"

Luke wanted to believe it was done, but he had a hard time believing his nephew was as unaffected by what had happened between them as he seemed. Even if he was, he shouldn't be. Luke looked over at his nephew. He tried to remember all of the advice that Lorelai had given him over the past three weeks. The most applicable seemed to be her instruction to be "emotionally honest and available." That kind of thing wasn't always easy for Luke, but for Jess he'd try.

"It scares me, you know," Luke admitted. "To think you could really forgive me that quickly. It's like you don't even know you deserve better than that. Just because you're used to it doesn't mean it's ok. You deserved so much better, Jess. It scares me to think about what your life must have been like all those years when I wasn't paying attention for you to think what I did was nothing. I broke two of your ribs, but hey, the next guy broke four, so no big deal!"

Jess shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Despite their little talk in the hospital, he still didn't particularly like talking about his past. "I didn't say it was nothing," Jess said, voice quiet and frustrated, "and I didn't say it was ok. I said I forgave it. There's a difference. The act of forgiveness kind of implies there's something that needs to be forgiven. What the others did... they hurt me in so many ways over the years, Luke, but it wasn't the same. I don't want to talk specifics, but it just wasn't." Luke glanced over to see a distant look he didn't like in his nephew's eyes. It was more than the dull look the concussion/pain med combo had given the boy these last few days, and it unnerved him.

"We can drop it," Luke told him. "If you don't want to talk about it, then I'll respect that."

Jess was grateful, but he needed Luke to understand something. "Back at the apartment - if Liz's boyfriend had walked in after you'd seen what he did to me, what would you have done?" The murderous look in Luke's eye and his sudden death grip on the steering wheel were answer enough. "That's what I thought. Guy's a giant, but you'd have killed him or died trying. You wouldn't even have thought about it. Not the consequences or anything. You wouldn't even have been logical enough to think about what would happen to me if you died or went to prison. I can forgive you because Rory is your family, and I know you'd do the same for me." Jess's voice then got very small, and he looked out the window as he muttered the rest, "being hit isn't new for me. Having someone who actually gives a shit when it happens? That is."

Luke looked over at his nephew, who was still engaged in the conversation even as he continued to gaze out of the window. He didn't quite know how to respond to the boy's revelation. Luke knew he wouldn't forgive himself so easily, in fact he wasn't sure he ever truly would, but he would stop trying to reject Jess's forgiveness. He couldn't put that wall between them. Jess was right. Luke would kill or die for this boy, for his boy, without thought or hesitation. He could learn to set his guilt aside enough to be the parent Jess needed. He couldn't change the past, any of it, but he would do whatever it took to help his kid heal. He would make sure he was ok.

"That's a really low bar, Jess," Luke said when he finally put his thoughts together.

"Yeah, well, the people in my life haven't exactly been Olympic pole vaulters, have they?"

"No, I guess not. That doesn't mean you don't deserve better, though," Luke told him. The two fell back into silence for a few minutes before Luke spoke again. "Look, Jess, I'm not blaming you in any way..."

"Terrible way to start a sentence, then, but go on."

"I'm really not, Jess. I'm sure you had your reasons and I'm sure they were good reasons. I just want to understand them." Jess waited anxiously for the rest of the thought. "Why would you go back to New York? Knowing what it would be like? Was the idea of living with me that awful?"

"You wouldn't understand," Jess said with a shake of his head.

"Try me. Try to explain, please. I want to understand. I mean, were you worried I was going to hit you again?" Jess looked at his uncle and could tell at a glance that he really wasn't blaming Jess for his decision to return to New York. He was blaming himself. Jess sighed.

"No, it wasn't... I didn't..." Jess didn't often truly struggle for words. He often chose not to use them, and they sometimes got caught between his brain and his mouth even when he did want to say them, but they were usually there. He started again, addressing only the last part of Luke's question. "I almost said that to you, you know. When I wanted you to let me leave Lorelai's house. I almost told you I didn't feel safe with you, but it would've been a lie."

"Then why would you almost say it?"

"Because it would've made you feel guilty enough to let me leave. You already felt awful, so you would've believed it, and you would've thought no kid should have to feel unsafe in their own home. At the time, you would've thought I'd at least feel physically safe in New York."

"Ok," Luke said, "then why didn't you say it?"

"You already felt horrible. You knew it was a one time thing and you knew that I knew that, too. It was an aberration, but if I didn't know that then you wouldn't have been able to think of it that way. You'd have felt like every other child abuser in the world who's ever beaten a kid and then promised never to do it again. You'd have thought you'd permanently traumatized a kid you were supposed to take care of. You probably would've thought I only said I understood and forgave you because I was too afraid to express anger. You'd have seen virtually no distinction between what you did and what people like Liz's boyfriend do. You would've felt like a straight up child abuser. I figured it wouldn't even really matter who the kid was, just the idea of that, of being a child abuser, would've broken you. You're too good a man to live with that. I know what you think of guys like that. You could've handled my anger, but I didn't think you could've handled the idea of my continuing fear."

Luke had to admit that Jess had a point. About some of it, at least. "It did matter who the kid was, Jess. I didn't feel so horrible because I'd hurt 'a kid I was supposed to take care of.' I'd have felt terrible about hurting any kid, but I felt that horrible because I hurt you and I care about you. I hurt someone I loved, Jess, that's why I felt as bad as I did. That's what would've made the idea of you fearing me so hard to live with." Jess's eyes flickered over Luke's face, seeming to look for something, and then fell to his own lap. His expression was unreadable, and Luke decided to let it go for the time being and return to the rest of Jess's statement. "So you didn't say it because you didn't want to hurt me? After everything I did?" The thought broke Luke's heart. He didn't deserve this kid.

"Oh, I wanted to hurt you," Jess clarified, "just not irreparably." Luke glanced over at Jess. If anything, Luke was more confused.

"Ok, if you weren't scared and you still cared enough to not want to irreparably harm me, then why would you leave to go back to an abusive home?"

"Because I cared enough to not want to irreparably harm you," Jess answered matter-of-factly. The words were said as though they should be explanation enough. Judging by the look on Luke's face, they weren't.

"You gotta help me out here, Jess," Luke plead. Jess looked tired and like he wanted the conversation to be over, but he still tried to explain.

"I don't like people as a whole, and the feeling is generally mutual. I don't trust people, either. Not adults, anyway. Not Liz. Not her boyfriends. Not teachers. Not social workers. Not cops," Jess chuckled, "not freaking Lorelai Gilmore. I haven't really trusted anyone in years, and the last guy I trusted... well, let's just say he did a lot worse than any of the others. I've had plenty of guys try to bond with me, act like they care about me and like me, try and play daddy, you know? But it was always just an act. Caring and trusting just got me hurt, so I stopped. Until I started to care about and trust you. Until I started to believe you actually cared about me and it wasn't just an act..." Jess trailed off. He shifted uncomfortably again and stared out the passenger side window.

"And then I went and shattered that trust and destroyed that belief," Luke finished for him. Jess nodded almost imperceptibly. "I'm so sorry, Jess. For everything. For hitting you. For yelling at you. All that stuff I said to you? I didn't mean it."

"So you've said," Jess stated in a tired voice. "You know, we really don't have to do this, Luke."

"Yeah, we do, because I'm still not sure you believe me. I didn't mean any of it." Jess sighed, but he gave Luke his undivided attention. If they were going to have this conversation, then they might as well have the conversation.

"So taking me in didn't make your life harder?" Jess challenged. "You habitually make random trips to New York and leave your diner for days before I came along? I didn't make your life harder?"

"No, you didn't," Luke responded immediately. Jess shook his head and went back to looking out the window.

"Whatever you say, Uncle Luke."

"Don't do that," Luke half ordered, half plead.

"Don't lie to me," Jess retorted, glaring at his uncle. Luke glanced between Jess and the road. He knew Jess too well now to think he'd buy anything less than the truth.

"Yeah. Yeah, ok. The truth is that taking you in complicated my life, but that's true of any kid and any parent or guardian. Do you really think having Rory didn't complicate Lorelai's life? Do you think that makes Lorelai regret having Rory?" Luke stole another glance at Jess, who was at least engaged in the conversation again. "Do you know what the least true thing I said that night was? Setting aside the name calling? That you weren't worth it. You are, Jess. Taking care of a kid complicates things sometimes, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Honestly, ask Lorelai what I've been like the last three weeks. And you weren't the reason I had to stay in New York. That would be your mom and that psychopath's doing. Not to mention mine for betraying your trust and making you leave Stars Hollow in the first place."

"I was never worth it to her," Jess pointed out.

"That's because she's an idiot!" Luke barked. "She doesn't know how to do something for another human being. She's selfish. Always has been. She should've known you were worth it, Jess, but it's her problem that she didn't. It wasn't because of you, I swear! You do know that, right? On some level?"

"Yeah, I know," Jess answered unconvincingly.

"You will," Luke vowed, "eventually. I'll make sure of it. You'll see." Jess nodded, although he honestly wasn't sure why. "I was so mad when I said all of that, Jess. That's not how I really feel. In the moment? Yeah, I regretted taking you in, but only because I thought if I'd never brought you to Stars Hollow, then Rory never would've been hurt like that. That's the only place the regret came from. It came from something you didn't do and something I should've known you wouldn't do. I know you thought it was separate from that, but it wasn't. It was about some evil, alternate version of you that doesn't exist!

"Jess, I know I broke your trust, in so many ways, but I promise you I'll prove you can trust me again. I'll be worthy of your trust this time. I don't expect you to completely believe that overnight, but I will prove it!" There was absolute conviction in Luke's voice. However long it took, he would prove it. Luke and Jess fell silent for a few minutes as both of their minds wandered. It was Jess who ultimately broke the silence.

"You know, I might've had a chance when you first came after me," Jess pondered aloud, "if I didn't trust you. I should've known the second you walked into the room. I think I could've gotten away if I'd been quicker. Trust makes you vulnerable." The statement saddened Luke. He just hoped his betrayal wouldn't be that one last thing that completely and permanently destroyed Jess's ability to trust.

"It can," Luke admitted, "but it's worth it. Never trusting anyone? That's no way to live. You just need to find people who deserve your trust."

"That's real easy to say, Luke, but not trusting people kept me alive." Jess sighed, "I'm working on it. For what it's worth, I do trust you. For the most part, anyway. Pretty sure Liz is the only one I've ever given that kind of second chance to, though, so don't…" Jess trailed off.

"I won't," Luke promised quickly. He didn't need to hear the rest of the sentence. Let me down? Be like Liz? Hurt me again? It didn't matter what the rest of the sentence was: Luke wasn't going to throw away a second chance with this kid. He knew without a doubt that he wouldn't get a third, and as heartbreaking as that would be for him, it would be far worse for Jess. He glanced over at his nephew, and he knew it wasn't just the bruises and breaks that needed healing. He wished the psychological trauma was as simple to fix as the breaks were. He knew it would take time, and patience, and perseverance, and he would do whatever it took for as long as it took. Lorelai would help, too, Luke knew. She was already giving him advice, and he knew she'd be there for Jess, too, if he ever let her. Luke glanced over at Jess again and noticed the uncertainty in his eye. Trust makes you vulnerable, he'd said. Luke wondered just how many ways the kid had meant that statement.

"I won't," Luke promised again. He wasn't sure what else he could say, but he got the sense that Jess didn't want him to say much more, anyway. He seemed to have reached his limit when it came to talking. Luke also got the sense that if he wanted Jess to feel comfortable having these conversations in the future, then he should respect that. So, Luke said nothing else and instead merely squeezed Jess's arm lightly and went back to focusing on the road.

Luke shot yet another glance back over at his nephew, who was still staring out his window with increasingly exhausted eyes. "You can get some sleep if you want," Luke told him.

"Thanks," Jess said with a yawn, as grateful to his uncle for dropping the subject as he was for the promised rest. "I just want to get home, crawl in bed, not talk to anyone and sleep for a week," he admitted.

"That sounds like a good plan," Luke said. "Get some sleep. I won't wake you up this time."

Jess leaned a groggy, aching head against the window and closed his eyes. "You promise?" He asked quietly. Luke laid a hand on his not-quite-sleeping nephew's head and was a little surprised when it wasn't immediately shrugged off in annoyance.

"Yeah, kid, I promise."

A/N: well, that's it! I hope you all enjoyed this story. I know it's the end of the story, but I'd still really love your feedback on this chapter (or the story writ large or anything else, really), so please review or send me a PM. If you have any questions about the story or anything like that, I'm definitely open to sharing additional thoughts on it so shoot me a PM! And FYI, because I didn't know this when I started reading fics here, you don't need an account to leave a review!

In case anyone missed it, "I don't feel safe with you" was the six word lie referenced in Chapter 3.

I got more reviews for the last chapter than I usually do (THANK YOU), so I'm going to break with what I've been doing thus far and only respond to the reviewers who don't have accounts here in the A/N (and I'll respond to those who do have accounts with a PM... probably should've done this all along, but you live, you learn). General thanks to everyone for wishing me a nice vacation!

Nancy: thank you for both this review and all of your reviews. I really appreciate your readership and the fact that you took the time to give feedback so often. Doctors indeed have a fine line to walk, and I'm glad that you appreciated that part of the story. I agree with your assessment of Luke, and I definitely agree that he will truly never harm Jess again nor will he jump to conclusions. He'll punish a healthy Jess if it's in Jess's best interest, but he'll never hit him. It certainly won't be an easy recovery for Jess, but he's on the right path and both Luke and Lorelai will be there for him (and he and Rory will both help each other). Thank you again for all the feedback. DanishGirl: I'm so glad you're enjoying the story, and thanks so much for the feedback! I'm glad you like the relationship between Luke and Jess in this story, and I hope you liked the conclusion. Shawny: Thank you for the feedback and both of your reviews. I'm so glad that you're still reading and enjoying this story!