Shock Stone Empty

Chapter 3

AN: Very short, mostly just filler. I'm not too happy with how this chapter turned out, honestly.

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One Week Later…

Luke looked over at Jess thrashing around in his sleep. He swallowed the last bite of his eggs and set the fork down on the table. Then he stood up and walked over to stand next to his nephew’s bed. He heard a whimper and what sounded like ‘please don’t’. “Jess?” He whispered. Nothing. “Jess,” at normal volume. Nothing. He sighed and with one hand on the boy’s shoulder shook him lightly, “Jess.”

Jess flinched away from the hand as his eyes popped open. Confusion grew on his face as his mind caught him with the fact that he was awake. Blinking the last of the dream away, he took a deep breath. His body shook as he sat up. He reached over and swiped up the pack of cigarettes off his nightstand. He pulled one out and put it to his lips, letting it hang there as he grabbed his lighter.

Luke watched him light the cancer stick but didn’t voice his objection this time. That was definitely a nightmare so he could hold off on the lecture for now. He waited to speak until the first puff was exhaled. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” With another inhale of tobacco, the shakes receded. “Go back to sleep, old man,” only exhaustion could be heard in his voice.

“I just finished eating. Why don’t I make you some breakfast?” He walked toward the kitchen area as he spoke the words.

Jess looked at the clock - five o’clock in the morning. Perfect. “You need help opening?”

“Sure. After you eat though. It'll be ready by the time you get out of the shower.”

Jess got out of bed and, after grabbing clothes from his dresser, headed in the direction of the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, Jess walked out of the bathroom his hair lacking gel and still slightly damp. There was a plate of pancakes and a glass of milk on the table waiting for him. Across from the plate, Luke was seated at the table drinking a glass of water. He sat in front of the food and started adding syrup.

“Cereal would’ve been fine.” Jess awkwardly said.

“It was no problem. You know, your grandpa was pretty awkward when it came to being comforting but the man could cook.”

Jess nodded. Comfort food, he could handle that. As he dug in, he decided to throw Luke a bone. “I had nightmares on and off for a couple years after Greg was arrested. Liz stopped bringing men around me,” he shrugged, “the nightmares stopped.”

Rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, Luke said, “I can’t believe I didn’t realize. I mean, you have been resembling a zombie this past week.” He paused as he realized something, “You weren’t gonna tell me, were you?”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

Luke rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward. He said seriously, “I’ll be honest with you, Jess, I’m out of my element here. I can’t fix what already happened to you but I wanna help you deal with it now. I’m here. Whatever you need, be it comfort food or an extremely awkward hug.”

Jess smirked at that last part.

Luke squirmed a bit, feeling awkward. “I know you’re close with Officer Chang but-"

“I’ve got you too,” Jess finished for him.

“Yeah,” said Luke relieved.

Putting his fork down, he gave Luke his full attention. “Just let me deal with it my own way. If it makes you feel any better, Chang just sits there and gets my mind off of it.”

“I can do that.” He stood up. “You finish eating and then you can meet me downstairs.”

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“I’ll call you when I get home. You call me if you need anything or just wanna shoot the breeze.” He shrugged and then tried to look sly, “Luke’s here too, if you just let-"

“I talked to Luke. He woke me from a nightmare this morning, so it was kind of necessary. I can’t tell him everything but I won’t shut him out either.” Jess interjected.

“I’m proud of you, kid. Come here,” Chang put an arm around the boy’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug. Jess hugged him back before quickly stepping away.

Chang knew Jess was uncomfortable with praise so he let him off the hook, “Alright, get to school kid. I gotta grab some coffee for the road, and maybe one more piece of pie, before I head out.”

“Drive safe.”

“Always.” Chang watched Jess walk toward the school building.

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“Large coffee to-go?” Chang ordered.

“You’re leaving?” Luke asked.

“After I finish this,” fork pointed toward a slice of apple pie, “then yeah, it's time for me to go home.”

“What about Mathens?”

“There’s no reason to believe he’s after Jess. There never really was. I just panicked when I saw Greg’s name. I’m lucky I have a cool boss because me staying here went against protocol. He just wanted to disappear, I guess. Even if he did show up here, everyone knows the situation and what he looks like.” Chang recited the point Jess had made yesterday.

“That’s true. You say goodbye to Jess?”

He nodded. “Just now, before school. It was great spending time with him, regardless of the circumstances. I’ve missed him a lot.”

“He’s loved having you around, that much is obvious.” Luke had to work hard to keep the jealousy out of his voice.

“I’ll tell you; I was worried when he left New York. I didn’t know anything about you, except that you were related to Liz and apparently her hero. He called me during his Christmas break and told me about your little white lie; I knew you had to be a decent guy to do that.” Chang confessed.

“Lorelai told me he didn’t buy it, I still hoped though. I thought I was convincing enough. Why didn’t he buy it?”

“Jess is a human bullshit detector. Also, expecting him to believe that Liz not only called but wanted to see him? Yeah, you were screwed.”

Luke sighed in resignation. “Protecting him from disappointment concerning Liz is fruitless, isn’t it?”

“She’d have to try pretty hard to disappoint him; he doesn’t expect anything from her, let alone hope.”

“That’s not depressing.” Luke said sarcastically.

Chang shrugged immune to it by now. He paid for the pie and stood up to leave.

Handing him his to-go cup, Luke extended an olive branch, “You’re more than welcome here anytime.”

“Thanks. Maybe I’ll use some vacation time around the holidays.” He walked toward the door but paused before opening the door. He looked back at Luke. “You’re doing something right; Jess likes living with you.”