Chapter 25

Having had dinner at the diner, Lorelai told Luke she would meet him at home. April decided to go with Lorelai, ready to be home already after a long day. Jaiden, on the other hand, wanted to stay and wait for Luke. Since he opened that morning, he trusted Caesar to close and lock up at the end of the night. So, shortly after the girls left, Luke finished up, making sure the next day's order was put in before heading for home, as well.

"Ready, Tiger?" he asked of Jaiden, poking his head in the back where Jaiden was sitting on the lower part of the stairs. She stood to her feet and walked over to him. Once they got outside, Jaiden moved even closer than she already was.

Luke opened the passenger side of his truck, letting Jaiden climb in before shutting it for her, and made his way around to the driver's side, hopping in under the steering wheel. He then started the engine before fastening his seatbelt, reminding Jaiden to do the same.

"Need help?" he offered, noticing Jaiden was having a little trouble with the seat belt. The old thing sometimes got stuck every once in a while. She tried a few more times before nodding her head over at him. Undoing his own seatbelt, Luke scooted a bit closer to reach over there, having Jaiden scoot forward on the seat. He had to push it back inside its compartment before trying to yank on it again. Eventually, Luke had to get out and come back around to work with it better. It made things a little easier and finally, he was able to pull the seat belt out for Jaiden to be able to fasten across her front.

"The seat belt does that sometimes," he explained to her once Luke was back in his seat, fastening his own seat belt. "I've been meaning to replace these old things." Luke reached over to turn on the radio, switching from the oldies station he had been listening to that morning, to a country station for Jaiden. Kenny Chesney was singing his song, Everybody wants to Go to Heaven.

Luke pulled away from the curb and headed around the block to head in the direction of home. Things were quiet except for Kenny. The song was already close to ending. When it did, Luke caught Jaiden looking over at him like she had something on her mind to say.

"Need something, Tiger?" he asked, glancing over at her while keeping most of his attention on the road ahead.

Jaiden hesitated, grabbing onto her own upper arm.

"Whatever's on your mind you can say, I promise," Luke assured her.

"What's...What's h-heaven?" she eventually asked, timidly.

"Heaven?"

She timidly nodded. Luke was able to see it with the street lights.

"Uh…" Luke never really had to explain that kind of thing before. He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. "Well, it's where God and all His angels live." He glanced over at her again, catching a confused look. "Do you know who God is?"

"I hear Him in songs," Jaiden pointed at the radio.

Now, he had to explain who God was. "Yeah, a lot of country singers sings about Him," Luke nodded at the road. He glanced over at her again. "He watches over us from heaven. He created Earth, and us, and everything we humans didn't make. Nobody's seen Him, though. Or, at least those who are alive haven't seen Him." Not a spiritual kind of guy, Luke wasn't sure if he was doing alright with this explanation or not. "You know, I'm sure Lorelai could do a better job at explaining who God is if you want to ask her. April's kind of skeptical about Him so you probably don't want to ask her, but Lorelai would definitely be a good choice. To ask, I mean."

Jaiden watched him until she turned away, seeming like she accepted his answer. Then Luke watched her while keeping an eye on the road. Rascal Flatts' Mayberry was playing this time. Being her favorite band, of course she would sing along under her breath.

Finally, he mustered up to ask, "You doing okay? From earlier today, I mean?"

Jaiden dropped her gaze from her window to the door handle.

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Like I promised, no one's gonna hurt ya. Lorelai and I are here for you. We won't skip out on you like others have, and if there's anything on your mind like your question about God, you can come to us about it. I may not be great at the whole explaining thing but I'll try my best." Luke hoped mentioning that would make things easier than coming out and telling Jaiden about the trial next week. He noticed her knees rise up towards her chest and hugged them to her.

It was a short drive home. Luke pulled in behind Lorelai's jeep and parked before sliding out. He had Jaiden slide over to his side but before she climbed down, Luke placed his hands on his knees to be able to look at her at eye level.

"You're a great kid, Tiger. I don't want you feeling like you're not, and whatever lie your grandfather's got you believing, don't listen to him. Between you and me, the guy's a jerk and he's not gonna get away with what he has done. We'll make sure of it. Okay?"

Jaiden looked up at him and nodded. "Papa...mad," she whimpered, softly.

"I know." Luke held out his arms to offer to help her down. Jaiden accepted his help and let him lift her down on her feet, out of the way so he could shut his door. She stuck by his side until they got inside. Jaiden made sure he locked the front door behind them when he shut it.

Paul Anka came to greet them, and by them, it was actually just Jaiden. Jaiden kneeled down to hug the dog's neck. Luke let them be, heading for upstairs to get ready for bed.

Lorelai met Luke halfway down the stairs, asking how the drive home went. Luke assured things were just fine before continuing up. "Hey, sweetheart. Are you gonna shower tonight? Or no?"

Jaiden nodded up at her while rubbing Paul Anka's stomach, who was now lying on his back, enjoying the attention.

"Can you go get ready for bed then? There's something I need to talk with you about." She quickly added, "you're not in any trouble, I swear. Just something important we need to discuss. Okay?"

Jaiden nodded but still looked unsure. She did stand up to head for upstairs.

Lorelai touched a gentle hand to the top of her head as Jaiden walked by. "I'll come find you later. Okay?" She watched the little girl head up the stairs, smiling for her when Jaiden turned around on the second part.

Lorelai gave the kid about forty-five minutes before ducking her head in the girls' room. Jaiden was waiting for her, drawing in her sketchbook on her lap. She asked to come in first before heading over to sit on the foot of Jaiden's bed, sitting cross-legged, holding her hands in her lap.

"May I ask what you're drawing, sweetheart?"

Jaiden hesitated at first before showing Lorelai her latest drawing. At first it looked like Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider movie, but she pointed to Lorelai.

"It's me?"

"As her," she uttered softly.

"Aw, cool. So I'm an action hero, huh?"

Jaiden nodded. "Dad's going to be Arnold Shors…" She stopped herself, seeming like she was having trouble saying the actor's last name. Lorelai knew who she meant.

"Schwarzenegger," she helped the kid.

Jaiden nodded.

"That's gonna look cool. I can't wait to see Luke as Arnold Schwarzenegger." Lorelai went along with Jaiden's imagination. She knew Jaiden liked action heroes because they stopped bad guys from hurting innocent people. Like Schwarzenegger and Croft. That was one of the reasons TJ had been successful with introducing her to the superhero comic books. "And maybe when you grow up, you can make us into a cartoon where we fight crime and kick bad guys' butts. We can be like a dynamic duo who fights crime as a couple."

Jaiden perked up. "I can make my own cartoons when I grow up?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah, there are jobs for that. That's how Diego got on TV. Somebody thought, 'hey, let's make a little boy who can talk to animals and speak Spanish. Alright, start drawing, Phil'." Lorelai changed her voice for each person.

The kid just stared at her with a puzzled look.

"Just guessing that's how the process went," she shrugged. "But yeah, you can surely go to college and learn how to make cartoons. You got the talent for it, definitely."

"But I don't like school. It's too hard," Jaiden admitted.

"Well, sweetheart, sometimes we gotta do things we don't want to do so we can do the things we do want to do. And your teachers said you were doing a great job catching up."

She shook her head. "Still not smart. Not like the other kids."

"It's not about being smart. We all learn at different paces. For some, school comes easy, and for others, you have to work extra hard. But I can promise you, if you keep at it, you will get it. School isn't a race to see who is smarter than everyone else. It's about getting an education to better yourself at your own speed. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks, you are capable of great things, Jaiden. It just takes a lot of hard work. And one day, I will turn on the TV and I will watch every single cartoon you create. Unless you decide to make movies, then even better, because I can stand up in the theater and yell out, 'that's my Jaiden's movie!'" Lorelai pointed out at an imaginary movie screen as she called out to nobody. She chuckled, looking back at Jaiden. "Plus, your story can help others also reach their dream. A kid who had a rough start grows up to make cartoons, and Luke and I will be there with you, to support you every step of the way."

Jaiden wiped at her eye. "Promise?"

Lorelai held out her pinky finger to her. "Pinky promise."

Just like she done with Luke, Jaiden timidly stretched out her own pinky, wrapping it around Lorelai's.

"You can do anything you set your mind to, kid. Don't let anybody tell you any different," she told her afterwards.

"Anything?"

"Well, not everything. You can't drive until you're sixteen, so no taking the car out for a late night spin. And Luke agrees you can't date until you're thirty-five, and you can't sprout wings and suddenly learn to fly so no jumping off the roof. Oh, and you can't do anything crazy unless I can join in the fun, too." Lorelai listed off a few don'ts for Jaiden, mostly to be funny. "But other than that, you're good." She smiled at her.

"Um...can...What about…?"

Lorelai encouraged the kid to ask her anything. "There are no such thing as a stupid question."

Jaiden tried to meet her foster mom's gaze but kept looking away, fidgeting with her pencil in her hands.

"If it helps, whenever I have a hard time getting something out, I just say it fast. As fast as I can before I can change my mind."

Taking a long breath, Jaiden blurted out, "Can I call you, Mom?" Her cheeks around her scar turned bright red afterwards and her body tensed up. Lorelai thought for sure she was going to snap her pencil in half by the way she was holding onto it. In fact her eyes were shut tight like Lorelai would yell at her or worse, might hit her.

But Lorelai was frozen in surprise by the question, taken completely off guard. Here she was, having been worried about not being able to do much and being jealous of how easily Luke's relationship with Jaiden came about, and already calling Luke, dad, and then Jaiden asks to call her, mom, as well? So, Lorelai was doing something right?

Once the shock blew over, though, Lorelai smiled for her. "Oh, sweetie. Of course you can call me, Mom, if you want to. As far as anyone's concerned, I already consider you my daughter just as much as Rory is. That's why we're going to great lengths to make sure you can live with us, permanently."

Jaiden looked up at that. "You don't regret me?"

"Of course not, sweetheart. You fit into our family, perfectly. You're the missing final piece we've been waiting for."

At that moment, tears filled up in the little girl's eyes. Suddenly, she shot up and threw herself across the bed and onto Lorelai, wrapping her arms around her neck.

"Thank you…" There was a pause of hesitance. "...Mommy."

Hearing being called mommy again ended up bringing tears to Lorelai's own eyes. She tried to sniff them back to be able to reply, "you're welcome, sweetheart." It still showed in her voice, though.

Jaiden lifted her head to look at her. "Did I do something wrong?"

Lorelai wiped her eyes. "No, sweetheart. I'm crying because I'm happy." She couldn't help let out a small laugh when Jaiden gave another puzzled look. She felt guilty for laughing at the kid's confusion. "Yes, sometimes, crying can mean happy, too. You're so happy you can't help shed a few tears." She was holding her arms around Jaiden's legs as Jaiden stood on her knees, in front of her.

"But I...I didn't make you upset?"

"No, not at all," Lorelai assured.

Jaiden shook her head. "I never seen someone cry because they were happy."

Lorelai pulled her in where Jaiden was sitting sideways in her lap. "You can laugh until you cry, too."

"I don't laugh that much," she admitted.

"Really? Not even when somebody tickled ya?" Lorelai suddenly tickled at her ribs and stomach. Suddenly, Jaiden reacted and shot out of her lap, scooting away from her. Her eyes were wide as she was leaning back on her hands.

Holding up her hands, Lorelai apologized. "I'm sorry, Jaiden. I didn't mean anything by it. I wasn't trying to hurt you or make you feel uncomfortable." It hadn't occurred to her harmless tickling could trigger a bad memory for Jaiden.

Thankfully, about that time, Luke stuck his head in, having heard the commotion once he came out of the bathroom. "Everything alright in here?"

Jaiden quickly scampered off the bed and hurried over to grab onto Luke's leg. Lifting her up, Luke set Jaiden on his side.

"What happened?" he asked, coming over where Lorelai was still sitting on the bed. Jaiden had latched on to his neck while Luke was rubbing circles on her back.

"I wasn't thinking and tried to tickle her. It must have reminded her of what happened." Again, she tried to apologize to the little girl, feeling even more guilty. Darn it! The guy even ruined something that was supposed to be harmless fun. Was it even possible to hate him more at this point?

Luke shifted the kid so he could take her place on the bed, setting her on his lap. "You know, I've been thinking about what you said earlier, you know, at the diner. About throwing a party for Jaiden," he said.

"Yeah, I figured we would keep things small. Not invite a lot of people. Maybe keep it to our family and very close friends. Plus, it works out that Rory will be here this weekend for Friday's dinner," Lorelai replied but Luke shook his head. "What?" she asked confused.

"Look, I think it's great and all what Sookie's trying to do, but with everything that's going on with her grandfather, and her being uncomfortable whenever something gets close. I mean, Doula's still learning, and Sookie has three young children, too."

"I'm pretty sure Davey and Martha will understand boundaries a little bit better than Doula does," Lorelai pointed out. "And Oliver's barely learning to walk."

Luke stared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked as if offended.

"Nothing. I just mean they're older than Doula is, and hence, a tiny bit more mature and understanding," she explained.

"Okay, that may be, but maybe this isn't the best time to be throwing a party. At least not until after the trial and after her grandfather is history." Luke was running a gentle hand along Jaiden's back who was curled in a ball on his right leg.

"I thought so too, but Sookie does have a point we shouldn't keep isolating her from everyone. Don't you think it's time we start having Jaiden get to know our friends and family?"

"Yes but not all at once. Liz hasn't even gotten her one-on-one time with her," he reminded her. "I think we should try that first before we bombard her around everyone. We could have Sookie and Jackson over for dinner, just us, if you want, but not a whole party. At least not now. I kind of want to get through next week first. Can we do that? Please?" Luke could feel Jaiden grip onto his shirt, tightly in her hand at that. It made him look down. "I think Jaiden agrees," he glanced up at Lorelai before returning to Jaiden. "Right, Tiger?"

Luke felt her head nod against his chest.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, and that's what I told Sookie, basically."

"Our friends just aren't used to being left out, that's all," he gave a quick shrug. "They're all used to feeling included in our lives, and need to understand we can't rush things. Like I said, let's get this thing with her grandfather taken care of, then we'll work on Liz having her time with Jaiden she's surprisingly been waiting patiently for, then we'll see about having Sookie and them over." It was indeed amazing how well his sister was handling this whole situation with Jaiden. Patience didn't exactly work well with Liz, always wanting to jump ahead at things and wanting to help. Luke knew she always meant well along with TJ, but neither one usually put much thought into things like he did. But now Liz seemed to be proving him wrong and Luke couldn't help feel proud of his sister which was why he wanted Liz to have her time to bond with Jaiden first.

Lorelai nodded. She couldn't believe how serious Luke was about all of this. During the classes, Luke looked so bored when in actuality, he was very much paying attention. It had even surprised him to be honest, especially when meeting Jaiden.

With that said, Luke turned his attention to their small charge. "I guess you now know there's a court trial next week, huh?"

Jaiden didn't lift her gaze.

"We haven't really talked about it yet," Lorelai pointed out. Though, she figured Luke was referring to the fact he had brought it up a few times while they were just talking. "Jaiden, sweetheart. Please understand, I tried very hard to get you out of it."

Luke brushed some blond hair behind her ear. "We'll be right there in the courtroom with you, though." They knew Jaiden's already been to her own court hearings several times, just haven't been forced to speak. "But there's a chance they're gonna want to ask you some questions regarding your grandfather." He felt her grip tighten even more.

"We know it's gonna be real scary for you," Lorelai added.

"They may not even make you actually speak," Luke added. He gave a shrug. "They may just ask you to point him out. That might be easier. Right?" Jaiden said something but it was muffled against him. "What, sweetie? We can't understand you." Luke gently nudged her, shifting Jaiden on his lap where they could understand her clearer.

"Papa gonna be mad," she repeated. Her form was starting to tense up again and Luke could feel her little heart start to race.

Lorelai scooted closer to run a gentle hand along her back. "He can't do anything to you anymore, sweetheart. There's gonna be a lot of people there, including an officer who can stop him before he reaches you." She made sure to be extra careful this time without causing Jaiden to flinch.

She sniffled. "It'll be my fault."

It was low enough only Luke caught it. "What would be your fault, Tiger?" But Jaiden hid her face in his green shirt again without answering. "Nothing will be your fault, Tiger. Whatever happens to your grandfather, he did it to himself. He had no right for what he did to you and your mother. You are not responsible for the bad decisions he made. Not at all. You're only responsible for the decisions you make. Okay?"

Jaiden shook her head against him. He could feel tears soaking through his shirt. This time, her mouth wasn't muffled against him. "Don't want to see Papa." Her whimpers broke each of their hearts.

"I honestly wish we can promise you didn't have to, Tiger." Luke gave her a gentle squeeze and kissed the top of her head. "I'd give anything not have to make you step in the same room. I promise we will be there with you, though, if that helps. We won't leave you alone with him."

That time, Jaiden finally lifted her gaze up towards him. Their eyes met. "Promise?"

Luke held out his pinky. "We'll do our best," he said once Jaiden wrapped hers around his. Luke then leaned back against her headboard and sang her the lullaby as she laid her head back down on his chest.

Lorelai ended up standing to her feet and leaving the two alone. When she returned later, both of them had fallen asleep right there, with Jaiden's head still on his chest. Not having the heart to wake either one of them, Lorelai went over to cover both Luke and Jaiden with the comforter, reaching over to give each one a kiss good night. She hoped Jaiden was still willing to call her, mom after the setback they ended up having. Because it really did seem like Jaiden was her own kid.

Author's Note:

I wasn't trying to make Sookie sound pushy last chapter, but after it was pointed out to me, it did make me rethink things. So that's why I had Luke suggest pushing the party further down the road and focus on getting things with the grandfather taken care of first. A big thanks to "Chloe2007" for pointing that out! Also, I never meant the whole town would be invited, lol.