Chapter 25

Shelby asked her dad how the session went, later that day when she got home from school, which Luke actually admitted to her how it was better than he thought it would be. It made Shelby happy to hear her dad's session went well and had hope, her mom's would also go well if Rachel agreed to having one, now that she was the only one of the trio that still needed to meet with Lauren, alone.

Later, that evening, after Luke closed and the two were working on dinner, together, Rachel called to check in to see how Shelby was doing, with school, and if she wanted to come over that weekend. She also mentioned about her and Roger were thinking of taking a trip to the closest animal humane society on Saturday and said it would be best if Shelby came along since they needed to make sure to find a cat that would get along with all three of them, and that included Shelby.

Shelby agreed to give going over to her mom's house another try and let them know Rachel would pick Shelby up from practice, Friday evening.

The next day, Rachel came by baseball practice, alone, since Roger had to drive down to New Jersey to meet with someone for work and wouldn't be back until late that evening. So, it would just be the girls for a few hours until then. Shelby called home at bedtime to fill Luke in how it was going so far, sharing how Rachel had saved the grocery shopping while Shelby was there, so she could pick out things she wanted during the weekend and even helped her mom cook Hamburger Helper for dinner, even though Shelby wasn't much of a fan of instant dinners such as Hamburger Helper. It was actually why she was one of the low one percent of kids who didn't like macaroni and cheese unless it was completely homemade. But, since Rachel wasn't as good a cook as Luke was, Shelby settled for the box stuff.

After dinner, the girls caught a new episode of Reba's show, together. Rachel had tried to get Shelby to come sit with her on the couch, but Shelby still continued to take the floor. So, she decided to come sit with Shelby, instead, asking if it was okay, first. Though, that week's episode may not have been the best episode for them to watch since Rachel and Shelby were going through rough waters in their relationship. It was about the youngest daughter being called out by her father for basically cutting her own mother out of her life, and it ended up bringing more guilt to Shelby.

The episode was heavy on her mind for the rest of the evening until she called Luke.

"Shell, you're not that girl," he tried to tell her. "You're not a teenager yet, wanting to go to an unsupervised party." Thank God for that. "Yes, you check in with us if you want to go anywhere, but if you're not comfortable sharing what's happening in your life, with your mom, that's okay. Eventually, we'll get to that point but until then, you gotta cut yourself some slack. Everyone's situation is different, so you don't need to compare yours with someone else, especially with a TV show that exaggerates for ratings."

Shelby was silent for a moment before she spoke. "Mom did say, she would never spy on me when Barbara Jean talked Reba into doing it."

"Well, that's good, at least," Luke replied, though he couldn't say much for himself, especially when Shelby starts dating. It wasn't like Luke wouldn't trust Shelby. It will be the boy he wouldn't trust.

Luke waited to see if Shelby would say anything next before he said, "hang in there, kiddo."

"Thanks, Dad."

Luke smiled. "You're welcome, kiddo. The rest of the evening go well?"

"Yeah. We watched this movie called, Holes on one of the movie channels abou' this kid who go' sen' to camp because they though' he 'tole a pair of shoes, and had to dig a bunch of holes looking for treasure tha' ac'ually belonged to his family," Shelby told him, next.

"Sounds interesting," Luke commented, not really sure what else to say.

They eventually let the other go once Luke and Shelby were finished talking, which Luke said, he'd see her at her game. Other than the TV show, things seemed to have been going well, so far, but events could always change in an instant.

Luke had pulled up to the park just as Roger did. As soon as he saw Shelby get out, she was holding her backpack and duffel bag with her, bringing it over and asked if she could put them in the truck.

"Of course, kiddo, but what happened? I thought things were going well?" Noticing some hairs on top of her baseball cap, Luke carefully picked them off, tossing them off to the side. The hairs looked like animal hairs and assumed it was from Rachel's new cat they had planned on picking out that day.

Shelby looked off to the side, not saying anything.

"Go on, Shelby," Rachel urged firmly when she joined them. "Tell your dad about what you told me." Her arms were folded in front of her.

Looking between the two, Luke decided to pull Shelby away for some privacy, heading over to the truck to unlock the door on the driver's side. Once Shelby tossed both her duffel bag and backpack inside the truck, onto the seat, he asked, "what happened, kiddo?" again, remaining calm but firm.

"After we go' back from bringing home Oscar and Shadow, we were watching them ge' to know their new home when I remembered wha' Jess told me and I though' I should tell Mom." Shelby's eyes searched around at the ground, occasionally glancing up at to meet her dad's gaze. When she abruptly paused and chewed on her lip, Luke pulled her in, wrapping an arm around her. "I-I-I...told her exac'ly wha' Jess said to do."

"Which was?" he asked.

Shelby hesitated some more which Luke rubbed a hand along her opposite arm. "I…" She then just decided to blurt it all out at once. "I told her to shu' her trap and le's jus' move on because we weren' gonna agree, and we could be focusing on other things."

Luke stared at his little buddy at once. His eyebrows were at the peak they could go.

"I said I was sorry when Mom said I shouldn' talk to her like tha' bu' I told her tha's how I feel and wasn' sorry abou' tha."

"Well, that' good because you shouldn't have to apologize for your feelings," he managed to say. "And, I am glad to hear you apologized for talking to your mom like that, but how come you wanna come home, early?"

Shelby hesitated some more, her eyes moving around at the blacktop. "I...asked if Mom was going to mee' with Lauren, nex'," she admitted.

"And?"

She slowly shook her head. "Mom doesn' see wha's talking abou' her pas' has to do with ours and told me to 'top worrying abou' wha' she's doing."

Luke ended up letting out a sigh through his nose. Come on, Rachel! If I can do it, so can you!

"I tried to poin' ou' you did it, bu' Mom told me to drop it. So, I wen' to see wha' Roger was doing and we watched college foo'ball until it was time to come here."

Squeezing her to his side, Luke told her, "I'm sorry, kiddo."

"I's okay, Dad," Shelby tried to assure him.

"No, it's not. Your mom…" Luke stopped himself and just shook his head. "I swear, kiddo. You deserve better than this." With the game starting soon and Shelby needing to warm up with her teammates, he put this on hold for now and started making their way over to the field where the Badgers were playing the Hornets.

During the game, Luke kept glancing over at Rachel, who was watching the game.

This time, Roger had left his camera at home, wanting to just watch the game this time. Surprisingly, Luke didn't even care about that, or the fact he was here. All Luke cared about was the fact, Rachel couldn't set aside her pride and just meet with Lauren. If he could do it, surely Rachel could, too. After all, this was for their daughter.

This time, Shelby's coach had her playing center field, having been rotating the young players so they could try every position at least once. Though, Shelby had ended up liking shortstop.

She did missed a couple of plays which Luke could guess her mind wasn't completely in the game, and her coaches had to keep reminding her to stay focused, including when she was up to bat. Not once was Shelby able to get a hit and struck out each time. Thankfully, the rest of the team picked up the slack and the Badgers still managed to gain a win.

On the way home, Luke tried asking if she was okay, despite already knowing the answer.

Shelby assured she was, though.

Even though he hated cats, Luke still tried asking about them to change the subject. "So, Oscar and Shadow, huh?"

"Tha's wha' they were named by their old owners who couldn' keep them anymore. Since they were close like brothers, they had to go to the same home," she explained. "Shadow is all black and Oscar is whi'e with brown and black markings on his back and on his face. Mom says, they're gonna be house ca's and no' allowed ou'side, excep' for the closed in pai'o."

"Just, try not to bring home any cat hair," he told her, already realizing Shelby was going to be bringing home the scent of cats.

Shelby managed a snicker. "Oscar was trying to hide in my duffel bag when I was packing. He already likes me and Shadow already likes Roger."

"They don't like your mom?" asked Luke. Wow, not even animals liked Rachel? Geez.

"They do, bu' Roger and I are already their favorites."

He nodded towards the road.

"I was playing with Oscar when Mom came up and asked if I was ready. He likes this 'tick thing we go' him tha' has feathers on the end." Pretty much the rest of the drive home was mostly about the cats as Shelby brought Luke up with every funny thing the cats have done so far.

The next morning, Shelby left for church, returning long enough to ask if she could go over to Ethan and Alan's house, even though Ethan was staying to help in the diner. The kid was almost to his goal in his earnings and wanted to work as much as he could. Shelby ended up admitting she wanted to talk to Cheryl about something but did not say what. Not yet anyway.

Shelby was gone for a few hours before she returned later, late afternoon.

Luke asked how talking to Cheryl went, but didn't get much as Shelby wasn't ready to talk about it. In fact, it wasn't until the drive to Providence did she finally say something, reminding him how he had given her a head's up when Luke had planned on bringing up Rachel's issue with Jess, letting him know she wanted to do the same.

When Shelby explained how she had planned on letting Rachel know, she was setting boundaries with her and if her mom didn't want to do whatever it took to help fix their relationship, then Shelby would tell her, they couldn't see each other. Luke was really impressed by the kid's sudden ultimatum.

"Are you sure, kiddo?" he asked her.

Briefly hesitating, Shelby nodded her head while staring at her Totodile toy she was holding in her hands. "I don' wan' to, bu' i's no' fair tha' you and I are making an effor' and Mom's doing 'qua'." It took a moment for Luke to figure out Shelby was saying, squat. "I heard Reba say it one time on her show."

"I take it, this is what you and Cheryl talked about, the other day," he guessed.

She nodded, still staring at the toy.

"Well, kiddo, if this is the way you think we should handle this, I will back you up all the way on this."

"Cheryl said almos' the same thing Lor-lai said when we had that meeting in our apar'men', tha' if this is the speed bump keeping us from making our relation'hip, be'ter, Mom should be willing to do wha'ever it takes to ge' over it."

Luke nodded. "That's very true, kiddo." It was impressive Shelby was willing to set boundaries with Rachel, but he also knew this was also going to be hard for the kid to stick to.

This time, he and Shelby had arrived before Rachel did.

Shelby managed some small talk and asked how the cats were doing. Oscar misses her already, by meowing outside Shelby's door. Rachel and Roger try to distract him whenever he does it, and it works for a while. Shelby waited until they were inside Lauren's office to give her ultimatum, shyly raising her hand to speak while Lauren was getting started, having mentioned how well Luke's session had gone and was telling Rachel, she hoped Rachel was willing because of it.

"Yes, Shelby?" Lauren asked, in a kind and gentle voice.

Shelby was holding Totodile in her hands, staring at it like she had done in the truck, on the way there. She managed to steal a look over at her dad, who gently urged her with some encouragement.

"I…" Her chest was starting to heave as if she had been running a mile.

"Take your time, sweetheart," Lauren assured her not to rush.

It took a few minutes before Shelby was able to get the words out. "Mom, I respec' your opinion even though I wish you would lis'en to us abou' Jess...be...ing, uh, good person." She managed to shrug her shoulders as Luke noticed her body looked as if it was shaking with anxiety.

He reached over to rub a comforting hand on her arm.

She was trying to look up at Rachel, but her gaze only kept dropping towards Totodile. "Jess is like 'titch. Sometimes, he messes up bu' he's 'till good. Bu', he's also wha' Lilo says. Ohana, which means family."

Tears were starting to appear in her eyes. "Bu' you can believe wha' you wan', like I said at your house and I will try to accep' tha'. Bu' if you won'..." Shelby had to pause to take a few deep breaths. Her voice cracked as she managed to continue. "Bu' if you won' mee' with Lauren like Dad and I did…"

Shelby had to take a few more breaths.

Before she could continue, Rachel spoke first. "Peanut, we talked about this. I'm glad we agreed to disagree about Jess, but you need to understand that I have reasons that I don't think sharing about my personal life needs to be discussed here. Can you please accept that?"

Shelby was just about hyperventilating at this point. "Then we can't hang out together anymore!" she suddenly blurted out.

Rachel's head jerked back in surprise by the outburst. Luke caught her swallow before she managed to say, "Shelby, that's not fair."

"Actually, Rachel," Lauren spoke up, "it is." She was looking over at her which Rachel looked at her just as surprised.

"What?"

"Shelby is giving you a reasonable and fair deal. If you're not willing to put forth the effort, what does that show for your relationship with your daughter?"

Rachel looked between Lauren and Shelby. "I am willing to put in effort for Shelby, I just don't see how my," she touched a hand to her chest, "personal life needs to fit into that."

Lauren shrugged. "Our relationships can affect other relationships, even when we don't mean for them to, and I think your relationship with your parents is what is keeping you from having a good relationship with Shelby."

Rachel's head immediately turned in the direction where Luke was sitting. "So, you were talking about me?" Before Luke could respond, she turned back to Lauren. "I thought you're supposed to talk about yourself?"

"About yourself, about your feelings towards each other," Lauren explained. "I had asked how you and Luke met and he shared a little about your childhood together."

Luke was quick to point out, "I wasn't sharing anything to talk down on you, Rachel. It was only to explain how we got close and eventually developed into something more than just a friendship."

"No one was attacking you, I promise," Lauren also assured her. "Luke was very respectful about sharing with me, and I'd like if I can hear your side and talk a little bit more about your side of the family."

Rachel suddenly snapped. "There's nothing to talk about. It's in the past and I'd like to keep it that way. So, what if my parents didn't accept me for the person I was. They are who they are, and like Shelby said, I accept their opinions. Can we just focus on what's more important, here? Please?"

Lauren shared a concerned look with Luke before turning back to Rachel. "We can try, Rachel, but as I told Luke, we can promise ourselves we're not going to do what our parents did, but sometimes, we unintentionally end up being exactly the same." She then shared with her the fast food example Lauren had shared with Luke. "From what I've heard so far, I believe the lack of control you had with your parents is playing a part in your relationship with your own daughter."

"I am not trying to control Shelby," Rachel argued as if she was offended.

Luke shrugged. "What about not wanting Shelby around Jess? Or, not letting her have her feet on the furniture?"

"I didn't think it was safe for your nephew to be around Shelby," she reminded him. "And, as for the couch, feet get dirty and collect dirt and odors. They don't need to be up where we sit. Besides, I agreed to removing our shoes at the door, didn't I?"

"The point is, Rachel, not dealing with these feelings you have with your parents could be, and is a problem, in your other relationships. It can even affect your marriage."

"It doesn't," Rachel continued to say in an offended tone.

Lauren looked at her. "Wasn't it you that said, Shelby wasn't the only one who's case you got on about things?" she reminded her.

"Yes, but…"

"I promise no one's attacking you. Luke and I discussed some stuff from his past, and so did Shelby. These things should be addressed so hopefully the three of you can have a better relationship for the future. Maybe, if possible, we can have your parents join us for a session."

Rachel was quiet as she looked at Lauren. Finally, she said, "Well then, I guess I won't have a better relationship with my daughter."

Turning towards, Shelby, Rachel told her in a heartfelt tone, "I'm sorry, Peanut." That said, she got up from her seat and hurried from the room.

Lauren tried calling after her, but Rachel opened the door and did not look back, letting it shut behind her. Telling them, she'll be right back, Lauren went after Rachel.

Once Lauren left them alone, Luke finally asked Shelby, "You okay?"

Shelby didn't answer. She kept staring at her toy.

"It's not your fault, kiddo," he reminded her, leaning forward on his folded arms. "You did the right thing."

Her hands wrapped around the blue and tan crocodile-like creature.

Luke wrapped a hand around the back of her head, over her hat, and held a kiss to the side of it. "I know it doesn't seem like it and it hurts like hell, but I can promise you, you did make the right choice. Your mom needed to know how important this is to you."

At that, Shelby finally broke down. That's when Luke invited her in, letting Shelby fall onto him and hold onto him as he held onto her. It broke his heart knowing how brokenhearted Shelby was and hoped Rachel would come to her senses and agree to her daughter's terms.

To their relief, the door opened, several minutes later, to see Rachel with Lauren.

Rachel went to kneel at Luke's side, looking up at Shelby who was holding her head on Luke's shoulder.

"I really am sorry, Peanut," she told Shelby, even more sincere than before. "About everything. About Jess, and about not being willing to talk about my past." Rachel took in a deep breath, letting it out with her eyes shut. She opened them to look back up at Shelby. "I have my doubts about your grandfather ever coming to his own senses but if it helps us get closer, I'm willing to try."

Luke rubbed a comforting hand along her back as Shelby was sitting on his left leg.

"Promise," he heard Shelby utter, softly.

"I promise." Rachel lifted a hand to her upper back where Luke wasn't rubbing. "I don't want us being the way your grandfather and I have been my whole life. It would kill me."

There was a brief pause before Shelby admitted, "I don' wan' you to die."

Rachel moved her hand to cup her right cheek but Shelby's head was blocking Luke's view to see her, completely.

After that, Shelby pushed up from her dad to drop against her mom and wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

So, when they scheduled the next session, in two weeks, Rachel scheduled a private session to meet with Lauren, one on one, and hopefully at the next session, they could discuss having Rachel's parents join a session in the future.

Shelby looked nervous to have her grandfather there, but agreed to the possibility.

Out in the parking lot, Shelby willingly gave one last hug as they said good-bye.

As Luke drove back to Stars Hollow, a glimmer of hope could be felt, they might be making even more progress.

Author's Note:

For the new readers that recently started reading, I feel I should point out that this story is from Luke's point of view but in third person. I have been noticing new readers and hope everyone has read the first part of this story which I did note in chapter one of this one, to do so. So, the reader hoping to see Rachel's session, I'm very sorry.