Chapter 28

Thursday, Rachel met Luke and Shelby at the school for Shelby's parent/teacher conference, heading inside together. On the way to her classroom, they passed through the second grade hallway in which Shelby was the first to spot her favorite teacher, Mr. Harris, who was finishing up a conference, himself.

Picking up speed, Shelby made her way over as the parents were walking away. She stopped in front of him, giving Mr. Harris a smile and wave.

"Hey, Shelby." Mr. Harris held a hand up for a high five which she returned. "How's third grade going so far?"

"Good," Luke heard her reply softly as he and Rachel came over.

Mr. Harris looked over at him. "Hey, Luke," he said and shook his hand. "And I don't think we met?" He had a confused look as if Mr. Harris was trying to remember as he held a hand out for Rachel to shake.

"Rachel," she introduced, returning the handshake with a welcoming smile. "Shelby's mom."

"Oh," Mr. Harris suddenly said in surprise. "I am so sorry. I didn't…" he stopped himself as if he was being rude or something. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Same here," Rachel nodded. "I've heard so much about you." She nudged towards Shelby with an elbow.

Despite the smile he wore, Luke could tell by the look on his face, Mr. Harris wanted to say he wished for the same but didn't say anything. Luke had never made any mention about Rachel and figured Shelby probably hadn't, either. It had only been Luke who had shown for conferences while Shelby was in his class.

Thankfully, the subject was changed to sports when Mr. Harris brought up he had noticed Shelby wasn't playing basketball for the current season or during the summer. Shelby then reminded him about the trip to Florida she had taken with her friends and told him she returned to baseball for the time being but promised she wanted to return to basketball in the spring. That was also when Shelby admitted she was finished trying every sport, settling on baseball and basketball as her favorites.

"Well, I can't wait to see you next spring, then," Mr. Harris said and assured her he would be coaching basketball still.

Hearing her favorite teacher would still be coaching basketball perked her up as excitement lit up in her face.

Since the next family arrived, they had to say good-bye to Mr. Harris. When the three were out of earshot, Rachel teased Shelby a little about there possibly being a slight crush on her old teacher. Like she'd told her dad, Shelby calmly told her mom there wasn't a crush.

Once they got to Shelby's third grade classroom, Mrs. Sweeney was inside alone, sitting at her desk. Luke opened the door, holding it open while the girls headed inside first.

Rachel was the one to speak, getting the older woman's attention.

Mrs. Sweeney looked up when Luke had entered, holding the door while it shut behind him. She didn't bother to stand, but offered each of them a seat in the chairs that were in front of her desk. Luke and Rachel took them while Shelby pulled out a chair from one of her classmates' desks and moved it over to the table in between her parents.

"Thank you for coming to the semester's parent/teacher conference," Mrs. Sweeney began once they were all situated and she had gotten Shelby's school file out and opened in front of her. She then went through Shelby's academic progress, going through each subject as she explained them to Luke and Rachel.

Shelby was meeting expectations with most of the subjects, struggling a little with her multiplication tables. Luke recalled overhearing Jess trying to help tutor Shelby whenever he calls, but since he's usually calling from a payphone, the two don't get a whole lot of time. Mrs. Sweeney ended up mentioning about practicing her multiplication tables at home to help. Before he could point out the minor tutoring Shelby was receiving, Rachel spoke up, stating she could work on them over the weekend when Shelby comes over.

"That sound like a plan, Peanut?" she asked, checking with Shelby.

Shelby nodded slowly towards her mom.

Mrs. Sweeney did point out how well Shelby was doing, in not only reading, but science as well.

"I remember her first grade teacher mentioning how well Shelby was doing in science," Rachel remembered.

"Despite the no talking, I've noticed Shelby is very intuitive and observative, and because of that, is one of the few who makes very descriptive notes whenever I ask the class to make observations regarding an object or what they see around them."

"Well, she has to be when she plays sports," Luke couldn't help point out. He was mainly trying not to think about the observations she had made the last few years regarding everything that has happened.

Mrs. Sweeney nodded as she shuffled through the stack of papers in front of her. "She does very well in specials, such as P.E.," she went on to explain. "Again, her communication is still a work in progress I hope will continue to improve, however, she seems to get along with most of her peers, with very little trouble. Shelby is very generous and kind towards others. When I do need to redirect her, she doesn't need to be told twice, and seems to be very creative and imaginative in her writing."

Both Luke and Rachel smiled towards the little girl as Mrs. Sweeney praised Shelby as a student. Shelby sat there, slightly slouched, staring towards the table with her hands folded in her lap.

Mrs. Sweeney continued the conference, going over what they had been doing and what will be in the upcoming last half of the semester. The class had also recently begun learning how to write in cursive which seemed like wasn't coming easy for Shelby either, and Mrs. Sweeney requested it could be another thing they practiced at home, as well, though Luke made a smart comment on never having to use it himself except for signing his name, and even then, it was barely cursive. It was Rachel who agreed they would practice at home.

Eventually, the meeting was wrapped up when Mrs. Sweeney covered everything, including concerns she had regarding Shelby. She also made sure to include the progress she received from Miss Kelly with how well her speech sounds were coming along, though Shelby seemed to keep backsliding. Overall, though, the conference went well, and finally, she exchanged handshakes with both the parents.

After the conference, Rachel asked Shelby if she wanted to go grab lunch together. Shelby looked over at Luke before accepting the offer. She gave him a hug as Luke told her, he would see her at home before separating. The two ended up being gone for a couple hours before Rachel dropped Shelby off at the diner, both saying lunch went well.

Rachel gave Shelby a hug, good-bye, and told them she'd see them the next weekend. It wasn't until later that night while Shelby was helping her dad close down, did she mention what the two had talked about.

"Mom asked about Halloween," she said while gathering the condiments from each table.

Luke was wiping down the tables that were already cleared. "What about?" he asked.

"She asked wha' I was gonna be and maybe ge'ing sss-tarted putting toge'her my costume." Shelby gathered all of the condiment containers inside a clear, rectangular container.

"But I thought Lorelai was helping with your costume?" Luke pointed out as he swiftly wiped down the table. Shelby was silent that time. He then realized the problem. "What did you say?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I didn' know wha' to say so I jus' told her, I go' my costume already and told her I was going as Link from my game."

"And what did she say?" Luke moved on to the next table when Shelby had it all cleared.

"She said okay. I didn' tell her who was helping me, though." She kept her gaze on the condiment containers.

"That's okay, Shell, you don't have to tell her," he tried to reassure her.

"I know."

Luke watched the kid for a moment. Finally, after a moment, he also reassured it would get better.

The next therapy session, Luke and Shelby met Rachel there like always and spent the waiting time, catching up. Rachel also showed Shelby a trick she can use whenever multiplying anything by nines, using all ten of her fingers. Shelby got it down really quick, proud of herself for at least accomplishing one of the times tables she struggled with.

Right before Lauren stepped out from the back hallway, Rachel mentioned she would have something to bring up during this session that was because of Shelby.

"It's not entirely about you, peanut. It does involve you, but I don't want you to feel any guilt because of it. Okay?"

Shelby gave her signature puzzled expression but agreed anyway. "Okay."

Rachel was leaning towards the little girl with her forearms on her knees. "I promise you did not do anything wrong. If it's any consolation, you helped give me the courage myself to go through with it."

Shelby looked even more confused. "Bu' you already had your priva'e session with Lauren."

"No, I know. It's something bigger than that. I, um…" Rachel stared down at her hands, picking at something on her thumb. Even Luke was confused at what she was referring to. "We may not be hearing from your grandparents. At least for a while."

"Why no'?" Shelby asked but about that time, Lauren had come out and called for them.

Luke and Shelby turned back to Rachel.

"I'll explain more once we get inside Lauren's office," she said. All three stood to their feet. They then made their way over, greeting Lauren who greeted them, first.

Back in Lauren's office, she asked how the last couple of weeks have been and if Shelby had any plans for Halloween. Despite Shelby already having her costume taken care of, she agreed to spend Halloween with Rachel and Roger since Woodbury was having their annual Halloween festival. Her decision actually pissed off Taylor, who passive aggressively pointed out how much Rory had participated in town events unlike Shelby in which Luke gladly told him off for it, getting into yet another fight with the guy.

"This Taylor guy sounds like a real peach," Lauren noted somewhat sarcastically.

Rachel shrugged. "He's something alright. Thankfully, our town's Taylor Doose is somewhat a little better than Taylor."

Luke was also quick to point out the two were actually rivals if he could recall, sitting there with his arms loosely folded in front of him.

"Oh, great," Rachel responded in a sarcastic tone as she nodded at that statement. "I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot more of that than."

"It's mostly between them than it is with the rest of us," Luke reassured.

While they were discussing the rivalry, Shelby had politely raised her hand to say something.

It was Lauren who made it known Shelby wanted to speak. "Yes, Shelby?"

Shelby put her arm down. "Can we change the subjec'?" she asked.

"Sure, we can. Is there something you like to talk about?"

She pointed over towards Rachel. "Mom says she has something to say abou' no' seeing my grandparen's."

"Oh," Lauren looked over towards Rachel in surprise. "Did you try again in having your parents join us?"

Rachel glanced towards the table. "Not exactly."

"Sorry, Mom," Shelby was quick to apologize as if she had caught her mom off guard.

"You're fine, peanut," Rachel reassured her. "I know I sprang this on you all of a sudden." She then picked her hands up from where she had them folded in her lap, onto the table, and refolded them. "My mom called the other day, wanting to ask if I would be joining them for Thanksgiving this year, along with Shelby. I told her, possibly for me and Roger but couldn't vouch for Shelby, who might have other plans with her dad."

Rachel took in a deep breath, letting it out through her nose softly. "Mom and I got into another argument of never getting to spend one holiday with their grandchild, and finally I pointed out about meeting with you, to help us get to that point someday. Mom still stubbornly refused before bringing my father into the argument, on speaker phone. Remembering the ultimatum Shelby had given me, I decided as a last-ditch effort to hopefully get them to reconsider it. I told them, if they couldn't cooperate in all of this, then until they do, I won't allow them to be around Shelby, not even through a phone call."

Luke felt his eyebrows raise as he watched and listened to Rachel. He could tell it was a little hard on her by the way she couldn't meet Shelby's gaze and kept staring at her hands but knowing how broken her relationship already was with her parents, by her tone, Rachel was able to get the words out. It probably was easier for her than it was for Shelby to tell her own mom.

"And what was their response?" Lauren asked.

Rachel shrugged. "They didn't take it well, of course. The only hard part about it, really, was hearing how I was using Shelby as a pawn to hurt them, and the only person I was really hurting in all of this was Shelby. According to the way my father sees it, anyway."

Shelby shyly raised her hand again.

" Yes, peanut?" Rachel asked when she noticed.

"I's okay, Mom. I'm no' hur' ing," Shelby reassured her mom but added. "Is tha' bad?" with an ashamed look, switching over towards Lauren, who replied, it wasn't.

"Never apologize for how you feel."

She nodded up towards the woman.

"I'm actually the one who should probably apologize, peanut," Rachel spoke again. "I was hoping things would go well like it did for us, despite the doubt I was feeling. I wasn't trying to use you to get back at them." She looked over at Lauren again. "I really want them to understand how their old fashioned thinking doesn't work, especially involving their granddaughter."

"Well, sometimes older generations can't see how the world is changing and how new discoveries are being made regarding the way we interact with others, especially with raising children," Lauren explained.

"It worries me how Shelby and I are gonna patch things," Rachel pointed out.

"Having your parents in on this process could make things easier, yes, but it's not the only solution. Instead, we can work on letting go of what we can't control and help find ways to mend your relationship with Shelby. In fact," she turned to look ahead at Luke, who of course has been quiet this whole time, "Luke, I know you are also a huge part in this, and we will confront the problems you and Rachel have with parenting, but for the next, say, three or four sessions, I wondering if possibly only the girls could come in." Lauren looked around at all three of them. "Is that something we might try? Maybe try focusing on one thing at a time?"

"And I can't be here for that?" Luke questioned.

"Well, Luke, I know you and Shelby are close, and I know Shelby looks to you a lot for support, but maybe that's one of the problems."

Luke shook his head as he gave a quick shrug. "What problem is that?"

"I'd like it if possibly we could get Shelby to depend on Rachel for support as well, not just from you. It seems like Shelby could be depending on you too much. In fact, Shelby was able to open up a little easier when it was just the two of us so I'd like to see how she would react with just us, girls." Lauren turned back to the youngest person in the room. "What do you think, Shelby? Is that something we can try? Just you, me, and your mom?"

Shelby was staring at her lap as she held her hands in her lap. She looked up towards her dad like she had done before. He gave her a small encouraging smile.

"Don't look at your dad. I want to know what you think," Lauren was firm but gentle.

They saw her shoulders shrug. "I don't know."

"It'll just be like being over at my house, peanut," Rachel said. "I can pick you up from school, and maybe grab lunch on the way. That's what I do every week I come here. I promise I won't push you to talk about something you're not comfortable talking about during the drive here and back, even if something gets said here I won't like."

"Sometimes, Shelby, we have to do things out of our comfort zone to help us grow," Lauren added. "I promise we can bring your dad back in, eventually, and Luke," she turned back to him, "if something does come up you feel we need to discuss, feel free to come in, as well, if it can't wait. You are more than welcome to do so, and we can keep you informed as well, especially if Shelby feels she wants to talk about how a session went. Right now, I just want to try this and see where it goes. Okay?"

Luke let out a defeated sigh. "Yeah, fine. If Shelby is okay with it, then so am I."

The adults turned back to the little girl.

"Shelby?" Lauren was the one to ask.

There was a long pause first. "Okay," she finally agreed and shyly looked up, first at Lauren then over at her mom.

Rachel smiled in return.

So, that's what they did for the next few weeks. Luke wasn't fond of being left out of things but if it'll help his little buddy mend her relationship with her mom, then he would do it, whether he liked it or not.

As was planned, Shelby spent Halloween with Rachel and Roger. Halloween was also on a Friday that year, so Rachel didn't have to worry about having her home afterwards.

The costume ended up turning out great and Shelby ended up giving Lorelai some of her money for taking the time to make it. Lorelai tried refusing, stating it was a favor for a friend but Shelby refused to budge and insisted. It wasn't even ten bucks either. The kid could have brought another game with the money she gave.

With October behind them, November was gracing Stars Hollow with its brisk, cool presence. The town was decorated for the Thanksgiving season with hay, turkeys, pumpkins, and scarecrows. The town was more bundled up but not fully winter attire yet.

Shelby, like her dad, stuck with her baseball cap to keep her head warm, along with a jacket over long sleeves. With the sessions being only the girls, Shelby spending every other weekend at her mom's while hanging out with her friends, the other weekends, and of course school and baseball practice during week, Luke ended up only seeing Shelby in the morning before she left for school and during her games, Saturday evenings. Occasionally, there would be an evening Shelby would spend helping out in the diner, including the night Kirk had his first successful date with a girl his age, who actually liked him back.

Kirk requested for Shelby to serenade the dinner with guitar music which Luke tried to object to, but Shelby gladly accepted. The kid ended up regretting it a little halfway through the dinner when her fingers started getting sore. She got a small break whenever Kirk tried to sneak away to the bathroom, thinking the girl would slip out like all the rest, and when Kirk tried confronting Luke about it. Overall, it was cute to see Kirk seemed to have finally found love. However, it didn't help matters much when later that night, Shelby found something that had been lost in her closet, but wouldn't tell Luke what it was. She just quickly brushed it off and returned to talking about how the sessions were going. Rachel was good on her word about not making Shelby discuss anything she did not want to. At the moment, Lauren had them work on their communication between each other and talking through whenever one had a problem with the other. Lauren had also suggested making a list of their favorite things to do and a list of the things each one liked doing with the other that they don't normally do with anyone else. Shelby had admitted to liking the trip her and Rachel had taken to Ireland and had hoped to continue.

"So, Mom and I are gonna plan another trip for next summer, jus' the two of us," Shelby told her dad from inside the closet.

"That sounds like fun," Luke replied from the other side of the wall divider, in the kitchen. "Where do you think you might go this time?"

"We don' know ye', bu' she asked if there was anywhere we learned in school tha' sounded interes'ing to go visit. I think I wan' to go to Japan."

"Why Japan?" he questioned.

"Because tha's where Pokemon and my video games are made," she answered.

Of course, he thought with a smile as he cooked dinner. Luke didn't think that would be enough to warrant a visit to another country, though. It wasn't until Shelby admitted to wanting to know more about the culture she sees glimpses of in her cartoons, did it make more sense.

Despite Shelby not being fully involved in town events like Rory had been as a kid, somehow she was able to be convinced to participate in the Festival of Living Art with support from everyone, including Jess, a surprise when she told Luke after getting off the phone when he called the night of the emergency town meeting. Unfortunately, he called while Rory was there in the diner so Luke had to keep things vague when he informed Shelby, she had a phone call.

Woodbury was supposed to host the Festival of Living Art this year but due to recent flooding was unable to, and the chance was given to Stars Hollow when Taylor offered. Stars Hollow hadn't hosted it in over seven years.

With all the time Shelby had been spending with Rachel, along with the small progress being made, and Luke being busy with not only the diner but now having to deal with his own divorce lawyer, Rachel and Roger went to see her in the festival instead. Despite not wanting to be involved with the festival himself, Luke did end up having to fix the table for the Last Supper. With both Luke and Shelby busy with their own stuff, it really made Luke miss his little buddy and it didn't help seeing Sookie pregnant, trying everything she can to get hers to come out. It reminded him yet again of missing out on seeing Shelby be born. It came out passive aggressively when he asked Sookie if she was having twins which she just returned with sarcasm.

Because of the excitement the festival brought in, the diner was packed for dinner but by the time it started, the diner was slowly deserted leaving Luke to clean up alone. The only one that would get Luke to see some show about live paintings would be his little buddy, but figured it was probably best to let Rachel have a moment like this to herself, knowing she would be taking a ton of pictures.

While Luke was busy cleaning up, the bell above the door rang, indicating someone had walked in.

"Better order quick," he said as Luke wiped down the counter. "We're closing…" Luke stopped mid sentence when he looked up to see who had come in. "...soon." He couldn't believe his eyes at the familiar face who was also the reason part of his life the past few months was hell on top of everything else going on.

"Surprise," Nicole said, holding what looked like the Tinkerbell mug Shelby had brought back for her from Disney World, unsure how she got it when Shelby never got to see Nicole again.

Luke sighed as he said, "I'll say."

Nicole stepped towards him as she pointed back over her shoulder as she too sighed. "Lots of nuttiness going on out there."

"Yeah, it's the Festival of Nutty Pictures, so…" Luke shrugged a hand halfway up as she stopped in front of him.

"You successfully avoided the nuttiness," she observed knowingly.

"Yeah, for the most part." He dropped the rag he was using onto the counter, muttering a second, "yeah." Luke was glad Shelby was busy with the festival at least. "Christ's table was broken so I fixed it."

"He's a carpenter, he should have fixed it himself," Nicole pointed out.

Luke chuckled through his nose. "Yeah, well."

"Where's Shelby?"

"She got pulled into the nuttiness, unfortunately, as a Chinese acrobat," he explained.

"She didn't talk you into watching her at least?"

"I figured I'd let her mom have this one," he brushed it off. Though, now Luke wished he had gone just so he wouldn't have to be there.

There was a slight pause before Nicole quickly changed the subject. "Speaking of nutty, all this, you and me."

"Yeah," he muttered in agreement with some resentment.

"If it were happening to anyone else, I'd laugh."

"About what?" he asked.

"Getting married is what broke us up. Gotta love the irony."

Luke moved his head at that as he let out another chuckle, shuffling his feet. "Yeah, it is a little ironic." He tried to meet her gaze but quickly dropped it, nodding towards the floor.

He noticed her glance away for a moment. "Luke, I'm not gonna say that getting married on that ship like we did wasn't wrong. We should have thought more about it but maybe rushing into divorce would be just as wrong."

He stared at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, we're still you and me. I mean," she shrugged slightly, "why can't we have what we had before?"

"Which was?"

"Two people who loved being together," she answered.

"We're in the middle of a divorce," he pointed out.

"We can postpone it."

Luke was taken by surprise. "We can?"

"I'm a lawyer. I know these things."

Luke looked around as he shuffled his feet some more, this time folding his arms across his chest. This was crazy. "Postpone and do what?"

"Date."

He stared at her, raising his eyebrows. "Date?"

"Remember? That was the fun part," she reminded him.

Luke had to take in a deep breath, glancing off to the side before looking back towards her. "So, what you're saying is," he unhooked his arms, "we get back together, not divorced, but not be married either?"

Nicole gave a weak smile, glancing out the corner of her eye. "I guess."

Luke stood up straight and slid his hands into his back pocket, unsure.

"I know it sounds stupid but it doesn't feel stupid. Does it?" She looked back at him with hope in her eyes.

Luke let out another sigh, looking away at the floor but looked back up with a smile. He did remember having a good time with this woman. And, who knows? With Shelby and her mom working on their relationship at the moment, the guy was feeling pretty lonely.

Guess maybe he and Nicole could give it one more shot.


Author's Note:

After a year I am hopefully back and apologize for the long hiatus! Not sure if anyone would still be interested over here, but since I uploaded over on Wattpad after an increase in readers lately, I figured I would upload over here just in case. The past year has not only been a busy one, but has led me down a dark place where I just did not feel like writing. But since the world is in a difficult time itself at the moment I hope I can provide something more to read and hope everyone is staying safe!

On a side note, one minor name change had to be made in regard towards Shelby's new cat which was one of the reasons for not writing. I figured I would point that out in case someone's mind would remember that since mine probably would.