Chapter 8

Lorelai continued to pester Luke about the cruise, but of course the guy was a stubborn mule. Thankfully, Rory came in and occupied her attention for a while. Before they left the diner after eating, Rory headed upstairs to say hello to Shelby again and let the kid give her the Disney pens. Unfortunately, Rory ended up being up there a little longer than planned and Lorelai tried once more to get it out of him, even to the point of following him around the diner. He was relieved to finally see the teenage girl, reemerge, downstairs, and requested she take her mother home.

Though Rory had come down, Luke had not seen Shelby since he heard her dash upstairs. So when there was some downtime, he informed Caesar; he was going upstairs to check on the kid.

Shelby was sitting, cross-legged, on the couch with his guitar on her lap, playing different chords while watching another one of those Japanese cartoons she liked to watch. Luke stopped to watch when one of the characters' black hair was flashing to blond, looking extremely angry about something as his fists were clenched at his side. When he was completely blond and with a glow around him, he then yelled at a kid with a bowl cut to leave, raising his voice a second time when the kid hadn't responded, being in a surprised daze. The kid snapped out of it and ran off. It changed to a young woman sitting between her legs as an alien-looking frog leaped over to her.

A voice started talking whom Luke assumed was the cartoon's narrator. "Has Frieza pushed Goku's rage to new heights? And, can Goku avenge the life of his close friend, Krillin? Your way to find out is to stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball Z!" Luke swore cartoons became a lot more overly dramatic than the cartoons he grew up watching.

The TV then flashed to the end credits, which minimized to the side of the screen as a robot came on announcing the next cartoon. Shelby changed the channel to Nickelodeon as they were showing a commercial for the newest Spy Kids: Game Over movie that was in 3D.

Shelby immediately perked up at attention from where she was slouched, suddenly interested. "Dad! Can we go see that?" she asked, quickly giving her best pleading look.

"Sure," he said with a shrug. "Maybe we can go see it this weekend when we go shopping for school." Even though they still had another week, Luke wanted to get the back to school shopping done as soon as possible instead of waiting until the weekend before the first day.

"Okay," she replied, looking cheerful again.

"And don't forget, you have your yearly physical, Tuesday," He added, receiving a groan as Shelby dropped her head back against the couch. "I know, but it has to get done, kiddo."

"Will I get a sho'?"

He shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe. We'll see, though."

Shelby moaned again.

"You'll be fine. It's only to keep you healthy." Luke went over to lean a hand on the back of the couch so he could kiss the top of her head. Standing up, he asked, "You hungry?"

"A li'tle, yeah."

Luke motioned his head for Shelby to follow. "Well then, come downstairs and I'll fix ya something to eat."

"Can I help afterwards, too?" she asked.

"Of course," he smiled.

So Shelby turned off the TV as Rugrats was starting, dropping the remote on the coffee table. The guitar, she laid on the couch beside her before standing to her feet and followed him downstairs.

Grabbing an empty stool, Shelby climbed onto it.

"What would you like, kiddo?" Luke asked on the other side of the counter.

"Can I get a turkey burger with cheese, le'uce, extra tomatoes, and onions? No pickles, though, and tater to's on the side, and a glass of orange juice? Please?"

Luke wrote the order down as if Shelby was an actual customer. "Coming right up," he said, finishing up before walking away.

Kirk was sitting there at the counter who had been there when Luke headed upstairs, still deciding. "You know what, that sounds good. Me too, please," he told Luke.

Luke made a note of that and walked away, catching Shelby tell Kirk, "Copycat."

"Are not," Kirk childishly argued.

"Are to," Shelby, childishly, argued right back.

"Are not."

"Are to."

"Are not."

"Are to."

Luke dropped the order off with Caesar and came back to the "children." He leaned his hands on the counter to lean in towards them. "You two don't knock it off, I'm gonna separate the both of you. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," Kirk replied as Shelby replied, "Yes, Dad." Both looked like scolded children, though more so, Shelby.

He thanked them before attending to the other customers. Luke looked back in time to catch them sticking their tongues out at one another. "Hey!" Both Kirk and Shelby jumped. "What did I just say?"

They quickly turned away from each other.

Once her food was ready, Luke brought it over along with Kirk's, setting them down in front of the two. Shelby thanked him, causing Kirk to accidentally call him, dad, too. Luke and Shelby looked at him, surprised.

"Er, I mean, thank you, Luke," Kirk quickly apologized.

"Last I checked, I only had the one kid," Luke pointed out.

"Jess is kind of your kid," said Shelby. "Sor' of."

"He's my nephew, Shell. He was just staying with us," he explained.

"I know. There was this kid in my class, las' year, who lived with her grandparen's. She said they were like her mom and dad, too. And, Jess is like my big brother."

Luke had to smile. "Maybe you're right, Shell," he told her, humoring her, even though a part of him did partly agree. Reaching over, Luke gently touched the top of her head. Quickly remembering Shelby had also ordered juice, he headed into the back kitchen to get her some.

When he returned, Taylor had come in and was talking to Shelby, leaning on the end of the counter, dressed in that ridiculous outfit of his for his new store.

Luke came over to set the glass of orange juice down beside Shelby's plate. "What do you want, Taylor?" he asked, annoyed by Taylor's tone of voice.

"Nothing much. I was just asking Shelby, here, if she would be interested in being Stars Hollow's very own Ice Cream Princess." The older man turned back to Shelby. "So, how about it? You don't have to get anything except possibly a sage-colored, floor-length dress and you can have a free ice cream sundae."

"Um, Rory already told me you tried to make her, queen withou' even asking her," Shelby finally informed him but in a shy manner. "I like ice cream and all, bu' no' tha' much."

"Are you sure, Shelby? We could really use a wonderful, sweet girl like you." He tried to make the kid change her mind, but Shelby just shook her head, refusing to budge an inch. Taylor looked defeated as he let out a sigh. "Fine, if that's how you feel. I thought since I had your support on the shop since the beginning, I could count on your support now but if you want to be a mule like your dad..." He gave a shrug, sounding as if Taylor was trying to guilt Shelby into changing her mind.

Luke jumped in to rescue his little buddy. "Taylor, knock it off."

"Knock what off?" he asked as if he was innocent.

"Quit trying to guilt trip my kid into doing something you know damn well she doesn't like," Luke said, referring to the princess and dress thing.

Taylor shrugged. "I have no idea what you are talking about," he continued with the charade, but Luke gave him a knowing look to show he wasn't buying it and warned him to back off before there was trouble. Reluctantly giving in, Taylor turned to leave. But not before apologizing to Shelby. He stole one last look at Luke as he turned to leave.

Just as he reached the door, Rachel, along with Roger, came in. They greeted the older man which Taylor returned, adding, "your daughter is impossible just like her father is," before thanking Roger, who held the door for him.

However, despite it being Taylor, that wasn't what concerned Luke. What concerned him was when Shelby slid down from her stool and headed back upstairs, taking her dinner and juice with her.

Rachel wandered over. "Taylor being Taylor again?" she asked with a half smirk, knowing how much the older man got on Luke's nerves a lot.

Luke grabbed a rag from behind him and wiped off where Shelby had been sitting. "You know Taylor," he replied without looking up at her.

Luke noticed she was looking around the place.

"Where did Shelby go? I swear I saw her in here," Rachel observed.

Tossing the rag back where he had gotten it from, Luke grabbed the ketchup and passed it to a customer sitting on the other end who had requested it. "She headed upstairs."

"You mind if I head up to say hello? I thought the three of us could go see a movie. If that's okay? Roger and I have been so busy this week, what with finalizing everything with the house and moving, we figured we'd take a break and thought Shelby would like to join us."

Roger agreed.

Luke couldn't help let out a tired breath of air towards the counter. "You know what, Rachel," he said, looking up at her. "I don't think that's a good idea right now."

Rachel looked taken aback. "What? Why?"

Not wanting to argue at the moment, after having to deal with Taylor, and all the other stresses in his life, he just told her, "We'll discuss it next week during our session with Lauren." Turning back to Kirk, Luke asked, "Want anything else, Kirk?"

"A refill on my coffee would be nice," he replied.

He grabbed the coffeepot. "Coming right up," he said, and poured some more into the young man's cup.

Kirk thanked him before taking a drink and took another bite of his burger.

Luke then walked away to assist other customers. When he stole a quick look back at Rachel, she was holding her elbow in her hand while rubbing the back of her neck. Roger wrapped an arm around her.

They too reluctantly left.

Luke stole another look after them to see Roger shooting him a cold glare as he let Rachel go through first while holding the door for her, which Luke shot one right back. Turning away, Luke took some random female's order.

Some time later, Shelby returned, bringing her now empty plate and cup along with her. She took them into the back kitchen where one of the current employees was washing dishes. He overheard her offer to help and started rinsing off the ones the employee had already washed and had set in the other sink.

Once the bulk of the dishes were washed, dried, and stacked, Shelby grabbed a clean rag and the cleaning solution and started wiping down tables that were cleared. By nine-thirty, the diner was empty of customers, so Luke closed up and had everyone start the close-down routine. Shelby helped, too.

"Hey, kiddo," said Luke, getting her attention. "I'll be heading to the bank in the morning, and I just remembered since another birthday of yours passed. You know what that means." He smiled at her.

Shelby shrugged one shoulder. "I get another raise?"

"Yep. Which means you will now be making three dollars and twenty-five cents a day."

"Plus, tips, righ'?" she added.

"Yep," he nodded, still smiling for her.

That got a smile from the kid, showing off her dimples. It made Luke smile more, glad to see her smiling again. He still felt inclined to ask, "you doing okay, kiddo?"

Shelby returned her attention towards the salt and pepper shakers she was refilling for the next day. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"You sure?" he gently pushed.

She took a deep breath while staring at the salt she was pouring.

Luke kneeled beside her chair to wrap a hand around her waist and touched his forehead to the side of hers so their hats touched. "We'll get through this, kiddo. I promise," he whispered. Before letting go, Luke held a kiss to her right temple.

Shelby looked over at her dad and forced out another smile for him.

Later that night, after the diner was finished, and the two had gotten ready for bed, Shelby came back over to his side, with Charizard and Pikachu in her left arm, and climbed in beside him. She then snuggled beside her dad, which Luke turned over onto his left side. He gave her a loving smile before the two closed their eyes and eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, Lorelai and Rory stopped by for breakfast at a surprisingly early hour than usual.

Shelby came over while Luke was taking their usual order and immediately hugged Lorelai without saying a word, catching the woman off guard. She didn't push the kid away, of course. Instead, Lorelai wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her hand along her back. After a minute, Shelby eventually let go and headed around to where Rory was sitting and did the same. The Gilmores exchanged a concerned look at Luke while Shelby was still hugging Rory, who returned it. Rory's lasted a lot longer than Lorelai's when Rory had to tell Shelby she had made a mistake when she would leave for Yale. The kid's grip tightened around the older girl.

Rory reassured she wouldn't be gone for good and would come home on weekends. Not right away, but once she was able to get settled and everything.

Lorelai also asked Luke if they could borrow his truck to move Rory into her dorm, assuring him she was capable of driving a stick when he asked. Luke agreed as long as she replaced the gas and said he would bring the truck by later that evening after closing.

Shelby visited with Lorelai and Rory while they ate their breakfast until they finished and gave them each another hug before they left to run the several errands they had planned that day for Rory's move.

The twins came by later that day, asking Shelby to come hang out with them. So, grabbing her scooter from upstairs and giving her dad a kiss, she headed out with her friends. Luke did eventually get around to letting Shelby know about both him and her mom wanting to get her a new bike as a belated birthday present. That was when Shelby admitted to not really being interested in a new bike, liking her Razor scooter a lot more. With her old bike, Shelby suggested donating it so another kid could enjoy it like she had. Luke promised he'll help fix it up to look like new and drop it off at a donation center.

Besides, it helped the twins had asked for scooters of their own for their birthday after Shelby let them ride hers a few times. Luke still made sure all three kids were wearing their helmets, elbow, and knee pads, especially Shelby. Though, he wasn't sure why he would remind all three when only one was his, including checking in with him. Luke also fed all three when the kids returned for a late lunch. Guess the boys had grown on him more than he realized.

Later that night, after he closed, Luke told Shelby, he was taking the truck over to Lorelai's house and asked if she wanted to come with him, already knowing she would. But Shelby surprised him and said she was tired from that day and wanted to stay home and play video games. Luke guessed it had to do with Rory leaving for Yale and helping load her stuff into the back probably would be hard on the kid. So, Luke reminded Shelby on their rules for her being home alone before kissing the side of her head. He made sure to lock both the door to the apartment and the door to the diner, pocketing the spare key Luke kept hidden above the door, as an extra precaution.

Finally, Luke slid into his truck and drove over to Lorelai's. Rory had gone to resume the Friday night dinners at her grandparents' house, so that just left the two of them to load the truck. While carrying Rory's stuff out, Lorelai mentioned running into Rachel and learning she and Roger had gotten married and asked how Shelby was taking it. Luke filled her in on the whole situation, including how the therapy sessions were going. Though he left out the part about Shelby requesting Lorelai joining in a session, unsure how she would react.

"Jeez, you'd think if you went to a fancy school like Yale, there'd be a mattress in the room," Luke complained while standing in the middle of the truck bed when Lorelai had returned, carrying a black trash bag in each hand.

"Yeah, go figure, huh?" she replied before tossing one of the bags onto the truck bed.

"You packed her stuff in Hefty bags?"

"Hey, she's lucky I even had these in the house," she retorted in sarcasm.

Luke pointed behind him. "If you needed luggage, you should've asked me." He then started moving stuff around to make sure everything could fit and won't fall out during the drive.

"You have luggage?" Lorelai asked, as if surprised.

This time, Luke was the one to retort, "Yes, I have luggage. Why wouldn't I have luggage?" while still moving stuff around.

"You never go anywhere."

Luke stopped briefly while holding a box in his hands to stare at her. "I just went on a seven country cruise and Shelby just visited Florida," he was quick to remind her.

"That's right," Lorelai said as if a revelation had hit her while pointing a finger at him, "the mystery cruise that you don't want to talk about."

He set the box on top of another box and grabbed one more, looking around to see where it fit. "I told you, I bought luggage. What more info do you need?" Luke then continued moving stuff around when he set it down.

"Why won't you tell me what happened?" Lorelai persisted on harassing him about the cruise.

"Because."

"Why? Luke, I swear, I'm dying to know. But, every time I bring it up, you spaz out." She shrugged her hands part way up. "Why won't you tell me? I would tell you."

"Yes, but I wouldn't want to know." Luke maneuvered forward and jumped down off the tailgate, heading around behind where Lorelai was standing. He pushed a plastic container, missing its lid and full of towels, off of a box.

No one said anything as Lorelai watched him. Finally, she asked, "Did something happen between you and Nicole?"

Luke stared up at the night sky with just his eyes before forcing out a yes.

"What? Did you propose?" she teased him.

He froze. Of course she would say that. Taking a deep breath, Luke turned sideways to fully face her, forcing out another "yes."

Her eyes widened before she too turned sideways to fully face him while still holding onto the truck. "Oh, my God. You proposed?"

He took another deep breath in before finally admitting to her, "Yes, I proposed."

Lorelai was blown away. It seemed like she tried to force a smile as she stumbled on her words, briefly jerking her head, back. "T-this is... Big. This is huge."

"There's more," he told her, reluctantly, now glad Shelby had stayed home.

She turned her head to look at him, sideways. "There's more?" she questioned. "Okay. Well, what? Did she say yes?"

Softly, Luke replied, "Yes."

Lorelai stared at him. "She said yes. You proposed, and she said yes. Wow." She dropped her gaze towards the ground at her feet.

Again, he admitted, "There's more," still in the soft, reluctant tone.

She quickly lifted her head. "There's more after you proposed and she said yes? What?" She briefly looked off to the side.

"We got married."

She stared at him once again in disbelief. "You got married? H-how could you..." She stumbled on her words some more, easing up on him to finish, "... get married?"

Luke shrugged. "We asked the captain, and he married us."

"And, that's legal?"

"Apparently," he replied, tilting his head briefly in another shrug.

"So you're married?" she continued to question. "You're legally married?"

Luke let out a stressful sigh.

"This is just..." Lorelai quickly looked off to the side again.

"Actually, there's a little more," he added. May as well finish this.

Lorelai suddenly gasped in shock, her eyes shut. "And, she's pregnant. Oh my God, you finally reproduced again." She covered her face in her hands.

"We're getting divorced."

She then suddenly looked back up at him, dropping her hands at her side. She stared at him with an extremely confused look on her face. Looking away for a second, Lorelai shook her head, admitting she needed to sit down, and headed over to the front porch steps.

Luke followed, shrugging a hand out in front of him as he said, "It just all happened so fast."

Lorelai glanced back at him out of the corner of her eye. "Well, yeah."

"We're on this boat in the middle of nowhere," he explained, "and everything's moving, and you feel weird all the time." Lorelai dropped on the top step, holding her head up in her hands as he sat next to her. "There's this endless supply of food and drink." Luke paused to add, "midnight buffets, by the way, are the reason why the rest of the world hates us," before continuing. "Everyone around us was either in love, or engaged, or celebrating their hundredth wedding anniversary, and we were having a good time. There you go." Luke stared at the ground.

"There you go," Lorelai remarked, half muttering as she stared ahead, now with her arms crossed on top of her knees.

"Of course, the next morning we both woke up and realized we lost our minds. We tried to ignore it for a while. Went snorkeling. But, by the time we, uh, hit land, we were separated, and now we're getting divorced."

She looked over at him. "Okay, well... My jet lag and your love life is making me dizzy." Lorelai looked forward again before asking, "is there more?"

"Nope," he answered. "That's it."

There was a brief pause before Lorelai said, "I'm sorry," with a one shoulder shrug, shaking her head.

"Ah, that's okay," he glanced in her direction but hardly made eye contact and turned away afterwards.

"How'd Shelby take the news? I mean, finding out both parents got married in one summer to two different people? That's gotta be a lot to take in."

He let out another deep sigh. "Not great at first. She even sent Reverend Skinner to try to talk me out of the divorce." Luke wanted to chuckle at that last part but couldn't help remember how much the kid really wanted somebody special in their lives.

"Aww," Lorelai moaned in sympathy. "So, she was happy you proposed and Nicole said yes, huh?"

"Yeah," he barely muttered while sadly staring at the ground. Luke looked up again at her, but didn't meet her eyes. "Had to explain to Shelby, the stupid mistakes adults make when they have had a little too much to drink."

"And?"

Luke shrugged. "Once she understood, Shelby seemed to accept it." He fiddled with his fingers. "Besides..."

"What?" she urged when he hesitated.

"Nothing," he shook his head.

"No, tell me," Lorelai insisted, gently.

"Ah, it sounds stupid." But Lorelai still wouldn't let him off the hook that easily. "Well, it would have been nice to have her, there."

"Shelby, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"Of course. Getting married is a big event in your life that you should share with the ones you love. I know I'd for sure would want Rory there if I ever got married." Luke stared at nothing in particular as he continued to fiddle with his fingers. Lorelai must have sensed there was more because she asked, "what is it?"

There was no skirting around this. Luke may as well fess up. Why not? He already had to confess his short, already failed marriage.

"Well, you know how the groom usually asks a brother or usually the best friend to be their best man, right?"

Lorelai slightly tilted her head. "Yeah?"

"Well, lately, I figured..." He quickly glanced up at her. "If I ever did, you know, find someone, get married... Ah, it's sounds stupid," Luke looked away in the opposite direction as he tried to wave it off with his hand.

"No, what?" Lorelai continued to press further.

He took a deep breath once again towards the ground in front of him. "Lately, even though it's supposed to be another guy standing there, I've actually imagined having my little buddy standing there, instead, as my, best girl, I guess." He glanced over at her as Luke shrugged.

Out of the corner of his eye, Luke noticed Lorelai, smile.

"That's not stupid," she assured him. "I think it's sweet, and I'm sure Shelby would be honored to stand beside you, to see you get married."

He looked at her. "You think?"

She nodded once. "I know so."

Hearing that made him feel better and smile in return as they stared at each other. However, the moment ended up interrupted by Lorelai's phone ringing. While she answered the call, Luke stood up to continue loading the truck.