Chapter 12

Luke made a run to the store between rushes the very next day. The amount of Lego sets the toy store had was astounding. There were so many aside from the original Lego set. Star Wars, pirates, airport, castles, and lots of others. Scanning both sides of the aisle, Luke looked for the basic bucket set. He found them on the bottom shelf and grabbed a red bucket. Once he paid for it, Luke headed back to the diner where Lorelai was there, waiting.

"Hey. Been here long?" he asked.

"No, I just got here a few seconds ago."

Luke set the bucket of Legos on the counter and grabbed the coffeepot, along with a mug, pouring her some. "Does it make me a terrible parent if I hadn't noticed the lack of toys my kid has?"

"Oh yeah," she replied, in a sarcastic, snappy tone, "let's lock you up and take away your kid."

"Jeez, what's wrong with you?"

"I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Why not?" he asked, sincerely.

Lorelai stared at the counter, depressed. "Rory and I had a fight, and she ran away."

"What?" Luke just about had a heart attack, as if she had just told him Shelby had run away or something. "Where?"

She held up a hand, not lifting her gaze, "She's fine. She's at my mother's."

"Aw, jeez... Throw that information in with the first part. You'll scare a person to death."

Lorelai apologized. Finally, she looked up again to continue. "You know, I got in my car three times to go get her. I drove halfway there and drove back. Drove halfway there and drove back. I actually ran out of gas driving halfway there and back."

"She'll cool off and come home."

"I know," she sighed. "Breaking up with Dean has been so hard on her. I know I said you can't protect your kid, but I just hate that she's going through this. I mean, she's such a good kid. She's so nice to everyone. She cares about everyone, and she's walking around in this unbelievable pain. There's nothing I can do about it. She still won't talk to me." Lorelai shrugged, "She won't tell me what happened."

"I'll tell you what happened, that Dean kid is a jerk and he finally let her know it."

"Wish I could just pinch his head right off." She snapped her fingers in emphasis.

"I'll help."

"I warned him. I warned him when I first met him. If he hurt her..." Lorelai let out an irritated sigh. "Maybe I could key his car."

"Or, better yet, you can key Taylor's car and tell him Dean did it."

"Yeah," she agreed, "that'll be good."

Luke added to it. "You can key Taylor's car, tell him Dean did it, and also tell him that Dean littered, and walks his dog without a leash."

"He'll run him out of town."

"Good."

Things were silent for a few seconds before Lorelai said, "Alright. Well, I should go. Rory's probably out of school by now and I wanna be home in case she decides to call."

"Coffee's on the house."

Lorelai stood up off the stool as she said, "Oh, thanks." As she turned to leave, she asked, "hey, is that the belt I bought you?"

Luke bent over to look. "Oh, yeah, yeah. The old one broke," he pointed behind him.

"Huh. Lucky, you happened to have a spare."

Once she walked away, he called after her. "She'll be home soon."

Lorelai gave a slight nod as she forced a smile, looking like she was close to tears before turning back around and left the diner.

Luke picked up the coffeepot, placing it back where it belonged. He wasn't sure what he would do if Shelby ever ran away. With how timid the kid was, the kid probably wouldn't even make it through the apartment's door. Even with how small the town was and how everyone knew each other enough, Shelby was still cautious around everybody.

Once Shelby got home from school, Luke presented her with the bucket of Legos he bought for her. Within two seconds, the colorful brick pieces littered a part of the apartment's floor. He got down with her and tried to build with Shelby. After an hour of silence, Luke had built a simple, square house with a flat roof. Shelby had built a house twice its size and was two stories with a garage.

"Huh," Luke said, impressed. "That's really good, Shell." He looked at the two houses, comparing the two. "Check this out." Luke started adding onto his house, making himself a two-story as well. Plus a garage. There ended up being only a few pieces left which Shelby used to form a bridge, to link the houses, together.

"So we can visi' ea' o-ter," she explained.

"That would be nice," he said with a smile.

Luke kept Shelby on top of keeping her Legos picked up while she wasn't playing with them. Since they were small pieces, some went missing or got kicked across the room without notice. If someone walked around with no shoes on, that usually was when the pieces got found. There were a couple mornings Luke woke up to head for the bathroom, and his heel came into contact with one. Both times a swear word was heard, waking the girls.

Rachel found it amusing until her heel came into contact with one.

"Not so funny now, is it?" he said afterwards as she made her way over to the bed where he was sitting up in.

Rachel looked the spot on her heel over. "Wow, that really does hurt."

"Gonna hurt for a day or two, too."

Shelby came over and climbed onto the bed, tapping her mom's leg.

She looked up from her foot. "Yes, sweetheart?"

Giving her mom a pitiful look, she whispered, "Sorry."

"About what?"

Shelby pointed at Rachel's foot.

"It's okay, sweetheart. It probably got kicked or something. You don't need to apologize for this. I know you didn't mean to leave it there."

The frown turned into a smile before Shelby crawled beside her dad, getting under the covers. Luke helped by lifting them, covering her up.

Rachel had watched the whole thing. "Shelby, sweetheart," she said.

Shelby looked over at her mom.

"I was thinking, maybe tonight, you could fall asleep in your own bed."

It was Luke who asked, "Why?"

"Well, it's been how long? Three, four months, and Shelby still can't sleep in her own bed? I mean, we're just a few feet away," she pointed a hand towards Shelby's bed.

"I said we were working on it," he told her.

Rachel shrugged, "It doesn't seem like it, Luke. Shelby's gonna be six in a couple months. I think it's time for her to sleep on her own."

Luke lowered his gaze, looking down at Shelby. His natural paternal instinct was to protect his daughter, to help keep her anxiety from going up. This whole thing was still fairly new to both Luke and Rachel, and he knew Rachel came from a strict background growing up. He was sure that was one reason she always wanted to leave Stars Hollow. Childhood anxiety was basically a foreign concept, along with parenting and what the right thing to do, was.

"We need to teach Shelby how to console herself. We won't always be there to do that for her."

He took in some air through his nostrils, letting it out through his mouth. She was right. Or, it seemed logical, at least. Rising, Luke kneeled beside the bed to look up at Shelby. "Kiddo, how about we all sleep in our own beds, tonight? The whole night?"

Shelby stared at her dad, looking like she might start tearing up.

"Your mom and I won't be far away. I can still chase the monsters away that'll try to eat ya," he assured her.

"We can read a story first," Rachel added, getting her attention. She let Shelby pick one of her library books and read it aloud. Afterwards, Luke stood up, having Shelby follow.

Pulling back her comforter for her, Shelby climbed into bed, letting Luke cover her up again. He moved around the bed to switch on Shelby's nightlight before leaning over to kiss her forehead.

"It's okay if you have an accident, kiddo. It happens. But there's nothing to be afraid of. Nothing's gonna get ya because I won't let that happen. They'll have to get through me first and we all know nothing can do that." He grinned.

It made Shelby feel a little at ease. She reached up and hugged his neck, kissing Luke on the cheek. Luke hugged and kissed her back before standing up.

Rachel was standing on the other side of the bed. When Luke stood up, she leaned over to hug their daughter. Shelby hugged her mom in return. When Rachel kissed her daughter's cheek, Shelby returned it, making both parents smile. "Love you, peanut." Peanut was a nickname Luke noticed Rachel recently started calling Shelby.

"Love you, too, Mom."

Luke's eyebrows rose when he heard their daughter respond to her mom and looked over at Rachel to see her reaction. A glistening in the corner of her eye was spotted as she smiled.

"Good night. Sweet dreams, peanut." Rachel leaned forward and gave Shelby one last kiss, this time on the forehead.

Luke took another turn, also giving Shelby another kiss. Just before he pulled away, he heard her whisper, softly, "I hope Mom no leave." It froze him there and looked at her. Luke had to force a smile for his daughter. "Me, too, kiddo." A lump had formed in his throat when he said it. Grabbing Pikachu, he passed it to Shelby.

"Pikachu wan's a kiss, good nigh', Dad."

"He does, does he?" Luke gave her a smirk and gave the toy a quick peck on his red-spotted cheek.

Over the rest of the month, Shelby started spending more time with her mom than she did with her dad. Sure, during the night, she wanted him, especially when Shelby woke from a nightmare. During the day, as she got to know Rachel, Shelby wanted her mom. Whenever Luke picked her up from school, Shelby would run to Rachel or rush upstairs. He wasn't expecting that at all. Hoping, maybe, but not expecting. By the third week of May, Shelby was now speaking brief sentences to Rachel.

One night, Luke came upstairs to find both of them in the bathroom. Like he had, Rachel had been including Shelby in with her hobbies, and that included photography. At least someone was spending time with Rachel, though. The feeling Luke had that night hadn't gone away. Having her around was great and all, and he was happy she was in Shelby's life, but he just couldn't get his heart into it. It was too late. His heart had moved on and Luke wasn't sure how to tell Rachel and even if he could, there was still Shelby to think of. He had tried the best he could.

On Saturday nights, they would curl up on the couch and watch TV, usually a movie of Shelby's choosing. The original Charlotte's Web was on the previous Saturday. After the spider died, Shelby started crying. Rachel had offered comfort, which she took. That was another thing. Before Rachel showed up, it had just been the two of them and Luke had tended to whenever Shelby needed something. Now, he wasn't the only one Shelby could turn to, and frankly, it made the guy a little jealous whether he cared to admit it.

So, Luke kept himself busy with other things. If he wasn't working at the diner, Luke started hanging around Lorelai's house, repairing things he deemed needed fixing. To make matters worse, Luke even broke in before Lorelai had gotten home just so he could fix something else. It almost cost him a blow to the face with an umbrella when the two of them scared each other. She made Luke sit and have a brief chat about his recent behavior.

"You've almost no free time with all your work at the diner," she began, crossly, "and lately, every spare moment has been spent not with Rachel and Shelby."

"That's not true," he tried to deny.

"Oh? They were looking for you today, and they didn't know where you were."

Luke quickly stated, "I'm not hiding from them."

She shook her head and gave a slight shrug. "I didn't say you were hiding."

"It sounded like you were implying it," he lied.

"Well, someone's sensitive about the accusation," she mocked him. Luke gave her a hard look, but Lorelai just returned it with one of her own.

"I think I'm hiding from them," Luke finally admitted.

"I think you are, too."

"It's just a little weird having her in my place."

"I thought that's what you wanted," Lorelai pointed out.

"It was...is. I'm just..." Luke shook his head at the table. He let out a sigh and moved his hands from the table to his lap. "It's been just me and Shelby for two, three months, and having only me to depend on and do things with. Now that Rachel's here...she's been going to Rachel and wanting to spend time with her instead of me."

"Of course, Luke," she stated as if it seemed obvious. "That's her mother. Any kid would want to spend time with their mom and get to know her. I'm sure it was the same thing when you brought Shelby, home. Didn't she want to spend a lot of time with you?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"So, now, it's Rachel's turn."

"I don't know. I guess I've just gotten used to Shelby only needing me. Lately, the only time she wants me is the middle of the night when she has her bad dreams. During the day, it's Mom this and Mom that. Shelby and I had an agreement to work an hour a day, so she could have an allowance. She kept it up for a few days, then wanted to go help Rachel."

"Luke, Shelby still loves you and you will always be her dad. Eventually, after a while, she'll want to spend time with you, like today. Shelby says she misses you."

Luke looked up at the woman, at that. "She did?"

Lorelai nodded. "You are the first person she opened up to and probably heard her speak. No one will ever take that place."

"I know." He dropped his gaze at his lap. "It's just not what I thought it would be like having Rachel, back. It's not the fantasy I was toting around all these years, and especially after Shelby came into the picture."

Lorelai had gotten up to fetch a box of cookies from one of the upper cupboards and a drink from the fridge, along with two cups. She turned around from the fridge as she said, "Well, Luke, life is not a fantasy. Maybe you have to lower your expectation bar a little bit."

"So, you're saying that life is just settling for whatever comes along?"

"Wow," she gasped in surprise, "you think having Rachel is settling?"

"No, I didn't mean that," he corrected. "Rachel's...great, and I'm glad Shelby is warming up to her."

"And she's crazy about you," Lorelai added, "and if her worst trait is she's hogging your kid's attention, you have it pretty good."

Luke stared at his lap. He muttered a "yeah," and took a deep breath in.

"You just need to give this situation a fair chance." She softly hit him on the arm.

"I know," he continued to mutter.

Lorelai quickly added, "And that starts with ceasing work on the Winchester mystery house, here."

Luke glanced up long enough to give her a nod before glancing down at his lap. Oh, how he wished he could give her the full truth why he had been spending time there, but Luke could only get out the partial truth.

When he got back to the diner, Luke's legs were bombarded by a five-year-old. "Hey, kiddo," he lifted Shelby up into his arms. "I was told you two were looking for me."

"I do some-ting wrong?" Shelby whispered softly for only him to hear. They really needed to work on her digraph sounds.

"Oh, no, sweetheart. You didn't do anything wrong. I was just fixing some things. It had nothing to do with you, I promise." She nodded at that which Luke gave her a kiss on the cheek."How about working your hour, today? I could use your help."

Shelby gave another nod.

Luke set her down. Grabbing the napkins wrapped in paper from the back, he put Shelby to work, restocking each dispenser while he and Rachel waited tables.