Chapter 38

The Friday before spring break, Rachel stopped by the diner to pick Shelby up for their weekend. Shelby hadn't gotten home yet, though, so she had to wait. In the meantime, Luke took the time to see how she was doing.

Rachel shrugged, sitting across from where he was standing at the counter. "I guess I should admit, it was bound to happen, sooner or later."

"What are you talking about? It shouldn't have happened," he stated.

"Well, yeah, but my dad and I have been fighting since I was five when I said I wanted to play soccer instead of continuing ballet, and it only got worse as I got older."

Luke couldn't help snicker at the thought of Rachel doing ballet, which she raised herself so Rachel could reach over and punch him. "Ow!" he protested. "Sorry, I just can't picture you dancing around on your toes."

"Keep it up and you'll be dancing around on your toes," she threatened.

Luke had to think on that statement, confused. Regardless, he zipped the lip before Luke found out what she meant.

Even though they were just friends now, it always felt weird having Rachel around. Half the time, Luke had to force himself to start a conversation, mostly keeping silent. It was Rachel who usually kept the conversation going, which was good because as long as she did the talking, things seem to run smoothly. Still, he was hoping Shelby made it home soon. It seemed like her and Lorelai seemed to strike up a friendship, though.

Shelby was still hanging around Jess. In fact, aside from her and Rory, Luke was pretty sure the boy hadn't made any other friends. It was amazing Jess was willing to let a kid hang around him, considering it seemed like Jess inherited his low tolerance for annoying people, and that especially included little kids. Whenever there was an obnoxious kid brought into the diner by a customer, both uncle and nephew showed some displeasure. Even Ethan and Alan had a moment or two where Jess looked like he wanted to pull a Garfield and mail the boys to a foreign country.

But not Shelby. Since moving in with them and the two started hanging around each other, Jess hadn't shown one bit of irritation towards his cousin. Possibly it was because Shelby wasn't like other children. She may ask questions from time to time, but it wasn't to the point of annoyance. Plus, it probably helped she was just as mute as he was, if not more.

The bell chimed above the door, finally bringing in Shelby and Jess.

"Go grab'em and we can head out again," he heard Jess say before Shelby dashed upstairs.

"Jess," Luke got his nephew's attention.

"What?" he asked, sounding clueless, like he didn't know what his uncle was going to tell him.

"Did you forget I said to have Shelby home by four?" he reminded him. "I told you Shelby was getting picked up today."

"Sorry," the boy said. "We stopped by the bookstore to see if they finally got Tom Sawyer in yet." He held the book up to show him. "They do, by the way."

"That's great, but her mom's been waiting for an hour."

He gave a slight shrug. "Just lost track of time. Won't happen again."

At that moment, Luke noticed a blur out of the corner of his eye go by. Shelby was then standing beside her cousin once again, this time holding her deck of flash-cards and her backpack gone.

It was Rachel who got their daughter's attention. "Peanut, did you forget I was picking you up?"

Shelby pointed up at Jess.

"You don't want to come over and work on our mother-daughter project?"

She shook her head.

"It's okay, kiddo. You've been really good with staying over at your mom's, the last few months. If you want to skip a weekend to stay home with us and spend time with Jess, that's fine," Luke assured her. Shelby had been very good about it. There was a slight drawback, back in January during a snowstorm when the town lost power and Luke couldn't be reached when it scared her. Rachel was able to get Luke on the phone for a few minutes for Shelby to talk to him, which she had asked to come home. He was in the middle of convincing her it was too dangerous for him to come get her when they lost reception. The storm cleared by morning, which Shelby still wanted to come home. It had been a long night for her, and so for the next couple of weekends, she refused to go sleep over at her mom's, not wanting to be trapped away from her dad. Other than that, though, Shelby had been fine mostly. It looked like all Luke and Rachel needed to work on was getting Shelby through severe storms while over at her mom's.

Shelby lit up in excitement when her dad said she could stay home and go off with her cousin. Turning around, she started pushing on the boy's legs.

Jess looked down once the kid started pushing. "Scout, you can not physically move me," he told her. Stepping backwards and giving all she had, Shelby shoved her entire body into his legs.

Nothing.

Frustrated, Shelby gave his shin a good kick, which Jess lifted his knee to rub at his shin. "Jeez. It's not my fault I'm stronger than you."

"Shelby," Rachel scolded.

"Shelby Danes, get upstairs now," Luke also said. When she tried to give him a sad puppy dog look, he steeled his heart as not to cave in. "I've already warned you several times not to kick anything other than a ball. Now get up there," he pointed behind him towards the stairs. Hanging her head, Shelby made her way towards the stairs, this time at a slower pace. "I'll be up in a few minutes to talk about this," Luke called after his daughter. He hated having to put on the "tough dad" hat.

"You know, it wasn't a big deal. Not like it hurt that much," Jess tried to point out. "We mess around like that all the time."

"Messing around and actually doing it where it hurts are two different things, Jess. Shelby has to learn not to hurt others when she's mad."

"I can go talk to her since you're busy down here," Rachel offered, starting to slide off the stool.

"No, I got this. I told her I'd be up there to talk to her," Luke assured her.

While Jess was waiting for his cousin, Luke asked him if he could clear some tables for him, passing him a rag. When it was time to go up there and talk to Shelby, Rachel tried to accompany him but assured her he had it. It was mainly the fact of the mess his apartment was in and did not want to argue about it before he could get it organized.

Shelby was sitting on her bed, surrounded by boxes of Jess' stuff his mother sent over. Luke made a path for the three of them to maneuver around the room, but Shelby had to step on Jess' bed to get to hers. Having her stand on her bed, Luke lifted her over to his bed, sitting beside her.

To begin, Luke told her, "Tell me why I sent you up here."

Sitting with one leg folded in and the other pointed towards the ceiling as she held onto the toe part of her shoe, she stared off to the side.

Luke tapped the side of her foot for Shelby to remove it from his bed. She dropped it limply, hanging her foot over the edge. "Shelby," he warned, firm but gentle.

"I kicked Jess." Shelby kept her eyes on the same spot.

Luke held his head tilted to the side to somewhat look directly at her. "Is it okay to kick someone?"

She shook her head.

"Shelby."

"No," she finally replied, pitifully. Her eyes watered a bit. Using the sleeve of his shirt, Luke wiped her eyes dry.

"You're not in any trouble, kiddo. But I need you to understand you can't kick someone that hard. A gentle nudge with your foot is fine if you're playing around. No more than that. Okay?"

Shelby nodded.

"You and Jess can pick on each other but neither of you should be using your full strength and I know you are stronger than you think you are, kiddo."

She nodded a second time. Finally, she looked up to ask, "Can I go with Jess, now?"

"Sure," he smiled for her. "But only if I can have a hug first." Luke opened his arms out to his little girl. Smiling, Shelby wrapped her arms around his waist which he wrapped his arms around her before letting go. "Consider this a warning. Next time, you'll be grounded. Got it?"

She nodded a third time.

Once Luke got back downstairs, Rachel was still hanging around and the cousins had already split. "Hey. What are you still doing here?"

"I wanted to know why you told Shelby she could go with Jess when we had plans?" she asked.

Luke grabbed the coffeepot to refill a customer's cup on the other end of the counter. "She wanted to hang out with her cousin," he shrugged. "I didn't think there was any harm in it when the kid's been doing great at sleeping over with you. It's not like she has court-ordered weekends. In fact, the only weekends I've gotten with Shelby were those two weekends after that last storm we had."

"You have her five days a week for the most part."

"She's in school most of that time," Luke pointed out. "So, really, you see her more than I do."

Rachel started to argue, but to his surprise, caught herself and stopped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." She took a deep breath, letting it out.

"It's okay," he assured her. "I'm sorry too." Luke rubbed at the back of his head, adjusting his hat. "You been waiting here for Shelby to come home and I end up letting her go do something else instead. It's just... She's been having so much fun with Jess, and keeping him out of trouble..." He shrugged. "It's actually kind of like last year after you showed up, and all Shelby wanted to do was spend time with you instead. Well, now Jess is here and Shelby has come to love spending time with her cousin, which I did not see coming, by the way. So, in a way, now you're the same position I was, and I think maybe we should let her have this even if it means cancelling at the last minute. Eventually, she'll start missing you."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she agreed, which raised his eyebrows. "Shelby and I actually had a sit-down a while ago while she was over. She told me I should give Jess a chance because I don't know him. She wouldn't tell me a whole lot, but asked to trust her. I told her I do trust her, it was him I didn't trust. But," Rachel shrugged, "I told her to be careful and to let me or you know if he says or does something she knows can get them in trouble." She was switching her gaze between him and the counter. Looking up, Rachel added, "she said you told her the same thing, so I said I would try to be a little nicer to Jess, and he seems to be great with her."

"He is," Luke nodded. "I think Jess is the reason Shelby's been improving with Miss Kelly."

Her head jerked back. "Really? I never took your nephew to have patience to help a kid out with her speech sounds."

"Something tells me I think that's why Jess is doing it."

Rachel gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"As much as I love that kid, I have to admit, it can get frustrating at times trying to figure out what it is she's trying to say," he admitted, reaching behind him to scratch at an itch in the middle of his back.

"I can see that," she nodded in agreement. "But what about everything else, like coming to her school performance? I think I noticed Jess in pain, especially during 'It's a Small World'."

"Possibly hanging around Lorelai for way too long has taught Shelby some persuasion skills. That'll be my guess, anyway."

Rachel laughed at that. "Lorelai does have some great persuasion skills, I've noticed." She gave Luke a knowing look. As far as he knew, Rachel was the only one who seemed to figure out his feelings but Luke wasn't about to let her say anything out loud to anyone.

Eventually, since it was getting late, and she had been sitting on that stool for a while, Rachel headed home. Luke assured her, next time he wouldn't let Shelby cancel at the last minute, again.

Shelby and Jess didn't return until after dark, which Shelby helped her dad finish out the night and close up. Even though Luke got a weekend with his little girl home, she wasn't technically home. There was some time Saturday evening after closing. Even though the kid loved her cousin, his music choice, not so much. It didn't help Jess listened to his music on blast either. So Luke and Shelby started spending their evenings downstairs once baseball season started. After spending a year of watching cartoons with his kid, it was nice getting to share a TV pass time of his with her. Even though they were stuck on uncomfortable chairs. Well, Luke was. Shelby took to climbing onto his lap and watching from there.

"Where's ta color?" she asked the first time.

"TVs didn't always have color, kiddo," he explained to her.

"Oh, so tis is an old TV?"

"Yep."

"Oh."

As they watched, Luke would teach Shelby more about the game. It was a toss-up who enjoyed the bonding moments more. It was also a reminder to Luke he been so busy with running the diner and Liz sending the rest of Jess' stuff, he completely forgotten to register Shelby for T-ball again. Luke felt bad about it, too.

"I' okay, Dad," she assured him to make him feel better. "Can we go camping during my break, in'tead?"

He smirked. Ever since he made Shelby her own fishing pole for Christmas, she wanted to go camping so she could use it. Lorelai teased him about it, too, telling him, "nice job giving the kid something she couldn't use right away." Luke hadn't thought about that.

So they planned another one of their father-daughter camping trips for the end of Shelby's spring break like they did last year. Thinking about it, that was probably one of the reasons Rachel wasn't fond of having their weekend called off at the last minute, since she wouldn't have Shelby the following weekend, either. But Luke had a point. It wasn't mandatory for Shelby to go to her mom's every weekend. There were others to consider, too, including other family and friends.

Speaking of family. Even though Rachel's father had cut their daughter out of his life, didn't mean her mother did as well, along with her siblings. They were still getting to know Shelby. Rachel especially had a close relationship with her older sister and youngest, older brother. Her other brothers lived out of state but still kept in contact over the phone, so Shelby hadn't gotten a chance to meet two of her uncles, and one of those was the father of her only female cousin. They figured their mother-daughter summer trip could be to head down to Tennessee to visit, and Shelby could meet her uncle and his family. When Rachel asked Shelby what she thought about it, all she got was a shrug.

The Monday of her spring break, Shelby agreed to go spend an afternoon with her mom, but now that baseball season started, the kid wanted to go home the same evening to watch the game with her dad, not wanting to miss it.

That night, while the two watched together, there was a knock on the diner's door. Nudging the kid off his lap, Luke set his beer on the table beside Shelby's Sunny-D water bottle-like container so he could go let Lorelai in. Once he let her in, Luke returned to his seat, letting Shelby climb back onto his leg.

"What are you two up to?" she asked.

"Watching TV," he answered, wrapping his arms around Shelby's waist.

"Wow, that's cute," Lorelai commented on the small TV. "Is it the first time it's been away from its mother?"

"It's a very good TV," Luke told her.

"Hm, black and white, coat hanger antenna, really bad reception."

"It's fine."

"Don't you have a fully grown TV upstairs?" she questioned.

Luke glanced up at her before turning back to the game. "Yeah, well, Jess is upstairs."

"So?"

"So, when Jess is upstairs, that means the stereo is blaring and the place is a mess. Shelby and I just needed a little privacy," he explained.

"No," Shelby shook her head. "I wan-ted to watch the game wi' you," she corrected her dad.

"Sorry, my mistake," Luke replied with a smile and kissed the side of her head.

"So you two came downstairs..."

"Yes," he said.

"To sit on an uncomfortable chair in an empty diner that smells like onion rings." Lorelai was standing beside him, twisting back and forth.

"Yes."

She then muttered, "Calgon, take me away," before pulling a chair over to sit down.

"It was very peaceful until two minutes ago," he pointed out.

Lorelai scoffed at that. "Hey, Luke, did ya ever think you should, uh, get a bigger apartment?" she asked. His head rolled over in her direction to inform her he didn't need a bigger apartment. "That place upstairs was your father's office. You turned it into an apartment. It was never meant to be lived in."

Of course, Luke was a mule about it, stating it was fine.

"It's too small for two-and-a-half people. It's too small for one person if they have any kind of life."

He tried to reason it away. "We'll make do. We just have to organ-"

Lorelai stopped him, shaking her head. "No, you don't need to organize. You need to move."

"I like my apartment," he continued to be a mule.

Shaking her head again, she told him, "It's not just your apartment. Shelby and Jess lives there also. Right, sweetheart?" Lorelai tilted her head sideways to look at Shelby.

"I like the a-par-men' too," the kid answered. "I don' wan' to move again."

"But wouldn't you want your own room, sweetheart?"

"I have my own room. Ah Mom's a-par-men'," she pointed out.

Lorelai eyed the kid, suspiciously. "Are you sure? You're not just saying that because your dad's saying it?"

Shelby nodded.

Before Lorelai could continue the interrogation, Rory came in at that point which Luke told her to get her mom out of there before she drove him crazy like she usually did. She gave in and assured him she was leaving at least.

Right before the girls left, Luke suddenly remembered he had been meaning to ask if they found anybody to help clean their rain gutters, for Jess since he sometimes occasionally asked for some extra cash than what Luke pays him. She assured him, she'll get back with him once she hears from a couple others they had lined up. Finally, the diner was at peace Luke liked once more, as father and daughter returned to watching the game.

By the last inning, Shelby fell asleep, curled up in his lap. Since it was apparent who will win anyway, Luke switched the TV off before standing to his feet, shifting Shelby onto his shoulder. He made sure the door was locked before heading upstairs, somehow opening the apartment door with his hands full. The music was still blaring, making Shelby stir a little in his arms. Carefully, he made his way through the pathway of boxes over to her bed, having to toss some stuff out of the way before laying her down.

Luke then maneuvered over to find the source of the loud music, tossing away more stuff before finding the stereo and turned it off. He wondered out loud how anyone could sleep with that racket, as if the huns were attacking or something. More clothes got tossed out of the way, eventually waking Jess. After a mini freakout that ended up waking Shelby, as well, Luke finally declared the three of them were going out and searching for a bigger apartment first thing in the morning.