Chapter 39

Bright and early, Luke dragged Shelby and Jess all over town, looking at different apartments. While the cousins wandered around, Luke banged on pipes and measured from wall to wall with his measuring tape. It ended up being a long morning with Luke doing all the talking and asking questions. He asked them what they thought, at least. No matter what the apartment looked like, Shelby kept saying each time she liked the one they were living in.

"Why? What's wrong with that one?" he asked.

Jess was the one to respond, hating the last one they were coming out of the most. "It was pink."

"We can paint it." They stepped out onto the sidewalk, heading for the next apartment.

"You mean I can paint it," he scoffed.

"We can paint it together." Luke looked down at the newspaper in his hand.

Jess walked beside him with his hands shoved in his pockets. "Great," he replied sarcastically. "Then we can hold hands and skip afterwards."

"Fine," Luke snapped irritably. "Which one do you like?"

"The one before."

"The one with the two fridges?"

"No."

"The one before was the one with the two fridges." Luke returned to looking at the newspaper.

"No, the one we saw before was the one with the cat," he reminded his uncle.

Luke lifted his head to say, "I hate cats."

"Well, I don't think the cat came with the place."

"It had carpeting, so it's always gonna smell like a cat," Luke explained.

"Clean the carpet."

"Paint the pink."

There was a brief pause before Jess said, "The one next to the bank."

"Too many windows."

Jess asked, confused, "What?"

"Six windows all on one side, three o'clock in the afternoon, we're sitting in an oven," he explained, which Jess pointed out to get curtains. "Yeah, well, you'll have to help me put them up."

"Great, then we can hold hands and skip afterwards," Jess repeated, still in the same sarcastic manner.

"Stop saying that."

"You know what? I don't care," the boy told him, honestly. "Pick whichever one you want."

"I'm not picking by myself," Luke said firmly

"You're the only one that wants to move," he pointed out.

"Oh, so you like living the way we do?" he questioned him.

Jess shrugged casually. "Fine by me," he said, looking elsewhere.

Luke waved the paper out in front of him as he said, "No space, no privacy?"

"I got plenty of privacy," he stated towards the ground.

"Yeah, because Shelby and I are sitting downstairs in the dark, watching a two-inch TV."

"Hey, Scout's fine with it, too. You're the only one with the problem. You make the choice." They walked across the street.

Once across, Luke fully faced his nephew. "Jess, come on!"

Jess looked down at his watch. "I have to go."

Luke pointed behind him with his thumb. "We've got three more places to look at."

"I'm supposed to be at Lorelai's in twenty minutes, remember?" he reminded him of what Lorelai said over breakfast that morning. Luke didn't realize it was that time already. "I mean, if you want me to bail on her, fine."

"No, you go," Luke assured him. "Shelby and I will look at the places. Take some Polaroids."

Jess started heading toward Lorelai's, turning around to add, "Take a Polaroid, paint a still painting. I don't care," sarcastically as he waved his arms through the air.

"Jess, come on," Luke still continued to reason with the kid as he walked away, which Jess stopped to point out nobody asked him to move to Stars Hollow, but he was there anyway and told him to pick whatever he wanted. Shelby tried to follow Jess. Luke held her back by the back of her jacket. "You can't hang out with Jess this time, Shell. He's doing work on the roof, too dangerous for you."

Shelby wrapped herself up with her arms, facing away from him.

"Shell, what is wrong? Why are you mad at me?" he asked, concerned. "Is it because we're moving to another apartment?"

Shelby didn't answer. She didn't even look at him.

"With all of Jess' stuff, we need a bigger place, kiddo," Luke tried to reason with her, as well. "We can't keep watching the game downstairs like we've been doing."

The kid kept staring elsewhere, not even glancing at him.

"Wouldn't it be awesome to have two bedrooms all your own? That would be cool, right?" he tried to make the idea of Shelby having two rooms sound exciting. It wasn't working. Finally, Luke just had to sigh under his breath and lay down the law. With decisions like this, Luke needed to make it, not her. "I know you and Jess don't mind our small apartment, but we do need more space. I'm sure you're sick of me and Jess bickering about everything." Still nothing, so Luke had to leave it be and nudged her by the head to head to the next apartment.

For the next few hours, the two of them checked out the last three apartments. One of which Luke thought didn't seem all that bad. Another one had a wood-burning fireplace that you had to pay a deposit for, while another had a parking fee that wasn't even that great of a parking space. With Shelby being as much of a help as Jess was, Luke went in search of a payphone and called Lorelai for a second opinion. The moment she got on the phone, he started one of his many rants, talking fast.

"You haven't found a place yet?" she asked once she could get a word in.

"And we've been looking all day."

"What about Shelby? None of them stuck out to her, either?"

"Nope, won't even look at me."

"How come?"

"I don't know. I guess she still doesn't want to move even after I changed my mind," he shrugged. Luke admitted there was one apartment that wasn't so bad. Thankful she offered to come look with them, he gave her the address and told her to come now, which led into another rant.

Luke asked the landlord to give them another tour, this time with Lorelai there. He couldn't help notice Shelby was avoiding eye contact with Lorelai, as well. She barely acknowledged her when she said hi. During the tour, Luke and Lorelai got mistaken for a couple and when Luke tried to set things straight, Lorelai played along with it, making Luke turn thirteen different shades of red. To make matters worse, the landlord used the word, vibe. Luke hated that word.

Luke paced around the room, annoyed.

"Alright, break it down then. List your concerns?" Lorelai told him.

"Well," he held his hands out to the sides, "it's too big."

"It's not too big," she nodded at him. "Next?"

"I don't need two bathrooms."

"Yes, you do. Next."

"I like being on the bottom floor," he added.

"The top floor's quieter. Next."

"You know, somehow I think this would be easier if you just listed your concerns," Luke finally told her.

"Okay," she replied. Lorelai briefly thought on it for a split second before admitting she didn't have any. "I think it's great."

Luke narrowed his eyes over at her. "You do?"

"Yeah, it's light and airy." She moved closer to where he was standing. "Got good windows, but not too many so the sun doesn't bake you in the afternoon." Luke thanked her for that part as she continued. "It's close to work, but a little closer to the school, the price seems good, you're taking the spruce. It's a two-year lease." Lorelai shrugged.

"I don't know," he moaned stubbornly.

"Luke, you need to do this," she reminded him. "You and Jess will kill each other if you stay in that place of yours."

"Yeah, but who knows how long he's gonna be here." Luke paced across the room once he said that, catching Shelby finally perking up in attention.

"Why? Did something happen?" Lorelai asked.

"No, but you never know."

"No, you don't. But I think his mom sending his stuff is a pretty good sign."

Luke turned around to face her again. "And even if he does stay, it'll only be for another year, and then he'll go off to college or Attica, or whatever, and then it'll just me and Shelby again." Lorelai tried to step in but Luke kept going, not liking the idea of being stuck with neighbors he'd probably hate, who would cook really strong-smelling food.

"Okay, back up here," she finally got a word in. "Yes, Jess may go off somewhere someday, but Shelby will still be here for another ten years or so, and will eventually want that privacy, too, especially once she hits the teen years. She just doesn't see that now, but she will." Lorelai turned to smile over at the little girl who was sitting over on the window bench, staring at her hands she had folded in her lap. Going over there, Lorelai kneeled beside her. "What's wrong, sweetheart? Why are you unhappy?"

Shelby did not lift her head. Not even a glance.

Lorelai held her arms folded on her knees, holding her coat. "I know you and your dad like it in that apartment of yours, but all three of you can't keep living like that. All of you having your own space will be good."

That time, they saw her head barely shake from side to side.

"You don't want to keep living in close quarters with a bunch of smelly guys, do ya?" she tried to add some humor to lighten the moment.

Shelby mumbled something, but not even Lorelai heard it, much less Luke.

"What, sweetheart? I didn't catch that."

She said it a little louder. Luke still didn't hear it, but Lorelai heard that time.

"Your dad and Jess don't stink?" she asked, making sure that was what the little girl said.

That time, Shelby nodded.

"Well, that's good, I guess. Don't you want to have more room to build with your Legos? Look at this living room here," Lorelai looked around the room they were in. "I bet you could build some pretty amazing stuff with all of this room, here. I bet you can even build the Great Wall of China from one wall to the next and drive your dad crazy."

Shelby's body tensed up and Luke heard her sniff in.

Lorelai noticed she was tearing up. "Sweetheart, why is this making you upset?" It took a few minutes for her to coax the kid into opening up and share her feelings with them. After five or six minutes, Shelby mumbled something again. It took another few tries to convince her to speak up a little more, at least enough Lorelai can hear in her ear.

"Daddy said he won' move us." She finally managed to get the words out.

Luke had to think when he had mentioned something similar to that, eventually asking her.

She finally looked up at him. "When I came here, on my firs' day of 'chool. You said you don' plan on moving."

Lorelai looked over at him, waiting for him to respond as he tried to remember what it was Shelby was referring to. As he continued to think, Lorelai turned back to her.

"Sweetheart, whatever your dad said, I'm sure he said it long before he knew Jess was going to live with you. He didn't know he'd get another kid," she assured her. "Plans change, and sometimes you have to change things around so everything works out. I understand you're probably tired of having to move from one place to another in such a short time. At least you won't be moving alone. Your dad and Jess will be going with you. That won't change. You'll just be in a new place, that's all."

"Bu' I like having Daddy and Jess close by," she tried to say, still not sounding convinced.

"They'll still be nearby. It'll be like your mom's place, they'll be just down the hall, and your dad's room will be right across from yours. It'll just be a tiny bit further away."

Shelby blurted out softly, "I hate change." Though he was proud of the CH sound, she could say, correctly. It made Luke let out a sigh under his breath, reminding him yet again of the stuff his kid had to go through.

"I know you do, sweetheart," Lorelai reached out and touched her arm, "but it's a part of life. We all have to deal with it, in some way or another. That includes your dad, too." She looked over at him, hoping to get his agreement on this. He let out another sigh under his breath before coming over, kneeling on Shelby's opposite side.

"She's right, kiddo," he said. "Whether we like it or not, we have to accept when things don't go the way we hoped. I never thought I'd be a dad," Luke quickly added, "but here you are." He smiled for her. "Maybe it won't be so bad here. So, what do ya say?"

There was some silence as Shelby stared back at him, nervously.

"I'll try it if you will."

Finally, she nodded. Shelby still looked a little hesitant, but she agreed anyway.

"What's the worse that can happen, right?"

She just shrugged.

So, the agreement was made. Luke went ahead and filled out the application. Though, he probably shouldn't have said that. Usually when someone asks, what's the worse that can happen, the worse thing usually does happen. Though, he probably would have settled for the strong-smelling food cooks he'd come to hate when Luke found out who owned the building.

With all the running around they did that day, Shelby fell asleep on his shoulder on the walk back to the diner. Asking Caesar to keep an eye on things a bit longer, including Shelby, Luke stopped at Doose's to pick up a few things when Taylor approached him, asking about the application he filled out.

It turned out, out of all the apartment buildings they looked at that day, the one that ended up being picked was owned by Taylor, the guy Luke despised the most. Seriously, what were the odds of that happening? After a heated argument, Luke abandoned his groceries there, needing to get out of there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Taylor followed.

To make matters worse, the guy even had plans to buy the flower shop next to the diner and turn it into a collectible-plate store, having a complaint against his father's hardware store sign Luke still had up. Suddenly, the air got thick and heated as the sun. Luke went into a blind rage, wanting to punch Taylor, which he warned him to get out of arm-swinging length. Eventually, Taylor did, tossing Luke's application in the trash.

He couldn't believe this. How, out of all places, did Luke end up picking the one that was owned by Taylor? There was no way he was living in that building. Luke paced up and down the street, going completely out of his mind as Lorelai's voice spun around inside his head. How does he let himself get talked into these things? Then it hit him... Holy crap, he was even talked into convincing Shelby to agree to this. They had just gotten the kid to sleep over at her mom's, and now they were already trying to do the same with him? That was a lot of transition in a short time for one small child.

Wait? Was this a good thing? Couldn't there be a way to make this situation better? In his blind rage, Luke found himself buying a chocolate-covered Belgian waffle. When he realized the mistake, he threw it away. Luke wasn't suicidal, after all. But the craziness didn't stop there, though. As soon as he threw the waffle away, Luke found himself walking inside the bank and getting a cashier's check to buy the building beside the diner before Taylor could. He was beyond furious now and stormed his way to Lorelai's house, catching Jess leaving just as he was walking up. Ignoring him for now, Luke made his way up to the front door and rapped on the front door with some force to it.

As soon as she opened the door, Luke exploded, "I just spent a hundred thousand dollars, and it's all your fault!" as he pointed at her using both hands before storming inside. Luke then explained about running into Taylor and finding out he's been buying up the town right from underneath them, going into another rant as he paced around her kitchen. Luke barely had time to breathe.

Lorelai tried to offer if he'd liked to sit down, but Luke kept going, still pacing back and forth. Finally, she could get a word in and give him some options of fixing the mess he dug himself into before offering him some tea.

Luke could finally breathe and relax, taking a seat at the table while Lorelai turned on the stove. When things were quiet, Lorelai changed the subject, asking if Jess ever talked to him about Rory.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I don't know," she shrugged, grabbing the tea from one of the upper cupboards. "They seem to be thrown together quite a lot lately, and I was just trying to figure out if that's a coincidence or..."

"Or if there's something going on?" Luke finished for her.

"Yeah."

He looked back behind him, shaking his head. "I don't know. Jess doesn't exactly confide in me."

"Right," she nodded.

"There's a possibility Shelby might know something as they seem more close than I am," he shrugged, thinking about the time he overheard Jess trying to get Shelby to confide in him when he scared her. Though, really, Luke highly doubted a seventeen, almost eighteen-year-old would confide in a six, almost seven-year-old. He did like the idea both girls were influencing Jess. "Of course, if there was something going on, I think that would be really great."

Lorelai looked at him in surprise. "You do?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Rory's a great kid. She'd be really good for Jess."

"Oh, yeah, she would," she agreed but didn't sound too sure of herself.

"You really think there might be something going on?" Luke questioned. First Shelby's crush, now there might be something between Jess and Rory? What? Was Cupid running amok in Stars Hollow or something?

"Well," Lorelai started to say, but then shook her head and said she didn't know.

Luke had to admit, though, that would be great. If Shelby could get through to Jess, imagine what Rory could do. After all, Rory was a big help with Shelby. Lorelai seemed to be second-guessing it, but Luke had some hope.

Once he was all calm and relaxed again, and clear-headed, Luke was able to think things through. This probably wasn't the best option, but it was a step further and would provide him, Shelby, and Jess, the space they needed.

Later that evening, Luke returned home, heading straight for the closet where he grabbed a sledgehammer he kept in there. Shelby was awake, listening to Jess read a chapter of Tom Sawyer. Jess stopped reading and the two of them watched him head for the closet. When Luke had the sledgehammer in hand, he walked to the other side of the room. They quickly followed, probably wondering what the heck he was going to do.

Standing in front of a bare part of the wall, Luke took it in both hands and swung it against the wall, smashing a hole into it. Both Shelby and Jess flinched as the giant hammer made contact, with Shelby ducking behind Jess.

"That's your room," he told them before handing Jess the hammer. "Finish up. We'll hold hands and skip afterwards." Luke then turned and left, leaving both kids baffled at what just happened.