Chapter 48
Lorelai and Rory kept Shelby all day Tuesday. Not only did they take her shopping for new clothes, they also went ahead and got her school supplies since Rory also needed stuff for the upcoming school year. It was obvious the kid was now going through a new phase as everything she picked out was basketball related. She even turned down a Pokemon folder for one with a basketball being shot into a hoop. The clothes Shelby picked out were basketball related t-shirts or jerseys. Though, Lorelai admitted to Luke, she tried convincing Shelby to at least glimpse over at the cute little girls' clothes, bribing she'd give her a million dollars to which Shelby had shaken her head, stating she didn't have a million dollars.
"Well, she is my kid," Luke replied afterwards.
The girls also did some other shopping. Shelby made sure to inform her dad it was the most boring part, spending most of the time sitting and/or lying on a bench in the dressing room's waiting area while the other two tried on clothes. They also got lunch and caught a movie. Shelby wanted to see Lilo and Stitch again and wanted Lorelai and Rory to see it, too. So they did.
"So she conned you too, huh?" Luke snorted out a laugh when they told him. He was standing at their table, holding the coffeepot in his hand.
"No. If that was what the kid wanted to see," Lorelai told him. "We were okay with that."
"Besides, it was kind of cute," Rory shrugged. "I enjoyed it."
"Did she spend the drive home, quoting lines from the movie?"
"No," replied Lorelai. "She spent the drive out to Providence, quoting lines."
"You know you didn't have to do that," Luke repeated what he had told her when Lorelai had asked for directions to the cemetery where Bailey was buried. "I planned to do it this weekend."
"I know, but I figured it would be better to get it done sooner, and we even got to hear all about Bailey." She smiled over at the little girl.
Luke couldn't help smile. "Well, thank you," he thanked both Gilmores and turned his attention to Shelby. "You have fun, kiddo?"
Shelby nodded.
"Good, I'm glad." He hunched over and kissed her on the cheek. Shelby got him back on his cheek. Luke couldn't help catch both Lorelai and Rory smiling as they watched the two. He then rubbed a hand over the top of her hat before walking away.
On Sunday, Luke had to leave the diner for a few minutes to run Shelby over to the church for her Sunday class. A few weeks back, she came to him, wanting to go to church like she used to in foster care whenever she stayed with Madison and her family. Personally, he wasn't a "church" kind of guy, but if that's what Shelby wanted, Luke agreed to at least drop her off.
"Why don' you wan' to go?" she asked. Luke then explained his reasoning why he didn't care for church without admitting he was skeptical about the whole God thing, not wanting to burst her bubble.
The first time Luke dropped her off, it was a surprise to everyone to see him there and had to explain he was just dropping Shelby off. The worse was when he ran into Lane and her mother, though Luke could not tell if the woman was surprised or not.
"What are you doing here?" Mrs. Kim probed.
Pointing over his shoulder, he replied, "Uh, I was just dropping my kid off for Sunday school." It didn't end there. The first question was shortly followed by a bunch of other questions that Luke could barely keep up with. Thankfully, the service was starting and saved the poor guy where he could get back to the diner.
On the way home, Shelby would share what she learned that morning with him, which Luke pretended to sound excited for her. Besides wanting to go to church, he also noticed how much more the kid seemed to be praying. The Sunday school teacher gave her a children's bible on her first day, and Luke found her curled up a few times in the armchair they had put on hers and Jess' side of the apartment.
"It sounds cute," Lorelai commented when he told them over breakfast, Monday morning right before sneezing into a napkin. For the past few days, she had come in with a cold, having to order soup with a side of mashed potatoes. At that point, they heard Shelby trying to say the word teeth while Jess held up a flash card with the word. She was sitting on a stool while he stood on the other side, leaning on his arms, having Shelby sound out the word.
"Nope. What should your tongue be doing?" he reminded her.
"T-ee-..." When Shelby tried to make the TH sound, spit flew out of her mouth, making Jess jerk backwards.
"Scout," he hissed. "Say it. Don't spray it."
"Sorry." She ducked her head, apologetically.
"It's good." Jess forgave her with a sigh, rubbing at his eye. "Gross, you got me in the eye."
Luke and the two older girls snickered to themselves as they watched the scene. He returned a little later with their breakfast, along with a lecture about how a healthy immune system helps to not have so many colds, telling Lorelai to eat a vegetable every once in a while. Maybe even some high-fiber cereal in the morning. Who was Luke kidding? That would not happen and told her to at least eat the carrots, this time and not just the noodles. Wait... Shouldn't he be telling his kid all this, not a grown woman? Yet Shelby had no problems eating vegetables.
While Jess was still trying to get Shelby to say teeth correctly, his new girlfriend walked in, greeting him and ignoring the kid, completely, reaching over to kiss him.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Hold on." Jess turned back to his cousin to try one last time before he had to leave, but Shane was a little too impatient. "Fine," he told her, and assured Shelby, they'll finish later tonight. Luke couldn't help notice Shelby watch Jess leave in disappointment. The kid didn't seem to like the new girl in her cousin's life, all that much. Course, it probably didn't help Shane would often give her disgusted looks.
With summer break ending, along with the end of basketball, both to Shelby's dismay, the school year was right around the corner. That meant Luke had a lot of things to do to prepare for back to school, including Shelby's yearly doctor's appointment. It took a tremendous amount of coaxing to get the kid to come out of hiding once she found out they were going to see the doctor and Luke was not looking forward to repeating last year. This time, he decided to make an appointment for himself so Shelby didn't have to go through it, alone. That seemed to help.
They waited in the waiting room until their names were called. As they followed the nurse into the back, Shelby clung to her dad's hand for dear life. He was able to get her to step on the scale so the nurse could weigh her and take her height. She was growing just fine, but because Shelby had been active over the summer than she usually has been, she was a couple pounds below the weight a seven-year-old should be. Luke assured the nurse he'd make sure Shelby ate a little more, before she took Shelby's temperature. That was normal, at least.
Once the nurse was finished checking Shelby's basic info, it was Luke's turn. Afterwards, they were led to a room where Shelby was told to hop up onto the examination table, crinkling up the paper.
Their doctor walked in, happy to see the kid. "Hi there, Shelby," she greeted, cheerfully. "Remember who I am?"
Shelby looked up at the woman, who was wearing pink scrubs with cartoon cats all over them, and nodded.
"Still not talking, huh?" The doctor smiled. "That's okay." She turned to pull up a chair, looking over her clipboard. "Here for your seven-year check-up, I see." The doctor asked Luke a bunch of questions regarding Shelby's health over the past year, along with sleep, exercise, and stuff like that. "Says here she's under the recommended weight by a couple pounds." She looked up towards Luke.
"Uh, yeah. Guess so," he replied. "Shelby's been out playing basketball all summer. Frankly, more than I thought she would, spending hours running up and down the sidewalk outside the diner."
"Well, it sounds like she gets plenty of exercise, which is very good." The doctor made notes as they talked. "What about eating? Is she eating okay?"
Luke shrugged. "Seems to be. She eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I limit her sweets, make sure Shelby eats her fruits and vegetables without any kind of fuss. Loves them, actually."
The doctor chuckled. "Hey, that's good," she smiled as the woman wrote what Luke told her. Once they finished the evaluation portion of the appointment, the doctor stood up, removing her stethoscope from where it was hanging around her neck. She stuck the ends in her ears, asking Shelby if she could listen to her heart. Shelby nodded her head, allowing the doctor to place the other end on her chest, moving it a couple times. Then the doctor switched to her upper back, asking Shelby to take deep breaths while she listened to her lungs.
Afterwards, the doctor looked inside her nose, mouth, ears, and eyes using her otoscope. She then had Shelby lay back while the doctor pressed on her stomach.
"Does that hurt, Shelby?" she asked, pressing in a few spots.
Shelby shook her head, sitting up when the doctor gave the okay they were done.
The doctor walked over to the small sink to wash her hands. "Everything seems to be just fine. Shelby is growing up perfectly," she assured Luke.
Luke smiled, proudly. "That's what matters, right?" he nodded once.
"That's right." She pulled a paper towel from its dispenser, drying her hands with it, and tossed the paper towel into the trash can. "Now, all we just need to do is her yearly shot to bring the immunizations up to date, and we'll be set for another year." The moment she mentioned the word shot, Luke felt sharp pricks in his arm, making him respond with a slight, "ahh."
He looked down to see Shelby's small hand grasping his arm, her fingernails digging into the skin. It reminded him they were due on trimming them. "Shelby. Shell, please let go." Luke tried desperately to pry her fingers away.
"Is everything alright?" the doctor asked, concerned.
Looking at his arm, he replied, "I think she just drew blood again." Luke quickly started trying to calm the kid down, reassuring it would be fine. When that didn't work, he asked the doctor about possibly getting a flu shot or something for himself, even though he wasn't fond of needles anymore than Shelby was. The doctor assured him that could be arranged, but first, Luke hadn't had his check-up, yet.
For the most part, Luke's exam was similar to Shelby's. To help ease Shelby's anxiety, the doctor offered to let her have a listen to her dad's heart, which Shelby perked up in surprise when she heard his heart beating.
"Want to hear yours?" the doctor asked.
She nodded, switching the end of the stethoscope to her own chest.
"You hear it?"
Shelby nodded.
Luke was relieved they were able to calm her down. Besides listening to his heart and lungs, and checking his eyes, nose, and ears, the doctor checked his pulse and checked his blood pressure, both just fine. Though, if someone were to get Taylor in there, or whoever else drove Luke, crazy, pretty sure would skyrocket his blood pressure.
Luke went first when the doctor, along with the nurse, brought in the stuff for their shots, removing his flannel shirt and lifted the sleeve of his T-shirt. He tensed, readying himself for what he had to do to help his little buddy feel at least a little better about getting hers. With his eyes shut tight, Luke felt the nerves in his arm twitch as the point of the needle pricked the skin. The doctor told him to relax, which Luke hadn't realized just how tensed he was. Someone took a hold of his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. If it weren't for the fact, the hand felt small, Luke would have sworn either the doctor or nurse was trying to get fresh with him, or something. But he knew whose hand it belonged to.
Opening his eyes, Luke looked down to see Shelby looking back at him, trying to comfort him. It made him smile.
Just as quick as it started, it was over. A cotton ball and a piece of medical tape replaced the needle.
"There. That wasn't so bad, now was it, you big baby." The doctor playfully smacked him on the same arm, making him grab it as the muscle was still a tad bit tender from being poked. Luke shot her an annoyed look as he unrolled his sleeve and reached over where he tossed his other shirt behind where Shelby was still sitting. Once they cleaned up everything from Luke's flu shot, the doctor announced, "Alright, Shelby. You're up."
Her body tensed up upon hearing it was her turn.
Luke reassured he was right there beside her, reminding Shelby it would help keep her from getting sick, but they ended up doing the same thing they had to do last year. Luke took a seat in the visitor's chair and pulled Shelby onto his right leg. Things seemed to go smooth this time when the doctor rolled up her sleeve. She flinched when the doctor rubbed the cold alcohol soaked towelette along her upper arm, keeping her face buried in her dad's chest. The minute the doctor announced she was going to give her the shot, Luke had to hold a strong firm hold on his little buddy, rubbing a hand along the side of her head as he spoke comforting words to her. He could feel her face now, drenched in tears, soaking the front of his shirt.
"It's okay, kiddo. It'll be over soon."
"You're doing great, Shelby," the doctor praised while holding the syringe to Shelby's arm. "I know it hurts, but we hafta do it."
Luke lowered his head to kiss the top of Shelby's head, holding it for a few seconds. Thankfully, it was only one quick poke that probably felt like an eternity to a kid, who continued crying, inaudibly even after the needle was taken away and replaced by a band-aid with Elmo on it. As the doctor and nurse cleaned up, Luke continued to comfort his poor crying child who could probably get a job as a mime. This kid was quite the master at doing things without making sounds.
Now finished, Luke carried Shelby out, signing them out at the front desk, which the doctor brought her a red lollipop. She refused to lift her head from her dad's shoulder, so Luke just took it. With their final papers in hand, Luke left the doctor's office, heading back to the diner.
By the time they passed Doose's, Shelby's silent cries were now tiny sniffles as Luke rubbed her back.
Lorelai walked up as they got closer. "Hey, what happened?" she asked, pointing out the dried up tear stains on Shelby's face and the gloom look.
"Doctor's appointment," was all Luke had to say to get the point across. He felt Shelby push herself up off his shoulder and wanted Lorelai. So, Luke passed her over to the woman, who gladly took her. He couldn't help smile when Shelby latched onto Lorelai, who carried her inside as Luke held the door open for them.
Lorelai carried Shelby over to set her on one of the stools, taking the one next to her.
In light of recent events, Luke told Shelby, "What would you like for lunch, kiddo? You can have whatever your little heart desires." He leaned over to let her whisper in his ear, pancakes. Usually, pancakes were only for breakfast with his kid, but this time, he let it slide and told her pancakes were coming right up.
After Shelby finished eating, she asked her dad if she could go see if Jess was upstairs before running up to the apartment and ended up staying there. Luke went upstairs a couple hours later to check on her, finding both cousins on the armchair in front of the TV. Jess was holding Shelby's game controller in his hands while Shelby sat, saddled on the arm of the chair, watching him play.
Curious, Luke went over to stand nearby, looking over at the screen where Jess was controlling a little kid, who looked to be nine or ten, dressed in a green tunic. He was fighting a giant, four-legged wingless dragon that can breathe fire.
"What is that? A dragon?" he asked, holding his hands on his sides.
"No, i's a dinosaur," Shelby corrected him.
"Since when does a dinosaur breathe fire?"
"That's what I said," Jess remarked, trying to run away to avoid the beast while it rolled into a ball, making the boy on the game step onto the hot lava in the center of the room to avoid getting hit, though Jess still took damage from the lava. "It's title at the start of the fight said it's an infernal dinosaur, called King Dodongo." He moved the boy over to where the dinosaur crashed into the wall and turned around to face him.
"T'row a bomb in i's mou'!" Shelby yelled out.
"Kid, you are right next to my ear, stop yelling," Jess scolded, annoyed. "I know what I'm doing." He then pressed the button to pull out a bomb immediately lit, holding the bomb above the boy's head. Trying to aim while facing the right direction before the dinosaur breathed fire was not the simplest task. Somehow, Jess finally tossed it inside its mouth, which exploded before the dinosaur collapsed on the ground. While the creature was stunned, Jess pressed the button for the boy's sword and repeatedly smashed the same button, slashing away at it until the dinosaur got back up, rolling into another ball, thus repeating the entire process over again.
"And why are you doing this?" Luke questioned while still watching.
"Apparently, these things moved in and these other things can't get inside to eat some rocks, so they sent a child to slay the monster for them," he explained while focused on the game.
"They sent a child?"
"Yep. Guess this kid is some sort of he...ro... Oh, come on!" The dinosaur ran Jess over, killing him, thus bringing up the Game Over screen. He dropped the controller in his lap, dropping into the back of the chair. "That was my fifth game over." Frustration was all over his face.
Luke couldn't help chuckle at his nephew getting mad at a video game.
"You wanna try?" Jess held the controller up to his uncle.
"Nah, I gotta get back downstairs. You two have fun, though." Heading for the door, Luke was now full-on laughing.
"Keep it up and someone's getting a little surprise in their shampoo later! Let's see if you'll still be laughing when you're bald!" he heard Jess call after him as Luke headed back down the stairs where Kirk was waiting for him.
"Hey, Luke."
"What do you want, Kirk?" Luke asked, grabbing his notepad and pencil.
"I was wondering, since you're friends and you've been to her house plenty of times," he began.
"What?" Luke tried to hurry him along since he had customers.
"Well, yesterday, I asked out Lorelai, and I just wanted your opinion whether or not I had a shot."
His eyes immediately lifted towards the guy. A smile suddenly appeared and Luke so badly wanted to laugh again. "What?" he couldn't believe what he just said. Kirk asked Lorelai out? On a date? That was the greatest thing Luke heard all day.
A bit later, both Jess and Shelby came downstairs. Shelby had her backpack on her back.
"Shell, you don't start school until next week," he pointed out.
"I know," she replied. "We came to ass if we could go trade some of my games in for diff-en' ones."
"Huh?" Luke stared at his kid, confused. Not because he didn't understand or hear her, but because he didn't know what she meant by trading them in.
"I made a phone call to a game shop we found in the phone book," Jess was the one to explain. "Since Scout doesn't like some of those games she got for Christmas, we figured we could sell them or something and get new ones. The guy I talked to says we can trade them in for any used games of equal or lesser value. Or sell them for cash or store credit, whichever."
"Uh, sure. I guess," he gave the okay, not even knowing that was a thing. Nor did Luke even know there was a shop just for video games. "Is that game with the dinosaur included?" he couldn't help ask with a chuckle.
Jess shook his head. "No," he said, and motioned over to Shelby, "she doesn't want to get rid of that game. Apparently, those boys were huge fans of football."
"Ah," Luke nodded, now understanding. "Just be back in a couple hours."
"It's in the next town over, so we have to take the bus," Jess added. Luke wasn't too keen on Shelby taking a bus to another town without him present. Jess assured him he'd keep a careful eye on the kid.
Even though Luke felt uneasy, he told them they could still go. Pointing at Shelby, he said, "stay close to Jess and make sure to hold his hand while you're crossing any streets."
"Wait, does she really need to hold my hand?"
"Yes, Jess, she does. Shelby is still small enough to not be seen by drivers."
Jess tried to object, but it was, hold hands while crossing the street or not go at all. There was really no fighting it, so he reluctantly agreed.
Once Luke gave Shelby a hug and kiss good-bye, the cousins then left, heading for the bus stop.
