Chapter 37

Luke raced to Litchfield to pick Shelby up from school so he could get back in time for the lunch rush. In fact, he had warned her ahead of time. So, as soon as she spotted his truck, Shelby sprinted over and climbed inside.

"Hey, kiddo," he greeted, glad to see his little buddy.

Shelby took off her messenger back to set on the floor while he was pulling away from the curb and immediately fastened her seat belt. "Hey, Dad," she returned.

He asked how her morning went, receiving the usual "good." He also asked if Mrs. Dawson gave her any trouble. Since it was another half day, the kids got to watch another movie. Thankfully, this time they watched a regular kid's movie, called Big Fat Liar, about a kid who always lies and gets his school assignment stolen by a Hollywood producer and spends the entire movie trying to get it back. Shelby admitted to liking it, especially since it wasn't one of those PSA videos.

Luke also asked how she was doing since he saw her last.

Shelby shrugged. "Mom and I talked abou' it during lunch."

"I went to talk to Miss Kelly this morning," he admitted.

"Wha' abou'?" She asked curiously.

He shrugged at the road ahead. "What she thought about you having a learning disability and what we can do." Luke filled Shelby in on the conversation this morning, including Stars Hollow being behind on things. "She even offered to continue working with you in the afternoons since you're not getting help with your speech sounds at this school."

Her eyes widened. "She did?"

Luke smiled. "Miss Kelly likes ya, kiddo."

Shelby smiled in return. "I like Miss Kelly, too. She's really nice."

Still thinking about what Nicole had discussed with her, Luke asked Shelby about it after the truck had gone into silence for a few minutes since it kept rolling over inside his head.

"Yeah, Mom and I talked abou' tha' at lunch, too," she admitted. "Bu' Mom and I already talked abou' wha' I wan' to do when I grow up. She says to consider my hobbies and wha' I like to do and go from there. If I really wan' to pursue singing, then I should go for it. It may take a long time, but she says with hard work and determination, i's possible. I told her abou' Lane and her band, and watching them practice all the time."

"We're both in your corner, kiddo," he reminded her. "If singing is what you love and want to do, I'll support it, too."

"Can I work in the diner until then?"

Luke smiled at his little buddy wanting to work in the diner while pursuing her passions. "Of course, kiddo." He then added, "as long as you also go to college."

"I will. Mom even told me to ask Roger abou' his success."

Luke glanced over at her with a strange look. "Why?"

"Because Roger had a tougher time than Mom did, finding work," she explained what Rachel had told her. "So, las' nigh', when he was in his man cave, I brough' him a note and asked him." Shelby then filled Luke in on Roger having to live in his old childhood bedroom for several years, paying his parents, rent and working crappy jobs until landing a job based out of Chicago, at a travel magazine. "He told me the bes' advice is to learn to be okay with rejection and cri-a-tim."

"You mean criticism?"

"Yeah, tha'," she replied. "Roger showed me a sss-crapbook of all the places he tried to apply to and submi' his work to and rejec'ed him, and tha' I'll have to hear the same sss-tuff if Simon is anything to go by."

"Who's Simon?"

"From American Idol. Mom and I sss-tarted watching it together when I wen' over there after meeting with Lauren."

Speaking of, Luke asked, "How are those going, by the way?" It had been a while since they talked. Mostly because he and Shelby hardly got the chance to talk, lately.

Shelby shrugged. "Good. Mom and I are learning a lo' and Lauren has us talk abou' how we feel in-sss-tead of keeping it bottled up, like when Mom kept leaving."

A hard lump appeared in his throat when Shelby mentioned Lauren encouraging them to talk about their feelings. Even though he always encouraged Shelby to share with him, he never pushed her to, especially when he had always shoved his own feelings way down deep inside. At least, his little buddy had someone to help her. Though, technically, so did him.

Once they got back to the diner, Shelby headed upstairs to take a nap. She was more tired than hungry from not only dancing the night before, but staying up talking to Roger until Rachel had to come in to remind them it was a school night. Apparently the kid was so exhausted, she slept for four hours, not coming back down until around four in the afternoon.

Having not eaten since early that morning before school, Lorelai's influence showed when Shelby informed him she was starving. Luke offered to make her a burger and fries for her. While waiting, she pitched in around the diner and started clearing plates from the tables and wiping them down.

Eventually, Shelby took one of the vacant tables since the diner wasn't busy at the moment and somehow found herself teaching Kirk, her Yu-Gi-Oh card game, letting him borrow some of her cards since the kid now had dozens of them.

One of the customers who came in, was having car trouble and needed a hand. Luke had been fixing his own truck since he was fourteen and knew a thing or two. So he offered to help the lady. She ordered a tuna melt and coffee while he ran to his dad's old garage he was still renting to grab a car jack while Shelby was occupied.

Upon arriving, however, Luke found the lock broken on the ground. Now alert someone had broken into the garage, he immediately opened the garage to find Jess' car gone. Having just talked to Liz that morning, he already guessed who might've taken it.

Remembering the lady, Luke still grabbed the car jack. Thankfully, he had an extra lock to lock the garage back before heading back to the diner. Despite having a guess who broke in and stole the car, Luke still called the police and reported it just to be safe.

Shelby overheard him while Luke was on the phone. Setting her cards down and letting Kirk know she would be right back, she got up and headed over to him just as Luke hung up. "The police sss-till haven' found Jess' car?"

Shelby's question about Jess' car reminded Luke she didn't know he was the one who stole it. Since stealing it, her grandfather's garage became off limits so she wouldn't find out and feel the need to go tell her cousin when the two were so close. Jess had felt so bad getting his cousin in trouble for lying about his black eye, he never made her do it again. Or at least told her not to say anything unless her dad asked. If he did, she had permission to "spill the beans." Now that Shelby overheard Luke reporting Jess' car being stolen by someone else, he knew it was time to come clean with her.

Taking a deep breath, he admitted he was the one who stole the car.

"Bu' why?"

Slowly lowering himself to her level, Luke leaned his arms on his knees. "Because I was hoping it would make him quit his job at Walmart and finish school. Everything was blowing up right in front of me with him, and I didn't know what else to do. I was desperate."

"Bu' Jess was really mad abou' his car ge'ting sss-tolen." The look Shelby had was as if Luke had stolen something of hers.

"I know, kiddo, and I'm sorry." He reached out and touched her hand, rubbing it with his thumb.

"So now i's really sss-tolen?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I kind of have a guess who might've taken it."

"Who?"

"I got an unexpected visit from your aunt this morning."

Shelby perked up. "Aun' Becca?"

"No, your other aunt," he corrected her. "My sister. You met her once when she came to your birthday party a couple years ago."

"Oh," she said in her usual way whenever Shelby used the word. "Jess moved back with her for a month when his dad had to kick him out." As soon as the words left her mouth, she froze in horror. Her body locked as her eyes enlarged.

Shelby quickly dropped her head towards the floor, squeezing her eyes shut.

It had caught Luke off guard a little. He knew the cousins talked, sure, but Liz mentioned her contact with Jess was only one letter. So she lied to him. Apparently, he was the only one left out of the loop.

Shelby's chest was heaving faster than normal, which Luke quickly pulled her in, reassuring it was okay. By her reaction to blurting out where Jess had been the past year, Luke assumed Jess told her not to mention it to him despite his guilt from Shelby getting in trouble.

Luke helped ease her anxiety when Shelby grabbed onto him.

It took a few minutes before Shelby could breathe normally and speak again. "It w-wasn' a secre' or anything," she admitted once she pulled away.

Luke rubbed an affectionate hand around her arm. "But unless I asked, Jess said not to mention it?" he assumed.

She nodded, ashamed.

"As much I don't want to encourage lying, how about, if Jess asks, we'll pretend like I did? Okay?" A little white lie now and then never hurt nobody.

She nodded again. "Okay."

Letting her know, they'll talk more about this later, Luke told her to go finish playing with Kirk while he helped the lady with her car so she could be on her way. He gave Shelby one last hug before rising.

The lady's car only needed a quick fix, so Luke had it up and running in under an hour. He assured she didn't need to pay him, just a friendly gesture, and sent her on her way.

Lately, with Shelby going back and forth between homes these last few months, Rachel had made sure she had enough clothes and a toothbrush at her house so Shelby didn't need to keep packing an overnight bag every time. Luke still made sure she had everything with her she was taking since Shelby would be gone for most of her spring break.

It was unfortunate the charter school was having their spring break sooner than Stars Hollow and thus ruined the original plan for Shelby to finally meet her uncle Ralph and her youngest cousin, Katie. Rachel tried to reschedule, but Ralph's family was swamped with other plans during the week of Shelby's new spring break. Though, a headache was brought on when he tried to insist on them coming over the summer when the rest of their family comes for a visit.

Like Rebecca, Ralph also preferred to keep the peace and let their parents be who they are so they could have a relationship with his daughter. It was their oldest brother, Russell, who not only looked like Lloyd, but had a similar personality, as well, who thought Rachel was being completely immature and selfish to keep her kid away. All four siblings could agree on one thing, at least. They were glad Russell did not have any kids of his own, who had been career-focused since college and was now a CEO for a company in Cranston, Rhode Island. Lloyd never said it out loud, but it was clear Russell was his favorite pride and joy.

Luke never liked Russell, especially whenever he snitched on his sister whenever the two hung out as kids. Being eight years older, Russell also was put in charge of his younger siblings when Rebecca had to work and made sure the rules were enforced when their parents weren't around. Despite the huge age gap, Luke still picked a fight or two with the guy as a little kid, when he felt Russell was plainly being a bully and had punched him hard on a few occasions. Since it was self-defense, William never punished his son, which only pissed Lloyd off more. Though, Rachel never needed Luke's help since she had always stood up to her brother, even when she was little. It was still the thought that counted.

So, Shelby meeting her uncle and little cousin had to be put on hold for another year. At least she could somewhat communicate over the phone, even though she wasn't up to speaking to them quite yet.

While waiting for Rachel, Shelby helped out some more with clearing tables and wiping them down. It wasn't until around seven that evening when she finally arrived, having been busy with work-related stuff and lost track of time.

"Sorry, peanut," she apologized to Shelby right away.

Shelby of course reassured it was okay.

"Shelby was telling me about your new plans going camping up north," Luke mentioned, making conversation.

"Yeah, Roger and I found this great, new spot up in North Grosvenor Dale last year and figured we'd take Shelby to see it." Rachel switched from him to Shelby with a smile. "Ready to go, peanut?"

"Yeah." Shelby hurried over to grab her jacket and scarf since it was still cold out. While she was doing so, one of the police officers came in, greeting the kid as he made his way over to Luke.

"Luke."

"Oh, hey, Coop," he greeted the officer.

Cooper leaned on one of the stools. "Good news, found the car."

"Good. Who would steal that thing?" Luke questioned. "It's just a hunk of junk." He caught a glaring look from his little buddy. "I mean that in the nicest way possible, Shell."

Shelby still did not look convinced. But even Jess would admit it wasn't the best car in the world. Though, Rachel thought they were referring to his truck, which Shelby softly told her Jess' car was stolen.

"It broke down on the expressway a few hours ago," Cooper explained while Shelby was filling her mom in. "The guy was in it."

Luke dropped his hands, holding his order slips, on the counter when he heard the thief was caught. "You got the guy?"

"Yeah, but there's not a lot we can do," he admitted. "The guy's the owner."

Shelby's head shot up from her mom towards the officer.

"What do you mean? I'm the owner," Luke tried to insist.

"Well, not according to the registration," Cooper dropped a piece of paper on the counter between them. "It's registered to a…"

"Jess Mariano," Luke finished for him, his suspensions true after all. In all honesty, there weren't really any doubts to begin with.

"Yep, says you're his uncle." About that time, a tow truck was pulling up from around the corner.

Luke walked around the counter, folding his arms across his chest.

"Registration's long expired, too," Cooper called back over his shoulder at him, "needs seeing to. But I just figured, since this seems like a family matter, I'd bring the car and the kid back to you."

Luke looked from the tow truck, over towards the cop car parked out front just as another officer was letting his nephew out of the back seat. "Yeah, family matter," he muttered out loud, catching Rachel breathe through her nose.

He noticed Shelby standing there, watching the scene play out. Her entire body had turned to face the window the moment she had seen Jess. Tears appeared in her eyes when his gaze diverted from his uncle and caught her looking at him.

In an instant, Shelby bolted from her spot and plowed through the door, shoving it open so hard Luke thought the window nearby would shatter from the impact. She sprinted all the way until she basically tackled her cousin like a linebacker trying to take out the quarterback, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Jess caught himself from falling backwards. "Watch it, Scout!" Luke heard Jess snap at her in an irritated tone. But he didn't push her away. Instead, Jess slowly gave in and wrapped his arms around the kid's head. He let her hug him for as long as she wanted to.

Shelby clung tight as if she would never let go, burying her face against his leather jacket.

The adults shortly joined the cousins, including Rachel, who did not look comfortable Jess was back.

"Let's go, peanut," she tried to hurry Shelby along while watching the ground. "Roger was just about finished with dinner when I left."

Shelby continued to cling to her cousin.

"Go on, Scout," Jess softly encouraged her. "I'll talk to ya later. Okay?"

Cooper finished up with Luke when the tow truck parked Jess' car across the street, reminding him about the expired registration and left the family in peace, which Jess sarcastically thanked Cooper when Luke sincerely thanked him.

Luke also tried to encourage Shelby to leave with Rachel so he and Jess can "discuss" things.

With everyone else gone, Shelby could speak again. She finally pulled away from her cousin to inform her dad, "Bu' I missed Jess."

"I won't be staying long," Jess tried to assure her. "Go."

Shelby looked up at him, immobilized in her spot, giving her cousin that puppy dog look that made him squirm. Jess continued to persuade her to go. She looked between her cousin and her dad.

Luke still had his arms folded. "Go on, Shell," he also continued to encourage her.

But Shelby remained rooted to the spot. After a few seconds, she shook her head. "I don't want to go anymore."

"Peanut, we made plans," Rachel said. "Everything's just about packed and ready to go. Korina is coming tomorrow to stay with the boys and Gexie." The weight of that pressure only added to Shelby's anxiety.

"Go, Scout," Jess pressed firmly. He met eyes with Rachel, holding his hands in the pockets of his jacket. She wasn't glaring at him, nor did it seem like she wanted to murder him or anything like that. Just uncomfortable. It was more of a neutral I'm putting up with you for Shelby's sake expression.

Shelby turned back to her cousin. She forced a look at all of them, actually.

Luke started to unfold his arms to kneel to her level when, to his surprise, Jess beat him to it.

"Look at me, Scout," he told her, firmly.

She lifted her gaze from the sidewalk to look at him.

"I don't plan on staying in this place any longer than I have to. I'm just here to retrieve what's mine and then get as far away as I can. So go with your mom, okay."

Shelby began chewing on her lip. Her eyes were watering once more.

"It was awesome to see ya again, Scout." Jess playfully hit her in the stomach. He also told her to zip up her jacket before she caught cold like she did the previous year. Hearing the concern Jess had for his cousin softened Luke's heart and had to stifle a smirk to hold his serious demeanor.

That time, Shelby listened, but only to zip up her jacket.

Jess stood up again and tried to nudge her by the head towards Rachel. But Shelby still refused to leave. "Go," he insisted. "Before I kick your ass."

"Jess," Luke spoke up that time. To his little buddy, he kept the same firmness and insisted Shelby go with her mom.

Shelby shook her head at her dad.

"Shelby," he warned her.

"No," she finally said. "I wan' to 'tay with you then."

"You were looking forward to our camping trip," Rachel tried to point out.

Shelby glanced over at her mom but quickly dropped her gaze towards the cement, muttering something under her breath about everyone telling her to speak up for herself.

Luke tried once more to be firm, this time using the threat of taking away her video games when Rachel interrupted him.

To Jess, she asked, "How long do you plan on being in town?"

He shrugged. "However long it takes to get my car fixed."

She shrugged at him to humor her. "A guess estimate?"

"I don't know of any twenty-four-hour auto shops around here, so probably sometime tomorrow," he replied sarcastically.

Rachel paused as if she was mulling things over in her head. Almost a minute gone by before she told Shelby, she and Roger would pick her up early Sunday morning on the way to the campgrounds.

Shelby thanked her mom, giving her a hug before Rachel headed for her jeep.

Luke felt he should stay something, but just watched Rachel walk away with her own arms lightly folded in front of her. He was impressed she was letting Shelby stay. He would say willingly, but that was probably an understatement.

Jess got his attention once again when he threatened Shelby, "I should kick your ass for that."

Shelby responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

He raised his eyebrows at her, trying his best to remain firm with his cousin.

Clearing his throat, Luke broke up the "sibling rivalry." If one could call it that. "Well, look who's back."

"As I said before, I'm just here to retrieve my property," Jess responded, passive aggressive towards him.

Luke responded with his own passive aggression. "You got a lot of nerve."

"You got a lot of nerve," he shot right back.

"How so?"

"You stole my car," Jess said and pointed at him. "Coop should have arrested you. Why didn't he arrest you?"

"Free doughnuts."

Waving the same hand, he sarcastically muttered, "Beautiful," turning away in annoyance.

Luke rolled his eyes. With a shrug, he asked, "So you got anything you want to say?"

Glancing across the street at his car, he responded, "You could have washed it once in a while?"

"I would have," Shelby piped up, innocently. Losing some confidence, she added about not knowing until today.

It got a small smirk from Jess, at least.

"Okay, fine," Luke eventually gave up hoping for a thank-you. "The car is yours. Our business here is done. Hasta la vista. Have a nice life." He started to turn around to head back inside the diner since it was still freezing out and Luke hadn't grabbed a jacket on the way out.

Jess continued. "Our business is not done. My car is wrecked because of you."

"Oh, yeah?" Luke said mockingly.

He started listing off everything wrong with the car since it had been sitting in a garage for an entire year without being driven or cared for, including how people were ducking while he was driving by until the car stalled for good. Luke joked about looking in the yellow pages for Mr. Goodwrench, which Jess insisted he was paying for the repairs. Jess also mentioned having to pay a fine for the expired registration until Luke changed the subject.

"So I guess things didn't work out with your dad, huh?"

"It worked out just fine," Jess stubbornly said.

"So what are you doing back east, buddy?" he asked sarcastically. "Still searching?"

"Been traveling."

"Well, thanks for all the swell cards and letters you sent me while you were away."

"You kicked me out," Jess argued. "What were you expecting? A candy gram?"

"I didn't kick you out, you got yourself kicked out," Luke corrected him.

"Nice spin," Jess circled his finger in the air and pointed at him, "you should work for Bush."

"So, what did you get out of this Kerouac trip of yours? You write the great American novel? You learned to play the harmonica?"

Jess stared over at him. "What do you care? You're not my guardian anymore."

"And I bless every day that I'm not."

Shelby had been volleying her head back and forth, listening to the guys bicker like an old married couple. She stopped at her dad. "Bu' you said you missed him, too," she reminded him.

Luke closed his eyes. This was one of the reasons he wanted Shelby to leave with Rachel.

"Yeah, I'm sure he was bluffing, Scout," Jess scoffed. "When you're not good at something, it's best to just cut and run."

He didn't speak up and correct his nephew either. Instead, his pride responded with more sarcasm. "Oh, sorry I tried to give ya a decent life, Jess. Sorry I didn't think driving a forklift for the rest of your life was good enough for ya."

Jess fully faced his uncle as he snapped, "Oh, that is condescending, isn't it? I thought you were a friend of the working man?"

Luke shook his head at the ground. "Oh, that sister of mine. What a prize. What a prize."

"What does she have to do with any of this?" he asked, shaking his own head as he pulled his hands out to shrug them.

"I tell her about the car, she runs and tells you. That's what happened, right? And her claiming she had no contact."

Jess raised his voice to firmly press how the car was his. "Liz was doing the right thing. That's what family does."

"Family?" Luke questioned as he stared at his nephew. "What a joke coming from you."

Jess scoffed at him.

Before he could say anything else, Shelby stepped in. "'top fighting and say you're sorry, Dad."

Luke looked down at his little buddy, who stared firmly back at him as if she was the parent.

"I'm waiting." Like the activity Lauren made them do during one of the sessions last fall, Shelby mimicked him by folding her arms across her chest and gave Luke a look as if to intimidate him into apologizing to Jess. But because of his dumb pride, Luke told Jess if he was staying in town for a day, to stay away from Rory before going back inside while Jess stormed away towards his car to sleep in the back seat, leaving Shelby standing there on the sidewalk, alone.

Eventually, Shelby followed Luke inside, but headed straight upstairs, returning shortly with the comforter from Jess' bunk and took it outside. He watched her look both ways before hurrying across the street to knock on the window. Jess took the comforter, at least. Shelby tried to talk more, but Luke saw him point towards the diner.

Reluctantly, Shelby headed back inside.

Luke offered to fix her something to eat.

"Can you make Jess something too?" she asked, using her puppy dog look on him.

With a quick sigh, he agreed and headed to the kitchen. But not before planting a kiss on top of her head.

Shelby took the plate of food out to Jess before coming back in to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich since she had eaten a very late lunch.

Eventually, it got late enough for Luke to close. He sent Caesar and the rest home so he could clean up and get the place ready for the next day. Shelby helped but couldn't help get distracted looking out the window to check on her cousin like a mother hen. That is, until she saw Lorelai. Then she suddenly booked it upstairs. What was that all about? He thought.

His thoughts were interrupted by Lorelai knocking on the door and went over to let her in.

"Are you aware of who's out there?" she asked of him once Lorelai was inside.

"Yeah, I'm aware," he said and began putting all the chairs up onto the tables.

"That he's sleeping in his car?"

"Yeah."

"It's about thirty-five degrees."

"He's a tough guy," Luke stubbornly pushed. "He can take it."

"Luke, why is he back here?"

"Cause I'm stupid," he replied irritably.

"Meaning?"

"Well, his mom showed up." Luke moved on to the next table. "For what reason, I don't know. Still waiting for that shoe to drop." he lifted one of the chairs onto the table. "I mention Jess' car, then boom, there's Jess." Luke pointed behind him across the street.

"I thought she looked familiar," Lorelai noted. "She came to Shelby's party, right? Got her the princess stuff?"

"Yep, that's her, in all her glory," he answered with sarcasm.

"Quite a day you've had."

"Oh, you don't even know. The last two days have been delightful, in fact. I think Bobby McFerrin's gonna write one of those happy boo-boop-dee-doo songs of his about this." Luke turned to move on to the next chair. "I mean, she lied to me about having contact with Jess, so she's lying about everything else."

"But why is he sleeping in his car?" she asked, pointing a hand behind her.

"Because he's gonna wait to have it fixed," he answered. "It's a point of pride with the little punk." Luke then quickly insisted not to tell Rory since he'll be gone the next day. It was bad enough Shelby had to be here to witness Jess' return. At least he could hopefully spare Rory.

Lorelai turned back to point out Rory had already seen him.

Luke was not happy to hear she too knew Jess was back. He tried to insist Jess wouldn't go near her, but Lorelai reassured it wasn't necessary.

"What a lie it all is," he stated out loud to himself, finally letting out his frustrations.

Lorelai made the mistake of asking, "All what is?"

"Families. They're just… Messes." He tried to get all his jumbled thoughts out into words. "I-it's like spilled drink that keeps spilling and-and you gotta keep cleaning it up. Y-you scrub and you scrub, and you can't get the stain up all the while you're trying to deal with a-a boiling pot on the stove that's gonna burn."

Luke took a deep breath. "Show me a happy family," he raised a finger. "Just... just one. I mean, didn't that Toltoy guy say something about families?"

"Probably."

"It's a famous thing he said. It's like, 'all families are unhappy.' Or," he tried to remember what he heard, "'happy on the surface,' or 'unhappy in the same way.' I don't know."

"Sounds a little incomplete."

Well, maybe he couldn't complete the thought 'cause he was dealing with his stinking family."

"Does the Hallmark people know about you?" Lorelai tried to be lighthearted for him. "'Cause you're a natural."

Luke wasn't in a very lighthearted mood. "God, I am tired of cleaning up messes!" he exclaimed in defeat. "I'm tired of helping people who do nothing to help themselves when I'm trying to take care of my own kid."

"I'm sorry you're so upset," Lorelai told him with sympathy. "I just don't want you to have to deal with a frozen carcass in the morning."

Luke leaned a hand against the counter. "He'll be fine," he reassured her.

"Okay." She started to leave but told him to try and get some rest and to avoid any family TV shows.

This time, now calmed down a little, Luke felt himself laugh. He assured her he would. Before she left, however, Luke couldn't help ask with curiosity if she knew why Shelby had booked it upstairs when she saw her.

"Yeah, about that. Shelby called me the other day from Rachel's phone since we haven't really seen much of each other since you moved and she missed me. When we were about to end the call, Shelby blurted out she loved me and I guess she panicked." Lorelai shrugged. "She then hung up before I could say anything."

Luke gave the woman a confused look. "But she does love ya. That kid loves everyone," he also said with a shrug.

"Yes, but she never said it out loud before and it caught me off guard. I wasn't upset, but I hadn't heard from her since. You mind if I…?" She pointed towards the apartment.

"Sure." Luke let her head up there and check on Shelby while he finished the tear-down.

Lorelai ended up being up there longer than he expected, but when she returned, assured everything was alright again. She made sure to remind him about getting some rest before taking off to head home.

Some time later, Shelby returned just as he was about done.

"Ready to go, kiddo?" Luke had been planning on sleeping upstairs again since Shelby would be over at her mom's. Plans had to change, though. For more reasons than one.

Shelby nodded. She then headed over to check on her cousin, staring through the window one last time.

Luke turned off the lights and went over to join his little buddy. He wrapped a hand around her front, holding her against him as he breathed in and out through his nose.

"Come on, kiddo." They got their jackets and scarves to head out to the truck. On the way, Luke went over to gently but firmly pound on the window to wake Jess and let him know they were headed to their other place and the extra key was still in the same hiding place.

Jess acted like he didn't care and would still sleep in his car, but when Luke drove around the block, he saw the guy unlocking the door and heading inside.

Luke swallowed as he watched the scene until he felt a comforting hand on his arm and looked over at his little buddy. Taking a hold of it, he held a kiss as a thank-you.

At least, one of his family was grateful.

Author's Note:

I'm sorry if the last few chapters have been annoying, but I promise we're almost through this storm. Please be patient.