I hope you like my one shot about TJ and being in Escrow! Reviews are always welcome

TJ walks up to the diner all excited but also very annoying to Luke and says, "Luke I'm in ESSCCROOOWW! It's that exciting. Free coffee for everyone."

Luke was pissed, "No! You want to buy everyone coffee you pay for it."

"Come on Luke it's just coffee. You can afford it and we are celebrating."

Luke was pissed and replied,"You have no idea if I can afford it or not. You never have asked me. You have just made assumptions. If you want to celebrate and give away coffee you are going to have to pay for it. You will not come into my business and start making assumptions. I won't allow you to. Now there are 15 people in here and coffee is $1.30 a cup. You owe me $20."

TJ replied, "Come on Luke we are celebrating. You actually want me to pay for the coffee. But we are family."

Luke replied, "You are married to my sister. I have already had to leave my business for 8 weeks to take care of the two of you when you were hurt at the renaissance fair. That was more money that I lost. I had to pay my staff overtime that I could ill afford because you all needed me. I can not afford to keep putting out money for you and my sister and never getting it back. Now if you want to pay for these people's coffee that's great but I will not be paying for it. It will not be coming out of my pocket. And furthermore this crap that you think you can run roughshod over me is done. I am done. Now pay up and leave," said Luke.

"Ok. Here's $20. I never knew how you felt. I thought you loved us and that you came up and helped us willingly. Don't you love me Luke."

"Get out of my place TJ. Just leave, " Said Luke

TJ left and went to find Liz. He had no idea that Luke felt that way about him. He thought he was a likeable, lovable person. Once TJ explained it all to Liz she was gobsmacked as well. She couldn't understand that Luke felt that way. They waited till after the dinner rush and went back to the diner.

"What the hell do you want now TJ. I asked you to leave earlier and I am asking you to leave again now. I am tired. It has been a long day," Said Luke.

Liz spoke first and said, "TJ came to find me after he left you this afternoon. He was upset as he thought you came up and spent the time to help us when we got hurt out of the kindness of your heart. We were wrong that we never asked you if you could afford to do it."

Luke replied, "No you didn't. You just kept saying Family helps family and you and TJ dragged it out day after day so I should feel sorry for you. I was only supposed to stay a week and you all made me feel so guilty that I would even think of leaving you that I stayed longer than I should or could. But you all didn't care. Yes you may have hurt your leg TJ and you may have hurt your wrist Liz but you all could have taken care of your booth without me or hired someone but no Luke is here and he will drop everything to help cause he's my brother. You all dragged it out much longer than was necessary. Well no more. That stupid stint on the stupid rennaissance circut cost me a lot of money. Money I didn't have that I still had to pay. It cost me time with my girlfriend and lots of other responsibilities too. But you didn't care about them at all. I owe Cesar and Lane and John a lot for taking care of my business while I had to take care of your stupid little jewelry business. Now I am not asking for you to pay my bills. God knows you have never paid back any of the money I have loaned you over the years Liz. Yes I believe they all were loans and not handouts as you alway told me you would pay me back but never have. And it was a lot of money. But I am done. I am done being the all around good guy that should just do everything for you Liz. I may have promised dad that I would look after you but you have taken that too far one too many times. Did you offer me any help financially when you sent Jess here? I didn't even want him but you made me feel bad but did you offer to pay for anything for his care? No, you didn't. You just assumed that again I had the financial ability to take care of it. And that I should want to fix your messes once more. Well I am done. I no longer wish to fix your messes. I no longer care. Now if you force the issue I will ask for all the money you owe me back. I would like you all to leave now."

TJ spoke and said, "I'm sorry. I guess I thought it was a chance to get to know you while you were there. I knew you were miserable at the fair but I thought that if you stayed you would enjoy yourself. Everyone loves a renaissance faire."

Luke, now angry, said, "No not everyone loves the fair. I should Enjoy myself. Really. I hated the fucking faire. Every goddamn minute of it. I will never go to another one or near another one again. And do you think I liked being yelled at by you to stay in character or to push the pewter? I couldn't even answer a damn phone call without you both being up in my business. It was bad enough I was away from my business but to be yelled at by you was inexcusable. It was too much. I hated being there but I felt bad that you were hurt. But you could have done more than you did. You could have helped out more and then I could have gone back home and away from that god awful place but no you kept playing up your act and so I stayed. I should have just left you there. I should enjoy spending time with you. Really. No, I don't enjoy spending time with you. I don't have anything in common with you TJ besides Liz. That's it and honestly that's not enough for me. And no I don't want to spend more time trying to get to know you. I don't really care if we have a relationship or not."

Liz spoke and said, "We were wrong on so many levels. I knew you hated it at the faire. We saw how miserable you were and we took advantage of your kindness. I didn't even think that maybe you couldn't afford to help us. That was wrong of us. I guess I have always assumed that you had the money to help me and that you wanted to. Do you know how much money I owe you? Have you kept a total?"

Luke replied, "Yes, I have a total. I have been keeping the records of it in case I ever needed it for tax purposes or to sue you for it. Why? Are you actually going to try to pay it back? Wanted to help you, no more like I felt forced as I promised dad."

Liz replied, "I would like to know what that total amount is. I know I can't pay it all back at once but I would like to try. I need to try if we are ever going to be able to get past this. I need to show you that I have changed and am not always looking for a handout. TJ was wrong to come into your business today and ask you again to give us or anyone something and not pay for it. It's well past the time for you to continue to take care of me."

Luke replied, "Wait here. I will be right back."

Luke went up to the apartment and got his folder. He knew it was a lost cause as Liz was going to freak when she saw how much money it was but he wanted to show her how much he had given up for her.

Luke then said, "Ok here is the paper that itemizes the money I lent you. To date it is $72,891. Here is the piece of paper of the overtime and extra money I had to put out for when I was at your business instead of mine. That equals $15,268. And here is the paper that says what I had to put out when Jess came to live with me. Including all the clothes I had to buy him as what you sent was 3 sizes too small. That was $5,692.

So $72,891 plus $15,268 plus $5,692 equals $93,851."

Liz was shocked. "Holy crap. That's a lot of money. Did I really borrow 72k from you over the years? I see it written here but that seems like a lot. But then I was asking you all the time. I just assumed that the money you were giving me was my share from dad and mom's estate."

Luke replied, "There was no money in the estate. The house had 2 mortgages on it and was sold to pay dad's medical bills. After the mortgages, back taxes and real estate fees were paid off there was a profit of $30,000 which I used to pay a portion of dad's medical bills. This place had a large $100,000 mortgage on it that I was able to refinance using my savings and used the proceeds to pay off the rest of dad's medical bills. Dad's bills were $257,000. I was able to cut a deal with the hospital to pay $150,000 of the bill and they would write off the rest. This place was only worth $140,000. How Dad got such a big mortgage I will never know. Why do you think I moved upstairs? I couldn't afford anything else. But you never asked and you didn't care. It was just coming to you, right? It took me 5 years to pay off all the medical bills. Why do you think I kept dad's truck and sold mine? I'll tell you why, mine was worth something and dad's wasn't. I used the proceeds from the sale of my truck to retrofit this place into a diner. Any savings I had I gave to you or used to pay dad's bills. But that's spilled milk now. You don't care. You never cared. So why should I continue to help both of you now?"

Liz replied, " I never knew that things were so bad. Dad never talked about money so I thought that things were ok. Seeing all of this and what you have just told me I guess things really weren't. I never realized that the money you were giving me was your savings. Now I really am a bad sister. I really have taken advantage. Well no more. I am not sure how we are going to pay this back and it may take the rest of my life but I will be paying you back for all of it."

Luke replied, "I am not going to hold my breath that you will actually pay me back but I am going to say that the gravy train is over. No, I don't want a relationship with you TJ. I will not change my mind on this. No, I don't want to need you to help me on a project. I want nothing to do with you. I'm done. Keep my sister happy and keep away from me. Yes, I mean everything I have said. Now I am going to ask you both to leave and I am going to finish cleaning up for the night. It has been a long day and I am tired."

Luke collected back his papers and went and opened the door to the diner. Liz and TJ reluctantly left the diner. Probably both in shock. Luke quickly cleaned up the diner and went upstairs to call Lorelai.

"Hey sweetheart. Could I ask a favor. Do you think you could stay here tonight? I really don't want to be alone but it's been a long day. I can explain more when you get her."

"Luke, That's no problem. I'm on my way."

Lorelai knew something must have happened. Luke rarely asked her to come stay at his place. He usually willingly went to hers. Since they got together they rarely spent the night apart. When Lorelai got there Luke explained everything that happened tonight with Liz and TJ. Even she was surprised with how much money Luke had put out for them. They sat and talked about it all. When they got ready for bed Lorelai found herself holding him tightly stroking his hair almost like a mom would do to comfort her kid. It had been an emotional evening for Luke and he was grateful for the comfort and support that Lorelai was giving him. He knew that she would always be there for him.

True to her word Liz started giving Luke a hundred dollars every week. It may take the rest of her life but she wanted and needed to pay Luke back. He had done so much for her over the years. Even with her paying the money back they never were able to regain any type of real relationship. It was too far destroyed with everything that had happened.