NOTE: I really wish these Gilmore Girls people belong to me but, sadly, they don't. I will have the power one day, though.
A/N: Well, here it is. The sequel to Play Ball. Some of you might not know of that story so you'll just have to go read it and enjoy. Now on with this oh, so lovely sequel.
CHAPTER 2
The last of the customers had cleared out of Luke's diner. Luke stood over the cash register, adding up the day's profits. As he was wiping off the sticky counter, the bell above his door sounded.
"We're closed," Luke announced in his usual gruff voice, without even looking up.
"Hello to you, too, Unc." Luke glanced up, meeting with Jess's brown eyes.
"Jess?" Luke stepped up to him, his eyes blinking in disbelief.
"That's me," Jess said softly.
"W-what are you doing here?"
"So I guess we're just gonna skip over the whole hugging thing, huh?"
Luke's eyes finally sunk down when he noticed Rosa. "What is that?" Luke asked, his voice filled with stern surprise.
"That is Rosa," Jess replied with a light snap in his tone. "Rosa, meet Luke Baseball Cap Guy; also known as Luke Danes."
Rosa glanced up at Luke shyly. "Uncle Luke?"
Luke looked firmly at Jess. "Uncle Luke?" he repeated the child. "Why is she calling me that? You don't even call me that."
Jess sighed but figured that beating around the bush would prove useless. "Luke, once again, this is Rosa... my daughter."
Luke stood completely still at that moment, a frozen look on his face, as if he were lost in time. Had Jess, his nephew, said that a small, brown haired child was his daughter? It couldn't be. Luke must have heard him wrong.
"You care to repeat that, Jess?" Luke finally said, slowly coming unfrozen.
"You heard me," Jess replied. "This is my daughter."
"What?" Luke stretched the word, nearly shouting. "Y-you... how could you... I... I mean how could this even.... oh, my God."
Jess and Rosa exchanged a look as the man they both considered an uncle continued to stammer. A part of Jess was also amused by it.
Luke, unable to actually think of anything to say, took hold of Jess and started pushing him towards the stairs that would lead up to the apartment.
"Hold it. What are you doing?" Jess asked.
"We gotta talk about this," Luke said, his voice nearly a pant from the shock he had been given.
"Uh, Luke?" Jess gestured towards Rosa. "Forgetting someone?"
"Yeah, and bring the... uh, kid," Luke stumbled.
Jess signaled for Rosa to come towards him. "Come on," he said as she approached him. "Don't let him scare you off now."
Rosa starred up at Luke for a long while, much to the man's annoyance. "What are you staring at, kid?" he finally asked.
"Your eyes are angry," Rosa whispered, still looking at him.
Luke gave the child a bewildered look before turning to Jess. Jess shrugged his shoulders, not really knowing what the child meant by that.
A few minutes later in the upstairs apartment, Jess sat in a chair with Rosa cuddled up next to his feet in a ball, as the child had been tired from the trip. Luke stood with his hand planted against the wall, by the door, a mixture of anger and confusion over his face. He remained silent, though.
"So..." Luke finally turned and looked at Jess. "Let's go over this one more time."
"Fine," Jess sighed, clear annoyance in his voice. "I slept with Shane when I was eighteen."
"You slept with Shane when you were eighteen," Luke repeated, trying to follow along.
"Shane got pregnant."
"Shane got... pregnant."
"I move to LA when I'm twenty four and I find out that a member of my team is my kid. Shane was abusive so I ended up with Rosa."
"You got the kid," Luke clarified. "I... I still don't get this. You slept with a girl who's last name you didn't even bother to catch?"
"Made for TV movie thing, huh?" Jess said, twisting a strand of Rosa's hair around his finger, not making eye contact with Luke.
"Th-this is unreal," Luke stammered. "In fact, none of this is real. I-I had sugar or something and now I'm delusional."
Jess looked up at him. "You eating sugar? That would fall into the category of delusional."
"I still don't get this," Luke said, ignoring his nephew's comment. "This is a kid. A small, cartoon watching, food eating, clothes wearing, kid. Do you know how much kids cost? They crave food and shelter."
"Kids are so weird that way," Jess agreed, shaking his head.
"This isn't funny, Jess."
Jess stood then, careful not to disturb Rosa. "You think I even find this funny? What you're feeling right now, I went through like ten times worse a couple weeks ago when I suddenly found out that I couldn't just sit on my ass and grade homework. No. I have to be responsible for a kid." He sighed. "My kid."
"You—" Luke attempted to wave a finger at him, which proved useless. "How do you expect to pull this off exactly? A single father living in LA? Come on, Jess!"
"We'll make it," Jess insisted, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"Make it? On what exactly?" Luke questioned. "What, your fifty cents an hour teacher's salary. Give me a break, Jess."
"Give me a break," Jess shot back. He softened a little. "Look, Luke, this is the biggest surprise I've ever gotten in my entire life. But there's more than one way to look at it." Jess glanced down at his sleeping little girl. "This kid, she's... she's mine, OK?" Luke followed his words. "Can't you get it?" Luke turned away, scratching his baseball cap covered head, not really knowing what to say. "Luke, I didn't come here for a fight." Jess picked up his jacket, which he had abandoned on the chair. "If you don't want us here then—"
"No," Luke said softly. "You can... I want you to... don't wake up the kid."
Jess nodded, "OK." He lifted Rosa up into his arms, who moaned and rubbed her face against his chest. The moaning increased in a couple of seconds and got louder. "Hey, shush," Jess hushed her gently. "It's OK. Rosa, shush."
Luke turned around to see Jess comforting the child, who's moans seemed to decrease very slowly. Rosa slowly quieted in Jess's arms as he rocked her back and forth.
Luke started to ask, "Why was she—?"
Jess just kept rocking his daughter. "Um, it's a thing she does. She's OK."
Luke nodded yet still looked perplexed.
A/N: More people in Stars Hollow to meet and more fun to come. So please review!