A/N: I learnt so much more about sharks because of this chapter. Haha.

Thanks snowbeardolphin for your review! You know the good thing about writing stories is that, you have to research on certain things, and so far, I've learnt much more about baseball and sharks because of this story. Had a lot of fun! Hope you like this chapter and tell me what you think!

Anon1, thank you for your review again! I know right! This is by far the longest story I have ever written, in terms of how many words are in one chapter. Hope you like this chapter, too!

Just-Write621, thanks for your review again! So glad you laughed. I was on the bus when I thought of that scene, I was laughing internally as well. I could totally picture Luke's 'what?' face ;p Hope you like this chapter as well!

Guest, thanks for the review, definitely Luke and Jess deserves more screen time on the tv show. I won't spoil the story for you, but then I mean, Luke had pushed Jess into the water once and smacked the back of his head once for arguing with him about getting out for about an hour, so there's a great chance, Luke would be pushed to the limit in this story too. But I also know, Luke is only tough on the outside and a total softie on the inside :) We'll see how it goes~ Hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 8: Beastie Boys, Pizza, 'Lucas'

Jess, who was pointing at the far end of the clear glass of the first aquarium exhibit, pulled his Uncle's hand to walk at a faster pace and said, ' Look! It's a shortfin macco shark! Uncle Luke can you please walk faster!' Jess was so excited. This was his first time seeing actual sea animals out of television. Luke shook his head in disbelief. Jess was never a very hyper kid. This was the first time seeing him this excited about things except for books and occasionally a neck to neck baseball game. Luke stopped Jess from pulling him and Rory to walk faster and gathered the two kids in front of him before he kneeled down and talked to them at the same eye level.

'Okay, let's get the rules out before we go crazy. This is especially for you Jess, because I know how fast you can run.' Luke said. The two kids looked Luke in the eyes, impatiently waiting for him to lay the rules out.

'Okay so first off, no running. I don't want you guys to get hurt, or hurt someone accidentally by running around. I don't want you two to get lost, you can at most stay 2 feet away from me, but no further. This is an aquarium not a playground okay?' The two nodded and thought Luke was done and immediately turned around ready to walk towards the sight. 'Nope, I'm not done, guys.' Luke grabbed their hands, stopping them from leaving, 'this is for you Jess, listen, you only have three warnings, after three warnings, you'll have to say goodbye to the bike, understand?'

'Ok! Ok! No running and stick to you like glue. Now can we go see the sharks please?' replied Jess impatiently.

Luke sighed with a slim smile showed on his face, he's so glad that he made Jess this excited and nodded while letting Rory and Jess pulled both his arms to 'walk' at a faster pace towards the sharks.

Jess stuck his whole face to the glass, mesmerised by the mako shark who was swimming towards him. Rory on the other hand was trying to read the information board on shortfin mako shark while Luke was standing next to Jess looking at the fish swimming around.

'Did you know that mako sharks are actually cousins to great white sharks?' Rory asked the two guys while gluing her eyes to the texts.

'Yea of course I know, and do you know if shortfin mako sharks are human, they will actually make it to any little league baseball teams?' replied Jess, still gluing his eyes to the shark.

'Huh, how so?' Luke curiously asked.

'Because they can reach a speed of 60 mph.' Jess answered while jogging to the far left side of the glass when he spotted another type of shark. Luke and Rory followed.

Luke looked at the shark Jess was pointing at; finally a shark that he knows, 'oh, that's a hammerhead shark.' Said Luke, quite proud of himself.

'Luke, to be exact, it's a great hammerhead shark.' Rory added, 'there's great hammerhead shark, hammerhead shark and scalloped hammerhead shark and this one is a great hammerhead shark.'

Jess nodded approving that Rory was right. He then added, 'you can tell it's a great hammerhead shark because of the shape of its hammer, it's very different from other hammerhead shark species.'

Luke was really focused on the information that these two little 8 years old were telling him. Jess might be a handful sometimes, but Luke was so proud of his nephew, although he hated school, he loved reading books. He's smart for his age. Luke considered Jess to be the one and only bright one in the Danes family. That's what he tells everyone when they ask what's Jess like, but he never tells Jess that he's very proud of him.

After ten minutes, Luke and Rory finally convinced Jess to leave the sharks and walked towards another spot.

'Hey, now this, guys, I'm the expert on this.' Luke said while nodding his head with a smirk on his face.

'Uncle Luke, just because you make the greatest tuna melt sandwich, doesn't make you an expert of tuna fish.' Jess said while trying to refrain himself from rolling his eyes, Luke has lectured him lots of time about this disrespectful act.

'Jess, I'm serious. I know a lot of about tuna fish!' Luke claimed, sounding like a child suddenly when Jess didn't believe he actually knows his tuna fishes. 'Whatever you say Uncle Luke,' Jess sighed while focusing on these marvellous fish speeding their way from one side to another.

'Can't believe they put Bluefin tuna here.' Luke chuckled while shaking his head.

'Why are you surprised, Luke?' asked Rory.

'Well, you see, Bluefin tuna is the most expensive kind of tuna, a lot of fisherman focus on catching this tuna and sell it to people in a high cost, mostly to make great fat delicious Bluefin tuna sashimi.'

Jess nodded again, 'Luke's right, I saw it on TV, there's a show where they catch Bluefin tuna as a competition. They sure look delicious.'

A 4 year old kid standing beside Jess, heard that and looked at him terrifyingly. Luke nodded in agreement, still looking at the Bluefin tuna, he liked sushi.

'Yea, slices and slices of thin fresh red tuna meat dip into soy sauce and wasabi…' The 4 year old kid ran away to find his mother.

'Oishi!' Rory added which caused Jess and Luke to be laughing. After visiting a few more different kinds of sea animals, the trio stopped by at a little crowd who were listening to the staff talking about starfish next to the open glass tank of starfish. Jess and Rory let go of Luke's hand and almost dashed to the tank of starfishes just before they remember the rules. So the two kids walk as fast as they could while Luke followed them from behind.

The three were standing right in front of the starfishes, Jess and Rory were just at the height, tall enough to reach the top of the open tank. Jess turned his head back and saw Luke was focused on what the instructor was saying about starfishes, he slowly snuck his hand into the tank, trying to touch one of the starfish. Luke was quick enough to stop the boy from putting his hands into the water, he smacked Jess's hand lightly but sharply, causing Jess to turn his head back instantly to look at his uncle innocently.

'First warning,' Luke cautioned while pointing his finger at his nephew.

'But you didn't say anything about no touching starfish!' Jess argued, trying to get his uncle to take back the first warning. Luke pointed at the no touching sign above the tank, 'read the sign, Jess.'

Jess looked at the sign and sighed, 'fine.'

After the starfish, the three saw octopi, seahorses which were apparently Rory's favourite sea animal, penguins and then they watched the ocean theatre show of seals, dolphins and killer whales doing amazing tricks. The three had a really good time. It was near the end when they stopped by at the souvenir store.

Luke was following the kids, showing no interest in any of the souvenirs as they headed to the stuffed animal area.

'Jess! Look at this dolphin! I'm gonna name her Dolly!' Rory said excitedly while grabbing the pink dolphin and hugging it.

'That's not a cool name, Rory,' said Jess while picking a stuffed animal that he likes.

'Well, it's a cute name for a cute dolphin,' Rory explained.

'Ahh, look at this Rory! He looks just like Max the killer whale we just saw!' said Jess while picking the stuffed animal up. 'I'll name him Lucas!' Jess smirked evily, making eye contact with Luke who was behind him and Rory.

'No, you're not naming anything after my name.' Luke said.

'Lukey?'

'No.'

'Luke-Luke?'

'No.'

'Big Boy Luke?'

'No! Why do you have to name him after me?'

'Because since you always get to lecture me, nag me every day, I figured this will be a great way for payback. I can now lecture Luke the killer whale every day before I go to bed,' Jess explained while Rory giggled.

'If you two want me to pay for these two furry things, you better not name it with anything that resembles my name,' Luke said grumpily.

'Fine.' Jess gave up, 'I'll name him Speedy, because he kind of reminds me of a football and when you kick a football, it goes ultrally fast!'

'Whatever, let's pay this.' Luke said, getting his wallet out and heading to the cashier.

After the cashier scanned the whale, Jess took Speedy and walked out the store, waiting for Luke and Rory to get out.

Luke didn't pay much attention to Jess walking out of the store since he was talking to the cashier.

'Rory look!' Jess shouted to tell Rory to watch what he was about to do. This caused Luke and Rory to turn and focus on Jess. He hold Speedy with one hand then dropped it in the air and kicked it with his right leg, as if Speedy was really a football. Speedy went high up in the air and went flying and fell on an old lady's head who was walking by. Jess ran to the old lady,

'I'm so sorry! It was an accident! I'm really sorry ma'am!' Jess said. He knew he was in big trouble, he just hoped this old woman wasn't angry at him. Luke and Rory rushed out the door and ran to where the old woman and Jess were. The old lady smiled and said,

'It's okay young man. Here's your toy. Be careful next time.'

Jess nodded and received Speedy back and turned his way back towards the store. Luke was standing there with his arm crossed across his chest, his face about to explode, breathing heavily.

'JESS MARIANO! GET BACK HERE AT ONCE!' Luke shouted, ignoring the people who were staring at him. Jess walked slowly back to his uncle with his eyes looking at the ground.

Luke held the boy by his arm while holding Rory with his other hand, heading to the ice cream truck. Luke did not say a word, but the two kids knew he was furious. Luke was trying to calm himself down, before he said or did something he would regret later. Right at the long ice cream truck line up, Luke began his yelling.

'Jess, what did I specifically tell you before we entered the aquarium!' Luke shouted at the boy.

'No running…' Jess said quietly, still looking at the floor, one hand holding his killer whale toy and the other hand hiding behind his back.

'And you ran, and you kicked the new toy I just bought you! And you hit an old lady on the head! Why do you never listen!?' Luke shouted again, 'You know what Jess? I'm tired of this! You wanted omelette, I made you omelette! You wanted to go to the aquarium. I brought you to the aquarium! You wanted the toy! I bought you the toy! And I've only asked you to behave yourself for a couple of hours and you can't even do that! I'm tired of you never listening to me! I swear to god I'm gonna send you back to New York!'

Rory was standing next to Luke, looking at poor Jess. Jess was her best friend and it hurt her to see him being yelled at.

'I'm sorry,' Jess apologised quietly, his eyes was getting watery, but Rory was there, he was not going to let the tears roll down.

'I've heard that enough to believe it doesn't mean anything!' Luke still shouting, took a deep breath, 'give me speedy.'

Jess whimpered, 'No, Uncle Luke. I'm really sorry!'

'I'm not repeating myself. Give me speedy.' Luke warned. Jess knew this was not the time to push his uncle further so he handed Speedy to Luke.

'You'll get back Speedy when I think you've improved. Now you go and sit down at that table and wait for me to get ice cream for Rory.'

Jess then looked up at his uncle. He's confused, he thought, only Rory?

'Yes Rory's getting ice cream, you're not. You've been nothing but a trouble maker! Now go sit down before you're going to regret not sitting down.' Luke said in his stern voice.

'But,' Jess tried.

'No buts! Get out of my sight!' Luke growled, pointing his finger to the table. Jess turned away and walked towards the table, big fat tears started rolling down his face once he was not facing his uncle and his best friend. He sat at the table and laid his hands on the table and buried his head on his arms. Luke got Rory the ice cream she wanted with one of the free coupons before heading back to the table.

Rory felt really bad sitting next to Jess, she lost all her appetite for her favourite chocolate with sprinkles ice cream. Even though, Jess was hiding his face, Luke and Rory both knew Jess was sobbing really hard by the motion of his back. Luke calmed down. He knew he said something that really hurt Jess, but at that time, he just couldn't hold back his anger. He felt so bad for shouting like that at Jess and making Rory worry about her best friend.

Luke was sitting opposite Jess and Rory, he softly said, 'Jess, c'mere.'

Jess sobbed even harder now that he heard his uncle's voice and still didn't want to get up and go to his uncle. He knew Rory was sitting beside him and he didn't want Rory to see his crying puffy face. Luke sighed at the sight. He knew he must have broken Jess's heart by saying he was going to send him back to New York. Of course he didn't mean it; he was so angry it just blurted out. Luke walked to Jess' side of the table and gently pulled him out from the chair, carrying him back to his chair. Jess buried his head on Luke's right shoulder and wrapped his arms around his neck and legs around his waist.

'Hey,' Luke said softly, smoothing the boy's back with his left hand. Jess was sobbing harder and harder.

'Jess, I'm sorry for what I said.'

Jess started sobbing with noticeable voice, he gave up on not letting Rory know that he was crying.

' Don't..*sob Don't send me back to New York *sob, Uncle Luke! *Sob'

Luke's heart just melted, he hate himself for causing the boy to be crying this hard.

'I will never, ok, never send you back. I didn't mean to say that. I was so angry that I didn't realize I said that.' Luke stroke the boy's back, kissing him on the back of his head, 'I'm sorry.'

'I'm *sob *sob sorry too.' Jess said with his hiccups in the way, while turning his head to face Luke eye to eye. Luke gave him a tiny smile, wiping the tears off Jess's face with his right hand and then grabbing a napkin from the table and wiped off the mucus Jess has been sniffling from. Luke in a million years would not have thought of himself wiping a child's tears and mucus. He hated kids, but not these two. These two were special to him.

Jess went back to lay his head on Luke's chest while he calm himself down from crying. Luke was still carrying Jess with one hand, while the other hand reached over across the table, and helped Rory wipe off the ice cream spot on her nose.

'Rory, I'm sorry I scared you,' said Luke. Rory gave him a small smile, assuring that she's okay.

'Its okay, Luke. I had a really good time.'

'I'm glad.' Luke smiled. Jess was still laying on Luke's chest like a little puppy. He stopped sobbing and crying. He is now looking at Rory finishing off her ice cream. Luke saw Jess was looking at the ice cream. Jess has been longing to eat ice cream for the whole week, but Luke had him wait until the weekend as he told him a child should not have too much sugar intake in a week. Luke reached in his jeans pocket for the other ice cream coupon. He gently removed Jess's left arm from his shoulder and put the coupon on his little palm.

'Here.' Luke whispered, before giving Jess another kiss on his forehead, 'will you be a good boy from now on?'

Jess had the biggest smile on his face when he saw the coupon, he nodded, he then whispered to Luke's ear, 'I love you, Uncle Luke.' he didn't want Rory to hear what he said.

Although, Rory is his best friend, he still shares a very strong bond with his uncle. Over the month, Luke became his favourite adult, but the two always act like a tough guy. They weren't like Lorelai and Rory, hugging each other when they see each other. Luke won't kiss Jess on the cheeks. When they hug it meant something, it must have been very significant for Luke to show his fatherly affection to Jess. And it must have been very important for Jess to give in to the affection.

Luke whispered back, ' Love you too, kid.'

A/N yup... unbelievable, right? 2900+ words and I still haven't gotten into the afternoon part of the outing! I'm so mad at myself for this, I just kept writing and writing. So sorry guys, there will be a part 4 :( please do tell me what you think of this chapter, I have a love-hate relationship with this chapter. It's just too long, but somehow, I can't help it. Thanks again. Till then, stay tuned!

Does anyone know what is Luke's favourite baseball team? I don't remember if the show has mentioned it at all.. if anyone knows please pm or comment, thanks! it's for one of the future chapter ;)