(Follows the series up until April comes in then becomes AU, focused on Luke as a what if he became a father sooner than on the show. Please note, April and her mother do not exist in this AU. There will be dialogue from the show, as well.)
As a reminder, this story/TV show takes place during the 2000s. If you are easily offended/triggered, this may not be the story for you.
Lorelai and Rory had come in for their coffee and breakfast before Lorelai had to head over to the Independence Inn and Rory had to catch the bus for Chilton. Luke was his grouchy self as he took their orders.
The girls snickered as he walked away after Lorelai teased the guy again.
The diner's phone rang as Luke returned behind the counter and handed Caesar the latest order before answering it.
"Luke's."
"Am I speaking with Lucas Danes?" It sounded like a woman.
"Yes."
"Hello, Mister Danes," she greeted, professionally.
"Please, no formals. Luke is fine," he assured her.
"Not a problem," she said.
"So, what can I do for you?"
"Well, my name is Madison Flores. I am with Child Services over in Providence, Rhode Island." It was strange someone from child services was calling him when Luke didn't have any kids. He had a nephew from his sister. They didn't live in Providence, though. Luke looked on at the floor, in confusion.
"I don't have any kids," he told her.
There was a short pause before Madison spoke. "Do you or have you ever known Rachel Hamilton?"
Luke stared at nothing in particular, still in confusion. "Yes...?"
"This never gets any easier and we normally don't do this, this far after the child comes into care. Maybe you should sit down, first."
"I'm fine. Just go on," he urged her, calmly.
"We met Rachel, five years ago, when she released custody and surrendered all rights over to us of her baby girl, Shelby Danes. She wanted Shelby to be adopted to a nice family so we went ahead and put her on the adoption waiting list. Usually, we try and contact other relatives within the first year, not five years later and I am really sorry for not doing so then. But Shelby isn't accepting anyone besides her mentor and she moved cross country to California when she graduated college." The woman must have realized she was rambling and stopped to make sure how Luke was doing. "Are you alright, Luke?"
"Yeah." Luke was stunned. No, he was beyond stunned. What was beyond stunned, Luke didn't have a word for it. "Ra...Rachel was pregnant?" He kept his voice down so no one in the diner could hear.
"Yes. We weren't sure if you knew or not. She just told us it would be better if Shelby was adopted. Well, our office just got a new supervisor and when she found out we never pursued the father, you, she... Well, she insisted we'd get into contact with you as soon as possible. I understand if you don't..." She paused. "...If you don't want any part of this. Shelby's getting to that age where it's harder to adopt. We've tried. One couple even tried for a year."
"Why hasn't she been adopted yet? What's the problem?" Luke quickly added, "don't get me wrong, I'm glad. I want my kid." He heard a sigh of relief. "I'm just curious."
"Shelby's shy, extremely shy. She hides behind or under furniture and refuses to come out and when we force her out, she lashes out which is strange because shy children are so withdrawn, they won't fight back. This kid is just so darn stubborn, though."
Luke couldn't help, chuckle.
She caught it. "What?"
"That's funny. People have said that about me," he admitted.
"She must get it from you then," It sounded like Madison was smiling.
"So, what can I do? Can I come get her?"
"Well, no. There are some things we have to do, first," she explained to him the process and what he needed to do and bring when Luke came up there to Providence. For one, they had to make sure he was the father. Being stubborn, alone, wasn't enough.
When he eventually hung up, Luke stood there still stunned. The guy was a father. A Father! His own offspring. This had to be some kind of dream. Some dream that he would wake up from. But, nope. This was real and the kid's mother was the same woman who just up and took off. His heart felt like it was breaking all over again from the day Rachel had left. She didn't look pregnant so maybe she didn't know. But, she could have also called him up and told him. Why make their daughter go through whatever she did because of him?
Luke hung up the phone, grabbing Lorelai and Rory's food, and took the plates over to them, setting them on the table.
"What happened to our coffee?" Lorelai asked of him.
"Right." Luke headed around the counter to grab the coffee pot, bringing it back to pour for them. "You're not gonna believe this," he admitted, pouring Rory's last.
"What?"
He took a deep breath before answering, keeping his voice down so only they heard. "I have a kid."
Lorelai and Rory exchanged looks with each other.
"You're joking, right?" she forced a snicker.
"No." His expression was deadly serious. Lorelai could now see that.
"You're...you're serious?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
"Well," Rory was speechless. "Congratulations, Luke."
"Thanks, Rory."
"Wait..." Lorelai was still trying to wrap her mind around the thing Luke just dropped on them. "You...you actually reproduced?"
Luke suddenly shushed her, not wanting the whole diner to hear. "Keep it down. I don't want everyone to know yet," he told her with his hands raised in front of him.
"Who's the mother? Is it someone we know?"
"No, you don't know her."
"Is it a secret girlfriend on the side?"
"I gotta go." Luke turned and headed for upstairs, not wanting to answer any questions. He knew Lorelai would start probing him and the guy was anxious to get there. He packed a bag and headed back downstairs. Rory had left for school but Lorelai was still there.
Luke closed up the diner and headed out to where his truck was parked.
"So, are you staying all through the pregnancy?"
He tossed his bag in the back and opened his door. "The kid's already born."
"How old is the kid?"
"Five. She's been living in foster care since she was born," he explained.
Lorelai gave him a surprised look. "And they're just now calling you?"
"Her mother put her up for adoption. Apparently, they messed up and the new supervisor wasn't happy about it and told them to search for me. Plus, she's getting older and they haven't been successful at finding her an adoptive family. "
"Luke's kid is hard to place. Now I see the resemblance," Lorelai smiled, in a teasing way.
Luke just gave her a stern stare. "It's nothing like that. Shelby's shy and won't warm up to anyone."
"Shelby's her name?"
"Yeah."
"That's a nice name."
"Yeah." Luke dropped his gaze to the ground.
"What?" Lorelai asked, noticing the sudden change.
"I don't really know about all this," he shrugged, looking at her again. "I have a kid and a shy kid at that. I don't even know what to say or do for her. Not only that, but she's still technically little."
"That's good," she said.
"It is?"
"Yeah, it means you still have a huge chunk of her childhood to raise her and teach her what she needs to know."
Luke looked off in the distance, "I don't know. Girls, they don't go through the same things boys do."
"It'll be fine, Luke, I promise," she assured him, softly.
He looked back at her. "I don't even know how to get her to come out of hiding."
"Well," Lorelai paused to think. "Wait, I have an idea."
"What?"
"You have more than one hat, right?"
"What does that have to do with Shelby?" he asked, confused.
"You can give it to her and say it's a special hat that makes the wearer invisible, and whenever she's ready to be seen, she can take it off. Until then, no one looks at her and it gives her control of when she's ready to interact with you."
"That won't work," Luke told her, bluntly.
"Sure it will."
"No, it won't," he argued.
"Why not?"
"Because if she's my kid, Shelby will know that won't work."
"She's a kid, Luke. Still young to have an imagination," she pointed out. "Unlike some people I know." Lorelai gave him a knowing look. Eventually, Luke gave in and headed back inside to grab an extra hat he rarely wore anymore.
He drove all the way to Providence. It only took a few hours with traffic which he headed straight for the child services building. Once parked, Luke headed inside the tall building, asking for Madison Flores' floor, taking the elevator up.
Madison came out to meet him after Luke told the woman sitting at the front desk, she was expecting him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Luke," the woman shook his hand.
"Same here," he nodded, returning the handshake.
"Okay, I know we have to follow protocol and do this DNA thing, but wow." Madison stared at him, up and down, holding her fists on her sides. She was shorter than he was and a little pudgy, with very dark brown hair and wore a floral blouse and black dress pants, with heels. A gold necklace hung around her neck.
"What?" he asked, confused.
She shrugged, holding it for a moment. "I can see her when I look at you."
His eyebrows rose, impressed. "Really?"
"Oh, yes. Shelby is surely the spitting image of you, Luke." She smiled.
Luke was speechless, unsure of what to say. His kid looked just like him? Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Having a resemblance to his daughter was enough for Madison to go ahead with the paperwork so when the test results came back, she could put them in right away. She also showed Luke some photos she had of Shelby. One was of her sitting in the backseat of a car when she was two years old.
A chill rushed up his spine as Luke gazed at the photo in his hand. The small child stared back at him with the same blue eyes he saw in the mirror every morning. Even worse was how they too carried the same presence of fear of the unknown. His heart shattered, knowing she too must have experienced way more than a child should.
His eyes gazed at her other features seeing what was already develping into his wide honker of a nose and his shaggy brown hair growing over her round ears. A lump formed in his throat seeing just how much of a reflection his kid was, even as a toddler, and a girl, no doubt.
"This one was taken the day she entered foster care," she handed him a photo of a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket. Shelby was sleeping in that one, of course, only being a couple of days old.
With each photo she showed him, Luke's heart was slowly becoming putty, melting like chocolate. It wasn't until a current photo did Luke realize his eyes were moistened, a little. It was weird because he wasn't a crier. But as he stared at each one, Luke had to keep rubbing at his eye.
Luke spent the night in Providence, at a nearby motel, receiving the news the next day that it was a match. It took all he had to not cry. Luke Danes was a father.
Madison put the background check in right away. Unfortunately, Luke had to wait another week or so before he could meet his daughter.
"So, how did it go?" Lorelai asked him, eagerly after Luke had returned home. She sat at the counter, the following morning. "Did my hat trick work?"
Luke poured her, her coffee. "I haven't met her yet."
"Why not?"
"There's stuff I have to go through before they can let me meet her. DNA testing to make sure I am her father, background check, home check. Lots of paperwork," he explained.
"Does she know yet?"
"What?"
"That you're her dad and you're trying to be a part of her life."
"No, not yet," Luke replied. "They're waiting until everything gets settled in case this doesn't work out."
"Why wouldn't it?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I guess it's child services protocol. As soon as I get a bed moved up there, her caseworker will come down here and check the place out, make sure it's livable for a kid."
Lorelai folded her arms, leaning her elbows on the counter. "You still nervous?"
Luke breathed in, letting it out. "Yeah. In fact, more than ever. I can't get over how much she looks like me."
"Do you have a picture yet?"
He went into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, pulling out a photo Madison had given to him and handed it to Lorelai.
"Wow," was her initial reaction. She held it in her hands as Lorelai stared at the little girl. "I know they say girls take after their fathers, but damn." She handed the photo back to him, "now we know what you would look like as a girl."
Luke took it back as he said, "Thanks," sarcastically.
"Don't mention it," she smirked at him, standing up off the stool and headed for the door.
Before replacing the photo in his wallet, Luke stared at it. One thought crossed his mind at that moment he hadn't thought of. Even though she looks like him, will she like him?