Shelby was the first thought he had when Luke woke up the next morning. He laid there, staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes. Being a parent felt like the hardest job Luke ever had. Only his kid could make his heart feel this way. At least he'd see Shelby this morning since the Gilmores come by almost every morning for breakfast.
Being a holiday weekend and people passing through on their travels caused the diner to be packed that morning, so Luke was plenty busy. It took a hundred times, but he finally got Jess downstairs to help out.
Things were so hectic, Luke hadn't noticed the Gilmores and Shelby stopped by until he took the plates that were freshly made and headed around the counter. His leg bumped something, almost causing him to stumble. Thankfully, he was able to catch himself and hold on to the plates without spilling any of the food.
Luke moved one of the plates out of the way to see who he bumped into. Shelby had been standing there next to the counter, waiting for him, too shy to approach him. He noticed she had a habit of standing somewhere without saying a word, sometimes in the way, until someone noticed her. "Shell, how many times do I have to tell you? Don't stand in the middle of the walkway." He quickly set the plates down on the correct table, apologizing for the long wait before returning to grab the coffeepot to refill their coffee. Once their cups were refilled, he went back over, kneeling to Shelby's level.
Shelby was rubbing her nose vertically like it hurt or something.
"Did my leg bump your nose?"
She nodded, not looking up at him.
"Let me see." Luke gently pushed her hand away to examine her nose. He held her face in his hands, touching around her nose with his thumbs. Since there wasn't any bruising and it didn't appear to be swollen, Luke figured she was fine. "I'm sorry, kiddo. I didn't see you there. You're so quiet." He smiled to show he was teasing her.
Shelby didn't. Instead, she leaned back against the side of the counter, pressing her hands to it behind her, and moved the toe of her sneaker along the floor.
"Hey, I hate to rush ya, but I gotta get back to work. We're packed this morning. Is there something you need?" She sucked in her bottom lip, chewing on it. He moved his head closer to hers so Shelby could whisper to him. "What's up, kiddo?" Luke urged her, holding a hand to her arm.
"Wan' to talk."
He looked at her. "Now? Can it wait 'til later, or do you need to talk now? 'Cause if you feel you need to talk to me, we can go in the back," Luke pointed over his shoulder. If something was bothering her, he didn't want to prolong it further than they had to. But at the same time, they were all running around, making sure the customers weren't waiting too long.
Shelby muttered something. He couldn't really tell what she said, but Luke caught the W sound so he figured she said it could wait.
"You want to wait?"
That time, she nodded at the floor.
"Are you sure?"
Again, she nodded.
"Okay, kiddo. Go sit with Lorelai and Rory, and I'll be there..." Luke rose to his feet, jumping out of his skin when he realized the girls had sat down on the end of the counter. "... Aw, jeez. Don't scare a person like that."
Lorelai shrugged. "We were just sitting here. Not our fault you're easily freaked out," she harmlessly teased him.
Luke glared at her as he went to grab the coffee. Realizing he had to make more, Luke quickly got to work on it, telling them they were going to have to wait a few minutes unless they wanted decaf which caused him to receive a look as if he admitted to supporting dog-fights or something. Of course, Luke should have known better than to suggest decaf.
"OJ, Shell?" he asked Shelby, now that she had climbed onto the stool, a customer deserted when he was ready to leave.
She nodded at the counter.
When Luke returned, he set the glass of orange juice on the counter in front of her and took their order.
"Hey, got something to show you later, but it has to wait until I develop the film," Lorelai held a small flash camera up to show him. "I think you're gonna love it."
Luke finished writing their order down, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "What is it?" he asked, looking up. He caught Rory rolling her eyes as Lorelai assured him it would be great, and he would have to wait and see. Just accepting it, Luke walked away to fill the orders and could finally pour their coffee.
The breakfast crowd didn't thin out by the time the girls finished eating. It wasn't too bad since Lorelai and Rory usually kept busying talking about their usual topics afterwards. It was getting close to the brunch hour, which would lead into the lunch hour. That said, Luke knew he wouldn't get a moment's peace any time soon. So he went ahead and pulled Shelby to the side so they could talk about whatever she needed to tell him once she was finished with her breakfast.
In the back, away from the crowd, Luke kneeled to her level, resting his arms on his knees. "What's going on, kiddo?"
Shelby stared at the floor, grabbing onto her two-layered blue, long-sleeved T-shirt that had a generic dragon on the front. She was still wearing her T-ball cap on her head, but at least it was backwards.
"Take your time, kiddo."
Backing up against the wall behind her, Shelby pressed her hands against it, behind her. Her gaze remained on the floor.
"You can say whatever is on your mind. I promise I won't yell at you again." It was a relief to know she felt she could approach him after yesterday. Lorelai and/or Rory must have been able to talk to her while Shelby was over there. That, plus each day, can have a complete turnaround with this kid. Even with how much Luke had come to learn about his daughter, he still did not one hundred percent understand at times.
"I..." It was barely audible, but Luke could hear without straining his head. She hesitated for a moment. "I sorry."
"You're sorry?" he questioned gently.
She nodded.
"Kiddo, there's nothing you need to apologize for. You did nothing wrong," he reassured her. "Only I needed to."
Shelby tensed up, chewing on her lip.
"I was upset about something else and I took my frustrations out on you and that wasn't right of me and especially wasn't fair to you. Okay?"
She shook her head, slightly.
"What, kiddo?" It confused Luke. Giving her a minute or two to respond, he eventually said, "you don't need to blame yourself for what happened. It wasn't your fault. It was mine. You did nothing wrong, I promise."
That time, Shelby nodded her head, still not lifting her gaze.
"Why do you feel it's your fault?"
Tears began filling up in her eyes. It was apparent Jess hadn't gotten the whole story out of her that day. Something else must have been bothering her besides Luke scaring her.
Luke told her to take deep breaths, repeatedly.
Shelby wiped at her eye with the back of her hand. Finally, she was able to speak. "I make you mad." As she got the words out, it produced more tears.
It then came back to him, remembering why she had been upset with her mom. It made sense now. "Kiddo, you didn't make me mad. Something... something else was bothering me. It had nothing to do with you, I promise."
She continued to nod. "My faul'," she said, trying to say fault.
Luke shifted on his legs, scooting closer to her. "Listen to me, Shelby," he told her firmly, but kept his tone gentle as he held onto her waist. He lifted one of his hands to lift her chin, to make sure she heard him. Luke hated forcing eye contact when he knew eye contact was a struggle for her, but he wanted Shelby to understand what he was telling her. "I don't want you blaming yourself for what happened. You had nothing to do with me getting mad. We have control of our own emotions and I should not have yelled at you. Sometimes, though, we lose control and take it out on those around us. That still doesn't excuse it, and I cannot say sorry enough to you. Do you understand, now?"
That time, she nodded, like she accepted it wasn't her fault.
"You are a great, sweet kid, Shell. Nothing you do can ever make me stop loving you." He smiled at her.
Shelby didn't smile yet. "Jess mad ah me?"
"Why would Jess be mad at you? Because you took your bed, back?"
She nodded.
"I don't know, kiddo. You would have to ask Jess," he said. "You're not in trouble for it, though. It was your idea to let him have your bed and you can take it back whenever you want to. Once I can get away from the diner, we'll go get Jess a bed of his own and it can fit underneath yours during the day so it won't take up space. It'll all work out. Don't worry."
"I missed you ah Mom's house," Shelby admitted.
"I missed you too, kiddo. It's not the same without you. I like having my little assistant around," Luke grabbed at her stomach, which at least got a smile as she touched where it tickled. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and it gave him the best idea he could do to make it up to Shelby. "Hey, how about to make it up to you, next weekend, you and me can go camping? I'll have to pull you out of school Friday, but it'll only be for one day and you haven't missed a day yet, anyway. So how about it?" A lump had gotten caught in his throat at the thought of November thirtieth being here once again. He stifled it down, knowing there was only one person he would be willing to be with on that day.
Not even Shelby could resist a camping trip with her favorite person in the whole wide world. She nodded at the idea.
"Yeah? You want to?"
Shelby continued nodding.
"Well...wait, I'm not sure if you're serious. Do you really want to go?" Luke asked once more, in a teasing manner.
Shelby giggled, holding her shoulders up towards her ears and nodded. Out of nowhere, she leapt forward, grabbing onto him and hugged her dad around the neck. It surprised him enough for Shelby to knock him off his feet, catching himself with one hand and held his other arm around her. Now sitting there on the floor, Luke wrapped both arms around his little girl and squeezed her in a tight hug.
Shelby pushed away to ask, "Can I come home today?"
"Of course. You can come home whenever you want to," he replied.
"I can help in the diner because your busy," she offered.
"Sure, if you want to, kiddo."
"I do."
"Well then, go let Lorelai know you want to stay so she can leave for the inn." Luke let her go and had her do just that.
After letting Lorelai know she wanted to stay, Luke put her to work. Some customers commented on how adorable their server was whenever Shelby brought them their orders, even receiving tips from them. Whenever a table became empty, he would toss Shelby a rag and have her go wipe it down once the table was cleared of dishes, so the next customers could sit. Every forty-five minutes, Luke had her take a break. It was impressive how long the kid lasted for.
Around lunchtime, Rachel returned, not alone this time. Her mother, Edna, had come back with her. As soon as Shelby set down the plates that were given to her, she rushed over to hug her mom.
"Hey, peanut. You're looking chipper than the last I saw you."
Luke walked over right as Shelby was whispering something to her.
"Oh, sure you can stay home, but your grandmother here came back with me for a girl's weekend. Can you come back for a few more days? Then I can bring you back Sunday. How's that?"
Shelby shook her head.
Edna spoke up at that point. "Please, hun? I was hoping to see you yesterday for Thanksgiving. I missed you."
Shelby gave her grandmother her puzzled look.
"I'd wished you called first, Rachel," Luke spoke up for their daughter. "Shelby cut her weekend with Lorelai and Rory short to come home."
Rachel looked up at him. "Shelby went to Lorelai's?" She stood up as Luke filled her in on what happened. Even though he knew what had been bothering her, Luke still wasn't sure why she had clung so tightly to Lorelai. Except maybe it was because she was the only one Shelby felt close to for comfort. That was a mystery that might never be solved. "Well, I'm glad everything is okay, I guess." She folded her arms lightly across her chest. "It makes sense Shelby would want to stay home with you," she replied in understanding.
"I have an idea," said Edna, looking between the younger adults. She stopped on Luke to ask, "Instead of the entire weekend, can Shelby spend one night with us?"
"It's not up to me, it's up to what Shelby wants to do," Luke told her.
The older woman switched over to her granddaughter. "Is that alright with you, Shelby?"
Shelby grabbed onto her dad's leg, hiding her face in it.
"I haven't gotten to see you since your birthday party and I would really like to spend some time with you, and smother you with grandma kisses, and spoil you with lots of hugs and love."
Luke was about to mention Edna couldn't do stuff like that until Shelby was used to her, but thankfully Rachel did.
"Mom, we talked about this on the way here."
"I know, I know. It's just, Shelby is the only grandchild I haven't been able to love on and I don't want her to feel left out." Edna looked and sounded like a child who been told no whenever they asked for candy at a grocery store check-out.
"I understand, Mom, but it's different than with the boys and Katie. Shelby needs time."
While Rachel was explaining to her mom, Luke kneeled to Shelby's level, wrapping a hand around her back.
"I know you want to stay home, kiddo, but maybe spending some time getting to know your grandmother will be good for you," he explained, receiving a pitiful look. "It'll just be for one night and we can do something tomorrow. How's that?"
There was some hesitance, but Shelby nodded.
Luke pulled her in for a comforting hug. "If you need to, I can always come pick you up early," he assured her and felt her nod from his shoulder. Luke grabbed her jacket from where Lorelai hung it up that morning. He couldn't help smile when Shelby ran over to hug Jess around the leg, making the boy feel embarrassed. It was nice to see somebody else turn different shades of red other than him as Jess squirmed. Out of the corner of his eye, Luke could tell it made Rachel feel uncomfortable.
"See ya, Scout," Jess told her when Shelby let go.
Shelby hurried back over to give her dad a kiss good-bye, along with a hug before he watched them leave. Rachel thanked him for encouraging Shelby, but once they were gone, Jess walked by.
"You shouldn't have done that." The statement caught Luke off guard.
"And why's that?" he asked of the boy.
Jess just shrugged, not saying another word as he walked away.
To his surprise, Shelby stayed at her mom's the entire time until Luke came by to pick her up on Saturday and it turned out, it wasn't that bad.
On the drive home, Shelby finally spoke up again.
"Dad."
"Hm?" he acknowledged her, glancing over at her from the corner of his eye.
"Can you have more ten one... singer?" There was a word unidentifiable, but Luke figured she was trying to say favorite.
"You can have as many favorites as you want. Who is it you like now?"
"Mom le' Granma pick the music in the car so we li'tened to a CD she brough' of tis lady named Reba. Do you know her?"
"Uh, yeah, I've heard her on the radio a few times. So you like Reba now, huh?"
Shelby nodded. "Granma showed us her new show ta' was on, las' nigh'."
His eyebrows rose. He didn't know the singer was doing TV now. Then again, he didn't really keep up with pop culture.
"A law was on too, and we watched tem all." Shelby meant to say a lot of episodes were on.
"That's cool," he nodded, glad his daughter had a good time. "So you're not mad at me for suggesting to go spend another night at your mom's?"
She shrugged, "I' okay, Dad. I no mad a' you."
Luke smiled over at her for a second, keeping his primary focus on the road. "Good."
There was a moment of silence before Shelby asked, "You sure you no mad a' me?"
"Yes, kiddo, I'm sure I'm not mad at you. In fact, I could never be mad at you, you're too cute."
That made her smile, which was always contagious.
When they got home, Shelby dashed upstairs to switch to her old hat. With some downtime before the dinner rush, Luke kept the diner closed, and the two walked over to the park where they played catch, back and forth.
While they tossed the ball, Lorelai came over.
"Hey, sorry about not coming back, yesterday. The inn ended up being pretty crazy," she said. Shelby rushed over to hug her.
"No problem," Luke assured her. "What was it you wanted to show me?"
Lorelai opened a film envelop from a photo store, taking out a stack of photos and started shuffling through them, putting each one at the back until she found the one she was looking for. She held it out to him with the picture facing him.
Luke took it from her to get a better look. It was a picture of both Rory and Shelby, sleeping in Rory's bed.
"Rory said Shelby climbed into bed with her during the night and after they chatted for a while, they both fell asleep before Shelby could make it back to the couch. I found them like this the next morning and thought I'd take a picture to show you." She held her arms crossed as she stood beside him, smiling at it.
Luke couldn't help smile either. "It's a great one, that's for sure."
Shelby wanted to see for herself, so Luke held it out to her. He figured she would be embarrassed about having her picture taken while she was asleep like Rory was, but Shelby only grinned from ear to ear.
"I got doubles so you can have it if you want," Lorelai offered.
He thanked her.
"I'm just glad Shelby's back to her cheery self," she said, looking over at the kid.
"Same." Luke couldn't be more glad his little girl was speaking to him again. Though she wasn't talking as much as she had been, she was holding conversations with him at least. He'd take what he could get to have her back and be able to hear her sweet voice again. So they did take a few steps back, as Luke feared, but not that worrisome. Maybe their camping trip will help bring her back out of her shell some more.