It wasn't for another several hours when lunchtime rolled around did they finally leave, and not one kid cleaned up after themselves. Letting out another annoyed sigh as he stood there with his hands on his sides, Luke headed over to pick up the toys, also making sure the kids at least kept their word about not breaking anything. He would have to wait until Shelby got home to see if anything was taken. From what he could see and remember, nothing seemed like it was missing. A lot of her dinosaurs and Pokemon figures were there. The kid had plenty of Legos that were now scattered all over the place. Luke was sure of him, Shelby, and Jess would probably be painfully finding the rest of the pieces over the next coming weeks. It was nice of Shelby to share her toys, but Luke would like to kill Lorelai for sending the kids his way (not literally, of course). It was still quite irritating she had done that when she knew how he felt about other people's kids.
Once the toys were all picked up, Luke went over to check in on Gexie, making sure she was alright.
"Hey, Gexie. Hanging in there?" he asked of the gecko who was hiding in her hide. To his surprise, she stuck her head out. Though she usually slept during the day, Gexie sometimes woke up before it got dark.
"I know, huh?" he nodded. "How can anybody get any sleep with those little terrors running around, am I right?" There was no response.
Luke stood up, realizing he was talking to his daughter's pet gecko, who had slowly grown on the guy. As long as they kept her tank clean, Gexie wasn't bad at all. Since they used dead crickets, there wasn't any smell to her. Every once in a while she'd make a noise, but mostly, Gexie was quiet. Like Shelby was, sometimes. So guess they matched the two up perfectly. Luke picked up a book on leopard geckos from the bookstore just to be on the safe side, in case a problem arose. In fact, there was even the number to the town's vet on the fridge with the number to their own doctor, like Gexie was a member of the family now or something. If somebody had told Luke several years ago, he would have a gecko as a family member, he would probably laugh at them.
When Shelby finally pulled up to the diner on her bike, Luke rushed out and squeezed her tight, glad to have his calm and quiet kid home. Thankfully, the other kids went off with their families for the afternoon, so he had some peace for the rest of the day.
"I had to pick up after them, but everything looked like they were still in one piece," he assured her as they climbed the stairs. Luke was carrying her bike under his arm. With Sookie still in control of the diner, he and Shelby headed for her soccer practice, getting back in time for the dinner rush. The inn's kitchen staff even helped clean up at the end of the night for him.
Showered and changed into pajamas, Luke let Shelby play her GameCube before bed, watching her play her Super Mario Sunshine game. It was very odd Nintendo was making games for kids that entailed cleaning. Luigi using a vacuum in his game to suck up objects and ghosts, while in Mario's game, the short, Italian plumber went around spraying water from a water-spraying device cleaning off paint-like goop, both of which were worn on their backs. Don't get him wrong, Luke felt children should learn to clean up messes, especially the ones they make. It was just odd to him.
While father and daughter lounged on the couch, watching the TV screen, there was suddenly somebody screaming at the top of their lungs outside in the street below.
"What the hell?" Luke mumbled out loud to himself, looking back over his shoulder through the window. A rock hit the glass as he flipped over onto his knee. Once the window was open, he yelled out, "Who is that?" He looked down to see Lorelai wave up at him.
"What are you doing down there?"
"Enjoying some air, getting some exercise, and freezing!" she replied.
Luke shrugged with the hand he was leaning on as he told her, "Well, go home." Shelby curiously wiggled around his other arm to see who it was for herself, waving when she saw it was Lorelai.
"Hey, Shelbs," she waved before dramatically telling Luke she didn't have a home to go home to. It went right over Luke's head.
"Have you gone bonkers?" he asked of her.
"People are bunking at my place," she finally explained, "and I need some place to stay."
"And it just occurred to you now to look for a place?"
She shrugged her hands out as she irritably replied, "The stupid Hatlestads showed up."
"Who?" About that time, their neighbor, Mrs. Slutsky, poked her head out of her own window, demanding they pipe down. "Go back to bed, Mrs. Slutsky," Luke told her. The older woman wasn't fond of being spoken to in that manner.
"Throw your keys down!" Lorelai yelled at that point, anxiously which the older woman assumed she was talking to her. "No, Luke, Mrs. Slutsky!"
"I'll just come down," Luke told Lorelai, ending the quarrel that was now happening, before shutting the window and re-latching it. Telling Shelby he'd be right back with a kiss to the side of her head, Luke then headed downstairs to let Lorelai inside, offering to take her overnight bag for her.
The moment they entered the apartment, Shelby jumped up to hug Lorelai around the middle.
"So, you're 'leeping over?" she asked.
Lorelai smiled at her. "Yep, just like we do at my house."
Shelby cheered excitedly. It was refreshing to know everything seemed better than the previous week after the incident with Lorelai teasing her dad. "We can 'tay up la'e, swapping many 'tories, and in the morning, I'm making waffles." She pointed at her chest with her thumb.
"Oh, are you now?" Lorelai giggled at the kid's adorableness.
"She's hung around you too long, quoting movies," Luke explained once he set her bag in the armchair. "The boys brought over this new movie the last time they slept over, and Shelby has been quoting it ever since. Dirtiest kids' movie I've ever seen, by the way."
Lorelai stared at him with a look of confusion. "I'm sorry? There is a dirty kid's movie?"
"Not dirty as in..." Luke stopped on his words, not wanting to say it in front of Shelby. "... That. Dirty as in... fart jokes and stuff like that. Although, there were a couple... jokes that were slipped in, probably for the parents."
"I's funny. We should ren' i' the nex' time I 'leep over ah your house," Shelby suggested.
"Maybe we can rent it this weekend? How does that sound?"
Shelby jumped at the idea, excited to sleep over at the Crap Shack, having not been over in quite a while. While the girls were talking, Luke made a bed for Lorelai on the couch. When she noticed, Lorelai tried to argue to take the bed, stating how exhausted she was and needed the extra comfort. After a short disagreement, she won. Though, Shelby did offer to share her bunk with her.
"I think I'll probably bang my head on the ceiling if I had to get up in the middle of the night, Shelbs," Lorelai told her, "but thanks though. That's really sweet of you."
"No problem," Shelby assured her.
While Luke gathered up the extra sheets to switch with the ones he had on his bed, he suggested Shelby save her game and turn it off since it was getting late, reminding her of school in the morning. When she grabbed the controller from where Luke had moved it to the coffee table from the couch, Lorelai pointed out the absent cord that should have been attached.
"Jess found me a controller for my GameCube withou' a cord so now I don' have to si' close to the TV anymore. See?" Shelby went over to point a finger at a device that was plugged in where a controller would go. I can even play from the table or even my bed if I wanted to. If there wasn' a wall in the way."
"Wow, that sounds cool," Lorelai said.
"I' is," she nodded before turning back to the TV to save her latest progress of the game and turned off both the TV and game console.
Lorelai wandered over to offer her help to make the bed, starting another small argument of who tucks what, in. Luke eventually gave up when Lorelai said she liked tucking both sides in and slipping under like it was a straightjacket.
"You know, I should really take the couch. Me taking the bed just doesn't feel right."
Luke started making up the couch for himself. "Oh, now, come on."
Lorelai folded her arms, lightly. "What?"
"You browbeat me into giving ya the bed," he pointed a hand over at it, "and pretending you don't want it now isn't working." He turned back to the couch, tossing the sheet over the back of it.
She fidgeted with her crossed arms. "I'm pretending to be polite."
"I'm fine with the couch," Luke assured her. "You're the one that's exhausted."
"You know, I'm actually not," she declared, throwing up her hands.
"Really?"
"I'm like strangely exhilarated. I mean, as awful as what happened today was, I'm happy with how I handled it."
Luke looked back behind him at her.
"You never know how you're gonna react in situations like this until," Lorelai tossed her hands up in front of her this time, "something happens, and I think I did pretty well."
"Yeah, I do too," he agreed once Luke finished tucking the sheet in under the cushions. About that time, the phone rang. He went over to answer it to hear it was Nicole calling. She greeted him cheerfully and asked how his day was and how Shelby was doing, and school. He mentioned the inn catching on fire, before asking how her day was. Luke smiled like a doofus, snorting a little as he eventually said, "Okay," when Nicole said she would call back in the morning, before letting her go, but not before Shelby asked him to say good night for her which he passed along. "Nicole says good night right back, Shell," he told her afterwards.
Shelby was leaning on the foot of her bed frame, looking around the wall, lit up like a Christmas tree.
"When was the last time you fed Gexie?" Luke reminded her. Shelby was pretty good at remembering to feed Gexie. Occasionally, he would remind her.
"Um, I tossed a few in yesterday, bu' I can give her one tonigh'." Shelby climbed down and hurried over to drop in another cricket, making sure it was dusted with calcium powder. "You wanna watch Gexie eat a crick'ed, Lor-lai?"
"Um, no thanks. I'm good," Lorelai politely declined. "I'm sure the little guy doesn't want an audience watching him eat."
"Gexie's a girl," she corrected her.
"Oops, sorry. I meant to say, I'm sure she doesn't want an audience watching her eat."
Shelby just shrugged and turned back to her little friend to drop the cricket in. Gexie came right over and snatched it right up.
"How's she doing on calcium, Shell?" Luke was over in the kitchen area, making some tea.
"Um, 'till good," she replied.
Luke made enough tea for the girls too, having Shelby drink hers before getting back in bed. "Good night, kiddo," he told her once she was snuggled under her Pokemon comforter, the same one she had after all this time. The sheets had to be replaced since they had to be washed on a daily occurrence. But that was another thing of the past now.
"Good nigh', Dad," she replied. "I love you."
Luke touched his forehead to hers, "Love ya too," he smiled and kissed her on the cheek. Shelby returned it. He squeezed an arm around her before shutting the lamp on the nightstand off. She then turned over to slip her headphones on over her ears, turning on her music she kept up there with her beside her pillow.
"So, I'm guessing that was Nicole on the phone earlier, huh?" said Lorelai, curious as he came back over to the other side of the apartment.
"Yep," he answered, tossing the sheet back up from where it fell when Luke sat down.
"Why didn't you tell her I was here?"
He shrugged, "Didn't come up."
"You mean, she didn't, out of the clear blue and for no reason, ask if I was sleeping over?"
"Just didn't seem necessary."
She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing him. "Well, you have nothing to hide here. You just," Lorelai shrugged, "took in a refugee."
"I know there's nothing to hide," he replied. "It's just that..." Luke stumbled on his words. "You've kind of become..."
"Become a what?"
Luke took another sip of his tea. "A sore point between me and Nicole."
Lorelai looked shocked to hear that. "What? How?"
"Well, on our first date, I was a little nervous, and after spending most of the night sharing stories about my kid, I wasn't having any luck coming up with more topics, so I was just babbling a lot. Then she ordered French fries, and I told her a quick story about you and French fries, and that seemed fine. Then she ordered a third cup of coffee."
"Oh, Luke," she moaned nervously.
"And I mentioned you and your coffee thing," he finished, "and I noticed Nicole kind of reacted a little. And ever since then, she's been a little sensitive to the issue." Luke took a one last sip, setting the mug on the coffee table.
"Of course she is, Luke. You don't talk about another woman on a first date," she informed him.
He shrugged in confusion. "Even if it's just a friend?"
Lorelai stared at him. "They don't exist."
"Come on," he tried to insist.
She pointed a finger up at him to as she reiterated, "not on a first date."
"No other woman exists on a first date, not even my mother?" Luke pointed at himself.
"Do you really think talking about your mother on a first date is wise?"
Luke was about to agree when Shelby spoke up, "I would talk abou' my dad."
"Oh, no, kiddo," Lorelai called back. "For us girls, no other guy exists either."
"Why? I have to warn them firs'."
Lorelai stared over at Luke as she asked Shelby, "Why would you need to warn them?"
"Because my dad and Jess told me I have to," she answered, making Lorelai stare harder at him. Luke just shrugged innocently, with no clue as to why she was staring at him. "What are you doing to this poor girl?"
"Protecting her," he stated as if it was obvious.
"You know she's not gonna be able to date, right? Not with a warning like that. You're gonna scare all the guys away."
Luke turned halfway around to lie down, a skeptic about it, stating this was why he hated dating. Lorelai assured him there were certain rules to follow unless one wanted to be a loner for the rest of their life before letting him know she had to be up extra early in the morning.
"No problem, what time?" he asked, grabbing his alarm clock.
"Six."
Luke held the alarm clock in his hand. "I get up at a quarter to five every morning."
She questioned, "Why in the world would you get up that early?"
"I don't know," he said sarcastically, straightening out the blanket on top of him, "to run my business."
"Well, change businesses." Lorelai then laid down on the pillow. "Ooh, wow!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Total deja vu."
Luke folded his arms behind his head to prop it up. "Really?"
"It's the alarm clock." She chuckled. "I had a dream once that you set eighteen alarm clocks to get me up. Which is not a bad way to get me up."
"Where were we?"
"We were, um, at my house. I got up and went downstairs for coffee." He heard Lorelai chuckle at that point. "And you talked to my stomach."
Luke stared over in her direction, confused. Though it was blocked because of the wall that divided his room from the rest of the apartment. "Why on earth would I do that?" he questioned.
"Well, because I was pregnant."
His eyebrows rose.
"Twins."
"Mine?" he asked.
"What am I, dream tramp? Of course, yours."
"We were," Luke shook his head, trying to make sense of this, "married?"
"Um, yeah." There was a brief pause before she asked, "Did I not mention that?"
"No," he told her. There was an awkward silence. Turning over onto his side, Luke said, "You know, you shouldn't drink coffee when you're pregnant," as the sheet behind him fell from where it was hanging. He laid back down on the couch arm.
"Um, true," she agreed.
"It's probably why Rory's a caffeine addict."
"Right. You're right."
"Dream go beyond that?" he couldn't help ask in curiosity.
"No. Um, you talked to my stomach, and then you ki..." She stopped herself without finishing before finally saying, "Uh, no."
"Oh, okay. Well..." Luke paused, thinking about what she had just told him. Finally, he just said, "Night," and left it at that. Though, knowing the fact Shelby thinks there's something between them other than just friends, Luke couldn't also help wonder if she heard the dream or not. If she was still awake, that is, and what was going through her little mind? He wasn't even sure how to respond himself, much less a kid like Shelby. Plus, he also wasn't sure how long ago Lorelai had this dream, either.
"Yeah," Lorelai called back. "Night." After that, things quieted down and Luke turned off the lamp on the table at his head.
The next morning, Luke woke up to find the bed empty. It wasn't until he was dressed and headed downstairs, did he find out Lorelai was sleeping at one of the tables, hugging her pillow. He went over to wake her, questioning why she was sleeping down there. He then apologized to her for not warning both he and Jess snored.
Later, when Shelby was up, he heard Lorelai ask her, how in the world did she ever get any sleep with her dad and cousin snoring away every night.
All Shelby said was, "Headphones." Plus, one learns to get used to the noise.
After a truce, Luke and Sookie were able to work things out and work together, feeding everyone breakfast. About that time, Jess came downstairs about to head out.
"You're up early," Luke pointed out to him.
"Gotta catch me that worm," he replied and tried to take off.
"Where you off to?" he asked of his nephew.
"School."
"This early?"
"I got a lab project going on," Jess explained. "Me and my team are meeting early."
"Well, have a good day," Luke told him.
"If I had a choice." That said, Jess greeted Rory with a kiss and headed out the door for what Luke hoped was school, also snagging a quick peck on the side of Shelby's head.
After Jess left, Lorelai got the phone call reporting it was time to check the damages done on the inn. Rory left as well to go get ready for school, leaving the kid sitting there alone which Shelby just moved to the counter just as her dad was staring at the bowl he and Sookie were preparing, having already forgotten what he was supposed to do. It didn't help that he had a lot of stuff on his mind.
Luke looked up when his little buddy climbed up onto the stool. He smiled for her, which she returned. However, Shelby never said a word about the dream, though. Never even showed any sign of curiosity or concern. She knew not to have her music playing loud in her headphones. But then again, that tea usually knocked her out fast once she closed her eyes. Maybe she didn't hear at all.
Hopefully...
He didn't want her getting the wrong idea or mixed signals.