❝FAMILY TIES❞
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⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ chapter forty-five,
Gilmore Girls — Season Three

June 4th, 2002

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[ LUKE'S POV ]

NOTHING IN MY LIFE MATTERS MORE THAN THE GIRL IN FRONT OF ME. For the past seventeen years, there's only been one priority in my life, but for the past six months, my priorities have become two people— my daughter and my nephew, and those two people are currently fighting with one another.

And when I say fighting, I mean they're bickering over something so ridiculous that it can't be classed as fighting.

Jess has been standing at the mirror for the past half an hour trying to sort his hair out for whatever reason, and Lucy is eager to use it as she's supposed to be getting ready for our dinner at Sniffy's. We're already late, and it's Maisie's birthday so we promised to try and be there earlier but that seems unlikely now.

"One day, a bird is gonna land in there and die," Lucy comments, her eyes pinned on his nest of hair. "Seriously, what are you moussing? You have no plans at eight o'clock, do you?"

"It's none of your business," he snaps. "I'll be done when I'm done. Now move out of the way." He nudges her, and I've never seen such fury on my daughter's face.

Lucy leans forward and she snatches the mousse from the sink, and she examines it carefully. "Hey, what would happen if I just..." She sprays some onto her hand, and I watch from the sofa as she slaps her hand against Jess' face. I know I shouldn't laugh as I'm supposed to be the adult, but it's like a crap comedy watching these two fight.

Jess turns to his cousin, one side of his face moussed and he pins Lucy with a death glare. "You're cracked," Jess insults, and I lean back in my chair with a grin on my face.

He then pulls open the cabinet which holds the majority of our medicine, bathroom products and Lucy's birth control. I can already see where this is going, but for some strange reason, I can't move from my seat. It's not unsurprising when Jess pulls the pills out and empties them into the toilet. Lucy tries to stop him, but fails and I realise that I'm just letting my daughter and nephew fight to the death at this point.

"You're insane." Lucy lunges forward, and that's when I finally move from my seat to rush into the bathroom. "I swear, I'm going to kill you. Strangle you in your sleep."

Jess laughs. "I'd like to see you try."

Lucy has her hands gripped on Jess' shirt, but all Jess is doing is laughing. Oh, God. Kids. "Dad! He threw my birth control down the freaking toilet. I need them."

"Oh, really?" Jess scoffs, shoving Lucy's hands off him. "Tristan should run while he has the chance before you lunge at him." He offers her a smile, and Lucy charges forward again but I grab ahold of her wrists before she has the chance.

"Dad!" She fights against me as I drag her out of the bathroom. Jess is still laughing behind me, and I have to mentally restrain myself from locking them both in separate rooms for the remainder of the night. It would solve a lot of problems though.

"Okay! That's enough." I move Lucy into the apartment, but she's still trying to escape and attack her cousin.

"Psycho!" Lucy yells.

"Moron!" Jess yells back, and before Lucy can utter another word, I cover her mouth with my hand. She might bite me, but hopefully she's not that—

"Seriously?" I retract my hand but keep a hand on her shoulder. "That's enough, okay? Jess, shut up and finish doing whatever the hell it is that you're doing. Lucy, use the other mirror, okay? You have one for a reason."

"But the lighting is—"

I pin her with a stern look. "Luce."

"You know, Jess is lucky that mirror can't laugh," she mutters as she moves away from me.

Jess peeks his head out from the bathroom to deliver one final jab, "Watch you don't crack it. Would just hate for you to have bad luck, Luce."

Lucy opens her mouth to respond, but I point a finger at her, trying to urge her to be the bigger person here. I don't need them fighting, not anymore, and while I usually find it entertaining, it's getting out of hand at this point. Seriously, most days they can't stand to be in the same room as each other. They have on and off days, and I guess today is an off day for them.

They're the strangest pair in the world, and I question whether it's my influence that's bugging them. I shake my head, refusing to take any blame in their insanity. We're in close quarters, and with them sharing a room, I imagine it's quite difficult to have the space. I know they do actually like each other, they just bicker a lot, but family do, right?

Since Jess decided to come back to Stars Hollow after the crash, I've been trying to deal with the backlash the town has given me due to his return. They're not... super happy about his return, but he's family and I don't give up on family under any circumstances. If he needs help, he's got it from me and Lucy. On several occasions, she's defended him against a few townsfolk who like to run their mouth about the crash they know nothing about.

Over the years, I'm seeing a lot of myself in Lucy. Her attitude, her passion and drive all reflect the values I uphold, and I admire that she's so quick to defend someone she constantly argues with just because he's family. She even offered to tutor him as long as they didn't go on any car rides which, I think, is fair.

Lucy is still— and will always be— my number one priority. She'll always be the most important person in my life, but I've also got to be there for Jess. I've got to be a person he can trust because he never received the correct care from his mother. I haven't spoken to my sister in months, and I don't plan on doing so. Regardless, I'll take care of Jess and do the job she didn't do, and one day I hope he can appreciate it.

When Jess storms out of the apartment ten minutes later after moussing his hair to the point of crazy, Lucy and I drive down to Sniffy's to celebrate Maisie's sixtieth birthday. I feel guilty for coming later than usual, but the second we walk in, Maisie is wrapping us into a tight hug.

Maisie drags Lucy around the party, showing her off to all of her friends, and I order a beer for myself as Lucy shakes hands with everybody. A lot of Maisie and Buddy's friends were friends of my father, and while they've met me, I guess they've never been introduced to my kid. After Dad died, I lost contact with a lot of folk except for Buddy and Maisie. They're family to me and to Lucy.

When Maisie finishes showing off my daughter, Maisie hugs me again. "Thank you for coming, Lucas!" She beams, her hands on my face. "You'll be giving a speech later, won't you?"

Speeches? We have to give speeches?

Before I can object, Lucy steps forward. "Of course he will." She looks at me with a knowing smile, and I shake my head. She knows I suck at giving speeches, but for the sake of my family, I'll try my damn hardest.

"Only if you give one too, kid." I wrap an arm around her shoulders, and Lucy chuckles.

"Oh, of course." I can hear the fear in her voice, because I know she isn't the greatest at speeches. While she's generally an outgoing, extraverted person, she hates public speeches. "Anything for you, right, Dad?" She nudges me hard, and I nearly choke on my drink.

"Anything for you," I cough out.

Maisie rushes off, leaving me and Lucy to glare at one another. "I can't believe you did that. I hate speeches."

"You started it," I remark, and then I realise I sound like a freaking five-year-old.

"Yeah, because you're going to have to give many of these in the future." I scoff because this will be the last speech I ever give, trust me.

"Definitely not."

"You're saying you won't give a speech when I— your only baby girl gets married?" She pouts, and I shake my head, disappointed that she's acting sad to get me to say whatever the hell she wants.

"You know, you haven't done that since you were, like, five and wanted chocolate before breakfast."

Lucy laughs, and she leans against my arm. "What can I say? I know how to get whatever I want." Yes, she does.

"Giving a speech won't be too hard, right?"

   There's two reason I don't do speeches. The first reason is that I hate being heartfelt to a bunch of people when the speech is generally directed at one person, and only one person. The second reason I hate giving speeches is because I'm bad at speaking without people watching me, so having all these people stare at me as I hold a microphone is pretty daunting. It's safe to say that I hate giving speeches, especially when I have no idea what I'm supposed to say.

   I tap the microphone head several times after hearing a horrible scratching noise. Off to a great start, Luke.

   "Uh, hello everybody." I chuckle awkwardly, my hand wrapped around the microphone as I look out to the crowd. I see Lucy grinning at our usual table, and I watch her lift her thumbs up in encouragement. I've got this. "I'll keep this short as I'm... Well, I hate being up here." A few people laugh, breaking the awkward ice I stand on and I feel like I can finally breathe.

   I look towards the woman of the hour. "Maisie, happy sixtieth." Everybody cheers, including Lucy who whoops the loudest, I swear to God. "If I can make it to that age and be as happy as you, I'll feel pretty accomplished." I laugh, and Maisie beams at me. At least she's happy, right?

   "You mean a great deal to me, and to Lucy. Without your love and support, I wouldn't be where I am." I clear my throat, and I look away from Maisie as holding eye contact isn't something I'm too good at either. "Thank you for everything. You're a wonderful person, Maisie. Happy birthday."

   Maisie rushes over to me, and she wraps me into another hug again. She presses two rather sloppy kisses to my cheeks, and I thank her again before I step away just as Lucy steps up to take the microphone.

   She looks less nervous than me, and the second she speaks into the microphone, she's confident and clear. "Hey, everybody. I'm not sure how I'll follow on from my dad's wonderful, wonderful speech." She glances over at me, and I chuckle. "Anyway, uh, Maisie... happy birthday. Like Dad said, you mean a lot to us, and I'm so grateful for all you've done." Lucy looks over at Maisie as she finishes with, "You've been the best grandmother to me, and I love you so much."

   The second Lucy finishes her rather heartwarming speech, Maisie is holding onto her tightly. Maisie loves my daughter, I can see that, and I seriously am grateful for all the help Buddy and her have given me over the years. Without them, I don't know where I'd be. Because Lucy lost her grandparents, it's nice that she has Buddy and Maisie to stand in and be that extra support system. It makes things easy for me too as I've always wanted her to have as much family as possible.

   When Lucy rejoins me, she's wrapping her arm around mine. "I think mine was better," she comments, and I can't argue with that.

   I pat a hand against her head. "Can't argue with that one, kid. You made her cry."

   "Don't worry, Dad, for your sixtieth, I'll do an even sappier speech, I promise."

   I don't even want to think about that.

   "Something to look forward to then."

   "Everyday with me is something to look forward to, Dad."

   I smile, and Lucy leans her head against my arm again. "You're right about that, kid."

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[ LUCY'S POV ]

AT ONE IN THE MORNING, I VENTURE DOWNSTAIRS BECAUSE I'M STARVING. While I ate too much party food at Maisie's birthday party, I'm strangely very awake and hungry for anything. I'm lucky Dad owns a diner because I get all the free food I want at any hour I want. It's the best.

I step into the back room, and I flick on the light. The second I do, I nearly scream because I come face to face with my cousin.

He's snacking on cereal from the box, and I wish I had my camera because I'd totally take a photo of this exact moment.

I had no idea he was home. When Dad and I got back three hours ago, Dad fell straight to sleep and I stayed awake reading over the recent chapter Tristan gave me two days ago. Jess hadn't returned, and I assumed he wouldn't be until the morning. As it's now the summer break, Jess can be out at anytime of the night and Dad won't say a word as long as he checks in by the morning.

Now I find that he's here and he's snacking on the Lucky Charms.

I sigh, and I skulk into the room. Without saying a word to each other, I sit next to Jess and open my palm. He pours part of the cereal into my open hand and I begin to snack on the cereal silently.

Hours before this we were arguing, and I was close to ripping his hair out and now we're sitting quietly and eating cereal out of the box. We're a strange pair, I'll say that, but there's stranger people out there... I hope.

I cross my legs on the bench that sits in the middle of the room, and I open my hand again to take more cereal.

"Hey, what's your favourite charm?" I ask, looking down at my palm to examine the marshmallow charms.

Jess takes a handful of the cereal from the box, and opens his hand to have a look. "Um, the rainbow."

"Mines the heart," I say, slipping one into my mouth.

When I came down here, I had no idea what I wanted to eat and now I'm eating cereal without milk, but it seems to be fulfilling me either way. Who knew cereal is what I wanted at one in the morning?

We continue to eat the cereal, clearing half of the box before I speak again. "Hey, where were you?" is what I ask, but I'm not sure I'll get a response.

"Nowhere," he grumbles.

"Ah, right." I nod, but I don't accept the answer because I'm stubborn and I want to know where he disappeared to. "You have a secret job?" He pins me with a confused glare, so I figure that's not the answer. "Strange hobby?" No. "Oo, a girlfriend?" He looks away from me, and that confirms my answer. "Ah, you do."

"I'm not discussing this with you of all people."

I ignore him. "Who is she?"

"Who?"

"The girl you're seeing."

"There's no girl."

"Yes, there is. Who is she?"

"You wouldn't know her." Ha! Knew there was a girl. I have a way of annoying information out of people I've realised.

I scoff. "I know everyone in this town. Try me, genius."

He sighs, choosing to admit his fate. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Annoy people into telling you whatever you want?"

I shrug, and I take another mouthful of cereal. "I'm not annoying you, I'm just asking politely. Besides, we're practically best friends. You have to tell me."

"We're not friends," he insists.

"Deny all you want, but I'm basically your only friend in this town." I know that isn't tried but I'm saying anything and everything just so he can tell me who this mystery girl is. "So, who is she?"

I hear Jess mutter some curse word under his breath, and before I can argue with him, he finally says, "Shane." I stare at him blankly. "What?"

"Shane who?"

He shrugs. "I don't know."

"You don't know her last name?" I don't know why I'm surprised. Jess doesn't seem like the type of guy who would ask for that kind of information before being with a girl.

"She doesn't know mine," he defends, and I laugh at how ridiculous this all sounds. "What?"

I shrug it off. "Nothing. Just..." I take another handful of cereal. "If you don't mind me asking, I thought—"

"I do mind you asking."

"—I thought you liked Rory."

Jess freezes at the mention of her name, and I sense I said the wrong thing or the right thing that he doesn't want to hear. Either way, he doesn't look pleased to hear about the Gilmore girl who just left for DC for six weeks. She took off shortly after Sookie's wedding, and because Lorelai doesn't come into the diner at the moment, I have no idea how she's doing.

Jess takes a handful of the cereal again, ignoring me and I fall silent for only a second before I decide to open my mouth again because, of course, I can't leave well enough alone.

"Besides me, the only people you would talk to were Addy and Rory, so I just assumed—"

"You don't know anything, Luce," he interrupts.

I look away from him to stare down at the floor. "You like Rory," I utter, and Jess doesn't say a word. He just shifts on his seat, and stares down at the floor too. "Huh."

Jess' sigh sounds frustrated. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just didn't know you were capable of having feelings." I shoot him a sarcastic smile, and I hear him scoff. "Sorry."

He shrugs. "Not a big deal."

"Are you using this Shane to get over Rory?"

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing. Just that, if you are, it's not fair to her," I say, but I honestly don't know why I'm talking about this with Jess. It's one in the morning, we're eating cereal, and I'm offering my sound advice about a girl. Oh, how the tables have turned, right? "And it's not fair to Dean if Rory feels the same way about you."

I knew all along that Jess and Rory had some sort of feeling towards one another, but I never thought anything of it because I assumed nothing would change but now I'm starting to think something has happened based on Jess' reaction to the mention of Rory.

Jess continues to stare at the floor. "She doesn't feel the same way," he tells me, but I don't really believe him.

"You sure?" He doesn't say anything, so I don't say anything else. If he wants to talk, he can talk, and if he doesn't, we can just sit here.

He sighs, sitting the cereal box in between us. "Cereal hour is getting too poetic. I'm heading to bed." And with that note, he stands up and leaves me to eat the remainder of the cereal.

I think about how family really is a funny thing because hours ago, Jess and I were cursing each other out, and now we've managed to hold a strange conversation about something personal without killing each other.

It's all just a little bit strange.

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authors note:

this chapter hasn't been proof read as i'm lazy and it's a filler chapter . . . the first of many before the storyline follows season three

also . . . we got a luke pov yay

next chapter will have a tristan pov which is something i've not done yet but have always wanted to write

i'm back and ready to continue this story as i've been kinda struggling to come up with ideas but here it is

i know y'all like tristan being in the chapters — as do i — but i want to focus on lucy and her relationships with Luke and Jess as they're important characters duh

anyway, hope you enjoyed!!