A/N: I think this is going to be the last chapter…I'm not sure yet…I'll let you know at the bottom author's note.
Character Recap:
Shelby, Rory, Jess, Lorelai, Luke, Justin, Matt, Macy, Lucas, and Garret
Disclaimer: Don't own…
On with the story…
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Chapter 4: Acceptance
Shelby hung up her phone and put it back in her pocket. She walked with a determined look on her face, love in her eyes, and purpose in her step back to the Mariano home. By the time she was about 2 blocks from her house she broke out into a run. When she finally reached her house, she busted in the door. Rory and Jess jumped because of the sudden noise and they turned to face the door. Shelby was breathing heavily and all Rory and Jess could do was look at her expectantly.
"I love you," Shelby cried hoarsely.
"Oh Sweets, we love you, too," Rory assured as she immediately got up from the couch and went over to hug Shelby.
"I'm so sorry," Shelby whispered over and over again, crying.
"You're sorry? Sorry for what babe?" Rory asked.
"For being so mean to you guys! For taking you for granted! I was such a horrible daughter! How could you possibly still love me?" Shelby sobbed into Rory's chest.
"Shelby Francis Mariano," Jess said sternly, "How could you even think that we wouldn't love you? You are our daughter, our baby girl; we could never not love you."
Shelby was not sobbing freely, "I'm so sorry," she kept repeating.
"Don't even worry about it. We completely understand," Jess said as he hugged her to his chest.
"Are you sure?" Shelby whispered.
"Positive," Rory answered.
"Okay," was Shelby's only reply. She clung to Jess and he stood, stroking her hair, trying to sooth her.
All of sudden, Lindsey Elizabeth Mariano decided to grace their presence and bolted into the living room.
"SHELBY!" she exclaimed.
"Yes Lin?" Shelby said as she pulled away from Jess.
"Why are you crying?" Lindsey asked.
"Because I was upset," Shelby told her.
"Why?" Lindsey tilted her head to the side.
"It doesn't matter anymore," Shelby smiled at Lindsey and started to tickle her.
"AH! NO! Shelby! Ahhh!! NO! STOP!" Lindsey squealed.
"Nope! I'm the tickle monster!" Shelby told Lindsey and kept tickling her.
After many minutes of intense tickling, Shelby stopped and she and Lindsey were on the floor breathing heavily, Rory and Jess off to the side smiling at their girls.
"I love you, Shelby," Lindsey said and hugged her.
"I love you, too Lindsey," Shelby replied, hugging her back.
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Later; Luke's Diner
Rory and Jess hadn't told anyone that Shelby knew. The only people that knew were Hailey and everyone that Shelby had told. So, when the Marianos walked into Luke's Diner that evening, Shelby was the only one that felt uncomfortable.
"Hey Shelby! How's my grandbaby?" Lorelai asked and brought Shelby into a hug.
"Gra-an," Lindsey dragged her name into two syllables and tugged on her shirt.
"Yes Lin?" Lorelai looked down at her other grandchild.
"I want a hug!" Lindsey said.
"Of course!" Lorelai picked her up and hugged her tightly to her.
"Hey Shell," Macy laughed at Lorelai and Lindsey as she hugged Shelby.
"Hi Aunt Macy," Shelby also laughed at her sister's antics.
"Is that little Shelby? The little girl who kept me up at all hours of the night when her father was forced to take her?" Matt smirked at Shelby and Shelby ran to him, she always did love her Uncle Matt.
"Hey Uncle Matt," Shelby laughed, "and yes, I was that little baby," Shelby answered, "Sorry about that," she stage whispered.
"No problem kiddo," Matt said.
"Where's my little Lucas?" Shelby's smile brightened and her eyes lit up.
"Right here," came Luke's gruff reply, "Don't call me Lucas."
"No, not you Gramps, Lucas! My little Lucas!" Shelby explained.
"He and Garret should be here any minute," Matt said.
"Okay," Shelby replied. Then you heard Lorelai gasp.
"Mom?" Matt said.
"Oh, okay," Lorelai sighed with relief and put a hand to her chest.
"Mom? What's going on?" Matt questioned again.
Shelby knew what was going on. Lorelai glanced at Shelby then to Rory and back to Matt, "I know," Shelby whispered, looking down at her shoes.
"What?" Matt said confused.
"I know," Shelby repeated, looking Matt in the eyes, trying to get him to understand.
Realization dawned on his face, "Oh."
"She knows?" Macy asked.
"YES! I know! My God! I've known for two days and have accepted it. So, if we could drop this and have a nice family dinner that would be great," Shelby exclaimed, sardonically at the end.
"Okay," Matt said as Lucas and Garret walked in.
"Lucas!" Shelby exclaimed and ran over to her cousin.
"Hey Shell," Lucas chuckled at his cousin's enthusiasm.
"Garret," Shelby smiled and hugged him also.
"Hi Shelby," Garret replied.
"Wait," Shelby stands up straight and turns to the counter, "Where's Justin, Gramps?"
"Right here," Justin says, coming from the stairs behind the counter.
"Hey!" Shelby bounced over to him to give him a hug.
"What's with you, Mariano?" Justin asked skeptically.
"What?" Shelby said with a funny face.
"Why so perky?" he inquired.
"Having a good day," she smiled at him.
"I know you better than that, Mariano," Justin narrowed his eyes.
"I'll talk to you later, Danes," Shelby said seriously.
"Okay," Justin replied, knowing that this was something serious.
Shelby and Justin, although 2 years apart, were very close with each other.
"Let's eat!" Lorelai exclaimed suddenly.
"Yeah!" Rory agreed and they pushed tables together to have a nice family dinner as Shelby had suggested.
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9:30pm; Above the Diner
Shelby and Justin were sitting on the couch above the diner watching TV while their parents talked downstairs. Macy, Matt, Lucas, and Garret had already gone home and so Shelby and Justin decided to sneak upstairs so they wouldn't have to clean anything or help close up.
Suddenly, Justin turned off the TV.
"Hey, I was watching that," Shelby whined.
"So, why the mood?" Justin asked.
"You sure you want to know? It's kind of odd," Shelby suddenly found fasination in her hands.
"Unless it has something to do with a boy, than yes I want to know," Justin insisted.
"Okay, well first of all, my parents aren't my parents, I'm adopted," Shelby started.
"What? But you and Jess have the same hair and you have Rory's eyes," Justin said, shocked.
"Well, I'm related to them," Shelby explained.
"How?" Justin asked.
"They're my cousins," Shelby informed.
"What!?" Justin exclaimed.
Shelby sighed, "Your parents are my aunt and uncle and Hailey is my sister."
"Whoa, back up! Explain this in a logical way please," Justin requested.
"When I was 6 months old and Hailey was 15, our parents left us to our house by ourselves and told us to go see a Lorelai Gilmore if we needed anything. Hailey couldn't handle it, so she came here to Stars Hollow and Lorelai and Luke let us live with them. Jess and Rory, who were young and in love, took me as their daughter, apparently, they fell in love me at first sight."
"So, in summary: my biological mom is Gran's sister, Hailey is my sister, my parents are actually my cousins and your parents are my aunt and uncle," Shelby finished.
"Wow," Justin sat back in the couch.
"Yup," Shelby replied as she also sat back.
Justin turned his head to face her, "You were happy about this?"
"No, I was happy that after I found out, my parents forgave me for the way I reacted," Shelby answered, also tuning her head.
He turned his head back, "Oh."
"Yeah," she said and laid her head on his shoulder.
The Gilmore/Mariano/Danes family accepted the truth and realized that this changed nothing. They still loved each other the same and treated each other the same. Rory and Jess were still Shelby's parents and Lorelai and Luke were still Hailey's parents and Shelby's grandparents. Hailey was still Shelby's aunt and Lindsey was still her sister. Although the truth hurt, everything would be okay because they were a family and families get each other through everything, even when it hurts like hell.
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A/N: Okay, so that was the last chapter. I know this story was short-lived and not very interesting, but that's okay. It wasn't going to go into a whole other story line thing. If you guys really want, I can write a story about the trip to New York, but that's about the only other thing you're going to get from this story. Okay, so that's it.
Personal Thank You-s:
Literati and naley forever- Once again, thank you bunches for reviewing!
RBDFAN- Ahh, it's good to know I'll always have you and Curley-Q to review my stuff.
Curley-Q- What can I say? You are a very faithful reviewer. You and RBDFAN are pretty much my favorite reviewers.
hollowgirl22- Also one of my favorite reviewers. Thanks so much for the reviews!
Dark Cascade- Thank you very very much for the high praise. It means so much to know people like my stuff that much! I hope you liked how this turned out!
RoryLoganluver- Thank you for the review and suggestion about the characters. When I started writing I didn't realize how many characters there were. Plus, all of the people who were introduced because of the epilogue to the prequel. I hope I made it easier!