Title: Again
Author: KateToast
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Set over two years after Raincoats and Recipes. Luke's POV 
during Lorelai's pregnancy, and his relationship with those around him. 
Begins before 'For Once', and continues on. Not much angst.
Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner 
Bros., and all those other smart, rich people.

A/N: I couldn't help it. I decided to write a WIP that takes place 
right before 'For Once', and then continues during Lorelai's pregnancy, 
pretty much all from Luke's POV. Credit is due to TWoP, because the 
people there are fantastic, they're all supportive, and inspired some 
of this.

XXX

Well, this was weird.

Luke Danes had slung an arm to the other side of the bed, where he had 
expected to find his wife curled up beside him. Instead, he got a 
pillow.

He opened his eyes slowly and looked at the digital clock on the 
nightstand (he had forced her to get one that wasn't fluffy and didn't 
purr when they had gotten married). It was only 5:10 in the morning. 
His alarm would be going off in twenty minutes, signaling him to get up 
and start the day down at the diner. What was different was that 
Lorelai had gotten up before him, something she had never done for as 
long as Luke could remember.

Shrugging to himself, Luke figured she was just in the bathroom, or 
doing something only she could think up at five in the morning 
downstairs. He got comfortable again, and drifted back to sleep. He 
wanted those twenty minutes.

After waking again and still not finding Lorelai, he became suspicious. 
By six he was showered, flannelled, and downstairs, where he found the 
love of his life sitting curled up on the couch, a robe rapped around 
her cow-pajama clad self, eating a pop-tart.

When he made his appearance, she brightened. "Hey, honey," she said as 
cheery as could be, finishing off the faux-breakfast.

"Hey," he returned, sitting beside her on the couch. Lorelai threw some 
of the afghan she was using over him. "You were up early."

"Yeah, well, couldn't sleep." This was surprising. She could always 
sleep.

"Did it snow?" Luke asked as he turned his head to look out the window, 
thinking that was the logical answer.

"No, but I think it will have by the end of the day."

"Oh."

The couple sat in silence, and Luke watched his wife, wondering, not 
for the first time, what was going on in that pretty head of hers.

"Hey Luke?" she said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Remember a few months ago we went to the mall..."

"No," he said without hesitating. Then he remembered. "Wait, wait, was 
that the time you tried to get me to buy the 'Kiss the Cook' apron?"

"Yes." She giggled softly, then composed herself. "That's not the 
point. Okay, remember how I made you go into Baby Gap because I wanted 
to see the cute little outfits?"

Luke wasn't following her logic at all. "Yeah. So?"

She waited a moment, then said, "I think we should go back there. 
Soon."

Now completely lost, Luke looked at her. Lorelai was smiling widely, as 
if waiting for him to piece something together. Her words hung in the 
air a bit longer, before the light bulb clicked on above Luke's head.

"Are you saying...," he began, trying to wrap his mind around this 
concept.

Giggling once again, Lorelai nodded. "Yup. You and I are going to be 
the proud shoppers of all things baby, until we're forced to move into 
big kid's stuff."

Luke was shocked. His head slowly rotated to face forward, so he was 
staring at a commercial where that damn rabbit was still trying to get 
his Trix. Why hasn't he gotten the cereal yet? He thought momentarily, 
then came back to what his wife had just said because honestly, the 
rabbit wasn't his biggest concern right now.

This was certainly not what he had been expecting this morning.

"Luke?" Lorelai prodded. "Are you...okay with this?"

Nodding a bit too vigorously, Luke let out a deep breath. "Yeah, oh, 
totally, it's just...wow."

"I know," she said quietly, and Luke could almost see the glow that 
people always say pregnant women have.

He blinked a few times, then turned so he was facing her again. "When 
did you find out?" he choked out.

"Um, yesterday. I spent all day trying to figure out how to tell you. 
You should've seen me, I was so absent-minded. Michel wanted to 
throttle me."

"When doesn't he?" Luke chuckled, starting to get used to the idea of a 
baby.

"So are you happy?" Lorelai asked, her eyes shining.

Luke couldn't wipe the large smile that had overtaken his face. "I'm 
happier than I thought I ever could be." He had no idea what to say 
now, and it was beginning to get overly mushy, the two of them just 
looking at each other with identical beaming grins.

"I love you," she said, tears streaming down her face.

"I love you too." Luke wrapped his arms around Lorelai, and when she 
pulled back, she was laughing.

"I'm having a baby. Again."

"We're having a baby, together," he said supportively. This sent her 
into more tears and giggles.

"I have to tell Rory!" she yelled as she jumped up from the couch and 
ran to the phone.

Sighing and lying back against the couch, Luke watched her. "You know, 
she's going to be home in a few hours for Christmas break."

"Are you telling me not to call my daughter and tell her that she's 
going to have a little brother or sister?" Lorelai looked at him as if 
he were suggesting not taking up the invitation to the Queen's house 
for tea.

Not wanting to incur his wife's wrath, he lifted his hands in defeat. 
"Call her." So she did, while Luke listened to her side of the 
conversation.

"Rory?...Yeah, hon, I know it's early...Yes, I know the exact time...Uh 
huh...Okay, if you'd just stop ranting for a minute, I want to tell you 
something...Yes, it's important enough to wake you up at six in the 
morning...Alright," she took a breath. "I'm pregnant." It was weird for 
even Luke to hear those words. But a good weird.

There was a long pause on their end, during which Luke could hear 
muffled shrieks coming from the phone. Obviously, the young Gilmore was 
pleased.

"Okay, babe, you gotta stop screeching in mommy's ear now...Yeah, I 
know," she said excitedly. "...Uh huh...We'll discuss details when you 
get here...Okay, see you soon." Lorelai hung up the phone with an even 
happier flourish, if that were possible. "She's coming home as soon as 
she can pack some stuff."

She went and sat back down beside Luke, leaning her head against his 
shoulder. "Don't you have to open the diner?"

Luke put an arm around her shoulders. "They can wait, for once. I want 
to sit here with you."

Burrowing herself into him, Lorelai pulled up the afghan to her neck. 
"Oh man, wait 'till we tell my parents. Maybe that vein in my mother's 
forehead will finally pop."

"They'll be excited, I'm sure."

"And everyone in town! I mean, they were betting on when we were gonna 
get together for years. Do you think they have a pool for how long it 
took you to knock me up?"

"Nice choice of words; very classy."

"Hey, I just speak the truth."

"Yeah, I know."

And in all of seven minutes, Luke Danes had turned from gruff diner-
owner to softhearted father-to-be.

XXX

"Luke!"

The man in question looked up from behind the counter of his diner at 
the sound of his name, spotting his step-daughter immediately. Before 
he could prepare himself, let alone move from behind the counter, she 
had launched herself on him.

"Oh my God, I can't believe it! I just came from the house, and Sookie 
was over with mom, and we all-"

"Rory, uh, nobody really knows yet, so if you could keep your voice to 
a low mumble, since there are ears everywhere..." Luke raised his 
eyebrows.

She nodded and let go of him, taking it down a notch. "I can't believe 
it. It's incredible. I've always wanted a sibling, you know."

"Well...good." Secretly, Luke was pleased that Rory was so happy.

The girl looked around the diner. "Lane isn't working today?"

"I think she's rehearsing at her apartment with the guys." Lane and her 
band mates still owned an apartment together, but they had gotten a 
larger one once they had started to get publicity.

"Alright, I'm gonna head over there. Mom said I could tell her." Rory 
looked up at him with her mother's eyes. "Congratulations, Luke."

Becoming bashful, all Luke could do was hug Rory again, before she was 
out the door.

XXX

"Luke, I thought you promised us 8:30," Lorelai said with a smirk.

"Yeah, well, everyone's been wondering what's been wrong with me today, 
and they wouldn't get out," he said, waving a hand at the customers, 
who were mostly made up of townies hanging on their every word.

"Maybe we should tell them all now; get it over with?" Lorelai looked 
at him expectantly.

"Tell us what, sugar?" Babette asked eagerly.

"Might as well," Luke agreed, sighing.

"Good luck," Rory muttered.

Lorelai looked around at everyone present, pausing for dramatic effect. 
Then she smiled. "We're having a baby," she said proudly.

The diner was silent. Then, all together, the crowd rushed over to the 
family with shrieks and yells and congratulations.

It took them half an hour to herd everyone out after that announcement, 
and now Luke, Lorelai and Rory had the diner to themselves. They've 
always seemed to have been here after closing time, Luke realized.

Rory swung her legs back and forth from her perch on the counter. 
Normally, Luke wouldn't allow this, but he made the exception just this 
once. "So do you think it's a boy or a girl?" She stuffed some chips in 
her mouth.

Lorelai considered from her place at the table that was positioned in 
front of her daughter. "I don't really know. If it's a girl, then, you 
know, that's great, because I know how to take care of girls, since 
you're a girl-"

"That's what they've been telling me for twenty-two years."

"-and not to mention I'm a girl, and I think I've done a very good job 
raising myself."

Luke glanced through the small kitchen window separating it from the 
dining area. "The coffee addiction and the incessant babbling not 
included, correct?" He smirked.

"You know what, you're mean," Lorelai began. "Here I am, carrying your 
child, soon to become fat with swollen ankles, and made into such a 
horrible-looking creature that no man will ever look at me ever again."

Rory cocked her head to the side. "You know, you do look a bit 
green..."

"And the morning sickness hasn't even started yet, which I'm assuming 
will any day now-"

"Lorelai?"

"-and then I won't be able to find anything to eat that pleases me, 
which is crazy because I'll eat anything-"

"Lorelai?"

"-and both of you, the last two people on Earth who will even talk to 
me despite my hideous state, will realize how much better off you were 
with the old Lorelai and hide out until I pop, then reappear at a 
convenient time to-"

"Lorelai!"

"What, Luke?" She scrutinized him.

"Look outside."

"Why?"

"Just do it," he groaned, then went back into the kitchen.

Rory jumped off the counter and led her mother to the window. They both 
smiled when they saw the snow starting to fall. Lorelai put an arm 
around her daughter.

"I think this is a good sign," Rory stated.

"Man, do I hope so. I don't think I could go so long without seeing you 
or Luke. Promise me you won't go into hiding."

"I promise. At least, I won't until after graduation."

Luke appeared behind them holding four plates, three with a burger on 
each and one with a large order of fries. "So, are we gonna start 
celebrating?"

Lorelai gasped. "Luke, are you going to eat...french fries?"

"I'm livin' a little." He grinned at his wife's obvious disbelief. 
"Actually, the plate is for you and Rory."

Rory let out a breath. "For a minute there I thought you were an 
imposter trying to be Luke."

"Hey, some things don't change. Like the fact that one day, all this 
fried and greasy food is going to clog your arteries so bad that you'll 
die because your body can't pump enough blood to the heart, and the 
valves will be all messed up-"

"And here I thought you had to eat something that disagrees with you 
before wanting to puke during a pregnancy," Lorelai said as she threw 
down a french fry she had been about to eat.

Luke shrugged. "Eat some carrots, dear."

XXX

Luke shifted nervously beside Rory, who was standing in between her 
mother and step-father as they waited outside the Gilmore mansion for 
someone to fetch them at the door.

"Luke, relax," Rory said quietly.

"I am, I'm totally relaxed," he replied unconvincingly.

Lorelai leaned closer to the two. "Shouldn't I be the one freaking out? 
They're my parents, after all." She looked back at the door. "This is 
ridiculous, let's just go in ourselves."

She took the key to the house out of her purse and unlocked the large 
door. The trio stepped inside as a maid walked over. Luke was slightly 
surprised; it was the same maid who had been here the last time they 
attended dinner with the elder Gilmore's. Emily must be getting soft, 
he thought.

"So sorry for the delay," she said, strained. "Mrs. Gilmore couldn't 
decide where to put a decoration."

"Perfectly fine," Lorelai waved off as she handed her coat to the 
maid's outstretched hands. "And where are my lovely parents?"

"In the living room, Mrs. Danes."

"Hey, hey, I thought we had a deal. You call me 'Lorelai' and I try to 
make my mother lay off," she said.

The maid nodded with a small smile and took Luke and Rory's coats. The 
three entered the living room to find Richard Gilmore sitting in his 
usual chair, reading the paper and sipping a drink, and Emily Gilmore, 
fluttering around the room.

"There you all are!" Emily exclaimed as she made her way over to them 
and hugged Rory.

Lorelai rolled her eyes as her mother led Rory to the couch. "Yeah, hi, 
mom." She sat down, and Luke followed suit, nervously folding his hands 
in his lap. Lorelai covered them with one of her own.

"So, what's new with you three? Rory, how does it feel to be on 
vacation? It's your last winter break from Yale. How's that boyfriend 
of yours?" Emily was up again, heading to their drink selection.

"Well, vacation has been good so far. I've only been home two days. And 
Greg's great; he's home with his family."

"Of course, of course. He's a fine young man, and a good reviewer. I 
just read one of the books he reviewed recently." Emily turned to the 
group. "So, what's everyone drinking?" She eyed her husband. "Richard, 
you haven't even said hello to them. Put the newspaper down."

Doing what he was instructed, Richard nodded to the family. "Hello, 
all. Don't mean to be rude, there was a fascinating article in the 
paper today. And I'll have a scotch, Emily."

"I'll just have a white wine, Grandma." Luke was still trying to get 
used to Rory drinking, even though she had been legal for over a year 
already.

"Uh, some water would be fine, Emily." He didn't trust himself with 
alcohol right now.

"Same for me, mom." Lorelai glanced at Luke, asking with her eyes if 
they should tell them now. Luke nodded in the affirmative. Rory noticed 
the exchange and started smiling.

"Hey, uh, mom, dad," Lorelai started. "You know me and Luke." Luke 
wanted to roll his eyes, but resisted the urge.

Emily raised an eyebrow as she brought the drinks on a tray to where 
everyone was sitting. "Yes, I believe we do."

"Well, heh, here's the great part about us." Rory nodded encouragingly, 
and Luke took her hand again. "Okay, right." She stalled a bit longer 
while Richard and Emily looked at her, perplexed.

"Mom," Rory groaned.

"Yeah, okay, okay. I'm pregnant."

Stopping her process of handing out drinks, Emily looked up slowly to 
her daughter. Richard sat still for a moment.

"Uh...yay," Lorelai added, keeping her hopes up. Luke prayed they were 
happy.

"Why, Lorelai," her mother began. Luke could feel his wife brace 
herself beside him. "This is...wonderful! Oh, just wonderful. Isn't 
this wonderful, Richard?" She excitedly turned to her husband.

"I'm very happy for you. Both of you," Lorelai's father said, a smile 
about to break on his normally-solemn face.

Luke leaned away as Emily came rushing forward, gathering her only 
child in a hug. Lorelai looked from Luke to Rory, obviously not 
expecting this reaction from her parents.

Luke stood quickly as Richard appeared in front of him. He shook the 
large man's hand. "Congratulations. And Lorelai," he started as he took 
his daughter's hands and lifted her. "I'm glad you've done so well for 
yourself."

Hoping it was a compliment, and taking it that way, Lorelai blushed. 
"Thanks, dad."

By now Rory was standing and talking animatedly with Emily about baby 
clothes and the gender and names. Luke took this moment to stand back a 
bit and watch the original Gilmore family, the one's whose world he 
hadn't really stepped into until he proclaimed, "Will you just stand 
still?"

When he and Lorelai had first begun their romantic relationship that 
summer of '04 (they'd always had some sort of relationship, he 
concluded), everything in her life had been a mess. Rory had slept with 
a married Dean, her parents were separated, and Jason had become some 
sort of stalker ex-boyfriend. A large rift that seemed un-fixable soon 
settled between she and every member of her family; Rory was angry that 
her mother was intruding in her life, and her parents were angry that 
she had tried to meddle in their own business. Luke had tried to 
comfort all he could, but he knew it'd never be enough. So instead, he 
told that Scooper guy to lay off (Rory had told him the story of the 
mixed up nicknames much later, after he had proposed to Lorelai).

Then, after some sort of confrontation with Dean that she's never 
spoken of, Rory had taken Emily up on her offer, and the two had gone 
to Europe for a few weeks to escape their problems. But of course, as 
he had said many times before to Lorelai, they came back. She and Rory 
began repairing what they could of their broken relationship as the 
college student returned to Yale and met Greg, the young man she had 
been dating for almost two years, who was only a year older and already 
a successful book reviewer. After another few months of separation, 
Richard and Emily decided to try counseling. There was a brief stint 
where Christopher was around, but Luke had decided after the ordeal 
that it was in the past and not worth dwelling on.

So in October of '05 he had proposed and she had accepted, by May of 
'06 they were married, and now here they were, seven months later, 
expecting a baby. Life really couldn't get better, Luke had decided.

"Luke, come here; tell me how you're going to manage taking care of my 
daughter and a child and run your diner. It will be a spectacle to see, 
I don't doubt," Emily joked, beckoning him over.

XXX


Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner 
Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.

Spoilers: Slight spoilers for season 5 (only small mentions).

A/N: Going one month at a time...

This story isn't necessarily about only Lorelai's pregnancy. It's about 
Luke's relationship with the people around him a few years in the 
future, so events from R&R are already behind them all.

XXX

"Well that went strangely well," Lorelai said from the passenger side 
of the four-door car Luke had made her get the year before ("It's much 
safer than your old Jeep," he had said). The three were nearing Stars 
Hollow, though it was extremely late, since Emily and Richard (more 
Emily than Richard) had wanted to talk everything baby for two hours 
after they had told them.

"I think this is all going great," Rory announced from the backseat. 
"The town is happy, the family is happy...we're like a great big 
Christmas tree."

"Christmas tree?" Lorelai laughed.

"Well, yeah, I mean, Christmas trees are happy..."

"Not the one in that Charlie Brown Christmas movie."

"Well, it got happy at the end. I don't know, it's near the holiday, it 
was what I thought of."

"Fine, whatever. We're a Christmas tree."

Luke finally let out the guffaw he had been holding in during their 
conversation as he entered their town. He wondered if the two knew how 
odd they sounded sometimes. Rory just huffed and crossed her arms over 
her chest.

"I think this is the best Christmas present I could've gotten," Luke 
stated.

"Aw, Luke, that's so sweet. I think the years with us have been turning 
you soft. What happened to the ranting burger-man I fell in love with?"

Ignoring her, Luke drove by his diner and mentally began a checklist of 
things to warn Cesar and Lane about, like how he'd be taking more time 
off, and that Lorelai should be eating better than burgers and fries, 
and that under no circumstances should they let her convince them to 
give her regular coffee.

As they entered the house, Rory kissed her mother on the cheek. 
"Alright, I'm gonna call Greg, and then I'm gonna go to sleep."

"Tell lover-boy we say hi," Lorelai smirked.

"Goodnight," Rory said, exasperated.

Luke followed his wife up to their bedroom. She collapsed on the bed 
the moment they entered. "This past week has gone really...well."

"Yeah, well, when somebody's pregnant, people are happy." Luke sat 
beside her and began removing his shoes.

"Yeah, but only if you're over the age of twenty. Believe me."

She sighed loudly and scooted over so she was lying on her side of the 
bed. Luke glanced over at her and noticed her eyes were closed.

"You're gonna sleep in that dress?" He changed his shirt.

"Uh...no energy to change."

Where were his pajama bottoms? "Well, you should." He finished putting 
his clothes away and stood in front of her, hands on his hips.

"Fine, fine. But I'm making no promises about what I change into. I 
don't feel like being sexy tonight." Lorelai heaved herself off the bed 
and started rummaging through her drawers for some pajamas.

Luke set his alarm. "You're always sexy to me." Hey, it was the truth.

Lorelai looked over at him and gave him that look; the one that made 
Luke feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It was a look that he knew nobody 
else could get from her, and knowing it was all his made him extremely 
happy.

He pulled the covers over himself. Lorelai joined him, snuggling close 
until he had no choice but to move so her head was in the crook of his 
arm. He turned the light off, wanting to just enjoy this peaceful 
moment of closeness with the woman he'd loved for as long as he could 
remember.

"Christmas is in three days," she whispered.

"I know."

They were silent again. Luke felt himself drifting to sleep. Then-

"Oh my God, I just realized that I'm going to be so fat by Rory's 
graduation. I mean, I'll be like, six months along by then."

"You'll be beautiful. Besides, it's her graduation."

"Yeah, but what if she wants a whole bunch of pictures? And then if she 
has to make some sort of speech, and she wants me to stand up, and 
people will be like, 'Hey, that big balloon thing doesn't look like her 
mom'? Or-"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Lorelai, it's late. Just go to sleep."

She finally quieted down. "I love you."

"Love you too, balloon-ey."

That got him a disbelieving intake of breath and a hard swat on the 
shoulder. Totally worth it.

XXX

"You have no idea how happy I am that you're the one holding my hair 
while I puke instead of a Spanish-speaking maid who doesn't understand 
why I'm constantly sick. Merry Christmas to me."

Luke rubbed Lorelai's back as they exited the bathroom and headed 
downstairs, which had turned from their normal living room into some 
sort of Santa's workshop- post Christmas- in the matter of twenty 
minutes.

"Your parents made a foreign maid watch you throw up?" Luke had to 
admit he was a bit squeamish himself when it came to sick people, but 
since it was partially his fault she was losing all contents of her 
stomach at random times during the day, he got over the fear quickly.

"Yeah. The whole thing was just such a great experience." They reached 
Rory, who was skimming through a book she had received. "The end 
product of it all was worth it, I guess." Lorelai plopped down beside 
her daughter and leaned her head back, closing her eyes.

Rory looked at her. "You guess?" She took a moment to consider. "I'll 
let it go this time, since you're nauseous. By the way, all the 
vomiting? Totally turns me off to wanting to have kids."

Lorelai pat Rory on the head. "Good girl."

Luke began picking up the wrapping paper that had been thrown 
carelessly around the room while the gifts had been opened. He placed 
the watch Lorelai had gotten him on an end table. He glanced at the 
Christmas tree. Had it moved during the rush of chaos?

"You know what's weird?"

Luke sighed inaudibly. Whenever Lorelai began a sentence with that, it 
usually didn't end well.

"What?" Rory asked.

"A year from now, there's going to be a baby in the house. I mean, 
there will be baby presents all over the floor. We'll have to go back 
to pretending Santa is real-"

"You mean he isn't?" Rory said, mock-serious.

"-and Luke will have to dress up like him and get up on the roof, and 
we'll have to find reindeer and a sleigh, and then he's gonna have to 
go down the chimney-"

"I'm not going down a chimney," Luke glared at her as he stuffed the 
colored paper into a garbage bag.

"Fine. Ruin the illusion for your child. We'll just have a boring 
Christmas every year, without Santa. All the other kids will mock our 
child on the playground." Lorelai pouted momentarily, then noticed the 
CD she had gotten from Rory on the coffee table and picked that up, the 
conversation forgotten. Luke marveled at how she could jump from one 
thing to another without getting a headache. Just watching her gave him 
one. He didn't mind that much, though.

The phone rang suddenly, breaking the easy silence that had fallen on 
the family. Luke reached it first.

"Hello?" He wondered who'd be calling this early on Christmas morning.

"Uh, hey, Luke, it's Christopher. Just calling to say Merry Christmas." 
The man on the other end sounded a bit timid, which made Luke happy for 
some reason.

"Well, Merry Christmas," Luke replied kindly. He had learned the hard 
way that he shouldn't take having the Gilmore girls in his life for 
advantage, and surprisingly, Chris had been the one to show him that. 
When Rory's father had stopped in Stars Hollow for a visit, saying 
there were some issues with Sherry and that it may not work out between 
them, Luke had found him to pose quite a threat to the calm that had 
finally settled. In the end, he and Lorelai had found that Chris was 
just another obstacle for them to hurdle over, and they did, although 
not too gracefully.

But looking now at where he was, Luke realized something. He was the 
one who was spending Christmas in this house, and would be spending all 
holidays to come here. He was the one who Rory went to with troubles, 
though she still did speak to and see her father on occasion. He was 
the one married and having a baby with Lorelai. And at that moment, 
Luke knew he'd never want to be anywhere else. He now understood why 
Christopher had wanted this so badly. Lucky for him, things had ended 
up working with Sherry, and they were married and living in Boston.

"You wanna talk to the girls?" Luke asked, not sounding protective at 
all.

"Uh, yeah, that'd be great."

So Luke spent the time the two women were on the phone cleaning up the 
mess that had accumulated around the decorated tree. When Lorelai hung 
up, she looked outside the window at the snow-covered street.

"I wanna take a walk in the snow," she proclaimed. "Before we head over 
to my parents for the dinner thing. Who's coming with me?"

Rory turned to Luke. "I'll go. How 'bout you?"

"Yeah, sure."

And with that they all bundled up and braved the cold temperatures 
outside, enjoying the company they kept with each other.

XXX

He heard her before she had appeared in front of him. The diner was in 
a mid-morning lull; the breakfast rush had come and gone quickly since 
work and school was starting up again. A chair had squeaked from around 
her area, so naturally Luke assumed it was her. He didn't even look up 
from the piece of paper he was using to count up money.

"Fill 'er up." Lorelai held out a coffee cup, the one she had decided 
was her own personal mug a year ago. She had even written her name on 
the bottom in permanent ink.

"Alright," Luke shrugged and grabbed the decaf pot, hoping she wouldn't 
notice.

"Uh, hon, you do realize that's decaf?" Why do I bother?

"No it isn't," Luke lied as he poured the coffee into her cup. It was 
sad, what he was reduced to doing to get her to drink right.

"Luke. Dear, sweet, wonderful Luke. Why did you just pour decaf in my 
coffee cup?"

"It's not decaf!" he insisted a bit too loudly.

Kirk looked into the cup, as he was sitting at the seat beside them at 
the counter. "Yup, that's decaf. I even saw it written on the pot he 
poured it with."

Glaring, Luke sighed. "Don't butt in, Kirk." He turned back to Lorelai, 
who was looking at him expectantly. "Look, I don't want you drinking 
regular! Our child could become deformed, or turn into you and Rory-" 
his wife glared, and he backtracked. "-not that you and Rory are bad 
examples, I just mean addiction-wise. So please, don't take a chance. 
Just drink the decaf," he pleaded.

Considering her options, Lorelai looked from the coffee she was holding 
to her husband. She finally let out a large breath, and began talking 
to her abdomen. "I'm only doing this for you, you know. You better love 
me a hell of a lot."

Satisfied, Luke smirked. "Thank you."

"You," she said coldly. "Good luck getting along with me sans regular 
coffee!"

Lorelai stormed back over to her seat, pouting in that cute way Luke 
had always loved. His musings of the way she pouted were interrupted, 
however, when Taylor Doose entered rather loudly.

"Ah, Luke. Thought I'd find you here."

"Where else would you find me, Taylor? I own and run this diner. It's 
called 'Luke's Diner', thus where you can find me." Taylor always made 
him grumpy.

"Well, you might've been home with your wife. Doing whatever... 
expecting parents do." Taylor shrugged.

"Yeah, like lie and deny their spouse what makes them tick each day!" 
Lorelai interjected from her table.

"Don't you have an Inn to run?" Luke shot back, then noticed what 
Taylor was holding. "Taylor...," he began angrily.

"What?" he asked innocently. "Oh, these?" He faked surprise at the 
colored sheets of paper that he was grasping. "Oh, yes, well, now that 
you've seen them, I thought we could put them up in the diner."

"No," Luke said firmly.

"Oh come on, Luke. I thought fatherhood would soften you up some."

"Please. It's made him meaner!" Lorelai glared at him some more.

"It's for the festival that's coming up," Taylor pleaded.

This made Luke stop. "Another damn festival?" he asked in horror. "What 
is it this time, the Stuff-Leftover-From-All-The-Other-Festivals 
festival?" He heard Lorelai snort with laughter.

Taylor seemed to take no offence. "No, it's the Snowball Festival, 
Luke."

"And what the hell is the Snowball Festival, Taylor?"

"It's a new idea the committee for festivals thought up. Everything 
will be centered around snow. Snowmen contests, snow cones, organized 
snowball fights, sleigh rides-"

"You stole that idea from me! I did it first! At the Independence Inn!" 
Lorelai gasped, as if this were the worst thing in the world.

Taylor ignored her. "It'll be a wonderful time. I just wanted to see if 
you'd consider putting a sign up in your window, since this is a new 
thing and we want people to take notice."

"Oh, they'll notice all right. If you put one sign up over at Miss 
Patty's now, it'll be all over town by dinner."

"Is that a no?" Luke couldn't believe Taylor had to ask.

"Go find somewhere else to advertise your latest crazy idea, Taylor."

Huffing, Taylor left. Lorelai was now standing by the end of the 
counter, her eyes large. Luke looked at her and sighed. "What?"

"I like the sound of this festival," she said honestly. "You know how 
much I love snow."

"Yeah, I noticed once or twice." He felt bitter, but couldn't helping 
cracking a small smile at the thought of taking a sleigh ride with 
Lorelai.

XXX

The phone was ringing.

The phone seemed to always be ringing, Luke had figured out early on in 
his relationship with Lorelai. It was either the Inn, or Rory, or 
Emily, or Sookie, or some other random person who had the need to call 
the Gilmore home. Not only was it always ringing, but it rang at really 
bad times. And he guessed that once the baby came, the phone would ring 
off the hook.

Lorelai was at the Dragonfly, Cesar was watching the diner, and Luke 
was about to take a shower. He really wanted this shower, because 
though he'd never admit it, showers always relaxed him. But Lorelai had 
told him specifically before she left to pick up the phone if it rang, 
even if the house was on fire and it was either pick up the phone and 
die or get out and live, just in case it was her OB/GYN's office 
calling to set their appointment. The fact that it was a doctor made 
Luke even more shifty. He knew he'd have to get over his hospital fears 
before the kid was born, but he was still in that 12-step program stage 
where you have to admit you have the problem. The way he figured, he 
had about seven months to prepare.

"Hello?" Luke asked, now annoyed and worrying, because he had left the 
water running.

"Yes, this is Doctor Grace's office calling to set up an appointment 
for Lorelai Danes? Is she there?" a female voice questioned.

"Uh, no, she's at work right now, but this is Luke Danes, her 
husband..."

"Oh, alright, well, tell your wife that Dr. Grace will be ready and 
waiting for her Saturday at 5 p.m." She was disturbingly cheerful. "And 
Mr. Danes, congratulations." Dial tone.

Luke hung up the phone and wrote down the information on a scrap piece 
of paper. He wondered momentarily why Saturday was yelling at him that 
there was something he had to do that day that he didn't want to.

Oh, the Snowball Festival. Great.

He looked again at what he had just written. Well, this will be 
something new and different.

XXX

Saturday had come all too quickly for Luke. He found himself parking 
the car in the parking lot of Dr. Grace's office with Lorelai in the 
passenger seat at 4:45. He kept gripping the steering wheel.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lorelai put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, 
they won't be examining your uterus today." She grinned.

Luke took the keys out of the ignition. "Yeah, I know. I really 
shouldn't be like this, I mean, you're the one they're going to be 
poking and prodding. It's just...the whole hospital thing."

"Think of it like this," Lorelai started. "First off, you're not in a 
hospital, you're at a woman's doctors office. Secondly, there isn't 
going to be any gross carnage or people with sharp objects sticking out 
of their bodies." Luke recoiled at this. "And third, this is your child 
too, and if you don't come in with me, I may just tell him or her when 
they grow up that you're not their real father."

He knew she was joking (well, hoped she was), and felt a bit better. He 
jumped out of the car and rushed to Lorelai's side to help her out, and 
began leading her in, holding her hand.

"Ah, save the chivalry for when I can't get up by myself."

Twenty minutes later, the couple was sitting in an extremely sterile-
looking white room with machines all over the place. Lorelai sat on the 
examining table, poking the different instruments.

"Don't do that," Luke said when he noticed what she was doing.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"You don't know where that stuff's...been."

"You're such a worrywart. Loosen up, dad."

Flushing slightly, Luke decided to steer the topic towards something 
that would take his mind off where he was. "So, the festival is 
tonight."

Lorelai mock-gasped. "Did Luke Danes just mention a festival on 
purpose?"

"Well, you wanted to go to this one. So by the time we get back, it'll 
be in full swing. We could stop by."

"I'm just amazed that you're even talking normally about a festival. 
This baby thing really has screwed with your mind." She thought about 
it. "We could just take a quick sleigh ride. Oh! I could show off my 
sonogram picture."

Before Luke could reply, the doctor entered.

XXX

"Can you believe our baby is that small? So much for surpassing Rory in 
the height department one day, huh?" Lorelai could joke all she wanted 
about the picture of the peanut-looking fetus, but Luke knew she 
couldn't take her eyes from it.

The doctor had only asked some routine questions, then did the 
sonogram. Luke had been fascinated by the machinery, which let him take 
the first look at his child. His child. He was beginning to really like 
being able to say that.

"Wow, Stars Hollow went all-out on the lighting this time," Lorelai 
commented as they pulled into the center of the town, which was lit by 
thousands of lights that were all over the place, giving off a white 
glow. Luke parked in front of the diner, and he and Lorelai exited the 
car. He noticed that she was still carrying the picture.

"There you guys are!" Luke looked over at whoever had just shouted to 
them and spotted Sookie and Jackson, pushing Davey in a stroller. The 
small boy was licking a snow cone.

Sookie rushed forward and she and Lorelai began squealing over the 
sonogram picture. Luke really didn't understand; it took you at least 
five minutes to find the kid again.

Jackson stood off a bit. Luke walked over to him, and the their wives.

"So, you're having a baby. Excited?" Jackson shoved his hands in his 
jacket pockets.

Luke glanced at Davey, and couldn't help but wonder if he'd be doing 
the exact same thing Jackson was with his child a few years from now. 
The idea didn't seem so bad. "Yeah. It's just...amazing."

Jackson nodded. "I know the feeling. Kids are hard work, but it's all 
worth it. Now that Lorelai is pregnant, Sookie is talking about having 
another baby."

Surprised slightly, Luke drew his attention back to the rapidly-talking 
women. "Wow. Isn't that what you wanted, though?"

"Yeah." Luke noticed the dreamy sound in the other man's voice. "Here's 
a word of advice, Luke, from one father to another," Jackson began, 
becoming serious. "First of all, let her yell at you. The hormones do 
crazy things to women, and if they get the mood out of their system, 
they'll be much easier to deal with. Second, never answer if she asks 
if she's fat. If you have no choice, then good luck to you, buddy." 
Luke's eyes were growing wider. "Third, don't baby her unless she wants 
to be, because otherwise you'll be sleeping on the couch."

"Did you get all this wisdom from when Sookie had Davey?" Luke was 
trying to process all of what Jackson had just warned him about.

"Basically."

Lorelai and Sookie joined them. "We better get him home," Sookie 
commented about Davey, who was falling asleep. "Call me," she 
instructed Lorelai, who nodded as the two left.

The couple began walking through the festival, greeting and waving at 
several people they passed. Luke put an arm around Lorelai's waist. 
"Ooooh, Taylor really did organize a snowball fight."

He looked to what she was talking about, and saw Taylor giving 
directions to teenagers who seemed ready to pelt him with the snowballs 
they had already made.

"Maybe this'll become another annual thing. Won't that be fun?" 
Lorelai's eyes sparkled as she teased her husband.

He grunted. "Oh yeah, great, just what I need: another day where I'll 
have to close down early and lose business."

"You know, I never really got to do this stuff with Rory when she was 
little and appreciated everything. We didn't start going to festivals 
until we bought the house, and by then she was older and didn't care as 
much about the magic of it all." Lorelai sighed, and turned her head so 
she was looking at Luke. "Thank you for giving me a second chance to do 
this stuff."

Luke shrugged. "Thank you for giving me a chance at all to do this 
stuff with you. I don't think there's anyone else in the world I would 
rather have a kid with."

Grinning, Lorelai kissed him. "You are so earning big points for saying 
that."

XXX


Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner 
Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.

A/N: The italicized words in the second scene are flashback-dialogue.

XXX

Luke woke abruptly from the oddest dream. Lorelai had been in a crazy 
mood and had yelled at him, and then he had been forced to sleep on the 
couch, while all the other fathers in Stars Hollow warned him to tread 
lightly around her...

Oh.

He looked at his surroundings, realizing he was on the couch, Lorelai 
had gotten mad at him, and all the other fathers hadn't been trying to 
freak him out. His back felt horrible.

"Good morning!" Lorelai chirped as she entered the living room from the 
kitchen. "Finally, you're getting up. It's like, eight, and I know you 
were gonna have Lane open today, but that's still sleeping late for 
you."

Luke blinked a few times, taking in her good mood. She was definitely 
singing a different tune today than last night. His neck cracked as he 
sat up. "Uh, yeah."

She looked sympathetic. "Sorry, the couch must've been uncomfortable. 
You know it wasn't me, it was Chloe."

"Who's Chloe?" Luke was confused, and not too happy.

"Oh, you know, I'm just trying out different names. How 'bout Chloe for 
a girl?"

"No."

"Fine. Oooh, Georgette?"

"No."

Luke began walking towards the kitchen as Lorelai trailed behind him.

"Lorelai!" she shouted.

He shook his head. "You already used that once. Remember Rory? Your 
twenty-two-year-old daughter?"

She shrugged and munched on a Pringle. "These would taste good with 
cream cheese," she said thoughtfully.

Scrunching his face at the thought, Luke poured himself some milk. 
"Really? That sounds kind of..." He trailed off from the look on her 
face that said clearly, 'You finish that sentence, you die.'

"I like the name Lily." She said it quietly, almost so Luke couldn't 
hear it. Almost.

His eyebrows rose. "Lily? Like my mother?"

Lorelai nodded. "I think it'd be a good name. Lily Emily, after her 
grandmothers. Or William Richard, after his grandfathers." She sighed 
and softened. "I thought of the idea this morning. What do you think?"

"I like them." He felt touched that she had decided to put his parents' 
name's first.

"Good," Lorelai agreed. She stood and grabbed her purse. "I'm gonna 
head to the Inn, you know, before the next wave of morning sickness 
hits. How embarrassing would it be to be caught throwing up in our 
yard?" She smirked and pecked him on the lips, but took Luke's hand 
before she left.

"I'm really glad you like the names," she said honestly, and then left.

Luke was once again hit by how lucky he was to marry her.

XXX

Luke was surprised when he stepped outside. The February morning was 
actually a bit warm, at least enough so that he didn't need to wear his 
jacket as he walked over to the diner.

He opened the door and the bell jingled, which made Lane look up from 
behind the counter. She grinned at him. Luke still couldn't believe how 
grown up she was, as he had watched her age along with Rory.

Lane had been working for him since the day he had hired her three 
years ago, and had been the best worker he could ask for. He knew that 
even though her band was rising in success, she still needed another 
way to make some cash, and he was happy to pay her every week. Though 
she and her mother had made up long ago, Lane had insisted that she 
keep living with Zach and Brian, and somehow had gotten Mrs. Kim to 
understand her need for an independent life. How she did it was still a 
mystery to all, however.

"Hey, Luke," she said casually. Too casually for his taste. The diner 
was pretty empty, since it was in between the morning and lunchtime 
rushes, so she and Cesar seemed pretty idle.

"Hey, how's it going this morning?" He grabbed his apron from under the 
counter and stood beside her.

"Pretty good. There wasn't a big crowd this morning; I guess they've 
all gone away for vacation."

Luke remembered that the schools had a week-long vacation that had 
begun yesterday afternoon, once they all had exited the school. He 
wondered if his child would go to the Stars Hollow public schools or 
Chilton, then decided he'd debate that another day. Valentine's Day was 
only four days away, so instead he briefly considered what he'd do for 
Lorelai. More importantly, what he'd get her that wouldn't send her 
into a crying fit. He already knew part of his plan, though.

Lane still seemed uneasy, as Luke had picked up on when he had walked 
in. "Is something wrong, Lane?" he asked.

Taking a deep breath, Lane drew up her hands, as if surrendering. 
"Alright, don't get mad at me or anything, but if you go upstairs right 
now, you're going to find something you won't like."

"What are you talking about?" Luke wasn't following.

"I sent him upstairs to wait in your old apartment. I figured you 
wouldn't want him just showing up at your house unexpected."

Now getting annoyed, Luke looked at the curtain that hid the stairs 
leading to the second story. "What the hell are you talking about? 
Who's..." Then he realized the only person she could mean.

Noticing his sudden epiphany, Lane took a step back. "I'll stay a 
little longer."

"Good idea," Luke said as he descended the stairs slowly, wondering if 
it was possible. He hadn't heard from him in since the wedding, and 
they hadn't left things on the best of conditions.

Yet when he opened the door that still said "William's Hardware" and 
saw the scene before him, he knew it was very possible.

"What are you doing here, Jess?"

Jess stood slowly from his sitting position in the beat-up chair and 
smirked that annoying smirk. "What? Not happy to see me, Uncle Luke?"

Shutting the door with a slight slam, Luke took a few steps closer to 
his nephew. "I thought you told me you never wanted to see me again, or 
something to that effect."

"Yeah, well, I lied." Jess sat back down.

"Jess...," Luke said, exasperated. "Why're you here?"

As he marked a page in the book he had been reading and set it down, 
Jess seemed to become nervous. He looked back up at his uncle. "I 
just...came."

"Why?" Luke almost pleaded, wanting to know why he was here after the 
things they had said to each other.

"I came to say sorry, okay? I'm sorry for what I said after your 
wedding, and all the things I've said in the past that hurt you. I 
shouldn't have left so quickly when you were just pointing out the 
obvious, and then trying to apologize for it." That wasn't what Luke 
had expected him to say.

Jess had not only come to Luke and Lorelai's wedding at the Dragonfly, 
but had even partook in some of the jokes and stories about the couple; 
before they were together, after they were together, and all things he 
had witnessed during his time living in Stars Hollow. But as the 
reception was breaking up and people were starting to depart, Luke had 
decided to get some fresh air away from the party, and had come upon 
Jess lighting up a cigarette.

'What are you doing?' he had asked, mentioning that he thought his 
nephew had quit.

Jess had shrugged and said that 'things had changed'.

Luke didn't accept this, and told him that he was going to die from 
lung cancer. The young man had told him that it was 'none of his 
business, and that things had been stressful lately'.

Then Luke had hit a nerve; he had asked if Jess had been fired from his 
book editing job. Giving in, Jess had told his uncle that he had lost 
the job.

'Are you happy now?' he had said bitterly. 'Just like you predicted. 
You said that I was never gonna keep a job, and you were right, so 
'yay' for you.'

'No, I'm not happy,' Luke had replied. 'I want you to do well in life. 
And you can start by not smoking this.' He had then taken the cigarette 
right out of Jess' mouth and squished it on the ground.

Jess had been livid. 'Just because you finally have the perfect life: 
the great job, the friendly town, and the amazing wife that you've 
loved for years, doesn't mean you can just swoop in whenever you want 
and tell me what to do. I'm not part of that perfect picture.'

Sighing, Luke had put a hand on his shoulder, but Jess had shrugged it 
away. 'You are in the picture.'

Laughing without meaning it, his nephew shook his head. 'Please. I 
couldn't make it work in New York, or here, or California, or in 
Boston. I'm a failure, and it'd be just peachy if you could leave me 
alone. I don't need any of The Great Luke Danes' sympathy.'

Not believing this, Luke had become angry. 'It's always one step 
forward, two steps back with you!' he had exclaimed. 'After your mom's 
wedding, I thought we were good, then you got the job in Boston and we 
were great. And now you've lost that, and decided to mess us up too?'

'Thanks for the pep talk. I'll send you a postcard.' Jess had started 
walking away.

'Jess! You're never gonna get anywhere if you don't learn how to pick 
up the pieces after things fall apart!'

'Get the hell away from me! Just stop! You don't understand anything 
about me, so don't talk like you do! Everything in your life has always 
been easy!'

'Hardly,' Luke had growled. 'I worked hard for everything I have 
today.'

'Yeah, and marrying Lorelai was just the last thing, huh? Now you can 
run for freakin' mayor.'

This had sent Luke through the roof. 'Don't mention her in this,' he 
had warned. 'This is just you being stupid, as usual!'

'Well let me not intrude anymore, and get the hell out of your way! 
I've always been that one smudge mark in your perfect window, huh? Well 
you can wipe it clean now! I'm out,' Jess had said.

'Jess...I'm sorry, I didn't mean...' But it was too late, Jess had 
stormed off.

And now here the man was, sitting in Luke's old apartment, admitting 
his mistakes, and trying to fix his relationship with his uncle.

"Well, I'm uh, sorry too. There was a lot of stuff going on, and I 
didn't really mean...," Luke sighed.

"I know," Jess said. "Oh, and sorry for using the word 'perfect' way 
too much that day."

Leaning against the wall, Luke folded his arms over his chest. "So what 
brought on this sudden need to mend things between us?"

"I've just been thinking," his nephew replied openly. "After our fight, 
I registered to take some classes back in Massachussetts at a community 
college, and now I'm working on a book. I've got a job at this small 
publisher's company. I wanted to prove you wrong; I wanted to prove 
that I could pick up the pieces. So I did, and now here I am."

Luke had to admit something. "You've really grown up, Jess."

Waving a hand, Jess shrugged. "I'm twenty-two, it's time I get over 
myself and start building my life. Like you did."

The two men let those words flow around the room, before Luke couldn't 
take it anymore. "Alright, we're getting sappy."

"Do you accept my apology? I'll accept yours if you accept mine," Jess 
said tauntingly.

"Yes."

"Good."

Silence.

"So, how long are you staying?"

"I think I'll head back to Boston tonight."

Luke cleared his throat. "You can stay here...if you want. For a few 
days."

Giving a real smile that Luke hadn't witnessed in years, Jess nodded. 
"That'd be great."

"You wanna eat something? Downstairs?" Luke didn't know why he felt so 
fatherly towards this young man, but he didn't mind it that much. He'd 
always known Jess would get his act together at some point.

"Sure. But I should warn you, I'm not paying. Publisher house workpay 
sucks."

XXX

"So what's the latest gossip in Stars Hollow?" Jess asked mockingly 
half an hour later as he chewed some fries at the counter.

"Well, the Lowe's wanted to put in a pool, but first they had to ask 
the everyone at the town meeting if it was okay. Then Taylor told them 
they'd have to put the fence all around the house, but they didn't want 
to pay the extra if they could just have it going around the perimeter 
of their backyard. It's big scandal." Luke leaned forward on the 
counter beside Jess, looking at the nearly-empty diner.

"And how 'bout those crazy Gilmore girls? Is Rory still dating that 
Greg guy?" Jess and Rory had finally put their past behind them when he 
had shown up for the wedding.

"Yeah. He's a good kid. He's a reviewer for books; he likes them a 
lot." Luke turned and began absently wiping down the coffee machine.

"Anyone who dates Rory Gilmore has to like books."

The bell jingled, signaling Luke to look over from his work and 
conversation to see who was entering.

"Lorelai!" he exclaimed, as he remembered he'd forgotten to call her 
and warn her Jess was here and that they had made up. She had been even 
more enraged with him than normal after Luke had mentioned the argument 
between the two.

"Hello darling man. Wonderful husband. Father of my child. Feed me," 
Lorelai announced, too preoccupied with placing her cell phone back in 
her purse to notice Jess spin around in his seat.

"Father of-what? You're Rory's dad?" Jess looked back at Luke.

Lorelai's head rose so slowly it was almost comical. Luke chuckled 
nervously.

"No, Jess, uh, didn't I mention? Lorelai and I are having a baby."

Jess nodded. "Yeah, failed to mention that."

Slowly walking to the counter, Lorelai kept her eyes trailed on Jess. 
"You're back again," she said shortly.

"Yeah," he replied easily.

"Lorelai," Luke cut in. "Jess came back to apologize and straighten 
things out. He's doing well now."

As if not believing him, she glanced at Jess. He shrugged in 
confirmation. "I even have a girlfriend now, so don't worry about me 
going after your daughter." Luke smacked him on the arm.

"Well...great," Lorelai said, sounding strained.

Pleading with his eyes for her to be nice, Luke set a mug down on the 
counter. "Decaf?"

She sat. "If I must."

Jess was still looking between them. "So. Having a baby. That's news."

Lorelai gripped her cup. "I'm surprised your mom didn't tell you."

"I haven't really been reachable until lately."

"Finally decided to join Real Life again, instead of sitting by 
yourself in Jess World?" Lorelai smirked.

"You haven't changed, Lorelai. Pity," Jess smirked back.

"Right back 'atcha, kid."

Luke had had enough. "Great, so, you're both the same, awesome. 
Lorelai, can I talk to you a minute?" He nodded towards the storage 
room, and she followed him in.

"You know, we don't have to hide it anymore. Everyone knows we're 
married. If we wanna do it in the storage room, then screw them!" She 
grinned.

Luke sighed. "About Jess..."

"Ah, yes, my favorite part of the day so far."

"He's gonna be staying for a few days."

"I'm thrilled. Maybe he and I can go shopping together and bond."

"I know you've never really liked Jess, but we've been talking, and 
things have been working out for him in Boston. I just wanna spend some 
time with him, so we don't keep having these long periods of time where 
we aren't speaking."

Lorelai seemed to consider. "Fine." Luke smiled. "So," she continued. 
"Are we not doing it in the storage room, because I'm kind of 
hungry..."

The two went back into the main dining area. Jess was still sitting in 
the same seat, however now he had a book.

"You got that book quick. You really read a lot," Luke commented.

"You have the most amazing observation skills," Jess said. He turned to 
Lorelai. "He's a keeper, this one."

"Well, got no choice now." Lorelai patted her stomach. Luke just rolled 
his eyes.

XXX

"You're moving?!" Luke heard Lorelai yell into the phone in the kitchen 
while he went through the newspaper.

She entered, still on the phone. "Rory is moving in with Greg. My baby 
is moving in with a guy." She listened to what Rory was saying. "Yes, I 
know I did, and I'm not saying it's wrong. Are you gonna get married?" 
Pause. "What do you mean I sound like my mother?"

Luke chuckled. Lorelai glared.

"Yeah, well, maybe I will...Fine," she groaned. "Yup, you too, bye."

"So Rory's moving in with Greg?" Luke wondered what this meant.

Lorelai sighed loudly. "Yes. And she's given us permission to give 
Lily/William her room, which is good, because the little guest room 
upstairs definitely isn't large enough for the baby, let alone his/her 
stuff. It's like an over-sized closet."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just call it 'It' or 'Baby' or even 'Kid' 
right now, instead of using all those slashes?" Luke regretted saying 
that after he saw Lorelai's horrified expression.

"Luke," she said slowly. "We should be using his/her real name instead 
of 'It' or 'Baby' or 'Kid'. We'll get used to saying the names, and if 
she/he can hear, then he/she..." She trailed off, the glared at him. 
"You know what, it is hard to keep saying 'he slash she'."

"Thank you," Luke said, and went back to skimming the paper, even 
though there was never anything of interest inside, unless you were the 
type of person who thought water pressure was fascinating.

Lorelai leaned across the back of the couch so her head was beside 
Luke's. She stared at him. Finally, he caved. "What?"

"What're we doing for Valentine's Day? I mean, I'm pregnant. It's not 
like we can go bar-hopping as planned. Now we have to find something 
boringly romantic to do that won't make me want to hurl, and it's 
tomorrow. Any ideas?"

Pondering for a moment, Luke shrugged. He knew exactly what was going 
to happen tomorrow. "Just be home by 5:30, and make sure you're wearing 
something you'd wanna go outside in."

"Darn, there goes wearing sweats all day. Is it a surprise?"

"Sort of. It's something you'll hopefully appreciate."

Lorelai looked at him, wanting more information. Luke just began 
reading the article about toothpaste. "You'll see."

"Why isn't Jess going back to Boston for Valentine's Day? I thought he 
had a girlfriend."

"I dunno."

Sitting beside him, Lorelai looked at the mantle, which was holding an 
assortment of pictures, some older and some newer. "I can't believe how 
grown up Rory is. It seems like just yesterday we were moving in here. 
And she's graduating from college in May."

"She's an adult now," Luke said almost wistfully. "She's beginning her 
own life."

"Yeah," Lorelai said sadly. Luke took her hand and she smiled 
gratefully at him. "At least we're going to have a new little person to 
focus on."

XXX

"If I trip and fall down these steps and die, it's going to be all your 
fault, mister."

Luke was leading Lorelai up the stairs into his old apartment at 6 
o'clock on Valentine's Day. He had instructed her to close her eyes.

"You'll be fine. Look, we're already at the top." He opened the door. 
"Okay, open your eyes."

She did so. Luke smiled slightly as they both looked at the crib, 
changing table and bookshelf positioned in the middle of the room.

"I made them, with some help from some of the guys. I just thought, 
instead of spending money on buying a generic plastic crib, it'd be 
better if our child was in a homemade one. And the bookshelf I got from 
Kim's Antiques, and I just fixed it up. And the changing table used to 
be a chest." Luke was proud of himself for his work.

"A chest?" Lorelai asked, her eyes wide as she slid a hand across the 
smooth wood of the crib. Her eyes filled with tears.

"You like them?"

She turned to him. "I love them." Before he could say anything else, 
his wife nearly tackled him with a hug. "That was so thoughtful of you. 
I just can't believe...they're so nice." Lorelai let go and went back 
to the furniture, Luke trailing behind her. "This is just...," she took 
a deep breath. "When Rory was born my parents insisted on getting 
expensive custom-made things that seemed more for look than comfort. 
But when we left...she never got something as nice as these." She 
turned back to him once again, and put her arms around his shoulders. 
"You're too good."

Blushing a bit, Luke wrapped his arms around her waist. "You're the 
best," he countered. Lorelai rolled her eyes at their mushy talk and 
then kissed him fiercely.

Cursing the need for air to keep functioning, they pulled apart. "Let's 
head out to dinner," Lorelai said, breathless.

"After we clear out Rory's room I'll bring this stuff home."

The couple left, and Lorelai grabbed Luke's hand as they went down the 
stairs. As he pulled the curtain back, however, Luke noticed a large 
group of people running around frantically outside, lights being strung 
up and food being set out. It reminded him a bit of the party that had 
been thrown for Max and Lorelai's engagement.

Not wanting to think about that, he and Lorelai went to the window for 
a closer look. "That better not be another damn festival. They should 
only be allowed to add one new one each year! If it's another one, I 
swear I'm gonna kill Taylor. Doesn't the town celebrate enough?"

During his short rant, he had dragged Lorelai outside the diner. When 
he spotted Taylor, Luke let go of her hand. "Taylor! What the hell is 
going on?"

He knew he was being a bit dramatic, but didn't feel like calming down.

Taylor seemed as if he were caught stealing something. "Oh! Luke and 
Lorelai! Uh..." He looked around at the others, who had stopped what 
they were doing.

Lorelai gasped. "Are those rattle-shaped lights?"

"No! Well..." Taylor was flustered.

"Oh, forget it honey, they were gonna find out in a minute anyway," 
Miss Patty said, patting Taylor on the shoulder.

Sookie and Rory approached with big smiles, Rory's boyfriend Greg 
trailing behind. The bespectacled man was holding a wrapped gift. Luke 
finally noticed that the other townspeople were also carrying gifts.

"Happy Baby Party!" Sookie announced loudly, and the others clapped.

Lorelai was shocked. "Wha...what?"

Rory grabbed her mother by the arm. "Well, everyone in town was so 
excited about the baby, that they wanted to throw a congratulations 
party for you and Luke. Think of it as a baby shower with guys. And 
half the town."

"How did you guys plan this?" Lorelai was still staring at her 
surroundings in awe.

"Me and Sookie started talking about it, and then we called Babette and 
Miss Patty, and before we knew it, it was a big party."

Luke was beginning to get over the surprise of all this. "But it's 
Valentine's Day."

Sookie and Jackson handed them both rattle-shaped cookies as they 
passed by people who were shouting congratulations. "We all decided 
that this was the perfect way to spend the holiday. Plus, it's still 
early." She smiled widely and looked between Lorelai and Luke.

"And I don't have classes tomorrow and Friday, so me and Greg can stay 
for the weekend." Rory linked arms with Lorelai.

"Surprised?" Jess asked as he sauntered over, eating some cake.

"Very," the expecting couple said at the same time.

XXX


Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner 
Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.

A/N: Still in the month of February. This chapter is kind of pointless, 
but I did it anyway.

XXX

Luke gripped the wooden bed frame, and looked across it to Greg. 
"Alright, on three. One...two...three."

The two men lifted the frame and began carrying it out of Rory's old 
room. It was already almost completely bare; the family had spent most 
of the four days Rory and Greg were in Stars Hollow going through her 
room and moving things out for the new baby.

"Oh, look at our strong men, doing manly work, while us womenfolk sit 
and make clothes. Just like the pilgrims intended it," Lorelai said 
teasingly as the guys went past mother and daughter, who were each 
knitting a sock.

Rory rolled her eyes. "So much for advancement in the world." She 
watched sadly as Luke and Greg set her bed frame on the porch.

Luke wiped his hands on his jeans as he walked back inside. "Well, 
that's the last of it. Wanna take a last look before we move in the 
crib and stuff?"

Nodding and standing, Rory set down her half-finished baby sock and 
disappeared into her bedroom. Lorelai watched her daughter intently. 
Luke took the seat Rory had vacated.

"Greg is just taking the frame apart, and then he's gonna stick it in 
the truck with the rest of the stuff." He noticed the tears that were 
threatening to fall from his wife's eyes, an occurrence which had been 
happening a lot lately. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Lorelai laughed at herself and set down her knitting. "Oh, it's 
just...when did she become an independent adult? I feel like I missed 
that whole transition."

Luke didn't want to mention it, but it was the obvious answer. "I'm 
guessing it was her sophomore year of college." During that year, after 
the Dean fiasco, Rory had really matured. Luke had once thought that 
she was the most grown up kid he knew, but after that mess, he'd 
realized that she was another young adult who wasn't making the 
adjustments of life too easily.

"I guess you're right," Lorelai said softly.

Rory exited her bedroom and walked over to her mother and step-father 
as Greg came back inside. "Alright, everything's clear. Me and Greg are 
gonna take off, 'cause I have this test tomorrow I really need to 
pass."

Lorelai stood and enveloped her daughter. "Of course you're gonna 
pass," she said as she kissed the top of Rory's head.

"Bye, Luke," she said and gave him a quick hug. "Take care of this 
one," she pointed to Lorelai.

"I will. Have a safe drive." He shook Greg's hand. "See you soon, 
Greg."

"Bye." Lorelai nodded to the young man.

Waving one last time, Rory and Greg left the house. Luke heard the car 
start and drive away. He put an arm around Lorelai.

"Now we gotta start thinking of how to decorate that room," he said 
softly, trying to take her attention away from Rory's leave.

XXX

"Auuuuuugh!" Lorelai yelled as she entered the house. Luke, who was 
painting the walls in the baby's room, poked his head out of the 
doorway.

"Something wrong?" He asked, almost not wanting the answer.

Lorelai sniffed a few times, then made a face. "Ugh, paint fumes." She 
set down her purse. "Well, since Rory can't make it, my mother has 
somehow roped us into going to a dinner party at their house on Friday 
night."

Luke fully stepped out of the room and into the kitchen. He watched as 
his wife rummaged through the refrigerator. "How?"

"Oh, she thought it'd be nice for us to socialize with some of their 
friends, and since she told them that I was pregnant, everyone was just 
so excited about seeing us that now we have no choice but to go." She 
slammed the fridge door shut and turned to him. "Luke," she whined. "I 
don't wanna go."

Luke had to admit, he wasn't exactly looking forward to this either, 
but far be it for him to do something against Emily Gilmore's wishes. 
"You're not alone, I'll be there. And, hey, if we get really tired of 
being there, you can just say you're tired and we have to leave, or you 
feel sick and want to go home or something."

"Ah, use the pregnancy as an excuse to get out of there. Smart man, I 
knew I married you for a reason." Lorelai kissed him lightly, then 
peered into the empty room. "I really like this light blue color we 
picked out. It's very unisex." She chuckled to herself.

Raising an eyebrow, Luke looked at her. "What's funny?"

"The word 'unisex'."

"Sorry I asked." He walked back into the room and began painting again.

XXX

He had been going to social events hosted by the Gilmore's for years, 
and yet still, every time Luke felt a bit nervous. He wasn't one of 
their rich, purebred types. He had no ties to any of these wealthy 
families at all. Well, except that he was Lorelai Gilmore's husband. 
But otherwise, he felt out-of-place.

So stepping into the foyer of the Gilmore mansion with Lorelai, Luke 
was hit once again with how much he wished he were just wearing his 
flannel, instead of these stuffy clothes. Hell, he'd rather be wearing 
that itchy wool sweater Lorelai had gotten him a few weeks ago.

Emily rushed ahead of the two into the living room, where Luke spied 
three other couples and Richard. "Lorelai and Luke are here," she said 
happily.

Luke didn't remember the exact moment when Emily Gilmore had finally 
accepted that he was going to be part of their life. Once she did, 
however, she had taken some time and gotten to know him, and he thought 
she may even like him a bit. She'd told him early on in his 
relationship with Lorelai that it was obvious they had liked each other 
for a long time, and she was happy he was taking such good care of her 
daughter and granddaughter. That was the first real compliment he'd 
ever gotten from Lorelai's mother.

Just as they were entering the room, he felt himself being pushed aside 
by the three other women who were trying to reach his wife.

"Oh, Lorelai, it's so wonderful about your pregnancy!" One of them 
said.

"I didn't even know you were married!" Another added.

"Does Christopher know?" The third tried to sound sympathetic, but was 
coming across as nosy. Luke noted that this one looked about their age.

Lorelai blinked, overwhelmed, then plastered a smile on her face. "Yes, 
he does know," she said as brightly as possible. Emily looked on, 
obviously pleased.

"Emily, we're going to head into my study for a moment. Business talk 
and the like," Richard informed his wife, and he and the three other 
men departed into another room. Luke realized he was the only man left.

The blonde who didn't know who he was walked over to him and shook his 
hand. "So you're Luke Danes. Pleasure to meet you. I'm Laura Ploust. 
Lorelai and my daughter go way back."

Having never heard any talk of someone with the last name 'Ploust' from 
Lorelai, Luke just nodded politely. "Yup, I'm Luke. Good to meet you 
too."

Emily was getting drinks, and Lorelai already looked ready to choke the 
women she was talking to. Luke approached.

"Luke!" His wife shouted loudly over the other's talking. She turned to 
the redhead. "Cassie, this is my husband Luke. Luke, this is my old 
friend Cassie from school." She said 'old friend' tightly through her 
teeth.

Cassie sized him up. "Well, aren't you a good man, to make an honest 
women of our Lorelai. Lord knows Chris never could."

Luke chuckled nervously. Lorelai was standing a bit behind them, and at 
those words her eyes widened and she was getting ready to throw her 
water on the other women. Luke subtly shook his head not to.

"I still remember those two from junior high. We were a close-knit 
group." Still behind her, Lorelai was shaking her head as if she 
couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So, are you from Stripes 
Burrow, too?"

For a minute Luke had no idea what she was talking about. "Uh, you mean 
Stars Hollow?"

"Sure," Cassie giggled.

"Uh, yeah. Lived there my whole life."

Lorelai rejoined them as Cassie asked, "How long have you two known 
each other?"

Luke shrugged. "Uh, I met them when Rory was a baby, but we didn't 
really talk until I opened my diner."

"You have a diner?" Mrs. Ploust asked.

"Yes, he does, and let me tell you, he makes the best coffee," Lorelai 
said, grinning at Luke. "If it hadn't been for his coffee, I don't 
think we'd even be friends now."

"Lorelai," her mother said sharply. "You shouldn't be drinking coffee 
while you're pregnant."

"Uh, I'm not, mom. I'm just saying."

"That poor child will end up with your horrible addiction to the stuff. 
It's too bad that couldn't be avoided with Rory."

"Oh, how is Rory? I haven't seen her since she was fifteen," the women 
whose name Luke still didn't know asked.

Lorelai nodded. "She's great."

Emily cut in, always wanting to talk up her granddaughter. "Rory is 
graduating from Yale this year. She wants to work in journalism."

"That's lovely," Cassie said.

Lorelai took Luke by the elbow as the four other men came back in and 
joined their wives. She directed him to a corner.

"Is it too soon for that sudden wave of nausea to hit?" She whispered.

"As much as I wanna get out of here, I don't think we can go before 
dinner. That's too obvious."

Lorelai sighed loudly at Luke's logic. Then she smirked. "Did Cassie 
really call our town 'Stripes Burrow'?"

"Yeah."

"Huh," she said. "It has a nice ring. Maybe we should ask Taylor at the 
next meeting if they could change the name."

"Lorelai, Luke," Emily called. "Let's talk more about the baby."

As they walked over, Lorelai hissed, "I never thought my mother would 
be this excited by me being pregnant." Luke had to agree; he hadn't 
either. "Time check?" she asked.

"7:43."

Time to put on the act, Luke thought as they came upon the others.

XXX


Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner 
Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.

A/N: Time for a bit of drama, no?

XXX

"Lorelai! How many times have I told you not to come back here?" Luke 
said roughly from his position on the floor.

If he hadn't been in pain and felt embarrassed beyond words, the scene 
would have been something to laugh at. Luke was sprawled out in front 
of the counter, a plate broken beside him, a drink spilled near his 
head, and food all over the place. Lorelai was staring open-mouthed 
from her spot behind the counter.

Luke had been coming out of the kitchen backwards (he had been yelling 
at Cesar about the fries being burnt). The next thing he knew, he had 
turned and bumped into his wife and slipped on something that had 
spilled on the floor, which sent him tumbling over the counter and onto 
the floor.

Kirk jumped up from his seat and offered a hand to Luke. He took it and 
stood. Lorelai was mouthing soundlessly like a fish out of water.

"Luke, I'm so sorry...I had no idea you...and the thing on the 
floor...and you were...," she rambled, not completing any one thought, 
which wasn't entirely uncommon for her anyway. Luke could tell she was 
also trying to hold back laughter.

"It's fine," he said tiredly. "I just gotta grab something to clean 
this up with."

He headed into the storage room, looking for the broom and mop. It was 
hard to find them; they were behind his newest crate of pickles.

So after nearly five minutes of searching, Luke came back out into the 
quiet diner. His eyes immediately found his wife, who had her cell 
phone up to her ear, and with each passing second was becoming more and 
more depressed.

Luke timidly approached her, and as she hung up the phone, she said in 
a somber voice, "That was my mother. My father is in the hospital." She 
suddenly began laughing quietly, tears streaming down her face. 
"Haven't we already done this? I get a horrible message that my dad is 
in the hospital while I'm in the diner?"

He didn't know what to say. So, he did what all good husbands should 
do. He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "Let's go," 
he said quietly. Cesar had come out of the kitchen. Luke turned to him. 
"Can you call Lane and see if she can come in earlier? We've gotta go." 
Cesar nodded.

As they left, he could already see the gossip spreading throughout the 
diner, and soon it would reach the town. He didn't care at that moment, 
though. All he knew was that Richard Gilmore was in the hospital again, 
and this time he was family.

XXX

"Mom!" Lorelai shouted as she and Luke ran down the hallway. He was 
having major d‚j… vu.

"Lorelai!" her mother said, relieved. Lorelai hugged Emily tightly. 
When they broke apart, Luke nodded to his mother-in-law.

"How is he? What happened?" Lorelai was frantic. "You don't want to 
keep things from a pregnant woman!" she yelled when she received no 
answers.

Emily took a deep breath, holding back tears. "It doesn't look good. He 
had a heart attack of some sort, much worse than his last condition. We 
were just at home, discussing the Gorst's party we were going to attend 
Satuday...They don't think he's..." She choked up. Lorelai pulled her 
mother into another hug, fearing the worst.

Luke didn't know what to say. He had lost both his parents, but earlier 
on in life, and he had gotten along well with both of them.

"Do you need me to call Rory?" he asked, trying to be helpful.

Lorelai looked stricken. "Rory! I forgot to call her, oh, she's going 
to be so upset..."

Luke could see that neither women seemed capable of using a phone right 
now, so he offered once more. "I'll call her."

Looking grateful, Lorelai hugged him closely as Emily began demanding 
attention from a passing doctor.

After letting go and taking his wife's cell phone (he had never really 
needed one, thus didn't buy one), Luke walked down the hall and out an 
exit. Outside it was warm, but not hot. It was a perfect spring 
evening. Funny how bad things happen on nice days, he thought bitterly. 
Both his parents had died on sunny days; his mother on a Saturday 
morning, his father on a Friday afternoon.

A bit shaky, Luke punched the little numbers that made up Rory's cell 
phone number. It rang twice before she picked up.

"Mom?" she said. Luke suddenly felt horrible for having to be the one 
that had to tell her.

"Hey, Rory, it's Luke," he replied.

She must've detected the nervousness in his voice. "Is something wrong? 
Is it mom? Something with the baby?"

"No, but, uh, Rory, you're grandfather's in the hospital."

"What?" Luke could hear her drop the pen she must have been using for a 
paper.

"He had some sort of heart attack, and..." he took a deep breath. "It's 
pretty bad, Rory."

"Okay, um," she sounded distressed. "Alright, I'll be there as soon as 
possible. Thanks, Luke."

"No problem, Rory."

He hung up and went back inside. Finding Lorelai and Emily hadn't been 
hard; the elder Gilmore was pacing up and down the hallway, her 
daughter trying to calm her from the sidelines.

"Mom, please, sit down. All you're pacing is gonna make me sick," 
Lorelai said faintly.

"Rory's gonna be here as soon as she can," Luke announced as he took a 
seat in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs.

Lorelai sat beside him, and her hand found his immediately. Luke rubbed 
his thumb on the top of her hand soothingly. Emily had spotted another 
nurse and had gone after her.

"This is so screwed up," Lorelai whispered. "I mean, I thought he was 
okay after last time. And now here we are..." She sniffled.

Luke wanted to assure her that everything was going to be fine, but he 
couldn't; not after what Emily had said. He settled for, "Let's just 
not think about it, okay?"

She nodded slowly. Her mother trudged back over to them, and collapsed 
into one of the chairs, covering her face with her hands.

XXX

"Luke?"

He felt someone poking him, and opened his eyes slowly, groggy from the 
short nap he had taken. Rory's face appeared before him, looking 
confused and desperate. He looked to the chair beside his where Lorelai 
had also fallen asleep.

Luke stood slowly, and the moment he was fully up, Rory grabbed him 
around the middle. "Is he okay? Has anything changed? There was 
traffic, and Greg was working late, and then I missed the exit..."

Patting her back, Luke sighed. "I really don't know."

Rory looked around. "Where's Grandma?"

Realizing she wasn't there, Luke also scanned the waiting area for his 
mother-in-law. "She was here before I fell asleep. She must've...gone 
for a walk, or something."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, however, Emily appeared, 
coming out from behind the double-doors where they had most likely 
wheeled Richard to a few hours ago. She was walking with a doctor, who 
had his hand on her shoulder. Luke's stomach dropped when he noticed 
that she was sobbing.

Emily reached them, and when she looked up, he knew what had happened. 
Rory obviously did, too, for she latched onto Luke for support once 
again.

"No." The young woman's voice was muffled as she said it into his 
shirt.

At this point Lorelai had awoken from the commotion in front of her. 
She took one glance at her three family members before the tears began 
came.

She stood and hugged her mother, both crying on each other's shoulders. 
Rory was still holding on to Luke as if her life depended on it.

He really didn't know what to do. It was different from when his mother 
and then his father had died. Luke had been ten when Lily had passed, 
and twenty-one when William's life had ended. He had barely started 
living by the time both his parents were gone. Yet for Lorelai, her 
father was deceased at an older age, but she still felt like she had 
never done well in his eyes, even after she and Rory had been pulled 
back into Emily and Richard's lives. Luke had never told his wife that 
before their wedding, her father had said how proud he was of his 
daughter for making her life so colorful and amazing.

Luke had been fond of Richard Gilmore. He hadn't really gotten to know 
him until a few months after he and Lorelai had been dating, when her 
parents had began counseling. The elder man had asked him into his 
study, and the two had had an interesting conversation about his 
intentions, and Luke had learned how much Richard loved his wife, 
daughter, and granddaughter just by the way he had spoken of his 
family.

Lorelai had been growing closer to her father over the past three 
years; they had finally come to a mutual understanding of things. And 
now...

Rory had let go of Luke, and was now hugging her grandmother. He closed 
the gap between he and Lorelai, and she fastened on to him with all her 
might.

"It's not fair," she whimpered. "We were just getting to know each 
other again."

"I know," Luke said softly, cupping her head in his hand.

Lorelai slumped against her husband. "Now he'll never get to meet his 
second grandchild."

XXX

Luke hadn't been to a funeral since his Uncle Louie had died, and that 
time, it had only been a few people at the service and burial. It was 
different from his father's, where the whole town came. Since nobody 
had ever really liked Louie, including himself, he hadn't felt so lost.

Richard Gilmore's funeral wasn't like that. There were more people than 
Luke could even estimate. There were businessmen, family, extended 
family, his friends, and then some Stars Hollow townspeople who had met 
the older man, and had come to show support for the Gilmore's.

Lorelai hadn't been doing well. Richard's death, mixed in with her 
pregnancy hormones, had made her even more sensitive than usual. Though 
she still made wisecracks, Luke could tell she was hurting. She'd 
broken down a few times, saying that she never got the chance to make 
up for all those years she and her father had missed. Having had much 
practice by now with crying women, specifically crying Lorelai, Luke 
had held her close until the tears subsided.

Rory had taken the week of the wake and funeral off from school, saying 
that one of her classmates was going to take notes for her. She went 
along, regretting that she hadn't had more time with her grandfather. 
Greg had come as soon as he had heard, and had been helping out as best 
he could. Luke had given the most fatherly hug he could muster to his 
step-daughter.

Emily was the one person Luke was having a hard time of deciphering. 
She went about planning as if it were another function, and yet three 
days after Richard had passed, Luke had driven to the large mansion to 
bring over some food. He had found his mother-in-law crying softly in 
her husband's study, so he had just left the food with the maid. Emily 
didn't cry in public.

Christopher, Sherry and their daughter had shown up. They hadn't stayed 
long- both adults had to return to work- but Lorelai had told Luke that 
she and Chris had had a nice talk, both reminiscing about her father.

And now here they were, a week after Richard had been buried. Luke 
glanced over at his wife, who was twirling a stray piece of string from 
the blanket she had thrown over herself. He moved closer and took her 
hand, ceasing the twirling. She smiled gratefully at him.

"I hope Rory's okay," Lorelai said quietly.

"Greg is there with her, she'll be fine," Luke assured. Rory had just 
officially moved in with her boyfriend two weeks ago.

Lorelai nodded, then stood slowly and walked down the short hallway to 
stand in front of Rory's old room, which was now completely painted 
light blue and housing the furniture Luke had made. She put a hand on 
her stomach, which was only just starting to bulge a bit.

"Hey, Luke," she said. "Come here."

So he stood up and walked over to her. She grinned and placed his hand 
on her stomach. He felt...was that...movement? His eyes grew wide. 
Lorelai nodded slightly.

"Wow," was all he could whisper.

"Yeah," she agreed, gazing at him.

Luke couldn't resist the moment. He bent slightly and kissed her hard, 
overjoyed at getting to actually feel his child growing inside her. 
When he pulled back, she was still smiling, and his hand was still on 
her abdomen.

"It's kicking pretty early." She thought for a moment. "Maybe it'll 
have your athletic talent," Lorelai said lightly.

"As long as it can throw a ball. I refuse to have a child that can't 
throw."

"Hey, Rory can't, and she's done well in life."

Considering for only a moment, Luke shrugged. "Still."

XXX


Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner 
Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.

A/N: Guess who's back? Back again?...Alright, that's enough Eminem from 
me for a lifetime.

Thanks for the reviews.

XXX

He traced circles on her bare shoulder while she slept. This was one of 
Luke's favorite times; when Lorelai was sleeping and he could just 
watch her. He wondered if she knew how beautiful she was. It wasn't 
just outer beauty, though. Her personality was part of what made her so 
attractive; it reflected off everything she did and said.

The couple had gotten back to their normal routines (as normal as they 
could manage, considering) fairly fast. Though Lorelai had mood swings 
and complained about 'growing fat' all the time, Luke didn't care. He 
loved this, and as each passing day went by, he was becoming more and 
more excited at the prospect of being a father. It was something he'd 
always dreamed of, though he'd never told anyone that.

Morning sunlight was glaring into the bedroom through their opened 
window, and Luke looked at the clock beside him. The alarm would be 
going off in two minutes, letting him know that it was time to start 
the day. To save Lorelai the trouble of waking up and then falling back 
asleep, he turned it off and stood, stretching and yawning. He grabbed 
a t-shirt and headed downstairs to get the paper.

After completing his morning ritual (get the paper, skim the front 
page, eat something healthy and substantial, shower, change into 
flannel), Luke left to open the diner. He'd had Cesar, Lane, or his new 
hire, John, a Stars Hollow High student, open at six every day this 
past week so he could sleep in a bit and go in at eight. It was a 
beautiful morning, so he walked, a slight spring in his step.

The spring disappeared, however, when he reached the end of the street 
that met with the center of town. Luke almost didn't believe his eyes 
as he spotted the familiar woman sitting in a broken-down car. As he 
approached and saw her face, it couldn't be denied who she was. He 
didn't want to be rude, but really didn't want to talk to her. Yet, she 
was parked with a dead car right across from the diner. Being who he 
was, he couldn't just walk past her.

Nervousness bubbled up inside him. "Uh, hey, what's the problem?" he 
asked casually, not wanting to draw much attention.

She looked at him with slight shock and panic. "Luke?"

"Yeah. How've you been, Nicole?"

Luke wondered when life was going to stop surprising him like this. He 
hadn't spoken to his ex-wife (if you could even call her that) since 
right before he had signed the divorce papers and sent them in. She had 
shown up in the diner after closing.

'Luke?' Nicole called as the bell jingled when she opened the door.

He was standing behind the counter, and when he heard her voice, he 
looked up. 'Hey, Nicole.' He said it slowly and quietly.

She took notice of his mood instantly. 'You, uh, haven't been home, or 
called, or even answered my calls, the last few days.'

'Well, I didn't want to bother you or anything. I know you're a busy 
person.' Luke kept wiping the same spot on the counter with a wet rag.

Nicole hadn't moved from her spot in front of the door. 'Listen, uh, 
maybe we should talk.'

'Talk?' he asked sharply. He didn't care that he'd sounded more rough 
than intended. 'Yeah, let's talk. How's that boyfriend of yours?'

She didn't seem to be expecting this. 'Luke,' she pleaded. 'Just 
listen, please.'

'Fine,' he said, setting the rag down and looking at her. 'Explain it 
to me.'

'You and I...we haven't been doing well. You know that, I know that. We 
both have known for awhile that it hasn't been right.' She took one 
step closer, then stopped. 'The thing with Drue just...happened,' she 
finished lamely.

'So the Sock Man finally has a name,' Luke mumbled.

Nicole sighed. 'I just...never got a chance to talk to you before 
it...happened. You had said you were going to stay here that night. And 
then it...happened, but we were fighting too much and I just couldn't 
get it out.' She paused. 'How did you find out?'

'I wasn't wearing my own socks, for starters,' Luke said, annoyed even 
at the memory. 'And I watched you two go into the house. And then I got 
arrested, and embarrassed the hell out of myself by being put in jail, 
then had to call Lorelai to bail me out.' Nicole seemed to twitch at 
the mention of Lorelai. He let out a breath. 'I think we should get the 
divorce.'

'I agree,' she said softly. 'Luke...' he looked up. 'I'm so sorry.'

'Me too.'

'But maybe this way is better. We can both pursue other...things.' He 
knew she meant people.

'It's hard to forgive you, Nicole.'

'I know. And you never have to. I'm just...regretting a lot of 
actions.'

Luke started scrubbing with the rag again. 'I'll sign and send the papers tomorrow.'

'Alright.'

She stood there, but Luke couldn't reach her eyes anymore. Finally, 
though, he looked past her to the door. 'Goodbye, Nicole.'

'Bye.' She turned and opened the door halfway, then turned back. 'I 
really am sorry. Maybe if it had been different, and there hadn't 
been...things in the way.' He knew she meant Lorelai. 'I can't 
apologize enough.'

'I'll get over it,' Luke said, knowing he was being kinder than most 
would be in his situation.

'Goodbye, Luke.' And then Nicole was gone.

Luke felt angry and depressed, and yet he couldn't shake the feeling of 
relief and hope that settled in his stomach after her departure. They 
only grew when he signed the divorce papers with Kirk as notary and 
Lorelai by his side at Mailboxes, Etc. the next day.

"I've been good," Nicole said timidly.

"Something wrong with your car?" He was doing his best to be polite.

She looked into the hood of the car, which was propped open. "Yeah, uh, 
it broke down. Someone's coming to tow it."

Luke nodded, and also glanced into the car's hood, resting both hands 
on either side of it.

"Oh, you're uh, married?" Nicole was looking at his left hand, where 
his wedding band glinted in the spring sunlight.

He stood upright again and unconsciously spun the ring around his 
finger with his other hand. "Uh, yeah." He hoped she wouldn't ask to 
who.

But she did. "Is it..."

She didn't need to finish. "Yeah."

Luke saw Miss Patty watching them from the doorway of her studio. She 
seemed to be trying to place who Nicole was.

"That's...good. I always thought there was something between you two. 
You always clicked." She tried to sound breezy, but Luke could detect 
an almost jealous tone in her voice.

It looked like Patty figured out who the mystery women was. She began 
whispering with Babette, who had been walking past the dance studio.

He didn't know how to respond, so Luke just shrugged slightly and 
nodded. "What brings you to Stars Hollow?" Neutral topic, good, he 
thought.

"Oh, Taylor called my firm looking for a lawyer for something small. 
They sent me, since I had the most experience."

"Yeah, that's, uh, nice."

"Yup." She rocked on her heels, then sighed. "This is weird."

"Little bit," Luke agreed.

"You were probably going to the diner..."

"Oh, yeah, I had someone else open, 'cause...okay, well, I gotta go." 
He didn't feel like telling her he was not only married, but also 
having a baby with the woman she had always felt jealous and nervous 
around.

"Alright. Good to see you, Luke."

"You-"

"Luke!" He turned when he heard someone yell his name. Damnit, always 
bad timing.

Lorelai was strolling down the street, and waved to her husband. Nicole 
began getting antsy. Luke wanted to hide.

"Hey, Lorelai." He called back, and saw Miss Patty and Babette nudging 
each other and watching the scene. He could almost hear the gossip 
spreading.

His wife stopped short when she realized who he was standing with, but 
recovered and kept walking towards them. She nodded to the other woman. 
"Nicole," she said, surprised.

"Lorelai," Nicole countered, obviously noticing the bump protruding 
under Lorelai's shirt. "Are you two, uh, expecting?"

Oh boy. "Yeah, due at the end of July."

"Well, great, congratulations."

Luke wanted to get out of this awkward situation as quickly as 
possible. "Okay, I really gotta get to work, uh, so, good seeing you, 
Nicole."

"Yeah, you too."

"Bye," Lorelai added as she began leaving with Luke. Once they were 
inside the relatively busy diner, she slammed her purse down on the 
counter, eyes wide. "What the hell was that about? Why is she here?"

"She's doing some lawyer thing for Taylor," Luke shrugged as he put his 
apron on.

"Huh, did they ever think that she wasn't the best choice to send to 
Stars Hollow? I mean, God, she's you're ex-wife! And you two didn't 
exactly end things on good terms. Do you think she's still with 
that...guy? But did you notice? She's not married. No ring. Did she 
know we were married? She might've thought that we were only having a 
baby together or something. Because I swear, if she's come back just 
so-"

"Lorelai?"

"What?"

"Take a deep breath."

She did so. Luke shook his head and began pouring coffee to those who 
needed refills. "It doesn't matter anyways," he said as he returned to 
the counter. "I'm happily tied down to someone else."

Lorelai smiled. "Aw, that's sweet." She took a sip of her tea and 
cringed slightly. "So her car is broken down?"

"Yup."

"Is it...weird, for you? To see her?"

Luke thought about it. "I guess. I haven't talked to her since before 
we got the divorce, but things didn't end badly between us. That whole 
ordeal actually helped me."

"With what?" Lorelai asked, curious.

"Just...things. Setting things in motion."

And he left it at that, bringing breakfast to the ones who ordered it.

XXX

"Everything looks good," Dr. Grace said as she flipped through papers 
on her clipboard. "Now, I'm not sure if you want to know, but we can 
tell you the sex of the baby if you'd like." The doctor smiled at them. 
"I'll give you two a minute to decide," she said as she left.

Luke considered for a moment. If they found out, buying clothes and 
toys and accessories for the baby would be easier. But he still wanted 
that hint of surprise, being an old-fashioned type of guy.

He glanced at Lorelai, who was lying in a funny position, her legs in 
the stirrups. He'd made fun of her once for it, but hadn't after that 
time, finding it not worth the reprimand he received, which included 
something along the lines of, 'I want to see you lying there with 
someone's hand up your vagina'. She looked at him.

"If you want to," Luke said, shrugging.

"What do you want? Because I don't wanna know unless we both agree to 
it."

"Like I said, it's up to you."

Lorelai thought about it. "How 'bout we wait until it's born. That way 
it can be a surprise. Oh! We can start a pool, you know, like they do 
for famous people when they're pregnant, and we can bet on the date and 
time and weight and gender, and then whoever wins gets to...well, we'll 
figure out what the winner gets later."

Luke had tuned her out for the most part of that. "Alright. Whatever it 
is, I'm gonna be happy."

So they informed the doctor that they didn't want to know, and then 
left. Lorelai was still thinking up things the winner got.

"Maybe we can say they'll be the godparent."

"I thought we already decided on godparents."

"Well, yeah, Sookie and Jackson, but we can just tell the winner 
they're the baby's godparent, when really they aren't."

"Why don't we just give them some candy or something?"

Lorelai gasped. "Did you just say that you'd give someone candy? Have I 
affected you that much?"

"It isn't affected so much as-"

He was cut off by Lorelai's cell phone ringing. Luke almost wanted to 
say 'outside' out of force of habit, then realized they were in the 
car, and not at the diner.

She picked it up. "Hello?...Hey, mom...Yeah, we just came from the 
doctor's...No...Uh huh..."

Luke listened to her respond to things Emily was saying. Lorelai had 
become even more patient with her mother after Richard's death, since 
now, she realized, the elder woman was alone, with only she and Rory 
for immediate family.

"Oh, okay...We will, of course...For how long?...Well, Rory's 
graduation is in three weeks...I know you wouldn't miss it, I'm just 
telling you...Alright...Have fun, mom...Call us while you're there or 
something, so we don't think you've given up on life here in 
America...I know that was stupid, the pregnancy has thrown off my sense 
of humor...Yup, bye." Lorelai hung up and put the phone back in her 
purse.

Luke kept his eyes on the road. "What's up?"

"My mother is going to visit her sister in Europe, you know, the one 
she and Rory saw when they went to Europe a few years ago. She sounded 
better than she has since dad died."

"Well, good. It's probably hard to be alone."

"Especially in that humongous house." They sat in silence. "What if she 
meets someone new? Oh my God, I may end up with a step-father," Lorelai 
said faintly.

"Hey, I'm a step-father," Luke pointed out.

She nodded. "But that's different. The whole situation is different."

And surprisingly, Luke understood what she meant.

XXX


Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner 
Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.

A/N: I'm writing another fic while doing this one (it's not GG), so my 
time is now split between those and school starting and such. Updates 
will be as frequent as possible.

I appreciate the reviews.

XXX

The man standing beside him gave him an apologetic look, as he was in 
the same situation.

Luke was waiting outside a dressing room of a maternity store where 
Lorelai had dragged him to. These days, he didn't bother to make up 
excuses for why he "couldn't" go. He never won, anyway.

Lorelai let out a frustrated noise on the other side of the door.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, trying his best to not sound 
"unsympathetic" and "bored", as he'd gotten quite a few lectures 
recently on that from his wife.

She opened the door, and Luke tried to cover his laugh upon seeing her 
in a frilly, light-pink dress. "It's...uh..." he said in between 
'coughs'.

"It's ugly, that's what it is. And stop trying to hide it, I know 
you're just hysterical." Lorelai glanced at herself in the mirror as 
Luke stepped into the dressing room. She put a hand on her growing 
stomach. "This sucks. I mean, Rory's graduation is in a week and I want 
to look really good, but this whole being pregnant thing has totally 
made it harder, not that I regret anything."

Luke stood behind her, also looking into the mirror at the two of them. 
"Well, you are seven months along. What did you expect?"

"I dunno," she sighed as she began going through the other outfits she 
had picked out. "I thought maybe I'd be one of those people who didn't 
get really big during their pregnancy. Like that Spice Girl."

"But shouldn't you have seen this coming? You've been pregnant before."

Lorelai shot him a glare, and Luke immediately shut up.

"This is such an important event," she said as she held up a light-blue 
dress to herself. "How many more graduations is Rory going to have?"

"As long as you're there, she's going to be happy," Luke replied 
honestly.

"She wouldn't appreciate it if I was naked, right? 'Cause that's what 
it's coming down to. God, why are maternity clothes so..." She searched 
for the right word. "Bright?"

Luke had been wondering the same thing, but decided not to venture onto 
that subject. He checked his watch. Lorelai looked at him.

"What time do you have to be back at the diner?"

"I've got John covering for awhile. But he said he had a big 
project..."

"Alright, well, I'll try on one more and then we can go," Lorelai 
nodded. "How about this?" She held up the light-blue one she had been 
looking at before.

"Great, try it on."

So he once again planted himself outside the dressing room, and two 
minutes later he heard a triumphant noise. He entered again, and 
grinned when he saw how pretty the dress was on Lorelai, though she had 
always looked great in anything, no matter what. She looked at him for 
his approval.

"It's nice," he commented sincerely.

"Ah, that coming from Luke Danes, fashion expert extraordinaire, must 
mean it's going to be the hottest new thing for summer." Lorelai looked 
at herself in the mirror once again, turning in different angles to get 
the full effect. "I think this is the one."

Glad to know he would be out of there soon, Luke breathed out a sigh of 
relief. "Good, let's pay."

XXX

The last thing Luke expected to find when he entered his diner the next 
afternoon was Emily Gilmore. But there his mother-in-law sat, sipping 
an iced tea and watching the town of Stars Hollow out the window.

"Hey, Emily," he said, keeping the surprise out of his voice. He 
noticed she had a small box with her.

She smiled at him. "Oh, Luke, there you are. All the other times I've 
visited you're usually here."

"Yeah, I was just moving some stuff around the baby's room," he said as 
he put his apron on.

"Wonderful." She lowered her voice. "Between you and me, that boy you 
hired doesn't look trustworthy. The way his hair is spiked...and his t-
shirt suggests violence." Her eyebrows rose.

"Thanks for warning me." Luke glanced at John, who was refilling Kirk 
and Lulu's soda's. Though he was wearing a shirt that had some sort of 
scene from one of those gory video games on it, and his hair was 
sticking up at different angles on his head, Luke knew the kid couldn't 
hurt a fly.

Feeling as though he had to, Luke tried to find something for 
conversation. "So, uh, how've you been? I haven't seen you since you 
got back from your trip."

"I've been fine," she said, a bit quietly. "All those meetings and 
functions to attend to."

Luke nodded along. "Does, uh, Lorelai know you're in town?"

Emily shook her head. "No, I thought I'd drop by after this and 
surprise her." She lifted the box. "I actually came to give you this." 
Taking a closer look, Luke realized there were baby things inside.

"They're Lorelai's," Emily continued, lifting a small stuffed bear and 
then placing it back. "I would've given them to her, but I wasn't sure 
if she'd appreciate them or not, seeing as though she's spent much of 
her life trying to erase her past." Luke could hear a hint of 
bitterness in her voice, but ignored it as she pressed on. "I thought 
it'd be better to give to you, so you could go through it with her, 
instead of just letting her throw them away."

"I don't think she would've thrown this stuff away," Luke said 
honestly.

"Yes, well, she may be making an effort to get along with me now, but 
you never know with her. Just...promise me you'll take the time to sort 
through these things."

Luke lifted the box to place behind the counter for the time being. "I 
promise."

Emily smiled slightly and stood. "Thank you. They really are nice toys 
and such, though she probably won't remember many of them. Richard and 
I had never gotten the chance to give them to Rory when she was a 
baby."

"You don't have to do that," Luke said as Emily began placing a few 
bills on the table. "Family deserves some free stuff every once and 
awhile."

Nodding a bit, Emily shot Luke another grateful grin, and turned to 
leave. "Thank you, Luke. I'll see you at Rory's graduation."

"Yeah, see you then."

After she had left, Luke couldn't help but take a quick peek into the 
box that held some of his wife's history.

XXX

"What's this?"

Lorelai had just entered the house that evening, and stumbled upon her 
baby box. Luke had placed it in a spot where it wouldn't be ignored.

"What's what?" He tried to play innocent, entering the entryway as 
Lorelai gave him an odd look. "Oh, the box? Yeah, your mom stopped by 
at the diner to give them to us."

"She stopped by the diner? She didn't mention that," Lorelai said 
suspiciously.

The two stood for a moment, both looking at the box. Lorelai finally 
glanced at Luke. "Yeah, seven months pregnant, can't really bend over 
and lift that," she said.

"Oh! Right, sorry," Luke muttered as he picked up the box and carried 
it into the living room, where he sat it down on the coffee table while 
he and Lorelai placed themselves on the couch in front of it.

"So..." Luke said slowly. "Your mom said this was your stuff from when 
you were a baby."

Lorelai was flipping through a little book that had barnyard animals 
that made a noise when you pressed them. "Yup."

He didn't really know what to say, so instead chose the teddy bear from 
the box and looked it over. "Cute bear."

She glanced at him. "Yeah. His name is Bob Bear. I loved him till I was 
like, five. Then one of the maids freaked me out by saying it'd come 
alive at night."

"Oh."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes while Lorelai went through her 
past, until she suddenly reached over and half-hugged Luke. He wasn't 
expecting this.

"What's this for?"

"Just for being you."

"So are we gonna keep the stuff?"

"Might as well. Except...this one we won't give to the baby," Lorelai 
said carefully as she lifted the teddy bear and grinned at it.

XXX

"Her name is coming up! See? Look!" Lorelai said excitedly, and a bit 
loudly, as they waited for Rory's name to be called . Luke nodded and 
shushed her quietly.

He could hardly believe they were here, at his step-daughter's 
graduation, though he'd been calling her his 'daughter' since he and 
Lorelai had gotten married. Wasn't she just leaving Chilton? he thought 
longingly.

Christopher had made it to this graduation, but hadn't been able to get 
seats for Sherry and Gigi, so he was flying solo that evening. Emily 
was sitting in between her daughter and Chris, Luke was sitting beside 
Lorelai, and Greg was situated beside Luke. He couldn't help but grin 
when he heard Paris's name.

"Paris Eustace Gellar..." the announcer droned, saying her major and 
minor. Luke found him to be boring.

Beginning to get antsy, he glanced at the program again that he was 
holding, which listed all the graduates in alphabetical order. There 
were three people left...

"...Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, Major in Journalism, Minor in Political 
Science..."

And with those words, Rory walked over to the podium, accepted her 
diploma, waved to her family, and joined the others who had entered the 
real world. Emily was snapping pictures as fast as she could, and Greg 
was clapping with a proud grin.

Lorelai had a big smile across her face, tearing up at the sight of her 
daughter. "Ah, screw blaming hormones. This is the best thing ever," 
she whispered to her husband.

Luke had to agree as he subtly brushed away the moisture forming in his 
eyes. His little girl was really grown up now. He noticed that 
Christopher was also welling up a bit, but trying to hide it. Luke knew 
that the man was angry at himself for missing so much with Rory, and 
yet, Luke felt a small part of him be glad he wasn't around, since it 
gave him a chance to really watch that beautiful girl become this 
beautiful woman.

"Congratulations, class of '07!" the announcer yelled as the ceremony 
ended.

XXX

"I'm so proud of you, baby," Christopher said as he held on to his 
grown daughter tightly, who had just come to greet them after the 
ceremony. Luke stood with Lorelai a few feet away.

"Thanks, dad," Rory said, sounding slightly embarrassed.

Chris pulled back. "I'm so sorry, but I gotta get going. I'll call you 
tomorrow."

"Alright," she nodded, as her father said goodbye to the rest of the 
group. Luke nodded to him.

"You didn't trip!" Greg shouted as he lifted his girlfriend in the air 
and kissed her quickly. "I told you you'd be fine."

"Yes, it's wonderful, Rory. You're grandfather would be so proud to see 
you graduating from Yale." Emily became a bit choked up at mentioning 
her late husband, but hugged Rory with a large smile.

"Thank you, Grandma."

Luke approached with Lorelai after Rory and Emily had let go of each 
other. His step-daughter grinned shyly as Luke opened his arms for her. 
She embraced him and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for everything, 
Luke." He knew she meant everything in the past twelve-plus years he 
had known and cared for her.

"Anything for you, Rory," Luke replied.

He stepped back quickly to avoid being knocked over by Lorelai and her 
large stomach as she rushed over to grab Rory, seeming to never want to 
let go. "I know you've heard this a billion times today, but I'm so 
proud of you," she whispered.

"I love you, mom."

"I love you too, babe."

The two stayed like that for a few more moments, while Luke stood 
beside Greg and Emily chatted with a parent she knew.

Once they let go, Luke shrugged and said, "So, back to the house?"

"Sure," Rory agreed. "Who's going to be there?"

"Are you kidding?" Lorelai began, wrapping an arm around Rory's 
shoulder as Luke wrapped an arm around Lorelai's waist. Greg took his 
place beside Rory and took her hand, and Emily followed the four. 
"Hello, you just graduated from college. Who isn't going to be there? 
Hell, I think we've even got Elvis to do a little duet with Judy 
Garland. It'll be a sight to see, I tell ya."

Luke shook his head but kept walking with them. He noticed Emily was 
lagging behind, and slowed down so he was in step with her now. "Are 
you uh, coming to the house?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Emily shrugged.

"I think Rory would really like it if you went," he said, knowing the 
young woman really would.

"Well, alright."

And off they went in three separate cars, to be reunited for Rory's 
graduation bash at the Gilmore-Danes home.

XXX


Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner 
Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.

A/N: Only like, two or three chapters left after this one.

Thanks for the wicked awesome reviews (can you tell I'm from MA? Heh).

XXX

Luke looked up from behind the counter as he heard the door open and 
the little bells jingle. He winced slightly when he saw it was Lorelai; 
she had been crankier than usual, since it was only a little over a 
month from her due date.

Kirk had stood and was trying to pass by her. Lorelai looked him up and 
down with a 'yeah, right' look. "What are you doing, Kirk?"

"I'm, um, trying to leave. I'm supposed to meet Lulu-"

"Yeah, that's great, Kirk. But see, I'm carrying another person, and 
I'm fat, and extremely uncomfortable, and my husband owns this diner, 
so don't even try to get past me."

His eyes widening, Kirk took three large steps back, hit another table, 
and knocked over the person's juice. Luke sighed loudly and went to 
clean it up as Lorelai sat at a table right near the counter, and Kirk 
raced out.

"Hit and run," Luke mumbled as he wiped up the juice with a rag. "Hey," 
he said carefully as he stood near his wife.

"Hello there," she replied. "You know what I want."

Rolling his eyes, Luke shook his head. "Are you sure you don't want 
something more normal? Not that watermelon and whipped cream with 
chocolate chips on toast is gross or anything..."

Off her look, Luke went and put the order in to Cesar. He didn't know 
why he was trying to fight her on these weird cravings.

"Hey hey, big brother!" Luke heard someone yell and turned to find his 
younger sister Liz entering the diner.

"Liz!" he said in surprise as she came around the counter to hug him. 
"What're you doing here?"

Luke hadn't seen Liz since Thanksgiving the year before. He and Lorelai 
had had family and close friends over to their house for a big dinner, 
and she and TJ had taken time off from their Renaissance Fair circuit 
to join the group. Now, he realized, that must've been the night his 
and Lorelai's child was conceived.

Now wondering why he was suddenly reminiscing about that (yet it had 
been a good night, Luke paid full attention to his sister.

"Oh, well, you know, some stuff. Where's Lorelai?" Liz looked around 
eagerly, and spotted her sister-in-law, who was enjoying her breakfast.

"Lorelai!" Liz shouted, and the woman in question glanced up and 
grinned.

"Hey, Liz," she said as she struggled to stand.

Liz shook her head and approached. "Oh, no, let me come to you."

Luke walked over to them as Liz sat down across from his wife. "Where's 
TJ?" he asked politely; the guy still wasn't his favorite person in the 
world.

"He's coming, he just had to run an errand." She smiled at the couple. 
"So, the baby is due soon!"

"Yeah," Lorelai said tiredly. "Thank God."

"I'd give you motherly advice, but God knows I'm not the person who 
should be giving it. And, well, you've done this before." Liz looked 
past the couple. "TJ! Over here!"

Luke turned so he could see his brother-in-law. Despite the fact that 
he and this man weren't the best of friends, Luke had to admit that he 
seemed to be the best guy his sister had dated and/or married yet. It's 
really saying something if Liz Danes is married to a guy for three 
years.

"Hey," Luke said as he stuck his hand out for TJ to shake.

Nodding, TJ accepted the shake, then nodded to Lorelai. "Hey guys, did 
Lizzy tell you the good news?"

"What news?" Lorelai asked, glancing in between them.

"Well," Liz started slowly. "We're getting a house here in Stars 
Hollow!"

Eyebrows raising quickly, Luke looked from his sister to her husband. 
He hadn't thought this would be what they were going to say. For as 
long as he had known her- and that was her whole life- Liz had been 
trying to get out of Stars Hollow. Yet now they were moving back.

"That's great!" Lorelai said enthusiastically, then kicked Luke subtly 
when he didn't respond.

"Wow, uh, why?" He questioned.

"Well, me and TJ are still gonna travel with the circuit, but we both 
figured that if we're gonna start a family or something, we'd want it 
to be here. I guess it just took me awhile to realize that. I mean, 
look at you two," Liz said as she beamed at her brother and sister-in-
law.

Finally sighing, Luke hugged his sister. "Congratulations, Liz."

"Yeah, welcome...back, I guess," Lorelai added with a grin.

"So does Jess know?" Luke couldn't help but ask.

Liz nodded. "Yeah, he's gonna come and help move some of our stuff. 
He's such a good guy now, thanks to you."

Flushing at the compliment, Luke shrugged it off. "I didn't do 
anything," he said gruffly.

"Aw, look at Luke being modest," Lorelai teased.

"Go back to your breakfast," Luke commanded lightly.

"We've gotta head out," TJ said, looking to Liz. "We've got papers and 
stuff to sign, and then the house is ours!"

"Yay," Liz said. "See you guys later." And then she and her husband 
departed.

Luke sunk slowly into the chair across from Lorelai. She looked at him 
closely. "So, Liz is moving to Stars Hollow."

"That's what I've been told," Luke responded.

XXX

"This is a really nice place," Lorelai said as she took a tour of the 
house Liz and TJ had bought.

Luke nodded, checking the walls and doors. "Yeah, when was it built?"

"Oh, just ten years ago," Liz told them. "It's kind of small, but we 
figured we didn't need a big place." She grinned at TJ, who was leaning 
against a wall and drinking a beer.

"We just gotta move the stuff in, and then we're done," TJ said. "Maybe 
livin' in the same town will make us closer, eh brother-in-law?"

Luke just let out a fake chuckled, and stood beside Lorelai. "Well, we 
gotta get going," he said pointedly to his wife.

It wasn't that he didn't like this sister or brother-in-law; no, he 
loved Liz, stand TJ, to some degree. He just knew that if they stayed 
here for another five minutes, they'd be roped into helping with 
something.

Lorelai glanced at Luke, then turned back to Liz and TJ. "Right, dinner 
with my mother. I guess we'll see you soon."

"Yup!" Liz replied happily. "Good you could check out the place!" she 
called after them as Luke and Lorelai left.

Once they were inside the car, Lorelai looked to Luke and rolled her 
eyes. "Could you be more obvious?" She adapted a deep voice, "'Oh, uh, 
yeah, we gotta go, uh, for, uh, well we gotta go'."

Luke shook his head as they began driving out of Stars Hollow. "Well, 
we need to get to this dinner, and Rory and Greg are going to be there, 
and I know how much you miss her..." He was lying.

"What's the real reason you've been so distant with Liz, Luke?"

Damn, she can always see through me, he thought. "It's just...sure, 
she's moving here now. But what about in five months? Or a year? She's 
just gonna remember why she desperately wanted to leave in the first 
place, and then realize she can't stand being here again, and take off, 
like she's always done. I don't wanna get used to having my little 
sister here, only to have her leave again." He hadn't expected to be 
this honest.

"Well, maybe this time will be different," Lorelai said soothingly as 
she placed a hand on her large stomach. "Maybe she's serious now."

"Maybe."

XXX

"Rory!"

Luke shook his head as they entered the Gilmore mansion. Of course, the 
first thing Lorelai says is not 'hey', or 'hello', or 'glad to see you 
all', it's just 'Rory'. He can understand he misses her daughter, but 
also wants to remind her of manners.

"Mom!" Rory shouted back as the two embraced as if they didn't just see 
each other three weeks ago.

"Hey, Greg," Luke said as he shook the young man's hand.

"How ya doin', Luke?" Greg responded as he pushed up his glasses.

"Okay," he replied easily.

After also greeting Rory and Emily, the five made their way into the 
living room. Emily got them all drinks, and sat in one of her expensive 
chairs that Luke found to be uncomfortable, no matter the price.

"So, how is everyone doing?" she asked, seeming to be really 
interested. Luke knew she was happier than ever to see her family, 
since she didn't have Richard anymore.

"Well, Luke's sister is moving to Stars Hollow," Lorelai said.

Rory looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yup, we just saw the house before we came over."

"Well, that's wonderful to have more family near," Emily said.

"Yeah," Luke agreed, still trying to figure out if Liz was staying this 
time or not.

Emily turned to Rory's boyfriend. "And Greg, your mother told me you 
got promoted at the editor's company."

"Yes," he confirmed. "Just a week ago, I'm head of the non-fiction 
department. It's kind of complicated to explain, but it's no big deal."

"It is a big deal," Rory said proudly as she beamed at Greg. "He's just 
movin' up in the world."

"Well, congratulations. Pretty soon they'll be begging you to run the 
place," Lorelai said.

A maid appeared in the doorway. "Dinner is ready," she said quietly, 
and quickly exited. Luke had always felt bad for the maids that had 
worked for Emily Gilmore.

"Uh, you guys go ahead, I just need to ask Luke something," Greg said, 
almost nervously.

"Well, no kidnappings or anything," Lorelai responded as she, Rory and 
Emily began leaving the room, all three confused. "If I find him gone, 
your ass is mine."

Greg chuckled, still nervously, and kept checking to make sure they 
were in the dining room. Luke now leaned against one of the walls.

"Uh, you okay?" He asked, having never seen the young man this way.

"Yeah, okay, yeah," Greg replied and stood in front of Luke, then 
started pacing. He did this three times, before Luke got tired of it.

"Alright, what the hell is going on?"

"Okay, here's the thing," the other man began, finally coming to a halt 
in front of Luke. "Now, I know you're not Rory's father, but I do know 
you've been there most of her life, and that she sees you as a father, 
especially after you and Lorelai got married."

Luke had no clue where he was going with this, but couldn't suppress 
the slight blush at having been told Rory thought of him as a father-
figure for her. "What's your point?"

"Well, alright, here it is. I know this is old fashioned and doesn't 
really need to be done anymore, but basically...I'm wondering if you'd 
let me marry Rory." Greg shifted from foot to foot.

His eyes large now, Luke took a moment to comprehend this. This was a 
very out-of-date thing to do; ask for a girl's hand in marriage from 
her father (well, father-figure). He tried to imagine his little girl 
married to the man in front of him, and, almost sadly, he could picture 
it well. Luke knew these two loved each other, and that they'd be 
happy. And they were both adults now; both out of college.

Making a decision, Luke sized up Greg. "I want you to realize how great 
a woman Rory Gilmore is."

"I do," Greg said honestly.

"I know you two have been dating for a few years, and it was good of 
you to wait until after you were both out of college to ask me."

"I thought it'd be better if we were both out of school."

"Promise me one thing."

Greg seemed to be trying to understand if Luke was saying yes or no. 
"Anything."

"Promise to take care of her the best you can. I love her like she was 
my own child, and if anything happens to her, I'm gonna be pissed off."

"I promise."

Luke took a deep breath, then clapped a hand on Greg's shoulder. 
"You've got my blessing."

Greg's eyes widened, and he let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Luke. 
It means a lot that you approve. Rory really loves you."

"Well, like I said, I really love her too," Luke responded as gruffly 
as possible, almost wanting to tear up. I've been spending too much 
time with Lorelai, he thought.

"Just...don't tell Lorelai," Greg asked.

"I won't. It'll be between us."

As Luke entered the dining room and sat across from his step-daughter, 
who was laughing at a joke of her mother's obliviously, Luke knew he'd 
never regret giving Greg permission to marry her.

XXX

"Hey, you came!" Liz shouted above the noise coming from inside her new 
house.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't miss my sister's 'welcome home' party," Luke 
replied as he, Lorelai and Rory entered the house.

Liz and TJ had moved everything in a few days after Greg had asked Luke 
for Rory's hand in marriage. Now, a week later, the town had decided to 
throw the couple a house-warming party.

"Rory!" Liz said excitedly, pulling her into a hug. "It's so good to 
see you! Where's that boyfriend of yours?"

"Oh, he had to get home to work."

Rory and Liz had gotten to know each other over the past few years, 
since Luke and Lorelai had gotten together. They shared the common bond 
of Jess, who Luke spotted by the food table, being smothered by Miss 
Patty. He decided he'd say hello to his nephew later, since Rory had 
just gone over to save him.

Suddenly, Luke felt a hand grab his arm and pull him back outside as 
Lorelai kept going to sit with Sookie.

"Hey!" he shouted at whoever was abducting him from the party.

"Chill, bro, it's just me," Liz responded in the darkness. She sat him 
down on the bench that they had put outside of their house.

"What's this about?" Luke asked as he glanced at his sister.

"I just wanted to say thank you." Liz looked forward, to the 
neighborhood. "I've been spending so many years away from this place, 
and then you know what I realized?"

"What?"

"I didn't have a reason to stay away anymore. I mean, you're here, and 
you're the only real bit of family I've got left, except for Jess, but 
he's in Boston. And Lorelai is here too, and you both are so great, and 
I just decided that I didn't feel like being away from family anymore."

Luke was surprised at this admittance. "So why are you thanking me?"

"Because," Liz said as if it were obvious. "I've always used you as an 
example of what I could be. I mean, you're not only my big brother, but 
you're a great town-figure, and husband, and you're a good father to 
Rory, and you will be to this kid too. I just wanted some of what you 
had, and so I thought, where better to find it then where you are? 
Where we grew up?"

Luke placed an arm around his sister's shoulders. "That means a lot to 
me, Liz."

"You mean a lot to me. It just took me awhile to figure that out," she 
said.

They sat in silence, just looking out to the street as the party roared 
inside. Liz finally stood up.

"Alright, now don't get a big ego or anything. Let's go back to the 
party."

"Hey, Liz?" Luke stood beside his sister, and hugged her when she 
turned towards him. "I'm glad you're back here."

"I am too," she agreed.

XXX


Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls is owned by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner 
Bros., and all those other rich, smart people.

A/N: Sorry this chapter took awhile; the combination of school starting 
up again with the, of course, added bonus of homework (oh joy), and a 
job, and just lots of real life stuff in general, it was hard to get 
this all finished and cleaned up and ready to serve. But here it is 
now.

XXX

It had been two weeks since Luke had given his blessing to Greg to ask 
Rory to marry him, and he was starting to crack under the strain of 
keeping this from Lorelai.

"So Rory said she had big news to tell us," she said lightly as they 
sat on the couch, watching a movie Luke couldn't remember the title of, 
and didn't really care about anyway. "I wonder what it's about."

Luke didn't say it aloud, but he was wondering what Rory wanted to tell 
them about too. The young Gilmore was going to stop by and visit the 
next day and share her news. Maybe Greg proposed? He thought.

"I don't know," was all he said.

Lorelai let out a deep sigh. "Do you think they're engaged?"

"I don't know."

"Are they moving again?"

"I don't know."

Lorelai gasped. "Oh my God, do you think Rory's pregnant?"

"No," Luke said firmly.

"You sound so sure," Lorelai commented. "You don't know," she accused. 
"It's not like you're the Oracle or anything."

"Alright: I don't know."

"Ugh, stop saying that!"

Luke had found that most of their time spent together was like this. 
She'd ask ridiculous questions about different subjects, and Luke would 
respond with the same answer every time. He found the routine 
comfortable, and something he had come to almost enjoy.

They sat in silence as the movie went on, and Luke watched as Katharine 
Hepburn yelled at someone.

"Wow, we could find out tomorrow that we're gonna be grandparents. Man, 
that'd be so crazy if Rory had a baby right after I did. Totally 
weird."

Luke knew she wasn't going to let up, so he decided to ignore her. Just 
another normal evening in the Danes' home.

XXX

"Hello?" Luke heard someone call, distracting him so he dropped the 
picture he had been trying to hang up in the baby's room onto his foot.

"Damnit," he muttered as Rory came into the doorway.

"Hey Luke. Are you okay?" She noticed his pained expression.

"Yeah, just dropped this on my foot," he replied as he set the picture 
down, so the stupid cats were staring at him. He hadn't wanted to buy 
this picture because the animals in it were all evil-looking with beady 
eyes, but Lorelai had insisted.

"Where's mom?" Rory asked as she and Luke entered the kitchen.

Luke tried to remember where she had gone. Sookie and Michel had both 
been badgering her to take it easier lately, so she had been going to 
the Dragonfly less and less.

"I think she went to Doose's."

At that moment the door opened and closed, followed by a grunt of 
frustration, signaling Lorelai's return.

She entered the kitchen. "Oh, no, I'm great. The lady who's eight 
months pregnant will carry the bag."

Luke took it from her and placed it on the counter.

"Rory!" Lorelai said as she and her daughter hugged awkwardly over her 
large stomach. "What's your news?"

Never misses a beat, Luke thought as he shook his head at his wife.

Rory seemed to be confused for a second, then nodded. "Oh, uh, right. I 
guess I'll tell you guys now."

Lorelai grinned and the three entered the living room. Luke sat beside 
his wife on the couch as Rory stood in front of the TV, facing them.

"Alright, so remember how I was up for that position at the New York 
Times?" She began, and Luke immediately smiled.

"You got it?" Lorelai questioned eagerly.

"Yeah!" Rory replied enthusiastically.

"Great! Congratulations," Luke said happily.

Rory now sat down in the chair facing the couch. "That's great, babe!" 
Lorelai agreed.

"Wait, there's more," the young woman said.

"You're not pregnant, are you?" Lorelai asked.

"What? No," Rory responded.

"Long story," Luke informed her. "Go on."

"Right, since the job is at the NY Times, Greg and I are moving!" Rory 
smiled widely at her mother and step-father again.

Luke blinked. She was moving to New York?

"Well?" Rory prodded.

"You're moving to New York?" Lorelai echoed Luke's thoughts, not 
sounding so happy about it.

Rory looked almost disappointed. "Well, yeah. The job is in New York, 
and Greg's been thinking about switching jobs, and...it's a great 
offer, and I don't really want to commute from Hartford to New York and 
back every day," she concluded.

The three sat in silence for a few more minutes. Luke was trying to 
comprehend this. Rory had never been farther from Stars Hollow than 
Hartford.

"Uh, congratulations...again," he finally said.

"Mom?" Rory glanced at her mother, who was tearing up. "You're not 
happy?"

"You're moving to New York," Lorelai repeated sadly.

"Yes, but it's not that far, and it's not like we won't come home 
sometimes to visit, and we'll be around all the time when the baby's 
born..." Rory pleaded with her eyes for her mother to accept this.

"You're right," Lorelai said as she waved a hand in the air and laughed 
at herself. Luke sat uncomfortably. "It's just...New York."

"Yup."

"Congrats, sweetie." Lorelai opened her arms and her daughter stood and 
walked into t