Summary: Luke has an 8-year-old daughter named Malina from his relationship with Rachel. Rachel left Luke with Malina after she was born, and Malina hardly knows Rachel at all. Luke and Lorelai aren't together. Set in Season 1, prior to Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers.

Chapter 1
Flashback

Flashback:

"Luke?" Rachel said.

"What?" Luke said.

"I'm-I'm…"

"You're what?"

Rachel let out a breath and said, "I'm pregnant."

"What?" Luke said in shock.

"I'm pregnant." Luke didn't say anything. "Luke please say something."

"I don't really know what to say. I'm shocked I guess, I mean we're sorta young, younger than most parents anyway, and we're already having a-a kid."

"I know, I know. Are you going to leave me?"

"Of course not. I don't want you to have to go through raising a kid by yourself."

"Thank you Luke. You're so good to me." Rachel said, giving Luke a hug.

8 months later

"Luke, this is Thomas, Rachel's father."

"Oh yeah, hi."

"We are in the hospital, and Rachel has just had her baby and wants you to come down right away."

"Uh, okay, I'll be there soon."

Luke hung up the phone and left for the hospital.

"So that's our baby, huh?" Luke said.

"Yeah, that's our baby." Rachel said. Luke and Rachel were sitting on Rachel's hospital bed looking at their new sleeping baby.

"Did you name her?"

"No, that's why I wanted you here, to help me name her."

"It's okay, really, you can choose a name for her."

"She's just as much your child Luke as she is mine. I want you to feel apart of this."

"I do already."

"Please Luke?"

"Okay, fine." Luke said reluctantly.

"Thank you. I was thinking we could name her after your mother."

"My-my mother?"

"Yeah, I mean, that is, if you want to."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Luke paused. "So Malina?"

"Yeah, Malina. Should she have a middle name?"

"Uh, sure, it's up to you, I mean I'm new to this whole naming a kid, father thing."

"So am I Luke."

"Yeah, yeah, I-I know."

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I want you to pick her middle name."

"What?"

"Pick her middle name. Please Luke, it won't even be that hard because I wrote down names that I thought could be the middle name."

"Okay, okay fine. Let me see your list."

"Okay." Rachel handed Luke a piece of paper from the table beside her bed.

"Okay, number one: Jayna, nope that rhymes. Number two: Olivia, that sorta rhymes, too. Francesca." Luke looked at Rachel and said, "What's with you and all these names that end in 'A'?"

Rachel smiled and said, "Fine, not Francesca. I don't even remember where I got that name."

"Number four: London, Malina London, not bad. Number five: Diane or Diana, again it ends in an 'A', but even if it were Diane, it would be the same letter as her last name, so in the end, it would sound like Diana."

"Only if you say it really fast."

"Okay, fine, but still it'll rhyme."

"Fine next name on the list. I think it's the last one." Rachel said.

"Okay, Shantelle. Malina Shantelle, Malina Shantelle Danes. So out of Malina London, and Malina Shantelle."

"Okay, how about we put them in a hat or something, and pick one out."

"Fine by me." Luke said.

Rachel ripped two pieces of paper off from the end of the list. "Do I pick or you pick?"

"You pick."

"Okay." Rachel closed her eyes and put her hand in Luke's hat. She picked out one of the ripped pieces and read it.

"What does it say?" Luke asked anxiously.

"Malina London."

"You've got a nice name kid." Luke picked up the tiny baby in her arms and kissed her on her forehead. "Welcome to the world Malina London Danes. Don't worry kid, Daddy won't let anything happen to you."

4 months later

Luke was upstairs in his apartment, getting ready to start his day. It was 5:30, and Luke opened the door. He began to walk out of his apartment, when he felt something by his foot. He looked down and saw his 4-month-old daughter sleeping in her car seat. He looked at this sight and had a million thoughts going through his head. He picked up the car seat, went back inside, his apartment, shut the door, and put Malina's car seat on the table. He took Malina out of the car seat and put her in the crib that he had for when she came. He went back over to the car seat, and saw an envelope with his name on it. He recognized Rachel's handwriting.

Why would she do this? Luke thought. He picked up the envelope and opened it. He began reading the letter:

Dear Luke,

Sorry about the messy writing, I'm being driven over to your place right now. It's 3:30 in the morning, just so you know. I know you're probably wondering why I did this, why I left our daughter on your doorstep. You have to promise you won't get mad Luke, though I won't even see you get mad. I'm going to get straight to the point. After I drop Malina off at your place, I'm going on the next flight to Milan. I got a call yesterday from an international travel agency. They asked me take go and take pictures of all the hotels in Italy for their catalogue. So I said yes. My flight is at 5 this morning, so by the time you get this I'll probably be on my way to Milan. You probably hate me right now for doing this, but the truth is Luke, I can't handle this. I can't handle being a mom, or looking after a child. I'd honestly rather be traveling the world, Luke. I've seen you with Malina, and I know she's in good hands. You're also probably wondering why I couldn't knock on the door so I could tell you all this in person, but it would be too hard. I have to go now Luke, I've reached you're place. Take care of Malina. I will see you again, hopefully,

Love, Rachel

Luke took the letter and threw it on the ground. He hit his fist on the table, which caused Malina to cry. Luke walked over to the crib and picked up his little girl.

"Shh, it's okay baby. I'm sorry. It's okay, I'm here. Your mommy isn't coming back for a long time." Malina's cries had died down. Luke kissed her and put her back in her crib. "I wish she would come back soon, though." He said to himself.

Later downstairs in the diner…

"Coffee please." A woman with brunette hair and blue eyes said to Luke.

"It's gonna kill you." Luke said.

"But we're all going to die in the end."

Luke gave her a look and poured her a cup of coffee.

"Thank you. You are a lifesaver." The woman took a huge gulp of her coffee.

"What'll you have?" Luke asked a younger version of the woman.

"Can I have fries and a cheeseburger please?" the younger girl said.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh me too!" the older woman said.

"All this crap will take thirty years off your life." Luke said.

"I'm almost 30, what does it matter?"

"Fine, your food will be ready soon."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I have never seen you before, are you from around here?"

"Yeah, we moved here 8 years ago. We live at the Independence Inn."

"The Independence Inn, do you know Mia?"

"Of course we know Mia, she's the one who got me the job as a maid when I left my parents house. I'm Lorelai Gilmore by the way."

"Luke Danes." Luke said.

"It's nice to meet you. This is my daughter Rory, she was named after me. Her name's Lorelai, too." Lorelai said.

"Nice to meet you Rory."

"You too." Rory said.

Just then a cry came from the baby monitor.

"Aw man, I just got her to sleep and I have a busy diner." Luke said to himself.

"You have a kid?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, Malina. Can you do me a favor?"

"Uh sure."

"I know I just met you and all, but can you go upstairs to my apartment and sorta calm her down?" Luke asked. "I really need to take care of these customers."

"Um okay." Lorelai said uncomfortably.

"Thanks so much. The door says William's Hardware; it's unlocked, so just go right in."

"Okay." Lorelai got up from her seat and left for Luke's apartment.

"So, how old are you Rory?" Luke asked, trying to make conversation with the little girl.

"I turned 8 two weeks ago." Rory said shyly.

"Oh yeah, Happy Belated Birthday."

"Thank you."

Luke and Rory didn't say anything more, for they heard Lorelai talking through the baby monitor.

"Hello there, Malina. You don't know me, but I'm Lorelai. It's okay Sweetie, your daddy's downstairs, but you have to take your nap Sweetie or else you won't be able to hang out with the grown ups." Lorelai said to Malina. Lorelai rocked Malina in her car seat, and Malina's cries then turned into quiet whimpers. Once Malina had stopped crying completely and was on her way back to sleep, Lorelai kissed her forehead, put her back in her crib, and left the apartment.

"Very well done." Luke said when Lorelai came back down.

"What can I say, I have the touch." Lorelai said sitting back down in her seat.

"Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. So you're married, huh?"

"No, no I'm not actually."

"Girlfriend?"

"No."

"Then…?"

"Well if you must know, Malina's mother left for Milan today, don't know when she's coming back, possibly never."

"Aww man, that sucks."

"So what about you, you married?"

"Nope."

"Boyfriend?"

"I'm free as the wind blows." Lorelai paused and took another sip of her coffee. "And I also think that I'll be ditching Weston's from now on because you have amazing coffee."

"Thank you."

"Do you have pie?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes."

"Ooh, ooh, can I have piece of pie?"

"Hang on a sec."

"Thanks Diner Boy." Luke gave Lorelai a look and Lorelai smiled.

She has nice eyes, Luke thought.

He has nice eyes, Lorelai thought.

Luke and Lorelai both smiled.

Author's Note: I had this story for a long time, and just decided to post it for my first on Fan Fiction. So here's the new story. Please give me feedback, any constructive criticism that's floating around in your head as you read. R&R