TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

April 25, 1993 is April's birthday in this story because the episode with her birthday party in it aired on April 25 in 2006 and it was, I think, her 13th birthday.

I always thought that, while Rory was worried about her friend Lucy being mad at her, she should have also been worried about Luke losing his daughter instead of being so focused on her own problem. My writing is by no means anywhere near what GG makes Rory's writing out to be, which I apologize for.

Quote in the beginning is from 7-12 TO WHOME IT MAY CONCERN

"...I know from personal experience what an amazing gift that is, and not to allow him access to his daughter would be to seriously deprive her of all this man has to offer, and he offers so much. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Lorelai Gilmore."

The judge finished reading Lorelai's letter and gently placed it back in the file. "This next letter is from one Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, on behalf of Lucas Danes," she said before taking the second letter and smoothing the paper out. She didn't miss the flash of surprise in Luke's eyes. She'd seen that look before. Obviously he hadn't expected this second Lorelai Gilmore to write a recommendation on his behalf. A quick glance at the mother told the judge that she wasn't expecting this letter any more than she had expected the first. The judge did have to admit that it was rare that ex-fiancé's rarely wrote letters of recommendation in custody cases, but there was something about the look in the mother's face that told the judge that she hadn't expected anyone to want to vouch for the father, that she had expected to come in, say how the father hadn't been around for the first twelve and a half years, and go home with full custody and two one-way tickets to New Mexico.

To Whom It May Concern,

Luke Danes is a proud man who likes to deal with problems on his own, which is why he only asked one person to write a recommendation for him in this matter. The person he asked, though, was my mother, and so I have taken it upon myself, as someone who loves Luke like a father, to gathering stories and testimonies from all the other children of Stars Hollow that Luke Danes has been a sable father-figure to.

Lane Kim-Van Gerbig was born in Stars Hollow, and she has known Luke all her life, but her first really strong memories of him are when he was working in his father's hardware store while his father lived out the final months of his life. Lane's father lives in Korea, and her only uncle is only a few years older than Lane herself, so for a long time Lane didn't have a male influence in her life except for Luke and William Danes. Every so often Lane's mother, who runs an antique furniture store out of her house, would send Lane to William's Hardware for screws or nails or varnish or other furniture-restoring items. These trips were always a really exciting thing for Lane because they were basically the only times she was allowed out of the house unless it was to go to church or if she was with a large group of family members. When Luke's father died Luke closed the hardware store for a while before turning it into the diner he still runs today. When Lane was eighteen and needed money for food and rent Luke gave her a job at the diner, even humouring Lane when she wanted to do a full interview before he hired her because she wanted it to be a real job that she had worked for. When she found out that she was pregnant with twins Luke made sure that she didn't lift anything heavy, setting slightly over-protective restrictions on which dishes she could serve and which she needed to get someone else to deliver to the customers. When Lane's doctor told her that she needed to stop working she reluctantly did so, but, since Luke knew that Lane and her husband were going to need the steady income from the diner, Luke offered to not only hold Lane's position open if she ever wanted to come back after the babies were born, but he also hired Lane's husband, Zach, to make sure that the expanding family wouldn't have to worry as much about money. He has also offered to help them fix up their house, and recently spent an entire weekend baby-proofing the small house even though the twins are barely able to hold their heads up yet.

Jess Mariano is Luke's nephew. Jess' father split on him and his mother before they were even out of the hospital and Liz, Luke's sister, has had fairly poor taste in men, so Luke was always the most stable male influence on Jess, but, as Liz and Jess moved around all the time, Luke wasn't able to be as involved in his nephew's life as he wanted to be. When Jess was seventeen his mother found herself unable to deal with him anymore, his attitude, his truancy, his varied other problems. Luke took Jess in without question, expanding his small apartment so that Jess had his own room, a room that is now April's. Luke straightened Jess out, got him on the right track. Since leaving Stars Hollow for New York and then Philadelphia Jess has published a book, opened a successful bookstore with some friends, and is already working on two other novels, one of which is a semi-autobiographical account of his years living in Stars Hollow with his uncle. Luke often tells me that he doesn't feel he succeeded with Jess, that he feels that he failed because Jess didn't begin to succeed until he had left Luke's protective eye, but Jess has told me, countless times, that he never would have done anything if it wasn't for Luke.

And, finally, my own account of my life with Luke Danes.

The first time that I met Luke Danes was after a particularly bad day at school. I was nine at the time, and my class was having a mother-father-child party that I had had to explain would only be mother-daughter for me. I've never exactly been fine with my father never being around, but I was usually able to not let the fact that he wasn't there not rule everything I thought or did, but a few of the kids in my class decided to make fun of me all day, saying things that, to this day, hurt me a little when I think about them. My babysitter, a teenager from Stars Hollow High who my mom paid to pick me up after school and walk me to the Independence Inn where my mom was working as a maid, offered to buy me a treat to make up for my bad day, but the bakery we would usually go to was closed, so she suggested we try the new diner that had just opened up a few months earlier. My mom and I didn't spend much time in town, we mostly only came in when I had school and for staples around the house, as we were, at that point, living at the Independence Inn and got most of her meals from there, so I didn't know that there was anywhere in town other than the bakery I'd been in a few times that served fresh food. My babysitter and I went to Luke's that day and he made me a burger and gave me a glass of root beer and, since it seemed to be a little slow, he listened to me talk about my day. I remember him asking me which kids had made fun of me, and he promised to talk to their parents because he knew everyone in town, because no one should be teased simply because their father didn't stick around. Then he gave me a slice of pie and promised that everything would be alright. I trusted Luke instantly, even though he looked a gruff with his flannel and the backwards baseball cap and the stubble-beard he wore back then, and ever since that day when I was nine years old Luke has always been the man I have turned to when I needed a father-figure.

For years Luke has fixed everything in the Gilmore home, from the porch rail to every broken lock to dead appliances. He has basically completely put the house together again three times over; he probably knows that house better than my mother and I do.

In my entire life my father has managed to call me twice on my actual birthday, but I've never actually seen him or received anything from him. Most years I'm lucky if I get an acknowledgement two weeks after the fact. But Luke has never forgotten my birthday, or neglected a Christmas, and while he isn't the best gift-giver in the world, he always tries and the fact that he remembers always means more to me than what he actually gives me.

Luke has always been there for me, no matter what the problem. When I was ten I got the chicken pox and couldn't eat anything but mashed potatoes for nearly two weeks. My mother is hardly what one would consider skilled in the kitchen, but Like was always there with a bowl of fresh mashed potatoes, usually with corn or peas or tiny chopped carrots mixed in so that I was getting other nutrients as well, and he sat with me for hours while I cried because the itchy spots were driving me crazy and the fever was making me dizzy and I was getting sick of potatoes but there was nothing else that I was able to eat. When I needed to take shop class in junior high Luke was the first one I turned to, and he taught me the basics, then, after reworking his schedule, he took two full afternoons off to help me build something for the class, though now I can't remember what it was. It didn't work out perfectly, because he insisted that I do most of the work, but he was there and he helped me get a B in the class which was worlds away from the Incomplete I was sure I would be getting after sawing off a limb or something. When I moved into the dorms at Yale he drove between Stars Hollow and New Haven half a dozen times to bring my belongings out there, even though all he had promised was that my mother could borrow his truck. At least once a week, especially if I hadn't come back to Stars Hollow that weekend, he would drive out with a supply of burgers and pie and other foods that I love but that weren't served in the dining hall. It got the point where when he missed a weekly food-drop the other three girls in my suite got worried and tried to convince me to mount a rescue trip to Stars Hollow even though I knew that he had just gotten busy and that his visits to New Haven were more because he felt he needed to check up on me, make sure I was doing alright, because, as he has told me, he always thought of me as a daughter, which is good because I've always thought of his as a father.

When I found out about April I was shocked, to be sure, and thrilled that Luke had a daughter of his own because he had always been such a good father to me, and, yes, I admit to being angry that April's mother had kept her a secret from Luke, not only because it was completely unfair to Luke, but it was also terrible for April. Having been on the receiving end of Luke Danes' fatherly love for most of my life I know how amazing it is to have Luke as a father. April would have been about two when I met Luke, and I am honored to have received the love that he should have been able to give to his own daughter for most of that time.

The past can't be changed; there is nothing that can be done about the twelve years before April met Luke, but now that they know each other, that they have a father-daughter relationship like the do now, taking April away from Luke, and Luke away from April would be a terribly cruel act. To not know your father and never have him is bad enough, but to have a father, know who he is, love him, and then never see him is a million times worse. Trust me. I've lived most of my life knowing my father, loving him, and never seeing him, the only difference being that my father never cared enough to stay while Luke is fighting to stay in his daughter's life.

Thank you for taking the time to read what is hardly my best piece of writing,

Lorelai Leigh Gilmore

The judge once again carefuly replaced the letter in the file before looking at the feuding parents. The mother had her mouth hanging slightly open like some kind of fish. The father had tears in his eyes and a look of pride on his face, one that the judge could tell was relfected in the words of the young woman who had written the second letter.

The moment that she had read those two letters her decision had been made. She had already been leaning towards the side of the father after finding out that the only reason he hadn't been involved in his daughter's life before she tracked him down was because the mother had refused to tell anyone who the father was and had knowingly kept the father in the dark about the fact that he had a daughter, but the two letters had sealed the decision for her.