OK. Yes, I am still working on Da Capo, but it has been eating my brain for the last, at least 5 months. I need to do something else or I will burn out and never finish it.

Notes about this story: It has been banging around my head for MONTHS. I finally harassed Ky with it so much that she made me write it. So I did and it seems to be turning into something. So, lets see how it goes.

Lorelai yawned as she trudged back into her house as the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon. She didn't think much of the curtains moving in Babette's window, figuring that the gossip would simply assume she was sneaking in to change and shower after spending the night at Luke. In reality, she had been up in Boston with Christopher.

She wasn't really sure why she had even jumped into her jeep to drive the hours, and miles, up to Boston to help him after his frantic call to her. Maybe it was the hint of panic in his voice at being unable to solve his daughter's woes, or maybe it was the screaming baby that she knew was helpless in Christopher's clueless care. But, whatever it was has driven her to rush home, her large Icee and extra cheesy nacho in her arms, jump in her jeep and start the long, boring drive up to Christopher.

She had only gotten lost once, it had been a long while since she had been to the apartment, but she was soon up the stairs and knocking on the door. It wasn't until she had finally gotten Christopher into the shower and GG sniffling quietly on her hip as they started to clean up the living room that she really stopped and asked herself what the hell she was doing.

She was in a committed relationship with one Luke Danes who made hating Christopher Haden a sport yet, here she was in Christopher Haden's apartment, with that man's daughter on her hip while he showered.

And she hadn't dropped word to Luke that she would be gone for the night.

"I can't thank you enough for this Lor," Christopher said quietly some time later as they sat on the couch among the remains of the Chinese food she had ordered. Lorelai offered Chris a smile before she leaned forward to grab another container of food.

"I'm not doing this again," she warned him. "I don't know if you've ever cracked open an atlas, but Star Hollow and Boston aren't exactly right next door to each other."

"I know," he said, hanging his head against his chest. She was sure she could see that trademark little boy smile on his face. "But I was. . . "

"Desperate," she finished for him. She stared into the mostly empty box of Kung Pow Chicken for a moment before she stabbed her chop sticks into it and tossed it onto the table. She watched as it landed with a dull thud and wobbled a little before it grew still. "I'm not doing this again," she said firmly and she was pleased to see that he sobered up quickly. "I'm in a relationship with Luke and, can I just say, he isn't exactly a fan of yours. Now, I know you have a nanny and she wasn't picking up tonight, but from now on, you have to call the service and find some one else. Call your mother, call her sister, call your next door neighbour but do not call me because I will tell you to suck it up before I hang up on you." The pair stared at each other for a long moment.

"I will not call you again about this," he said, crossing his fingers over his heart before he bent forward and grabbed his beer bottle off of the coffee table. She watched as he took a long pull before she grabbed her own glass of juice off the table and drained it. "What?" he asked with a smile.

"Nothing," she responded. "So, you're kid is asleep, we've gone over the basics."

"The tabby thingies."

"The tabby thingies," she agreed as she stood up off the couch. "I am going to go home and crawl into bed for a few hours before I have to go to work."

"Stay here," he said quickly, putting a hand on her arm to stop her. "I have a guest bedroom, you could stay there and get a few extra hours before you drive back to Stars Hollow." Lorelai studied him critically for a moment before she reluctantly agreed. With a satisfied nod and a smile, Christopher led her to the guest bedroom, pointing out the kitchen and the bathroom, both of which she was already familiar with.

The first thing Lorelai did when she got into her house was to check her messages. Satisfied that there were none, she then began heading up stairs to the shower, shedding her clothes as she went. She was too tired to give into the anal cleanliness habits Luke was starting to instil in her. She flung herself under the water, scrubbing the long night and the smell of stale Chinese and baby food away before she flung herself back out of the shower, taking a moment to grumble about not having brought up that laundry basket full of towels that Luke had left on her kitchen table a few nights ago.

As she stood in the bathroom, dripping dry as she tried to decide what to do, her eyes fell on one of the few personal items Luke had left in her bathroom, his generic brand tube of toothpaste. She cocked her head to the side as she stared at it for a long moment.

Something in this moment of domestic bliss was off.

Normally, seeing anything of Luke's mingled with her own things brought a smile to her face but all this was doing was giving her a hollow feeling in her stomach.

She was lying to him by omission. She was lying to Luke and it was making her feel sick. This was the first time that lying to anyone, other than Rory, had given her this feeling.

Lorelai's plans had just been re-ordered.

Lorelai rushed through town, the ends of her hair still drying in the sun and the wind. She had been so eager to get rid of this hollow feeling that she hadn't even used the hair dryer long enough to make sure that all of her hair was dry. She waved a quick hello to Patty as she rushed by the dance studio and cast a quick glance up and down the street before she dashed across to the diner.

Without hesitation, Lorelai stepped into the diner and strode up to the counter. She offered Luke a brilliant smile as she slid onto her stool by the cash register.

"You will never, in a million years guess who called me in a panic last night," she said as she leaned over the counter to kiss him good morning as he set a coffee cup down at her place.

"The Pope?" he asked casually as he poured her a cup of coffee.

"Nice try, but no," she said as she took a sip, buying herself a little time to screw up her courage. "Chris called," she finally blurted out to him, glancing over her shoulders a little to see if anyone else had heard her. She quickly focused her attention on Luke and watched as he stopped what he was doing and slowly looked up at her. "Sherry left him," she continued on with her story. She had to get it all out now or it would never come out. "She just packed up and left for a job in France, leaving him with GG, their daughter." His hand rhythmically tightened and loosened the hold he had on the coffee pot handle.

"I think we need to go upstairs," he said, all but slamming the coffee pot back onto the element. She was more than a little surprised at how calm his tone was. She nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving him as he called out to Caesar that he'd be back in a bit and headed immediately for the stairs that led to his apartment. Lorelai swallowed hard when he didn't wait for her to join him as he held the curtain out of her way.

She gave her head a little shake after a moment, quickly grabbed her mug and headed upstairs after him, determined to tell the whole story to him before he started flipping out. She closed the apartment door behind her and walked slowly into the main room, glancing to her right before she looked to the kitchen and saw him pouring himself a glass of orange juice. She took a sip of coffee as he drained the juice and put the glass in the sink.

"Ok, Chris called?" he asked calmly as he leaned against the sink and crossed her arms over his chest. He levelled his gaze on her slowly and she forced herself to not shrink away.

"Yeah," she said, setting her coffee cup on the kitchen table. She considered sitting down, but changed her mind. "Sherry, his wife? She got a job offer and she just packed up and left the country. She left a note with the nanny and took off." she looked up at Luke. "And then Chris called, in a panic because GG wouldn't stop screaming or climbing out of her crib and he didn't know what to do. So, I went over for a while and got the two of them squared away." She watched as Luke processed this, that muscle in his jaw twitching as he tried to decide what to do about this information.

"You drove all the way to Boston last night?" he asked her after a long moment.

"Well, you saw his attempts at fathering Rory," she said quickly. "At least she had me to clean up his mess. That little girl in his apartment only has him to rely on." Luke still didn't look particularly appeased by this. "He called, in a panic," she said again. "Going on and on about how he didn't know what to do or who to call and GG was screaming in the back ground and things were crashing . . . I couldn't just leave them."

"I don't like you spending time with him," Luke finally said, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen over them as he had considered what she'd told him

"It wasn't really a thrill for me," she assured him as she walked over to him. "Chris hadn't showered in at least 4 days and smelt like it and I have not missed the sound of screaming little girls at all." Lorelai reached out and grabbed Luke's hand after a moment and rubbed her thumb over the back of it.

"Sorry," he muttered as he pulled her close. She let out a sigh of relief as she melted into his arms, glad that everything seemed to have worked its self out, or was at least on it's way there.

"It's okay," she said, still tight against him. "There's something hot about you when you're all jealous and possessive," she smirked as she pulled away from him slightly. Luke couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head when he heard this. "Ok, I've gotta run. I was kinda late before, but now I'm sorta late," she said as she pulled away from him, dropped a kiss on his cheek and quickly took one more sip of coffee before she grabbed her purse again and dashed out of the apartment. Luke sighed as he watched her go before he gave his head one final shake and headed back down to the diner.

"What?" he asked gruffly when he noticed the diner patrons staring at him. As offered everyone a hard stare, the diner quickly jumped back to life.

Chris laid in bed, flat on his back, eyes wide and blurry as he stared at the ceiling while GG screamed in the living room. He was at his wits end with the baby he barely knew. Sure, Lorelai stopping by the other night had helped, but it just wasn't enough. He could find the tabby thingies on a diaper now, and he knew how to keep her in her crib, but he still could not stop the screaming or keep a nanny for more than few days.

He needed to put an end to this and he needed to put an end to it now.

"Hello?" Lorelai answered her cell phone, some what distractedly, as she dug through stacks of papers in her office.

"Hey." She heard a rather cheery voice respond. Lorelai nearly dropped the phone when she realised that it was Chris on the other end.

"I thought you weren't going to call any more?" she immediately asked him, trying to keep her tone level.

"I was wondering if you're busy tomorrow?" Chris asked, ignoring her previous question. "I have a business meeting in Hartford tomorrow and my flake of a nanny cancelled on me at the last minute. The agency can't send anyone else, my parents are in Europe and I don't know who else to call," he filled her in.

"No, Chris," Lorelai answered immediately. She had already told him she wouldn't bail him out again and she had promised herself and Luke that she wouldn't bail Chris out again.

"I'm a desperate man Lor," he said pleadingly. "I can't not go to this meeting and I can't reschedule it, I've already tried. I know you said you wouldn't bail me out again, but I don't know what else to do." Lorelai stopped digging through her papers as she thought about this for a moment. She remembered what it was like being a single parent to a young child. Of course she'd had a job where she could bring her toddler to work with her without repercussion.

"Fine," she said after a long pause. "I will watch her for you this one time. One time Chris!" she insisted.

"One time," he confirmed. "Lor, you're a life saver. I don't think you really know," he said, starting to gush her praises.

"Just don't ask me again because next time, I will say no and hang up on you," she assured him and he knew from her tone that she wasn't joking. She stared, dejectedly, at the piles of papers she had been digging through, already mad at herself for her willingness to cave into him. She was starting to really believe what Rory had told her about not being able to break free of Christopher.

"There won't be a next time, I swear," he said seriously. They quickly firmed up the last of the details before they hung up. Lorelai stared at the now closed cell phone, already starting to plan out how she was going to explain this to Luke. So far, all she had was distracting him with some really hot, really dirty sex and then whispering it to him as he drifted off. With a sigh, she left her phone on the desk and slipped out of the office and back to work.