Author's Note: So I was pretty much unspoiled for this season and then I read the spoiler to end all spoilers and I've been irritated by it. This is my way of dealing with that irritation. The focus of this story is Luke and I will be completely ignoring Rory's existence and issues. This story is a series of small vignettes with no transitions. DO NOT proceed unless you are already spoiled through 6.09. And, if you don't know, you might actually be better off than the rest of us!

One Giant Leap

It had been days since the little girl waltzed into the diner took his picture and snatched a lock of his usually covered hair. It had been night after night of tossing and turning trying to figure out if what she had told him could be true. Could she be looking for her long-lost father? Furthermore, could that long-lost man be Luke?

He'd been irritable and stand-offish ever since that day. He hadn't told anyone what the girl had said. He had hardly even mentioned it to Lorelai. He made a passing comment about a girl who'd come in and irritated him, but Lorelai chalked it up to his normal irritation with children. How could she know that the girl was his potential daughter?

Luke looked at himself in the mirror as he got ready to face yet another day. His face seemed thinner than usual. His eyes, at times blues, were steelier gray than ever. The dark circles under his eyes were getting darker by the day. He wondered how soon it would be before his eyes actually sunk into his head and dissolve along with the thoughts in his head.

He splashed some water on his face and saw the 40-something man in his reflection for the first time. Luke had always been a loner. He pretended that he didn't care that much about town events and people, but it was more that he cared too much. It hurt him when he saw others let down. He always tried to lend a hand when he could but he didn't over burden himself. Maybe it was because his mother had died when he was young and he felt let down. By the time Rachel left he'd lost his mother, his father and at the time, the love of his life. That was the turning point. That was when he decided that a cranky exterior helped to camouflage the feelings he had on the inside. If he told the world he didn't care, then he could convince himself and it would be true.

Luke sighed as he wiped the water off his hands and he tried to recall what the girl who'd visited him looked like. Did she look like him? Was it even possible? He'd been taking a silent inventory over the last few days to figure out if the possibility that he was a father was there. Luke wasn't a one-night stand kind of guy. He'd always been a relationship type of man. He could never bring himself to date two women at once, let alone more. He mentally ticked off a list in his head. The big relationships were accounted for: Rachel, Nicole and of course, Lorelai, but who else after that?

Luke shook his head, but he knew he had to be honest with himself if he was going to have any chance of figuring out if what the girl told him was true. If he was being honest he'd have to add Crazy Carrie to the list. They were in high school and Luke was drunk, but he remembered it, much as he'd like to forget, but there was no way the girl belonged to her. He had briefly dated Tabitha before he got serious with Rachel, but the girl was too young to be Tabitha's. Luke tried to think back, but was pulled briskly from his thoughts.

"Hey," Lorelai said coming up behind him in the bathroom and wrapping her arms around his waist. "It's early."

"I know," he said tapping her hand with his own.

"It's also Sunday," Lorelai said. "I thought Caesar was opening and you were staying in bed with me today."

"Yeah," Luke replied turning. "I forgot to tell you that Caesar had a family thing this morning. I have to open."

Lorelai surveyed his face and saw how exhausted he looked. "You okay?" she asked reaching out and feeling his face with the palm of her hand. "You look tired."

"I'm okay," he lied. "I didn't sleep very well last night."

"I'm sorry," Lorelai replied. "I didn't steal too many covers did I?"

"No, you're fine," Luke replied. "I just had some things on my mind."

"Can I help?"

Luke hesitated a moment and finally replied, "No."

"Not convincing," Lorelai said as she walked by him and took a seat on the closed toilet. "Spill."

"I have to get to work," Luke insisted turning away from her.

"Hey," Lorelai said reaching out and grabbing his hand. "This is me here."

"I know," Luke said not looking her in the eyes. "I'm really okay."

"Luke," Lorelai insisted in that way she had about her. He knew he wasn't off the hook and if he didn't come up with something that she wouldn't let it go. He decided to touch on a topic that was fairly close to what was on his mind.

"I'm getting old," he said.

Lorelai grinned at his response. "You're not getting old."

"I'm getting too old to do certain things," Luke said.

"Like what?" Lorelai asked him.

"Like have kids," he said honestly. "I'll be the old dad. No one wants their dad to be the old dad."

Lorelai took a deep breath. She knew this day was coming. They had briefly touched on the topic of children when Lorelai was half-asleep. She remembered when she thought, for a brief moment, that she might be pregnant. She had assumed Luke would bolt if she told him, but she found out later that he seemed to like the idea of having children.

"Being the old dad is a lot better than being the young dad," Lorelai tried to reassure him. "I remember when people used to think I was Rory's babysitter. It's not fun."

"No," Luke agreed. "But, I'm not getting any younger."

"Are you saying you want to have kids, like, now?" Lorelai asked dreading the answer. For as much as she wanted to have a child with Luke the thought of actually being pregnant and being a mother at her age frightened her. Like Luke, she felt like she would be the old mom.

"I'm saying," Luke sighed. "I'm not saying anything. I've just been thinking about how old I feel sometimes. I don't know if I'm ready for boys and dating and the birds and bees and college and walking her down the aisle."

"Well you've got to actually go through the feeding and diaper phase first, but you're thinking ahead, that's good," Lorelai said.

"Yeah," Luke said not really listening to Lorelai's response.

"So you'd like to have a daughter?" Lorelai asked.

"Huh?"

"You said something about boys and you'd have to walk her down the aisle," Lorelai informed him.

"Oh, well I must have been thinking about a girl because you have Rory," Luke said absently.

"Right," Lorelai said not quite believing him.

"I mean I might not even be a good dad," Luke said suddenly. "I'm not exactly a kid kind of guy. I could probably fix a bike or build a tree house, but that's about it. How old are kids when they need a tree house? Like 10, 11? How tall are you at 10 or 11?"

"Luke, where is this coming from?" Lorelai asked standing. "We're talking about a baby here okay? You don't have to worry about bikes and tree houses for a while."

"I know," Luke nodded. "It's just something to think about."

"So you'd like to have kids?"

"I don't know," Luke replied honestly. "I like the idea of kids. I love the idea of having kids with you. I don't know if I'm ready for it, but it's something I've thought about. What about you?"

"I've thought about it too," Lorelai said realizing that they were having a very real, life-altering conversation in the bathroom at five-thirty on a Sunday morning.

"And you're terrified," Luke said knowingly.

"Terrified might be a strong word," Lorelai protested, but only slightly.

"Maybe, but you are," Luke insisted.

"Maybe I am," she replied a little defensively. "But you're the one in the bathroom at five-thirty in the morning freaking out about being the old dad. You're not exactly okay with it either."

"I didn't say I was," Luke said more forcefully than he's intended. He saw her tense slightly and he knew this was a mistake. "I've got to go to work."

Luke walked out of the bathroom and left Lorelai to wonder what had made him react to strongly to the conversation. He'd been tense the last few days and now he was losing sleep over the thought of being too old to have children. Something didn't seem right to Lorelai, but she chose to ignore it for the time being. Luke threw on his baseball cap and stomped down the stairs into the diner. He just needed more time to figure out what he was feeling.

Three days later Luke sat in his truck and found it hard to breath. He felt as though he was gasping for air, but his need for it couldn't be satiated. It felt like only moments ago he found himself in a middle school gymnasium. His eyes darted around the small booths that made up the science fair. He wasn't really sure why he was there, nor was he sure who he was looking for. The girl that had come to the diner had brown hair, or was it black? The memory was a blur. He remembered a ponytail, but girls changed their hair everyday. He scanned the crowd until his eyes rested on a raven-haired girl in the far corner of the gym. He swallowed hard and walked over to her table.

Luke didn't have a plan. He drove to the school on a whim. The name and location of the science fair were one of roughly five things he remembered about the girl: Luke might be her father. Check. She had darker hair. Check. Her science fair was being held today. Check. She had swiped some hair that was ostensibly being tested to find out of he was her father. Check.

"Hi," the girl smiled up at him when she saw him walk up to the booth.

"Hi," Luke replied.

"You didn't have to come you know," she told him.

Luke scanned the posters that lined the booth and he saw fairly good illustrations of DNA strands and photos. He let his eyes scan to the right and that's when he saw it. There were three Polaroid photos, one of Luke and two of other men he'd never seen. The other photos had lines drawn through them and Luke's was left unmarked. The girl followed his eyes.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Luke asked.

"Yep," the girl affirmed. "Do you want my stool?"

Luke said nothing, he simply nodded in disbelief. The girl hopped off her stool and pushed it toward him. After he was seated she shoved a written report into his hands.

"It's all there," she said. "My uncle helped me with the tests."

Luke sat in his truck and relived feeling the weight of the booklet in his hands. He read a bunch of words that didn't make sense. The only things that jumped out were 'Luke Danes' and '99.9 certainty of paternity.' April, his daughter April, had explained that she decided to find her dad as part of her science project. Her mother had narrowed it down to three men and instead of taking them all on Maury Povich she had decided to conduct her own tests under the supervision of her mad scientist uncle. That wasn't what she's told him verbatim, but it was what Luke heard.

He took a deep breath. April's mother was Anna Nardini. Anna was the first girl that Luke had taken home from a bar. It was a few months after Rachel had left him. He had been inconsolable and started to frequent a bar half way between Stars Hollow and Woodbridge. It was a small, dreary place, but they provided him with enough alcohol to make his mind forget about Rachel. Anna was the waitress there and she was nice to him. They talked like regular people and she made Luke feel like a normal human being again. Then, one night their talking became more and he ended up going home with her.

He barely remembered what happened and the next morning he felt ashamed and it was at that moment that he decided he needed to get his life together. Rachel leaving wasn't the end of the world and he had to stop acting like it. He visited the bar one more time and Anna had told him to forget about it. She knew he wasn't looking for anything serious and neither was she. That was the last time they spoke, ten years ago.

Luke thought about how he'd started to get his life back together. He worked hard to get the diner going and he started to have success. It wasn't long after that Lorelai and Rory had entered his life like a cyclone. Lorelai brought humor and interaction into his lonely world. She made him feel alive again and he started to slowly forget about the pain that Rachel had left. Sure, Rachel would come and go over the years and it would be a long time before Luke realized that Lorelai was much more than a friend to him, but at the time he felt like his life was getting back to normal and he forgot about Anna Nardini and that little bar half-way to Woodbridge.

Luke finally became aware that the sun had set long ago and he let his eyes focus on the darkness around him. He didn't know how long he had sat in his truck in the parking lot of the middle school, but it was easily hours. He glanced at his watch and swore under his breath. It was ten-thirty and he should have been home hours ago. He reached into his pocket and turned on his cell phone. It lit up quickly and the voicemail chirped almost immediately.

"You have four new messages," the computerized voice told him.

"Hey, it's me," Lorelai's voice said simply. "I was thinking Chinese for dinner. Al is bringing back the Chinese New Year in November spectacular and I was hoping you could pick something up on the way home. Call me."

Luke deleted the message knowing full well that it was too late for Chinese food and that there were three other messages from Lorelai to follow.

"Hi," she said sounding a little irritated. "Is your phone off? It's going right to voicemail. It's kind of late for Chinese now. I'll try you at the diner."

Luke skipped ahead again.

"Okay," Lorelai said sounding very irritated and slightly confused. "I just called the diner and Lane said you asked her close up today. She said you haven't been in the diner since three and I'm wondering where you are. Call me, please."

Luke rubbed his eyes and waited for the last message to play.

"Luke, I'm starting to get a little nervous," she said. He could hear the fear in her voice. He felt awful knowing that she was so worried about him. He should have left his phone on. "It's about nine and I haven't heard from you since this morning. I know today isn't the 'dark day' so if you could just call me and let me know you're okay and I can call off the National Guard search dogs that would be great. I hope you're okay. Call me."

Luke quickly disconnected from his voicemail and dialed Lorelai's number. He waited while it rang.

"Where are you?" she answered the phone frantically.

"I'm okay," he said. "I'm in Woodbridge."

"Woodbridge?" Lorelai asked. "Why are you there? Why didn't you tell me you had to go there? I don't want to be one of those women that needs to know where you are at all times, but you scared the hell out of me."

"I know," Luke said quietly. "I'm sorry. I had to be in Woodbridge today. I…I had a meeting at the bank that I forgot about." The lie came so easily. Why? Why couldn't he just tell her the truth? Granted, it wasn't a phone conversation, but why did he feel the need to lie completely.

"Well the last time I was at a bank it closed by six," Lorelai said. "Where have you been for the last four and half hours?"

"I'm sorry," Luke said again. "I went to Sniffy's. I haven't seen Buddy and Maize in a while and we were catching up."

"I wish you would have told me that was your plan for the night," Lorelai said. "I feel like an idiot about now. I called half the town looking for you."

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I should have told you. Sometimes I forget that you need to know these things."

"Fine," Lorelai said calming down. "You'll be home soon?"

"Yeah," Luke said. "You don't have to wait up. I know you have that conference tomorrow. They'll probably be in early."

"Yeah, but I might wait for you anyway," Lorelai said.

"Okay," Luke said as he pulled out of the parking lot. "I'll see you in a little while."

Luke hung up the phone and sighed. He didn't think it was possible to feel worse about the situation until now. Not only was he an instant father, but he had lied about it to the woman he loved.

"I like the strawberry," April said after she finished taste-testing three different slices of pie. "You should definitely ditch the peach."

"I'll keep that in mind," Luke said as he cleared the plates.

Before he'd left the science fair he'd extended an invitation to April to come back to the diner to visit him whenever she wanted. It appeared that today was the day she decided to take him up on his offer. He silently thanked the Powers That Be that Lorelai was in Hartford attending a conference all day. He still hadn't gotten the nerve to tell her about April, although he knew the day was fast approaching.

"My mom didn't know you could cook," April said matter-of-factly as she shoveled the pie into her mouth. "I'll have to tell her she was wrong."

"I appreciate that," Luke said. April was a very precocious, articulate child. He figured that must have come from Anna because he didn't feel he had either trait in him. He still had not contacted Anna, mostly because he didn't have a clue what to say. In the meantime he offered April a place to hang out and possibly get to know her a little better.

"So, did you get a ribbon for the science fair or anything?" Luke asked making conversation.

"Yeah, I finally won!" she replied excitedly. As she dropped her fork onto her plate her fingers got covered in the runny strawberry remnants. Luke seemed to only be able to focus on April's now sticky, strawberry covered fingers. She was very animated as she spoke about the ribbon, but all Luke could see was her goo-covered hands.

"Here," he said reaching across the counter and handing her a napkin. "Your fingers have strawberry all over them."

"Thanks," she replied as she wiped her hands.

"So what are girls your age into?" Luke asked. "You still play with Barbies and stuff?"

April giggled at his question. "No," she said. "I like school. Science is my favorite subject and I spend a lot of time on my computer. Do you have e-mail? Right now I'm beta testing this new interface for Yahoo and it's very interesting."

"Beta testing?" Luke asked.

"You know, when you get to try something out before the general public," April said simply. "Do you have e-mail?"

"I don't even own a computer," Luke replied.

"No computer?" April asked agog. "Are you serious?"

"My fiancée has a laptop, but I haven't really looked at it," Luke replied feeling uncomfortable. The diner was relatively quiet, but he felt like everyone was staring at him. He'd never really taken much interest in children and he felt like he was paying special attention to April. But then, why shouldn't he? She was his daughter after all.

"You can get a free account," April told him. "You'll need a name though. How about Pie baker? That's a pretty good name."

"Pie baker? I don't think I want to be known for my baking abilities all over the Internet," Luke said. "What's your e-mail address?"

"Double-helix 95," April replied.

"Isn't that a science thing?"

"Yeah, it's part of DNA."

"You're awfully young to be so interested in DNA," Luke said. "Are you sure you don't like playing with dolls or something?"

"I'm sure," April said. "I guess when you don't know where your DNA comes from for your whole life you get a little obsessed with it."

Luke had no response for her. How a ten year old could be so knowledgeable about DNA and paternity he would never know. She spoke like an adult and in many ways reminded him of Rory when she younger, her nose stuck in a book, speaking very articulately for her age.

"I guess," Luke replied.

"You know, I was glad it was you," April said suddenly. "Of the three pictures I took I thought you looked the nicest."

April didn't seem as though she was looking for a response. She just shared that information with him and took a long sip of her water before she hopped off the stool and put on her bike helmet.

"Okay, well bye," she said suddenly waving quickly. She'd been there for about an hour and Luke was getting to the point where he couldn't think of anything to talk about anyway.

"Hey, are you okay to get home?" Luke asked.

"I'll be fine," April told him. "My uncle is meeting me on Plum Street."

"Okay," Luke nodded.

"Hey Luke," she said walking closer to the counter. "Do you think I could come over every Friday after school?"

Luke looked into the girl's wide eyes and he couldn't say no. He found that he didn't want to tell her no. "Of course," he replied. "As long as it's safe to get here you can come over anytime you want."

"Thanks!" she smiled brightly at him. "See you later."

"Bye April," Luke replied.

"Hey," Luke called as he entered the house. Luke recognized that Lorelai was on the phone and quietly walked into the kitchen, trying not to interrupt.

"Okay, I will," Lorelai was talking to someone on the phone. "Bye."

"You're home early," Lorelai said. "I just got back from my conference."

"Yeah, I figured I owed you one after that late night a couple days ago," Luke said.

"I thought you were going to make that up by wearing the bull fighter's uniform," Lorelai teased him.

"Yeah," Luke smirked. "I have to talk to you about something."

"Okay, zero to serious in a millisecond," Lorelai replied. "This doesn't sound good."

"You might want to sit," Luke said pulling out a chair from the kitchen table.

"And now you want me to sit?" Lorelai asked. "Okay, just, whatever it is, tell me quick. Make it like a band-aid; just hit me with it all at once."

"Okay," Luke said as he took a seat across from her. "I was in Woodbridge the other day, you know that much. Well I wasn't at the bank."

Luke shifted uncomfortably in his chair not knowing what to say next. Lorelai sat silent for a moment and then it hit her.

"Oh my God, you're having an affair," Lorelai said suddenly holding her hands to her face. "How could you do this?"

"No," Luke said quickly taking her hand in his. "I'm not having an affair. I'm…geez, this is hard. I was in Woodbridge to go to a science fair at the middle school."

"A science fair?" Lorelai questioned. "Luke if you're having an affair just tell me. Don't make up stories about science fairs."

"I'm not having an affair," Luke sighed as he stood up. "Look, a few weeks ago there was a girl who visited me at the diner remember? I told you she was a weird girl with a bike helmet and she was asking me all these questions?"

"Yes," Lorelai remembered.

"Well it was her science fair," Luke said. "What I didn't tell you at the time was that she somehow got a fistful of my hair and she was doing some sort of experiment at her science fair."

"I don't get it," Lorelai said waiting for the other show to drop. "This girl steals some of your hair and you go to her science fair in Woodbridge? Connect the dots please."

Luke had imagined this moment over and over in his head and there was just no good way to tell her. He took a deep breath and resolved to just tell her in one breath.

"I'm her father," Luke finally let out quietly.

"What?" Lorelai asked confused.

"Apparently, I'm her dad," Luke said taking a seat across from her again.

"You have a kid? You have a daughter?"

"It looks that way."

"I don't understand," Lorelai said in disbelief. "I mean, I didn't think you were a monk before we met, but how could you have a daughter and not know about it? Oh my God, you didn't know about it right? I mean this isn't some secret family you have stashed away somewhere is it?"

"No, I don't have a family stashed away somewhere. I didn't know about her. I met her mother at a really bad time in my life. My dad had just died and Rachel had just left town. It was a one-time thing."

"A one-time thing?" Lorelai squinted as she spoke as if she were really thinking about what he told her. "And you've been lying to me for weeks. That freak out in the bathroom last week, that wasn't random. You've been thinking about this. You've been keeping this from me."

"I didn't know how to tell you," Luke said helplessly. "I didn't quite believe it myself at first."

"But now you do?" Lorelai said standing up and pacing the kitchen. "What proof does this girl have?"

"April," Luke said.

"April who?" Lorelai asked confused.

"April is her name," Luke offered.

"Your daughter April," Lorelai said suddenly feeling hot tears stream down her cheeks. Luke stood up quickly and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't react like this. I mean, I have Rory so what difference does it make right?"

"It makes a difference," Luke said soothingly. He knew how much of a difference it made.

"I guess I just thought…" Lorelai trailed off and buried her face into his shoulder. She let him hold her tightly. It was as if his strong arms were grounding her in reality. Little did she know that holding her was the thing that was keeping Luke sane at the moment.

"You thought my kid would be your kid," Luke said simply. It's what he thought too. He never imagined having kids with anyone but Lorelai. With Rachel he was too young to think about the responsibility of a child. With Nicole he knew they didn't love each other enough to bring a kid into the mix. But, with Lorelai, it just seemed right.

"I guess," Lorelai cried. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't be crying right now." Lorelai pulled away from him and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. She composed herself quickly.

"How old is she?"

"Ten."

"How do you know she's yours?" she asked. "You said she took your hair?"

"She was doing this DNA project for school," Luke explained. "She tested me and two other guys and I'm it. I'm her dad."

"Wait, you're taking the word of little girl? Have you had any tests done?"

"No, her uncle is a lab technician. She was pretty thorough."

"Luke, how old is she? I don't care if she's Doogie Howser you need to get another test done."

"I've seen the results Lorelai. They're 99.9 accurate."

"I didn't know Fischer Price made home DNA kits," Lorelai said. "You're seriously just going to take a class project's word for it?"

"I know Anna," Luke said. "I slept with her ten years ago. There's no reason to think that it's not true."

"No reason except two other men," Lorelai shot at him.

"Look, she's my kid," Luke replied getting angry. "I'm sorry you're having a hard time dealing with that, but it's not something I'm having an easy time with either. I've been thinking about this for weeks."

"Yeah and you never once mentioned it to me," Lorelai said.

Luke knew she had him on that count. "I didn't believe it myself," Luke said. "I had to let it sink in."

"What made it sink in? And please don't tell me it was her dazzling report illustrations."

"It's true whether you want to believe it or not," Luke insisted. "I'm sorry if you can't accept it, but it's something we're gonna have to deal with."

The moment of silence was broken by Luke's ringing cell phone. "Let it ring," Lorelai said. "We have to finish this."

"I have to answer it," Luke digging it out of his pocket.

"Who calls you on that phone anyway?" Lorelai asked.

Luke glanced at the caller ID. "It's April," Luke said.

Lorelai let her hands, firmly planted on her hips, fall to her sides in defeat.

"Hello," Luke said.

Lorelai listened to his side of the conversation for a moment. "No I didn't have a chance to set up an e-mail account yet…Yeah it sounds easy enough…I'm sure you could."

Lorelai watched Luke walk out of the kitchen and into the living room. Suddenly the space between the kitchen and living room seemed much larger and Luke seemed worlds away. Lorelai grabbed her coat off the back of the chair and tossed it over her shoulders as she walked out into the dusky evening.

TBC