Disclaimer: Believe me, if I owned them - any part of them or the actors that play them (especially "Dean"/Jared, heh) - you all would be the first to know...

Chapter 2

"You are as lazy as your mother," Luke muttered from his position in front of the stove.

Rory glared through half shut eyes at him. It was a Saturday, and therefore she had every right to be lazy. Besides, it was her vacation. She'd spent months on article after article and she finally had some time off.

"Shouldn't you be at the diner?" Rory asked offhandedly.

Luke turned to look at her, that humorous glint in his eye. She grinned smugly at him.

"Just like your mother, I swear."

"I hear Lucas is taking after her, too."

Luke poured the pancakes onto a plate and set them in the center of the table. He put a small one on a plate and placed it in front of Lucas, who looked at him with big, expectant blue eyes. Luke sighed and created a smiley face on the pancake out of a piece of bacon and a sliced strawberry. Lucas happily snatched up the bacon and began munching on it.

"Too much like your mother, the both of you," Luke said.

Rory laughed.

There was a silence among them as they each chewed on their food. Lucas managed to drop his sippy cup full of orange juice, the impact causing it to open and spill over the floor. Luke grabbed a towel and sopped up the mess while Rory dried off the splatter that managed to hit her leg.

Finally, Rory turned to Luke as he sat back down and asked, "Where is she anyway?"

"Well, she mentioned something about a meeting at the inn, so I'm guessing she's there."

"Really? She usually doesn't get out of bed before noon on Saturdays."

Luke shrugged and cleared off the last of the banana he had on his plate, offering a small piece to Lucas who took it eagerly. He rolled his eyes, ruffled the young boy's hair, and stood, clearing his and Rory's dishes from the table. "I've got to get to the diner," he said, wiping his hands on a towel.

"I can take care of Lucas," Rory offered.

Luke looked a little skeptic, but shrugged and headed toward the door. "Alright, but if you want to have some time alone, you can take him to Sookie's to play with Davey and Martha, or you can drop him at the babysitters' - she's always free on Saturdays, just not Sundays. I'll advise you not to take him to the inn, because he tends to get carried away with his mother, and he tends to disappear when I keep him at the diner, so…"

"Sookie or the sitter, good," Rory said obediently. "Inn or the diner, bad."

"Thanks, Rory," Luke said, a sincere and hurried grin on his face as he headed out of the door.

------------------------------------------

Lucas had a fondness for reading. Or rather, being read to.

Rory had taken him all over the town, stopping at the bookstore and allowing him to pick out a nice little book that Rory promised she'd read him. Well, one book led to two books which led to three. After six titles were purchased, Rory picked Lucas up and headed toward the gazebo. She sat him down on the bench and pulled one of the books from the bag. They'd gotten half-way through the fourth book when Lucas complained that he was hungry.

"Alright, let's go see Dad and ask him to make you something to eat," Rory replied, sliding the book back into the bag and taking hold of Lucas' hand.

For a three year old, Lucas was very strong. He nearly drug Rory across the town square to the diner he so expertly knew was his father's without reading the infamous William's Hardware over the top. The bell jingled as they entered, and Rory lost her grip on Lucas. He ran up to the counter excitedly, pulling fervently on the sleeve of a man he obviously knew and was happy to see.

Rory rolled her eyes and headed over. 'Yep,' she thought to herself, 'just like mom.'

"Hey buddy," the man greeted, turning, reaching down, and hoisting Lucas onto the counter in front of him, sliding his cup out of the way. "Where'd you go yesterday? I didn't have to take you home."

There was something familiar in that voice, but Rory didn't even think twice about it as she sat down a couple seats away from the two. However, Lucas' voice was so distinct it was so small, and there weren't many customers creating much chatter in the small diner.

"My sister came to get me," Lucas' voice carried that proud hitch, and Rory saw the little boy throw his finger out toward her with much conviction. Obviously, Lucas was proud to have her as a sister, which was strange considering he hadn't known her personally for the three years he'd been alive. He lived off of his mother's stories of Rory, and the occasional phone calls and presents she'd send in over the holidays.

Rory felt the stranger's gaze fall on her figure then, but she didn't look up. There was something penetrating about that gaze - a strange and familiar feeling she felt in her gut. But she wouldn't let that part of her win. She'd hold out a little longer… or at least she would have had Lucas not called to her attention.

"Hey Rory! Meet my friend," Lucas called anxiously, bouncing up and down on the counter.

Rory turned to face the two of them, her gaze locking onto the stranger and Lucas' apparent friend.

"This is Dean," Lucas informed her matter-of-factly, though he didn't really need to.

Rory would've known who that was just by looking at him. He had the same eyes he'd had the last time she'd seen him - eyes full of hurt, loss, regret, and - love? - the same eyes he always had when he looked at her, after he'd lost her that first time. The happiness that had once existed there had been extinguished the night he realized she didn't love him.

'But I did,' she insisted to herself. 'I loved him more than anything.'

'What about Jess, though? And Logan?' chirped that cruel voice. 'Did you love them too? You can't love them all…'

"Rory?"

She shook her head clear as Lucas' concerned eyes swam in front of her. He was leaning towards her, big, doe-like eyes pleading for her to say something. The prospect of him angering his older sister, of upsetting her in some way, due in part because of his friend, seemed a little overwhelming for a child his age. It wasn't supposed to upset her; it was supposed to make her happy that he had a friend.

However, before Rory had time to react, Luke stepped out from the kitchen.

"Hey buddy," he greeted his son, ruffling the kid's hair. Lucas smiled up at him, then turned back to Rory and Dean.

Dean forced a smile, and dropped a couple dollar bills onto the counter. "Thanks for lunch, Luke," he said to the older man as he stood and patted Lucas' leg, adding, "I'll see ya later, okay, Lucas?" He avoided Rory's gaze as he left, the bell above the door jingling once more.

Rory dropped a confused and defeated look to the counter. Why did it hurt so much?

Lucas looked up at Luke, questioning the exchange in his big blue eyes, but Luke didn't have an answer for him. He just ruffled the kid's hair again and offered him a cookie.

AN: Well, okay, I know this chapter was just fluff and stuff, and it was sorta Luke out of character (then again, you have to realize that he's had Lucas for three years to adjust to being a less awkward dad than he was with April), but my mind wouldn't let go of the whole breakfast scene and diner scene being a transition. Oh well -- meh heh. Also, to those of you who read EP, I'm working on getting another chapter out of my slightly cluttered mind, and I'm setting a deadline to post it before Thursday evening... so keep your fingers crossed, heh.

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