Chapter 4
Alyssa Meets Rory
And Stars Hollow

On the car ride back to Stars Hollow, Alyssa looked out the window and was amazed by the views.

"Is there horses in Stars Hollow?" Alyssa asked.

"Yeah, there are horses at the inn where Sookie and I work. Do you like horses?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah. I went on one before."

"Okay, we'll go one day, okay?"

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Okay." Alyssa slumped back down in her seat.

"How was everything at the inn while I was gone, Sook?" Lorelai asked Sookie.

"Yup. Everything was perfect."

"Good, I'm glad."

"Daddy, are we there yet?" Alyssa asked Luke.

"We're almost there." Luke said rubbing Alyssa's head gently.

"Good, 'cause I wanna see Rory."

"You will see Rory. Then tomorrow, we're all going to go shopping for your winter clothes." Lorelai said.

"Daddy, are you coming too?"

"No, I have to work." Luke said.

"And he doesn't like to shop." Lorelai said.

"Why?" Alyssa asked.

"It's ridiculous. You walk around the mall for hours and hours, pushing through crowds, waiting at lineups forever and they over-charge you for things that Lorelai could probably make herself. Then when you get hungry, you go to the food court, and then they over-charge you for food there, when you could easily just come to my diner and eat for less."

"Go Luke. I haven't heard you rant in days." Lorelai said clapping her hands.

Alyssa was laughing hysterically. "You're funny Daddy!"

"And you're cute." Lorelai added.

"I'm not cute." Luke defended.

"Yes you are." Lorelai paused and looked out the window. "Hey Alyssa, look, we're here."

Alyssa looked up at the window. "Wow. It looks like a fairytale. It looks like the place in Ella Enchanted." She said in awe.

"It does, doesn't it? Oh look over there. It's Daddy's diner."

"That's your diner, Daddy?"

"Yup." Luke said.

"Can I eat there?"

"Of course you can eat there."

"There's Miss Patty's Dance Studio/town meeting place/a million other things that I can't remember right now." Lorelai said.

"Can I dance there? I like to dance." Alyssa asked.

"We'll talk about that later."

"Okay."

"Here, you go guys, home sweet home." Sookie said as she pulled up in front of Lorelai's house.

"It looks bigger than I remember." Lorelai said as she got out of the car.

"You renovated it, remember?"

"Yeah, but I never really got a good look at it in the day time all finished. Thanks for the ride, Sookie."

"No problem. I'm going to head home and see my kids, and then I need to go to the inn and make sure they didn't burn my food."

"They're all out." Luke said closing Sookie's trunk.

"Okay, I'm gonna head home now. I'll see you later guys." Sookie got into her car and drove off.

"Mommy, can we go inside now?" Alyssa said anxiously.

"Sure, Hon. Come on." Lorelai said.

"Okay, come on." Alyssa took Lorelai's hand and she pulled her up to the front door. Lorelai unlocked the door, then she and Alyssa stepped inside. "Where's the doggie?"

"We're going to go get Paul Anka after we get you settled in."

Alyssa giggled and said, "That's a funny name."

"Paul Anka is a legend, kid, remember that."

"Okay. Where's my room?"

"Your room is this way."

"Hey Lorelai?" Luke called from the front door.

"Yeah, Hon?"

"I'm going to head to the diner for a little bit and then I'll come back and help you unpack."

"Okey dokey. We'll stop by there anyway. I'm dying for your coffee."

"Okay. See ya later."

"See ya." Lorelai turned back to Alyssa and said, "Now, where were we?"

"You were showing me my room." Alyssa said.

"Right, come upstairs this way." Lorelai led Alyssa up the stairs. "Turn right." They kept walking. Lorelai stood in front of a door. "Now, this is your room. It's nothing like your old room, and we need to paint it and all that still because we didn't have time before we left."

"Okay."

Lorelai opened the door. The night before they left, she and Luke got Alyssa a bed and a little bookshelf from Luke's apartment.

"All this stuff is temporary. When we go to the mall tomorrow, we're gonna buy you your own stuff."

"Okay. I like the curtains. Pink is my favorite color."

"I like pink, too."

"Hello? Mom? Mom, are you home yet?" Rory called from the front door.

"Is that Rory?" Alyssa said, getting excited.

"Yeah, that's Rory. We're up here, Hon, and we're coming down!" Lorelai called. Alyssa grabbed Lorelai's hand and they left the room and went downstairs.

"Hey Mom." Rory said giving Lorelai a hug, once they got down stairs.

"Hey, Sweets." Lorelai kissed Rory on her head.

"Hi Alyssa." Rory said to Alyssa gently.

"Hi Rory." Alyssa said shyly.

"How are you?"

"Good."

"Alyssa was very excited to meet you." Lorelai said.

"Really?" Rory said.

Alyssa nodded shyly. "Rory?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I see your books?"

Rory smiled and said, "Sure come this way." Rory led Alyssa to her room, and shot Lorelai a smile.

A little while later, Rory came out of her room and went over to Lorelai, who was sitting on the couch reading a magazine.

"Hey, what's Alyssa doing?" Lorelai asked Rory.

"I found some picture books from when I was younger, so she's looking at those. I told her I would be right back." Rory said, sitting down beside Lorelai.

"What do you think of her?"

"She's really sweet, and so polite."

"She is."

"She said that her mommy told her that I had a lot of books."

Lorelai bit her lip and said, "She asked me if she could call me 'Mommy' in the airport and I agreed."

"That's so cute."

Ding! Dong!

"Who the hell rings the doorbell?" Lorelai said. She got up to go answer the door. She opened the door. "Hey Babette."

"Hey Sugar. I'm glad your back, I didn't know you were back. I just got home and saw lights on so I came on over." Babette turned toward her house and shouted, "Morey! They're home!"

"Hey Lorelai!" Morey called.

"Hey Morey!" Lorelai called back.

"Where is she? Where's Luke's daughter?"

"She's in Rory's room."

They walked inside.

"Hey Rory." Babette said.

"Hi Babette." Rory said.

"Alyssa?" Lorelai called.

"Yeah?" Alyssa called back from Rory's room.

"Come here, Hon, there's someone who wants to meet you."

Alyssa ran out of Rory's room and stopped in front of Lorelai.

"Alyssa this is Babette, our neighbor."

"Hey there, Sugar." Babette said.

"Hi." Alyssa said.

"Oh, Lorelai, she is the sweetest thing. I'm going to go tell Patty. I'll see you all later."

"Bye Babette." When the door closed, Lorelai said, "Let's go get Paul Anka."

"Mom, do you have sugar?" Rory asked.

"Yes. After we get Paul Anka and bring him back to the house, we'll go to Luke's."

"Luke, we need coffee, pronto!" Lorelai said as she entered the diner.

"In a minute." Luke said. "Hey Rory."

"Hi Luke." Rory said.

"No, now. Now is a good time." Lorelai said.

"What's with her?" Luke asked, as Lorelai, Rory, and Alyssa sat down at the counter.

"She's just mad because Paul Anka likes Alyssa and I better than he likes her." Rory said.

"Uhh no." Lorelai said.

"Right Mom. Can we have coffee Luke?"

"Sure thing. What do you want to eat, Alyssa?" Luke said.

"I want a hamburger and fries, please." Alyssa said.

"How about a salad or something?"

"Luke, she's four, no one likes salad at four." Lorelai said.

"I did."

"Then you were weird. Let her have the burger and one day you can force her to eat that green thing."

"The green thing is good for her."

"Luke." Lorelai said warningly.

"Lorelai." Lorelai gave him puppy dog eyes and pouted. "Ugh, fine."

"I'll always win." Lorelai turned to Alyssa. "I'll teach you the ways young grasshopper."

"I'm not a grasshopper." Alyssa said, confused.

"Go along with it kid."

"Ahh, there he is. Luke, I need to talk to you." Taylor said as he came into the diner.

"I'm busy Taylor." Luke said.

"This will only take a minute."

"I'm not putting up any of those stupid flyers for those stupid town festivals."

"It isn't about any of the town festivals, though I will need to talk to you about that later." Luke gave Taylor a glare. "I've heard from a very reliable source that you have a new offspring in town."

"Miss Patty and Babette?"

"That isn't for you to know."

"This is Stars Hollow, Taylor. Everyone knows Miss Patty and Babette are the town gossips."

"That's beside the point, Luke. Now, how are you planning on supporting your offspring?"

"What?"

"Would you ever ask for money from other people in the town because you can't provide for your offspring?"

"What the hell are you talking about Taylor? Alyssa's four."

"What about schooling? Is she going to university?"

"Get out Taylor." Luke said. He pushed Taylor out the door.

"I'll be back." Taylor said.

"As you probably realized, Hon, that was Taylor. He's the town selectman." Lorelai said to Alyssa.

"What's that?" Alyssa asked.

"In simple words, he's bossy."

"Oh."

"So you have to be nice to him and pick up after yourself or he'll be in here everyday."

"Okay."

"Here's your coffee." Luke said putting coffee in front of Lorelai and Rory.

"Ah, bless you." Lorelai said taking a gulp of her coffee.

"Oh Luke." Miss Patty said as she came into the diner.

"Oh great." Luke said under his breath. "Hey Patty, what can I get you?"

"I'm not ordering anything today, dear."

"Why am I not surprised." Luke muttered.

Miss Patty turned to Alyssa. "You must be Alyssa, am I right?"

"Yes." Alyssa said.

"I'm Miss Patty. Do you like to dance, Sweetheart?" Alyssa nodded. "You should come by my studio for some lessons if it's okay with your daddy." Miss Patty and Alyssa looked at Luke.

"It's okay by me. If you're happy, I'm happy." Luke said.

"Yeah, and maybe you'll be better than me." Rory said.

"You tried, Hon." Lorelai said.

"Lorelai, you can bring her down tomorrow." Miss Patty said.

"Okay, sure. We're going shopping tomorrow, but when we get back, we'll stop by."

"Okay. Now I'll be going. I look forward to seeing you. Buh-bye." Miss Patty left the diner.

"I swear, Miss Patty better be the last one to come in today to see Alyssa." Luke said.

"Aww, Luke they just wanna see the new kid. It's hard being the new kid Luke." Lorelai said.

"Luke?" Kirk said coming into the diner.

"She's over there Kirk." Luke said.

"No, actually, I wanted to offer my babysitting services to you."

"I'm fine Kirk."

"You don't have to worry about her Luke. She will be fine with me. I happen to be a very good child entertainer."

"Unless you're ordering something, you need to leave."

"But Luke-"

"Goodbye Kirk."

Kirk left the diner in a huff.

"Well, I think you've met most of Stars Hollow, or the people who count anyway." Lorelai said.

"Mom, I gotta go now. I wanna finish a paper so I won't have to do it on the weekend and I can come back so we can go shopping." Rory said, getting ready to leave.

"Aww, okay Hon." Lorelai kissed Rory on her head. "Drive safely."

"I will." Rory gave Alyssa a hug and said, "Bye Alyssa. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye Rory." Alyssa said.

"Bye Luke."

"See ya Rory." Luke said, and then Rory left the diner.

"I think it's time for someone to go to bed." Lorelai said, looking at Alyssa.

"I'm not sleepy yet." Alyssa whined.

"Oh I know, but I bet you'll be asleep in no time. We had a busy day today, and another one tomorrow, so we have to be well rested."

"Oh fine. Bye Daddy." Alyssa said hugging Luke behind his legs.

Luke turned around and gave her a kiss on the head. "Bye Alyssa. Sleep good, okay?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be home after closing." Luke said to Lorelai.

"Okay, so that way we can 'celebrate' Alyssa's homecoming." Lorelai said.

"You got that right." Luke kissed Lorelai and Lorelai deepened. "Save it for the celebration."

"Oh alright. See ya later." Lorelai took Alyssa's hand and they walked out of the diner.

Author's Note: Thanks for all your reviews! You guys really cheer me up with all your reviews. Please R&R