And . . . I'm back.

Once again, this story is not quite going the way I thought it would. I sit down with an outline for exactly what is supposed to happen, and then I start writing and these characters have other ideas. So here we are.

I kind of want to stress that although it doesn't really seem like it, I don't intend to make Logan the villain here. He's frustrated and isn't handling it well, but he's actually trying to live up to his responsibilities. He's not Christopher 2.0., and you'll see that in the next couple of chapters.

So thanks to everyone who has read and commented so far, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Things slowly returned to normal in the wake of Logan's departure.

April led a still-weeping Rory into her bedroom and half-closed the door, Sensing that Rory needed to talk things out quietly for a few minutes, Lorelai decided to give her some space. She coaxed Paul Anka out of the corner where he had been hiding ever since the altercation began, and slowly carried him outside for a walk. Luke brewed up some of the tea he had gradually been converting Rory to for the past few months and April carried in some blueberry pie to aid in her commiseration. By the time Lorelai came back inside with the dog, the cries coming from the direction of Rory's bedroom had drifted into the strains of quiet conversation.

"Does she seem okay?" Lorelai asked Luke as he tidied up the kitchen.

He shrugged and gestured towards Rory's bedroom door. "As far as I can tell."

"Luke," Lorelai said softly, "what went on in there –"

Luke stiffened, his back to her. He straightened and continued to wipe down the counter. "I'm not sorry. I probably should be, but I'm not."

"Luke –"

He turned to face her. "He was threatening the girls. He was upsetting Rory. He came in her, uninvited, and was practically screaming at her. I can't have that. Even if it was just in front of one of our kids, but both of them? No. It's not going to happen that way."

Lorelai smiled. "I'm not sorry, either." She crossed the kitchen to embrace him.

Luke fingered the ends of her curls as she wrapped her arms around him, feeling a wave of relief settle through his bones. "I thought you would be furious right about now."

Lorelai breathed him in, inhaling the warm scent of soap and coffee and French fries that seemed to permeate his flannel and spread to his skin to mix with the slightly musky odor that was uniquely Luke. She liked him best like this, the worn-in, comforting nature of him, knowing that no matter what, he would always be this solid bulk of strength and worry and protectiveness.

He would always do whatever he could to take care of them, no matter what.

"You were right," Luke heard her whisper into his shirt.

Luke leaned back to look at her. "That's not a phrase you use often."

Lorelai grinned. "Maybe marriage has softened me." She tightened her arms around him and lay her head back on his chest, reluctant to let go.

She heard Luke's chuckle reverberate through his chest. "I might regret this, but in a lot of ways I hope not."

Lorelai closed her eyes. "Probably unwise to get too used to it, then." She sighed happily. "You protected us. That's what matters to me."

"I'll always protect you. Especially from spoiled punks who don't know how to leave well enough alone."

Lorelai leaned back to look at him. "I know you don't really feel that way."

"If it's a choice between protecting Rory and taking his side of things, I do," Luke maintained.

Lorelai reached up to smooth the collar of his shirt. "I mean it, Luke. I know this has been hard for you, with Rory living here for all of these months and not knowing if she's going to do the right thing and let him know."

"She's Rory. I always knew she'd do the right thing."

Lorelai wryly smiled. The unflagging faith that Luke had in her daughter often exceeded hers these days.

They both turned their heads as April emerged out of Rory's room, clutching a mostly-empty pie platter and two dirty forks.

"How's she doing?" Luke asked.

"I think she's okay," April answered as she rinsed out the forks and transferred the remaining piece of pie to an empty Tupperware container. "I think it was mostly a shock, that's all."

"And how are you doing?" Luke asked.

April shrugged, seemingly unaffected by the situation. She placed the pie platter and the forks in the dishwasher and shifted her way around her father and stepmother to put the remaining piece of pie back in the fridge. "I don't know. I've never seen the guy before."

She turned to face Luke and Lorelai. "Was he like that before? When they were in college? I mean, Rory said they lived together back then. If he acted like that the whole time –"

"I only met him a few times," Luke replied. "But I didn't see him act like he did tonight, no."

"Lorelai?"

Lorelai loosened her grip on Luke. "He could be a little spoiled and ungrateful, and I think he led Rory into some bad decisions –"

April nodded. "The yacht incident." She giggled and shuffled her feet.

Luke adjusted his cap. "I know what you're thinking of, and it's not funny."

"Stealing your own father's boat is not the same as stealing a stranger's yacht," April argued. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Anyway, it was a long time ago. I was stupid when I was a kid, I know that."

"April, that incident went beyond –"

"I know," April replied. She pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and sat down. "I know, Dad. And I know I've said it a million times, but I'm still sorry."

Luke's gaze met Lorelai's as he remembered that particular teenage misadventure. He and Lorelai had spent half the night driving around frantically searching for April and her latest ne'er-do-well boyfriend, only to receive the call at 1 AM that she had been pulled over by the police. He still credited Lorelai's influence for being the only thing that kept him from throttling April's boyfriend at the police station.

Lorelai toyed with the hair at the back of Luke's neck, knowing they were reliving the same memories. "Apology accepted," she responded.

"Good," April replied. "Now back to my question –"

Lorelai shifted to look April in the eye. "The answer's no," she said. "He wasn't like that. He had too much money to throw around and he made some mistakes, but he got better. He's not dangerous. I think he's just frustrated with the situation."

"Dad, you were never like that," April countered. "You didn't even find out about me until I was twelve, and I came to you. I know you were angry with Mom, but I never saw that kind of petulant behavior from you. Isn't he almost as old as you were then?"

Luke ran his hand over his stubble, pondering the correct way to respond to this. He wasn't often reminded of the year when his worst failings, with both April and Lorelai, had kept defeating him over and over. He had been stupid and careless with both of them, and had lost Lorelai in the process. He never regretted the time he had spent with April, but sometimes it seemed like every single step he had taken forward in the years since had been an attempt to avoid fucking up quite as badly as he had that year.

Sometimes he was far less successful at it than he wanted to be. This past year had been a prime example.

He half expected Lorelai to stiffen next to him and pull away, pained by the reminder of what his mistakes had cost her, but she didn't. She put her arm back around his waist and pulled him closer.

"April, I messed up on a lot of things back then," Luke began. "I know you don't know all the details of it, and I'm grateful for that, but I did confront your mom. I don't regret that, and I don't regret having to go to court so that I could continue to see you. But I do wish we had settled things sooner, and I don't know what it would have looked like if I had tried to do that."

"Did you act like Logan did when you went to see Mom? I mean, I don't think she has the physical strength to throw you out if she needed to. I can't see you being like that, Dad."

"No," Luke admitted. 'I didn't. I went to your house and had a calm discussion with your mother. I told her I deserved to be a part of your life. Then I left. That was all. It's because I know how those conversations are supposed to go that I know that Logan handled this wrong."

"But if you had tried to go to her earlier and explain things to her –"

Luke sighed. "I would have hoped that Lorelai and I could have sat down with your mother and discussed our situation like adults." He turned to gaze at Lorelai. "That's what should have happened."

Lorelai rubbed the small of his back, feeling amazed for the millionth time that they had somehow been able to heal all the hurt they'd caused each other so long ago.

"I still don't agree with what she's doing," April said. "I mean, if she continues with it and doesn't allow him to see the baby once it's actually here. He was a jerk tonight but if he's not dangerous –" She ran her fingers over the side of the table. "It doesn't seem right. Especially with everything Dad and I went through not knowing each other for so long."

"It's not," Lorelai agreed. "You're definitely not alone in thinking that."

"Dad?"

Luke sighed. "Your stepmother's right. I think we probably need to encourage some peace talks between the two of them. It's just not going to happen tonight."

Lorelai swatted at Luke. "That's the first time you've used that word!"

"What word?"

"Stepmother."

"What part of what I just said isn't accurate?"

"I just feel old and crone like now."

"Lorelai –"

"I need a witch's hat. And a cauldron. And maybe stop moisturizing so I can grow a few warts –"

"Enough."

"Well, I can see where this is going," April interjected. She stood up. "I'm going to bed. Please resume the foreplay when I'm out of earshot, okay?"

"You better hurry upstairs, kid!" Lorelai called out as April climbed the stairs.

"Night, Dad!" April called back, pointedly ignoring Lorelai.

"Night, April," Luke called out.

He rubbed Lorelai's back as April gradually retreated from view. "She's really grown up, hasn't she?"

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed. "It wasn't so long ago that you were throwing her boyfriends out of this house."

"I thought those days were long behind us," Luke admitted.

"Well, it helped sharpen your skills for tonight," Lorelai retorted. "Maybe all of those terrible boyfriends brought us to this moment in time, so that you could throw your stepdaughter's baby daddy out of the house –"

"Mom?" Rory weakly called from her bedroom.

"I'll be right there!" Lorelai called back as she let go of Luke. "It was the right thing," she reminded him. "Not forever, but for tonight. It was."

Luke grinned and picked up the washcloth he had discarded earlier. "Glad to see we're on the same page."

"MOM!" Rory called out impatiently.

Lorelai trotted off to Rory's bedroom, hoping that she could get these peace talks started sooner rather than later.