For someone who had wanted, so desperately, at one point to be married to Luke, during the second go around Lorelai had done everything possible to ignore that desire and push it into the back of her mind. She'd truly thought she didn't need to ever marry him. And really, after everything they had been through, after living their lives together as partners the past nine years, it was more symbolic than anything else. Maybe that symbolism meant more than she had realized. Maybe it was about removing the blurry lines for everyone else, for tying things up in a neat package, for connecting their lives in the ways where they were still separate, for being able to use the terms husband and wife. But this time the actual marriage was less of the focus than the actual relationship, the bond they had, which is probably how it should've been ten years ago.

But because of this, because of how for so many years they'd never considered doing this, how she'd buried the desire so far in the back of her mind, the fact that she was waking up married to Luke was so hard to believe.

The morning after the wedding the sun was shining brightly by the time Lorelai awoke. She stirred carefully, realizing Luke was still in bed next to her. Everything felt the same, but then it all rushed back to her suddenly. They were married. They had gotten married yesterday. Twice. She glanced down at her hand to admire the rings – despite her previous engagements and marriage, she had never worn both a wedding band and an engagement ring together before - then rolled over to face Luke.

She wasn't surprised to find that he was awake. She wasn't even really surprised that he was still in bed, though it was long past the time he usually rose, even when he had the day off.

"Hey there, husband. Good morning," she greeted him with a grin.

He gave her a brilliant grin and a soft kiss. "Morning."

"Can you believe yesterday really happened?" she asked with a sigh of contentment, reaching for his hand and running her finger over his wedding band. She'd never seen Luke wear a ring before. "It's so crazy. Like, here we are, the same as always, but now we're married."

The reception had gone into the early morning hours before they finally cut out, leaving the younger generation of Stars Hollow to continue the party on their own. April spent the night at the apartment over the diner and Rory had left, declaring that she was going to head to Nantucket with Emily for a few days.

Rory.

Luke noticed the change of expression on Lorelai's face and knew immediately that not only had the wedding come rushing back to her, but her daughter's big news had, too.

"You okay?" he asked her gently. "About Rory, I mean."

She frowned, thinking about his question. Was she okay about this? She'd managed to put it out of her mind most of the day after Rory had told her, distracted by her wedding. During the reception she'd brought it up lightheartedly several times to Luke, but the punch allowed her to feel care free. Now she was completely sober and the reality of it all was a little harsher than it had been the night before through punch goggles.

"Yeah. I guess so. It's just so… it's hard to process. This is real."

Luke nodded, understanding. "I know. Sometimes it still feels like she's twelve years old."

"Right. But she's thirty-three. That's the thing. Why should I feel weird about this when she's thirty-three?" she sighed, thinking it over. "I mean, I guess because she doesn't have a steady job, she doesn't have an apartment, she's not even in a committed relationship. It's almost like she's sixteen. It's not what I would've wanted for her."

"She'll figure it out," Luke assured her, giving her arm a comforting rub. "She's not sixteen, she's got a college degree and various work experience and a good head on her shoulders. And she's got this book thing. At least she's got an idea of where she's going. She couldn't do all that if she was only sixteen."

"True." Lorelai sighed, realizing what else was bothering her. "But… she went to Nantucket with Mom. Is she running away from me?"

"No, I think she was running away from being here on our wedding night," Luke teased. "And she probably just needs time. It's peaceful there."

"It's just a lot to process."

"I know, believe me. But she's got this. We'll help her," Luke assured her. "Whatever she needs. If she wants to live here, with us. We can help her with the baby if she needs it. Or she can have the apartment, whenever she's ready for that. If she does this on her own, I mean. She won't really be alone."

Lorelai stared at him momentarily before leaning forward to give him a kiss. "I knew I married you for a reason."

"Took you long enough," he teased and she laughed as she kissed him again, realizing that she had to agree with him.

When Lorelai woke up one day a few days later, she went downstairs for coffee and found Rory at the kitchen table reading the newspaper and nursing a bowl of cereal. She was drinking tea. Right. She can't have caffeine, Lorelai realized. But tea? Not decaf, at least? Who was this woman?

"Hey!" Rory greeted brightly, smiling up at her mother when she entered the room. Lorelai felt relieved to see that she seemed to be in good spirits. Though they had spoken to each other while she was in Nantucket, she was relieved to see that she looked good. Even more than that, she seemed happy to see her mother. Maybe Luke had been right, and she hadn't been running away from her.

"Hi, Hon. Welcome home!" Lorelai moved to greet her daughter with a hug and a kiss on the head. "How was Nantucket?"

"It was nice. Grandma's really happy there, Mom. She's got Berta and her family there. She goes and walks along the beach. Oh and she gives tours at the whaling museum. She puts on this amazingly dark lecture about whaling. I don't know, she was so passionate about it but it was so terrifying."

Lorelai laughed, somehow completely able to picture it. "That's Emily Gilmore in a nutshell, kiddo."

Rory nodded her agreement and added, "Oh, it was just so great to see her there. She was thriving. I think selling the house and moving there was definitely the right thing for her. She's in a new season of life now, after Grandpa. I'm so relieved to see that."

Lorelai nodded her agreement. Though things had been tense between her and her mother in the year since her father's passing, things had been getting better between them since the moment at the vista and the engagement. She knew that her mom had been having a rough go of it since her father passed, and she knew she hadn't been too much support. She was glad to hear the positive report from Rory. She knew that she and Luke had a Christmas visit to Nantucket coming up. She'd have to get her mind wrapped around that soon enough.

"And you. You're so happy, too. You're married, and it's to Luke, and you're still glowing. You're still happy, right?"

Lorelai laughed. "Yes. Still happy."

"It's just so nice to see the two of you happy and settled."

"And… you?" Lorelai asked softly, pouring a cup of coffee from the coffee pot that had been brewed and left for her. Though he'd give her grief about her caffeine habits until the day she died, Luke would always be an enabler.

Rory sighed and looked down at her tea. "I'm… a mess," she laughed. "I'm all over the place, trying to figure this out. Look at this, you've got everything together and now I'm…" She looked at her mother's face and added, "I'm okay though. I'm processing. I've processed. I'm going to be a mother."

There were those words again, the ones Lorelai still hadn't fully come to process herself.

"What about… Logan?" Lorelai had been afraid to broach the subject. Since confirming to her that Logan was the father, Rory had not mentioned his name again, not that day, not through the texts and phone calls they had exchanged while she was in Nantucket. "Have you talked to him?"

"No. I don't know what to do about him," Rory sighed. "I have to tell him. How do I tell him? Over the phone? That seems so tacky but he's across the country. What do I even say? We said goodbye. We haven't spoken since. It's so ironic, you know? Right when we said it's time to end this…" She put her head in her hands. "He's engaged, Mom. He's getting married to someone else."

Lorelai was all too aware of that fact, but she kept her mouth shut about it. Rory was an adult. When Rory was nineteen and having an affair with a married man, she spoke up. At nineteen, she still felt Rory was in need of her guidance. When she was doing the same thing at thirty-two, she was a grown woman who knew what she was doing. She knew her opinions wouldn't make anything better. She had learned to save those for late night venting to Luke, unless Rory absolutely needed to hear them, in order to prevent another feud between the two of them.

Rory went on, "This is just, it's going to lead to a lot of destruction. His engagement, his family. His dynastic plan. This would ruin all of that."

"I think he took that risk when he started sleeping with another woman on the side." Maybe her opinions snuck in there sometimes.

"I know. I know. I talked to Dad," Rory changed course suddenly.

"You told him?" Lorelai was surprised to hear this revelation. Rory had been fairly distant from her father in the years since the divorce. She'd been busy and on the road most of the time, and neither she nor Christopher really seemed to have an interest in reaching out to the other. Her visits to Connecticut were reserved for sneaking in visits with Lorelai and Luke and her grandparents, even Lane. Her father didn't seem to make the cut.

"No. I didn't. I just kind of… grilled him? I don't know. He bought me a large coffee that I didn't take a sip of and I asked him a bunch of questions about how he felt about you raising me on your own. I was trying to process, figure out what to do, I guess. He said that that's the way it was meant to be."

Lorelai gave a little snort. "Of course he did."

"But don't you think he's kind of right?" Rory asked with a quirk of her eyebrow. "Was it ever meant to be anything other than just you and me? Could you imagine it being any other way?"

"I don't know, Rory. It feels like that was what was meant to be. But maybe that's just because that's how it worked out. Was it great? Sure. I have no regrets. But that doesn't mean it was how it was destined to be. It's just how it played out."

"It's just, we said goodbye, for good reasons. He's getting married. He's finally in a good place with his family. This is just going to throw his whole life off course. I'm okay with doing this on my own."

Lorelai wasn't sure where this was going, but she was sensing that Rory had already resigned herself to doing this alone, being a single mother like her own mother had been. Which was good, being that she was single and the father did live on another continent. Even if he wanted to be involved, he probably wouldn't be around all the time. What worried her were the hints Rory was dropping that he'd be better off without this ruining his life.

This was one of the times she had to voice her opinions.

"I hate to point this out to you, Hon, but the kinds of things you're saying here sound an awful lot like something another woman thought twenty-two years ago that led to Luke missing out on twelve years of his daughter's life."

"I know," Rory admitted guiltily, biting her lip, ashamed for even slightly thinking of keeping this from Logan. "I know. You don't think I've been thinking about that, too? But that was different. Luke wasn't cheating on a fiancée with Anna when she got pregnant."

"He had a kid out there and she thought he didn't want to know. That it would ruin his life. He did want to know. Maybe Logan does, too. Don't take that from him."

She sighed. "Yeah. I know." There was silence for a moment, before Lorelai decided to change the topic, figuring Rory would let the words sink in.

"What's with the tea, anyway?"

Rory grinned at her as she took a sip from her mug. "Luke."

Of course.

As the days, weeks, went by, Lorelai began to adjust to their new reality. On the one hand, she was riding the thrill of being newly married to Luke. On the other hand, she had the reality of the title of 'Grandma' looming over her head. She'd always, always supported Rory, no matter what. This would be no different. Having gone through this situation herself, at sixteen, she couldn't really judge. Not to mention, she knew how hard it was and how much support would've helped if it hadn't been presented in a suffocating manner. So in the weeks that followed she pushed any nagging worries out of the way and adjusted to what was to come.

She'd spent many years with Rory out of the house, traveling the world, not even in the same time zone. Many years it had been just her and Luke and now, Rory was back. She'd been back on and off since the beginning of the summer but now she was there more permanently without the desire to couch surf between home and Lane's and Paris's. Now Rory was home again, all the time, and she had Luke, and it suddenly dawned on her that living in this house with these two people had mostly been in two separate times of her life, and now for this act, they'd merged.

Thanksgiving was a lot different this year than it had been the year before.

The year prior, her father's passing had been just over two months earlier. By Thanksgiving, she and her mother hadn't spoken since the day of her father's funeral. Rory had called home the week before with the glum tone of voice that Lorelai always knew meant she wasn't coming home for a holiday, and April was spending that particular Thanksgiving in New Mexico with her mother.

Luke had pestered her several times about calling her mother. It's Thanksgiving, Lorelai. She's alone this year. Lorelai had refused him, but little did he know, she'd tried to reach out. She'd sent emails, but her mother wouldn't answer. She had no idea what her mother would do for Thanksgiving, without her father, without her and Rory. But she figured that one of her friends took her in, looking out for her after her loss.

What she'd realized that Thanksgiving, more than ever, was that Luke was it. Everyone else would flit in and out of her life around their own lives: Rory, April, her mother, Sookie, even. Somewhere along the way Luke had become her entire support system. And those months, he'd had his job cut out for him as he tried to figure out her grieving process and support her through her father's death when she didn't have anyone else around to support her, really. Some days she was up for his support, other times she snapped at him for things like trying to get her to talk to her mother. He hadn't seemed to falter in supporting her, or in understanding that it was all part of her processing her emotions about her father's death.

This year was different. After nearly nine years of living with Luke, she wouldn't have guessed last year that this Thanksgiving would be the year they would be married. She never would have imagined that Rory would be pregnant and living at home with them. Luke convinced her to invite her mother for dinner, and she was surprised when she had accepted the invitation – something she was dreading with every fiber of her being. She had never had a Thanksgiving with her parents anywhere but their house. Though it was true Emily was not the same woman she once was, she was worried about her opinions on a small, low-key, Stars Hollow Thanksgiving. April was with them this year, too – though by all accounts she was an adult now, she seemed to still automatically abide by the custody arrangement she'd had to follow from thirteen to eighteen: every other Thanksgiving and Christmas with her father. Maybe she figured it was the only way to be fair.

She hadn't known she was even going to do it. They'd had dinner early, more of a lunch, so that Emily could return to Nantucket that night. She complained as usual that Lorelai and Luke had a house that was much too small for having two children and "definitely no room for your own mother," and that she had to get back anyhow since she had a shift at the museum the next day.

Rory had vanished into her room after Emily's departure, April sitting with Lorelai and Luke in the living room watching the Home Alone marathon. Luke was griping as usual about how it made no sense that they could just forget the kid, when Rory came storming out of her room.

The noise caused all three of them to look up. Rory stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, holding her cell phone in her hand.

"Something wrong, Hon?" Lorelai asked, carefully, knowing something clearly was.

"You see!" she fumed, waving her hands around in an emotional flurry. "I told you I shouldn't even tell him. He's not Luke."

Luke frowned at the mention of his name, confused. Lorelai seemed to begin to understand, piecing the small bits of information back to the conversation they had had a few weeks ago and the phone in Rory's hand. "You told Logan," Lorelai stated, mostly so that Luke and April would understand what was going on.

"Yes! I told him! Because I didn't want to do to him what was done to Luke," Luke and April both looked down, pretending to be distracted. "Do you know what he said?"

There was a long pause, as if she was waiting for someone to actually answer what everyone had thought was a rhetorical question. April seemed to be the only one brave enough, looking up from her fake distraction. "No?"

"He said, 'That's fine. Do you need money?' He asked me if I needed money. That was his big solution to the whole thing. And then suddenly all I could think is that he was acting just like Dad," Rory spat the name as if it was an insult, turning on her heels and returning to her room, slamming the door.

Luke and Lorelai sat still, surprised into shock. April looked at them, wondering how bad of a freak out this was.

"I should talk to her," Lorelai said finally, getting up from the couch.

When she opened the door to Rory's room, Rory was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. "He is like Dad, you know," Rory stated.

Lorelai lingered in the doorway for a moment and then pushed off it and into the room, gently sitting down on Rory's bed. "I know," she agreed gently.

"You've always know that, haven't you?" Rory asked, turning to look at her mother. "You always saw that. That's why you were against me and him at first."

"Not necessarily," Lorelai admitted. "I mean, there were some similarities. I noticed the similar reckless abandonment tendencies, sure. You have to remember my first impressions of him were bringing you home drunk in a limo and making out with him at my parents' vow renewal. I hoped they wouldn't lead you down the same path I went down, but… well, here we are."

Rory let out a breath, her eyes glassy with tears. "I went to visit Dad at his new office. He calls it 'The Cave.' Because he finally 'caved' and is working in the family business. And Logan? Spent years trying to break free of his family obligations only to end up right back in the family business and go along with the stupid Dynastic Plan. Then of course both think money fixes everything. Dad offered up money while I was there, too. For what, I don't even know."

"So, sure, they have some similarities…"

"They both cheat. He cheated on Odette with me. Dad cheated on Sherry with you."

"Okay-"

"Actually, he technically cheated on me, too..."

"Rory-"

"You don't get it, Mom. I know what it's like. My baby's going to have a Christopher for a father. One that's hardly around, who pops in and out, grandparents who don't approve of its existence because it ruined their son's life. Sound familiar?"

Lorelai sighed and said, "Hon, I get it. Believe me, I of all people get it. And maybe that's how it will play out, but maybe not. The point is you did the right thing telling him and now how involved he gets is on him, not you. And if he does end up being a father like you think? Then fine. You and the baby will survive. We did."

"The worst part is I kind of get why Anna did it now," Rory said softly so that neither Luke nor April would overhear her. "It's easier to figure the kid's dad isn't around because you never told him then to think he just doesn't want to be."

"You don't know what kind of father he's going to be yet. Let's just take things a day at a time. Maybe he'll realize he wants to be involved. And if not, maybe it's like you said, then maybe it really is just meant to be just you and your baby. And it'll never really be just the two of you. You've got me and Luke and April and Grandma… this baby's going to have plenty of family. You've got plenty of family. And look. If it turns out he's your Christopher, you just have to wait for your Luke. He'll come. One day at a time."

Rory nodded. "Maybe it's this book thing," she said with a sigh. "Everything's fresh in my brain right now. I'm revisiting my childhood and meanwhile I'm thinking of my child's childhood… man, that's weird."

Lorelai kissed her daughter on the forehead and they changed the topic to lighter things, like how Emily hadn't even complained once of eating Thanksgiving dinner in the kitchen.

Luke awoke around two in the morning, to hear the TV on downstairs. Frowning, he glanced at the clock. April had left hours ago to the apartment above the diner. Rory had come back out to the living room not long after Lorelai had consoled her after her freak out to apologize and say goodnight.

He went downstairs to investigate, only to find Rory watching TV on the couch. Home Alone was still on. Wasn't Thanksgiving over, technically?

She glanced up when she saw him on the landing. "Sorry. Did I wake you?"

"No," he told her truthfully. "You okay? It's late."

"I couldn't sleep," she said, hitting the volume button on the remote to turn the sound down so she could talk to Luke. "Too much going on in my brain. I just kept thinking, I figured mindless TV was better than thinking." She glanced at the TV for a few moments, then turned back to Luke. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." He came down the remaining steps and waited.

"What do you think of Logan's reaction?" she looked down at the remote and picked at a button. "As someone who's kind of been through this from his side of things. Only no one told you."

Luke sighed and sat down next to Rory on the couch, realizing this was a deeper question than he'd expected. "I think… I think it's complicated," he said slowly. "It's not all clearly black and white."

"But, I mean… I told him he was going to be a father, and he just brushed it off like a monetary obligation."

"I'm sure you caught him by surprise," Luke reminded her. "He didn't say he wants no part of this. Maybe he just needs to process. Guys like him… like your dad…" Lorelai had told him enough of her earlier conversation with Rory for him to know where her head was, "money is a huge part of their world. To them, sometimes it is the solution."

Rory nodded, then laughed a little, bitterly. "I don't know what I thought. Maybe I was hoping he was going to tell me he was leaving the fiancée and coming to be with me and the baby. I don't know, that sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But short of that being his response, I don't know what else I could've been hoping for. Offering money was at least… something."

"You did the right thing," Luke assured her. "If you want my opinion as someone who's been through something like this, you did the right thing. I wish I'd had the chance to know about April since the beginning. If that's what you're asking."

Rory nodded quietly. "Yeah. I guess so."

"Let him process. You know how finding out about April affected me." Rory raised her eyebrows at him in understanding, and they both laughed. "Immediate reactions are just that. Big news like this, it changes your life. It just takes over you and consumes you. The way you react is totally out of your control. I never meant to hurt your mom. I regret how I handled that every day. Logan's probably reeling right now, too. First reactions aren't always the ones we want to have."

Rory bit her lip and chanced a glance at her stepfather. "He's engaged, Luke. I have to prepare myself for the fact that there's nothing more that might come of this. He might choose to keep that life and ignore all this."

"And if he does, you'll be fine. You know that."

Rory nodded. "Yeah. I guess you're right." She smiled at Luke and added, "I'm getting used to the tea. Thanks."

"The one I leave you on Fridays has the tiniest bit of caffeine in it. Less than a soda. Don't tell your mom. She'll never let me live it down."

Rory snickered. "I wouldn't dare."