In a Flash

See part 1 for description, disclaimer, pairing, etc.

Look everyone, another chapter, and less than 6 months after the last one! I'm doing my best to keep moving on this, but I make no promises as far as how fast future updates will appear. But there will be updates – I have no intentions of dropping this story, no matter how busy I get at times – we're just getting to the good stuff :)

And thanks so much for the reviews on the last chapter.

Of course, another big thank you to my betas, sosmitten and llanoestacado – everything you read here is better because of their help.


Lorelai's conversation with her mother on Friday night may have caused her migraine, but the warp speed at which things began progressing over the weekend didn't allow her to pay much attention to it.

Saturday had begun with an early call from her lawyer; apparently everything was kosher and moving along swimmingly. Monday, as he had informed her, would be some official paper-signing and some final meetings to go over details, but once those small chores were completed, Lorelai was to expect the transfer of custody on Tuesday. Colleen had apparently told the lawyers and realtors that she was dealing with that she'd have things wrapped up at the house by then as well, so the timing was perfect. By Tuesday night, the kids would be living at the Crap Shack and Colleen would be on her way back to her own family in Vermont – on her way back to her own normal life. Whereas Lorelai and her life… Well… Yeah. Different story.

In the interest of staying on schedule, Colleen's kids came down from Vermont to help her out over the weekend. One of her daughters showed up around noon with a carful of toys to unload on Lorelai. And, she'd explained to Lorelai and Rory, the rest of the toys, and all sorts of extra clothes and other things would follow over the course of the afternoon and the next few days.

It rattled Lorelai at first, though she had to admit, it was logical of Colleen to want to get the unnecessary stuff out of the way. It was just the first concrete evidence that the kids would be there in a matter of days. And given that it was the weekend and there wasn't much she could do in the way of official paperwork and proceedings, it only made sense to start making headway on all of the unpacking and rearranging of stuff that she'd have to do.

Luckily, Rory had no plans with Logan or any other Yale people made for the day, so Lorelai recruited her to help.

Yanking open a box to reveal an assortment of stubby, plastic kitchenware playset pieces, Lorelai frowned. Holding up a handful of them, she turned to Rory, "Hey, does all this crap strike you as really depressing?"

Rory glanced up from across the room where she was busy weeding through garbage bag upon garbage bag of fuzzy, plush toys. "This?" she questioned skeptically.

"Yeah," Lorelai nodded emphatically, dropping the utensils with a flourish. She flopped down on the couch, missing Rory's confusion, "This."

"How does a big smiling baseball qualify as depressing?" Rory asked quizzically, tossing said baseball in Lorelai's general direction. "Or Care Bears," she added as she produced a handful of the furry playthings from one of the garbage bags. Pulling yet another one out, she looked thoughtfully at the plush scowl on its face, "Except for Grumpy Bear, maybe." She shrugged, nonplussed, "Depressing doesn't really go with the territory of baby stuff."

Lorelai just glared incredulously at her daughter, her eyes darting between the half-unpacked toys and Rory's clueless expression. Given the underlying reason for all of the cheery stuffed animals now gracing her living room, how could Rory think it was anything but mind-numbingly depressing?

With realization dawning on her face as she followed Lorelai's gaze and looked around the room again, Rory conceded, "Well, yeah, the situation is kind of a downer, but… the stuff?"

"I know the story behind every single one of your toys," Lorelai sighed as Rory took a seat next to her. "All the books? Your reading level had passed mine by the time you were seven," she reasoned, trying to explain where she was coming from. "Colonel Clucker? The only stuffed animal I could afford that your moody little two-year old self wasn't afraid of."

Rory snorted, "What was I afraid of?"

"Um, hello?" Lorelai cried, jokingly aghast that Rory wasn't remembering something so highly mockable from her childhood. "Ernie and Bert, apparently."

"And I was right!" Rory exclaimed, though whether or not she actually remembered her childhood fear, Lorelai couldn't tell. "You saw the evil Bert website!"

Lorelai giggled in response, though she quickly fell silent as the gravity of the situation weighed down upon her once again. Turning to Rory, she laid it out as plainly as she could. "I know all the stories behind all your old toys. Every little stain, rip, tear," she began. "This stuff?" she held up the same plastic kitchen set, "Nothing." What happens when Martie's nine, cleaning out all her old clothes to make room for some horrible tween wardrobe and wants to know why she owns an apron, size 6 months?" Lorelai didn't even miss a beat, answering her own question pointedly, "Because your mom got it for you before she died. Or hey Davy," she chirped, "All your disturbing fuzzy plush fruits and vegetables? From your dad. Before he died." Lorelai's diatribe grew more and more animated, with more and more emphasis on chosen words as more and more examples came to mind. "The blocks?" She pointed across the room to Davy's wide variety of both wooden and plastic building toys, "Dad again, before he died. The kid-sized plastic kitchen? Mom, before she died."

"Ok, ok… I get it, I get it," Rory said, urging Lorelai to stop. And suddenly looking rather melancholy, she reached for a fuzzy red arm that was sticking out of the bag she'd been grabbing Care Bears from only a moment ago. Regarding the googley-eyed smile staring back at her, Rory weakly tossed the toy to Lorelai in defeat, "Who knew even Elmo could be depressing?"

That question Lorelai chose not to answer. As much as she'd tried to make it a joke to get Rory to understand, the sight of all the toys, all the stuffed animals, all the everything, that Sookie and Jackson had bought their kids with the intent of getting to watch them play with them, grow up with them, and eventually grow out of them – it really was sickeningly depressing. She almost couldn't bear to look at them at all anymore.

"We need new toys," Lorelai declared suddenly, leaping off the couch with a gleeful clap of her hands.

"What?" Rory asked, her face scrunched up in confusion.

"Shopping!" Lorelai cried as she grabbed Rory's hands and pulled her up off the couch.

"Okay!" Rory's wide grin matched Lorelai's as she bounced happily alongside her, caught up in the sudden enthusiasm. It lasted only a second or two; Lorelai could see the rational side of her daughter catching up to her. The excited 'okay' was soon followed up with a perplexed, "Wait, what?"

Of course, Lorelai had her answer ready and waiting. "Toys!" she exclaimed, still grasping Rory's hands.

"Okay…" Rory drew the word out slowly, her skepticism evident.

"You need clothes and shoes on," Lorelai directed, hurriedly shoving the still pajama-clad Rory toward her room. "Quick, you change, and meet me at Luke's. He's gotta come too," she added with a wicked grin.

Rory scoffed, "Luke won't come."

Not one to let her parade get rained on, especially when it was helping her ignore the harsh reality behind those toys, Lorelai insisted, "I'm getting a head start – by the time you get there, he'll be dragging me to the store."

Rory shook her head with a weak smile, and offered a mild admonition as she gestured at the toys strewn about the living room, "Mom, this is crazy…"

"Oh, come on," Lorelai pleaded, "We need those stupid plastic stopping-of-the-finger-putting-in-the-electrical-outlet plug-y things anyway. And other Davy-proofing stuff," she added, adamant in her decision to go shopping and to go shopping now.

It was convincing enough; Lorelai immediately recognized the sigh of defeat Rory let out as she headed to her closet.

Even as she pulled clothes out in order to get dressed and go along with Lorelai's ad hoc shopping scheme, Rory tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh of disbelief. "I love how toys are the priority over safety measures," she snickered.

Lorelai was already halfway to the front door by the end of Rory's sentence, but that didn't mean she didn't catch the whole thing. Skidding to an awkward stop on the slippery wood floor, she pulled a quick u-turn to poke her nose back in Rory's room. "Not a priority," she clarified with a smirk, "Just a bonus."


Across town, Luke sat in the nearly-empty diner, elbow on the counter and chin propped up in his palm. Normally a slow shift that Caesar covered on his own, Luke was handling that day's lunch hour with Lane, as he still owed Caesar time off after he had kept things running during the funeral planning-stages. But, for whatever reason, even fewer people than normal had showed up, and Lane was off with a walkman at one of the corner tables, painstakingly critiquing a tape of the band's last performance with one of her bandmates.

Which left Luke to his own devices. Not even Kirk had surfaced to distract him, which was proving to be a dangerous thing. Various scenes from the previous few days flashed through his mind over and over, accompanied by that persistent nagging voice that insisted upon reminding him that he still really had no idea what the deal was with Lorelai getting Sookie's kids

He'd fully intended to confront her about everything last night – he'd have brought home burgers for her and Rory, conveniently forgetting the requisite fries. Rory, obedient, sweet girl that she was, not to mention as much of a glutton for fried potatoes as her mother, would have yielded to his request that she be the one to go pick up more from the diner. She'd have run into Lane, they'd have gotten distracted by one thing or another, and he and Lorelai would have had some serious one-on-one time to discuss everything. Everything – hash out every little detail of how things were going to work, who was who to those kids, who would be doing what, and where each who would be doing those whats. And what all of the whos and wheres and hows would mean for their relationship.

But, of course, it had been a Friday night, and closing in on the end of the school year, so he'd been swamped with hordes of hungry teenagers celebrating no more homework. Not to mention that Lane had begged out on him at the last minute for some impromptu gig in Hartford. So instead of being able to leave a relatively slow diner in the hands of Lane and Caesar, he'd been stuck there all evening. And by the time closing had rolled around, he'd written the night off as a lost cause, had sent Caesar home a little early, and finished up closing himself.

So he'd arrived home – arrived at Lorelai's home, he corrected himself – too late to give Rory the pie she was owed, and when he'd finally crept upstairs to Lorelai's room, he'd found her already asleep as well.

Luke hadn't been able to bring himself to wake her; he'd just been relieved that she'd been in bed of her own accord rather than frantically straightening up the garage, or sweeping the chimney, or whatever else she'd yet to hit with her whirlwind cleaning frenzy. So he'd quietly slipped into bed beside her, once again placing the talk he knew they so desperately needed to have on the back burner.

What he hadn't been prepared for was a fully-awake Lorelai. As soon as he'd gotten himself under the covers, she'd rolled over almost immediately, tucking herself up against him without a word. Unexpected, perhaps, but he hadn't been about to complain; as with the night before, he was able to take comfort in her physical presence, despite the fact that there were still hurdles to be jumped on the communication front.

He'd even been pleasantly surprised when, Lorelai, perhaps taking cues from his own ill-fated attempt at seduction the night before, had begun brushing her lips over his neck, her fingertips raking over his t-shirted chest.

Luke wasn't normally one to put off the inevitable. The sensible side of him had actually mulled, for a split second or two, the idea that he should stop Lorelai, and since they were both actually awake and functioning, just get everything about Davy and Martha and their situation out in the open.

In the end he hadn't. Stopped her, that is. The inevitable was just that, and they would still have opportunities to straighten things out. So he'd yielded to Lorelai's insistent hands, her fiery kisses… And while Luke certainly hadn't minded the outcome of the turn of events there in bed, he didn't even so much care that they'd had sex. He was mostly relieved that he'd come home to a smidgen of normalcy. It wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for her to jump him, half-asleep, on his late nights – rather, it was far more routine than any of the insanity he'd been faced with upon arriving home over the past few nights. First she'd had the kid bomb dropped on her – they iall/i had, to tell the truth – then she'd hit him with her decision the next night, and then last night with the cleaning and the revelation that the kids would be arriving 'soon'… Compared to that, sex was normal.

By the time Saturday rolled around and he was left to ponder all of that in the diner, the general uneasy feeling he had about everything still hadn't settled. In all honesty, Luke was actually a little apprehensive about what he might find back at the house later that night. What else was moving forward at lightning speed behind his back? At the rate things had been going up until last night, he wouldn't have been completely shocked to find the kids moved in there already.

He shivered involuntarily at the thought. Things couldn't be moving that quickly, could they?

Luke was drawn out of his musing by the soft jingle of the bell on the door. From his place at the counter he glanced up, fully willing to grab some menus and get back to actually working if he thought it would help ease his unsettled mind a little.

No such luck; Lorelai raced across the diner to him, a giddy smile on her face as she grabbed for his hand.

"Luke!" she exclaimed animatedly, "We have to go shopping!"

"Shopping?" he echoed in mild disbelief. She wanted to go shopping. She finally had some free time, and she wanted to use it to go shopping? What about talking? "I hate shopping."

Lorelai just rolled her eyes, "I know that, but thanks for the reminder anyway. I'm talking important shopping," she stressed, "and you have to come."

Luke snorted, wondering what her definition of important could possibly be. "What, is there some super-mega-clearance sale on sparkly sandals somewhere?" he prodded, climbing off his stool and rounding the counter for the coffee Lorelai would inevitably be demanding any second now. "Or cartoon character brand nail polish? Because I know how important that would be, and you know me, I sure as hell wouldn't want to miss that."

Collapsing unceremoniously onto the stool Luke had just vacated, Lorelai frowned, looking perhaps a little more stung by his remarks than Luke had intended. "No," she clarified hesitantly, just staring down at her hands, with no trace of the enthusiasm she'd bounded in with. "I need to buy some baby-proofing stuff for the house, and I figured I'd go all out and buy them some new toys and stuff too. Kinda like little housewarming presents," she explained quietly. "I thought you could come."

"Oh." Oh… Luke, taken aback by her seriousness, stilled for a moment. He certainly hadn't expected that. "Uh, ok," he finally stammered, "Yeah. Sure. I'll come." He sure as hell didn't want to go shopping, but if Lorelai wanted him there, he'd have to suck it up. And the topical merchandise might actually lend itself to them getting some things out in the open.

Lorelai's head jerked up in obvious disbelief at his words of concession, and Luke was sure he could see the beginnings of a grateful smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

"Caesar will be here soon for the dinner crowd, and Lane can handle things until then, right Lane?" he called across the diner, directing his last words loudly in Lane's direction.

Lane just nodded and gave a thumbs up without even turning around or removing her headphones.

Luke rolled his eyes and turned back to Lorelai. "For the car?" he asked, waving a take-out cup in front of her.

She nodded solemnly, whatever ghost of a smile that had been surfacing a moment ago long gone. Luke didn't know what had brought about the return to her somber mood, but he said nothing as he poured her coffee, opting to see how it played out.

"Look," she eventually started softly, "I know we haven't really tal…"

"Luke!" came Rory's excited cry as she burst into the diner. "Hey Mom! So d'ya talk him in to shopping yet?" she inquired.

Luke barely caught the apologetic half-smile Lorelai shot his way before she turned to Rory and quipped, "I think so, kid. I mean, he barely put up a fight this time."

Rory grinned, and faced him with expectant eyes, "So you're coming, Luke?"

Ah jeez… With Rory around, there was no way Lorelai would want to get down to all the details. So he'd just be stuck shopping. But he'd already agreed… and there was no way he could deny both Gilmores at once.

So just under an hour later, he found himself in Waterbury, tagging along after the Lorelais in the parking lot of the biggest Toys 'R' Us he'd ever seen, and Luke was trying in vain to recall how on earth he'd let himself get roped into shopping for baby toys. He wasn't a shopper in any sense of the word and he sure as hell had nothing to offer in the way of expertise when it came to this kind of junk – a fact that Lorelai certainly knew. Yet there he was…

Did Lorelai's initial plea to get him there really mean something? Did this mean he was supposed to be involved? He hadn't exactly been consulted on anything thus far, but was this his in? The prelude to the long overdue talk?

He didn't get a chance to answer his own questions, for as soon as the trio stepped inside the store, his jaw practically dropped to the floor. "Jeez, how big is this place?" he grumbled with a shake of his head as he looked around at the huge displays of primary-colored junk. "What the hell is this stuff? A slime-maker? Fake tattoos? Candy? All these video games?" he began, "What kid needs all of this useless crap?"

"You forgot bikes and trains," Lorelai cracked playfully, poking him gently in the side.

"Or was it planes?" Rory debated as she wheeled a cart over.

Lorelai paused thoughtfully, "Hmm, good question…"

Luke gave it a minute, alternately trying to figure out what the hell they were talking about and waiting for them to explain. No success on either point, so before they began walking much further into the store, he let out a confused, "What?"

After an incredulous glare, obviously for his lack of knowledge about something that was evidently quite important in the Gilmore world, Lorelai launched into some sort of crazy song using his own words from just a moment ago. "From bikes to trains," she sang gleefully.

"Or planes," Rory piped up.

"Right," Lorelai acknowledged before continuing, "To video games,"

Luke's eyebrows flew up when Rory burst out with another line, "It's the biggest toy store there is."

And back to Lorelai it went, "I don't want to grow up,"

Rory again, "'cause if I did…"

All Luke could do was look in on in disbelief as they then chimed in together gleefully, "I couldn't be a Toys 'R' Us kid!"

His expression was the same one he might have worn had he encountered an alien life form – though a pair of otherwise normal-looking adult women bursting out in song in a toy store wasn't a far cry from alien for him, even given the women doing the singing.

"Jesus!" Luke nearly jumped out of his skin when a gigantic giraffe appeared out of nowhere from behind him and began clapping in appreciation at the girls' song.

By the time he recovered, Luke was the recipient of a patronizing pat on the arm from Lorelai, who shoved the as-yet empty cart in front of him, "Here, you push, that's all you have to do."

Before he could even protest, Rory had dashed off and was squealing something along the lines of, "Mom, Cabbage Patch Kids are back!" Whatever the hell a Cabbage Patch Kid was… Regardless, it meant that Lorelai took off right after Rory, leaving Luke to trail along behind with the cart. He should have known better. He did know better, actually, Luke grumbled to himself. Never go shopping with a Gilmore, never mind two at once. And certainly not in a toy store.

Although, he did admit, when Lorelai shot her reply back to Rory without missing a beat, – "Yeah, but considering they're bigger than Martha is, I think we can hold off there for a while." – having Rory along to feed off Lorelai took a lot of the onus off him when it came to having to keep up with whatever inane dialogue the toys would elicit.

Content to just amble along after them, Luke zoned in and out, only catching bits and pieces of the conversation in front of him. Every once in a while either Lorelai or Rory would scamper back towards him to dump something in the cart – something completely unnecessary that Luke would, of course, eye with disdain.

It was on one of those trips back to drop something off at the cart when Rory paused, lingering closer to Luke. He thought he saw her shoot a guarded glance in his direction before she turned back to Lorelai, speaking tentatively, "Mom?"

Whether Lorelai caught the grave tone her daughter's voice had taken on or not, Luke wasn't quite sure; regardless, the tone in her own voice was just as gleeful as ever, "The weird popcorn roll-y popper thing – it never dies!"

Rory rolled her eyes as Lorelai proceeded to roll the toy noisily back and forth across the aisle. "Mom?" she prodded again, this time abandoning Luke and heading closer to Lorelai.

Luke was sure Lorelai caught Rory's tone the second time; she quickly put the toy down and approached Rory with a concerned expression. "Yeah?" Meanwhile, also curious to see where Rory's change of mood was leading, Luke pushed the cart closer.

"So when do they actually, uh, move in?" Rory asked hesitantly.

Oh, Luke realized. That's where Rory was going. In all the chaos of what was going on, he guessed, Lorelai hadn't even gotten around to explaining to Rory. Or anyone. Because she sure as hell hadn't exactly been forthcoming with new information as far as he was concerned.

Whether he'd been intentionally kept out of the loop or not, he didn't know, but he did know that Lorelai looked extremely uncomfortable with the subject Rory had broached.

"Um…" Lorelai squirmed, guiltily stealing a glance in Luke's direction down the aisle, "I have to meet with lawyers again Monday to finalize some stuff, but if that goes okay, then Tuesday I guess… Yeah, Tuesday."

Luke's sentiments mirrored the soft "Wow" Rory let out, though he chose to remain silent. Still a few feet away with the cart, he didn't think he was meant to be part of the conversation. Lorelai obviously hadn't felt it necessary to fill him in on the subject, he mused darkly.

Lorelai didn't appear to want to have the conversation with Rory either, for she quickly skirted the issue, choosing instead to distract her daughter with some silly singing toy, "I know… Check it out. Kermit singing Caribbean Amphibian."

"Davy or Martha?" Luke heard Rory ask.

"Uh, me," Lorelai clarified. "They can have… I don't know, nameless ugly dog on clearance over there," she added snatching said dog from the shelf.

Luke's focus began to drift; he couldn't care less about the random stuffed animal debate going on. What he did care about was the fact that Lorelai, despite all her promises to do this together, was apparently leaving him out when it came to some important details.

"Mom?"

Rory's tone brought Luke back out of his daze; it was the same she'd used just a few moments ago. It was her 'serious' tone.

Trying to not appear overly obvious in his eavesdropping of the conversation he wasn't really sure if he was supposed to be a part of or not, Luke strained to hear where this particular 'Mom' would lead.

"Yeah?" Lorelai answered, the wariness in her voice ringing loud and clear in Luke's ears.

Rory's question, or questions rather, were posed carefully, "How is this going to work?" she inquired. "With the Inn and stuff? Especially after summer's over and I'm not even there in the morning to help out anymore?"

Fair questions, Luke thought, and ones he certainly wouldn't mind hearing the answers to…

After another furtive glance in his direction from Lorelai, she replied, "Ok, uh, first I'm taking some extra time for the first week or so. Then, back to normal, it has to. I'll stick a playpen in my office for Davy, and they must have one of those stupid kangaroo pouch stomach things here that I can use to bring Martha everywhere and still have two hands. I have to, there's too much to do," Lorelai explained with an apologetic shrug towards Rory. Luke certainly didn't miss the fact that other than those few fleeting looks, Lorelai wouldn't look him in the eye. She continued, "We still haven't hired a new chef, and did I tell you part of the will was to have some sort of memorial for them at the Inn? I mean I would have done something anyway, but it's just more work… As much as he thinks he can run the world and take over for me, Michel can't handle everything on his own anymore."

"You can't get a sitter?" Rory wondered aloud.

"Martha's still really little babe," Lorelai sighed, "and you know it's gotta be weird enough for them to even get used to me. Never mind even more people running around. Not like I could afford a full-time sitter anyway." Luke frowned upon hearing that – that was news to him. Not that the rest of her revelations weren't news also, but if nothing else, he'd have expected her to come to him with financial issues. Hell, she'd done that before they were even together. And they were supposed to be in this together, no? Despite his general unease and hesitance toward the whole situation, he'd promised he was in… Was she not?

Rory sounded just as surprised as he was when she replied to Lorelai's comment about finances, "No?"

"Don't think so," Lorelai shook her head. "I probably shouldn't even be here buying all this crap," she added, even as she tossed a musical mobile into the cart.

"How is all the money working anyway?" Rory asked. "And the house, and Jackson's truck and stuff?"

Other things Luke would also like to know about. He craned his neck and picked up his pace as Lorelai rounded the corner into another aisle.

"I barely even know," Lorelai said quickly, almost as if she wanted to get her answer out before Luke caught up. But he still heard… "That's all the crazy complicated legal stuff I can't always follow." She continued hastily, "Technically everything is theirs, but then I'll be their guardian, but right now Colleen is the de facto guardian and next of kin, so she has some say right now… I'm not sure, but I think trust fund stuff has to get set up for them for later, but since they're technically my Inn co-owners, they'll have revenue, but since they're minors and I'm the guardian, it'll just go to me anyway, and I guess that will up the household income enough to cover them for now. And Colleen was working on selling Jackson's truck, and then I can use that cash and the insurance from their other car to get some horrible soccer mom box on wheels for us. Car seats won't fit in the Jeep… That'll have to be tomorrow or Monday, I guess…"

Cars? Trust funds? Luke was floored. He practically had to bring a hand to his face to make sure hismouth hadn't dropped wide open. Lorelai had gotten a lot farther along with the details than he ever could have imagined. Miles and miles farther. And all without so much as a word to him. Since when was she taking the reins herself without as much as a mention to him? What the hell had been happening while he was at the diner? If everything was going to be like that, what the hell was he even doing there? If she wanted to do everything on her own, all she had to do was say so.

He didn't get a chance to ponder those thoughts any further, for as quickly as she'd turned serious in explaining the situation to Rory, Lorelai was back to her comical self, thrusting silly toys in his face with a shout, "Luke!"

"Huh?" Luke shook his head in confusion, trying to shake his growing unease from his mind.

"It's your soul mate," Lorelai exclaimed gleefully, seemingly oblivious to the way her previous words had affected Luke. "Right here in Toddler Land," she waved a box in his face, "Bob the Builder totally stole your flannel look. Davy is so getting one of these. And you should have copyrighted that look a while ago. Then you could have been getting royalties on this crap or something. Too slow…" she lamented jokingly.

And not to be left out, Rory chimed in, "Hey Luke, there's even kids clothes up there. We can get little tiny flannels for Davy."

"That's ok," Luke protested halfheartedly, even as Lorelai dashed away to examine the clothing section.

"Ooh, Rory, check it out – Happy Bunny baby onesies!"

Of course, Rory took off after her. She and Lorelai spent the rest of their time in the toy store giggling over God knows what; Luke didn't bother trying to listen in any further. He'd heard enough. And Lorelai seemed to think that even that was too much.


Later that night, Lorelai was considerably less lively. Luke, wiped out from a long day of shopping, followed by a long night at the diner and an impromptu dose of dirtiness in bed once he got home, snored softly beside her.

But, drained as she was, Lorelai just couldn't sleep. Instead she sat hugging her knees to her bare chest, not even covered by a sheet as she stared, wide-eyed, down at Luke. It was bugging her, bugging her beyond belief: the fact that she still didn't really know where they stood with each other on the issue of the kids.

Gnawing nervously on her thumbnail, a habit that seemed to have manifested itself over the past week or so, she let her mind wander back to the aisles of Toys 'R' Us. She hadn't meant to get into all the details in the middle of a toy store before talking to Luke directly. But, on the other hand, she couldn't just ignore Rory's questions…

She'd felt horrible the more she'd told Rory – with every question, with every reply, she'd seen Luke pulling away, withdrawing from her and the situation. He'd clammed up, falling quiet the more he'd heard about what was going to happen. In the end, sure, he'd sucked it up and stuck it out in the store without complaint, and she'd appreciated that.

But then, once they'd gotten home, he'd stayed to help put away all of their purchases. It just didn't add up in Lorelai's mind if, given his reaction to her answers in the store, he really felt as she thought he did.

Luke putting away baby wipes and spit-up cloths should have been a perfect situation to broach the subject of Martha and Davy with him, figure out where he was coming from.

But Rory had been there helping too, and Lorelai hadn't exactly felt comfortable having her heart-to-heart with Luke while Rory was right there. And by the time things were put away and arranged, Luke had mumbled some sort of excuse about getting back to the diner. Which, fair enough, she'd reasoned, maybe wasn't an excuse. But she'd waited up as long as she possibly could, rearranging the living room to make room for toy boxes and measuring her room for squeezing in cribs. In the end, she'd been up long after Rory, but she'd still been half asleep again by the time Luke got in.

He'd crept in without saying a word, probably assuming she was asleep. But once he'd climbed in bed next to her, she hadn't been able to keep it in any longer. Not after he'd said absolutely nothing upon hearing some of the plans for dealing with the kids once they'd moved in. His silence had been so disheartening. So she'd rolled over to face him, and in a hushed voice she'd tried to reassure him that this was her thing, she wasn't asking anything of him. The last thing she'd wanted to do was force too much on him and scare him away entirely; reaffirming that this was her thing was all she could think to do.

That hadn't gone over so well either, not in the communication sense anyway. Luke had just brushed her off, trying to shush her by saying how they both needed to get sleep. Of course, Lorelai hadn't heeded his words, and had kept up her verbal onslaught, trying to get any sort of a real response out of him. But he'd kept mum on anything related to Davy and Martha, just as he had in Toys 'R' Us and he'd eventually shut her up with kisses, his tried and true approach.

Lorelai shivered at the memory of Luke's unrelenting lips. And hands. And tongue… It wasn't altogether unlike how she'd worked at seducing him the night before. But that had been her feeble attempt to thank him for being so understanding and cooperative. How the tides had turned – she was beginning to doubt that 'understanding' side of him, and he sure as hell wasn't thanking her for keeping things from him, only to have them shoved in his face in the middle of a toy store.

She shivered again, this time from the chill of a slight breeze passing over her still-damp bare skin. Slipping out of bed, Lorelai quietly sought out her pajamas on the floor, though she half hoped it would be enough to rouse Luke from his slumber.

She so desperately wanted to talk things over… Now, and when Luke had first come in. She really had… Maybe at least explain things a little better than they had been in the store. But Luke had been quite insistent on avoiding the topic, and there was only so much she could do to fend him off.

Or perhaps only so much she wanted to do to fend off his advances – somewhere in the back of her brain she knew that once those kids were in her room, physical encounters would probably be few and far between. And maybe Luke knew that too, she'd rationalized. Either way, Lorelai had given in to him without the having the talk she wanted to have. What she hadn't been quite sure of, even as he'd been easing her shirt, her shorts, his boxers off, was if she had actually wanted it. Even now, she couldn't shake the suspicion that she'd gone along with it merely because she already felt guilty enough over shutting him out during the shopping trip, not to mention forcing all this on him in the first place…

She'd just wanted to talk.

And now Luke was asleep…

Lorelai, chewing on her thumbnail again, still couldn't sleep.


The blows just kept coming the next day, Sunday. Luke was off to the diner at some ungodly hour, so there was still nothing in the way of clearing the air, so to speak. Never mind that Colleen called to let Lorelai know, that with the help of her kids over the weekend, things had gotten ahead of schedule over at Sookie's. The revised plan was to finish up the packing during the day and send Colleen's kids home Sunday night to make sure the youngest was back for school on Monday. Colleen, Martha, and Davy would spend Sunday night with Colleen's parents so that the house could be completely emptied but Colleen could still be close enough to Stars Hollow to tie up the last few loose ends on Monday morning… Long story short, Colleen ended up asking if Lorelai wouldn't mind if Davy and Martha moved in a day early - Monday instead of Tuesday.

Lorelai cringed at the thought – that would mean even less time to get things straight with Luke. But it didn't make sense to force Colleen to stick around any longer than she had to; she couldn't say no.

So instead of spending the rest of Sunday at the Dragonfly, as she had planned, she spent it convincing Luke to help her move in the rest of Davy and Martha's belongings, not to mention all their furniture.

Ah yes, good times - demanding even more of Luke when they hadn't discussed anything yet, and it seemed he didn't want to be very involved in the first place…

A few hours later, most of the flurry of moving activity had passed, and, as she'd been unable to do so herself, Lorelai had sent Rory over to the Dragonfly to check on the status of things.

Of course, that wasn't to say she didn't have an ulterior motive in getting rid of Rory. Luke had stayed to help unpack and set up furniture and she was hoping a little alone time in the light of day might present them with an opportunity to discuss things.

Lorelai looked up nervously from her perch on the bed where she sat re-folding the children's clothes to be put away. Luke was still fighting with one of the rails on Davy's crib. What she couldn't figure out was if the crib was really being that uncooperative, or if it was just bearing the brunt of Luke's frustrations over…other things. He'd hardly said anything all day.

Fiddling with the tiny snaps on one of Martha's little outfits, she toyed with how to approach the subject with Luke. A particularly loud clatter of the crib brought her out of her daze; finally she just blurted it out, "Are you… ok… with this?"

"I think so," Luke replied, his back still to her as he tried the crib rail once again, "I mean, I think it's supposed to slide a little smoother, but other than that, I guess it's right."

"No…" Lorelai corrected gently. He hadn't caught her insinuation, and he certainly hadn't caught the tortured expression she was sure she was wearing. She paused long enough for Luke to look up at her in confusion. "This," she reiterated, giving an emphatic wave to the clothes around her, the crib, the changing table…"This."

The look that her words elicited on Luke's face was more than enough to signify that he 'got' it the second time. Lorelai didn't think she'd seen him that uncomfortable and squirmy and 'deer-in-the-headlights' since she'd been making fun of Jess' book over a year ago at Liz's wedding. Not the look she'd been hoping for…

"Oh, yeah…" Luke trailed off almost as soon as he'd started. "Yeah, well, you know, it's your thing, right?" he said eventually, shrugging and pulling himself up off the floor. "The kids, I mean. That's what you kept saying. They're your thing, but I'm here. That's what I said, I'm here."

"Yeah, good…" Lorelai trailed off, assuming that she was supposed to be somehow reassured by those words. But they were no more concrete than anything else that had been said. And not only was Luke still looking rather uncomfortable with the subject at hand, but his words had been almost… dismissive.

She forced herself to take a deep breath. If he really did want out, then fine. She'd prepared herself for that. But if he was in, she had to know in what capacity.

Lorelai had just opened her mouth, her lips just pursing together to form the 'b' of a despondent 'but,' when Luke spoke again. "Hey, uh, look, I think this thing is ok," he gestured vaguely in the direction of the crib. "I gotta get back…" Another vague gesture in the general direction of the diner. "Caesar… You know…"

"Right, yeah, diner…" Lorelai nodded numbly as she gave her hollow response, unable to focus on anything but the spot where Luke had just been.

She didn't move until Luke was right beside her, and even then it was not to look at him, it was only to raise her cheek to the oddly perfunctory kiss Luke gave her as he shuffled out the door. She almost didn't hear him when he mumbled hurriedly, from somewhere near the head of the stairs, "See you later."

Sitting there, frozen to the bed, still surrounded by tiny baby clothes, all Lorelai could muster up in response was a muted "Bye" sent faintly in the direction of Luke's retreating form.

Once the impact of Luke's words and actions finally sunk in and Lorelai was able to process thoughts again, she was torn; she didn't know whether to be devastated, offended, or annoyed. Or nothing at all. How was she supposed to take that? That was it? The kids were her thing and he had to get back to the diner?

Her first instinct must have been devastation, for without her even noticing, her eyes had filled with tears. A few stray ones fell from her cheeks and darkened tiny spots on the little purple jumper she still held in her lap. As much as she didn't have the right to expect anything from Luke, she'd wanted – so badly – for him to want to be involved, be part of her makeshift family. Why didn't he seem to want that? And if not that, then what did he want out of this situation? What was he expecting here?

Lorelai's sadness flashed into indignant irritation. Her tears turned angry. How could he be so goddamned nonchalant about the whole thing? How could he 'be there' if he wasn't really going to be there? How…

No. No, Lorelai reprimanded herself, squeezing her eyes closed to ward off any further crying of any sort. No. She had no right to be making any sort of demands of Luke. She knew that. And she couldn't – if he was really as against getting involved as he seemed, pushing harder wouldn't make a difference.

She just didn't want to have to be doing everything alone this time.

But it was what it was…

Lorelai allowed herself a few more moments of wallowing before she hastily finished folding Davy and Martha's clothes. For the rest of the night she busied herself with preparations for the next day, pretty much the same as each preceding night.

The difference this time was that Martha and Davy were coming the next day. And that she couldn't bring herself to wait up for Luke to come home. She wouldn't have known what to say.


Coming down the stairs the next day, Lorelai paused on the landing, letting out a deep sigh as she scanned the living room. A playpen, a bouncy chair, and enough Little Tikes and Fisher Price crap to maintain a moderately-sized daycare center were now crammed into the corner near the TV, plastic plug covers were visible in all the empty outlets. Though they weren't in her direct line of sight, she knew full well that both bathrooms were fully stocked with 'No More Tears' shampoo, talcum powder, and diapers of various sizes, and the kitchen cabinets laden with more canned formula and Gerber products than she knew what to do with. Strollers, both double- and single-seaters, were either by the door or in the hall closet. The crib, a bassinette, and the changing table had been expertly wedged into her newly rearranged bedroom, with her own wardrobe having been relocated to its new residence in the hallway just outside her room.

No, there really was no reason to put it off any longer. Not that that's what she was doing, per se…

Lorelai just wasn't sure that she could put one foot in front of the other and actually force herself to head over to meet Colleen. Until she did that, she could still pretend it was all a dream – that she would be hearing her alarm ring in about five minutes, baby junk nowhere to be seen. But the second she strapped those babies into the back of that snazzy new family-friendly Subaru in the driveway – the family-friendly Subaru her father had strong-armed a dealer into sending over without her even having had a chance to look at – it would all be too real.

More shakily than she expected, Lorelai lowered herself gingerly to sit on the stairs.

What on earth had she been thinking?

She wasn't ready for this – she'd never be ready for this. No one is ever ready to play surrogate aunt to their best friend's kids for the rest of their lives. Much less her, Lorelai Gilmore, mother of the kid who had seemingly turned out okay only because the stars must have been particularly well-aligned one morning back in October '84. It was either that or Rory had had some good karma coming to her in this lifetime, so she'd been able to succeed despite the stigma and experiences that inevitably had come with being the daughter of a single teenage mother.

Rory, Lorelai scowled to herself, she really should have pestered her into taking a sick day today. Ever sensible and pragmatic, Rory would have just rolled her eyes at Lorelai, thrown the car keys at her and told her to just suck it up and get it over with.

But Rory was hard at work in Stamford, and Lorelai was still sitting on the stairs in her living room, her motionless gaze a carbon copy of the one that a plush Elmo was eyeing her with from across the room.

And Luke…

Luke.

Not that Luke was particularly gregarious in any circumstance, but since the night that Lorelai had told him of her decision to adopt the kids his verbal output had been distinctly sub par.

Even now, in the proverbial calm before the storm, Lorelai still couldn't quite nail down where Luke stood on everything. Or anything. Why did he want to keep their lives so separate? Did he really not want this? All that she had to go on were Luke's reassurances from that first night that he wasn't going anywhere, and a somewhat less-than-convincing reiteration of that fact when she'd tried to broach the subject again yesterday.

She knew it wasn't fair to ask so much of him, not when things were moving so fast. To be honest, things were moving too fast, even for her, never mind for stick-in-the-mud, stuck-in-a-rut Luke. Hell, normally parents had eight or nine months to adjust to the concept of sleepless nights, lack of sex, and taking responsibility for the lives of tiny little people. They'd not even had eight or nine days to deal with whatever was coming.

And then there was the fact that she and Luke weren't actually parents either…

Sure, maybe her role would be the mother-type figure, but Sookie would always be their mother. Lorelai knew there was no way she could ever replace her, and nor did she really expect to feel quite the same kind of motherly devotion to those kids as she did with Rory. She was just good old goofy Aunt Lorelai – but that was the best those kids were going to do.

But she certainly couldn't expect Luke to jump headfirst into any sort of parental, fatherly role at all. This had been her decision, and she certainly didn't want him to feel any more shanghaied than he probably already did. Sure, she might have to ask for his help every once in a while… It'd be nice if seemed a little more willing… He'd come around, right? Maybe?

"Fuck!" she burst out, burying her face in her knees. A load of crap, all of it. She had no fucking clue how anything would play out past the next few minutes. Not the logistics, not the finances, not her relationship with the kids, not her relationship with Rory, and certainly not her relationship with Luke. Who in God's name was she kidding? If there was ever a scenario that exemplified 'flying by the seat of your pants' more than this one, Lorelai sure as hell couldn't think of it.

With one last rueful once-over of the living room, Lorelai dragged herself to her feet. There was no use putting off the inevitable, and she sure as hell wasn't making any progress trying to sort things out in her head either. So she might as well get going, right? Her purse there… Car keys here… She gathered the few things she needed – everything else that would be necessary in the immediate sense, like car seats and the Snugli pouch for toting Martha around, were with the kids and Colleen…

Nope, no putting it off any longer – there was no other way to procrastinate. Life was about to change forever, Lorelai reminded herself, and that's all there was to it.

It was still a few more minutes after that little realization before she was able to force herself out the door and into the car. But once finally on the road, Lorelai found herself at Sookie's in no time at all.

Colleen was at the door before Lorelai even made it into 'park.' Probably a good thing, Lorelai admitted inwardly as she climbed out of the car. Otherwise who knew how long she'd have sat there in the driveway, yet again putting off the inevitable, just staring at the house she'd come to know only as Sookie's, then Jackson's as well, followed by the rest of the little Melvilles. A wave of sadness washed over her as she realized, for the umpteenth time, that soon the house would be sold, would just be someone else's, and that those little Melvilles would be living with her instead of their parents…

Lorelai's depressing train of thought was interrupted when she was greeted with a subdued "Hi," from Colleen.

"Hey," Lorelai responded in kind, unsure of the standard protocol for taking orphaned children away from the few blood relatives they had left. Here I am to take your family away from you forever… No, probably not the best approach…

In place of those awkward words, it was an awkward silence that hung in the air between the two women as Colleen opened the screen door and led Lorelai inside.

What eventually broke the tense silence was Lorelai's slight gasp, which escaped her mouth of its own volition as she took in the sight of Sookie's nearly vacant house. "Wow, you really did get things done in here," she commented to Colleen. And she had. All that remained, at least from what Lorelai could make out, was a small array of legal documents, checklists, and a few cartons of last-minute odds and ends collected around a small folding table in the corner of the living room. Obviously most of the kids' items had already been relocated to the Crap Shack…

Except the kids, of course.

For the time being, Davy played quietly on the floor next to his car seat while Martha, apparently having just been woken up by Lorelai's entrance, began to fuss sleepily in her own car seat. Just beside the door lay an oversized teddy bear print diaper bag, Martha's carrying pouch draped haphazardly over the top of it.

Colleen nodded lamely in response to Lorelai's earlier observation, the original comment clearly not requiring an in-depth reply. She then shrugged, motioning to the kids, seemingly of the mind to just get everything over with. "So I guess we should get these seats strapped in?" she proposed.

Lorelai nodded dumbly, the fact that neither child had paid any mind to her when she entered not lost on her for even a second. And she was going to have them live with her? 24 hours a day from now until forever? When they couldn't even be bothered to look up when she walked into the room? Why, again, had she agreed to do this?

She didn't really get a chance to ponder that thought, however, as not ten seconds later, Colleen looped the diaper bag strap over Lorelai's shoulder, and shortly after placed Martha, who was none to happy at having had her nap disturbed, into Lorelai's arms.

But as luck would have it, the little girl's wriggling and wailing were all Lorelai needed, at least for the moment, for Lorelai's maternal instinct to kick into auto-pilot – she immediately took to rocking Martha gently, shushing her quietly as she held her close.

Call it their first bonding moment, Lorelai's first small victory, or simply a happy accident – regardless of how it happened or why, Lorelai let out a soft sigh of relief when Martha's tense little body relaxed against her chest and the child's wails quieted to only the slightest of whimpers. Maybe, Lorelai dared to let herself wonder, maybe, just maybe, this could all work…

By that point, Colleen had already made a trip to the car with the two car seats and was returning to corral Lorelai and the two kids outside.

"Hey Lorelai, I brought the seats out, but the doors were locked," Colleen informed her as she scooped up the last of Davy's toys from the floor. "I think this is everything now, so if we head out and unlock, I can show you how to get those things buckled in."

Lorelai's obedient "Sure," ended up being inconsequential, as before her muddled mind could get the response out, Colleen was back out the door and leading Davy to toddle close behind her.

"Guess this is it," Lorelai mumbled, to Martha, or to no one in particular at all. The slight spike in confidence that she'd felt after successfully quieting Martha had quickly waned, and had by now been replaced by the persistent anxiety and apprehension that had thus far pervaded the entire day for her.

But as she'd told herself before, there was nothing more she could do. She had to hold her head high, march out there with Martha in her arms, and pretend to all the world that she was in any way prepared for what was to come.

So she did. She had to.

Tiptoeing down the porch stairs so as to not jostle Martha any more than necessary, Lorelai dug around in her pockets for the car keys. In trying to juggle the baby and the keys, she fumbled with the keychain-button-controller thingie. Even when she got a good hold on it and pressed what she thought was the 'unlock' button, Colleen's attempt to open one of the back doors led only to the enraged honking of the security system.

Which was of course followed shortly by more screams from Martha. The combination of the car's noise and the tightening of Lorelai's grip on her when Lorelai herself jumped in response to the honking proved to be too much for her sleepy little self to handle. Even Davy, previously engaged by playing with the buckles on his car seat as it rested on the ground next to him, had startled at the noise and looked to be on the verge of tears as well.

"Shit, sorry…" Lorelai apologized, frantically pressing various buttons as often as she could, and in any combination that she could, in order to shut the stupid alarm off. "Stupid fucking Subaru…"

Once the car finally stopped honking and Colleen tried the door again – this time successfully, Lorelai apologized again sheepishly. "Sorry… I'm just still used to the Jeep, I guess…" She was sure her cheeks were flaming red. Not even able to manage a simple car alarm, Lorelai cringed inwardly. That probably hadn't won her any points with Colleen. She could just imagine a whole horde of Melville aunts, uncles, and cousins leaping in out of nowhere to yank the kids back from her incompetent self before they'd even come 100 into her care. Subconsciously, her gaze actually darted across the lawn. No rampant relatives coming to reclaim the kids. Yet, she reminded herself darkly.

But, Colleen actually seemed rather unperturbed by the alarm incident. Less than Davy and Martha, to be sure. Her smile was one of understanding and sympathy as she directed Lorelai over to the rear driver's side door where Martha's car seat rested.

It took just a few moments to get the two seats installed – a feat Lorelai was only partially sure she'd be able to replicate on her own – and just another couple of seconds to buckle Davy and Martha into their respective places. The diaper bag, few toys, and infant pouch were tossed into the passenger seat and that was that. Transaction complete. Wham-bam-thank you ma'am, thanks for coming and have a nice day. All Lorelai had to do was say goodbye to Colleen and the three would be on their way. But how exactly was that conversation supposed to go? Thanks for the kids, see ya?

Lorelai lingered slightly longer than necessary as she leaned into the car to place the diaper bag on the seat. Rifling around in the bag, she figured the guise of searching for a pacifier for the still-fussy Martha would buy her a few extra seconds of thinking up something to say. But Colleen had seemed to read her mind. "Pacifers should be in the big front pocket," the older woman offered almost immediately.

"Thanks," Lorelai mumbled, reaching into said pocket and locating all-too-quickly a colorful Winnie-the-Pooh pacifier, which she promptly shoved into Martha's mouth. And with nothing left to busy herself with, Lorelai withdrew slowly from the car, and stood up to face Colleen, "So…."

She was more than a little surprised when Colleen pulled her into a tight hug. "Do you know how great you are for doing this Lorelai?" Colleen asked, releasing Lorelai.

Lorelai just shrugged, her feet shifting uncomfortably, "It's what they wanted, right?" But she knew, even as the words were coming out of her mouth, that she probably should have played that a little more convincingly.

Colleen's eyebrows shot up in mild alarm, exactly the reason Lorelai knew she needed to have been a little more enthusiastic with her previous statement. "But is it what you want?" Colleen urged questioningly. "I don't want them growing up feeling like a burden, and neither would my brother."

"Well, no, it's not what I want," Lorelai admitted instinctively, only to have Colleen's expression turn even more doubtful. Hurriedly continuing to remedy that, Lorelai explained hastily, "What I really want is for Sookie and Jackson to be fine and for these guys," she gestured to the backseat of the car, "to be living with their parents as one big happy family."

Colleen's face softened at that, and she nodded in quiet agreement as Lorelai spoke again.

"But that's not really an option, now is it?" And with a fervor that took even herself by surprise, Lorelai resolved adamantly, "So then, yes. This is what I want."

And to some degree it really was. Sure it would take a ton of adjusting, and sure it would rock the status quo of her life, as well as Rory's and Luke's, but… She'd have Martha and Davy. Maybe it was silly of her to think so, but having those two around would forever be a way to hang on to Sookie and Jackson. She could just imagine what it would be like when Martha was older, maybe turning out to be clone of Sookie that people claimed Rory was of her. Maybe she'd feel different in the future, but right now, the thought of having the kids as that connection to her friends was comforting.

And…

And it meant she'd get to do the kids thing again. Forced upon her by an awkward twist of fate, yes, but, she admitted to herself reluctantly, having the little guys around would be a good thing.

Somewhere deep down, hiding among those things that a person doesn't even admit to themselves, Lorelai knew that she hadn't gotten pregnant after her drunken, sans-road-blocks, New York City limo escapade night with Luke. Maybe luck, maybe just a fluke – it was only one time… Ok, a few times, but only one night – with all the road blocks down, after all. But she was 37. And at 37, she couldn't completely squelch the thought that maybe there was something to the not getting pregnant. She sure as hell wasn't 16 anymore. Maybe this was fate's way of saying 'You ever want kids in any manner, this is it. Take it or leave it.' Plus, Sookie, for whatever reason, had wanted it this way too, wanted her to care for her children.

Lorelai wanted to take Martha and Davy to satisfy her best friend's wishes, she wanted to take them for the sake of their own best interests, and she wanted to take them because she wanted to take them.

Colleen may not have heard the running commentary in Lorelai's head, but Lorelai hoped that the tone of her insistent resolution was enough to convince her of the sincerity of her words. "They're not a burden," she added for good measure, "and that's the last thing I'd want them to feel like either." With a roll of her eyes, Lorelai added, "I got enough of that myself growing up."

That elicited a smile from Colleen, who, over the past week or so, had heard enough snippets of stories and allusions to the Gilmore family to understand the sentiment in Lorelai's words. "I never asked, how did your parents react to this news?" Colleen asked, obviously satisfied enough by Lorelai's motivations to depart from the subject.

"Ugh," Lorelai groaned, grateful for the reprieve from trying to keep herself convinced that she'd made the right decision, but not altogether thrilled at being reminded of the fact that she still wasn't one hundred percent sure where her parents stood on the issue. "To be determined, I guess," she grimaced at the thought, recalling Emily's initial reaction on the phone. "We've got family dinner on Friday, and these guys are going to have to come too," she paused, gesturing to the car. "Maybe my parents will go easier on me if there are little innocent kids around."

Colleen chuckled at the statement, but an uneasy silence fell over the two women once again.

Now or never Gilmore, now or never…

Lorelai knew she had to suck it up and just get it over with. Sever the ties completely and just venture out on her own once and for all, no more hand-holding.

A quick glance down at the kids, who were growing visibly more agitated in the car, gave her the opportunity she needed. Sticky New England summer was already in full swing, making any extended period of time in a car that didn't have the A/C blasting less than a picnic. "I should probably get going," she started haltingly. "It's probably getting pretty sauna-ish in there, and I'm thinking they weren't looking for a good steam today."

"Right, right, of course," Colleen agreed readily. "You should go. And I should get those last few things and head home too. The realtor will be dealing with the rest, I think." For a moment it seemed that Colleen might just back away and leave the new 'family' of sorts to themselves. But she hesitated a bit, eventually giving in and moving towards the rear door of Lorelai's car, "Let me just…" Pulling open the door on Davy's side, she leaned in over the little boy. "You be good for Lorelai kiddo, okay?" she asked, giving Davy a little tickle on the stomach. "Bye sweetheart." Davy just giggled and gave a little wave, understanding only one thing of what his aunt had said. "Bye bye!" He shrieked, "Bye bye!"

Colleen gave him a weak smile before closing the door and rounding the car to the driver's side, with Lorelai close behind. Once again, Colleen opened the rear door, this time leaning in over the backwards-facing infant seat to place a kiss on top of Martha's head, "You too sweetie." With that, she backed out of the car and stood straight in front of Lorelai. "Good luck, Lorelai," she said, again pulling Lorelai into a hug of thanks. "Give it a couple of days, but keep in touch to let us know how things are going, okay?"

Lorelai nodded solemnly, the weight of what she was about to do resting heavily on her shoulders. As Colleen backed away from the car towards the house, Lorelai slid herself into the driver's seat, thankful that her mind's autopilot mode made sure she got herself buckled in, mirrors adjusted, and the key in the ignition. Left to her own devices, she probably wouldn't have made it to anything beyond collapsing into the seat. Even so, she stared blankly at the steering wheel for a few moments, forcing herself to take deep, calming breaths. Of course, all the while, her brain was screaming 'Life-altering event here… Run far far away!'

She took a few more deep breaths and spent a couple of seconds with her eyes squeezed tightly shut, mentally forcing herself to get a grip – Deal with it Gilmore, you survived Rory before you could even drive, this is nothing…

Her eyes flew open and her gaze darted to the rearview mirror. Davy was still waving animatedly at Colleen, and Martha, she could see, with the help of an extra baby mirror angled towards the rear-facing seat, had settled down and was staring wide-eyed off into space as she sucked contentedly on the pacifier.

When Martha's big gray eyes met hers in the series of mirrors, something clicked for Lorelai. This was it, and these kids were hers. Before today, Lorelai had considered her life to have had two phases: pre-Rory and Rory. This was phase three, and it was starting now.

She gave Martha a little smile in the mirror, and with a renewed sense of commitment she pulled out of Sookie's – well, Sookie's old – driveway. She could do this. She could do this…

Once they were in motion, Lorelai's hesitance failed to resurface. It was apparently just the initial push that she'd needed. And it was an uneventful drive; it only took a few minutes to reach Lorelai's house. There was one minor stumbling block when they reached the driveway – Lorelai hadn't pre-planned a strategy for juggling both kids and their stuff when getting out of the car, and she didn't exactly want to get ambushed by Babette in the process of working out that strategy. In the end she managed relatively quickly, first fighting with the carrier pouch to get in on her own body, then fighting with it to get Martha into it. Diaper bag and purse on the shoulder were next, and rather than trying to literally juggle the two kids, she just led Davy by the hand across the lawn, complete with the contorting of her back that it required to reach down to his level.

Not bad, she congratulated herself sarcastically. Not that there wouldn't be plenty of time to improve upon her maneuvers…

Dealing with house keys proved to be easier than car keys, and in no time at all, the trio was in the Crap Shack.

Initially Davy wandered slowly around the vestibule, taking in his surroundings, but apparently preferring not to wander too far from the adult presence in the room, despite Lorelai not being the adult presence he was used to.

Lorelai watched him in amusement for a moment before she set down the bags she was still holding. She was a bit fuzzy as far as what to do next, but standing in the doorway wasn't going to accomplish anything. So she sidestepped Davy, coaxing him to follow her as she made her way into the living room.

That was all it took for Davy. A couple more steps and no more shyness, no more lingering in the doorway, no more clinginess – he spotted his toys across the room and took off, letting out a squeal of delight as he raced over to them. Having been separated from them during the packing phases, he was thrilled to see them again, and let Lorelai know as much with an exuberant "Buh?" as he held up a bedraggled stuffed bear to show her.

Tears sprang to Lorelai's eyes momentarily at the sight; one little innocent gesture from an eighteen-month-old hit her harder than most everything else in the past week and a half. She smiled weakly at him, nodding, "Yeah, buh."

But as Davy quickly returned to digging through his toys, barely registering that Lorelai had replied at all, Lorelai's sudden sorrowful emotion faded.

This was it… This was life now; it slowly sank in as Lorelai gazed blankly at Davy and his bear. He was fully enthralled by the mix of his old favorites and the new Toys 'R' Us purchases scattered amongst them. He was fully content to play alone, and Martha, asleep in the pouch, was apparently content to just use her left boob as a pillow. And a drool-catcher too, apparently, she noted with a grimace upon seeing a small dark spot on her shirt just next to Martie's little mouth.

So now what? Sinking slowly down to sit on the couch, Lorelai sighed. Seriously, now what? Davy was playing, Martha was sleeping, and… and… And what?

"Okay then…" In Lorelai's mind, the madness of the past week had made everything seem so huge, so life-changing – this big, enormous thing that was about to happen. And now, she was starting to realize as she picked aimlessly at some lint on the arm of the couch, it was all very anticlimactic. There was no big fanfare, no sudden shift in the time-space continuum to mark the fact that she now had Davy and Martha. Nothing. It was actually pretty overwhelming, the lack of… well, lack of anything really. Which then made it underwhelming, not over-, didn't it, she wondered distractedly.

At a loss and feeling oddly empty, Lorelai did the only thing that came to mind. Staring impassively across the room as she slumped on the sofa, she gave Martha a half-hearted back rub and mumbled numbly into the otherwise quiet room, "Welcome home guys…"

To be continued…