Luke spent the majority of the morning thinking about what he could do for Lorelai to thank her for being so patient with him. He was on autopilot, because his head was spinning with thoughts of April, Anna, and Lorelai at different points of the day. By the time lunch rolled around, he started to become a little less stressed out.

Until Anna walked into the diner, things weren't so bad. In the middle of the lunch rush, Anna was the last person that Luke expected to see. He placed the plates he was carrying onto the table and opened the door to the diner, a sign that he wanted to talk outside. Anna followed, her arms crossed.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked simply.

She snorted. "I'm here because you showed up at my place of business and I wanted to make it even," she replied sarcastically.

"Look, whatever it is, can't we just get it over with in a civilized manner so we can both get back to work?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "Look, Luke, I told April I'd allow her to see you for a few hours this afternoon, and I'm not going to take that away from her. But if she comes back angry, or upset, or… anything that isn't happy…"

"Why don't you trust me with April? I'll be able to entertain my own kid," Luke insisted.

"You have no… you know what, forget it. This is going in circles and we're never going to accomplish anything. I'll drop April off at four and pick her up at nine. It's a school night and she has homework. We'll meet here both times."

Luke resisted the urge to lash out at Anna for running the show, for being such a dictator. He shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded, swallowing his feelings. "See you at four," he said with a nod, watching her walk away.

He walked back into the diner, wondering what to do. He couldn't run to Lorelai for everything, but he wanted some involvement on her part. He quickly spotted Caesar and pointed upstairs, trying to make sure Caesar could handle it in the diner. After receiving a "thumbs up" from Caesar, Luke walked upstairs and called the Dragonfly, hoping he'd remembered the extension to Lorelai's office phone.

"Dragonfly Inn, Lorelai speaking," she answered.

"Hey, it's me. Can you come over to the diner on your break? There's something we need to talk about."

Lorelai giggled. "You're not pregnant, are you?" she teased.

"I'm serious, I need to talk to you about something," he hissed.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "You're all serious."

He sighed. "We'll talk about it when you're on your break."

"O-kay then, see you in a little while," she said, hanging up the phone.

Luke finished off the lunch rush and waited through the early afternoon lull for Lorelai to come over. She walked in at about two, a grin plastered on her face. She grabbed his hand and led him upstairs to the apartment, taking Luke by surprise.

"What are…"

He was interrupted by Lorelai, leaning in to kiss him. He pulled back, and she laughed. "I don't understand," she replied, taking off his baseball cap and putting her hands in his back pockets.

"Lorelai, I really needed to talk to you," he said, blushing.

She giggled. "Oh, I didn't know if that was code for something dirty. Carry on."

"You're such a tease," he muttered, picking his hat up off of the floor.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked, taking a seat.

Luke sighed as he started to pace. "April's coming today."

Lorelai smiled. "So Anna isn't going to keep her from you after all, huh?"

"That's not the point right now, the point is… she's coming in two hours. I have nothing planned. I thought about stuff, but the closer it gets to four, the more stupid my ideas sound," Luke ranted. "I mean, I don't even know where to start."

"Well, Luke, I'm sure whatever you have planned will be perfect," she said with a smile.

He sighed. "What if… I let her hang out here at the diner until I leave at six, and then I bring her over to your place, and I'll make us all dinner? Does that sound okay? Or is that really dumb? I mean, if it's dumb, I can…"

Lorelai stood up and took Luke's hand. She leaned in and gave him a kiss. "That plan sounds perfect. I'm… touched that you want to bring her over."

"Well, you'll eventually be her step mother, right? Is tonight okay to meet her?"

Lorelai shuddered. "God, stepmother! That has such an evil connotation to it."

"Lorelai," Luke sighed. "I'm sure she'll like you better than me anyway."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "Do we need to have a talk? We got a peek at the real Luke earlier, freaking out to Anna in her store. What is it going to take to get him back? I'm not so sure about the lack of self confidence Luke."

"What are you talking about?" he grumbled, sitting down.

She followed, seating herself next to him and putting her arm around him. "This girl obviously wanted to know who you were. She went through all that trouble," Lorelai reasoned.

"And she got me. I know nothing about kids."

Lorelai put her hand on Luke's knee. "Okay, so you're not that great at buying presents. And you're not exactly up on the cool stuff for a twelve year old. But that all comes with time. Luke, you can't expect it all to come in one day. Look at how great you were to Rory."

"Rory…"

"Luke, don't go saying how Rory was already grown up, all that crap. You know it's crap. Need I remind you of all the nice things you've done for her over the years? I'll have a barbershop quartet sing them for you if I need to."

"I just don't know how to do this. Everything else in my life just felt natural, you know? I could hit a ball, I was a high school athlete. I can cook, I own a diner. This… I just don't know where to start."

Lorelai laughed. "Story time, boys and girls, gather 'round!"

"Lorelai," he sighed.

"I had Rory at sixteen. You think I knew what to do? They sent her home with me, and I thought, 'okay, now what?' for a long time. Mom hired a nanny for me, but I wouldn't let her touch Rory. I don't know why. I guess I wanted to start from scratch and figure it all out. And things worked out okay. The nanny got a nice severance check, Rory and I moved here, and now Rory's a functioning human being without severe trauma from her mother's lack of confidence. Does that make sense?"

Luke sighed. "I'm being stupid about this. You did it all on your own…"

"Luke, please. It will come naturally after awhile, okay? Just give it time. For now, just try and get to know her a little. Figure out what she likes, what she dislikes, and then take it from there. You'll get into a rhythm eventually. I'm here to help."

He leaned in and kissed her. "Thank you," he said.

She smiled. "No problem. I'm all for the dirty, if you're not flustered anymore," she teased.

"I should uh, get back to work," Luke pointed out.

"Aw, work, right, I do that kind of stuff too," she teased. "See you tonight?"

"We'll see you tonight," Luke replied, watching her walk down the stairs of the apartment.

By the time Anna dropped April off in front of the diner, Luke's fears had mostly gone away. He gave a courteous wave to Anna and opened the door for April. "Hey, April," he said.

"Hi," she replied with a smile, seating herself at the counter.

"I was thinking that I'd stay on shift at the diner until six, and then I'll take you to meet someone. Does… that sound okay?" he asked.

April nodded eagerly. "I haven't really seen much of the diner business. It actually fascinates me. Do you use the diner talk?"

"Diner talk?" Luke asked.

"You know, the phrases like in the movies?" April continued.

Luke shook his head. "My employees aren't always the brightest bulbs in the pack," he explained.

April giggled. "I see."

"But I'm sure you'll come across someone who enjoys the uh, terminology as much as you do. I know a few people in town that are like that," Luke continued, mentally cursing himself for carrying on such an awkward conversation.

"I haven't been in town much, either. Everything seems so exciting. It's so different from what I'm used to. Can we take a tour of the town?"

Luke rubbed the back of his neck. "We can do that… next time. Is that okay?"

April nodded. "Of course it's okay! I'll look forward to it. Who are we visiting tonight?"

Luke was running ideas through his head about how to drop the bomb on April that he was engaged, until Kirk walked through the diner door, seating himself next to a very amused April.

"Luke, I'd like a cheeseburger cut in half. Toothpicks on each half, please. And put two pickles on the side, as well. Oh, and I'll have one percent milk to drink."

April giggled. "Are your customers always this specific with their orders?"

"Who are you? What are you looking at?" Kirk asked, moving down two stools. "Don't mock my eating habits, you'll be sorry!"

Luke rolled his eyes. "That's just Kirk, the town weirdo. Or, the weirdest town weirdo. The majority of them are insane."

"Hi, Kirk," April said.

Kirk glared at April and turned away, causing April to giggle more. "I thought I'd have to bring a book along to entertain me, but apparently not!"

"You know what, I think Caesar can handle it from here, you want to get out of here?"

"Are we going somewhere more entertaining than this? That seems impossible to me," April replied.

"I'm sure you'll want to retract that statement once we get there."

"Someone's being all Sherlock Holmes about our destination. Am I going to have to use my 'animal, vegetable, mineral' question this early?"

Luke opened the diner door for April. "We're going to my… uh, fiancee's house."

"You're engaged? I didn't know that!"

"I am," Luke said, starting in the direction of Lorelai's house. "You'll like her a lot."

"I'm a pretty open minded person, I like a lot of different people. But apparently some people aren't as free with who they associate with. I mean, at school, I'm kind of a science nerd, you know, I like that stuff. People really don't take that as interesting or cool," April started.

"Ah, Lorelai isn't a scientist, but she has a smart kid. She goes to Yale."

"Yale? Wow," April said, in awe. "That's one of my top schools."

"You think this stuff through, don't you?" Luke asked.

April nodded. "I'm good at planning."

They continued the walk to Lorelai's house, stumbling their way through conversations, until Luke stopped in front of the house. "This is Lorelai's house."

"It's a nice house," April said.

"It is," Luke agreed.

April looked at Luke, standing by the mailbox and not moving. "Are we going to admire it from afar, or actually go in?" she giggled.

"Oh, right," he replied, walking up the driveway and onto the porch. He rang the doorbell and Lorelai opened the door.

"Hey, you guys are here!" she said with a smile. "Come on in. You must be April."

"That's me," April said. "And you're Lorelai."

Lorelai laughed. "That's my name, don't wear it out. It's so nice to meet you! Come on in, guys," she said, flashing a smile at Luke. "I'll grab jackets."

"Thanks," April said, looking around. "Ooh, a Betty Boop vase!"

Lorelai laughed. "I love that kind of stuff, I buy it to horrify my mother."

"Me too, actually. Not the horrify my mother part, but I like the random collector's items. I have a Scooby Doo toothbrush holder."

"Wow, a girl after my own heart," Lorelai said with a smile.

Luke watched as Lorelai ushered them into the living room. Lorelai and April continued to chat and he took a deep breath. This looked like it would work out after all.