A/N: Hi! Missed me? Yes it's been a while. Sorry. So this chapter is longer than usual but it demanded to be written. Hope you enjoy! Read and review.

"But I want a Pop-Tart!" cried Rory.

Lorelai and Rory were walking to the diner the next morning. Lorelai needed to go to town anyways to get groceries so it was a perfect opportunity to have breakfast with Luke and then go to Doose's before heading to work later. "Sorry, but we have nothing to eat at home. And besides, don't you want to see your dad?"

"Well, yes, but why'd we have to come to town?" asked Rory.

"Again, we have nothing to eat at home," answered Lorelai. "That's why we came to town. So we can eat breakfast at the diner and then go to Doose's before I have to head to work."

Rory looked at her mother as they crossed the street to the diner. "You have to work today?"

Lorelai's heart broke when she heard the disappointment in her daughter's voice. "Yeah, and I'm really sorry too. I know you want to hang out and have 'Mommy-Daughter' time but work is important." A thought came to Lorelai. "Maybe you could spend the day with your dad."

"But won't he have to work too?" asked Rory.

Lorelai sighed and opened the door to the diner. She noticed that Taylor, Babette, and Miss Patty were there eating breakfast too. "You want to sit at the counter?" Lorelai asked Rory.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Rory.

They sat down on the stools at the counter and both opened a menu to see the breakfast items. Luke walked over to them. "Hey," he said to them.

"Good morning," replied Lorelai.

Rory looked up from her menu. "Hi, Dad!" she said.

All of a sudden the hushed whispers of the patrons were heard. Lorelai heard Patty say to Babette, "He's Rory's father? Isn't that interesting?"

"Yes, I thought so too the other day when I found out," whispered Babette. "I wonder how they met."

Luke's jaw clenched and Lorelai noticed he was getting angry. It wasn't Rory's fault. The whole town just didn't know when to keep things to themselves and stay out of someone's life. She quickly told him she and Rory wanted pancakes and coffee, and orange juice. Luke escaped to the kitchen to cook their food just so he wouldn't have to hear the town people talking about him. He came back out a few minutes later with their plates.

Patty came up to the counter just then. "Luke is it true that you are Rory's father?" she asked him.

Lorelai answered that one for Luke. "Yes, Patty he is."

Patty studied her. "You know, Luke here has a girlfriend. Her name is Rachel. I was actually the one that introduced them after he moved here. I guess they'll be getting engaged any day now."

"Uh, okay," replied Lorelai. She knew Patty well enough to know that she always made it her duty to know what was going on in everyone's lives.

"Yes, I'm sure you would like Rachel very much. She's a very sweet person."

Lorelai was getting a little uncomfortable. She knew that Rachel had left again but was surprised that Patty didn't know. "I'm sure she is," replied Lorelai, taking a bite of her food.

"But she broke up with Dad the other day," answered Rory, who was just a bit confused. Sure she was going to be ten soon and she was very smart but she was a bit confused with what was happening around her.

Patty glanced at Luke. "You and Rachel broke up?"

"Yes, we broke up," answered Luke, trying not to get angry. "Haven't you ever noticed that she doesn't like staying in one place for long? She left because she had this job offer to go to Africa or Australia or something like that and we broke up."

Miss Patty gestured to Lorelai. "I should warn you to be careful. Lorelai breaks hearts easily."

Lorelai knew what Miss Patty was referring to. "I do not," she said defending herself. "Luke don't listen to her. I only broke up with Christopher because he was pretending to be someone else."

Patty shook her head. "Lorelai, dear, the man was in love with you and you broke his heart."

"You would have too if he was going around saying your daugther was his kid!" said Lorelai.

Luke looked at her. "He tried to pass Rory off as his daughter?" he asked.

"Yes, and I didn't like it at all," declared Lorelai. "In fact I didn't like him either. The only reason I dated him was to make my mother happy. She knows his mother from college and they've been friends ever since. My mother still has this idea that I'm going to get back together with him and it's been three years since I broke up with him."

"You do know I'm still here, don't you?" asked Rory. She had been listening to the conversation while eating and didn't like being left out. She could still remember how her mother's old boyfriend had said that he was her father to people who would comment on what a cute family they were. Of course, Rory had known better. She knew Christopher wasn't her father. Rory had always been smart for her age and she knew she looked nothing like Christopher. When she had told her mother what Chris would tell people, she broke up with him as soon as she got the chance. Chris would only say he was her father when it was just him and Rory, never when Lorelai was around.

"Sorry, sweetie," said Lorelai, apologetically. She glanced at the time on her cell phone. She had just gotten it a couple weeks ago and was proud of it.

Luke saw her pull out the phone and pointed out his 'No Cell Phones' sign. "No cell phones," he told her.

Lorelai stared at him. "I wasn't using it!" she protested. "I was just checking the time."

"Then wear a watch," he said.

"I hate watches," she declared. "There are so many different ones. Some have no numbers, some have just the numbers three, six, nine, and twelve, and some have all those mark things but no numbers and then I get confused on what time it is."

"Then get a digital watch," he shot back.

"No way. Those things are ugly. I'd want a cute watch, like a Mickey Mouse watch or something like that."

Luke had no response to that and changed the subject. "Do you work today?" he asked her instead.

"I like how you just changed the subject," she commented. "And yes I have to be at work in an hour and I need groceries so I better go." Lorelai looked over at Rory. "Rory, what do you want to do?"

Rory thought for a minute. "Can I stay here?"

"If it's okay with your dad, then you can stay. If not you'll have to go to Lane's house," said Lorelai. She glanced at Luke. "Is it okay if she stays here?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay if she stays. I can put her to work if she gets bored."

"You'd let your almost ten year old daughter work?" asked Lorelai. "Are you crazy?"

"It'd only be to clean menus and refil l the salt and pepper shakers," said Luke. "I wouldn't make her take orders or clean tables."

Lorelai nodded feeling relieved. "Good, that's good." She gestured to the door. "I should get going. Don't wanna be late. I'll come get you when I get off work okay?" she said to Rory.

"Okay," agreed Rory. "Can we eat dinner here tonight?"

"Uh, I guess we can," said Lorelai. She hadn't thought that far ahead to dinner quite yet. "I'll see you in a few hours." And with that Lorelai was gone. She went to Doose's and got the items that she needed and took them home. "Really need to find a car," she muttered, when she got home with her bags of groceries. She hated having to walk all the way home with five bags of groceries. She unloaded her groceries and had just enough time to change into her clothes for work before leaving for the inn.

As soon as she got to the Independence Inn she found Mia at the front desk. Lorelai thought of Mia as a second mother. She had taken Lorelai in when she first arrived in town with four week old Rory. Mia had been the only one she had told about Luke being Rory's father. Lorelai had still attended the school her mother had put her in and worked as soon as she got out of school. Of course that had meant being away from Rory and Lorelai didn't like that at all. When she had gone to college two years later, Lorelai had stayed in Stars Hollow just to be near Rory. She had gotten lucky with her daughter. Rory never went through the terrible two's stage. Oh, she'd throw temper tantrums when she didn't get her way but she had been the sweetest child from birth. Thinking back on the early days when Lorelai had first moved here made Lorelai sad. She missed Rory being a baby some days and she would wish that she had found Luke as soon as she had gotten to town. She hated that he had missed so much of Rory's life. Rory's first word had been 'DaDa' but Lorelai had known that was always a baby's first words mainly because the 'D' sound was so much easier to say then an 'M' sound.

"Good morning, Lorelai," greeted Mia, when Lorelai walked up to the desk.

"Hi, Mia."

"Did you and Rory get settled at the new house? I missed seeing you two first thing this morning."

"We've unpacked everything and I went and got groceries this morning," answered Lorelai. "I found Luke the day we moved to the house. He owns that diner in town."

"Oh, that's right!" said Mia. "I don't know why I didn't mention it a few months ago when it first opened. It actually used to be a hardware store, but I had heard that it was turned into a diner."

Lorelai looked at her boss. "How long have you known Luke?"

"I've known him for years. Why?"

"I was just thinking about how I first arrived in town. I actually came to find Luke but I never found him until Saturday. If you've known him since he was a kid, then I could have found him sooner." Lorelai broke down in tears. She hated that she never tried harder to find Luke that first year she had been there and she couldn't get those years back.

Mia wrapped her arms around Lorelai. "Lorelai, I've known Luke's family for years. When you and Rory first arrived and you told me your story, I went to see Kelly. I told her how you and Rory had shown up and she said she didn't want you coming around them and ruining Luke's life. Her words, not mine. I told her she would regret that choice and I said that she'd never get to know her granddaughter if she wouldn't let you and Luke get back together and be a family. When I told her that, she said she didn't want to see or speak to me anymore and not to tell Luke." She hugged Lorelai closer. "I am so sorry. If Kelly hadn't said that, I would have gotten Luke to come here to see you and Rory. It makes me sad to know he missed out on so much of her life."

Lorelai nodded and wiped away her tears. "Thanks for telling me that. That makes me feel better. At least a little. I wish he could have been around the day Rory had said 'Dada'. He would have been so proud."

Mia smiled thinking back on that day. "Oh, I remember that day. She was what, ten months old?"

Lorelai smiled at the thought. "Yes, she was ten months old. I was so proud when she said her first word."

"We all were," said Mia. For a moment they were quiet. "Oh, your mother called. She wants you to call her back. You really need to talk to her more."

Lorelai grimaced at the thought of her mother. "You didn't tell her I had moved did you?"

"No of course not," answered Mia. "I thought you could tell her yourself. Where's Rory by the way?"

"She's spending the day with Luke," said Lorelai.

"That's good, they need to get to know each other," agreed Mia. She picked up the phone and handed it to Lorelai. "Now, call your mother. You can go into my office for some privacy."

Lorelai took the phone and walked to Mia's office. She dialed the familiar number of her parent's house. She knew her mother would be home. She was always home, unless she was getting her hair done or at the DAR with the girls.

"Hello?" said Emily, after the first ring.

"Hi, Mom," said Lorelai. "I got the message that you called."

"Oh, yes," said Emily. "Where were you at? You're always there at that motel."

"It's an inn, Mom. And I had to go get some groceries for..." Lorelai trailed off.

"For what?"

"Well, Rory and I moved into a house, Mom. I needed to stock up on groceries. We actually just moved Saturday and we've been busy getting settled."

"At least you found a house to live in instead of that horrible potting shed. Now, I want to talk to you about Christopher."

"What about him, Mom?" said Lorelai trying not to sound rude.

"He's in town and I've invited him and his parents over for dinner this Friday. I know he'd love to see you and Rory," said Emily.

"I don't know," began Lorelai.

"Lorelai, don't make excuses. The man is in love with you. He told me that he was planning on proposing to you before you broke up with him. He comes from a good family and he apparently thinks of Rory as his own daughter. What more could you want?"

Lorelai sighed. There it was again. Her own mother telling her that Chris had been in love with her. "Mom, I don't love him. He pretended that Rory was his daughter when he took her somewhere and when Rory told me that I got angry at him. Plus I don't need him in mine and Rory's life right now. I bet you didn't know that he cheated on me too, huh? Well he did. And when I accused him of cheating he denied it. Besides, I found Luke on Saturday. It took me almost ten years, but I've found him and he and Rory are getting to know each other."

Emily was silent for a minute. She had never known that about Christopher. She hated that she and her daughter had such a horrible relationship and it was all her fault. If she had helped Lorelai find Luke so many years ago she and Lorelai might have had a better relationship. All they did was fight. "You found Luke?" she finally asked.

"Yes, Mother, I did. And he's the one for me, I know that. I can't really start dating him right now because he just got out of a relationship but he wants to be a family with me and Rory."

"You can invite Luke to dinner on Friday night if that will make you feel more comfortable," said Emily.

"Thank you, Mom."

"You're welcome. We'll see you Friday at seven."

Lorelai got off the phone and went to work. She just knew that it was going to be a long week. She already dreaded Friday night but she was glad that her mother was going to let her bring Luke. She just hoped Christopher wouldn't cause any trouble.