Emily said her good byes and ushered the three of them out the door before she headed to the study.

"Richard?"

"What now, Emily?" he asked, not looking up from the stamps he was matting.

"You should talk to Christopher," she said as she came in and sat down in one of the chairs across from the desk.

"About what?" he asked, finally looking up at her.

"About this situation he and Lorelai seem to have found themselves back in."

"Honestly Emily, do you think I haven't considered that?" he asked her as he got up to get him self a drink.

"Well then, talk to him!"

"Were you in the living room tonight?" he asked her. "He couldn't even defend her from his parents. The mother of his children was being attacked and he just sat there. As much as I would love for them to marry, like they should, he doesn't deserve them," he finally admitted.

"It doesn't really matter what he deserves!" Emily countered. "She's pregnant. When you get pregnant, you get married!"

"Not this time," he said calmly as he sat back down at his desk. "I will not fight with her about it this time!"

"Fine, I will then," she said as she turned to leave.

"Do you really want to lose her again?" he asked her. Emily stopped dead in her tracks for a moment.

"No," she said. "But I also don't want to feel as though I should have to defend myself when ever we go out!" she yelled at him before slamming the door on her way out. Richard sighed as he turned back to his stamps. This was pretty much the same argument they'd the first time this subject had needed to be broached and, ironically, it had ended the exact same way.


"Rory, why don't you find some blankets for the couch," Lorelai suggested when they got home.

"Really?"

"Sure," Lorelai said as she gave Rory a hug and headed upstairs to change. "I'll see you in the morning," she said.

"You're really going to stay up all night and paint?"

"Gonna try," she said with a smile. "See ya later Sweets," she said as she left the house and headed to the diner.


"Any touch ups?" Luke asked as he stepped off the ladder to admire their work. He had painted all the higher shelves as well as the top half of all the walls and trim while she had taken any surface that would allow her to sit. It had taken the better part of the night, but they had finished painting the diner.

"I think we're done," she said as she sat heavily in a chair with a sigh and a yawn. He smiled as he wandered over to stand beside her.

"Tired?"

"Exhausted," she said as she leaned against his side, closing her eyes for a moment. He chuckled and put an arm around her shoulder as he surveyed his domain before glancing at his watch.

"Hey, we still have a few hours before I have to open, do you want to head up stairs and crash for a while? Lorelai?" he asked when he got no answer. He glanced down at her and shook his head. "Hey, sleepy head, wake up," he said as he gave her a little shake.

"What?" she asked him with a yawn.

"Up stairs," he said as he helped her up and led her to the stairs. "Go to bed. You can head home when you wake up," he said as he ushered her into his apartment and sat her on his bed. "Here," he said, handing her a pair of clean sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"I can't kick you out of your bed," she said as she accepted the clothes.

"The couch is good enough for me," he said. "Besides, I have to be up in a few hours to open the diner," he explained as he grabbed another pair of pants and a t-shirt for himself and headed into the bathroom to shower and change. She had shook him off when he had offered to let her use it first. Since she hadn't really had to use any large rollers and she had worn a hat, her hair was free of paint. She scrubbed her hands over her face before changing into the offered clothes and crawling into bed.

Luke emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, leaving the light on before he wandered over to her, making sure she was tucked in.

"Luke? Mom's name?" He smiled at her sleepy request. He had heard that she and Rory had started polling people for names.

"Abigail," he said. "Abby." She settled and when he was satisfied, he crawled off to bed himself.


Lorelai had made it home some time after 10 the next morning and had immediately gone up stairs and crawled into bed. When she finally emerged that afternoon, Rory was there with a cup of coffee, ready to quiz her on the nights events.

"You slept with Luke?" she asked, shocked at her mother.

"No!" she admonished as she found some clean clothes and headed for the bathroom. "He slept on the couch and I took the bed. Such a gentleman," she said. "Anything else? Or can I shower before the inquisition continues?"

"Go, go," Rory shooed her before heading down stairs to clean up from break fast. Chris had actually cooked this morning and Rory wasn't sure what was more shocking. The fact that her father could cook or the fact that they had ingredients to cook with in the house.

"Your dad's gone?" Lorelai asked as she came down stairs, dressed but with her hair in a towel.

"He tried to wait for you, but it was getting late."

"You two didn't worry where I was?" she asked.

"Luke called and let us know where you were. He promised to phone once a week," Rory said happily.

"I betcha he will, too," Lorelai said, returning the smile.

"Oh yeah, he told me to tell you Benjamin, Ryan, Andrew and Charles."

"He's really gunning for a boy, isn't he?" Lorelai asked as she pulled out the list and added them all. "Well, he just single handedly doubled the boys," she remarked.

"Emily?"

"You're kidding, right?" Rory just shrugged and walked away. "Right?!?" Lorelai called after her.


A few weeks later, Rory listened, slightly in disbelief as Lorelai went on and on about her want and need to cook something.

"Is this part of nesting?" Rory asked as she finally got up off her chair at the kitchen table and began to search for a suitable pan.

"Part of what?"

"Nesting," Rory said as she continued to search the kitchen for a pan. "Near the end of their pregnancy, women tend to have an undeniable urge to make the house ready for the baby. This can include compulsive cleaning and cooking." Lorelai finally looked up from the Hamburger Helper box to stare at Rory.

"You've been reading that book again, that What to Expect When You're Expecting book," Lorelai accused.

"No I haven't," she said as she finally found a some what suitable pan. "I've been scanning through What to Expect When Your Spouse is Expecting," she muttered and waited for the laughter to begin while she got a cloth to wipe the dust from the pan.

"Why?" was all she got. "Why on earth would you read that?"

"Because they don't make one called What To Expect When You're a Teenager and Your Single Mother Is Pregnant," Rory said as she pulled the hamburger out of the fridge. "Ew. No wonder Luke has an aversion to red meat."

"Gross," Lorelai said as she saw it again. "It didn't look that. . . "

"Raw?"

"Yeah in Doose's," she sat back in her chair and rubbed her belly for a moment. "Okay, urge is gone," she announced after a moment. "Put it back in the fridge."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"Give it to Sookie," she said confidently. Rory chuckled as she put the meat back in the fridge before sitting at down at the table once again.

"I need a favour," she said, playing with the sleeves of her sweater.

"Shoot," Lorelai said. Rory took a breath and launched into her story about Dean and their three month anniversary and how she needed to get out of Friday night dinner. Lorelai quickly launched into a personal scenario about the conversation she was about to have with her mother as she dialled the phone. She was so into it that she was actually caught off guard when her Emily picked up. After fumbling to find her train of thought, Lorelai finally launched into the task of getting Rory out of Friday night dinner and was rather shocked when Emily agreed without much hesitation.

"Okay. Right. Bye," Lorelai said as she flopped back on the couch and hung up the phone.

"So?" Rory asked eagerly as she hopped on the couch beside her.

"The world is officially coming to an end," Lorelai concluded. Rory smiled as she plucked the phone from Lorelai and went off to call Dean. "Hey, when you're done, I think I'm ready to try and cook again!" she yelled at Rory. "Or maybe clean the living room," she said as she looked around and considered her options. "Then again, maybe just do a load of laundry. Or watch some TV," she finally settled on as she grabbed the remote and started to look for something to watch. "Ooh! Evelyn!" she yelled out when she found The Mummy on TV and with Rory not paying attention, it was automatically added to the list.


"I'm going to Luke's," Lorelai announced to Michel after he got off the phone with his girl friend. She was tired and irritable and all the couples in town for the Firelight Festival were doing nothing to improve her sour mood. "I'm going to find some sympathetic company," she grumbled as she grabbed her purse. "And some coffee." Michel smiled as he watched her stalk out of the Independence Inn. He chuckled just after she was out of ear shot, mostly because her stalk wasn't so intimidating any more as it was funny to watch.

Lorelai took her time as she wandered towards Luke's, making sure to take in all the different preparations that were happening for the Firelight Festival. Waving to people or stopping occasionally to offer an opinion about how a certain decoration should be hung.

"Heads up!"

"Ahh!" she yelled out as a papier-mache star fell from above, narrowly missing her.

"Hey, you okay?" the guy who was hanging it asked her. She looked from the broken star on the ground to the guy who was talking to her, a hand still clutching her stomach.

"Yeah," she said, catching her breath as the adrenaline abated. "I'm fine."

"Man, that has never happened before!" he swore to her, still looking from her to the broken star.

"Really? How about that," she said as she stood for a moment longer before stepping around the star and heading to Luke's. "I was almost crushed by a papier-mache star. How's your day?" she asked as she sat down at the counter. She eventually had to sit sideways, belly no longer tucking nicely under the counter. Luke's head shot up from the order pad he was glancing at.

"What? Are you ok?" he demanded.

"Yeah. A little startled, but okay."

"Well, my day is looking pretty good then," he said as he relaxed.

"Coffee please, no shot of cynicism," she said, making herself as comfortable as possible on the stool. She probably should have sat at a table, in a chair with a real back on it, but the conversations with Luke were always better when she sat at the counter. The two fell into an easy banter about the Firelight Festival and possible reasons for the mood she was in.

"You know," he said casually. "I heard a crazy rumour that pregnancy causes mood swings."

"Lies," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Nothing but propaganda."

"Fine, you're nuts then," he concluded with a shrug.

"Or bipolar. That's very big nowadays," she said as she took a sip of coffee as she listened to Patty and Taylor going on about the Festival. After blurting out her feelings on the festival, and covering with a claim of being bipolar from Luke, they returned to their own conversation about the festival. "I don't know what is wrong with me. This is a beautiful festival, people should be enjoying it."

"It's a crazy festival based on a nutty myth about two lunatics, who in all probability did not even exist. And even if they did, probably dropped dead of diphtheria before age 24," Luke ranted. Lorelai snickered into her coffee as he kept going. "The town of Stars Hollow probably got its name from the local dance hall prostitute. Two rich guys who made up the story so make it look good on a poster," he finally finished.

"You are so full of hate and loathing, and I gotta tell you, I love it!" she complemented him.

"Oh, it's so good to have somebody to share this hate with," he confided in her with a smile that she returned.

"My pleasure."

"More coffee?"

"Really? Yes!"

"No, just teasing," he said with an even larger smile before turning to put the pot back. Lorelai glared at him for a moment.

"Hey, tomorrow, if you have time, I'm planning on despising everyone who says Hey, how's it going?."

"You're on," Luke told her with a wink and he pressed his hands on the counter.

"Hey, how's it going?" Came a female voice from behind her.

"Oh, now that's just too easy," she muttered into her coffee, not noticing Luke's reaction to the voice's owner.

"Rachel," was all Luke could get out as his mouth dropped open in surprise and he actually paled a little.

"Rachel? Your Rachel?" she asked quickly as she put her cup down. "You're Rachel?" she asked, turning slightly to look at her.

"Yup," the tall brunette supplied. "I'm Rachel."


Lorelai flopped back in the drivers seat of the jeep, having escaped her mothers house and the horrible little man Emily was trying to set her up with. While she had briefly considered escaping out the window of her bedroom, she quickly reconsidered. Those tree branches weren't so stable the last time she had used them and she weighed considerably less then than she did now. So, she turned to the only real excuse at her disposal: something pregnancy related and fatigue seemed to fit the bill.

"Rory, where the hell are you when I need you, kid?" she asked the empty car as she finally pulled herself together to drive home.

Rory, meanwhile, wasn't fairing much better than Lorelai. While her anniversary with Dean had started out wonderfully and had just gotten better, they had definitely hit a snag when he confessed that he loved her while they were sitting in the old car he was rebuilding for her.

"Did you hear me?" he asked.

"Uh huh," was all Rory could get out as her mind raced to figure out what exactly was happening.

"Well, say something."

"I. . . uh. . . I love the car," she finally got out and she immediately kicked herself when she saw the look on his face. "Saying I love you is a really difficult thing!" she defended herself when he started to get agitated.

"Well I just did it."

"And you did it really well," she assured him with a smile.

"What the hell does that mean?" he demanded and Rory started to panic, this situation was rapidly spinning out of control and in a direction she didn't like the looks of. "You don't get pregnant saying I love you," he said after her attempts to defend her hesitation.

"I know," she said as she furrowed her brow, trying to collect herself. "It's just. . . Saying I love you is a big deal, my family doesn't toss that word around lightly."

"And mine does?"

"No! I just. . . I mean. . . "she hesitated.

"Fine, come on," he said, getting out of the car. He started to walk towards the exit of the junk yard, not even bothering to help Rory out of the car.

"Dean," she started. "Please don't be mad!" she yelled to him, trying to get him to slow down.

"I'll take you home," he said coldly.

"Do you just want me to say it?" she called to him. "Or do you want me to mean it when I say it?"

"I want you to say it now! And mean it!" he yelled at her as he stormed back over to where she was.

"I can't! I'm not sure! I don't know. . . " she trailed off. She was at a loss for words. She had never even considered loving someone other than her mom, dad and grandparents. She hadn't really even considered that she might love Dean until about ninety seconds ago.

"Look, it doesn't matter, alright? Let's go," he said as he took off out of the junk yard without her. She got out of the car slowly, making sure not to catch her dress before she hurried to catch up to him.


At the same time that Lorelai and Rory's nights were coming to disastrous ends, Luke's night with Rachel wasn't going so well either. He wasn't sure what to make of her. He had loved her, with all his heart, before she had simply packed up and left and it had taken him a long time to get over her and just when he figured he was done carrying a torch for her, poof! There she was, back in his life again.

"So," Rachel started as they sat on a bench together. "You're not happy to see me? Luke, I don't know what I'm doing here. I just missed you. I wanted to see you. I don't know what else to say," she admitted as she fidgeted with her camera.

"I missed you too," Luke finally admitted, not looking at Rachel.

"So, since we're both being blunt, what's the deal with Lorelai?" she asked, looking over at him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked her, truly confused at what she was getting at. It wasn't lost on Rachel that he wasn't focusing his attention on her during this conversation. In fact, he was looking every but at her. From Miss Patty's dancers to the twinkling lights his eyes were everywhere but on her.

"I'm talking about Lorelai, the lady who runs the inn, the extremely pregnant one, the one you've told me absolutely nothing about, and have been very careful to leave out of every story, anecdote or gossip about the town."

"There is no deal with Lorelai," he said, rather put out that she would even think such a thing. "We're friends. I help her and Rory out," he said.

"Rory?"

"Lorelai's daughter."

"You're just friends?" she asked again, not pressing how well he knew Lorelai or her daughter even though she really wanted to.

"Just friends."

"For now?"

"Yes," he answered without hesitation. "Why?" he questioned her.

"If you've moved on Luke, I want to know," she answered. They looked at each other, each trying to figure out the intentions of the other without asking. "What about in the future?" Luke had to pause at this before he tore his gaze away from the festival around him to look at her.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully and the two of them fell into silence.

"So. . . Where does this leave us?" she finally asked. He looked away from her and gazed out at the crowd.

"I don't know," he answered again. Truthfully, he wasn't sure if he was ready to try again with Rachel. She had that horrible habit of taking off just as he was getting comfortable being with someone long term.

"Well, um, well why don't you think about it. I'm going to go take some more pictures and maybe get some of that punch," she said finally, making a somewhat graceful exit from the conversation.

"That stuff will kill you," Luke called after her.

"Nice to see some things never change," she called back over her shoulder as she headed off into the crowd. Luke sat back on the bench and scanned the crowd for another tall brunette he wouldn't mind talking too, but he never caught site of her. Eventually he got up off the bench and went to find Rachel. He still wasn't sure what he wanted to do about her, but she was still his friend and probably needed a place to stay for the night.


Lorelai had considered stopping by the festival before heading home but as she drove by and saw all the happy couples, she couldn't bring herself to stop the jeep so she headed home. It was times like this that made her hate Christopher a little. He was off gallivanting around with a new flavour every month and she was single, raising his kids. She often wished she'd find a guy who wasn't afraid of taking her and Rory on full time, somebody who would put up with all their quirks and habits and just go along for the ride.

She sighed heavily as she pulled into the drive way and headed into the house, taking off her coat and kicking off her shoes before she headed into the kitchen for something to drink.

"Rory?" she called out when she heard the front door open and close again.

"Yeah," she heard Rory said and immediately stopped what she was doing and hurried to her. Rory shouldn't sound so flat and lifeless, especially after a date with Dean.

"Rory what happened?" she asked.

"We just broke up," she said before Lorelai pulled her as close as she could. Rory threw her arms around Lorelai and hung on, much like she had done when she was little.

"What happened?" Lorelai finally asked when Rory pulled away. Rory quickly spilled out the nights events, going into great detail about how she had gotten the meat ball but had forgotten it in the car. "What else?" Lorelai asked. Rory hesitated for a moment before she finally finished the story.

"He said he loved me."

"And?" Lorelai prompted as she led Rory over to the couch so they could sit down and she could put her feet up.

"And . . . I panicked!" she said, tears threatening to fall again. "I didn't know what to say! What to do!"

"Oh Sweets," she said as she pulled Rory close again.

"And he just kept getting madder and madder and he didn't want to talk about it. He wouldn't let me explain. . .

"Do you love him?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know!" she said as she pushed away from Lorelai, got up and started to pace. "I'm not sure. I didn't want to say it just because he did," she said.

"Excellent choice."

"And I don't know. How do you know when you're in love?" she asked. "I mean, you told dad and look what happened."

"Rory, me and your dad are complicated," she said. "And it doesn't matter what me and your dad did. This is about how you feel about Dean. And maybe. . ." she trailed off.

"What?"

"He's your first real boyfriend," Lorelai started again. "This is all new for you but he's had a serious relationship before. If he's not willing to let you figure things out for yourself. . . "

"Are you saying it's good we broke up?" she demanded.

"No, Rory!" she insisted. "Maybe you need a break, hit the pause button."

"This sounds like breaking up to me," she said.

"Rory, if you need time to figure out how you feel about Dean, you should have it, he should give it to you! He shouldn't expect you to be ready to profess your undying love to him just because he is! You're you and he's him," she said as she got up and walked over to Rory. "Let him cool down, maybe he'll change his mind. Maybe, in a few days, hell, maybe even tomorrow you'll have figured things out and you'll go to him."

"Mom. . . "

"First loves are complicated and intense and everything is out of proportion, like those mirrors in the fun house. Some times it takes time to put things in perspective, maybe this is one of those times," she said calmly, rubbing her hands up and down Rory's arms, trying to calm her down and comfort her. Rory stood, staring at a point over Lorelai's shoulder as she took this in.

"I need a box," was all Rory said in return as she headed into her room. Lorelai followed her and watched as she took a few things out of a box that had been in her room before she began to pile things into it. Lorelai rescued her sweater from the box, even though she could no onger wear it, and tried to talk Rory out of shoving Colonel Clucker, her stuffed Chicken, into the box along with the dress Lorelai had made her for her first real dance. She sighed as the bracelet Dean had made her was tossed in along with a few book. Lorelai accepted the box with the promise of getting rid of it before leaving Rory to wallow.

"Oh yeah, this Firelight Festival is just magical," she said sarcastically as she headed back over to the couch after hiding the 'Dean' box under a blanket next to the 'Christopher' box. At least they can keep each other company, she mussed as she found the remote to the TV.