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Chapter 10

The following week, Lorelai made sure to take things slow. She didn't want to overwhelm Rory so she would pop in at breakfast and then either at lunch or dinner. She would stay and chat, maybe sometimes go up to the apartment, but she would never stay too long. She wanted Rory to feel comfortable around her. She did love the feeling of being part of a family again. Being welcomed into the Danes' family was a lovely feeling and something she never thought she'd have. She had Mia and Sookie but she always wished she'd be part of family again, one without rules and status, stuffy parties and debutante balls.

This one evening, she was walking towards the diner when she heard footsteps running towards her.

"Mommy!" A voice called.

It still warmed her heart to hear that word come out of Rory's mouth. She turned round to see Rory running towards her with a bag of groceries from Dooses' that her and Luke had obviously just bought as she saw Luke coming out of Dooses' as well. "Hey kid." Lorelai smiled, picking her up.

"We're making cheesecake tonight!" Rory grinned.

"That sounds fun!" Lorelai laughed.

"You should make it with us." Rory said.

"Oh...I don't know. I don't want to interfere." Lorelai said.

"Please?" Rory asked. She turned round to Luke. "Daddy tell her she has to stay and make cheesecake with us!" She said.

Luke smirked and looked at Lorelai. "Come on Lorelai. Do what your daughter says." He joked.

Lorelai smiled at that and looked down at Rory's hopeful face. "Sure. I'll stay." She said.

"Yay!" Rory grinned and ran into the diner.

Lorelai turned to Luke. "You really don't mind?"

"You really have to ask that?" Luke asked. "I may even finally teach you how to cook. We're having lasagne tonight. Rory aced a test today at school so I said I'd make her favourite."

"Wait she aced a test at school?" She asked.

"Uh huh!" He said proudly. "So come on, this is your first chance to celebrate, and maybe I can school you in the kitchen."

"I can't cook." Lorelai said.

"Hence the teaching." Luke said as they followed Rory into the diner and up the stairs to the apartment.

"No, I really can't cook, Luke." Lorelai said as they went in and went over to the kitchen table. "Hi Katherine." Lorelai smiled at her.

"Hi Lorelai." She said warmly.

"Seriously Luke, I can't cook! Even if you teach me, I'm like a natural disaster in the kitchen." Lorelai exclaimed.

"I'm sure you're exaggerating. Everyone can cook if they put their mind to it." Luke said.

"Yeah, Luke couldn't cook a thing before I taught him." Katherine smirked.

"Thanks mom." Luke rolled his eyes. "In my defence, I was Rory's age when I started to learn."

"I can't believe that." Lorelai said. "You? You who makes amazing burgers and pancakes couldn't cook a thing before?" She grinned.

"I could cook. Just not as much as I could now." Luke said.

"You could do cheese on toast and boiled eggs and pasta at a push." Katherine smirked.

"Ok thanks mom. Why don't you go help Rory with some homework or something?" Luke said.

"Ok ok I can take a hint." Katherine laughed. "Hey Rory, how about we go downstairs and get start on some of your homework?" Katherine suggested. "Leave your daddy to try and make a cook out of your mom." She said.

"Ok!" Rory smiled and followed her Grandma downstairs.

"Right, first thing's first we need to make the lasagne." Luke said getting out all the ingredients he needed having prepared them before.

"You made these sauces?" Lorelai asked.

"You have to make the sauces. Canned sauces suck." Luke said.

Luke started to show Lorelai how to layer the lasagne. "Right now just put it in the oven." Luke said. "Be careful though, the oven's hot."

"Ok I know I can't cook but I'm not that stupid that I don't know ovens get hot." Lorelai joked.

"You can never be that sure." Luke smirked.

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm the champion at putting pizza rolls in the oven!" Lorelai said indignantly, putting the lasagne in the oven. She eyed some spare sauce lying on the counter and she suddenly had a gleam in her eyes. "Take that back or this sauce is going over you." She threatened.

"Never." Luke smirked, not actually thinking she would do it.

Lorelai grinned and threw the sauce over him so he had tomato sauce all over his flannel.

"Lorelai!" He exclaimed.

"Whoops, sorry it slipped." Lorelai laughed.

"Ok, I see how it is." Luke said grabbing hold of the spare cheese sauce.

"No Luke!" Lorelai squealed, trying to run away from him laughing.

Luke managed to catch her though and she was cornered up against the fridge. "Any last words?" He smirked.

"You wouldn't dare!" Lorelai laughed trying to get away.

"Watch me." Luke said and then poured the sauce over Lorelai's head.

"Luke!" Lorelai exclaimed. "That's going to be a nightmare to wash off! At least I only threw it at your shirt!"

"Yeah well it was my best shirt. Bit of revenge." Luke smirked.

Suddenly they realised that they were so close to each other with Lorelai's back up against the fridge. They stood there for a moment just looking into each other's eyes, then their lips, and then as they felt as gravity was forcing them towards each other, the door opened to the apartment and they jumped away from each other like shrapnel.

"I see you two have been having some fun." Katherine smiled with a knowing look. Rory giggled next to her.

"Things got a bit out of hand." Luke said.

Lorelai tried to hide her smirk. "Yeah sorry. Luke threw sauce on my hair!" She said.

"Only because you threw sauce at me first!" Luke retorted.

"Seriously are you two children?" Katherine said. "What sort of example are you setting Rory?" She said with a twinkle in her eye to show she wasn't being serious.

"Sorry." Luke mumbled.

"Sorry." Lorelai said.

"Right, well I'm guessing that the lasagne's nearly ready?" Katherine smirked.

"Yeah it should be done soon." Luke said.

"Ok then why don't you two go get cleaned up and then maybe we can eat?" She said. They nodded and Luke went off to get changed while Lorelai went to wash the sauce out of her hair. "Honestly, Rory, sometimes I think we're the only adults in this family." Katherine joked.

Rory giggled. "Daddy's never had a food fight before."

"Yes well there's a first time for everything." Katherine laughed.

Once Luke and Lorelai were cleaned up, they went back to the table and Luke served out the lasagne.

"Mmm this cheese sauce is good!" Lorelai said. "So much better than it was in my hair." She said.

"Hey it was your fault!" Luke said.

"You didn't have to throw it over my hair though! It was a nightmare to get out!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Serves you right." Luke smirked.

Katherine hid her smiled as she watched them banter back and forth.

Later that evening, after they had finished dinner, Lorelai got up to leave.

"Oh Lorelai, I'm taking Rory to the mall at the weekend. Poor girl came home with blisters all over her feet because she grows way too fast and grew through her shoes. Would you like to join us?" Katherine asked. "Luke's not much of a shopper." She joked.

Lorelai laughed. "Sure I'd love to. Let me check with Mia that I'm not working first but I'll let you know."

"Of course." Katherine smiled.

"Thanks for dinner." Lorelai smiled. "I had a fun evening."

"I bet you did." Katherine said with a twinkle in her eye.

Lorelai blushed but then looked over at Rory. "Do I get a hug?" She smiled.

Rory smiled and ran over to her and gave her a hug. "Night mommy."

"Night darling." Lorelai smiled giving her a kiss on the top of the head. She glanced at Luke. "Night."

"Night." He said and then watched her leave. He looked back to see his mother smiling at him. "What?" He said.

"Nothing." She said. "You're clueless but other than that nothing." She smirked.

"Come on, Rory, let's get you to bed." Luke said.

The weekend soon came and after checking she was working, Lorelai joined Katherine and Rory on their trip to the mall in Hartford. They were all having a fun afternoon after shopping. Lorelai and Katherine were watching Rory play on the mini play area when Lorelai heard the voice she dreaded.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore!"

Lorelai cringed and turned round. "Mother." She said coldly.

"What are you doing here?" Emily said.

"Casing a jewellery store?" Lorelai said sarcastically. "Or maybe the same thing as you're doing here."

"Don't be smart with me." Emily narrowed her eyes at her.

"What mom? It's the mall! What do you think I'm doing here?" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Who are you?" Emily asked Katherine rudely suddenly noticing her presence standing there watching them.

"Katherine Danes." Katherine said immediately taking a dislike to her. She noticed how uncomfortable Lorelai was looking.

"What are you doing with my daughter?" Emily glared at her.

"Mother!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Mommy!" Rory suddenly called.

Lorelai saw the surprise in Emily's face. She turned to Rory. "What is it honey?" She asked.

"Come play with me!" Rory said.

"I'll be there in a minute, hon!" Lorelai smiled at her.

"Is that my granddaughter?" Emily asked.

"No, you made sure of that. That is my daughter, and Katherine's granddaughter." Lorelai said coldly.

"What?" Emily said shocked.

"She's a Danes now. She's Katherine's granddaughter." Lorelai said.

Emily glared at her. "That can't be possible. I would never have given her to you."

Lorelai snorted. "Nice mom. Real nice." She said sarcastically.

"I gave Rory to a good family!" Emily said.

"Yeah and guess how that turned out mom! Rory nearly died!" Lorelai exclaimed angrily. "There was a car accident and the woman who adopted my daughter died! You would have known that if you had phoned to check she had got there ok but no! You just wanted to get her as far away from me as possible!"

"She wasn't adopting Rory, she was taking her to the family." Emily said stiffly.

"Oh sorry my mistake then." Lorelai snapped. "You know that's even worse! You paid this woman to get Rory as far away from me as possible. Did you really have that little faith in me?"

"You were too young!" Emily exclaimed angrily. "You were an irresponsible young girl. You would never have been a good mother! I doubt you are now." She said spitefully. "Rory's better off without you!"

"Hey now that's enough!" Katherine interrupted.

"No, she's better off without you!" Lorelai said angrily. "I love Rory! I don't care what you think because you gave up the right to tell me what to do when you put my daughter up for adoption without me knowing! What did you do, forge my signature? No you just illegally had her taken from her crib in the nursery while I was sleeping. I hate you for that, I hate you for what you've done, but now after 7 years of constant wondering and worry and searching I finally found her and I am not letting her go ever again!"

"Lorelai..." Katherine said softly seeing the hurt in her eyes.

"What?" Lorelai said.

Katherine gestured behind her.

Lorelai turned round and saw Rory standing there. "Rory..." She said softly.

"What's happening?" She asked quietly.

"Nothing." Lorelai assured her. "We're leaving now. We can play back at home, ok?" She said softly.

Rory just nodded and took hold of her hand. and followed her to the exit.

Katherine stayed behind for a moment and looked at Emily. "I didn't think I could think any worse of you. Not only did you yell and embarrass your only daughter in a public area, you hurt her. No wonder she had to escape the confinements of your hostility. Lorelai is a lovely, hard working, amazing young woman and an amazing mother. If you had given her the chance to show you that, maybe you could have even been proud of your daughter. She's not my daughter but I'm very proud of her. And Rory adores her. And now Lorelai is working hard to try undo 7 years of pain you caused her." Katherine said before walking away, leaving a speechless Emily behind.

It was a quiet drive back to Stars Hollow. Even when they arrived back at the diner, Lorelai didn't speak much. They went up to the apartment and found Luke there.

"Hey, how was your shopping trip?" He smiled.

"Fine." Lorelai said quietly. "Um I need to get back to the inn." She said.

"I thought you weren't working today?" Luke said confused.

"I'm not. I uh I just need to catch up on some paperwork. I'll see you tomorrow." She said. "Bye Rory."

"Bye." Rory said quietly.

Luke watched Lorelai leave and turned to his mother. "What was that about?" He asked.

"Rory, why don't you go see if there's anything good on tv?" Katherine suggested. Rory nodded and went over to the couch. Katherine turned back to Luke. "We ran into Lorelai's mother at the mall."

"Ah geez..." Luke said. "What happened? Is Lorelai ok?"

Katherine sighed. "She says she is but her mother really laid into her. I have no idea how she is holding such a calm demeanor but on the inside she must be hurting. I mean that woman called her irresponsible and said she would have been a rubbish mom and how she doubts she's a good mom now. I mean it was awful. She humiliated Lorelai infront of everyone."

Luke felt his blood boil. "How does she even know? She doesn't know Lorelai. She's smart, she's caring, she's amazing! If she saw her with Rory..." He said.

"I know..." Katherine said glancing over at Rory. "That's not the worst thing. Rory heard some of it."

"Ah geez..." Luke said glancing over at her. "Is she ok? What did she say?"

"Nothing really. Lorelai just made out to her that everything was ok and not to worry. But you know Rory, she's smart. She'll have questions." Katherine said. "I just hope Lorelai's not doubting her mothering skills or herself in general because of what her mother said."

Luke nodded. He glanced over at Rory. "I may have a plan." He said. "Cover for me in the diner for a bit?" He asked.

"Sure." Katherine nodded.

Lorelai headed back to the potting shed. She went in and lay down on her bed. She picked up the photo of her and Rory from her bedside table and sighed. What if her mother was right? What if she would end up being a bad mom? She felt tears well up in her eyes and she wiped them away furiously, annoyed that she let her mother get to her like this.

A few minutes later, she heard a knock on the door. She wiped her tears away and tried to regain her composure. "Mia, I'm not feeling too well!" She called assuming it was her.

The door opened and Luke peeked his head in. "Hey.." He said.

"Oh...hey..." Lorelai said sitting up. "Look, I'm sorry I left quickly, I'm just not feeling too well..." She said.

"My mom told me what happened." Luke said quietly. "You can't listen to her, Lorelai. You're an amazing mom even if it does seem like you've only been one for 5 minutes rather than 7 years." He said.

"But what if she's right?" Lorelai said quietly.

"She's not. You spent the better part of a decade searching with probably almost every scenario running through your head about where she is and what could have happened to her. That isn't something anyone should have ever had to go through. You're a great mom Lorelai and Rory thinks so too." He said. "In fact, someone asked if she could have a sleepover..."

"What?" Lorelai said confused.

Luke opened the door wider to reveal Rory standing there.

"Hey.." Lorelai smiled at her daughter.

"Daddy says I can stay over for a sleepover. Can I?" Rory asked.

Lorelai glanced up at Luke and then at the floor. "Uh I'd love for you to but I don't know..."

"Don't let her get to you, Lorelai. Now are you really going to say no to your daughter? Look at that face." He smiled.

Lorelai smiled and looked at Rory. "No." She said. "Of course you can sleep over."

Rory smiled and came in with a small bag.

"I'll leave you to it." Luke smiled. "Have fun with your mom, kid." He smiled at Rory.

Rory smiled and went over to hug her. "Bye daddy."

"Bye sweetheart. Be good." He smiled. He looked over at Lorelai. "Have fun." He said before turning round and going to leave.

"Luke..." Lorelai said.

"Yeah?" Luke said turning round.

"Thank you." She said sincerely.

Luke smiled and nodded. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye." Lorelai smiled.

Later that evening, Lorelai and Rory were sat on the couch watching the small tv she managed to get from the inn. Rory looked up at her. "Mommy, was that my Grandma? At the mall." She asked quietly.

"Nothing gets past you does it?" Lorelai smiled sadly.

"I thought Grandmas were meant to be nice." Rory said quietly.

"Yeah well my mom's probably the only exception." Lorelai sighed.

There was a few moments silence when they watched the programme on tv and then Rory turned back to her. "I don't think you're a bad mommy." Rory said quietly.

Lorelai turned to her and smiled, feeling tears well up in her eyes again. "Thanks Rory." She said.

"Are you sad?" Rory asked.

Lorelai smiled and put her arm round her daughter and cuddled her to her. "Not anymore." She said.

"Do you have any pop tarts?" Rory asked.

Lorelai laughed. "You really are my daughter." She said getting up to get a packet out of her cupboard.

Meanwhile, Luke was walking back to the diner when she saw a figure hanging round outside the door. "Can I help you?" He asked.

She turned round. "Hey Luke..."

"Rachel..." Luke said stunned.

So what do you think? Please keep the reviews coming and let me know! I love hearing from you! Thanks! :)