AN: To my faithful readers, I apologize for the dealy in getting this posted. I know I told several of you in review replies that I had planned to have it up on Sunday, but everytime I thought I had it done and went back through it to proof-read, I thought of something else I wanted to add to it. This is by far the longest chapter of this story yet. It probably should have been split into two chapters, but oh well. I promise the next chapter will contain the long-awaited Friday night dinner. I hope it was worth the wait. Thanks for your patience.

:)

Lanie

Lorelai wandered through the town square after she'd left the diner trying to enjoy the pet fair and take her mind off of her daughter, but it wasn't working. The pet fair was always something she and her daughter had enjoyed going to together. She was looking at the animals in the cages. She bent down to talk to a small black pig.

"Hello, Porky! Hello! Oh! Well, feeling a little guilty because of the You-L-T I had yesterday. That's right, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Oh!" She got up and turned to a couple of dogs."Hi, fellas, what's up? You both look like killers." She then turned to a shaggy-looking dog in a cage up on a table and petted him and cooed at him through the bars. "Hey! Hey, you! Oh, someone seems very happy!"

"He likes you, and he's picky," the attendant said.

"He's cute," she said and then added to the dog while Miss Patty approached her from behind, "You're cute. You're shaggy cute. Oh, we've got a love thing going on, don't we?"

"What are you doing?" Miss Patty asked her accusingly.

Lorelai jumped back from the cage startled and replied, "I'm just enjoying the animals, Patty."

Patty addressed the attendant saying, "Honey, this is not right. She can't have a love thing with a dog."

"She can't?"The attendant questioned.

Lorelai laughed nervously and said to Patty, "Yes! I can. Go about your business, there, Patty."

"You must have her name on some blacklist back there, don't you?"

"We don't have a blacklist," the attendant said nervously.

"But this is Lorelai Gilmore," Patty protested.

"Ignore her," Lorelai said. "This dog loves me. And the pig. The pig loved me."

Patty looked back toward the pig and said, "It looks dead."

"It's sleeping. They sleep, right?" Lorelai said with a nervous glance at the pig and then back to the attendant.

"Actually, that's very unusual for her to be sleeping," the woman said and called out to another attendant, "Meg, make sure the pig's okay."

"Yeah, the pig's fine," Meg called back.

"You didn't touch it, did you?" Patty said to Lorelai.

"I did not kill the pig, Patty," Lorelai said defensively.

"You've got a bad record, you've got to admit it," Patty pointed out.

"That thing with the hamster was a long time ago. It was a long time ago!" she said again to the attendant who only nodded in response."And it was only a hamster. I mean, it's really not in the same category as a dog or a pig, now, is it?"

"What about the rabbit?" Patty said forcing Lorelai to turn her attention back to her.

"Okay. The rabbit was sick when I got it. It was sick when I got it, "she repeated for the attendant's benefit."It was actually very humanitarian of me to take it in the first place."

"And that poor turtle! It was supposed to outlive you!" Patty said emphatically

"Okay, you're really kind of bringing down the pet fair, here, Patty."

Patty patted Lorelai's shoulder consolingly and said, "Honey, go see March of the Penguins. That's really as close to the animals as you should get."

Patty walked away leaving Lorelai staring at the attendant awkwardly. Lorelai chuckled nervously and said, "She's a comedienne, that one. She just gets a bit and she keeps on going, you know, even with one that's not funny." She bent down to face the dog again and said, "Hi. See you later, Kiddo." She turned to go when she saw Liz run toward her with her arms spread wide.

Emily stepped out of the diner just in time to see the blond woman who'd been all over Luke earlier launching herself at Lorelai in the middle of the town square. She couldn't hear what they were saying but Lorelai obviously held some sort of affection for this woman. She wondered if Lorelai would be that friendly with that woman if she'd known that just a couple of hours ago, her fiancée had been hugging and kissing the same woman. She stood outside Luke's and watched as the woman examined her ring and they chatted amiably for a moment.

Emily approached them just in time to hear the blonde saying, "Oh! I'm a jerk!" Emily kept her distance a little so as not to get another tongue-lashing from her daughter but still remained close enough to hear what was being said.

"What?"Lorelai said.

"I forgot to ask you about Rory," Liz said apologetically.

Lorelai shifted a little and said uncomfortably and said, "Right." She sighed a little. She'd enjoyed a brief moment of relief from her pain in thinking about Rory, but it wasn't to last.

"So, she's staying here with you for the summer break?"

"Oh, well, actually…" Lorelai hesitated nit really wanting to talk about it, but Liz was going to be her sister-in-law so she felt it only right to tell her at least part of what was going on. "Luke didn't tell you about all this?"

"All what?"

"She's staying with her grandparents for the summer," she said very simply not wanting to go into great detail.

"Really?"

"For a change of pace. And she'll be…working, and…yeah…." Lorelai's voice trailed off sadness over her estrangement with her daughter enveloping her again.

"Oh, your whole extended family. You, your parents, so close. It's nice," Liz gushed.

Lorelai flashed her a big fake smile and said, "Yes, it is." If you only knew, she thought.

"And now you and Luke are having a baby. That's so exciting," Liz said exuberantly failing to notice Lorelai's heartache.

This time Lorelai smiled for real as she laid her hand on her stomach and said, "Yeah, it is."

"Ow," Liz said out of nowhere.

"What?" Lorelai asked in concern.

"My finger. Gotta' run. Bye.

"Bye, Liz," she said with a smile at her future sister-in-law. At least she knew there was one family member who was happy around her upcoming marriage to Luke. Liz hurried off while Lorelai sighed and turned back to the cute, shaggy dog. She smiled at the pet fair attendant.

"I'll take him, "she said happily as her mother approached her.

"That wasn't a very honest thing you did just now," Emily said coolly.

Lorelai sighed and turned toward her mother and spat, "What would you know about honesty? You keep hanging around here trying to dig up dirt on Luke, trying to drive him out of my life and leave me alone, so I don't think you're in a position to judge me."

"Well, you've got that woman thinking that we're all one big happy family."

"We could have been if you would just accept my life the way it is instead of ridiculing me for what it's not."

"I'm just saying that woman seems to like you and it's a shame you're lying to her. Though, she's lying to you too, so I guess it doesn't matter."

"What are you talking about? Liz wouldn't have any reason to lie to me about anything."

"Well, as much as she seems to like you, she also seems to like Luke as well, if you know what I mean. I saw the two of them together right after you left the diner this morning and they seemed quite…um…close," Emily said with a knowing grin thinking she'd finally gotten one over on Luke. Lorelai burst out laughing when she realized what her mother was getting at. "I'm glad you find it so amusing that the man you've pinned your entire future on is already being unfaithful to you when you're not even married yet. Maybe he just doesn't consider it cheating since there's no ring on his finger yet. Who knows with a man like that." Lorelai laughed even harder. Emily scowled and said, "What on earth is the matter with you? Why aren't you taking this seriously. The man who claims he loves you is running around on you and you're laughing."

When Lorelai's laughing fit subsided she said, "Mom, you are so off base here. Luke is not running around on me. Believe me, the way this town is, I'd have known about it by now."

"I'm telling you what I saw with my own eyes. That blonde you were just talking to threw her arms around him and he didn't seem to object in the least. Then I saw him kiss her, not ten minutes after he was kissing you when the two of you were making a very public spectacle of yourselves."

"Of course Luke's not going to object to Liz throwing herself at him. She was probably excited because she just heard that we were engaged and that I'm going to be her sister-in-law very soon."

"Sister-in-law," Emily questioned.

"Yes, Mom, as in the wife of her brother, and she'll be my sister-in-law because she's my fiancé's sister. Are you getting the picture here, Mom?"

"She's Luke's sister?"

"Yes, Mom, she is," Lorelai said defensively wondering why her mother was still determined to find fault with Luke for no good reason. "Luke would never cheat on me."

"Well, how was I to know that? I just saw your fiancé in the arms of another woman! What else was I supposed to think?"

"You're supposed to think that what I've been telling you is true. That Luke loves me and wants be with me as much as I want to be with him. You're supposed to put a little faith in your daughter that maybe, just maybe she knows what she's doing. Now, I have to applaud you for yet another attempt to split me and Luke up, but it failed and so will any new scheme you come up with. We are staying together. I don't care what dirt you think you've dug up on Luke. It's not going to be anything that I don't already know about him."

"How about the fact that he spent a night in jail?"

"No, Mom, he didn't," Lorelai said. Was she serious? Was she honestly digging up Luke's arrest in Litchfield more than a year ago when Rory had just been arrested for something way more serious?

"Yes, he did. I heard all about it from that loud-mouth dance teacher. He spent a night in jail for disturbing the peace when he beat up a man's car," Emily said triumphantly thinking that maybe now that she knew something about Luke that Lorelai didn't that maybe it would wake her daughter up to what kind of man she was involved with

"No, he didn't spend the night in jail. He could have, but he didn't and do you want to know why he didn't? Because I was there to bail him out!"

"You bailed him out of jail?" Emily asked incredulously

"Yes, I did. I bailed him out because that's the kind of thing friends do for each other. He needed my help and I helped. I bailed him out, picked him up and listened to him while he talked about what landed him there in the first place. He'd just caught his wife cheating. You hate him because he's divorced, but you never bothered to ask him what caused the divorce. That snotty little stick-figure that he was married to was screwing somebody else in their home. That's enough to set anyone off."

"That still doesn't justify a violent act like that."

"So, he used some poor judgment. Big deal! I seem to recall Dad doing something very similar when he purposely hit your car just a few months ago when he found out you'd been dating. And if I'm not mistaken, that was what ended up getting the two of you back together and while you were getting your relationship back together, you were going behind my back to try to get Christopher to break up mine! You should have been on cloud nine that you and Dad were working it out after your separation! That should have been enough to make you happy, but it wasn't. So what is it? You can only be happy if you're making my life miserable?"

"No, of course not! How dare you suggest such a thing!"

"Do you have any idea how much that hurt me? That you would purposely break up a relationship that has made me the happiest I've ever been in my life when I was nothing but supportive to you all through your insane separation with Dad?"

"I only did what I thought was best for you, just like I'm doing now! I only did that because I didn't want to see you make a mistake that you'd regret for the rest of your life!"

"I'm not interested in what you think is best for me. I'm only interested in what I think is best for me and what's best for me is to continue what I've been doing. I'm making plans to spend the rest of my life with the man that I love, the man whose baby I'm carrying! Being loved by Luke is the best thing that's ever happened to me and I'm going to do whatever it takes to make it work with him so that we'll be a real family. I'm even willing to give up a house I love to do the right thing for my future husband and my baby!"

"Why weren't you so worried about the welfare of your baby when you were expecting Rory? You refused to marry Christopher and you ran away and refused our help."

"I did those things because that was the right thing to do for my baby! It wouldn't have been good for her to have parents that were married just because they had to be. There's no way that Christopher and I would have lasted if we'd gotten married so young. You said yourself that divorce destroys children, but that's exactly where things would have been headed if I'd married him. He wasn't ready to be a full-time father! He still isn't! He's a single dad to Gigi now and who did he come running to for help? Me! As for the running away, that was what I had to do when you wouldn't let me be a mother to my own child. Every time, I wanted to spend time with her or do something for her, I had my motherly rights taken away from me by that damned nanny that you hired. I had to figure out how to be a mother to her on my own and I couldn't do that with you and that nanny breathing down my neck."

"But a child needs a mother and a father!"

"If you really believed that, you wouldn't be trying to take the father of my unborn child away from me and our baby!"

"I'm sorry to interrupt," the pet fair attendant interrupted a little awkwardly. "But do you still want the dog?"

"Yes," Lorelai said with a smile toward her shaggy new friend. "I still want him,"

"Lorelai, you can't be serious," Emily said. "You're actually thinking of taking this mongrel home?"

"Yes, I am and he's not a mongrel."

"I suppose not to you. You've clearly been with Luke too long," Emily said with a sneer.

"So, you're calling Luke a mongrel? Is that what I'm hearing here?" When Emily simply scowled she said, "That's it, Mom. I've had it with you! Go home! Go home and don't come back! I don't want to see you in my town again!"

"Lorelai!"

"Go, Mom," Lorelai said with a sigh. She turned back to the dog with a smile and said, "Hi, there, Buddy."

Emily turned from her daughter to see Luke loading boxes into the back of his truck and shuddered at the thought of him moving in with her daughter. She looked back at Lorelai and saw her playing with the disheveled dog and then looked back across the square to find that Luke had disappeared. She began to walk back across the square toward her car and reached it just as Luke had exited the diner with two more boxes in hand that he piled into the truck that was parked in front of her car. She started to walk toward him until he looked at her sternly and said, "Not one word, Emily!" before turning around and walking back into the diner. Emily stood stock-still for a moment fighting the urge to follow him and blast him again. She had a few things she wanted to say to him. Instead she bit back the withering comments knowing that as much as she dreaded him being in her home, he would be there for the following night's dinner where she would have the upper hand. She'd be able to say whatever she wanted to him without the prying eyes of Stars Hollow watching her every move. She realized now what a mistake it was to launch her attack in his territory. He was right about one thing. He had roots in this town. Everywhere she'd gone she'd heard people talk about him and how they'd known him and his parents and that while not everyone always got along with him, they all respected him. How could she compete with that? Just wait until tomorrow, she thought as if she was saying it to Luke. She got into her car and made her way back to her home in Hartford thinking all the way about her next course of action.

When Emily arrived at home, she made a beeline for the pool house to have a talk with her granddaughter. "Rory?"She called as she entered.

"Hi, Grandma," her granddaughter replied. "What's up?"

"I was hoping we could have a little talk," Emily said with a frown.

"Um…sure," Rory said nervously not at all liking the look on her grandmother's face. "About what?"

"About your mother and…Um….Luke," she said carefully making certain she said his name so as not to offend her granddaughter the way she had her daughter.

Rory stiffened at the mention of her mother, but tried to brush it off and asked casually, "What about them?"

"Are you aware that at this very moment, your mother's letting him move in with her?"

"No," Rory said. "Mom and I haven't spoken since I moved in here, so I really don't know anything about what's going on in her life." She hung her head slightly as she thought of the fact that after numerous messages her mother still hadn't called her back. She'd wanted to tell her how happy she was that she was going to marry Luke and say she was sorry that she didn't get her messages, but her mother was stubbornly ignoring her. "So, Luke's moving in, wow."

"I suppose it was only a matter of time," Emily said nonchalantly trying to act like it didn't bother her in order to steer the conversation where she wanted it to go. "I mean, the two of them have been getting more serious lately. I actually wondered what was keeping them from taking this step sooner."

"I don't know," Rory said. "They've both been a little slow when it comes to seeing what's right in front of their faces. Look how long it took them to get together in the first place."

"I know. I saw the attraction between the two of them when I first met Luke at your sixteenth birthday party. Maybe they were both just afraid of getting hurt, "She said as if musing to herself. "Or perhaps it was you being there that held them back from taking this step," Emily suggested.

"What? Me? No, you're wrong, Grandma. I've been nothing but supportive since they started dating. I love Luke. He's been really good for Mom, plus he's been really good to me. You saw how upset I was when you broke them up!"

"Yes, I recall," Emily said with a frown wishing that she hadn't brought that up. She'd hoped that her granddaughter would have gotten over that the night she yelled at her about it at dinner.

"I even went to my dad and told him to stay away from Mom so he wouldn't end up causing trouble between them."

"I see," Emily said a little down-hearted to find that Luke had been telling the truth about Rory going to her father. "But that's not really what I meant," she continued.

"What did you mean?"

"Nothing," Emily said. "It's not important."

"Grandma, come on, say what's on your mind."

"Well, I just think it's very interesting that your mother told you that she didn't want you coming home for the summer and a mere week later, she's asking Luke to move in. It seems to me that maybe you'd be in the way if she wanted to spend some time alone with Luke. I mean, I hardly think that the timing of these two events is a coincidence."

"Grandma, I think you're wrong. I've been home for the weekend several times when Luke's been there. I don't think that Mom would try to get rid of me just to make room for Luke," she stated firmly, but in the back of her mind she had to wonder if what her grandmother was saying had some truth to it. It was pretty coincidental that Luke was moving in right after she'd been told not to come home for the summer.

"Perhaps you're right," Emily said with a satisfied smile at seeing the doubt cross Rory's face. "Maybe I'm looking at this wrong. She told your grandfather and me that she'd suspected she was pregnant for a while now. Maybe your mother simply wanted to make sure there would be room for the new baby," she said thoughtfully as if the thought had just occurred to her.

"Yeah, she did tell me she thought she might be pregnant," Rory said a little stung by what her grandmother was suggesting. She sighed as she thought about how the argument with her mom was so perfectly timed with her finding out that she was pregnant. Maybe she knew that it wasn't a false alarm like she'd insisted it was. Could her mother really replace her that easily? She thought back to her mother's words to her when talking about her pregnancy scare 'I just got rid of you,' she'd said. Rory had thought she'd meant it as a joke, but now she had to wonder. Had this been brewing in the back of her mother's head all along if it turned out that she was pregnant?

"She told you about that?" Emily was floored. What kind of a mother would share that kind of information with her young daughter?

"Yeah, she did. She was totally wigging out about it, too. She was too scared to even tell Luke about it at first since they hadn't been back together that long," she said. "But if he bought the Twickham house, I guess he knows about it now."

"Yes, he does. He seems quite happy about it too. He said that he'd always wanted a child of his own with your mother," Emily said twisting the knife in Rory's heart a little deeper. She knew that Rory had a fatherly affection for Luke, though she couldn't see why. "I don't know what I'm thinking about," Emily said changing tactics a little. "Maybe he bought the bigger house to make sure that there'd be plenty of room for both you and the new baby. He seems like he cares quite a lot about you."

"Yeah, he does," she said but wasn't so sure now. How would he feel about her now that he had a kid of his own on the way? He'd always been like a father to her, but maybe that was because he just wanted his own kids and he was using her for a substitute. Maybe now that her mom was pregnant, he wouldn't need her to be his surrogate daughter anymore.

"That must be what he's thinking about, making sure that you'll have your own space in the new house. Of course that means they'll be selling the old house," she said casually.

"Selling our house?"Rory said. She hadn't thought about that part of the equation. Would her mother really sell her childhood home without talking to her about it first?

"Of course. It only makes sense. It's not like they'll need two houses," she said using Kirk's words from earlier. Thinking of Kirk gave her another idea, "When I was in Stars Hollow today, I overheard your mother talking to that gangly fellow…Kurt?"Emily said playing dumb on purpose.

"Kirk," Rory corrected.

"Yes, Kirk. That's it! Anyway, your mother was talking to him about possibly selling the house to him when they get ready to move into the new house."

"Oh," Rory said sadly. While she liked Kirk, she couldn't imagine him living in her house. What was her mother thinking about?

"Oh, listen to me going on and on when there are a million things to do at the house and your grandfather will be home any minute. Will you be joining us for dinner?"

"Um…no…Logan and I are going out tonight," she said half-heartedly plagued by the doubts her grandmother had placed in her head regarding her mother's true motivation for telling her that she couldn't come home for the summer.

"All right, but you'll join us tomorrow? Your mother and Luke will be here."

"They will?" she said a little happier that she'd see her mother and maybe get to put some of this tension between them to rest.

"Yes, sort of an impromptu engagement celebration," Emily said light-heartedly as if she were in full support of her daughter's upcoming wedding.

"I'll be there," she said.

"Good, I'll see you later," Emily said as she made her exit satisfied that her work was done now that she'd planted the seed of doubt in Rory's mind. She knew that if Rory didn't approve, Lorelai would never follow through with her insane idea of marrying the greasy diner man. She almost skipped into the main house as she thought she might have finally found a way to end this once and for all.

Emily's elation was not to last though. She'd barely set foot inside the door when her husband's voice rang out, "Where the hell have you been?"

"As I told you this morning, I've been in Stars Hollow," she said growing weary of her husband's attitude.

"I remember. I also distinctly remember telling you to leave Stars Hollow and stay out of Lorelai's life," he reminded her sternly. "What have you been doing there all day?"

"Only what a concerned mother should," she said evasively.

"What have you been doing, Emily," he demanded more forcefully. "And why didn't you leave Stars Hollow when I told you to?"

"When you told me to? What gives you the right to tell me where to go or what to do? If I want to visit my daughter, I will and you will not tell me that I can't!"

"I wouldn't worry about it if I thought it was just a visit, but I know you, Emily and I know when you're up to something. You're trying to get between them again, aren't you?"

"Well, so what? Someone needs to! Lorelai obviously isn't capable of seeing clearly when it comes to this man!"

"I think she's seeing things perfectly clearly. You're the one who's not seeing things for the way they are! Lorelai is carrying Luke's child and this time she wants to do what's right and get married and settle down and I, for one, am in full support of that!"

"Then you're a fool," Emily spat back at her husband.

"No, Emily, you're the fool if you can't see that what you're doing is wrong!"

"No," she argued back. "What Lorelai is doing is wrong! Having a child with a man who can barely take care of himself, let alone her and a child!"

"I'd hardly say that Luke can't take care of himself. He's spent years living in a building that he already owns, so that's cut down on his living expenses leaving him plenty of money to put a down payment on a beautiful house for them to live in once they're married."

"I saw that 'beautiful' house as you called it. It's a complete wreck! There's a hole in the floor and the banisters are practically rotting away. It's in no way a suitable place for our grandchild to grow up in!"

"Luke admitted that it needs some work and he's willing to put the money into it to make it fit to live in. That house has great potential and it was built in an era when they built houses to last. All the repairs that it needs are simply from the effects of age."

"You're crazy! I saw the inside of that house today and it's a death-trap for a child! I don't understand what that man is thinking! How could any father want to expose his child to a danger like that? What I really can't understand is what Lorelai is doing? If she wanted more children, why couldn't she have picked a more appropriate mate to have them with?"

"Emily, has it even crossed your mind that no matter who the child's father is, that this baby is still our flesh and blood? Do you really want things to be like they were before where we didn't get to know our grandchild until she was half-grown?"

"Do you think that I honestly want anything to do with a grandchild that was conceived under the worst of circumstances? Lorelai admitted herself that this pregnancy wasn't planned and that it only came about because she and that classless lout she's mixed up with were drunk!"

"Do you really think that matters?"

"Of course it matters!"

"It doesn't, Emily! However it came about, Lorelai is pregnant and she should be with the father of her child," he shouted.

"Christopher is the father of her child too! Have you forgotten that?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten that, but I'd hardly call him an appropriate mate for Lorelai! He's done nothing for her or Rory for that matter! He's taken no fatherly responsibility her entire life whereas Luke has! I've heard numerous times from Rory and Lorelai about Luke being there when they needed him! He has an obvious fatherly affection for Rory and he loves Lorelai unconditionally and he's willing to do whatever it takes to make her happy!"

"You wouldn't say that if you'd seen what I saw today! When I walked into that house, do you know what I saw? Our bright beautiful daughter doing his laundry, working around the house as if she were a maid again! How happy do you think she's going to be if she spends the rest of her life slaving like a servant for that man? If she were with Christopher, she wouldn't have to do such things. He'd be able to hire some household help so she could concentrate her energies on the inn where they belong!"

"And she'd be miserable! She doesn't love Christopher and she doesn't want your frivolous life of cocktail parties and fundraisers! I think she made that very clear when she ran away from home and I'm starting to see now why she did," he bellowed as he made his way to the closet off the foyer and reached for the suitcase within it.

"What do you think you're doing with that?" she demanded knowing that that was the suitcase he kept packed in case he needed to make some emergency trip for business.

"I'm leaving! I can't look at you right now!"

"What?" she said. "Just where do you plan on going?"

"To Stars Hollow to try to fix the mess you've made!" he said as he headed for the door while thinking of Emily's assertion this morning that Luke and Lorelai had split. If that were the case, he felt the need, just this once, to embrace Emily's habit of meddling for the good of their daughter. After his conversation with Luke the previous day, he couldn't imagine that he would just walk out on Lorelai, but he had to be sure.

"No, this is not going to happen," she said as she tugged on his arm to try to stop him.

"Let go of me, Emily! I'm going!"

"What do you think is going to happen if you go to Stars Hollow? Do you think Lorelai will just welcome you with open arms? You're no closer to her than I am!"

"I don't know. Maybe she won't, but I have to try. I've just started to repair my relationship with Lorelai and I'm not going to let that slip away from me. That's something that you ought to consider yourself. If she slams the door in my face, so be it! Maybe the Dragonfly will have a room available, perhaps the same one you stayed in last night," he said icily. "Either way, I can't stay here, not with you acting like this." He shook off her grip on his arm and left the house, slamming the door behind him.

Lorelai spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for her new pet, while Luke, as promised, took as many of his things to the house as possible without making the house too cluttered until they could get into their own place. He wondered where Lorelai was when he got there but figured maybe she'd gone to spend some time at the inn since she'd been home during the early part of the day. He unpacked the things he'd brought and returned to the diner until the dinner rush was over then returned to the house ready to take Lorelai out at her request.

"Hey, you ready to go?" he said as he stepped inside the front door.

"Come in, come in! I want to show you something," Lorelai said excitedly.

"Okay," he said skeptically.

Lorelai giggled excitedly and said, "Or, more accurately, I want to show you someone." When they entered the living room she said, "Ta-da," then her mood changed abruptly when she realized her new dog was nowhere to be seen. "Oh. Where'd he go?"

"Where'd who go? What's all this crap?" indicating the plethora of stuff piled over every surface in the living room that hadn't been there when he'd dropped his stuff off in the afternoon.

Lorelai disregarded Luke's questions and began searching the living room. "Oh. Yoo-hoo! Come on, dude! We had it all rehearsed and everything!" When she spotted him she said, "Ah-Ha!" he bent down behind the chair in the corner and popped up with the shaggy dog. "Ta-da!"

"It's a dog," Luke said in surprise.

"Yeah, very good," she said sardonically then said to the dog,"He's smart, too! Not as smart as you." She set the dog down on the coffee table.

"What are you doing with a dog?"

"I bought him. Doesn't he look happy?"

"Yeah, I guess. You bought a dog!"Luke said still stunned.

"Yeah, and he loves me. And he doesn't give his love easily. The only drawback's the name. Coco. It's too cutesy. But he's a rescue, so I don't want to freak him out by giving him a new name right away, so I'm going to get to the name I want to give him in baby steps. For the first week I'll call him Coco, to get him acclimated…"

"Acclimated," Luke repeated still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Second week I'm going to call him Cokie, third week Kooky, fourth week Tooky."

"So you're going to name him Tooky," Luke questioned with a shake of his head.

"No, I'm going to name him Paul Anka, but it's going to take a while to get to Paul Anka."

"Yeah. I'd say so," he said with another skeptical look at the dog.

"And you know, this little guy has already taught me something I didn't know. Just because they make it for a dog, doesn't mean a dog is going to like it! Toys, including squeakies, and the, uh, wazzup variety…" She squeezed a monkey that says 'wazzup' to demonstrate. "No interest. Rawhide bones, no interest. Popcorn, scared of it."

"Scared of popcorn?" Luke questioned with a bemused smile. Leave it to Lorelai to find a dog just as neurotic as her.

"Yeah, and also of tissue holders, paperbacks, CD's, framed pictures and lint. Oh, and when I drink something, he gets freaked out, like I'm going to die and I have to pick him up and rock him like a baby until he calms down. It's been quite a first day for us."

"Look, should I ask the question that immediately came to mind when I first saw the thing, or should I just shut up?"

"No. Shoot."

"Is it okay for you-"

"That hamster was defective," Lorelai said defensively cutting him off. "Period. Plus they only live, like, three years. I looked it up. And, and he would have been dead by now anyway. So, world, stop with the hamster already!"

"But the turtle-"

"The same thing with the turtle!"

"Yeah, but they live to be ninety!"

"I will take care of this dog. I promise. Now, would you like a beer?"

"Sure," he said

"'Kay. Just distract him while I'm drinking, and don't let him see the…" she lowered her voice to a whisper "…bottle opener." Luke followed Lorelai into the kitchen where she got a beer out of the refrigerator for Luke and a bottle of water for herself.

"How much did you spend on all this?"

"Tons," she answered honestly.

"For a stupid dog," Luke grumbled.

"You're acting like you don't like dogs."

"I don't like dogs," he confirmed as Paul Anka walked into the room.

"Shhh! He heard you!"

"Oh, he speaks English?" Luke said sarcastically.

"Since when do you not like dogs?"

"Since all the times I made that really, really clear, which is every time I have ever been around a dog."

Lorelai looked shocked. "What is there not to like about dogs?"

At her question, Luke took a seat at the table and launched into full rant mode, "They're dirty. They're a pain to train. They're a pain to wash. They bark when they shouldn't. They jump on you when you don't want them to. They chew things. They shed. They lick themselves. They make your car smell. They make your house smell. And they make you smell."

"You know, I think it's very sad that you've lost the little boy in you," Lorelai said as she joined him at the table.

"The little boy didn't like dogs either," Luke groused as he took a swig of his beer.

"Oh, you know? I just realized what this is! This is our thing," she said indicating the two of them.

"What thing?"

"This tradition of ours. You claim to hate everything at first, but it's just your initial stance in a negotiation. And then we talk and our opinions merge and we find a happy middle."

"No, a lot of times it's just how I feel and my mind doesn't change," Luke said as Paul Anka started to eat.

Lorelai started whispering excitedly, "Oh, he's eating! Let's go!" They got up slowly. "But don't make any sudden movements, and don't drink, and don't look at him! He's very self-conscious about his eating. I'm the same way! That's how I know this is going to work! Go, go, go" she said as she pushed him out the back door. They stood and watched him through the window.

"You do realize your dog has just driven us out of the house," Luke complained.

"Don't worry. He's a quick eater. Come on," she said as they walked around the porch to the bench in the front.

"This is silly," Luke said in irritation.

"What? We can hang out out here. It's a nice night." They sat down facing each other. "Okay. Now fill me in. How was your day?"

"Well, aside from another confrontation with your mother, not bad."

"Ugh! I so don't want to talk about her, right now. What else?"

"I talked to some contractors about the house," he said starting to get excited.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Now that we've made the offer, they'll let us in, we can start planning stuff, remodeling, whatever."

"Good," she said. She'd been in the house when it was a museum and knew it needed to be re-done a little before they could move into it.

"And as soon as we're out of escrow we can start work."

"Cool. Excellent," she said with smile loving how happy he was about the idea of fixing up the house that was soon going to be their home.

"I was thinking we could even pull the crew over here, do some touchups before selling."

"Wait. Touchups? Where? Here?" She was beginning to panic like she had earlier at the mention of selling the house she'd raised her daughter in.

"Yeah. It hasn't been painted in a while. Fixing it up will help it sell."

"Right. You know what I've been thinking?"

"What?"

"Maybe we should hang on to this house," she suggested.

"To rent?" Luke asked trying to gauge what was on her mind.

"No. Not to rent. To use in some other way," she said as she began wracking her brain for things the house could be used for.

"What other way?"

"Uh, I don't know. It could be like a paint studio."

"We don't paint," Luke pointed out.

"Well, maybe we'll start. Maybe it's the lack of a studio that's kept us from realizing our love of watercolors."

"I don't have a love of watercolors," he said starting to get what was going on but not sure if he should say anything. He didn't want to upset her again.

"Or I could use it as my recording studio. That would be cool, huh? And when I'm not laying down tracks I could rent it out to Korn or Iggy Pop or someone. Right? You and me, just hanging with Iggy Pop, rockin' out. Telling stories… Ig's got stories," she was rambling and she knew it. She just couldn't bear the thought of selling this house while things were still so bad with Rory.

"Uh-huh," Luke said letting her ramble knowing that it was something she needed.

"Or we could use it as a safe house in case we decide to take up a life of crime," she said knowing it was getting silly now.

"I doubt we're going to do that," he said patiently letting her just go on.

"Well, we could be wrongly accused of a crime we did not commit. And then we'd have to hide out until society realized the mistake. And then, we'd be like, 'Hey. No hard feelings, it happens. This is a great country, and thank God we had the safe house.'" She smiled slightly at the fact that he was just letting her go on and on and not saying a word about it.

"If you want, we can just hang on to it, rent it out," he suggested.

Lorelai wrinkled her nose and said, "I don't want anyone else living in it." Not without Rory's ok, she added to herself.

"They can't live in it, but they can record songs in it," he said knowing where her insecurity was coming from. She didn't want to do anything with this house until things were settled with Rory.

"I just think we could use this place. Think about it, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, we'll think about it," he said and leaned in brushing a light kiss to her lips letting her know without words that he got it.

"Okay," she said with a smile as she peeked in the window then gushed, "Oh, look, he's done! And he's in there fast asleep!"

"So, I'm guessing we're not going out tonight?"

"No, unless you want to," she said hoping that he wouldn't want to go out. She didn't want to leave Paul Anka alone on his first night in the house.

"I'm cool with staying in," he said willing to do whatever it took to keep her happy.

"Do you still feel like cooking? I know you had a busy day, so if you don't, that's ok. We can just order pizza or Chinese or something."

"I'll cook," he said. "Can we go back in now?"

"Okay. Just be careful, because he gets scared when you wake him up."

"Of course," he said with a smile as they made their way toward the front door.

"Oh, and, uh, try not to say any words that begin with the letter 'Q,'."

"You got it," he said as they entered the house where he went straight to the kitchen and began to prepare for the dinner he'd planned earlier in the day while Lorelai went to check on Paul Anka.

Richard smiled a little as he pulled into his daughter's driveway behind Luke's truck, happy to see that it was parked there. Maybe that meant that his wife's meddling hadn't caused irreparable damage. He was starting to rethink his decision to pay a visit to Lorelai. If Emily had caused trouble between her and Luke, she may think that he was involved and not want to see him. He'd mulled over the situation all the way from Hartford to Stars Hollow, trying to figure out which way he should go first. Should he stop at the inn first to see if he could book a room for the night, should he pay another visit to the diner to talk to Luke again, or should he go to his daughter first? He'd decided on the latter, hoping that he could at least get to the bottom of Emily's machinations, since she wasn't willingly sharing what she'd been up to. He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, reliving the harsh words they'd said to each other before he'd walked out the door. He hadn't intended to leave like that, but he was so furious with Emily, he couldn't stand to be in the same room with her. He recalled how their bitter separation had begun with an argument about him going after Jason while Lorelai was dating him and Emily's fear that it would drive their daughter away. He found it ironic that a little more than a year later, Emily attacking the man in Lorelai's life was on the verge of driving her away. This time, he wasn't going to let it happen, especially now that there was a new grandchild involved. If that meant another war with his wife, he was willing to accept that. He let out another sigh before getting out of his car and ringing Lorelai's doorbell.

Luke was in the kitchen when the doorbell rang while Lorelai was in the living room. Upon hearing the bell Paul Anka took off up the stairs and out of sight. "Hon, can you get the door," Lorelai called to Luke while she went chasing after her dog.

"You got it," he said as he made his way to the door and was surprised to find his future father-in-law on the other side. "Richard…um…hi," he stammered.

"Hello, Luke," Richard said warmly. "May I come in?"

"Yeah, sure, sorry," he said as he opened the door wider to allow Richard to enter the house. "So…um…what brings you here?"he asked awkwardly while closing the door behind Richard.

"I just wanted to pay my daughter a visit. Is she home?"

"Yeah, she's upstairs," Luke said. "You want me to get her?"

"That's quite all right. I can wait until she comes back down here."

"Ok," Luke said. "I…uh…need to get back to the kitchen so I can check on dinner."

"Oh, are you cooking?"

"Yeah, so I should…." He trailed off. While Richard had said he approved of his upcoming marriage to his daughter, Luke still didn't really know how to talk to his future father-in-law, especially since he'd kind of put his foot in his mouth the day before with his sarcasm.

"By all means," Richard said. "Do you mind if I join you while I wait for Lorelai?"

"No, as long as you don't mind me working in the kitchen," Luke said as he headed back to the kitchen.

"Not at all," Richard said as he followed Luke. "My, something smells wonderful in here," he exclaimed as he entered the room.

"Thanks, lamb chops," Luke explained as he resumed preparing dinner.

"Would that be the same lamb chops that the Times critic raved about?"

"You saw the review?" Luke asked.

"Yes, I was quite impressed," Richard replied as he took a seat at the kitchen table. "I also saw that he not only praised your cooking at the inn, but at the diner as well. I can see why. You seem quite at home in the kitchen."

"Well, it's like I said yesterday, I've been cooking since I was a kid. I enjoy doing it and Lorelai loves food, so it kinda works out nicely," Luke said with a chuckle.

"Oh my God, something smells amazing in here," Lorelai gushed as she entered the room.

"Did you find your fraidy-cat dog?"Luke asked with a bemused smile.

"Yeah, the little chicken skittered under our bed and he won't come out."

"As long as he's not in our bed," Luke grumbled. "Leave it to you to find a dog that's scared of his own shadow."

Richard had not failed to notice the word our coming so easily out of both his daughter and her fiancé's mouths. He desperately wanted to find out if that meant that they'd continued with their plans for moving in together and planning their future in spite of his snobbish wife's attempts to split them up, but was afraid to ask. Instead he asked, "You have a dog? Since when?"

"I just brought him home today," Lorelai said. "and he's not a fraidy-cat," she added with a glare at Luke. "He's just still getting used to us and this house."

"I see," Richard said. "So, Lorelai, are you feeling all right?" he asked awkwardly. He and his daughter hadn't talked since before he'd found out that she was pregnant and he wasn't sure how to approach the subject, but wanted to somehow let her know that his didn't share her mother's disapproval. Sure, he'd have preferred if the two of them were married before starting a family, but they seemed to be happy together, so who was he to judge?

"Um…I'm ok," She answered just as awkwardly not sure what to say to her father after the non-stop confrontations with her mother the last two days. "I've been a little sick, but I'm basically ok."

"A little?"Luke snorted. "I thought you were trying to re-create the pea soup scene from The Exorcist in the bathroom this morning," he said trying to inject some humor into the conversation to lighten the overwhelming tension in the room.

"Hush, you," she said in a playful tone. "You just go about your business there and get my dinner finished so I can feed this kid of yours."

"It's almost done. You wanna set the table so we can eat?"

"Yeah," she said. "You're welcome to join us, Dad. That is, if you want to," she said hesitantly, not wanting to create more tension but at the same time hoping that after his talk with Luke yesterday, she was on her way to having approval from at least one of her parents.

"Um…"Richard began just as hesitantly. "I don't want to intrude. I fact, I should be going. I…um…shouldn't have come here without calling first."

"You're not intruding, Richard," Luke said. "You're more than welcome to stay for dinner if you'd like. There's plenty of food. I know how your daughter likes to eat, so I always make more than enough!"

"Hey!"Lorelai protested while Luke chuckled.

"Besides, it will give all of us a chance to talk," Luke suggested. He wondered if he knew by now exactly what Emily had been up to.

"Well, if you're sure I won't be bothering you," Richard said still a little hesitant. He didn't know how this evening would go if Lorelai was angry with her mother.

"Dad, you're not bothering us," Lorelai said as she took three dinner plates out of the cabinet and set them around the table, depositing one of them directly in front of where her father was seated. "There, now you have to stay. It'd be rude not to,"

"I guess I will stay then," he said glad that whatever Emily had been up to didn't seem to be affecting Lorelai's feelings toward him. "I have to admit, I'm a little hungry. I left the house without having dinner and the food does smell delicious."

"It does, doesn't it," she agreed as she reached around Luke for glasses giving him an affectionate squeeze from behind on her way. "My man knows how to cook," she added with a delighted smile that her dad had given Luke a compliment.

"Hey, back off, Woman! I don't want you hair in the food," he said jokingly as he stirred the vegetables in the sauté pan on the stove.

"Fine," she said with a pout moving slightly away from him as she continued her task."Where did that pan come from anyway? I don't remember having one like that."

"Like you'd ever need to," Luke quipped. "You don't cook." When he saw the pouty demanding look on Lorelai's face he added, "I brought it from the apartment while you were out spending God knows how much on that psychotic mutt."

"Paul Anka is not psychotic. He's just special. He needs lots of TLC," She said defending her new pet as she sat across from her father.

"Paul Anka?"Richard questioned.

"The dog," Luke explained as he opened the oven door and began transferring the lamp chops to a serving platter.

"Ahhh," Richard said nodding in understanding. Richard took a stab at steering the conversation around to the topic that was the point of his visit. Obviously, Emily's assertion that Lorelai and Luke had broken up again was unfounded, but he needed more information. "So, have the two of you set a wedding date yet," he queried in a light tone, trying to keep it casual but still trying to get the gist of things.

"June 25th," Luke and Lorelai answered together and then both laughed.

"June 25th," Richard said thoughtfully. "That's very soon."

"The sooner the better," Luke said with a smile as he set the rest of the food on the table before taking his seat next to Lorelai and the three of them began to eat.

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed between bites of her dinner. "We thought it might be nice if we were married before our kid makes its appearance in the world." She glanced warily at her father still not quite sure how he felt about all of this. Luke said that he hadn't been angry upon finding out that she was pregnant, but who really knew what was going on underneath his cool exterior? She wondered why her dad was here, but didn't quite have the nerve to ask. She wondered if her mother had gotten to him and he was here to voice his disapproval after all.

"Very wise," Richard said thoughtfully with a sigh of relief that whatever Emily had been doing hadn't changed their determination to build a life together. He decided he'd had enough of beating around the bush and said, "So, I understand that your mother paid a visit to Stars Hollow today," he began and noticed that both Luke and Lorelai tensed at the mention of his interfering wife.

"Yeah, she did," Luke said stiffly.

"Is that why you're here, Dad? To finish what mom started?"She asked accusingly, trying to find out what her father's motivation was for his unscheduled visit and wondering again if maybe her mother had managed to poison his mind against Luke.

"Certainly not! While I don't know exactly what your mother's been up to, I do know that she and I are not exactly in agreement about your where your future is headed." He glanced at Luke and continued, "Perhaps your fiancé didn't tell you, but I was here yesterday to let him know that I approve of your upcoming marriage and to warn him that your mother was planning something."

"He told me," Lorelai said. "I…um….just didn't know what to think. Mom's been running around like a crazy person, doing everything she can to try to split us up and…I don't know…when I saw you were here tonight…I thought…"her voice faltered and she found herself unable to complete her thought.

"…That I might take up your mother's habit of meddling?"Richard suggested.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, you weren't exactly thrilled when I was pregnant with Rory."

"Of course I wasn't. You were sixteen! How was I supposed to react?" he said. "You had such a bright future and that was all changed when you got pregnant with Rory. Your mother and were both extremely disappointed by the situation, but this is not the same."

"How do you figure? According to Mom, I'm doing nothing but repeating the same mistake from my past."

"That's where your mother and I disagree," Richard said bitterly reflecting on the arguing that had gone on between them over the situation. "Your mother is still dwelling on the past, while I've got the sense to see that the circumstances are entirely different this time. While I'm not exactly pleased by the fact that you're pregnant and unmarried again, I realize that the two of you are working to remedy that and I'm happy that you're happy. That's all I've ever wanted for you, Lorelai."

"Thanks, Dad," Lorelai said with a smile. "So, you're not freaked out by all of this? I mean, with the fact that you've got another grandchild on the way without us being married first? You don't think it's just me being irresponsible again?"

"Not at all," he said sincerely. "I realize that Luke is not Christopher."

Luke snorted at this and said, "I think that's Emily's big problem with me." He couldn't help but think that there was no way that they were going to be able to live in peace as long as Emily was determined to break them up and cajole Lorelai back into a relationship with Christopher.

Richard simply looked at Luke and sensed that he was holding back what he really wanted to say. "I'm sorry if she's been hard on you," Richard said apologetically.

"Don't apologize for her," Luke said angrily. "I know she's your wife, but you have no idea what she's been up to or how much she's hurt Lorelai the last two days!"

"Luke, don't," Lorelai pleaded not wanting to be at war with both of her parents and also worried that her situation was causing tension in her parents' marriage. Now that she knew for sure that her dad was on their side, she didn't want to destroy that by telling him what her mother had been up to.

"I'm sorry, Lorelai, but your mother has gotten on my last nerve! Who does she think she is, trying to tell me that I'd be doing the right thing by leaving you and our child?"

"She actually said that to you?"Richard asked incredulously.

"Yeah, that was after she realized that trying to buy me off wouldn't work!"

"Luke, please," Lorelai said not wanting to relive the hurt her mother had caused by trying to bribe Luke into leaving her.

"She did what?"Richard exploded rising from the table angrily.

"See what you started?"Lorelai said with a frustrated glare at her fiancé as she also rose from the table and hurried toward the living room.

Luke jumped from his seat saying, "Lorelai, wait!"

He quickly caught up to her and grabbed her arm to stop her from bolting. She tried to pull away from him and said, "No! This is exactly what I didn't want! We've got enough drama in our lives without creating more!" She was once again on the verge of tears over her mother's scheming.

"I'm sorry," Luke said after seeing the pain on her face. He pulled her into his arms and held her close. "I'm so sorry. I just can't stand that she's hurt you so much," he said and brushed a light kiss to her hair as she buried her face in his chest. Lorelai relaxed a little into his embrace, letting him know without words that she accepted his apology. He held her while she let the tears fall rocking her slightly to comfort her, much as he'd done earlier in the day.

"I'm the one who should be sorry," Richard said. He'd watched this interaction in silence not sure what to say. He had expected Luke would be angry, but it had just struck him that Emily's attack on him wasn't what had made him angry. It was the effect it was having on Lorelai that had him riled. As he watched his daughter sinking into Luke's strong embrace, it occurred to him for the first time that even Lorelai's incredible strength could be broken. He recalled Luke's words about how defeated she'd looked upon hearing the news that Rory had dropped out of school and moved in with them. He was very glad that she had someone as caring as Luke to lean on in a time like this. "I shouldn't have come here and stirred all this up. For that, I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean to upset either one of you."

Lorelai pulled back from Luke and wiped her tears away. She turned back toward her father and said, "This isn't your fault, Dad. This is all Mom. I just don't want you two fighting again because of me."

"We're not fighting because of you," Richard said emphatically.

"But you are fighting, aren't you? I kinda got the sense that you were when you said that you and Mom disagreed about my future with Luke."

"That's for me and your mother to work out. I don't want you involved in all of that. I only came here tonight because she told me this morning that Luke had walked out on you and I came to see if you were okay and to see if there was a way I could help repair whatever damage your mother might have done."

"Boy, are you behind the times," Lorelai said with a sardonic laugh. "Luke and I had a stupid fight about Mom trying to buy him off, but we worked it out ourselves."

"Yes, we did," Luke said with a smile as he recalled the previous evening's events that led to them making up. "Are you ok," he asked Lorelai who nodded with a slight sniffle.

"I'm sincerely relieved to hear that, though I gathered that you had worked things out when I saw Luke's truck in the driveway. Now, what do you say we all sit back down and finish this wonderful dinner? I must say, Luke, the Times critic was quite right in praising your cooking skills," he said in an effort to change the subject resuming his seat at the table.

"Thanks," Luke said with a smile as he took his seat followed by Lorelai.

"So, Dad, how bad are you and Mom fighting," Lorelai probed. "I mean, is it as bad as last time? 'Cause with Rory living in the pool house now, that could pose a problem."

"I'm sure we'll work it out," he said though he wasn't so sure at the moment. He was very angry with his wife right now, especially after hearing that she'd resorted to trying to buy Luke off.

"You don't sound entirely convinced of that," she said still trying to find out the extent of their argument.

"I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind, Lorelai."

"Does Mom even know you're here?"she said, not willing to give up. She couldn't stand the thought that her life choices were causing her parents to have issues.

"Yes, she does, unlike when she took off last night," Richard said bitterly when he realized that his daughter wasn't going to let him off the hook. "I didn't even know until this morning that she'd spent the night here in Stars Hollow at the inn."

"The inn?" Lorelai questioned. "My inn?"

"Yes, Lorelai, your inn. You didn't know?"

"No, I haven't been at the inn all day."

"Isn't that unusual for you?"

"I called Sookie early this morning to get her and Michel to cover for Lorelai," Luke answered before Lorelai had a chance to. "She was upset over Emily's visit last night and the argument we'd had about it. Plus she was up and down half the night getting sick, so when she finally was able to sleep soundly, I thought it was best to just let her sleep."

"Very sensible, "Richard said nodding in agreement. "Was that before or after I spoke to you?"

"After," Luke said. "When I talked to you though, I had no idea that Emily had gone to the inn. I only knew that she'd come here and upset Lorelai again."

"And that I told her to get out," Lorelai interjected.

"I understand, Luke," Richard said. "I don't expect you to be Emily's keeper. I'm sorry if I disturbed you last night. It's just that when Emily stormed out of the house, I had a feeling she was on her way here to stir up trouble and I was looking for Lorelai more than anything. When she wasn't here, naturally I assumed that your house was the most logical place to check next."

"You weren't wrong, though that most likely won't be happening in the future," Luke said.

"Luke…"Lorelai said in a cautionary tone.

Luke reached for her hand and squeezed it gently to reassure her that things would be fine and said, "He needs to know, Lorelai. Isn't it better that he hears it from us first, rather than your mother?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said.

"Hear what?" Richard asked a little bewildered. "Things are ok between the two of you, aren't they?"

"Yes, Dad, they are. Great, in fact. So good that…um…." She hesitated, knowing that she needed to tell her father the truth since he was being supportive, but not sure how to get the words out. She didn't want him to freak out or get angry that they were living together before they were married.

"Just say what's on your mind, Lorelai," her father said.

"I asked Luke to move in here with me. We just made it official today."

"Is that all," Richard asked with a chuckle.

"What do you mean, is that all? You're not spazzing out about this whole 'living in sin' thing?"

"No, Lorelai. I am indeed not 'spazzing' out," he said with a bemused smile. "After my conversation with Luke a few nights ago, I assumed that it would be happening soon."

"What conversation." Lorelai questioned shifting her gaze from her father to her fiancé.

"After your parents woke us up the other night, your father asked me if we were living together," Luke began.

Lorelai looked back at her father and said, "Dad, tell me you didn't."

"I did," he admitted. "But not in the way that you think. I wasn't trying to pry like your mother has a habit of doing. I was merely trying to find out more about your future plans since I had just learned of your engagement."

"Sounds like prying to me," Lorelai said in a teasing tone.

Richard looked at her sternly and said, "As your father, I have every right to make inquiries about your relationship and where it's headed, especially since it's just taken a very serious turn. You don't want to share things with your mother and I understand that. She has a tendency to be a bit of a snob when it comes to you and your relationships, but I don't look at things the same way she does. All I've ever wanted for you in a partner is someone who'll love you and make sure that you're provided for. That's something that you have with Luke."

"So, when you told Luke the other day that you approved, you really meant it?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

"So, um…does that mean….um…"she trailed off, not sure how to ask the question that was on her mind.

"Yes, Lorelai," Richard probed wondering where his daughter's sudden shyness had come from.

"Well, as we just told you, the wedding is June 25th and I…was wondering….um….would you….I mean, if you would mind…"She hung her head, still not sure how to get the words out.

"I'm listening," he said encouragingly. He had a feeling he knew what was on her mind but he wanted to hear it from her without putting the words in her mouth.

Lorelai took a deep breath and finally said in a rush, "Would you walk me down the aisle on our wedding day? If you don't want to, I'll understand. I know we haven't had the best father-daughter relationship in the world, but it's my wedding day, you know? I know I don't normally do things in the traditional way, but this is one tradition that I think is kind of nice and I'd really like it if you would, you know, do the traditional dad-thing and give me away. I mean, I'm only gonna get married just this once and I want my wedding day to be special and I think that a part of that would be having my father there to do the whole 'who-gives-this-woman' thing and do the father-daughter dance thing and all of that." When she'd finally finished she looked down at her plate not daring to look her father in the eye.

Richard reached across the table for his daughter's hand giving it a reassuring squeeze. When she looked up he said very simply, "I'd be honored."

"Really," she said with an elated smile on her face.

"Yes, Lorelai, really. It would give me great pleasure to walk you down the aisle to give your hand to the man sitting between us here," he said with a glance at Luke.

"I guess that's the only thing you can give him since he's already had everything else," Lorelai said with a mischievous grin at Luke.

"Jeez, here we go again," Luke said blushing furiously.

"Lorelai," her father said with a stern look.

"Come on, what's the big deal," she said. "We're already living together and I am pregnant, so it's not like it's not the truth."

"I have to say that I agree with Luke's statement the other night about keeping your private life private."

"Who's ready for dessert?" Luke said to change the subject as he picked up his empty plate and put it in the sink.

"Ooh, Me!" Lorelai said excitedly. "What'd you make for dessert?"

"I was so busy with the diner and the packing, I didn't have time to actually make anything, but I brought home a boysenberry pie from work. I know they're your favorite," he said.

"Yay," she said as she rose from the table to put her own dinner plate in the sink. She slid one arm around Luke's waist and said, "One of these days, you're gonna wake up and realize you're too good for me," she said affectionately and pressed a light kiss to his lips.

"Hey, not in front of your dad, ok?"he said still a little embarrassed by her earlier comment. "Why don't you finish clearing the table while I get the pie ready?"

"Ok," she grumbled as she turned back to the table and asked her dad, "Are you finished?"

"Yes, it was quite good. My compliments to the chef," he said to Luke who was busying himself with cutting the pie and getting ready to serve it while Lorelai put the leftovers from their dinner away.

"Thanks," Luke said as he returned to the table with three slices of pie, setting them around the table before resuming his seat.

"Luke is a man of many talents," Lorelai said with a smirk.

"Man," Luke said with a shake of his head.

"What? You are. The way you took over the kitchen at the inn and made it work without Sookie was nothing short of miraculous."

"Speaking of the inn, how's business," Richard asked trying to guide the conversation in a different direction, hoping it would lead where he wanted it to.

"Good, we've been pretty busy since the article came out."

"So, no vacancies?"He queried wondering if he'd have a place to stay for the night as he really was in no mood to face Emily yet.

"One or two," she said. While she hadn't actually made an appearance at the inn, she had called in to check on it. "Since this is Thursday, it's not quite as busy, but we've been packed on the weekends."

"I see," Richard said thoughtfully. "So, if someone wanted to rent a room for the night, say on the spur of the moment, there'd be one available?"

"Um, yeah, I think so. Why do you ask," Lorelai asked eyeing her father suspiciously, wondering where he was going with this.

"No reason, really," Richard said evasively not wanting Lorelai to know how serious his fight with her mother had been. He took a bite of his pie and said to Luke, "This pie is quite good, Luke. I have to admit, I've never had boysenberry pie before, but I can see why my daughter likes it."

Before Luke had a chance to comment, Lorelai jumped on her father saying, "Don't change the subject, Dad. What's with all the questions about the inn's occupancy? You've never been that interested in it before."

"I was simply inquiring about the state of your business, Lorelai. I know from what I saw yesterday that Luke's is doing quite well since the article in the Times and I wondered how the inn was doing. Just for the record, I have asked you about business at the inn many times."

"Yeah, but it's usually general questions like am I turning a profit and what do my projections look like? You've never asked about the specifics of my room occupancy. What's this all about, Dad? Are things that bad between you and Mom that you need a place to stay for the night?"

"I'd rather not talk about the trouble your mother and I are having," he said not wanting to upset her again as he knew that undue stress could potentially put his unborn grandchild at risk.

"Dad…"

"I said I don't want to talk about it," he snapped.

"Ok, but I'll tell you what, Dad. If you need a place to stay for the night, you don't have to go to the inn. You're more than welcome to stay here."

"Here?"

"Yes, Dad. Here," she confirmed. "There's a perfectly good bed in there," she said indicating Rory's room. "And it's not like Rory's using it," she added bitterly.

Richard couldn't help but notice the tinge of sadness in Lorelai's voice when she'd made her last statement. He wanted to apologize again for his part in the rift between mother and daughter, but instead said, "I don't want to intrude on the two of you when you're still getting adjusted to living together."

"So, you admit that you need a place to stay tonight?"

"Yes, all right, I need a place to stay tonight, but I'm not going to be an imposition on you and Luke."

"You wouldn't be," Luke said. "You've been nothing but supportive, so I'm with Lorelai on this one. You're welcome to stay here."

"So, what happened, Dad? Did Mom throw you out again?"

"No, she didn't, Lorelai. I left of my own accord, but as I said, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Ok," she said. "But the offer still stands. There's no reason you need to go to the inn. You spend enough time in hotels with all the traveling you do for work. If you're not going home tonight, you should at least stay with family."

"All right, Lorelai. You win. I'll stay."

"Good," she said.

They finished their dessert in silence, no one really wanting to talk about the underlying issue of how to deal with Emily and her numerous attempts to drive a wedge between Luke and Lorelai, which had accomplished nothing but creating tension between her and her husband as well as increasing the hostility that had always been there between her and Lorelai. While Luke and Lorelai straightened the kitchen, Richard had gone out to his car to retrieve the suitcase he'd impulsively grabbed after his fight with Emily and gone to Rory's room to unpack it. When the dinner dishes were done and the kitchen cleaned up Luke broke the silence by asking, "Do you wanna watch a movie or something, since we didn't get out night out?"

"Yeah, sure," Lorelai said. "What'd you have in mind?"

"I don't know. Maybe Return of the Jedi," he suggested with a grin.

"Hey, what did I say about Star Wars?"

"At least that one makes sense. The new one was completely stupid! I know it was supposed to lead up to how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, but seriously they couldn't have come up with a better explanation than that? It was totally lame and a complete waste of money to go see. I mean, Anakin was supposed to have all this natural talent as a Jedi, something that was pounded into the viewers' heads all through Episodes one and two, and all of a sudden he loses the final battle because the other guy has the high ground?"

"Well, Hon, you knew going into it that he had to lose. In the first three movies he's the bad guy."

"I know, but it still makes no sense. It's insulting to the viewers' intelligence! They might as well have done something as cliché as having his injuries come from crashing his jet pod or something."

Lorelai laughed at Luke's new rant about the movie and said, "You're such a geek."

"Spoken by the woman who has the entire series of Cop Rock on tape."

"Hey, do not mock the rock," she said.

"You've gotta admit it's got a lot of mocking potential," he fired back.

"So, do you two do this often? Debate, like this, I mean," Richard asked. It struck him as he watched them how right he was in his assertion to Emily that they hadn't spent enough time interacting with them as a couple.

"Yeah, it's kind of our thing," Lorelai answered before turning her attention back to Luke and saying, "I'll make you a deal. I'll watch your move with you tonight, if you'll watch the Buffy musical with me again tomorrow when we get back from Hartford."

"As long as you don't sing all the way through it," he challenged.

"But half the point of watching a musical is to sing along with the songs," she protested. "Besides, my singing voice is a lot better that Sarah Michelle Gellar's."

"You've got a point there," he said with a bemused smile. "All right, I concede. Star Wars tonight, Buffy tomorrow."

"Yay, I win!"

"Yeah, yeah," he said as he made his way to the living room. "Let's get the movie started." He walked to the shelf where the movies were stored and plucked his choice off of it.

"You gonna' join us, Dad?"she asked her father.

"I don't want to intrude," he protested. "You've obviously got your own thing going on here. Maybe I should just retire for the night."

"For the last time, Dad, you're not intruding. Come on and join us," she said as she followed her man into the living room where he'd already turned on the television and sat down on the end of the couch. Richard followed Lorelai as she settled herself next to Luke and leaned against him. Luke started to put his arm around her as was his normal habit when they were watching TV, but hesitated with Richard being present not wanting to make the wrong impression with his future father-in-law. "Hey, what's going on there, Cool Hand?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh…um…nothing," he said relaxing a little realizing that he was being stupid as he let his arm continue its path resting across Lorelai's shoulders. Richard had already said that he accepted them as a couple and wasn't freaked out by them living together.

"That's better," she said as she nestled into Luke's half-embrace.

There was a moment of awkwardness as Richard was unsure where he should sit. Regardless of what Lorelai had said, he still felt like he was interrupting their time together. He looked at the two of them cuddled up on the couch together and decided that even though there was room for him on sofa with them, he'd rather not encroach on their space. "I'll…um…just sit over here," he said a little nervously as he made his way to the armchair on the other side of the room.

"Ok," Lorelai said then turned to Luke. "Start the movie already. You've got the remote over there," she said indicating the end table beside him.

Luke did as he was told and the movie progressed in silence without another outburst from any of them like there had been at various times throughout their impromptu dinner together. Richard spent more time watching Lorelai's interaction with her future husband than actually watching the movie himself. He noticed how comfortable she seemed with Luke's arm around her and wondered if this was something they did often. He observed how Luke had taken her left hand in his right and was idly fiddling with the diamond ring he'd placed on it and was curious if this was something that he even realized he was doing. He knew from experience that after an extended period of time together couples developed habits in their interactions with each other that were entirely subconscious. About halfway through the movie, the silence was broken when Luke noticed that Lorelai appeared to have nodded off. "Hey," he said nudging her gently. "Let's get you to bed."

"There you go again, trying to get me into bed," she said in a sleepy voice.

Luke groaned at her comment and brushed it off by saying, "You're falling asleep. Come on, let's go." He urged to get up before standing up himself. "Do you want me to leave this on for you, so you can finish watching it?"he asked Richard.

"Um…no," Richard answered awkwardly. "I think I've seen all I need to see," he said in a tone that suggested he was talking about more than the movie. "I should be turning in myself. I still have to work in the morning." He rose from his chair and walked the direction of his granddaughter's room.

"Ok," Luke said as he turned off the television and made his way to the stairs with Lorelai. "Good night, then."

"'Night, Dad," Lorelai mumbled against Luke's shoulder as they headed up to their bedroom together. Richard turned back for a moment and watched as Luke supported Lorelai's weight all the way up the stairs. He reflected on this and the moment earlier when he consoled her when she was upset about her mother and thought about how great it was that Lorelai had a man in her life that she could lean on both literally and figuratively. He just wished he could convince his wife of that.

As soon as their bedroom door was closed, Lorelai was suddenly alert. She launched herself at Luke, kissing him fiercely. He responded at first, but then pulled back and gaped at her. "You were faking it," he said his eyes dancing in amusement.

"Yeah," she admitted. "I wanted to get you alone, but I didn't know how else to do it with my dad here." She closed the distance between them and started raining kisses on his neck while she tugged at the buttons on his flannel.

Luke sighed and lost himself for a moment in the feel of her lips against his neck before pulling back again, "So you faked being asleep."

"I wanted a little something that I knew I wouldn't have to fake," she said seductively as she resumed her attempt to get him undressed while nudging him the direction of their bed.

"Lorelai, wait," Luke said pushing her back gently, then was immediately sorry that he did when he saw the pained expression on her face.

"Don't you want me?"she questioned. "I thought since we just moved in together that we might…" She looked down at the floor not wanting him to see how hurt she was.

"It's not that I don't want you. I do. You have no idea how much, but your dad is right downstairs and I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of doing anything with him here."

"Do you honestly think he'll care? He already said that he's on board with us living together and getting married and he even agreed to give me away. Plus, he already knows the I'm pregnant, so it's not like he doesn't know that we're sleeping together."

"I know all that, Lorelai, but I want him to keep accepting us as a couple and I'm not sure that he would if he might, you know, overhear something that he shouldn't. I mean, let's face it, we both know that you're pretty…um…vocal," he said with a grin.

"Your fault," she said grinning back. "If you weren't so talented at making me crazy, I wouldn't get so loud." She moved back to get closer to him running her hands under his tee.

"You were already crazy," he quipped and groaned as Lorelai brushed her hand against the front of his jeans and reached for his zipper. When she slipped her hand inside and began to touch him, he knew he couldn't argue with her anymore. He pulled her to him and crushed her mouth with his own in a fiery kiss and let her propel him backwards onto their bed all thoughts of his future father-in-law being in the house pushed to the back of his mind as he let her have her way.