THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
April's birthday party brings an unexpected twist that changes Luke's and Lorelai's lives forever. Late sixth season.
Disclaimer: All Amy's and Dan's. Not mine. Just borrowing.
Chapter Ten: Decisions
They walked down the hall towards Ms. Webster's office and met her coming towards them. "Oh, there you are," she smiled. "My office is a little small for a meeting of this size, so we're going into a conference room down here," she invited, gesturing to a door at the end of the same hallway.
They went into a medium-sized room containing a long table with comfortable padded chairs all around it. Steve Nardini was already there talking in a soft voice with a woman in her fifties with short, iron-grey hair. Both stopped talking and smiled as the trio entered.
Luke, Lorelai and Steve greeted each other and Ms. Webster gestured to the other woman. "This is Angela Rivera from DCF. She's been appointed as April's caseworker for the state."
Luke went to her and shook her hand. "Luke Danes, April's father. And this is my fiancée, Lorelai Gilmore." The two women smiled and nodded at each other and Luke turned to Ms. Webster. "And Lorelai, this is Ms. Webster, the hospital social worker."
She and Lorelai shook hands with smiles and they settled around the table. Ms. Webster was carrying a brown folder with papers spilling out of it which she set on the table before her as she pulled out a pad of paper and a pen.
She smiled at the group as they relaxed in their chairs. "Mrs. Rivera, perhaps you could take a minute to explain your role here," she requested.
Mrs. Rivera nodded. "I'm from the state Department of Children and Families, and let me say from the outset that my presence here is not intended to cast any aspersions on anyone's ability or intention to care for April—not you, Dr. Nardini, nor you, Mr. Danes. I understand that you both care about her very much," she added with a pleasant smile.
Both men nodded and she continued. "Since April's primary legal caretaker passed away in the accident the other night, at present she is considered an unattached minor child. In any case in which a child in Connecticut loses his or her legal guardian, my department takes charge. This is just to guarantee that they are protected and their interests are looked after until a legal arrangement is made for a new guardian. My job is simply to assist in making arrangements for that to happen and to make sure that they are carried out in a way that's best for April, according to DCF standards." She noticed the alarmed look on Luke's face and added with a chuckle, "Don't worry—they aren't impossibly high." Luke looked relieved even as an embarrassed blush stained his cheeks at his concern being noticed. Lorelai squeezed his hand affectionately.
Mrs. Rivera continued. "I'll be involved with April for the next few months, including a period after she goes to her new home, whichever home that may be, just to follow up and make sure everything is going well. If it does, I'll close the case and be out of your hair for good." She added a wink at the end of her speech.
There were small chuckles around the table and Ms. Webster grinned. "Thank you. Mrs. Rivera can go into more detail later as needed." She turned her attention to Steve, who was sitting at the end of the table and fidgeting nervously. "Dr. Nardini, I understand you have something to tell us today. Would you like to start?"
"Yes." Steve cleared this throat, looking nervous. "I spoke with Anna's attorney yesterday. I haven't seen a copy of her will yet, but the attorney told me some of the content, as I'm listed as co-executor. My older sister is the other executor. Apparently she wants everything to be sold and put in trust for April, especially for her education, with a specific amount set aside to cover living expenses for her. " He glanced around the room. "She also named me April's guardian," he added softly.
Lorelai could hear Luke's intake of breath in her ear; it didn't seem that anyone else had. They quickly flashed a glance at each other and she squeezed his hand again supportively.
Steve watched them for a second and went on in a ragged voice. "I believe Anna wrote that into her will several years ago, when I was still married and owned a home in West Hartford," he said. "Within the last year and a half, I've been divorced and my ex-wife moved out of state. We sold the house because she wanted her share of the proceeds. I moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Hartford, so—right now, I don't really have a good setup for April to live in." He paused for a moment and then continued. "In addition, I've recently been named the project manager for a major research project at my lab. We worked very hard for a long time to get this contract, and I really wanted the leadership position. I've waited a long time for an opportunity like this, in part so I'd be able to keep busy and—and not think about other things too much. I expect that I'll be at work around ten to twelve hours a day for the next few years."
He looked around the room with a pleading expression on his face. "I love April like she was my own, and if I was still in the house, I wouldn't hesitate to take her. And if there's no other alternative, I still will take her and work something out at my job. But. . ." his eyes trailed to Luke's face, who was staring at him wide-eyed with his lips pressed together. "But it looks like there's a possible alternative plan," Steve finished softly.
The eyes of everyone in the room swung to Luke. "Mr. Danes?" Ms. Webster said gently. "Have you and Ms. Gilmore made any decisions about what you want to do?"
Luke was nodding before the words were out of her mouth. "We want April," he said bluntly, looking around the room. "Lorelai and I want to take April and make her a part of our family."
His eyes turned to Lorelai as he finished that statement and caught her eyes. They were shining into his as she gave a tiny nod.
"Ms. Gilmore?" Ms. Webster asked. "Are you in agreement with Mr. Danes?"
Lorelai's face swung in the social worker's direction. "We're in absolute agreement," she said firmly. "We want April to come to Stars Hollow and live with us." Her eyes fell on Steve. "And Steve, you'd be welcome to visit her, and us, whenever you can."
"Thank you," Steve murmured, looking like a fifty-pound weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "In that case, I'll be happy to sign away my rights to guardianship."
Luke squeezed Lorelai's hand and they smiled into one another's eyes as the tension in the room subsided and the other parties relaxed. "That's great," Ms. Webster said softly. "That's really good news." She smiled at them for a moment and added, "And you'll be happy to learn that that's April's preference, too. We discussed it yesterday."
Luke and Lorelai exchanged a delighted glance.
Mrs. Rivera nodded. "That is good. We always like to see children go into two-parent homes," she added, smiling. She clicked open her pen and posed it above a pad of paper. "If you don't mind, could I ask a few questions, just to get a better picture of the living situation April will be going into."
"Of course," Luke murmured and braced himself for what he feared would be a grilling.
Mrs. Rivera took a moment to look over some notes she already had. "It's my understanding that you two aren't yet married, is that correct?"
"Yes, it is," Luke replied.
"Do you have a date set?"
Luke hesitated, not wanting to go into the June 3rd business again, but Lorelai jumped in. "Not yet, but we decided last night that we would arrange for it to happen as soon as possible. Probably by the end of the summer or early autumn," she answered.
Mrs. Rivera seemed satisfied, but Ms. Webster jumped in quickly. "Mr. Danes, when we originally discussed it, you said that you had had a date in June for the wedding, but it had been postponed," she stated calmly. She smiled and leaned on the table. "Forgive me if I'm being forward, but I sensed at that time that there had been some difficulty or tension about that date." She smiled again, trying to put him at ease. "You can't talk to people as long as I have without developing some ability to read between the lines."
Lorelai opened her mouth to intervene and rescue him, but Luke began to talk first. "You were right," he replied calmly, looking straight into her eyes. "Lorelai had arranged for the wedding to be on June 3rd just because several things fell into place at once for that date. Unfortunately, that was right around the time I decided that I wanted to pursue a relationship with April. I—I hadn't told Lorelai about meeting April at that point," he confessed, "so she didn't know what I was struggling with. I see now that it was stupid of me to hide it. But I haven't had much experience with kids and between suddenly becoming a father and approaching becoming a husband, I got a little overwhelmed." He looked warmly at Lorelai and squeezed her hand. "After Lorelai found out about April, she was kind enough to offer to postpone the wedding until I felt more comfortable." He looked at Ms. Webster. "I feel comfortable now, and I'm completely ready for us to get married soon."
She nodded, and gave him a small grin, looking satisfied, and looked at Mrs. Rivera, nodding for her to continue.
"Are you two living together at this point?" the DCF worker asked.
"Not exactly," Luke replied. "I have an apartment over the diner that I own in Stars Hollow, and I've been living there for some years. Lorelai owns a house just outside of the center of town, and I've been living there part-time."
The woman nodded. "How big is your apartment? How many bedrooms and baths?"
"Well, it's more like one big room," Luke explained hesitantly. "There are several—well, I guess you'd call them sections with partial partitions, but no real bedrooms. One bath."
"So no separate bedroom with a door on it for April?" Mrs. Rivera inquired. "That's right," Luke replied. "My nephew lived with me for a couple of years and there seemed to be space enough for both of us. But not much privacy."
"And the apartment is on the second floor?"
"Yes. And the stairs are rather steep," Luke winced, thinking of April's broken leg.
The woman wrote a note, her lips pursed. Her attention swung to Lorelai. "And your house, Ms. Gilmore?"
"It's small, but it's two-story with three bedrooms, one on the first floor," Lorelai explained. "Upstairs is the master bedroom, which is a good size, and a small bedroom that we added when we renovated last year. There are two baths, one on each floor."
Mrs. Rivera nodded, writing again. "That sounds like the more viable alternative, especially considering April's leg," she mused. "You say there's a bedroom on the first floor?"
"Yes. It's my daughter Rory's room."
"And is Rory living with you now?"
"She's in college," Lorelai explained. "Yale," she added proudly. "So she comes home the occasional weekend. She won't be home for the summer until mid-June. She's already told me that she wouldn't mind April staying in her room while her leg heals, and when she comes home, we'll figure out where we are."
"There's another possibility, too," Luke added. "We're starting to talk about finding a bigger house. With both April and Rory there, it could get a little crowded—and besides, we're hoping to have more children."
Mrs. Rivera smiled as she finished her notes. "Well, that sounds nice," she said approvingly. She sat in thought for a minute and then nodded. "Normally we don't encourage placing a child in a household with an unmarried adult couple, but there are a lot of special circumstances at work here," she explained. "April's leg and the need to have a bedroom on the first floor. The fact that Mr. Danes is her biological parent. The fact that you're planning to marry so soon. The lack of a good viable alternative. " She nodded again. "While it's a little unorthodox, I'm sure that we can get the okay for April to move into your home, Ms. Gilmore—provided Mr. Danes moves completely in also."
Lorelai smiled at her fiancée. "Oh, I don't think his moving in will be a problem," she said teasingly. And Luke explained, "I've been almost all the way in there for a while now."
Dirty, they both thought.
"Okay," Ms. Rivera said with some finality. "I'll need you, Mr. Danes, to sign an application for temporary guardianship before I leave today. That can be granted in a day or so, soon enough so that April can go to your home—your new home" she emphasized—"directly from the hospital. It's good for a year. The other thing we need to do today is for you to re-take a DNA test to establish your paternity. Once that's done, the court will re-issue April's birth certificate naming you as April's father and your guardianship will become automatic and permanent." She looked at Lorelai. "Once Mr. Danes' parental relationship is established, he can apply for you to be co-guardian if you both agree. Once you are married, your relationship as stepparent will become automatic. Sometime in the future, you might want to consider adopting April, but you don't have to think about that yet." She smiled. "I'll be hovering around, checking things out, gathering information and making sure everything is going smoothly and that April is being well cared for. So I'm afraid you'll be seeing a lot of this face over the next few months."
Lorelai chimed in before Luke could speak. "In Stars Hollow, our motto is, 'The more, the merrier.' The whole town will welcome you." She grinned and added, "Do you like coffee, Mrs. Rivera?"
"Yes, I do," the woman said with a quizzical look.
"Then you're in for a real treat." She laughed and pointed to Luke. "Best coffee on the eastern seaboard, right here," she declared proudly.
Luke rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"I'll look forward to trying it," Mrs. Rivera replied, delighted with the playful exchange between the prospective guardians of her new client. Everyone grinned at each other for a few moments while Steve watched approvingly. Then Mrs. Rivera grew more serious and looked straight at Lorelai.
"Ms. Gilmore—taking another person's child into your home is difficult at best," she began. "It can be especially hard when it happens because of the death of a parent. You'll need a tremendous amount of patience and love to make it work and to give April what she'll need through the next few months as well as the rest of her adolescence." She looked Lorelai straight in the eye. "Do you think you can do it?"
Lorelai straightened up in her chair and her face became solemn. She nodded. "I'm sure I can."
"What makes you so sure?" Mrs. Rivera pressed.
"Well, for one thing—April is Luke's child," Lorelai said softly, flashing a smile his way. "I love Luke. It won't be hard for me to love Luke's child." She was lost in thought for a moment and then looked back at them with a smile. "Besides, I like kids—all kids. For instance, my daughter's best friend from kindergarten practically grew up in my house, too. She's a wonderful person and we're still good friends."
"She's an employee of mine now," Luke chimed in. "Lorelai's a great parent. I've never seen one better. You should meet Rory, Lorelai's daughter."
Mrs. Rivera smiled at his enthusiasm. "I'd like to. I imagine I will, somewhere along the line."
"Lorelai raised her completely alone," Luke bragged.
"That's hard under the best of circumstances." Mrs. Rivera nodded and gazed at Lorelai. "Forgive me if this seems rude, but you look very young to have a daughter in college."
"I was a very young mother," Lorelai tried to joke. When the two women looked at her with no reaction, she sobered quickly. "I had Rory when I was sixteen." When the two social workers nodded for her to go on, she did. "She's twenty-one now and I just turned thirty-eight. Her father wasn't around much for her. I lived with my parents when she was born, but I had always had a very conflicted relationship with them. So when Rory was about a year old, I moved out, went to Stars Hollow to live and work and have been there ever since."
"What kind of work do you do?" asked Mrs. Rivera.
"I've always worked in hotel management. About a year ago, I opened my own inn, the Dragonfly Inn. I co-own it with a friend."
"It's doing very well," Luke added. Lorelai nodded in agreement.
"That must be very time-consuming," Mrs. Rivera mused.
"It was at first, but not so much now. I have a really great staff and it pretty much runs itself, as long as I'm around to oversee everything and to take care of emergencies and specific problems. So my work schedule is quite flexible. I can do a lot of the paperwork at home, too."
Mrs. Rivera nodded. "And your parents—are you getting along better with them now? Are they in this area?"
"Yes, they're here in Hartford." Lorelai considered the question. "And, yes, I'd say things are much better between us than they were back when my daughter was born."
"That's good," the older woman said. "Do you think they'll have much contact with April, or much input into her life?"
"There will probably be some contact. But input? Probably not," Lorelai assured her.
Luke was tempted to give a stronger response—something along the lines of, Emily Gilmore will never get within five hundred feet of my daughter—but held himself back.
Ms. Webster looked around the room. "We do have more to discuss, but now that the basics have been covered, I want to pause a moment and see if April can be brought in by wheelchair. Since she's over twelve, she should have a say in the rest of the plan—and I know she has a lot of questions." She looked around the table. "Is there anything any of you want to bring up before she comes in?"
Luke cleared his throat. "Yes," he said gruffly. "Ummm—the funeral."
The word alone brought the mood in the room to a more somber level.
Steve leaned towards Luke. "We're planning it for Tuesday. I don't know if April wants to come, or if she'll be well enough. . ."
"This morning her doctor was talking about releasing her on Monday if she continues to do well," Ms. Webster put in.
Lorelai frowned. "Is that—kind of soon? I mean, with the surgery and all?"
"It's pretty typical," Ms. Webster assured her. "Insurance coverage isn't what it used to be," she added wryly. "We try to arrange to do as much as possible on an outpatient basis now. For instance, we'll arrange for a visiting physical therapist to come out and help April with the crutches when she's ready for them." She paused and looked back and forth from Lorelai to Luke. "Is Monday a problem for you?"
"No, not at all," Luke assured her. Lorelai smiled her dazzling smile. "Just a lot to do between now and then, that's all."
Ms. Webster nodded. "Okay. Anyway, April will probably be released in time for the funeral. She and I haven't talked about it, so we'll have to ask her if she wants to go."
"Should she be the one to decide?" queried Luke.
"Yes." Ms. Webster nodded her head decisively. "She's old enough to make that decision. If she really objects, of course she shouldn't be made to go, but in general it's better that she does. The funeral would be one form of—closure, I guess you'd call it. It would be an appropriate way to help her begin to mourn."
Luke looked uncertain but gamely said, "Well if you think it's a good idea, and if she wants to—we'll take her, won't we?" addressing the last to Lorelai.
"Of course we will." She looked at April's uncle. "Steve, I don't know if you're planning to have any kind of reception after the funeral. . ."
"I know I need to plan something," Steve agreed. "But I just haven't been able to work on that yet."
"Well, I'd like to offer the Dragonfly as a location. We'd be delighted to set it up."
Steve looked stunned. "That's. . . that's very kind of you. That would be a big load off my mind."
"Consider it done," Lorelai smiled. "It's no trouble at all."
"Thank you," he murmured.
"Good." Ms. Webster looked around the room. "Any other issues before April comes in?" She waited, looking around the room but no one spoke. "Okay, good. If you think of anything else during the meeting, speak right up," she added cheerfully. "So I'll go get April."
The others nodded as she left the room and sat quietly talking amongst themselves while they waited. About ten minutes passed before Luke heard a thump at the door and leaped up to open it and allow his daughter to be wheeled in. April looked around the room a little shyly as her chair was placed at the end of the long table.
Ms. Webster reclaimed her seat. "So, April, welcome. We've been talking for a while about your immediate future and making some plans that we wanted to check out with you, and also talk about some other stuff." She nodded at Mrs. Rivera.
The older woman inclined her head and looked directly at the teenager. "April, we've all talked it over and we think it would be best for you to live with your father and Ms. Gilmore," she said directly.
Lorelai and Luke were watching April's face closely and were happy to see it relax at the news and to see a small smile begin to tug at her lips. "Really?" she asked. She looked at her father. "I'm going to come to live with you?"
"You sure are, sweetie," Luke replied, reaching out and taking her hand. "It'll be great."
April smiled at him and then her eyes drifted to Lorelai. "Do you—do you really want me?" she said timidly. "After all, we just met."
"Of course I want you, honey," Lorelai replied warmly. "We may have just met but I could tell I liked you from the start. And your dad's told me so much about you that I feel I've known you as long as he has." She winked. "We'll have a great time. I've missed having a teenager in the house."
April grinned back, her heart in her eyes.
Ms. Rivera explained about the temporary guardianship that Luke would assume until the new DNA test came back, and that Lorelai would be named co-guardian until the wedding, when she would indeed become April's stepmother. April and Luke exchanged a mischievous look at the word. They also explained that April and Luke would move into Lorelai's house. "I'm sorry that you've never seen it, sweetie," Luke apologized, "but I'm sure you'll like it. And there's a first floor bedroom for you to stay in."
"When can I get out of here and move in?" April asked breathlessly.
"We're hoping for Monday."
"Yay!" April clapped her hands, bringing smiles to everyone's faces. But then Ms. Webster said, more quietly, "Yes, it's great. But something else is coming up for you that isn't so great."
April sobered, her face betraying dread and suspicion. "What?" she said a little sullenly.
"Your mom's funeral, honey," Steve said gently. "It's scheduled for Tuesday. If you're out of here by then, do you want to go?"
April stared at him, almost as if she didn't hear him. After a pause Luke cleared his throat and said, "You don't have to if you don't want to, sweetie."
April turned to look at him. Her face had whitened and her pupils dilated. She stared at him then dropped her eyes as if she was considering the question. In a small voice she finally said, "No, I'll go."
"You're sure?" Steve asked.
She nodded, looking at her hands clutched in her lap. "I'm sure. I think I should. I think I have to."
"You don't have to do anything that will be too hard for you, April," Ms. Webster said gently.
April shook her head, looking more certain. "No. I want to go." Her eyes raised to Luke. "Will you go with me?"
Luke took her hand. "Of course I will, April."
April's eyes moved to Steve. "Will you be there, Uncle Steve?"
"I'll be there. And your Aunt Betsy and Uncle Jim are coming down from Maine to be there too."
"Grandma?"
"No, honey," Steve advised softly. "I'm afraid Grandma is too frail to take such a long plane ride."
April nodded again. Her eyes cast around the room and settled on Lorelai. "Will you please come, too?" she whispered.
"You bet I will." Lorelai told her. "We'll all be there to support you."
April sighed. "Okay." She thought for another minute and said, "Can we talk about something else now?"
"What do you want to talk about?" Mrs. Rivera asked. "What do you have questions about?"
"School." April said firmly, having obviously been waiting to get this off her chest. "I've missed two days now and they don't know where I am."
"Oh, they do," Ms. Webster assured her. "The first morning you were here, I took the liberty of calling your principal and explained what had happened. He was going to have the teachers talk to your friends and explain it to them. They've probably known since yesterday."
"Oh," April said, looking uncertain. "Okay, that's good, I guess."
"Do you have any other friends outside of school who need to be told? If you do, give me their names and phone numbers and I'll call their mothers and explain."
April nodded but looked sad.
Ms. Webster observed her closely. "What's bothering you, April?"
"Nobody's come to see me," she said in a small voice.
"You haven't been allowed visitors until now except for family," Ms. Webster said. "If you're still improving and feeling okay later today, the doctor will probably lift that restriction for the weekend so some of your friends can come and see you. Not too many at once," she added with mock sternness.
"Good." April's affirmation was strong. "And when will I be able to go back to school?"
"You won't be able to go until your ribs heal and you can start using crutches. That'll be a few weeks still."
April's eyes widened. "A few weeks! I'll get so far behind!"
"Don't worry," Ms. Webster soothed. "When a kid can't go to school for a while because of illness or injury, his or hers town's education department can send out a tutor a couple of days a week to make sure you keep up." She smiled. "I hear you're a good student, so maybe you won't even need a tutor. Mrs. Rivera will talk to your teacher and see if you can keep up on your own if you have the assignments. If not, you'll get a tutor."
April considered this, pouting a little. "So what am I going to do all day until I can go back to school?" She looked at Luke. "Can I come hang out at the diner?"
"Sure you can," Luke said heartily. "And if you play your cards right, I'll bet Lorelai will let you hang out at her inn, too. She's got a great library there and DVD's and stuff."
"Absolutely you can," Lorelai said. "We don't get as much town drama at the inn as Luke gets at the diner," she joked, "but we've got Michel and Sookie, and they put on a pretty good show sometimes. Plus the occasional nutty tourist." She winked. "And it might be a nice place to meet your tutor, too."
April smiled. "I think I'd like that."
They continued to talk for a while about other odds and ends, for instance, getting April some clothes and belongings from her house both for that week and moving her things out after she left the hospital. Lorelai and Steve volunteered to coordinate that. They discussed the physical therapist who would be seeing April several times a week at home and what location was best suited for that activity, the follow-up doctor visits she would need and the length of time she would be in her cast. When the meeting was over, Luke signed the request for temporary guardianship and watched with mild trepidation as Mrs. Rivera took a test tube and swab from her briefcase. "For the paternity test," she explained. April watched with avid interest as Luke ran the swab against the inside of his cheek and Mrs. Rivera popped it into the vial, stoppered the top and placed it in an envelope. "I'll drop it off at the lab on my way back to my office," she offered. "We should have the results in a day or so."
Phone numbers were exchanged and the group began to scatter. After Steve had left with his apologies, promising to visit that evening, Luke and Lorelai rolled April back to her room.