WE ARE IN THE SINGLE DIGITS, PEOPLE! Next Friday can honestly not come soon enough. In the mean time, enjoy the new chapter!


"Hey, Mom," Lorelai chirped as she and Luke entered her parents' living room.

Emily ignored Lorelai and headed straight to Luke, who was holding Victoria's carrier. "Is that Victoria?" Emily demanded.

"Oh, did you want us to bring Victoria?" Lorelai asked. "Sorry, we weren't sure. We went to Babies R Us and traded her out for another baby."

"Lorelai, honestly, there's no need for sarcasm," Emily said, leaning over the carrier.

"Yes, Mom, it's Victoria," Lorelai placated. "If you let Luke into the room, he'll even put her down and let you hold her."

Emily straightened and tugged slightly at her jacket, a sheepish look briefly crossing her face. "Come in, Luke," she said.

"Thanks," he nodded at her before he stepped into the room and sat down on the couch beside Lorelai. He set the carrier on the floor beside the couch, then crouched down to unbuckle the baby. "It's okay," he murmured gently as he lifted her into his arms. "We're both here."

Lorelai peered at Victoria as Luke resumed his seat on the couch. "She's doing okay?" she asked.

"Seems it," Luke nodded. "Just waking up."

"Diaper?"

"Dry."

With a satisfied nod, Lorelai leaned back into her seat. "I'll take that drink any time now, Mom," she requested.

Emily didn't look at her as she handed her a tall glass of water. "Let me hold her," she said to Luke.

Sighing softly, Luke stood and handed Victoria over to Emily. The older woman's face melted from its usual stone façade as she rocked Victoria in her arms, and Luke offered Lorelai smile as he sat down beside her again.

"She's a lovely baby," Emily declared after a moment. "She looks just like Rory did."

Lorelai smiled fondly. "Yeah, the first thing Luke noticed was that she has her big sister's eyes," she said.

"She's growing," Emily observed.

"Better than shrinking."

Emily settled into her chair beside the couch as she continued to look at the baby in her arms. "How are her social skills?" she asked.

"She'll be losing her glass slipper next week."

"Lorelai, don't you take anything seriously?"

"Sorry," Lorelai held her hands up defensively. "She's two months old, Mom, she has no social skills."

"She learned to smile," Luke offered, hoping it would satisfy Emily's curiosity.

It did, and Emily turned to offer her granddaughter a smile of her own. "I'm sure it's a beautiful smile," she said.

"So where's Dad?" Lorelai asked. "Bow tie warehouse?"

"He's in his study," Emily replied. "He's been working diligently on a project for Victoria."

"Project?" Lorelai froze. "What kind of project?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

"Uh, considering that we're her parents it does concern us," Lorelai said. Looking at her mother suspiciously, she asked, "You're not going to enter her into the babies of the year contest at the country club are you?"

"Does that exist?" Luke asked, earning himself a glare from his wife.

"It certainly does," Emily interjected. "And you're married to the first runner up from 1968."

Lorelai's face morphed into complete horror as Luke fought off laughter with everything inside of him.

"You promised you'd never tell anyone that!" Lorelai accused.

"Why not? It's an honorable title," Emily assured her. Turning back to Luke she added, "She would have won, too, if her head wasn't twice the size it should have been."

"Hey!" Lorelai cried, offended. "I couldn't help that."

"Baby of the year, huh?" Luke asked, looking at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "You just keep surprising me."

"It's not like I chose it," Lorelai frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "I was like seven months old."

"Rory would have won her year if you hadn't been so possessive of her," Emily added.

"She's my kid, if there's one thing I could be possessive of, it's her," Lorelai defended. "And her," she added, pointing to Victoria. "Well, and April. Kind of."

Luke patted her knee and turned to Emily. "So I'm assuming you have pictures of this contest?" he asked.

"Traitor!" Lorelai gasped, pulling away from him.

"Oh, good, Lorelai, Luke, you're here. I've been working on Victoria's trust fund," Richard appeared from his study and nodded at them before he turned to Emily. "Is that her?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "What other baby would we bring with us?" she asked.

"It's always considerate to ask, Lorelai," Richard said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Well, from here on out, always assume the kid we bring with us is, in fact, Victoria," Lorelai said. "Unless you're told otherwise, of course."

"Alright, Emily, it's my turn to hold her," Richard said as he reached for Victoria.

"Absolutely not, I've barely had any time at all with her!" Emily turned away from Richard. "Wait your turn!"

"Well, I don't see how that's fair, you've clearly had more time with her than I have."

"You can ask all you want, I'm not handing her over."

Lorelai leaned into Luke and muttered, "this will go on for a good twenty minutes. Want to go make out?"

"Wait until tonight."

Lorelai sighed and opened her mouth to respond, but quickly turned to Victoria when she began to cry. "Oh, watch this, it should be good."

"The child is crying, Emily," Richard informed her.

"Yes, I can hear that, Richard," Emily snapped.

"Why is she crying?"

"I don't know, maybe she's hungry."

Luke tilted his head to the side. "They have no idea what to do," he observed.

"You're lucky I had nannies," Lorelai nodded as she stood. "I'll take her, Mom. She probably needs a diaper change."

"I can do it," Emily insisted.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes. "No offense, but how many diapers have you changed in your life?" she asked.

"I have a daughter and a granddaughter!" Emily skillfully avoided the question.

"Uh huh, and I know for a fact that you never changed Rory's diaper," Lorelai confirmed.

"Only because you'd rather have let her sit in her own filth than have me help."

Lorelai's eyes narrowed and she sat down next to Luke. "Okay," she said, gesturing to Victoria. "Be my guest."

"Thank you," Emily said, but she looked down at Victoria skeptically.

Luke leaned into Lorelai and asked, "You're really going to let our kid go through this for your entertainment?"

"Relax, I give it another twenty seconds before she gives up," Lorelai said before she handed Emily a clean diaper and a box of baby wipes. "Here, Mom."

Emily looked at the items with dismay, but took them cautiously. Lorelai caught her father's eye as he watched the situation unfold with equal amusement. "You know, Dad, there's a rumor going around that men can actually change diapers now a days."

Richard's face turned to slight panic before it took on determination. "Very well, I'll help," he declared.

"You're evil," Luke muttered in Lorelai's ear.

"Shh, I'm trying to watch," she said.

Emily was trying to unbutton Victoria's onesie, and frowned as she laid the baby on the couch in front of her. "Richard, hand me the clean diaper," she said.

"In a minute, Emily," he said patiently. "I'm trying to figure out which side of the diaper is the front."

"I can't imagine that that matters," Emily replied as she slowly pulled the legs of the onesie out of the way.

Luke pushed himself forward, ready to spring into action if needed, and Lorelai clasped a hand over her mouth in attempts to cover up her laughter.

Emily peeled the diaper back slightly and her face registered disgust for a brief moment. "Richard, bring me some gloves," she commanded.

"Well, I don't know that we have gloves," Richard replied.

"Surely you don't expect me to change a diaper without gloves!" Emily cried.

"Okay, go," Lorelai said, pushing gently on Luke's shoulder.

"I'll take her," Luke said, standing and scooping Victoria into his arms. "Lorelai?"

"Right, coming," she said. She took her baby from Luke's arms and said, "It's okay, baby, Grandma and Grandpa did their best." She gestured towards the bathroom and said, "We'll be right back."

Luke nodded after her and shoved his hands in his pockets as he turned to look at his embarrassed in laws. "It took me awhile to learn," he said by way of conversation.

Emily's face morphed into her usual annoyed expression as she swiped her wine into her hands and resumed her seat. "I hear that things are going well for April at Chilton," she commented.

With a nod, Luke sat down as well. "Yeah, it's hard to believe she's almost done with her first year," he said. "She has a big science presentation next week. She's been working on it for weeks, it's a big part of her grade."

Richard nodded in appreciation. "It's good she has such a strong work ethic for such a young age," he commented. "It will serve her well in life."

"Yeah, I hope so," Luke glanced over his shoulder and willed Lorelai to return to the room.

"When is the presentation?" Emily asked curiously.

"Next Tuesday afternoon," Luke sighed.

"What's next Tuesday?" Lorelai asked as she breezed back into the room with Victoria in her arms.

"April's presentation," Luke reminded her.

A disappointed expression came across Lorelai's face. "Yeah, it will be good for her," she said. "I wish I could go."

"Why can't you?" Emily asked curiously.

Lorelai sighed as she looked down at Victoria. "She's still kind of small for stuff like that," she commented. "She'd get overwhelmed by all the people and noise. Luke promised to give me a play by play though."

"Let us watch her," Richard requested.

Lorelai let loose a string of giggles and shook her head. "Wow, you've got something there, Dad," she said. Seeing the hurt expressions on her parents' face, she quickly sobered and asked, "Wait, are you serious?"

"Why not?" Emily asked. "She is our granddaughter, we'd be thrilled to watch her."

"Yes, but five minutes ago you couldn't tag team a diaper," Lorelai replied. "We appreciate the offer, but honestly, it's okay. April knows I'd be there if I could. It's most important that Luke's there."

"Lorelai, don't be ridiculous, you're going to that presentation," Richard said firmly. "Just drop Victoria off here first."

There was a heavy silence in the room before Lorelai cleared her throat. "I…um…Victoria needs to eat," she announced. "I'll go upstairs."

"I'll…help you," Luke said quickly, jumping to his feet to follow her up the stairs, not wanting to be left alone with the Gilmores again.

"Help me?" Lorelai asked when they reached the landing. "I don't think even they'll fall for that."

He peered into her arms. "Does she really need to eat?" he asked.

"No, I just needed a second," Lorelai said.

Luke lifted his gaze to meet hers. Nodding to her old bedroom door, he opened it and led her inside. "Do you want them to watch her?" he asked.

"Do you?"

"I asked first."

"Okay, well, now that we're twelve…" Lorelai sighed as she sat down on the bed. She scooted to the center and then laid Victoria on the bed in front of her. She tickled her daughter's stomach slightly and earned a smile in return. "I don't know. Neither of them can change a diaper, and I'd hate to think what they'd be like at the sight of bottled breast milk."

"Yeah, they seemed pretty helpless," Luke agreed as he sat down on the other side of the bed and smiled down at Victoria.

Lorelai regarded him curiously. "Do you want them to do it?" she asked.

"I want you to be there for April," Luke replied.

"It's not that I don't want to go," Lorelai said quietly. "Last year I flew all the way across the country for this thing, I'd be there in a heartbeat if it wasn't too much for Victoria."

"I know," Luke nodded. He was quiet as he watched Victoria wave her arms in the air. "Maybe they should do it. We'll leave them detailed instructions on diaper changes and plenty of gloves."

Lorelai shook her head. "What if they don't give her back?" she asked.

"Well, she's our kid, they don't have a choice," Luke pointed out.

"You say that, but I'm pretty sure my mother was waiting in the shadows for the first six months of Rory's life," Lorelai replied. "The second I turned my back she would have taken her and ran. Which is why I did it first."

"You've got to stop comparing everything to what happened then," Luke told her.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"Nothing," Luke said. "But everything was different when you had Rory. Your relationship with your parents has come a long way, you've proven yourself to be an outstanding mother who can provide for her kids. You have a house, a husband, and a business. You're not a kid anymore, but you're acting like your parents still don't trust your parenting capabilities."

"Well, you try living with forty years of not being good enough," Lorelai said. "That stupid baby of the year contest? One of my first memories is of my mom telling me that I could have won if I'd sat still."

"You weren't even a year old."

"I know," Lorelai nodded. "But my point is that I've never done anything good enough to their standards."

"You raised a kid who went to Yale."

"But first I took her away from them and lived in a shed," Lorelai sighed. "They're never going to get over that, Luke. I'm never going to be good enough."

Luke was silent as he reached out to wrap a strand of her hair around his fingers. "Prove it to them," he suggested.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and lifted Victoria into her arms. "If getting Rory through Yale isn't proof enough, I'll never be able to do so," she said. "Plus, she spent two years writing about democrats and now she's working for Harvard and living with a boy. Once they find that out, it will all be because of how I raised her."

"She's perfect," Luke countered. "Prove to them that you're a more than capable mother, that Victoria is cared for and loved. Have them babysit on Tuesday, but ask them to come to our house."

With eyebrows raised, Lorelai met his eyes. "You're willing to let Richard and Emily be alone with our daughter in our house?" she asked. "You do realize that when I was a kid, my mom went through all of my drawers and closets just looking for reasons to get me in trouble."

Luke eyed her suspiciously. "And what did she find?" he asked.

With a giggle, Lorelai pointed towards the dresser. "Two and a half pounds of tootsie rolls," she replied.

"Figures," he rolled his eyes.

"Of course, underneath was the condoms and tequila," Lorelai continued.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Well, you're allowed to have both now, so what's the worst that can happen if they babysit?" he asked.

"Uh, they spend two hours trying to change her diaper," Lorelai replied. "They've never cared for a baby, Luke, ever. I was raised by nannies and I admittedly kept Rory from them. They have no idea how much work it takes."

"So let them figure it out," Luke insisted. "Maybe they'll realize how hard it was for you to raise Rory the way you did." Lorelai shot him a doubtful look, and he shrugged. "I said maybe," he stated.

Lorelai sighed and held Victoria out in front of her. "What do you think, sweet girl?" she asked. "Want to spend an afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa?"

Victoria rubbed a sleepy hand over her eyes, and Lorelai turned to Luke. "I think that means that she's okay with it as long as they let her sleep," she said.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Lorelai replied. As she stood, she commented, "It's still weird to me when you're all team Gilmore."

"They're not as bad as they used to be," Luke shrugged.

"No, they're not," Lorelai sighed. They walked towards the stairs and she said, "You'll have to see if you can get that camera installed though."

"I'll see what I can do."

They walked back down the stairs, and Lorelai offered her parents a smile. "You'd better stock up on those gloves," she informed them. "You're going to have a lot of diapers to change next week."

XXXXX

Luke shifted uncomfortably in his folding chair, tugging at the collar of his shirt as he tried to pay attention to one of April's classmates present a display of various genetic studies of evolution. Lorelai gently reached out to place a hand on his knee, then muttered, "She's fine. You're not going to call again."

"Like you were really checking in on Sookie at the inn," Luke replied.

Lorelai didn't reply, but allowed a small smile to cross her lips as she remained focused on the panel of high school students seated on the stage in front of them. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said.

With a sigh, Luke crossed his arms over his chest and tried to focus on the presentation, wondering not for the first time how his kid had become so interested in academic presentations like these. While he was certainly proud of her and encouraged her to pursue her scientific interests, he wasn't sure he'd ever enjoy sitting through the other kids who had prepared similar presentations.

He felt Lorelai remove her hand from his leg and watched from the corner of his eye as she slowly reached into her purse. With a smirk, he saw her discreetly open her cell phone, clearly expecting some sort of emergency message from her parents.

Reaching his arm around the back of her chair, he leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "The pot shouldn't call the kettle black."

She quickly dropped the cell phone back into her purse and crossed her arms over her chest, pointedly ignoring him.

Ten minutes later, the presentations were over and Lorelai stood. "I wonder where they're stashing the coffee," she commented.

"Do you see April?" Luke replied.

"Uh huh, she's the one in plaid skirt," Lorelai confirmed.

Luke sighed in exasperation. "Sometimes I don't know why I put up with you," he said.

"Because I'm pretty and you love me," Lorelai supplied. "Oh, and there was that whole giving birth to your kid thing."

"Yeah, I guess that's part of it," Luke said, feigning indifference.

"Hey, Dad!" April appeared in front of them. "Hi, Lorelai."

"You did great, kid," Luke said, offering her a hug. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," April said, her eyes shining.

Lorelai offered her a hug of her own. "You were definitely the prettiest girl up there," she complimented.

April rolled her eyes, a gesture that always made Lorelai marvel at how much she resembled Luke. It would be interesting to see if Victoria inherited the same mannerism.

"I told Mom I'd take pictures," April said.

Lorelai held up her camera. "Call me Annie," she said, earning confused looks from both Luke and April. "Annie Leibowitz," she elaborated, but their expressions didn't change. "Never mind, let's just take pictures."

After they'd taken a series of pictures, Lorelai heard her cell phone ringing from her purse. Passing the camera to Luke, she quickly headed towards the quiet hallway as she raised the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Lorelai, thank God," Emily's voice came over the phone.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Lorelai asked, feeling her heart rate speed up.

"Victoria's sleeping!" Emily exclaimed.

Lorelai paused, waiting for her mother to continue. "And?" she finally prompted.

"And she's been sleeping for nearly an hour!" Emily replied.

Lorelai looked down at her watch. "That's normal, Mom," she said. "She usually sleeps for two hours in the afternoon."

"Why?" Emily demanded.

"To sleep off all those beers she drank last night."

"Lorelai!"

"She's a baby, Mom, that's what they do," Lorelai said impatiently.

"Well, your father and I are bored," Emily complained. "He's already organized the library into a more sensible system."

Lorelai made a mental note to tell Rory to reprimand Richard for disrupting her perfectly organized library next time she made it to Friday Night Dinner. "Well, if you really want something to do, there's a basket of dirty laundry in the laundry room," she said. "Or you could wash some bottles, stock the diapers."

Emily huffed. "I came here to take care of my granddaughter, not do your housework!" she stated.

"I hate to break it to you, Mom, but fifty percent of taking care of a newborn is doing housework while she sleeps," Lorelai sighed. "Did you actually need anything or can I get back to the presentation?"

"Go ahead," Emily sighed. "But I do hope you'll remember this in the future."

"Consider it added to long term memory," Lorelai confirmed. She snapped the phone closed and turned back to the auditorium, shaking her head slightly. It wasn't often that she got to see her parents experience life as the other half did, and she always found their frustration with such tasks entertaining.

Stopping a few yards from April's project, Lorelai narrowed her eyes at the sight before her. April was nowhere to be seen, but Luke was standing uncomfortably beside the poster, hands shoved into his pockets as he looked everywhere but at the figure in front of him. She gasped out loud when she saw him jerk his arm away after Missy Tompkins placed a hand on his elbow.

"This is so not happening," she muttered before she plastered a smile on her face and trailed through the stream of people to Luke. She offered him a dazzling smile as she wrapped her hands around his arm and pressed her body against his. "Sorry, babe, just checking in on our beautiful girl."

Luke was slightly stunned at her sudden presence, but he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer than he normally would have in public. "Still perfect?" he asked.

"More so than ever," Lorelai confirmed. She rested her head on his shoulder as she turned to Missy, who was watching them with raised eyebrows. "Hi, Missy," she cooed.

"Lorelai," Missy said, her voice even. "What are you doing here?"

Lorelai gestured to April's project. "This project's been the focal point of our dinner conversations for weeks," she said. "I wouldn't have missed it."

Missy's eyes darted up and down Lorelai's body. "I would have thought you'd be trying to shed those pregnancy pounds," she said.

Luke's grip on Lorelai's shoulders tightened as she started to move towards Missy. "Not worth it," he muttered.

Lorelai struggled against his grip. "It is so worth it," she countered. "She started this in high school, and today I'm going to finish it."

"You're better than that," Luke murmured, pulling her back. "Take the high road."

Glancing at Missy, Lorelai scowled and said, "You're not going to win this time."

Missy evened her gaze towards Lorelai. "Christopher got bored," she said coolly. "He will too, eventually."

"Luke's not Christopher."

"You did trade up, I'll give you that," Missy said, peering around Lorelai to give Luke a hungry gaze.

Lorelai gasped and stepped in front of Luke. "What the hell did I ever do to you?" she asked. "All those years ago, when we would party together, did you ever think we were friends? Or were you just waiting to sweep in when you thought I wasn't looking? What's worse is now, we're adults and our kids are in school together, and you think it's okay to hit on my husband right in front of me! What did I do to make you hate me?"

"Oh, come on, Lorelai, you know how it works," Missy said. "You were the ringleader of our entire group."

"So?" Lorelai asked. "I was an irresponsible teenager, but that doesn't mean you can come here twenty five years later and take it out on me! Beyond that, you let your daughter take it out on April! She's the most responsible kid in the world, and she should not have to pay for the choices I made. You're the grown up, you should know that. You got what you wanted, I dropped out and you got to go to prom with Christopher and graduate and go to college. You should know better than to let teenagers turn against each other."

"And you should have kept your knees closed."

Lorelai started towards her, but felt Luke pulling her away. She struggled against his grip, but he held firm and dragged her out of the auditorium. Once they were in a quiet corner, he guided ran his hands over her shoulders. "You okay?" he asked.

She gripped his forearms and glared over his shoulder. "Why the hell is she such a bitch?" she asked.

"I don't know and frankly, I don't care," Luke said. "I care about you."

Lorelai inhaled deeply and folded her arms across her chest. "I just don't know what she's trying to prove," she said. "She got to be prom queen, she got to be valedictorian, she got to travel through Europe with Christopher. Everything that was going to be mine became hers, but that's not enough for her."

"Do you care about any of those things?" Luke asked softly.

"No," she muttered. "You know I wouldn't have traded Rory for anything."

"Then why does it bug you so much?"

"I don't know!" Lorelai cried, throwing her hands in the air. "Call me crazy, but I don't like when other women hit on my husband!"

He sighed. "It bugs me too," he admitted.

"I should hope so."

"But it's not really that different than when you make men's heads turn to stare," Luke continued.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Come on, Lorelai, don't tell me you don't notice," Luke said. "You're a beautiful woman. My own bias and your self-assurance aside, we both know that men stop to look at you multiple times a day. It used to bug the hell out of me."

"And now?" Lorelai whispered, looking at him curiously.

"Now," Luke trailed his hand down her hand and squeezed it gently. "We trust each other. I know that you'd never let anything happen with anyone else. I hope you trust me enough to think that too."

"I do," Lorelai promised. "It's not you I don't trust, Luke, I just hate the idea that anyone else even thinks they have a chance with you."

"She doesn't."

Lorelai let out a frustrated breath. "I guess I have to deal with her," she conceded. "We'll spend the next three years running into her at events like this."

Luke leaned closer. "We could always remind her that she doesn't have a shot in hell," he suggested.

A small smile began to cross Lorelai's face. "Tell me more," she requested.

"Well, we could stand a little closer than necessary," Luke started. "We'll sit right in front of her and I'll put my arm around you."

Lorelai's eyes began to sparkle. "Hmm, and I'll rest my head on your shoulder and my hand on your leg," she said. "But I'd have to be careful not to get too close to the goods. I want to make her jealous, not give her a free show of what's entirely mine."

Sensing that she was feeling better and not wanting to start anything in the public and daunting halls of his daughter's school, Luke simply squeezed her hand and took a step back. "You good?" he asked.

"I'm good," she confirmed.

"Good," he nodded. As he led her back down the hall, he asked, "What was the phone call about anyways?"

"Oh, I forgot," Lorelai said, tugging on his arm. "It was my mom. I have something very serious to tell you."

Concern filled Luke's eyes as he turned to look at her. "Is Victoria okay?" he asked.

"She's sleeping," Lorelai informed him in a grave voice.

Luke waited for her to continue and then nodded expectantly. "So?" he asked.

"Thank you!" Lorelai cried.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Luke asked.

"My mom called to complain that Victoria's been sleeping for the past hour," Lorelai said. "Apparently she was expecting that baby from the Huggies commercial that never gets tired or hungry or even has a dirty diaper. Hmm, maybe we should switch to using those."

Luke rolled his eyes. "She's really okay?" he asked.

"She's fine," Lorelai nodded. "Although I'm not sure if I will be when I get home. I told my mom to do our laundry and clean Victoria's bottles."

"Why on earth would you do that?"

"Hi, you've had a baby for two months now," Lorelai waved a hand in his face. "You know that half of caring for her is cleaning up the messes she makes."

"True," Luke nodded. "Do you think she'll do it?"

"We'll find out," Lorelai said. She glanced at her watch and commented, "I am going to go relieve them though. By the time I get home, Victoria should be just about ready for her pre-dinner snack. As will I."

"Okay," Luke said, gesturing towards the hall. "I'll try to round April up."

"Good luck with that," Lorelai said. She glanced from side to side, then stepped closer to him. "If she tries anything just remember that tonight, after the kids are asleep, I'll let you do whatever you want to me."

Luke's eyes darkened slightly as he squeezed her hand. "Really?" he asked. "I think I need a few more details."

Eyes sparkling, Lorelai leaned forward and whispered in his ear, causing his eyes to widen. "I hope you don't kiss our daughter with that mouth," he murmured in response.

She smiled as she pulled back. "I'll rinse it out with soap first," she promised. "I'll see you at home."

Luke leaned forward to kiss her. "See you at home," he agreed.

Lorelai turned to walk down the hall and he sighed as he stepped back into the auditorium. He had to give Lorelai credit; she'd sat through these events with Rory and was voluntarily doing it again for April. Not to mention her own abbreviated high school experience, but he presumed back then she'd had strategies for making them more interesting than they were. Next time he'd have to ask her about any strategies they could use.

After scanning the room and finally locating April, he quickly made his way towards her, hoping that he'd avoid Missy Tompkins at all costs. Despite his pleas to Lorelai to ignore the other woman's persistence, her advances towards him made him incredibly uncomfortable. He wasn't sure whether she was interested because she found him attractive or because it was sure to bother Lorelai, but the reasons didn't matter. Years ago he'd realized that no one would ever do for him what Lorelai Gilmore did. Even during their year apart, during his brief fling of a relationship, he'd found himself completely unsatisfied because the woman he'd been with wasn't her.

"Dad, can Christine come over tonight?" April asked, pointing to her friend who was talking to her mother across the room.

"Sure," he said. "Did you tell her that your sister has a tendency to wake up the entire neighborhood in the middle of the night?"

"She's not that loud," April countered with a smile.

"Well, as long as she's aware that there's a cute but noisy baby in the house, it's fine," Luke nodded.

"Thanks," April said.

Christine appeared beside them, and Luke nodded towards her. "Hey, Christine," he said.

"Hi, Mr. Danes."

"Luke," he corrected before he glanced between the two of them. "You need to get your backpacks or anything?"

"Yeah, our lockers are on the way out," April said. "Our projects are staying up for peer review tomorrow, so we can leave them."

"Lead the way," Luke said, gesturing towards the door. As he trailed behind them, he shoved his hands in his pockets and hoped like hell Missy Tompkins had backed off.

It wasn't until he was starting his truck, listening to April and Christine chatter, that he was able to relax. As he pulled onto the road he realized that Lorelai was right. If Missy kept this up, it was going to be a very long three years.

XXXXX

"Oh my god, you've got to see this!" Lorelai cried as she ran down the porch steps towards them an hour later.

"See what?" Luke asked. Pointing to the girls, he said, "Christine's staying over."

Lorelai paused in her excitement to offer April's friend a warm smile. "Hi, Christine, you picked a good day to come over," she said.

"What's going on?" Luke asked, his tone annoyed. All he wanted was to take off the itchy dress shirt he was wearing.

"You'll see," Lorelai said. She gripped his arm and prevented him from entering the house. "You have to be silent though, because otherwise it will disturb the moment."

"Lorelai, come on," he sighed.

"Shh!" she said, easing the door open. She pressed a hand to her own lips and tugged him towards the kitchen while the girls scurried upstairs. He peered around her into the room, his own jaw dropping when he saw his in-laws standing side by side at the sink, washing dishes. It was such a normal, every day task, but somehow seeing the high and mighty Richard and Emily Gilmore performing such a menial task was amusing.

Lorelai pulled him back into the hallway. "Did you see that?" she whispered.

Luke pointed towards the kitchen. "I didn't think they'd know how to do dishes," he commented.

"Me neither, I've got to video tape this for Rory," Lorelai said. "When I got home, they were finishing the laundry!"

With an impressed nod, Luke whispered, "We should have them babysit more often."

"Who knew, the Gilmores are actually domestic," Lorelai said. "Hey, let's go make out in the car! If we're gone long enough, they might cook dinner."

Luke laughed and shook his head. "You're something else," he informed her.

She giggled and looped her arms around his neck. "Is that a yes?" she asked.

Reaching for her hand, Luke tugged her towards the front door. "You're a bad influence," he told her.

"Like you wouldn't love having a home cooked meal, cooked by someone else," Lorelai accused.

Luke looked at her skeptically. "Well, if you and Rory inherited your cooking inhibitions from them, then I'll pass," he said.

Just as Lorelai was opening her mouth to respond, Emily's voice came from behind them.

"Good, you're home," she announced. "Your father and I have taken the liberty of making your home more organized."

Lorelai froze. "Organized?" she asked suspiciously. "What kind of organizing? Other than the library, which I'm going to let Rory deal with."

"Well, I rearranged the pictures on your mantel to a more proper arrangement," Emily said. "The largest is now in the middle and the pictures decrease by size on either side, as is the proper arrangement."

"I like how they were arranged," Lorelai complained.

"Well, they looked like you let a drunken sailor arrange them," Emily replied.

Lorelai sighed. "Is that the worst of it?" she asked.

"Your father changed the display on the library wall," Emily continued. "Honestly, Lorelai, why you put Rory's Chilton diploma before her Yale one is beyond me."

"I let Rory hang her diplomas," Lorelai said through clenched teeth.

Emily rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter now, we've corrected it so the Yale diploma is in a place of prominence," she said.

"How's Victoria?" Luke interrupted Lorelai's next question. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear if Emily had snooped through their bedroom or bathroom. Knowing some of the items Lorelai had stashed in the drawer of her night table were things he didn't want anyone to ever see, he decided it was best to change the topic of conversation.

"She's not woken up," Emily sighed. "Honestly, Lorelai, your daughter is fairly dull."

"I'll be sure to tell her you thought so," Lorelai said. "Next time you come to baby-sit, you'll have a murder mystery to solve over dinner."

Emily rolled her eyes, but then glanced between the two of them. "How was the presentation?" she asked.

Luke shoved his hands in his pockets. "Pretty good, April got a prize for thorough research," he said.

"Good, I'm sure it was well deserved," Emily said. "Richard! We'll be going now."

"So soon?" Lorelai asked, feigning disappointment.

"Next time, make sure Victoria is willing to play," Emily requested.

"Mom, she's two months old," Lorelai insisted. "She's not willing to do anything."

Emily pulled her purse over her shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest. She glanced around the foyer, noting a picture of the family of five taken on the day Victoria had arrived home from the hospital. "You have a lovely home, Lorelai," she said in a rare moment of quiet honesty.

"Thanks, Mom," Lorelai said.

Richard appeared in the foyer with a wide smile. "Hello, Lorelai, Luke, I trust April's event went well," he said. Without waiting for a response, he turned to Emily. "Emily, we simply must buy a set of those coffee mugs for our house. They're much better than those tiny cups we've been using for as long as I can remember."

Emily rolled her eyes. "We do not need enormous coffee mugs," she said. "There's nothing wrong with our cups."

"They're quite small," Richard replied. "In the entire time we were here, I only had to refill my cup once. I much prefer that to having two or three sips before I must refill."

"Those coffee cups belonged to my mother."

"They're quite lovely for entertaining, but perhaps we could purchase some larger cups for our everyday use."

"Fine, Richard," Emily said tiredly. Turning to Lorelai, she said, "We'll see you for dinner on Friday."

"Seven, right?" Lorelai asked.

Emily breezed out the door with Richard following behind her. Lorelai closed the door behind them and turned back to Luke. "Should we wake her?" she asked.

Luke glanced down at his watch. "She's been sleeping for a pretty long time," he said cautiously.

"She'll be up all night," Lorelai sighed. "I don't want her to get off her schedule."

Luke gestured to the stairs. "I'll get her," he said.

"Thanks," Lorelai smiled. "I'm just going to change, then I'll see if she's hungry."

She followed him up the stairs and brushed a hand over his back as he entered Victoria's room. As she was dropping her blouse into the laundry basket, she heard Luke's worried voice call her name. Lorelai quickly pulled a shirt over her head and darted towards Victoria's room.

"What's wrong?" she asked, taking in the scene before her. Victoria was lying on the changing table, whimpering slightly as Luke rested his hand on her stomach with one hand, the other rummaging through the basket of various baby items beside him.

"She feels warm to me," Luke said. "I can't find the thermometer."

"You think she's sick?" Lorelai asked, scooping Victoria into her arms and holding her against her chest. She pressed her lips against her forehead and then reached a hand up to feel her cheek. "She does feel warmer than usual."

"I think we put the thermometer in the bathroom," Luke recalled, hurrying out of the room. Lorelai bounced Victoria in her arms, trying to fight the concern coursing through her. "Found it," Luke announced as he returned to her side.

Two minutes later, Victoria was crying uncomfortably as Lorelai lifted the thermometer to read it. "99.9," she sighed. "Not horrible, but…definitely a fever."

Luke ran a hand over Victoria's back. "Explains the extra sleep," he said with a worried frown. "Should we call the doctor?"

"Not yet," Lorelai said. She turned back to the changing table and reached for a bottle of children's Tylenol. "If she's anything like her big sister, this will be a challenge."

"How old was Rory when she first got sick?" Luke asked.

"Around the same age," Lorelai said as she measured the medicine into a dropper. "I was still at my parents' house."

Luke glanced at her as he sat down in the rocking chair, hoping it would calm Victoria. "That must have been fun," he speculated.

"Not even a little," Lorelai sighed. "My mom informed me it was because I kissed her too much, that I was spreading my germs to her."

Luke frowned. "No wonder you ran away," he said.

Lorelai crouched beside him and ran a hand over Victoria's stomach. "This will make you feel better, baby," she promised. "Please drink it."

Victoria adamantly refused, turning her head away and letting tears run down her face at the prospect of taking the medicine. Ten minutes and with half the bottle of medicine now spilled over Luke's shirt, Lorelai finally managed to get Victoria to swallow the medicine, much to the baby's dismay.

"Let's give it an hour or so," she suggested, taking Victoria from Luke. "If she's still upset and her fever hasn't gone down by then we'll call the doctor."

Luke nodded and gently took Victoria's foot in his hand. "I hate seeing her cry like this," he admitted.

"Me too," Lorelai said. "But she has her vaccinations, and she's getting bigger. It sucks to see, but it was bound to happen eventually. We'll keep a close eye on her."

"We will," Luke agreed. He looked down at his shirt and sighed. "Good thing I hate this shirt anyway."

Lorelai smiled. "If it had gotten onto one of your precious flannels you'd never have forgiven her," she commented.

"I would have eventually," he said. "I'll go change and then check back."

"Okay," Lorelai nodded. She looked down at Victoria, whose sobs were starting to become small whimpers. "There you go, sweet girl. I know you don't feel well, but Daddy and I will take good care of you, I promise."

XXXXX

Hours later, Lorelai paced the living room floor with a screaming Victoria in her arms. Luke was flipping through a book, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Are you sure she's not teething?" he asked.

"She's too young for that, I told you that hours ago," Lorelai said. She could feel tears filling her own eyes as she listened to her daughter's wails. "Maybe it's colic."

"Is there usually a fever with colic?" Luke asked, turning to another chapter in the book and reading it carefully.

"I think so, if it's bad enough," Lorelai said. "Does your stomach hurt, Victoria? Is that what's bothering you?"

"It could be indigestion," Luke suggested. "Or a food allergy."

"Would you put that damn book down?" Lorelai snapped. "She's not eating anything other than what I give her."

Luke tossed the book to the side and ran his hand over his face. "I don't know where else to find answers," he said.

"And you think I do?" Lorelai asked. "She's in pain, Luke."

"I know she is, and I don't know how to fix it!" Luke shot back.

Lorelai opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it. "We're not going to get anywhere yelling at each other," she said after a moment. She looked down at Victoria and ran a washcloth over her face. "She's congested."

"You think it's just a cold?"

"The medicine should help if it is," Lorelai sighed. She glanced at the clock and asked, "How soon until we can give it to her again?"

"Probably not for another half hour," Luke said. "I could set the humidifier up for her."

"Set it up in our room," Lorelai requested. "It's further away from April, so if Victoria keeps screaming she won't hear it as easily."

Luke nodded and disappeared from the living room. Lorelai looked down at her screaming daughter, wishing there was something, anything, she could do to help her feel better. "I wish you could tell me what's wrong," she said. "We're trying here, I promise we are."

Victoria turned to pull gently at Lorelai's shirt, and Lorelai sighed in frustration. "At least you're hungry," she sighed. "How about we get nice and comfortable upstairs?"

As she walked into their bedroom, Luke looked up from pouring water into the humidifier. "She's quieter," he said, nodding to Victoria.

"Yeah, she seems hungry, so we'll see," Lorelai said. "I brought her up here in case she falls asleep after she eats. I want to keep her with us."

"Good thing we kept the bassinet set up," Luke said. He plugged the humidifier in and flipped it on, then turned to Lorelai. She was struggling to hold Victoria still as they baby whined. "Not working?"

"No," Lorelai shook her head. "God, Luke, I have no idea what to do. She's obviously miserable, but she's not responding to anything."

"Should we call the doctor?" Luke asked, sitting down on the bed beside her.

Lorelai glanced at the clock. "It's three in the morning," she said. "I don't think it's anything worthy of a trip to the emergency room, but if she's still like this in the morning I'll call first thing."

Luke reached out to take Victoria, rocking her as Lorelai straightened her shirt. "She keeps scrunching her legs up," he said. "Like it's her stomach that's bugging her."

"I'll get a warm washcloth," Lorelai said, slipping off the bed. "Maybe it'll sooth her stomach if we hold it there for a bit."

Not taking his eyes off of Victoria, Luke nodded. "I'll try anything at this point," he said. "I hate seeing her like this."

When Lorelai returned from the bathroom a few moments later, she saw the raw worry and guilt in Luke's expression when his eyes met hers. "She'll be okay, Luke," she assured. "Babies get sick."

Luke met her gaze with a dubious glare. "Uh huh, and you were this calm when Rory got sick for the first time?" he asked.

"No, but she was my fir…" Lorelai trailed off and darted her eyes away from his, instead focusing on applying the washcloth to Victoria's stomach.

"So you get it," Luke murmured. "She's the first baby I've taken care of. I think I'm allowed to be a little freaked out over this."

"You are," Lorelai nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up."

"I don't want all of Victoria's firsts to be tainted," Luke said. "I'll always regret not being there for April, but I don't want you to feel like we can't talk about Victoria's milestones, good and bad."

"I know how much you wanted to be there for April," Lorelai said softly.

"That's true, but it shouldn't effect how we raise Victoria," Luke replied. "Just like you being a single mom for so long shouldn't effect her."

Lorelai met his gaze with a small smile. "We've certainly had different parenting experiences," she acknowledged.

"And now we get to do it together," Luke said. "You're the one who's done this before, it's not going to offend me if you draw on your experience with Rory."

"Are you sure?" Lorelai asked. "I mean, you could have had experience too."

Luke nodded slowly. "I got past that a long time ago," he said. "It will always be…I don't know, disappointing, I guess, but Anna did do a great job. There's nothing I can do about it now. I promise I won't feel bittersweet for all of Victoria's firsts."

"Except right now," Lorelai said, frowning as their daughter began to cry again, grasping onto Luke's t-shirt desperately.

"Now's not bittersweet, it's downright miserable," Luke said. "I hate seeing her sick more than I hate myself being sick."

"Me too," Lorelai sighed. "It must be so hard for her not to tell us what she needs. At least when Rory or April gets sick they can communicate it."

"Want to try feeding her again?" Luke asked.

Lorelai started to reach for Victoria, but the baby immediately turned her head away and grasped tightly onto Luke's shirt. Her legs kicked slightly, and she stiffened her entire body. "Apparently she's not hungry," Lorelai sighed. "She's a Daddy's girl already."

Luke settled her back against his chest and leaned against the pillows. "Probably the t-shirt," he shrugged. "It's soft."

"Nope, I think it's all you, babe," Lorelai said with a smile. "I know from personal experience that it's a pretty great place to be, especially if you need a little pick me up."

A self conscious smile appeared on Luke's chest. "Yeah, I'm a regular ladies' man," he said.

Lorelai frowned. "I'm too tired to pick up on sarcasm, so I'm hoping you meant it that way," he said.

"You've had a long day," Luke murmured. "Want to try to get some sleep in Rory's room?"

"Are you kicking me out of our bed?" Lorelai gasped.

"Never," Luke said. Glancing down at Victoria he noted, "She's starting to calm down. I'm afraid to move or I'll wake her. But you need sleep."

"I'm fine," Lorelai said. "You're just as tired as I am. And I don't want to leave her right now."

"Yeah, me neither," Luke said. He leaned back into the pillows and continued to rub Victoria's back. "It's good that she's sleeping, right?"

"Don't jinx it," Lorelai requested. She lay her head on her own pillow and looked at Victoria. "She's still not quite there."

"Sorry." Luke remained quiet for a long moment, running a soothing hand over Victoria's back. After a few moments, he felt his daughter's breathing become more even, despite the nasally quality of her inhales. He remained still for another long moment before he carefully stood and placed her in the bassinet on Lorelai's side of the bed. He arranged the humidifier so it was closer to the bassinet, then slid into bed and snapped off his light. He'd assumed Lorelai was already out, but when he pulled the covers over himself, he felt Lorelai slide closer to him and run her fingers over his arm.

"I really love you," she whispered tiredly.

"Back at you, beautiful girl."

She was quiet, and then he felt her shift onto her back. "I'm not going to be able to sleep, worrying about her," she confessed.

Relieved to hear that he wasn't the only one who felt that way, Luke turned onto his side to face her. "Me neither," he admitted.

"I'm glad she's sleeping, but I'm still worried," Lorelai said. "By the way, my parents are never babysitting again."

"Why not?" Luke asked tiredly.

"Because she got her first cold the first time they babysat," Lorelai replied. "It starts off slow, but by the third time we allow it she's got tonsillitis, and by the fifth time she's going to need a kidney transplant."

"Fine," Luke sighed. He was too exhausted to banter right now.

"I'm going to stay home tomorrow," Lorelai said.

"Me too."

"We don't both have to stay," Lorelai replied.

"Fine, then I'll stay and you can go to work," Luke informed her, knowing she'd cave.

"Ugh, fine, use that reverse psychology on me," Lorelai said.

"Works," Luke sighed. He burrowed under the covers and shoved his pillow under his head, tangling one of his legs through Lorelai's. "Night."

"Night," Lorelai whispered. She settled onto her own pillow, then closed her eyes, willing sleep to overpower her concern for Victoria.

Finally, she felt herself slipping into the sweet realm of sleep, and soon she was engulfed in a deep, dreamless slumber.

XXXXX

"Are you sure it's not anything to worry about?" Lorelai asked their pediatrician the following morning. She bit her lip as she watched Luke lift Victoria onto his shoulder, the exam now complete.

"Positive," the doctor responded. "I know first fevers can be scary, but she's fine. Just a bit of a cold. Keep monitoring her temperature and giving her Tylenol. If there's no change, or her fever gets worse in the next forty-eight hours, call back and we'll reevaluate."

"Is there any relief we can give her?" Luke asked as he leaned against the exam table and rocked a whimpering Victoria.

"The humidifier is good," the doctor replied. "As is the warm compress, but try it on her forehead. If it's a cold, she might be feeling pressure there. Her breathing is a little congested, but I'm confident that will go away as she recovers from the cold."

Lorelai nodded slowly, but her face remained unconvinced. "We sterilized all her toys and bottles twice," she said. "And disinfected the railings of her crib."

"All good to prevent her from getting more sick," the doctor confirmed. "I am going to recommend that we push back her eight week vaccinations though."

"Push back?" Lorelai asked. "For how long? What are the side effects? Will she get polio if she doesn't get the shot right away?"

The doctor glanced at Luke with an amused smile, hoping for some understanding, but was met only with a stone cold glare. Clearing his throat, he assured, "There hasn't been a case of polio in Stars Hollow for over fifty years. If we push Victoria's immunizations until next week, her body will be better equipped to respond than she is right now."

"Okay," Lorelai sighed. She glanced at Luke, then nodded again. "Okay."

The doctor signed off on his chart, then turned to Lorelai. "Mrs. Danes, you've got a wonderfully healthy girl," he said. "She's growing well, and I know this is scary, but in a couple days she'll be as good as new."

"Thanks," Lorelai said with a small smile. "I guess I'll believe you in a couple days."

With a smile, the doctor stood and gestured to the door. "Make sure that you two are taking care of yourselves," he suggested as he walked them out. "If you get sick, your body can handle it easily, but Victoria will be much more susceptible to germs that are common to you. Take care of yourselves so you'll be able to take care of her."

Lorelai glared at Luke. "Hear that, Mr. 'I don't need sleep?'" she asked.

"Like you're one to talk Lorelai "I don't need breakfast,'" Gilmore Danes," Luke responded quickly.

Sighing, Lorelai turned back to the doctor. "We'll eat and try to sleep," she said. "You're right, Victoria needs both of us."

The doctor nodded towards the reception counter. "Go ahead and make an appointment for her immunizations next week," he suggested. "And please, if you have any other questions or concerns, call."

"You're going to regret that offer," Luke muttered.

With a smile, the doctor shook his head. "We put an intern on middle of the night calls," he said. "That way the rest of us don't have to listen to panicked new parents."

"Uh, I think the term you're looking for is 'concerned parents who want their kid to be healthy,'" Lorelai supplied.

Luke sighed and looked down at Victoria. "Thanks for everything, doctor," he said. "We appreciate it."

"No problem."

Lorelai quickly made an appointment for the following Wednesday, then turned to Victoria. She was still clutching onto Luke's flannel, clearly not willing to be separated from her father. "After spending nine months with me, she likes you better," she sighed. "I guess I should have known."

"She's just playing catch up," Luke promised.

"She better be, or I'm going to hold the whole giving birth to her thing over her head for the rest of her life," Lorelai confirmed.

"You're going to do that anyway," Luke stated knowingly as they walked to the car. At Lorelai's gasp of offense, he continued, "Two days ago you tried to guilt trip Rory into visiting by reminding her that you were in labor with her for twenty six hours."

Lorelai leaned over Victoria's car seat as she strapped her in. "At least you tortured me for a solid ten hours less than your sister did," she said.

Luke shook his head slightly as Lorelai slipped into the passenger seat beside him. "Think Victoria will be up for the trip to Boston?" he asked.

"Well, considering it's three weeks away, I sure as hell hope so," Lorelai said. "And we're not going to be taking her to Fenwick or anything yet."

"Fenway."

"Whatever," Lorelai waved a hand. "I just hate that I haven't even seen Rory's apartment. I feel like the worst mom in the world."

"Well, Rory moved a week after you gave birth," Luke said. "She knows you weren't exactly in the best condition to travel."

"Logically, I know that," Lorelai sighed. "I guess I never thought that me having another kid would mean I would sacrifice parts of my relationship with Rory."

"You're not sacrificing them, just adjusting them," Luke murmured. "She's a grown up, it's not like we would have held her hand like when she moved to Yale."

"True," Lorelai sighed. "She doesn't need us to do that anymore."

Hearing her bittersweet tone, Luke commented, "I'm sure she'd take great pleasure in having me move a mattress in and out of her apartment just as much as she did the first time."

Lorelai giggled. "You were always there," she said. "Even with all the stuff you were going through at that time, you helped move Rory into college without questioning it."

"There was plenty of questioning it," Luke said.

Lorelai shook her head. "No, you were completely willing to do it," she said. "Not without some complaining, but you complain about everything."

"I do not."

"Town meetings, movie night rules, fixing the stuck living room window…" Lorelai listed. "Shopping, mak…"

"I used to complain about that stuff," Luke conceded. "I've gotten better."

Lorelai smiled as he pulled into the driveway and turned to offer her the captivated look he always gave her when he was thinking about their relationship. "You have," she stated. "Fatherhood's completely mellowed you out."

Leaning across the console, Luke kissed her softly. "You've had a role in that too," he informed her.

"Wow, no one's ever told me I've helped the mellow out before," Lorelai said. "Except in high school, but that was a completely different kind of mellow."

"Not in front of Victoria," Luke hissed.

"Uh huh, just because you escaped high school without getting into major trouble, I know you had fun, Butch," Lorelai said.

"Nope, I was completely innocent in the ways of the world until I met you," Luke said.

Lorelai shook her head as she unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the door. "You forget that during the brief time Rachel came back here, we did some girl talk," she said.

"What?" Luke asked, watching as she slid out of the car. "Lorelai? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Lorelai said, flashing him an innocent smile. She slammed the passenger door closed and then opened the backdoor, leaning over Victoria.

"I don't believe you," Luke said, meeting her at the sidewalk and following her to the porch. "What did Rachel tell you?"

Lorelai glanced down at Victoria. "You really want me to tell you in front of our daughter?" she asked.

Luke's eyes widened. "Whatever she said, it wasn't true," he said quickly.

"Oh yes it is," Lorelai said with a twinkle in her eyes. "I got my proof. Years too late, but most of what she said was confirmed."

"Like what?" Luke narrowed his eyes.

Lorelai smiled as she opened the front door. "Well, she did some…bragging," she said.

Luke was starting to get frustrated. "You're not making sense," he informed her.

"Come on, Luke, two girls in their thirties talking girl talk," Lorelai said. "What do you think she was bragging about?"

"She told you about her and I…and that?" Luke asked, his face reddening.

Lorelai shrugged. "It's what girls do," she said. "But trust me, I was made very curious, especially by her comments about size." She giggled as Luke's face grew even redder and decided to take pity on him. "Don't worry, I was very impressed."

With a shake of his head, Luke put his hands on his hips. "We are not going to have this conversation in front of our sick daughter," he said.

"You're the one who wouldn't stop asking questions," Lorelai replied.

Luke scowled. "Did she really tell you all about that?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I thought we weren't allowed to talk about this in front of her," Lorelai said in a sing song voice as she walked towards the living room.

"Lorelai, come on," Luke said as he followed her.

"Well, she didn't exactly put it into a romance novel, but we exchanged a few details," Lorelai said. "It's what girls do. Don't you do it too? Brag about me with your guy friends?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't give them visuals," Luke frowned. "Do you still talk about that stuff? With Sookie or whoever?"

"Sometimes," Lorelai admitted. "But again, it's pretty not specific. I don't even go into as much detail as Rachel did. Does it bug you?"

"Depends what you're saying."

A small smile stretched across Lorelai's face. "Well, just enough to let Sookie know that I am very satisfied," she said. "Plus, I don't think anyone thinks were exactly celibate."

"She proves otherwise," Luke acknowledged as he sat down beside Lorelai on the couch.

Lorelai returned her attention to Victoria, who was starting to snore softly in her arms. "If we keep talking about stuff like this in front of her, we're going to be taken off the short list for parents of the year," she said. "Especially since she's sick."

"Rachel's not important," Luke murmured. "Not anymore."

Lorelai nodded. "I know," she said. "It's weird how stuff kind of pops into my head sometimes though."

"Yeah, but we have more important, more adorable things to focus on now," Luke said, gently rubbing his thumb over the back of Victoria's hand.

"That we do," Lorelai sighed. "At the moment, our biggest focus should be how to stop her from snoring like you."

Luke laughed slightly. "She has a cold," he said. "I hate to break it to you, but even you snore when your nose gets stuffed up."

"I do not!" Lorelai cried defensively.

"Mom's in denial," Luke said as he leaned towards Victoria. "But it's true."

"Don't listen to Daddy, he's mean," Lorelai addressed the baby.

"What exactly is mean about me?" he asked. "Cooking for you? Raising kids with you? Marrying you?"

Lorelai couldn't help the smile that stretched across her face. "Fine, I take it back, you're not mean," she relented.

"Thank you."

"But I maintain that I don't snore."

Luke shook his head and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Whatever you say, beautiful girl," he placated.

"I love when you call me that," Lorelai admitted.

"It's true," he said, playing with a strand of her hair.

"I know!" Lorelai declared, but her eyes grew serious. "It makes me feel special."

Luke shrugged. "I guess that's the point of a nickname," he said.

Lorelai nodded slowly. "It's definitely the better of the two I've had," she sighed. After a beat, she turned to look at him with a sparkle in her eyes. "But I guess you know a thing or two about nicknames, huh, Butch?"

"Jeez," Luke rolled his eyes. "That's never going to go away, is it?"

"Nope," Lorelai said. She examined him with a smile. "How did it come up?"

"What, the Butch thing?" Luke asked.

"Yeah."

He waved a hand aimlessly through the air. "Just a bunch of teenage guys being teenage guys," he said with a shrug. "I was the only one able to bench press over two hundred pounds and I was probably bragging about it. One of the other guys said it, and it became a team thing. Then it just caught on I guess. It died down for awhile there."

"But then I came along," Lorelai said with a smile.

"Then you came along," Luke agreed. "I'm actually surprised it took you that long to figure that out."

Lorelai shrugged. "I didn't exactly spend a lot of time in Stars Hollow High," she replied. She looked down at Victoria and asked, "Do you think she'll have a nickname once she gets up there?"

"Maybe," Luke said.

"I hope it's a good one," Lorelai said.

"Oh, it will be," Luke nodded confidently.

Lorelai smiled. "You've already proved you're not above beating up teenagers," she said. "I guess that will come in handy when she becomes one."

"Let's not rush it," Luke suggested, returning his gaze to Victoria.

"Hmm, okay," Lorelai said, leaning into Luke as she cradled Victoria close. "First smile, first cold. Hopefully her next first will be another one to add to the positive column."

"First laugh," Luke speculated. "I hope it's yours."

"Or her own," Lorelai replied. "I want her to be her own person."

"Me too," he agreed. "But there's nothing wrong with her having a little bit of you."

"Or a little bit of you."

"Guess not," Luke shrugged. "For now, I just hope she feels better."

"She's sleeping," Lorelai sighed. Her own eyes were growing heavy as she rested her head on Luke's shoulder. "We should sleep too."

"You sleep," Luke said, pulling Victoria into his arms. "I'll put her down in a minute."

Lorelai let Victoria go and snuggled deeper into the couch, resting her head against Luke's thigh as she fell into a safe slumber.