Well, here it is, that 'season finale'. Phew! Thanks, as always to all my lovely reviewers, and Ky for reading everything I send her, even when she didn't really want to.

Yes, Season three is well underway. 133 pages and counting. Author Alert me if you want to know when I start posting Season 3 as I will be posting it as a new story.


"That's 12," Lane pointed out as she, Rory and Charlie sat in Luke's, eating breakfast. With the graduation behind them, and Sookie and Jackson's wedding fast approaching, Rory had had enough of the rift between her mother and Luke. She was going to fix this the only way she knew how, tough love.

"Mmm. . . Two more and she'll come in," Rory said, glancing out the window before she fed Charlie a piece of blueberry pancake off of her fork

"I don't know," Lane said, doubtfully, as she watched Lorelai through the window. "She's been walking back and forth out there for twenty minutes and she still hasn't made it to the door."

"Yeah, but look how much closer to the building she's gotten," Rory said with a smile and shrug as she offered Charlie another bite of pancake.

"You're cruel," Lane clarified as she turned back to her eggs.

"Tough love, baby," Rory replied with a shrug. "Oops, I think she's coming in," Rory said, catching one last glance of Lorelai through the window.

"How can you tell?" Lane asked, staring at Lorelai.

"She's got shoe sale face on," Rory answered casually with a shrug as she turned back to her breakfast and Lorelai breezed in and sat heavily at the table. Charlie jumped a little in her chair, surprised by the interruption.

"Okay, I did it. I'm in," Lorelai said, clutching her purse as she brushed the hair out of her face.

"Good girl," Rory said as she and Lane each ate a few more bites.

"It wasn't so bad," she said as she pulled a menu towards her. "Took awhile, but not so bad. Wait, why are you eating?" she asked, finally realising that Lane, Rory and Charlie all had food in front of them.

"You took thirty minutes to come in," Rory answered as she offered Charlie the last bite of pancake and her juice cup.

"But, I'm here now and hey, I'm like cheese," she said, desperate to not be left alone in Luke's.

"What?" Lane asked as she finished her own meal.

"She gets better with time," Rory supplied as Lane nodded. "Sorry Gouda, we've got school," she said as she and Lane stood and gathered their things.

"But. . "

"Order breakfast and I'll leave you the paper."

"No, but. . ."

"I'll see you tonight and Charlie will still be here to keep you company," Rory told her, ignoring her pleas as she grabbed her back pack and dropped a kiss on Charlie's head and one on Lorelai's cheek.

"Lane, don't leave me!" Lorelai pleaded, desperately.

"You'll do fine!" Rory said once more and she and Lane left the diner. Lorelai sighed as she watched her buffers leave the diner. She turned her attention to Charlie who had her cup in one hand and was drinking as she drew patterns in the syrup on the tray of her high chair. Charlie stopped drawing for a moment as she looked over at her mother for a moment before she offered her sticky hand to her mother. "Hold that thought," she told the baby as she lifted herself from her chair and headed to the counter. "Hey," she said to Luke.

"Hello," he answered tensely, his attention still on the receipts in his hands.

"So, I was wondering if you had a cloth sitting around. I mean, you put any child under 3 together with something sticky and you always need a cloth."

"Okay," Luke replied as she turned and grabbed the cloth he kept for cleaning tables and handed it to Lorelai without really even looking at her. She took it from him and stood in front of him for a moment longer.

"So, this is how it's gonna be with us now, huh?" she asked. She asked if he was freezing her out and when she didn't believe that, she asked if he had gotten her apology note. He quickly said that he had and that he had really enjoyed the Garfield stationary and he understood that she was exaggerating how many times she had actually apologized. "Stop," she finally said.

"Stop what?"

"Oh, stop this robot talk. If you're mad, just act like you're mad," she told him, sounding defeated.

"I'm not mad at you," he said, his tone remaining even with no inflection of emotion.

"You're being really, really unfair," she told him, almost sounding like she was pleading. "Rory was in the hospital."

"Lorelai," he said, cutting her off. "What is it exactly that you want me to do? I'm not mad, I'm not holding a grudge, I heard your apology. I feel like I'm being polite, I listened to you go on about your kid having sticky hands. What would make you happy?" He finally looked up from the receipts and into her eyes.

"I want Luke back," she said with a bit of a sigh.

"He's standing right here," he told her, turning back to the receipts again.

"No, he's not," she said with a sigh as she grabbed the rag and headed back to the table. She quickly pulled Charlie's tray off of the chair and cleaned her up. She dropped the cloth on the table before she grabbed the baby and her bag and stalked out of the diner, towards the Inn.


Rory sighed as her hand hesitated and her pen hovered about the article she was writing for the Franklin about the up coming student government elections. She had some how just agreed to run for vice president with Paris and she wasn't exactly sure how it happened.

Well, that was a lie. She knew it had happened because Paris has suggested that Harvard might reject her if she didn't have participation in the student government on her transcript. With one last sigh, she returned her pen to paper and finished what she had been writing before getting up and heading to her locker.


Rory shook her head as her mother held her casted arm to her ear and continued on with her Casty bit as she kept a hand on Charlie's leg to make sure she stayed put on the exam table beside her. She happily pulled her arm from her mother's grasp as Dr. Sue came into the room, ready to remove the cast from her arm.

"This one here? Wait, which one? Hey, you in the white coat, come on, point a finger!" Lorelai and Rory heard from out side the office.

"Dad?" she asked, looking at Lorelai over her shoulder.

"Christopher?" she asked as she opened the door of the exam room.

"Aha, there you are. Is it still on?" he asked as she slipped into the room and closed the door.

"What are you doing?" Lorelai asked as she plucked Charlie from the exam table as the doctor got ready to remove Rory's cast. Chris ignored her in favour of shaking the Doctors hand.

"Great," Chris said after the Doctor was ready to start. "And Doctor, if at all possible, we'd like to keep the arm," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, I'll try my best," Dr. Sue said with a smile. Lorelai returned it as she pressed Charlie's head to her shoulder, covering her exposed ear with her hand as the Dr. started up the cast saw.


As the quartet wandered from the Dr.'s office, Charlie now in Chris' arms, Rory's political ambitions were brought to light for all to mock. As Christopher suggested that they sneak in and tamper with the votes, their plans for the weekend came out.

"Thursday is Sookie's rehearsal dinner," Lorelai said as they strolled down the street.

"Oh well, I guess you'll just have to put your trust in a democratic system. Good luck with that," he said to Rory with a smile. Lorelai quickly invited Chris to Sookie's rehearsal dinner and after some hemming and hawing, Christopher agreed to join them. He grinned away as he tossed his free arm over Rory's shoulders, pulling her close. He felt more content at this moment then he had in a vary long time.


"Is it safe to leave Charlie in there?" Chris asked as he and Lorelai took a seat on out side on Sookie's front stairs.

"Babette and Patty will cling to her until we bribe them with alcohol to get her back," she said with a shrug as she settled herself beside him, handing him the bottle of wine she had brought with her.

"I hope the second act's as good as the first one," he joked as he dropped his coat over her shoulders.

"It's a wedding. Things are supposed to be horrible," she said with a waive of her hand. Chris snickered as they each took another pull from the wine bottle and quickly began discussing all the Brigadoon references Lorelai had thought up as soon as she had seen Jackson holding his kilt.

"Well, I'm begging you, take plenty of pictures of this wedding because I have a feeling it's gonna be a classic," he said, still grinning away.

"You know," she said casually, staring at her hands. "If you're gonna be in town for the day, you should just come with us and see all the fireworks for yourself."

"Okay," he said immediately.

"Okay?" she asked, not really believing that he had just agreed so easily.

"Yeah."

"Just like that, okay?" she asked again, shifting so she could look at him easier.

"Well, if Sookie doesn't mind," he said with a shrug.

"What's going on with you?" she asked, eying him cautiously.

"What do you mean?" he asked, offering a chuckle.

"I mean, mister suddenly I'm everywhere. How come you can just agree to come to the wedding?"

"Because I can," he answered simply. Lorelai pressed him a little longer and he finally admitted that things between him and Sherry were officially on the rocks. She was out of town and he was looking for an apartment. They fell into silence for a moment before Lorelai picked up the conversation again.

"Well then, it's decided," she said, throwing her hands in the air. "You'll come with me to Sookie's wedding and you'll make sure I stop one or two Brigadoon-isms shy of Jackson taking me out with a bagpipe."

"It would be my pleasure," he said with a smile, patting her leg.


Lorelai sighed a little as she fiddle with the ribbons she had just hung on one of the sconces. She stepped back and observed her handy work, thankful that she decided to leave Charlie at home with Rory for the night. She definitely hadn't meant to stay this late, but every time she finished one task, she found something else that needed to be done.

"Well, look who's got Martha Stewart locked in a basement" Chris called out as he came down the stairs from his room and found Lorelai in the lobby. "Did you do all this?"

"Yeah, I did. How's it look?' she asked. He replied that it looked great before relating his nights activities to Lorelai. Lorelai snickered as he admitted to eating ten thousand pillow mints in one sitting.

"Need some help?" he offered as they collapsed onto the couch. They sat in silence for a moment before Lorelai replied the she didn't need any help and asked if she had gotten up and gone back to work.

"Yes, you did," he replied with a smile as he dropped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. She sighed and closed her eyes, rattling on about how now was not the time to loaf and how she had watched Sookie and Jackson's whole love story.

"Hi," she said with a sleepy smile as she finished her speech.

"Hi," he said simply in return as he dipped his head and kissed her.

"What was that?" she asked quietly when they pulled apart.

"I have no idea," he said in return as they drifted together again. "One more time and maybe I'll have an explanation," he said quickly as he pulled her close again and kissed her long and slow. When they broke apart, Lorelai quickly began trying to talk the two of them out of this while Chris calmly offered reasons as to why they should. "So, what do you say?" he asked quietly. She heaved a sigh as she pulled away from him and got up off the couch. He watched her wander towards the doorway as she considered her options. His heart sped up as she returned to the couch and took his hand. She pulled him up from the couch and slowly wandered towards the stair case that would lead them up to his room.


Lorelai crept down the stairs later that night, intent on snooping around the kitchen until she found something to bring back to the room for her and Christopher to snack on. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Sookie in her wedding dress and veil, an apron around her waist as she frantically pulled sugar flowers off of her wedding cake. She quickly stepped in and pulled the frosting covered spatula out of her hands before talking her into putting down the piping bag she had picked up. Sookie quickly spilled out her fears about her wedding day and how she had ended up in the kitchen of the Independence Inn at such an ungodly hour.

"I need to stop obsessing on this. Tell me something," she finally said.

"Like what?" Lorelai asked, pulling the robe a little tighter around her naked body.

"I don't know. Anything. Tell me something to make me stop thinking about this," she said, sounding a little desperate.

"I just slept with Christopher," she muttered with a smile.

"That'll work," Sookie said, her eyes nearly popping out of her head after hearing that. They quickly began girl talking about what this could possibly mean for Lorelai and Christopher. "I wanna hear all the details tomorrow," Sookie said, finally agreeing to go home.

"Mmkay," she said as she stood up from the stool and took Sookie's apron off of her. "I'll grab you in between the walking down the aisle and the getting married." Sookie chuckled as she finally left the kitchen and headed home for a few more hours of sleep.


Lorelai sighed contentedly as she snuggled a little closer in to Christopher's naked side. After discussing what exactly they were embarking upon, and eating a few snacks, they fell into bed again, intent on making up for lost time. She felt really good about the relationship with time. For the first time ever, they both seemed to be in the same place. Rory was finally going to have her father consistently in her life and Charlie wasn't going to remember a time when he wasn't in her life.

She yawned as she sighed contently, already planning out the conversation she was going to have with Rory about all of this as well as her parents. She eventually drifted off, her head resting on Chris' chest.


Luke sighed and shook his head as Jess stalked out of his apartment. This definitely was not what he had expected to have happen when he woke up this morning.

He had just agreed to let Jess live with him again on the condition that he graduate high school and Jess had just taken off to find Rory, even though Luke had told him not to.

If his relationship with Lorelai was on the rocks now, he hated to think about what it was going to be like after she realised that Jess was back in town.


"And where exactly were you last night?" Rory asked when her mother finally got home the next morning.

"I was at the Inn," she said as she kicked off her shoes and headed to the kitchen, grabbing a cup of coffee.

"Decorating?" Rory asked as she stepped over Charlie who was playing on the floor.

"Not exactly," she said, not looking Rory in the eye as she drank her coffee. Rory cocked an eye brow as she stared hard at Lorelai. "You're dad and I are. . . "

"Yes?" she prompted.

"We're trying again," she said finally, a nervous smile on her face.

"Really?" Rory asked, slightly hesitant upon hearing this. Lorelai sighed and explained everything to Rory. She told her how she and Chris were finally in the same place. He had grown up, he had a steady job, he was keeping in contact with all of them regularly. . . It was finally time for them to be a family. "Are you sure?" Rory asked, still not completely convinced about this.

"Yes Rory, I am. We had a long talk, a really good long talk about everything and I feel really good about this."

"I really want to believe you, I really do," she said sincerely.

"But?"

"But he's always making promises. He's always good about making the promises but when it comes time to follow through, he bails out and heads to California."

"He lives in Boston now Sweetie," Lorelai supplied with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"Mom," Rory said again, her serious face firmly in place.

"I'm sure, honey," she said calmly, holding Rory by the shoulders. "I wouldn't be bringing this up if I wasn't sure. We've always been drifting and waiting for this and now it's here and I'm not going to let it slip away." Rory stared at her feet for a moment as Lorelai rubbed her hands up and down Rory's arms. "Rory?"

"I'm happy for you," she said finally, a tight smile on her face.

"Thank you," she said as she hugged Rory.

"Can I interrogate him?"

"Be my guest," she said as she dropped a kiss on Rory's forehead. "I am now going to go and shower. I'm assuming you've already showered, given the wet hair?" Rory nodded in the affirmative. "I'm going to shower, then I'm bathing your dirty, dirty sister."

"You still want to be there by 1?"

"Yep," she said as she finished her coffee and headed to grab Charlie.

"I'll start harassing you about the time around noon," Rory pointed out as she headed to her room to work on some homework.

"Good good," she said as she swung Charlie up on to her hip, grabbing the toy she had been playing with. She quickly deposited Charlie and her toy into her crib as she grabbed a change of clothes before heading into the bathroom.

Just as Rory made it to her desk, the phone rang. She sighed and considered simply letting the machine get it, but changed her mind at the last minute.

"Hello?" Paris quickly began talking a mile a minute about how she and Rory were, at this very moment, unofficial president and vice president of the Chilton Student union. Rory simply blinked away as Paris rattled on. "Huh," was all Rory could say after she hung up the phone. Looks like she was going to have to decide if she was going to spend 6 weeks in Washington with Paris at a junior leadership conference.


"Where's Charlie?" Chris asked as he finally found Lorelai in the crowd at the Inn.

"Off with Rory and Lane," she said with a smile. She giggled as Chris pulled her tight against him and kissed. "Stop it," she said with a large smile as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Stop what?" he asked with a smirk.

"Stop looking at me like that or everyone here will think we did it," she snickered as he kissed her again. "There, that'll throw 'em off the track," she giggled again.

"So, this morning you woke up and felt sorry about last night?"

"No," she said, smiling coyly as he continued to press her about how she felt about things. As he leaned in to kiss her again, she caught site of her parents and pushed him away, greeting then hastily. As pleasantries were exchanged between the group, Lorelai tried to keep the wide smile off of her face, but she knew she was failing miserably at it. As Christopher and Richard went off to get drinks for the group, Lorelai tried to duck off to find her girls but Emily was faster. She grabbed her daughter by the arm and dragged her along with her.

"What on earth is Christopher doing here?" she asked, a smirk on her face. As Lorelai grinned as well and said that he was visiting his kids, something he had been doing a lot more recently, Emily picked up on the subtext of the discussion. "Well, I'll be damned," she said with a large smile, very pleased with the developments.


As the wedding got closer to starting, Christopher finally found Rory and Charlie, wandering around the grounds of the Independence Inn. As they wandered, Chris pussy footed around what he really wanted to ask and he was more than a little relieved when Rory finally stumbled upon it.

"What exactly are your intentions?" she asked, point blank, as they came to a stop on the small foot bridge.

"Excuse me?" he asked with a snicker.

"Your intentions. Are they honourable?" Rory asked, shifting Charlie from one arm to the other.

"Completely honourable," Chris insisted as he liberated Charlie from Rory. She leaned against the bridge railing as she observed her father for a moment.

"Yeah? Because we have been waiting for this for a really long time and we take disappointment extremely hard," she said, looking him right in the eye. "I mean it, property damage is often involved."

"Well, I better follow through on this, huh?" he asked with a smile before turning his attention to the baby and asking her what she thought about all of this. Charlie looked at him for a long moment before she turned her attention to the ducks that were swimming lazily down the little creek that ran through the Inn's property.

"I think that's an excellent idea," Rory agreed with a smile.

"Come here, you," he said with a big smile as he pulled Rory to him with his free hand and hugged her. They broke apart when Chris' cell phone went off. As he wandered off, Charlie still in his arms, to answer his cell phone, Rory turned around with the intention of finding her mother, she was more than a little shocked to see Jess leaning against a tree in the back ground.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she walked over to him.

"I moved back," he answered with a shrug, his hands still shoved deep in his pockets.

"What?" she demanded as she stepped a little closer to him.

"I moved back," he answered again, finally pulling his hands out of his pockets.

"But. . What. . . Why?"

"Just wanted to." The pair stared at each other for a moment before Rory closed the gap between them and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him. Jess stood still for a moment before his brain caught up to what was going on. As soon as that happened, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him.

"Oh my God," she said quickly after she broke the kiss. They stood looking at each other, both trying to catch their breath.

"Rory," Jess started.

"I have to go," she said, turning on her heel and jogging off towards the ceremony. "Oh, welcome home!" she called to him with a waive as she continued on her way.


"Where's your dad?" Lorelai asked as Rory jogged over to her, just as the ceremony was starting.

"I don't know," she said, slightly out of breath as she accepted her bouquet from her mother. "His cell phone rang and he went off to answer it. He had Charlie with him, so he'll probably be back eventually," she rambled. Lorelai furrowed her brow slightly as she looked over at Rory.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it was just a long run. Are you ready?"

"Sure, let's go," she said as they took another moment to compose themselves before they headed towards the Chuppa that was decorated on the lawn.


Rory smiled and accepted Charlie from her father after the ceremony had ended. She looked around at the crowd for a moment before she began to wander off in the direction where she had met Jess before the ceremony. Lorelai frowned a little as she watched Rory and Charlie wander off, but she was quickly distracted when Chris came over.

"Hey," she said brightly, a large smile on her face. "Wasn't the ceremony beautiful?" she asked as she threw her arms around him and tried to kiss him.

"I have to go," he said quietly, unwrapping her arms from around his neck.

"What? Why?"

"I have to take care of something," he told her, looking everywhere but at him.

"Chris!" she said, scrambling to get a hold of him to make him stay and talk to her.

"Sherry called, she's back," he finally said. She asked if he was going to tell Sherry that he was moving out, but when she saw the look on his face, she knew that he wasn't.

"Well, uh, drive safe," she said with a shrug, resigning herself to the fact that it was over before it had started yet again.

"Drive safe?" he asked, not really believing that that was all she had to say.

"Yeah, drive safe. I mean, you know, you're still Rory and Charlie's dad right? So whatever happens or doesn't happen between us, I still need you to drive safe," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She was beginning to grow agitated with the conversation.

"Lorelai," he pleaded with her, trying to grab her and stop her from walking away.

"Just go, Chris!"

"Sherry's pregnant!" he blurted out. Lorelai stopped in her tracks.

"Oh," was all she could say, her back still turned to him. He approached her slowly, muttering about how he didn't know why this was happening and how he had been so happy last night and he really wanted them to be together.

"I missed it before with Rory and Charlie. I wasn't there, I wasn't a part of it," he said quickly.

"I know," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Believe me, I know."

"Lor, I didn't mean for this to happen," he pleaded with her.

"You never do, Chris, but it happens. It happened twice with us and now with Sherry," she said, trying not to cry about this. "Why now, Chris? Why are you ready now? What's changed in the last two years?"

"Lor," he started. She watched as he fumbled for something to say before he simply threw his hands up in the air.

"Never mind," she said as she turned to leave.

"Lor, come on!" he called, jogging after her. He finally caught up and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop and turn around.

"No, Chris. I can't do this. My best friend just got married and I have to go back there and be happy for her and Jackson and right now? Right now it hurts to even stand here and look at you. I need you to go Chris."

"But. . ."

"No. I need you to turn around and just leave so I can pretend to be happy for Sookie and collect myself so I can tell Rory." The pair of them looked at each other for a long moment.

"I'm so sorry Lorelai," he said quietly.

"Me too," she said, taking a deep breath as they looked at each other for a moment longer before he finally turned and slunk away, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his pants. Lorelai watched Chris walk away from her, again, before she finally turned on her heels and headed back to the reception. She immediately picked Rory and Charlie out of the crowd and she headed over to them and sat beside them, taking Charlie from Rory and holding her close.

"I think I'm going to Washington," Rory said quietly, distractedly, as she watched the couples dancing.

"Oh," Lorelai said distracted. "Okay," she added quietly as she kissed the top of Charlie's head before she turned her attention to the couples dancing as well.


The weeks after Sookie's wedding passed slowly for the girls. As Rory tried to distract herself with school and studying for finals, Lorelai threw herself into work at the Inn. Between the fight she was having with Luke and Christopher leaving and knowing that Rory would be spending 6 weeks in Washington, she didn't really know what to do with herself. She was even finding it hard to become excited about Charlie's first birthday.

"If we promise to never do this again, do you think we could stick to that plan this time?" Rory asked one night as she wrapped her arms around her mother.

"We can always try," Lorelai muttered into her hair. "Are you packed?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'll be ready to leave right after Charlie's party," she said quietly, making no moves to pull away from her mother.


"Happy birthday little girl," Lorelai muttered to Charlie as she leaned over the edge of the crib at 2:07 in the morning of June 1st. Charlie snuffled in her sleep, but didn't wake up. Lorelai sighed a little before she started to rattle through Charlie's personal version of the traditional birthday story. When she was done, she stood over the crib for a moment longer. If things had played out the way she wanted them to, Christopher would have been here with her right now, snickering away and teasing her slightly.

"I'm sorry we can't get it together," she muttered to Charlie. She remembered giving a similar speech to Rory, more than once. "Your dad loves you, he really does. He loves you more than anything in the world but. . . I don't know Charlie. I don't know why we can't get things together and be a family. I swore that the next time I had a kid, I would be married but, you came along and I don't regret it for a minute. Still . . . You have no idea how much I wish I could give you a full time father." Lorelai paused in her little speech to stare at her baby for a moment. "I am so sorry Charlie," she said again quietly as she finally pushed away from the crib and crawled back into bed. She huddled under the covers, pulling a pillow tight against her chest and stared out the window for a long moment, closing her eyes and letting the soft June breeze blow over her as she finally let herself fall apart and mourn the disintegration of her almost relationship with Chris once again.


Well, there it is. I know there wasn't a whole lot of Luke in season two, but believe me, season 3 is TOTALLY making up for that.