So here it is, it took longer than expected and I apologize for that. I swear the whole school part of this chapter was made when I posted the previous one, but the rest took some time.
Kylie …Umm…hmm… Hi.
Enjoy and THANKS! For everybody who stuck with this story after how I left it last time.
"So you're saying that if we were married and not living here we could still make it on our own?" Sam asked, the conversation had gotten more heated.
"Then why don't we do it?" Sam asked a little too excited.
-----------------------------
"Oh my God" Lorelai ignored what Luke said, she stopped dead in her tracks and grabbed Luke to stop him also, once he turned to see what was wrong Lorelai pointed to the distance. There were three big pictures hanged.
"Oh God" Luke said
------------------------------
Rory went along to see what other CD she could steal from Jess and that when she found it.
Sorry Uncle Luke, but we had to do it
-Jess & Sam.
Had to do what? Rory frowned and kept looking at the letter.
MaRtIn VaN BuReN MiDdLe ScHoOl
There, in the distance, were three big pictures, two had big X's and only one had a circle. April had strategically placed the circled one in the middle so it'd called out more to people. So there they were spelling XOX for the whole world to see.
"Luke, is that…?" Lorelai trailed off looking at the picture with the O.
"…Jake" Luke said bitterly.
"That's what I thought" Lorelai mumbled. And there it was Luke's picture was to the far left with a big red X on it, in the middle was Jake's weird expression with a big O around it, and on the far right was another guy with an X.
"That son of…" Luke said through gritted teeth but stopped when Sean stared crying.
"Luke, we're in a school filled with impressionable kids, not to mention your sons" Lorelai picked up Sean.
"Lorelai, he's the father, which means that asshole slept with my girlfriend, which also means she cheated on me with my best friend. Man, what's wrong with me? Turns out all my exes cheated on me" Luke vented.
"Luke, they didn't all…"
"Nicole"
"That was different, Luke"
"Yes, we were only married. Geez" Luke involuntarily shuddered looking at Jakes picture again.
"Come on" she began walking towards the booth thingy.
"Where are you going?" Luke freaked pushing the stroller with Ricky still inside, Sean had calmed down when Lorelai cuddled him against her chest.
"I want to meet this girl, beside it think it'd be nice if she saw you actually cared enough to come" they were now a couple feet away.
"Why?"
"I don't know, in case you would've turned out to be her father" Lorelai shrugged, not even she understood what she was trying to say.
"Huh?" Luke was a weird expression.
"Hi, you're April right?" Lorelai asked brightly.
"Umm, yes" April looked at Lorelai weirdly.
"I'm Lorelai, and this here and Sean"
"Ok" April nodded and looked to the person standing behind Lorelai with a stroller. "Hey, do I know you?" She asked Luke.
"You have my picture up there" Luke pointed to the 3picture thing.
"Oh right. What are you doing here?"
"We came to see the verdict" Luke stated.
"Oh ok, you're not my father"
"I got that from the little O's and X"
"MmHmm" April looked all around the room, Luke and Lorelai felt very uncomfortable. Ricky started fussing so Luke picked him up. "How many do you have in there?"
"Just these two" Lorelai told her.
"They're cute, a little on the drooling side, but cute" April told them.
"Thanks" Lorelai smiled. "So, how accurate is this thing?"
"99.9 percent accurate"
"So practically fool proofed" Luke said.
"Practically" April nodded. "You can read all about it"
"No thanks, we're not very big on the whole science thing" Luke said, Ricky had also calmed down once Luke had him cuddled.
"You know, putting those beanies on them makes them more vulnerable to kidnap"
"Excuse me?" that caught Lorelai off guard.
"People can just come up to them and call them by their names and just take them away" April explained.
'They are pretty much always in our arms so… no kidnapping here" Lorelai assured her.
"Has your Dad come by here?" Luke finally got the courage to ask.
"I wasn't expecting any of you guys to actually show up, so I'm not expecting him any time soon"
"Neither one of the other two guys has come by?" Lorelai asked and April shook her head. Lorelai cell phone started to ring. "Ah, hold on, hold on…" Lorelai looked through the diaper bag while balancing Sean. "Aha! Hello?"
"Mom, is Luke there?"
"Rory?" Lorelai frowned.
"Who else calls you Mom?"
"Sorry, I didn't hear the Mom part. You want to talk to Luke?"
"Yeah"
"You do know he hates cell phones right?" Lorelai asked teasingly.
"You hate cell phones?" April asked Luke.
"They cause brain tumors" Luke explained.
"Only if you use them like 24/7" April shot back.
"Luke, it's for you, its Rory" she handed the cell phone to him.
"Hey" Luke answered, some kids in the distance dropped something and there was a sudden commotion. "Hold on I can't hear you"
"Ok" Rory said and prepared to wait patiently wile trying to decipher where Luke and Lorelai were.
"Take Ricky" Luke told Lorelai.
"Why?"
"I need to talk to Rory"
"Then talk to Rory"
"It's too loud here I need to go outside" Luke stated.
"Then put him in the stroller"
"It'd take too long and Rory's waiting"
"He would've been all strapped in by now if you hadn't wasted time talking to me" Lorelai was having fun annoying Luke.
"Lorelai…" Luke growled.
"April, come here" Lorelai said and motioned with her head, the girl had a funny expression and stood next to Lorelai. "There, hand Ricky to her" Lorelai said and Luke thought she was kidding, April thought so also. Luke looked down at the cell phone before handing Ricky to April. "Support his head" was all Lorelai told her. If she is Jake's daughter and he decides to do the right thing, then I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of her Lorelai thought.
"Like this?" April seemed uncomfortable.
"Just relax a little bit" Lorelai told her and that seemed to tense up April more.
"What if I drop him?"
"Just relax, do you want me to put this one in the stroller and take him from you?"
"Yes please" April wasn't moving. "Babies are cute and everything but I don't do the baby thing"
"Ok, hand him over" Lorelai extended her arms and April's face showed more panic. "Or maybe I could just take him from you"
"I like that better" Lorelai got up and took Ricky from April who visibly relaxed once the baby was out of her arms.
OuTsIdE
"Rory?" Luke asked once he was out in the parking lot.
"Hey, umm I'm at the house right now and Jess and Sam aren't here" Rory didn't know how to approach this.
"They're probably at the Diner, or went to catch a movie or…"
"They left a note for you" Rory interrupted.
"What kind of note?" Luke frowned.
"The kind that says: 'Sorry Uncle Luke, but we had to do it'"
"Do what?"
"That's all it says"
"Damn it" Luke mumbled.
InSiDe
Lorelai had gotten the twins strapped in by the time Luke walked back.
"Hey, what did Rory want?" Lorelai asked and Luke handed the cell back, April was sitting back on the stool she had there but her eyes were on the twins for some reason.
"Umm, she's at the house" he didn't want to tell her about the note until he knew what it meant for sure.
"That journalist sense of hers gets annoying with time"
"We should…"
"Luke…?" a voice called. "Luke, is that you?"
"Great" Luke mumbled.
"What?" Lorelai turned to where the voice came from.
"I knew it was you, what are you doing here?" a woman asked brightly and Luke pointed to his picture with a serious expression. "Oh, that" she looked ashamed, Lorelai noticed that Luke was getting angrier by the second.
"Hi, I'm Lorelai" she extended her hand to the woman who was still looking at Luke.
"Anna"
"Oh… you're April's Mom" Lorelai's acknowledged.
"Yes, that's me" Anna smile politely at Lorelai
"Jake? Jake!" Luke said angrily.
"Luke…" Lorelai scowled, people turned to look at them and the twins started crying.
"Damn it" Luke mumbled and squatted down to the stroller. "Hey, hey, hey, shh" he grabbed a pacifier on each hand and placed in the boys' mouths. Anna looked down at him surprised; there was the anti-babies man she had dated long ago, the same who got pissed off if they were anywhere near a kid, even if they were out in an opened area.
"We better go" Lorelai said placing a hand on Luke's shoulder when the boys wouldn't calm down.
"Why?" Luke asked quietly.
"Because the boys are…" Lorelai started but Luke interrupted her.
"Why Jake?" he turned to look at Anna. Lorelai sensing something big coming up, she focused on calming down the boys.
"You can't possibly be mad about that" Anna said with a nervous smile.
"He was my best friend!"
"Umm, April, could you show me where the bathroom is?" Lorelai asked, April looked a little freaked out by Luke, and he's voice was freaking out the boys more.
"Sure" April hopped off of the stool and walked away, Lorelai followed pushing the stroller but not before give Luke a scowl.
"Luke, that was like thirteen years ago" Anna said with an attitude, now that April was gone there was no need for fake politeness. "It's not like you two are still all buddy buddy with each other"
"I saw him last week"
"Fine, you're still in contact"
"How could you even do that?"
"It's not like we were that serious" she defended.
"Maybe not to you!"
"Aw come on, Luke! You only dated me because Rachel had just left… again!"
"You've got some nerve" Luke said and turned his eyes to the pictures again. "Who's the other guy?"
"I don't have to answer that" silence.
"Why didn't you tell me… or us for that matter, that you were pregnant?"
"It's not like I was certain who the father was…" Luke scoffed in disgust. "Besides you were the most anti-baby person I knew, and Jake… well you know Jake" Luke shook his head.
"I would've been there, I would've helped you"
"She wasn't your daughter, Luke; you would've ended up resenting me for doing that to you, and by that I meant taking care of a baby that wasn't yours and not the whole cheating part" their voices had gotten softer now. "Besides, I think me telling you would've interfered with you and that lady who just left with those twins" Luke looked down to the floor shyly. "So… you became a baby person?" she asked teasing hoping he'd drop the Jake subject.
"Did he come on to you? Or was it the other way around?" Luke wasn't ready to drop the subject though.
"Luke, why are you doing this? It was a long time ago, you're only hurting yourself"
"Just… answer please" he was getting annoyed again.
"You know how Jake was… and I know that you don't have to believe me seeing as how you're still friends with him and I cheated on you, my trust is worth nothing"
"That son of a…"
"Luke…" Anna interrupted. "I know you're new to this whole parenting thing, so here's a pointer… it's not good to swear in a room full of kids" Luke glared at her.
"… So your odds of having twins increased 25 percent just because you live in Connecticut, according to a 1999 study, which I think is ridiculous but they also proved that if you live in Hawaii then your odds drop 30 percent" they could hear April tell Lorelai as the girls walked back towards them.
"I guess I was living on the wrong state then" Lorelai teased.
"Huh?" April turned to look Lorelai and gave her a confused look.
"Forget it kid" Lorelai told her.
"Did they calm down?" Luke asked before looking into the stroller where both boys were sleeping.
"It was actually interesting seeing how much stuff she had to do before she found something that'll sooth them enough to fall asleep" April said to no one in particular.
"You ok?" Lorelai whispered and Luke nodded but with a neutral expression.
"Your boys are beautiful, Luke" Anna said after looking at them more carefully, Luke grunted in acknowledgement.
"He means thank you" Lorelai told Anna.
"That's ok, you don't need to do that" Anna told Lorelai. "He has all the right to be mad"
"We should go" was all Luke said and Lorelai nodded.
"I'll go heat the car" Lorelai said and walked off leaving Luke there, he stood there for a second before walking away pushing the stroller. Anna walked after him; April hopped back on her stool.
"Hey" Anna walked up to Luke and stopped him. "I just wanted to say sorry if I hurt you…"
"You didn't hurt me"
"Ok then, if it makes you feel any better there wasn't a day that went by without me looking for something she might have of you…" Luke frowned at Anna. "I think that was my way of saying… I always wanted you to be the father"
"I have to go"
"Sure"
ThE CaR
They were halfway back to Stars Hollow, and all the way there they had been silent, not even the stereo was on and since the boys were sleeping there was no sound what so ever.
"So…" Lorelai was annoyed of the silence. "Are feeling better?"
"I spent so much time freaking out about what I would do if I was her father that I never even thought of how I'd feel if I wasn't the father"
"And…? How do you feel?"
"I don't know if I'm more pissed off because she cheated or because she cheated with Jake"
"I meant, how do you feel about April"
"Well, I feel sorry for her, I don't think she can get a worst father than Jake" Luke said truthfully.
"So you're sad you're not the father?" Lorelai bluntly asked.
"Not really, I have the twins and Rory, and we're…" he trailed off. "My life is dangerously close to perfect right now" Luke admitted.
"Dangerously close" Lorelai agreed. "Let's go home and I'll let you cook for us"
"Gee thanks" he rolled his eyes but smirked.
JeSs AnD SaM
"Still feeling ok over there?" Jess asked, he was driving, they had taken Luke's truck since he and Lorelai were using the Pathfinder.
"Yeah" she nodded and turned her head to look out the back window to the trucks bed. "I still think we should've tied them down"
"Our bags won't fly out, don't worry" he assured, right now they were speeding through the freeway.
"Luke and Lorelai are going to be so pissed off" she mumbled after a little silence.
"They'll deal with it" he waved it off with one hand.
ThE HoUsE
"I'll go heat up their bottles" Luke said walking into the house and placing the car seat he was carrying in the living room next to Rory.
"Thanks Hon" Lorelai was walking into the living room with the other car seat. "Oh wait, come here" she grabbed his wrist and stopped him from walking out of the living room.
"Yeah?" his eyebrows went up. Lorelai pulled him closer and kissed him, when he waned to pull back she held him closer and deepened the kiss.
"Could you not do that in front of us, the impressionable children" Rory said placing her hands over the twins' eyes and closing hers.
"Ok" Lorelai mumbled against Luke's lips and pushed him the rest of the way out of the living room.
"Oh yeah, because that's much better" Rory called.
"Honey, didn't Mommy ever tell you that it is impolite to interrupt a couple while they're kissing?" Lorelai asked Rory once Luke got away from her and went to the kitchen to heat up the bottles.
"No. But Mommy once told me that I should look for dark corners while kissing" Rory said with a serious face.
"Oh, then, Mommy taught you right" Lorelai said with a firm nod, a few seconds later both girls burst out laughing.
"Mom, look!" Rory said excitedly, Ricky was gurgling. Lorelai smiled like crazy.
"Hi baby, you want to start communicating huh?" Lorelai cooed and Ricky kept gurgling. "So you do take after Mommy"
"I'm thinking the talking gene is the strongest one in the Gilmore pool" Rory said. "That and stubbornness"
"Eh, they'll get that from Luke anyhow" Lorelai shrugged.
"Like you're not stubborn" Luke scoffed walking into the living room with the bottles.
"Not as stubborn as you" Lorelai shot back.
"Tsk"
"Oh and the arguing gene, that's another one" Rory suddenly said.
"We don't argue" Luke and Lorelai said at the same time.
"Right" Rory rolled her eyes. "I'll be in the kitchen Tater-Tottering, call me when you two stop being in denial"
"I'm not in the-Nile, I'm in the Hollow" Lorelai said with a giddy face.
"Funny" Rory said but with a non-amused face on before leaving Lorelai and Luke to feed the gurgling boys.
LaTeR In ThE KiTcHeN
"Where did you guys go to?" Rory asked Luke. He went to make lunch for him and Lorelai, the boys had done eating and Lorelai took them upstairs.
"Umm…?" Luke looked trapped.
"Because my Mom was very evasive when I asked her, and there was a lot of commotion when I called, and you look weird right now… is something wrong?" now she got worry. "Are you sick? Is my Mom sick? Are the boys sick?" she got more and more paranoid with each question.
"No, no one's sick" Luke quickly said.
"Then what are you guys hiding? Does it have to do with Jess' note?"
"Now that you mention it, can I see the note please?"
"Tell me what you're hiding" Rory negotiated.
"We're not hiding anything" Luke assured. "Note please" Rory gave him an examination glance over. He got extremely nervous and squirmy, that's why he never lied or hid stuff, he sucked at it.
"Dad…?" she used that tone, the stop-messing-around-because-I-know-you tone.
"It's nothing, well not now at least" he added the second part.
"I still wanna know" Rory said and Luke looked around to see if Lorelai had come downstairs.
"We… went to find out the results of a paternity test"
"A paternity test?" Rory frowned. "For the boys?"
"What? No!" Luke looked appalled.
"Then who?" Rory asked and Luke's face turned to an ashamed expression.
"For this girl, April, but… turns out, I'm not the father… Jake is"
"What! Jake?"
"That's what I said… kind of" he added thinking back to his colorful choice of words. "Can I have the note now?"
"It's taped on the fridge; I left it there in case I didn't catch you guys"
"Wait, so I just told you all that for nothing?" he said walking to get the note.
"Not for nothing. It was a bonding moment"
"Right" Luke scoffed and turned to look at the note.
"So… what do you think they did?"
"Honestly? I have no idea" Luke sighed. "I'm just hoping nothing stupid"
"Knowing Jess…" Rory trailed off.
A PaRk At HaRtFoRd
"Hey, hey, hey, look at that" Jake stabbed a twenty something year old guy who was sitting next to him on a park bench. "Stupid-ass got conned into taking out his kid…" they were looking at a guy who was sitting on a blanket on the grass; his daughter was learning to walk on the blanket.
"Nah man, look over there" the twenty year old pointed a little to the right from where the father and daughter were. It was a young girl, couldn't have been twenty, she was stretching in place; after a couple more second she began jogging, all the while Jake and the twenty year old kept their eyes on her.
She had jogged far from where she had stretched, she ran around a tree before jogging back to where she had been. On her way back she spotted the little girl trying to walk and she had to smile. Once she was close enough she called something to the father who smirked and nodded. She jogged right past where she had been stretching and over to the blanket.
"Dude, think she's the Mom?" the twenty year old asked Jake.
"Nah, she has too flat of a stomach to be the Mom"
"Right"
"Besides, they both have that goofy grin"
"What goofy grin?"
"The I-just-met-you-but-I'm-picturing-what-you-look-like-naked grin"
"You know so much" the twenty year old noted with awe.
"I've lived" Jake shrugged and began looking around before his eyes fell back at the blanket. "Do you notice a theme here?"
"Sadly more and more women are starting to use bras again?"
"Well yeah, but… that's not what I meant"
"Oh, then what?" the twenty year old looked over at Jake like if he were an oracle.
"Girls dig the whole father thing, they like the thought of responsible, sensitive men"
"So?"
"So, if we were sitting next to that guy over there with the cute daughter, who do you think that girl would've jogged over to, us or the guy with the cute daughter?"
"Oh I get it, so when it comes down to it girls will pick the committed man because it makes them feel naughty?"
"That's one way of seeing it" Jake said with a smirk. "Hey, do you want to play babysitter for the day? I know a guy who just had identical twin boys; I bet I can convince him to let me baby-sit"
"Why would we want to do that?"
"So we can get the chicks" Jake stated.
"Oh, the naughty chicas" the twenty year old nodded with a smirk. "But aren't newborns whiny and difficult do deal with?"
"Oh yeah" Jake said as if remembering. "I think I have an idea" he mumbled.
"What?"
At ThE HoUsE
Rory went upstairs with Lorelai and the boys leaving Luke in the kitchen.
"… and so she plops the bubble gum and starts describing what it tastes like but once she reached the dessert she starts turning blue and blowing up like a blueberry…"
"What are you doing?" Rory asked chuckling.
"What does it look like? I am educating them on Willy Wonka, since they are still too young to actually sit through the whole movie I tell it to them like a bed time story"
"Why?" Rory frowned sitting on the bed on Luke's side of the bed.
"Because they need to know this, it is very important"
"Right" Rory giggled. "How are they liking it so far?"
"Oh they love it…" Lorelai assured. "Especially Sean because they share the same name"
"He doesn't even respond when you say Sean but he already knows he shares his second name with Willy Wonka?" Rory said skeptically.
"Oh yes, he is very smart" Lorelai nodded. "It also helps that I told him he was named after Willy Wonka once or twice while I was still pregnant, and that's when they're at their most impressionable" Lorelai said seriously and Rory couldn't help but laugh.
"So you telling Luke you were naming him after his father was…?"
"A distraction"
"You're crazy" Rory laughed more.
"Don't say that or they'll believe you and then they won't listen to me" Lorelai said placing her palms on one of the twins' ears.
"Our Mom is crazy, its better you know that now" Rory said while focusing on the boys.
"Mean" Lorelai said and nudged Rory.
"I think we amuse them"
"Why?" Lorelai turned to look at the boys.
"Because they keep smiling"
"Oh…" Lorelai waved it off. "They are just charmers"
"So…"
"Yeah?" Lorelai turned to Rory.
"You guys went to a science fair, huh?" Rory asked and Lorelai visible flinched.
"Luke broke huh?"
"Yeah"
DoWnStAiRs
"Damn it" Luke mumbled he had tried Jess' cell, then Sam's, and then Jess' again having the same effect, voicemail. He put the tuna sandwiches on a tray and headed upstairs to their bedroom. Don't do something stupid, just don't do something stupid was Luke's mantra. "You will eat this and you will not whine" Luke said walking into their room, Lorelai and Rory stopped talking.
"Why, what is it?" Lorelai looked at the tray.
"Tuna…" Luke said and Lorelai started to pout. "I don't have time to do anything else I have to change and go to the Diner"
"I thought you took the day off" Lorelai frowned pushing the tray away.
"I did" Luke went to the closet. Rory picked up one boy and took him over to the nursery before gong back for the other one while Luke and Lorelai talked.
"Then why are you going? Let them deal with it, Jess and Caesar can handle things" Lorelai said getting up, they had this conversation before; Luke just couldn't stay away from the Diner no matter what, even if he wasn't needed over there. "And if not then they can call Lane or Clara"
"Jess is not there" Luke said after a small debate in his head.
"That little punk" Lorelai said. "Then go upstairs and send his ass over to the Diner, he needs to learn responsibility" her voice was rising.
"He's not upstairs" Luke stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Lorelai. "Remember Rory called us at the fair?"
"Yes"
"Well, she didn't just call to inform she was home"
"What did she call for?"
"Jess and Sam left" Luke said and prepared himself for the blow.
SoMeWhErE In WoOdBrIdGe
Right after Luke and Lorelai had left the judges had announced the winners of the science fair, which was not April so Anna took her back home with a promise of making her some spaghetti to cheer her up. April might not have won the science fair but she had given her Mom some piece of mind after over thirteen years of wondering, and now Anna wished Luke had been the father, something she had never admitted before.
"I'll get it, you keep eating" Anna said, there was a knock at the door while they had been eating the spaghetti.
"Ok"
"And don't eat mine" Anna called from the door before opening it.
"Hey, I hope you're not mad but I looked up your address"
"Jake?" Anna said trying to recognize him, Jake nodded. "What are you doing here?"
"I tried to go to the science fair but I just couldn't make it" Jake said with a fake distress voice.
"Oh" Anna moved aside to let him in the door but they didn't move beyond the entrance.
"Yes, I had promised to take Emilio to the park, he hasn't been the same since the accident, what with the whole leg amputation and all"
"Oh my God" Anna's hands flew to her mouth.
"He still has three, but it's just not the same"
"Three?"
"Yeah… oh! Emilio is a dog, he's my friend Zack's dog, and he's out of town so I offered to take his dog out and try to cheer him up"
"Oh, so… you were at the park?"
"Yes, and I didn't think taking a three legged dog to a school was such a good idea" Jake had a ridiculous innocent face, with big round eyes and almost pouting.
"No it's not. Umm…"
"The results?"
"Oh right! Well, you always liked winning stuff right?"
"So… is that your way of saying I am the father?" yes! Now I have a kid to take to the park and get girls with… and without the responsibility. Jake was internally grinning.
"You're the father" Anna said huh, after years of wanting to say those words, actually saying them wasn't as satisfying as I thought it would be.
"Wow, don't be over enthusiastic about it" he chuckled a little play it smooth man, be charming and win her over.
"No, no, it's not that. It's just… after so many years actually knowing who the father is makes me feel a little odd"
"I'm done, the plate is rinsed and I'm going to work on my web page because… oh, hi" April said walking over to Anna.
"April, this is Jake; Jake this is April" Anna said.
"We've met, remember" April told her Mom.
"Right, the whole hair thing" Anna nodded.
"I'll be in my room" April left, she only wanted to win the science fair, she never actually wanted to get to know her father, she was perfectly ok with how things were.
"Sorry about that. Come in, are you hungry?" Anna started walking over to her kitchen.
"I can eat"
StArS HoLlOw LoReLaI AnD LuKe'S RoOm
"What do you mean they left?" Lorelai frowned. "Left where?"
"I don't know" Luke mumbled.
"What are they doing?"
"I don't know"
"When are they gonna come back? They both work and Jess has school"
"I don't know!" Luke snapped. "Jess just left this note, that's all" he handed Lorelai the note.
"Had to do what?" Lorelai frowned; Luke sighed and took a seat on the edge of the bed.
"I don't know, I tried calling them but their cell's are off" Luke leaned forwards on his for arms. "I'm gonna go check the attic to see what they took and that way have a ballpark figure of when they'll be back" he said but not moving.
"I can go check, I know you hate going through people's stuff" Lorelai offered taking a seat next to him.
"Nah, its ok" Luke got up. "I'll change and then go to the attic before going to the Diner"
"Ok" Lorelai nodded and Luke walked over to the bathroom. "I'll be downstairs grabbing something to eat because I'm not eating the tuna… I'll give that to Rory"
"Ok" Luke's muffled voice came from the bathroom.
"I love you" Lorelai offered.
"Love you too" again Luke's muffled voice said.
SaM AnD JeSs
"First we need to find a place to stay and then we'll go on from there" Jess said.
"Ok" Samantha offered a small smile.
"We're doing the right thing" Jess offered taking her hand. "It'll be ok, trust me"
"Let's do it" she smiled for real this time. "This is it"
SaTuRdAy MaRcH 13th
"Have her home by six, and when I say six I mean six pm" Anna said sternly, Jake had insisted on taking April out for the day, after a lot of whining and begging he had convinced Anna who still had to convince April, which took some time.
"Ok, ok"
"No later than six, Jake"
"Fine, six I get it. Now where's the kid?" he looked around.
"The kid?" Anna made a face.
"April, I meant April, where's April?"
"Don't make me regret this" Anna told him before she called for April.
StArS HoLlOw
"You need to figure this out, Lorelai, because I'm getting tired of Michel calling every freaking morning" Luke said annoyed, this was the first morning he didn't have to open the Diner since Jess had left and Michel had woke him up, and the twins, when he called to whine about Lorelai's maternity leave.
"I know and I'm sorry" Lorelai was slightly bouncing an angry crying Sean, Luke was dealing with Ricky who was also crying but a little less angry. "I just don't know what to do, I miss work but I don't want to have someone else take care of them"
"I know, just… make a choice, and soon" Luke walked downstairs still carrying Ricky.
"Hey, you're up" Jess sounded surprised; when he and Sam had left they had forgotten their apartments' outer entrance keys.
"Get you ass in the living room and don't move" Luke ordered. Jess looked around quickly and walked into the living room, head down.
"Morning, Luke" Sam said a little shyly.
"Could you take him upstairs? Lorelai is in our room" Luke said keeping everything in order while talking to Sam.
"Ok, come here baby" she cooed. "Wow, look how much you grew in three days" Sam said walking upstairs.
"Jess…" Luke walked into the living room.
"Look before you go all ballistic on me, I had a very good reason for doing what we did. Sam was feeling really bad about what her parents pulled and nothing could cheer her up. She was starting to doubt everything even if we could make it so I had to show her we could. And I know you said that we could only live here if we stayed in school and we didn't do anything stupid like getting married, but it was the only way Sam would stop doubting us, so we're ready to face any consequence to our decisions, we're old, we're going to be parents so we need to start facing up to our responsibilities and learn that actions have consequences" Jess finished with a big breath.
"So you two…?" Luke asked, only listening to half of his rant.
"Eloped" Jess said after taking a deep breath and gathering up some courage.
"Jess…" Luke sighed.
"Listen, Sam and I are good, she's happy, she has a family. And we did hear you when you told us not to get married so… we're prepared to move out if told to, we didn't do as you and Lorelai asked, and we might seem ungrateful for it but we're not so…"
"Shut up" Luke interrupted and Jess was a little scared of what was to come. "I was just going to congratulate you. You seemed to be owning up to your responsibilities and…"
"Whoa, wait… you wanted to congratulate me?"
"Well yeah, and you don't need to move out" Luke added.
"So I just spent three days panicking about your reaction and all you have to say about it is congratulations?" Jess seemed appalled.
"Well, yeah" Luke said and left the living room, Jess stayed there thinking a few seconds before Luke added something from the door way. "You should panic about Lorelai's reaction, not mine" Luke added teasing, Jess should panic a little more over what he had done, Lorelai was the least he should worry about and Luke knew that.
JaKe AnD ApRiL
"So… I was thinking we can go to the park or something" Jake said.
"I don't really like parks, never saw the big deal to them" April said honestly.
"Oh…" Jake deflated a little.
"But if they mean that much to you, we can go"
"No, no, we can go eat something, did you have breakfast? Because we can go to McDonalds or something"
"I already had breakfast and McDonalds is not really breakfast"
"Ok then, a movie?" Jake offered, sure it was hard to meet girls in movie theaters but he could make it work, and having a kid with him would only make it easier, right?
"Why don't we just go to the park?" April said after hearing her options.
"Are you sure?"
"Its fresh air and sun exposure so it can't really hurt now can it?" April figured.
"Sure, let's go!" Jake said and pressed a little harder on the gas pedal.
LoReLaI's RoOm
"So you two got married?" Lorelai sounded a little sad. Samantha had told her the story once they got the boys to stop crying and back to sleeping again.
"Yeah, I was feeling really bad and Jess agreed so we went and we eloped" Sam shrugged.
"But, but, but…" Lorelai was pouting.
"Don't worry; we'll still have a wedding. But that's far away, very far away"
"Still… you got married before I did, and I didn't even get to watch it" Lorelai was still pouting although she felt better knowing they were planning another wedding.
"Sorry"
"Nah, it's ok, I'm just being a drama queen" Lorelai waved it off.
"Ok"
"Can I still bug Jess about this?"
"Of course, but only if Luke didn't give him too much of a hard time" Sam negotiated with her.
"Oh no, I'll give him a hard time even though Luke did so too, that's a right I reserve" Lorelai smiled wickedly.
"Lorelai…?" Jess asked tentatively from the bedroom's door.
"Yes…?" Lorelai asked with a glint in her eye, one that Sam saw and tried hard not to laugh.
JaKe AnD ApRiL
They were sitting on the grass; Jake kept looking at all the girls there, planning his attack. April was sitting next to him reading a book and not paying much attention to her surrounding or if even Jake was still sitting next to her or not, frankly she didn't care either way she was only there because her Mom had bribed her into going and giving Jake a try.
Every time a girl ran past them Jake would smiled and nod while winking, most girl shot him a weird look before speeding up, apparently a man with a twelve year old girl wasn't the same as a man with a baby. Too bad he hadn't thought of it before he had agreed to watch April until six pm. Why hadn't I thought about this before? It makes me look like a weird version of Michael Jackson, sitting here with a twelve year old girl.
"Have you ever tried just saying 'hi' to them?" April asked not taking her eyes off of her book.
"It doesn't work that way" Jake said with a straight face, he didn't like having a plan blow up in his face.
"Yes it does" April sighed, she put her book down for a second and waited a little bit before another girl trotted by. "Hi" April said brightly the girl turned to look at her and smiled before saying 'hi' back. "See, it's easy" April told Jake before returning to her book.
"You're a little girl, if I did that I wouldn't get the same reaction"
"Yes you would" April said absentmindedly. Jake sighed and rolled his eyes, when another girl was approaching them he tried to show April he was right.
"Hi" Jake said and smiled to the girl. The girls smiled back and winked. "Huh"
"Told you so" April mumbled but Jake didn't hear, his eyes were on the girl running away, he waited until she passed them by again before jogging next to her; April didn't notice him leavening and frankly Jake didn't care, that's the good side on her being twelve she could take care of herself.
Jake and the girl jogged around the park twice just talking and flirting, April still reading and oblivious to the fact that her 'father' was not there. The girl had commented on his daughter and how well educated she was, Jake had told her he tried but with April having an alcoholic Mother things weren't easy and that was the reason he took April to the park, to get her mind away from family problems. The girl felt awful and that prompt the touching, which led to the asking out, which led to the plan that Jake was formulating in his head.
A LiTtLe LaTeR
"So, why are we here?" April asked looking around the little town.
"We are visiting some old friends of mine"
"Why?"
"Because I haven't seen them in a while" Jake stated. It was not two pm; he had a lunch date at three so he needed to pick up the girl a little before three, that meant he needed to get rid of April now and keep her safe until six, which also meant he needed to end his date before six so he could get April and take her to Anna before Anna had a fit and didn't let him take April again.
"And you just felt the need to see them now?"
"Well, we need to eat soon and my friend is the best cook in town, so I figured we could eat good for free" he smiled a little, Luke had been an ass lately but he needed help now why didn't I think about what to do with April once I got the date?
"So we're just going there to eat?"
"And to bond" Jake added and parked next to the curb.
GiLmOrE-DaNeS HoUsE
"Could you get that?" Luke asked Jess, they were both in the kitchen making lunch. Lorelai insisted on both of them staying and leaving the Diner to Caesar and the girls for the day so they could talk about the wedding with Jess and Sam.
"Why should I get that? This is your house" Jess scoffed.
"Because if you don't then you'll deal with the twins once the doorbell wakes them up, beside you need to get used to taking orders now that you're married" Luke added when Jess went to get the door.
"Shut up because you're engaged" Jess shot back before opening the door. "Jake? I never thought I'd see you here after New Years" Jess stepped back from the door to let Jake and April.
"What the hell happened on New Years?" Jake really wanted to know now.
"Geez man, try getting girls your own age" Jess made a face.
"Funny" Jake stated dryly. "She's my daughter"
"You? Have a daughter?" Jess asked chuckling amused.
"I just recently found out" Jake said.
"I'm Jess" Jess said.
"April" April offered shyly standing behind Jake.
"Where's…?"
"I'll go get him, why don't you go into the living room" Jess pointed with his head.
"Sure…" Jake started to walk away. "You coming?" he motioned with his hand for her to follow and she did.
"Oh Uncle Luke?" Jess said walking into the kitchen. "Jake is waiting for you in the living room…" Luke noticeably flinched. "And he brought a surprise" Jess added smirking.
"A surprise?" Luke frowned and Jess nodded smirk still there. Intrigued Luke went over to the living room.
LiViNg RoOm
"Jake, what the hell, did you already forget about the last time…" Luke was rambling before entering the living room. "April?" Luke stopped dead in his tracks.
"Hey, bro!" Jake got up with a huge smile on his face. "How you doing? Where are the little boogers and their Mom?" Jake looked around a little. "Eh I'll see em' later"
"What are you doing here?" Luke snapped out of it and turned to look away from April and to Jake.
"Oh man! I came to introduce to you someone very special" Jake padded Luke's back. "May, come over here" he gestured with his head.
"Her name is April" Luke corrected.
"Right! I knew it was some month or something…" Jake waved it off ignoring the fact that Luke already knew her. "… She's my daughter, man!" Luke looked down keeping his anger at bay for April's sake. It's not like he was angry because he wasn't the father, he was angry because Jake had gone and stabbed him in the back without so much of a little remorse about it, and now had brought the girl here and didn't even know her name.
"Yeah…" Luke said quietly. "April, why don't you go to the kitchen…" Luke pointed the way. "And ask the guy there for something to drink, he's name is Jess"
"Ok" April shrugged, grabbed her book, and left the room.
"Dude, did you know that chicks fall for men with kids, it shows some level of responsibility or… something…" Jake waved it off. "I took May to the park and I got a date! I mean, girls just see you with kids and they practically throw themselves at you. Oh! You should take the twins; I bet you'd get a bunch of hot girls with them as wingmen. Or better yet! Let me take them" Jake had a glint in his eye.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" Luke snapped.
"Dude what's your problem? I thought you would've gotten that stick out of your ass by now" Jake took a step back.
"She's your daughter, April's your daughter, and you're just using her to get girls?" Luke sounded repulsed.
"What do you care?" Jake plopped on a Lazy-Boy.
"Does Anna know this?"
"Of course she know May's with me, I'm supposed to get her back by six"
"April"
"April, May, whatever, relax man" Jake rolled his eyes, ignoring the fact that Luke had mentioned Anna.
"You're an ass!" Luke blurted. "Ignoring the fact that you slept with my girlfriend and actually got her pregnant, you don't care about April's feelings at all! You don't seem to care that you're a father and that you need to set an example for her. And if not then at least let her get back to the life she had before you came into it, and maybe that way you won't screw her over"
"I didn't ask to have a kid! She came looking for me!" Jake got up and walked over to Luke.
"I know, she came looking for me also!"
"It's not my fault Anna came on to me or that you couldn't keep her satisfied enough to keep her away from me!" Jake almost as angry as Luke now you're messing with my pre-date mood, nobody messes with my pre-date mood!
"You were my best friend!" Luke reminded him.
"It's not like she only cheated with me! There were more, a lot more! Just that night alone there were two of us!"
"I don't give a damn how many there were, you went behind my back"
"You know what? I don't need this, I'm out of here" Jake dashed to the door and slammed it on his way out.
"Jake…!" Luke ran after him. "Jake!"
"Go back to playing Daddy!" Jakes shouted from his car before driving off at full speed.
"Damn it, Jake!" Luke was breathing hard outside the house, April still inside with Jess in the kitchen, surely having listened to everything. "Great" Luke mumbled. He stood out there for a while.
"Luke…?" Lorelai asked tentatively. "…Umm, that April girl is in our living room"
"I know" Luke said in a monotone voice.
"Aha… I'm sorry but, why is April in our living room?"
"Anna let Jake baby-sit"
"Oh. Where's Jake?"
"He left"
"MmHmm"
"We had a… disagreement"
"Yes, I heard, you woke up the boys"
"Sorry" Luke whispered out.
"Is he coming back?" Lorelai turned to look at where Luke was looking, which was where Jake's car had been parked.
"Today? No, because he has a date"
"So… April?"
"I'll have to call her Mom" Luke said dreading it.
"Well… its lunch time and Jess said lunch was ready, and I really doubt Jake fed April so… maybe you can call her Mom after lunch. Give Jake some time to come back and pick her up"
"Let's go eat" Luke turned away from looking at the drive way. "And he's not coming back. He kept calling her May"
"Poor kid, at least after this her Mom won't keep sending her off with Jake"
"At least after this Jake will stay the hell out of here" Luke rephrased.
"Hey" Lorelai held him back from opening the door.
"Yeah?" Luke turned to look expectantly at her. Lorelai kissed him gently.
"Don't stress about Jake, stress about something better" she said while pulling back and rubbing his chest comfortingly. "Like that fact that tonight is your turn to get up and feed the boys" she added with a smile and Luke chuckled.
"I love you" he said quietly before opening the door.
"You better" Lorelai added while he held the door open for her to walk in. "Hey April?" Lorelai skipped to the living room where Sam and the twins were keeping April company.
After lunch Lorelai took the boys upstairs, Jess and Sam offered to clean up while Luke took April to the office so she could call her Mom.
"She wants to talk to you" April passed the phone to Luke.
"Is she mad?" Luke asked quietly covering the phone.
"Not at me" April shrugged.
"You can go watch TV" Luke said and waited until April was out of the office. "Hi, Anna"
"Why is April with you?" Anna instantly asked, her voice was not the friendliest she owned.
"Jake stopped by, he had a date, so he left April here… actually May, he calls her May"
"What do you mean he left her there?"
"They came, he left, and April was still here; I think that sums it up" living with Lorelai was changing Luke and his was of talking and thinking.
"But why?"
"Because he met a girl at the park and they have a date"
"He left her there for a date!"
"Do you even know who you let your daughter go out with today?"
"Yes, her father"
"No, Jake. He hasn't changed from when he was a teenager; no wait actually I think he actually got worst"
"How worst could he be, he's still your friend, you said so at the science fair" Anna was trying to blame all of this on Luke because he was still friends with him so that meant Jake was like Luke, right.
"No, I said I'd seen him, there's a difference. And the difference is in him insulting my family at every possible opportunity he gets"
"You're still in Stars Hollow?" Anna said after a sigh.
"Yes, but I moved"
"Give me the address; I'll go pick her up"
ThAt NiGhT
Anna stopped by to pick up April, she thanked them before leaving and saying she'd never let Jake take out April again. As soon as they left Luke called it a night and went up stairs.
"Wasn't today supposed to be my day off?" Luke wondered out loud, he was lying on the bed before going to get changed for the night.
"Yes, yes it was" Lorelai answered form the nursery where she was getting the twins ready for bed.
"Then why didn't I relax?"
"Because destiny didn't want you to" she walked over to their room and dropped Ricky off on Luke's chest.
"I hate destiny" Luke mumbled gently rubbing Ricky's back to get him to sleep.
"Yeah well, I hate Destiny's Child, so we're even" she walked back in with Sean in her arms. "And don't think that just because you're whining I'll let you sleep in tonight, it's your turn"
"Yeah, yeah" Luke said and sighed.
"Hey, I made up my mind" Lorelai suddenly said after a little silence, filled with the boys' blurbs.
"Made up your mind about what?" Luke turned to look at her.
"I'm not going back to the Inn" Lorelai resolved.
"What?"
"I've been thinking about it and… I'll hire someone to take over Michel's job more permanently and I'll let him take my job"
"You're serious?"
"Yes, I want to be a Mom, besides I don't want somebody else taking care of them"
"Lorelai, we could've figured something else, you don't have to stop working"
"I know" she shrugged and looked down at Sean in her arms; he was looking up at her with big eyes. "I also don't want to go to work and miss something" Sean popped a spit bubble. "Not even the gross things"
"Are you sure about this?" Ricky was asleep now so Luke pulled his little fist out of his mouth.
"Yes" Lorelai smiled.
"Ok then, I'm glad you made a choice" Luke said, Ricky's hand flew to his mouth in his sleep.
"I haven't told Michel yet so… expect a call early tomorrow morning" Lorelai said getting up. And Luke groaned.
You've been LoVeLuKe-ized
Aaaaaaaannnndd? Do you love me or do what?
Tell me what you thunk about my view on things.