"Is it six feet deep, though?" Rory peeked into the hole Luke had dug in the ground from underneath her wide-brimmed, black hat.

Luke leaned against his shovel and held back a sigh. This was such a common theme in his life, ever since he had met Lorelai, that he didn't really know why he was ever surprised by things anymore.

"Go get the tape measurer and check," Luke told the little girl beside him. While she ran back to the house, her long black skirt trailed behind her.

Eyes rolling towards the sky, Luke wondered just how he had found himself preparing a grave for a hamster on a Tuesday afternoon. Rory hadn't even had the hamster for long—a week, two weeks, tops.

He had told Lorelai they shouldn't take Rory to the town square on the day that the town had an animal adoption event. Lorelai had insisted Rory was old enough for a pet. Luke thought a hamster was a little too high maintenance for a first pet. He had pushed for a goldfish, or a cat. Something low maintenance, or at least able to care for itself for the most part.

But as soon as Rory had laid her eyes on that little orange splotched hamster, she had fallen in love. Her heart was set on it. Both Luke and Lorelai had a hard—impossible—time telling her 'no'.

Rory named the little thing Pumpkin. She was diligent about making sure the hamster had food and water every morning and that the woodchips lining the bottom of the cage were clean. Despite all these efforts, Rory had come home earlier that day to find the hamster dead in its cage.

So, of course, she asked Luke to quickly build a casket for the animal. This request came after Rory had spent an hour and a half in her room, crying her little blue eyes out. Luke had almost laughed despite himself, but Lorelai's sharp elbow in his side stopped it in his throat. Which led to Luke slapping together a tiny, plywood coffin.

Then Rory asked Luke to dig a grave for the coffin to go in.

"Like a real one," Rory had emphasized. "A proper one."

As Luke dug the little hole, Rory had enlisted Lorelai's help in getting dressed for the funeral. Lucky for Luke, he had already gotten dressed in a black and gray flannel that Rory had deemed appropriate for the funeral.

By the time Luke had finished digging, Lorelai and Rory had sauntered from the house clad in all black. Lorelai had been taxed with carrying the tiny coffin with the hamster inside, and Luke could tell from her face that she wasn't thrilled about it.

"This is madness," Luke whispered to his girlfriend while Rory was inside retrieving the tape measurer.

"It was her first pet," Lorelai defended, though Luke thought he could see a green tint to her cheeks as she peered down at the coffin in her hands. "Plus you know Rory's always been prone to dramatics."

"I can't imagine why," Luke teased. Lorelai was much the same way, even if she insisted Rory took it far beyond where she ever would.

"Let's just make this as quick as we possibly can. It's grab-bag night at Al's Pancake World. That always cheers her up."

"Great, so you're telling me I'll have to attend two more funerals before the night is over?"

Lorelai stuck her tongue out at Luke just as Rory walked up. She gave both of the adults a serious, reproachful look and shook her head. If the circumstances were different, Lorelai would have laughed at the overly-mature look on her little daughter's face.

"This is a serious matter," Rory reminded them. Not only did she have the tape measurer in her hand, but also her recorder. Luke groaned inwardly. Some idiot, otherwise known as Mrs. Barrett, had decided that every first grader in Stars Hollow needed to learn to play the recorder.

The stupid little plastic thing made a terrible high-pitched sound that set Luke's teeth on edge. It wasn't because Rory was bad at playing it, either. She was actually better at it than most of her classmates, as the recorder recital Stars Hollow Elementary held proved to be true. That's just the noise all of those stupid things made.

For God knows what reason, Mrs. Barrett had also decided that one of the songs the first graders should learn to play on the recorder was a funeral dirge. Naturally. What first grader wouldn't want to learn to play such a sunshine-y song on the worst musical instrument ever made?

"You have a good eye, Luke," Rory assessed while measuring the hole he had dug. It was six feet deep exactly.

"Thanks?" Luke said, more as a question than a statement. Rory nodded to her mother. A slightly sick look still on her face, Lorelai gently lowered the hamster coffin into the ground. Rory raised the recorder to her lips and began to play an off-key, squeaky, funeral dirge.

This is a real test, Luke thought, keeping his face carefully blank so as not to expose how ridiculous he thought all of this was. He rested his head on his hands, propping himself against his shovel, trying his best not to betray himself.

When Lorelai's twinkling blue eyes caught his, though, he was almost done for. Luke had to quickly turn his laugh into a deep, hacking cough.

To both of their luck, Rory was so preoccupied with concentrating on her recorder that she didn't notice.

After what seemed like an eternity, Rory let Luke cover the hole with dirt and the funeral was over. The little girl perked up at the idea of going to Al's, but not enough to allow Lorelai to change out of her 'funeral' clothes.

"You were very stoic back there," Lorelai told Luke as the trio walked to the restaurant. She and Luke were walking side by side, Lorelai's hand tucked into the crook of his elbow. Rory was going ahead of them, making a hopscotch-like game of jumping on the dry parts of the sidewalk between the puddles of a recent rainstorm.

"It was pretty hard," Luke told her. "I'm surprised there were any dry eyes there."

"Us Gilmore girls are lucky to have such a strong man in our lives."

A/N: You know, when I write these, it's just little ideas that pop into my head that I think are funny/cute/interesting. I really write all of these scenarios just to entertain myself (it's highly effective!), but I know YOU guys love it to. So, I think it would be fun if I wrote out some of your ideas! If there's something you would like to see, just PM me about it. I'll do the first 10 I get, maybe more depending on how many there are... This is just for fun, don't feel obligated! I thought it might make the stories a little more...engaging, maybe? Plus I've never written from someone else's prompt like this, so it's a challenge for me and my writing skills, too!