Luke woke up on November 18 hoping that nobody would remember the significance of the day or at the very least wouldn't mention it to him. When he and Jess walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, Luke knew the day wouldn't go unnoticed. William was holding Rory as he supervised Lorelai's attempt to flip pancakes. The mere fact that Lorelai was cooking instead of waiting for Luke to make breakfast made him suspect she thought the day was special. His suspicions were confirmed when Lorelai spotted him and immediately broke into song.

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you," Lorelai sang as she passed the spatula to William and danced her way toward Luke and Jess. "Happy birthday dear Luuuuuke. Happy birthday to you," she concluded. She wrapped her arms around Luke and Jess, hugging them gently.

Luke wrapped his free arm around Lorelai's waist and pulled her closer to his side. "Um, thanks."

Lorelai suddenly felt awkward being pressed so closely to Luke and pulled back. She looked down at the ground, trying to hide the blush she could feel heating her cheeks. "Yeah, um, you're welcome."

Sensing Lorelai's discomfort, Luke decided to change the subject and gestured toward William, who was stacking the pancakes on the plate, while asking, "What do we have going on over there?"

"Oh!" Lorelai rushed to take the spatula back from William. "It's your birthday. You're 20 today!"

"It's no big deal," Luke protested, blushing.

"It is a big deal, Luke. It's your birthday!"

"That doesn't really explain why you're making pancakes. Are those even edible?" Luke eyed the odd-looking pancakes suspiciously.

Lorelai gasped. "Of course, they're edible!"

"But why are you making them? Why didn't you wait for me to make breakfast?"

"This is your birthday present."

"My birthday present?"

"Yeah, well, I can't really afford to buy you a present, so I'm making you breakfast instead."

"You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but it's your birthday and I want to," Lorelai explained with a shrug as she finished stacking the pancakes on the plate and carried them to the table.

William followed behind Lorelai, carrying Rory. As he passed Luke, he paused briefly and said, "Happy birthday, son."

"Thanks, Dad." Luke and Jess fell into step behind William and Rory.

They all gathered around the kitchen table and devoured the surprisingly edible pancakes that Lorelai had prepared.

L&L L&L L&L

Shortly after lunch, Lorelai found Luke raking leaves in the backyard. "Hey, Luke?"

"Yeah."

"Um, your dad volunteered to watch Rory, so I thought I'd, um, go for a walk."

"Okay. Have fun."

"Would you, um, like to go with me? He said he could watch Jess too."

Luke stopped raking and looked up at Lorelai, who was looking back at him with nervous anticipation. "Oh, um, yeah. Just let me throw this rake in the garage and we can go."

Lorelai smiled. "Really? Great!"

L&L L&L L&L

Luke and Lorelai walked through town, discussing the joys and challenges of parenthood. As they neared Miss Patty's School of Ballet, Lorelai looped her arm through Luke's. "Hey, why don't we stop by and see Miss Patty?"

"Why would we do that?"

"I don't know. She seems nice and I just thought it might be fun to visit her."

"Oh. Okay. I guess we could stop by for a minute."

"Great!"

Lorelai ran her hand down Luke's arm until she reached his hand, laced their fingers together, and took off toward Miss Patty's, dragging him behind her. Lorelai turned to face Luke as they entered the dance studio. Suddenly the lights turned on and dozens of people yelled, "Surprise!"

Luke grinned at Lorelai who was beaming at him, "Surprise, Lorelai."

Lorelai's smile dropped into a confused frown. "Huh?"

Luke let go of Lorelai's hand and placed his hand on her shoulder, gently turning her around to face the crowd. "This party is for you," he told her with a chuckle.

Lorelai's mouth dropped open in shock as she took in the pink decorations and the crowd of townspeople. William was at the front of the crowd, holding Rory and Jess. "Oh!" she gasped and turned to Luke with tears in her eyes. "It's a baby shower! It's supposed to be your birthday party though."

Luke wrapped her in a gentle hug and whispered in her ear, "No, it's not."

Lorelai pulled back and asked, "You knew?"

"I knew."

"What about your birthday?"

"I don't really like to celebrate my birthday and this way you still get cake."

Lorelai burst into laughter while Luke smiled at her indulgently. "How selfless of you."

"I try."

Lorelai took his hand in hers again and squeezed gently. "You succeed."

"Come on, let's go get our babies. Then, you can rot your insides with way too much cake."

L&L L&L L&L

"Lorelai!" William called from the vicinity of the front door.

"In here!" Lorelai called back from the living room where she and Luke were getting the babies out of their car seats.

William entered the living room and walked over to Lorelai and Rory. "Pass me the baby."

"What?"

"You got a letter in the mail. It looks official, so I think you should hand Rory to me before you read it."

"Oh. Okay." Lorelai passed Rory to William and took the letter. She sat down on the couch and proceeded to slowly open the envelope, withdraw a stack papers, and read through the entire stack. When she was finished, she put the papers back in the envelope, took Rory from William, and headed for the stairs.

"Is everything okay, Lorelai?"

Lorelai paused and looked over her shoulder. "Yeah, Luke. Everything's fine. I'm just going to feed Rory and put her down for a nap." She continued out of the room.

Luke started to follow her only to be stopped by William's hand on his shoulder. "Give her some time."

"Why? She's obviously upset."

"I know. I think those were the papers to terminate the parental rights of Rory's dad."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Just let her take care of Rory. You can check on her in a little bit."

L&L L&L L&L

Lorelai was laying on her bed staring at the ceiling when she heard a knock at the door. She ignored the knocking, but soon heard Luke calling softly, "Lorelai, can I come in?"

"I guess."

Luke opened the door, stepped into the room, shut the door behind him, and turned to look at Lorelai. "Hey."

Lorelai sat up. "Hey."

"How are you?"

"Fine. How are you?"

"Lorelai," Luke said with exasperation.

"Luke," Lorelai replied matching his tone.

Luke crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed, facing Lorelai. "I know you're not fine."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Okay. I will be fine though."

Luke didn't respond. He sat there quietly, waiting for her to elaborate.

"Ugh! For someone who doesn't say much, you're awfully persistent. I'm sure you know that the letter was the paperwork to terminate Chris' parental rights."

"I didn't know for sure, but I thought it might be."

"Yeah, well, there was also a letter from his attorney. He gave me instructions on how to object to the termination and told me that either way I need to appear at the court hearing, so the judge can talk to me about Rory."

"When's the hearing?"

"February 7. I guess that's the first date they could get."

"Okay. Dad and I will be there."

"You don't have to do that. I mean, what about your dad's store?"

"He has other employees. Don't worry about it. We will be there," Luke insisted.

"Okay. Thanks. Um, the emancipation hearing will probably be the same day."

"Okay."

"Yeah, your dad found an attorney that's willing to help me pro bono. He said that once I got the termination hearing date, he would file the emancipation papers and request the emancipation hearing be held on the same day. He doesn't think it will be a problem."

"That's great, Lorelai."

"Yeah. It's, it's, uh, whatever. Can we please talk about something else now? I just don't even want to think about Chris or court hearings anymore today."

"Sure. No problem. Why don't we put the baby shower gifts away?"

"That'd be great. I'll put on my shoes and meet you at the truck."

"Don't worry about it. I already unloaded the gifts. I, um, brought them upstairs too. They're just outside the door."

"I would've helped."

"I know, but I needed to keep busy while I waited to check on you."

"You were waiting to check on me?"

"You were upset," Luke explained. "It's no big deal."

"It's a very big deal to me."

"Yeah, well, um," Luke stuttered, then gave up on speech and bolted for the door.

Lorelai followed him and they worked together to bring the gifts into her bedroom. They settled on the floor and began to put the new clothes and toys away. Luke smiled as Lorelai oohed and aahed over every gift. Eventually, Luke realized that Lorelai had started stacking some of the clothes off to the side, rather than putting them away. "Hey, what's with that pile?"

"What pile?" she asked, looking up at him.

"That one," he said, pointing.

"Oh, that pile. Well, um, those are going to be Rory's Christmas presents."

"What?"

"Yeah. Just a few clothes that are a little too big right now. I'll set aside a couple of the toys too. You know, just so she has something under the tree on Christmas morning."

"She won't know if there aren't any presents this year."

"I'll know."

"Yeah. Okay." He studied the remaining baby shower gifts. "What about these?" he asked, pulling out a rattle shaped like a bunny and a copy of Goodnight Moon.

Lorelai smiled at him. "Those are perfect." She took them and placed them in the pile of Christmas presents.