Lorelai, Luke, and William worked together to clear the dinner dishes. Lorelai promised to wash the dishes as soon as she was done feeding Rory and headed upstairs. After listening to Lorelai walk up the stairs and close her bedroom door, Luke started running the water to wash the dishes and turned to his dad. "So," he began hesitantly, "what do you think of Lorelai?"

"She seems like a sweet girl," William replied as he picked up a towel so he could dry the dishes. "A little scared, but who wouldn't be in her position?"

"At least she has us. She told me she was planning on leaving and I couldn't just not help her."

"Do her parents know where she is?"

"No and she doesn't want them to."

"Do they even know she's gone?"

"I don't know. She tried to call them from the pay phone in town, but they weren't home, so she left a message."

"I still can't believe they left her and that sweet baby at the hospital."

"You should have been there, Dad, her mother was awful. She was screaming so loud that I could hear her down the hall. She was trying to force Lorelai to change Rory's name."

"Sounds like a real gem."

"Yeah. Can you imagine what she'd be like if Lorelai and Rory had stayed?"

William grimaced. "I don't want to."

"Me either," Luke agreed with an exaggerated shudder.

"What about Rory's father? Where's he?"

"I don't know. From what Lorelai has told me he disappeared when she refused to marry him. She tried calling him when she went into labor, but he was at a party. He never showed up or even returned her call."

"That poor girl."

"Which one?"

"Both."

"Is she going to let him know where his daughter is?"

"I don't know."

"You might want to find out."

"I guess."

William studied his son with undisguised curiosity. "Any reason you wouldn't want to find out?"

"I just don't want to see them get hurt."

"Hmm," William muttered thoughtfully. "Seems to me Lorelai's already hurting. It might be best to sort it out now, once and for all."

"Thoughts on how to do that?"

"Start by asking her what she wants," William answered as he dried the last dish.

Luke nodded firmly, squared his shoulders, and headed for the stairs. He climbed the stairs slowly and was soon standing in front of Lorelai's closed bedroom door. He had been standing there for several minutes thinking about how he might mention the subject of Rory's father when the door suddenly swung open.

"Oh!" Lorelai exclaimed. Her eyes were wide with shock. It was clear she had not been expecting Luke to be standing there.

"Um, hi."

"I was just going to do the dishes. I didn't forget," she quickly assured him. "I swear."

"Relax, Lorelai. I know you didn't forget, but I already washed the dishes."

"Oh. Um, thanks."

"You're welcome."

"So, um, did you need something?"

"No. I was just wondering if you were ready to put all of your things away."

"Yeah, sure. I can do it by myself though. I'm sure you have other things to do."

Luke pretended to think about it. "Can't think of a thing. Let's get to work."

"Okay," Lorelai agreed and stepped aside to allow Luke into the room.

Luke entered the room and looked around at everything that needed to be put away. He walked over to the dresser and grabbed two empty boxes that had been placed on top. "Why don't we start by emptying the dresser drawers?"

"Okay. Just let me put Rory down." Lorelai gently kissed Rory's forehead and placed her in the bassinet.

"There shouldn't be much in here, but my dad sometimes throws things in here when he doesn't know where else to put them."

Lorelai chuckled softly and took one of the empty boxes from Luke. They worked silently, quickly emptying several drawers of their assorted contents. Lorelai was adding a stack of papers to her nearly full box when half the stack fell onto the floor. As she was picking them up she found a picture of Luke with a girl who Lorelai thought looked to be about her age. "Hey, Luke."

"Yeah."

Lorelai held up the picture. "Is this your sister?"

Luke glanced at the picture. "Uh, no. That's Rachel."

"Who's Rachel?"

"My ex-girlfriend."

"She's pretty."

"I guess. That was our senior prom, so we were all dressed up."

"Oh." Lorelai hesitated, not sure what else to say at first, but then asked, "Do you want this back?"

"No. Just throw it in the box with everything else."

"Okay." Lorelai carefully placed the picture on top of the papers already in the box. The pair went back to working in silence.

Soon all of the drawers were empty and both boxes were full. Luke and Lorelai began filling the drawers with the assortment of clothes and baby supplies that had been provided by the townspeople. Eventually, Luke realized he couldn't put off asking about Rory's father any longer. He stopped working and turned to watch Lorelai for a few moments. She appeared to be very focused on the task at hand. Luke was still unable to come up with right words, so he just asked, "What about Rory's dad?"

Lorelai blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"Are you going to tell Rory's dad where you are?"

Luke watched as Lorelai visibly tensed, immediately on edge. "I guess I'll have to. She's his daughter, even if he doesn't seem to want to admit it. I'll probably wait a couple weeks though."

"Do you think he'll try to take her?"

"No."

"What about his parents?"

Lorelai chuckled morosely. "Unlikely. They wanted me to, um, get rid of her."

"Get rid of her?"

"Yeah."

"What do you, mean?"

Lorelai gave him a hard look.

"Oh!" Luke exclaimed, suddenly realizing what Lorelai had meant. "That's awful."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

Lorelai shrugged. "Anyway, I doubt they'll want her, but they might tell my parents where I am."

"Do you really think they'd do that?"

"I don't know, but when I call Chris, I'm going to do it when I'm sure his parents aren't home."

"Won't he tell his parents where you are?"

"I hope not."

They fell back into silence while they finished putting everything away. Finally, Luke slid the last drawer closed. "There you go."

"Thank you. I feel like I've been saying that a lot."

"You're welcome. I feel like I've been saying that a lot."

Lorelai giggled.

Luke smiled. "I like that."

"What?"

"Your laugh. You should do it more often."

Lorelai glanced toward the bassinet where Rory was sleeping and thought about how she hadn't had much reason to laugh recently. As if reading her mind, Luke dropped the subject and moved toward the door. "Good night, Lorelai. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Luke."

L&L L&L L&L

Several hours after she had said good night to Luke, Lorelai was still awake. She was in the living room, curled up in the corner of the couch, quietly studying her daughter's sweet face. Rory had finished nursing and was fast asleep in her mother's arms. Lorelai knew she shouldn't have nursed Rory in the living room, but thought it would be okay since it was the middle of the night and everyone else was fast asleep. She realized she should be sleeping too, but was afraid she wouldn't hear Rory the next time she needed to nurse.

Lorelai wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting in the living room when she heard Jess cry upstairs. Jess didn't cry for long before quieted down. Lorelai heard someone walking down the stairs and heading to the kitchen. She listened as Luke spoke softly to his son while preparing a bottle. Father and son then headed back upstairs.

A little while later she heard footsteps on the stairs again and looked toward the entrance of the living room. Luke walked in quietly. "There you are," he stated when he realized she was awake.

"Here I am."

"I got up to feed Jess and realized you weren't in your room. Is everything okay?"

"I couldn't sleep."

Luke crossed the room and sat down next to Lorelai on the couch. He was careful not to touch her or even sit too close because he didn't want her to feel crowded. "Any particular reason you can't sleep?"

"I'm worried."

"About?"

"What if Rory needs me and I don't hear her?"

"You will."

"What if I don't?"

"Lorelai, you will. You just need to get used to using the time she sleeps to take care of yourself. That includes sleeping. At night, she'll be in the bassinet right next to your bed. During the day, you can carry the baby monitor around with you. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you will hear her."

"I just want to be there when she needs me."

Luke slid closer to Lorelai and gently took Rory from her. He held Rory with one arm and wrapped his other arm around Lorelai's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. "You'll always be there for her," he assured her. "You will hear her."

"You seem so sure."

"I am."

Lorelai was beginning to grow tired and rested her head on Luke's shoulder. "How?"

"I've been there."

"Oh, yeah."

"It'll get easier. You'll learn from each other."

Lorelai closed her eyes and mumbled, "Thanks, Luke."

"Just rest."

Soon Lorelai fell asleep, still resting her head on Luke's shoulder. Not wanting to disturb either Lorelai or Rory, Luke carefully shifted into a more comfortable position and fell asleep as well. All three were still asleep when William walked into the living room two hours later. He smiled at the sight of his son asleep with his arms around the Gilmore girls, then backed away quietly.