Lorelai and Rory had been living with the Danes' for just over two weeks. The girls had spent their time getting to know each other, settling into their new home, and exploring Stars Hollow. During this time, Lorelai discovered many things. She discovered that Luke had known what he was talking about that first night when he had said she and Rory would learn from each other. He had also been right when he said she would hear Rory when she cried, even in the middle of the night.

She discovered that she liked her new home. She liked Luke, Jess, and William. She had even started to think of her room as hers and not just the Danes' guest room.

She discovered that she really liked Stars Hollow. She'd met several of the townspeople when she took Rory out exploring. The first time they'd gone out, Lorelai had met Fran Weston, the owner of Weston's Bakery, who just happened to make the best coffee in town. The next time they'd gone out, Lorelai had met Gypsy, who had just started working as a mechanic, and Andrew, who worked at his father's bookstore. The third time they'd gone out, Lorelai had met Babette Dell and Patty LaCosta, the town gossips. She'd discovered that Babette and Miss Patty considered her arrival big news, but that their type of gossip was much kinder than that of her former classmates. Babette and Miss Patty were more interested in learning all they could about her than in spreading vicious rumors. They could also be discreet when necessary.

As she settled into her new life and gained confidence in her abilities as a single mother, Lorelai decided it was time to call Chris.

L&L L&L L&L

On the Saturday before Halloween, Lorelai walked into the kitchen with Rory in her arms and took a seat at the kitchen table. William sat across from her reading the newspaper and enjoying his morning coffee. Luke stood at the stove holding Jess and preparing breakfast. When she realized that her presence hadn't gotten the attention of either man she abruptly announced, "I've decided to call Chris."

William put down his newspaper and Luke turned away from the stove. Both appeared to be shocked by her announcement, but William recovered first. "Are you going to tell him where you are?" he asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Don't you think you should figure that out before you call him?" Luke asked.

"I'm going to wait to see if he even cares."

Luke decided to press the issue. "What if he says he cares and then tells your parents?"

"If he does that, I guess I'll have to deal with it," Lorelai responded with a careless shrug. "I can't hide forever."

"It's barely been two weeks."

"They have money, Luke. I don't. If they really want to find me, it won't take them long. There's not much I can do about that."

"You seem awfully unconcerned about your parents all of a sudden," Luke replied gruffly.

"Lucas," William reprimanded his son gently.

"It's not that I'm not worried. I just know that I'll have to deal with them sooner or later."

Luke grunted and turned back to the stove.

William watched his son for a moment and then turned his attention to Lorelai. "Just be sure you're ready to deal with them before you start borrowing trouble. Maybe take another couple of days to think about it."

Lorelai considered William's advice before voicing her agreement. "I will. I don't want to call Chris until Monday anyway."

"Why Monday?"

"I don't want to risk his parents answering the phone, so I'll call right when he should be getting out of school. His dad will be at work and his mom should be at a DAR meeting."

"DAR?"

"Daughters of the American Revolution."

William snorted as he tried not to laugh at the absurdity of an organization called Daughters of the American Revolution.

"It's stupid. I know."

Lorelai's admission caused William to let out the laugh he had been struggling to hold back. His bark of laughter caused Lorelai to laugh with him. Luke just shook his head and put breakfast on the table.

L&L L&L L&L

Lorelai walked to William's Hardware on Monday afternoon and left Rory with Luke before heading across the town square to the pay phone. After reaching the pay phone she spent several minutes pacing back and forth, chewing her lower lip. Finally, she stopped in front of the pay phone, picked up the receiver, inserted a quarter, and dialed the familiar phone number.

The phone seemed to ring forever, but eventually a maid answered the phone. "Hayden residence. How may I help you?"

"Hello. This is Lorelai Gilmore. May I please speak to Christopher Hayden?"

"One moment."

After a minute, Chris came on the line. "Lor?"

"Hey, Chris."

"What do you want?"

Lorelai sighed heavily at Chris' impatient tone. "I just wanted to let you know that Rory's okay."

"Rory."

"Your daughter."

"Oh. Yeah. About that…" Chris trailed off.

"Chris?"

"I'm not ready to be a dad."

Lorelai gave a half-hearted chuckle. "And I'm ready to be a mom?"

"What I mean is that I don't want to be a dad."

"It's a little late for that. You're already a dad."

"But I don't want to be and I've been talking to my parents about, uh, terminating my parental rights."

"Oh, Chris," Lorelai exclaimed sadly.

"We've been talking to a lawyer. He doesn't think it'll be a problem."

"Are you sure? What if you change your mind some day?"

"I'm sure."

"What am I supposed to tell Rory when she starts to ask where her daddy is?"

"I don't know. You'll figure it out. You always do."

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed half-heartedly. "I always do."

"I need to know where to send the paperwork."

"I don't want my parents to know where I am."

"Emily and Richard don't know where you are? They must be going crazy."

"I wouldn't know. They weren't home when I tried to call them."

"Oh. Well, I need to get going, so how about that address?"

"I don't know. I'll have to think about it."

"What is there to think about?"

"I need to decide where I want you to send the paperwork."

"Lorelai," Chris pleaded, clearly exasperated.

"I'll call you back when I figure something out." Lorelai hung up the phone without saying goodbye.

L&L L&L L&L

Later that night, Luke sat at the kitchen table watching Lorelai pick at her dinner. She seemed to be spending more time pushing her food around her plate then actually eating it. Finally, he put his fork down and asked, "Is everything okay?"

His question failed to get Lorelai's attention, but it did alert William to her unusual behavior. William stopped eating and began watching Lorelai. After a few minutes, he turned to Luke and raised an eyebrow in question. Luke shrugged his shoulders, signaling that he had no idea what was troubling Lorelai, and tried again to get her attention. "Hey, Lorelai, is, um, is everything okay?"

Lorelai still didn't respond, so William, who was sitting closest to Lorelai, reached out and touched her shoulder. She startled and dropped her fork, flinging mashed potatoes across the table. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" She immediately jumped to her feet and began cleaning up the mashed potatoes with her napkin. "I didn't mean to throw food at you, Luke. I'll clean it up."

"Sit down, Lorelai," William told her sternly.

Lorelai stared at William, eyes wide in shock, as she sank back into her chair.

"What's bothering you?"

"Nothing's bothering me," Lorelai answered. She began to ramble, "What would make you think that something is bothering me? Everything is fine. Perfectly fine. Never better. I couldn't be better. That's right, I'm…"

William interrupted Lorelai's rambling. "Lorelai, we know something is bothering you. You've barely touched your dinner, you didn't hear Luke talking to you, and you nearly jumped out of your skin when I touched your shoulder. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I swear. Everything will be fine."

"Lorelai," Luke began, shifting Lorelai's attention away from William, "you said everything will be fine, not everything is fine. What is bothering you?"

"You know you can tell us anything," William added.

Lorelai began fidgeting with her napkin and suddenly found her remaining mashed potatoes very interesting. "Yeah. I know."

"So, what is it?" William asked softly.

"I, um, called Chris today."

"I know. Luke watched Rory while you were on the phone."

"That's right, he did."

"How did it go? Does he want to see Rory?"

"No, he doesn't want to see her. He doesn't want her at all. He wants to terminate his parental rights."

William and Luke were stunned into silence. Finally, Luke recovered and asked, "What does that mean?"

"It means my little girl won't have a daddy," Lorelai wailed as she burst into tears. Through her sobs she began to ramble again, "It means I have to give him an address and deal with paperwork. It means my parents will be even more disappointed. Oh, no, my parents! They're going to find out where I am. They'll try to take Rory because now she won't have a dad. That's so much worse than me not having a husband."

William stood up and walked over to Lorelai. He pulled her out of her chair and into his arms, hugging her tight. He let her cry for several minutes. "Oh, honey. It'll be okay. I promise."

Lorelai nodded against William's chest, took several steadying breaths, and pulled away. "Thanks, William," she said as she wiped the tears from her face and sank heavily back into her chair. "I just don't know what to do."

Luke reached over and took her hand. "You're going to be the best mother you can be to that little girl. This will be better than him coming and going as he pleases or her feeling like he doesn't want her."

"And we can deal with things like paperwork and your parents. You can use our address," William offered.

"No, I can't. My parents would find us."

"I thought you were done hiding from your parents?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, um, that was when I thought they might find me, but now they definitely will. I just don't want them to take Rory."

"What about emancipation?" William suggested. "You could ask the court to emancipate you and your parents wouldn't be able to make you go back or to take Rory."

"Really?"

"Really."

"How would I do that?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but we could find out. It's probably a similar process to the termination of parental rights."

Lorelai turned to look at Luke. "Do you think I could do it?"

Luke gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "I know you could."

"So, I'll call Chris tomorrow and give him your address. He'll terminate his parental rights. I'll get emancipated. That just leaves dealing with my parents."

"We'll deal with them if and when we have to," William told her.

"Okay."

"Everything's going to be okay, Lorelai. Luke and I will do everything we can to help you and Rory."

"I know. Thank you so much."