"Rory! I know you're here! Where are you?" Lorelai called out as she walked around the house. She stopped when she heard sniffling coming from Rory's room. "Can I come in please?"

"Yea sure." Rory replied in gasps. She had started crying the minute she was out the diner door and she'd cried so hard that by now every breath came out in gasps. When she got home she went straight to the closet and pulled out the familiar and worn out box of stuff. When he first left she looked through it regularly; back then it made her smile. But when she couldn't find him just the site of the box made her cry, so she stuck it in the back of the closet and never looked at it again. She hadn't looked at its contents for 15 years. So when she got home she sat down and picked out each item one at a time and held them and remembered and cried.

"It's been a long time hasn't it?" Lorelai said as she sat down by her daughter hugged her.

"I just wanted to forget, but I can't I still love him so much." Rory said as she blew her nose on a Kleenex.

"I know baby. But how do you know that this D. Thompson is Him? It could be any one."

"I has to be him, who else could it be?"

"Don't be so sure. Look." Lorelai said reaching over and getting the phone book. "Look at how many D. Thompson's there are: Dale, Damien, Dan, Daniel, Darien, David, Dennis, Derrick, Dolores, Don, Doreen… it could be anyone."

"For one things two of those were girls so they are automatically disqualified but you're right, I just couldn't stand the idea of him being back here and not trying to call. I mean what if he forgot about me?"

"That is stupid. He could NEVER EVER forget you… no one could."

"O.k. maybe your right."

"Maybe? No maybe about it I AM right." Lorelai said hugging Rory tight to her. "Now come on. Lorly and Luke are waiting for us." Lorelai pulled Rory to her feet and stuffed all the stuff back in the box and shoved it back in the closet.

"Ok." Rory answered still not completely sure about what her mom told her. The funny feeling in her gut just wouldn't go away.

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"So how much has your mom told you about your dad?" Luke asked casually as he set Lorly's hamburger in front of her. It had been and hour and a half since Rory and Lorelai had left and Lorly seemed to have forgotten. Of course six cups of coffee probably helped. Just like her mother and Nani Lorly had inherited their infatuation with coffee.

"Well Mom only told me that he disappeared before she had a chance to tell him about me. And not to take it personally because if he knew about me he'd be here. She said she looked everywhere imaginable for him for two years but then she got to busy with me and gave up. Nani said she doesn't talk about him because it's too hard. She says Dad was the only guy Mom was ever really interested in. She said Mom went on a few "favor dates" but nothing close to serious, she just loved Dad too much." She told him as she took a bite out of her burger.

"Anything else? Like maybe a name?" He asked being careful not cross any lines.

"No I don't even know his name. Come to think of it No one but Mom, Nani and, I'm assuming, you know. Some people here in town say it was a college sweetheart others say it was a one night stand. I know it was neither is true. I don't know the truth, but I know it was someone special.

"Hey guys!" Rory said walking in the door.

"Hey Mom! Is everything all right?" Lorly asked jumping up to hug her mom.

"Yea, yea. I just had a rough day. You know how I get sometimes." Rory said hugging Lorly and trying to play off her outburst.

"Ok if you're sure." Lorly said uncertainly. "Luke made dinner, let's eat before it gets cold." She continued leading everyone to the table.

Once they were seated they ate in silence then went home and to bed, all in silence. All four were deep in thought. Luke thought about how to tell Lorly about her father without crossing any lines. Lorelai about how much pain Rory had been through and how she wished she could change it. Rory thought about how much she missed Him and about if everyone would think she was crazy if she started trying to find him again. And Lorly about how she always felt there was so much she didn't know about her family. She decided that she would make some one start talking, even if it was painful for them. She felt cheated by not knowing ANYTHING about her dad. She also decided that the annual school-shopping trip she and her mother had planned for the weekend would be the time to do it. Even though she had to wear a uniform, her mother and she decided she could buy new "weekend" clothes… after all this trip was tradition and who could mess with tradition!

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Saturday morning Rory and Lorly woke up at a shockingly (to Lorelai) early 7:00am. They dressed and went to Luke's for breakfast. The rest of the week had been relatively calm, and both girls were ready and raring to shop.

"Ok so I know you actually started school two months ago, but since you just started a new school, it warrants another shopping trip. So you better be ready for some serious shopping!" Rory said as she and Lorly walked, arms linked, to the jeep to head for Hartford (Where the malls were.)

About two hours and four bags into the trip Lorly decided to bring up the ever so sensitive subject of her dad.

Lorly started out with an explanation, "So Mom, I know this is a hard thing to talk about, and I don't want to upset you but it's important for me to know where I come from and while you've always done a good job of that from your…"

"Lorly! Stop you babbling. I know it's an inherited quality, but please, get to the point." Rory said as they sat down to drink some coffee.

"Ok. I want to know about Dad, but please don't cry." Lorly blurted out looking down at her coffee.

"Wow that was pretty blunt."

"Please mom. I feel like I've been cheated by not knowing anything about him. It's ok that I didn't, don't know him, cause you've always been such a great parent, but I'd like to know a little bit about him."

"That's fare enough, I owe you that much. What do you want to know?" Rory asked feeling guilty for withholding one of the two best things that's ever been in her life from the other best thing.

"I… uh, anything. His name." She was shocked at how willing her mom was to talk.

"His name was Dean. I met him when I was 16 and a sophomore in high school. I actually met him on my last day at Stars Hallow High, the day before I started at Chilton. He was my first boyfriend and I knew the moment I met him he was the only guy I'd ever love. Of course I wouldn't be able to tell him till it was almost too late." Rory started telling Lorly about everything that happened between Dean and her in high school. "So he had been accepted to Berkley and Stanford, and I had of course gotten into Harvard. He couldn't decide between the two schools so he decided to go to California and look at both, then decide. Then his parents announced they were moving back to Chicago. But he promised he would call and come back to me. So we had a big, amazing, romantic date the night before he left and one thing led to another. He went to California and that was the last I heard from him. A month after he left I found out about you. I looked for him for two years, and found nothing so I gave up hope. I wanted to die without him, but I didn't. I went to Harvard like I had planned and I went to Med. School and I became a doctor and I raised you and I made myself not think about him. Until the other day, when you said your coach's name was D. Thompson I guess the name and the sports thing made me think irrationally. I'm over it now though."

"Wow." Lorly said amazed at how much she had just learned.

"It felt good to talk about him. Thank you."

"Thank YOU. That just answered so many questions. I never even imagined all you just told me." She said. The two sat in silence for a minute then Lorly stood up. "Come on we have shopping to do!" and the two were off again.