Who's Your Daddy?
Javadebater

Disclaimer: Of course I didn't make these characters up. You know that.
Distribution: ANYONE!!! If you don't mind, email me at swoman2000@hotmail.com so I can look through your archive! Thanks!
A.N. At least at the beginning, Jess doesn't exist…I'm not sure if I'll ever write him in…maybe a sequel? Who knows? Also, I use too many comma's and ellipses (…). Get used to it.
Pairing: L/L.
Part 1
The Assignment

Rory

"Can anyone tell me a prevailing theme in Chaim Potok's The Chosen?"

A silence fell over my English class.

"Come on, people, didn't anyone read the book?"

I slowly raised my hand.

"Aha! Rory!"

"The relationship between father and son and how it changes between cultures?"

"Very good. Now, in order to connect this to our own lives, I would like to present you all with your first assignment of the year. I would like you to write a report about your own father, in which you describe him, and compare and contrast him to Danny's father, Reuven's father, and, as I like to call it, the "Leave it to Beaver" father. Those of you with one or many stepfamilies may choose a father or show how different fathers fit these different roles. You will have one month to do these reports, and at the end, you will be presenting them in class. They will be worth approximately 15% of your final grade, so I wouldn't suggest waiting until the last day, let alone the last minute. Okay, that's it. I hope you all had a great first day at Chilton!"

As I started to think about the characters in the book, something occurred to me. I had a problem- and no real father. I decided to see if Ms. Norris would let me use another topic for my report.

"Ms. Norris! Do you have a minute?"

"Of course! What may I do for you?"

"I was just wondering...I know you talked about having multiple fathers, but I have a different problem. I don't really have a father."

"You don't really have a father? Isn't your mother getting married soon?"

"That kind of fell through. And about my father, well...he and my mother were never married, they never even lived together. He lives in Boston and is about to get married, and I just think he needs to concentrate on that for now. He hasn't even really been in my life enough to consider him a father, I guess. I mean, he just comes and goes as he pleases. So may I have another topic please? Maybe I could write about my mother and how, in a single parent household, one parent begins to take on traits of both parents. I could do some good comparisons with Reuven and his father!"

"Rory, how about this. You can do a report about how, in a single parent household, a non-biological father can step in and become a father-like figure. Have fun."

"But..."

"Rory, it's either that, or you do it about your dad. Or you can fail. But I wouldn't suggest it."

"Fine. Thanks anyways."

What a lot of help that was. I had only a month to find a father figure. As I got on the bus, I started to go through about every man I knew who was old enough to be my father.

I could choose Grandpa, but frankly, certain parts of the country club life scared me quite a bit. I was still recovering from my debut…perhaps the Hartford Gilmores are better left to Friday nights.

Maybe Taylor would make a...wait, that would involve decorations for every holiday of the year. And I would have to go to the market, where Dean…

I continued along these lines until the bus came to a stop in Stars Hollow. I walked in a daze to Luke's, where, upon seeing my mom had not yet shown up for her bi-hourly coffee fix, I walked up to the counter, sat down, and banged my head down on the countertop. Hard.

Luke walked up and set down a huge cup of coffee. I still didn't move. I had a feeling caffeine wouldn't help the headache I had. I heard him pause for a second, as if to ask me something, and then think better of it, and move away.

Five minutes later, he was back.

"Rory, is something wrong?"

"Why would you think that?", I said, head still down.

"Well, other than the whole head on the table, the fact that a Gilmore has coffee within 2 inches of her and is not even moving to get it is definitely a clue. Anything you want to talk about?"

I looked up at him, and, for about the third time in my life, saw him look truly concerned.

"Oh, you know, it's just Chilton..."

"Is still Chilton?"

"Exactly. Plus, I got this assignment that I'm not sure how I'm going to go about doing it."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out. Tell me if there's anything I can do, though. Okay?"

As he looked up at someone walking through the door, the idea struck me.

"Luke! Will you be my father figure?"

The look on his face was priceless.

"What???"

"It's that assignment. I have to compare my father to some fathers in a book and…well, Dad's not really the best dad ever, if you know what I mean. And he and Sherry are just starting to settle down…and you've been there more than he has anyways. But my teacher's still making me do it. So, like I said, will you be my father?"

He glanced up briefly, then, with a smile, looked at me, and said, "Of course Ror, I'd love to."

I screamed loud enough to make everyone turn around, then ran around the counter, hugged him, kissed him on the cheek, and ran out of the diner, straight past my mom, not even seeing her there.

Not Rory (can't really describe that)

"Hey, Pops, got any coffee?" Lorelai asked, walking up to the counter.

"I don't know, Mrs. Robinson, are you gonna keep that up?"

They two stared at each other until, for the first time, Lorelai broke down.

"Really, Luke, thanks for doing this for Rory. As strange as it may sound, it isn't really all that surprising that she would choose you. Sad as it is, you're around her more in a month than Christopher has been her entire life.

"No problem, Lor. You two mean a lot to me, to all of us."

Lorelai glanced at the ground, not quite sure what to say. She opted for the usual humor.

"So are you gonna give me that coffee now?"

After deciding not to ruin the moment with a lecture about the negative effects of coffee on one's health, Luke somewhat reluctantly replied, " Yeah, sure. Here or to go?"

"Hmm... you suppose I should make sure my daughter hasn't been too emotionally scarred by this whole scenario?"

"Are you implying that having me as her father would harm your daughter psychologically?"

After seeing Lorelai's raised eyebrow, he answered his own question. "So two coffees to go it is..."

And with that, she was gone.