Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story idea.

A/N:  So many thanks to the wonderful Jade-Tessier.  Sorry for the lengthy delay.  School will be done by 12.5.3 and that point I will be able to throw myself into this again.  Thanks for being patient.

~~

The next night, Lorelai stood at the bottom of her stairs and called out, "I'm going to count to three!"

Before she could, however, Luke's voice came back at her.  "I'm coming, I'm coming."

"Dirty," she smirked quietly to herself.

It was Friday night around seven-thirty as Lorelai stood waiting for Luke.  She gazed around her living room and almost hugged herself with glee at how wonderful the decorations looked.  The couch was pushed against one wall so that the guests could mingle openly around the room.  Lulu was upstairs behind a brand-new baby-gate with her food, water, and litter to keep her company.  Lorelai couldn't bear the though of the kitten being upstairs all alone, but she was more afraid of Lulu accidentally getting out.  The guests were due to start arriving by eight and Lorelai began to tap her foot up and down, impatient for them both to be 'in costume' when the first people began to arrive.  As promised, within another moment, Luke descended the stairs, fresh from a shower wearing his usual jeans, t-shirt, untucked plaid, boots and backwards baseball cap.  She was almost identical to him with the exception of the color of plaid and hairstyle, hers being in pigtails.  He did a double take at her appearance, narrowed his eyes and said, "Is that my shirt?"

"I borrowed it," she answered innocently.  "Do you mind?"

"What exactly are you doing?"

"Nothing," she answered with another smile as she held up the borrowed pair of suspenders.  "Can you help me on with these?"

 "Is this some kind of 'Dress-Up-As-Luke Joke'?"

 "Holy ego, Batman!" she exclaimed with wide eyes.  "Of course I'm not dressed up as you."

Luke shot her a look.  He wasn't buying it.

"Look, just please help me on with the suspenders and I will prove it to you."

Luke, still unconvinced, obliged and helped attach the suspenders.  When the suspenders were finally clasped to her jeans, Luke said, "Okay, now out with it."

Ignoring his question, Lorelai walked to her purse where she pulled out a sheet of stick-on nametags.  She had already written on one and pulled it from the sheet, sticking to her chest. 

"'I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay'," read Luke.  After pausing for a moment, he said, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Only if you think it's an homage to one of the funniest Monty Python songs ever," she replied happily.

"As long as you don't expect me to wear one of those, congratulations on an homage well done," he said shaking his head.

She pouted playfully, "But I thought yours could say 'I sleep all night and I work all day'."

"You said I didn't have to dress up," he replied with a coy smile.

"But this isn't really dressing up," she whined.  "It's a nametag."

"Everybody already knows my name, and besides, you don't want to write my name on it.  You want to write an homage on it, which defeats the purpose of a nametag."

Lorelai's lower lip jutted out farther.  "Come on, Snookums.  Puh-leeeeeeeeeeeease?"

Luke rolled his eyes and said dryly, "Gee, Snookums, let me think about it."  After pretending to think about it for a few seconds he said, "Um, no."      

The front door opened then, cutting off more of Lorelai's incessant pleading.

"Hello!" called Rory from the entryway.  She rounded the corner into the living room with her arm linked through the arm of her date.

Lorelai clapped her hands together in delight.  "You came as Dorothy!  I should have been Sofia and it could have been the funniest inside joke of them all!"

"Hey, Rory," Luke said.  He noticed that in her blue-checkered pinafore and her hair in braids she looked younger than she usually did. 

"Hey, Luke," she said.  "Mom, Luke, this is Charlie."  The young man standing next to her was clad in a shrunken black suit, a bowler hat, and a tiny mustache.  They all shook hands. 

Charlie smiled as he said, "It's nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. – " he faltered, "uh, I mean – "

Luke took his hand and shook it, saying, "I'm Luke."

"And you can call me Lorelai."

"Thanks," he smiled back at them.

"Oh," exclaimed Lorelai.  "I get it!  You're Charlie, dressed up as Charlie Chaplin, right?"

The doorbell rang and Lorelai ran to answer it.  When she opened the door, she gasped at Sookie and Jackson's costumes.   Sookie, who after dropping off the food for the evening, had gone home to change, was now wearing black pedal pushers, with a navy blue and white polka dotted smock, that had a big black bow at the top, which accentuated her eight and a half months of pregnancy.  Her make up was exaggerated and she also wore a red, curly wig. 

"I love Lucy," cried Lorelai as she gave her friend a hug.  "And you're a lumberjack!" said Sookie, realizing that Luke and Lorelai would be matching.  "Ingenious!"  Lorelai looked at Jackson who was dressed as a hobo.  "Great costume!" she said. 

Soon after Sookie and Jackson's arrival, more and more people began to show up.  Taylor arrived, dressed as Zorro, followed closely by Kirk who had unfortunately chosen to come as Superman.  Miss Patty was dressed as a wicked witch, pointy hat and all.  The party was in full swing when the bell rang again. 

Luke answered the door to find Richard and Emily wearing their normal attire.  "Nice to see you again," he said as he pulled the door open wide to allow them in.

"Hello, Luke," said Richard, shaking Luke's hand.  "How are you?"

"Fine," he replied.  "No costumes, huh?" 

"Rory told us that costumes were encouraged but not mandatory," explained Emily, "so we decided to come as ourselves."

Luke cocked his head to one side, regarded Emily carefully and asked, "Rory said what?"

"That costumes weren't necessary," she replied.  "You're not in costume," she pointed out. 

"Actually, Lorelai will be the first to tell you that I'm a lumberjack."

"And he's okay!" cracked Lorelai as she came up behind him.  Her smile faded when she saw her parents.

"You came. Without costumes," she noted bluntly.

"Rory said dressing up was optional," explained Richard.

"Really.  That's interesting given that she told me that you would both be in costume when you arrived."

"Would you prefer that we leave?" Emily asked, back stiffened and prepared for battle.

"Yes," agreed Richard.  "We were told it would be all right for us to come as ourselves.  However, if we're not welcome…."

"No, please come in," said Luke, breaking in.  "There's been a misunderstanding, but it's perfectly okay that you didn't dress up."

Richard and Emily looked at Lorelai, daring her to argue.

"You heard the man," she said grudgingly.  "Come on in.  Enjoy the party."  Lorelai left them standing in the entryway and made her way to Rory who was with Charlie near the doorway to the kitchen.

She didn't care that she was interrupting them as she blurted out, "So when did you start lying to your mother?  Is this just a college thing or a drug thing?" 

"What are you talking about?" asked Rory, clearly not comprehending what was wrong.

"Your grandparents just arrived."

"Grandma and Grandpa are here?"

"Yeah.  And guess what they're not wearing."  Rory's face fell.  "Costumes!" cried Lorelai before Rory could answer.

"Oh," replied Rory.  "Um, about that."

"About that?" Lorelai interrupted.  "About that?  Yes.  Tell me about that."

"I think I'll get another drink," said Charlie, eager to get away from a potential yelling match.

"Look, I thought it would be good for the three of you," pleaded Rory. 

"You go out of your way to invite them to a party I am throwing and then you allow them to think that they don't have to dress up when you know very well that I've been harassing Luke for weeks about dressing up for this thing?  Who do you think you are?"

"I'm sorry, I just thought it might help," Rory said quietly, her eyes on the floor.

"No," replied Lorelai.  "You do not presume to know what's best for me, understand?"

"Fine," said Rory. 

"Thank you," answered Lorelai.  "Ugh, here they come.  I'm going to get another drink."   

Emily looked uncertain, but smiled, wanting things to go smoothly, as she, Richard and Luke approached Rory.  She and Lorelai hadn't had a real conversation since The Lunch. 

"Where is your mother going, Rory?"

"I think she's getting some drinks," Rory answered, glad that it wasn't telling a lie.

"Speaking of which," said Luke, "can I get you two anything to drink?"

"Whatever you're having is fine," said Richard.

"Beer it is, then.  Be right back."

Luke left for the kitchen as Charlie returned.  He made his way to where Rory was standing with Richard and Emily and handed her another soda.

"Grandma, Grandpa," said Rory.  "I want to introduce to you Charlie Paterson.  He's in my Medieval History class at school."

"Very nice to meet you, Charlie," said Emily primly, already evaluating the boy in his shrunken suit.

"A Yale man, eh?" said Richard, shaking his hand.  "Nice to meet you.  Paterson.  That name sounds familiar….  Wait, your father wouldn't happen to be Charles Paterson, III of Paterson Paper, would he?"

"Yes, sir," replied Charlie, with a smile.                      

"Do you know each other?" asked Rory.

"Only by reputation," answered Richard.

The two men chatted for a few minutes about the paper business, Luke joining the group a moment later with the drinks.  Rory was equally engaged in the conversation, allowing Emily to casually walk off in search of Lorelai.