CHAPTER 3: Surprise Visits

She had a lot to do around the Inn after all the guests had left. Once she had finished she decided it was time she went home and tried to talk to Rory, she needed to tell her about Luke before anyone else found out and said to Rory before she had got the chance.

She pulled up to the house and had to do a double-take as she saw a Volvo parked outside, she only knew one person who might be here who owned a Volvo and even then it was very unlikely. She sat in her jeep looking at the Volvo with a confused look on her face. She got out of the jeep and went up to the door and opened it.

"Hon I'm home, who's that car in the driveway, I had the weirdest thought that it might be your dads but c'mon..." she shouted, just before she had finished the sentence she looked into the sofa in the living room and there he was.

"Christopher" Lorelai said quietly as she tried to catch her breath

"Hi Lor, surprise" he said as he walked over to her smiling.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, what the hell is he doing here?

"Well I called last night to tell you I was going to be in the area tomorrow and there was no answer and I couldn't reach you on your cell so I just decided to stop in and surprise my girls" he said.

"I was at the Inn last night and I don't have my cell on" she said, letting it all sink in.

"Yea Rory told me" he said and then he frowned slightly and she saw the concerned look on his face.

"You've spoken to Rory?" she asked in a surprised tone.

"No I broke into your house and sat on your couch waiting for you to get home, you'll need to get a new back door, apparently kicking them down isn't so good for them" he said sarcastically.

"Funny" she shot back, she had tried to come back with something smarter but she was still getting to grips that he was here – 'He sure knows the perfect time to visit' she said to herself.

"I only got here about half an hour ago, Rory was just going to take a shower. She was acting a bit strange though Lor and looked like she had been crying, I was a bit worried" Chris said with concern.

"Yea well a lot has happened the last few days" Lorelai added quietly, it all started coming back to her, she had been trying so hard not to get upset about it, all the stuff with Luke took her mind off it but now it was hitting harder than she thought it would.

"God Chris, she has grown up so much the past few months" Lorelai whispered to him, trying not to break down in tears.

Chris knew Lorelai better than anyone and Lorelai knew him better than anyone, he could see the worry and hurt in her eyes as she looked at him, he hated seeing her like this.

"It's okay Lor why don't you just tell me what happened"

"It's all gone so wrong, Chris, how did it all go so weird?" Lorelai asked, she wanted answers she knew she would never get, but Chris knew her so well and she wanted him to help her. He was Rory's dad, they had a special bond that would always connect them and she needed to talk to someone about this stuff with Rory. She was glad he was here to help her through this, Luke was great but he wasn't Rory's dad.

"Come here" he said as he hugged her, he knew she needed his help, especially if this had something to do with Rory, he could feel her crying into his shoulder as he stood there, he wanted to make everything better somehow but he just didn't know how.

Rory had been in her room getting dressed when she heard her mom come in, she heard everything that was said, she couldn't believe that she had upset her mom so much, how could she be so stupid? Rory decided that maybe it was best if she just let her parents talk for a while, she didn't mind if her mom told her dad about what had happened. She had expected her to but she didn't want to have to listen to what she would say about her, she didn't want to hear how ashamed her mom was of her, she couldn't deal with that right now. Rory turned from the door where she had been listening and went over to her desk where she sat down, put on her walkman and started to read her book.

Outside in the living room Lorelai and Chris sat on the sofa, he had his arm round her trying to comfort her, she had stopped crying but he could still see the worry written all over her face.

"She slept with Dean" Lorelai blurted out suddenly, watching Chris and waiting for his reaction to the news. His mouth dropped open as he tried to figure out the right response to what Lorelai had just told him.

"She did?... Wow... that's a big step. I didn't know that they had gotten back together...were they safe? O god is she pregnant?" he said as his voice got more desperate.

"Yes they were safe and they didn't didn't get back together Chris, they are far from together, he's her ex boyfriend, she may be single but he sure isn't" she said. She didn't know what he would say when he found out that Rory had slept with a married man.

"What?! He has a girlfriend and he slept with Rory?" Chris said in a louder voice.

"No Chris, he hasn't got a girlfriend...he has a wife" Lorelai choked out as the thought of it upset her, he cheated on his wife and Rory was the other woman. She saw the shock of it register on Chris's face and she could see that he was getting angry.

"I'm gonna kill that kid, how could he do that to his wife? I actually thought he was a good guy when I met him. Why would Rory do that, she's such a good kid, did she know he was married?" he said the volume in his voice rising as the thought of that scumbag sleeping with her daughter sunk in.

"Calm down Chris, yes she knew... it was both of their faults but we're just gonna have to be here for Rory, I think she knows she made a mistake with Dean" Lorelai said and then started crying again and turned to Chris and said "She told me she hated me".

"What? When?" Chris said shocked that Rory would ever say that.

"Last night after I found out, she said she hated me for ruining this for her" she said as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Chris moved closer to her and held her face and wiped her tears with his fingers and looked into her eyes.

"Lor, listen to me, you are the best mom anyone could ever want, she didn't mean it, Rory loves you more than anyone and we both know that, she was upset but she didn't mean it" he said, looking into her eyes, he saw how vulnerable she was after all this stuff with Rory but she still looked beautiful he thought as she smiled slightly and put her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks Chris, I'm so glad that you're here" she whispered.

"Yea I am too" he added and kissed her hair softly.

Half an hour later after Lorelai had cleaned her face and got back to normal she gently knocked on Rory's door. A few seconds later it opened and she saw Rory's tear stained face looking out at her.

"I'm so sorry" Rory choked.

Lorelai reached out and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay hon. It was a mistake, what kind of hypocrite would I be if I didn't understand that" she said.

"I hate that I made you cry and that you are ashamed of me but I don't blame you because I know that it was a huge mistake and I hate myself for it but I don't want you to hate me" Rory cried.

"Shush" Lorelai said softly trying to calm her down. "Listen Rory, I'm not going to lie, what you did disappointed me but I would never be ashamed of you" she said as she pulled back and looked straight at Rory and said "And I could never hate you, I love you more than you'll ever know" Lorelai said.

"I love you too mom" Rory whispered, she was so relieved that her mom didn't hate her after everything she had done. "I didn't mean what I said last night, I regretted saying it straight after, I was so upset but that's no excuse for saying that to you" Rory said to her mom. Lorelai hugged her and said "I'm glad". They stood for a minute in the doorway of Rory's room when they heard footsteps behind them and they both turned to see Chris coming out of the kitchen towards them.

"Hey sweetie, I thought you could do with this" he said as he handed Rory a cup of coffee.

"Thanks dad" she said and smiled and hugged her dad quickly as he kissed her on the forehead, then they were interrupted by by a cough in the background, they both turned round to look at Lorelai who was looking at Chris with a smile plastered across her face, then she pouted, "You have something for me?"

Chris looked at her confused and said "You want a hug and kiss too?" He asked as he came over and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"No it wasn't but thanks...now don't pretend you don't know what this pout is for!" she said in a serious voice.

His face cracked a wide smile as he turned, walked into the kitchen and came back with a cup in his hand and handed it to Lorelai and laughed "You actually think I would have the guts to make coffee and not give you a cup?"

"Yes well I was just checking, you never know who has been hit with the 'duh' stick these days"

"Yea I know it" he laughed "...Ok well how about we order a pizza and maybe watch a few movies?" Chris said looking between Rory and Lorelai. He didn't realised how much he missed his girls until he saw them again.

"Yay" both Rory and Lorelai said in agreement and then Rory frowned and looked at her mom.

"It's okay babe, we can talk about everything tomorrow, let's just enjoy tonight" Lorelai said sincerely to Rory. Rory smiled and said "Yea that would be good."

Later the three of them were sitting on the couch watching the movie, Chris was in the middle, with Lorelai's head on one of his shoulders and his other arm around Rory. He looked between them and smiled, as they both saw him they smiled back and then all three grabbed another piece of pizza.

"Mm there isn't anything better than good junk food with good movie" Rory said

"I agree" Lorelai said.

"I disagree...What about good junk food, good pizza " Chris added.

"Oh my god, how could we forget the coffee" Lorelai said as she looked between Chris and Rory. "I call myself a Caffeine junkie and I forget about my baby, I am ashamed" she said. Chris and Rory looked at each other and rolled their eyes as they waited for the rest of the rant.

"How can I drink coffee again knowing that I have failed him? He will never forgive me and I will live for the rest of my life in a world where I can't drink coffee because of the betrayal..." she stopped as Chris covered her mouth.

"Yuck Lor" he said laughing as he wiped his hand that Lorelai had just licked. Lorelai laughed wickedly and grinned.

"Okay how about another movie" Lorelai said.

"Yea I'm up for it" Chris said smiling.

"I'm pretty tired actually so I might just read for a while and then go to bed" said Rory

"Spoilsport" Lorelai said.

"I'm tired!"

"Ok well goodnight sweetie" he said as he hugged her and kissed her on the head.

"Yea night hon, love you" Lorelai said

"Love you too" Rory said to her mum and turned to Chris "Love you too Dad".

"Love you too, night"

"Anymore of this and we will be renaming our family the Walton's" Lorelai said laughing.

"O god No" both Chris and Rory groaned.

Luke sat in the diner waiting for Kirk to finish his fourth cup of coffee, and another couple sat in the corner. He was wondering what Lorelai was doing at that moment, surprised that she hadn't been in the diner all day, 'mm' he thought, maybe Rory isn't as well as Lorelai thought she would. He was disappointed he hadn't seen her but he knew how important her relationship with Rory was to her. He got distracted as he saw the couple leave money for the bill and get up and leave, now there was only Kirk left.

Should he give her a call? Maybe he could just call and see how she is and see how everything is with Rory. He picked up the phone and dialled her number, it rang about six times before she answered breathless as if she had run to the phone.

"Hello" Lorelai said

"Hey" he said

"O hey, how are you?" she replied

"I'm okay, I just wanted to check how you were doing and if Rory was okay, 'cos you didn't stop by today"

"Yea sorry I just had a lot of stuff on"

"So everything is okay?"

"Yea everything is fine, Rory just went to bed" she said.

"O really, well what are you up to?" Luke said, he thought that maybe that he could maybe stop by and keep her company.

"I'm just watchin' a movie actually" she said

"I could stop by if you want some company since Rory has gone to bed" Luke said gruffly pretending that he didn't mind either way.

"Um...no that's okay, I think I might go to bed soon anyway I'm pretty tired, didn't get much sleep last night"

"Oh ok well maybe I'll see you tomorrow in the diner" he said, disappointed that she didn't want him to stop by but he could understand that she was tired so he just said goodnight and hung up. He would just close up the diner and then head up to his apartment, there was a baseball game on he could watch.

"Can I have another cup of coffee please Luke?" Kirk asked.

"No" he replied gruffly

"Why? Kirk asked.

"Because you've had too much, do you know what too much caffeine can do to you? Let me ask you something, do you know how many hours a day kids in Brazil work just so you can drink all that crap? All day, everyday just so people like you can feed their sick habit, don't you people get it?" Luke said growing louder by the second.

"Ok then a coffee to go please" Kirk said, not wanting to be at the other end of one of Luke's rants.

"Get out Kirk" Luke shouted as he moved closer to Kirk.

Luke watched Kirk run out, he was glad when he finally had the place to himself, he just didn't want to have to put up with Kirk again tonight after having to run after him last night, he wouldn't have cared as much if he hadn't have interrupted him with Lorelai. 'Was he born acting like an idiot or is there some sort of book on it?' he thought to himself.

Lorelai and Chris sat on the couch watching E.T, Lorelai dabbed her eyes as it ended.

"That's so sad" she replied, "I can't believe I still cry at this movie" she said laughing slightly.

"I can't believe we are watching E.T, do you remember how we used to watch this when we were young and then we would sit out on your parents balcony and look for alien ships in the sky" he said as he smiled at her.

"Yea, god I can't believe how old we are getting...god that's depressing" she said as she picked up some candy and stuffed it in her mouth thinking about how fast time has passed since Rory had been a baby. Time really does pass so quickly she thought.

"Well if it makes you feel better you look great"

"Thanks, you know flattery will get you everywhere" she said smiled. She always felt so comfortable around him because they had known each other for so long.

"So anyway...how's the baby and Sherry?" she asked, she hadn't spoken to him in a while so she was wondering how everything in his life was.

"Georgina is so great" he said smiling, "I missed all that with Rory, getting up in the middle of the night, watching her grow, seeing her first steps and all the major things like that" he said, she watched him as he spoke, she liked to see him so happy and she could see that he loved his daughter very much. He has grown up a lot in the last year she thought, but she was glad that even though after everything that they had been through that they could still talk like this, he was her first love and Rory's dad, they would always have a bond between them.

"That's great, I know you missed it with Rory but I'm glad that you are happy" she said.

"Well I love being with Georgina but there is something that I should tell you... Sherry and I have split up, we didn't want Georgina seeing us fighting all the time and growing up in that atmosphere so we thought it was the best thing to split up while we were still on speaking terms" he sighed as he said this. Lorelai looked at him, clearly shocked by what he had just said, she didn't think that Sherry was right for him personally but she thought it was partly because of her own personal reasons.

"I'm sorry I had no idea, I thought you were happy, when we were at the hospital you seemed like you were happy" she said sincerely, she really did think that they were happy together.

"Yea well but we stayed together because she was pregnant as you remember and that really isn't a good enough reason to get married, we made a mistake, it took me this long to figure that out that a baby can't make a marriage... you realised when you were sixteen-I just wish I could have figured it all out earlier" he said as he looked at Lorelai thinking how great she was and what a great job she had done of bringing up Rory, regardless of previous events.

"Well things happen for a reason and you have another beautiful daughter, not quite as great as Rory" she said grinning, "But trust me Chris, you'll find someone, you have grown up so much this past year" she laughed as she said "You're not the same flaky guy on the motorbike, sexy I admit but now you're a successful, mature and reliable man which is great" she said as she smiled back at him.

"So I'm not sexy anymore now that I don't have my bike?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well I must say the bike did it for me really, without the bike Rory mightn't be here today"

"Ok well I shall be buying a new bike before I next come up to Stars Hollow" he chuckled

"Good to know, so how long are you staying for? She asked

"Well I was hoping I could stay a couple of days, spend some time with my girls, Sherry is away for a week with Georgina to see her parents and I have a few days off work so..." he said.

"Cool well there'll always be space here for you Chris you know that"

"Thanks Lor" he said putting his arm round her, he turned to look at her and they stared at each other for a second, Deja-Vu he thought as he remembered back to the night before Sookie's wedding before everything had got so messed up. He leaned towards her, they had a connection and he knew that they both felt it, he still wanted it to happen for them, and he knew in his heart that he still did and would always love her.

Lorelai sat there stunned as she looked into Christopher's eyes, tonight had been so great between them, she couldn't honestly believe that this was happening again after everything that they had been though. She saw him lean in to kiss her and she could feel herself doing the same, she knew she would always have something special with Chris but was it really right for her? She always thought if he matured and was responsible they would be able to work it out but after what happened at Sookie's wedding it had all got screwed up she had given up on it. They were both centimetres from their lips touching, she didn't realise that she had been holding her breath all this time and just at that second she heard the phone ring.

"I gotta get that" she said, pulling back from him, glad in a way that the phone had rung because she wasn't quite sure what she was doing.

She ran to the phone before it rang off, she couldn't find it at first but it was in the kitchen.

"Hello" Lorelai said slightly breathless

"Hey" the voice on the other line said

"O hey, how are you?" she said, surprised he was calling her but she was happy that he did, she missed hearing his voice a bit.

"I'm okay, I just wanted to check how you were doing and if Rory was okay, 'cos you didn't stop by today" Luke said. She smiled to herself as she thought about how thoughtful he could be at times especially when it came to her and Rory, even though he tried to be so macho all the time.

"Yea sorry I just had a lot of stuff on" she said, feeling instantly guilty at everything that had happened that evening, she had let things get too far with Christopher.

"So everything is okay?"

"Yea everything is fine, Rory just went to bed" she said, she didn't want to mention Christopher because it might be a bit weird for him, she would tell him tomorrow.

"O really, well what are you up to?" Luke said, he thought that maybe that he could maybe stop by and keep her company.

"I'm just watchin' a movie actually" she said, she wasn't lying, she had been watching a movie she just didn't mention the company, she could argue that if it ever came up she thought, because technically she hadn't lied.

"I could stop by if you want some company since Rory has gone to bed"

"Um...no that's okay, I think I might go to bed soon anyway I'm pretty tired, didn't get much sleep last night" she did want to see him but not tonight after all this Chris stuff, she would tell Luke about Chris staying when she saw him tomorrow.

"Oh ok well maybe I'll see you tomorrow in the diner" she thought she heard disappointment in his voice but she wasn't sure.

"Yea I should be in tomorrow so I'll see you then"

"Ok bye" he said

"Bubye" she said as she hung up the phone. She knew that she needed to go to bed and think things over in her head before she let them get screwed up. She sighed as she hung up the phone and walked into the living room where Chris was.

"That was a late call, everything okay?" he said to her.

"Yea it's fine, I'm gonna go to bed now though, so tired after the Inn and all the stuff with Rory" she sighed and yawned.

He got up and walked up to her and said "Okay well sleep well, Night Lor" as she gave her a quick peck before she turned to go upstairs. He didn't know who had been on the phone but he didn't think that it was a casual call, he yawned as he realised how tired he was too.

As Lorelai got into bed her head was mixed with thoughts of Luke and Chris, if she had have been told two weeks ago by someone that she would be in this situation between Chris and Luke she would have had the men in the white coats take them away. She had so much history with Christopher, no-one really forgot about their first love and he not to mention that he was Rory's dad...but Luke he's is so great. She thought back to all the times when she had counted on him for things or when he had just come over to fix things or when he made her the chuppah.

The next morning she woke up, not realising that she had slept in longer than he had meant to, 'why the hell don't fluffy alarm clocks work?' she said to herself. She climbed out of bed and walked downstairs, Chris was up, because the couch was empty and the blankets had been folded and were sitting on the couch. She walked towards the kitchen and noticed that Rory also wasn't in her room, then she heard Christopher and Rory laughing in the kitchen at something. She went in to see them both eating pancakes and drinking coffee, 'yum' she thought, he better have made some for me.

"Morning" the two of them said brightly to Lorelai as she entered the kitchen

"Yea, morning" she said yawning, she didn't like chat first thing in the morning, once she got her caffeine fix she would be fine though.

"So did you make me coffee and pancakes too? She asked smiling sweetly at Chris

"No mom Dad went to Luke's and got them, we should definitely keep him around longer, he would be so good to use as our personal slave to bring us back food and coffee" Rory said brightly, Lorelai had only been half listening until she heard Luke's name and she stood there for a minute not knowing what to say, she hadn't told either Rory or Chris about Luke. 'O God' she thought, I need to see Luke, he's going to be mad and think I was hiding something from him, which I was but I was going to tell him later when I saw him.

"Lor, you okay?" Chris asked concerned when she was standing there, she was frowning and she looked like she was worried about something.

"Yea sorry, so Chris you went to Luke's, did you talk to him" she asked trying to act as casual as she could.

"Yea, though he did seem a bit weird on it when I was talking to him" confused at why she was acting so weird about the diner guy.

"Mmm, guys I gotta go take care of something" she said as she rushed out of the kitchen so she could get dressed and go over to see Luke.

Thanks for reading - reviews are much appreciated :)