Disclaimer: I still don't own Gilmore Girls, although, I wish I owned Luke and Jess.

Chapter 38

Rory and Logan walked through the snow covered trail behind the Dragon Fly Inn. The last few weeks of winter break were closing in and Rory wanted to spend as much time with her little brother as possible because the next few months leading to her glorious graduation at Yale would be busy beyond belief. She wouldn't even have time to come down on weekends.

"So how's the little guy?" Logan asked as he picked up some of the snow and formed a ball.

"Lucas is fine," Rory replied with a smile. "He's almost twice the size a two week old baby should be. But then you look at Mom, Luke, and Grandpa who are all over six feet tall and realize that the kid is bound to be tall. Liz showed me pictures of Luke as a baby and Lucas looks exactly like him. He does, although, have Mom's eyes."

"I'm sorry I haven't been around to see the little guy. I've been busy with…stuff."

"Don't worry about it. We have people walking in and out of the house all day. Hey, why don't you stop by today?"

"I think I will. I can just see that kid running around screaming for coffee at the top of his lungs. Luke doesn't have a chance." Logan tossed the snowball into the distance and wiped the excess flakes off his leather gloves. "So, you like having a baby around to play with?"

"Yeah. Puts youth back into our lives. I mean, I never see Gigi and it's just nice to…I don't know. Have a baby around."

"You ever think about having kids?"

"Um, I guess." To be honest, Logan's questions were beginning to freak Rory out. If anything, she was her mother's daughter and she wasn't sure if she wanted to be talking about having kids with Logan or anyone for that matter.

"It'd be nice though right? Having the whole package? Settling down with someone you could grow old with, share a home with a great big green yard and white picket fence, and have a couple rug rats running around. It'd be nice right?"

"What are you talking about?"

Logan sighed. He might as well tell her now. "You know how your parents sold your house?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with what we're talking about?"

"I bought the house." Rory stared at Logan. There wasn't really any kind of expression present. That couldn't be a good sign. "Rory…"

"You bought my house?"

"I bought it for you. I thought you'd want to…"

"Want to what Logan?"

"I thought…um…I…"

"You what? Spit it out!" Logan said nothing. "You're planning our future aren't you?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise. Luke said something about wanting to raise a family in Old man Twickham's house, but not being able to afford it so I bought the house and paid for the cost of construction. That way they had enough to pay for the house."

"I didn't ask you to buy my parents' house! You forced them out! You made them move!"

"No! Luke wanted to move!"

"Luke loved that house. He practically built it with all the repairs he did over the years. He just wanted Mom to be happy and she was happy in that house!"

"I can't believe you're mad at me for buying a house."

"I can't believe you did this. I know you want a future with me Logan, but we agreed to take it slow. I want a career as a journalist and you're inheriting your father's business. How are we going to launch our future if we're bound to Stars Hollow for the rest of our lives?" Rory shook her head and headed back toward the inn. She paused and faced Logan. "What really bothers me is you didn't even ask me how I felt. You just went out and did what you want."

Logan stood there in the snow as he watched the woman he planned to spend the rest of his life with walk away from him.

After putting the baby down for his nap, Lorelai went into the kitchen to grab something to eat. She walked in to see Luke sitting at the table. It looked like he was in the middle of a very stressful phone call.

"I can give you all time you need to reconsider. Are you sure?" he asked as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. I understand. Thank you anyway. Goodbye." Luke hung up the phone and let out an aggravated sigh.

"What's wrong honey? Did the Dodgers screw up another season?" Lorelai joked.

"I just got off the phone with Mr. Harper. Apparently, his job is transferring him to Boston instead of Hartford. He's not going to buy the house."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"It's very bad. Lorelai, we needed that money for our mortgage payment. If we don't sell my parents' house, we might lose ours."

Lorelai knew that Luke didn't want to live in his parents' house because it would hurt him too much to be in that house. "We'll find a way honey."

Luke took a deep breath as he stood and walked over to Lorelai, leaning against the refrigerator. "Maybe I can talk to Logan and see if he'll sell us the house back."

"No, Luke, no. You wanted this house and we're going to live in this house. We'll find a way to pay for the mortgage. I promise." She rubbed his arms. "Come on. I'm supposed to be the crazy one remember? I need you to be sane."

"I'm sane."

She brought him in for a kiss and smiled against his lips. "I'm loving the stubble."

"Dirty. I'm gonna shower, check on the baby, and take a nap. Hopefully, it'll clear my head."

"Ok." She kissed him one more time before letting him go upstairs. "Hey Luke."

He paused and faced his wife. "Yeah?"

"Everything's going to work out." Luke gave a weak smile before heading upstairs. Lorelai let out a sigh. She knew what she had to do.

Lorelai hurried to answer the door. It'd been nearly two hours since someone last came to see the baby. Two hours of peace and quiet. She missed that. When she opened the door, Rachel and Max were standing on the other side. "Hey guys," Lorelai greeted with a smile. "Come on in."

"Sorry to bother you Lorelai," Rachel said as she and Max stepped inside. "I had to wait for Max to get off work so we could come over."

"Don't worry about it."

"Where's Luke?" Max asked.

"Upstairs sleeping. He's having a bad day."

"Why? What happened?" Rachel asked.

"Mr. Harper decided not to buy his parents' house, so now he's tweaking out that we can't pay the mortgage."

"Why don't you just file for a loan? Luke's an upstanding citizen with a great credit line. I'm sure the bank would give it to you."

"I don't try to pretend to understand how Luke's mind works."

"Funny, he said the same thing about you the other day," Max teased. Rachel shot him a glare. "I was trying to lighten the mood."

"Well, don't," Rachel ordered. "So I'm guessing our late lunch is off."

"I'm sorry guys. Luke's just really tired. His paternity leave ends in two weeks and I don't want him falling asleep on the grill when he goes back to work. Why don't you guys stay for dinner? It's Rory's last night in town before heading back to smart school."

"We can do that. Do you think we can take a peek at the baby?"

"Of course." Lorelai brought Max and Rachel upstairs to the nursery, but Lucas wasn't in his crib. "I guess Luke brought him to the bedroom. Follow me." She brought them down the hall to the master bedroom she and Luke shared.

They were all surprised at what they saw when they walked into the room. Luke was lying in the middle of the bed in his plaid boxers and next to him was little Lucas wearing matching shorts. They were both fast asleep in the same position.

"Oh my God," Rachel said. "That's adorable!"

"Where did you find pants like that for the baby?" Max asked.

"I found them at Babies 'R' Us last week," Lorelai replied, trying to contain a laugh. "It was pure coincidence they're matching."

"I'm taking a picture," Rachel stated as she took out her camera and took a few pictures.

Luke started to stir in his sleep because of the flash of the camera. "What's going on?" he asked sleepily.

"We're capturing the moment grumpy pants," Lorelai teased. "Go back to sleep."

"We?" Luke sat up and noticed that Max and Rachel were with Lorelai. "Ah jeez. Why did you bring them in here? I'm in my underwear!"

"It's not like you're completely naked. Although, I wouldn't mind…"

"Out."

"We're going, we're going. Geez, I like you better when you're sleeping."

Lorelai stuck her tongue out at Luke before she, Rachel, and Max went back downstairs. Ten minutes later, Luke, now fully clothed, joined them with baby Lucas.

"How many people have you let in to see him?" Luke asked as he handed his son to Rachel.

"A few," Lorelai replied, avoiding eye contact with him.

"How many is 'a few'?" She mumbled a response. "What?"

"I said twenty."

"Twenty?"

"Twenty-two counting Max and Rachel."

"We're not supposed to expose him to too many people! He can get sick. I am not putting our son's health at risk because those loons haven't seen Will."

"Who's Will?" Max asked.

"The baby," Lorelai replied.

"I thought his name was Lucas."

"It is. We're gonna call Lucas Will like we call Rory Rory so it doesn't get confusing since Luke's Lucas and I'm Lorelai."

"I'm sorry, you lost me."

"His nickname is Will," Luke stated. "Lorelai, we shouldn't expose him to too many people because of the airborne germs they might be carrying."

"Where did you learn that?" Rachel asked.

"He has a book," Lorelai replied. "He actually went out and bought a daddy manual. He reads the damn thing like it's the bible."

"Watch your language," Luke warned. "He's young, but he can still hear."

"You read that in your stupid book?"

"Stop knocking my book."

"It's just a book."

"I can't better myself to be a good father to our son?"

"Oh you can, but you don't have to be so uptight all the time."

"I'm not uptight."

"Get the stick outta there slugger."

"You're insane."

"And you're cranky. You need to start sleeping again." Lorelai faced their friends. "Did you know he doesn't sleep anymore?"

"I do too."

"He pretends to sleep. Then when he thinks I'm asleep, he sneaks out of the room and watches Will sleep."

"You watch him sleep?" Rachel asked.

"No," Luke replied quickly.

"Liar! I caught you twice and Jess almost killed you with a bat four times because he thought you were a burglar."

"So maybe I do check up on Will once and a while. I just want to make sure he's ok."

"He's not gonna suddenly stop breathing because you're not watching him."

"Wow Luke. I never thought of you being so…daddy like," Max remarked. "With Rory, yeah. But this is different."

"Yeah. You've really changed," Rachel added. "You've always been protective, but after hearing this, you've gone from Lonely Luke to Daddy Dearest in the blink of an eye. It's comforting to know a guy like you can turn into this family man. You finally have your family Luke and I'm happy for you."

"I've always had my family. It's right here," Luke smiled, putting his arm around Lorelai.

"I love my grumpy, backwards baseball cap, flannel clad Coffee Man, but I have to admit, I love it more when he's Daddy Luke," Lorelai smiled.

"I thought you weren't going to call me 'Coffee Man' in public anymore," Luke said.

"Would you rather I call you Burger Boy? Or Diner Guy? Or Big…"

"Lorelai!"

"Well, it's nice to know some things never change," Rachel laughed.

"It was Luke's parents' house," Lorelai stated. "The people that originally bought the house aren't going to buy it and a Luke and I won't be able to pay our mortgage if we don't sell it. His parents shared that house for fifteen years and raised two children in it. Luke loves it, but he can't live in it. You know how he feels. How could you not? Luke loves the house we're in now. He dreamed of starting a family in that house. He's done so much for me, I want- no need to do something for him. I need to keep him in that house. I swear, this will be the last thing I ever ask for. It's not even for me. It's for Luke. So, please, can buy the old Danes residence?"

"Are you through Lorelai?"

"Yes."

"Ok then. We'll buy the house."

"Oh thank you so much. You don't know how happy this'll make Luke. Thank you."

"You're welcome. So, we'll see you Friday."

"Yeah, Friday," Lorelai sighed. And every Friday for the rest of my life, she thought to herself. "See you Friday Dad."

Next time on "Meet Me at the Chuppah": Christopher catches a glimpse into Lorelai's life with Luke and Will when he shows up at Rory's Yale graduation. Rory does something Logan never expected.

A/N: I had to put in the Dodgers comment. My family and I are HUGE Giants fans. Lifers baby. Hahaha. Ok. I'm pondering if the next chapter should be the last. It's really floating up there in my brain. Not a lot of space. Lol. We'll see how it goes.