Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then browbeating me into writing it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

Mickey sat back, rolled her tired shoulders, and examined her work. The swirls of butter cream frosting draped and scrolled up and down the four-tiered confection as if they were lazy hills of green fields. She gave a smile as she thought about how happy people would be as they bit into Luke and Lorelai's wedding cake.

Of course, Lorelai had some pretty specific requests. Each tier was filled with a different flavored jelly, the kind usually found in jelly donuts. The frosting itself was a marvelously pale ivory that perfectly matched the gown Lorelai would be wearing for the occasion the next day, Saturday.

Rory had flown in from London and Mickey was interested to see how that would be. Owen had been stopping by whenever he was in Stars Hollow, which oddly enough, seemed to be much more than when he and Rory were together. He was even coming to the wedding. Mickey had to keep herself from squeeing aloud over that. No one would have heard her if she had squeed. It was just passed six am and E was sound asleep on her little mattress in the office.

As someone had once suggested, Luke and Lorelai's wedding had become a town event, much to the chagrin of Luke and the delight of Lorelai. Their vows would be exchanged in the gazebo at high noon, followed by an afternoon of games, dancing, food and best of all an open bar.

Three months had passed since her graduation from culinary school and Mickey still felt sick thinking of all the people from Stars Hollow who had shown up to watch her receive her diploma. Never one to enjoy the spotlight, her nerves had been shot all day. Her plea to E to "distract them" had yielded the desired result, to the detriment of Luke and Lorelai's secret arrangement.

E had announced to the crowd at Luke's who had assembled to celebrate Mickey's graduation, "I saw Luke kissing Lorelai in the store room!"

As she had hoped, Mickey was relinquishing the spotlight faster than you could say, "Kissing!"

Cries of, "I knew it!" and "No way!" and "Get a picture!" soon died down as Luke and Lorelai finally confessed all. In fact, they admitted that yes, they were together, yes, all was well, and as a matter of fact, Luke had proposed marriage just that morning.

More cries of delight and surprise filled the diner and Mickey was able to enjoy her graduation cake in peace. During the commotion that followed, Owen caught her eye and gave her a knowing smile. The memory made her shiver.

Mentally, Mickey reviewed her outfit for tomorrow and tried to decide if heels or flats would be better. She'd found a pale blue dress made of gauzy material with capped sleeves and an empire waste at the thrift store and would be wearing her russet hair in loose curls for the occasion. Shoes were another problem. She'd found an old pair of strappy brown sandals with a spiked heal that would be perfect if only they were a better color.

She wondered how much silver spray paint cost. Leaning down to adjust one of the sugared flowers atop the second tier, Mickey thought that she should stop at the hardware store later on to check.

Frowning ever so slightly, Mickey paused to reflect on the one fly in her ointment, and reached into her apron pocket to finger the envelope hidden there. Never had she expected to hear from anyone from her old life and yet, here was proof that someone was looking for her. She didn't want to think about it, but eventually, the letter would have to be answered. Her mother had written because that asshat Tom Rollingford had called the house. Mickey couldn't even begin to guess where he'd found the number.

Apparently, he graduated college last spring and had been working for his daddy ever since. Mickey had no idea what his father did for a living, just that he was extremely successful at it. And now, all these years later, he was apparently interested in…what? She couldn't begin to guess. A relationship? Knowledge of his offspring? Getting in more digs like the last one he'd lobbed at her? "Sucks to be you," he'd told her upon learning of her pregnancy by him.

Mickey pushed the old hurt aside and tried to focus on the task at hand. If there was one thing she could be sure of, it was that he couldn't possibly take E away from her. She'd been so sad and angry over his rejection that he was not listed on the birth certificate.

Legally, he was no one.