"There we go." Lorelai said pulling Rory's head through her shirt. "My goodness, you look pretty!" Lorelai smiled.

"I do?" Rory asked with a gleam in her eyes. Rory looked over in the mirror and saw her reflection. The pink and yellow button up blouse was adorable, and lorelai had topped it all off with a piece of pink ribbon in Rory's hair.

"You're Daddy, should be home any minute. Then we can show him how pretty you look."

Lorelai no longer finished her sentence when the front door to the apartment opened. Rory gasped, and smiled brightly when she heard the door shut.

Lorelai put her finger up to her lips, "Shhhh... I'll introduce you okay?"

"Okay..." Rory whispered.

Lorelai closed the bathroom door and faced Chris. He looked at it her, and then looked around the apartment.

"Where's Rory?" Chris asked.

"That's a very good question." Lorelai smiled. "Ladies, and gentleman, and Daddy, I present to you Rory Hayden!"

Lorelai clapped her hands and cheered as the bathroom door opened and Rory walked out smiling ear to ear.

"Look Daddy! I'm pretty!" Rory laughed.

"Oh, you sure are sweetheart!" Chris grinned as he picked up his daughter. "You're the prettiest girl in the whole state of Tennessee." Chris gave her a big kiss on the cheek. Chris looked at Lorelai and then back at Rory. "Wait a minute, why are both of you looking so stylish this evening?"

"We're going to go eat pizza Daddy." Rory answered.

"We are?" Chris ask glancing over at Lorelai.

"I told her we'd order a pizza, but the phone lines are out, so I figured we'd just go out and eat." Lorelai could tell Chris wasn't too thrilled about the idea.

"I don't know Lore, that's a waste of money when we have food here in our kitchen."

"I know Chris, but it's a special day. Rory's about to start school, and we haven't went out to eat in a very long time."

Chris sat Rory down "Please Daddy?" Rory asked making her blue eyes as big as she could.

Chris wasn't feeling up to eating out, in fact he wasn't feeling up to anything but laying down and forgetting all about the horrible day he had. But no one could do the things Rory did to Chris, he couldn't resist her smile, her eyes, her laugh.

"Fine, but I'll need a few minutes to shower and change." Chris said walking into the bathroom.

Lorelai and Rory both exchanged huge smiles and Lorelai winked at Rory.

Later on at the restaurant Chris seemed to be having second thoughts about eating out. He only had 50 dollars to his name Chris figured the pizza would be around $15.00, drinks $1.00 a piece, and also he'd have to leave some type of small tip. He sat adding up the cost in his head as they waited on their food. Lorelai was bit annoyed by the silence that filled the table, so she decided to start a conversation.

"Chris?" She asked, casually.

"Hm?"

"We paid the phone bill for the month, right?"

"Yeah, of course we did."

"I can't understand why the phones weren't working this evening."

Chris licked his lips, "I wouldn't worry about it. They'll probably be working again by tomorrow morning."

"Although, I don't remember getting back a check stub." Lorelai continued.

"Lorelai, I paid the damn phone bill alright!" Chris suddenly roared.

Rory scooted closer to her mother, and hid part of her face behind her mother's arm. Another couple, sitting at a near by booth, stared at them.

"Chris, don't swear in front of Rory!" Lorelai kept it at a high whisper. "And my goodness, you're in a public restaurant, don't yell."

"You're the one who started it." Chris shot back. "Accusing me of not paying the bill, when I know that I very well did."

"I didn't accuse you of anything, Chris. You jumped to the conclusion all by yourself."

The waitress came with the food and drinks at set them down on the table.

"Thank you." Lorelai told the waitress.

Rory had come out from behind her mother's arm and was staring continuously at the pizza. "I want that piece Mommy." Rory pointed to a very cheesy piece covered in banana peppers.

Lorelai placed the piece of pizza on Rory's plate, then all three of them began to eat making no sounds as they did so. Chris mainly focused on dead space, occasionally looking over at Rory and Lorelai. Lorelai was starting to wonder more and more about the phone bill. She wasn't so sure that Chris had paid it. The way he jumped to the conclusion so quickly, lead Lorelai to believe he was guilty of not paying it. "THUMP!" Christopher slammed his fist down on the table.

"Jesus Christ, Rory! You've spilled pizza sauce all over your new blouse!" Chris yelled.

Lorelai looked at him sharply. "It's okay Rory, here, let Mommy take you to the restroom and we'll see if we can get you cleaned up."

"No, it's not okay Lorelai. That was a brand new shirt. We don't have the money to buy her a new one every time she spills something on it." Chris snarled.

"Chris, don't get so upset. I have some laundry cleaner at the house that should get out a pizza stain." Lorelai stood up and grabbed Rory by the hand.

"You shouldn't have put a brand new shirt on her to go out and eat pizza, Lorelai."

Lorelai ignored Chris's last remark and walked Rory to the bathroom. Lorelai grabbed some napkins and wetted them under the sink.

"There, we go." Lorelai said gently. "A little stain remover and no one will ever know."

"I didn't mean to." Rory said tears whelming in her eyes.

"I know, sweetheart. See, the spot is almost completely gone already, nothing to worry about."

By the time Lorelai and Rory returned from the bathroom Chris had already paid for the food and was standing by the door. Lorelai didn't say a word to him as they both walked out to the parking lot. The truck ride home was completely silent. Once, again Rory had fallen asleep on Lorelai's arm. When they arrived at their apartment complex, Chris turned the truck key off, but he didn't budge from his seat.

"I was fired today Lorelai." Chris finally said.

"What!" Lorelai exclaimed in disbelief. "Why?"

"The boss said he had to let some men go, and I ended up being one of them."

"Oh god, Chris... What are we going to do?" Lorelai looked down at Rory, "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know... I'll have to look for a new job, I suppose."

"What will we do until then?" Lorelai asked.

"I'll call my parents, have them send us some money, and then pay them back once I find a new job."

"Chris, that's the whole reason we moved here. To get away from them, to live our own lives without their help. They'll only laugh at us, and tell us they told us so, if you ask them for money."

"Well Lore, I'm fresh out of ideas, so unless you have something I don't know what else to do."

Lorelai looked down at the ring her father had given her for her 16th birthday. She knew it had to at least be worth 1,000 dollars. She took a deep breath, then slid the ring off her finger.

"Here..." She said handing the ring to Chris. "Pawn it for as much as you can get."

Chris looked at her then at the ring then back to her. "Oh, no, Lore, your dad gave this to you ..."

"We can buy it back later." Lorelia said.

Lorelai let a small tear escape her eye and roll down her cheek. She opened the truck door and carried Rory up the stairwell to their apartment, leaving Chris sitting alone in his beat up old chevy with the ring.