Wow. I know I keep saying that, but dang. I just broke a hundred reviews, again! (I just went through that with another one of my fics, which was the first one to break a hundred reviews, but still, it's just so great even a second time around). And that hits thing! I love it! I broke a thousand a couple of days ago! It made me so happy. lol. Thank you all, you guys are so awesome.

Amelia: Hope this was fast enough for you and your karate skills. lol. Glad to finally see someone show some humor in their reviews! I'm sure I confuse the heck out of people sometimes with my train of thought when writing a review, but whatever. lol. Thanks for the reivew.

Once Upon a Whim: Glad, well, everyone liked the school meeting thing. I've had that planned out since the start, and have been dying to write it in there! lol. Thanks again for the review.

BloodyMary2: Still unsure if I really want major java jukie-ness in this, but I know the next fic I write will be a full on java junkie adventure. lol. For this story, I'll probably just stick with undertones, but hell, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm pretty much making this up as I go along with very few exeptions. Thanks for the review. And your name, reference to the popular adult beverage or the actual Bloody Mary that killed Hapburgs? Just been wondering recently.

Also thanks go out to: LukeNLorelaifan, Rusty Bedsprings,Gillygirl777,
Sucker4soccer, Bloomin Daisy, Kyizi, Katie, LorelaiAkaCoffeeAddict, Phoebe4u, Beautifulbutterfly, ProFfesSser, Pokey, Penny, Miss-Lionesse, SR918, Ozluv04, and potostfoeyeluvr. Sorry if I either misspelled your name or forgot it for some reason.

"Turns out not where but who you're with that really matters"
(Dave Matthews Band)

"So, how long are you gonna be in town for?" Rory tried to make casual conversation as the two girls walked side by side into Luke's diner, causing many stares and double takes as they went. Stars Hallow was as small as a person could get, outside of fiction of course. And in a small town, news travels fast.

"I'm supposed to leave tonight."

"Oh," Rory tired not to sound disappointed, but her face gave her away. Or rather, those big blue orbs that Lorelai couldn't stop staring at. Her baby had her eyes. They hadn't changed. She'd read some where that baby's eyes could change colors after a few days or a few years in some cases.

"But I could stay longer, maybe," Lorelai added, "I don't have much of anything important back home right now." Lair. She had a mountain of paper work and Alex to think about. But this was more important. This is where she wanted to be, and she hadn't felt like that in years. And it may be selfish, but for once she was going to be happy. Consequences be dammed.

Rory nodded, a small smile taking over her features, "All right, if you can," she tried to sound nonchalant as she opened the door to the diner, causing the bell to go off.

"Be right with you!" What sounded like Luke, yelled from the back of the diner, possibly from the kitchen or storage area, whatever was back there. She'd have to ask sooner or later. Maybe she could get a tour or something, she just had to make eyes with the owner guy. And not mention Alex. Or mention it to Alex for that matter. After all, Luke wasn't bad looking. And she didn't see a ring on his finger yesterday. No signs of a girlfriend that she could see. She wouldn't mind spending some time with him. Not at all.

"So, this is where I work after school. Pay sucks, but the company's easy to make fun of," Rory explained with a small grin. "He still hasn't gotten over the apron dying experiment of '99."

Lorelai turned her attention from her thoughts back to her daughter. Her daughter. That felt weird to say, or even think about for that matter. They walked over to a small table in the back, away from a window, it was better not to have any spectators for round two, and took a seat.

"What color did you dye it?" Lorelai finally asked after being situated at the table.

"Pink, duh," Rory picked up the menus and handed one to Lorelai. "What other color could I dye it? Pink is the new green after all, I mean it was all over the new Vogue," she added with a grin.

"Of course, I should have known," Lorelai smiled as she nodded her head slightly. "I should have remembered my Vogue mental notes. I mean, I made mental notes to throw out like half the stuff in my apartment because it just didn't fit with the new style of the season. And how could I own out of date clothing and have an out of date apartment. That would be just disastrous."

"Of substantial proportions," Rory nodded back which then created a head bobbing competition between the girls, and who wants to talk during a head bobbing competition? That is some pretty important stuff there.

"So," Rory stopped bobbing her head back and down. "I gotta stop bobbing my head because it's making me dizzy," she added with a nervous grin.

"Yeah," Lorelai followed suit. Now they just sat and stared at each other, subconsciously comparing features of each other's face. Subconsciously, but not subtly.

Rory had Christopher's ears, but everything else in the face was Lorelai territory. Her mouth, her nose, her eyes, everything screamed Lorelai Gilmore. Even the nervous way Rory bit her lip, that was her. That was all her.

She felt a small, almost somber smile taking over her lips. This was her little girl. This was the moment she had been waiting for. Preparing for. This was it. And she couldn't think of a single thing to say. Not even a cheesy Hallmark line. She was completely blanking out on every single movie reference, hell, she was pretty shaky on the entire concept of a movie in general right about now.

Lorelai let out a soft, un-lady-like sort, "This shouldn't be this hard!" She let her hands come down and bang the table loudly, causing stares again from the other people in the diner.

"I know!" Rory agreed with a laugh, "I mean, it's not like we're different species or something!"

"But even Captain Kirk could make small talk with alien species!" Ah, the Lorelai brain was coming back, slowly but surely. It was a Trekie reference, but it was a reference. Just let her get warmed up. Then, BAM! You're brain will become so overloaded with references that you just won't know what to do.

"Well, he is Captain Kirk, and we can never aspire to be as great as him," Rory said with a sly smile. Lorelai felt her smile grow again, her kid got her referencing personality. She finally found someone who could keep up with her. The perfect partner in crime!

"So, how old are you?"

Lorelai laughed a little, "Wow, straight for the kicker questions, huh? Don't like giving me any lead in," she teased, "Well, I was sixteen when I had you, do the math."

Rory shrugged, "My parents never really specified how old you were, they just always said 'she was young, about sixteen or seventeen maybe'."

Lorelai's expression and her mood suddenly sombered, "Didn't you get any of my letters?"

Rory jerked her head back, "Your what now?"

"My letters. I sent like fourteen billion zillion of them to you. And I'm sure in the first one that I gave your parents at the hospital, I said I was sixteen and tried to explain my actions. They were supposed to give that you to by now, you never got it? I mean, I was kinda doped up at the time, so I might've handed it to the wrong person, but that's a pretty big screw up."

"You wrote me letters?" Rory repeated, still in a state of shock.

"Yea, kiddo. I wrote you every chance I got, I just figured you never wanted anything to do with me or something."

Rory shook her head slowly, "I can't believe you wrote me letters," she repeated again. "Was it like a 'You've Got Mail' type of deal where you never identified yourself and used an Alias or something? And I just thought you were a creepy stalker maybe! Or I guess in a more realistic word somebody trying to sell me something."

"No, kid. I didn't try to trick you in any way. I always wanted you to know me. I mean, I wanted to take you myself in the first place, but my parents practically put iron bars on all the doors and windows in our house, so I couldn't get away. But for those first few months, it was always you and me kiddo." Lorelai turned her head away a little, and laughed to herself, "I guess in my head, it's always just been you and me. The dream hasn't changed, I just realized that it could never happen in a non-Disney universe."

"What about my father?"

Lorelai turned her head back and let out a small laugh, "Still unfit for fatherhood. The guy left me high and dry so many times, including the hospital. God, he showed up the next day for like fifteen minutes to look at you and say 'she's pretty'! Don't get me wrong, you were a gorgeous baby, I know I'm biased like a French Judge, but you were absolutely perfect and this idiot shows up, points and say's 'pretty'!"

"So, you're parents made you give me up, then?"

Lorelai nodded, "Worst decision of my life," she muttered. "They said I would be losing everything by having a baby so young, but now just sit around wondering what life would have been like if I had just taken the plunge, you know?"

Rory nodded slowly, "I think I understand what you're saying."

"Rory!" Luke shouted from across the diner, "Aren't you supposed to be in school? I mean, you left for school this morning. I know you did. Because you left me alone with Biff and Buffy sitting at the counter making eyes at each other!" He ranted on as he walked towards their table, order pad in one hand, pencil in the other.

"Yep, I know Luke," Rory said calmly. "Sorry about Biff and Buffy though. But I thought you might be able to handle them yourself. I did leave you a nice little barf tin, didn't you notice?"

Luke looked between Rory and Lorelai, "Wait, wait, wait a second! When did this happen?" He pointed at Lorelai. "Last time I checked you were crying," he said to Lorelai, "And you were we're screaming," he said to Rory, "But," he paused, "You know what, I don't want to know," he turned and walked away, "This town is insane. I should know that by now. It's just one big out-patient service."

"Coffee please," Rory sang to his retreating form, completely unfazed by Luke's rant and de-rant.

"Uh," Lorelai mumbled out, "Same here." She leaned in closer to the table, "What is with him?" She whispered to Rory, "It was like he was on top of the bridge ready to jump, and then starts talkin' to himself and talks himself down from the jump."

"Interesting analogy," Rory responded normally, "And you get used to it. It's just Luke. There's no better way of describing it."

Lorelai nodded and pulled back to her seat. "Alright, so, you may reserve the right to continue questioning later, but right now it's my turn, okay?"

"Works for me."

"What's you're favorite color?"

Rory thought about it for a moment, "Too many to pick from. They'll all great. With the exception of the cutesy Crayola names like 'tickle me pink' and of course the just sickening colors."

Lorelai nodded, "Agreed. I don't want to be tickled pink. I just want pink," both girls let out a small smile at this agreement. "Boyfriend?"

Rory nodded, "Yeah, Dean. He's great. We've been dating for almost two years now."

"Can I meet him or is he your secret boyfriend that you only tell about to estranged biological parents that show up at your school outta nowhere?"

Rory laughed, "No, no, it's totally cool, you can meet him. It's kinda hard to have a secret boyfriend or girlfriend or I guess a secret in general in this town. You see, we have the twin terrors of gossiping, otherwise known Miss Patty and Babette. I'm sure our little scene yesterday is already all over town today. You'll probably get some weird looks, and depending on their rendition of the moment, food and other small objects thrown at you."

"Oh goody," Lorelai deadpanned. "But you know what, I did get some pretty weird stares back at the Inn. I thought I was just imagining them in my non-coffee infused, hangover state, but now that I think about it," both girls let out a small laugh.

Luke interrupted again, as he walked back over with two cups of coffee. "Here's your coffee, it'll kill ya, but enjoy."

"Quite the sales pitch you've got goin' on there, mister," Lorelai teased. "You should go public with it. I can see the commercials now: a young couple sitting at one of these fine tables, then a grumpy guy in plaid wearing a backwards baseball cap walks over to them and throws coffee in their faces. As soon as it touches their faces, something strange happens to them and then suddenly they just keel over and die right there at the table, mid 'no, you're prettier'. And then at the bottom of the screen it flashes your slogan, followed by 'Come to Luke's Diner!' at the end. It's genius."

Rory lifted up her cup, "Here, here!"

"Oh god, there's two of them now," Luke mumbled underneath his breath, but still had a small, visible grin about his face.

"Thanks Luke!" Rory sang out again, before taking a long sip of her coffee.

"Thank-you!" Lorelai followed suit, but hers included a stupid grin on her face that probably didn't get pasted Rory. Just give them a moment alone, she'd hear about it. Thank God Alex wasn't here. That could possibly be disastrous.

"Favorite music?" Rory asked, a sly grin on her face. She definitely hadn't missed the stupid grin.

"All the good stuff, of course! It's gotta be rock baby. And not that Christian Rock, cause let's face it, that's just an oxymoron. I'll explain, Christian equals Jesus, Rock equals devil. The devil was Jesus's nemesis, although I could be mistaken. It was kinda hard to learn at bible study when you were kicked out on account of participating in non-Christian actives."

"Non-Christian actives? Elaborate."

Lorelai pointed at Rory, "It's all your fault. You got be kicked out of Bible study."

Rory smiled, "I'm sorry, how could I do such a thing?"

"Well you were a little trouble maker, even in the womb. I bet you just run around this town reeking havoc all the time," Lorelai teased.

"This is good," Rory stated simply, taking another long sip of her coffee.

She didn't even have to explain. Lorelai knew exactly what she was talking about. She smiled brightly back at Rory, "Yea, babe. This is very good."

Updates up ASAP.
You know how much I heart me some reviews.

(and a new sense of humor won't hurt, either)
(lol)
(I crack myself up!)