Disclaimer: I disclaim them, I'm just writing for fun!

Luke's perspective on Rory's twenty-first birthday, before the party.

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October 2005

6.07 - Hanging up the phone after Rory's call…

"Yeah, but she called."

It took just a moment for the shock of Rory's near tantrum to wear off the reason for Lorelai's dreamy expression to set in. Rory had called. Luke didn't know exactly what had transpired between the girls at their last meeting; if they had agreed mutually not to speak or if they had engaged each other in an unspoken battle of resistance to see who would give in and call the other first. Lorelai's expression hinted that she certainly surprised to hear from her daughter. If she felt any victory, it was only in knowing that a part of Rory still belonged to her here in Stars Hollow, teat the invitation was extended by Rory herself, otherwise she wouldn't have bothered with following up.

For his own part, Luke couldn't deny the sense of satisfaction that he felt (if the girls were going to keep him in the middle, there was no way he could get out of it.) He clapped his hands together, smiling, and asked Lorelai if she still wanted that cherry. She snapped out of her stunned reverie and looked up at him catching a glint of smugness in his eyes. She burst into giggles and nodded furiously. She watched him drop two long-stemmed cherries into her whipped cream, her long fingers delicately covering her trembling lips. He thought he saw a certain shine in her eyes, but she dug into her pancakes with a smile.

Days later, Luke's apartment, getting ready for the party…

Luke straightened out the tails of his tie, heaving a sigh at his reflection in the mirror. He reminded himself for the hundredth time that, as much as he felt like he was getting ready to attend his own wake, hosted spitefully by an immortal Emily Gilmore, it was really Rory's birthday. That's why it mattered that he was wearing a suit. He would gladly set aside his standard dress code to celebrate with Rory on her special night.

Luke imagined her, glowing and laughing, wearing a feathered tiara. But, no. That Rory belonged in the town square gazebo. She didn't match at all in the Gilmore parlor setting. He shook his head, wiped the tiara from his image, and sighed. He just wanted to picture something, just one thing that he could count on, something to get him through the length of an evening when he didn't know what to expect.

Chocolate boxes. Rory had nearly promised upon her own life that Lorelai would be provided with a chocolate box if she chose to attend the party, and a Gilmore never goes back on a chocolate promise. He could count on chocolate. Chocolate was birthday party food. Chocolate boxes…well, he wasn't entirely sure what to expect from a chocolate box. He imagined boxes with walls delicately constructed of dark chocolate with a creamy sheen, stacked in a graceful tower on a silver tray, in-laid with cream-colored bows of spun sugar. He turned the confection over and over again in his mind's eye and wondered, how would one consume a chocolate box?

The idea of the box reminded him that birthday parties usually meant birthday gifts. He thought of the coffee cakes and balloons that he had presented to Rory over the years, of the plastic bags of ice he'd brought to her sixteenth birthday because he knew it was the last thing that Lorelai would think to provide herself and he hadn't wanted to show up with nothing, his hands in his pockets, awkwardly belying how out of place he would have felt. He figured he could use a gift to get him through the door in this case, too.

But he wanted to bring something special. He had the feeling that ice would be taken care of. Cake, too, unless Rory was meant to blow out candles stuck in a chocolate box. What could he, Luke Danes, Rory's future step-father and, arguably, her number-two fan, bring for her birthday? What could he offer that Lorelai would not provide?

He considered calling Lorelai to ask for a suggestion. But there would hardly be time to stop and pick something up on the way, and he didn't want to just grab something in the pre-packaged aisle at Sephora (didn't particularly want to go near a Sephora, actually…).

Even as he headed over to the hutch and began sifting through the top drawer, he heard Lorelai cajoling, "Just sign my card, this can be from both of us." Obviously, Rory would never buy that, his scrawl under Lorelai's on a box from Urban Outfitters or some other company with a flashy website that Lorelai browsed when she was too lazy to actually visit the store. His name, succinctly, under Lorelai's loopy signature and some goofy, loquacious message full of Gilmore-speake.

Or…wait.

What would Lorelai write in this card? What would she say when, for months, since long before the blow-out, really, she had been wondering if she and Rory still spoke the same language at all? What would she want to write? What would she resist writing? He couldn't imagine Lorelai just leaving a card blank, though, either. She usually scribbled right over the canned Hallmark message, or annotated it in mockery. Usually, she shared the punch line with everyone but the intended recipient before sealing the envelope, unable to contain her own amusement until the card was delivered, but she hadn't mentioned a ridiculous card to him in any of their discussions leading up to the evening and the party. In fact, she hadn't mentioned a gift at all.

Lorelai wouldn't…no. Of course she would bring a gift for Rory. But maybe she just hadn't been able to…if she'd been too worried to think of something…

He dug a little deeper in the drawer until he found the old velvet box. Lorelai'd be furious, he thought as he slipped it down into his jacket pocket, when she found out that he had doubted her sentimentality or that he had gone against her choice to hold back on the presents. But if Luke knew Lorelai, and he did, he was sure, she would come around, appreciate the gesture, no matter what happened tonight. In the end, she'd want her daughter to have something, and she'd still be gushing about her sweet fiancé's gift to her daughter at other birthday parties for years down the road…

Luke smoothed his tie and grabbed the keys, locked up the apartment for the night and headed out to pick up Lorelai.

In the truck, on the way to the party…

"What's in the box?"

"Rory's birthday present."

"Oh."

"Oh? What does that mean?"

"What? Nothing."

"You thought I wouldn't bring anything? Of course I'm bringing a gift. It's a birthday party, that's what you do, you bring a gift."

"Okay."

"She's my daughter. I mean, biologically, anyway, I don't know when my daughter's heart froze up and her brain got sucked up by a pod person, but somewhere in there, she's still my kid. It's in the eyes. You've seen the eyes, Luke."

"I've seen the eyes. What'd you get her?"

"A pack of Hello Kitty playing cards."

"And?"

"Ocean's 11 on DVD. For the Vegas."

"Yeah, I got that."

"Well, I still have to check on the movie references with you sometimes."

"And I appreciate that. What else?"

"Nothing else. Just…just an old picture."

"Of her?"

"Of both of us. On my 21st birthday. We were still living at the inn then."

"I've never seen that picture."

"I only have one copy. I guess I've been saving it for something."

"Seems like the right occasion."

"Maybe. Yeah." Lorelai gave him a small smile, looking more sure. "It's the perfect occasion."

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Happy Birthday to you...

The End.

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