One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: I know I was going to make it a Java Junkie, but I'm feeling very anti-Luke right now. He should have told Lorelai what was going on with April and Anna, she told him everything that was going on with her and Chris. I also Lorelai with Chris, even if I know that Luke and Lorelai are meant to be, but maybe in this alternate universe, Chris is her soulmate, not Luke.

AN #2: I was going to wait to see where they were going to take the storyline with April before I updated, but there are no new episodes until January, so I'm just going to have to make up the storyline.

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Topher reluctantly followed his mother into the packed diner.

"Luke, I want coffee!" she yelled as soon as she got in.

"I'm busy. Go sit down, and I'll get to you soon."

"But Luuuuuuuuke." she whined.

"Go. Sit down. Wait your turn." Topher sat at one of the stools and watched his mother follow the diner owner around, begging for coffee. She stopped tailing him only once to go grab a newspaper, search for something in it, rip off a piece, and scribble something on it. He looked at the piece of newspaper and sighed. Lorelai ran over and sat down next to him, and Luke walked over, rolling his eyes, and poured her a cup of coffee.

"Another one, please."

"You can't possibly drink two cups of coffee at once."

"Not for me. For my son."

"Your invisible son?"

"Mom, it's fine. I don't want any coffee." Topher said exhaustedly.

"Oh, you're Rory's brother?" Luke asked, smiling gruffly at him. "Dean's mentioned you."

"Luke, we need two more cups." Lorelai said, tugging at his shirt, trying to turn his attention back to her. "For Rory and Dean."

"One more." Luke corrected. "Dean only drinks coffee in the morning."

"Luke has a daughter. And her mother came back."

Rory gaped open-mouthed at her boyfriend. How had he figured out that Lorelai might be into Luke in the first place? Weren't guys supposed to be completely clueless? "Why should that matter, though?" Rory asked. "My mom has Toph and me."

"Luke can be very...odd about April, though."

"How so?" Dean pulled over so that he could look her straight in the eye.

"He didn't know about her until she was eleven, so she's his top priority. Which, for Luke, basically means she controls his life. He was dating this woman, Rachel, when April found him, and he really loved her. April just wanted him for a science project, but Luke wanted to be the model father. He'd skip big things with Rachel for little things that April didn't even want him at. About six months ago, Luke had this big romantic night planned for Rachel, and he was going to propose to her, but April called, and actually asked him to come over. For no reason."

"He abandoned Rachel on the night he was supposed to propose to her to spend an hour with his daughter?"

"I tried to comfort her. Told her he wanted to propose to her."

"You told her that he was going to propose, but decided a night of scrabble with his estranged daughter was more important."

"Stupid, I know, but it seemed smart at the time."

"What happened?"

"She left. Said goodbye to me, asked me to tell Luke and Jess, packed her bags and left. She would have been able to take being second to April, just not that abandoned. Then when Luke got back, he was just mad at her for leaving, that she wanted more from life than Stars Hollow, and if she wanted to blame it on April, that was fine, but it was just an excuse. Lorelai seems really nice. And Luke's a great guy. But..."

"My mom won't believe that."

"I know. It just seemed like something you should know."

"Thanks." She leaned over as far as the seatbelt would let her, and kissed him softly. "I love you." The words slipped out. She could feel herself turning red. Rory Gilmore didn't do impetuous things like that, she thought them out. "I...I mean..." she stammered uselessly, trying to think of something to say. He reached out and cupped her face with his hands, bringing it closer, and kissed her.

"It's okay," he whispered, "I love you, too." His mouth was so close to hers that she could practically feel them moving. She kissed him again, any thoughts of Luke, or her parents completely dissolved.