Luke raced inside the apartment and abruptly stopped. "Who the hell are you?"
Carven turned and descended the ladder. "Carven." He smiled. "The landlord. I'm fixing this leak for Lorelai." Carven extended his hand to Luke. Luke didn't accept the handshake.
"Daddy!" Rory exclaimed as she came running out of her room.
"Rory." Luke embraced her. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to come to the diner after school."
Carven glided over. "She missed her bus. I brought her home."
"I told him I was supposed to go the diner." Rory defended. "He made me miss my bus!" She pointed her small finger towards him.
Luke's anger began to boil. "Alright, pal, that's enough of this crap. Get your stuff and get out."
Carven laughed. "You can't force me to leave. I own this apartment."
"Wrong, I can force you to leave." Luke walked towards him. "And don't you ever pick up my kid from school again. You hear me..."
"I don't think you understand..."
Luke grabbed Carven by his shirt collar. "No! You don't understand." Luke roared. "Get out." he repeated. As he released Carven from his grasp.
Carven grabbed his tools and left the apartment, cursing softly under his breath. Luke glanced back at Rory. "Are you okay?" Rory shook her head, yes. "Rory, never go anywhere with that man. If he ever comes near you again you find the nearest teacher or the nearest parent and you tell them. Okay."
"Okay."
Luke placed his hand on his daughter's head. "Don't worry, I'll have you and your mom moved out of here soon, you won't have to put up with that jerk. I'm going to call your mom at the inn, and let her know you're okay. Then we're going to go looking for a house."
Rory smiled. "I'll get my jacket." She scampered off to her room.
"Independence Inn."
"Lorelai, please."
Michelle sighed. He walked over and reached the phone to Lorelai. "Ths is becoming a bother."
"It's your job, Michelle." Lorelai replied as she took the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, I found her." Luke's relieved voice answered. "She's here at the apartment."
Secret relief entered Lorelai's body. "Did she forget to get off the buss at the diner?"
"She missed her bus." Luke answered. "Carven brought her here."
Lorelai's heart stopped. "Who?"
"Don't worry, I've already thrown him out and I told him to never pick her up from school again."
"Luke this is going too far." Lorelai's voice hardened. "This guy is a total freak. Did he hurt Rory?"
"No, she's fine." Luke soothed. "Lorelai, please, just come stay with me til we find a house. Liz and Jess are leaving tomorrow."
Lorelai was silent for a moment. "I'll think about it."
"I'd feel so much better knowing that your safe." Luke added.
"So would I. Well, I have to get back to work. I'll be home in a few hours."
"Alright. I love you."
"I love you, too."
Luke hung up the phone. He let out a large sigh.
"Ready!" Rory announced.
Luke looked down and smiled. "Let's go."
After looking at three different houses, Luke had made up his mind. "I like this one." he said to Rory.
"I like the one with the green shutters." Rory replied.
"Well, the green shutters are nice. Which we could paint the shutters on this house. There's much more room here."
"We could have a play house." Rory thought out loud.
"Better yet, a tree house." Luke pointed in the direction of the large tree.
Rory's eyes brightened. "I'd love to have a tree house." She said.
"Me too." Luke added. "I had one when I was kid."
"Did your daddy build it for you?"
"Yeah, he did. When I was about eight years old."
"I'm eight!" Rory added quickly.
Luke smirked. "Well, then I'd say it's time you had a tree house."