Lorelai POV

We had arranged for me to meet Anna before we did anything else, wanting her to be familiar with me, and when we walked into her shop, we were greeted warmly.

"Hi, I'm Lorelai," I introduced myself, "It's very nice to meet you."

I could feel that Luke was angry but other than squeezing his hand in acknowledgement, I ignored it, knowing it wouldn't help.

"I'm really glad you're open to this whole thing, I wasn't sure how you or others in your family would react. I've spoken to April a little bit, and she really likes the idea of getting to know all of her family, but I would like to take this a bit slower than she would," Anna said, almost getting ahead of herself.

"I think it would be better to just start with April and Luke meeting, and let them set the pace. I know there may be accidental meetings since we're all a bit unpredictable, especially my daughter, Rory and Jess, Luke's nephew – they're both going through some stuff right now and it's a bit of a mess."

"Liz and Jess are back in Stars Hollow?" She asked, surprised, and Luke finally snapped out of his trance.

"Just Jess – she didn't want him anymore by the sounds of it, it's pretty awful, and Jess is doing everything he can to get into trouble," He explained, "It's a typical teenage rebellion but it doesn't make it easier."

I thought about mentioning the time when Luke just pushed Jess into the lake, but I didn't think it would help the case, "So tell us a bit about April, and how you'd like to go about this."

Anna sighed, "I was thinking of maybe bringing her to the diner for their first meeting, but I'm afraid the whole town will gawk at her. So maybe picking a diner here for them to meet."

"That sounds good to me," I said, "Luke?"

"I'm good with that."

"She's so smart," he said, putting his arms around me. They had met for the first time today and he had come straight to the Inn wanting to tell me about it, "She asked a lot of questions. About me and you, and Rory – apparently, Anna told her she had a possible big sister in the future and she's so excited about it."

"That's sweet," I said, "Did she seem happy with how it went?"

He nodded, "She asked when she could see me again – she wants to come to the diner and meet you and Rory already. Anna is hesitant, but given that you're my wife, it only seems logical."

"When?" I asked. I genuinely wanted to meet her – I knew I wasn't going to be her mom, but being a step-mom was good enough for me.

He sighed, "Next weekend, maybe. We haven't set anything yet because Anna wanted to call me later, but that's what I'm hoping."

"Dad!" I heard Rory shout, and she hobbled up to him, in massive amounts of pain, "How did it go?"

At Friday night dinner the next evening, we had planned on telling my parents about April. I was nervous because I had no idea how they'd take it, but we were going to do it because it was important.

"Did you see Rory's article in the Stars Hollow Gazette? I was really impressed with how it turned out," Luke asked. They had started getting a subscription to it once Rory started writing regularly for them, but we always liked talking about it. And Luke was avoiding the inevitable.

"Yes, I thought it was one of her best pieces yet," Mom said, and then asked, "How much research did that take?"

Rory thought for a moment and then answered, "A lot and I've barely scratched the surface on how to make public places more accessible to the disabled. There are tons out there, and while some conflict with others, it's better to try than to do nothing at all."

After her brief stint in a wheelchair and on crutches, she had been obsessed about accessibility. She was highly passionate about it, since there are a handful of disabled people in Stars Hollow, but you barely see them. And now we know why.

She had also written about it for The Franklin at school, and there was even talk of her having her own column to write about accessibility rights and how we can make things easier for people with different needs. She had turned it down due to the fact she was unsure if she could write about it every week, but she admitted to me that she had written 10 pieces on this already, and she was just saving them for a better time.

"We're very proud of you," Dad said, "It's a topic that'll never go away, so it could be a really good subject to focus on once you're an actual journalist."

"I don't know what I'm going to focus on, yet," She admitted, "While Christiane Amanpour is my idol and I think I want to be a travel correspondent, I'm not completely sure yet. I just know that I want to write."

"Well, we'll be proud of you no matter what," Dad said, his eyes shining. When she used to talk about journalism, he thought it was more my dream than hers, but as he's listened to her talk about it and watched her and her writing grow, he's realised that even though it may have started as my dream (I really don't remember), it's definitely all hers now.

There was a slight lull in the conversation, and Luke took the opportunity, "We actually have something we'd like to share with you."

He waited for them to indicate that they were listening before actually telling them, not wanting to say it again, "I have a biological daughter; her name is April, she's 10 years old and I discovered her existence last week. I met her yesterday."

I could hear the nerves in his voice, so I discreetly took his hand into mine and squeezed comfortingly. He squeezed back, telling me he was okay.

"And how do you feel about this?" Mom asked, unsure of how to react.

"I'm sad that I missed out on her younger years like I missed out on Rory's, but I'm really happy that I know about her now."

"I'm happy," I said, "She might not be my kid but she is family, and I'm okay with having a step-daughter. I'm not able to have another child, so I'm going to take what I can get."

They then looked at Rory, who smiled at them, "I think that I'm happy. And I can't wait to meet her."

And then Mom beamed at us, "Then we're happy, too. And I'm with Lorelai; she might not be my biological grandchild but I certainly will treat her like one if the opportunity arises."

While I wanted to think 'poor kid', I couldn't help but think of how lucky she is because she already has an entire family waiting with open arms.

AN: This whole thing makes me happy, I can't even tell you why. And also, isn't it weird that in a few weeks, it'll be an entire year since we started this journey (including the first story since I didn't take a break in writing or posting). Let me know what you thought of this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it.