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Chapter 13

Luke returned from giving April a ride home. He shot a bit of a flustered look toward Rory, who claimed she was getting tired and headed toward her room. Not soon after closing her own door, she heard Lorelai drag Luke up the stairs to bed. Rory sighed and fell back on her bed, her legs dangling off and her head just below the pillow. She sat and stared up at the ceiling, a wave of sleep pulling her mind away from the present. Funny, she'd lied about getting tired and yet here she was, falling asleep.

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The sharp tap on the window brought Rory rushing back to consciousness. She sat up quickly, nausea over-taking her for a moment. Her eyes settled on the clock on her desk, reading quarter after one in the morning, and then she settled on the figure beyond her curtains on the porch. She frowned, wondering who could possibly be disturbing her at this time of night, but she already knew as she drew back the curtain and pulled up the window.

"What are you doing here, Dean?" she asked as the chill of a late winter breeze passed through her. "It's one in the morning, and about forty degrees outside."

Dean shrugged and kneeled down, so his face was level with hers. "I told my parents about us. We got in a huge fight and I left," he explained. His gaze avoided hers, as though he was ashamed of his parents for not accepting him and Rory.

Rory glanced over at her bedroom door. She knew her mother and Luke wouldn't like what she was about to do, but she was an adult now, and Dean had nowhere else to go. She couldn't leave him out in the cold. She turned back to him and moved aside, motioning him through the window.

"Are you sure?" he asked, also glancing at her door, half-expecting Luke to burst in any minute.

"Yeah," Rory said with a nod. "I'm not going to let the father of my child freeze to death on my front porch. You wouldn't make a cute decoration to the house anyway; you're not a goat."

Dean grinned and shimmied his tall frame through the narrow window. He rested on Rory's bed as she shut and locked the window. "Want me to get a chair?" he asked her.

"What?" Rory asked with a chuckle. "You can't sleep with me but once every year?"

Dean turned crimson. "Not that, I just don't want Luke or your Mom to find us - "

"We're only sharing a bed," Rory said a little pointedly. "If Mom can share a bed with Luke, then I can share a bed with you." She walked over to him and pushed him down against the mattress, pressing a firm kiss to his lips. She pulled the blanket at the foot of her bed over their two forms, and curled up next to him, happy for the warmth and comfort he provided her. Within moments, they were both fast asleep.

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The morning sun proved to be a little too bright for Dean's liking. He squinted his eyes through the rays of light streaming in through Rory's window, only to notice her bedroom door slightly ajar. To his horror, he heard Lorelai just beyond the door in the kitchen, humming. Dean rolled his eyes and glanced down at Rory. She was sleeping peacefully - and for some reason he didn't think she'd gotten such good rest in a while - so he kissed the top of her head and slipped out of her grasp. She stirred, but didn't awaken.

Dean realized with much dread how right he was as he entered the kitchen, trying to somewhat flatten the wrinkles his jeans and shirt had acquired overnight. Lorelai was sitting at the kitchen table, cutting - coupons? - and looked up when he entered.

"Hello, sunshine," she said with a bright smile. Dean frowned. "Want some coffee?" she asked, motioning to the pot by the stove. "Luke made it this morning before he left for the diner," she added, as though that made the coffee special… which in the Gilmore House, it did.

Dean nodded and walked over to the pot, pulling a mug from one of the cabinets - an old habit of familiarity - and filling it with the warm, rich, brown beverage. He pulled up a chair across from Lorelai as she continued cutting her coupons. After a moment of her not saying anything, he asked, "Is this the Twilight Zone or something?"

Lorelai looked up, baffled.

"I mean, the first time Rory and I slept together… well, the first time we spent the night together, you freaked and I couldn't come around for a couple weeks. The second time, the entire town had a vendetta out against me, and you pretended to not hate me when you actually did."

"I didn't hate you," Lorelai objected, a little hurt Dean could think such a thing.

"You didn't approve - "

"And I still don't," Lorelai cut in. "But it's not like I've never done it. I admit, big mistake, but you can't turn back time." She snapped her fingers and glared at the coupons. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here cutting these. I'd invent something to cut them for me."

"You could still do that," Dean pointed out, distracted.

Lorelai raised her brow in concurrence. "True, but I can't even touch a coffee pot without it exploding. Hence all the mornings at Luke's all these years."

Dean nodded, his mind still half-distracted. He realized then that that was something Lorelai was immensely skilled at - distracting people from thoughts and places and certain schedules they had to retain. He shook his head and continued with his previous question. "How come you're not upset that I slept with Rory last night?"

"It's not like you did anything," Lorelai replied, not looking up from her task of coupon clipping. "The walls in this house aren't very thick either - perhaps you and Luke can fix that - and I heard you tapping on Rory's window while I was down here getting coffee."

"You eavesdropped on us?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Just the whole 'nowhere else to go' part." She set the scissors down on the table and looked up at Dean, locking her gaze onto his. "My daughter loves you. Now, I've watched her struggle through too many things in the past year - coincidentally the same time she wasn't in contact with you - and she's finally found happiness… with you. If you make her happy, you make me happy. I don't care what the town says, or my parents, or Luke - I only care what Rory thinks and feels and says about you. Got it?"

Dean nodded slowly.

Rory walked in just then, yawning and rubbing her tired eyes. She thought her mind had been playing tricks on her, for she could have sworn she'd heard Dean talking with her mother. Once the sleep was wiped clean for her vision, her eyes settled on Dean and Lorelai sitting at the table. They widened in fear, searching both faces for a sign of the raised white flag.

"Hey there kiddo," Lorelai greeted first.

Dean merely shrugged at the uncertain look Rory cast him before she walked over to the coffee pot to fill her own mug. She walked back over to the table and took a seat, not really able to voice the question she was afraid she already had an answer to. Instead, she focused on the task her mother was doing. "Why are you cutting coupons?"

Lorelai looked up, her concentration being taken away from the papers and scissors in her hands for a second time. 'They want me to cut my fingers off, I swear,' she thought humorously to herself. "It's for charity," she lied. She knew Rory didn't like her using coupons.

Rory pursed her lips, but didn't object to it. She had to tread lightly around her mother because she wasn't sure whether Lorelai had found her and Dean together or not.

Lorelai seemed to read her silence. Maybe it was a mother thing. "Dean came over this morning and explained the whole living situation. He says his parents kicked him out when he told them about getting back together with you," she lied again. Mentally, she kicked herself for doing it, but it had to be done. She couldn't exactly tell Rory that she'd listened in on their conversation, because she wasn't sure how sensitive Rory could get now that she was carrying a child.

Dean understood and nodded in concurrence to Lorelai's fib, glancing quickly at her before reaching over to grab Rory's hand and give it a squeeze.

Rory smiled and squeezed Dean's hand back before turning to study her mom. Lorelai was watching them with this sort of amiable expression lost on her features. "Mom?" Rory asked.

Lorelai shook her head to clear her thoughts and smiled genuinely at her daughter. "I was just going to tell Dean that he can stay here for a while."

Rory nearly knocked Lorelai over as she scurried out of her chair and over to her mom, wrapping her arms around the woman. Her actions caused laughs to roll out of both Dean and Lorelai's mouths, and she let go of Lorelai and rushed over to Dean to wrap her arms around him.

"Thank you so much, Mom," Rory gushed happily.

Dean nodded and, as soon as he and Rory parted, he leaned down and gave Lorelai a quick hug. "Thanks," he said gratefully.

As they pulled apart, Lorelai caught his eye and said quietly, so Rory couldn't hear, "No, thank you."

AN: I never intended to make Dean's parents so un-understanding... oops, hehe. What's done is done. So, the forever redundant question: how'd you like this chapter? Please, please, please leave me a review - even if it just says 'hi' - although I do like the occasional long review heh :) Just tell me what you think!