Luke POV

I looked at Rory, worried about her reaction. She looked down at the table for a second, and then up at me, "Good."

I wasn't sure that was how she really felt about it, and by the look on Lorelai's face, I wasn't the only one.

I finished dishing up the soup, actually looking forward to it, and we tucked in. It was something that my mom made for me whenever I was sick, but it had taken until now for me to perfect the recipe and get it just right.

While the idea of healthy food tasting good was no longer surprising to Rory, Lorelai stared at her bowl, confused, "It tastes good."

I nodded, "It should."

"But healthy food isn't supposed to taste good," She said, bringing another spoonful to her mouth. I chuckled.

"Well-made healthy food is supposed to taste good. You clearly haven't had good experiences with it."

She scowled at her bowl, unhappy that she had found a healthy meal that she liked.

I took Rory with me to the diner that morning so Lorelai didn't have to drop her off before work. I held her hands as she walked into the diner, managing the walk and the single step on her own without a single wobble.

Her doctor was now allowing her to read and do some schoolwork with regular breaks, so I set her up with everything she needed on the table and chair next to her; she had excitedly brought her new stationery and was looking forward to using it. According to her, it had been staring at her mockingly for 2 weeks.

She was getting closer to her original self, but I knew she would be forever changed from her experience. Her energy levels were slowly rising, and she was looking better. She still wore my brown cap every day to avoid people seeing the scar, but I didn't mind. Lorelai had brought me a blue cap to replace it since I was probably never getting it back, which meant neither of us were missing out.

She had also taken a sneaky photo of us together. I had carried her down the stairs from my apartment and Lorelai had been waiting at the bottom with a camera. The photograph is now sat with Lorelai's other photos of Rory, but she doesn't know that a borrowed it to make a copy for my wallet, sat behind the school one of Rory from this year that Lorelai knew about.

"Dad?" She asked as I flipped the open sign.

"Yeah?"

"What will happen to Christopher?"

I sat down with her to explain, having already found out the answer from our lawyer, "If he pleads guilty like he said he would, then he'll go straight to prison, and it'll probably be for around 2 years as you usually get less time for pleading guilty."

She nodded, "And if doesn't plead guilty?"

"He will go to trial where they will decide whether he is innocent or guilty. If they declare him guilty, he will go to prison for a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 8 years; we're expecting 5 years for what he did. We will also get a payment to cover some of your medical expenses related to what he did and his parental rights will be terminated. If they decide he is innocent, he will walk free, which we don't want."

She nodded, fiddling with his pen, "Will I have to go if it goes to trial?"

"That's down to you," I admitted, "You testifying against him in person will be very helpful in removing his parental rights and sending him to prison, but you don't have to. You have already given a statement and other than asking and recording a few other questions about your relationship with him, that would be it."

She thought about it, "I think I want to go... if you and Mom are okay with it?"

I sighed, "Well, we will talk about it closer to the time as things might change between now and then, but it's completely your choice. I'm planning of going due to the fact they may want me to testify as the first person who saw you afterwards, and I want to be there anyway to see what happens."

The bell above the door rung so I kissed her cheek and returned to the counter, serving my first customer of the day. I then brought her a healthy breakfast, confiscating her pen so she couldn't work while she ate; she's not quite ready for multi-tasking like that and I didn't want her to overdo it this early in the morning.

Most people were used to Rory's permanent presence, but there were still several people who would stop in at least once a day to see how she was doing. It forced her to take breaks from what she was doing and kept her entertained.

As I watched her talk with Patty, I realised that I'd miss her when she went back to school. Being able to keep my eye on her all day had been comforting after the last few months, and the idea of her going back to school wasn't something I liked the idea of, and I'd miss her being around. Of course, I knew that I'd still see her daily, but it wouldn't be the same. Not like the way it was right this minute.

"Luke?" She asked me as I dropped off some plates to the next table. I turned to her, and she smiled at me, "I'm hungry."

I was stunned at the comment, but I beamed at her. While she had asked for food and eaten it, she hadn't actually had an appetite and was eating the bare minimum. I was even willing to feed her something unhealthy if she wanted it, but she hadn't even asked for anything.

"What do you want?" I asked, not caring enough to force something healthy on her.

"French toast. And bacon. Please," She said, looking at me with those big, puppy dog eyes of hers. I chuckled.

"Coming right up."

I made it myself rather than delegating it to Caesar, grinning the entire time. She finished the whole plate, and when she looked up at me, she smiled at me, "I was hungry."

AN: Writing this chapter made me grin like an idiot, and my cheeks now hurt. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you thought.