It's Always There

by CoffeeDrinker

This is a 2nd sequel to "It's Right There" that picks up a few weeks after the ending of "It's Still There." Lorelai and Luke navigate the ups and downs of domestic life as they raise their fresh kid. :)

11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

. . . . .

. . . . .

Luke started the drive back to Stars Hollow in a daze of disbelief and confusion and anger. He had tried to have a conversation with his wife, it somehow escalated into an argument, and instead of talking it out... she asked him to leave. He couldn't believe she had sent him home. No discussion about it, she just told him to go. The more he thought about it, the angrier he felt.

Meanwhile, Lorelai distractedly sat through drinks and dinner and dessert with her parents and Rory. She tried to converse and smile and make quips so everything seemed normal, but her conversation with Luke just kept running through her head. She was anxious about the follow-up discussion they'd have when she got home.

Later that evening, as soon as she and Rory walked out of the house after dinner, Rory said, "Okay, you have to tell me what's wrong."

Lorelai shrugged it off as she continued walking toward the car. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine."

Rory knew she was lying. She followed Lorelai to the car, and once they had both gotten in, she said, "Everything is not fine, Mom. You may be able to fool Grandma and Grandpa, but not me."

Lorelai sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned her head back against the headrest. "I have such a headache."

"Come on, you're upset about something, I can tell," Rory pressed. "Is it Luke?"

Lorelai didn't say anything, and her failure to deny that it was Luke confirmed to Rory that it was.

"Okay, it's Luke," Rory deduced. "Now we're getting somewhere. What happened? Did you guys have a fight?"

Lorelai nodded.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Lorelai shrugged.

Rory stared at Lorelai for a moment, waiting for her to say something. When she didn't, she started the car and pulled out of the driveway. "Okay, well, I'm gonna be sitting right here next to you for the next half an hour or so, so if you do feel like talking about anything at all, I am very good at listening while I'm driving. Seriously, I could get a gold medal in the listening-while-driving Olympic event."

Lorelai smiled and glanced over at Rory. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Lorelai closed her eyes and they rode in silence for a few minutes. She thought it over and realized that talking out the situation with Rory before she talked again with Luke might actually help. Finally, she opened her eyes and said, "We had a fight on the way to dinner, and I didn't want things to be awkward in there, so I asked him not to come in... I sent him home with Josh."

Rory's eyes widened slightly. "Wow. What'd you guys argue about?" she asked, and then quickly added, "Sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to... if it's personal or whatever."

"No, it's fine," Lorelai said. "Basically... he's a little paranoid about how I keep bumping into the new guy."

"The new guy?" Rory narrowed her eyes for a minute, trying to figure out who that was. "Oh, the new neighbor around the corner... what's his name? Eric?"

"Yeah. I've run into him and his daughter a couple of times when I've taken Josh on walks. Sometimes they're outside in front of their house, sometimes we see them at the park," Lorelai explained. "And for some reason, Luke thinks it's a little coincidental that I always see them around."

Rory narrowed her eyes with confusion. "Luke thinks it's unusual for you to go on walks in a small town and bump into people on more than one occasion? That's been happening literally since the day we moved here. And it's not your fault if you run into them... you can't control that."

"I know, but something about this is making him feel weird," Lorelai said. "Weird enough to bring it up to me and not just brush it off."

"Okay. So, how did it turn into a fight? Was he accusing you of something?"

"No. He was just trying to talk about it with me, and instead of being an understanding wife, I overreacted and kind of jumped on him a little too harshly." She sighed softly and shook her head disappointedly. "I was stupid. I feel bad. He's probably so mad at me right now."

"Okay, well, you can explain that to him," Rory said calmly. "Tell him that you realized you were too harsh, he'll appreciate you admitting it."

"Yeah." Lorelai nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment. "I don't want him to not bring up stuff like that. If he feels weird about something, he should be able to tell me without me yelling at him. I don't know why I got all crazy."

"It's not because... you know... maybe..." Rory's voice trailed off and she exhaled a sigh. "I don't even know how to word the question without it sounding bad."

Lorelai eyed her curiously. "What are you trying to ask?"

"Well, I mean... did you react harshly because maybe there is something to hide that you don't want Luke to know, so you overcompensated in your reaction?" Rory asked.

Lorelai's eyes widened with shock at the question. "What?"

Rory quickly added, "I don't mean something major, I mean something little. Like maybe he flirted with you or complimented you and you felt weird about it, but you don't want Luke to know because you don't want him to freak out."

Lorelai adamantly shook her head. "No, absolutely not... there's nothing to hide at all."

"Okay, just checking." Rory was quiet as she thought things over, and then she asked, "Has Luke interacted with this guy much?"

"As far as I know, just a few times with me, and once at the diner. Why?"

"Well, I think part of the issue is that he doesn't know him well enough yet, he doesn't have a rapport with him like he does most people in town," Rory said. "He just knows you're hanging out with some new guy that he doesn't know anything about."

"I wouldn't even categorize it as hanging out, though. It's not like we're knocking back a couple brewskis and talking in depth about our lives. We have five minute generic conversations in passing with our kids right there. Why is that weird? It's like every other conversation with any other neighbor."

"He doesn't know him," Rory repeated with a shrug. "He doesn't know if he can trust him."

"Well, he knows he can trust me," Lorelai replied.

Rory glanced over at her and softly offered, "Sometimes situations aren't always that simple, you know?"

Lorelai was staring down at her purse in her lap, fiddling with the zipper. "I guess," she muttered.

"Okay, here's what I think," Rory declared. "Are you ready to hear my very wise words based on my 19 years of life experiences?" She was trying to sound upbeat and encouraging to help counterbalance Lorelai's less-than-cheerful disposition.

"Yup."

"I think the more you have these little chats with this guy, the more it might seem to Luke like you two are becoming friends. Even if you're not, that's what it might look like to Luke. So, I think you just need to put yourself in his shoes for a minute... let me give you an alternate scenario."

"Okay."

"Imagine if Luke was constantly running into the wife out in public and it seemed like he was starting up some sort of friendship with her, this woman you didn't really know. Wouldn't you want to know more about this woman? You might not be jealous of her, exactly, but you might be curious about her, right? Even though you trust Luke, you might feel the need to casually mention to him, 'oh, hey, what's up with this lady you keep bumping into?' You know, just like he brought it up to you tonight?"

Lorelai inhaled a deep breath and exhaled it slowly as she thought it over. "I guess, maybe," she admitted. "And I probably wouldn't love it if he went into her bedroom with her."

Rory narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Nothing."

. . . . .

. . . . .

They arrived home and walked quietly into the dark house. Josh was asleep in the crib, and Luke was in bed, lying on his side under the covers. As Lorelai walked toward the bed, Rory went to her bedroom to give them some privacy to talk.

Lorelai slipped off her heels and sat on the edge of the bed. "Luke, are you awake?" she whispered.

"Yup," he curtly whispered back.

"Can we talk?" she whispered.

"Nope."

His response surprised her, and she narrowed her eyes. "No? Why not?"

"Because I'm pissed at you."

Lorelai stared at him for a moment before asking, "And you'd rather go to bed angry at 9:30 on a Friday night than talk to me?"

"Yup."

He was facing away from her, and she gently placed her hand on his back. "Luke, come on," she said. "You're not supposed to go to sleep angry. It's like the number one cliché of the relationship Gods."

Luke rolled over to face her and harshly whispered, "If you're allowed to get mad at me and make me leave your parents' house because you don't feel like dealing with it, then I'm sure as hell allowed to get mad at you and go to sleep when I don't feel like dealing with it."

Lorelai threw up her hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do!" she whispered at him.

Luke brought his finger to his lips and hushed her. "Shh. He just fell asleep."

"If you came in, we would've been snippy with each other all night and my parents would have picked up on it," she insisted. "We don't need them knowing our personal issues."

"Yeah, much better to send your husband and child away," Luke sarcastically countered, still speaking in a harsh whisper. "Without even saying goodbye to one of them."

Lorelai exhaled a soft sigh. "Come on, Luke... I'm sorry, okay? I felt horrible for that... I called you right after you left to tell you that. Can we just talk it out, please?"

He rolled back onto his side to face away from her. "Go to sleep, Lorelai."

Lorelai stood up from the bed with a frustrated sigh. "Fine."

She grabbed a pair of pajamas from the dresser in the foyer, and then headed to the bathroom to change. She brushed her teeth and then walked to Rory's room and tapped lightly on the door.

"Come in," Rory answered.

Lorelai pushed open the door and saw Rory in her bed reading. "Is there room in that bed for two?" Lorelai asked.

Rory moved over and patted the mattress next to her. Lorelai stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

. . . . .

. . . . .

Lorelai had a hard time falling asleep, and it felt like she'd just finally dozed off when she heard Josh crying in the morning. She climbed out of Rory's bed and headed to the living room, and saw Luke getting Josh out of the crib. She stopped at the entrance of the living room and nervously folded her arms across her chest.

"Hi," Lorelai hesitantly greeted him, testing the waters to see if they were still cold.

Luke turned around and looked at her, and he calmly replied, "Hi."

The waters seemed to be lukewarm, and she felt relieved.

As Luke brought Josh over to the couch to change his diaper, Lorelai grabbed an outfit for him from the dresser. She walked over to the couch and handed Luke the outfit, and he gave her a nod of thanks.

Lorelai leaned down and kissed Josh's cheek. "Morning, baby," she said softly, and she grinned when he smiled up at her. "Oh, you're happy today. You must've slept well. I'm glad someone did."

She took a step back as Luke changed him. When he was done, he picked him up from the couch and turned to face Lorelai. She offered her hands out and Josh reached for her, and she took him into her arms and hugged him to her chest.

Lorelai looked at Luke over the baby's head. "Can we talk now?" she asked him. "Please? Hopefully calmly."

Luke nodded. "I'll get him a bottle. Maybe take him out to the porch and put him in the stroller. We can sit out there and talk without having to chase after him."

Lorelai went outside and got Josh situated in his stroller parked next to the porch bench. Luke came out with a bottle and offered it to Josh, and waited for his little hands to grip it. He leaned back in his stroller and started to drink it, and Luke sat down next to Lorelai on the bench.

"He's so good at holding it himself now," Lorelai said. "Now that we're starting to wean him from them, he decides to become a bottle-holding expert."

"Yeah. I remember when he wanted nothing to do with holding it... he just wanted to relax and be fed."

They watched Josh for a moment, and then Lorelai looked at Luke, took a deep breath, and exhaled it slowly. "So..."

Luke rubbed his temple as he looked at her. "So..."

"Obviously, I don't like what happened last night," Lorelai said.

"Me, either. Any of it."

"Well, where should we start?" she asked.

"We should start at the end," Luke said. "Before we get into why the fight started, let's talk about how it ended."

"Okay."

"I didn't like the way you sent me home from your parents' house," Luke told her, shaking his head slightly. "Yes, I understand why you did it, I get your reasoning, and I left because that's what you wanted... but you practically commanding me to leave in the middle of a fight isn't how we work things out. We needed to both decide what the next step was, not just you."

Lorelai nodded understandingly. "I know."

"We could've called your parents and told them we were running late so we could talk more in the car," Luke continued, and he started ticking off more options on his fingers. "We could've went in and asked Rory to watch Josh while we talked in your dad's study. We could've blown off dinner altogether and gone home to talk - sure, your mom might've gotten snippy about that, but who cares? Or maybe - just maybe - you could have asked if I thought it was a good idea for me to go home so we could talk later. We should've discussed the options and arrived at a decision together instead of you dictating what happened next."

Lorelai nodded again as she apologetically said, "I know, I get it, I'm sorry... I know I didn't handle that right. I realized that right away and I called you after you pulled away to apologize, but your phone was off."

Luke recalled her saying that last night, but he was too mad for it to really register. "You really called me after I left?"

"Yes." Lorelai gestured into the house. "Go check your phone, I left a message."

"It's dead." Luke exhaled a deep sigh and rubbed his forehead. "But if it wasn't, I probably would've gotten your call and maybe I wouldn't have spent the whole night being so angry."

"Maybe," Lorelai agreed. "But I'm sorry I did it in the first place, I mean it... lesson learned. We need to decide things together."

Luke nodded. "Thank you."

Lorelai was quiet for a moment, and then hesitatingly asked, "Now... can I air a similar grievance about the ending?"

"Yeah."

Lorelai gently clenched her fists in her lap. "I get so frustrated when you clam up and refuse to talk to me. Like, so frustrated... trying to sit through Magnolia levels of frustrated. I came home last night wanting to resolve things and you completely shut me out."

"Yeah, but that was what needed to happen for it to not turn into an even bigger argument," Luke told her. "Because I was angry all night and if we had talked last night, it would've been a lot of yelling and it wouldn't have gone well. I knew that and I was trying to stop that from happening. I needed to sleep on it to cool down."

"You could've explained that to me," Lorelai pointed out. "Instead of just being short with me, you could've said that you needed time to calm down, that we'd talk tomorrow... something other than just telling me to go to bed."

Luke took a moment and considered her viewpoint, and he nodded. "You're right, I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I take responsibility for that, I should've handled that better."

"Thank you." She sighed and gestured between the two of them. "I guess we both had our share of non-shining moments last night."

"Yeah, we did," he agreed.

Lorelai looked over at Josh to make sure he was still okay with his bottle, and then looked back at Luke. "So, we should get to the original matter at hand."

"Yeah. And let's start with the fact that I brought up how I was feeling, and you turned it into me being jealous and not trusting you, and that's not true," Luke said, shaking his head. "I can trust you a hundred percent and still feel off about a situation. You have to understand that."

Lorelai nodded understandingly. "I know... I do. I get it."

"Because I do trust you a hundred percent," he added.

"I know that, too," she confirmed. "And I want you to bring things up when you feel weird, I want you to talk about those things with me."

Luke cocked his head to the side skeptically. "But are you gonna attack me when I bring them up?"

"No, I won't," she replied, shaking her head.

"I don't want to be a couple that avoids things and doesn't talk about them," he said. "Once you go there, it's hard to come back."

"I know, and I overreacted last night, I know that. It should've been a calmer discussion, not an argument. So, let's talk it out now..." She gestured to him with both hands. "You have the floor... go ahead."

Luke looked down at his hands and rubbed them together for a moment. He exhaled a deep breath and then turned to look at her. "The bottom line is that there's this new guy I barely know that you're always interacting with, he's inviting you into his house - and it sets off a flag," Luke said. "Not a huge flag, but a little flag."

"So, not like a bright flashing red light type of flag, but more like a... 'hm, this is interesting, I'm gonna keep my eye on that situation' type of flag?" Lorelai suggested.

"Yeah, exactly. Because even if he's the nicest guy in the world, all I see on paper is a guy I don't know trying to spend a lot of time with my wife, and that's something I'm gonna be aware of."

"Okay, I get that... but remember, he's not trying to spend time with me," Lorelai calmly corrected him. "We just run into each other completely casually... our routines overlap a little sometimes and we see each other and chat for a few minutes. He's a nice guy. You've seen that he's a nice guy."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, he is... he seems like a nice guy," he admitted.

"The way he is in front of you is exactly the way he is when you're not around," Lorelai told him. "Friendly and easygoing and completely innocent."

Luke looked at her for a moment before asking, "So, you honestly don't think he's..." His voice trailed off because he wasn't quite sure how to finish that sentence. "I mean, he doesn't seem like he's..."

"He seems pretty content with his own wife and isn't after yours," Lorelai interjected. "He hasn't done anything to make me feel weird. No flirting. No touching. No staring. Nothing at all. Frankly, his behavior is almost offensive. What, does he think I'm hideous or something?" she joked. "Miss Patty gives me sexier looks than this guy."

Luke snorted a little laugh at that, and then noticed that Josh was done with his bottle. He gave him a few toys that were in the bottom of the stroller, and then sat back down next to Lorelai.

He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe I'm being crazy."

"You're not being crazy," she said as she patted his knee. "You're just so incredibly in love with me that it makes you paranoid sometimes."

"Yup," he agreed. "Guilty."

Lorelai smiled. "Look, I get how you feel, I do. I'd probably feel the same if the situation was reversed. If you were always running into Kelly, it might be something that was on my radar and I'd want to get it off my radar. So let's figure out how to keep it off your radar."

"Okay. Let's figure it out."

Lorelai thought it over for a few moments before she said, "Well, I mean, the first option is obviously that I quit my job and seclude myself to the house at all times so that I can easily avoid this man and all men in general for the rest of my life."

Luke smiled because he knew she was joking, but he still felt the need to state, "I'm not telling you to avoid anyone."

"I know."

"I know you know, I'm just saying," he said. "So... what's the next option?"

"Well, the second option is that we continue living our lives as we normally do in this very small town where we can't control who we run into, and we keep trusting each other, and we keep talking to each other," Lorelai continued. "Which I know sounds like we basically do nothing and keep things as they are, but..." She held up three fingers. "I have three side notes to add to that option."

"Which are?"

"One, I think you need to interact with him more yourself," Lorelai suggested. "Get to know him a little. I mean, when you've run into him, you two have gotten along really well. You're easy to talk to, he's easy to talk to... you guys could be friends."

"Maybe," he said with a shrug, and then admitted, "He does seem cool... except for the whole 'inviting my wife to his bedroom' thing."

Lorelai smirked and poked him on the chest. "Completely innocent."

"I know," Luke said, smiling. "I'm just kidding."

"I know." Lorelai scooted closer to him on the bench and put her hands on his shoulders. "Number 2, you should constantly remind yourself that I will one hundred percent tell you if this guy - or any other guy - suddenly stops being Mr. Rogers and turns into Mr. McFlirty." She cocked her head to the side as she added, "Even though I do have concerns about what you'd do to them and if you'd end up in jail."

Luke smirked. "I'm not violent."

"Not yet," Lorelai replied, smiling at him. She ran her hands over the scruff on his cheeks, letting her thumbs move up and down the course stubble. She looked him in the eyes as she said, "And number three... you need to remember that you are it for me, Luke. You're it, you're everything I need and want in this world. You do know that, right? I feel like sometimes you forget that."

Luke smiled. He did know that, but hearing her say it out loud made him feel good. He leaned in closer and they shared a kiss. As they separated, he whispered, "I know. And that goes both ways."

Lorelai nodded. "I know. So, let's remind each other of that more often."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and they hugged for a few moments. The stress and tension they'd felt just minutes ago faded away as they calmly embraced.

When they separated, Lorelai brought his hand into her lap and squeezed it, and then gently stroked his palm. "So, let's work on you getting to know this dude a little... you don't have to go on a camping trip with the guy, but maybe have a chat at a town meeting or a festival or something."

"Yeah, I will," he replied with a nod.

"And if you get to know him and there's still weirdness, if you still have a little flag going off... then we'll talk about this again. Because I don't want there to be a flag." She squeezed his hand again. "We will do what it takes to get rid of the flags, okay?"

Luke gave her a nod. "Okay." He started affectionately gliding his hand over her leg. "So, can we declare this fight over?"

"Yes, it's over, it's done, we have officially killed the fight," she said, and then she glanced toward the house and then back at him with a sigh. "And yet we have no privacy for makeup sex. This remodel is really causing an issue."

Luke smirked and leaned in to kiss her. "I love you," he whispered against her lips.

"I love you," she murmured before initiating a deeper kiss.

Their kiss was interrupted by an excited scream and the sound of bouncing plastic, and they looked over at Josh. He had thrown his empty bottle onto the porch, and when they looked at him, he held out his arms toward them wanting to get out of his stroller.

"Okay, we get it, you're done being cooped up in there," Lorelai said, reaching down to pick up his bottle. "You're probably still hungry, too."

"Let's go get some food," Luke said, standing up. He lifted Josh from the stroller and they headed into the house.

. . . . .

. . . . .

On Thursday evening, Rory arrived home from her internship and greeted Tom in the front yard as she walked toward the house. She walked inside and found a few construction guys in the living room with Lorelai and Josh.

"I'm home," Rory announced, and there was a chorus of hellos as she opened the baby gate and walked into the living room.

"Just in time for the end of day wrap-up," Lorelai told her, and patted the couch cushion next to her. "Come sit." Rory sat down next to her on the couch, and Lorelai told her, "You just missed the award for most improved profanity usage around the baby."

"Oh, wait, let me guess," Rory said. "Was it Pete?"

Lorelai gasped. "It was Pete, how did you know?"

"He told me he was working extra hard at it, and I had faith in him," Rory said, and she smiled at Pete standing across from her. "Good job, Pete."

Pete proudly gave her a tip of his hat. "Thanks."

"Yes, good job, Pete, keep it up," Lorelai added. "And today's second award is... drumroll please... most calories consumed at lunch!"

"Ooh, it has to be me," Eddie said, excitedly nudging his elbows into both Pete and Joe standing beside him. "I had two subs for lunch."

"Yeah, but I had that chicken pot pie," Benny said from across the room. "That's like a heart attack in a dish."

"Guys, guys, settle down," Lorelai said calmly. "Now, I did not look up actual calorie content to verify everything because I didn't have time for that, so this is based only on my observation of whose lunch looked the unhealthiest."

"Trust me, she has experience with unhealthy foods," Rory added.

"Thank you," Lorelai said. "That being said, the winner of this award today is... drumroll again..." She glanced at the piece of paper in her hand. "Billy, for his lunchtime consumption of... two calzones, garlic bread with cheese, mozzarella sticks, and pizza fries." She looked up from the paper and shook her head in disbelief. "Very impressive meal. I hope he had some antacids for dessert."

Eddie snapped his fingers disappointedly. "Shit, I forgot that he went heavy on the Italian today."

Pete nudged him. "The baby's right there, watch your mouth," he told him, and then he called toward the staircase, "Billy, get down here! You just won an award."

They heard footsteps on the stairs and Billy poked his head through the plastic sheet blocking the staircase. "What did I win?" Billy asked. "Cleanest hard hat again?"

"Nope, a new award," Lorelai replied. "Most calories consumed at lunch."

Billy pumped his fist and excitedly said, "Yes! What are the prize choices?"

"The winners today get to choose one of two fabulous options for tomorrow," Lorelai announced. "You can choose a fresh-baked extra large cinnamon roll from Weston's for breakfast, or a slice of Sookie's homemade strawberry shortcake as an afternoon treat. And yes, you can both choose the same thing if you want."

"Cinnamon roll!" Pete requested. "With extra icing."

"Ooh, strawberry shortcake!" Billy exclaimed, and then lowered his voice to add, "Oops, sorry... got a little excited."

"You got it, guys," Lorelai said, and she stood up from the couch with Josh. "Wrap-up adjourned. See you guys tomorrow."

The guys went to go clean up for the night, and Lorelai and Rory headed to the kitchen with Josh.

Luke was cooking dinner at the stove. "How'd it go?" he asked.

"Very good," Lorelai said. "I have to run out before work tomorrow and get a cinnamon roll from Weston's for Pete, and bring home strawberry shortcake from the inn for Billy."

"Okay," Luke replied.

Rory smiled. "I still think it's hilarious that Luke goes along with this new award program with minimal eye-rolling."

"Hey, it may be a crazy idea, but we went from feeding 15 construction guys twice a day to just handing out 2 or 3 food items a day, so I'll take it," Luke said.

"And it's a fun game for the guys, they like to see what categories I'm gonna come up with and what the rewards are," Lorelai said, and then she glanced back toward the living room to see if any guys were nearby before adding, "Although I think some of them are hoping that one day a reward option is going to be a chance to take home a pair of my underwear or something kinky like that. What are your thoughts on intimate clothing as future reward options, hon?"

"Only if it gets us a discount," Luke replied, not looking up from the chicken he was frying on the stove. "A big discount."

"I'll try to negotiate," Lorelai told him, and she started to put Josh into his high chair. "Let's have some dinner, and afterwards we can show your sister the progress you made with your walking skills today."

Rory's eyes widened. "What? Really? Is he finally walking without holding on to something?"

"No, not exactly. By progress, I mean... he can now stand up for three seconds on his own before he shakily collapses to the floor in a heap," Lorelai said. "So it's progress over his previous record of one second."

"Well, you gotta start somewhere," Rory said, and then patted Josh on the head. "Good job, bro." She walked into her room to put her bag down and took off her shoes. She walked back into the kitchen and got herself a drink from the fridge, and then sat down at the table.

Luke was making mac and cheese to go with dinner, and had set aside a bowl of plain macaroni noodles for Josh. Lorelai was now at the table cutting them in half and putting them on his high chair tray.

"How was my little Lois Lane's day?" Lorelai asked Rory.

"It was good," Rory replied. "I'm helping out on a couple of stories, and we did some interviews today. And a lot of filing, which isn't the most fun task, but I have greatly decreased my average amount of paper cuts per day since the first week."

"Congrats!" Lorelai said enthusiastically. "I'm so proud."

"And I talked to Mark on the phone on the way home," Rory said. "We're gonna see each other this weekend."

"Oh, yeah?" Lorelai replied. "First time in a few weeks, huh?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah, we've been talking pretty much every day, but it'll be good to actually see him."

"So you can get all smoochy-smoochy," Lorelai teased as she mimicked kissing on the back of her hand. "Mwah, mwah."

Rory smiled as she rolled her eyes. "Okay, enough."

"Yes, enough," Luke echoed.

Lorelai stopped with the hand-kissing. "Sorry, it's been a long day," she said. "Is he driving here or are you driving there?"

"We're actually gonna be meeting in Knollwood," Rory replied.

"Oh, cool, a beach day," Lorelai said. "You're gonna be Frankie and Annette?"

Rory nodded. "One of his best friends is this guy Keith, and their families are really close. Every year Keith's parents rent a beach house for a week and they invite Mark's family to stay with them for a few nights."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow as a smile slowly appeared on her lips. "Wait, his family? So, you're gonna be meeting his parents?"

Rory nodded. "And his little sister, and one of his brothers."

"Wow. That's a lot of people to meet all at once," Lorelai said.

"Yeah. I'm a little nervous," Rory admitted.

"It'll be fine," Lorelai assured her.

"Yeah, you're good at talking to people and getting along with 'em," Luke said. "They're gonna love you."

Rory smiled. "Thanks. I hope so. It should be fun. He said we'll probably spend the day at the beach with everyone, and then maybe go off on our own for dinner or ice cream or something."

"Are you staying over or is it just for the day?" Luke asked her.

"I'll drive back here Saturday night," Rory replied. "He's staying over Friday and Saturday nights with his family, but I'm just gonna be there for Saturday."

"It sounds like it'll be fun," Lorelai said encouragingly.

"If you want, I can whip up something for you to bring," Luke offered. "Some lemon bars or cookies or something."

"Oh, yeah, that's a good idea," Lorelai said, patting Rory on the arm. "You should bring your hosts a gift to thank them for their hospitality."

"Okay, yeah, that would be great," Rory said, nodding. "Thanks, Luke."

"I'm a little jealous, I want a beach day." Lorelai looked over at Luke. "We should take Josh there for a day."

"Yeah, maybe, sometime," Luke agreed. There was a knock on the back door and Luke glanced over at it. "Oh, that's Tom," he said. "I told him I wanted to talk to him before he left." He turned off the stove and took the last pieces of chicken out of the pan and put them on a plate. "We'll finish the beach talk later." He gestured toward the food. "This is ready if you wanna start eating."

"We'll wait for you," Lorelai replied, and then waved him toward the door. "Go talk to Tom."

. . . . .

. . . . .

On Sunday morning, when Lorelai woke up, she quietly got out of bed to use the bathroom. On her way back to the bed, she looked out the front window to make sure Rory's car was in the driveway. She had fallen asleep before Rory had gotten home from her day trip to the beach, and Lorelai wanted to make sure she eventually made it home safely.

After confirming her car was outside, Lorelai settled back into the bed next to Luke. He stirred and rolled toward her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. "Hi," he whispered.

Lorelai leaned back against him and relaxed against his body. "Morning," she whispered.

He kissed her shoulder and rested his chin against her arm. "I had a dream about you."

Lorelai smiled. "Oh, yeah?"

"Mmhmm," he said. "We were in a room at the inn."

"Alone?"

"Yeah. During his birthday party."

Lorelai's smile widened and she glanced back at him over her shoulder. "We snuck away from our kid's birthday party for some privacy? Scandalous, even for us."

"Yeah... we were trying to figure out how long we could nap before people started looking for us," Luke told her. "We had pajamas on and everything... weirdly, they were matching and had Santa Clauses on them."

Lorelai giggled. "The undeniably sexy lives of parents trying to get some uninterrupted sleep."

"Yup."

She glanced over at the crib on the other side of Luke to check on Josh, and then rested her head back against her pillow. "He's gonna be up soon."

Luke glanced over at the clock. "Yeah, probably," he agreed. "What do you have planned for today?"

"Well, speaking of his party, I really need to get his invitations out so I can have that task not hanging over me anymore," Lorelai replied. "The inn is already booked, it's time to officially send the invites out."

"Invitations, right, yeah." He paused a moment before casually asking, "So, do I need to help with that, or..."

Lorelai smiled. "No, I got it. I'll see if Rory wants to go to the party store with me and the boy to pick out some party supplies. Josh will have fun looking at all the balloons."

"The kid does love himself some balloons," Luke said.

Lorelai's smile widened. "He does. It's adorable." She stifled a yawn. "What's on your to-do list today?"

"I have to run to the diner for an hour or two," he reminded her. "I wanna do an inventory check and make sure we're caught up on all the supplier bills."

"Okay."

"I guess I could go now since I'm up... get it over with."

Lorelai rested her hand on his arm that was draped over her stomach. "Or you could stay in bed with your wife."

Luke smiled and kissed the side of her neck. "Or I could stay in bed with my wife."

"Good choice."

"Rory made it home last night?"

"Yeah. I didn't hear her come in, though... did you?"

"Nope. We must've been out cold. You think she had a good time?"

"I would think so," Lorelai replied. "I mean, he's really nice, so his family probably is, too." She paused for a moment, thought that over, and then added, "Then again, I guess families don't always share the same personality characteristics."

"Are you referring to the very slight differences in personality between you and your parents?" Luke teased.

Lorelai nudged him with her elbow. "Take back that 'slight' right now."

Luke laughed softly. "Sorry. I meant drastic... drastic differences."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied.

Luke snuggled up closer to her from behind and slipped his hand beneath her pajama shirt to caress her back. "Uh oh, my hand's starting to roam."

Lorelai smiled. "As it usually does."

"You have very limited time to declare some boundaries before it starts exploring a wider range of surface area."

"Hmm," Lorelai hummed, and glanced back at him over her shoulder with a smile. "Let's review the logistics... public bedroom, two kids still asleep but we're 3 feet away from one of them who is dangerously close to waking up... so, I'm thinking..."

"Stay above the waist?"

"Stay above the waist," she agreed.

Luke kissed her softly and moved his hand to her front to caress her stomach. "Yes, ma'am."

. . . . .

. . . . .

A few hours later, Luke had gone to the diner, and Lorelai and Josh were out in the yard when Rory woke up. She stepped out onto the front porch carrying a cup of coffee. She was wearing her slippers and her robe was thrown over her pajamas.

"Morning," Rory said.

Lorelai smiled at her from the lawn. "Good morning, angel."

As Rory sat down on the front steps, Lorelai directed Josh's attention toward Rory. "Look who's up, Joshy. Your sister woke from her peaceful slumber to come play with you."

Josh locked eyes on Rory and started quickly crawling toward her, with Lorelai following close behind. "He's so excited," Lorelai said, smiling.

Rory put her coffee down and reached her arms out toward Josh. He started to crawl up onto the first step before Rory picked him up and hugged him. "Hi, buddy," Rory said to him. "Are you having fun out here? You have a lot of energy, you must've had a good night's sleep."

"Yeah, he did much better last night than the night before," Lorelai said, recalling Friday night when Josh woke up crying several times in the middle of the night. "Ugh, that was not fun." She sat down on the porch next to Rory. "But we went to bed early last night, and he slept through the night."

"That's good." Rory looked down at Josh, who was playing with the pocket on her robe. "Good job, kid."

"I didn't even hear you come in... what time did you get home?"

"It was around 11:30, I think," Rory replied. "I didn't expect to be so late, but they were playing some board games and wanted me to stay and play for a little while."

Lorelai smiled. "That's nice." She patted Rory on the knee. "So, tell me, how was it? Everyone was nice?"

Rory nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, really nice. His parents were great, and his sister and brother are just like him... calm and easygoing, but sarcastic in a friendly way."

Lorelai exhaled a sigh of relief. "Whew. Good. Luke and I were hoping it wasn't one of those situations where he's really cool, but the family isn't. You know, like mine."

Rory smiled. "No. Fortunately, everyone was great. His friend Keith and his parents were nice, too. And they all acted like they were one big family, it was cute. They joke around and laugh a lot. It was fun, and I didn't feel nervous like I had to impress anyone."

Lorelai was smiling, relieved that everything went well. "That's great, honey. I'm glad it was good."

"Thanks." Rory took a sip of her coffee before adding, "Oh, and I hope you don't mind, I invited Mark to Josh's party. Is that okay?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Lorelai replied with a nod. "I was gonna suggest that anyway. Can he make it?"

"He thinks so," Rory replied. "His internship will be over by then, so he'll be helping at his brother's vet clinic. Barring any emergencies there, I think he'll be here."

"Good, good," Lorelai said. Josh started to try to crawl off of Rory's lap, and Lorelai took him from her. "Come here, let's go back to your toys."

Rory picked up her coffee, stood up from the porch steps, and followed Lorelai onto the lawn. "How was your night?" Rory asked.

"It was good. We went over to Sookie's to watch Davey for a few hours," Lorelai said.

"Oh, right, I saw that on the wall calendar. Did the boys have fun playing together?"

"Yup. And since they went out for an early dinner, they weren't out too late, hence us being able to get to bed early."

Rory raised up her coffee mug a little. "Cheers to that."

Josh started crawling away from his toys, and they followed behind him.

"Oh, and we have a little project to work on over the next few weeks," Lorelai told Rory. "Luke got one of those paint color sample books, so we need to start picking out some paint colors."

Rory's eyes widened. "Fun."

"Yup. And Luke said if we want to paint anything down here on the first floor, we should think about that, too. Might as well get it all done at once. Any interest in painting your room?"

"Oh, maybe, yeah," Rory replied excitedly. "Might be nice to spruce it up."

"Yeah, and I was thinking about maybe sprucing up the living room and the foyer."

"So you've got a lot of colors to pick out."

"Yeah, let's see," Lorelai said, and she started ticking them off on her fingers. "Downstairs we have the living room and foyer. Then upstairs we have the hallway, master bedroom, master bathroom, regular bathroom, Josh's room, and the ba-" She abruptly stopped and corrected herself, "... the, uh, new spare room."

"The new spare room," Rory repeated, and then teasingly added, "Sounds like the official name for that room starts with a 'B'... so it's either Babette's room or maybe..." Rory cocked her head to the side. "... a baby's room?"

Lorelai wrinkled her nose. "I didn't mean to say it out loud." She took a deep breath before continuing with, "But Luke and I talked about it recently and we agreed that we want to have another one at some point, so it made sense to put in another room up there."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Rory agreed. "And I kind of figured that's what it was for, even though you kept calling it a spare room."

"Sorry I didn't mention it. Luke felt a little weird last time when people knew we were actively trying to have a kid," Lorelai said. "So I figured I'd keep it on the down low this time."

Rory's eyes widened. "Wait, you're actively trying? You just said at some point... leading me to believe that was a future goal, not something that was currently happening."

Lorelai grimaced. "Oh, shoot, I didn't mean to say that either." She shook her head disappointedly. "Man, I am sucking at this conversation."

Rory smirked. "If you guys are ready for another kid, I think it's cute... and it's totally your business, you don't have to tell me. I'm happy for you guys."

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks."

"And it's probably good to do it before the pressure starts kicking in to get your own inn going," Rory added.

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, that's something in the back of my mind. Not that opening an inn with two small kids instead of one will make it any easier, but I'd rather the baby delay the inn than the inn delay the baby, you know? I'm not getting any younger over here."

Rory smiled. "Yeah, I get it. I think it's great, Mom, really."

"Thanks, kid." Lorelai exhaled a breath. "So, that means we'll be picking a neutral color for that room."

"Right. Well, I'm sure there are a lot of choices that'll work."

Lorelai nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we'll find something." They had been following Josh as he explored the yard, randomly stopping to play with the grass or a dandelion or whatever else looked interesting. But when he stated to crawl toward the garage, Lorelai picked him up to bring him back toward the center of the lawn. "You're gonna hurt your knees if you crawl over there, bud."

He ignored her and promptly started crawling back toward the driveway, and Lorelai scooped him up. "No, Indiana Jones, you can't explore over there yet. Start walking upright on your own, and then you can go on all sorts of crazy adventures around the property."

Lorelai carried him further away from the driveway and sat down on the grass with him near his toys. "Here, come play with me and stay away from the rocky driveway terrain, huh?" She grabbed a large toy dump truck and started putting some of his smaller toy trucks into it. "Look, make a pile of trucks." Josh started following her lead and placing his little trucks into the bigger one.

Rory sat down on the grass with them. "So, I was just thinking... do you think I should invite Mark to Grandma and Grandpa's party, too?"

Lorelai looked at her and cringed a little.

Rory narrowed her eyes. "What was that?"

"Sorry, reflex," Lorelai said, shaking it off. "You really want to expose him to that?"

"Well, I was thinking that Grandma is expecting him to come over sometime anyway, and that it might be more relaxing for him if it's during a party with a ton of people instead of an intimate dinner," Rory explained. "That way the focus won't be on him."

"Yeah, but she won't accept that as a substitute for the dinner," Lorelai warned her. "She'll still expect the intimate dinner."

"Yes, but maybe it'll hold her off for awhile," Rory said with hopefulness. "And then when he does eventually go for dinner, he'll already have an idea of what to expect with them, and the house won't seem so intimidating and everything. I mean, he's met her, and he'll see them both at your party for Josh, but maybe seeing them at one of their own events might give him a better idea of what they're like."

Lorelai thought it over and then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, maybe. It's probably a good idea to walk him around the zoo before directly throwing him to the lions."

"Yeah," Rory said. She took a sip of her coffee, and then gestured to the house. "I should go take a shower."

"You have any plans for today?"

Rory shrugged. "Not really."

"Okay. Well, Luke's doing inventory at the diner for a little while. You wanna take a ride with Josh and I to the party store to check out birthday party supplies, where we will buy him a balloon to distract him from wanting to get out of the cart while we shop, and then we can hit up the nearest Mexican place for some lunch, where we'll probably have to bring in said balloon from the party store because Josh won't be able to part with it and will refuse to leave it in the car?"

Rory smiled. "Yeah, it's a plan. As long as there's a balloon in it for me, too."

Lorelai smiled. "You got it."

. . . . .

. . . . .

The next night, Lorelai and Rory were sitting at a table at the diner working on the invitations for Josh's birthday party. Luke was working late because Caesar took the evening off, and they decided to stop in for dinner and to hang out for awhile. Luke did warn them that if he needed the table for customers, they'd have to clear out.

Gypsy had been eating at the diner at the same time as them. As she was getting ready to leave, she noticed Josh was getting antsy in the high chair, and offered to take him for a walk around town to give them time to finish up the invitations.

"Oh, so, my mom called today," Lorelai said to Rory. "She wanted to see how we felt about coming over for dinner on Sunday. Something about how it might be nice for Dad to see his only daughter and grandchildren on Father's Day."

Rory smiled. "She throws that pre-guilt trip at you every year like you're gonna say no."

"Well, I'm sure this year she figured with it being Luke's first Father's Day, we might actually decline and want to spend it at home," Lorelai said.

"Oh, true," Rory said, nodding in agreement. "What'd you tell her?"

"I told her an early dinner would be good, and that Hartford is such a long drive for the baby to make twice in the same week," Lorelai said with a raised eyebrow. "Especially when he goes through random spouts of crankiness with his teething."

Rory smirked. "So, you got her to trade Friday night dinner for Father's Day dinner like you did for Mother's Day brunch?"

"I did indeed," Lorelai confirmed. "We certainly can't over-visit them, they'll get sick of us. It's for the best interest of all parties involved to really try to maintain the once a week pattern."

"Nice job."

"Thank you."

As they continued working on the invitations, Jess walked into the diner. He was carrying two bags from Doose's, and after the girls had greeted him, Rory asked, "What do you have in there? Anything good?"

"Frozen pizza," he replied.

"And?" Rory prompted him.

"That's it," he replied.

He set the bags on the table. Rory looked inside them and confirmed, "Yup, it's literally two bags of frozen pizza."

"Starting a new frozen pizza diet?" Lorelai asked.

"I just stock up on whatever's on sale at the market," he replied. "This week is frozen pizza. Last week was macaroni and cheese."

Lorelai nodded understandably. "Got it. You know, you can come over to our house for dinner and get some home-cooked meals once in awhile. There's always plenty."

"I tell him that all the time," a voice said, and they turned to see Luke walking up behind them. "Hey," he said to Jess.

"Hi," Jess said, and he shrugged as he added, "I don't mind the cheap food."

"Okay, well, it's a standing offer," Lorelai said.

"How was work?" Luke asked him.

"It was okay," Jess replied, and then he confusedly looked around. "Wait, aren't you missing a kid?"

"Yeah, he's out on a date," Lorelai replied. "He's a ladies' man, that one."

"Gypsy took him for a walk," Luke clarified.

"Oh." Jess gestured to the envelopes. "What's that?"

"Invitations," Rory said. She flipped through a few of them to find his, and handed it to him. "For Josh's birthday party. Be there or be square."

"It's the event of the summer," Lorelai added. "The whole town will be there." She paused a moment before adding, "Well, the ones that made it past Luke's veto list."

"It's on the 24th of July at the inn," Luke told him. "I know you hate parties as much as I do, but try to stop by for at least a little, okay? It means a lot."

"That's over a month away," Jess said as he slipped the invitation into one of his shopping bags. "I'm not gonna remember that. You're gonna have to remind me the day before."

"I will," Luke replied.

"How's the bookstore?" Rory asked. "Anything new and exciting coming out soon that might not be on my radar yet?"

"Please... your radar has a wider range than mine, you're the one that should be telling me what's coming out soon," Jess said, and then replied, "But the store's okay... it's been quiet. Andrew's actually been closing it a little early some nights when it's really slow, which cuts down on my hours."

"Bummer," Rory said.

"If you're interested, we're still looking for some more hands for the event crew at the inn," Lorelai said. "We always have an increase in events during the summer, so we staff extra crew for the season."

Jess glanced warily at Luke before replying to Lorelai, "What does the event crew do?"

"Any time there's an event, we need people to help set up tables and chairs and tents and lighting and sound equipment, and whatever else is needed," Lorelai explained.

"And then at the end of the event, they take it all down and put it all away," Rory added.

"So they don't actually run an event and have to talk to people?" Jess said.

"Nope. It's usually just some heavy lifting and manual labor," Lorelai said. "And a way to make some extra cash in your free time before school starts back up."

Jess looked a little hesitant about it, and he shrugged. "I don't know... maybe."

"Okay, well, just think about it, let me know," Lorelai said. "It would only be a few hours a week, nothing too overwhelming. If you keep losing bookstore hours, this might be a good way to make it up."

Jess nodded. "I'll think about it. Thanks." He picked up his bags and gestured toward the staircase. "Better get these up there."

"Yeah, don't want your pizzas to melt," Luke said, and he nodded toward him. "See you later."

Jess said goodbye and headed toward the stairs as Luke went to check on some customers. Rory glanced outside and saw Gypsy approaching the diner with the stroller.

"Gypsy's back, Mom," Rory said.

Lorelai stood up from her chair and walked outside to greet Gypsy, and smiled when she saw Josh sleeping peacefully in his stroller. "Aw, he looks so cute. How was he?" Lorelai asked.

"He was good. We stopped by the garage, I showed him the inner workings of a car engine, and then we did a few laps around the square and he dozed off," Gypsy told her.

"Well, thanks for the help," Lorelai said sincerely. "He likes hanging out with Aunt Gypsy."

Gypsy smiled timidly at that, and then shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, I don't mind hanging out with him either."

Lorelai patted the handle of the stroller. "Okay, I should get him home. Can you wait out here with him for a minute while I get my stuff?"

"Sure."

Lorelai walked back into the diner and over to Rory. "He's asleep, so I'm gonna take him home," she said, and started gathering her things from the table and tossing them into her tote bag. "Can you find Gypsy's invitation? We'll give it to her now."

"Yeah, I have it right here," Rory said, picking up the one on the top of the stack.

"Hon, we're leaving," Lorelai called to Luke, who was now behind the counter. "Josh fell asleep."

"Okay." Luke walked over to them and then walked with them outside. He thanked Gypsy for helping out, and then he kissed Lorelai goodbye. "I'll see you at home," he said, and then nodded at Rory. "Bye, Rory."

"Bye, Luke," Rory replied.

Rory gave Gypsy her party invitation as they said goodbye to her, and then Lorelai and Rory started walking home with Josh.

"So, back to the Father's Day conversation, we have to get Grandpa a gift," Rory said. "Any ideas?"

"No, you?"

"No. And I still have to get something for Luke, too," Rory said. "Did you get something for him already?"

"Yeah, I got a few things, and I have a couple of other things in mind," Lorelai said. "Some cutesy things, and one manly thing I know he actually wants to make up for the cutesy things."

"What is it?"

"Well, I ran into his friend John last week, and I asked him if there was anything camping-related that Luke has mentioned wanting," Lorelai said. "And he said Luke made a comment about maybe replacing his lantern soon, so John recommended one for me to get."

"Oh, that's good. Something he needs and he'll get some use out of."

"Yeah, and I took it one step further, and I also got a plastic toy lantern to go with it," Lorelai said, grinning. "So it'll be like father/son lanterns."

Rory smiled. "So you turned the one manly thing into a cutesy thing, too?"

Lorelai wrinkled her nose. "Kind of."

"He'll like that," Rory confirmed. "He's a softy." They walked quietly for a few moments, and Rory looked over at Lorelai. "I forget what I did last year for Dad. Did I send him a card?"

"I think so," Lorelai recalled. "And you probably called him to say hi, I'm assuming. I can't remember. This time last year, I was 8 months pregnant and was wondering if I'd ever look good in jeans again."

Rory nodded toward Lorelai's legs, currently hugged by denim. "And you do."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Rory said. "Okay, so, we clearly have some shopping to do."

"Yes, we do," Lorelai agreed. "Maybe tomorrow night after dinner, you and I can run out to the mall and get all of our Father's Day to-do list items checked off."

"Okay."

"And if we happen to feel the need to reward ourselves with ice cream sundaes after we check them off, so be it."

"So be it," Rory repeated, nodding in agreement.

. . . . .

. . . . .

A few days later, late on Thursday morning, Lorelai left the Independence Inn a little early to run a quick errand before heading home. When she got to the house, she maneuvered her way through the construction mess in the front yard and walked through the front door.

As she set her purse and shopping bag on the foyer table, she saw Luke with the baby in his arms pacing the hallway between the kitchen and the living room.

"He's tired," Luke told her. "He's just having trouble getting to sleep."

"Okay. Give me a minute, I'll take him." Lorelai grabbed an outfit from her dresser and changed in the bathroom out of her work clothes. When she was finished, she took the baby from Luke, who was now in the living room. "I'll take him for a walk, we'll get away from the hammering and drilling for a little while."

"Okay. And once he's asleep, it'll give you time to concentrate on your new favorite hobby of looking at paint colors for hours without actually making a decision about any for our house." He cocked his head to the side with a playful smile.

Lorelai smirked. "I will decide on colors eventually, give me time."

"You've had a week and haven't decided on any yet," Luke said. "That's not the best rate of progress."

"Well, the guys aren't anywhere near ready to paint, so I have plenty of time to let the colors speak to me."

"Yeah, but - "

Lorelai cut him off by grabbing his flannel shirt and pulling him into a passionate kiss. She pulled back slightly, letting her lips linger near his as she breathily asked, "But what?"

"Nothing," he replied, and he pressed his lips back to hers, deepening the kiss as his hand began caressing the back of her body.

The side door suddenly opened, and Luke quickly broke the kiss. He embarrassedly stepped back from Lorelai as Billy from the construction crew walked into the room.

"Hey, Lorelai," Billy greeted her, and then he gave Luke a wink. "Luke."

"Hi, Billy," Lorelai greeted him, shifting Josh in her arms. "How's everything going?"

"Pretty good," Billy replied. "Are we gonna have a Saturday Night Fever dance off again today?"

"Yeah, maybe, after Josh's nap," Lorelai replied, and then glanced at Luke, who was looking at her in disbelief. "What?"

"Do you interrupt them while they're trying to work?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"No, it's during their break," she told him.

"Yeah, Luke, it's only during breaks," Billy confirmed. "Lorelai likes us to relax and have fun."

"Yeah, I know," Luke said unenthusiastically. "I just want to make sure there's more work than fun."

"There is," Billy told him, and then he glanced down at the drill in his hand. "Oops, I have to take this upstairs." He nodded toward them. "See you later."

As Billy walked up the stairs, Luke glanced at Lorelai warily. "Try not to interrupt them too much, okay?"

"I don't," Lorelai assured him. "But studies show that workers who enjoy their place of work perform better, so I'm doing this for us. We'll get a better final product if I keep engaging and having fun with the crew."

"Mmhmm," Luke skeptically hummed. He grabbed his wallet and keys from the desk, and Lorelai followed him to the foyer.

He kissed Josh goodbye and then Lorelai. "Bye." Luke turned to leave and bumped into the hall table, knocking her purse and shopping bag to the floor. "Oops, sorry." He reached down to pick them up for her.

Lorelai's eyes widened. "No, don't touch!"

Luke froze with his hand extended toward the floor, and then slowly stood back up. "Geez."

"Sorry, there's a Father's Day gift in the bag," she quickly said. "I don't want you to accidentally see it... it's a surprise."

Luke held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, I'm not touching anything. But you know I hate surprises, right? And gifts? And attention?"

Lorelai smiled. "Just suck it up and let me spoil you a little, okay? I promise I will try to cut back on future Father's Day festivities, but this is your first one... let us have this one."

"Fine," Luke reluctantly agreed.

"Thank you." She leaned in and kissed him again. "Bye."

"Bye." Luke walked out the front door, pulling it shut behind him.

Lorelai picked up her purse and shopping bag, then walked to Rory's bedroom and shut the door. She sat down on the bed with the baby, and dumped the contents of the bag on the bed.

"Okay, whatever happens in the next few minutes, you have to promise to keep it a secret from Daddy, okay? At least for the next few days," Lorelai said to Josh. As Josh obliviously reached for the charm on her necklace, she leaned in and kissed his forehead. "Thank you... I'm glad we're on the same page here."

. . . . .

. . . . .

When Lorelai woke up on Sunday morning, Luke and Josh were both still asleep. She quietly climbed out of bed and retrieved some of Luke's Father's Day gifts from the closet. She set a few on the bedside table, and some near the couch. She put a diaper and onesie on the couch for Josh to change into when he woke up.

She freshened up in the bathroom before heading to the kitchen to make coffee. She was sitting at the table finishing up her first cup when she heard noises in the living room. When she went to check it out, she found Luke lifting Josh from his crib.

"Good morning," Lorelai greeted them softly as she walked over to the crib. "Happy Father's Day."

"Thanks," Luke replied, leaning in to kiss her. "Good morning."

Lorelai kissed Josh on his forehead. "Morning, little boy." They all sat down on the bed, and she asked Luke, "He wasn't crying, was he? I didn't hear him."

"No. I opened my eyes and he was standing up at the side of the crib just staring at me," Luke said, smiling. "Like he was trying to force me awake with his mind."

Lorelai gasped. "Our kid has Jedi mind control powers?"

"Apparently, because it worked," Luke replied. "And then when he saw me wake up, he started hitting the railing all excited."

Lorelai smiled as she ran her hand over Josh's hair. "Aww. He's excited for Father's Day."

"That must be it," Luke said. He glanced toward the kitchen, and then warily asked, "Were you making breakfast?"

Lorelai let out a laugh. "God, no. I wouldn't subject you to that on your special day."

Luke smirked. "Okay, just checking."

"I'd be more than happy to peel you a banana or pour a bowl of cereal," Lorelai offered. "Or toast... I make a mean piece of toast... I can even throw some butter on it for ya if you want."

"Nah, it's okay... I can cook us something," Luke replied. "I like cooking. I don't mind doing it today."

"Consider that one of your gifts, then... allowing you the opportunity to partake in an activity you love," Lorelai said. "You're welcome."

"Appreciate it."

Lorelai stood up from the bed and took Josh from him. "I'm gonna change him, and then we're gonna give you one of your presents." She wagged a finger at him. "Stay right here."

Luke playfully saluted her. "Will do." He put his hands behind his head and leaned back against his pillow.

She brought Josh over to the couch to change him into the diaper and onesie she'd put out earlier.

While she was changing him, Lorelai glanced over at Luke. "Are you relaxing? I want you to relax today."

"I'm lying in bed in my boxer shorts, how much more relaxed can I get?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Well, you could be naked."

Luke rolled his eyes, but was smirking amusedly as he nodded toward the kitchen. "Yeah, we're not getting to that level of relaxation when Rory's home, so forget it."

"All right, fine." Lorelai snapped on Josh's onesie and picked him up from the couch. She walked back over to Luke and sat on the bed with him. "Okay, ready for your present?"

"Yup."

Lorelai held out the baby toward him. "Here."

Luke sat up in the bed and took Josh from her, expecting that she was going to go retrieve a present for him to open. When she stayed on the bed staring at him, he confusedly asked, "Where's the present?"

"You're holding it," Lorelai said.

Luke looked at Josh, and then back at Lorelai. "Is this some sort of metaphorical thing, like you're pointing out that he's the neverending gift you've given me?"

Lorelai smirked. "No. Read him." A quick trip to the fabric store for iron-on letters had allowed Lorelai to transform one of Josh's plain onesies into one with a special message.

Luke looked down at the letters on the baby's chest that he hadn't noticed until she pointed them out. He read the words to himself, and then looked at Lorelai with wide eyes. He looked back down at the baby to reread the words.

"Big brother in training," he read aloud, and then looked at Lorelai. "In training... so that means... "

"It means that right now at this very minute, he's in training," she confirmed. "Because he will soon be an actual big brother."

Luke's lips slowly curved into a smile. "So... you're pregnant?"

Lorelai gave him a little nod. "Yeah."

His smile widened. "Wow. When did you find out?"

"I had my suspicions, so I took a test on Thursday and confirmed them." She shook her head slightly. "It was so hard not to tell you, but I thought it would be cute to save the surprise for today." She nodded toward Josh, who had found the TV remote in the bed and was playing with it. "He's the only one who knew, and he's good at keeping secrets because of the whole no-talking thing."

Luke smiled and shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. I'm... this is... I mean... I'm still in shock," he stammered, and then he added, "A good shock, though."

Lorelai smiled. "Good."

Luke thought for a moment about the date and the timing. "So... it'll be due when?" he asked. "I guess we need a doctor to tell us that, right?"

"Well, I did the math based on my cycle and all that, and I'm pretty sure we conceived around Memorial Day," Lorelai told him, and then raised an eyebrow. "Remember that night Rory stayed over at my parents' house?"

Luke smiled - he recalled the night before Memorial Day very clearly. After they'd put Josh to bed, they decided to quietly take advantage of the otherwise empty house. Their romantic evening began on the bed before they decided to better distance themselves from the crib.

"The night that ended with us on a makeshift bed of blankets by the fireplace," Luke replied.

"And pillows," Lorelai added. "Don't forget the pillows."

Luke nodded, smiling. "Right, and pillows." He reached over and squeezed her knee. "That was a good night."

Lorelai smiled. "It was a good night. And I think that was probably the night you shot and scored, so my guess is that this kid'll probably be due in February." She rubbed her hands together excitedly. "A winter baby this time! Think of all the winter-themed birthday parties I'll get to throw!"

Luke smiled. "It's your dream come true."

"I know, it'll be so fun." Lorelai reached over and rubbed Josh's back. "Mommy still loves her summer baby, don't worry." She looked at Luke and let out a little sigh of relief. "I'm glad it's out now. Even keeping that from you for just three days was torture."

"I'm sure it wasn't easy keeping it from Rory, either," Luke said.

"Not at all," Lorelai said, shaking her head. "And it was only last week that I accidentally told her we were trying for another one. Little did I know at the time that the other one was already in there." She glanced toward the kitchen. "I'm fighting the urge to go wake her up right now just to tell her."

"It's not even 7 yet. She'll probably be happier about the news with a little more sleep in her," Luke pointed out.

"Good point. I'll try to hold off." Lorelai glanced at the clock, and then back at Luke. "So, what do you think, give her ten more minutes?"

Luke smirked. "A little longer than that."

"Okay, fine." Lorelai reached for his hand. "Is the shock wearing off yet? How do you feel? It's still a good shock, right?"

Luke nodded. "Definitely." He leaned toward her and brushed her hair away from her eyes. "I'm really happy," he said softly. "Are you happy?"

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "I'm happy," she whispered, and leaned in to kiss him.

. . . . .

. . . . .

To be continued...