Author's note: In the original series, Rory's first kiss with Dean takes place after her 16th birthday. For the sake of this story, and because the timeline is changed anyhow, it happened before Rory's birthday.

Chapter 3: The Great Time Warp

Time travel, Lorelai decided, was the hardest thing to deal with ever. Forget pregnancy and giving birth. That was straightforward, and there were good drugs. No, time traveling was like walking into an dynamite-ladened minefield and hoping that you just didn't just accidentally explode your own future in the process.

Thanks to her talk with Patty, she knew the one thing she wanted to change. But as her day had gone on, she found herself wanting to clamp her mouth shut every time it opened.

There were things that the original past Lorelai would have known at the time that had long since fled her own short-term memory. Hours after the talk with Patty, Rory had come home from school late. It had taken near panic for Lorelai to remember that there had been a Franklin meeting.

Then as they ate dinner, Lorelai very nearly asked about Dean.

"So how's …," she had started to ask, but a crucial part of her memories suddenly flew back to the forefront of her mind in the nick of time. "Lane?" she managed to finish before completely shooting herself in the foot.

It was the week before Rory's 16th birthday, which mean technically Lorelai didn't know about Dean. Well, she did know about Dean, but Rory thought she didn't. What if mentioning Dean too soon changed everything? What if she couldn't reunite Luke and April because she flubbed?

Then there was her own schoolwork. Lorelai spent a good hour trying to remember where she was at in her college education. She nearly asked Rory for help, but that would have tipped her off in a huge way. She settled for poring through her Filofax, scribbling down notes and reminders to help her navigate through her new-old life, and hoped she could wing her way through the next class enough to play catchup.

It was strange to go to bed in her room in the pre-renovation days, but at the same time it was immensely comforting. She had shared that version of her room with only one man, and this time she was going to keep it that way. Maybe. Who knew? It always bothered Lorelai on some level that she was sharing the sanctuary she and Luke had created for themselves with Chris, and in the months after the engagement ended, she had changed a few things around. But she never quite shook off the feeling that she was sleeping in her room with the wrong man.

Her old room felt right in every way. It was comfortably cluttered, and the quilt made of Rory's baby clothes had its place of pride on the bed. Luke had loved the quilt as well, especially once she told him the history behind it. But it had started to grow fragile by the time they were engaged, so he had found her an antique quilt rack and left it at the foot of the bed so the quilt could hang there.

On Day 3 of The Great Time Warp, as she dubbed it, the eerie deja vu wasn't going away. It felt like it was getting worse. Every step she took through the Independence Inn, she kept remembering the fire and the guilt. Everyone had said it was an accident, but even two years into the Dragonfly's operation, she felt like it was her fault. The Dragonfly Inn, the best thing she had ever done other than having Rory, was still a ramshackle abandoned building owned by Fran. It would be another two and a half years before Fran would die and she and Sookie would scrape together everything they had to open it.

Unable to handle the memories, Lorelai went to the diner. Big mistake. If the memories had been bad at the inn, they were six times worse at Luke's. She stared at him like a plate of cupcakes had been placed before her, except for the cruel fact that a wall of plexiglass surrounded them. Part of her expected him to turn on her, to yell at her for what she had done with Chris and to get the hell out of his life permanently.

Then Liz had walked in and what remained of Lorelai's world completely tumbled off its axis and landed somewhere out by Pluto.

Oh yeah, Pluto was still a planet.

Lorelai vowed then and there never to watch another performance of Rocky Horror Picture Show. There was no way she was doing the time warp again.

Her brain had shut down in self-preservation by the time Liz had ushered her up the stairs and into Luke's apartment. She jolted at the appearance. Pre-renovation for him. Pre-Jess. Back when he still had his old queen-sized bed, which had accidentally been destroyed during the renovations to the apartment when Rory was a junior at Chilton. Most of it was comfortably the same, and Lorelai found herself sitting on the couch clutching her coffee mug. She did her very best to ignore the fact that she and Luke had done just about every sex act imaginable on most of the furniture in the place. The couch, especially, had been home to quite a few memorable moments.

Liz plopped into the chair and studied Lorelai for a moment as she collected herself.

"I take it you forgot our kids were having pizza tonight," she said.

"Um," came Lorelai's very eloquent reply.

Liz smirked. "They're not going out for pizza. I was just testing ya." She leaned forward. "You're not supposed to know me right now, are you?"

"I don't suppose you'll accept the fact I've been hit in the head with a cartoon anvil, will you?"

Liz's smirk gentled into an all-knowing smile. "You've been through the stones."

Lorelai nearly dropped her mug.

Liz laughed. "It's OK, that's how I felt at first. Except when I went back, I also went back to a time when Jess was still in diapers. I wasn't looking forward to potty training him again. I admit, this time around, I guilted Luke into taking on the bulk of that one."

"Luke … potty trained … Jess?" Now her mind really was broken.

Liz smirked. "Oh yeah."

"I have so many questions." Lorelai worried her lip, then stepped off the cliff in a way that would make Wile E. Coyote proud. "Am I allowed to ask them?"

Liz waved a hand. "Sure."

"This won't mess anything with the space-time continuum thingy?"

Liz laughed. "Do you know the thing you want to change?"

With absolute cold, for once unwavering certainty. "Yes."

"Then we're good. Besides, we're establishing a base here. Maybe I should tell you where I came from first." Liz frowned. "Things between me and Jess had been rough for years, and he'd come to Stars Hollow for a time. Eventually he left here, but then he came back. So did I, for my 20th high school reunion."

Lorelai froze, heart hammering. Something in her face must have shown, because Liz winged an eyebrow. "Our timelines overlap here, didn't they?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, they did."

"Well, I went for a walk. I was feeling a bit melancholy. I was interested in this guy, T.J., but I wasn't sure if he liked me back, y'know? And then there was Jess, and I just wanted it to be different for us. So, I went for a walk, found the stones. Thought they were pretty, but felt this pull, like I was meant to go through them. And I did. I walked back to Stars Hollow … and it was completely different. Well, not that much different because it was Stars Hollow, but still different."

"Yeah, I get that." That first walk back after she emerged from the stones felt like she'd been strolling through a documentary set not-so-far in the past, which may or may not be directed by Ken Burns. Stars Hollow should be Ken Burns-worthy.

"And there was my dad, sweeping the front stoop. I saw my dad, Lorelai, and I started crying. He took me inside, and it wasn't the diner. It was the hardware store. And there was Luke at the counter with Jess, who was just a couple years old. I cried and I cried and Dad asked me what was wrong, but I wasn't able to tell him. I think he knew. I don't know how he knew, but he did. He told Luke to watch Jess and took me to see Miss Patty. Patty told me everything, and now I'm telling you."

"Does Luke know?"

Liz shook her head. "Nah. I think he suspected something weird was going on, but he never asked. Jess doesn't know either. He doesn't even remember when we lived in New York. I remember, because we had come back from the city right after Jimmy left us to get back on our feet. We came back right around the time you and Rory moved here."

Wow. "So in this timeline, I've known you since 1986?"

"Yeah. I got a job working at the inn for awhile, until my dad got too sick to take care of himself. I had to quit to take care of him, because Luke was working nearly 24-7 to make sure we didn't lose the hardware store. Take it that's different," Liz said at the surprise in Lorelai's eyes.

"I've only known you a couple of years in my timeline, in 2006. Luke and I didn't really meet until I moved into my house. I couldn't afford much until then. But that was in 1996. How are we …"

Liz cut her off. "You two dated?"

Lorelai absently danced her fingers over the spot where his ring once rested. "We were engaged."

Liz grinned. "Not surprised. When I came from, you two were dancing around each other like fireflies around a bug zapper. I always felt it was a matter of time. I had a feeling about you then. I still have a feeling about the two of you." She leaned forward to lay a hand on Lorelai's knee. "You came back for him, didn't you?"

She nodded. "Luke has a daughter."

Liz blinked twice, then again. "Wow."

"Yeah. Wow." Lorelai decided it was better not to elaborate on the circumstances about how she found out about April in the first place. That still stung. She told Liz the rest, how Anna had April and decided not to tell Luke until April went on a quest to find out for herself. "And that's what I want to change. What I need to change. I can't hide something like this from him. But I can't tell him either. He'll think I'm crazy, or that I've watched too many movies, or he'll think he's being manipulated."

"I love my brother. But he can be an idiot," Liz said with all the sisterly wisdom in the world. "So, how're you going to drop a 7-year-old in his lap?"

That was a very good question. A-plus, would get you the best grade in class if only Lorelai could figure out the answer.

The first step, she decided, was to get the lay of the land. She left cash for her bill with Liz and slipped out the back door, not wanting to see the concern in anyone's eyes — especially Luke's. Her resolve around him was dangerously close to the breaking point already, which was not good considering he had no clue how she felt about him. Besides, her role in the past wasn't to try to hook up earlier with him. It was to reunite him with his daughter.

Lorelai headed into Woodbridge, searching in the area of town where she remembered Anna's store being. And there it was, sitting just off the edge of the square. And out front …

Her throat closed.

There she was.

April Nardini had set up a lemonade stand outside the store, eagerly chatting to townsfolk the way Rory would have at the same age. At first glance, she didn't resemble her birth father at all. But once you knew what to look for, you could see Luke in April. It was the way she tilted her head, the stubborn look she got from time to time, the shape of her eyes. Here she was, so much smaller now. Just a little girl who had no idea that she had a father just miles down the road who would love her the instant he found out about her.

Rage toward Anna bubbled, and not for the first time. Lorelai could never understand why Anna refused to tell Luke about April. Sure, he had griped about kids in the past, but he adored Rory and Lane, taking both girls under his wing. He'd been a decent guardian to Jess in the other timeline and seemed to have an extremely active role in his life in this one.

One thing had remained constant between the timelines: Luke had no idea he had a daughter. April had no idea of the man her father was. That was going to change.

But not this second.

Reluctantly, Lorelai turned back toward Stars Hollow, an idea starting to form. She needed to get Luke and April in the same place and get him to connect the dots. It would take a few days to get everything situated, but if luck was on her side, she could have Luke and April together no later than Thanksgiving. Satisfied, Lorelai drove back to the inn to do a quick inventory of furniture that needed replacing.

By the time Rory got home from seeing Lane after school, Lorelai's plan was fully formed. She set it into motion by cheerfully telling Rory all about the furniture she planned to update at the Independence Inn, and how she found this darling store in Woodbridge. Of course, it was all too big for the Jeep, but surely some convenient diner owner with a truck could help her out.

Rory absently poked her chopsticks in her carton of takeout Chinese. At least they thought it was Chinese this week. Al was experimenting with fusion cuisine again. It lent a surprise effect to their meals. "Mom?"

"Yeah, sweets?"

"I thought you were interested in Mr. Medina. You were saying how long it's been, how all the necessary parts were dried up from disuse, and you were looking forward to going on a date."

Lorelai nearly dropped what she thought was dim sum. Or perhaps it was chicken parmesan. Max. She had forgotten about him other than to briefly dismiss him, or any other man she had dated, as a romantic possibility. Her heart and her mind wanted Luke. It was always supposed to be Luke, and every relationship she stumbled through had been toward the one she had with him - until they managed to spectacularly ruin it.

But you may not get another chance with him anyhow, her brain reminded her.

Brains were garbage.

Despite the immense Jenga-style odds against her, she couldn't seem to muster interest in Max. Who could blame Rory? While Lorelai's relationship with Max had been years in the past for her, for her daughter it was happening right now. If Lorelai had her dates correct, Rory was right. She literally had just gushed about how attracted she was to Max, how their first date had been aborted because of Babette's cat's funeral.

She had also promised Rory not to keep any secrets from her ever again. Well, fudge.

As far as Lorelai could tell, she had never gotten to that aborted first date. Her time warp happened at just the right time as far as that was concerned.

"I changed my mind," she explained. "It happens. I know it had been a long time since I felt any sort of interest, but I thought it over in the past few days and decided I'm really not comfortable dating your teacher." There. It was even the truth. Some aspect of that had always bothered Lorelai. "He's not causing any issues with you, is he?"

"Oh, no, no. I'm just making sure." Rory didn't bother to hide her relief, and Lorelai felt a twinge of guilt at the awkwardness that she had made her go through in the other timeline after she broke off the engagement with Max. At least this time, hopefully, she would avoid that. "You won't change your mind back, right?"

"Doubt it, kid." Nope, her heart was firmly attached to a clueless guy who could give Paul Bunyan a run for Flannel King of the Year. It was probably not a good time to let Rory know that. She caught herself about to ask about Dean again, then decided to test her new-found knowledge from Liz. "How's Jess?"

"He's good. I keep telling him that Dean Forester's not interested in him, but he'll learn the hard way." Rory lifted something green out of her takeout box with her chopsticks. "What sort of vegetable is this?"

Lorelai choked on a bite of dim sum chicken parmesan. She lunged for her water and gulped. "Jess is gay?"

Rory glanced over, and she redirected the baffled expression she had for the vegetable at Lorelai herself. "You and his mom were the ones who insisted on throwing him a coming out party, remember?" She set her food on the table. "Mom, are you sick? You're forgetting so many things the past couple of days."

"No. No, I'm fine." Lorelai took another swallow of water.

Rory stared. Hard. She had that look in her eye, the one that meant she was trying to puzzle out the great mysteries of the universe. She did it every time she was confronted with a challenge: from speaking her first words, to reading her first book, to picking out a bra for the first time, to conjugating Latin verbs. Now all that focus was on the mystery of her mother. Lorelai hastily shoved another bite of food in her mouth and remembered advice she had gotten a long time ago: never let your kid see you sweat.

"Who was my third grade teacher?" Rory asked.

Whew. Easy. Lorelai relaxed. "Mrs. Henry."

"No, it was Mrs. O'Conner."

What? Lorelai felt her stomach pitch and quickly abandoned her own dinner before it decided to revisit both of them in a violent manner.

"What was my first word?"

"Book." It was out of her mouth before Lorelai could think of it.

Rory narrowed her eyes. "OK, that one was easy. Tell me about the first time we met Luke, Liz, and Jess."

That piece of vital information Liz hadn't relayed to her. Well, that and Jess being gay. Lorelai was damn well willing to bet her new origin story with the Danes family didn't involve horoscopes or delinquencies or multiple husbands on Liz's part. "It was a long time ago, sweets. It was after Liz and Jess moved back from New York."

"Uh huh," Rory said with great disbelief.

"Oh, I remember when you met Lane!" OK, she was totally bluffing now, but surely things hadn't changed that much other than Luke, Liz, and Jess playing a much bigger role in their lives for the past 14 years.

"I didn't ask about Lane." Rory's annoyance was now palatable, but it was something Lorelai had grown used to in the other timeline. They had clashed a lot more as Rory had gotten older, especially after she slept with Dean then began dating Logan. Their epic half-year split was still a painfully fresh memory. "When did you come from?"

"1968." Lorelai started to gather the leftovers together to chuck into the refrigerator. She wondered if Rory could hear her heart slamming against her chest. Maybe she would keel over from a heart attack. That would effectively put an end to the discussion. It would also most likely put an end to her coffee consumption, so …

"When did you come from?" Rory's suspicion was a living being now, a nightmare monster haunting the kitchen. She pointed to Lorelai's left hand. "Mom, your ring finger looks like there was a ring on it not too far in the distant past."

Shit, shit, shit. This was going from bad to worst faster than Speed 2 had run off the rails. "All right, bedtime! It's 7:06, and I'm exhausted." Lorelai leaped to her feet, every instinct telling her to run, find a distraction, make sure Rory didn't connect the dots.

"Mom! There's a purse in your room I'd never seen before with books that were published five years in the future. You're acting funny, and I know Liz and Miss Patty know whatever it is." Rory shoved her chair back as well. "You just promised me that you would never keep secrets from me again, and you're already breaking it!"

"Oh, yeah? What about you kissing Dean and stealing cornstarch?" Lorelai very nearly slapped her hand over her mouth.

Rory's jaw dropped. "You're not supposed to know about that! And I went back and paid for it!"

"You're not supposed to know about this!"

"Then answer my question! When did you come from?" Rory's eyes shimmered with tears. "I thought you were my best friend!" she yelled, then ran for her room.

Lorelai flinched as the door slammed behind Rory. Nausea churned in her gut as she stared down the short hall. She had vowed to herself after their massive fight in the other timeline that she would never do anything like that with Rory ever again. The sheer fact she leaped back in time could be a wedge that could drive her and her daughter apart.

Because Rory would not stop unless she knew the truth.