What do you get when you have 2 essays, 2 exams, 1 quiz, 1 discussion, and a whole bunch of textbook reading in one week? One stressed out college student. Sorry guys. I am falling behind in writing because I have so much going on with school, but I will keep posting. I have the story outlined, so I already have the ideas in place; I just have to make the time to write them. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 35: Better Than I Thought

Before they knew it, the beginning of September arrived, and school was about to begin. Though he wasn't sleeping over yet, Luke had begun to spend a lot more time at the Gilmore house hold since the fight, and most of the time, as was the case on this night, he was fixing dinner.

"What do you think, Daddy Luke?"

Putting down the knife he was using, Luke turned around to see Rory strutting into the kitchen, showing off the dress Lorelai sewed for her first day of school. It was a short-sleeved dress with colorful polka dots and a pink bow across the middle.

"I think it looks great, Rory. Does it spin?"

A wide grin took over Rory's face as she spun, less than gracefully, the skirt floating up around her.

Walking into the kitchen, Lorelai noticed her off balance daughter, and reached out to catch her, keeping her from falling. "Woah there, kid! What are you doing?"

A giggle escaped Rory's lips as she spoke, "Sorry! I was spinning for Daddy Luke!" Turning back to him, she exclaimed happily, "See! It spins really big!"

"Then I approve," Luke answered with a smile. Looking over to the doorway, he saw a smirking Lorelai. "What?"

Shaking her head, a small laugh escaped her lips. "Nothing." In her mind, she couldn't get over how much her little girl could affect the grumpiness that Luke usually portrayed. Changing the subject, Lorelai took a deep breath. "Mmmm. It smells amazing in here! What's on the menu for tonight?"

"Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread, per Rory's request."

Lorelai's jaw dropped. "You took Rory's dinner request? The other day you refused to take mine! How is that fair?"

"She was willing to compromise," Luke answered with a smug grin. "Why don't you tell her, Rory?"

"We're also eating salad," Rory added with a grimace. "Daddy Luke said that we couldn't have spaghetti without salad."

If looks could kill, the glare Lorelai shot in return would have ended Luke's life quickly. "I never agreed to anything. I'm not getting anywhere that green heap of grossness."

Knowing she would do anything for food, he countered impishly, "You will if you want to eat. I'm the one cooking here… If you want food, you have to go through me."

"You wouldn't dare withhold dinner from me."

"I would."

Walking over to him with a grin on her face, Lorelai flipped her hair and met him nose to nose. "Fine… I'll eat your health food, but you have to eat ice cream for dessert."

Not giving in to her tactics, Luke countered gruffly, "Not a chance."

"Okay then… I'm not eating. I'll just eat ice cream all by myself for dinner. I've been doing it for years."

"I want ice cream too. I don't want to eat salad," Rory interrupted with a giggle.

A victorious smirk appeared on Lorelai's face, as she answered with a smug tone in her voice. "Well, well, well… It looks like you have officially wasted all of your time cooking." Loosely draping her arms around his neck, she added sweetly, "That is, unless you'll give in and eat the ice cream."

Knowing there was no way he was going to convince them, Luke gave in with a growl, "Fine… You eat the salad; I'll eat the ice cream, but I'm only eating three bites."

Pumping her fist in the air, Rory celebrated with a loud, "Yes," as Lorelai planted a chaste kiss on Luke's lips. "Your grumpiness is no match for my amazing persuasion skills, Burger Boy."

Luke couldn't help the grin that tugged at his lips. "Yeah, yeah. Just go sit down and let me finish cooking."

With a smile still on her face, Lorelai turned back to Rory. Tugging on the dress, she looked at the seams and made sure everything was straight. "Alright Rory, what do you think? Do you like this? Is this what you want to wear on the first day of first grade?"

"Yep! I like it a lot, Mommy!"

"Okay then. Go take it off, so I can finish sewing the seam around the neck. I'm gonna finish it tonight so that can go school supply shopping tomorrow."

"Okay!" Skipping towards the doorway to her room, Rory suddenly stopped. "Mommy, is Daddy Luke coming shopping tomorrow?"

"Uh, I don't think so. He wasn't planning on it. He has to work tomorrow, right, Luke?"

Listening in on the conversation between mother and daughter, Luke added in without turning away from the cutting board, "Yeah, I have Caesar opening, but I have to head in around 11:30 to prepare for lunch rush."

"Can we go in the morning, Mommy, so he can come with us? We can even have a sleepover!"

His breath hitching in his throat, Luke stopped what he was doing and turned around to see Lorelai with a contemplative look on her face. Noticing him looking at her, a slight look of hope appeared on Lorelai's face as she spoke. "It's okay if we don't wait until school starts… Rory seems like she'll be fine with it."

Looking over to see a wide-eyed Rory, Luke answered casually, "Okay, why not?"

Excited by the prospect of another sleepover, Rory exclaimed a loud, "Yay!" Running over to him, she threw her arms around Luke's leg, hugging him tightly. Following closely behind, Lorelai sauntered over, planting a kiss on his cheek and whispering a quiet "thank you" in his ear.

Patting Rory on the shoulder, Lorelai interrupted her embrace with Luke with a laugh. "Alright hon, you might want to go take that dress off before you get something on it. We'll go to the living room when you're done and pick out a movie for the tonight."

A thoughtful look appeared on Rory's face. "Can I read for a little while instead? Mia gave me a book from the inn today!"

"Go for it. I'll come and get you in a little bit when dinner is ready."

As Rory closed the door to her room behind her, Lorelai sat at the table, watching Luke move around the kitchen. If he hadn't been listening hard enough, he wouldn't have heard her say, "We're finally going to do this. You're gonna stay here."

Not knowing whether she wanted him to hear her or not, he remained focused on adding seasonings to the sauce and answered with a quiet, "Yep."

Speaking louder than before, happiness took over Lorelai's voice. "You're really gonna stay here. You're not freaking out; I'm not freaking out…. This is good."

Taking his eyes off of the food, Luke shot her a satisfied grin. "Yeah, it is."

Standing up and walking over to him, Lorelai wrapped her arms around him, splaying her hands across his abs. "You know, you look really good when you cook." Slowly, her hands drifted lower.

Dropping his spoon on the counter, Luke muttered in response. "And you know that if you want dinner, you have to keep your hands to yourself."

Ignoring his words, a chuckle escaped her lips as stuck her hands in his front pockets and leaned against his back. "Oh please, you and your dramatics."

Looking over to make sure Rory's door was closed and seeing it was, Luke turned around and pulled her in for a heated kiss. When they finally broke apart, Lorelai was left gasping for breath. "Dramatics, no… It's self-preservation when you're around."

"Aw, Luke… you think I'm irresistible?"

Placing another quick kiss to her lips, he dropped his down to neck, feeling her quickened pulse beneath them. "I do."

With a satisfied grin, she pulled back and spoke softly, "Good to know… but, really, thank you for staying."

"Glad to be here."

As Lorelai turned away, she started to walk back to the table but stopped. Turning back around, she stared at Luke. Taking steps back to him, she flirted, "Maybe just one more." Placing her hands on the back of his neck, she held his lips to hers. One of his arms found its way around her waist, and his hand began drawing shapes on her lower back as they took their fill of each other. Before things got too carried away, Lorelai removed her lips from his and nuzzled into his neck. "Hey Luke," she spoke with a seductive whisper.

Pulling back hesitantly, Luke ran his thumb along the bottom of her swollen lips, "You know… Don't think I don't realize what you're doing. You still have to eat the salad."

With a sigh and a grin, she spoke, "Damn."

Putting his hands on her his, he turned her around and pointed her towards the table and whispered huskily in her ear, "I'll make it up to you later." Even though he couldn't see her face, he knew she was smiling. Swatting her on the bottom, he brought his voice back to normal level as he ordered, "Now go sit and let me make your food. It's almost ready."

Strolling back to the table, Lorelai sat down and began observing him again. A few minutes later, she had a new idea in mind. If she couldn't flirt her way out of it, maybe she could annoy him. "Luke?"

Without even looking up, he answered, "No."

Caught off guard by his sudden answer, Lorelai quickly questioned, "What?"

Still not taking his focus off of the food, Luke answered, "I said no."

"But you don't even know what I was going to say!"

"When you use that tone, it means you are going to do something I won't like… so no."

"But…"

Shaking his head, he cut her off. "Nope. No whining, no hair flipping, no telling dirty jokes… and stick that bottom lip back in." Noting her silence, he turned around and saw Lorelai with her arms crossed, scowling. Snorting a laugh, he walked over to her and planted a soft kiss on her lips. "I love you, but I'd rather not burn myself because you're distracting me."

A small smile appeared on Lorelai's face as she dramatically rolled her eyes. "Fine… I'll be good."

Patting her leg, he answered, "Good. Now go pull Rory away from those books because I'm about 5 minutes away from being done. I'll make the plates."

Nearing the end of their meal, Rory began nodding tiredly.

Nudging Lorelai with his elbow, Luke nodded his head towards Rory and spoke, "I think someone is about ready for bed."

Nodding in agreement, she spoke up. "Hey, hon? Are you ready to go to bed? You look pretty tired."

Quickly, Rory's head jerked up as she unconvincingly answered, "No! I'm not ready. What about ice cream?"

Luke laughed at the similarity between mother and daughter's way of denial, and whispered nonchalantly to Lorelai. "Like mother like daughter."

Jokingly elbowing his ribs, Lorelai commanded, "Oh hush." Knowing it was nearing Rory's bed time, she pressed, "Are you sure not tired, Rory? Your face just about ended up in what's left on your plate. You can always have some ice cream tomorrow night."

"I'm sure," Rory responded happily, with a yawn, "I don't want to go to sleep yet. Daddy Luke is here."

A small chuckle escaped Luke's lips as he added, "You know I'm going to be here in the morning, right? You convince me to stay and go shopping. Are you going to stay up all night?"

"No…" she answered softly, "I don't want to go to bed yet. Will you read to me?"

"Doesn't your mom normally do that?" Shifting his glance over to Lorelai, Luke waited for her to respond.

He was met with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I don't care if you do it, if that's what she wants."

Gasping with wide-puppy dog eyes, Rory pled, "Please Daddy Luke!?"

"Ooo, she's giving you the "Rory-eyes" … You've got to do it now," Lorelai laughed.

"You think I don't know that?" Standing up, Luke pulled Rory out of her chair and held her. "Alright. Let's go pick out a book." Looking back at a still sitting Lorelai, he questioned, "You coming?"

"You know, I think I might clean up in here… What do you think, Rory? Is that okay with you?"

Rather than responding, Rory nodded with a smile.

"Alright." Walking over to them, Lorelai placed a big kiss on her daughter's cheek and hugged her. "Goodnight sweets. Have fun reading with Daddy Luke."

After receiving a kiss from Lorelai himself, Luke walked over to the room, sitting Rory on her bed and going over to the book shelves. "Okay… which one do you want tonight?"

"The big green one! There's a bunch of stories in there, and Mommy always reads those to me."

Removing the large book from the shelf, he shuffled over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Don't sit down there," Rory spoke up softly while patting the spot next to her, "Mommy always sits up here so I can see the pictures."

Shifting up to the top of the bed, Luke stretched out hesitantly. Lifting his arm to put it around her, Rory leaned into him, resting her head on his chest. With a yawn, she spoke sleepily, "Okay. You can start now."

Opening the book to a random story, Luke cleared his throat uncertainly, realizing he didn't have any experience with reading to kids. "Alright…" Quickly, he scanned the first page, and while reading the names, an idea popped into his head. "In the land of Ginselle, there was a beautiful princess named Rory."

"Hey," Rory spoke up excitedly, "That's my name!" Leaning forward, she read the words on the page. A peculiar look took over her face as she pointed to the paragraph on the page. "That's not Rory… That says Aurora."

"Rory… Aurora. Same thing," Luke shrugged.

Narrowing her eyes at him, she continued unconvinced, "But I'm not a princess."

"I call you princess all the time."

Biting her lip, Rory pondered Luke's answer for a moment. "So, I'm your princess?"

"I think so," Luke answered, plating a kiss to her hair.

A wide grin spanned across her face as she spoke happily, "I like being a princess." Snuggling closer, Rory tapped the page of the book, "Keep going."

With the door open to Rory's room, Lorelai could hear the conversation between Luke and her daughter. Listening to Luke call Rory his princess, she could have sworn that she felt her heart swell. "Having him spend the night is going to be better than I thought."

With Rory asleep, Luke rose from the bed slowly, doing his best not to wake her. Seeing she was still asleep, he tucked her in and planted a light kiss on her forehead before walking out and pulling the door to.

Entering the kitchen, Luke looked up to see Lorelai leaning back against the counter grinning at him. "Is there a reason you are looking at me like that?"

Walking over to him, she draped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, pecking his cheek. "You are the cutest thing."

Rolling his eyes, he answered gruffly, "I'm guessing you've been standing in her listening to me read for the past half hour?"

Shaking her head at his sudden grumpy demeaner, she laughed. "Yep." As she ran her hands across his chest, Lorelai looked up into his eyes. "You know, your whole "Princess Rory" thing was sweet."

Luke couldn't help the slight blush that tinged his cheeks. "Yeah, well…" Clearing his throat, he changed the subject. "So, uh, I should probably go get some clothes and stuff. I didn't come prepared to spend the night and all."

Tangling her fingers through the curls at the base of his neck, Lorelai raised her eyebrows playfully. "You don't have to. I don't mind seeing you walk around in your birthday suit… I don't think Patty or Babette would mind either."

Stepping out of her arms, he moved towards the living room as he groaned and rolled his eyes. "I don't even want to think about that. I don't want any of the crazy women in this town thinking about me like that."

Before he could get too far, Lorelai captured Luke's hand with hers and walked him to the foyer. "Even me," she questioned with a playful glimmer in her eyes, "I hate to break it to you, but I've already seen your goods, so the image is permanently burned into my brain. In fact, I think I'm gonna imagine you right now…"

"Lorelai…"

With her eyes closed, she began to grin. "Not yet… let me enjoy the image of your hot bod a little more."

Grumbling, Luke continued to stomp towards the door. "I'm leaving. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Placing her free hand on his chest, she stopped him. "I'll stop thinking about you naked. From now on, in my imagination, you'll be covered from head to toe. Not one part of your body will be uncovered, even your eyes."

"Uh huh."

As Luke tried to step away again, Lorelai still had a hold of his hand, and she held him back. "Hold on. One more thing… I hear this apartment you're going to is above a diner that serves some pretty good pie. Think you can hook me up?"

"Aren't you just about to have some ice cream?"

"Some ice cream that you're gonna share with me, yes."

Narrowing his eyes at her, Luke responded, "And you expect me to bring pie too?"

Instead of answering, Lorelai merely poked out her bottom lip.

"Fine…Boysenberry or apple?"

Sticking her lip out even further, she whined, "You're gonna make me choose?"

A grin tugged at his lips as Luke shook his head. "I don't even know why I asked." Placing a quick kiss on her lips, he walked out the door. "I'll be back in a little bit."

Closing the door behind him, Lorelai tried to make her way back to the couch but was stopped by the ringing phone. "Who calls at 9 o'clock at night?" Deciding to let the call go to the machine, she sat down and laid back on the arm of the couch to begin scrolling through tv channels. Freezing as soon as she heard the voice, Lorelai's channel progress was halted as the message echoed from the machine.

"Hello Lorelai. It's your father. I apologize for calling so late, but I just wanted to let you know that your mother and I are back from the Vineyard. I would love to have you and Rory over for dinner sometime soon, and you can feel free to bring Luke along with you. You can call me back at either the house phone or my office phone, whichever you prefer. Have a goodnight, Lorelai."

"Ughhhh," Lorelai groaned, throwing her arm over her face, "I was having such a good night!"

When Luke arrived back at the house 20 minutes later, he found Lorelai in the same position, with her arm slung over her face. Chuckling at the lack of ice cream on the table, Luke teased, "I thought you would have finished half the carton by now, not the whole carton." Realizing her frustration as he sat on the couch, Luke began to question with concern, "Lorelai, what happened? What's wrong?"

"I didn't even make it to the freezer to get the ice cream. Go click the button on the answering machine."

Confused, Luke walked over and pressed the replay button, his eyes going with realization as Richard Gilmore's voice filled the room. "Oh."

Griping, Lorelai rolled to lay flat on the couch. "Yeah "oh" … I haven't even thought about dinner with them with all that has been going on for the past few weeks."

Moving to her side, Luke dropped the pie in his hands on to the coffee table. Lifting Lorelai's head, he sat down, resting her head in his lap and running his fingers through her curls.

"Mmmm. That feels nice."

Knowing she was probably waiting on him to start the actual conversation, Luke prodded, "So, what do you think you're going to do?"

Sighing, Lorelai tried not to stress by focusing on the feeling of her boyfriend's fingers running through her hair. "I don't know. I want to spend more time with Dad, and Rory really seemed to like him… I just get a bad feeling about what my mother is going to do. I can't help but think that she's gonna try something or, at least, say something."

"Okay…" Luke answered calmly, allowing Lorelai to think this out herself and living up to his promise of keeping his input out.

"I mean, Emily has never liked my life choices, and she never will. If she would just disapprove quietly, I could live with it, but she doesn't. she always has something to say, and that's what pisses me off more than anything. Instead of acting as if she had the slightest amount of love for me, she acts like I'm the most reviling thing on this earth!"

Noticing that she was getting worked up, Luke reached down to take one of her hands in his and brought it to his lips. "You're not reviling."

"Thank you…" she smiled kindly. Taking a calming breath, Lorelai continued, "Babe, if it was just me, I'd say no. My mother has obviously proven she doesn't want me around… but I have Rory. That's what makes this so hard. I want her to have family. It has been just me and her for her whole life so far… I mean, we have you, and for that I am thankful." Taking a breath, she paused and kissed his hand in return. "But I still want her to have some blood family, you know… and I see so much of my dad in her that I want her to get to know him."

"So you're going?"

Sighing, Lorelai spoke softly. "I guess so… Probably… Do you want to go with me?"

"Nope. Not at all."

Gaping at him, Lorelai laughed at his blunt answer. "Wow, tell me how you really feel."

With a shrug, Luke continued, "Well, you asked if I wanted to go. I don't want to go, but if you want me to, then I will."

"I do want you to go."

"Then I'm going."

"Thank you," Lorelai smiled. Getting up from the couch, she pulled Luke up with her and planted a sweet kiss on his lips. Walking hand in hand, they made it upstairs and into the bedroom.

"So we're really gonna do this? We're really going to have dinner with your parents? You aren't going to change your mind last second?"

Taking a deep breath, Lorelai wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against his chest. "Yeah, we are really going to do this… and hopefully it won't come back to bite me in the ass."

Rubbing small circles on her lower back, Luke reassured, "And if it does, you'll be okay. You've got Rory, and you've got me. All in."

Smiling up at him, she answered lightly, "That's all I need," and brought his lips down to hers in a love filled kiss. "I know in the kitchen earlier I teased and made plans for tonight, but I am drained. Would you be mad if I said I was only good for some hardcore cuddling?"

Planting a kiss to her temple, Luke answered, "I'm good for whatever you want."

A soft, satisfied sigh escaped her lips. "Now I'm really glad you're here."

"Me too."

"Come on, let's get all warm and snuggly. You've got a big day ahead of you… Tomorrow, you get to see the wonders of Rory Gilmore's school supply shopping."

Scoffing, Luke countered, "It can't be that bad. She's going into the first grade… Just get a pack of crayons and some paper and you're done."

Looking at him with a knowing grin, Lorelai laughed. "Okay… you can think that, but don't say I didn't warn you."