Luke, You are My Father

by WizMonCruWil

I have always loved Luke and Rory's relationship, so I wanted to map out their father-daughter moments across the series. For vignettes that reflect actual episodes, some might contain accurate dialogue, some might not. I had to do a lot of sleuthing on YouTube to find these scenes, and learn what episode number they were. Please, enjoy!

4. 3x17: That Awkward Hug Though

3x17 That Awkward Hug Though

It was a beautiful morning in Luke's Diner. Lorelai and Rory were seated at one of their usual tables, stacks of books and papers surrounding them.

"OK, that's…. looks like Harvard definitely has the smallest class sizes!"

"OK, good, we've got our first entry here. It's a Pro for Harvard!" Rory dutifully went to fill out the Pro/Con lists she and her mom had made for her top three school choices.

"Whoa, whoa! Those are not the final, official Pro/Con lists!" Lorelai stopped her.

"Why? What's wrong with them?"

"The lines are crooked, the printing's all sloppy! Harvard, Princeton and Yale cannot see them looking like that!"

"They're not going to see our Pro/Con lists!"

"Oh, ho! What if they subpoena them?" Lorelai cracked.

"Then I'll roll them up in a ball and eat 'em!" Rory deadpanned.

"Oh! A big Pro for Yale! They have 1,100 members of the maintenance staff – clean, clean, clean!"

"All three of these places probably have the same number," Rory pointed out.

"But Yale must be crowing about it for some reason. Princeton may only have 2."

"2? You think there's only 2 guys cleaning all of Princeton?"

"Write Princeton Stinking Filthy in big letters!"

"Yeah, I'm pretending to write it as we speak…."

Just then, Kirk interrupted the girls when he tried to get them hooked into one of his latest entrepreneurial endeavors. He kept blabbering on about Humorous Topical Headlines printed daily, which resulted in a shirt referencing Babette and a bowl of oatmeal. The girls were only saved by Luke.

"No solicitors, Kirk."

"How about I cut you in for a piece of the action?" Kirk tried to bargain.

"How about I toss those shirts out the door first so you can have something to land on?" Luke called his bluff. Kirk moved away.

Luke peered over Rory's shoulder. "What's with the lists?"

"You ready? My Rory. Our Rory. Stars Hollow's Rory got into Harvard, Princeton and Yale!" Lorelai bragged.

"Wow! Wow! I can't believe it! I feel like I….." Then, Luke did something he had never done before. He awkwardly put his arms around Rory – well, really around her head – in what must have been an attempt at a congratulatory hug.

"Oh….. OK….." Rory rolled with it, giggling.

"I'm not….. good at hugging," Luke tried to brush it off.

"That's OK, I thought it worked," Rory accommodated understandingly.

"Thanks."