Disclaimer in first chapter.

Sorry for the wait. I'm trying to switch internet providers and it is not really working out so I don't have access to the internet like I would like so I update whenever I can actually use the internet.

Hope you enjoy!


"Yeah, alright Mom, I'll see you then," Lorelai said into the receiver before she told her mother goodbye and hung up the phone.

Rory waited for her mother's usual spiel that she usually went on after hanging up the phone with her mother. She expected her to complain about the lunch that she just planned with her mother and to come up with some elaborate excuse as to why they couldn't actually have lunch when the day came. None of that happened though. Instead her mother just placed the phone down on the coffee table and started flipping through the channels once again.

"Huh," Rory mused after several minutes without her mother making any comments, good or bad, about her just ended phone call with her mother.

"What was that huh for?" Lorelai asked, her attention still focused on the TV as she tried to find something to watch.

"Nothing," Rory said with a shake of her head.

Lorelai turned to face her daughter, "That wasn't a nothing huh. That was a loaded huh, like you have something on your mind but you didn't come right out and say it. So, once again, what was that huh for?"

"That huh was for that conversation that you just had with grandma," Rory replied. "You just agreed to have lunch with her with no arguments. You also haven't complained about the lunch with grandma since you hung up the phone. I'm not sure if that has ever happened before."

"Correction, I agreed for both of us to have lunch with her," Lorelai corrected. "That way I'm not going alone. I'll have you there to distract your grandmother in case she decides to dredge up the ways I have disappointed her over the years."

"Still you have a conversation with grandma without making any sarcastic comments and..."

"Hello? Do you even know me?" Lorelai interrupted. "There were definitely sarcastic comments."

"Okay, fine," Rory conceded. "There were sarcastic comments but they weren't biting comments and you didn't even roll your eyes once when you talked to her. It's just..." she faltered, "strange."

"Nothing about my relationship with my mother has ever been normal," Lorelai pointed out.

"I think you might have even laughed on the phone," Rory added in. "And it didn't sound like it was at grandma's expense."

"What's with the third degree? Did you listen to every word I said so you can grill me about my conversation with my mother?" Lorelai inquired, a curious look on her face. "I had a decent conversation with her. I don't see the big deal."

"Sorry," Rory apologized. "But you do have to admit that you actually having a conversation with grandma that doesn't end up with one of you angry over something the other one said is a little weird. You two seem to be getting along."

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "So maybe we are."

"Then I wasn't aware that we have stepped into The Twilight Zone," Rory quipped.

"Fine," Lorelai sighed. "As weird as it is to admit and as much as I hate to admit it because it goes against everything I have ever known, your grandmother and I are getting along at the moment. Certain events recently may have actually allowed us to bond and she may have actually listened to me without being judgmental. Well maybe a little judgmental."

"Really?" Rory questioned, a skeptical look etched on her face. "How and when did that happen?"

Lorelai took a deep breath before she launched into an explanation of just how her relationship with her mother had grown to this point over the past couple of months. How she broke down at the realtor's office when she realized the lengths her mother went through to find a perfect house for her and Luke to begin their life together in. How her mother was the one that she went to after her attempt to talk with Luke crashed and burned. How her mother actually tried to help her with her relationship instead of finding a way to destroy the relationship. How she saw a different side of her mother, one different from the Emily that she knew growing up; an Emily that seemed more motherly and nurturing.

"You should have seen her Rory," Lorelai said as she rounded out her story about her mother, "Standing in the kitchen in her pajamas and bathrobe actually making hot chocolate, not ordering someone to make it for her. It was very domestic."

Rory laughed, "You're acting like you saw Bigfoot or something and not just grandma making hot chocolate."

"It was a very rare sighting," Lorelai added. "Man, I wish I would have taken a picture of that, it could have been our Christmas card."

"Mom you hardly ever send out Christmas cards," Rory reminded her mother. "You usually forget about them."

"Well if I had that picture then I would have definitely sent them out to everyone that I have ever met."

"That would have definitely helped your relationship with grandma." She smiled, "But I do think it's nice that you and her are getting along."

Lorelai turned her attention away from her daughter, "Don't worry, things will all be back to normal soon," she said distractedly. "I'll do something that she disapproves of and she'll let me know, we'll fight and I'll not talk to her for a while, and things will be back to normal in Gilmore Land. It's only a matter of time."

"Mom," Rory said with a sigh, "I'm sure that won't happen."

"Sweetie it's great that you think like that but your grandma and I aren't programmed to get along for a long time," Lorelai replied. "I like that at the moment she's more understanding than normal and that we've had conversations without fighting but it won't last for that long. We'll backtrack soon." She smiled hopelessly, "It's the way the world works."

Lorelai knew that this more understanding and non-fighting relationship with her mother would be short-lived. She never expected the bonding moments with her mother to blossom into a relationship that resembled one similar to her and Rory's but she could say, mainly to herself, that it was nice that she was to not dread any moment that she talked to her mother recently. Of course she already faced the acknowledgment that soon she would say or do something that her mother disagreed with, because that was most of her life, and they would be back to the way they were before. It happened before. It was inevitable.

"Isn't April supposed to come over today?" Rory asked, her attempt to change the subject since her mother had fallen strangely quiet over the past few minutes.

Lorelai nodded her head, "Yeah. In fact Luke should be back with her in a few minutes. He's supposed to go and pick her up so we can all go to the festival tonight."

"Don't understand why the festival is happening tonight," Rory replied.

"Oh not you too," Lorelai said, disbelieving that her daughter wasn't excited about a town festival as they usually both were. "Luke already went on a rant yesterday about Taylor organizing the 4th of July Festival for today."

"But it's not even the Fourth of July, that was almost two weeks ago."

"And it rained on that day and then for a few days afterward, and you know Taylor, he cannot skip a festival for any reason. I, for one, am looking forward to the festival because it will be you, me, Luke, and April all there together," Lorelai said fondly. "We could all gang up on Luke."

Rory laughed, "Why would we do that?"

"I don't know," Lorelai said with a shrug of her shoulders, "We could force feed him cotton candy. Mr. Healthy eating just pure sugar."

"Oh sounds like Mr. Healthy is home," Rory said when she heard the front door open and shut. "You can bring that idea up to him now."

Just a few seconds later, Luke walked into the living room and Lorelai couldn't help but notice that April wasn't with him but in his hand was a manila envelope. He was quiet and stood with his hand on his hips for a few minutes and before Lorelai had a chance to ask him what was going on, he told her that he needed to speak to her alone. Rory excused herself, saying that she was going to swing by the bookstore to see if Andrew had any new deliveries so the adults could have a little alone time.

Lorelai walked into the kitchen, which Luke disappeared into after saying he needed to speak with her, to find him standing by the table staring at the manila envelope that lay on the table.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked, "Where's April?"

Luke blew out a huff of air, "She's not coming today."

"What? Why not? She was supposed to come visit today," Lorelai said. "This is the second time this is happened. She was supposed to come and visit a couple of weeks ago and then didn't."

"I already know that Lorelai," Luke snapped.

"Okay, I don't know why you're yelling at me," Lorelai frowned at his tone. "I had nothing to do with this."

Luke sighed, his hand ran over his face, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

"It's fine," Lorelai quickly dismissed the yelling since it seemed like Luke had something else on his mind. "I don't understand. We had a good time the last time she was here and she always likes to visit you. Why isn't she coming again today?"

"Anna called earlier and said that the plans changed so April wouldn't be coming to Stars Hollow today," Luke replied. "She had plans with her friends or something like that."

"Well maybe she did Luke," Lorelai said, she tried her best to be reassuring. "It's the summer, you said earlier that she already had a lot of plans. Maybe she just forgot about the plans. You know that she really would like to visit with you."

"That's what I thought at first. I was looking forward to her visiting but if she had other things to do I could see that, we could make plans for another day," Luke replied as he started to pace around the kitchen. "I tried to be rational but then Kirk shows up at the diner and gives me this. He got another job serving papers apparently." He made his point when he jabbed his finger onto the envelope that lay on the table.

"What is that?" Lorelai asked.

Luke exhaled, a defeated looked on his face, "Custody papers."

"Custody papers?" Lorelai echoed and Luke nodded in response. She moved to sit down at the table and open up the envelope. "Anna wants sole custody," she noted, her eyes scanned quickly over the pages in her hands.

"That's what I understood from the papers," Luke replied.

"This is insane," Lorelai said with a shake of her head while she continued to read over the papers. "She really wants sole custody. I know she just wants what is best for April but this, trying to get sole custody, is not it. This makes no sense."

"That's what I thought," Luke huffed. "I also thought it was insane that she kept the fact that I had a daughter from me for twelve years. I don't get it."

"I don't either babe," Lorelai said softly.

"Anna said that she wanted to make sure that I was sticking around before other people got involved in her life and then she goes and does something like this. I don't get it," Luke reiterated.

"I know," Lorelai replied at a loss for words.

"This," Luke gestured with his hands to the papers still in Lorelai's hands. "This sole custody thing is crazy. I'm April's parent too, I want to make decisions in her life. I want her to stay with me from time-to-time and Anna is trying take that away from me. April just came into my life and I want to be there for her."

Luke slumped down in a chair next to Lorelai at the table. He sighed in despair as he placed his head in his hands. "I don't know what to do."

Lorelai hated seeing him like this and was starting to despise Anna for making him feel this way. "Luke," she called softly. She reached out for his hand and squeezed it gently which caused him to look up at her. "I can only think of one thing to do at this point."

"What?" Luke asked.

"You have to fight this, fight Anna," Lorelai explained simply. "You want to be there for April, well then you're going to have to fight. You said that you would fight Anna over your rights if you needed to do so and that's what you need to do now."

"What if try to fight Anna and she wins?" Luke questioned. "She is April's mother, she has taken care of her all her life."

"She's not going to win Luke," Lorelai said matter-of-factly as she got out of her chair and moved to stand in front of Luke. "Yeah, she's the only parent that has taken care of April her whole life but no one can blame you for that. For twelve years you never even knew you had a daughter. Since you have known, you have tried to be there for her. You wanted to be there for her."

Luke looked up at Lorelai, "What if they look into my past and find something that deems me unfit to be a parent?" he asked.

Lorelai raised her eyebrow, "What exactly is in your past?"

"Well I don't know," Luke said exasperated, he threw his hands up in the air. "But it could be anything, like the time you had to bail me out of jail after that thing with Nicole and that guy. That could be used against me. Or that marriage in general, it only lasted a few months."

"Okay, one bad example," Lorelai said.

"I'm a hermit," Luke pointed out, "Some people say that. They could find a way to use that against me."

Lorelai laughed lightly, she bent over slightly so she was face-to-face with Luke, "Some could argue that you were a hermit before but you're not so much of a hermit anymore because you have me."

A small smile crossed his face, he wound his arm around her waist as he pulled her down onto his lap, "Well that is true."

Lorelai hooked her arm around his shoulders, "You may have only been married to Nicole for a few months and maybe a few other not completely stellar things in your past but none of that should deem you unfit as a parent. We're talking about April here. You've been a good dad to her." She paused then went on to correct herself, "A great dad to her. You deserve to be in her life, any judge could see that."

"You think I'm a great dad?"

"I know you are a great dad," Lorelai replied confidently. "Since Rory and I met you, you have always been there for her, no matter what was going on between us. You helped take care of her, you were a father figure in her life. You even attended a caterpillar's funeral for her."

"Well she had the Rory face, you know the Rory face," Luke said to which Lorelai nodded. "I almost tried to say no but she pouted and looked like she was about to cry. I couldn't say no to her then. I had to attend."

"See? She already had you wrapped around her precocious eleven-year old finger and you had only known us for a few months then," Lorelai pointed out. "Doing something like attending a funeral for a caterpillar seems like a fatherly quality to me."

"I don't know," Luke said with a shake of his head.

"I'm serious Luke, you were...well you still are a father figure in Rory's life," Lorelai reiterated. "You were there for her when she graduated high school, for her birthdays, you even gave her your mother's pearls Luke. Not just anyone would do that for another person's kid."

"She told you about the necklace?" Luke asked.

"Well of course she did, she tells me everything. It was a very sweet gesture," Lorelai answered. "See doing things like that, being there for someone in that way proves that you are a great dad. You deserve to have that chance with April. Any judge will be able to see that. Anna won't get sole custody, that's crazy. You're a great person babe."

"Yeah?"

"One of the best," Lorelai smiled. "I mean you have your moments where we fight and I want to call you several unpleasant names but I still love you."

"I love you too."

"I don't know why Anna is going through with this since she wants what is best for April and this is the exact opposite of what is best for April but this is happening," Lorelai said. "We may not understand it but we have to deal with this. You don't deserve to be treated like this."

Luke nodded his head, "I guess you're right."

"Well you may just guess but I know that I am right."

"Fine, I know you're right," Luke admitted.

Lorelai grinned, "Oh I love when you say that to me. It sounds so good coming out of your mouth." She hugged herself to him. "We'll handle this together. I can help you find a lawyer so you can contest this custody thing and earn your rights as April's father."

When she pulled away from him slightly, Luke cupped the side of her face and brought her face down to kiss. His lips slid over hers briefly. "Thank you," he whispered.

"Of course," Lorelai smiled. She leaned more into his touch, "Always happy to help you in any way that I can babe. You already know that I'll be right by your side for anything else you may need."


"I can't believe Anna is doing this to Luke," Rory commented as she and her mother walked through the town square later that night, the festival carried on around them. Each had a stick of cotton candy in their hand, occasionally snacking on the sweet treat as Lorelai filled Rory in on her conversation with Luke earlier.

Lorelai nodded her head in agreement with Rory, "I'm right there with you. I don't know how she thinks this would be better for April then the arrangement they had before."

"I wonder if April knows what's going on," Rory pondered.

"I'm not sure. Anna doesn't seem like the type that would tell her daughter something like that," Lorelai replied. "Although April is smart, she might figure out on her own that something is going on."

"This isn't fair to Luke," Rory complained. She took a seat on a bench that sat straight across from the diner where she could see Luke working despite the fact that there were no customers at the time. "He was just getting to know April and then Anna hits him with this, they should at least share custody or something."

"I know sweets," Lorelai agreed as she sat down next to her daughter. "But like I told Luke, the judge will be able to see that Luke deserves to be able to make decisions in his daughter's life since he wasn't afforded that for the first twelve years of her life. Anna won't win this. He's already a great dad to her, he tries so hard."

"He was always there for me," Rory said. "In a way, he's always been a great dad to me. And he makes a great soon-to-be step-dad."

"I'm right there with you again," Lorelai replied. "I feel like she just did this out of spite. She told Luke and me that she didn't want me involved this soon, even though it's not soon at all. Then almost immediately after Luke told her that I would be involved, she gets mad and then sends him these papers."

"This isn't your fault Mom."

"I wasn't trying to say that it was," Lorelai explained. "I was just saying that all of this happened after the first time I actually spent time with April. Luke was completely fine with it, he argued with Anna over it. I expected her to be mad but I didn't really expect this."

"Seems a little extreme."

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "Hmm maybe. Luke's already on it though, he spent most of the day on the phone trying to find a lawyer. He quit for the day though and headed back to the diner, he claimed that most of the lawyers seemed incompetent."

"Really?" Rory asked.

Lorelai nodded her head, "He even said that one of the lawyers was just Kirk in lawyer form."

Rory laughed, "Oh that poor lawyer. Poor Kirk."

"Kirk has Lulu, he'll be fine. I'm glad they found one another," Lorelai commented.

"They are good together."

Lorelai stood up from the bench and gave a nod of her head in the direction of the diner, "I'm going to see if Mr. Monosyllabic Man wants to join us. I know he said no earlier because he didn't feel like being around people today but the fireworks will start soon so maybe I can change his mind."

"Maybe," Rory agreed. "I'm going to see if I can find Lane."

Lorelai and Rory went their separate ways, with Rory exploring the festival for her best friend while Lorelai headed towards the darkened diner. On the way she finished off her cotton candy and threw the stick away. She pushed open the diner door and the bells above jingled and announced her arrival causing Luke to look up in her direction. She smiled at him as she approached the counter where he stood refilling salt and pepper shakers.

"Hey babe," Lorelai greeted. She leaned down onto the counter, "Need any help?"

Luke shook his head, "I've got this. Why are you in here? Why aren't you out there with the rest of the town?"

"Because my handsome man is in here," Lorelai answered. "And I came to see if I can convince him to come out and join me for at least a few minutes."

"Lorelai..."

"Before you say anything else just remember that we had plans that you would come to the festival. I know those plans involved April and she's not here and you're dealing with a lot today but you don't have to come out for a long time just enough for the fireworks," Lorelai replied. "Then we're both free to go home and have our own little firework show."

Even though she knew that she was a terrible winker, she added on a wink at the end of her sentence as well as a flip of her hair and a dazzling smile. She hoped that despite his dampened mood caused by the reality that Anna hit him with earlier that he wouldn't be able to resist and he would agree to come out with her.

"Just give me a few minutes here," Luke conceded. "I'll finish this and then we can go."

"I knew you would see things my way," Lorelai beamed.

After he refilled the salt and pepper shakers and distributed them to the tables, with Lorelai's help for the last part, Luke headed out the door hand-in-hand with Lorelai. Since they forgot their own blanket to spread out onto the grass for a place to sit for the firework show, they met up with Sookie and Jackson who allowed them to share their blanket. Lorelai sat down in front of Luke and leaned back against him as they prepared to watch the fireworks overhead.

"Oh I think someone wants to see her Aunt Lorelai," Sookie commented as she held Martha in her arms who looked up at Lorelai.

Lorelai grinned as she took Martha from Sookie and held her close to her, "Always happy to see this little beauty," she claimed as the young girl snuggled up to her. "She's not scared of the fireworks?"

Sookie shook her head, "No. She's not scared of loud noises. Davey makes enough noise around the house, she can't be scared of loud noises."

"That's good," Lorelai replied. She ran her hand through Martha's hair, "I miss when Rory was this size. So sweet and loved to cuddle. Now she's about to start her last year at Yale."

"At least she doesn't hate you like some mothers and daughters," Sookie added in.

"Nope, we still pretty much like each other." Lorelai titled her head to look back at Luke who had a melancholy expression on his face and she knew the reason for it, "I'm sorry you never got to see April when she was this age."

"I missed out on a lot," Luke observed.

"But no more," Lorelai reassured him. "We'll make sure of that."

"I know."

Lorelai smiled when she noticed that his expression grew more into a smile than before as she continued to cuddle with the baby in her arms, "What? Like what you see?"

Luke nodded his head, "I do. You look good like that."

"For future reference, I'm glad you think so," Lorelai replied with a smile. "We'll get to have our own one day. For now though, I think we should just enjoy the fireworks," she noted when a boom could be heard overhead indicating the start of the fireworks show.

Luke wrapped his arms around Lorelai and pulled her closer to him. He pressed a kiss down on top of her head. "Good idea," he whispered before they both looked up towards the sky just in time to see a few fireworks burst across the sky.


A different approach to the custody battle in which Anna is upset. I know it may seem a tad crazy but the whole April story-line was crazy for the show.

As always, reviews are appreciated!