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Red-faced, Lorelai stopped in her tracks just in the doorway of Luke's apartment that was mainly used as an office now. She had received a call from him just minutes ago asking her to come over so they could discuss something. With they way that she thought he sounded and the mysterious phone call while at work, she thought that he meant he wanted to discuss something. A little dessert after lunchtime, a spoonful of lovin' in the middle of the afternoon.
Which is exactly what she was spouting off about as she entered the apartment, unaware that Luke wasn't alone until she spotted him sitting at the small kitchen table that was still up there with Anna. Embarrassment flooded her when the two pair of eyes locked on her, Luke looked somewhat upset and almost as embarrassed as she felt while Anna glared at her with a less than favorable look on her face. And that was being nice.
"Oh god, okay, that's not..." Lorelai stammered trying to combat the embarrassment she felt while trying to find something to say. She should really gauge the room before she opened her mouth next time. She took a deep breath, planting her feet on the ground as that would give her some leverage. "So I've said a lot of stuff just now and I was just joking but I get it now. Not funny." She tried to play it cool but failed. "So what's going on?"
Luke cleared his throat, not looking at Anna for the moment as she was still glaring at Lorelai. "Um Anna wanted to come by before she dropped April off to go over a few things and I thought you should be here too."
"Although I'm not so sure about that now," Anna added on.
"Lorelai is my fiancée, April is staying with the both of us at our house, she's going to be a part of this, she also needs to here whatever you have to go over," Luke replied firmly, even tapping his finger onto the tabletop to prove his point. He waved Lorelai over. "I want her to be here."
Anna relented when Lorelai walked over to the table and took a seat next to Luke. Lorelai ducked her head, the embarrassment still burning her cheeks. Though some of that was relieved hearing Luke stand up to Anna and make the case about why she should be there and that he wanted her there for this, whatever this was supposed to be. Him wanting her there was definitely a positive sign.
"Right." Anna glanced down at the piece of paper in her hands before sliding it across the table to Luke, "I just wanted to go over April's schedule before I brought her by later. I think I erred on the side of too many details."
"I like details," Luke replied as he started to read silently from the paper. It was filled with various phone numbers, all appropriately labeled with the person it would link Luke to if he were to call. A drawn, makeshift calendar decorated the bottom of the page with activities detailed over the next couple of weeks.
Lorelai gave a nod of her head, "Yeah, details are good." She stopped herself before she started to ramble as she had a tendency to do in situations like this. Instead, she leaned over just enough to get a peek at the paper Luke held in his hands.
"Her swim meet schedule is on there, with practices on some days...it's all detailed there really. You have phone numbers for the pediatrician, dentist, optometrist, orthodontists, some of her friends' parents if you need those," Anna listed off. "Really any numbers you may need are there."
"Do I really need all of this?" Luke asked, he set the paper down on the table. "I mean, it's not like you're going anywhere. You're not that far away, I can call you if anything comes up."
"She'll be your responsibility while she's with you Luke, of course you need all of this," Anna replied. "April is our daughter, if anything were to happen to her I would want you to call me, especially if it's an emergency. But she'll be in your custody, your responsibility."
"Right, right," Luke said with a nod of his head."I've got it, April's going to be fine staying with us. I promise. There's no need to worry."
"Luke's right, there's no need to worry, everything will be fine," Lorelai chimed in though she wasn't sure how well it would go over especially after her little display just moments earlier.
"I'm not worried," Anna stated firmly. Her resolve crumbled with the way both Luke and Lorelai were looking at her, especially Lorelai. She was a single mother too after all. "Okay, maybe I'm a little worried. It'll be fine?"
"It'll be fine," Luke assured her. Lorelai gave a firm nod of her head to show that she agreed with Luke but decided to stay silent, it was probably for the best.
Seconds later, Anna delved into a few more details of April's schedule going over and informing them that April knew her schedule well and could keep on top of it herself but it was still important for them to know. When she was done and had nothing else to say, Luke showed her to the door while Lorelai stayed seated at the table.
After showing Anna out, Luke walked back into his office/former apartment to find Lorelai still at the table with her head down. He leaned down just enough to whisper in her ear, "Fifteen."
"What?" Lorelai asked, popping her head up from the table and looking up at Luke.
"Your face, fifteen different shades of red earlier," he replied with a smirk that he couldn't help.
Lorelai put her hand on his chest and gently pushed him away, "Oh my god, shut up." She groaned, "That was embarrassing. How are you being so calm about this? I don't think she liked me that much before then that stunt earlier put the nail in the coffin. She might skip town now, never bring April over."
"She's not going to do that, she can't do that. We went to court, we have an arrangement," Luke replied. He leaned his arms down on the table when Lorelai laid her head back down, "And I'm always on the other end of this. With you trying to embarrass me, it's nice to have the tables turned."
"I don't like you," Lorelai said, her words muffled by the surface of the table.
Luke chuckled then pressed a kiss to her hair. He moved around her to gather up the papers Anna had given him earlier with Lorelai lifting her head up just enough so Luke could slip one of the pieces of paper away. She spoke up again about how embarrassing it was but he couldn't hear exactly what she said since most of her words were still muffled.
After a few minutes of dwelling in her own embarrassment and idiocy, Lorelai pushed away from the table met Luke in the kitchen. Though his apartment was rarely used, some food items were still stocked away up there as a getaway from the diner at times when Luke wanted lunch or just needed a break without going all the way home. Currently, he was sipping on a glass of orange juice while still looking over the papers with April's schedule and school information.
"Look at all this stuff the school has had to ban," Luke replied as she showed the paper to Lorelai. "Razor blades. They've expressly forbidden razor blades. Are kids just walking around with razor blades now?"
"Oh honey, calm down," Lorelai said soothingly before taking her own glance at the paper Luke held out for her. "No one is just walking around with razor blades, at least not at April's school. I had this same paper when Rory started school, every school year. They have to spell all of this out in their school policy, they have a lot of kids to take care of. Nothing bad is going to happen."
"Nothing bad is going to happen?" Luke asked.
"Nothing bad is going to happen," Lorelai confirmed. She smiled up at him, "I worried every year with Rory. I worry with her at Yale now, that's just part of being a parent; worrying over sending your child out into the world. It's natural."
"So this gut-wrenching feeling that I have, that I've had for a while now that something's going to happen to her, that I can't watch out for her at all times, that's all normal?"
Lorelai nodded her head, "Congratulations. You're a father."
Luke sighed heavily, "Oh god."
She just remained smiling up at him. "You'll survive. I have faith in you." She leaned in and pressed a quick peck to his lips. "Now I have to get back to the inn before the gourds take over."
"The gourds?" Luke questioned.
"Apparently Jackson's squash crop had a very good summer which means the kitchen at the inn is covered in gourds. Sookie already made gourd soup which she said was like pie soup and trust me that she was lying, it tasted nothing like pie!" Lorelai quickly informed him. "Anyways, she's still trying out new gourd recipes so I probably need to intervene before she goes into a gourd overload. A gouverload."
"Funny," Luke deadpanned.
"I'll just go to work where my humor is appreciated." She leaned in and pressed another quick kiss to his lips. "I'll just be a few hours then I'll be home in time for Anna to drop April off."
"See you then."
Luke shut the door behind Anna who just dropped April off in the care of him and Lorelai for the next two weeks. He left his daughter's bags in the entryway as he made his way into the living room where Lorelai and April were presumably looking for Paul Anka due to the small part of their conversation that he overhead.
"I swear we have a dog, he's just a little off," Lorelai explained as she lifted a blanket off the chair to see if that's where Paul Anka took refuge. "And you're new and sometimes we have to slowly introduce him to new people. He's probably hiding somewhere, he has so many hiding places. I don't even know where the half of them are."
"I've never had a dog, a hamster once, but never a dog," April replied as she helped Lorelai look around for the animal.
"Well Paul Anka is definitely not a normal dog, he has his own little list of quirks, don't worry though he's a friendly dog. All you have to do is pet him and you're in." Lorelai stopped looking when she noticed that Luke was now in the room. "Oh now is the perfect time for the tour!"
"Tour?" Luke echoed.
"Yes, a tour," Lorelai answered. "Today I realized that while April had been to Stars Hollow and we've hung out once before, she's never been to the house. So a tour is definitely needed at this time."
"A tour sounds great," April piped up.
"She has spoken. A tour it is!" Lorelai exclaimed. She looked above April's head and across the room at Luke. "Would you like to do the honors?"
"I'll let you do the honors," Luke replied.
Lorelai clasped her hands together, "Okay great!" She walked over to the staircase and gestured for April and Luke to line up behind her, "Now we can get this tour underway. Please keep all hands and feet inside the car at all time. No flash photography. Paul Anka thinks it is lightning, I learned that one the hard way. Even though he is hiding, I'm sure he can still sense the flash and we don't need a doggie freak-out tonight."
Lorelai led them upstairs, pointing out her and Luke's bedroom before she pointed out the separate bathroom just down the hall that she had personally stocked with different brands of shampoos, conditioners, and body washes that she thought April might like and if she didn't then they could go back to the store and pick out whatever April wanted or needed for the bathroom.
After a few minutes, she led them back downstairs and into the living room where she pointed out the need for movie nights that she was eager to share with April. Luke jumped in at that moment pointing out that there didn't need to be that much junk on movie night and that movie nights should be kept for the weekends since they tended to go late and April didn't need to stay up that late on a school night. The kitchen was the next stop on the tour with Lorelai pointing out that this room actually had a use now since Luke lived there. Finally, she stopped in front of Rory's door and turned to face Luke and April.
Lorelai cleared her throat, "And now for our very last stop on the tour." She opened the door to the room. "Here we have Rory's...I mean your room," she quickly corrected herself as she stepped into the room, making sure that April was right behind her.
Lorelai crossed the room and leaned back against the desk. "Here we have a desk that you can do your homework on, a nice little chair that you can use for reading. Do you like reading?"
April nodded, "I like reading."
"Good to know," Lorelai replied, "Because they are plenty of books still in here that you are welcome to read at any time, you're also welcome to store your own books here because this is your room. There is a nice little window ledge for your avocado pit where it will get plenty of sun, at least I think it will." She pointed to the closet and dresser. "I made sure that you have plenty of dresser and closet space. There are plenty of hangers in there for your dresses."
"I'm not too big on dresses," April informed her.
"That's what your dad told me, still there are plenty of hangers if you need them for anything at all." Lorelai pushed away from the desk and over to the bed where she sat down on the edge. "And the most important thing in the room is the bed. Which is freshly made with clean sheets and a blanket. I believe that wraps our tour." She looked to her fiancé. "Luke?"
"I think that you covered everything," Luke replied. He looked to April, "We want you to feel at home here because this is your home now too. If you want, we can go shopping and get a few things for your room to make you feel more at home. We can get a rug, a lamp, some pillows or something. Whatever you want. Just let me know."
"I would definitely take him up on that offer," Lorelai added on, getting up from the bed and walking over to Luke. "He never offers to take me shopping, I always have to drag him along."
April smiled at both of the adults. "Okay, I'll think about it."
"Okay," Luke gave a nod of his head. "Well we will leave you alone, let you get settled in here."
"Okay."
Lorelai was the first one out the door with Luke trailing slowly behind. When she noticed that he was right behind her, she turned around to see Luke watching as April placed her avocado pit experiment on the window ledge. She couldn't help but notice the proud look on his face as he watched after his daughter. He finally caught up with her and mentioned that he was going to take April's bags to her since she needed those to get settled into the room.
Lorelai moved through the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water and leaning back against the counter where she had a good view into April's room where Luke was now helping April put away a few of her things. She smiled at their interactions, for someone that was worried about his abilities as a father, he seemed to have a pretty good handle on things so far. When she noticed that Luke asked about the science experiment April had on the window ledge, she decided to leave them be for the moment and quietly snuck out of the kitchen and into the living room. After practically being banned from seeing his daughter all summer, she thought that they deserved a little father-daughter time. And she was more than happy to give them their time together.
I know, small chapter, kind of just fluff and filler. But I'm just setting things up. Hope you enjoyed.
As always, reviews are appreciated.
