A/N: I'm sorry this has taken so long. Christmas Break was a lot more stressful than I thought it was going to be and I had zilch time. I plan on writing more tonight/this weekend though. So, review and I'll get more up. Honestly, reviews keep me writing. Enjoy!
Luke scratched his head. "Lorelai, it just doesn't make sense to me… And what airline lets a fifteen year old buy a ticket and fly by herself?"
"Luke, stop being so cynical. She's my niece."
"You can't prove that, Lorelai," Luke said. "Don't you find it just a little bit strange that a year after your parents die a fifteen-year-old shows up on our doorstop claiming to be your niece. You've never even heard of any of the people she mentioned."
"Luke, that's not fair," Lorelai said. "Besides, I've heard of Richard and Emily." She grinned, knowing her smart aleck comment wouldn't go far with Luke.
"Lorelai, everybody has heard of Richard and Emily Gilmore. And everyone knows they passed away and left you and Rory a small fortune. And besides, even if her story was true, why would she come to Connecticut?"
"Luke!" Lorleai protested, "Her aunt and cousin live here. Why wouldn't she?"
"Because, Lorelai. If you and I died, do you really think Rory would have moved to another country if her aunt and cousin lived there? There are plenty of people in this town that would take care of her. Are you seriously telling me that there was nobody in the entire city of London that would take care of an orphaned fifteen-year-old girl? I highly doubt it."
"Luke, I don't know why she left, okay? I just know she needs me."
"She probably just killed someone and is hiding out here until the cops come and arrest us for holding a fugitive in our house." Luke muttered.
"Luke, that's an awful thing to say. She's not John Wilkes Booth." Lorelai muttered, glaring at her husband.
"She could be, you would never know."
Lorelai glared at him.
"I'm just saying. You have no way of knowing if her story is true. You haven't seen any sort of I.D., there's nothing that even remotely points to the possibility of your father having an affair however many years ago, you don't even look that much alike. It's just not probable. And I stand by my airline thing. And where did she get the money to fly cross-continental, anyway?"
"Okay, Luke, fine. She's not my niece, she's a disgruntled teen from Texas on a killing spree. She's still staying here."
Luke looked at Lorelai. "I don't want her killing Rory in her sleep."
"Why do you care? Rory's not even your kid." Lorelai covered her mouth the minute the words escaped her lips. There wasn't a worse thing she could have said to Luke.
Luke turned around and looked at her. She could see the hurt in his eyes.
"Luke, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that…." Lorelai apologized, desperately wishing she could take the words back. Luke didn't say anything. He climbed the stairs and a minute later came down with a sleeping bag and a pillow. Lorelai sighed and went upstairs, kicking herself the entire way up.
She crawled under the covers and pulled them up to her chin, staring at the ceiling. She could never explain to Luke how she knew that Elizabeth's story was true. There was no rationale to describe it, no logic would do it justice. She just knew. She saw the pain in Elizabeth's eyes; she just felt it. The bond that family has even if you never knew they existed. And beside, her love of coffee and Jane Austen was too strange and coincidental to be over-looked.
She heard a slight tap on the door and looked up to see Rory.
"Mom? Can I come in?" she asked, already making her way into the room.
"Yeah, sure honey." Lorelai said. "What's up?"
Rory crawled under the covers next to her mom. "Elizabeth's going to sleep in my bed tonight. I was going to take the couch, but it looks like someone else already claimed it." She studied her mom's face. "Mom, what's wrong with you and Luke?"
"Nothing Rory. We're fine," she said.
"Yes, because normally when couples are fine one of them sleeps on the couch and the other sleeps alone in a King-sized bed."
"Yep." Lorelai replied.
"Mom…" Rory said, looking at her mother. "Are you mad because of the kid thing? Still? Because you know Mom, he couldn't help it… He feels terrible about it you know… I mean, he made me chocolate chip smiley pancakes again and…"
Lorelai interrupted her, "Wait, you knew about this? He told you but he couldn't tell me?" Lorelai was about to explode with anger and pain.
"Mom, stop it. I asked him. I kept pestering him until he finally told me. He wanted to tell you, he just didn't want to hurt you."
Lorelai bit the sides of her cheeks and scowled lightly. "Fine, the fight wasn't about having a baby anyway."
"Oh?" Rory half-asked, half-stated.
"It was about Elizabeth." Lorelai said softly.
"Elizabeth?" Rory raised her eyes. "What could she possibly have done to cause a fight? She's only been here a day… She hasn't even met Luke yet."
"She showed up," Lorelai said. "He thinks she's a phony."
"She's not. I can tell." Rory said. "Mom, I really like her. She's fun. She's really funny and witty. And today when I took her out shopping she started talking about how weird Kirk was. I'm telling you, she's a Stars Hollow type of girl."
Lorelai smiled. "I like her too. I think everything will be fine tomorrow when Luke meets her."
Rory smiled and turned over. "Goodnight, Mom."
Lorelai settled into her pillow. "Night, Rory."
She stared at the ceiling for a while, as Rory drifted off to sleep. Just as Rory was about to fall asleep, Lorelai interrupted her.
"Ror? Do you know how she got the money for the plane ticket?"
"Her dad paid for it." Rory yawned. "Apparently he's a real Christopher."
Lorelai looked at her. "Oh, that explains it." And with that they both laid their heads down and fell asleep.