A/N:Everything in italics is Luke's thoughts.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Cathy
The whole diner sat stunned as they heard the last name for a few minutes as Miss Patty ran out the door, running to spread the gossip. Loelai recovered before Luke did, trying to get him to snap out of the daze he was tranfixed in.
'Cathy...Mariano? How could that be, could Jess possibly have a kid, who is actually still alive? Or maybe Jess did what Jimmy had mastered in...running. Was he a deadbeat too? Had I put in all the effort to keep him in order and break off from the path of his mothers life, only to have him follow in the footsteps of Jimmy, possibly the worst role model ever. But then there was that stupid voice in thBe back of my head that sounded suspicously like my fathers saying to have more faith. But why wouldn't Jess tell me? Did he tell Liz? Why didn't she tell me? Okay, slow down Luke, don't get ahead of yourself here. But why was she here? Did Jess need help with his kid as Liz had needed help with him? I hope to God not.' Lukes thoughts were interrupted by Lorelai.
"Luke, don't jump to conclusions, let's ask her why she's here and I'm sure she will be more than happy to answer our questions."
'Huh? Since when is Lorelai the calm and sensible one?'
"Um, yeah alright." Luke said distractedly, he was having a hard time grasping the situation.But he had to know why she was here and if she even knew who Jess was, he hoped so, he didn't want to have to explain it to her, as he hadto with Jess.
"Why are you here?" Luke blurted out without thinking.
Cathy raised an eyebrow."Here in the diner, here in Stars Hollow or here as in living?"
'Oh yeah, definetley Jess's."I meant here in Stars Hollow, are you in trouble, did Jess send you here, why? Do you even know who Jess is?
Again Cathy raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly."Yeah, I'm pretty familiar with who my father is." She said rolling her eyes
"Glad to see you have his mannerisms as well." Luke shot back.
Cathy smirked,"If you think I'm exactly like my dad, you should meet my brother, not only is he a spitting image, but there is no doubt that he's my dads son in characteristics."
Luke felt as if he would faint this very minute.A...brother?How, when, why?! "A..brother?" Luke just barely managed to croak out.
"Yes, Christopher Lucas Mariano."
'Okay, now I'm DEFINETLEY going to faint, he named his son after me? Well the middle name at least. Maybe he did appreciate me a little, or he felt bad.'
"Why are you here though, you kow who your father is, yout not in trouble, Jess didn't send you here so...why?"
Her smile quickly faded as she looked back down at her coffee mug, with tears starting to glisten her eyes, nuch to Lukes suprise.She looked up at him with sadness and desperation in her eyes, and pleaded with him silently for what he did not know yet, and uttered the words that made his world shatter.
"He's sick."
To be continued