Ahh Friday the 13th :O I hope the day went smoothly for everyone and that nothing bad happened!

Okay so this is my last update before I go away next week, Monday to Friday. But I will update the week after I get back, I promise Thank you for your reviews, this story has been quite a hit, didn't think it would be!

Rory dragged her feet home from school one sunny Tuesday afternoon, her sneakers getting scuffed as she scraped the side of them against the sidewalk. She usually enjoyed school, she found her lessons to be fun and interesting, and there was the fact that she was really good at most of them, gym excluded.

But on this particular day, Rory had not enjoyed her schooling one little bit. That was due to the fact that father/daughter day had been brought up again. She'd managed to avoid it the previous year, because she'd gotten sick and couldn't go to school anyway. But this year she knew she wouldn't be able to get out of it, and that was what had gotten her down.

Well that, and the fact that all day long, everyone in her class had been talking about their fathers. From what they did for a living, to what car they had, they hadn't taken a break from their boasting. Hardly anybody talked to her anyway, so she had avoided it to some extent, as they weren't speaking directly at her, but even her best friend Lane had been talking about her father.

So now Rory was rounding the corner to her house with the dullest look on her face anyone in town had ever seen, a piece of paper clutched between her fingers at her side. She made it onto their front lawn and noticed her mom standing at the top of the porch steps. It was a regular thing, Lorelai would stand and wait for Rory to get home from school, seeing how the pre-teen insisted on walking home by herself, then they would hang around and do nothing until dinner.

She looked up and smiled softly at her mother; it was a genuine smile, as Lorelai was the only person she had been happy to see that day. She shook her backpack off and let it fall to the grass, before jogging up the steps and flying into Lorelai, wrapping her arms around her tightly. Lorelai was a little shocked at first, yes the two of them were best friends, but Rory never usually showed this much affection towards her at a first sight. That's when she knew something was wrong.

"What's the matter, sweets?" she asked softly, running her hand over her daughter's smooth brown hair. Rory simply held the piece of paper out to her and allowed her read through it before burying her face in her mother's shirt again. "Aww hon, I'm sure if you call your dad, he'll come by for it." Although she wasn't so sure.

"You think so?" she asked hopefully.

"Maybe, it's worth a try right?" Rory smiled a small smile, a smile of hope. "And if not, I can always come instead."

"That'd be weird mom," she said pointedly.

"No way, I could totally dress up as a man," she said surely. "I have the tall thing down, and my boobs aren't that big so it's not so obvious." Rory giggled, and Lorelai smiled at her amazing ability to always cheer her daughter up. "What d'ya say?"

"I'll see what dad says," she said.

"Okay good, now why don't you go on inside and set up Ker Plunk?"

"You're not gonna beat me," teased Rory.

"Oh we'll see about that Missy, one of items on my 'things to do before I turn thirty' list is to beat you at that damn game."

"You'd better hope you never turn thirty then," she giggled before she disappeared into the Crap Shack. Lorelai shook her head at her daughter's antics before walking across the lawn to grab Rory's backpack, still holding the letter in her right hand.

"Did she have a bad day at school sugar?" Babette asked from where she was attending to her gnomes. She'd seen Rory's strange behaviour and figured that was the reason for it.

"It's father/daughter day next week," she replied.

"Ah, always puts the poor girl on a downer," she said knowingly.

"Yeah, hopefully her dad will show up. I doubt it though," she frowned.

"He's crazy to stay away from two beautiful girls like you and Rory, you tell him that next time you see him."

"I will, thanks Babette," she chuckled.

"And if Rory's not feeling better after dinner, send her round for some lemon meringue pie," she ordered.

"You got it, see ya." Babette gave a quick wave as Lorelai sauntered into the house, hoping everything would turn out in their favour.

XXX

"Oh, okay," said Rory as she spoke to Chris on the phone. Lorelai could tell from her daughter's fallen expression that the conversation was not going well.

"I promise I'll stop by sometime soon though," he said. Another empty promise.

"Yeah, that'd be good," she murmured.

"Ok kiddo, I've gotta go," he told her. "The game's starting." Rory could hear a few guys cheering in the background, and the faint sound of beer bottles clanging together.

"Love you dad." But Chris had already hung up. Rory frowned at the phone then dropped it onto the coffee table with a loud sigh. "I'm going to bed," she said tiredly. "Night."

"Hey, what's going on?" Lorelai asked, wondering why she was suddenly running off to her room at eight thirty.

"Dad can't come," she whispered as her eyes filled with tears.

"Oh honey," she said sympathetically as she pulled her daughter into a hug.

"It's okay, I knew he wasn't gonna say yes anyway," she said into Lorelai's pyjama top. Lorelai grasped the sides of her daughter's face and looked into her bright blue eyes.

"I hate it when your dad does this to you," she said sadly. "But you shouldn't let him get to you so much okay?" Rory nodded. "I get that you miss him but we've gotta stay strong kid."

"I know," she muttered.

"Good, now go put your PJs on then choose which movie you wanna watch," she ordered. "I'll get the pop tarts and potato chips."

XXX

Rory was sitting at the counter reading a book two days later. School had just finished, and Lorelai was still at work, so Rory had been summoned to the diner.

"You gonna order?" Luke asked gruffly as he watched her concentrate. Rory put her finger over the line she was currently reading then looked up at him in annoyance.

"I already told you, I don't have money," she said.

"Put it on your mom's tab, she hasn't paid me for months." Rory shook her head.

"I don't wanna be indebted to you."

"You're not, your mom is," he said pointedly. Rory glanced at him for a moment then got bored and took her attention back to her book. Luke furrowed his brow as he wondered what had gotten into her, she was usually so kind, but she was acting pretty cold right now. He watched her for a few moments before taking the lid off the pie tray and cutting a 'Gilmore' size slice for her. He slid it across the counter to her, then waited for a reaction.

She seemed to notice it was there, but didn't make a move to put her book down and pick up a fork. Luke noticed her frequently glancing at it, as if it was screaming at her to eat it, but she resisted and took her attention back to her book. Finally, after fifteen minutes of this, she put her bookmark on her page and picked up the fork, pulling the plate of pie towards her.

"Finally," he rejoiced. Rory stopped mid-chew and looked at him curiously.

"What?" she asked.

"You've been staring at that pie for the last quarter of an hour, I thought you were never gonna eat it."

"I couldn't resist," she shrugged. She went quiet again, and this time Luke chose to ask her about what was worrying her.

"What's going on with you?" he asked. Rory regarded him for a moment before answering.

"Nothing," she replied. "Why?"

"You just seem...distant," he told her. "But if there's nothing wrong then I guess I was just imagining things." There were a few minutes of silence where Luke wiped the counter down with an old rag.

"It's this thing at my school," she said finally. He put the rag down and rested his hands on the counter, giving her his full attention.

"Oh yeah?" he asked in interest.

"It's a father/daughter day." Luke nodded in realisation. "You have to bring your dad to school with you and he has to stay with you all day."

"And your dad's not coming?" he asked, already knowing the answer. Rory shook her head and focussed on her pie. "What'd he say?"

"He has to work apparently," she murmured. "He hung up on me when I called him cause the game was starting or something. He had a bunch of friends round and they were drinking and stuff," she admitted quietly. Luke looked at her sympathetically for a few moments before proposing an idea to her.

"When is this father/daughter thing?" he asked.

"On Monday," she sighed.

"You know, I think I have the day off on Monday," he said with a smile. Rory looked up at him with no expression.

"Good for you," she mumbled. Luke carried on though.

"Yeah I have the day off," he repeated. "I don't know what I'm gonna do though, I'll probably watch some TV or something."

"Have fun with that," she said dryly.

"Yup, I have absolutely nothing to do with myself on Monday," he stressed. "Monday is my free day, a day for me." Rory looked at him strangely.

"Why are you acting weird?" she asked, wondering why he was speaking so differently. Luke chuckled.

"Well I thought you were a little smarter than this," he muttered, causing Rory to furrow her brows. He realised he'd have to spell it out for her. "I have nothing to do on Monday, so I might drop by the school, for a couple of hours...or the full day, depends," he shrugged. Rory slowly caught on to what he was suggesting, and looked up at him with a small smile gracing her lips.

"You wanna come to father/daughter day?" she asked, her excitement growing. Luke shrugged.

"I guess I could stop by," he replied nonchalantly. Rory practically bounded off her stool and rounded the counter, bumping straight into him.

"That would be so great!" she squealed, jumping up and down in excitement.

"You think so?" he asked, a small appearing on his face.

"Yeah, you have no idea how much you've saved me here Luke," she told him, hugging him a little tighter.

"Well you're welcome," he said. "Now get out from behind my counter, you're not insured," he warned. Rory gave him one last tight squeeze before pulling away and walking back to her stool. She settled onto it, a huge smile sitting on her face.

"Can I get coffee?" she asked.

"Nope," he answered immediately.

"Decaf," she reasoned.

"Again my answer is no," Rory sighed.

"Just seven more months," she said dreamily. Luke scowled and she smiled sweetly at him. "Why do you hate coffee so much?" she asked. "What has it ever done to you?"

"Coffee kills," he stated.

"Huh, they should really put that on the packet, like they do with cigarettes."

"But those messages don't work anyway," he said. "People still smoke." Rory nodded thoughtfully.

"I'm never gonna smoke, it's gross," she said, scrunching her nose up.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it," he muttered.

XXX

Rory got up and moved towards the door later that evening. Lorelai had joined her around four thirty, and the two had spent time eating dinner, and talking with Luke. Rory had filled her mom in on the arrangements for Monday, and Lorelai had spent most of her evening thinking about what a great guy Luke was. But she quickly banished the thoughts when she starting thinking about how great he looked in the light blue flannel he was wearing.

"Bye Luke," called Rory. "Thanks again."

"No problem," he replied as he waved her off.

"Hey hon, go get in the jeep okay? I'll be out in a minute." Rory nodded and took the keys from her, before hurrying over to the car. The two adults watched to make sure she got there okay, then Lorelai turned to smile gratefully at Luke. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"What for?" he asked, although he had an idea.

"For cheering her up, and for offering to go to her school with her."

"Well she was upset, and I can get Caesar to cover while I'm gone."

"So you don't have the day off?"

"No, but I'm the boss," he shrugged. "If I want a day off, I'll have one." Lorelai nodded and walked around the counter, stopping before she went behind it.

"I won't break your 'no one besides employees behind the counter' thing," she said.

"That's a first."

"Come here," she requested. Luke eyed her suspiciously before shuffling his feet to the end of the counter and stopping in front of her. "You have no idea how happy you've made my daughter tonight," she said gratefully. "But if you break your promise, I'll break you," she told him seriously. Luke burst into laughter at her stern expression and she proceeded to slap his arm. "Hey, don't mock me, I'm serious!"

"Okay Lorelai," he chuckled. "I promise you though, she won't be disappointed."

"Good." She moved in and gave him a loose hug, one that sparks feelings up inside of him. "I don't know how to thank you enough," she whispered as she pulled away. Luke shrugged.

"You don't have to," he assured her. "I want to do this." She nodded then moved her face towards his, leaving a soft kiss on his cheek.

"See you later, Luke," she said before turning around and heading towards the door. Luke watched after her, smiling to himself. That was the most contact he'd ever shared with Lorelai Gilmore, and he'd tried his hardest not to let his body react to her.

Lorelai was having similar thoughts as she drove her daughter home from the diner. She found herself thinking about Luke in a different way, often noticing how his shirts clung to him, or how his dark hair curled out from underneath his ball cap. Just little things like that.

And she was beginning to wonder, could she feel something...a bit more than friends towards her coffee supplier and close friend?

So that's your lot for a week or so...please review and I will update when I get back :D I loooove reviews...

Emily.