This is shorter than the others, I just wanted to post another one shot, so I got it out really quickly. Thank you for your reviews in the last chapter, although some people have gone AWOL. I would love to hear from you guys again! Enjoy... :D

It's Rory's thirteenth birthday.

"Honey, I'm home," called Lorelai as she and Rory entered the diner one particular evening.

"Find a table, sit down, and wait for me to get to you," Luke ordered as he hurried past them with a plate of chilli fries.

"Hey, I ordered those," she told him, looking at the concoction longingly. Luke simply grunted in response and continued his journey to deliver the meal. "Wonderful service in here," she commented to her daughter as she watched Luke scurry around the packed diner.

"We did come in right in the middle of the dinner rush," said Rory, defending Luke.

"Yeah, yeah, so what will you be having?" she asked, pretending to peruse the menu.

"Put that down," grumbled Luke as he approached their table.

"But I'm looking at the menu," Lorelai protested, grinning devilishly at Rory.

"It's the same old thing; you look at the menu, you ooh and ah over everything, and then you order the same thing you do every time you come in here."

"And what would that be Lucas?" she teased. Luke rolled his eyes and began to walk away from their table.

"Wait, I didn't order yet Luke!" Rory called after him, scowling at Lorelai for driving away the man with the food.

"Cheeseburger, fries and onion rings, right?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Chilli fries, with cheese," she corrected. Lorelai nodded approvingly before chiming in herself.

"And coffee."

"How could I forget?" he asked rhetorically, and also more than a little sarcastically.

"Beats me." They waited a few minutes for Luke to bring their drinks over.

"Coffee," he said to himself as he poured the dark liquid into Lorelai's favourite mug. "And coke for you," he told Rory. "Food will be done soon." He strode off to the next table, leaving the girls to talk amongst themselves. Rory peered into Lorelai's mug and inhaled sharply.

"That smells really good," she said dreamily. "I can't wait to have my first cup tomorrow."

"Speaking of tomorrow," said Lorelai. "I can't believe my little baby Rory is a teenager, it feels like just yesterday that I was rocking you to sleep."

"Mom," she complained, not wanting to hear about her days as a baby.

"What? You'll be the exact same when your kid turns thirteen," she told her. "And that will be way, way in the future, like forty years away."

"Of course," she replied with a smile on her face.

"So what's on the agenda for Rory's great birthday bash of '97?"

"Um...well tomorrow morning I'll be woken by you at exactly 4:03am, as always," she began. Lorelai nodded along. "Then you'll fall asleep in my bed and almost push me off the edge, as always." Lorelai was still nodding in agreement. "We'll each wake up with a stiff neck; I'll open the gift you got me, then we'll come here for breakfast, and for my first cup of coffee." She rubbed her hands together excitedly, eliciting a giggle from Lorelai.

"I can't believe my little munchkin has reached the legal coffee age," she cooed, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I don't think there is a legal coffee age," she said thoughtfully. "You just refuse to give me any yet."

"Well Luke would probably never speak to me again if I gave you coffee before today," she said pointedly. "Then where do I get my fix?"

"You mean your Luke fix?" she asked teasingly. Lorelai felt her cheeks turning red, and hoped to god Rory didn't notice.

"What are you talking about?" she asked incredulously.

"Are you blushing?"

"No," she answered, as if it was the most stupid thing in the world. She covered her cheeks with her hands, while Rory looked at her strangely.

"Oh my god, you can't date Luke," she said sternly.

"What...date Luke? Where are you getting this from?" she asked. "I don't wanna date Luke."

"I've seen the way you look at him."

"I was looking at the food," she retorted.

"You always flirt with him," she pointed out.

"Yeah, so he'll give me coffee," she explained.

"He looks at you like that," she told her.

"You're crazy," she hissed. "I don't like Luke, he doesn't like me, it's strictly a proprietor to customer relationship." Luke overheard the tail end of their conversation as he approached their table with his food, and tried his best to appear normal and not to let on how much her comment had stung him.

"Here," he said as he set them on the table in front of each of them. "Be careful, plates are hot."

"Thanks," said Rory gratefully.

"Yeah thanks Lucas, hey could I get a refill over here?" Lorelai asked as she held her mug out to him. He simply took it wordlessly and filled it up, before returning to their table.

"So, I can have my first cup of coffee tomorrow," Rory told him excitedly. "We'll be in bright and early for it."

"There's no coffee tomorrow," he murmured, still against giving the young girl a sip of the stuff, never mind a full cup. Rory's mouth dropped open momentarily, as did Lorelai's.

"No coffee?" Lorelai asked. "That's like...illegal or something."

"Yeah," Rory agreed. "As a teenager, I am entitled to a cup of coffee in the morning, and at lunch, and in the afternoon, and the evening, and..."

"Okay I get it," he mumbled. "What time should I expect you?"

"Let's say seven," she replied.

"Uh...seven thirty," corrected Lorelai. "Tomorrow is Friday."

"And?"

"She never gets up early on Fridays," Rory explained. "Unless I make coffee for her."

"You know how to make coffee?" he asked, not fond of the idea.

"Yup, it's pretty easy," she shrugged. "Mom likes it strong so I pretty much just pour the whole bag in."

"She shouldn't know how to make coffee," he told Lorelai. "You can make your own."

"But Rory makes amazing coffee," she gushed. "Seriously, it's like almost as good as yours." Luke rolled his eyes as he began to walk away.

"Remember, seven thirty Luke," Rory called to him as he went behind the counter. He nodded, and gave her a small smile, already looking forward to their visit in the morning.

XXXX

Rory raced into the diner the next morning, while Lorelai was still trudging down the sidewalk. The teen bounded over to the counter and plopped onto a stool, grinning up at Luke widely.

"Coffee please," she requested eagerly. Luke eyed her for a moment or two before pointing to a table near the window. Rory's eyes followed his finger, before discovering what he had created for her. There was a chair with a single balloon attached to it; blue, her favourite colour. There was a paper tablecloth with little coffee mugs printed all over it, and there, in the middle of the table, sat a mug of coffee, in a cup that appeared to have her name on it and a picture of...something. Was that a unicorn?

"Happy birthday," he simply said. She turned to smile at him, still a little surprised, as Lorelai finally made it into the building.

"God, learn to slow down once in a while," she huffed. "I can't believe you left me standing in my old age." Her pout was fully intact, but Rory was completely oblivious to her incessant rambling. She was too eager to get over to 'her' table and take a few gulps of that inviting dark concoction. "What's up with you two?" she asked, not realising the display in the corner of the diner. "Hey, Ducas, is there coffee or not?" Luke's eyes found hers and he immediately poured her a cup of coffee. Meanwhile, Rory wondered over to the chair that had been set up for her, and sat down slowly as she pulled the mug of coffee closer to her. She admired the mug, it was a unicorn, she thought. Was that Luke's gift to her, a monogrammed unicorn coffee cup? It certainly held resemblance to the towels he had bought for her on her twelfth birthday.

"Hey, you're gonna miss it," said Luke, pointing with his head over to where Rory was sitting. Lorelai followed his gaze and saw what he'd done for her daughter.

"You did that?" she asked, touched that he would go to such measures to make Rory happy.

"It's not much," he brushed off. "It's just a cup of coffee," he shrugged.

"And a coffee cup tablecloth, oh my god, that is so cool!" she exclaimed. "Can I keep it?"

"Sure, what the hell would I use it for?" Lorelai watched Rory sniff the coffee, before bringing the mug to her lips and taking her first sip of the elixir of life. Luke noticed she'd gone all quiet, and immediately, he knew that meant something was wrong. "You okay?" he asked, nudging her arm over the counter.

"Hmm, I can't believe she's thirteen," she told him. "She's gonna start high school next year."

"Yeah, she's growing up," he agreed. "No more invitations to caterpillars' funerals." Lorelai chuckled, before casting her eyes down towards the counter.

"It's happening so fast," she murmured. "Before I know it, I'm gonna be a lonely old cat lady with a hot shot daughter who's travelling the world as a journalist." Luke could tell she was joking, but he could also hear the sadness she felt on the subject. He had the ability to detect things like that with her.

"You've still got time," he said reassuringly. "And I refuse to believe for a second that you're gonna be a 'lonely old cat lady'."

"How do you know?" she asked with a pout. Luke shrugged.

"Cause you're...you're beautiful," he managed to spit out, although every instinct in his body was telling him not to say it. "Any guy would be lucky to have you, and he'd be stupid to let you go." Lorelai's eyes widened visibly, but before she could get another word out, Rory was approaching them with her empty mug held between her fingers.

"Luke, your coffee is amazing," she gushed. "Can I have some more?"

"No," he said sternly, not taking his eyes away from Lorelai's.

"But..."

"You're lucky I gave you one," he told her. "That's all until tomorrow." He gave Lorelai a somewhat unreadable look, one that could be taken many different ways. She only had one train of thought right now though. Luke turned away and walked into the kitchen to prepare the girls' breakfasts.

That was the first time Lorelai realised exactly how Luke felt about her, and she had three little words flying around in her mind. Oh, my, god.

Hehe, I realise that this could have had waaay more Luke/Rory moments in, but it just turned out to be more of a Javajunkie story :P I just really like writing about our favourite TV couple. Anyway I hope you stop and take a moment to review before you close your browser window, it would really mean a lot. That's all for now, goodnight!

Emily.

PS...There will be another chapter of IJMYN soon, maybe Monday. I just need to buckle down and get it written haha. I have 1600-ish words already, so about 5000 more to go