Charlie's 1.5 years

"I thought we weren't going to leave things until the last minute again." Rory said as she got Charlie out of the jeep and put her on the ground, holding firmly to the toddlers hand. At a year and a half, Charlie only had one thing on her mind: go!

"I lied?" Lorelai offered as she met up with the pair and they headed into Doose's.

"Great roll model you are," Rory said as she and her mother each grabbed a basket.

"I teach you two the important things," she said as they began plucking things off the shelves. Well, Lorelai and Rory plucked what they needed off the shelves. Charlie just worked her hardest to get her little hands on anything.

"Lorelai."

"Yes Taylor?" Lorelai said with a sigh as she turned around.

"Your youngest is destroying my shelves," he said, tapping his foot as he gestured to the trail of boxed goods that followed behind them.

"Charlie," Lorelai complained The toddler looked up at her with a puzzled look on her face as she clung to a box of something.

"Oops?" Charlie offered.

"Oops indeed," Lorelai said as she put down the basket and went to pick up the boxes on the floor.

"I got it," Luke said, having already picked up most of them.

"You really don't have to do that," she said as she gathered the few closest to her. Luke put what he had picked up back on the shelf before he headed over to Rory and Charlie and picked the toddler up.

"We'll head to the diner, you two finish up."

"Luke," Lorelai started again. "Really."

"Were you going to come over anyways when you were done?"

"Yes," Rory said. She shrugged when Lorelai glared at her.

"Then we'll met you there," he said as he grabbed what he had come in for and headed for the till.

"Let's go," said Rory. "It'll only take like 5 seconds now," she said as she started adding more to her basket. Lorelai made a little bit of a face before she followed Rory through the store, finishing up the shopping they had put off, yet again.

Charlie is 4, Maybe 5.

"You haveta come! I'll be the only one there without any one!" Charlie moaned to Lorelai.

"I didn't plan this, Babe," she said to Charlie as she rushed around, trying to get ready for work. Charlie, already dressed for school trailed after her.

"Make Michel do it!"

"I can't, Michel is the one that got me into this mess in the first place. Have you seen my watch?" Charlie grabbed it off the coffee table and handed it to her.

"Make Sookie do it!"

"Sookie's a cook honey, she's not the owner and general manager of the inn. I am and that means I have to go down there and straighten this all out," she said again as she grabbed Charlie's back pack and lunch box, handing them to her. There was some kurffuffle at the in, she was sketchy with the details, but the bottom line was that the guests involved would not be satisfied until the manager of the establishment got there and took care of it. "I had to miss lots of things Rory did in school too," she said, trying to make the little girl feel better.

"Did you miss the very first thing?" 'No' Lorelai's brain said.

"I will try, with every fibre of my being to make it there on time but I can't promise," she said. "We need to go right now," she said, helping Charlie put on her winter coat and boots.

"It's too early."

"I'm dropping you off at Luke's," she said as she ushered the little girl out to the car. Charlie peaked in her lunch box when she got into the car and sure enough, it was still empty. "See ya later Sweets," Lorelai said.

"Bye," Charlie said glumly as she slid out of the back seat and into the craziness that was Luke's in the morning. She climbed up onto one of the stools at the counter and Lane quickly set down a plate of pancakes in front of her and took the empty lunch box, setting it on the back counter. Charlie sighed as she dug in. She may be upset, but she was still a Gilmore Girl and Gilmore Girls didn't turn down Luke's pancakes.

"So, what time is this thing?" Luke asked. Lorelai had told him about it last week and he knew she was going to drag him along.

"Doesn't matter," Charlie muttered around a mouth full. "Mom can't come."

"Oh," he said as he grabbed his coat. "Okay," he said as she finished up her breakfast and he grabbed her now filled lunch box. "Be back in 10 Caesar!" he called as he zipped Charlie up and helped her with her hat and mitts before he walked her to school. On the way back to the diner, Luke caught a glance at one of the posters advertising the little Christmas concert and he made a mental note about the time.

"I'm not going to make it," Lorelai said mournfully as she called later in the morning. "It's a zoo over here," she lamented as she explained all the happenings of the morning. "And, because we all know Sookie, when I had the menus printed, I had them add 'all dishes subject to last minute changes' at the bottom, just to cover all our bases. Well, apparently this wasn't good enough for this couple and everything just snowballed because Michel got involved and it just keeps getting bigger. I'm gonna have to stay here all day to keep them apart and keep them happy."

"It's okay," Luke said. "She'll understand.."

"Her first school play though! The only two school things you are never supposed to miss as a parent are the first and last and I'm breaking that rule!"

"It'll be fine," Luke said again. Lorelai moaned to him a while longer before signing off.

"They're back for blood this time. Probably," Lorelai had said before hanging up on him.

"I'm gonna be out for the next hour or so," Luke said as he again grabbed his coat and gloves and put them on. He jogged towards the school, already running a little late and slipped into the back of the gym, taking his hat off after a disgruntled older teacher shot him a disapproving look. When he saw the camera flashes start to go of, he wondered if he should have brought a camera, but he didn't dwell on it long Lorelai, as usual, had made all the costumes, so she had inevitably seen all of the performance at some point in time. He applauded at the end with the rest of the parents, kind of wondering what to do next. He was saved by the kindergarten teacher coming up on stage and announcing that the parents were all welcome to come back to the room for a little cast party.

"Hey," he said when he ran into Charlie. "You did real good," he said, fidgeting with his hat.

"Luke?" she asked. She had resigned herself to not having any one here.

"Yeah, sorry I got there late, the lunch rush went a little long and I had to stay and help Caesar and Lane."

"Charlie! Over here!" a little girl called to her just as she was about to thank Luke or coming.

"Come on!" she said with a big smile, grabbing Luke's hand and pulling him along behind her. "This is Megan and Sydney," she said with a smile. "This is Luke," she said. Megan and Sydney both looked up at him for a moment before they gave Charlie something.

"He runs the diner, right?" Megan asked after Luke had left to talk to their teacher.

"Owns it!" Charlie said proudly.

"He your dad?" Sydney asked.

"No. My dad lives in Boston with my little sister."

"Then why is he here?" Sydney asked. Charlie furrowed her brow as she thought about this for a moment. Her mom and Luke weren't really dating, she had asked but all Lorelai would say is that they were trying it.

"I don't know," Charlie finally answered. "Because my mom couldn't come I guess."

"Amanda's step dad never come to anything she does," Megan pointed out.

"Luke's not my step dad."

"Mom's boy friend?"

"Don't think so. He's just Luke. He always comes," she answered simply, not being able to remember anything she or Rory had done that Luke hadn't come to.

"Hmm," the other two girls had answered before running off to their parents.

"Why did you come?" Charlie asked Luke as she wandered back towards the diner after school was over.

"Because."

"Because mom couldn't come?"

"Because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about," he answered gruffly. Charlie looked up at him, squinting at the sun from under her hat. She smiled as she look ahead again. She had a feeling that he had come to see her and for no other reason than that.

"Okay," was all she answered as he opened the door for her and she snuck in under his arm.

"Go toss that stuff upstairs and then come back down."

"Why?"

"Just go," he said, nodding in the direction of the stairs. She looked at him for a moment before she did just that. When she came back down, Luke had left two donuts and a scoop of ice cream in a bowl for her. "I don't have cake," he whispered to her with a smile and a wink as he wandered off to start taking some orders.

Charlie's 4 or 5.

"How was school?" Lorelai asked as she picked her up.

"Why did dad go and get a new family?" she asked.

"Whoa, would have been nice if that question had signaled first," she said as she took Charlie's hand and headed towards the jeep. "You're dad married Sherry because he was ready to marry her."

"Why wasn't he ever ready to marry you?"

"He was Sweets," she said as she helped Charlie into the jeep. "I told him no."

"Why?"

"Because he only wanted to get married because we'd had a baby. First Rory and then you. He never wanted to get married because he loved me." Charlie waited as Lorelai shut the door and got into the driver seat. "We tried to be a family a few times, but he just wasn't ready."

"Did he marry Sherry because of Gigi?"

"Yes, I think so," she said as she headed in the direction of the Dragonfly.

"Why has he stayed?"

"What's with all the questions?" Lorelai finally asked. Charlie spilled out the days events and Lorelai was clenching the steering wheel in an effort not to start freaking out. She had lived in this town for 20 year, 20 YEARS! And they were still whispering behind her back about how she was an unwed mother and, in some circles, a slut who should never have kept Rory and Charlie. "Don't listen to them," she said. "Are you happy enough with your family?"

"I wish dad was around more, but yeah."

"Then that's all you need to know," Lorelai said as she parked at the Dragonfly and helped Charlie out. "Do you know why we bother them so much?" she asked Charlie as she swung her up onto her hip before sitting her on the reception desk.

"'Cause we're so pretty?"

"There is that," she said with a smile. "We bother them because we're different and we're not ashamed of that. We bother them because I haven't hid my mistakes from you or Rory or anyone else. This is why you have Heather Has Two Mommies and no one else in your class has read it." Charlie looked at her, still not really believing her.

"Does dad love Gigi more than me?" she finally asked.

"Absolutely not," Lorelai responded without hesitation. "Gigi just needs him more because she doesn't have me as her mother."

"They didn't like talking about Luke, either."

"He's not really your family, in the strictest sense of the word," Lorelai pointed out.

"But he's your boyfriend!" she said without giggling about it. "And he does all the stuff that other kids do with their dads. Why shouldn't I talk about him up?"

"That's good enough for me," she said as she picked Charlie up again and headed to the kitchen. "I think this day calls for some Sookie cake."

"It's been a busy day," Charlie agreed. "Family is complicated."

"But oh so worth it," Lorelai said as she gave Charlie a squeeze and a kiss, still trying to decide if she needed to have a word with the teacher or not.

"Hey Kitty Cats!" Sookie said happily when they walked into the kitchen. Charlie sighed and couldn't help but smile, Sookie made everything feel happy.

Lorelai spilled out the whole tale of woe to Luke and cried on his shoulder a little.

"It just kills me that she even questions how much he loves her! I mean, who the hell does that to a kid? What kind of parent makes their kid question how much they love them?" Luke just held her as she ranted, letting her get it all out because he knew that what he wanted to say wasn't what she wanted or needed to hear right now.

"Well," he finally said. "I guess we'll just have to make sure that she never questions us." She stopped her pacing and blinked at him a few times.

"How on earth did I stay away from you for so long?" she asked as she practically dove back into his arms.

"You're easily distracted by shiny things," he said casually. "And I don't wear a lot of shiny things."

"Must be it," she said with a giggle.

Charlie's 5. She's 4 or 5 in a lot of these.

They hadn't meant to get pregnant before the wedding, in fact, they had taken, or thought they had taken, every precaution to avoid that little possibility. But, here she was, 3 weeks before her wedding with another one of those stupid sticks in her hand with the pink staring back at her.

"Unbelievable!" she had muttered as she stared at it a little longer, willing it to change colour.

"So, remember that theoretical kid we've been talking about?" she asked Luke that night after Charlie was tucked in.

"Yes," he responded as he glanced over at her.

"Well, it's not so theoretical any more. Surprise!" she said with a bit of a forced smile. "You're supposed to say something," she prompted him.

"Wow," was all he good say, blinking a few times.

"Wow!" she said excitedly. "Or Wow," she said in disbelief.

"Can I pick one in the middle?" he asked. she made a face as they continued to stare at each other. "This is good," he said. "A little sudden, but good."

"Are you sure? You can still run screaming if you'd like."

"If I was going to, I would have done that before Charlie saw her 3rd birthday. Wow," he said again.

"Okay," she said with a nod as she sat down on the couch next to him. "Here's to the third time, hope it's a charm," she said with a sly smile that he couldn't help but return.

Unfortunately, while the pregnancy was going smoothly, Charlie had hit a rough patch.

"Again?" Lorelai asked when Charlie brought home another note about fighting on the play ground. Charlie shrugged and drew designs on the table top with her finger. Lorelai sighed and turned away from the box she had been unpacking to read the specifics in the note. "Charlie! They want to suspend you if you do this again! What were you thinking?" Lorelai demanded. Charlie shrugged again and Lorelai slammed the letter on the table. Charlie jumped a little. "Go to your room. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Luke will be in to talk to you when he gets home. Go!" she said when the 5 year old hesitated. Lorelai slammed around the kitchen a little longer, angry at Charlie for stepping out of line continually and angry at herself for not being able to get through to her. "Here," she said to Luke when he got home, thrusting the letter at him. He gave the bags of food to Lorelai before taking the note.

"Again?"

"Again," she said. "In school suspension. Next time, it's a three day out of school suspension. This has got to stop," she said. Charlie cracked her door open so she could hear the discussion.

"I know," he said. "I'm just not sure what to do about it. What haven't we taken away yet?" he asked.

"Food," Lorelai started. "Breathing, bathing, school. . . I think dance lessons are still being attended."

"Well, tell Patty that she won't be there any more tomorrow," he said with a sigh and shrug, reading the letter again.

"I told her you'd be in to talk to her."

"About what?" he asked tossing the letter on the table. "I don't know what else to say to her," he said. "She must have the lecture memorized from the last 4 times I've given it to her."

"Then give her another one!"

"There are only so many ways to say 'shape up and fly right or you'll never see the light of day again,'" he told her. They sighed as they looked at each other, each taking a moment to calm down. "I will try again," he told his wife, kissing her on the forehead and resting a hand on her now visibly pregnant belly. "And then we will eat." Charlie quickly closed her door and returned to her desk and her half finished homework. They all had to admit that if this string of misbehaviour was good for anything, it was bringing Charlie's grades up to a solid A+ average. Even if she was still in kindergarten. "Charlie," Luke said as he came in. She turned and they both looked at each other. "Why?"

"He was makin' fun of me."

"So you hit him?"

"Maybe," she grumbled. He sighed and sat down on her bed. When he had first started this, he made sure to sit her down so he could tower over her, like his father had done to him and Liz when they were kids. Now? He sat on the bed, to tired of all of this to put on a show.

"What's wrong?" he asked her as he pulled her over and onto his lap. She resisted so he knew he was doing the right thing. "What are you so angry about?"

"Nothing," she said, straining to try and get away from him.

"There has to be something," he said, holding her tighter to him. "You're not an angry kid, most of the time."

"Well I am now!" she shouted.

"Believe me, we've noticed," he said to her. "Would you. . . would you talk to Rory about this?" he finally asked her. They had offered her everyone else to talk to but Rory. He had high hopes that Rory would finally get things out of her. Charlie stopped her struggling as she considered this.

"Maybe," she finally admitted.

"Fine, we will call Rory after supper and see if she's free this weekend. You will behave until then or we will do this the hard way." Charlie nodded, she didn't exactly want to find out what the hard way was. "I brought dinner home," he said. "Let's go." Charlie bolted for the door and out of the room and Luke lingered for a moment. There were still packed boxes stacked up in her room and she hadn't put any of the pictures back up, hadn't even asked too. This worried him as well.

"What if talking to Rory doesn't work?" Lorelai asked him later that night. "What do we do then?"

"Find a shrink, I suppose," he said.

"You don't think . . . you don't think some one has been. . . "

"Absolutely not! Don't even suggest it!" Luke calmed down as he realized that she was simply grasping at straws to try and explain Charlie's personality shift and she had watched enough CSI on TV to want to suggest that maybe some one was abusing her. "Maybe it's just sibling rivalry," he suggested as he climbed into bed.

"Then why is she constantly asking me to feel the baby or asking questions? What about all the picture drawing and making up stories and everything? It doesn't make any sense," she said as she climbed in beside him. He sighed and agreed, it didn't make any sense.

Rory was more than willing to spend the weekend with Charlie, the whole weekend. She came down Friday after school and picked her up and was planning on brining her home late Sunday.

"Luke is gonna leave," she finally said to Rory early Saturday morning. They had been up watching movies and eating junk food all weekend. Rory knew that Charlie got chatty when she was tired, so she figured this was a pretty good plan. "Luke is gonna leave just like dad did," she said with a sniffle.

"Why would Luke do that?" Rory asked as she gathered Charlie into her arms.

"Because," was all she could come up with.

"Luke is not going to leave."

"Then he'll stop being my dad! He'll have his own kid, he won't need me any more!" she choked out, finally starting to really cry. Rory held her close and rocked her until she calmed down.

"Luke loves you. I wouldn't be surprised if he loves you more than dad does. Luke has been there your whole life!" Rory said. "Why would he spend all this time teaching you things and taking care of you if he was just going to pack it in when he had a baby with some one?"

"Because dad did. He did with you and he did with me and the only reason he didn't with Gigi was because Sherry left first," she got out again.

"Dad was 16 when I was born. He wasn't ready to be a dad like mom was ready to be a mom and with you? Same thing. He thought he was ready but he wasn't and the same thing happened with Sherry. Luke knows he's ready to be a dad because he was a dad for you and me before he and mom even started dating." Charlie sniffled a little more. "Do you believe me now?" she asked.

"I need to go home Rory," she said tearfully. "I need to go and say I'm sorry."

"We'll do it tomorrow," she said, still holding her little sister close. "Let's finish the movie and go to bed and then tomorrow we'll decide what to do, ok?"

"Okay," she said, making no effort to move out of her sisters arms.

Rory woke before Charlie the next morning and called home.

"She's worried Luke is gonna take off when the baby comes," she told her mother.

"Where the hell did she get that idea?"

"Look at her male role model," she said. "Every time he has a baby, he packs up and leaves town." Lorelai sighed and sat back in bed. "I think it's okay now. She wanted to drive home last night at 2 in the morning to start apologizing."

"You had her up until 2am?"

"3 actually, by the time the last movie was over."

"You're my hero," Lorelai said over the phone before she started to hum the 'The Wind Beneath My Wings'. Lorelai had been trying to get Charlie to stay up past 11 on movie nights since she was about 3 and had yet to succeed.

"I'll accept adulation in cash form," she said with a grin. "We'll be home some time this evening," she said.

"We'll be on the look out," Lorelai said as they said their good byes and hung up.

"That the diner?" Luke grumbled.

"Rory," she clarified as she put the phone on the table by the bed. This woke him up and he sat up straight beside her. "She's worried you're going to pack up and leave her. Like Chris did," she informed him. She watched his reaction and was glad he was sitting in bed at the moment.

"I swear to God. . . " he said. "I just want to. . . If he ever. . . " Lorelai put a hand on his leg and put her head on his shoulder.

"Don't bring him up," she said. "Rory's bringing her home later tonight, just let Charlie get it all out. She's like me, it has to all come out in a rush or it gets stuck." He let out another heavy sigh before throwing the covers off and stalking into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. She stayed under the covers for a while later before sliding out to go down stairs to make coffee and tea for the two of them.

Sure enough, just after 7, Rory's car pulled into the drive way and Charlie darted out and into the house and had soon snuggled herself into Luke's lap and was crying out an apology for all the bad things she had done and he just sat there and held her as it all came out.

"Are you done?" he asked her when she finally fell silent.

"Yes," she said, looking up at him.

"Next time you're worried about something, you come talk to me, even if you think it's silly, ok? You had us really worried that something serious was wrong," he told her as he wiped some of the tears away. She nodded and hung onto him a while longer as Lorelai invited Rory in for coffee in the kitchen.

"Good job," Lorelai told her.

"Hey, big sisters are for listening and commiserating with. I was just doing my job," she said with a smile and shrug.