Charlie's 4

"We don't really need to do this," Lorelai said to Luke as he showed her a plan he had made for renovating the house. "I mean, Rory only lives here part time, so Charlie has a room to herself."

"You haven't seen the next page."

"You have been busy," Lorelai said as she looked over the second page.

"Bigger bedroom, bigger bathroom. . . and after that is done, we could expand Rory and Charlie's bed room, give them a little more space for when Rory does come home," Luke pointed out as he looked over at Lorelai casually.

"Well, look at you turning into a provider and protector," she said with a big smile.

"Please, I have been providing and protecting you and the girls since I met you. So, good idea?"

"Have you ever lived through home renovations?"

"Yes, a few times," he told her as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Have you ever lived through them with a 4 year old?" she asked.

"Her room isn't going to be done until the upstairs is done," he said, waiting for her next excuse to come. "If it's really a problem, the two of you can move into the apartment."

"You're so sweet," she told him with a smile as she kissed his check. "Fine, if it makes you happy we'll do this," she finally conceded. Luke offered her a self satisfied smile as he gathered the plans again.

"I'll find an architect tomorrow," he said with a nod.

"Is Tom gonna do the building?" Charlie asked eagerly when they sat her down to talk about the renovations.

"Most likely, yes," Lorelai said with a smile. Tom had been sweet to her during the construction at the Dragonfly and as far as Charlie was concerned, he was one of her closest friends

"Oh good," she said with a smile. "When do we eat?" she asked as she turned to Luke who was standing behind the counter at the diner. He shook his head before he headed to the back to bring out their plates.

"Mom!" Charlie moaned as she headed for the stairs a few days later.

"Luke!" Lorelai yelled at him as she rolled out of bed.

"It's too early!" the Gilmore Girls both moaned as Lorelai scooped up Charlie before completing her quest to track Luke down. Charlie clapped a hand over the ear that wasn't pressed into Lorelai's shoulder.

"It is not too early," Luke said casually as he wandered back into the bedroom. "It's 7am."

"Make them go home!" Charlie moaned.

"Luke, we're delicate," Lorelai said as she rubbed Charlie's back. "We need our beauty sleep. We don't stay beautiful by waking up with the sun." Luke put his hands on his hips as he stared at them. "Come on Luke!"

"Fine, tomorrow, they'll be here later. 7:15 work for you?"

"Lucas!" Lorelai cried as he smirked and turned away, and headed down the stairs.

"Fine! 8 am tomorrow and from now on! Come on, I'll make breakfast."

"I'm still tired," Charlie whined, making no effort to get up from Lorelai's shoulder.

"Me too," she said. "But, we're up now and Luke is cooking. Chances are good that chocolate chip pancakes are coming our way."

"With whipped cream?" she asked, cracking an eye open.

"All signs point to yes. Go get dressed," she said, setting Charlie down and giving her a pat on the behind to get her going. Charlie grumbled a little as she wandered back down stairs. Lorelai glanced out her window and scowled at the construction guys before she grabbed an outfit and headed to the bathroom.

"Whatcha doin'?" Charlie asked a week later when Luke and Dave, one of the guys working on the house, picked up the couch, with her on it, and moved it across the room.

"Moving the furniture," Luke replied.

"Why?"

"Because we started work on the bedroom."

"Why?"

"Because we're making it bigger. "

"Why?"

"Because we want a bigger bedroom."

"Why?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?" he finally asked, hands on his hips.

"How else am I gonna learn?" she asked him, not understanding how he could even ask such a question.

"We're rearranging the furniture down here so that we can move the furniture from the bedroom down here. Anything that doesn't fit is going in storage for a while."

"Oh, okay," Charlie said with a smile and shrug as she hopped off the couch and skipped off to her room.

"Cute kid," Dave said before he and Luke went back to moving.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked a few nights later.

"I'm trying to get lucky and you're making it difficult," she muttered as he rebuffed her attempts again.

"Charlie is right down the hall!" he said.

"Her door is closed," she reasoned. "And I can control myself, can you?"

"Lorelai! I will sleep on the couch," he warned.

"Fine," she said in a huff as she rolled over to her side of the bed.

"Oh my God!" Lorelai squealed as she quickly dashed back into the bathroom. She leaned against the door as she collected herself. She had forgotten about the new window that had been put in. She was going to have to rethink her naked bathroom run.

"What?" Luke called up.

"Nothing!" she called back to him, now wrapped in a robe as she headed to the bedroom. Definitely going to have to rethink that naked bathroom run.

"And we have our first casualty of the renovation," Lorelai said over the phone.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked as he refilled some coffee cups.

"Charlie tripped over some lumber stacked up on the porch."

"She okay?" he asked, starting to worry.

"Scrapped up her knee and twisted her ankle," she said casually. "Her ankle will probably be fine by tomorrow, so we're just gonna keep an eye on it."

"She need anything?" he asked. "Things are pretty quiet around here right now."

"Nah, we're good," she said. "We have enough supplies at the moment.

"Well, call me if you need anything."

"Will do," she said as they said their good byes before she hung up.

"Hey, dinner's here," Luke called as he wandered into the house later that evening.

"In here," Lorelai called. He came in to see Lorelai sitting on one end of the couch with a pillow in her lap and Charlie's foot on top of it.

"Hey," he said as he kissed her hello. "I thought you said her ankle was nothing big," he said when he took a good look at things.

"It only recently started to swell," Lorelai filled in.

"How are you?" he asked her.

"It hurts," she complained. "What's for dinner?"

"Not that much, apparently," he rattled off what was in the bags.

"Yum," Charlie said with a smile. "Let's go," she said as she kind of sat up. Luke shook his head and handed Lorelai the bags as he picked Charlie up and headed for the kitchen.

"I think you need to take her for x-rays," Luke said the next morning when he saw Lorelai carrying Charlie around.

"I think you're right," she said as she sat Charlie on the kitchen counter so both she and Luke could take a look at her ankle. "After breakfast," Lorelai said.

"Of course," Luke said, rolling his eyes as Charlie giggled. After breakfast, Lorelai and Charlie were on their way to the hospital in Woodbridge. Luke would have come, but he had given Lane the day off and couldn't leave Caesar by himself in the diner.

"I'm bored," Charlie volunteered after they had been sitting in the ER for a few hours.

"Me too," Lorelai admitted.

"How much longer?"

"Well, we're behind the elderly, the dying, the bleeding and all other people with leaking bodily fluids."

"Gross," Charlie said as she wrinkled up her nose.

"It's gonna be a while longer," a nurse said as she came over with an ice pack. "I'll just put this on, help with the swelling," she said as she strapped the ice pack to Charlie's ankle.

"Hey, would it be possible to slip down to the cafeteria?"

"Sure, they'll page you if you're not here when your turn comes up."

"Great," Lorelai said as she scooped Charlie up and they started to wander around the hospital.

"So, what's the verdict?" Luke asked when he saw Lorelai come back in.

"I got a cast!" Charlie said excitedly as she hobbled in.

"No crutches?" he asked when he watched Charlie hobble over to a table.

"No," Lorelai said. "It's not broken, just a sprain. But, because she's four and wild, they decided to cast it and build up the bottom so that she can just walk around without the burden of crutches."

"Interesting," he said. "This is going to make our lives more difficult, isn't it?"

"By 10 fold," she said with a smile as she placed their orders.

"They're going?" Charlie asked.

"They're done, the work is finished," Luke said as he put a plate of eggs in front of Charlie. "In fact, I don't think they even need to come in today."

"They're already gone?"

"Why are you so upset?" Luke asked her, not understanding this at all.

"You didn't tell me they were going! I didn't even get to say goodbye!" she flopped back in her chair and started to pout.

"Are you mad at me too?" Luke asked when Lorelai stalked in and sat down without greeting Luke.

"You didn't tell me they were leaving today!"

"He's mean!" Charlie said.

"He is!" Lorelai agreed. Luke rolled his eyes and returned to the stove.

"Here," he said putting a plate in front of Lorelai.

"Liar eggs?" she asked. Charlie couldn't help but giggle.

"Eat'em don't eat'em, I don't care!" he said as he threw his hands in the air. "I'm going to where the sane people are!"

"Where's that?"

"Amazingly enough, the diner!" he said as he stalked out. Charlie and Lorelai watched him go before they giggled and began to eat, they'd apologise later.

Still 4

"Do you have any more of these?" Lorelai asked the cashier at the stationary shop.

"We don't have a lot of call for purple post-it notes," she said.

"Hmmm . . . I'll take these then," she said as she put a basket full of purple post-it notes. The clerk looked at her a little funny as she rung them up, but didn't say anything.
"Okay, I got'em," she told Rory and Charlie when she got home.

"That's it?" Rory asked.

"That's all they had," Lorelai said with a shrug as she dumped them out onto the kitchen table and she and the girls began unwrapping them.

"Is this going to be enough?" Charlie asked.

"It'll have to be. We'll just space them apart, like tiles," Lorelai said with a shrug. Charlie grabbed the first stack she had unwrapped and ran into her room and started sticking them to her wall. Lorelai and Rory chuckled as they each grabbed a pack and headed in to start sticking as well.

"I like it," Charlie said as they sat back on her bed and observed the now purple post-it covered wall.

"But?" Rory prompted.

"Not this dark. It's too Barney," she said.

"Ah! Baby's first pop culture reference! I'm so proud!" Lorelai exclaimed as she threw her arms around Charlie who just giggled.

"I agree, on all accounts," Rory said.

"You barely even live here anymore," Charlie said.

"Yes, but when I do end up here, I don't want to have crazy grape dreams," Rory said. Charlie responded by sticking out her tongue. Rory quickly returned the favour.

"Hey, anyone home?" Luke called out.

"In here!" Lorelai called out.

"What are you guys. . . Whoa," he said when he saw the wall. "What is this?" he asked, pointing to the wall.

"We're gonna paint!" Charlie said with a large smile.

"That I know," he said.

"We wanted to make sure we liked the colour," Rory said with a smile.

"It's very. . . purple."

"Just what we were going for!" Lorelai exclaimed. "A job well done ladies."

"Indeed!" Rory chimed in.

"What now?" Charlie asked.

"Dinner. Get changed," Luke said. "A nice dress," he threw in.

"Why?" Rory and Charlie both asked.

"The work!" Luke said. "Just do it."

"Yes dad," they both said with a giggle and an eye roll. Luke pointed at them before he grabbed Lorelai's hand and pulled her out of the room.

"Gorgeous!" Lorelai exclaimed when she saw Rory and Charlie. Charlie giggled as she spun around a little. Rory had heated up the curling iron and now Charlie's kind of curly hair was in real ringlet's, hanging down her back, held back from her face with a baby blue ribbon. Rory had curled her hair as well, though not as tightly as she had done Charlie's and hers was parted to the side, held in place by two jewelled bobby pins.

"Good dress?" Charlie asked. Rory had helped her pick out a periwinkle sundress with beaded waist belt.

"Excellent dress," Lorelai confirmed. "You're is excellent as well," she told Rory.

"Thanks," she said as she smoothed the skirt a little. Her dress was white eyelet cotton with blue flowers around the hem. "Not bad yourself," she said, admiring Lorelai's pink cocktail dress.

"Okay," Luke said as he came down in a pair of slacks and a nice dress shirt. "Ready?" The girls all agreed. "Let's go then," he said as purses, wallets and keys were grabbed.

"This car is still weird," Lorelai said as they piled in. While Luke still had the truck, he had broken down and bought a family car. ("With April in the picture more, it just made sense," he had told Lorelai with a shrug.)

"I like it!" Charlie said with a smile as she climbed in.

"Well, who can argue with that?" Luke asked.

"So, what was tonight all about?" Lorelai asked Luke after Charlie was in bed and Rory was happily elbow deep in paper business.

"I dunno," he said as she took his shirt off. "I just felt like taking everyone out."

"Okay," she said as she turned around and he unzipped her dress.

"Your mother came to see me the other day," he said.

"Oh no," she said as she turned to start arguing with him.

"She wants to buy us a house," he told her. "She asked me what I thought and showed me some pictures and I have to admit, it's really nice."

"Really?" she asked him, not really believing this.

"It's a good size, lots of rooms, lots of land and it's not that much further from the diner or the Inn," he held his hands up to keep her from going on. "I know you love this house, but there's barely room for April to stay over when she comes and there's even less if Rory is here. And if we were to have any more kids . . ."

"You want more kids?" she asked him. This topic had yet to really be talked about.

"I dunno, maybe, if it happens. Later though. Anyway, the house?"

"I want to see it," she said. "Before I make any decisions."

"Of course," he said as he kissed her. "It's a really nice house," he assured her.

"I bet it is," she said as she wandered into the bathroom, trying to figure out exactly how all of this had happened.

Charlie's 6

Lorelai sat quietly out side of his room in an uncomfortable chair. She leaded forward, elbows resting on her knees as she rested her head in her hands. She wished Luke was here, but he was walking Maddy around, mostly to keep her quiet, but kind of hoping she'd fall asleep.

It had been a long day for everyone.

"Mom?" she heard to her left and her head jerked up.

"Hey baby," she said as she held her arms out to Charlie. The 6 year old scurried over and climbed into the refuge of her mothers lap. The pair sat quietly for a moment, the only sound being made was the soft rustle of clothes as Charlie made herself comfortable and Lorelai stroked her hair.

"He's gonna be ok, right?"

"I hope so," she replied as she dropped a kiss on the top of Charlie's head. "He has to be," she said, a small smile forming on her lips. "Grandma will kill him if he isn't." She heard a sniffly giggle come from Charlie and she couldn't help but keep the smile on her face a little longer.

"Where's Grandma?" Charlie finally asked. "She left after I climbed up with Grandpa."

"Rory and Marty took her to the cafeteria," she said. At least she was pretty sure that was where they had ended up. Emily had all but burst out of her husband's hospital room shortly after Charlie had gone in. Lorelai had been busy with Luke and Maddy and by the time she realised what was going on, Rory and Marty had already stepped up to escort her to where ever she wanted to go.

"I'm ready, let's go," Charlie said as she uncurled herself and slid off of Lorelai's lap.

"If we leave, Luke won't know where we are," Lorelai said as she held Charlie in place in front of her.

"But I need to see Grandma," she said. "I haveta tell her something."

"Give him 5 minutes," she whispered as she pulled the little girl back onto her lap.

Lorelai sighed as she stood outside of the door to Richard's room. Part of her brain was smirking at the fact that she had stood in exactly this position 6 years ago, doing exactly the same thing and wearing almost exactly the same clothes. She heaved one last sigh before slipping silently into the room.

"Hi dad," she said softly when she saw he was awake. He smiled weakly at her and she returned it as she pulled a chair over to the bed. "How do you feel?" They slid into a slow, quiet conversation, mostly because she didn't know what to say and he didn't have the energy for anything else. "You know I love you, right?" she asked after Rory had stuck her head in to tell her visiting hours were over. "I mean, I know I don't say it often, well, ever, but I do. You know that right?" she asked as she leaned in in close to him. He studied her face for a long moment.

"I know," he answered simply, a lazy smile on his face as he reached a hand up to touch her face "I know, Lorelai."

"Good," she said with a nod as she fought the urge to jump up and run.

"Take your girls home," he whispered to her. "It's late, it's been a long day. For everyone."

"I'll come back to see you tomorrow," she assured him as she finally stood from her chair and dropped a kiss on his forehead before she finally ducked out of the room. She stood, her back pressed to the door for a moment before Rory finally came over and threw her arms around her mother. "Let's go home," she said when she finally let go of Rory. Lorelai plucked a sleeping Charlie from Marty's arms and held her close as Luke, Maddy now asleep on his shoulder, threw his free arm over Lorelai's shoulders. Marty quickly took Rory's hand, whispering a few words in her ear before they followed her mother and step father out to their cars.