Charlie's 3

Charlie perked up when she heard the phone ring. As the 3 year old slid off the couch to answer the phone, Lorelai stopped her in her tracks.

"Ah ah, phone rule?" Charlie paused and thought for a moment.

"Gamma's been callin'. Wait 'n see?" she rattle off.

"Good girl," she said as they waited.

"Hey, it's us, Gilmore girl 1 and 3 as number 2 is off at Yale," said Lorelai's voice on the answering machine.

"Dirty!" Came Charlie's voice.

"Leave one, we'll call you back!" Lorelai finished. Lorelai snickered, at the message and Charlie's first exclamation of Dirty as her mother came on to berate them.

"I don't get the joke, but, I think it's safe to say that Charlie shouldn't either, really Lorelai! I'm just calling to let you know that I'll be in town at some point today, looking at antiques and I'll be stopping by your house at 3:30 to pick up those samples for the DAR function you promised me. You had better be there," Emily finished as she hung up.

"So, run for the border now, or later?" Lorelai asked. Charlie giggled a little.

"I like it when Gramma comes over," she said.

"And I love that you do, but still," Lorelai said as she glanced at the clock. "Okay, we have an hour. Go clean your room, I'll hide everything your grandmother shouldn't see in here and then we'll head to Luke's." Charlie's eyes lit up as she raced towards her room. Lorelai knew that 'cleaning' in Charlie's world meant shoving as much as she could under the bed and into her toy box and, honestly? she was ok with that. She quickly rounded the living room, gathering up magazines and books as well as the few personal items Luke had left around the living room so her mother wouldn't ask why there was a man's shirt on the back of her couch.

"Can't reach!"

"Can't reach what?" Lorelai called back.

"The shelf!" Charlie called again and Lorelai snickered as she heard the tell tale thumping of Charlie trying to jump high enough to reach the shelf.

"Up," Lorelai said as she lifted Charlie up and helped her stack the books back up. They quickly stashed all other incriminating Luke evidence before they slipped sandals on and headed towards town.

"Hey," Luke called with a smile as h saw the two of them walk into the nearly empty diner.

"Hey," Lorelai replied as she sauntered over to the counter. "My mother is coming over."

"Why?" he asked as he poured her a cup of coffee and set a glass of apple juice out for Charlie.

"To pick up the linen samples I promised her. You're starting to acquire quite the little collection at my place," she told him as she helped Charlie up onto a stool at the counter.

"I can bring it back the next time I'm over."

"It's fine," she said with a shrug. "I don't mind. I'm just not ready to let them in on it yet," she said. He nodded and understood. The three of them sat around for a while longer, talking about nothing until Lorelai noticed the time. She and Charlie rushed home, just in time to sneak in the back door.

"Did you know there's a boat in your garage?" Emily asked Charlie as soon as the little girl had the door open.

"Yup," she said. "It's Luke's," she said casually before her eyes went wide and she slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Luke. The diner owner?" Emily asked again. Charlie looked up at her for a moment.

"MOM!" she called out as she backed away. "Gramma's here!"

"Hi mom," Lorelai said pleasantly enough as she invited Emily in.

"What is that diner owner's boat doing in your garage?" she asked Lorelai. Lorelai sent a look in Charlie's direction and she simply sunk a little further down into the couch.

"Because. He used to pay some one to store it for him, but they moved and the new owners of the house wouldn't take it. So I did. After the band moved out, it just looked so lonely and empty," she said quickly, handing over the linen samples. "Let me know which ones you like best." Emily tried to pry more information out of Lorelai for a few moments before she finally gave up and headed back to her car. Lorelai sighed and closed the door. "Charlie. . ."

"It just slipped out!" she said quickly. "I didn't mean to!"

"You're just lucky I'm such a skilled liar," she told the 3 year old as she pulled her into her arms and tickled her before setting her free again.

Charlie's about 2.5

"Please Luke. Please, please, please, please Luke," Lorelai begged him.

"Coffee'll be ready in a bit. "What exactly are you doing here at 5:30 in the morning?"

"I'm not here about coffee," she said as she took a seat at the counter. He paused as he filled the coffee filter

"Really?" was all he got out as he went back to what he was doing.

"Look, I know you said you were done baby sitting, but I. . "

"No," he said again as he tossed a muffin in the toaster oven. "She is too big to run around here any more. She's also decided that she doesn't like the word no again."

"Luke, please. Please, please, please, please," she begged again as Charlie stirred slightly on her shoulder but didn't wake. "I can't take her to the inn any more and I can't. . . "

"You can't what?" he asked after she had stopped talking.

"I can't afford a sitter all day 6 days a week," she told him. "The only people left at the Inn are me, Michel, Sookie a maid and a bell boy. I just. . . please Luke," she said again. Luke sighed as he pulled the muffin from the toaster oven and set it in front of her. He watched as she played with it.

"Fine," he said with a sigh.

"Really?" she asked, part of her not really expecting him to give in at all.

"Yeah."

"What about Nicole?"

"What about Nicole?" he asked as he pressed his hands flat on the counter in front of her.

"Well, will it matter to her? I mean, I don't want to cause any trouble."

"Why would it matter to her? You're my friend, I'm doing you a favour. That's all she needs to know." She looked at him long and hard for a moment before she relented.

"Fine. Time?"

"5:45," he said.

"Ah, gotta run," she said as she stood up and she passed Charlie over the counter to Luke. "I'll be back around lunch. Call if you need anything?"

"We'll be fine," he said as he watched her leave. He stood behind the counter, toddler on his shoulder for another moment before he headed upstairs. He laid her on his bed for a moment as he wrestled the play pen out from where he had folded it and shoved it after the last time she had left Charlie here. He quickly opened it up and laid Charlie in it, tossing a blanket over her as he plugged in the baby monitor and clipped the other to his belt. As he headed downstairs, he realised that Lorelai hadn't left Charlie's bag, but by the time he got to the counter again, he found it sitting where her muffin had been. He shook his head as he brought that upstairs before returning to the job of opening the diner for the day.

True to her word, Lorelai had shown up at lunch, though she hadn't been able to stay long. She did, however, stay long enough to supervise lunch and a diaper change before she left Charlie in Luke's care again. Luke had brought Charlie back upstairs for a nap not long after.

"Hey stranger."

"Hey Nicole," he said with a smile when he saw her come up to the counter.

"How's you're day so far?"

"No complaints," he said with a shrug. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, I think I did leave something in your apartment though," she said. "Can I?"

"Sure," he said with a nod as he moved on to another customer. Nicole quickly dashed up the stairs but came to a quick stop when she saw the new piece of furniture that was taking up most of Luke's living room. She headed into the apartment and over to the playpen, peaking in to see who exactly was in there. She frowned when she recognised Lorelai Gilmore's little girl. She stared for a moment longer before she glanced around the apartment. Her frown deepened when she noticed the smattering of baby toys strewn around the apartment. She quickly found the file she had been looking for and headed back downstairs.

"What's going on Luke?" she asked as she pulled him aside.

"What do you mean?"

"Lorelai Gilmore's kid is asleep up stairs," she said, trying to keep her voice down.
"Lorelai needed a sitter, things are a little tight for her since the inn caught fire. I offered to help her out today," he said, not understanding why this was such a big deal.

"And you just happened to have a play pen tucked away up there?" Luke's mind raced for a moment as he tried to come up with an answer.

"You know this isn't the first time I've done this," he said. He decided the truth would get him into the least amount of trouble. Nicole looked at him long and hard for a moment.

"I should go, I'm running late," she said coolly.

"Oh, yeah. Sure," he said, not really sure why she was mad about this. "I'll call you tonight?"

"Whatever," she said as she left the diner in a hurry. He frowned a little as he watched her go, but quickly turned back to the crank in the hat who was calling for more coffee.

All the patrons in the diner sat quietly, listening to the fight that was raging above them in Luke's apartment. No one so much as chewed their food in case they missed some valuable piece of gossip.

"What the hell should I think, Luke? She's in here all the time, asking you to go to her house and fix something, or baby sit her kid or whatever the hell else and you do it! You do it without questioning!" Nicole yelled.

"She's my friend and she's had a run of bad luck! She doesn't have a lot of other options!" he shot back.

"Well you do! You can, you should, be saying no to her!"

"I'm not going to cut Lorelai out of my life because you tell me to!"

"I'm your wife!" she fired back at him. She had quickly learned that pulling out the Wife Card tended to help her side of the argument.

"Then you have nothing to worry about!" he fired back as he turned on his heel and slammed out of the apartment. The diner quickly jumped back to life as Luke stomped down the stairs, grabbed his order pad and started taking orders.

"Luke!" Nicole called as she came down the stairs.

"I'm workin'," he fired back, focusing on Miss Patty instead of her.

"And we weren't done."

"What more did you have to say? Did you want to tell me that I should stop helping little old ladies across the street, too?" She fumed for a moment before she convinced him to step outside. As soon as they were across the street at the little park by Patty's dance studio, the diner fell silent again as they all turned to watch the continuing fight.

"I don't want her leaving her kid here any more," Nicole finally told him out right.

"I'm not gonna stop seeing Charlie," he told her flat out.

"If you care at all about this marriage, you will stop seeing them," Nicole said. "Lorelai and her kid, you will stop seeing them." Luke looked at her long and hard for a moment.

"I could also finish signing those papers," he told her.

"Fine, whatever. Do what ever the hell you want Luke!" Nicole said, throwing her hands in the air before stalking off to her car.

A few days later, Lorelai came home to find a message from Luke on her answering machine.

"You'll recognise the building by the big police sign on the front because, oh hell, I'm in jail," he said before asking her to bring bail money as well.

Charlie's 2

Lorelai tucked her legs a little tighter under her, her eyes still glued to the TV screen where the final moments of Love Story. She cast a quick glance over at Charlie who was starting to doze off on the quilt that served as her play area before returning to attention to the screen. She didn't bother looking at Luke, she knew he was Stone Cold Luke, not affected at all by what was going on in the movie on the TV screen. As the movie drew to a close, she sniffled, some what louder than she had meant to. Luke cast a side long glance at her and she turned away slightly so he wouldn't see the tears running down her face.

"Finally!" Luke called out, gesturing towards the TV when the credits finally started to roll.

"Really?" she turned to ask him, still more than a little teary. They looked at each other for a moment. Luke fumbled for something to say. The sight of any woman crying, especially Lorelai Gilmore made him panic. It didn't matter why they were crying, it just threw him for a loop. Fortunately, Charlie picked that moment to make a bee line for Luke.

"Sleepy," she announced to him as he scooped her up and she made herself comfortable on his shoulder.

"I'll be right back," Lorelai said quickly as she stood from the couch and headed up stairs. Luke assumed, and hoped, that she was just dashing up the stairs to grab pyjamas for Charlie. Fortunately, he was right.

"He looks comfortable," Rory commented as she came home from her disastrous date, just in time to help her mother tuck Luke in on the couch.

"Yeah, he does," she said as she cocked her head to the side and studied Luke, all hunkered down under the girly pink blanket, blue cap still on his head as he snored lightly. "Well, tell me how it went," she said as she pulled herself away from the man on the couch and led Rory towards the kitchen.

Charlie's 6

"Let's get one thing straight. . . I'm not," a character on TV blared back at Charlie as she chuckled away at the random sit com she had stumbled into.

"Are you coming?" Rory called from the top of the stairs.

"Yeah!" the 6 year old said as she jumped up from the couch and raced upstairs, the pink ribbon that Rory had braided into her hair that morning working loose and beginning to fly away behind her. She jumped onto her mother's bed and giggled as she watched Rory help their mother get ready. She quickly flopped onto her stomach and rested her chin on the foot board as she watched.

"These ones," Rory said as she dropped earrings into Lorelai's open palm. Charlie cocked her head to the side as she watched her mother skilfully slip the small diamond studs into her ears, sweeping her long, dark hair out of the way as she did.

"I think I've changed my mind," Lorelai said after a moment.

"You're kidding, right?" Rory asked.

"Yeah!" Charlie piped in. "We've been waiting and waiting for this!"

"And waiting and waiting!" Rory threw in with a smile. Lorelai smiled as she turned slightly to look at her girls.

"And waiting and waiting some more!" Charlie giggled as she finally slid off the bed and rushed over to throw her arms around Lorelai. "You look beautiful," the little girl whispered with a smile.

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she held an arm out for Rory to join them. "You're sure about this?" Lorelai asked.

"Yup!" Charlie said immediately.

"You guys just weren't ready last time," Rory said. "You're ready now, there's nothing in your way." The Gilmore Girls stood close for a moment longer before they heard a truck pull up to the house.

"LUKE!" Charlie squealed as she jumped away from her mother and Rory and ran, full tilt, towards the front door. Rory and Lorelai couldn't help but laugh.

"She really missed him."

"She never said anything to me," Lorelai commented as she looked at Rory.

"She said it made you sad, so, she just told me." The paused and smiled for a moment as they heard Charlie and Luke laughing downstairs. Lorelai gave Rory one last hug before she grabbed her bag and warp and headed down stairs.

"You guys are gonna get it right this time, right?" Charlie asked, still tightly held in Luke's arms. "Cause we don't do disappointment well."

"Really?" he asked with a smile.

"Yep. Lot's of cryin' and lot's of bad choices."

"We'll try really hard this time," he said as he gave her one last squeeze before putting her on the ground and sending her to Rory who was just now coming down the stairs. "Ready?"

"More than," Lorelai replied with a smile as she called out a few last minute instructions to Rory before her and Luke left the house.

"Rory. Rory wake up," Charlie said quickly as she shook Rory awake the next morning.

"What?" she asked sleepily as she straightened the necklace that was still around her neck, three small sapphires from Logan.

"Mom's not back yet," Charlie said.

"Well, we should go to Luke's and look for her," she said with a smile as she kicked Charlie into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.

"Why would she still be with Luke?"

"I love that you have to ask that," she said with a smile as she pulled herself out of bed to make some pop tarts.

Charlie's 4

"Charlie, go answer the door!" Rory called from her room. Rory had taken Charlie back to Yale with her after Friday night dinner so her mother and Luke could have a night alone. She listened as the 4 year old scampered to the door and smiled. She was expecting Paris to return with take out and she figured her arms would be full.

"Didcha get it all?" Charlie called as she swung the door open. "You're not Paris," she remarked as she stared up at the blonde haired boy who stood in the door way.

"And you're not Rory," he commented as he looked down at the little girl in front of him. "Aren't you a little young to be going to Yale?" Charlie giggled.

"I'm Charlie," she announced, still making no moves to let him into the dorm room. "Who are you?"

"I'm Logan," he replied. He couldn't help but smile as Charlie's face lit up in recognition and she giggled.
"RORY! YOUR BOYFRIEND'S HERE!" she finally yelled out in a sing-song voice, loud enough for the whole floor to hear.

"And he's captured your Charlie," Logan called out to her as he finally scooped Charlie up and let himself into the room, closing the door behind him with his foot. Charlie laughed away as Logan turned her upside down before dumping her on the couch and heading to Rory's room. "Hey," he said as he peaked in.

"Hey," she said with a smile as she looked up from her books. "I'm just about done. We're waiting on Paris, she's bringing dinner."

"What's with the new room mate?" he asked as he sat down on her bed.

"That's Charlie, my sister. I've told you about her," she said as she put down her pen and turned away from her desk to look at him.

"Right, right. She's not what I expected," she commented.

"And what were you expecting?"

"Hey, every other little kid I've ever met has been a screamer and a brat. I was half expecting her to be exactly the same."

"Silly boy," Rory said. "Go sit with her for a while. Watch some TV, she's easy to get along with."

"Rory. . . "

"I'm gonna be a few more minutes. Just go sit, she'll do the rest. GO!" she urged with a smile as she turned back to her books. Logan looked at his girl friend for another long moment before he pulled himself up off the bed and headed back out to the common room.

"So?" Rory asked as she helped Charlie get all the blankets and pillows in place in the common room. She and Charlie were going to have a grand sleep over and fall asleep while watching movies and eating junk food. Paris had bowed out, deciding to spend the night with Doyle instead.

"So what?" Charlie asked as she tossed the last few pillows into place before diving into the blankets.

"So what did you think of Logan?"

"He was ok," she said as she grabbed the box of Red Vines.

"Just ok? You two seemed to be making enough noise for him to at least get a 'he's good'," she commented as she settled herself down and grabbed a box of Milk Duds.

"I'm keeping my options open," she returned. "I only met him today."
"Right," Rory said with a snicker as she turned on the movie. "You are one funny kid, you know that?"

"I know," Charlie said confidently as she snuggled down, box of Red Vines in one hand and her drink cup, with lid, in the other. Rory glanced over at her kid sister and snickered to herself before she too turned her attention to the movie.