OK, so last chapter, some one made a comment about how the time line of the chapter didn't make any sense. Now, I never thought that this would be a problem, but apparently it is, so, if said reviewer comes back, here's the deal: Everything that appears in this "story" is just a random scene. There is no rhyme or reason to the order in which they appear. This is the order in which they were written. None of these scenes will ever end up in Da Capo, though a variation of them might. Charlie is all different ages in them, some time Rory is with Marty, some times she's with Logan. Some times Lorelai and Luke held it together, other times she's with Chris. It's all just the luck of the draw.
As an added bonus to this chapter, I had a request for a nice Charlie/Chris scene and, low and behold, it has appeared. The last scene is a nice little bonding moment between Chris and Charlie. As always, don't for get to review here and on Da Capo!
Charlie's about 5
Charlie looked up from the picture she was colouring and over at her mother who was flipping lifelessly through the television channels.
"Momma?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah?" she asked, turning her attention away form the TV.
"Where's Luke?"
"At the diner."
"And he was there yesterday?"
"Of course he was," she replied. "Why do you ask?"
"We've been spending a lot of time at Al's," Charlie pointed out.
"Well, change is good," Lorelai said as she turned off the TV and got up off the couch. "Do you want a Pop Tart? I feel like Pop Tarts," she said as she headed to the kitchen.
"Momma?" Charlie asked as she jumped up and followed Lorelai to the kitchen. "Momma, can we go to Luke's?"
"You don't want Pop Tarts?" Lorelai asked as she continued unwrapping them and putting them in the toaster.
"I miss Luke," she said. Charlie watched as her mother stopped fumbling with the Pop Tarts.
"April's at the diner right now," Lorelai answered simply.
"So?"
"So. . . Luke asked us not to come by when April's there."
"Why?" she asked as she came to stand beside Lorelai. "Why can't we go to the diner?" Lorelai shrugged.
"He has his reasons. You want chocolate milk?" she asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, chocolate's good," Charlie muttered as she climbed up onto a chair. "Momma?"
"What, Charlie?"
"I miss Luke," she said again. Lorelai hesitated in front of the fridge.
"So do I," Lorelai finally admitted. A heavy silence fell over the pair of them. "So, chocolate milk?" she asked again, trying to keep her voice light.
"Yeah, chocolate milk," Charlie said as she rested her head on her arms.
A few days later, Charlie found herself sitting on the steps outside of Miss Patty's, waiting for Lorelai to pick her up after a dance lesson.
"Honey, your mom just called, she said she's running a little late," Patty said as she bend down next to Charlie.
"I'm going to Luke's," she said firmly, her eyes still fixed on Luke and April in the diner.
"Don't forget to look both ways," Patty said. "I'll let your mom know."
"Good," Charlie said as she finally stood up and marched to the curb. She cast a quick glance up and down the street before she marched across and into the diner.
"Patty, where's Charlie?" Lorelai asked as she jogged up to the studio.
"She went to Luke's, honey," Patty said. Lorelai whipped her head around and caught sight of Charlie climbing up onto a stool at the counter.
"Oh no," she muttered as she quickly took off towards the diner.
"Charlie," Luke said, more than a little stunned to see the almost 5 year old climbing up onto a stool. "Does your mom know you're here?"
"She's late," Charlie said. She eyed Luke hard for a moment before she turned her head to look at April. "I'm Charlie," she announced.
"April," April replied with a smile.
"I was here first," Charlie said to her. A confused look came over April's face and before she could say anything, Charlie turned her attention back to Luke. "I was here first," she said to him and he was more than a little surprised at the dark look that was falling over Charlie's face. "We were here first, me and mom and Rory were here first."
"Charlie," he started.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!" she finally yelled at him. The diner fell silent to listen to what was going on. "You're supposed to be getting married! You're supposed to be getting married and you're supposed to be my dad and instead you spend all your time hiding here with April and we can't even come and see her!"
"Charlie, we are getting married," Luke said.
"You're never with us any more! You're always with her!" Charlie yelled, pointing at April.
"Charlie!" Lorelai said as she burst into the diner. "I'm sorry Luke," Lorelai said as she pulled Charlie off of the stool.
"We were here first!" Charlie yelled at him as Lorelai swung her up onto her hip and stormed out of the diner. "We were here first," Charlie cried into Lorelai's neck as the pair headed back to the Crap Shack.
"I know we were," Lorelai replied quietly as she held Charlie close and kept walking home.
April turned on her stool and watched Lorelai and Charlie head away from the diner.
"Luke?" April asked as she turned back around. She paused when she saw Luke. The last time she had seen him pale like this was when he had shown up at the science fair. "Luke?"
"Yeah?" he asked, finally looking away from the Gilmore Girls to April.
"What was all of that?" she asked.
"Uh, I don't really know," Luke said. "You still want that milkshake?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Sure," April said as she turned back to her book.
Lorelai held Charlie close as she cried herself out over Luke and the incident in the diner. She had to admit that there was something soothing in listening to her youngest crying about everything that she herself wanted to sit down and cry about.
"It's gonna be ok," Lorelai whispered as she smoothed her hair and rocked Charlie. "He just needs a little more time to figure April out, then things will get back to normal."
"It's not fair," Charlie got out between sobs.
"No," Lorelai admitted quietly. "It's not fair."
Luke approached the Crap Shack slowly. He stopped before climbing the stairs to the porch and noticed that most of the lights were off.
"Lorelai?" he asked as he crept into the house. He closed the door and just as he was about to call out to her again, he noticed her curled up in the corner of the couch. The pair stared at each other for a moment and Luke swallowed hard.
"We were here first," Lorelai said quietly.
"She's my kid," he said.
"And I don't debate that," Lorelai said. "But, as far as Charlie's concerned, she's your kid too and doesn't understand why you're ignoring her and why you won't introduce her to your other kid and, I must admit that I'm a little fuzzy on the why myself."
"Lorelai. . . "
"We're engaged, Luke," she told him calmly, "We're getting married, allegedly."
"We are," he insisted.
"Except you won't set a date, or stay over here anymore. You won't introduce me or Charlie to April, thought you did introduce Rory. Does April even know you're engaged, Luke?" She watched as he hesitated. "Does she know we're involved in any way at all? Other than the fact that I'm a good friend who rescued her birthday party?"
"She knows we're involved," he said, grasping at anything he could at this point.
"Well, I guess that's something," Lorelai said as she finally stood up from the couch. "She was devastated by the time I got her home. She cried for hours," Lorelai told him as she came to stand in front of him. "She misses you and I miss you and I don't know what to do about it."
"I'm right here."
"But we can't come see you because April is with you, or she might be, or it makes Ana mad, or it might make her mad . . ."
"I need time," he said. "I gave you time when you needed it, why won't you give it to me?"
"I have given it to you, Luke. I have given you months alone with April. I figured that after you had some time alone with her, you'd start to invite us in but, you aren't. You're building a separate life with her."
"No I'm not," he insisted.
"When was the last time you picked Charlie up from school? Let her hang around in the diner? What about the last time you came over here for a movie night?" The pair stared at each other for a long moment. "I can't keep doing this Luke," Lorelai finally said.
"Can't keep doing what?" Luke asked, starting to panic a little.
"I can't keep lying to my kid, Luke. I can't keep telling her that this is going to happen, that we just have to be patient if it isn't actually going to happen."
"It's going to happen!"
"When?" she demanded of him, trying to keep the tears at bay. "When are you going to let us in? You can't. . . you can't be there and then not be there for her!"
"Jesus Lorelai! I'm always there for Charlie!"
"I told you, I told you when we got back together after my parents vow renewal that I wasn't going to do this again if things weren't going to last. You promised me that things were going to be fine and they're not fine, Luke! My kid is crying herself to sleep because she misses you and I can't make it better!"
"So, what? The only thing that's going to make it better is if we get married?" he demanded.
"Do you really think it would last if we got married now?" the pair stared at each other for a moment. They both knew the answer.
"I should go," he said, heading for the door.
"Don't come back," Lorelai finally said, just as he pulled the door open.
"What?" he asked as he turned to look at her.
"Don't come back," she said, trying to stay strong. "I'm done, we're done," she said.
"Lorelai, come on . . ."
"No," she said. "I'm out, Charlie's out, we're out. Go be April's dad."
"You don't really mean that, come on Lorelai," he said coming back into the house and over to her.
"No, Luke, I do mean it. Go be April's dad. This will be better for you, I mean, now you don't have to worry about hiding your other family from her, or worrying about what Ana will say and I can pick Charlie up and put her back together. It'll be just like when Rory was little and who doesn't love a touch of nostalgia?" she asked sarcastically as she wrapped her arms around herself.
"I'm not letting you do this," he said and she was more than a little pleased to see the pain and fear in his eyes.
"You didn't let me do anything, Luke," she said as she headed towards the kitchen. "This is all you. Lock the door on your way out," she said as she ducked into Charlie's room and closed the door. She leaned against it as she listened to hear him leave. A few moments later, she heard the front door open and close quietly. With a sigh, she dropped a kiss on Charlie's forehead before she slipped out of the room and headed upstairs, collapsing onto her bed, feeling utterly drained and empty.
Charlie's 5
Charlie shot up in bed, chest heaving and eyes wild as she searched her room for the monsters she was sure she had seen. As she caught her breath and the slick of sweat that ran the length of her spine started to cool, she began to relax when she realised that there were no monsters in her room, only GG in the other bed.
The 5 year old looked around blindly for a moment until she noticed the worn knit blanket, a baby gift from Mia, crumpled on the floor. She carefully leaned over and snatched it up, holding it close and allowing her thumb to find it's way into her mouth for a few moments. Once she was calm again, and satisfied that it had all really been a dream, she snuggled back down under the covers and closed her eyes again. A few seconds later, however, her eyes shot open again, echoes of her bad dream were still floating through her mind.
With a sigh, she held her blankie tight and slid out of bed, quietly slipping out the door and into the kitchen. She didn't know how late it was so she stopped and listened for the soft sound of the TV that would indicate at least her father was still up, but when she saw no tell tale glow or sound, she slowly padded towards the living room and the stairs that would lead up to the master suite.
"Shhhhh Paul Anka," she whispered to the dog who was asleep on the landing as she stepped over him. The dog casually raised his head to watch his kid go by before he put his head back on his paws.
Charlie quickly headed to the end of the hallway and nudged the double doors open, poking her head into the room to take a look. She slipped into the room silently and quickly rushed to the bed. She sucked in a breath when she realised her father was sleeping closet to the door tonight. She also found it odd that he tended not to sleep with a t-shirt on, preferring to throw on a robe in the morning.
Luke had never worn a robe, always sweatpants and a t-shirt. Cut off sweatpants in the summer.
"Momma," she whispered as she quickly scampered to the other side of the bed. "Momma?" she asked again as she crouched down a little to be at eye level with Lorelai.
"What?" she asked, still mostly asleep.
"Scary monsters," was all Charlie said, worrying the blanket in her hands. This got Lorelai's attention and she slowly opened her eyes and looked at Charlie.
"Tell me," she said as she held the covers open and invited Charlie to crawl in. She quickly did, taking a moment to get comfortable before she tried to make sense of the jumble of images she had seen while her mother stroked her hair, trying to help her relax back to sleep.
When Luke had been new to spending the night and this happened, Charlie would wake up beside her mother and find Luke asleep on the couch. After they were engaged, he'd stay, but he'd always be very sure to just sleep on the very edge of his half of the bed.
Chris, on the other hand, didn't even stir. He just snored a little and rolled over, tossing an arm over the two of them as he pulled Lorelai closer to him in his sleep.
"Do you want me to look under your bed?" Lorelai offered when the story was done, dropping a kiss to the top of Charlie's head. Charlie paused to think about that for a moment.
Checking for monsters had been Luke's job.
"No."
"Want me to wake up dad?"
"Can I just stay here?" Charlie asked, rolling over so she faced her mother.
"For a little longer," she said with a soft smile. "Go to sleep, I'll take you down once you're asleep, ok?"
"Yeah," she said as she snuggled in close against her mother, thumb finding it's way back into her mouth as she tried to figure out why Luke would wake up when she wandered into the room, but her father slept right through.
Charlie's about 6, GG is about 4.5
"Daddy loves me more."
Charlie turned her attention away from the TV to look at her little half sister who had just blurted out that little fact.
"Does not," Charlie fired back automatically.
"Does too," the 3 and a half year old shot back. "He was my all the time daddy, not your's." Charlie frowned for a moment as she thought about this.
"So what?" Charlie asked. "I had Rory as an all the time sister. Rory loves me more. And mom loves me more than you. So there." GG shrugged as she picked up the remote.
"Rory and Lorelai don't spoil you like daddy spoils me."
"No, they don't," Charlie said casually, "But I'm not a brat."
"I'm good now!" GG protested as she turned her attention away from the TV as the two of them thought back to the afternoon Lorelai had spent babysitting last year.
"I'm always good. Mostly," Charlie tacked on as an after thought.
"Grandma loves me more too."
"So? My grandma can't even remember your name," Charlie said with a smirk. This made GG falter because Francine asked about Lorelai, Rory and Charlie every week they went for dinner. "Grandma and Grandpa never ask about you."
"My grandma said she might get me a pony," GG said, besting Charlie again, or at least trying too.
"Momma owns TWO horses at the inn and she takes me riding with her when ever I want," Charlie said, knowing she had won this round. Sure, it was a bit of a lie because she couldn't go when ever she wanted, but Lorelai did take her riding with her when ever they had time an no guests wanted Dessie or Cletus.
"My pony's gonna be prettier," GG said, unfazed by Charlie. "It's going to be a girl and it's gonna be all black with just a white spot on it's forehead and I'm gonna feed her carrots right out of my hands."
"I have a dog," Charlie said, changing the subject away from horses.
"Paul Anka is Lorelai's dog. And he has a funny name." Charlie frowned a little as she realised she had lost that round. "My mommy's very pretty," GG said, out of the blue.
"So's my momma," Charlie countered. As far as she was concerned, she had never seen anyone as pretty as her mother.
"Mine's prettier," GG insisted. "And perfect. She's tall and smart and she doesn't have any scars at all." Charlie frowned. Her mother had her share of blemishes on her fair skin. 'Land Marks' Lorelai called them, each one telling a story about something stupid she had done, or some thing that had happened while helping Rory or Charlie do something.
"My mom's perfect too," Charlie insisted. She hated when people tried to say Lorelai wasn't.
"She's got scars."
"So? She got them doin' great things! Important things!" Charlie insisted.
"Like what?" GG asked, looking at Charlie for the first time since starting the conversation. Her step mother was still a bit of a mystery to her.
"Like. . . like the time she cut her foot on a broken plate because she had to get me out of the way. Or that time she burned her arm helping Luke serve plates at the diner when his uncle died. They all have a good story."
"I think they're ugly," GG answered, rather haughtily, as she turned back to the TV.
"They are not! You take that back!" Charlie shot back.
"No," GG said, proud to have finally gotten a rise out of Charlie. "I think the scars are ugly and they make you less pretty." Charlie fumed for a moment.
"My mom loves me more than your mom does," she blurted out. GG hesitated when she heard this. While they'd had this argument, or a similar one, many times, they had never gone in this particular direction before.
"Does not," GG answered, not sure what else to say.
"Does too," Charlie said, a full head of steam behind her after listening to GG all but call her mother ugly. "My mom loves me so much that she didn't even think of going to Paris without me. You're mom packed up and left you without saying goodbye."
"That's not true!" GG shot back as she turned face Charlie.
"She left a note with the nanny and dad had to call mom because he didn't know how to be a dad!"
"You're a liar!" GG shot back at Charlie. "My mommy loves me more than anything! She said so!"
"Then why did she leave you? Why is my momma your new mom?" Charlie asked, yelling just as loudly as GG.
"She's not my new mommy!" GG yelled. "My mommy lives in France and she loves me so much that she wants me to spend the whole summer in Paris with her!"
"Oh yeah? Well my mom loves me so much she gave up a chance to work in France so she could stay with me!" A grin turned up the corners of Charlie's mouth when she saw GG's face crumple a little more. She was finally going to win this argument for once. "My mom loves me more than your mom loves you," she said. What happened next was a blur for everyone in the house. In a matter of seconds, GG had launched herself across the couch at Charlie while Lorelai and Chris tore into the living room from the kitchen. By the time they got to the girls, GG was on top of Charlie, crying in frustration as she as she tried her best to hurt her and Charlie was yelling at her to get off as she balled her fist up.
"Hey!" Chris yelled as he grabbed for GG. He wasn't fast enough though, and Charlie managed to connect her right fist with GG's cheek and was scrambling up to try again as Lorelai finally grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. Each parent looked at each other as they held a struggling prize fighter in their arms before Lorelai dragged Charlie upstairs so Chris could calm GG down.
"What was that?" Lorelai asked once Charlie had calmed down a little.
"She said dad loved her more," was all Charlie answered before Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"Charlie, we've been over and over this," she said with a sigh. Charlie heaved an angry sigh of her own and she crossed her arms and turned away from her mother.
"I wish they'd never moved in," Charlie muttered.
"What?" Lorelai asked. Charlie had thought it would be a great idea when they had talked to her about it.
"I wish they had never come to Stars Hollow," Charlie said, starting to get upset again. "If they had never come, he would still be here!"
"Who would still be here?" she asked, trying to calm Charlie down again.
"Luke!" she yelled. "You were supposed to be getting married! He was gonna live here and then, all of a sudden, you're not any more and he's mad and you're mad and Rory's mad and we don't get to go to the diner any more!" Charlie yelled. Lorelai's mouth fell into a tight line as she listened to her youngest start ranting. Charlie hadn't said much about her break up with Luke, so she had always assumed it was going to come. . . "Luke was supposed to live here and cook here and wear his sweat pants and t-shirts to bed and not be freaked out any more when I had a bad dream!"
"Charlie," Lorelai said softly as she gathered the little girl into her arms. They pair sat quietly as collected their thoughts and calmed down again.
"She said they're ugly," Charlie finally muttered, running a finger over the scar on the back of her mother's hand, the one she knew was from a botched cooking attempt when Rory was little.
"She said what are ugly?" she asked quietly.
"Scars," Charlie finally spit out. "She said her momma was prettier because she didn't have any and you had lots."
"Oh well," Lorelai said with a shrug. "Life happens."
Charlie laid in bed that night, listening to her parents argue some more about the fight she and GG had gotten into. Sure, they had apologised and had even played a round of Candy Land before bed, but Chris was still mad about what she had done.
"They had a fight, Chris! A little more physical than I'd like, but they had a fight! They're both used to being only kids, or at least the youngest in the house, they're adjusting."
"She had no right to say the things that she did to GG!" he fired back.
"And GG had no right to tell Charlie that scars make people ugly," Lorelai shot back, watching in satisfaction as Chris stumbled in his argument.
"Your kid punched mine in the face because of something she said."
"My kid?" Lorelai asked him. "Was Charlie an immaculate conception that the media didn't get wind of?" she fired back at him. "She is OUR kid, our kid who you abandoned in favour of raising GG because I wouldn't run off and marry you!" The pair stopped yelling at each other for a moment.
"I'm grounding her tomorrow," he said.
"Because the week without TV or any desert from Sookie wasn't enough? She's 5 Chris, are you going to make her sit in her room all day?"
"How am I ever gonna be her father if you won't let me?" he asked her. "How am I gonna parent her if you do it for me?"
"Well, you could talk to your mom about why she insists on seeing GG, but not Charlie, who is her other granddaughter, by the way, you could read with her, or colour or hell, go with her to talk to Babette's gnomes she invites you."
Charlie swallowed hard as she listened to the fight heat up until she heard an exclamation of "Whatever," from her father and a door slam a few moments later.
"Momma?" Charlie asked quietly as she came into the living room.
"Hey, what are you doing up?" Lorelai asked, forcing a tired smile onto her face.
"I promise not to hit GG again, no matter how mad she makes me," Charlie apologised quickly as she crawled onto Lorelai's lap.
"A very good call," she said with a chuckle.
"Where's dad?"
"He went out for a bit," Lorelai lied. "He needs to do some thinking."
"Oh."
"Hey, how about some hot chocolate before you go back to bed?" she asked. Charlie nodded and let Lorelai deposit her on the couch before she got up and headed to the kitchen. Charlie headed over to the window a moment later and peaked out at the jeep and Volvo that should be in the drive way.
Only the Jeep was there.
Charlie's 5. GG's 3.5
"Hey kiddo!" Chris said brightly when he saw Charlie hanging around the door frame of the bathroom. "Whatcha doin?"
"Watchin'" she replied casually as she made no effort to move.
"Whatchin' what?" he asked with a smile as he dug through his black shaving bag.
"You," she replied simply, her eyes following the movement of his hands. She was silently comparing his morning routine to Luke's. Charlie had rarely seen Luke's morning routine, if only because he was usually gone form the house before she got up. She did, however, know that he usually showered, then used an electric razor unless Lorelai specifically requested that he shave his face clean. He'd run a brush quickly through his hair before he'd toss on his blue cap and head out for the day. Chris had a lot more products than Luke did, almost as many as Lorelai had.
"Well, get in here," he said with a smile. She grinned a little too as she slipped into the bathroom, standing slightly behind him. Luke had never invited her in. He didn't mind if she watched, but he never invited her in. Chris chuckled at her before he picked her up and sat her on the counter beside him, in between the double sinks. Charlie watched as Chris carefully pulled out his supplies and lined them up neatly in a row behind the sink in the order he'd use them in.
"So," he asked her as he turned the water on. "What are you up to today?"
"School," she replied as she watched him wash his face before he grabbed the can of shaving cream. "We're going to the gym today, maybe out side if it isn't too cold. Gotta remember to bring my crazy carpet," she replied as she stuck her finger in a glob of shaving cream that had fallen out of his hand.
"Just in case?" he asked as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Just in case," she replied as she finished drawing a pattern in the cream.
"Good plan," he said as he rinsed of his hands before picking up his razor. Charlie stopped what she was doing and watched as Chris carefully moved the sharp blades over his face.
"What else are you up to?" he prompted, trying to get as much info out of Charlie as he could. He and GG were staying over fairly regularly now, the least he could do was learn about Charlie' s schedule so he could help out too.
"I have dance today, after school," she told him as she subconsciously stretched out her neck like he was doing. He smiled a little when he saw this. "Ballet with Miss Patty. She says I'm really good. . . "
"I hear a but in there."
"I dunno. I stumble a lot," she said. "And I have trouble keepin' quiet. I like Jazz better but Miss Patty says you have to learn ballet if you're gonna learn jazz."
"Well, from what I've heard, Miss Patty has done it all, so she's probably right," he commented as he rinsed off his razor one last time before splashing water on his face. Charlie giggled as he got some on her as well.
"Do you think . . .maybe. . . " Charlie trailed off.
"Do I think maybe what?" he asked as he towelled off his face before reaching for the after shave.
"Do you think maybe you could come and watch?" she asked quietly, uncertainty written all over her face. It hurt Chris to know that he had put that look on her face. The few other times she had asked him to things, he had bailed out at the last minute, mostly because of GG's behaviour.
"I think I would love to," he said. "I will leave GG here with your mom so it's just us, how does that sound?"
"Really?" Charlie asked, her face lighting up.
"Really. Class starts at 5 o'clock, right?" he asked.
"Yeah. We have dinner later on dance nights," she informed him, her feet starting to swing as he recapped the after shave and grabbed his tooth brush.
"Well, we'll just have to have a really great snack after school then, won't we?" he asked as he quickly began to brush his teeth.
"Yeah!" Charlie said, starting to get really excited about things. "A really great snack!" He snickered a little as she bounced a little on the counter.
"Well, before we do any of that," he said as he repacked his bag. "I think breakfast is in order."
"Yeah! Pop Tarts!" Charlie said as Chris lifted her off the counter.
"How about eggs?" he asked her with a smile.
"Who's gonna make'em?" she asked as she leaned over to turn out the light on their way past. Chris chuckled.
"I can cook, ya know," he told her as he offered her a little tickle.
"Really?" she asked him, not sure if she believed him or not.
"Really really," he assured her with a smile as they headed down the stairs. She bugged him about cooking a little longer until he dumped her on the couch next to GG and headed to the kitchen.
"Wow," she said when she saw the spread of bacon, eggs and pop tarts on the table. "Dad can cook," she told Lorelai as she climbed up onto the chair next to her.
"He apparently can," Lorelai replied as she grabbed a pop tart for Charlie and one for GG who was sitting on her other side. "But is it eatable, that's the real question."
"Hey!" Chris said, pretending to be mad. "Of course you can eat it. Tell'em Geeg."
"It's good," the little blonde insisted as she took a bite of pop tart while Chris spooned some eggs and a couple of pieces of bacon onto her plate.
"Like we're going to take the word of someone who puts ketchup on everything," Lorelai said dismissively, though she was wearing a smile on her face. Charlie giggled as she snatched a piece of bacon off her plate and slipped it to Paul Anka.
Lorelai watched as Chris and GG walked Charlie to school after breakfast and she sighed, a small smile on her face. Maybe this was all going to work out the way it should.