So, long time no see here. Well, the first one. . . first one is sad and angsty, but the rest are lighter. Just suck it up and either read the first one or skip over it.
Charlie's nearly 5
He had been sick for a while, nothing huge, just a persistent cough that kept dragging on and he was still having trouble catching his breath at the top of a flight of stairs.
"Just go see someone about it," Lorelai had told him one night. "Let some nice man in a white coat tell you it's nothing so you can stop worrying about it." He had grumbled about Doctors and hospitals and the hospital smell for a while, but he had kept the idea in the back of his head.
"A mass," The doctor had said, pointing it out to him on the x-ray he had taken. "It's small, smaller than I would have expected, but there it is," he said, tapping it with his pen. Luke stared at the solid white circle that was surrounded by a sea of hazy white clouds representing various other structures and he had felt his mouth go dry. He listened as the doctor rattled off treatment options and remission rates that would be discussed further with the specialist he was being referred to and, in the end, he thanked the doctor for his time, shook his hand and walked numbly out of the office. He sat in his truck for a long moment, trying to wrap his mind around things.
This was all a little to similar to his father for his tastes. Of course, his father hadn't been engaged and nearly married with a 12 year old and an almost 5 year old at home and a 21 year old at college.
"So, how'd it go?" Lorelai asked when he came in. She and Charlie both turned slightly to look at him from where they were sitting on the couch.
"Fine," he replied. "The nice man in a white coat told me not to worry." The nice man in a white coat had told him not to worry that they had caught it early and his chances were good. Lorelai stared at him for a moment as Charlie turned her attention back to the TV. He offered her a small smile that she returned before she turned her attention back to the TV too.
"You haven't heard a word I've said," she pointed out to him as she walked out of the bathroom, tooth brush in hand.
"You're right," he replied, finally looking up at her. "What did you say?" he asked as he finally pulled on the t-shirt he had been holding. Lorelai looked at him for a moment before she walked over and sat next to him on the bed.
"What's wrong?" she asked him, ignoring the drop of cold water that he dripped from her freshly rinsed tooth brush onto her hand. Luke sighed heavily and looked at his feet again.
"It wasn't fine," he admitted and she sat quietly as he told her what the nice man in the white coat had actually told him. She cut him off when he started to apologise for not telling her right away. The two sat silently for a moment as Lorelai absorbed the new curve in their path to happiness.
"Ok," she said slowly. "Well, where do we have to be and when?" He stood up and headed to where he had tossed his jeans. She watched as he rummaged through the pockets for a moment before he pulled out an appointment card and handed it to her. "Well," she said, reading the card. "We'll talk to Rory, April and Charlie after we see him then." He nodded and agreed without question. He didn't really understand how she could be so calm about this, but he was glad that at least one of them could focus on what needed to happen.
Lorelai had told Rory first, she had driven down to New Haven a few days after the appointment and Rory had asked what she could do to help after she had wrapped her mind around things.
"We're telling April and Charlie this weekend," Lorelai replied. Rory said she'd be there and that she wouldn't tell Emily and Richard about it until Lorelai said she could. The pair talked quietly for a while longer before Lorelai had to head home. Rory sat in the apartment she shared with Paris and Doyle, not really sure what to do next. Eventually, she got up and headed to her room, determined to at least try and focus on the homework she had to do.
April and Charlie had dealt with the news much the way they had thought they would April had started asking questions that no one could really answer and Charlie had just started to cry, burying herself in her mothers arms. Frustrated with the lack of answers, April jotted some notes down on a scrap of paper and she and Rory headed to one of the larger libraries in Hartford to get some answers.
"You're gonna be ok though, right?" Charlie eventually got out as she crawled from Lorelai's lap to Luke's. "When it's all over, you're gonna be ok?" she asked, looking up at him as she tried to keep herself together.
"That's the plan," he replied as he held her close. He and Lorelai were both glad she hadn't made him promise.
Things progressed as expected, both in Stars Hollow and else where. The town caught wind of what was going on and everyone pitched in, like always. There was always someone ready to sit with Charlie, or get her to and from an activity while several people signed up to work shifts at the diner for tips only.
"Well, you have the tattoo, you now have a totally bitchin' scar. . . all you really need now is a motorcycle," Lorelai joked to Luke a few days after surgery. He chuckled and she was pretty sure that was only because of the morphine they had him on, but she didn't care. He started chemo a few weeks later and began to question how, exactly, pumping his body full of toxic chemicals was actually going to be beneficial to his health.
"Betcha wish you had eaten that cheese cake, don't ya?" Lorelai asked him one day as she kept him company on the bathroom floor. He chuckled weakly, thinking back to the cheese cake he had sent home with her when they had been dating and the fight Liz and TJ'd had in his bathroom.
"Maybe a little," he admitted before he closed his eyes for a moment. She couldn't help but pat the back of his hand that was resting on her knee as she returned the smile.
Charlie slouched in her chair and pouted as her mother left the room to answer her cell phone. She had left Charlie with specific instructions to stay in the chair.
"What's wrong?" Luke asked after he turned his attention to Charlie. The long days of quiet hospital visits were starting to take their toll.
"Sponge Bob is on," Charlie complained. "And this chair sucks." He couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"Well, come here," he said, nodding his head towards the bed as he slowly reached over for the TV remote. Charlie hesitated for a moment before she slid off the chair and hurried over to the bed. She dropped her blankie on the bed before she kicked off her shoes, took off her sweater and quickly scrambled up on the bed, careful not to bump Luke. He shifted over slowly to make room and the pair were soon snuggled together.
"I'll find it," she told him as he handed her the remote. He laid back and watched as the channels flipped by. He was more than a little amazed when she stopped on the right channel on the first try. As they settled down to watch the inane cartoon, he couldn't help but smile as the little girl started to sing along with the obnoxious theme song.
As the cartoon dragged on, Luke let himself drift. He was rather amazed at how quickly things started to seem like home when he closed his eyes. As he reached that spot between sleep and awake, he let his hands run through Charlie's hair, enjoying the feel of it between his fingers.
Lorelai rolled her eyes as she hung up with Michel. Yes, she did realise that she was the owner and needed to put in some time at the inn, but she couldn't be two places at once no matter how much she wanted to be. Still fuming from having to remind Michel that he was the manager of the Dragonfly and he should be dealing with complaints, she grumbled at her cell phone for a moment longer before she shoved it in her purse and headed back to Luke's room.
She had to pause when she reached the door way. She leaned against the frame as she took in the pair. They both looked like they were asleep, Charlie tucked into his side as she clutched her blankie and sucked her thumb while he slowly ran his hands through her hair. Lorelai allowed herself to wonder what she would do if anything happened to Luke, but she quickly pushed it out of her mind again before she finally moved into the room. She wandered slowly over to the bed, wishing she had worn a pair of sneakers instead of her black boots with the cute little heel.
"Hey," she said softly when he cracked an eye open and looked at her.
"Hey," he replied quietly.
"I told her to stay in the chair." He shrugged a little and told her that he had invited her up.
"Sponge Bob and all," he said. She stared at him for a moment before she shook her head.
"You two are quite the pair," was all she could say before she moved to the other side of the bed and sat near the foot to watch the cartoon as well.
Charlie's 3
Charlie tried to bury her head further into her pillow, but the racket in the kitchen didn't get any quieter. Eventually, the almost 3 year old rolled over flat onto her back and stared at the ceiling as she listened. If this what her nights were going to be like, she was going to start asking her mom to send Rory back to Yale. Eventually, the little girl grabbed her blankie and slid out of bed. She padded to the door and blinked at the harsh light in the kitchen as she watched Rory rush around her.
"Oh, hey Charlie!" Rory said brightly as she started rattling away about what she was doing. Charlie frowned as she listened to Rory for a moment. She soon grew tired of this and, with her blankie dragging on the floor behind her, she trudged slowly towards the living room and she carefully made her way up the stairs and into her mother's room.
"Momma!" Charlie said loudly and watched in satisfaction as Lorelai jumped awake.
"What?" she asked immediately. Charlie simply held her arms up and waited. Lorelai slowly leaned over the edge of the bed and help Charlie climb up. As she held the covers up for Charlie to snuggle under, she wouldn't help but listen to the noise that was coming from the ground floor. "Ah, that would be why you're paying mommy a visit, not because you miss me," she said. Charlie had been moved down to Rory's room a few weeks ago and would still come upstairs and crawl into bed with Lorelai every now and then. Lorelai laid in bed for another moment, hoping it would grow quiet, but when it didn't, she flung her covers off and trudged downstairs.
Charlie sighed contentedly as she arranged herself under the familiar covers of her mother's bed. With a yawn, she watched as Lorelai headed for the bedroom door before she quietly slipped her thumb into her mouth.
"Great to have ya home, hun," Charlie heard a few moments later. Charlie yawned again and rolled over, happy to have the silence in the house again. "Your sister, I swear," Lorelai muttered as she slipped into bed beside her youngest and pulled her close. The two drifted back off to sleep soon after.
Charlie's just about 5
Charlie sat quietly in her car seat as she and her mother headed to Hartford. Something was gong on , but no one was talking about it. They had picked Rory up from a police station a few days ago and now Lorelai was mad and Rory wasn't home any more.
"Momma?" Charlie asked quietly.
"What?" Lorelai asked. The fact that Lorelai didn't glance at Charlie in the rear-view mirror wasn't lost on her.
"Where's Rory?" she asked cautiously. Lorelai replied that she was on her way to Hartford and offered nothing else. Charlie frowned a little and sank back into her seat. She stayed quiet for the rest of the ride to Hartford, not really sure what was going to happen next.
"Come on," Lorelai said lightly as she helped Charlie out of her seat and onto the pavement of the driveway.
"We're early," Charlie commented. Usually, the number on the radio said 7:00. Tonight it read 6:45.
"I know," Lorelai said as she rang the door bell. "Happy faces," she commented. Charlie frowned again, but allowed her mother to lead her into the house and help her pass her coat off to the maid before they headed towards the living room. As she was about to greet her grandparents, they started to speak first. She sat on the couch next to Lorelai and listened as she, Emily and Richard started to talk about a situation and Rory and Yale. The 3 year old chewed on her lip in order to keep quiet. She desperately wanted to ask what was going on, but she couldn't get a word in edge wise.
She flinched a little as Lorelai grabbed her hand and held it a little tighter than was comfortable. She nearly tripped when her mother yanked her up and stormed into the dinning room.
"Momma," Charlie protested before Lorelai scooped her up and continued on her tirade about what she had discussed with her parents early in the week.
"I don't under. . . " Lorelai started.
"To watch her, keep her from getting into trouble," Richard said. "We can get her back on track!" he insisted. Lorelai shook her head and headed back to the living room. She found her coat and Charlie's and dropped Charlie to the ground, handing her her coat. Before the little girl could even ask what was going on, her mother had ushered her out the door with Richard calling after them.
"What's going on? Where's Rory? Why aren't we staying?" Charlie asked quickly, her questions rushing out as she rushed to keep up with her mother.
"Keep up," was all Lorelai said as she hurried to the back yard.
"Momma," Charlie called as she now broke into a run to keep up with Lorelai. "Oof!" she let out when she slammed into the back of Lorelai's legs. Giving her head a shake, Charlie peaked out around her mother and saw Rory in the pool house. With a smile, Charlie started towards the door, but hesitated when her mother didn't follow.
"Come on," she said, offering her mother a smile that quickly fell off of her face when she saw the look on her mother's face. She turned her gaze back to Rory in the pool house and her face fell a little further when she saw the look on her sisters face. She offered Rory a smile and a wave that wasn't returned.
"Come on, baby," Lorelai said softly, offering a hand. Charlie offered Rory one last wave before she took Lorelai's hand and the pair quietly left the Gilmore residence.
The ride back to Stars Hollow was quiet. Lorelai didn't say anything as she tried to keep her tears at bay and Charlie sat in the back of the jeep, stewing over why her sister was unpacking in the pool house instead of at home.
Finally, they reached Stars Hollow, coming to a stop in front of the diner.
"Hey, why don't you take a couple of donuts and head upstairs for a bit?" Lorelai asked as soon as they set foot in the diner. Luke looked up at Lorelai and Charlie quickly, ready to protest the fact that she was going to feed the pre-schooler donuts but when he saw the looks on both of their faces, he simply went to the counter and put two of Charlie's favourites on a plate. "I'll be up in a minute, ok?"
"Ok," Charlie said slowly. She looked at Lorelai again for a long moment before she accepted the plate from Luke and climbed up the stairs to his apartment slowly.
"Rory dropped out of Yale," Lorelai said once Charlie was out of the diner.
"What?" was all Luke could say as his eyes grew wide and he worked hard to not let his jaw drop to the floor. Lorelai shrugged and sniffled a little as she sat heavily in a chair.
"She dropped out of Yale and moved in with my parents, who I went to for help, and they stabbed me in the back," she said. Luke shook his head as he listened to all of this. As soon as Lorelai was done with her story, Luke jumped in, outlining an elaborate plan to get Rory back into Yale.
"What?" he asked once he was done and all Lorelai did was stare at him.
"Thank you," was all she said as she stood up slowly and he welcomed her into his arms. They held each other for a moment before she placed an order for two Friday Night Specials. "I've got a 3 year old I need to explain all of this to."
"Do you want me to. . . " he trailed off, nodding towards the stairs. Lorelai shook her head.
"She's gonna cry when it all comes out," Lorelai told him. "She hates to cry in front of you because she knows it freaks you out. She's gonna need to cry, I need to cry. We'll be done when the food's ready," Lorelai said calmly.
"You can cry tonight," Luke told her, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. "I won't get freaked out," he promised. She offered a watery smile before she finally slipped out of his arms and trudged up the stairs.
Charlie's 4.5
"Come on," Luke said as he rushed Charlie into her coat and hat after school. "The diner is packed, Lane is late and Caesar is freaking out," he grumbled as he grabbed her pack off of the hook and ushered her out the door. Charlie prattled on about school as she jogged a little to keep up with Luke.
"I'm ok," she said quickly after she slipped on an icy patch. She quickly pulled her self up and raced after him again. "Luke?" she asked as she climbed up onto a stool at the counter.
"What?" he asked as he left a glass of apple juice in front of her.
"What's she like?" she asked as she shrugged out of her coat.
"What's who like?" he asked as he rushed to pick up a few orders. Charlie spun around on the stool so she could keep an eye on Luke.
"You're kid. What's she like?" Charlie asked again as he walked past her on his was behind the counter. Luke avoided the questing for a moment until Charlie made him pay attention to her.
"Come on," he said gruffly, nodding towards the stairs. With a sigh, Charlie slid off of her stool, grabbed her coat and bag and followed him up the stairs. "Her name is April," he told her as he sat her down at the kitchen table. "She's 12."
"Is she nice?" Charlie asked, swinging her feet a little under the table.
"I think so. Smart too," he commented.
"How smart?" Charlie asked, accepting the glass of milk he had put in front of her.
"Pretty smart. She's good a science, math, that kind of smart." He watched as Charlie nodded as she mulled this over.
"Does she look like you? Everyone says I look like mom, so, does she look like you or her mom?"
"Her mom, mostly. Why are you so interested?" he asked with a bit of a smile as he finally sat down at the table with her.
"Well, you're marrying mom and since she's your kid, she's gonna be my sister. . . And Rory's. I think I should get to know her, don't you?" she turned to look at him with big eyes. Luke sighed heavily and dropped his head forward.
"Charlie. . ." he started.
"We should get to know her, right? Me and mom and Rory?" she asked again, leaning on the table a little.
"You will," he said quickly.
"When? Tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.
"I dunno Charlie," he said quickly as he stood up from the table. "Watch a video of something, ok? I'll be up in a bit," he said as he headed for the door.
"Yeah, okay," she said, trying not to sound too disappointed. Luke rested against the door for a moment. He did want to introduce all the Gilmore Girls to April, he just wanted a little more time with her by himself before they managed to sweep her off into their world. With a final sigh, he pushed himself away from the door and headed back down to the craziness in the diner.
"What happened today?" Lorelai asked Luke as they got ready for bed that night.
"What do you mean?" he asked as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.
"Miss Poutilina down stairs. Bad day at school?" Lorelai asked as she leaned against the sinks, arms crossed over her chest. Luke sighed heavily.
"She was asking all these questions about April and when was she going to meet her and I didn't know what to say."
"How could you not know what to say?" she asked, a little confused as to why they were even having this conversation.
"I just. . . I need more time with her," he said. "I need more time with April before I introduce the three of you two her."
"Why?" Lorelai asked as she turned out the light in the bathroom and followed Luke to bed. "Why can't we get to know her at the same time?"
She listened as Luke spilled out how he wanted to get to know her, make a relationship with her before she got swept up in the excitement that is life with the Gilmore Girls. "She's your kid Luke, we're not going to change that."
"I just need more time," he said. The pair looked at each other for a moment.
"Fine," Lorelai said, rather coldly. "Let me know when we can be part of this again." Luke watched as she quickly got under the covers and rolled over so her back was to him.
"So, the kid with Lorelai, is she your daughter too?" April asked a few days later. She was sitting at the counter, her school books spread out in front of her.
"No," he said quickly. "Charlie, Charlotte, but we call her Charlie. Charlie is Lorelai's daughter. Rory, I've told you about her, she's Charlie's older sister." He watched as April mulled this over.
"And you and Lorelai are engaged?" she asked, making sure that she had most of hte facts about her father's life straight.
"Yeah," he said as he refilled the coffee machines.
"When do I get to meet them?" she frowned a little as she watched Luke hesitate with the coffee filter. "Luke?"
"You want to meet them?" he asked, finally turning around to look at her.
"Well, we are going to be family, it might be good if I got to know them soon. I'm still staying over Saturday night, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, Saturday night," he said, his mind reeling over the conversation they'd just had.
"What are you doing Saturday night?" Luke asked Lorelai when she, Charlie and Rory came in to the diner after Friday night dinner.
"Uh, well, Matthew Perry and I had plans, but they were sketchy at best. Why?" she asked.
"April is staying over and I thought that maybe dinner and a movie night might be in order."
"Really??" Charlie called as she jerked her head up to look at Luke.
"Yeah," he said, eyes still focused on Lorelai.
"I think we can swing that," Lorelai said slowly with a nod. Luke returned it, pleased to see the corners of Lorelai's mouth turning up into a grin.
"So, I guess we'll pop over around 5:30?" Luke asked as he topped off Lorelai and Rory's coffee cups.
"We'll be ready," she said with a nod. Luke nodded again and headed back to the counter. He couldn't help but smile as he heard the girls immediately
start planning a menu and the movies that would be watched.
Charlie's 5
Lorelai's eyes popped open when she heard the first clap of thunder. She waited a few more minutes and was rewarded with a brilliant flash of light in the sky.
"It's raining," she muttered to Luke.
"Wha?" he muttered, his face still buried in his pillow.
"And thundering. Some lightening too," she said, ignoring his confused mutterings.
"Should I wake up for this?" he asked, turning slightly to look at her.
"Go back to sleep," she said with a smile and a shake of her head. Luke gave a bit of a snort and rolled back over, going to back to sleep. Lorelai fidgeted with the duvet cover for a few more moments before she finally slid out of bed and crept downstairs.
She couldn't help but smile when she saw the door to Charlie's room open and no little girl in the bed. She crept to the living room and peaked out the windows, smiling when she saw the little girl huddled on the padded bench, the throw from the couch thrown over her as she watched the rain fall hard.
Rain was to Charlie what snow was to Lorelai.
The 5 year old was drawn to it, taking every chance she got to either watch the rain or, when it was really warm out, go right out and sit in the middle of the yard, among Babette's gnomes and not come in until Luke physically brought her in or the rain stopped.
Lorelai watched her youngest for a while longer until she saw the little girl start to shiver a little. She quickly headed to the closet and pulled out a heavier blanket before she slipped out the door.
"Hey water baby," Lorelai said as she unfolded the blanket.
"It's raining really hard," Charlie said and Lorelai could hear the delight in her voice.
"It certainly is," Lorelai replied as she threw the blanket around her shoulders and sat down on the bench. She held the blanket open and Charlie quickly slid onto her lap and into her arms.
"Luke doesn't get it," Charlie said quietly as her and her mother shared a moment.
"Oh, I think he does," Lorelai countered. Luke knew that snow and rain, held some special spot in Lorelai and Charlie's hearts. He understood the snow thing more than the rain thing, but he knew they were both important to his girls, so he tended to just let them do their thing and go along with it when invited.
"I love the rain," Charlie said. "I love the way it smells and sounds and how it makes everything clean and cools everything off when it's hot," Charlie rattled on, stopping only when a yawn made her.
"I know," Lorelai said softly, a smile on her face as she dropped a soft kiss onto the top of Charlie's head. "I think you should go back to bed," Lorelai muttered.
"Just a little longer," Charlie begged as she snuggled a little deeper into her mother's arms. Lorelai smiled knowingly as Charlie's thumb floated into her mouth and the little girl sucked contentedly as she drifted off again, letting the rain lull her to sleep.
"Just a little longer," Lorelai said as she relaxed back into the bench, enjoying the rain .