~*~*~ Five Months Later - January - 2003 ~*~*~

Married life seemed to agree with both Luke and Lorelai. Lorelai was getting along so much better with her parents since the wedding. Luke was hardly ever grumpy anymore, sometimes he just put it on to give the locals a sense of normalcy. But for the most part, Luke was a really happy guy. His sister was teaching art at the Stars Hollow daycare centre, Jess was still helping out around the diner while getting decent grades in his senior year at SH High, Rory told him that it was the fact that he was able to keep her Mom distracted and that he kept bringing home food for her that she aced her first semester finals, and Lorelai was everything he dreamed she would be as a wife.

The girls pulled up to the house in the Jeep, chatting and laughing about tonight's dinner.

"Why does Grandma keep trying to refine our pallet's? Does she not get that we will never want to eat snails or pureed fish?" Rory wrinkled her nose.

"I think she's holding out hope for you kid. We all know that I would prefer chili fries to caviar."

"And boy did you marry the right guy for that!"

The girls laughed as they walked through the door.

"What's so funny?" Luke greeted them from the couch.

"Mom's menu," Lorelai explained. She made her way to him, he tilted his head back to rest it on the back of the couch and she leaned down to kiss him.

"Why did someone even invent salmon mousse?" Rory asked while taking a seat in her favourite armchair.

"Sometimes new recipes are made when you screw up something and try to salvage it," Luke suggested.

"You'd have to do something really bad to resort to whipping up fish, no?"

Luke laughed, "Yeah I guess so!"

Rory got up to go change and passed by the little table where the mail laid out, "OH MY GOD! LUKE!"

Luke sat up in a shot, "What? What?"

"Mom! Look!" Rory cried while holding up big envelopes with college logos on them.

"Oh my god, they're here," Lorelai said ominously.

"Aren't those just catalogues? They're so big." Luke asked.

A huge smile crept across Rory's face, "Mom, they're big!"

"Dirty!"

"Not now, Mom! I'm taking these to the kitchen to open them."

Luke and Lorelai followed Rory, she wiped off the kitchen table and took a deep breath. Lorelai was standing across from her, holding on to the back of a chair with Luke behind her looking on excitedly.

"Let just get right to the main event," Rory stated and held up an envelope with the big H on it. She ripped it open, slid out the letter and started reading, "Dear Miss Gilmore, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to -"

"Aaaaaah!" Lorelai screamed and jumped up and down.

Luke smiled on as the girls hugged and screamed with glee. Rory broke the hug from her Mom and flung herself at Luke and wrapped her arms around his neck. He was able to recover from the shock quickly and held her to him in a bear hug, "Congratulations, Kid! I'm so proud of you."

Lorelai smiled at the two of them, she was so happy to have finally given Rory the father and family she always dreamed of and deserved. She felt that she was going to start crying like a baby so she held up the other envelopes. "We still have two more!"

"Oooooh" Rory ran over to her and grabbed the one from Princeton, opened it and screamed again, "I can't believe this!"

"You know, Harvard and Princeton are great options. We can just toss this Yale one," Lorelai teased.

Luke grabbed it from her, "Are you kidding me? Yale is the closest one! Stupid Princeton is over three hours away! Open this Rory," Luke handed it to her.

"Oh my god! I'm in, I got into all of them." She was in shock, she sat in a chair staring blankly ahead, "What am I going to do?"

"You're going to be fine. Now listen, I have food in the oven keeping warm. Sit, eat, and enjoy your success. This is a great moment, we're going to celebrate it and then you can get out your legal pad and start on the Pro Con lists."

The little family laughed, talked and ate at the kitchen table all while keeping talk of colleges at bay. When Rory finished her fries she jumped to her feet, "Okay, I can't anymore. I need to start the lists!" She ran to the table by the door to grab the pad and a pen. "What's this?" She came back with her supplies and a smaller envelope. She handed the envelope to Lorelai who looked at it quizzically, "Mr. & Mrs. Danes and Rory Gilmore. Who's it from?" She flipped it over and read the return address, "Chris & Sherry? Oh this should be good."

"I thought you all were getting along now," Luke sounded like he was asking, more than stating.

"We are, but they had the baby and didn't say anything until days later," Rory explained. "I mean I was getting along with them and this kid is my half sibling. I thought I would have been more involved than just hearing about it in a family email blast."

"They told you through email?" Luke asked incredulously.

Rory shrugged it off, "It's okay. The baby was a few weeks early so maybe there were issues or something. What's in the envelope, Mom?"

Lorelai opened the envelope and her eyes grew wide, "We are all cordially invited to the Welcome to the World Party for baby Wendy."

"Wendy?" Rory smiled.

"Yeah, how fitting that the guy who could never grow up names his daughter after a character from Peter Pan," Lorelai scoffed. "Pictures are cute though. Kinda stirs the hormones."

"Wanna go upstairs?" Luke offered.

"Eeeeew, stop!" Rory threw a balled up napkin at him.

Luke laughed, "Sorry kid. What are we talking about first? Schools or this party?"

"Schools," Lorelai and Rory answered at the same time.

"Yale is only thirty minutes away! There's the first 'Pro'."

Rory smiled and shook her head, "Thanks Dad, I get it!"

Both Luke and Lorelai looked at each other with stunned looks, then at Rory and then back to each other.

"What?" Rory asked anxiously.

"You called me Dad," Luke said with tears in his eyes.

"I did? I guess it just feels really natural, I didn't even notice. Is it okay if I do that from now on?"

Luke's eyes widened, "Okay with me? Of course! You know I couldn't love you more. But do you want to check with your Dad?"

"You mean, my biological father, not my Dad. I think I finally understand the real distinction. I know he means well, but he has never really earned the right to call himself my Dad. That's been you from the moment we met."

Luke exhaled and nodded, "You two are easy to love," he started to fidget, obviously uncomfortable with the burst of emotions. "I'm going to tidy this up and then I'm running to Weston's to get you two some fuel for the long night you're about to have with the college talk."

"Thank Hon, you're the best," Lorelai smiled.

"Yeah. Thanks Dad."

Luke shook his head while wearing a big smile, "Fine! I'll get the double chocolate cake." He kissed the top of Rory's head and headed out to Weston's.

The phone rang and Rory went to answer it, she came into the kitchen again with her hand over the mouthpiece. "It's Dad … Chris, I'm going to take it in my room. I want to tell him about the schools and he said he needs to talk to me."

"Okay," Lorelai nodded.

Two weeks later Luke, Lorelai and Rory were heading to Baby Wendy's Welcome to the World party.

"I gotta say Rory, you're very sweet for going to this party after the whole email incident," Luke said while driving.

"Come on, you know he explained that. Sherry went into early labour when they were on a weekend getaway. They were in New York, they were scared and there were a few complications. Dad was going to call me but Sherry sent out the email from the hospital. All is forgiven and I'm spending the weekend with them, all is good. Please be nice."

"Who me? I'm always nice."

Lorelai almost did a spit take of her coffee, "Didn't you throw a frying pan at Taylor yesterday?"

"Taylor doesn't count," Luke explained.

All three of them burst into laughter.

When they walked into the party, Luke, Lorelai and Rory were the picture perfect family. Lorelai and Rory had shopped to find them all outfits that went well together but weren't so obviously matchy match. Luke was wearing navy dress pants with a fitted argyle sweater in different shades of blue and grey. Lorelai was in a simple but stunning floor length wrap dress in cobalt blue, it had a very deep V and a slit up the side that was driving her husband wild. Rory was in a knee length Kimono style dress in various shades of blue with red and golden accents. They all looked amazing separately and even better together.

Almost immediately after they walked in the door they were approached by Chris who threw his arms around Rory, then Lorelai and shook Luke's hand. "I'm so glad you guys came. Sherry has the baby in a private room right now, just finishing a diaper change. Can you all come with me, you deserve a private introduction."

They nodded and Chris beamed, he took Rory's hand leading her the way, Luke and Lorelai followed close behind. They entered a small room with a desk, couch, some plush chairs and a private bathroom. Sherry emerged from the bathroom with a tiny pink bundle in her arms.

"Oh Rory! You're here," Sherry said excitedly. "Come meet your sister."

Those words felt like a kick in the gut to Lorelai, though she didn't know why. She wasn't jealous of Sherry having Chris, she couldn't be happier with the fact that she was with Luke. But maybe, just maybe she was a little jealous that Chris gave Rory a sibling first. As she took her turn holding baby Wendy she could practically hear her biological clock ticking in her ears. Luke put his arm around her.

"She's cute, hu?" Lorelai asked.

"Adorable," Luke nodded. Then he leaned in so only she could hear him, "Ours will be cuter."

She turned to look at him and smiled, "You know it."

The party was sweet and it was only slightly jarring for Luke and Lorelai to see Rory being so happy with Chris, Sherry and Wendy. They looked like their own cute family, laughing, chatting and taking turns holding the baby. Lorelai's 'only child' syndrome was kicking in and she was getting jealous.

"You okay?" Luke asked when he noticed his wife staring at Rory.

"I think I'm ready to go," she sighed.

"Well then, I'll go get our coats, you let them know we're going."

"Thanks."

They said their goodbyes confirmed with Rory and Chris that he would drive her back home in a few days, hugged Rory and headed home.

They walked into their quiet house and the second Luke locked the door he grabbed Lorelai's arm and pinned her against the door and kissed her hungrily. She moaned in his mouth and clung to his sweater. They had been together for a long while now, they've 'hooked up', as the kids say, more times than she could count. But each time he manages to take her breath away, to make her feel like he's been waiting to kiss her for years, like it's the first time either of them have been able to kiss another person. The hunger and passion was always there, no one ever made her feel as hot or desirable than he did. Sure, she knew she looked hot today, but even when she's in her sweats or pj's he acted like she was the sexiest woman on the planet.

It didn't take long at all for his hand to find the slit in her dress and his hand was on her thigh. Her head fell back against the door as his lips, tongue and teeth played over her neck, blazing a path to her chest and kissing the tops of her breasts.

"Let's go upstairs," she exhaled.

"I don't think I could make it that far," he breathed between kisses.

"I don't think I can stand on my legs much longer, you're making me weak," she moaned.

With that Luke's arm swept under her, gathering her legs and picking her up. He carried her while he continued to kiss her neck and shoulders.

"I am definitely going to wear this dress more often," she giggled.

"Hopefully, we'll be closer to home the next time you wear this, I almost had to pull over three times on our way home."

"Really?"

He looked at her with lust in his eyes, "You know what you were doing to me every time you crossed and uncrossed your legs!"

He set her on their bed and began to untie the front of the dress.

"Maybe," she smirked.

Luke pulled his sweater off and was about to cover her body with his when the phone rang. Lorelai sat up to get it from her side table when he kissed her shoulder, "Don't answer that," he begged.

"Look at the caller ID, it's Rory," she said. "I'll be quick."

"No you won't," he flopped onto his side of the bed.

"Hey kid," Lorelai answered happily. The second she heard Rory's voice her face dropped and she jumped off the bed. "What's wrong?"

Luke sat up, his face contorted with concern as he tried to hear if he could make out what Rory was saying.

"We're on our way! Luke and I will be there as fast as humanly possible! Yes, yes, hon. We'll drive safely."

She pushed the button to hang up the call, threw the phone on the bed and rushed to the closet to grab a pair of jeans.

"What's going on?"

"Rory was in the car with Chris, Sherry and the baby. There was an accident. Rory woke up in the hospital … We have to go!"

Luke was up and pulled his sweater back on. He grabbed one of Lorelai's hoodies because she had run out of the room wearing jeans under her dress. He dashed down the stairs, she was already pulling on her sneakers and looking for her purse.

"I can't find anything!" She screamed in a panic.

"I've got my keys, wallet and your cell phone," Luke said as he ushered her out the door. "What hospital?" he asked as he helped her into the passenger side of the Jeep.

"St Francis," she stated. "Oh my god, I gotta call my parents. They're closer, they can get there first and call me."

Luke sped out of the driveway and headed for the highway, "Call them, but try to stay calm. If Rory was really bad she wouldn't have called you herself."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess that's true." She said waiting for someone to pick up the phone. "Daddy, hi." She then burst into tears.

"Lorelai? LORELAI! What's wrong?" Richard was yelling on the other end of the line.

Luke took the phone from his wife, "Hi Sir, it's Luke. Can you get to St Francis Hospital?"