Chapter 4: Prodigal Daughter Returns
It was about a year later. Rory was about to leave for her junior year at Yale, but was anxious about Luke having to raise little Jr. all by himself until she got back. Luke had tried to assure her they would be fine; that there would be no surprises.
Man, did fate really love to mock him.
One day, a preteen of about 12 years old had arrived in the diner and told Luke that she needed his help completing a science project. Luke helped where he could, though he didn't understand the whole scope of the experiment. The girl, whose name was April, even invited him to see the completed work at her middle school's science fair.
What Luke saw when he got there was a completed test for paternity that confirmed him, Luke, as April's father. She had been born to an old fling of his, Anna Nardini. Dismayed that Anna had kept their daughter from him, and learning to love the young girl, Luke fought for custody and won. April moved into the loft above the Diner. When Rory would come home from school - now pretty much adopted in all but name by the closest father figure she had ever known - the small apartment could get pretty crowded.
Rory was feeling jealous. Jealous of the young tweenybopper who was now taking up all of Luke's time. And also feeling out of place. Did she really belong here? And a part of her was dismayed to wonder if she did. But Luke had two children of his own now. What was she, Rory, to him? The daughter of the mother who had brought him his second-born? Rory didn't share his blood. He should not feel any obligation to her. Besides, hadn't Luke once said that she didn't have to stay?
One evening, when Rory saw Luke give his daughter something innocuous as pie, the dam broke. Luke had only ever given Rory pie after closing time. Rory fled from the Diner in tears, Luke chasing after her. He caught up with her at the Gazebo.
"I'll leave right now!" Rory wept. "You were right - I don't have to stay! You have your pretty new daughter now; you don't need me anymore!"
Luke's eyes filled with tears at the possibility that he had made Rory feel this way. He took her in his arms and began to sooth her with gentle sways. "I'll always need you, Rory. You were my first... child." He felt Rory start to blubber against him all over again. "And I don't think your mother would ever forgive me if I didn't look after you. Will you stay? For me? I love you just as much as I did your mom - she was everything to me!"
Rory hiccuped and nodded. "I'll stay."
"I love you, Rory."
"I love you too... Daddy."