AN: I'm not sue if they ever actually mention Luke's mother's name, so I just made one up.
William looked up as the door opened. "Getting in a little late aren't ya, son?"
Luke looked up as he dropped his bag in the kitchen, "Sorry dad, there was a girl on the bus that needed help getting to the Inn so I walked her over."
William smiled, "That's good son, there aren't many gentleman left these days," he nodded proudly at his son. William always knew his son was a different sort of boy. He'd seen his fair share of the typical teenage boy when Liz still lived in his house. But his son was…solid. "Speaking of the Inn, you need to watch the shop tomorrow while I repair one of the windows for Mia. Those crazy Clark boys next door to her must be practicing, they hit a home run right through room #6."
Luke nodded, "Sure dad. I'm going to head up, g'night."
William walked through the lobby of the Inn looking for its owner. Mia and his late wife had been best friends and the Inn always reminded him of the holiday parties and picnics they'd attended there with the kids. He sees Mia approaching with a young brunette looking determined and anxious.
"William!"
"Morning Mia, getting a little drafty up there?" William snickered.
"Ugh those wild boys. Couldn't they take up a less risky sport? Track and Field? Swimming?"
William laughed "Then you'd end up with a shot-put through the window and a flood in your basement."
"Ha ha. William this is Lorelai Gilmore, she's new here to the Independence, your son actually recommended her."
Lorelai's eye's shot up, "You're Luke Danes father?" William nodded. Lorelai smiled, "We met on the bus he helped me carry my stuff over here and introduced me to Mia. When you go home will you thank him again for me?"
Ah, William thought, the girl from the bus. Pretty name and a very nice smile. No wonder he was late. "Well my dear you could always stop by the hardware store and thank him yourself. Working the counter bores him I'm sure he'd love the interruption."
Just as Lorelai is about to reply a waitress a few years older runs out holding a whimpering Rory. "Sorry hun but she doesn't seem to want to eat for me. I guess she wants you."
Lorelai gently eased her daughter from the waitress and rocked her gently. William watched the scene with interest. "And who do we have here?"
Lorelai was proud to be a mother and she loved her daughter completely, but she was still wary of revealing that to adults. Never sure what reaction she'd receive. "This is Rory, my daughter."
Some unknown emotion flitted past Williams eyes before he smiled softly "Well Princess Rory it's a pleasure to meet you," he shook the small child's tiny hand with one finger, earning a smile from both mother and child.
"Well Rory and Lorelai have their training today so why don't I take you up to fix the window."
"It was nice meeting you Lorelai, you two should stop by the shop sometime."
"Thank you I will."
As William walked up the stairs he had just one thought: She looks at her baby like Alice used to look at Liz and Luke. She was obviously quite a girl.
Lorelai had finished her training for the day pleased with her new job. Being a maid wasn't anything she'd considered before, but she could do this. Standing at the door to the shed she now called home Lorelai realized that Mia had to be the kindest woman she'd ever met. The shed had running water, electricity and a sink and toilet. The only tricky part was the heating, the sporadically functional heating. It wasn't much to look at but it was free, and free of Emily. Ugh Emily. She didn't know how long she could avoid dealing with that. Well fixing the heating will put Emily on the back burner for a while. Ha ha, pun. Lorelai bundled up Rory and started out toward the hardware store. Well Mr. Danes did tell me to stop by.
Lorelai backtracked to where the bus had dropped her and walked into the store. The bells on the door jingled and the now familiar man behind the counter looked up. "Hi, Luke."
"Oh, um, hey Lorelai, right? And Rory?"
"Yeah, hey." Rory waved hiding her face in her mother's neck.
"Um so what can I do for you?"
"Actually I was looking for your dad."
"Dad?"
"Yeah he was at the Inn earlier, Mia says he's very handy I was hoping to work out a deal with him so he would take a look at my heater."
"A deal?"
"Well I don't know how much Mia pays him but it's gotta be more than I have, which is nothing."
"Actually Mia doesn't pay him. What exactly were you going to offer in exchange?"
"Dirty!"
"Aw jeez…that's my dad."
"Sorry, no I was going to offer to clean his house or work here for a few hours or whatever."
"Well um listen my dad's doing the books but I can take a look at your heater."
"Really? You can fix that stuff?"
"Sure."
"Remember I can't pay you. And you probably don't need my services..I mean MAID services…so umm well I guess whatever favor you need that requires neither money nor a car then I'm your girl."
Luke smirked at her babbling. He wasn't much of a talker but it was kind of cute on her. Wait…what?
"Well lets get going." He led Lorelai and Rory to the door just barely grazing his hand against her back while Rory watched him curiously over her mother's shoulder. "Dad! I'm heading out for a while to fix something at the Inn!"
From the back of the shop William yelled, "Okay son!" He walked out grinning happily at the sight of his son escorting the Gilmore girls across the square.
Luke was crouched in front of the heater tinkering with the knobs. "Um..so where did you live before here?"
"Uh well I was living with my parents in Hartford."
"Oh. Why'd you leave?"
Lorelai bit her lip resting Rory on the bed. "Well, my parents kind of had a certain idea about the way I should raise Rory. The second I told them I was pregnant they had the next 18 years planned out for me and Rory. I would live with them then I would marry Rory's dad. They'd buy us a house. He'd work for his dad and I'd have tea and work for the DAR with my mother. It didn't matter that I'd be miserable… 'That's the way things are done, Lorelai'. But how could I raise my daughter right if I was miserable, right?"
Luke was watching her with wide eyes. Lorelai exhaled, embarrassed. "I'm sorry about that. It's just been building up, ya know. 9 Months of pregnancy, the whole 2 years Rory's been alive. Not to mention the 16 years before that."
"It's okay. Hey, what's the DAR?"
Lorelai threw her head back and laughed. "I love this town."
A half hour later they were sitting quietly while Luke worked with he back to Lorelai as she fed Rory. "So, your Dad seems like a pretty great guy."
Luke nodded and turned to address her "Yeah he's-" he cut off as he saw Rory clinging to her mother's shirt and exposing a little of what lay beneath to his gaze. "Aw jeez, sorry I didn't-" he turned around.
Lorelai laughed " I'm pretty much covered you know. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable but Rory really doesn't understand the phrase 'no shirt no shoes no service'," she smiled while tickling her daughter's bare feet.
"Uh no it's fine I was just, uh, surprised. But yeah she's a baby she's the boss."
Lorelai giggled, "Just until she hits puberty. So what's your mom like, she must be pretty great too, huh."
Luke sighed, "She was. She uh died a couple years ago. She had cancer."
"Oh god. Luke I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry I just…talk too much."
"S'ok, you didn't know. Well I'm all done it seems to work fine now."
"Really!" She jumped up and threw her arms around him. " Oh Luke you're a god. I'm going to put a little shrine up next to the heater."
Luke turned red. "Yeah well no problem. If you have any more problems with it just come find me. Or you know if you need help with other repair stuff."
"Great. Umm I was going to try to put up a curtain or something around the toilet I mean Rory isn't exactly an audience but it still feels weird."
"Oh yeah I could do that for you we sell the rods and curtains at the store. They're real easy to install."
"Okay well I get paid Tuesday so I'll stop by then. "
"Okay great I better get going. But um..see you Tuesday."
"You got it thanks again Luke."
He waved and walked out the door.
When Luke returned to the shop he set about finding the supplies. He found a few curtain rods he could use to make a square around Lorelai's "bathroom". The cheapest curtains they had were patterned with little yellow duckies. But based on what he'd seen of her she might be quirky enough for ducks.
"What are you doing son?"
Luke whipped around to see his father smirking at he 21 year old son holding a ducky shower curtain. "Um well I was helping…uh…Lorelai with her heater. She lives out in Mia's potting shed. But it's all one room so she wanted to throw a curtain around the bathroom area."
"Ah. Is she on her way in? "
Luke blushed a little at the question, "No she doesn't get paid until Tuesday, so.."
"Picking a shower curtain three days in advance. That's very thorough son." He could hear the groan as his son took his supplies to hide in the office. Ahh a father's work is never done.
