AN: Here's the first one shot on the shuffle. Per DramaQueen1103's request here is Have A Little Faith In Me.
I don't own the show or the song.
Note about the song: This is one of my absolute favorite songs. The song has been covered many times, so if you think you haven't heard it, you may be wrong. John Hiatt however is the original songwriter and does a great Bluesy Rock version of the song. The version I have is from the album The Best of John Hiatt.
Cause I've been loving you for such a long time, baby, Expecting nothing in return, Just for you to have a little faith in me – John Hiatt
He'd been back in Hartford for almost three months now. It had taken him a month to get the courage up to call Lorelai, and another two weeks for him to get her to return his call.
"I don't know Christopher," Lorelai told him hesitantly.
"It's one night Lorelai," he reminded her.
"But she's never spent the night with you before."
"Come on Lore, she's eight, not eight months, and I live less than a half an hour away," he whined. "She's my daughter too!"
"Funny how you only seem to remember that when it's convenient for you," she said sharply.
"I just want one holiday with my daughter is that so bad? I thought you would be happy that I was finally stepping up here. Hell it's not even the actual holiday. It's the day after Thanksgiving so I don't disrupt her normal Thanksgiving routine with you," he paused and took a deep breath. "Please?"
"Are you done with your rant?" she asked.
"Depends, are you going to let her stay over?"
She sighed loudly and he was pretty sure he had her. "Tell me about your apartment."
"It's a small two bedroom, but the second bedroom is an office with a double bed in it. It's off 42nd Street near Grand," he told her.
"And what about picking her up and dropping her off? You can't do that on a motorcycle."
"I'll rent a car for the weekend."
"Fine. You can pick her up on Friday morning, and drop her off Saturday afternoon," she finally agreed.
"Thank you Lorelai. And just think, you'll have a chance to get some Christmas shopping done!" he tried to point out a bright side.
"See you the Friday after Thanksgiving. And Chris? If you cancel…" she started, but he cut her off before she could finish.
"I know. I won't cancel."
He spent his spare time the next few weeks at the library looking through various cookbooks trying to find the best recipes for all of the traditional Thanksgiving Day favorites. He also took some time to go pick out some things Rory might like. He knew she loved to read but he steered clear of books, not knowing what she already had. Instead he bought a couple of board games they could play together, as well as some art supplies and a copy of the new Disney movie on video, and a special girly comforter for the guest bed.
Friday morning he stopped at the Alamo Rental place and rented a small sedan, then made the drive out to Stars Hollow. He pulled into the driveway to find Rory eagerly waiting for him on the front porch.
"Dad!" she squealed and came flying at him.
"Hey Kid!" he said as he caught her and spun her around. "Are you ready for another Thanksgiving?"
"Well we did have three yesterday, but I suppose I can handle one more," she told him quietly.
"Three yesterday?" he asked.
"Uh-huh," she nodded. "One at Sookie's, one at Mrs. Kim's and one at Luke's."
He accepted her answer and looked down at the pile of stuff on the stairs. "Are you all ready to go?" he asked.
"Yep!"
"Okay, well go say good-bye to your Mom while I load your stuff in the car." He watched as she ran back into the house, and then he grabbed her small suitcase, her backpack, and her pillow and put them in the trunk of the car. When he had finished loading the car he noticed that Lorelai had joined Rory on the porch, she was bent down talking to Rory and no doubt giving her all sorts of last minute reminders.
"Hey Lore!" he called, not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Hey."
"You sure you've got everything Ror?" he asked. She nodded, and he glanced at Lorelai. "I'll bring her back to you tomorrow afternoon."
She nodded and pulled Rory into one more hug. "You be good for your dad Sweets, and call me if you need me."
"Bye Mommy!" Rory told her then raced towards the car.
He saw the look of sadness on Lorelai's face and decided to say something before he left. "We'll be fine Lore. I'll have her back before you have a chance to miss her, completely unharmed even." She nodded once and raised her hand to wave goodbye.
Several hours later, Rory had already beaten him once at Monopoly and twice at Battleship, and now she was seated at his kitchen counter drawing pictures while he was cooking.
This cooking thing was not as easy as the cookbooks made it seem. First, nowhere in the recipe for the stuffing did it say that it should be inserted into the turkey before the turkey was put in to the oven. He solved that one by baking the stuffing in a separate pan. Second, no one told him that it was possible to over mash the potatoes. He solved that by treating it like potato soup. And third, he forgot the whipped cream for the pumpkin pie. At least he had vanilla ice cream, and they could probably make due.
He was finishing up the rolls when he heard Rory scream.
"Daddy!" she shrieked. He looked up to find his normally articulate daughter pointing at the oven. He looked to the oven to find smoke pouring out of it profusely.
"It's okay Rory, I've got it," he reassured her. He opened the door to the oven to find the turkey aflame. Rory gasped behind him, and he quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher that he kept under the sink. He put the turkey out easily but when he turned around he saw Rory crying at the counter. He rushed over to her side.
"Sweetie what's wrong? Are you hurt?" he asked.
"It's ruined!" she cried.
"Shhhh," he soothed, "Don't cry Rory, please don't cry."
"But-" she started.
"Do you trust me?" he asked. She nodded in response. "Then have a little faith. We'll get through this."
"But Mom…" she started again.
"I know Mom would have known better, but I promise, it's going to be okay."
"Okay Dad."
He got up and crossed the room, spraying the turkey one more time with the fire extinguisher, just in case. "Now, where are the take out menus?"
Two hours, and several cartons of Chinese food later, the smell of burnt turkey was finally starting to dissipate, and Rory and Christopher settled on to the couch to watch the new Disney movie.
"So that was a pretty fun Thanksgiving, right?" he asked.
"Mom would have known better," Rory reminded him.
"You're right, she would have ordered take out from the start!"
His daughter giggled and all was right with the world.
The rest of Friday night went just fine, as well as breakfast on Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon as promised he took Rory back to her mother in Stars Hollow.
"Hey Ror?" he asked before they got to her house.
"Yeah Dad?"
"You had fun right? I mean we did a good job together and all right?" he asked hesitantly, he wanted to make sure she was happy.
"Yeah, it was great!" she enthused.
"Good. And one more thing?" he requested.
"Yeah?"
"Can we keep the turkey thing a secret between us?" He grinned at her.
"I don't know Dad. It's pretty funny. Mommy would really like it, but I'll try."
"Thanks kid."
"No problem." She smiled at him as he pulled into the driveway, and he had a feeling that this weekend would be the first of many.
AN: All right guys – tell me what you think and let me know what you want to see next!
Also - completely made up the streets where Chris lives, and don't own Alamo Rentals, Monopoly or Battleship :)
Thanks for reading - S
