Liz glanced out the kitchen window again, to see that Luke was still in the garage, searching through boxes from their childhood home. He'd come over, said there was something from his old room he needed to find and had then proceeded to shift everything that accumulated over the years.

Each time he moved something, he was careful to avoid the boat in the middle of the room.

Apparently he'd been serious, when, after their dad's funeral, he'd said he wanted nothing to do with it. Liz hadn't been able to get rid of it though, she couldn't have it hauled off like Luke suggested.. So it had been sitting unfinished for the last eleven years; six in Mrs. Thompson's garage and the last five in her own.

Liz moved to the fridge quickly as Luke moved across the lawn, something under his arm.

"Hey, Liz?"

"Yeah? Oh, Luke, you're still here?"

"Just leaving actually."

"Ok. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks for that, I'll see you later."

"Sure."

Luke returned to the back porch and lifted the book from the picnic table. Luckily when he'd packed up his Lorelai boxes, what he needed had been the last thing to go in, so he didn't have to wade through all the memories, just dip into a few.

When he walked into the apartment Rory stood at the kitchen table, trying to shove a book into her back pack. Luke hastily hid the folder he was carrying under a magazine on the table by the door.

"You going somewhere?" he asked, as Rory made a happy sound at her bag and began to zip it shut.

"I've had enough of this town, I'm making a break for it," Rory replied, shouldering the heavy load. She stumbled a little under the weight. "I figured if I sold these tonight, I could find my self a semi-decent meal and tomorrow scope out the best brothel in order to start up my illustrious career as a whore."

"You'll be back when?" Luke asked, choosing to ignore her coment, he was getting pretty good at only listening to the absolutely necessary bits.

"Around six. Hopefully we'll have the project finished this afternoon and it won't run into weekend time. That would totally ruin the mood of the party."

"I'll save you a piece of pie,"

"Cherry please." Rory walked out the door and Luke locked it beghind her, before taking the photo album and sitting on the couch.

Our first year with Rory.

Lorelai had compiled a bunch of mementos from the night Rory was born as well as numerous photos of Rory and every one of their friends. She'd given it to him for Christmas.

Luke slowly flipped through the pages, remembering. When he reached the end, he turned back and started over, noting which pictures he needed copies of and then set about going through the list of other things he needed.

Rory could smell the coffee before she opened her eyes.

Luke made the best coffee that she'd ever tasted, and even though he didn't like her or Jess or Lane drinking it, he rarely refused them. Plus, she and Jess both knew how to use the machine so there was really no point. And with his special blend, she could now also make the best coffee in the world.

Slowly opening her eyes she saw the steaming cup beside her bed and sat up, eagerly reaching for her favorite beverage. That was another thing she loved, Luke had huge coffee cups, so you always got a lot.

After drinking half of it, Rory pushed back the covers and slowly padded out into the living room. Jess had told her that once upon a time the apartment had been his grandfather's office, after he'd died, Luke transformed the hardware store into a diner and moved into the office. After a few years, he'd bought the space next to the diner and expanded his living space from one open room to three segregated ones. He'd built Jess' room first, put a wall in around his own and made the kitchen/ living area a little larger.

Luke wasn't anywhere to be seen, but one look at the clock told her that he would be downstairs, already hard at work.

"Guess I should get down there," she decided, heading for the bathroom.

As she walked down the stairs, pulling her hair back into a pony tail, she bumped into Caesar.

"Sorry Caesar," she muttered, moving passed him.

"That's ok. Happy birthday," he added, before continuing on his way.

"Thanks,"

"Rory, what are you doing down here?" Luke asked, turning away from the register as soon as she walked through the curtain.

"Working?"

"Well, you haven't had breakfast yet."

"That's alright, I was just going to grab a muffin." She explained, lifting the lid on the muffin stand. "Thanks for the coffee."

"You're welcome." Luke replied. "But I've got something for you, better than a muffin. Come here,"

"Oh, ok." He grabbed a pot of coffee and led the way around the counter to a table with a cake on it. There were blue and white balloons tied to the chair, and Jess, Lane and Sookie all sat, waiting. "Happy birthday," Luke said, pulling out the chair with the balloons. "I haven't made a coffee cake in fifteen years, so I hope this one is alright. Enjoy, and don't worry about work today, diner policy; no one works on their birthday."

Rory looked from the cake on the table, to the four smiling faces, to the balloons and then back at Luke. No one had ever done anything like this for her before. When she was little her mom used to take her out for breakfast at a cheap little diner, but she never ordered anything other than coffee, because she couldn't afford two meals. Presents had always been small, and inexpensive. In later years, when her friends would take her out one would steal a few Danishes from a bakery while the others pooled their money together to get coffees, as it was a little harder to swipe without attracting attention.

But this was completely different.

"Thank you!" impulsively, Rory threw her arms around the man standing beside her. They'd had their ups and downs, more downs in the beginning, but they had managed to find some middle ground that allowed them to get along for the most part. And even though she attempted to keep everyone at arms length, somehow Luke was getting in more and more.

"You're welcome. You sit, enjoy. And like I said, don't worry about work, you've got the day off. I'll be around if you guys need anything else." Luke turned away to deal with a customer and Rory sat down.

"Happy birthday sweetie," Sookie gushed, reaching across the table to squeeze Rory's hand.

"Do you feel older yet?" Lane asked.

"Not yet."

"Oh, well that'll come at the party," Jess told her. "When everyone tells you how they remember when you just a little squishy bundle. Always does it for me."

Lane shot Jess a pointed look, but Rory just laughed as she reached for the knife to start cutting up the cake. "I guess there might be a few people that remember that. How likely do you think it is that Luke will say 'squishy bundle'?"

"Oh, well, considering all the time he spent looking after you, and just looking at you when you were a baby, I'd say… seventy/thirty. He can get mushy when the occasion calls for it." Sookie replied as Lane looked at the other three confused.

"Am I missing something here? Luke knew you when you were a baby?"

"I thought you would have told her by now." Rory commented, to Jess.

"I had no idea what I would have been telling her. Or even if I was allowed."

"Yeah, well, neither do I. Anyway, my mom and I used to live in Hartford, and she and Sookie and Luke all hung out a lot. I guess I got to tag along for the fun a bit, until I was about two, I think."

"Almost eighteen months actually." Sookie corrected, glancing passed Rory to locate Luke. He was busy on the other side of the room and hadn't heard anything. Thank God!

"Right, eighteen months. So, that would mean that at least three people could start spouting off about my former squishiness at some point today, if your mom is choosing to like me this week."

"I think you're in with a pretty good chance. She's a sucker for birthdays. She can't stay mad at anyone. For that one day a year, each person in Liz's world receives a get out of jail free card."

"That's true." Lane replied. "Remember that time you broke her Betty Boop coffee mug? She was so mad for four days, then on your birthday she was all smiles and hugs, and the very next day she was back to glaring at you."

"And you spent all your birthday money on a new mug for her," Sookie added, smiling at the memory.

"I was very considerate for a seven year-old, wasn't I?" they all laughed as Rory got suck into her cake.

She didn't have memories like that. Not exactly. She knew her mom loved her, but there were still times that she felt as if Lorelai wished her life had turned out differently and she hadn't been stuck with a kid for sixteen years.

The phone behind the counter rang and Rory looked up from her plate, to see Luke holding it out for her. As she made her way across the room, she refused to let her spirits rise; it could be her grandparents, there was nothing to prove her mom had actually remembered, because it still hadn't come up in any of their conversations. She wasn't going to let herself get excited.

"Hello?"

"Happy birthday, little girl."

"Hey Mom." Inside she was dancing - she didn't forget! - but outside, Rory kept her face stoic, her voice level.

"I can't believe how fast you're growing up." Lorelai continued.

"Really? Feels like it's taking forever."

"Trust me, it's fast. I can remember just yesterday, when the doctor's handed me that little bundle of pink. Your face was all squished but you were beautiful to me." One squishy bundle down. "I could tell that I was gonna love you forever."

"I bet I've been making that a real picnic lately."

"Anything you've done wrong, I'm sure was my fault. But I don't want to talk about that, not today. How's your morning shaping up?"

"Good, actually. Luke made me a coffee cake-"

"Oh, I've missed those…"

"He's given me the day off. We're even having a party tonight." Rory continued, as she thought over what Luke had said earlier. He hadn't made that cake in fifteen years, and her mom missed them, bet there's a connection there.

"I know, Sookie told me all about it. She's very excited."

"Yeah. I would have invited you, but…"

"It's ok. I understand. I think I'm working tomorrow morning anyway, so I probably wouldn't be able to stay longer than five minutes. But maybe we can organize something in a few weeks. Would you like to come back for a visit?"

"Maybe. I'd have to see how things are going with school, but Lane could probably keep me up to date with any assignments I've missed."

Standing at a payphone outside the bus station, Lorelai grinned. Not only was Rory speaking to her, civilly, but she was even entertaining the idea of visiting, and worrying about school! My kid's back!

"That's good. We should talk about this a little more later," Lorelai told her as an announcement telling her that her bus was boarding sounded. "But I'm gonna have to cut this short. I've got an electrician coming over to check the sockets in the kitchen. But I'll talk to you in a little bit, ok?"

"Sure Mom."

"I love you; have a great time at your party."

"You too. Thanks I will." Rory replaced the phone and turned to find Luke watching her. "She didn't forget." Rory said with a shrug.

"I told you she wouldn't. Come on, I've got something upstairs for you."

"Upstairs?"

"Yeah. Just a little something. No big deal."

"But, Luke, you already gave me the day off, made me a coffee cake, and you're throwing me a party. I really don't need anything else. I wasn't even expecting this much."

"Well, when you have birthday's here, you get that much. More, sometimes too. So come on." They entered the apartment and Luke moved to his room, before returning with a large rectangle wrapped in bright colored paper. Rory took the package in her hands and stared at it for a long moment. "You can open it later if you'd-"

She glanced up at him for a moment before carefully pulling at the sticky tape, and removing the paper. Inside was a large photo frame with four small frames within it. There was a picture of herself as a baby in her mom's arms; they both wore hospital ID bracelets. In another she sat on a table beside another baby, each of them had a cake in front of them, one candle on each. The third was a picture of her mom, and Luke together, both smiling down at her as she lay in Luke's arms. And the last was just of herself in a yellow frilly dress, with a bow in her hair standing beside a couch, holding on tightly.

"I don't know if you're much for sentimentality, I just thought, maybe, you'd like this." Luke explained as she traced her finger over the image of herself next to a birthday cake. "I think it was partly for myself, too. You know, a way to show you that your mom- that Lorelai does care. She cared then and she does now, that's why she's sent you here, because she knows that as much as she loves you she can't take care of you right now. But there was a time that she thought she could do anything, and I was honored to be the one standing next to her. Because I believed it too. Still do, I guess."

"Thank you Luke, this is really great."

"You like it?"

"I love it. We don't have many photos at home, some from when I was little, and very few from the last couple of years. I guess I haven't been in much of a mood for happy snaps. But I've never seen any of these."

"That's because I've had them in a box. Lorelai made me this whole album, with a bunch of pictures and other things from the year you were born. I hadn't looked at it in years, but when I could see you weren't happy about your birthday, I wanted you to have something that would show you-"

"That she loves me, yeah. I know she does. It's just hard to tell sometimes, but I know."

"Good. I'm glad. Well, I should get back to work, and you should go out and enjoy your birthday. Have some fun. I'll see you later at the party."

"Ok. Thank you." Rory put her present down and hugged Luke quickly. When she pulled away she felt silly. The entire time she'd been living with him they'd been driving each other mad, but now, somehow they were building some sort of foundation, for a grudging mutual respect.

"Your welcome. You can look through the rest of the album if you want. I left it on my bed." Luke added before he closed the door behind him and started down the stairs as Rory continued to inspect her present. She hadn't expected to receive anything and really didn't think that anything more would come her way, besides the party. That was really ok, though, because this birthday was shaping up to be better than a lot of others.

Before she had a chance to get up and find the album that Luke had mentioned, the phone rang and she moved to answer it, thinking it would be someone calling for Luke.

"Hello?"

"Rory, it's your grandmother, I just wanted to call and wish you a happy birthday."

"Oh, thanks Grandma."

"I meant to ask you at dinner, do you have anything special planned?"

"Actually, yeah. There's going to be a party at Luke's sister's house tonight. Jess invited a few of his friends from school, and I… well, I didn't really have any friends to invite, so, I guess who ever he and Luke have asked to come will be it."

"Luke's sister, oh, that's right. That would be… Lisa?"

"Liz."

"Of course, I remember her. She was even younger than your mother when she found herself pregnant."

"She's actually really nice, when she wants to be. And she and Jess have a great relationship, they're lucky." Rory replied, a little angrily. Why do people with money think it's ok to be judgmental towards everyone? She wondered.

"That's lovely, I'm sure. So you've got your party tonight. Any plans for the rest of the day?"

Rory could tell Emily was fishing for something, they'd had dinner two days ago, but clearly, she now wanted to meet up again. "Yeah, Jess and Lane and I were going to catch a movie and then browse the bookstore for a couple of hours and then head to the party." She lied, twisting the phone cord around her finger. Weekly dinners were fine, if that's what her grandparents really wanted, but on her birthday, she was going to do what she wanted and not bust her butt trying to please others.

"Well, that sounds like a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy yourself."

"Thanks, I'm sure I will." Rory bit her lip, trying to decide if she should do what she was thinking. After the quickest mental game of rock paper scissors, she decided to just do it. They'll probably say no anyway.

"Um, would you guys, maybe, if you're not busy, I mean. Would you like to come to the party?"

"Oh, well, we don't have anything planned for the evening, so I suppose… Yes. That would be lovely, to spend this birthday with you. Thank you Rory."

"Sure." After she gave the address to her grandmother Rory hung up.

"So, what are we going to see?" Jess asked and Rory spun around, terrified.

"What are you doing here?!" she demanded of the boy sitting on the arm off the couch.

"Apparently waiting for you to get ready to go to the movies and then browse the bookstore. Sounds like a fun afternoon to me."

"I was just trying to get out of whatever my grandmother was planning," Rory explained. "But, I guess it wouldn't be such a bad plan, if you and Lane were up for it."

"Well, Lane actually had to get home. Bible study."

"Ok, so, are you ready to go then?" she picked up her wallet.

"Yeah, sure. Where did you get this?" he asked, lifting the photo frame.

"Luke gave it to me, why?"

"Because that's me." Jess explained, pointing to the picture with the cakes. "We've got a copy of this picture in the living room. But no one ever told me who that was."

"Well now you know. Can we go?" Rory asked, taking it from him and putting it face down on the coffee table. She couldn't explain why, but she didn't want anyone else to get their hands on her present.

Lorelai stepped off the bus and took a deep breathe as she looked around. Things looked so different, but somehow, in a way it looked as if the town had been frozen in time. Looking across the street she could see Luke moving around in the diner, that had once been his father's hardware store, and still had the original sign.

Walking out the front door, was Rory and a boy that Lorelai didn't know, but she presumed was Jess.

She grabbed her bag and bolted down the street, not ready for the reunion just yet.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked herself, checking to see that Rory was gone, before she started to walk in the direction of the Independence Inn.

Right, so the party was supposed to be in this one, but I got distracted and other things happened instead. Next time though, I promise.