The weather was thankfully cooperating better than everything else in Lorelai's life. Rory's birthday was greeted by an unseasonably sunny day for autumn. Half the town came out to celebrate with her. Despite Lorelai not having much to give her, Rory had a giant table full of presents to unwrap.
Lorelai busied herself with face painting, now on her third butterfly makeover. She had a knack with the young children that their parents themselves didn't have and she suspected it had something to do with the fact that she was little more than a child herself.
She had spotted her parents' car pulling up to the park before, but she hadn't made any effort to go and greet them. As much as she didn't want to see them, they did love their granddaughter and she wasn't going to stop them from coming to her birthday party. Last year, she had been guilted into a dinner party at their home that ended horribly so she was hoping she could deter them by hosting this year's birthday party in Stars Hollow, where her parents had never bothered to visit.
Apparently her luck had shorted out after the warm day, as her mother and father approached her. "Good to see you, Lorelai," Her father greeted. Lorelai forced a smile, hugging him.
"Hiya, Dad."
"At least there's no holes in this outfit," Emily said, nodding to Lorelai's sundress and denim jacket combo.
"Hello to you too, Mother," Lorelai said.
Her mood lightened slightly when she felt small arms wrap around her legs. "He's gonna get me, Momma!" Rory said.
Lorelai looked up, seeing Luke running up towards them. He scooped Rory up, making her shriek with laughter as he threw her in the air.
"He got you!" Lorelai said, tickling her daughter's stomach, momentarily forgetting her parents' judging glance.
"Who is this?" Emily asked, lips pursed as if she had just swallowed a pound of sour candy.
Luke looked from Emily back to Lorelai and back again, eyebrow raised. "Who's asking?"
"Excuse me?" Emily asked, taken aback. Lorelai choked back a laugh.
"Luke, this is my mother, Emily, and my father, Richard Gilmore," Lorelai introduced. "Mom, Dad, this is Luke Danes, he owns the diner right over there."
"And why is Luke Danes the Diner Owner tossing my granddaughter around like a rag doll?" Emily asked.
Lorelai stiffened defensively. "Rory, why don't you ask Luke to spin you on the tire swing."
"Tire swing, Luke!" Rory yelled. Lorelai wished she could be that young and oblivious to tension.
"Happy to," Luke said, shooting Lorelai a look of sympathy. He bumped her shoulder slightly with his. "Come find me later, I wanna talk about something." Lorelai nodded absently as he walked off with Rory in his arms.
"Who is that boy?" Emily asked. "He works at a diner, what kind of profession is that?"
"He owns the diner," Lorelai corrected. "And besides, what does it matter?"
"What does it matter?" Emily scoffed. "He can't provide for you. Christopher has a very promising career at-,"
"Speaking of Christopher," Lorelai interrupted, ignoring her mother's implication of Luke. "Want to explain how he knew where I was?"
Emily held herself up, her typical "I did the right thing" stance. "He deserves to know where his child is."
"He doesn't give a damn where his child is, Mother, otherwise he would've seen her," Lorelai said, keeping her voice low as to not draw attention but harsh enough to sting as if she had yelled. "And now, he's going to sue for custody. I got a call from his lawyer yesterday."
"That can be easily fixed, Lorelai," Richard said.
"How?" Lorelai asked.
"Christopher is more than willing to work things out with you," Emily said. "Despite you being difficult. And you three could move into the guest house."
"That's not solving-," Lorelai groaned, ready to tear her hair out. "Leave. Just… Leave."
Emily pulled back as if she had been slapped. "I will not. I've barely seen Rory."
"And you won't ever again if you keep pulling this shit," Lorelai said. "I am tired of you acting like me not getting married at sixteen was the stupidest thing I've ever done. I'm supporting myself and I don't need you here judging me."
"Lorelai-," her father began.
"Go," Lorelai said, turning her back and walking towards the party once again. She didn't look back to see if they had heeded her warning.
After a day of running around and opening presents, Rory was dead tired. She fell asleep on the park bench with her new teddy bear in her arms as Lorelai cleaned up the remnants of the party. She was ready to go back to the Inn and crash herself, but she caught the sign of Luke's from the corner of her eye and suddenly craved a cup of coffee and a dose of annoying the owner.
She picked up Rory and crossed the quiet street. It was only six in the evening but Stars Hollow was basically a ghost town. The diner was empty save for a few customers eating pie.
Lorelai took her usually seat at the counter, Rory still asleep in her arms. "You know what I'm here for, big guy," Lorelai said in a hushed tone with a smile. Luke rolled his eyes but got her a mug anyways.
"Looks like she had fun," Luke said, pouring her coffee.
"She likes the bear," Lorelai said. "She named him Burt."
"Solid name," Luke laughed, wiping down the counter.
"What did you want to talk about?" Lorelai asked as she took a sip of her coffee. It was perfect as always but she suspected it might have been decaf.
"Oh yeah, uh," Luke said, adjusting his baseball cap. "I wanted to ask you something."
"What's up?"
"So the whole thing with Rory's father and stuff," Luke said. "What's going to happen?"
Lorelai took a deep breath. It had been weighing on her since Christopher had told her and the call from his lawyer didn't help. She thought he would drop it, but it sounded like he was going to go through with it and drag both her and Rory to court.
"I don't know, honestly," Lorelai said. "They're going to see that I don't have a house and he does, and that I don't have money and he does, and that he has a better job."
"He's barely seen Rory," Luke said. Lorelai could see his jaw tighten in anger.
"It won't matter. He could argue that I was keeping her from him. I'm sure my parents will attest to that."
"They won't help you?" Luke asked.
"Their idea of helping is planning for me and Christopher's wedding," Lorelai said. "I have no money for a lawyer, they're going to take her away." Lorelai hated crying in public but she felt a few tears slip past.
Luke sighed, rubbing his hand over his scruff. "I had an idea."
"I'll alert the media," Lorelai joked, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"Funny," Luke said sarcastically. "After that putz showed up, I called a buddy of mine from high school. He's a lawyer in New York now."
"I told you, I can't afford a lawyer," Lorelai said.
"Will you can it for a second? That's not what my idea was," Luke said. "He said you're much more likely to win if you aren't a single parent."
"I'm not marrying Christopher, he's a jack ass," Lorelai said. "Jesus, did you talk to my parents too?"
"Christ," Luke said, taking his hat off to run his hand through his hair. "Not Christopher, me."
Lorelai looked at him, her face confused as if he had suddenly switched the conversation to Klingon. "Me what?"
"If you marry me, Lorelai," Luke said, his voice low so no one else would hear. "If you married me, you wouldn't be a single parent."
"Luke, you can't be serious. That's crazy."
"You said it yourself, they wouldn't look at if you're a good mother," Luke said. "They'd just see you as a single teenager with no money."
"Yeah but-,"
"I'm a business owner, I got good credit, my own place, no felonies or anything. I know someone who could get you a house to rent for cheap."
"Luke, I can't ask you to marry me," Lorelai said.
"Technically I'm asking," Luke said. "You're annoying as all hell, but you're a good mom and I don't want to see you get Rory taken away."
"You're only twenty one," Lorelai said. "How many women do you think you're gonna pick up when you have a wife and a kid?"
Luke shrugged, "I don't pick up women anyways."
"I can't believe you're suggesting this," Lorelai said, shaking her head. "This is insane. You're insane."
"Probably."
"You've thought about this?" Lorelai said. "Like really thought about this?"
"We can get a license and go to the courthouse in less than a week," Luke said.
"You are the last person I would think would propose to me," Lorelai said, her hand on her forehead. She looked at Rory, still asleep in her arms but holding firmly to Burt the Bear.
"You can think about it," Luke said. Lorelai shook her head.
"I really can't," she said. "Shit. Why not? Let's get married."