Luke was about to turn the sign to "Closed" when he saw a familiar figure heading his way. He opened the door and did his classic half wave, "Hey Rory, I didn't know you were in town."

"Please, please tell me there's still coffee!"

Luke chuckled, "Who is it that you remind me of?"

"Ha ha, I'm my Mother's daughter, tell me something I don't know." She mocked as she passed him, making a beeline to her favourite stool. He shook his head, closed the door and flipped the sign.

"What's going on?"

Rory exhaled with her whole body, "I need your advice."

"Lay it on me," he said while grabbing her favourite mug,filling it and setting it in front of her waiting hands. "Apple, peach or cherry?"

"Peach, please!"

Luke warmed a slice of peach pie, added a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the plate, and then leaned back against the back counter after serving her.

Rory took a bite of the pie and hummed her appreciation, "You really make great pies!"

"I use my Mom's recipe," he smiled.

Rory grinned, "She would have made an awesome Grandma."

Luke's breath caught in throat, tears formed in his eyes, "She would have loved you."

Rory looked up with tears in her own eyes, "I meant April. But wow, it's nice that you see me that way."

"Of course I see you that way," he stated. "Even if I wasn't about to officially be your step-father, you know that I've always felt like you're a little bit mine, right?"

"Just a little bit," she quirked her eyebrow.

"Okay! Most of the time I simply ignore the existence of that other guy," he admitted.

Rory laughed, "That other guy?"

"Hey, you needed advice," Luke tried to shift the conversation.

"Right," she sat up a little taller. "I wanted to run this past you before talking to Mom. You know that Logan is in London, right?"

"I figured something like that since you've been here most weekends."

"Ha ha," Rory rolled her eyes, "Well we've talked and he's come in for a weekend or two but we haven't had much time together since the Summer."

"Rory," Luke drew out her name. "Are you telling me that you want to go to London for your Christmas break?All three weeks?"

Rory batted her eyes, "Yes."

"Are you sure you don't want to go for two weeks? I mean, you did spend Thanksgiving with him."

"RIGHT! And if I didn't she wouldn't have gone with you to your family and then you wouldn't have gotten back together so …"
"Wow! Good one. I guess I have to be on your side now."

"Come on Luke," she said while finishing her pie, "I really want things to work with Logan and I can't keep asking him to come to me. He's paying for me to come to him. We were planning on seeing London, Paris, and Rome if we have time. I know she'll say she understands, but -"

"Rory, I might be able to convince her not to give you a hard time, but if you're asking me to get her to be happy about you leaving, you're crazy! She lost months of time with you last year, who knows where you'll be working next year, of course she's going to want you with her this year. But like I said, if this trip is that important to you I'll help to get her to the point where she's not guilting you about it. I think we both know that's the best I can do. Especially since I don't want you to go either."

She gave him the Bambi eyes, "I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't. Come on, I'll drive you to the house and we can talk to her." He switched off the lights in the kitchen and grabbed his coat.

"Maybe I'll just go for two weeks and spend the last week here, I'll still miss Christmas, but it's something."

"Tell her you're going for three," he suggested. "That way if you're willing to only go for two she can 'talk you into it' and feel better."

"You're good," she nodded while getting into his truck. "Can I ask you something else?"

He slammed the door shut and turned the truck on, "Yeah, anything." He kept the truck in park, giving her his full attention.

"You want more kids, right? I mean that's why you guys want the bigger house."

"Yeah, why? Does that upset you?"

"Upset? No. Make me a little jealous? Kind of. I mean a kid that's Mom's and yours? That kid's going to be mad loved."

Luke placed a hand on Rory's shoulder, "You're mad loved! You know that, right?"

"I know, I know. That's not why I'm jealous. You'll be there from day one. The kids that you have will grow up with a Mom and Dad who both want them. They'll never feel like a mistake or a burden or-"

"Hey," Luke interrupted. "She never felt that way about you."

"I wasn't talking about her."

The two sat quietly for a moment.

"I just wanted to know how you would feel, when the kids came along, if I called you Dad. So that way we won't confuse them, you know."

"You want to call me Dad?"

"I've wanted to call you Dad since I was a kid. I almost asked you if I could after Grandma and Grandpa's vow renewal. I mean after all, who was there when I got chicken pox and would only eat mashed potatoes for a week, or when I graduated high school, or started college? Huh? Who moved my mattress into the dorm, and out and back into the dorm again?"

"You two love reminding me about that outburst, don't you?"

"Are you kidding?" Rory exclaimed. "You were declaring your love for me. You were fighting for me, like I was your daughter and he was trying to take me away from you. I always felt a certain way about you and suspected the feeling was mutual. And then there you were, fighting with him. Not over Mom, which I was expecting, you were fighting over me."

Luke took a depth breath, "You have to know that I've loved you from almost the moment I met you."

"And you taught me what it felt like to have a Dad." she smiled with tears in her eyes.

"If it were up to me, you wouldn't wait until your Mom and I had other kids to start calling me Dad. But after this conversation, you could call me whatever you want."

"Let's go home, Dad."

XoXoXoXoXoXo

After years of not caring about Emily's rules, Lorelai finally realized that following some just made her life easier. She knew that her parents would be home from their trip in the afternoon, so she had called the house and left a message with the maid first thing in the morning.

Later that afternoon she was watching an old movie when her phone rang and she answered, "Hello?"

"Hello Lorelai," Emily greeted. "The maid said you called to welcome us home."

"Right, well I wasn't exactly sure what time you were coming in, so I called early to make sure I caught you. How was Hawaii?"

"It's as gorgeous as ever. I swear every time your Father mentions we head over there I think it won't be impressive, but it gets me every time. Have you ever been?"

Lorelai laughed, "Not unless you took me and I don't remember."

"We never did go as a family," Emily mused. "Maybe we should!"

"What?" Lorelai gasped.

"I would love to show you and Rory some of the places your Father took me on our Honeymoon. And Luke would love the wonderful food. The fruit, the fish, all so fresh and beautiful."

"You want us to all go to Hawaii together," Lorelai asked in pure shock.

"Why not," Emily asked incredulously. "I have a good few friends whose children are very appreciative of the family vacations that are fully paid for by their parents."

Lorelai exhaled, trying to get out of this conversation without offending her Mother. "I don't doubt that Mom. And if you want to talk about it maybe we can when we're all together."

"Okay, will Luke be joining you this Friday night?"

Lorelai took a deep breath, "Yeah, Luke will be coming. We have some news. We've set a wedding date, January twentieth, please tell me you guys are free."

"Lorelai, today is December fifth," Emily said, trying to sound calm. "You're getting married THIS January, meaning in less than two months?"

"That's right," Loreali smiled to herself.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, are you pregnant?"

Lorelai laughed, "You know Mom, I knew that question was coming. No! I'm not pregnant. Now I know that I have no right to be offended by the question. I do have a history, I get it. But I swear on my life Mom, as far as I know, I'm not pregnant." She heard Emily exhale a sigh of relief and she didn't know if it was because of the answer to the question or because the question didn't cause a fight. She lowered her voice in case anyone walked into the house, "Mom, you know how badly I felt when Luke postponed the wedding. You held me as I wept in the back of that rapper-mobile you rented. Well now that we're back on track, we're tired of not being married. We want to move into that beautiful house that you bought us and start filling it with more grandbabies for you. I think this time all involved would prefer if I was married before getting knocked up."

Emily chuckled, "Honestly, Lorelai. But how did you secure a venue so quickly? You said the inn was booked up for months."

"It is, but I took Sookie to the house and we thought that if we didn't move the furniture in, we could use the main floor as our venue. Also one of our suppliers for the inn has branched out into rentals. We could get a tent with space heaters for the party."

"January weather can be so unpredictable, are you sure a tent will be sufficient? I can call around Hartford and see if we can find a venue for that date."

"I think it will be fine," Lorelai tried to assure her. "Luke really liked the idea of having the wedding as the first party we would host in our new home. And it forces us to keep the numbers low."

"I suppose that comment is meant for me since Luke admits he only has two or three friends."

Lorelai just laughed.

"How's Rory doing? I didn't get a chance to speak with her before we left. It feels like forever since I spoke with her," Emily said wistfully.

"She's great. Grades are good, Paris keeps her life interesting and her boyfriend took her to Turkey for Thanksgiving."

"Well isn't that clever. That Logan is really something," Emily gushed.

"He's something alright," Lorelai said.

"Don't start, The Huntzbergers are a very important family! Rory will do very well for herself by making this connection," Emily tried to keep her emotions in check knowing this was a sore spot for Lorelai.

"Sure. Anyway, I'll let you get settled and back to it," Lorelai started to wrap up the conversation. "We'll see you this Friday for dinner and next week is the party, right?"

"That's right. See you Friday."

XoXoXoXoXoXo

"Thanksgiving in Turkey and Christmas in London, my you certainly are becoming a world traveller," Richard smiled as he handed Rory her club soda. "What plans do you two have for the holidays," he asked Luke and Lorelai, handing them their drinks.

"Well the inn is booked solid so I like to be close to home in case of any emergencies," Lorelai replied. "Plus with all the wedding planning and extra hours at work we're putting in now so we can take our honeymoon, we'll likely have a low-key Christmas."

"My nephew is coming to town to see his Mom and so we'll get together with them at some point," Luke nodded.

Rory laughed.

"What's so funny about that," Emily asked.

"Luke still thinks that Jess comes to town to see Liz," Rory grinned.

The whole room was looking at her blankly.

"Come on, Luke. Liz is sweet and all, but she wasn't the best Mom to him. I know that it wasn't really her fault because she 's an addict, but it didn't hurt him any less. Jess comes to town to see YOU. He sees Liz because she's there and she has been trying. He also goes there to make sure everything is okay with the baby. But if she wasn't in town he would still come back at the holidays to see YOU. You are the only person he views as a parental figure. How do you not know that?"

"I think you're giving me too much credit," Luke waved her off.

"What? Mom, can you back me up here? Me, Lane, Zack and Jess all see you as the Dad in our lives. How does he not know?"

"Maybe because you little brats don't give him anything on Father's Day," Lorelai teased.

"Sure I do!" Rory insisted.

Luke blushed.

Lorelai, Richard and Emily all looked from Rory to Luke and back again when he stared into his glass.

"I think we should change the topic," Richard jumped in.

"Where are you two travelling over Christmas this year," Lorelai asked him.

"We're staying in town this year."

"Wait, what?" Loreali and Rory said in unison.

"You haven't stayed in town for Christmas for YEARS," Lorelai gasped.

"Well, Hawaii was a big expense and we normally don't travel over Thanksgiving."

"You'll be all alone." Rory whined.

"We have each other," Emily insisted. "That's who we have when we travel," she pointed out.

"They'll come to us," Luke stated.

All the Gilmores suddenly stared at Luke with mouths agape.

"What? This time next year, you'll be my family. Why wouldn't we spend the holidays together? We can have Christmas Eve dinner at the Diner, I can make it up to my regulars who I bailed on for Thanksgiving. If the Dragonfly is booked up, they can stay at the new house. I know we talked about moving in after the wedding, but they can stay there."

"You want us to celebrate Christmas in Stars Hollow? With you," Emily asked, with tears in her eyes.

"I don't want you all alone when you have family nearby," Luke answered.

"We would be delighted. Once all the plans are settled please let us know how we can contribute," Richard smiled.