Hey Kylie, I wanted to say something clever but I don't know what P

Special Dedication To FX. You were taken from us far to soon, this one's for you man, because I know you always read them and I know you are watching over me now… please look away when I shower. FX you'll never be forgotten

When Rory got home the night before, from the Diner, she was surprised to find her Mom asleep in her room instead of sitting in the living room waiting for her. Rory thought nothing of it the night before, but now, now she was getting a little worried since the house had been deserted when she woke up; Lorelai had gone to the Inn before Rory even got up for school.

Rory was going to talk with Lorelai after she got back from school, now she had to go catch her bus; after her daily coffee fix from her neighborhood friendly diner owner. But once at the Diner Rory was met with the same thing as in her house, Luke was nowhere to be found; finding it even odder but having no time to look more into it, other than ask Caesar, Rory left for school with the intention of talking to Luke later too.

All day in school Rory was somewhere else; her mind just couldn't stay with the class. The day before it had been the same, though that was because of Jess… Jess! He's my cousin, my blood cousin! Oh my God! Rory shuddered in the middle of the class which earned her a class full of odd looks, plus the teachers undivided attention from that moment until the class had ended.

.o0 Later that afternoon 0o.

Man, could this day drag any longer? What's with the bus driver? Will it kill him to drive just a tad bit faster, people have places to be, people to talk to, Dad's to get reacquainted with, cousins to dump again Rory shuddered. Although, we never really went out, so there's no need to dump, though I should tell him again with the shudder. I'm rambling… no, I'm ranting, wow, I rant just like Luke… freaky.

"Caesar?" Rory frowned walking into the Diner and seeing Caesar running around delivering plates and taking orders. "Where's Luke?"

"Still hasn't come down" Caesar flashed by.

"Since this morning?"

"Try last night" he corrected.

"I haven't seen him since he kicked everybody out early yesterday"

"Is he sick?" Rory frowned not to be cruel, but I hope he's sick and not hiding.

"Don't know, it probably has to do with why he closed early last night"

"Hope not" Rory mumble.

"What?" Caesar stopped to pay more attention to Rory; if Luke ever found out that he hadn't given Rory his whole attention he'd be mad.

"Umm… nothing, I… I'm gonna go…" Rory pointed to the stairs.

"Sure" Caesar nodded and kept making coffee rounds.

.o0 Luke's apartment 0o.

"Yeah…?" Luke opened the door. "Uh, Rory… hi"

"Are you sick?"

"No, not sick" Luke opened the door more so she'd walk in.

"Doing inventory?"

"No" he shook his head, confused face on.

"Ok then, I'm gonna go" Rory said and Luke could detect a sad tone of voice.

"But you just got here" Luke frowned.

"And you're hiding"

"What?"

"I came this morning and you weren't here…" Rory dropped the backpack by the floor and prepared to pace. "… I came after school and Caesar said you were still here, first I thought you were sick but you're not, then I figured you were working but you're not, so the only thing left is hiding"

"I'm not hiding… and, you shouldn't be here" Luke suddenly seemed nervous. Rory's face fell a little and he noticed. She had never been kicked out of the Diner or the apartment before; sure Lorelai had but never Rory. "No, don't be sad"

"I'm not" Rory said while walking over to pick up her backpack. Luke let out a big sigh before he spoke.

"Your Mom and I had a… thing last night" Rory stopped, hand on the doorknob.

"Wha…? What kind of thing?" she frowned.

"Rory…" Luke shook his head. "That's between me and your Mom, ok?"

"So… you're hiding from my Mom?"

"I'm not hiding at all" Rory gave him a skeptical look. "Did you eat anything?" she shook her head. "Want me to make you something?"

"Nope, I was actually going to the Inn"

"Rory…"

"I just wanted to talk to my Mom since I couldn't this morning cause she wasn't home when I got up" Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "I swear I was planning on talking with her before I came up here" she gave Luke the puppy eyes.

"Aw Geez" Luke whined. "Not the big blue eyes" Rory laughed while reaching down for her backpack.

"Can I take a rain check on that meal?"

"Does my answer matter?"

"Mmm… nope" Luke chuckled she's my daughter I helped make that. "See you later?"

"Ahhh… why don't you talk to your Mom first?" Luke suggested and Rory frowned.

"Umm, sure, bye" she smiled and made a move for the door before making a quick half turn and headed over to hug Luke. At first he was taken by surprise but after a second he gave her a one arm hug. "Bye"

"Bye Rory" with that Rory left the apartments and the diner; two minutes later Luke went to the diner to work.

.o0 The Inn 0o.

"Hey Mom" Rory said cheery noting that Lorelai was a little distracted by the front desk.

"Geez" Rory giggled. "God, scare me to death why don't you"

"Good to see you didn't leave town or something"

"Aha" Lorelai had gone back to work.

"When I got home last night, you were asleep…" silence. "… and this morning you were already gone"

"Had to work"

"I went to the Diner before school and Luke was not there"

"Mm"

"I went after and he wasn't there either"

"MmHmm"

"Are you too busy? Can I help you with something?"

"No, I'm good" Lorelai looked up and gave Rory a smile before going back to her work again. There was a little silence, where Rory just stared at Lorelai.

"So… you two had a thing, huh?" Rory casually mentioned and Lorelai stopped what she was doing but didn't turn up from her work.

"He shouldn't have said that"

"He didn't say anything"

"Then how do you know?" at this Lorelai did turn to look at Rory.

"I… ok, he said you two had a thing last night" Lorelai let out a sigh. "What happened?"

"Sorry, but that's between me and Luke" Rory rolled her eyes; after all, it had been the same response she had gotten from Luke.

"God, you two are so alike" Rory groaned, Lorelai looked taken aback.

"Are you serious? That's all you have to say?"

"No, there's a lot more I wanna say but you're busy or it's between you and Luke"

"Oh, so now it's 'Luke' and not 'him' anymore, huh?" Lorelai challenged and Rory looked shocked.

"W-what are you talking about?" Rory knew Luke was her Dad, Luke knew he was her Dad; Lorelai knew he was her Dad, but Rory didn't think Lorelai knew Rory knew; if that made sense.

"Stop playing, kid. I know he told you"

"Who told me what?"

"Luke told you…" Lorelai looked around and lowered her voice. "Luke told you he's your real Dad"

"Luke didn't…" Rory looked around. "Can we talk about this somewhere else?"

"Fine, go to my office I'll be right there" after Rory left, Lorelai sighed and rubbed her temples.

.o0 Lorelai's Office 0o.

Both girls stood in silence for several minutes after Lorelai got there.

"So…" Lorelai started. "Last night he went looking for you, huh?"

"No"

"No?" Lorelai frowned.

"I went back to the Diner"

"You went back? Willingly?"

"Yes. I needed to clear some things up"

"Some things?"

"Stop repeating everything I say, its getting annoying"

"I'm repeating everything you say?" Lorelai said teasingly. "Sorry, I'll stop" she promised. "Now, care to tell me what happened after you stormed off"

"No"

"Rory…"

"I asked first"

"But…"

"What thing did you two have last night?"

"Rory…" Lorelai whined.

"You tell me yours I'll tell you mine"

"Lane really taught you how to sell it, huh?"

"Yep, now spill it"

"Ok, ok…" Lorelai took a deep breath. "I went back to the diner last night because I thought he would be feeling horrible after what had happened in his apartment…"

"Sorry" Rory mumbled.

"But when I got there, I saw you two hugging it out. Not an I'm-sorry-for-snapping-at-you hug, but a now-I-know-you're-my-Dad-and-everything's-ok hug; and it pissed me off"

"Why?" Rory frowned.

"Because he screwed me over!" Lorelai couldn't help but snap.

"What are you talking about?"

"I had it all planned out, ever since you were a little girl, I had it planned out. I knew how I was going to tell you who your father was; I never knew how I'd found out who he was, but I already knew how I would tell you. We'd talk, we'd yell, we'd cry, we'd hug and that would be it, just you and me; you 'd know and everything would follow its course" Lorelai explained. "But then…"

"You found out it was Luke" Rory filled in.

"Yeah…" Lorelai nodded. "And I weighed my options and figured it couldn't hurt to let him be there; to see your reaction, to be part of it. I never thought it'd be him telling you and me not there; that was never an option, I was supposed to tell you who your dad was, not him"

"He didn't tell me" Rory shook her head. "Lane did"

"What? Lane did? How did Lane…?"

"After I left the apartment I went over to Lane's to vent a little. While I vented Lane connected the dots and pointed a few things out to me"

"Ah, that Lane" Lorelai mumbled.

"After she told me I went to the Diner"

"So Lane screwed me over; I guess all that yelling I did last night was pointless"

"You yelled at him?" Rory felt really bad now.

"It was no big deal. I went back there after I heard you were home and we… talked"

"Talked?" Rory asked skeptically.

"I talked he listened" Lorelai elaborated a little more but Rory only raised her eyebrow. "Ok, ok. We fought"

"Mom…"

"Well, how was I supposed to know Lane told you, I thought Luke had stole my thunder"

"Apologize"

"But…"

"Go. It was not his fault. Plus… poor guy, he got yelled at, hit on, cried on, and yelled at some more; all in one night"

"Hit on?" Lorelai asked trying to hide her slight jealousy, they weren't dating or anything; but damn it, he was her Luke, they have a kid together.

"I punched him a few times" Rory admitted shyly.

"You what?"

"He asked me too. And it felt kind of nice, very cathartic"

"Good to know; I'll go punch him, I'll be right back" she made a move to go.

"Mom"

"Kidding, I'll just apologize"

"Good" Rory smiled.

"You ok with this?" Lorelai asked before leaving.

"With you apologizing?"

"No"

"I'm ok…" Rory nodded knowing full well what Lorelai meant. "He was always there"

"Yeah, he was; I'll be back"

"Tell him I'll take that rain check now" Rory smiled at Lorelai's confused face.

There ya go.

Thought since people seem to like this one so much I'd update D

Hope ya liked it.

A-review please or let me know whatcha thunk