This Is Me | Gilmore Girls

Part 19: Summer 2001 Planning

April 2001, 5 Weeks After Last Chapter

Her and Lane were sitting in the dinner when Luke came up to their table with a frustrated look. "What do women like as a gift?"

"What did you do?" Lilith sighs.

"What do you mean?"

"You're asking what a woman would like as a gift, so I'm assuming you actually mean what would Rachel like as a gift. Which once again brings us to what did you do that you need to get her a gift?"

"Nothing. It's Rachel's birthday and don't tell her I told you. She doesn't want anyone to know."

"But you're like the birthday king!" She says.

"What?" Luke asks, looking at her in confusion.

"She's not wrong. I mean I've seen the gifts you gotten Lilith for her birthday every year and they're awesome! So what's different now?" Lane asks before taking a sip of coffee jampacked with sugar.

"I don't . . . it's Rachel, not Lil. Lily is easy to shop for.  She has the things she likes and the things she doesn't like and it doesn't change."

"I'm not gonna say anything and just take that as a compliment. She needs a new camera bag, preferably leather!" Lilith tells him after swallowing some hot cocoa enjoying the hint of cinnamon and the sweet whipped cream.

"She has one. You have some cream on your nose." Luke says with chuckle. "You and hot cocoa, it never fails."

"She has an old one." Lilith says feeling her cheeks burn as she uses the napkin to wipe it off.

"So old, it's seams are ripping. If she doesn't get a new one soon it's gonna end up snapping and destroying her camera." Lane says from her seat, having seen the bag earlier when Rachel went out to take more photos of the town. She quickly finishes up the last of her waffle before starting her 2.5 hour shift before school. Lane's work schedule at the diner made it so she had half an hour for a free hot breakfast with Lilith and occasionally Dean most mornings before Lilith would need to drive to Chilton.

"Well, I need to get Louise a birthday gift so I'm going to the mall later. I could pick up a camera bag while I'm doing that, if you want?"

"Alright do you want my card or for me to pay you back? Wait, how are you going to the mall it's a school day."

"I'm going after school Uncle Luke. I have my car remember?"

"Right, still not used to that."

"Well I've only had it for like a month or a month and a half and there hasn't really been anything that had me driving aside from going to school. Plus I tend to park down the block so I don't get blocked in by your customers."

"I'll give you my card before you leave, don't go crazy." He says before walking away.

"You're gonna go crazy aren't you?"

"Nah, I am going to get him an outfit though."

"Well that's nothing new."

"What does that mean?"

"You and you're mom were always dressing him up whenever you could."

"If we didn't he'd spend the rest of his life dressed like nothing more than a lumberjack."

"You know it is kind of coming back in style."

"Please, please don't ever tell him that. By the way we need to talk about setting up a meeting with my grandpa so we can officially launch Primordial Studios. Uncle Luke already said he'll invest in us a bit if we got over 10,000 people to register on the forum."

"Didn't we reach that within a few months?"

"Yea!"

"So we already have an investor to show we're serious. Cool cause Mrs. Kim is not going to get behind me on this."

"Just call her mom Lane, she is your mom."

"I still haven't heard a word about whether or not I'm coming back from Korea or even a hint of a return flight being booked so for now she's Mrs. Kim." Lane says trying to keep down her panic.

"Think of it this way even if that is the case if we manage to get Grandpa to agree and sign off on things then the two of us and Jess will likely be making more than enough by the end of summer so you could buy your own ticket back and if not then I'll buy your ticket. No way am I starting junior year without my best girl."

"Your best girl? I thought Paris was your best girl." Lane says all mopey.

"No, she's my Chilton girl and you Lane Kim are my forever girl."

"I better be." Lane tells her, bumping their shoulders, and Lilith just rolls her eyes.

~~*~~

Late May 2001

"Finally!" Lilith screams out in a mix of frustration and relief and Snowflake scampers into the room barking. She can't believe how long it took to plan a way to get Luke to meet April but she thinks she's done it. Woodbridge was only a short drive from Yale, where she would be spending a good part of her summer vacation taking both summer sessions before/after doing volunteer work. She'd somehow even managed to talk Dean and Lane into joining her in building houses this June for a week before they each left for their breaks so they could get the volunteer hour requirements for junior year out of the way which would seriously cut down on the amount of things to do during the year and leave them more free time to do things they actually wanted.

A/N: I don't know if CT requires it but I know the district can mandate it and I can definitely see Doose convincing the school board to do so in order to have free labor for all those town events in Stars Hollow. I was required to do 120 hours of volunteer service before graduation and it also looks good on transcripts so come on.

All she needed to do now was convince Luke that they should have their own little family day trip and head to Woodbridge for their craft fair. If he tries to say no she could mention how she wants to feel closer to her mom who loved going to those sorts of things and doesn't want to go alone but that she guess she could. Of course there is absolutely no way in hell Luke would let her go to a town she's never been to alone which means there's no way he won't agree. Best part is she managed to confirm that one Anna Nardini would have a booth set up all day representing her shop. Hopefully they could 'accidently' run into them but if it was just Anna and she never brought their shared daughter up after meeting Luke again after 8-9 years well it would certainly end up becoming quite the interesting thing when Luke found out and sued for joint custody.

~~*~~

Until Next Time . . .