One-Shot: King Defending His Castle

"So for next week, I want you guys to be ready for a discussion on Bronte's interpretation of feminism," Rory Gilmore was saying to her students at Yale University. The class filed out, enraptured by their just-concluded lecture. Rory was out last of all, and made a beeline for her office.

She was starting to turn her life around. After having Logan Huntzberger's baby, Rory's memoir, Gilmore Girls, had become a best-seller... and landed her a teaching offer at Yale, her alma mater, for Literature. Unfortunately, accepting the position meant having to separate herself from her daughter, Little Lorelai ("Laurie"). Her toddler was being raised by her mother and stepfather in Stars Hollow, Connecticut, with Rory commuting there every single weekend to be with her child.

Rory stared at the picture of her baby on her desk as she found some time to work on her latest book. Her memoir had been such a hit, she had been commissioned by her publisher to write a history of single motherhood in the United States. It was an ambitious project, but if done well, just might get her tenure on the Yale faculty.

There was a knock at her door, and a handsome face poked in with a smile. "Hey."

"Mark, Hi!"

Mark Southstreet was a colleague on the literature faculty at Yale. He was also Rory's boyfriend, as he gave her a friendly kiss from across her desk as soon as the door was shut. Flirtatious banter between the two of them had led to just flirtations and then a relationship. Rory had been hesitant to go out with anyone at first, especially after Logan. And the reminder of how her mother had once dated (and been engaged!) to a teacher had been in the back of her mind. But Mark was kind and did not judge her on her past baggage. "Ready for our dinner date tonight?"

"Can't wait," Rory pecked his lips. "I'll be the gal with the coffee."

That evening, Rory and Mark were out to dinner. In the middle of a debate over Dickens and his depictions of parenthood, Rory's cell phone rang.

"Hi, Luke," she smiled upon seeing the Caller ID of her stepfather.

"Someone is ready to say goodnight," Luke's gravelly voice told her. "I'll put her on." Soon, a much littler voice chirped. "Hi, Mommy!"

"Hi, Laurie, baby! Ready for your lullaby?"

"Yes!"

So Rory sang it softly into the phone. "I will always love you..."

"Was that Dolly Parton or Whitney Houston?" Laurie asked.

In the background, Rory heard her mother ask. "Is that a question? Dolly!"

Rory laughed. "Goodnight, babe! See you this weekend. Put Grandpa back on... Thanks, Daddy. Bye!"

Mark had watched the whole exchange with a smile on his face. Even as Rory wiped away tears for not being with her daughter.

"Please don't judge me," she begged.

"I'm not judging you!" He assured her. "It's just... the most shocking part of that conversation was how you called your stepfather 'daddy' and by his first name."

Rory blushed. "I asked Luke if I could after the baby was born. He did help bring me up."

The couple paid and got up to leave.

"Say," Rory asked. "Do you want to come with when I visit Laurie this weekend? You haven't met my parents!"

"I'd love to!" Mark beamed. And they parted ways with a kiss.

That weekend, Rory and Mark pulled up to 37 Maple Street in Stars Hollow, Connecticut.

"I just wanted to warn you, my mother talks fast. And she can be a little inappropriate. And loud, very loud... Luke is very tough on the outside, but..."

"Rory," Mark stopped her with a touch to the arm and a smile. "They sound wonderful."

Upon entering, a little head of hair came barreling down the hallway and launched itself into Rory's arms. "Mommy!"

"Baby!" Rory cuddled Laurie close and covered her face with kisses. How this little girl could still love her when she was only here on the weekends left Rory breathless and her eyes full of tears.

After introducing Laurie to Mark. The three went into the kitchen.

"Hey, Professor!" Luke cracked. "When's the test?" He and Rory hugged warmly.

"Hi, Daddy."

Lorelai was next. "How's the book coming, babe?"

"Great! And I brought a guest!"

"Well," Lorelai grinned as she looked beyond to Mark. "Young Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones has got nothing on you! I'm Lorelai!"

"Dirty," Luke muttered under his breath. Rory gawked at him, amused.

"Did you just use a Dirty Joke?"

"Hey! That's my job!" Lorelai pouted.

Mark fit right in to the passionate, witty dialogue around the table. But when the three Gilmore girls launched into a debate about who was a better Batman - Ben Affleck or Michael Keaton - the professor's gaze met Luke's. Luke merely gestured to the screen back door. Mark wearily followed him...

Meeting Luke earlier, Mark had to admit he had been intimidated by the older man's hulking physique. It was not hard to imagine him busting balls of the... genetalia variety and rolling heads on Rory's behalf. Luke Danes seemed like one of those white working-class types, who probably thought Trump was the next great orator and who carried a gun...

"Take it easy there. I don't have a gun to shoot you with... yet," Luke chuckled.

Mark blinked. "Oh... I wasn't sure. I mean, you own a Diner, according to Rory..."

"What are you really doing here, Mark?" Luke suddenly interrupted. "Actually, let me put it this way: what are your intentions with my daughter?"

Mark raised an eyebrow at Luke's perceptiveness and shook his head. Luke had the ghost of a smirk cross his face.

"A father knows." Mark just continued to stare at him almost in bewilderment. "What?"

"I don't know... it's like you escaped from a Liam Neeson movie or something..."

"As Liam Neeson, I hope?" Luke bantered back dryly. "Don't let the girls hear you say that." He opened a cooler against the railing. "Beer?"

Mark chuckled as he accepted. "It's just... I didn't expect an inquisition out of the gates."

"You came with Rory. She's only brought a boy home once before, and he was Laurie's father. You must be important to her."

"As she is to me," Mark jumped on. "Which is why..."

"You're asking my permission to marry Rory," Luke guessed.

"I'm sorry, I get if you might think it's weird. I know..."

"... that I'm not her father. No, but I am by marriage. And I would be doing this same thing with my own daughter's boyfriend, if she had one..."

Mark blinked in confusion. "You have another daughter?"

"April. She's a graduate student in Germany. I didn't know about her until she was 12. But I got custody of her after that. Raised Rory for years before that. Had a hand in bringing up my nephew, too. So, forgive me if I sound like a protective father, but... I guess you could say Rory is my first-born. And I've seen her heart get broken before. Guys who never appreciated her. So I've always feared for her and what some new boyfriend might try. When that orange Cro-Magnon was caught talking about pussy-grabbing, I immediately thought of my wife... my daughter... my stepdaughter." Luke sighed. "Look, Mark, you obviously have everything in order. Rory likes you. And you seem to not question the whole 'grandparents-raising-the-baby thing.' You have my permission. Just go all out with a proposal. Rory's mother liked that, so I bet Rory will, too."

Mark smiled with relief. "Thank you, sir."

Rory fidgeted with her beautiful white dress in the back of the church. Luke watched her with a proud smile on his face.

"You look beautiful, princess."

Rory beamed. "Thanks, Daddy."

"I think I should be thanking you. For asking me to give you away."

Rory shook her head. "I wouldn't have asked anyone else. And Christopher... Dad understands."

The Bridal March began to play and Rory took Luke's arm. Step by step down the aisle, Luke began to tear up at the thought of letting his little girl go. The one who invited him to a caterpillar's funeral. The one whom he taught to ride a bike. The one he watched graduate from Chilton and then Yale. The one who gave him a grandchild...

"Who gives away this woman?" The priest asked.

"Her mother and I do," Luke replied as he had been instructed. He gave Rory to Mark and was about to sit next to Lorelai when Rory, full of love, kissed his cheek.

"Thank you."

"Anything for you, kid," Luke choked up. Then he practically dove into the front pew so no one could see him start to bawl.

But, as the ceremony continued, Luke knew his eldest daughter would be all right. She had found her way. He always knew she would.