Disclaimer: I do not own the Gilmore Girls.

I meant for this to be longer and to be everyone's sleigh ride, and I meant to post it over the weekend, but I have a concussion and its very hard to look at the computer screen at all. So this is what I had finished before the concussion. I hope you like it and I hope to be able to write the rest in a few days as long as my head continues to heal. Thank you for the reviews and I hope you stick with me!

In this Lorelai might start to get more open to Jess.

"Hey, you in the belt, get in." Lorelai hollers to Luke.

"No, I was just sort of checking things out." Luke says petting the horse.

"Come on. We could pull a Ben-Hur and take down Taylor's sleigh." she encourages.

"I don't know." Luke shrugs.

"Come on, Luke. I can't be all schoolmarmy and ride by myself. Please?" Lorelai begs.

"Well, okay." Luke agrees and gets in the sleigh. Sitting under the blanket with Lorelai.

"Giddyap." Lorelai says, and the sleigh starts moving, "The horses heard me. I speak horse language. I'm Dr. Dolittle." Lorelai says excitedly.

"Plus, I think the driver of the sleigh heard you." Luke says

Lorelai shrugs. As they are pulling away Lorelai notices Rory and Jess walking out of the Inn together hands clasped together. "Hey look at that" she says to Luke.

"At what?" Luke turns.

"The offspring. Well my offspring, and your well..." Lorelai searched for the word, "well.. your Jess."

Luke turns and sees them, "Oh wow. Are they together now?"

"I don't know, looks like it." Lorelai shrugs

"Well, this is great." Luke smiles.

"I'll tell Dean you said that." Lorelai jests.

"You know what I mean, Rory and Jess, Jess and Rory. I think this is great." Luke looks at Lorelai concerned, "Don't you think this is great?"

"I think Rory's seventeen and it's probably about time for a Jess."

"Look, I know Jess is a little tough sometimes, but he likes Rory and Rory's a good kid, hopefully she'll rub off on him."

"You know what, I've been trying not to fight the whole Jess thing. Rory's made her choice, I want her to be happy. I'm just hoping for the best at this point."

"Very romantic." Luke mutters.

"Says the man who yelled "Finally!" at the end of Love Story."

They sit in silence for a few moments. Until Luke says, "I gotta say, sleigh rides are a little much, but these horses are beautiful."

"Especially from this angle."

"Not just from this angle. Seriously."

"Don't backtrack. Horse has got a nice butt there."

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Nice firm hienie."

"Stop talking about the horse's hienie."

"The town looks beautiful." Lorelai says

"Same as always."

"No it's always different this time of year." Lorelai says, "It's magical."

"If you say so, sure." Luke nods, "There's the magical plumbing supply store where I bought a magical float for my toilet." he gestures.

"You disappoint me." Lorelai shakes he head.

"Look, the magical Luke's Diner right below the apartment that Jess magically lit - by leaving every stinking light on." Luke grumbles.

"How's it going with you guys?" Lorelai asks.

"Me and Jess? Great." Luke nods.

"Great? Really?" Lorelai says surprised. "Well, good."

"It is good." Luke nods, "I mean, it was hard at first, seemed impossible, you know but I've learned a lot these last couple of months."

"Like?"

"Like last week - I discovered the secret of parenting." Luke affirms.

"You did?" Lorelai blanches, "The secret of parenting?"

"The secret of parenting." Luke confirms.

"When last week? Last Tuesday?"

"I don't know the exact day."

"Tuesday at 5:15? Is that when you discovered it?" Lorelai mocked.

"Don't mock."

"Well, tell me. What is - Wait. It's a secret. You can't tell me."

"No, I'll tell you." Luke shakes his head, "You visualize the reality you want."

"Visualize the reality you want." Lorelai repeats.

"And then if necessary, you lie to bring it about." Luke completes.

"That is so much worse than I was expecting." Lorelai smiles.

"You never lied to your kid? " Luke asks.

"To save her from great physical pain, yes. When she was little and she'd play in the kitchen, I told her the burners were the deviI's hands. I'd say it in a scary evangelist voice. 'Don't touch the deviI's hands.' She still doesn't go near it." Lorelai shrugs.

"Exactly." Luke nods, "You told a white lie for your kid's protection - very similar to what I have done."

"Which was?"

"You know the winter break is coming."

"I do."

"It means Jess has some time off from school. His mom knew that, and she never called."

"That makes me sick." Lorelai says, poor kid.

"So I decided to keep Jess with me. I told him that his mom wanted him to come home. But since he just got there and he was still adjusting that I thought he should stay.
His mom was really upset but I insisted. He bought it hook, line, and sinker. Saved him a lot of hurt."

"He didn't buy it." Lorelai says thoughtfully.

"What? Of course he did.

"He knows." she says softly.

Luke sits back.

"It was sweet of you to try though," Lorelai says, "And he'll see that you care about him." That's what he needs. He needs someone to care about him. Lorelai thought.