So this is my second fic. I had this idea randomly one day and I wanted to see what happened with it. I hope you enjoy it :)

Lorelai Gilmore sat on the swings at the park she used to visit when she was younger. She slowly swung back and forth, using her feet to control the movements, as she watched the kid's running round the park, enjoying their childhood whilst their nannies sat on nearby benches, keeping an eye on them. Lorelai wondered where it all went wrong. She herself was one of these excited children visiting the park with her own nanny. And then it occured to her, the nanny was the problem. Six year old Lorelai didn't want to go to the park with the nanny, she wanted to go with her parents. But no matter who much she begged her father to take a day off work or pleaded with her mother to take an interest in her, she was still pawned off to a stranger. She made no attempt to get to know the nanny she had because she knew that the following week she would have a different one. Lorelai thought back to all the times she had tried so hard to get her mother's attention, for her to notice her, but she was shooed away because she was too busy or simply couldn't be bothered to take an interest in her only daughter. Tears threatened to appear in her eyes and she blinked them away before looking down at the little girl sat contentedly in her lap. She smiled as she watched her beautiful ten month old daughter's eyes follow the kids playing all around her. The baby pointed at something in front of her and turned her head to find her mother's eyes. Lorelai followed the direction of her tiny finger and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

"Does Rory want ice cream?" she asked in her best baby voice. The little girl gurgled in response and smiled when she recognised her mother's voice. Lorelai sat on the swing a little while longer. She now thought about how miserable she was during her childhood and how she wanted so much more for Rory. She didn't want Rory to hate her when she was sixteen, she wanted to be her best friend and for them to have the best mother/daughter relationship in the world and she was gonna try her hardest to raise her baby that way. She needed no help from nannies or her parents for that matter. She didn't even need help from Rory's father who had been a no show since the night their daughter was born. She was on her own, and she had been for the last two weeks.

"Come on kid, let's get you home." She stood up from the swing and put her daughter on her hip. She made a quick stop at the ice cream truck and saw the look of delight on the little girl's face as she watched the vendor make it for her. He handed her the ice cream in exchange for a dollar and she headed off to the bus stop to make her way back to Stars Hollow.

By the time Lorelai reached the Independence Inn, Rory had fallen asleep and had her head rested on Lorelai's shoulder. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of her baby girl as she had ice cream all round her mouth that had dried up slightly. Lorelai had run out of wipes in the diaper bag and had forgotten to put a new pack in for their trip to the park. She made her way up the porch steps and entered the lobby through the front door. She noticed Mia stood at the front desk and made her way over there. She had only known the woman for two weeks but she already felt as though Mia understood her more than her parents ever had.

"Hey Mia," she greeted as she approached the desk.

"Oh hello Lorelai," she replied, dragging her attention away from the newspaper she was reading. "I see you wore Rory out." She leant over the desk and stroked the little girl's ice cream covered cheek.

"Yeah we had fun today. Thanks for giving me the day off."

"You deserved it sweetie. You've been working so hard the last couple of weeks and you needed some quality time with you gorgeous daughter."

"Well it's much appreciated, I had a great day. Rory's the best baby in the world," she stated proudly with a smile. "She's so smart, I mean she's ten months old and can nearly walk unaided. Today I was holding her up as she walked and I thought she was gonna do it all by herself. But then I let her go and she fell flat on her butt, it was so adorable." She let out a breath.

"She's a special girl," replied Mia with a smile. She was so intrigued by the seventeen year old girl who worked full time and took care of a baby, but didn't once complain about it. Mia's gaze fell on Rory who was still sleeping in her mother's arms.

"I'm gonna go put her to bed," said Lorelai as she began to walk away to go to the potting shed.

"Lorelai?" called Mia.

"Yeah."

"Why don't I put Rory to bed and you take some time for yourself?"

"Oh I couldn't, you're working," she protested.

"I'm the boss and I just made it break time."

"But I feel like I'm dumping her on you."

"Nonsense, I'm offering to take her. I'd love to spend some time with this little cutie."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive." Lorelai carefully transferred Rory from her arms to Mia's. "Take a couple of hours by yourself, have some fun."

"Erm....what should I do?" She was a little lost without Rory.

"Take a tour around town, meet new townspeople, visit the local businesses. There's a market, a bookstore, a video store and a diner."

"Ok I'll do that. Are you sure you're ok with her? When she wakes up she'll be hungry. I have some food jars in the shed, just heat it..." Mia cut her off.

"Lorelai I know. Now go have some alone time and stop worrying ok?" Lorelai looked from Mia to Rory. She knew her baby would be in good hands but she'd never left her before and she was in full on protective parent mode.

"Ok I'm going." She planted a kiss on Rory's forehead before reluctantly walking away and closing the front door behind her.

Twenty minutes later, Lorelai was walking aimlessly around Stars Hollow. She stopped by the market and decided to pick up a few essentials. As she wandered the aisles, she thought of how strange it felt not having to struggle manoeuvring a stroller around the tight corners and at that moment she was actually enjoying doing the grocery shopping. She stopped in the baby aisle and looked up at the different brands of diapers. She chose the cheapest pack and frowned at the fact that she couldn't give her daughter more. She saw a pack of pacifiers out of the corner of her eye and went over to examine them. Rory's current pacifiers were over eight months old and looked as if they were gonna fall apart at any moment. She checked the price and did the math in her head of how much it would leave her for the rest of the week until her next pay check. She figured she could afford them and added them to her cart. She moved onto the next aisle and chose a few essentials such as milk, bread and a bar of chocolate, as that was a definite essential in her life, then she made her way to the checkout. The cashier gave her a curious look as she scanned the diapers. Lorelai was used to people passing judgement on her age when she was buying things for Rory and when she went out and about with her however she ignored the looks and got on with her life. She paid for her shopping and left the market and began wandering the street again.

She came across a bookstore and went in, heading for the children's section. She admired a few picture books but knew Rory wouldn't be interested in them. She wasn't even one yet and she was already beyond picture books. She preferred story books. Lorelai had read to her every night since they came home from the hospital. That was another reason she left her parent's house, every time she had tried to put her daughter to bed and read to her, a nanny ushered her away. It made Lorelai so angry. All she wanted to do was say goodnight to her baby but some woman, whose name she didn't even know, was telling her she couldn't. However when the nanny had gone to bed, she crept into the nursery and read to her sleeping daughter. She was snapped out of her day dream by a loud thud. She turned around to see a girl around four bent down picking up some books from the floor. She smiled slightly and imagined a four year old Rory reading her books all by herself. She couldn't wait for her daughter to speak her first word, she knew it was gonna happen soon because Rory's constant gurgling was sounding more and more like actual words every day. She had been pushing her to say 'mama' as that was the most obvious first word but Rory was unique and her first word would be too. She chose a story about princesses and went to the counter to pay for it.

As she walked down the sidewalk again, she stopped at a magazine stand. She browsed through the selection but was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of her name being mentioned. She turned her head slowly to see three women stood near by and clearly, they were gossiping about her.

"I heard she has a daughter."

"I heard she ran away from her wedding."

"I heard she came from Hartford. Apparently, she ran away from her wealthy family and she used to live in a mansion."

Lorelai wondered how these strange women knew so much about her life and they hadn't even met. She turned back to the magazine she was reading and seconds later, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She swung around to see two of the three women stood looking at her. She put on a small smile.

"Hi sugar, I don't think we've met. I'm Babette."

"And I'm Miss Patty, but you can just call me Patty."

"Well hi, I'm Lorelai."

"Pretty name, how old are you?"

"Seventeen," she reluctantly answered.

"So did you move here with your parents?" Lorelai knew they were trying to pry information from her to confirm their rumours but she didn't care.

"No I moved here with my daughter."

"Oh, how old is she?"

"Ten months," she replied. She smiled every time she thought of Rory, she just couldn't help it.

"We'll have to look out for the two of you around town. We'd love to meet her."

"Yeah, we'll be around." She smiled at the women and gestured down the street. "I'm heading to the diner so I'll catch you later?"

"Ok sweetheart. You know Luke owns the diner?"

"Is that why it's called Lukes?" she replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, he's about your age actually. A year or so older."

"And he has his own business?"

"Yeah, his dad left it to him when he died a year ago. It used to be a hardware store but when Luke completed High School, he converted it to a diner. Everyone had such high hopes for him. He was supposed to go to college and study construction but after the death of his father, he vowed to keep the business going, even if it was a diner instead of it's original use."

"Wow, that's so moving. I know how it feels for all your hopes and dreams to vanish. When I found out I was pregnant I dropped out of High School and I disappointed my parents. I was all set up to go to an Ivy League school but I messed it all up. I wouldn't change my life for anything but I do wonder what it would have been like if I'd never had Rory." She sighed. "Anyway I'm gonna go meet this Luke guy, I'll see ya later." Patty and Babette nodded and she waved before walking down the sidewalk towards the diner with the two women watching after her.

"I think her and Luke would make the perfect couple." The two women nodded at each other before changing the subject to someone else.

As Lorelai entered the diner, she was greeted by the all too familiar smell of coffee. She smiled as the smell surrounded her. The diner was quiet, there were a few occupied tables but apart from that it was empty. She saw a man stood behind the counter and quickly strode across the room and dropped onto a stool. The man didn't look up.

"Excuse me, I need coffee."

"Wait your turn," he replied without looking up from his notepad. She sighed.

"But I'm the only one waiting."

"I'm sorting out someone's bill." Irritation was rising in his voice. "Now sit patiently and wait for me to get to you." He still didn't look up at her.

"But I think I'm about to die of withdrawal."

"You're annoying."

"And you're moody."

"I am not moody." He walked off towards a table and left her at the counter. She grabbed a newspaper that was sitting at the end of the counter and a brilliant idea popped into her head. She got up and walked over to the diner man.

"When's your birthday?"

"What?"

"It was a simple question, when's your birthday?" He desperately wanted to shut this woman up.

"November."

"November what?" He took a deep breath.

"November 6th."

"Thank you." She went back to sit at the counter and he went to stand in his usual spot. She tore a small section from the paper and scribbled something on it. She handed it to him and he looked her in the eye for the first time. He stopped as he saw how beautiful she was. The intense gaze of her bright blue eyes gave him butterflies and he was amazed at how every feature sat perfectly on her face. He realised he was staring at her and and recovered quickly by taking the scrap of paper from her. His fingers brushed against hers as he retrieved it and he looked into her beautiful eyes once again. He unfolded the paper to reveal what she had written. He saw Scorpio written at the top and below it she had crossed out the text and written her own message in her neat handwriting.

"You will meet an annoying woman today, give her coffee and she'll go away." He smiled slightly, not letting it show too much and looked up at her again. She had a wide smile plastered across her face, showing off her pearly whites. "You want it to go?"

"Erm, is it ok if I stick around for a while? I have a few hours to kill."

"Sure, just don't be too annoying." She let out a short giggle at his comment. "So I haven't seen you around here before. Are you just passing through?"

"No I just moved here."

"Oh where are you living?"

"The Independence Inn."

"That's Mia's inn."

"Yeah it is, I know Mia quite well."

"I thought you said you just moved here."

"Well I moved in two weeks ago and Mia's made us feel so welcome."

"Who, you and your parents?"

"No, me and my daughter." He looked shocked and Lorelai saw it in his face.

"Oh you err....you have a err.."

"Look it's ok, I'm used to people judging me."

"No I wasn't judging you, not at all. You just shocked me that's all. So how old is she?"

"Ten months." He nodded. He found it hard to believe that this young, beautiful woman had a daughter. Lorelai looked at him and gave him the once over. She realised how good looking he was, tall and handsome with the right amount of stubble on his face. She hadn't looked at any guy since she had found out she was pregnant and this was the first time since then that she had even given a guy a second glance. He noticed her looking at him and blushed at the attention she was giving him. She averted her gaze to her coffee and picked up the mug, finishing it off. He noticed her empty mug and picked up the coffee pot.

"Refill?" he asked but she shook her head. "Are you ok? You were really annoying before but now your quiet and turning down coffee."

"I just don't have much money at the moment and the little money I do have should be used for stuff Rory needs, not to feed my caffiene addiction." He looked at her sympathetically.

"So Rory's your daughter's name?"

"Yeah. I feel guilty when I can't afford the things she wants."

"Like what?" She was a little taken aback by his interest in her daughter. Not once had a guy asked about her.

"We were walking by this toy store earlier today and they had these cute little bears in the window. Rory pointed at them and looked at me whilst gurgling to herself but I couldn't afford one. She looked so disappointed when I walked away from the store, it made me feel so guilty."

"Why did you feel guilty about it." She couldn't believe how many questions he was asking.

"Why do you care? You've only known me for ten minutes."

"I'm intrigued, now answer my question." She sighed.

"I felt guilty because it's my fault we can't afford things. It was my decision to run away from my parent's house, it was me who wanted freedom, it was me who wanted to put my daughter to bed every night without some nanny telling me I wasn't allowed." She felt her eyes fill with tears and one escaped down her cheek. "I've been so selfish. I didn't realise how my decision would affect Rory, I was thinking about myself the whole time." He didn't know what to do. He put his hand over hers and she looked up at him.

"What's your name?" he asked. He still didn't know after everything she had told him.

"Lorelai. I'm guessing you're Luke?"

"You guess right Lorelai." She loved the way he said it. "Look, you're not selfish. It sounds to me like you were just looking out for your daughter."

"How'd you figure that out?" she asked with a sniffle.

"Well if you'd have stayed at your parents house, you wouldn't have been happy and you're unhappiness would reflect on her."

"But I took away her stability. We had a proper roof over our heads and good meals. But I took it all away."

"But you said that the nanny wouldn't let you put her to bed. If that would have carried on she wouldn't have developed a proper relationship with you and I'm no expert but a relationship between a mother and her child is pretty important." She looked up at him and smiled. "It sounds to me that the only person you were thinking about when you made the decision to leave, was Rory." She looked into his eyes, that were a similar shade of blue as her own and confusion hit her.

"Why are you being so nice to me? I thought I was annoying."

"Well that was before I found out what a wonderful person you are." She blushed at his compliment. "So where is the infamous Rory?"

"Mia told me to take some time to myself whilst she took care of her for a few hours. She was sleeping when I left. It's weird, I feel so lost without her." Luke was amazed by this wonderful young woman who had devoted her entire life to her baby. He grabbed the coffee pot again and filled her mug to the top. She looked at him as if he was stupid. "What are you doing? Did you not just hear my meltdown about how I can't afford to be splashing out on luxuries?"

"Oh I heard. But this one's on me."

"No, I couldn't take free coffee."

"You can, it's a piece offering."

"No really, you don't have to."

"I want to. Now drink up before it goes cold." She smiled her appreciation and took a sip of the steaming hot liquid.

"Mmm you serve the best coffee I've ever tasted. What's your secret?"

"If I told you it wouldn't be a secret anymore now would it?" he grinned.

"Fine don't tell me. It doesn't bother me." They looked at each other and wide smiles grew on their faces. "You know, I should get going." She stood up and picked up her shopping bags. "It was nice meeting you Luke. Thanks for the pep talk."

"It was my pleasure. Will I see you in here again?" he asked with his fingers secretly crossed. "Maybe you could bring Rory next time?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice. Plus I don't know how long I can stay away from your coffee." She grinned at him before handing him a dollar.

"No you keep that, save it for Rory."

"Luke I want to pay for my coffee."

"I insist you keep it." He smiled at her one last time and she stuffed the dollar back in her wallet before turning on her heel and leaving the diner. Luke stood there and watched her walk further and further away until she was out of sight.

Later that evening, Lorelai was sat on her bed giving Rory a bottle before she went to sleep. The little girl was laid against her mother and had her fingers grasped around the bottle over Lorelai's. She loved this time of the evening when they had a proper chance to bond. A couple of weeks ago she could only watch as a nanny prepared Rory for bed. Now here she was, out on her own and sharing these precious moments with her daughter. Usually, Rory would have fallen asleep near the end of her bottle but tonight she was wide awake. Lorelai stroked Rory's dark hair and smiled as the baby turned her head to look at her. She reached for the book she had bought earlier in the day and opened it to the first page. She began to read the story to the little girl, using funny voices for each character which made Rory giggle. She read a few pages before Rory closed her eyes and her breathing slowed. Lorelai yawned and decided to let Rory sleep with her tonight. She fell into a peaceful sleep with the baby leaning against her and she dreamt about she had met earlier that day.

So what did you think? Please leave me a review so I know whether to continue it or not. There's no point in continuing if the reader's don't enjoy it =D