Parker and Luke looked at each other in disbelief as they walked into the ballroom. Then they both looked back and took in their surroundings. After a moment of gaping, they hear someone calling their names.
"Parker! Luke!" Lorelai calls, as she walks over to them. Parker grabs Luke's arm, still not fully comfortable with Lorelai.
"Hey guys! Luke, I was just wondering if I could borrow Parker for a moment, I wasn't sure if she wanted to meet her father before the ball or not" She then looks to Parker "He's here, if you'd like to meet him."
Parker's nervous, but she does want to meet him. "Sure, thanks." She says and joins Lorelai as she walks away from Luke, but then darts back really fast. "Try to enjoy yourself, but when it's time to go you have to go up those stairs out there and meet me." Luke smiles at her gratefully and goes to find somewhere to sit for a while.
Parker rejoins Lorelai, who smiles at her. "I really am very sorry for what I did. And I hope that if you give me a chance, I can make it up to you" She says.
"I can try, but that's the best I can do." Parker says. To Parker, this woman was the one who caused all of the heartbreak in her life so far, and it would probably take a while. "And I can't promise that it's going to happen fast, but we'll see I think"
Lorelai smiles at her, understanding. All of a sudden she waves to a man over by the bar. "Christopher!" She says, and he looks over. "Come here!"
The man smiles at her as he walks over. "Hey Lor!" He says once he gets to them. "Who's this?"
"Chris, I'd like you to meet your daughter. Parker." Chris looks at her confused, and then his eyes widen in shock. Then he looks back up at Lorelai.
"Is it her? Is it really her? You better not be playing a trick on me Lor" He says, his voice wavering a little.
"It's her, Chris." Lorelai says. Chris looks back down at her and smiles. "Is it okay if I hug you?" He asks her, and she nods. He envelops her in a very large hug, and they don't let go for a while.
"I always regretted the decision that was made in the hospital. I'm so sorry" He says to her, and he almost looks like he's going to cry. But that's when they hear an announcement, that all Debutantes have to go up and get ready right now, so with a quick wave, Parker walks away, to go get ready, leaving Christopher with Lorelai.
Once she walks upstairs, she sees Rory, helping a girl decide between lipstick shades. She ducks into one of the bathrooms to put on her dress.
Once she walks out of the bathroom, Rory takes one glance at her and gasps. "You look beautiful." Rory says.
"Thanks, but I feel like a pompom" She answers. Rory laughs at that.
"But a very pretty pompom." She says. They both finished getting ready for the presentation, and lined up outside of the door, ready to begin.
Christopher smiles at her as he walks up to Rory, getting ready to present her. Then Luke walks up, seemingly nervous and straightening out his tux.
(By the way, this is his tux)
He then looks up at Parker and smiles. "You look great, kid." He says. Parker smiles, and he puts out his arm for her to take. Then, they start calling people's names. It takes a few to get to Gilmore, but once it does, she nervously fidgets as she hears the announcer call her sister.
"Lorelai Gilmore- daughter of Christopher Hayden and Lorelai Gilmore." the woman says on the microphone, and her sister walks out.
Then, Luke turns to her and smiles reassuringly as the woman begins to announce their names.
"Parker Gilmore- daughter of Christopher Hayden and Lorelai Gilmore- presented by Luke Danes." She says. Luke and Parker start walking down the stairs, and she whispers "God I really hope I don't fall" which almost makes Luke laugh, but they keep it together.
At the bottom of the stairs, She curtsies, and then Luke hands her off to Liam, who smiles at her and escorts her further. She looks over to her right, to see her grandmother leaving. But she can't dwell on it for long, because she has to go and do a humiliating fan dance.
_______________
After the ball, they were all walking together in their fancy dresses down the streets of Stars Hollow, and Parker decided to break the ice.
"Did you guys know you're considered the hot dads?" She asks them, and the group laughs.
"Well I was very proud of both of you, you made it through the entire ceremony completely straight-faced- almost all of you." Lorelai says, looking at Christopher.
"I'm sorry but that fan dance was more than I could take." He says, laughing.
"Don't worry, I almost broke out laughing in the middle too" Parker says, elbowing him.
"Hey, I need a burger' Lorelai says to Rory. Rory agrees and then asks Dean if he wants one too. He declines, saying he wants to get home to take off the tux, and then Christopher leaves next, saying he needs to get home.
"And then there were four." Lorelai says.
"Come on, we can go to the diner and get burgers." Luke says, and they all walk into the diner.
Once they get into the diner, Lorelai and Rory go to grab a table, and Parker walks over, to the counter. That is the moment that Jess intercepts her, wanting to ask what the matter was, and why she wasn't talking to him recently. But he was caught off guard by the fancy dress.
"Whoa, you look..." He trails off, speechless.
"Yeah yeah I know, like a cotton ball, a Q-tip, a pom pom, I've heard them all before." She says.
"No, I was going to say you look beautiful." Jess says.
"Really?" She asks him.
"I only do sincere once" He adds, and then she realizes what he's wearing. But, unluckily for him, that's the exact moment Luke realizes too.
"What do you think you're doin'?" Luke asks him.
"Working" Jess answers.
"You think this is funny huh"
"I'm sorry, I thought this was the uniform" just says, causing Parker to snicker in the back. She walks around the counter, grabbing herself a donut.
"All right, you know what? That's fine, have your little joke. You know it doesn't bother me at all, just go over there, and clean off that table." He turns around. "I'm ignoring you, you do not exist"
Jess goes over and starts meticulously wiping the table, dramatically picking up each little thing and wiping under it. Luke notices, and he almost keeps it together.
"That's it, get upstairs and change." he says to him.
"Whatever you say Uncle Luke" Jess responds, heading to the stairs.
"It's Luke! Just Luke! Mr. Luke! In fact, don't address me at all!" He yells as Jess walks up the stairs.
"I think it was a pretty good likeness." Parker said laughing behind the counter.
"Yeah, whatever, you too. Go upstairs." He said to her.
"Yes sir, Mr. Luke." Parker says, saluting him and she walks up the stairs too after Jess.