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The front door of Lorelai Gilmore's house creaked open slowly in the middle of the night.
Lorelai rolled over on her side to her husband and tapped his arm gently. When he didn't budge she more forcefully shook him.

"Whoa…whoa…whoa!" He groaned. "What the hell is going on?? I was dreaming about fishing and camping and was unfortunatel y awoken by a violent earthquake!!"

Lorelai smiled innocently, "WELL…I tried to gently sooth you awake from your time at the lake, but you wouldn't budge! The earthquake was the only way to awake you from your coma."

Luke sighed and sat up, "So, why did you wake me??"

"I heard a noise," she explained a tad worried.

"That's because this house is ancient. You've lived in it for 23 years. It creaks. Houses do that."

"I know grumpy, but this wasn't like any other creak. It was a distinctive noise…"

Luke let out another sigh, "It is 2 o'clock in the morning! I don't want to march all the way downstairs to find Jill getting a glass of water…"

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Jill weighs like 2 pounds! I know it was much louder than that. Please Luke. Can you please, just this once, go down and check it out for me?"

Luke let out a groan as he slowly got out of bed. Lorelai grabbed a robe and wrapped it around herself, ready to follow her husband. They headed down the stairs slowly and found the kitchen light on.

Lorelai tapped Luke, "See!! Someone IS in the house!"

Luke rolled his eyes, hating the fact that his wife was right after all (and gloating about it). He felt a little worried about having a stranger in the house especially since his new daughter was in the bedroom right next to the kitchen.

The pair creeped their heads around the corner to take a peak at the stranger. Once Lorelai caught a good glimpse, she shoved Luke aside and ran toward the visitor.

"Oh my God!!" Lorelai wrapped the guest in her arms.

The girl hugged back with a huge smile on her face. "Hi Mom!!"

Lorelai pulled away from Rory and hit her arm.

"Hey!! What was that for??" Rory exclaimed as she examined her right bicep.

"You scared the crap out of me! I thought you were a burglar!"



Rory rolled her eyes, "A burglar who decided to come in the kitchen to get a cup of coffee first?"

"Well, I don't know!!" Lorelai exclaimed.

Rory glanced at an exhausted Luke in the doorway. She smiled and gave him a hug. "Hi Luke. Sorry for waking you."

He smiled, "Its fine. I'm glad it was you and not some deranged killer."

Lorelai shrugged, "I tried to tell him it was just this old house making noises, but he insisted on us checking it out…"

Rory smiled, "Well, sorry for waking you. I was just going to crash on the couch. I assume my darling sister is asleep in her, formerly my, room."

Luke nodded, "Yep." He peaked in at his 5-year old angel sound asleep.

"I'll get some blankets for you out of the closet," said Lorelai.

"Thanks Mom."

"Anything for my Rory," she responded. She glanced at her daughter with a smile on her face.

Rory sighed, "Details tomorrow. I'm wiped. Its 2 in the morning!"

Lorelai sighed, "Oh fine. But I'm expecting to hear everything missy."

"You got it."

Jess Mariano walked off the bus in the center of town. He took a look around, pulled his bag up on his shoulder and headed to the gazebo to read until daylight came.