"Sookie, have you ever wanted to...uh...you know, just kill yourself?" Lorelai asked the question with a frisson of frustration as she huddled outside, talking into her phone. It was just a regular spring evening, but Lorelai felt summer-hot and flushed.

Clearly startled by the sudden call and question, Sookie carefully placed the knife she'd been wielding onto her kitchen table, and gifted Davey with an incredulous stare as she sighed, then whispered, "Don't touch...it's Auntie Lorelai, shh."

She shifted to a more comfortable position, before asking her friend, "Are you speaking hypothetically or is there something you're trying to tell me?"

Lorelai nervously giggled, then clarified, "Hypothetically, of course."

"Well, not me, but Jackson..." Sookie replied. "We are married, you know..." Sookie proclaimed in a matter-of-fact tone, "but then, you should know what that's like..."

Sookie heard the quick hitch of breath, and guiltily realized that Lorelai's face had likely quickly crumpled.

"Aw Hon, sorry. But yeah. I get frustrated and even angry with him, well of course..." She patted her belly. "The new baby..." she stammered.

But Lorelai, as usual, quickly recovered. "Aw Hon, now it's my turn to say I'm sorry. Of course, you'd want to kill Mr. Said-he-had-the-snip-snip. It's just that..."

Sookie's voice suddenly brightened. "Ooh!" she squealed. "It's Luke, isn't it? You two are getting..."

"No!" Lorelai quickly burst her bubble. "We are trying, trying to be friends again..."

"Did something happen in the maze?"

"No, no..."

"But you want to kill yourself...did you do something?" Sookie probed. "Ooh ooh," she continued, "Did he and Christopher, you know..." Sookie whispered conspiratorially, "you know...fight again!"

Lorelai archly answered, "No! And sit down! I can tell that you're bouncing up and down."

But Sookie continued, sighing as she lovingly continued, "It must be wonderful to have two such hunky men engage in fisticuffs over you. Your very own McDine-y and Mc--Mc--McWhine-y..."

"Sookie!" Lorelai's sharper tone yanked Sookie out of her euphoria. "Stop that...now!"

"Spoilsport," Sookie muttered, then took a deep breath, calming herself. "Come on...spill..." she cajoled as she returned to a normal breathing pattern.

"You know how I went back into the diner and it didn't go too well. How it was, well, really weird."

"So you told me. Plus, I did see the to-go cup in the trash..."

"It's weird, Sook. Not easy."

"Aw, Hon, give it time. Give him time. I mean, you did say that he was wearing the blue cap, right? And it can't be easy for him; it's not like he was dating or married, yet he saw you with Chris all the time..."

"Ya. I know. I claim temporary insanity for that..." Lorelai sighed.

"Aw, Hon. Maybe you could try again?" Sookie helpfully suggested. "It can't get any worse, right?"

"Oh, it gets worse. Very much so."

"Uh huh?" Sookie prompted.

"Two words. Dolly Parton."

"You got breast implants?" Sookie asked, "In one evening?"

"Karaoke night."

"Ah!" Sookie gasped. "You didn't get drunk like at Lane's wedding or, or dance on tables..." Lorelai's friend's voice trailed off in sympathy as she realized how serious she sounded.

"No." Lorelai was using her 'small' voice, as Sookie liked to think of, the one that meant she was very serious.

"I...I...sang a song...to him...well not to him, it was to Rory, about how I'd always love...and then...and then...he just walked in and was looking at me like he used to when...and I couldn't stop, Sook, I just couldn't, and I sang that I love...and the whole town was there, well 'cept you and Jackson and Davey and Martha, and now they all know that I never stopped loving him and..."

A high-pitched squeal interrupted Lorelai's outpouring.

"Sookie! Stop!"

"Sorry, Hon. I'm sure everyone else was in a karaoke mood and you didn't embarrass yourself."

"But now...he...Luke...he knows…"

"Oh hon, he's always known. You should go talk. To him, right now."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah. He doesn't have to know if you don't want him to. Just tell him you want to set the record straight, that it was a Rory song."

"Aw, Sookie, you're the best!" Lorelai exclaimed. "The best friend..."

"Davey, put that knife down!" a distracted Sookie was now addressing her son.

"Thanks, Sookie," Lorelai quietly ended the call.

Straightening, she still felt warm, but strode determined down the street.