Disclaimer: ( Insert standard legal disclaimer here.)

Rating: R, to be on the safe side for later chapters.

Notes: I'll beg shamelessly for reviews. Good or bad, they all help. Thanks for M, for being the best beta a girl could have.


I've got reservations

About so many things

But not about you

- "Reservations", Wilco

Of the seven days that comprise one week, they'd managed to come up with a system in which only one was spent apart. That was normally Fridays, when Lorelai would go to dinner in Hartford and Luke would go to bed early to prepare for the Saturday morning crowd and the early delivery that went along with that.

That was then.

After they'd broken up and had come to terms with how much they needed one another in their lives, they'd approached each other with caution at first, fumbling around in the dark, not sure if they were pushing for too much, too soon.

For Lorelai, at least, the writing was on the wall. She wanted the middle, and she saw no reason why they shouldn't have it. She felt as though they'd turned a corner after their "make up" date, and after Luke had left for work in the morning, she'd pulled the quilt around herself as she sat up in bed and reached for the phone.

"Do you know what time it is?" Rory had grumbled into the phone after picking up on the fourth ring.

"The fuzzy blue clock says seven."

"Yes. A.M."

"Fine! There's no need to snap at me," Lorelai told her daughter indignantly.

"Can you call me at a more reasonable time, please?" Rory requested.

"I just wanted your opinion on something," Lorelai said in a small voice.

"Incapable of opinions," Rory mumbled. "Please leave a message after the snore."

"I'll call you back," Lorelai sighed. She hung up and contemplated making a second call, but decided against it, and instead snuggled down into the warmth left on his side of the bed.

Luke.

Lorelai smiled to herself and closed her eyes, recalling the previous night's activities. She'd all but told him how much she'd missed him at the start of the date, and by the end, it felt as though they were moving past all the heartache of the previous weeks. They'd talked about Rory and how Lorelai was afraid for her daughter; afraid that she was getting in over her head. Luke had listened as he always did, but she felt like she was talking to somebody who wasn't just a good friend, but a partner. It made her feel safe; it made her fears acknowledged and she'd wrapped that feeling around her just like the quilt was wrapped around her now.

Lorelai drifted back to sleep, thinking of Luke and how she wanted to hold on to that feeling, and hoped that she could return it to the man she now knew she loved.


When her cell phone rang a little later that morning, she was sure it was Rory, calling to offer the opinion Lorelai had asked for earlier.

"Hello?"

Instead of Rory, she was greeted by the sound of her mother's voice, at an unusually angry pitch, even by her standards.

Lorelai's eyes immediately went wide and she ran towards the diner, almost colliding with the troubadour in her haste to get there in time to stop Armageddon from occurring.

She apologized to Luke breathlessly and he quietly accepting it, standing back to the let Gilmore women duke it out. When she demanded an explanation for her mother's presence in Luke's diner, Emily made a few comments that made Lorelai's blood boil, intimating that without her, they wouldn't have repaired their relationship.

Shaking with rage, Lorelai told her mother that if she wanted her input, she would ask for it. And then before she knew it, words that had been building in her since she was a child erupted.

"Shut up!"

The force of her words threw both of them for a loop and she watched in amazement as the normally unflappable Emily Gilmore blanched and then turned and walked out of the diner. Luke waited a beat while Lorelai collapsed on to the nearest stool and then he made a crack about appreciating speed dial before he took pity on her and gently squeezed her hand.

Breathing heavily, Lorelai waited until he came around the counter before she looked up at him.

He pulled up a stool beside hers and took her hands in his, waiting until her breathing had settled back into it's normal rhythm before speaking.

"I'm sorry," he apologized softly.

She watched him in wonder.

"What part of this is your fault?" she asked in a bewildered voice.

Luke shrugged. "I could have just asked her to leave."

Lorelai snorted. "Right. Actually, that might have knocked her on her ass. I don't think anyone has ever told Emily Gilmore to leave before."

"I bet nobody has told her to shut up, either."

Lorelai groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"She'll forgive you," he said quietly.

She looked up. "I don't really care if she does."

Luke didn't comment and Lorelai shook her head before continuing.

"It's the end of the line for us, Luke. I can't keep doing this. It was bad enough when she was constantly belittling and criticizing me, but you don't deserve any of this. They have nothing to hold against you."

"Other than whom I was born to." Luke's mouth was drawn into a tight line and Lorelai reached for his hand and squeezed it.

"I'd rather have been born to your family than mine," she said quietly.

"That would make this illegal," Luke cracked.

Lorelai shook her head. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah," he assured her. "I do." He didn't say anything further; he just gathered her against him and kissed her forehead.

"Are you okay?"

She drew back and graced him with a brilliant smile.

"Sure."

He raised an eyebrow doubtfully.

"I'm fine," she assured him and squeezed his hand. "I should get to work."

"Do you want anything before you go? Coffee?"

"You made me an offer I can't refuse."


By the time that Lorelai made it to the Dragonfly, her own words were echoing in her ears.

"Shut up!"

Sighing, she picked up the mail from the front desk and carried it into her office, flipping open her cell phone only when she was safely inside.

She listened while Rory told her about her date with Robert, and how that had resulted in some forward movement where Logan was concerned. She tried to sound excited for her daughter, but there was a knot of apprehension in her stomach, as she recalled her own mistakes with relationships.

Past mistakes, she reminded herself. Slowly, but surely, she was learning.

"So, you haven't heard from Grandma?" she asked Rory as casually as possible.

"No," Rory said. "Why?"

"No reason," Lorelai sighed. "Just wondering."

"Did something happen?" Rory asked suspiciously.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Mom…"

"Listen, I wanted to run something by you earlier."

"Sure."

"Nothing is for sure, yet. I mean, Luke and I have only just gotten back together, but I feel like things are different for us now."

"Different how?" Rory questioned her.

"Different, like I want more."

"More," Rory repeated.

"More. Do you remember me telling you about Sookie's story and how I freaked out and told her that I want the middle."

"Ohhhh, the middle," her daughter said knowingly.

"Yeah," Lorelai said softly.

"Mom?" Rory asked. "You'd tell me if Luke proposed to you, right?"

"Of course!"

"Okay, just checking," she laughed.

"I was wondering… I wanted to run it by you, of course. It's still your home, I've always told you that."

"Mom…"

"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable with it. I know that we talked about it before, what it might be like, when I was going to marry Max. But this is it, kid; this is the real deal, and I just want you to be okay with it before I talk to Luke about it."

"Mom…"

"It wouldn't be right if I didn't talk to you first. It's been the two of us for so long and I just want you to know that you and I are still the same, Rory."

"Mom!"

Lorelai took a breath.

"Yeah?" she asked hesitantly.

"I love you and I want you to be happy. You haven't been lately, and now you are again. That's all that matters. Do you want Luke to move in?"

It had been something that Lorelai had been afraid to put into words. It had been there, in the back of her mind, soft and fuzzy at the edges, so that she knew what it was, but it wasn't something that would terrify her.

Now that Rory had brought it into focus, she was amazed that it was accompanied by a feeling that she could only describe as both peaceful and exciting.

"Yes," she admitted softly.

Rory laughed.

"Then there's one person whose opinion matters more than mine."