Let's Go Home

Authors Note: I'm an 18 year old college student...do you really think I own Gilmore Girls? If I did Chris wouldn't exist. He would have been killed in a freak motorcycle accident when Rory was 2 and they would have to use the "big industrial spatula" to scrape him off the road. Don't I wish...

I don't like this story as much as I do my other 2, but thought some of us Java Junkies could use this in light of tonights episode. It is based on a general spoiler, nothing too specific, unless you haven't seen tonights episode.

"And why the hell would you care?" I screamed, anger boiling inside of me.

"Because I still love you Lorelai!" Luke yelled back at me.

We had just bumped into each other. He'd made a hurtful comment about me and Chris, and one thing led to another, and now we were standing in the middle of the town square screaming at each other. Neither of us noticed that the towns folk that were staring at us.

I started, and my mouth dropped part way open in shock. Luke must have realized what he said because his face turned slightly pink and he dropped his gaze to stare at the ground.

Luke still loved me? After all I had done to him over the last 9 months he still loved me? Through my whirlwind relationship with Chris he still loved me?

I took a small step towards him, the anger that was once filled me suddenly melted. I winced as he took a step backwards.

"Do you really mean that Luke?" I asked softly.

Luke nervously looked up, his blue eyes locking with mine and I suddenly found it very hard to breathe. He rubbed the back of his neck, one of his many nervous habits.

"Yes," he sighed.

I just stood there not knowing what to say for the first time in my life. I couldn't believe that after everything that had happened between us, Luke still loved me. His eyes never left mine, as if they were searching mine for something. A sign that I still loved him.

As I stood there I thought about our relationship. We had been best friends for eight years before we started dating. Everyone in town told me that Luke had a thing for me, but I continued to insist that Luke and I were just friends, even though deep down I had feelings for Luke as well.

Luke made it easy for me to fall in love with him. He was the perfect gentleman. I'd never been so in love with anyone in my life. He knew me better than anyone, except Rory. Although it was rarely spoken aloud, I never had to doubt that Luke loved me.

That is, until April came. He hid her from me for two months. After that, Luke unintentionally began to push me out of his life. Our wedding was indefinitely postponed and I began to believe that the wedding wouldn't happen. I finally broke down and issued him an ultimatum, and when Luke refused, brokenhearted, I made one of the worst decisions of my life. I slept with Chris. It broke my heart even more when Luke came the next day begging me to elope to tell him I slept with Chris.

It was after we ran into each other at the grocery store and Luke told me I belonged with Chris that the tears which I had tried to contain fell from my eyes. It was just after this that Chris and I began dating. I tried so hard to fall in love with him, but it felt like something was missing. However, I brushed the feeling off and continued to go steady with Chris. He took me with him to Paris to take his daughter Gigi to see her mother. Paris was incredibly romantic and it was in a little fancy restaurant that Chris asked me to elope with him. I agreed, not because I loved him, but because I thought this would be the last chance I would ever have to get my whole package. We returned home and happily told Rory the news. Although she pretended to be thrilled, she was completely livid that I got married without her there, and although she didn't say it, that I had married her father and not Luke.

Within a few months Chris and I divorced. Our marriage wasn't working. Chris knew it, and so did I. We parted amicably and I found myself lonely again. I bundled up in my coat and decided to take a walk through the town.

It was the end of January and Stars Hollow had yet to receive it's first snowfall. It was the first time in the twenty two years I had lived here that snow hadn't fallen yet.

Staring into Luke's eyes, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I, too, was still in love with Luke. I had never stopped. As this realization washed over me, tears pooled into my eyes and began to trickle down my cheeks.

Luke turned and began to walk away, a hurt expression on his face.

"Luke wait!" I called out.

Luke turned and looked back at me, his blue eyes piercing mine again.

"I love you too," I said softly, smiling slightly through my tears.

Luke stared at me for a minute, trying to figure out if I was telling the truth, but his face broke into a rare smile, one that he saved for me only, and he opened his arms towards me. I quickly closed the distance between us and threw my arms around his neck, sobbing into his shirt. Luke wrapped his arms tightly around me with one hand gently rubbing my back.

"I'm sorry Luke, I'm so sorry," I choked out in between sobs.

"It's okay. I'm sorry too," he murmured, kissing the top of my head.

It felt so good to be back in Luke's arms again. It felt like coming home.

Luke continued to hold me close until my sobs subsided. I slowly pulled back and he slipped his arms around my waist and looked down at me, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, and love shining in his blue eyes.

"I love you Lorelai," he said, just loud enough for me to hear.

For the first time in close to a year, I truly smiled back. "And I love you Luke."

As soon as the words left my mouth, snowflakes began to fall from the sky. Luke and I both looked up in wonder as the flakes fell gently, clinging to my curled hair.

I looked back at him, losing myself in his eyes. Still smiling, he leaned towards me, his lips finding mine, kissing me hesitantly at first, but deeper as I responded to his kiss. A river of electricity flooded by body and one of Luke's arms went around the back of my neck, cradling my head in the crook of his arm. We broke apart and Luke rested his forehead on mine.

"Have I ever told you," he breathed. "how beautiful you look with snowflakes in your hair?"

"No," I whispered back. "But I think you just did."

Luke grinned and I reached up and kissed him again. I poured my heart and soul into that kiss, hoping to convey the love I felt for him, not just to Luke but to the world.

I pulled back and grinning, looked up again at the sky.

"Everything is magical when it snows," I whispered.

Luke smiled, and reached down and interlaced his fingers with mine.

"Come on crazy lady, let's go home."

As we walked towards my house, I knew that our problems still needed to be worked out, but I knew that love would get us through anything that stood in our way. I never would have to doubt Luke's love for me again.

The snow continued to fall, blanketing the world in white, and Luke's voice said over and over again in my mind:

"Come on crazy lady, let's go home."