Chance
Summary: It began with a chance meeting...
A/N: Just an idea that struck me. I know they met officially when Lorelai came in the diner in a caffeine frenzy, but what if they had met years earlier? When Lorelai and Rory first moved to Stars Hollow and everyone was still really young? Sigh. Sorry. My mind runs wild at three am.
Disclaimer: I own them not.
"So what do we think kiddo?" Lorelai Gilmore asked her one year old daughter who was resting on her hip. She took a sip of the coffee, "Eww." Lorelai made a disgusted face and tossed the coffee cup in the trash, "Why can't we find good coffee? This town is anti-coffee."
"Coffee's bad for you." A male voice came from behind her.
"Nuh-uh." Lorelai spun around to see a boy -a man who looked to be a year or two her senior, "Coffee is the elixir of life. Without it, I would not be this stunning creature standing before you." Lorelai grinned and readjusted Rory on her hip.
"Someone thinks highly of themself." The man in flannel shirt mumbled under his breath and then spoke at a normal volume, "Coffee stunts your growth and makes people hyper. Taylor probably has a law against good coffee."
"Taylor?" She scrunched up her nose in confusion. Lorelai and Rory had just moved from Hartford to Stars Hollow six weeks prior and very rarely ventured from the confines of the Independence Inn.
"Yeah, Taylor Dosey. Big guy, beard, thinks he hung the moon."
"Oh yeah. Mr. Van Uppity." Lorelai nodded, realization dawning on her.
"That sounds like him." The man smiled.
"Why is he anti-coffee?! That's like being anti-donuts and that man is so not anti-donuts." Lorelai collapsed on the bench, sitting Rory in her lap.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Well, obviously, I am collapsing from caffeine withdrawl. I mean, I'm ninety percent caffeine so with holding coffee is like with holding a blood transfusion." Lorelai sighed and ran a hand through Rory's brown hair.
"Wait here." The man rolled his eyes and turned, crossing the street and entering William's hardware store.
"What's he doin', Kid?" Lorelai asked and Rory giggled more. Lorelai bounced her legs and made silly faces at Rory while they waited. Not five minutes later Flannel Man came back outside holding a steaming red ceramic mug.
"Here." Luke handed her the mug.
"Angel, you got wings." Lorelai took a sip, "Oh my God, this is amazing."
He stared at her, never in his life had he ever met anyone like her. He knew of her of course, the new girl with the funny name. She had moved into the Independence Inn and was working for his mother's friend, Mia. Mia came by the hardware store every so often, tempting him with the mysterious girl from Hartford. Always telling him that she was a good girl with a daughter and doing the best she could. Luke wasn't interested in dating, he needed to keep an eye on Liz and handle things for his dad -he didn't have long to live. Now, staring at her and her beautiful little girl, something tugged at his heart strings and wondered if he should take Mia up on her offer.
"Oh!" Lorelai gasped, "I gotta go! Mia will kill me if I am late for a shift because I was searching for good coffee. She's the one who made the rule about Sookie cutting me off after ten cups -what the hell kind of rule is that anyway? I mean who does she think she is? Jaun Val Dez? The Folgers Coffee Girl? Pfft."
"Are you done?" Luke stared at the empty cup in her hand.
"Oh. Uh. Yeah. Here." Lorelai extended the mug, "Thanks for the coffee." She stood up and was half-way down the sidewalk before he spoke.
"Thanks for the entertainment."