Summary: This story is my reaction to the spoilers for the sixth season finale, Partings. This is my vision of the beginning of season seven called Coming Together.

Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with Warner Brothers or Dorothy Parker Drank Here or anyone else attached in any way with Gilmore Girls.

A/N:This is my first attempt at fan fiction. Please be kind and honest when you read and review!

Chapter 1 - Parted

Lorelai pulled her Jeep into her driveway for the first time in almost a month. Everything seemed crazy, nothing had changed but it all looked so different. She didn't want to be here but then, she really didn't want to be any place. This house was her home but it didn't seem like it anymore; maybe because it was supposed to be their home. She knew that she had came back here in part so she could feel closer to him even though she never wanted to set foot in this house again because it reminded her of him.

She needed to get on with her life but she didn't want to. She just wanted to go back in time but she needed to go forward. She didn't know how to do that since all the strength and resilience within her had seemed to have vanished. She couldn't care any more probably because she had cared too much. Sometimes she thought she was going crazy.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Babette watching her. "Please Babette, please, please, please, don't come out. I can't talk to anyone yet" she prayed to herself. Babette just watched. Lorelai knew within the hour everyone would know she was back. Well, maybe not everyone. He probably wouldn't know. Hell, he probably didn't even know she had been gone.

It had taken all of strength to just come home. Now she just wanted to disappear.

It had been almost a month since he had seen her. Luke was going out of his mind. No one would talk to him. Of course, he didn't really want to talk to anyone about this; he just wanted to know where she was, if she was alright.

That night, it had spun out of control. He didn't understand what happened. She had been wired, like she had drunk twelve pots of coffee. She wouldn't listen to him. She just kept pushing and pushing, wanting to eloping right then.

He tried to explain that he needed more time. His relationship with April was so tenuous and Anna was complicating everything. He couldn't handle it all. He needed time. God, why did she have to push him?

He never dealt well with being pushed. He handled ultimatums even worst. He had a temper, she had pushed him, and she had issued an ultimatum.

He was already in a bad mood when Lorelai had walked in the diner. Anna had gone ballistic on him earlier that day. He wasn't in the best state of mind to deal with a highly agitated Lorelai that night

God, just when he thought everything was beginning to come together, suddenly everything was exploding. He needed more time, why the hell couldn't Lorelai just give him a little more time?

When she pushed to elope right then, he got so mad. Couldn't she understand that he couldn't deal with this? He had been patient for nearly six months while she waited for Rory to return to her senses. Didn't he deserve as much? He loved her, she knew that. He just needed some space.

She wouldn't listen to him. She said things, he said things, and everything was spinning out of control. Then she had, without warning, slipped his ring off of her finger and handed it to him saying, "I can't be in this relationship any more." She just turned and walked out of his life and his world collapsed.

Chris hugged and kissed is daughter and put her down for her nap. God he loved this kid. She was everything to him. S he was his miracle, his second chance.

He loved Rory too but so much of his emotions for his first born were wrapped in guilt.Each minute thathe spent with GiGi reminded him how much of Rory's life had been lost to him. He never truly understood what kind of jerk of a father he had been until GiGi. Every day there was something new to learn and know about her and every day he realized again how much he had missed with Rory.

At times his guilt overwhelmed him. He wanted to give all of his girls everything, make everything perfect for them and that included Lorelai. He would do anything to make them happy; anything!

Lorelai had always amazed and fascinated him but now that he was beginning to truly comprehend what she had actually gone through, he was in awe. As he looked back, he couldn't believe that at seventeen she had taken Rory and step out on her own to build a life. How did she know what to do, how had she managed with no education, no money and no help?

God knows he had never helped. While she had been changing diapers, reading bedtime stories and working as a minimum wage laborer, he had been drinking and partying with the bikini clad girls in southern California. Oh, he call once a week (well, to be honest it was more like once or twice a month during for the first sixteen years) but he never offered to help, neither financially nor emotionally, he gave her nothing. He never really felt guilty about it. After all, she was the one who rejected his proposal and turned her back on her parents help. She had never asked him for anything so why should he feel guilty?

Now with the perspective of age and experience, he wondered why she would even bother to speak with him much less be nice to him after the way he had treated her. But she had always forgiven him. If was as though she never expected anything more from him so he had never really disappointed her. Thinking like that made him feel even more like a heel.

Lorelai had always let him see Rory or talk to Rory whenever he wanted. She would drive to Hartford whenever he was in town so that he could see Rory for a few hours each year on holidays. If he forgot to send a gift for Rory's birthday or Christmas, he knew that Lorelai covered for him. He never even bothered to repay her.

After years of ignoring her, of taking her for granted, of walking into her life and messing it up and then leaving her to deal with the refuse of broken dreams and promises, Chris knew he had no right to be in her life anymore. Yet, Lorelai was still always there when he needed her. He always wondered why?

For years he believed that she did it because she truly loves him and that they were destined to be together. That belief had empowered him to interfere in her life and try to destroy her relationships. He had never really thought about what was best for her or what would truly make her happy. He wanted her and she was destined to be with him that is all he thought about. He never thought about if he was the right guy for her. She was his.

His relationship with Lorelai survived Max and it survived Sherry but with Luke it was different. Somehow Luke's presence had permeated every aspect of the lives of the Gilmore girls. Chris had to admit that Luke was a force to be reckoned with.

From almost his first visit to Stars Hallow when Rory was only sixteen, Chris has been jealous of Luke. His name kept coming up in conversation not only about coffee and food but in connection the girls' (his girls) everyday life. Apparently, Luke was much more than simply the Gilmore Girls coffee supplier and meal provider.

Then came the Vow Renewal ceremony. Emily had encouraged him to try to win Lorelai back. He really hadn't intended on making a scene at the reception. He had told himself that he was going to go simple to observe Lorelai with Luke first hand.

What he saw had upset him more than he ever imagined. Lorelai was radiant around Luke. She sparkled and glowed like he had never seen before. She loved this diner guy, truly loved him and was loved by him.

Chris was devastated. He drank way too much. He said way too much and ended up causing a rift between Lorelai and Luke.

Lorelai was furious at him. Her words had cut him like a razor. She didn't want him, she wanted Luke. She had made her choice and he had come in last. She wanted him out of her life.

It had taken him over a year for him to build up the courage to contact her. She was now engaged to Luke and radiant. He realized that a radiant Lorelai made him happy even if he wasn't the one who had lit the fire in her.

He will always love her.

(tbc)