Hi, everyone! While I'm not new to fan fiction, this is my first Gilmore Girls fic. This story is an AU from the season 3 episode A Tale of Poes and Fire, and starts immediately after the Poe reading. I had this intriguing idea of what if Luke's Diner had caught on fire instead of the Independence Inn, and knew I had to write it. I have a lot of fun stuff planned for this story, so I hope you'll stick with me! Please leave a review if you can. I would love to hear from you! Enjoy!

And, of course, I don't own Gilmore Girls. If I did, June 3rd would have been a happy day for the past decade or so.


Lorelai was getting to a good part in her dream. There was a guy cooking her dinner, enveloped by shadow so she couldn't quite tell who it was. She found herself grinning, almost giddy. It seemed like the beginning of a new relationship when everything is so exciting, but yet it also felt incredibly familiar. Just as she was trying to fully assess her situation, she could see the guy in the shadows turning her direction. "Mom?"

Huh?

"Mom. Mom, wake up."

Lorelai stirred and tried to begrudgingly shake herself out of her dream as she saw her daughter next to her holding the cordless phone. "What?"

"It's Babette," Rory mumbled, still half asleep. "She said she needs to talk with you, it's urgent."

"I swear, if it's about one of her gnomes—"

"She sounds freaked," said Rory as she handed the phone over.

Lorelai groaned. "Babette, it's the middle of the night. What's going on?"

"Hey, suga', listen, I don't want you to panic or nothin', but I just got a call from Patty who heard from Eastside Tilly that Luke's Diner caught on fire. I was gonna come over to tell ya but figured I could call you quicker. Didn't want to scare you girls."

Lorelai bolted upright as soon as Babette uttered "fire." Her heart felt like it was stuck in her throat. Involuntary tears began to pool in her eyes as she tried to get a handle on her emotions, as Rory stared at her wide-eyed.

"Luke?" she managed to choke out.

"I honestly don't know, doll. I don't have any more information, but Patty is heading over there now, and I'm waking up Morey so we can go, too."

"I'm on my way, too. Thanks for calling, Babette." She hung up, and immediately ran to her closet to pull out a coat and shoes. "Get dressed, hurry."

"What happened, Mom?"

"The, uh, the diner, it caught fire," Lorelai answered as she rapidly rifled through her closet.

"What?! Are Jess and Luke ok?"

"I don't know, hon. I just have to go find out what happened. Wait, maybe you should stay here."

"You're insane; of course I'm coming, too. Give me just a second."

"Are you sure? I don't know what we'll be walking into."

"Do you honestly think I'm just going to sit here at home right now? We're both going."

Rory ran downstairs to grab her shoes, and met Lorelai at the front door a minute later, noticing her feet. "Slippers?"

"Grabbed the first thing I could find. I can buy new ones."

"Ok, let's go."

Lorelai couldn't help but pause. "Rory—" her voice cracked.

Rory grabbed her hand, her voice faltering as well. "I know, Mom, me too."

The short walk to the diner consisted of brisk steps between the two girls. Rory had questioned why they didn't just take the Jeep, and Lorelai simply answered it would take just as long for the car to warm up in the cool spring night as it would to walk, but the truth was Lorelai needed a moment to process. As much as she wanted to run to the diner, she was terrified of what she would find once she got there. Luke and Jess would have been most likely sleeping. How bad was the fire? Was the diner completely destroyed? Were they able to get out in time? An extra shiver went through her as she kept the pace with Rory.

Rory. She had to stay strong for Rory. This was unusual territory, because the only other times she had been this freaked out had been because of Rory; the times she hadn't come home and when she'd gotten into the accident the year before. But now, Rory was right beside her, counting on her. She couldn't fall apart right now, even though she felt her heart might race right out of her chest.

Within almost no time they reached the square, and could see an orange glow coming from Luke's corner. Lorelai put her arm around Rory as they began to move closer.

The fire seemed fairly contained, and the building looked intact. The firefighters were shooting the hose at the flame that was left. A small crowd had gathered nearby, and Lorelai scanned it for any signs of a blue baseball cap. Silly Lorelai, it's the middle of the night. He wouldn't be wearing it now!

As they moved closer, the crowd parted a bit, and Lorelai gasped. There he was, right in the middle, in his pajamas with disheveled hair. Without another thought, Lorelai began running.

"Luke!"

Luke turned to see who called his name, and within seconds she crashed into him, throwing her arms around his neck. She could smell the smoke on him, but at that moment she couldn't care less, and found herself breathing out a shaky sigh of relief.

"Thank God you're ok!"

"Lorelai, what are you doing here?"

She pulled back a bit, still trying to find a full breath. "Babette called. Eastside Tilly. She didn't know if you were alive. I'm wearing slippers. I just ran, and I never run! Rory, look! Luke is ok! Are you ok?" she asked, her hands clinging to his forearms.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You brought Rory? It's not safe here, for either of you."

Rory caught up to them. "Luke! You're alright!" She couldn't help but give him a hug as well.

"There's a whole crowd here, Luke. I think we'll be fine. But where's Jess?"

Rory turned her large blue eyes up to Luke.

"He hasn't come home yet. You know how he sometimes comes in late, so I'd gone on to bed. But when I started smelling smoke, I was instantly awake, and scoured the place looking for Jess, but he definitely wasn't in the building. Plus, his car is gone."

Lorelai turned to Rory. "You have any idea on Mystery Man's whereabouts?"

"No. The last time we talked was late yesterday afternoon, but he never said anything about being out late."

"Well, I'm sure he's fine. You know how he is. Don't worry, Rory," Luke said, reassuringly.

"You're absolutely sure he wasn't in the building?"

"The firefighters have already confirmed there was no else in there besides me."

Lorelai watched Luke as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, and her heart ached for him. Not only did his business catch on fire, so did his home, and his nephew wasn't even around when he was needed. She could tell his resolve to stay strong was near its breaking point, because hers was as well.

"Luke," she prodded gently.

"Yeah?"

"How did this happen?"

With a thick sigh, he hung his head. "I don't know. I honestly don't know. I double check everything before I go upstairs every night. It all seemed fine."

"Have the firefighters determined anything yet?" Rory piped in.

"No, not yet. It looks like they have everything contained, so maybe they'll find something out soon."

A car suddenly screeched up near the scene. As the passenger door opened, a searing "Luuuuuuuuuuuuke!" pierced through the air. Morey quietly followed his wife who was making a run for the bemused diner owner.

"Oh, suga', you poor, poor thing! You ok, sweetie? Such a shame. Do you remember old Polly Winifred? Used to live on Maple when you were just a wee thing. She had a shop down near The Chat Club, but it burned down back in, when was it, '68? Oh, she was never the same after that. She moved up to the coast of Maine to work in a lighthouse, never married, and then got struck by lightning and died. It was weeks before anyone found her—"

Lorelai put a gentle hand on Babette's arm to interrupt her. "Um, Babette, maybe this isn't the most comforting story for Luke right now."

"Oh, sure, sure, you're right! What was I thinking? Oh, Luke, tell me what happened. Never mind, I see Tilly. I can find out from her. I'll be back! You stay strong, Luke, ok?" In a flash, she was gone.

Luke let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Geez, I never thought I'd be happy to hear that Eastside Tilly was nearby."

"You know she means well. She loves you. This whole town loves you."

"Luke!" a brusque voice called out.

"Well, most of the town," Lorelai muttered under her breath as she saw Jess darting through the crowd to where they were standing.

"Jess!" Rory exclaimed, and wrapped his arms around him.

"Jess, where the hell were you?!" asked Luke, but as he spoke, he eyeballed the Walmart apron in his hand. "You were working?"

"Yeah. They were shorthanded, so I just picked up a few extra hours, no big deal. What happened here?"

"What happened here is this building that you live and work in caught on fire, and I had to look all over for you to make sure you weren't in the building and dying! That's what happened here! But hey, thanks for showing up!" Luke yelled.

"Hey, don't put that on me! How was I supposed to know the building was gonna catch fire? Who expects that to happen? I had a chance to work, and I took it!"

"It's two in the morning, Jess! You have school in six hours. What part of you thought this was a good idea? You should've been in bed!"

"Why, so I could get caught in smoke? Isn't it better that I wasn't up there?"

"But I didn't know that!"

"Look, we're all alive, right? So just let it go. I'm gonna go talk to my girlfriend now, who is actually glad to see me."

Jess pulled Rory aside and they moved a short distance from the crowd. Rory looked back at Luke and gave him a helpless shrug.

"That kid! You know, you're probably right after all." Luke spewed out.

"I usually am, but what instance of being right are we talking about here?" asked Lorelai.

"What you said earlier tonight after the Poe reading about him cutting school. If he's working at two in the morning then he's probably cutting school as well! But he has to know what an idiotic idea that is!"

"I know you were probably the epitome of responsibility when you were a teenager, but I can speak from experience that teenagers are notorious for coming up with idiotic ideas."

"It's just, we had a deal."

"And if he knows what's good for him, he will meet his end of the deal. We don't know the whole story. Maybe he's actually a robot and doesn't need sleep so he's able to work every night, and that's how he gets his forty hours in."

"You're not helping."

"I'm sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood because I really don't want to think about what is happening right in front of us."

"Me neither."

They stood in silence for a few minutes, grateful for each other's company. The fire was now out completely. Flames were no longer visible from anywhere inside. A firefighter came over to them, his attention toward Luke.

"You're the owner of the building?"

"Yeah, Luke Danes."

"I'm Chief Baker. We have put out the fire, but it's unsafe for anyone to enter the building just yet."

"Do you know what started it?"

"It appears that some faulty wiring caused it; somewhere back in the kitchen area."

"How bad is the damage?"

"The structure is stable, but we will need to better determine what we're dealing with once we really get in there and look around. You can probably go in sometime tomorrow. I understand you live upstairs?"

"Yeah, my nephew and I share the apartment."

"I'm afraid even if repairs start immediately it will most likely be weeks before you can stay there again. You'll have to make other arrangements."

Luke's face fell. "Uh, ok."

"Is there a number we can reach you tomorrow?" the chief asked.

"You can leave a message with me," Lorelai offered.

"And you are?"

"Lorelai Gilmore, his friend and number one customer. Luke doesn't have a cell phone even though I've told him a million times he needs one. So you can call me, and I'll let him know." She gave the chief her number, and he headed back to the building. Luke began to pace in front of her.

"Luke, I am really sorry."

"I can't believe this. Hey, is there a room available at the Independence right now?"

Lorelai was about to answer yes but something stopped her. The thought of the two guys cooped up in a hotel room for who knows how long was more than she could take. She knew what she had to do, what she wanted to do, and without taking a second to consider all the consequences, she confidently stated, "You're not going to the Inn. You're staying with us."

Luke's eyes bugged out. "What?"

"You're staying with us."

"What about Jess?"

"Oh, well, Jess gets the bench in the gazebo. Of course Jess would stay with us, too!"

"You can't be serious. You heard the chief. It could be weeks, maybe months, before we can stay here again."

"You guys can't live out of a hotel room for weeks on end. You'll kill each other. And as much as I'd love to give you a room for free, I can't, and you need to save as much money as possible."

"Lorelai, this is crazy. You do realize you'd be allowing Jess and Rory to sleep under the same roof."

She had tried not to. "He won't try anything. If he does, he knows he will experience unbelievable pain and misery, and then you'll deal with him, too. Rory can sleep in my room so we'll be sequestered away upstairs, you can have the living room, and Jess can take Rory's room."

Luke stared at Lorelai, his expression showing he still couldn't quite believe this incredibly generous offer was being handed to him. "I don't know, Lorelai."

"I can't have you guys homeless. Look, if my house were suddenly uninhabitable, and I was roaming the town like a madwoman looking for a place to stay, I know you'd let me stay with you."

"And have you gripe about the size of my bed? No thanks."

"Ok, definitely a discussion for another day, but you would. I know you would. You know why? Because you're a good man, Luke Danes. You've always done so much for us. Let me do this for you."

Luke gave her a little half-smile. "You're really sure you wouldn't mind?"

"You come over all the time anyway. Now you'll just be wearing pajamas."

"Ah, geez."

"So, that's a yes in Luke-ese?"

"Yes, and thanks."

"No problem. Guess we should tell our counterparts?"

"Go right ahead," Luke said with a smirk.

"Gee, thanks."

The crowd was starting to disperse and head back to their homes. The frenzied atmosphere that had dominated that little corner of the square was dying down and a quiet was settling back over Stars Hollow once again. Luke and Lorelai easily found Rory and Jess, who were sitting on the bench in the small park next to Miss Patty's.

"So, Uncle Luke, what happens now?" Jess grumbled.

"Funny you should ask. Lorelai?"

"Well, the fire chief guy said it'll be weeks before you can stay in the apartment again, but not to worry. You and Luke will stay at our house."

"What?!" asked Rory.

"Seriously?" asked Jess simultaneously.

"It will be fine. We've got it all worked out. It will give you guys a home until your apartment can be lived in again."

Rory shot questioning eyes at her mother, and Lorelai found her brilliant decision suddenly unraveling in her mind. Their house was still Rory's too, and Lorelai had practically just thrown Jess into Rory's bedroom, without a single consultation with her daughter. What had she been thinking? She remembered when Lorelai had first invited Dean over years ago, how upset Rory had been. She had to be furious this time, but surely Rory would understand how the guys needed a place to live.

Putting on a big smile, Lorelai said, "Well, come on, don't be shy. Let's go see your new home!"

She could feel three pairs of eyes staring at the back of her head, and she rolled her eyes. It's about to get interesting, folks….