** Miracles Happen When You Least Expect Them **

Genre: Romance
Pairing: Lane/Dean
Rating: K+
Disclaimer:

Lane, Dean, Mrs. Kim, Richard and Emily Gilmore and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended.

Lane cradled the phone in disbelief after Rory hung up. She could not believe Rory had chosen Jess over Dean. She remembered how jealous she was when Rory told her about her first kiss with Dean. Lane had fantasized about Dean many times since that first time she'd seen him walk the halls of Stars Hollow High. She'd even thought she'd have a shot at him when he first transferred to Stars Hollow since Rory was leaving to go away to Chilton, but wouldn't you know it, Little Miss Lucky got lucky enough to meet him during her last ten minutes at Stars Hollow High.

She sighed as her mother called her downstairs for dinner and her appetite was even less than usual as she sat and tried to pretend to eat a plateful of scrambled tofu and stir fried bean sprouts and down it with a cup of unsweetened roasted barley tea. Lane was sure that the average American prisoner ate better food than she did when she dined at the Kim's kitchen table.

When school let out the next day, she spotted a defeated looking Dean sitting at a bench by himself at the commons of Stars Hollow High. She didn't know how she should respond. Part of her told herself she'd better avoid him, after all she represented guilt by association and Rory had betrayed him a big way and the other part of her smelled opportunity, so she decided to break the ice in her usual, awkward fashion.

"Hi, Dean," she said meekly as she approached him nervously.

"Oh, hey, Lane," he responded lukewarmly, "I hope you didn't come over here to gloat by proxy on Rory's behalf about her being with Jess now."

"Oh, my gosh! You two actually broke up?" Lane responded, trying to pretend she hadn't known about it.

"Come on, Lane, even if Rory didn't tell you about it – which I don't believe… our break up is the current hottest topic in Stars Hollow."

"Well, I guess I suspected something might not have been right between you two, but I had no idea that you'd actually broken up," she replied, lying again.

"Well, now you know," he remarked tersely.

"Uh, well, Dean, if you two broke up because of Jess, I just wanted to let you know I think Rory made a bad choice and also, I hope you don't avoid me here at school because of what happened. I always thought you were a really nice guy – especially compared to Jess."

"Apparently, being a really nice guy wasn't what Rory wanted and I'm not sure I really want to be a nice guy anymore."

"Aww.. Dean, don't say that. I was so jealous when you picked Rory; I'd been checking you out myself before you asked Rory out. But who am I kidding? A hot guy like you wouldn't have wanted to be with a plain girl like me so I'm glad that my best friend got to enjoy you before she messed it up."

"Lane, you're not plain at all," Dean responded sincerely. "A lot of guys would ask you out at Stars Hollow, but your mother has a pretty vicious reputation in this town about only letting you go out with Korean bible thumper guys."

"Mmm… a lot of guys would ask me out – but not you I bet, Dean. You don't have to make things up to make me feel better about myself."

"I'm not making it up. I always thought you were gorgeous. I'd ask you out, but I don't think your mother would let you go out with me and I didn't think you'd want to since you and Rory are best friends."

"Good save, Dean," she quipped sarcastically. "Well, I'd better get going because we both know my prison warden awaits me. I'm glad, at least, we can still be friends. Bye now."

"Bye, Lane," Dean called out wistfully, remembering that all the times he'd said bye to her before that, Rory had still been in his life. A mere glance of Lane's face was a bitter reminder of Rory.

A few days later, Lane came home to announcement made by Mrs. Kim that she had to leave for three weeks to tend to a sick relative in Korea. It was a sheer miracle that Mrs. Kim wasn't dragging Lane along with her, but even she knew her daughter couldn't possibly miss that much of her school work. It was an even bigger miracle that Mrs. Kim was so distraught about her relative's sudden illness, that wasn't even sending anyone to their house to keep an eye on Lane while she was away in Korea. Lane wasn't nearly as religious as her mother, but she felt like God had answered her prayers by granting her this momentary, much needed freedom.

Another miracle came into her life a few days later when Lane was working in the store after her mother left. Dean came in to pick up an antique lamp for his mother's birthday.

"Wow! I'm not used to coming in here and not having 'You break, you buy!' being screamed in my ear," he joked laughingly.

"You seem to be in a good mood today," Lane replied pleasantly.

"Where IS Mrs. Kim?" Dean asked curiously.

Lane explained that she was in Korea for three weeks to take care of a sick relative and she noticed that grabbed Dean's interest as she told him the story. She helped him pick out a lamp for his mother and gave him a generous discount, knowing that would anger her mother, but right now Mrs. Kim was so far away that it just didn't feel like it mattered.

Dean started to leave and did a sudden about face before he reached the door.

"Hey, Lane, I… Oh forget it, you probably wouldn't be interested…."

"No what, Dean, please finish what you started to say," Lane pleaded.

"Well, my family is going on a picnic at Black Rock State Park on Saturday. Seeing how your mom's gone for three weeks and Rory is probably spending all her free time making kissy faces with Jess these days, I thought maybe you'd like to come along and join us."

"Oh, darn, I'd love to but I have to work in the store on Saturday, I'm afraid I can't come," Lane responded disappointedly.

"What time do you close the store on Saturday?"

"Uh – six o'clock," she replied, wondering why he'd even ask such a question.

"I'm sure we'll be back by five. Why don't I come pick you up at six thirty and we can go to Hartford and catch dinner and a movie?"

Lane started to tell Dean she didn't need to go out on a pity date with him, but stopped herself abruptly and accepted his invitation.

TO BE CONTINUED….