Things to note: Rory and Jess are 2nd year at Harvard, sharing an apartment. Lorelai and Luke are good friends, spend a lot of time together now that Rory and Jess are away. Lorelai and Jess co-exist peacefully.

All characters belong to someone else's creative genius and the people at WB. I'm just borrowing for a lil while...

Togetherness



It was Friday night and Lorelai was driving home from dinner at her parent's house. They'd kept up the tradition even after Rory graduated from Chilton and was now away at college. Lorelai and Emily both still complained but neither of them would have it any other way. As Lorelai entered Stars Hollow she was surprised to see flashing lights and people crowing the street.

"What's going on?' she wondered. She drove further down the main street and saw the fire truck in front of the diner. Smoke was pouring from the roof.

'Oh my god, Luke!' Lorelai stopped the car in the middle of the road and pushed her was through the crowd. She spotted him standing next to an ambulance looking forlornly at the smoldering diner.

"Luke!" Lorelai cried, throwing her arms around him.

Surprised, Luke hugged her back.

"Thank God you're okay," Lorelai said when she pulled away, "what happened?"

"Fire started in the kitchen," Luke explained, "luckily no one was hurt."

The fire brigade had the flames under control and the crowd began to dispense.

Luke sighed, taking one last look at the diner, "I can't deal with this right now. Can I get a room at the Inn for the night?" he asked Lorelai.

"Of course." She rubbed his back sympathetically as they walked away.



The next morning Lorelai dropped by the diner on her way to the Inn. Luke was surveying the damage and already had a team of builders there.

"Hey, what's the verdict?" Lorelai called out, carefully stepping through the charred and smoky room.

"You shouldn't be in here, it's not safe." Luke steered her outside onto the pavement.

"The damage to the diner isn't that bad, it's mostly cosmetic," he explained, "it's the apartment that's gonna need a complete rebuild."

"You're insured right?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, it's just a pain in the butt," Luke looked incredibly dejected.

Lorelai hugged him goodbye, "if there's anything I can do, you know where to find me. I'll see you at the Inn tonight, okay?"



That night at the Inn Luke and Lorelai sat in a corner of the kitchen eating a meal specially prepared by Sookie. Luke was in a slightly better mood.

"The builders think they can have the diner operable again in under a week," Luke said.

"That's great!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"The bad news is the apartment could take up to a month," he continued, "apparently they need to redo the foundations entirely. So it looks like I'll be sleeping on the diner floor for a while."

"No, Luke you don't have to do that!"

"Well I can't afford to stay here for a whole month."

"Come live with me," Lorelai said immediately.

"No. Thanks, but no," said Luke.

"Why not?" Lorelai asked.

"We'd kill each other," he replied.

"I promise, I'll be on my best behaviour," Lorelai smiled sweetly.

"It's not a good idea."

"Yes it is. You need somewhere to stay and I have a big house all to myself."

"I don't want to impose," Luke insisted.

"It's not an imposition! We're friends. If the situation were reversed you'd do the same for me," Lorelai paused, "wouldn't you?" she asked worriedly.

"Of course, but..."

"But nothing! Let's go salvage your stuff!" Lorelai cleared away their plates.

"You did hear the part where it could be nearly a month until my apartment's ready, right?" Luke checked.

"So if it really doesn't work out we'll find something else. Don't worry," she told him.

"Okay, thanks Lorelai," he replied seriously.

"You can thank me by having fresh coffee every morning."

"I knew there was a catch," Luke groaned.



The whole town was buzzing about Luke moving in with Lorelai.

"I should hold a town meeting," she complained to Sookie and Michel, "to advise everyone that yes, he is moving in, to my SPARE room not my bedroom, so they can all just calm down."

"Aw, I think it's romantic!" Sookie said.

"Sookie, how is it romantic?" Lorelai wanted to know.

She shrugged, "I don't know, after you've been married for a couple of years anything seems romantic."

"I do not see what the fuss is about," Michel commented.

"Good for you, Michel," Lorelai encouraged.

"I mean, you are practically married already," he continued.

"Hey, where'd you get that from?" Lorelai demanded.

"You order him around, he make you food, he fixes your house and doesn't even get any sex."

"The man has a point," said Sookie.

Lorelai sighed, "there is no relief from madness of this town! I'm leaving now, see you guys tomorrow."

"Bye Sweetie, say hi to Luke for me!" Sookie called after her.



"The inhabitants of this town lead waaaay too small lives," Lorelai complained, wandering into the spare bedroom where Luke was unpacking his stuff.

Luke agreed with her, "don't go too close to the window," he warned, "Miss Patty's over at Babette's with a pair of binoculars."

"You're kidding!"

"I wish I was."

Lorelai raced to the window and waved at Miss Patty before yanking the curtains closed.

"You do realise that will only encourage her," Luke said.

"Gotta keep them on their toes until someone starts handing out Valium!" she responded brightly, "so how's it going?"

"Fine. I don't have that much stuff to unpack, thanks."

"Good, cos I wasn't offering to help. I just wanted to see what time you were starting dinner."

"I knew there was something in this for you," Luke said.

"You mean besides the pleasure of your company? Which, let's face it, would get you maybe an hour of hospitality, tops."

"Okay, let's go see what I have to work with," said Luke as he and Lorelai made their way downstairs to the kitchen.

Luke went through the kitchen cupboards, "empty, empty, canned beetroot, empty, empty, stale poptarts. How do you live like this?" he asked Lorelai who was perched on the table flipping through a magazine.

She shrugged, "I spend a lot of time at the diner, in case you haven't noticed."

Luke moved on to an inventory of the fridge, "Leftover Chinese take out, one can of diet coke with lemon and two tubes of lipstick."

"Ooh, pass me the coke," called Lorelai.

"Why do you keep lipstick in the fridge?" Luke asked, throwing her the coke.

"To stop them from melting."

"It's October."

"So they've been there a while. I'll need to buy new colours next summer anyway."

Luke just rolled his eyes, grabbed his wallet and headed out the door, Lorelai jumped off the table and ran after him.

"Where are you going?"

"To the store."

"Great, I have a craving for chocolate chip cookies!"

"We're going to buy some real food," Luke told her sternly, "no junk."

"Please daddy, can't I have one treat, I promise to be a good girl," Lorelai begged as they got in Luke's truck.

Luke just glared at her.



"Okay," Luke said when they got to the market, "we'll split the list and you can get whatever else you need, but remember no junk."

"List?" Lorelai asked blankly, "I usually just pick a random aisle, start wandering around and grab whatever I feel like."

"But what if you forget something? Isn't that just a big waste of time?"

"Hey loosen up. Grab a basket and we'll shop the Lorelai way," she headed down the nearest aisle, "ooh sparklers, haven't had those in ages," she grabbed a packet, "Come on Luke, I'll even let you buy everything on that list. What's first?"

"We're in the wrong aisle," Luke complained, "see everything on the list is in order."

"You're kidding, what if Taylor changes something around?" Lorelai asked.

"He wouldn't dare."

Lorelai grinned at him, "I bet you'd just freak out if one day someone switched the toothpaste and the laundry detergent."

"I would not," Luke scoffed.

"I think you would, I think you have a problem," Lorelai sang.

"I do not. It just makes sense this way. You should always start with the bottles and cans and leave the fruit and veggies to the end so they don't get squashed."

"I never buy fruit and veggies."

"Okay, so the chips don't get squashed."

"Uh huh, it's called obsessive compulsive disorder, Luke."

"Hey! Best behaviour, remember," he pointed a finger at her.

"Yes Daddy," Lorelai poked her tongue out.

"Oh would you look at that!" a voice cooed behind them.

"Hi, Patty, what are we looking at?" Lorelai asked after turning around.

"Don't you two just make the sweetest couple, gathering supplies for the nest," Miss Patty continued.

"Oh brother," Luke groaned.

"Okay, we have to be moving on now Patty," Lorelai took Luke's arm and steered them the other way.

Kirk appeared at the end of the aisle.

"Rats! All exits blocked!"

Kirk snapped a photo, "first grocery shop," he noted proudly.

"Bring on the psyche team," Luke muttered.

He and Lorelai paid for their groceries and made a hasty exit.



As they unpacked the groceries, Lorelai was disappointed to discover she'd managed to sneak only one bag of potato chips and a couple of candy bars in with Luke's healthy purchases.

"This won't even last me the night," she complained, "do you know what happens when I don't get my sugar fix?"

"You calm down?" Luke suggested hopefully.

"Hah! You wish!"

Luke made dinner and, despite the fact that it looked suspiciously healthy, Lorelai enjoyed it.

"Sooo," she began, after they'd eaten and cleaned up the kitchen, "what do you want to do now?"

Luke shrugged, "I dunno. I'm not really used to having so much free time at night."

"We could watch a movie?" Lorelai suggested.

"Okay," Luke agreed.

They sat uncomfortably in silence for a while, with Lorelai sitting on the couch and Luke on the floor at her feet, neither of them concentrating on the movie.

"Hey Luke?" Lorelai said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're okay. You know, with the fire and everything. I just wanted to say that."

Luke raised his head and looked up at her, "thanks."

"No problem."

"For everything," Luke added.

"Anytime."

They resumed staring at the TV screen, this time in comfortable silence.



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