**Love is a journey, not a destination**



*****

CHAPTER 1 - ALL GOOD THINGS BEGIN WITH COFFEE

*****

Saturday night



*ring ring*



"Hello, this is Rory and Lorelai's answering machine. We can't come to the phone right now, but feel free to leave a message. Your chances of a return phone call are heightened greatly if you are (a) A best friend - Hi Sookie, Hi Lane (b) tall, dark and handsome - Dean, you're in luck, (c) offering food, coffee or some other useful service - Luke, this is you, or (d) Brad Pitt."



"Hi Rory, where are you?? I really wanted to actually talk to you. I won't be home tonight. You know there are a hundred people you can call if you need anything. I'm on my cell phone and I'll call you again tomorrow. And by the way, we should really change the answering machine message, that 'other useful service part' sounds dirty. Bye Sweets!"



*****



Earlier that day...



Lorelai burst into the diner, "pack your bags, Toto, we're going on a trip," she said to Luke.

"Huh? Lorelai are you nuts?" he paused, "wait, don't worry I know the answer."

"There's a coffee festival in Boston tomorrow. I HAVE to go," Lorelai declared.

"So take Rory, she's almost as obsessed with the evil liquid as you, she'd love it," Luke said, wiping down a table.

"I know, and she could see her dad. I wish I could take Rory, but she has a huge French exam on Monday. Please Luke, I need someone to go with. It'll be fun! And educational! Seeing as how you serve coffee, you could pick up some tips. I know you're going to say something about how you have to work and you can't just drop everything and coffee is bad for you and ra ra ra. Let's just cut to the part where you agree to go. Come on Luke, live a little."

"I live plenty, thank you very much, I just do my living here," he couldn't make it too easy for her.

"Boring!" Lorelai poked her tongue out at him.

"Crazy!" Luke retorted.

"Dull!"

"Insane!"

"Uninteresting!"

"Unstable!"

"Yawn-inducing!"

"Fruit-loop!"

"Drear!"

"Deranged!"

"Hey that was really nasty!" Lorelai stopped their volley of insults when she ran out of synonyms for 'boring' and made a mental note to take some vocabulary lessons from Rory before returning to bugging Luke.

"Please Lukey?" she pouted.

"I don't think so," he replied

"I may resort to kidnapping you," Lorelai warned.

"Yeah okay, sure. You try that," Luke crossed his arms over his chest.

Lorelai looked at him, "do you have to be so big and strong? I think I could take Jess though. I'll hold him for ransom until you agree."

"You can keep him," Luke told her.

"Would it help if I begged?" Lorelai asked desperately.

"I think you've already tried that."

"How about if I started crying?"

"Then I'd have to kick you out. Can't you ask someone else?"

"Well obviously I don't have that many friends who are willing to just drop everything for me. Rub it in why don't you! Seriously, Luke, we just got our friendship back to the way it was, don't you think it would be good to spend a little time together. We'll only be gone a day or two. Pleeeeease?" Lorelai made puppy dog eyes at him.

"Okay, okay," Luke gave in. He always did.

"You'll come?" Lorelai's face lit up like a kid at Christmas time.

"Your insanity must be catching. Yes, I'll come."

"Great! Go get packed, I've just got to buy some stuff, I'll meet you outside the market!" Lorelai headed for the door before Luke could change his mind and crashed into Jess in the process.

"Where's the fire?" Jess asked as Lorelai continued out the door.

Luke handed Jess his apron.

"You. Look after the place. Tell Caesar I'll be back in a couple of days."

Jess just shrugged.

Luke packed a bag and went to meet Lorelai, who was waiting with three grocery bags full of junk food, munching on some potato chips.

"Bout time you showed up," she said, "I was beginning to think you chickened out on me."

"What is all that crap?" Luke asked, eyeing the bags.

"Provisions," Lorelai answered.

"It's not that far to Boston you know. There are stores along the way."

"Stop right there and I won't make any cracks about how long it took you to pack considering you wear the same thing everyday."

Luke sighed, "let's just go."

"We're taking my car," said Lorelai.

"What's wrong with mine?" Luke wanted to know.

"Nothing, just that a jeep is the perfect vehicle for a road trip."

"Okay, fine," Luke said, twirling his keys in his fingers.

"Then why do you need your keys?" asked Lorelai.

"I don't want Jess driving my truck," he explained

"What with his great track record?" she replied sarcastically, "really though, Luke, I don't think a lack of keys would stop Jess if he wanted your truck."

Luke realised she was right, "do you think he'll be okay?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "he's 17, not 4."

"Maybe I shouldn't leave him. He could get into trouble."

"In Stars Hollow? Okay, I agree, he could. But Jess would get into trouble whether you were there or not. Now let's go already!"

Lorelai jumped into the car and started the engine.

'Highway to Hell' by AC/DC blasted from the speakers.

Luke hoped it wasn't a sign.



*****



That evening, after they found a motel in Boston, Lorelai left Rory a message on their answering machine before wandering next door to Luke's room.

"Rory's not home," she announced.

"She's probably at Lane's or out with Dean."

"Right. Have you called Jess yet?"

"Why would I need to call Jess? He was there when I left this afternoon."

"Did you even say where we were going?"

"I don't think he cared."

There was a knock on the door, "room service."

Luke shot Lorelai a look, "you ordered room service?"

"Don't worry, I ordered some vegetable thing for you," she replied.

Lorelai sat cross-legged on Luke's bed with the food spread around her and switched on the TV.

"Great, get crumbs all over my bed," Luke complained.

But as the room didn't contain a table, he ended up sitting beside her.

Lorelai was playing with the remote control, "why do they make these things so complicated?"

"What are you trying to do?" Luke asked.

"Find a movie," she said, "ah, got it."

"What's on?"

"'Vanilla Sky.' Have you ever seen it?"

"Nope."

"Me neither."

An hour and a half later Lorelai was slumped on the bed, "ugh this is a bad movie," she said "I'm waiting for it to get better, but it's only getting worse."

Luke agreed, "a bad, bad movie."

Lorelai gave up and closed her eyes. She was sound asleep by the time the credits rolled.

Luke tried to wake her up, but she refused to move, clinging tightly to the pillow.

Fine, Luke thought, they'd switch rooms. She could sleep on the dinner table. He gently tucked Lorelai in before taking her room key and going to sleep in her bed.



***



TBC



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