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She's silent for a few minutes, and Luke can't help but wonder if she's fallen asleep (it seems highly unlikely, but she's so quiet) or if she's simply gathering her thoughts. She snuggles close to him, so close that he can feel her heartbeat in his chest and her nervous breathing on his neck. He seeks out her hand and squeezes it beneath his own. He feels her mouth open and close a few times, but nothing comes out.

"Hey," he whispers. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he can hear the desperation in his own voice and he's pretty sure that she can too.

She shakes her head emphatically and he can feel her hot tears on his neck. "I want to," she whispers, bringing her eyes up to meet his. She gives him a small smile. "I'm just having some trouble putting it into words,"

"Take your time," he reassures her gently. "Really,"

For some reason, she's surprised that he's so sensitive to her feelings, even though she knows she shouldn't be. He's Luke, her fiancé, her best friend, and the first man she'd been able to always trust. The only one who had never let her down and the one she'd always been able to lean on when it hurt too much to hold her own head up.

"Lorelai," Luke whispers again, in the concerned tone that she alone gets to hear. "Maybe you should just go back to sleep. We can talk about it tomorrow," he's worried because as far as he knows, she's gotten less than an hour of sleep tonight, something that no amount of coffee will be able to fix.

"No," she says forcefully, shaking her head. "Please," she whispers. "Just let me…okay?"

"Okay," he soothes, pulling her closer to him. "Okay,"

And suddenly she's telling him, words spilling out uncontrollably. She's talking so quickly that she's not even sure if he can understand her, but she keeps going anyway.

She tells him how she and Christopher had been best friends since nursery school, when he spilled chocolate milk on her dress, and how growing up, they had done everything together. She tells him about every time he'd asked her out, and how she just never had thought about him that way. How he'd been jealous of her eighth grade boyfriend, and had driven him away, and how she'd been angry with him for weeks, even though her boyfriend had been annoying and preppy and she actually was glad to get rid of him. How he'd had way too much to drink at his sixteenth birthday party, and how his parents didn't even seem to care. How he had dragged her up to his room and locked the door behind them. How she should have realized that he was too drunk to know what he was doing. How he made her promise never to tell anyone. How she had forgiven him for Rory's sake. How much it killed her every time her mother tried to get her and Christopher back together. How she knew that Rory suspected something because after he came to visit, Lorelai would always lock herself into her bedroom for a good solid hour and tell Rory that she was cleaning.

She talks until her voice is hoarse, until she's practically blinded by her tears. Luke holds her tightly, refusing to let her go, shushing her, soothing her, rocking her. He kisses her and tells her he loves her again and again, until her tears and gasps have somewhat subsided. He notices that she's shivering, so he pulls the blankets tightly around them and tells her to sleep because he can tell that she's exhausted.

"Don't stop holding me," she tells him, her voice still uneven and full of emotion. He simply nods and presses his lips to her hair, not able to look at her; she's so raw and exposed that it's too much for him.

When she's asleep, he calls Ceasar and tells him that he won't be able to open the diner. There's no way he's going to be able to leave her alone.

------

Rory can't sleep. She's been tossing and turning for hours, counting sheep, dogs, elephants, and almost every type of animal she can think of. She's tried to force herself to think of nothing at all (that usually works when she's stressed), but there's that one image still replaying in her mind.

Her mother, standing in the middle of the diner. Defeated. Broken.

She rolls over and checks the clock again. Four twelve. Less than five minutes since she's last looked.

Rory sighs and gets up. There's no way she's going to be able to get to sleep. She leaves her bedroom and heads for the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. She's sitting at the counter, surveying the pool house, and she realizes something.

She hates living alone. She had thought it would be fun. She had thought it would be just what she needed. She was so incredibly wrong.

She hates what she's doing to her mother. She feels guilty all the time. It's not a great feeling.

She knows though, that if she asked, Lorelai would take her back right away, no questions asked, because that's how much she loves her daughter. Rory can almost hear her now: Its okay, hon, don't worry about it. Let's just put it behind us, okay?

After everything she's been through, she can still forgive. She forgave her parents. She forgave Christopher. And she would forgive Rory.

Content with these thoughts, Rory lays her head down on the counter and soon is asleep.

------

Luke awakes to find Lorelai looking at him. "Hey," he murmurs sleepily, pulling her close to him again, memories of last night still fresh. "How long have you been up?"

"Only a few minutes," she whispers back. "Luke, I'm sorry about last night,"

"What?" he asks, genuinely surprised. "Why?"

"I just-," she tries to explain. "I've never really told anyone that before, you know, and I just let my emotions get the best of me…," her voice trails off. "And I scared you, I'm sorry,"

"You didn't scare me," he protests. "Made me want to beat the crap out of Christopher, yes, but scare me? No,"

"Luke, it's not his fault, okay? He was mind numbingly drunk. He wasn't thinking, he- he couldn't think,"

He knows that she's trying to convince him, but he can see that this is just something she's been telling herself all these years, something to get rid of all the guilt and the hurt feelings.

He pulls her even closer and whispers, softly, "He shouldn't have hurt you,"

She whimpers and squeezes her eyes shut, desperately trying to fight off tears.

She's quiet again, and he thinks that maybe she's fallen back asleep, until he hears her say something, into the crook of his neck, so quietly that he has to strain his ears to hear her.

"I know,"