As soon as it started, it was over, and he could feel Lorelai's lips pull back from his own. Luke's mind was.. completely blank.

Lorelai had kissed him. Lorelai. She had kissed HIM. Luke could still taste her on his lips, the distinct taste of coffee mingling with flavors of sweet oranges and whipped cream. He couldn't move. He couldn't think. She was watching him, trying to read his blank expression.

"I-I'm so sorry," Lorelai stammered, her face pink and blushing, "I didn't think and—"

Luke snapped forward and pressed his lips to hers, cradling the back of her head. He felt her stiffen, then melt into the kiss, becoming an active participant moving with him.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he murmured against her, "I-ve been waiting so long to— this is just—"

"Luke," Lorelai gasped, out of breath.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"With pleasure," he growled, smiling against her lips despite himself.

Then they were kissing again, and the rest of the world fell away. All that mattered was this moment, right now. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip and she moaned gently. The sound sent a shiver of anticipation up Luke's spine. He never thought he would hear that sound from her. He never thought he would be the one to provoke it.

Lorelai opened her mouth slightly and he pushed forward, deepening the kiss. Luke pulled her into him with both hands, one on her waist and one tangled in her hair. He needed her closer. He wanted to feel every twitch and pulse of her body against his.

He lost track of time. It didn't matter where they were. It didn't matter that he had yet to take her on a real date. The only thought in Luke's mind was that she was here, and that she wanted it too. Then he heard a screeching voice ring out from the doorway.

"LORELAI VICTORIA GILMORE!"

Lorelai pulled away so fast Luke worried that he might have bitten her lip.

"Mom!" She exclaimed, her face bright red, "What are you doing here?!"

Luke yanked his head backward and stood bolt upright. Turning his head, he saw the same woman from Rory's birthday party, the older one with short red hair and a regally pissed-off expression. Her mother.

"What I am doing here," the woman seethed, "is visiting my daughter in the hospital! The same one who didn't even TELL ME she was injured in tHE FIRST PLACE!"

"Mom, I'm sorry, but—"

"I had to find out from JOSHUA that something was even WRONG! Do you know how mortifying it is to be the last one to know your child is iN THE HOSPITAL!?"

Lorelai gulped and shrank back into her pillows. Luke wished he could do the same. Lorelai had exaggerated many things in her ramblings at the diner, her mother's temper was apparently not one of them.

"AND," she continued, her voice rising several decibels, "when I FINALLY manage to find her room number, wHAT DO I FIND?!"

Luke was sure his face was the color of strawberries. Lorelai's was, anyway. He felt remarkably like a teenager again.

"I FIND HER, NECKING WITH THE FILTHY DINER-OWNER SHE CLAIMED SHE ONLY THOUGHT OF AS A FRIEND!"

"I'm gonna go," Luke said, not making eye contact with either of the Gilmore women.

"Wait, Luke—," Lorelai tried before she was cut off by her mother again.

"No, let him go, Lorelai! We need to have a private chat about responsibility, you and I." Her mother's voice was ice cold and dripping with malice.

Luke wished he had the nerve to stick around for Lorelai, but one glance at her face was enough to tell him she clearly didn't want him there. Her face was pale and worried. She didn't meet his eyes. It stung to see her turning away from his face, ashamed of being seen with him.

Luke pushed past Emily Gilmore without a word. She glared at him archly, daring him to say something. He didn't.

Luke's previously blank mind felt like it was rebooting, thoughts running around his head so fast he couldn't focus on any of them. He needed to get out of there. He didn't wait for a goodbye. He didn't hear Lorelai calling after him, her voice desperate. He just walked out of the hospital without another word.

Luke was halfway home before he realized two things.

1. He had left his blue hat, the one Lorelai had given him for Christmas, on her hospital bed.

2. By not saying goodbye, by not sticking around to sort everything out, his one chance to be with the woman he loved more than anything in the world, was ruined. She probably wouldn't even come to the diner anymore. She wouldn't talk to him, she probably wouldn't even look at him. They were over before they ever began. And it was all his fault.

Luke turned onto the highway. He drove until his whitened knuckles, clutching the steering wheel, started cramping. He drove until the sun dipped below the horizon and the lamps lit up the sides of the road. He drove until the burning behind his eyes stopped and his breathing returned to normal. He drove until he was numb to the pain in his chest, blind to his own heartbreak, and deaf to the voice in the back of his mind that said her name, over, and over, and over again.

Lorelai...