"This is Luke, I'm not here to answer the phone right now, so leave a message and I'll get back to ya, soon as I can. And if you're a salesman, don't bother, I'm not buying whatever crap you're selling."

*Beeeeep* "Hey Luke, it's me. Me, meaning Lorelai. Gilmore. Heh, you knew that. Um, annyyywayyy, I was just calling to, uh, check in with you. Haven't seen you today at any of the normal visiting hours. Starting to think you stood me up!... yeeesh, awkward. But, um, call me back, okay? I think we need to— I need to talk with you. So just, uh, call me when you get this. Bye."

*Beeeeep* "Hey Luke, it's, uh, Lorelai again. I know it's early, but you get up early, dontcha? So maybe that doesn't matter. Yup, okay. But, uh, Luke, I just wanted to check in with you, since I didn't see you yesterday. If you're not coming by today, call me, so I don't.. d-uhh…, get my hopes up. Or whatever. So, yeah. Uh, bye."

*Beeeeep* "Hey, it's Lorelai again. You didn't come in today. Ugh, you knew that. Mhrgh. But, um, I just wanted to.. check in again. Are you doing okay? ...I'm doing fine, thanks for asking. The new medicine's working really well, I haven't been nauseous for at least 9 hours, so that's good. They said I'm gonna be released soon. Counting down the days 'till I can—… have your coffee again! Hah ha.. Luke, uh, just— just, call me back, okay? Okay. Bye."

*Beeeeep* "Hey, um, Luke. Did.. did I do something wrong? You haven't come by in the last three days, and well.. I miss you. If it's about.. what happened in the hospital room.. I'm sorry. I just— I didn't think. Please, please, PLEASE call me back, Luke. I— I miss you. Call me. Bye."

*Beeeeep* "Luke, if it's something I did, please.. please let me know! I haven't seen you in so long, it feels like we're in a fight without actually fighting. It's the freakin' Cold War of voicemail messages here. Let me know what I did wrong so I can apologize and we can go back to the way we were! If, that's what you want, I mean. I want— ugh, I just miss you, Luke. I don't like not.. I don't like this. Call me. We can— we can talk about what happened. Please. I want to talk. I love talking. I'm the QUEEN of talking. ...so call me, Luke. I.. miss you. Bye."

Luke pressed the rewind button on the tape machine, and listened to her messages again. It hurt his head to hear her like that, lonesome and self-conscious in every break and pause in her rapid-fire dialogue, and it hurt worse to remember that HE was the one who made her feel like that. Hurt as it may though, he couldn't stop himself from pressing rewind over and over again, just to hear her voice.

He hadn't seen Lorelai in five days, not since the incident in the hospital room. Not since Luke finally crossed that ever-present line in their relationship, and it blew up in his face. He knew she should go, knew he should call her back, but he just couldn't.

He'd rather be here, before they talked, before she inevitably rejected him. Before their hesitant friendship became a distant memory. It's better this way, he tried to tell himself. She's better off without.. better off this way. I'M better off this way, he thought with a pang of regret. He'd never been very good at lying to himself. His lies of hopeless self-preservation did nothing to dissuade the feeling that he had to see her again. He NEEDED to see her again.

Luke got up from his couch and pulled himself together. It's not too late. He could still do this.

He could still run over to the hospital, say he had been on LSD or something, and claim insanity. He could still salvage their friendship with her. As much as it feels like pulling teeth, Luke could say he just wanted to be friends, nothing more. It killed him inside a little bit every time he had to say that, but it might just be enough to get things back to the way they were. Lorelai and him: nothing more than customer and provider, only sometimes friends. It's better than spooking her by coming on too strong and never getting to see her again.

Luke grabbed his car keys and headed downstairs. Before he knew it, he was halfway to the hospital.

On the drive over, Luke finally allowed himself to remember the kiss. Their first kiss. Their only kiss. The only kiss that really mattered to him anymore.

She tasted so sweet, sweeter than he had imagined. And her lips had been warm and wet and fierce against his own. Her hands had cupped his face, her fingers tracing his jawline and palming his unquenchable smile. It had gone on for a long while, he realized, but not even close to long enough for him. At least now he knew what it was like.

Luke tried to suppress the memories rising like bile in the back of his brain. All the times where they almost were… until they weren't.

The first time they met, when he had almost asked her out, but then she started talking about her kid and he lost his nerve. When he first talked with Rory, and realized her mother was even more amazing than he had thought, for raising a kid like her all on her own. Being pushed into painting the diner, the way her bright blue eyes seemed to linger on his mouth. The double-date she went on and rushed out before he could ask her to dinner. She hadn't even said goodbye.

Well, neither did he, after they kissed in the hospital room. They never got a chance to talk about that one.

But that's what he was going to do now. No more waiting. No more being a coward and a damn fool for not saying a word, all the years he'd loved and not known it.

Luke pulled into the hospital's guest parking and made his way to the now familiar-hallway. Room 221. Her room.

As if watching someone else, Luke saw his hand turn the knob and push open the door.

She was in there, a yellow and black T-shirt (reading RE-BELLE with some disney princess sporting multiple tattoos and piercings plastered on the front) pulled over her hospital gown. She jumped when he opened the door. Her wide eyes met his.

"Hi."

And just like that, everything was okay again. More or less.