Lorelai had spent the last four days alone in her bed, not having slept next to Luke since the night they fell asleep together on the couch, and since then it had not gotten any easier to sleep without him beside her. Even when she managed to doze off, she would wake back up suddenly then end up spending hours trying to fall back to sleep. It put her in a very crabby mood. Not only because it would be way too weird if she asked Luke to continue sleeping in her room, but because she had somehow let herself get used to having him there with her at night to the point where it now felt empty without him. It made absolutely no sense to her. He was just a friend. Even if he was more than that, which she was starting to let herself accept, she was still the most independent person around. She raised a daughter on her own at sixteen for Pete's sake. So, why couldn't she sleep without Luke? She needed something to take back her independence, she needed to prove she didn't need him.

Rory walked into the kitchen, looking over at her mother. "No, put that away!" She said, sternly.

"I wanna cook." Lorelai stated, a box of Hamburger Helper grasped firmly in her hands.

"You can make soup."

"No, I wanna really cook, like on the Food Channel. I wanna saute things, and chop things, and do the bam, and I wanna arrange things on a plate so they look like a pretty little hat. I wanna be the Iron Chef!"

Rory took note of her determined state, seeing no way of talking her out of it. "Fine." She said, caving.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll help."

"Okay, I need a pan."

"And a fire extinguisher." Rory joked as she kneeled down to the cupboard and grabbed a pan out.

"Funny, funny girl." Lorelai said, pausing to tap her index finger on her chin. "Now, if I had only bought some hamburger."

Rory glanced back at her, shocked. "You didn't buy hamburger?"

"Yes, I bought hamburger." She said, grinning over at her. "I just like saying things like that so you look at me like I'm crazy."

"So, tell me, why the sudden need to be domestic?" Rory said, setting the pan on the table and sitting down next to her.

"Ah, I don't know. I'm in like a funky mood."

"Why?"

"Too many stars, too much love. It makes me cranky." Lorelai said, referring to the firelight festival they had going on this coming weekend.

"Ah ha." Rory said, not believing her. "Are you sure you aren't cranky because you haven't been sleeping since Luke left your room?"

"How do you know I haven't been sleeping?"

"You have had black circles under your eyes the last four days."

"Well, great. Now not only am I tired, I have to get new cover up too."

"It's fine that you are having trouble sleeping without Luke in there. You got used to him being with you while dad was visiting."

"I never said I was having trouble sleeping because of Luke."

"Then what is it?"

"People can have trouble sleeping, it doesn't have to be for any particular reason." Lorelai said, the both of them hearing the front door open.

"I think your particular reason just got home."

"I'm serious, Rory. It's not because of-" She glanced up, seeing Luke walk into the kitchen. "Luke." She paused. "Hey, Luke."

"Hey." Luke said, looking at them a second before he noticed the box in Lorelai's hands. "No, put that away!"

"She wants to cook." Rory stated.

"If you want Hamburger Helper, I can make it for you." He said, wiggling his fingers at her. "Here, hand it over."

"I don't need you to make it for me! I don't need anyone to do anything for me!" Lorelai said, defensively. "I am an adult, I can do it by myself."

Luke's eyes widened at the tone of her voice. "Okay, I'm sorry." He said, calmly. "I know you can make it by yourself." He stood there a moment, in an awkward silence. "Ah, I'm just gonna go shower."

"Luke," Lorelai started.

"I'll be back down after." Luke said, walking out of the room before she could say anything else.

Rory watched him leave, then looked back at her mother pointedly. "Mom."

"I know." Lorelai said, putting her hands into her palms.

"That's like the sixth time you have snapped at him lately."

"I'll apologize when he gets back down here."

"Okay, good." Rory said, sitting back in her chair. "Ah, before he got here, I was actually gonna bring something up to you."

"What's that?"

"I have this huge favor to ask you."

"Oh, something I can hold over your head." Lorelai said, smirking. "Let's hear it."

"Friday night is Dean's and my three month anniversary."

"Three months? Wow."

"And Dean apparently has some big fancy evening planned for us."

"Very classy of him."

"Yes, it is. But for me to actually partake of the aforesaid fancy evening, I have to get out of Friday night dinner."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

Lorelai grinned. "Good luck with that."

"Mom!"

"Do you know how much Emily Gilmore will not care about your three month anniversary?"

Rory squinted. "I was thinking you could talk to her."

"If there was a runoff between what Emily Gilmore would care about less, a two-for-one toilet paper sale at Costco or your three month anniversary, your anniversary would win, hands down."

"So, you're not even gonna try to help me?"

Lorelai stood up from her chair and walked to the desk in the living room, her daughter following behind her. "Oh, no, I'm gonna try to help you, because I care. Emily Gilmore, however,"

Rory cut in, holding the phone up to her. "Phone please."

"Okay." Lorelai said, dialing the number. She put it to her ear as it started to ring, letting out a small laugh.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just, 'Oh, hey, Mom. Ah, Rory and Dean are having their three month anniversary on Friday.'" Lorelai switched her voice. "'Really, Lorelai? Why, that's wonderful! I'm thrilled."

"Stop." Rory warned.

"'Three months. Well, woohoo. Hold on, I'm going to cartwheel.'"

"Forget it." Rory said, walking back to the kitchen.

Lorelai followed behind her, smirking. "Oh, no wait, she's telling my dad now. Why, I think they're cabbage patching."

"I liked it better when you were crabby."

"Hello?" Emily said from the other line.

"Mom?" Lorelai said, too caught up in her joke to think about what she would say once her mother answered. She walked out of the room and continued to talk to her till she got Rory out of Friday night dinner, which was rather easy. She was getting ready to get up off the couch to go tell Rory the news when Luke walked back downstairs, his hair still damp from the shower. "Hey." She said, glancing over at him awkwardly.

"Hey." Luke said, opening his closet and throwing his dirty clothes into the hamper before walking back towards Lorelai. "Look, I think maybe I should stay at my place tonight. Give you and Rory a little space."

"Luke, you don't have to do that." Lorelai said, standing up.

"I don't mind. I think it would probably be best."

"Luke, no." She said, shaking her head at him. "I'm so sorry that I have been snapping at you lately, but that has nothing to do with anything you have done."

"Why is it then? Because you have been exploding on me for days now."

"It's just, I haven't been sleeping much the last few nights." Lorelai explained, walking back over and taking a seat on the couch again. "I know this is probably going to sound ridiculous, and believe me I feel stupid admitting this, but I got used to you being in my bed with me."

Luke shot his eyebrows up, surprised. He stood there quietly a moment before walking over and sitting down next to her. "Well, ah, do you want me to keep sleeping up there?"

"No." Lorelai said, shaking her head. "I just need to get over it. I mean, it's not like you will be living here forever, so I should get used to it already." She said, nervously rubbing her hands on her thighs. "God, I feel like such an idiot for bringing it up. But I just didn't want you to keep thinking I was mad at you."

"You're not an idiot." Luke said, setting his arm behind her on the couch cushion. "To tell you the truth, I've been having trouble sleeping too."

"Really?" Lorelai asked, looking over at him.

"Yeah. I think maybe it's like when puppies leave their family for the first time. They get so used to having something warm and comforting next to them at night, and then they get stuck in a crate all by themselves. It takes a while to get used to someone not being there. But eventually, they forget the feeling, then it doesn't seem as hard to be alone anymore."

Lorelai took in what he was saying a moment, then spoke, "You know, Luke, they also say you can take a blanket and get the mother's scent on it to lay next to the puppy at night." She paused, looking at his confused expression. "Do you want to go roll around on my bed to leave your scent?"

Luke shook his head at her, grinning. "I'm glad your sleep deprivation hasn't clouded your humor."

Rory walked out into the living room, looking over at her mom. "So, what did grandma say?" She asked, taking a seat on the armchair.

"That the world is officially coming to an end." Lorelai joked.

"What?"

"She said yes."

"Really?"

"I couldn't believe it myself."

Luke looked at both of them oddly. "Couldn't believe what?"

"Grandma is letting me skip Friday night dinner this week so I can go to the festival with Dean." Rory explained.

"Dean?" Luke said with a grimace. "You haven't broken up with that punk yet?"

"He is not a punk." Rory defended. "You really should get to know him better, Luke. I think you would get along well."

"I have spent time with him. He is here all the time."

"Yes, but you never talk to him."

"I talk to him."

Lorelai smiled. "No, you grunt at him till he stops talking."

"I do not."

"Last week he was talking about a paper he was working on for his government class, all you did was look over at him and he stopped dead sentence. And now I will never know his opinions on how the supreme court really works."

"Well, he kept going on and on about it. It was already seven-thirty and we still hadn't gotten to the movie."

"Can you just try and talk to him?" Rory asked. "You will see that he isn't as bad as you make him out to be."

"Fine, I'll try talking to him sometime."

"Good, because I invited him over for a movie night tonight."

"I have to talk to him tonight?"

"Yes, you do." Rory said, standing from her chair and walking toward her room. "And be nice!" She called back.

Luke exhaled, looking back over at Lorelai. "She gets that from you. You know that, right?"

Lorelai smiled. "Oh, I know."

About an hour later Lorelai and Rory went on a store run, leaving Luke to let Dean in once he arrived. Luke didn't want to talk to this kid that he assumed wouldn't make it another three months with Rory, but once she insisted he talk to him, he couldn't let her down. He heard a knock at the door and walked over and opened it, holding it open to let Dean inside with pizza in hand as he always did on most of their movie nights.

"Hey, Luke." Dean said, using his foot to close the door behind him.

"Hey."

Dean walked further into the house, looking around. "Where are they?" He asked, not seeing or hearing either of the girls

"They went to pick up more Twizzlers. We thought we had enough, but Lorelai wandered downstairs last night and got into them."

"She take them all out?"

"She left one fourth of one and half of another."

"Rory hates when she does that." Dean said with a chuckle.

"Come on in and sit down." Luke said, nodding toward the couch. He followed Dean out to the living room as he set the pizza down on the coffee table and took off his coat before taking a seat on the couch. Luke sat down right next to him, causing Dean to glance over at him nervously. "What?"

"Nothing." Dean said, looking away quickly.

They both sat in silence a moment till Luke finally spoke up. "So, Dean, how did that paper you were working on go?"

"Paper?"

"Yeah, the one you were telling us about last week, for your government class."

"Oh, it went well. I got a B."

"Hey, congrats." Luke said, bumping his fist into Dean's knee. "B, that's a good grade."

"Well, not as good as Rory. She gets straight A's."

"Yeah, but no one is as good as Rory."

"You're right about that." Dean said with a smile.

"She was just telling me you guys have been together for three months now."

"Yeah, three months."

"That's a bit of a milestone for a person."

"Well, you've been with Lorelai for nearly three months so you know the feeling."

"When you get to our age, three months isn't that crazy."

"But being engaged is a pretty big step."

"Yeah, it is." He said, nodding.

"A step you took after only a few weeks."

Luke looked over at Dean, feeling like he might be figuring something out. "What are you getting at?"

Dean took a deep breath then looked over at him. "I want to take my relationship with Rory to the next step."

Luke nodded to himself, pausing briefly before he stood straight up. "Alright, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, but get outside." He said, pointing to the door.

"What?" Dean asked, confused.

"Lorelai has far too much crap in this living room. If I'm gonna kick your ass it's gonna be outside."

"No, no, no." Dean said quickly, realizing how what he said must have sounded. "I'm not talking about the next step you are thinking I am talking about."

"What were you talking about then?"

"I want to tell Rory I love her."

Luke sat back down next to him. "You want to tell her you love her?"

"I do." Dean said, nodding. "And don't worry, I'm not trying to say it for the reason most guys do, I know it is way too early for any of that. I'm saying it because that's the way I feel." He clarified, pausing a moment before he spoke again. "What do you think?"

"I don't know." Luke said with a shrug. "Personally, I never thought anyone had to say I love you."

"What?" Dean asked, surprised.

"Anyone can say I love you, really, it's just three simple words. But I think the real trick is to show them that you love them."

"How do I show her that?"

"You treat her well and you try to give her everything you can. Your time, your attention, your love. That is how you really say I love you."

"How will I know if she loves me back?"

"If she does the same for you."

"Okay." Dean said, thinking it over a minute. "So, did you ever tell Lorelai that you love her?"

Luke smiled and shook his head. "No."

"But you do, love her?"

"I have loved Lorelai the whole time we've known each other." Luke said, a small smile on his face. "I don't think she ever realized that."

"What if Rory doesn't realize it either?"

"With Lorelai it was different, we were always just friends. It will be clearer when you are already dating."

Dean nodded. "Thanks for talking about this with me. I know you're not a big fan of feelings talks."

"You are important to Rory, so I'm always here for you." Luke paused. "Y'know, unless you hurt her in any way, then I'll have to kill you."

"We're home." Lorelai called out, walking in the front door. "They had a sale on the stuff in their goodie bins, so we got Jellybeans, all cinnamon." She said, holding up a giant bag of red Jellybeans as they walked into the living room.

"Taylor yelled at her for digging through the bins with her bare hands." Rory said.

"He called me an animal. Which I then argued, because animals don't have hands, they have paws."

"It was a very lengthy argument." Rory said, finally noticing the boys sitting next to each other. "What's going on here?"

"We were just talking." Luke said, putting emphasis on 'talking'.

"Oh." Rory said, looking over at Lorelai with a freaked out expression.

"Well, we should get this ice cream in the freezer before it melts." Lorelai said, gesturing towards the kitchen.

"Yeah." Rory replied, the both of them walking into the kitchen. "I told you we should have hurried home instead of sifting through candy!"

"Relax, Dean is still alive, which is a good sign." Lorelai said as she put several pints of ice cream into their freezer.

"Yeah, but what do you think Luke said to him while we weren't here."

Lorelai shut the freezer door, shrugging as she walked over toward her. "Well, we will get a pretty good idea of what if Dean is no longer in the country tomorrow."

"You think Luke was nice to him?"

"I have no idea." Lorelai said, setting her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Here, let's go back out there and you watch for visible shaking." She said, guiding her back out into the living room with her.

The four of them spent the evening eating junk food, watching television, and chatting about all the many random things they could think of. To both the girls' surprise, Luke and Dean had actually interacted with each other quite a bit. It wasn't just mumbles or one word answers either, they had real conversations and even joked around together.

When the night came to an end Rory offered to walk Dean out, ignoring her mother's jokes about them going to make out on the porch and following her boyfriend outside. Once they left the house Lorelai turned off the television, but instead of getting up she just sat on the couch and looked over at Luke.

"What?" Luke asked, noticing her staring at him.

"What were you and Dean talking about before we got here?"

"Nothing much." He said, glancing away.

"What did you say to him?" Lorelai asked, worried that he was no longer making eye contact with her.

"I didn't say anything mean." He said with a shrug. "We just talked."

"Just talked?"

"Yes, it was guy talk."

"Sports, hunting, spitting?"

Luke exhaled, not seeing an end to this conversation anytime soon. "We talked about you and Rory."

"Really?" Lorelai said, surprised. "What kind of stuff about us came up?"

"It was a private conversation between Dean and I, I'm not going to tell you every part of it."

"Why? Were you two talking about dirty stuff?"

Luke winced. "You really think I would talk about that kind of stuff with your daughter's boyfriend?"

"I don't know, you said it was guy talk."

"Yeah. Guys talking about stuff, not locker room talk. Hell, I don't even talk about that kind of stuff with my adult guy friends."

"Alright, so if it wasn't anything like that, then what did you two say about us? Because you went from Lurch to Cousin Itt while he was here and it's freaking me out a little."

"Y'know, just because I started watching movies with you doesn't mean I'm going to understand your references any better."

"Was it something about their anniversary?"

"Lorelai." Luke said in an annoyed tone.

"Okay, fine, you don't have to tell me. I'll drop it."

"Thank you."

Lorelai sat quiet a moment then turned to him again. "Come on, just tell me."

"Great job dropping it."

"Luke." She whined.

"I need to get some sleep for work tomorrow and you are currently sitting on my bed." Luke said, pointing to the couch.

"Fine." Lorelai said, standing up and going over to the closet and pulling out his bedding. "But just so you know, I will get it out of you at some point." She said, setting everything down on the couch next to him.

"Goodnight, Lorelai." He said, putting his pillow behind him and unfolding his blanket.

"Night." Lorelai said, starting to walk to the staircase.

"And hey, Lorelai." Luke said, causing her to stop and look back at him. "If you have any trouble sleeping tonight, I'm right down here if you need me."

"You must think pretty highly of yourself if you think I need you." Lorelai said, smirking at him before she turned back around and walked upstairs.

After she was finished washing up and changing into her pajamas she climbed into bed, getting ready to settle down for what she hoped was a peaceful night's rest. She got under the covers and got her pillow into the perfect smush position, laying her head down onto it and closing her eyes.

A good half an hour passed before she flipped onto her back harshly, opening her eyes to the ceiling and exhaling loudly.

"Dammit, I need him." Lorelai said to herself, turning back onto her side and burying her face into her pillow.