Acceptance and Thank You's

            A man with a plan, that's exactly what he was.

            Actually, he was a man with a pretty clear idea.

            He was a man, getting into other people's business, and was probably going to get smacked for it.

            But watching Luke and Lorelai was, well, it was amusing. But they did almost the same exact thing everyday, they flirted, and then they almost kissed, or almost asked each other out, and then something stopped them.

            Jess had two ideas.

            The first was, to lock them in a room, where no one else from the town could get at them.

            The other was a much better, but probably slightly less amusing. He'd talk to Luke and convince Luke.

            Of course, Luke was stubborn, but Jess could not stand to watch him try to flirt with Lorelai every single day any longer.

            "Good morning," Luke mumbled, pushing past him in the diner. He went to pull up the blinds and to unlock the door, causing customers to start filling up the place. Well that was just not happening, yet.

            "Uh, Luke, can I talk to you?" Jess asked.

            "What did you do now?" Luke asked.

            "If I did something, do you really think I'd be telling you?" Jess asked. "What makes you think I did something anyway?"

            "Do I really have to answer that?" Luke asked, walking over to where Jess was standing. "What is it?"

            "Uh, it's, it's about Lorelai."

            Luke's eyes widened. "What? Is she okay? Did something happen?"

            "She's fine," Jess said quickly.

            "Is Rory okay? Is-"

            "There's nothing wrong!" Jess snapped.

            "So, why do you want to talk about her?"
            "Come on, Luke. I may hate this town, but do you really think I'm blind?"

            "What are you babbling about?" Luke demanded.

            "You, and her, every single day, that's what I'm talking about. You constantly go back and fourth, flirting about this, flirting about that, will you just ask her out for crying out loud?" Okay, that was a little different that how I thought I was going to say it.

            Luke looked taken aback; Jess assumed no one had said that to him, ever. Or, no one had said that to him like that. "I do like her."

            "You've known her for like 10 years, I think you more than like her," Jess said.

            "So what if I do, she'd never, ever say yes," Luke said. Why am I talking about this with him?

            "Really, 'cause I've noticed her flirting back, a lot."

            "She is just being, uh, nice."

            "That's crap," Jess snapped. "Just ask her out. This whole town is rooting for you."

            "What? You're kidding me, it is not that obvious."

            "Yes it really is. Everyone in town notices."

            "Rory has never once-"

            "-Brought it up because Rory is the nicest person to ever walk this Earth."

            Luke sighed. "Jess, after awhile-"

            Jess groaned. "Is this a modified version of the "When you're my age…" speech, because if so, skip it. I can go sit in the principal's office and listen to that one."

            "I'm not even going to ask about that one."

            "It's probably for the best," Jess agreed. "So…are you going to ask her?"

            "I've tried, it's just never worked. And, and I don't know, I don't have any luck with this sort of thing, and I'm really bad at it…If I say yes will you let me open the diner?"

            "Yes," Jess nodded. "But just remember, if you chicken out, we can have this pep talk again, and again, and-"

            Luke threw his hands up in the air. "I will ask her out on a date-type-thing."

            Jess smiled. "There we go," he nodded. "It's not like no one doesn't want you to."

            "I do believe she has an ex-boyfriend or two that might disagree with you."

            "Boyfriends have never bothered me."

            "I'm not even gonna ask," Luke said and walked over to open the door. He couldn't believe he'd just agreed to ask Lorelai Gilmore out on a date.

            It wasn't as if he didn't like her, as it had been pointed out to him by Rachel, he did happen to love her. But still, it was something that could very possibly change everything.

            Luke stopped in front of the blinds, as he peered out he could see people waiting for their breakfast. This was a big change in his life, bigger than opening the diner.

            But it was actually a change that might just make life better.

* * *

            "You're late!" Emily cried, opening the door.

            "Sorry mom, see, I was at work and-"

            "Fine, fine," Emily sighed as Lorelai and Rory filled in.

            "Hi Grandma," Rory said, stopping a fight between her mother and grandmother.

            "Hello Rory, my, don't you look lovely tonight!"

            "Thanks," Rory said smiling, as they entered the dining room.

            Lorelai rolled her eyes and walked behind them. "Hi dad."

            "Hello Lorelai," Richard said, looking up from his paper. "My, Rory, don't you look nice."

            "It's a ploy against me, I swear. First the classic Emily Gilmore comment and then-"

            "What?" Emily said, whirling around.

            "Hey, uh, grandma, what's for dinner?"

            "What did I say?" Emily asked. "I haven't said anything terribly awful all night."

            "Mom, not right now, not right here, okay," Lorelai pleaded.

            "Rory, why don't you sit down and keep your grandfather company, just excuse your mother and I for a second," Emily said, pulling Lorelai into the kitchen. "Now, what did I say?"

            "Mom, it wasn't tonight. It was the other day, in the diner."

            Emily thought. "About Sookie? Goodness, you girls aren't in a fight are you?"

            "No, um, Sookie and I aren't into a fight. About what you said about me."

            Emily frowned. "About you and Luke?"

            "Yes, mom, about me and Luke."

            "What was so horrible about that? I just said that I thought you and Luke were going to get married. It wasn't so crazy."

            "Mom, it wasn't crazy and it wasn't horrible."

            "Then why did it upset you? How is that part of a plot against you?"

            "It upset me because…" Lorelai closed her eyes, and tilted her head back.

            "What? Why? I really wish I knew what I did wrong."

            Lorelai sighed, and opened her eyes. She wasn't sure if she was ready to say this out loud. "It upset me because, because I wanted you to be right. I wanted you to be right so bad."

            "What?" Emily exclaimed. "Are you and he-"

            "No, there's nothing going on between us. We're just friends. And, and, I was upset because you made me figure out that I don't want to be just friends." Tears started to well up in her eyes. "That here is a guy, who I really like, that I probably love, and I'm just his friend. I'm just his scary coffee drinking friend. And I'm scared, because I never once thought I wanted to be 'Mrs. Backwards Baseball Cap.'"

            Emily's mouth fell slightly open, unsure of what to say to her daughter.

            Lorelai placed her hand to her forehead. "Mom, don't look at me like that."

            "I'm sorry."

            "Don't be sorry, I'm the one freaking out."

            "I've never really dealt with this before."

            "Heh, you know what's funny, me either," Lorelai laughed, smiling slightly.

            "Are you going to tell him?"

            "I don't know. The last thing in the world I want is to screw up our friendship. I don't want things to be weird between us. Plus, he feeds me."

            "You're right, this could really change things."

            "Uh, if this is your pep talk-"

            "It's not. I'm just telling you, it could change things," Emily said. "I'll be in the dinning room, come in when you're ready for dinner." Emily said and heading out the door. She slightly wished she could tell her daughter that she wanted her to tell Luke, but knowing that Lorelai would probably not do it if she knew that Emily thought so.

            "Okay, that was weird," Lorelai commented. It could change everything… She dried her eyes, and walked out of the kitchen.

* * *

            "How can you still be hungry?" Rory demanded, opening the door to the diner.

            "Bleh, did you try that dessert?"

            "You're overreacting, it wasn't that bad," Rory sighed, taking a seat at a table.

            Lorelai sat down next to her. "So do you want anything?"

            "Just coffee."

            "Okay," Lorelai nodded and walked up to the counter, sitting in one of the swivel chairs. She tapped her fingers along the table, waiting for Luke. She glanced around the diner, surprised to find very few people in it. How weird…

            She heard the bells on the door slightly jingle and saw Dean walk in. She smiled, deciding to let them eat together in peace. "Hey Luke!" she called, praying it wouldn't be awkward between them.

            "Hey," he mumbled, glancing at his order sheet. "What do you want?"

            "Nice to see you too," she teased.

            "Sorry, it's been a long day," he mumbled looking up.

            She smiled. "I was kidding. Coffee for Rory, and pie for me, please."

            "Sure, but, didn't you just eat?" Luke asked.

            "Eh, it was gross tonight," Lorelai said making a face.

            "Hey, uh, I'm gonna cover the tables over here," Jess said, and walked over.

            "How efficient," Luke mumbled. "Hmm, he must be up to something."

            "Aren't they always? So, about that pie…"

            "I'm working on it," he said. "So, dinner was bad?"

            "It was awful! There was this like stuffed…thing, stuffed with, um, some kinda fruit. And, ew, the dessert had pineapples and almonds in it. Who mixes those two? Yuck," Lorelai cried making a face.

            "So you're going to live off pie?"

            "Yes," Lorelai nodded.

            "That is not very healthy."

            "No, it is not," Lorelai nodded. "That is exactly why I'm ordering it."

            He slid a plate in front of her and handed her a fork.

            "You want some?" she asked.

            "No thank you."

            "How could you turn that down?" Lorelai demanded. "You have this pie once a week, and this is the best pie ever in the history of the universe. This is the pie they feed to the royal family."

            Luke pulled out a fork, and cut a small piece off.

            "There you go," Lorelai nodded.

            "You know I just did that to get you to shut up," he said, eating the piece. "Wow, that is good. Why don't I have this more than once a week?"

            "I don't know," Lorelai said. "We should complain to the manager."

            "I'll check into that," Luke nodded. "So, hey, uh, since tonight's dinner was so bad, do you plan on making it better tomorrow?"

            "I'm thinking pizza," Lorelai exclaimed. "If I recall, it makes all things better."

            "Oh, well I was thinking, I usually close early on Saturday, or I can, and I was thinking if you wanted a dinner that didn't involved stuffed things, and almonds, we could go, get that."

            Lorelai felt her eyes widen, and her mouth slightly drop. "Luke...do you mean, like a date?"

            "No!" Luke cried. "No, no."

            "Oh," Lorelai frowned. "I wouldn't actually mind if it was a date."

            "Really?" Luke cried, feeling his heart beat faster.

            "Yeah, I, um, I had a, a, thought, or an idea, or something, just recently. And uh, a date would sound really nice."

            "Same here. I was thinking, and talking, and thinking, and I wanted to ask you on a date. But I thought you'd say no."

            "But I'm saying yes."

            "Yes?"

            "Yes," Lorelai nodded. "Yes, I'm saying yes."

            "9 sound okay?"

            "Sure," Lorelai nodded. "When ever you can close the diner. Or, I'll just come by, and after closing we can hang out here. What's, what's ever easiest."

            "Right, okay, well, I'm gonna go, and serve, serve customers."

            "Okay, and I'll finish this," Lorelai nodded.

            Jess snickered from the other side of the diner. He wandered over towards the counter, and pulled out the coffee pot. He poured some into Lorelai's cup.

            Wait, talking? "Hey Jess?"

            "Yeah?" Jess asked, suddenly worried by her tone of voice.

            "Thank you."

            "Huh?"

            "Thank you," Lorelai repeated.

            "What did I do?" Jess asked, looking around the diner.

            "I'm sure you'll figure it out. Thank you."

            "Uh, you're welcome Miss Gilmore," he said, starting to head over towards another table.

            "And Jess, it's Lorelai."