It's Right There

by CoffeeDrinker

[Complete] Luke/Lorelai. She looked him in the eye, she saw something there, and she realized she felt the same way. (Update: As of 10/31/14, the story is back to its original M-rated version)

2. Parts 9 to 13

"It's Right There - parts 9 – 13"

. . .

PART 9

. . .

A few hours later, as Luke and Lorelai climbed through the bedroom window back into the room, Luke said, "I cannot believe you just made me do that."

Lorelai giggled as she shut the window. "Luke, everyone should do it on a balcony at least once in their life, and now you can say that you have."

"Yeah, well, it's the middle of the night in the middle of winter. We could've came back in the summer and done it then. It would've been more comfortable," he said, rubbing his arms for warmth.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "You're such a baby. We were only out there for a few minutes." She looked around the room. "Hmm, I think we've done it at least once in every section of the room," she said, nodding impressively. "We're good."

Luke walked over to the bed and collapsed onto it. "Mmhmm." He closed his eyes and pulled the comforter over himself.

"Okay, I guess that means you're done for the night," Lorelai said with a laugh. "I'll be right back then." Lorelai walked down the hallway to the bathroom, then returned a few minutes later. She walked over to the bed and climbed in next to Luke, who seemed to already be half-asleep.

As she started to pull the comforter up over her, she gasped. She tapped Luke repeatedly on the shoulder. "Luke, wake up."

Luke rolled over and grumbled, "What's wrong?"

"We need to wash the sheets," Lorelai said, holding the comforter up. "Look at this - it's all wrinkly. If there are any signs that we've been here while she's not home, my mom will throw the biggest conniption fit in the world, I'm not kidding."

Luke groaned. "Lorelai, she probably doesn't even come in here."

"Come on, get up," she urged, tapping him again.

Luke sighed loudly. "You spend hours wearing me out and now instead of letting me sleep, you want me to do laundry?"

"Yes," she replied.

He rolled his eyes. "I'd rather not."

She frowned. "Come on Luke. I just gave you the best four hours of your life, so you forfeit all complaining rights."

Luke sat up and scoffed. "The best four hours of my life?"

"Are you seriously telling me it wasn't?" she asked with a smirk.

He shrugged. "Well, you know, Rachel was pretty limber."

Lorelai gasped. "Oh my God!" She smacked Luke playfully on his shoulder and shook her head. "Forget it, we are now in an abstinent relationship."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Luke said with a laugh. He leaned over and kissed her. "Yes, that was the best four hours of my life." He kissed her again, then leaned back against the pillow. "Except when you bit me," he muttered, rubbing the side of his neck.

Lorelai laughed. "I apologized for that like a million times. And it was your own fault anyway."

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "How so? Your teeth sank into my neck – how could that possibly be my fault? It's all you."

"Actually, it was in the throes of passion, Luke, so it's not anyone's fault," she explained with an exasperated sigh. "Now stop wasting time, we have to wash these sheets." She climbed off the bed and started pulling the comforter off, trying to slide it out from underneath him. "Come on, Luke."

Luke reluctantly climbed off the bed. Lorelai gathered the comforter into her arms and started walking toward the door with it.

"Aren't you gonna put on some clothes?" Luke asked.

She turned around and raised her eyebrows. "Why? Don't like the view?"

Luke raised his hands innocently in front of his chest. "Hey, I'm not complaining."

She smiled. "Grab those other sheets and follow me." She walked through the door into the hallway.

Luke pulled on his boxers and his T-shirt, then grabbed the sheets and walked out of the room. Lorelai, who was waiting by the staircase, smiled as she saw his clothes. "Not a big fan of walking around other people's houses in the nude?"

"I guess I'm a little more reserved than you are," he said.

She smiled and led him down the stairs to the laundry room. She stuffed the comforter and sheets into the machine. "There's too much stuff in there," Luke observed, folding his arms across his chest. "You should do two loads."

"We don't have time for two loads, Luke. This'll have to do." She poured in some detergent and turned the machine on. She waited for a moment to make sure it started, then turned around and faced Luke.

Luke held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her toward him into an embrace. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. The warmth of his body against hers made a calming feeling run through Lorelai's body. He kissed the top of her head before he closed his eyes and rested his cheek against it.

They were silent for almost a minute before Lorelai said, "Luke?"

His eyes still closed, he replied, "What?"

"Why do you like me?" she asked quietly.

He opened his eyes and let out a small laugh. "What?"

She lifted her head up and looked at him. "I mean, what is it about me that's made you like me for so long?"

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean, like you for so long?"

"I mean, you've liked me for a really long time," Lorelai said with a shrug. She paused and quickly added, "Haven't you? I mean, 'cause that's what people were saying to me. They were like, 'he has a thing for you', and I was like, 'no, he doesn't,' but I mean, you're the only one who really knows how long you've been into this whole Niles/Daphne routine. Those other people could've just been seeing things or. . ." She abruptly closed her mouth when she saw Luke staring at her with a confused look. "I'll stop talking now."

Luke looked down uncomfortably. "Other people have said that I've liked you for a long time?"

"Uh, sort of," Lorelai said hesitantly, suddenly feeling stupid for starting the conversation. "But let's just forget it, it doesn't matter. Um, the hugging – let's go back to the quiet hugging." She leaned her head back against his chest. She brought her arms up under his shirt and ran her hands up and down his back.

Luke didn't say anything for a minute. With her ear against his chest, Lorelai closed her eyes and concentrated on the rhythm of his breathing. Finally, he said quietly, "They're right – it's been a long time."

Lorelai opened her eyes. She picked her head up and looked at him. "Yeah?"

He swallowed hard and nodded.

She brought her hand up and twirled a finger through his hair. "But why?"

"Why. . . have I liked you for a long time?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah," she said, shrugging. "Why me? I mean, there are millions of girls out there – why me?"

He stared at her for a second before he let out a sigh. "Because. . . I don't know. . . because you're perfect."

A panicked look appeared on Lorelai's face and she took a step back from him. "Don't say that," she said quickly.

"What - what's wrong?" Luke asked, a look of surprise on his face.

She shook her head. "Just don't say that. Don't think that about me, Luke," Lorelai said. She turned her back to him and took a few steps forward.

Luke stood there for a moment looking at her with confusion. He took a step toward her and put a hand on her shoulder, then turned her body around to face him. She stood with her hands folded across her chest, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, reaching out and rubbing her arm. Feeling how cold it was, he said, "You're freezing." He took off his T-shirt and held it out to her.

"Thanks," she said, taking it and pulling it over her head.

"So, what is it?" he asked softly.

"So. . .it's nothing." She leaned against the dryer and sighed.

"That sigh means it's something, so what is it?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed that she wouldn't talk about it.

She stared at him for a minute, then she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she said, "Luke, I'm not perfect. . . and I don't want you to think I am because you're just. . .you're gonna be in for a rude awakening." She stared down at the floor. "The last thing I want to do is disappoint you."

He walked over and stood directly in front of her, putting a hand on either of her shoulders. "Where the heck is this sudden lack of self-esteem coming from? You're not like that."

She nodded. "Oh, yes I am, Luke. I try to hide it, but it's always there. After years of having my parents doubt my ability to do anything, it's made me realize how many faults I really do have, how many ways I'll disappoint people." She started wringing her hands uncomfortably. "That's why I don't get it – why would you wait so long for me? If you've waited this long just because you think I'm perfect, then. . .you're wrong."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" he asked loudly. Lorelai looked up in surprise as Luke shook his head and said, "Don't act stupid, Lorelai."

She scoffed. "You're calling me stupid?" she asked, getting defensive.

"No, I'm not calling you stupid, I'm telling you not to act stupid. There's a difference. And you thinking that you're a disappointment to anyone, especially to me, is crazy," he said matter-of-factly, his face getting red. "Why would you ever – "

She held up a hand to stop him. "Okay, hold on - why are you getting angry at me here?"

He exhaled loudly. "Because if someone else was standing here talking about you like that, I'd get mad at them just the same."

"Oh, so you're defending me from myself?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "Makes perfect sense."

He sighed and pursed his lips, and Lorelai could tell he was thinking. He suddenly slipped his hands under her arms and picked her up, and sat her on top of the dryer. He stood directly in front of her, rested his hands on her thighs and stared into her eyes. "All right, I didn't wanna do this, but I'm switching into sensitive mode. Don't get used to it."

A small smile fell on her lips as she stared at him.

"Just listen to me – I know you have faults. You're annoying during movies, you eat an indescribable amount of junk food, you have the disgusting taste of coffee on your lips all the time," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry about that," Lorelai muttered.

He took her hands into his and continued, "But you're also smart and funny and strong-willed and an incredible mom and you'll do anything for your friends and. . .and you're not bad to look at either," he added with a smile.

She looked down at her hands as she smiled shyly.

He tilted her chin back up and kissed her. He stared at her for a second before he said, "I know you have faults, but. . .I still think you're perfect. So don't worry about disappointing me - it's not gonna happen. I'm the one who should worry about disappointing you."

Lorelai shook her head. "That's not gonna happen either."

Luke smiled. "Good. Now I'm officially exiting out of sensitive mode."

She smiled as she put her hands on his cheeks and led his lips to hers. She kissed him deeply, softly exploring his mouth with her tongue as she invited his to do the same in hers.

As she pulled back, she said, "You know, if I would've known that you could be this sweet, I probably would've fallen for you years ago."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it," he said, rolling his eyes. "And don't expect it to come out when we're around other people - can't let my macho image be shattered."

Lorelai smiled. "Don't worry – if people find out that you're abnormally sensitive, I'll just tell them how good in bed you are to even things out."

"Good plan." He stifled a yawn and glanced at the washing machine. "So are we gonna stay in the laundry room all night waiting for this stupid thing to be finished?"

She glanced at the dials. "Well, there's only like twenty minutes left. Let's wait for it to finish, then we can throw the stuff in the dryer and go to sleep."

Luke nodded. He turned around and leaned against the dryer directly in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his back.

. . .

The next morning, as Lorelai slowly opened her eyes, it took her a moment to remember where she was. She glanced around the room and a smile appeared on her lips as she recalled the happenings of the night before.

She glanced at Luke lying next to her on his back, still asleep. She turned onto her side and rested her head on her elbow. She smiled to herself as she watched him sleep - staring at his chest rising softly, listening to the quiet sound of his breathing.

After a few minutes, she leaned over him and kissed him on the cheek a few times until Luke's eyes slowly opened. He glanced up at her and smiled. "Morning," he said as his eyes adjusted to the light of the room.

"Morning," Lorelai said. She crawled up on top of him, and he brought his arms up around her, sliding his hands up under his T-shirt that she'd slept in like a nightgown. He ran his hands over the smooth skin of her back as they stared at each other. Lorelai ran her hands over his chest and said, "I had fun last night."

He ran his fingers through her hair, pushing it behind her ears. "Me too." He glanced over at the clock on the nightstand and his eyes widened. "Oh God, I have to get to the diner."

Lorelai glanced at the clock and rolled off of him. "It's only eight."

"Yeah, but the diner opens at six - which you would know if you didn't sleep until ten on the weekends," Luke said as he got up off the bed. "Hurry up and get dressed. People are probably standing in line waiting for me to open." He gathered up his clothes and started getting dressed.

Lorelai sighed and climbed off the bed. Realizing they hadn't slept on any regular linens, she said, "Shoot – we still have to make the bed." She grabbed the quilt they'd slept with and folded it up, then stuck it back in the closet where they'd found it the night before. "I'll be right back." She ran down to the laundry room, grabbed the sheets and comforter from the dryer, then ran back upstairs.

Luke, who was already dressed, walked towards her with his arms out. "Here, give 'em to me. I'll start putting them on while you get dressed."

She handed him the sheets. "Thanks." She gathered up her clothes and dressed quickly, then helped him finish the bed. "Ah, it's sorta wrinkly. We shouldn't have let it sit in the dryer all night."

Luke rolled his eyes. "It looks fine. She's not gonna walk over to the bed and stare at it looking for imperfections."

"You don't know my mother very well, do you?" Lorelai said with a laugh. "My mom will notice one little thing out of place and then she'll get all suspicious and hire a private detective to figure out what happened."

"Nice of you to tell me this now. I swear, if you get me arrested then I'll. . ," Luke's voice trailed off as he smoothed out the comforter.

She smirked. "Then you'll what?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

He looked up at her. "Then I'll be expecting a lot of conjugal visits from you."

She let out a small laugh. "It's a deal." She smoothed out her side of the comforter and arranged the pillows, then said, "Okay, looks presentable. Ready to go?"

"Yup," he said. He picked up her coat and purse off the floor and handed them to her, then grabbed her hand and led her out the door.

. . .

Forty-five minutes later, they pulled up to Lorelai's house. Lorelai pushed open the door as she said, "I'll probably be in the diner later." She leaned over and gave him a kiss.

"You may be the only customer," Luke said as he glanced at the clock. "Everyone else will probably be boycotting me for opening so late - with Taylor leading the angry mob yelling about how opening late is a bad reflection on the town."

Lorelai brought her lips close to his and said softly, "Well, just explain to Taylor that your girlfriend kept you up all night, and that you were too physically exhausted to get up on time. He'll completely understand." She leaned in and kissed him.

Luke smiled through the kiss. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll love that. Then he'll probably go into some crazy list of reasons why premarital sex is also a bad reflection on the town or something."

"Well, it technically wasn't in this town, so it should all work out," Lorelai said. She stepped out of the truck and smiled. "Bye." She slammed the door and watched him pull away before she walked up to the porch.

She pushed the door open and walked inside, and heard voices in the kitchen. "Rory?" Lorelai called. "I'm home." Lorelai took off her coat and walked toward the kitchen. "Hey, who else is – " She stopped as she saw Rory talking to Jess near the back door.

"Hey Mom," Rory said.

"Hey hon," Lorelai said, folding her arms across her chest. She pursed her lips and nodded, "Jess."

Jess nodded toward her uncomfortably, then turned to Rory. "I better go."

Rory glanced quickly from Lorelai to Jess before she said, "Okay."

"And thanks for. . ." Jess held up the book he was holding. He nodded to her before he slipped out the backdoor.

Rory turned to Lorelai and gestured to the coffeepot. "I just made coffee. You look like you need some." She sat down at the table, where her own cup of coffee was sitting next to a bowl of cereal.

Lorelai walked nonchalantly over to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup, then sat down and stared at Rory questioningly.

Rory ate a spoonful of cereal before she raised her eyebrows and said, "What?"

"Oh, I don't know," Lorelai said, shrugging. "A mother comes home at nine in the morning and finds her teenage daughter, who had the whole house to herself for the entire night, talking to a guy in the kitchen. A little background information might be necessary to make that an acceptable scenario. Fill it in please."

"Mom, nothing happened," Rory said with a small laugh.

Lorelai raised her hands innocently. "I didn't say that it did. I just need you to fill in the blanks."

Rory took a sip of coffee. "He called me this morning and asked if I had Nine Stories, and I said yes."

"Nine stories?" Lorelai asked suspiciously. "He only left with one book."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Nine Stories is the name of the book, Mom. It's a collection of short stories."

"Oh," Lorelai said, taking a sip of coffee. "Go on."

"He asked if he could borrow it and I said yes," Rory continued. "Then he came over and picked it up. He was only here for like three minutes before you got here. That's it."

"He had the sudden urge to read first thing in the morning?" Lorelai asked.

"Urges to read strike people at the oddest of times," Rory said knowingly.

Lorelai nodded and sipped her coffee. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Rory eat her cereal. After a few minutes, Lorelai asked, "Rory, do wanna go out with Jess?"

Rory almost choked on her cereal. She coughed a few times and exclaimed, "What?"

Lorelai put her hand on Rory's arm. "Don't get mad. I am not asking this to invade your privacy or anything, I promise you. And I'm not gonna judge you or comment or say anything about it. I just really need to know."

The seriousness in Lorelai's voice encouraged Rory to answer the question instead of brushing it off as nosiness. "No, I don't want to go out with Jess, we're just friends," Rory insisted.

"You're sure?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Rory said. "I mean, things with Dean haven't exactly been great lately, but it's not because I want to go out with Jess."

Lorelai nodded. "Do you think Jess wants to go out with you?"

Rory let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know, Mom. What's this about?"

Lorelai paused a moment. "Rory, Luke and I are going out."

"You're kidding," Rory said, rolling her eyes.

"Rory, listen to me," Lorelai said. "Luke and I are going out, and I don't know, what if you and Jess start going out and there's some sort of fight between either you and him, or Luke and I or something, and we're all forced to pick sides... I don't know, it could get complicated and make things weird between us all, you know?"

Rory thought it over for a moment and then shook her head in disagreement. "You're overthinking it, we're all mature and we'd be able to handle that situation fine. But it doesn't matter anyway. Jess and I are just friends, that's it... we're not going out."

Lorelai took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, but if you do think that's something you want, then maybe Luke and I should just..." Lorelai's voice trailed off and she shrugged. "You know, take a break."

Rory looked down at her cereal and quietly asked, "You would stop going out with Luke so I could go out with Jess?" She brought her gaze up to meet her mom's.

Lorelai swallowed hard. "Um, if that's what would make you happy... then yes." Lorelai bit her bottom lip uncomfortably as a sudden feeling of heartache washed over her.

Rory stared at her mom for a minute. She suddenly stood up and walked over to Lorelai and hugged her. "I love you."

Lorelai stood up and hugged her back. "Uh, I love you too." She paused and asked, "Um, does that mean that you..." Lorelai couldn't even finish the question... she suddenly felt sick as she realized that her relationship with Luke might soon be over.

Rory pulled back from the hug and shook her head. "No, it doesn't mean anything. It means that I love you. It means that I know how happy you are with Luke – and you were gonna give that up so I could be with Jess even though you don't like him. I just. . .I don't even know what to say to that." She hugged Lorelai again.

Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief and felt the knot in her stomach disappear as she hugged Rory.

Rory pulled away and there was an appreciative smile on her face. "Thank you."

Lorelai shrugged. "That's what moms do."

"No, there are a lot of moms who wouldn't even consider doing that," Rory said. She walked back over to her chair and sat down.

"Okay, that's what moms who care about their children's happiness more than anything in the world do," Lorelai corrected herself. She sat back down and leaned toward Rory. "So you're one hundred percent sure about all this?"

Rory nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I don't see Jess like that – he's just a friend. I was actually thinking that he and Paris might get along well."

Lorelai let out a small laugh. "Paris? Uh, Paris from school, Paris?"

"Yeah," Rory said. "You don't think so?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know. I guess they both like to read – that's a starting point." She took a sip of coffee. "But remember what happened last time you played matchmaker?"

Rory grimaced. "Oh yeah. I guess I'll put that plan on the back burner so I can develop those skills." She paused a moment and gave her mom a sly smile. "So, uh, how was your date?"

Lorelai smiled and raised her eyebrows. "It was . . .pretty incredible. He wore a suit."

Rory gasped. "No way!"

Lorelai laughed. "Yes! And he shaved."

"Wow," Rory said. "I hope you took pictures of that."

Lorelai smiled. "I'll remember to next time. And we went to this really nice fancy restaurant, then afterwards, I gave him a tour of your grandparents' house, and we – "

Rory held up her hand. "Stop there."

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Stopping immediately."

"Thank you," Rory said gratefully.

. . .

That night, Rory and Lorelai walked into Luke's slightly after seven. As Rory sat down at a table, Lorelai walked up to Luke at the counter. "Hey," Lorelai said, placing her hand on his arm.

Luke looked up from his order pad and smiled. "Hey."

Lorelai glanced around at the other customers. "So I see they haven't boycotted you."

Luke sighed. "No, but Taylor and a group of his followers were waiting impatiently for me to open up while complaining about how late I was. I then explained to them that as the owner of said diner, I reserve the right to open whenever I want and if they don't like it, they could go to Teriyaki Joe's for breakfast," Luke said pointedly.

Lorelai laughed. "Nice. And what did Taylor say?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know, he was yammering about something but I tuned him out."

"Yeah, I think that's what everyone does," Lorelai said. She glanced over at Rory, then turned to Luke and said, "Oh, we'll have burgers and fries. With coffee."

He rolled his eyes and scribbled something on his pad. "Coming up."

She smiled. "Thank you." She turned around and walked over to sit with Rory. She hung up her purse and jacket on the back of her chair.

Rory glanced around the diner as she tapped her fingers casually on the table. She turned back to Lorelai. "Oh hey, can I use your cell phone?"

"Not in here," Luke said sternly as he arrived at the table with their coffee. He pointed to the sign. "It's up there in plain English, and for people who can't read, there's even a picture."

Lorelai pouted up at him. "Aw, come on Luke. Don't we get special treatment?"

Luke pointed toward the diner door. "Outside."

Lorelai stuck her tongue out at him. "Meanie." As Luke turned around and walked back to the counter, Lorelai reached into her purse to pull out her cell phone. When she couldn't feel it, she peaked inside. "Huh."

"What is it?" Rory asked.

"It's not in here," Lorelai said. She reached behind her and patted the pockets of her jacket. "Huh. That's funny. I don't think I've used it since – " She stopped talking and her eyes widened. She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh no, I didn't," she mumbled.

"What's wrong? When did you last use it?" Rory asked.

Lorelai grimaced. "At your Grandma's house last night."

. . .

PART 10

. . .

Rory gasped. "You left it at Grandma's house? Are you sure?"

Lorelai slowly nodded.

Rory took a deep breath. "Okay, well, let's think for a minute. Are they home yet?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know." She put her hand on her forehead. "Oh God, when did she say she was coming back? Did she say Saturday or Sunday?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know, you never told me what she said. Mom, you have to get it back before they find it."

"I know, I know." Lorelai exhaled loudly. "Okay, we have to go there and get it. I'll call and see if they're home, and if they are, then we have a forty-five minute car ride to think up a really good cover story and devise a plan to get it back." Lorelai stood up and walked over to the counter. "Luke!" she called loudly. "Luke!"

Luke walked out of the kitchen carrying two plates. "Calm down, your food's right here," he grumbled.

"Luke, I left my cell phone on the nightstand!" Lorelai said frantically.

"What? What are you talking about?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"The nightstand!" Lorelai repeated. "After you called Jess, I put my phone on the nightstand!"

Luke's eyes widened. "At your parents' house? It's still there?"

Lorelai nodded quickly. "Yes! It's still there!"

Luke sighed loudly and put the plates down. "Dammit! See, this is why cell phones should be permanently banned from society. They cause nothing but trouble!" he said angrily, slapping his hand on the counter.

Lorelai frowned. "Hey, don't blame the poor cell phone. It's my fault, not his." She rushed behind the counter. "I need to go get it, but I have to call and see if my parents are home." She picked up the phone off the wall and started dialing. "Can I use this phone?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure, go right ahead." He leaned against the counter and watched her.

She smiled and brushed her fingertips against his cheek. "Thanks." She brought the phone to her ear and twirled her fingers around the phone cord as she listened nervously to the ringing on the other end. When she got the answering machine, she hung it up and said, "They're not home. I'm gonna go get it."

"Do you want me to drive you?" Luke offered.

Lorelai shook her head. "Nah, I'll just take Rory." She walked over to the table and said, "Okay, they're not home."

"So we're gonna go get it?" Rory asked.

"Yup, right now," Lorelai said.

Rory stood up and put on her coat. Lorelai took a sip of her coffee, then pulled on her own coat as Luke walked over with two take-out cups. "Here," Luke said, handing them to Rory.

"Thanks Luke," Rory said, taking a sip from one.

Lorelai smiled as she zipped up her coat. "You take such good care of us."

He shrugged. "Someone's got to."

She kissed him on the cheek. Her eyes glanced past him toward the counter and her gaze landed on the two burgers. She frowned. "Ah, sorry about the burgers. Don't let them go to waste. Just wrap 'em up, we'll pick them up on the way home."

He waved her off. "It's fine, I'll just make new ones when you get back."

She smiled. "Okay. I'll call you on the way home so you know if the mission was successful."

Luke nodded. "Okay, good."

Lorelai kissed him quickly, then walked toward the door, calling, "Bye" over her shoulder.

"Bye Luke," Rory said, following behind Lorelai.

"Bye," he replied.

. . .

Lorelai and Rory had to first walk to their house to pick up the Jeep, then Lorelai drove them quickly to Hartford. As they sped down the highway, Rory said, "Mom, slow down. It'll take us even longer to get there if we get pulled over for speeding."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, have you seen me flirt? I'm the master."

"Yeah, well, what if it's a woman cop?" Rory asked.

Lorelai laughed. "Well, uh, there's still a fifty-fifty chance that flirting would work."

"Yes, but there's also only a fifty-fifty chance that it would work with the guy, too," Rory pointed out.

"True," Lorelai agreed. "But besides, it's common knowledge that you're technically allowed to go like five miles over the speed limit anyway, and I'm only going five miles over that, so I'm pretty sure that it's not really speeding."

Rory rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever you say."

A short while later, Lorelai turned down the street of her parents' house and approached the mansion slowly. As they inched closer to the house, Lorelai mumbled, "Please don't be home, please don't be home." As they pulled up to the gate opening, both of them leaned their heads forward against the windshield to peek at the u-shaped driveway.

When they saw that it was empty, Lorelai pulled into the driveway. The house was darkened except for the light on the porch and a dim light shining from inside the front hallway. Lorelai parked the car right next to the door. "Okay, you stay here, I'll be five seconds."

"Okay, hurry up," Rory said.

Lorelai ran to the front door and unlocked it. She ran up the steps and rushed down the hallway to her old bedroom. She pushed open the door, flipped the light on, and her eyes went directly to the nightstand. There it was, her cell phone, lying there innocently. She ran over and grabbed it and shoved it into her jacket pocket. She walked over to the door and gave a final glance around the room before she turned the light out. She pulled the door shut behind her and ran down the hallway, down the steps, and out the front door.

Lorelai walked quickly to the car and got in. "Got it," she said. She started the car and pulled away before she could even put her seat belt on, wanting to get away from the area as quickly as possible. She drove down the street and turned the corner, then pulled over and put the car in park. She put her seat belt on, then downed the rest of her coffee, trying to salvage every drop. She tossed it in the back seat and looked at Rory's cup. "Do you have any left?" she asked hopefully.

Rory handed the cup to her. "A little."

"Thank you," Lorelai said gratefully. She finished Rory's coffee and threw the cup behind her, then leaned back against the seat and exhaled loudly.

Rory looked at her strangely. "You okay? Everything's fine – you got the phone without anyone noticing it."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I know. I was just really worried that they'd be home or something would go wrong or I'd run upstairs and they'd be standing there by the bed waiting with guns or something."

Rory rolled her eyes. "You watch way too much TV." She patted her on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go to Luke's."

Lorelai nodded and started to pull away, then stopped. "Ooh, I have to call him." She pulled the cell phone out of her pocket and dialed the diner.

"Luke's," Luke answered.

"Hey, it's me," Lorelai said.

"Hey. You get it all right?" Luke asked, sounding worried.

"Yup, we got it," Lorelai said. "Nobody was home. We're on our way home now, and barring any severe accidents or traffic jams, we should be there in like forty minutes."

"Okay," he said.

"Bye." Lorelai hung up the phone and laughed. "I really gotta get him a dictionary or something so we can have longer conversations."

Rory smiled. "He's definitely not much of a talker?"

"Well, it fluctuates. Sometimes if he's in a ranting mood, he can ramble on and on, but usually I'm forced to whip out my psychic powers to decipher what he's thinking. I think I'm getting him to open up though," she said with a smile. She handed the cell phone to Rory. "Here."

"What do want me to do with this?" Rory asked, holding it up.

Lorelai pulled back onto the road. "Didn't you have to call someone?"

"Oh yeah." Rory thought for a moment, then let out a small laugh. "But now I don't remember who it was."

Lorelai nodded. "Huh. Well, I'll drop you off at your AA meeting on the way home."

Rory narrowed her eyes at her. "What?"

Lorelai shook a finger at her. "Yup, memory loss is a possible indication of alcoholism, and I think that you should get help as soon as possible."

Rory shook her head. "Nope, I'm pretty sure that this amnesiac-y incident was caused by the overdose of barbiturates from this afternoon."

Lorelai gasped and exclaimed, "Rory! Holding out on me? I told you to tell me the next time you got a hold of the good stuff." She shook her head disappointingly.

"Sorry Mom, there was only enough for me," Rory said, frowning apologetically. "Next time I'll get more." She turned on the radio as Lorelai continued driving back to Stars Hollow.

. . .

Lorelai and Rory walked into the diner a few minutes before nine. Sookie and Jackson sat at the counter talking to Luke, and there were two other customers sitting at a table.

"Hey guys," Lorelai said as she and Rory walked up to the counter.

Luke nodded toward her as Sookie and Jackson turned around. "Hey honey," Sookie said.

As Rory sat down next to Jackson, Lorelai leaned over the counter and pecked Luke on the cheek. "Hey."

"Hey. I'll make your burgers," Luke said. He turned and walked into the kitchen.

When he was out of site, Sookie giggled and smacked Lorelai playfully on the arm. "Look at you being all lovey-dovey with the diner man."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Stop it." She glanced down at the counter shyly.

"Aww, you're blushing." Sookie smiled. "So where were you guys? I called you a little awhile ago, you weren't home."

Lorelai looked up and exhaled loudly. "Oh God, we had to run to my parents' house because last night - ," She paused and glanced at Jackson, realizing that Luke probably didn't want everybody to know what happened. She cleared her throat and said, "Uh, because I left something there. Um, excuse us." Lorelai grabbed Sookie's arm and pulled her over to the farthest table.

Sookie raised her eyebrows as she sat down. "What's up, honey?"

Lorelai leaned forward and whispered, "Last night. . .we finally. . ." she let her voice trail off, figuring that Sookie would understand what she meant.

Sookie stared at her with a questioning look. "You finally. . ."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Luke and I, Sookie. Think – Luke and I."

Sookie sat back in her chair and thought for a moment. She suddenly gasped. "No you didn't!" she yelled.

Lorelai smacked her on the arm. "Shh!" She glanced at the other customers, including Jackson and Rory, who were all staring at them. "We're fine, turn around," Lorelai told them. She leaned back toward Sookie and said quietly, "Yes, we did."

Sookie giggled excitedly. "So, how was it? Wait, where was it?"

Lorelai's eyes kept glancing at the other people in the room, hoping no one could hear. "It was at my parents' house."

Sookie's eyes widened. "Your parents' house? They're home from vacation?" She gasped and made a face. "They were in the house?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, they're not back from Florida yet. I have a key."

Sookie let out a small laugh. "So you broke into your parents house to have sex?"

Lorelai scoffed. "No! I didn't break in, I had a key." Lorelai paused. She stared up at the ceiling and sighed. "And it wasn't just sex, Sookie. Well, not the first few times, at least. We took it slow and it was romantic and sensual and he was so gentle. . ." Lorelai smiled and stared into space as she thought about it. "It was incredible."

Sookie smiled. "Sounds like it was worth the wait." She suddenly got a confused look in her eye. She leaned forward and whispered, "Wait - did you say 'the first few times'?"

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Mmhmm. We stayed the night at the house."

Sookie's jaw dropped open. "The entire night? But when are your parents coming home?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know, but the thing - ." She stopped talking as she saw Luke walk out of the kitchen with her food. He gestured the plate towards her. "Wait a sec," Lorelai told Sookie.

Lorelai walked up to the counter. "Thanks Luke. I gotta talk to Sookie for a few more minutes." She picked up her plate and walked back to the table. As she sat down, she picked up a French fry and took a bite. She continued, "But the thing is that last night, I left my cell phone in the bedroom, and I didn't realize it until a few hours ago, so I had to drive back there and get it before they came home."

Sookie's eyes widened. "Ooh. But they weren't home yet?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, thank God." She picked up her burger and took a bite.

Sookie nodded. "Good, good." She glanced over at the counter at Luke talking to Jackson and Rory. She looked back to Lorelai and smirked. "Cap on?"

Lorelai finished chewing and narrowed her eyes. "What?"

She leaned closer and said quietly, "Did he leave his baseball cap on?"

Lorelai laughed. "Sookie!"

Sookie smiled. "What? I've just always wondered." She took a couple of fries from Lorelai's plate.

Lorelai smiled and shook her head slightly. "No, he didn't even wear it. We had a fancy date – no plaid, no jeans, no hat, no scruffy beard."

"Wow," Sookie said. "He cleans up nice?"

"Very nice," Lorelai said with a smile. "We went to dinner in Hartford and we were near my parents' house, so I asked him if he wanted to see it and then I gave him a tour and. . .you know the rest."

Sookie smiled and nodded. "Sounds great." She squeezed Lorelai's arm. "I'm happy for you, honey."

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks."

Sookie glanced over at the counter. "I better go. Jackson looks tired."

Lorelai nodded. "Don't tell Jackson anything, okay? I highly doubt that Luke wants the story of our sex life to be passed around the town."

Sookie stood up and nodded. "Got it. My lips are sealed."

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks." Lorelai picked up her plate and stood up, and she and Sookie walked back to the counter. Lorelai sat down on a stool and continued eating.

"You ready?" Sookie asked, rubbing Jackson's back.

"Yup, all set," he said. "Bye guys." He stood up and clasped Sookie's hand as they walked toward the door.

"Night," Sookie said.

Sookie and Jackson walked out of the diner as Rory and Lorelai continued eating.

. . .

Early the next afternoon, Lorelai was sprawled on the couch watching television when the phone rang. She picked up the remote and muted the TV, then reached for the cordless phone. "Hello?"

"Lorelai? It's your mother."

Lorelai quickly sat up on the couch. "Mom, hi. Uh, are you home?"

"Yes, we got in early this morning," Emily replied.

"Good, good," Lorelai replied. "Uh, so, how was your trip?"

"It was lovely. Though the last few days we got a lot of rain, so we didn't get to go out and do much."

"Oh, sorry to hear," Lorelai said.

"It's fine, we had plenty of time in the beginning of the week to be outside," Emily said. "Listen, I was wondering if you and Rory would like to come over for an early dinner. We haven't seen you girls in so long."

"Oh, today?" Lorelai asked, surprised. "I'm not really. . .I think we have to. . ." She glanced around the room looking for an excuse, but couldn't think of one. She sighed quietly. "Yes, that'd be nice."

"Lovely, see you around five," Emily said. "Goodbye."

"Bye Mom." Lorelai hung up the phone and growled into the air. She slapped her forehead. "Have a list of excuses ready next time," she muttered. She stood up and wandered to Rory's bedroom. She knocked on the door.

"Come in," Rory called from inside.

Lorelai pushed open the door and walked inside. Rory lay on her bed reading, and sat up as Lorelai entered. "What's up?"

Lorelai shoved her hands into her jeans' pockets. "Uh, Grandma invited us over for an early dinner."

"They're home? When did they come home?" Rory asked.

"Uh, this morning," Lorelai replied, rocking on her heels. "So, we're gonna leave here around 4:15."

"Okay," Rory said, going back to her book.

. . .

A few hours later, Lorelai and Rory stood in front of Emily and Richard's house. "Now remember, don't –," Lorelai started.

Rory held up her hand. "Mom, you told me a hundred times on the way here. I won't mention you or Luke or this house or the cell phone or anything."

Lorelai nodded. "Okay, thank you." She rang the doorbell.

Emily pulled the door open and grinned. "There're my girls."

"Hi Mom," Lorelai said.

"Hey Grandma," Rory said, stepping inside. Rory gave Emily a hug, then both girls hung up their coats.

Emily led them to the dining room, where Richard was already seated at the table. He stood up and smiled as they entered the room. "Hello girls. Sit, sit," he said, gesturing to the chairs.

"Hey Grandpa," Rory said, giving him a quick hug.

"How's it going, Dad?" Lorelai asked as she sat down. "Heard you had a nice trip."

"Yes, it was quite enjoyable," Richard said, sitting back down.

As Rory sat down across from Lorelai, Emily excused herself, and returned a moment later with two gift boxes. "We picked up some things on our trip that we thought you girls would enjoy," Emily said. She handed the smaller box to Lorelai and placed the larger one next to Rory. Emily took her seat and said, "Go on, open them."

"Grandma, Grandpa, you didn't have to do this," Rory said.

"Shush you," Lorelai said, opening her box. She reached inside and pulled out something wrapped in tissue paper. She unwrapped it to find a small glass swan. She eyed it curiously. "Huh."

"You know, that is a handcrafted piece. Only fifty of those particular swans were made. We found it in a lovely antique store in North Carolina," Emily said.

Lorelai nodded. "Huh."

"Just something to put on a shelf or your mantle. You know, you need more decorative items in that living room of yours," Emily said knowingly.

Lorelai turned the figurine around in her hand. "Wow. This is. . . great. This is great. Thank you." She forced a smile, then brought her gaze to Rory, who was staring at her with an amused look. Lorelai narrowed her eyes as she nodded toward her. "Go on, open yours."

Rory smiled to herself as she opened up her box. She reached inside and pulled out a set of rectangular crystal bookends. "Wow, these are heavy," Rory commented.

"Your grandfather tells me you've got quite the book collection, but that it needs a bit of tidying up," Emily said.

"Yes, it could definitely use some structure," Richard added.

"Yeah, it's kinda cluttered," Rory said, smiling. "These are great, thank you."

"Yeah, good gifts, thanks," Lorelai added, eyeing her swan skeptically.

"You really didn't have to," Rory said as she placed her gift back in the box.

"Nonsense," Emily replied with a smile. "We love picking out presents for our girls, don't we Richard?"

Richard smiled and nodded as the maid brought out their plates.

. . .

They finished up their dinner and had walked into the living room when Emily said, "Richard, didn't you want to show Rory some of the books you picked up in Florida?"

"Oh, yes, I did," Richard said. He turned to Rory. "We found this bookstore that had been built in 1933 by the owner's great-great-grandfather. Came across some wonderful finds. Care to take a look?"

"Absolutely," Rory said. She followed him out of the room and down the hall to the study.

Emily turned to Lorelai and gestured for her to sit down. Lorelai sat down and crossed her legs, and started tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair.

Emily sat down on the sofa across from her. "So, you know our neighbor Jacob Kilner? The lawyer?" Emily asked.

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I've known him since I was little. Barbara, too."

"Yes, Jacob and Barbara have been friends of our family for almost thirty-five years." She pursed her lips for a moment. "You see, Barbara was collecting our mail for us while we were away, and this afternoon she brought it over. She and I had tea on the back patio, and she brought me up to date on all the recent goings-on."

"Sounds good, Mom," Lorelai said, nodding along.

"Yes, it was lovely," Emily repeated. "Until she brought up a very interesting conversation topic."

"And what was that, Mom?" Lorelai asked, examining her nails.

"Well, she said that as she and Jacob went out for their daily walk early yesterday morning, they noticed a strange truck parked in front of our house."

Lorelai froze. As she slowly brought her gaze up to meet Emily's, she swallowed hard. "Oh yeah?"

"Mmhmm," Emily said. "And it was covered in frost, as if it'd been there all night long. And they thought it was pretty strange, seeing as how we called them last week and told them that no one would be here until Sunday."

"Yeah, that is strange," Lorelai agreed quickly, glancing at the floor nervously.

"Yes, it is. And so they kept an eye on the house that morning, you know, just to make sure everything was okay." She paused. "And, you know, they're both positive that they saw you and a man came out an hour later and get into that truck," Emily said. She pressed her lips together tightly and her face started to redden. "But you probably don't know anything about that, do you, Lorelai?"

Lorelai gasped. "What? No!" She shook her head and stammered, "That's not. . .oh. . they. . .uh, they were probably just seeing things. You know, they're pretty old, Mom."

Emily stood up. "Don't lie to me, Lorelai! They know what you look like. They wouldn't just make up something like that. Now what were you doing here?"

Lorelai stood up. "Mom, it's no big deal, calm down."

"I will not calm down until you explain why you were in my house when we were not home!" Emily said angrily. "That key is for emergencies only!"

Lorelai sat back down and covered her face with her hands, shaking her head and sighing loudly.

"Well, explain yourself, Lorelai," Emily said, folding her arms across her chest.

Lorelai lifted her head up and sighed deeply. "Mom, I'm sorry. It was just . . . we were in town . . . and it was late, and you know how some people get when it's late at night – they get pretty tired, and so we needed to sleep somewhere nearby because that's what people do when they're. . . tired. You know, so they don't cause accidents on the road. It was all a matter of public safety."

Emily shook her head in disbelief. "I don't believe you. This is what you do when your parents go away – you break into their house and parade men over like it's some sort of brothel?" she asked loudly.

Lorelai stood back up. "No, I do not parade men over, it was just one man!"

"That doesn't make it any less wrong, Lorelai!" Emily said, rolling her eyes.

"I know, but – ," Lorelai started.

"This house is not a Motel 6!" Emily yelled, interrupting her.

"I know that!" Lorelai yelled, throwing her hands up in frustration. "I know I had no right to be here. I'm sorry, okay? I apologized! What else do you want me to do?"

"I want you to realize that what you did is wrong and that you're setting a bad example for Rory!" Emily replied sternly.

Lorelai scoffed loudly. "How do you figure that?"

Emily let out a small laugh. "Honestly, Lorelai – you think that Rory doesn't know what's going on when you don't come home at night? Do you think that she figures you're at church playing bingo instead of out gallivanting around with men all night?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Lorelai yelled.

"And you have no right to use my house to entertain men!" Emily retorted.

"I know, Mother!" Lorelai said loudly. She collapsed into her chair and muttered, "God, I heard you. It won't happen again."

"That's right, it won't happen again. Give me back the key," Emily said.

Lorelai looked up at her. "You want it back?"

"Yes, you can't be trusted with it," Emily said.

Lorelai huffed. "Fine." She walked over to the door and pulled her keys out of her coat pocket. She slipped her parents' house key off the ring and walked back to the living room. Lorelai placed the key on the coffee table. "There."

Emily picked it up and examined it closely.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Yes Mother, it's yours. But it doesn't matter because I already passed out copies to all of my clientele."

Emily glared at her. "I'm glad you think this is so funny, Lorelai."

"I don't think this is funny, Mom!" Lorelai shot back as she stood up. "It's not funny – it's embarrassing! And right now I wish I could get into a Delorean with Christopher Lloyd and go back in time so that I can remember to hide the truck under some branches and check for neighbors before I walk out of the house in the morning, but I can't! So instead, I'm trying to suck it up and deal with it as best I can!" Lorelai's rant left her out of breath and her face was red with both anger and embarrassment.

Emily stared at her and shook her head. "I can't believe you, Lorelai. So you're saying that if you were given the chance to do this all over again, you would still do it?"

"Yes, I probably would!" Lorelai yelled.

Emily shook her head. "Unbelievable. That's disgraceful, Lorelai," Emily said. "You desperately need to rethink your priorities."

Lorelai took a few deep breaths and sat back down. She looked up at Emily and said, "Don't you think you're overreacting just a bit?"

Emily raised her eyebrows. "Oh, you think I'm overreacting? So tell me - how would you react if someday Rory did something like this?"

Lorelai didn't say anything. She glanced down at the floor and sighed.

"See?" Emily said haughtily. "You're more like me than you think, Lorelai."

Lorelai heard Emily's heels walking out of the room. When the sound disappeared completely, she glanced around the living room and exhaled loudly.

. . .

A few minutes later, Lorelai and Rory climbed into the jeep. Rory immediately said, "What happened? I heard yelling."

Lorelai's eyes widened. "You did? Did my dad hear?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know. I heard shouting, but I couldn't hear what you were saying."

Lorelai shook her head. "Ugh, I'm so stupid."

"No, you're not. What happened with Grandma?" Rory asked.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "One of the stupid neighbors told her that she saw Luke and I leaving the house yesterday morning, and then she yelled at me and took the key back, and long story short, I'm a terrible daughter."

"Aw, Mom, I'm sorry," Rory said sympathetically. "When she didn't mention anything through dinner, I figured you were home free."

"Yeah, me too," Lorelai said with a sigh. "But it's just like my mother to trick you into thinking one thing and then surprise you at the end by launching into the real plan. Ugh, that's that little conniving streak in her where she tries to catch people off guard and then try to make them feel like crap when they're totally unprepared for battle." With a deep sigh, Lorelai pulled out of the driveway and headed back to Stars Hollow.

. . .

Lorelai dropped Rory off at home, then walked to the diner. She pushed open the door and walked inside, and Luke looked at her from the counter. Noticing the dejected look on her face, he immediately said, "What's wrong?"

Lorelai walked toward him slowly as Luke walked out from behind the counter. He kissed her cheek and repeated, "What's wrong?"

Lorelai sighed. "Hold me." She leaned her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. She nuzzled her nose against his neck, inhaling the scent of his cologne as his hands ran up and down her back. A feeling of calm came over her as she closed her eyes and pressed her body tightly against his.

After a minute of standing there silently, Luke cleared his throat. "Uh, how long do you want me to do this?" he asked quietly, glancing around at the customers.

"Mmm, forever," she said softly. She kissed his neck and sighed. "Just hold me forever, Luke."

. . .

PART 11

. . .

Luke kissed her gently on her forehead and rested his cheek against her head. As they stood embracing in the center of the diner, Kirk walked up to them holding out his mug. "Luke, I've been waiting for you to – "

"Get the hell away from me, Kirk," Luke hissed through clenched teeth. "Can't you see I'm busy right now?" Kirk gave an annoyed sigh and walked back to his table. After another minute of silence, Luke said, "Lorelai?"

"Hmm?" she replied, her head still resting against his chest.

"Are you gonna tell me what's wrong or should I just guess?" Luke asked.

With a sigh, Lorelai finally pulled away and looked up at him. Luke suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his chest. Her eyes were despondent and sad, not full of life and energy like they usually were. Her lip quivered as she said, "I just don't know why I let her words affect me so much." As a single tear ran down her cheek, she quickly sniffled and brushed it away.

Luke put his hands on her shoulders. "Who?"

"My mother," Lorelai replied, rolling her eyes. She clenched her fists. "Ugh! God, she just gets me so frustrated sometimes!"

"Calm down," Luke said. He led her to the counter and sat her on a stool. He sat next to her and took her hands into his. "Just tell me what happened."

Lorelai sighed. "My mom found out that we were at her house."

Luke's eyes widened. "What? How?"

"One of the neighbors saw us and told her," she said, making a face. "Can you believe that? Like I'm sixteen years old sneaking out of the house or something."

Luke's jaw dropped open. "Wait - saw us when?" He closed his eyes briefly. "Not when we. . .oh God, please tell me it wasn't when we are on the balcony."

Lorelai shook her head. "No, when we walked out in the morning." She paused as a hint of a smile appeared on her lips. "Oh man, my mom would've had a heart attack if one of the neighbors came up to her and said, 'Oh, by the way, your daughter was doing it on your balcony last night.' I would've killed to see the look on her face."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Lorelai, back to the point. Was she really mad?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah. She took my key away and she pretty much has zero respect for me because she thinks I'm some kind of prostitute." She shook her head towards the ground. "Ugh, I hate it when she gets to me, Luke. I hate it more than anything."

Luke ran his hands up and down her arms. "Don't worry about it. You've fought like this before, haven't you?"

Lorelai let out a small laugh. "Are you kidding? Just about every week."

Luke shrugged. "Well, see? And you've made up before, so you'll make up this time too," he said. "Trust me. It'll be fine."

She nodded. "I know, I know."

Luke paused for a moment before he asked, "Does she know it was me?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, I don't think I mentioned your name."

Luke breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Okay, good."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, so you're glad that I'm the one taking all the blame for this?"

Luke's eyes widened. "No, that's not it," he said quickly. "I just don't want her to think that I'm. . . that we. . .that it was . . ." He sighed. "I don't know."

"You don't want her to think that it was your idea?" Lorelai suggested.

"No, I just don't want her to be mad at me before she even meets me," Luke said. "I mean, meets me as your..." He glanced down uncomfortably. "Boyfriend-type-person."

Lorelai scoffed. "Okay, so not only are you glad that I'm the only one she's blaming, you can't even say that you're my boyfriend to my face." Lorelai shook her head and shrugged. "What, you're suddenly embarrassed to be my boyfriend?"

"Lorelai," Luke said with a sigh.

"No, I get it. You like me enough to sleep with me, but not enough to call yourself my boyfriend," Lorelai said. "Fine, Luke. That's just fine. I need to get outta here." She stood up and started walking toward the door.

Luke reached out and caught her arm and pulled her gently back toward him. "Lorelai, you know I didn't mean anything by it."

She sighed. "I'm going home, Luke." She turned around and walked out the door.

Luke followed her outside. "Don't be like this, Lorelai," he said. "You're upset at your mom and you're taking it out on me for no reason."

She turned around and raised her eyebrows. "Am I? Thank you, Luke. Don't know what I'd do without a man analyzing my thoughts and actions," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, so, what - you're telling me you actually are mad at me?" Luke said, putting his hands on his chest.

"Maybe I am!" she retorted.

"For what?" he asked loudly. "Because I want your mom to like me? Don't you think that the fact that I want her to like me means something?"

"If it means something, then why did you look away when you said the word boyfriend!" Lorelai yelled.

"Maybe because I'm still getting used to the fact that after years of watching you and wishing that I was your boyfriend, I finally am!" Luke yelled back. "And maybe because I'm so happy about it that the only thing in this entire world that scares me is the idea that I might lose you!" Realizing what he'd said, and how loudly he'd said it, his eyes widened with slight embarrassment. He took a step back and looked at the ground.

Lorelai blinked a few times and shook her head lightly. "What?"

Luke shook his head. "Nothing," he said quickly.

Lorelai groaned. "Ugh, why do you do that all the time?"

Luke rolled his eyes and shrugged. "What the heck did I do now?"

Lorelai sighed. "You always go and say something sweet when I'm totally unprepared for it! I hate that!" she said loudly.

"I'm sorry! I'll warn you next time!" Luke yelled back. His face softened as he took a few deep breaths and walked toward her.

They stared at each other for a moment before Lorelai smiled and shook her head slightly toward the ground. Luke wrapped his arms around her waist. She brought her own arms up around his neck and pressed her lips against his.

As they broke apart, they pressed their foreheads together and smiled. "Now, are you okay?" Luke asked. "I mean, with this whole fighting with your mom thing?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, it'll be okay," she said with a sigh.

"What exactly did she say?" Luke asked.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "I don't know, a lot of stuff. Something about me being disgraceful and gallivanting around with men all night and being a bad mother."

Luke's mouth dropped open. "What?" he said angrily. "She really said that to you?"

Lorelai nodded.

Luke scoffed loudly. "What kind of woman talks to her own daughter like that? What gives her the right to say any of that to you? Doesn't she know you're thirty three years old and you can run your own life and make your own damn decisions?" Luke's face was red with anger.

Lorelai reached out and grabbed his hand. "Luke, calm down, it's fine."

Luke shook his head in disbelief. "No, it's not fine, Lorelai," he said. "You shouldn't let her treat you like that."

Lorelai looked down at the sidewalk. "Yeah, well, I don't have much choice. She's paying for Rory's school."

"That still doesn't give her the right to talk down to you," Luke said.

Lorelai sighed. "Luke, let's just forget it, okay? Please?" She kissed him on the cheek and repeated, "Please?"

Luke took a deep breath. "I don't like seeing you upset."

Lorelai nodded. "I know, but get used to it because it happens a lot."

Luke shook his head down at the ground. "It's just. . ." he sighed. "Never mind, dropping it now."

"Thank you," she said.

Luke checked his watch. "It's only 7:15. How about I get Caesar to cover the diner and we'll go do something?"

She shrugged and shoved her hands into her pockets. "I don't really feel like going out."

"Then we'll rent a movie and stay in," Luke suggested.

"I don't know," Lorelai said with a shrug.

Luke ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it out of her face. "Come on, I'll even buy you junk food."

A small smile formed on her lips. "Lots of junk food?"

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you want."

She leaned her face close to his and lightly brushed her lips against his. She pulled back and smiled, then did it again, giggling softly as she teased him. He groaned with annoyance and pressed his lips tightly against hers.

She pulled back and smiled. "I was getting there, Speedy."

"Yeah, well, you take too long," he replied. "Let me go tell Caesar I'm leaving. I should probably let Jess know, too."

She nodded. Luke walked into the diner as Lorelai waited outside. She glanced around, and her eyes landed on Miss Patty staring at her from the entryway of her dance studio. When Lorelai looked her way, Patty immediately rushed inside. Lorelai rolled her eyes and smiled to herself. Moments later, Luke walked out of the diner. He took her hand and entwined his fingers through hers as he led her to the video store.

. . .

Thirty minutes later, Luke and Lorelai walked into her house carrying bags from the video store and the market. They hung up their coats and walked into the living room, where Rory sat on the couch reading. "Hey hon," Lorelai said.

"Hey Mom. Hey Luke," Rory said, glancing at the bag he was holding. "Whatcha got there?"

Luke handed her the bag from the video store as Lorelai started spreading the junk food on the coffee table.

Rory pulled out the movies. "Superman. Superman 2. Didn't want to complete the marathon and get the other two?"

Luke rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch. "She wanted to get them all and watch all eight hours of them tonight, but I politely encouraged her to put the other ones back."

"Politely encouraged?" Lorelai scoffed, then she frowned. "He threatened me."

"Oh yeah? With what?" Rory asked.

Luke smiled. "I told her I would officially cancel all future Danish Days."

Rory gasped and shook her head. "You should not even joke about that Luke. You might give her a stroke."

"That's what I told him, but he just doesn't care," Lorelai said, shaking her head sadly. "You gonna watch with us?"

Rory glanced at the clock. "Hmm, maybe for a little while." She put her book down on the coffee table and grabbed a handful of Gummy Bears.

"Mmkay. I'm gonna go change first," Lorelai said. She walked upstairs and changed from the dressy outfit she'd worn to dinner into a T-shirt and light gray sweatpants.

A few minutes later, Lorelai walked downstairs and put the first video on. She sat down on the floor in front of Luke's legs. Through much of the movie, Luke stroked her hair, running his fingers through her soft curls so gently that it sent a calming sensation through Lorelai's entire body.

. . .

As the first video came to an end, so did Rory's viewing time. She stood up as the credits came on and said, "All right, I'm gonna go read a little before bed."

She leaned down and kissed Lorelai on the cheek. "Night Mom. Night Luke."

"Night hon," Lorelai said.

"Night," Luke said. As Rory walked out of the living room, Lorelai stood up and walked over to the VCR. She stopped the movie and rewound it.

Luke stood up and stretched out his legs. "You want a drink?"

"Yeah, thanks. Water's fine," Lorelai said. Luke left the room, leaving Lorelai standing impatiently by the VCR gesturing for it to hurry up. "Come on, come on, I don't have all night. You know, more people would 'Be Kind and Rewind' if you didn't take so long to get the job done, ya know? Geez. That's probably one of the reasons why everyone's switching to DVDs." She heard the tape stop. "Aha! It's about time, thank you." She took the first tape out and put in the second.

Luke had returned with their waters and was watching her from near the couch. "You know, it can't hear you," he pointed out.

Surprised that he was in the room, Lorelai turned around and smiled. "Sure it can, Luke. It can hear me - and only me. I've got supernatural powers that allow me to communicate with inanimate devices. You know, sort of like Dr. Dolittle with the animals."

"Oh really?" Luke nodded, pretending to be impressed. "What else can you talk to?"

Lorelai walked over to him. "Well, you know, televisions, coffee makers, clocks, hair dryers, any of your basic appliances, really."

Luke nodded and handed her a bottle of water. "What about toasters? If you're in the living room and you smell that your toast is burning in the kitchen, can you yell to it to pop up so the burning stops?"

Lorelai thought for a moment and tapped his shoulder with her water bottle. "You know, I can't really say for sure because that scenario has never come up, but I'm gonna assume yes."

"Huh," Luke said as he sat down on the couch. "That's a good power to have."

Lorelai nodded and took a sip of her water, then put it on the coffee table. She sat down on the couch, placed one of the throw pillows on Luke's lap, then rested her head on it.

"Comfy?" he asked with a laugh.

"Yes, thanks," she replied, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Shh, it's starting."

Halfway through the movie, Luke moved his hand from Lorelai's head, where it had been stroking her hair again, to her back. He ran his fingers up and down her spine. Lorelai closed her eyes to concentrate on the gentle motions that were sending chills through her body. Soon, Luke's hand was no longer on the outside of her shirt, but was directly against her back.

His warm hand glided over her smooth skin, massaging it gently. Her entire body seemed to relax at his touch, which was much more gentle than his strong hands looked like they could be. His fingers pulled the bottom of her shirt up so that her back was exposed to the cool air in the room, and Lorelai shivered. He started massaging her back with both hands. Seconds later, his fingers moved to the clasp of her bra. He undid it and pushed the two sides of the bra out of the way, enabling him to massage her whole back without interference. As his hands moved around in gentle circular motions, Lorelai let out soft moans of approval.

After a few minutes, Luke said quietly, "Lorelai?"

Her eyes still closed, she muttered, "Yeah?"

"Are you watching the movie?" he asked.

She opened her eyes. "Nope. Are you?"

"No," he replied. "I'm watching you."

Lorelai smiled to herself. "Am I really that entertaining?"

"You're definitely not bad for the eyes," he said.

Lorelai reached to the coffee table and fumbled for the remote. She turned the television off, then adjusted herself on his lap so that she was on her back staring up at him. He lifted up her shirt slightly and put his hands on her stomach, gliding them over her soft skin. She smiled and said, "Man, you always need to be touching something, don't you?"

He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "What - you want me to stop touching you?"

She shook her head. "If I wanted you to stop touching me I would've slapped your hands away hours ago."

"Okay, then stop complaining," he said, continuing to run his hands over her body.

Lorelai shrugged casually. "I'm not complaining." She closed her eyes and relaxed. "Mmm, how come you're so gentle?"

"What?"

She opened her eyes and smiled. "You know, you're so gruff on the outside, but you're sweet and gentle on the inside. You know, like a. . .Tootsie Roll pop or something."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Please don't compare me to junk food."

She smiled. "Fine, you're like a. . . celery stick with low-fat peanut butter inside."

"That's better," he said.

"So, why aren't you just sweet all the time?" Lorelai asked. "Why do you have this Jekyll and Hyde thing going on?"

Luke shrugged. "That's how guys are."

Lorelai shook her head. "Not all guys. Chris and Max weren't like that," she said. Realizing what she said, she grimaced. She bit her lip nervously, hoping Luke wouldn't feel uncomfortable with the mention of their names.

Luke swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Yeah, well, I'm sitting here with you and they're not, so what does that say?"

A small smile fell on Lorelai's lips. "It says that the Jekyll/Hyde thing is obviously working."

Luke nodded. "There you go."

Lorelai leaned up to kiss him, then rested her head back down on the pillow. She stared up at him while thoughts started running through her mind. Thoughts about her past relationships, thoughts about Chris and Max, thoughts about Luke, thoughts about what her mother had said, thoughts about how she was feeling inside.

As she lay there thinking and staring up at Luke, she finally realized why this relationship was so different from all her others, and Lorelai felt a knot in her stomach. She stared up at him and swallowed hard. Her breathing increased as she suddenly felt terrified of what she was about to do – but she knew she had to do it. She was afraid of the consequences, but she knew if she didn't do it right now, she might never get the courage to do it again.

Lorelai suddenly sat up. Luke removed his hands from her body and watched her as she removed the pillow from his lap and tossed it on the floor. She crawled onto his lap, facing him as she straddled his legs by placing a knee on either side of them. She kissed him passionately for several seconds before she slowly pulled her lips away from his. She whispered, "Luke?"

He looked at her curiously. "What?"

Lorelai took a deep breath to help calm her nerves. She leaned forward so that their faces were just inches apart. With her eyes staring directly into his, she whispered, "I'm in love with you."

As the words came out of her mouth, goosebumps immediately covered Lorelai's body. She had finally said it, the words that she had wanted to say to someone for so long but had never had the actual feelings to accompany them – until now.

Luke's eyes widened with surprise and a smile quickly appeared on his lips. "Me too," he said softly. "I'm in love with you, too."

As Lorelai let out a short sigh of relief, Luke put his hands on her face and pressed his lips against hers. She kissed him back eagerly as she felt tears forming in her eyes. As both the kiss and the emotions inside of her intensified, she started sobbing and had to break away from him.

She laughed through her tears and used her sleeve to wipe them away. She shook her head slightly. "God, I never imagined that those words could be so powerful." She sniffled a few times and smiled at him, her bottom lip quivering as more tears fell. He pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She hugged him back and rested her head on his shoulder.

A few seconds later, he asked, "You okay?"

She nodded and smiled. She slid off of his lap and onto the cushion next to him. He turned his body so that he was leaning against the arm of the couch and brought his legs up to stretch out in front of him. She lay the same way next to him, resting her head against his chest as his arms surrounded her. As he ran his hands up and down her arm, her hand glided over his chest and stomach. He kissed her head, deeply inhaling the scent of her shampoo before pulling back and smiling to himself.

They lay that way for several minutes before Lorelai said, "Luke?"

"Hmm?"

She turned her head to look up at him. "Do you wanna. . . go upstairs?"

A look of uncertainty washed over Luke's face as he glanced back toward Rory's bedroom. "I don't know if we – "

"She's asleep, Luke," Lorelai assured him.

He sighed softly and paused a moment, staring down at her. "Are you sure?"

She smiled and nodded. She stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him up off the couch. She led him up to her bedroom and locked the door. She gestured around, "This is my room."

"Huh," he said, looking around. "There's more clutter in here than in my entire apartment."

She laughed. "Hey, I don't have time to clean, I'm a busy woman."

Luke smiled and nodded. He stepped toward her and kissed her as she pushed his flannel shirt down over his shoulders. She pulled it off and dropped it on the floor. He lifted her shirt up over her head and tossed it aside as she slid off her bra, which was still unclasped from earlier.

She knocked his cap to the ground and pulled his T-shirt up over his head, immediately running her hands over his chest and shoulders. They kissed again, and the feeling of his chest against her breasts sent a surge of arousal through her body. She pulled back and Luke lowered his mouth to her neck, kissing up and down it gently. She reached down and fumbled for his belt buckle. He reached down to help her, sliding it through the loops and dropping it on the accumulating pile of clothes.

His mouth moved downward, kissing a trail down her chest and stopping at her breasts. As he took one of her breasts into his mouth, his hand lightly squeezed the other. She tilted her head up toward the ceiling and let out a soft moan. "Oh God, Luke," she muttered breathlessly. She brought her hands to the back of his head and squeezed his hair tightly as he moved back and forth between her breasts.

As he brought his mouth up to meet hers, his hands went to the waistband of her sweatpants. He slid them down over her hips, pulling her panties down with them. She kicked both of them away and unzipped his jeans, slowly pulling them down along with his boxers. They smiled at each other and kissed passionately, their mutual arousal fiercely throbbing through them.

They broke apart, both panting to catch their breaths. Lorelai moved the covers on the bed to the side and climbed in, and was joined a second later by Luke. She pulled the covers over them as their mouths crashed together, their tongues aggressively dueling with each other as their hands explored each other's bodies.

Several minutes later, Luke positioned himself over her body, his hardness poised to enter her opening. They both groaned with pleasure at the initial contact. He leaned down and kissed her, then stared into her eyes as he whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied with a smile. In one swift motion, he was inside of her and she let out a cry of pleasure.

. . .

The covers pulled up to their chests, which were moving up and down quickly as they tried to catch their breaths, they lay staring up at the ceiling. Luke's arm was draped over her shoulder as Lorelai's head rested against his chest. They lay there for a few minutes in silence before Lorelai looked up at him and said quietly, "Luke?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

He smiled and kissed her. "I love you, too."

. . .

PART 12

. . .

Luke glanced over at the nightstand and said, "It's past midnight."

She turned to look at the clock. "Yes, you're right." She turned back to him and smiled. "Glad to see you're getting your money's worth with those telling-time classes."

He rolled his eyes. "I believe that was me insinuating that I should be going."

"So you weren't trying to impress me with your skills?" she asked as she rolled off of him.

"No, I – ," he started. He suddenly stopped talking as Lorelai got up off the bed and walked over to the closet. Luke sat up and watched her closely, his eyes wandering over the curves of her body as she pulled out her robe.

She turned around as she pulled it on. She saw him staring at her with wide eyes and she let out a small laugh. She pulled the belt tight around her and folded her arms across her chest. "Take a picture, it lasts longer."

"Trust me, the thought's crossed my mind," he said.

She smirked as she picked up his pile of clothes from the floor and tossed it next to him on the bed. "Here. Stop your drooling and get dressed." She walked over to her vanity and picked up a ponytail holder. She pulled her hair into a disheveled bun, then walked over and leaned against the door, watching him as he got dressed.

A few minutes later, he pulled on his baseball cap and walked over to her. He placed one hand against the door and pressed his lips gently against hers. She brought her hands up to his face and ran them over the stubble on his cheeks as they kissed. As he finally pulled away, she unlocked the door and pulled it open. They walked quietly down the steps and over to the front entryway.

He pulled on his coat as she opened the front door, shivering as the cold air poured in. He finished buttoning his coat and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Bye," he said.

"Bye," she replied, smiling. He stepped onto the porch and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets before walking down the front steps and across the yard.

Lorelai shut the door and rushed into Rory's room. She lay down on the bed next to her and started tapping her on the shoulder. "Rory!" she said in a loud whisper. "Rory, wake up!"

Rory groaned. "What do you want?"

"He told me he loves me!" Lorelai whispered excitedly.

Rory rolled over and mumbled, "What?"

"He told me he loves me!" Lorelai repeated louder.

With her eyes half closed, Rory smiled. "Aw, that's so great, Mom."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, after I told him."

Rory's eyes opened all the way. "What?"

Lorelai smiled. "I said it to him first."

Rory mouth dropped open with surprise. "Oh my God! Mom, that's – wow." She hugged Lorelai as best she could from her sleeping position. "That's great. I'm happy for you."

Lorelai giggled excitedly. "Thanks. Night." She kissed Rory's cheek before she pushed herself off the bed and went back up to her room.

. . .

The next morning, Lorelai and Rory rushed into the diner trying to escape the pouring rain outside. After dropping their umbrellas by the door, they looked around and saw Sookie sitting at a table sipping coffee. She looked up and waved, then gestured for them to join her. They walked over to her table.

"Hey Sook," Lorelai said, sliding into a chair. "How's it going?"

"Hey Sookie," Rory said, sitting down and putting her backpack on the floor next to her.

"Morning," Sookie said. "You guys are soaked. Did you walk here?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't raining this hard when we left the house, but in the next 2 minutes it started downpouring."

"Crazy weather," Sookie muttered. She put a hand on Lorelai's arm and gave her a concerned look. "Hey, are things okay with you and . . . your grumpy half?"

Lorelai looked at her questioningly. "Things are great. Why?"

"Uh, well, I kinda heard that there was some yelling going on last night out in front here," Sookie said, gesturing out the window.

Rory looked at her mom, surprised. "What? Really?"

Lorelai shook her head slightly. "It was nothing, forget it. Everything's good now."

"What happened?" Rory asked.

Lorelai sighed. "Nothing, I was just upset about dinner and I was being cranky."

"Yes, you and the crankiness fairy do meet on occasion." Rory nodded knowingly, then added quietly, "Far too many occasions, if you ask me."

Lorelai smacked her on the arm. "Huh, I don't recall anyone asking you."

"Wait - what happened at dinner?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "I'll fill you in later." She glanced up and saw Jess wiping the counter and Caesar serving the tables. "Where's Luke? Have you seen him?"

Sookie nodded. "Yeah, he's here. He must be in the kitchen cooking." She frowned. "I suggested that he add a little more ground cinnamon to his pancake batter to give it a little zing, but he just gave me a dirty look."

Lorelai scoffed. "You deserved it – his pancakes are perfect the way they are."

Rory nodded in agreement. "Mmm, the best."

Caesar walked over to their table. "Coffee?"

Lorelai nodded. "Two please."

Caesar walked away and returned shortly with two mugs. "Anything else?"

Rory checked her watch. "Hmm, just a blueberry muffin to go please."

"Pancakes with bacon," Lorelai added. Caesar wrote down the order and walked away.

"I'm kind of craving pancakes right now, but I don't have enough time to eat them," Rory said disappointingly. "We have to get here earlier next time."

"Hey, if you wanted pancakes, you should've ordered them," Lorelai said. "It's okay to be late to school, but you should never, ever deprive yourself of the incredible delicacy that is Luke's pancakes."

"I don't think they'll accept a note saying I was late for school due to pancake worshipping," Rory said, rolling her eyes.

Lorelai made a face. "Private schools are so unfair."

Rory nodded in agreement. The three of them sipped their coffee and talked for a few minutes before Caesar brought Rory her muffin in a takeout bag. She took a final sip of her coffee and stood up. She gave Lorelai a kiss on the cheek. "See you later. Bye Sookie."

"Bye hon, have a good day," Lorelai said.

"Bye sweetie," Sookie said.

Rory picked up her backpack and walked to the door, grabbing her umbrella before walking out into the rain. Lorelai and Sookie sat sipping their coffee for a few more minutes before Luke walked over to them. "Hey," he said.

Lorelai smiled up at him. "Hi."

He nodded toward the window. "Nice day."

Lorelai turned her head to look out at the rain. "Yeah, this is the kind of weather where you just wanna not do any work at all, and just sit and drink coffee and talk all day long."

"Not do work, drink coffee, and talk all day long?" Luke asked. "So essentially today is like any other normal day for you, it's just wetter."

She frowned. "Funny."

He smirked. "I thought so."

"Why are my pancakes taking so long?" she asked with a huffy sigh.

"They're not what's taking long," Luke explained. "It's the pieces of pork soaked in grease and oils and lard that you so happily refer to as bacon that's taking so long."

"Ooh, when you describe it so delectably like that, it makes me want more. Throw on some extra pieces," Lorelai said excitedly.

Luke rolled his eyes. "I'll go check on it."

When he walked away, Sookie smiled at Lorelai. "I see dating hasn't stopped you guys from teasing each other."

Lorelai smiled and shook her head. She glanced out the window for a moment, staring at the rain. After a few seconds, she said, "You know, I do love this weather – except for the fact that we have little waterfalls pouring from the roof onto the porch in random spots because of the stupid clogged rain gutters."

Luke, who'd arrived with her plate, said, "You still haven't gotten those taken care of?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I'll call someone tomorrow." She started cutting up the pancakes.

Luke waved her off. "I'll do it this weekend."

Lorelai looked up at him. "No, Luke, you have tons of other things to do. I'll just hire someone."

"Don't waste your money," he said. "I'm quite capable of cleaning out your gutters."

"Luke – " she started.

"Lorelai," he interrupted. "I'll take care of them. I've cleaned out rain gutters before and I already have an in-depth knowledge of your rooftop. I'll handle it, end of story."

She raised her hands up in front of her chest in defeat. "Okay, okay." She sighed. "But I'm gonna pay you."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I'm not taking your money," he said sternly.

She leaned forward and smiled. "Well, I guess we'll have to arrange another form of payment," she said, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

Luke's eyes widened, then he quickly glanced at Sookie uncomfortably. "Uh, I'll get to those gutters sometime this weekend." He nodded at them before walking away.

"Thanks," Lorelai called. She looked at Sookie and let out a small laugh.

Sookie giggled. "I think you embarrassed him."

"Oh yeah?" she asked. "What tipped you off – the way his face turned bright red or the evil death stare he gave me?"

Sookie laughed. "It was a combo of the two."

As Lorelai ate her pancakes, she told Sookie about the argument she'd had with Emily, and what happened with Luke afterwards at the diner. Before she could tell her what happened at her house, Sookie checked her watch, "Honey, we should get to the inn."

Lorelai nodded and took a final sip of coffee. They stood up and walked up to Luke at the counter. After they both paid, Lorelai leaned across the counter and kissed him. "Bye. Love you," she said quietly.

He nodded and replied softly, "Yeah, love you too." He pushed the register drawer closed and walked into the kitchen.

Lorelai walked toward the door and grabbed her umbrella. She held the door open for Sookie, but soon realized that Sookie wasn't behind her. Lorelai turned around and saw Sookie staring at her from the counter with wide eyes. Lorelai looked at her questioningly. "Sookie, come on."

Sookie slowly walked toward her. "Lorelai!" she exclaimed as they walked out onto the sidewalk.

"What?" she asked, holding the umbrella up over their heads.

Sookie laughed. "What do you mean, what? What was that? You just . . . he just. . . .love you? Where did that come from?" She stared at Lorelai with a look of shock.

Lorelai smiled. "Oh, yeah, so let me tell you about the rest of last night," she said as they walked toward the inn.

. . .

The next evening, Lorelai walked into the diner after work and sat at the counter. Luke set a mug of coffee in front of her, then walked into the kitchen to get some plates. After delivering them to their tables, he walked over to her with a tired look on his face.

"Man, you look exhausted," she commented.

"Yeah, it's been busy today," he said. "How was your day?"

She shrugged. "Not too bad."

Luke nodded. He glanced around the diner before he brought his gaze back to her. "Um, remember a week or two ago when you told me Rory had lost her bracelet?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Whatever happened with that?" Luke asked.

Lorelai frowned. "She drove herself crazy scouring the entire town for it with no luck. She finally had to tell Dean that she lost it. . . but he took it surprisingly well."

"So you never found it?" Luke asked.

Lorelai shook her head. "Nope. I have no idea where it could be. We looked everywhere."

Luke nodded. "And what did it look like again?"

"Uh, brown leather strap with a small silver medallion on it," she said. She narrowed her eyes at him. "What's with all the questions, Sherlock?"

Luke sighed and pulled something out of his pocket. "Is this it?"

Lorelai gasped and grabbed it. "Yes! Oh my God, where did you find it?"

"Upstairs . . .in the hallway. . . in front of my apartment," he said slowly.

She narrowed her eyes at him curiously. "What? How the heck would it get there?"

Luke shrugged. "I have no idea. It was lying in front of the door this afternoon, but I know it wasn't there earlier."

"Huh," Lorelai said. "So how did. . ." her voice trailed off.

Knowing what she was thinking, Luke started, "Lorelai, don't - ."

"Jess," she said knowingly.

"You don't know that for sure," Luke said, shaking his head.

"How else would it get there?" she asked loudly. "He stole it. That little. . . ugh!" She shook her head angrily and clenched her fists. "I can't believe he did that!"

"You have no proof that he did anything," Luke said. "Don't automatically blame everything on him."

"God, come on Luke!" she exclaimed. "No one else goes up there except you! Did you have it this whole time?"

"No."

"So then, you explain to me how it got up there." Lorelai folded her arms across her chest and looked at him expectantly.

Luke took a deep breath and shrugged. "I'll talk to him and see if he knows anything about it."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll tell you the truth."

"Look, I'm trying hard here to give him the benefit of the doubt. Why can't you do the same thing?"

Lorelai scoffed. "Why should I? He's been nothing but trouble since he got here, Luke!"

"He has not," Luke said, pursing his lips. "I know he's not exactly perfect, but what do you want me to do, lock him upstairs all day?"

"If it keeps him from stealing my daughter's possessions, then yes!" she said loudly.

Luke glanced around at the other customers. "Keep your voice down. I said I'd talk to him about it, let's drop it."

"Go talk to him," Lorelai said.

"What?"

"Yes, I'm just dying to know what the kid has to say for himself. Go talk to him right now," she said.

Luke let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine." He walked away from her towards the steps.

Almost ten minutes later, Lorelai heard footsteps coming quickly down the steps. Jess stepped out of the stairway and walked into the diner, heading straight for the door without looking up. A few seconds later, Luke came down and walked over to her.

"So?" she asked. "What did he say?"

Luke sighed. "Well, it took a few minutes to get him to admit to having it, but he said he didn't steal it – he said he found it."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Found it, right."

Luke ignored her comment. "He said he found it and he didn't know it was Rory's, and if he had known it was hers he would've gave it back to her."

Lorelai shook her head in disbelief. "And you believe him?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. He seemed like he was telling the truth."

Lorelai stared straight ahead with pursed lips. She shook her head slightly as she sighed deeply. She finally stood up and said, "I'm gonna go give it to Rory."

"What are you gonna tell her?" Luke asked.

"I'm gonna tell her that you found it by your door, and I'll let her assume what she wants. She's a smart girl, she can figure it out on her own," Lorelai said with a shrug.

Luke nodded. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Lorelai turned and walked out of the diner.

. . .

A few hours later, Luke walked over to Lorelai's house. He knocked on the front door and Lorelai answered. "Hey," she said.

"Hi." He gestured inside. "Can I. . ."

She stepped back from the doorway and he walked inside, shutting the door behind him. She walked into the living room. He followed her and they sat down next to each other on the couch.

"So. . . Rory talked to Jess," Lorelai said.

"Yeah, I saw them outside of the diner a little while ago," he said. "Guess they worked things out."

"Seems like it," Lorelai said with a shrug. "Dean was happy that the bracelet's back, so Rory was pretty excited about that."

Luke nodded. After a brief pause, Luke asked with uncertainty, "Are you mad?"

"Well, Rory doesn't seem to be, so I guess I shouldn't be either," she said with a sigh.

"But you are?" Luke asked.

She shrugged. "A little."

"You know, you can't hate him forever, Lorelai," he said.

She raised her eyebrows. "Why not?"

"Because. . . you just can't," he said, sliding closer to her. "Because . . .I love you, and Jess is my nephew and. . .I don't know. I mean, eventually, you two will have to be in the same room together. I don't want there to be this weird feeling of hatred between you forever."

"It probably won't last forever – just until one of us dies," she said pointedly.

Luke rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to be serious here."

"I know, so am I," she said.

Luke shook his head. He paused a moment before he said, "We should do something together."

She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"You, Rory, Me, Jess," he said. "We should do something together."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah, like the last time when he came over and acted like the biggest jerk in the world to me? Yeah, we should definitely do that again," Lorelai said sarcastically. "I want to relive that evening as many times as possible."

"That was when he first got here, Lorelai," Luke said, rolling his eyes. "Things have changed since then. He's different. . . he's not angry at the world anymore. Well, a little, but not as much." He took her hands into his and squeezed them. "Come on, tomorrow night, we'll order pizza, get a movie, just hang out."

Lorelai sighed. She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Whatever, I don't care," she mumbled.

He smiled. "Nice to see you're excited about it." As a small smile fell on her lips, he leaned forward and kissed her.

. . .

The next night, halfway through a dinner that had Rory, Lorelai, and Jess eating pizza while Luke ate a salad, Jess and Rory were talking quietly on one side of the table as Luke and Lorelai were talking on the other side.

A few minutes later, Rory and Jess both stood up. "We're gonna go start the movie," Rory said.

Lorelai nodded. "Okay, we'll be right in."

Rory walked toward the living room and Jess followed behind her. When they were both gone, Lorelai shrugged. "So, this isn't so bad."

"Yeah, because you haven't said anything to him at all," Luke pointed out.

Lorelai shook her head. "Not true. I asked him if he wanted a napkin."

Luke rolled his eyes. "You know, making an effort would be nice."

"Hello?" Lorelai scoffed. "Napkins are an essential compliment to every meal, especially pizza. You know, the oil drips off and it can ruin your clothing and – " Luke tilted his head at her and gave an annoyed look. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll talk to him."

"Good," he said. He kissed her before he stood up and helped her clean off the table.

A few minutes later they walked into the living room. Jess was sitting on one end of the couch while Rory sat on the floor in front of the coffee table. Luke sat down on the center couch cushion next to Jess, and Lorelai sat next to Luke.

As Rory was fast forwarding through the previews, Lorelai cleared her throat. "So, uh, Jess. . .how's school?"

Jess shrugged. "Not my favorite place in the world," he replied, staring straight ahead.

Lorelai bit her lip and nodded. "Mmhmm. Yeah, I was the same way. Rory certainly didn't inherit her love of schoolwork from me." She paused a moment. "Uh, how do you like working at the diner?"

Jess shrugged again. "I'd like it better if people knew how to tip around here."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, well . . . maybe you could post a note on the diner door about that or something. Or hang it next to the No Cell Phones sign."

"I tried that. He ripped it down," Jess said, pointing to Luke.

Lorelai looked at Luke questioningly. As Luke rolled his eyes and nodded, Lorelai and Rory both laughed.

Lorelai tapped her fingers on her knee as she tried to think of another question. "Uh, so, how'd you guys like the pizza?" she asked. "Seemed extra tasty tonight."

"I liked it," Rory said.

"Pretty good," Jess said, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

"Oh, here we go," Rory said, pushing play on the remote control. As the opening scenes of The Wild Bunch played across the screen, Luke turned to Lorelai and gave her an appreciative smile. "Good start," he whispered. She nodded as he reached down and clasped his hand around hers.

. . .

Over two hours later, as the movie ended, Rory turned the television off and yawned. "Great movie."

"Definitely," Lorelai said. "Can never see that one too many times."

"How come you always rent movies that you've already seen hundreds of times before?" Luke asked. "Doesn't it seem like a waste of money?"

Lorelai gasped. "Luke, you cannot put a price on good entertainment."

As Jess stood up and glanced around, he shoved his hands into his pockets uncomfortably. Rory said, "Here, let me show you that CD I was telling you about."

As they walked out of the room, Lorelai rested her head against Luke's shoulder. "So. . ."

"So. . . that wasn't horrible, was it?" Luke asked. "I told you it wouldn't be bad."

"Yeah, it wasn't bad. What'd you do, bribe him to be nice?" Lorelai asked.

Luke groaned. "Come on, you were good the entire night, don't start with the cranky comments now."

"Fine, sorry," she said. She lifted her head up and kissed him. She pulled back from him and repositioned her legs so that she was kneeling on her cushion, then leaned in to kiss him again.

A few seconds later, they heard a cough. Lorelai broke away from Luke and turned around. Rory and Jess stood there watching them. "You guys done?" Rory asked with a smile.

Lorelai stood up. "Not really, but I guess we should stop anyway." As Rory and Jess walked out onto the front porch, Lorelai pulled Luke up off the couch and walked with him to the door.

"Thanks for bringing dinner," Lorelai said as he pulled on his coat.

"You're welcome," Luke replied. "I'll see you tomorrow." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and walked out the door. "Jess," he said sternly.

"What?" he replied.

Luke nodded toward the doorway. Jess rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Bye."

"Bye," Lorelai said.

"Bye guys," Rory said. She walked back into the house and shut the door.

Lorelai sighed. "Okay, that wasn't a complete disaster."

Rory shook her head. "You were definitely trying."

"Too much?" she asked with a slight grimace.

"No, it was good," Rory said. "But try spreading out the questions throughout the night next time instead of asking him ten in a row."

Lorelai nodded. "Okay, I'll work on that."

. . .

At almost 10 on Friday morning, Lorelai walked into the almost-empty diner and sat at the counter. "Luuuke!" she called in a singsong voice. "Luke, come out and talk to me!"

Luke walked out from the kitchen and checked his watch. "You were just in here three hours ago. Don't you ever work?"

She shrugged. "Sometimes."

"Must be nice to have a job that you can leave anytime you want," he said as he started flipping through his order pad.

"Yeah, it is. And the best thing about it is how mad Michel gets when I do it," she said with a smile. "But today, I actually have a good, legitimate excuse for leaving."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" he asked, not looking up from his pad.

"Doctor's appointment," she replied.

He looked up at her. "Why?" he asked, a concerned look in his eyes.

Lorelai hesitated, then let out a long sigh. "Well, Luke, there's not really an easy way to tell you this."

"What is it?" he asked worriedly.

Lorelai swallowed hard. "I think I'm pregnant."

Luke's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. "What? But you said . . .and the. . . .what about. . ." he stammered nervously. He stared at her dumbfounded and swallowed several times.

Lorelai smiled and rubbed her stomach. "Yup, Luke, you're gonna be a daddy. Aren't you excited?"

Luke stared at her completely silent, his mouth hanging wide open and his eyes widened as large as they could go.

After several seconds, Lorelai burst out laughing. She snapped her fingers a few times in front of his face. "Luke – come back to reality, I'm kidding!"

Luke closed his eyes and let out a long sigh of relief. As he opened them, a stern look appeared on his face. "Don't do that – do you know what that kind of news can do to a man?" he said loudly.

She smiled. "Yes, it can make them stare at someone like this." She imitated his wide-eyed, open-mouthed stare.

He sighed annoyingly and gestured toward the door. "Okay, you can leave now."

She smirked and smacked his arm playfully. "Come on, admit it, it was funny."

"If your definition of funny is the same as my definition of not funny, then yes, you can call it funny," he said, rolling his eyes. "Almost gave me a heart attack," he mumbled.

Lorelai snickered. "Hmm, well I thought it was funny."

"That's because you're a sadist," he said pointedly.

"Nothing wrong with a little sadism now and again," she said with a smile.

"Except for you, 'now and again' is every single day," Luke pointed out.

She shrugged. "Keeps me entertained."

"Take up knitting or painting or drawing," he said. "Or any other hobby that can be entertaining to you without having to make some poor, unsuspecting person have a stroke for your own sick amusement."

She frowned. "You're no fun."

"Oh, I beg to differ," he said. "You're just too evil to realize that not everyone has the same definition of what's fun."

She scoffed. "Hey, does this face look evil to you?" She tilted her head to the side and pouted.

He stared at her for a moment before the corners of his mouth started to turn up into a small smile. He looked away from her.

"Aha! I saw a smile, Lucas!" Lorelai said with a laugh.

He looked up quickly and gave her a dirty look.

She grimaced. "What? You didn't let me finish my sentence. I meant to say, um, 'Luke – us is the pronoun that means you and I.' You know, you thought I said Lucas, it was really a combination of Luke and us," she said, nodding energetically.

He rolled his eyes. "Nice cover."

She smiled. "Thank you." She checked her watch and stood up. "Shoot, I'm gonna be late for my appointment."

Luke looked at her with annoyance. "Don't start that – "

"Eye doctor, Luke," she interrupted with a smile. "It's with the eye doctor. Although the idea of pulling the pregnancy joke on my parents tonight is kind of appealing."

Luke raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah, Friday night dinner tonight. Is that gonna be okay?"

She shrugged. "Who knows? The Amazing Kreskin can't even predict what Emily Gilmore's gonna do." She leaned over the counter and kissed him. "Bye."

"Bye," Luke replied, smiling to himself as he watched her walk out the door.

. . .

PART 13

. . .

That night, Lorelai and Rory pulled up to Emily and Richard's house slightly before seven. Lorelai leaned back against her seat and sighed loudly. They sat in silence for a minute before Rory asked, "Are we going in?"

Lorelai took a deep breath. "I'm just so not in the mood for this."

"Maybe it won't be too bad. Maybe she's over it," Rory said hopefully.

Lorelai gave her a doubtful look. "Please, Emily Gilmore does not get over things in a week, you know that." Lorelai groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Ugh, she's just gonna start barraging me with comments about how I'm a terrible daughter and an awful mother and how I don't deserve to live."

Rory let out a small laugh. "I don't think Grandma wants to condemn you to death for this, Mom."

"Don't leave me alone with her," Lorelai warned. "I may end up stabbing her with my spoon or taking off my belt and tying around her mouth so she stops talking or something."

Rory nodded. "I'll stay with you the whole time, I promise."

"Thank you," Lorelai said. She glanced at the front door and huffed loudly. "Okay, let's go in."

They walked up to the front door and Rory rang the doorbell, then turned to Lorelai. "Hey."

"What?" Lorelai replied.

"You're definitely not an awful mom," Rory said quietly, shaking her head. Lorelai smiled and hugged her. "Slightly insane, but still a great mom," Rory added.

Lorelai pulled back and laughed. "Should've stopped while you were on my good side."

A few seconds later, the maid answered the door and invited them inside. They walked in and handed their coats to her, then followed her to the dining room where Emily sat at the head of the table sipping a glass of wine. Salads were already placed at each table setting, with a glass of soda in front of Rory's usual spot and a glass of wine in front of Lorelai's.

"Hi Mom," Lorelai said hesitantly.

"Hey Grandma," Rory said.

"Hello girls," Emily said, looking only at Rory.

As they sat down across from each other, Rory asked, "Is Grandpa here?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "No, he had a meeting of his cigar club. He missed a few meetings while we were on our trip, so for some reason he felt obligated to attend tonight's even though it interferes with our dinner." She shook her head. "I still don't understand the allure of a smoking club."

Lorelai shrugged. "Men sitting around a room getting cancer together – it's a nice bonding experience for all ages," she said as she spread her napkin open on her lap.

"Hmm," Emily said, taking a bite of her salad.

Lorelai glanced down at her salad and picked at it with her fork.

"So, uh, Grandma, how was your week?" Rory asked. "Did you miss the Florida weather?"

"Oh, goodness, yes," Emily said. "It was nice to be home, but it was definitely an adjustment coming back."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Rory said, nodding.

"It's so much less stressful down there. Nothing to worry about, no responsibilities, you're just relaxing from the stresses of everyday life," Emily said. She sighed. "Then we got back, and all the stress and anxiety just piled right up again."

"Huh," Lorelai said quietly before shoving a forkful of salad into her mouth.

Emily looked at her. "What was that, Lorelai?"

"Nothing," she muttered, shaking her head.

Emily stared at her for a moment before she brought her gaze to Rory. "So tell me, how's school going?"

Rory swallowed her mouthful of food before she answered. "Oh, it's fine right now, but I have midterms coming up so it's gonna be more hectic in the next few weeks."

"I'm sure you'll do wonderful on them. You have excellent study habits. You know what your most important priorities are," Emily said pointedly while picking at her salad.

Lorelai bit her lip and took a deep breath, trying not to let Emily's last sentence, which was surely directed toward Lorelai, get the best of her. Instead, Lorelai added, "Yup, she knows how to make the cheat sheets nice and small so she can hide them anywhere."

Rory let out a small laugh. "It took years of practice."

Emily pursed her lips. "Cheating is not something to be joked about. You can get in serious trouble for that kind of behavior."

Lorelai and Rory looked at each other briefly. Rory said, "Uh, I. . .I know, Grandma. We were just kidding. Sorry."

"Geez, Mom, it was a joke, lighten up," Lorelai said.

"Mmhmm. Yes, well, maybe you should spend a little less time joking and a little more time trying to be a role model for your daughter," Emily said haughtily.

Rory raised her eyebrows with surprise. "Grandma, mom's a great – " Rory started.

"What are you talking about, Mother?" Lorelai asked loudly, interrupting Rory.

"You know very well what I'm talking about," Emily said, looking down at her salad.

"No, I don't, I'd like you to clarify," Lorelai replied, slamming her fork on her plate. "Are you talking about me making a little wisecrack about cheating in school, or could you possibly be referring to something else?"

"I don't think this is an appropriate discussion to be having in front of Rory," Emily said firmly.

Lorelai shook her head. "No, you're the one who started the conversation, now let's finish it."

"Eat your salad, Lorelai," Emily said.

"Mom, come on," Rory said quietly.

"No, Emily, say what you have to say to me," Lorelai insisted, folding her arms across her chest. "Rory's old enough and mature enough to hear anything you have to say."

"Lorelai, I will not get into this right now," Emily said. "Drop it."

Lorelai ignored her. "What have I done that could possibly make you say that I'm a bad role model? If you think that me spending the night at my parents' house makes me a bad mother, then you seriously have problems."

"Mom, please," Rory said uncomfortably.

"Lorelai, enough!" Emily said sternly.

"No, it's not enough!" Lorelai said, her face reddening with anger. "You cannot call me a bad role model and then expect me to ignore it like you just told me I needed a haircut or something! Back yourself up Mom, or don't say it to begin with!"

Emily took a deep breath and glanced at Rory before she turned to Lorelai. "You need to start stabilizing your life, Lorelai. You need to start acting like a mature adult and stop running around like you're still a teenager. You think you would've learned that by now. . ." Emily's voice trailed off and she turned her head away.

Lorelai scoffed loudly. "Running around like a teenager? That's what I'm doing?" As the maid entered the room with dinner, Lorelai stopped talking. She shook her head in disbelief and exhaled loudly.

Rory sat in her chair staring at her plate uncomfortably. She lifted her head slightly and glanced at Lorelai, who had one elbow on the table and was resting her chin on her hand, an obvious look of upset on her face. As the maid exchanged the dinner plates for the salad plates, Rory was silently hoping that Lorelai was giving up on the fight.

But when the maid had left the room, Lorelai turned to Emily and said, "You have no idea what you're talking about, Mom. I don't think that me sleeping with my boyfriend constitutes me running around like a teenager!"

"Oh boy," Rory muttered under her breath.

Emily glared at Lorelai. She wiped her lips with her napkin, then stood up and walked out of the dining room into the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Lorelai stood up and followed her into the kitchen.

"I'm trying to take this conversation away from your daughter, Lorelai," Emily snapped.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Mom, Rory is seventeen, not four, and I tell her everything anyway."

"Well, then maybe you should learn that there are things that shouldn't be discussed in front of children, especially a teenager who has a boyfriend and might end up making the same mistake that her mother did!" Emily yelled.

Lorelai scoffed. "Oh, please, Mother, give Rory a little credit. Do you honestly think that because I spent the night away from home, Rory's going to rush out and sleep with her boyfriend?"

"You know how much that girl looks up to you, Lorelai!" Emily said loudly. "You have to think about how your actions will affect her!"

"What – you think that over the past sixteen years, she didn't realize that at one point or another, her mom was probably having sex? That last week was the first time?" Lorelai shook her head slightly. "My God, I can't even believe I'm having this conversation with you." She paused a moment and sighed. "The point I'm trying to make is that, yes, I'm sorry that I came into your house when you weren't here, that was wrong."

"Yes, it most certainly was," Emily said quickly.

"Hi, let me finish," Lorelai said loudly. "Yes, that was wrong – and if you want to be mad at me for that, then fine, hold that grudge forever, I don't really care. But nothing else I did was wrong, and there's nothing I would change about how I acted. I know you have this little microchip in your head that makes it impossible for you to realize that I'm a responsible adult, Mother, but I do know how to make the right decisions! I called Rory and told her I wouldn't be home, I told her where I would be if she needed me, I took care of my daughter!"

"Lorelai, you – " Emily started.

Lorelai held up her hand. "Wait, I'm not done." Her voice softened. "You asked me what I would do if Rory did something like this, and you know what – if she does it tomorrow, then I would be pretty damn mad. But if she's thirty-three years old, and as much in love with her boyfriend then as I am with mine now, then I'd ignore everything else and be pretty damn happy for her, Mom. Pretty damn happy," she repeated. "Excuse me." She walked back into the dining room and joined Rory at the table, leaving Emily in the kitchen alone.

. . .

Later that night, Rory and Lorelai walked into the diner. Jess was sitting at the counter flipping through a magazine as Luke wiped down a table.

"Hey," Luke said, smiling at them as they walked through the door.

"Hey Luke," Rory said. She walked over and sat next to Jess at the counter.

Lorelai walked over to Luke. "Hi there," she said, kissing him on the cheek. He dropped his rag on the table, then sat down in a chair. She sat down next to him.

"Everything go okay?" Luke asked. "You don't look upset."

"Nope, definitely not upset," she said, shaking her head.

"So she's not mad anymore?" Luke asked.

"Oh, no, she's still mad. Come on, she's still mad that I lost my pencil sharpener in fourth grade, she'll be mad about this until she's ninety four," Lorelai said, rolling her eyes. "I just don't care anymore."

"You don't care?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Nope, I don't care. She can yell at me all she wants and be mad at me for as long as she wants, but I don't care," Lorelai said. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Luke, I hate when I fight with my mom. But if I had to choose between having that night with you or having her be happy with me – I mean, it's no contest." She smiled. "I wouldn't change anything about that night."

He smiled. "Nothing?"

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Not even when we fell off the bed?" he asked with a smirk.

She laughed. "Nope."

He smiled and leaned forward. "I love you."

The words still made chills run through her body, and she smiled. "I love you too." She pressed her lips against his and kissed him softly. They broke apart and stared at each other for a second before leaning forward and kissing again, this time allowing more of their passion to surface. Their mouths opened and their tongues met, an occurrence that had happened many times before but still made Lorelai's body shiver with excitement. A soft moan from Lorelai's throat grabbed the attention of the two teenagers at the counter, and they turned around.

"Come on now, people eat at that table," Jess said, making a face. "Don't make me call the health inspector."

Luke pulled back from Lorelai with an embarrassed look on his face. "Jess!" he grumbled. "Knock it off."

"Hey, I'm just trying to provide a more sanitary atmosphere for your customers. You should thank me," Jess said. Rory nudged him with her elbow and gave him a look. After he briefly shook his head disappointedly at Luke, he turned around.

Luke turned back to Lorelai and rolled his eyes. "You want some coffee?"

"Uh, yeah, to go," Lorelai said. "I'm gonna head home." They stood up and walked to the counter. "Rory, you want a coffee to go?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

A few seconds later, Luke set two cups in front of them. Lorelai paid for them, despite Luke's protests, then kissed him goodbye before walking out the door.

. . .

The next afternoon, Lorelai sat at the kitchen table paying bills and Rory sat across from her doing homework. Lorelai suddenly looked up and started biting the end of her pen as she stared into space. "Hey," she said. "Question."

Rory looked up from her notebook. "Mom, I just explained it to you. They use special effects to do the commercial. I promise you that wearing your new low-rise jeans will not make your bellybutton sing."

Lorelai wrinkled her nose. "Are you sure? 'Cause that's really gross."

Rory nodded. "I'm sure, Mom." She started writing in her notebook.

"Okay." Lorelai paused. "That wasn't my question, though."

Rory looked up and sighed. "What is it now?"

"Are you still sticking with Will?" Lorelai asked.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Yes, definitely. Will's perfect for Sydney."

Lorelai shook her head. "No way. She should totally be with that really cute guy that she meets in weird random places. It's so obvious that they're setting them up."

"Yeah, well, sometimes they make a setup seem obvious but then they never follow through with it," Rory pointed out.

"Yeah, I hate when shows drag out the attraction between two people and it's so obvious that they're gonna get them together eventually, and you're just sitting there like, 'Come on, just get together already'," Lorelai said. "It's so frustrating."

Rory nodded. "Yes, it is."

They were quiet for a few seconds before Lorelai said, "But come on, you gotta admit that the cute guy is much hotter than Will."

Rory shrugged. "I don't know, Mom. My loyalties are with Will."

Lorelai gasped. "But he's too annoying, and he's not even close to the hotness of. . .damn, what's his name?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know. I've never heard you say his name. You just always refer to him as the cute guy."

"I know. See, when he's on screen, I'm too busy staring at him to listen to what they're saying, so I never hear them say his name," Lorelai explained.

"I understand," Rory said with a nod. "Uh, are you done with your bills?"

Lorelai looked down at the papers spread out in front of her. "No, not yet. Are you insinuating that I should stop babbling and get back to paying them?"

Rory smiled. "You catch on quick." She went back to her homework.

Lorelai sighed and focused on the bills. A few minutes later, the phone rang. Rory and Lorelai looked at each other. It rang again, neither of them moved. It rang a third time. Rory sighed. "Fine, I'll get it."

Lorelai smiled. "Ha, I win again."

Rory made a face and walked over to the phone. Lorelai watched her, tapping her pen on the table. "Hello?. . . Oh, hey. . . Right here. . . Uh huh. . . Yeah, I think so. . . Aww. . . I won't. . . Bye." Rory hung up the phone and walked back to the table. She started doing her homework again.

Lorelai stared at her. "Rory?"

"Hm?" she muttered, looking down at her book.

"Who was that?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, just Dean," Rory said quickly.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at her. "Rory."

"Yes?" she said, looking up.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Rory, you know you've never been able to lie to me. Who was it?"

Rory's eyes widened. "I'm not lying." Lorelai tilted her head and smirked. Rory sighed. "Luke."

Lorelai let out a small gasp. "What? What did he want?"

"I can't tell you," Rory said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Lorelai asked, narrowing her eyes curiously.

"Because I told him I wouldn't."

"So you lied," Lorelai said. "Tell me."

"Come on Mom, he wants to surprise you. Don't ruin it for him," Rory said.

Lorelai suddenly felt nervous. She raised her eyebrows and sat up straight in her chair. "Surprise me with what?" she asked.

"God, you look terrified," Rory laughed. "It's no big deal. He wanted to come by tonight with some videos and he wanted to make sure that we . . well, specifically you. . .were gonna be home, okay? No big deal. Calm down."

Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief as she sank back against her chair, then she smiled. "Aw, he's so cute."

Rory smiled. "Yeah, don't tell him I told you."

"I won't," Lorelai assured her.

"I think I'll make myself sparse though so you guys can be alone."

Lorelai smiled. "Thanks."

. . .

At five that evening, Lorelai said goodbye to Rory as she headed over to Lane's, then sat on the couch and waited for Luke, practicing in her head how to act surprised to see him. When the doorbell rang, she jumped up off the couch, then decided she better not act too eager. She walked slowly to the door and pulled it open.

Luke stood on the porch with a pizza and a brown bag from the market. "Hey," he said.

"Luke!" Lorelai said, feigning surprise. "Come in. What are you doing here?

He stepped inside and set the bag and pizza on the bench next to the door. He took off his coat and hung it up, then kissed her. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged sheepishly. "Uh, actually. . . today's our one month anniversary."

Lorelai's eyes widened with surprise – and this time she wasn't pretending. "What?"

Luke nodded. "Yup, one month ago today we had that movie and pizza night here, remember?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yup. Wow, I can't believe you kept track of that." She tilted her head and smiled. "Oh my God, how adorable are you?"

"I've been told, pretty adorable," he said with a smile. "So I thought we could celebrate by doing it again. I brought pizza and movies."

"Aw, you're so sweet," she gushed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. She pulled back and pointed to the brown bag. "What's in there?"

He glanced at it and picked it up. "I was standing in front of the florist for twenty minutes trying to decide if I should waste my money on stupid flowers or not," Luke said, starting one of his quick-paced rants. "Because not only do they cost a hell of a lot of money, they're only nice for a few days and then they start to droop and then they die in a week and then you've got to throw them out, so it's like throwing money directly in the garbage can." He took a deep breath. "So I got you something you would enjoy more than flowers."

She giggled excitedly as she looked through it. "Oh my God! Red Vines, Goobers, Jelly Beans, peanut M & M's, marshmallows, a can of whipped cream!" She looked up and laughed. "You had a choice between this or flowers, and you decided to support my junk food addiction?" She gasped. "The addiction you look down on with such disapproval? You know, this is just like throwing it in the garbage too since it'll all be gone in a few hours."

He shrugged. "I know, but the happiness quotient of this stuff is higher than with flowers."

She smiled and looked in the bag again. "You are so right about that." She paused and squinted into the bag. "Wait, what's that?" She reached in and pulled out a small bag. She looked at it and laughed. "Carrot sticks?"

He smiled. "I get hungry too, you know."

She smiled and put the carrots back, then picked up the bag and brought it to the living room. Luke followed with the pizza. "What movies did you get?" Lorelai asked.

"They're underneath all the junk food," he said.

Lorelai reached into the bag and pulled out two DVDs. "Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal." She laughed. "So romantic!"

He smiled and shrugged. "I thought so."

She smiled and walked over to the television. As she slipped the first DVD into the player, she asked, "Can you get me a Coke?"

"Yeah, sure." Luke walked into the kitchen and returned a minute later with drinks, paper plates and napkins. He placed them on the coffee table next to the pizza and sat down on the couch.

Lorelai sat on the floor in between the coffee table and the couch. She opened the pizza box. "Mmm," she said, inhaling the aroma. "Smells great, doesn't it?" She put a piece on a plate and handed it to Luke, then took out a piece for herself as the movie started.

. . .

Halfway through the movie, she pulled out the can of whipped cream. "Oh, good, it's still cold." She crawled up onto the couch and sat next to Luke. She shook the can, then opened it and squirted some into her mouth.

Luke laughed. "That's attractive."

Lorelai swallowed her mouthful and said, "Want some?"

He made a face. "No, thank you."

She crawled onto him, positioning her body so that she was sitting sideways on his lap, leaning back against the arm of the couch. She held the can in front of his mouth. "Just a little?"

Luke shook his head and pushed the can away. Lorelai giggled and quickly brought it back and squirted some onto his lips before his hand could knock it away. "Hey!" He laughed. "What are you doing?" He wiped it off his lips with his finger and held it out in front of him. "God, this stuff'll kill you."

"Oh my God, it's on your finger," Lorelai teased. "What are you gonna do now?"

"Hand me a napkin," he said.

She shook her head. "Nope, you have to eat it."

"Lorelai," he said with an annoyed sigh. "Hand me a napkin please."

"Luke, you can't waste perfectly good whipped cream," Lorelai said. "Just eat it. I want to see Luke Danes eat something unhealthy."

"Forget it."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll eat it." She wrapped both hands around his wrist and led his finger to her mouth. She closed her soft lips around it and swirled her tongue over it, licking off the whipped cream as she stared into his eyes. His breathing started getting heavier as she closed her eyes and gently sucked on his finger, sliding it slowly in and out of her mouth, letting her teeth drag over it gently. Luke let out a short groan of approval as his arousal started intensifying.

When she finally stopped and opened her eyes, he was staring at her with a sly smile on his face. She smiled and kissed him deeply before whispering, "Grab the whipped cream." She jumped up off of him and ran up the steps. He grabbed the can and followed her up to her room.

. . .

An hour later, the bathroom door opened and they both walked out of the steam-filled room. Luke had a towel wrapped around his waist and Lorelai had on her robe. They walked into Lorelai's bedroom. Luke sat on the bed and collapsed against the pillows and Lorelai lay down next to him. He wrapped an arm around her and ran his fingertips up and down her arm. "Feel better now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm not all sticky anymore," she said, making a face.

"Yeah, well, whipped cream does have that effect. Thanks for rubbing it in my hair, by the way, that was very kind of you," he said, rolling his eyes.

She looked up at him and smirked. "Hey, when you were in that position, my first instinct was to grab your hair. I forgot I had whipped cream all over my hands."

He rolled his eyes. "Check next time."

"Aye aye, captain." She turned her body to lay on her side, resting her head on the pillow and staring at him. She dragged her finger over his chest. "You have a very talented mouth."

He let out a small laugh. "Uh, thanks. So do you."

She smiled. "Thanks." She stared at him for a few seconds before she asked, "Do you believe in love at first site?"

He turned to look at her. "Sure, if you're superficial and you want to base your entire relationship on the fact that one day you saw someone attractive and suddenly decided, without even talking to them, that that person was perfect for you."

She laughed. "Okay, sensing the sarcasm. So you didn't fall in love with me when you first saw me?"

Luke shook his head. "Nope. It took me awhile to realize it." He smiled down at her. "At least five minutes." Lorelai smiled and kissed him. A few minutes later, they got dressed and went downstairs to finish the movies.

. . .

The next morning, Lorelai woke up and heard a scuffling sound outside her window. She stared at it warily from her bed for a few minutes, trying to determine what it was. She finally walked over to it and peeked outside, and was surprised to see Luke kneeling on her roof near the gutters. His usual flannel shirt was missing; he was wearing just a black T-shirt with his jeans.

She smiled and opened the window. "Hey."

Luke turned around. "Hey. I wasn't too loud, was I?"

Lorelai shook her head. "Nope. How long have you been here?"

He walked over to the window and kneeled next to it. He checked his watch. "About half an hour." He leaned through the window and kissed her.

She nodded toward the gutters. "How are they?"

"Clogged," he said, looking down at them. "Very clogged. I've found so much crap up here it's unbelievable. Lipstick, pens and pencils, candy wrappers, a container of Tic Tacs. What, is this like your extra storage area?"

She laughed. "Yup, we definitely don't have enough space inside."

"You might want to invest in some sort of container," he said. He walked back down to the gutters and started working on them again.

Lorelai watched him from the window for a few minutes. "Luke?"

He craned his neck back to look at her. "What?"

"You're really sexy when you're doing hard labor," she commented.

He nodded. "I know. Jess tells me that all the time."

Lorelai laughed. "And on that slightly disturbing note, I'm gonna go take a shower."

He smiled. "See you later."

"Bye." She shut the window, then watched him through it as he turned around and went back to the gutters. She knocked on the window to get his attention. When he turned around, she smiled and pulled off her pajama shirt. His eyes widened as he smiled and gave her an approving nod. She waved and walked away from the window, grabbing her robe as she headed towards the bathroom.

. . .

Almost thirty minutes later, Lorelai walked out of the bathroom and back into her room. She could hear Luke pounding on the gutter right outside her window. She shut the bedroom door and walked over to her closet. She folded her arms across her chest and stared into it, trying to decide what to wear.

The pounding stopped for a moment, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement by the window, a shadow of someone walking by. Staring straight ahead at the closet, she nonchalantly untied her robe and let it slide off of her body. She glided her hands over her stomach, up over her chest, and up to her hair, where she ran her fingers through it and shook it out gently. As the shadow disappeared, she smiled to herself and picked out some clothes to wear. Seconds later, the pounding started up again and she muttered, "Okay, that's gonna get annoying really soon."

A few minutes later, she walked downstairs and wandered into the kitchen. Rory sat at the table doing homework. "Hey hon."

"Morning," Rory said. "I think I might have to go to the library or to the diner or something. It's kinda hard to concentrate with the banging."

"Oh, I know," Lorelai agreed. "I've only been hearing it for a few minutes and it's already driving me crazy." She walked over to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup as Luke walked in through the back door.

"Hey," he said, walking over and kissing her.

She smiled. "Hey, how's it –." She stopped talking and listened for a moment. Her smile faded as she realized that the banging on the roof was still going on. She gave Luke a confused look. "Luke, do you have one of those robotic gutter cleaners doing the work up there for you?"

Luke laughed. "What? No, Jess is helping me out."

Lorelai's eyes widened. "What? He's up on the roof right now? While . . .while you're down here?"

Luke narrowed his eyes at her and nodded. "Uh, yeah. He got here a little while ago, so he's tossing the junk down from the roof and I'm putting it into the garbage bags."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lorelai said, holding up her hands. "So, you're telling me that Jess is up on the roof near my bedroom window while you've been down on the lawn?" She put her hands on Luke's shoulders and squeezed them. "Is that what you're telling me?" she asked nervously.

. . .