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)

4. Parts 19 to 23

"It's Right There - parts 19 - 23"

PART 19

Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up to the batting cages. Lorelai watched several men walk from the parking lot into the caged areas. "Man, this would be a good place to pick up guys," she commented. Luke narrowed his eyes at her, and she quickly added, "Uh, you know, I mean, if I wasn't already happily attached." She smiled and they stepped out of the car into the unseasonably hot weather. "It's so beautiful out today. Ooh, maybe I'll get a tan," she said excitedly.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm hoping to accomplish today, too," Luke said, rolling his eyes. He glanced around, then led Lorelai over to a rack of helmets and bats.

Lorelai sighed. "Okay, remind me again why you love swinging a bat around while you stand in a cage like an animal at the zoo."

Luke shrugged. "It makes you feel powerful when you hit the ball, it makes you feel strong. I can't really explain it but it's very satisfying," he said. He handed her a helmet. "Here, see if this fits."

Lorelai looked at it and made a face. "You're kidding me."

"Just put it on," Luke said, shaking it in front of her.

"Luke, it's gross," she whined. "How many people's sweaty heads have been in this already?"

"They are required to clean them several times a day with disinfectant. They're perfectly fine," Luke said. "I'm gonna wear one, too."

"You're gonna put that on your head, but you think that swimming in the pool is disgusting?" Lorelai asked skeptically. "That's crazy."

"Wear it." He put the helmet on her head.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. She lifted her hands up to remove it.

Luke put his hand on top of it so she couldn't take it off. "Leave it on. You can take a shower when we get back to the room." As he removed his hand, Lorelai folded her arms across her chest and pouted. Luke put on a helmet and looked at the row of bats. He picked one up and held it out toward her. "Here, feel this."

She reluctantly took it from him and grimaced. "It's too heavy."

He found her a lighter one, then picked one out for himself. He took her hand and led her past several occupied cages until they finally reached an empty one.

Lorelai looked at the sign on the gate. "This one is softballs."

"Yeah, they're bigger so they'll be easier for you than baseballs," Luke said. He pointed to a bench right next to the cage. "I'll go first. Sit out here until I'm done, and watch me so you'll have some basic idea of what you're supposed to be doing in there."

She rolled her eyes. "I know what you're supposed to do - you're supposed to hit the ball. That doesn't mean that I'm gonna be able to do it."

"Sure you will. It just takes practice," he said. He went through the gate into the cage as she walked over to the bench and sat down.

Lorelai leaned her bat against the fence. Luke put some change into the control box and pressed the start button. He stood over the painted-on plate and waited for the first ball.

"Swing batter, batter swing!" Lorelai yelled, clapping her hands. The people in the cage next to them looked over at her curiously.

Luke rolled his eyes and hit the first ball, then turned to Lorelai. "What are you doing? That's for when you want people to miss the ball."

Lorelai laughed. "Oh, sorry. Quiet now." She gave him a thumbs up and whispered, "Go Luke, yay!"

He shook his head slightly and smiled to himself, then turned back to the plate just in time to hit the next ball.

As he finished his turn, he put his bat down and said, "Okay, your turn. Come in here." Lorelai stood up with a sigh and picked up her bat. She walked into the cage and over to the plate. He stood behind her and put his hands on her hips, lining her up with the pitching machine. He explained to her how to stand and swing, then he put some money into the control box. "You ready?" he asked.

"Ready to leave?" she asked hopefully.

He smirked. "No, ready to hit. I'm pushing the button now, pay attention." He pushed a button and stood with his arms across his chest, watching her.

As the first ball came toward her, Lorelai jumped back and screamed, "Agh! This is so incredibly dangerous!"

Luke laughed. "Lorelai, it's a softball arc pitch, it's the slowest pitch there is. Just stand where I told you. I promise it won't hit you."

She took a deep breath and warily moved back into position. As the next ball came toward her, Lorelai swung and missed. She swung at the next four and missed them all. She sighed loudly. "Luke, I suck at this."

"All right, when I say now, just swing as hard as you can," Luke said. He watched the next ball come towards her. "Now!"

She swung and the tip of her bat caught a piece of the ball. She felt the slight vibrations in her hands and the ball rolled a few feet in front of her. She gasped. "I hit it!" she exclaimed. "At least, I think it was a hit."

Luke laughed. "I think it was more like a bunt, but it's a start." He watched the next ball come towards her. "Now!" She swung and hit it further this time, and she laughed excitedly. "Ooh, now I know what you mean about it being satisfying."

"See?" Luke said, smiling. "I told you it wouldn't be so bad." For the next fifteen minutes, they took turns batting. Luke continued telling her when to swing, helping her get some almost-decent hits.

As Luke finished one of his turns, Lorelai walked into the cage and stood at the plate. Luke put some money in the machine, then said, "I saw some vending machines back by the helmets. I'm gonna go get us some water."

"You're leaving me by myself? How will I know when to hit it?" she asked worriedly.

"Just swing when it's a couple of feet away from you. You'll figure it out. I'll be right back," Luke replied. He pushed the start button and walked out of the cage.

Lorelai stood at the plate swinging aimlessly as the balls came toward her, missing them all. As the last ball came toward her, she swung and hit it towards the ground, and it bounced a few times before rolling away. "Ha, I hit it!" she said to herself excitedly. She stood there in position waiting for the next one. After several seconds, she mumbled to herself, "Oh, good job, you finally learn to hit when your turn's over."

She heard a whistle behind her. She turned around and saw three guys in their twenties on the other side of the fence. "Nice hit," one of them called.

Lorelai took off her helmet and walked over to them. "Thanks. I'm thinking of trying out for the Yankees next week. Think they'll take me?"

"They'd be stupid not to," he replied, looking her up and down. "You definitely put the babe in Babe Ruth."

Lorelai laughed and rolled her eyes. "Oh God, that's probably the corniest line I've ever heard."

He grimaced. "Ooh, shot down," he said as the other two laughed. "I'll guess I'll have to work on it. I'm Rob, this is Mark and John."

Lorelai nodded, then walked through the gate and over to the bench. They took a few steps toward her. She put her helmet down, then noticed them staring at her. "Uh, did you want something?" She shoved her hands into her pockets and stared at them.

Rob shrugged. "Not really, I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to - ." He stopped talking as Luke walked up to them carrying two bottles of water. He eyed the three boys curiously. He pursed his lips as he wrapped an arm around Lorelai's shoulder.

Lorelai smiled at the boys. "So, uh, Rob, was it? Did you wanna finish up that attempt to ask me out, or are you gonna pass this time?"

His eyes widened slightly. "Uh, I think I'll pass. See ya."

Luke watched the three of them walk away as Lorelai took one of the water bottles and sat down on the bench. When they were out of site, Luke sat down next to her and took a long sip of water. Lorelai smiled at him. "Interesting."

"What is?" he asked.

"You're jealous," she said knowingly.

Luke let out a small laugh. "I am not."

She smirked and narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh no? So what was up with the whole 'putting your arm around me to claim your territory' thing?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "That wasn't jealousy," he explained. "It was. . .affection. I'm an affectionate person. I'm not jealous."

Lorelai smiled. "Okay, fine, you're not jealous." She took a sip of water.

"That's right, I'm not jealous," he repeated. "My turn." He put his water bottle down on the bench and walked into the cage. Lorelai watched him, a small smile on her lips.

Half an hour later, they walked into their hotel room. Lorelai sat on the bed with a sigh. "That's definitely the most active I've been in a looooong time." She paused and shrugged. "Well, you know, with the exclusion of our intense lovemaking."

He let out a small laugh and sat next to her. "Yeah, but wasn't it fun?"

She groaned. "I think fun's a bit too strong of a word. Perhaps the phrase, 'well, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever had to do in my life' might be more appropriate." She leaned back against the pillows.

Luke rolled his eyes. "You liked it. You'll never admit it because you're the most stubborn person in the world, but you know you secretly had a good time."

Lorelai scoffed. "I'm not the most stubborn person in the world. I'm second."

He smiled as he lay next to her. "Oh, sorry. Who's first?"

"OJ Simpson," she said matter-of-factly. "I mean, after all these years, can you believe that he's still claiming he's not the killer? Geez, everybody knows it was him. Why doesn't he just admit it already?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Stubborn."

Luke smiled. He clasped his hand around hers and brought it up to his lips. He kissed the top of it and placed it on his chest, then stroked it with his thumb. "Thanks for going even if you didn't like it."

She turned her head and smiled at him. "You're welcome." She paused a moment, then she climbed on top of him and straddled his stomach. She leaned forward and whispered, "Okay, you got me. I did have fun."

He smiled. "Thought so."

"Oh, don't go getting all 'I told you so' on me," Lorelai said, smiling. "I only had fun because it was with you. It's not like I'm gonna go join a batting cage team and play everyday by myself."

"I don't think they have batting cage teams," Luke said with laugh. "It's not exactly a competitive sport, it's just people practicing hitting."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, I don't care. I'm just saying that, yes, I loved spending time with you even if we were doing something that I probably never would've done for the rest of my life." She pressed her lips against his, then smiled through the kiss. "And now it's time to make your sacrifice."

Luke groaned. "Oh great."

Lorelai climbed off the bed and rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Come on, let's go in the pool!" she said. She walked over to the bureau and pulled out her bathing suit.

He sighed loudly. "Fine. Just let me get a snack first." As Lorelai walked into the bathroom, he walked over to the small refrigerator and pulled it open. He stared into it for a few seconds, then pulled out an apple. "You want something to eat?" he called.

Lorelai opened the bathroom door and stuck her head out. "Uh, yeah. . .are there any of those little bags of popcorn left?"

Luke looked into the fridge and pulled one out. "Yup. Why on earth do they keep everything in the fridge? All of this junk doesn't need to be kept cold. Who wants to eat cold popcorn?"

"That's how they keep everything fresh, Luke," Lorelai said. "You should know that, you're in the food business." She let out a small gasp. "Or maybe you're not - maybe you're just pretending to be in the food business, but you're really an undercover spy trying to learn about the dining habits of the residents in a small town and that's why - "

"Lorelai," Luke interrupted, rolling his eyes. "Go get changed."

Lorelai frowned at him. "Hmph. Fine." She shut the door. Luke took a bite of his apple as he walked over to the couch and sat down. Lorelai walked out a few minutes later and Luke's eyes widened. He finished chewing the piece of apple in his mouth, then said, "What are you wearing?"

Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. "Man, how deprived are you that you've never seen a bikini before?"

He rolled his eyes. "I've seen them before, but don't you think it's a little. . . revealing?" he asked, eyeing it warily.

She looked down at it and shrugged. "Uh, not really. This is what a regular bathing suit looks like, Luke. It's not like it's a thong or something." She spun around in a circle. "What, you don't like it?"

His eyes glazed over her. "No, I do. . .you look great. I just - ." His voice trailed off as he stared at her.

She shrugged. "So, then. . .stop complaining." She pulled her T-shirt and shorts on over her bathing suit. She walked toward him, grabbing the bag of popcorn he had left on the counter for her, and sat down next to him. She opened it and ate a handful, then said, "You know, me eating popcorn just before we go in the pool reminds me of an interesting thing I heard while ago."

"Oh yeah? What?" Luke asked.

"I'm not sure if it's true, but I heard that Orville Reddenbacher had a heart attack while he was in the tub, and the doctors said he survived the actual heart attack, but he died of drowning. He would've been fine if he hadn't been in the tub," Lorelai said, shaking her head sadly.

Luke nodded with a slightly amused smirk on his face. "Huh, I didn't know that. And now the image of an old naked guy drowning in a tub will probably be with me for a long time, so thanks for taking up my valuable brain space with it."

Lorelai smiled and shoved a handful of popcorn in her mouth. "You're welcome," she mumbled with her mouth full. When she was finished chewing, she rolled her eyes and said, "Hey, I didn't complain when you filled my brain space with the mechanics of hitting a softball."

Luke let out a small laugh. "Ha, you didn't complain? That's a good one." He took a bite of his apple. "Saying that you don't complain about everything would be like saying that Michael Bolton deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

"Ouch!" Lorelai said with a laugh. She paused a moment and nodded. "It's probably true, but still - ouch."

Luke smiled. "And you've probably already forgotten everything I told you anyway."

Lorelai scoffed. "Have not."

"Okay, tell me something that I told you today," Luke said with a doubtful smirk.

Lorelai paused for a moment and wrinkled her nose. "Uh. . . hmm. . . you told me that. . ." She stared up at the ceiling, thinking. Suddenly she smiled and said, "That they clean the helmets several times a day."

Luke rolled his eyes and stood up. "I'm glad you remember the important stuff." Lorelai smiled and nodded at him. He tossed his apple core into the garbage can, then grabbed some clothes from the bureau and walked into the bathroom to change.

Several minutes later, they were walking toward the entrance to the pool room. "If I get sick because of this, it's all your fault. Do you hear me?" Luke said.

"Yeah, yeah, all my fault, I got it," she replied, pulling him through the door. They stood in the entryway, looking around at the large room. The ceiling and walls were made of mostly windows, allowing the sunlight to stream through. Several people were already in the water, and several others lay in lounge chairs reading or talking.

Lorelai led him over to a pair of lounge chairs, and Luke glanced around nonchalantly at the people in the chairs surrounding them. Lorelai dropped her towel on one of the chairs, slipped off her shoes, then removed her T- shirt and shorts. She adjusted her bathing suit, then looked at Luke. "Okay, ready?"

He lowered his voice and said, "Every guy in here is staring at you."

She snickered. "Oh, they are not." She glanced around subtly, then brought her gaze back to Luke and let out a small laugh. "Okay, some of them are." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why - does that bother you?"

He shook his head. "Nope, just pointing out a fact."

She raised her eyebrows, then smiled slightly. "I can tell it's bothering you a little. Wow, I never knew you had this little insecurity thing going on. What - have you been hanging out with Dean or something?"

"It's not bothering me," Luke said, glancing around the room. "Just because there are like twelve other guys picturing my girlfriend naked right now - why would that bother me?"

"Beats me," Lorelai said with a shrug. "If there was a ton of girls staring at you, I wouldn't care. I trust you," she said pointedly.

"I'm not saying I don't trust you. It's just different for guys," Luke explained. "No matter how much we trust our girlfriends, we see all other guys as a threat because we know how other guys are."

Lorelai gasped. "Oh my God, you think that this group of fifty year old guys is a threat to you?" She laughed. "Boy, have my standards dropped." She walked around her lounge chair and took his hands in hers. She kissed his cheek. "Luke, who's the only person in this room. . .no wait, this entire world, that I'm in love with?"

He sighed softly and replied, "Me."

"You." Lorelai smiled. "So you don't have to worry about anything or anyone." She put her hands on his shoulders and thought for a moment. "Well, except George Clooney. If he happens to show up in Stars Hollow one day and he starts flirting with me, that's when you should worry because I don't think I'd be able to resist his charms. But until that day. . ." She kissed him passionately, then pulled back and smiled. "I'd say you're pretty much worry-free."

Luke smiled. "Good." She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. After a few seconds, Luke pulled back and sighed. "Okay, let's get this over with. But if I get sick - "

"Yeah, yeah," she interrupted, waving him off. "It's my fault, blame me, I'll pay your medical bills. Let's go, come on, hurry up."

Luke took off his shoes, then pulled his T-shirt up over his head. Lorelai stood back and stared at his chest, smiling to herself. She shook her head slightly and said, "You know, I bet I'm the only person in Stars Hollow who knows how built you are. You really shouldn't hide those muscles under all that flannel." She ran her hands over the curves of his arms. "Plus, I bet you could significantly increase your profits with the influx of women customers you'd get," she added with a laugh.

He shrugged. "Maybe, but then women would be constantly flirting with me," he said with a smirk. "It might be too uncomfortable for you."

She laughed. "Ah, look at you trying to make me jealous. Sorry mister, it's not gonna work. I, for one, am very secure in this relationship."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, smiling slyly.

"Yup," she said. She glanced past him and smiled. "Ah, a perfect example. You don't see me complaining that the lifeguard is staring at your butt right now."

Luke raised his eyebrows and shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Please tell me it's a woman lifeguard."

Lorelai laughed. "Yes, it's a woman. Come on." She took his hand and led him over to the pool steps.

Forty-five minutes later, they returned to their room. Lorelai carried a cup of coffee and an empty muffin wrapper. "Man, that muffin was not big enough. Can we go get some lunch now?" Lorelai whined. "It's after one."

"I'm getting this chlorine off of me as fast as humanly possible," Luke said as he smelled his arm and made a face. "That pool was definitely over chemicalled."

"I don't think that's a word," Lorelai said, shaking her head. "But you know what is a word? Starving! And I'm starving. Let's go eat first. . .please!" she begged.

Luke sighed and pointed to the desk. "The room service menu is right there. Go order some food while I take a shower." He pulled some clothes out of his drawer.

Lorelai's eyes lit up. "Ooh! Good idea." She rushed over to the desk and picked up the menu. "Do you want something?"

"Uh, yeah - just order me something healthy," Luke said.

"Like?" Lorelai prompted.

"I don't know. Just order me something that you'd never order for yourself," he said. He walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Lorelai perused the menu for a few minutes, then ordered their food. She walked over to the bathroom door and heard the shower running inside. She pushed open the door slowly and smiled as she watched his profile through the fogged-up shower door. She walked toward it, removing her clothes along the way. She tapped lightly on the door and said, "Room in there for two?"

The door slid open and Luke smiled at her. She stepped in and said, "Food's on its way." She closed her eyes and looked up toward the shower head, letting the hot water cascade over her face.

"What'd you order for me?" he asked.

"Turkey with lettuce on whole wheat and a salad," she said. "That okay?"

Luke smiled and nodded. "Perfect, thanks." He slid his hands up and down her arms. "Uh, how long will it take?"

She slicked her hair back and said, "The guy said like 20 minutes."

Luke smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Huh, well, we might as well use that time constructively," he said, leaning in to kiss her.

As they finished eating lunch, Lorelai took a sip of her soda and stood up from the table. She wandered over to the bed and lay against the pillow. A few seconds later, Luke walked over and lay next to her. "Tired?"

"Not really. It's just. . .my arms are hurting now," she said, rubbing one of her shoulders. "They weren't hurting earlier, but now they do."

"Yeah, it's usually a delayed reaction like that," Luke said. "Are you gonna get a massage later?"

"Mm, probably," she said. "Hopefully that'll help."

Lorelai snuggled closer to him and rested her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. He kissed the top of her head and ran his hands up and down her back. Lorelai closed her eyes and said, "Thank you."

Luke looked down at her questioningly. "For what?"

"I don't know, for everything," she replied softly. "For everything you do for me . . .for everything you've ever done for me in my life. . . for putting up with me. . . for loving me. Just. . . everything."

He smiled. "You're welcome."

Lorelai opened her eyes. She lifted her head up and looked at him, and his eyes stared back into hers. "I love you," she said quietly. "I love. . . just being near you."

"I love you, too," Luke said. He pulled her closer and kissed her deeply, running his fingers through her hair. They broke apart, and Lorelai rested her head back against his chest and closed her eyes. For several minutes, the only sound in the room was that of their light breathing until Luke cleared his throat. "Uh, Lorelai?"

"Hmm?" she murmured, her eyes still closed.

"I wanna talk to you about something. Uh, something important," Luke said.

Lorelai opened her eyes and stared straight ahead, and a slightly nervous feeling came over her. She suddenly picked her head up and said, "Oh my God, are you dying?"

Luke smiled. "No, I'm not dying.

She let out a sigh of relief. "Whew, okay. What is it?" She rested her chin on his chest and stared up at him.

"Uh, well, you know how it's been kinda crowded in my apartment lately, and how there's not exactly a whole lot of privacy?" Luke asked.

"Yeah?" she said, prompting him to continue.

"Yeah, well, I don't really want to, but I was thinking that it might be a good idea to look for a new place. You know, something a little bigger," Luke said.

"Wow, really?" Lorelai asked, surprised. "You're gonna move?"

Luke nodded. "But, I mean - then I was thinking that. . .maybe buying a new place right now wouldn't be a smart move if we. . ." He swallowed hard and paused a moment. "If you and me. . . you know, in the somewhat near but not too near future, decide to. . . uh, live together." He stared at her, waiting for her reaction.

PART 20

Lorelai's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly. She lifted her head up slowly from his chest and blinked a few times. She stared at him for several seconds before stammering, "Uh. . .wha. . um. . .what?"

Luke sat up straight. "I just thought that maybe we could talk about . . ." His voice trailed off as he noticed the slightly nervous look on Lorelai's face. He bit his bottom lip, uncertain of what to say.

The room was silent as Lorelai stared down at her hands with wide eyes. She finally brought her gaze up to meet his and said quietly, "You've thought about us. . .living together?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I think it's something we should. . . you know, talk about."

Lorelai looked down and shook her head slightly. She slowly lifted it back up and said, "Luke, that's . . . don't you think it's a little fast? We've only been together a few months."

Luke quickly nodded. "I know, I realize that. I didn't mean that we should move in together right now," he said. "I meant, you know, maybe in a few months or so, if you think that you might be ready for it - then I'll forget about looking for another place."

Lorelai was silent for a moment before she asked, "So, you're saying. . . that you're ready for it?"

Luke nodded. "I'm ready when you are. If you say you're ready right now, then we'll do it as soon as we can. If you say you wanna wait, we'll wait. Whatever you want."

Lorelai stared down at the bed sheets, thinking things over in her head. She finally lifted her head to look at him. She exhaled loudly and said, "I think you're. . . the most incredible man in the world."

Luke nodded. "I agree."

Lorelai tilted her head and smiled at him. She leaned forward and kissed him, then slowly pulled back with a bewildering look in her eyes. She shut them briefly, then opened them a few seconds later with a small sigh. "I just. . .I really need to think about this."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, take your time. There's a lot to think about. I mean, you know, like how it'll affect Rory and everything." He paused a moment. "You do realize that if we do this. . .you know, sooner, later, whenever. . . it'll mean that Jess will have to come with me, right?"

Lorelai nodded slowly. "I know, that's okay. There's a small spare room he can have if we decide to. . . ." Her voice trailed off.

"But it shouldn't be a big deal," Luke said with a shrug. "I mean, he's almost an adult. He'll probably get out of Stars Hollow the minute he turns eighteen anyway."

Lorelai nodded, only half listening to him as she stared down at the bed and thought things over.

Luke noticed her discomfort and sighed. "Listen, you don't have to think about it now. I don't want you spending the next two days worrying about this. Sorry, I probably shouldn't have brought it up here."

Lorelai looked up. "No, no, it's okay," she said, waving him off. "It's no big deal. I just won't think about it at all until we get home."

Luke nodded. "Good." He leaned back against the headboard and opened his arms. She climbed onto him and rested her head against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her.

Lorelai stared into space, thinking about nothing else except their just- finished conversation. She started grinding her teeth nervously, and even the soothing feeling of his hands gliding up and down her back couldn't make her feel calm enough to just relax and forget about it. She lifted her head up and looked at him. "Luke, but what about all that stuff you said?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What stuff?"

"That stuff you said last year about living with Rachel," Lorelai said. "You said that you were a loner, that you hate living with people."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I thought you weren't gonna think about it until you got home."

"I lied," she said quickly. "So, what about all that stuff you said?"

Luke shrugged. "That was. . . all that stuff. . .it wasn't. . ." He paused and exhaled loudly. "I wasn't in love with Rachel when I was living with her. I'm in love with you, it'll be different with you."

"But what if it's not?" Lorelai asked. "What if it tears us apart like it did to you and Rachel?"

Luke let out a small laugh. "That's not what tore us apart. There wasn't even anything to tear apart. We weren't even really together. It was just like. . we were both. . .there." Lorelai stared briefly into his eyes, then rested her head back against his chest with a sigh. They were both quiet for a few seconds before Luke added, "She left because I was in love with you. She saw it. . . she knew it. . . she helped me realize it."

Lorelai lifted her head and smiled at him. She kissed him before she rolled off of him and climbed off the bed. She walked over to the desk and picked up one of the brochures. "I think I'm gonna wander down to the spa," she said as she flipped through the pages.

Luke stood up and walked over to her. "Maybe I'll head down to the gym then."

Still looking through the brochure, she nodded absentmindedly. "Mmkay."

He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and kissed the back of her neck. He inhaled the scent of her hair before he asked, "You sure you're okay?"

She looked up from the brochure and smiled at him. "Fine. I'm fine," she said, nodding.

He looked at her doubtfully. "Just do me a favor and don't think about it anymore, okay?" he asked. "Please?"

"I won't," Lorelai assured him, sitting down at the desk. "I won't think about it at all until we get home."

He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Good." He glanced around, looking for something. He pointed to the white keycard on the counter near the kitchen area. "I only see one room key. Do you know where the other one is?"

"Oh, I think it's in my purse," she replied.

"Okay, we probably won't be back at the same time, so make sure you take it with you," he said. He walked over to the bureau and pulled out some clothes to change for the gym.

Ten minutes later, Luke left for the gym as Lorelai was combing her hair in the bathroom. When she heard the door shut, she peeked out of the bathroom to make sure he was gone, then ran over to her cell phone. She dialed quickly as she walked over to an armchair and sat down.

"Independence Inn, Michel speaking," Michel answered.

"Michel, hey, it's me," Lorelai said.

"Who is me?" Michel replied.

"Me is me, your boss," Lorelai replied, rolling her eyes. "Please put Sookie on the phone."

"Ah, my boss, yes," Michel replied. "The woman who thinks she can just run off for the weekend whenever she wants to, always avoiding her work, not bothering to call and check on the very busy inn that she's supposed to be running."

"Yup, that's me," Lorelai replied. "Now go put Sookie on the phone."

Michel sighed. "Hold on."

Several seconds later, Sookie answered, "Hello?"

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

"Hey!" Sookie said excitedly. "Is everything okay? How's the weekend?"

"Great, it's great Sookie," Lorelai said. "We're having a great time."

"Good, good," Sookie said. "It's a nice place, huh?"

"Very nice," Lorelai replied quickly. "Uh, guess what happened."

"Ooh, I know!" Sookie replied. "You came back from the spa and you were gonna eat some of that - "

"Sookie, you'll never guess," Lorelai interrupted. "Let me just tell you."

"Hmph, you shouldn't have told me to guess if you didn't want me to guess," Sookie mumbled.

"Luke wants me to think about us moving in together," Lorelai said. Sookie screamed loudly and Lorelai had to pull the phone away from her ear. "Ah, honey, that's my eardrum. Good thing I have another one."

"Lorelai!" Sookie yelled. "That's incredible! What did you say? Are you gonna do it?"

"I don't know," Lorelai replied. "I told him I have to think about it. What do you think? Don't you think it's too soon?"

Sookie paused. "Well, I guess it probably seems a little soon, but you shouldn't think of it in terms of how long you've already been together."

"I shouldn't?" Lorelai asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Nope," Sookie replied. "There are some people who have been dating for years who still aren't ready to move in together. Then there are people who are ready for it after a few weeks. It all depends on how much in love you are and how well you guys get along and how strong the relationship is."

"Uh huh, right," Lorelai replied, nodding her head.

"Does he want an answer soon?" Sookie asked.

"No, he doesn't even want me to think about it until we get home, but I can't stop thinking about it," Lorelai confessed. "It's all I've been thinking about since he mentioned it. It's driving me crazy!"

"When did he mention it?" Sookie asked.

"Uh, like twenty minutes ago," Lorelai replied.

Sookie laughed. "You make it sound like you've been thinking about it for weeks. Hey, think of it this way - you guys are living together this weekend. Think of it as sort of a sneak peek of what it might be like."

Lorelai nodded. "Huh, good point."

"But I agree with Luke - you should try to enjoy yourself while you're there. Don't stress yourself out, don't think about it until you get back," Sookie said.

"Okay," Lorelai replied. "Thanks Sookie."

"You're welcome," Sookie replied. "Ah, I gotta run. I have to start getting the dinner specials ready for tonight. Have fun, call me if you need anything. Bye hon."

"Bye Sookie," Lorelai replied. She turned off her phone, then covered her face with her hands and closed her eyes.

When she lifted her head up, she glanced around the room with a sigh. She slowly walked over to the bed and picked up Luke's T-shirt. She clutched it tightly in her hands for a moment, just staring at it. She brought it to her nose and inhaled the light scent of his cologne, then smiled to herself. She dropped it back on the bed and exhaled loudly as she grabbed her purse and walked out the door.

Two hours later, Lorelai unlocked the door and walked into the room. Luke was sitting on the couch in jeans and a T-shirt, his hair wet from his recent shower. He turned off the television and smiled at her. "Hey."

"Hey you," Lorelai said, smiling. She tossed her purse on the desk and walked over to him. She kneeled over his lap, straddling his legs with her knees, and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and as the kiss ended, she leaned forward and hugged him.

"Had a good time?" Luke said.

"Yeah, it was great," she said, pulling back. He ran his fingers through her hair as she spoke. "I had a full-body massage. Mmm, that felt so good. And I had good timing because you're supposed to have an appointment but I totally lucked out and there was a cancellation, so they had an open spot. Then I got a facial. Feel this." She grabbed his hand and put it on her cheek. "Nice, huh?"

He smiled. "Very," he agreed. "What else?"

"Olive oil pedicure," she replied. "Doesn't that sound so cool?"

"Uh, no. That actually sounds pretty disgusting," he replied with a laugh. "They just rub olive oil on your feet?"

"Basically, yeah," she said with a shrug. "But it felt great. What did you do?"

"Uh, let's see," Luke said. "First I wandered around the hotel for twenty minutes looking for the gym. You know, they really need to have maps posted throughout the hallways or something. Then I finally found it and worked out for about forty-five minutes. Then I got lost trying to find my way back to the room - again because there just aren't enough maps posted. Then I took a shower and watched some TV, and that's when you got here."

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Uh huh, so it was a typical guy afternoon - not asking for directions, working out, and watching television."

"Yes, it was quite a masculine filled couple of hours," Luke replied, nodding.

She smiled. "Are you hungry?"

"Starved," he replied. "Wanna go down to the restaurant?"

She nodded. "On one condition."

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "What?" he asked curiously.

"I'm paying," she replied.

He shook his head. "No, you don't have - "

She interrupted him by placing a finger on his lips. "I know I don't have to, Luke. But you've spent like a billion dollars already this weekend, at least let me pay for something so I don't feel like a total loser." She moved her finger from his lips and kissed him. She pulled back and pouted. "Please?"

He stared at her for a moment, then sighed. "Fine."

She smiled. "Good." She jumped up off the couch. "Let's get dressed."

They stood at the entrance of the restaurant waiting to be seated, their fingers laced through each other. Listening to the soft music playing throughout the restaurant, Lorelai nudged Luke with her elbow. "Hey, look over there." She nodded toward the center of the room, where several couples were dancing on a small dance floor.

Luke groaned. "Don't even think about it."

Lorelai frowned. "Come on, not even one dance?"

"Nope," he replied sternly. "Not one. I don't dance."

"Because. . . ," she prompted him.

"Because I hate dancing," he said matter-of-factly.

"You say that about everything," she said, rolling her eyes. "You need to think up a better excuse."

"Okay, how about this?" Luke asked. "Because I detest dancing."

She smiled. "Detest and hate mean the same thing, it's still the same excuse."

He shrugged. "Well, I tried."

"I appreciate that," she said. She paused a moment and glanced around the restaurant. "Hello, do they not see us standing here waiting to eat? Geez."

"We've only been here for two minutes. Give 'em some time," he said.

Lorelai sighed. She turned around, noticing that the wall she was standing in front of was mirrored. She stared at herself for a moment, then tapped Luke on the shoulder. "Hey, look." She gestured to the mirror.

Luke looked over his shoulder. "What about it?" he asked. "It's a mirror."

She turned him around so they were both facing the mirror, then she slipped an arm around Luke's waist and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Look at us. Look at how good we look together. If that's not a match made in heaven, then I don't know what is."

Luke smiled. "Can't argue with that."

They both stared at the mirror until they heard a voice behind them say, "Two?"

They turned around and found a hostess staring at them, holding two menus. "Excuse me?" Lorelai asked.

The hostess smiled. "Party of two?"

"Oh, yes, thank you," Lorelai replied. She took Luke's hand and they followed the hostess through the restaurant to an empty table. They sat down and ordered drinks, then started perusing the menus.

Lorelai suddenly looked up and said, "Luke?"

He lowered his menu. "What?"

"Were you ever gonna ask me out?" she asked.

Luke let out a small laugh. "What?"

Lorelai shrugged and smiled. "I'm the one who asked you out the first time. I was just thinking, would you have ever asked me out if I hadn't done it?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I would've gotten up the nerve eventually."

She laughed. "Gotten up the nerve? Why were you so scared?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Because you. . . you were just so perfect and - "

Lorelai groaned. "Luke, don't - "

"Hey," he interrupted. "I know you don't like to hear it, but it's true. You're perfect to me. . . . and I just. . .felt like I was out of your league, that you wouldn't be interested. I don't know, I guess it was crazy."

Lorelai smiled. "You make it sound like I'm the perfect head cheerleader and you're the . . . president of the chess club or something." She paused. "Oh, well, you were a Trekkie, so I can understand if you feel like a geek sometimes."

He laughed. "I was not a Trekkie. It was just a shirt."

Lorelai laughed. "Right, just a shirt, I got it."

Luke smiled and brought his gaze back down to his menu. He looked at it for a few more minutes, then a voice said, "Luke? Is that you?"

Lorelai and Luke both looked up. A blond woman of about thirty years old stood at their table. She wore a short black dress, and Lorelai wrinkled her nose at her over-usage of perfume.

Luke smiled at the woman. "Oh. . . hey."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes as she glanced back and forth between them.

"Wow, I hardly recognized you," the woman said, looking him up and down. "You look good." She giggled as she ran her hand along the seam of his sleeve, and Lorelai's eyes widened.

Luke blushed slightly as Lorelai loudly cleared her throat, and they both turned to look at her. She forced a smile and said, "Hi, remember me?"

Luke, looking somewhat uncomfortable, said, "Oh, this is Lorelai. Lorelai, this is Carrie."

Carrie nodded indifferently toward Lorelai, then turned back to Luke and smiled. She squeezed his shoulder and said, "So, I should get back to my table. It was good to see you again."

"Uh, yeah," Luke replied. "See you around."

She smiled at him and walked away, and Luke went back to reading his menu. Lorelai stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds before she reached across the table and grabbed his menu.

Surprised, he said, "Hey, what are you doing?"

Lorelai gasped and stared at him with wide eyes. "Uh, excuse me, who's your little friend?"

"What friend?" Luke asked.

Lorelai tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. She raised her eyebrows and stared at him expectantly.

"Oh, oh, oh," Luke said quickly. "You mean Carrie? We met in the gym earlier. We were sorta working out together."

"Sorta working out together?" Lorelai asked, raising her eyebrows. "Huh."

"Yeah, we kinda kept ending up at the same machines at the same time," Luke said with a shrug. "So we were sorta talking." He reached over the table to grab his menu back, but Lorelai held on tight.

"Uh huh, uh huh," Lorelai said, nodding. "And when you were sorta talking, did you sorta mention that you sorta have a girlfriend?"

He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Uh, no, I don't think it came up."

"Uh huh, uh huh," Lorelai said. "Interesting." She pursed her lips and stared at him indignantly.

Luke rolled his eyes and exhaled loudly. "Lorelai, she was just being friendly."

Lorelai gasped. "She was flirting with you right in front of me!" she whispered loudly. "And if she was doing it that much with me sitting right here, I don't even wanna know what she was doing in the gym."

Luke leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. He smirked at her as he said, "I thought you were completely secure in this relationship?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I am, I'm very secure. That doesn't mean I won't get a little annoyed by trampy girls who flirt with you right in front of me."

"You're annoyed?" Luke asked, slightly amused by her discomfort. "Not jealous, just annoyed?"

"Yes, annoyed," Lorelai said. She handed him his menu back, mumbling, "I'm not jealous."

He muttered quietly, "Yes, you are." He stared at his menu, smiling to himself.

She peeked over his menu and said, "I see you smirking, knock it off."

He lowered his menu and looked at her. "I'm not smirking. I'm just sitting here quietly trying to decide what I'm gonna make you buy me for dinner."

"Mmhmm," she muttered. They looked at their menus, and a few minutes later, the waitress brought them their drinks and took their orders.

They sat there for a few moments in silence. Luke aimlessly rearranged his silverware on his napkin as Lorelai stared off into space. Luke stared at her for a few seconds before he said, "Lorelai?"

She slowly brought her gaze to him. "What?"

"What are you thinking about?" Luke asked. "'Cause if you're still thinking about that girl, then - "

"No, no, I'm not," Lorelai interrupted. "I'm thinking about something else."

"What?" Luke asked.

She sighed softly and smiled. "I'm just thinking about what Rory's doing right now," she said.

Luke smiled. "Oh."

"I keep waiting for her to call," Lorelai said. "I guess they've been pretty busy today."

Luke nodded. "I'm sure she'll call sometime tonight."

Lorelai nodded. She paused a moment and smiled. "So, uh, in this gym you went to - how many other women did you cheat on me with?"

He laughed. "None, just that one."

"Oh, good, glad to see you have morals and only take on one mistress at a time," Lorelai said.

"Yup, I know how to manage my women," Luke said, nodding proudly.

Lorelai let out a small laugh and shook her head slightly. "You're cute."

Luke shrugged nonchalantly. "I get that a lot."

Almost thirty minutes later, they were talking as they finished up their meals. Lorelai, in mid-sentence about the strange man she saw earlier in the elevator, suddenly stopped and stared up at the ceiling. "Aw, I love this song," Lorelai said.

Luke narrowed his eyes as he listened to it. "What is it?" he asked, taking a sip of water.

Lorelai gasped. "All the Way, Frank Sinatra. You don't know this song?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know the song, but I'm not you - I don't instantly recognize a song just by the first three seconds of introduction chords."

She shrugged. "It's a gift." She stared into space, listening to it. "Mm, I could listen to this song all day. It's so romantic." She sighed softly.

He stared at her for a few seconds, then glanced toward the center of the room where several couples were dancing. He brought his gaze back to Lorelai, who was now buttering a roll, mouthing the words to the song. He smiled at her and said, "Let's dance."

Lorelai looked up, surprised. "What?"

"Come on, before the song ends," he said, standing up. Lorelai dropped her roll and knife on the table and stood up. Luke grabbed her hand and led her to the small dance floor. He wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his interlocking fingers near the small of her back as Lorelai draped her arms over his shoulders. As they started dancing, Lorelai smiled at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled and kissed her, then she rested her chin on his shoulder as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Lorelai stared straight ahead at the mirrored wall behind him and watched the reflection of them dancing. After a minute of them dancing silently, she smiled to herself, then placed her lips next to Luke's ear and whispered, "Two months."

Luke pulled back and narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"

"Two months," she repeated. "When Rory's finished school - when things are less hectic for her and she's had time to adjust to this."

Confused, Luke shook his head slightly. "Lorelai, what are you talking about?"

She smiled. "I think we should live together . . . in two months."

The song came to an end, and as some of the couples dispersed from the dance floor, Luke and Lorelai stood there staring at each other. Luke's eyes widened and a slow smile spread across his face. "Are you serious?"

Lorelai nodded. "I mean, I wanna discuss it with Rory first, but I think she'll be okay with it. I mean, she was okay with Max moving in and she knows you a whole lot better than she knew him."

Luke shook his head slightly. "Wow. . .so we're gonna do this. We're gonna live together."

Lorelai nodded. "I think we're ready. I mean, sure, it's only been a few months, but by the time we actually do it, it'll have been like half a year."

Luke smiled and nodded. "We're definitely ready." He leaned forward and kissed her gently. "Let's go upstairs."

She smiled. "Ah, the only true way to celebrate anything." They walked over to their table and waited for the check. Lorelai paid it, then they quickly walked out of the restaurant over to the elevators.

The elevator doors opened on their floor and they walked quickly down the hallway to their room. Luke took the keycard from his pocket and fumbled with it in the slot as Lorelai kissed his neck. He pushed open the door and they rushed inside, slamming it behind them.

Lorelai dropped her purse on the floor as their mouths crashed together in a passionate kiss. Lorelai's hands started unbuttoning his shirt as they moved slowly toward the bed. They stood near the foot of it, kissing until they were breathless. They broke apart, panting to catch their breaths, then fell backwards onto the bed.

They lay in bed, their chests heaving as they struggled to find their normal breathing patterns. Lorelai suddenly heard a faint beeping sound in the background and she held her breath for a moment, trying to determine what it was. Realizing that it was her cell phone, she jumped off the bed and ran to her purse. She pulled it out and answered it breathlessly, "Hello?"

"Mom? Are you okay?" Rory asked, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Lorelai replied, panting heavily. "How was your day?" she asked. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to Luke.

"Incredible!" Rory said excitedly. "We went to Harvard! We took a tour, sat in some classrooms, met some professors, toured the dorms, talked to some students, raided the school store. It was so great."

Lorelai smiled at her excitement. "Oh, honey, that's awesome. Sounds like your dream vacation." She leaned back against Luke and rested her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly.

"It's definitely ranking up there on my list of favorite days," Rory replied. "What did you do today?"

"Oh God, I think the question is, what didn't I do today?" Lorelai said with a laugh. "We went to the batting cages, we went in the pool, I had a massage, a facial, and a pedicure, we both got jealous even though we won't admit it. . ." She paused. "Although I guess me saying that counts as an admission on my part." She felt Luke laughing behind her and she smacked his thigh playfully. "And uh, we ate dinner and we danced to All the Way."

"Aw, you love that song!" Rory said.

Lorelai smiled. "I know, it was great."

"Did you say you went to the batting cages? You? The representative of all things unphysical and inactive?" Rory asked, shocked.

Lorelai laughed. "Yes! And I even hit the ball a few times."

"Wow," Rory said, impressed. "Good going. What's that about being jealous?"

"Oh, I'll explain it when we get back," Lorelai said. She paused a moment, then looked back at Luke and smiled as she said, "Oh, and by the way, we're probably gonna have some company in a few months."

"Company?" Rory asked curiously.

"Uh, yeah," Lorelai replied. "Um, Luke and I were talking about. . . he and Jess moving in."

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Rory?" Lorelai said, narrowing her eyes. "You there?"

"Uh, I'm sorry, I'm just a little shocked right now," Rory replied. "I don't think my mouth could've dropped any further to the ground," she added with a laugh.

Lorelai suddenly felt nervous. "Why? Do you not want . . . that to happen?" Luke listened intently to Lorelai's side of the conversation, wondering what Rory was saying.

"No, I think it'll be great. I was actually thinking the other day about how it would probably happen eventually," Rory replied. "I just didn't think it would happen so soon. But really, I'm happy about it, I promise."

Lorelai let out a small sigh of relief. "Geez, don't do that to me! I thought you were gonna get all freaked out and run away to live with your Dad or something."

Rory laughed. "No, I'm fine with it." She paused and let out a small laugh. "Oh boy, I'm sure Dean'll love the fact that I'll be living with Jess."

Lorelai grimaced. "Ooh, that's right. They're not exactly big fans of each other, huh?"

"No, they're not," Rory replied. "But Dean's been starting to lay off the whole jealousy thing now that Jess has a girlfriend."

Lorelai's eyes widened. "He does? I didn't know that. Hold on." She lowered the phone and looked at Luke. "Did you know that Jess has a girlfriend?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, some girl he works with."

Lorelai frowned. "I'm the last to know everything." She put the phone back up to her ear. "Hon? So. . .you're perfectly fine with this?"

"Perfectly fine, Mom," Rory assured her.

"Okay, good," Lorelai said, relieved. "So, call me tomorrow night, okay?"

"I will," Rory replied. "Bye Mom, love you."

"Love you too," Lorelai replied. "Bye." Lorelai smiled as she hung up the phone and placed it on the nightstand. She turned to Luke and kissed him, then snuggled up against him.

He pulled the covers over them and said, "So she's okay with it?"

"She's perfectly fine," Lorelai said, closing her eyes.

Luke paused for a moment. "And you're sure you're okay with it?" he asked. "You didn't rush into this decision, right?"

Lorelai opened her eyes and lifted her head up to look at him. "No, I've thought about it all day long. I definitely didn't rush into it," she assured him. "I promise you that I'm ready."

Luke smiled at her. "Good. So am I." He kissed her, then she rested her head back against his chest and closed her eyes. Luke sighed softly and kissed the top of her head before he leaned back against the pillow and closed his eyes.

PART 21

When Lorelai woke up the next morning, she was on her side with Luke's arm draped over her from behind. She craned her neck back to look at him. Seeing that he was still asleep, she quietly slipped out from under him and climbed off the bed. He stirred in his sleep, but his eyes remained closed. She grabbed some clothes from the bureau and walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

Half an hour later, she walked out of the bathroom and found Luke sitting up in bed talking on her cell phone. She gasped. "Oh my God - you do know that's a cell phone, don't you?" She walked over and sat next to him.

He smiled and nodded as he kept talking into the phone. "Yeah, just pick up enough to get you through today and I'll order a bigger shipment when I get back . . . Yeah . . . Jess is doing okay? . . . He's been helping out, right? . . . . Oh, good. . . Yeah, I'll be home tomorrow. . . Good, thanks. . . Bye. . ." Luke flipped the phone shut and placed it back on the nightstand.

"Who was that - Caesar?" Lorelai asked.

Luke yawned and nodded. "Mmhmm. I wanted to check up on things, make sure the place hadn't burned down or anything. Took me ten minutes to figure out how to use the stupid phone."

Lorelai smiled. "So, the diner's still standing?"

"Yup," he replied. "And Jess has actually been showing up for all of his shifts."

Lorelai's eyes widened slightly with surprise. "Wow, impressive."

Luke nodded. "Yup." He stood up and stretched, then walked slowly toward the bathroom. "I'm gonna take a shower."

"Okay," Lorelai replied. She walked over to her duffel bag and pulled out a couple of magazines, then sat on the couch and started reading through them.

Twenty minutes later, Luke walked out of the bathroom with one towel wrapped around his waist and another draped over his shoulders. He walked over to the bureau and pulled open a drawer.

Lorelai looked up from her magazine. "Hey Luke?"

He pushed the drawer shut and pulled open another one. He started rummaging through it looking for his black T-shirt. "Huh?" he answered, looking into the drawer.

"I was just reading about this recent male survey thing they did and I wanna see if you fall into the majority," Lorelai said.

Finally finding his shirt, he pulled it out and shut the drawer, then turned to look at her. "What is it?"

She looked down at the magazine and read, "Putting an end to the myth that bigger is better, the majority of men surveyed said that they prefer women with medium-sized breasts." She looked up at Luke and raised her eyebrows. "Are you in the majority?"

Luke rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

Lorelai gasped. "Wrong answer! The correct answer is, 'No, Lorelai, I love your voluptuous breasts and those are the only breasts I ever think about, so you shouldn't classify me with the other men in society who only see breasts as objects'." Lorelai shook her head disappointingly at him.

Luke smirked. "You didn't let me finish - I was just about to add that."

Lorelai giggled and looked back at the magazine. She read a few more sentences to herself, then she scoffed loudly. "Oh my God, listen to this. The survey says that three out of four men would rather be with a woman with cancer than one who has fat thighs." She looked at Luke and frowned. "You're all pigs."

Luke laughed. "Excuse me, three out of four men - not all men. I'm guy number four."

Lorelai wrinkled her nose. "Hmph, you better be."

"Why does it matter? You have great thighs," Luke pointed out.

"Well, now I do, but you never know what could happen in the future," Lorelai said, wagging her finger at him. "And you better not be one of those guys who dumps a girl the minute she gains a pound."

"Hey, the way you eat, I'm already prepared for you to gain fifty pounds," he said.

She scoffed. "Hey, now, watch it. Commenting on a lady's eating habits is never appropriate. I'm sure it says that in here somewhere." She looked down at the magazine and started turning the pages.

He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Okay, are we done with this conversation? Can I get dressed sometime today?"

She waved him off without looking up from her magazine. "Sure, go ahead."

"Thank you," he muttered. He grabbed some more clothes and walked back into the bathroom. He walked out a few minutes later. He sat on the bed and pulled on his shoes, then stood up and said, "Okay, ready to go?"

She dropped her magazine on the couch and stood up. "Hi, I've been ready to go for like an hour," she said with an exasperated sigh.

He rolled his eyes as he walked toward the door. "You have not. Come on."

She walked right past him. "Wait, I have to do my hair and makeup."

His hand on the doorknob already, Luke groaned. "What? You just said that you've been ready to go for an hour."

She turned around. "Yes, but I meant that in the sense that I was emotionally and psychologically ready to go, but not in the sense that I'm physically ready to go," Lorelai explained. "There are many facets to being ready, Luke. You know, sometimes you might be ready to - "

"Okay, okay," Luke interrupted, holding up a hand for her to stop. "Just go get ready and then you can finish this highly interesting explanation about the different stages of readiness while we're eating breakfast." He pointed to the bathroom. "Go, I'm hungry."

She made a face at him before she turned around and walked into the bathroom. Luke walked over to the couch and sat down with a sigh. He noticed her pile of magazines next to him on the couch. He glanced toward the bathroom to see if she was looking, then quietly picked one up and started flipping through it.

Several minutes later, Lorelai walked out of the bathroom. She stopped abruptly in her tracks when she saw Luke intently reading her Cosmo. "See anything good?" she asked with a laugh.

Startled, Luke jumped. He immediately dropped the magazine onto the couch and stood up. "Geez, don't do that," he grumbled.

She walked toward him, smiling. "What were you reading?"

He shrugged. "Just skimming some articles."

"Mmhmm," she said, smiling. "Perhaps the one called 'Ten Ways Men Drive Women Wild in Bed'? Ooh, or the one called 'Does Size Really Matter?' Either one of those catch your eye?" She ran her hands over his chest and kissed his cheek.

Luke blushed slightly. "Uh, nope, didn't see either of those," he replied quickly. "Ready to go?" He walked over to the door and pulled it open. Lorelai smiled to herself as she grabbed her purse and followed him out into the hallway.

After they had eaten breakfast, they walked out of the lounge and wandered down to the lobby. Lorelai looked out one of the large picture windows and said, "It looks nice out."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, it does. Let's sit outside for a little while."

"Ooh, you mean we can find a nice spot on the grass and lay on our backs and stare up at the sky and try to make shapes out of the clouds?" she asked excitedly.

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "Uh, no, I mean we can sit up straight on that bench right there on the shaded patio," he said, pointing to the white cushioned bench on the other side of the window.

Lorelai pouted, then she sighed. "Are you sure I can't convince you to sit on the grass?"

"We're not sitting on the grass," Luke said sternly, taking her hand. He led her out the door and they walked across the patio over to the bench. Luke sat down first, and Lorelai sat next to him, slumping down so that she could comfortably lean her head against his chest. Lorelai rested her hands on her stomach as Luke stroked her arm.

Lorelai glanced around at the other people on the patio. "Hey," Lorelai whispered. "What do you think that guy in the light blue shirt does for a living?"

Luke looked around nonchalantly until he spotted who she was talking about. He was an older man sitting at a small patio table with a newspaper spread out in front of him while he talked on his cell phone. "Hmm. . . accountant?" Luke suggested.

Lorelai stared at the man for a second. "Possibly. He looks like he's good with numbers."

Luke let out a small laugh. "How can you possibly tell that just by looking at him?"

"Trust me, I can just tell these things," Lorelai replied. "Hmm. What do you think his name is?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "I have no idea."

"I think he looks like. . . a John," Lorelai said. "Yeah, definitely a John."

"Okay, John it is, then," Luke said. "Looks like John's getting some company."

Lorelai watched as a woman walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then sat down next to him at the table. Lorelai gasped. "Oh God, she's like one-third of his age."

"Maybe it's his daughter," Luke suggested.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "You don't bring your daughter to a place this fancy." She stared at the couple for several seconds. "Oh, I know!" she whispered loudly. "I have it all figured it out."

Luke smiled. "Oh yeah?"

"Yup! Okay, John is a married financial planner on a business trip, and that woman. . .who looks like a Kate. . .is not only his personal secretary, but also his mistress," she said, nodding enthusiastically. "That's it, that's definitely it. I'm good."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Yes, you know everything." He stared at the couple for a few seconds. "Okay, so now explain why she looks upset."

Lorelai scoffed. "Isn't is obvious? She just realized that this business trip is the last time that they're going to be together because he's leaving the country tomorrow with all the money he absconded from his clients last week and she can't go with him because she has to take care of her sick mother."

Luke laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't pick up on that. My mistake."

Lorelai giggled. "It's okay, you don't have the gift like me." She glanced around the patio. "John and Kate are boring me now. We need new people to talk about."

Luke glanced around. "What about those two by the big fern? I saw them in the gym yesterday."

Lorelai scanned the patio for the fern, then raised her eyebrows when she saw the couple he was referring to. "Wow, they're younger than most people here. How old do you think they are - like twenty-four?"

Luke shrugged. "I guess."

Lorelai eyed them curiously. "Wow, they're both really buff," she remarked. "Look at the size of his arms. . . and those thighs." She stared at him for a few more seconds. "Wow, his chest is just. . . hmm."

Luke waved a hand in front of her face. "Hi, are you done drooling over Arnold Schwarzenegger over there?"

"I'm not drooling," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm merely commenting on his physique. Trust me, I don't find him attractive at all."

"Really?" Luke asked, surprised. "But you love muscles."

"I do love muscles," she said, turning to look at him. "But it's not like you can just stick muscles on some random guy and I'll automatically find him physically attractive. He has to be cute, too. You know, like you. You've got the sexy muscles, but you've also got the adorable face and nice butt."

Luke smiled. "So I'm told."

Lorelai laughed and turned around to look back at the young couple. "But that guy - he sorta has like a freaky looking Greg Brady head on top of a Sylvester Stallone body. It's just not working for me," she said, shaking her head.

"Good."

Lorelai glanced around the patio. "Do you think there's someone out here talking about us like we're doing to other people?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. What do you think they would say?"

"I don't know," Lorelai replied. "That we're. . . uh. . .we don't. . ." She paused. "Nope, sorry, there's nothing bad about us." She shrugged, then smiled and said, "Maybe they'd talk about how perfect we look together."

Luke smiled. "Maybe," he agreed, nodding his head. He kissed her before she turned back around and rested her head against his shoulder. They sat outside talking for a few more minutes, making plans for the rest of the day.

A few hours later, having just used the sauna, they returned to their room and changed.

As Lorelai brushed her hair near the bed, Luke flipped through the brochure of things to do in the area. "Hey, how 'bout we drive to the aquarium?" Luke suggested.

Lorelai narrowed her eyes as she walked over to him. "The aquarium?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

Luke put the brochure back on the desk. "Yeah. We don't have to stay long. It's just something to get us out of the hotel for a little while," Luke said. He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her close against his body.

Lorelai shrugged. "Sure, I don't care." She picked a piece of fuzz off of his shoulder and dropped it to the floor.

"And even if you don't like the animal part, they'll probably have junk food there to keep you content," Luke said, rolling his eyes.

Lorelai smiled. "Oh, you sold me." She kissed him, then wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

Two hours later, they sat at a small table in the café of the aquarium. Lorelai was eating her second slice of pizza as Luke ate a sandwich. Lorelai took a sip of her soda and said, "Man, that was a lot of walking. I'm still tired."

"Yes, I know," Luke said, rolling his eyes. "You've reminded me every two minutes since we got here of how much you hate to walk."

She frowned. "And you didn't even offer to carry me on your back." She took a bite of pizza before she asked, "So how come you don't look exhausted?"

Luke let out a small laugh. "Because, unlike you, the laziest woman in Connecticut, I'm used to having some physical activity in my life."

Lorelai stuck her tongue out at him. "Hey, I have plenty of physical activity in my life."

He rolled his eyes. "Activity that doesn't involve a bed?"

Lorelai thought for a moment, then said, "Um, no, not really."

Luke smirked. "See?" He took a sip of his water and said, "So, this wasn't bad right? It was kinda fun."

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it was nice. I liked the penguins."

Luke smiled. "I could tell by the way you gave them all new names."

Lorelai laughed. "Well, the aquarium people gave them all stupid names. That one penguin did not look like a Mikey. Who names a penguin Mikey?" She shook her head in disbelief. "That one definitely looked more like a Howard."

"They all look exactly the same, so if one looks like a Howard, they all look like a Howard," Luke said.

Lorelai gasped. "That's not true! They're all unique. If I give birth to identical twins, I'm not gonna give them the same name just because they look alike."

Luke nodded, then took a sip of water. He paused a moment, then asked, "You meant that hypothetically, right?"

Confused, Lorelai narrowed her eyes at him. "Meant what?"

"The. . .you giving birth part," he replied. "You were just using that as an example, right?"

Lorelai laughed. "Man, look at you getting all nervous!" She took a sip of soda before she nodded and said, "Yes, that was purely a hypothetical scenario."

Luke nodded and placed the last bite of his sandwich in his mouth. After he finished it, he wiped his lips with a napkin and said, "So you know what I was thinking about for dinner?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, what?"

"Foxwoods," he replied.

Lorelai's eyes widened. "Wow, really?"

Luke nodded. "I was flipping through the brochure earlier and they have a lot of different places to eat there. And they have a bunch of different entertainment type things, like a night club with musical and comedy acts and stuff."

Lorelai shook her head and let out a laugh. "That's so not you. I can't picture you in a night club atmosphere at all."

Luke groaned. "Trust me, neither can I. But we might as well check it out while we're here."

Lorelai rubbed her hands together excitedly. "And then we can go gambling!"

Luke narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "No gambling," he said sternly.

Lorelai frowned. "Why?"

Luke's eyes widened and he leaned toward her. "Why? Because it's a waste of money, for one. Do you have any idea how many problems in society are caused by gambling? Do you know how many people in this country are in debt because of gambling addictions? Do you know how much money taxpayers pay each year because casinos -"

Lorelai held up her hand. "Okay, okay, I got it. Stop now before the anti- gambling rant goes any further."

Luke leaned back against his chair. "We'll go there, get some dinner, maybe catch a show, that's it."

Lorelai shook her head slightly. "I don't know, Luke. It sounds like you're going against your own rant. You know, by eating there and participating in other entertainment activities there, you're contributing to the casino's profits," she pointed out. "You're helping this evil casino become more stable so that it can live on forever and ever and destroy all of society as we know it."

Luke rolled his eyes and exhaled loudly. "Do you wanna go?"

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

That evening, they were driving from the casino back to the hotel. Lorelai pulled a container of Tic-Tac's from her purse and popped a couple into her mouth. She held it out to Luke. "Want some?"

He shook his head. "No, thanks. So, uh, that food was good, huh?"

"Yeah, very good," Lorelai agreed. "So was the wine."

"And that comedian. . . he was pretty funny, huh?" Luke said, giving her a sideways glance.

Lorelai smiled. "Yeah, he was, but did you see that freaky thing he kept doing with his head, though?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"He kept moving his head around every time he made a joke," Lorelai said, imitating him. "He was like a bobble head doll."

Luke was quiet for a moment, then he exhaled loudly. "Do you always have to make fun of people?"

Lorelai was surprised. "What?" she asked, turning to look at him

Luke kept his eyes on the road as he spoke. "I mean, the guy tonight was funny, but instead of just saying, 'Yeah, he was funny', you have to point out something negative about him. You just always seem to find something wrong with everyone."

Lorelai scoffed. "I do not!" she said, taking offense.

"Oh no?" Luke said. "What about when we were in the elevator earlier and that lady told you she liked your purse? She was being polite to you but as soon as she got off, you made fun of her hair."

"It looked like a ratty old mop!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"But you didn't have to say that!" Luke retorted. "You could've just thought it to yourself. And what about at breakfast when you commented about that guy's outfit not matching?"

"Well, it didn't," Lorelai said.

"And don't get me started about all the people you picked on at the aquarium," Luke said.

"Ugh!" Lorelai groaned, clenching her fists tightly. "Stop already!"

"And out on the patio when you were talking about all those people," Luke continued.

"What?" Lorelai exclaimed. "You were talking about those people too! Don't deny that!"

"I'm not denying that, but my point is that you do it all the time," Luke said. "You should try not to be so judgmental."

Lorelai glared at him for a second before she huffed loudly. "Whatever," she muttered.

"Look, it was just an observation. I didn't want to start a fight," Luke said, staring straight ahead.

"Yeah, well, you did," Lorelai snapped. She folded her arms across her chest and looked out the passenger window. Luke sighed loudly and they drove back to the hotel in silence.

They entered their hotel room and Lorelai walked directly into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Luke removed his suit jacket and hung it up, then took off his shoes and socks. He took off his pants, and as he draped them over the armchair, Lorelai walked out of the bathroom now wearing her robe. Luke watched her as she hung up her dress in the closet, then walked over to the couch and sat down. She turned on the television and started flipping through the channels. Now wearing just his T-shirt and boxers, Luke walked into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, he came out of the bathroom and slowly walked over to the couch. He sat down next to her, and she continued to stare straight ahead at the television. Luke reached over and gently slid the remote out of her grip, and she let him without putting up a fight. He turned off the television and turned to face her as she sighed and folded her arms across her chest.

Luke stared at her for a moment before he spoke. "I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't bringing it up to be mean. I was just making a point. I mean, you always seem to point out other people's faults, and . . . you know, there's probably some sort of reason behind that."

"Oh God, you're a psychiatrist now? You're Dr. Frasier Crane?" Lorelai asked, rolling her eyes.

"No, I'm not," Luke replied. "I'm a guy who's wondering why you have the constant need to mock people so much. I think you do it because you want to feel better about yourself."

Lorelai scoffed. "I do not! I do it because . . .because. . ." Her voice trailed off.

"Because. . ." he prompted her.

She stared at him for several seconds with pursed lips. Finally, she sighed and said, "I don't know why, okay? Maybe it is for that reason - I don't know."

"Okay, let's forget it. It's no big deal. Sorry for bringing it up," Luke said.

Lorelai let out a long sigh. "Mocking people is like second nature to me. I'm just so used to doing it that I don't realize I'm doing it," she said with a shrug.

Luke took one of her hands into his and stroked it with his thumb. "I know - which is why you're probably gonna keep doing it for the rest of your life," he said, smiling.

She smiled. "Probably, but now I'll be more conscious of it and maybe once in awhile, I'll feel bad about it."

He shook his head. "Probably not."

She smiled and shrugged. "It could happen. I'm sure there's at least one ounce of kindness in me that might feel guilty about making fun of someone. . . someday."

"Well, that's a good goal to have," Luke said, nodding. He ran his hand up and down her thigh. "So. . .we're good now?"

She smiled. "We're good." She leaned back against the arm of the couch and pulled him on top of her. He kissed her hungrily, darting his tongue into her mouth with an aggression that made a surge of arousal shoot through her body. He untied her robe and smiled when he discovered there was nothing underneath, then pulled her up off the couch and led her to the bed.

Not long after, Lorelai collapsed on top of Luke, resting for several seconds before she finally rolled off of him. "Oh. . .my. . .God," Lorelai panted. "Is it just me or was that ten times better than usual?"

Breathing heavy, Luke replied, "It wasn't just you." He breathed heavy for a few seconds, then added, "Think about it - you know why it was so good."

Lorelai brushed her hair out of her eyes and thought for a moment, then turned and smiled at Luke. "Ah, we had a fight," she said knowingly.

Luke smiled and nodded. They were silent for a few moments as they caught their breaths, then Luke stood up and walked over to the couch. He picked up a magazine from the end table and brought it back to the bed. He placed it on her chest and said, "Page forty-six, third paragraph."

Lorelai looked at him curiously, then picked up the magazine and found the page. She read the third paragraph, letting out a loud gasp as she finished it. She lowered the magazine and stared at Luke with wide eyes. "Oh my God, Luke Danes, you set me up!" she exclaimed with a laugh.

Luke smiled. "I was just following directions."

She brought the magazine back up and read the third paragraph aloud. "Remember, it's a well-known fact that makeup sex is always spectacular, so if you don't mind being the bad guy for a little while, bring up a topic you know will start an argument. However, keep in mind, it must be something that will be easily resolved or you might end up on the couch instead." Lorelai lowered the magazine and laughed. "Oh my God! I can't believe this was all a setup!"

"Good, huh?" Luke asked with a sly smile.

She smacked his shoulder with the magazine. "You took advice from Cosmo?"

He smiled. "Hey, it was good advice, was it not?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, it was." She paused and thought for a moment. "You knew that I'd say something about that guy's bobbling head, didn't you?"

Luke smiled. "You're very predictable sometimes."

She shook her head slightly and smiled. "Then you added all that other stuff in to start a fight. Wow, I'm giving you much deserved credit - you usually suck at lying."

"Well, it helped that it was dark in the car so you couldn't see my nervous face," Luke said.

Lorelai smiled. "So, does this mean that you don't think I make fun of people too much?"

He shook his head. "No, you definitely do, but as long as it's not me, I don't really care."

Lorelai laughed. "Good to know." She smacked him playfully and added, "You know, you had me upset there for awhile. That was kinda mean."

He nodded. "I know, sorry. You'll have to blame Cosmo for that."

"You're lucky that I wasn't in a fighting mood tonight, Luke," Lorelai informed him. "This plan could've backfired right in your face and I could've given you the silent treatment all night. You know, I can be really stubborn sometimes."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Luke said sarcastically.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Ha ha." She smiled and pushed him down so he was lying on his back, then climbed on top of him and straddled his stomach. She leaned down and kissed him, then pulled back and said, "So, we have to go home tomorrow." She leaned down and kissed him again.

As she pulled away from him, he said, "Yes, we do."

She ran her hands over his chest as she said, "There's pretty much two options for tonight."

Luke ran his hands up and down her thighs. "Two options?"

"Uh huh. We can either go to bed right now," she said, leaning down to kiss him again. She pulled back from his lips and ran her tongue down his chest to his stomach. She sat back up and raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Or we can try to set a new Guinness World Record for the most sex in one night."

Luke smiled. "Hmm, I'll go with option two." He pulled her body close to his and rolled them over so that he was on top of her. He kissed her deeply before he pulled back and said, "Oh, unless you wanted option number one." She smiled and shook her head, then pressed her lips tightly against his.

The next morning, Luke gently rubbed Lorelai's back to wake her up. "Lorelai," he said softly. "Lorelai, wake up."

She groaned and buried her face in the pillow. "Leave me alone," she mumbled.

Luke put his hand on her shoulder and shook her lightly. "Come on, get up."

Lorelai lifted her head to look at the clock. "Luke, are you crazy? We just went to bed like three hours ago!" she exclaimed in a loud whisper. She put her head back down and closed her eyes.

"We still have to pack," Luke reminded her. "We have to be out of here by eleven."

"Fine, you go pack, call me when you're done," she muttered, pulling the blanket around her tightly.

"I'm not packing your stuff, I have my own things to pack," Luke said. "Now get up, you can sleep on the car ride home."

Lorelai groaned into her pillow and mumbled, "I don't wanna go home. I love it here."

"Yeah, well, if we spend one more day here I'll have to sell a kidney on the black market to pay for it," Luke replied. "Come on, get up." Lorelai continued to ignore his requests. Luke sighed and stared at her for a moment, thinking. Finally, he smiled and said, "If you wanna see Rory today, you'll have to get up and go home."

Lorelai opened her eyes and smiled to herself as she slowly lifted her head up from the pillow. She yawned as she sat up in the bed. "Good point. I'm up." She shivered and pulled the covers up over her arms. "Geez, it's always cold in here."

Luke climbed off the bed and walked over to the couch. He picked up Lorelai's robe and tossed it to her. "Here."

"Thanks." She pulled it on, then leaned against the headboard and closed her eyes.

Luke sighed as he walked over to the bed and grabbed her hand. "Come on, you're falling back asleep." He pulled her off the bed and led her to the bathroom. He gave her a little push through the door and said, "There, go take a shower. It'll wake you up."

She yawned and rubbed her eyes. "No, coffee will wake me up." She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.

Luke sighed. "Look, you get in the shower and I'll go get us some breakfast."

Lorelai opened her eyes. "With coffee?" she asked excitedly.

"With coffee," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

Lorelai grinned. "Thank you."

After her shower, Lorelai walked out of the bathroom and found that Luke had spread some of the suitcases open on the bed and had started packing. Lorelai walked over to him and hugged him from behind. She nuzzled her nose against his neck and said, "Mm, you smell good."

Luke pointed to the table. "I think that's the coffee and muffins you smell."

Lorelai's eyes widened as she glanced at the table. "Ooh!" she exclaimed. She walked over and took a long sip of coffee. "Mmm, that's good." She glanced at the three large muffins and laughed. "Are these all for me?"

"Yup," he said. "I already ate a bagel." He grabbed a pile of clothes from the bed. "I'm gonna go take a shower. As soon as you're done eating, start packing. We only have an hour and a half." He walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Lorelai sat at the table and ate two of the muffins. She finished up the coffee, then got dressed before she started packing. When Luke walked out of the bathroom, he nodded approvingly at her almost-filled suitcases. "Good job. I'm impressed."

She smiled. "What, you didn't think I knew how to pack?"

"No, I didn't think you knew how to follow directions," he replied.

"Yeah, I have problems with that sometimes," Lorelai said. "That's why I failed kindergarten." She tossed a pile of shirts into a suitcase, then grabbed her duffel bag and walked into the bathroom to collect her toiletries.

An hour later, they called for a concierge, who brought up a cart for their luggage. He helped them load it up, then rolled it out into the hallway to wait for them.

Luke and Lorelai took one final walk through the hotel room, making sure that nothing had been forgotten. "I think we have everything," Luke said.

"Yup, all clear in there," Lorelai said, walking out of the bathroom.

They stood at the foot of the bed. Luke pulled her into a hug and she brought her arms up around his waist and hugged him back tightly.

After several seconds, Lorelai pulled back and smiled at him. "This was the most incredible weekend," she said quietly. "Really, everything was perfect. Thank you."

Luke smiled and kissed her. "You're welcome."

Lorelai leaned her forehead against his. "I love you," she said.

He brushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes and smiled at her. "I love you, too." They kissed passionately before he took her hand and led her out of the room.

PART 22

They went down to the front desk to check out, then Lorelai and the concierge waited outside by the entrance as Luke brought the car around. The men loaded the luggage into the trunk, and Lorelai watched from inside the Jeep as Luke tipped the concierge and climbed into the driver's seat.

Lorelai stared up at the hotel as they drove through the parking lot. As they turned onto the road, she leaned back against her seat with a loud sigh. "I miss Harold already."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you named the bed."

"He was a good bed," Lorelai said. "I bet he misses us, too. I bet when he's hanging out with his bed friends later, he's gonna brag about how lucky he was to have had such a hot couple."

"Mmhmm," Luke muttered.

"Uh huh." Lorelai nodded. "But they might not believe him. We should've left a picture of us under the mattress so he had proof."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Well, next time we'll try to get the same room so we can give him a picture."

Lorelai turned to him and smiled. "Next time?"

Luke shrugged. "Yeah. Might be nice to make this. . . a yearly thing or something."

Lorelai smiled. "Sounds good." She stared out the window. "Are you sure you know how to get home?"

"Yes, I know how," Luke assured her. "Take a nap or something."

"Nah, I'm not tired anymore," Lorelai said. She reached down and turned on the radio.

Luke groaned. "You know I hate having the radio on when I'm driving."

"Uh, no you don't," Lorelai told him, narrowing her eyes at him.

Luke let out a small laugh. "Oh, I don't?"

"No, because I love having the radio on when I'm driving, and you love me, so that means that you love having the radio on when you're driving. It's a chain reaction," Lorelai explained as she flipped through the stations.

Luke exhaled loudly. "Right," he muttered.

She skimmed through several stations, then groaned. "Nothing good's on." As she turned it off, Luke smiled to himself. Lorelai noticed and raised her eyebrows. "I see your proud little smile. You think you won."

"I did win," he said.

"No, you didn't," Lorelai replied, shaking her head. "I didn't turn it off because you don't like it, I turned it off because there's nothing on. That doesn't mean you won."

"Okay, fine, no one won," Luke said. Lorelai stared at him for a moment, a small smirk on her face. He glanced over at her and shrugged. "What?"

"You still think you won," Lorelai said knowingly.

Luke smiled as he stared straight ahead. "Do not."

Lorelai let out a small laugh. "You know, we're defying the odds by being together. Two people as competitive and stubborn as us - it's surprising that we've gone this long without killing each other."

"Yeah, well, we've had a long time to get used to each other," Luke pointed out.

"True," Lorelai agreed. "If we were two random strangers and we got set up with each other on Change of Heart or something, then it wouldn't have worked out."

"Change of Heart?" Luke asked, confused.

"Forget it," she replied, waving him off. "I think I'm the only one who's ever watched that show. The point is. . . " She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "That it's a good thing we knew each other so well before we went out."

"Yup," Luke said, nodding. Lorelai rested back against her seat and stared out the passenger window. They drove for a few more seconds before Luke said, "Uh, Lorelai?"

She turned and looked at him. "Hm?"

Luke bit his lip momentarily before he asked, "Did we pass the turnoff for the highway?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes and pulled the map out of the glove compartment.

They pulled up to Lorelai's house slightly before one o'clock. Luke turned off the engine and they sat for a few minutes talking in the Jeep.

"The archway looks nice with the plants and stuff on it," Luke said, gesturing to the chuppa.

Lorelai looked at it and smiled. "Yeah, it does."

"So, now, did you name all of the animals or just some of them?" Luke asked.

"All of them," Lorelai replied, smiling. "Wanna know their names?"

Luke smiled and shook his head. "No thanks, but explain this to me - you told me awhile ago that you're not good at naming things, but you seem to have a name for every object known to man."

Lorelai shook her head. "That's not true. I don't name everything."

"Hm, let's see," Luke said, ticking them off on his fingers. "Cars, animals, strangers, beds, appliances, toolboxes."

Lorelai leaned toward him so that her lips were only inches from his. She smiled and said, "You forgot body parts."

Luke smiled and nodded. "Oh yeah, can't forget that one."

Lorelai giggled and ran her hand over Luke's denim-covered thigh. "How is Chester?"

"He's, uh, very satisfied," Luke said, smiling.

"Good, I'm glad," Lorelai said. She pressed her lips against his as she brought her hands up to his face and ran her fingers over the stubble on his cheeks.

Seconds later, they stepped out of the car and opened the trunk. Luke took out Lorelai's garment bag and handed it to her, then took out her duffel bag and one of her suitcases. They walked up the front porch, and Luke unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"I'm home!" Lorelai called as she walked into the house.

Luke followed her inside. "Who are you talking to?"

Lorelai scoffed as if it was obvious. "The house. It probably missed me."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Of course." He put the luggage by the stairs and walked back out to get her other suitcase. Lorelai pushed play on the answering machine and listened to her messages, and Luke returned just as she was deleting them. "Anyone good?" he asked.

"Not really," Lorelai said. "Unless you count the one from my mother saying that she hates machines."

Luke let out a small laugh. "That's it? That's all she said?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yup. 'Lorelai, I hate talking to this stupid machine.' That was the whole message," she said with a shrug. She walked over to the desk and turned on the lamp as Luke started carrying one of the suitcases up the steps. "Aw, that's okay, I can get that," Lorelai said.

"No, it's heavy, I got it," Luke said, continuing up the staircase.

Lorelai grabbed her garment bag and followed him up to her bedroom. "I'll take my dresses out of here so you can take your suit home."

"Thanks." Luke put the suitcase on her bed and walked down to get the other one. Lorelai removed her dresses from the overstuffed garment bag and tossed them on her chair, then zipped the bag back up. Luke returned with her other suitcase and set it by the door. "There you go."

"Great, thanks," Lorelai replied. She held out the garment bag. "Here's your suit."

Luke took it from her. "Thanks."

They walked downstairs and to the front door. As Luke pulled it open, he pulled her keys from his pocket and held them up. "I was just gonna take the Jeep home since all my stuff's in it anyway. Is that okay?"

Lorelai nodded. "Absolutely. I'll pick it up later."

"Okay," Luke replied. He kissed her. "See you later."

"Mmkay," she replied. He started to walk away, but Lorelai reached out and grabbed his arm. Luke turned around, a surprised look on his face. Lorelai stepped up to him and kissed him deeply, running her fingers through his hair. She smiled through the kiss and said, "Thank you."

Luke smiled. "You're welcome. Bye."

"Bye," Lorelai replied. Lorelai smiled to herself as she watched him walk across the lawn and climb into the Jeep. He gave her a small wave as he pulled away, and Lorelai slowly shut the front door.

Several hours later, Lorelai sat on the couch reading, glancing at the clock every few minutes as she waited for Rory to come home.

When she finally heard a car outside, she jumped up off the couch. She ran to the front door and pulled it open, smiling excitedly when she saw the Volvo parked out front.

Rory climbed out of the passenger seat, her eyes lighting up when she saw Lorelai. "Mom!" She walked quickly toward the porch.

Lorelai ran towards Rory and threw her arms around her. "Oh my God, you're never going anywhere ever again! We are going out tomorrow and getting permanently attached at the hip."

Rory laughed as she hugged her back tightly. "We didn't think you were home yet. Where's the car?"

"Luke has it," Lorelai replied. They hugged for a few more seconds before they finally pulled apart. "Okay, let me look at you," Lorelai said. She stepped back and looked Rory up and down. "Uh huh, uh huh, okay, you look relatively normal."

Christopher had pulled Rory's bags out of the trunk and had walked over to them. "Relatively normal?" he asked with a small laugh.

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I can't be sure that she's completely normal until I do a few more tests later."

"Okay, just don't give her a drug test for a few more hours." Christopher winked at Rory. "Right, hon?"

Rory smiled. "Right." She picked up her duffel bag and started walking toward the front door.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Very funny," she said, turning to Christopher. "So where's Sherry?"

"She had some work to catch up on at home since she took Friday off," Christopher said.

"Work?" Lorelai asked. "Like, what - she has to test out the makeup or something?"

"Yeah, she sits in front of a mirror for hours at a time and just keeps slathering it on," Chris said. "The look's quite becoming."

"Huh," Lorelai said, smiling. "Sounds fun."

Christopher picked up Rory's suitcase and they walked into the house. They went to Rory's room where Rory was standing at the foot of her bed already unloading her duffel bag. She pulled a few books out of the bag and walked over to the bookshelf.

Lorelai gasped and turned to Christopher. "Oh my God, what is she doing?"

Christopher set the suitcase down near the bed. "Uh, it looks like she's unpacking."

Lorelai grabbed Rory's arm. "Stop that. Only freaks unpack the minute they walk through the door. Come tell me about your trip first," Lorelai said, pulling her into the kitchen. "What'd you do, what'd you see, what'd you eat, how many times did you have to ask people with Boston accents to repeat themselves?"

Christopher followed them into the kitchen. "Okay, I should get going before your mom starts asking questions like, how many times did you blink?"

Lorelai frowned. "Those questions don't come until the very end."

"Dad, why don't you stay a little while?" Rory asked. "You just drove for two hours, you don't wanna jump right back in the car, do you?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, Chris, stay. Have dinner with us, at least."

"Please Dad?" Rory asked hopefully.

Christopher shrugged. "I don't know, it's getting late."

Lorelai looked at the clock. "It's 5:30," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Come on, we'll go to Luke's." Rory and Lorelai walked to the front hallway.

Christopher trailed behind them, asking, "Luke won't mind?"

Lorelai turned around, a surprised look on her face. "What? Why would Luke mind?"

"Hey, more customers means more profit," Rory said as she stepped out onto the front porch.

Lorelai looked at Christopher curiously. "Why would Luke mind?" she repeated.

Christopher shrugged. "I don't know. Some people get jealous when their . . . significant others hang out with their exes."

Lorelai smirked. "Some people - like Sherry?"

Christopher shook his head. "No, Sherry's perfectly fine with me being here." They stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door shut behind them.

"So is Luke," Lorelai said. The three of them started walking across the yard. Rory walked a few feet ahead of them as they continued to talk.

"Good," he said. "I don't want him to flip out on me or something."

Lorelai laughed. "Oh my God, are you serious? The only way Luke would flip out on you is if you tried to attack us or kidnap us or something. Were you planning on doing that while you're here?"

"No, that's not on the agenda this time," Christopher replied, smiling.

Lorelai smiled and shrugged. "Then he's cool with it. You're Rory's dad, Chris - he's happy that you're spending time with her."

Christopher smirked. "He's Mr. Perfect, huh?"

"Nobody's perfect," Lorelai said, shaking her head. She paused a moment before she smiled and added, "But he comes pretty damn close." They increased their pace to catch up to Rory. "So, tell me about all about your trip!" Lorelai said excitedly, linking her arm through Rory's.

They pulled open the door to the diner and sat down at the table in front of the large picture window. When Rory and Christopher finished up their story about touring the Harvard libraries, Lorelai glanced over at the counter and saw Luke, who was facing away from them. She excused herself from the table, then walked behind the counter and tapped Luke on the shoulder.

He turned around and smiled when he saw who it was. "Hey."

Lorelai kissed his cheek. "Hey." She pointed toward her table. "Rory's home."

Luke glanced over at the table and smiled. "Good. Did she have a good time?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yup. We're gonna have dinner with Chris before he heads back. How's work so far?"

Luke shrugged. "Uneventful. Patty came in here looking for you earlier."

"Oh yeah?" Lorelai asked, smiling. "She probably just wants to hear about our weekend."

"Yeah, well, just summarize it for her. She doesn't need to know the details," Luke said.

Lorelai frowned. "Aw, but I already made a miniature model of the hotel, and I made little figures out of clay so that we can invite the entire town over and give them a full visual reenactment of the trip." She smiled as she leaned forward and said, "The clay figures have removable clothing."

Luke rolled his eyes. "No details," he repeated.

Lorelai smiled. "Fine, fine, no details."

"I'll be right over with coffee. Three?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded. "Yup." She walked back to the table. As she slid into her seat, she said, "Hey, did you guys go to the real Cheers?"

"Ooh, we went past it," Rory said excitedly. "It was so neat. We saw Cliff's mail truck parked out front."

Lorelai smiled. "Really? I hope you got a picture of that." Lorelai started drumming her hands on the table.

After several seconds, Christopher put his hands on top of hers and said, "Were you planning on doing that the entire time?"

Lorelai smirked. "No, I wasn't planning on it, but now that I know it bothers you, I think I will."

Christopher rolled his eyes and removed his hands from hers. Lorelai started drumming her hands on the table again, making Christopher groan with annoyance. A few seconds later, Luke walked over with their coffee. "Stop," he said, placing their mugs on the table.

Lorelai stopped and frowned. "You guys are no fun."

Christopher let out a small laugh. "Wow, finally someone who can make her listen. I didn't think I'd live to see the day." Lorelai made a face at him and took a sip of coffee.

Luke leaned slightly toward Christopher. "See, it's all in the tone of voice," he explained. "You have to be stern and tough, and you can't let her see that she's bothering you because that sadistic edge of hers comes out and she'll try to drive you crazy."

Christopher smiled and nodded. "I know what you mean. It's quite an annoying attribute she's got there."

Lorelai frowned. "I'm right here, you know. Hmph."

Luke stood back up and smiled at Rory. "Good to have you home."

"Thanks," Rory said, smiling up at him. "It's good to be back."

"You have a good time?" Luke asked.

"Yup, it was great," Rory said, nodding. "Dad said maybe I could come back and visit this summer."

Lorelai looked at Christopher. "Oh really?"

"Uh, you know, if it's okay with you," Christopher said.

Lorelai shrugged. "We'll see."

"What about you?" Rory asked. "Did you guys have fun?"

Luke gave a quick smile toward Lorelai and nodded. "Yeah, we did." He pulled out his order pad. "What'll you guys have?"

"Burger and fries," Lorelai replied quickly.

"Same," Rory said.

"Same," Christopher said.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Healthy family," he muttered, walking away.

Lorelai smiled, then she glanced out the window. "Honey, Dean's out there with some friends."

"Oh really?" Rory turned around to look. "I was gonna call him after we ate. I'm gonna go tell him I'm home," she said, standing up.

"You probably won't have to tell him. I think when he sees you walking out there, he'll figure it out," Christopher said.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Be right back." She walked out of the diner.

Lorelai took a sip of coffee and glanced toward Luke at the counter. She smiled to herself, then brought her gaze to Christopher, who was smiling at her with his arms folded across his chest. "What?"

Christopher shrugged and glanced over at Luke. "You spent the whole weekend with him and you're still talking to each other, so that must mean things are going well."

"They are," Lorelai said, nodding. "They're going very well."

Christopher took a sip of coffee. "I'm happy for you."

Lorelai tilted her head and smiled at him. "Thank you," she said. "Me too - I mean, I'm happy for you, too."

"Thanks," Christopher said. They smiled at each other as Rory walked back into the diner and sat down at the table.

As they finished eating, they continued to talk over coffee, sharing stories of both of their trips. After awhile, Lorelai glanced at the check, then picked up her purse and pulled out her wallet.

"No, I got it," Christopher said, pulling out his wallet. "Though I'm surprised you guys still pay for food here."

"Luke tries to give it to us for free, but mom refuses to let him," Rory explained.

"We're not indigent," she said, rolling her eyes. "There's no reason we shouldn't pay like everyone else."

Christopher looked at the check, then dropped some money on the table. "Okay, ready to go?"

Lorelai picked up the check and the money, then pointed to her Jeep through the window. "You guys go wait in the car. I'll get the keys from Luke and drive us home."

Christopher and Rory walked out of the diner as Lorelai walked up to the counter. Luke was talking with a customer at the other end, and she waited patiently for him to walk over to her.

When he did, Lorelai handed him the money. "We're gonna get going. Did you get your stuff out of the car?"

"Yeah, hold on." Luke put the money in the register, then reached into his pocket and pulled out her keys. "Here you go," he said, handing them to her.

"Thanks," she said.

"I'll call you later," Luke said.

"Mmkay." Lorelai leaned over the counter and kissed him. "Bye."

"Bye," Luke replied.

Twenty minutes later, Christopher had left and Rory had gone into her room to unpack. Despite it only being seven o'clock, Lorelai went upstairs and changed into her pajamas. She walked back down and wandered into Rory's room. "Need some help?"

"Sure," Rory said. She noticed the pajamas and smiled. "Tired already?"

"Nah, I just wanted to get more comfortable," Lorelai said. She pulled some perfectly-folded shirts out of Rory's suitcase. "Are these clean? They look clean."

"Everything's clean," Rory said. "Sherry washed everything for me this afternoon."

Lorelai, surprised, gave a sly smile. "Wow, check out her trying to be all Martha Stewart-ish with her guests." She stuffed the shirts into one of the drawers.

"Yeah, I sort of mentioned that we both hate doing laundry, so she offered to do it for me and I took her up on it," Rory said as she place two pairs of jeans into her pants drawer.

"You took her up on it?" Lorelai asked, surprised. "You never take people up on anything."

"Yeah, well, Sherry's very persistent," Rory said. "I sort of learned that it's easier to just take her up on things right away to save time."

"Smart girl," Lorelai said, smiling.

They unpacked for a few more minutes before Rory said, "You know, on the car ride home, Dad was asking me about Luke."

Lorelai was standing at the dresser, and she froze momentarily. She dropped the pile of socks she was holding into the drawer, then quickly turned around. "What did he say?"

"He was asking me what he was like, what I thought about him, stuff like that," Rory said, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"And. . ." Lorelai prompted. "What did you tell him?"

Rory shrugged. "That he's great. . .that I like him a lot."

Lorelai smiled. "Good, I'm glad. I mean, not just because you told him that, but that. . you feel that way."

Rory nodded and glanced down at her hands. She fidgeted for a moment before she sighed and said, "But it was really weird."

Lorelai narrowed her eyes. "How come? Because he was asking you a lot of questions?"

Rory shook her head. "No, because. . . I wanted to tell him how Luke has always been there for us and how he's always been around since I can remember, but. . ." Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip.

Lorelai nodded understandingly. "I get it."

Rory sighed softly. "I just. . .didn't want him to feel bad."

"I completely get it," Lorelai said, sitting down next to her on the bed.

"But, I mean. . .I feel like I know Luke better than I know Dad," Rory said. "I mean, lately things have been really great, how Dad's been calling and everything, but still. . ."

"But a part of you still remembers your old dad, the one who was hardly around for the first sixteen years?" Lorelai suggested.

Rory shrugged and stared down at the floor. "Kind of." She was silent for a moment before she said, "But I feel bad for thinking like that since he's been much better lately."

"I know he has," Lorelai said, nodding. "I'm really happy about that."

"Me too," Rory replied.

Lorelai put her arm around Rory's shoulder. "Rory, it's okay if you feel a little upset at your dad sometimes. I mean, even though we both love him and he's getting his life together now - it's still the truth that he hasn't always been the greatest role model, you know? It's not something we're being unreasonable about or making up - it's just. . .the truth. You know?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

"I mean, sometimes I'm even surprised that you're not . . . more upset with him," Lorelai said. "Most kids in your position wouldn't even give him the time of day. But that's what makes you special, that's what makes you the nicest kid in the world," she said, pinching her cheek.

"Okay, okay," Rory said, laughing as she pushed Lorelai's hand away. She leaned over and gave Lorelai a hug. As she pulled back, she said, "I told Dad that I've never seen you so happy."

Lorelai smiled. "Really?" Rory smiled and nodded. She walked over to her desk and turned on the computer. Lorelai stood up. "You probably have homework, huh?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah, I have some things to finish up."

"Okay, I'll be watching tv," Lorelai said. Lorelai started to walk toward the door, then she turned around, walked back to Rory, and hugged her tightly. "I missed you."

"Me too, Mom," Rory said, hugging her back.

Later that evening, Lorelai lay on the couch watching television as the phone rang. She pressed mute on the remote and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey," Luke said.

Lorelai smiled at the sound of his voice. "Hey. How was work?"

Luke groaned. "Long. Maybe it's because I hadn't been there in so long, but it just seemed to drag on forever."

Lorelai frowned. "Aww, I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," he replied.

"So, how did Jess make out this weekend? Did you get any complaints?" Lorelai asked.

"None so far," Luke replied, sounding surprised. "Caesar said he showed up when he was supposed to, he didn't cause any trouble, didn't get in the way."

"Wow," Lorelai said, sounding just as surprised. "Who woulda thought?"

"Not me," Luke replied. "I'm still waiting for Taylor to burst through the door and accuse him of doing something."

Lorelai smiled. "Hey, just appreciate it while it lasts. Who knows how long he'll be going through this Beaver Cleaver stage."

"Yeah, you're right," Luke said. "What about Rory? How was her trip?"

"Amazing," Lorelai replied. "She went on and on about her Harvard tour and about all the places they visited in the city and everything. She had a great time."

"Good, that's good. I'm glad she had fun," Luke said. "Did you call your mom?"

"Nah, I'll call her tomorrow," Lorelai replied. "No use ruining the end of the weekend."

"Good plan," Luke said, yawning.

"Aw, you should go to bed," Lorelai said.

Luke stifled another yawn. "Yeah, I think I will."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," Lorelai said. "Love you."

"Love you too," Luke replied. "Bye."

"Bye," Lorelai replied.

The next morning, Lorelai walked into the kitchen of the Independence Inn. "Sookie, Sookie, Sookie," she said in a singsong voice.

Sookie looked up from the menu she was writing out. "Hey!" she said excitedly. "Oh my God, you're here!"

Lorelai smiled. "Yes, I am." She walked over to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup.

Sookie rubbed her hands together. "I want all the details! How was it?"

Lorelai smiled. "I'm assuming you're talking about last night's episode of Alias, in which the hot guy was just as hot as ever. Man, sometimes I stare at him so hard I feel like I'm cheating on Luke."

Sookie rolled her eyes. "Okay, forget last night's Alias and tell me about your weekend!"

Lorelai walked over to her and leaned on the counter. "Ah, my weekend." She took a sip of coffee. "You know how some women aspire to have that perfect weekend getaway with their boyfriends but it never happens because something always goes wrong and it turns out awful? Well, I'm thinking about writing a book about my weekend to give other women hope that a nice weekend away with man is still possible." She smiled. "It was unbelievable, Sookie. It was absolutely perfect."

Sookie giggled and rubbed Lorelai's arm excitedly. "Aww! Okay, we are going out for lunch today and I want all the details!"

Lorelai nodded. "Okay."

"So, did you give any more thought to the whole moving in thing?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai smiled and took a sip of coffee.

Sookie narrowed her eyes. "What? What happened?" she asked anxiously.

"I told him yes," Lorelai said.

Sookie gasped and clasped a hand over her mouth. She squealed excitedly before she removed her hand and exclaimed, "No, you didn't!"

Lorelai laughed. "Yup, I did. I told him yes, but not until Rory's out of school. You know, so she doesn't have to deal with this whole new living arrangement thing while she's worrying about school work and stuff."

Sookie nodded. "Good idea."

"Yeah, it's gonna happen in a few months," Lorelai said.

Sookie's eyes widened and she hugged Lorelai tightly. "This is so huge! Lorelai, do you have any idea how huge this news is?"

Lorelai smiled. "Yes, I do, Sookie."

They pulled away from each other and Sookie asked, "What about Rory? Does she know?"

"Yeah, she's totally cool with it," Lorelai said, nodding.

"Good, good," Sookie said. "And Jess? How's he taking it?"

"I don't know," Lorelai said. "I don't know if Luke told him yet."

"Is that gonna be weird for you? I thought you guys don't get along," Sookie said.

Lorelai shrugged. "Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. It'll work out." Lorelai paused and smiled. "Sookie, Luke and I are gonna live together."

Sookie smiled. "I know! This is so exciting! Wait'll Miss Patty finds out about this!"

Lorelai winced. "Ooh, don't say anything to anyone yet, okay? Not until it's a little closer to happening."

"Sure, my lips are sealed," Sookie said, pretending to zip them closed.

"Thanks," Lorelai replied. "Ooh, hey, when do you wanna go wedding dress shopping?"

Sookie smiled. "Anytime. When are you free?"

"Anytime you want to me to be," Lorelai replied.

"Tomorrow after work?" Sookie asked.

"It's a date," Lorelai said. She picked up her coffee cup. "I gotta get back to the desk. Come get me when you're ready to go to lunch."

"Okay. See you later," Sookie said.

As Lorelai walked toward the door, Michel walked into the kitchen holding a single red rose at arm's length in front of him.

Lorelai stopped walking and narrowed her eyes at him. "You practicing to be a vase?"

"Take it, it's for you," Michel said dryly. "The skinny, dopey-looking man just delivered it."

Lorelai laughed. "Kirk?" she asked, taking the rose from him.

"I don't care what his name is," Michel replied. "Here, this came with it." He handed her a small sealed envelope and walked back into the lobby.

Lorelai turned to Sookie. "Hmm, wonder who this is from," she said, smiling. She set the rose and her coffee cup down on the counter.

"Come on, open it," Sookie said, clapping her hands together excitedly.

Lorelai opened the envelope and pulled out a small card. She read it to herself and laughed out loud. "Aww."

"What - what does it say?" Sookie asked, trying to look at it.

Lorelai giggled. "It says, 'Thanks for a perfect weekend. Love, Chester.'"

"Chester?" Sookie asked, narrowing her eyes.

"It's an inside joke," Lorelai explained, smiling. She picked up the rose and inhaled the scent, then picked up her coffee cup and walked into the lobby.

PART 23

As Lorelai reached the front desk, she lay the rose down next to her purse, then slipped the card into the pocket of her blazer. She pushed her hair behind her ears, then picked up a sheet of paper off the desk. She read over it, then turned to Michel with a confused look. "Michel, when is this from?"

Michel walked over to her and looked down at the paper she was holding. "That's the most recent inventory list. I printed it out a few minutes ago."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "But look at what it says." She pointed to the center of the page. "We're getting low on a bunch of things - soap, mints, cleaning supplies. I told you to order more of these last week."

"Yes, and I did. I sent the order on Friday morning," Michel said, sounding annoyed. "It's just not in the system because we haven't gotten the order confirmations yet."

"Oh," Lorelai said, nodding. "Got it, good, thanks. You can go now." She waved for him to go back to the computer. "And thanks for not being snooty, I appreciate that." Michel walked away with an annoyed huff, and Lorelai smiled to herself.

As she filed the inventory sheet into a binder, the phone rang. Lorelai glanced at Michel, who made no move to answer the phone. Lorelai sighed and answered it herself. "Independence Inn."

"Lorelai?" a voice asked.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Mom?"

"Didn't you get my message?" Emily asked haughtily.

"Yes, I did, Mom," Lorelai replied.

"Oh, and you couldn't give me the common courtesy of calling me back?" Emily asked.

"I was going to call you back later this morning, Mom. However, you have no justifiable right to be mad about me not calling you back immediately because in the message, you technically didn't ask me to call you back. All you said is that you hate machines," Lorelai pointed out.

"When someone calls you, they obviously want to talk to you. That means that you should always call them back to see what they wanted to talk to you about," Emily said. "I thought that was basic common knowledge. Of course, not everyone is blessed with basic common knowledge."

Lorelai exhaled loudly. "So, did you want something in particular, Mom? I have things to do."

"I wanted to find out why you made your father tell me on Friday morning that you and Rory couldn't make it to Friday night dinner," Emily said indignantly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lorelai said, shaking her head. "I'm sorry we had to miss dinner, Mom, but I didn't make Dad tell you. I called there with the intention of telling you myself but you weren't home and he offered to tell you for me."

"Well, whatever the circumstances are, why don't you explain what was so important that you had to miss dinner," Emily said.

"Didn't Dad tell you why?" Lorelai asked.

"No, he just said that you girls couldn't make it, and that instead he would take me out for dinner," Emily said.

Lorelai smiled to herself. "Aw, that must've been nice, Mom."

"Yes, it was lovely," Emily said. "Now explain."

Lorelai sighed. "It's no big deal, Mom. Rory had off from school on Friday, so Christopher invited her to spend the weekend with him. . .and Sherry. . .in Boston." There was silence on the other end of the phone. "Mom? You doing your Silent Bob impression again?"

"You and Rory were in Boston for the whole weekend?" Emily asked quietly.

"Uh, no, just Rory was," Lorelai replied.

"Rory went alone to Boston?" Emily asked. "My God, what if something happened to her?"

"She was with Chris and Sherry, Mom, not the Boston strangler," Lorelai replied, rolling her eyes. "He drove here and picked her up on Thursday night, and then he drove her back home yesterday. She was with him the whole trip. She had a great time, she wants to go back this summer."

Emily was quiet for a moment before she said, "Yes, well. . .I suppose it's good for her to spend time with Christopher."

"I agree," Lorelai said.

"So then why couldn't you come to dinner?" Emily asked accusingly.

"Because Luke and I went away, too," Lorelai replied.

"You and Luke went away?" Emily asked, surprised. "Together?"

"No, Mom, separately," Lorelai replied, rolling her eyes. "Yes, together. We went away to Groton for the weekend."

"Groton? What's there to do in Groton?" Emily asked.

"Plenty of things, Mom," Lorelai replied. "We just needed to get away."

"Don't you think it was a little soon in your relationship to go away together?" Emily asked pointedly.

"No, Mother," Lorelai replied, her lips pursed. "I don't."

"You know, I really think you two might be - " Emily started.

Lorelai interrupted her with an exasperated sigh. "Listen, Mom, I have to go. There's an emergency that needs my attention right away. We'll see you this Friday," Lorelai said quickly.

"Yes, let's just hope you don't skip town this week too," Emily said.

"Bye Mom." Lorelai hung up the phone and groaned into the air. She stared down at the desk for a few seconds, then her eyes drifted over to the red rose. She smiled, then picked up the phone and dialed a number.

She tapped her fingers on the desk as the phone rang several times. Finally, a gruff voice answered, "Luke's."

Lorelai smiled to herself. "Hey," she said. "Is this a bad time?"

Upon hearing it was Lorelai, Luke's voice softened immediately. "Hey. No, it's fine. What's up?" He poured some coffee for a customer at the counter before returning the pot to the coffee maker and leaning against the kitchen doorframe.

"Nothing, I just called to thank you for the rose," Lorelai said. She giggled and added, "Well, uh, I guess to thank Chester."

Luke let out a small laugh. "You're welcome. How's work?"

Lorelai twirled her finger in her hair and leaned forward against the desk. "Well, did you ever have one of those days where it sucks so much that you constantly have the urge to down a whole bottle of aspirin in order to die quickly and peacefully?"

"Why, what happened?" Luke replied, concerned.

"Nothing. This isn't one of those days," Lorelai said. "I was just wondering if you'd ever had one."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Geez, don't do that."

Lorelai giggled. "Sorry. My day's been fine, how's yours?"

"Good, it's been good," Luke said. He lowered his voice. "Though right now Kirk just walked in with a large pair of hedge clippers and it's sort of disturbing."

Lorelai laughed. "What does he need hedge clippers for?"

"Uh, let's see - what could he possibly need hedge clippers for?" Luke asked, pretending to be confused. "I just don't know. They should really consider renaming them so that people will know what to do with them."

Lorelai laughed. "I know what hedge clippers are for, but why does he need them? He just delivers the flowers. Ooh, maybe the flower he just delivered here was the last delivery he needed to make before he got promoted to actual lawncare duties."

"Or maybe he just uses them as a keychain," Luke suggested.

"Hm, maybe," Lorelai said. "Or maybe he's carrying them for protection."

"Maybe," Luke said. He paused for a moment. "Why are we talking about Kirk?"

Lorelai laughed. "I have no idea. I'm sure there's some other topic we can talk about." She thought for a second. "Oh, I talked to my mom a few minutes ago and told her why we weren't at dinner on Friday."

"Oh yeah?" Luke asked. "Was she mad that you missed?"

"Surprisingly, no, not really," Lorelai said. "And I thought she'd freak out that Rory was with Sherry like she did last time, but she didn't. I guess she's used to the idea of her now." Lorelai paused a moment before she smiled. "Oh, I get it."

"Get what?" Luke asked, confused.

"I get why she's accepting Sherry now," Lorelai said, nodding to herself. "She hated Sherry before because she wanted Chris and I to get together, but now that she sees me with someone else. . ."

"Ah," Luke said. "She's giving up on the idea of you and him now that she sees that you're happy."

"Exactly. Wow, I'm impressed, Mom," Lorelai muttered to herself.

"That's good," Luke said.

"Yes, it is," Lorelai agreed.

Luke glanced around and saw a customer waving for his attention. "Okay, I gotta go. Are you gonna stop by later?"

"Hmm, I don't know," Lorelai said, pretending to think it over. "Do you want me to?"

"No, actually, I'd rather you didn't," Luke replied.

Lorelai gasped. "What?" she asked with a laugh.

Luke laughed. "That's the answer you get for asking a stupid question."

"Hmph," Lorelai said, pretending to be upset. "Fine, maybe I won't stop by later."

"Oh, I think you will," Luke said knowingly.

"Maybe I won't," Lorelai replied.

"I think you will," Luke repeated. He quickly added, "And before you try to keep this pattern going all day long by saying 'maybe I won't' again, I'm interrupting to say that I love you."

Lorelai smiled. "Okay, maybe I will."

Luke smiled and nodded. "Thought so. Bye," he said.

"Bye," Lorelai replied. Smiling to herself, she hung up the phone. She glanced to her right and saw Michel staring at her. She giggled and pointed to the phone. "He loves me."

Michel rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, maybe he should get his head examined."

Lorelai frowned at him before she turned around and walked away from the desk.

That night after work, Lorelai walked toward the diner. As she passed Doose's Market, she looked through the window and saw Luke inside standing at the register. She smiled to herself and walked inside. With his back to her, he didn't see her walk up to him. She leaned close to his ear and said, "Whatcha buying?"

Startled, Luke jumped. "Oh geez!" he exclaimed. "Don't do that!"

Lorelai laughed. "God, you're too jumpy. You're gonna have a heart attack one of these days." She ran her hand up and down his back as the cashier handed him his change. "What are you doing here? Don't you have a diner to run? Shouldn't you be running it? Aren't you supposed to be cooking people dinner? Am I annoying you with questions yet?" She smiled at him.

"Yes, you are, and I had to get a few things before the dinner rush," Luke said. He grabbed the bag and they walked out of the store and headed toward the diner. "Rory's in there already. She's doing homework or something."

"Oh, good," Lorelai said. "That means she got my message." She glanced toward the dance studio and saw Patty walking towards them.

Luke saw her, too. He turned to Lorelai and asked, "Have you talked to her since we got back?"

"Nope," Lorelai replied.

"Oh geez," Luke mumbled. "That means this'll be the third degree."

"Hey you two!" Patty called, waving at them as she rushed over.

Lorelai smiled and called, "Hey Patty."

As Patty reached them, Luke gave an uncomfortable smile. "Hi." The three of them continued toward the diner.

Patty linked her arm through Lorelai's and said, "So, tell me, how was your trip?"

Luke groaned just loud enough for Lorelai to hear.

Lorelai smiled and laced her fingers through Luke's. "It was great. Very relaxing. Very good food. Very nice hotel. Uh, anything you wanna add?" she asked, turning to Luke.

Luke shrugged. "Uh, nice weather."

"Yeah, it was a beautiful weekend," Lorelai agreed. "Very sunny."

Patty narrowed her eyes at them. "You mean, you actually left the hotel room?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Oh look, here we are." They had reached the diner, and Luke pulled the door open for them. He followed them inside, then leaned close to Lorelai and said quietly, "No details."

Lorelai nodded and waved him off. "I know, I know. Go be a good little diner owner and cook things for the nice hungry people."

Luke gave a quick glance between Lorelai and Patty before he walked behind the counter. He talked to Caesar for a moment before they both disappeared into the kitchen.

Patty looked at Lorelai. "So, you didn't stay inside the whole time? Is everything okay with you two?" she asked, concerned.

Lorelai laughed. "Yes, everything's fine. We had a great time."

Patty gave her a doubtful look. "You know, sweetie, when a couple goes away together to a hotel, they usually just like to stay in and - "

"Oh, would you look at the time," Lorelai interrupted, holding up her watch. "Rory's probably starving and waiting for me so she can order." She pointed to Rory's table. "Oh, she looks pretty ill. I better go make sure she's okay. See you later, Patty." She quickly walked toward Rory and sat down at the table with a sigh. "Hey."

"Hey Mom," Rory said, smiling. Rory gestured toward the counter, where Patty had taken a seat next to Taylor. "What did Miss Patty want?"

"The usual," Lorelai replied. She removed her blazer and draped it over her chair.

"Details," Rory said knowingly.

"You got it," Lorelai said. She tapped a finger on Rory's notebook. "Whatcha working on?"

Rory looked down at it. "Oh, a story for the paper. Well, not the actual story. I'm just making some notes about what I need to look up when I get home."

Lorelai nodded. "Got it."

"How was your day?" Rory asked, chewing on the tip of her pen.

"Good, it was good," Lorelai said, nodding. "I went out with Sookie for lunch and we talked about the bridesmaid dresses."

Rory smiled. "Oh yeah?"

"Yup," Lorelai replied. "We're going out shopping tomorrow night and we're gonna look to see if there's anything good."

"And if there's nothing good?" Rory asked.

"Then someone's gonna be doing a lot of sewing," Lorelai said, pointing to herself.

"Ah, good luck with that," Rory said. She pointed to Lorelai's shoulder. "You have a piece of fuzz."

"Oh, thanks." Lorelai looked down and brushed it off as Jess walked into the diner. He walked past their table as he headed toward the stairway. Lorelai looked up as he passed. "Oh, Jess, good, come here a sec."

Jess stopped in mid-step and turned around to face them. He looked at Lorelai expectantly. "Yeah?"

"Uh, how was your weekend?" Lorelai asked.

Jess shrugged. "Not as eventful as a weekend at Bernie's, but it was okay."

"Good, good," Lorelai said. "So, what did you do?"

He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "Not much. Hung out. Watched tv. Read. Worked. Ate. Slept."

Lorelai nodded along. "So you were pretty busy then, huh?"

Jess nodded. "Pretty much."

"Mmkay, well, then. . ." Lorelai's voice trailed off. She smiled and shrugged toward him. "Glad things went well."

Jess raised his eyebrows and gave a small nod. He started to walk away. When he reached the counter, he stopped and turned around. He gestured to the two of them. "Uh, how were your trips?"

Slightly surprised, Lorelai smiled and said, "Uh, good. It was good." She paused. "Um, thanks for asking," she added.

Rory nodded. "Yup, mine was good, too."

Jess nodded and turned around, continuing to the staircase. When he disappeared from their view, Lorelai and Rory looked at each other and smiled. "Huh," Lorelai said. "That was. . .unexpected."

"What was?" a voice asked. Lorelai looked up, startled. Luke stood over her with a coffeepot and two mugs. "What was unexpected?" he repeated. He set the mugs down and poured the coffee.

"Oh, nothing, just that. . .Jess asked us how our trips were," Lorelai explained.

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "Jess was being nice - that's what was unexpected?"

Lorelai took a sip of coffee before she answered. "Well, no, not that he was being nice - but, I mean, he was like halfway across the room, then he turned around and asked us how our trips were. I didn't expect that. Did you expect that?" Lorelai asked Rory.

"I didn't expect that," Rory replied, shaking her head.

Lorelai looked up at Luke. "Nope, we didn't expect that, hence it was unexpected." She smiled.

An amused look fell on Luke's face. He shook his head slightly and smiled at them. He pulled his order pad out of his waistband. "Burgers?"

Lorelai looked at Rory, who nodded. "Yes, two," Lorelai replied, glancing up at Luke.

"Okay," Luke replied, scribbling it on his pad. He smiled at them and turned to walk away, but Lorelai reached out and grabbed his hand. He turned around and asked, "What? Change your mind?"

"What's wrong?" Lorelai asked, concerned. Rory gave her a confused look.

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't roll your eyes," Lorelai said.

"What?" Luke asked with a confused laugh.

Lorelai exhaled loudly and explained, "Everyday we come in here and order burgers, then you roll your eyes and write it down - or sometimes you roll your eyes and don't write it down, you just remember it. Either way, you always roll your eyes, and ten second ago when we ordered burgers, you didn't roll your eyes. Instead, you casually wrote the order down on the pad and smiled. Why didn't you roll your eyes?" Lorelai asked worriedly, clasping her hands around one of his. "What's wrong?"

Luke and Rory glanced at each other and shrugged. Luke looked back to Lorelai and let out a small laugh. "Nothing's wrong, everything's fine."

Lorelai wagged her finger at him. "Nuh uh, something's up. You just don't all of a sudden stop doing your eye roll. There has to be some reason behind the sudden eye roll stoppage."

Rory sighed. "Mom, maybe his eyes are tired of doing the eye roll. I mean, it's been like ten years of eye rolls - maybe he has finally given in to the fact that the eye rolls have not had a deterrent effect on our red meat consumption."

Luke nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds good. Let's go with that."

Lorelai scoffed. "You are so hiding something from me and when I find out what it is, you're. . . you're. . ." She struggled to think of something threatening to say.

Luke smiled. "Yes?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest. "Go on."

She wrinkled her nose. "You're gonna be. . .I'm gonna be . . ." She paused and turned to Rory. "Rory, help me out here."

Rory laughed and held her hands up in front of her chest innocently. "Hey, leave me out of this. Bicker amongst yourselves."

Lorelai frowned at her before she turned back to Luke. "What are you hiding?"

Luke laughed. "I'm not hiding anything. You want me to take your order again and add the eyeroll? Will that make you feel better?"

Lorelai eyed him suspiciously before she finally muttered, "No." She paused for a moment, then said, "Yes."

Luke smirked. "So, uh, what do you guys want today - burgers?"

"Yes please," Rory replied quickly.

Luke lowered his face down to Lorelai and gave her an exaggerated eye roll, then stood back up straight. Lorelai laughed and pushed him away playfully. "Okay, okay, get outta here."

Luke smiled and said, "Burgers'll be right out." He turned around and walked back to the counter.

Lorelai watched him, smiling to herself. She and Rory talked for a few minutes while they waited for their food. Finally, Luke brought over their plates and set them on the table.

"Thanks, Luke," Rory said.

"Yeah, thanks," Lorelai said. She looked down at her burger and noticed that the sides were dripping with cheese. "Wow, how many pieces of cheese are on this thing?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know, three or four." He walked back to the counter.

Lorelai picked up some fries and ate them as Rory took a bite of her burger. "Mmm," Rory murmured as she started chewing.

Lorelai picked up her burger and took a bite. She chewed it for several seconds before her eyes widened. Her face contorted into a disgusted look and she stopped chewing. She dropped the burger down onto the plate, then picked up her napkin and spit out her mouthful of food.

Rory paused in mid-chewing. She made a face and said, "Ew, Mom, what is it?"

"Ugh! Oh my God!" Lorelai exclaimed. She grabbed Rory's napkin and vigorously wiped off her tongue, then took a long sip of coffee to get the taste out of her mouth. "That's the most disgusting thing I've ever had in my life!"

Lorelai looked over at the counter and saw Luke and Caesar smiling in her direction. "Luke!" she exclaimed. "What the heck was that?" As other customers turned to look at her, she pushed her plate across the table. "Ugh, I can't look at it."

Luke said something to Caesar before he walked over to the table carrying a plate with another burger on it. He smiled and set it down in front of her, "Here. Sorry, I had to do it," Luke said.

Lorelai pursed her lips and glared at him. "Had to do what?" she asked slowly.

"Give you a turkey burger," he said, sitting down at their table.

Lorelai gasped and smacked his shoulder. "Oh my God! Gross! Why'd you do that?"

Rory laughed. "You gave her a turkey burger and didn't expect her to be able to tell the difference?"

Luke smiled. "No, that was the point."

"Hi, there's no point to giving someone the grossest food known to man," Lorelai said, frowning at him. "Explain, now."

"When I came in with you, I walked to the counter and Caesar asked me if he should start cooking some burgers because he knows that's what you guys usually get," Luke said.

"Wise man," Lorelai said, nodding at Rory. She turned back to Luke. "Go on."

"So we went into the kitchen, and he said he was surprised that I don't try to slip you turkey burgers instead to get you to eat healthier," Luke continued.

"That's because I would be forced to cause you severe pain," Lorelai said through clenched teeth.

Luke smiled. "And I told him that's because you would cause me severe pain." Lorelai and Rory both smiled. "And he said that you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I put enough cheese on it, and I told him that you definitely would, and he didn't believe me, so I had to prove him wrong," Luke finished. "So, you proved him wrong. Congratulations."

Lorelai scoffed. "I can't believe you did that to me," she said, shaking her head.

"It was actually pretty amusing, though," Rory said, smiling.

Lorelai made a face at her. "That's easy for you to say, you didn't have to eat that crap," Lorelai said, gesturing to the turkey burger.

Luke pushed the new plate toward her. "Here, this is a real cholesterol- filled, heart-disease-causing burger, I promise."

Lorelai eyed it curiously, then looked up at him. "You do realize that I will never be able to confidently bite into a burger for the rest of my life?"

Luke stood up and smiled. "Good, maybe you'll end up giving up red meat."

"Not a chance," she said, taking a bite of the new burger. She hesitated before she started chewing it, but let out a satisfied moan when she realized it was a real burger. When she finished chewing, she looked up at him and said, "You know, if we chalk this little incident up along with the Cosmo trick, you're not coming across as the nicest boyfriend, Luke."

"Cosmo trick?" Rory asked curiously. "What happened?"

Luke's eyes widened and he blushed slightly. "Nothing," he said quickly. "It was nothing." He turned to Lorelai. "Hey, I sent you a rose. That was nice."

A smile slowly formed on her lips. "Yeah, that was nice," Lorelai admitted.

He smiled. "No more mystery food, I promise. I just had to prove him wrong, but I'll ignore him next time."

"Good," she replied. "Now go in the kitchen and do something to get back at him. You know, give him a pay cut or fire him or something."

Luke laughed. "Okay." He picked up the turkey burger plate and walked back toward the counter.

Lorelai took another bite of her burger. "Mmm," she moaned. "This is so good." Rory nodded in agreement. Lorelai set her burger on her plate and took a sip of coffee. "You know, when they move in with us, we're gonna have to start having real food in our house."

"Real food?" Rory asked.

"Mmhmm," Lorelai said, nodding slowly. She swallowed hard. "Like. . . healthy food."

Rory gasped. "Oh my God!"

Lorelai laughed. "I know, I know. We're gonna have to try to get used to it though."

Rory sighed. "It'll take some time."

"Definitely. We should buy something healthy, like a cucumber or something, and just keep it in the fridge for awhile to get used to the idea of having non-junk food in the house," Lorelai said.

"Hm, good idea," Rory said. She wrinkled her nose. "Are we gonna have to . . . eat the healthy food?"

Lorelai's eyes widened. "God, no! We just have to have it for Luke."

Rory breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, good."

The next evening at the second bridal shop of the night, Lorelai flipped aimlessly through a bridal magazine as Sookie tried on dress number five. Lorelai tossed the magazine back on the pile and walked over to the dressing room door. "Are you ready for me to help zipper you up, Sookie?" Lorelai called.

"Almost," Sookie's voice called back. "I'm just about done." A few seconds later, the door pulled open slightly and Lorelai slipped into the dressing room.

Lorelai's eyes widened when she saw Sookie in the gown. She smiled and said, "Oh my God."

Sookie giggled and looked at herself in the mirror. "It looks okay?"

"It looks fabulous, Sookie," Lorelai gushed. "Here, come here, turn around."

Sookie turned around and Lorelai zipped up the back up the dress. Sookie turned around and took a deep breath. "It feels good."

"Honey, it looks great," Lorelai said, nodding enthusiastically.

"It's too long," Sookie said, looking down at her feet.

Lorelai waved her off. "They can fix that."

"It's not too . . .gaudy or lacy or beady or frilly?" Sookie asked nervously.

"Um, no, no, no, and no," Lorelai said. She gestured for Sookie to spin around, and Sookie obliged. Lorelai looked her up and down. "Sookie, it looks amazing on you. I mean it."

Sookie stared into the mirror. She turned around and looked at it from different angles. "Do you think Jackson will like it?"

Lorelai smiled and nodded. "I think he'll love it. It looks incredible."

"You're not just saying that because you're ready to go, are you?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai gasped. "Not at all! I wouldn't tell you it looked incredible if it didn't look incredible. You know how rudely blunt I am about everything."

Sookie giggled. "True." She stared into the mirror for another minute before she started nodding approvingly. "Okay, I think . . . this is it. This is the one."

Lorelai smiled and clapped her hands together excitedly. "Ah, this is so exciting!"

Sookie giggled. "I know!" She threw her arms around Lorelai and hugged her tightly. After several seconds, Sookie sniffled loudly.

Lorelai pulled back and rubbed Sookie's arms. "Aw, don't cry," she said soothingly.

Sookie wiped her tears. "I can't help it. You know how emotional I get when I watch A Wedding Story."

Lorelai smiled. "I know."

"And this will be even worse because it'll be like I'm watching my own wedding story," Sookie said, sniffling. "I need to have a box of tissues with me at all times from now until the wedding."

Lorelai smiled and hugged her. "Come on. Get changed and we'll go buy this dress."

Sookie took a deep breath. "Okay. We don't take it now, right?"

"No, they'll measure you and they'll take it and fix it up so you're not drowning in it," Lorelai said.

"Okay, good," Sookie replied. "I'll be right out."

Lorelai nodded and stepped out of the dressing room. She sat back down in the chair for a few minutes, then walked over to a rack of dresses and looked through them aimlessly.

The dressing room door opened and Sookie walked over to her. "Hey, when this dress is ready, can I store it at your house until the wedding?"

"Absolutely," Lorelai said as they walked toward the front desk. "Ooh, when it comes in, we'll tell Luke it's mine and see how freaked out he gets."

Sookie giggled. "Good plan."

That night, Lorelai dropped Sookie off at her house, then stopped at the diner before going home. She walked through the door and noticed there were only two other customers. Luke stood at the counter looking bored as he flipped through his supply ledger. He glanced up to see who had entered, and was surprised to see that it was Lorelai. He smiled and checked his watch. "Hey, what are you doing here so late?"

She walked behind the counter and kissed him. "Came to see you. Haven't seen you since this morning."

He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "How was shopping?"

She rested her head on his chest and said, "Good. Sookie got a dress."

"That's good," Luke said. "Did you get bridesmaid dresses?"

"Nope, we got fabric to make 'em though," Lorelai replied.

"Couldn't find any that you liked?" Luke asked.

"Nope," Lorelai replied. She pulled back and looked up at him. "We're gonna design them together and I'm gonna sew them."

"How very Betsy Ross of you," Luke commented.

"Yes, it is," Lorelai replied. Her eyes lit up. "Ooh, speaking of which, do you have brownies?"

Luke laughed. "No, but how does Betsy Ross make you think of brownies?"

Lorelai smiled and explained, "Because Betsy Ross sounds like Betty Crocker."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Of course." He glanced at the counter. "No, no brownies, but I do have double-chocolate cookies."

Lorelai smiled. "Close enough."

"Have a seat," Luke said. Lorelai walked around the counter and sat on a stool. Luke brought her a cookie on a plate. Lorelai broke a piece off and put it in her mouth as Luke folded his arms across his chest and watched her eat.

She glanced up at him and smiled. "Am I entertaining?"

He smiled and nodded. "Very." He glanced past her and said, "Be right back." He grabbed his order pad from the counter and walked away.

As the two customers left, Luke returned to the counter with some money and stuck it in the register. He stood in front of Lorelai and said, "So, tomorrow night - do you have plans?"

"Nope," Lorelai said, shaking her head. "Wanna do something?"

Luke shrugged. "I was thinking we could go out to dinner or something. I'll get someone to close up."

Lorelai shoved the last piece of cookie into her mouth and nodded. "Sounds good to me," she said with her mouth full.

Luke rolled his eyes. "You do realize how disgusting that is, don't you?"

Lorelai finished chewing and smiled at him. "Yes, I do."

"Good," he replied. "Just so you know."

She stood up and said, "Thanks for the cookie."

"You're welcome." He glanced at his watch. "I'm about to close up, I'll walk you home."

She waved him off. "It's okay, I have the Jeep."

"Oh," Luke replied. He walked around the counter and took her hand, then walked her out to the car. As she leaned against the side of it, she pulled him towards her and pressed her lips against his. As the intensity of the kiss increased, he pulled back from her and glanced around uncomfortably.

Lorelai smiled and rolled her eyes. "Still not one for making out in public, huh?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

"Not even at ten o'clock at night when no one's around?" Lorelai pouted.

He shook his head again, and Lorelai opened the door and climbed into the car. Luke pushed the door closed and leaned through the open window. He kissed her and said, "See you tomorrow."

Lorelai smiled. "Bye." As Luke stepped back from the car, she started the engine. She waved to him as she pulled away, and Luke smiled as he watched her drive down the street.